Before the U.S. Senate officially rubber stamps Trump's cronies and junta for their administration next month, can Senators McCain and Senator Flake explain to us constituents how these nominees are going to help the common good. We know about their amassed wealth, military service, and reputations. Can our Senators please inform on what good to expect from, for example, General Flynn for National Security Advisor?
Portuguese-era church bells adorn Maharashtra temples (Societal Feature)

Maharashtra,National,Religion,Human Interest/Society, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Mumbai, Dec 11 (IANS) Few may be aware that the bells ringing in some of the most important temples in modern-day Maharashtra have Christian antecedents and once adorned imposing churches constructed during the early part of the 450-year-long Portuguese rule -- till they were taken away as war trophies by the conquering Maratha armies.

This is one resounding piece of Portuguese-Maratha era history that came to light after 25 years of research initiated by Father Francis Correa of Vasai, and guided his team of experts to crystallise it in the past couple of years.

"There were 80 churches built during the Portuguese era in the 1730s in (what is now) Maharashtra, with an average of two bells per church, plus other bells in educational institutions and convents, totalling to around 500-600. We have concrete evidence of 38 of those bells now adorning 34 temples in nine districts," the 77-year-old Correa told IANS.

The research team comprised Pascal Lopes (numismatist, archaeologist, historian), Affigin Tuscano (academician), Joseph Pereira (local geography expert), Berina D'Silva (writer) and Augustine Tuscano (photographer).

Their efforts have culminated in a book entitled: "Old Ambassadors of the New Era" and its Marathi version named "Navyugachya Preshita", penned by Correa.

Correa said a majority of the bells remain in good condition, though some are over 400 years old, and many have saved thousands of lives when they were sounded as warnings during natural calamities, storms or floods.

"The most amazing aspect is that the bells have not been tampered or tinkered with in any manner; they have been accorded the same dignity; and the condition of a majority is excellent. A few developed cracks due to improper use, which can be repaired," he said.

The Portuguese bells are visible in important Hindu temples like Rameshwar Temple, Nashik (the site of Kumbh Mela); Tulja Bhavani Temple, Osmanabad; Bhimashankar Temple and Jejuri Temple, both in Pune district; Mahalaxmi Temple, Kolhapur; and Shri Shetra Mahabaleshwar Temple, Satara; among others.

Church bells of different sizes, weight, but all made of 'Panch Dhatu' (five metals -- gold, silver, copper, iron and lead), are placed in temples in Nashik, Ahmednagar, Jalna, Osmanabad, Pune, Satara, Kolhapur, Raigad and Ratnagiri, with the maximum 12 in Pune and eight in Satara, he added.

"The bells in these 34 temples came from the centuries-old churches in modern-day Palghar-Thane districts bordering Mumbai. After the Marathas vanquished the Portuguese, these bells were taken as war trophies or victory symbols by the Maratha armies," Lopes, who specialises in Portuguese-Maratha era history, told IANS.

The great Maratha warrior king, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was devoted to the Tulja Bhavani Temple and regularly prayed there, and had once visited the temple in Satara town, the birthplace of five major rivers -- Krishna, Koyna, Venna, Gayatri and Savitri.

Correa explained that the Church has two main denominations -- Catholics and Protestants -- and his team looked for various symbols to identify the origins of the bells.

The Catholics have 2,000-year-old traditions and venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, but not so the Protestants, who emerged only in the 16th century.

They came across marks/symbols like "Iesus Humilis Societas" or "Iesus Hominum Salvator" (Humble Society of Jesus or Jesus Savior of Men) connected with Lord Jesus, and "Ave Maria" linked to Mary.

Correa, who belongs to the Vasai Diocese, and is an expert historian on the Vasai Portuguese fort, stumbled upon a mention of the missing bells from that fort in an 1876 book by 19th century historian, Gerson D'Cunha, which ignited his research on the topic.

It mentions how during a 26-month period between March 28, 1737, and May 23, 1739, when the Maratha warrior, Gen. Chimaji Appa, the younger brother of the great Bajirao Peshwa, defeated the Portuguese and captured several forts in the Konkan region, including Vasai and Arnala.

At that time, there were more than 80 big and small churches and after their success, the victors carried away these bells which were installed in Hindu temples, whose trustees lovingly care for them till today.

Lopes said the study involved research from primary sources, extensive footwork, systematic documentation, scanning historical records, meeting trustees, experts, local historians and people from different walks of life for the authentic outcome.

After the great explorer, Vasco da Gama, came to India at Calicut now in Kerala, in May 1498, the foundation was laid for the Estado Portugues da India, and they later ruled over large parts of western and eastern coastal India.

In 1661, what is now Bombay, a group of seven isles, was handed over to Britain as dowry of the Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza during her marriage to King Charles II of England.

As the Marathas gained strength in the Konkan, Deccan and other parts, the Portuguese lost most of their Northern Province to the Maratha Empire by 1739, when they were defeated by Gen. Chimaji Appa.

Portuguese rule continued in pockets of India like Goa, Daman and Diu till December 19, 1961; They were defeated by the army of Independent India, ending nearly 450 years of their influence on the subcontinent.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)

--IANS

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Delhi Police officer, woman found murdered

Delhi,National,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Delhi Police and a woman were found murdered at a property dealer's office here, police said on Sunday.

A police officer said residents of Deep Nagar in north Delhi told them about the deaths. The ASI and woman were identified as Joginder Lakra, who was posted with the Crime Branch in Rohini, and Manisha.

"The property office where they were found murdered belonged to Lakra. He had rented it. Lakra had five bullet wounds and his friend Manisha had taken three bullet shots," a senior police officer said.

They were found partially dressed.

Lakra, a resident of Mundka village in Delhi, was married to a woman who was posted in the Security Cell of Delhi Police, the officer said.

--IANS

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100 bombs planted by Maoists found in Jharkhand

Bihar,National,Defence/Security,Terrorism, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Ranchi, Dec 11 (IANS) More than 100 improvised explosive devices -or crude bombs planted by the Maoist guerrillas were detected and defused in Jharkhand's Latehar district on Sunday, the state police said.

According to a police officer, the improvised explosive devices planted in series were recovered from a jungle in Latehar, around 140 km from Ranchi.

The bombs were recovered during a search operation by security personnel.

The state police said the bombs were planted to target security personnel.

Maoist guerrillas are active in 18 of the 24 districts in the state.

--IANS

py/vt
Mahesh Bhatt goes vacationing with family to Maldives

Maharashtra,Cinema/Showbiz,Bollywood, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Male, Dec 11 (IANS) Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has left for a vacation to the "exotic Maldives" with his daughters Alia and Shaheen Bhatt, and his wife Soni Razdan.

Mahesh on Sunday shared a photograph of himself along with his wife and daughters from an airport.

"Moments rather than possessions are the true treasures of life! Heading to the exotic Maldives for a family holiday," he captioned the image.

The 68-year-old filmmaker, who has helmed films like "Jism", "Murder" and "Sadak", shared another photograph of his daughters on the flight.

"We are going on a family holiday. No more working for a day or two," he captioned the image.

Alia, an actress, has taken a break from the shooting of her upcoming film "Badrinath Ki Dulhania".

Directed by Shashank Khaitan, the film is the second instalment of the 2014 film "Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania". It is produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions.

--IANS

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GST Council meeting in the shadow of demonetisation

Delhi,Business/Economy,Immigration/Law/Rights,Politics, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) The 6th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax Council commenced here on Sunday in the shadow of demonetisation, whose fallout has put a serious question mark on implementing GST by the central government's targeted deadline of April 1, next year.

The two-day meet will seek to finalise three legislations -- Central GST, Integrated GST and the Compensation law -- after which these will be placed in Parliament.

The Council's fifth meeting here earlier this month failed to break the deadlock between the Centre and the states on the issue of dual control on assessees in the proposed pan-India indirect tax regime.

At the meeting then, the states continued to highlight the impact of the November 8 demonetisation of high-value currency on their respective economies to underline that it is not the appropriate time to implement GST that, they aver, could have a destabilising effect on the economy.

Besides, the Centre continues to be intransigent on the issue of jurisdiction over assessees, the states maintain.

Calling demonetisation "a big magnum-sized tsunami", West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra earlier this week said India's gross domestic product (GDP) in the current fiscal (2016-17) will take a huge hit on its account.

"From an estimate that I have, the growth rate in aggregate will fall over 3 per cent and arrive at 4.3 per cent," he told a TV news channel.

"This means a loss of Rs 4.7 lakh crore of GDP, this will be extinguished. This is in the worst case scenario... the best case scenario is loss of Rs 3 lakh crore," Mitra added.

Mitra, who is Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers and member of the GST Council, also said that the postponement of the Goods and Services Tax regime could be an option to stabilise the economy badly hit due to demonetisation.

"Should we rethink of stabilising the economy from this big hit resulting from demonetisation and then go for GST? Do we take the risk of a second whammy at this stage," he asked.

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said on Friday that implementing GST by the April 1, 2017, deadline planned by the Union government appears to be unlikely.

"Demonetisation has indeed vitiated the whole atmosphere," Isaac, who is a member of the GST Council, told BTVi channel in an interview.

"Discussions in the GST Council have been cordial, in a spirit of consensus and Parliament had passed the Bill unanimously. Now there is no such general atmosphere, Parliament is divided," he said, referring to the almost continuous disruption of proceedings being witnessed during the winter session on the demonetisation issue.

"Demonetisation is a big strike on the revenues of the states, and in Kerala, we are estimating our revenues to decline by 40 per cent from impact of demonetrisation," he added.

Isaac also said that in a situation where the states are going to lose the right to tax when GST is implemented, and had acceeded to the Centre on almost all issues, "the Centre will have to take one step back from the position they have adopted" on the only remaining issue of "cross-empowerment" concerning jurisdiction over assessees.

"It can't be a one-way traffic. Why can't the Centre accomodate on the question of how GST should be administered," he asked.

With five meetings of the GST Council having been held, the issue of dual control or who will exercise control over GST assessees -- the Centre or the states - remains critical.

"It is unlikely that we will decide on the issue when we meet on (December) 11th and 12th," said Isaac.

The states want exclusive control on businesses with turnover below Rs 1.5 crore (the current threshold for central excise), including the service taxpayers.

The target rollout of GST will depend on the passage of the Central GST and the Integrated GST (IGST) bills in Parliament and the state GST bills by the respective states.

Parliament and state assemblies have the right to accept, or reject, the Council's recommendations in their GST Bills.

--IANS

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Life hasn't changed much after marriage: Lisa Haydon

Maharashtra,Cinema/Showbiz,Bollywood, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Mumbai, Dec 11 (IANS) Actress Lisa Haydon, who recently tied the knot with her long-time beau Dino Lalwani, says her life is more or less the same after marriage.

"Life has not changed much after marriage. I went straight back to work. But I guess changes come after having a baby, not after marriage, especially if you are married to the right person who understands your lifestyle and profession," Lisa told IANS here.

She added: "I think I was married to my husband in mind before it happened officially. When you fall in love, you make a commitment to each other. It's all about that."

Lisa, who started her career as a model, has featured on the cover for popular lifestyle magazines. In 2010, she made her debut with the Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Deol-starrer "Aisha".

Along with actress Kangana Ranaut, Lisa was also praised for her act in the 2014 hit film "Queen". She even garnered Filmfare Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the comedy-drama. Most recently, she was seen in Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", which released in October this year.

Since she is at the peak of her career, did she ever have a fear of being in a committed relationship?

Lisa said: "Oh no. Not at all. For me, life is nothing without love... and family is the most important thing for me. Everything else is a bonus. Yes, I am passionate about my work but my success is meaningless without my loved ones, my family and my husband. They are my priority."

Lisa, who has stayed in Australia and the US, has no Bollywood background. So, is it the right time for newcomers to enter Bollywood?

"Yes, people are now more open to accepting those who are expressing themselves in a more honest way... and the audience is receiving that. It took me a while to find my niche, but now I know what kind of films are good for me. So, I explore them. People always appreciate such honesty. Since so many films are happening, actors can explore and experiment to find their place in the business. It' great," she said.

The actress will now appear in a web series titled "The Trip", which will premiere on December 15.

The 'bindass' series, also starring Mallika Dua, Shweta Tripathi and Sapna Pabbi, is about four girls who go on a bachelorette road trip from Delhi to Thailand.

--IANS

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Terror a weapon of weak, not brave nations: Rajnath

Jammu And Kashmir,National,Politics,Defence/Security, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Jammu, Dec 11 (IANS) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday that terrorism is a weapon used by weak people, as brave nations do not take recourse to terrorism to settle scores with their neighbours.

The Home Minister was addressing a gathering of families of martyrs in the border district of Kathua in Jammu region of the state to pay homage to the martyrs.

In a direct reference to Pakistan, Rajnath Singh said: "Terrorism is a weapon used by the weak and coward people. Brave nations do not use terrorism to settle scores with its neighbours.

"Pakistan has failed in four wars to divide India and now it was trying to divide India by using the religion card. Muslims are part of India as much as the followers of any other religion living here."

He further said: "There are 72 schools of thought in Islam and no other country except India has Muslims followers of all the 72 schools of thought.

"Pakistan cannot divide India on the basis of religion. ISIS was not able to establish itself in India and the credit for this goes entirely to Indian Muslims."

He said India had been divided in 1947 on the basis of religion, but that will never ever happen again.

"Pakistan was created on the basis of religion in 1947 and was still divided into two parts in 1971. I am afraid, if Pakistan does not change its attitude, it will be divided 10 times again."

"India is the country that has always sent out a powerful message of universal brotherhood to the world and that message is more relevant today than ever in the past," Singh asserted.

He said even after the Kargil conflict, the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee went to Pakistan, but Pakistan has not changed.

"They continue to violate the ceasefire agreement. Officers of the Pakistan Rangers met me and I told them that the Indian forces will never fire first at a civilian of Pakistan.

"But, I also told them, if your forces target our civilians, then I have told our troops not to count bullets fired by them after that," he said, adding that "we do want to destabilise Pakistan because it has once been part of our large family".

Nawaz Sharif was invited to attend oath ceremony of the Modi government not just for a handshake, but to join hearts and minds of the two countries, Rajnath said.

"Prime Minister Modi did not care for protocol and he landed in Pakistan to facilitate Nawaz Sharif. But our large heartedness was returned by Pakistan through terror attacks in Pathankot, Uri and Nagrota.

"Our troops have proved to Pakistan that once we mean business, we can strike inside their own territory."

When India says that it will not negotiate with terrorism, why does not Pakistan say so, he asked.

"India is ready to cooperate with Pakistan to fight terrorism, but Pakistan is not interested in doing that," the home minister said.

He assured the border residents that whatever needs to be done to better their lot will be done.

--IANS

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Punjab Congress to move court over demonetisation deaths

Delhi,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh on Sunday said the party's state unit will move the court over the demonetisation-related deaths across the country.

He also extended full support to the proposed strike by the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) in Ludhiana over the issue on December 16.

"Around 100 people have died while standing in bank and ATM queues while thousands are suffering due to cash crunch. The Punjab Congress will go to the court over the issue," said Amarinder Singh.

"The impact of demonetisation on the state's industries, already in the doldrums because of the Badal government's policies, has been devastating.

"The Modi government's ill-planned demonetisation move is virtually a criminal act, which has not only brought many lives to a tragic end but also rendered jobless thousands of contractual employees and labourers in industries," he added.

--IANS

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Hundreds protest in front of Cairo's Cathedral after attack

Egypt,Religion,Terrorism, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Cairo, Dec 11 (IANS) Several hundred Egyptians, mostly Christians, on Sunday gathered outside Cairo's Coptic Cathedral to protest an explosion in which at least 25 people were killed.

Participants chanted slogans calling for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar to step down, reports Efe.

Michael Yamini, a 29-year-old protester, said that he was at the scene to understand how a bomb could have exploded at the Cathedral's complex.

According to police, an explosive device had been placed at the door of the small church of St. Peter, next to the Coptic Cathedral.

The protest was held amid tight security measures following the attack, for which no group had yet claimed responsibility.

At least 25 people were killed and 49 others wounded in the explosion outside Cairo's Coptic Cathedral in the Abbassia neighbourhood of the Egyptian capital.

The attack came two days after the death of six policemen in a bomb attack near the Pyramids of Giza, west of Cairo.

--IANS

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Trinamool slams BJP leader for 'abusive' remarks against Mamata

West Bengal,National,Politics, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Kolkata, Dec 11 (IANS) West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Sunday slammed state BJP President Dilip Ghosh for making "deeply dangerous" and "abusive" personal remarks against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

In a statement, party spokesperson Derek O'Brien said Ghosh's utterances mark a "new low in politics".

Reacting to Ghosh's recent comments that the Trinamool supremo "has lost her mind" after the demonetisation of high-value currency notes and threat that the central government could have held her by the hair and thrown her out when she led a demonstration in Delhi, he alleged that the BJP is "desperate" to silence the opposition.

"The BJP cannot fight Mamata Banerjee on policy, good governance and her principled stand on demonetisation on behalf of millions who are affected," read the statement by O'Brien on their official website.

"The BJP is desperate to silence the voice of the opposition. So, how low do they stoop? The Bengal BJP President spews deeply dangerous, threatening, abusive and completely false personal statements against her. A new low in politics," it read.

Speaking on the same lines, Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said the party is not taking Ghosh's comments lightly.

"The language, which has been used against our respected Chief Minister and party chief, the distasteful comments that were uttered, we are not taking it lightly.

"Actually, they want to raise their standing before (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji by making high-ptiched statements," Chatterjee told the media.

Ghosh, known for shooting off his mouth, has over the past few days made a series of controversial comments about Banerjee, who has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of demonetisation.

Addressing a rally at Jhargram of West Midnapore district on Saturday, Ghosh said: "The Chief Minister of our state is semi-mad. She doesn't want to remain at home. She wanders on the streets."

On December 2, at a rally in Uluberia of Howrah district, Ghosh had made belligerent remarks about Banerjee going to Delhi and holding a demonstration at Jantar Mantar against demonetisation.

"Our Chief Minister had gone to Delhi. She has made a lot of song and dance there. Tell me, we have our government there. If we had wanted, couldn't we have held her by the hair and thrown her out?"

A day later, speaking at another rally in East Midnapore district's Tamluk, Ghosh said: "She has lost her mind. What will happen if she jumps out of the 14th floor (of Nabanna, which houses Banerjee's office)?"

--IANS

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While reading your recent story, "Hunting, roads limited in some monuments," I was struck by how limited the drawbacks posed by the creation of the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument were as opposed to the grand scale of what we stand to lose.

First, as you pointed out, it is not given that this national monument would hinder hunting or road use. But more importantly, even if it did, why do we care? A national monument around the Grand Canyon would prevent the dirtiest and most dangerous of environmental pollutants, radioactive contamination, from compromising not only creeks and streams running through a national icon and home to many, but it would also threaten the Grand Canyon watershed, of which Arizona residents and millions of other Americans rely on for drinking water.
US to send 200 more troops to Syria to fight IS

United States,International, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Washington, Dec 11 (IANS) The Pentagon said on Saturday the US would deploy about 200 additional troops to Syria in the military campaign against the Islamic State (IS).

According to a Pentagon statement, the additional US troops would include special operations forces, trainers, advisers and explosive ordinance disposal teams, Xinhua news agency reported.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter made the announcement during his speech in the Gulf state of Bahrain, said the statement.

"These uniquely skilled operators will join the 300 US special operations forces already in Syria, to continue organising, training, equipping and otherwise enabling capable, motivated, local forces to take the fight to IS," the statement quoted Carter as saying.

--IANS

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Kylie Jenner bares derriere for photoshoot

United States,Cinema/Showbiz,Hollywood,Lifestyle/Fashion, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Los Angeles, Dec 11 (IANS) An image featuring reality TV star Kylie Jenner showing off her bare derriere has surfaced online.

The reality star is pictured in a burgundy brassiere and looks at the camera seductively. She also glances over her shoulder while pulling down a pair of jeans, revealing her bottom, reports mirror.co.uk.

To avoid a controversy, a cupcake emoji covers up her bu** crack.

Kylie had recently associated with American fashion and portrait photographer Terry Richardson to create a 2017 calendar.

--IANS

nv/rb
'Find technology to enable armed services personnel to vote'

Delhi,National,Politics,Defence/Security, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) With an estimated three million armed services personnel and their family members being unable to vote because of problems with postal and proxy ballots, a parliamentary panel has rapped the government, saying if India can make the Mangalyaan, it can find technology to enable service personnel cast their ballots.

In a report tabled earlier this week, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence headed by Major General B.C. Khanduri (retd) said the Election Commission of India should take "concrete measures" towards resolving the problem by using "advance technology" as a means of ensuring that the proxy votes reach the returning officers in the minimum possible time.

"India has made significant strides in terms of technological advancement. The Mangalyaan reaching the destination in first attempt itself without much money spent on the expedition can be cited as an apt example in this regard. The committee, therefore, has felt that developing and implementing a foolproof and reliable system to help service voters in exercising their franchise should be an easy and definitely not a difficult task," the report said.

"The committee finds it surprising that the Ministry of Defence and the Election Commission of India have not undertaken any exercise to learn about the practices prevalent in developed nations in particular, for enabling the soldiers, who are not at their usual place of residence, to exercise their franchise," it added.

In response to the committee's question on difficulties in postal ballot, the Defence Ministry said exercise of franchise through proxy voting is not popular amongst service personnel as it involves completion of additional formalities of verifying signatures of the individual and the proxy through a First Class Magistrate or Notary or the Commanding Officer of the unit concerned.

"These procedures, coupled with inherent issues relating to confidentiality of the choice of the service voter, discourage individuals from casting votes through proxy," the ministry said.

The report pointed out that Election Commission representatives admitted that the period between dispatch of postal ballots and date of counting -- 14 to 17 days -- is insufficient.

The panel said it is surprised that details of number of armed forces personnel not having cast their vote in elections and the reason for this has not been maintained by either the poll panel or the forces.

It has recommended that the government study best practices abroad, where "internet voting" by chip-based identity card voting systems exist in countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, Estonia, France, the Netherlands, the UK, the US, Switzerland and Venezuela.

"The best practices followed in this regard need to be identified and developed to suit requirements of Indian election process," the panel said.

The report, taking note of present procedures, said that the rules for enrolling armed forces personnel as voters in the place of their posting if it is a peace station state that the individual has to be residing there with family for three years.

The armed forces communicated to the Election Commission in 2013 that personnel should be registered as voters without any conditionality.

The commission, however, contended this may possibly change the demographic character of constituencies.

In 2014, a request was made to make the procedure lenient by extending the definition of family to group residency in the unit and making the minimum period two years instead of three.

A case is at present being heard in the Supreme Court and the committee asked the ministry to apprise it from time to time of the developments.

On proxy voting, the committee pointed out that the process is cumbersome.

Under laid-down procedure, the service voter has to get his signature attested by the Commanding Officer of the unit and send it to the proxy being nominated by him. The proxy can then sign and get this attested by a Notary or First Class Magistrate. Only after this can the returning officer be informed and the vote cast.

"The committee find from the information furnished that the procedure involved in voting through proxy can be daunting, both for the service voter appointing the proxy as well as the proxy," the report said.

It said "serious efforts need to be made towards developing an alternative to the system of proxy voting. A better method for enabling the service personnel to exercise their franchise is a necessity".

The panel has also pointed out that while the wife of a serviceman is seen as a service voter, it is not the same for the husbands of women personnel. The committee has said that husband of a woman officer staying at the place of posting should also be treated as a service voter.

It also recommend that the Election Commission appoint some service officers as "Honorary Election Commission Officers" and entrust them with the duty of conducting the elections. This step would also facilitate in ensuring maximum participation of service voters in future.

(Anjali Ojha can be contacted at anjali.o@ians.in)

--IANS

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Demonetisation has dented affordable art, too early to foretell larger impact: Experts

West Bengal,National,Art/Culture/Books,Business/Economy, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Kolkata, Dec 11 (IANS) As the sting of demonetisation continued to spread its numbing effect across most sectors, some art industry experts assert the move will "hugely impact" the overall structure of the business in India. Some felt it has already impaired the affordable art segment, while others opined it's too early to tell.

"It's going to have a huge impact on the art market because a large amount of buying and selling in art in India happens in cash whether people want to acknowledge it or not," acclaimed artist, academician and curator Paula Sengupta told IANS.

Post the demonetisation move, Sengupta said, she faced difficulties in getting two projects off the ground.

However, she felt the ripple effect of scrapping high value notes will tighten the management and coordination of the sector, making it more organised and accountable.

"I think also, in many senses, it will affect the production of art because it has to become a lot more organised. Artists tend to be a bit haphazard and not kind of keeping track of the expenses they are incurring or accounting properly for production cost. Artists are very loose about keeping track of these things. It has to become more organised and the artists and players who market the art have to be more organised," Sengupta explained.

Kishore Singh, head of exhibitions and publications at Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) Modern, said demonetisation's impact will be "felt over some time".

"Art is not something you sell on a daily basis. There are two aspects to it: as an art collector and as an investor," Singh told IANS.

For art collectors and connoisseurs, money is no criteria for judging because people go to great lengths to pursue a work they like. These serious collectors who appreciate art will not be affected, Singh believed.

"As an art collector, when you are passionate and will go to great lengths to acquire a work of art and would strongly want to add to your collection, in that case money is no criteria for judging because people pursue art to great lengths and push to get it. I don't think they will be impacted. Pursuit and possession are ends in themselves," he said.

But for the people on the other side of the fence, the investors, Singh said they will be "sitting, waiting and watching".

"Art as an investment or purchase is such a minuscule activity in this country that its larger impact in terms of demonetisation will only be felt over some time, and by the time you would expect it to be felt I have a feeling the market would be improving in any case. What we have seems to be a short-term impact," he elaborated.

"If at all, there is going to be a minor hiccup," he said.

Auctions in the ongoing month, including Christie's, would indicate whether or not the market is slowing down, Singh said.

At the other end of the spectrum, veteran artist Shuvaprasanna Bhattacharya contended the move has already dented the "affordable art" category, due to the unavailability of cash, particularly small change, with the people.

"Not everyone can afford to go for the expensive collectors' items. People do buy art at fairs and that has taken a step back. If they wish to purchase something within Rs 500, they can't transact the deal with a Rs 2,000 note. Moreover, many such producers do not use point of sale devices," Bhattacharya told IANS, alluding to the recently-concluded art festival at ArtsAcre.

So, how about the growing trend of online galleries and the associated benefits of cashless transactions? Parsing through the situation, Sengupta remained skeptical of demonetisation boosting art online.

"Art is about experiencing the work first hand, unless and until you are simply trying to buy a signature piece and you are making an investment and you don't care what you want to hang on your wall. I don't know if this is going to boost it. Serious art buying doesn't happen that way," she said.

On the issue of black money in the business, and if demonetisation will actually be a nail in the coffin for the fly-by-night dealers, Bhattacharya asserted: "There is black and white everywhere. There are as many police officers as there are crooks."

Singh insisted one doesn't build brands by indulging in corrupt practices.

"Black money is not used to buy art. It is assumed that anyone who is a serious player and is in for the long term, they are concerned about the image they put out and you don't build brands simply by doing stuff like this.

"If there are the oddballs, fly-by-night operators and art dealers, I don't think it is fair to smudge everyone with the same brush," he said.

Sengupta expressed hope demonetisation will check counterfeits.

"It is bound to happen in the long run.. that is definitely going to disappear as a result," she added.

(Sahana Ghosh can be contacted at sahana.g@ians.in)

--IANS

sgh/ssp/vm/ky/sac
Ambassador Douglas Lute, U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO called for strengthening ties with partner countries in the EU neighbourhood including Morocco, which has been named a major non-NATO ally in 2004.

The US official, who was speaking to journalists in Brussels ahead of a ministerial briefing, said that NATO should work together with the EU to adopt a more cooperative approach towards partner countries in the EU neighbourhood citing notably, Morocco, Tunisia, Ukraine and Moldova.

On the turmoil prevailing in the EUs neighbourhood, Lute said that NATO should project stability beyond its borders. NATO appreciates the very simple fact that the more stable our neighbors, the more secure we are internally, he said.

So we have a responsibility internal to the alliance and we have a responsibility or role on NATOs periphery, and youll see both of these themes play out Tuesday and Wednesday, he added.

Last February, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow visited Morocco where he lauded the social, political and economic reforms that charted a course of stability and progress.
Country

United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
International rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch, called on Algeria to honor its commitments under the 1951 Geneva convention and to bring to a halt all mass deportations of Sub Sharan migrants.

The call was expressed in a statement released Friday after Algerian authorities rounded up more than 1400 sub-Saharan migrants in Algiers and deported them 1900 km south of the capital to the desert city of Tamanrasset, from which they were deported to Niger.

Sarah Leah Whitson, MENA director at HRW, condemned the Algerian authorities treatment of Sub-Saharans, saying that this is a mass and summary deportation of migrants, including men and women who may have fled persecution or have worked for years in Algeria, and would violate their rights.

The right of a country to control its borders is not a license for lawlessness, the statement quoted Whitson as saying.

HRW goes on to highlight that with these deportations, Algeria violates its commitments under the 1951 Geneva convention which forbids the expulsion of people who are fleeing persecution, as some of the forcibly transported sub-Saharans include some registered refugees and asylum seekers who are entitled to international protection.

The international rights watchdog also recalled the recent statements by the head of the Algerian National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Right, Farouk Ksentini.

In his racist statements tapping on abhorrent forms of xenophobia and stereotypes, the head of the consultative commission, a state institution that reports to the presidency, blamed Sub-Saharans for spreading diseases, including AIDS.

These diseases are commonplace in these communities, he was quoted as saying in the Algerian daily Assawt Al Akhar (The Other Voice.) He deemed that the presence of migrants and refugees in several regions of the country can lead to many problems for Algerians, HRW recalled.

Several Algerian NGOs have decried Farouk Ksentinis remarks as well as the deportation operation and the degrading detention conditions of the migrants in makeshift centers.

The Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH) said the more than 1400 people arrested before being deported include children, pregnant women, sick people, irregular migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees. They are all victim of this arbitrary and violent retention operation, and are detained in disastrous conditions, the Algerian NGO said in a statement released after the manhunt started on December 1.

The LADDH accused Algerian authorities of violating international standards relating to the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants and denounced the fact that the migration issue is managed exclusively by the police.

According to estimates, the number of sub-Saharan migrants in Algeria ranges from 60,000 to 100,000.
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.
As the core international group of oil exporters, OPEC announced last Wednesday the first production limits since the 2008 financial crisis. Cuts had long been debated but unrealized due to Saudi Arabias apprehension at losing global market share to alternative sources, particularly the growth of shale oil production in the United States.



While high production and export levels in recent years have slowed the growth of competition from the United States, it came at a significant cost to several member states who have realized economic turmoil and exploding debt levels as a consequence of a global oil glut and subsequent low prices. Leading advocates for the decision to limit output were Nigeria and Venezuela, who rely on higher prices per barrel for economic vitality. In the end, these production limits will bring about a clear set of economic winners.

The US shale oil industry

Shale oil producers in the United States have struggled under globally depressed oil prices in recent years. US shale oil production has fallen from 9.6 million barrels per day (BPD) in April of 2015 to 8.58 million BPD in September. Rising oil prices will once again encourage additional rigs to break ground given improving economic viability.

Iran

While the Arab states including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates will shoulder the bulk of the cuts, limits imposed on Iran actually exceed current production levels. OPEC agreed to impose on Iran an output baseline of 3.975 million BPD. Irans October output level of 3.7 million BPD was well below limits imposed by the Wednesday deal, allowing the state to actually increase output by capturing market share from Arab states curbing their production levels. Related: BP CEO Dudley: Well Double Our North Sea Oil Production By 2020

Since the collapse of the western sanctions in the wake of the April 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran has sought to recapture an international market for its oil exports. It has proved a fierce opponent to prior OPEC discussions on the limiting of output given the economic promise of export revenue and foreign direct investment in its energy infrastructure. OPECs concessions to Tehran in the Wednesday agreement accommodate its wishes to continue to exploit post-sanction energy export opportunities.

China

In 2013 nearly one quarter of all Chinese oil imports were from Saudi Arabia, making the Kingdom the single largest source of oil destined for China. Recognizing the vulnerability inherent in this high level of dependence, Beijing has since moved to diversify its energy sourcing.

Today, Saudi oil exports to China have fallen to 11.8 percent of Chinese imports, the lowest level since 2007. With Saudi Arabia realizing the most significant production cuts of the OPEC states, a reduction of 486,000 BPD, Beijing may be forced to accelerate its search for alternative energy sources, lost market share that Riyadh may not be able to regain in the future.



Nigeria, Algeria, Libya, and Venezuela

Each of these OPEC member states have suffered under long-depressed oil prices. With the glut of global oil production, each of these states faced difficulties in realizing returns on energy infrastructure investment and GDP growth from the industry. Specifically from Wednesdays agreement, both Nigeria and Libya are exempt from any production caps, affording them a great opportunity to benefit from rising prices. Each country has set a target of increasing production levels, a target that the OPEC deal has now made very achievable

Will the OPEC agreement last?

In a Friday speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, former Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi confirmed what was already known about the OPEC members, Unfortunately we tend to cheat.

While the promised production curb may help to balance a long-oversupplied oil market, maintaining OPEC member compliance with the terms of Wednesdays agreement requires that it remains in the best interest of each member state to do so. Some concessions were made to identify and mitigate any incentive members may have to break Wednesdays agreement. This can be seen in the concessions made to Tehran, allowing for a further increase in output. Related: Oil Markets Not Convinced OPEC Deal Can Kill The Glut

While Wednesdays agreement will initially benefit all OPEC members with higher per barrel pricing, it will likely become increasingly untenable in the medium to longer term. The question at the heart of whether Wednesdays agreement will endure is the geopolitical relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Saudi Arabias primary concern with not losing global market share, the driver of OPECs production policy since 2008, remains a key focus following Wednesdays announcement. But the Kingdom has agreed to disproportionate enough that it is sure to lose some of its market dominance in a number of export markets. As mentioned, this will likely be especially visible in China. The faster these losses mount, the faster Riyadh will rethink its position.

Compounding this potential loss of Saudi market share is the fact that one of the producers most likely to capitalize on this shifting export landscape is Iran. Saudi Arabia and Iran are currently at odds over a number of current conflict across the Middle East, including in Syria and Yemen and regarding Iranian-backed Shia protests in Bahrain. While in the past political concessions from Tehran have been baked into OPEC agreements in which Iran stands to benefit, those concessions are lacking in the Wednesday agreement. It is likely that these existing tensions coupled with Irans expansion of its oil export markets following the rollback of sanctions will continue to strain the Kingdoms commitment to maintaining the agreement in the longer term.

By Jon Lang via Global Risk Insights

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Arguably one of the big winners from the deal reached by OPEC on November 29 was the Islamic Republic of Iran. Following the end of the sanctions regime in January 2016, Iranian oil production expanded rapidly, growing from 3.5 million bpd to nearly 4 million bpd. Amidst analyst skepticism, including some well-founded doubts surrounding Irans existing reserve storage and capacity for further conventional production, the country has succeeded in doing just what it has intended: using the JCPOA, the nuclear deal reached last year with the United States and Western Europe, to recover its lost market share.

The OPEC deal permits Iran to increase production to 3.9 million bpd, well below the current level of 3.7 million bpd. The countrys boisterous oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, has in the past cited 4 million bpd to be Irans natural production level. Earlier in 2016, Zanganeh rejected the idea of Iran joining a production freeze until that figure was reached. The OPEC deal falls in line with Iranian ambitions.

Shortly after the deal, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, who faces re-election next year, said that Iran would be free to pump as much oil as it wanted, though he followed up this remark by calling for greater cooperation within OPEC.

The deal is a victory for Irans oil diplomacy. No other OPEC country is being expressly permitted to raise its production to a certain level, though several OPEC members such as Libya and Nigeria are exempt from the deal entirely. Irans geo-strategic and economic rival Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is shouldering a cut of nearly 500,000 bpd, which will bring its production level down to 10 million bpd. The discrepancy in what the Saudis gave up, and what the Iranians were able to win, is considerable. Rouhani and Zanganeh are rightfully celebrating the deal.

The question facing Tehran is this: what now? Where can Iran go from here? The future of Iran as a major producer hinges not just on changes in the market but on the policies likely to come out of the Trump Administration once it takes office in the New Year.

First, there is the nuclear deal, which is widely unpopular among Republicans and which President-elect Trump has vowed to rip up as soon as he takes office. Recently selected members of Trumps administration include Retired Army Lt. General Michael Flynn and Congressmen Mike Pompeo, who will be serving as National Security Advisor and CIA Director. Both are strong opponents to the deal. Retired Marine General James Mattis has been chosen as Secretary of Defense; he was removed from command by the Obama Administration for being too aggressive towards Iran. Related: Japan Importing Less Crude Oil; Gives Iran, Russia Cold Shoulder

Yet Mattis has reportedly opposed tearing up the nuclear deal, which would potentially re-impose U.S. sanctions on Iran, and measured analysis backs him up. The deal was not a unilateral American move but a decision made by the U.S. and five other nations, many of which have eagerly pursued closer economic ties with Iran since the deal was signed in July 2015. Even if the U.S. backed out of the deal, theres little chance of the other signatories following suit.

There could be an economic calculus involved: if sanctions were to be re-imposed, Iranian production would be squeezed and Iran could potentially lose market share, taking pressure off of prices and even aiding U.S. domestic production. Yet recent events indicate that Iranian leaders have considered this and Irans cooperation with OPEC in reaching the recent deal could show a certain solidarity among OPECs members concerning preserving something of the existing status quo. A report from the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy points to this scenario as a possible outcome of a Trump Administration decision to nix the deal.

As many analysts have pointed out, the deal is largely the result of a two-year long struggle between OPEC and American shale, with shale coming out on top. Should the Trump Administration, in a bid to boost American production by imposing limits on Iran, try to scupper the nuclear deal and bring back the sanctions regime, a response from OPEC, perhaps joined by the European signatories of the Iran deal, could be forthcoming. It would be economic warfare with oil as the prize; not a pretty scenario. Related: Trumps Energy Advisor Hamm: We Are So Much Stronger Than The Saudis

While the political maneuvering around the Iran deal is sure to be lengthy and byzantine, as the Trump Administration navigates its maze of campaign promises and policy commitments (many of which pit Trumps working-class economic nationalist populism against the free-market interest of U.S. businesses), one thing is certain: relations between Iran and the U.S. under the new administration are likely to be frosty. The decision of Congress to continue the existing sanctions regime elicited an angry response from Rouhani, who declared in a speech that the U.S. is still our enemy, we have no doubt about this.

Second, there is the state of the Iranian oil industry going forward. Last year, the chief problem facing Iranian ambitions to raise production was the decrepit state of Irans infrastructure and its aging fields. It was estimated that $150 billion in new investment would be needed for Iran to reach its desired 4 million bpd threshold and maintain that level going forward.

Since signing the deal, Iran has overhauled its oil contract system. In November, French oil giant Total SA signed a $6 billion deal to develop Irans natural gas, while a deal between Shell and Iran is currently being negotiated. If concluded it would give Shell the chance to return to Iran after a six year absence, and would open up the countrys Azadegan and Yadavaran oil fields, as well as the Kish gas field.

Iran possesses the worlds second largest natural gas reserves and fourth largest oil reserves. It also represents a large and untapped market for international capital, as the recent Boeing and Airbus deals to supply Iran with new aircraft (each worth about $25 billion) indicate. There is some sense that Iran is pursuing these deals while it still can, before a re-imposition of sanctions makes it impossible for U.S. businesses to make deals in Iran.

For most of the year, expectations that Iran could reach the lofty, seemingly-exaggerated heights set by Zanganeh and Rouhani swung between optimism and skepticism. With the OPEC deal in place, Iran can afford to be bullish. Should the U.S. decide to back out of the nuclear deal, a decision which due to the deals nature rests entirely with the President and his Cabinet, Irans future as a major oil exporter could become uncertain; but thats only if non-U.S. partners follow the American deal and refuse to buy Iranian oil. With Iran having recovered its pre-sanctions position with remarkable speed, and with an OPEC-backed mandate to maintain that level with impunity, the future looks bright for the Islamic Republic, even with a potential new foe in the White House.

By Gregory Brew for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Leaders who cannot summon or earn a majority of voters rule without consent, as defined in the Declaration of Independence, our founding Document. If we look back through the rearview mirror, we see examples like Hitler and Mussolini who could not win elections but grabbed power and then purged any opposition and banned real elections.

Bush II is another example of a leader who ruled after losing the popular election and therefore, by definition, lacked "consent of the governed." The minority can never represent the majority, and so the Electoral College, which will again reverse the election results, to choose the loser as winner, is a form of an institutional coup.

Overturning an election is a coup d'etat. It allows a minority to grab power from the majority, whether done through force or legally. "Everything Hitler did was legal." MLK. Slavery was legal, child labor was legal, and reversing the will of the People, which in the Declaration is the sole basis of legitimacy, has been legal since the slave masters (95%) who wrote the Constitution betrayed the founding principles of equality and consent.

Coup d'etat Saigon

Now, our next unelected (but rather selected by the misrepresentative Electoral College, where Montana has 3 1/3 times more voting power, per voter, than California..for example) ruler will take power without majority consent (and no other is possible) or a mandate, since over the RealClearPolitics average of polls show that Trump has approval of 40%, the lowest of any incoming President in our history.

Those who rule unjustly, ie without consent, must resort to force, intimidation, and propaganda lies to rule. We can recall Hitler's false flag operations burning down the Reichstag, staging a fake Polish attack on Germans, to justify started a war that killed 70 million.

We may recall the lies of Bush in justifying the destruction of Iraq, killing over half a million, mostly civilians. We may recall the long tradition of unpopular leaders starting wars "to rally the troops" and unify a nation their illegitimate rul s divided. And we may highlight that Trump, who ran partially as a neo-fascist, with racism and scapegoating and Big Lies about immigrants and Muslims, also ran as a partial "peace candidate."

The purpose of war, we have learned, is profits.

This fantasy of peace, ending all crime in our cities, and friendship with Russia is of course belied by his choice of radical neo-cons with the stated goal of bombing Iran and thus engaging its military allies, Russia and China (not to mention Iraq). Orwell had it right: War is Peace.

Randolf Bourne died before finishing his classic essay on The State, in which he says "War is the health of the State." This often misunderstood assertion deserves a closer look. Bourne distinguished the government (usually involved in in inter-party bickering) and the State, which stands with and against other States. He writes:

" What it(the State) has are of military origin, and in an unmilitary era such as we have passed through (this was 1918) since the Civil War, even military trappings have been scarcely seen. In such an era the sense of the State almost fades out of the consciousness of men.

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Jibreen Refugee Center, SW of Aleppo

Events as of 12/11/2016 are unfolding fast here while the shelling of East Aleppo continues unabated despite the repeated assurances of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, including yesterday on the sidelines of a European foreign ministers meeting in Germany: "I can tell you that today, combat operations by the Syrian army have positively been halted in eastern Aleppo because there is a large operation under way to evacuate civilians." The oft-promised ceasefire is to allow for the evacuation of civilians trapped in the battle zone according to Mr Lavrov who claimed some 8,000 people would be taken out on 12/8-9/2016/. Few here had much confidence in his words given all the false starts that produced nothing over the past year. Rebels in East Aleppo have also called for a truce to allow civilians to leave but both parties believe the other will use any pause to regroup for another round of fighting.

Moreover, despite Russian assurances, the bombing of East Aleppo has escalated as of 12/10/2016 after having eased for a few hours in the area. This morning a UN source emailed that 1000 people had been killed and up to 4000 injured during the past four weeks in the area under siege. During the same period rebel mortars have reportedly killed more than a dozen civilians in government controlled West Aleppo this past week.

Lavrov abruptly reversed himself on 12/9/2016 declaring that East Aleppo will continue to come under bombardment indefinitely and until there are no more rebels in the city. Announced Lavrov without taking reporters' questions in Hamburg: "After a humanitarian pause, (the strikes) have resumed and will continue for as long as the bandits are still in Aleppo." Lavrov told journalists meeting in Hamburg. This as his Ministry in Moscow claimed that 10,500 people, including 4,015 children have left eastern Aleppo in the past 24 hours. If so, there is no evidence supporting this statistics in the Jibreen Center SW of Aleppo where this observer is presently and where all who flee East Aleppo are immediately taken for "processing."

While Lavrov and Kerry are once more (12/10/2016) in discussions on this subject it's not clear if the Assad government will agree to a ceasefire other than on a surrender first basis. Some think it may have no choice in the matter given Russia's political and military influence here but others claim that Iran and Syria will reject any Russian agreement penned with the USA and the regimes goal is total "liberation" of all of Aleppo.

That will likely happen within days even as ISIS reoccupies Palmyra because Russian and Syrian troops were ordered to leave Palmyra because they were needed in Aleppo. Meanwhile, Jan Egeland, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Syria in Geneva, said the parties to the conflict were poles apart on agreeing the terms of a ceasefire and the five months of negotiations over aid plans had all failed and produced "nothing", adding that it was up to Moscow and Washington to agree a safe voluntary evacuation from east Aleppo.

Against this discouraging backdrop, most Syrian civilians fleeing East Aleppo are receiving some lifesaving aid from 12 Syrian volunteer student and civil society associations, UNICIF, WHO the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Russia, Palestinian volunteers from their own nearby refugee camps of Neirab and the camp-based Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) among a few others.

For political reasons, Russia is making the key decisions regarding which NGO's and which countries are allowed to participate in offering humanitarian aid to the fleeing civilians from the East. The message being conveyed by some Russian TV crews and journalists wandering the Jibreen Center grounds is that this is a Russian humanitarian undertaken (as was Palmyra and the Russian concert nice months ago in the ancient city's Amphitheatre and that the EU and US among others are not welcomed.

But despite political point-scoring maneuvers, arrivals from East Aleppo are being helped and Russia deserves credit for its medical clinic and some food distribution although as noted below, much more help is urgently needed.

What do Syrian citizens arriving from East Aleppo most need to survive?

What refugees fleeing East Aleppo are most in need of as of 12/11/2016 at the Jibreen Center and the nearby Cotton Factory shelter and well as the village of Hanano where many are being transferred to include but are not limited to those describe below. This summary is based on a three-day survey of residents and NGO's undertaken by two volunteers from the Beirut, Nice and Washington, DC based NGO, Meals for Syrian Refugee Children Lebanon (MSRCL) http://mealsforsyrianrefugeechildrenlebanon.com .

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From Truthdig

In this week's episode of "Scheer Intelligence," host Robert Scheer sits down with fellow USC Annenberg School for Communication professor Richard Reeves.

Reeves, a longtime journalist, recently published a new book, "Infamy: The Shocking Story of Japanese American Internment in World War II." Using this knowledge, Reeves examines the parallels between president-elect Donald Trump's rhetoric and that used to justify the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII.

Click Here to Read Whole Article
Readings for Third Sunday of Advent: IS 35: 1-6A, 10; PS 146: 6-10; JAS 5: 7-10; MT 11: 2-11

If Trump cabinet nominations are any indication, the president-elect will continue pursuing what have long been the GOP's two main domestic goals. They are eliminating labor unions and cutting social services such as Food Stamps and Medicaid. Even Trump Republicans (led by their groper-in-chief) will do so while at the same time invoking values they call "Christian."

Today's liturgy of the word shows that the GOP position flies in the face of the entire Judeo-Christian tradition expressing (as it does) God's special concern for the poor and oppressed.

More specifically, the readings demonstrate that the anti-poor policies of the Christian right are actually a slap in the face to Jesus himself. That's because (once again) in today's selections, the recipients of God's special concern turn out to be (in Jesus' words in our gospel reading) not just "the least." Rather, in their collectivity, they are identified with the very person whom our sisters and brothers on the right aspire to accept as their personal Lord and Savior.

The vehicle for today's version emphasizing Jesus' identification with the poor is a riddle. It's found at the very end of that reading from Matthew. Matthew has Jesus posing it by saying:

John the Baptist is the greatest person ever born. Yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John.

That leaves us with the question: How can this be? How can "the least" be greater than the one identified by Jesus himself not only as the foremost prophet of the Jewish Testament, but the greatest human being who ever lived?

In the context of Matthew's gospel, the answer is the following:

1. Jesus is the one far greater than John. (As the Baptist admitted in last week's reading from Matthew, John was not even worthy to loosen the straps on Jesus' sandals.)

2. But Jesus identified himself with "the least." Recall that in his parable of the last judgment (Matthew 25), Jesus says, "Whatever you did to the least of my brethren, you did to me."

3. Therefore the "least" as identified with "the greatest" (Jesus) is greater than John and should be treated that way -- as Jesus himself.

Riddle solved. The rest of today's liturgy adds the details as it develops the theme: recognize the least as God's favorites -- as Jesus himself -- and treat them as the most important people in the world.

And who are these "least?" According to Isaiah in today's first reading, they are the blind, deaf, lame, and mute. They are ex-pats living in exile. The psalmist in today's responsorial, widens the list by adding the oppressed, hungry, imprisoned, and immigrants. He includes single moms (widows) and their children.

In today's gospel selection, Jesus recapitulates the list. For him "the least" (who are greater than John) include the imprisoned (like John himself sitting on Herod's death row). They are (once again) the lame, the deaf, the mute, and lepers. They even include the dead who are raised to life by Jesus.

Do we need any more evidence to support the biblical authenticity of what Pope Francis continually references as God's "preferential option for the poor?"

Does the Christian Right believe the teaching contained in Jesus' riddle?

Well, maybe not. I mean, here's another riddle for you: How can Christians oppose labor unions and eliminate Food Stamps and Medicaid, while still calling themselves followers of Jesus?

Sorry: I can't help you with that one.
Reprinted from www.craigmurray.org.uk

I have watched incredulous as the CIA's blatant lie has grown and grown as a media story -- blatant because the CIA has made no attempt whatsoever to substantiate it. There is no Russian involvement in the leaks of emails showing Clinton's corruption. Yes this rubbish has been the lead today in the Washington Post in the US and the Guardian here, and was the lead item on the BBC main news. I suspect it is leading the American broadcasts also.

A little simple logic demolishes the CIA's claims. The CIA claim they "know the individuals" involved. Yet under Obama the USA has been absolutely ruthless in its persecution of whistleblowers, and its pursuit of foreign hackers through extradition. We are supposed to believe that in the most vital instance imaginable, an attempt by a foreign power to destabilise a US election, even though the CIA knows who the individuals are, nobody is going to be arrested or extradited, or (if in Russia) made subject to yet more banking and other restrictions against Russian individuals? Plainly it stinks. The anonymous source claims of "We know who it was, it was the Russians" are beneath contempt.

As Julian Assange has made crystal clear, the leaks did not come from the Russians. As I have explained countless times, they are not hacks, they are insider leaks -- there is a major difference between the two. And it should be said again and again, that if Hillary Clinton had not connived with the DNC to fix the primary schedule to disadvantage Bernie, if she had not received advance notice of live debate questions to use against Bernie, if she had not accepted massive donations to the Clinton foundation and family members in return for foreign policy influence, if she had not failed to distance herself from some very weird and troubling people, then none of this would have happened.

The continued ability of the mainstream media to claim the leaks lost Clinton the election because of "Russia", while still never acknowledging the truths the leaks reveal, is Kafkaesque.

I had a call from a Guardian journalist this afternoon. The astonishing result was that for three hours, an article was accessible through the Guardian front page which actually included the truth among the CIA hype:

The Kremlin has rejected the hacking accusations, while the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has previously said the DNC leaks were not linked to Russia. A second senior official cited by the Washington Post conceded that intelligence agencies did not have specific proof that the Kremlin was "directing" the hackers, who were said to be one step removed from the Russian government.

Craig Murray, the former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, who is a close associate of Assange, called the CIA claims "bullshit", adding: "They are absolutely making it up."

"I know who leaked them," Murray said. "I've met the person who leaked them, and they are certainly not Russian and it's an insider. It's a leak, not a hack; the two are different things.

"If what the CIA are saying is true, and the CIA's statement refers to people who are known to be linked to the Russian state, they would have arrested someone if it was someone inside the United States.

"America has not been shy about arresting whistleblowers and it's not been shy about extraditing hackers. They plainly have no knowledge whatsoever."

But only three hours. While the article was not taken down, the home page links to it vanished and it was replaced by a ludicrous one repeating the mad CIA allegations against Russia and now claiming -- incredibly -- that the CIA believe the FBI is deliberately blocking the information on Russian collusion. Presumably this totally nutty theory, that Putin is somehow now controlling the FBI, is meant to answer my obvious objection that, if the CIA know who it is, why haven't they arrested somebody. That bit of course would be the job of the FBI, who those desperate to annul the election now wish us to believe are the KGB.

It is terrible that the prime conduit for this paranoid nonsense is a once great newspaper, the Washington Post, which far from investigating executive power, now is a sounding board for totally evidence free anonymous source briefing of utter bullshit from the executive.

In the UK, one single article sums up the total abnegation of all journalistic standards. The truly execrable Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian writes "Few credible sources doubt that Russia was behind the hacking of internal Democratic party emails, whose release by Julian Assange was timed to cause maximum pain to Hillary Clinton and pleasure for Trump." Does he produce any evidence at all for this assertion? No, none whatsoever. What does a journalist mean by a "credible source"? Well, any journalist worth their salt in considering the credibility of a source will first consider access. Do they credibly have access to the information they claim to have?

Now both Julian Assange and I have stated definitively the leak does not come from Russia. Do we credibly have access? Yes, very obviously. Very, very few people can be said to definitely have access to the source of the leak. The people saying it is not Russia are those who do have access. After access, you consider truthfulness. Do Julian Assange and I have a reputation for truthfulness? Well in 10 years not one of the tens of thousands of documents WikiLeaks has released has had its authenticity successfully challenged. As for me, I have a reputation for inconvenient truth telling.

Contrast this to the "credible sources" Freedland relies on. What access do they have to the whistleblower? Zero. They have not the faintest idea who the whistleblower is. Otherwise they would have arrested them. What reputation do they have for truthfulness? It's the Clinton gang and the US government, for goodness sake.

In fact, the sources any serious journalist would view as "credible" give the opposite answer to the one Freedland wants. But in what passes for Freedland's mind, "credible" is 100% synonymous with "establishment". When he says "credible sources" he means "establishment sources". That is the truth of the "fake news" meme. You are not to read anything unless it is officially approved by the elite and their disgusting, crawling whores of stenographers like Freedland.

The worst thing about all this is that it is aimed at promoting further conflict with Russia. This puts everyone in danger for the sake of more profits for the arms and security industries -- including of course bigger budgets for the CIA. As thankfully the four year agony of Aleppo comes swiftly to a close today, the Saudi and US armed and trained ISIS forces counter by moving to retake Palmyra. This game kills people, on a massive scale, and goes on and on.
Mainstream media, for many years has been able to control the narrative and push their positions and the government's, which are, for the most part, one and the same. Most of the time a trusting public has been too busy trying to survive a weak economy, so they have not figured out they are constantly fed distortions, exaggerations, and sometimes outright likes. Cases in point follow. The US public bought into the government and media narrative, that Iraq had WMD, and consequently made war on Iraq which took at least a million lives for no legitimate reason. Many experts knew full well that the intelligence had been altered and shaped to meet the need of the media and government, but their voices were excluded from the debate by mainstream media. In the same way, third parties have been excluded from debates and exposure by mainstream media for years. Progressives such as Dennis Kucinich were marginalized by the corporate media, and in the past election, the voice of Jill Stein was muted by media.

The recent election, I suggest, overwhelmingly proves my point. In the early days of the primary Donald Trump was the media darling. His rivals cried foul because Trump was covered 24-7 by the corporate media, and rivals felt they could not compete with the free publicity and exposure Trump was given. Indeed, FAIR, a reliable media watchdog, calculated Trump received about 2 billion dollars' worth of free air time, proving the cry of foul by his rival's to be legitimate. Media did not care; Trump was so outlandish he was making money for the media moguls. At some point, however, media realized they created a Frankenstein, and quickly reversed their course. Trump instantly became the devil incarnate, and negative stories about him and his candidacy prevailed. The turning point developed when Trump announced he had no reason to fight Russia, and saw no reason why we could not peacefully work with Russia, improving relations for both countries, and therefore the world. Mainstream media, the corporate pro war voice, could not take this kind of insolence. Their narrative was Russia and Putin were a threat, and should be treated that way, so they turned their pens and cameras on Trump and tried to bring him down. Media promotes war. The New York Times with Judith Miller, helped lie us into a war with Iraq, and has been pushing us into a confrontation with Russia, along with the Washington Post. For two years, Russia has been blamed for everything, despite the absence of proof for any of the accusations. Russia had been thoroughly demonized by the media in the same way that Manuel Noriega, Muammar Gaddafi, and Saddam Hussein, had been demonized. The demonizing has proven itself to be the first step in setting the stage for war, and it appears with the complete vilification of Putin and Russia by corporate media, we are on the way to a war. A horrible thought.

Meanwhile, Trump won the election. Hate him or like him, give him credit for winning the election with the entire establishment against him. His own party would not contribute to his campaign, corporate media was solidly behind Hillary, and gave her a complete pass on the content of damaging e-mails from within her campaign. Media chose to gloss over the illegal Clinton team tactics of sabotaging Sanders, and focused on those nasty Russians. Almost every major newspaper endorsed the Clinton campaign, yet Trump prevailed. Corporate media was truly shocked; not that Trump won, but because they had lost control. They controlled the narrative, but lost control of the voters. The voters voted the wrong way! Make no mistake; this writer is not, nor will ever be, in the Trump camp, nor am I a Hillary supporter. I did not have a dog in this fight, so I watched it as an outsider or spectator, who saw things that others, who might have been emotionally committed, did not see. It is clear that media tried to promote Hillary, and was horrified that they had lost the ability to control the narrative and the public.

The "fake news "controversy is nothing more than corporate media's attempt to slander alternative media, because corporate media finally realized they lost control, and no one takes them seriously. By and large, people do not read newspapers, nor do mainstream news outlets and cable news have any credibility. Corporate media had to do something to regain control of the narrative, and they attempted to do so with the fake news nonsense, and with the assistance of their gal Hillary Clinton. They are trying to convince the public it is only they who can be trusted. This is an effort to recapture the public and regain control of the narrative. They are frightened and shocked; for the first time they lost control of the narrative. Their effort is akin to Chris Cuomo, CNN anchor, telling the US public it was illegal for them to read the contents of Wikileaks e-mails, and that only news outlets were legally able to read those e-mails. Cuomo entreated the public to let CNN interpret the emails, and tell you what is important. His amateurish attempt, made him a laughing stock. The fake news controversy is Cuomo's effort magnified tenfold. Trust us, and no one else, they suggest. Everything outside of corporate media is "fake", they insist.

How stupid does corporate media think we are??
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...
The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher,
Squeezed out of Twitter and other social media websites cracking down on hate speech, far-right activists are finding a home on a new platform that promises never to censor content.

Launched in August, Gab has become known as a safe haven for the "alt-right" movement dominated by the white supremacists who are helping fuel America's deepening polarization.

The social network currently has 100,000 members and another 200,000 on its waiting list, according to the company.

"All are welcome to speak freely," spokesman Utsav Sanduja says.

Gab is unable to accommodate all those who want to join, he adds, because it is still in its test phase.

The social network's rise comes amid Twitter's suspension of political activists for purportedly promoting racist and harassing comments.

One of the new "Gabbers," Richard Spencer, heads the white supremacist National Policy Institute, whose account Twitter has suspended.

Spencer, whose "Hail Trump" comments were seen as evocative of the Nazi era, joined the Twitter exile along with Milo Yiannopoulos, accused of fomenting a social media campaign against the African-American actress Leslie Jones.

Rising acrimony

Gab's appearance follows the launch two years ago of another free-speech labeled platform, Voat, which has had limited success.

But the new site comes amid escalating tensions and acrimony over politics in social media.

Some say the new guidelines for major platforms represent an effort to curb harassment and hate, others call it censorship.

Reddit, an online news and messaging board, announced last month that it would crack down on "toxic users" in an effort to curb some incendiary comments from supporters of President-elect Donald Trump.

"We have identified hundreds of the most toxic users and are taking action against them, ranging from warnings to timeouts to permanent bans," Reddit chief Steve Huffman wrote.

Gab meanwhile pledges no censoring or filtering, allowing users to post messages of 300 characters, compared to Twitter's 140-character limit.

Headquartered in the Caribbean island Anguilla, Gab is "bootstrapped," or self-financed, with some donations from the "Gab community."

Despite its user base, Gab denies having a political agenda.

"Gab is for everyone and our mission is to challenge censorship on a global scale," Sanduja says.

"Whether it is from authoritarian governments persecuting their own people, politically incorrect citizens engaging in peaceful and civil discourse or whistleblowers in establishment institutions seeking a safe refuge, Gab will always be there for them and the people."

Overtly racist

Although the platform's terms prohibit calls for violence or "terrorism," many messages on the site are overtly racist or anti-Semitic.

That reflects the belief of Gab's founders "that free speech is a fundamental right, one that is absolute and cannot be vitiated in any way," Sanduja says.

That means "a free exchange of ideas" on the site "without proscription."

Instead of censoring content, Gab enables its users to filter their news feeds by blocking messages with certain keywords or from specific users.

Sanduja points to the startup founders' backgrounds as a reflection of diversity.

He is a Canadian Hindu with roots in India. The other co-founders include Ekrem Buyukkaya, a Muslim of Kurdish origin, and Andrew Torba, the chief executive who calls himself a "Christian conservative."

However, that kind of symbolism does little to mollify the concerns of those worried that services such as Gab keep users inside "filter bubbles" that reinforce their own ideas and block out other viewpoints.

"The service that they have created is an echo chamber for extremely conservative opinions," says Lauren Copeland, associate director of the Community Research Institute at Baldwin Wallace University.

"It may be open to everybody, but it certainly doesn't appeal to everybody."

 2016 AFP
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Archived Results for Sunday, December 11th, 2016

Older Page 1
The word karoshi was invented in 1978 to describe an increasingly common phenomenon: Japanese workers, mostly the venerable salarymen, were dropping dead of heart disease in the prime of life. There was a reason it all happened in the 1970s. The shockingto the Japaneseand humiliating loss in World War II had caused the proud country to resolve to rise again. They couldnt rise militarily because the U.S. wouldnt stand for it, but they could do it economically.

As a result, working hardoften very hardat your job wasnt just something you did out of loyalty to your employer or even out of your own self-interest. It was a matter of patriotism, a way of helping to expiate the shameful surrender in 1945.

So just to do the math, if young men came out of school just after World War II and worked long hours for 20 years or so, they would begin dropping dead in the mid-1970s, which is when the word karoshi was coined. (I say young men because, even today there are few female equivalents of the salarymen. Only about 8 percent of managers in Japanese companies are women and they are referred to as career women, not salarymen, or, if they are lower ranking workers, as office ladies. In fact, most female Japanese workers are not on the career track at all (sogo-shoku) but on the non-career track (ippan-shoku, sometimes called the mommy track.)

In return for their hard work and loyalty, salarymen were offered lifetime employment, defined by Prof. Kazutoshi Koshiro as follows:

Workers become employed right after their graduation from school with a particular company. The employer will not lay off his workers if possible even in the course of depression. The employee in turn will not quit his job at this company but tend to continue working there until he reaches his retirement age.

It sounds good, but it set up a dangerous dynamic. Companies were encouraged to take advantage of their workers, knowing they were very unlikely to leave. And workers, for their part, had little choice but to work as hard as possible because if they quit or were let go it could be a very long way to the bottom.

The Japanese government defines karoshi as a death that occurs after a worker has worked roughly 60 hours/week for several months. I dont doubt that there are fragile peopleemotionally compromised, physically compromised, those with undiagnosed heart conditionswho could die of overwork after a few months of 60-hour weeks. But the first thought that came into my head was how preposterous this was: I hardly know anyone who hasnt worked at least that hard every week for the last 25 years.

My second thought, amusingly, went back even longer than 25 years. When I was drafted into the Army I become a military cop, we worked 12-hour days for six consecutive days, then had two days off, then switched from day to night shift (or vice versa) and worked another 72-hour week. As far as I know, every MP during the Vietnam Era worked these hours and thought nothing of it.

On one memorable occasion I was slated to go off duty at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning, having worked the night shift for six days. Unfortunately for me, that was the day President Nixon decided to visit our base. A few months earlier Id been brevetted to Sergeant (see note, below) and placed in charge of the Military Police Traffic Division. We were the soldiers who were working with the Secret Service to ensure that the President got onto and off the base in one piece.

So instead of going off duty on Sunday at 8 a.m., I simply switched to the day shift. Nixon arrived just after lunch and left just before dinner, but by the time we got everything squared away, got debriefed by the Secret Service, and turned in our after-event reports, it was after 9 p.m. I went off duty then, having just worked a 25-hour day and an 85-hour week.

But far from entertaining thoughts of karoshi, we considered ourselves lucky. After all, there were grunts in the highlands of Vietnam, and Marines on the mid-coast at Hue, who were working 24 hours a day, living and sleeping rough, and doing it all while under almost constant enemy fire. 72-hour weeks were cushy.

In other words, we werent unlike the Japanese salarymen in the decades after World War II. They were working hard for a cause far larger than themselves: erasing the humiliation of the recent war. And so were we. While a good many people back home were rooting for the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army, we were still giving it our best. The long hours worked meant almost nothing to us.

Its understandable that the Japanese would want to find a simple, numeric definition of karoshi, but the metric of hours-worked is wholly inadequate to explain the deaths of workers in mid-career. To understand those tragedies, well need to take a closer look at the phenomenon, which well do next week.

[But, first, a note on brevetting. Brevetting is a system used by militaries all over the world to saddle hapless soldiers with additional (often very heavy) responsibilities without paying them for it. Here is a simple, and common, example. An American force is engaged in a battle somewherelets say in Fallujah, Iraq. The commanding general is killed and so is his top deputy, a full bird colonel. The next most senior officer in the unitprobably also a colonelwill be brevetted to general, given a star, and put in command of the battle. But he wont be given a generals pay, and when the battle is over he will lose his star and go back to being a colonel again, replaced by a real general. In my case, though, I was lucky. Id been brevetted to Sergeant, E-5 (from Specialist 4th Class), but only until the Army could find a suitable non-com to take over the Traffic Division. After four months the Army gave up and promoted me to Sergeant with full pay. While Id been a brevet sergeant the men in my unit had called me Brev (though not to my face). It was only after my official promotion that they began to call me Sarge, which most of them still do, 45 years later.]

Next up: On Karoshi, Part III
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, now has a 14-and-3 general election political action score.

Stefanik, through her E-PAC political action committee, contributed $1,000 to Republican Brian Mast, who won an open House seat in Florida, and $1,000 to Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., who won re-election, according to a new post-election report the PAC filed with the Federal Election Commission. E-PAC also contributed an additional $1,000 to Rep. Barbara, R-Va., above a previous contribution.

Stefanik, through E-PAC, contributed $1,000 to Republican Denise Gitman of California, who lost a challenge to an incumbent Democrat.

Prior to the latest report, Stefanik's general election political action score was 12-and-2.

E-PAC received $14,035 in contributions between Oct. 20 and Nov. 28, and spent $10,932.

E-PAC had $18,362 on hand, as of Nov. 28.

Contributions during the period are as follows:

$4,000 from Darwin Deason, chairman of Deason Capital Service;

$5,000 from KPMG, which also has contributed $5,000 to Stefanik's re-election campaign;

$5,000 from Lockheed Martin Corp., which also has contributed $10,000 to Stefanik's re-election campaign.

E-PAC is a separate entity from Stefanik's re-election campaign.
There is an innate wisdom and mystical power to animals and nature.

Consider the way a storm whips up over a mountain range without warning, the way it rains on one side of the street but not the other, the forever sun of Alaska or the way the fragile Monarch butterfly travels up to 120 nautical miles a day on their often treacherous journey to Mexicos Oyamel fir tree forests.

Or what about the knowing, ancient look in a cats eye, the offbeat cocked head and raised ear of a dog or the gentle nudge of an 18-hands-high Irish jumper?

When Susan Hamlin was a toddler, she got on the floor with her dachshund puppy, Strudel, and from that moment on, she understood her world through Strudels eyes.

I never saw him as different from me, said Hamlin, an animal communicator and Reiki Master in Saratoga Springs.

Time and time again, the animals in her life led her to see the world from their eyes.

She tells the story of a family trip to Ontarios Georgian Bay for vacation. I had this goldfish named Hot Rod, and I had to bring him with us, his bowl and all, she said in an interview Tuesday. He (Hot Rod) decided he wanted to swim in the Georgian Bay. I put his bowl down, he swam in the water and came right back.

Hamlin said all animals, including humans, are born with the ability to communicate in ways that go beyond spoken language. And 20th-century nature writer Henry Beston said animals are not underlings, but rather nations unto themselves.

This communication knows no distance, Hamlin said, adding that she works with animals and humans around the world. As humans re-discover how to listen and speak using all our senses, we experience the sheer joy of feeling as one with our animal friends.

And for as long as she can remember, Hamlin, who has helped racehorses, dogs, cats, fish and humans, said she sees the world from this deeper understanding.

I have learned that the animals are teachers, she said. Working with animals changes your understanding on a deep level; we arent the only intelligent beings with emotions, and that makes life richer.

In recent years, a growing body of scientific evidence has recognized the healing power of the human and animal connection. And as global research continues, early research studies have found that people living with animals exhibit increased longevity, lowered blood pressure, less depression and less anxiety.

In one study, older individuals living with either a dog or a cat were able to perform physical activities like climbing stairs, bending, kneeling and preparing meals better than those who did not have an animal in their life.

This healing connection is mutual, Hamlin said.

The same way animals help humans heal, humans heal animals. Its all about opening your heart and listening to what the animal is trying to say, not what you want them to say, she said.

This is a conversation with the animal, coming from a pure, clear intention, she said. Its a trust thats built over the years. Animals are looking to trust.

The holy days of the earth

This time of year  the December holy days of many cultures and beliefs  is a time of coming together and supporting each other, said spiritual healer Jana Mason.

We bring gifts of light, gifts of community, said Mason, the founder and director of Heron Brook Haven, an earth-based healing and learning center that holds a nonprofit status as a natural earth-based hospital in Pawlet, Vermont.

Even the gifts of the magi, frankincense, myrrh and gold all bring healing and light, she said.

When you bring a Christmas tree into the house, the evergreen, it is to help us see that life goes on, she said Wednesday morning during an interview at Heron Brook Haven. In many older cultures, the reindeer and Santas sleigh were symbolic of what the shamans rode into the spirit world.

On a side note while talking about reindeer, Mason said that because male reindeer lose their antlers right after mating season in late fall, Santas reindeer must be female because they retain their antlers until their calves are born in spring.

Mason, a certified holistic counselor, has studied and trained with the clan mothers and earth medicine for more than 13 years and like Hamlin is a Reiki Master.

Communication with the spirit world, the land and animals can happen in many ways, she said.

People have forgotten we are animals too, Mason said. We have separated ourselves from it.

If an animal comes to you, they are offering you their medicine, she said. What is it they are showing you? We need to pay attention, listen and watch.

Dogs represent unconditional love. Can we offer that to each other? Mason asked.

Still, she cautions that we often try to humanize our animals and try to change them instead of letting them be what they are.

And like Hamlin, Mason also works with people and animals who need healing.

I let the animal lead the way, she said.

Mason said that we are all given gifts and abilities and when children talk about imaginary friends or color a picture of a dog blue, we shut down their imaginations by saying, You cant do that, dogs arent blue.

Instead of letting the magic live, we shut it off, she said. Animals and kids are so much more open to healing. Weve lost a lot of our senses  the systems we have in place dont allow people to discover who they are.

Mason continued.

In this whole magical time of year, people give and come together. Why cant we do it all year long? she said. When you are more open to nature, more open to an animal, to a dream or to a flower, it creates more room for more magic. Its time to change the way that we connect.

A childs wonder rekindled

Just as Hamlin saw the world through the eyes of her dog as a child, disconnected children are learning the joys of stillness and listening to the sounds of nature.

It is innate to all human beings, and then we often put it aside, said Hamlin about an inner connection we all have to animals, nature and each other. If you have the opportunity to be in true quiet and listen to the world around you, it is like coming back to who we are, our own true nature. Some come back to it later in life, some children never give it up  were all interconnected and coming from a place of love.

About five years ago, Douglas Lerch, a marriage, family and child therapist in Oakland, California, founded Seeds of Awareness and the Fiddleheads program to help children heal in nature. Lerch talks about the rise of technology, autism, mental disorders and social anxiety among children.

It was becoming apparent that children needed more support to thrive, Lerch said in an interview Friday. I knew by my own growth and healing that nature and mindfulness were important and wanted to bring that to children.

The Fiddleheads program is a nature immersion after-school program that works with parents and children  with the help of licensed therapists and counselors  to enhance their connections with their bodies, their inner world, peers and nature, Lerch said.

We have to allow children to undo the aloneness and shame they feel, he said. Being in the setting of nature, it allows the children to feel safe and it facilitates a connection with their inner world. Nature is a very safe and nurturing container to build relationships with one another.

The 10-week program starts each meeting with a circle ritual that might include songs or games, and while in the circle, as it always does, nature takes over.

We might have the blessing of a hawk or a bobcat scurrying by, Lerch said. They get to build a relationship with the land and they count on a certain tree to be there and the tree always shows up for them.

Most of the children in the program  ages 5 to 12  live in urban settings, and many of the parents have no way to get their children into nature. As part of the program, the children learn how to play and imagine.

They might do an appreciation circle in the woods, a scavenger hunt or a blindfold walk. They are finding their way through nature and hike to the creek bed and play creatively together, Lerch said. They create worlds with imaginative play. Joy emanates from them. They love being free. Its like coming home.

With all the technology and electronic devices and cellphones, the children are in an alien world, he explained.

They finally get to be free. There is a deep evolutionary connection that we have with nature, he said. It comes from a deep and ancient and primordial place. This play allows them to be alive. This is the antidote to technology and the disconnect that happens.

According to Lerch, they are working on evidence-based research, but surveys of parents show that 90 percent of the families noticed positive changes in their children who originally came to the program to avoid pharmaceutical solutions.

Im amazed to see the results from a little seed that was planted and to see how it has grown, Lerch said.

Hamlin said that if the animals could tell us just one thing, they would just say, stop.

Stop overthinking, we make it harder than it is, she said. Oftentimes animals come into our lives to help us with our hearts  the animals want to give us the gift of learning to trust our hearts and to honor our shared space on this earth.

In the words of Beston from The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod:

In a world older and more complete than ours, they (the animals) move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.
MOREAU  The Route 9 sewer project hit a snag this week when the final report was filed at Town Hall.

One of the costs for the district was missing, Supervisor Gardner Congdon said.

At issue is a charge for using the existing sewer main, which the district would use to carry its sewage to Glens Falls.

The entire town paid to build the main because leaders hoped it would spur development in the industrial park.

Unfortunately, the park still has just one user.

Many residents are now hooking onto the pipe from apartments built nearby. Congdon pushed for those residents to pay an extra charge for the use of the main pipe, as a way of paying back the town.

Normally, property owners pay for all infrastructure related to their sewer district. Its rare for an entire town to pay for the construction of a sewer line.

The Town Board agreed to assess a charge of $20 a month per user for seven years, which would pay back the cost of the pipe. The money will go into the general fund, which is also the fund that was used to pay for the original pipe.

But it wouldnt be fair to charge the apartment users for the pipe and not charge the residents of the new Route 9 district, who are also using the pipe, Congdon said.

This was not welcome news to town officials, who have been trying to reduce the cost of the district in hopes of getting it approved by the residents. Its also not easy to predict the cost, because its based on an ever-changing number of users. Many more apartments are being built and hooked to that pipe, and as more users are added, the cost per user goes down.

But the town must offer an estimate, Congdon said.

If we dont provide accurate numbers, I know this town well enough. They will reject it, he said. My concern is for the public to feel confident that when we project costs, that includes every cost theyre intended to pay.

The cost could be as high as $68 per year for about five years. But it could be lower, if hundreds of apartments that are in the works are built and occupied during the next 18 months. The Route 9 sewer district wont be operational until July 2018.

In addition to that cost, the report estimates that each property owner will pay $526.80 each year. That assumes that the town does not get a zero-interest loan, but the town is pursuing that option now.

For those who opt out of the district, the charge would be $382.10 for 30 years. Thats the cost of paying back the $22.9 million loan to build the district, which every owner in the district must pay, even if they do not choose to accept sewer service.

The Town Board will hold a public hearing on the district at 7 p.m. Dec. 20 at Town Hall. At the hearing, the board may decide to adopt the district and set up a referendum vote, to be held next February. Only property owners in the district can vote.

The district is heavily vacant, with 1,000 acres of commercial land but only 105 property owners. Thats 78 percent of the district. Most of the occupied land is residential, with 925 houses on 241 acres. Thats 19 percent of the district.

There are some indications of septic system failures within the district. A survey of 252 property owners on Route 9 in 2009 reported that 24 owners had septic tanks much smaller than the Department of Health standard. Ten property owners said they couldnt flush with every use, and eight said their system backs up into their house at times.

The typical system lasts up to 15 years, according to the engineers who wrote the report. But 78 of the septic tanks were at least 20 years old, and 34 of them were more than 30 years old. Twelve were more than 50 years old.

If the public approves the district, construction would take about two months, in the summer of 2018.
When Lynn Shanks first heard about the Jan. 21 Womens March on Washington, she figured her organizing skills would help her fill a bus or two with people from the greater Glens Falls area.

Instead, she filled five, and there was a sixth added over the weekend.

The organizing of more than 75, 55-seat buses from northeastern New York leaving from 19 cities and towns, was started by Mary Anne Asta of Woodstock and includes departures from Saratoga Springs, Albany and other towns in the Hudson Valley. Many of the buses are already sold out.

Lynn is more than just a local organizer for us, Asta said. Shes really thrown herself into this.

The event has grown organically, especially through Facebook. The focus is on a peaceful march to oppose the policies and comments of Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated the day before.

I think the great thing is the way its been growing so much without a lot of national public awareness, Shanks said. I think its important, as men and women, that people from all races and walks of life go so we can be one unified voice. Its about womens issues, but at the same time, its not. Its about human rights.

The national organizing group found out late last week that it will not be allowed to gather at its preferred site, the Lincoln Memorial. Another site has been chosen, but it has not been announced.

The protest is expected to be the largest inauguration protest since 1972, when an estimated 60,000 people marched against Richard Nixon, protesting the war in Vietnam.

The buses will be leaving Saratoga Springs at midnight and are scheduled to arrive in Washington, D.C., at 8 a.m. Jan. 21. They will then leave at 6 p.m. and are scheduled to arrive back in Saratoga Springs at 1:10 a.m. Jan. 22. Again, they are sold out. Its too bad we cannot get more buses, Shanks said. This is going to be big news.

While the event is billed as a womens march, it is open to all.

Local women who are planning on attending the march said in interviews they have serious concerns about the upcoming Trump administration.

When the result of the election was apparent a deep feeling of unease and dread crept over me, like nothing I felt before after an election, said Beth Mabie of Chestertown.

I became frightened at the serious possibility this new administration would eviscerate the hard fought rights of women to have freedom of choice over their reproductive health, but not only that, turning back the clock on marriage equality, gender equality, and frankly no one should feel frightened to worship they way they want, she said.

About a week after the election, I learned about this march from a family member and by the end of day I had a ticket, Mabie said. My birthday is Jan. 20, inauguration day. This year I turn 50 and I so strongly disagree with the decisions the man being inaugurated is making that I bought myself a birthday present, a bus ticket so I could be in Washington the next day and be a part of the Womens March on Washington. I want to let this new administration know how I really feel.

Others have similar reasons.

I am extremely concerned about the rhetoric of divisiveness and hate speak in our recent presidential election, Theresa Blanchard of South Glens Falls said. I march to support all people marginalized by the words and deeds of those who would cause pain and hurt to others.

Natalie Nugent of Glens Falls is going and said she would protest more if she could.

Im going because I love all people and I think good people will be hurt and suffer because of Trumps hateful statements about Mexicans, Muslims, lesbians and gays and others, she said. So I am going to give voice to a different way of looking at others. Look at the North Dakota Pipeline he will OK that as soon as he can. Oil companies profits are more important than clean water. I could go on and on. I would protest every week if I could.

Like many others who are going, Shanks said she has felt something needs to be done since the morning after the election.

When I woke up the day after the election, and I realized what the new world was going to be like, I knew I had to do something, she said. What I like is that this is going to be a peaceful march. Its not a protest. Its not a Hes not my president kind of thing. We are demonstrating for something, not against.

Shanks said Saturday that the group has managed to find one more bus for the trip. That bus will be leaving from Saratoga and tickets are still available at $85 per seat.

We still have a high demand in our area, she said.
QUEENSBURY  Corey McKeighan felt uneasy, but there was little he could do.

The Queensbury resident long had concerns about a Warren County Family Court order that allowed his ex-wife to take their then 3-year-old son to her parents home in Russia for a three-week visit.

His former wife, Olga McKeighan, had taken Xavier there once before, and returned as agreed. Still, knowing the vastly different world and dubious legal system abroad, McKeighan had a bad feeling about what could go wrong.

On Aug. 28, Xavier and his mother flew to her family home in Siberia, the return trip scheduled for Sept. 16.

The day before she was to bring Xavier back, Corey McKeighan got a phone call from his ex-wife. He said she told him they werent coming back, and he would never see his son again.

McKeighan has not spoken to his son since. He is in a legal stalemate three months later as his young son lives thousands of miles away in a foreign land and the local court and criminal justice systems struggle to figure out a way to help him.

He missed his sons 4th birthday on Sept. 19 and is heartbroken at the prospect of not seeing his boy for Christmas, either.

He worries that his son thinks he abandoned him and has no understanding of what happened.

Its a big mess, McKeighan said. Im trying everything I can, but it just seems like nobody can help.

Workplace romance

Corey McKeighan met Olga when the two worked together at a restaurant in Lake George. She came to the area as a seasonal foreign worker and a relationship sprouted that led to an eight-year marriage. She moved to New York City after they divorced, and Corey McKeighan had physical custody of his son.

Xavier is autistic and had been doing well at Prospect School in Queensbury, but McKeighan said the services available here dont exist in the city of Krasnoyarsk, where Olga McKeighan took her son. He visited his ex-wifes family there five years ago when they were married.

Im really worried about him. Its no place for a 4-year-old autistic boy, he said.

The U.S. State Department was arranging in recent weeks to have the U.S Embassy do a welfare check on Xavier, but McKeighan said he had not heard the results.

Olga McKeighan refuses to respond to phone calls or other attempts to reach her. The only phone number McKeighan has is for her parents home, and her mother answers the phone when any American calls, yells in Russian and hangs up, he said.

Corey McKeighan said acting Family Court Judge Jeffrey Wait brokered the custody agreement that allowed her to take his son to Krasnoyarsk, a city of 1 million people in the Siberian province of southeastern Russia.

He has mulled taking the law into his own hands, but knows that could make a bad situation worse.

Unfortunately, I just cant go there and try to bring him back. I will wind up in jail, or worse, he said. She (Olga) told me it wouldnt go well for me.

Legal system

The case is now before Judge Paulette Kershko, as McKeighan seeks full custody of his son. The process began Oct. 11, and McKeighan is awaiting a ruling on how his ex-wife can be served with paperwork in Russia. Being granted full custody could help legally if he can find assistance abroad.

Warren County Sheriffs Lt. Steve Stockdale said the Sheriffs Office is investigating a missing person report filed by McKeighan, and depending on what becomes of a Family Court case, may be able to file criminal charges against Olga McKeighan. A parent who takes a child without permission could be charged with misdemeanor or felony custodial interference.

Xavier McKeighan is considered a missing person and as such he would be detained should his mother try to enter another country with him, Stockdale said.

But there is no ability to force her to return Xavier, or extradite her from Russia to face whatever criminal charges could be filed, Stockdale explained. And charges could be a double-edged sword that deter the mother from returning voluntarily.

Unfortunately, theres not much we can do at this point, he said.

The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction is a compact between 75 nations who agree to return children to their custodial parents in these situations, but Russia isnt a treaty partner with the U.S., according to the State Departments website. McKeighan said he is hopeful that President-elect Donald Trump can improve relations with Russia so the countries will abide by the treaty.

McKeighan has been in frequent contact with federal legislators, including U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and they have been good at keeping the U.S. State Department involved, he said.

Virginia Elliot, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State, said the agency was trying to help McKeighan, but she declined to give specifics.

We are aware of this international parental child abduction case. We are providing all appropriate consular assistance, she wrote in an email. The Bureau of Consular Affairs, along with our embassies and consulates, works with parents and foreign governments to try to resolve these difficult cases. Generally speaking, in cases involving international parent child abductions, a U.S. embassy or consulate can facilitate contact with local authorities, provide information on local judicial and law enforcement processes, offer a list of attorneys and translators, and issue passports or other travel documents as appropriate under U.S law.

McKeighan, though, said the efforts have not led to much progress. He is trying to hire a lawyer with experience in similar international cases, possibly in Russia, but hasnt been able to come up with the money needed.

A page on the online fundraising website Go Fund Me has been set up to help McKeighan with legal fees. Updates on the situation can be found on Facebook at Bring Xavier Home.
We learned this week that the life expectancy of the average U.S. citizen is one month less than it was a year ago.

Merry Christmas to you, too.

I surmise that fast-food eating habits and reality television programs are the causes, but you could make a case that the most recent presidential election took at least a year off the lives of every man, woman and child in this country.

The Centers for Disease Controls annual report  I wonder if their logo is a skull and crossbones  calculated there were 2.7 million deaths in 2015, and that the number of deaths is increasing. There were 86,000 more deaths in 2015 than there were the year before.

So if youve got an adult college graduate living in your basement, Ive got two words for you  mortuary school. Its a growth industry.

The death increase is really not a surprise to me. Ive been told on more than one occasion that the only thing keeping my newspaper around is the obituaries, which on most days are flourishing.

Ive reached the age where from time to time  daily  I wonder how much time I have left.

The bucket list has become a living, breathing document for me.

Im a planner.

I make lists.

And Ive got things to do before the CDC adds me to their list.

CDC projections actually give me more time than I thought I had  16 years, 7 months. According to CDC averages, my demise will come sometime in June 2033, most likely a little before midnight after writing the final of the 1,600 columns that are hopefully still to come.

I find this remarkably comforting considering how far away 2030 seems, but I suspect I might feel differently at the 2033 New Years party.

But then again, if life expectancy numbers continue to drop, my days may already be numbered.

The average man is expected to live to 76 years, 3  months, while the average women will hang around until she is 81 years, 2  months.

What is of some concern is why life expectancy went down this past year. It had been trending upward consistently since World War II.

I suspect some will blame Obamacare.

Or technology.

Twice before  1980 and 1993  life expectancy regressed. A particularly bad flu season was blamed in 1980 and the AIDS epidemic in 1993.

There does not appear to be an obvious reason for 2015.

Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death followed by cancer, but suicides are number 10 and continue to rise.

You might be surprised to learn that all the developed countries in Europe have much higher life expectancies than we do, as does Canada, by several years.

Is it the wine and beer they drink?

Healthier food?

I think its because they get three times more vacation time than we do.

Ken Tingley is the editor of The Post-Star and may be reached via email at tingley@poststar.com. His blog, The Front Page, discusses issues about newspapers and journalism. You can also follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kentingley.
National and state leaders looking for a way to stimulate the economy and strengthen the country for the future should cast their eyes downward, at the infrastructure that keeps the water we need flowing into our homes and businesses, and the water we have used flowing out.

A seemingly endless supply of clean, fresh water, piped into our homes, and a sanitary way to pipe out the wastewater is one of the great technological achievements of modern human society. Imagine what life was like in Victorian-era London, where millions of people lived  the poor without water to wash and just about everyone in close proximity to human and animal feces in the parks, in the streets and in cesspools located in the basements of houses.

We arent going back to those days, but overflows from the municipal systems during hard rainstorms, which can end up dumping untreated sewage into waterways, are a regular occurrence in the local area. Meanwhile, as reporter Kathleen Moore detailed in a Page 1 story last Sunday, aging water and sewer systems represent hidden but inevitable disasters for numerous municipalities that do not have anywhere near the money needed for full-scale replacements of their pipes.

Unfortunately, in many local communities  and we assume this is true across the state and country  money has been collected for operating the sewer and water systems but not for a regular schedule of pipe replacement. Out of sight, our pipes have gotten older and weaker, so that now, many communities have been forced into doing replacements on an emergency basis.

Undertaking a system upgrade one broken main at a time is an expensive way to go, not to mention the inconvenience and risk to users who can have their water supply cut off or be forced to boil water for drinking and cooking.

Although water and sewer bills are already high in many communities, municipal leaders are going to have to start budgeting for capital upgrades. In recent years, the city of Glens Falls has been accomplishing a little at a time  replacing one neighborhoods pipes here, one pumping station there  which is much better than doing nothing.

The state and federal governments also have to contribute to this effort. Roads draw more attention and bridges get a lot of press, but our water and sewer infrastructure is just as critical to our survival, if not more so. We have seen in Flint, Michigan, where the health of a generation of children was compromised by lead contamination, the way a failure to maintain a water system can lead a community to the brink of collapse.

Protecting our children against the poisoning of their drinking water is a matter of national security, if anything is. President-elect Trump has spoken about wanting to invest billions in infrastructure. If he means it, this would be the right place to start.

Even if federal funding does not come, the state can do a lot. Its not as if Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been shy about throwing money around. Unfortunately, the governor has a preference for splashy projects like the Buffalo Billion, which focuses on green energy; or the new Tappan Zee Bridge, which will cost almost $4 billion.

That kind of money, used for competitive grants and low-interest loans to municipalities, could go a long way toward making sure New Yorks local water supplies are safe.

Just this week, we learned that several water infrastructure projects in Washington County did receive money  in the hundreds of thousands of dollars  in the latest round of Regional Economic Development Council funding. Thats a great start.

This isnt only about pipes. As we saw in Hoosick Falls, this is also about detecting and preventing industrial contamination. The public water supply in Hoosick Falls was contaminated by PFOA, a chemical determined to be hazardous to human health that was used by the Saint-Gobain company to make non-stick coatings.

Ensuring the water supply is safe and clean in every community will require local, state and federal participation. We almost never think about water until something goes wrong. That is a great luxury and one that, with some forethought and attention, we should be able to continue to enjoy.

Local editorials represent the opinion of The Post-Stars editorial board, which consists of Publisher Terry Coomes, Editor Ken Tingley, Projects Editor Will Doolittle, Controller/Operations Director Brian Corcoran and citizen representative Tim Robinson.
Flight Training - Astronaut John H. Glenn in the cockpit of a T-106 preparing for training exercises in flight proficiency. Click image to expand.

Climb Aboard - Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., pilot of the Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6) space flight, enters the Mercury "Friendship 7" spacecraft during the MA-6 pre-launch preparations at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Click image to expand.

NASA Profile of John Glenn

Launch of Shuttle Discovery on STS-95 Mission - As if sprung from the rolling exhaust clouds below, Space Shuttle Discovery shoots into the heavens over the blue Atlantic Ocean from Launch Pad 39B on mission STS-95. Discovery carries a crew of six, including Payload Specialist John H. Glenn Jr., senator from Ohio, who is making his second voyage into space after 36 years. Click image to expand.

John Glenn's Dress Rehearsal - Rehearsing for his historic flight on February 20, 1962, Mercury program astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. works in a cramped training capsule preparing for his voyage through space. Click image to expand.

Today, I pay my greatest respects and deep appreciation, as I celebrate the life of a wonderful patriot, and a Democrat at that ... When was the last time I had this opportunity?This tribute is for a true American patriot ... a super patriot - Senator John Glenn, Ohio.Future Senator John Glenn was a World War II warrior as a Marine pilot in the Pacific, and when that was not enough; there was Korea, flying the early jets over enemy skies. And when that ended, he was one of the first jet test pilots, just after the Chuck Yeager class of those super brave test pilots, who broke the Sound Barrier and beyond.And when flying these early planes more than 4 times faster than those fighter prop planes that were catapulted off those early aircraft carriers was not enough, he volunteered to be one of the first 7 fighter pilots to be shot into space in a veritable tin can.May God grant perfect peace to the "Clean Marine".He was one of our greatest Americans, and if all Democrats were like John Glenn, I would stand in a long line to sign up to be one myself. What a great guy. What an inspiration to us all as such a great man.Our nation is far better for having him as that brave, quiet leader of men, and hero to young boys like me.Glenn was described asby Trevor Brown, dean of the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State University, in a statement joined by the Glenn family.Glenn will always be remembered as the first American to orbit the Earth during those tentative, challenging, daring days when humans were just beginning to venture beyond the atmosphere that had nurtured them since the species began.While Glenn's flight on Friendship 7 was a glorious national triumph, problems arose that could have spelled disaster. The first was a failure of the automatic control system.A scheduled 30-minute test to determine whether Glenn could fly the capsule manually became a matter of life and death when the automatic system went out at the end of the first orbit.Glenn recalled later. He had been confident he could do it.Another problem seemed even more serious -- telemetry indicated the spacecraft's heat shield was loose. It seemed possible that Glenn and the spacecraft would be incinerated on re-entry. Much of the world held its breath.Glenn left the retrorocket pack in place to steady the heat shield during re-entry.he said. Big chunks of the burning material came flying by the window.He wasn't sure whether the flaming debris was the rocket pack or the heat shield breaking up.he told an interviewer,John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio. He attended primary and secondary schools in New Concord, Ohio. He received a bachelor of science degree in engineering from Muskingum College in New Concord.Muskingum College is among nine colleges or universities that subsequently awarded him honorary doctoral degrees.Glenn entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Program in March 1942. He graduated and was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1943. After advanced training, he joined Marine Fighter Squadron 155 and spent a year flying F-4U fighters in the Marshall Islands. He flew 59 combat missions during World War II.After the war, he was a member of Marine Fighter Squadron 218 on the North China patrol and served on Guam. From June 1948 to December 1950 he served as an instructor in advanced flight training at Corpus Christi, Texas. He then attended Amphibious Warfare Training at Quantico, Va.In Korea he flew 63 missions with Marine Fighter Squadron 311. As an exchange pilot with the Air Force Glenn flew 27 missions in the F-86 Sabre. In the last nine days of fighting in Korea, Glenn shot down three MiGs in combat along the Yalu River.Then-Senator Glenn joined the STS-95 Discovery crew in 1998, becoming the oldest person to fly in space at 77.
Welcome Guest! You Are Here:
No other holiday, is remembered with the same magnitude, as Christmas. Christmas has so many more details and the older you become, the dearer and clearer, the memories seem. I am not old yet, but I am well on the way-at least far enough, to know that there are some memories, I hold in my own heart, that bare little resemblance to Christmas, as it is now.The Christmas season was well defined, just a few decades ago. when I was a child. Other than a birthday, a child never expected presents- of course shopping was different altogether. The butchers' shop held no allure for me , nor the seafood market. The A&P sold food and the hardware stores sold tools and fertilizer-and these places were our regular stops. In my earliest memories, commercials were for tonics and tobacco, for grown folks. I just never had a notion to think about toys, til just before Christmas, when the Sears & Roebuck catalog came in the mail.One does not need to be as old as me to remember that event. The Christmas edition had a section of toys. Mama gave us an ink pen to circle our favorites, so Santa Claus would know. I always chose a doll-not a Barbie, but a doll baby. Little girls loved their dolls a long time ago. I think it is much easier to love a doll, when you have just one. My doll family grew slowly over childhood. They were my children. They played under the grapevine with me in July and said their prayers at night. They had to nap when I was away and they got sick in the winter.Usually, Santa brought real glass tea sets. My sister, knocked my first tooth out with a tiny cup that had delicate blue flowers on it. There was always a game or a puzzle, fruit and nuts. We woke to the smell of fruit and knew Santa had been. I asked mama about this, when I grew up. She said, when she was young, apples and oranges were only available during the Christmas season in the grocery stores and so she had kept the practice, because of her memories. I like that, and so I buy fruit at Christmas too-enough that you smell it, all over the farmhouse. I can not say the same for the nuts. I remember my sister and I working with a hammer for the longest time to crack the shells of those nuts. We smashed our fingers and broke the cinder blocks we used to crack them on. When we finally got one open-well, it was just a nut-and not as good as the pecans we were used to.Christmas trees were cedar and fresh cut. I remember Daddy would find them and keep his eye on them for years, til they were big enough. Most often, they would have a "bad side, which we turned to the wall. I clearly remember, the year grandmama decided to get a "modern" tree. We went over to see it and were speechless. It was called an "aluminum tree" and was silver with bright blue ornaments. It folded up and came in a box. I thought it was the most unnatural thing I had ever seen-and it probably was. I remember thinking, that it must have come from "Hawaii" which was the furthest place away, I knew of and I reckoned things were different there.We always went to church on any given Sunday, but at Christmas, we sang the carols. It was my favorite music of the year-it still is. I wondered why we could only sing them at Christmas. We sang them a Sunday or two, only and we never had time to sing all of them. Thankfully, my aunt Agnes could play the piano . Her music was lively and unlike the church music. She smiled and sang while we stood by the piano, mesmerized. When we sang "Joy to the World", we meant it! She always had cakes and pies on the "deep freeze" and she cooked as well as she played the piano. Little elves lived at all my relatives' houses and Aunt Agnes' house was no different. If I dared hurried while in a house-as if I MIGHT run, an elf saw me every time-because mama saw them. She could describe them with full details down to what they were wearing-because I always asked.The simplicity of the Christmases past, does not make them less memorable, but instead more so, I realise. Maybe, being a child, is all it's cracked up to be and no matter how much we strive for a bigger version, we do not hinder the truest form of Christmas Spirit-but I will buy fruit anyway this year, as my mama did- and I will tell Lyla. . ."Once upon a time, people were grateful for apples and oranges."
Flying recently at 5,500 feet in a small propeller plane with a student at the controls, Ben Bulcher spotted a black speck out of the corner of his eye and got a sinking feeling.

It could have been a bug pressed against the windshield, but just to be safe the flight instructor had the student descend. And in those first few seconds as the little plane descended toward the Eastern Montana desert, the speck grew wings and then took on the shape of a B-1B bomber, screaming overhead about 1,000 feet above him.

Its moving fast enough that it goes from a speck to an airplane in a couple seconds and then theyre over you, Bulcher said. I tried to take my phone and take a picture but as fast as they were going, it was over.

The bomber returned, this time flying within 100 to 200 feet of Bulchers small plane. The instructor got his student safely on the ground at Baker Airport, and then filed a near miss-report with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Its been a little more than a year since the U.S. Air Force began using a West Virginia-sized training area  the Powder River Training Complex  covering Eastern Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. The range stretches from just 50 miles east of Billings to 50 miles south of Bismarck, N.D.

Pilots and ranchers living beneath the airspace say their relationship with the Air Force has been turbulent, even dangerous, since the training area went into effect. In Baker, where the bombers, which can fly in excess of 550 mph, are about to be cleared for flights as low as 500 feet above the ground, things are testy.

Theyve been flying high and now they want to get down to 500 feet, said Roger Meggars, who flies oil pipeline routes at low altitude out of Baker. It will shut me down if they do.

The risks of running into a B1-B bomber while flying at low altitude with one eye to the ground is just too much, said Meggars, who also manages Baker Airport and rebuilds Super Cub airplanes.

Baker isnt a quiet airport, Meggars said. There are 7,000 operations on its runway per year. It hasnt been successful in its attempts to keep bombers flying high.

The Air Force isnt looking for permission to fly bombers at 500 feet, said Rachel Allison, chief of public affairs for the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base. The permission has already been granted for bombers taking off from Ellsworth just north of Rapid City, S.D.

More than half of the airspace extends down to 500 feet above ground level and this area includes that over Baker, Montana, Allison said. However, the FAA has implemented communication requirements to ensure that the Air Force has the ability to recall aircraft in emergency situations.

The Air Force may begin those low flights over Baker in the spring.

The lack of communication about bomber flights has private pilots nervous in the Powder River Training Complex. The region is broken into four parts, each spanning a hundred miles or more. Private pilots are notified when each area will be active, but not exactly where the bombers might be. A bomber in area two could be somewhere between Billings and Gillette. For private pilots, its flier beware.

If something happens in a military operations area, its our fault, Bulcher said. If they get in our way, its still our fault. It doesnt matter in an MOA.

The communications required to greenlight the bombers for 500 feet flights over Baker, would inform the Air Force when an emergency flight was passing through a training area, so bombers could stand down. It wouldnt inform private pilots, who in these parts fly at 500 feet to check on cattle and crops.

In this part of the Montana, where grass is so sparse it might take dozens of acres to keep one animal alive, many ranches have a plane tucked away in a rusting metal building beside a flat stretch of ground.

Scot Robinson is one of those rancher pilots. On his place 45 miles southeast of Miles City he keeps a Super Cub in a small hangar along with an old Ford tractor and small cement mixer.

Theres a foil pie tin on the floor beneath the Super Cubs motor to keep its leaking fluids from staining the hangar floor. Its no B-1B, but the little two seater is good enough to fly Robinsons 33,000 acres to find a lost calf or shoot coyotes.

I had my near miss with a B-1 bomber several years ago. I dont want another one, Robinson said.

Bombers have been flying over the Robinson ranch for decades. The property is located in an older and much smaller bomber training area thats been folded into the PRTC.

Aside from the rare bomber crash, the Air Force and the cowboys in this High Plains Desert have gotten along, Robinson said, but the relations have been tense since the bomber flights have dropped to 500 feet, or even lower.

From September of 15 to the end of May 2016, they were in here quite a lot and they were quite low, well below 500 feet, Robinson said. I know that for a fact because Ive seen then fly below the ridges and the ridges are about 250 feet.

At night bombers have flown low enough over Robinsons daughters house to light the yard with the B-1s pulsing strobe.

The family has recorded video of B-1s flying just above the ridgeline. The Air Force has told the Robinsons the familys altitude estimates are off.

Robinson said the stress the low flights puts on his calves causes them to lose a few pounds. The industry term for the weight loss is shrinkage. And at six pounds lost per animal, and fancy calves selling for $1.63 a pound, the losses spread over several hundred animals, adds up.

His neighbor's calves were injured, a few died, when a low flying bomber spooked the newly weaned animals and they attempted to charge through a steel corral.

I put in a claim for 1 percent shrinkage, Its probably closer to 3 percent. Theyll probably deny it, Robinson said.

It can be hard to square the Air Force version of events with the publics version.

Bulchers near miss, according to the Air Force, wasnt near at all, with the planes never closer than 500 feet and both pilots flying away from each other.

While I understand that an aerial encounter with a B-1 while it is in the midst of training maneuvers can be an alarming sight, the civilian pilot involved acknowledges that he was aware that he was flying in an active MOA, responded Col. Gentry W. Boswell, commander of the 28th Bomb Wing.

The colonel goes on to say Bulcher has a poor understanding of private pilot's responsibility during a training exercise.

Baker has been waiting a year for a meeting with the Air Force to discuss community concerns, but the Air Force has repeatedly rescheduled.

Currently, theyre not supposed to be below 12,000 feet. Theyre bringing it down to 500 feet, Meggars said. Theres people mad enough around here, there will be bullets dancing around their windshields. Some of those crusty farmers and ranchers are crazy enough to do it.

The bomber complex shields Ellsworth Air Force Base from base realignment and closure. The Air Force has said Ellsworth needed air space for B-1 bomber training. Meggars said the training area exists because of lobbying by U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

Folks in Baker say Montanas congressional delegation hasnt matched Thunes zeal for Ellsworth.

Last week, the Air Force cancelled a public meeting in Baker. The meeting was canceled for bad weather, but that same meeting, first promised more than a year ago to U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., has been postponed many times, angering locals.

The promised Baker meeting has been postponed for several reasons, Allison told The Gazette. The most recent cancellation on Nov. 30 was because of weather. Daines canceled an earlier meeting because several people couldnt attend.

Ellsworth has been in continued communication with Sen. Daines' staff and Baker officials to plan an event that meets the scheduling needs of all parties, and the requests of residents and stakeholders in the area, according to Allison.

Montanas congressional delegation was initially opposed to the Powder River Training Complex. In 2014, the delegation wrote the Air Force asking that Eastern Montana concerns about the bombers be addressed before the training area opened. Some changes were made, but lawmakers were still disappointed when the flight area opened in January 2015.

In April, Daines secured approval for next generation radar at small airports working without radar in military flight areas.

Im committed to ensuring that Air Force hears the concerns of the community and maintains an open dialogue. There needs to be more communication, transparency and accountability from the Air Force to keep the Baker airspace safe, Daines said in a written response Dec. 2.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., was aware of the Nov. 30 meeting and planned to send staff members until the meetings cancellation, according to Dave Kuntz, Tester's press secretary. Last December, Tester was able to, through a bill amendment, require the FAA to coordinate with the Defense Department to make sure the Air Force complied with the rules of the PRTC.
Spoken word performances from Colorado poet Goodwin.

For DECADE, an exhibition and series of events celebrating 516 ARTS 10th anniversary, 516 ARTS and Outpost Performance Space present SHOUT-OUT Redux: We The People, an evening of spoken word performances that revisits our SHOUT-OUT Festival organized by Idris Goodwin for STREET ARTS: A Celebration of Hip Hop Culture & Free Expression (2010). This year we are teaming up with Beyond Poetry LLC to welcome back Goodwin, Hip Hop poet and playwright from Colorado, who will perform a new piece created in response to Chaz Bojorquez painting We The People on view at 516 ARTS to continue the collaboration they did when Bojorquez painted a mural in response to Goodwins words. SHOUT-OUT Redux: We The People explores the role of artistic expression in the new political climate. The day after the presidential election, Goodwin says, In this political context, what do justice and liberty look like? How are we going to take care of each other? His new piece created for this event explores a futuristic alternate universe and the levels of consciousness that are different from the majority in this country. Known was the godfather of Los Angeles graffiti, the world renowned Bojorquez felt that We The People was perfect piece to show now in the current political environment. He says, I painted this after I came back from exhibiting in Washington at the Smithsonian. The globe represents the world, and as a humanity we are a majority people of color. In the background are the words and typeface We The People from the Constitution of the United States. The flames are the first part of the Constitution that states In order to form a more perfect union.... Even though we as a country are always trying to become a better society, a perfect union is very hard to achieve; thats why its on fire and non tangible.
If you havent visited the Billings Career Center lately, you havent seen how this unique high school has grown to serve nearly 900 students, most of whom attend Senior, Skyview or West part of the day. The school on Central Avenue is serving about 250 more students this year than last.

Dual-credit classes have been added and now total 13. Welding students can earn nearly a full semester of college credit before high school graduation. One metal fabrication class is building locker parts for NASA.

Engineering and biomedical classes that opened to sophomores last year now offer four years of study, so freshmen were able to start enrolling in August. A new EMT class trains high school seniors to become state certified.

Virtually every class is full with students excited by the hands-on learning and real world experience they can get at the Career Center.

Last Tuesday, about 20 Billings business people and three lawmakers got a look at changes that Billings Public Schools has made in career and technical education in collaboration with local business partners and advisers. Thanks to Rep. Kathy Kelker, D-Billings, and Reps.-elect Sue Vinton and Jimmy Patelis, both Billings Republicans, for participating in the legislative forum. Lawmakers who werent at the Career Center still need to know whats happening with career and technical education.

This is not the CTE of the olden days, said Greta Besch Moen, school board chairwoman. Its is a vast array of programming  that creates lifelong learners.

Students who complete two or more CTE classes are much less likely to drop out of high school than other students. The graduation rate for Montana CTE students is nearly 98 percent, compared with a rate of just over 91 percent for all students. CTE includes computer, business and consumer science courses at Senior, Skyview and West.

Cost is a major challenge for expanding CTE and staying up to date. Classes must meet industry and professional standards for safety and instructors. A school cant simply cram more students into a class.

The 2015 Legislature increased CTE funding by $1 million per year to be shared by 153 high school districts statewide. The funding boost doubled the amount Montana had been spending. It was proposed in a bill sponsored by Rep. Don Jones, R-Billings, who teamed up with Billings Superintendent Terry Bouck to move Montanas CTE investment a bit closer to that of our neighbor states.

In a letter to lawmakers before the 2015 session, Bouck noted that Montana had by far the lowest CTE funding in an eight-state region at $22 per student. Wyoming, South Dakota and Utah have been allocating well over $200 per student. North Dakota spent over $400 and Idaho nearly $600. Washington spent $1,166 per student on CTE in 2012.

Bullocks budget proposes level funding in CTE for the upcoming biennium. The Billings school board has voted to request that the 2017 Legislature increase statewide CTE support by $1 million in each year of the 2018-2019 biennium.

This incremental increase can be justified by the payoff already seen from CTE over the past two years. Students are learning what they need to know to meet Montanas growing labor force demands.

Bouck plans to discuss CTE funding this week with Jones and Rep. Kelly McCarthy, D-Billings, who will be vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

The budget is tight, Jones told The Gazette by phone from Helena last week. Its going to be pretty tough to get more money for CTE, but we might be able to do it. Jones will chair the joint subcommittee on education appropriations.

We encourage Montana lawmakers to support CTE funding, and call on Billings area legislators to again be leaders. At the Career Center, we can see how well CTE works.

Growth and retirements will create 32,500 job openings in Yellowstone County within the next 10 years, according to Brittney Souza of Billings Works at Big Sky Economic Development. Lets make sure todays students are ready for those jobs.
Read more: Election 2016

In his Instagram post, John wrote, "Don't let Ghana down and don't let Africa down".

He also tasked the new government to continue with the development projects, His Excellency, John Mahama has begun. "Ghana is already on the path of great economic transformation: please don't let those who voted for you down".

Read more: Celebrity Feud

Read the full post below.

When the sun comes up in the morning, it changes the Colour of the sky....

Fellow Ghanaians, our democracy was tested a few days ago and we became victorious as a nation. We have come out stronger and hopefully it will make us better. At the end of the day, Ghana has won and we will continue to be the beacon of hope in Africa. To my president HE John Mahama, it was an honour joining you on your campaign trails, you have done a lot in the last 4 years and your legacy will forever live on. You are a great man.

To our President-elect Nana Akuffo Addo, Ghanaians have spoken and it's you they want. Ghana is already on the path of great economic transformation: please don't let those who voted for you down. Don't let Ghana down and don't let Africa down. Congratulations Sir".

The 32-year-old actor took to Twitter on Friday to congratulate Nana Addo ahead of the final presidential results announcement by the Electoral Commission (EC).

Read more: Election 2016
The former Nigerian leader who lost in last year's election in his country also hailed President John Mahama's acceptance of the results, saying he displayed maturity and patriotism.

In a statement, Mr Jonathan said: I am immensely proud of the maturity and high patriotism displayed by President John Mahama who has just conceded to Mr. Nana Akufo-Addo, Jonthan wrote on his official Twitter page.

Some may erroneously think that President Mahama lost today. Not at all. Not at all. He has gained honour that will never depart from him.

I congratulate Mr. Nana Akufo-Addo and urge him to immediately begin the process of reuniting the nation of Ghana.

I also urge him to appreciate the great strides and achievements of President John Mahama when that time comes.

To accelerate the growth of the economy, all Ghanaian irrespective of political divide should be involved."

READ MORE: Electoral Commission declares Nana Akufo Addo as president elect

Akufo-Addo secured a decisive mandate in Wednesday's vote over incumbent Mahama to become the 5th president in the fourth republic.
Family caregivers are an invaluable part of our state. More than 118,000 family caregivers provide about $1.4 billion in unpaid care. Their commitment allows loved ones to stay at home, with their families in their own communities as they age.

As the state director for AARP here in Montana, I believe that we owe a huge debt of gratitude to this silent army of family caregivers who quietly go about taking care of their loved ones. That is why AARP is strongly supportive of the Montana Caregiver Act bill, sponsored by Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Forsyth.

The Montana Caregiver Act is a common-sense solution to help those caring for their loved ones so they can live independently, as well as help provide assistance and education to the over 118,000 caregivers that work tirelessly throughout the state.

This bill ensures that family caregivers have support as their loved ones go into the hospital and as they transition home. Key provisions of the bill include:

Designating and recording your name on the medical record of your loved ones as the primary caregiver.

Informing you when your loved one is to be discharged to another facility or back home.

Giving you education and instruction on the medical tasks you will need to perform at home, like managing medication or changing bandages.

This proposal is a win-win  caregivers will be more confident and competent, and hospitals will have better medical results and face fewer financial penalties when fewer patients are readmitted with complications due to inadequate home care. As a result, many hospital associations in states across the country, including neighboring states, have supported similar measures. We hope our hospital association will join us in supporting Montanas caregivers.

Since many caregivers have the responsibility of a full-time job, along with caring for loved ones, care giving becomes a very stressful and time-consuming responsibility. By eliminating some of the stress that comes with being a caregiver and providing assistance with hospitals and their transition back home, this bill will allow for caregivers to free up time for themselves as well as their loved ones.

This is increasingly important as many caregivers dedicate so much time to caring for their loved ones that they forget to care for themselves. They push aside much needed relaxation and me time needed to allow them to focus on their own health and well-being, both of which are essential when it comes to being a caregiver. The Montana Caregiver Act can help caregivers be better at care giving, as well as focus on keeping themselves healthy.

If passed, Montana will become the 34th "state" (including Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) to enact this type of legislation. AARP Montana encourages you to reach out to your legislators and ask them to support the Montana Caregiver Act, sponsored by Rep. Custer.
The statement, signed by the party's acting general secretary John Boadu, called on the Police to arrest the perpetrators while urging it supporters to desist from the terrorising opponents.

It said: "We condemn in no uncertain terms these distasteful occurrences, if true, and wish to state that NPP will not condone or sanction such actions. "We urge the Ghana Police Service to enforce the laws of the land, and bring to book any person, irrespective of their political affiliations, found to be perpetrating acts of violence against any person."

The police had earlier warned the NPP supporters that they will be arrested and prosecuted.

The attacks followed the Electoral Commission's declaration of Nana Akufo-Addo as the president-elect.

Many of supporters celebrating the victory have gone about it in a peaceful manner except some few cases of acts of vandalism and violence.

President John Mahama has also expressed disappointment at the inability or the unwillingness of the leadership of the NPP to call their rampaging supporters to order.

A statement signed by Communications Minister Dr Edward Omane Boamah said supporters of the NPP are attacking Government installations across the country.
A statement signed by the Supt. Cephas Arthur, Police PRO, said: "It has come to the attention of the Police that some people are attacking supporters of NDC in various parts of the country.

"Furthermore, there are reports of excessive jubilation by NPP supporters across the country.

"Consequently, the Police are calling on the general public, especially, supporters of the NPP to desist from engaging in any acts that will violate the rights of other people and also breach the peace prevailing in the country after the polls.

The Police also cautioned "those who are engaging in acts of vandalism and rowdism to desist, as Police officers who have been deployed to maintain law and order will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute those who break the laws of the land."

President John Mahama has also expressed disappointment at the inability or the unwillingness of the leadership of the NPP to call their rampaging supporters to order.

A statement signed by Communications Minister Dr Edward Omane Boamah said supporters of the NPP are attacking Government installations across the country.
"I believe that those who are going against the idea of competitive politics, electoral politics, are fighting the tide of history in West Africa and in the general African region," Akufo-Addo told AFP in an interview.

He hit out at leaders clinching to power, saying "what is taking place in The Gambia is unfortunate."

He also hailed the consolidation of democracy in the Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

A week after conceding defeat, Jammeh on Friday declared he no longer accepted the results of the December 1 vote, upending hopes for a peaceful political transition after his 22 years in power.

In a speech broadcast late Friday, Jammeh, 51, cited "unacceptable errors" by election authorities and called for new polls.

"In the same way that I accepted the results faithfully believing that the Independent Electoral Commission was independent and honest and reliable, I hereby reject the results in totality," he said.

"Let me repeat: I will not accept the results based on what has happened," he added.

Jammeh pointed to that polling error, claiming that numerous voters had not been able to cast their ballots.

"We will go back to the polls because I want to make sure every Gambian votes under an electoral commission that is impartial, independent, neutral and free from foreign influence," he said.
SPDCs General Manager, External Relations, Mr Igo Weli, made this known at the 2016 Graduation and Award Ceremony for 100 beneficiaries of its LiveWIRE programme in Port Harcourt.

Weli said that the 100 beneficiaries would join about 6,350 youths who had been trained in enterprise development and management since the programmes inception in 2003.

According to him, LiveWIRE programme is designed to contribute to economic empowerment and job creation for Niger Delta youths in SPDC host communities.

Today, a new pool of 100 young men and women from Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states will swell the ranks of the privileged that have over the years satisfactorily benefited from the programme.

Twenty one of the beneficiaries in this batch have chosen businesses that contribute to providing energy solutions and 14 others will be engaged in technology-related businesses.

Seven beneficiaries have chosen start-ups in social enterprise while the rest will be engaged in whole and retail, agricultural, manufacturing and telecommunication businesses.

We will also support the beneficiaries through a period of mentorship and help them access funding opportunities from financial institutions to nurture their businesses, he said.

Weli, who spoke through Mrs Gloria Udoh, SPDCs Manager, Social Performance and Investment, said that aside training and funding, the programme also assisted youths to draw up their business plan and ideas.

He said that out of 6,350 Niger Delta youths who had benefitted from the programme since its inception, 3,213 had received start-up tools and grants to establish their businesses.

Weli added that no fewer than 70 per cent of the beneficiaries are successful business owners across different industries.

Similarly, thousands of people over the years had been employed by trainees who graduated from the LiveWIRE programme, he said.

Also speaking, Mr Emeka Unachukwu, the President of Develop You, an entrepreneurship mentoring organisation, urged beneficiaries to engage organisations to mentor and guard them in their businesses.

He said that mentorship was very important in the development of start-ups, especially considering current economic realities in the country.

Beneficiaries must learn from others who had gone into similar businesses to avoid failure.

Most start-up businesses collapsed not for lack of access to funds but because they did not engage the services of mentors in their businesses.

There are lots of tricks associated with every business and mentoring organisations expose these tricks to enable trainees grow their businesses successfully.

Unachukwu advised the beneficiaries to set business target and seek equity investors to finance their businesses to grow, especially businesses high capital intensive businesses.
The carol, which has become a permanent fixture in the annual calendar of some of Nigerias most influential people, will kick off at 7 pm and last till late evening to give music lovers ample time to enjoy themselves.

Top American hip-hop group, Cameo, which sang the global hit, Attack me with your love,has confirmed participation as the headline act of the night of glitz, glamour and music.

The audience will have opportunity to relive the good old days with the monster hits of this group, such as "Cameosis", "Thank God its Friday," "Attack Me With Your Love," "Real Men Wear Black," amongst others.

Internationally-acclaimed Juju maestro, King Sunny Ade will be adding colour and panache to the event with his performance. The organizers of Ovation Carol planned to use the event to commemorate his 70th birthday.

The trio of Globacom brand ambassadors, Nabania crooner, Flavour, Katapot exponent, Reekado Banks and Korede Bello will also perform at the event.

ALSO READ: Ovation Set To Paint Ghana Red

Nollywood great, Richard Mofe-Damijo and the delectable Dala Oruwari, are billed to compere the carol which will feature other wave-making artistes including saxophonist, Olu Jazz.

The sponsor of the show, Globacom, in a statement released in Lagos on Tuesday, said Nigerians would not forget the 2016 Ovation Carols in a hurry with the eclectic blend of carols, pop, rock and blues, electro and hip-hop that would kick-start the Yuletide celebrations.
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The motorcyclist was killed when he collided with a tipper on Sunday, December 11, 2016.

LIB reports that the tipper driver who was reportedly in the wrong was quickly apprehended by passersby in the area and beaten to a pulp during his attempt to run away.

He has since been handed over to the police following his jungle justice treatment.

In a similar occurrence, a bride-to-be was reportedly killed in a motorcycle accident while sharing wedding invitations one month to her wedding.
The fired was said to have started at about 3:00 am from the top floor of the building, and spread through other floors due to the late arrival of the state fire service men.

The Director of the Edo State Fire Service, Agbonlahor Franklin, told newsmen that the service did not respond swiftly to the incident due to lack of adequate equipment.

He appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to assist the fire service in cases like this.

ALSO READ: Edo will become prosperous in 3 years - Obaseki

However, the state Governor, Godwin Obaseki, who visited the site on Sunday, has said the claim that the fire service lacks equipment will be investigated, as well as the cause of the fire.

Obaseki said: "This incident happening at this time of the year is a catastrophe.

"I have asked for written report and investigation into the cause of the fire.

"We will also investigate the claim by an official of the state Fire service on the allegation of lack of equipment.

"Because I understand that trucks were distributed by the NDDC and the State Government during the last administration."
LAS VEGAS (AP)  Two sons of Nevada cattleman Cliven Bundy refused to attend, and several co-defendants shouted an oath of defiance at the end of a Friday court appearance for 17 men accused of conspiring and taking up arms against federal agents near the Bundy ranch in Nevada in April 2014.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen decided not to order marshals to bring Ammon and Ryan Bundy to court by force, so the two Bundy sons remained in a nearby holding cell. Marshals were instructed to provide a speaker so they could hear audio of the court proceedings.

Another defendant, Peter Santilli, blurted out that the Bundy brothers didn't want to be shackled. Leen admonished Santilli that he didn't get to speak on their behalf.

So began a contentious three-hour hearing during which the judge didn't make immediate rulings on a range of arguments, including the government's request to have three trials and defendants' requests to be tried together or in groups of their choosing.

Trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 6. Leen called it "physically and logistically impossible" to try all 17 defendants together, and suggested it would be unfair for a 17th defendant to have to wait months or years to resolve his case if they were tried individually. She said she'll issue a written scheduling order soon.

Leen also is considering multiple requests to dismiss charges; a plea for a change of venue to Reno or another city; a suggestion that federal officials shredded documents that would be relevant to the case as they packed up and left temporary offices near Bunkerville; and Cliven Bundy's lawyer's insistence that the federal government has no jurisdiction in Clark County.

Santilli's attorney argued that he's a journalist, and that his calls in Internet postings for supporters to rally to the Bundy ranch to lawfully carry guns and protest federal Bureau of Land Management action were constitutionally protected free speech.

At least two defendants, Montana resident Ryan Payne, and Scott Engel, stood the moment court was adjourned and loudly declared, "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God!"

Another defendant, Peter Santilli, chimed in that he expected that when Donald Trump becomes president, he'll intervene in the case on the defendants' behalf.

Several people among about three dozen family members and friends responded with words of love and support as they filed out of the courtroom gallery under watchful eyes of U.S. marshals.

The protest-by-absence of Ammon and Ryan Bundy echoed the refusal by their father last March to enter a plea to federal charges that he led the tense armed standoff that stopped a government round-up of cattle on public land about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. A magistrate judge entered a not-guilty plea for him.

No shots were fired, and no one was injured in the standoff. But images of Bundy backers with assault rifles on a freeway overpass forcing federal agents to back off in a dry river bed below have become iconic in an ongoing battle about states' rights and federal authority.

That dispute has roots a nearly half-century fight over grazing rights in Nevada and the West, where the federal government controls vast expanses of land. Calls for action have grown louder and more frequent in the Internet age, with bloggers protesting federal agency decisions to designate protected areas for endangered species and set aside tracts for mining, wind farms and natural gas exploration.

The Bundy case defendants face conspiracy, obstruction, weapon, threat and assault on a federal officer charges that could get them decades in prison if they're convicted. They and two others who have pleaded guilty in the case remain in federal custody in southern Nevada.

Federal prosecutors want three trials, with the first to start Feb. 6 for accused conspiracy leaders Cliven, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, Payne and Santilli.

A second trial would start in May for six alleged "mid-level" standoff leaders and organizers: Bundy sons Dave and Mel Bundy, Brian Cavalier, Micah McGuire, Joseph O'Shaughnessy and Jason Woods.

A third trial would begin in August for six accused "followers and gunmen." They are Gregory Burleson, O. Scott Drexler, Todd Engel, Ricky Lovelien, Eric Parker and Steven Stewart.

Woods' lawyer, Kristine Kuzemka, protested Friday that labeling defendants as "gunmen" is unfair because it suggests guilt or culpability.

Leen said a description used for now, during pretrial proceedings, might never be suggested to a jury.

Burleson's attorney, Terrence Jackson, asked again for the judge to consider releasing his client before trial for medical reasons.

Jackson said Burleson, 53, of Arizona, is blind, diabetic and uses a wheelchair.

Burleson told Leen he isn't getting medical treatment in federal custody.

"I don't want to end up dying in here," he said.
This is contained in a statement signed by the managing director in Abuja.

In the statement, Ekere expressed sympathy to the Head of the Church, Apostle Akan Weeks, the entire Christian community, as well as the government and people of Akwa Ibom state over the incident.

He also condoled with the families of the victims of the incident, saying:  I pray for the repose of the souls of the dead.

I pray for Gods healing upon those who now lie at different hospitals with different injuries sustained during the collapse.

I wish them quick recovery.

I pray for comfort to their souls, spirits and bodies and declare that this tragedy will not befall us again.

He, however, urged government and regulatory bodies in the construction industry to ensure that standards were adhere to in construction projects.

I believe government should leave no stone unturned in identifying those whose actions or in-actions are found to have contributed to this sad accident.

I believe all relevant government agencies at all levels should ensure, at all times, that proper and appropriate regulations, measures and standards are always put in place and adhered to in construction and physical infrastructure projects.

We must enforce these regulations, make our buildings safe, and provide quality projects for our people.

I call on all Christians, who are intending to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and non-Christians, both in Akwa Ibom and elsewhere in the country, to be more fervent in prayers to God.

They should pray so that this season will not be one of tears and sorrow, but would truly be one of peace, joy, charity and goodwill to all men, Ekere said in the statement.

ALSO READ: Friends and family mourn beautiful lady killed in tragedy

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Akwa Ibom Commissioner of Police Murtala Mani confirmed 27 people dead and 37 others injured in the collapsed church building in Uyo on Saturday.
The film features some of Nigerias most talented actors including Gabriel Afolayan, Iretiola Doyle, Ivie Okujaye-Egboh, Adesua Etomi, Beverly Naya and Okey Uzoeshi.

The movie which is directed by Yemi Morafa is scheduled for release on February 17, 2017.

ALSO READ: undefined

Synopsis

Something Wicked is the story of a widow (Hauwa), whose recently orphaned nephew Abel, moves into her home from the violence riddled Northern Nigeria, after the murder of his parents. Abel has a difficult time fitting into his new family, whilst Hauwa struggles with the challenges of balancing a failing business and single parenthood.

This family's bond is tested when they are thrown in a life threatening situation and we see how easily misunderstandings lead to misconceptions and premonitions are sometimes the only warning we get, in this game of life and death.

ALSO READ: undefined

The psychodrama also stars Bisola Aiyeola, Omowunmi Dada, Timini Egbuson, Keira Hewatch, and Emem Ufot.
He said APC's Abe polled 125, 938 votes, Kingsley Onyekwere Okechukwu of the Labour Party scored 549 votes , Comerade Oke Ude of the NNPP got 96 votes, Olaka Nwogu of PDP scored 25394, while Efrida of the UDP scored 99 votes.

In Rivers South-East; Barry Mpigi of the APC was declared winner of Tai/Oyigbo/Eleme Federal Constituency with 48,760 votes to defeat PDPs Jacobson Mbina who polled 11,737 votes.

APC's Maurice Pronen won Khana-Gokana Federal Constituency seat with 68, 219 votes while Dum Deekor of PDP scored 20, 329 votes.

ALSO READ: Senator Magnus Abe accuses Wike of inciting violence

Friday Nkeeh of the APC was also declared winner for the Rivers State House of Assembly seat, Khana Constituency 2 with 15,000 votes to beat PDP's Dinebari Loolo who polled 4,000.

Dr Innocent Barikor of the APC won Gokana state Constituency with 24,624 votes, defeating PDPs Israel Ngbuelu.
A video shared on social media shows the students being dispersed by the Nigerian police who were recorded shooting teargas into the midst of the students.

ALSO READ: Police shoots one dead as students protest rages on

The protest was quickly quelled as the person recording the video lament over the fact that all the students get is violence when they make their demands known to the government.
A 37-year-old Venezuelan man has spent 30, 000 in a bid to look like the real-life version of Marvel comic villian, Red Skull.

Henry Rodriguez, who is a father-of-one has always dreamed of looking like Red Skull, and when he had a chance meeting with a surgeon into extreme body modifications, it was dream come through for him.

Images Rodriguez shared online show his transformation, beginning by getting his eyes tattooed black, having implants inserted into his head and then a painful operation to have part of his nose cut off.

However, Rodriguez who now refers to himself as Red Skull insists that his scary appearance has not changed the fact that he is a loving husband to his wife and a great dad to his three-year-old son, Aaron.

Family photos shared by Rodriguez seem to prove this beyond doubt as his son looks anything but scared of him.

Speaking of his surgery, Rodriguezs friend, Pablo Hernandez, said:

He has loved comic books since he was a kid and always dreamed of being Red Skull, but never got round to doing it. Then he met up with a brilliant surgeon who specialises in extreme body modifications and just knew that this was his opportunity.
"It was terrifying. Things were falling down on us. I couldn't get down from behind the altar because of the smoke," said church volunteer Tadros Zaki, 63.

"There were too many people. Destroyed, in pieces... people on top of people," said Romany, who rushed to the church to help after the bombing.

The health ministry said at least 25 people were killed.

The focal point of the explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church appeared to have been just inside the entrance, on the side where the women sat.

A woman's scarf, drenched in congealing blood, lay in the wreckage.

The stone recess above the door was peppered with shrapnel which also left holes in the marble floor. A pew that remained upright was soaked in blood.

Two nearby boxes, one that had been filled with written prayers left by worshippers and another that held a saint's relics, were destroyed.

Dazed priests paced the arcaded courtyard, pieces of stained glass from the church's windows crunching underfoot, as guards at the doors blocked a crush of journalists and concerned faithful.

One nun in a grey habit stared pensively at the wreckage.

"God will have a say in this," she decided.

Bishop Angaelos, the General Bishop for the Coptic Orthodox Church in Britain, told AFP by telephone that Saint Peter's church was especially popular with parishioners.

'Beyond comprehension'

It is "is deeply loved by many Coptic faithful in Cairo and it has a regular parish presence," he said.

"The fact that they were targeted this way when they were going to pray is beyond comprehension."

Copts have been attacked before in Egypt, most notably in a suicide bombing that killed more than 20 congregants at an Alexandria church in 2011.

But Saturday's attack hit close to the heart of the beleaguered minority's faith.

The church is adjacent to Saint Mark's Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic Christian papacy.

"What are we to do? God will dispense our affairs," said Magdy, a church administrator whose office is at the other end of the courtyard from the blast site.

The explosion shattered his office windows, leaving his desk strewn with shards of glass.

Outside, a growing crowd of Copts began chanting against the government, and there were brief scuffles with riot police who cordoned off the scene.

"The people want the downfall of the regime!" they chanted. "Hey, interior ministry! Where were you when they bombed the cathedral?"

Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people, have suffered repeated attacks for decades.

jpegMpeg4-1280x720They also attracted the wrath of Islamist extremists after the church, along with Muslim religious leaders, supported the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
At a ceremony in Paris on Saturday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also said the top US diplomat was a "tireless champion of peace".

"Francophone, Francophile, you are certainly the most French of American officials" Ayrault said.

Kerry's French heritage and fondness for the country saw him attacked on the presidential campaign trail in 2004, when he was the Democratic candidate running against Republican George W Bush.

Tensions were running high between Paris and Washington over the Iraq war, to the extent that America's beloved junk food, French Fries, were briefly renamed Freedom Fries, Ayrault said.

Kerry's mother and aunt were born in Paris in the early 1920s and America's top diplomat spent holidays as a young man at the family residence in Saint-Brignac-sur-Mer, in Brittany.

Ayrault paid tribute to the "sincerity" of Kerry's political and diplomatic engagement, citing his contributions as secretary of state to the historic 2015 climate change agreement, the Iran nuclear deal and the struggle to bring the war in Syria to an end.

"You are a tireless champion of peace," he added.

A visibly moved Kerry said France was America's "oldest ally".
Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg
When Gov. Matt Mead delivers the State of the State address to members of the 64th Legislature next month, he will see many new faces  a third of the House and a fifth of the Senate will be freshmen.

The new lawmakers will need to quickly learn and understand the states complex budgeting process, Mead said Wednesday during an interview with the Star-Tribune.

And 2017 will be no ordinary year. Declining revenues from oil, gas and coal have led to cuts in general government operations. When legislators convene Jan. 10 in Cheyenne, they will face a projected education deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars. Lawmakers will have to consider cuts, new taxes or dip into savings to balance the budget.

We have a number of new legislators who will certainly have a new learning curve to get over as they go through this, which will be a tough session, Mead said.

All the Republican leadership in the House will be gone. Speaker Kermit Brown is retiring. Majority Floor Leader Rosie Berger lost in her primary. Speaker Pro Tempore Tim Stubson chose to run for Congress. And House Majority Whip Hans Hunt wasnt elected to a leadership role for next year.

Senate President Phil Nicholas also decided to retire.

Weve really lost some great experience in the Legislature, he said. Theres no way around it. We do have some great leadership that is still there. I think Speaker-elect (Steve) Harshman is a very experienced legislator. Eli Bebout (the Senate president-elect) is a very experienced legislator.

The 90-seat Legislature gained one more Republican in the Nov. 8 election. A number of people ran for the Wyoming Legislature on platforms warning about transgender bathrooms and other socially conservative positions.

Mead, a moderate member of the GOP, avoided talking about ideology or positions of any of the people who recently won seats, saying only: As I from afar look at their political positions, certainly I would be aligned with some and not with others.
CHAMBER CORNER The quietly different dealer. 501 W. Bypass HWy 61 MUsCaTINE, Ia 563-263-5432 800-358-4406 HOLIDAY MEALS BY AgallonsGUY AND A GRILL of gravy along with the other homemade hot A Guy and A Grill started in Muscatine in 2004 with the mission to provide great food for catered events. The business has grown to serve all of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. In 2008 John moved the business and opened a restaurant in Muscatine. In addition to the catering portion of the business the restaurant serves lunch including a daily buffet, Tuesday  Friday 11-2. Their fleet of vehicles and catering staff is well-respected, having earned the title of Best Caterer in the Muscatine Journals Online Reader poll since 2008. In 2009, owner John Morford decided to tackle another annual tradition; holiday cooking! That year they estimate they prepared approximately 60 Thanksgiving family dinners. This year they estimate they prepared Thanksgiving Dinners for 150 families. What is the secret to his success? Repeat customers,  says John Morford. We have many customers who order from us every year. Word of mouth has always been key for his business, but staying with the times has been important too. This year we did a Facebook giveaway in addition to taking advantage of some new advertising options though the Journals website. John stated the promotion combination resulted in cooking and carving 2,300 pounds of turkey, pealing/cooking and mashing 400 pounds of potatoes, making 35 gallons of green bean casserole, 35 gallons of stuffing, 40 sides, salads and over 100 apple crisps. After a couple weeks of rest from all of that cooking and preparing they are getting ready to do it again for this Holiday Season! A Guy and a Grill is now accepting orders for Holiday Family Dinners Packs. The package will feed six to eight people and includes your choice of ham or turkey, six quarts of side dishes of your choosing including real mashed potatoes, dressing, cornbread casserole, au gratin potatoes, baked beans, green bean almandine, green bean casserole, pasta salad, potato salad, coleslaw, Watergate salad and macaroni salad. Each package also includes one quart of gravy, dinner rolls, one pint of cranberry sauce and choice of pumpkin pie, cherry crisp (additional fee) and apple crisp. You can add additional meat or sides to your dinner too. Half-packs are available and will serve two to four people for $42.50. Customers can upgrade to pumpkin bread pudding for $4.00 more. John has added smoked turkey as an option for an additional fee. If the package isnt what you need John can prepare just the turkey or ham, side dishes or his famous apple crisp to make your day a little easier. Orders must be in by Tuesday, December 20th at 5:00 p.m. Orders must be picked up by 1:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve to warm up at home in time for your family gathering! To order, call John at (563) 260-6229. 3205 HWy 61 NorTH MUsCaTINE, Ia 563-263-5324 800-817-3954 kriegers.com Deck Your Halls Fresh Trees (delivery/ set-up available) Balsam wreaths (decorating available) Garland roping Grave blankets Custom flocking Our flocking service provides you a variety of colors to create a unique tree that is coated in fire retardant and helps retain needles throughout the holiday season! 1301 Washington St, Muscatine IA - Phone: (563) 263-4442 Monday-Friday 8-6  Saturday 8-5  Sunday 10-5 Holiday Dinner prepared by... Interested in becoming a Chamber Member? Call (563) 263-8895 or log onto www.muscatine.com To order call (563) 260-6229 www.aguyandagrill.com
Representatives of Family Resources met with U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Illinois, on Saturday, pleading for help as the Quad-City domestic violence agency braces for cuts amid an Illinois budget standstill.

Bustos said she had just left Washington, D.C., where Congress, faced with a possible shutdown, passed a continuing resolution to keep the government afloat until April. She said she lived up to my end of the bargain by voting to fund services for abused women through legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act.

She then turned her attention to Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, criticizing him for allowing the state to go three years without a budget.

This is really a shoutout for the governor to put his ego aside and to understand the harm that is being done to people all over the state of Illinois by not passing a budget, Bustos told reporters after the meeting. To go into year three is unconscionable.

Family Resources, which serves 12,000 clients through its Safe Path and other programs, receives federal and state funding. Erin Van Hook, the agencys controller, said she was notified last week that the state has cut funding to Family Resources with no commitment to backfill at a later time.

Without state help, the agency could see a $224,000 reduction in revenue, she said.

The agencys board of directors had little confidence it will ever see that money. Board chairman Don Doucette said that without state revenue, the agency would not be able to respond to two-thirds of the calls to its 24-hour free crisis line  which is about 4,000 unanswered calls.

To not have the government live up to its contracts is pretty astonishing, Doucette said.

Dionna Smith of East Moline, who is staying in a Family Resources domestic violence shelter, was invited to the meeting to share her story with Bustos.

The 25-year-old mother of three said she was abused by her boyfriend until one day she found herself lying on the kitchen floor screaming. A friend told her about Family Resources, and she went to the shelter the day after Thanksgiving.

When you are used to terrible things happening, you dont know what to do, Smith said.

With the agencys help, Smith is training to become a certified nursing assistant and ultimately wants to become a nurse.

Ive had to learn to fight for myself, she said.
DES MOINES  Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad was chosen to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to China in large part because of the long professional friendship he has developed with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

But once he assumes his new post next year, Branstad will face significant challenges unlike any other he has faced during a political career that spans more than four decades.

Those who know him best say Branstad is prepared to face those challenges.

Gov. Branstad will be amazing because he understands constituent services, and nobody works harder than him, Charles Larson, an Iowan and former U.S. ambassador to Latvia in 2008 and 2009 under President George W. Bush, said during filming of last weekends episode of Iowa Press on Iowa Public Television.

President-elect Donald Trump announced last week his selection of Branstad to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to China, an invitation that Branstad accepted.

To take the new job, Branstad will first have to resign as Iowa governor. He will do so after more than 22 years as governor, making him the longest-tenured governor in the nations history.

Once Branstad takes over as ambassador  after Trump is inaugurated and Branstad is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, which is expected  he will move to China and serve as the country's top diplomat to China on the ground there.

Branstad has known Xi since 1985, when Xi, then provincial official, visited Iowa and met Branstad at the Capitol. Two years prior, Branstad had signed a formal sister-state agreement between Iowa and the Chinese province of Hebei.

Branstad hosted then-vice president Xi again in 2012 and met him in Seattle in 2015.

And Branstad has conducted six trade missions to China over his tenure as governor.

Given that experience with now-President Xi and China and Branstad's staunch support for Trump throughout the 2016 general election campaign, he was a natural selection to serve as Chinese ambassador.

But Branstads working relationship with Xi and China will change as ambassador. No longer will Branstad be advocating solely for a healthy trade relationship  Iowa sold $1.4 billion in agriculture products to China in 2015, according to the U.S.-China Business Council. As ambassador, Branstad will be involved with all U.S-China diplomatic issues.

Any time the U.S. government wants to take a stand on something, wants to negotiate something, wants to develop a joint project with China, the ambassador is the lead representative of our country in China, Downing Thomas, the University of Iowas associate provost for academic affairs and dean of International Programs who joined Branstad on a 2012 trade mission to China, said in an interview. There is quite a bit of hosting obligations as well. A lot of it is ensuring that good relations prevail.

On those trade missions, Chinese officials would sometimes ask Branstad about issues of broader, national or international importance. Those who have joined Branstad on those trips have said the governor usually deflected those questions and said he was there only to represent Iowa.

Starting next year, obviously, that will change.

I think (Branstad) is looked at (by the Chinese) as a national leader, but he always did a great job of saying, Im here to promote Iowa and those connections. And that was his role then, Bill Northey, Iowas agriculture secretary who has accompanied Branstad on trade missions to China, said on Iowa Press. Hell probably not pivot away from that international role when hes ambassador, and hell have lots of support around him to be able to work through all the challenging issues that there are.

Larson said one of his primary focuses as U.S. ambassador was to urge immediate communication with the U.S. in times of crisis.

My philosophy, when I was ambassador to Latvia, was I wanted to ensure that regardless of what the problem was, the first phone call the Latvians made was to the United States  not to the Russians, not to the Germans, not to the French, but to the United States, Larson said. And as a former elected official ... (Branstad) will understand that mission, and no one will be better.

Branstad will assume the position of U.S. ambassador to China at a time when U.S.-China relations may be at a crossroads.

Trump has launched many criticisms at China. Even this past week, when Trump visited Iowa for a stop on his victory tour and introduced Branstad as the next ambassador to China, Trump accused China of intellectual property theft, unfair taxing of American companies and currency manipulation, among other things.

Trumps frequently provocative statements could be seen as a challenge to a diplomatic position such as the one Branstad is about to assume.

But on Iowa Press, Northey and Mary Kramer, another former U.S. ambassador from Iowa, said Trumps brash nature may in some ways help Branstad.

I really do think the strong rhetoric actually creates opportunities for blunt conversation about some issues that have drug on a long time, Northey said.

Said Kramer, who was U.S. ambassador to Barbados under Bush from 2004 to 2006, I find it really useful to have the hard stuff on the table. It isnt the 100-pound elephant with the rug over it anymore. Its right out there. So we both know that were going to have to discuss it.

Whatever diplomatic challenges will be presented to Branstad, political experts across Iowa have been nearly unanimous in their praise of his selection and his ability to perform the job.

And that praise has come from both sides of the political aisle. Tom Vilsack, the outgoing U.S. agriculture secretary and two-term Democratic governor of Iowa, called Branstads selection good news and said Branstad has earned the opportunity.

Hes tenacious, and hes going to have to be. Hes tireless. Hes going to have to be. And he understands and appreciates the importance of trade. And hell have to, Vilsack said at a news conference during an Iowa Farm Bureau event in Des Moines.

I think all of the qualities that make a good ambassador he has, especially as it relates to this particular country (China) as he has a personal relationship with the current president, Vilsack said. Those relationships matter. I have a good relationship currently with the (Chinese) ag ministers. And it matters. You can have a candid conversation. You can work toward a common goal.

(Vanessa Miller of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids contributed to this report.)
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A new Quad-City interfaith group is pushing back against a contentious nationwide political climate in which American minority groups are being singled out for ridicule.

The group, dubbed "One Human Family," made its debut Saturday during an open house of the Islamic Center of the Quad-Cities, 6005 34th Ave., Moline.

"There have been some comments that came out of and during the (U.S. presidential) election campaign," Imam Saad Baig said before the open house. "Whether you have been targeted with some of the negative comments or whether you were privileged not to be targeted, it's everyone's responsibility to get to know and learn from the correct sources, not just things out in the air."

Baig has not witnessed hate crimes targeting Muslims I the Quad-Cities, but said Muslims across the country are living in fear.

"We are blessed here in the Quad-Cities, especially after the wake of the election results," Baig said. "We're seeing more support. Here in the Quad-Cities, we have very lovely people."

One Human Family set up a booth at the Islamic Center's open house, where visitors were invited to jot down their names and contact information. About a half hour into the open house, One Human Family had more than 100 names.

Miryam Stone of Davenport, a One Human Family coordinator, said the group is for "anyone in the Quad-Cities interested in making sure our leaders take positive steps to welcome people who are marginalized. Specifically since the election of (Donald) Trump, hate crimes are on the rise. We won't stand for that here."

One of the aims of Saturday's open house, Baig said, was to clear up misconceptions about Islam, particularly the myth that the religion promotes violence.

"The biggest myth is that Islam is a violent religion," he said. "That's absolutely against the teaching. ... Violence has no religion."
As sure as Earth rotates around the sun, college professors condemn high schools for freshmen who can't write decent papers, high school teachers blame middle schools for passing barely literate students along, and middle school teachers tsk-tsk elementary school teachers for kids who aren't comfortable with the basics of writing and arithmetic.

Elementary school teachers would be forgiven for blaming their teacher preparation programs for not adequately equipping them to lay the foundations of academic achievement for their young charges.

According to the latest National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) rating of 875 of the nation's undergraduate programs that prepare elementary school teachers, only 5 percent require teacher candidates to take sufficient courses in literature, science and history/social studies.

The subject of math is an apt example: Only 13 percent of programs require coverage of topics deemed critical by mathematicians.

"Elementary school education is foundational, and if you want to understand how important elementary math is, look no further than today's PISA scores," said Kate Walsh, NCTQ's president, referring to new figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Program for International Student Assessment. They found that 15-year-old U.S. students score below the global average on math.

"If we're trying to figure out why kids are performing so badly in mathematics," Walsh added, "there's no subject more reliant on foundational skills from kindergarten on up. Yet we're looking at what programs do in math and they're all over the map; they do not expect elementary school teachers to master topics found in the elementary curriculum. And if you have a weak grasp, it may be that you are able to solve a fraction but not able to teach it."

The same can be said about science, history and literature. Though 83 percent of surveyed teacher preparation programs require a course in composition, only half require at least two courses in literature and composition, a paltry amount for such wide-ranging subjects. Just three in five require a course in early or modern American history and only 12 percent require courses in at least two science topics.

It's hard to imagine why anyone would want the people with the least amount of subject-area knowledge tasked with giving students a foundation in core content areas, but it's actually rational.

In order to have the expertise needed to pass certification tests in the core subjects, one has to have studied them extensively. But there is little incentive to do so when so few teacher programs require them and state certification exams for elementary school teachers don't test for deep content area knowledge at all.

And then there's the cultural aspect: The prevailing sentiment in education circles seems to be that the most important aspects of teaching are how much you can love your students and how committed to social justice your educational philosophy is, rather than how academically accomplished or pedagogically prepared you are.

NCTQ's report did uncover one bright spot -- reading instruction. Today, 39 percent of undergraduate programs for aspiring elementary school teachers (up from 29 percent in 2014) incorporate content from all five components of early reading instruction -- comprehension, vocabulary, phonics, fluency and phonemic awareness -- that research has determined are essential.

"It's still awful, but it's a full 10 percentage points higher than it was two years ago," said Walsh, "and I'm very heartened by the fact that more programs are paying attention to evidence-based research in reading instruction."

There is much work to be done, however, with obvious upgrades necessary in the crucial areas of providing highly qualified mentors for student teachers (93 percent of programs accept mentors chosen by a district without much vetting) and offering more in-school observation and feedback to gauge effectiveness in teaching and classroom management.

Still, this latest batch of research on teacher preparation programs validates the sometimes-feared adage in education that what is measured improves.

"We went into this with a lot of people saying 'You'll never get higher ed to pay attention to these findings,' but the improvements we observed show they are willing to make changes," said Walsh. "It's not as fast as anyone would like, but there are clear signs of progress."

If teacher training programs can be as eager to better themselves as most of the teachers I know, we should see the quality of preparation improve fairly quickly.
In a recent editorial, Quad-City Times editorial board said it was time to end public sector defined benefit pensions. I have only one question and that is why would you want to take one of the highest rated, most solvent pension systems in the country away from the people who have paid into it all their careers?

IPERS is 83.6 percent funded. That means that if all of the people in the system were to retire today, IPERS could pay 83.6 percent of the claims. Thats first-year employees and 40-year employees so what are the odds that they would all quit today and try to collect? Lets just talk teachers for a moment. Only about 80 percent of teachers stay at it their entire career to qualify for benefits earned under IPERS and that figure is dropping as more and more is required of them with less support and compensation. So even if all 80 percent of the teachers stay, the system is still fully funded.

The article stated that IPERS is a drain on the taxpayer. The only taxpayers that IPERS is a drain on are the ones that are covered by it. IPERS is funded by contributions made by the employee and employer and not by state contributions. This is not Illinois where this can happen, this is Iowa, and IPERS is set up differently than the Illinois retirement system. Also Iowa has not raided IPERS like Illinois did to cause the under-funding issue that they have, at least not until now.

The article goes on to say that IPERS is a benefit that is funded by90 percent of Iowans. Wrong, it is solely funded by contributions made by those covered under the system and the employers. The claim that public employees enjoy protection from market forces thanks to the taxpayer. It's simply unfair. Smacks of petty jealousy for choosing a career that does not offer benefits in retirement in lieu of higher pay during your working career. Because, while you say that public sector employees make less than private sector employees is outdated, does not diminish the fact that it is still the truth. You sound like a middle school child crying that its not fair when they dont get their way. As for IPERS being no-risk we see risk in it every day as elected officials look to strip rights, that they negotiated, away from those who chose to serve the state and the taxpayers.

My question is this: Who really benefits from dismantling a fully functional and safe state-run pension system and turning it into a private one? My guess would be the financial industry, as it would now pick up some serious commissions from all of the public sector employees having to get 401 (k)s and such. Let that sink in for a minute and then I think you will see what is really behind this move.
Democrats need a miracle and they've called on Rep. Cheri Bustos to raise Lazarus from the dead.

Rural whites left little but a decaying husk on Nov. 8 where the Democratic Party once stood. They rallied around Donald Trump in traditional Democratic strongholds, such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. They flipped Florida and Iowa, states won by President Barack Obama in 2012. They rejected Hillary Clinton and, by proxy, the entire Democratic narrative.

Now Bustos, plucked late last month to co-chair the House Democratic Caucus' Policy and Communications Committee, is charged with combing the crime scene. And, without much time to spare, she and fellow co-chairs Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, and David Ciciline, of Rhode Island, must work fast or face total irrelevance as statehouses and congressional seats continue to turn red. Bustos' assignment, because of her district's agricultural roots, is to understand rural America and formulate a way to speak to the people who live there.

Make no mistake, Democratic Party brass misread the electorate when they jumped the Hillary-or-bust bandwagon. Clinton was too enamored with flipping Southern Republican strongholds to even campaign in Wisconsin. She all but abandoned Iowa. Clinton's baggage would strain any campaign, no matter how well organized. And, in most races, her loss following Barack Obama's two terms would almost be expected.

But Trump was a different kind of candidate. He disregarded political norms, sometimes with threatening effects. Trump spoke to rural white angst about jobs that left decaying small-towns years ago, exit polls show. He stoked rosy nostalgic longing for a past that, in reality, never existed. And yes, in many cases, he wrapped it all together with a bow of racial dog whistles, easy minority scapegoats for all the Rust Belt's ills.

People cheered. NBC's exit polls show a stark alignment of concerns about jobs, immigration and cultural pluralism among Trump voters.

It's almost comical that Bustos -- and her district of Rockford, Peoria and Illinois Quad-Cities -- is considered "rural." It's a testament to just how fast Democrats' fortunes have faded in massive, albeit lightly populated swaths of the U.S. Just a few cycles ago, the "Blue Dog" caucus, a collection of gun-friendly, centrist House Democrats, held real sway in the party's caucus. Tea party rage over Obamacare ended that. Following the 2020 census, Democrats face near-third party status unless they start winning back some statehouses.

This is the situation in which Bustos finds herself.

Bustos will talk about jobs. Jobs. And more jobs. But that's nothing new. The key here is breaking through echo chambers that, sometimes of their own making, make Democrats out to be the enemy. A new college extension training center probably won't change too many hearts and minds unless Democrats find a way to speak to rural identity. It's especially true because Trump's rhetoric proved a widespread longing for old-school manufacturing, not transitions into new types of work.

The Nov. 8 election was about two things: Clinton's messy past and Trump's complete rejection of political norms. This, for better or worse, was a change election.

Democrats can't follow Trump in the racial abyss within which he's taken his followers. Instead, they must, somehow, make the economic issues about trade policy and complicated market forces that work against rural Americans. It's a much more complicated argument than Trump's "blame the immigrants, Muslims and bad deals" approach.

Democrats must walk a tightrope now. Abandoning social justice issues, particularly those centered on race, isn't an option. It's the glue that holds the Democratic coalition together while alienating many a poor, white worker who feels left out of the conversation.

Class knows no color, though. It's imperative that Democrats draw the similarities between poor, rural whites and poor, urban blacks. Sen. Bernie Sanders tried this past year. Establishment Democrats themselves didn't want to hear it.

Pollsters did the autopsy for Bustos and her co-chairs. Bustos must resurrect the corpse.
NATION

Newtown to hold 15 minutes of silence

Newtown, Conn., plans to mark the fourth anniversary of the Sandy Hook school massacre with 15 minutes of reflective silence.

Town official Pat Llodra has asked Newtown employees to refrain from doing any work, including answering phones, between 9:30 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. Wednesday.

The town also will lower its flags to half-staff to honor the 20 children and six educators shot to death when a gunman entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. The gunman, who had earlier killed his mother inside their home, also killed himself.

Friends, family honor Janet Reno

Former President Bill Clinton says ex-Attorney General Janet Reno never took the easy way out when making the tougher decision was the right thing to do.

Clinton delivered a eulogy at a memorial service Sunday for Reno, who died Nov. 7 at age 78. Clinton appointed her the nation's first female attorney general.

Clinton says Reno was unafraid to take responsibility if decisions turned out wrong. Current U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says Reno was a trailblazer for women and minority lawyers.

The service took place at a Miami-Dade College campus not far from the longtime Reno family home, where Reno died of complications from Parkinson's disease.

Trump: Executives will help run his empire

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview Sunday that his executives would run his business empire alongside his children, pushing back against charges that his vast real estate holdings would pose a conflict of interest for him in the White House.

Trump has said he will leave day-to-day control of his business but has not yet offered details of how he intends to separate himself. He is planning to hold a news conference on Thursday to discuss the future of his company.

In an interview with "Fox News Sunday," Trump said he would not be "doing deals at all."

"My executives will run it with my children. It's a big company, it's a great company. But I'm going to have nothing to do with management," Trump said. He also noted that when he ran for president, "everybody knew that I was a very big owner of real estate all over the world."

WORLD

25 die in Egypt church bombing

Sunday morning Mass was drawing to a close at the chapel next to St. Mark's Cathedral, the seat of Egypt's ancient Coptic Orthodox Church, when Magdy Ramzy said there suddenly was a "shattering explosion like nothing I had ever heard before."

A bomb ripped through the chapel in the cathedral complex in central Cairo, killing 25 people and wounding another 49, mostly women and children, one of the deadliest attacks on the country's Christian minority in recent memory.

"It felt like the world has turned upside-down," said the 59-year-old Ramzy, who was wounded behind the ear by shrapnel. He frantically searched the wrecked chapel, and then outside, for his wife, Sabah Wadie, Only later did he learn that she was killed, and his daughter-in-law and three of his grandchildren were wounded.

U.S.: 2,000 IS fighters killed, wounded in Mosul

Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces have killed or gravely wounded more than 2,000 Islamic State fighters in the battle for Mosul since October, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Sunday.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend told reporters there are still an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters defending Mosul. He applauded the efforts of Iraqi security forces, who began their offensive on Oct. 17 in what has been billed a decisive phase of the anti-IS fight.

"By our calculations, we think we have killed or badly wounded over 2,000," Townsend said at a joint news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter at Qayara air base.
Most teenagers tend to look back on their time wearing dental braces with less than fond memories.

However, Dr. Lisa Anderson said she eagerly awaited regular visits to her orthodontist to feed her growing interest in dentistry.

I wasnt the typical high school student hating braces. I looked forward to every appointment so I could ask more questions about what they were doing, said Anderson, who completed her dental training this year and has joined Dr. Sara Reausaw and the staff at All About Smiles Valley Dental at 4215 Berniece St.

All the staff and Dr. Reausaw have welcomed me with open arms in helping me along. I feel very grateful to be here, she said.

Anderson, a 2008 graduate of Wall High School, completed her undergraduate studies at the University of South Dakota, then earned her dental degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Her job-shadowing took her back to her dental roots, if youll pardon the expression, with her original family dentist, Dr. Ronald Mann in Philip, and the orthodontists who proved to be so inspirational to her career choice, Drs. Bruce and Brad Evans in Rapid City.

However, while orthodontics remains an interest, Anderson said she now prefers providing basic family drill and fill dental care.

Its the bread and butter of dentistry, doing something different every day, she said.

All About Smiles has also expanded their list of insurance providers. Dr. Anderson is a preferred provider for Delta Dental, Aetna, Metlife, Connection Dental , GEHA and Cigna.

Call All About Smiles Valley Dental at 343-6691 for more information

Sturgis Maverik

A new Maverik Adventures First Stop convenience store and fuel stop is still slated for Sturgis, at the former site of the Star-Lite Motel on Junction Avenue.

The site remains fenced off more than a year after Maverik initially said the store would be open in time for the 2016 Sturgis motorcycle rally.

Pat Kurtenbach, executive director of the Sturgis Economic Development Corporation, said in an email this week that Maverik officials said the new store will be completed for the 2017 summer travel season.

'Tis the season

Several temporary retailers are open for business through the holiday season at the Rushmore Mall, according to a news release.

The businesses include GO! Calendars, Games & Toys (calendars, executive date planners, calendar software, miniature calendar art, games, toys and puzzles), Hickory Farms (gift baskets with assorted meats, cheeses, crackers, snack mixes and candy), Lionesses Beauty Bar (hair straighteners, ionic brushes, curling irons, hair-care products and accessories), Doc & Alice (clothing, jewelry, accessories, home decor and more for men and women), Bavarian Almonds (fresh roasted candied almonds), Biofusion (health and fitness products), Jo-Jo Beans Bath Treats (handmade soaps, lotions, body scrubs and bath bombs using natural and organic ingredients), Corkys Signs (personalized, wood-carved signs), Lil Gails (Native American clothing, jewelry, boots, blankets and jackets), Ornament Mania (personalized holiday ornaments), Scarves in Style (ladies infinity scarves in various colors and designs) and Puff Paradise in the Food Court, featuring snacks, including Indian tacos, fried pizza and dessert-filled bread puffs.

Business competition

South Dakota residents with a new business idea are invited to enter the Governors Giant Vision Business Competition for a chance to win up to $20,000 to launch their idea. Additionally, students at state colleges, universities and technical schools are invited to enter the Giant Vision Student Competition and compete for a top prize of $5,000.

The focus of this program is on the business plan or business model and potential for job creation and is not limited to technology entries.

Complete contest details may be found at southdakotagiantvision.com. Entrants will also submit their business plan through the website.

The application deadlines are in February and the final event competition will be held in conjunction with the Governors Office of Economic Development Conference set for April 26 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center.

(Editor's Note: the above story has been corrected to reflect the correct names of the Rapid City orthodontists who treated Dr. Lisa Anderson.)
WASHINGTON | Donald Trump's threats to use taxes as "retribution" against U.S. companies that move jobs overseas are legally dubious, tax specialists say and they're prompting resistance from some Republican leaders who fear a coming era of economic protectionism or international trade wars.

"I think there's other ways to achieve what the president-elect is talking about," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters Monday, arguing that changing the tax code is the way to entice companies to create jobs and keep them in the U.S.

"I don't want to get into some type of trade war," McCarthy said.

In a series of tweets last Sunday, Trump warned that "any business that leaves our country for another country, fires its employees, builds a new factory or plant in the other country, and then thinks it will sell its product back into the U.S., without retribution or consequence, is WRONG!"

Trump's approach is in keeping with his style of firing off tweets that stake out bold positions that may require eventual compromise. Nonetheless, the threat in his Sunday tweets is making some Republicans nervous because it contradicts longstanding free-market and pro-trade orthodoxy espoused by many party leaders, including Vice President-elect Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Trump's extraordinary threat is an attempt to make good on his campaign promise to stop U.S. jobs from moving overseas, which was central to his appeal among white voters without college degrees, who made up one-third of the 2016 electorate, according to exit polls. Those voters helped him win Democratic-leaning Midwest states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, home to America's once-vibrant manufacturing sector.

On Sunday, Trump repeated claims from his campaign that he'd impose a tariff of "of 35 percent for these companies wanting to sell their product, cars, A.C. units etc., back across the border." He added: "Please be forewarned prior to making a very expensive mistake!" A Trump transition-team spokesman didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on the push back from Republicans.

House Republicans have their own plans for a far-reaching overhaul of the U.S. tax system that would apply corporate taxes to all imports while eliminating them from exports. That so-called border adjustability would apply to all imported goods and services  not just those from certain countries or from certain companies.

Proponents argue that such changes  along with plans to cut the corporate tax rate generally from 35 percent to 20 percent or less  would make U.S. tax policy more competitive globally and help eliminate current incentives for U.S. companies to shift their production and profit offshore. But critics argue that such changes could put the U.S. in violation of World Trade Organization rules that limit such adjustments to "indirect" taxes, such as value added taxes.

James Pethokoukis, a scholar with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said Trump's position "makes no economic sense from a pure pro-growth perspective." He added: "Of course, 'expanding the pie' might not be at the heart of Trumponomics. This is economic nationalism. 'Sovereignty is the new capitalism,' as they say."

Late last month, Trump and Pence, who's still the governor of Indiana, intervened to prompt Carrier Corp. to keep 800 furnace maker jobs in Indianapolis instead of sending them to Mexico, as planned. The company still plans to send other Hoosier State jobs  including coil makers and line workers  to Mexico, meaning it could remain in Trump's crosshairs for tariffs.

His Twitter postings last Sunday "suggest this is just the beginning of an extensive and involved effort by Trump to cajole and nudge and even intimidate firms thinking about offshoring," Pethokoukis said. "Trade is the issue Trump has been banging on about for 40 years."

Trump's goals are generally more in line with labor unions and Democrats, who have previously tried to discourage companies from offshoring jobs via tax-code changes and have run into Republican opposition. A senior Senate Democratic aide said it's not clear that Trump's approach is correct, but said the party is interested in working with him to find solutions. Other Democrats are more skeptical.

"This is not a fight he can win," said Jim Manley, a lobbyist and former adviser to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. "Sure, he can score some victories with individual companies, but market forces are far stronger than any one person, even if that person is the president of the United States."

Legally, Trump does have some unilateral powers to tax particular goods that cross the border, but not entire companies' products, said Gavin Ekins, a research economist at the right-leaning Tax Foundation.

"In reality, a tariff doesn't quite work that way," he said. "But you can tax a class of goods. It's possible to say 'I'm going to put tariffs on heavy trucks within this time range.'"

Ekins said Trump will likely face legal challenges and may need buy-in from Congress and the World Trade Organization to make his plans stick.

"He can technically do this but there's going to be push back in many ways if he does," he said. "He's extremely constrained in what he actually can do in the very end."

Chad Brown, an expert at the pro-trade Peterson Institute For International Economics, said Trump has broad authority to apply import restrictions under national-security exceptions, but he argued that going after entire companies' products would be "unprecedented" and could "backfire along a number of different dimensions."

Brown said that uncertainty about the sustainability of Trump's plan could discourage U.S. firms from hiring, and he echoed the view that such moves could spark trade wars.

He cited one example: "In 2009, the Obama administration imposed restrictions on Chinese tires. In response, they hit restrictions on U.S. poultry products, in particular chicken feet, a Chinese delicacy that we exported a lot of."

Trump wouldn't be the first president to unilaterally pursue protective tariffs.

In March 2002, for example, George W. Bush slapped tariffs of as much as 30 percent on steel imports to protect the ailing domestic industry, after his administration concluded that trading partners were engaging in predatory practices known as "dumping." The move faced international push back, and 21 months later Bush abandoned the tariffs under threat of a trade war with Europe.

Trump's threats have the potential to backfire, particularly since Congress may not go along with them.

"This would be a 35 percent tax on all Americans  a tax that especially hurts low-income families. Maybe the slogan should be #MakeAmericaVenezuela," Rep. Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican, tweeted in response to Trump.
MITCHELL | Mitchell's $15.3 million fine arts center is nearing completion.

The school district is set to move equipment in over its winter break, and a grand opening is scheduled Jan. 15, The Daily Republic reported.

Mitchell High School band director Ryan Stahle said the district's endeavor is "awe-inspiring."

"When they turn on the lights, it's amazing," Stahle said. "It really will be the premier theater for sure in South Dakota, it not, arguably in the upper Midwest. That's how cool it is."

Once the project is complete, Stahle said, it'll host concerts, plays and other districtwide events.

Jed Liedtke, the site superintendent with Puetz Corp, said the walls in the facility's entryway are being painted and flooring will be placed soon. The elevator is in place, and crews are still working on the 1,100-seat theater.

The classroom portion is the closest to completion.

Mitchell School District Superintendent Joe Graves said the last step will be moving into the auditorium about a week before the grand opening.

The project has received $865,000 in donations and Graves says officials are still accepting more donations. Plus, he said, maming rights for the building and several rooms are still available.
MINNEAPOLIS | A popular Twin Cities pianist known for performing in theaters and auditoriums has upset some of her neighbors by hosting recital parties at her home.

Residents near Lorie Line's home on Lake Minnetonka have complained to Orono city leaders about the extra traffic in the streets and the lack of regulation. The Star Tribune reports that the controversy has prompted officials in the affluent suburb to review how it regulates private events.

Line and her husband, Tim, who have lived in Orono for nearly 30 years, say the grievances are overblown and that their house is not being turned into a concert hall. Lorie Line says it's "the most stupid thing I've ever heard."

The Lines currently are on tour in the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.
Following 14 years of stalwart efforts to preserve Native American sacred sites from desecration and to protect natural resources from fracking, uranium mining and overharvesting of timber, the nonprofit Defenders of the Black Hills has decided to call it quits.

The organizations final meeting was conducted Saturday at the Mother Butler Center in Rapid City, and with smiles, hugs and a few tears likely. At the farewell, supporters celebrated nearly a decade and a half of volunteer activism and partnerships developed, all in the name of protecting the environment.

The decision to disband was not made without careful thought, said Charmaine White Face, one of the group founders and its coordinator since its inception.

Im getting old and tired, said White Face, who turns 70 in March. There are other groups now but, when we started, there were hardly any. Others will take up the mantle, but we feel like its time now. Its time to back out.

Defenders of the Black Hills was founded in 2003 to counter federal legislation passed that opened up the last 3 percent of the Black Hills to logging, including a wilderness area and two roadless areas that were supposed to be preserved untouched for time immemorial.

In the ensuing years, the Defenders group has pestered those promoting mineral extraction and fracking, successfully promoted legislation funding the cleanup of abandoned uranium mines and worked to prevent water pollution in the region.

In January 2003, White Face said the Defenders had 32 issues on its docket, all intended to protect, preserve and restore the environment. Among those issues was a firing range proposed within sight of Bear Butte, a sacred site to several Native American tribes. So the newly formed group held a prayer gathering at Bear Butte, followed by a dinner at Sturgis Brown High School attended by 200, she said.

At that session, a local attorney stepped forward and offered his services pro bono to the Defenders. Further investigation of the planned firing range found it was going to be financed through a Community Development Block Grant, a federal funding mechanism designed to assist poor people, White Face explained.

We pushed it hard and took it to court, she said. We discovered that 12 of the 16 CDBGs in South Dakota were illegal, the state and the businessmen backed out, and the firing range was dropped in the fall of 2003.

A writer and scientist who holds a double major in biology and physical sciences from Black Hills State University, White Face also serves as spokesperson for the Sioux Nation Treaty Council, a lifetime position. Disbanding the Defenders, she said, would allow her to devote more time to the oldest treaty council in the region.

Who am I? the self-effacing woman asked rhetorically. Im just a little grandma.

In fact, White Face is the mother of four biological and eight adopted children, as well as 13 grandkids and four great-grandchildren. But her friends and fellow environmental advocates say she is so much more.

Charmaine deserves all the recognition she gets, said Lilias Jarding of the Rapid City-based Clean Water Alliance. She and the Defenders leave a legacy of the focused defense of the resources and the people of the Black Hills.

Jarding said White Face and the Defenders were instrumental in the establishment of the Clean Water Alliance and have worked in tandem on issues involving unwise projects over the years. She said she worries about the group disbanding.

I think we will lose the skills and talents that were brought to bear on defending the vision of what the Black Hills can be; Lakota values and a broad natural resources viewpoint, said Jarding, who planned to attend Saturdays final meeting of the Defenders.

Michelle May, director of the Oglala Lakota College Academic and Public Library and Archives at Kyle, lauded White Face for making monthly treks to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to make environmental presentations to students and interested community members.

Charmaine and the information she conveys are so relevant to our world and, not just the reservation, but the world of humanity, May said. Personally she is such a blessing and such a good friend. She always goes the extra mile and shares her information. Its incredible the generosity she has.

May said the legacy of the Oglala Sioux scientist, environmentalist and activist, and the organization she helped establish, will live on through videos captured of White Faces presentations, which have been archived in the tribal library.

Over the years, efforts by White Face and the Defenders have been recognized far and wide.

In 2007, the organization won the Nuclear Free Future Award, described as "the Nobel Prize for Environmentalists." Last summer, White Face was named a Giraffe Hero by the Giraffe Heroes Project, a nonprofit organization that encourages people to "stick their necks out for the common good."

White Face was chosen for the latter award due to her battles that have extended from her fight against corruption within tribal governments stretching back to the 1980s, as well as her more recent opposition to uranium mining in the Black Hills.

Her work has been met with threats as well as plaudits. White Face said that the brake lines on her car have been cut, and that people have told her to "watch out" or a bomb would be placed in her car.

But White Face doesnt dwell on negatives and, despite the disbanding of the Defenders, she said shed continue to fight the good fight for as long as she can.

Why was it all so important? she asked last week. I love the earth. They told me Ive been like this since I was a tiny girl. I dont like to see the earth ruined and Im sorry, but I get a little choked up."

Speaking of Mother Earth, she said: Nothing can live if shes sick.
Editor's note: This feature is part of the "Through Airmen's Eyes" series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story.

LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. (AFNS) | Ive come a long way from picking cotton in the fields with my grandfather, said retired Master Sgt. Leroy Mazell Smith, who has lived a life few could probably imagine.

He was born on an Arkansas bridge during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927; son of a logger and farmer, Smith grew up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. His mother, who cared for him and his two siblings, left school at the age of 13.

He credits his upbringing to his grandfather who Smith picked cotton with. He said his grandfather taught him the value of hard work and perseverance.

Smith graduated from high school in Fordyce, Arkansas, at the age of 16. While there, he attended preflight aeronautical classes, changing the course of his future.

I wanted to be a doctor, he said, but the military said they needed black mechanics, so I was inducted into the U.S. Army Air Corps at 16. Looking back now, they did me a favor Id say.

Smith said he vividly remembered being a scared boy from the country in 1943, riding a bus from Camp Robinson to Sheppard Field, Texas, for basic military training, and then later to Chinook, Arkansas, for aircraft and engine training.

Everything was segregated, he said. The ride to training, the barracks we lived in, even the hours we had to shop at the base exchange and eat at the mess hall were separate.

I remember (white) people asking us, What are you doing here? and assuming we blacks were the cooks and bottle washers, Smith said.

However, segregation did not break his zeal. Smith charged forward and met every obstacle with faith and optimism. He said he leaned on his Baptist upbringing and grandfathers lessons about having strength  especially during the harder days.

I never retaliated, Smith said. I just believed those people were ignorant and someday it would be better. My grandfather always said, Theres only one race of people: the human race.

And so, while the human race was focused on World War II and which side would prevail, Smith set course for the European theater. He was assigned to the Tuskegee unit, where all barriers fell away. He was no longer a black mechanic. He was simply an Airman.

I was scared and proud when I arrived in Italy, Smith said. I was with an all-black crew that I could identify with. I could actually communicate with the pilots; the officers respected us as the younger members. I didnt have to just do my job and shut my mouth. We all had a good relationship; it was one of my best memories.

The Tuskegee Airmen are typically known as an all-black fighter and bomber pilot aircrew who fought in WWII. However, that name, Tuskegee Airmen, also encompassed navigators, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks and other support personnel for the aircrews.

I loved being called a Tuskegee Airman, he said. I didnt know that name would be what it is today, but we sure had a lot of unit pride, and there was reason for it.

The crew was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group and flew heavy bomber escort missions with P-47 Thunderbolts and later the P-51 Mustangs. To distinguish themselves, they painted the tails of their aircraft red, coining themselves the Red Tails.

We never lost a bomber, Smith said. Nope, we never lost a plane. It did me proud to say I was a part of this. We were good, and we were finally recognized for it. Im a low profile guy, but the recognition was nice.

In 1947, Smiths tour with the Tuskegee Airmen ended, but the Red Tails legend influenced the integration of races in the armed forces. Smith soldiered on as he transitioned from the Army Air Corps to the Air Force.

He continued serving throughout the Korean War and Vietnam War, fulfilling 25 years in the Air Force and retiring in 1968 as a master sergeant.
Best-selling author to speak at Mines' ceremony

Amity Shlaes, best-selling author and journalist who has written for Bloomberg, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and National Review, will deliver the address at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology 174th commencement ceremony. The ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Fine Arts Theatre. Shlaes is a biographer of the 30th United States president, Calvin Coolidge, who had a strong connection to the Black Hills. Among Shlaes four New York Times best-selling books is "Coolidge," a full-length biography, which details the summer of 1927 when President Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge spent three months in the Black Hills. President Coolidge dedicated Mount Rushmore on Aug. 10, 1927.

SD Team Nutrition accepting applications for grants

South Dakota Team Nutrition is offering sub-grants to schools and agencies to teach healthy eating and food preparation skills to youth ages 11 to 18. The Power Chef Challenge curriculum provided with the sub-grant includes lessons for middle school and junior high educators and supervisors, and is designed to teach students about the MyPlate Food Groups. Up to $1,600 is available by application to schools and agencies who participate in the National School Lunch Program or other USDA child feeding program and enroll, or are enrolled in, USDA's Team Nutrition. Applications opened Dec. 1 with implementation from Jan. 1 to Aug. 30. Applications are open until all funds are expended. Curriculum is provided for the eight sessions that culminate in a cook-off challenge.

Students invited to apply for motorcycle building program

Black Hills area high school students are invited to apply for a position in the Buffalo Chip Challenge 2017 custom motorcycle build program, which offers a chance at educational scholarships. Ten students will be accepted to learn mechanical skills and customization techniques through hands-on instruction from industry professionals at Terry Components in Spearfish. The class will meet two to three days per week December through April during after-school hours and on weekends. The Buffalo Chip Challenge allows students the opportunity to work with motorcycle industry veteran Keith Terry in a real shop environment. Students will be customizing a 2016 Harley-Davidson Road King. There is no fee for students to join the program, but space is limited to 10 students. Interested students should visit LegendsRide.com/Scholarships and submit an application before the Dec. 19 deadline. For more information, call Brad Schneck at 605-347-9000.
Cattle prices have risen slightly since mid-October and are expected to plateau for the rest of the marketing season.

Weve seen a good spark, said Tim Petry, a livestock economist at North Dakota State University, who is looking at many calves going for $20 to 25 more.

Its been a nice price rally, but its not likely to continue. Not many cattle have been sold to date, but, as big runs of calves are brought to market, the price is expected to level off.

After a slow start, Petry expects to see a lot of cattle sold this month and January.

One of the big reasons for the delay in sales was the nice fall weather, according to Petry, who said here was a lot of forage and crop stubble for grazing to keep cows longer.

He said market experts also had recommended holding on to cattle, keeping the calves with the cows as long as possible, since the price was down and the added weight would give them more value than selling lighter calves.

Recently, the value of lighter calves has increased relative to heavier ones, signaling to many it's time to sell.

With rain falling in winter wheat country, buyers may be in search of lighter calves to feed on the wheat greens.

Its a cheap way to put on some extra pounds, Petry said.

The beef market bottomed out in mid-October, with record pork and poultry being produced at the same time, but has since crept back up.

Prices are still quite a bit lower than the record highs producers had grown accustomed to in previous years, but the market is still profitable, Petry said. Prices are hovering closer to 2013s average.

And though they are lower, there is still opportunity in a wide range of prices being paid for similarly weighted calves, with producers on the high end sometimes getting $20 more for theirs.

Petry recommends producers talk to marketers to find out what buyers are looking for. He also said including as much information as possible while in the sales ring improves buyer confidence, often bringing a better price.

Now they just have to try to get on the top of the range, he said.

A recent special weekend sale at Kist Livestock brought strong prices, Petry said. Calves weighing 550 pounds to 700-pound calves were selling for $135 to $155 per hundredweight, with lighter bringing more per pound.

Jim Bitz, of Napoleon Livestock, said he also sees a chance for profit  a little bit of profit, not a lot  for those who have been feeding their calves longer as they begin coming to market.

Theyre happier than a month ago, but its still tough out here, he said.

Feedlots lost money on the cattle bought last market season, paying higher prices per pound for cattle that later sold for less. Bitz expects many to take a conservative approach to buying this year for that reason.

Looking ahead to next year, Petry says to expect more of the same level market.

For this years calves, we will not see a crazy amount of change, Bitz agreed.

Petry reminds producers to watch costs and remember cash rents on pastureland will be slow to come down despite the rapid decrease in the price of cattle grazed on them.

Thats the key with a narrower market, he said.

Bitz said one problem the producers he talks to are running into is the experts predicted the higher prices to last, so they went out and bought a new tractor or baler or land.

But those prices were not even here for five years, and the payments on those purchased upgrades are still coming due.
HOT SPRINGS | Ben Sharp grew up in Hot Springs and has a home there, but he has spent much of the last decade living in New Zealand and working as an environmental scientist, a fisheries biologist for New Zealands Department of Marine Biology.

Sharp, son of Lon and Barb Sharp, was part of the group who made world history in November when it brought 25 countries together to adopt the world's largest marine protected area (MPA) in the Southern Ocean, which surrounds the Antarctica continent.

The MPA will protect 1.55 million square kilometers of the Ross Sea, off the Antarctica land mass, and it is the worlds biggest marine preserve. The importance of this MPA, Sharp explained, is like Yellowstone was to North American wildlife conservation, or like the Serengeti is to African conservation efforts.

Creating the MPA was the result of dogged efforts by many scientists, conservationists and people who cared across the globe, Sharp explained.

His role, through 2013, was as a middle man scientist, trying to convince diplomats from 25 countries to sign a treaty that would establish the MPA. The toughest part of this, he said, was convincing them that this was not part of new Cold War jockeying between the U.S., Russia or China, but a scientifically good thing, a benefit for all concerned.

Ultimately, this required the bending of some political will for the 25 nations who lead the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the decision-making body that manages the Southern Ocean.

In a nutshell, CCAMLR says what can be done in this part of the ocean in terms of handling its resources, like fish, oil and wildlife.

Since he was representing New Zealand, a nation with little stake in the U.S.-Russia-China geo-political wrangling, diplomats tended to listen and buy into his information about how this treaty creating the MPA would ultimately benefit all those involved  a big help in selling the MPA treatys benefits to these nations.

Between 2010 and 2013, Sharp jet-hopped back and forth between New Zealand and 15 other nations around the globe trying to sell the MPA. It wasnt until after 2013, when his role was completed, that Sharp had a chance to do much hands-on, down in the reeds biology in Antarctica, what really attracted him to this effort in the first place.

Counting fish in the ocean is not like counting trees in a forest, Sharp said. They (fish) move.

Sharp got to study some efforts to understand how killer whales had learned how to steal fish from commercial fishing lines  he described this as the whales, a really neat animal in his estimation, slipped in on fishing lines, chose the choicest catch among the fish caught, and simply picked off the fish they wanted, like a dog counter-surfing when his owner isnt looking. The whales also taught their young to do this.

The treaty is designed to maintain balance by establishing limits, Sharp said.

A trailer for the National Geographics Antarctica series, which was slated to include details on how the MPA came to be, can be found at on.natgeo.com/2gqgl2b
PHILIP | The prospect of drilling the deepest hole ever bored in South Dakota soil for a possible future nuclear waste storage site has raised the ire of Haakon County residents concerned about the future of their land, of their water and of their children.

Despite the project's clear connection to nuclear waste, Gov. Dennis Daugaard said the scientific and research experiment proposed for west-central South Dakota should in no way lead residents to believe he supports storing nuclear waste in the state.

Seeking a $35 million contract from the U.S. Department of Energy, Rapid City-based RESPEC, in partnership with South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, has conducted preliminary meetings with the Haakon County Commission to explain the project and gauge public support for the scientific experiment. More than 40 county residents showed up at the commissions meeting in Philip on Tuesday, most to express their concerns about the plan.

As proposed, RESPEC, an engineering consulting firm formed in 1969 by six professors from the School of Mines, would drill a gun-barrel straight 8-inch borehole 3.2 miles into solid granite, just to see if it could be done.

Its a very unique project, Todd Kenner, president and chief executive officer of RESPEC, said last week. The aspects of the project make it one of a kind when you combine the depth of the borehole, the diameter of 8 inches, and the tolerances. They want this as straight as possible. This type of project has never been done."

It would be the deepest hole ever drilled in South Dakota, he said.

There have been deeper boreholes drilled in the oil and gas arena, but not in granite and not with this depth, tolerance and diameter, Kenner added.

Third strike

Although Kenner said RESPEC already had secured a five-year lease agreement with a private landowner for a 20-acre site 50 miles north of Philip, county and state permits and approvals would need to be finalized before the project could advance.

Two other prospective sites  one near Rugby, N.D., and another in Spink County, S.D.  were previously abandoned when local opposition formed to defeat the plans. In March, the proposal was denied in Pierce County, N.D.' due to vocal opposition.

The deep borehole project is designed to learn how to drill basement rock for nuclear waste storage. The second site considered was from Rugby to Redfield and Tulare, S.D., where the Ohio-based Battelle Institute conducted a series of informational meetings last summer.

There were three informational sessions, all to a packed house, said Spink County Commissioner Cindy Schultz. Most of the people were against it. There were a few for it, likely because the School of Mines was involved and they viewed it as an educational opportunity.

But Schultz said she and her fellow commissioners, as well as dozens of local residents, shared concerns that a successful borehole test could lead to the eventual storage of nuclear waste in their backyard.

Nobody wants it near our water, near our oceans, said Schultz, who lives 22 miles southwest of Redfield in far northeastern South Dakota. I honestly dont know where they will find to put this nuclear waste. Meanwhile, they are making more of it.

Spink County zoning ordinances required that proponents of the project formally request a special exemption to allow them to drill the borehole. But, Schultz said, that request never came.

Rather than wait for the request for the special exception, we decided to draft a letter telling them the commission was opposed to it, noting they had every right to request the exemption, she said. But we thought they were wasting a lot of peoples time and we wanted to get it done. Late last summer, they accepted the letter and they left.

On to Haakon County

Project proponents then headed to Philip, the county seat of Haakon County, which doesnt have zoning laws outside municipalities, and began informal sessions in October with county commissioners to make them aware of the scope of the project and to attempt to gain local support.

There have been a couple of meetings to fill us in on what theyre thinking, Haakon County Commissioner Steve Clements said last week. We asked them questions and they came back with answers to those questions, though we probably dont know the right questions.

At Tuesdays commission meeting, Clements said more than 40 residents showed up to hear from RESPEC representatives and ask questions. When that ran on too long in a commission chambers that seats about a dozen people, both parties adjourned to an empty courtroom upstairs and continued the conversation for a couple of more hours, he said.

Everybody was very respectful and nobody was unruly, the commissioner said. I think everybody is a little wiser and probably learned something from it.

Following the initial discussions, Clements noted the Haakon County Commission had remained neutral on the issue and said that he favored bringing the proposed project to a public vote.

Id sign a petition to put it up to a vote of the people, and thats the way most of the people there felt, he said. But I dont think we want (nuclear waste) buried here in Haakon County.

County resident Jennifer Jones, a mother of three who raises cattle with her husband, Jeff, a mile southeast of Midland, began online research days before Tuesdays meeting after a college friend in Spink County alerted her to the planned borehole project. Jones spoke against the project at Tuesdays session.

This is important enough that someone needs to stand up and raise a few questions, Jones said in a phone interview last week. Im not convinced its just for scientific research. But I worry about what is going to happen when you disturb the earth and drill that far."

She worries over the potential worst-case scenario.

Contaminated aquifers? Radon gas leaking? They dont know because its never been done, she said.

Schultz said her primary concern remained whether the scientific and research experiment, if successful, would open the door to the eventual storage of the nations nuclear waste in South Dakota.

Can we trust that what the federal government tells us is true? she asked.

Governors stance

Asked recently about the project involving RESPEC, the Rapid City company that has grown to employ 250 professionals in 14 offices in a dozen states and Canada, as well as the states coveted School of Mines, Gov. Dennis Daugaard said he supported the scientific and research aspects of the venture.

I do support the project, Daugaard said, noting it would rely on South Dakotas experience in deep underground research and the engineering expertise of a private company and the School of Mines. And I am very familiar with what happened in North Dakota and Spink County, both of which met with local resistance."

Daugaard pointed to the experience in underground scientific research gained by the work at the Sanford Underground Research Facility at Lead. I do see this as a natural extension of that underground research, he said.

But when asked if he favored storage of nuclear waste in South Dakota, Daugaard was adamant that he did not.

I want to make it very clear that even though South Dakota, by its willingness to allow such research, in no way should be seen as a repository for spent nuclear waste, because were not, the governor said.

The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources also is aware of the proposed project, and a spokesman said RESPEC had been supplied information in October that showed it could be required to gain permits and approvals for water rights, mining, air quality, solid waste, stormwater, and drilling fluids and fuel, as well as adhere to federal rules on spill prevention control and countermeasures.

Regulatory hurdles

Kenner, the RESPEC executive, said his company recognized the regulatory hurdles inherent in the deep borehole project and said that, even if everything went well, drilling likely would not occur until 2018 at the earliest.

First, the company would have to secure the DOE contract, expected to be awarded in January, then build public support on the local level, wade through the permitting process, develop drilling plans and actually do the drilling and research, he said. It would take at least seven months of continuous drilling to meet the goals of the project, Kenner said.

Everyone wants to draw the conclusion that we drill this hole and the next step is storing nuclear waste, he said. But thats not necessarily true."

He said the changes needed in state and federal laws to allow underground storage of nuclear wastes could take decades.

Kenner said knowledge of drilling and granite gained through the project could be applied across the globe.

Were not in the business of storing nuclear waste, he concluded. Were in the business of research and science.
WASHINGTON | Watch the video. Walter Scott, unarmed and slow of foot, tries to run away. Police officer Michael Slager calmly fires five rounds into Scott's back. Later, Slager approaches Scott's body, not to give first aid but apparently to plant evidence of a struggle that never took place.

Now tell me: How cheap is black life in these United States of America?

A jury in North Charleston, South Carolina, could not agree that Slager committed a crime, forcing the judge in the case to declare a mistrial. Prosecutors quickly announced they will try Slager again. In the optimistic view, this week's stunning result, or non-result, means justice deferred rather than justice denied. I'm trying to be an optimist, but at the moment it's not easy.

Tell me: What does it take to get a police officer punished for killing an unarmed black man in cold blood?

The whole thing is on video, people. A passerby named Feidin Santana used his mobile phone to capture Scott's final minutes. An immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Santana gave lengthy testimony at Slager's trial.

"You ask yourself, what if there was no video? What if I wasn't there? Would we have gotten this far in this trial?" Santana asked in an ABC News interview after the mistrial was announced. "That's the way justice is over here, and we have to understand it. But it's a little bit disappointing."

Santana's phrase "over here" refers to the nation that fancies itself a beacon of freedom and equality.

The fatal encounter took place April 4, 2015, when Slager, who is white, pulled Scott over for having a busted brake light. African-Americans and Hispanics are used to such petty, harassing traffic stops. White Americans, perhaps not so much.

Slager testified that he feared for his life; Scott, he claimed, had wrestled away his Taser and was trying to use it on him. But Santana, who saw the whole thing, said there was no struggle and the video appears to show Slager placing the Taser next to Scott's body, as if it had been in the dead man's possession. If he did stage the crime scene, the officer demonstrated full awareness of his own culpability. Again, I ask, what does it take?

Even if you want to believe Slager's unsupported account of a struggle, no one can dispute the fact that Scott was running away when Slager gunned him down. A heavyset 50-year-old with no weapons, running as if through molasses, is hardly a clear and present danger to society. Having a broken light on one's car is hardly a capital offense. Yet Slager shot Scott five times. In the back.

Nearly half the population of North Charleston is black; Slager's jury included 11 whites and just one African-American. Notes from the jury to the judge, who is African-American, suggest there may have been one lone holdout who would not vote to convict Slager of murder or manslaughter. That's how the system works, and the outcome of Slager's next trial may be different. But still.

One miscarriage of justice, caused by one stubborn juror, would be easier to swallow if not for all the rest. Eric Garner, approached by police on Staten Island for selling loose cigarettes, was choked to death  again on video  but none of the officers involved has been charged. Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy, was playing with a toy gun; a police officer shot him dead within seconds of arriving on scene but faced no charges. Michael Brown was unarmed when a police officer stopped him in Ferguson, Missouri; the officer fired his weapon 12 times, killing Brown, but a grand jury failed to indict him.

No one should wonder why the Black Lives Matter movement is so relevant and necessary. It will remain so until black lives do, in fact, matter. And conservatives who claim to champion individual liberty against abusive state power should be the movement's most avid supporters.

Slager also faces federal charges for allegedly violating Scott's civil rights. That prosecution was delayed pending the completion of the state trial; now that there is to be a second state trial, presumably the federal case will be put off once again.

So it will likely fall to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.  President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general  to decide whether to move forward with a trial in federal court. Sessions was once denied a federal judgeship because of racist remarks he had made; friends and supporters say that's all ancient history. We shall see.
Are you ready Miss Piper?

The lights on the Vgo robot standing a couple of feet away from Victor Kindergarten teacher Sue Lane blink happily.

Is your paper folded short and fat or long and skinny?

Short and fat, comes Pipers response.

On tiny tables surrounded by tiny chairs, the rest of Lanes kindergarten class finishes folding their own pieces of paper into four little squares.

Math class is set to begin.

On the other side of town from the school  across a busy Highway 93  6-year-old Piper Heinz is keeping a close eye on her teacher on the electronic tablet that rests on the familys kitchen table.

She draws the same candy canes, presents and Christmas stars that her classmates do as they learn a lesson on how to add and subtract. When her classmates hold up their fingers to show the answer, Piper does the same.

And when the lesson comes to an end, her classmates make a beeline to the robots camera to share their work with their friend.

They all love Piper, Lane said, with a smile.

The sweet little blonde-haired bundle of joy was born with cystic fibrosis.

At first, her parents werent sure that she would survive.

I didnt know anything about cystic fibrosis back then, said Pipers mother, Virginia. Its genetic. I had no idea I carried that gene, but now I know so does 80 percent of the population.

People with cystic fibrosis have a defective gene that causes a buildup of mucus in the lungs, pancreas and other organs.

In the lungs, that mucus can trap bacteria, which can lead to extensive lung damage and respiratory failure. In the pancreas, the mucus prevents the release of digestive enzymes that allows the body to break down food and absorb nutrients.

Before people understood its dangers, children born with the disease often didnt live to see their first birthday.

It was called failure to thrive, Heinz said.

Piper cant digest food without medication. Her lungs have to be manually cleared by someone carefully pounding on her chest. Whenever she goes out into the public, Piper wears a mask to protect herself from germs that might stray her way.

I suppose in a perfect CF world, a person wouldnt be around anyone or anything, Heinz said. They would be a bubble child. Germs are very dangerous to her.

But thats not the life anyone wants for Piper.

She started kindergarten this year and went to school with her mask for the first few weeks until her mother heard the annual flu outbreak had arrived in the area.

Heinz and the school knew the day would come that it wouldnt be safe for her to be with her classmates.

When Piper came into the school, we all realized that she was going to have a tough time, medically speaking, said Victor Superintendent and Elementary Principal Lance Pearson.

Pearson said he didnt know very much about cystic fibrosis initially. When he began researching the disease, he came across some information about how people were using robots to allow homebound children to stay connected with their peers.

As a former kindergarten teacher, Pearson said he knows how important it is for children of that age to be able to interact with other kids.

They want to be able to see their classmates, Pearson said. They learn as much from their peers as their teachers. When I saw that robot, the light came. I thought this is what we could do for her.

No one knew for sure just how well it might work.

Instead of being forced to go out and buy one, the school turned to an organization called MonTech thats headquartered at the University of Montana.

The organization offers a variety of assistive technology items for people with a variety of disabilities and health conditions.

Two years ago, MonTech purchased two robots that can be controlled over the internet. This year, Piper is using one. The other is being used by a student with a different diagnosis on the other side of the state.

Were really happy that were having this kind of success with both of them, said MonTechs clinical coordinator Julie Doerner.

Initially, Doerner said the robots were designed for tele-health applications to allow physicians to examine patients in isolated communities in a private setting.

When we first bought the robots, we just wanted to demonstrate how they work, Doerner said. We wanted to plant a seed at different conferences.

Someone had the idea they could be used to keep homebound students connected with their classmates. Last spring, MonTech made its first loan of a robot to a student in the Billings area.

Our loans do have a time limit, she said. Unfortunately, the robots are expensive. This does give school districts and others an idea about whether they are worth the investment.

So far, were hearing that kids love them, Doerner said. There are so many things that kids miss out on if they have to rely on other people.

Pearson said its been a great learning experience for everyone.

Even the kids in class are getting something out of it, he said. Most importantly, its been a neat tool for Piper to be able to interact with her peers.

The school is looking for a way to purchase its own robot for Piper.

Its one of those things that we need to do, Pearson said. We all love Piper. We want the best possible education for her.

Once the danger of the flu season has passed, Heinz said her daughter will return to school with her mask on.

She knows the flu would wipe her out, Heinz said. It could be life ending. Shes also very social. She wants to be with her friends.

Heinz has been thankful for the schools efforts to help her daughter.

Actually I bawled my eyes out when I heard the school was willing to do this, she said. People have gone out of their way to do wonderful things for her.

Pipers teacher knows how important it is for Piper to stay in touch for her classmates. Its not only Piper that benefits.

She sees it every day when the robot suddenly comes to life and starts moving across the classroom.

Thats always followed with excited shouts: Piper is here!

Socialization and friendship is what kindergarten is really all about, Lane said. They always get excited  sometimes too excited  when she comes in.

Everyone knows that there will be other times in Pipers life when she cant physically be there in the classroom, but the robot will still allow her to be with her friends.

Its going to be a great thing for her to have when they all get in middle school, Lane said. She will be able to go into the girls bathroom and talk. These will always be her people.
One of the most elusive predators in Montana is on the verge of leaping into the digital age  mountain lions.

Jay Kolbe, a Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist based in White Sulphur Springs, is writing the states first mountain lion management plan. But to do that he first had to assure the department and the public that there is a way to accurately estimate the wily cats population.

Thats always been the holy grail, Kolbe said. The greatest challenge in lion management is simply counting lions.

Whats more, the count has to be objective and provide population estimates in real time to allow game managers the ability to set lion hunting quotas. The counts also have to be repeatable  like the annual flights over winter ranges to count deer and elk  to show population trends.

I think we have a system to do both, Kolbe said.

New ways

To put the new system into effect, the state will be broken up into eco-regions  four large areas home to mountain lions. Since 1971 when Montana classified lions a game animal  up until 1962 there was a state bounty on cougars  mountain lion hunting has been based on quotas for many individual hunting districts across the state.

The new way to estimate the mountain lion populations in these larger regions is based on a study in the Bitterroot Valley. FWP biologist Kelly Proffitt was the lead author of a 2015 peer-reviewed article about the study, along with seven other scientists who hailed from, among other places, the University of Montanas Wildlife Biology program to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Proffitt said the counting techniques have proven fairly accurate.

Theres no alternative method to allow an agency such as ours to have a routine monitoring program thats time- and cost-effective, she said.

When some of the studys lion population estimates, which were based on the new methods, first came out in 2014, the higher count caused alarm among some lion hunters.

The numbers they came up with in that study werent even realistic, said Grover Hedrick, a veteran Boulder houndsman who has helped FWP and other agencies with lion studies.

Kolbe said the department could have explained the new numbers better, to emphasize that were discussing the population in a different way. Proffitt noted that using the same method in other places, like Granite County and along the Blackfoot River drainage, produced population numbers that werent as controversial among houndsmen.

Certainly all estimates come with confidence errors, she said. But its still a metric of the populations numbers that allow you to track trends over time.

She said the techniques used for the study are now used in Washington and California as an accepted way to track populations.

In 2014 the perception was that it was something new and crazy, Proffitt said. Thats not the case anymore.

How it works:

To develop trend data for lion populations in the state plan, FWP will incorporate genetic sampling from lions  capturing DNA using darts so the lions arent handled or collared  as well as spatial capture-recapture models. Spatial capture-recapture models provide a flexible framework  for studying spatial processes such as individual movement, resource selection, space usage, population dynamics, and density, according to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Another tool FWP will be using is an integrated population model  developed with assistance from the University of Montana  that uses all of the field research data, demographics and past harvest data.

The model will allow wildlife managers to plug in proposed harvest quotas to see how they might affect a specific population over the next three years, Kolbe said.

It allows us to better manage lions to whatever objective, Kolbe said. All of these tools work together to inform a management program to ensure lions are conserved here and meet individual objectives. Before, we were really flying blind.

FWP support

Kolbe has praised FWP for committing resources to the work. That commitment was partly motivated by the concern that anti-hunting groups might be able to halt lion hunting because population data was scarce.

This is a good tool to help biologists across the state set seasons, said John Vore, FWP Game Management Bureau chief. We want to use the best available science for managing mountain lion populations.

A draft of the state mountain lion management plan is expected to be released for public comment in soon. Kolbe hopes to have the tool available by next springs season-setting. Even then, Vore said the initial document will be a draft and open to change.

People shouldnt say, This is the way its going to be, he said.

Criticisms of FWPs mountain lion quota setting have sometimes driven a wedge between the department and hunters, breeding distrust of the agency. Kolbe said he is optimistic that the new plan will reassure lion hunters and nonhunters that Montana is committed to protecting cougar populations and cougar hunting.

I hope this gives them more confidence in our ability  to protect the resource, he said. Id like to rebuild some trust.
Since Stantons Golden Fleischkuechle plant stopped operations, many businesses have had difficulties finding fleischkuechle to serve, said Kevin Sasse.

Sasse started making fleischkuechle in 2012 and was licensed to sell it on the street. Now, Kevins Place in Beulah is licensed to sell fleischkuechle, made using an old family recipe, commercially.

Sasse said his fleischkuechle production is small. Hes just doing it as a hobby, selling to six to eight places, including Hide-Away in Mandan, West Dakota Meats in Bismarck, 2k Meats & More in Beulah, as well as locations in Glen Ullin and Golden Valley.

Cash Wise renovates

Cash Wise is getting new facades on both entrances, giving the store a more modern look.

Every now and then just like to give a touch-up, said company spokesman Kevin Hurd.

The improvements also include new energy-efficient LED lighting.

Bismarck is a good store for us, said Hurd, adding that the company has reinvested in the location several times in the past few years, including new fixtures in the meat and produce sections. We want to make sure its looking its best.

The improvements should be complete by the end of the year.

Flower shop finds desirable location in downtown Bismarck

Concrete Daisiez, a new flower shop in downtown Bismarck, opened in April in the former Tribune building, 311 E. Thayer Ave.

Owner Marlee Perez said she tries to set her bouquets apart with bright colors and glitter and unique types of flowers. She also makes concrete flowerpots for planting.

Perez, who has worked for other florists previously, said owning a shop was a dream come true.

She delivers bouquets for all occasions and also sells homemade soaps and bath salts. Her lower-level shop is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

For more information, go online to www.facebook.com/concretedaisiez/.

Internship workshop

Dickinson State University is hosting a workshop for area businesses called Internship 101, focusing on the development of internship opportunities for students in the workplace.

The workshop will be at 3 p.m. Mountain time on Dec. 20 in the Student Center Ballroom.

Topics will include how to develop an internship, collaborating with DSU to share internship opportunities and next steps businesses may take.

RSVP by contacting Donna Joyce at 701-483-2089 or donna.joyce@dickinsonsate.edu.
The Conversation, December 9, 2016

by Samia Huq (Associate Professor , Brac University)

The recent violent attacks on a Hindu temple in Bangladeshas Netrokona district, and previous assaults on temples and homes in October in Brahmanbaria are a troubling illustration of Bangladeshas struggle to protect two of its fundamental values: secularism and pluralism.

The country is still recovering from the brutal July attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery, when five armed young men claiming to represent ISIS barged into a cafA in an elite area of Dhaka and killed several foreign nationals and Bangladeshis; others were taken hostage.

Policemen patrol the Holey Artisan Bakery and the OKitchen Restaurant, attacked in July 2016. Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Though it was shocking, the Holey attack was not unique. Over the past three years, a string of attacks have targeted bloggers, atheists and free thinkers.

The event that marked the beginning of the spate of violence was the 2013 Shahbag-Hefazat debacle, when liberal youth demanding capital punishment for several Jamaaat-e-Islami leaders (on trial for war crimes in 1971) clashed with a religious but non-political Islamic group called Hefazat-e-Islam. They fought over freedom of expression and religious and moral injury.

But the Holey attacks did redirect focus onto the privileged class a both as targets and assailants. The bakery was a popular hub for young, wealthy Bangladeshis and foreigners, and at least two of the killers were from educated, well-off families, debunking the myth that madrasas (where children from poorer families study) are the sole breeding ground for religious extremists.

The decline of the privileged

The Holey affairas elite trappings caused both panic and an awakening to the reality that transnational terror outfits have a presence in Bangladesh. This was worrying, since government officials had previously affirmed that past attacks were the result of homegrown political opposition.

It was disconcerting, not just from a security perspective but also because the incident had implications for Bangladeshi secularism. According to the latest data from Unicef, 79% of men and 83% of women age 15 and 24 embrace a secular ethos.

Secularism was a foundational tenet of Bangladeshas 1971 constitution. Islam became the state religion in 1988, but this move has been challenged through petitions and in the courts several times, including earlier this year.

The secular vision of the nation enshrined in the Constitution had long been mistaken as one that did not care for religion, or, in particular, for Islam.

In recent years, liberals have tried to amend this misconception by arguing that the secular vision draws, as it always has, on a tolerant and syncretic form of Islam nurtured by Sufi settlers from the 13th century onwards. The intolerant Islam of ISIS does not tally well with this idea of the past and vision for the future.

People also questioned why, if indeed intolerant Islam had made inroads in Bangladesh, it would hold appeal for young boys for whom the world was otherwise open. Something must be terribly amiss in their homes for radicalism to take root.

Have modern aspirations and modernity at large failed Bangladeshas families, with time constraints and other challenges leading to a certain anomie, a breakdown of social bonds? Has radicalism become the new opiate?

Coercive politics and mismanaged Islam

The frustration and loss of value for human life demonstrated by the educated middle class cannot be understood in isolation from the values imparted by Bangladeshas current political climate.

After two decades of authoritarianism and dictatorship post-independence, Bangladeshas democratic turn in 1991 was safeguarded by a non-partisan caretaker system that would ensure the holding of free and fair elections. But this constitutional guarantee of democracy was removed in 2011, raising suspicion about the electoral process.

Elections held since have either been boycotted by the main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), or seen allegations of rigging. The BNP blames the ruling Awami League, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, for a lack of transparency and accountability at the 2012 polls. The BNP responded to that election with violent protest.

Some argue that electoral suspicions and conflict between the government and the opposition has created dissidence and allowed radicalism to thrive. Others suggest that violence, especially in the name of Islam, was the BNPas forte all along a even before the caretaker system ended.

The partyas inability to sever ties with the Jamaat-e-Islami has certainly allowed a certain narrow version of Islam to gain momentum in the public sphere, and the BNP must shoulder some responsibility for its flirtation with violent extremism.

This narrative has allowed the Awami League to play a lazy blame game whenever terror strikes. Prior to Holey, the government responded to each attack on freedom of expression and speech by pointing to the BNP and Jamaaatas attempts to destabilise the regime. This view also helped the Awami League reinvigorate aBengali nationalisma , which in its current incarnation proposes a Muslimness framed by the syncretistic, or blended, Islam of Bengal, and recalls the movement that fought Pakistani state oppression.

Bengal had a vibrant syncretistic tradition. It was also a land where orthodox movements of the 18th century mobilised peasants for redistributive justice and where the leftist leader Maulana Abul Hamid Khan Bhashani used religious ideals to demand rights and democracy.

What will the Islam of modern Bengali nationalism deliver? It remains to be seen.

An unclear commitment to secularism

Whatas clear is that the state is clamping down on a good number of Islamists and beefing up on security. No doubt tighter security controls are comforting to citizens. But they wonat greatly alter realities on the ground.

A close look at the recent persecution of Santals, an indigenous community in northern Bangladesh, reveals competition for land is at the heart of the conflict.

Such increased attacks on minorities, including notably, on Hindus, also show that Muslim majority sentiments are being deployed as a pretext for rivalries within the Awami League.

Despite some efforts to restore peace between the communities, including deposing party members and law enforcement officials, critics say that the government is not working hard enough to nip such intolerance in the bud.

It seems that Bangladeshas secular aspirations have stalled in the face of power struggles. When politics thrive on a failure (intended or unintended) to moderate and regulate such power plays, it takes tenacity to achieve religious peace a not just moving some administrators from one position to another.

Recent thinking that has discredited the classic concept of secularism as the separation of church and state, redefining it as a state-building project that uses the illusion of separation to regulate and define religion to maintain state sovereignty. In this context, the Awami League has work to do.

If modern Bengali nationalism is to leave its imprint on this constitutionally secular country, it must disentangle its many political projects so that freedom of religion and minority rights can thrive.

Only by creating a political sphere in which people can differ on private matters and still feel represented by their government can the state recreate the tolerance that secularism foresees.

Beyond just meeting the imminent security threat, such measures would help spur the great expectations of growth and development in Bangladesh.
Shirley Contreras lives in Orcutt and writes for the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society. She can be contacted at 623-8193 or at shirleycontreras2@yahoo.com. Her book, The Good Years, a selection of stories shes written for the Santa Maria Times since 1991, is on sale at the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society, 616 S. Broadway.
Workplace injuries, accidents and fatalities across the US, in 6 charts
Georgias secretary of state, Brian Kemp, revealed that voter registration database was targeted by hackers with IP address linked to the DHS.

While President Barack Obama has ordered US intelligence agencies to deeper investigate the alleged Russian interference with the 2016 Presidential Election, Georgia announced its traced an attempted breach of the states voter registration database to the DHS.

The Georgias secretary of state, Brian Kemp, revealed that the voter registration database was targeted by hackers with IP address linked to the DHS.

The news is disconcerting as curious. Why IP addresses belonging to the DHS are involved in this cyber attack?

The first hypothesis sees a group of hacked systems at DHS that were used by a threat actor to access voter registration database. This means that hackers breached the systems of the US Government and are using them to move laterally and steal sensitive information.

In November 2014 the State Department has taken the unprecedented step of shutting down its entire unclassified email system in response to a suspected cyber attack.

Activity of concern was detected in the system concurrently with another cyber attack which hit the network at the White House computer network. A State Department staffer answering a call to the State Department Operations Center revealed that, as a precautionary measure, the e-mail system remained down.

In the same period, other US agencies were targeted by hackers, including the U.S. Postal Service and the National Weather Service, the U.S. Military confirmed that its systems were secured, according to official sources, none of the State Departments classified systems were affected.

These are just a few examples of attacks that hit the US Government.

A second hypothesis sees someone in the US intelligence that is conducting a covert operation, for example, to build false flag for an alleged Russian attack, but sincerely this scenario is implausible. Another possibility is that agents at the DHS were conducting a penetration testing without authorization with the intent to measure the resilience of the Firewall to a cyber attack.

According to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, hackers were blocked by the firewall that protects Georgias voter registration database.

Recently, I was made aware of a failed attempt to breach the firewall that protects Georgias voter registration database by an IP address associated with the Department of Homeland Security. On Thursday morning, , I sent a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson demanding to know why. Georgias secretary of state, Brian Kemp wrote on his Facebook page.

The Wall Street Journal who visioned a copy of the letter sent by Mr Kemp, revealed the attempted attack occurred on November 15, just after the presidential election.

implausible. Another possibility is that agents at the DHS were conducting a penetration testing without authorization with the intent to measure the resilience of the Firewall to a cyber attack.

According to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, hackers were blocked by the firewall that protects Georgias voter registration database.

Recently, I was made aware of a failed attempt to breach the firewall that protects Georgias voter registration database by an IP address associated with the Department of Homeland Security. On Thursday morning, , I sent a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson demanding to know why. Georgias secretary of state, Brian Kemp wrote on his Facebook page.

The Wall Street Journal who visioned a copy of the letter sent by Mr Kemp, revealed the attempted attack occurred on November 15, just after the presidential election.

We are looking into the matter. DHS takes the trust of our public and private sector partners seriously, and we will respond to Secretary Kemp directly, the DHS said in a statement.

At no time has my office agreed to or permitted DHS to conduct penetration testing or security scans of our network, Kemp wrote in his letter. Moreover, your department has not contacted my office since this unsuccessful incident to alert us of any security event that would require testing or scanning of our network.

The hacking of election systems represented a major concern during the last 2016 Presidential Election, in many cases experts highlighted that it was possible that foreign hackers attempted to do it. The US intelligence agencies had found evidence that foreign hackers were trying to access state voter registration systems, in April 2016 the FBI issued a flash alert to election officials across the country confirming that foreign hackers have compromised state election systems in two states.

In response to the attacks the DHS offered a series of services to assess the security of voting systems, including cyber hygiene scans that were specifically designed to find flaws in the systems used during the election.

Anyway Kemp seems to have refused the DHS support

But Georgias top election official is balking at the offers of assistance  and accusing the Obama administration of using exaggerated warnings of cyberthreats to intrude on states authority. states a post published by Politico. Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemps objections add to a bumpy start for the Department of Homeland Securitys attempt to shore up safeguards for the election, during a summer when cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee have called attention to weaknesses across the electoral system.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs  US State Department, US Government)

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision not to grant an easement to Dakota Access Pipeline fits a pattern by the Obama administration.

The president stalled the Keystone XL pipeline before rejecting it and has been supportive of anti-drilling factions in the U.S. The message to oil-related companies is that they launch projects at the risk of being delayed or stopped.

Its a consistent policy of the government being inconsistent in how they apply the law.

The corps indicated in its decision last week that prior reviews and actions had complied with legal requirements, but the corps decided the case needed more analysis.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., noted that courts ruled twice that the corps followed the required process in considering the permit. She also pointed out that President-elect Donald Trump has voiced support for the pipeline.

 For the next month and a half, nothing about this project will change," she said.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple agreed with Heitkamp, saying the corps decision just prolongs the pipeline debate.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., stressed the potential long-term impact of the decision.

"Refusing the easement has ramifications over the long term. If companies and individuals cannot rely on a system that follows the rule of law, nobody will risk making future investments in our country's vital infrastructure. That will make our nation vulnerable and less secure.

The Tribune has been supportive of pipelines as a means of moving oil since the oil boom began. Pipelines are more efficient for moving oil than railroads and trucks. Yes, theres risk attached to all of them, but not only has pipeline safety been improved over the years, there are far more truck and train incidents resulting in oil spills than there are pipeline breaks.

There are pipelines operating throughout the country, including at least 2,840 crossing rivers (wyofile.com, 8/4/15). They are an essential part of commerce. The DAPL pipeline will be the safest river-crossing pipeline ever built and as close to foolproof as can be.

The decision not to grant the easement is bad policy, one that has the fingerprints of politics on it. The original intent of the protests, to protect the water, has turned into an anti-oil campaign and an effort to reclaim what protesters consider unceded tribal lands.

The decision by groups involved in the protest to maintain a presence at the camps until the pipeline issue is resolved means law enforcement resources will continue to be strained. It means continued problems for the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The corps decision to conduct an additional review of the project means there will be likely more protests, more costs for law enforcement and more damage to Standing Rocks reputation in North Dakota. The responsibility falls on the corps and administration.
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
Will French.jpg

Will French

(c/o David Sher)

ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a better Birmingham.

David Sher is Co-Founder of AmSher Compassionate Collections and past Chairman of Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, ONB, and CAP.

Let's turn Birmingham around. Click here to sign up for our newsletter. There's power in numbers. (Opt out at any time)

Today's guest blog was written by Will French.

If you'd like to be a guest blogger, please click here.

I am relieved by Judge Ott's recent ruling in favor of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) regarding the rebuilding of I-20/59. I am excited that the ruling will allow the project to go forward, and I think the people of Birmingham are the real winners here. Not losers.

Is it a perfect project? Of course not. Will it solve all problems with the current road? No. Is it the ultimate solution? Again, no. But will it be a substantial improvement over what we have now? Absolutely, emphatically, YES! Here's what will be better:

First, safety. The existing structure doesn't meet modern design standards for merging distances, and requires dangerous traffic weaving to get to and from the various ramps. Have you ever come south along I-65 and tried to merge onto 20/59 and exit at 17thStreet? I defy anyone to tell me that's not dangerous.

Or what about the merge from the Red Mountain Expressway going towards 31st Street? According to the 2009 Parsons Brinckerhoff study, there is a wreck there more than once a week, on average. Both of those problems, and many other similar ones, will be fixed with the new design.

Second, traffic capacity. The existing road carries twice as much traffic as it was designed for. The new road will be able to carry a lot more, both because it will be wider and because it will not have the merging/weaving bottlenecks of today. It will have better shoulders, so when there is a wreck other traffic won't be slowed down as much.

The highway will still be busy, and will probably still back up at rush hour, but not as badly as today. This is the busiest interstate segment in the State of Alabama. It needs more traffic capacity.

A final issue is aesthetics. I don't want to oversell this one; it's still going to be a big highway bridge up in the air. The new bridge should look better, and be a little quieter underneath. But it won't be as nice as it would be to have the whole thing underground with a park on top.

That leads me to consideration of the two most-talked-about alternatives, and the problems with both that their proponents rarely discuss. Problems for which I have never heard even the beginning of an idea about how to solve. The two problems are, as is so often the case, time and money.

The two alternatives are 1) put the whole thing below grade along the current location, or 2) move the highway out of downtown altogether and run it somewhere around Finley Boulevard. I actually like both ideas. Both would improve the downtown pedestrian experience enormously. Both would present some land redevelopment opportunities downtown, and allow for parks or other amenities. Both would also connect the Civic Center area, new Uptown developments, and nearby northern neighborhoods more integrally with the rest of downtown.

But both would take a long time to build, and both would cost an enormous amount of money. How much of each? The short answer is that nobody knows. Engineering design has not begun for either.

For the Finley alternative, we would be building several miles of urban interstate on a brand new alignment. That is virtually never done any more in the US because of all the problems it entails: disruption and relocation of existing people and businesses; environmental justice issues; other environmental issues; cost; etc. If we could actually get it done, which I doubt, I think it's fair to say that it would take decades and cost billions.

The below-grade option in the existing corridor is more feasible, but it's still too expensive and too time-consuming. It has been reported that the below-grade project could cost $700 million. If that number came from the 2009 Parsons Brinckerhoff study, it is already 7 years old. Construction can't begin until design work is complete. Design would take at least a couple of years if anyone were actually working on it, which they are not.

A more realistic construction number, for some undetermined date in the future, is probably in the $1.5 to $2 billion range. The existing bridge replacement project will cost around $400 million. If the below grade option is what we want, where is all that extra money going to come from?

And how much longer would it take? The current ALDOT project will be finished in 2 or 3 years. The existing bridge decks are falling apart, traffic counts aren't getting any lower, and safety issues aren't getting any better. Do we really want to live with the existing road while we go through years more of discussion and design? I know I don't.

What I suggest instead is that we support ALDOT's going ahead with their existing project. We need it now, in the short term, and they are ready to do it. In fact, they ARE doing it, and there's not much chance that they will change their minds. Judge Ott's November ruling dismissed the lawsuit aiming to stop the project. Anyone who doesn't like the ALDOT plan probably needs to accept that the battle is over.

But instead of just accepting the current project as our ultimate destiny, let's keep working on what we want, in anticipation of the next time the bridges need major rebuilding. The day will come, eventually, when the new bridges need an overhaul or replacement of their own. Let's be ready for that day with a real plan of what we want.

It may seem like the far distant future, but big public works projects take decades from conception to reality. Controversial projects can take years just to reach consensus around the best solution. Funding can also take years to line up. It is not too soon to begin planning and advocating for something that may take 30 or 40 years to realize.

The 2004 Urban Design Associates plan was a good start. The 2009 Parsons Brinckerhoff study was a good next step. And the Move I-20/59 organization, and others, have done a good job of raising public awareness of the issues and the opportunities. I sincerely hope that the opponents of the current project will keep working, so that next time around we can do something better.

In fact, I will gladly join any efforts working towards that goal. To be successful, it will take many years of continuous work, discussion, lobbying, and advocacy. Today's ALDOT project is good, in my opinion, but we can and should expect even better the next time around.

Too often in Birmingham, when there is a proposal for something new, we complain that it's not going to be good enough, or that it might not work, or it might make things worse, or we like things the way they already are. If we fall into the trap of thinking like that, we run the risk of never accomplishing anything.

Projects and ideas don't have to be perfect in order to be useful. Let's not agonize over lost opportunities, and let's not despair just because a current project doesn't take us all the way to the final goal.

ALDOT's 20/59 project is a good one. It will bring real improvements for traffic flow and safety, and modest improvements in appearance. It will bring those benefits soon, at a cost that the State can afford. It does not keep us from working toward a bolder, more ambitious project in the future. Let=s support both ALDOT's current project and future efforts to do something even better.

Will French is Chairman, President, and CEO of Dunn Investment Company. He is a lifelong resident of the Birmingham area.
 U.S. Supreme Court adds federal drug-offense forfeiture case to its docket | Main | You be the federal sentencing judge: how long a prison term for convicted Philly US Representative? UPDATE: He got 10 years! 

It is my honor and pleasure to be able to use this space to post about a newly available position in my own law school. Here is the official announcement (which is also available at this link):

The Moritz College of Law invites applications for an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law to teach its two criminal justice clinics beginning in academic year 2017-2018. To allow adequate preparation, the position will start no later than July 1, 2017.

Our College offers both a prosecution clinic (taught each fall semester) and a defense clinic (taught each spring semester). The defense clinic represents indigent misdemeanor defendants in Franklin County, home of the nations fifteenth largest city. The prosecution clinic handles misdemeanor cases in nearby Delaware County, which encompasses suburban and rural populations. Both clinics exercise autonomy over selection and handling of all cases.

The Assistant Clinical Professor will team teach both clinics with an experienced member of the Moritz faculty. The two professors will share responsibility for course design, classroom instruction, and student conferences; the newly hired Assistant Clinical Professor will serve as counsel of record in all cases and take primary responsibility for courthouse supervision of the student legal interns.

The position is a nontenure-track position with security reasonably similar to tenure, as provided by ABA Standard 405(c). Professors appointed to this clinical track within the Moritz College of Law shall have relevant practice and occupational experience in their areas of expertise and strong potential in all relevant areas of clinical or skills teaching, such as: (a) supervising students in a clinical or skills setting; (b) handling cases and other matters assigned through the clinical programs; (c) classroom teaching; (d) conforming to the ethical standards of applicable codes of professional responsibility; (e) engaging in public service; (f) expanding understanding of the law through preparation of written materials; and (g) maintaining knowledge in the faculty members areas of expertise. Production of traditional scholarship is not required, but the College supports clinical faculty who wish to engage in that activity.

The Assistant Clinical Professor will be hired for an initial probationary period of 3 to 5 years (with annual review) and will have full rights to participate in all College governance matters other than the appointment, promotion, and tenure of tenure-track faculty. Assuming satisfactory performance during the probationary period, the Assistant Clinical Professor will be eligible for promotion to Associate Clinical Professor under a long-term renewable contract of 3 to 5 years that permits removal only for cause or financial exigency. The College would consider lateral appointments (at the Associate Clinical Professor level) only for candidates with significant law school teaching experience.

The position offers a unique opportunity to supervise students in both prosecution and defense work, to expose those students to two very different justice systems, and to engage with the criminal justice system from multiple perspectives. The College has developed strong relationships with the municipal courts, prosecutors, and defense bar in Franklin and Delaware Counties, which allow these clinics to flourish.

We will consider all applicants; we particularly encourage applicants with either defense or prosecution experience to apply. We do, however, prefer candidates with at least three years experience practicing criminal law. Candidates should be admitted to the Ohio Bar or be eligible for admission in Ohio. Candidates also should have a record that demonstrates potential for successful clinical teaching and related activities.

A resume, references, and cover letter should be submitted to Professor Steven Huefner, Chair, Clinical Faculty Search Committee, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, 55 West 12th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210. Send e-mail applications to huefner.4@osu.edu. Applications will be reviewed beginning December 10 and will be accepted until the position is filled; preference will be given to applications received before January 15, 2017.

The Moritz College of Law recognizes that excellence in a legal education as well as in our legal system, institutions, workplaces and communities is enriched by a diverse faculty, staff and student body. The Ohio State University is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, or protected veteran status.
This website is intended for U.S. visitors only.
WASHINGTON  Scientists are on the trail of a potential antidote for carbon monoxide poisoning, an injected "scavenger" that promises to trap and remove the gas from blood within minutes.

It's very early-stage research  but a reminder that, however it turns out, there are steps people should take now to protect themselves from this silent killer.

We can't see or smell carbon monoxide as it builds up from car exhaust, a faulty furnace or some other cause. It elbows oxygen out of red blood cells and thus starves the brain and other tissues. Today's only treatment is to get that oxygen replaced in time.

"We have antidotes for cyanide poisoning, for snakebite, but we don't have antidotes for carbon monoxide poisoning and it's the most common poisoning," lamented Dr. Mark Gladwin of the University of Pittsburgh, who is leading new research to develop one.

His team has engineered a protein that can selectively target carbon monoxide, rapidly binding to it so it can't attach instead to the hemoglobin in red blood cells. The compound saved mice from otherwise lethal doses of carbon monoxide, Gladwin reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

More research is needed before the approach could be tried in people. Here are some things to know about the work and how to prevent carbon monoxide exposure in the first place  such as by installing an alarm that warns when the gas is around.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is far too common

This colorless, odorless gas is a leading cause of poisoning deaths worldwide. In the U.S. alone, accidental carbon monoxide poisonings that aren't linked to fires cause more than 20,000 emergency room visits a year, and more than 400 people die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children especially are vulnerable, and survivors often suffer lasting neurologic problems.

Carbon monoxide is produced when fuel is burned. And while it can be a cause of death during fires, other preventable accidents occur when fumes produced by cars, portable generators, gas stoves or heaters, and other sources build up in enclosed spaces. Winter is a particularly risky time.

Symptoms are vague

Symptoms include headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain or confusion  signs to get into fresh air and seek help.

How it harms

Hemoglobin carries oxygen in red blood cells. Carbon monoxide sticks to hemoglobin better than oxygen does. So when someone breathes carbon monoxide, that gas replaces oxygen in the bloodstream.

Providing direct oxygen to flush out the toxin can work, depending on how quickly it's started and how severe the poisoning. But there is no true antidote, a compound designed to directly target the carbon monoxide and give oxygen therapy a better chance.

Scavenging the poison

Gladwin's team started with a hemoglobin-like protein found in the brain called neuroglobin, and genetically engineered it to snatch up carbon monoxide. This artificial neuroglobin binds to carbon monoxide about 500 times more tightly than the gas normally can attach to hemoglobin.

In lab tests using human red blood cells, the researchers reported the antidote eliminated carbon monoxide many times more rapidly than oxygen, as measured by what's called its half-life  the time it takes for half of it to disappear.

That translated into survival for seven of eight mice exposed to usually lethal carbon monoxide doses. Researchers gave additional mice lower doses of carbon monoxide, and measured as the antidote restored blood pressure and improved oxygen levels before being excreted in urine.

What's next

Mouse studies are very preliminary so more research is needed to be sure the approach is safe before scientists could test if it works in people.

But there's a need for a quick-to-administer antidote, such as by a paramedic on the scene, said resuscitation specialist Dr. Lance Becker, emergency medicine chairman at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, who wasn't involved with the new research.

"I'm cautiously very optimistic," Becker said. "It's very early but this is a very novel sort of approach," and a logical one, he added.

He's seen carbon monoxide's devastation too often, including "one of the most upsetting nights of my career" when a family was poisoned while sleeping in their car on a wintry night. Doctors saved the parents but couldn't revive their children.

Taking precautions against carbon monoxide

Among the CDC's safety tips:

 Install a carbon monoxide detector, that's battery operated or has a battery back-up, where it will wake you if you're sleeping.

 Have your furnace and any other gas and oil appliances inspected every year, as well as your chimney.

 Make sure gas appliances are properly vented.

 Don't run a car or truck inside a garage attached to the house even if the door is open.

 Only use a portable generator outdoors, placed far from windows, doors or vents.

 Never use a gas oven for heating, and never use a charcoal grill or camp stove indoors.
125 YEARS AGO

In the news: Elk Point, S.D. -- Nearly all of the county officials are suffering from the grippe. The sanitary conditions at the courthouse are very bad. Sioux City -- John D. Perkins is quarantined at home. Little Louise has a mild attack of scarlet fever. Born to Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Webb, 1124 Walnut avenue, a daughter.

Food ad: The Pioneer Market, 617 Fourth St. -- Sirloin steak 10 and 15 cents; Lambs (wholesale) 10 cents; Wiener sausage (retail) 12 1/2 cents; Turkeys and ducks 15 cents per pound; Chickens 12 1/2 to 15 cents per pound. Bring your cash and we will give you more and better meat for the money.

Vagabonds back: From a half dozen to a dozen vags are lodged by the police every night now and very few of them come back to the station the second night. Nine out of 10 are men just in from the Black Hills where they have been on railroad work.

100 YEARS AGO

Greatest evil: The modern apartment house was declared to be the greatest evil of modern society by Prof. A. G. Loeffe of the high school faculty. He told the Womens Club that most apartment house owners forbid families with children and impacts every family to rear from three to five children to keep the race in existence.

School news: A new Orthodox Hebrew school has been established at Seventh and Wall streets. About 100 children are enrolled. Forty men who are teachers, supervisors in the Sioux City public schools have organized the Social Mens Club.

Coffee house raid: Nick Dandos, 1128 Fourth St., owner of the Coffee house, was raided Saturday night by Fred Spencers squad. He was fined $50 or 15 days in jail on a charge of keeping a gambling house. Nine men were caught shooting craps and fined $10 each. Four dice and $1.50 in small change was found concealed in pop cases.

50 YEARS AGO

Puppy auction: Joey, a seven-month-old standard black poodle and the official mascot of the Little Yellow Dogs, added $810 to the Mr. Goodfellow fund when he was auctioned Saturday. The buyer was Arlo Will of Boyers Provisions, Inc., who was bidding for company president Vernon. H. Boyer. The dog most likely will be kept in the Boyer household, which includes five children. The pups official name is Ridge Roads Joelle, but answers to Joey.

Christmas food: South Sioux City -- The annual Petes Feeders campaign has raised $1,400 so far to provide baskets of groceries for needy persons. ..The Sioux City Lions Club sponsored a Christmas party for the blind and their families Sunday.

Kettle day: Bellringers competed for attention at Sioux City street corners downtown seeking donations for the Salvation Army. Twenty-three organizations were competing for the honor of collecting the most money on the 34th annual Kettle Day.

25 YEARS AGO

Winnebago gambling: Louie LaRose, leader of the Winnebago Tribe Indians, said Tuesday the tribe is close to signing a state gambling compact. The tribal council has given preliminary approval to the proposal it received from the state.

Making news: The National Food Brokers Association has named Wrede M. Smith, president of American Popcorn Company in Sioux City, as its 1991 recipient of its highest honor, the Watson Rogers Award for Outstanding Service in the Food Industry. Carol Slater of Sioux City has been elected president of the Western Hills Area Education Agency board.

Lakes project: Spirit Lake  Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative and Spirit Lake Industries have entered into a partnership to develop a 60-acre business park. The site is about a quarter mile west of the junction of U.S. Highway 71 and Iowa Highway 9.

These items were published in the Journal Dec. 11-17 on 1891, 1916, 1966 and 1991.
SIBLEY, Iowa -- Residents and local leaders alike in Sibley hope to put a stinky situation with a local manufacturer behind them soon.

For two years, residents of the Osceola County seat have cried foul over the the odor being emitted by Iowa Drying and Processing, which specializes in manufacturing and processing of food and feed grade products.

The 160,000-square-foot plant, which is the subject of protracted litigation with the city, and is now up for sale, has been in business since 2013. The 6.7-acre site, near the downtown business district, was previously occupied by Associated Milk Producers Inc.

The city and IDP initially had a strong relationship as the business brought new jobs to the community and filled a large, empty industrial space; however, things started to sour once the plant became operational.

Its always good to have a new business come to town, but sometimes that business doesnt live up to standards one expects, said Sibley resident Wade Ellerbroek. People have the rights to enjoy their homes, being out in their yards and children at school shouldnt have to stay in from recess because the smell is overpowering.

Ellerbroek is the co-owner of Ellerbroek & Associates, a fifth-generation family-owned insurance and real estate company located around the corner from IDP. He said smells from the plant have hurt the town's image, blown real estate deals and hampered downtown businesses.

"I've seen people that have gone into restaurants and say the smell is so bad they can't eat and turn around and leave," Ellerbroek said. "I've seen people walking up and down Main Street holding their noses and covering their mouths. I think it has affected some buying decisions on real estate."

The businessman describes the primary odor as rancid and dead animal-like, but said it varies based on what the company is manufacturing on any given day.

Odors from the plant became so unbearable that the city began issuing multiple citations of $750  the maximum amount it could charge at the time  to IDP labeling the smell a nuisance.

In January, the city council passed an ordinance increasing the maximum fine to $1,000.

We changed our nuisance ordinances to put a little more force on our citations, said city attorney Harold Dawson.

Dawson said the city has levied nearly $40,000 against IDP, the most recent of which was issued on Oct. 31. So far, none have been paid.

Throughout this year, the city council has been trying to find a way to come up with an amicable solution to the odor problems.

What the city was trying to do was basically put in place a procedure where we could get an engineer involved and spend up to $50,000 and see how they could operate the plant and have the necessary equipment to abate any further nuisances, Dawson said.

Of course, at this point in time, that objective is never going to be reached.

IDP would have footed the bill for the engineering study and upgrades to the plant, something the company objected to. When the company declined to comply with that arrangement, the city filed suit against IDP, which filed a countersuit shortly afterwards.

A trial is slated for July 18; however, a settlement hearing is set for June.

Dawson thinks the situation will be resolved before either of those dates are reached. IDPs parent company, North Central Companies of the Twin Cities, put the plant up for sale in September for $5.5 million.

A representative for North Central Companies confirmed the building was still on the market, but declined to provide anymore information on the situation with Sibley.

They are not shut down, but they are effectively shut down as far as doing the majority of the products they were they doing before, so they are not doing any more rendered products, but they are still in operation, Dawson said.

Basically, the plant is for sale and so they are eventually hoping to sell the plant. At this time, it doesnt look like they are ever going to operate the plant like they were previously on an ongoing basis, he continued.

In Harolds view, IDP is keeping the plant somewhat operational until it finds a buyer for the facility.

The city never did achieve its objective as far as getting a viable plant there with the odor abatement equipment and we know thats not going to happen, Dawson said. So everything is, like I said, kind of put on hold.

The IDP plant had 26 full-time employees at the beginning of this year; however, that number has seemed to dwindle alongside the plants production capabilities. The plant was expected to bring 30 or more full-time jobs to Sibley as part of an agreement with the Iowa Economic Development Authority, which had pledged to provide $150,000 in incentives to IDP.

IDP asked the Des Moines-based state economic group to terminate its contract with the organization when its due diligence committee met on Oct. 26.

While Ellerbroek hates to see Sibley lose jobs, he supports the city wholeheartedly in this fight.

The city needs to stand strong on their position and enforce the nuisance ordinance," he said.
Leaving home one day, a man discovers a skunk sitting on his doorstep.

It was simply a strange but harmless occurrence, the man thought. That is, until he sees the black and white little stinker stalking him around corners, behind trees and all over town.

This is how "The Skunk" -- a children's book featuring the writing of Mac Barnett and the art of Patrick McDonnell -- begins.

Geared towards younger readers (preschool to second grade), the whimsically funny "The Skunk" was selected as one of 2016's Notable Children's Books by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC).

Defining "notable" books as being ones "that exhibit venturesome creativity" while "encouraging children's interests in exemplary ways," ALSC has several intriguing for kids of all ages this Christmas.

Also an ALSC-approved "notable" book geared towards young readers, "The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth and Harlem's Greatest Bookstore" (written by Vaunda Micheaux and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie) shows how Lewis Micheaux scratched a book itch through a store that fostered news idea and helped people stand up for what they believed in.

An ALSC "notable" book aimed at middle readers (grades 3-5), "Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invisible" (written and illustrated by Ursula Vernon) tells the tale of a rodent princess who was cursed at birth by an evil, wicked fairy god mouse named Ratshade.

Older kids (grades 6-8) may enjoy "Listen, Slowly" (by Thanhha Lai), an ALSC "notable" book centering on California-born Mai who learns the true meaning of family when she travels with her grandmother to Vietnam.

Recommended for readers of all ages, "My Pen" (written and illustrated by Christopher Myers) tells the story of a boy and his pen. Together, they can build worlds, ride dinosaurs and become heroes in a book that features rich, black and white drawings.
Brazilian author Noemi Jaffes What are the Blind Men Dreaming? is a Holocaust story, have no illusions about that. But unlike Elie Weisels Night or Art Spiegelmans Maus, which focus on the terror of concentration camps, Jaffe follows her mother as she picks up the pieces of a world shattered by tyranny.

The book, published by Dallas Deep Vellum, is unconventional in structure and translation style, both to the readers benefit. The first portion is a translation of Jaffes mothers diary from the original Serbian by Ellen Elias-Bursac. The second, written by Jaffe, is a narrative reflection, translated from the Brazilian Portuguese by Julia Sanches.

As explained by the author, her mother, Lili Stern, survived Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, then relocated to Sweden, where she wrote the diary. Her story is unlike many other Holocaust stories for a couple of reasons.

First, its a womans story, focused the bonds between Lili and her female cousins and then between a mother and a daughter. Second, it spends only a limited time on the horrors of the camp. Compared to Weisel, she uses a much softer tone about the same horrible experiences, possibly because she was assigned to the kitchen and taken slightly better care of compared to those building structures or digging mass graves.

Sterns diary takes the reader much further into her life. She conveys the complicated relationship she developed with food and gifts as well as what it meant to fall in love. Simple acts of kindness, like a visit from fellow Yugoslavs through the refugee camp gates, are magnified into deeply emotional exchanges.

Her story shows the post-liberation complications that survivors faced: Who is alive? How do you find them? Is there still a thing called home, and do you even want to go back?

Jaffe picks up the narrative a third of the way through. She re-examines her mothers story through a historical lens, adding context to her mothers lived experiences.

Jaffes telling includes her own story of traveling from Brazil to Auschwitz in 2009 with her daughter Leda to see where my mother had been held prisoner  and to feel what we hadnt been able to understand.

The book in many respects is almost a literary Haggadah leading the reader through the unthinkable. The Haggadah leads Jews through the Seder meal at Passover, the literal celebration of freedom for the faithful. During the meal, the children gather to ask the four questions to gain their own understanding of the tradition.

In her analysis, Jaffe asks her own questions about her mothers experiences and how she survived. How was she this strong? How could she still feel love? Why do we write about this horror? Simultaneously, Jaffe tries to impress her familys own freedom story upon her daughter to make sure another generation understands.

The effects of the Holocaust on Jaffes family stretched far beyond the fenced in walls of Auschwitz. It stretched like a shadow to their life in Brazil until Jaffe began to tug at the strings looking for a way to feel what her mother felt, hunting for an explanation to her life.

What she found, it seems, is how inexplicably strong her mother was and she is today. It is that strength, the willpower to go on that Jaffe aims to pass on to her daughters generation.

It is said that we must never forget, but, as the world becomes a more volatile place, it becomes easy to wonder if some of those lessons have begun to be forgotten.

Compelling pieces of literature from the Jewish diaspora such as Jaffes novel that make bystanders ask the questions and feel the inexplicable feeling of suffering and survival are more important now than ever.
ABOUT THE DONOR: Edward Jones is a full-service financial firm. We aspire to become the first choice of the serious, long-term individual investor who values a trusted, personal relationship and tailored financial advice, guidance and service.
SIOUX CITY | Aspen, the 14-week-old Maltese, was sold for $16,000 to an anonymous Sioux City buyer at the 81st Little Yellow Dog Auction Saturday.

Proceeds from the auction, sponsored by the Ancient and Effervescent Order of the Little Yellow Dog, a local civic group, will benefit the Journals Mr. Goodfellow Charity, a tradition that provides gifts and books to 8,000 underprivileged area children at Christmastime.

Auctioneer Bruce Brock would periodically stop his calling so the couple hundred attendees at the Ho-Chunk Centre atrium could enjoy Christmas tunes from Sioux City's All-America Concert Band.

"Everything went really well. As always, the community comes out and supports the 8,000 or so families and kids that need help. The Siouxland area always comes through just like clockwork," Brock said. "It's the most rewarding auction that I do every year. It is the one that I feel-- out of all the auctions that we do-- that I am doing the most good."

On top of Aspen's winning bid, $24,000 was donated by people and businesses at the event.

David E. Nixon, who is with the order, said the generosity of the people of Siouxland went over the top this year.

"I was surprised, and I tell people this every year, there is going to be something that we don't expect. And today, I thought we were going to end at eight or nine thousand," Nixon said. "And another thing that shocked me today, we have noticed in the last couple of years people are bringing their checks right here in person. We had some checks before, but I don't know if we had that many $1,000 checks, and we had a $5,000 one, too..."

Michelle Bader, the kennel master for the order and veterinarian at Family Pet Hospital, did the bidding for the unnamed donor. She said Aspen is a special Little Yellow Dog.

"He is an awesome dog. We had him at the office the whole time. He has a great personality, he loves anybody and everybody," Bader said while holding a tuckered out Aspen who had to endure a constant stream of scratches behind the ear throughout the event. "Some of the girls at my office that have been doing it for longer than I have said this is the best Little Yellow Dog that we have had so far."

Last year, Dasher-- a 5-month-old beagle -- went to the high bidder to a tune of $10,200.

Since Nov. 13, the Journal has been running daily front-page features that recognizes businesses, groups and individuals that have contributed $1,000 or more to the charity. The current total raised for Mr. Goodfellow is $119,500.
ANTHON, Iowa | Sonia Sterrett Jones and Tim Maguire opened their mail recently and found a certificate honoring each as class valedictorian at Anthon-Oto High School.

She graduated in 1981; he in 1982.

Salutatorians were also notified: Sioux Cityan Mark O'Connell, for the Class of 1981, and Tim Ashley, of Ames, Iowa, for the Class of 1982.

I realize not every school recognizes individual achievers these days. Anthon-Oto, however, did so for many years until entering a whole-grade sharing arrangement with Maple Valley High School in 1993. Superintendent Steve Oberg disclosed that Maple Valley High School hasn't formally observed a class valedictorian and salutatorian in his 25 years with the district. Instead, MVAO High School salutes students who have achieved a GPA beyond a 3.5 and 3.0 on graduation day.

But the practice was different at Anthon-Oto. Generally, the valedictorian and salutatorian presented a commencement address. At least that's the way it was save for a two-year stretch in the early 1980s.

That window of omission bugged former Sioux Cityan Brent Hoffman, a member of the Class of 1981, who noted he likely ranked near the bottom of the class. He asked around and learned of a couple of theories for the omission, the kind of small controversy to which schools are not immune. Whatever the discrepancy, it seemed to have put school board members, or those making the determination, at odds with one another. So, for two years, this matter, and related scholarships were dropped.

Hoffman reached out to Bob Clausen, an Anthon-Oto High School graduate in 1982, and a member of the current school board. He also contacted Oberg and found both men were supportive of identifying and finding these students from the early 1980s. Oberg searched the files and contacted a number of those class members to seek permission to have their grades released for further scrutiny.

"We looked up their GPAs and then had the kids sign releases to get it in the paper that they were valedictorians and salutatorians," Oberg said.

Keep in mind, these "kids" are now in their early 50s.

Oberg had a framed certificate printed for each and authored a resolution the current school board passed, recognizing these students for their efforts. He also sent a letter to apologize for recognition some three-plus decades tardy.

"It was a surprise," said Jones, daughter of the late Walter and Vera Sterrett, and a resident of Marcus, Iowa. "To receive the recognition now is very special."

She then laughed and recalled how it may offered relief at that time. "Even though it was customary for the valedictorian and salutatorian to give a speech, for me that was mortifying," Jones said.

Maguire, the son of the late Leo and Katherine "Dottie" Maguire, shared the assessment. "It would have been terrifying for me to try to stand up there at commencement and try to be philosophical, talking about the past and the future and what it all means," he said.

Maguire, in fact, had already started a military career and was set to head to San Diego, California, for boot camp with the United States Marine Corps. He would serve with Marines, the U.S. Air Force and the Minnesota National Guard for parts of 28-plus years.

When I reached Maguire on Friday, the airline pilot was putting up drywall in his basement in Bloomington, Minnesota. My call, he said, reminded him to call his mother in Anthon to let her know he earned class valedictorian honors after 34 years.

Jones, meantime, earned a business administration degree from the University of South Dakota and lived and worked in Phoenix, Arizona, for years before returning to Marcus, where her parents had relocated. The Little Sioux Corn Processors employee said her youngest child graduates this spring with the first class from MMC-RU, a merger of high schools in Marcus and Remsen.

When Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn and Remsen-Union had their last independent graduation exercises last May, I covered both occasions for the Journal. The two high schools, I reported, recognized a valedictorian and a salutatorian, and featured speeches by both.
CHEROKEE, Iowa -- When it comes to posting the highest average corn yields in the state, several Northwest Iowa counties are often near the top of the list, but the title tends to move around the state depending on growing season weather.

In 2015, Cherokee County led the state with an average 209.6 bushels per acre. Pocahontas County was second with 205.5 and also placed fifth in 2012 with 165.3 after dry conditions lowered yields statewide.

But OBrien County, taking third in 2015 with 205.2, has maintained the highest average yields over the past decade, putting up a 10-year average yield of 184 bushels per acre, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Services Iowa Office.

On the soybean side, Sioux County is on top with a 10-year average of 57 bushels per acre  leading the state for highest soybean yield averages for the past three years in a row. In 2015, Sioux Countys average soybean yield was 64.1 bushels per acre.

Joel DeJong, Iowa State Extension agronomist for Cherokee, Lyon, O'Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Sioux and Woodbury counties, said several factors contribute to the regions big yields.

Weve got a lot of deep Loess soils that hold a lot of water and yet, internally, are very well drained, DeJong said.

Historically, Northwest Iowa was among the driest parts of the state, but the amount of average annual rainfall has increased in recent years, he said.

Very timely planting is also a local advantage in many years.

We havent had excess water in many years, DeJong said.

John Schott, who farms in Pocahontas County, echoed DeJongs appraisal.

The first thing is weve got good deep soils that can take us through the stressful times of the year, Schott said.

He said farmers in his area have also taken advantage of grid sampling and use variable rate fertility programs.

I think that pays off in the long run, Schott said.

But even in good, deep soils, crop variety selection is still important, he said.

The last couple of years. The later the variety of corn, the better it yields. Thatll change from year to year, Schott said.

Schott agreed that more rainfall, especially in the critical July/August period, has also made a difference for corn yields.

DeJong said many Northwest Iowa soils dont have a restrictive layer stopping downward root movement.

Weve done lots of root pits and found corn roots 7, 8, 9 feet deep. Five foot (deep) is normal for Iowa, DeJong said. We have a lot of livestock production here, which means we utilize manure a lot. Some data says that can be a benefit.

Compared to Southeast Iowa, Northwest Iowa also seems to have less disease pressure in many years, DeJong said.

Schott said disease pressure is something growers watch closely. He said some corn varieties may respond better to fungicide treatments.

As for his approach to high yields, Schott said its the same all across Iowa.

I have friends from Southeast Iowa to Northwest Iowa, everybody is striving to do the same thing  make sure the costs you put on the land are going to give you a return, he said.

With the inputs that we have and tight margins, you are definitely trying to do as many things right as you can. Every year is different, and you have a lot of different factors that go in to making a good year.

The cheapest seed might do well one year, but may end up costing you another year, he explained.

Schott expected Pocahontas County to have very, very good yield averages again this year.

DeJong said OBrien County had some planting delays last spring and areas to the west with better drainage might claim the top spot this year.

Were fortunate to be farming the soils we are farming. We need to take care of them to keep them, DeJong said. The soils still are very productive. They are some of the youngest soils in the state.
The wailing and keening over the choice of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the EPA appears to be a lead indicator of a coming revolution far beyond Reagan's.

"Trump Taps Climate Skeptic For Top Environmental Post," said The Wall Street Journal. "Climate Change Denial," bawled a disbelieving New York Times, which urged the Senate to put Pruitt in a "dust bin."

Clearly, though his victory was narrow, Donald Trump remains contemptuous of political correctness and defiant of liberal ideology.

For environmentalism, as conservative scholar Robert Nisbet wrote in 1982, is more than the "most important social movement" of the 20th century. It is a militant and dogmatic faith that burns heretics.

"Environmentalism is well on its way to becoming the third great wave of redemptive struggle in Western history," wrote Nisbet, "the first being Christianity, the second modern socialism." In picking a "climate denier" to head EPA, Trump is rejecting revealed truth.

Yet, as with his choices of Steve Bannon as White House strategist and Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general, he has shown himself to be an unapologetic apostate to liberal orthodoxy.

Indeed, with his presidency, we may be entering a post-liberal era.

In 1950, literary critic Lionel Trilling wrote, "In the United States at this time liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition. For it is the plain fact that nowadays there are no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation."

The rise of the conservative movement of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan revealed liberalism's hour to be but a passing moment. Yet, today, something far beyond conservatism seems to be afoot.

As Hegel taught, in the dialectic of history the thesis calls into existence the antithesis. What we seem to be seeing is a rejection, and a counterreformation against the views and values that came out of the social and political revolutions of the 1960s.

Consider the settled doctrine Trump disrespected with Pruitt.

We have long been instructed that climate change is real, that its cause is man-made, that it imperils the planet with rising seas, hurricanes and storms, that all nations have a duty to curb the release of carbon dioxide to save the world for future generations.

This is said to be "scientific truth," and "climate deniers" are like people who believe the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it. Some hold the matter to be so grave that climate deniers should be censored for promoting socially destructive falsehoods.

Yet, the people remain skeptical.

Their worry is not that the rising waters of the Med will swamp the Riviera, but that tens of millions of Arabs, Muslims and Africans may be coming across to swamp Europe, and that millions of Mexicans may cross the Rio Grande to swamp the USA.

Call them climate deniers or climate skeptics, but they see the establishment as running the Big Con to effect a transfer of wealth and power away from the people -- and to themselves.

Across the West, establishments have lost credibility.

The proliferation of minority parties, tearing off pieces of the traditional ruling parties, points to a growing distrust in ruling regimes and a return to identifying with the nation and tribe whence one came.

A concomitant of this is a growing disbelief in egalitarianism and in the equality of all races, creeds, nations, cultures and peoples.

The Supreme Court may say all religions are equal and all must be treated equally. But do Americans believe Christianity and Islam are equal? How could they, when Christians claim their faith has as its founder the Son of God and God himself?

After calling for a ban on Muslim immigration, Trump was elected president. After inviting a million refugees from Syria's civil war into Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel admits having made a mistake and is now in favor of letting German cities and towns decide if women should be allowed to wear burqas.

A sea change in thought is taking place in the West.

Liberalism appears to be a dying faith. America's elites may still preach their trinity of values: diversity, democracy, equality. But the majorities in America and Europe are demanding that the borders be secured and Third World immigrants kept out.

The next president disbelieves in free trade. He wants a border wall. He questions the wisdom of our Mideast wars and the need for NATO. He is contemptuous of democratist dogma that how other nations rule themselves is our business. He rejects transnationalism and globalism.

"There is no global anthem, no global currency, no certificate of global citizenship," said Trump in Cincinnati, "We pledge allegiance to one flag, and that flag is the American flag. From now on, it's going to be America first. ... We're going to put ourselves first."

That's not Adlai Stevenson or Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama.

Nothing seems settled or certain. All is in flux. But change is coming.
With the advance of the calendar comes the anticipation of Christmas with messages of peace and goodwill toward mankind. While I would like to direct my thoughts to such joys and happiness, recent events have created a less-than-idyllic situation.

In The Hague, closing arguments are in process in the trial of Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic. He is accused of issuing the order to murder about 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995 and laying siege to Sarajevo, causing the deaths of 10,000.

Further south, a special court upheld the convictions of 10 Kosovo Liberation Army leaders for torture during the 1998-99 conflict. Those convicted were sentenced to imprisonment between three and seven years. One of those convicted was an individual I advised three years ago in his role as the director of intelligence and security for the Kosovo Security Force.

Defense Secretary-designee James Mattis is said to have told President-elect Trump that beer and cigarettes are more effective than torture, while Central Intelligence Agency director-designee Mike Pompeo defended pre-2005 practices.

Last week, the International Committee of the Red Cross released the results of a survey conducted this summer. The poll queried 17,000 people in 16 countries, consisting of countries in conflict and United Nations Security Council members plus Switzerland.

Two-thirds of all respondents believe that torture is wrong, with a quarter believing that it was part of war. The question clearly used the term torture and not other euphemisms commonly used. Even after being informed that torture is prohibited by law, almost 60 percent of those surveyed continued to believe that the torture of an enemy combatant is sometimes or always acceptable.

Notably, only two countries had lower percentages than the United States in saying that it was wrong. One third of American respondents indicated that torture was part of war, higher than respondents in South Sudan, Iraq, and about twice as high as Afghanistan and Ukraine. Those furthest from direct experience appeared most willing to support the practice. As Cully Stimson, senior fellow of the conservative Heritage Foundation noted, These are disturbing numbers because torture is a crime, and banned under domestic and international law.

I was also confronted with the topic while reading a book on ethics and leadership. The book mentioned the Milgram experiment. The test was conducted in 1963 at Yale University, where people were asked to play the role of instructor and told to shock the other participant when given incorrect answers. The strength of the shock increased as the student gave incorrect answers. When facing the person being shocked, most stopped after a few times. When people were unable to see the student, 60 percent continued as instructed, even to the point where death was conveyed.

Finally, 71 years ago today, the film The Nazi Plan was admitted as evidence at the Nuremburg war crimes trials. Film archives from Hitlers regime were collected and compiled as photographic evidence to document the various crimes against humanity.

We have, and continue to, enforce standards of conduct during conflict around the world. At the same time, a large number seem to believe those standards dont apply to ourselves. This creates challenges for our personnel and effectively lowers the standard for what is acceptable around the world.

Over the next two weeks, we will experience commercialism in the name of the ultimate gift. As beings created in the image of our Creator, we fall short of acting on that premise. Great joy to all people and on earth peace, goodwill toward men remains the call, but not yet the practice.

Next week: Charese Yanney

A Sioux City resident, Steve Warnstadt is government affairs coordinator for Western Iowa Tech Community College and a former Democratic state senator. He and his wife, Mary, are the parents of one son and one daughter.
PLCB

Portuguese wines, says wine buyer Steve Pollack, are just starting to hit their stride and showing enormous potential.

(Paul Vigna | pvigna@pennlive.com)

Steve Pollack, the guy running the PLCB's Chairman's Selection program, spent a half-hour on the phone recently talking about everything from rising wine regions to some of the specific wines that the full portfolio carries.

Here's a link to the conversation that centered around the Advantage program. It's a list of 25 or so wines that cost less than $10, as compared to the larger group

Steve Pollack, buyer for the Chairman's Selection and Advance wines with the Pa. Liquor Control Board.

of Chairman's Selection wines that go as high as $100, and sometimes even higher, as in the case of the Asura Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder 2012, which goes for $399.99. The sweet spot for price for the Selection wines, he added, runs from $11.99 to $19.99 these days.

"When we talk premium, remember the difference in the Advantage is that they are fruit-driven, kind of uncomplicated, wines that over-deliver," he said. "The Chairman's Selection is a lot more vintage-specific, appellation-specific, primarily appellation-specific. Once in a while we'll find a wine from like an Orin Swift kind of property, just a California red blend, where you know it's high end, but as I said, vintage-specific, and it's limited. The biggest buy we do in the Chairman's program would be 3,000 to 4,000 cases, tops. Even though when you walk in the store like Lemoyne you'll see about 250 products. They're all very limited, and that's why with the Advantage program, the consumer wanted a brand in every little store, so we came up with the Advantage program, which allows us to expand to a lot of nonpremium stores and reach customers that don't want to drive too far to get to their premium stores. Also it protects the Selection program, which . . . has a lot more diversity, a lot more varieties, and wines from all over the world."

One spot in the world that has Pollack most excited is Portugal, which for years has been lauded primarily for its Ports.

"I think Portuguese still red wines still hasn't hit their stride yet," he said. "You're starting to see some good pools come out of Duoro and Dao and the Alentejo regions. I think they're just phenomenal. I mean, they're using native grape varietals that they normally make in Port, which we know they fortify, so fortify in Port [means] they're adding distilled spirits. When they leave those grapes alone and they don't fortify them, I mean Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz are just phenomenal, phenomenal grapes. . . . You taste them and they're just velvety, they're smooth, and I think the trend right now is balance. Everybody I talk to, they want balance in wine, which I think is a very unique thing in this industry, it goes from the heavy oaking of Chardonnay in the 1980s to the no oak of the '90s to super-heady Prisoner wines coming out of California to even Beaujolais. It's been all over the place. But I think people are getting back to, specifically, the millennials, which is a big target for me now, they want balance. And they want stories behind the wine. They want something new."

Asked for several Portuguese wines that the Selection series carries, from less to more expensive, he offered these suggestions, all reds.

78507 Alto Pina Red Setubal Portugal 2014 Chairman's Selection

750 ML 2014 $8.99



78255 Barao de Vilar Douro 2014 Chairman's Selection

750 ML 2014 $11.99



78382 Sogrape Silk and Spice Red Blend Portugal 2014 Chairman's Selection

750 ML 2014 $9.99



78426 Quinta do Vallado Touriga Nacional Douro 2014 Chairman's Selection

750 ML 2014 $38.99

Asked about other regions and grapes, he talked a bit about South Africa and Sauvignon Blanc, that winemakers there are hitting their stride with the grape. Here's one suggestion from that group:

78317 Welgemeend Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2015 Chairman's Selection

750 ML 2015 $12.99

Finally, he talked about one of my favorites, the grape called Carmenere, which originated in Bordeaux but has since found a new home in South America, particularly Chile. Pollack said that of all the wines he opened at home Thanksgiving night, the universal favorite was a $7.99 bottle from Chateau Los Boldos.

"Whatever they did with this, I don't know when they picked it or how they grew it, it's herbaceous but it's got violets, it's got rose petal," he said. "If the color purple could be a taste, that's what I got out of it. Silky smooth and delicious. $7.99. It's

Chateau Los Boldos Carmenere is selling for $7.99/bottle.

unbelievable. I had a lot of wine on Thanksgiving night and I'll tell you something, we had wine from $50 to $7.99 and everybody in the room said, "That's what we want under $10." That validates the program where you say, 'I'm going to buy a case of that.' This is a wine that's probably not even selling because there's so much out there . . . and the label's not fancy. It just sits back there. But it's absolutely delicious."

As for the story behind this wine, Pollack offered the following:

"I believe it's twofold," he said. "First, it is something different, when it comes to grape variety and style. Second, even though millennials do like to try things different, they are very self-aware of pricing, especially if they have never tried it before. This wine is a tremendous opportunity to develop a dialogue and trust with the generation that will be [in my opinion] the most important to the wine industry in the next 10 years."
The night of the Iowa caucuses is something I have always anxiously looked forward to. I participated in my first caucus at the age of 17 in 2008 by voting for Rudy Giuliani and have voted in every GOP caucus since. Unfortunately, my avid participation in the caucuses has also revealed something else to me.

After the events of the past year, it is evident that the RNC needs to remove Iowa from its first-in-the-nation status. For the third consecutive election cycle, the results of the Iowa caucuses again failed to represent the views of the average conservative, let alone those of the average Iowan, Republican, or American citizen. Ted Cruz was an extremist who was obviously unelectable on a national stage, but yet caucus participants chose another candidate with zero chance of winning a general election as they did in 2012 with Rick Santorum and 2008 with Mike Huckabee.

Caucus voters have repeatedly failed to realize that we are supposed to choose the candidate we think would make the best president, not the candidate we think would make the best pastor. Despite Iowas unimportance on the electoral map, we are continually given chance after chance to get our caucuses right, but we fail in that effort every time.

Enough is enough. It is my hope that President-Elect Donald Trump and former RNC Chairman Reince Preibus will use their influence to end Iowas undeserved privilege of being the first state to contribute in choosing the GOP nominee. - Colby Drey, Sioux City
There have been a lot of smug, arrogant Letters in this space since the election. I suppose, considering the candidate, a little bit of graciousness in victory was too much to hope for. But all of these gloating authors would be well advised to remember that nothing in politics is permanent. Sure, the pendulum has swung hard to the right, but it will no doubt swing just as hard to the left sometime in the next four to eight years. This is not necessarily a good thing, but our primary system, in which only the hardest of hard-line activists vote, ensures that it will continue.

To keep those voters happy, elected officials consistently overreach once in power, turning off centrist voters and enraging and empowering extremists on the other side. Policy proposals by the emboldened Republican majority and the president-elects cabinet choices show that they are well on the way to repeating this destructive cycle. (Does anybody really believe privatizing Medicare and attacking public schools will be broadly popular?!) Add to this the fact that the Republican Party remains older and less diverse than the Democratic Party while the countrys demographics are headed in the opposite direction and it should be clear that the current situation is anything but stable.

Perhaps one day we will have a government that truly governs for all Americans. Its clear this isnt it. Until then, supporters of both political parties would be wise to remember the old adage What goes around, comes around. - Keith Weaver, Dakota Dunes, S.D.
Asiana 214. British Airways 2276. Emirates 521. American Airlines 383. What do each of these flights have in common? Besides each flight being involved in a fiery evacuation, passengers were photographed and filmed on video carrying luggage away from the burning wreckage.

The danger of having passengers evacuate planes with their luggage cannot be overstated. When commercial planes are certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, the manufacturer has to prove that a full plane can be evacuated in 90 seconds or less, with 50 percent of the exits accessible.

However, the four evacuation events mentioned above each took far longer than that. The reason? Selfish passengers spent valuable seconds opening overhead bins in order to take their luggage off the plane with them.

What is so dangerous about it? Your selfish evacuation delay endangers the lives of your fellow passengers.

When the overhead bins are lowered, many of the doors hang down at the level to where disoriented people in a smoke-filled cabin could injure themselves. Another big factor is the smoke itself.

Even if passengers arent hurt in the primary incident, smoke inhalation can incapacitate people, leaving them unable to evacuate.

In addition, with people now passed out in the aisles, their bodies become stumbling blocks to those who are still trying to evacuate. You can see the clear danger here, but it happens every time a plane needs to be evacuated.

What is the answer to keeping this from happening? Public shaming? Prosecution? After all, failure to comply with flight attendant instructions can be charged as a felony. But enforcement should not be the burden of the flight attendants. They are there to make sure everybody gets off the plane as quickly and safely as possible.

There is actually one simple solution: locking overhead bins. Install locking mechanisms on the bins, and give flight attendants control of the locks. The locks could be controlled with magnetic locks like youd see on security doors, or a sliding-pin mechanism.

The bins would be locked during taxi, takeoff and landing, whether there is an emergency or not. They would be unlocked at cruising altitude, so people could access personal electronic devices, medicine and such. Then they would be locked again when its time to prepare the cabin for arrival, after everyone has stored those items they took out during the flight.

Announcing the locking of the bins could also deter passengers from trying to grab their bags if an emergency evacuation became necessary.

The U.K.s Civil Aviation Authority issued a safety notice to airlines in October, but upon reading it, it does nothing more than suggesting airlines review their evacuation procedures regarding hand baggage, because it appears passengers might not be paying attention during the pre-flight safety briefings and/or videos.
Betsy DeVos, President-elect Trumps pick for U.S. Secretary of Education , doubled down on her promise to localize education, offer more choice, and end the Common Core State Standards, joining her new-boss-to-be at a victory rally in her home state of Michigan Friday.

Im so excited and humbled to be nominated as secretary of education. Just between us, let me share this, its time to make education great again in this country. This means putting kids first every single day, DeVos told the crowd. This means expanding choices and options to give every child the opportunity for a good education regardless of their ZIP code or their family circumstances. This means letting states set their own high standards and finally putting an end to the federalized common core. "

Of course, anyone who has read the Every Student Succeeds Act , which prohibits the secretary of education from telling states which standards they can and cant use, knows DeVos cant legally stop states from using the common core if they want

Still, some anti-common core conservatives arent fans of DeVos nomination , because of her association with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a prominent supporter of the standards. (Until recently, DeVos sat on the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, Bushs research and advocacy organization.)

And even though DeVos is likely to take the reins of the Education Department next year, it sounds like shes skeptical that the agency can do much to help boost achievement.

I trust parents and I believe in our children, DeVos told the cheering crowd. But it wont be Washington, D.C., that unlocks that potential. It wont be a giant bureaucracy or a federal department. Nope, the answer isnt bigger government. The answer is local control, and its listening to parents, and its giving more choices.

DeVos has been a school choice advocate for nearly 30 yearsmost prominently as chairwoman of the American Federation for Childrenbut hasnt worked professionally in education. That resume has some teachers worried that she doesnt have a commitment to public schools , or a clear idea of how they operate.

But DeVos told the crowd she has the background needed to fix K-12 education.

Ive been in education for 28 years, as an activist, a citizen volunteer, and an advocate for children, she said. I have the experience the passion and the know-how to make change happen.

It also sounds like DeVos isnt a fan of the media coverage her nomination has generated so far. There have been a rash of stories and opinion pieces about things like how her religious beliefs may inform her work at the Education Department and calling into question the impact of her procharter schools policies on schools in Michigan .

There is a lot of false news out there, she said. All I ask for is an open mind and the opportunity to share my heart.

After her brief remarks, Trump said hes confident DeVos can make great strides to fix our broken schools and broken country. ... Its going to be a beautiful thing to watch.

Want more? You can watch DeVos remarks and the rally below. Trumps introduction of DeVos starts around the 35 minute mark.

President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with his pick for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, during a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Dec. 9.

--Paul Sancya/AP

Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trumps pick for Education Secretary, speaks during a rally on Dec. 9 in Grand Rapids, Mich.

--Andrew Harnik/AP

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
DS Smith Plc provides packaging solutions, paper products, and recycling services worldwide. The company offers transit and transport, consumer, retail and shelf ready, online and e-retail, industrial, hazardous, multi-material, cushioning, and electrostatic discharge packaging products, as well as wrap arounds, trays, and bag-in-boxes; displays and promotional packaging products; corrugated pallets; Sheetfeeding products; packaging machine systems; and Sizzlepak, a stuffing material made of paper, folded in a zigzag shape, and cut into narrow strips, as well as provides outdoor advertising services. It also provides various recycling and waste management services, including total waste management, paper and cardboard recycling, confidential shredding, and coffee cups and plastics recycling, as well as equipment for the retail, manufacturing, print and publishing, paper mills, automotive, and public sectors. In addition, the company offers recycled corrugated case materials, specialty papers, and kraft liners, as well as related technical and supply chain services. It provides its packaging solutions for the food and drink, consumer goods, industrial, e-commerce and e-retail, and converter industries. The company was formerly known as David S. Smith (Holdings) PLC and changed its name to DS Smith Plc in 2001. DS Smith Plc was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
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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.
Bir-Lehlou, Dec 10, 2016 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO, Brahim Ghali, sent Friday a letter of congratulations to President of the United Republic of Tanzania H.E. Dr John Magufuli, on the 55th anniversary of the independence of his country.

On behalf of the Government and people of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, I would like to convey to your Excellency and the brotherly people of Tanzania our most sincere congratulations on the 55th anniversary of the independence of your sisterly country, said the President of Republic in his letter.

Since its independence in 1961, the United Republic of Tanzania has made great strides in all vital domains. We are confident that it will continue its steady march, under your wise leadership, towards the attainment of more development, progress and prosperity.

Tanzania has constantly been at the forefront of supporting the national liberation struggle of the Sahrawi people for freedom and independence. The Government and people of the Sahrawi Republic are grateful for the principled position of solidarity and support that Tanzania has always shown in defence of the just cause of the Sahrawi people in continental and international forums.

I take this pleasant opportunity to reiterate to your Excellency our strong resolve to strengthen and consolidate the bonds of solidarity, friendship and cooperation already existing between our two nations and to boost them to the highest possible level in the interests of our peoples and the peoples of our continent, concluded the President of Republic. (SPS)

062/090/TRA




Owner Karen Sobey has spent the past week being grateful for a Christmas miracle after a group of industry participants banded together to help save the life of a Standardbred racehorse.

Karen has been involved in racing for her entire life, first in P.E.I. and now in Alberta. She is just starting into the breeding business, and Saturday, December 3 she finalized the purchase of a racehorse who will be her future stallion prospect. That stallion is Prince Sharka, who is trained and driven by Karens son Nathan. Prince Sharka has been racing in Alberta since May for Karens brother Trevor Easter, but Karen has fallen in love with the seven-year-old, and she arranged to buy him. The long range plan was to race him for another season and then retire him to their farm and raise and race foals by him.



Prince Sharka, winning at Woodbine in March 2016 Prince Sharka, winning at Woodbine in March 2016

Sharka is sociable and attention seeking, and hes a character. The first time I led him to the paddock at Northlands Park I was glad he knew where he was going, because hes a big strong horse and he mostly led me there! Prince Sharka is by accounts a horse who has a definite agenda, and he can be pushy and moody, but is mostly mischievous and very demanding. Karen loves his breeding, Nathan loves training him, and hes become part of the family this year.

The purchase is the start of a new adventure with horses for Karen, and she should have been thrilled with her new acquisition, but she felt uneasy all day Saturday. It was the biggest racing day of the fall meet, and Nathan was driving Prince Sharka and four others that night, including Duke It Out in the $70,000 Western Canada Pacing Derby. Karen doesnt usually suffer from nerves for Nathan or for their horses, so she brushed it off.

I told my husband (Ronald) about it, but I didnt want to sound dramatic so I just ignored it. I went to the grandstand for Sharkas race and just sent up a prayer that everyone would come home safe.

Karens prayer for everyone to come home safe worked. In the second half of the race Prince Sharka and Nathan were involved in what could have been a grisly accident. Cowboy Caper and Keith Clark stumbled and fell, Timberline Court and Gerry Hudon tried to go to the inside but clipped with Keiths bike and fell, which caused a chain reaction for Lizard King and Preston Shaw, Iwontdothatagain and Phil Giesbrecht and for Prince Sharka and Nathan Sobey.

My heart was in my throat and I was so worried for Nathan. People from all over the backstretch ran to help, and I knew when they sent the horse ambulance out that it was for Sharka, all I could do was wait and pray.

Prince Sharka had considerable injuries, but his personality held him in good stead while Nathan and others waited for the ambulance. The big stallion stayed calm, and seemed to know that everyone was there to help him. Phils bike shaft went straight into his left side, behind his shoulder, and the seat brace from Gerrys bike went into his chest and bicep on the left side. He lost a considerable amount of blood, but when he got up he was able to walk into the ambulance and then they moved him carefully back to the barn.

Karen was waiting, and braced herself for the worst. While she was waiting one of many Christmas angels arrived by her side, in the form of Dr. Jordan Cook from Moore Equine Veterinary Centre in Calgary. Dr. Cook works with a lot of horsemen at Century Downs, and she drove up to visit at Northlands Park on her day off to enjoy the races in clean clothes and nice shoes. She was happily eating in Colours restaurant, enjoying the races as a spectator waiting for the Northlands Filly Pace and Western Canada Pacing Derby when the accident occurred. Many of the horses were her clients at Century Downs, and she ran through the grandstand and to the barns to offer a spare set of hands in case anyone needed help.

Karen and Sharka needed her.

Dr. Cook says he was suffering signs of shock. "The injuries looked terrible and he was in rough shape. Not at all the demanding stallion Id worked with all year, but his eyes were clear and he was standing on all four legs. People were rushing in to help and Nathan was upset and Karen looked at me and she said 'Can you save him? Can you save him?' and I said Id give it a shot. Hes a member of their family. I had to try to save his life.

For the next five hours Dr. Cook knelt in the straw beside Prince Sharka. She immediately got some electrolytes running in to him, and when she explored the wound in his shoulder she realized that it was ugly, but miraculously there were no fractures, no blood vessels severed, the bike shaft missed his rib cage and all of his joints moved normally. But he was incredibly weak from blood loss and the wounds were massive. A lot of damage was done to the muscle tissues when they pulled out the bikes, and she needed to be thorough to make sure the entire areas were clean and no pockets of infection could crop up. This would be a difficult surgery in a fully-equipped surgical room, but in a dark, cold stall it was a very demanding task. Dr. Cook and her team of angels went above and beyond for Prince Sharka.

Both Dr. Cook and Karen give thanks to the backstretch. Without all of the help they received in those critical five hours 'Sharka' would not have survived. Dr. Cook and Sharka had a team of competent, knowledgeable horsemen who were instrumental in the success of the surgery, and without their dedication Dr. Cook could not have saved him. People helped hold him up, held pressure over the wounds, someone held the IV, others changed out warm blankets over his hindquarters, people brought in lights and heaters, others ran back and forth to Dr. Cooks vet truck for syringes and needles and medication, and then helped draw syringes, handed swabs and clean water and just kept at it until the surgery was complete. Owners and trainers and grooms who had been celebrating the stakes races stopped by to offer moral support.

We saw the heart of racing that night," said Karen. "The strength and caring from this community is beyond anything you can imagine. Even people who are our biggest competitors helped out and stopped to offer support. The heart of racing is not what people see on television during big races. The heart of racing is when a group of people drop everything to stand in a stall for five hours to save a horse that they dont own.

Click here for the before and after of Prince Sharka's emergency surgery (Warning: Graphic content)

Prince Sharka is still in his stall at Northlands Park. He has been crosstied and his legs are completely bandaged, and hes getting cranky with the confinement. Thats the best sign that Karen has seen -- he hates his bran mash and demands grain and treats! Nathan has rigged his stall so he can see other horses and he has a ball and some toys to stay occupied. His wounds are clean and starting to heal, but he has a long road to travel before hes completely recovered. That hes made it through the accident and through his first week of stall rest is a miracle, and Karen is very grateful to the harness racing community. Dr. Cook is going up on her days off this weekend to check on her patient, and hopefully get a chance to finish a meal in Colours and enjoy the races.

We had so many people helping if I missed anyone I am sorry as everyone helped save this horse," continued Karen. "It's amazing to see so many be there without anyone asking. This really was a Christmas miracle as without your help Sharka would not be alive today. So from the bottom of our hearts (my son Nathan Sobey, myself and my brother Trevor Easter) we want to express our sincere thanks to everyone who helped us keep Prince Sharka alive.

The Sobey family would like to give special thanks to all of the following people for stepping in as Christmas angels for Sharka: Dr. Jordan Cook, Amanda Barron, Darryl Cutting, Ken Reid, Shelly Arsenault, Chris Lancaster, Derek Stout, Derek Gilbert, Chelsea Chase, Brinsley Brooking Lutz, Jodi Loftus, Marlys Muler, Ashlee Slugett and Clauzette Byckal.

We want to thank the racing community for always being there in times of need. For these men and women on the backstretch, its not about how much money a horse has made, or how much he might make in the breeding shed. Its about the racehorse. They work from dawn until dark every day of the racing season, in all weathers, in all conditions to provide the endless tasks of daily care to keep their horses in peak physical and mental condition. When a crisis happens in a shedrow or on the track, they literally run to help each other and the horses. We are so thankful that all of the horses and drivers from the accident last week are up and about. Get well wishes to Gerry Hudon who is still battling some pain in his elbow. Thank you to everyone who helped each other, and especially those who helped Prince Sharka, we bless you all for being Christmas angels and making his story a Christmas miracle!

(with files from HRA/thehorses.com)
The essential component of totalitarian propaganda is artifice (het toepassen van kunstgrepen. svh) . The ruling elites, like celebritie...
Genres : Horror, Cult

Starring : Debbie Rochon, Craig Sabin, Jennifer Bihl Kealan, Patrick Burke, Mary Bogle

Director : Gregory Lamberson

Plot Synopsis

Available for the first time in High Definition, Gregory Lamberson's 1989 cult hit Slime City and 2010 sequel, Slime City Massacre, dripping with gruesome extras! Slime City (1989) - In a run-down apartment building in NYC, a student stumbles across the remains of a cult and transforms into a murderous, slime-dripping monster! Slime City Massacre (2010) - When a greedy real estate tycoon sends mercenaries into a bombed out city to destroy the homeless, they stumble across the remains of a cult of hideous, oozing slime creatures, sparking an all-out war for control of Slime City. Bonus features include: Interview with composer Mars, Slime City Massacre Behind-the-scenes, Slime City Massacre Trailer, Three director commentaries, Return to Slime City, Slime City 2006 trailer, Slime City Grindhouse Collection trailer, Slime City original trailer, Slime Heads, Making Slime , Slime City Survivor (On Set Interviews) , Slime City Massacre Deleted Scenes
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GAORONG VILLAGE, China  Dipping a brass-tipped tool into a vat of liquid wax, Pan Xiu-ying painstakingly traces an intricate design onto a white cloth.

At her workshop in a remote valley in one of Chinas poorest provinces, Pan uses traditional techniques passed down for generations to create an indigo-dye batik scarf embellished with patterns inspired by her ethnic Shui minority. But her handicrafts arent for family members. Theyre destined for affluent buyers thousands of miles away.

Pans employer, Hong Kong-based Elaine Ng, is among the growing number of designers focused on ecological and cultural sustainability who hope to preserve skills of rural artisans that are fast vanishing in this increasingly industrial society.

A scarf that is made with 50 hours of love is different from one made by digital print in a factory, said Ng, whose strategy of using artisans fits right in with Beijings push to shift away from low-end, cheap mass manufacturing toward higher skilled, more environmentally friendly industries.

Ng is helping to breathe new life into old crafts of minority tribes in isolated villages in south-central Guizhou province.

Many low-cost Chinese producers are fleeing to neighboring Asian countries like Vietnam, where they can pay lower wages, as the local labor pool shrinks and costs rise.

So garment makers that previously thrived churning out cheap clothes for overseas brands are revamping their sweatshops with smart, small batch production methods such as 3D printing and cloud computing.

Ng hopes her project, Un/fold , run by her design studio, The Fabrick Lab, can pioneer a business model that might appeal to young people fleeing villages for easier and better paying jobs in distant cities.

This fall, she launched a limited edition of scarves, squat wooden stools and hexagonal wooden wall tiles, the latter two decorated with batik patterns normally used only for fabrics. Shes also working with a Shanghai company to create custom furniture that uses artisanal fabrics and woodwork.

Back in the workshop, after finishing her pattern, Pan dips the silk and cotton fabric three times into a vat of organic dye made from indigo plants grown higher up the hillside. Finally, the wax is melted away to reveal the scarfs design. It will eventually sell for $235 online or in boutiques in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

In the next room, two village women weave fabric by hand, using a wooden spinning wheel strapped on to one of them. Outside, the valleys lush green rice terraces and wooden houses stretch into the distance.

Pan, 47, said shes eager for more work from Ng and the steady income it provides, especially since her husband died earlier this year. She learned batik skills from her grandmother, but laments that her daughter and other young villagers are not interested.

Young people dont want to learn (the skills). They want to go to Guangdong, she says, referring to the wealthy province near Hong Kong where factories still employ millions of workers from the countryside.

If people see that we are doing it and definitely making money, then theyll want to come and have the patience to learn, said Pan. Things that are machine made are cheap but they dont look good, she added.

Landlocked Guizhou, 2,000 kilometers (1,230 miles) from Beijing, has rich folk art traditions. More than a third of its 35 million residents are from ethnic minorities including the Shui, Miao, Dong and other tribes known for their skill with batik, embroidery, silverwork, woodwork and paper cutting.

Those arts are under threat as growth picks up in the province best known for its stunning karst limestone hills and its fiery Moutai liquor. A new high-speed rail line is opening up previously isolated towns to outside visitors, while government planners are encouraging the tech industry to make Guizhou a center for big data.

The province reported 10.5 percent economic growth in the first half of 2016, third-fastest among the countrys 31 regions.

The renaissance of traditional apparel workshops is partly driven by a backlash against so-called fast fashion seen in retail chains like Forever 21 and H&M, said Christina Dean, founder of Redress, a non-governmental organization that promotes sustainability in the fashion industry. Similar trends are at play even in affluent Japan, which has rich textile and woodworking traditions of its own.

By and large, the mainstream fashion industry has become so bland, its become a polyester rag, Dean said. So were seeing more and more emerging brands really revive artisanal craftsmanship around the world.

Guizhou is attracting other independent designers. Sharon de Lyster, also based in Hong Kong, has scoured its markets for her label, Narrative Made .

This is stuff they have been doing for generations but it really is dying, said de Lyster. She said young people see no way to make money, so they dont invest time and energy in advancing those traditional crafts.

The cuffs on one of de Lysters $190 silk shirts have a black and white chili pepper flower pattern by a Miao master embroiderer with cross stitching that produces an identical pattern on both sides. The Miao and some other tribes have no written language of their own so they use embroidery to communicate their myths and folklore.

New York-based designer Angel Chang spent a year in Guizhou collaborating with Miao and Dong artisans for a 2013 capsule collection. Fashion editors loved her biker-style jacket , $1,000 but now sold out, in cotton damask featuring hypnotic blue and white zig-zags and geometric birds.

Its a race against time: Only three grandmothers in the Dong village of Zhaoxing can weave that pattern, Chang said.

Young people cant do it. So you have a knowledge that is already in decline, she said. The current generation cant explain what all the symbols mean and the stories in the clothing.

Chang is partnering with two NGOs to pass on traditional textile-making techniques. Shes also working on a new Guizhou-inspired collection, which requires establishing a proper supply chain.

You have to realize theres no industry there. Theyve never really sold to anyone outside of their families. They dont know how to price these things, she said. Its not like I can just say I need 100 meters in this color and its here in two days. Its really starting from scratch.
Pace and rhythm account for a large portion of a film's success. If it's too short or moves too quickly, the film could shortchange plot points or characters and alienate an audience. If a film is too long and pads out extraneous scenes the audience can become bored with the characters and events to the point that when the big climaxes happen - no one cares. Finding that sweet spot is essential. Unfortunately for Discovery's 'Harley and the Davidsons' starring Michiel Huisman, Bug Hall, and Robert Aramayo, the miniseries isn't nearly dramatic enough or played with enough intensity to warrant its four-hour run time.

As automobiles become more and more popular, the motorized bicycle is the grand new idea that has mechanics and inventors clambering. Brothers Walter and Arthur Davidson (Michiel Huisman and Bug Hall respectively) along with their close friend Bill Harley (Robert Aramayo) get their wheels rolling by founding their company in the backyard shed. Affixing motors to standard bicycles, the trio of budding mechanical engineers get a flavor for the speed and freedom that a motorized bicycle provides the rider. As they develop their brand and bikes, the brothers and their close friend will endure fatal races, the ravages of the Great Depression, and through it all, they will create the iconic brand Harley-Davidson.

I love historical drama mini-series and maxi-series. Some events, some historical personas are just too big for a single two-hour film to contain. Tom Hooper's 'John Adams' and Kevin Reynolds' 'Hatfields & McCoys' are two prime examples of television event series that are long enough to tell the story without overstaying their welcome. 'Harley and the Davidsons,' on the other hand, struggles to justify its runtime, as well as its very presence. It's not long enough to give specific moments the dramatic heft and justification they need, and yet at the same time, the series is too long to hold interest.

Series Directors Ciaran Donnelly and Stephen Kay do their best to manage the material and keep it moving, but events that seem bigger and more important, like a fatal motorcycle race, for example, are dramatically undercooked. Even when Harley and the Davidson brothers are hit by the Great Depression and struggle to keep their company afloat, let alone sell a motorcycle, are shortchanged. Instead, we get a number of redundant petty arguments, character betrayals for the sake of having a character betrayal, and any number of other banal anti-climatic drama beats and fail to advance the plot.

This isn't to say that 'Harley and the Davidsons' is unwatchable. The series is well staged, with impeccable production values, and a cast that is giving it their all. As much as I wish more attention had been paid to the bigger events to make those moments resonate more, I do have to sit back and appreciate the effort put in by the cast. Michiel Huisman as Walter, Bug Hall as Arthur, and Rober Aramayo as Bill Harley absolutely kill it here. If this was a series up for Oscar consideration, each of them are going of for the gold. They're not merely reciting their lines but appear to have put in a genuine effort to get the character traits and mannerisms of their historical counterparts down pat. They're great to watch, but their efforts are ultimately undercut by an overcooked script.

As principal writer, Nick Schenk may have bit off more than he could chew. Along with co-writer Evan Wright, Schenk seems to struggle to find the mini-series' rhythm. Events build up and then have a tendency for a prolonged stuttering stop as if the moment the audience is seeing seems like it should be important but then it's ultimately revealed to be a non-issue scene that doesn't do anything. Just filler. My take away on how to have made this show work would have been to drop the vignette structure. A narrower, more linear story over a shorter span of time would have been more exciting in my eyes. Take the first episode that builds from the first Harley-Davidson motorcycle being built and ends with a tragic motorcycle race. That alone would have been enough material for a single two-hour film. Or if they'd picked up the story in the Depression as the Harley-Davidson brand attempts to survive and come back after that tragedy would have been something to see. At the end of the day I found 'Harley and the Davidsons' to be diverting but not fully engrossing entertainment. It's not a terrible show nor is it the triumph of the American spirit story that it sets out to be.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

'Harley and the Davidson's arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate in a four-disc Blu-ray and DVD set. Episodes One and Two are pressed onto their own BD50 disc while Episode Three is given its own BD50 disc along with the available Bonus Features. The two Blu-ray discs and two DVDs are packaged in a four-disc sturdy Blu-ray case with identical slipcover artwork. Also included is a Digital HD voucher slip. The first disc loads to trailers for other upcoming releases from Lionsgate before arriving at an animated main menu with traditional navigation options.
Over 100 technical workers at PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center in Longview voted at the beginning of December to join the Service Employees International Union Local 49. The move, which was initiated in the fall of this year, will allow the union to represent the workers in their salary and benefit negotiations.

Of the 107 workers that voted on Dec. 1, a majority voted to align with the union. SEIU Local 49 now represents 720 caregivers at St. John and around 2,800 workers across the entire PeaceHealth system. In total, the union represents about 36,000 healthcare workers across the Northwest.

For them this is real power, because its strength across the PeaceHealth system, said Jesse Stemmler, communications director for SEIU Local 49. The workers found that by coming across the hospital system like that, they have a real voice for patient care and to have some better jobs.

The workers are currently in the process of nominating the bargaining team which will negotiate their union contract with PeaceHealth management. The move came from a desire to have more respect, strengthen jobs, make improvements in training for patient care and get fair wages, Stemmler said. He said this move is part of a growing trend of healthcare workers and caregivers joining unions.

The technical workers range from X-ray technicians to chemo dialysis technicians. Most are highly specialized and often work with patients directly, Stemmler said.

Workers can connect to tackle patient care issues with management, he said. (Theyre) just having a voice in the care they provide and the jobs that they do.

St. Johns interim Chief Executive Officer Val Baciarelli sent an email to PeaceHealth workers last Wednesday night explaining the results of the decision to align with the union and thanking the workers for their respect in regards to the transition.

We will honor our caregivers voice and continue our good-faith bargaining relationship with the union, the email said. The open and honest dialogue that has taken place in the weeks leading up to this vote is a reflection of your unwavering commitment to our Mission: To promote personal and community health, relieve pain and suffering, and treat each person in a loving and caring way  including each other.

The American Federation of Teachers union has also become active in the healthcare sphere, said Randy Querin, spokesperson for PeaceHealth. PeaceHealth workers in Vancouver will vote this week whether to align with the SEIU or the American Federation of Teachers, he said.

This is part of life in healthcare, Querin said.

St. John technical workers did not immediately return requests for comment.
KALAMA  Judy Swains store is filled with antiques: a 1920s record player, vintage dolls, glassware and old trinkets line the shelves. But fliers and buttons around her shop reflect a debate about the towns future, and a sandwich board outside makes it clear where Swains sympathies lie: No Methanol, it says.

The 76-year-olds business is just a few miles from the site of the future methanol plant proposed by Northwest Innovation Works. Her shop, located downtown, is squarely inside what opponents have dubbed a blast zone around the plant, based on an analysis from a scientist from an anti-methanol group.

This refinery is going to be two miles from here. If it goes for whatever reason, whether its six miles or two blocks, we will be affected. Our community, our schools. Everything will go with it, Swain said.

Supporters of the project, though, say the opponents are using exaggerated scenarios to stoke fear. Consultants for the company who have conducted their own analyses say the risk of explosion is low to nonexistent. The worst-case explosion wouldnt expand beyond the 90-acre project site, according to Northwests consultants.

Theres certain people who, I dont care what I say, or what a third party says or what technical information is provided, they have their underlying beliefs, said Vee Godley, president of Northwest Innovation Works. I hope we can continue to communicate with those folks to alleviate their potential fears because the plant is safe. Its being designed to have state-of-the-art processes.

Rosemary Siipola, who lives in downtown Kalama, said she has faith in the permitting agencies to ensure the safety of the plant.

You have to realize that there are already chemical plants in Cowlitz County. There are grain elevators in Cowlitz County. There are bleach factories in Cowlitz County, and natural gas turbines. Every single one of these could blow up. This is nothing, Siipola said. If these plants werent built to the specs that they were built under, nothing would be safe.

Worst-case scenario debated

Methanol is highly flammable, and it can be explosive under certain conditions. An open pool of methanol will burn but not explode. For an explosion to occur, methanol has to be burned and the ensuing vapors kept contained under high pressure. In essence, this safety debate hinges on whether the Northwest Innovations plant could be subject to any low-probability events or scenarios  such as a plane crash, terrorist attack or giant earthquake  that could create explosive conditions.

The six-mile blast zone cited by some opponents such as Hood River-based Columbia Riverkeeper refers specifically to analysis done by the Northwest Citizens Science Initiative. The Portland-based group consists of four or five scientists and engineers who opposed a now-defunct proposal for a propane terminal in Portland. The volunteer group doesnt have a formal office or website.

Columbia Riverkeeper asked Alastair Roxburgh, a Hayden Island consultant and physicist, to conduct an analysis of the worst-case scenarios for the methanol plant. Roxburgh has worked on risk assessment and system engineering, and he wasnt paid to do his analysis.

Roxburgh used a hazards modeling program, called the ALOHA model, that is frequently used by federal agencies to respond to chemical emergencies. He examined what could happen to the methanol storage tanks on the project site in the event of an extreme circumstance, such as a terrorist attack or a Cascadia Subduction Zone magnitude 9 earthquake. The eight storage tanks each would be capable of holding 8.2 million and 9.4 million gallons of methanol (thats 65 million to 75 million total if all were filled).

Under one scenario Roxburgh explored, seven out of eight storage tanks could rupture during an earthquake, terrorist attack or plane crash. If that is followed by some source of ignition to start a fire, that could spark an explosion in the remaining intact tank. But that could only happen if the pressure relief valves in that tank failed.

In another scenario, all eight tanks could rupture from a mechanical event, causing a methanol spill. If the spill catches fire, the liquid methanol would vaporize. If the vapor is for some reason trapped, this could cause an explosion.

Roxburgh wrote that glass will be shattered in Longview and Rainier; serious injuries will occur in Kalama. Buildings will be destroyed over a 6-mile diameter. Another potential scenario could occur if the methanol leaked, but was not ignited, instead forming a toxic vapor cloud that could travel with the wind, he wrote.

The potential seriousness of some of these types of events puts this planned facility in the category of ultra-hazardous despite (as some would argue) their low probability of occurrence, Roxburgh wrote.

In an interview, Roxburgh added that, It wasnt my job to calculate probabilities, rather it is was his job to examine all the worst-case scenarios.

We dont have a crystal ball. The only way to live sustainably and make sure Kalama remains on the map for centuries to come is to avoid the kind of of industries that would bring ultra-hazardous activities within the community. Its not about probability. Its about the magnitude of event if it occurs, as improbable as some would say it may seem, Roxburgh said.

Consultant: 6-mile blast zone not possible

Yet consultants for Northwest Innovations said Roxburgh used unrealistic scenarios in his safety analysis.

The (Northwest Citizen Science Initiative) analysis utilized exaggerated scenarios leading to scientifically unrealistic large-scale methanol releases, and their results showing potential hazard zones extending up to 6 miles from the proposed (Northwest Innovation Works) methanol plant are not possible, wrote Brad Fuller, a consultant with AcuTech, an international risk management firm.

Northwest Innovation Works contracted AcuTech to perform a quantitative risk assessment for the environmental impact study on the plant.

Fuller called Roxburghs use of the ALOHA model an inappropriate application of the software, which he said was designed for emergency responders to plan for accidental chemical spills and tends to overestimate risks. However, to stay in line with the analysis, the company performed an assessment with the ALOHA model and reaffirmed its original findings. The worst-case scenarios include a methanol fire or vapor cloud explosion that wouldnt expand beyond the 90-acre project site, AcuTech said.

In order for a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) to occur, methanol has to be pressurized; but Northwest Innovation Works tanks wont be under pressure, so AcuTech concluded that a BLEVE isnt possible.

If catastrophic tank failure were to occur, the resulting hazard would be a large pool fire, not a fireball or BLEVE, Fuller wrote.

The company also suggest that the likelihood of a terrorist attack is very low in Kalama.

The attractiveness of this type of attack against the NWIW facility is low, since it would require extensive resources and coordination, and given the plant location, an attack would not meet typical terrorist goals for mass casualties, extensive property damage, damage to national assets/landmarks, damage to critical infrastructure, or severe economic impacts, AcuTech wrote.

Because methanol exists naturally in a liquid state, it does not need to be pressurized for storage, notes Brent Winters, director of health, safety and environment for Northwest Innovation. The tanks themselves will have vents and pressure valves designed that allow the tanks to breathe, taking in air and also releasing it (once the air moves through scrubbers to remove chemicals), Winters said.

Any pressure (change) in tanks even higher than one millibar (about one thousandth of normal atmospheric pressure) the tank will basically exhale through the scrubber system, he said.

Hypothetically, Winters said, if a truck carrying methanol for some reason did not have vents or pressure valves and was exposed to some heat source, then a explosion could possibly result.

We dont have any physical system in place at the plant that would produce that scenario, he said. Northwest Innovation Works wont use trucks to carry methanol.

The company says a risk of a methanol fire is a more likely worst-case-scenario. The company said the plant is designed with multiple redundancies, backup power sources and systems to shut off sections of the plant should an accident or earthquake occur.

According to the environmental impact statement, the plants structures will have to be designed to withstand lower-intensity earthquakes, and to avoid catastrophic failure and allow for safe shutdown procedures during earthquakes that are possible but not likely to occur during the lifetime of the facility (higher intensity earthquakes). Foundation improvement to protect against seismic events may include adding stone columns, soil mixing, driving piles or jet grouting underneath the plant, according to the EIS.

Theres never a zero risk, but we worked extremely hard on and its just part of due diligence to design every feature in plant to mitigate for any potential in hazard, said Vee Godley, Northwest Innovation Works president. The base product is not classified as explosive. You dont put in the conditions that cause secondary issues for vapor explosion.

A risk assessment in the EIS found that workers at the site would have a lower fatality risk from any industrial hazard than to structural and iron workers, farming, fishing, forestry, construction, transportation, and logging.

Industrial methanol explosions rare

Explosions at industrial methanol sites are rare. Ten years ago, an explosion at a wastewater treatment plant in Daytona Beach, Fla., killed two employees and injured another while they were attempting to remove a steel canopy above a methanol storage tank, according to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. In 2015, Chinese media reported in explosion in a chemical plant after a welder ignited methanol at the facility. In 2012, a methanol ship in Malaysia exploded, presumably after it was struck by lighting. Also that year, an explosion and fire in Garland, Texas, occurred while workers unloaded methanol from a train. (Northwest Innovation Works will not be unloading methanol from trains.)

Godley wasnt familiar with the Chinese and Garland instances, but in Daytona Beach and Malaysia, he noted that those explosions were sparked by operator error. For example, loading a ship during a lighting storm or performing hot work by a methanol tank could be avoided. Additionally, Godley noted that the methanol wont be exposed to the environment throughout the production processes.

While there isnt much information available about the Chinese or Malayasian explosions, media reports suggest that in the Chinese incident, a resulting fire did extend beyond on the plant boundaries, but no injuries or fatalities were reported. The explosion in Daytona Beach did not extend beyond the boundaries of the facility.

However, its hard to find examples of explosions at any major methanol industrial sites on par with what Northwest Innovation Works proposes.

One thing to keep in mind is that Northwest Innovation Works proposes a facility far larger than what is currently in operation in the United States and around the globe. The size and the use of new technology is uncharted territory for the methanol industry, said Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky, organizer with Columbia Riverkeeper.

For Judy Swain, the potential for an explosion, however remote it may seem, isnt worth the risk.

People come here and buy property, build homes because of the river, now because of McMenamins. And they like this area. Yet were asking them to build and buy, put their children at school where theres a risk of an explosion. Theres a risk of toxic fumes in the air.  Our fire department isnt equipped or trained to deal with any of it. ... This small community cant handle it, Swain said.

Kalama Mayor Pete Poulsen said he thinks the state, county and port will require the right safeguards to reduce any potential explosion risks.

The proponents families live in this town, Poulsen said. You think they would bring in a plant that would potentially kill their families? I dont believe they would.
Add them to the annals of No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: works of art calling attention to racism in Americas past  and its persistence in Americas present  targeted by educational censorship campaigns for being too racist.

Four such works were challenged in the past month, in fact.

This fall, Salem State University put out an open call for an exhibition titled State of the Union. Artists were asked to submit work that addresses concerns and hopes for our future, such as environmental issues, social inequities, income inequality and education.

Garry Harley, an artist in nearby Lowell, Mass., saw the notice and knew immediately what to submit: two digital paintings, both inspired by campaign rhetoric he found frightening. One was based on a photo of Ku Klux Klan members in full, menacing regalia; the other, Warsaw Jews being rounded up during World War II.

Both were accepted.

The exhibition opened the day after Election Day. And when it did, Harleys work  in particular the KKK picture  caused an uproar. Students complained that the art was insensitive, racist, upsetting, offensive.

The school held a tense public forum. Harley, who says he wanted to raise awareness but not offense, attended in the hopes of a teaching moment. He arrived with handouts: copies of Francisco Goyas The Third of May 1808 and Pablo Picassos Guernica, masterpieces that had committed traumatic events to canvas and, by extension, to public memory.

The next day, administrators sent an apology to the campus community and announced they were temporarily shuttering the exhibit. Then last week, after a second meeting, which Harley did not attend, the exhibit was reopened  with some modifications.

Among them: The KKK painting, and only that work, was curtained off, peep-show-style. This way the viewing will be clearly intentional on the part of the observer, according to a statement from President Patricia Maguire Meservey.

In a phone interview, Meservey explained this was a compromise designed to keep the work on display while helping students prepare themselves to view distressing imagery.

Harley, for his part, called it an elegant solution. It grants the students another layer of security, he told me. Plus, he said, it has added interest to the work.

Indeed, the school says this exhibition has attracted much more traffic than previous ones; everyone wants to see whats behind the curtain, it seems.

Down the Eastern Seaboard, two older works addressing American bigotry found themselves in similar crosshairs.

Last month, Accomack County, Va., public schools temporarily pulled To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from classrooms and libraries because a parent complained about the racial slurs they contain. After a local uproar and a formal review, the novels were reinstated Tuesday.

Meanwhile, South Carolinas Winthrop University is threatening to expel a student who created a deeply hurtful and threatening anti-lynching art installation.

These are hardly the only recent instances of anti-racist works being targeted by anti-racists for being insufficiently anti-racist.

Mockingbird and Huck Finn are frequently challenged. More recent works, lacking the protection afforded by generations of fans, are more vulnerable. Last year, students in an Alabama high school history club were forbidden from seeing the film Selma because of its use of slurs.

To be clear, calls for censorship are hardly unique to the left. But real threats to the safety and rights of people of color do seem to have led to heightened policing of the correct way to condemn bigotry and tell more diverse stories, says Joan Bertin, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship.

Works depicting historical events are often the casualties. The problem, alas, is that history is inevitably laden with upsetting details. Needless to say, such details are precisely why we must face our own history and protect the art that helps us process it.

Believe it or not, there are ways to prepare impressionable students for such challenges that dont involve sanitizing art, curtaining off its more difficult aspects or otherwise signaling that it might be dangerous and worth avoiding.

Coincidentally, the Maryland Institute College of Art has a gallery show opening Friday that also features Klan-related imagery: an exhibition of work by the late chronicler of rural poverty and racism William A. Christenberry. It includes the rarely shown Klan Room Tableau, a multimedia piece featuring KKK iconography and G.I. Joe dolls in white robes.

Aware of the nature of the installation, instructors had students set it up themselves. In a workshop setting, students handled the objects and discussed their artistic and historical context.

It was, in a way, a sort of cleverly preemptive exposure therapy  to art, to history and to the frightening lessons both have to offer.
National Geographic has announced the winners of the Nature Photographer Of The Year after scrutinising photos for twelve weeks. The stunning images reveal how wonderful our nature is and these gorgeous pics were captured after spending several hours watching the nature. Some of the scenes are once in a life opportunity and photographers were able to capture them in their camera and send it to National Geographic for the competition.

Action

1. Sardine Run

Greg Lecoeur won the Grand Prize in the action category for his astonishing photo in which sardines are getting preyed upon by cape gannet birds and common dolphins. The remarkable view was captured just at the right moment when dolphins and gannet birds began hunting in Port Saint Johns, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Lecoeur explains that dolphins first started the hunting followed by the gannet birds diving in a free fall from 30 to 40 meters high, piercing the surface of the water head first at a speed of 80km/h to get their fill of sardines.

2. Approach

Second prize went to Tori Shea-Ostberg who captured an EF2 tornado moving towards a home in Wray, Colorado on May 7, 2016. The killer tornado was moving on the fields and gulped the house. Tori was watching it from a distance and saw a lady coming out of the basement. Luckily no one died in the incident, but Tori was able to shot a stunning photo worthy of the second prize.

3. Great Egrets Take Flight

Third prize was won by Zsolt Kudich whose photo depicts a remarkable conservation success story. His photo shows the survival of Great Egret birds in Balatonhidvegpuszta, Zala, Hungary. Only 31 mating pairs of Great Egret were left back in 1921 in Hungary. However, due to active international conservation efforts we were able to save them from getting extinct and there are over 3000 mating pairs a century later.

Honourable Mention

While Honourable Mention went to Scott Portelli who shot beautiful snap of green turtles devouring the soft tentacles of a jellyfish in Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia. Jellyfish are a common food source for many turtles.

National Geographic also presented awards in three other categories  landscapes, animal portraits and environmental issues.

Landscape

1. Struggle of life

Jacob Kaptein won the first prize in landscape category. The breathtaking photo of little beech in the water trying to survive in harsh conditions was shot at Leuvenum, Gelderland, Netherlands. Kaptein says that he went to the site for several days and on one evening all the conditions were satisfactory to get the out of the world shot.

2. Wild rink

The second prize went to Alessandro Gruzza who captured the Wild rink showing a beautiful landscape of cold winter days and movement of the clouds around Mt. Cimon de la Pala, Paneveggio-Pale San Martino Natural Park, Italy.

3. Pacific Storm

Santiago Borja won the third price from shooting out of the world image of Pacific Storm. Borga captured the stunning image of thunderstorm brewing above the Pacific Ocean while the plane was en route to South America. Borja said, I like this photo so much because you can feel the amazing size of the storm and its power. But at the same time, its wonderful how peacefully you can fly around it in still air without touching it.

Honourable Mention

Indias Prasenjee Yadav received the honourable mention in the landscape category for capturing the green meteor rushing towards earth. He explained that the camera was set at 15s exposure for 999 shots and this came into one of those shots and he felt like the luckiest photographer of the world for those 15 seconds.

Animal Portraits

1. Dragging you deep into the woods

Varun Aditya from Maharashtra won the first prize in Animal portraits. Aditya was in the forest on a foggy when he spotted a 20cm beauty the Green vine snake and immediately switched from the macro to the wide angle lens to snap this amazing photo.

2. Proud Momma

Second prize went to Michael ONeill who was lucky enough to see Peacock Bass fish Momma protecting her baby fishes. He didnt waste a single second and took a mesmerising still. This species is extra protective towards their babies and keeps them close to protect against any threat that approaches them.

3. Friendship knows no colour

Jose Pesquero Gomez, the photographer of this breathtaking picture, follows a quote by Luis A Ribeiro Branco, which states, friendship knows no colour, nationality, race and social level, no age and gender distance. And with this image Gomez wants to represent the message. In the pic, two Empusa Pennata, which seem to play a game on the slim plant. This wildlife picture is certainly uncommon to see a pair of this species together.

Honorable Mention

Mario Suarez Porras got the honourable mention in animal portraits category for his incredible view of an Atlantic puffin resting peacefully under the rain. The image was taken at Skomer Island, Wales, United Kingdom, which also known as the puffin colony.

Environmental Issues

1. Life and Death

The discovery of these polar bears was made at one of the islands of Northern Svalbard, by Vadim Balakin, who won first place in the Environmental Issues category. Unfortunately, it is still unknown that whether the bear has died from starving or ageing, but the good teeth status suggests starving as the reason. Nowadays, such scenarios are found very often and the global warming and ice situation influence are being suggested as a cause. Balakin stated that the image was clicked in august 2014 at Svalbard, Norway.

2. Outside Facebook HQ

Chris McCann, the photographer who clicked this image said that Eighty percent of the San Francisco Bay Area wetlands, with an area of 16,500 acres, has been developed for salt mining. Before collecting the salt, water is channelled into these large ponds and leave through evaporation. In the image, the tint of each pond is an indication of its salinity. The change in the colour is due to the micro-organisms inside the pond, which makes the alteration according to the salinity of its environment. He also noted that the high salinity salt pond is located right next to Facebook HQ where around 4,000 people work every day.

3. Toxic Vanity

The image clicked by Eleanor Ryder has won third place in the Environmental Issues category. It is a magnification of plastic particles in eyeliner investigating only one aspect of the synthetic swarm hang in our oceans. The particles, lash lengthening fibres, illuminating powders and glitters these products contents are in fact tiny pieces of plastic. Whenever one washes these products from the bodies or ingests them as one lick the glosses from lips, it could be unknowingly added to the trillions of micro-plastic particles currently infesting every level of the ocean.

Honourable Mention

While Honourable Mention went to Sergej Chursyn who clicked a stunning picture of a young woman in the bikini looks at an approaching forest fire near the beach, at the beach of Son Serra, on the island of Mallorca on August 18, 2016.

The grand-prize winner Greg Lecoeur will receive a 10-day trip for two aboard the National Geographic Endeavour to the Galapagos Islands. First prize winner in each category will receive $2,500, second prize winner in each category will get $750 and a signed National Geographic book while who stood third will receive $500 as a prize.

Nature photography is part of the fabric of National Geographic. Nat Geo has been showcasing inspiring images from around the world for more than a century. Like previous years, Nat Geo asked people give most powerful photos s for a chance to become the 2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Source: National Geographic
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Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday advised youths, particularly students, to use free Wi-Fi facility to download books instead of movies. "My government has decided to provide free Wi-Fi facility at college and university campuses in the state soon. Youths, particularly students, should use this facility to download books instead of films," Nitish Kumar said at a public meeting during his ongoing Nischay Yatra in Katihar district.

Nitish Kumar said free Wi-Fi facility at college and university campuses is part of the seven resolves of the Grand Alliance government in Bihar to promote governance. "The objective is to provide free Wi-Fi facility to help youths to move ahead in life and to become digital smart," he said.

The Chief Minister said that it was noticed that youths in Patna have not been using free Wi-Fi facility for reading and enriching knowledge. "I was informed by concerned officials that one person had downloaded 300 films in the stretch of a 22 km free Wi-Fi facility in Patna. It is an example of misuse of an opportunity," he said.

IANS
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US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pick Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson for the post of the Secretary of State, sources close to the transition process have said. However, the anonymous sources cautioned that nothing is final till Trump officially announces the pick probably next week, Xinhua news agency reported.

Tillerson, 64, is the Texas-based oil company's CEO since 2006 and had moved ahead of other candidates for the position of the country's top diplomat after former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump's favourite to be the next US Secretary of State, dropped out of the competition on Friday.

According to the sources, former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton would be Deputy Secretary of State "for day-to-day management of the department". Like Trump, Tillerson has no government experience and so far little is known of his views about foreign affairs. According to the Wall Street Journal, sources said Tillerson's initial emergence as a candidate for the country's top diplomat surprised senior Exxon officials, including Tillerson himself.

But in Tillerson, a seasoned business executive, some Trump advisers saw a "mold-breaking pick who would bring an executive's experience to the diplomatic role", the journal reported. As Exxon's CEO, Tillerson, set to retire from the company next year, oversees business operations in more than 50 countries and has known Russian President Vladimir Putin since 1990s when they first met.

Tillerson was awarded Russia's Order of Friendship in 2013, a state decoration to reward foreign nationals whose work is aimed at the betterment of relations with Russia. Tillerson joined Exxon in 1975 and has spent his entire career at the company.

IANS
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The CIA has concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help President-elect Donald Trump win the White House, and not just to undermine confidence in the US electoral system. The report prompted the Obama administration to review the Russian hacking, the Washington Post reported.

Citing US officials briefed on the matter, the Post said on Friday that intelligence agencies had identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including the chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, to WikiLeaks.

The officials described the individuals as people known to the intelligence community who were part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and reduce Clinton's chances of winning the election. "It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia's goal here was to favour one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected," the paper quoted a senior US official who briefed on an intelligence presentation made to US senators. "That's the consensus view."

The Obama administration has been debating for months how to respond to the alleged Russian intrusions, with White House officials concerned about escalating tensions with Moscow and being accused of trying to boost Clinton's campaign.

The Trump transition team dismissed the findings in a short statement issued Friday evening. "These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It's now time to move on and 'Make America Great Again,'?" the statement read.

Trump has consistently dismissed the intelligence community's findings about Russian hacking. "I don't believe they interfered" in the election, he told Time magazine this week. The hacking, he said, "could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey."

The CIA shared its latest assessment with key senators in a closed door briefing on Capitol Hill last week, in which agency officials cited a growing body of intelligence from multiple sources. Agency briefers told the senators it was now "quite clear" that electing Trump was Russia's goal, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, the paper reported.

On Friday, the White House said President Obama had ordered a "full review" of Russian hacking during the election campaign, as pressure from Congress has grown for greater public understanding of exactly what Moscow did to influence the electoral process. "We may have crossed into a new threshold, and it is incumbent upon us to take stock of that, to review, to conduct some after-action, to understand what has happened and to impart some lessons learned," Obama's counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

Obama wants the report before he leaves office January 20, Monaco said. The review will be led by James Clapper, the outgoing director of national intelligence, officials said. During her remarks, Monaco didn't address the latest CIA assessment, which hasn't been previously disclosed.

US intelligence agencies have been cautious for months in characterising Russia's motivations, reflecting the United States' long-standing struggle to collect reliable intelligence on President Vladimir Putin and those closest to him.

Though Russia has long conducted cyberspying on US agencies, companies and organisations, this presidential campaign marks the first time Moscow has attempted through cyber-means to interfere in, if not actively influence, the outcome of an election, the officials said.

The reluctance of the Obama White House to respond to the alleged Russian intrusions before election day upset Democrats on the Hill as well as members of the Clinton campaign.

Within the administration, top officials from different agencies sparred over whether and how to respond. White House officials were concerned that covert retaliatory measures might risk an escalation in which Russia, with sophisticated cyber-capabilities, might have less to lose than the United States, with its vast and vulnerable digital infrastructure.

The White House's reluctance to take that risk left Washington weighing more limited measures, including the "naming and shaming" approach of publicly blaming Moscow. By mid-September, the White House decided it was time to take that step, but they worried that doing so unilaterally and without bipartisan congressional backing just weeks before the election would make Obama vulnerable to charges that he was using intelligence for political purposes.

Instead, officials devised a plan to seek bipartisan support from top lawmakers and set up a secret meeting with the Gang of 12 - a group that includes House and Senate leaders, as well as the chairmen and ranking members of both chambers' committees on intelligence and homeland security.

Though US intelligence agencies were sceptical that hackers would be able to manipulate the election results in a systematic way, the White House feared that Russia would attempt to do so, sowing doubt about the fundamental mechanisms of democracy and potentially forcing a more dangerous confrontation between Washington and Moscow.

According to several officials, McConnell raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.

IANS
"Crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor."

Heist films have been a popular staple of Hollywood's repertoire for decades, but even the slickest of robbery capers (that means you, 'Ocean's Eleven') owes John Huston's 'The Asphalt Jungle' a substantial debt. This taut, expertly crafted adaptation of the novel by W.R. Burnett ('Little Caesar') may not be as flashy as its successors, but it's got much more meat on its bones. Packed with suspense and intrigue and distinguished by a literate script and hard-boiled tone, 'The Asphalt Jungle' is the gold standard by which other movies in a cluttered genre are judged.

And none of its gilt has chipped away in the 66 years since it first wowed both audiences and critics, many of whom couldn't believe such a down-and-dirty tale of subversive behavior came from MGM, the studio of lavish Technicolor musicals, wholesome Andy Hardy comedies, and Lassie. Yet MGM's evolution reflected an industry-wide shift toward darker, more realistic tales, and 'The Asphalt Jungle' epitomizes the trend. What makes the film so accessible is its frank depiction of an underworld that's strikingly similar to the straight-and-narrow society in which most of us reside. (It's not a coincidence the story takes place in middle America.) The criminals here look suspiciously like you and me - well dressed and well spoken, yet they play by a different set of rules and take advantage of the ones we abide by and respect. They're fascinating specimens, driven by different needs and desires. Yes, they have their respective roles - mastermind, hooligan, getaway driver, bankroller, and safecracker - but they're all complex and dimensional. The robbery unites them, but doesn't define them...just as the robbery is the central focus of this film, but may not be what we remember most about it.

Huston provides a meticulous procedural on how to pull off a difficult crime - and brilliantly examines how it all unravels afterward - but it's the haunting group of disparate characters ensnared in the narrative web who keep us coming back to this riveting yarn. Leading the list is Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden), a hulking, plain-spoken gambling addict who longs to wash off the city's filth and buy back the Kentucky horse farm his family lost during the Depression. Doll Conovan (Jean Hagen), a sweet, down-on-her-luck "clip joint" girl, recognizes his tortured spirit and unrequitedly pines for him, but he has little use for her. Soon, Dix is recruited by career criminal Doc Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe) to take part in a lucrative jewelry heist that should pay him the money he needs to realize his dream. A mild-mannered, bespectacled European with a penchant for young girls, Doc has just been released from prison, yet he instantly dives headfirst into this new caper, which he plotted with surgical precision while behind bars.

Doc looks to Cobby (Marc Lawrence), a local bookie, to help him bankroll the project and assemble a team. Cobby enlists hunchback diner owner Gus Minissi (James Whitmore) to be the getaway driver and Louis Ciavelli (Anthony Caruso) to crack the safe. He also introduces Doc to suave businessman Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern), who they hope will front them the cash to execute their scheme. Emmerich agrees, but soon admits to a confidante he's broke and needs the robbery proceeds to support his lavish lifestyle. He pledges to fence the jewels after the heist to increase the take, but secretly has no intention of sharing the wealth with his co-conspirators. Doc doesn't trust him and looks to Dix to use his brawn to keep Emmerich and his cohorts in line.

Huston juggles this rich character canvas with dexterity, and the tight-knit, Oscar-nominated screenplay, which he co-wrote with Ben Maddow, crisply delineates the various personalities, rivalries, vices, and conflicted loyalties. The measured dialogue is filled with criminal jargon, but Huston's deliberate pacing gives us time to digest and interpret it while drawing us ever deeper into the story. Harold Rosson's cinematography, which also received an Academy Award nomination, combines elements of film noir with a stark documentary style to create striking images, and the lack of a music score for the bulk of the film heightens not only tension, but also the aura of realism that swirls about the picture. Rarely does a movie satisfy so completely on both stylistic and narrative levels, but 'The Asphalt Jungle' does so with deceptive ease.

Though MGM produced many all-star pictures in the past ('Grand Hotel' and 'Dinner at Eight' chief among them), 'The Asphalt Jungle' was its first true ensemble film. Hayden and Calhern receive top billing, but neither were big stars at the time, nor were Jaffe, Whitmore, Hagen (who two short years later would make her biggest splash - and receive an Oscar nomination - as squeaky-voiced silent star Lina Lamont in 'Singin' in the Rain'), or a gorgeous young actress by the name of Marilyn Monroe, who makes a huge impression in two brief scenes as Emmerich's nubile mistress. (Much of the movie's poster art showcases Monroe to make her seem like the star, but nothing could be further from the truth.) Rosson, who was married to another blonde bombshell, Jean Harlow, 15 years before, beautifully photographs the 24-year-old Marilyn, bringing out both her innocence and allure, and under Huston's tutelage she files an affecting portrayal that belies her inexperience. 'The Asphalt Jungle' would prove to be Monroe's big break, and the actress herself cited the performance as one of her career highlights.

But as good as Monroe is, her work pales when compared to that of Hayden, Calhern, and especially Jaffe, who garnered a well-deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his hypnotic portrayal of Doc. (He lost to George Sanders in 'All About Eve.') Adopting a subtle German accent and underplaying to a fare-thee-well, Jaffe (perhaps best known as the noble, titular Hindu "soldier" in 'Gunga Din') steals not just the jewels, but every scene in which he appears...without even raising his voice. Calhern specialized in playing pompous rich men, but here his frayed nerves, desperation, and unctuous demeanor enhance that stereotype, lending it a captivating edginess. And in an earnest and affecting performance, Hayden mixes dumb-lug strength and cockiness with an underlying vulnerability to craft what is arguably his finest portrayal.

'The Asphalt Jungle' remains a timeless work of cinematic art. Nary a hair is out of place in this spellbinding crime drama that blends artistry with realism, brims with memorable characters, features an engrossing plot, and showcases stellar work by a tight ensemble cast. It's astounding the movie didn't receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination (the Academy - in its infinite wisdom - deemed such innocuous fare as 'Father of the Bride' and 'King Solomon's Mines' worthier productions), but at least Huston was honored with a Best Director nod. Not surprisingly, he would never make another heist film. 'The Asphalt Jungle' breaks the mold, and Huston was smart enough to realize he could never top it. And no one else ever has either.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

'The Asphalt Jungle' arrives on Blu-ray packaged in a standard Criterion case. A fold-out, 12-page booklet featuring an essay by author Geoffrey O'Brien, cast and crew listings, transfer notes, and tinted portraits of the ensemble cast is tucked inside the front cover. Video codec is 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 and audio is LPCM mono. Once the disc is inserted into the player, the static menu with music immediately pops up; no previews or promos precede it.
Former Shas MK Amnon Cohen was named Thursday as the ex-lawmaker arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes from a businessman, including sexual favors, in return for advancing his business interests in parliament.



Cohen, who served in the Knesset between 1999 and 2015 and was once given a commendation from Israels Movement for Quality Government, is suspected of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, according to police.



He was questioned under caution Wednesday before a court ordered he be held for a further five days of interrogation, police said in a statement.



The national police detained for questioning this morning a former Knesset member over suspicions that while serving he received bribes from a businessman, including favors of a sexual nature, in return for pushing through issues related to his business interests, a police statement said Wednesday, announcing his arrest. [...]



In March, Uvda claimed that the former Shas party member had been on the payroll of a stock market broker for 10 years, during which time he received large sums of money to advance the brokers interests in the legislature. Lawyers for the ex-MK denied the allegations at the time.



The report said that Cohen received regular payments from prominent broker and investment adviser Daniel Molkandov and in return made use of his position, including as a member of the Knessets Finance Committee, to remove regulatory hurdles from the stock market and from Molkandov.



Molkandov told the program the two had an agreement: When Cohen wanted money, he would text him Can I come and water the plants? The two would meet in an apartment in the town of Ness Ziona, south of Tel Aviv, to make the exchange. [...]



Molkandov also alleged that during an official parliamentary visit to Belarus in 2007, Cohen requested that he find a female escort for him. You know Belarus, Daniel, Molkandov recounted the MKs words to him. Can you arrange something for me here? Im alone in the room, its boring.



[I made] some calls a friend came over to him to his room, in the hotel, Molkandov said. The same woman was later flown to Israel for a second rendezvous with Cohen at a Dead Sea hotel.

In news that deals a blow to the notion that Haredis like the ones leading the Shas party are "moral", former Knesset member Amnon Cohen from their political party has been jailed for accepting bribery, even going so far as to take sexual forms:Wow, isn't that fascinating how a bunch of "public moralists" don't practice what they preach? If the man's married, then he's also violated the Commandment of Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery. It'd be no shock if the Shas party's other members knew about this but put up with it simply because he's also a member of the party. Now he'll have to face justice that's well deserved for all the weak beliefs they wanted to foist on the public. This is just one more demonstration of how corrupt the Shas movement really is.

Labels: Europe, haredi corruption, Israel, Knesset, political corruption
Dedicated to the Restoration of Progressive Democracy
S Korea indicts ex-presidential aide in scandal probe

A corruption scandal that has led to President Park Geun-hye\'s impeachment in parliament.

Reuters, Seoul :

South Korean prosecutors indicted a former senior presidential aide and a former vice culture minister as part of their investigation of a corruption scandal that has led to President Park Geun-hye's impeachment in parliament, media said on Sunday.

Friday's overwhelming parliamentary vote to remove Park from office puts her fate in the hands of a nine-judge Constitutional Court, which has 180 days to decide whether to uphold the motion.

Park's powers have been suspended and assumed by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who has ordered a high state of military alert for any attempt by rival North Korea to take advantage of the political turmoil.

South Korea's finance minister warned on Sunday that the impeachment could weigh on the economy if sentiment was undermined.

Park, whose father ruled the country for 18 years after seizing power in a military coup, has been accused of colluding with a friend and a former aide, both of whom prosecutors indicted earlier, to pressure big businesses to donate to foundations set up to back her policy initiatives.

Park, who is serving a single five-year term ending in February 2018, has denied wrongdoing but apologised for carelessness in her ties with her friend, Choi Soon-sil.

Prosecutors on Sunday again characterised Park as a co-conspirator, media reported, although she has immunity from prosecution as long as she remains in office.

They made a similar assertion on Nov. 20.

If the Constitutional Court affirms the parliamentary vote, Park would become the first democratically elected leader of Asia's fourth-biggest economy to be forced from office.

"Amid so much global uncertainty, this political situation is further weighing on the economy and a downturn in sentiment could be another problem," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho told a news conference.

The two former officials whose charges were reported by media on Sunday included a former senior economic aide, Cho Won-dong, accused of colluding with the president in trying to pressure a South Korean conglomerate, CJ Group, to dismiss a group vice chairman, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
New UN chief to be sworn in amid uncertainty over Trump

AFP, United Nations :

Incoming UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will take the oath of office on Monday, hoping to show he is primed for action despite anxiety over the US role in the world under unpredictable Donald Trump.

During a formal ceremony at the General Assembly, Guterres will be sworn in before outlining in an address to all 193 UN member-states his plans to confront global crises and reform the 71-year-old United Nations.

The first former head of government at the UN helm, Guterres will take over from Ban Ki-moon on January 1, just weeks before President-elect Trump moves into the White House.

The choice of the former refugee chief as the ninth secretary-general energized many diplomats who see Guterres as a skilled politician, able to overcome divisions that have crippled the United Nations, notably over Syria.

The 67-year-old former prime minister of Portugal has put ending the five-year carnage in Syria at the top of his to-do list and is keen to put forward a new plan to achieve a settlement, diplomats say.

Trump's election however is complicating that strategy. "This is tough for Guterres," said Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. "He enjoyed a wave of diplomatic goodwill at the UN and looked set for a straightforward transition." "Now he will find it hard to propose big institutional reforms or float new political initiatives until the Trump team is settled in and made its intentions clear."

Trump's victory has put a question mark over the Paris climate deal championed by Ban during his 10 years at the UN helm and stirred unease over the prospect of a new-style diplomatic dealmaking from the White House that could sideline the United Nations.

Trump has not made any statements about his view of the United Nations or multilateralism since his election, but his choice of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador was seen in some circles as a positive signal.
Surya Sen Hall golden jubilee celebration regn fair Dec 23-24



The 'Registration Fair' for the ex-students of Masterda Surya Sen Hall will be held at the Dhaka University's Senate Bhaban on December 23-24.

The decision was made at a joint meeting held at the Jatiya Press Club on Friday with Professor Maksud Kamal, convenor of the celebration committee, in the chair, said a release.

Prime Minister's Media Affairs Advisor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, General Secretary of the Celebration Committee Sirajul Munir, Convenor of Registration Committee Mahmud Hossain Babul and Convenor of Publicity Sub-Committee Zahirul Islam Tuku, among others, attended the meeting.

Ex-students attached to the historic dormitory are requested to register their names between 9am and 8pm on December 23-24 at the Senate Bhaban.

Interested ex-students have to carry photocopy of their graduation certificate, three colour photographs and a deposit of Taka 1,500 for a couple's registration.

According to the publicity sub-committee, an estimated 40,000 students had so far lived at Surya Sen Hall and passed from Dhaka University in last 50 years.




ICMAB Convocation-2016 held

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, MP distributes certificates among the recipients at the ICMAB Convocation-2016 held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital recently.

Campus Report :

The ICMAB Convocation-2016 was held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital recently. ICMA Bangladesh is the only national Institute in Bangladesh for imparting training and education in the field of Cost and Management Accountancy.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, MP was the chief guest at the ceremony and distributed certificates among the recipients. Prof Abdul Mannan, Chairman, University Grants Commission of Bangladesh, delivered his substantial speech as convocation speaker.

The program was held under the chairmanship of Arif Khan FCMA President of ICMAB. The Convener of Convocation-2016 Muzaffar Ahmed FCMA and Jamal Ahmed Choudhury FCMA, Vice President also spoke on the occasion. Md. Abdur Rahman Khan FCMA of ICMAB offered vote of thanks.

All together about Three hundred fellow and associate members of the Institute received their certificates in the convocation program. Past Presidents, Council Members, a large number of associate and fellow members of the Institute and high dignitaries of govt. and sector corporations attended the Convocation-2016 program.


The theatrical release of 'Snowden' came and went without much attention. I can find three reasons for that: first, it's theatrical release date was pushed back twice. Changes like that usually signal troubles with the final product, leaving moviegoers leery of the movie's overall quality; second, Oliver Stone hasn't put out a good film in over a decade. When filmmakers like Stone and Robert Zemeckis pump out bad movie after bad movie for such a long time, then it's difficult to believe that they've actually succeeded again. Although they may return to making great movies, because of lost faith, no one turns out to see them; and third, the story of Edward Snowden was already told in the Oscar-winning documentary 'Citizenfour,' so why watch a reinactment of it? Coincidentally, Zemeckis ran into this same problem in 2015 with his excellent film 'The Walk.' Based on the brilliant documentary 'Man on Wire,' it also just-so-happened to star Joseph Gordon-Levitt and couldn't find an audience. When you've seen a story unfold in a documentary, which is a true form of storytelling, then why would you need to see a dramatized and embellished version of it?

Expanding the narrative of 'Citizenfour,' Oliver Stone took his time in post-production to ensure that 'Snowden' was as strong, personal and intimate as possible. The final product is powerful and deserves a lot more attention that its theatrical release received.

Following the leak of several of the United States government's top secret illegal programs, Stone immediately recognized the potential of the story at hand. After some back-and-forth communication, he traveled to Russia to meet with the whistleblowing source of the leaks, Edward Snowden. Through several one-on-one meetings, Stone and Snowden conversed and batted around the idea of turning his story into a feature film. With Snowden's full participation and approval, Stone went ahead with making the film. He compiled an excellent cast and went to work. Originally slated with a release date that was just months after shooting completed, made with a modest budget, the CG effects weren't ready on-time - hence the first bump. As the adjusted release date neared, it's said that Stone felt that he and his editors, Alex Marquez and Lee Percy, simply hadn't found the best way to edit the non-linear story. After massaging the footage, they found the right combination and 'Snowden' finally made its way into theaters.

Filmed on-scene before, during and shortly after Snowden's leak, 'Citizenfour' did a perfect job of telling the story of the U.S. government's secretive privacy infractions. Now, through Stone's 'Snowden,' we catch a great glimpse at who Edward Snowden was prior to the leak and what made him decide to throw away his entire life just to blow the whistle. The narrative bounces back and forth between Snowden's pre-leak life and the 2013 leak. The farthest back that the film goes is 2004. We see Snowden's early days in the military and the medical condition that ultimately led to his honerable discharge. With his original plan of pursuing a career in military intelligence entirely dashed, we see him apply and interview for a top secret position within the CIA. After being hired, we watch him go through training, where he received his first exposure to the broken moral and ethical compass of the United States government. While taking his first assignment overseas, we see his integrity put to the test as he learned of the programs that he would ultimately leak. It's then that he quit the CIA, moved back to Japan and took a contractor job that would have him indirectly working with the government.

Snowden believed that his indirect work with the government would clear his conscience of the government's shady secrets, but he couldn't escape them. He was surrounded by programs like XKEYSCORE and Prism, both of which worked together to spy on individuals, including U.S. citizens, by using their most private technology  social media, emails, texts, cameras and microphones on computers and mobile devices  even when they're powered down. At a certain point, the stress of having this knowledge became too much  especially once he suffered a seizure and was diagnosed with epilepsy. When a program of his own creation (Epic Shelter) was misused, he started plotting the best way to blow the whistle. In the process of collecting the evidence, he left a trail of breadcrumbs that led back to him so none of his colleagues could become suspect for the leak.

Adding to the strength and intimacy of this main narrative, a secondary story unfolds. Making the Snowden character seem all the more human and relatable, we're walked through the intimate details of his relationship with long-time girlfriend Lindsay Mills. The openness and honesty between the two offers a beautiful contrasting parallel between their relationship and the relationship that the conniving U.S. government has with its citizens. The two stories function harmoniously and impact one another.

Oliver Stone's last few films have been a complete mess. Even I worried that 'Snowden' would follow suit. But 'Snowden' flows well. It's structure is solid and firm, breaking Stone's streak of incoherence.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his supporting ensemble cast carry the personal and tense tale. After seeing the trailers and hearing Gordon-Levitt do his best vocal impression of Edward Snowden, many complained about his voice. Being a fan of Gordon-Levitt, even I worried that the disuised voice would be offputting  but when you watch the film, after only a few minutes, you'll forget that he's speaking any differently than usual. Just minutes in, his voice sounds natural and normal.

Shailene Woodley can be hit or miss, but her performance in 'Snowden' is mostly solid. A few spikes don't feel entirely natural, but she's never bad. Playing the documentary filmmaker of 'Citizenfour,' Melissa Leo is as great as ever. Zachary Quinto is solid as the Guardian reporter who broke the story. Nicholas Cage appears in very small role and shines brightly nonetheless. But Rhys Ifans is the one who absolutely delivers. He plays Snowden's "work-father," the boss that ultimately crushes Snowden's opinion of the U.S. government. This betrayals plays a large role in Snowden's reason for the leak.

I agree that 'Citizenfour' is a perfect documentary, but I also believe that 'Snowden' is the perfect companion piece to it. They should be sold together. 'Citizenfour' offers insight to leak itself, the government's reaction to the leak, and how Snowden made it out Hong Kong. 'Snowden' offers insight to who Edward Snowden is, why he decided to blow the whistle and how he got the data out of a secure facility. (Snowden himself has said that the portrayal of "the heist" in the film is not accurate, but that he won't explain the true method because of security. He's also said that the film's telling of it isn't too far off from how it really went down.) Certain parts are obviously embellished for the sake of entertainment, but that doesn't stop 'Snowden' from being just as important as 'Citizenfour.' If you've ever doubted Snowden's motives, Oliver Stone's film and its accompanying special features will the clear the air.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

Universal has placed Open Road's 'Snowden' on a BD-50, slapped it in a two-disc Elite keepcase with a DVD copy and a code for a digital copy, and place it in an embossed cardboard keepcase. The pre-menu "fresh" streaming trailers, which are preceeded with a forced Universal reel, can easily be skipped over.
Interactive session on 'Digital Transformation in Bangladesh' at CUB

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister, ICT Division presents a power point presentation on digital development, successes, change and challenges in Bangladesh at an interactive session on \'Digital Transformation in Bangladesh\' organized by Canadian Univers

Campus Report :

Canadian University of Bangladesh (CUB) organized an interactive session on 'Digital Transformation in Bangladesh' on Sunday on the occasion of Education Fair for Spring Semester-2017.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister, ICT Division was the chief guest at the event. Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat, Founder and Chairman, Canadian University of Bangladesh conferred vote of thanks to the present guests and audience.

Chief guest Zunaid Ahmed Palak said, we have to develop our young generation with the newest development in ICT knowledge. Only in this way will we achieve the target of digital Bangladesh by 2021.

Zunaid presented a power point presentation on digital development, successes, change and challenges in Bangladesh.

After the discussion, Information Technology Division (ICT), Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Canadian University of Bangladesh. Under the agreement, Information Technology Division (ICT), Bangladesh will help in the digital marketing, mobile gaming and apps, including developing cooperation in ICT with Canadian University of Bangladesh. At the opening of the program another MoU was signed with the Canadian University of Bangladesh and Eastern Bank Limited.

Among others, Prof Dr William H Derrenger, Vice Chancellor and Prof Dr James Gomez, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Canadian University of Bangladesh also spoke on the occasion.


Businesspersons asked for paying VAT to strengthen economy

BSS, Rangpur :

Adequate awareness should be created among the businesspersons and consumers to inspire them in paying value added tax (VAT) and income tax properly for further strengthening of the national economy.

The opinion came at a post-rally discussion organised by the Divisional Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate at its conference room in the city on Saturday afternoon in observance of the National VAT Day- 2016.

Earlier, a colourful rally, participated by officials and employees of the Divisional Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate, businesspersons, VAT payers, civil society members and local elite, was brought out in the city.

Mayor of Rangpur Alhaj Sarfuddin Ahmed Jhantu attended the discussion as the chief guest with Divisional Commissioner of Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate Mohammad Ahsanul Haque in the chair.

Member (Survey and Inspection) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Zia Uddin Mahmud and Commissioner of Taxes for Rangpur Zone Harun Ar Rashid, addressed the occasion as special guests.

Joint Commissioner of Divisional Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate AKM Nurul Huda Azad delivered welcome speech narrating importance of paying VAT for enhancing revenue earning to accelerate national developments.

A number of the highest VAT payers from all over Rangpur division also addressed the function.

The chief guest called for conducting motivational activities to convince the businesspersons and common consumers for spontaneous payments of VAT and all taxes to make the nation self-reliant and developed at its own.

In his concluding speech, Mohammad Ahsanul Haque stressed on enhancing revenue earning in the forms of VAT and taxes to strengthen the national economy for building a middle income nation by 2021 and a developed country by 2041.

Later, the chief guest distributed crests and citations among the top fifteen VAT payers of different business establishments, factories and industries of different districts under Rangpur division.
Ronaldo declared 20 million euros in Swiss banks



Cristiano Ronaldo declared income of over 225 million euros in 2015, including 20 million euros held in 22 Swiss bank accounts, a Spanish newspaper reported Sunday as the Real Madrid star battles accusations of tax evasion.

The Portuguese international earned 203.7 million euros outside of Spain and 23.5 million inside the country, according to a copy of his 2015 tax return obtained by daily newspaper El Mundo.

The figures match the details of the player's income published Thursday by the player's management company Gestifute, which argued they show Ronaldo was in compliance with Spain's tax authority.

But El Mundo provided a more detailed breakdown of his finances.

It said he had 20 million euros in Swiss banks -- the vast majority, more than 17 million euros, in three accounts at Swiss private bank Mirabaud. The rest of his money in the country was held in 19 accounts in regional Swiss bank St. Galler Kantonalbank.
RMG worker to get Tk 5 lakh for accidental death

Apparel workers who will face unnatural death at workplaces would get at least Taka 5 lakh as compensation, State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu yesterday said yesterday.

"The workers who would be victims of accidental deaths in their workplaces at Ready-Made Garments (RMG) factories will get Taka 5 lakh from January next year," he told the launching ceremony of a project on industrial relations hotel Sonargaon here.

He added of the amount, concerned insurance companies would pay Taka 2 lakh while the rest Taka 3 lakh would be provided from a workers welfare fund, developed by the RMG entrepreneurs and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). The present government, Chunnu said, as part of its welfare initiatives for workers took a five-year "social dialogue" project with International Labour Organization's (ILO) technical support to improve employer-worker relations particularly in the RMG sector.

Denmark and Sweden fund the project aimed to facilitate social dialogue with particular focus on collective bargaining, dispute prevention and resolution and arbitration with special importance to the women workers, Haq said. The announcement came as the state minister was addressing the launching of the project on "Promoting Social Dialogue and Harmonious Industrial Relations in Bangladesh Ready-Made Garment (RMG) Industry". ILO Director General Guy Ryder spoke as the special guest while Labour and Employment Secretary Mikail Shipar gave the welcome address.

"ILO seeks to make the world's factories and workplaces safe and decent places to work," Ryder said.

The ILO chief added that the project was launched as Bangladesh made much progress in recent years in terms of workers welfare while the new initiative would contribute towards improved working conditions and labour rights in the garment sector, in line with relevant international labour standards.

ILO's Assistant Director General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Ms Tomoko Nishimoto gave the opening remarks at the function. Among others, under secretary for the Centre for Global Development and Cooperation from the Embassy of Denmark Morten Jespersen, Ambassador of the Embassy of Sweden Johan Frisell, Jatiya Sramik Jote President Shirin Akhter MP, Managing Director of Mohammadi Group Rubana Huq, Bangladesh Employers Federation President Salahuddin Kasem Khan, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association President Md Siddiqur Rahman and National Coordination Committee for Workers Education Chairman Md Abu Zafar were also spoke on the occasion.

The project's partners are the Labour and Employment ministry, Department of Labour from the government side. Bangladesh Employers Federation, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufactures and Exporters Association (BKMEA), and workers' organizations affiliated with the National Coordination Committee for Workers' Education (NCCWE) and IndustriAll Bangladesh Council (IBC) are other major stakeholders of the project.
Campaign gets momentum

Staff Reporter :

Poll campaign in Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) is getting momentum gradually with each day passing turning the localities into vibrant places from morning to midnight.

Apart from hectic door-to-door campaign by the candidates along with their party leaders and workers, electioneering is going on through various ways, including microphones, posters, bringing out processions and holding small rallies and mass contact. Ruling AL-backed Mayoral candidate Selina Hayat Ivy on Sunday termed the BNP-blessed Mayoral runner Shakhawat Hossain Khan as a hired candidate, saying he (Shakhawat) is not a party man.

"BNP has nominated Shakhawat Hossain Khan as its candidate. But he doesn't belong to the party. As a hired candidate, he is now contesting the polls," she told journalists while exchanging views with people of Ward No 26 in Narayanganj City yesterday.

Ivy, daughter of late Ali Ahmad Chumka, a former chairman of Narayanganj Municipality and AL leader, also said she is contesting the polls taking all with us and forgetting differences.

She also expressed firm optimism about her victory in the December 22 elections. "I would be victorious Insha Allah," she said.

"As both Awami League and BNP are now in filed to make sure boat's (AL's election symbol) victory, the win is a must. Like previous year, people will elect me also this time," she hoped.

She also sought re-election to continue the development works, which she initiated during her tenure.

Earlier in the morning Ivy went to the resident of MA Rashid, President, Bandar Thana AL unit, and sought his vote.

Talking to journalists MA Rashid said as there is no division in AL, they are working in favour of Ivy.

"As per Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's directive, we are working round the clock to ensure the victory of boat," he said.

Meanwhile, the BNP-backed candidate Shakhawat Hossain Khan on Sunday accused the Election Commission of not taking decision about deployment of army during the voting day.

"It is the Election Commission which wants to serve only Ivy's purpose. So it will not deploy the army. But deployment of army is urgently needed on the day," he told journalists while visiting Amukpati at Nitaiganj in the city yesterday.

He alleged that local lawmaker Shamim Osman might influence the election.

"I'm worried as I feel Shamim Osman might influence the election. I'm seeking Election Commission's assistance to resist Shamim's influence," Shakhawat said.

Replying to a query about tearing of Ivy's posters, he said as Ivy has become bankrupt, she is telling this.

The central leaders of both AL and BNP are on the field to assist their candidate of choice and they are travelling to Narayanganj everyday to carry out mass contact programme.

Over 4.79 lakh voters are expected to cast their ballots to elect a City Mayor, 27 Ward Councillors and nine Women Councillors (reserved seats). The first election to the NCC was held on October 30, 2011, when Ivy won, defeating the then ruling AL-backed candidate, Shamim Osman.
World leaders urged to put pressure on Myanmar

Staff Reporter :

Speakers at a roundtable discussion on Sunday called upon the World community as well as Bangladesh to put pressure on the Myanmar government with a view to stopping genocide in Rakhine state of that country.

Myanmar is our neighbouring country. India helped us during the Liberation War in 1971 with men and materials. Bangladesh also should do the same. The World community can play an important role to end the atrocity, they said.The speakers said this at a roundtable discussion titled "Genocide on Rohingya in Myanmar: Initiative of Bangladesh" held in the VIP Lounge of the National Press Club on Sunday. Ganosanghati Andolon organised the programme.

Professor Abul Quashem Fazlul Hoque of Dhaka University, Columnist Abul Moksud, Professor Swapon Adnan, Professor Tanjimuddin Khan of Dhaka University, Coordinator of Ganosanghati Andolan Junaid Saki, senior leader of Bangladesh Somajtantrik Dal Shubhragshu Chakrabarty, General Secretary of Ganotantrik Biplobi Party Moshrefa Mishu, senior leader of Bangladesh Somajtantrik Andolan Hamidul Hoque and General Secretary of United Communist League of Bangladesh Mosharraf Hossain spoke the programme, among others.

Professor Abul Quashem Fazlul Hoque said, no initiative has been taken by the Novel Laureate in Myanmar, but she got the prize for peace. She also opposed the Rohingya directly.

Professor Fazlul Hoque suggested the government to permit the Rohingya to enter the country so that Bangladesh can return them after the crackdown ends.

He said, the people of Bangladesh are surprised at the role of the world community over the Myanmar incident. It should play a pivotal role to stop the holocast in the Rakaine state of Myanmar.

Columnist Abul Moksud said, "Bangladesh should press the Myanmar government to stop the atrocities on Rohingyas on humanities ground. "Don't forget we were refuges during our Liberation War and India helped us. So it is our duty to raise our voices for Rohingyas."

Meanwhile, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Sunday sent back at least 130 Rohingyas who fled Myanmar in the face of ongoing crackdown in Rakhine state.

BGB personnel prevented the trespassing at two different points of the Naf River on Sunday morning.

"We conducted a drive at two different points of the river and pushed back at least 130 Rohingyas boarded on 13 boats," said Teknaf 2 BGB Commander Lt Col Abujar Al Zahid.

Hundreds of Rohingya Muslims tried to cross into Bangladesh illegally after Myanmar troops launched a crackdown in Rakhine state.

Bangladesh has stepped up security along its border with Myanmar to prevent influx of Rohingyas fleeing violence in Rakhine state that has killed unknown number of people and displaced 30,000 others.
SC stays HC ban for 8 weeks

Staff Reporter :

The Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday asked the High Court (HC) to hear and dispose of the rule issued questioning the legality of gambling, including cards, dice and housie in 13 renowned clubs of the country within eight weeks.

The apex court also stayed the High Court order that directed the government to stop gambling those clubs until disposing of the rule.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order following a leave to appeal petition filed by Dhaka Club authorities challenging the HC order.

On December 4 after hearing a writ petition, the HC asked the government to stop gambling in the 13 Clubs.

On that day, the HC also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain in four weeks as to why they should not be directed to take actions against the unlawful business and indoor games of cards, dice and housie in exchange of money.

The 13 clubs are Dhaka Club, Uttara Club Ltd, Gulshan Club Ltd, Dhanmondi Club Ltd, Banani Club Ltd, Officers' Club Dhaka, Ladies' Club Dhaka, Cadet College Club Dhaka, Chittagong Club Ltd, Chittagong Seniors' Club Ltd, Narayanganj Club Ltd, Sylhet Club Ltd and Khulna Club Ltd.

Barrister Fida M Kamal and Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal took part in the hearing on behalf of the Dhaka Club while Advocate A F Hasan Arif and Barrister Redwan Ahmed Ranjib stood for the petitioners.

Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal said that the SC asked the HC to dispose of the rule within eight weeks after the recent vacation. The HC order would be stayed until then.

Two Supreme Court lawyers Samiul Huq and Barrister Rokonuddin Md Faruq filed the petition challenging the legality of unlawful business and indoor games of cards, dice and housie in exchange of money in those clubs.
Growing income inequality fuels social unrest

Dr Zahid Hussain Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam

Kazi Zahidul Hasan :

Economists on Sunday expressed concern over the growing income inequality between the rich and the poor saying this trend is fuelling social discontent with alarming rise in crimes.

They said, inequality cannot be allowed as a necessary condition for faster growth of GDP. Nor it is the by-product of growth. The greater inequality is a result of 'policy and politics'. According to a study, income inequality in the country has increased in the last decades, as measured by the Gini coefficient which has increased from 0.451 in 2000 to 0.458 in 2010 at the national level.

Income inequality has widened at a faster rate in the rural areas, with Gini coefficient increasing from 0.393 to 0.430 during the same period. Another study showed, income inequality increased from 0.350 in 1984 to 0.458 in 2010, with a similar trend in both rural and urban areas.

Between 1984 and 2010 in Bangladesh, the share of the poorest 20 percent of population in national income decreased from 2.9 percent to 2 percent, while for the richest 20 percent of population, it grew from 28.3 percent to 37.6 percent.

Economists, however, disagreed with the rates saying these did not represent the real picture of the income disparity which may be even higher than the findings of the studies if the real income of the rich population is accounted for.

"Income disparity has become a major problem for Bangladesh. The rich continues to become richer and the poor continues to become poorer leading to serious social and political discontent," Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a noted economist, told The New Nation yesterday.

According to him, weak public institutions, policy paralyses, disproportionate development spending and unemployment are mainly responsible for the growing income inequality.

Besides, criminalization of politics made unruly elements wealthy overnight. "Bangladesh has made tremendous progress in various socioeconomic indicators over the decades and its economy has been maintaining a healthy growth. But the growth has failed to uplift the livelihood of a big population due to uneven distribution of economic output. It also helps an increase in the income of the rich at the cost of the poor", he added. Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam said, "We have to do a lot to improve access to employment, health and education for the bottom of the population to reduce the income inequality".

"Income inequality is on the rise and its major cause is intergenerational mobility," Dr Zahid Hussain, lead economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office told The New Nation yesterday.

He said, the circumstances of birth are crucial for a person whether he or she would fall into the high income ladder or lower ones.

"The problem is inherent in Bangladesh and we cannot resolve the problem overnight. The problem is making the society more vulnerable with evidences of rising crime," he observed.

"We must go for specific intervention to reduce the income inequality. The first focus should be given on early childhood development (ECD) by ensuring access to food, health and nutrition. Parental care and improved rural infrastructure are also necessary for the ECD," said Dr Zahid Hussain. Secondly, the government should go for higher investment in human capital to make them skilled for market oriented jobs. Skilled manpower has the direct link with productivity, and productive labour will get high wage for his job.

"This could enhance earnings of poor population of the country and reduce income disparity between the urban and rural population in the society," stated Dr Zahid Hussain.

He also held the view that finally a reform in tax policy could also help reduce the income inequality in the society which will make income tax regressive. When asked, Dr Zahid Hussain said, "Widening income disparity is a matter of concern because it has created social and political instability." Both the economists also urged the government to strengthen the public institutions, improve the physical infrastructure and develop human skills to reduce the widening of income inequality.

They observed income inequality has increased exponentially in Bangladesh over the decades despite an average economic growth of 5.9 per cent a year indicating a low impact of growth for the poorest households.
Rohingyas a regional responsibility

BRACE FOR A NEW WAVE: Myanmar\'s neighbours Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia should be prepared to provide protection and the necessary humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees, especially to their most vulnerable, the women and children. Internet ph

News Desk :

Collective initiatives and regional collaborations are needed to stop the violence against the ethnic minority group in Myanmar.

According to AFP since the crackdown that followed the killing of nine border guards on Oct 9, which the authorities have blamed on a Rohingya militant group, the relentless persecution of the ethnic minority living in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, continues unabated.

Various international organisations and news agencies have reported systematic violence, including torture, mass rape, extrajudicial killings and evictions, committed by Myanmar soldiers against the Rohingya. At least 10,000 members of the Rohingya minority group have fled their homes since the military retaliation.

According to a United Nations refugee agency, the Myanmar military and border police are engaging in collective punishment of the Rohingya minority, yet the Myanmar government denies the allegations. The problem is the state of Rakhine is closed to the international media and aid agencies, preventing the verification of data and reports. The constant discrimination and current persecution have forced many Rohingya to flee from their homes to camps in Bangladesh. If the situation continues to deteriorate, the situation of mass forced migration of the Rohingya community may resemble the refugee crisis of a year ago, dubbed the Southeast Asian refugee crisis.

According to UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) data, as many as 500,000 Rohingya are already internally displaced and since 2014 an estimated 94,000 asylum seekers have fled to neighbouring countries by means of deadly sea journeys. The commonly preferred destination is Malaysia, which hosts approximately 142,000 people. Indonesia currently has approximately 1,000 Rohingya refugees, excluding unregistered asylum seekers, mainly based in Aceh.

This means potential destinations, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand should be prepared to receive more Rohingya refugees and provide protection and necessary humanitarian assistance, especially to vulnerable groups like women and children.

As such, collective initiatives are needed now more than ever. Instead of spreading hoax pictures and inciting hatred against the Buddhist community in Myanmar, which will only make the situation worse and trigger a backlash against the Rohingya, we the people should act as conscious, responsible neighbours by supporting the numerous agencies providing humanitarian aid to the Rohingya, such as the Humanitarian Flotilla for Rohingya mission initiated by the Southeast Asia Humanitarian Committee (Seahum) and a network of NGOs in the region including PKPU and ACT in Indonesia and the Muslim Aid Malaysia, that send humanitarian and medical aid to conflict points and camps in Rakhine.

Non-adherence: Bangladesh is not upholding its commitment under the Bali Declaration as its Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personels guard its borders to prevent new Rohingya refugees from entering the country. - AFP Brace for a new wave: Myanmar's neighbours Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia should be prepared to provide protection and the necessary humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees, especially to their most vulnerable, the women and children. - Yet these short-term emergency responses should be followed by long-term solutions to address the roots of the problem more effectively. Current measures tend to be sporadic and impromptu. Last year, for example, the Indonesian government entered an-ad hoc agreement to allow a one-year transit for Rohingya refugees, who were supported by various NGOs, the local government, and the local community, with the expectation of a speedy resettlement in a host country. This was hampered by the lengthy bureaucratic process and low rate of refugee acceptance in destination countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the US.

The solution should thus be the implementation of stricter regional measures, including legal frameworks, at the Asean and Asia Pacific levels. The Bali Process, an international high-level forum on people smuggling, human trafficking and related transnational crimes cochaired by Indonesia, resulted in the Regional Cooperation Framework (RCF), which aims to push for more practical arrangements between its 45 member states, including the implementation of burden-sharing and collective-responsibility principles.

While the framework serves as a much-welcomed step forwards, it is non-binding and stipulates no consequences for non-adherence, as shown in the case of Bangladesh, which has failed to uphold its commitment made during the 2016 Bali Declaration. Unlike the European Union that has ratified applicable measures under the Dublin Convention, there is no existing legal framework in Asean to deal with refugees and forced migration. In the Southeast Asian region, only the Philippines, Cambodia and Timor Leste are signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention. As the main political and economic regional grouping in South-East Asia, Asean seems to prefer to focus on its economic functions, while turning a blind eye to more pressing political and human rights issue like the Rohingya crisis.

This principle needs re-evaluating now that the Rohingya crisis has directly impacted Asean member states. Asean has to step up pressure on the Myanmar government to stop the persecution of and discrimination against the Rohingya people through persistent diplomacy. A stronger diplomacy is also needed to allow and ensure the admission of humanitarian aid agencies into the Rohingya area. Furthermore, a legal system to deal with the refugee issue in the region should be put into place. It is no longer sufficient or morally justifiable for Asean to cite its non-interference principle as a buffer to shirk its responsibilities.

- The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
MP, UZ Chairman behind attack

Staff Reporter :

An investigation report has categorically blamed ruling Awami League lawmaker [Gaibandha-4] Abul Kalam Azad and Upazila Chairman Abdul Latif for their involvement in the recent attacks on Santal community in Gobindaganj.



Although the Santals have already been evicted from the land claimed by the sugar mills, there are 15 fishponds there owned by MP still remained totally untouched, it further blamed.



Ekattorer Ghatok Dalal Nirmul Committee [EGDNC] made the disclosures in a press conference held at Dhaka Reporters Unity in the city's Segunbagicha on Sunday.



The probe report was made by the EGDNC based on the findings of 18-member inquiry body who went there on November 21 to see the condition of victims in their own eyes. They also talked with the affected people, local administration, law enforcement officials and other related persons.



The EGDNC, at the same time, also placed another probe report that was made over the attacks on Hindu community at Nasirnagar in Brahmanbaria.



In the press conference a booklet along with detail incidents and photographs was distributed among the newsmen. According to the findings of EGDNC, these sorts of incidents have been occurring one after another targeting the religious minorities due to absence of proper trial.



The EGDNC leaders said only communal terrorists are not solely responsible for such attacks. Rather, the ruling party men are often found involved behind the attacks.



"The Santals of Gobindaganj and we both think that the repressive cases those have been filed against the minority community members should be withdrawn. Besides, the authorities need to take initiatives for their rehabilitation," acting president of EGDNC Shahriar Kabir said.



On November 6, three Santals were killed in a fierce clash when Gobindaganj Upazila administration went to evict around 600 Santal families from their ancestral land in Sahebganj-Bagda Sugar Mill area. A fourth Santal victim's body was found later in the sugar-cane land.



The eviction drive was carried out by Police, RAB and BGB members who were joined by people allegedly loyal to the local MP. The law enforcers opened fire and lobbed teargas canisters during the eviction drive.



At least 25 people, including nine policemen, were also wounded when the Santals threw arrows at police personnel and Rangpur Sugar Mills workers, who joined the eviction drive. After the incident, police filed cases against the Santals on charge of obstructing the law enforcers.



Against this backdrop, EGDNC sent a team led by Justice Shamshuddin Chowdhury and Justice Shamsul Huda to the spot to investigate the incident. The team arranged a public hearing in presence of local influential leaders.



Laying emphasis on formulating new law to protect minorities, adviser of EGDNC Justice Amirul Islam said: "The government did not try anyone involved in the attacks on minority community that occurred since 2001. For that reason, the minority people are not getting justice. On the other hand, the real culprits are enjoying freedom. "



Besides, Justice Shamsul Huda said: "The patronization of local MP and Upazila Chairman behind the attack was clearly visible in Gobindaganj."



Meanwhile, expressing determination Law Minister Barrister Anisul Huq said that persons responsible for the attacks on minorities would be brought to book.



"The government has taken initiatives to ensure exemplary punishment to the culprits those were involved in the attacks, so that such kind of atrocity could not occur in this country in the near future," the Minister said while talking to the reporters after attending a function in the city yesterday.


This blog is looking for wisdom, to have and to share. It is also looking for other rare character traits like good humor, courage, and honor. It is not an easy road, because all of us fall short. But God is love, forgiveness and grace. Those who believe in Him and repent of their sins have the promise of His Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Way.
25 killed by bomb blast at Cairo church

St Mark\'s Cathedral is home to the office of the Orthodox Christian Pope Tawadros II.

Al Jazeera News :

A bomb blast has killed at least 25 people during Sunday mass inside a Cairo church near the main Coptic Christian cathedral, according to Egyptian state TV.

The explosion ripped through St Peter's Church at around 10:00am local time, wounding at least another 35 people, according to Egyptian security officials. St Peter's Church is beside St Mark's Cathedral, which is the seat of Egypt's Orthodox Christian church and is home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.

Services were being held in St Peter's on Sunday morning, while St Mark's Cathedral was being renovated.

A state-run news agency reported that a bomb was lobbed inside the church, though AP news agency cited witnesses saying the bomb was planted inside the building itself. READ MORE: Reporting Egypt's 'War on Terror' in Sinai "I found bodies, many of them women, lying on the pews. It was a horrible scene," cathedral worker Attiya Mahrous, who rushed to the chapel after he heard the blast, told AP. His clothes and hands were stained with blood and his hair matted with dust. The presidency declared national mourning after the attack.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi described the bombing as a "terrorist act" that has no place in Egypt.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. About 10 percent of Egypt's 82-million population are Christians. Egypt's Youm7 newspaper has posted video footage on its Twitter account of the aftermath of the bombing:

According to Mohamad Elmasry, an associate professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, the "barbaric attack against Coptic Christians is not an aberration".

"[The attack] represents the continuation of a cycle of violence that has continued unabated since Egypt's July 2013 military coup," Elmasry told Al Jazeera. "Since the coup, the Egyptian government and ISIS-affiliated terrorists have traded attacks. The government has cast an unnecessarily wide terrorism net, carrying out unprecedented human rights violations, including several mass killings, against moderate members of the political opposition." The coup, which overthrew Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, brought with it a dramatic increase in violence, particularly in the Sinai region. On Friday, six policemen were killed in a bomb attack in Cairo claimed by an armed group known as the Hasm movement. The Egyptian army, under General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and its police forces have faced dozens of attacks from several armed groups that have continued to grow in recent years.

"Perhaps more than anything, today's attack demonstrates the extent to which current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who came to power largely on a security platform, has failed to deliver on one of his most important campaign promises," Elmasry added.


7 candidates are murder accused: Shujan

UNB, Narayanganj :

Seven candidates, among 201 mayor and councillor candidates in the Narayanganj City Corporation election, are accused in murder cases now, while nine were accused in murder cases in the past, according to a Shujan analysis.

Besides, now 46 contenders are accused in various criminal cases while 48 were accused in criminal cases in the past. Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan), a

non-government organisation, came up with the statistics on Sunday analysing the affidavits of the 201 candidates-seven mayor candidates, 156 general councillor and 38 woman councillor candidates from reserved seats- who are running in the NCC election slated for December 22. Shujan Central Coordinator Dilip Kumar presented the analysis at a press conference in Narayanganj Press Club on Sunday. Among the seven mayor runners, Md Shakhawat Hossain Khan (BNP candidate) and Advocate Mahbubur Rahman are accused in criminal cases now. Shakhawat and Mahbub were accused in two and four cases respectively. However, five other mayor candidates are not accused in any criminal case now and were not in the past as well.

Some 80 percent of the candidates are businessmen, while the academic qualification of 60 percent is below SSC, according to their affidavits submitted to the Election Commission.

According to the Shujan's analysis, 80.09 percent (161 candidates) businessmen by profession, while 7.96 percent (16) housewives, 3.98 percent (8) working people, 1.49 percent (3) farmers and 1.49 percent (3) lawyers. But four candidates mentioned other professions, while 6 contenders did not mention their profession in the affidavits.

Among 156 general councillor candidates, 90.38 percent (141 persons) are businesspeople.

Educational qualification of 120 candidates (59.70 percent) is below SSC, while 24 contestants completed SSC, each 23 completed HSC and graduation and only 7 contenders passed post-graduation. But four candidates did not mention their academic qualification in their affidavits.

Among the seven mayor candidates, the educational qualification of one person is below SSC, while one completed SSC, two acquired graduation and three post-graduation.

The annual income of 136 candidates is between Tk two lakh and Tk five lakh, while that of 31 others above Tk 5 lakh but less than Tk 25 lakh, and 23 candidates less than Tk two lakh.

Besides, the annual income of one candidate (general councillor) is above Tk 50 lakh, while that of one is above Tk 25 lakh but less than Tk 50 lakh.
Code of conduct for recruiting agencies soon: IOM

UNB, Dhaka :

International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Sunday said they are working to set a code of conduct and a series of standards for recruiting agencies so that migrants are recruited in a 'legal and proper fashion'.

"There's a lot of illegal and corrupt recruitment of migrants," IOM Director General Ambassador William Lacy Swing told reporters on Sunday. He said they are jointly working with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Organisation of

Employers to try to set up a series of standards or the code of conduct for recruitment agencies.

Ambassador Swing said those who comply with the standards will be recognised and migrants could go there knowing that they are going to be recruited in a legal and proper fashion. He said those who are not subscribing those standards will go out of business. "That's the effort we are making now."

On reducing the cost of remittance sending, the IOM DG said this is another very unfortunate situation they are working on now. Asked about the abolishment of outsourcing agencies, he said they can continue their business if they maintain the standards and follow the code of conduct. "But if they've questionable activities, it'll have to be looked into." On sufferings of the migrants, Ambassador Swing said the majority of the people who are on the move are not really covered by any international legal framework.

He said they have a feeling in the international community that they need some kind of understanding, agreement and undertaking of commitment by governments and people to assist and protect persons on the move, particularly those who are most vulnerable. "This is the whole idea. I think we're talking about something that would be approved," Ambassador Swing said.

Asked about the figure of Myanmar nationals who entered Bangladesh recently, he said, "You need to ask your government here." He, however, said the number will be significant as he understands. "Our effort is to support all persons who are vulnerable. We're working very closely with local officials in Cox's Bazar."
We must not send women workers to be abused

ACCORDING to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Bangladesh has an extremely bad record of protecting its own citizens, particularly female workers abroad. The Human Rights Watch news said from London on Friday that Bangladesh should improve protection for its domestic workers abroad. We do not agree to this type of typical NGO suggestion. They know that in no country of Middle East our embassy officials can have any opportunity for supervising the women domestic helpers. They are not even allowed to use mobile telephone. Once taken from Bangladesh, our women lead most helpless life with no access to outsiders. We have learned from the women workers who returned from these countries, how slavishly they were treated.



But this is an area where Bangladesh government appears not having any active policy. It appears that our embassies in Riyadh and other capitals in Gulf countries are quite indifferent about it when our female workers remained exposed to physical abuse and financial exploitation. HRW has rightly said that Bangladesh should have a strong policy to ensure safety of its female workers. But those so-called 'strong-policy' can't be pursued for taking care of the welfare of our workers. Let the government show what guarantees it has been able to secure from the governments of Middle Eastern countries for our female workers.



We must protect the welfare of our women folk knowing well that they are being abused in the Middle East and Hong Kong.



Our leadership must prove to be competent to build the economy with due emphasis on job creation for the young ones inside the country. We cannot have a government that is only happy with money repatriated by job-seekers abroad without caring for the miseries they suffer. It is also no honour for our country that our women are abused abroad.








Universal Health Services (UHS) is the largest chain of psychiatric facilities in the USA, with 2.5x more beds than its closest competitor, and dozens of whistleblowers from inside the company told a Buzzfeed reporter that they were pressured to find pretenses to lock up people who voluntarily presented for assessments, holding them against their will until their insurance ran out, with massive bonuses for executives who increased profits (and much smaller bonuses for execs who improved health outcomes for patients).



UHS hospitals are incredibly profitable, running at 30-50% margins, and whistleblowers say these margins are attained by dropping staffing to unsafe levels and preferentially hiring underqualified and inexperienced people; while simultaneously packing in patients by bedding them in closets, in isolation cells, and on mattresses on the floors of day-rooms.





Meanwhile, the whistleblowers say that patients in desperate need of care are refused admission, or are kicked out early, if they don't have insurance. A large plurality of UHS's patents are covered by tax-funded Medicare, and 10% of the company's hospitals are currently under investigation for Medicare fraud. Patients say that their confinement has eaten into the days of mental health care they are entitled to under Medicare, meaning that if they end up in distress later that they will not be able to get care.

The core tactic the whistleblowers describe is to manufacture "suicidal ideation" in prospective patients, turning any statement about self-harm into an imminent danger warranting involuntary confinement and sedation.

UHS denies everything.



Meanwhile, pressure to admit more patients was so great, staff members said, they did so even if the hospital was already at capacity, thinning resources even further. "If we didn't have beds, it doesn't matter  just go ahead admit them anyway," Rebecca Palmer recalled being told by her supervisors when she worked at The Ridge in Kentucky. There would be "every bed filled on the kid unit, teenagers boarding on the child's unit, and kids sleeping in the dayroom on rubber mats," Palmer told BuzzFeed News. "And also in the seclusion rooms  they would be sleeping in there as well." Seclusion rooms are meant to contain patients who have become dangerous. According to federal regulations, the rooms are necessary to protect staff and other patients. Yet staff at four other UHS facilities told BuzzFeed News that there, too, the rooms were repurposed when the hospitals ran out of regular beds. Federal inspectors noted in 2014 that River Point hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, had more patients than beds. They discovered vinyl mattresses tucked in a closet and on the floors of some patient rooms. A hospital official told regulators the arrangement was "better than throwing a blanket on the floor."



Intake [Rosalind Adams/Buzzfeed]
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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! ! !

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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

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[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.

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Toys for the Prostate

Another sextoy for men is prostate toys.

The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line.

Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men.

Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men.

What is the prostate?

The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm.

You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus.

By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms.

Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.)

The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation.

Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure.

sextoy for beinner women in India

The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy.

The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy.

Vibrator.

Dildo

Electric Masserger

Lets check out what each one is in detail.

If you want to check out womens toys, click here.

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Vibrators

A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator.

Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy.

It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy.

Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women.

For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators.

Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex.

Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself.

This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual.

Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men.

When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons.

Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most...

Dildo

A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis.

It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass.

A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it.

They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well.

It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device.

A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo.

Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands.

For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis.

This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one.

To learn more about dildo, please click here.

What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th...

Electric Masserger

A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores.

It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low.

Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels.

Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation.

It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure.

For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm.

It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out.

If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager?

To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here.

What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th...

How to choose a sextoy for Indian

Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one.

Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points:  Does the size fit you (the partner)?

Does the size fit you (your partner)?

Is the environment able to produce sound without problems?

Price range

First of all, the choice of size is quite important.

Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women.

For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage.

Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems.

Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise.

If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level.

Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it.

Finally, there is the price range.

The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest.

Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy.

Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy?

I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance.

For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics.

If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out.

How to buy sextoys in India

The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping.

For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below.

Sextoy is one of them.

Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping.

SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India.

They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry.

Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card.

To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy.

ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal.

Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on.

Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture.

Cautions for Indians using sextoy

When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind

Keep sex toys clean

Watch out for electrical leakage

Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy

As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone.

Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there.

It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case.

In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness.

Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful.

If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it.

You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly.

Summary

What did you think?

In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India.

The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future.

As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values.

However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health.

If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try?

Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women.

I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it.
HireLevel, a regional employment, payroll, and workforce services company, the staff is almost through their first year of their company Charitable Giving Challenge, according to a news release from the company.

This month, HireLevel is giving back to Gum Drops, a charity that provides a weekend package of child-friendly food to help enhance the quality of life for at-risk children through the Southern Illinois region.

My wife Amy Simpson and I started this organization almost eight years ago in our home feeding 11 kids in the Carterville area and as of last week weve fed over 1,600 children, said Ron Simpson, one of the founders of Gum Drops. We depend on local donations and food from the St. Louis Area Food Bank, and we also rely on our great volunteer support system from local businesses, SIU students, boy/girl scouts, and more.

This program helps remove barriers to academic success for these at-risk children and helps prevent lifelong consequences that these children could endure as a result of having limited or no access to food, HireLevel stated in a news release.

For more information on Gum Drops or to donate, call 618-319-3828 or visit gumdropkids.org.

 The Southern
The network, in conjunction with Anders CPA+Advisors, presented the award during ceremonies in November at The Crowne Plaza in Springfield, according to a news release from the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network.

The staff at the Family Medical Center clinic (at PCH) was consistently exceptional in customer service, phone etiquette, prequalification, and quite frankly, in its overall experience for patients, Chastity D. Werner, CMPE, RHIT, NCP, Anders Senior Health Care Consultant told Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network. We are pleased to note that their clinic staff perform at a best practice level. They are friendly, ask the appropriate questions to pre-qualify information, have a pleasant tone, and speak intelligently about the service provided. We are proud to give this award to Pinckneyville Community Hospital for such excellence in performance.
Local activist groups are reassessing how to help protesters at Standing Rock now that the Dakota Access Pipeline project has been suspended.

Despite harsh winter weather, thousands of Native Americans and allies remain in encampments outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in protest of Energy Transfer Partners proposed $3.7 billion, 1,172-mile pipeline.

Last weekend, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rejected an easement for the pipeline to cross a reservoir on the Missouri River at the Standing Rock reservation, effectively stalling the project.

The decision marked an apparent victory for protesters, who say the pipeline will destroy sacred Standing Rock Sioux burial sites and threaten the tribes drinking water.

I think the battle is long from being over there, said local activist Georgia de la Garza, who helped organize a fundraiser for Standing Rock at Alto Vineyards on Thursday night.

The event pulled in over 150 people and raised $3,400, de la Garza said.

De la Garza and her fellow organizers, Kate Bursell and Fran Jaffe, had planned for proceeds to go toward shelter items  a teepee with a liner, a floor and a wood-burning stove  along with medical supplies and gift cards for stores such as Sams Club and Menards.

But after the Army Corps of Engineers' decision, there might not be as much of a need for housing, so the group plans to reach out to people they know in the encampment.

Their needs are changing every day. Whether its medical supplies, wood, propane  whatever they need, well work directly with someone in the camp to help get them through the winter, she said.

On Monday, Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II called for protesters to return home rather than risk their lives in the bitter conditions. In a statement released Thursday, a camp coalition  comprised of the groups Sacred Stone Camp, Indigenous Environmental Network, Honor the Earth and International Indigenous Youth Council  urged people not to travel to Standing Rock and to instead take bold action in your local communities to force investors to divest from the project.

I dont want to second-guess Archambault. I understand him worrying  the elements out there are really harsh, and a lot of people arent used to it. On the other hand, when you take a stand, you take a stand, de la Garza said.

Ross Bauer, an organizer with Southern Illinois Stands with Standing Rock, said that that group is still planning to host a fundraiser and to make at least one supply trip every month until the pipeline is no longer a threat.

The grassroots organization Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment (SAFE) has previously brought supplies out to the encampment. SAFE member Tabitha Tripp said that for now, there are no plans to make another trip.

Were just kind of sitting back and waiting to see what happens, Tripp said, noting that on Friday, a federal judge set a court hearing for February in the Energy Transfer Partners bid to force the government to approve the project.

Fears about what will happen under President-elect Donald Trump, who has expressed support for the project, have led many protesters to opt to stay in North Dakota.

Even as Archambault asked people to leave, another tribe leader, Native American rights activist Chase Iron Eyes, asked them to stay, saying in a social media post earlier this week that pipeline opponents are not in the clear by any means whatsoever.

Tripp said that she and other SAFE members hope to organize local events geared toward educating people about economic issues related to the pipeline. Some community members might contribute to investments like 401(k)s with banks that are funding the project. She hopes to work with people to teach them how to divest their funds.

Meanwhile, people shouldn't be afraid to get involved in issues related to local communities, such as fracking and strip mining, she said.

I think its important for people to realize that  we dont have to drive 17 hours to North Dakota to see the extraction issues that are causing so much pain to people in our communities, Tripp said. We dont have to look far to find issues to work on locally that have to do with water rights and protecting our environment for the next generation, which is what the people at Standing Rock are doing.
MURPHYSBORO  To earn the rank of Eagle Scout, scouts plant a project, finish it with the help of their troop and volunteers, and it is over. That is not true for Ryan Whites 1992 Eagle Scout project.

Its been going on 25 years. Most Eagle Scout projects dont last that long, Judy White, assistant scoutmaster and Ryans mother, said.

In 1992, Ryan was advancing toward the Eagle Scout rank, which planning, organizing and completing a service project with the help of his troop and other scouts. Eagle project cannot benefit Boy Scouts of America or the troops chartering organization, but can include schools, churches, local parks and the community.

Father Federico [Higuera] was an assistant priest in Murphysboro in 1992. At the time, a local mall collected toys for groups to distribute. One year they did not collect enough toys for all the groups that had requested them, Judy White said. In 1991, she helped Father Federico gather toys for children in migrant families whose parents decided to stay in the region.

Ryan decided to do a Christmas toy drive for children whose Christmas would be less joyous than his own, the children in migrant worker families. In that first year of the project, Ryan and nine other scouts from Troop 4 collected new and used toys, repaired them if necessary and wrapped them for delivery to the migrant camps around Cobden. His original project, approved by the troops sponsoring organizations, Knights of Columbus 988 and St. Andrews Church, involved more than 100 hours to plan and complete.

Each year since 1992, Boy Scouts of Troop 4 in Murphysboro set aside their meeting plans on the first Monday in December to continue the toy drive project by gathering and wrapping Christmas toys for children less fortunate than themselves.

Ryan continued to coordinate the project for many years after receiving his Eagle Scout rank. Now, Judy, an assistant scoutmaster with Troop 4, continues to coordinate the project with the troop. She has been a Boy Scout volunteer for 27 years.

Its always been special to me to help children. Im a retired teacher and this is my way of giving back, Judy White said.

The number of children served by the Troop 4 project has increased over the years. Presently, the troop, along with their families, friends and parishioners, provide toys for 200 children.

I have a lot of people who donate toys to me and I store them year-round, Judy White said. The scouts alone could not come up with that many toys.

The scouts wrapped this seasons toys on Dec. 5. The gifts, along with individually assembled bags of candy, will be delivered to children in two weeks.

We take them to Cobden and they are distributed to children all over Southern Illinois, Judy White said.

Now the large box that sits empty in the troop room will slowly begin to fill with toys as the process of providing Christmas for less fortunate children starts over for another year.
Hertz said upon arrival, his team found a fire in a building at the back of the property. It took the crew roughly 15 minutes to put out the fire, and they were on the scene for two hours. Hertz said there were no injuries and that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Bike Surgeon owner Pat Work said he did not find the fire, but was called 10 minutes after the call was made to the fire department. Work said there was nothing of value to his business in the building and that the fire did not have much of an impact on his business. Work said there was a lingering smell of smoke Saturday, but he had gotten that mostly cleared out.
SPRINGFIELD  While students at Illinois public universities are busy cramming for final exams, campus leaders are facing tests of their own.

Theyre being forced once again to put plans in place for operating without state funding after going nearly the entire 2015-16 school year without receiving any support amid the ongoing budget standoff between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly.

A six-month spending plan that has kept schools afloat through the fall semester runs out Dec. 31, and theres no indication that Rauner and top Democrats are anywhere close to reaching a deal on a budget for the rest of the year.

The four top legislative leaders and the governor had been meeting behind closed doors during the Legislatures fall veto session and afterward, but Rauner canceled a Thursday meeting after House Democrats indicated that they wouldnt present a budget proposal as the governor had requested. Democrats say its the governors constitutional obligation to present a budget plan.

As of Friday, there were no more meetings scheduled before the stopgap spending plan runs out.

Lawmakers arent due back in Springfield until Jan. 9, leaving only two days of lame-duck session before the new General Assembly is sworn in.

Theres a great deal of uncertainty because we just dont know when lawmakers are going to come together on an agreement, said John Charles, executive director for governmental and public affairs at Southern Illinois University. That creates a lot of angst.

Illinois State University chief of staff Jay Groves said public universities have been here before.

This year looks very much like last year, Groves said, adding that the difference is the money from two funding deals Rauner signed into law this spring and summer.

The six-month spending plan approved June 30 released $1 billion for higher education, including roughly $646 million for operations at the states nine public university systems.

Coupled with $350 million in operating money from an emergency funding measure in April, the stopgap brought the schools hit hardest by the impasse  Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois and Chicago State universities  up to 90 percent of what they received for the 2014-15 school year. The remaining universities were brought up to 82 percent funding.

While the stopgap funding could be used for expenses through Dec. 31, universities largely devoted the money to expenses from last school year.

As a result of the lack of funding last year, universities laid off hundreds of employees, left hundreds more vacant positions unfilled and instituted furlough days, among other cost-cutting measures.

Officials were reluctant to discuss what would happen if lawmakers and the governor arent able to reach a budget deal until well into the spring.

Well have to make those decisions at that time, said Matt Bierman, budget director at Western Illinois. We are of the belief that we are doing a good job advocating for our needs and that Springfield understands our needs and will react accordingly when the time is right.

Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois and Chicago State each recently received a share of $17 million in additional emergency funding from the Illinois Board of High Education.

Bierman said his school will use the $8.4 million it received to cover payroll. Eastern Illinois likewise will use its $5.6 million for payroll and other operating expenses, officials have said.

Like Bierman, Illinois States Groves said its too early to speculate about what might happen if the budget impasse isnt resolved soon.

We are hoping that the General Assembly and the governor  will get together on a predictable and appropriate budget for public higher education, Groves said.

To that end, the University of Illinois has proposed legislation that would guarantee funding levels for the systems three campuses for five years in exchange for the university agreeing to a series of performance measures, including enrolling at a minimum number of in-state students. The bill didnt advance during the fall veto session.

Other university leaders have discussed the concept, which the Board of Higher Education also favors, but they have yet to publicly back it.
Ken Petermin sits across from MaryAnn Reichert in her Murphysboro home and reads from the Gospel of John. Then, standing, he takes her hands. Sitting, MaryAnn presses them against her forehead and they begin to pray the Lords Prayer together. After they pray, Petermin administers the sacrament of Holy Communion and the two finish the in-home service, In the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit.

Reichert, 70, has not been able to attend church in at least a year because of a myriad health of issues. She said she misses church and is deeply grateful for Petermins weekly visits. Some weeks she said he is one of two people she sees.

It lightens my heart, she said of his visits.

She is one of 12 shut-ins Petermin calls on each week as part of his ministry through St. Andrews Catholic Church in Murphysboro. Petermin is part of an unofficial network of benevolent persons and organizations in Southern Illinois who help to connect the homebound back to their communities.

To me its satisfying that Im filling the need, Petermin said of his work.

He takes deep satisfaction in knowing he helps those he visits keep a connection to their church. He said for many older Catholics, the sacrament of communion, which he provides to them, is vital to their faith. These visits, he said, helps them keep their identities as Catholics. While he and others visit many each week, he knows there are many more out there who have not reached out.

While not all who are homebound are sad, being connected is still important. Anna Wilson, 88, of Logan, lives alone but said she gets several calls each day from her kids. Wilson said these telephone calls (and even the occasional text message) helps her to feel in the loop with her family.

It makes it feel like they are here with me, Wilson said.

However, Wilson is not one to sit and wait. She said if they did not call her she would not hesitate to call them. She said she has always been a very independent person and does not wait for others to make her happy.

Im not one to get down, she said. You can make yourself happy or you can feel sorry for yourself and I do not choose to feel sorry for myself.

Though the holidays are emotionally difficult for many, including the homebound, it is important to visit year round.

That goes a long way, said April Ehlers, bereavement counselor for Hospice of Southern Illinois. She said she encourages everyone to reach out to a relative, or even a stranger, who may be alone. Not all the live alone are lonely, but she said just sitting and talking, or even a smile can make a difference in someones life.

That may give them some hope, Ehlers said, Just knowing that there are good people in this world.
Lawmakers in Washington passed a short-term spending bill Friday  averting a government shutdown and extending health care benefits to retired coal miners through April 28.

Something is better than nothing, right? But, its not the same as keeping a promise.

Democrats from coal states have been pushing for a longer-term answer, but, for the moment, seem resigned that this is going to be as good as it gets.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said as much in an Associated Press story Friday.

"We will carry the momentum and win the fight in January. Keep fighting, he said. If we aren't successful today, we will be successful in January."

That fight does need to continue. Four months wont get the job done when the miners were promised so much more.

While Democrats are pushing for more, the GOP is wary of bailing out unionized workers and dismissive of a guarantee President Harry S. Truman made. That deal, made in 1946, guaranteed miners' lifetime health and retirement benefits, and averted a lengthy strike.

And, here we are, more than 70 years later, looking at breaking that promise. This isnt the time; this isnt the issue for political grandstanding. The recent presidential election went to the GOP, largely on the belief that president-elect Donald Trump was the champion of people like the retired coal miners.

Is this the fight the Republicans really want, to take on the infirm, the elderly coal miners?

Coal is a huge part of Southern Illinois life. Never was that more evident than in September when 13 buses from the region made their way to Washington, D.C, for a rally on the U.S. Capitol lawn, calling on Congress to act on legislation to protect retirees pensions and health care benefits.

On that day, about 10,000 miners from across the country showed up in Washington. They all wanted the same thing  to have their voices heard, to see promises kept.

Lawmakers need to listen. The retired coal miners deserve these benefits. The government promised this care. The miners worked hard to fulfill their end of the bargain, and now, when they need it the most, it is immoral for the nation to renege.

Its obvious that some reform is needed.

Coal companies should not be allowed to declare bankruptcy to protect themselves from pension liabilities.

Its also obvious that we need to hold our elected officials more accountable, because when it comes down to it  this just comes down to a simple fact  our lawmakers need to solve problems, and not continually kick the can down the road.

We elected these senators and representatives to lead. We elected them to make tough decisions. We elected them to make those tough decisions based on whats best for the people, not whats best for a political party.

Come together and form a plan thats best for everybody involved.

The same thing is happening here in Illinois. We dont have a long-term budget. Instead, we come up with a stopgap budget. In other words, short-term.

So, now that short-term budget is about to expire, and were still left looking for answers for education, social services and the rest of it.

Its the same for the retired miners. Come April 28, the same thing will happen on the federal level  well be looking for more answers.

Our elected officials need to come through for the miners who spent their lives in a tough industry, believing they had secured their future.

Good or bad, our government made a promise more than 70 years ago guaranteeing lifetime health and retirement benefits for miners. It may be a bad deal, but its still a deal. Just because the coal industry isnt what it once was doesnt invalidate that promise.

Its time for our leaders have the decency to fulfill that promise.

Our coal miners deserve at least that.
World Rugby: December 11, 2016 - Hosts South Africa, Fiji, New Zealand and Scotland all went unbeaten to top their respective pools at the end of day one at the second round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Cape Town.



The Cup quarter-finals sees defending champions South Africa take on last weeks fourth-placed side Wales, Scotland come face to face with the USA, Olympic gold medallists Fiji meet England and the All Blacks Sevens will play Kenya.

After last weeks Dubai Sevens, the Blitzboks will be looking to defend their HSBC Cape Town Sevens title on day two and increase their lead at the top of the series standings after the opening two rounds.

After the last match of the day, South African captain Philip Snyman said: "It's been a good week for us. There are a lot of things here in Cape Town that can distract us but, over the last few days, we put last week's win in Dubai behind us. The guys played some nice rugby here today and I think we'll keep on building."

On a day when England speedster Dan Norton became England's top scorer, and third-highest try scorer in sevens history behind Argentina's Santiago Gomez Cora and Kenya's Collins Injera, Canada's captain John Moonlight appeared in his 50th tournament as did Kenya's skipper, Andrew Amonde.

Pool A: Hosts into Cup quarters

Last weeks Dubai champions, hosts and defending champions in Cape Town South Africa got off to a flying start as World Rugby sevens player of the 2016 Seabelo Senatla and Werner Kok both scored twice for the Blitzboks in their 41-0 win over Russia.

In their second match against last weeks Challenge Trophy winners USA, Maka Unufe gave the Americans the lead but tries from Cecil Afrika, Kok (2) and Senatla secured the 28-10 win for Neil Powells side.

The South Africans rounded off a successful day on home soil with a 29-7 win against Australia, with Cecil Afrika and Nel each getting a try and captain Philip Snyman scoring two.

USA, captained by Perry Baker for the first time, started with a 19-0 win against Australia with Baker opening the scoring, before beating Russia 26-17 thanks to tries from Danny Barrett, Stephen Tomasin and Baker (2) to reach the last eight.

Andy Friends Australia followed their defeat to the USA, beating Russia 36-0, but this was not enough to put them into the last eight and they will now compete in the Challenge Trophy.

Pool B: Kenya join gold medallists Fiji in last eight

Fiji defeated Japan with five different try scorers crossing the whitewash in their 33-7 victory, before beating Kenya 28-22 with conversions proving decisive as both sides scored four tries.

The last time the sides met was the HSBC Singapore Sevens final where Kenya won their first-ever sevens tournament, but they could not repeat the result as they lost to the Olympic gold medallists 28-22. after two tries from the impressive Samisoni Viriviri.

In Kenyan captain Andrew Amondes 50th tournament, he inspired his side to an opening 33-14 win over France with Billy Odhiambo and Willy Ambaka both scoring two tries each before their defeat to Fiji. They confirmed their spot in the last eight as they defeated Japan 24-5 with tries from Augustine Lugonzo, Odhiambo (2) and Ambaka.



Fiji captain Osea Kolinisau opened the scoring in Fijis third pool match, to help them top Pool B, before Viriviri, Setareki Bituniyata and Jerry Tuwai confirmed a narrow 28-19 win over France.

France bounced back from their opening defeat to Kenya with an impressive record 50-7 win over Japan. Terry Bouhraoua and Manoel DallIgna both scored twice but it was not enough as they suffered defeat to Fiji.

Pool C: Records broken as New Zealand and England reach last eight

Englands Dan Norton and James Rodwell both broke records on day one as their side reached the quarter-finals. First Rodwell became the most-capped England sevens player with a 71st tournament appearance before Norton scored his 220th, 221st and 22nd tries to become the all-time leading try scorer for England.

Taking over from Ben Gollings (220), Norton also moved into third on the all-time list behind Collins Injera (235) and Santiago Gomez Cora (230). England opened with a 33-10 win over Canada before Norton scored a brace in their 19-14 win over Argentina.

Having finished eighth last week in Dubai, New Zealand looked an improved side early on, beating Argentina 26-12 before Canada came from 14-0 behind to draw 19-19 against the All Blacks Sevens. John Moonlight scored one of the Canadians three tries in his 50th appearance against New Zealand.

Simon Amors England missed out on top spot in the pool with a defeat at the hands of the All Blacks Sevens. Captain Tom Mitchell had got the scoring underway, but Sherwin Stowers 113th try, Tim Mikkelsons third try of the day, two DJ Forbes efforts and a penalty try secured an impressive 33-7 win and top spot for the Kiwis.

New Zealand's Tim Mikkelson was happy with his side's performance, especially after beating England in the last Pool C match: "We played (England) last weekend in the last game and they gave us a bit of a lesson. We knew going into that game that we had probably had to win to make it to the cup so we're really pleased with that performance."

Bautista Delguy impressed in Argentinas third pool match, scoring a first-half hat-trick against Canada as Santiago Gomez Coras side won 43-14 to finish third in Pool C.

Pool D: Scotland and Wales reach successive Cup quarter-finals

Scotland came from 19-7 behind in the opening match of the HSBC Cape Town Sevens to beat Samoa, with James Fleming drawing the scores level after the buzzer had sounded.

Scott Wight stepped up to kick a difficult conversion to give Scotland the 21-19 win, before they beat Uganda 38-7 in their second match to book a place in the Cup quarter-finals thanks to two tries from Jamie Farndale.

Wales joined them in the quarter-finals for a second successive week after they beat Uganda 29-7 in their first match before a tight encounter with Samoa. Matthew Owen scored a try in each half before Sam Cross secured the win for last weeks fourth placed side.

Samoa finished third in Pool D with a win over Uganda with Alatasi Tupou scoring twice in the 29-5 win.

In the pool decider Scotland beat Wales 24-21 in a tight encounter. Wales were down to five men in the first half as Scotland opened up a 19-0 lead. Two second half tries from Owen Jenkins had given the Welsh a glimpse but the Scots held out to top the pool.

The final day of the Cape Town Sevens kicks off on Sunday 11 December. Click here to find out where you can watch the action in your region.


COLUMBIA  Nearly 30 local Walmart associates were recognized at the grand opening of the retailer's first training academy in Columbia on Dec. 1 at 1326 Bush River Road. The associates are the first graduating class from the new South Carolina training facility.

Academies are a dedicated facility located in, or adjacent to, a Walmart Supercenter where hourly supervisors and department managers will receive two weeks of hands-on training that combines both the classroom and the sales floor.

Our training academies help provide associates with the skills they need to succeed and advance, while creating a better and more consistent customer experience, said Sean Real, regional general manager for Walmart. Skills training increases productivity, confidence and knowledge which leads to greater job satisfaction, personal and professional growth and helps make working at Walmart a smart career choice.

Walmart has created a new end-to-end training program called Pathways for associates at all levels of store operations, from entry-level to Regional General Manager. Hourly frontline supervisors and department managers will attend a dedicated two-week training program at the academy facility as part of Pathways.

 The first week is dedicated to retail fundamentals and gaining core retail skills.

 The second week is dedicated to training on the sales floor to gain the knowledge and skills to run the specific department where the associate works.

 Areas of study include leadership, merchandising, operations, technology and customer service, in addition to the department-specific training.

 Academy graduates will have the skills and confidence to run outstanding departments, lead people and deliver a great customer experience.

Walmart plans to build approximately 200 academies in the United States by the end of 2017. Each academy will train associates from approximately 25 nearby stores. Benefits include:

 Making training more accessible to more associates. By being closer to where people work and live, associates can be home each night rather than being away from home for two weeks of training.

 Taking associates out of their home store so they can focus solely on training for two weeks while still utilizing a real-life Walmart sales floor as a training environment.

 Training more than 140,000 associates a year.
The Norway Tour of Homes on Dec. 4, sponsored by the Norway Matrons Club, was deemed a success, drawing approximately 60 people.

The tour started at the former Willow Consolidated High School, which now houses the Norway Town Council chambers and municipal court as well as the Norway Museum.

Bill and Gwen Binnicker welcomed visitors and guided them through the exhibits, pointing out the significance of each one. Many of the exhibits dealt with the military; others included items specific to the Norway area, such as the town's original telephone switchboard and genealogical records.

The Binnickers noted the museum is always looking to add to its collection. Anyone who wishes to donate items is asked to call them at 803-263-4470.

Another stop on the tour was the home of Stan and DeeDee Williams that once belonged to Stans great-grandparents, Willard and Sallie Brown. The home was resplendent with decorations. The couple's son, Jeru, displayed his collection of Christmas villages and their daughters, JoyAnna and RayAnna, displayed their pageant crowns. The highlight was the upside-down Christmas tree located in the Great Room.

Also on the tour was the residence known as the Walker House, home of Mark and Jordan Shirey, which was completed in 1900. Since purchasing the property in 2013, the couple have made very few changes to the inside of the house. During the tour, they displayed a seven-and-a-half-foot tree in the dog trot," or entry hallway, decorated with burlap and bows from the Shireys' wedding, along with ornaments reflecting their hobbies and childhood memories.

The next stop was the Dyches family home place, now know as Cottontop. It was built by Henry Boncil Dyches and his wife, Alice Cannon Hutto, around the turn of the 20th century. Today, the house serves as an event venue for weddings and other special occasions. Serving as hostess was Karen Brown, who shared memories of her grandmother's house, includng the gorgeous fireplaces, the family Bible and decorations from the past.

An annual Christmas decoration at Cottontop is the Cotton Tree, a freshly cut evergreen decorated with branches of cotton picked from the fields and other natural elements. A collection of nutcrackers and a small but growing collection of nativity pieces were displayed throughout the home.

Brown provided a historical perspective of the house and surrounding acreage as part of the tour, and guests were treated to cider and light refreshments.
ST. MATTHEWS -- The South Carolina headquarters of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, after moving into its new building in Calhoun County, awarded seven veterans with a Quilt of Valor.

This is the highest award a civilian can present a service member, and a symbol of comfort and healing. The quilts are sewn by volunteers and given to veterans as a way to say "thank you."

Calhoun County High School ROTC veterans Major Marzettis ONeal and First Sergeant Peter Jackson were both surprised to be recognized.

"Yeah, it was a total shock," said O'Neal, who spent 20 years in the Army. "It's good to feel wanted, needed and cared for."

Calhoun County High School and the Calhoun County School District, which are especially proud of their JROTC program, thank all veterans for their service.
Bamberg County is climbing out of its financial quagmire according to a cash history report presented by its controller on Dec. 5.

Controller Gina Smith presented the report for fiscal years 2015-2016, outlining the reconciled balances for each of the countys numerous accounts.

We are getting better. The fund balances are going up, she said, noting that total county funds stood at a negative $790,000 at the end of October of FY 2015 as compared to a negative $392,000 for the same time in FY 2016.

Going forward, we still need to focus a little bit on building a bigger and better fund balance. Weve made progress, but we still have work to do," Smith said.

County Administrator Joey Preston said, When we started, we had a negative fund balance of close to $2 million to $3 million. Then we made a turnaround," with the goal being to get the fund balance up approximately $2.5 million to $3 million.

"I think by monitoring our expenses and making sure we pay our bills on time and dont pay penalties is a revenue source right there, Preston said.

Were tracking the budget, but our budget is built so that were spending basically 100 percent of what were collecting, and thats why were not able to build that fund balance  like we would want to over the past several years, Smith said.

Council Chairman the Rev. Isaiah Odom said, I think were much better off than we were five years ago because one time we were going deeper and deeper in debt. At least we stopped digging a hole. Were hoping that in a few more years well see progress.

Also during the meeting, Finance Director T.M. Thomas presented the county's financial report, which revealed the general fund had generated $1,297,014 in year-to-date revenue as of the end of October. Expenditures stood at $2,119,028, reflecting a negative balance of $822,014.

Overall, all departments continue to operate within their budget and within their expected bounds, Thomas said.

In his report from the Lower Savannah Council of Governments Transportation Advisory Committee, Councilman Trent Kinard expressed his concerns about the road improvement work at Calhoun Street and U.S. 78 in front of the Heritage Center shopping plaza in Bamberg.

They put up some curbing, a couple of stop signs and thats that.  Theres no difference in the traffic flow, he said.

LSCOG Planning Manager Amanda Sievers on Wednesday said, There is still work to be finalized. This will include the turning lanes, arrow markings and any other markings/paint that is required and in the project contract.

In other business, Preston reported the county has secured a private contractor to provide medical services at its detention center. Services will begin in January, and there is enough money in this years budget to cover them, the administrator said, noting that a doctor and a nurse will both visit the facility periodically.

Mental health services will also be offered as part of the continuing improvements at the detention center, Preston said.

The administrator also reported the county was able to secure $200,000 in state funding to make improvements to Bobcat Landing in the spring of 2017.

In the area of road improvements, he said work on Crouch Circle Road had been completed, with work now beginning to address some right-of-way issues on Panther Road.

During public comments, Dr. Yvette McDaniel, director of the Denmark Technical College Choir, introduced herself as the chairperson of the newly-formed Bamberg County Community Rural Arts Work League as designated by the South Carolina Arts Commission.

McDaniel said the Bamberg County Chamber of Commerce is the fiscal agent for the grassroots organization. She said the league had transformed property at 927 Hagood St. in Denmark into a "pocket park" in three months.

Well be coming to you next month to talk about some of the things were going to do countywide, McDaniel said, noting that children will be making holiday ornaments from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19, at the Denmark pocket park.

The Rural Arts Work League includes two members from Denmark, one from Allendale and two from Orangeburg as approved by the state Arts Commission, she said.

Kinard said, My only question is why did we start a new Bamberg County community arts league when youve got a Bamberg County Arts Council already?

McDaniel said the arts council "did not necessarily use rural arts and the S.C. Arts Commission wanted to shift to a new paradigm in arts called "creative placemaking."

Were going to use arts and culture to deal with workforce development, entrepreneurship and other aspects of creative placemaking, said McDaniel, who also addressed Kinards concerns about reinventing the wheel with another arts group and possibly causing disunity.

We were approached by the South Carolina Arts Commission. Denmark had nothing to do with it. We go before them just like we come before you. We were asked to start in Denmark. We are trying to do advisory councils, and we have had citizens from Bamberg, Ehrhardt, Olar and Govan to come to those meetings, she said. We hope that we will be able to work together because were not trying to tax the citizenry, but to go after some major grants on creative placemaking. We will need all of you to help us help the entire county.

Also during the meeting:

Jerry Bell, president of the Bamberg County Chamber of Commerce, announced the following award winners from its 50th Annual Banquet held Nov. 17: Trent Kinard, Waddy Thompson Citizen of the Year; City of Bamberg sanitation workers, Evelyn McMillan Volunteer of the Year; Apollo Music Club, Emmy Ruth Dowling Unity Award.

Council approved a resolution authorizing expansion of Quad-County Industrial Park III for the inclusion of Thunderbolt Biomass Inc., along with special source revenue credits. The company is expected to create 35 jobs and approximately $9 million in capital investment.
WASHINGTON -- Seven years before Orangeburg attorney Thomas Sims defended Sammie Stokes in a death-penalty trial, he had prosecuted Stokes for assaulting his ex-wife.

The trial record shows Sims never told the judge in the murder case about that earlier prosecution, not even when the ex-wife took the stand against his client to recount the assault.

Stokes' case is one of two the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing in which death-row inmates are raising questions about the actions of their lawyers.

In the other, James Tyler of Louisiana pleaded not guilty to the murder charge against him, but his lawyer conceded Tyler's guilt and did nothing to poke holes in eyewitness accounts that helped convict Tyler. The justices have yet to decide whether to hear either case, but word could come Monday.

The high court has taken up many cases that involve the Constitution's guarantee of a competent lawyer to a criminal defendant, but these cases pose different issues for the justices.

In the one from Louisiana, the question is whether Tyler's rights were violated when the lawyer overrode his objections and put up no defense to the charge against him, choosing instead to focus on trying to avoid a death sentence.

In the South Carolina case, the issue is whether Sims had a conflict of interest that prevented him from effectively representing his client.

Stokes admitted to a role in the 1998 contract killing of Connie Snipes. He was to be paid $2,000 for her death. Prosecutors claimed he also raped and sexually mutilated her.

Prosecutors also said Stokes had a history of cutting, including slashing a fellow inmate with a box cutter.

During the penalty phase, Sims asked the jury not to give Stokes the death penalty because he had shown remorse.

Sims never told the judge in Stokes' murder trial in 1999 of his prior involvement in prosecuting Stokes, or that the earlier case relied in large part on the testimony of Stokes' ex-wife, Audrey Smith, according to Stokes' current lawyers.

When prosecutors called Smith to testify in the sentencing phase of the trial, Sims pulled his punches, the lawyers wrote in their Supreme Court filing.

"Faced with the witness whose cause and credibility he previously championed, Sims ignored multiple significant exaggerations and inconsistencies in Smith's testimony," they wrote.

Keir Weyble, Stokes' lead lawyer, pointed to a high court ruling from June in which the court said a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice should have stepped aside from a case in which he had personally approved the prosecution 30 years earlier. "The core principle is the same," Weyble said.

Sims rejected the idea that he did anything wrong.

"It's easy to sit 16 years later and say what someone didn't do 16 years before. I fought for Sammie and I wanted him to live out his life," Sims said.

Sims said he and Stokes discussed the matter and that Stokes said he wanted Sims to remain as his lawyer.

In Tyler's case, there was no genetic evidence implicating Tyler found at the scene of the crime or on his clothing. Police never recovered the gun used to kill an employee of a Pizza Hut restaurant in Shreveport, Louisiana.

An eyewitness who was shot but survived described the shooter as "real short," about 4'10", or nearly a foot shorter than Tyler. The other surviving shooting victim failed to pick Tyler out of a series of photos or a subsequent lineup, even though he was the only person common to both. A prostitute who testified against Tyler had served as a police informant who also had had charges against her dropped in exchange for her cooperation.

But defense lawyers did not attempt to discredit the prosecution witnesses because they already had conceded Tyler's guilt, over their client's repeated objections.

Cathy Kelly, a Louisiana lawyer who worked on Tyler's appeal, said the trial team had plenty of material to work with. "They made a decision without investigating it," Kelly said. "From the very beginning this was the way they were going to go."

Alan Golden, the lead defense lawyer at Tyler's trial, said the case against Tyler was strong. Tyler went from his run-down hotel to the Pizza Hut across the street with "a gun in one hand and a ski mask in the other," Golden recalled. "The problem was, the ski mask wasn't on."

Tyler's lawyers decided the best thing they could do was try to persuade the jury to sentence him to life in prison, instead of death, Golden said.

Golden, now in private practice in Shreveport after many years as a public defender, said he couldn't recall whether Tyler objected to his trial strategy.

The T&D contributed to this report.
The Democratic Party is looking for answers in the wake of the defeat of Hillary Clinton in Novembers election. While South Carolina is solidly Republican, The T&D Region is solidly Democratic and could play a key role in mapping the partys course.

Sixth District Congressman James Clyburn has been re-elected as assistant minority leader in the House, where he will be fundamental in shaping Democratic legislative strategy.

The veteran congressman will be working again with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the whip.

I am deeply honored to have the unanimous support of our caucus and humbly accept this leadership position with clear eyes and understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead, Clyburn said.

As the only member of elected leadership from a deep red state and largely rural district, I will work tirelessly to stay connected to all of our caucuses and regions and to give voice to the concerns of our diverse communities, he said.

As an African-American lawmaker and the states only Democrat in Washington, Clyburns red state perspective is important. If Democrats are to find success in the short and long terms, they must retain the base of support among minority voters while making inroads with rural white voters in states such as South Carolina.

S.C. Democratic Party leader Jaime Harrison, an Orangeburg native, believes he has the right plan to lead the Democrats to renewed competiveness beyond the partys bastions: California and the Pacific Coast states, and the northern Atlantic Coast states. Harrison, who has held the S.C. chairmanship since 2013, is one of three primary contenders for the leadership of the Democratic National Committee.

A week ago, he spoke to state party chairs in Denver in the first gathering of its type before Democrats pick a new national party leader in February. His appeal for support came as another leading contender, former Chairman Howard Dean, announced he would not seek the position.

Harrison told the Democratic leaders the party must pursue a 50-state strategy and do so by focusing on grassroots politics.

"If we build a strong organization, it doesn't matter if you have a political phenomenon like a once-in-a-generation Barack Obama or a policy wonk like Hillary Clinton, we will win," Harrison said.

Harrison represents a younger generation of Democrats that is needed in the leadership and among candidates if the party is to find large-scale success.

Among those young leaders is another T&D Region Democrat with an increasingly high profile. With a track record of service in the S.C. House (then the youngest person ever elected as a representative), Bakari Sellers is a voice on the national level. Having played leadership roles in President Barack Obamas campaigns in 2008 and 2012, and in Clintons campaign in 2016, Sellers is more widely known now as a political analyst on CNN. He appears regularly on shows with Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon.

Speaking to journalism students at Claflin University recently, Sellers said the party must cultivate new leaders.

As a party, the Democratic Party  has to get new, fresh ideas, new leadership, Sellers said. It has to be prepared to face how the country now looks.

Sellers remains interested in a political future.

While he in April forecast a run for governor in South Carolina if Donald Trump won the election, that is likely not his course at least for now, Sellers said. It would be very difficult for a Democrat to win.

That may not be the case in South Carolina in the long term and is not reality nationwide even in the near future. A growing Hispanic population favors Democrats in making gains in states that are presently dominated by the GOP. And in South Carolina, there is also the phenomenon of population growth by people moving into our warmer climate.

But Democrats here and around the country cannot take for granted that minorities, young people and those relocating from blue states will back the party candidates en masse. To be successful, they will need to appeal to moderate voters as well as those on the left. And during the pending Trump presidency, they will need to be more than just a voice of resistance and obstruction.

Democrats need Clyburn and their present leadership to be strong voices. But they also need young leaders such as Harrison and Sellers to be part of a movement that makes grassroots gains in red states. Without winning more governorships and legislative seats on the state level, and thus having more control over redistricting, Democrats may again win the presidency in the short term, but taking control in Congress is not in sight.
WASHINGTON -- Watch the video. Walter Scott, unarmed and slow of foot, tries to run away. Police officer Michael Slager calmly fires five rounds into Scott's back. Later, Slager approaches Scott's body, not to give first aid but apparently to plant evidence of a struggle that never took place.

Now tell me: How cheap is black life in these United States of America?

A jury in North Charleston, South Carolina, could not agree that Slager committed a crime, forcing the judge in the case to declare a mistrial. Prosecutors quickly announced they will try Slager again. In the optimistic view, the stunning result, or non-result, means justice deferred rather than justice denied. I'm trying to be an optimist, but at the moment it's not easy.

Tell me: What does it take to get a police officer punished for killing an unarmed black man in cold blood?

The whole thing is on video, people. A passerby named Feidin Santana used his mobile phone to capture Scott's final minutes. An immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Santana gave lengthy testimony at Slager's trial.

"You ask yourself, what if there was no video? What if I wasn't there? Would we have gotten this far in this trial?" Santana asked in an ABC News interview after the mistrial was announced. "That's the way justice is over here, and we have to understand it. But it's a little bit disappointing."

Santana's phrase "over here" refers to the nation that fancies itself a beacon of freedom and equality.

The fatal encounter took place April 4, 2015, when Slager, who is white, pulled Scott over for having a busted brake light. African-Americans and Hispanics are used to such petty, harassing traffic stops. White Americans, perhaps not so much.

Slager testified that he feared for his life; Scott, he claimed, had wrestled away his Taser and was trying to use it on him. But Santana, who saw the whole thing, said there was no struggle -- and the video appears to show Slager placing the Taser next to Scott's body, as if it had been in the dead man's possession. If he did stage the crime scene, the officer demonstrated full awareness of his own culpability. Again, I ask, what does it take?

Even if you want to believe Slager's unsupported account of a struggle, no one can dispute the fact that Scott was running away when Slager gunned him down. A heavyset 50-year-old with no weapons, running as if through molasses, is hardly a clear and present danger to society. Having a broken light on one's car is hardly a capital offense. Yet Slager shot Scott five times. In the back.

Nearly half the population of North Charleston is black; Slager's jury included 11 whites and just one African-American. Notes from the jury to the judge, who is African-American, suggest there may have been one lone holdout who would not vote to convict Slager of murder or manslaughter. That's how the system works, and the outcome of Slager's next trial may be different. But still.

One miscarriage of justice, caused by one stubborn juror, would be easier to swallow if not for all the rest. Eric Garner, approached by police on Staten Island for selling loose cigarettes, was choked to death -- again on video -- but none of the officers involved has been charged. Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy, was playing with a toy gun; a police officer shot him dead within seconds of arriving on scene but faced no charges. Michael Brown was unarmed when a police officer stopped him in Ferguson, Missouri; the officer fired his weapon 12 times, killing Brown, but a grand jury failed to indict him.

No one should wonder why the Black Lives Matter movement is so relevant and necessary. It will remain so until black lives do, in fact, matter. And conservatives who claim to champion individual liberty against abusive state power should be the movement's most avid supporters.

Slager also faces federal charges for allegedly violating Scott's civil rights. That prosecution was delayed pending the completion of the state trial; now that there is to be a second state trial, presumably the federal case will be put off once again.

So it will likely fall to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. -- President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general -- to decide whether to move forward with a trial in federal court. Sessions was once denied a federal judgeship because of racist remarks he had made; friends and supporters say that's all ancient history. We shall see.

 Orangeburg native and Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene Robinson's email address is eugenerobinson@washpost.com
Living Gospel Equality Now: Loving in the Heart of God: Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests
Bamberg Police Department

A 44-year-old Denmark woman was arrested on Dec. 4 and charged with shoplifting from the Bi-Lo grocery store. She was additionally charged with drug equipment violations when a search of her handbag turned up a crack pipe and a pushrod.

When police arrived at the store, an employee described how the woman in question had allegedly placed items valued at $20 in her handbag and then left the store.

Officers located the suspect on Bridge Street and placed her under arrest.

In other reports:

Police arrested a 55-year-old Ehrhardt Road man for disorderly conduct A on Dec. 4.

As officers were driving through the Bi-Lo parking lot, they noticed what appeared to be a minor accident. It appeared that a female driver had backed into the Ehrhardt mans vehicle, the report states.

A witness told police the man looked high." Officers ran him through several sobriety tests, which he failed, the report states. He was placed under arrest.

A 35-year-old Walterboro man was arrested for driving under suspension on Dec. 7 during a traffic stop for a defective tail light.

While checking his credentials, officers determined the mans license was suspended.
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Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 33 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry on December 11.

Armenian army was using mortars and large-caliber machine guns.

Armenian armed forces, located in Barekamavan village of Ijevan district and Chinari village of Berd district subjected to fire the positions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces located in Gizilahjili village of Gazakh district and Aghbulag village of Tovuz district.

The positions of Azerbaijan's Armed Forces were also fired from positions of Armenian military units located near to the occupied Goyarkh village of Tartar district, Shirvanli village of Aghdam district, Kuropatkino village of Khojavand district, Horadiz, Garakhanbayli villages of Fuzuli district, Mehdili village of Jabrayil district, as well as from positions located on the nameless heights in Tartar, Khojavand, Fuzuli and Jabrayil 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 Trend





Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry has condemned the terrorist attack committed in Istanbul, Turkey.

We condemn in strongest terms the bloody terror act perpetrated in Besiktas region of Istanbul, which caused for many deaths and injuries, Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

We convey our heartfelt condolences to the families who lost their loved ones as a result of this treacherous terror act, and the brotherly People of Turkey, share their sorrow and wish speedy recovery to the wounded, reads the statement. We reiterate our solidarity with the brotherly Turkey.

As a state suffering from terrorism, Azerbaijan firmly condemns all forms and manifestations of terrorism and supports the efforts of the international community in the fight against terrorism, the statement said.
By Trend





Russias Minister of Energy Alexander Novak will travel to Tehran December 13 to meet Irans Minister of Oil Bijan Zanganeh, SHANA news agency reported December 10.

Novaks visit comes a few days after the 171st meeting of the OPEC, where members decided to cut down on their output by 1.2 mbpd starting January 1, 2017. Also, it was agreed there that OPEC non-members lower their output by 600,000 bpd.

Iran has been exempted from crude output cuts. The country just recovered from sanctions in January. Since then, Iran has managed to regain its pre-sanctions OPEC quota.
By Trend





The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned UK Ambassador Nicholas Hopton over recent remarks by Prime Minister Theresa May.

Accordingly, Iran conveyed strong protest to Hopton over Mays meddlesome statements about Iran in a recent Persian Gulf Cooperation Council meeting, spokesman Bahram Qassemi said, IRNA news agency reported December 10.

In her recent address to the council, May had accused Iran of destabilizing the Middle East.

Hopton was told that Mays inconsiderate statements would fly in the face of mutual intentions to develop relations as previously stated, Qassemi said.

The spokesman expressed surprise while Iran is making attempts to bring peace and security to the region, some regional countries support for terrorism seem to be overlooked by the UK.

Iran and the UK resumed diplomatic ties this summer after four years of severed diplomatic relations.
By Trend





A bill to change Turkeys constitution and governing system has been submitted to parliament on Saturday, Anadolu reported.

Justice and Development [AK] Party's Group Deputy Chairman Mustafa Elitas submitted the bill to Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman with 316 signatures, total number of ruling party's seats.

The move came following an agreement struck with the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on the draft amendments.

The government has long sought to replace the current parliamentary system with a presidential one, saying there are flaws in the setup which hold back Turkeys development.

However, the ruling party does not have enough lawmakers alone to enact the proposal. The draft constitution needs at least 330 votes in a secret parliamentary ballot to pave the way for a referendum.

The Justice and Development (AK) Party has 316 seats while the MHP has 40 lawmakers; both parties back the bill.

The largest opposition group, the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) remains opposed to the changes.

Teams from both the AK Party and MHP have carried out detailed work on disputed areas in the draft. Binali Yildirim, who is also the AK Party leader, has repeatedly met MHP head Devlet Bahceli on the issue.

Bahceli said on Monday the meetings had been "positive" and said a draft bill on the new constitution would soon be sent to parliament.

Despite the public having not seen the draft text, some media outlets claimed the two parties debates focused on three main issues.

These were: the authority of the current president until 2019; the limits of presidential decrees; and the quorum required to take the president to the Supreme Council for prosecution.

"The proposal, of course, will be a text that the MHP agrees upon or one that has been negotiated and agreed on, Yildirim said recently, adding that a referendum to endorse the bill would be possible by early next summer "if everything goes well".

Before that stage, the proposal must be presented at the Turkish Parliament's General Assembly after approval by the Constitutional Committee. The constitutional amendment would then be discussed at two parliamentary sessions of the General Assembly.

During the first session, the four political parties in the assembly and the government would discuss the proposal as a whole and the articles separately, as well as any motions for amendment. The second session would be devoted only to the discussion of motions for amendment of articles.

If the draft constitution gets more than 367 votes, it can pass directly without the need for a referendum. However, the AK Party has said it will hold a referendum, even if none is needed.

If two-thirds of parliament (367) approve the bill, the president can take it to a referendum; that vote would be held within 60 days.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized that he will push for a referendum even if the draft is approved by a two-thirds majority in parliament.

The change to the constitution requires a 50 percent vote in favor in a referendum.

Constitutional change -- in particular, the call for a presidential system -- has been on the political agenda since Erdogan, the former prime minister and AK Party leader, was elected Turkey's president in August 2014.

That election was the first time a Turkish president was directly chosen by popular vote.

In the current parliamentary model, Turkish people vote for 550 members of parliament. The government is formed by minimum number of 276 lawmakers.

In the proposed presidential system, the electorate would vote for a person to form a government independently of parliament, with no need of a vote of confidence.
Please note that the poems and essays on this site are copyright and may not be reproduced without the author's permission.






Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has reached financial closure for the 2,400 MW Hassyan clean coal power project, which uses the independent power producer (IPP) procurement model on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis.

The project is supported by a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Dewa. Last June, Dewa signed the PPA, shareholders agreement (SHA), and other project agreements with the consortium led by Acwa Power.



The total investment of the project is $3.4 billion through Hassyan Energy Company, which is a joint-venture between Dewa (51 per cent) and a consortium comprising Acwa Power, Harbin Electric, and the Silk Road Fund (49 per cent).

The project consists of four 600 MW net power units. They will be operational in March 2020, March 2021, March 2022, and March 2023 respectively.



The Hassyan clean coal power project underlines Dewas commitment to achieving the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to diversify the energy mix, said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dewa.



It also reflects Dewas commitment to achieving the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which focuses on producing electricity from clean coal as part of Dubai's energy mix. Dewa works to achieve the fifth pillar of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which focuses on creating an environment-friendly energy mix, with 25 per cent from solar energy, seven per cent from nuclear power, seven per cent from clean coal, and 61 per cent from gas by 2030.



Dewa continuously develops its electricity services by working to expand its projects, services, and facilities. Dewas future objectives aim to increase the efficiency and accountability of its infrastructure, to actively contribute towards the economic growth and prosperity of Dubai, he added,



The Hassyan clean coal power plant will be the first of its kind in the region and is fully-compliant with set international standards, adopting the use of ultra-supercritical technology. Dewa has instructed that the project meets flue gas emission limits more stringently than emission limits in the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) of the European Union and in the International Finance Corporation (IFC) guidelines. All the necessary environmental studies have been carried out.  TradeArabia News Service
The global airline industry is expected to make a net profit in 2017 of $29.8 billion, representing a 4.1 per cent net profit margin and total revenues of $736 billion, said the International Air Transport Association (Iata).



This will be the third consecutive year (and the third year in the industrys history) in which airlines will make a return on invested capital (7.9 per cent) which is above the weighted average cost of capital (6.9 per cent).



Iata revised slightly downward its outlook for 2016 airline industry profitability to $35.6 billion (from the June projection of $39.4 billion) owing to slower global GDP growth and rising costs. This will still be the highest absolute profit generated by the airline industry and the highest net profit margin (5.1 per cent).



Airlines continue to deliver strong results. This year we expect a record net profit of $35.6 billion. Even though conditions in 2017 will be more difficult with rising oil prices, we see the industry earning $29.8 billion. Thats a very soft landing and safely in profitable territory, said Alexandre de Juniac, Iatas director general and CEO.



These three years are the best performance in the industrys historyirrespective of the many uncertainties we face. Indeed, risks are abundant political, economic and security among them. And controlling costs is still a constant battle in our hyper-competitive industry.



We need to put this into perspective. Record profits for airlines means earning more than our cost of capital. For most other businesses that would be considered a normal level of return to investors. But three years of sustainable profits is a first for the airline industry. And after many years of hard work in restructuring and re-engineering the business the industry is also more resilient. We should also recognize that profits are not evenly spread with the strongest performance concentrated in North America, said de Juniac.



2017



While airline industry profits are expected to have reached a cyclical peak in 2016 of $35.6 billion, a soft landing in profitable territory is expected in 2017 with a net profit of $29.8 billion. 2017 is expected to be the eighth year in a row of aggregate airline profitability, illustrating the resilience to shocks that have been built into the industry structure. On average, airlines will retain $7.54 for every passenger carried.



Expected higher oil prices will have the biggest impact on the outlook for 2017. In 2016 oil prices averaged $44.6/barrel (Brent) and this is forecast to increase to $55.0 in 2017. This will push jet fuel prices from $52.1/barrel (2016) to $64.9/barrel (2017). Fuel is expected to account for 18.7 per cent of the industrys cost structure in 2017, which is significantly below the recent peak of 33.2 per cent in 2012-2013.



The demand stimulus from lower oil prices will taper off in 2017, slowing traffic growth to 5.1 per cent (from 5.9 per cent in 2016). Industry capacity expansion is also expected to slow to 5.6 per cent (down from 6.2 per cent in 2016). Capacity growth will still outstrip the increase in demand, thus lowering the global passenger load factor to 79.8 per cent (from 80.2 per cent in 2016).



The negative impact of a lower load factor is expected to be offset somewhat by a strengthening of global economic growth. World GDP is projected to expand by 2.5 per cent in 2017 (up from 2.2 per cent in 2016). Along with structural changes in the industry, this is expected to help stabilize yields for both the cargo and passenger businesses. This is a welcome development as yields (calculated in dollar terms) have fallen each year since 2012.



There is some optimism over the prospects for the cargo business in 2017. The break in falling yields and a moderate uptick in demand (3.5 per cent) will see cargo industry volumes reach a record high of 55.7 million tonnes (up from 53.9 million tonnes in 2016). Industry revenues are expected to rise slightly to $49.4 billion (still well below the $60 billion level of annual revenues experienced in 2010-2014). Trading conditions remain challenging.



Connectivity continues to set new records. We expect nearly 4 billion travellers and 55.7 million tonnes of cargo in the coming year. And almost 1 per cent of global GDP is spent on air transportsome $769 billion. Air transport has made the world more accessible than ever and it is a critical enabler of the global economy, said de Juniac.



Governments, however, do not make aviations work easy. The global tax bill has ballooned to $123 billion. Over 60 per cent of countries put visa barriers in the way of travel. And the total number of ticket taxes exceeds 230. Billions of dollars are wasted in direct costs and lost productivity as a result of inefficient infrastructure. These are only some of the hurdles which confront airlines. Our aim is to work in partnership to help governments better understand and fully maximize the social and economic benefits of efficient global air links, said de Juniac.



Middle Eastern airlines are forecast to generate a net profit of $300 million for a net margin of 0.5 per cent and an average profit per passenger of $1.56. This is below the $900 million profit expected in 2016.



Average yields for the regions carriers are low but unit costs are even lower, partly driven by the strong capacity expansion, forecast at 10.1 per cent this year, ahead of expected demand growth of 9.0 per cent. Threats are emerging to the success story of the Gulf carriers, including increases in airport charges across the Gulf States and growing air traffic management delays.



Carriers in Africa are expected to deliver the weakest financial performance with a net loss of $800 million (broadly unchanged from 2016). For each passenger flown this amounts to an average loss of $9.97. Capacity in 2017 is expected to grow by 4.7 per cent, ahead of 4.5 per cent demand growth. The regions weak performance is being driven by regional conflict and the impact of low commodity prices.



2016



2016 will be a record year for industry profitability. The expected net profit of $35.6 billion is slightly ahead of the $35.3 billion recorded in 2015, as is the 5.1 per cent net profit margin (slightly ahead of the 4.9 per cent recorded for 2015).



The modest revision from previous expectations largely is owing to two factors:



 Slower global GDP growth: 2.2 per cent, which was below mid-year expectations of 2.3 per cent growth.



 Non-fuel unit costs increased by 2.0 per cent in 2016.



The business of freedom



Air transport is the business of freedom. The safe and efficient global movement of goods and people is a positive force in our world. Aviations success betters peoples lives by creating economic opportunity and supporting global understanding. We must stand firm in the face of any rhetoric that would put limits on aviations future success, said de Juniac.



Some key indicators of the strength of global connectivity include:



 The average return airfare in 2017 is expected to be $351 (2015 dollars), which is 63 per cent below 1995 levels.



 Average air freight rates in 2017 are expected to be $1.48/kg (2015 dollars) which is a 68 per cent fall on 1995 levels.



 The number of unique city pairs served by aviation grew to 18,429 in 2016, a 92 per cent increase on 1995.



 The value of trade carried by air transport in 2017 is expected to be $5.7 trillion, a 4.9 per cent increase on 2015. Air cargo accounts for around 35 per cent of the total value of goods traded globally.



 The global spend on tourism enabled by air transport is expected to grow by 5.1 per cent in 2017 to $681 billion.



 Supply chain jobs supported by aviation are expected to grow by 3.4 per cent in 2017 to some 69.7 million worldwide.



 Airlines are expected to take delivery of some 1,700 new aircraft in 2017, around half of which will replace older and less fuel-efficient aircraft. This will expand the global commercial fleet by 3.6 per cent to 28,700.



 Airlines are expected to operate 38.4 million flights in 2017, up 4.9 per cent.  TradeArabia News Service
Gov. Matt Mead has become the most prominent state official to join a growing chorus of Wyoming groups and politicians approaching a topic that was once off-limits: new taxes. Or at least, changing taxes.

I dont think we ought to be taking anything off the board right now in terms of consideration of how we tax, Mead told the Star-Tribune in a wide-ranging interview Wednesday.

Mead, a Republican, finds himself walking a political tightrope amid the increasingly apparent reality that Wyoming cannot replace lost tax revenue from energy companies under the states existing tax code.

Nobody wants to talk about new taxes, he said. Including me.

And yet.

If were going to bring in new industries to diversify us, whether its manufacturing or whatever it may be, we have to make sure that there is a tax benefit to that, Mead said.

Energy dependence

While estimates vary depending on how the calculations are done, roughly 65 to 70 percent of the states revenue comes from extractive industries  primarily oil, natural gas and coal companies, according to Jim Robinson with the states Economic Analysis Division.

Roughly half the $2 billion or more in annual taxes paid by mineral companies comes from two natural resource-specific taxes, Robinson said. The first is severance taxes, which are paid when natural resources are removed from Wyoming soil. The second is royalty payments, essentially rent paid on land where minerals are extracted that is based on their value.

The Coal Lease Bonus program provides irregular revenue to the state but can total over $200 million in annual payments.

In contrast, manufacturing companies may offer high-paying jobs, but they pay nothing in severance taxes and make no royalty payments.

All companies in Wyoming are still subject to sales and property taxes. But the approximately $1 billion that energy companies have historically paid in annual state property taxes is heavily tied to the value of their property  minerals  and unlikely to be replicated by other industries.

The only type of taxes paid by natural resource companies in Wyoming that could be replicated by other businesses is sales tax. The mining industry paid roughly 10 percent of the $432 million total sales tax collected last year.

But the sales tax contribution from mining is a drop in the bucket compared with the total revenue the industry provides to the state. If non-mining companies are going to replace lost energy jobs in Wyoming, Mead and others say the state needs to figure out how to keep funding government services without the major contributions from royalty payments and severance and property taxes that the Legislature has long been able to count on when crafting budgets.

He isnt alone.

This is certainly the hot topic, said Buck McVeigh, executive director of the Wyoming Taxpayers Association.

Growing chorus

In October the Wyoming Association of Municipalities released a report calling on the Legislature to raise property and sales taxes  or allow local governments to do so  in light of high unemployment and falling sales taxes in cities across the state.

Weve been so mineral-wealthy, and our taxes have been so low for so long, WAM executive director Shelley Simonton said at the time.

Her point was that Wyomingites dont realize that when the energy sector suffers, funding for government services falls off a cliff.

State Rep. Mike Madden, R-Buffalo, has also said that the states tax structure is unsustainable.

Were getting a laboratory experience of the downfall of relying too much on one industry, Madden said in September. Somethings got to give.

That something may look a lot like what a task force suggested at the turn of the millennium.

The Tax Reform 2000 Committee proposed a series of ideas including a real estate transfer tax and higher taxes on gasoline and cigarettes. But it also argued that stabilizing the tax structure in Wyoming would be aided by a personal and corporate income tax.

Were of the opinion that probably that report needs to be taken off the shelf and looked at again, McVeigh said.

I dont even know where Tax 2000 is on our shelf right now, Mead said. But he agrees that it raised points that need to be revisited and said that Wyomingites received far more in state services than they actually pay for: Estimates peg the number at $10,000 in government services for every $1,000 paid in taxes.

Every study I have seen that looks at Wyomings tax structure in effect says, Congratulations, you have a lot of mineral wealth, and that allows you to keep taxes really low, Mead said.

We all are very rich by the low taxes that we have and having them paid largely by one industry.

Prospects for change

While Madden,Democratic state Senate leader Chris Rothfuss, WAM, the taxpayers association, Mead and others are all encouraging the Legislature to look at changing the way taxes are collected in Wyoming, none expects to have much luck. The Legislature has long been reluctant to address the issue, and with a rightward shift in an already heavily Republican Senate and House after the November election, the prospects that this year will be different have further dimmed.

Mead said there are some good reasons for waiting to reexamine the tax code.

Despite the state not receiving much in tax revenue from non-energy companies, the governor noted that some corporations are primarily, or partially, located in the state for that exact reason and remain valuable providers of jobs.

Additionally, Mead said that so long as the Legislature refuses to spend more of the states $1.6 billion rainy day fund, raising taxes would be a tough sell to residents.

It wouldnt make sense to me, Mead said. Youre raising my taxes and youre not going to be spending more of the rainy day fund?

He said the Legislature is on track to add $26 million to the rainy day fund during the January session while continuing cutting government services. Under those circumstances, a conversation about new taxes would be a non-starter.

I just dont think thats a message that would be accepted by the citizens, Mead said.

The 2000 tax plan was quickly forgotten when the states economy surged with a natural gas boom in the early 2000s. If the current economic downturn is just a dip in the Cowboy States boom and bust cycle, then Mead and others call for tax reform may be similarly forgotten.

But there are reasons to think that wont be the case.

Many analysts believe the high oil prices of the last several years were anomalies unlikely to be repeated or sustained in the future. Increasing natural gas production has also hurt the Wyoming market and for both market and environmental reasons, coal is unlikely to boom as it has in the past.

This isnt the usual bust, said McVeigh.

Mead likes to talk about how his grandfather, Clifford Hansen, was dealing with the question of economic diversification and state revenue when he was governor in the 1960s.

While he believes the Legislature wont be ready to talk about tax reform in January, he hopes it is addressed before another 50 years pass.

I think there will come a point, Mead said. But were not there yet.
Gov. Matt Mead says his new $2.5 million initiative to develop a comprehensive plan to diversify the economy is critical to the future stability of the state.

The Economically Needed Diversity Options for Wyoming (ENDOW) program was one of only three exception funding requests the governor put in his interim budget plan released last week, as the state faces revenue shortfalls totaling some $157 million in the coming year.

Mead is placing a high priority on the effort, saying stable funding streams for government and more opportunities for young adults are two key elements in Wyomings future.

The endowment is going to incorporate everything from energy to tourism to ag to technology, which I think should be our next emerging sector, to everything including the taxes situation, Mead said.

Thats important on the revenue picture, but  at least equally important in my mind  year in and year out we lose about 60 percent of our young people between the ages of 18 and 25, Mead continued. Our best future is keeping more of those young people.

The plan calls for making $1.5 million available to community colleges for training programs targeted to incoming industries, according to policy specialist Jeremiah Rieman, who is coordinating ENDOW for the governors office.

We often have companies that are evaluating the state of Wyoming and willing to make fairly significant investments, and often we are not positioned to ensure that they have appropriate machinists or other workforce with specific skills that they might need, Rieman explained.

The uses for the other $1 million will be defined as the program takes shape. For instance, it could go toward assisting communities with planning and development.

We need to understand what land there is available, and if that might be already zoned for that activity, what are the infrastructure pieces that exist there, what are the weaknesses, do we have the appropriate workforce  Rieman said.

I dont want to pre-prescribe how we might use it, understanding that those decisions ultimately would be a decision of the executive committee that we will be establishing to help guide us through this effort, Rieman added.

The undertaking calls for the ENDOW executive committee to be selected by the time of the legislative session in January. It will be co-chaired by the governor and Greg Hill, a UW engineering graduate, and senior executive with the Hess Corporation.

Right now were envisioning that the executive committee would be no more than 20 individuals, Rieman said. But certainly we are interested in trying to establish other working groups in specific areas, whether that be agribusiness, technology, innovation, energy, value-added minerals. Obviously one connection that we think exists right now is the Outdoor Recreation Task Force that the governor announced more recently.

Rieman said ENDOW will not require any more staff, and while it will encompass many areas already being promoted by the Wyoming Business Council, among other agencies, it will not be duplicative.

I think the governor is looking at a much more involved effort from leadership from this office that would involve all of those agencies in making meaningful progress toward economic diversification, towards goals that weve established for ourselves, and perhaps less so in a haphazard way as we may have done in the past, Rieman said.

The governor said he hopes this plan will succeed where many other economic diversification plans since 1962 have largely failed, as its longer 20-year time frame will span multiple administrations.

I need to get it going strong enough in the next two years so the next governor will be able to easily continue that effort during their term, Mead said. I think its critically important that we do a lot in that effort.
Clubs

Scholarship notice

The Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration -- Central Wyoming Section offers up to four $2,500 scholarships, the Coates, Wolff, Russell, & Swank Memorial Scholarship. Applicant must have graduated from a Wyoming high school, must be enrolled full-time for the 2016-2017 academic year, upperclassmen -- current college sophomore, junior, senior or graduate student, enrolled in mining/mineral extraction-related discipline, and have a 3.0 GPA minimum. Application forms are available by email request to smecasper@gmail.com

Dem men meet Dec. 13

The Democratic Men's Luncheon will be Dec. 13 in the Gourmet Room at the Parkway Plaza at noon. Jimmy Simmons, local president of the NAACP, will be our guest speaker. Please join us for lunch and conversation. For info: Robert, 702-0546.

Coin collectors meet

The Casper Coin Club will meet at 7 p.m., on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2016, Casper College, Gateway Building, room 218. There will be a show and tell on silver dollars along with proof and mint sets.

Archaeologists meet

The monthly meeting of the Casper Chapter of the Wyoming Archaeological Society will be held at 7 p.m., on Wednesday, Dec. 14. The meeting is on the ground floor of the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Building, 2211 King Blvd. Please use the entrance on the east side of the building.

Following a brief business meeting, Dr. Mavis Greer, of Greer Archeology, will speak on My Favorite Northwestern Plains Artifacts and Features Found on Energy-Related Projects. Two questions asked of contract archeologists working on energy-related projects are: do you ever find anything on those surveys and what is the best site or object you have found? The answer to the first is absolutely, and the answer to the second is there is no best, but there are many favorites.

Visitors and potential new members are welcome. Please contact Mavis Greer, chapter president, at mavis@greerservices.com if you have any questions.

OCAC awards scholarships

The Oil Capitol Auto Club would like to introduce the recipients of the veterans scholarship awards for 2016. These scholarships are awarded each year to deserving Casper College students from the proceeds of the Memorial Day Car Show. Everyone who attends the show and all of the sponsors generously contribute to the educational advancement of our service men and women here in Wyoming. All of these recipients have served our country honorably and are pursuing their educational goals and life after their service. The OCAC is proud to help them along the trail toward their educational goals and wish them all of the best. The 2016 scholarships to Casper College were awarded to Adam Stamp, Brian Hiser, Ariel Wagner, and Colton Sasser. To all of our men and women in uniform, and to these students, thank you for your service, and good luck.

Civil Air Patrol meets

Civil Air Patrol meets from 7 to 9 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month at Casper National Guard Armory, 5905 CY Ave. For more information, call 259-0855.

Stammtisch at Applebee's

After Jan. 5, the Casper German Stammtisch is meeting weekly on Thursdays at Applebee's from 6:30 to 8 p.m. New this year -- on the second Thursday of each month we will focus on speaking German! All ability levels are welcome, as long as they are eager to hear German.
Latin Club meets

Wish you had taken Latin in school or had paid better attention when you did? You are welcome to join the Latin Study Club at Mount Hope Lutheran School, 2300 Hickory. This friendly group of language enthusiasts meets on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m., to study Latin, free of charge.

We will pick up where we left off last year, Chapter 4 of Wheelocks Latin, 7th edition. Noli timere!

Mount Hope Lutheran School admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin.

Chronic pain/illness group starting

Highland Park Community Church and The Healing Place are starting HopeKeepers. HopeKeepers is a support group designed to meet the emotional and spiritual needs of the person who lives with chronic illness or pain. Through the support group setting you will have the opportunity to grow spiritually surrounded by others who share similar circumstances, unrevealed answers, and even joys, living with chronic pain or physical pain.

The group will meet Mondays from noon to 1:30 p.m., Highland Park Community Church, Rm #1327-The Prayer Room. This is an ongoing group. Call The Healing Place at 265-3977 to enroll.

Flu vaccination clinic

The Casper-Natrona County Health Department has added a flu vaccination clinic Monday, Dec. 12, from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. We are accepting walk-ins on first come first serve basis. $25 per person. We can bill insurance.

Veterans get help with employment

Attention veterans! Are you having a hard time finding employment? Need help with a resume? Considering a new career? If so, stop by any Wyoming Department of Workforce Services Office. All of our services are free. In Casper, the office is located at 851 Werner Court. Call 234-4591 for more information.

Beyond the Inbox

The Natrona County Library will offer a Beyond the Inbox class at 10 a.m., on Tuesday, Dec. 13. We will cover the four Ds of mailbox management: Do, Defer (or Delay), Delegate, and Delete. Well go over everything you need to keep your inbox clean, including spam reporting, unsubscribing, aliases, and secondary email addresses. Well also discuss the basics of setting up rules and filters in Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Virtual reality demo

Dont miss the chance to immerse yourself in an entirely new world when the Library hosts a virtual reality demo from 4 to 8 p.m., on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Choose from over 40 of the best virtual reality games and apps while being taken through a guided experience with the HTC Vive. Free and open to the public. Gameplay will last for approximately 10 minutes per player. Tickets will be handed out at the beginning of the event; available on a first-come, first-served basis; and limited to the first 25 attendees. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Parkinsons support Dec. 13

Rocky Mountain Therapy is offering a Parkinsons Support Group. Join us on the second Tuesday of each month at Rocky Mountain Therapy, 2546 East 2nd Street, Building 500 at 5:30 p.m.

This support group is open to anyone with Parkinsons or caring for someone with Parkinsons. Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 13, our guest speaker will be Dr. Cozier, with Wyoming Neurologic Assoc. To RSVP call 577-5204 and ask for Jerri or Shannon. To find out more about Rocky Mountain Therapy please visit our website at www.rockymountaintherapy.org. Were looking forward to seeing you at our next meeting.

Tech buying guide

The Natrona County Library will offer a Tech Buying Guide class at 6 p.m., on Thursday, Dec. 15. This class will cover tablets, laptops, desktops, and everything in between. Learn the uses and features of a variety of devices as well as how to determine what type of device is best for you. An array of technologies also will be available for attendees to learn about, use, and touch. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Blue Christmas service at St. Marks

The holidays are not always festive and cheerful for some people who may have suffered the loss of loved ones or experienced other problems such as the loss of a job. As a means of coping with such setbacks, St. Marks Episcopal Church will have a Blue Christmas service Sunday, Dec. 18, at 5:30 p.m., allowing for a time of reflection and healing, at the church, 701 South Wolcott. All are welcome. For further information, call 234-0831.

Joshuas needs help from hunters

Attention hunters, meat is needed to help the hungry in Casper and your donation of wild game will help feed the many hundreds of families in need. Please donate your game to the food pantry. Your donation is tax deductible. Please advise your meat processors where you want this important product to go. Thank you from Joshuas Storehouse.

Saturday morning watercolor classes

ART321/Casper Artists Guild announces the schedule for the Saturday Morning Watercolor Sessions for the months of September and October 2016. We hope to see you then to begin or continue your learning experience with us. All levels are welcome. Saturday mornings, 10 a.m. to noon, $10 per session. If you have questions, please contact Ellen Black at 265-6783.

Dec. 10, Holly Bryson, a painting from start to finish; Dec. 17, painting snow; Dec. 24, no session, Christmas Eve; Dec. 31, no session, New Years Eve.

ART321/Casper Artists Guild, 321 W. Midwest Ave, Casper, WY, 82601, gallery hours Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., phone 265-2655, www.art321.org

Teen Challenge offers fall classes

Teen Challenge Wyoming offers classes this fall at local churches, True Care and the Link (Youth for Christ). For more information on these groups or on other Teen Challenge programs, please call 258-5397.

Peacemaking: Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. In this world of division and conflict, it is important for Christians to stay grounded in what the Bible teaches about resolving our differences with orders in a God-honoring way. For more information, call Pat at 258-5397.

Save One: A group for post-abortion healing. For more information, call Judy at 251-5644.

Single & Parenting: Sundays at 6:30 p.m. Covers major challenges single parents face in raising their children, and offers tools to help them meet these challenges. Enter anytime, each lesson stands alone. Call Cathie at 258-6119.

Professionals in Recovery: An ongoing Christian recovery group. For more information, call Gary at 267-7777.

Insight: Discovering the path to Christian character, especially in the midst of stress. Time to be announced. For more information, call Teen Challenge Wyoming at 258-5397.

Possible offering: Committed Couples and/or the Smart Stepfamily (groups designed to strengthen marriages for both married couples and those anticipating marriage) may be offered later this year. For more information on these possibilities, please call Teen Challenge Wyoming at 258-5397.

Shop at Art 321

Did you know ART 321 has a gift shop? Come and shop from our fine selection of original artwork, jewelry, ceramics, prints, and apparel. Perfect for any gift occasion and any budget. ART321/Casper Artists Guild, 321 W. Midwest Ave., hours Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 265-2655.

Caregiver support meets monthly

Are you caring for a loved one with a debilitating condition? Confusing and conflicting feelings are likely to come up-anger, sadness, hopelessness, resentment and guilt for having those feelings. Please join us on the second Thursday of the each month to talk about your feelings and learn effective ways to release difficult emotions by joining a support group. Meetings will be held at Rocky Mountain Therapy, 2546 East 2nd Street #500, at 5:30 p.m. Different topics will be discussed each month. Coffee and lemonade will be served. We will be meeting on Dec. 15. To RSVP please call 577-5204 and ask for Jerri or Shannon.

Casper Charla

Would you like to practice conversational Spanish or help others learn? Come and join the Casper Charla! Te gustaria platicar en espanol? Ven y charla con nosotros! Todos son bienvenidos!

Come and join us on the third Wednesday of each month this fall. We meet at a different restaurant and partake in food, drink and conversation. All levels of Spanish are welcome, from beginning to native-speakers.

Nos reunimos los miercoles en varios restaurantes en Casper. Ven por una copa, un antojito o simplemente una charlita.

Wednesday, December 14, 5-7 p.m., place to be determined for the Fiesta de Navidad.

Womens Bible study starts

The Heart of Casper Community Bible study will meet for a womens bible study on Tuesdays, starting Jan. 3 through March 28, at 6:30 p.m., at Hilltop Baptist Church, 2555 E. 2nd St. The title of the bible study is Expecting to See Jesus  a wake up call for Gods people, by Anne Graham Lotz, oldest daughter of Billy Graham. The cost is $9 for the book. Remember, youre something special in the Lords eyes, and ours too! For more information, call 234-3594.

Caregiver support

Wyoming Dementia Care offers five Alzheimers Caregiver Support groups each month. Caregivers of those with dementia-related illnesses and the loved ones they care for are welcome at any of the group sessions. Professional staff from Intermountain Home Companions will be on hand to offer separate activities and snacks for those who need care. There is no charge for Wyoming Dementia Cares support groups or for the respite care provided during the approximately one hour long sessions.

The morning support group sessions meet on the first and third Thursday of each month at 10 a.m. at Central Wyoming Senior Services, 1831 E. 4th St. The afternoon support groups meet at 1 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Life Care Center of Casper, 4041 S. Poplar. The evening groups meet on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Meadow Wind Assisted Living, 3955 E. 12th St.

For information, email wyodementia@casperseniorcenter.com or call Dani Guerttman at 265-4678.

Family continues suicide support

Good Grief, Support will continue at 5:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at the 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott, by request of attendees. The family of J.R. Hunter, who died from suicide in June 2015 began the support before the especially tough holiday season. Anyone who is grieving a suicide, death, or considering suicide is encouraged to attend. Attendance at the meeting, as well as the content, will be strictly confidential. The Fresh Start Cafe will be open, and you can eat during the meetings. This meeting place was offered by Dan Cantine of the 12-24 Club. You need not be a member to attend.

New depression group begins

J.R.s Hunt for Life is offering See it Clearly, a free peer support group for persons suffering from depression and other mental conditions that lead to suicidal thoughts and actions. We are not professionals but rather a group of like-minded peers wishing to support each other in these struggles. We offer anonymity and confidentiality to all attending. Our meetings are at 6:45 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 500 South Wolcott in the conference room on the second floor, (12-24 Club). If you have ever considered or attempted taking your life or are struggling, please come. You are important to us.

Family offers faith-based groups

The family of J.R. Hunter, who committed suicide, is going to begin two more support groups, these faith-based, in addition to the groups they run on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the 12-24 Club. Those continue.

J.R.s Hunt; for life presents faith-based grief and depression peer to peer support groups at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. at Restoration Church, 411 S. Walsh.

Grief Support Group, Good Grief: A faith-based grief support group that our family hosts on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 5:30 p.m. at Restoration Church. Our loss has moved us to offer this to anyone grieving. Youll experience comfort and understanding. We get it.

Depression Support Group, See It Clearly: A faith-based free peer to peer support group for persons suffering from depression and other mental conditions that may lead to suicidal thoughts and actions. We are not professionals but rather a group of like-minded peers wishing to support each other in these struggles. We offer anonymity and confidentiality to all attending. Our meetings are at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at the Restoration Church. If you have ever considered or attempted taking your life or are struggling, please come. You are important to us.

Parkinsons exercise

Rocky Mountain Therapy is offering a Parkinsons exercise program. Join us from noon to 1 p.m. Thursdays at Rocky Mountain Therapy, 2546 E. Second St., Building 500. These classes are open to anyone with Parkinsons or caring for someone with Parkinsons.

Thursdays class is tailored for the individual with more advanced Parkinsons and focuses on improving endurance, safety and managing symptoms. We are open to all ages and can tailor the class to meet varying exercise needs. The cost of the class is $5. To RSVP, call 577-5204 and ask for Jerri or Shannon.

Celebrate Recovery every Friday

Celebrate Recovery meets at 5:30 p.m. every Friday at Highland Park Community Church, just south of Elkhorn Valley Rehabilitation Hospital on East Second Street. We start with a family meal, followed by praise and worship. At 7 p.m., theres either a lesson from Celebrate Recoverys planned curriculum or a testimony by a person who has found recovery through Christ. Then, people go to gender-specific small groups until 8:30 p.m., when dessert and fellowship conclude the evening. Child care is available at no cost. For more information, contact Chris at 265-4073.

Here and Now: Dementia-focused monthly art class

Classes are every third Tuesday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m. There is no charge. Here and Now is a program made possible through a collaboration between Wyoming Dementia Care and the Nicolaysen Art Museum. It is designed to provide a supportive environment for people with dementia and Alzheimers and their loved ones.

To register, contact Dani with Wyoming Dementia Care 265-4678, ext. 106, or at wyodementia@casperseniorcenter.com or Zhanna Gallegos at 235-5247 or at zgallegos@thenic.org.
Monday support meetings

Alcoholics Anonymous: 6:30 a.m., 917 N. Beech; 8:30 a.m., 500 S. Wolcott; 10 a.m., 328 E. A St.; noon, 500 S. Wolcott; 2 p.m, 917 N. Beech; 5:30 p.m., 1124 Elma, Imitate the Image Church; 6 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 7 p.m., 917 N. Beech; 8 p.m., 328 E. A. Douglas: 7:30 p.m., 628 E. Richards (upstairs in back). Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are open. Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: (307) 351-1688.

Al-Anon: Noon, 701 S. Wolcott, St. Marks Church.

Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 7 p.m., 302 E. 2nd, Methodist Church; 8 p.m., 4700 S. Poplar (church basement). Web site: http://www.urmrna.org.

NAMI: 7 p.m., 133 W. Sixth St. Info: 234-0440.

Teen Addiction Anonymous: 3:30-4:30 p.m., Boys & Girls Club Teen Center. Info: 258-7439.

Adult Children of Alcoholics: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott St., Suite 200.

TOPS Weight Loss: 5:30 p.m., Weight Loss Support Group TOPS #246, Wyoming Oil & Gas Building, 2211 King Blvd. Use NE door entry. Info: 265-1486.

Stuff the Van Toy Drive

Help us to Stuff the Van this holiday season with toys for kids in need here in Casper. Townsquare Media and Wyoming Food for Thought Project spend 12 hours a day for a week in front of eastside Walmart collecting toys and monetary donations. The drive is Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. There is a need to collect approximately 1,000 toys or gifts for children from babies to age 18.

Monetary donations will be used to purchase food for kids who participate in the Food for Thought Food Bag Program, to supply children in need with food bags over weekends and extended holiday breaks away from school.

If you are interested in volunteering, feel free to give us a call at 337.1703, or visit www.wyfftp.org for more information.

Flu vaccination clinic

The Casper-Natrona County Health Department has added a flu vaccination clinic from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Monday. Accepting walk-ins on first come, first serve basis. $25 per person. Insurance can be billed.

Low vision support meets Monday

Monday will be the monthly meeting for the Casper Area Low Vision Support Group at 10 a.m. at the Casper Senior Center. Dr. Cheryl Godley will present the program to low vision members and their caregivers.

Chronic pain/illness group starting

Highland Park Community Church and The Healing Place are starting HopeKeepers. HopeKeepers is a support group designed to meet the emotional and spiritual needs of the person who lives with chronic illness or pain. Through the support group setting you will have the opportunity to grow spiritually surrounded by others who share similar circumstances, unrevealed answers, and even joys, living with chronic pain or physical pain.

The group will meet Mondays from noon to 1:30 p.m., Highland Park Community Church, Rm #1327-The Prayer Room. This is an ongoing group. Call The Healing Place at 265-3977 to enroll.

Cyber security

at Rotary

On Monday, Taylor Reed, special agent for the Casper office of the FBI, will address Rotarians and guests regarding financial cyber security at a noon luncheon meeting of the Casper Rotary Club at the Ramkota Inn. Reed was born in Sheridan and attended the University of Wyoming for his bachelors and law degrees. After law school he practiced law and worked in the private sector in Wyoming for 11 years before joining the FBI. He spent his first six years with the FBI in Tampa, Florida, primarily working international terrorism investigations before being transferred back to Wyoming in 2014. He presently works in the Casper office with one other agent. His territory includes eight Wyoming counties with investigative responsibilities across all FBI programs.

Fine Arts meets

Casper Fine Arts Club will meet Monday at Bethel Baptist Church, 3030 S. Poplar at 1 p.m. The program will be presented by NCHS Choir. Reception to follow. Everyone welcome!

Open house at St. Anthony School

Please join us from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at 1145 W. 20th for our winter open house. We are a preschool through eighth grade program. Our mission at St. Anthony Tri-Parish Catholic School is dedicated to achieving academic excellence in a faith-filled community, and living a life committed to Christian service. We welcome all families of any denomination who desire a quality academic and Christian education. Come and discover the possibilities!

Cookies & Milk

with Santa

Santa is stopping by the Casper Events Center prior to the Broadway Christmas Wonderland on Dec. 12. Bring the kids early to a pre-show Cookies & Milk with Santa event. For $10 per child, enjoy a Meet and Greet with Santa, picture opportunities (bring your own camera), hot chocolate, cookies and milk.

This is limited to those with event tickets only. Children must have a Santa pass to meet Santa.

Tween Monday

The Natrona County Library will host a holiday game featuring the Christmas edition of Lets Make a Deal for students in grades 4-6 at 4 p.m. Answer Christmas trivia questions; choose door number one, two, or three; and then take your prize or make a dea. Call 577-READ ext. 5 for more information.

Metal detectors

at events center

In an effort to promote public safety and guest service, the Casper Events Center will begin using metal detecting wands for public events effective beginning Monday, Dec. 12, 2016.

This security measure is one step in a long range plan to actively seek and implement policies and procedures that provide a safer and more enjoyable experience for all event attendees. The facility management team will be working closely with local law enforcement agencies in the coming months to further identify opportunities to support safety and security in the Casper Events Center.

In February of 2016, the facility implemented its Txt Alert program as a method of facility management. The program allows the public to notify management in real time of anything that requires staff attention, including guest service concerns, suspicious activity and more, so that it can be promptly addressed.

For more information, please visit www.CasperEventsCenter.com.

Christmas light

show open

The light show at 3148 Whispering Springs is up and will run nightly from 6 to 10 p.m., and until 11 p.m., on Friday and Saturday. We are collecting items for Joshuas Storehouse at the display. There are a total of approximately 50,000 lights all choreographed to popular Christmas music, and free to view and listen to. Just tune your radio to 98.1 FM and enjoy. Thank you and merry Christmas from the Wagners.
A Casper nursing home thats been repeatedly accused of negligence and poor care settled a lawsuit last month in federal court alleging its staff injured a resident  the latest settlement in a string of legal disputes amid closer governmental oversight due to repeated deficiencies found during health inspections.

The suit alleged that a Poplar Living Center van driven by one of the nursing homes employees hit a blind resident standing near the curb waiting for a ride in March 2014. The resident, Gilbert Arellano, was knocked to the ground, according to the suit. Since the incident, Arellano has had pain and numbness in his right arm, the suit says.

Ian Sandefer, one of Arellanos attorneys, said he could not disclose the amount of the settlement reached on Nov. 1 because of a confidentiality agreement. He declined to give any further comment, citing the agreement. The case was officially dismissed Tuesday from the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming.

The nursing homes settlement was the most recent conclusion to six wrongful death or personal injury lawsuits filed against it in the last six years. Repeated inspections by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also detail a pattern of understaffing, improper care and unsafe building conditions. The federal agency rates the nursing home as below average and has classified it as a facility that needs close monitoring because of a history of persistent poor quality of care. It is the only nursing home in Casper with that classification.

Dave Clarke, one of Poplar Living Centers attorneys, said the nursing home declined to comment on the settlement in Arellanos case. In response to questions about the facilitys history of lawsuits and the observations recorded in federal inspections, Poplar Living Center released a statement Friday saying the company continues to seek opportunities to improve the care and services we provide for those individuals we have to privilege to serve every day. We appreciate the efforts our staff have made to provide quality care and quality of life for our residents.

Poplar Living Center did not answer more specific questions or provide further comment about the facilitys staffing practices, its policies regarding resident care, allegations made in the six lawsuits and deficiencies cited in the federal inspection reports.

The nursing home did not have someone stand with Arellano while he waited for his ride on the handicap ramp and the man was unable to avoid the danger himself because he is legally blind, the suit says. The suit alleges the facility failed to meet the legal standard of care because it is understaffed, did not accompany Arellano to the curb and allowed an employee to negligently operate a company van.

The company ignored the state and federal laws designed to protect patients of skilled nursing facilities, the suit states.

The suit also alleges that SavaSeniorCare, the company that owns the Casper nursing home, kept staff numbers low and didnt adequately train employees to save money, thus endangering the residents. That allegation is repeated across many of the other lawsuits. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also cited Poplar Living Center for understaffing the facility.

According to its website, SavaSeniorCare operates more than 230 nursing homes across the country, including two more in Wyoming: Cheyenne Healthcare Center and the Sheridan Manor.

Federal inspections identify repeated problems

Inspection records of Poplar Living Center by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show a pattern of the for-profit Casper nursing home failing to employ enough staff to keep residents safe, take care of residents who showed signs of depression and investigate complaints of neglect. The federal agency also repeatedly noted damage to the building, including rusted air vents, leaking ceilings and large cracks in the walls.

The centers, which inspect facilities that receive federal funds from its programs, have cited 90 deficiencies at Poplar Living Center since January 2014 and suspended payment of federal dollars twice, according to a database created by ProPublica, a nonprofit dedicated to investigative journalism. In approximately the same period, the database found that the federal agency has cited two other Casper nursing homes, Shepherd of the Valley Healthcare Center and Life Care Center of Casper, for deficiencies 60 times and 34 times, respectively. Neither has had funds withheld.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has inspected Poplar Living Center at least 10 times between January 2014 and January 2016. The facility has also failed since at least January 2014 to correct citations from previous inspections, according to the reports.

Improper wound care is repeatedly cited in the reports. One resident arrived at the facility in January 2015 without any wounds but developed open sores on her buttocks and legs in March. She was not admitted to the hospital to see a physician until she had deep tissue injury and widespread swelling, which later worsened, according to a report.

Another resident reported increased pain and numbness in the legs but didnt see a doctor until two days later. The medications prescribed by the doctor did not help the pain and the resident demanded to see a physician. The doctor ordered that she be transferred to a Denver hospital by air transport. Doctors there found that two of her vertebrae were disintegrating due to infection, according to a January 2016 inspection report.

The reports repeatedly note that the nursing home fails to adequately record, investigate and resolve complaints about living conditions.

Facility staff acknowledged in an interview during the January 2016 inspection that allegations of abuse and neglect had not been well-assigned, had not been reported, and may not have been adequately investigated.

Inspectors wrote in a March 4, 2015, report that the facility failed to provide adequate ventilation and that the entire building had a noticeable odor of urine and stool.

Two aides told inspectors that they sometimes have to use hand towels to dry residents after a shower because the facility runs out of bath towels, according to the reports.

The nursing home administrator told inspectors in January, Im nowhere near where I want to be in terms of staffing, according to the agencys Jan. 15 report.

According to a report from March 2015, there were nights where only one nurse and one nurses assistant were in the building to care for more than 100 residents  many of whom require assistance to use the bathroom and navigate other simple tasks.

Residents who needed help using the bathroom reported they often waited long periods of time  sometimes up to eight hours  before they were taken to the restroom. One resident wandered the halls of the facility just after 8 p.m. March 29, 2015, with urine-soaked pants for at least 25 minutes before being helped.

Residents also told inspectors that the food served was inedible. A district manager who sampled a meal of steak and noodles also said the food was not palatable, according to the reports.

A history of lawsuits

Families of previous residents have sued Poplar Living Center at least six times in the past six years alleging that negligence led to the death and serious injury of their loved ones. The nursing home settled four of those suits for undisclosed amounts and one is still ongoing. A jury found the company negligent in one suit, though it declined to award monetary damages.

A suit filed in May 2011 alleges that a resident developed serious bedsores after the staff failed to turn him while he laid in bed.

The man was admitted to the nursing home free of pressure sores, and staff documented that he was to be turned every two hours to prevent them. But records at the nursing home show that staff on multiple occasions waited up to 11 hours before turning him, the suit says. The man then developed pressure sores on his buttocks.

The sores eventually become so severe that they destroyed the sphincter muscles around his anus and made him incontinent, according to the suit.

Another suit filed days after the first alleges that a 79-year-old woman died of malnourishment while in the care of Poplar Living Center because the nursing home failed to provide additional nutrition when the woman began to eat very little. The woman lost 20 percent of her body weight during her two-month stay at the facility, according to the suit. Her death certificate listed malnutrition as the primary cause for her death. The wrongful death suit was settled in 2013.

A wrongful death action filed in 2011  about two weeks after the first two suits  alleges that a woman, who was quadriplegic, died in 2008 while a staff member attempted to move her. The staff member sat the woman on the edge of the bed without restraint or support and then walked away. The woman then fell from the bed onto the floor. She died of her injuries nine days later, the suit says.

A jury later found that the nursing home company was negligent in the womans care but did not find that the damages should be paid to the womans estate.

A fourth suit, filed in June 2011, says a resident died after falling while riding in a company van and becoming brain-dead when nursing home staff failed to properly care for her.

A 73-year-old woman was admitted to the nursing home for rehabilitation in 2009 after she fell at home. When she was released from the Wyoming Medical Center on Oct. 8 of that year, she was able to move on her own, was fully cognizant and had no concussion symptoms, the suit states. The nursing home sent an assistant janitor to pick her up from the hospital and drive her to the facility, but the janitor failed to fully secure the womans wheelchair in the back of the van. The nursing home had certified the janitor to transport patients, but he had never done so before.

When the van pulled out, the womans wheelchair flipped backward, and the woman hit her head, the suit says. The janitor stopped the van, and hospital security guards helped him pick up the woman.

Two nurses assessed the woman when she arrived at the nursing home and admitted her. At about 6:30 p.m., a neurological assessment showed the womans mental abilities were deteriorating. She appeared drowsy, her blood pressure had risen and she did not spontaneously open her eyes. A few minutes later, a nursing assistant noted the woman had a large knot on her head and said she was in pain. When the nursing assistant returned shortly after, the woman was vomiting, could not stand and was covered in her own feces, the suit says.

The staff decided not to consult a physician, send the woman to the emergency room or perform another neurological assessment, the lawsuit alleges. Nobody recorded checking on the womans condition between about 7 and 11 p.m. When a nurse checked on the resident shortly after 11 p.m., she found the woman unresponsive and running a temperature. The nurse called 911, and an ambulance brought the woman to the Wyoming Medical Center. At about 1 a.m. the doctors found that the woman was brain-dead, and her family decided to remove her from life support. She died shortly afterward.

An autopsy found that the cause of her death was bleeding in her brain most likely incurred during an accidental fall received while unrestrained in a wheelchair, according to the suit.

The janitor who failed to secure her wheelchair pleaded guilty to criminal negligence in 2010 and was sentenced to probation, according to the suit. The nurse in charge of the woman that night was sanctioned by the Wyoming State Board of Nursing.

The wrongful death suit was settled in 2013 for an undisclosed amount, according to court records.

The most recent suit filed against Poplar Living Center in federal court alleges that it took nursing home staff more than a month to diagnose a residents leg pain as a broken femur and ankle. The suit, filed in December 2015, alleges that when the staff did contact the Wyoming Medical Center emergency room, the hospital staff noted in their records that it appeared the womans gown and bedding were soaked in urine and had not been changed for what looked like days.

The woman was hospitalized for four days, and the Wyoming Department of Family Services started an investigation into the case. The department later found that the nursing home had not acted negligently, the suit says. Litigation in the lawsuit continues.
The group of lawmakers who will create the first draft of Wyomings budget will have hearings, beginning Monday, with state agency heads, asking them to justify their requests for new money at a time of lower revenues.

The Joint Appropriations Committees hearings will last all week. Lawmakers penciled in Saturday as a hearing day, too, in case they need extra time.

Decisions on which programs will be cut or increased will be made in January. But members of the public who listen to the webcast will better understand where lawmakers are heading, said Buck McVeigh of the Wyoming Taxpayers Association.

They get kind of long, as there is a lot of budget jargon that people wont be able to necessarily follow along with, he said. But I will say this: If a citizen is listening to the budget hearings and they do get a sense of concern of an area thats near and dear to them, it could give them a heads up that they need to visit Cheyenne to provide public testimony.

In March, the Legislature adopted a $3 billion, two-year budget. Over the summer, Gov. Matt Mead had to cut $250 million from the budget because revenues from oil, gas and coal plunged.

McVeigh, who worked for the state for 30 years on budget issues before the Taxpayers Association, doesnt anticipate many more reductions in general government operations.

I think most of the cutting thats going to get done has already been done, he said.

His group, which represents large companies, will oppose increasing taxes if revenue projections due in January show the state will continue to be in the red.

I think the savings that we have used strategically will in fact get us through the general fund, operational piece of state government, McVeigh said. The big hurdle, the big challenge that we face is with K-12 funding and with school capital facilities, and how were going to fund those programs moving forward with the loss of the coal lease bonus moneys. I think thats the big challenge.

Federal money from coal companies leasing public land has paid for public school construction and large project maintenance. But that account is running dry, since there have been no bids for years to expand mines.

Gov. Matt Mead sent lawmakers budget recommendations recently that balanced the states operations budget with no new cuts. He said Wednesday that he anticipates K-12 funding, however, will need new reductions. In the budget cycle that begins July 1, 2018, Mead said there could be a shortfall in education by as much as $700 million.

The public can listen in through the Wyoming Legislatures website: www.wyoleg.gov. An agenda will also be on the homepage, listing when the committee is scheduled to meet with each agency representative.

The Wyoming Legislature convenes Jan. 10 in Cheyenne.
CHEYENNE  Like many other agencies across Wyoming, the State Crime Lab has been hit hard by budget cuts.

And the resulting backlog has local officials concerned.

Laramie County District Attorney Jeremiah Sandburg said his office has been taking cases to trial without evidence because results werent returned from the lab in time.

We have gone to trial a couple times recently without the results back from the State Crime Lab, in part because the defense wants to go to trial quickly, and the crime lab is taking many, many months, he said.

Sandburg said he thinks the potential is certainly there for justice to be compromised.

(The backlog) is definitely slowing down the process by which the case gets to us, and it also makes us here in the DAs Office more reluctant to file charges early, he said. We definitely hold back (with) charging in certain cases now to make sure that we have the evidence.

***

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation oversees the lab, which is located just north of the Laramie County Community College campus on College Drive in Cheyenne.

DCI Director Steven Woodson said the agency has experienced a 10 percent reduction in its full-time employees since 2012  from 100 to 90.

Our cases are way up all around the state in all of our sections  on the lab and the operations side, as well, Woodson said.

Our people are working harder, trying to catch up, but obviously when you experience a reduction in personnel, it impacts your ability to provide all the services when people want them, he continued. We do our best  we have a great crew, and they work very, very hard.

Earlier this year, the lab saw its $6.1 million two-year budget reduced by 4.6 percent. As a result, DCI eliminated some positions and reassigned others.

The lab published a letter dated May 12 on its website, addressed to all prosecutors and law enforcement officials, announcing that it would no longer accept certain kinds of evidence for testing.

In an effort to ensure that we are providing the most effective customer service in our Crime Laboratory, and to ensure that we utilize all of our available resources to maximum benefit, we have been reviewing the services that our laboratory provides, the letter says. As a result, effective immediately, we will cease accepting requests for hair, fiber, physical match, glass and head lamp analysis.

The letter says most surrounding state labs surveyed dont provide those services either.

Even so, Woodson said there was no easy place to cut.

We looked at the number of requests we received and what we could determine was the value that was obtained from those types of analysis, he said. We felt that those cuts would be the most efficient for us to make while hopefully having the least impact on our customers  the state.

Additionally, gunshot residue analysis is now extremely limited and will not be a priority in most situations.

That doesnt cause Sandburg too much worry, though.

Gunshot residue is helpful in proving that a person was nearby when that gun was fired, but it doesnt really help you determine time and location, he said. So its an expert tool thats really useful to have  (but) I dont see that being the defining piece of evidence thats going to help you win the case in most instances.

Woodson said most of the employees assigned to the Trace Analysis Unit were moved to the Biology/DNA section, where there is much greater demand.

Of course, those demands continue to climb as well, but were trying to address (it), he said.

If, for some reason, items that the State Crime Lab no longer tests need to be tested, law enforcement can turn to other labs for assistance  that just costs money.

Any time we have to pay extra for testing, I think that creates an extra concern, Sandburg said.

Cheyenne Police Chief Brian Kozak also said that could potentially be problematic, because he doesnt budget specifically for lab or DNA testing.

But, so far weve been able to do it, he said.

For instance, Kozak said the department is working on a sexual assault case right now that calls for evidence to be sent to a private lab because the state lab doesnt have the ability to test it in the way police need it to be tested.

We find the money, we get it done, because solving theses high-profile felonies like this is a high priority for us, he said.

If CPD really had no funds for necessary evidence testing, Kozak said he would go to City Council, and hes confident they would find the money for it.

Of course, Im not happy about it, but I do understand the reason behind it, he said, referring to budget cuts.

Sandburg said his office has definitely seen an increase in the testing backlog at the lab since the state budget cuts went into effect.

I know theyre trying to manage their resources, and they service the entire state, of course, but it sure seems to have gotten slower, he said. I think it is adversely affecting our ability now to successfully go to trial.

In cases of driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, for example, a blood sample is drawn from the defendant and sent to the lab for testing, and lately it hasnt been uncommon to not get results before trial and end up having to dismiss those cases, Sandburg explained.

I absolutely think its a budgetary situation, and it therefore could be resolved by properly funding the State Crime Lab so it can keep up with the demands of the state, he said.

Local law enforcement agencies are seeing record numbers of cases, and the rest of the state seems to be no different.

So far this year, submissions to the crime lab have exceeded the total submissions for last year, and DCI criminal investigations have exceeded last years total investigations, as well, Woodson said.

Additionally, the lab continues to get inundated with concealed firearm permit requests, sex offender registrations and applicant fingerprint background checks.

Im the guy who would love to be able to turn around the evidence in the same day, but I dont think thats possible, Woodson said. We have to prioritize the cases that come in and do our best to turn them around in a timely manner.

Sandburg said criminal activity increases in bad economic times, so thats not the time to be looking at reductions to the criminal justice system, because thats the time theyre going to be needing those resources most.

Its kind of an interesting dynamic where were having to deal with decreased budgets while were having a surge in criminal activity, he said.

Sandburg said Gov. Matt Mead did what he could to shelter certain agencies, such as Sandburgs office and the State Public Defender, from additional budget cuts. But his office desperately needs more funding moving forward, he said.

With the additional workload, were just that much further behind than where we would have liked to have been, he said.

Kozak said the State Crime Lab was pretty responsive regarding evidence submitted in The Coin Shop robbery and homicide that happened here in July 2015.

They got things done fairly quickly for us, he said. They will drop everything theyre doing to do (something really important) for us.

The chief noted that crime testing backlogs is an issue faced by law enforcement all across the country.

It is frustrating for me to wait so long. Were hoping to progress cases faster than that, but it is what it is, he said.
Wyomings Supreme Court handed the states government agencies a tremendous opportunity recently.

The court ruled 3-2 on Nov. 30 that government agencies may charge members of the public a fee to simply look at public documents that exist only in an electronic form. Not to grab a copy and walk off, mind you. Wyomings laws have always allowed for a reasonable copying fee for someone wanting to get a hard copy of a document. The Supreme Courts ruling would apply to anyone simply wanting to see, view or inspect an electronic document.

This ruling was a bit of a surprise coming from a court that has steadfastly defended government transparency throughout the 47-year history of the Wyoming Public Records Act. Writing for the majority, Justice William Hill said there are costs associated with retrieving electronic documents that do not exist when dealing with paper files.

Now, this flies in the face of what Wyomings taxpayers were told while being asked to spend billions of dollars on advanced computer systems for government agencies  that it is easier to store and retrieve documents in an electronic form than in a paper form.

Hills ruling said the costs associated with electronic documents are so onerous as to render a crucial line of Wyoming law meaningless: Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing a fee to be charged as a condition of making a public record available for inspection. (W.S. 16-4-204(a)).

But no matter.

The important thing to note here is that the Supreme Court ruled government agencies may charge a fee for the simple service of making public documents available to the very people who paid for them. Not shall or must. May.

This means the states cities, towns, counties, school districts  any entity that generates documents  can now take the lead in promoting the principles of government transparency.

A properly operating government relies on an informed electorate capable of deciding how it should be governed. Access to the government documents that spell out how government resources are used and why government decisions are made is crucial to that goal.

As a result, when asked to retrieve a document, local government agencies should think twice before taking advantage of the courts ruling. A person making a reasonable request to see public documents should not be discouraged from doing so by an access fee.

After all, Wyomings taxpayers have already paid to have these documents generated and stored. Charging someone a fee to simply inspect what they already own doesnt make much sense.

It would be reasonable to guess the overwhelming majority of people running for public office in Wyoming vowed to keep the voters informed on what happens within government.

Here is the opportunity to live up to those promises, to set the pace for transparency in Wyoming, by adopting policies that would allow people to simply inspect at no cost the documents they already own.

Of course, occasionally, a burdensome request will be received. And Wyoming law gives agencies the latitude to deal with such requests in such a way their usual business wont be disrupted.

But the bottom line for all government agencies at every level should be to increase citizen participation in government, not to discourage it. Charging a fee for each and every document request, regardless of size or expanse, seems counterproductive.

As Justice Michael Davis wrote in the opinions dissent: (T)here can be no doubt that such fees could be used to discourage access.

We fervently hope Davis prediction does not come to pass. It now falls to the states elected officials to protect the rights of Wyomings citizens. The rights to review the information those citizens need to make informed decisions.

We are hopeful those officials will err on the side of the people.
Islamic State militants reoccupied Palmyra on Sunday, taking the ancient central city from government troops in a major advance after a year of setbacks in Syria and neighboring Iraq, a Syrian government official and the group said.

In retaking Palmyra, the extremist group appeared to be taking advantage of the Syrian and Russian preoccupation with Aleppo, timing its attack to coincide with a massive government offensive to capture the last remaining opposition-held neighborhoods in the northern city.

Palmyra, with its towering 2,000-year-old ruins, holds mostly symbolic meaning in the wider Syrian civil war, although its location in central Syria gives it some strategic significance as well.

Islamic State militants re-entered the city on Saturday for the first time since they were expelled by Syrian and Russian forces amid much fanfare nine months ago. The governments first important win against the Islamic State in the internationally renowned ancient city gave Damascus the chance to try to position itself in the global anti-terrorism campaign.

The militants had spent 10 months in Palmyra, during which they dynamited a number of temples and destroyed other artifacts.

Sundays takeover came hours after government troops and Russian air raids pushed the group out the citys parameters. IS militants then regrouped and attacked the city from multiple fronts, forcing government troops to retreat. Palmyra opposition activists said the militants were going door to door in the city, looking for remnants of government forces.

Homs Province Gov. Talal Barazi told the pan-Arab Mayadeen news channel that the IS attack on Palmyra is a desperate reaction to the Syrian government military victories on the ground. He said the forces that support terrorism including western countries, Saudi Arabia and Qatar wanted to realize some type of gain and chose Palmyra because of its international reputation.

Scores of Syrian troops have reportedly been killed in fighting around Palmyra in the last few days. While the battles are a distraction from the fight in Aleppo, they are unlikely to affect the governments final push on the last rebel-held Aleppo neighborhoods. By Sunday evening, there was no sign that the army was shifting significant resources away from Aleppo for the fighting in central Syria.

The government and its allies have reportedly mobilized some 40,000 fighters for Aleppo.

I dont think the regime would withdraw forces from Aleppo to Palmyra and risk losing Aleppo, said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the opposition monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. I think the regimes priority now is to finish the battle for Aleppo before the end of the month for sure. As for Palmyra, the whole international community would stand by it against IS.

Over the last year, the IS has suffered a string of defeats in both Syria and Iraq, losing several towns and cities it captured in 2014. It is now under attack in Mosul, the last major urban center it controls in Iraq. A Kurdish-led Syrian force, backed by the U.S., is also pushing toward Raqqa, the groups de-facto capital in Syria, from the north. Meanwhile, Turkey is backing Syrian opposition fighters who have reached the outskirts of al-Bab, the IS stronghold in northern Syria.
After years of debate, Arizona utility regulators finally appear ready to decide a long-burning question: What is solar energy generated on customers rooftops really worth?

The Arizona Corporation Commission is expected to decide the issue on Dec. 19, when it will consider proposals to change rates for rooftop solar customers including controversial cuts to credits solar customers get for the excess power they generate.

And that could have a major impact on the cost and adoption of rooftop solar in territories of state-regulated utilities including Tucson Electric Power Co. and the biggest state-regulated utility, Arizona Public Service Co.

Under the process, known as net metering, solar customers are credited monthly at the full retail rate for excess power  for TEP about 11.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Any credits left at the end of the billing year are credited at each utilitys comparable cost for wholesale power, for TEP about 2.5 cents per kwh.

While solar companies and advocates want to keep the full retail credit rate, TEP has proposed cutting the net-metering credit rate from the retail rate to the cost of power from its most recent utility-scale solar farm, about 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, reasoning it is a similar resource.

APS has proposed a rate not much more than the avoided cost of fueling conventional power plants, about 3 cents per kwh.

In a ruling in late October, a Corporation Commission administrative law judge said regulators should scrap the current system of reimbursing customers with rooftop solar at the full retail rate for power.

For the near future, Judge Teena Jibilian said, new credit rates for solar customers should be based on short-term studies based on costs avoided by rooftop solar, or on the cost of power from large, utility-scale solar farms.

The cost studies would be based on a rolling five-year examination of the benefits and costs of rooftop solar, potentially eliminating from consideration long-term benefits including reduced pollution and public-health costs.

That riled solar advocates, who insist long-term societal benefits of solar including lessening the need for new fossil-fuel power plants and reduction of health risks should be fully counted.

The judges recommendation, will form the basis for the Dec. 19 hearing, but the full Corporation Commission has final say and can reject or modify the proposal.

For its part, TEP agrees with most of the judges decision but has sought clarification on several issues, company spokesman Joe Barrios said.

The company wants it made clear that banking of solar energy credits  allowing one months excess production to be credited toward the next month  would end under the new rules.

In commission filings, TEP said it prefers the solar-farm cost proxy for setting solar export rates over the avoided-cost methodology, but that the commission should clarify that utilities could use either.

Chilling effect

Any cuts to net-metering rates would reduce the advantages of solar and extend the financial payback period for such systems by years.

In fact, the prospect of fewer solar benefits has caused many customers to balk at installing their own panels, especially since the utilities have been telling customers changes are on the way.

Kevin Koch, owner of the local solar installation firm Technicians for Sustainability, said his business has been down since TEP filed to change net-metering policy effective June 1, 2015.

The matter was put off along with other utilities net-metering change requests, to await the outcome of the value-of-solar proceeding, but TEPs notices that net-metering rates could change chilled the market, Koch said.

That created a tremendous amount of uncertainty in the marketplace, he said.

TEP didnt see much of a drop off overall, however.

This year through November, TEP counted 3,019 rooftop solar installations tied to its grid, compared with 3,199 in all of 2015, and 1,937 in 2014.

The uncertainty isnt limited to TEP.

William Rood was interested in installing solar on his SaddleBrooke home when he found that his power company, Trico Electric Cooperative, was proposing changes including new demand charges and lower net-metering rates for rooftop solar customers.

With Tricos help he calculated that the proposed new credit rate of 7.7 cents per kwh would extend his payback period more than two years. Still, Rood decided it was worth it.

In October he spent about $20,000 to install a 6.36-kilowatt photovoltaic system that offsets most of his power usage.

I decided to go ahead with it because it was the right thing to do, said Rood, a retired newspaper reporter and editor.

Rood may have avoided the new rates after all.

In a pending rate settlement with the Corporation Commissions utilities staff, the Trico net-metering changes would apply to customers who applied to install their systems after May 31. All prior customers would be grandfathered under the old rate system.

But in a recommended order issued last week, a Corporation Commission administrative law judge recommended that the new rules should apply to Trico customers who apply to install solar after the effective date of the new rates, likely early next year.

The judge in the value of solar case also has recommended that all solar customers be grandfathered under current retail credit rates until each utilities new rates are approved.

Though the matter isnt settled, Rood said hes glad regulators are rejecting the idea of retroactive changes.
A historic Arizona ranch now has new dudes.

Horses and cattle will soon be headed to Rancho de la Osa, near Sasabe, after it was bought at auction last month by self-described passionate dude ranch owners.

The buyers, Robert Bucksbaum, who owns the Majestic Dude Ranch outside Durango, Colorado, Tucsonan Russell True, who grew up at and is now co-owner of the White Stallion Ranch, along with investors Jaye H. Wells and Paul Bear plan to welcome guests Feb. 1.

Wells is an architect and Trues partner on his Southwest dude ranches, and Bear helped revive and renovate Tucsons Rialto Theater and founded KXCI.

The 240-acre property with 10 buildings was auctioned on Oct. 22, and the sale closed Nov. 23.

Records from the Pima County Recorders Office list a sale price of $710,600.

The buyers spared the ranch from fates such as becoming a ghost ranch, a housing site for the Border Patrol or a lavish personal residence.

Rancho de la Osa was owned and operated by Veronica and Richard Schultz, who fully restored and upgraded the ranch that abuts the 117,000-acre Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, along the Arizona-Mexico border.

The couple bought the guest ranch in 1996 and in 2014 put it up for sale, ready to retire and travel the world.

After two years, with no offers, the couple put the ranch up for auction.

True and Bucksbaum were introduced by Veronica Shultz.

True said the Schultzes caretaking of the ranch was a gift for us and called La Osa Arizonas most historic ranch.

Authentic experience with a twist

About a 90-minute drive from Tucson, the ranch has 19 guess rooms, a cantina, two dining rooms and 33 wood-burning fireplaces.

The property dates to the 1700s.

The first building was erected by Jesuit priests as a trading post to exchange goods with local tribes and as a place for traveling missionaries who were carrying on the work of Eusebio Francisco Kino. It is believed to be the oldest continually used building in Arizona.

The ranch was included in the Gadsden Purchase and bought by Col. William Spencer Sturgis in 1889, who established it as La Osa Ranch.

When he first visited the property, Bucksbaum said, I was floored, and I immediately knew it would be part of my life.

Its magical when you first walk in, he said. Knowing that John Wayne and two presidents had been there and the 300-year-old building that is so well preserved  in Colorado, nothing is that old.

Along with traditional trail rides on horseback and cattle drives, the new owners plan to introduce other activities.

Guests will have access to fat-tire and electric mountain bikes, ATVs, hunting excursions, rock climbing and outdoor movies.

At his Colorado ranch, Bucksbaum has had success in bringing in corporate retreats with activities such as human foosball, which he plans to introduce at La Osa.

We are stewards of this one-of-a-kind property, True said. We will keep the authenticity, yet expand the options. Were going to introduce Colorados adventure-style dude ranching to Arizona.

Down the road, the owners want to offer designation venues, such as mission tours in Sonora as part of a guests stay, True said.

The oldest building, which now houses a cantina, will be transformed to an event room.

And, unlike some urban dude ranches that have been hurt by rooftops visible from the trail, Were not fearful of a bunch of neighbors moving in, True said.

Attracting guests, new and old

Wells was one of the last guests at La Osa and helped haul away the horses.

It was so sad and I was wracking my brain on how to save it, he said.

The chance to partner with the other investors was a thrill.

First order of business, Wells said, will be to welcome back guests that loved the place and then go after the younger people who will enjoy the added activities.

The wild West is really cool.

The European visitor will be a large target, especially during the summer months.

To them, the heat is exotic, Wells said.

Recent job announcements in the Tucson area make incoming residents a natural guest to invite as the transplants explore their new home, he said.

The owners plan to stock up on a variety to tequilas and have tastings at the ranch and a Sunday brunch for locals to make a day trip.

Being right on the border with Mexico doesnt concern the owners.

In Arizona its a nonissue, True said. But to people in Chicago and New York, it might be, yet I believe some are going to want to come to see the fence  well ride right along the fence.

True is a co-founder and president of the Arizona Dude Ranch Association and co-owns with partners the 270-acre Tombstone Monument Ranch near Tombstone.

He and Bucksbaum plan to share resources by co-managing the dude ranches  La Osa, White Stallion, Tombstone and the Majestic.

We see the potential for administering and marketing these historic ranch properties through a centralized modern boutique management system, he said, such as a single reservation system and shared marketing with linked websites.

Visitors who enjoy the dude ranch experience can rotate among the different options.
The dusty desert has always kept local carwashes busy.

Unlike the 30-plus minute waits of yesteryear, drive-thru systems can have customers on their way in as little as five minutes.

The introduction of automated tunnels and self-serve operations has created a boon for the industry.

Mister Car Wash, which moved its headquarters to Tucson in 1998, recently bought Arizona Auto Spa, bringing the number of Tucson shops to 15. The company has a total of 202 throughout the country.

And homegrown company Dynamite Car Wash Concepts is building its fourth location near Ajo Way and Interstate 19.

Dynamite began with a shop at 12th Avenue and Drexel Road in 2011 and doesnt see the need to leave the market in order to grow.

Theres so much opportunity in Tucson and growth in Tucson, theres really no need to expand, said owner Evo DeConcini.

He foresees building at least two more facilities in the next two years. His company has about 20 full- and part-time employees.

The new Dynamite Car Wash Hypersonic, near Ajo Way and Interstate 19  will feature a 120-foot conveyer in an open tunnel, 14 free vacuum stalls and a free high-pressure, pre-wash prep area for getting rid of those bugs on the windshield after a road trip, DeConcini said.

His three other facilities are self-serve in-bay automated and can clean up to 12 cars an hour. The new conveyer will be able to wash 130 an hour.

Dynamites focus is on the customer experience, he said, with simple signage and touch-screen automation without the hard sell of membership.

NO SLOWING DOWN

Mister Car Wash, which opened its new headquarters near downtown in 2014, continues its rapid growth through acquisitions and upgrades of carwashes.

This years purchase of 46 stores was a record for the company and there are no plans to slow down, said CEO John Lai.

Between 30 and 50 stores a year feels doable, he said. Its a wide open field and were hungry to add to the network of stores.

Lai said the simplicity of the automated carwash encourages customers to keep their cars clean.

If you wash it in the driveway it takes an hour, he said. This is simple and thats why its become popular.

With a focus on employee development, Mister Car Wash has created a university program to grow young employees into general managers or higher positions within the company.

Were super proud of our more than 7,000 employees, Lai said. If we have a happy workforce, theres more productivity and higher quality of customer service.

Lai, who started with the company in 2002 as vice president of market development, said none of his peers had advanced degrees.

Now there are MBAs and CPAs at the company, he said.

The company recently bought a building near its headquarters at 222 E. Fifth St., to create more education space and hopes to start a partnership with the University of Arizona for employee development.

For some customers, its the convenience and for others the price  automated car washes are as little as $3.
Bring tissues.

Youll need them when you see Arizona Theatre Companys remarkable, timely production of the musical Fiddler on the Roof.

Its not just the powerful singing and acting, the set with the Marc Chagall-inspired backdrop, or the impressive dancing that will grab you.

It is the honesty of this production. The cohesive cast made us trust, effortlessly, that they all grew up together and lived in this small Jewish shtetl in a remote part of Russia during the early 1900s, when the czar was systematically forcing Jews out of the country. The great sorrow and tragedy of friends and family ripped apart and discarded because they are Jews is palpable.

David Ira Goldstein directed this production of the 52-year-old musical, which feels as though it has much to say to us today.

Not that Goldstein tried to modernize it or infuse it with topical references. He didnt. He just saw to it that the passion and compassion were deeply rooted, and that the audience lived the joy  and the pain  when the characters did. As a result, its impossible to see this Fiddler and not think about those who are currently ostracized because of their faith, their culture, the color of their skin.

Of course, all good directorial intentions are for naught if you dont have a cast to pull it off.

Goldstein has the cast.

Leading it is Eric Polani Jensen as Tevye, the milkman with five daughters, three of whom are marrying age. While he is poor, he is rich in spirit and faith. Jensens voice is powerful, but it is his grasp of the character, his ability to make Tevyes conversations with God believable, his deep love for his family real, the humor honest, that made the audience fall in love with Tevye. And by extension, Jensen.

Playing his wife, Golde, is Anne Allgood, whose voice is astounding, as is her timing. She received some of the biggest laughs of the night just with a quick line or a raised eyebrow.

There was not a weak link in the cast, and a number of standouts. Among them: Kate Jaeger as Yente, the matchmaker, and Armen Dirtadian as the butcher Lazar Wolf, both of whom provided laughter and well-drawn characters. The innocence and passion of Tevyes daughters of marrying age was shimmering in the hands of Jennifer Wingerter (Tzeitel), Taylor Pearlstein (Hodel), and Krista Curry (Chava).

Choreographer Kathryn Van Meter sometimes used, and always paid tribute to, the original choreography by Jerome Robbins.

This musical, by Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, has a score that is impossible to get out of the head  and not in an annoying way. Songs such as Sunrise, Sunset and Matchmaker, Matchmaker are well known and loved. From the opening number, Tradition, joyous and a sort of classic lesson in how to do exposition without bogging the story down, to the mournful closing number, Anatevka, a soulful, sorrowful song about the town theyve called home all their lives, the score is near perfection.

The Chagall-inspired backdrop  an element of the original production and one that has stuck with many remounts  speaks to Jewish traditions and elements that underscore the beauty and the tragedy of this story.

The laughs are plentiful in this production. The singing gorgeous. The story compelling. But the heart and heartbreak, then and now, are what will get the tears flowing.

Thats where the tissues will help.
Animal Talk: Mexican Folk Art Animal Sounds in English and Spanish

By Cynthia Weil. Wood Sculptures from Oaxaca by Rubi Fuentes and Efrain Broa. Cinco Puntos Press

Bees say bzzz bzzz in English and zum zum in Spanish. Frogs say ribbit ribbit in English and crua crua in Spanish. Oaxacan-carved wooden sculptures illustrate this 30-page bilingual picture book of animals and the sounds they make in two languages. With beautiful and playful depictions ranging from roosters to snakes, this little book is just right for interactive animal play with kids and adults.

Desert Dark

By Sonja Stone. Holiday House

A suspenseful young adult thriller about four teens who have been recruited to attend a CIA Black Ops training school in Arizona. Nadia joins Jack, Damon and Libby on a team, but the news that theres a double-agent at the school has them suspecting each other. Exciting right to the very end! This book would make a great movie for teens or adults. Ages 12 and up

The Donkey Lady Fights La Llorona and Other Stories/La Senora Asno Se Enfrenta a La Llorona Y Otros Cuentos

By Xavier Garza. Pinata Books/Arte Publico Press

This fun, bilingual collection of Mexican-inspired short horror tales would be a treat for a camp fire read-aloud or other get-together for kids ages 9-12. One of the offerings, Tunnels, starts with a boy falling into a tunnel and confronting some drug dealers. Luckily his dog, Chato, comes to his rescue. Is Chato actually a dog or a chupacabra? Youll have to read Tunnels and the other stories to find out!

Mayas Blanket/La Manta de Maya

By Monica Brown; illustrated by David Diaz. Childrens Book Press

Mayas blanket, handmade by her abuelita, has become frayed and worn, so they turn it into a vestido (dress). As it becomes more and more worn out, the remnants are used as a rebozo, a cinta (ribbon), and a bookmark. This story was inspired by the Yiddish folk song I Had a Little Overcoat. The colorful illustrations and engaging storyline make it a perfect choice for bilingual story time. Ages 5-9

Slingshot and Burp

By Richard Haynes; illustrations by Stephen Gilpin. Candlewick Press

Slingshot and Burp are two boys riding around dusty trails on their trusty steeds (bikes), looking for action. When they return to their bunkhouse, the boys find that their sisters have turned it into a pink doll house. They shoot up the dolls and suffer two days of jail time for the crime. Once released, Slingshot and Burp go back to their adventures, hunting for snakes, scorpions, and a Ghost Cat. Ages 7-10

Stealing Indians

By John Smelcer. Leapfrog Press

As recently as the middle of the last century, when this book is set, Native American children were routinely taken from their families and sent away to government boarding schools in an attempt to assimilate them into white society. The motto of the time was Kill the Indian, save the man, and the boarding schools tore apart the lives of thousands of Native American families. Smelcer focuses on four Native American children. One of them, Simon Lone Fight, a Navajo from Four Corners, lost his parents when they were killed in a car accident and was turned over to the authorities by his grandparents. He spent the rest of his teen years at the school, along with hundreds of other Native American children. A disturbing, factual account. Ages 12 and up

Sand Dune Daisy: A Pocket Mouse Tale

By Lili DeBarbieri; illustrations by M. Fred Barraza. Westcliffe Publishers

Daisy is a tiny pocket mouse living in a sand dunes burrow. Gypsum, a kit fox, is hunting for food for his family and likes to eat mice. Daisy gets lost one day and is chased by Gypsum and a hawk when suddenly she sees a child sledding down a dune. Daisy hops onto the sled and whooshes away! There is a good glossary at the end of the story as well as a Did You Know section that describes four of the largest sand dunes in the United States. Ages 5-8
Four out of the five Arizona nominees for the U.S. Presidential Scholars in Career and Technical Education program are from the Tucson area.

They are:

Lindsay Hoel of Canyon del Oro High School

Tia Hunt and Mara Steeber of Mountain View High School

Joseph Olague of Desert View High School

The fifth nominee is Victoria Bate of Higley High School in Gilbert.

The five students will represent the state in a nationwide program that honors students who have demonstrated excellence and accomplishment in career and technical education fields. Twenty out of 45 finalists will be chosen in January 2017.
PHOENIX  Arizona lawmakers largely ignored a requirement to disclose large contributions made during the final days of their campaign.

An analysis of campaign finance reports shows that in 2016 at least $115,000 in contributions of $1,000 or more that were disclosed late, or not at all, violating state law, The Arizona Capitol Times reported .

Lawmakers in 2013 voted to increase the amount of money candidates can accept from a single campaign donor, balancing that increase by also requiring candidates to disclose any large, last-minute contributions in real-time.

The law increased the maximum contribution an individual can make to a statewide candidate to $2,500 from $1,000 or to $2,500 from $488 for legislative candidates, and removed the cap on how much aggregate money a candidate can receive from political action committees.

Candidates have only three days to file campaign finance reports disclosing any contributions of $1,000 or more that they receive less than 20 days before the primary or general election.

This year, at the request of the Secretary of States Office, lawmakers voted to repeal the disclosure requirement. The repeal took effect after this years election.

Secretary of State Michele Reagan said her office pushed to remove the requirement because the donations were small and had little impact.

What we kept hearing from (lawmakers) about the $1,000 notifications is they dont do anything for anyone in the real world. Most campaign fundraising has been completed by that time, she said.

She said, while no complaints were filed against candidates for filing reports late, lawmakers and her office worried the requirement would become a political opportunity to file frivolous complaints against their opponents.

We looked it up, and found there had been zero complaints about this, so why do we even have it in law? Its just another catch, another gotcha, to allow one candidate to sue another candidate. The only people who were benefiting from this were attorneys.
Completed in 2014, the widened stretch of Houghton Road between Irvington and Valencia roads is one of the smoothest pieces of pavement in Pima County.

Smooth, however, would probably not be the best way to describe the complicated, years-long legal back-and-forth between CenturyLink and the city of Tucson that has paralleled the Houghton Corridor project, one of the largest included in the $2.1 billion voter-approved RTA plan. When completed, the estimated $160 million project will provide a 13-mile, six-lane thoroughfare from Tanque Verde Road to Interstate 10.

CenturyLink has sued Tucson twice over the project  a third suit was avoided, according to the project manager, who said she wasnt aware of a project that has faced as many comparable legal challenges  arguing that the city was obligated to cover the costs of moving communication lines impacted by the massive project. In both cases, the most recent of which was settled earlier this fall, one of the key issues at play was who had prior rights.

In city roadway projects, utilities usually pay for moving their infrastructure because most have so-called franchise agreements with the city. There is no such arrangement with CenturyLink.

Tucson and CenturyLink have gone 1-1, with the city prevailing in the first lawsuit, which made it up to the Arizona Court of Appeals, and the company winning a $1.35 million settlement in the second that was approved by the City Council this September. Robin Raine, the Tucson Department of Transportations deputy director, said the amount was not as much as (CenturyLink) had hoped for, but also not as little as we had hoped for. The company had asked for $2.4 million, as well as additional compensation for loss of prior rights.

In the wake of the most recent settlement, M.J. Dillard, the projects manager, said the city and the company have come up with a plan she says is likely to limit, or eliminate altogether, the likelihood of more costly court battles.

We are hoping that with this new relationship we will not end up in litigation with this or any other job, she told the Road Runner last week.

Dillard also said that even with the additional costs from the settlement, the whole Houghton project is still likely to come in under budget. Its schedule has also not been impacted by the lawsuits.

Both cases get at some of the complicated, and potentially costly, issues that can arise with the utility work that accompanies any major road project. The Road Runner will do his best to provide an engaging summary of each .

The first suit was filed by the company in February 2012 in response to Houghton work between Irvington and Valencia roads. CenturyLinks basic claim was that the State of Arizona Land Department granted Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company (which was subsequently acquired by Qwest, which itself was in turn acquired by CenturyLink in 2011) an easement to build an underground communications line in 1987. The company built it in 1992 and moved it in 2011 to make way for the widened road, work it said cost $840,000.

More than three decades prior, the state granted Pima County a 75-foot right of way in 1956 for the purpose of constructing Houghton Road, of which the city is the successor in interest, according to court documents. That, in the citys view, was enough to give them prior rights, and should require CenturyLink to eat the utility costs.

But CenturyLinks attorneys argued that the right-of-way did not give the city any rights to the subsurface of the land. If that were the case, the city responded, it would be impossible to build a road.

In his August 2013 ruling in favor of the city, Pima County Superior Court Judge Charles Harrington went after CenturyLinks argument with this barb: If Houghton Road could be built by only touching the surface it would essentially require the city to spray-paint a road onto the surface.

In written comments, company spokesman Mark Molzen said, We were disappointed that the court did not recognize that CenturyLinks rights pre-existed the citys road construction. We owe it to our customers and shareholders to continue to protect our land rights and will examine each situation as it arises.

In the second round of the legal bout, which centered around the Valencia-Irvington stretch, CenturyLink made similar claims, but based them on private easements it had purchased around the project site as far back as the 1960s. Again, the key issue was who had prior rights, and that required a very slow and tedious dive into mountainous stacks of decades-old documents to try and prove both the actual location of the utilities before the project as well as the actual cost of their relocation, according to court documents and Dillard.

Though the picture painted by those documents wasnt a perfect or complete one, We finally just said, you know what, this is going to be the best we can do without a couple more years and tons of research, Dillard recalled of the settlement negotiations.

It was our best fit, as opposed to going to trial, which have been expensive and would have drawn everything out, she added. It would have been a nightmare.

Those costs and delays could erode public trust in the ability of local government to carry out large road projects, according to Dillard.

For its part, CenturyLink said it was pleased with the settlement and appreciative of the time the city of Tucson devoted to resolving this important issue, according to a statement provided by Molzen.

For obvious reasons, Dillard said the city and CenturyLink are hoping to avoid additional legal tangles. To that end, language was included in the settlement that requires the company to work with the city earlier on in the roadway planning process to identify potential utility conflicts, something that did not happen consistently before, according to Dillard.

Im keeping my fingers crossed that well find a way to make this work, she said.

Its really important that we all come together as a team to make sure we are meeting the expectations of all of our stakeholders, Dillard added later. Because these utilities, the taxpayers are their customers every bit as much they are ours.
Pima Countys assessor has hired his own attorneys with out-of-pocket cash  and successfully billed county taxpayers for reimbursement  to handle two recent legal cases in which he disagreed with property values set by a state board.

Bill Staples says the tactic is needed to ensure he meets his mandate to ensure every property owner in the county pays their fair share of taxes. He is also likely to do it again soon, he told the Star.

County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, however, says the tactic is unnecessary and that the county attorneys office is more than capable of representing Staples in tax court.

Even before resorting to using his own money, Staples office has regularly used outside legal counsel, with two private attorneys frequently employed by him earning about $175,000 over the last four years.

The most recent instance of Staples novel approach to handling some property evaluation appeals dates back to late 2015, when the State Board of Equalization dropped the valuation of a number of Raytheon-owned buildings in Tucson from the county assessors figure of $42.9 million to $33.5 million.

Staples disagreed with the decision and, as he has done several times in recent years, appealed the ruling to tax court in Maricopa County. In the proceedings he was represented by Terri Roberts, a former deputy attorney with the Pima County Attorneys Office in private practice since 2012.

She billed Staples a little over $2,700 for her services, which the assessor paid at first with private funds, something two other Arizona county assessors said they had never heard of and Staples himself described as unprecedented. Staples then filed a notice of claim on Sept. 30 against the county seeking to be reimbursed for that payment, a copy of which was obtained by the Star.

Its unusual to have to pay for it out of your own pocket, Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen told the Star, echoing the comments of Yuma County Assessor Joe Wehrle. Ive never heard of that. Like ever.

Ive been county administrator 23 years, 24 maybe, and this is the first time Ive ever seen it by an independent elected official, Huckelberry said, adding that the first notice of claim was a surprise to his staff.

The county has paid out on the Raytheon case claim, as well as one for another Staples appealed to tax court. He told the Star that he has personally paid out and recouped roughly $10,000 for those cases. With the deadline for similar appeals for the 2017 tax year looming, the assessor said he will likely resort to the practice again soon and is now reviewing cases where it would be appropriate.

Staples told the Star that the unusual course of action was suggested by someone with the county attorneys office. Citing attorney-client privilege, Chief Deputy Amelia Cramer declined to comment on that.

Using personal cash and filing notices of claim is a way to get around a board of supervisors policy  one Staples feels doesnt apply to him or other elected county officials, but that Huckelberry said does  that requires all outside legal representation to be approved by either the county attorneys office or administration, according to Staples. He said he has only done so in cases where he wants to appeal board of equalization decisions, but feels he does not have the backing of administration or the board of supervisors.

Private counsel retained without compliance with the provisions of this policy  shall not constitute a legitimate charge of Pima County and shall be the personal obligation of the individual retaining private counsel, the board policy reads.

Staples said Huckelberry has pointed to that policy in denying some of his requests for outside counsel, which the assessor argues is sometimes necessary to properly pursue assessment cases. Failing to do so could lead to unfair property tax bills.

When in my opinion or my offices opinion the (board) rules incorrectly, this office will make sure that everyones value supports their tax burden and that that burden is not shifted over to anyone else, Staples said.

In the most recent Raytheon case, Staples said, annual property tax payments of over $100,000 were in the balance. Court records show that the full cash value agreed on for the 2015 tax year during settlement negotiations was the same the assessor had originally determined and the following year was set slightly lower at $42.8 million. The 2015 limited value, which is now used for all Arizona property tax calculations, was set at just shy of $37 million and roughly $38.3 million for 2016.

A Raytheon spokesman declined to comment on the case, though Staples said both sides felt comfortable with the outcome. Supervisor Ramon Valadez, whose district includes Raytheon, was skeptical that taxpayers were benefiting from Staples actions, but said his board doesnt have the ability to put a stop to it because assessor is an elected position.

Huckelberry said he could not recall an instance in which his office denied a request for outside counsel from Staples, and added that the $10,000 in legal expenses would have likely been approved through established channels. By not doing so, Huckelberry added, Staples precluded analysis of the conflict that makes the hiring necessary.

A complaint filed several years ago by Staples with the State Bar of Arizona against the county attorneys office is the conflict at play in many of those cases, according to Huckelberry.

No record of such a complaint could be found on the bars website. If a complaint is dismissed, records of them remain public for six months, after which no information about them can be released, according to bar spokesman Rick DeBruhl.

When asked if he had filed such a complaint, and how that could have impacted his use of outside attorneys, Staples said he had no comment.

Records show that outside counsel has been regularly approved for Staples office. Between May 2012 and October 2016, Roberts office, which the assessor uses most frequently, was paid over $140,000. Another attorney regularly used by Staples has been paid over $35,000 since March 2015, according to vendor histories provided by the county.

Staples said he uses county attorneys for contracts, employment law and basic legal questions, but has not used them for any board of equalization appeals since 2015.

The county attorney tries to provide civil legal representation to all county officials and entities as much as we can because it is more cost effective, Cramer said. And because we do have an extensive and highly qualified and capable stable of attorneys.

Were paying for the county attorney. If the county attorney is capable, they should be the legal representative of the county, not an outside counsel, unless theres a bonafide conflict, Huckelberry said, adding that he has absolutely full faith in the offices abilities in tax court.

But Staples does not. If the office had attorneys that were competent in the state law at play in tax court appeals, it would be much easier to use them, he said.

In the most recent Raytheon case, he said that Roberts ability to successfully negotiate the settlement for less than $3,000 illustrated the value of attorneys with that expertise. He added that such lawyers are few and far between.

He would also be more inclined to use county attorneys if their office signed an agreement designating the assessors office, as opposed to the board of supervisors, as the sole client in assessment cases, something the attorneys office has declined to do, according to a late 2015 email exchange provided by the assessor. Without that agreement, Staples said, the office will likely continue on its current path.

While acknowledging that some taxpayers may not understand his tactics, Staples argued that others may see them as evidence he is actually taking his job seriously. He also pointed to his office coming in under budget in recent years as evidence he is a good steward of the taxpayers money.

Cramer said she could not comment, but Huckelberry said that such an agreement would effectively require the county attorney to take (Staples) side of an argument, instead of perhaps listening to another side of an argument.

However the impasse is resolved, Huckelberry said it is important to come to an agreement to use the county attorney as much as possible.
The Thursday after the election, 19-year old Colleen Magee-Uhlik came face to face with what seems to be a growing problem across the nation.

As she passed a woman in the aisle of a northwest-side pet store and said, Excuse me, her polite demeanor was met with an unexpected response.

Oh, my, the woman said. Are you ready to go back where you belong to Mexico? President Trump is going to make America great again.

Magee-Uhlik, who is actually Asian, was startled for a moment but collected herself and corrected the woman, adding that America is never going to be great as long as there are racists like her.

I was concerned about the effects of the election, but I didnt think anything would happen so soon, Magee-Uhlik said.

A member of a mixed-race family, Magee-Uhlik lived in Wisconsin for 11 years before moving to Tucson.

Im adopted, and my parents and younger sister are white. There was so much ignorance in Wisconsin, she said. Youd be shocked to hear what people will say to your face.

She said that when her family arrived in Tucson six years ago, it was a breath of fresh air.

It meant so much to be in a community that was culturally diverse and accepting, she said, adding that while theres always some racism around, it was much less frequent and overt than in the Midwest.

She shared her post-election experience on her Facebook page, and had more than 100 likes, shares and comments.

Magee-Uhlik said she hopes more people will come forward and speak out against racism.

Its not what any of us want to talk about, but maybe its what we need to hear, she said.

Dozens of acts

of hate are reported

In recent weeks, bias-related hateful messages posted around town have been reported to police and community groups.

A photo posted on the Tucson Atheists Facebook page on Nov. 20 showed a hateful message scrawled into the sidewalk near the bus stop on East 22nd Street, just west of South Kolb Road.

Someone who saw the post reported the incident to the Tucson chapter of Pantsuit Nation, a local group that formed the day after the election and is working to fight hate by promoting kindness.

In addition to reporting the incident to the city, a member of the group went to the site and cleaned up the graffiti.

Three days later, a flier was found attached to a telephone pole on the corner of North Mountain Avenue and East Linden Street.

Black lives dont matter while they are committing a felony, the flier read.

The woman who posted the photo reported it to the police, and other people contacted the YWCA of Southern Arizona and Southern Poverty Law Center, a national group dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry.

When Pantsuit Nation found out about the flier, it took action again.

We went right to the intersection and wrote messages of welcome and encouragement, said Amanda Gormley, Pantsuit Nations interim executive committee member.

These arent the only examples of whats taken place in town.

Last Saturday, a Tucson woman contacted police to report hateful messages written on her property.

Later in the day, a group of her neighbors cleaned up the sidewalk and wrote positive messages in chalk to promote love and kindness.

Dozens of other messages have been posted on Facebook detailing open acts of harassment people have witnessed or endured over the past several weeks.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are four statewide hate groups in Arizona.

In Pima County, there are two white nationalist groups, a Neo-Nazi group, a group defined as racist skinheads and an anti-immigrant group.

Community groups spring into action

In response to experiences like Magee-Uhliks and other acts, YWCA, Pantsuit Nation and other local groups have sprung to action by hosting meetings and events around town promoting kindness and talking about ways to combat hate.

In a letter to the editor published in the Arizona Daily Star on Nov. 26, YWCA CEO Kelly Fryer and the groups advocacy committee chairperson, Annette Everlove, said that after hearing about incidents of harassment across the country, they invited Tucsonans to share their stories through Facebooks private messenger.

In the first 48 hours, more than a dozen people responded.

On Nov. 30, the group hosted a kickoff event for the We Stand Togethernetwork, during which Police Chief Chris Magnus and Mayor Jonathan Rothschild talked about how to work together as a community to directly respond to hate crimes and bullying. The event, which was held at the the groups Frances McClelland Community Center, drew so much interest that it was standing room only.

Between Nov. 11 and Nov. 30, the group received 18 reports of bias-related incidents, but since launching the network, theyve received only four reports, according to a news release.

As of Friday, more than 475 people and businesses have signed up to be a part of the network, by promising to offer haven to anyone threatened by bias-related harassment or harm.

Next week, on Tuesday, the YWCA and Southern Arizona Hate Crimes Task Force will ask the Pima County Board of Supervisors to make all of Pima County part of the network.

Pantsuit Nation has also held a number of meetings and chalk mobs, where members have turned out to decorate the streets.

Weve had small groups coming together to get to know each other and start conversations, Gormley said. Our focus is on mobilizing the Tucson community to support local groups for marginalized individuals.

The group was also created to give people a safe space to talk, she said.

With 4,700 members of their closed Facebook group, the movement seems to be gaining momentum.

Its great to have so many people coming out in support of people who are in danger or are afraid for the future, Gormley said.

Next weekend, the group will hit the sidewalks of Fourth Avenue in a Chalk to Action, adorning the streets with messages about how to fight hate and increase kindness in the community.

The group has also planned a January event with the Jewish History Museum, to start a community discussion about social history and activism.

Pantsuit Nation believes that Tucsons Muslim community will play an important part in the discussion and has invited representatives of the Islamic Center of Tucson to attend.

Despite her concerns about what else could happen as a result of the election, Magee-Uhlik is optimistic.

It sucks to see these kinds of things happening around Tucson, she said. I hope we start seeing more messages of kindness.

If groups like Pantsuit Nation and the YWCA have any say in it, thats exactly what will happen.
News / National

by Ndou Paul

HEAVY rains are pounding Bulawayo and parts of Matabeleland North and South provinces, breaking the dry spell that had dominated most parts of the Southern region in the last two months.The persistent downpour covered areas surrounding the city and other districts.The Meteorological Services Department has forecast that wet weather conditions are expected to persist in all parts of the country.The coming of the rains is also expected to result in significant inflows into the Bulawayo water supply dams and ease the biting water shortages.Meanwhile, the city's chief fire officer Mr Richard Peterson said the fire brigade was on high alert to assist residents in the event of an emergency.He warned residents to desist from crossing flooded streams as they risk drowning.
For seven years, Dr. George Thompson at the University of California, Davis, collected DNA samples from patients for research into Valley fever.

He sought funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest funder of primary biomedical research in the U.S., but could not secure any money to pursue his inquiry: Do genes protect some people from getting sick after inhaling the fungus that causes Valley fever?

But things have changed dramatically. The federal agency, which long ignored the disease that mostly affects people in Arizona and California, is now providing critical support to multiple studies that could yield new insights into Valley fever. The fledgling research makes good on promises made by the NIH in the wake of an investigative year-long series on Valley fever by the Center for Health Journalism Collaborative and a major symposium by the NIH and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Bakersfield that followed.

Were just on the cusp of doing some very exciting things, said Dr. Steven M. Holland, director of the NIHs Division of Intramural Research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Gene study gets started

The Coccidioides  or cocci  fungus is part of the same family as molds and mushrooms. Its spores are so tiny they cant be seen without a microscope. The fungus lives in the soil but during dust storms, construction or other events that stir up the dust, the spores are lifted into the air and into the lungs of humans and animals. Most people develop an immunity, but for those who do not the impact can be devastating, even deadly.

Why some people are more susceptible remains a mystery. Thats in part because the disease is hard to study. The same fungus that causes the disease poses a significant danger to the researchers themselves. They have to wear safety masks and use other tools to protect themselves from breathing in spores.

This one has been a tough one, said Dr. Dennis Dixon, chief of the NIHs Bacteriology and Mycology Branch, Its hard for the patients, hard for the doctors and hard for the researchers.

Its also been hard to secure funding to study the disease. Thompson, an associate professor of clinical medicine at UC Davis, obtained DNA from 650 volunteer patients over seven years, without any big grants to allow him to do the necessary lab studies to make sense of the samples. All he had was the hope that he could make use of the DNA down the road.

Patients were just so excited someones working on it, Thompson said. Its been really a labor of love.

For years scientists have asked why the overwhelming majority of people inhale the cocci spores and never show signs of sickness. Others, however, develop flu-like symptoms or pneumonia but recover without serious harm. And then there are the few who develop severe illnesses and even die.

Researchers believe that most people may have a genetic makeup that automatically fends off the cocci fungus. Thompson said his first attempt to secure funding from the NIH to test this theory failed, but he continued to have ongoing discussions with the agency.

In 2012, the Center for Health Journalism Collaborative, a consortium of news outlets led by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, began a year-long investigative series on Valley fever.

The collaboratives reporting  more than 50 stories  documented the need for more research, treatment, physician and consumer education and investment to lessen the diseases devastating toll.

Following the series, U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) brought the heads of the NIH and the CDC to Bakersfield, in September 2013, for the most high profile scientific and public gathering ever focused on the disease. At the time, McCarthy was the House Republican whip, and he currently is the House Majority Leader.

We all recognize that theres more that needs to be done, Dr. Francis Collins, NIHs director, told the crowd in Bakersfield in 2013. Theres so many unknowns.

In 2014, the NIH agreed to add Thompsons DNA samples to an existing genetic studies project being conducted by the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass. Thompson hopes to see initial results from the study next year.

The Broad Institute, a joint initiative between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, has been studying genes for more than a decade, looking for ways to improve treatment of illnesses. Broad researchers will analyze 150 patients who had severe Valley fever and compare their DNA to patients who were infected with the disease without serious complications. The researchers will look at the genetic difference between those who did great and those who did not, Thompson said.

The NIH is also playing a key role in another study looking into genetic susceptibility, this one in conjunction with the University of Arizonas Valley Fever Center for Excellence in Tucson.

The centers director, Dr. John Galgiani, has been researching the disease for more than three decades. In 2008, Galgiani had a teenage patient who had severe Valley fever and medications werent working.

Galgiani sent the boy to Hollands NIH center in Bethesda, Maryland, and through testing they learned the boy had gene mutations.

As a result of this initial breakthrough other patients were found to have mutations in other genes, Galgiani said. The implication was if they didnt have the mutation, they wouldnt have developed Valley fever.

Since then, Hollands group has treated at least 41 severely ill Valley fever patients referred by Galgiani and other doctors.

Zeroing in on genes that predispose people to severe Valley fever reactions could make an important difference when it comes to prevention. Those who know they are vulnerable to infection could make sure they stay indoors during dust storms and avoid occupations like construction that stirs up the soil.

Does early treatment make a difference?

At the same symposium where NIHs director Collins promised more of a focus on Valley fever, he also announced plans for a clinical trial to find better ways to treat the disease.

It will take some time to mount this trial, to plan it, to put it forward, but I just want to assure all of you from this part of California that were serious about trying to get some of those answers even in the face of difficult budget times, Collins said.

Two years later, in June 2015, NIHs National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases moved the clinical trial forward by awarding $5 million to the Duke Human Vaccine Institute at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

That trial is now getting underway. More than 1,000 patients are being recruited in California and Arizona to see if early treatment with the drug fluconazole will block the cocci fungus from causing severe illness by halting the diseases migration to bones, organs, and the brain. Currently many patients are misdiagnosed for weeks while doctors treat them for the flu or pneumonia. Once Valley fever is diagnosed, fluconazole is the main drug doctors use to control the disease, but it is often prescribed too late.

Depending on their progress, the researchers could receive an additional $4 million. Duke is working with doctors at Kern Medical in Bakersfield, the University of Arizona, and Banner Health in Tucson.

Patients will be recruited in areas with a high concentration of Valley fever cases, including Bakersfield and the Antelope Valley region of Los Angeles County in California and the Phoenix and Tucson regions of Arizona. Half of the patients will be given fluconazole and the other half will receive a placebo.

Dr. Royce Johnson, an infectious disease specialist at Kern Medical has been treating and studying Valley fever cases for more than 40 years. Hes hopeful the Duke study will improve treatments and increase public and medical awareness.

Its been impossible to interest private industry in doing any study on cocci to speak of, Johnson said. The drugs that we use to treat cocci are all approved for something other than cocci, and we use them to treat cocci.

Because, for now, thats all we have, Johnson said.
Alright, we know your nana's tamales are better ... But for those of us without a nana or an assembly line of family members willing to spend six hours molding masa, here are five Tucson fallbacks.

Some of these options are restaurants, and some are people who sell them out of their homes. Bring them to your party, and people will love you ...

Sonora Style Tamales

Sonora Style Tamales is a regular participant in the Tucson Tamal & Heritage Festival at Casino del Sol. In addition to the strawberry tamales pictured above, they also do corn, beef, pineapple and spinach. To order, call 520-471-9449.

Sandra's

In addition to the regular veggie and red chile tamales, Sandra's also makes Salvadorean tamales with chicken wrapped in banana leaves. To order, call 949-459-3200 or email celinagonz66@gmail.com

Lerua's Fine Mexican Foods

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This family-owned restaurant at 2005 E. Broadway has been catering Mexican food since 1922. This year they're selling green corn, chicken, sweet bean, pumpkin, and red beef tamales with optional add-ons like jalapenos, olives and raisins. (Prices vary.) Call by Dec. 19 for pickup until 4 p.m. Christmas Eve. Call 520-624-0322

Tucson Tamale Company

Tucson Tamale is your best bet for vegan and gluten-free options without any GMOs. With three locations and Christmas Day pickup, it's a reliable spot to get your green corn, green chile pork, red chile beef, chicken, etc. It's recommended you call a day ahead for hot tamales by the dozen:

520-305-4760 for the store at 2545 E. Broadway





520-298-8404 for the store at 7159 E. Tanque Verde





520-403-1888 for the store at 7286 N. Oracle Road

Tumerico

This healthful Mexican restaurant Tumerico opened at 2526 E. Sixth St. in November of this year. Owner Wendy Garcia makes her tamales with non-GMO corn and strays away from the lard. This year she's doing vegan butternut squash and green chile cheese. (Prices vary.) To order, call 520-270-2055 after 2 p.m.
Help India!

By Khushboo Khan for Twocircles.net

On December 6 1992, thousands of bitter memories were finely knitted in Indian history when a mob of fundamentalists (Kar Sevaks) demolished the 400-year-old historical mosque in Ayodhya, claiming it to be the birthplace of Ram (Hindu mythological God).

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The kar sevaks had intention to built Ram Mandir at the very site, but the event was followed by massive clashes which erupted in different parts of India and extended to the neighboring countries where more than two thousand people lost their lives, among which 900 died during the Mumbai riots. The 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts are also considered as a consequence of demolition.

The Babri masjid demolition has extensively disrupted the communal harmony and invisibly drawn a line between both the communities. The Hindu fanatics strongly believe that the Babri masjid was originally built on the order of First Mughal Emperor Babar, after demolishing the pre-existing Hindu Ram Mandir; while the Muslims, and several eminent historians have denied any such claims.

The event occurred on unconstitutional grounds and raised a huge question mark on Indian democratic structure, which has historically ensured several fundamental rights to the minorities including the freedom of religion.

The legal history of Babri dispute could be traced to 1857, when a Chabutara was constituted inside the mosque premises with a claim of Ram Janmsthaan, following which the Nawab of Awadh allowed both the community to worship in separate hours. The legal dispute came into existence on January 1885 when the head priest (Mahant) filed a civil suit in the court of Sub-Judge of Faizabad seeking permission to build a temple on chabutra, but the plea was rejected on which the priest submitted an appeal in 1886 to the District Court, which also dismissed after the inspection of mosque.

In post independence era the issue again caught fire and the process of legal battle began. The statue of Ram, Sita and laxman was kept inside the mosque premises, and a large mob assembled to hack the glimpse of deities. The court decided to maintain the status quo and locked the gates of disputed land. Later when it was reopened in 1986; the Sunni Waqf board filed a fresh petition against the court order and the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court issued an interim direction to maintain status quo regarding the disputed land.

Fresh turmoil began with the setup of foundation stone of Ram mandir by Hindu fundamentalists on 9 November 1989, and that was the beginning of Kar Sewa which finished with the demolition of Babri Masjid.

Unfortunately, even after 24 years, not even a single culprit is behind the bars even though the event killed hundred of innocent lives in the name of religion. The government of PV Narasimha Rao formed the Liberhan Commission to look into the entire event, but after 16 years of investigation and wastage of a hefty amount, the culprits were easily able to get a clean chit.

The final judgment from the Allahabad court came on 30 September 2010, where the court ruled that the disputed land would be divided into three parts, one third going to the Hindu Mahasabha which represented the Hindu god Ram, one third to Sunni Waqf Board and the rest to Nirmohi Akhada including Ram Chabutara and Sita ki Rasoi. The judgment is considered as totally biased and one sided in favor of Hindus.

Since 1992, every year Indian Muslims peacefully mourn and observe 6 December as Black day to show their grief and anger through wearing black bands on their heads and hoisting black flags, while the Hindu Right wing celebrate 6 December as Shourya Divas (victory day) with a notion to present the opposition and to urge religious sentiments.

The Babri Masjid Demolition was no less than an anathema to Indian social integrity, and the poisonous seeds were originally sown by few fanatics but reaped by thousands of innocent families who are still living in mental distress and bearing the pain of bitter memories. In hope of justice few plaintiff of Babri masjid passed away, while others continue to wait desperately for the final verdict.
Help India!

By Afroz Alam Sahil, TwoCircles.net

Speaking at the occasion of release of the jury report regarding the Legislative framework for Compensation and Rehabilitation for Innocents acquitted in terror cases, former Chairperson of the Law Commission of India Justice AP Shah said it is difficult for a minority to get justice in our country.

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At the event, Justice Shah read out the recommendations of the jury after the release of the report. He pointed out that the issue of forced confessions extracted under duress, delay in granting bail, wrongful detention, malicious prosecution, and presenting fabricated evidence has become endemic to terror prosecution. Hence, the violence on those who have been accused of terror crimes is much more than ordinary crime and hence legitimates corrective mechanisms by the state.

The event was organised by Innocence Network, a private organisation that works for the rights of the wrongfully prosecuted or convicted.

Further, he said Police reform is pending for long, and it needs to be urgently addressed.
Help India!

By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net

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Srinagar: On the fateful morning of Monday, November 21, Rati Begum, 70, a widow who lives in Buchwara area of Dalgate in Srinagar was having conversation with one of her neighbor outside the house, where she lives with her son and daughter in law.

As she tried to step into her house, she heard men and women shouting and crying a few houses away for her, where a huge black smoke was rising.

Next 45 minutes played a havoc, as 16 houses were razed to ground by the devastating fire including that of Ratis and one person was found dead under the debris.

The fire rendered more than 60 families including men, women and childrens homeless under the bone chilling cold of Kashmir.

I am a widow and this house(pointing finger at the burnt structure) was only thing which we were able to make from our life-long savings. It was sweat and blood of my late husband, which this devastating fire took away. I lost everything in this fire, said Rati Begum.

Rati lost all her warm clothes, much needed in the winter season, which has already set in.

Sensing the gravity of situation, US based Indian Muslim Relief and Charities (IMRC) came to rescue by providing the fire victims with warm clothes kit comprising of thermals, warmers, socks and winter caps.

I am thankful to Allah for sending this help to us. We are really grateful to the organisation and all the donors for coming to our help, otherwise surviving without warm clothes would have been impossible in the killing cold of Kashmir, said Rati.

The warm cloth kits were distributed among fire victims of Dalgate, Sarai Bala and Habak which included 120 families comprising of 510 individuals.

Ghulam Mohammad, 70, a fire victim works as a street vendor earning barely Rs 200 per day. He lost his house beside his cart and all the stock meant for sale.

Every night after coming from work, I used to keep cart inside my house along with the stock which used to reamin unsold. The fire took everything from me, my house, my source of livelihood even my clothes, said Mohammad.

He and his family was also provided with the winter cloth kit by IMRC volunteers so, that they can protect themselves from the bone chilling cold of the valley.

I am very thankful to these people who are helping this old man. Allah tala karnav abaad (May Allah bless you), he added.

IMRC coordinated the whole distribution programme with the valley based non-government organization, Ehsaas Trust International.

IMRC has always been at the forefront when it comes to any emergency relief work in Kashmir. When we got ground reports that the fire victims were suffering due to non availability of warm clothes, we asked for IMRC help. The beneficiaries have appreciated the help and support provided by IMRC, said IMRCs Srinagar based volunteer, Hakim Mohammad Ilyas.

Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC) is a US based non-profit organization which began in 1981 and helps run several programmes throughout the country in partnership with over 100 organizations. It focuses on providing education, emergency relief, medical & legal aid, shelter and food for the needy. It has been at the forefront of providing immediate relief to affected victims of the 2016 Bihar Floods, 2015 West Bengal Floods, 2015 Nepal earth quakes, 2014 Kashmir Floods, 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, 2012 Assam riots, and other natural/man-made calamities.

(This report made possible by an IMRC-TCN partnership.)
Pomade Vs. Gel - Which Is Right For You?

The Differences Between Pomade And Gel, Explained

The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service.

Heres a fun fact about grooming. While your interest in fragrances, skincare, and the hair on your face has boomed in the past few years  which were totally thrilled about  its still the hair on your head you're most interested in.



Need proof? According to a trend report conducted by Google, 2015 was the first year the search engine detected more interest (by approximately 6% more searches) in mens hair than womens. (Pretty cool, right?)



But because having great-looking hair is a top concern for so many of you, the market is inevitably saturated with products. Whether youre shopping at a drugstore, boutique, or online, theres almost too many options to sort through. And, naturally, its easy to feel overwhelmed.



Were here to tell you not to give up! To help you navigate through two of the most popular hair styling products, pomades and gels, we turned to Caeleb Bosscher and Cyd Charisse, New York-based editorial stylists and co-founders of Destroy The Hairdresser.



For starters: why do you even need a styling product? Well, regardless of your hair type (curly, straight, thick, or thin), youll need something to maintain or exaggerate your look, says Bosscher. Charisse adds, With new trends being focused around detail in men's design, men are putting more time, effort and money into their look. While guys tend to like a more natural look, there is nothing natural about looking natural. Enter pomade and gel!



And what are the key characteristics of pomades and gels? Because pomades never really dry out or harden, according to Bosscher, they have a wet consistency and leave the hair with a shiny finish. Theyre also typically wax or water-based.

Pomades

How do you know if gels or pomades are better suited for your hair type? Thick, coarse hair should lean towards pomade, explains Charisse. The wax base in pomade will help hold your style in place, while the water base will keep it looking shiny and healthy. And if your hair is dry, pomade should be your go-to choice. Bosscher agrees: Curly and thick hair should use pomade. It has a wet consistency that doesn't dry out, and will help get rid of frizz and shrink down unruly hair."

Bosschers pro tip: The biggest mistake for people with unruly hair is to grab gel to freeze their hair in place. Unruly hair just needs to move more freely, so give it the opportunity to do it, with a little control. That's what pomades can offer.

Murrays Superior Dressing Pomade

Theres so much to dig about this product. For starters, its affordable. The formula also strikes a fine balance between shine and hold. Plus, its been around for decades and still beloved by stylists and barbers alike today. In short, and in the words of Bosscher: Its a classic!

$4.45 at Amazon.com

Imperial Barber Products Pomade

Its easy to see why Charisse loves this product from the cool California-based grooming line, Imperial. Its super concentrated, so a little goes a long way. The finish is semi-shiny, and great for guys who prefer a more natural look. You can even reactivate the product with a little water, if you need to freshen up your look during the day.

$14.25 at Amazon.com

Aveda Men Pure-Formance Pomade

I love love love the Aveda Men Pure Formance Pomade, says Bosscher. Its organic and silky, and will help any man with coarse, curly, or thick hair. The crisp, herbaceous scent makes it a pleasure to use, and the water-based formula wont cause product buildup, and is easy to shampoo out.

$27.68 at Amazon.com

Gels

Alternately, thin or fine hair will benefit the most from a gel because it gives thin hair a bit of thickness, but also gives straight hair texture and hold, says Bosscher. A bit of hold and texture goes a long way with this type of hair. Unlike pomades, gels are have a tendency to harden, so they impart hair with a more dry and textured-looking finish.

Gels are usually water-based and will give you the strongest hold, says Charisse. If you want a look that will stay put throughout the day, I suggest gel. But regardless of what you put in your hair, make sure your pick is alcohol-free. Charisse explains, Dont abuse your hair by drying it out with alcohol.

Other properties you should keep an eye out for? Though theres been a growing trend to move towards more natural grooming products, Bosscher believes hair gels should be the exception. I almost feel bad saying this, but when you're purchasing gel you want chemicals! Chemicals dry and harden better than organic material. If youre using a pomade, though, the opposite thinking holds true. Organic material doesn't dry easily and leaves the hair feeling a bit more silky, says Bosscher.

American Crew Firm Hold Gel

This is Bosschers favorite gel because its reasonably priced and offers great hold. Plus, the formula can be used on both wet and dry hair, has Vitamin B5 to help hair look and feel thicker, and wont flake like a lot of its comparably-priced counterparts.

$16.33 at Amazon.com

Axe Spiked Up Look Gel

Guys with shorter hairstyles who prefer a gravity-defying style should look no further than this. Not only is it incredibly affordable, its long-lasting formula maintains a strong hold all day long, and is sweat-proof to boot.

$5.64 at Amazon.com

R+Co Motorcycle Flexible Gel

This alcohol-free gel from the hip brand launched by hair legends Garren, Thom Priano, and Howard McLaren is a personal pick of Charisses. It boasts fantastic versatility by providing the strong hold of a gel and the shine you get from a wax. The sultry, sexy scent of bergamot, fig, and cedarwood is just an added bonus.

$26.00 at Amazon.com

Related Reading

Hair Today, Coiffed Tomorrow: The Hair Products Your Bathroom Cabinet Cravesa

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The World Trade Organization in Geneva believes China's accession to the body in December 2001 is one of the most significant economic events in modern world history, mainly because of the win-win outcomes the entry has brought during past 15 years.

Yi Xiaozhun, the deputy Director-General of WTO, said on Friday that China's accession to the multilatiral system in December 2001 has proven to be one of the most significant economic events in modern world history. [Photo provided by WTO]

Yi Xiaozhun, the deputy Director-General of the WTO made the comments in an exclusive interview with China Daily on Friday ahead of the expiry of the 15-year transition period of China's entry on December 11.

"China's historic accession has made both China and the WTO stronger and more vibrant," said Yi in a written interview with China Daily.

China maintains that under the terms of its WTO accession, it should be given market economy status, a view backed up by over 100 countries, including the UK.

The United States, Japan and Canada still refuse to treat China as a market economy because of outstanding anti-dumping cases, even though they agreed to commit to MES recognition when China entered into WTO.

The European Union, which needs all 28 member states to agree to recognize China's MES status, is split, and so has proposed reforming its trade defense regulations by introducing a "market distortion" concept, which China says is not in accordance with WTO practices.

Yi said China has made "deep and broad commitments" in its accession while even accelerating major steps in liberalizing trade before accession to the WTO, citing the most-favored-nation tariffs in China which were gradually reduced from 45 percent in 1992 to 15 percent in 2001. And in 2015, the average of MFN tariff was cut down to 9.5 percent.

Yi also said China's trade-weighted average tariff is now as low as 4.5 percent and in the area services, China has opened more than 100 services sub-sectors such as finance, insurance, legal service, telecom, distribution and courier logistics.

"On top of its trade liberalizing efforts, China overhauled some 3,000 laws and regulations at the central government level, and many more at local level, in order to bring China's legal system into compliance with WTO standards," said Yi.

Yi said during previous 15 years, both China and the world have seen trade flows rise dramatically, with China experiencing a more than 6-fold increase in the volume of its merchandise exports and a nearly 5-fold increase in the volume of its imports. Meanwhile, the volume of world trade has nearly doubled.

"For all the attention given to China's rise as an export powerhouse, commentators have focused less on the question of China's imports," said Yi.

From $243 billion in 2001, imports into China leapt to $1.96 trillion last year, he said. "This is a significant contribution to the world economy, which is too often overlooked," said Yi.

In this regard, citing International Monetary Fund and World Bank reports, Yi said that China has been one of the leading contributors to world growth in the past few years.
HONG KONG - An election for the committee which is responsible for choosing the next Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong began on Sunday, during which more than 230,000 registered voters can cast their votes.

According to the Hong Kong Basic Law, the chief executive shall be elected by a broadly representative Election Committee and appointed by the Central People's Government. The committee is composed of 1,200 members under 38 subsectors.

A total of 1,239 candidates run for 733 seats in 25 subsectors/sub-subsectors on Sunday's polling day. Up to 110 ordinary polling stations and two dedicated polling stations set up at police stations are open from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. local time for voters in the contested subsectors/ sub-subsectors to cast their votes.

The Electoral Affairs Commission of Hong Kong earlier announced that polls will be only conducted for 25 subsectors/sub-subsectors. For the other 13 subsectors/sub-subsectors, the number of validly nominated candidates in each of them does not exceed the number of committee members allocated. Therefore, 467 seats were returned uncontested.

The committee members come from four main social sectors, including 300 from Industrial, commercial and financial sectors; 300 from the professionals; 300 from the labor, social services, religious and other sectors; and 300 from members of the Legislative Council, representatives of members of the District Councils, representatives of the Heung Yee Kuk, Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress, and representatives of Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
GENEVA - As China marks on Sunday 15 years since becoming a World Trade Organization (WTO) member, a WTO official applauded not only the progress made since 2001 but also Beijing's active role within the global trade body and increasing leadership and vision on multilateral platforms.

"China has shown the world what being open, being part of an open economy can do in terms of development, poverty elimination and prosperity," WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told Xinhua recently in an exclusive interview.

"China has a basic pragmatism where it doesn't believe in pushing people beyond their red lines or the space that they cannot go outside of in order to get a deal. I think that kind of pragmatic approach is something that is very much appreciated," he added.

While lauding China's remarkable strides in eliminating poverty, Rockwell also noted that China's economy has benefited from enhanced trading relations, the fruit of many years of preparation before becoming gaining WTO membership in December 2001.

By showing "very serious commitment" from the get-go, Beijing's implementation of a range of complex reforms paved the way towards its successful role within WTO today, the spokesman said.

Since 2001, both the world and China have indeed greatly benefited from enhanced trading partnerships which are supported by rules and guidelines underpinning WTO's global mandate.

Combined with Beijing's "broad and deep" WTO participation, China's economic strength has made the country steadfast in the face of economic adversity while also bringing much needed respite to countries going through financial crises, Rockwell continued.

"When the great recession hit in 2008-2009, the fact that China was one of the few countries not affected and continued to buy goods and services from other parts of the world, this helped countries stabilize their economies and get back on their feet," he said.

Earlier this year, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo told Xinhua that China's role within the organisation has gone from strength to strength.

As well as underscoring Beijing's ability to defend its interests while showing awareness of the systemic implications of its position, the Brazilian official praised China's role in helping members ink important trade covenants such as the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).

Known as the Bali package, the TFA lays out directives to expedite the movement, release and clearance of goods so as to reduce the overall cost of trading.

It is the first multilateral agreement to be reached since the organization came into being over 20 years ago.

In the same vein, Azevedo praised China's stance at the 2015 tenth WTO ministerial conference in Nairobi, where ministers played a pivotal part in attempting to push negotiations in the right direction.

Though China's stance within the trade body didn't happen overnight, Rockwell noted that Beijing began to actively participate in a range of activities once it had gained an in-depth understanding of WTO proceedings.

Leading by example on a range of trade issues, including highly complex discussions relating to electronic commerce, Rockwell said that China's role now transcends the realms of WTO meetings and agreements.

"You are seeing Chinese leadership in evidence in many other forums internationally," whether it's the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or the Belt and Road initiative, he said.

"All of these things show the China is keen to create international tools to help with development, to help with economic growth and help stabilize relations between countries," he added.

While acknowledging that China doesn't always see eye-to-eye with other trading partners, the official reminded that this is perfectly normal for countries processing thousands of trade-related agreements, policies and ventures.

"The countries most involved in disputes are the big countries, because they trade the most, the most products with the most countries," Rockwell explained.

"I think as China becomes more comfortable with the way the system works, I would say at the moment they are one of the biggest defenders of the WTO," he concluded.

Taking over from the now defunct General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the WTO came into being in 1995. To date, the global trade body has 164 members.
Asaf Romirowsky is the executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

.

..The Hill..06 December '16..Lewis Carrollsare a great way to understand the Palestinian narrative and in particular, advocates of the Palestinian cause like former President Jimmy Carter. Carroll uses time and space as the plot device while drawing on chess imagery, mirror themes, opposites and time running backwards. This topsy-turvy world provides the perfect logic explain why, according to Carter , in his last days in office President Obama should force the United States through the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state.Carters voice in the political wilderness is mostly heard in pro-Palestinian circles but he is mostly seen as someone whos built his post-presidency on practicing foreign affairs without an electoral mandate. Of course, all of this speaks directly to the New York Times political and editorial agenda as it relates to Israeli-Palestinian conflict and American politics, especially now during the transition between Obama and Trump.It is also no coincidence that thepublished Carter on the anniversary of the 69th anniversary of the UN Partition Resolution of 1947 a plan that would have given the Arabs a state, which they chose to reject in favor of waging war on the Jewish state which was in formation. Of course, had the Palestinians and the Arab states simply said yes, then Carter would have nothing to demand from the US or Israel. An honest reading of history would show that at every juncture that involved Arabs and Palestinians recognizing Jewish rights, it was flatly rejected in favor of war. Yet in the house of mirrors where Carter lives only Israel is responsible for Palestinian misery.Above all, both Carter and Obama have seen the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as central to all Middle East problems; were it resolved then Middle East would see a new golden era of calm. But reality keeps disproving this hypothesis; the collapse of Syria, Iraq and Libya were not linked in any way to Israel, and the so-called Arab Spring has shown that the Arab masses are brought into the streets to protest local misrule and lack of opportunity.While Carter has been motivated by a kind of religious zeal, Obama claims to employ tough love, which has led to two false assumptions. The first is the linkage theory, which holds that the key to solving the problems of the Middle East is a resolution of the Palestinian issue. The second is the contention that the Palestinian problem is primarily the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the status of Jerusalem. And, beyond the first two the question of who Israel should be negotiating with is on shaky ground as the 81-year-old Mahmoud Abbas has consistently refused direct talks with Israel and the support among his own people is questionable.Notwithstanding, Carter like the Palestinians and Arabs loves to quote UN Security Council Resolution 242. Its become the foundation of the land-for-peace formula drafted after the Six Day War, and a superficial reading seemingly places Palestinian and Arabs in a position of strength. For Arabs, this legal prerequisite emphasizes the give and take: If Israel valued peace, it would return land. If Arabs wanted land, they would give peace.Arabs also love to quote Resolution 242 because it is a deceptively simple equation. On one hand, it talks about the exchange of land for peace with Israel, meaning there is room to negotiate. But although we naively believe it also calls for recognition of Israel as the Jewish state, thats not the case. The resolution in fact makes no mention of recognizing Israel. Carter builds on this misreading and claims, recognition of Palestine and a new Security Council resolution are not radical new measures, but a natural outgrowth of Americas support for a two-state solution.Within the house of mirrors anything is acceptable. In fact, American policy makers until Obama have agreed that Israelis and Palestinians must make mutually agreed upon land swaps and have agreed not to impose international bodies on the parties. And all along the Palestinian tactic has been to internationalize the conflict in order to avoid direct negotiations with Israel, the hard concessions that would be demanded, and then blame Israel for not negotiating. Carter has been using his credential as a former U.S. president to blame Israel for decades.At the end of the day, land-for-peace really translates into land-for-talk. For too many Americans and Europeans talk - not peace - is all that Israel should expect (and possibly deserve), in exchange for territorial concessions.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi (foreground, right) held talks with Michael Moller, director-general of the United Nations Office in Geneva on Sunday. [Photo by Fu Jing/chinadaily.com.cn]

Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Switzerland-based international organizations on Sunday and pledged that China will actively enhance cooperation with them to further uphold multilateralism amid a complicating global situation.

Wang stressed the commitments during talks with Michael Moller, director-general of the United Nations Office in Geneva; Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization; and Thomas Bach, president of the Lausanne-based International Olympics Committee.

On Monday, Wang is scheduled to meet Swiss leaders; it was announced last Wednesday that Doris Leuthard will take over the one-year presidency of the Swiss Confederation from Johann N. Schneider-Ammann starting in January. Both of them visited China in 2016.

"Against the backdrop that the global situation is continuously becoming complicated, the role of the United Nations can be only strengthened instead of being weakened," said Wang, when meeting Moller.

Wang said China has attached great importance to cooperation with the UN, and such a stance will be further beefed up.

"China is a strong supporter of multilateralism and activities of the United Nations," he added.

Wang said Geneva was where China made its global debut, referring to premier Zhou Enlai leading a delegation to the Geneva Conference in April 1954.

"The UN office in Geneva has played an important role in helping China in opening-up and reform drives and its development, and China has contributed to global peace and development through the UN in Geneva," Wang said.

Moller agreed with Wang, saying multilateralism and international cooperation are the solutions to the worsening conflicts and disputes worldwide.

"The UN has also attached great importance to China's role and influences in dealing with international affairs," Moller said. "And we hope to strengthen cooperation with China."
As Congress President Sonia Gandhi turns 70, here's recalling her extraordinary life in pictures.

In 1968, Sonia Gandhi could not have imagined the twists her life would take when she married Rajiv Gandhi, the elder son of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, a pilot with Indian Airlines with no political ambitions whatsoever.

But fate, it seems, had other plans for her. First, her brother-in-law Sanjay Gandhi's untimely death in an aircrash in June 1980 forced her husband into the world of politics to help his mother -- 'I fought like a tigress against it,' she has said many times about that time.

Second, four years later, when her mother-in-law was shot down by her bodyguards in her home, Rajiv Gandhi was catapulted into the prime ministership and Sonia Gandhi, for whom the world of politics had been an entirely different universe, was exposed to it from up close along with her husband, who had won the biggest electoral mandate ever in India.

Fate played its cruel hand once again, in May 1991, when Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a bomb blast by Sri Lankan Tamil assassins outside Chennai.

As the Congress party looked to her for leadership, Sonia remained unmoved. She would have nothing to do with the world of politics, she was determined.

Yet, in 1998, as the Congress party hurtled from one electoral rout after another, she finally yielded to the call of the partymen and assumed the role of Congress president.

Six years later, she would lead the party to power at the head of an electoral alliance, and repeat the feat in 2009.

2014 marked the Congress' lowest point in its electoral history; yet, as Sonia Gandhi said in a recent television interview, ups and downs are part of politics. She ought to know.

From 1968, when she married into the Nehru-Gandhi family, she has observed from up close the vicissitudes of politics.

As the Congress president turns 70, here's looking back at her life since the time she was a foreign-born daughter-in-law in India's most powerful political family, to the time she emerged as one of the key players in India's politics.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Indira Gandhi lays a wreath at Shantivan, New Delhi, on May 27, 1983, on the occasion of her father and the country's first prime minister,Jawaharlal Nehru's 19th death anniversary.

To her left is a young Priyanka Gandhi, and behind her are Rahul and Sonia Gandhi.

IMAGE: Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, photographed during a visit to the US in 1982. Rajiv was a member of Parliament from Amethi then, elected to the Lok Sabha in August 1981 after his brother Sanjay perished in an air crash in June 1980.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia settle down for a traditional meal served on a banana leaf during a tour of Tamil Nadu.

IMAGE: Rajiv and Sonia catch the sunset at the Sam sand dunes during a desert safari in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, August 9, 1985.

IMAGE: Rajiv and Sonia inaugurate a drinking water supply scheme at Challakere village in Chitradurga district, Karnataka, April 12, 1986.

IMAGE: Sonia casts her vote from the New Delhi parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha elections, November 1989. Photograph: PTI Photo

IMAGE: Rajiv and Sonia pose with a Punjab folk dance contingent that had called on them at the prime minister's residence in New Delhi, January 29, 1985.

IMAGE: Sonia, accompanied by daughter Priyanka, attends her first public meeting after her husband's death in his constituency Amethi in August 1995.

IMAGE: Sonia campaigns for Bollywood star Govinda, her party's nominee from the Mumbai North constituency in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, at Vasai.

The election results stunned the ruling BJP, and the Congress went on form the United Progressive Alliance with like-minded parties to rule the country for 10 years.

Photograph: Jewella C Miranda for Rediff.com.

IMAGE: Sonia, the longest-serving Congress president, visits Uttar Pradesh for an election meeting.

IMAGE: The Congress president with her son and heir apparent, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, discuss strategy following the party's abysmal performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Will the party overcome the worst phase of its existence?

Sonia believes it will.

Photograph: Reuters
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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

.

..Commentary Magazine..09 December '16..Link:Israelis have slipped back into a degree of complacence about the missile threat from Gaza since the war in 2015. The same could be said about their level of concern about a repeat of the 2006 conflict with Lebanon in which the terrorist group rained down missiles on northern Israel. Due to the success of the Iron Dome anti-missile system developed with the United States and the devastating counter-attacks against both Hezbollah and Hamas by the Israel Defense Forces, the terrorist groups are believed to understand they have more to lose than to gain from another war. But assumptions are no guarantee, and the Israeli government and military may not be taking into account the increase in the arsenals possessed by their enemies or whether sufficient resources have been allocated to ensure adequate civil defense in the event of another war with either or both.That was the conclusion of a recently published report by Israels State Controller about Operation Protective Edge  Israels counterattack against Hamas terrorists in 2014. It pointed out shortcomings in the government and armys response to the war as well as the possible impact on future conflicts. Up to two million Israelis dont have access to adequate shelters in the event of missile or rocket attacks. The countrys early warning system also was found to be faulty and may not be able to detect all possible forms of attack or give citizens adequate time to seek shelter.After extensive re-armament campaigns financed in part by Iran, both Hamas and Hezbollah may now be in possession of so many rockets that Israels highly successful missile defense systems might be overwhelmed. Throw in the possibility that as a result of the Syrian civil war, Hezbollah may now be in possession of at least some of the Assad regimes chemical weapons arsenal, and the report paints a potentially fearful picture.The report has caused considerable embarrassment for the government of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF . Thats especially true since the report notes that the Cabinet has not spent much time discussing civil defense issues since the last war. But there is another conclusion to be drawn from the report. The strongest arguments mounted generally by critics of Netanyahus stance on the Palestinians have come from some of Israels former military and intelligence officers . They argue that Israelis are foolish to worry about the military threat posed by efforts to trade land for peace. These security experts assert that there is no border that can be drawneven the 1949 armistice lines that the late Abba Eban described as Auschwitz borders that cant be defended by the IDF. In particular they point to the relative peace with Hezbollah in the North and with Hamas in the south as proof that deterrence works. Fears about replicating the dangerous aftermath of 2005 withdrawal from Gaza in the far larger and more strategic West Bank are exaggerated, they say, because Israels army is so strong and its missile defense so foolproof that even a hostile Palestinian state in the West Bank rather than a demilitarized one, would pose no existential threat.But as the State Controllers report shows, Israels security rests on assumptions that may be proven false if, encouraged by an Iranian regime that has been enriched and emboldened by President Obamas attempt to appease them, Hezbollah and Hamas coordinate their next attacks and launch missiles in the kinds of numbers that might cause far more damage than the ineffectual campaign of 2014. If the West Bank were also held by a hostile Palestinian regime that refuses to accept Israels legitimacy that had access to such weapons, that peril would be compounded.This wouldnt be the first time the assumptions of Israeli military leaders were mistakenthe 1973 Yom Kippur War and the 2006 Lebanon War being just two such examples. The lessons of the last and the next missile war dont just apply to those tasked with defending the Jewish state against Hamas and Hezbollah. They also apply to those who would further burden its defense by the creation of yet another potential terrorist missile launching pad in the West Bank.
by Bach Lien

If you glance through the website tramdoc.vn you will find a lot of articles that attract thousands of views and hundreds of likes from readers

If you have time to read through each article on the website, you will find that it is carefully written and has rich content.

Only nine months after the website was created, it has attracted a large number of fans. It has had more than 100,000 fans on its Facebook fan page Tram oc-Read Station. Many enthusiasts are attracted by articles which recommend good books to read and summarise the interesting books written by authors from all over the world.

Rendezvous of book-lovers

The website was created in March 2016 by a group of four young people who are passionate about books. Since then, it has become an open forum for book lovers throughout Viet Nam  a station where they can stop to meet and share their passion for reading. Tram oc (in English: Read Station) is a project of the Viet Nams Intellectual Cooperation Centre (VICC).

Tram oc was created to encourage more young people to read books in a smart way, said Ha Hai Quynh, the projects co-ordinator.

When you ask young people if they like reading books, they will say yes. But if you ask how many books they have read, many are embarrassed to give a number. Many do not often read books. We think the main reason is not only that young people are lazy about reading, but they are attracted to many other things such as television, smartphone, and the Internet, she said.

It is true that the Internet is a very attractive option, but for anyone who knows how to explore the value of books, they can find that books have an important place in the 21st century," she said.

With our habit of reading books and the desire to promote knowledge, we are four members who have joined forces to build the website.

The founding members are still very young, born in the early 1990s, and they are all passionate about reading. They were teachers and web creators. Some months ago, to prepare the creation of this website, they studied other websites in Viet Nam which reviews books. They found that most of those websites only focus on literature and novels. And non-fiction, including science, psychology, technology and society, are almost absent.

They then decide to create a website to review all kinds of books and often update news about the books.

Read and discuss: Members of Tram oc talk with readers about the book Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan, a New York Times bestseller. This was the first offline show by the website and its readers. Photo courtesy o Tram oc.

Treasure of knowledge

Over the last nine months, the website has published numerous articles with rich information and designed different columns: Review books, Listopia, Reading Style, and Book cafes.

In the column Review books, readers can find articles featuring impressions of authors about a book. For example, there are books on Canadian-American billionaire Elon Musk (creator of SpaceX). Besides old books, many reviews articles of newly published books can also be found here.

In Listopia, readers can find a list of books on the same subject. For example, Ten most interesting books about creation or Seven books that Start-ups should read or Ten psychology books to read to make changes in life

In the current expansive book market, readers find it difficult to pin down their choices of books to read. They often wonder I do marketing, which books should I read? If I love philosophy, which books I should start reading? So we want to help them, Quynh explained.

In the column Reading style, readers can find articles about one subject in daily life. For example, How to face the loss of a loved one. A book will be analysed here, explaining or discussing this question with readers. In books, readers can find sympathy that they can hardly find somewhere else.

In Books cafe, readers can find interviews of well-known and successful people working in different sectors in Viet Nam or all over the world. They talk about their reading habits, their favourite books and therefore, inspire young people to read books.

Many people want to read books but do not know how to read. What should they read, how to read? And what to do after they read books? How to apply them into real life? These questions look simple but the answers are not easy, said ao Ngoc Minh, the projects manager.

The website tramdoc.vn is expected to become Viet Nams leading site to rate books, encourage and guide the Vietnamese to read interesting and meaningful books, among the thousands which are published every year, he said.

Despite being recently created, Tram oc has become an ideal rendezvous for booklovers.

I am very busy with my work so I do not find much time to read books. Now, with Tram oc, I have come to know of many interesting books and writers. I find quite a few good articles that compel me to buy books immediately. Now, I am more interested in reading books, Mai Lan, an employee of an NGO in Ha Noi, said.

Founders of Tram oc said that there would be new columns on the website in 2017. More good books would be summarised, which could help busy people learn nearly 80 per cent of the details in the books in just 15 minutes.

The website would also publish some chapters from new books in Viet Nam and in the world.

They would also set up a library of 1,000 most interesting books which were published in Viet Nam over the last ten years.

After this Lunar New Year, we will try to work with publishing houses and readers to organise a Tram Book awards, to honour the most-loved books (with ratings of readers) in 2016. Hopefully we can find enough time to do this important work well, Quynh said. VNS
It was about an hour into our dig under the blazing Wyoming sun that my 6-year-old, Henry, cried out, "I found one!"

The geologist working alongside him, Angela Reddick, cocked her head, raised her eyebrows and stepped off her small pad to inch in for a closer look. I was skeptical. Already, 4-year-old Silas and I, working nearby, had found scores of "bones," only to hear the disappointing verdict that they were rocks.

We were digging in the midst of the Morrison Formation, a sedimentary rock sequence that's among the most fertile sources of dinosaur fossils in North America. As we chipped away at the soft rock and earthen surface with dull oyster knives and trowels, sweat dripped down our necks. Beyond our mesh shade structure, the landscape rolled off into the distance, a sea of sage and red-dirt hills.

You would think that the odds were against us, an inexperienced trio with only one truly focused and committed member (Henry). But Reddick was examining his discovery with diligence. She ran her hand over the sleek, black material that Henry had partially unearthed and squinted. The three of us watched, breathless.

"Congratulations, Henry," she said. "You found yourself a dinosaur bone."

Sweeter words have never been spoken to a first-grader. Henry beamed as she created a small, white label to mark the bone, which she said was massive. There was no way we would dig it out in its entirety, she told us. Rather, we'd leave it for other teams to slowly liberate and then, when it was ready, professionals would wrap it in a plaster cast and transport it to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center's laboratory, where it would be cleaned and catalogued.

Last spring, a friend from Fairbanks, Alaska, flew her family of five to Utah, rented an R.V. and set out on a western dinosaur tour that included Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and the Dakotas. Until she sent me an enthusiastic email raving about their stop in Thermopolis, I couldn't have found the Wyoming town on a map. But it is home to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, where kids and adults alike can join in authentic excavations and then get firsthand experience in a high-tech lab before touring the center's impressive museum. There they'll see "Jimbo," a supersaurus, one of the largest dinosaurs ever mounted, and "Stan," a 35-foot Tyrannosaurus rex, charging a triceratops. The museum has more than 30 mounted skeletons and hundreds of displays and dioramas.

What sounded even better was the chance to encounter the bones in the real world, far from the natural history museums where we could look at but not touch those compelling skeletons. But the Dig for a Day price was steep  $150 for me and $100 for each of the boys  and I wanted to make sure this would be a worthwhile endeavor before shelling out $350 for a one-day activity. I needn't have worried. When I asked if they wanted to drive for eight hours into Wyoming to dig for dinosaur bones, the answer came quickly and unanimous: Absolutely!

A privately owned facility, the Wyoming Dinosaur Center opened in 1995. It was the brainchild of a German-born, Switzerland-based veterinarian and amateur fossil collector, Burkhard Pohl, who vacationed in Wyoming in 1993. During his trip, Pohl fell in love with Thermopolis, which in addition to being a hub of oil and gas production is renowned for its elk hunting, fishing and hot springs. In that auspicious visit, Pohl and friends also discovered dinosaur bones on the ranch that he would subsequently buy and transform into the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.

Today, the center constitutes a 16,000-square-foot facility that includes a museum, fossil-prep lab and approximately 130 dig sites (roughly 20 are active). Construction on a new museum is slated to begin in April 2017.

Since the center's inception, workers have removed more than 10,000 bones from the excavation sites. Reddick confirmed my friend's information: Most fossils are from long-necked sauropods, which include the camarasaurus, diplodocus, camptosaurus and apatosaurus. The quarries sit atop a bone bed where an ancient stream washed bones together in a river channel and buried them in silt.

After the dig

By late morning, even Henry had tired of the dirt so we headed back and ate our center-provided sack lunches in the museum's massive, air-conditioned storage area, where industrial shelving held dozens of excavated bones awaiting cleaning and classification. Then we headed into the laboratory, where Reddick sat us down at a cluttered table, put practice bones in front of us and provided us with toothbrushes, small hooks and containers of water to chip away sediment and clean the bones.

Our eyes were collectively glazing over. Reddick must have sensed our fading. Why else would she have brought out the drill?

Turns out that a more efficient method for removing plaster, sediment and grime from dinosaur bones is to use power tools. As Reddick handed the drill to my 4-year-old and pointed to where on the ancient fossil he should concentrate, I interrupted, fearful that he might, you know, make a mistake. She assured me that they set aside less-than-perfect bones for this exact scenario and then let him loose. He was thrilled, pressing the drill all over the bone and watching material flake away. There are few things in life more powerful for a preschooler than mechanized tools.

Eventually, we wrapped up our lab component and followed Reddick through the museum for a personal tour. The highlight was the center's most valuable display: a fossilized archaeopteryx from some 150 million years ago, one of 10 in the world (the others are all in Europe). A birdlike creature that had teeth, a tail and wings, the archaeopteryx is roughly the size of a crow. Pohl, the center's founder, brokered the private sale of the fossil in 2006 and today it sits, on loan, under bulletproof glass with an elaborate security system.
Gregg Roman is director of the Middle East Forum.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

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..MEF/The Hill..09 December '16..Critics of Israel love to exploit Jewish fears and anxieties. The most extreme resort to Holocaust inversion, boycotts, blacklists, and other singling-out methods reminiscent of Europe's anti-Semitic past. Secretary of State John Kerry likes to wave around the threat of Israel's demographic extinction.Acute Israeli sensitivity on this matter came to the fore in the late 1960s, when Israeli rule over the newly won Gaza Strip and West Bank was thought by many to be untenable owing to much-higher Palestinian birth rates. If Israel chose to annex the territories, it would be obliged either to disenfranchise their Palestinian inhabitants, making Israel undemocratic, or extend the vote and watch Israel's Jewish majority turn into a minority. For Israel to remain both a democratic and a Jewish state, according to the conventional wisdom, it would have to give the territories up. "The womb of the Arab woman," the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat famously said, was his "best weapon."Fast-forward five decades. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the number of (non-Jewish) Arabs living in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem (4.62 million) and in Israel (1.68 million) for the first time matches the number of Jews (6.3 million). Taking into account still-higher Palestinian birthrates, as neatly graphed out in a September 2016 full-page New York Times advertisement by a pro-Palestinian group, the Jewish population in the expanse of territory "from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River" is projected to decline to 44 percent in 2030.In his drive to wrest Israeli concessions he believes will break the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic logjam, Secretary Kerry has repeatedly warned of a demographic doomsday for Israel. "How does Israel possibly maintain its character as a Jewish and democratic state when from the river to the sea, there would not even be a Jewish majority?" he warned last December. Time is "running out" for Israel, Kerry maintains, insinuating that Arabs will be even less likely to accept a Jewish state as part of the former Palestine mandate once they become an overall majority, instead returning to their demand for a "one-state" solution. Israel then winds up "either being an apartheid state with second-class citizens  or ... a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state."But time is not running out, at least not for Israel. There are three big problems with the demographic doomsday argument.
CEDAR FALLS  After a busy morning whittling down the Christmas gift list in festively decorated stores along the Parkade, its nice to find somewhere to sit and breathe a sigh of relief.

And at what better place than the Tea Cellar in the lower level of Basket of Daisies? Its the perfect place to put down the shopping bags and relax over a good, strong cuppa.

There isnt a quilted teapot cozy or chintz-covered club chair in sight, but this modern tea shop at 208 Main St., is still charming and warm. The air is filled with mingled fragrances of teas from around the world and the aroma of baked goods scones, muffins, cinnamon rolls, cookies and pastries showcased beneath crystal domes.

For the diehard shopper, there are loose teas, teapots, tea cups and other tea-making essentials displayed for sale.

Were not a tearoom in the traditional sense. I like to think of it as an underground tea experience, a luxurious experience where the focus is on the tea, says owner Justeen Hill. My heritage is German and even as a young child I took part in tea time, always black tea with cream and sugar.

Doors opened in October, and tables have been filled ever since with friends who gather to chat and sip at their leisure, college students seeking respite from course loads and final exams, and anyone else who appreciates the ritual of morning or afternoon tea.

The Tea Cellar offers, as English author P.G. Wodehouse once wrote, the general atmosphere of leisured coziness.

Visitors stop at the main counter and select their tea from a growing list of nearly 40 loose teas. It could be a full-bodied oolong, familiar-on-the-palate black tea, a delicate white or good-for-you-green tea. For the adventurous soul, theres earthy Pu-erh, comforting spicy chai latte or one of the fruit or herbal offerings.

A chubby teapot filled with heated water, a pretty tea cup, infuser, teaspoon, napkin, timer to judge the perfect steep, and sometimes a treat-filled plate, are arranged on a wooden tray for the customer to carry to a table. Cream and unprocessed raw sugar also are easily at hand.

I want my customers to feel comfortable, to sit down and enjoy the experience, to put down their cell phones and tablets (although there is free Wi-Fi) and not rush through with a lot of distractions, says Hill.

She admits it was difficult giving up a successful sales and marketing career with the Grassley group to pursue her dream, but she hasnt looked back. I figured I was five or 10 years from retirement, and I didnt want to live a life of regret.

Hills passion for tea was inspired by her oldest daughter, Olivia, 23. While attending Chicagos Moody Bible Institute, Olivia would bring home new teas for tasting, and on trips to Chicago, mom and younger daughters Alexis and Lizzy would join Olivia in visiting the Windy Citys tea rooms and shops.

For the longest time, she let the vision of opening a shop steep in her mind while quietly researching and building a business plan. I was deciding in my heart what I wanted to pursue before I presented it to my husband. Im a dreamer, and I needed to convince myself first.

When she finally sprang the idea, husband Dave was completely on board. While looking for a location, Basket of Daisies owner Carlene Danielsen asked if Hill would consider opening the Tea Cellar in her stores lower level.

Hills family pitched in to transform Basket of Daisies former flower-arranging room into an attractive tea shop, complete with exposed stone wall and cobalt blue accents. A daughter or two often can be found working behind the counter alongside their mom.

This has been a dream come true. I know that sounds cheesy, but its exactly how I envisioned it. So far, its been wonderful, Hill adds.
CEDAR FALLS  The Board of Education Monday is expected to approve plans and specifications for a planned new elementary school.

The board meets at 7 p.m. in the council chambers of City Hall, 220 Clay St.

A public hearing date on the Bess Streeter Aldrich Elementary School project will also be set during the meeting. After plans and specifications are approved, bids will be sought from building contractors. A contract is expected to be awarded in January.

Board members last month approved the name for the school, which will be constructed on land near Erik Road west of Hudson Road. In April, Cedar Falls Community Schools voters approved a $32 million bond issue to pay for much of the estimated $19.84 million new school and renovation projects at two other elementaries.

In other business, the board will:

Consider submitting an $828,149 dropout prevention/modified allowable growth application to the Iowa Department of Education for 2017-18. The request reflects a 25 percent dollar match from the districts general fund plus adjustments for other funding sources. Funded with the at-risk money is an after-school program, elementary summer school and student mental health services. The dropout funding includes the alternative program/behavior intervention center, academic supportsreading, credit recovery/skills recovery programming, juvenile court services liaison, school resource officer and student support services.

Hear an update on the Center for Advanced Professional Studies program to be implemented by the district next semester. Three potential strands will be offered to district juniors and senior  engineering, computer science and information technology. Classes earning Hawkeye Community College credit will meet at local host businesses and be team taught by employees and a high school teacher.

Consider approving a $318,600 annual lease agreement with Area Education Agency 267 for River Hills School. Cedar Falls Schools heads a consortium of area districts that oversee the special needs school, which is located within its boundaries. Lease payments are made by the district with contributions from all consortium members based on the number of their students enrolled in River Hills.
CEDAR RAPIDS  As the Iowa Democratic Party undertakes the selection of a new party chair, the partys Disability Caucus will host a virtual forum Saturday to expand disabled Iowans access to the process.

People with disabilities ace challenges participating in forums with the seven candidates to succeed Chairwoman Andy McGuire, explained Disability Caucus Chairwoman Catherine Crist of Cedar Rapids. For many, traveling to forums of State Central Committee meetings in Des Moines presents challenges. If they can attend, Crist said persons with hearing and sight impairments often struggle to fully participate.

The Disability caucus will livestream audio of her interviews with the seven people seeking to be chair and utilize a live transcription service to make the interviews available from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10.

For access to the virtual forum, email IPDdisabilitycaucus@gmail.com.

Crist will ask each candidate five questions about their visions for the party. Some will deal with disability-related issues, she said. The candidates also will make opening and closing remarks. Timer permitting, questions submitted by the audience will be asked.

Two other forums with IDP candidates are planned. The Political party will host six of the seven at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 16 at Speed Lyceum Student Center at Grand View University in Des Moines.

The event is free and open to the public. RSVP at http://bit.ly/2h3ouco.

The IDP State Central Committee will have its own forum starting at 10 a.m. Dec. 17 to vet the candidates for state party chair. Its meeting will be at the United Steelworkers 310 Hall, 125 NW Broadway, Des Moines. The party said the forum will be open to the public, but only committee members may ask questions.
DES MOINES  Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad was chosen to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to China in large part because of his long professional friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

But when he assumes his new post next year, Branstad will face challenges unlike any he has faced during a political career that spans more than four decades.

Those who know him best say Branstad is prepared to face those challenges.

Gov. Branstad will be amazing because he understands constituent services, and nobody works harder than him, said Charles Larson, an Iowan and former U.S. ambassador to Latvia in 2008 and 2009 under President George W. Bush, during filming of Iowa Press on Iowa Public Television.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Branstads nomination last week, and Branstad accepted.

Branstad will resign after more than 22 years as Iowas chief executive, the longest-tenured governor in U.S. history.

After Trump is inaugurated and Branstad is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, which is expected, he will serve as the countrys top diplomat in China.

In 1985, Xi, then a provincial official, visited Iowa and met Branstad at the Capitol. Two years prior, Branstad had signed a sister-state agreement between Iowa and the Chinese province of Hebei.

Branstad hosted then-vice president Xi again in 2012 and met him in Seattle in 2015.

And Branstad has conducted six trade missions to China during his tenure as governor.

Given his experience and staunch support for Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign, Branstad was a natural selection. But Branstads relationship with Xi and China will change as ambassador.

No longer will Branstad be advocating solely for a healthy trade relationship  Iowa sold $1.4 billion in agriculture products to China in 2015, according to the U.S.-China Business Council. As ambassador, Branstad will be involved with all U.S-China diplomatic issues.

Any time the U.S. government wants to take a stand on something, wants to negotiate something, wants to develop a joint project with China, the ambassador is the lead representative of our country in China, said Downing Thomas, the University of Iowas associate provost for academic affairs and dean of International Programs. Thomas joined Branstad on a 2012 trade mission to China. There is quite a bit of hosting obligations as well. A lot of it is ensuring that good relations prevail.

On trade missions, Chinese officials would sometimes ask Branstad about issues of broader importance. Those who joined Branstad on those trips have said the governor usually deflected those questions, saying he was there only to represent Iowa.

Starting next year, that will change.

I think (Branstad) is looked at by the Chinese as a national leader, but he always did a great job of saying, Im here to promote Iowa and those connections. And that was his role then, Bill Northey, Iowas agriculture secretary who has accompanied Branstad on trade missions to China, said on Iowa Press. Hell probably not pivot away from that international role when hes ambassador, and hell have lots of support around him to be able to work through all the challenging issues that there are.

Larson said a primary focus of a U.S. ambassador is to urge immediate communication with the U.S. in times of crisis.

My philosophy, when I was ambassador to Latvia, was I wanted to ensure that regardless of what the problem was, the first phone call the Latvians made was to the United States  not to the Russians, not to the Germans, not to the French, but to the United States, Larson said. And as a former elected official ... (Branstad) will understand that mission, and no one will be better.

Branstad becomes ambassador at a time when U.S.-China relations may be at a crossroads.

Trump has launched many criticisms at China. Last week, when Trump visited Iowa and introduced Branstad as the next ambassador to China, Trump accused China of intellectual property theft, unfair taxing of American companies and currency manipulation, among other things.

Trumps frequently provocative statements could be seen as a challenge to U.S. diplomats. But on Iowa Press, Northey and Mary Kramer, another former U.S. ambassador from Iowa, said Trumps brash nature may in some ways help Branstad.

I really do think the strong rhetoric actually creates opportunities for blunt conversation about some issues that have drug on a long time, Northey said.

Said Kramer, U.S. ambassador to Barbados under Bush from 2004 to 2006, I find it really useful to have the hard stuff on the table. It isnt the 100-pound elephant with the rug over it anymore. Its right out there. So we both know that were going to have to discuss it.

Iowa political experts from both sides of the aisle have been nearly unanimous in their praise of Branstads nomination.

Tom Vilsack, the outgoing U.S. agriculture secretary and two-term Democratic governor of Iowa, called the selection good news and said Branstad has earned the opportunity.

Hes tenacious, and hes going to have to be. Hes tireless. Hes going to have to be. And he understands and appreciates the importance of trade. And hell have to, Vilsack said at a Iowa Farm Bureau event in Des Moines.

I think all of the qualities that make a good ambassador he has, especially as it relates to this particular country (China), as he has a personal relationship with the current president, Vilsack said. Those relationships matter. I have a good relationship currently with the (Chinese) ag ministers. And it matters. You can have a candid conversation. You can work toward a common goal.

Vanessa Miller of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids contributed to this story.
WATERLOO  The city is being asked for additional grant funds to help pay for renovations at the Hartman Reserve Nature Center.

Waterloo City Council members are scheduled Monday to consider a request from Friends of Hartman Reserve for $20,000 in hotel-motel tax discretionary money to help fund a $3.07 million replacement and expansion of the 75-year-old east wing of the interpretive center.

Black Hawk County Conservation Board has authorized a construction contract for the project, which broke ground in October. But the nonprofit Friends of Hartman Reserve is still attempting to fill a $700,000 funding shortfall.

Hartman officials are in negotiations with the Iowa Economic Development Authority for a Community Attractions and Tourism grant for the project and believe additional support from the city would increase chances of an award.

The City Council previously awarded $4,000 in hotel-motel tax to the project.

Hotel-motel tax is generated by a 7 percent surtax on overnight lodging in the city, with revenue earmarked to fund the Waterloo Convention and Visitors Bureau, Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center and events and attractions that generate tourism or improve the citys quality of life.

Hartman Reserves interpretive center is used to host events, such as the annual Maple Syrup Festival, and provides hands-on educational space for schoolchildren and families. The former east wing had deteriorated badly.

Other scheduled business includes:

A public hearing on a proposed $13,222 contract with Advanced Environmental Testing and Abatement Inc. for asbestos removal at seven blighted houses the city intends to demolish. Council members approved a $14,800 contract last week for similar work at nine other houses.

A 4:10 p.m. work session to hear a report from the Grout Museum District on its use of revenue generated from a 27-cent property tax levy approved by voters in November 2015.

The regular meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers on the second floor of City Hall.
WATERLOO  The historic Church Row Neighborhood may be losing one of its namesake buildings.

The city of Waterloo is heading to court this week hoping to take title to a vacant 125-year-old former church on the corner of West Second and Wellington streets, which has deteriorated into a neighborhood eyesore.

City Attorney Dave Zellhoefer said complaints from nearby property owners and an inspection of the building prompted the city to file the Black Hawk County District Court action Sept. 20 against the buildings owner, Koinonia Ministries Full Gospel Baptist Church.

Once we get it, the plan is to find money to tear it down, Zellhoefer said.

The church, which has not been used for services for several years, has had most of its stained glass windows broken out, has been stripped of copper wiring and contents and has at least one brick wall in danger of collapsing.

The Rev. Helen Seenster of Koinonia Ministries declined to comment on the matter last week. But she spoke about the situation during a Sept. 19 City Council meeting, saying thieves broke into the church and stole items before children broke windows out.

Waterloo police confirmed they are investigating the thefts.

We boarded it up and we try to keep it as clean as we can, Seenster said during the council meeting. At one time it was a dream to make that into a community services building for that area, but I dont know what were going to do now.

County records show the property, once occupied by Apostolic Pentecostal Church, was purchased in 1998 by Koinonia Ministries.

A Thursday hearing is scheduled to determine whether the city can seize title to the property under Iowa Code Section 657A. That law would wipe away several liens on the property held by lenders, giving the city clear title for demolition.

Ward 3 City Councilman Pat Morrissey lives just a block away from the church and said the failing condition has been a topic of discussion and concern in the neighborhood.

That building is in such a state of dilapidation and deterioration, the ability to save it has pretty much disappeared at this point, Morrissey said. To me, its such a cool building and I wish there was the wherewithal to save it.

Its sad, he added. But it probably needs to come down.

If the city is successful in securing title to the building through the courts, the property will join a list of other buildings the city is planning to raze. But funding has not been identified to date for several of the larger demolition projects.

The city recently took title through a court order of an abandoned apartment building on the corner of West Ninth Street and Grant Avenue, where neighbors had complained about bricks falling from the facade near a bus stop.

A vacant stone apartment building at 925 Commercial St. was acquired by the city in 2014 and is still awaiting demolition funds.
Commencement set at UNI

CEDAR FALLS  The University of Northern Iowa will host its annual fall commencement ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday in the McLeod Center.

Kaylan Brant, a senior accounting and management information systems major from Baxter, will deliver the student address. Approximately 501 graduates will participate.

Former U.S. Rep. James A. Leach, who has served in the U.S. Foreign Service, the National Endowment for the Humanities and held various positions within institutions of higher education, will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters during the ceremony.

The UNI department of military science will host its annual commissioning ceremony at 8 a.m. Saturday in the Great Reading Room in Seerley Hall. Taylor Julander of Altoona, Alec Krekel of Cedar Falls and Joshua Mixdorf of Waterloo will receive their commissions as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army.

Branstad plans Waverly visit

WAVERLY -- Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad will be in Northeast Iowa on Wednesday.

Branstad, a Republican, will meet with Waverly business leaders at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Cobblestone Hotel Board Room, 208 E. Bremer Ave., in Waverly.
Ive always had a soft spot for advent calendars.

Years ago, I tried to find a duplicate of the gorgeous advent house calendar used in the holiday movie, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. I scoured catalogs and store shelves (no Internet back in the day), but no luck. So I made my own cheesy version from an old printers type case, now abandoned in a corner of the attic. Of course, today you can order a custom-made Griswold family advent house for about $2,000 on Etsy. Way, way outta my price range.

But now I have my very own lovely advent house calendar. Thanks, Burpee! The famous seed company sent out a press release in the form of a large cardboard advent calendar. Measuring roughly 14 - by 20 inches, the advent calendar image features Seed House on the Fordhook Farm, and behind every window and door is a tiny seed packet. Score!!!

It is the companys way of celebrating their 141-year history of what CEO George Ball describes as nonstop innovation, including many firsts  Golden Bantam, the first yellow sweet corn; Iceberg, the first crisphead lettuce; Snowball, the first white marigold; Fordhook, the first bush lima bean; African Queen, the first yellow impatiens; Roly Poly, the first round zucchini; and Ruby Queen, the first red sweet corn.

Seed House was built for cleaning and grading seed in the late 1800s and in use for more than 75 years. There were no lanterns or electric lights in those early days, and candles were too flammable in such a dust-filled space. Older employees did the work and because they had to see, the house was built with plenty of windows and positioned to capture the sunlight in late summer and early fall, when seed is harvested, graded, cleaned and stored.

Traditionally, advent calendars are countdowns to Christmas. Every day from Dec. 1 to 25, a flap is opened in the Seed House to reveal small seed packet featuring their 2017 selections. Burpee also included a small catalog describing the 25 varieties. The question is, will I grow all 25? Leave them untouched for future years of advenut enjoyment? Or pick and choose, which is a more likely scenario.

Here are just a few of the seeds included:

Gladiator Hybrid, a Roma tomato with an unbeatable amount of vigor, unique zesty Italian flavor, aroma and yield.

Dragon Roll Hybrid, a slender, finger-long chartreuse hot pepper with a Scoville rating of 200.

Strawberry Blonde, a breakthrough French marigold with bicolor blooms of pink, rose and yellow.

Depurple Hybrid, a purple cauliflower described as buttery-sweet, savory and rich.

Jaws Hybrid, a sweet corn that offers giant-sized measuring ears 12 inches long and 6 inches around with deep-set kernels bursting with old-fashioned heirloom flavor.

Cannova Rose, an exotic and radiantly colored early-flowering canna.

Popstars Crimson Eye Hybrid phlox with tiny starlike blooms in ultra vivid colors.

Pandora, a prolifically blooming poppy ranging from deepest burgundy-red to pinkish red with lower petals striped in silver-grey.

Dragons Tail radish grown for its long seed pods, not its root.
Our traditional political and cultural systems are collapsing. We should be celebrating the former and mourning the latter.

Many in modern nations have a mistaken belief political action can solve what are essentially cultural dilemmas. Instead of solving problems, political action typically exacerbates them. As a simple example, one of the worst things that can happen to education is to have politicians involved in the process.

Unfortunately, societies are creating large numbers of people who think everything is political. Politics is not limited to elections, but to all aspects of life: who can marry; how a child is raised and by whom the child is educated; who can speak of religion and where can they pray. Even a persons view of the world must be politically correct.

This is a dangerous aberration that leads to a breakdown of the social order and to physical, economic and spiritual impoverishment of the people.

Since the French revolution there has been a long march of political ideology through the bastions of culture, bringing down each in turn. The political takes control of education, making political aims more important than an educated citizenry. At the same time, attempts to modify the language are demanded. There are words that cannot be used and words that must be modified. We cant simply talk about liberty or justice, we must be thinking in terms of civil liberties, and social justice and even eco justice. Cultures have liberty and justice; political movements must add fracturing distortions through adjectives.

The long march then attempts to politicalize religious thought. Morality also must be politicalized. Finally the family structure must be destroyed or modified into political units.

Human history and much recent research (that politicians and the media seldom address) have shown there are five sources of cultural, social and economic well being. They are industriousness, honesty (a sense of personally shared morality with self and society), education, marriage and religiosity.

If we desire a good economy, a prosperous and happy people and a stable culture, here is what we have learned. Unfortunately, it will sound odd. You may even wonder if a person could state these things publically. Nevertheless, you also will note they ring true even if you have been falsely educated to reject what has been obvious for thousands of generations.

Here it is: Get married. Stay married. Have children. Take yourself and your children to church. Give them the best education you can. Work hard. Be honest. Speak truthfully. Treat people with kindness and respect. Vote, but give the most attention to local candidates; that is where you actually live.

Editor and Catholic apologist Scott Richert adds several others: Read. Share novels, poetry, and art with your children and spouse. Take the long view beyond your own lifetime.

Thats it.

Everything else is controlling and driven ideology and political process out of touch with even its own adherents professed outcomes.
Trump has yet to hold a press conference a month after his election. He has one scheduled Thursday to talk about a subject of his choosing: his plans to put a firewall between his White House job and his businesses. His last press conference as a candidate was in July.

This is unusual; youd expect an incoming president to want to establish working relationships with the reporters who will be covering him, to talk about plans and Cabinet picks and whatever else. But Trump has repeatedly declared his dislike for the press, which he claims is biased against him. During the campaign, he refused to meet with editorial boards of papers, many of whom had been critical of him. He selectively shut out reporters from those media from getting press credentials to attend his campaign events. And he famously picked fights with journalists who anchored presidential debates, including Megyn Kelly, Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz. He continues taking to Twitter to trash some reporters by name.

Last week that distinction went to CNNs Jeff Zeleny, a senior Washington correspondent who was once a colleague of mine at The Des Moines Register. We here know him to be a fair, responsible journalist in dogged pursuit of the facts  such a consummate professional, youd never know what his personal political leanings were. But after he called Trump a sore winner on TV for claiming massive voter fraud had given Hillary Clinton a win in the popular vote, Trump came back at him. In a series of tweets and re-tweets, including from someone who might be a teenager, Trump called Zeleny just another generic CNN part-time wannabe journalist.

To which the ever-polite Zeleny, tweeted back, Good evening! Have been looking for examples of voter fraud. Please send our way. Full-time journalist here still working.

For the record, The Washington Post has found only four documented cases of voter fraud nationwide this presidential election. Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2.7 million.

Trumps habit of tweeting whatever is on his mind in 140 or fewer characters has complicated the news medias role. If they report on his tweets, they get backlash from other media as well as from Trump opponents.

At a Des Moines gathering last week in the home of Democratic state Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, community members of different races, religions and ethnicities who did not support Trump criticized the press for covering his tweets in place of, say, his policies. The same criticism has appeared in major media including from the editor of the left-leaning publication The Nation. Some at the Des Moines gathering blamed the press for giving the election to Trump.

Its not that journalists always get it right. But without direct access to the candidate to ask specifics about his positions, reporters can only rely on what others say or what is on the record from his past, which excludes political office. Plenty was reported about Trumps past missteps in his personal and business life, but that didnt sway his supporters the way the same things would have coming from, say, Mitt Romney or Hillary Clinton.

In past elections, the press has been criticized for covering the horse-race aspects of an election to the exclusion of substance. This time its accused of focusing on trivia or on negativity. But should the media be faulted for reporting exactly what Trump said, if it is offensive or trivial? Other candidates may have been less willing to appear biased by maligning particular groups like Muslims or Latino immigrants, or speak of women the way Trump did, even privately. But when a major-party candidate makes broad or inflammatory remarks in speeches, or contradicts his earlier positions, or makes grandiose promises it is hard to imagine him keeping, isnt the press obligated to report them?

Past presidents have had difficult relationships with the press. Richard Nixon and Watergate come to mind. But all seem to have at least understood its a symbiotic relationship where each has to do its job for the other to succeed. Its not about ego, or choosing which journalists get access based on how complimentary theyve been. You dont punish individual reporters for their papers editorial opinions. But when Trump agreed to sit down recently for an off-the-record post-election meeting with major TV news executives, someone described it as a firing squad, used by the president-elect to voice his displeasure with them. At a subsequent on-the-record meeting with The New York Times, he said the papers journalists could call him if they thought he got something wrong  except for columnist Maureen Dowd, who wrote that Trump said of her: She treats me too rough.

Until now, the public has been able to count on informed journalists raising important questions to keep our leaders accountable. But as with everything else, Trump either doesnt understand that or wants to make up new rules based on his ego needs.

If the U.S. president will bypass the press to protect his feelings, while communicating in self-congratulatory one-line quips, it could be the stuff of devastating comedy. It also would put us in league with banana republics rather than leaders of the free world. One can only hope he doesnt go that route, but maybe its not the press that needs to be asking.
It shouldnt be a surprise to many I was interested in representing this community. My recent bid for the Iowa House was unsuccessful, but when a person is sincerely devoted to public service, the path continues in other ways. I hope to do a service here, for example, by continuing political discussions in a civil forum.

After every election, half of us are pleased and half are not. Yet everyone, it always seems, agrees politics couldnt get any worse. To that end, I asked people as I was running what their expectations were for their representatives. I received very different answers.

One group defined the job as proxy for the majority opinions of the district. Another said it is to forward personal beliefs shared by a majority of constituents. Others insisted it is having an aptitude for assimilating many ideas and negotiating for the best interests of the entire community.

These discrepancies galvanized when I saw a post where I was called unfit to represent my district. Gary Kroeger is a socialist wrote one detractor. Another wrote: Gary Kroeger isnt one of us; he doesnt even believe in God. Hes a Unitarian!

Those were vexatious statements because they are not true. I am a member of the Cedar Valley Unitarian Universalists, a community of diverse religious views, including Christianity, but our shared doctrine is rooted in humanitarianism and faith. I also advocate for the free market with only limited regulations that secure transparency to serve justice.

But what if those accusations had been true? What if someone running for the Iowa House was a non-Christian or even an atheist? Would that preclude them from representing the rest of us?

If you just said yes let me put this into perspective. I know several Muslim families, and they share the same concerns as any others. They care about their childrens education, community safety, health care and senior citizens.

I met a woman who identifies as a socialist, and her concerns were schools, water quality, mental health and employment opportunities. I also know an atheist who shares those same values.

Personally, Im left-handed, yet most people are right-handed. Im also of German descent. Could a left-handed German-American represent right-handed Bosnian-, African-, Asian-, Scandinavian- and Irish-Americans?

Of course we know the answer to a silly question, but if we dont look critically at all labels and preconceived ideas, we can lose sight of our own interests. A legislator represents Republicans as well as Democrats, conservatives as well as liberals, Christians and non-Christians, the rich and the poor, the healthy and the sick, the old as well as the young.

None of us are identical, and our representatives dont have to be either. Maybe thats a definition where we can reach a consensus: Our best representatives will articulate our shared values, champion our community interests and also consider and respect our differences.

Can I get an amen?
Waterloos downtown revitalization efforts got another boost recently. Last week it was announced a local developer has plans to build a multi-story retail and housing project near the downtown RiverLoop Amphitheater.

Grand Investments LLC, headed by Brent Dahlstrom, is preparing to develop the building as part of the downtown master plan unveiled more than 15 years ago.

The building would include parking on the ground level, office and retail space at the elevated plaza level and several upper floors containing at least 40 units of market-rate housing.

The master plan has seen its ups and downs over the years, and one of the major disappointments has been the inability to develop this particular site. The nonprofit Waterloo Development Corp. has been working with the city for many years to find a developer to take on the project.

A firm that originally committed to the project in 2002 backed out when a Vision Iowa grant to help develop the riverfront plaza was delayed.

Sherman Associates Inc. of Minneapolis had plans in 2013 to build a $10 million, 58-unit multi-story apartment building there. The Bank and River Landing was scrapped when the project failed to receive a $3 million federal community development block grant.

So Grand Investments stepping up is great news for the downtown plan as it would complement other attractions that have been part of the downtown improvements over the years, as well as thosewhich have been here for the long term. That includes the Center for the Arts, RiverLoop Amphitheater, Waterloo Public Library, Young Arena, Cedar Valley SportsPlex and the new SingleSpeed Brewing Co., all in that general area.

This project will work to fill the centerpiece of the Riverfront Renaissance upper and lower plaza area, said Community Planning and Development Director Noel Anderson. It will offer a tremendous view of the river, activities downtown and create a new skyscape for downtown Waterloo.

We would be remiss without a mention of the Public Market Co-op, the failed venture that closed earlier this fall. It may have been a victim of timing. We cant help but think if one of these projects had materialized earlier, it could have gone a long way in providing nearby clientele for the Public Market.

Perhaps this new development can help lead to another market/grocery venture downtown, which is seeing an upturn in residential opportunities.

The proposed agreement for the new building would give Grand Investments the site for $1 and provide 20 years of 42 percent property tax rebates.

The deal includes a Grand Investments guarantee the project would be completed by the end of 2019 and will maintain a taxable value of at least $4.5 million.

Last week, the City Council set a Dec. 19 public hearing date on the potential agreement.

Based on recent history regarding tax abatements, its quite possible there will be pockets of dissent. However, we firmly believe this project is good news for Waterloo and the Cedar Valley, because weve seen the healthiest communities have thriving city centers.

Communities that allow their downtown city centers to succumb to decay, end up paying a heavy price. They become unattractive to businesses, residents, potential residents and visitors.

The continued interest in downtown area living is sure to be an important component in the overall revitalization of Waterloos downtown and riverfront areas. We look forward to seeing this project succeed and add to our downtown mix.
Some people who had never cast a ballot voted in this past election solely as a protest to the financial burden Obamacare had placed upon their families. Voting is a good tool, but theres something more immediate that can produce good results in containing health care costs  taking personal responsibility.

Consumers think in terms of caveat emptor, or buyer beware, when purchasing all sorts of goods. Not much is purchased without asking, Whats this going to cost, and what value will I receive?

That basic question gets left out many times when purchasing (non-emergency) health care services. In the past, individuals didnt see the need. Most insurance plans had small deductibles.

But thats changing, particularly in the individual health insurance market. Opting for $5,000 or $10,000 deductibles is necessary just to get the monthly premium down to an affordable rate.

There are, though, a couple of things all individuals can do to help reduce health care costs.

Get used to asking your doctor for an estimate on what a particular procedure will cost. Having the money talk with your physician might feel a bit uncomfortable, but those feelings dissipate when you realize the damage that can be done to your pocketbook by remaining uninformed.

For example, knee and hip replacements are becoming increasingly common among our aging population. Whats not common is any type of standardized pricing for this procedure. Insurance provider Blue Cross Blue Shield, in a report called, A Study of Cost Variation for Knee and Hip Replacement Surgeries in the U.S., found total knee replacement surgeries could vary between $16,772 and $61,585 within the same geographical market.

Asking a few questions could save not just hundreds or thousands of dollars, but tens of thousands of dollars.

After receiving an estimate from your provider, utilize price transparency websites as much as possible to verify estimated costs are within an acceptable, average range. Although price transparency in the health care field has been met with some legal challenges, most states are continuing to move forward with providing or referring some type of informational system.

The Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute monitors states and their health care price transparency efforts. In its annual Report Card on State Price Transparency Laws, it gave Iowa a F.

Iowa is not alone. Only seven states were given passing grades. Many failed because pricing data collected was insufficient or in an incorrect format, quality of care data was left out, websites were not easily navigable, or sites were not even up and running at the time the report was issued.

Iowa does not have a state all-payer claims database. The Iowa Hospital Association does provide some pricing comparisons on its website, www.iowahospitalcharges.com, but its data is based upon prices charged, not actual payment received from negotiated insurance contracts. It also lacks quality of care comparisons.

Still, it can be of some help. After first searching for musculoskeletal system, and then selecting knee replacements, its data show even within the Cedar Valley there can be a $10,000 swing in average charges for knee replacements of comparable difficulty.

More information is better, but having some comparison data is better than having none at all. Its a start.

A knee replacement surgery is a high-cost procedure. Patients may fall into the trap of thinking that pricing doesnt matter because the $5,000 or $10,000 deductible will be exhausted, and insurance will pick up the rest. But many insurance plans require a patient co-pay percentage of 10 or 20 percent after the deductible has been reached, which can become quite costly. Many procedures will fall below the deductible threshold, meaning the patient will pick up 100 percent of the tab.

If all health care consumers got into the habit of making smart purchasing decisions, premiums and deductibles could come down for everyone.
For some reason I have been thinking of an Englishman, Sir Thomas More. He is remembered in part for his refusal to acknowledge Henry VIII, he of many wives, as the head of the Church of England. The denial of the kings wish cost More his life. As he faced his death, More said he died the Kings good servant, but Gods first.

But More also is remembered as the author of Utopia, which described a mythical island where all the weaknesses of humanity, such as greed, were controlled. Peace and prosperity were shared equally by all citizens. More, whose work was published in 1351, believed this happy state would happen because philosophers would govern by reason, not self-interest.

Which brings to my mind, is America about to experience its own utopia? Admittedly, it will not be because philosophers rule, but rather we will have finally enacted the perfect government.

The basis of this observation is this: I do not believe the voting public has fully realized the degree to which they have enacted the most conservative governments since the 1920s. Notice I said governments, because it is not just the federal government that is in the hands of the right wing, but most state governments as well, including Iowas.

Since Braack Obama was elected in 2008, there are 900 fewer Democratic state legislators in the U.S. Over two-thirds of the statehouses are now controlled by a Republican governor, and both houses of their legislatures. Both chambers of Congress now reside in the domain of the GOP. Over the next four years, the U.S. Supreme Court will tilt strongly to the right.

We need realize the current political and social climate generated the triumph of the right. We will need to fight terrorism without restraint. The standard of living for the average citizen is declining, and this calls for bold action to turn loose the free enterprise system, unchained from government regulation.

Dont be surprised then when Medicare is transferred to the states, who may or may not want to keep it. Relax when the Affordable Healthcare Act is repealed without replacement. Expect more tax cuts, privatization of government services, public employees (including our own Iowa Highway Patrol) on the chopping block. Prepare yourselves to say goodbye to Social Security as we know it. Environmental considerations will be lessened if not eliminated. Abroad we will be much more confrontational; boots on the ground in the Middle East should be expected.

While I dont agree with the foregoing, we all should accept that this is what a majority of the public, as defined by the Electoral College, decided.

But here is what worries me: Suppose this new, perfect, government doesnt work?

Therein lies the danger, because governments are well known for, when something isnt working, trying even harder. Governments are prone to dig deeper when in a hole rather than calling for a ladder. The first wave of new legislation will be challenging enough, but it is the second wave, if the first fails, that presents the real danger.

But there are two upsides to these developments. First, the pure conservative agenda might work. If it does, then we have no complaints. Secondly, if it doesnt, and the nation at both the federal and state levels experience disaster, who to hold accountable wont be hard to find.

Four centuries after More wrote his work, Voltaire, a Frenchman, penned Candide. This was a story of an individual who lived in the age of optimism, when one was supposed to focus on the positives in life. He chronicled the persons life through the Seven Year religious war and the devastation of the Lisbon earthquake. Each time he was told to discount what he was seeing, because it was the best of all possible worlds. To which a cynic added, only if it was the only world.

I dont know if this county is headed for an island or Lisbon. But get ready, this is going to be a very challenging journey.
Q: How much are health insurance premiums for city of Waterloo workers, police and fire personnel?

A: The citys health insurance program is self-funded so the premium is an amount used for budgeting purposes and not actually paid to an insurer. For the current fiscal year, a combination medical, dental and vision family policy has a total monthly premium of $1,576, of which the employee contributes $80. A single policy monthly premium is $623, with the employee contributing $40. Most employee contributions are established through collective bargaining agreements and are not arbitrarily set by the City Council.

Q: Why doesnt the city replace the burned-out bulbs in the streetlights on East and West Fourth streets?

A: Waterloo Traffic Operations officials said LED lamps were on order at the time this question was received. They will be installed upon delivery.

Q: Until recently there were no traffic control signs at the intersection of Mitchell Avenue and Derbyshire Road. Not long ago two stop signs were added to Derbyshire. Why were they added to Derbyshire which is a through street and not Mitchell which dead ends on Derbyshire?

A: Under the Waterloo traffic code, West Mitchell Avenue is a through street from Kimball Avenue to Belleview Road. Therefore, streets entering or crossing Mitchell would have the stop signs.

Q: Is there a reason the city animal control van was sitting in the 1900 block of Bishop by the horse pasture Oct. 23 for more than two hours and returned again in the afternoon and was parked there for more than an hour?

A: Yes. The horses in the pasture were shot with rubber arrows according to the owner. Waterloo Animal Control was called to investigate along with the police department. Later in the afternoon, animal control officers pastured a stray pygmy goat until it was picked up by a foster volunteer.

Q: Does the city plan to remove all the old cars, trucks and other vehicles at the Waterloo sand pits to improve the environment and solve cold case files?

A: Waterloo Leisure Services staff are not aware of any abandoned cars or trucks in Riverview Recreation Area, the area formerly called the Mitchell Avenue sand pits. Police Capt. Dave Mohlis said anyone with information there are vehicles related to any crime  at the Riverview Recreation Area or elsewhere  should contact the Waterloo Police Department.

Q: What city department would I call about moving the barriers off the storm drains on Shaulis Road to prevent the water from running into my yard?

A: The Waterloo Engineering Department oversees storm water regulations related to construction projects, 291-4312.

Q: Is the old Waterloo Lumber on Commercial now a car lot? Why are all those cars parked out back?

A: Its a storage facility owned and operated by Klein Storage Units of Eastern Iowa.
As expected, Republican State Treasurer John Kennedy won the Louisiana Senate runoff Saturday, defeating Democrat Foster Campbell by over 20 points.

Democrats gained two seats in the 2016 elections, but the party was unable to wrest control of the body from the Republicans. It was a missed opportunity for 'Team Blue', as 24 of the 34 seats up in 2016 were held by Republicans. The situation is reversed in 2018, with 25 of the 33 races that year held by the Democrats. Playing that much defense, it will be very difficult for the party to make gains.

The new Senate will be comprised of 52 Republicans, 48 Democrats. Republicans have both seats in 20 states, Democrats in 18 states. There is a split in 12 states. Mike Pence will become president of the Senate on January 20th, giving Republicans the advantage in any tie votes.

There will be 7 new Senators sworn in this January:

California: Kamala Harris (D) won seat held by retiring Barbara Boxer (D)

Illinois: Tammy Duckworth (D) defeated incumbent Mark Kirk (R) Dem. Gain

Indiana: Todd Young (R) won seat held by retiring Dan Coats (R)

Louisiana: John Kennedy (R) won seat held by retiring David Vitter (R)

Maryland: Chris Van Hollen (D) won seat held by retiring Barbara Mikulski (D)

Nevada: Catherine Cortez Masto (D) won seat held by retiring Harry Reid (D)

New Hampshire: Maggie Hassan (D) defeated incumbent Kelly Ayotte (R) Dem. Gain

One final note: Donald Trump has nominated Jeff Sessions (R) of Alabama to be Attorney General, with North Dakota's Heidi Heitkamp (D) a lead contender for Secretary of Agriculture. If confirmed, those Senators would be replaced. Heitkamp would bring a Democratic voice into the Trump administration, but her replacement would likely be a Republican, adding one to the GOP majority.
Dec 11, 2016 | By Julia

Researchers at Skane University Hospital in Sweden have collaborated with 3D printing company Materialise to put teenager Fanny Fellesen back on her feet with a new 3D printed hip implant.

Fanny Fellesen



Fellesen, a Swedish 16-year-old with neurofibromatosis, a congenital disease also known as Von Recklinghausens disease, has coped with severe hip pain her entire life. A skeletal deformation of the left hip, along with a neurofibroma that devastated her pelvis, meant a great deal of pain and difficulty for the teenager.

In 2010, doctors surgically removed Fellesens neurofibroma, but after suffering a femur fracture a few months later, her situation worsened. At the time, Fellesen was left with no other option but home schooling, as for two years she was unable to physically attend classes. Doctors believed that Fellesen would require a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Enter Professor Rydholm from Skane University Hospital in Lund, Sweden. In 2012, Rydholm contacted Mobelife, a subsidiary of Belgian company Materialise focused on medical 3D printing. The Mobelife team of engineers set to work designing a customized acetabular implant for Fellesen.

Using Mimics software, specialists imported and segmented a CT scan of Fellesens hip in order to reconstruct the defective area and examine the pre-operative situation. By way of anatomical templates, physicians were able to conduct a surgical planning directly based on the patients unique anatomy. This customized process involved placing landmark points, which were then used to determine the position of the acetabular cup and flanges and secure them in position.

virtual design of tri-flange customized cup

A customized implant was designed that matched the anatomy of the patients hip, allowing for an optimized fit. For Fellesens procedure, the Mobelife team used 3-matic, a medical 3D printing software that allows users to work directly on triangulated surfaces. Patient-specific flanges were designed, and the screws location was determined. In order to support the screws, Fellesens bone quality was analyzed via the grey values of the CT data in Mimics. Additionally, the Mobelife team performed a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to confirm that the implant and bone assemblage would withstand the many motions and stresses of the hip joint. A surgeon verified the final design, which was then exported for 3D printing. LayerWise was used to 3D print the triflanged cup in titanium.

FEA simulation of the triflange cup

After the hip implant was delivered to the hospital and surgically attached, Fellesen reported almost immediately that she was, remarkably, pain-free. Within only a few months, the teenager was able to walk, replacing her wheelchair with a crutch. Currently, about a year and a half after her surgery, Fellesen is attending school again, walking entirely without crutches.

Belgian-based 3D printing company Materialise was established in 1990. After closely collaborating with partner Mobelife for several years, the two companies became fully integrated under the Materialise brand name in March 2016. To date, Fellesens case has proven to be one of Materialises most successful medical 3D printing solutions.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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J. Hoberman at the New York Times:

Originally a painter, Bresson was a proponent of pure cinema, something he elaborates throughout Bresson on Bresson. Interviewed during the making of Pickpocket, he asserted his desire to make a film of hands, glances, objects, refusing everything that is theatrical. To that he later added: More and more in my films, Im trying to suppress what people call plot. Plot is for novelists. In an interview given while Pickpocket was in release, he asserted that films should not have subjects at all.

In fact, Bressons films tended to focus on individual figures. Most of his movies can be seen as dramas of faith and bids for redemption  both on the part of the filmmaker and the central character, who in Au Hasard Balthazar, the 1970 movie widely considered his masterpiece, happens to be a donkey.

Impossible tasks attract me, Bresson told Le Figaro in 1949. Its good to create obstacles. I, at least, dont work well without obstacles, he said in a radio interview, conducted in English, at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival, where The Trial of Joan of Arc won a special jury prize. Five years later, he ended a conversation with the critic Georges Sadoul by musing, I wonder if my films are worth the effort they require.

more here.
How to watch, what to know about South Dakota State at Northern Iowa
JERUSALEM, Dec. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon is escorting a delegation of ambassadors to the UN on a trip to Israel, organized by AJC Project Interchange and led by Ambassador Aaron Jacob, AJC Director of Diplomatic Affairs.

The delegation of 14 ambassadors from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America marks the fifth time that AJC (American Jewish Committee) has brought a group of UN Ambassadors to Israel, and the second time this year the group is led by Ambassador Danon and AJC.

"Ambassadors to the UN represent their countries in the world's most important international forum," said Ambassador Danon. "Their visit to Israel will provide them the opportunity to view up close the challenges, and opportunities, facing the Jewish state during a tumultuous time in our region. Additionally, this delegation is sure to strengthen our ties with these important countries."

"We appreciate and thank each ambassador for taking the time to experience first-hand Israel's dynamism and start-up economy, as well as the serious security challenges this small UN member state continues to confront in the tumultuous Middle East," said Jacob. "The more one knows about Israel, the more one understands, and that is why this five-day visit is so important."

To provide a deeper understanding of the geopolitical and security challenges Israel faces, the ambassadors will travel throughout Israel, including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Northern border and Southern region. Visits to hi-tech and agricultural research facilities will demonstrate Israel's role as a world leader in innovations with global impact.

They will meet with Israeli officials and academic experts, as well as with Israelis representative of the country's diverse population. Meetings will take place on topics specific to the United Nations 2030 Global Agenda, including special needs, gender equality and women's empowerment, and food security.

The delegation also will travel to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian government officials and with Palestinian entrepreneurs, to discuss co-existence opportunities, including the new joint Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian Industrial Zone.

Both in Israel and in Ramallah, the ambassadors will discuss with officials current challenges to advancing the peace process.

The delegation includes ambassadors from Albania, Argentina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burundi, the Republic of Cameroon, Costa Rica, Georgia, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, the Federated States of Micronesia, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.

About AJC Project Interchange: For nearly 35 years, Project Interchange, a nonprofit educational institute of AJC (American Jewish Committee), has brought approximately 6,000 influential figures to Israel from 95 countries and all 50 U.S. states, offering them broad exposure and first-hand understanding of the complex issues facing Israel and the region. projectinterchange.org.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/un-ambassadors-visiting-israel-with-israeli-ambassador-danny-danon-and-ajc-project-interchange-300376339.html

SOURCE American Jewish Committee
10 points for Gryffindor! Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis is now engaged to his true love, Angela Jones, and Neville Longbottom fans are rejoicing! Get the scoop on Nevilles, we mean mean Matthews, big proposal right here!

Matthew Lewis, 27, stole our hearts as kids when he played the adorable Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter franchise. And then he stole our hearts again when he turned into one of the sexiest Gryffindors (next to Hermione) as an adult. And now, hes stolen one special ladys heart in particular and given her a ring in return. Thats right, Matthew is getting married!

The actor asked his girlfriend, Angela Jones, to be his bride last month on a trip to Paris. And, of course, she said, Oui! Oui! Just look at their glowing faces in the pic she shared on her private Instagram of her flashing her HUGE sparkler underneath the majestic Eiffel Tower. Could he have found a more romantic place to get down on one knee?

Angela is reportedly an event planner at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. And would you believe the pair met down there back in January at a Wizarding World of Harry Potter event he was in town for ? Ya, were not making this up. This will be Matthews first marriage, but Angelas second, as she just got divorced in July.

Were so excited for Matthew and his bride-to-be and wish them all the best in their marriage! May it be just as magical as Matthews on screen life was, but with all the reality of their powerful love. And, of course, with Angela being an event planner, we just know their nuptials are gonna be a gorgeous blow out. We cant wait!
A 29-year-old woman from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become the first Pakistani female to join the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) in the restive province that frequently witnesses terror attacks.

Rafia Qaseem Baig, who joined police force as a constable seven years ago, will work in BDU after completing her 15-day training along with 31 other male members at Nowsheras School of Explosive Handling, media reports said.

During her training, she will learn about the types of bombs, their identification and ways to defuse them.

Rafia, who belongs to a highly educated family, said a blast near a sessions court seven years ago motivated her to join the force.

She completed her masters degree in International Relations.

She then pursued another masters degree in Economics and worked at International Rescue Committee where she developed a passion for law and enrolled in an LLB programme that is currently under way.

Given her academic qualifications, she was offered jobs in many companies and non-government organisations. However, she chose to join police force in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when extremists were overtly targeting security forces.

After her appointment, she was asked to undergo training sessions in areas including Adezai, Michni and Salman Khel in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. These were the declared red zones at that time.

She spent 10 days patrolling these localities with a large number of male police personnel.

Rafia was also the only female member of an investigation team that rescued Lady Reading Hospital physician Dr. Intikhab Alam 48 hours after his abduction in 2010.

She says the police force is not just a profession.

Its a passion and inspiration for those who have a spirit of devotion for the country.

More than 600 women are serving in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police department in different capacities from junior clerk to deputy superintendent.
Republicans rejected reports of a secret CIA assessment finding that Russia sought to tip the US presidential election in Donald Trumps favor, as a Democratic Senate leader called for an investigation.

The intelligence is wrong, Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer said. It didnt happen.

He was referring to a New York Times report saying US intelligence agencies had high confidence that Russian hackers infiltrated the Republican National Committees computer systems as well as those of Democratic Party organizations, but released information stolen only from the Democrats.

News about the CIA report, first reported by The Washington Post on Friday, drew an extraordinary rebuke from the president-elects camp.

These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, Trumps transition team said, launching a broadside against the spy agency.

Trump said the election was over and that its now time to move on and Make America Great Again.

However Senator Chuck Schumer, set to become Democratic minority leader in January, called for a congressional probe into the matter.

That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core, he said.

Its imperative that our intelligence community turns over any relevant information so that Congress can conduct a full investigation.

The debate simmered as US media reported that ExxonMobil President and CEO Rex Tillerson  a businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin  is Trumps likely pick for secretary of state.

Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee, slammed the idea of Tillerson as top diplomat as alarming and absurd.

With Rex Tillerson as our Secretary of State, the Trump administration would be guaranteeing Russia has a willing accomplice in the presidents cabinet guiding our nations foreign policy, he said in a statement.

Help Trump get elected

The reports of Russian interference in the White House vote follow President Barack Obamas order for a review of all cyberattacks that took place during the 2016 election cycle.

According to The Post, individuals with connections to Moscow provided anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks with emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee, Democratic candidate Hillary Clintons campaign chief, and others.

WikiLeaks steadily released those emails in the months before the election, damaging Clintons White House run.

It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russias goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected, a US official briefed on an intelligence presentation to key senators told the newspaper. Thats the consensus view.

CIA agents told the lawmakers it was quite clear that electing Trump was Russias goal, according to officials who spoke to the Post.

Russian hackers did not limit their hits to the Democrats, The New York Times reported.

We now have high confidence that they hacked the D.N.C. and the R.N.C., and conspicuously released no documents from the Republican organization, one senior administration official told The Times.
[dropcap]J[/dropcap]anardhana Reddy had recently come under criticism for the overgenerous spending on his daughters wedding. The lavish wedding is estimated to have cost Rs. 100 crore. Over 50,000 guests had attended the wedding with some biggies from Karnataka politics but many from BJP leaders skipped the event. Reddy is a former BJP minister and had faced arrest in the 2012 illegal mining case. He was released on bail last year. He had been actively preparing for his daughters wedding soon after he was released on bail. The high-cost wedding came under criticism as it was held soon after the demonetisation announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many leaders were told to keep away from the wedding. Income Tax department had visited Reddys residence in Bellary after the wedding.

A taxi driver who supposedly committed suicide has left behind a note, claiming that his employer, a Karnataka Administrative Service officer, helped Bellary mining czar G Janardhana Reddy launder Rs. 100 crore of alleged black money for his daughters wedding. In a six-page suicide note, K C Ramesh Gowda, 31, who consumed poison on December 6, accused special land acquisition officer Bheema Naik and his driver Mohammed of threatening him with death if he informed anybody about the money laundering. Ramesh claimed Naik helped Reddy and Independent Bellary MP B Sriramulu exchange the demonetised Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 notes worth Rs. 100 crore with Rs. 50, Rs. 100 and Rs. 2,000 bills for a 20 per cent commission. Reddy, who is very close to BJP, finally came under scanner, but one need to see how these inquiries moves against him. In his note, Ramesh wrote 19 points detailing the alleged illegal financial transactions of Naik, who he claimed had agreed to spend Rs. 25 crore to contest the 2018 assembly polls from Hagaribommanahalli in Bellary.

According to the note, Naik met Reddy and Sriramulu on October 28 at the duos apartment Parijaata in Bengaluru to discuss his (Naiks) proposed candidature. This was followed by another meeting on November 15 at an upscale hotel, where Rs. 25 crore was allegedly paid to take care of the wedding arrangements. The note also alleged that Nagaraj, an employee in Karnataka Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappas office, had received Rs. 25 lakh to close a departmental inquiry against Naik.

Janardhana Reddy is one of the richest politicians of Karnataka. He has subsequently been implicated in the illegal mining scandal in Bellary and the related Belekeri port scam. In 2009, a Supreme Court of India-appointed central empowerment committee recommended action against Reddy-owned Obulapuram Mining Company. An FIR in the case was filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Also, Santosh Hegde, the then Lokayukta or ombudsman of Karnataka state, had indicted Reddy and his two brothers, all of whom were cabinet ministers in the Bharatiya Janata Party ruled Karnataka state government at that time, in the mining scandal. After being arrested and sent to judicial custody, all three Reddy brothers and the then CM B. S. Yeddyurappa, were removed from their ministerial positions. Subsequently, they broke away from the BJP. While Yeddyurappa formed the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) party, the Reddy brothers joined up with B. Sriramulu to form the BSR Congress party.

In 1998, Janardhana Reddys finance company, Ennoble India Savings, collapsed, leaving unpaid debts of over Rs. 200 crores. However, by 2008, he and his wife declared assets of Rs. 1.20 billion. The Reddy brothers obtained their first lease for an iron mine in 2004 when the Indian National Congress party led the government in Karnataka state. Since then, their rise has been meteoric, driven by soaring commodity prices, primarily due to demand for iron ore from China.

Janardhana Reddy was accused of completely rigging the iron ore mining in this area and defrauding the government. Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation officials had clues to tax evasion and found that Reddy had entered into a MoU with a one-dollar company of Singapore to camouflage the companys income suppression. They raided the place along with other investigative agencies and formed a report which was on the basis of the report on illegal mining. Reddy is said to have designed a Zero-Risk system of iron ore mining, where he seamlessly provided protection to unauthorized and unaccounted mining, with active connivance from government officials at all levels. The rule of the iron ore mafia under his command was called the Republic of Bellary in which no external control or governance mechanism had any effect. Janardhana Reddy was arrested on 05 September 2011 by the CBI, and taken to Hyderabad. After the CBI court heard his lawyers representations, he along with his brother-in-law, B. V. Srinivas Reddy was remanded to judicial custody and sent to Chanchalguda Jail. The CBI in its ongoing investigations also arrested senior officers of the IAS and IRS. SC granted bail to Reddy on 21st January 2015. Now again, Janardhana Reddy came in the IT trap, lets see this time whether he would be punished or roam scot-free.

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Prenatal genetic testing is eliminating babies who would otherwise be born with Down syndrome. France wants to keep it that way.

By and large prenatal genetic testing is eliminating babies who would otherwise be born with Down syndrome. In approximately 90 percent of instances in which Down syndrome is revealed, the fetus is aborted. And if the French court's recent decision is any indication, France wants to keep it that way.

The court upheld a ruling of the French Broadcasting Council to ban a two-minute commercial produced by the Global Down Syndrome Foundation titled Dear Future Mom that addresses the fears and concerns of a mother who discovers she is carrying a baby who has Down syndrome.

Im scared: what kind of life will my child have? the mother asks. Children with Down syndrome from many nations in various languages tell the future mom that her child will hug, speak, go to school, tell you he loves you and can be happy, just like I am  and youll be happy, too. (Check out the video below.)

The court ruled that the video is inappropriate for French television, saying that the videos depiction of happy Down syndrome children is likely to disturb the conscience of women who had lawfully made different personal life choices."

The video was banned because it may cause unease in the hearts of parents who chose to snuff out these unwanted lives in-utero.

Columnist George F. Will put it more sharply. In his recent Washington Post piece, he wrote, "The court has said, in effect, that the lives of Down syndrome people  and by inescapable implication, the lives of many other disabled people are of negligible value next to the desire of parents to have a child who has no special  meaning inconvenient  needs."

As a glaring example of twisted moral sensitivity, this offensive video was actually banned because it may cause unease in the hearts and minds of parents who chose to snuff out these unwanted lives in-utero.

The video is powerful because it depicts in living color the full and gorgeous humanity of these kids with Downs and the very real nachas and joy parents receive from raising them.

Its a personal issue for me. Im the proud father of a 12-year-old son who has Down syndrome (George Will also has an adult son with Downs), and I can certainly empathize with the mothers fears in the video. If my wife and I could have somehow seen a snapshot of all the pleasure we would be getting in raising our son when he was born, a lot of our initial shock and disbelief would have dissipated.

Before my son, Yehuda, was born, I never thought that I could raise a child with Down syndrome. But so much of that thinking is based on sheer ignorance and distorted values that are rampant in society, even in Jewish communities, I am sad to say. When we reduce our children to nachas machines and props in our oh-so perfect life, the disabled child isnt quite the image you want to broadcast on your Facebook page.

The disabled child isnt quite the image you want to broadcast on your Facebook page.

I dont want to minimize the challenge in raising special-needs kids; it is hard work and entails unique challenges (try spending three hours a day crawling up and down stairs with your toddler for a year as part of his early intervention program!). But when our focus is on fulfilling our God-given role of helping our child reach his full potential, the rewards are just as great as raising any child, and sometimes even greater.

The key is to believe in your childs potential and not to sell him short. A recent case in point: we decided Yehuda should try to learn to read from the Torah for his upcoming Bar Mitzvah. My wife was confident he could do it; I was less so, but lets give it a shot and not assume he cant until he tries. It took only four days for him to master his aliyah; turns out hes a natural! My wife and I, and the rest of our kids were amazed when he belted it out loud. And most importantly, Yehuda was beaming with pride and full of self-confidence, a confidence that only comes from putting in effort and attaining a genuine accomplishment. That is how it is with all kids, with Downs or without.

Former U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey said, The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. The French courts recent decision reinforces the distorted value that some lives are worth more than others and reveals a troubling state of its moral health.
How many of us know the origins and exact meaning of these common Jewish phrases?

Oy Vey!

These days, we might exclaim Oy! when something doesnt go our way. Little do we realize, were echoing a word thats thousands of years old that is found in the Tanach.

Oy means woe, and its used to describe the horror that people and nations feel when threatened by their enemies. (See Samuel 4:7 and Isaiah 3:11)

Vey means woe in Aramaic, the language of the Talmud. (See Dictionary of the Targum, Talmud Bavli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Midrashic Literature by Marcus Jastrow, 1971 and 2004.)

Mazel Tov

Mazel tov is a quintessential Jewish expression; we wish Mazel Tov when someone gets engaged, at weddings, and to kids at their bar mitzvahs. Its often translated as the Jewish congratulations, but the actual meaning of Mazel Tov is much deeper. Mazel is variously translated as luck, or a sign (the signs of the Zodiac in Hebrew area also called mazalot), and it denotes something coming down to us from above. (Tov means good.)

But the fate of the Jewish people is not limited by mazel. The Talmud teaches that we each have the power to transcend our external circumstances and shape our own destiny if we try. The Talmud discusses the example of Rabbi Akivas daughter who was destined, according to astrologers, to die on her wedding day. Instead, she gave food to a poor beggar at her wedding. As she did so, she inadvertently killed a scorpion that was mean to bite her and changed her own destiny (Shabbat 156a).

By wishing Mazel Tov, were wishing others the chance to grow, to rise above their own situations, and to create a mazel tov, a good situation, for themselves.

LChaim

Many cultures have traditional toasts over wine and other drinks; LChaim, the Jewish toast, is arguably the oldest. LChaim means To Life! and it is a shortened form of a toast that Rabbi Akiva, the great First Century sage, made. At his sons wedding, Rabbi Akiva toasted Wine, and to Life to the mouths of the rabbis and the mouths of their students! over every single cup of wine (Shabbat 67b).

Rabbi Akivas toast reflects a deep truth about wine: it can be used both for good and for bad. The Talmud cautions that wine goes in and secrets come out (Eruvin 65). The way we handle wine can elevate us or, God forbid, it can degrade us. Repeating Rabbi Akivas famous toast reminds us to be cautious in our use of wine, using it for good and for Life! only.

Rabbi

Jewish spiritual leadership was traditionally passed down from teacher to student: Moses, who received the Torah on Mount Sinai, taught his disciple Joshua, who taught it to the leaders of the Jewish people who came after him, etc. This method of direct transfer of knowledge and authority continued unabated in the land of Israel for thousands of years; in the early years, Jewish sages didnt go by the title Rabbi.

It wasnt until relatively recently, in the first century of the Common Era, that he terms Rabbi and Rabban were used. Both words are related to the Hebrew word "rav" which means numerous or great, a reference to the copious knowledge of those who led Jewish courts and academies. Rabban referred to the head of the Sanhedrin, or Jewish court, and the first sages to be called rabbi were the disciples of Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakai. For hundreds of years, rabbi referred to Jewish leaders who were ordained in the Land of Israel. (Jewish sages in exile in Babylonia used the related title of Rav instead.) The Roman Empire banned the practice of ordaining rabbis in Israel, however, and though many sages resisted, it became more and more difficult to maintain the original, unbroken line of teacher-student ordination.

The term rabbi became popular in Medieval Europe, applied to learned teachers who led communities. (Sadly, these rabbis could no longer enjoy the chain of unbroken ordination that went back to Moses.) Today, a rabbi today means that one is qualified to rule on Jewish law, answering questions and transmitting knowledge to a new generation of Jews.

Goy

Considered to be an offensive term (and consequently avoided) by many today, the word goy literally means a nation. (The plural is goyim, or nations.)

The Torah contains several examples of Israel being called a goy, or nation: Abraham is promised that Israel will become a goy gadol, or a great nation (Genesis 12:2); Moses is told that the Jewish people will become a goy kadosh, a holy people. The prophet Isaiah foresaw a day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation: lo yisa goy el goy cherev (Isaiah 2:4). This stirring image is engraved into the wall of the United Nations headquarters.

Bless You (Gezundheit)

The common custom of saying bless you (or gezundheit) when someone sneezes has surprising Jewish origins. (Gezundheit is health in German. In Hebrew, people say labriut: to health! after hearing someone sneeze.)

The Torah records that before he passed away, the patriarch Jacob became sick. Jacob was the first person to be described as falling ill before dying in the Torah. The Midrash posits that he was the first person ever to become sick before death; before Jacob, people would simply sneeze and then pass away.

The idea that sneezing was associated with death wasnt so far-fetched. When God created Adam, God formed Adams body out of dust, and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). Later on, before the advent of modern medicine, sneezing could indicate illness, which could have grave consequences.

Rashi, the great 12th Century Jewish sage who lived in Troyes, France, advised us to wish sneezers good health, suggesting we say asuta, which is Aramaic for may you be healed to one who sneezes.

Shalom

This quintessential Jewish greeting has many meanings: hello, goodbye and peace. Shalom is derived from the Hebrew root shalem, or complete. Shalom denotes completeness, a state of being whole.

In modern Hebrew, when we ask how someone is we ask ma shlomcha (for a male) or ma shlomech (for a female). A literal translation would be asking how is your shalom? Are you whole, or are you lacking in some way? We each have it within our power to appreciate our blessings and recognize all we have to be thankful for. That sense of completeness leads to an absence of want and resentment. It sets the stage for true shalom, a feeling of being whole and at peace.
December 9, 2016

Egyptian antiquities continue to be smuggled abroad and put up for international auction. Recently, a set of Egyptian relics was put up for auction in Londons Christie's Auction House, held Dec. 6-15. The gallery posted on its website photos of ancient Egyptian statues of Isis, cats and bulls, as well as ancient Egyptian war tools. This has raised the ire of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, which reached out to the Egyptian Embassy in London to stop the sale at the auction house.

The Egyptian efforts were to no avail, as a bronze statue of the Goddess Isis and her son Horus were sold at the auction for $1,382,290. The statue dates back to 747-656 B.C. and was sold during the first days of the auction.

Another auction was held at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio in October, where 23 Egyptian artifacts were sold.

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities tried to prevent the sale, making contact before the auction with the general directors of UNESCO and the International Council of Museums. Unfortunately, the relics were sold, prompting the Ministry of Antiquities to prohibit dealing with the Toledo Museum in the future.

According to Shaaban Abdel-Gawad, the director general of the Department of Recovered Antiquities within the Ministry of Antiquities, world museums display collectibles but do not sell them, which is approved by the ministry, as it sees this as a good advertisement for Egypt. He added that the incident of the US auction is unprecedented, but the museum has the right to sell relics. That is why Egypt has raised its objection in a bid to prevent other museums from following the same path.

Abdel-Gawad told Al-Monitor, The ministry is taking necessary steps to stop the selling of Egypts relics in international auctions by following up on the auctions that are being held around the world and checking if the missing artifacts at home are being displayed in any of the exhibitions and auctions.

In case it was proven that some of the missing relics were put up for auction somewhere in the world, the ministry would get in touch with the auction house or the host country to seize back the archaeological pieces by virtue of ownership documents showing that they belong to the Egyptian state, Abdel-Gawad added. If there were no documents to this effect, due to many illegal excavation works and thefts of relics in Egyptian museums and archaeological stores especially after 2011, we deal with the matter in our capacity as the country of origin of such relics, and we require the concerned auction house to provide documents proving its ownership of the archaeological pieces.

Commenting on other obstacles preventing Egypt from recovering relics from international auctions, Abdel-Gawad said, The local governing laws in the countries where such auctions are being held are the biggest challenge for us. We are dealing with about a hundred countries and most of them allow the antiquities trade, while other countries did not sign the 1970 UNESCO convention, whereby the antiquities trade is criminalized.

The US State Department announced in a statement Nov. 30 that Secretary of State John Kerry and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry signed a memorandum of understanding on the protection of cultural properties, whereby the United States will impose restrictions on exporting any archaeological relic related to Egyptian cultural heritage dating from 5200 B.C.-A.D. 1571.

Abdel-Gawad said, The ministry has set forward a strategy to conclude agreements similar to the archaeological convention with the United States, whose most essential part is that it will be applied to all the American states, regardless of the different governing laws in every state. The ministry was also successful in convincing Germany to amend its laws on archaeology to bind German auction houses to provide documents proving the ownership of displayed archaeological relics without the need of the country of origin of such relics to prove its ownership in this regard.

Abdel-Gawad added, The ministry has succeeded in recovering 1,200 artifacts between 2011 and 2016 and about 6,000 pieces between 2002 and 2011. Additionally, four relic pieces were recovered from the United States during the month of November.

Commenting on the cooperation of the Egyptian parliament in recovering smuggled relics, Abdel-Gawad said, Parliament has been cooperative, and we will introduce its members to the ministrys strategy to conclude bilateral agreements with countries, especially those sharing borders with Egypt, so as to prevent the establishment of any smuggling corridors, to Sudan, Libya and Jordan, for instance. This is especially true since Egypts agreement with Jordan to this effect has resulted in seizing 340 artifacts in the Aqaba port, which will be recovered in the coming days. This is not to mention agreements with Western countries to facilitate the restoring of relics procedures and to remove all obstacles.

Abdel-Gawad added, Auctions refuse to reveal the identity of the buyers, which usually means losing all track of the pieces.

He noted, Egypt has been demanding the amendment of the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property to include all relics that had been looted and stolen before that date. It is also demanding that the auction houses be responsible for providing proof of ownership of any relics they are displaying instead of the concerned country of origin.

He also said that many countries whose relics have been smuggled and stolen, such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia and China, among others, want to cooperate with Egypt to pressure UNESCO to amend the conventions articles in this regard.

For his part, Bassam al-Chammah, a historian and Egyptologist, told Al-Monitor that he is calling for a mass petition, whereby the signatures of Egyptians are collected to pressure UNESCO to amend the convention and stand by Egypt to recover its missing artifacts by facilitating legal proceedings and pressuring other countries to return related relics and pieces.

Egyptian relics and artifacts will continue to be sold at auctions around the world unless the UNESCO convention is amended. Egypt has to be swift in concluding agreements with countries that are hosting such auctions and agree with them not to sell Egyptian relics unless they have secured ownership papers and until the UNESCO convention is amended to include the recovery of lost relics prior to and after 1971.
December 8, 2016

For as long as the Syrian war has raged, there have been stories throughout the Middle East about Syrian refugee women being in demand for marriage  sometimes willingly, sometimes not. Egypt is no exception.

It is hard to judge whether marriage between Syrian women and Egyptian men is in fact a phenomenon on the rise since 2011 or an exaggerated situation. But there is no shortage of stories.

Umm Ammar, who is in her 30s, became a widow when her husband died in an accident. As a now "single" refugee, she is one of many Syrian women sought out by Egyptian men who consider them the perfect partners  often for reasons far from flattering, such as low dowries. This phenomenon has sparked controversy in Egyptian and Syrian circles.

This is harassment, rather than a marriage proposal," she told Al-Monitor about a recent run-in with an Egyptian man. What can I say? An old man whose teeth have almost fallen out asked me to give him my number. He said he wanted a Syrian bride because his first wife was not feeling well.

She added that she faces such incidents daily. She had wanted to take up a job, but now she avoids leaving the house unless it is absolutely necessary.

Men use different methods to find Syrian women. Tareq al-Sheikh, who got hooked on one of the largest Facebook groups for Syrians living in Egypt, told Al-Monitor many men think such sites are a good way to reach Syrian women. (Al-Monitor chose not to identify the site, to avoid adding to the harassment.)

The issue is delicate for all Syrians," he said, because of rumors that, through marriage brokers, marrying a Syrian woman would cost an Egyptian only 500 Egyptian pounds ($27) as a dowry. "Syrian women feel offended, and Syrian men are angry."

Lamia Lotfi, who heads the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) program at the New Woman Foundation in Cairo, discussed the source of the rumors.

We always claim to be a nice country that doesnt house [refugee] camps. But, in fact, Syrians did not have a place to live when they arrived. There were some mosques in 6th of October City and in Upper Egypt that would marry women [in exchange for men paying dowries of] 1,000 Egyptian pounds [$55] and [provide] an apartment, Lotfi told Al-Monitor.

Although these mosques actions stopped, according to Lotfi, brokers remain.

Another approach some men use is to play on women's supposed vulnerability. Some people still use the word "sitter," a term that means protecting weak women, when talking about marriage to a Syrian woman. While threatening conditions do exist in refugee camps in many countries, many Syrians are offended by the idea that Syrian women would need to be sheltered or have their integrity guarded.

Nothing angers me more than a man who thinks Syrian women need him to protect their reputation," Ammar said.

Some Egyptians seek to marry Syrian women regardless of their age, ideologies and religion. An Egyptian man who is part of the Syrian Facebook group mentioned by Ammar told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, I am 55. I own an apartment and a car. I am separated from my Egyptian wife and would like to have a civil marriage with a Syrian woman.

Hala Mohammed, a Syrian girl in her 20s living in Egypt, told Al-Monitor, I thought that marriage was a form of exploitation because of the way some men approach us. They show bad intentions with their words and the way they look at us. Some men seem outright [disrespectfully] flirtatious before proposing.

She added, Still, I met some respectable men. I dont think the marriage [idea] is wrong.

Refugees in general are easily exploited because of their dire financial situations, but some Syrian refugees in Egypt are relatively well-off. Political researcher Mohammed al-Arabi told Al-Monitor, Syrian refugees in Egypt enjoy a good economic situation," which is why men do not often try that approach.

He said that marrying Syrian women may have gained momentum in some circles where Egyptian couples do not trust each other, which makes Syrian women strong competitors for their Egyptian counterparts.

Lotfi noted how insulting the comparisons can be, saying, This is not a matter of choice for a Syrian or an Egyptian woman, or a pretty woman or another woman. This seems like a deal, as though women are comparable goods.

She noted, Egyptian and Syrian women are not that different, but Syrian women in Egypt may have developed traits due to their new living conditions and the fact that they are foreigners. In general, she said, Syrian women are more educated than Egyptian women. They are more aware of their rights. Syrians marry according to their own terms in their country. But they are now refugees in Egypt, and they can be deported at any minute. Therefore, they become submissive.

On the legal level, Firas Haj Yahya, the human rights director at the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces in Cairo, told Al-Monitor, Some husbands delude their Syrian wives into thinking that they can deport them from Egypt if they ask for their rights in case of separation.

He added, These threats are fabricated and have no legal grounds or justification. A Syrian woman who gets married on Egyptian soil under Egyptian law subsequently enjoys the rights stipulated in said law.

Egyptian mens marriages to Syrian women have sparked concern and criticism among some Syrians in Egypt. But not all feel the same. Rafa Fayez, a Syrian living in Egypt, told Al-Monitor, For three years, I was engaged to an Egyptian man. Each time I would meet Syrians and mention it, they would show sadness and ask me why I did that. The reaction scared me. But after marriage  we lived happily.

Marwa Hachem, the assistant media director at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told Al-Monitor the organization does not have accurate figures about the number of marriages between Syrian women and Egyptian men. She said, It is up to women who are registered at the UNHCR to update their data with their social status.

According to the latest data, published Oct. 31, Syrian women account for 49.3% of the total 115,204 Syrian refugees in Egypt who are registered with the UNHCR. Estimates of unregistered refugees vary significantly, but the Cairo Post reported there were 350,000 in 2015.
December 9, 2016

There has been increasing talk in Israel since October about the illegal outpost of Amona, near the city of Ramallah in center of the West Bank, as Israeli right-wing parties threatened Nov. 29 to withdraw from the government should the outpost be ordered evacuated, based on the Nov. 14 Israeli Supreme Court decision. The Amona outpost is illegal as it is built on private Palestinian lands.

Israeli writer Ariel Kahana said in a Nov. 23 article on NRG that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had held meetings back in October with Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to discuss the possibility to set up a land arbitration system in line with the so-called Cypriot model.

Cyprus, whose area amounts to 9,000 square kilometers (3,474 square miles), has been a disputed land between the Turks and Greeks since 1974. Back then, Greece launched an offensive on the island to annex it to its territories, which prompted the Turks to intervene militarily to protect the Turkish Cypriots. The island has been divided ever since into two parts, a northern half with a majority of Turks and a southern half with a Greek majority.

Kahana added in his article that Netanyahu has taken several steps to look into a realistic application of the Cypriot model on the Palestinian territories, as he has met with a number of international judges and formed a legal crew to find common denominators between the Cypriot model and the West Bank.

Abdullah Abdullah, a member of Fatahs Revolutionary Council, told Al-Monitor, The Israeli-Palestinian conflict might witness a political stagnation in the coming period as the world has been preoccupied with wars in Iraq and Syria. We as Palestinians stand hopelessly in the face of Israel if it wishes to go through with the Cypriot model. We can merely take some limited political and legal steps before the governments and countries that are friends of the Palestinians. The administration of the US President-elect Donald Trump does not seem to object to the application of this model in the West Bank, and it is supportive of Israeli policies.

This is not the first time Israel has suggested the application of the Cypriot model as a solution. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman called for the implementation of the model when he served as foreign minister in 2009.

Implementing the Cypriot model in the West Bank requires international interference, which is what the Palestinians have been calling for while Israel has been rejecting it. Israel has been keen on keeping discussions and negotiations to this effect limited to internal circles at home, without any international interference, and rejected on Nov. 7 the international conference France intended to hold early next year.

Khalil Tufakji, a Palestinian expert on Israeli settlements and director of the Cadasters Department at the Orient House Foundation in Jerusalem, told Al-Monitor, Israel is striving to apply the Cypriot model in order to establish its claims that the West Bank is not an occupied land and that the absentee owners of lands there can be compensated for their lands. This  is in direct conflict with all international laws, unlike the case in Cyprus.

Israel might resort to the implementation of the Cypriot model in the West Bank based on three premises: the use of the absentees properties law, claiming the settlers of all Israeli settlements to be local residents and compensation for absentee owners.

Israeli military radio, which is affiliated with the Israeli army, reported Nov. 20 that Israel is willing, by emulating the Cypriot model, to pay compensation to Palestinian owners for their lands in Area C of the West Bank, which Israel is seeking to annex, as an alternative to the two-state solution. Area C consists of 60% of the West Banks total area of 5,860 square kilometers (2,262 square miles).

In the same context, Israel might also, in anticipation of any international response, form an arbitration jury in the West Bank to settle issues of ownership of lands that are intended to be annexed to Israeli territories and to determine the size of compensation to Palestinian owners, according to Israeli military radio.

Former Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan Khatib told Al-Monitor, By seeking to implement the Cypriot model, Israel wants to impose a fait accompli on Palestinians and is also resorting to such international models that are in line with its goals. However, evoking this model to define the future of the West Bank is not an easy task for Israel, as there are international resolutions confirming that the West Bank is an occupied territory by Israel and not a disputed land, as is the case of Cyprus. However, Israel is likely to take advantage of the fact that the international community is not very focused on the Palestinian cause to try to impose the Cypriot model without any fuss.

For his part, spokesman for the Palestinian presidency Nabil Abu Rudeina warned Dec. 3 against the application of the Cypriot model on the West Bank, dubbing it as the most dangerous of projects of racism and Judaization against Palestinians. He also threatened that the Palestinian leadership will resort to international tribunals to stop this project from being implemented on the ground.

Hassan Asfour, former Palestinian minister for nongovernmental agency affairs, said Nov. 24 that the Cypriot model has been widely discussed among Israelis and some Palestinians. He also said that some Israeli ministers are putting forward this model as an alternative to the two-state solution before some international bodies, noting that this proposal has reached Trumps office. He did not give further details to this effect.

A Hamas official in the West Bank, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Al-Monitor, Given the lax security coordination between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel in the West Bank, the latter is not facing any real opposition from the Palestinian leadership and thus is trying to go through with the Cypriot model. If the armed resistance was operating in the West Bank without any security restrictions by the PA and Israel, the latter would not have dared to even propose such a model to be implemented in the West Bank.

The source added, The Israeli government has not disclosed ways of implementation of this model so far and is waiting for the right conditions in the West Bank to announce the implementation mechanism.

The coming days could see further talks about the Cypriot model, as Israeli legal committees are studying the common denominators between Cyprus and the West Bank to put forth legislation at the Knesset to legalize the Amona outpost and apply the model. Although this measure remains a long shot because Israel would need to resort to international bodies such as the United Nations to take such a step, it believes that this is the best opportunity to go through with its political plans as Palestinians are preoccupied with their internal conflicts and divisions, without any unified leadership to hinder its projects in the international arena.
December 9, 2016

In his Nov. 30 Fatah convention speech, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed readiness to talk to the new Donald Trump administration about a two-state solution. But despite this readiness, the Palestinian leadership is looking for alternatives in the international community to advance Palestinian statehood in 2017. A senior PLO official close to Abbas told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity that the Palestinian leadership is reaching out to Russia for active intervention on a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines.

Abbas spoke about this in detail with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during Medvedevs visit to Jericho on Nov. 11 and asked him to convey an urgent message in this regard to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The source explained that according to Palestinian analysis, Putin will probably be one of the only world leaders to whom Trump will listen.

The Palestinians are suggesting to Moscow to include a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines within a regional deal that could be brokered between Trump and Putin in the coming months. The Palestinians estimate that such a deal would include US-Russia cooperation in Syria in favor of President Bashar al-Assads rule in order to solidify the joint fight against the Islamic State and guarantee the basic parameters of the Iran nuclear agreement.

In this context, Ramallah is now asking Moscow for Palestinian statehood within a realistic timeline to be part of an eventual US-Russia deal. The Palestinian leadership believes that Russias positions on the Israeli-Palestinian issue are close to those of the Palestinians, and it also estimates that the Israeli leaderships respect for Putin could be useful here.

Furthermore, the Palestinian leadership foresees a change in the nature of Middle East collective diplomacy in the course of 2017  especially after the April/May 2017 French elections. If French Republican party candidate Francois Fillon wins the elections, a new Middle East axis of the United States, Russia and France could emerge.

A Russian diplomat in Tel Aviv told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity that Russia is indeed interested in playing an influential and helpful role in favor of a two-state solution. Moscow is planning to invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas to a summit meeting with Putin in Moscow. This is one of the issues that will surely be dealt with in the Putin-Trump contacts once Trump takes office. Russia, according to this diplomat, supports Palestinian statehood on the 1967 lines, but also favors stringent security and anti-terror arrangements for Israel.

Putin enjoys a good relationship with both Netanyahu and Abbas. But according to the Palestinian source, Abbas will accept Putins invitation only on the basis of a commitment to launch an international peace conference leading to a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as a capital. Such a conference, according to the Palestinian official, must refer to clear terms of reference on all permanent status issues on the basis of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. The Palestinians will demand a two- to three-year timeline for negotiations and implementation. The PLO official added that the time for US monopoly on the Middle East peace process is over. These processes have failed because all American presidents automatically adopted entirely the Israeli bargaining positions  from the [1991] Madrid Conference to the John Kerry initiative. President Trump may adopt similar positions, but he is likely to coordinate US regional moves with the Russian leadership.

An Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity that these Palestinian ideas were complete nonstarters. Netanyahu, he noted, is confident that he can coordinate with the new US president an American commitment to not support any one-sided international policy initiative  neither at the Security Council nor in any other international forum.

Clearly, the Palestinian leadership is now looking for ways to promote a new multilateral framework for conflict resolution in favor of Palestinian statehood. It is far too early to say whether a new US-Russia-France axis has a chance to produce diplomatic results, but in this new era of international unpredictability brought about by the US election, a change of that sort cannot be ruled out.
December 11, 2016

Turkey presses for reset with Russia

Amberin Zaman reports that Turkeys outsize ambitions in Syria lie in shreds as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad press on to assert control over the rebel strongholds that remain in Aleppo.

This column wrote last week that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans Syria policies hit a dead end in Aleppo. Zaman picks up this theme, noting a near-frantic desire by Ankara for a reset in Turkish-Russian ties, including a visit by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to Russia Dec. 6.

Until recently, most pundits had reckoned that Turkey would not make any dramatic changes to its Syria policy until a new administration takes office in Washington, Zaman writes. This, however, was premised on the Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, who echoed Turkeys calls for a no-fly zone in Syria, winning the election. President-elect Trump, on the other hand, has voiced deep skepticism about the rebels, prompting Turkey to consider cutting its losses.

Zaman continues, The latest developments in Aleppo suggest that some kind of understanding has been reached, with Turkey reportedly mediating on behalf of the rebels and their families for their withdrawal to Idlib. Ankara is in a hurry because of its paranoia over the Syrian Kurdish statelet it sees emerging along its border. It is desperate to stop the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) from physically linking all the cantons under its control. This, in turn, means preventing the YPG from taking the town of al-Bab from the Islamic State and also striking a deal with Russia, and by extension with the Assad regime, presumably at the Syrian Kurds expense.

Berzan Iso writes, Developments in al-Bab are linked to clashes in Aleppo. Turkey is reportedly transferring opposition fighters withdrawn from Damascus, Homs and Aleppo to the al-Bab region to form a paramilitary force under its control. Turkey sees control of al-Bab as a key for its ruling Justice and Development Party to have a say in the future of Syria and to prove the futility of Kurdish aspirations to form and control a corridor along the Turkish border. Both the United States, which supports Turkey, and Russia, which gave Turkey the green light to advance on al-Bab, are suspicious of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his intentions. Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, allowed the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) to advance toward al-Bab in between the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and Assad's troops. This enabled YPG-SDF fighters to create a de facto buffer zone between the Turkish forces and the Syrian army.

Iso, reporting from Arima, Syria, adds, Turkey is hindering the fight against IS, based on comments by Manbij Military Council spokesman Shervan Dervish. The area the SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces] saved from IS, with the support of the international coalition, is under attack by Turkey  a member of that coalition.

Iso concludes that another problem is Turkeys inability to impose its rule and achieve stability, thus leaving the people at the mercy of the Islamic militant groups Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham. As long as the Syrian army needs al-Bab to recapture Aleppo, Turkey wont be able to take the risk of capturing al-Bab. Syrias defense industrys main components and the biggest international airport are just south of al-Bab.

Syrian Kurds caught in the middle

Fehim Tastekin writes, Common sentiment is that the Kurds are now at a critical threshold of relations with the Damascus regime, and the outcome could be cooperation or, just as easily, combat.

Both Syrian government forces and YPG fighters appear to have coordinated their assault on armed groups that had seized the Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood of Aleppo. In September, Russia had sought to broker an understanding between the Syrian government and Kurdish groups in advance of the assault on Aleppo, as reported by Mahmut Bozarslan for Al-Monitor.

Tastekin reports that according to Syrian Kurdish sources the meeting [in September] did not produce an agreement and that there have been no more contacts with Russia. The Kurds say it is important for them to maintain contact with Russia and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to keep Afrin and Sheikh Maksoud from turning into deadly war zones. This apparent coordination between the Syrian regime and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) against armed groups that were keeping Sheikh Maksoud under steady fire have prompted comments about Kurdish-regime cooperation. But it is not that simple. What we have is friendship and enmity coexisting.

There is also talk of Syrian army cooperation with the Kurds regarding al-Bab, Turkeys primary target in its Operation Euphrates Shield, Tastekin writes. Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) want to turn the zone between Manbij and Afrin into a safe zone for the Kurds. The Turkish army is trying to thwart that goal. Some observers interpreted the Syrian armys shelling of Turkish-supported groups advancing to al-Bab as signaling the regimes support for the Kurds.

Tastekin concludes that although the Kurds reject allegations that they are cooperating with the regime, both Assad and his adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban, several times said that they have been assisting the Kurds and that there was coordination between them. The clashes, but also the contacts, between the Kurds and the Syrian army/pro-regime militias have illustrated that the Kurds are not a front confronting the regime and that the regime is not an assurance for the Kurds.

Cengiz Candar writes that at a recent conference, Salih Muslim, the leader of the PYD, was as vague as he could be about the next steps. Candar reports that Muslims one recurring theme was the importance of the Kurdish self-rule model in northern Syria. The (involuntary) absence of the PYD at the peace talks in Geneva, he claimed, was the main reason for their failure. If the Kurds had been properly represented at Geneva I and Geneva II, then everything would be much different today. Thus, in Muslims eyes, acknowledgment of Kurdish self-rule is essential for a peaceful resolution of the Syrian conflict.

Russia rejects Syrian partition

The Russian Federations official foreign policy, signed by President Vladimir Putin Nov. 30, reiterates Moscows long-standing interests in Syria.

Maxim Suchkov writes, Moscow reaffirmed its commitment to the unity, independence and territorial integrity of Syria as a secular, democratic and pluralistic state, where all ethnic groups and religious denominations will live in peace and security and enjoy equal rights and opportunities.

Suchkov adds, This wording gives a sense of what the Kremlin is looking for at the end of the day, and what its starting negotiation position will be once the fighting phase is over. It is also designed to annul allegations that Russia is considering the partition of Syria  even though such a posture does not technically prevent Moscow from advocating for a federalization if such an option is ever on the table.
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Bunk Richardson was lynched from this bridge in Gadsden, Ala., on Feb. 11, 1906 by a mob of about 25 men. No one was ever prosecuted.

Kim Hines has never been to Gadsden. There's a reason, and it goes back 110 years.

She only knows the city from the memories of her late grandfather, William Henry Williams, who left Gadsden at the age of eight on a cold morning in February 1906. Years later, she heard the story from him after asking several times.

"They put him in the back of the wagon," she said, remembering the story. "They put a blanket over him and told him to stay down. They told him they had to get out of town."

As the wagon hobbled out of Gadsden, it passed the Louisville and Nashville Railroad bridge spanning the Coosa River. Young William looked out from underneath the blanket and never forgot what he saw. It was a black man swinging by a noose from the bridge. He had been there since after midnight.

"He could see him hanging," she said. "There were birds picking at him. He remembered that. He looked at that body for as long as they were in sight of it, and then he couldn't see it anymore."

Hines, a Minnesota playwright, is a relative to a man named Bunk Richardson, who this week is getting a historical marker in Gadsden bearing his name. In a ceremony planned for Tuesday afternoon at 5:15 p.m., the plaque will be unveiled at First Street near the railroad bridge.

We know very little about Richardson.

He was probably 28 when a mob killed him. He came from Talladega County, was married and perhaps fathered two children. And he was one of the more than 4,000 black Americans lynched in the United States over an 80-year period beginning in 1882. The only known photographs of him in existence record him hanging from the bridge, and the moment when his body was hauled up.

This is not the first time I've tried to tell his story. In 2000, I wrote a series of articles about the lynching of Bunk Richardson. You'll have to trust me that there's a reason why I'm even mentioning myself.

This marker will be dedicated Tuesday near the site of the Richardson lynching.

But the story of his killing was told and retold in many ways long before anyone ever thought of putting a marker there, and myriad meanings attached to a crime that many wanted to forget.

'Restless and ill at ease'

Most of what we know about these events comes from newspaper reports written at the time, much of which traffics in the racial language and stereotypes of the time. Therefore, we can't know everything, and what we do know we can't fully trust.

Bunk Richardson was one of several people arrested in connection with the murder of a white woman named Sarah Jane Smith.

Just after daylight on the morning of Sunday, July 16, 1905, a 23-year-old black man named Vance Garner, or Gardner as he was sometimes referred to, entered the distillery near the Coosa foundry on Gadsden's Tuscaloosa Avenue and told the men working there that a white woman was dead by the side of Loney Road. Her partially clothed remains were hidden in the bushes, her neck broken.

Smith was known around town as a hard-working 44-year-old woman living near the Hammond Mines with her two grown sons. She had been out looking for them the night of her death, supposedly after being told they were out drinking and in danger of being arrested.

Her killer was thought to have dragged her body by the hair down a steep embankment of rocks, scratching her face and bruising her back. Newspaper accounts erroneously identified her as a widow and stated she had been raped, given her torn clothing, with her shoes and stockings lying nearby.

It was a bloodcurdling crime for Gadsden, then a city of about 10,000 just beginning to feel its oats. The influx of money, newcomers and opportunity seemed a daily occurrence, as symbolized by the new steel mill in Alabama City and a new hospital.

That same day, Gadsden police arrested Garner, along with Richardson and Will Johnson, a 27-year-old railroad baggage handler from Kentucky. In the end, five men and one woman were rounded up, but police still sought another black man, 24-year-old Jack Hunter, Garner's first cousin. He was believed to have left town.

The six prisoners were carried to the Etowah County Jail. By the afternoon, the Gadsden Times-News wrote that "crowds of people...restless and ill at ease" were swarming the downtown area. By 9:30 that night, a mob of about 250 men surrounded the jail, demanding to be let in to lynch those responsible. The town Circuit Judge, John H. Disque, spoke to the crowd to calm them, coolly holding a revolver in his hand. The crowd lacked a leader and eventually went home after members of the state militia arrived.

'Racial relations can't move forward'

Photographer Joshua Kristal snapped this photo from the site where Bunk Richardson was lynched.

In 2012, a professional photographer named Joshua Kristal went through three states taking photographs of the sites of race lynchings. He used photographs taken at the time as a reference, showing how the sites had changed since. Photographs were a common ritual of lynchings, with the images occasionally made into postcards as a reminder to some and a warning to others.

Kristal told me last year he started the project "after many years of considering what I could do to bring attention to the history of lynching and ideally bring about some sort of memorial at the sites of these atrocities."

Bunk Richardson's site was one of the easiest to find, as it was a bridge that was still standing. And the photograph of his corpse is one of the most evocative among scores of horrific images.

"I feel strongly that until these crimes are recognized and memorialized and we, as a society, reconcile our past, our racial relations can't move forward in a positive and productive way," Kristal stated at the time about the project.

'A polite, inoffensive Negro'

News of the unrest in Gadsden made its way into papers in Texas and Wyoming. Though the prisoners were transferred to Birmingham's Jefferson County Jail, peace had not yet returned to the city.

The day after the murder and near-lynching, two houses occupied by blacks on Sixth Street were reported burned. No one was injured. Then about 3 p.m., a black barber named Bill Smith, described as an "inoffensive, polite Negro," boarded the train near the Printup Hotel heading to his home on Ninth Street. Unknown to him, the train was also occupied by members of the previous evening's would-be lynch mob.

Making his way to the railway car's rear, Smith was met at the door by Boyd Pinkerton, a miner who worked in Crudup.

"Howdy, white folks," Smith was reported as saying. "Where you going?"

Pinkerton said a few words to him, prompting a laugh, then shot Smith in the face with a .38, letting his body fall to the ground as the train pulled away. The train was stopped and Pinkerton was arrested. He was later convicted of manslaughter after a near mistrial.

The ongoing search for Hunter was aided by a $500 reward and resulted in sightings of him all over Alabama. A week after the murder, he was found hiding under his mother's house. He had gone all the way to Birmingham but left after he heard people in the street mentioning his name. He surrendered to the sheriff, who disguised Hunter as a woman in order to get him safely on a train out of Gadsden to the Jefferson County Jail.

'The memory of it is still so strong'

Jake Adam York was a poet who spent his childhood in Etowah County and published three volumes of his work before his sudden death in 2012 from a stroke. Much of his writing deals with victims of racial violence - though, as one critic said, not so much as an accusation of America as a memorial to people whose lives might otherwise be forgotten.

One of his best-known poems is "Bunk Richardson," a work inspired after he read stories of the Richardson lynching in The Gadsden Times and saw the photo in a 2000 book entitled, "Without Sanctuary."

In a 2005 interview, York said he wrote about Richardson because "the memory of it is still so strong that though people would not do the same things now, their response to it at a distance is such that you can still feel that these problems, these wounds, these crimes have not been recognized, they have not been atoned for."

'An innocent man'

Did Bunk Richardson have anything to do with the murder of Sarah Jane Smith? By all accounts, no.

A period photograph shows downtown Gadsden and the Etowah County Courthouse.

In November 1905, Hunter, Garner and Johnson were tried for her murder and all sentenced to death. The trial was big news in Alabama, the Montgomery Advertiser sending a reporter to Gadsden to cover the trials and other papers offering updates. Richardson was briefly called as a character witness for Garner but his charges were dropped.

The story that emerged from the trial was that Garner and Richardson were walking down railroad tracks the night of the murder, on their way to purchase whiskey. Then they heard a woman scream.

Garner told Richardson he thought it sounded like his sister. He ran into the woods to find out. Richardson, perhaps conscious of all that could happen in such a situation, would not follow.

In the woods, Garner found Hunter drunk, strangling Smith, trying to shove a towel in her mouth.

"What are you doing here, Jack? You are going to get your neck broken," he warned Hunter.

"Go on away from here," Hunter replied. "I know my damn business better than you or anyone else."

Garner turned to leave. Just then, Smith called out to him. "Mister, pull him off. He's killing me!"

Garner ran on and overtook Richardson on the tracks, telling him what had happened. They did not return.

In the hours after, news spread among the other three as to what Hunter had done. Johnson learned the details of the murder and later spoke to police the next morning, inadvertently implicating himself. Hunter staggered home, while Garner stayed awake all night, unable to sleep after what he'd seen.

Hunter, who later admitted on the gallows that he killed Smith, laughed that Johnson tried to "make the white man think he knew something. But he talked so much he hung himself."

After his death sentence, Johnson sent a statement to the Times-News proclaiming his innocence.

"I hope the white citizens of this town will take notice, as this is the truth in my heart," he wrote. "I am a poor colored man, have a poor wife and one child in Chattanooga to look after. O think how hard it is to put an innocent man to death, but God will right it all."

Will Johnson, whose sentence commutation resulted in the Richardson lynching, from a contemporary newspaper photograph.

Some in town listened. Sheriff William Chandler, and three local lawyers wrote letters to Gov. William Jelks, asking him to re-examine Johnson's case. Two lawyers went so far as to travel to Montgomery to lobby for the man's innocence.

On Dec. 29, 1905, a crowd estimated at 1,000 surrounded the Etowah County Jail in downtown Gadsden shortly after daybreak, though they could not have witnessed the executions taking place inside. Admission to the jail was limited to deputies, the four ministers serving as spiritual advisors to the condemned men and their families.

Will Johnson did not mount the gallows. Jelks delayed his execution until Feb. 9, giving the Pardons and Paroles Board a chance to review the case. Chandler later told reporters if Hunter had given a full confession, he would not have executed Johnson.

Jack Hunter said he was the only one responsible, and Vance Garner thanked authorities for keeping the mob out "and giving me time to get religion." He said he had nothing to do with the murder.

The two were executed at 10:07 a.m.

'We got your boy Bunk.'

Kim Hines first heard as a little girl that a member of her family had been lynched. Barely knowing what the word meant, she learned her grandfather William Henry Williams could tell her. "That's not something you should know," he originally replied.

Years later, he recounted for her the story of his father, Brewer Earl Williams, and his mother, Mamie Lawler Williams. Like their cousin Bunk Richardson, they came from Talladega County's Mardisville to settle in Gadsden. Brewer worked at a quarry and later became a stone mason, fashioning fire places for the homes of well-to-do white families. He was so sought after, his son remembered, that the white competitors felt they could not compete with him, since he didn't charge as much.

"My great-grandfather had a business, and a lot of young black men worked for him," she said. "My great-grandmother had a laundry business, and they had a store."

Hines said the night word spread among Gadsden's black community that a man had been lynched, families began hurriedly checking on the welfare of loved ones. Brewer soon heard it was his cousin Bunk.

And word got back to Brewer - We got your boy Bunk. Keep doing what you're doing, and we'll go after your kid.

"They didn't hesitate," Hines said of her great-grandparents. "They left that day."

'We want Bunk Richardson'

Bunk Richardson and Will Johnson were still in the Etowah County Jail on Feb. 9, 1906. The parole board found no reason to overturn Johnson's verdict, but the three lawyers again wrote the governor on behalf of the condemned man. "We do not make this request for one we think guilty of any violation of the law. We believe him innocent of the crime for which he is convicted," they wrote. "You know us well enough to know we would not have sympathy for a Negro rapist, and the appeal we make is to prevent what seems to us a great wrong."

Johnson had grown despondent. For weeks, he had contemplated suicide, first asking a guard to bring him morphine, later soaking the heads from a box of matches in water to make poison he could drink.

Then a wire arrived from Jelks' office, directing that Johnson be moved to Jefferson County Jail. He was quickly out of town, but he remained in state custody the rest of his life, until he died of tuberculosis in prison at Wetumpka on July 17, 1911, almost six years to the day after his arrest.

The Gadsden Times-News the evening Johnson left stated this "news...will not be favorably received by the majority of the people of Etowah county, who do not doubt his guilt."

Around 1 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 11, someone knocked on the door of the county jail. Sheriff Chandler, asleep in the jail's living quarters, awakened and opened the door. Three hooded men grabbed him and pistols were pressed to his face. Some fired shots into the ceiling.

"We want Bunk Richardson," they told him.

"I begged them to go away and let the law take its course," Chandler testified at a coroner's jury two days later. "They told me that was an old chestnut."

Chandler tried to divert the men, saying the jail keys were upstairs. The mob of about 25 streamed into the jail, escorting Chandler's wife and children out the back door at gunpoint. Chandler said it was obvious the men had been drinking.

The jailer, W. M. Dixon, was behind a large iron door. When he heard the commotion, he said he thought it was the usual business - deputies bringing in the familiar round of prisoners from Saturday night raids. When he opened the door, the men seized him and again began firing their pistols. In a few minutes, they opened the door to Bunk Richardson's cell and demanded he step out. Richardson, huddled in a corner, was remembered by the jailer as being "so frightened he couldn't speak a word."

He was dressed only in his nightclothes, barefoot. He asked that someone write to his sister, who lived out of town. The prisoner in hand, the mob rushed up Chestnut Street and another two blocks to the railroad bridge. Witnesses said they saw Richardson "repeatedly jerked down and kicked" by members of the mob.

Sam O'Bannon, who later became Gadsden's police chief.

The gunfire also attracted city patrolman Sam O'Bannon, who came on duty at midnight. He followed the sounds until he encountered the mob. One of the voices told him to go back. Then one voice called out, "Just kill him."

O'Bannon, who the next year became Gadsden's police chief, let them pass.

The mob took Richardson about 200 yards out onto the bridge. They had about 20 feet of rope to hang him. A few members of the mob fired shots, one hitting him in the head.

"If he made a confession, it was to the mob on the bridge," a story reported.

'The community can be made whole'

Putting a historical marker near Gadsden's railroad bridge is part of a larger project by Montgomery's Equal Justice Initiative. The EJI announced earlier this year it is building a memorial in Montgomery to the victims of racial lynchings, and is slowly putting markers at the lynching sites. Other markers have been installed in the past few years at several locations, such as Brighton.

The EJI has paid for the marker and is offering scholarship money to local students who write an essay on themes of racial justice.

EJI director Bryan Stevenson has said on several occasions the reason for the markers is to acknowledge the painful realities of America's racial past in order to bring about reconciliation.

Why a marker now? The Gadsden Public Library earlier this year picked Stevenson's book, "Just Mercy," as part of its "Gadsden Reads" program, with Stevenson coming to town to give an address on the book. The drive to erect a marker grew from there.

Bobby Welch, director of the Hardin Center for Cultural Arts in Gadsden, said the timing is right.

"I'm not sure anyone thought it would happen this quickly," Welch said. "But it all came together."

Gadsden City Council President Deverick Williams said erecting the marker was "a historic step."

"These are the kinds of things you don't like to have to commemorate, but it's necessary in terms of social responsibility," he said. "You understand that social mistakes have been made in our state and the process of memorializing them helps to insure that people learn from them, and the community can be made whole again."

'They killed him, and they can bury him.'

Etowah County court files record when prosecutors dropped assault and murder charges against Bunk Richardson in 1905.

News of the lynching in 1906 traveled as far west as the pages of the San Francisco Call, where the victim was identified as "Bunkie" Richardson. Gov. Jelks offered a $400 reward to catch those responsible.

Some editorial pages in Alabama blasted the lynching, noting Richardson's presumed innocence. Within days, the Gadsden Bar Association and Commercial Club both passed resolutions condemning the mob's actions. The Bar Association's resolution was mentioned in the pages of The Nation and commended for the fact that it passed within 48 hours of the lynching.

There were other opinions. The Tuscaloosa Gazette said the governor was responsible for the lynching because of his "abusing pardon power." The Birmingham News said Jelks' actions "have done much to shake the confidence of the people in the courts."

Once he was taken from the bridge, Richardson's body was claimed by his relatives. Up until this point, there had been no mention in the papers of Richardson having been married. But the Gadsden Times reported that when his wife was notified the body was at her disposal, she said, "They killed him, and they can bury him."

"Accordingly the negro was buried in the pauper cemetery at the county farm Monday afternoon," the newspaper reported. That would have been the Sixth Street Cemetery, then the town's burial ground for blacks and the indigent. He did not have a coffin.

The unmarked grave of Bunk Richardson at Sixth Street Cemetery. A marker will soon be placed there.

Burials at the cemetery, sometimes known as Southern Hills, ended in the 1940s when the City of Gadsden took the neighborhood through eminent domain, and the graves were largely abandoned. In 2013 it was added to the Alabama Historic Cemeteries Register. An effort has been going on over the past three years to restore the cemetery and catalog the graves, largely through the work of Chari Bostick's Grace Heritage Foundation.

Bostick learned about the location of Richardson's grave from then-97-year-old Jack Lowe Sr., a former hardware store owner, who went up to the cemetery to confirm it. The plot will soon have a marker.

"They always used to leave quarry rocks on his grave when they came to decorate the graves," she said. "We looked for where it might be and we found it there - these big handfuls of quarry rocks. Just to make sure people would always remember where he was."

'Why can't we forget it?'

I have lived in and around Gadsden most of my life, but I first learned Bunk Richardson's name in 1999. It was sandwiched in among a list of lynching victims in the back of a book, and curiosity about it led me to look up the story in old newspapers. When I learned a photo existed of the event in an Atlanta library, I drove there just to see it. Now you can see it doing a Google search, though it is hard to look at. (Warning - the photo is graphic)

His face is swollen, his eyes half closed, his mouth slightly open. His bare feet are curled beneath him, a pair of worn longjohns clinging to his body. Next to him, a well-dressed man in a suit, overcoat and derby stands, looking down. He appears ready for church. It was, of course, Sunday morning. To the right is a man with a long-brimmed hat pulled low on his head, holding a handkerchief in his left hand over his nose.

Looking over their shoulders, I was staggered by the reality of it all. There was the Coosa River, and the outline of a shore I knew from my earliest memories. From that moment, I knew I had to learn everything about this story and recount it.

Why? Probably for the same reasons as Jake York. All I could think of was that man trembling in the corner of a jail cell, knowing what was waiting for him with that mob, maybe wondering if anyone would ever remember him at all.

Not everyone saw it that way. A story went around that I had to leave Gadsden after the stories appeared in the paper for my own safety. Not so. I got an anonymous phone call thanking me, and an anonymous fax saying the stories were shameful. One person did write an angry letter, saying there was plenty of news in the present to pay attention to. That's how my father saw it as well.

"All those people who did that, they're all dead," he told me angrily, one day. "Let's leave that in the past. Why can't we just forget it?"

I understood what he meant, but I replied, "Do you feel the same way about Pearl Harbor?" He didn't see it that way, but we moved on. Yet the story of Bunk Richardson never quite left me. Over the years, some new item or kernel of information would disclose itself and set the thing going in my mind again.

Then last year, I got a chance to do something I hadn't been able to in 2000. I was granted permission to look at the old court records in the attic of the Etowah County Courthouse. The minutes of the trials of Jack Hunter, Vance Garner and Will Johnson - the closest thing to a transcript for that time - are long gone. But their names reside in the hand-written court records bound in large volumes of flaking yellow paper.

What I was curious about were the two grand juries that investigated the lynching. Gov. Jelks sent a Birmingham detective, George Bodeker, to look into the case and turn any evidence over to the jurors. The lynching was an embarrassment to Jelks, as it was the first during his administration to have involved a mob taking control of a jail. Bodeker was so highly thought of that he later became Birmingham's police chief.

Nine months after the lynching, the Times-News reported that there were "grave faces" in town because the grand jury was still meeting, and a big announcement was expected.

But nothing came. The panel reported it was "unable to obtain evidence sufficient to connect anyone with said crime." That wasn't surprising, of course.

I don't know what I expected to find up there, but a familiar, unsettling sensation of icy fingers closed around my stomach when I looked among the names of those on the grand jury, and found my great-great-grandfather's name as the grand jury bailiff, and his brother as one of its members.

What did this mean? What could it mean? How connected to all of this was I, really?

Did I want to know?

The answer to that question is probably larger than one man, or one community's connection, to a death a century ago, and more enduring than any historical marker.
A Bessemer tow truck operator was killed early Saturday while he was hit while helping a motorist on Interstate 59 near Tuscaloosa.

Alabama State Troopers Saturday night identified the victim as John William Hubbard. He was 25.

The crash happened at 5:55 a.m. on I-59 northbound near mile marker 74 just outside of Tuscaloosa. Senior Trooper Reginal King said Hubbard was gravely injured when he was hit while helping a disabled motorist.

Hubbard was assisting Brenisha Hicks with her disabled 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer when two other vehicles collided nearby. One of those vehicles - a 2012 Hyundai Elantra - left the roadway and struck the Mitsubishi. The Mitsubishi then struck Hubbard and his tow truck.

Hubbard was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Hicks, 36, and 29-year-old Sheridan Temms, who was driving the Hyundai, both were taken to DCH as well. The extent of their injuries wasn't immediately known.

The crash shut down the northbound lanes for a couple of hours. King said the investigation is ongoing.
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Hueytown police are searching for a gunman who robbed the Pop-N-Snack on Dec. 10, 2016. The clerk was wounded but expected to be OK.

(Hueytown Police)

Hueytown police are trying to identify a gunman who shot a store clerk during a robbery Saturday night.

The shooting happened about 7:30 p.m. at the Pop-N-Snack on Allison-Bonnett Memorial Drive. Hueytown police Chief Chuck Hagler said the robber entered the store wearing an oversized jacket with a hood that obstructed a clear view of his face.

He pulled a gun on the male clerk, and the clerk pulled a gun as well. Shots were exchanged, and the clerk was shot in the abdomen area.

The chief said the gunshot wound was superficial, and the clerk has already been treated and released from the hospital.

The gunman fled the scene on foot. Lawmen brought in tracking dogs to help with the search, but Hagler said the track ended not far from the store, which leads police to believe he had a car waiting nearby.

The suspect was described as a young, black male with a slim build and is about 6-feet tall. Hagler said store surveillance cameras captured the incident. While the suspect's face is hard to see, police hope someone in the public will recognize the jacket he was wearing. They will seek the FBI's help in enhancing the photos.

Anyone with information is asked to call Hueytown police at 205-491-3523.
A Florida man has been found not guilty in the 2015 shooting of Nelson Rivers Starkey, reports said.

According to the Navarre Press, John Marshall Fitzgerald was found not guilty last week by reason of self-defense. Fitzgerald's first trial ended in a hung jury.

Starkey, 22, was a student at the University of Alabama. He was in Navarre, Florida, with his friend while on a holiday break from school on October 30, 2015.

The Florence native is the grandson of the late former Alabama Rep. Nelson Starkey.

Starkey and his friend were drinking at the home of Fitzgerald, who was the friend's uncle.

"According to Rivers' friend, as the night progressed Mr. Fitzgerald became increasingly verbally abusive to Rivers. At first he appeared to be joking and then became more personal and abusive in his remarks," Cheryl Starkey told AL.com last year.

Fitzgerald, 60, reportedly left the room and returned with a gun. The man's nephew ran out the front door, and thought Starkey was behind him. According to the Press, Fitzgerald claimed Starkey tried to grab the gun, and Fitzgerald shot him during the struggle.

Starkey was shot three times in the leg, elbow, and head.

Fitzgerald was charged with second-degree attempted murder and two counts of aggravated battery. He was cleared by the jury on all charges under the state's stand your ground law, the Press reported.

Starkey is currently being treated in the intensive care unit at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence, after being moved from Sacred Hearts Hospital in Pensacola. A GoFundMe page set up has raised over $31,000 of its $35,000 goal.

"He's doing good, with some days better than others, but he's definitely a fighter," an update on the page last week said.
Daiwon McPherson didn't want to take his girlfriend to a restaurant and propose. He wanted to surprise her- so, he and his friends in the motorcycle community staged a fake arrest by Mobile police, before he asked his girlfriend of five years to marry him.

She said yes.

"She knows my every move- I can never surprise her," McPherson, 33, said of his girlfriend Shawna Blackmon.

He said on Friday he planned to make Blackmon mad, and then take her downtown on a date to apologize.

"She always told me when I proposed to make sure she looked nice. She just got her hair done... her nails done," McPherson said. "Nobody will be expecting this tonight!"

McPherson didn't meet Blackmon for dinner and drinks that night, and he wasn't answering his phone. That's when Blackmon, 28, knew something was wrong.

Blackmon learned through other members of McPherson's biker community that her boyfriend was being chased by Mobile police, and he had a gun.

"Friday is bike night...it was believable," Blackmon said.

She went to a nearby gas station, where she saw multiple police cars and flashing blue lights. "I thought he was going to jail!" she said. Blackmon said the scenario seemed real, because McPherson has previously been arrested for running from the police.

When Blackmon approached the officers and McPherson, she told police she was going to get her boyfriend's gun. After digging though his pockets, McPherson pulled out a ring box and proposed.

"It never crossed my mind... I had no idea," she said.

McPherson said he talked to Mobile police earlier in the day to arrange the proposal, and "they were all for it!"

Police made sure the scene was safe by informing all other officers on duty before the fake call went out. Then, the two officers McPherson talked previously responded to the gas station scene.

"I really wanted to bring the bike life and the police together," he said. The soon-to-be-husband said he wanted the proposal video to go viral for social media users to see a video of police working together with the community for a good cause. "I can't believe I actually pulled this off," he said.

As for Blackmon, she said she cried so hard when she realized McPherson was proposing that she didn't get a good look at her ring until later- and she was pleasantly surprised again. While she originally wanted a small wedding, Blackmon said after her fiance's proposal, she feels like the couple needs a big wedding next year.

"I appreciate the way he did it... here we are, ending the year engaged!"
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Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury, N.C., surrenders to police Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, in Washington. Welch, who said he was investigating a conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton running a child sex ring out of a pizza place, fired an assault rifle inside the restaurant on Sunday injuring no one, police and news reports said. (Sathi Soma via AP)

A horrific tale of mutilation and eerie criminal activities popped up on the website "Alabama Observer" days before Halloween about a crime called the "Human Centipede" occurring in Pullman County.

While the report made the rounds on Facebook, there were a few problems with this tall-tale. First, there is no Pullman County in Alabama. And second, no credible media outlet in the state reported the incident which, if it was true, would be headline TV news or on the front pages of a local newspaper.

"It's disturbing," said Sam Fisher, professor of political sciences about the rise of "fake news" which has beamed into national headlines in the aftermath of the Nov. 8 election. Some political pundits contend that outright lies perpetrated as "news" helped steer voter's minds.

"It's a real critical problem," he said.

The issue has gotten the attention of business and world leaders in recent weeks culminating this week with the so-called "pizzagate" incident that put an entire Washington, D.C., neighborhood on lockdown after an armed North Carolina man decided to self-investigate a false election-related conspiracy theory - perpetrated on social media - that linked activities inside Comet Ping Pong restaurant to Hillary Clinton.

The fallout made its way up to the presidency, where Michael Flynn Jr. was let go from President-elect Donald Trump's transition team for pushing out the conspiracy on Twitter. Flynn is the son of Trump's pick for national security advisor, Gen. Michael Flynn.

During a Capitol speech on Thursday, Clinton herself derided the spread of fake news as a "danger" that needed to be addressed quickly. Even Pope Francis has weighed in, saying that disinformation and reporting falsehoods are the worst things that media can do.

With the election of Trump - and his past flirtations with conspiracy theories and current Twitter posts containing falsehoods or exaggerations - journalism professors and poll watchers are keeping an eye on a rising issue they believe could become a bigger problem before it gets better.

Trump, who will be in Mobile for a post-election rally on Dec. 17 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, has received the brunt of criticism of late for Tweeting unsubstantiated claims that millions of people voted illegally. Kellyanne Conway, the president-elect's senior advisor, has since countered that criticism with statements that the biggest piece of fake news was that Trump couldn't win the election.

"There is a concern in the media that we'll play whack-a-mole on everything he chases," said John Carvalho, associate professor of journalism at Auburn University and former newspaper and magazine journalist. "It will be a disquieting four years if this is the way it will go."

'Not new'

The 2016 election isn't the nation's first foray into the fake news, and Alabamians have long had to decipher the legitimate from the bogus.

Even before the General Election, fake news was pushed out on Facebook as part of political campaigning. During the Republican Party primary earlier this year, Mobile County candidates were circulating AL.com articles on Facebook with altered headlines aimed at perpetuating a certain political view.

Phillip Rawls, a journalism professor at Auburn University and a former longtime reporter at The Associated Press, recalled one incident occurring in the late 1990s in which a fake news release once crossed his desk.

"The one example that stands out in my mind is someone distributing a fake news release that was supposed to be from Jim Bennett when he was secretary of state," said Rawls. "The news release raised questions for me because it contained wording that Bennett, a former reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald, would never have used in a news release. A few others fell for the fake news release."

Fake news has been around since the advent of the supermarket tabloid. In Alabama, an edition of the sensational Weekly World News became a hot item over a fake news story in 1994 alluding that the late U.S. Sen Howell Heflin was an extraterrestrial.

"The fake story became so popular that Heflin's office issued a humorous response," Rawls recalled.

But Carvalho said that in the past before the Internet, when metropolitan dailies and major TV stations dominated journalism, fake news stories like "pizzagate" would not have gotten much attention.

"It would so stand apart on what else is being reported on that no one would take it seriously," he said. "With cable news and now with the Internet, we have so many outlets for information and even for news, we are talking about the audience as being active. As a result, you are getting both sides of the political aisle of wanting to get news that reinforces their beliefs ... MSNBC and HuffPo for more liberal readers and The Blaze and Fox News for the more conservative."

He added, "When they see information that fits with their political beliefs, that Hillary has done something terrible or whatever, they will naturally go to that without even thinking, 'well, is this even true?'"

Media distrust

Low levels of trust in traditional media is also leading to a surge in the producers of phony news stories.

"When you look at the political climate and this being the year of the outsider in the election, it's indicative of the distrust people have in institutions and especially in the media," said Justin Blankenship, an assistant professor of journalism at Auburn University and a former TV reporter at WPMI-15 in Mobile.

A Pew Research Center analysis in July showed that few people have confidence in the information they get from professional news outlets, though social media got substantially lower trust scores.

When it comes to national news, the issue seems somewhat split among partisan loyalties: Democrats are more likely than others to have "a lot" of trust information from national news outlets - 27 percent compared to 15 percent of Republicans and 13 percent of Independents.

Perhaps the most eye-popping disparity comes from how U.S. adults even view facts. While 59 percent of adults prefer the media simply "present the facts" instead of including interpretations into reports, a whopping 81 percent of registered voters may not even agree on what the facts are, according to the research center.

"Ten or 20 years ago, if something made it on the nightly news or in the local newspaper, you had a relatively safe assumption that someone put the work in and it was relatively well-researched and a through-through piece of journalism," said Blankenship. "With the low trust in the media and the low trust in the establishment piggybacking on themselves, it creates this vortex of conspiratorial (thinking) of not being worried about the veracity of claims."

Stephen Stewart, an assistant professor of journalism at Troy University, said that "confirmation bias" where people form their opinions first before looking for facts to support those opinions is among the reasons why journalists are routinely criticized.

He said that issue isn't new to the Internet age, but that it's more pronounced: "It's easy to shop around and find the facts that support your opinion."

He added, "I have worked as a journalist and know hundreds of them, and rarely have I met one who sets out to mislead readers or promote his own opinions. Of course, some journalists are more adept at finding and presenting the facts than others. And all of us make mistakes."

Credibility crisis

Few studies on fake news have surfaced since the election. But one study, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for BuzzFeed News, showed that 75 percent of American adults are fooled by fake news headlines. The survey, of 3,015 U.S. adults conducted between Nov. 28 and Dec. 1, showed that people who cite Facebook as a major news source were more likely to view fake news headlines as accurate than those who rely less on the platform for news.

Chris Jackson, vice-president of public polling with Ipsos, said his biggest takeaway from the results is "how little differential people gave on real headlines versus fake headlines."

"They saw them all equally credible which suggests to me when they see those stories out in the wild on social media, they have a hard time figuring out what is real and what is not real," said Jackson. "I think one of the challenges for modern media is finding out news ways to find credibility."

Conservative-leaning websites have been critical of the traditional media stories about fake news since Nov. 8. Among those is The Daily Caller, which criticized the Ipsos poll for utilizing minuscule sample sizes.

Jackson said the American Association for Public Opinion Research - the professional organization for pollsters - approve of their methods.

"I don't think (Daily Caller's) criticism of our approach was fair or accurate," said Jackson. "It was somewhat selective."

Meanwhile, it's not just the traditional media and polling of fake news that is under a critical eye. Talk radio programs, even those with a conservative bent, are becoming outlets where listeners will call in with conspiracy theories and fake news references.

Sean Sullivan, a talk show host for 106.5 FM in Mobile, said he's more likely to get listeners who call in with stories that, while containing elements of the truth in them, will also omit certain facts.

"Sometimes the story is kind of accurate, but they leave out certain facts or timelines," said Sullivan.

He added, "One of the challenges is for people to understand that if I dissect their story (on air), that doesn't mean that I think they are dumb or a bad person for bringing it up. I may agree or disagree on the political angle. It's my job here, and maybe it's not taken seriously by everyone in my business, but it's my job for the truth of the story to come out."

Sullivan's advice for listeners: "I argue that if you want to be the best conductor of your view, you need to deal in facts. Only then can you make a compelling argument to others on your political view."

Youth views

Media distrust, according Pew Research Center polling, is highest among young adults ages 18-29.

And those young adults are going to social media more for their news. While 48 percent of adults 65 and older read newspapers for news, only 5 percent of young adults do, according to Pew. Also notable is that only 10 percent of young adults are getting news from network TV, compared to 53 percent of adults 65 and older and 40 percent of adults ages 50-64.

Richard Narramore, 20, of Berry; and Cydnei Nettles, 21, of Jacksonville, Fla.; are both journalism majors at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. They are currently or will be involved with The Vanguard, the university's student publication.

"I would have to say (a lot of college-aged students) rely on Twitter, and it's sad," said Nettles, who runs the publication's digital media platforms. "A lot of my friends will tell me, 'did you see this on Twitter?' or 'did you hear this on Twitter or Snapchat?'"

Nettles -- a frequent Twitter user who often scours a host of traditional media apps like USA Today, Time Magazine and The Washington Post - said that the student journalists are often skewered online even if a "good story" is written.

"A complaint on social media is that ... a lot of what we do is fluff," she said. "Even when we break a good story, it's more negative (feedback) than positive."

Narramore, who will be the publication's "Life" section editor next semester, calls The New York Times "a very biased paper" that is to be taken "with a grain of salt in mind." He favors getting his news from NPR, and doesn't have a Facebook account.

"A lot of people, when they read (fake news), they don't stop and check the credibility and what kind of lenses they are looking through and what the counter arguments are," he said.

Stewart, at Troy University, said that Facebook and other social media sites have "a strong influence" among his students. He said most of his students, though, will make an effort to seek out reliable news from sources that "go out and get good information."

Carvalho agrees. "I think college students, overall, are a little less likely to go to these fake news sites. But it still happens. They come (to Auburn) with political and religious beliefs handed down to them by their parents and that is fine. But what they have to learn here is how to make them their own beliefs and to defend them ... not just re-tweeting or sending something on Facebook that a parent sent to them but to understand that you want to be careful with things like that."

Swinging pendulum

Stewart said he believes the rise of fake news "could get worse before it gets better," that won't change until people begin seeing "the consequences eventually by relying on facts that aren't facts."

He said that anyone who is a professional journalist will maintain a pride of adhering to standards set forth in the Code of Ethics through the Society of Professional Journalists, which covers four items: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently and be accountable and transparent.

"The pendulum has swung this way and it may swing a little further but as things go on, maybe we'll arrive at more of a consensus of the role the news media should be in this new environment," Stewart said.

Carvalho also uses the pendulum analogy, saying that he's hopeful more people become savvy to what they are reading online. He said he hopes the "pizzagate" story "maybe will bring people to some kind of reality."

Reader tips

One communications professor is pushing out some tips for readers when searching for news online.

According to Melissa Zimdars, an assistant professor of communication & media at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, the following advice can be used to analyze news sources:

Avoid websites that end in "lo" as some of these sites take pieces of accurate information and then package that information with misleading "facts" (sometimes for the purposes of satire).

Watch for websites that end in ".com.co" as they are often fake versions of real news sources

Watch out if known/reputable news sites are not also reporting on the story. There should be typically more than one source reporting on a topic or event.

Odd domain names generally equal odd and rarely truthful news.

Watch for lack of author attribution

Check the "About Us" tab on websites or look up the website on Snopes or Wikipedia for more information about the source.

If a story makes you really angry, it's probably a good idea to keep reading about the topic via other sources to make sure the story you read wasn't purposefully trying to make you angry with potentially misleading or false information in order to generate shares and ad revenue.

Bad web design and use of ALL CAPS can be a sign that a source you're looking at should be verified and/or read in conjunction with other sources.

"I am hopeful that there is now enough public awareness of the issue to reduce the influence of fake news in the public sphere, but we also have a lot of work to do in terms of other false, misleading and unreliable news sources," said Zimdars.
Some hid in rice fields, others ate only leaves while making the long journey by foot across the border into Bangladesh.

Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh  Outside this town by the Bay of Bengal, we kept bumping into fresh arrivals when we visited the camps for Rohingya refugees fleeing a security crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar.

Many of them said they were from the village of Kearipara in Myanmar. From the sounds of it, that village has been utterly devastated.

All of them shared similar stories: watching family members get murdered, hiding without eating for days, and having their homes burned down.

Several told us about having to sell their valuables  rings, piercings, earrings, whatever they had on them  to facilitate a safe passage into Bangladesh.

The route, which was always difficult and deadly, has become even more problematic.

READ MORE: Outcast  Adrift with Myanmars Rohingya

After thousands of Rohingya were found stranded and starving off the coast of southern Thailand in the middle of last year, widespread international coverage forced the hands of governments of the region to crack down on a network of human traffickers who were exploiting the desperate refugees for cash.

But those very traffickers were also paradoxically the Muslim Rohingyas only hope to make it out of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar and get on the circuitous trek that would take them through Bangladesh and Thailand into the relatively safe haven of Malaysia.

Now, just getting across the border to Bangladesh is a tough proposition for the Rohingya.

The refugees we met described hiding in rice fields for days. Some didnt eat. Others ate only leaves they found in the forests on the hills surrounding the border.

They advanced a few minutes at a time, taking care to stop and check every few hundred metres to make sure the Myanmar army or border guards werent lying in wait  making a long journey by foot even longer.

Arriving in Bangladesh didnt mean the ordeal was over. If they were caught by the authorities, some would be allowed through by the border guards, others would be turned back.

Every few hundred metres there were checkpoints manned by armed patrols. Next to each of them would be one or two Rohingya families whod been caught.

Would the soldiers show clemency? Or would they be returned to the heart of the violence they were fleeing? They sat by the side of the road, unsure of their fate.

READ MORE: UN  Rohingya may be enduring crimes against humanity

Tens of thousands have managed to get into Bangladesh. Many of them are in the unofficial Rohingya refugee camps near the tourist town of Coxs Bazar.

Their hosts are refugees themselves with little to offer in terms of food or shelter.

But the community was pulling together to do what they could, faced with the suffering of their fellow Rohingya.

The new arrivals were grateful for whatever support they could find, but seething with resentment at the lack of action by the international community.

Ethnic cleansing proof

As far as they are concerned, the world has decided that the Rohingya are expendable.

From the Bangladesh side of the border, the evidence of what the UN has called a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar seems strong.

Aung San Suu Kyi, in response, has said that blame shouldnt be cast until all the facts are known.

Thats fair enough.

But one of the known facts is that the Myanmar government wont let journalists or independent observers enter the areas where large-scale violence is believed to be taking place.

Why keep journalists out if Myanmar authorities have nothing to hide?
Warnings by scientists and environmentalists about an imminent collapse are dismissed by Iraqi officials as far-fetched.

As Iraqi forces continue their military operation to take Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), another equally important battle to save the Mosul Dam, located 60km north of Mosul, is under way.

After six months of frantic security and logistical preparations, an Italian company has kicked off the repair works to beef up the dam, under the protection of five hundred Italian soldiers and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The Italian company,TREVI, will have about 18 months to prevent the foundations of the dam from plunging deeper underground, averting an impending catastrophe. Experts warn that if the dam collapses, up to 11.11 billion cubic-metres of water known as Lake Dahuk, will submerge Mosul and create an inundation that will affect the lives of millions of people living along the banks of the Tigris river.

I dont know if its a race against time, but we have the know-how and the technology to make the dam safe for the time-being, said a company source on the phone, on condition of anonymity for security reasons.





Under a $300m contract, funded by the World Bank, the Italian company is doing maintenance and repair works, in addition to consolidating the foundations of the dam with injections of a cement mix, in a process called grouting.

The engineering company is also training local staff to use its technology.

But scientists say the repairs are just a temporary solution and that the Iraqi population should get ready to evacuate the Tigris banks. No matter how much grouting and maintenance the company will do, it may expand the life span of the dam, but it is just going to delay the disaster, said Nadhir al-Ansari, professor of water resources and environmental engineering at Lulea University in Sweden and a published expert on the Mosul Dam.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Ansari said the 3.4km-long dam, the fourth largest in the Middle East, is built on unstable grounds and its collapse is inevitable. It is just a matter of time. It will be worse than throwing a nuclear bomb on Iraq, Ansari said.

A recent study by Norwegian experts shows that bedrock settlements and lateral movement continue at a preoccupying pace.

Ansari explained that a bathymetric survey of the bottom of the reservoir in 2011 showed the presence of hundreds of sinkholes north of the dam, some as large as 20 metres, that probably have increased, in number and size, with time.

Fact Sheet If the 113 metre-tall dam collapses, it would submerge Mosul. The World Bank has funded a $300m contract for Italian company, TREVI, to take charge and start working on maintenance to try and keep the dam safe. Mosul Dam in the fourth largest in the Middle East at 3.4km in length. If the dam were to collapse, it puts nearly seven million Iraqis in danger.

Iraqi environmentalist Azzam al-Wash said the dams movement may not seem to be very large, but for a dam of such significant size, it may be a tell-tale sign of an upcoming disaster. Referring to the repair works, he said: this is akin to putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound and pretending that everything is going to be all right.

An in-depth study by the European Commissions Science Centre, released last April, puts the number of Iraqis that could be affected by the dams floodwater after its collapse at seven million. The 58-page report by the Joint Research Centre simulates different scenarios that may result from the dams breakdown.

If just 26 percent of the dam collapses, the study predicts a flood of catastrophic proportions.

This simulation  results in a very high wave of water, [up to 25 metres high]  arriving at Mosul after [100 minutes]. The capital Baghdad is reached after 3.5 days with a maximum water height of 8 metres and a mean of around 2 metres.

Floodwater will destroy the infrastructure of all the cities along the Tigris banks, including Tikrit, until the water eventually stops 700km south of the dam.

Professor Ansari, a former consultant to the Iraqi Minister of Irrigation back in 1995, was in Brussels in June to present his research on Mosul Dam. He said EU officials and diplomats discussed the need to prepare evacuation plans and to identify possible locations for refugees camps.

A symposium of experts, who met in Rome last April to discuss the Mosul Dam, came to a dire conclusion: The question is not if the dam will collapse due to current factors, but when, said the scientists, convened by the Peace Ambassadors for Iraq, in their final statement. The reality of a deluge of almost biblical proportions rushing down the Tigris River, killing millions of people, is very apparent and time is running out.

It is just a matter of time. It will be worse than throwing a nuclear bomb on Iraq. by Nadhir al-Ansari, Lulea University

The panel said the issue has come down to essentially two options: Attempt to prevent the flood by investing heavily in reinforcing the dam or building a new structure entirely; or focus on how to evacuate millions of lives from the impending devastation following the dams inevitable failure.

Formerly known as Saddam Dam, the structure started construction in 1981 above a soft and soluble foundation of gypsum, anhydrite and karstic limestone that started eroding upon the filling of the reservoir back in 1985.

Under the rule of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, General Taha Ramadan chose the site with the aim of providing jobs and improving the living conditions of the population in the Mosul area.

At that time, Turkey and Syria had been already impounding the waters of another important river, the Euphrates, turning large parts of Iraq into desert.

Advised by the Swiss Consultants Consortium, Saddam and his entourage ignored warnings that the site for Mosul Dam was highly risky and that the foundations would require routine continual grouting. In 1988, Saddam agreed to build the Badush Dam with the aim of containing the wave in case of the Mosul Dams failure.

However, the project halted in 1991, when sanctions were imposed on Iraq in the aftermath of the first Gulf War and the Badush Dam was only 40 percent complete. After the overthrow of Saddam, the US Corps of Engineers undertook a $27m programme to supply a grouting system for the dam to the Iraqi Ministry of Water.

A report by the US Corps, in 2006, warned that the conditions of the dam were extremely precarious. In terms of internal erosion potential of the foundation, Mosul Dam is the most dangerous dam in the world, said the Corps. If a small problem at Mosul Dam occurs, failure is likely.

Stuart Bowen, Jr, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, in 2007, criticised the grouting programme and said that none of the budget allocated for the dam had been of use to the Iraqis. He cited lack of quality control, allowing deficient drawings, inadequate construction, incorrectly delivered equipment and materials, and failure to track completion.

In short, corruption and mismanagement of the funds allocated for the dams conservation turned the dam into a time bomb.





Grouting resumed under the supervision of the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, but ISIL seized the dam and its 750 MW hydroelectric plant, in early August 2014, interrupting the grouting works.

Two weeks later, US, Kurdish and Iraqi ground forces cleared more than 500 ISIL fighters from the site, only to find that most of the equipment had been stolen or destroyed.

The cement factory remained under ISILs control and few of the 320 technicians employed at the dam returned to their jobs.

The interruption of the grouting under ISIL created new alarm about a possibly imminent collapse. In addition, one of the dams two spillages gates had not been functioning since 2013, thus contributing to building the mass of water behind it.

The destruction or failure of the dam could be disastrous for areas downstream on the Tigris River, covering them in up to [20 metres] of water. If that dam was breached, it could have proven catastrophic, said US President Barack Obama upon the dams recapture.

In early March, General Lloyd Austin, III, head of US Central Command, told Congress that if the Mosul Dam failed, it would be a catastrophe. There will be thousands of people downstream that will either be injured or killed, certainly displaced. And the damage could extend all the way down to Baghdad, or into Baghdad.

In a communique released in March, the US embassy in Baghdad said that between 500,000 and 1.47 million Iraqis living along the Tigris river probably would not survive.

Only after repeated warnings by the international and scientific communities that repairs may not come in time, the Iraqi government has reportedly advised people living along the Tigris to move away from the river banks.





A statement issued by the Peace Ambassadors for Iraq, at their gathering in Rome, said modest investment aimed at mitigating the threat proves that the situation has yet to [elicit] a serious response from leading Iraqi officials.

The panel criticised the Iraqi government for continual downplay [of] the issue. The Iraqi minister of water resources, Mohsin Al-Shammari, said rumours of the Mosul Dams collapse were just aimed at disrupting state affairs.

The danger is not imminent, its far off, he told Iraqs al-Sumeria TV recently. The danger is 1 in 1,000  The danger for Mosul Dam is no greater than that of other dams.

In one of its press releases on Mosul Dam, the ministry said: it stressed multiple times that the situation in Mosul Dam is nothing to worry about. Spokesman Mahdi Rasheed also commented that the Mosul Dam is working very naturally, and grouting and additional construction and repairs are constant.

However, scientists and environmentalists say the only permanent solution is building a second dam. The US Corps of Engineers has encouraged the Iraqis to expand and complete the construction of Badush Dam, but the project could cost upward of $2bn, and the Iraqi authorities are wary of committing to such an expenditure while a war against ISIL is in full swing and budgets are limited.

In addition, some Iraqi politicians believe the US warnings about Mosul Dam may just be conspiracies to maintain Western influence on the northern region of Iraq.

As Italy announced it would commit to sending its troops to protect both the dam and the company working on repairing it, Minister Shammari, a supporter of Muqtada al-Sadr, a prominent Iraqi religious leader, said Iraq did not need any foreign support in guarding the dam.

It would be cheaper to build Badush rather than continuing with the grouting and maintenance works, but the problem is, there is no political agreement about it, said Ansari.
Activists have added Anishinaabe-language street signs to parts of the city to highlight their indigenous roots.

Toronto, Canada  A bronze plaque hangs at the corner of Spadina and Davenport roads. About 12,000 years ago, this was where high cliffs abutted Glacial Lake Iroquois, an ancient lake formed during the last Ice Age, the marker reads. Before the ancient waters receded, everything below this point  which includes todays downtown Toronto, Toronto City Hall and Ontario provincial legislature, financial district, universities and innumerable neighbourhoods, parks and shops  would have been underwater.

For years, the only hint of indigenous history on this street, now a main thoroughfare cutting east-west across the city, was a vague reference to an Indian trail, which the plaque says once connected the Humber and Don rivers.

Today, after a Toronto-based initiative launched by indigenous activists in 2013, the areas largely overlooked indigenous history has finally been given permanent visibility.

We were hoping that we could maybe raise a conversation and some questions [with] people, said Stuart Grant, chair of the Dupont by the Castle Business Improvement Area (BIA), a local group that promotes businesses in the neighbourhood.

In September, the BIA added two Anishinaabe-language street signs on this corner to highlight the indigenous roots of the area: the Anishinaabe word Ishpadinaa now sits above the official Spadina Road sign, while Gete-Onigaming designates Davenport Road.

The Anishinaabe refers to a group of indigenous peoples, which include the Ojibwe and Algonquin peoples, who live primarily in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba in Canada, and in the northeast of the United States.

READ MORE: Canadian First Nation cleans up latest fuel spill mess

Written in black letters on a white background, the Anishinaabe names sit above the blue, English-language street signs. While the signs are clearly marked, their presence is subtle with many passers-by not noticing, unless they know to look for them.

A third sign sits a few blocks away at the corner of Dupont Avenue and Davenport Road, while the last official sign is just down the road at Dupont Avenue and Spadina Road.





This area, for thousands and thousands of years, was occupied by First Nations people, and it is a very important part of the history of the area  Way before European settlers came here, what are now those streets were used as trails by First Nations people, Grant told Al Jazeera.

Its a matter of educating the current population that this was indigenous territory and now we share it, but those First Nations people are still here.

Permanent visibility

The BIAs project is separate from, but inspired by, an earlier initiative launched in Toronto in 2013 called Ogimaa Mikana.

Indigenous activists Susan Blight, an Anishinaabe from Couchiching First Nation in Ontario, and Hayden King, also Anishinaabe from Beausoleil First Nation, founded Ogimaa Mikana at the height of Idle No More, a grassroots protest movement calling for indigenous rights across Canada.

At the time, the activists placed stickers over official street signs in Toronto to denote indigenous names of streets and erected billboards with Anishinaabe-language phrases in several cities across Ontario, including Toronto, Thunder Bay and North Bay.

One Toronto billboard, for example, sported an Anishinaabe phrase that translates into English as, If you want to learn something, first you must learn this.

Blight and King served as advisers on the official, BIA street-sign initiative, but Blight, who works as the Aboriginal Student Life coordinator at First Nations House at the University of Toronto, stressed that the two projects are separate.

READ MORE: Can texting teens save a threatened Hawaiian language?

She said it was important for the Ogimaa Mikana project to centre the Anishinaabe language and re-assert indigenous presence in the cities.

Its about visibility, but its also about validating and reclaiming what the Canadian state tried to take from us, Blight told Al Jazeera.

Indigenous peoples in Canada continue to fight against the erasure of their traditional languages, which are spoken by some elders but have largely become lost among younger generations as a result of Canadian government policies and colonialism.

In an attempt to assimilate First Nations cultures into English society, the government discouraged and suppressed thousands of years of linguistic diversity and knowledge, explained the Indigenous Foundations research project at the University of British Columbia.

One of the most destructive methods to suppress indigenous language was the creation of residential schools across Canada, where indigenous children were barred from speaking their native languages and forcibly separated from their families, who otherwise could have taught them.

For decades, indigenous children were enrolled in these government-funded residential schools that aimed to assimilate them into Canadian society. The schools were wrought with physical and sexual abuse and mistreatment, and the system created lasting, inter-generational trauma in indigenous communities.

READ MORE: Unmarked graves discovered at Chemawa Indian School

According to the most recent government figures from 2011, about 213,500 people said they had an aboriginal mother tongue, while about 213,400 said they spoke a native language regularly or most often at home.

That same year, almost 37,000 people identifying as indigenous lived in Toronto, accounting for less than one percent of the citys total population.

Fifty-six percent of indigenous peoples in Canada lived off reserves, and this urban indigenous population was the fastest growing segment of the population in the country, increasing by seven percent from 1996 to 2011, the census found.

So in that way, its really empowering because were not only saying Anishinaabe people are still here  we still have our language, we still speak our language  but its also a way of resisting and saying those [state] policies  didnt win, Blight said about the Ogimaa Mikana project.

This is not over. We are not a conquered people, and as long as we speak our languages and have our ways, thats evident.

Deep history in Toronto

Spadina is the anglicised version of the Anishinaabe word Ishpadinaa, which means a rise in the land and was used to designate the area where Spadina and Davenport roads meet today, explained Sam Kloetstra.

Kloetstra is the youth coordinator at the Toronto Indigenous Health Advisory Circle and a researcher and tour guide for First Story Toronto, an initiative that offers walking tours and an interactive map highlighting the indigenous history of Canadas largest city.

He explained that from the elevated plateau at Spadina Road, indigenous people held an important vantage point from which to see any incoming danger.

Todays Davenport Road, meanwhile, was an important trade and travel route used by indigenous communities for thousands of years. The Ojibwe phrase Gete-Onigaming  now affixed to the street sign  means at the old portage.

Kloetstra described Toronto as a city made from two layers of history: an indigenous layer and a settler-colonial layer, and the latter either covers up or actively seeks to erase the former.

This is not over. We are not a conquered people, and as long as we speak our languages and have our ways, that's evident. by Susan Blight, Aboriginal Student Life coordinator

It almost seems like indigenous history was purposely denied in the city, so that this idea that Canada was this terra nullius, empty land, that was being colonised or settled, could be perpetuated, Kloetstra told Al Jazeera, when in actuality, people have been living here for thousands and thousands [of years].

The citys name itself likely originates from the Mohawk word Tkaranto, which was used in the 1600s and means, where there are trees in the water. Lake Simcoe in southern Ontario was also referred to as variations of Taronto from 1660 to 1710.

However, indigenous history can be found in many places across Toronto, from the St Lawrence Market  where early European settlers killed Wabakinine, head chief of the Mississauga of New Credit First Nation, and his wife in the late 1700s  to the Don River Valley, which served as another important indigenous trade route.

The Anishinaabe would have travelled up the Don River to go to Lake Simcoe, Kloetstra said. Some of the interior of that valley hasnt been touched since indigenous people in a pre-contact [context]  Its still very much an indigenous space.

Linking the past, present and future

Following his election last autumn, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to launch a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship between the government and indigenous peoples that recognises their rights in Canada.

The government has also promised to implement recommendations emerging from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a federal inquiry into the treatment of indigenous youth in residential schools.

READ MORE: Attawapiskat crisis  Weve failed First Nations youth

But Kloetstra said understanding the experiences of indigenous peoples is critical for any reconciliation to take place, and that is where efforts to raise awareness and make indigenous history more visible in places like Toronto come in.

You cant have reconciliation without truth, he said. Truth is knowing, its having an understanding of where youre coming from and where youre going. And how can people understand where were coming from, if over 20,000 years of our history is erased, its deleted, [and] it doesnt matter?

Blight, meanwhile, said she hoped the Ogimaa Mikana project would remind people that they are on indigenous land and that indigenous peoples are still here, preserving their languages and ways of life for future generations, and resisting ongoing colonisation.

If [people in Toronto] see these signs and theyve responded to them, I hope that it presents a question of how they situate themselves  What is [their] relationship to this land? she said.

I think that thats important  and its the start and the spark to deepening your relationship to the land, and that can only be a good thing.
In the social media era, everybody publishes whatever they want. Fake news websites are widely common, publishing lies and fabricated news. Far-right politicians in the post-truth era appeal to emotions and impose personal views; they hide the truth and convince people of what is untrue.

Where do mainstream media organisations stand in the post-truth era? How do they maintain peoples trust, identity, credibility and originality?

The British Oxford Dictionary made post-truth word of the year. It defines it as: relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.





It is the post-truth era, when the West goes backwards and gives up the values of liberalism, objectivity, integrity, human solidarity and globalisation, which had been praised by many of its intellectuals. Francis Fukuyama, being one of them, once said (though later retracted his stance) that history ended here at the borders of political and cultural liberalism.

It is the post-truth era, when the West resorts to populism, which ushered in the likes of Donald Trump and will probably pave the way for rightist Francois Fillon, to win the elections in France, or perhaps even his rival the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

It is the post-truth era, when Britain exits the European Union because it rejects the policy of open borders between member countries and only wants to benefit from the EU, but refuses to pay back.

It is the post-truth era, when Vladimir Putin slams the truth and oppresses every single opposing voice in Russia, supports the likes of Trump and Le Pen, and anyone else who calls for isolationism and chants the slogans Russia First, France first, America first.

But how did we get here, to the post-truth era? And how can we get out?

A far-right and social media symbiosis

We, journalists, have been happily using social media platforms since they appeared. We still stress their important role in spreading information. However, what we have witnessed during Trumps campaign, and those of far-right candidates on the other side of the Atlantic, is how social media has been exploited to disseminate untruths. It is like the old Arab proverb: The magic turned on the magician.

Social media was the most effective tool used by Trump and his right-wing Anglo-Saxon camp of people who could not accept a black president in the White House and who were worried that immigrants would replace them, despite themselves being descendants of settlers and immigrants. They used it to promote their electoral programme and encourage anti-liberal sentiments.

At the same time, Hillary Clintons campaign was not as effective in mobilising voters on those platforms, appealing to their emotions or encouraging their populist instincts.

OPINION: Whos conning whom in Donald Trumps America

Trumps camp did not seek objectivity and integrity in their campaign, but their social media posts were immediately received by white voters as indisputable facts.

This is the problem with social media tools. They offer a quick way to convey one-sided information or opinion, without the option or capability to verify the authenticity of this information or to present the opposite opinion for the sake of balance.

By contrast, traditional media are platforms that pursue the presentation of opposing opinions and fully detailed objective information.

It is no surprise, therefore, that the far-right has found social media much more useful and conducive to their message than traditional media.

Peddling false information

Another negative effect of the overuse of social media platforms to convey information and opinions is the bubble phenomenon, where users with matching political views exchange one-sided information and opinions that suit their own convictions, reinforcing them even further, even if those were based on false information.

Social media also distances people, because it limits communication to mobile phones. It deprives people of human contact and the accompanying intimacy and exchange of opinions, which could lead to changing a wrong impression or correcting an inaccurate belief.

Mainstream media must use social media tools intensively in order to defend the truth, present the correct information and balance opinions. by

Besides, tens of thousands of fake news websites have emerged, offering false information to an audience that is used to traditional media doing the fact-checking for it and that believes anything that appears on a presentable webpage.

With these websites and social media tools multiplying, it seems that we have become helpless and unable to stop the flow of false information or one-sided opinions.

This is the post-truth era! It is when lies replace the truth, emotions replace honesty, personal analysis replaces verified information and one opinion replaces multiple opinions.

This is the post-truth era, when extremists use social media as alternative communication channels to the mainstream media organisations (which used to ignore them) to promote their extremism.

Now, these same mainstream media organisations are considered an enemy and are being attacked constantly.

In days after Trump won the presidential elections, he would often go on social media and accuse media organisations of provoking protests against him.

He behaved like the leaders of what the West calls the third world, many of whom have blamed Western media for their failure.

Using social media to spread truth

So, facing this juggernaut of misinformation, what do mainstream media organisations do? Mainstream media must use social media tools intensively in order to defend the truth, present the correct information and balance opinions.

Arab mainstream media is the most in need of this in the post-truth era, as the wave of racism and Islamophobia is strengthening representations of our culture and values as backwards and reactionary.

It is important to do an introspection and see what we are currently presenting to the young generations and how it does not properly challenge these hateful discourses. Most online media programming follows the idea that our youth want something fun and quick.

But, if we follow this logic in the content we produce, we will just encourage the shallowness of the youths knowledge.





Who says our youth would not watch detailed and serious productions, if they were well-made, visually appealing and quick? Such production is not difficult to make.

Besides, our causes and torn realities deserve to be continuously presented to our youth, so that they learn from what happened in the past to prepare for the future.

For example, we need to remember and remind youth of what Britains Mark Sykes, Frances Francois Georges-Picot and Russias Sergey Sazonov cooked up in 1916s agreement to partition the Ottoman Empire.

Arab mainstream media libraries are full of images and footage, and we can use the Sykes-Picot agreement material to make short videos and present them to our youth. This will urge them to think about what happened and what might happen with a new Sykes-Picot being planned in front of our own eyes in the Middle East.

Besides fun, light and quick productions, we can present to our youth the history of the Palestinian cause in short videos revealing the scope of the tragedy and the grave disappointment caused by friends and strangers alike.

Why dont we use these short videos to keep our youth constantly informed about the tragedies in Syria and Iraq and the miserable stories of refugees across the world?

OPINION: The Middle Eastern century that wasnt

Why dont we use those short videos to remind the youth of the nations revolutionists who fought colonial powers, such as Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi, Ahmed Urabi, Abdelhamid Ben Badis, Ahmed Ben Bella, Hassan al-Banna, Gamal Abdel Nasser and others? Why dont we use them to reinforce in their hearts and souls the values of Arabism, religious tolerance and human solidarity?

All of this is possible if mainstream media organisations took it into consideration and adopted it as part of their visions.

In the post-truth era, mainstream media, and particularly TV channels, must formulate a clear vision based on their experience and expertise, away from amateur experimenting and imitating others. They must maintain the context of their core and original content, based on which they built their experience and peoples trust, thus becoming their main asset.

In the post-truth era, mainstream media organisations must maintain their identity, in which they take pride in front of other people. They should never trade the elements of this identity with what does not suit them.

Ahmed Al Sheikh is the former chief editor of Al Jazeera Arabic. He worked for BBC Arabic before joining Al Jazeera in 1996. He has worked in the media field for almost 40 years.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
At least 29 people killed after car bomber struck a police complex and entrance of largest port in Somali capital.

An al-Shabab suicide car bomber has struck the entrance of Mogadishus largest port and an adjacent police complex, killing at least 29 people and wounding nearly 48 others, according to police sources.

Initial reports had put the toll at 12 dead and 14 injured, but more bodies were discovered in the rubble of the collapsed buildings, according to officials.

There were also more deaths as people succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

IN PICTURES: Exclusive  Al-Shabab moves in on central Somalia

Most of the victims were labourers and port workers, General Abdullahi Hassan Barise, a senior police officer, told DPA news agency. Among the dead were at least five police officers and two young boys.

Civilians made up most of the wounded.





The attack took place near the gate of Mogadishus main port and is the latest in a series of attacks on the capital.

The bomber drove a minibus packed with explosives into the police station and a security checkpoint, witnesses said.

Al-Shabab took responsibility for the attack via a statement on its radio station, Radio Andalus.

The armed group said the suicide bomber was targeting the police station, where a number of officers also lived.

The station was heavily damaged and a busy tax facility was also affected by the blast.

The destruction also spread to nearby homes and vehicles.

INTERACTIVE: Al-Shabab attacks in Somalia (2006-2016)

Thick plumes of black smoke could be seen above the blast site throughout the city.

Gunfire could be heard from the police complex shortly after the explosion. Police said the situation was under control and security forces were using warning shots to disperse people.

The area has been surrounded by Somali security forces and African Union troops, said security forces spokesman Abdikamil Shukri Maalin.

Somalia is preparing to hold presidential elections on December 28.
Russian deputy foreign minister says no agreement reached with US on providing safe passage to rebels from Syrian city.

Moscow has not reached an agreement with the US on safe exit for Aleppo fighters, the Russian deputy foreign minister said after rebel officials claimed a proposal had been presented by the two countries.

The issue of withdrawing militants is the subject of separate agreements. This agreement has not yet been reached, largely because the United States insists on unacceptable terms, Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency on Sunday.

Ryabkov said talks between Russian and US experts would continue in Geneva, RIA reported.

What Western agencies are reporting does not necessarily correspond with reality, Ryabkov said. He however, added that Russia was working to create the necessary conditions for the safe passage of people from Aleppo.

Rebel officials told Reuters earlier on Sunday that a proposal had been put forth for fighters to leave the embattled city with their families and other civilians.

Russia and the US have been meeting in Geneva to seek a solution to the fighting and the humanitarian crisis it has caused.





Syrian regime forces, aided by Russian aerial onslaught, have taken more than 80 percent of rebel-held eastern Aleppo, and thousands of civilians are trapped in the warzone without enough water and other basic amenities.

The fall of Aleppo or any other city or town doesnt mean the end of the revolution. The revolution doesnt end in a city or a town  It is an ideology and ideology will never die, Ahmed Mohammad, a Syrian activist, told Al Jazeera.

Also on Sunday, Syrias state news agency said at least 4,000 people fled the opposition-held enclave of Aleppo, some getting on government buses.

Elsewhere in Syria, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra after thousands of its fighters launched a multi-pronged assault, according to reports.

Symbolic attack

Syrias state TV said more than 70,000 of eastern Aleppos estimated 275,000 residents have fled in recent days, mostly to government-held western Aleppo districts.

Fighters still control about 7sq km in the citys east, down from the original 45sq km they once held, according to state TV.





Residents said government air strikes hit the last remaining bridge that linked eastern and western Aleppo, a largely symbolic attack.

They also reported that government and allied troops kept up their bombing of a handful of neighbourhoods, which have become the shelter for most of the civilians who chose to remain.

The Russia-backed ground offensive, which began on November 26, followed an intensive aerial bombing campaign that knocked out most of the medical facilities, targeted civil defence and municipal vehicles and blocked roads with rubble.

The eastern Aleppo area has also been cut off from outside assistance since July by a government siege.

Fighters captured the eastern half of Aleppo, Syrias largest city and former commercial capital, in 2012.

The governments recapture of the city would mark its greatest victory since the war began in 2011.
Demands for accountability follow explosion in chapel near St Marks Cathedral which left at least 25 worshippers dead.

Anger is growing in the Egyptian capital after an explosion went off near the citys main Coptic Christian cathedral, killing at least 25 worshippers, many of them women and children.

Hundreds of Christians and Muslims protested outside St Marks Cathedral, Cairo, late on Sunday, hours after the blast destroyed a female worshippers hall at St Peters church, which adjoins the cathedral  the seat of Egypts Orthodox Christian Church.

The churchs floor was covered in pools of congealed blood and debris from shattered windows, with ball bearings, apparently used as shrapnel inside the bomb, burrowing through furniture and peppering the walls.

The angry crowd chanted slogans against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and called for the dismissal of Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, the interior minister, whom they blamed for the security failure.

The Ministry of Interior cannot protect our churches. It is time for us to protect ourselves, one Coptic protester standing at the churchs metal gate said.

No one came out safe

Another Coptic protester said that security at the church was known to be lax, with guards reportedly playing on the internet all day long.

If we had dogs, it could have been better. Not a single one came out safe, not one. Shame on the Ministry of Interior and the police, said the protester.

Others chanted: The people demand the fall of the regime, the rallying cry of the 2011 uprising that helped end Hosni Mubaraks 30-year rule.

LIVE on #Periscope:       https://t.co/tuRylZdUQH  Omar Elhady (@ElHady) December 11, 2016

Sisis office condemned the attack, declaring three days of mourning and promising justice for the victims families.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group celebrated the attack on social media.

Mohamad Elmasry, of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said: The attack against Coptic Christians is not an aberration.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said it represents the continuation of a cycle of violence that has continued unabated since Egypts July 2013 military coup.

Since the coup, the Egyptian government and ISIL-affiliated terrorists have traded attacks. The government has cast an unnecessarily wide terrorism net, carrying out unprecedented human rights violations, including several mass killings, against moderate members of the political opposition.

Sharp escalation

The coup, which overthrew Mohamed Morsi, Egypts first democratically elected president and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, brought with it a sharp increase in violence, particularly in the Sinai region.

Egypts Coptic Christians, who comprise about 10 percent of Egypts 90 million people, often complain of discrimination and have been the target of religious violence.

Perhaps, more than anything, todays attack demonstrates the extent to which Sisi, who came to power largely on a security platform, has failed to deliver on one of his most important campaign promises, Elmasry said.
At least 60 people killed after church roof collapses in city of Uyo, with local reports citing much higher death toll.

A church roof has collapsed in southeastern Nigeria, killing at least 60 people, with local media reporting the death toll to be much higher.

The evangelical Reigners Bible Ministry in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom state, was packed with worshippers when the roof collapsed on Saturday.

It is a massive church and the local bishop was being ordained at the service, so there were thousands of people, including top government officials there, Al Jazeeras Ahmed Idris, reporting from Abuja, said on Sunday.

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Few minutes after the start of the service the roof started caving in and suddenly, it collapsed, leaving several people dead.

Our correspondent added that there had been some construction work taking place at the church before the service.

Bodies of at least 60 victims have been retrieved, according to a rescue official who spoke to the AP news agency on condition of anonymity.

While the government insisted that 60 people had died, local media reported much higher death tolls, some 100, and some more than 160.

The state-run Nigerian News Agency said between 50 and 200 people could have been killed, adding that a rescue operation was under way.

An Al Jazeera source quoted a medical director in one hospital as saying that they have counted 21 fatalities. Two more people who were injured later died, bringing the death toll in just one hospital at 23.

Governor Udom Emmanuel was reported to be inside when metal girders crashed onto worshippers and the corrugated iron roof caved in. He did not suffer any injuries in the incident.

We have never had such a shocking incident in the history of our dear state, Emmanuel said on his Facebook page.

RELATED: South Africans killed in Nigeria church collapse

The governors spokesman, Ekerete Udoh, said the state government will hold an inquiry to investigate if anyone compromised building standards.

President Muhammadu Buhari expressed his condolences over the many deaths and injury recorded following the incident, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement.

In September 2014, 115 people including 84 South Africans, were killed in Lagos in the collapse of a church belonging to the famous televangelist TB Joshua.

People are frustrated, this is one collapse too many, said our correspondent.

Since the collapse in 2014, we have already seen dozens of buildings collapse in various parts of Nigeria and this is because sometimes it takes a few hundred dollars for some officials to look the other way while contractors do whatever they please.
Explosion during mass targeted worshippers inside St Peters Church next to the main Coptic church in central Cairo.

A bomb blast has killed at least 25 people during Sunday mass inside a Cairo church near the main Coptic Christian cathedral, according to Egyptian state TV .

The explosion ripped through St Peters Church at around 10:00am local time, wounding at least another 49 people, according to Egyptian health ministry cited on state TV.

St Peters Church is beside St Marks Cathedral, which is the seat of Egypts Orthodox Christian church and is home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.

Services were being held in St Peters on Sunday morning, while St Marks Cathedral was being renovated.

A state-run news agency reported that a bomb was lobbed inside the church, though the AP news agency cited witnesses saying the bomb was planted inside the building itself.

I found bodies, many of them women, lying on the pews. It was a horrible scene, cathedral worker Attiya Mahrous, who rushed to the chapel after he heard the blast, told AP. His clothes and hands were stained with blood and his hair matted with dust.

The presidency declared national mourning after the attack.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi described the bombing as a terrorist act that has no place in Egypt.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

       pic.twitter.com/Fs33etlNT7  Omar Elhady (@ElHady) December 11, 2016

About 10 percent of Egypts 82-million population are Christians.

According to Mohamad Elmasry, an associate professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, the barbaric attack against Coptic Christians is not an aberration.

[The attack] represents the continuation of a cycle of violence that has continued unabated since Egypts July 2013 military coup, Elmasry told Al Jazeera.

Egypts Youm7 newspaper has posted video footage on its Twitter account of the aftermath of the bombing:

Since the coup, the Egyptian government and ISIS-affiliated terrorists have traded attacks. The government has cast an unnecessarily wide terrorism net, carrying out unprecedented human rights violations, including several mass killings, against moderate members of the political opposition.

The coup, which overthrew Mohamed Morsi , Egypts first democratically elected president and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood , brought with it a dramatic increase in violence, particularly in the Sinai region.

On Friday, six policemen were killed in a bomb attack in Cairo claimed by an armed group known as the Hasm movement.

The Egyptian army, under General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and its police forces have faced dozens of attacks from several armed groups that have continued to grow in recent years.

Perhaps more than anything, todays attack demonstrates the extent to which current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who came to power largely on a security platform, has failed to deliver on one of his most important campaign promises, Elmasry added.
Proposed changes seek to give president extended powers as head of executive while abolishing the prime ministry.

Turkeys ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has submitted to parliament a bill granting extended powers to the presidency and abolishing the prime ministry, among other major changes.

The 21-article constitutional change, if adopted, would take Turkey away from its current parliamentary system, and introduce an executive presidency, a move that worries critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Saturdays proposed constitutional changes are expected to be discussed at the relevant parliamentary commission first, before the bill is brought to a parliamentary hearing and, if passed there, put to a referendum. Government officials have pointed at the spring of 2017 for a possible referendum.

Erdogan became Turkeys first president to be elected by popular vote in 2014, after serving three terms as prime minister.

He said numerous times that the popular vote had transformed his presidency compared to the past presidencies, which were seen as largely ceremonial.





According to Ahmet Iyimaya, the chairman of the parliaments Constitutional Commission where the bill will be debated, Turkey already has a partial executive presidency, and therefore constitutional changes in this direction are necessary.

Turkey has moved away from the parliamentary system towards a presidential system following the constitutional changes in 2007 and 2010. So, this is necessary move, Iyimaya, who is also an AK Party MP, told Al Jazeera.

The coalition governments in the Turkish parliamentary system took so much from this country, wasting so much time. They could not solve any of the issues this country faced, he said.

Erdogan has repeatedly blamed coalition governments for what he calls Turkeys political instability and economic downfall, which was the situation when his party came to power the first time in 2002.

This will be the start of a new era, he said of the bill, in an address in Istanbul on Saturday.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim recently called Turkey a de facto executive presidential system.

Saturdays bill is backed by the far-right National Movement Party (MHP), but opposed by the centre-left main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democracy Party (HDP).

The AK Party and MHP were engaged in talks over the draft legislation for months before they could finalise it.

The MHP is the fourth largest party in parliament with the lowest number of seats, but the AK Party, which holds 317 MPs in the 550-seat assembly, needs the partys support to get 330 MP votes to take constitutional changes to a referendum.

Dangerous

Opposition CHP MP Mustafa Sezgin Tanrikulu told Al Jazeera that the constitutional changes aim to pool power in one person at a dangerous level and pave the way for an authoritarian regime.

This text gives one person the states whole executive power, some legislative powers through decrees and judicial powers  through appointments. This is a bill that will move Turkey away from the principles of democracy and the rule of law, Tanrikulu, who is also a human rights lawyer, said.





He added that his party would challenge the bill in the legislative process, and, if it is passed, will campaign against it before the referendum.

The proposed constitutional changes allow the president, who is currently constitutionally neutral, to be a member of a political party.

The bill also seeks to remove the prime ministry, and make the president the head of the executive, allowing him or her to appoint the government ministers and vice-presidents.

Under the draft legislation, the president would be able to appoint half of the 12 members of HSYK, Turkeys highest judiciary board, and would hold comprehensive powers to govern the country by decree.

If the changes are approved, Turkey would head to general and presidential elections together in November 2019, and proposed powers would be granted to the president elected.

The bill indicates that a person can be elected president for two five-year terms. Erdogans existing time as president will not be counted.

Follow Umut Uras on Twitter: @Um_Uras
More than 4,000 fighters converge on ancient city, forcing government troops to retreat south in reversal of fortunes.

ISIL has recaptured the Syrian city of Palmyra after thousands of its fighters launched a multi-pronged assault on the ancient city, according to reports.

The Russian Monitoring Centre in Syria said on Sunday that ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, had drawn on significant forces from its strongholds in nearby Raqqa and Deir Az-zor, with more than 4,000 fighters, backed by tanks, attacking the city.

Russia, Syrias ally, had launched a flurry of air strikes overnight that reportedly killed 300 ISIL fighters and forced the group to retreat.

#ISIS's al-Amaq agency releases a video of Palmyra, after it claiming to be in full control of the city. #Syria pic.twitter.com/7Ud7EqZrzd  Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) December 11, 2016

However, later on Sunday, ISIL, also known as ISIS, claimed to be in full control of Palmyra via Amaq, a news agency that supports the group, with government troops forced to retreat to the south of the city.

Talal al-Barazi, the governor of Homs, confirmed to Syrian state TV that ISIL had captured Palmyra, adding that the army was using all of its means to regain control.

ISIL captured Palmyra, also known as Tadmur, in May last year, before losing the city 10 months later to much international fanfare.

During that time, it destroyed some ancient sites and artefacts while using others to stage mass executions.

String of defeats

ISIL also destroyed the infamous Tadmur prison, where thousands of government opponents were reported to have been tortured.

ISIL has suffered a string of defeats in both Syria and Iraq in recent months, losing several towns and cities it had captured in 2014.

According to defence analysts at the think tank IHS Jane, ISIL lost about 12 percent of its territory in 2016, and about 14 percent in 2015.
Following Matteo Renzis resignation over referendum defeat, foreign minister is entrusted with forming new government.

Italys foreign minister has been named the countrys new prime minister following Matteo Renzis resignation in the wake of a referendum defeat.

Paolo Gentiloni, 62, was asked by President Sergio Mattarella on Sunday to form a new centre-left government that will guide Italy to the elections that are due by February 2018.

A close ally of the outgoing premier, Gentiloni now has to put together his own government team in advance of a parliamentary approval vote expected on Wednesday.





Al Jazeeras Sonia Gallego, reporting from Rome, said Gentiloni was already meeting speakers of the lower house and the Senate.

The process involves a series of consultations that will take approximately a couple of days, she said.

Following that, he will announce whether he has been successful or not.

In a brief statement, Gentiloni said there was an urgent need for a fully functioning government to address a series of pressing international, economic and social issues.

Among those is a looming crisis in the troubled banking sector as well as the ongoing relief efforts after a series of deadly earthquakes between August and October.

Mattarella turned to Gentiloni after opposition parties rebuffed overtures about a possible national unity government. The president rejected opposition demands for an immediate election.

Not by choice but out of a sense of responsibility, I will be forming a government based on the outgoing majority, Gentiloni said.

Renzi, who had been in power for two years and 10 months, resigned last week after voters overwhelmingly rejected a package of constitutional reforms on which he had staked his future.

WATCH: The Italian job  In the grip of economic uncertainty

The populist Five Star Movement, which has led calls for immediate elections, said it would boycott Wednesdays vote because the new government would have no legitimacy.

This government is not even worthy of a vote against it, said Giulia Grillo, head of the Five Star group in the Senate.

All major parties have called for election as soon as possible.

But before any vote can take place, Mattarella has said Italy needs a new electoral law to replace one that applies only to the lower house and could be declared illegitimate in January by the Constitutional Court.

Elections are not due until 2018 but could be called as soon as parliament finishes rewriting the electoral law. Gentiloni said he would facilitate, if possible, the parliamentary forces task of quickly defining new electoral rules.
Catholic Churches across Manila signal opposition to legislative move to bring back executions on at least 20 crimes.

Roman Catholic churches in Manila have read a prayer against Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertes plans to re-impose the death penalty on heinous crimes, including drug-related offences.

Last week, the justice panel in the lower house of Congress approved a legislative measure to bring back state-sanctioned executions on at least 20 crimes, including rape with murder and kidnapping-for-ransom.

The bill may be passed within the next two weeks.

The prayer, issued by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Manilas archbishop, was read in churches across the city on Sunday and called to work against the death penalty.

There is in our land a cry for vengeance and a move to fill up death rows and kill offenders, but disguised as a call for justice, the prayer read. Let true and lasting justice spring forth.

READ MORE: Inside Dutertes killer drug war

In 2006, then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo abolished the death penalty for crimes involving drugs, rape and arson. Duterte and his supporters have sought to reinstate the punishment as a deterrent to rising crime and drug use.





Catholic bishops also oppose a separate plan in Congress to reduce the minimum age for criminal liability to nine from 12 currently.

They fear both the reduction in the liability age and expanded use of capital punishment could escalate violence related to the current anti-drugs campaign.

The Catholic Church has long opposed the death penalty in the Philippines. About 80 percent of the countrys more than 100 million inhabitants are Catholic.

Archbishop Socrates Villegas, head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, had issued a statement strongly criticising the rising death toll in the war on drugs, saying the government must respect the dignity of life and human rights.

WATCH: Rodrigo Duterte: Guns, Goons and the Presidency

More than 2,000 people have died in police operations against illicit drugs since July 1 when Duterte assumed the presidency. Those killed were mostly street-level peddlers and users, who police said had resisted arrest.

More than 3,000 others were killed by motorcycle-riding masked men and vigilantes during the same period, but Duterte has denied the police are conducting extrajudicial killings.

Last week, senators, including the presidents close allies, criticised the way Duterte has carried out his anti-narcotics campaign, saying it should be done within the limits of the law and that he must also punish erring police officers.

Senators said in a report that, while they had found no clear proof that the rising number of extrajudicial killings was related to state-sponsored actions, they have told Duterte to observe due process and give the accused their day in court.
Widely supported at first, former presidents strategies came to be heavily criticised as casualty figures rose.

It has been 10 years since Mexicos then-president Felipe Calderon declared war on the countrys powerful drug cartels.

Calderon had just taken up office in 2006 when he he declared an all-out fight against them.

Ten days after taking office, Calderon deployed around 5,000 troops to his western home state of Michoacan  the start of a militarised campaign against drug trafficking.

Calderons six-year term was marked by a surge in murders, rising from 10,253 in 2007 to a peak of 22,852 in 2011. More than 150,000 people were killed in total and at least 28,000 have disappeared.

Widely supported at first, his strategies were heavily criticised as casualty figures rose and reports of human-rights abuse increased.

READ MORE: Mexicos drug war as seen through the eyes of children

It failed precisely because the process of breaking up the cartels, which was always going to lead to them fragmenting into violent gangs, wasnt coupled with the rebuilding of state and municipal police who could then have neutralised these local gangs, Guillermo Valdez, former director of Mexicos National Intelligence Center, told Al Jazeera.

In a move to topple drug kingpins, Calderon sent the armed forces and federal police out on the streets.

But the weakening of major drug cartels such as the Beltran Leyva, Zetas, Gulf and Knights Templar has led to the emergence of smaller gangs that seek to diversify their business through kidnappings and extortion.

Battle lines redrawn

Al Jazeeras John Holman, reporting from Mexico, said Ciudad Juarez used to be the epicentre of the violence but, as the government claimed victory, the battle lines were being drawn elsewhere.

Even though the centre of operation for drug cartels shifted base, ineffective police and corrupt institutions remained a constant, he said.

That means, for criminal groups in Mexico, there is still money to be made and too little to stop them.
Romanians have voted a year after a series of scandals forced the government to quit.

Romanians have voted in parliamentary elections that appears to see the corruption-tainted left stage a remarkable comeback, a year after a deadly nightclub fire forced them from office.

Exit polls put the Social Democrats (PSD) in first place in Sundays election with about 46 percent. The rival centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL) are projected to have received about 21 percent, while their allies the Save Romania Union (USR) are seen garnering nine percent.

Liviu Dragnea, the PSD leader, already said he will start talks to form a parliamentary majority with its long-time ally, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), that is projected to have received about six percent.

In the coming days, PSD and ALDE will begin discussions in order to form a new majority in parliament  Todays vote clearly indicates Romanians choice for a future government, Dragnea said in a statement in English.

IN PICTURES: Romania elections broken promises

After the Bucharest disco blaze October last year, which claimed 64 lives, tens of thousands took to the streets, forcing Prime Minister Victor Ponta and his PSD-led government to resign.

A caretaker government was then installed under technocrat Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, 47, a former European commissioner.





The PNL and the USR have said they would support Ciolos staying on. He is happy to do so, but wants to remain an independent, vowing continued budgetary discipline.

But the PSD wants Ciolos gone and instead, to install party head Liviu Dragnea, 54, as prime minister.

However, Dragnea is serving a suspended sentence for electoral fraud, and a 2001 law prevents anyone convicted of a crime becoming a minister.

Moreover, President Klaus Iohannis, 57, has refused to appoint anyone with legal problems as prime minister.

This would also exclude a comeback by Ponta, 44, currently on trial, in fact he was already in the dock while prime minister, for alleged tax evasion and money laundering.

Fire blamed on corruption

The absence of fire precautions that caused the Colectiv club inferno was blamed on officials turning a blind eye.

For many Romanians, it was the final straw, and the tragedy prompted a push to clean Romania up.

The effects of corruption were suddenly clear for all to see: 64 deaths, recalled Mihai Politeanu, the founder of an anti-corruption association, Initiativa Romania, created after the blaze.

IN PICTURES: Public discontent swells in Romania

Romanias National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) has been highly active and visible, bringing ministers, senators, lawmakers and other public officials to justice.

A recent survey suggested that 95 percent of Romanians want tackling corruption to be a priority for the next government, but there are worries this will not happen if the PSD returns to power.

The clean-up has disproportionately hit the Romanian left, Tsveta Petrova from risk consultancy Eurasia Group told the AFP news agency.

As a result, should a left-led coalition come to power, it will try to slow down this campaign.

But the PSD is still forecast to become the largest party, thanks to solid support among older Romanians and in rural areas of the southeastern European nation of 20 million people.

However, 27 years after the summary execution of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and the end of Communism, voter apathy is rife, with the turnout on Sunday forecast to be as low as 40 percent.
Air raids reportedly kill hundreds of fighters and force withdrawal of group hours after it re-entered the ancient city.

The Syrian army, aided by Russian aerial onslaught, has forced ISIL fighters to withdraw from Syrias Palmyra at dawn on Sunday, only hours after the armed group had re-entered the ancient city.

Both the Russian Defence Ministry and a UK-based monitoring group reported early on Sunday that the Syrian forces, with the support of intense Russian air raids, killed a large number of fighters in the strategically located central city.

According to the Russian ministry, Russian jets carried out 64 strikes during the operation, killing more than 300 fighters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was unable to confirm the number of those killed.

The [Syrian] army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on [ISIL] positions around the city, Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory, told AFP news agency.

Amaq news agency affiliated to the armed group however, said they have captured Palmyra castle overlooking the ancient city.

ISIL began an offensive just days ago near Palmyra, an ancient city on UNESCOs World Heritage list.

In May last year, the armed group seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites.

They were forced out of Palmyra in March by Syrian government forces backed by Russia.
The case against Assange is as political as it is legal; where does it go from here? Plus, Kenyas election influencers.
For thousands of years, rhino horn has been coveted by people around the globe, primarily for its beauty and its perceived medicinal or special powers. Just like ivory, it has long been prized as decorative proof of status and wealth.

At the turn of the century, there were tens of thousands of rhino across Africa and Asia, but now, with a rhino horn fetching up to half a million US dollars on the black market, these animals are increasingly at risk of extinction.

So how does rhino horn, which is made of keratin  basically the same protein that makes up our hair and fingernails  become worth more money than cocaine, heroin, gold and even platinum? And what can be done to stop rhino poaching?

This is a valuable product and it sells for more than the value of gold, by weight, in Vietnam. by John Baker, managing director of WildAide

Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine have prescribed rhino horn as a cure for a range of illnesses from a fever to food poisoning, despite the lack of any solid scientific evidence to support its medical efficacy.

In the past decade, the demand for rhino horn in China and Vietnam grew  and the price rose.

This is a valuable product and it sells for more than the value of gold, by weight, in Vietnam, says John Baker, managing director of WildAide. Although it is illegal in Vietnam, acquiring rhino horn is also seen as status symbol and investment.

A recent report by Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring group, suggested the use of rhino horn among wealthy urban Vietnamese men is one of the major drivers of rhino poaching.

Every night in South Africas Kruger National Park, home to the worlds largest population of rhino, two or three animals are shot by poachers. And the closer the rhino comes to extinction, the more horn becomes a scarce resource with the inevitable rise in price.

One of the latest and controversial strategies to stop the use of Rhino comes from a US bio-tech start-up in San Francisco called Pembient. Their 3D printer techniques will help manufacture horns that will eventually pass as the real deal. The company hopes to flood the market with fake rhino horn in order to stop the demand for the genuine product.

We want to build something thats microscopically and molecularly the same as a rhinoceros horn, says Pembients CEO Mathew Markus. Thus, by flooding the market with its biofabricated horns, Pembient hopes the prices for rhino horns will drop dramatically.

However, Baker is not convinced: You can change peoples attitudes, especially in a country like Vietnam where so many of the people are young. What we dont want to do is now give the young people a reason to start using rhino horn because its OK to use rhino horn.

Can fake rhino horn truly pass as the real thing? And can synthetic horn save the rhino from extinction?

TechKnow visits Pembients San Francisco lab, obtains their fake rhino prototype and tests them against a real rhino sample from an independent lab to see if the two match.
A few years ago, Mark Steyn sagely observed, In America today, few activities are as profitable as a nonprofit. Nothing warrants changing that assessment now. President-elect Trump has a lot on his plate if he plans to turn around the ship of state. But if its not too presumptuous, Id like to add one more item to his agenda: a substantial rewrite of the laws respecting our tax-exempt sector, reining in private foundations.

Background

During a 75-year period (1884-1969) the U.S. Tax Code established the basic principles and requirements of tax exemption, identified business activities of tax-exempt organizations that were subject to taxation, and defined and regulated private foundations as a sub-set for tax-exempt organizations. Their assets have increased enormously since then. Its time for another look at the law with an end to rewrite it.

Together, private and public charitable foundations are apparently sitting on trillions of dollars of assets.

These organizations have grown to massive size -- and are poorly, if at all, regulated. Instead of meeting the charitable needs of citizens that government funds were inadequate to provide for, foundations are regularly being misused to fund organizations and outfits antithetical to our best interests, disenfranchising us and working at cross purposes to the desires and beliefs of most Americans. The achievements of a few big foundations include undermining the war on terror, Balkanizing our universities and society, lobbying for open borders, and undermining our economy with radical environmentalism. -

The most egregious offenders in terms of size seem to be those foundations categorized as private non operating foundations such as the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation --which exist primarily to give grants to others, and it will be these to which I refer here. (Operating foundations function rather like public charities, providing direct support to a school, a hospital, or another specific charitable program, and are not the subject of this article.)

The Foundations that are my focus are those like the Tides Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Ford Foundation. Evidence of their anti-democratic, anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-Israeli activities is copious and well documented.

The Ford Foundation

Ford funded the Black Power Movement, helped establish the Black studies, Womens Studies, Hispanic Studies and Diversity Programs in colleges throughout the country, and supported Multiculturalism in place of assimilationist policies. It created and funded the Black Power Movement and La Raza, the Mexican national group here. Ford fought to expand the welfare state, created the Open Borders Lobby, underwrote the human rights  focus in Americas law schools, and pushed affirmative action programs. Its sponsorship of the anti-Israeli, anti-American Durban Conference got it into hot water, after which it promised to cease funding subversive groups including those calling for the destruction of Israel,

In recent decades, the Ford Foundation has continued to play a major role in shaping American culture, popular opinion, and public policy, by funding organizations whose agendas and worldviews are consistent with its own. These agendas and worldviews include: the weakening of homeland security and anti-terrorism measures on the theory that they constitute unacceptable assaults on civil liberties;

the dissolution of American borders;

the promotion of mass, unchecked immigration to the United States;

the redistribution of wealth;

the blaming of America for virtually every conceivable international dispute;

the depiction of Israel as an oppressor state that routinely victimizes its Palestinian minority;

the weakening of American military capabilities [snip];

a devotion to the principle of preferences based on race, ethnicity, gender, and a host of other demographic attributes;

the condemnation of the U.S. as a racist, sexist, homophobic nation that discriminates against minorities, women and gays;

the characterization of America as an unrepentant polluter whose industrial pursuits cause immense harm to the natural environment;

the portrayal of the U.S. as a violator of human rights both at home and abroad;

the depiction of America as an aggressively militaristic nation; and

support for taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand as an inalienable right for all women.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund

This fund worked to derail the Keystone Pipeline. While it indicates its goal is Peacebuilding in the Middle East, NGO Monitors analysis shows it has been fomenting war there.

Among the nefarious groups funded by this Fund are these:

How antithetical it is to US interests -- and peace in the Middle East -- is evident from this about Al-Shabaka:

Al-Shabakas policy advisors include: convicted Hezbollah spy Ameer Makhoul, Grace Said of Friends of Sabeel, Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada, BDS activist Omar Barghouti, Ingrid Jaradat Gassner of Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (formerly head of Badil; during her tenure, Badil had its funding frozen for posting antisemitic imagery on its website  dozens of disturbing images promoting the elimination of Israel, antisemitism, and violence remain), Muhammad Jaradat of BADIL, and Issam Younis of Al-Mezan and Gaza Community Mental Health Program 

Nor has the Rockefeller Brothers Fund ignored domestic lobbying groups here. It has been a major funder of J Street, the anti-Israeli nominally Jewish group favored by the Obama Administration and the go-to group on Israel-American Jewry of the major media.

Other grantees on Middle East issues include the New American Foundation for the now defunct Open Zion blog run by Peter Beinart ($30,000 in June 2012) and the National Iranian American Council

Much more than I can cover in one article has been reported about these foundations. Useful sources of information include David Horowitzs Discover the Networks site and NGO Monitor.

The environmental movement is heavily subsidized by major foundations. [snip] With more than $7 billion in assets, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation  funded by the fortune of the co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard computer company  has made grants to such organizations as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, and "pro-illegal immigration" groups including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. George Soros Open Society Institute, with assets of more than $300 million, has supported the ACLU, the National Organization for Women and the "pro-illegal alien" National Immigration Forum.

The Pew Charitable Trusts

The Pew Charitable Trusts, now also in the hands of the left, not only pushed for the ill-conceived campaign finance reform, they manipulated the facts in an effort to get it passed.

In the early 1990s, Sean Treglia, a former program officer with Pew, conceived a strategy whereby a few major leftist foundations would bankroll front groups and so-called experts whose aim was to persuade Congress to swallow the fiction that millions of Americans were clamoring for campaign-finance reform.

A cynic might conclude they were merely trying to preserve their hold on political speech while denying it to ordinary voters.

And it ,too, has been a major contributor to radical environmental groups:

Perhaps the worst outfit to have tax-exempt status is the Tides Foundation. That is so because it a money-laundering scheme which allows others to contribute to very radical causes without being identified as funding them,

Because many of these recipient groups are quite radical, the donors often prefer not to have their names publicly linked with the donees. By letting the Tides Foundation, in effect, launder the money for them and pass it along to the intended beneficiaries, donors can avoid leaving a paper trail. Such contributions are called "donor-advised," or donor-directed, funds. Through this legal loophole, nonprofit entities can also create for-profit organizations and then funnel money to them through Tides -- thereby circumventing the laws that bar nonprofits from directly funding their own for-profit enterprises. Pew Charitable Trusts, for instance, set up three for-profit media companies and then proceeded to fund them via donor-advised contributions to Tides, which (for an 8 percent management fee) in turn sent the money to the media companies. If a donor wishes to give money to a particular cause but finds that there is no organization in existence dedicated specifically to that issue, the Tides Foundation will, for a fee, create a group to meet that perceived need. (Source)

Allowing foundations like these to pile up huge assets virtually tax-free (they are charged 1-2% excise tax on their revenues depending on the distribution of their funds) injures us twice: by reducing federal revenue and by making us fight against those who advocate against our best interests.

How then to rein them in?

1. Federal and state agencies must exercise greater oversight over their operations

Community watchdogs say the present regulatory structure is nowhere near adequate. For one thing, says Trent Stamp, executive director of Charity Navigator, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that helps donors select charities, existing law delegates considerable enforcement authority to states, but many of today's philanthropies cross state lines. We are continuing to regulate nonprofits in a way that might have worked in 1954, he says, but nonprofits are a big business that they weren't in 1954. And while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversees for-profit organizations, he explained, influential nonprofit boards of directors investing billions of dollars in the stock market represent a parallel universe that we are not paying attention to. Stamp, in fact, advocates establishing an SEC counterpart to oversee the entire nonprofit sector. Short of that, philanthropies should have to justify keeping their tax-exempt status, he argues. The IRS gives out tax-exempt status and doesn't see those charities ever again, except in a handful of cases, he says.

Rich Kent suggests state attorneys general should do more on criminal oversight of these foundations, which often operate in many jurisdictions. He cites Mike Coxs efforts in 2005 against the Ford foundation in Michigan, which had gone far outside the grantors intent:

Between 1998 and 2005, the foundations annual grants to Michigan charities totaled less than $1.5 million a year, running as low as $200,000 in 2000. In 2001 the Ford Foundation granted $593 million worldwide. No wrongdoing was ever found in the investigation and in subsequent years, the foundation began funneling more money to Detroit and Michigan.

2. Change the Tax Code on Foundation Lobbying Expenditures

The IRS permits limited lobbying by these foundations. Watchdogs need to ascertain if they are following these rules, but the biggest loophole it seems to me is in their grant making to groups that engage in lobbying.

Private foundations may make grants to public charities that engage in lobbying activities, but those grants cannot be earmarked (in whole or in part) for lobbying. Permissible grants to such organizations may take one of two forms. First, a private foundation may make a general support grant to a public charity that engages in lobbying, leaving to the grantee discretion as to how the funds will be used. The recipient of the grant may then choose on its own to use the funds for lobbying expenditures, but must comply with federal lobbying rules for public charities. Second, private foundations may make specific project grants to projects that involve some lobbying component. However, the grant must be limited to the non-lobbying component of the project.

This should be tightened with grantees forbidden to use any portion of money received from private foundations for lobbying.

3. Require Faster Pay Outs of Endowments

At the moment these non-operating foundations must pay down 5% of their endowments annually for charitable purposes or pay a penalty in taxes and sanctions. I think this rule ought to be changed to require that they actually pay out 20% of their non-fixed assets annually. Not doing so only enlarges their endowments for years past the deaths of the grantors, and takes them further from their original intent. When foundation boards become self-perpetuating, appointing new members to fill vacancies, officers can receive free rein to indulge their whims.

4. Require More Specific Definition of Aims and Make Foundations Stick to Them

I think the charitable purposes which the non-operating foundations are permitted to engage in should be reduced to more specific ends. At the moment organizations that are tax exempt under Section 501 C (3) are very broadly defined -- they must have as their purposes religious, charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes. This is too broad, and a proscription for continued trouble making.

5. Require Transparency

Outfits like Tides should be forbidden. Allowing one grant making tax-exempt foundation to give to another in a way that hides who gave money to a grantee allows grant making institutions to hide their contributions to the most nefarious groups.

These are just a few suggestions. Im certain that tax experts can refine the existing laws in a way that makes these institutions more responsive to our needs than what we get from the leftist officers who have burrowed into these outfits and shell out money in ways their long-dead, more conservative original grantors intended.

If they fail, I plan to set up a Wine Women and Song Foundation which will work to get fabulously rich people to spend all their money on frivolous self-indulgences and leave us alone instead of trying to reshape our world into their blinkered wishes for it.
Democrats are really lost now. Trump not only won the White House, but has brought in a no-nonsense group of generals, business leaders, and iron-willed politicians to back up his administration. Trump has also shown clearly that he grasps how to completely outflank the left's Maginot Line of the old establishment media. Republicans will control Congress for some time.

Trump is going to appoint a conservative to replace the late Justice Scalia, and he will almost certainly get to put more conservative justices on the Supreme Court to replace three ancient justices: Ginsburg (83), Kennedy (80), and Breyer (78). The leftist core of the Supreme Court could be reduced to just Kagan and Sotamayor  with six solid young conservatives, which would leave court in good hands for a generation.

In desperation, Democrats have rediscovered the virtues of federalism, a system of government in which substantial power is left with sovereign states, and the federal government has limited authority to command Americans and their state governments. This is an opportunity that may not come again, which Republicans ought to seize with both hands.

True federalism is the cure to every problem of our nation, because the marketplace of governments rewards the best combinations of liberty and efficiency in the regulation of human affairs. Also, vitally, federalism gives each state a vested interest in protecting the rights of other states, much in the same way as the First Amendment gives all citizens a right in protecting the freedom of speech of others. Republicans in Washington have in their power two related major reforms that would devolve much power back to states, and these reforms require nothing more than a change in federal law.

First, shift from federal bureaucracies to state officials the duty and the right to enforce federal laws. This would allow the practical abolition of many federal agencies and departments. Keep federal employees only to enforce laws connected to those few enumerated powers in Article I like running the postal service or providing for national defense.

Second, strip all federal courts of subject matter jurisdiction regarding all federal questions and place original jurisdiction over federal questions where it was for the first century of our republic: solely with state courts. The Supreme Court would retain appellate jurisdiction on cases involving federal questions coming out of state courts, but the other federal courts would deal only with diversity of citizenship cases, as the Founding Fathers envisioned.

Congress could even refrain from forcing these devolutions of power to states by allowing individual state legislatures to opt out. As an incentive not to opt out, Congress could bestow on each state that assumes the administrative and judicial duties a federal grant equal to what Washington had been paying for those activities in the state.

This amount could gradually decrease over a period of years, so after ten years, the federal government would be sending to states each year only 25% of what had been the original award, but that would have allowed states a decade to find better and cheaper ways of administering and adjudicating federal laws.

The real change would be the savings of federal administrative costs, although this would be a real and not imaginary savings. The real change would be the transfer of that practical power that comes from controlling day-to-day administration from Washington to the state capitol.

The president, of course, would still retain the power to see that the laws be faithfully enforced, but today, he has little practical authority, because the president cannot hire or fire the vast majority of federal employees. He would retain the power he has today: the president could hire and fire the highest-level officers, and he could issue instructive orders about how laws are to be enforced.

What about removing federal district and circuit courts from handling federal question? State court systems could dramatically streamline the adjudication of federal questions so that these cases, which sometimes take decades and leave so much hanging in the air during the years of litigation, could be completely resolved in a year or less.

Democrats in Washington might howl at this redistribution of federal power, but what would Democrats in state governments do? Almost certainly every single state, including those run completely by Democrats, would opt in for both the money and the power. Once that happened, the change in the structure of government would be permanent and revolutionary.
The New York Times has decided to run a new feature titled "This week in hate." Cataloguing a series of hate crimes dating back to November 16, it strangely fails to mention November 28, when a young Somalian man in Ohio ran his car into a lot of pedestrians, got out of said car, and then began stabbing Americans at random.

The reason this is important is that it proves what a growing number of people implicitly know about leftists: you can be hateful to them only if you're white. Crimes committed against whites for the sake of our whiteness are not only hateless, but irrelevant to The New York Times. Whatever doesn't fit into their narrative is simply left out of it. No leftist magazine that I am aware of broadcasted anything against Lena Dunham when she said white men could be eradicated from the Earth and we would be the better for it  but The New York Times finds it worth reporting that someone said we could deport a Muslim from American soil. It may be stupid to label every Muslim a terrorist. It is equally stupid to say that every white person, from the four-hundred-pound swamp-donkey in Georgia to the miserable slum-dwelling Italians in Jersey, is a privileged and tyrannical aristocrat. Both statements require a hatred not of a person, but of a people  and one that deliberately places the things we hate about a people on a stranger. But only one of them is considered hateful, and only one of them is apparently worth reporting.

The irony behind all of this is that if anyone has ever been to a series of white nationalist sites like American Renaissance, he will be surprised to find that they differ from The New York Times in one particular respect. In "This week in hate," the criminals are all white. On American Renaissance, the criminals are all not. The methodology, the gist, the morality of the two publications is exactly the same. It is only the color of the people complained about that is different.

Americans still buy what one narrative tells us and spend their time hating the other. Every slander committed in defense of minorities is made out to be loving, while reporting in defense of whites is just hateful. One of us has a right to his own culture and territory, and the other one doesn't. One of us can discriminate against the other, but not vice versa. One of us can make generalizations about the other, and the other can make generalizations only about himself. One of us can pronounce verdicts without any evidence and burn down wonderful cities and rape beautiful people and yet still, after all of this, be considered nothing more than a victim acting in response to aggression. It's a wonder they don't consider all criminals victims. Everyone, after all, has a story . Everyone except the wrong color.

Perhaps more peculiar than all of this, and infinitely more subtle than all of this  perhaps more brilliant than all of this  is the war leftists have won with the label of hatred. What leftists have either forgotten because they are stupid or denied because they are evil is that all hatred is the offspring of love. From the moment we're born, we find ourselves trapped in a series of loves and desires  associations with particular kinds of people and particular kinds of faces and particular ways of doing things and particular dreams of our own regarding them each. We begin to realize, sooner or later, that the world  and not just the world, but particular people in the world with very particular traits, are intruding and trying to ruin it all for us. "Hatred is learned" is a popular thing to say. But what teaches us hatred is not a popular thing to admit. What causes us to hate is our love for our friends and our families.

The truth of the matter, which Westerners are apparently incapable of grasping, is that in every human being, there lies an inescapable feeling of us, and that how that us is forged, partially on purpose but mostly by accident, collides inevitably with how others view something called them. When we see others who look and talk and dress like us being victimized by people who don't resemble us so closely, we imagine they're doing it to people we love, and when we see the people who aren't like us ignoring our plight and defending their own, we're left with the feeling that if there is anything we love, we are going to have to fight over it. The only way we can defend anyone we love is by determining who exactly is on our side, how they express being on our side, and then act as though they are on our side. Next, we have to recognize and organize against the people who aren't. Americans pretend this is evil when this is exactly what all of us do. Americans have simply forgotten that this is the whole point of news.

That every group in the history of the world behaves in this manner is irrefutable, and the alliances between hostiles for defeating even more dangerous hostiles has determined more of our history than we are comfortable admitting. Rome itself was prey to internecine struggles and riots of plebeians against patricians, and the only thing that could keep them together was their hatred of the Volscian, the Numidian, the Alemanni, and the Persian. The Spartans and Athenians were happy spilling each other's blood until foreigners (who were always referred to as barbarians) made Greeks happier to spill others'. The Russians and the English (in other words, the communists and the constitutional monarchists) allied themselves to defeat the Nazis, and the Irish Catholics could more easily become Americans because we were all of us worried about newly freed blacks. Love is just as much a result of our hatred as our hatred is a result of our love. We are many times forced into alliances that turn out to be families, just as families have separated into enemies because they were incapable of maintaining alliances.

What we ignore is that, like the English and the Soviets, our leftists are incapable of maintaining alliances of the kind they currently have. They all come from the same tribal necessity that led ancient Israel to ally itself with Egypt, and the prophets of Ba'al with the priests of Jehovah  the kind of alliance that happens only because you are mortally sworn against somebody else. Their alliance of Black Lives Matter who love chaos and educated white women who prefer stability, radical feminists who hate "rape culture" with radical Muslims who preach wife-beating, and gay activists who love effeminacy with Hispanics who live machismo, is less accurately described as precarious and more truthfully referred to as volatile. The reason they band together is because they view whites as the enemy, as the reason to throw aside all their differences and unite in the greatest and most logic-defying confederacy in the history of the world  an alliance that could have happened only when white leftists hated themselves, and when minorities hated whites worse than each other.

That this can be described entirely as love is not only unfair, but insane. A unity like this can come from only a deep-seated antipathy  one that admits only the crimes of one side and overlooks even the worst cases of depravity from anyone fighting on the other. The worst aspect of all of this, from the party that is just as much an expression of hatred as anything else, is the same thing that everyone does when he wants to do whatever he wants with somebody else. He strips his enemy even of humanity. He says he's the only one capable of loving  and that the other man has a monopoly on hatred.

Jeremy Egerer is the author of the troublesome essays on Letters to Hannah, and he welcomes followers on Twitter and Facebook.
Repeal and replace. That was and still is the Donald Trump promise for Obamacare. Congressional Republicans are ready to join in. Not that they haven't been trying for the past six years, with over 60 attempts at repeal at the congressional level, all quickly dispatched by the Obama veto pen.

Now that there is a new sheriff in town, the veto threat is gone. Repeal and replace may actually happen. What will it mean?

In my local paper, The Denver Post, is an article, written not by anyone at The Denver Post, but instead by The Associated Press, claiming that 30 million people will lose their health insurance if Obamacare is repealed. The article describes a recent study from the Urban Institute looking at the scenario of repeal only  no replacement  and predicts an increase of 30 million uninsured people over the next three years.

More specifically, the article notes that the number of uninsured would double, from about 30 to 60 million with "repeal without replacement" between now and 2019. Several points are noteworthy.

Why are there nearly 30 million people currently uninsured? Wasn't Obamacare supposed to fix this problem? Between Medicaid expansion and the individual mandate requiring everyone to purchase health insurance, there should be virtually no one still uninsured. After all, wasn't fixing the problem of the uninsured one of the justifications and goals of Obamacare? The official website says the ACA was instituted with the goals of "access, affordability, and quality in health care for Americans."

The Urban Institute study also assumes repeal only, without replacement. Sure, this is one possible scenario, but it is quite unlikely. Donald Trump, on his campaign website, is quite specific about not only repeal, but also replacement, saying, "It is not enough to simply repeal this terrible legislation." He goes farther: "[w]e have a series of reforms ready for implementation that follow free market principles and that will restore economic freedom and certainty."

Speaker Paul Ryan released his own 37-page plan outlining what replacement might look like. So it is a bit disingenuous for the Urban Institute's study of repeal without replacement to be given such credence. It is a dubious study to perform, taken with a large grain of salt, since neither Trump nor congressional Republicans are entertaining this scenario.

Research studies should also be viewed through the lens of who is performing the research and whether he has a particular agenda. This is especially in climate change studies, where funding and political biases influence study conclusions.

The original AP article describes "the nonpartisan Urban Institute." Are they? The L.A. Times and Washington Post note that the Urban Institute is a "leading liberal think tank." Seems the AP didn't do their research. Regardless of the political leanings of the Urban Institute, their intrinsic biases should be mentioned when describing their research studies.

Going a step farther, how many of the Obamacare enrollees will actually lose their insurance under a repeal and replace scenario?

Who best to answer this than Jonathan Gruber, the MIT professor and architect of Obamacare? In case you've forgotten him, he is the one who praised "the stupidity of the American voter" for helping pass Obamacare into law.

Gruber has a new study saying, "Roughly two-thirds of new Medicaid enrollees in 2014 were eligible for the program under previous state eligibility criteria  meaning that they were not made eligible by the ACA." This means that it wasn't Obamacare that made these new enrollees eligible; they just, for whatever reason, never signed up for a program they were entitled to all along.

Take this a step farther with analysis from the Heritage Foundation, which for full disclosure is a conservative think tank, finding that 97 percent of new Obamacare enrollment was a result of Medicaid expansion. This means that two thirds of the newly insured via Obamacare will remain insured, even in the unlikely scenario of repeal without replacement.

If the Medicaid expansion is kept in place, or even modestly expanded, the newly insured won't be tossed into the streets without insurance, as the naysayers predict. It seems that much of Obamacare was a mirage, claiming credit for something already in place  namely, getting those eligible for Medicaid to actually sign up and get enrolled in a program they had access to all along.

The mirage can work in reverse, too. If Obamacare goes away, it won't be the catastrophe big media and the left predict.

Brian C Joondeph, M.D., MPS, is a Denver-based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Four years ago, Jamie Glazov asked me if political correctness existed on the right, if conservatives considered certain topics off limits to discussion. I told him no, which, at the time, seemed mostly true. Both conservatives and liberals hold certain things sacred, and in many ways, this is both necessary and good. However, sacredness becomes a problem when it prevents you from debating important topics.

For liberals, issues involving race, gender, and sexuality are sacred. This prevents mainstream liberals from looking at a whole host of issues in a fair and openminded way. It makes debating racial preferences, abortion, or religious liberty, nearly impossible. When liberals can no longer distinguish between opponents of abortion and opponents of female suffrage, you get political correctness.

With this being said, conservatives have a similar groupthink problem. The conservative group think problem has less to do with sacredness than with coalition building. Conservative politicians draw a huge amount of support from single-issue voters, whether those voters are pro-gun, pro-life, anti-tax, etc. Because of this, these single-issue voters have tremendous power to shape the conservative legislative agenda.

The Ohio state legislature just passed a law banning abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. A fetal heartbeat can typically be detected six to seven weeks into pregnancy, or halfway through the first trimester. The bill, attached to a larger piece of legislation, awaits the signature of John Kasich.

If passed, the Ohio Heartbeat bill would radically change abortion laws in that state. Whether you agree or disagree with this new law, conservatives need to have an open debate about it. For many pro-lifers, debating abortion would be like debating slavery. When it comes to abortion, I can respect that view. When it comes to issues like gun rights, taxes, or immigration, I can't.

In the coming months, Congress will consider whether to remove silencers from the regulation of the National Firearms Act. At present, you need to pay a fee and receive ATF permission to purchase a silencer. If silencers are removed from the NFA, you will be able to order them off the internet without a background check.

Silencers have a legitimate use, especially for indoor shooting. The pending legislation is called the Hearing Protection Act. While silencers have legitimate uses, they also have a potential for misuse. With the right ammunition, they can make the right firearm surprisingly quiet. Before taking silencers from the highest level of regulation to the lowest, shouldn't we pause for debate?

This author understands the realities of coalition politics. Politicians need to reward their most loyal supporters, including single issue voters. However, this does not extend to non-politicians. Rank and file conservatives need to weigh the evidence, consider both sides, and make up their own minds. Conservatives should never surrender their critical faculties to a Republican policy agenda shaped by political correctness.
Like many who dismiss MSNBC as nothing more that a Clinton News Network mouthpiece, I wasn't watching "Morning Joe" this past Friday when co-host Mika Brzezinski owned up that the Clinton campaign had tried to yank her off the air. I picked up the story online from the New York Daily News, the Daily Mail, the New York Post, and Fox News.

'I'll just say it,' Brzezinski declared. 'NBC got a call from the [Clinton] campaign. Like I had done something that was journalistically inappropriate or something and needed to be pulled off the air.' 'I mean, think about that! That's just - that's shooting the wrong messenger.' Brzezinski didn't say who had made the call to the MSNBC brass, which came in the campaign's closing days. But she recalled being critical of 'arrogance' coming from Clintonworld, where long-time loyalists considered Trump a vulgarian political novice and believed the former secretary of state was unbeatable. 'I was concerned the campaign was not understanding that perhaps there was an arrogance,' Brzezinski said Friday. 'They needed to sort of get off their high horse and understand that this isn't over.' That, she said, is when the Clinton camp tried to silence her. Scarborough sympathized with his co-host. 'By the way, Mika,' he said, 'there were also people surrounding the campaign that tried to tell the campaign it was in trouble. Those people were shut out.' 'And here we are,' Brzezinski added.

We're supposed to conclude from this revelation that Clinton would have won if only she'd listened to Mika Brzezinski!

I'm not holding my breath for an analysis by the MSM listing the reasons Hillary Clinton got trounced. It had nothing to do with "failure to communicate," to quote a famous line from Cool Hand Luke. Americans by the tens of millions understood perfectly well what a Clinton presidency would mean, and they rejected it emphatically.

It's important to put Brzezinski's revelation in the proper context. What the Clinton campaign tried but failed to do is but a mild version of a familiar practice. Totalitarian regimes routinely use vicious tactics to silence opposition. Had Brzezinski dared to speak up in Soviet Russia, for example, her body would have been found in the woods somewhere with a bullet in the back of the head. Come to think of it, Putin isn't exactly a friend of critical journalism either, nor are the communist owners of today's China. Iran's Politburo of turbaned mullahs is not any different.

What happened to Brzezinski is but a preview of what life would be like under a Clinton administration. Had this disaster come to pass, we would surely have witnessed attempts to stifle media criticism eventually as heavy-handed as Stalin's and Hitler's. There is nothing subtle about the Clinton Machine. They play for keeps.

Brzezinski should thank Americans for choosing Trump over Clinton. But I'm not holding my breath for an upcoming episode of Morning Joe during which Brzezinski expresses such gratitude. After all, 2020 is not too far off. The Democrats will soon pick up the pieces of this year's debacle, and the MSM will once again be expected to labor mightily and long to help pull the party's standard bearer across the finish line. It will be "deja vu all over again," to quote Yogi Berra.
The current controversy about the CIAs assessment that Putin and the Russians affected the outcome of the US election is not only another example of manufactured intelligence by elements of Hillarys Praetorian Guard but is also a personal vendetta against a former business partner. Even the FBI has balked at committing to such a conclusion. Yet, two months before the election, Fox News reminds us that Hillary was very engaged with Putin in order to share common ground in world affairs.

I would love it if we could continue to build a more positive relationship with Russia, Clinton said during a speech to Goldman Sachs on June 4, 2013. In the same speech, Clinton said obviously we would very much like to have a positive relationship with Russia and we would like to see Putin be less defensive toward a relationship with the United States so that we could work together on some issues.

Everyone remembers her famous reset button when she took over as SecState but the outreach to Putin didnt stop there. During a speech to the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago on Oct. 28, 2013 she said,

One time, I was visiting with him in his dacha outside of Moscow, and he was going on and on, you know, just listing all of the problems that he thinks are caused by the United States, Clinton said. ... I said, You know, Mr. Prime Minister, we actually have some things in common. We both want to protect wildlife, and I know how committed you are to protecting the tiger. I mean, all of a sudden, he sat up straight and his eyes got big and he goes, You care about the tiger? Clinton said Putin then took her into his private inner sanctum and began showing her a huge map of Russia, pointing out the habitat of the tigers and the habitat of the seals and the whales.

If this is true, and with Clinton there is always some doubt, I have to ask did Putin pull a PC variant of the old college line, Do want to come upstairs and see my etchings?

In reality, Clinton and her own inner circle were always pushing for closer ties. After all, thats what business partners do especially when it comes to the uranium trade. But this all changed after the election loss. Much like a fired business partner, Hillary and her spies in the beltway have concocted a story to deflect from their own arrogance and carelessness. Hillary and the left are on the outside looking in, and in addition to fuming over Trumps pre-inauguration successes, they must be worried over what other details Putin, courtesy of Edward Snowden, has in his possession. And no amount of CIA storytelling will change that.

John Smith is the pen name of a former U.S. intelligence officer.
Hillary Clinton and her Super Pacs raised and spent more money in 2012 than any other candidate in American political history and still lost the race, according to records released this weekend.

Clinton blew by Obama's 2012 total of $1.12 billion to raise $1.2 billion.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his Super Pacs raised $600 million - about half of what Clinton raised.

Washington Times:

The latest Federal Elections Commission figures back Mr. Trumps assertion six months ago that there was no need for him to amass at least $1 billion to run a successful race against the former Secretary of State, given the former reality television stars ability to draw free media. Theres no reason to raise that, Mr. Trump told Bloomberg in June. I just dont think I need nearly as much money as other people need because I get so much publicity. I get so many invitations to be on television. I get so many interviews, if I want them. Mr. Trump estimated at one point that he would need to spend $100 million of his own money, but wound up contributing $66 million, about a third less than anticipated. While both campaigns went on a spending spree in the final stretch, Mrs. Clinton was left with only $839,000 on hand by the end of the election, while Mr. Trump still had $7.6 million. Mrs. Clinton wound up blowing past the spending record set in 2012 by President Obama, whose campaign and Democrat committees spent $1.12 billion, slightly more than the $1.02 billion spent by Republican Mitt Romney and GOP groups. The Trump campaign committee alone spent $328.4 million through late November as opposed to $563.9 million by the Clinton camp, according to the FEC. In other words, Mr. Trumps 306 electoral votes cost about $1.05 million a piece, while each of Mrs. Clintons 232 electoral votes cost $2.43 million, an NBC News analysis found.

So has the "Mother's Milk" of politics gone sour? While it's tempting to make that claim, the problem is that Clinton could have raised even more money and still lost because she was the most toxic presidential candidate in US history. You can raise all the money in the world, run thousands of ads, hire an army to beat the bushes for voters. But if your candidate is a putz, you will probably lose.

As a stand alone factor in the race, you could probably make the argument that Clinton would have lost even bigger if she hadn't raised the $1.2 billion. In the end, money was a major factor only in highlighting the utter futility of the candidate and her ideas.
At Donald Trump's recent victory tour through Michigan, one of the speakers was a powerful CEO from a major industrial power in the United States, Andrew Liveris of Dow Chemical. Mr. Liveris, whom Trump has appointed to chair his American Manufacturing Council, announced that Dow soon will create a new research and development center in Michigan that will provide two hundred jobs. He made it crystal-clear that the decision to build it in the U.S. when it could have been located anywhere in the world was directly attributable to the industry-friendly policies of our incoming president.

In his speech, Liveris used an expression that should be adopted and promoted by the Trump administration:

"We could have waited," Liveris said. "We could have put it anywhere in the world. ... We're going to use American hard work and American dreams and we're going to fight for the Dow Company in the U.S.A." "You're paving the way through your administration your policies to make it easier to do business in this country," Liveris told Trump. " Not a red tape country, but a red carpet country for American business. That's what we have to do."

I don't know about you, but that particular phraseology just lit up in my mind, eliciting an involuntary "hell yeah!" My desire for an America that is a red carpet country rather than a red tape country was my primary motivation for supporting Donald Trump; I just never thought to voice it quite that way in all my pre-election writings on his behalf.

If the Trump administration wants a catchphrase for its economic plan, it could do a lot worse than The Red Carpet. It's every bit as catchy as the New Deal and a lot more self-explanatory.
Having said that he only found out about many of the numerous scandals in his administration by watching it on TV, it shouldn't surprise us that the president is blaming his intelligence agencies for not telling him about the capabilities of Islamic State.

If only the press had reported on the rise of the terrorist's back in 2011.

Washington Times:

Mr. Obama told CNN in an interview that aired late Wednesday, The ability of ISIL to not just mass inside of Syria, but then to initiate major land offensives that took Mosul [in Iraq], for example, that was not on my intelligence radar screen. But some critics are pointing to claims that the administration ignored warning signs from intelligence sources and allies such as Kurdish leaders about the Islamic States growing strength after 2011, when Mr. Obama withdrew all U.S. troops from Iraq. Sherkoh Abbas, chairman of the Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria, said in 2014, We approached the State Department about ISIS before ISIS was in the headlines, and we were ignored. In September 2014, Fox News reported that Mr. Obama had been told about the rise of the terrorist group in his classified daily intelligence briefings throughout the previous year. In February 2014, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, then director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee on the emerging threat of the Islamic State. The group probably will attempt to take territory in Iraq and Syria to exhibit its strength in 2014, as demonstrated recently in Ramadi and Fallujah, and the groups ability to concurrently maintain multiple safe havens in Syria, Gen. Flynn testified. Since the departure of U.S. forces at the end of 2011, [Islamic State] has exploited the permissive security environment to increase its operations and presence in many locations and also has expanded into Syria and Lebanon to inflame tensions throughout the region. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Gen. Flynn to serve as his national security adviser. Jay Sekulow, general counsel at the American Center of Law and Justice and a frequent Obama critic, called the presidents latest assertions unbelievable. Gen. Flynns testimony came about a month after Mr. Obama referred to the Islamic State in an interview as the junior varsity. The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesnt make them Kobe Bryant, Mr. Obama had said. I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland, versus jihadis who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.

Obama didn't just miss the rise of ISIS, he denied its very nature. This, after being told that they were a threat to expand and dominate.

It's been one of the more unseemly aspects of Obama's presidency that he refuses to acknowledge his role in any of the major scandals and disasters that have befallen America on his watch. He still claims he was right in abandoning Iraq to the terrorists. His boasts about ending the war in Afghanistan have become equally hollow as he rushes troops back in to try and salvage the situation.

His fake "red line" in Syria with chemical weapons enabled Bashar Assad to kill thousands using chlorine gas. Right down the line, the president has not acknowledged his mistakes - either blaming others or insisting things are going well.

The "fake news" coming out of the White House will, thankfully, end in 6 weeks.
Most of the American media are reporting that President Obama ordered an investigation of Russian hacking of our election, and that the intelligence community confirms that it happened. Yet there is not yet any evidence that Russia hacked the election or was responsible for the DNC email hacks. None.

When self-interested people and their media allies proclaim something is true, and form a chorus that drowns out any other views, I always suspect a con. It is so easy for the Left, since it controls education and the media, to sell any tale it wishes, from global warming to Michelle Obama as a glamorous fashion icon. Most people will simply fall in line because it is too much trouble and risky to dispute what is regarded as a received truth by the power elite.

Glenn Greenwald debunks the media rush to proclaim fact-free conclusions as if they were certainties.

THE WASHINGTON POST late Friday night published an explosive story that, in many ways, is classic American journalism of the worst sort: The key claims are based exclusively on the unverified assertions of anonymous officials, who in turn are disseminating their own claims about what the CIA purportedly believes, all based on evidence that remains completely secret. These unnamed sources told the Post that the CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system. The anonymous officials also claim that intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from both the DNC and John Podestas email account. Critically, none of the actual evidence for these claims is disclosed; indeed, the CIAs secret assessment itself remains concealed. A second leak from last night, this one given to the New York Times, cites other anonymous officials as asserting that the Russians hacked the Republican National Committees computer systems in addition to their attacks on Democratic organizations, but did not release whatever information they gleaned from the Republican networks. But that NYT story says that it is also far from clear that Russias original intent was to support Mr. Trump, and many intelligence officials  and former officials in Mrs. Clintons campaign  believe that the primary motive of the Russians was to simply disrupt the campaign and undercut confidence in the integrity of the vote.

Why its just as settled as the science that told us we wouldnt be seeing any more snow, right about 2016 or so. The Post did manage to allow that there might be a teeny-weeny bit of doubt about entirely unimportant details, though:

Deep down in its article, the Post notes  rather critically  that there were minor disagreements among intelligence officials about the agencys assessment, in part because some questions remain unanswered. Most importantly, the Post adds that intelligence agencies do not have specific intelligence showing officials in the Kremlin directing the identified individuals to pass the Democratic emails to WikiLeaks.

Where is the skepticism? The Russian hacking scenario is an excuse for the Democrats to explain away their loss without blaming themselves or their candidate, and it serves to delegitimize the next president  a bad thing for the country.

My own suspicion is that an insider at the DNC leaked the emails. There is as much evidence for the public to see supporting that assertion as there is for the claim that the Russians did it.

Hat tip: Clarice Feldman
From USA Today, we get a teachable moment.

The headline reads Weekend snow sets stage for polar vortexs icy return

"Snow is forecast to spread across the nation's northern tier this weekend and as far east as Maine by Monday, setting the stage for another blast of bitterly cold air next week that could send temperatures plunging as far south as Atlanta. As serious winter weather settles in, the anticipation of harsh cold marks the reappearance of the Polar Vortex, like the one that infamously slammed the U.S. in January 2014. The Polar Vortex is a large area of cold air high up in the atmosphere that normally lives over the poles but can dip down into North America from time to time thanks to a meandering jet stream."

Here is living proof that SCOTUS got it wrong in Massachusetts v. EPA and that what you think you know about Global Climate Change is wrong. The dominant greenhouse gas is water vapor, not CO2.

Here is a graph showing the relative atmospheric transmission of various gases. You will see water transmits much less radiation than CO2 over the whole spectrum and this is particularly true the shorter the wavelength (i.e. the further left on the graph). Shorter wavelengths have more energy. Also, note that while the concentration of CO2 is about 400 part per million, on average water is about 1% or 10,000 ppm. There is vastly more water vapor than CO2 in the atmosphere.

What happens in a polar vortex is that because the days are short the air temperature drops and the water precipitates out as snow. With very little water vapor left, despite a full 400 ppm of CO2, the greenhouse effect drops dramatically and the Earth radiates heat 24 hours a day out into deep space. The air gets cold. Note that the CO2 is unable to retain the heat. Its contribution to the greenhouse effect is small by comparison.

The snow on the ground compounds the effect by reflecting the sunlight back out before it warms the ground. Temperatures plummet. The air gets so cold we consider it to be like that at the North Pole, it is polar.

Another example of this is in South America. The tropical Amazon rain forest is hot. The prevailing winds from the east blow the air up to and over the Andes mountains. As the air rises, it cools and precipitates out the water vapor as rain (in the rain forest). To the west, on the leeward side of the Andes, nighttime temperatures get cold.

Look up the climate of the Atacama Desert. Should NASA know these facts? One would think so since they use the area "to test instruments for future Mars missions."

NASA is going to face a choice, tell the truth about the hype of AGW, or see your funding for Mars exploration cut out. Elections have consequences.
The defeat-deranged elements of the American Left are unmasking themselves before the eyes of the nations electorate. The reaction to Donald Trumps designation of three generals to senior posts has been hysterical in some of the farther quarters of progressivism, as if some coup were planned. But it is the mainstream where the unmasking is more meaningful.

Michael Ledeen writes a column at PJ Media that focuses on the incredible qualities of the three generals: Michael Flynn to head the NSC, James Mattis to Defense, and John Kelly to Homeland Security, and I urge readers to take it in and understand the excellence of all three.

But what struck me was the ignorant stereotyping that many liberal-to-progressive journalists engage in when it comes to the military. Bigotry is not too strong a word for it.

Some pundits purport to be concerned about too many generals, raising the issue of civilian control of the military. Im not very concerned (disclosure: were a military family. Two of our sons served in the Marine Corps, and our daughter worked for military commanders, including Stanley McChrystal and Flynn, in Iraq and Afghanistan). I think the Marine Corps may be the best organization in America, and I believe that most of those who criticize the military appointments dont know as much as they should about the composition of our armed forces. Most writers/pundits/broadcasters I talk to think that our soldiers are marginal losers, who probably entered the military because they couldnt find anything better to do.

They are also inclined to believe that military leaders are less educated than the intellectual elite. Many dont know that all our commissioned military officers have college degrees, and most of them have done post-graduate study at top colleges and universities. Trumps three nominees are cultured, well read, and thoughtful. They are certainly more deeply engaged, intellectually and emotionally, than most of the civilians headed for cabinet slots. They know all about political correctness, for example, in very concrete ways, because the armed forces are the laboratories in which the PC theories of gender equality are most intensively tested. When Marine officers debate whether women should serve in infantry units, its not just academic; people will live or die based on the decision.

Read the whole thing.


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Nawazuddin is essaying the role of police officer, ACP Majmudar, who is bent on thwarting Raees' business.

New Delhi: Nawazuddin Siddiqui is working with Shah Rukh Khan for the first time in 'Raees' but the actor says it was one of his best collaborative experiences so far as SRK is very supportive on sets.

The 42-year-old star says the way Shah Rukh helps his co-actors on sets is commendable.

"I've never seen a co-actor like Shah Rukh in my life. People may think of him as the richest actor or that he's a superstar but what I found in him is that he is an actor above all. He's extremely supportive. The way he responds to you and your performance, it takes your performance to some another level," Nawazuddin told PTI.

The actor says he never felt like he was working with industry's one of the biggest stars because of Shah Rukh's open and loving attitude towards everyone.

"I have yet to finish my scenes in 'Raees'. In fact, I was shooting just two days back and the way he helped and responded to those scenes was amazing.

"When you work with him it doesn't feel like that he has this huge stardom. On sets he's an actor."

Shah Rukh is playing a bootlegger Raees Alam in the Rahul Dholakia film while Nawazuddin is essaying the role of police officer, ACP Majmudar, who is bent on thwarting Raees' business.

It's not the first time that Nawazuddin is playing a police officer in a film as the actor had portrayed a similar role in 'Kahaani' but he says his part is completely different than his earlier role.

"I've played an inspector in 'Kahaani' but it was very different. He was very short-tempered, whereas in 'Raees' my character is very cool, sensible and very professional."
The Suicide Squad actors home was immediately evacuated, but firefighters could not find any evidence of fire.

The Los Angeles Fire Department was called to Jared Letos 50,000 square foot house after someone in the neighbourhood smelled smoke on Friday.

The Suicide Squad actors home was immediately evacuated, but firefighters could not find any evidence of fire, according to TMZ.com. Leto, who was home at the time, is safe.
The T&T law firm in Greater Kailash-I was raided after the police received a tip off.

Delhi Police on Saturday raided the office of a law firm in southeast Delhi's Greater Kailash-I area and recovered more than Rs 13 crore in cash. (Photo: PTI/Representational)

New Delhi: Delhi Police on Saturday raided the office of a law firm in southeast Delhi's Greater Kailash-I area and recovered more than Rs 13 crore in cash, of which Rs 2.5 crore was in new banknotes released after demonetisation.

The raid was carried out by the Crime Branch at the office of T&T Law Firm, a senior police officer told PTI.

Besides the new notes worth Rs 2.5 crore, currency in Rs 100 and scrapped Rs 1000 notes were also recovered from the firm.

When the police team raided the office, its rooms were locked and a caretaker was present. Police are searching for the firm promoter Rohit Tandon. They said that more cash is likely to be recovered in the follow-up raids.

The T&T law firm in Greater Kailash-I was raided after the police received a tip off. Sources said that it is the highest recovery of new banknotes from Delhi so far. The cash recovered from the law firm was stashed in cupboards and suitcases. The seized cash allegedly belongs to racketeers of black money, the Asian Age sources said.

The Rs 2.5 crore in new bank notes recovered from the law firm is the highest recovery reported from Delhi since the demonetisation drive was announced on November 8 midnight.

The tax department had searched the premises of Tandon about two months ago. They had recovered documents related to Rs 19 crore in unaccounted money, which had been kept as fixed deposit in a bank.
The Centre has alerted the states to foil any Naxal bid to exchange scrapped notes.

Intelligence agencies have cautioned the government about the Naxals new strategy in a recent classified report, details of which have been accessed by this newspaper. (Photo: PTI/File)

New Delhi: In a major tactical shift from its traditional strategy of resorting to only arms struggle, the Naxals may now infiltrate the labour work force by pushing in their sympathisers and cadres into trade unions in different states.

Sensing that the demonetisation drive could adversely impact the countrys economic growth, the Maoists now plan to further slow down the economy by organising strikes and go slow moves using this modus operandi.

Intelligence agencies have cautioned the government about the Naxals new strategy in a recent classified report, details of which have been accessed by this newspaper.

According to the report, the Naxal outfits may try to target some key sectors, including major infrastructure projects, highways, power, railways and transport, mining, and airports.

The Naxals have started mobilising their cadre and sympathisers, even in urban areas so they can infiltrate key economic sectors at the earliest. Once they have sufficient support among the work force, they would resort to strikes and go slow with the sole objective of hampering economic growth, the note further states.

Top government sources said the government is closely monitoring the situation to ensure that Naxal sympathisers do not manage to infiltrate economic sectors outside their area of influence.

In states, especially in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, where Naxals have a sizeable presence, they are already using force to cripple construction of highways, telecom towers and industrial projects.

The Naxals are aware that they cant resort to force outside their area of operation so they want to push their sympathisers into the labour force and trade unions, a senior intelligence official confirmed. It may be recalled that one biggest failures of the Maoists movement was its failure to infiltrate the countrys working class. This even led to Charu Majumdar, founder of CPI (ML), one of the biggest Naxal outfits, into admitting that its annihilation policy was a mistake as it primarily focused on students and the rural population, while due importance was not given to the trade unions.

Senior officials involved in anti-Naxal operations feel that the tactical shift could be due to the fact that Naxals operations have been severely hampered due to the demonetisation as they are facing a huge cash crunch. Most Naxal groups are now left with huge stocks of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 already scrapped notes, which they are finding difficult to convert.

On its part, the home ministry has alerted the Naxal-infested states to ensure the Maoists do not succeed in converting the old currency notes by pressurising banks or big businessmen.
Police have arrested one of them while three others are absconding.

Four youths in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh bought a second-hand car and paid for it in Rs 10 notes, looted from a bank. (Photo: PTI/Representational)

Meerut: Four youths in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh bought a second-hand car and paid for it in Rs 10 notes, which they had looted from a State Bank of Indias rural branch last month.

The youths, identified as Nasir, Rakesh, Afzal and Titu, had looted Rs 10 lakh in Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes soon after it was replenished. They then spent the money in parties every night.

Their lavish lifestyle after the loot led to suspicion among the locals in Behat tehsil, who complained about them to the police. Police have arrested Nasir but the other three are absconding.

One of our informants near the village told us that Nasir had bought a second-hand car recently and paid for it in Rs 10 notes. When we investigated further, we found that he and his friends had been spending lavishly and spending money exclusively in Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes. Some people even said that they had money kept in gunny bags. We brought Nasir in for questioning on Friday and he confessed to him crime, Saharanpurs superintendent of police (rural) Rafiq Ahmed.

They stole Rs 5 lakh in Rs 10 notes and another Rs 5 lakh Rs 20 notes. We recovered Rs 50,000 from Nasirs possession and seized the car. The rest of the money is likely to be with the other three accused, who are currently absconding, he said.
GST enabling legislations are unlikely to be introduced in the current session of Parliament.

New Delhi: With the Centre and states failing to sort out the contentious issue of dual control of assesses at the 6th GST Council meet called by the finance minister on Sunday, rollout of the single-tax regime from April 1 next year now looks virtually impossible.

GST enabling legislations are unlikely to be introduced in the current session of Parliament as the GST Council meet has now been deferred to December 22 and 23.

The all-powerful GST Council was to decide on the model of dual control of assesses  clearly dividing the administrative, auditing and assessing powers between the Centre and state governments, especially with regard to who will assess small traders and services  but the two-day meeting was curtailed to half a day and even then the crucial issues couldnt be discussed.

Almost all the time on Sunday was spent in going over, clause by clause, of the voluminous GST draft legislations.

With serious differences between the Centre and states as to who will assess small traders and services under GST persisting, GST legislations  CGST, IGST and compensation law  are unlikely to be introduced in the ongoing session of Parliament which ends on December 16.

Asked if the delay would derail the process, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said this time the Budget session will begin from January.

States like Kerala and Tamil Nadu said that meeting the April deadline was not possible and GST could be rolled out from September 2017.

In the draft legislation there are about 195 Sections. So it is the core bill of the legislation. We discussed 99 Sections and a few clauses need to be redrafted. We would change that during the course of time. Hopefully, in the next meeting we would be able to clear the legislation part, said Mr Jaitley.

He, however, added said that the Centre stands by the April 1, 2017, target of implementing the GST. We do not have the discretion of time. By September 16, 2017, the curtains will draw on the old taxation rules, he said. Hopefully, in the next meeting we would be able to clear the legislation part. We will take up legislation and possibly the cross empowerment issue if time permits, Mr Jaitley said.

Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac said demonetisation has eroded states trust. April 1 deadline is out of picture, GST can be rolled out only by September. Tamil Nadu also said that April 1 target was not possible. Too many sections of law yet to be finalised, GST cant happen without consensus on dual control, Tamil Nadu finance minister said after the meeting.
The opposition, specially the Congress partys sole aim is to let its leader speak and then disrupt proceedings.

New Delhi: A washed out winter session not withstanding, the government is in no mood to let the opposition, specially Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi hijack the demonetisation narrative, and has decided to field Union finance minister Arun Jaitley as the first speaker on the issue when Parliament meets on Wednesday.

We want our voice to be heard first. The opposition, specially the Congress partys sole aim is to let its leader speak and then disrupt proceedings. We will prevent that from happening, top government sources told this newspaper.

The sources said that Mr Jaitley himself will most open the debate on behalf of the government. It is only after the government has put its view forward that the Opposition will be allowed to speak. They have disrupted Parliament for the full session.

Under such circumstances, the motion for a discussion has to either be moved by the government or Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has to call for an impromptu debate suspending all businesses, which the government has proposed several times.

The principal opposition parties  Congress, Trinamool Congress, the Left Front  had demanded a debate under Rule 56, which includes an adjournment motion and a voting. Though they had scaled it down to Rule 184, a discussion under which has to be completed within a day, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had begun a discussion under Rule 193. However, opposition MPs, specially those belonging to the Trinamool Congress, had prevented it from taking off.

The sources said that the governments toughening of stance took place after the Congress and TMC failed to stick to their word given to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan during a meeting on Wednesday, the day veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani had expressed his displeasure on the running of the House.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad had himself promised the Speaker that a discussion would be allowed the next day. But there was complete turnaround when Parliament convened, they said.

It is after this it seems that the government decided to toughen its stand, which was visible when the ruling party blocked Mr Gandhi from speaking in Lok Sabha.

As Mr Gandhi claimed that this was because the government was scared of letting him speak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said at a rally on Sunday that the opposition was not allowing him to speak in Parliament.

Opposition parties see this as a bid to counter their demand that the PM be present in both Houses.
Modi said that for Uttar Pradesh to progress, poverty and goonda-raj needed to go.

Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Opposition of trying to suppress the truth, and reiterated that he and his government were willing to debate demonetisation, but parties discarded by people were stalling Parliament.

Im fighting corruption and black money, but the Opposition is fighting me, said Mr Modi, while addressing a rally in poll-bound Uttar Pradeshs Bahraich. He used his mobile phone to address the people from Lucknows airport lounge after his helicopter failed to land in Bahraich due to poor visibility.

In his brief and rather inaudible address, the PM said that his government was against those who have stashed black money and such people would face action within the next two to four months.

My government is committed to the welfare of the poor and we are determined to punish those who are indulging in cheating and corruption, he said.

Mr Modi said the Opposition has disrupted Parliament for 20 days by not even allowing the Speaker to speak. He said that the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress were facing problems after his move to recall two high-value banknotes as part of his efforts to flush out black money and counterfeit currency from the economy.

The PM justified his decision to ban Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes and reiterated his willingness to address the House on demonetisation. The move has also led to a crippling cash crunch in the country, prompting the Opposition to maintain an unrelenting attack on the government.

Parliaments winter session is left with just three more working days and it is now unlikely that Mr Modi will speak in the House on the issue.

Mr Modi said that for Uttar Pradesh to progress, poverty and goonda-raj needed to go. Sundays rally was the fifth addressed by the PM in Uttar Pradesh.

BSPs Mayawati hit back at the PM. By blaming Opposition parties, the PM is running away from the governments responsibility...But his remarks are totally wrong. yeh ulta chor kotwal to dantey jaisa hai (it is like the pot calling the kettle black), she said in a press release in Lucknow.

Meanwhile, UP BJP president Keshav Maurya demanded an inquiry into the lapses that prevented the PMs helicopter from landing in Bahraich even after he had been given clearance in Lucknow.
I-T department doesnt currently have the infrastructure or manpower to launch such a massive operation.

New Delhi: To ensure black money does not escape taxation, the Union finance ministry has asked banks to scan millions of accounts and maintain records of all old and new currency notes deposited by each individual since the governments demonetisation move.

Rs 11.85 lakh crore in the now-scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes has been deposited in banks after the government recalled the two high-value notes on November 8 to flush out black money and counterfeit currency from the economy.

While the move led to a massive cash crunch in the country, the government had expected a black money windfall of about Rs 3 lakh crore after cash worth Rs 14.94 lakh crore was demonetised. But there is a worry of almost all of the scrapped cash coming back to the banking system since the deposit deadline is December 30.

Earlier the government had said that it would probe and send notices to those who have deposited, between November 9 and December 30, more than Rs 2.5 lakh in the demonetised banknotes. While filling up deposit slips, customers are required to clearly mention amounts deposited in old and new notes (till December 30).

While the move apparently aims at preventing frauds being committed by banks during deposits of old notes, it will also help the government probe any individual as and when needed. Scanning accounts will make it easier for investigative agencies like the income-tax (I-T) department and the enforcement directorate (ED) to probe individuals.

However, some experts feel its a near-impossible exercise since there are millions of banks accounts  both in private and nationalised banks. For instance, a 2011 report of the Reserve Bank of India show that there are 624 million savings bank accounts in the country. The Crisil, a rating agency, said that there are over 800 million savings accounts in the country. Going through each and every individual account, experts feel, will be a humongous task and wondered if the I-T department has the infrastructure or manpower to do so.

In a letter to the heads of PSU banks and the chairman of Indian Bankers Association (IBA), the finance ministry has said that maintenance of records regarding deposits of demonetised and non-demonetised banknotes is essential both in records of banks and customers.

The letter stated that all banks in the country be alerted to reflect correctly cash deposits in old and new notes and inform customers about the same.

The ministry has asked the MDs and CEOs of PSU banks and the IBAs chairman that the directive must be followed scrupulously. Any deviation in this regard has to be prevented, and if noticed, dealt with firmly and immediately, it has said.

The letter stated that banks must request customers to fill up deposit slips clearly indicating old and new notes and their denominations. The ministry has said that action taken in this regard be reported by November 16.

Meanwhile in Delhi, the I-T department has been surveying bank branches in Chandni Chowk for money laundering attempts by traders.

According to reports, after December 30 , the I-T department will launch a massive crackdown on black money deposited in banks during the demonetisation drive. The government has already passed an amendment in the I-T Tax Act in Lok Sabha, which allows imposition of a tax and a penalty of up to 85 per cent on untaxed money deposited in banks after November 8.

The I-T department has already referred 30 cases to the ED and the CBI where it found serious irregularities beyond the preview of the I-T Act so as to examine criminal conduct.
CBI investigators are probing the alleged role of the Congress leader on the basis of the Italian courts order.

New Delhi: A top Congress leader close to the party high command is set to come under the CBI scanner following the arrest of former Indian Air Force (IAF) chief S.P. Tyagi in the multi-crore AgustaWestland bribery case.

Sources said the role of the senior Congress leader is being probed on the basis of the ruling given by the Milan court of appeals  equivalent to an Indian high court  on April 8.

The Italian court had ruled that the Rs 3,565-crore AgustaWestland contract involved payoffs to Indian officials. The annexures and submissions attached to the judgment also point at close to Euro 30 million worth of commission being budgeted for distribution among decision-makers in India. These included politicians, bureaucrats and Air Force officials, among others. In its order, the Italian court said payments in cash as well as through wire transfers were made to the Tyagi family  to three of the former IAF chiefs cousins  and a part of them were destined for the officer himself, sources said.

CBI investigators are probing the alleged role of the Congress leader on the basis of the Italian courts order. The 226-page court ruling mentioned names of several Congress leaders, primarily in communication between the middlemen.

The judgment also mentioned statements given by the middleman Guido Haschke, documents recovered from his suitcase, and his conversations with his business partner Carlo Gerosa and the London-based alleged middleman Christian Michel, among other witnesses.

Mr Tyagi and two others who were arrested on Friday in the VVIP chopper scam, have been remanded in CBI custody for four days.

In court on Saturday, Mr Tyagi, who headed the Air Force between 2005 and 2007, said that changing the specifications of the helicopters was not his decision alone. Mr Tyagis lawyer said that in 2003 the Prime Ministers Office asked the Air Chief to get involved in the procurement. The CBI may seek clarification from the then Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, and few other senior bureaucrats posted with the PMO at that point of time.

During a 2005 meeting, the changes in requirements were suggested, he said. The CBI had earlier recorded the statements of three former Governors  M.K. Narayanan of West Bengal, B.V. Wanchoo of Goa and E.S.L. Narasimhan of Andhra Pradesh  in connection with the case. Mr Narayanan, who was the National Security Advisor, and Mr Wanchoo, who was head of the elite Special Protection Group, had also participated in the 2005 meeting that allowed key changes in the tender specifications of the VVIP helicopter contract.

Mr Narasimhan, who was the head of the Intelligence Bureau in 2005, had also attended the same meeting. During questioning Mr Narayanan had explained to the CBI officials the rationale behind the decision to reduce the service ceiling from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres and cited the fact that his predecessor in the previous National Democratic Alliance government had decided to lower the ceiling in December 2003.

The CBI is set to confront Mr Tyagi with statements made by Mr Haschke to the foreign authorities. The CBI has also prepared a questionnaire for Mr Tyagi to try and get details of the sources of funding for his alleged foreign visits, which included Florence, Venice and Milan in Italy.

CBI sleuths will ask Tyagi pointed questions pertaining to the alleged source of funding behind his post-retirement trip to Italy among other questions, sources said. It is also being probed who accompanied him on these trips and who funded for the hospitality.

On March 13, 2013, the CBI had booked former IAF Chief S.P. Tyagi and 12 others under charges of bribery, cheating and corruption in the VVIP chopper deal. The former Air Chief, his cousins  Sanjeev alias Julie, Rajeev alias Docsa and Sandeep  European middlemen Gerosa, Michel and Haschke were among the people named in the FIR as accused. Six companies  Italy-based Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland, Mohali-based IDS Infotech, Chandigarh-based Aeromatrix, IDS Tunisia and IDS Mauritius  were also named by the CBI in its FIR.
Venkaiah Naidu posed a series of question, which he said that the Congress should answer.

New Delhi: Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday hit back at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi over his earthquake remark saying a previous quake had brought the strength of his party from 440 to 44 in the Lok Sabha.

Asserting that the government has been ready for a debate on the demonetisation decision, minister of urban development said that after a discussion had commenced and several Opposition leaders including former prime minister Manmohan Singh had spoken, Congress created hurdles and halted the proceedings in the House. Mr Naidu said that Parliament is the best forum to debate and Opposition should hear the government and say what it wants to say there. And if they are still not convinced they can go to people and agitate. Without even either going to the people, nor allowing peoples representatives to be heard in the House, you are obstructing. That is why I say you are committing a contempt of democracy, you are committing a contempt of democracy and contempt of Parliament, Mr Naidu said. Referring to Mr Gandhis remark that if he is allowed to speak there will be an earthquake, Mr Naidu asked what message does the Congress vice-president wants to send.

Simply by verbal threatening, If I speak there will be an earthquake, what example is this? What sort of message do you want to convey, that there will be an earthquake in the Parliament, he said.

After an earthquake, Congress came down from 440 to 44, Naidu said. He said that the government has been ready for a discussion and it was the Opposition parties who left the debate midway.

In Rajya Sabha, after debating for two days, you ran away. Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Pramod Tewari and even Manmohan Singh spoke, then why did you create hurdles midway, he asked.

Naidu posed a series of question, which he said that the Congress should answer.

I would like to know from Congress party and its friends, are they in favour of the fight against corruption and black money. Are they in favour or against remonetisation? Are they in favour of digital transfer of money or against? Are they protesting against the policy or its implementation?, he asked.
He was reportedly prevented by cops from attending the reception meet citing security reasons.

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government has apologised to Kerala chief minister P. Vijayan for the Saturdays unsavoury incident leading him to cancellation of his programme in Bhopal.

Official sources said that the state government was embarrassed over the incident and offered apology to the Kerala chief minister for facing a situation which forced him to cancel one of his scheduled programmes in Bhopal on Saturday.

MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan spoke to his Kerala counterpart on phone in this regard, officials said.

Mr Vijayan was scheduled to attend a reception meet organised by United Mala-yalit Association, Bhopal Malayali Association and South Bhopal Malayali Samajam here on Saturday after addressing the All-India Democratic Women Association members.

He was reportedly prevented by cops from attending the reception meet citing security reasons.

He was apprised by a police officer accompanying his convoy at Bhopal of possible protests by RSS workers and advised him not to attend the event.

Mr Vijayan shelved his plan to attend the function, saying that he was opposed to visiting a place defying the warning by those handling his security affairs there.

Sangh parivar members were staging protest at the venue of the meeting organised at Bhopal School of Social Sciences here on Saturday evening against killings of RSS workers in Kerala. The police had taken 20 demonstrators to preventive custody.

Bhopal DIG R.S. Sikarwar, however, clarified that he had requested the Kerala chief minister to delay his visit to the venue for sometime due to security reasons.
Demonetisation has meant complete demolition of the Indian economy, says Mamata Banerjee.

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his charge that opposition parties were not treading the path of honesty. She said now the most corrupt are talking about eradicating corruption.

Demonetisation (has been) done only to help Modi babu and his close associates, Ms Banerjee said in retaliation for the PMs attack on opposition parties over corruption and disruption of Parliament due to protests against demonetisation.

The most corrupt people are talking about removing corruption, she said, joining issue with Modi over his attack on the opposition parties earlier in the day. Addressing BJPs parivartan rally in election-bound Uttar Pradesh, Mr Modi said the opposition parties never wanted to tread the path of honesty but we will definitely win this fight against corruption.

Parliament is not being allowed to function for 20 days. We are ready for debate (on demonetisation), but we are not being allowed to present our viewpoint by those very parties that have been discarded by the electorate, Modi said addressing the rally at Bahraich through mobile phone from Lucknow after his helicopter failed to land there due to poor visibility.

Demonetisation has meant complete demolition of the Indian economy, Ms Banerjee said in a series of tweets, continuing her unrelenting attack against the Modi government over invalidation of Rs 1,000 and old Rs 500 notes.

The arrogant and destructive attitude of this government is trying to destroy the worlds largest democracy, she said. The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has remained firm on demonetisation despite concerted criticism and protests by opposition parties and disruption of both houses of Parliament during the ongoing winter session of which only three days are left.
The Congress had reportedly managed to convince Priyanka to step out of the family boroughs of Amethi and Rae Bareli.

New Delhi: Ahead of elections in the crucial states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, Priyanka Gandhis importance continued to grow in the party with Punjab Congress chief and the partys chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh making it clear that he wanted her to campaign for the forthcoming elections in his state.

Both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi would be campaigning for Congress in Punjab and I would also request Priyanka Gandhi to help with the electioneering in the state, Captain said.

Ms Gandhi has already decided to campaign for the party in Uttar Pradesh. In August, the Congress had reportedly managed to convince Priyanka to step out of the family boroughs of Amethi and Rae Bareli, where she has addressed rallies earlier.

He dismissed questions on the delay in announcing party candidates for state polls slated to be for 2017, saying the SAD and AAP are one-member and one-family party respectively, while Congress is a well-structured organisation that works on principles and processes.

The delay in the announcement would have no impact on the prospects of victory of Congress candidates in the polls and they would get ample time to engage in electioneering, the senior Congress leader said.

Amarinder also hit out at Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for his announcement that a dalit will become the deputy chief minister of Punjab if AAP comes to power in the polls. The AAP government in Delhi has no Sikh or dalit minister.
The attendants are required to press the device 16 to 18 times per minute to move air into and out of lungs of patients.

New Delhi: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday rapped health minister Satyendar Jain over the shortage of ventilators in the Delhi government-run hospitals.

Satinder, this is unacceptable, Mr Kejriwal tweeted, responding to media reports that manual, handheld devices (also called ambu-bags) were being used to resuscitate patients who cant breathe on their own. One person has allegedly died due to the shortage of ventilator at Lok Nayak Hospital.

But Mr Jain shifted the blame on the health secretary. There is a death in the Lok Nayak Hospital due to the negligence. I requested the health secretary to visit the hospital with me. He refused to come saying unavailability of a vehicle, he said on Twitter. However, he later visited the hospital himself to review the situation.

Mr Kejriwal responded, asking the health minister to speak to the IAS officer in question and ask him why he couldnt hail a taxi or an auto-rickshaw. Ask him why cant he call a taxi? Or an auto? he tweeted.

The Federation of Resident Doctors Association of Delhi (FORDA) said the issue of shortage of critical-care facilities, including ventilators, was raised several times with the Delhi government, but nothing was done. The IMA and the Delhi Medical Council have also condemned the use of ambu-bags as replacement for automatic ventilators at the Delhi governments largest health facility and demanded urgent solution. In his latest tweet, Mr Jain accused Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung of appointing a health secretary who is ill-fit for his job. Shameful. LG has appointed the most incompetent, useless and insensitive IAS officer as health secretary, he said.

Ambu-bag have no controls to monitor oxygen, carbon dioxide and other key parameters of a patient unlike the automatic ventilators. The attendants are required to press the device 16 to 18 times per minute to move air into and out of lungs of patients.
As far as the number of arrests in connection with fake currency notes is concerned, West Bengal topped the list.

Reports suggest about Rs 27.79 crore of counterfeit currency was seized and 700 people were arrested for dealing in fake notes across the country till September 30 this year. (Representational image)

New Delhi: Delhi has earned the dubious distinction of being the top city among all the states and Union Territories where maximum amount of counterfeit currency was seized for the four consecutive years since January 1, 2013.

While counterfeit currency to the tune of about 7.59 crore was seized in Delhi till September 30 this year, the city topped the list with the government agencies claiming to have made seizures to the tune of about Rs 9.65crore in 2015, Rs 9.09 crore in 2014 and Rs 10.35 crore in 2013. After Delhi, it is Maharasthra where maximum seizures of counterfeit notes to the tune of Rs 3.34 crore was made till September 30 this year, Rs 7.30 crore in 2015, Rs 7.38 crore in 2014 and Rs 6.07 crore in 2013.

As far as the number of arrests in connection with fake currency notes is concerned, West Bengal topped the list with 140 people facing action till September.

While 155 people were held in Maharashtra in 2015, the state was way ahead of other states in 2014 also with a maximum of 173 people facing action for dealing in fake currency. In 2013, it was Andhra Pradesh where a maximum of 242 people were arrested.

In J&K, about Rs 3.52 lakh of counterfeit notes were seized in 2013, Rs 2.19 lakh in 2014, Rs 1.38 lakh in 2015 and Rs 5.49 lakh till September 30. The counterfeit notes to the tune of Rs 1.51 crore, Rs 2.91crore, Rs 2.10 lakh and Rs 5,000 were seized from poll-bound states of UP, Gujarat, Punjab and Goa, respectively till September 30.

In neighbouring Haryana, reports suggest only Rs 1.15 lakh counterfeit notes were seized till September 30. But the state witnessed a seizure of about 1.30 crore in 2015, about 9. 37 lakh in 2014 and Rs 1.59 crore in 2013.

Among the states and Union Territories where no counterfeit currency was seized till September 30 this year are Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. Reports suggest about Rs 27.79 crore of counterfeit currency was seized and 700 people were arrested for dealing in fake notes across the country till September 30 this year.
The move is aimed at allowing for construction of the yard in Aarey colony for Metro III in the city.

Mumbai: A collective of environmentally conscious citizens and activists, represented by Aarey Conservation Group, Save Aarey, Apna Mumbai Abhiyan will hold a peaceful protest rally against the recent decision of the Ministry of Environment and Forests to exclude 165 hectares from Aarey in its final notification of the Eco-Sensitive Zone for Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The move is aimed at allowing for construction of the yard in Aarey colony for Metro III in the city. The protest will be held on Monday at Picnic Point in Aarey Colony, and will start at 10 a.m.

The protest will be led by Vanashakti, an NGO. The ACG and its supporters have been working for the last two years to convince authorities in the city and the state that the yard will only pave way for the slow concretisation of Aarey, the largest buffer area for SGNP, rich in wildlife and plant wealth, (home to eight leopards) and the last remaining, freely accessible green patch in the city.

The protesting organisations have been stressing that they are not against Metro III and not against development. We have not only protested construction of the Metro car shed in Aarey, but have worked out alternative solutions, suggesting as many as seven possible sites for the carshed that will actually work out cheaper for Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, said Stalin D, director of Vanashakti.
Tabrez was tracked from a telephone number he used to stay in touch with his parents and brother after leaving for Egypt.

File photo of Tabrez Tambe posing in front of a bike before he went abroad to join the ISIS. He was arrested in Libya on Friday.

Mumbai: A 28-year-old youth from Thane, Tabrez Tambe, who allegedly went abroad to join the terror outfit ISIS, was nabbed by enforcement agencies in Libya late on Friday night. Tabrezs case came to light after his brother Saud (26) approached the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) office at Kalachowkie, Mumbai to inform that his brother has joined the ISIS.

According to an ATS official, Tabrez, a resident of Mumbra in neighbouring Thane district was caught late on Friday night from the oil-rich country, where he had joined ISIS with his friend Ali.

Tabrez was tracked from a telephone number he used to stay in touch with his parents and brother after leaving for Egypt in January 2016. We traced his number and found him in Libya. We are investigating further, said an ATS official. The ATS plans to question Tabrez about his friend Ali, who the family alleges had lured Tabrez into joining the ISIS.

We have not been able to trace Ali yet. It is not even clear whether he is Indian. The family suspects he is a foreign national, said an officer. Tabrez, a graduate who specialised in handling of cargo ships from the Mumbai University lived with his family in Shildaighar area, Mumbra before joining the ISIS. He lived with his parents Noor Mohammed (father), Towhid (mother), Amaira (elder sister) and Saud (younger brother) in a small 1-BHK rented apartment at Mumbra.

Tabrezs wife stays in Konkan and the family would routinely travel to Dapoli where they have a house, said an investigating officer. The officials have questioned the landlord Shama Bano Sayyed regarding the family.

The ATS is gathering information on whether some more people were in touch with Tabrez. His family members had been asking him to return to India, but in vain. We are questioning them about his whereabouts in Libya. We want to know whether he participated in any ISIS activities in Libya since he worked in several countries that have ISIS presence, said an officer.

Youths joining ISIS:
Kangana finally responded to reports claiming that she is the highest-paid actress in the film industry.

Mumbai: Numerous reports of actors and their enormous fees for doing films often do the rounds, with various reports claiming different actors to be the highest-paid actor or actress in Bollywood.

Recently, there were several reports claiming that Kangana Ranaut hiked her fees to a whopping Rs. 15 crore, more than the amount Deepika Padukone is being paid for Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Padmavati, making her the highest paid female actor in the industry.

However, Kangana shot back at the reports by saying that her fees is nobodys concern. At a fashion show, Kangana was asked about the rumours but rather than denying or confirming, she slammed the reports by saying, How much I charge is no ones business. It is only for me to know.

The actress, who walked at Manish Aroras fashion show as his showstopper, currently has three upcoming films lined up; Vishal Bhardwajs Rangoon which also stars Shahid Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan, Hansal Mehtas Simran and Ketan Mehtas Rani Lakshmi Bai.
Rafia, who belongs to a highly educated family, said a blast near a sessions court seven years ago motivated her to join the force.

Peshawar : A 29-year-old woman from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become the first Pakistani female to join the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) in the restive province that frequently witnesses terror attacks.

Rafia Qaseem Baig, who joined the police force as a constable seven years ago, will work in BDU after completing her 15-day training along with 31 other male members at Nowshera's School of Explosive Handling , media reports said.

During her training, she will learn about the types of bombs, their identification and ways to defuse them.

Rafia, who belongs to a highly educated family, said a blast near a sessions court seven years ago motivated her to join the force.

She completed her master's degree in International Relations. She then pursued another master's degree in Economics and worked at International Rescue Committee where she developed a passion for law and enrolled in an LLB programme that is currently under way.

Given her academic qualifications, she was offered jobs in many companies and non-government organizations. However, she chose to join police force in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when extremists were overtly targeting security forces.

After her appointment, she was asked to undergo training sessions in areas including Adezai, Michni and Salman Khel in Peshawar , the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. These were the declared red zones at that time.

She spent 10 days patrolling these localities with a large number of male police personnel.

Rafia was also the only female member of an investigation team that rescued Lady Reading Hospital physician Dr Intikhab Alam 48 hours after his abduction in 2010.

She says the police force is not just a profession. It's a passion and inspiration for those who have a spirit of devotion for the country.

More than 600 women are serving in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police department in different capacities from junior clerk to deputy superintendent.
The first casualty of the past 30 months are Indias liberal and creative spaces.

In the undiluted chaos and out-and-out anarchy that has been unleashed on the nation by the Tuglaki firman of Narendra Modi a la demonetisation (I can claim copyright to this phrase as I coined it on Twitter to describe this whimsical diktat on November 8 at 9.07 pm) an important date went virtually unobserved, i.e. November 26. On that day the BJP-led NDA government completed 30 out of its 60-month term in office. It perhaps is a good occasion to take stock of the two-and-a-half years of this man and a half government.

The first casualty of the past 30 months are Indias liberal and creative spaces. The manner in which a binary view of nationalism has been used as bludgeon to browbeat alternative points of view and contra voices has, perhaps, only three parallels in modern history  the disastrous reign of the Nazis in Germany from 1933-1945, the Stalinist Purges in the erstwhile Soviet Union and the cultural revolution of Mao Zedong.

An insidious narrative is being attempted to be institutionalised that it is anti-national to question the BJP, seditious to query the government and traitorous to raise legitimate questions of the defence establishment. Artists, writers, academicians, film personalities and those engaged in creative arts have been compelled to install a censor in their heads out of fear of right reactionary policing.

The true test of a democracy is not only to hear the dominant majority, but also to give equal space to a creative minority even if its point of view is unpopular or unpalatable. The attempt to reposition the mainstream debate in the country to the right and establish that as the new normal is a toxic abomination that needs a robust push back.

The second casualty has been the nations harmony. From day one, attempts have been orchestrated to intimidate, terrorise and brutalise minorities using extremely crude tactics. The campaigns of ghar wapsi, love jihad, the insidious crusade against beef and other culinary choices coupled with lumpenism masquerading as vigilantism on cow protectionism are all designed to instil the spectre of inferiority among the minority  that while they may be equal citizens in theory they are less than equal in practice.

The lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq and the brutal gangrape and murder of an entire family in the Mewat region of Haryana by alleged gau rakshaks evidences Kristallnacht  the unending night of the broken glass that has been unleashed on the country.

The third casualty has been internal security. The most glaring example of that is the complete mishandling of the situation in the Kashmir Valley. It has been six months now and the Valley continues to simmer with anger. Rather than understanding and even appreciating that given the long-drawn conflict conditions in the state, a child born in 1990 who today would be 26 years old has only seen violence as a constant standard.

Curfew, cordon and search. Men in olive green or khaki carrying AK-47s breaking down doors followed by arbitrary detentions if not enforced disappearance are the staple that an entire generation has grown up on, notwithstanding the truth of it or otherwise. It has led to both a repressed pent up rage and a romanticisation of terror.

Coupled with this is the belief that Muslims globally are under attack. Else why would a Burhan Wani be the poster boy of young Kashmiris rather than an Athar Aamir ul Shafi Khan who stood second in the civil services exam?

The fact that the ISIS has not yet established a base in India and in the Kashmir Valley should only be a source of cold comfort for the Indian security establishment. In todays day and age, self-radicalised youngsters making the leap of faith from the Internet keyboard to becoming suicide bombers are chilling realities of our times.

The fourth casualty is the economy. Given that I had devoted an entire piece on December 2 to the very illegality of this currency swap, or notebadli as it is colloquially known, it is not worth belabouring the point. The fact that an entire nation has been made to queue up like beggars trying to get their own money exchanged is perhaps the most breathtaking vignette of this absurdity.

Out of the Rs 14,17,000 crores that were demonetised, Rs 11,00,000 crores are already back in the system as of December 3 and there is still almost a month to go.

The economic cost of the loss of productivity as well as the hit that retail, real estate, services and myriad sectors of the non-formal economy would take is as yet in the realm of conjecture but not a single economist worth his salt has supported this irrationality. India could be heading into an era of serious social unrest.

The fifth casualty has been the mishandling of the relationship or lack of it with Pakistan. Since September 2014, there has been unprecedented escalation in cross-border firing from both sides.

The lurch from the sublime to the ridiculous in the approach to that country has emboldened the deep state in Pakistan to run circles around the mandarins in South Block.

The chest-thumping on the operations along the Line of Control conducted by senior ministers of the government coupled with the attempts to rewrite the no first-use nuclear doctrine in the public space by the defence minister all point to a very myopic and politically transactional view of vital national security issues. The blockade of Nepal and the estrangement with China has ensured that the neighbourhood-first policy lies in tatters.

The inability to skilfully handle the global power dynamic has even driven Indias all-weather ally, Russia, to explore a military relationship with Pakistan. Except for buying arms from the US and signing military foundational agreements there has not been a single big idea in the relationship in the past 30 months.

If one takes a long view of the past 30 months, internal chaos and external tension are the two overriding themes that manifest themselves. A nation on the edge can certainly not be the definition of achche din.
Successive chief justices have now left the system arguably worse than what they inherited.

Karachi: Eras and institutional decades can seem contrived and imposed ex post, a too-convenient way of explaining the past and divining the future.

Sometimes, though, they are helpful shorthand that tease out inflection points and bracket phases.

With two new chiefs in two months in two institutions, a subtle shift in eras may be upon us in the Army and the Supreme Court  a shift into and away from two pivotal figures in the two institutions.

Bajwa is the first chief of the Zia era  the first army chief to have joined the military, in 1980, after the Zia coup. Chief Justice Nisar will be, nearly, the last chief justice from the Iftikhar Chaudhry era.

(Two more judges, Asif Khosa and Gulzar Ahmed, will be future chief justices who were installed in the Supreme Court when Iftikhar Chaudhry was still chief justice.)

Change, surely, is upon Pakistan. Because his shadow is receding quicker, its easier to start with Chaudhry. This much is clear: If Chaudhry had been around, this Panama Papers and London flats business would not have tied his court in knots.

A slashing, smashing, alarming judgement would have been handed down in double-quick time and, depending on his whims and the partialities involved, the PML(N) would either hastily be searching for a new PM or crowing about court-authored vindication.

Where the incumbent has seemed uncertain and, at times, flummoxed, Chaudhry would likely have seized history and assumed centrestage with relish.

Where the incumbent has seemed satisfied with averting a political crisis by pre-empting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Islamabad lockdown, a Chaudhry intervention on November 1 would merely have been a prelude to a marvellous, fantastical Chaudhry-esque storm.

Chaudhry was bad for the system. But his successors, in trying to bring balance back after years of judicial hyperactivism, have overcompensated. Gone is the Chaudhry substance  which is a good thing  and gone too is the Chaudhry flavour, which isnt such a good thing.

So the incumbent thought it a good idea to get mixed up in a political/legal dispute, but then didnt have the gumption or backing to impose his will  leaving the court a little less elevated and a little more irrelevant.

Jurists and experts can argue over what else could have been done. For our purposes, whats important is the reassertion of the old order, a perceptual gap between how Chaudhry saw the court and how most of his predecessors did and, now, successors do.

The traditional court  and we must slot the next few successors in this mould until they prove otherwise  is protective of the institution. It is a court above the hoi polloi; a paternalistic, benevolent institution that dispenses justice and is, theoretically, for the people, but never among them.

Chaudhry was of the katchery mould, a freewheeler alert to both what works with the people and what he could get away with. The trappings and solemnities of office surely mattered, but only to the extent that they projected power and demanded obedience.

The rest was made up as occasion demanded and he desired. It was terrible  but important in one undeniable way: he made the court a player again. In the institutional scheme of things, in the system of checks and balances, the court was emphatically relevant again.

Chaudhry did it in three ways: his own celebrity, which he was more than thrilled by; his populism, which allowed him to ride roughshod over tradition and legal precedent (remember sugar prices and the Steel Mills sale?); and by forcing a consensus on his court.

His successors  repulsed, for reasons good and bad, by the Chaudhry template  have walked back all three practices.

But theyve replaced it with a nothingness: a court above the hoi polloi and therefore with no populist support; and a court unable to be relevant, even in a disruptive way, to the institutional order and a checks-and-balances scheme.

Successive chief justices have now left the system arguably worse than what they inherited. In his last days, Mulk got involved in the election rigging allegations  but extracted no electoral, democratic or institutional gains as a result.

Now, the incumbent couldnt resist a shot at immortality  or infamy  and ended up disappointing everyone. The next in line, CJ Nisar, will inherit a system that has wiped out all the gains and losses of Chaudhry  and will be poorer and richer for it.

Good luck to him.

On to Bajwa. He actually is a triple first. First chief born in the 60s  1960  and therefore first chief born after the first coup.

First chief commissioned in the Zia era  in 1980  and therefore first chief who lived none of the culture before. And first chief wholly and entirely with a senior  brigadier plus  career rooted in post-9/11 and post-2004, when the boys waded into Fata.

Those are seismic changes in the history of the country and the institution. Its possible the epochs may cancel themselves out: the last decade of militancy countering the lessons of Zia. Or its possible the memory of the 90s transition to democracy may burn stronger than the post-2008 version.

But the beginning of an era it surely is. Because in a chief or two, well be slipping into the longest era of all: the Children of Zia.

That is, the ones who only know of life since the greatest social experiment in our great, miserable history.

Good luck to all of us.

By arrangement with Dawn
The only issue is while they are faster charging than traditional batteries, they have a shorter overall life.

Whereas batteries can hold a large amount of energy they take hours to charge, supercapacitors hold less energy and charge in seconds.

Your battery could be about to last a lot longer, and charge a lot quicker.

A breakthrough at the University of Surrey in collaboration with the University of Bristol could completely change how we charge our phones.

Researchers have developed a new material which can be used to create batteries 1,000 to 10,000 times more powerful than todays. They would also be safer, charge faster and would be better for the environment.

The material is a special kind of polymer which is used to create a supercapacitor which stores a large amount of energy and charges very quickly. Whereas, batteries can hold a large amount of energy they take hours to charge, supercapacitors hold less energy and charge in seconds. Up to this point they have only been able to store miniscule amounts of energy.

Dr Brendan Howlin of the University of Surrey said, There is a global search for new energy storage technology and this new ultra-capacity supercapacitor has the potential to open the door to unimaginably exciting developments.

The university is looking for commercial partners to create ultra-high-energy density storage devices and hope to have a prototype by spring next year. Elon Musk has previously predicted large capacity supercapacitors would be greatly useful in electric cars  youd be able to refuel an electric car in minutes, if not seconds. He has said, If I were to make a prediction, Id think theres a good chance that it is not batteries, but supercapacitors.

In addition, the supercapacitors could be more effective in applying energy gained during braking and reapply it faster than traditional batteries.

The only issue is while they are faster charging than traditional batteries, they have a shorter overall life  a fleet of buses in China already uses supercapacitors but requires frequent recharging every two or three stops. This polymer technology would extend that range to 20-30 stops, still recharging in a few seconds.

Dr Ian Hamerton, a reader in polymers and composite materials from the department of aerospace engineering at the University of Bristol, said, While this research has potentially opened the route to very high density supercapacitors, these polymers have many other possible uses in which tough, flexible conducting materials are desirable, including bioelectronics, sensors, wearable electronics, and advanced optics. We believe that this is an extremely exciting and potentially game changing development.

Source: www.indy100.com
However, the state-run Nigerian News Agency reported that up to 200 people could have been killed.

Rescue workers gather at the site of a collapsed building belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, Nigeria. (Photo: AP)

Lagos: The roof of a crowded church collapsed onto worshippers in southern Nigeria on Saturday, killing at least 160 people, witnesses and an official said.

The Reigners Bible Church International in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom state, was still under construction and workers had been rushing to finish it in time for Saturday's ceremony to ordain founder Akan Weeks as a bishop, congregants said.

Hundreds of people, including Governor Udom Emmanuel, were inside when metal girders crashed onto worshippers and the corrugated iron roof caved in, with the state-run Nigerian News Agency reporting that up to 200 people could have been killed. Emmanuel and Weeks, who preached that God will make his followers rich, escaped unhurt.

Bodies of at least 60 victims have been retrieved but the toll could mount as a crane removes debris, according to a rescue official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to reporters.

The governor's spokesman, Ekerete Udoh, said the state government will hold an inquiry to investigate if anyone compromised building standards. Buildings collapse regularly in Nigeria because of endemic corruption with contractors using sub-standard materials and bribing inspectors to ignore shoddy work or a lack of building permits.

In 2014, 116 people died when a multi-story guesthouse of the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital. Most victims were visiting South African followers of the megachurch's influential founder T. B. Joshua.

Two structural engineers, Joshua and church trustees have been accused of criminal negligence and involuntary manslaughter after a coroner found the building collapsed from structural failures caused by design and detailing errors.

But Lagos state government efforts to bring them to court have been foiled by repeated legal challenges that have delayed a trial.

President Muhammadu Buhari expressed his condolences, telling "the Governor and the People of Akwa Ibom State, the deep sorrow of his family, the government and the entire people of Nigeria over the many deaths and injury recorded following the incident", presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement.
The Russians aim was to help Donald win and not just undermine the US electoral process, the paper reported.

United States President-elect Donald Trump removes his jacket while campaigning for Republican US Senate candidate John Kennedy in Louisiana. (Photo: AFP)

Washington: A secret CIA assessment has found that Russia sought to tip last months US presidential election in Donald Trumps favour, The Washington Post reported Friday, a conclusion that drew an extraordinary rebuke from the President-elects camp.

These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, Mr Trumps transition team said, launching a broadside against the spy agency.

The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. Its now time to move on and Make America Great Again.

The Washington Post report comes after President Barack Obama ordered a review of all cyberattacks that took place during the 2016 election cycle, amid growing calls from Congress for more information on the extent of Russian interference in the campaign.

The newspaper cited officials briefed on the matter as saying that individuals with connections to Moscow provided anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks with emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee, Democratic nominee Hillary Clintons campaign chief and others.

Those emails were steadily leaked out via WikiLeaks in the months before the election, damaging Ms Clintons White House run.

The Russians aim was to help Donald Trump win and not just undermine the US electoral process, the paper reported.

It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russias goal here was to favour one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected, the newspaper quoted a senior US official briefed on an intelligence presentation last week to key senators as saying. Thats the consensus view.

CIA agents told the lawmakers it was quite clear that electing Mr Trump was Russias goal, according to officials who spoke to the Post, citing growing evidence from multiple sources.

Russian hackers did not limit their hits to the Democrats, according to The New York Times.

We now have high confidence that they hacked the DNC. and the RNC, and conspicuously released no documents from the Republican organisation, the Times cited one senior administration official as saying, referring to the Russians.

The Times also questioned when Russia started supporting Mr Trump. However, some questions remain unanswered and the CIAs assessment fell short of a formal US assessment produced by all 17 intelligence agencies, the newspaper said.

Ill be the first one to come out and point at Russia if theres clear evidence, but there is no clear evidence even now, said California Republican congressman Devin Nunes, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the Mr Trump transition team.

Mr Obama also called for the cyberattacks review earlier this week to ensure the integrity of American elections.
Attempt by Democrats to excuse embarrassing loss: Prez-elect.

Washington: President-elect Donald Trump rejected the CIAs reported conclusion that Russia intervened to help him win the US election saying in an interview broadcast on Sunday that the idea is ridiculous.

I think its just another excuse. I dont believe it, Mr Trump said in an interview with Fox News Sunday recorded on Saturday.

I think its ridiculous, Mr Trump said. US intelligence had previously linked Russia to leaks of damaging email from Democratic candidate Hillary Clintons campaign but saw it as a broad bid to undermine confidence in the US political process.

On Friday, however, the Washington Post reported that the CIA has concluded that the aim of the cyber intrusions was to help Mr Trump win the election.

Mr Trump dismissed the reports as an attempt by Democrats to excuse their embarrassing election loss. He said there was great confusion within the intelligence agencies, whom he portrayed as fighting among themselves.

Nobody really knows. And hacking is very interesting. Once they hack, if you dont catch them in the act, youre not going to catch them. They have no idea if its Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place. They have no idea, he said.

Mr Trump, who has eschewed traditional daily intelligence briefings, suggested he intends to bring in his own people to lead the spy agencies once he assumes office.

Were going to have different people coming in because we have our people, they have their people. And I have great respect for them. But if you read the stories, the various stories, theyre disputing. And certain groups dont necessarily agree. Democratic senator Harry Reid also said FBI Director James Comey deliberately withheld information about Russian hacking in order to help elect Mr Trump.

Mr Comey had information showing that Russia sought to tip the November presidential election in Mr Trumps favour.

The FBI had this material for a long time, he told MSNBC. But he, Comey, whos a Republican, refused to divulge this information about Russia interfering with the presidential election.

Mr Comey should be investigated by the Senate and other agencies of the government, including the security agencies because if there were ever a matter of security, its this, Mr Reid said.

However, he added that he does not believe Attorney General Loretta Lynch should try to fire the FBI chief.
More than 700 people were injured in the quake, many seriously, according to the countrys disaster agency.

Faizal, 8, holds a clock showing the time when the quake struck in Pidie Jaya, Indonesia. (Photo: AFP)

Jakarta: Tens of thousands of people have been displaced after a devastating c in Indonesia killed more than 100 people, an official said Saturday, leaving communities in ruins as aid trickled into the disaster-stricken province.

We have 45,300 people evacuating in several places as of Saturday morning, national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP, adding that the number of displaced had almost doubled since Friday due to an influx of new data.

The shallow 6.5-magnitude quake earlier this week levelled hundreds of homes, mosques and businesses across Aceh province, one of the areas worst affected by the devastating 2004 tsunami.

More than 700 people were injured in the quake, many seriously, according to the countrys disaster agency.

Most of the displaced spent the night outdoors in tents near their ruined homes as hundreds refused to move into shelters fearing aftershocks, Nugroho added.

The army has established kitchens, shelters and a field hospital in the hard-hit town of Meureudu to help the regions overwhelmed health facilities.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Meureudu Friday, pledging to rebuild the areas devastated communities as he called on Indonesians to pray for their countrymen.

The archipelago nation experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide.

A huge undersea earthquake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed several countries around the Indian Ocean, killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia alone, the vast majority in Aceh.

The province lies on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which is particularly prone to quakes.

In June a 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the west of Sumatra, damaging scores of buildings and injuring eight people.

On Friday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo pledged to help the people of Aceh rebuild as he toured areas worst-hit by the devastating earthquake.

Pope Francis also offered his prayers to the victims overnight, urging them strength in their toughest hour.

Mr Widodo, who flew to Aceh Friday, met with victims in hospitals before visiting a local mosque damaged in the quake.

We will rebuild this mosque as soon as possible, he had told the gathered crowd.
This is the first such consignment being sent to Nepal after new Prachanda govt took over from his pro-China predecessor K P Sharma Oli.

Beijing: In a move that would severely hit the Indian businesses in Nepal, China has dispatched trucks carrying goods worth $2.8 million to Kathmandu. The consignments left Tibetan border port of Gyirong on Saturday.

According to a report, this was the first major consignment of goods that Beijing dispatched for Kathmandu since 2005, when China built what it calls the Friendship Highway to link towns on two sides across difficult mountain terrain.

The move will severely hit Indian businesses that had unfettered access to the Nepali market for decades.

The new rail and road cargo service launched yesterday, linking Guangdong, Tibet and Nepal, aims to boost trade with the South Asian neighbour as China pushes forward its Belt and Road (Silk Road) initiative, state-run 'Xinhua' news agency had reported on Saturday.

A train carrying products, including shoes, clothes, hats, furniture, appliances, electronics and building materials, covered the 5,200-kilometer distance between Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, and Xigaze in Tibet.

The trucks are responsible for the remaining 870 kilometer of the journey, carrying goods to Gyirong and then to the final stop in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital.

This is the first such consignment being sent to Nepal after new Prachanda government took over from his pro-China predecessor K P Sharma Oli, who had signed the transit trade deal with Beijing in March this year in a bid to reduce Nepal's dependence on India despite it being expensive due to the mountainous terrain.

China also agreed his request to build a strategic railway link between the two countries from Gyirong, the last Tibetan county which shares border with Nepal.

China plans to extend the railway later to India and other South Asian countries to promote trade.

The process of formation of road and rail links however reportedly slowed down after Prachanda's take over resulting in the delay of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Nepal.

However, Xi and Prachanda met on the sidelines of BRICS summit at Goa in October this year.

"The trip between Guangzhou and Gyirong takes about five to six days, much shorter than the 20 days for sea transport," said Yao Yanfeng, general manager of the freight carrier Tibet Tianzhi Import and Export Co. Ltd.

"The time could be cut further to 3.7 days in the future,' the Xinhua report quoted him as saying.

Yao said his company is providing relatively quick delivery service and, despite higher costs, it can meet demand for time-sensitive clients.

"In the slower winter season, the train and trucks will make a round trip every one or two weeks. In the busy season next year, there will be two to three per week and, eventually, we're aiming for four to five trips per week," Yao said.

In May, China opened a rail and road cargo service between Lanzhou in northwest China and Kathmandu.
Taliban leaders reportedly also held informal meetings with Afghan and US officials in Qatar.

US secretary of defence Ashton Carter and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at a joint press conference in Kabul. (Photo: AFP)

Kabul: The Taliban militant group in Afghanistan has reportedly put forward new demands for ending its insurgency in the country, including direct talks with the United States.

The new conditions also include recognition of the political office of the group in Qatar and removal of groups members from the United Nations blacklist.

That is why there is need for America and its allies to come to the table for direct talks with the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban) for negotiating an end to the occupation, Sohail Shaheen, a Qatar-based spokesman of the group, was quoted by The News as saying.

Mr Shaheen added if peace is the objective of the other side, then the Taliban must be allowed to open their political office in Qatar and names of their senior members be removed from the UN blacklist.

These obstacles in the way of establishing peace cannot be simply ignored, Mr Shaheen said, warning that mere slogans and statements would further complicate the issue rather than promoting Afghan peace.

This comes as reports emerged earlier suggesting peace talks could likely kick off between the Afghan government and Taliban group.

In October, some media reports suggested that a three-member delegation from the Talibans Qatar office was in Pakistan to meet authorities - the first such contact following the breakdown of Islamabad-brokered talks between Kabul and the Taliban in May.

Earlier, the Taliban leaders reportedly also held informal meetings with Afghan and US officials in Qatar.

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter had also sought to reaffirm US commitment to Afghanistan on Friday, as uncertainty lingers over President-elect Donald Trumps strategy on Americas longest war in the face of a resilient Taliban insurgency.

Mr Carter met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and American troops on his last official trip to Afghanistan before he handed over the reins to Mr Trumps pick for defence secretary, the hardline retired general James Mattis.

Mr Carters surprise visit to Afghanistan came as concerns mount over growing insecurity in Afghanistan, where around 10,000 US troops are assisting struggling Afghan forces to combat a dogged Taliban insurgency along with Al-Qaeda and Islamic State militants.

America is, and will remain, committed to a sovereign and secure Afghanistan, Mr Carter told reporters at a joint press conference with Mr Ghani.

We stand with the people of Afghanistan who have put themselves at risk and sacrificed so much.

Mr Ghani had then thanked Mr Carter for the US military support and the sacrifices of American troops in Afghanistan, even as uncertainty looms over Mr Trumps presidency.
The KP Assembly passed a resolution seeking voting rights for the provinces transgender community.

A Pakistani Senate body will invite transgender activists to Parliament for discussing issues faced by the community.

Islamabad: A Pakistani Senate body has decided to invite transgender activists to the Parliament for discussing issues faced by the community and find a way to prevent violations of their rights in the conservative nation.

The matter was forwarded to the Senate standing committee on marginalised segments after senator Maulana Hafiz Hamdullah raised the issue during a session in the Parliament on Friday. The meeting observed that the massive and rampant violations of the rights of transgender Pakistanis began from a young age and continued throughout their lives.

The committee chairman, PML-N Senator Nisar Mohammad, added that while the Constitution does not discriminate based on gender and ensures the rights of all individuals, societys behaviour towards transgender [people] is appalling, the Dawn reported.

The committee asked the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) to suggest a way forward in light of a 2012 Supreme Court decision, a unanimous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly resolution and the Capital Administration and Development Divisions (CADD) draft bill on transgender rights. The commission has been directed to report its recommendations to the committee at its next meeting.

Four years ago, the SC decreed equal rights and civil liberties for transgender citizens, including the right to inheritance and equal job opportunities.

The KP Assembly passed a resolution seeking voting rights for the provinces transgender community. PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar said: It will be the first time that transgender [people] will be given the chance to be important segments of society.

But details of the proposed transgender rights bill were not discussed, and the NCHR was not prepared to brief the committee on measures taken to mitigate problems facing transgender individuals.
Khar urged Islamabad to revive their foreign policy of maintaining good relations with neighbours.

Islamabad: Former Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said that Pakistan wasted opportunities offered by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

What this government has been able to do is let the opportunity that came with President Ashraf Ghani go by. We lost that window of opportunity that opened when Mr Ghani came into power, she said in an interview. I do not know the internal dynamics of the current government to be able to say what they should do to make amends, but I can say for sure that this government has not been able to sustain its relationship with Afghanistan, India, and Iran, she added.

Ms Khar said Pakistan should change course in Afghanistan, a recommendation amid deteriorating relations between Kabul and Islamabad, mainly over the war against terrorism.

She urged Islamabad to revive their foreign policy of maintaining good relations with neighbours.

About Kabuls accusation that Pakistan is harbouring Afghan militants, Ms Khar said, That is the most disheartening thing to see. It causes me personal grief because we had literally poised Pakistan within the region. When I was foreign minister, we tried to concentrate on relations closer to home. And I, as well as my Prime Minister at that time, have categorically said that Kabul is the most important capital for Pakistan.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj at that time had said India was exploring all legal options to prevent his execution.

Bogor: An Indian national facing death sentence in Indonesia on drug smuggling charges may not be pardoned, President Joko Widodo has indicated, saying the capital penalty is handed down only to individuals who have carried out serious crimes and is not based on nationality.

Ahead of his state visit to India, Mr Widodo said, My duty as President is to uphold the law and Indonesias sovereignty. This will be applied in all cases, including those involving capital punishment. Asked if he would pardon Indian national Gurdeep Singh, who is facing death sentence in Indonesia on drug charges since 2004, the President said, The death penalty is imposed only on individuals who have carried out serious crimes, and is not based on nationality.

Mr Singh, 48, was arrested at the Soekarno Hatta airport in 2004 for smuggling 300 gms of heroin. His execution by a firing squad was deferred on July 29, this year.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj at that time had said India was exploring all legal options to prevent his execution.

Appealing to the Indonesian government for mercy to Mr Singh, his wife Kulwinder Kaur had said he had spent 14 years in jail, which was enough penance if he was guilty.

Mr Widodo, however, said, Drugs are a serious threat to Indonesia, and in particular for the countrys younger generation. Indonesia is now facing an emergency situation due to illicit drug trafficking and abuse.
Indonesia opposes all forms of extremism and violence, says Widodo.

Bogor: Islamic State (ISIS) has no place in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo has said, amid growing concern that south-east Asia was becoming a fertile ground for the group.

Indonesia opposes all forms of extremism and violence, Mr Widodo said, ahead of his state visit to India, beginning on Monday.

The ISIS has no place in Indonesia, he said, adding that his country was taking a comprehensive approach in fighting extremism through hard power by law enforcement and legislation; as well as soft power by taking a religious and cultural approach.

Indonesia will always cooperate with all countries to fight terrorism, he said, adding that such cooperation would be through the exchange of information as well as intelligence exchanges and cooperation.
Islamic State group fighters withdrew from Palmyra early on Sunday only hours after they had re-entered the ancient city.

ISIS was forced out of Palmyra after intense Russian raids. (Photo: AFP/Representational)

Palmyra: Islamic State group fighters withdrew from Syria's Palmyra at dawn Sunday following heavy Russian air strikes, only hours after they had re-entered the famed ancient city, a monitor said.

"Intense Russian raids since last night forced ISIS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

The raids killed a large number of the jihadists in the desert city in central Syria, Abdel Rahman said, without being able to give a precise number.
by Loula Lahham

The Catholic Church spokesman, Fr. Rafic Greiche, offers condolences and prayers for the dead and the wounded. An appeal to the security forces. For the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine it is Israel's influence. The condemnation of Al Azhar. Celebrations for the birth of the prophet Mohammed interrupted. Pope Tawadros II calls short his trip to Greece.

Cairo (AsiaNews) - The Catholic Church of Egypt strongly condemns the terrorist act perpetrated this morning on St. Peter's Church, at the Orthodox Coptic Cathedral of St. Mark.

In a statement, Egyptian Catholic Church spokesman, Fr. Rafic Greiche, says: "We are deeply saddened and have cried for what happened to our Orthodox brothers and we share their grief with all our heart. We pray for the speedy recovery of the injured and we present our most sincere condolences to His Holiness Pope Tawadros II. We ask those responsible for security to find the perpetrators of this crime and to stop them. May God save Egypt from all evil ".

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denounced the terrorist act in a statement: "With all my heart we are with the Egyptian people in their fight against blind terrorism. It must be said: Egypt is targeted because this country is one of the pioneers in the attempts to find radical solutions to the problems of the Arab world, which does not please the Israeli colonisers".

Other messages were published by the organization of Arab parliaments, several Egyptian political parties, Arab and foreign embassies in Cairo.

For its part, the University of Al Azhar, the leading Sunni authority, condemned the terrorist act and canceled the celebrations for the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, which were to be held tonight.

The Egyptian Prime Minister Ismail Cherif has just left the scene of the attack and condemned the criminal act. Meanwhile, experts continue to control the area where the bomb went off holding body searches on every individual.

There has been an appeal for blood donations to help the wounded, several of which are still in the blast site. Hundreds of Christians have also flocked to the scene to look for their friends or relatives or others who may be among the victims.

The area is on high alert, and 10 fire trucks, while continuing the search for other injuries.

Pope Tawadros II, Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox, has interrupted his visit to Greece to return to Egypt and be close to his faithful in Cairo. His Holiness went to Athens to inaugurate a new Coptic Orthodox church in one of the neighborhoods of the Greek capital.
The explosion took place in St Peter's Church, during the liturgy. A witness: Bodies and blood, as well as destruction. No claim for the moment.

Cairo (AsiaNews) - A bomb exploded this morning in the vicinity of the Coptic cathedral in the Egyptian capital, killing at least 25 people and wounding 50.

The bomb exploded in the small chapel of St. Peter, adjacent to the cathedral of St. Mark, the seat of the Coptic Patriarch Tawadros II, who is currently in Greece on a pastoral visit.

During the Mass, the faithful heard the explosion and saw flying shreds of bodies and blood coming from the womens side, who generally sit in the right area of the church.

Kamel Hanna a witness says that at least 10 women died on the spot. "We were about to pray when the explosion occurred. My friends and I were outside because the church was full of faithful. There was blood everywhere".

Interior Minister Magdi Abdel-Ghaffar visited the site, marked by rubble, broken glass, doors and windows, blood and shreds of clothes everywhere.

So far no one has claimed the attack.

Egypt has long been subject to terrorist attacks. Two days ago in Giza six policemen were killed at a checkpoint by a group close to the Muslim Brotherhood. In Sinai there have been successive killings of police, but also civilians and Christian faithful at the hands of groups linked to the Islamic State.

The Christian community (10% of the majority Muslim population) suffers from decades of discrimination and violence, which has intensified after the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi from power by the former General Abdel Fattah Al Sissi. Morsi is a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

This mornings is one of the most serious attacks on the Coptic Christian community. During celebrations of the Coptic Christmas, January 1, 2011, in Alexandria, a terrorist attack killed 21 people and wounded 70.

(With the collaboration Loula Laham)
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International firms are finding their Asia Pacific operations lagging global revenues per lawyer due to lower local fees for junior fee-earners.Revenue per lawyer is 15 per cent lower than the global average at Clifford Chance and is 21.6 per cent lower at Hogan Lovells according to a report by UK publication The Lawyer.However, revenue per partner fares better with Clifford Chances partners achieving almost as much revenue as the global average and Hogan Lovells partners outperforming its global average by almost 13 per cent.Partners at other international firms including Baker & McKenzie and DLA Piper are also exceeding global averages.Global M&A was down 17 per cent in the first ten months of 2016 but Chinese outbound deals soared.Analysis by international law firm Clifford Chance reveals that Chinas outbound M&A value was up 180 per cent to U$187.5 billion as companies sought to diversify and gain exposure to growing Western markets.Global M&A was down to $2.7 trillion from $3.3 trillion a year earlier while deal volumes were down 7 per cent. Asia Pacific saw activity decline 19 per cent while North America fell 23 per cent and Europe 6 per cent.The case calling for parliament to have a say on the Brexit process should be thrown out by the Supreme Court according to a government lawyer.James Edie QC said in his closing statement that a vote of MPs last week, which resulted in an overwhelming majority of 448 to 75 in favour of sticking to the British governments timetable to trigger Article 50, was legally relevant.The Guardian reports that Lord Pannick, lead counsel for the claimant, says that an act of parliament with majorities in both houses is required to legally begin the Brexit process.The eleven Supreme Court justices who heard the case will rule in January.
Hi All,



has anyone ever lodged a 189 application as a solicitor? I was wondering how the work experience was determined. I have been admitted as a lawyer in another jurisdiction (not Australia) 3 years ago and have worked ever since. On the other hand, I have only been admitted in NSW now. Would my work experience count as related work experience?



Thank you.



Cheers,

Maria
As per The Investor and a handful of other South Korean publications, Tesla and Samsung have refused to comment on the subject. But then again, it should be noted that Samsung is in cahoots with Audi to develop automotive chips, so theres a significant possibility Tesla has jumped on the bandwagon as well.According to the cited publication, sources said Samsung will design and produce the chips tailored to Teslas specific demands, calling it a long-term project that would take some three years for the chip production to start. In other words, the Tesla Autopilot and associated systems of the all-new Model 3 wont depend on Samsungs System on Chip (Soc) know-how, at least not for a little while.After acquiring Harman International Industries for many billions of dollars, the next logical move for Samsung is a push in the automotive industry with its semiconductors. Whats more, application-specific integrated circuit systems is a foolproof way to generate new revenue streams for the Korean company, whose smartphone division took a hard hit from the scandalous Note 7 battery saga On that note, its worth mentioning that Tesla hired Jim Keller earlier this year. Keller was the lead architect for the AMD K8 microarchitecture and Apple A4/A5 processors. Currently the vice president of Autopilot Hardware Engineering, it is very likely that Keller is crucial to the automakers wish to produce SAE Level 5 autonomous vehicles.In related news, Samsung is currently giving it all on developing a new flagship phone in the form of the Galaxy S8 . Tesla, meanwhile, got the OK from Fremonts authorities to expand its plant from 5.3 to 9.9 million square feet . The Gigafactory in Nevada is also in the middle of adding 1,000 new workers through the first half of 2017.
A big hunk of metal that a sea cucumber diver thought might be a Cold War atomic bomb turned out to be a piece of industrial junk. The Royal Canadian Navy sent a ship to a remote area off the northern Pacific coast of British Columbia late last month after the diver, Sean Smyrichinski, reported finding the object in early November. The location roughly matched up with the flight path of a U.S. Air Force B-36 bomber that crashed on a remote B.C. mountain in 1950 and had jettisoned an unarmed version of a Mark IV atomic bomb. The Navy quickly determined the object wasnt related to the B-36 incident after sending a camera-equipped robot to take a look. It was determined to be a metal part of a larger machine assembly and appears to be a piece of industrial equipment, the Canadian Forces said in a news release.

Smyrichinski found the object in about 25 feet of water and described the discovery to local residents. One man suggested it might be the bomb and the diver went online to check it out. He later told the Vancouver Sun the images he found online of early nuclear weapons looked something like the rough sketches he made (he didnt have a camera on the dive) and the Sun story sparked the military response. The dummy bomb, which had a lead core instead of plutonium, is likely still on the bottom of the ocean somewhere in the same area. The aircraft was on a mock raid simulating a nuclear strike on San Francisco from its base in Alaska when three of its big pusher radial engines caught fire. All 17 crew bailed out but only 12 survived. The plane flew another 200 miles before crashing on Mt. Kologet, southeast of Prince Rupert. The Air Force recovered sensitive equipment from the crash site but there are still remnants of the aircraft on the mountain.
Ive never felt it was appropriate that a pilot could obtain an instrument rating without flying in the clouds. From a safety standpointno matter what type of flying the pilot intends to undertakeit seems beyond ludicrous. I received instrument dual in IMC at a small airport in rural Iowa; one would think that it would be a basic part of the syllabus of every flight school or independent instructor. Yet, it doesnt seem to be the caseI cant count the number of graduates of ostensibly top-drawer flight programs Ive met who have never flown an airplane in the clouds.

I recognize that there are flight schools and instructors who will not give dual in IMC and Ive spoken with a number about the issue. I also recognize that there are flight schools that are intentionally located in states with a great deal of good VFR weather so that students can get ratings as fast as possible.

The common denominator in my conversations with flight schools and CFIs who do not give dual in IMC is a combination of not wanting to run the risk of having a student lose control of the airplane in clouds and having a very compact syllabus that gets pilots through the instrument rating as quickly as possible. In some cases schools have told me that they face overwhelming pressure from customers to put the checks in the boxes and get the rating as fast as possible without concern for actually learning anything. I was told that taking time to do instrument work in IMC would interfere with the process. One instructor pointed out that the FAA would not give check rides in actual instrument weather and reiterated that there was no requirement in the FARs to get any time in the clag, so why should he give dual in IMC?

Ethical Obligations?

Ive heard both sides of the debate and recognize both the time and money pressure that flight schools face. I also realize that it is absolutely impossible for an instructor to prepare a student for everything that might happen to him or her outside the nest (and I know that instructors agonize over that issue). However, the FARs are, by law, only minimum standards. Im uncomfortable with the idea of flight schools and instructors only teaching to minimum standards of the regulations, and no more. That discomfort has been made worse by the most recent dumbing down of FAA standards with a definition of slow flight that can be faster than the normal approach speed of many training aircraft. I think that some degree of seasoning should be provided to pilots who are obtaining ratingsso that they are not loosed on the aviation world capable of the monkey motion of steering the airplane, able to talk with ATC and quote regulations verbatim, but without experience in making the go/no-go weather decisions outside of hypothetical scenarios discussed in the comfort of a classroom. In my opinion, because the FAA has disregarded its obligation to establish appropriate training requirements in IMCto the detriment of flight safetyflight schools and instructors have an ethical obligation to go beyond the FAAs minimum standards for an instrument rating and take their instrument students into actual IMC on a regular basis and to show a pilot what is involved in flying safely in the real world.

An instrument student doesnt benefit much from flying in clouds during the first five hours or so of dual. That is the time the student is learning about attitude instrument flying, developing an effective instrument scan, the subtleties needed for minor corrections, how to use trim to make the airplane go where desired, how to add the clock into the scan and how to fly partial panel. That time is best spent in good weatheror, better yet, in a simso the student can concentrate on those basic skills without worrying about ATC or falling off the tightrope.

The Oh, Wow Factor

Once past that early training, its my opinion that actual time in clouds is nothing but beneficial to the instrument student. Remember the sense of awe you felt the first time you flew very close to clouds, on seeing your first glory (the circular rainbow around an airplanes shadow on a cloud)? If nothing else, the delightful experiences flying in and near clouds make working on the rating that much more exciting.

Think of the many small surprises you had on first flying in cloudsdiscovering there was almost inevitably a bump on entering or exiting the side of a cloud, but not on doing so through the top or bottom; or how fast you learned about how rough a ride to expect inside a cloud from its external appearance. Remember how surprised you were to discover it was easier to fly the airplane in a cloud than under the hood because you could look around the cockpit? Why not introduce that knowledge to an instrument student early?

Bitter Experience

Because of my profession, Ive been involved in looking closely at far too many accidents over the years. Many occurred in instrument conditions to pilots with instrument ratings but little actual time flying in clouds. We humans evolved on the surface of this planet and have only been creatures of the sky since we started flying balloons in 1783evolutionally a flicker of an eyelash of time. A tremendous amount of what we experience in flight is without parallel to our experiences on the ground. Our inbred, ground-based instincts and reactions get triggered by the sensations of flight, and unfortunately, they are often dead wrong when it comes to what is appropriate when moving about the sky. As a result, we have to learn nearly everything formally when we step into the third dimension. So, when first flying VFR, we go with flight instructors. I feel that when we first fly inside a cloud its also a wise idea to do so with flight instructors who can help us through this massive new set of experiences.

In my humble opinion, its not a bad idea for an instructor to be there the first time a pilot actually sees how the color of the cloud changes as one nears the top and that on an overcast day its wise to have sunglasses handy for that moment. Besides, having someone to share the exuberance you feel the first time you break out of the top of a cloud deck makes the moment even more magical. Its also a good idea for future reference for an instructor to be there to point out how much further they had to climb beyond that point when the student felt they were almost on top.

At the other end of the flight, there is an emotional component to the descent through the clouds as one discovers the ever-increasing, almost sinister, blackness as the bases are neared and the pilot feels the pressure build to keep the needles centered, knowing the cold, hard ground is close. Add to that the sometimes overpowering need to urinate as the approach nears minimums, its not a bad idea that a pilot do it for the first time with someone who has been there before, even if only for moral support.

Telling instrument students that the worst ice is usually near the cloud tops is no substitute for letting them discover it is true. I am of the opinion that much good comes from having an instructor along the first time the pilot watches the climb rate go to nothing over a period of a few minutes, just when that pilot firmly believes that climbing just a few hundred feet more will put them on top. At that moment some gentle comments by an experienced instructor may make a long-lasting impression on that pilot, such as pointing out that estimating where the tops are without a pilot report may not be a good idea. In the event the pilot is still tempted to linger overlong in the icebox portion of a cloud due to inexperience, optimism about climb performance and a longing for sunlight, the instructor can take action before the pilot learns that a block of ice has poor aerodynamic qualities.

Ive always heard the instrument rating described as the thinking rating. Listening to others, far more competent than I, Ive come to believe that the process of developing the appropriate level of judgment to make good weather-related go/no-go decisions comes from having some degree of experience with weather.

The first time pilots Ive trained are not sure if they are going to see the runway at the end of an approach, Id like to be present, sitting quietly, just to be a safety net. When they spot the runway, make a play for it, drop the rest of the flaps, pull the power back and then lose sight of the runway, I would like to be in the other seat, watching. I know that they are juggling the knowledge from books and our discussions that they must go missedbut I also know that they feel in their guts that they can blow through this little cloud and get to the runway. That could be their last mistake.

Your First Time

I want an experienced CFII in the right seat as safety net, because Ive looked at too many shredded airplanes and know that the particular decision those pilots are making right then means looking death in the face, and I want them alive. I dont think books and lessons and lectures and hangar flying fully prepare a pilot for the overwhelming desire to land that comes about when a runway is glimpsed, even if only momentarily. Such an urge, if not resisted, can lead to either foolishly continuing a descent while in a little cloud or, perhaps even worse, trying to circle over a runway and land on it when the vertical visibility is 500 feet or so, and the horizontal visibility is about the same. Then, any turn they make will cause the runway, and all other visual references, to disappear. Im of the opinion that seeing such situations in circumstances where an instructor can prevent a bad decision from being fatal are more likely to lead to good decision-making by pilots once they have instrument ratings and are on their own. Bad weather makes a powerful impression on a pilot. Handling it correctly once makes it more likely that it will be dealt with correctly in the future.

I want to fly in blowing snow with my students so that they can see how incredibly fast visibility can change and how a circle-to-land approach in it, or in any conditions at night, can provide food for the coffin worms.

An instructor friend told me that she firmly believed it was wise to fly with instrument students, in weather, at night, so that they can get a visceral understanding of the fact that it is often impossible to tell where the clouds aresomething that is serious if there is ice about. She admitted that the first time she was flying along on a dark night and only realized she was in cloud when she heard a hissing noise and saw the windshield suddenly become opaque with rime ice, nearly necessitated cleaning the upholstery of the pilots seat.

Missing For Real

Ive flown with instrument students when the weather was low enough to necessitate a real missed approach. New instrument pilots are used to landing out of an approach, they are primed for it, expecting ithey, its the normal end to an approach. Well . . . not always, and that can be stunningly difficult for a pilot to accept. The first real one usually causes distinct psychological reactions that, from my observations and reading accident reports, cant be duplicated in a simulator or under the hood. It takes an aircraft, clouds, uncertainty and cold sweat.

There is that awful period of time as each pilot realizes that she or he really isnt going to succeed with the approachand pilots are success driven. What is known as continuation bias kicks inand its killed a lot of people because pilots are spring-loaded to continue the approach and make a landing come low clouds or fog. There is an incredible reluctance to pitching up and initiating the missed approach. The process goes in stages and Ive taken to comparing it to those described by Elisabeth Kubler Ross in her magnificent study, On Death and Dying. The pilot first denies that a missed approach is neededthat runway is going to appear even though we are at DA, or time has run out while at the MDA. Then, at varying rates, pilots go through the bargaining, promises, and so forth that Ross so artfully described, before acceptance sets in and the missed approach is even tentatively begun. The fact that the mental journey to acceptance and action sometimes takes the pilot and the airplane well over a mile past the missed approach point is a definite cause for concern.

I think its a good idea, if possible, to let instrument students see this whole process of denial through acceptance and starting the missed approach, for the first time with an instructor. Ive met a number of instrument-rated pilots who have told me they have never had an actual missed approach. I worry a little for them, for I have been fortunate enough to learn about the dangerous mind-set that develops when making instrument approaches in actual conditionsthat each will result in a landing and the potentially deadly task continuation bias that goes with it.

If possible, I like to have a session with my instrument students shooting approaches when the weather is below the non-precision MDA, and a precision approach is available. It provides a real world missed approach opportunity and that wonderful feeling of shooting a precision approach to near minimums and getting in when the weather stinks. I think such sessions also help made the abstract notion of an alternate airport take on new meaning, for the ceiling or visibility would only have to drop a bit to make a diversion necessary, especially because they were usually in an instrument trainer that didnt have particularly long legs.

Near the end of an approach, the transition to visual references via pulling off a hood is no big deal. Thats not the case in weather, especially when visibility is rotten, theres no horizon and the cloud bases are ragged. Splitting ones attention between the panel to keep the airplane upright and looking outside for the runway is a new, and challenging experience. Its caused more than a few pilots to hit the ground short of the runway. The FAA doesnt require a demonstration of the ability to handle this transition in weather but, it seems to me, a good instructor will do the best he or she can to teach it to an instrument student.

Not In Boomers

While I am a big supporter of giving instrument students as much experience in actual weather as possible, I absolutely dont advocate taking a student into a thunderstorm. Thats about the most foolhardy exercise in the aeronautical version of practice bleeding I can imagine. A session in moderate turbulence (as defined in the A.I.M.) combined with a comment that it is about a fifth of the challenge of flying in a thunderstorm, along with some further discussion, should be adequate to keep all but the most idiotic out of those monsters.

Im convinced that flight schools and instructors can do a great deal for their instrument students by introducing them to flying in the clouds. While the FAA doesnt require such activity, I believe that an instructor should offer it to his or her students and an instrument student should demand it of an instructor.

Rick Durden is a CFII, holds an ATP with type ratings in the Douglas DC-3 and Cessna Citation, is an aviation attorney and the author of The Thinking Pilots Flight Manual, or How To Survive Flying Little Airplanes and Have a Ball Doing It, Vols. 1 and 2.
11 December 2016 19:00 (UTC+04:00)

During Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirims visit to Russia, the two countries agreed to intensify efforts on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Recai Berber, head of the Turkey-Russia interparliamentary friendship group at Turkeys Grand National Assembly, told Trend.

Berber said that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, since its beginning, is not only Azerbaijans, but also Turkeys problem.

"In fact, Armenia also wants this problems settlement, since the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict isolates the country from the outside world, which greatly affects its economy," he noted. "Undoubtedly, the problems settlement will lead to stability and improve welfare of citizens in the region."

Turkey wants good relations with Armenia as those the country has with Georgia, said the Turkish MP.

He added that the way to good relations between Ankara and Yerevan passes through the liberation of the Armenia-occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

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.

Berber said that details of creation of the Turkey-Azerbaijan-Russia trilateral cooperation format, in particular, trilateral interparliamentary friendship group were also discussed during Yildirims visit to Russia.

He also noted that Ankara supports the creation of the Turkey-Azerbaijan-Russia trilateral interparliamentary friendship group for strengthening of the three countries relations.

Earlier, Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during the meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Aug. 9, said that Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia can form a trilateral mechanism of cooperation.
11 December 2016 17:45 (UTC+04:00)

Spokesman of Azerbaijan`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hikmat Hajiyev has said Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian misleads the Armenian community by distorting the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs` statement. He did not feel embarrassed to distort the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs that was issued after the 23rd Ministerial Council of the OSCE in Hamburg, Hajiyev said. Nalbandian`s statements are aimed solely at the domestic audience.

"As the Armenian FM said the issues must be assessed on the basis of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs' statement. And this statement condemns armed incidents, use of force and the threats to use force. The Armenian side which talks too much about the use of force or threatens to use force should understand that Armenia is directly responsible for the implementation of terms arising from this principle.

It is Armenia that occupied Azerbaijani territories by using military force. It is Armenia that poses a threat by keeping heavy military contingent in the occupied Azerbaijani lands. The Armenian troops have not yet withdrawn from the occupied Azerbaijani territories. Armenia still continues its illegal activities, including using force and threatening to use force against Azerbaijan. The presence of the Armenian troops in the occupied Azerbaijani territories is the primary cause of the incidents," Hikmat Hajiyev added.
11 December 2016 10:31 (UTC+04:00)

Iranian Shipping Lines (IRISL) finalized a contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries Company to buy 10 ships worth dlrs 650 million and develop technical cooperation on shipbuilding, the South Korean industry giant, Hyundai, said in a statement on Saturday, IRNA reported.

Hyundai said that the company wll build several container ships and oil tankers for the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines for delivery from year 2018.

One of the container ship will have capacity of 14,500 containers, but the exact number of containers and oil tankers has not been declared yet.

It is the first contract to purchase ships from South Korea after lifting sanctions by implementing the nuclear deal last January.

IRISL said that the Iranian and South Korean companies have record of close cooperation to develop shipping industry and joint venture investment in Iran.

IRNA economic correspondent said that Iran required the South African industrialists to develop joint venture investment with Iranian partners in Iran in parallel with purchase of industrial products.
Linda Harvey the Columbus, Ohio hausfrau and founder of the hateful D-list anti-LGBTQ Christian hate group Mission: America, has penned an article for WorldNetDaily in which she calls on Donald Trumps pick for health secretary to make some serious changes to the CDC when it comes to AIDS/HIV prevention and treatment.

Via: Wingnut World Net Daily: (Which I do not link to)

And as most well-informed Americans know, no person is born gay, so this conduct is completely unnecessary.

HIV is still serious and sometimes fatal, yet around 1 million people are living with and sharing this disease with others, believing its not such a big deal in the era of anti-retroviral drug treatment.

But many Americans have wept as sons, brothers and friends have perished from AIDS, and long for an Uncle Sam public health message that tells the truth: No male ever needs to engage in anal sex with another male, and we need to stop accommodating homosexual behavior and gay identity at the CDC.

Will Rep. Tom Price do this as head of HHS? [snip]

But another nest of vipers lies in the CDC HIV/AIDS program. If we are going to drain the swamp, this is a great place to start. And Price is from Georgia. With the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, its quite possible he has already formed an opinion about the problems endemic to CDC HIV/AIDS policy.

Will CDC continue to treat homosexual behavior as a respectable identity instead of what it actually is  high-risk, unnecessary deviance that no one needs to engage in?

And this becomes especially important in formation of a responsible public health strategy for adolescents. GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is a group whose purpose is essentially to persuade children and teens that homosexual and transgender conduct is worthwhile. GLSEN bypasses parents and school officials if necessary to corrupt children directly. [snip]

CDC has become largely ineffective on the HIV/AIDS issue related to homosexual behavior, adopting shoot-itself-in-the-foot tactics of self-perpetuation. For instance, one new CDC HIV program is called Doing It. This suggestively named campaign validates the known transmission vehicle of anal sex.

Doing It refers to the recommendation to get tested for HIV. Thats the current CDC epidemic-management emphasis, virtually ignoring the real solution: abstinence.

The CDCs National Gay Mens HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was observed Sept. 27. Its another example of truth-avoiding foolishness.

No male is gay, first of all, and the CDCs own clinical description of the transmission category, males who have sex with males, has avoided the nebulous gay label in favor the more accurate description of behavior. So why use misleading identity-politics terms? The agency culture seems to favor propping up the mythological gay identity, when it should be dismantling it.

So this epidemic-tracking agency funded by taxpayers has descended to sympathy for active disease transmission, instead of aiming for a goal where incidence declines. That could be achieved with a clear message: Dont have anal sex, period. [snip]

The current CDC only reflects the pervasive radicalism of the Obama administration. The root cause of HIV-risky behavior, according to the White House Office of AIDS Policy, is stigma and discrimination. Thats right. Disapproval drives males to have anal sex with multiple partners:

Stigma and discrimination must be eliminated in order to diminish barriers to HIV prevention, testing, and care. HIV-related stigma can be confounded by or complicated with stigma related to substance use, mental health, sexual orientation, gender identity, race/ethnicity, or sex work.

Sex work is the leftist term for prostitution, attempting to legitimize the sale of ones body for sex, often by teens coerced by adults.

This is not public health. This is pro-deviance, government-funded propaganda. And praise the Lord, this corrupt administration is on its way out the door.
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry. Her column runs Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at http://www.bakersfield.com, call her at 395-7373 or email lhenry@bakersfield.com

LOIS HENRY ONLINE Read archived columns by Lois Henry at Bakersfield.com/henry.
A number of voters throughout the state are pushing for a full recount of the presidential election in Florida.

Results of the 2016 election have troubled many voters



A small group of dedicated demonstrators protested Sunday

Sunday, demonstrators stood outside the Hillsborough County Courthouse to urge a closer look at the ballots that were cast in the 2016 election.

Im here because Im very concerned about our countrys election process, said protester Anne Saikt.

I want a recount, added protester Mary Ellen Palermo.

I want to know that our elections are safe, agreed protester Anita Balch.

Anita Balch knows exactly what a recount would entail. She recently returned from volunteering in the recount in Wisconsin. Using money out of her own pocket, Balch spent nearly a week in Wisconsin. She dispatched and scheduled elections observers and documented it all. She said its critical to know whether the election was fair.

If I had my way, every state should do it, Balch said. I dont care if youre a Republican, a Democrat, a Jill Stein Green Party supporter, a Gary Johnson Libertarian, we should all have the security of knowing our vote counted, theres nothing going on, the systems are good, everybody who has a right to vote gets to vote and that every vote counted. And I believe that to the bottom of my toes.

Sunday, Balch stepped away from helping out Wisconsin to join the group of four at the Hillsborough County Courthouse. Theyre hoping it shows their commitment to a fair election.

The Hillsborough protest was part of a larger statewide effort by an Orlando law firm, Clint, Curtis and Associates. The firm recently filed a lawsuit, on behalf of some voters who claimed a variety of issues, including hacking and equipment problems in Florida during the presidential election.

The courts have yet to take up that complaint.
Good works

Leaside sisters Anna and Gemma Postill are profiled by writer Justin Skinner in the East York Mirror. These young women have been inspired by social issues in both South America and Africa to form a jewellery sales business with proceeds in aid of a rainwater harvesting system in Rwanda. Anna and Gemma are working in partnership with Compassion Canada, a London, Ontario based Christian charity. Compassion Canada says that in the current year 85.3 per cent of funds were used for program activities benefiting children. The remainder went to support the charity structure. Skinner quotes Anna as saying: Both of us have travelled abroad and got to witness first-hand the conditions people live in third world countries. Theres a need there for health care (supplies) and clear water  you could see it when the volunteers were given bottled water instead of drinking the water the locals were drinking. The Postill sisters work out of their basement to create jewelry using materials from local shops. They photograph it and sell it online. Thus far, they have sold about $1,000 worth of jewelry, which equals around $600 toward their $3,000 fundraising goal after the cost of buying materials.

Anna and Gemma Postill
History, Holidays and a Party on Central and North Oregon Coast

Published 12/10/2016 at 4:23 PM PDT - Updated 12/10/2016 at 4:29 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Cannon Beach, Oregon)  There are two distinctly different but relaxing ways to get away from the hustle and bustle of the holidays next week  one on the north coast and the other on the central Oregon coast. One in Lincoln City really takes you away with a touch of meditation, while the other at Cannon Beach takes you into the past. (Above: the Labyrinth Walk in Lincoln City).

On Monday, December 19, the Lincoln City Cultural Center will be hosting just such an experience: the Winter Solstice Labyrinth and Food Drive, open from 10 am to 6 pm in the auditorium. Admission is suggested donation of non-perishable food, cash or checks for the Lincoln City Food Pantry.

What is a labyrinth walk? In this case, its a slow, deliberate walk around a painted canvas labyrinth that is based on the design found in the floor of the Chartres Cathedral. Theres a single winding path leading to the center, where a lotus pattern signifies a place for prayer, meditation and reflection. When youre done in the center, simply walk your way back out again.

The labyrinth is an ancient symbol, known in many cultures for thousands of years. All are asked to honor the silence and be respectful of others along the path. Participants can walk in honor of loved ones who have passed on, to give thanks or ask for help, and to enter the mystery of life. There are as many reasons as there are walkers, and all are welcome.

The labyrinth will be open, with gentle music and light refreshments, from 10 am to 6 pm. Walkers may arrive any time during the 8-hour period, and to take part for as long or as little as they like. This event is all made possible by donations from the public, and the generosity of the Congregational Church of Lincoln City-United Church of Christ.

For more information, call the Cultural Center at 541-994-9994. The Cultural Center is located at 540 NE Hwy. 101 in the historic DeLake School in Lincoln City. Lincoln City Hotels/Lodgings for this event - Where to eat - Map and Virtual Tour





Farther up on the north Oregon coast, its time to have a little fun and maybe laugh a little. On Saturday, December 17, the Cannon Beach History Center & Museum will engage you with their annual holiday and appreciation event. Between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. the museum will offer a series of fun festivities, tasty treats and even a free raffle.

Enjoy hot chocolate, apple cider, delicious Sleepy Monk coffee, and even a delightful holiday punch. The museum staff will have homemade cupcakes, brownies, and other treats for you to enjoy.

Bring the kiddos for story time at 1:00 p.m. when Executive Director Elaine Trucke and Archivist Liz Johnson read from their favorite holiday tomes. The kids will also love the museums own Christmas Banana.



"Everyone has a Santa," said director Elaine Murdy-Trucke. We have the Christmas Banana."

While the story behind this potassium-loaded holiday loving character is a bit unclear, you can't help but be curious.

In addition to the Christmas Banana, museum staff will be sporting their favorite holiday ugly sweaters  all day. Enjoy a relaxing coloring session or learn some unique Cannon Beach history.

Dont miss the free raffle. Everyone that visits the museum on Saturday, December 17 will automatically be entered into a raffle to win a Terrible Tilly Hoodie or a basket of goodies from Bruce's Candy Kitchen (one entry per person.) Also, everything in the Museum's gift shop will be 40 percent off for active members, making for a perfect holiday treat.

The Cannon Beach History Center & Museum is a private non-profit located at 1387 S. Spruce Street in Cannon Beach. For more information visit www.cbhistory.org or call 503-436-9301. Cannon Beach Hotels / Lodging for this event - Where to eat - Map and Virtual Tour





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Former JLS popstar Oritse Williams has denied allegations that he raped a fan in a hotel room after a gig.

The 30-year-old, who enjoyed chart success after shooting to fame on the X Factor in 2008, was arrested by police following the concert in Wolverhampton last week.

In a statement, 10 Worlds Music UK, which looks after Williams, said: "All we wish to say at this time is that Oritse denies the allegations against him.

"The matter is in the hands of the police and it would be totally wrong for us to comment any further."

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "West Midlands Police were called to a Wolverhampton hotel at 7.45am on Friday December 2 after an allegation of rape and sexual assault was made by a 20-year-old woman.

"A 30-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of rape and a 29-year-old man arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. Both men have been bailed until February, pending further inquiries."

Williams has not been charged and was released on bail.

He has pursued a solo career since JLS disbanded in 2013.
Saara Aalto has become the favourite to win the ITV1 talent show, The X Factor, in the final showdown this weekend

Waiter Matt Terry has thanked his fans after being crowned the winner of the X Factor 2016.

The 23-year-old beat Sharon Osbourne's finalist, Finnish singer Saara Aalto, to clinch the title at a star-studded show held at Wembley Arena.

"I can't believe it! Thank you to every single one of you that voted for me," the singer, from Bromley, tweeted.

Host Dermot O'Leary said around 6.4 million votes were cast and revealed Ed Sheeran penned this year's winner's single, When Christmas Comes Around.

Before taking to the stage to perform the single, a tearful Terry said: "Thank you so much."

Bookmakers William Hill have said Terry is now favourite to clinch the coveted Christmas number one single - ahead of big hitters like Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift and the charity single recorded in memory of murdered MP Jo Cox.

"Penned by Ed Sheeran and belted out by the current X Factor winner, When Christmas Comes Around has everything needed to hit the festive top spot," said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly.

The live final of the ITV show saw both singers perform twice, with Terry picking Sam Smith's Bond theme tune, Writing's On The Wall, as his favourite song of the show.

His second song was a rendition of Randy Crawford's 1980 hit One Day I'll Fly Away, after which his mentor, Nicole Scherzinger, told him: "This is yours for the taking, you just did it right now and I'm so proud of you."

This is the second win for Scherzinger, who also mentored James Arthur, the winner of the 2012 series.

Other highlights from the final weekend included Terry teaming up with the former Pussycat Dolls singer for a rendition of the Prince hit Purple Rain on Saturday night.

The newly-crowned winner, who many dubbed the doppelganger of One Direction star Louis Tomlinson when they first saw him, performed Ben E King's Stand By Me during his first audition for the show.

At the time, X Factor boss Simon Cowell said he reminded him of Olly Murs, who was the show's runner-up in 2009.

Following Terry's win, Cowell promised him "we'll give you 100%".

The music mogul congratulated both of the finalists, saying they were "great artists".

He said: "The thing I'm most proud about, about this show, is seeing Little Mix and some of these other artists tonight, what they've done with their lives and this is why we make this show. You are now part of that chapter."

Runner-up Aalto thanked everyone for their support and told O'Leary: "This has been an amazing journey. I'm just so happy for Matt, congratulations, I love you."

The final of the show was opened by Kylie Minogue and included performances from the 2011 X Factor champions, Little Mix, and Madness, who are back with a new album titled Can't Touch Us Now.

Some of the series' most quirky contestants also returned to the stage, among them Sada Vidoo, or the "Living Doll" as she calls herself, for a group performance.

Singer Tomlinson, who performed his new single on Saturday night just days after his mother's death, congratulated Terry, tweeting: "Congratulations @MattTerry93 ! Well deserved. #XFactorFinal"

Coronation Street star Shayne Ward, who won the X Factor in 2005, also tweeted his congratulations.
PSNI said the young dogs were in a vehicle that was stolen from the Parkmore area of Craigavon

Eight bulldog puppies have been returned to their owner after being taken in a car theft.

The PSNI said the young dogs were in a vehicle that was stolen from the Parkmore area of Craigavon, Co Armagh on Saturday.

A 23-year-old man was arrested in the Newtownabbey area of north Belfast following a pursuit.

Chief Inspector Alan Hutton said investigations were continuing.

"The pups have been returned to their owner," he said.

The arrested man was being questioned on suspicion of theft.
The incident is being investigated by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

A 23-year-old man has been arrested by police investigating the theft of a car and eight bulldog puppies in Craigavon.

The incident happened in the Parkmore area of the Co Armagh town on Saturday night.

The man was detained in the Newtownabbey area following a police pursuit.

The PSNI said he is being held on suspicion of theft and is currently in police custody.

The pups have been returned to their owner," police said.

Investigations are continuing.
A 25-year-old man has been arrested by police investigating a report of an assault on a Belfast city councillor in east Belfast last month.

Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) representative John Kyle was allegedly attacked while trying to stop youths defecating on a memorial dedicated to his party's late leader, David Ervine.

The incident took place in the Albertbridge Road area at around 8.40am on Remembrance Sunday.

At the time police confirmed they were investigating a report of an assault on a man and a report of attempted criminal damage to a memorial.

The PUP said the incident had been reported as a sectarian hate crime.

David Ervine, a former Ulster Volunteer Force member, led the PUP for five years from 2002 until his death in January 2007 and was a key figure in brokering the loyalist paramilitary ceasefire of 1994.

The 25-year-old man is in police custody.

Police are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident to come forward.
Police and ambulance crews provide first aid to victims of a suspected drug overdose in Belfast (PSNI Facebook page)

One man remains critically ill in hospital after collapsing from a suspected drug overdose with two other men in Belfast City Centre.

Police and ambulance crews attended the scene in the Donegall Pass area of the city shortly before 9pm on Saturday after the three men were found unconscious.

"Police received a report from the NIAS of three unconscious males," the PSNI said in a statement.

"Police attended the scene and assisted NIAS colleagues."

They were treated at the scene before being taken to hospital.

The Belfast Trust said one of the men remains critically ill and is being treated in the Royal Victoria Hospitals intensive care unit.

It follows a spate of drugs-related deaths in Northern Ireland in recent weeks.

"This clearly could have had dire consequences for those involved," police said in a Facebook post after the incident.
A remnant of the Tricolour that flew over one of the frontlines in the 1916 Rising has been donated to Glasnevin Cemetery.

The piece of flag has been in Jersey for the last 100 years after a native of the island and a member of the British Army's Jersey Pals Battalion climbed on to the roof of the Jacob's Biscuit Factory to take it down while under fire from rebel snipers.

It is the largest known remnant of the flag to have survived.

The Jacob's Tricolour was made after the flag over the GPO had been destroyed. It was made by Thomas Meldon, George Ward and a third man known by the suspected nickname Derry Connell and nailed to a flagpole above the biscuit factory on Bishop's Street on the southside of the city.

It was taken down on Sunday April 30, after the official surrender, and one of the soldiers who climbed up to take it, John le Provost, secured a section of the three colours and sent it to his fiancee Mary La Singe in Jersey.

The flagmakers Meldon and Ward are buried in Glasnevin.

David Blake, great grandson to Le Provost, attended the ceremony in the cemetery to mark the return of the remnant of Tricolour.

"It is only correct and necessary that the Jacob's Tricolour comes back home. I feel as if I had it for a reason; as if the family had been caring for the flag so when the appropriate time came, it should go back. This year is the appropriate time," he said.

Chief Minister of the Jersey Government Ian Gorst also attended.

"It is an honour to be involved in this ceremony, which will commemorate not just the brave and historic actions of the Jersey Contingent but also the long-standing ties that exist between the people of Jersey and Ireland," he said.

John Green, chairman of Glasnevin Trust, said: " It is not only the symbolism of the flag returning to Dublin, to the final resting place of its makers but also the stories it enables us to tell. The story of the Jersey contingent and the Royal Irish Rifles; the story of how the flag went to Jersey."
Amber Rudd told the Home Affairs Select Committee that 30 files would be released to the National Archives

Home Office files concerning events at the Battle of Orgreave are due to be released next year among a cache of records relating to the 1984 miners' strike.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the Home Affairs Select Committee the documents would be among 30 files planned to be released to the National Archives.

The subject titles suggest at least one file relates to the clash between police and strikers that became one of the bloodiest events of the dispute.

A further three files are said to be under consideration for release by the Home Office.

Ms Rudd said in a letter to the committee: "We intend to transfer all 30 of the remaining Home Office files to the National Archives, and are working to complete this as quickly as possible. The files should be publicly available at the National Archives in the first half of 2017."

The Home Secretary came under fire from campaigners when she announced in October that there would not be a parliamentary inquiry into the events.

Vera Baird, police and crime commissioner of Northumbria Police and a former Labour MP for Redcar, who acted for miners when she was a barrister, previously said she was "concerned" that the Home Office was still holding the files in light of Ms Rudd's decision.

The so-called Battle of Orgreave saw police deploy horseback charges and baton-wielding "snatch squads" as 6,000 officers from around the country attempted to prevent striking miners from blocking deliveries at a South Yorkshire coking plant.

Some 95 people were charged with riot and violent disorder, but cases collapsed and South Yorkshire Police were later required to pay compensation.

Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: "The committee wants to establish what information on Orgreave the Government and police still have that has never been published. The Home Secretary's agreement to make public 30 further files on Orgreave is welcome.

"We are seeking further information and I have now written to a further 18 police forces involved in policing the incident to ask what related written information they hold which is not in the public domain. I have specifically asked the Metropolitan Police whether they hold the operational policing plan for Orgreave."
Boris Johnson has spoken of the "candour" that exists in Britain's relations with Saudi Arabia following talks in the kingdom just days after it emerged he had criticised the key ally.

The Foreign Secretary suffered a humiliating slapdown from Number 10 when he claimed the kingdom was behind "proxy wars" in the Middle East.

Riyadh is supporting the internationally-recognised government of Yemen against Iran-backed Houthi rebels but thousands have been killed in bombardments.

At a press conference following meetings with King Salman and Saudi ministers, Mr Johnson said he had a "deep concern" about the suffering of Yemenis but backed the Saudi Arabia-led military intervention in the country.

"It's not just a relationship based on trade or security, it's a relationship between peoples," he said.

Mr Johnson added: "I should just stress as far a Yemen is concerned, Britain supports the Saudi-led campaign to restore the legitimate government and we have continued our dialogue on the conduct of this operation, a detailed dialogue.

"Of course, we continue, like everybody in this room and around the world to have a deep concern for the suffering of the people of Yemen."

Mr Johnson said the friendship between the two nations was "developing and expanding".

"I'm here to emphasis the friendship that exists between the UK and Saudi Arabia and, of course, that is something that is developing and expanding," he said.

"And, it's also fair to say that we believe in a candour in our relationship. And now, if you don't mind, is the time for us to talk about the positive things we are doing together.

Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said: "Th ere are no mixed messages that we are getting from Britain. Britain is an ally of Saudi Arabia's."

He added: "We don't have any doubt in where Britain stands and Britain has no doubt where we stand."

The Defence Secretary, meanwhile, claimed Mr Johnson's criticism had been misreported and "taken out of context".

Sir Michael Fallon also attempted to play down No 10's rebuke, giving an account of what happened at a regular briefing between journalists and Downing Street officials, despite not having been there.

And he accused Nick Robinson, who was standing in for Andrew Marr on his eponymous BBC One Sunday morning political show, of "making a meal" out of the furore.

He said: "I think you really are making a meal of this. Boris's comment, as we have already established, was taken out of context in the reporting that implied we didn't support Saudi Arabia.

"Downing Street was asked the question and Downing Street answered it."

Theresa May's official spokeswoman told reporters the Foreign Secretary's comments were his own personal view and they did not reflect Government policy, after footage emerged of him accusing Saudi Arabia of "puppeteering".

Sir Michael said Mr Johnson was a "huge personality" around the world.

"The media, with great respect, are now starting to over-textualise every remark he makes in answer to every question," he said.

"Downing Street was asked whether this misreporting of what Boris had said, whether that was Government policy. Downing Street simply answered the question."
A teenage boy has been charged with the murder of two men in Ipswich, Suffolk Police said.

The 17-year-old, who has not been named, is due to appear in court on Monday.

He was held by police following the deaths of Barry Street, 32 and Nathan Oakley,18, who died on Thursday from suspected stab wounds.

Police had first responded to reports of a stabbing at West Meadows, Ipswich. They received another call 15 minutes later reporting a male had collapsed outside Ipswich Hospital with suspected stab wounds.

Post-mortem examinations confirmed the pair died as a result of stab injuries.

The suspect was detained a short time later and taken into custody.

He is due to appear at Ipswich Youth Court on Monday.

Anyone with information about the incident, or who was in the West Meadows area between 8am and 3pm on Thursday, is asked to contact police.
Those concerned about the cost of food has also climbed from 50% to 58% in the same period, according to the Consumer Insight Tracker online survey

Concern is growing over the consequences of Brexit and food price rises, a new survey shows.

Research for consumer magazine Which? shows that nearly six months after the EU referendum almost half the population (47%) are worried about withdrawal, up eight points since September.

Those concerned about the cost of food has also climbed from 50% to 58% in the same period, according to the bi-monthly Consumer Insight Tracker online survey of around 2,000 households.

The number of people expressing fears over the exchange rate of sterling has increased from 44% to 53%, and 39% said they were anxious about holiday prices, a question not previously asked.

The research also found worries that the impact on consumers would not be paramount in withdrawal negotiations, with just 31% saying their interest would be represented in the divorce talks with Brussels.

This compares with 72% who believe that consumer interests are either very or fairly important in the Brexit negotiations. This is higher than the amount of people, 62%, who think the interests of large businesses are either very or fairly important in the talks.

Which? called for the Government to champion the interests of consumers in the strategic negotiations, including gaining agreements on prices, protections, and roaming charges.

Vickie Sheriff, director of campaigns and communications at Which?, said: "Consumer confidence is key to economic stability and growth so the uncertainty about Brexit that increasing numbers of people in the UK are feeling must be addressed.

"We have found there is a growing concern about the impact of Brexit and worry that consumers' interests will not be represented in the negotiations. The Government must ensure that consumers have a seat at the table and are not unduly squeezed by price rises or lose key rights and protections."
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, an ally of leader Jeremy Corbyn, said the party had the right leader in place and backed it to rally against record low polling numbers

Both Andy Burnham and Diane Abbott speak for Labour on Brexit, John McDonnell has said, as the party's divisions on freedom of movement returned to the fore.

Shadow home secretary Ms Abbott and Mr McDonnell said the party was in favour of a fair system to control immigration, as the party's position came under scrutiny.

But both also stressed the importance of the economy during Brexit negotiations, with Ms Abbott saying freedom of movement was "inextricably linked" with access to the single market.

The two allies of Jeremy Corbyn also said the party would close the gap in the polls to the Tories, with Ms Abbott saying she expected this to happen within 12 months.

This week two senior Labour figures, Manchester mayor candidate Mr Burnham and Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones, spoke out about the impacts of immigration.

Appearing on BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics, Mr McDonnell was asked whether Labour's stance on immigration was that of Mr Burnham or Ms Abbott, who has taken a far more pro-immigration view.

In reply, Mr McDonnell said: "They're both speaking for Labour, because if you listen to them, what they're saying is if we want to protect our economy, the negotiations around freedom of movement are going to come onto the table.

"What we've got to do is negotiate the best deal. At the moment, we certainly don't know from the Government what they consider to be the best deal.

"The most important thing is we've got to protect jobs and our economy."

He added: "What we've always said on migration, and this has been the traditional Labour party position over the years, is that we want a fair system of migration.

"That's exactly what we'll want to see coming out of the negotiations on Brexit."

On BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show, Ms Abbott said: "We believe in regional autonomy and Andy (Burnham) has always had those views.

"But the truth is you cannot have access to the single market without a measure of freedom of movement.

"My experiences of Labour party members all over the country want immigration rules that are fair and they want reasonable management of migration."

She added that it "would be wrong to put the economy anything other than first" as part of Brexit negotiations.

Ms Abbott and Mr McDonnell also said they wanted to unite the country and appeal to both Remain and Leave voters, with Mr McDonnell saying the Tories and Lib Dems were "pushing themselves into an irreconcilable corner" with their more partisan positons.

Earlier this week Labour hit a seven-year low in the polls when a YouGov survey put them on 25%, 17 points behind Theresa May's Tories.

The party also recorded disappointing results in two recent Westminster by-elections, in Richmond and Sleaford and North Hykeham.

But Ms Abbott said: "I'm confident we can close the gap in the coming 12 months.

"We've had a pretty difficult 12 months, partly Jeremy's enemies in the party, partly commentators, but we have the right policies and we have the right leader."

Mr McDonnell added that Labour had been "absolutely squeezed" in both the by-elections.

He said the party had had "a really dreadful year" but the party was now coming together, adding: "I genuinely think with the way we're positioning ourselves at the moment, we'll come right in the end, particularly on the issue of Brexit."

Mr McDonnell did appear to criticise continuing payments to the EU after Brexit, saying: "I don't believe that the majority of people voted to continue paying into the EU, but that will be part of the negotiations."

He also slapped down the prospect of Labour forming "a progressive alliance" with the Lib Dems and the Greens, saying he did not view the Lib Dems as a progressive force.

He added: "In addition to that, I just think the electorate would be concerned if they thought parties were stitching up elections privately.

"I don't think that's the way forward. The way forward is to support and vote for the Labour party."

Former Tory Cabinet minister Ken Clarke accused Mr Burnham of being a "paler version" of former Ukip leader Nigel Farage and insisted Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson remained pro-immigration.

He told Murnaghan on Sky News: "I would point out, unlike Andy going on about free movement of labour and sounding a bit like a paler version of Nigel Farage, Boris has never been anti-immigrant."

Appearing on BBC One's Sunday Politics, former London mayor Ken Livingstone said he expected Labour to have turned it around in the polls within a year.

"If in a year's time it was still as bad as this, we'd all be worried," he said.

"I don't think it will be, because Jeremy and his team are going to focus on the economy, and that's what wins every election."

However, former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie said Labour did not yet have a credible plan for the economy.

He added: "The plan is not there right now, and you and the rest of the leadership have to be held accountable."

Mr Livingstone also warned that he did not expect Britain would be able to negotiate a "soft Brexit" from the EU.

He said: "So we either have the hard Brexit, and we lose perhaps millions, certainly hundreds of thousands of jobs, or we have to say we got it wrong."
The British Influence think tank believes leaving the EU does not mean quitting the European Economic Area

Businesses face being deluged with 60 million more pieces of paperwork every year if Britain quits the customs union, according to campaigners.

Membership cuts out much of the bureaucracy around exports and imports but a so-called hard Brexit would leave firms with waves of extra documentation, according to the pro-single market Open Britain.

It used World Customs Organisation figures from last year showing the UK made 70.5 million import declarations and 6.5 million export declarations for non-EU goods trade to predict a similar ratio would be needed for trade with the EU.

New forms would be needed for around 45 million import declarations and 15 million export declarations, Open Britain estimated.

Members of the customs union - which covers not only the 28 EU states, but also Turkey, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra and non-EU UK territories such as the Channel Islands - enjoy free trade with one another but must impose the same tariffs on goods arriving from outside the area, and are barred from doing bilateral trade deals with other countries.

Labour former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie said: " Brexit isn't a liberation from red tape but the beginning of an avalanche of paperwork for businesses trading with Europe.

"Ministers should commit to publishing a full cost-benefit analysis of the consequences of leaving the customs union, rather than just airily asserting that it will benefit our trade and our economy without any evidence for those claims."

It comes as a think tank instructed lawyers to begin a legal challenge over whether leaving the EU means automatic withdrawal from the single market.

British Influence wants a judicial review of the Government's legal position on membership of the wider European Economic Area which forms the internal trading bloc.

It believes leaving the EU does not mean quitting the EEA which extends the single market's tariff-free trade in goods to countries like Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

A legal challenge could result in Parliament being given the final say on EEA membership.

A spokesman said: "There is no need for a hard Brexit and there is no mandate for a hard Brexit."
Musical La La Land is hoping to pave the way to Oscar glory with success at the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday.

The film has received 12 nominations, including nods for stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the best actor and best actress categories.

Sci-fi drama Arrival and Moonlight, which follows a gay black man coming of age in Miami, scored 10 nominations for the awards show, which recognises both film and television talent.

Actor and comedian T J Miller is hosting the ceremony in Santa Monica, California, two days after he was arrested for allegedly hitting an Uber driver.

La La Land, which has been hailed as an early favourite for Oscar nominations, is up for best picture, best director for Damien Chazelle and best original screenplay at the Critics' Choice Awards.

Arrival and Moonlight scored best picture and best director nods, with Amy Adams receiving a best actress nomination for her role as a linguistics expert in Arrival.

Skyfall star Naomie Harris scored a best supporting actress nomination for her role as a crack addict in Moonlight, while fellow Briton Dev Patel is up for best supporting actor for his role in Lion.

La La Land, Arrival and Moonlight are joined in the best picture category by Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Lion, Loving, Manchester By The Sea and Sully.

Adams and Stone will compete for the best actress award against Annette Bening for 20th Century Women, Isabelle Huppert for French film Elle, Ruth Negga for Loving and Natalie Portman for Jacqueline Kennedy biopic Jackie.

Denzel Washington, who both directed and stars in Fences, has picked up nominations for his directing and acting, while his co-star Viola Davis is nominated as best supporting actress.

Washington and Gosling will vie for the best actor prize alongside Casey Affleck for Manchester By The Sea, Joel Edgerton for Loving, Andrew Garfield for Hacksaw Ridge and Tom Hanks for Sully.

In the television categories, The Night Manager, starring Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman, is up for a number of awards.

The BBC series is nominated for the best limited series or movie made for television award, while Hugh Laurie and Elizabeth Debicki picked up nods for their supporting roles.

Hiddleston will compete against Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch for best actor in a limited series or movie made for TV, while Colman is in the best actress in a limited series category alongside The People v OJ Simpson star Sarah Paulson.

BBC Three comedy Fleabag and royal drama The Crown also scored nominations at the American awards.

Fleabag, which streams on Amazon Prime in the USA, received a nod for best comedy series, while creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge picked up a best actress in a comedy nomination.

Netflix's prestige series The Crown, which stars Claire Foy and Matt Smith, has been nominated for best drama series, while John Lithgow, who plays Winston Churchill, has been recognised in the best supporting actor in a drama category and Jared Harris, who plays King George, is recognised in the guest performer category.

The 22nd Critics' Choice Awards starts at 5pm local time. (1am Monday UK time).
Louis Tomlinson said his mother would have been "proud" to see him perform his new single

Members of One Direction reunited to support Louis Tomlinson as he sang on The X Factor just days after the death of his mother.

Tomlinson has admitted that performing his new single Just Hold On during the final was "harder than I ever imagined".

Johannah Deakin died on Wednesday at the age of 43 after a battle with leukaemia but Tomlinson's bandmate Harry Styles was on hand to lend support as he took the stage in her honour.

Styles was photographed backstage with Olympian and former I'm A Celebrity contestant Sam Quek during the live final.

Fellow One Direction stars Liam Payne and Niall Horan were later pictured at Tomlinson's celebration at a nightclub with his family.

The One Direction star has said his mother would have been "proud" to see him perform the track.

Tomlinson, 24, thanked his fans and Steve Aoki, the US DJ he collaborated with for his latest record, for their support, on Twitter.

He said: "That was harder than I ever imagined. I want to thank everyone around me and all of the amazing fans out there that made that so special!

"Feeling so much love around me and my family. Mum would have been so f****** proud ( sorry for swearing mum) love you!

"Also @steveaoki, you have been such a rock and inspiration throughout this! Pure talent and a real gent!"

After receiving a standing ovation from the judges, Tomlinson fought back tears as Simon Cowell, who manages One Direction, commended his performance.

He said: "I've known you now for six years. What you've just done, the bravery you've shown, I respect you as an artist, I respect you as a person.

"Your mum was so proud of you, she was so looking forward to tonight and she's looking down on you now. Steve, you're a great friend to him."

Tomlinson blew a kiss up to the ceiling as he listened to Cowell's tribute and a video later emerged of the music mogul embracing Tomlinson after his performance.

Last August One Direction announced they would be going on a one-year hiatus after their Up All Night tour but there has not yet been any indication of if or when that hiatus will end.
A bitter spat erupted between a top aide to Theresa May and Nicky Morgan after the former Cabinet minister was banned from a No 10 meeting in a row over the Prime Minister's trousers.

Fiona Hill branded the sacked former education secretary "that woman" after Ms Morgan was publicly critical of the PM's decision to wear leather trousers that cost nearly 1,000 during a photo shoot for a newspaper.

The joint chief of staff had previously met with Ms Morgan and fellow Tory Alistair Burt and invited them to a meeting with Mrs May about their views on Brexit next week.

But t ext messages obtained by the Mail on Sunday show that Ms Hill texted Mr Burt to tell him "Don't bring that woman to No 10 again" after she spoke out about the premier's decision to pose in Amanda Wakeley-designed ''bitter chocolate'' trousers.

Ms Morgan, however, found out about the message and sent the aide a stinging riposte.

The message seen by the Mail on Sunday said: " If you don't like something I have said or done, please tell me directly. No man brings me to any meeting. Your team invites me. If you don't want my views in future meetings you need to tell them."

Ms Hill, believed to be referring to the pair attending the previous meeting together, replied: " Well, he just did. So there!".

Earlier this week Mrs May insisted she was not out of touch with ordinary people because she opted to wear costly clothing.

Speaking during trip to Bahrain, the PM said: ''Look, I stood on the steps of Downing Street and said what I did about the importance of a c ountry that works for everyone because that is what I have heard from people as I have gone around the country, as I have met people in a whole variety of circumstances.

''I believe it is important for politicians to get out and about and that's exactly what I continue to do. It is important that we have a country that works for everyone.''

Ms Morgan had expressed doubts about the fashion choice, insisting: ''My barometer is always: 'How am I going to explain this in Loughborough market?'''

The MP said the trousers had been ''noticed and discussed'' in Tory circles. Mrs Morgan said: ''I don't have leather trousers. I don't think I've ever spent that much on anything apart from my wedding dress.''
A report said roughly 40% of those detained in under-18 youth offender institutions have not been to school since they were 14

Some young offenders will be held in "secure schools" rather than youth jails under an overhaul to be launched by the Government.

Justice Secretary Liz Truss is poised to unveil plans for two new pilot facilities as part of efforts to put education at the heart of rehabilitation and drive down reoffending rates.

She will will commit an additional 15 million a year for youth custody which will also aim to boost frontline staff and reduce violence.

At the centre of the shake-up is the launch of two new secure schools, where youngsters will receive tuition in core subjects including English and maths and have access to work training and apprenticeship schemes to help them find jobs on release.

The schools will be run in addition to other facilities in the youth custody estate. It is understood the Ministry of Justice is still considering how they will be operated and how many individuals they will hold.

The plans are part of the Government's response to a review by child behavioural expert Charlie Taylor, which will be published on Monday.

Ms Truss said the review sets out the "stark issues we must tackle to help young offenders to live law-abiding lives".

She said: "Prisons rightly punish people who break the law, but they should also be a place where offenders are reformed.

"While young people are in custody we need to make sure they get the right education and training so they can lead law-abiding lives - and, in turn, make our streets and communities safer too.

"The measures I have set out today are the beginning of a series of reforms which will help us cut reoffending, make our communities safer and create a justice system that works for everyone."

Mr Taylor's interim findings, released in February, called for "fundamental change" to the youth custody system and raised the possibility of creating secure schools which would be set up in a similar way to alternative provision free schools in England.

Children in public sector young offender institutions (YOIs) were only receiving 17 hours of education every week on average, compared with an expected level of 30 hours, Mr Taylor found.

His interim report said around 40% of those detained in under-18 YOIs have not been to school since they were 14, while nearly nine out of 10 have been excluded from school at some point.

As part of the overhaul a youth custody apprenticeship scheme is being developed in a bid to ensure all young people are "earning or learning" on release.

Young offenders' progress in education will be measured, as well as improvements in health and behaviour, to gauge the performance of establishments.

A single head of operations post will be established to take charge of youth custody, while plans are being devised to give every child a mentor when they leave custody.

Mr Taylor welcomed the plans. "Education needs to be central to our response to youth offending. It is the building block on which a life free from crime can be constructed," he said.

"If children who offend are to become successful and law-abiding adults, the focus must be on improving their welfare, health and education - their life prospects - rather than simply imposing punishment."

There are five YOIs and three secure training centres for young people in England and Wales.

The under-18 youth custody population has fallen below 1,000 in recent years but reoffending rates have risen, with two in three juvenile offenders committing a new offence within a year of release.
Twenty-five people have been killed and 49 wounded in a bombing at a chapel next to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral during Sunday mass, according to Egyptian state television.

It is the second deadly attack to hit Cairo in two days.

Egypt's official Mena news agency said an assailant lobbed a bomb into a chapel close to the outer wall of St Mark's Cathedral, seat of Egypt's Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II, who is currently visiting Greece.

Egyptian state TV and the Health Ministry gave the casualty toll. Earlier the number of dead was thought to be 22.

Witnesses said the explosion may have been caused by an explosive device planted inside the chapel. Conflicting accounts are common in the immediate aftermath of attacks.

The blast took place as a Sunday mass being held in the chapel was about to end and coincided with a national holiday in Egypt marking the birth of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Most of the victims are thought to be women and children.

State television aired calls by several Cairo hospitals treating the wounded for blood donations and President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi declared a three-day state of mourning.

"The pain felt by Egyptians now will not go to waste, but will result in an uncompromising decisiveness to hunt down and bring to trial whoever helped through inciting, facilitating, participating or executing this heinous crime," a presidential statement quoted the Egyptian leader as saying.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants fighting the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.

As defence minister, he led the July 2013 ousting of Mohamed Morsi, an elected Islamist president who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood.

An angry crowd of several hundred people gathered outside the cathedral, chanting anti-government slogans and calling for the sacking of the interior minister, who is in charge of security. Scuffles broke out with the police when the protesters tried to push through their barricades, but there were no immediate reports of arrests. Police in full riot gear later arrived at the scene.

Egypt has seen a wave of attacks by Islamic militants since the military overthrow of former president Morsi, a freely elected leader, in 2013. Many of Morsi's supporters blamed Christians for supporting the overthrow, and scores of churches and other Christian-owned properties in southern Egypt were ransacked that year.

On Friday, six policemen were killed in a bomb attack in Cairo claimed by a group suspected by authorities of links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

AP
The board of troubled Italian lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena is meeting as the bank searches for a way to repair a five billion-euro hole in its finances.

If MPS cannot raise additional capital from private investors in the coming days, it could need an Italian taxpayer-funded bailout.

The bank's troubles are one of the urgent tasks confronting the new Italian government to be headed by premier-designate Paolo Gentiloni - Italy's former foreign minister who was named on Sunday to lead the country.

A bailout could be politically explosive, because European Union rules could mean that bank bondholders must take losses as a condition of pouring in taxpayer money.

Many bondholders are small-time investors who may not have been fully aware of the risks. The government could look for a way to compensate them.

AP
Donald Trump's presidential transition team has challenged the veracity of US intelligence assessments that Russia was trying to tip the November election to the Republican.

The CIA has now concluded with "high confidence" that Moscow was not only interfering with the election, but that its actions were intended to help Mr Trump, according to a senior US official.

The assessment is based in part on evidence that Russian actors had hacked Republicans as well as Democrats but were only releasing information harmful to Mr Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton.

Mr Trump's public dismissal of the CIA assessment raises questions about how he will treat information from intelligence agencies as president. His view also puts Republicans in the uncomfortable position of choosing between the incoming president and the intelligence community.

In a statement late on Friday, Mr Trump's transition team said the finger-pointing at Russia was coming from "the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction".

On Saturday, spokesman Sean Spicer told CNN there were "people within these agencies who are upset with the outcome of the election".

Mr Spicer denied a New York Times report that Russia had broken into the Republican National Committee's computer networks. The US official who disclosed the CIA assessment to The Associated Press said only that Republican entities had been targeted during the election.

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said he would press for a congressional investigation in the new year.

"That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core," he said. "It's imperative that our intelligence community turns over any relevant information so that Congress can conduct a full investigation."

There was no immediate official response from Moscow. But Oleg Morozov, a member of the foreign relations committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, dismissed the claim of Russian interference as "silliness and paranoia," according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

Mr Morozov described the allegations as an attempt to force the next administration to stick to Barack Obama's anti-Russian course.

President Obama has ordered a full-scale review of campaign-season cyberattacks to be completed before he leaves office in January.

The investigation will be a "deep dive" into a possible pattern of increased "malicious cyber activity" timed to the campaign season, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said, including the email hacks that rattled the presidential campaign.

It will look at the tactics, targets, key actors and the US government's response to the recent email hacks, as well as incidents reported in past elections, he said.

The president ordered the report earlier in the week and asked that it be completed before he leaves office next month, Mr Schultz said.

"The president wanted this done under his watch because he takes it very seriously," he said. "We are committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections."

The Kremlin has rejected the hacking accusations.

Mr Schultz said the president sought the probe as a way of improving the US defence against cyber attacks and was not intending to question the legitimacy of Mr Trump's victory.

"This is not an effort to challenge the outcome of the election," Mr Schultz said.

AP
A man who was wiped out of his tree on drugs made three attempts to abduct children from a Belfast nursery school, a court has heard.

Drugged up William John Hamilton (27) arrived at the nursery last Tuesday and asked for a boy by his first name even though he had no connection to any pupil.

When he was told there was no such child he asked for two girls by name before staff alerted police.

At Belfast Magistrates' Court on Saturday, a CID officer said Hamilton had consumed a large amount amount of diazepam before going to the school in a drug-induced haze.

The officer said that staff at the school were intensely concerned at his protracted attempts to remove a child from the school even though he had no connection to any pupil at the school whatsoever.

He also said that Hamilton accepted he was the man that went to the school and that he has been addicted to diazepam for years.

A defence solicitor said that Hamilton, who currently lives at a Simon Community hostel on the Falls Road, was wiped out of his tree on drugs at the time.

It was also revealed that a friend had died from a drugs overdose at Hamiltons flat on the Ormeau Road in August this year but that had not motivated him to give up his addiction.

His lawyer argued that there was nothing sinister behind Hamiltons attempts to take a child from the school as he was just walking around in a haze.

He said that earlier that day Hamilton had been moved on by police after they found him standing in a telephone box shouting but not actually using the telephone.

Refusing bail, District Judge Bernadette Kelly said she was exceptionally concerned that a man with no connection with a school would seek to remove a child, asking where did that come from?

Judge Kelly said she had to consider all children and parents when deciding whether to grant him bail.

Hamilton was remanded in custody to appear again on December 15.
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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
Apparently, Minnesota's own toxic metal preacher and school speaker Bradlee Dean isn't good enough for school assemblies in the North State State any more.

Instead, Caledonia High School booked Keith Becker, the local paper reports in Controversial foundation speaker comes to Caledonia. Managing editor Daniel E. McGonigle writes in the Argus:

We shouldve done a better job in vetting the speaker, superintendent Ben Barton said regarding the speaker who visited the school on Wednesday, Nov. 30 with a penchant for walking the line between the separation of church and state. Several parents upset by portions of the speech called The Argus to share their concerns, wondering if this was a school sanctioned event. . . .

Read the rest at the Argus. At the Wall of Separation blog published by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Rokia Hassanein writes in Deceptive Evangelists Invade Minn. Public School:

The controversial fundamentalist Christian group known as the Todd Becker Foundation (TBF) is at again  this time, visiting and speaking at a Minnesota public school assembly, a local newspaper reported. According to a story in the Caledonia Argus, Keith Becker, who created the Nebraska-based evangelical foundation in memory of his late brother Todd, spoke to Caledonia High School students in a Nov. 30 assembly that troubled many parents. . . . But the community reaction said otherwise. According to the report, Beckers presentation had some students and community members feeling uplifted and moved, while others felt put out and insulted, and parents questioned why the school agreed to host the assembly. It comes as no shock that many students felt excluded or insulted. The TBF has a history of proselytizing and spewing homophobic venom. Its main goal is to evangelize public school students. Time and time again, TBF has proven to not abide by church-state separation. In 2010, Americans United warned TBF about its unconstitutional practices, noting that TBF can be held responsible for infringing on the religious neutrality of public schools. But TBF didnt stop. In fact, its speakers continue to appear at public school assemblies while masking its activities as issue-based talks that tackle student struggles such as alcoholism and drug problems. The groups website notes that it has held assemblies in 300 different schools in 11 states. How does this organization keep worming its way into public schools? Its actually quite sneaky. The foundations reps offer talks on secular subjects relevant to teens, but they quickly pivot to fundamentalist fear-mongering. The group often holds an assembly for students during the day that includes religious content. But while there speakers plug another event at the school in the evening. The latter event is voluntary but is usually promoted by the school, and students are encouraged to attend. There they get a hellfire sermon. . . . . . . if you get wind of a group like this coming to the public schools of your town, report it to us.

Bluestem agrees. Churches can invite anyone they wish (but need to accept that criticism of extremist speakers is just that: criticism, not censorship), while public schools (remember Bradlee Dean in Dunkerton IA?) and publicly-funded charter schools (remember TiZA?) should stick to secular material.

Photo: Gustave Dore's illustrations of Lucifer, King of Hell, and such from Dante's Inferno scared the heck out of our editor when she was a wee schoolgirl growing up in the Minnesota River Valley. One auntie also gave her a Bible illustrated with Dore's fabulous plates. We are uncertain whether this present brought us closer to Jesus, but studying the details in the pictures gave us less time to get into trouble.

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Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald and Childrens' Minister Katherine Zappone are travelling to Greece today to see the effects of the refugee crisis first hand.

Over the next three days they will visit camps and speak with refugees, children, NGOs and Irish officials working with refugees, as well as senior Greek Ministers and their staff.

Minister Zappone said she is going to Greece to 'listen to the voices of the children'.

"Warlords, terrorists and human traffickers have put children in the front-line of this humanitarian crisis," she said.

"I am going to Greece to listen to the voices of children. I will also see at first hand the vital work of Irish volunteers on the ground.

"So far this year 112 lone children have arrived in Ireland  of which 66 remain in the care of my officials at the Child and Family Agency Tusla."

Speaking in advance of the visit the Tanaiste said: "The Irish Refugee Protection Programme is making real progress and I want to ensure that our efforts continue and indeed accelerate.

"This visit provides an opportunity to engage directly with the Greek authorities as well as people working on the frontline and to further demonstrate Irelands commitment to playing a full part in International efforts to resolve this crisis.

"It is also about offering people fleeing war and devastation the chance to rebuild their lives in Ireland."

By the end of 2016, it is expected that 400 people will have arrived or been cleared for arrival to Ireland from Greece under the EU programme.

This is in addition to Irelands intake of programme refugees from Lebanon under the resettlement strand of the IRPP.

Ireland has committed to take 520 Syrian refugees in 2016. Some 507 refugees are already in Ireland and the balance will arrive in the coming days. Ireland has further committed to take another 520 programme refugees in 2017.
Islamic State militants have re-occupied the ancient city of Palmyra, a Syrian government official and the group said.

The reported taking of the central city from government troops in a major advance follows a year of setbacks in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

In retaking Palmyra, the extremist group appeared to be taking advantage of the Syrian and Russian preoccupation with Aleppo, timing its attack to coincide with a massive government offensive to capture the last remaining opposition-held neighbourhoods in the northern city.

Palmyra, with its towering 2,000-year-old ruins, holds mostly symbolic meaning in the wider Syrian civil war, although its location in central Syria gives it some strategic significance as well.

Islamic State militants re-entered the city on Saturday for the first time since they were expelled by Syrian and Russian forces amid much fanfare nine months ago.

The government's first important win against the Islamic State group in the internationally renowned ancient city gave Damascus the chance to try to position itself as part of the global anti-terrorism campaign.

The militants had spent 10 months in Palmyra, during which they blew up a number of temples and destroyed other artefacts.

Sunday's takeover came hours after government troops and Russian air raids pushed the group out of the city's parameters. IS militants then re-grouped and attacked the city from multiple fronts, forcing government troops to retreat.

Palmyra opposition activists said the militants were going door to door in the city, looking for remnants of government forces.

Homs Province Governor Talal Barazi told the pan-Arab Mayadeen news channel that the IS attack on Palmyra is a "desperate" reaction to the Syrian government military "victories" on the ground. He said the forces that support terrorism including western countries, Saudi Arabia and Qatar wanted to "realise some type of gain" and chose Palmyra because of its international reputation.

Scores of Syrian troops have reportedly been killed in fighting around Palmyra in the last few days.

While the battles are a distraction from the fight in Aleppo, they are unlikely to affect the government's final push on the last rebel-held Aleppo neighbourhoods. By Sunday evening, there was no sign that the army was shifting significant resources away from Aleppo for the fighting in central Syria.

The government and its allies have reportedly mobilised some 40,000 fighters for Aleppo.

"I don't think the regime would withdraw forces from Aleppo to Palmyra and risk losing Aleppo," said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the opposition monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"I think the regime's priority now is to finish the battle for Aleppo before the end of the month for sure.

As for Palmyra, the whole international community would stand by it against IS."

Over the last year, IS has suffered a string of defeats in both Syria and Iraq, losing several towns and cities it had captured in 2014. It is now under attack in Mosul, the last major urban centre it controls in Iraq. A Kurdish-led Syrian force, backed by the US, is also pushing towards Raqqa, the group's de-facto capital in Syria, from the north.

Meanwhile, Turkey is backing Syrian opposition fighters who have reached the outskirts of al-Bab, the IS stronghold in northern Syria.

In going for Palmyra, IS picked a soft target to demonstrate that despite its battlefield losses, it retains the ability to carry out large attacks.

Mohammed Hassan al-Homsi, a native of the city who runs Palmyra News Network, said IS is steering away from north Syria where the anti-IS international coalition and Turkey have focused their fight. With its losses in Iraq and elsewhere in Syria, the militants are eyeing new terrain. They chose Palmyra for its desert terrain linked to Iraq's and its surrounding oil and gas fields, al-Homsi said.

State news agency SANA, quoting an unnamed military official, reported that the militant group received reinforcements from Raqqa, enabling it to attack with "large numbers" against military checkpoints around the city.

Russia's Defence Ministry laid some of the blame at the feet of the US-led coalition, saying it had scaled down its operation against Raqqa and allowed thousands of IS fighters to escape from Mosul. The ministry statement said more than 4,000 Islamic State fighters have been deployed for the Palmyra takeover, implying that the militants attacking Palmyra had recently left Mosul.

The Observatory and the Palmyra Coordination group said IS militants fought their way into the city in a multi-pronged assault, forcing government forces to retreat to the south.

A map distributed by the Observatory shows the areas controlled by IS to extend east, south and north of Palmyra, encompassing a number of strategic hills around the city and expanding the group's presence in rural Homs. Palmyra lies in Syria's largest province, Homs, which is mostly under government control.

Osama al-Khatib, of the activist-run Palmyra Coordination group which keeps in touch with residents in the city, said remaining government and allied troops were escaping from the south-western edge of the city where the ancient ruins are. He said the few remaining families in the city are also attempting to escape.

Al-Homsi's Palmyra News Network said intensive air strikes followed the IS takeover of the city. The group said IS fired on fleeing civilians while the group expanded its presence in rural areas around Palmyra.

In a video by the IS-linked Aamaq news agency, IS fighters were shown roaming a main square in the city that appears deserted at the foothills of the citadel that overlooks the ruins and the Palmyra Museum.

Russia had earlier claimed to have repelled an IS attack on Palmyra, saying it had launched 64 air strikes overnight that killed 300 militants. But hours later, the activists said IS had seized a castle just outside the town that overlooks its famed Roman-era ruins.

Palmyra was a major tourist attraction before the civil war broke out in 2011 and is home to world-famous Roman ruins.

The capture of Palmyra last year by Syrian troops and Russian air force was seen as a major triumph for the government, which had previously had little success in battling the extremist group.

After taking Palmyra, the two states turned their attention to wiping out the internal opposition in Damascus and Aleppo.

After tightening the siege on the eastern part of Aleppo city, the most prized urban stronghold for the opposition, government and allied troops have been steadily carving into the besieged enclave in a ground offensive that began in late November.

Syrian media reported that of the original 17 square miles rebel-held enclave, only 4 square miles remain in opposition hands.

AP
Two exit polls are giving Romania's left-leaning Social Democrats a huge lead in a parliamentary election, a year after a major anti-corruption drive forced the last Socialist prime minister from power.

The Social Democratic Party scored about 45% while the centre-right Liberals came second with about 21% of the vote, according to polling institute CURS-AVANGARDE and the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy.

The chairman of the Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, greeted it cautiously, saying he was "quite satisfied" and "overwhelmed" by what the exit polls predicted, adding "I hope we won't have conflicts in the future."

The Save Romania Union, a new party, which ran on an anti-corruption ticket, came third, allowing it to enter Parliament, according to the polls.

"There should be no doubt who won the elections," Mr Dragnea said. "Romanians want to feel at home in their own country and I want Romania to be a good home for all Romanians."

Mr Dragnea got a two-year suspended prison sentence for voter fraud in April for inflating voter numbers at a July 2012 referendum to impeach former President Traian Basescu. His party was pushing a populist line.

He said Romania would respect its international strategic and economic commitments.

"Romania is an island of stability in the region," he said.

Save Romania Union leader Nicusor Dan called the exit poll predictions "a victory for Romanian democracy," noting people had left their jobs to volunteer to set up the party, which was created in February.

Early results are expected early Monday. The country of about 19 million people is one of the poorest in the European Union and perceived as one of the most corrupt.

AP
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Some of the 17 home building families affected by the collapse of Today's Homes could have their claims settled by Christmas.

Kirk Coningham, executive director of the ACT Master Builders Association, said his organisation had been working closely with property owners and the administrators for almost a month.

The Today's Homes office and depot in Fyshwick. Credit:David Ellery

The MBA underwrote the builder's liability insurance policies taken out by Today's Homes when each of the homes was commenced.

The homes, with a combined contract value of almost $10 million, have been affected by the failure of the Fyshwick-based building company which went into voluntary administration late last month.
Despite the provocations of the Brexit vote, the downfall of Roger Ailes at Fox, and Trump's triumph, Rupert Murdoch's Twitter account has been dormant since his famous sign off tweet in March  following his wedding to Jerry Hall  which warned that it might be his last ever.

But that should not be mistaken for inactivity.

The tilt at BSkyB by 21st Century Fox has his fingerprints all over it, and plenty of irony.
The idea of killing animals "for fun" is anathema to many people, says Susan Cruttenden of Dalmeny. "So it seems highly inappropriate that reindeer should be used as a symbol of Christmas love, joy and peace, when this animal is targeted by recreational hunters to die an ugly and often unnecessary death. Ban American-styled festivals of hunting." Any thoughts Hunters & Fishers?

From Tom Hay, Drummoyne "Just received xmas news letters from local members, John Sidoti And Craig Laundy. There appears to be a state and federal quantum of photos of the member allowed. A tedious count reveals that each of the parties provided 27 pics of their man on a six page glossy (Craig achieved this, narrowly, by being photographed in front of a photograph of himself - perhaps a new level of narcissism) Can other electorates provide corroboration of this agreed quantum?"

For better or worse, we haven't seen Tony the brush turkey (named in honour of our ex-PM) for a few days, writes Manne Schulze of Earlwood. "It might just have moved on, or, more sadly, might have been eaten by a fox. But it got us wondering. Australia has a long history of animals in movies: Skippy , Babe, Nemo, Mumble the penguin, Koko the dog. To all of you George Millers out there: what about Tony the brush turkey? Just thinking."

I have a small business which entails having to use a packing tape dispenser to wrap items in my backyard shed, reports John Solvyns of Calala. "Just lately a frog has decided to take up residence in one of the shed's downpipes and every time I use the tape dispenser, which makes a noise not dissimilar to a frog's croak, the new resident replies with gusto. I'm concerned the frog may become amorous with the dispenser in my absence and the whole situation could turn rather sticky."

Driving along King George's Road I noticed a portable toilet on the front lawn of a house with a sign attached advertising Perfect Granny Flat Solutions. Surely things haven't become that drastic. Poor granny, but fertilizing the grass straight from the flat would save money too," observes. Carol Cruikshank of Lake Illawarra.
No one can say for sure now how Mr Turnbull will reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions to meet our global agreements without spending untold billions more on largely ineffective handouts to big polluters.

Before the July 2 election the Herald asked "could Mr Turnbull deliver steady, unified government?" We answered that "the key will be the scale of any Turnbull election victory. A strong mandate would give him significant leadership certainty against Mr Abbott, the power to rein in the extremes and greater sway with minority senators."

The scale of victory was perilously small and the precarious nature of Mr Turnbull's leadership now informs every decision his cabinet makes.

Since 2013 the Herald has proposed that the Abbott then Turnbull governments develop a baseline and credit scheme to morph Direct Action into a much cheaper, consumer friendly and effective method for reducing pollution. Such a scheme rewards electricity generators who find cleaner ways to produce energy and punishes those who lag. The net cost to consumers is in effect zero and can be a benefit if the new technologies are more effective in cutting emissions. It is not a carbon tax. And such a scheme can easily be extended later to other polluting sectors.

What's all the more galling about last week was that Mr Turnbull had the ammunition to demolish the arguments of Tony Abbott and Cory Bernardi. He had myriad reports and research including extensive modelling by the Australian Energy Market Commission and the Australian Energy Market Operator that showed an emissions intensity scheme to be the cheapest and most reliable way to reduce emissions. He had a report from Chief Scientist Alan Finkel that was presented to state and territory leaders on Friday. It showed the plan under review would save the nation's electricity consumers $15 billion over a decade.
Daily Mail Australia has come under fire after publishing a story about Sam Armytage's "giant granny panties".

The story, which largely consists of paparazzi photos of the Sunrise host's behind taken while she was grocery shopping, was published on Sunday night under the headline, 'Sunrise host Sam Armytage dares to bare with giant granny panties showing a visible line as she steps out in Sydney... after slamming rumours she's dating Channel Seven colleagues'.

Channel 7 Sunrise host, Samantha Armytage forced an apology from Daily Mail Australia. Credit:Getty

"The TV personality's oversized granny panties showed through the garment with a clearly visible line," one sentence read.

The in-depth description of Armytage's "makeup free" look was followed by various rumours about Armytage's love life which have circulated over the past week, all of which were expressly denied by the television presenter in an Instagram post on Sunday (which was included in the Mail's write-up).
Prince Andrew has issued an extraordinary public statement denying there was a rift between himself and the Prince of Wales over the status of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Angered at press reports that he wants his daughters to have enhanced public roles and their future husbands to be given earldoms, the Duke tweeted the stories were "completely made up".

Prince Andrew's daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Credit:Getty Images

The sixth in line to the throne wrote the statement himself, then personally shared it via his official Twitter account. He said he had taken the rare step of issuing a statement in his own name "to terminate further speculation and innuendo".

He went on: "It is a complete fabrication to suggest I have asked for any future husbands of the Princesses to have titles. There is no truth to the story that there could be a split between the Prince of Wales and I over my daughters' participation as Members of the Royal Family and any continued speculation is pointless."
Hall is an accessible, trash-talking, modern-day parenting oracle. Credit:Steven Chee "These women love me and I love them. I get goosebumps just talking about them because we are so close, which sounds bizarre and really stupid, but I really feel we are," she tells me after her time in Newcastle, where she hosted her seventh sold-out Q&A session to promote her self-published memoir, Like a Queen. These meet-ups  12 in Australia, three in New Zealand, and with a UK leg to come  are organised solely through social media and attract diverse crowds of women. There's wine, there's swearing and there are public autopsies of a range of hard-hitting issues, including postnatal depression and the loneliness of motherhood. "I don't have 'followers', they're not 'following' me  they're queens." Credit:Steven Chee Despite being wooed by four major publishing houses who tried to secure the rights to her first book earlier this year, Hall decided to self-publish Like a Queen. She says she was offered advances of $50,000, but baulked at the fine print of the contracts giving the publishers global rights.

She borrowed money from her stepfather for the initial print run of 400 books. She won't be drawn on how many she's sold so far, but there have been at least three print runs, with more expected in the lead-up to Christmas. She's since had to employ a team to handle printing, international distribution and her Facebook administration. Essentially, what I do is share my shit and give people a hand up. I know how to talk to people who are struggling. But despite the hassle of selfpublishing, it's a decision Hall is glad she made. "I have a crusade going on because no one's ever listened to me before and everything that I've got I've gained from my supporters, my queens," Hall says. "So for somebody now to come and pluck me away from them and feed me back to them in their own way  as kind and lovely as they all were  didn't feel natural to me. I want the book and my posts to be from me to the queens with no censoring." Hall is an accessible, trash-talking, modern-day parenting oracle, loved by her local fans as well as more high-profile followers like actor Ashton Kutcher. Her popularity skyrocketed in January when a post about "parent sex" went viral, chalking up more than 160,000 likes and being shared about 38,000 times. (No mean feat considering the last post by Kim Kardashian West, who has more than 29 million fans, clocked up 175,000 likes and was shared 3000 times.)

"You know what parent sex is, it's that 3 minutes you get in between changing nappies and making food," Hall wrote. Soon after, Kutcher sang the praises of her parenting style to his 17.5 million Facebook fans. While some brands and personalities game the Facebook algorithm by paying to boost posts on the platform, Hall doesn't. "I've been blacklisted," she says of her sometimes expletive-ridden updates, "so I have to rely on my content being good enough that people will share it. "Essentially, what I do is share my shit and give people a hand up. I know how to talk to people who are struggling, because that's where I've been for so long." Hall never talks down to women, never patronises. In between the crass talk and photos of her on the toilet, halfnaked in a change room with her arms stuck in a dress three sizes too small, or flipping the bird, she is kind, wise and psychologically astute. She knows how to talk to her audience and it shows with her ability to convert "likes" on a page into reality. At her first Like a Queen event in Perth, people queued for two hours just to meet her. Back in July, she felt compelled to weigh in on Sonia Kruger's controversial comments on Muslim immigration. But while other commentators were crucifying the Today Extra host, Hall performed a master class in diplomacy. She was sympathetic to Kruger yet firmly denounced her views.

"To see people piling hate on her  I hate that about the internet," she says. "One minute she's being celebrated because she's an older woman having a baby, the next minute we all hate her because she's racist, it's just so silly. So it broke my heart. It always breaks my heart when the internet turns on anybody." There's more to Hall's popularity than banging the drum in the pro-women band, and that starts with Hall and Mahon's life being an open book  a refreshing antidote to the carefully Photoshopped, stage-managed stories we are fed from other high-profile personalities. On the day we meet, she and Mahon "are arguing". When I ask her if, as a former hairdresser, she misses her old life, she admits she got up early to blow-dry her manager's hair. "I miss going to the salon to gossip and bitch and chat, but the pay is shit," she says. She flaunts her "flawsome" life both online and in the book, where she reveals intimate details about a rocky marriage plagued with infidelity, her history of hard partying, and battles with anxiety and bulimia. But these sombre topics are lightened by tales of the time she toilet-trained her kids in the backyard, and how her first boyfriend's mother was convinced her son was a reincarnated dolphin. These more revealing aspects come naturally to Hall, a self-described extrovert who was once a contestant on Big Brother. (She was the first housemate of the 2005 series to be evicted, because she had lied about her relationship status during the audition process.) "It was just fun, I didn't see it as being anything other than that. I didn't expect a career out of it, while a lot of the girls in my year had to see psychiatrists and psychologists because they were so into it. You get treated like a celebrity and then two hours later, you're just dumped.

"The Big Brother thing is maybe why I'm so anti-establishment now. That was the crux of being 'owned' and not having any control over anything." She admits that this become something of an Achilles heel for her. "I can be a bit controlling and it's really scary to be anywhere where people tell me not to do that, not to say that. I'm so sensitive to criticism," she says. "I'm not getting a pay cheque every month, I'm not taking anything, so I can just keep doing my thing and if I don't want to be criticised, I won't." When Hall does lose control, drama ensues. Earlier this year, she became embroiled in controversy when a follower posted a photo to Hall's page of her son dressed up for a school parade. In the photo, the son's white skin was painted brown to look like his hero, Fijian West Coast Eagles star Nic Naitanui. Hall did not endorse the photo in any way, but bore the brunt of the media storm. The stress, combined with arguments with Mahon, saw her flee to a hotel. As usual, her followers had a front-row seat at the drama, with Hall posting a tear-stained selfie to Facebook. But she's unapologetic about her tendency to overshare. "I post stuff like that hotel-room selfie because I feel like they are my friends," she says. "The minute you say to them, 'Can you guys just lay off because I'm not coping?', they do. You're going to make the people who love you louder and the rest of the shit is just flooded away by a wave of support."
A 3.2-metre great white was the first of five sharks caught in brand new nets deployed along the infamous stretch of northern NSW coastline that has been marred by a rash of attacks over the past year.

The hulking female was found ensnared off Sharpes Beach, Ballina at 11.30am on Saturday during a routine check of the nets by Department of Primary Industry personnel, just days after the net was installed.

Four other great white sharks were also snagged on Saturday by the state's new hi-tech drumlines, also deployed last week: a three-metre shark was caught off Lennox Head; another measuring 2.7 metres was snared at South Ballina; and two more were caught at Evans Head, measuring 2.5 and 2.3 metres.

DPI researchers Dr Paul Butcher and Matt Broadhurst tagged, relocated and released the large female caught in the net at Sharpes Beach.
As if the recent train disruptions were not enough, Brisbane shoppers and commuters will have to deal with altered bus routes and timetable changes in the CBD this week.

Commuters are being encouraged to plan their trips ahead, with 45 bus routes set to use new stops or have routes altered slightly in the city from Monday.

The major alterations to bus timetables and stop locations in the city come as work starts on the $3 billion Queen's Wharf development project.

Queens Wharf Road will be permanently closed to all traffic from January 1 next year, and William Street between Elizabeth and Margaret Streets will be closed for five years.
A baby girl remains in hospital with serious brain injuries almost five months after an alleged assault as her accused attacker prepares to face court for the first time.

Police arrested a 39-year-old man at Brisbane Airport overnight and charged him with grievous bodily harm over the alleged Gold Coast assault.

Police arrested a man at the airport after he arrived on a flight from Western Australia. Credit:Glenn Hunt

A four-month-old baby girl was rushed to hospital from her Upper Coomera home on July 20 for treatment to what police described as serious injuries.

Police alleged she had become unresponsive at the Serin Street address.
A man impaled his leg on a fence in Cairns in the early hours of Sunday morning, with rescuers cutting the fence to free him.

Emergency services were called about 12.50am to Grafton Street and found the man with "quite a decent entry wound" according to a Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman.

A man who impaled himself on a fence in Cairns on Sunday morning was still connected to part of it on the way to hospital.

Firefighters were called to cut the fence and free the man, who was taken to Cairns Hospital in a stable condition.

A QAS spokesman said part of the fence was still connected to the man on the way to hospital.
A 15-year-old boy was reported missing from Nanango, 25 kilometres south-east of Kingaroy, and was last seen on Fitzroy Street about 7am on Friday.

Police are appealing for public help to find two missing children in south-east Queensland.

A 15-year-old boy has been reported missing from Nanango and has not been seen since Friday morning. Credit:Queensland Police Service

Police have located a 12-year-old girl reported missing from Woodridge on December 10.

Police hold concerns for his welfare due to his age, but he has been known to travel to Caboolture and Morayfield.

He is described as Caucasian, about 180 centimetres tall, with a slim build and short black straight hair.

He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, grey shorts and black sneakers.

Police are also searching for a 12-year-old from Woodridge in Logan who has not been seen since 4.30pm on Saturday.

Her last known location was Garfield Road and police also hold concerns for her welfare due to her age.
The sentiment that Lawrence Springborg was the best premier Queensland never had prompts the question: Who has been our best premier in the past century?

The ALP held government from 1915 to 1957, with the exception of a three-year interregnum in the Great Depression. That half century, saw such Labor luminaries as T.J. Ryan, and Red Ted Theodore lead the party, as well as William Forgan Smith, the canny Glaswegian from Mackay who was premier from 1932 to 1938.

It's regrettable that there is no full length biography of Forgan Smith. His commitment to Keynesian spending on public works post the Depression gave Queensland Somerset Dam, the Story Bridge and the UQ St Lucia campus. A succession of under-achievers followed him: Frank Cooper, Edward Hanlon, and Vincent Gair. So in the first half of the last century, Forgan-Smith is the stand-out.

Like Lawrence Springborg, Frank Nicklin was a serial election loser. He lost five state elections between 1944 and 1956, only cracking the premiership in 1957 when the ALP disintegrated under Vince Gair. Like Forgan Smith, we have no full length biography of Nicklin, a task which is now assuming some significance given that the cancer of police corruption metastasised across the body politic during his term 1957-68.
The missing link in Melbourne's ring road will be built at a cost of up to $10 billion should the Andrews government be re-elected in 2018.

The Premier's latest road-building pledge, almost two years out from the next election, signals a major challenge to the opposition to match the commitment while retaining its own promise to bring back the East West Link project.

The opposition has vowed as recently as October to build the East West Link  which Daniel Andrews dumped at a cost of $1.1 billion according to the acting Auditor-General  if they are returned to government.

Both road projects are seen as key election pledges aimed at marginal seats in Melbourne's gridlocked north and east.
Fifty firefighters have battled a massive blaze at a Melbourne Islamic Community Centre for nearly an hour before managing to bring it under control.

Early this morning several fire crews responded to a large fire at the Fawkner centre and required an aerial hose to extinguish the blaze.

During the fire asbestos was found in the building and firefighters had to be decontaminated as they emerged from fighting the flames.

- AAP
We're wrapping up the blog soon, so here is a summary of the school results we have received so far today.

Scotch College: Four students obtained a perfect ATAR of 99.95 - Andrew Kawai, Warren Lee, Michel Nehme and William Song - while 49 per cent of the class of 2016 got a ranking of 90 or above.

Caulfield Grammar School: One student got a perfect ATAR of 99.95 this year, and 39 per cent of students received ATARs of 90 or above.

Shelford Girls' Grammar: 54 per cent of students obtained an ATAR above 90.

Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School: 39 per cent of its year 12 students achieved an ATAR of 90 or higher.

Melbourne Girls Grammar: 49 per cent of the school's cohort scored an ATAR of 90 or above.

Presbyterian Ladies' College: 58 per cent of the students got an ATAR of more than 90.

Melbourne Grammar School: Student Martin Lee received a perfect ATAR of 99.95.

Mac.Roberston Girls' High School: 81 per cent of its 238 Year 12 students got an ATAR score of 90 or more.

Huntingtower School: 60 per cent of its students achieved ATARs of 90 or above.

Mount Scopus Memorial College: 10 perfect study scores of 50, and 7 per cent of students achieved an ATAR of 99 or above. 52 per cent of its students attained a score of 90 or above.

Haileybury College: 33 perfect study scores of 50. Five students achieved a perfect 99.95 ATAR.

Tintern Grammar: Two students attained an ATAR of 99.5. 22 per cent of its students achieved an ATAR of 90 and above.

Lauriston Girls' School: 46 per cent of its students achieved an ATAR of 90 and above.

St Michael's Grammar School: 34 per cent of its students received an ATAR of 90 or more

Camberwell Girls Grammar: 52% of Camberwell Girls' girls achieved an ATAR score more than 90, putting them in the Top 10 per cent in the state.

Korowa Anglican Girls' School: 57% ranked in the top 10 per cent after achieving an ATAR of 90 or higher

Liebler Yavneh College: 53% of the class attained an ATAR score of 90 or above

Beth Rivkah Ladies College: 54 per cent above 90.

Yeshivah College: 78 per cent above 90. Dux got 99.95.

Ballarat Clarendon College: 40 per cent ranked over 90

Balwyn High: 132 students (38% of the year level) got ATARs of 90 or above. Two students - Julie Shen and Jason Wong - achieved a perfect ATAR of 99.95 this year.

Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar School: 55 per cent of the cohort achieved an ATAR of 90 and above.

Woodleigh School: 32 per cent of students attained ATARs of 90 and above

Frankston High: 13 per cent of students received an ATAR of 90 or above

Methodist Ladies' College: three students obtained an ATAR of 99.95.

St Mary's Coptic Orthodox College: Shady Elyas is dux of the College with an ATAR score of 99.6

St Catherine's School: 43 per cent scored above 90.

Trinity Grammar: Two boys scored 99.95, and 49 per cent of the cohort obtained an ATAR above 90.

McKinnon Secondary College: 37 per cent of students received an ATAR of 90 or above.

Glen Waverley: One third of the student cohort got an ATAR of 90 or more.

Bialik College: 66.67% scored 90 and above.

Brighton Grammar School: 38 per cent of its students achieved an ATAR of 90 or above.

Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School: Five students  Rosemary Chen, Sohil Chhabra, Alec Leos, Madhavi-Priya Singh and Mark Yin - obtained the maximum possible ATAR of 99.95. 44 per cent of Year 12s  over 100 students  obtained an ATAR of 90 or more.
That's it for Melbourne Express.

Lucky for most, it is past the peak today, but the Cranbourne line is suspended between Dandenong and Cranbourne after a track equipment fault at Lynbrook. Buses will replace trains. Trains have resumed on the Upfield line.

A heads up on the news front today. You should see a story on the launch of next year's White Night program and for the first the lights are going on at Ballarat. We will also have stacks more on Year 12 VCE results.

Back on deck tomorrow, see you then.
A group of Melbourne removalists has dabbled in modelling for the second year in a row to raise money for a good cause.

Last year, the boys from Friendly Moving Men stripped down to their jocks for a calendar to raise money for domestic violence victims.

Jackson Kite from Friendly Moving Men stars as Mr February this year. Credit:Georgia Rose

This time, the removalists are packing up their clothes to help people at risk of homelessness.

All profits from the company's 2017 calendar will go to Merri Outreach Support Service, a community-based organisation that has been helping men, women and children for more than 20 years.
Planning Minister Richard Wynne ignored expert advice that the density limits he introduced would be "unworkable" if he allowed skyscraper developers extra floors in return for "public benefits".

A scheme approved by Mr Wynne late last month means developers that meet "vague" criteria of providing "public benefits" in their projects can get extra height or floor space  potentially worth millions of dollars extra.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne. Credit:Penny Stephens

Mr Wynne ignored the warnings from four of the state's most senior planners not to proceed with the controversial scheme.

The "benefits" developers can offer to get extra density must fall into one of five categories: adding public space or laneways around a new tower; new public space within a building; creating office space; running a design competition; or affordable housing.
A drug-injecting room should be established in Melbourne's inner north as part of a parliamentary inquiry into illicit substances, Sex Party MP Fiona Patten says.

Every year more than 20 people on average die from heroin overdoses in a small rectangle of north Richmond, according to community health providers.

Fiona Patten has introduced a bill into the Victorian Parliament to allow for a consumption room pilot. Credit:James Brickwood

The push for a "safe consumption room" in the drug use hot spot comes amid a coronial inquest of a 33-year-old woman who died in north Richmond. The inquest will look at fatal heroin overdoses and how to stop them.

After championing protest buffer zones for abortion clinics and pushing for change on assisted dying, Ms Patten is now focusing on a safe drug room for north Richmond.
A man is assisting police with inquiries into the death of a 40-year-old man on Saturday night.

The 40-year-old died in hospital after being injured in a fight at a Forrestfield home on Saturday evening.

Police are investigating the incident in Forrestfield and reports on the nature of the incident remain unconfirmed. Credit:Alice Pooley/Nine News Perth

Police were called to the Allamanda Way home at about 8pm after reports of an altercation and serious injuries.

St John Ambulance took the man to Royal Perth Hospital, where he later died. They have not confirmed reports on how he received the injuries.
President-elect Donald Trump being interviewed at Trump Tower in New York. Credit:AP "Personally, it could be Russia. It ... I don't really think it is, but who knows? I don't know either. They don't know and I don't know." The view appears to put him at odds with American intelligence agencies and several leading legislators. Rex Tillerson is Donald Trump's pick for US Secretary of State. Credit:AP The former Republican presidential contender John McCain urged Mr Trump to accept that Russia had interfered in the election.

"The facts are there," he said on CBS's Face the Nation. Senator McCain had earlier joined with Democrat senators Chuck Schumer and Jack Reed, and Republican Lindsey Graham to issue a statement calling for a bipartisan Congressional investigation into the hacking. Senators alarmed about hacking Four senators on Sunday issued a joint statement to raise alarm about the reported Russian interference in the US electoral process. A secret CIA assessment of available evidence concluded that Russia intervened in the election to help Mr Trump to victory. The report said intelligence agencies had identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee to WikiLeaks.

US President Barack Obama has since ordered an official review of foreign involvement in the election. In their joint statement senators Schumer, Reed, McCain and Graham said "foreign adversaries" had "for years ... directed cyber attacks at America's physical, economic, and military infrastructure, while stealing our intellectual property." "Now our democratic institutions have been targeted," they said. "Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American. "We are committed to working in this bipartisan manner, and we will seek to unify our colleagues around the goal of investigating and stopping the grave threats that cyber attacks conducted by foreign governments pose to our national security." Climate change

In the wide-ranging interview with Wallace, Mr Trump also said "nobody really knows" whether climate change is real and that he is "studying" whether the United States should withdraw from the global warming agreement struck in Paris a year ago. Mr Trump said he was "very open-minded" about whether climate change was under way, but had serious concerns about how Mr Obama's efforts to cut carbon emissions had affected America's global competitiveness. "I'm still open-minded. Nobody really knows," Mr Trump said. "Look, I'm somebody that gets it, and nobody really knows. It's not something that's so hard and fast. I do know this: other countries are eating our lunch." During the presidential campaign, Mr Trump referred to climate change as a "hoax" perpetrated by the Chinese, a comment he later described as a joke. He also mocked the idea of global warming during a town hall debate in New Hampshire. During Sunday's interview, Mr Trump said he needed to balance any environmental regulation against the fact that manufacturers and other businesses in China and elsewhere are able to operate without the kind of restrictions faced by their US competitors.

"If you look at what  I could name country after country. You look at what's happening in Mexico, where ... plants are being built, and they don't wait 10 years to get an approval to build a plant, OK?" he said. "They build it like the following day or the following week. We can't let all of these permits that take forever to get stop our jobs." The New York businessman made the same critique of the Environmental Protection Agency, to which he has nominated Oklahoma Attorney-General Scott Pruitt  a climate change sceptic  as the head. At the urging of his daughter, Ivanka, Mr Trump has met in the past week with former vice-president Al Gore and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, both environmental activists. US 'not bound by' one China policy Mr Trump also questioned whether the United States was bound by its longstanding position that Taiwan is part of "one China" and he brushed aside Beijing's concerns about his decision to accept a phone call from Taiwan's president.

"I fully understand the 'one China policy,' but I don't know why we have to be bound by a 'one China policy' unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade," Mr Trump said. In the Fox interview, Mr Trump criticised China over its policies on issues such as currency, the South China Sea and North Korea, and said it was not up to Beijing to decide whether he should take a call from Taiwan's leader. "I don't want China dictating to me and this was a call put into me," Mr Trump said. "It was a very nice call. Short. And why should some other nation be able to say I can't take a call? "I think it actually would've been very disrespectful, to be honest with you, not taking it." 'He does massive deals in Russia'

Mr Trump also discussed his appointments to the cabinet, which he said were not aimed at tearing down Mr Obama's legacy on issues such as the environment. He expressed his desire to prevent former government officials from making money in the private sector on the policies they implemented or contracts they approved while working for federal agencies. Mr Trump said he was "very, very close" to naming his secretary of state, though he declined to say whether he would select Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who has emerged as the front-runner and whom Mr Trump called "a world-class player". "To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well," Mr Trump said. Loading
Washington: A member of Congress who served as a Marine in Iraq said he has been called "everything you can under the sun" by fellow veterans for his decision to oppose retired Marine General James Mattis becoming defence secretary, but he stands by his choice.

Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona who became a congressman last year, said he has been insulted repeatedly by fellow combat veterans, with some inaccurately calling him "POG", a derisive acronym that stands for "Person Other than Grunt" and implies he did not serve in the infantry. Others called him a "Blue Falcon", a term describing someone who turns on a friend for their own personal gain.

"Marines in general are the harshest critics of other Marines," Mr Gallego said, adding that he doesn't take it personally. "I've been told what I can do with different parts of my body orifices to myself."

Mr Gallego announced on December 5 that he was opposing US President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of General Mattis as defence secretary because he believes "strongly in the principle of civilian leadership of the military". He is one of the only members of Congress to come out openly against General Mattis running the Pentagon.
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CHARLIE WARREN PENDLETON, Defendant-Appellant. No. 15-13617 Decided: December 09, 2016

Before TJOFLAT, MARTIN and ANDERSON , Circuit Judges.

A jury found Charlie Warren Pendleton guilty of possessing a firearm and ammunition as a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(1), and the District Court sentenced him to prison for 180 months under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA),18 U.S.C.  924(e). Pendleton appeals his conviction on the ground that the District Court misapplied the Speedy Trial Act in calculating the excludable time. He appeals his sentence on two grounds: (1) the Court erred in using his prior conviction for threatening to discharge a destructive device as an ACCA predicate offense because the offense did not qualify under the ACCA's enumerated offenses clause and the Shepard documents did not show that the elements of the statute he was convicted of established a violent felony, and (2) his prior conviction for resisting a law enforcement officer with violence was presumptively void because he was not represented by counsel during the sentencing for that offense. After considering the parties' briefs and the record, we affirm Pendleton's conviction and sentence.

I.

We review de novo the District Court's denial of Pendleton's motion to dismiss his indictment pursuant to the Speedy Trial Act. United States v. Harris, 376 F.3d 1282, 1286 (11th Cir. 2004). We review the Court's findings of fact regarding what qualifies as excludable time under the Act for clear error. Id. at 1286.

Early during the prosecution of this case, it became apparent to Pendleton's lawyer that he may not be competent to stand trial. The Speedy Trial Act error the District Court allegedly committed was in excluding the delay (in excess of 10 days) incurred in having Pendleton taken to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, Missouri, for a mental competency determination.

The Speedy Trial Act provides that a defendant's trial must commence within 70 days of either the filing date of the indictment or the date of the defendant's initial court appearance related to the charge, whichever occurs later. 18 U.S.C.  3161(c)(1). The speedy trial clock is tolled during certain periods of delay. 18 U.S.C.  3161(h). Section 3161(h) of the Act, which addresses the delay at issue here, provides, in relevant part:

(h) The following periods of delay shall be excluded in computing the time within which an information or indictment must be filed, or in computing the time within which the trial of any such offense must commence:

(1) Any period of delay resulting from other proceedings concerning the defendant, including but not limited to

(A) delay resulting from any proceeding, including any examinations, to determine the mental competency or physical capacity of the defendant;



(D) delay resulting from any pretrial motion, from the filing of the motion through the conclusion of the hearing on, or other prompt disposition of, such motion;

 [and]

(F) delay resulting from transportation of any defendant from another district, or to and from places of examination or hospitalization, except that any time consumed in excess of ten days from the date an order of removal or an order directing such transportation, and the defendant's arrival at the destination shall be presumed to be unreasonable



(4) Any period of delay resulting from the fact that the defendant is mentally incompetent or physically unable to stand trial.

Id. Additionally, any specific day that triggers the running of the speedy trial clock is excluded from the 70-day period. United States v. Elkins, 795 F.2d 919, 922 (11th Cir. 1986).

We find no error in the District Court's denial of Pendleton's motion to dismiss his indictment under the Speedy Trial Act because fewer than 70 non-excludable days had passed. Pendleton's argument---that the days beyond 10 that it took to transport him to the Medical Center at Springfield should not have been excluded---fails because he was incompetent during that entire time. Hence, such time was properly excluded under  3161(h)(4). Pendleton's argument that incompetent defendants should still receive the benefit of  3161(h)(1)(F)'s 10-day limit on reasonable transportation reads into the statute a conflict between  3161(h)(1)(F) and (h)(4) that does not exist. Though we have no precedent directly on point, a plain reading of the statute does not necessitate the conclusion that only one of the exclusions under  3161(h) can apply at a time. According to the statute's plain language, any qualifying delay is excludable, regardless of whether it would or would not qualify under a different subsection of the statute. Thus, if a defendant is mentally incompetent under  3161(h)(4), that time is excludable even if there is also a transportation delay that is unreasonably long and thus not excludable under  3161(h)(1)(F). In this case, for example, 53 days passed between June 23, 2011, when the District Court found Pendleton incompetent, and August 16, 2011, when he arrived at the Springfield Medical Center. Pendleton is correct that under  3161(h)(1)(F) only 10 of the 53 days of transportation were excludable from the calculation. 18 U.S.C.  3161(h)(1)(F). However, because he had been declared incompetent, the entire 53 days was excludable under  3161(h)(4). 18 U.S.C.  3161(h)(4). There being no Speedy Trial Act violation, Pendleton's conviction is affirmed.

II.

Pendleton argues that his conviction for threat to discharge a destructive device, in violation of Fla. Stat.  790.162, does not qualify as a violent felony under the ACCA. He did not present his objection to the District Court at sentencing. We therefore review it for plain error. To satisfy that standard of review, Pendleton must establish the occurrence of (1) an error, (2) that is plain, (3) that affects substantial rights (which usually means that the error was prejudicial), and (4) that seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. United States v. Mangaroo, 504 F.3d 1350, 1353 (11th Cir. 2007). A plain error is an error that is obvious' and is clear under current law.  United States v. Humphrey, 164 F.3d 585, 588 (11th Cir. 1999).

Under the ACCA, a violent felony is any crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year that:

(i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another; or (ii) is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.

18 U.S.C.  924(e)(2)(B). Subpart (i) is sometimes referred to as the elements clause, while subpart (ii) contains the enumerated crimes. United States v. Owens, 672 F.3d 966, 968 (11th Cir. 2012). The Supreme Court, in Johnson v. United States, held that the second clause of  924(e)(2)(B)(ii), the residual clause, is unconstitutionally vague, and therefore, imposing an enhanced sentence based upon that provision denies due process. 135 S. Ct. 2551, 2563, 192 L. Ed. 2d 569 (2015).

To determine whether a crime falls under the ACCA definition of a violent felony, we typically compare the elements of the statute forming the basis of the defendant's conviction with the elements of the generic crimei.e., the offense as commonly understood. Descamps v. United States, 570 U.S. ___, 133 S. Ct. 2276, 2281, 186 L. Ed. 2d 438 (2013). If these elements are the same as, or narrower than, those of the generic offense, then any conviction under the statute qualifies as a violent felony. Id. This is the categorical approach. Id.

But, the Supreme Court has also outlined an alternative approach that applies to a narrow subset of cases, the modified categorical approach. See United States v. Lockett, 810 F.3d 1262, 1266 (11th Cir. 2016). As the Supreme Court explained in 2013, this approach only applies to divisible statute[s]. Descamps, 133 S. Ct. at 2281. A statute is divisible if it sets out one or more elements of the offense in the alternativefor example, stating that burglary involves entry into a building or an automobile. Id. (emphasis in original); see also Mathis v. United States, 579 U.S. ___, ___, 136 S. Ct. 2243, 2251-54, 195 L. Ed. 2d 604 (2016) (holding that courts may use the modified categorical approach only if the non-generic terms in a state statute constitute elements of the offense, not simply alternative means of committing the crime).

As previously noted, Pendleton expressly concedes that Fla. Stat.  790.162 is divisible and has consequently waived any argument to the contrary. [Appellant Br. at 42]; In re Egidi, 571 F.3d 1156, 1163 (11th Cir. 2009) (explaining that [a]rguments not properly presented in a party's initial brief or raised for the first time in the reply brief are deemed waived). So, we assume that the modified categorical approach applies here. Under this approach, we consult any Shepard documents the Government submitted to determine which version of the crime the defendant was convicted of. United States v. Braun, 801 F.3d 1301, 1305 (11th Cir. 2015). If the crime that the defendant was convicted of has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another, then the conviction qualifies as a violent felony for purposes of the ACCA under the elements clause. Id. at 1307; 18 U.S.C.  914(e)(2)(B)(i). Similarly, if the elements of the crime that the defendant was convicted of match the generic elements of an enumerated offense, then the conviction qualifies as a violent felony for purposes of the ACCA under the enumerated crimes clause. United States v. Ramirez-Flores, 743 F.3d 816, 820 (11th Cir. 2014).

We find no plain error in the Court's finding that Pendleton's prior conviction for threatening to discharge a destructive device qualified as a violent felony for purposes of the ACCA enhancement. Whether a conviction under  790.162 qualifies as a violent felony through the enumerated clause of the offense that involves use of explosives is a matter of first impression. 18 U.S.C.  924(3)(2)(B)(ii). Consequently, there can be no error that is plain or obvious, the second factor of the plain error standard. Humphrey, 164 F.3d at 588. But assuming that it is, we do not invoke the standard because the error does not seriously affect[ ] the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. Mangaroo, 504 F.3d 1353.

III.

Pendleton argues that his prior conviction for resisting a law enforcement officer with violence was presumptively void because he was not represented by counsel in the sentencing in that case. United States v. Barrington, 648 F.3d 1178, 1195 (11th Cir. 2011). According to him, the Florida court's omission of the name of his court-appointed attorney from the judgment established that he was not represented by counsel and that his conviction is invalid under Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S. Ct. 792, 9 L. Ed. 2d 799 (1963) (holding that the Sixth Amendment, which grants defendants a right to counsel in all criminal prosecutions, applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment), and cannot be used as the basis for a sentence enhancement in a later case, such as the one here. Burgett v. Texas, 389 U.S. 109, 115, 88 S. Ct. 258, 262, 19 L. Ed. 2d 319 (1967). Contrary to Pendleton's argument, overwhelming evidence supports the District Court's factual finding that he received the assistance of appointed counsel in the state proceedings underlying his conviction for resisting an officer with violence. The evidence included a court order appointing the Public Defender at Pendleton's initial appearance on the charge; court minutes showing that was being represented by counsel; a plea agreement signed by him and counsel; and counsel's motion for attorney's fees made on the date of his sentencing. In sum, we find no clear error in the Court's finding that Pendleton received the representation of counsel throughout the case and, in particular, at sentencing, where the court imposed the sentence reflected in Pendleton's plea agreement.

For the foregoing reasons, Pendleton's conviction and sentence are

AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

. Pendleton was indicted on March 16, 2011. He was tried and convicted under a superseding indictment returned on December 21, 2011. He was sentenced on November 1, 2012, to a prison term of 180 months. He appealed his sentence, but we dismissed the appeal because it was untimely filed. United States v. Pendleton, No. 12-16565 (11th Cir. 2013. Pendleton then moved the District Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C.  2255 alleging that his attorney rendered ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment in failing to file a timely notice of appeal following his November 1, 2012 sentence. Doc. 172-1. The Court agreed, granted his motion, Doc. 173, and entered an amended judgment incorporating the November 1, 2012 sentence. Doc. 176. Pendleton now appeals that judgment.

. 18 U.S.C.  3161 et seq.

. Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 26, 125 S. Ct. 1254, 1263, 161 L. Ed. 2d 205 (2005) (holding that a court is limited to the terms of the charging document, the terms of a plea agreement or transcript of colloquy between judge and defendant in which the factual basis for the plea was confirmed by the defendant, or to some comparable judicial record of this information when determining whether a non-generic criminal statute necessarily admits the elements of the generic offense).

. Pendleton concedes that  790.162 is divisible and that some violations of the statute would qualify as violent felonies.

. Shepard, 544 U.S. at 26, 125 S. Ct. at 1263 (2005) (holding that a court is limited to the terms of the charging document, the terms of a plea agreement or transcript of colloquy between judge and defendant in which the factual basis for the plea was confirmed by the defendant, or to some comparable judicial record of this information when determining whether a non-generic criminal statute necessarily admits the elements of the generic offense)

PER CURIAM:
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Despite the frenzied apartment construction taking place in many Australian capital cities (leading to fears of a looming oversupply), two thirds of Australians (69%) who want to buy investment properties want to acquire one in a capital city.This statistic was taken from a new Galaxy survey of 1,005 people nationwide on behalf of State Custodians Home Loans. In contrast, slightly more than half (54%) of Australians who want to buy investment properties want to purchase one in regional areas.Victorians, South Australians, and West Australians, in particular, show a strong desire to invest in capital cities. 72% of Victorians want an investment property in Melbourne, compared to 33% who want an investment property in regional Victoria. Meanwhile, 80% of South Australians want an investment property in Adelaide, compared to 36% who want an investment property in regional South Australia. More West Australians nominated Perth (66%) followed by elsewhere in the state (31%).The figures were much closer in New South Wales. Most residents want an investment property in Sydney (51%), only slightly ahead of regional New South Wales (49%).The only state that did not favour their capital city as their first preference was Queensland. Some 56% of residents said they were more interested in regional Queensland than they were in Brisbane (50%). Joanna Pretty , general manager at State Custodians Home Loans, said its no surprise that capital cities are still favoured by property investors. Metro areas have always had a strong rate of return, so although they are more expensive to buy into, they are still a good option, she said.However many regional areas are starting to show strong returns also, particularly as affordability decreases in the cities and people make lifestyle choices and move to regional areas. So it can be [a] more affordable option for property investors.Overall, the survey shows that people are most comfortable investing where they live. Among those living in capital cities, 87% wanted to buy an investment property in a capital city versus 40% who wanted to buy an investment property in regional areas. For regional residents, 82% wanted to invest in regional areas versus 33% who want to invest in a capital city.Regardless of their preference, it pays for investors to consider the bigger picture. As with any property investment strategy, the key is to research potential areas carefully and make the right decision for your budget, she said. While you may be more familiar with the area you live in, dont limit yourself by not investigating other options that may be a more cost-effective option."Even if you are buying an investment property nearby to eventually downsize to, or to pass onto family members, you need to take into consideration the propertys future growth potential, said Pretty.
World Series no-hitter! Astros combine for Fall Classic's first no-no since 1956

Cristian Javier and three relievers combined to no-hit the Phillies in a 5-0 win, evening the World Series at 2-2.
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. HELMUT JURKOWITSCH, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. P.O. MOHAMMED CHOUDHURY, individually and in his official capacity, Defendant-Appellant, CITY OF NEW YORK, JOHN DOES #110, individually and in their official capacity of the New York City Police Department, CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION, MARK QUAIES, a Capital One Financial Corporation employee, JOHN DOES #1120, in their individual capacities and as employees of Capital One Financial Corporation, Defendants. 16-48-cv Decided: December 08, 2016

Present: DEBRA ANN LIVINGSTON, DENNY CHIN, SUSAN L. CARNEY, Circuit Judges, For Plaintiff-Appellee: MEGAN RHA, Rha & Kim, LLP, Bayside, New York For Defendant-Appellant: EMMA GRUNBERG (Richard Dearing, Devin Slack, on the brief), for Zachary W. Carter, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, New York, New York

UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the order of the district court is AFFIRMED.

Defendant-Appellant New York City Police Department Officer Mohammed Choudhury appeals from a December 9, 2015 order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Chen, J.) denying a motion to dismiss Plaintiff-Appellee Helmut Jurkowitsch's 42 U.S.C.  1983 claim against him. We presume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural history, and the issues presented for review.

As this appeal arises from a district court's denial of a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), we accept as true the allegations set forth in Jurkowitsch's complaint. See Betts v. Shearman, 751 F.3d 78, 81 (2d Cir. 2014). This  1983 action arises from the January 3, 2014 arrest of Jurkowitsch. At around 9:40 a.m. that Friday morning, Jurkowitsch entered the branch office of the bank where he has deposited his paycheck weekly for the past six years. The branch's exterior and interior doors were unlocked, the lights were on in the lobby, customers were using the ATM, and there were employees present in the branch. Upon entering, Jurkowitsch sat down in the bank's lobby to await assistance with depositing his check. After he had been waiting in the lobby for a brief period, six officers from the New York City Police Department arrived and, without asking Jurkowitsch to leave the bank and without asking him any questions at all, arrested him. Officer Choudhury and the other police officers took Jurkowitsch into custody, and after being held for several hours, he was eventually charged with Criminal Trespass in the Third Degree, N.Y. Penal Law  140.10(a). The charge was later dismissed.

In November 2014, Jurkowitsch filed a lawsuit against, in relevant part, Officer Choudhury, the arresting officer. His complaint asserts, inter alia, a claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C.  1983. He alleges the individual law enforcement officers falsely arrested him in violation of the Fourth Amendment. As relevant here, the district court denied the motion to dismiss the  1983 claim against Officer Choudhury on the ground that at this stage of the proceedings, accepting as true all the factual allegations in the complaint, the complaint does not on its face establish that Officer Choudhury had probable cause to arrest Jurkowitsch or, alternatively, that Officer Choudhury was entitled to qualified immunity.

We have jurisdiction over this appeal from the district court's denial of a motion to dismiss on qualified immunity grounds because such a denial, so long as it turns on an issue of law, qualifies as a final reviewable order. Garcia v. Does, 779 F.3d 84, 91 (2d Cir. 2014). We review de novo, accepting all allegations in the complaint as true and drawing all inferences in the plaintiff's favor. Id.

Officer Choudhury contends that based on the factual allegations in the complaint he had at least arguable probable cause to arrest Jurkowitsch. Probable causea complete defense to an action for false arrestexists where a law enforcement officer has knowledge or reasonably trustworthy information of facts and circumstances that are sufficient to warrant a person of reasonable caution in the belief that the person to be arrested has committed  a crime. Stansbury v. Wertman, 721 F.3d 84, 89 (2d Cir. 2013) (alteration in original) (quoting Jaegly v. Couch, 439 F.3d 149, 152 (2d Cir. 2006)). This inquiry is an objective one that focuses on the facts available to the arresting officer at the time of the arrest. Finigan v. Marshall, 574 F.3d 57, 6162 (2d Cir. 2009). Generally, a law enforcement officer who receives a report that someone has committed an offense has probable cause to arrest that personunless the circumstances give rise to doubt about the reporter's veracity. Panetta v. Crowley, 460 F.3d 388, 395 (2d Cir. 2006). To establish entitlement to qualified immunity, an officer need only establish arguable probable cause, which exists if either (a) it was objectively reasonable for the officer to believe that probable cause existed, or (b) officers of reasonable competence could disagree on whether the probable cause test was met. Garcia, 779 F.3d at 92 (quoting Zaleski v. City of Hartford, 723 F.3d 382, 390 (2d Cir. 2013)).

We agree with the district court: the facts alleged in the complaint are not sufficient to establish that Officer Choudhury had probable cause or arguable probable cause to arrest Jurkowitsch. Officer Choudhury primarily relies on the complaint's allegation that Capital One's report of a crime at the bank led to Jurkowitsch's arrest. The complaint, however, alleges only that a Capital One employee called 911 several minutes after Jurkowitsch sat down in the bank to wait for help depositing his paycheck, and that the officers acted based upon Capital One's false report of a trespass and possible burglary. The complaint lacks any description of the 911 caller's statements or of circumstances that might have indicated the caller's veracity or basis for knowledge. Cf. Panetta, 460 F.3d at 395. The other allegations in the complaint, moreover, suggest that upon arriving at the bank, Officer Choudhury encountered circumstances that contradicted, rather than confirmed, any 911 caller's report of a trespass or burglary. Cf. id. at 397; Finigan, 574 F.3d at 62. When all inferences are drawn in Jurkowitsch's favoras they must be at this stage in the casethey suggest that the police officers entered an open bank branch, where the lights were on, the doors unlocked, and customers and employees present, and found a customer patiently waiting to deposit his check. Officer Choudhury's entitlement to qualified immunity is not apparent on the face of this complaint, and the district court correctly declined to dismiss Jurkowitsch's  1983 claim at this stage.

We have considered Officer Choudhury's remaining arguments and find them to be without merit. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the order of the district court.

FOR THE COURT:

Catherine O'Hagan Wolfe, Clerk
Bank employee admits role in scheme that targeted South Jersey cash

Feds say call-center workers took customers' ID and account information, then used that to take their cash.
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee, v. JAMES BROME, AKA Trouble, AKA B, Defendant-Appellant. 15-3945 Decided: December 08, 2016

PRESENT: DEBRA ANN LIVINGSTON, DENNY CHIN, SUSAN L. CARNEY, Circuit Judges. For Defendant-Appellant: JAMES BROME, pro se, White Deer, PA For Appellee: JOSEPH J. KARASZEWSKI, Assistant United States Attorney, for William J. Hochul, Jr., United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, Buffalo, NY

UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the orders of the district court are VACATED, and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this order.

Defendant-Appellant James Brome, proceeding pro se, appeals from the district court's denial of his motion to reduce his sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C.  3582(c)(2) and Amendment 782 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which lowered the base offense levels applicable to most drug crimes. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual app. C., amend. 782 (U.S. Sentencing Comm'n 2014). Brome also appeals from the district court's denial of his motion for reconsideration. We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural history of the case, and the issues on appeal.

We review a district court's denial of a  3582(c)(2) motion for abuse of discretion. United States v. Borden, 564 F.3d 100, 104 (2d Cir. 2009). Likewise, we review the denial of a reconsideration motion for abuse of discretion. United States v. Moreno, 789 F.3d 72, 78 n.4 (2d Cir. 2015). A district court has abused its discretion if it based its ruling on an erroneous view of the law or on a clearly erroneous assessment of the evidence, or rendered a decision that cannot be located within the range of permissible decisions. Borden, 564 F.3d at 104 (quoting Sims v. Blot, 534 F.3d 117, 132 (2d Cir. 2008)).

Upon review, we conclude that vacatur is warranted because we are unable fully to evaluate the basis for the district court's exercise of discretion on the present record. In denying Brome's  3582(c)(2) motion, the district court cited the nature of the defendant's history and characteristics and the need for the sentence to reflect the seriousness of the offense. App'x 20. But with respect to Brome's history and characteristics, the district court specifically focused on information, contained in Brome's original PSR, that he had absconded from supervision and assaulted another inmate. Brome was never prosecuted for absconding from supervision, and he was acquitted of the assault charge. While these facts do not necessarily mean that the underlying conduct cannot properly be considered, cf. United States v. Aldeen, 792 F.3d 247, 254 (2d Cir. 2015) (affirming, in sentencing context, that conduct underlying a dismissed charge may be considered where appropriate factual findings as to the conduct are made), the record does not reveal whether the district court was aware of this information at the time it decided the present motion, nor does it otherwise provide a basis for understanding the court's consideration of these incidents, which formed the basis for its analysis whether Brome's  3582(c)(2) motion to reduce his sentence should be granted.

The remainder of the district court's order does not otherwise sufficiently illuminate the district court's reasoning so as to permit this Court to review the district court's exercise of discretion. See United States v. Cavera, 550 F.3d 180, 193 (2d Cir. 2008) (en banc) (We cannot uphold a discretionary decision unless we have confidence that the district court exercised its discretion and did so on the basis of reasons that survive our limited review. Without a sufficient explanation of how the court below reached the result it did, appellate review of the reasonableness of that judgment may well be impossible.). In fact, in denying Brome's motion for reconsideration, the district court provided no explanation at all.

To be clear, we conclude simply that the present record, for the particular reasons noted here, is inadequate to permit this Court to review the exercise of discretion by the district court. We otherwise express no view as to the merits of Brome's motion. On this basis, we VACATE the district court's orders and REMAND for reconsideration of Brome's  3582(c) motion.

FOR THE COURT:

Catherine O'Hagan Wolfe, Clerk
Legendary actor turns 94 on Sunday, but he will have a low-key birthday celebration in a hospital where he is admitted, following his illness.

Kumar, who was admitted to Lilavati hospital in suburban Bandra on Tuesday after swelling on his right leg, is recovering well.

"He is resting now. He is in the ICU, but he is doing well, there is nothing to worry. Close family and friends have been visiting him since morning. We will cut the cake once he is awake. It will be a quiet birthday this time," his wife and veteran actress Saira Banu said on Sunday.

"We are thankful to all the fans and media for their love and well wishes. He will be in a hospital today, he is not getting discharged," she said.

Last year, Kumar had a quiet birthday celebration as a mark of solidarity to the victims of deluge in Chennai.

Born in Peshawar as Yousuf Khan, the actor adopted the screen name .

He made his acting debut with Jwar Bhata in 1944 and went on to give memorable performances in films like Mughal-e-Azam, Ganga Jaumna, Devdas, Andaz, Babul, Aan, Amar, Shaheed, Naya Daur, Madhumati, Ram Aur Shyam, Shakti and Mashaal among others.

Kumar portrayed tragic roles through the 1940's, 50's and 60's in films like Mela, Devdas, Dil Diya Dard Liya and others, which gave him the moniker of Tragedy King of Bollywood.

Later, he shifted to doing lighter roles in films like Ram Aur Shyam, Tarana and Kohinoor and showed that he is equally good at comedy.

He was last seen on-screen in the 1998 film Qila.

The thespian has been honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1994 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015 for his contribution to the Indian cinema.

The Pakistan government also honoured him with its highest civilian honour - Nishan-e-Imtiaz - in 1997.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Rishi Kapoor among other Bollywood celebrities took to Twitter to wish "the greatest actor" on his birthday.

"To the greatest... ... On his birthday Dec 11, wishes prayers and duas for good health and happiness," Bachchan wrote.

Calling him the "Aakhri Mughal of the Hindi film industry," Azmi tweeted, "Salgirah mubarak@TheDilipKumar. You have been such an inspiration to millions. Respect.
M K Surana, chairman and managing director, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation ltd (HPCL), does not expect any adverse impact of the recent OPEC decision to cut production. In an interview with Shine Jacob & Amritha Pillay. Surana discusses the company's expansion plans, demonetisation and its delayed Rajasthan refinery project.
Escalating the boardroom battle at India?s largest conglomerate, Tata Sons on Sunday charged Cyrus Mistry with misleading to get selected as chairman, retracting on his promises, concentrating powers and using the free hand given to him to weaken management structures.
Prime Minister today greeted President Pranab Mukherjee on his 81st birthday, saying the country is proud to have such a President whose wisdom has benefited the nation.

"Birthday wishes to Rashtrapati Ji. His tremendous experience & wisdom has benefited the nation greatly. I pray for his long & healthy life," he said in a tweet.

"Pranab Da always puts India's interest above everything. We are proud to have such a well read & knowledgeable President," he said.
Severe cyclonic storm 'Vardah' over the Bay of Bengal will make landfall near Chennai tomorrow, the weather office said today, as the coastal states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh brace to deal with it.

The system is expected to bring heavy rainfall in coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, and southern Andhra Pradesh.

"Vardah lay centred at about 440 km east of Chennai (at 0830 hrs today) and the system is expected to move westwards and cross Chennai by December 12 afternoon," S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said in Chennai.

However, its intensity will get reduced considerably by the time it makes the landfall.

The MeT office in Delhi has briefed the PMO and the Cabinet Secretariat on the cyclonic storm.

K J Ramesh, Director General of the IMD said, "I have personally spoken to chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, while the regional MeT offices are in constant touch with the Disaster Management Commissioners of these two states."



Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) at Chennai said the storm is expected to bring heavy rainfall in northern coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, including the capital city. Southern Andhra Pradesh is also expected to receive heavy showers.

Wind speed would be in the order of 40-50 kph, it said.

Isolated heavy to very heavy rain is likely to commence this evening in north Coastal Tamil Nadu and Puduchery and Southern Andhra Pradesh, the RMC said in its weather warning put on its website.

Squally winds and rough to very rough sea conditions are expected along and off Andhra Pradesh, north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts from tonight, it said.

"Storm surge of about 1 metre above astronomical tide is expected at the time of landfall," the RMC said.

IMD said it may cause damage to thatched huts and power and communication lines.

The damage may also be caused to paddy crops, banana, papaya trees and orchards in Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu; Ongole and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, the IMD said in its advisory.

It also urged fishermen in Tamil Nadu, Puduchery and Andhra Pradesh coasts to keep away from the seas for the next 48 hours.

The Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said NDRF teams have been deployed in Tamil Nadu on account of the cyclonic storm.

Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, each consisting of 38 rescuers, have been deployed in Chennai, Tiruvallore and Kancheepuram, the force said on its official Twitter handle.

The teams have also been deployed at Nellore, Sulurpeta, Parkasham and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, it tweeted.

The force has also asked people to get information from TV and radio on the cyclone and advised them to keep a stock of dry fruits and keep their mobile phones charged.

Cyclone Nada, which later weakened, had made a landfall near Chennai in the first week of December, bringing much- needed showers in Tamil Nadu. The state has witnessed a below normal Southwest Monsoon as well as Northeast Monsoon, a phenomenon which brings rains in some parts of southern India, especially Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

(Reopens DEL 21)



Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has put the



administration of the respective districts on alert even as the Navy assumed a "high degree" of preparedness to involve itself for possible rescue operations.

State Revenue Minister RB Uthayakumar said the district administration of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallore and Villupuram have put in preventive steps to avoid any inconvenience to the public and are prepared to face any eventuality.

The Eastern Naval Command (ENC), for its part, "has assumed high degree of readiness to render necessary assistance."



"All operational ships have been readied up and kept standby to undertake Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations including evacuation, should the situation demand," a PIB (Defence) release said.

These ships were embarked with additional divers, doctors, inflatable rubber boats, integral helicopters and relief material that include food, tentage, clothes, medicines and blankets, it said.

Further, 30 diving teams with Gemini boats and four platoons with additional relief material are ready to be pressed into action at short notice, it said.

The ENC is closely monitoring the situation and is in constant communication with the state administration to augment rescue and relief operations, it said.

Naval aircraft were also "standing by" at the Naval Air stations Rajali and Dega to undertake reconnaissance, rescue, casualty evacuation and air drop of relief material to the stranded, it added.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. DAVID LEWISBEY, Defendant-Appellant. No. 14-2236 Decided: December 09, 2016

Before POSNER, RIPPLE, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

David Lewisbey was a Chicago-based gunrunner who used a fake Indiana I.D. to buy guns at Indiana gun shows and bring them back to Illinois to sell. He came to the attention of law enforcement when he bragged about his gunrunning exploits on Facebook. Federal agents set up a sting, and Lewisbey was arrested and charged with multiple counts of unlawfully transporting and dealing firearms. A jury convicted him on all counts.

Lewisbey now argues that his attorney was operating under a conflict of interest in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to conflict-free counsel. He also challenges the admission of incriminating text-message and Facebook evidence at trial. Finally, he claims that the testimony of the government's cell-phone location expert did not satisfy the requirements of Daubert v. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993). We reject these arguments and affirm.

I. Background

David Big Dave Lewisbey conducted a thriving interstate gunrunning business from his home in Chicago. He purchased guns at Indiana gun shows with a fake Indiana I.D. and then sold them in Illinois. Federal authorities learned of these activities when Lewisbey boasted about them on his Facebook page; an undercover operation was commenced. After Lewisbey sold a total of 43 guns to a confidential informant in five separate controlled purchases, law enforcement moved in and arrested him. He was charged with one count of unlawful dealing in firearms without a license, 18 U.S.C.  922(a)(1)(A); two counts of illegally transporting firearms across state lines, id.  922(a)(3), 924(a)(1)(D); and two counts of traveling across state lines with intent to engage in the unlicensed dealing of firearms, id.  924(n).

Lewisbey's defense at trial was that he was a gun collector rather than a gunrunner. The evidence showed otherwise. The prosecution's case included video recordings of Lewisbey's sales to the confidential informant, text messages showing that Lewisbey habitually sold guns to purchasers other than the confidential informant, and Facebook photos depicting Lewisbey with lots of guns and large sums of money. Michael Hall, a business contact of Lewisbey's who occasionally acted as his go-between, testified to the details of some transactions. Another witness testified about selling guns to Lewisbey in a McDonald's parking lot in Indiana. Multiple witnesses testified that they knew Lewisbey from Indiana gun shows and knew that he used a fake Indiana I.D. to illegally purchase guns. Finally, FBI Special Agent Joseph Raschke testified, based on his analysis of Lewisbey's phone records, that calls were made from Lewisbey's phones at times and locations consistent with the illegal gun transactions described by other witnesses. A jury returned a verdict of guilty on all counts, and the judge sentenced Lewisbey to 200 months in prison.

Lewisbey was represented in the district court by Attorney Beau Brindley. At the time Brindley was himself facing a criminal contempt proceeding in the Central District of Illinois. When questioned by the judge about the potential conflict of interest, Lewisbey expressly waived any conflict and consented to Brindley's continuation as his counsel. Following the entry of judgment, and soon after this appeal was filed, the government sought a limited remand to address a different conflict of interest stemming from a new federal criminal investigation targeting Brindley. We remanded the case so the district judge could determine whether a conflict of interest existed and obtain a waiver if necessary. Brindley promptly withdrew and another attorney took over Lewisbey's appeal. With a new attorney in place, the judge canceled the conflict hearing and the appeal resumed.

II. Discussion

Lewisbey raises two arguments on appeal. First, he contends that Brindley's troubles with law enforcement created an unconstitutional conflict of interest in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to conflict-free counsel. Second, he challenges the admission of his text messages, Facebook posts, and the testimony of Special Agent Raschke, the government's cell-phone location expert.

A. Sixth Amendment Right to Conflict-Free Counsel

Because the Sixth Amendment protects the right to counsel whose undivided loyalties lie with the client, a defendant whose trial attorney was burdened by a conflict of interest may be entitled to a new trial. United States v. Barnes, 909 F.2d 1059, 1065 (7th Cir. 1990) (quotation marks omitted) (citing Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335 (1980)). Conflicts of interest in this context usually arise in cases involving joint representation, but a conflict may also arise when a client's interest conflicts with that of his attorney. United States v. Ellison, 798 F.2d 1102, 110607 (7th Cir. 1986).

Lewisbey argues that Brindley's interests conflicted with his own because Brindley was the subject of not one but two criminal investigations, giving him an incentive to curry favor with the government. To establish a violation of the Sixth Amendment right to conflict-free counsel, the defendant must demonstrate that an actual conflict of interest adversely affected his lawyer's performance. Cuyler, 446 U.S. at 348. The mere possibility of a conflict is insufficient to impugn a criminal conviction. Id. at 350.

Because Lewisbey affirmatively waived any conflict arising from Brindley's contempt proceeding, see United States v. Lowry, 971 F.2d 55, 61 (7th Cir. 1992), his Sixth Amendment claim can only relate to the second criminal investigation against Brindley. But that investigation came to light after Lewisbey was convicted and sentenced and his case had already moved to this court. When Brindley learned that he was the subject of this second investigation, he immediately withdrew; a new, conflict-free attorney thereafter assumed responsibility for the appeal. Brindley's withdrawal cured the potential conflict, removing any possible Sixth Amendment concern.

B. Evidentiary Rulings

1. Text Messages and Facebook Posts

Over Lewisbey's objection the judge allowed the government to introduce certain inculpatory text messages from Lewisbey's phones and posts from his Facebook page. We review evidentiary rulings deferentially, for abuse of discretion only. United States v. Schmitt, 770 F.3d 524, 532 (7th Cir. 2014), cert. denied, 135 S. Ct. 1537 (2015). [W]e will defer to the district court unless no reasonable person could adopt its view. Even then, reversal only follows if admission of the evidence affected the defendant's substantial rights. Id. (citation and quotation marks omitted).

Lewisbey argues that the Facebook posts and the text messages taken from two phonesa Samsung and an iPhoneshould have been excluded on both hearsay and authentication grounds. See FED. R. EVID. 801, 901. He also argues that the prejudicial impact of this evidence substantially outweighs its limited probative value and thus the evidence should have been excluded under Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.

The hearsay objection is a nonstarter. The text messages Lewisbey sent are his own statements and as such are excluded from the definition of hearsay by Rule 801(d)(2)(A). The messages he received were admitted not for the truth of the matter asserted but instead to provide context for Lewisbey's own messages See FED. R. EVID. 801(c)(2); United States v. Robinzine, 80 F.3d 246, 252 (7th Cir. 1996) (Statements offered not to prove the truth of the matter asserted but for another legitimate purpose do not even fit the definition of hearsay.). And Lewisbey admitted that the Facebook posts were his, so like his sent text messages, the posts qualify as nonhearsay admissions under Rule 801(d)(2).

The authentication objection fares no better. To authenticate the text messages, the government needed only to produce evidence sufficient to support a finding that the messages were actually sent and received by Lewisbey. FED. R. EVID. 901(a). The government clearly did so. The iPhone was confiscated from Lewisbey at the time of his arrest, and in a recorded phone call from the jail, he told his mother that the police took his phone. The Samsung device was recovered from his bedroom at his parents' home, a room that both parents identified as belonging exclusively to him. The Properties section of the iPhone described the phone as Big Dave's, and the contacts directory included information for Lewisbey's mother listed under the heading Mom, and also the name and number of his former attorney. Both phones listed contact information for the Texas Home Depot stores where Lewisbey used to work. And the confidential informant arranged gun sales with Lewisbey on the Samsung phone. That's more than enough to establish that the two phones were indeed Lewisbey's. See FED. R. EVID. 901(b)(4) (The appearance, contents, substance, internal patterns, or other distinctive characteristics of the item, taken together with all the circumstances, can establish that the item is what the proponent claims it is.).

Lewisbey's admission that the Facebook posts were his is enough for authentication, but if more were needed, the Facebook page lists Lewisbey's nickname, his date of birth, and his place of residence (Houston) where he lived prior to Illinois. The email addresses associated with the Facebook account correspond to both the email linked with Lewisbey's iPhone and his former email address at the University of Kansas. The Facebook page contains more than 100 photos of Lewisbeyincluding a profile pictureand many of the Facebook photos match photos also found on Lewisbey's iPhone. The Facebook application on Lewisbey's iPhone was linked to this Facebook account. And messages on the account discuss Lewisbey's trips to gun shows in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis on dates when gun shows actually occurred at these locations.

Finally, Lewisbey argues that the text messages and Facebook posts should have been excluded under Rule 403 because they were merely cumulative. This argument is frivolous. The text messages and Facebook posts were corroborative, not cumulative. Recall that Lewisbey's defense at trial was that he was just a gun collector. The text messages and Facebook posts were admitted to rebut this defense by corroborating the witnesses who testified about Lewisbey's gunrunning activities. The evidence was neither needlessly cumulative nor unfairly prejudicial and was properly admitted.

2. Cell-Phone Expert Testimony

Finally, Lewisbey challenges the judge's decision to allow Special Agent Raschke to testify about Lewisbey's phone records. Agent Raschke explained that Lewisbey's phone records showed calls made at places and times that corresponded to the testimony of the other prosecution witnesses. Lewisbey claims that this testimony did not meet the requirements of expert testimony under Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, which requires that

(a) the expert's scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue;

(b) the testimony is based on sufficient facts or data;

(c) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods; and

(d) the expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts of the case.

Under the familiar framework established in Daubert, the district judge consults a nonexhaustive list of factors to determine whether the requirements of Rule 702 are met; these include: (1) whether the expert's technique or theory is testable or has been tested; (2) whether the technique or theory has been subject to peer review and publication; (3) the known or potential rate of error in applying the technique or theory; (4) whether standards and controls exist and were maintained; and (5) whether the technique or theory is generally accepted in the scientific community. 509 U.S. at 59394. The court's gatekeeping function applies to all expert testimony and not just scientific expert testimony. Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 14749 (1999). On appeal we ask first whether the judge applied the proper framework. C.W. ex rel. Wood v. Textron, Inc., 807 F.3d 827, 835 (7th Cir. 2015). If the judge did so, then we review the decision to admit the expert's testimony for abuse of discretion. Id.

The record reflects that the judge conducted a thorough Daubert analysis of Agent Raschke's proposed testimony and soundly exercised his discretion to admit it. Using call records and cell towers to determine the general location of a phone at specific times is a well-accepted, reliable methodology. See, e.g., Rick Ayers, Sam Brothers & Wayne Jansen, Nat'l Inst. of Standards & Tech., Guidelines on Mobile Device Forensics,  6.3 at 54 (2014), http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-101r1.pdf (Call detail records can also be used with cell site tower information obtained from the service provider to translate cell identifiers into geographic locations for the cells involved and identify the general locale from which calls were placed.); United States v. Jones, 918 F. Supp. 2d 1, 5 (D.D.C. 2013) ([T]he use of cell phone location records to determine the general location of a cell phone has been widely accepted by numerous federal courts.). With 350 hours of training in the systems used by the relevant network service providers, Agent Raschke had ample expertise in this methodology. And the judge also appropriately recognized the limits of this technique by barring the agent from couching his testimony in terms that would suggest that he could pinpoint the exact location of Lewisbey's phones. We find no abuse of discretion.

We note in closing that no evidentiary error requires reversal unless it affected the defendant's substantial rights; this in turn requires that the average juror would have found the prosecution's case significantly less persuasive absent the erroneous evidentiary ruling. United States v. Trudeau, 812 F.3d 578, 590 (7th Cir. 2016). The record contains prodigious evidence of Lewisbey's guilt. We're confident that none of the claimed evidentiary errorsif indeed they were errorshad a significant effect on the jury's verdict.

AFFIRMED.

SYKES, Circuit Judge.
Taking a dig at Arun Jaitley, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday expressed doubts whether the Union Finance Minister has any role in determining key economic policies, like demonetisation, of the National Democratic Alliance government.
Reserve Bank of India has allowed travelers from India and Nepal or Bhutan to carry currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000.



Earlier, travelers were allowed to carry currency notes of only up to Rs 100.

However, the maximum limit that an individual can carry is Rs 25,000.



Government had earlier banned currency denominations of Rs 100 in Nepal on India's request to crackdown on the case of rising fake currency.
After agreeing to a deal to sell 3.9 per cent stake in Life Insurance, its joint venture with BNP Cardiff, a French financial group, State Bank of India will begin the process for re-valuation of the arm, for a plan to sell a further 10 per cent stake to the partner.
PM greets the President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee on his birthday

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has greeted the President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee on his birthday and has wished for his long and healthy life.

Birthday wishes to Rashtrapati Ji. His tremendous experience and wisdom has benefitted the nation greatly. I pray for his long and healthy life. Pranab Da always puts India's interest above everything. We are proud to have such a well read and knowledgeable President ", the Prime Minister said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President of India Launches 100 Million for 100 Million Campaign

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee marked his 81st birthday by launching a 100 Million for 100 Million Campaign organized by the Kailash Satyarthi Childrens Foundation at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (December 11, 2016).

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that he was delighted to launch the campaign led by Nobel peace prize winner, Shri Kailash Satyarthi, from Rashtrapati Bhavan, an institution which symbolises our Republics commitment to democracy, pluralism and secularism.

The President said that despite the progress the world has made in science and technology, economic development and in other fields of human endeavour, there are still over a 100 million children who are out of school". They are being denied their childhood and are facing exploitation in various ways. The world must realise without further delay that there can be no progress unless our children are safe, secure and unless they are provided the freedom and opportunity to become agents of change for the larger good of humanity.

To ensure for them a bright, carefree and secure future, devoid of poverty, violence and want is our bounden duty.

The President said this global effort to mobilize 100 million youth for shaping a better future of 100 million children who are less privileged is the beginning of a change which was long overdue. It is only appropriate that this campaign begins from India, which has one of the largest populations of youth in the world. He expressed hope that the campaign, as it runs for five years, will have a path-breaking impact on the lives of children across the globe. He urged all children and young people from India and abroad to join this campaign and be the torchbearers for a vibrant, compassionate and happy world where every child is free from want, fear and exploitation.

The 100 Million for 100 Million Campaign aims to mobilise 100 million youth and children for 100 million underprivileged children across the world, to end child labour, child slavery, violence against children and promote the right of every child to be safe, free, and educated, over the next 5 years.

Earlier in the day, the President inaugurated twin tower apartments for staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan; Navachara-II, a hall for permanent exhibition of grassroots innovations at Rashtrapati Bhavan and a museum of vintage carpets & tapestries of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
A 29-year-old woman from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become the first Pakistani female to join the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) in the restive province that frequently witnesses terror attacks.

Rafia Qaseem Baig, who joined police force as a constable seven years ago, will work in BDU after completing her 15-day training along with 31 other male members at Nowshera's School of Explosive Handling, media reports said.

During her training, she will learn about the types of bombs, their identification and ways to defuse them.

Rafia, who belongs to a highly educated family, said a blast near a sessions court seven years ago motivated her to join the force.

She completed her master's degree in Relations. She then pursued another master's degree in Economics and worked at Rescue Committee where she developed a passion for law and enrolled in an LLB programme that is currently under way.

Given her academic qualifications, she was offered jobs in many companies and non-government organisations. However, she chose to join police force in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when extremists were overtly targeting security forces.

After her appointment, she was asked to undergo training sessions in areas including Adezai, Michni and Salman Khel in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. These were the declared red zones at that time.

She spent 10 days patrolling these localities with a large number of male police personnel.

Rafia was also the only female member of an investigation team that rescued Lady Reading Hospital physician Dr Intikhab Alam, 48 hours after his abduction in 2010.

She says the police force is not just a profession and calls it as a passion and inspiration for those who have a spirit of devotion for the country.

More than 600 women are serving in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police department in different capacities from junior clerk to deputy superintendent.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and the non-Opec producers on Saturday reached their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices that overstretched many budgets and spurred unrest in some countries.
US President-elect is likely to pick Exxon Mobil Corp CEO Rex Tillerson as his Secretary of State, according to media reports which said his nomination could face intense scrutiny in the Senate due to the oil executive's close ties with Russia.

If nominated, the 64-year-old would be quite an unusual selection of Secretary of State.

Tillerson, is currently on top of the list of Trump's Secretary of State because of his contacts with the world leaders, in particular Russian President Vladimir Putin, media reports said.

Transition officials, however, cautioned that Trump has not made a final decision yet. However, in an interview to Fox News which will be aired on Sunday, Trump praised the Exxon Mobil CEO.

"He's more than a business executive; he's a world-class player. He's in charge of I guess the largest company in the world," Trump told Fox News according to the excerpts released on Saturday.

"To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company - not for himself, for the company," he added.

The Washington Post warned that Tillerson's nomination could face intense scrutiny in the Senate, considering his years of work in Russia and the Middle East on behalf of the multinational petroleum company.

Already, two leading Republican hawks, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have voiced concerns about Tillerson's serving as the nation's top diplomat because of his ties to Putin, the daily said.

NBC News which first reported about it said that Tillerson would be joined by the former US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, as the Deputy Secretary of State, who would be responsible for the day to day management of the State Department.

Tillerson met Trump at Trump Tower in New York City yesterday. He emerged as Trump's leading candidate for Secretary of State over 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and three other people.

In a statement, the Democratic National Committee communications director Adam Hodge said Trump's "outrageous pick" of Tillerson to be Secretary of State demonstrates once again that he lied to the country about draining the swamp, and he's turning the government over to the same Wall Street bankers, Washington insiders and special interests he railed against during the campaign.

"It's also another victory for Vladimir Putin, who interfered in our election to help elect Trump and now has a close ally with no foreign policy experience serving as America's top diplomat," he said. Tillerson's Exxon has billions of dollars in business partnerships with Russian-companies, he said, adding that the Exxon CEO opposed the sanctions that were passed under the Obama Administration to keep Putin in check.

"And Tillerson has even been awarded a medal by Vladimir Putin. And if that wasn't enough, Putin'sapparent hack of the RNC means he also has leverage over the President-elect and the incoming Chief of Staff," he said.

Democratic Senator Ed Markey said Trump Administration should expect a major battle if Tillerson is nominated as Secretary of State.

"Nominating Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson to be Secretary of State would be handing over the keys to US foreign policy to Big Oil. would be sending a strong signal to OPEC and the entire global fossil fuel industry that oil will be America's primary foreign policy priority. We cannot allow oil to replace diplomacy as the currency of the US Department of State," Markey said.

"I am deeply concerned that Tillerson's long and close ties to Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin could unduly influence his decision-making at a time when we need to be direct and tough with Russia, given recent credible reports of Russian efforts to interfere in our democracy, and events in Syria and Ukraine," said Senator Chris Coons.

"The role of Secretary of State should not be bestowed upon someone whose only notable experience with foreign governments involve multi-million dollar deals with Russia and whose experience with the federal government seems to be limited to campaigns against the effects of climate change," demanded Senator Robert Menendez.
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The stock was up eight per cent over the past week, on an expectation that higher global Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) sales, as well as positive China economic indicators, would boost volumes.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. JOSEPH BRENT LOFTIS, Defendant-Appellee. No. 15-30262 Decided: December 09, 2016

Before: William A. Fletcher, Raymond C. Fisher and N. Randy Smith, Circuit Judges. COUNSEL, Chad Spraker (argued), Assistant United States Attorney; Michael W. Cotter, United States Attorney; United States Attorney's Office, Helena, Montana; for Plaintiff-Appellant. John Rhodes (argued), Assistant Federal Defender; Anthony R. Gallagher, Federal Defender; Office of the Federal Public Defender, Missoula, Montana; for Defendant-Appellee.

OPINION

SUMMARY *

Criminal Law

The panel affirmed the district court's order granting in part the defendant's motion in limine in a case in which the government has charged the defendant with five counts of wire fraud for victimizing investors through false representations about his oil business.

The five charged uses of the wires involve a total of three investors, and all involve the scheme as perpetrated in Montana. The government sought to introduce evidence of investor victims not specifically named in the indictment, additional uses of the wires and aspects of the scheme carried out in states other than Montana (uncharged transactions).

The panel held that the uncharged transactions are part of the charged offense  the fraudulent scheme as a whole  not other crimes or other acts evidence; and that Fed. R. Evid. 404(b) thus does not preclude the government from introducing evidence of uncharged transactions to prove the first element of wire fraud  the existence of a scheme to defraud. The panel wrote that even if the uncharged transactions were not part of the crime charged, they would not be subject to exclusion under Rule 404(b) because they are part of the same transaction as the charged transactions, and that the inextricably-intertwined doctrine therefore affords a second basis for concluding the evidence should not be treated as other crimes or other acts evidence under Rule 404(b).

The panel wrote that, notwithstanding some ambiguity in the district court's ruling, it does not construe the district court's ruling as contrary to the panel's holding.

OPINION

FISHER, Circuit Judge:

The defendant, Joseph Brent Loftis, has been charged with five counts of wire fraud. The government alleges Loftis victimized investors through false representations about his oil business. The indictment charges a broad scheme to defraud, spanning six years, several states and numerous alleged victims. Each of the five counts in the indictment pertains to a particular wire transfer in which a defrauded investor wired money to Loftis. These five uses of the wires (charged transactions) involve a total of three investors, and all involve the scheme as perpetrated in a single state, Montana.

As the trial approached, it became clear the government intended to offer evidence of investor victims not specifically named in the indictment, additional uses of the wires and aspects of the scheme carried out in states other than Montana (uncharged transactions). Loftis moved in limine to exclude this evidence, arguing the district court should limit the government's case to evidence regarding the [three] named investors and alleged criminal activity involving Montana. He sought to bar the government from calling witnesses other than [the three investors] from wh[om] the wired funds were received in the criminal cou[n]ts.

The district court granted the motion in part, suggesting the evidence the government sought to introduce pertained to other wire frauds that would be subject to exclusion under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) unless the government could show the evidence was either inextricably intertwined with the scheme Loftis employed in Montana or admissible for one of the purposes authorized by Rule 404(b) itself. The government has appealed the court's order, and the district court has stayed proceedings pending disposition of this interlocutory appeal.

We have jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C.  3731, see United States v. DeCinces, 808 F.3d 785, 789-90 (9th Cir. 2015), and we affirm the district court's order. We hold the evidence of uncharged transactions is not evidence of other crimes or acts under Rule 404(b), because it is evidence of part of the crime charged in the indictment  the overall scheme to defraud.

I

Under Rule 404(b), [e]vidence of a crime, wrong, or other act is not admissible to prove a person's character in order to show that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character. Fed. R. Evid. 404(b)(1). But the evidence may be admissible for another purpose, such as proving motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or lack of accident. Fed. R. Evid. 404(b)(2).

Rule 404(b) applies solely to evidence of other acts, not to evidence of the very acts charged as crimes in the indictment. As a leading treatise explains, [o]ne of the key words in determining the scope of Rule 404(b) is other; only crimes, wrongs, or acts other than those at issue under the pleadings are made inadmissible under the general rule. 22B Kenneth W. Graham, Jr., Federal Practice and Procedure  5239 (1st ed. 2016). For example:

In cases where the incident offered is a part of the conspiracy alleged in the indictment, the evidence is admissible under Rule 404(b) because it is not an other crime. The evidence is offered as direct evidence of the fact in issue, not as circumstantial evidence requiring an inference as to the character of the accused. Such proof can be quite time-consuming and it may be extremely prejudicial to the defendant but the court would have no discretion to exclude it [under Rule 404(b)] because it is proof of the ultimate issue in the case. To the extent that these consequences may seem unfair, this is attributable to the nature of the conspiracy charge, not to any defect in the other crimes rule.

Id. (footnotes omitted); see, e.g., United States v. Ripinsky, 109 F.3d 1436, 1442 (9th Cir. 1997) (holding evidence in question was not evidence of other crimes' under Rule 404(b) where it was direct evidence of the ongoing conspiracy charged in the indictment), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Sablan, 114 F.3d 913, 916 (9th Cir. 1997) (en banc).

This principle applies not only to charges of conspiracy but also to any prosecution in which the other crime in question is in fact an element of the crime charged. Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure, supra,  5239. In United States v. Smith, 685 F.2d 1293, 1294 (11th Cir. 1982), for example, the defendant was charged with four counts of mail fraud, each arising from an alleged scheme of the defendant to defraud his insurance company by presenting fraudulent claims. At trial, the government introduced evidence of three previous fraudulent insurance claims, none of which was alleged in the indictment. See id. Although the previous claims were uncharged transactions in the sense that they were not charged as specific executions of the scheme, the Eleventh Circuit held evidence of those transactions was admissible, without going through Rule 404(b), to demonstrate the existence of the fraudulent scheme; an essential element of the crime. Id. at 1295. It was not necessary to consider whether the evidence was admissible as other crimes evidence under Rule 404(b). Id. at 1296.

Similarly, in United States v. Swinton, 75 F.3d 374, 376 (8th Cir. 1996), the defendant was charged with seven counts of bank fraud. Each count involved a residential loan transaction on a particular property. See id. at 37677. At trial, the government introduced evidence concerning additional property transactions in which the defendant was involved but for which he was not specifically charged. See id. at 377. The government argued the evidence concerning the other uncharged transactions went directly to an element of the crime  the existence of a scheme or artifice  and thus was not subject to Rule 404(b). Id. at 378. The Eighth Circuit agreed, holding [s]uch evidence did not concern other acts' but rather acts belonging to the charged scheme. Id. at 379. The evidence did not implicate Rule 404(b) [,] because [it] related to the existence of a scheme, an element of the charged crime. Id. at 379.

II

These principles apply here. The elements of wire fraud are: (1) the existence of a scheme to defraud; (2) the use of wire, radio, or television to further the scheme; and (3) a specific intent to defraud. United States v. Jinian, 725 F.3d 954, 960 (9th Cir. 2013). The crime charged in a wire fraud prosecution therefore includes not only the specific executions of the scheme alleged as the second element of the offense but also the overall scheme alleged as the first element of the offense. As we recently explained, the commission of  a mail fraud or wire fraud offense necessarily includes a fraudulent scheme as a whole  , including additional executions of the scheme that were not specifically charged. United States v. Lo, 839 F.3d 777, 793 (9th Cir. 2016). The uncharged transactions, therefore, are part of the charged offense  the fraudulent scheme as a whole  not other crimes or other acts evidence. Rule 404(b) thus does not preclude the government from introducing evidence of uncharged transactions to prove the first element of wire fraud  the existence of a scheme to defraud.

III

Because the evidence from other investors is charged conduct, the government is not required to rely on the inextricably intertwined doctrine to avoid Rule 404(b). However, we have also held that evidence should not be considered other crimes' or other act evidence within the meaning of Rule 404(b) if the evidence concerning the other act and the evidence concerning the crime charged are inextricably intertwined.  United States v. Dorsey, 677 F.3d 944, 951 (9th Cir. 2012) (quoting United States v. Soliman, 813 F.2d 277, 279 (9th Cir. 1987)). This doctrine applies when the acts in question are so interwoven with the charged offense that they should not be treated as other crimes or acts for purposes of Rule 404(b).

There are generally two categories of cases in which we have concluded that other act evidence is inextricably intertwined with the crime with which the defendant is charged and therefore need not meet the requirements of Rule 404(b). United States v. Vizcarra-Martinez, 66 F.3d 1006, 1012 (9th Cir. 1995). First, we have sometimes allowed evidence to be admitted because it constitutes a part of the transaction that serves as the basis for the criminal charge. Id. Second, we have allowed other act evidence to be admitted when it was necessary to do so in order to permit the prosecutor to offer a coherent and comprehensible story regarding the commission of the crime; it is obviously necessary in certain cases for the government to explain either the circumstances under which particular evidence was obtained or the events surrounding the commission of the crime. Id. at 101213.

In the context of mail and wire fraud, we have held that uncharged transactions that are part of an overall scheme are part of the same transaction as the charged transactions, such that evidence of the uncharged transactions falls under the first inextricably intertwined exception. In United States v. Mundi, 892 F.2d 817, 818 (9th Cir. 1989), for example, the defendant was charged with wire fraud arising from a broad scheme to defraud travel agencies. The indictment named only one [travel] agency specifically, although it also spoke of the defendant's scheme in terms that indicated a far wider scope of operations. Id. at 820. At trial, the district court allowed testimony which named several travel agencies not specifically mentioned in the indictment, and which discussed [the defendant's] scheme with respect to them. Id. We held the evidence was admissible notwithstanding Rule 404(b). Because the uncharged transactions were part of the overall scheme, the evidence was inextricably intertwined with, and part of the same transaction as, the conduct alleged in the indictment. Id. (quoting Soliman, 813 F.2d at 279). Similarly, in United States v. Sayakhom, 186 F.3d 928, 933 (9th Cir. 1999), the defendant was charged with multiple counts of mail fraud arising from her fraudulent sale of life insurance products through a single business entity (AAC). After the government effectively shut down AAC's operation, the defendant began operating through a second entity (MAPS), in order to continue the unlawful sale of life insurance products. Id. at 93738. At trial, the district court allowed the government to introduce evidence regarding the defendant's operation of MAPS. See id. at 937. Explaining that AAC and MAPS were part of an ongoing scheme to defraud, we held [t]he MAPS evidence is not subject to exclusion under Rule 404(b) because it is inextricably intertwined with the indicted crimes. Id. at 93738 (citing Vizcarra-Martinez, 66 F.3d at 1006).

Under these authorities, even if the uncharged transactions at issue were not part of the crime charged, they would not be subject to exclusion under Rule 404(b) because they are part of the same transaction as the charged transactions. The inextricably intertwined doctrine, therefore, affords a second basis for concluding the evidence should not be treated as other crimes or other acts evidence under Rule 404(b).

IV

We emphasize these holdings address solely the application of Rule 404(b) to the evidence the government has said it seeks to introduce. We do not address whether the evidence may be excluded for any other reason, such as under Rule 403. We also make clear these holdings apply only when the charged and uncharged transactions can fairly be characterized as parts of a single fraudulent scheme. See Swinton, 75 F.3d at 378.

V

The extent to which the district court properly applied these principles is not clear. On the one hand, the court appears to have applied the law correctly when it recognized [e]vidence of other wires may be admissible to support the first, but not the second, element of wire fraud, and when it said the evidence in dispute may be admissible if offered as proof of the scheme underlying the charged transactions. On the other hand, the court may have erred when it said the evidence involving other investors pertained to other wire frauds and suggested the evidence would be excluded under Rule 404(b) unless the government can prove that the evidence is in fact inextricably intertwined with the scheme Loftis employed in Montana. Notwithstanding some ambiguity in the district court's ruling, we do not construe it as ruling contrary to our holding here.

ORDER AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

. This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.

. We review admission of other crimes' evidence for abuse of discretion; however, whether the evidence is indeed other crimes evidence we review de novo. United States v. Parks, 285 F.3d 1133, 1141 (9th Cir. 2002).

. It is well settled that cases construing the mail fraud and wire fraud statutes are applicable to either. United States v. Green, 592 F.3d 1057, 1063 n.3 (9th Cir. 2010) (quoting United States v. Shipsey, 363 F.3d 962, 971 n.10 (9th Cir. 2004)).

Opinion by Judge Fisher
Defending Narendra Modi who has been drawing flak post the demonetisation drive, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Sunday said the nation has finally got a Prime Minister who puts forth his views before the nation.

Shah, who was addressing the 'Tridev Sammelan' here, also used the occasion to corner former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

"Rahul Gandhi asks what has been achieved in last two-and-a-half years. The first in that list is giving India a Prime Minister, who speaks," Shah said.

"The country (earlier) got a Prime Minister whose voice could only reach the ears of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi," he added while alleging that Dr Singh was only a mouth-piece of the Congress.

The BJP president highlighted the scams, which took place in the last ten years during the Congress-led UPA regime.

"The people have not forgotten that how many scams and cases of corruption surfaced during the 10-year regime of Sonia (Gandhi) and Manmohan Singh," he said.

Shah also reached out to the voters ahead of next year's assembly polls and urged them to vote for the right party and choose the right government in Himachal Pradesh.

"If 'Congress-mukt Bharat' has to be achieved then the Congress will have to be defeated in Himachal as well," he said.

The BJP president's assertion comes a day after Prime Minister Modi countered the opposition's charges of running away from a debate on the government's move to ban high-value currency notes.

"We are ready to debate on demonetisation but I am not being allowed to speak in Lok Sabha so I am speaking in a jan sabha (public meeting)," said Prime Minister Modi.

"Parliament is not being allowed to function. What is happening in Parliament has even anguished our President, who has tremendous political experience," he added.

The ongoing Winter Session of Parliament has witnessed repeated disruptions with a united opposition demanding a debate on the demonetisation move.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In an effort to promote digital and cashless economy in the country, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday announced a slew of measures in the two-day long meeting of the Council held here.

In this meeting, the government has decided to provide two Point of Sale (PoS) machines free of cost in one lakh villages where the population is less than 10,000. The cost will be borne by the government through the Financial Inclusion Fund.

The government will support Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative Banks through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) to issue Rupay Kisan Cards to 4.32 crore Kisan Credit Card holders.

It was also decided that all railway passengers buying an online ticket will be given free accidental insurance cover of up to Rs 10 lakh and railway would also provide a discount of five per cent for digital payment of paid services like. catering, accommodation, retiring rooms etc. offered through its affiliates.

Sub-urban railway consumers making digital payment for monthly/seasonal tickets will get discount up to 0.5 per cent from January 1, 2017.

The government has asked the Public sector insurance companies to provide incentive, by way of discount or credit, up to 10 per cent of the premium in general insurance policies and eight per cent in new life policies of Life Insurance Corporation sold through the customer portals, if the payment is made through digital means.

All the Central Government Departments and the PSUs have been ensure that transactions charges associated with digital payment shall not be passed on to the consumers and all such expenses shall be borne by them. State Governments are also being advised to consider doing the same.

A 10 per cent discount will be available to users of Toll Plazas on National Highways using RFID card/Fast Tags

For online payment of toll at Toll Plazas on National Highways using RFID card/Fast Tags, a discount of 10 per cent will be available to users in the year 2016-17.
Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is the only competitor to his party in the upcoming assembly elections, adding that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) do not even exist.

"Our fight will remain with AAP, but AAP is losing its grounds day by day in Punjab. Our surveys in the state indicate that the Akali Dal is nowhere in the contest to make a government in Punjab again. AAP is on number two and the Congress is on top," said Amarinder, while formally inducting five AAP members into the Congress.

The members who joined the Congress include Col. Lakhanpal, founder member of AAP Punjab, P.K. Sharma, secretary in charge of the AAP headquarters in Chandigarh, Col. Laliji, Col. Iqbal Pannu and Parpur Singh.

While commenting on their decision to join the Congress, Col. Lakhanpal said, "When we joined AAP, it was a principle-based party. They are now accepting people from different parties even with shady background that is why we decided to join the Congress."

Commenting on the presence of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Punjab, Singh said the Congress does not have competition with the BJP, adding that it would be a big deal if the saffron party manages to secure even one seat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hasan Dawood, the acting project director of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), has said that the industrial phase of this project under which Chinese investors would be allowed to set up only high tech industries would kick-off soon and added that it would not have any negative impact on Islamabad's existing industry.

Dawood, who was speaking to a delegation of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) here, said there are three major perspectives of CPEC including geo strategic, regional integration and industrial cooperation.

He said the Chinese investors prefer to concentrate on Gwadar Port as they cannot afford to clash at any stage with Pakistani industrialists, reports The Express Tribune.

FCCI vice-president Ahmed Hasan, who headed the delegation, informed the acting project director of CPEC about the reservations of local industrialists.

Dawood informed that three routes, which have been proposed to link China with Gwadar Port, are expected to be completed by 2018.

The acting project director of CPEC said that working groups are being established to determine the needs of both countries.

He said that representation of all provinces would be there in working groups and asked FCCI to present its proposal for discussion in the working group.

Dawood said that four meetings have already been held between National Development and Reforms Commission of China and Planning Commission of Pakistan.

He said that thousands of jobs would be created by establishing 36 economic zones under CPEC which will also gear up the pace of progress and prosperity.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a joint raid conducted by the Income Tax Department and the Delhi Police, Rs. 10 crores was recovered from a law firm in Delhi's Greater Kailash area.

Acting on a tip-off, the police recovered Rs. 2.5 crore in new currency notes and the balance Rs.7.5 crores in old currency notes from the T&T law firm owned by Rohit Tondon late on Saturday night.

"We received information which we shared with the Income Tax department and jointly raided this place. Till now, we have seized around Rs. 10 crore rupees out of which Rs. 2.5 crore are new currencies and Rs. 7.5 crores in old currency," Assistant Commissioner of Police, Inter-State Cell Sanjay Sehrawat told media.

The police said the currencies were kept in various bags and stored in a cupboard in a separate room.

The police said the investigation is in process and all those guilty are being aggressively pursued.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Softening their stance on the Constitution Amendment Bill, the Madhes-based parties have decided to support the same in Parliament if the government revises it to address their concerns, especially on the provision pertaining to federal boundaries.

The decision comes as a notable shift in regional parties' approach, as they had earlier refused to take ownership of the bill despite the fact that it was introduced at their insistence while stating that the proposal addressed none of their demands, reports the Kathmandu Post.

A meeting of the Madhes-based parties affiliated to the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) on Saturday concluded that the amendment bill has more or less addressed their concerns on three issues-citizenship, representation in the Upper House and working language of provinces.

In a press statement issued after the meeting, the Morcha has said it is ready to assist the government to endorse the proposal if it agrees to revise it further.

The Morcha has categorically expressed dissatisfaction with the government for not mentioning the five so-called disputed districts-Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Kailali and Kanchanpur-in the bill.

Some Morcha leaders said that they would continue to press the government to revise the provision related to boundaries, but hinted at supporting the bill even if their bid fails.

"The draft amendment has more or less addressed our concerns regarding language, representation in the Upper House and citizenship. The draft is also one step ahead on issues of the boundaries, but it doesn't completely address our concerns. But I solution is not that far, as we are not demanding much," said Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party vice-chairman Hridayesh Tripathi.

Despite Morcha's change in stance, it remains unclear whether all the agitating parties will support the amendment bill.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Majeed Memon on Sunday dubbed the decision to demolish a government school to create space for a parking lot in the valley as extremely ridiculous and sought an explanation from Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in this regard.

"It is duty of the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister to explain as to how parking space has received priority over education. It should be scrapped if it is going to cause discontinuation of students' education," he said, adding that the local administration should raise voice against the decision.

"It gives a wrong message that value of cars is more than people. It is ridiculous and strange decision to construct a parking lot keeping future of the students at stake," he told ANI.

The Jammu district administration has recently issued an order to demolish a government school building located at City Chowk and create space for a parking lot.

The state government has on temporary basis shifted base of the school to Dogra Chowk, but with no proper classrooms.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, has said Islamabad is striving to hold peace dialogue with Afghanistan.

"It was disappointing that some elements in Afghanistan were not willing to have the dialogue process with Pakistan and these elements are creating suspicion over Pakistan's role" The Nation quoted Aziz, as saying in an interview.

He said the Afghan Intelligence Agency hindered the dialogue between Taliban and the Afghan Government.

Aziz said that second session of dialogue between Taliban and the Afghan Government was cancelled when the National Directorate of Security (NDS) issued reports regarding death of Mullah Omar, the former chief of Taliban.

He said that the doors for bilateral dialogues were further closed when Mullah Omar's successor Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone strike.

"Pakistan endeavors to have a dialogue process but the condemnable statements from Afghan politicians against Pakistan are negatively impacting the environment," Aziz said.

He said massive withdrawal of international forces and increase in operations of armed insurgents after 2014 has led to the situation in Afghanistan being deteriorated.

Aziz said the remarks by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the 'Heart of Asia' Conference recently held in Amritsar were indicative of the growing frustration in Afghanistan.

"It is imprecise to blame Pakistan for backing Taliban," he said.

The Adviser said that the ongoing operation Zarb-e-Azb has destroyed the Haqqani Network established in the tribal areas and it was no longer operating on Pakistan's soil.

However, he said that the possibility of presence of scattered extremists in the country could not be overlooked.

"Such elements were creating hurdles for the peace process of the two countries and therefore he had asked Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani at the Heart of Asia conference to make efforts for improving the security system on Pak-Afghan border," Aziz said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress Party on Sunday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is choosing various public platforms and not the Parliament to justify his government's demonetisation drive as the common man cannot contradict his claims.

Congress general secretary taunted Prime Minister Modi for speaking up on the demonetisation issue at a farmers' rally in Banaskantha district of Gujarat.

"At such places people do not have mikes and only the Prime Minister has it. Also, the security personnel around him do not allow the common man to have discussion," said Ahmad.

"The fear of being hit with various questions by the opposition is stopping him from attending the Parliament," he added.

Ahmad also questioned the Prime Minister regarding recent seizure of huge amount of cash found in new currency notes.

"Cash worth crores have been found at various places in new currency notes. The Prime Minister has to answer as to how the common man is unable to get even Rs. 2000, but the black money hoarders are able to secure crores of rupees,' he said.

"Black money is getting generated at a fast pace even after the move of demonetisation by the government," he added.

Prime Minister Modi yesterday countered the opposition's charges of running away from a debate on the government's move to ban high-value currency notes.

"We are ready to debate on demonetisation but I am not being allowed to speak in Lok Sabha so I am speaking in a jan sabha (public meeting)," said Prime Minister Modi.

"Parliament is not being allowed to function. What is happening in Parliament has even anguished our President, who has tremendous political experience," he added.

The ongoing Winter Session of Parliament has witnessed repeated disruptions with a united opposition demanding a debate on the demonetisation move.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hitting back at Director of Tata Sons Vijay Singh, ousted Chairman Cyrus P Mistry on Sunday accused the former of playing a key role in the alleged Rs. 3,600 crore AgustaWestaland chopper scam.

Singh, who is serving as the director of the conglomerate, had served as the Defence Secretary to the Government of India.

"It's amusing to see Vijay Singh concoct theories to defend his role in Ratan Tata's conspiracy to replace Cyrus Mistry," he said, while adding, "As defence secretary Vijay Singh was a key official involved in the award of the Rs. 3,600 crores VVIP helicopter contract to AugustaWestland in 2010. It is a matter of public record that the government had to cancel the contract, dubbed 'Choppergate' by the media, due to charges of corruption and graft," Mistry's office stated.

Mistry said Ratan Tata in 2010 had set up a Joint Venture with Italy-based Finmeccanica's helicopter unit AgustaWestland, called the Indian Rotor Craft (IRL), to manufacture AW119 utility helicopters.

"Media reports indicate that the assembly line envisaged in this JV would address part of Finmeccanica's offset obligation arising from the sale of the now cancelled VVIP helicopters," he said.

Mistry said after the retirement of Ratan Tata, on his instructions, Vijay Singh was invited to join the Tata Sons Board in 2013 as a nominee of the Tata Trusts.

"It is a matter of record that Ratan Tata travelled to Italy to 'voluntarily depose' for Finmeccanica's chief Guiseppe Orsi as a defence witness in 2014. Incidentally, in April this year, an Italian court sentenced Orsi to jail for false accounting and corruption over the sale of the 12 AugustaWestland helicopters to India," he said.

Mistry also claimed that Vijay Singh, who was a member of the Nominations and Remuneration Committee (NRC) of Tata Sons on June 28, 2016, gave a glowing review of the performance of Mistry as Chairman of the Group.

"After reviewing the performance of the Executive Chairman, the members unanimously recorded their recognition of his significant contributions across Group companies and expressed their appreciation of his multi-faceted initiatives aimed at preserving and promoting cohesive functioning of the Group in accordance of its distinctive values," he added.

"In fact, Vijay Singh also stated that Tata Motors have come up with some of their best models in recent years". His colleague Ronnen Sen, an independent director, also added that from his experience, Mistry had earned the respect of not only CEOs and senior management but also operational personnel," he added.

Mistry said with regards to Welspun, Singh, as a Trust Nominated Director, explicitly supported this strategy when a note on the topic was circulated amongst the Board members. Later, he along with Nitin Nohria, had to leave the Board Room for over an hour to take instructions from Ratan Tata on how to articulate his mind on the Board deliberations. Perhaps he needed guidance on how to overcome his past excitement in favour of the transaction.

Mistry also pointed out that Singh's compensation increased from Rs. 90 lakhs to Rs. 1.3 crores over the last year, an increase of nearly 45percent , whereas in the same year Mistry restricted his pay increase to 6 percent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. HENRY LOFTIES, Defendant-Appellant. No. 15-50270 Decided: December 09, 2016

Before: PREGERSON, D.W. NELSON, and OWENS, Circuit Judges.

MEMORANDUM*

Henry Lofties appeals from his conviction, after a jury trial, for bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  2113(a). As the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recount them here. We affirm.

We reject Lofties' challenges to the district court's evidentiary rulings related to the requirement that the bank be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the testimony of either bank teller Marco Sabaja or vice president Ronald Gillman. See United States v. McFall, 558 F.3d 951, 960 (9th Cir. 2009) (stating that evidentiary rulings are reviewed for an abuse of discretion); see also Fed. R. Evid. 602, 801(a). In addition, even if it violated the Confrontation Clause to admit the Certificate of Proof of Insured Status by FDIC executive Ralph E. Frable, any error was harmless in light of other evidence that the bank was insured by the FDIC at the time of the robbery. See United States v. Norwood, 603 F.3d 1063, 1068-69 (9th Cir. 2010) (setting forth harmless error standard).

We also reject Lofties' argument that there was insufficient evidence for the jury to find that the bank was insured by the FDIC. The amount of evidence required to establish that a bank was FDIC-insured at the time of a robbery is minimal. United States v. Ali, 266 F.3d 1242, 1244 (9th Cir. 2001). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, a rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the bank was insured by the FDIC at the time of the robbery. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979).

AFFIRMED.
Tom Holland, who plays Peter Parker in the latest and upcoming superhero movie 'Spider-Man

The 20-year-old actor revealed his undercover operation in a recent Facebook Live session, where he said, "The coolest thing I think I did for the movie was I was enrolled in a high school in New York City, in the Bronx, as a secret."

"No one knew who I was or what I was doing. I had a fake name, a fake accent. I went to school for three days, I think. It was really fun," he revealed.

Apparently Holland found New York high schools "really interesting" because they were "so different" than those schools he went to in London.

"When I went to school, you had to wear a suit and tie and it's all boys and for me, it was the first time I was in a classroom with girls. It was like a really strange experience. It was really fun," he shared.

Holland did not keep his secret for long, but naturally, the school kids failed to believe him.

"I told one kid at the school, I was like, 'Hey man, I'm actually Spider-Man.' He did not believe me, was like, 'What? No.' I said, 'No, seriously, I'm Spider-Man. Like, no joke. Like, let's not mess around anymore. I'm Spider-Man.' He's like, 'I don't believe you,'" Holland said.

"And at the time, I hadn't made the movie so I didn't have any pictures to show him, to prove that I was Spider-Man. And he did not believe me at all," he sighed.

Another girl seemed highly suspicious of him from the start.

"She was sitting next to me and she was like, 'What's your deal, man? Like, why are you at our school? Like, this is a science school, you can't just enroll, you have to come from the beginning,'" Holland said.

"And I was like, 'Oh, well, I have a secret. I have a secret.' And she was like, 'What? This guy's a freak.

Like, what the hell? ...and then I started doing an English accent...'I'm actually Spider-Man.' And she was like, 'Dude, you're nuts. You are literally the craziest guy I've ever met in my life,'" he added.

Also starring Robert Downy Junior, 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' is set for release on July 7.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Reflecting on the myriad policy challenges in South Asia, C. Christine Fair, Associate Professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, has opined that the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump would need to deepen its relations with Iran to ensure that U.S.-Afghan policy is secure from Pakistan's efforts to destabilise Kabul.

In an article for the warontherocks.com web site, Fair said, "U.S.-Afghan policy must be secure from Pakistani efforts to destabilize Afghanistan. This means it is vital that the United States and its partners deepen its relations with Iran rather than eviscerate them as the president-elect and his senior appointees have promised to do. Iran has more in common with the United States than does Pakistan."

While acknowledging that Afghanistan is enjoying a semblance of democracy and access to education and health care as never before, and also the support of their own army, Fair is of the view that the high level of corruption that exists in that country, makes for a situation that is "precarious and unsustainable".

"This corruption has fuelled the insurgency," Fair says, adding, "Much of it is also driven by patronage politics that has a long history in Afghanistan."

"Pakistan would find it much more difficult to exploit Afghan grievances if there were fewer grievances," she states.

Fair suggests that Afghanistan would need to clean up its act on corruption for Washington to continue to remain committed to it under the incoming Trump administration.

Washington, Fair says has two options - it can leave Afghanistan altogether, keeping only a normalised presence at the embassy with an aid portfolio that looks like any other country. "This is tantamount to handing Afghanistan back to the Taliban and their Pakistani masters. Alternatively, the United States could agree to an open-ended commitment to continue helping Afghanistan's security forces stave off the persistent predatory threat from Pakistan and its proxies. The goal should be to fund this at a level similar to that of current U.S. assistance to Israel."

"The United States should be willing to remain committed to Afghanistan, but Afghanistan must clean up its act in specific ways and on a time schedule that is feasible. At the same time, the Afghan government and the international community need to begin re-sizing the Afghan government, expanding the tax net, and cajoling important investors to build the needed infrastructure to get Afghanistan's resources out of the ground and to market. Afghanistan will soon be connected to railheads from Iran, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It simply needs the internal connectivity to those rail heads, either by road or rail links," Fair says.

"The United States has spent more in Afghanistan in real terms than it did in the entire Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after the war. The gains are real. Afghans have enjoyed a semblance of democracy. The Taliban continue to make gains, particularly in the rural areas where most Afghans live. The Afghan National Security Forces continue to take casualties at an astonishing rate. The United States needs to make some serious decisions about Afghanistan as soon as possible," she adds.

"Success in Afghanistan will also require the United States to forge a real and effective Pakistan policy. Even if a long-term U.S. commitment to Afghanistan and Afghan commitments to doing a better job at governing occur, the United States and Afghanistan will still fail if Pakistan continues to provide sanctuary, training, as well monetary, military and diplomatic amenities to the Taliban," she concludes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a Parivartan Rally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bahraich today.

A huge rally ground has been prepared for the purpose which is adjacent to the district Head quarter of Bahraich where the Prime Minister will be visiting for the third time since 2001.

He was general secretary of the BJP when he visited Bahraich in 2001 for the first time and later in November 2013 for the second time.

Huge public participation is expected in the rally, which the Prime Minister is scheduled to address the rally around 1 pm.

BJP state president Keshav Prasad Maurya will receive Prime Minister Modi at the Amausi airport and then accompany him from Lucknow to Bahraich.

It is the fifth Parivartan Rally of PM in Uttar Pradesh, as earlier the Prime Minister has addressed mammoth rallies at Ghazipur, Agra, Kushinagar, Moradabad.

After Bahraich, Prime Minister Modi's next rally is scheduled in Kanpur on 19th December.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi Police has arrested a firearms trafficker and seized 27 high-quality pistols from his possession, police said on Sunday.

The accused has been identified as Ram Singh, 50, who is a resident of Madhya Pradesh's Khargone district. He was arrested on Saturday night by a team of the Delhi Police Special Cell from Akshardham Sethu when he came to deliver a consignment at a pre-arranged meeting point on National Highway-24, the police said.

"During interrogation, Singh told the police that he had come to deliver the pistols, which were concealed in a bag, to one of his associates," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Special Cell Pramod Singh Kushwah said.

He had come to National Capital Region (NCR) to supply arms before also. The police are looking for his associates in Delhi-NCR region and Madhya Pradesh, Kushwah said.

--IANS

sp/lok/dg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Delhi Police and a woman were found murdered at a property dealer's office here, police said on Sunday.

A police officer said residents of Deep Nagar in north Delhi told them about the deaths. The ASI and woman were identified as Joginder Lakra, who was posted with the Crime Branch in Rohini, and Manisha.

"The property office where they were found murdered belonged to Lakra. He had rented it. Lakra had five bullet wounds and his friend Manisha had taken three bullet shots," a senior police officer said.

They were found partially dressed.

Lakra, a resident of Mundka village in Delhi, was married to a woman who was posted in the Security Cell of Delhi Police, the officer said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Several hundred Egyptians, mostly Christians, on Sunday gathered outside Cairo's Coptic Cathedral to protest an explosion in which at least 25 people were killed.

Participants chanted slogans calling for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar to step down, reports Efe.

Michael Yamini, a 29-year-old protester, said that he was at the scene to understand how a bomb could have exploded at the Cathedral's complex.

According to police, an explosive device had been placed at the door of the small church of St. Peter, next to the Coptic Cathedral.

The protest was held amid tight security measures following the attack, for which no group had yet claimed responsibility.

At least 25 people were killed and 49 others wounded in the explosion outside Cairo's Coptic Cathedral in the Abbassia neighbourhood of the Egyptian capital.

The attack came two days after the death of six policemen in a bomb attack near the Pyramids of Giza, west of Cairo.

--IANS

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The Islamic State militant group has retreated from the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria because of intense airstrikes by Russia and Syria, the media reported on Sunday.

The airstrikes on Saturday targeted several areas near Palmyra in a bid to push back the militants who attempted to attack the city and re-entered it after losing it to the Syrian forces nine months ago, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, a military source said the Syrian forces have thwarted an infiltration attempt by the IS to enter the eastern part of Palmyra.

Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the IS entered the oasis city on Saturday.

"The IS is in Palmyra for the first time after losing it to the Syrian army, whose forces are collapsing in the city," it said.

The UK-based watchdog group said the IS group succeeded in advancing and reaching the vicinity of the Palmyra hospital after capturing the Amiriyeh suburb in the northern part.

The militants also captured the Tar mountain, close to the Palmyra Citadel, in tandem with shelling the citadel with mortar shells and heavy artillery.

The observatory said intense battles were still raging between the IS militants and the forces in the city.

The IS started its offensive in Palmyra on Thursday, after bringing in hundreds of fighters for taking the city.

The Syrian army is fighting to restore the positions it had lost in Palmyra as a result of the IS attack.

The army captured Palmyra on March 27 this year, after losing the city to the IS last year.

Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.

The city has an importance to the IS as it connects areas under the terror group's control in Deir al-Zour with Homs province.

The recapture of Palmyra is also important as the group's fighters in Iraq have started entering Syria recently after suffering great losses in battles against the Iraqi army and the US-anti-terror coalition.

--IANS

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With over 5.5 million children enslaved across the globe, Nobel laureates and world leaders on Sunday adopted a 'Will for Children' vowing to collectively endeavour for ending child labour in all its forms and create and a child-friendly world.

Led by Nobel laureate and child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, the 'Will for Children' was adopted at the inaugural 'Laureates and Leaders Summit for Children' at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

The two-day summit witnessed the participation of Nobel laureates like Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Yemeni journalist Tawakkol Karman, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, former President of Timore-Leste Jose Ramos-Horta.

The first-ever summit witnessed the participation of world leaders like former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Princess Charlene of Monaco, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands and The Earth Institute director Jeffrey Sachs among others.

"One in ten children is still forced into work by poverty, coercion and trafficking, and a shocking 5.5 million of them are still enslaved. Millions of children and youth are not in school, and more than a half of these children are exposed to violence, or live in conflict areas, fragile states and in conditions of humanitarian emergencies," they said.

"We will use our voices to protect and amplify the voices of millions of girls, boys and young people as equal citizens of today and decision makers of tomorrow.

"We will take actions and experiences towards concrete efforts to ending child labour in all its forms, including trafficking of children, and abolishing modern day slavery.

"As Nobel laureates and world leaders, this is our individual and collective will for children," they said.

The leaders and laureates also vowed to support and encourage governments, inter-governmental organisations and private sector to prioritise the empowerment, free, quality, public education, inclusive, affordable and equitable healthcare.

They also called upon all nations to implement 17 Sustainable Development Goals with urgency and with the necessary domestic and international financing.

The summit culminated with President Pranab Mukherjee launching the "100 Million for 100 Million" campaign that strives to change the future of millions of children worldwide.

--IANS

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A private helicopter on a joyride crashed and erupted into a fireball, killing the pilot and injuring three others, at an isolated spot in the Mumbai suburb Goregaon on Sunday.

The helicopter, a Robinson R44 belonging to Aman Aviation Pvt Ltd, was on a sight-seeing flight over Mumbai when it suddenly crashed inside the forested Aarey Milk Colony and caught fire around 12.15 p.m., said the BMC Disaster Control.

According to witnesses, hundreds of people from nearby tribal hamlets inside the Aarey Milk Colony and some other settlements rushed to help the victims even as fire tenders rushed to the spot.

People and police personnel extricated the victims from the burning chopper and rushed them to the Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri East.

While pilot Prafulkumar Mishra was declared dead, a co-pilot and two passengers including a woman are reported to be in critical condition, a hospital official said.

--IANS

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Police in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Sunday seized over Rs 32 lakh in new currency notes of Rs 2,000 in two separate incidents and arrested 14 people.

In the first incident, police seized new notes of Rs 16 lakh at Ramayampet in Medak district of Telangana. The money was recovered the cash from a car during the vehicle checking in the town.

The driver and another person accompanying him told police that they were carrying the cash to Toopran near Hyderabad for handing it over to a man for purchase of a piece of land.

Police handed over the cash to the income tax department for further investigation.

In another incident in Vijayawada, police busted a gang involved in exchanging demonetised currency notes and seized over Rs 18 lakh, majority of it in new currency notes of Rs 2,000.

The 12-member gang was exchanging the scrapped notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 with new currency for commission.

Police said an amount of Rs 18.48 lakh was seized from the arrested men. This includes Rs 16.88 lakh in new notes of Rs 2,000.

--IANS

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The Syrian forces have captured 93 per cent of the rebel-held areas in Aleppo, the media reported on Sunday.

The majority of the rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo have recently fallen to the army, which is fighting to wrest control over the few remaining neighbourhoods, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, at least 3,000 civilians fled the rebel-held areas of Sukari, Fardos and Salahuddien in eastern Aleppo toward government-controlled areas west of the city on Saturday, a military source said.

A day earlier, nearly 5,000 evacuated eastern Aleppo.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said last week that over 30,000 civilians fled eastern Aleppo toward the government-controlled areas.

This comes as the Syrian government forces have been on a crushing offensive against the rebels in eastern Aleppo.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the decision for taking all of Aleppo has been taken, adding that the army recapture of rebel-held areas in Aleppo will change the course of the battles in Syria.

--IANS

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Delhi Police on Sunday claimed to have solved the murder here of an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of the force and his woman friend with the arrest of two persons.

Accused Jeet Dahiya and Amar Singh were arrested from Rohini area on the charge of killing ASI Joginder Lakra, 45, and his friend Manisha, police said.

Lakra and Manisha were found murdered early on Sunday at a property dealer's office that the deceased police official used to run at Deep Nagar in north Delhi, police said.

Lakra was posted with the Ist Battalion of Delhi Police.

"During interrogation, Jeet said he had dealings with Joginder over dance and illegal betting activities. A monetary dispute between the two developed into enmity," Deputy Commissioner of Police M.N. Tiwari told IANS.

Jeet allegedly hatched a plan with Amar Singh and others to eliminate Joginder. They reached the property dealer's office late on Saturday night and fired multiple rounds at Joginder and the woman, Tiwari said.

The woman was killed since she was witness to Joginder's murder, he said.

Lakra was hit five times while Manisha was shot thrice.

Lakra, a resident of Mundka village in Delhi, was married to a woman posted in the Security Cell of Delhi Police, the officer said.

--IANS

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Intensifying its economic blockade following the creation on Thursday of seven new districts in Manipur, the United Naga Council (UNC) in Senapati district headquarters forced vehicles carrying paramilitary personnel, proceeding to escort trucks and oil tankers stranded on the highway, to return to Imphal on Saturday night.

Hundreds of loaded trucks and oil tankers remain stranded in Assam, Nagaland and near Manipur's border along National Highways 2 and 53. The blockade of supplies has led to severe shortage of fuel, consumer items and life-saving drugs in the state.

The UNC had enforced the blockade on the highways on November 1 in protest against the Okram Ibobi Singh government's move to upgrade Sadar Hills and Jiribam to full-fledged districts. Sadar Hills is one of the seven new districts, albeit under a new name -- Kangpokpi district.

The Manipur government on Thursday announced formation of seven new districts -- Jiribam, Kangpokpi, Tengoupal, Pharzol, Kakching, Noney and Kamjongin -- in the state.

Meanwhile, UNC said that a meeting of the Nagas will be held on Monday to take stock of the situation arising out of the creation of the seven districts.

There have been low-key sit-in protests and demonstrations demanding the release of the two arrested UNC leaders, including Council President Gaidon Kamei.

Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has refused to budge saying that the law will take its own course.

Manipur High Court has also issued directives on three occasions, the most important being one directing the state government to deploy "adequate" security forces along the highways to ensure safe movement of vehicles.

--IANS

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Arguments in the Supreme Court have become noisy and acrimonious lately, prompting Chief Justice of India T S Thakur to chide lawyers for lowering the dignity of the institution. However, history repeated itself last Friday when scores of petitions challenging demonetisation were argued before him by senior lawyers. The courtroom was as crowded as a bank entrance these days and the arguing lawyers outshouted each other, reminding one of night time TV debates. The scene prompted the judge to give a 10-minute sermon on court etiquette. He regretted that when he would retire after a year-end recess, he would carry unhappy memories of such scenes. A few weeks ago, the Bar association president compared the court scenes to a fish market. Perhaps this is one reason why judges are against telecasting court proceedings. Telecast of Parliament debates are bad enough for the moment.
Her protests against the Tata Nano factory in Singur made Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief a leader not just of Kolkata and its adjoining districts but entire West Bengal, and end the 34-year long Left Front rule in the state. Nearly a decade later, by taking the lead against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'note ban', Banerjee has positioned herself not only as a leader for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but her support to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is also likely to ensure the end to the Congress-Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) alliance in Bengal.
Harpreet Singh, a taxi driver, is confident that the popularity of the Parkash Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government has not waned in Punjabs villages after 10 years. This was despite an anti-incumbency mood, rise of drug usage in the state and other such issues.
What was behind the massive breach of security that led to the escape of Khalistan movement leader Harminder Singh Mintoo from the Nabha jail at end-November? Only a security lapse, caused by carelessness on the part of Punjabs jail administration, already under stress? Or do conditions exist for a resurgence of the separatist movement?
Two persons were killed and three others injured in a freak accident that involved an explosion in a moving chemical tanker and subsequent pile-up of three vehicles on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway today, causing massive disruption of traffic for hours.

"The incident occurred near a petrol pump at Wadoli village in Palghar district adjoining Mumbai in afternoon when the tanker carrying some inflammable chemical caught fire while moving while a truck rammed into it from behind, causing an explosion," Talasari tehsildar (revenue official) Vishal Doundkar told PTI.

Due to the impact, the affected tanker hit another truck ahead of it while a car collided with the tanker from behind.

The deceased have been identified as Ramesh Khot and Razzak Bapu Gavad who were travelling in the truck that hit the tanker from behind.

The injured persons have been identified as Ajinkya Patil (29), Prachi Patil (50) and Rasika Patil (50), who were travelling in the car.

Talasari police inspector Keshav Naik said the tanker belonged to Mumbai-based Amit Roadlines.

Fire tenders from nearby areas and also Khanvel on the outskirts of Gujarat were dispatched to douse the flames, Doundkar said, adding the tanker was gutted in fire.

The authorities had a tough time in managing the traffic on the busy highway as the accident took place just near a petrol pump which was also cordoned off.

The accident caused a massive traffic snarl on the busy highway, with long queues of vehicles stretching upto at least five kms.

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The Philippine military says three soldiers have been killed and 17 wounded in nearly two hours of fighting against about 150 Muslim militants in the south.

Regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan says Abu Sayyaf gunmen withdrew after the fierce clash yesterday in the mountains of Patikul town in Sulu province, and are being pursued by government forces. He says an unspecified number of militants were either wounded or killed.

Tan said today the militants were led by Radulan Sahiron, a one-armed commander long wanted by the US and Philippine governments for his alleged role in kidnappings for ransom and other acts.

Malaysian forces killed three Abu Sayyaf gunmen and captured two others in a failed kidnapping attempt in Malaysia's Sabah state near the southern Philippines on Thursday.

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Three Maoists including the founder of a proscribed Maoist outfit Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJPP) during a raid at a place under NTPC Khaira police station of Bihar's Aurangabad district.

Superintendent of Police Satya Prakash said after getting a tip off that three Maoists were intimidating local people, specially farmers, to get their personal work done, police raided Khadaha-Sonedila area under NTPC Khaira police station area from where the three Maoists were arrested along with arms and ammunition.

The arrested trio included Arvind Ram, the founder of Maoist outfit JJPP and a resident of Katukar village of Kutumba police station of the district. Arvind Ram formed JJPP after splitting from the CPI(Maoists).

The other two arrested were accomplices of Arvind Ram and identified as Shankar Ram alias Alam ji, a resident of Aurangabad district and Mukesh Kumar Mehta, a resident of Palamu district of Jharkhand, the SP said.

The police seized three country made pistols, 15 live cartridges and an empty cartridge from their possession, he added.

Arvind Ram was a mastermind of the Jaipur jewellery shop loot case in which he had served three years of jail, Prakash said adding, Ram was involved in various Maoist related incidents in Mali and Nabinagar police station areas of the district.

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Police have seized 305 kgs of cannabis from two vehicles and arrested five persons in this regard.

The value of the seized contraband was estimated at Rs 10 lakh, a senior police official said today.

"Police yesterday intercepted two vehicles coming from Visakhapatnam on suspicion and found ganja inside them," said DCP Palraj.

The officer said police arrested Mallisetti Ravi Kiran (36), David Ibrhami (23) and Malleswara Rao (26)--all drivers of the vehicles, and Nandepu Mahesh (22) and Nanaji (27) from Visakhapatnam.

He said Ravi Kiran was a history sheeter who allegedly had links with ganja smugglers from Visakhapatnam.

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Terming AAP's tie-up with Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) as an alliance of "truth and honesty", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today the combine would defeat the "corrupt regime" of SAD-BJP in Punjab so that people could live their lives peacefully.

Kejriwal, who was honoured by LIP leaders Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains, said people's response to the alliance indicated that the people have already made up their minds to ensure defeat of the SAD-BJP-Congress nexus and eradicate the "mafia rule".

Hailing the battle waged by the Bains brothers against "corruption" in the Akali government, the AAP chief said the time was ripe for people to raise their voice against irregularities and malpractices.

Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal said demonetisation was a wrong decision implemented in a wrong manner.

Several people have already lost their lives while standing in queues outside banks, he claimed.

"Modi has done so to benefit his industrialist friends and it is a scam of more than Rs eight lakh crore," he said.

"On the one hand, BJP leaders are spending Rs 500 crore on marriages of their daughters and on the other, common man is forced to spend just Rs 2.5 lakh on marriages of their children," he said, referring to the recent weddings of daughters of Union minister Nitin Gadkari and former Karnataka minister Janardhana Reddy.

Addressing the gathering, Simarjit Singh Bains said that his party always waged a war against corruption and now under the alliance with AAP, a decisive battle against corruption would be fought to eradicate it once for all.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh said, "SAD and Congress leaders are right when they say, AAP has no experience. Yes, we admit that we have no experience of looting the state exchequer, we have no experience to run the mafia in mining, liquor, cable and transport sectors. But we have immense experience to eradicate corruption, which has already been proved in Delhi.

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Asserting it is "against political ethics" to blame RSS and BJP over cancellation of his visit to a felicitation programme in Bhopal, Kerala BJP today hit back at Pinarayi Vijayan, saying the Chief Minister himself decided not to attend the event.

BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan said when police informed the Chief Minister that there was a possibility of protest against the alleged "violence of politics" by CPI(M) by certain organisations, Vijayan himself took the decision not to attend the function.

Rajasekharan said even though police later told him that the protesters have been pacified, Vijayan said he was returning after cancelling the programme.

"It is against political ethics to blame RSS and BJP for it," he added.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and DGP had contacted Vijayan over phone when they came to know about the incident, he pointed out.

Rajasekharan said CPI(M)'s style of attacking political rivals did not exist in any other states.

Earlier in the day, Vijayan had lashed out at Madhya Pradesh Police over inaction against RSS, saying the experience he underwent in the BJP-ruled state is a reflection of the culture of the Sangh Parivar and the government supported by them.

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About 20,000 ancient trees on the renowned Mount Tai in east China's Shandong Province now have "digital ID cards" which will provide a range of information about the environment, condition of trees, climate, diseases and pests, official media reported today.

The digital hold basic information on the trees collected by a new monitoring and management system for ancient trees on the mountain, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Providing basic information and a real-time map of the trees, the system helps rangers examine the growing environment and conditions of the trees, and monitor physiology, climate, diseases and pests, the local scenic area management committee said.

The system can calculate whether a tree is healthy, weak or dying, while recording the harm a tree has suffered and the degree of any damage.

There are 18,195 ancient trees on Mount Tai, and 1,821 of them are classified as first-class ancient trees, which are more than 300 years old, particularly rare, or of historical significance.

The mountain is home to several famous trees such as a pine named "yingkesong" (literally guest-welcoming pine).

As a popular tourist attraction on Mount Tai, the over 500-year-old pine was put on the World Cultural and Natural Heritage list.

Mount Tai, one of China's Five Sacred Mountains, holds great historical and cultural significance.

Its peak is referred to as the "Jade Emperor Peak" and is approximately 1,500 meters above sea level.
Andhra Pradesh government today formally issued an order removing tainted Chennai-based businessman J Sekhar as member of Board of Trustees of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.

The Income Tax Department and the Central Bureau of Investigation seized over Rs 131 crore in cash and 127 kg of gold from Sekhar during raids on his properties in the last three days.

Yesterday, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had directed officials to remove Sekhar from the TTD Board.

The Chief Minister told reporters last night that Sekhar was appointed to the TTD on the recommendation of the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu.

"Though J Sekhar has not been involved in any irregularity concerning TTD matters, his actions have nevertheless attracted adverse public attention which has brought disrepute to the holiest Hindu shrine in the world. Hence his actions have attracted section 19(1)(f) of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable & Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987," Principal Secretary (Revenue, Endowments) J S V Prasad said in an order today.

"In exercise of the powers conferred under section 19(1)(f) of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable & Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act-1987, Government hereby orders that J Sekhar shall cease to hold office as Member of the Board of Trustees of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Tirupati, with immediate effect, since he acted adverse to the TTD," the Principal Secretary added.

Reddy was appointed as TTD member in May 2015.

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Sleuths of the City Task Force of Vijayawada police arrested 12 people this evening and seized Rs 18.48 lakh, including Rs 16.88 lakh in notes of Rs 2,000 denomination, from their possession.

The gang was luring people under the pretext of exchanging scrapped banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, a Task Force official said, adding they used to charge 10-20 per cent as commission for exchanging the old currency notes.

"We are investigating how these people got the new Rs 2,000 notes when there is a huge scarcity of cash in the market. We may question some bank officials based on the information provided by the arrested persons," the official said.

Meanwhile, Director General of Police in-charge Nanduri Sambasiva Rao said the police in different parts of the state have so far seized currency worth about Rs 6 crore since the demonetisation was announced on November 8.

With reports that some top level police officials were hand-in-glove with currency exchanging gangs in some districts, the state police chief said an inquiry was being conducted into the allegations.

"We will take appropriate action based on our inquiry findings," Sambasiva Rao said.

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Apollo International is targetting a five-fold jump in the turnover of its logistics arm Apollo LogiSolutions (ALS) to touch Rs 4,500 crore by 2022.

The company plans to invest around USD 200 million in the next few years as it gears up to expand through both organic growth and acquisitions for a public listing of ALS around 2020.

"We are looking for a topline of Rs 900 crore this year, up from Rs 750 crore last year. Our target is to reach Rs 4,500 by 2022," Apollo International Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Raaja Kanwar told PTI.

Bullish on the logistics sector in India, he said implementation of GST will be a big boost with removal of myriad taxes resulting in reduced cost, increased efficiency and provide a level playing field to organised players vis-a-vis unorganised operators.

He said 70 per cent of ALS' turnover will be from India and the rest from international operations by 2022.

In order to achieve the target, the company is working on plans to set up five mega warehouses in north, south, east, west and central India.

"We are looking at a total of around 4-5 million square feet of warehousing space, up from the current 1.1 million square feet," Kanwar said.

When asked about investments, ALS President Pisipati S S Prasad said it could be around USD 200 million in the next few years, which will be a combination of debt and equity.

He said acquisitions, primarily in the domestic market will play a significant role in the company's future plans.

"We have already identified five-six targets," Prasad said, adding the company was looking at far East and Africa for its international expansion.

Commenting on plans to list ALS, Kanwar said: "We will start preparing by 2019 and list in 2020 but it is too early to talk about how much stake to be diluted through the IPO.

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Eight Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu where injured when they were attacked allegedly by Sri Lankan Navy while fishing off Neduntheevu, prompting the state government to seek Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to curb such 'violent actions'.

"Eight fishermen from Pudukottai district were fishing off Neduntheevu last evening when the Lankan naval personnel attacked them using iron rods and wires before chasing them away," Tamil Nadu Fisheries department Joint Director Sekar said at Rameswaram.

The injured fishermen were being treated at the government hospital at Manalmelkudi in that district.

Taking up the matter, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said "it is reported that the Sri Lankan Navy personnel boarded the fishing boats and brutally attacked the poor fishermen," while they were fishing in their "traditional waters."



"The frightened fishermen, terrorised by the unprovoked and brutal attack of the Sri Lankan Navy, returned to shore immediately," he said.

Despite several steps taken by the state government under former Chief Minister the late J Jayalalithaa to find a permanent pragmatic solution to this "sensitive livelihood issue, the situation at sea remains precarious because of the belligerent actions of the Sri Lankan Navy," he charged.

"The Sri Lankan Navy continues to unleash its reign of terror on our fishermen in the Palk Bay, where these fishermen have earned their meagre livelihood from time immemorial."



"The inhuman and barbaric acts of the Sri Lankan Navy continue unabated in spite of several rounds of talks and meetings between Government of Sri Lanka and the Government of India wherein it was assured that force would not be used against bonafide Indian fishermen," he said.

He said Jayalalithaa had repeatedly pointed out that the abrogation of 1974 Indo-Lanka agreement on ceding the islet katchatheevu to the island republic alone can restore the traditional fishing grounds of the Palk Bay to the Tamil Nadu fishermen.

Further, a total of 15 Indian fishermen and 107 boats were languishing in Sri Lankan custody, Panneerselvam said.

"I request you to intervene personally in this sensitive livelihood issue of our fishermen and use diplomatic channels to curb the violent actions of the Sri Lankan Navy on innocent fishermen from Tamil Nadu."



"It is very important that the Government of India acts decisively to ensure that our fishermen can pursue their livelihood with freedom and peace of mind in their traditional waters of Palk Bay. I also request the Government of India to secure the release of 15 fishermen and 107 fishing boats without any delay," he said in the letter.

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Aam Aadmi Party Convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress of "befooling" the people of Punjab on the issue of Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.

Both Congress and SAD are responsible for constructing SYL and are now shedding crocodile tears to misguide the people of state, he said.

"Parkash Singh Badal being CM of Punjab in 1978 acquired land for SYL and now in 2016 is trying to act as the savior of Punjab waters by passing resolution regarding it. He must clarify if he was wrong in 1978 or now in 2016," he said.

Kejriwal said that then Prime Minister Indra Gandhi signed agreement regarding SYL and initiated construction work along with Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh.

Even Punjab Congress welcomed the move at that time, he added.

The AAP leader accused Badal and Amarinder of allegedly being hand in glove to get power and misguiding the Punjab people by submitting resignations.

"Badal and Amarinder are trying to get political mileage on SYL issue. SAD-BJP are alliance partners in Punjab and the same alliance is in power at Centre and in Haryana but their leaders give different statements on SYL issue while in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab," he said.

He said that if SAD-BJP wanted to solve the issue they could have done it long ago but their motive is to politicise the issue as Punjab elections are near.

Kejriwal said only AAP can protect the waters of Punjab.

He assured the people that nobody will be allowed to snatch the rights of state.

The AAP leader said that Punjab does not have extra water and question of giving it to any other state does not arise.

Kejriwal promised to revive the economy of Punjab with



dairy farming as its mainstay.

Speaking at the Annual Pashu Mela of Progressive Dairy Farmers Association here, he said that dairy farming will be the bedrock occupation for removing unemployment in Punjab after Aam Aadmi Party forms the government.

He said interest-free loans to dairy farmers will be given after AAP comes to power.

Kejriwal also promised to provide education loan to students wishing to pursue a career in dairy farming.
To avoid any malpractices, the government today asked all public sector banks to strictly maintain record of deposits made through both old Rs 500/1,000 notes and other valid currencies.

In a letter written to chief executive officers of public sector banks, the Finance Ministry asked that "maintenance of records regarding deposit of Specified Bank Note (SBN) and Non-SBN, as the case may be, is essential both in the bank record as well as the customers record.

"The letter addressed to all the Managing Directors of state-owned banks and Chairman of Indian Banks' Association, the Department of Financial Services directed them consider this on urgent basis and send action taken report in this regard by December 16.

"This must be followed scrupulously and any deviation in this regard has to be prevented and if noticed, dealt with firmly and immediately," it said.

Though most banks providing correct information to the customers yet to ensure that it is done in 100 per cent of cases without fail, all the bank branches in the country be alerted to reflect correctly the cash deposit in old and new currency and inform the customers about the same, it said.

The Ministry also asked banks to educate the public, by displaying a prominent sign (including in the local language) in their respective branches requesting their customers to fill up deposit slips clearly indicating old and new currency and the denomination of the notes...

According to the RBI, nearly Rs 12 lakh crore out of Rs 15.4 lakh crore of old high denomination currency notes have come back to banking system since Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped the legal tender of of Rs 500/1000 notes from mid-night of November 8 to fight the menace of black money.

The Ministry also appreciated the role played by the banks post-demonetisation especially when the old currency was accepted and till November 24, when exchange of old currency to specified limit was also permitted.

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The press took out of context comments by the British foreign secretary about "proxy wars" waged by longtime ally Saudi Arabia, the Saudi foreign minister said today, deeming the matter closed.

In a video reported last week Boris Johnson, at a conference in Rome, accused Saudi Arabia and its regional rival Iran of engaging in "puppeteering" and "playing proxy wars".

The video of his comments was posted on the Guardian website.

"I have no doubt that his comments as reported in the press were misconstrued," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters at a joint conference with Johnson in Riyadh.

"If you look at the actual video of what was said, it was not as implied in the press," Jubeir said.

The British minister was on an official visit to the kingdom, during which he met King Salman.

The Guardian report came a day after British Prime Minister Theresa May attended a summit with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states in Bahrain.

Downing Street had to pull Johnson back into line, saying the comments reflected his "personal position".

"There are no mixed messages that we are getting from Britain," Jubeir said, noting Saudi-British ties go back more than a century.

"I believe that the matter is closed.

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Leading stock exchange BSE has authorised as many as 20 asset management companies to offer mutual fund units to registered investment advisors (RIA).

The 20 fund houses enabled by the exchange for RIAs include Axis Mutual Fund, Birla Sun Life AMC, DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund, Edelweiss AMC, HDFC Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential AMC and IDBI Asset Management.

The other AMCs are part of IDFC, Indiabulls, India Infoline, Invesco, Kotak Mahindra, L&T, LIC MF, Motilal Oswal, Peerless, PPFAS, Reliance Nippon, Tata and UTI.

As per latest Sebi data, there are 46 registered mutual funds in the country.

In order to broaden the reach of the mutual fund platform, RIAs have been recently allowed to use infrastructure of the recognised stock exchanges to purchase and redeem mutual fund units directly from mutual fund/assets management companies on behalf of their clients, including direct plans.

The facility, on the BSE's platform for mutual funds, had become operational from November 4.

The exchange will not charge either membership or one-time processing and annual fee.

Sebi, in October 2013, had allowed MF distributors to deal using the stock exchange mechanism.

Prior to that, only brokers were allowed to utilise the exchange mechanism for redeeming and purchasing of mutual fund units.

Star MF is the largest MF distributor platform in India with more than 4 lakh SIPs (Systematic Investment Plans) per month.

On many occasions, the platform has exceeded 1 lakh orders per day.

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Actors Carlos and Alexa PenaVega, who welcomed their baby boy Ocean King this week, have shared a first picture of him on social media.

Taking to Instagram, Carlos, best known for his work on "Big Time Rush", posted a photo of himself holding his son, while Alexa looks on.

"The moment life changed forever. #welcomehomeLilO #12/7/16 #8pound6ounceblessing #GodisGreat," he wrote.

The actress shared a black-and-white snap, which shows her wearing a hospital gown and holding the sleeping child on her lap.

"Little gift from God that I get to share with my husband," she captioned the picture.

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Accusing CBI of acting as the government's "puppet" by "planting false news" related to the VVIP chopper scam, Congress today attacked the Modi dispensation saying it would not succeed in covering up the demonetisation "mess" through a "captive" CBI and should instead answer questions in Parliament.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should also own up the "malicious plants" and the media should not fall prey to such tactics, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said following reports that former IAF chief S P Tyagi, arrested in connection with the VVIP chopper scam, had blamed the office of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"A captive CBI wouldn't succeed in covering up Modiji's disastrous demonetisation mess. Time for the Modi government to answer questions in Parliament," he said.

Surjewala also tweeted, "Instead of acting as 'His Master's Vendatta Machine', CBI's unappointed Chief & Co. should have the courage to own up malicious plants (sic)."



"Request friends of the media to not become unintended conduits of CBI's false plants, which is acting as Govt's puppet to spread lies," he said on Twitter.

Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev, and a lawyer were arrested on December 9 in the alleged Rs 450 crore bribery case in the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from UK-based AgustaWestland during the UPA-2 government.

The counsel appearing for the former IAF chief had claimed in the court yesterday that the decision to procure VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland was a "collective" one and Prime Minister Office (PMO) was also a part of it.

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High alert has been sounded and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been pre positioned as severe cyclonic storm 'Vardah' will make a landfall between north Tamil Nadu and south Andra Pradesh tomorrow.

The alert has been sounded across Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu along the coast of Bay of Bengal, official sources said.

One team of NDRF comprising around 40 personnel has been pre-positioned in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore, one in Tada, one in Salurupeta, one in Oongle, and one in Chitpore district.

In addition, another team is moving to Salurupeta while teams are on standby in Guntur and Hyderabad.

Three NDRF teams were pre-positioned in Chennai, two in Tamil Nadu's in Tiruvalur, one in Mahabalipuram.Sources said another team is on its way to Chennai while one team has been out on stand by at Arakkonam.

The Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai said 'Vardah' lay centred at 330 km east of Chennai at 1430 hours on Sunday and would move westwards before making landfall between north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts tomorrow afternoon.

Under its impact, rains will start tonight and gradually increase tomorrow in the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said.

On December 12, heavy to very heavy rains were likely in some places in these districts, he said, adding, strong winds could gust upto 80-90 kph.

The sea would be rough, he said and asked fishermen to not to venture into the sea for the next 48 hours.

Chief Minister O Panneerselvam held a meeting of the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority which also asked the armed forces to be on standby.

The Tamil Nadu government has also declared holiday for educational institutions in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, besides coastal taluks of Villupuram.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation through a teleconference with Collectors and top officials this evening. He directed them to be alert and undertake necessary rescue and relief efforts in view of the cyclone threat.

Food and other essential commodities should be kept ready in adequate quantities, he said.

"Take all steps to prevent loss of lives and to minimise damages to crops and properties," Naidu told the officials.

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Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today called upon the farmers to assist to make the state cashless by March 31 through 'JAM' (Jan Dhan/Aadhar/Mobile).

Stating that 29 blocks would become cashless by December 30, Das asked farmers to take the support of JAM to assist in making the state cashless, an official release said.

Addressing the 'Krishak Samvad' under the 'Cashless Jharkhand Campaign' here, Das asked farmers to discharge their responsibilities and assist the government in making the state cashless.

He said everyone should work in this regard to make Jharkhand the first cashless state in the country.

Das said the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have broken the backbone of corruption, terrorism and extremism and people have taken a sigh of relief.

This is patriotrism, he said and saluted the people for their support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard.

Asking the farmers to ecounrage Jandhan, Rupay cards and mobile banking, Das said cashless society would make the country strong and it would save 30 per cent of the money, which would be used for welfare of the poor.

Stating that the state was already moving towards cashless, he asked farmers to make it a success and this challenge has been taken as an opportunity by the people and in this way we could make Jharkhand cashless.

Das said the government's priority was to make farmers prosperous as their prosperity was connected with the state's prosperity and the state would make special provisions in the 2017/18 budget to increase their purchasing power.

There would be hundred per cent employment for the people residing below poverty line, he said.

Das said the government would provide Rs four lakh to women below poverty line for establishing poultry and become self-sustenance and added, the eggs would be supplied to the nearby schools.

Saying there would not be any tender to purchase eggs, Das said the life-line of rural economy was animal husbandry.

Asking the farmers to encourage milk production, Das said the government would fully support it.

In pisciculture, the state has moved forward, he said and exhorted people to move forward in every sector.

The Chief Minister also appealed to farmers in helping to make their villages open defecation free and asked them to construct toilets at their houses and use them.

Das made them pledge to construct toilets in their houses in the next three months and praised a girl student of standard VI from Jamshedpur for donating Rs 24,000, which she had saved in her piggy bank, to the nearby village to construct two toilets.

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Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today pulled up Health Minister Satyendar Jain over reports of shortage of ventilators at Delhi government-run hospitals in the national capital.

A peeved Kejriwal reacted on Twitter following media reports claiming Ambu-bags (manual hand-held devices which support breathing) being used to resuscitate patients due to an "acute shortage" of ventilators at hospitals.

"Satinder, this is unacceptable (sic)," he tweeted.

The Federation of Resident Doctor's Association of Delhi (FORDA) claimed that they had raised the issue of shortage of critical care facilities, including ventilators, several times with the Delhi government but nothing was done.

FORDA president Dr Pankaj Solanki said, "Health Minister Satyendar Jain has been told about this many times."



He mentioned that in June 2015, after resident doctors went on a strike demanding better facilities, Jain had sought three months' time to provide ventilators, consumables and drugs but claimed no action was taken.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the Delhi Medical Council have also condemned the shortage of critical care facilities in hospitals and demanded immediate steps be taken to improve the situation.

Ambu-bag is a manual, handheld resuscitation device, which attendants are asked to keep pressing 16 to 18 times per minute to move air into and out of lungs of patients who cannot breathe on their own.

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Following reports about shortage of ventilators in Delhi government-run hospitals, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today pulled up Health Minister Satyendar Jain who in turn sought to shift the blame onto Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, accusing the Health Secretary appointed by him of not reaching the hospital to deal with a case of medical negligence citing unavailability of car.

A peeved Kejriwal reacted on Twitter following media reports claiming Ambu-bags (manual hand-held devices which support breathing) being used to resuscitate patients due to an "acute shortage" of ventilators at hospitals.

"Satinder, this is unacceptable (sic)," he tweeted.

Later, Jain wrote on twitter that, "There is a death in LNH due to negligence.I requested Sec health to reach Hospital with me. He refused to come saying unavailability of car".

According to sources in the Delhi government's Health Department, Jain had received an information about a patient, having died yesterday in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital as he was allegedly unable to get ventilator support, and was going to the hospital to check the ground reality.

He had also called the Health Secretary to come with him but the secretary refused saying his car was not available, they said.

Jain blamed the LG saying that he has appointed the "most incompetent" IAS officer as the health secretary.

"Shameful. LG has appointed the most incompetent, useless n insensitive IAS officer as health secy," Jain tweeted.

However, the secretary later reached the spot, sources said.

The medical superintendent of LNJP Hospital, Dr J C Passey said the patient was a 35-year-old man hailing from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh and had undergone an operation on December 6 after he suffered a brain hemorrhage.

The patient, according to Passey, was doing well after the operation but his condition deteriorated yesterday and he was put on ambu-bags due to unavailability of ventilators and died in the afternoon.

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An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of Delhi Police and a woman were shot dead at a real estate firm's office in Shahbaz Dairy in Outer Delhi today, following which two persons have been arrested.

ASI Joginder Lakhra and his female friend were shot multiple times, police said, adding that the incident came to light this morning after a passerby saw one of the bodies lying at the back door of the office.

Initial investigation revealed that the office space where the bodies were found was owned by Lakhra, who had rented it out to a real estate developer.

Police said the accused -- Jeet Dahiya and Sandeep Singh -- were arrested from Rohini. They were partners with Lakhra in organising dance events and gambling activities.

"Upon inquiry, we found that Lakhra had an argument with his associates over some monetary dispute. We found out that the men had returned at around 10:30 PM yesterday and opened fire," said a police officer.

According to the police, the accused were arrested with the help of human and technical intelligence.

"The accused, along with their friends, went to the real estate firm's office and fired multiple rounds on him and the woman. She was killed because she was witness to his murder," said M N Tiwari, DCP, Rohini District.

It is suspected that more people were involved and police is on the lookout for them.

Lakhra was posted in Ist Battalion of Delhi Police.

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West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh has said Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has lost her mind after the demonetisation drive and that was the reason behind her recent visits to Delhi and Patna.

Speaking at a meeting of the party's youth wing held at Paschim Medinipore district's Jhargram yesterday, Ghosh said Banerjee has lost her mind and is crying for losing thousand of crores of rupees in the recent demonetisation of higher currency notes.

"...That was why she (Banerjee) is visiting New Delhi and Patna. And failing to achieve anything, she is sitting in Nabanna (Secretariat). We had thought that she will ultimately jump in the Ganges... This person (Banerjee) has lost her mind and we are not ready to see her insanity... The state's people have realised their mistake of bringing in the change in West Bengal," Ghosh said.

Reacting sharply to Ghosh's statement, the TMC today said that after failing to fight Banerjee on her stand on demonetisation, the BJP has started spewing "dangerous personal threats to the Bengal CM".

"The BJP cannot fight Mamata Banerjee on policy, good governance and her principled stand on demonetisation on behalf of millions who are affected," the statement released by TMC said.

"BJP is desperate to silence the voice of the opposition. So how low do they stoop? The Bengal BJP president spews deeply dangerous, threatening, abusive and completely false personal statements against her. A new low in politics," it said.
Morning Pointe Senior Living and Independent Healthcare Properties (IHP), in partnership with The Samaritan Center in Ooltewah, continue a 6-year-old tradition of bringing Christmas to local children and families in need.

From November through early December, the senior healthcare companys assisted living and Alzheimers memory care communities in Chattanooga, Ooltewah, Hixson and Athens embraced the power of giving, collecting hundreds of dollars worth of toys to benefit non-profit organization. Since 2010, Morning Pointe has delivered more than $6,000 in donations.

Participating Morning Pointe communities include : Morning Pointe of Athens, Morning Pointe of Chattanooga at Shallowford, Morning Pointe of Collegedale at Greenbriar Cove, Morning Pointe of Hixson, The Lantern at Morning Pointe Alzheimers Center of Excellence in Chattanooga, and The Lantern at Morning Pointe Alzheimers Center of Excellence in Collegedale.

Executive directors, leadership, associates and residents gathered at Morning Pointe of Chattanooga at Shallowford, presenting several barrels overflowing with toys to Samaritan Center representatives.

I couldnt be more proud of all of our communities, said Greg A. Vital, president and CEO of Morning Pointe and IHP. Each year, it brings us much joy to partner with the Samaritan Center to open our hearts and spread holiday cheer to families throughout Hamilton County.

The Samaritan Center is a nonprofit social services agency that provides emergency assistance with food, rent, prescriptions, and utilities for local residents. The organization also operates a Thrift Shop, Clearance Shop and Toy Connection in locations across the Chattanooga area.

Morning Pointe Senior Living is the regions choice for assisted living and Alzheimers memory care in the greater Chattanooga area. Through its life enrichment and Meaningful Day programs, residents and associates look for ways to pay it forward, bringing holiday cheer to those who need it most.
Attacking the Centre's move, Uttar Pradesh Urban Development minister Azam Khan on Sunday said it has made the economic conditions "bad to worse" and thousands of workers have become jobless due to it.

Workers are bound to stand in long serpentine queues for the whole day to get their money, he said after inaugurating a water treatment plant here.

The minister inaugurated a 100 cusecs Ganga water treatment plant developed by the UP Jal Nigam in Pratap Vihar colony here.

Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "Badshah", Khan said he is least effected by demonetisation, while the public is afflicted by the sudden ban of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes.

He said till date the Prime Minister could not bring the "actual black money" from the foreign banks. Public is not getting its hard earned money which was deposited in the banks, the minister said.

All the developmental works are hampered due to demonetisation, he said, and alleged that bank officials are minting money as they are hand-in-gloves with black money hoarders.
Congress leader Ajay Maken today demanded Rs 50,000 compensation for the family of a 15-year-old girl who allegedly committed suicide here, claiming that it was due to demonetisation.

Maken, President of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, met the family of deceased Pooja and said the Centre and the Delhi government should give adequate compensation to the victim's kin.

"It was not the first incident in which one has to die due to demonetisation. Over 100 people have lost their lives due to the bad impact of demonetisation," he said.

The girl had allegedly committed suicide at her house in southwest Delhi's Mahavir Enclave on December 8 reportedly because she could not withdraw money to buy a new dress.

Her family members had said she had gone to withdraw cash from her mother's account at a nearby bank a few hours ago but returned empty handed.

Police, however, denied the family's allegations saying Pooja had demanded Rs 500 from her mother to buy a new dress but she refused. This might have led her to take the extreme step, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
DHFL Pramerica Asset Managers, a private sector fund house, is planning to nearly double the number of branches to 40 from existing 23 in the next couple of years, a top company official said.

Moreover, the company is also looking at increasing the share of retail participation in the equity AUM (assets under management) to Rs 5,000 crore within 2-3 years.

The company has already more than doubled the number of its products, branches and distributors since it acquired Deutsche Bank's mutual fund business in India nearly a year ago. The MF house has opened 10 branches in the current fiscal, taking the total to 23 pan-India.

In fact, the acquisition catapulted DHFL Pramerica's corpus of Rs 2,000 crore in March to around Rs 25,000 crore as on September-end.

"As part of our strategy to achieve growth, we are planning to double the number of branches we have now (23) to 40 within the next couple of years.

"The number of staff, which currently stands at 130, will also go up in the required proportion during the period," DHFL Pramerica Asset Managers CEO Suresh Soni told PTI here.

"The company plans to open more branches and focus on the digital space to aggressively build business and continue on the path of engaging with retail investors and distributors," he said. "We see a much larger proportion of our business coming from digital in the near future."



The MF player is a joint venture between housing finance major DHFL Group and Prudential Financial of USA.

Of the total AUM of close to Rs 25,000 crore, Rs 23,000 crore is in fixed income and the balance in equity, all from retail investors.

The company has 22 open-ended schemes in its bouquet - six in equity and the rest in fixed income. It is looking at increasing the share of retail participation in the equity AUM to Rs 5,000 crore from Rs 2,000 crore at present in 2-3 years.

"We are looking at increasing the share of retail participation in the equity AUM of the company to Rs 5,000 crore from currently existing mark of Rs 2,000 crore within the next 2-3 years," he said.

According to Soni, "We would like to see our retail footprint increasing and build a strong sustainable business on the back of it."



While the company's management is working on growing its equity assets, it has done well on the fixed income side in gathering assets.

DHFL Pramerica's fixed income funds like Credit



Opportunities, Medium Term, Low Duration Fund and Banking & PSU Debt Funds, as on November-end, have added a total of over Rs 2,000 crore to their corpus since March.

The company has 64 per cent of assets in 5 and 4 star -rated schemes, while 61 per cent of its assets have been beating their benchmark over the past three years, according to data as on September 30 from valueresearchonline.Com, a website tracking the mutual fund industry



The company is currently having a 20-member investment team.

"We have a suite of well-performing products and do look forward to continue offering strong investment performance for our investors in the years to come," Soni said, adding "we have made sure that we have the right product offerings to suit the investor appetite.
Home-grown Elanpro sees up to 30 per cent rise in its business this fiscal on robust growth of the commercial refrigeration products in the country.

"We are optimistic about commercial refrigeration product market given the growth story of the country in the long-run," Elanpro executive VP Sanjay Jain told PTI.

"We are looking at 20-30 per cent growth in the current fiscal despite short term disruption due to demonetisation," he said.

The commercial refrigeration product segment is estimated as a Rs 1500 crore market and the company is aiming a significant share controlled by both unorganised and organised players.

Jain said the company is expanding its footprint in the eastern region but demonetisation has delayed it.

"We will expand in Rachi, Patna, Guwahati and Siliguri. The new experience zone in Kolkata will help to showcase the product range," he said.

Elanpro offers international range of refrigeration and food-service solutions for hotels, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, ice cream & beverage, food retail and the healthcare segments.

It recently reached a strategic agreement with leading Italian beverage dispensers SPM on marketing and service capabilities.

This new collaboration called SPM Beverage Dispensers by Elanpro will focus on advancements that address the dynamic requirements of bars, restaurants and retail sector.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Women in disadvantaged neighbourhoods who experience and witness violence may be at increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a new study has warned.

The study also found that women with PTSD diagnosis or sub-threshold PTSD had significantly more severe depression symptoms than those who did not report experiencing trauma.

Researchers at Northwestern University in the US examined a disadvantaged Chicago neighbourhood. Every woman who was recruited had symptoms of depression.

"There are many women who are affected by shooting and gang violence in these neighbourhoods. These women are often overlooked," said Sunghyun Hong, research assistant at Northwestern University.

"With this study, we were able to shine a light on this high prevalence of trauma exposure and PTSD diagnosis among the underserved population," said Hong.

The traumatic experiences reported in the study were often violent or sexual in nature.

Thirty-six per cent of women in the study had PTSD or sub-threshold PTSD (substantial trauma symptoms that might not have met the full PTSD diagnostic criteria).

Those with PTSD had more severe depression symptoms than other women in the study who did not exhibit signs of PTSD, said Inger Burnett-Zeigler, from Northwestern University.

"Even if you do not meet the full criteria for PTSD, you can have enough symptoms to impact your well-being," Burnett-Zeigler said.

"There is a substantial proportion of people who fall below the PTSD diagnosis line who might be getting lost in the cracks," she said.

"It is important for mental health providers to develop a greater awareness around this because untreated PTSD symptoms affect mental health, quality of life and functioning," she added.

A significant percentage of women in a general population who experienced trauma (20 per cent) develop PTSD, she said.

"However, the prevalence of PTSD symptoms is particularly acute in impoverished neighbourhoods. In the study's sample, 71 per cent of the women who experienced trauma had PTSD symptoms," she added.

"This was not a sample we recruited based on having traumatic experiences, and yet so many women we recruited had experienced something traumatic. That is really significant in terms of how prevalent of an issue this is in that vulnerable population," Burnett-Zeigler said.

The study was published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan prime minister's top foreign policy aide Tariq Fatemi, who has been in the US for a week for 'familiarisation meetings' with President-elect Donald Trump's transition team, is yet to meet anyone from the incoming administration, a media report said today.

Fatemi, special assistant on foreign affairs to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, however, has held meetings with senior officials of the outgoing Obama administration and US lawmakers and is hoping to meet some members of the incoming Trump administration early this week, Dawn newspaper reported.

Such meetings are highlighted in press releases issued by the Pakistan embassy, which claims that these talks have helped create a better understanding of Pakistan's position on various issues, it said.

So far the only comment from the US side came from the State Department's deputy spokesman Mark Toner who said that US officials did discuss "a range of bilateral and regional" issues with Fatemi and these included "regional stability and counter-terrorism cooperation".

But he did not say if the meetings helped resolve the differences that have strained Pakistan's relations with the United States, the report said.

Neither the Pakistan embassy nor the Trump team have said anything about Fatemi's meetings/probable meetings with the officials of the incoming administration, it said.

Earlier this week, Fatemi visited New York, from where US President-elect Trump is conducting his business, but Pakistani diplomats said he was only there to meet senior UN officials and returned to Washington the same day.

A senior Pakistani diplomat, when asked why Fatemi had not yet met members of the Trump team, was quoted by the paper as saying that "protocol did not allow him to meet them in his official capacity" but he and the embassy were trying to arrange some informal meetings.

One such meeting, with Stephen Hadley, the former Bush administration's national security adviser, may happen this week, the report said.

The embassy official claimed that Fatemi has also been "very active on telephone," speaking to the Trump team. "We are reaching out to the 'influentials' not 'probables,' the paper quoted the official as saying while explaining why Fatemi had not yet met Trump officials although he has been in the US for almost a week now.

"We are trying to meet the people who have influence and are feeding into the transition process," the official said.

While the Pakistan embassy insists that it would not be appropriate for Fatemi to hold formal meetings with officials who are not in the government yet, officials from other countries are doing exactly that, the paper noted.

Senior officials and leaders from across the globe are visiting New York for meeting Trump officials, it said.

The embassy's informal, and formal, contacts with the



Trump team did help them in arranging Prime Minister Sharif's telephone call with Trump last week. But that call too became controversial when Sharif's office released readout of that call, the report said.

Fatemi, however, told a briefing in Washington last Monday that Trump's office had approved the readout and had also allowed them to release it to the media.

"That is the language that the president-elect used. And it was a very honest and truthful narrative, which we put out with the approval of his office," the paper quoted him as saying.

"And if that has created interests and excitement, we are in no way disappointed with it," he had said.

The surprisingly candid readout of the telephone call created a major controversy in Washington where even the White House joined the call for Trump to be more careful while talking to foreign leaders. The US media also criticised Pakistan for releasing details of personal greetings.

Fatemi also insisted that the new administration in Washington would provide Pakistan a "fresh opportunity to burnish its credentials", the report said.
Gambia's incumbent head of state Yahya Jammeh will contest in court the election victory handed to opposition candidate Adama Barrow, his party has said.

In a shock rejection of his defeat at the polls, Jammeh cited in a speech broadcast late Friday "unacceptable errors" by election authorities.

He was referring to a readjustment of the votes counted in the December 1 presidential election.

Jammeh's declaration was "a prelude to a petition that the (ruling) APRC Party is in the process of filing before the Supreme Court of the Gambia against a fraud decision of the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission)," his party said in a statement released late yesterday.

Jammeh had said Friday that he had previously accepted the electoral results "believing that the Independent Electoral Commission was independent and honest and reliable", but would now "reject the results in totality."



Jammeh's swift concession of defeat on December 2 had stunned observers and led to celebrations in the country.

Constitutionally Jammeh has 10 days after the election result is declared to file a complaint, but that deadline -- December 12 -- is a bank holiday, meaning he may have an extra day in lieu.

His lawyers might also argue he has 10 days after the recount declaration, according to legal experts.

The Supreme Court has not sat in more than a year, so judges will have to be appointed before they can consider the president's legal complaint, potentially delaying Barrow's inauguration.

Jammeh, a devout Muslim who seized power in 1994 in the former British colony, warned Gambians not to take to the streets to protest his decision, raising concerns from rights groups.

"President Jammeh's rejection of the election results and his statement that he will not tolerate protest risks leading to instability and possible repression," said Sabrina Mahtani, Amnesty International's West Africa Researcher.

Latest official figures gave Barrow 43.29 per cent of the votes in the presidential election, while Jammeh took 39.64 per cent. The turnout was 59 per cent.

Those figures reflect the correction issued Monday by election authorities, showing a slimmer-than-thought victory for Barrow, of just over 19,000 votes.

Barrow yesterday called on Jammeh to drop his challenge, while the UN, US and other foreign authorities lambasted Jammeh and urged Gambians to keep the peace.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Even as receiving recognition is the usual norm, many organisations are now opening channels for employees to give regular recognition to their co-workers and 90 per cent respondents said by doing so they feel more confident in their work, a report has said.

"Those who give recognition at work are more confident in their work. About 90 per cent of employees who noted that they always give recognition to employees feel that their work in the past 12 months has represented significant innovations," according to a OC Tanner report.

The report also revealed that 94 per cent of employees noted that they always give recognition to co-workers are proud to tell others they work for their organisation.

"There is definitely evidence that employees who give recognition feel more confident. In this instance, we meant employees are more confident that they are producing great work and that they are more confident in the organisation as a whole when they give recognition more," OC Tanner Senior Analyst Jordan Rogers said.

OC Tanner conducted the study among 3,496 employees, who were over 18 years working full-time at companies with more than 500 workforce, in multiple countries across four continents, including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, India, Singapore and Germany.

"Creating opportunities for giving, receiving and observing recognition, and devising a programme that focuses on all three, will help organisations increase employee engagement, wellbeing, innovation, work results and revenue," the report said.

It said by giving recognition more often, employees not only feel more secure in their present circumstances, but are also more optimistic about their future.

The report said that about 89 per cent agree that giving recognition creates a better company culture, while 79 said the giver works harder after they recognise another's achievement.

75 per cent respondents felt that giving recognition makes them want to stay at their current organisation longer.

The report said 86 per cent agreed that giving recognition helped them better connect with their colleagues and 81 per cent felt it made them better connect to their organisations.

Overall, the report has revealed that employees in the US and the UK give recognition at a higher rate than other countries.

Australian, Canadian, and German employees fall in the middle range and while employees in the Asian countries of India and Singapore give recognition the least, it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With the Centre and states again failing today to sort out contentious issue of dual control of assessees, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout from April 1 next year is now looking virtually impossible.

The 6th meeting of the all-powerful Council was slated to decide on dual control of assesses but the two-day meeting was curtailed to half and even today that issue couldn't be discussed because all the time was lost in going clause by clause of the voluminous draft legislations.

While Finance Minister Arun Jaitley did not categorically say that the April 1 target date would be missed, states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu said that meeting the deadline was not possible and could be rolled out from September.

"In the draft legislation, there are about 195 sections. So it is the core bill of the legislation. We discussed 99 sections and a few clauses need to be redrafted. We would change that during the course of time. Hopefully, in the next meeting we would be able to clear the legislation part," Jaitley said.

The next meeting of the Council is scheduled for December 22-23.

Kerala FM Thomas Isaac said demonetisation has eroded states trust. "April 1 deadline is out of the picture, GST can be rolled out only by September".

Tamil Nadu also said that April 1 target was not possible.

"Too many sections of law yet to be finalised, GST can't happen without consensus on dual control," Tamil Nadu Finance Minister said after the meeting.

Jaitley, however, said that Centre stands by April 1, 2017, the target of implementing the GST.

"We do not have the discretion of time. By September 16, 2017, the curtains will draw on the old taxation rules," Jaitley said.

With the discussion on model laws and dual control still remaining, the GST legislations  CGST, IGST and compensation law  would not be introduced in the ongoing session of Parliament which ends on December 16.

Asked if the delay would derail the process, Jaitley said this time the Budget session will begin from January.

A finance ministry official said that most states too have their Assembly sessions in January and once the Council clears it, the passage of the GST legislations in Parliament and state Assemblies would just be procedural.

Today's GST Council meeting had a detailed deliberation on the several provisions of the draft model laws, including that of arrest provisions.

This is the second meeting in a row when the Centre and states discussed the model GST laws.

Based on this model law, the Central GST and State GST laws will be formed.

The discussion on the Integrated GST (IGST) law is likely to happen in the next meeting of the Council along with that of deciding on the jurisdiction over assessees.

"Hopefully, in the next meeting, we would be able to clear the legislation part. We will take up legislation and possibly the cross empowerment issue if time permits," Jaitley said.

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayansamy said the Finance Minister is trying for a consensus. "We want a fair play on dual control".

Delhi FM Manish Sisodia said GST related issues not finalised yet.
Councilman Chris Anderson announced on Saturday that he is officially a candidate for reelection.

He said, I ran for election four years ago to improve the conditions in District 7. We have made great strides and progress but there is still much work to do. Now is the time to continue moving forward, not backward to failed leadership and old policies that didnt work.

I would be honored to continue

serving my constituents for another four years.

During his tenure on the City Council, Councilman Anderson said he has secured a million dollars in

funding for a new park in Alton Park (slated to open in Spring 2017), brokered a deal that will save Hawkins Ridge in St. Elmo from development, and significantly increased the number of affordable housing units downtown.

Since 2013, District 7 has seen the most capital budget spending every year and has had the

most roads paved. Weve added playgrounds and parks, trails and traffic calming to every part of

the district. I have developed a reputation as a fighter, but thats how you get results. Im proud of

my record of fighting for my constituents.

District 7 includes Alton Park, Downtown, East Lake and St. Elmo. Councilman Anderson was first

elected in March 2013. Election Day is March 7, 2017, and early voting is Feb. 15 through

March 2.
Heart damage caused by chemotherapy is worse in cancer patients who also have diabetes, a new study has warned.

Researchers in the study investigate factors that could affect the likelihood of patients having heart damage after treatment with anthracyclines.

"Cardiotoxicity induced by chemotherapy with anthracyclines is being increasingly reported, mainly because a smaller proportion of patients now die from cancer," said Ana Catarina Gomes, from Hospital Garcia de Orta in Portugal.

"In the coming years this cardiotoxicity looks set to increase the burden of heart failure in cancer survivors," said Gomes.

"The good is that cardiotoxicity can be reversible in the early stages before overt heart failure develops," she said.

"Surveillance programmes are hugely beneficial, particularly in the first year of treatment when up to 80 per cent of the systolic dysfunction develops," she added.

The hospital has a surveillance programme to monitor cancer patients who receive anthracycline-based chemotherapy.

Clinical and echocardiographic evaluation is conducted before, during and after chemotherapy, regardless of whether or not the patient has symptoms.

The aim is to detect cardiotoxicity early so that heart failure can be prevented.

The study included all 83 patients in the surveillance programme, of whom 54 had breast cancer, 20 had lymphoma and nine had gastric cancer.

For each patient, data was collected on demographics, cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia and smoking) previous cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular diseases and type and cumulative dose of anthracyclines.

Echocardiographic evaluation included heart chamber dimensions, systolic and diastolic function, ejection fraction and global longitudinal strain.

Measurements were performed before chemotherapy was started, during treatment, and after the end of chemotherapy.

Researchers tested the impact of each risk factor on changes in echocardiographic data from baseline to follow-up. Echocardiographic data were compared between patients with different types of cancer.

A total of 39 patients were treated with doxorubicin and 44 received epirubicin. Cumulative doses were within recommended ranges. Patients were 52 years old on average (range 39 to 65 years) and 78 per cent were female.

Some 31 per cent had hypertension, seven per cent had diabetes, 16 per cent had dyslipidaemia, and 16 per cent were smokers.

Patients with hypertension showed a trend towards greater reductions in ejection fraction.

Patients with diabetes had a significantly greater decrease in global longitudinal strain during treatment, despite having baseline levels similar to non-diabetics.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP chief Amit Shah today gave a clarion call to party workers to "uproot the corrupt" government in Himachal Pradesh and make India "Congress-free" by bringing BJP to power with majority in the Assembly elections due next year.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Vijay Rath will reach Himachal Pradesh after conquering Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in Assembly polls. The Congress government in the state will also fall and India will become Congress-free," he said at a conclave for booth-level BJP office bearers of Shimla (Reserve) Parliamentary constituency here.

Defending the Centre's demonetisation move, Shah attacked previous UPA governments and the Virbhadra Singh dispensation "for patronising corruption".

Hitting out at those raising a "hue and cry" over note ban, he claimed that "only those with piles of black money are feeling the heat. The common man has no problem and has welcomed the move".

"Demonetisation is a lethal step to destroy a parallel economy that runs on black money, choke funding to terrorists, stop extortions by Naxalites and take on fake note rackets," he said.

Shah said the Prime Minister while announcing the decision to scrap high-value notes on November 8 had said that there would be some inconvenience for the initial 50-day period.

Twenty-five per cent of black money deposited with banks will be used for the welfare of the poor. 50 per cent will be deducted as tax and 85 per cent penalty will be imposed on undisclosed money, the BJP chief said.

Hitting back at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh for criticising the government, he said, "Scams to the tune of Rs 12 lakh crore surfaced in the UPA regime but not a single case of corruption has been reported in the two-and-a-half years of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government."



"The country has a Prime Minister who speaks out, has dialogues with people, understands problems of the masses, cracked down on black money and rolled out 92 public welfare schemes," Shah said.

Accusing state government of not allowing welfare programmes of the Centre to percolate to people, Shah said, "The Centre has giving projects to Himachal Pradesh but the state government is not accepting the same."



The Centre's efforts will yield results when a BJP government is installed in the state, he asserted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Indian is among 12 South Asian men sentenced up to five years in Dubai for breaking into a warehouse and stealing two trucks loaded with over 3,000 laptops worth 5 million dirhams.

The 12 suspects, 10 Pakistanis, an Indian and a Nepalese, played different roles in the crime.

They broke into the warehouse and bribed a Nepalese security guard to allow the trucks loaded with 3,317 stolen laptops to drive out of the port in May 2015.

In August, the Dubai Court of First Instance handed the 12 defendants, aged between 22 and 55, different jail terms varying between six months and five years, the Gulf reported.

They were convicted of theft, bribery, breaking in, wrecking private properties, possessing stolen items, forgery and using forged papers.

A security guard, who accepted Dirhams 1,500 in bribe from a 27-year-old Pakistani man to allow the defendants to drive out two trucks in which they had loaded the stolen laptops, and the latter were both jailed five years.

The Dubai Appeal Court rejected the 12 appeals lodged by all the accused and upheld their primary rulings.

Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm said all the accused will be deported following the completion of their punishments.

The defendants also caused 5,500 dirhams worth of damage to the warehouse of a distribution company.

A Pakistani defendant falsely reported to the police that the trucks had been stolen even though he was aware that the vehicles were used in the heist. A Pakistani convict confessed that they stole the laptops but denied wrecking the doors.

"The warehouse was open. Some of the defendants were not aware that the laptops were stolen...I asked them to drive the trucks out of the port," the Pakistani convict told the appellate court.

The company's sales manager testified that they locked the warehouses and left for the weekend.

"On Saturday, we discovered that the glass of a window had been broken. The watchman and I entered the warehouse and saw glass splinters all over the floor from inside. Then we went to the back doors [loading area] and discovered that the doors had been wrecked. Following a quick inventory, we discovered that 3,317 laptops had been stolen. We reported the matter to the police. When the police came, we realised that the culprits had switched off the electricity to disable the CCTV cameras," he said.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and Indonesia must cooperate closely in areas like defence, security and counter-terrorism, President Joko Widodo has said ahead of his state visit as the key Southeast Asian nation sought to enhance bilateral strategic partnership and trade ties.

Widodo said Indonesia is also willing to consider a bilateral trade pact with India.

"I am very much looking forward to have discussions Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi," Widodo, 55, told PTI ahead of his two-day visit to India beginning tomorrow, the first by an Indonesian President after former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's trip in 2011.

Widodo said he sees closer cooperation between Indonesia and India in defence, security and anti-terrorism fields.

"This is something that we are currently discussing...Both our countries have large maritime regions, so cooperation in this sphere is welcome," said Widodo, the President of the country that has the world's largest Muslim population.

It is also appropriate that Indonesia and India work together to fight terrorism, he asserted, adding that, "no country is immune from a terrorist attack".

Indonesia will always cooperate with all countries to fight terrorism through the exchange of information as well as intelligence exchanges and cooperation, he said.

"I hope to increase ties in all sectors, especially economic. We have cultural and religious ties going back centuries. Ramayana and Mahabharata are very famous in Indonesia," Widodo said.

He said the discussions with Modi will cover economic, trade and investment collaboration.

Indonesia is also willing to consider a bilateral trade pact with India, the president said.

"This is something that we are willing to consider. The important thing is that such trade deals must benefit both parties," he said.

Indonesia has emerged to become the second largest trading partner of India in the ASEAN region. Bilateral trade has increased from USD 6.9 billion in 2007-08 to USD 19.03 billion in 2014-15. In 2015-16 the bilateral trade fell to USD.9 billion due to global economic situation, fall in commodity prices and less overall imports by Indonesia.

"Strong leadership is important at this time," said Widodo on Prime Minister Modi's tough decisions for accelerating the Indian economy and development.

Widodo said he has had held several discussions with Modi on Indian companies' investment in Indonesia. He stressed that he would like to see Indian investment in the pharmaceutical sector as a priority and also in the infrastructure.

The President listed investment opportunities in his country, saying, "We have huge infrastructure needs, including toll roads, power plants, ports and airports. This is especially the case for the areas outside Java."



"We feel that investments in this (infrastructure) sector will prove just as lucrative," he said.

Responding to a question on Indian companies' participation in the Indonesia's coal mining sector, Widodo said Indonesia-India have a Joint Working Group on Coal to discuss the cooperation regarding coal.

The President stated that Indonesia is actively reforming



its regulations to make doing business easy for both foreign and local investors.

Widodo said he would welcome an initiative to work jointly to promote indigenous spices, such as cloves and pepper from the two countries, on the global markets.

"I believe it's important for countries like ours to 'market' themselves to the global community. The best way to do this is to develop and highlight indigenous local products, such as spices," he said.

Widodo said he would also like to see more Indian tourists visiting Indonesia.

"We have many tourist destinations including Labuhan Bajo (Komodo islands), Raja Ampat in Papua and Jogjakarta and Solo in Java," he said.

The Indonesian President also highlighted many similarities between India and Indonesia.

"We are also large, diverse countries which are democracies," he said.

Talking about raising the representation of developing countries in international forums like the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations, Widodo said, "Indonesia wishes to be an active and constructive member in international forums."



"We definitely feel that the voices of developing countries should be heard more on the world stage," he said.

Widodo, while responding to Vice President Hamid Ansari's call for Indonesia to work with India to bring more equity into the international order through forums like WTO and the UN, said, "We are willing to work with India to help bring this about."



Asked about further business liberalisation under the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement, the President said, "the respective countries must be prepared in order to fully benefit from such agreements."



"Indonesia is seeking to cut red tape and ensure that our local businesses are more competitive," he said.

"There will be greater acceptance and support for such (multi-country trade) agreements if this can be achieved across the board," he said.

Indonesia enjoys trade surplus with India, though the volume has been small and declining, according to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Latest figures show the January-June 2016 bilateral trade was USD 5.9 billion, down 26.37 per cent on the year.

Indonesia exported USD 4.57 billion worth of goods, including coal, palm oil, natural rubber, copper and ores among others.

Imports from India were at USD 1.33 billion, a surplus of USD 3.246 billion in Indonesia's favour.
Insurance companies, which have seen digital sales constitute only a miniscule portion of overall income, expect a jump in online sales following government incentives for promoting new modes of payment after demonetisation.

Private sector players also feel that they will have to explore if they need to come up with some common products for online and offline so as to provide identical products cheaper when sold online.

Following the November 8-9 demonetisation, the government over the weekend asked public sector insurers to provide discounts of up to 10 per cent on the premium amount for general insurance policies and 8 per cent in new life policies of Life Insurance Corporation sold online.

LIC sells only two policies online now -- a term-policy 'E-Term' and a single-premium policy Jeevan Akshay.

A senior Corporation official told PTI that "even though we are yet to receive details from the government, we still believe that the move will give a push to digital sales of our two policies."



LIC could sell only 8,000 plans through its customer portal, out of the total of 2.6 crore policies sold by it last financial year, he said.

Life insurers need the regulator Irdai's approval to sell online and therefore most of the products are not compatible for digital sales. So the government move will allow them to have a common product that can be sold both offline and online.

However, private sector life players, despite their technology adoption, have not developed any product that can be sold through both the modes.

Private sector player SBI Life said even though it has similar products, it does not have any identical products now.

"We don't have any such common products that can be sold online now but will be exploring this option now," SBI Life chief executive Arijit Basu said.

SBI Life earned total premium of Rs 7,100 crore last year, of which merely Rs 25-30 crore came from online sales. The company sold merely 15,000 policies online out of 13 lakh it sold last year, he said, adding that "if policies are sold online, they become cheaper by 10-12 per cent".

Largest non-life insurer New India Assurance expects the government move to help it double its online sales this year.

"We believe that the government move will encourage more people to buy policies online and we hope it will result in an increase in online by over 100 per cent in a year's time," New India chairman G Srinivasan said.

He maintained that the government move will be applicable on retail products only which include motor, health, personal accident and household segments.

New India is looking at achieving 100 per cent growth in online sales which stood at Rs 150 crore last year. "We are selling 30,000 policies every month online. Currently, our online sales are clipping at 15-20 per cent which I expect to clock more than 100 per cent growth now," Srinivasan said.

Among the private sector general insurers, the market leader ICICI Lombard said it has no plan to offer any additional discount to online customers as already it sells three to four products online.

"We are already selling three to four retail products through our customer portal, known as E-Channel. We provide small discount for online sales. Despite so many products only 5 per cent of our sales are online," ICICI Lombard's Sanjay Datta said.

SBI General said it gives some discounts to policyholders who buy online. "Right from the start, we have been offering 10 per cent discount on car and two-wheeler policies, as well as retail health policies bought online," Gunjan Ghai of SBI General said.

"We are happy to support a cashless economy, as it will result in direct customer acquisitions and a seamless system for conducting business. In fact, online customers have higher ticket sizes and better renewals due to ease of transaction," he added.
The Islamic State jihadist group recaptured Palmyra today after Syrian armed forces pulled out of the desert city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

The jihadists made a lightning-fast advance across the city after overrunning a northern neighbourhood and capturing the famed citadel to Palmyra's west.

The IS-linked Amaq agency also reported that IS regained "full control" of the city today after taking the citadel, which overlooks Palmyra from a strategic hilltop.

IS launched an offensive last week near Palmyra, a renowned UNESCO World Heritage site.

It seized oil and gas fields before making a major push into the desert city yesterday, sparking new worries for Palmyra's remaining ancient treasures.

But a fierce Russian bombing campaign killed scores of IS fighters and forced others to withdraw at dawn today.

"Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on jihadist positions around the city," he told AFP.

In a statement issued in Moscow, the defence ministry said Russian warplanes conducted 64 air strikes against "positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants" in Palmyra.

"Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra," it said in a statement.

"The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery," it said, adding that the strikes killed more than 300 militants and destroyed 11 tanks and 31 vehicles.

Russia has carried out a bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

IS fighters have used hit-and-run tactics to cut their losses of personnel and equipment, withdrawing under intense bombardment but quickly relaunching an attack when skies are clear.

The jihadists have killed around 100 members of Syrian government forces since launching simultaneous attacks on several regime positions near Palmyra on Thursday, the Britain-based Observatory said.

They targeted areas including near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and seized government checkpoints, silos and the village of Jazal, northwest of Palmyra.

In May last year, the Sunni Muslim extremist group seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Islamic State (ISIS) has no place in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, President Joko Widodo has said, amid growing concern that Southeast Asia was becoming a fertile ground for the dreaded terror group.

"Indonesia opposes all forms of extremism and violence," Widodo told PTI ahead of his state visit to India, beginning tomorrow.

"The ISIS has no place in Indonesia," he said adding that his country takes a comprehensive approach in fighting extremisms and terrorism through hard power by law enforcement and legislation; as well as soft power by taking religious and cultural approach.

"Indonesia will always cooperate with all countries to fight terrorism," he said, adding that such cooperation will be through the exchange of information as well as intelligence exchanges and cooperation.

His comments came against the backdrop of Singapore Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam's remarks last week that the extremist beliefs of terror group ISIS have spread and taken root in South-east Asia.

Towards the end of last year, Indonesia had detected clear signals of an attack and arrested several individuals. Still, the capital Jakarta was struck by bombs in January, killing eight people.

A top Indonesian military General last week warned that ISIS, which is in retreat in Iraq and Syria, is building its base in Mindanao, a restive island in the Philippines.

The attempt by ISIS to create a fully pledged wilayat, or province, in the southern Philippines poses a serious security threat to Indonesia, the military officer had said.

However, Widodo indicated that ISIS sympathisers in Indonesia are merely a disaffected minority.

"Islam in Indonesia is on the whole moderate. Diversity is part of who we are. (But) we are dealing with this threat (terrorism and radicalism), not only through security and legal measures but also working with religious groups to tackle extremism," he said.

"We also play an active role in international forums such as the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and the Global Counter Terrorism Forum," he said.

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The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's office says three people have been detained for social media posts regarding the attack in Istanbul that killed 38 people.

In addition to 13 suspects detained as part of the investigation into the twin bombings, the prosecutor's office said it was investigating any "news, comment or shares on press and social media platforms that attempted to praise terrorism or terrorist organisations, serve terrorist organisations' propaganda, legitimise terrorism or target those who combat terrorism."



The statement noted that three suspects had been detained for this so far and authorities were working to apprehend others.

The car-and suicide-bombing near Istanbul's Besiktas stadium killed mostly police officials, also wounded 155 people and has enraged Turkey's top leadership.

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Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra today greeted the people on the occasion of Eid-i-Milad and expressed hope that it would be the harbinger of harmony, peace, progress and prosperity in the state.

He said Islam teaches us the values of brotherhood, simplicity, compassion and morality, all of which need to be vigorously inculcated in today's trouble-torn world.

He prayed for the well-being and happiness of the people of the state.

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Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp brightened the day of child patients of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital by dressing up in his "Pirates Of The Caribbean" character Captain Jack Sparrow.

The actor chatted up with the young patients in his movie avatar, which is very popular with kids.

Depp's daughter Lily-Rose was successfully treated for renal failure at the same hospital in 2007.

One patient captioned the image, saying, "This is actual Johnny Depp. Just came in to the hospital. I'm so confused.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President-Elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday he intends to nominate fast-food executive Andrew Puzder as Labor Secretary. On Friday, Mr. Puzder released the following statement on American workers, immigration, and his plans for the Labor Department:



"My job as a business person is to maximize profits for my company, employees and shareholders.

My job as the Secretary of Labor, if confirmed, is to serve U.S. citizen workers  that is my moral and constitutional duty. The public spoke loud and clear in this election, and delivered a mandate to protect American workers. It makes no economic sense to spend trillions on welfare and jobless benefits for out of work Americans while bringing in foreign workers to fill jobs in their place.

As Secretary of Labor, I will fiercely defend American workers and implement my piece of the ten point plan the President-elect laid out. President-elect Trump's plan to establish new immigration controls will boost wages and ensure that open jobs are offered to American workers first. Hire American and Buy American is our policy, and the one supported by voters in both parties. I will not provide guest worker visas to companies that break the rules, and will support reforms to raise wages for Americans -- I know the system from the inside, and will be the best champion American workers have had. With 94 million Americans outside the labor force, and massive unemployment in our inner cities and among minority workers, my job will be to help these workers find jobs. We also have large unemployment in our immigrant communities, and these communities benefit the most from clamping down on guest worker programs that compete against them.
Kudumbashree, one of the largest women-empowering projects in the country, will have a major role in operations of Kerala's ambitious Kochi Metro Rail services.

Kochi Metro Rail Limited today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kudumbashree for the management of it's station premises including ticketing, customer relations, house keeping, parking management and running the canteens of KMRL.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and minister for Local Self Government K T Jaleel during the Chief Minister's visit to KMRL office for reviewing the project.

KMRL Director (Systems) Praveen Goyal and Kudumbashree Executive Director Harikishore signed the MoU representing these organisations, a KMRL release said here.

KMRL, DMRC and Revenue officials attended the review held at KMRL office.

The review meeting was followed the meeting with the members of Legislative Assembly and the mayor of Kochi regarding metro and water metro related issues.

The meeting reviewed of the progress and concerns of the first phase of Kochi Metro from Aluva to Petta.

Chief Minister directed KMRL and DMRC to explore the possibilities of opening the first phase of the metro system up till Maharajas, the release said.

KMRL updated CM Regarding the Phase - II Extension of Metro from JLN stadium to Kakkanad as the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) had issued fresh guidelines and advised to further revise and resubmit the cost along with the revised relevant chapters of the DPR, duly approved by the Kerala government.

Accordingly, the cost has been revised to Rs 2577.25 crore (including taxes and duties), with the relevant changes in the DPR.

An update was given on the integrated Water Transport system for Kochi which was proposed with the vision to connect the mainland with the islands to revive the traditional mode of public transportation.

The project consists of procurement of 78 modern boats and construction of 38 jetties.

The project also consists of construction of 100 km of island roads and connectivity to other modes of transport.

It was appraised that the general consultant will be on board by February and it is expected that actual works on ground will commence by June 2017.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry today sought a report from the Navy over a clash between security forces and striking dock workers who had held up a Japanese vessel at a port demanding job security.

"The ministry of defence has called for a report from the Navy on alleged attack against protesting port workers," Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi said today.

"The Navy had done their job to provide security to vessels. The ships were held for days," Hettiarachchi said.

Sri Lankan navy yesterday fired warning shots to disperse the striking dock workers who had prevented a Japanese vessel from leaving Hambantota port for four days by placing gantry cranes to block its path.

The Navy said it acted within the law to prevent a sea piracy situation.

Opposition legislators told parliament yesterday that eight workers were wounded when the navy stormed the main pier, but the government denied there were casualties.

The Joint Opposition in Parliament carried out a demonstration accusing the government of allegedly using Navy personnel to "assault" employees of the Hambantota Ports authority who were conducting a strike.

The temporary port workers at Hambantota port have been striking since Tuesday demanding that they be taken on as permanent employees of the state-owned Sri Lanka Port Authority after a move by the government to lease the port to China.

Some 483 temporary workers are demanding that they be made permanent before the lease.

Navy Commander Ravi Wijegunaratne was accused of threatening a television reporter during the protest.

Navy Commander Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, has dismissed the allegation, Hettiarachchi said.

Hettiarachchi said he personally looked into the matter after media reports alleged that the Navy Commander had allegedly threatened the journalist.

The government is in talks with a Chinese company to sell an 80 per cent stake in the loss-making USD 1.3 billion Hambantota port.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Describing India as among the "most open" aviation markets, international airlines grouping IATA's chief Alexandre de Juniac has said the country stands to benefit from the regional air connectivity plan but imposing levy on carriers can disrupt competitive conditions.

While being appreciative of the Indian government putting in a "consistent plan" for the aviation sector, Juniac also emphasised the need to have the right infrastructure and lower costs for the airlines.

"In general, we are not favouring levies because we think that it is a disruption or disturbance in the competitive conditions," Juniac told PTI in an interview here.

His comments come against the backdrop of the government levying up to Rs 8,500 per flight on major routes from December 1 in order to fund its ambitious regional connectivity scheme.

The scheme -- UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) -- seeks to connect small cities by air as well as make flying more affordable for the masses.

"Regional connectivity is good for air traffic but using levy, tax or cross subsidy system, let's name it as it is, is not convincing," he said, adding that it is being opposed by many operators as something which would not be efficient.

"We think that if you want to develop regional connectivity, first of all we need to have right infrastructure, airports and the lowest costs. So, for us there is a very clear link between the level of cost and the dynamism of aviation, the flow of passengers," Juniac said.

To provide viability gap funding for the flights operated under UDAN, a levy would be imposed on every departure on major air routes such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Under the scheme, fares for one-hour flights would be capped at Rs 2,500.

Juniac took over as the Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in September this year and has already visited India in his new role. The grouping represents more than 265 airlines from across the world.

India has come out with the national civil aviation



policy that aims to provide a fillip to the domestic sector, where passenger traffic growth has been more than 20 per cent for nearly two years.

"First of all, they (Indian government) have put together a consistent plan. You can agree to it or part of it, it is something that has to be underlined significantly... Regional connectivity is another part of the plan but we think that in terms of infrastructure and development, the Indian plan is positive and will have positive effect on aviation," the IATA chief noted.

When asked about how he sees the Indian aviation sector, Juniac said it would be "along with the most open but then there is a plan and then you have the execution or implementation of the plan" even as he struck a note of caution about implementation of the plans.

"Of course, we will judge the plan as it is designed but we will also assess the way Indian government is going to implement it practically. We know that the devil is in the details and execution," he said.

India is the fastest growing domestic aviation market but in terms of consumer rights, the regulations are tough and difficult for airlines, he said, adding that it is the government's role to find the right balance.

"In terms of consumer rights, Indian regulations are tough, it is difficult for airlines and many airlines complain. But you know it is not only an Indian disease, that is there in many areas of the world. The role of the government is to find the right balance between the rights of passengers and the sustainability of the airline business," Juniac said.

Among others, he flagged off concerns about high taxes on aviation fuel saying it was really a big problem and an enormous burden on the airlines.
A 54-year-old man was hacked to death at Kalamala village in Odisha's Kendrapara district, the police said today.

Radheshyam Biswal, a native of nearby Tunga village, who was riding a motorbike, succumbed to his injuries before he could be hospitalised yesterday, the police said.

The accused have been identified and a manhunt was launched.

A preliminary investigation indicates that the victim and his assailants had a feud over lending money, Inspector of Aul police station Maheswar Sethy said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese has said he was fighting for his life when he was 35 due to misuse of normal medications in combinations.

The 74-year-old filmmaker opened up about his hard living days and drug abuse after helming the 1977 musical drama "New York, New York", according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"After finishing 'New York, New York,' I took chances. (I was) out of time and out of place and also in turmoil in my own life and embracing the other world, so to speak, with a kind of attraction to the dangerous side of existence. Then on Labor Day weekend, I found myself in a hospital, surprised that I was near death.

"A number of things had happened. Misuse of normal medications in combinations (to which) my body reacted in strange ways. I was down to about 109 pounds. It wasn't only drug-induced - asthma had a lot to do with it," he said.

It was after being admitted to the hospital and watching people around him taking so much care of him, Scorsese realized that he shouldn't waste his life like that.

"I was kept in a hospital for 10 days and nights, and they took care of me, these doctors, and I became aware of not wanting to die and not wasting (my life)."



Alone in that hospital, occasionally visited by such friends as Robert De Niro, the director recalled his roots as a Catholic growing up in New York's Little Italy.

"I was stunned by the realization of my naivete and denial. I prayed. But if I prayed, it was just to get through those 10 days and nights. I felt (if I was saved) it was for some reason. And even if it wasn't for a reason, I had to make good use of it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bestselling author Paulo Coelho retells the unforgettable story of history's most enigmatic woman Mata Hari in her voice through her final letter.

Termed as a novel based on real events, "The Spy" is translated from the Portuguese work by Zoe Perry.

"Although I tried to base my novel on the actual facts of Mata Hari's life, I had to create some dialogue, merge certain scenes, change the order of a few events, and eliminate anything I thought was not relevant to the narratives," Coelho says.

When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless. Within months she was the most celebrated woman in the city. As a dancer, she shocked and delighted audiences; as a courtesan, she bewitched the era's richest and most powerful men.

But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari's lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917, she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees, and accused of espionage.

"The Spy" is the unforgettable story of a woman who dared to defy convention and who paid the ultimate price.

On her execution, Coelho writes, "Shortly before 5 am, a party of 18 men - most of them officers of the French army - climbed to the second floor of Saint-Lazare, the women's prison in Paris. Guided by a warder carrying a torch to light the lamps, they stopped in front of cell 12.

"Nuns were charged with looking after the prison. Sister Leonide opened the door and asked that everyone wait outside as she entered the cell, struck a match against the wall, and lit the lamp inside. Then she called one of the other sisters to help.

"With great affection and care, Sister Leonide draped her arm around the sleeping body. The woman struggled to waken, as though disinterested in anything. According to the nun's statement, when she finally awoke, it was as though she emerged from a peaceful slumber."



When a French lieutenant held out a white cloth to one of the sisters and asked them to blindfold Mata Hari's eyes, she asked "Must I wear that?"



"If Madame prefers not to, it is not mandatory," replied the lieutenant.

"Mata Hari was neither bound nor blindfolded; she stood, gazing steadfastly at her executioners, as the priest, the nuns, and her lawyer stepped away," the book, published by Penguin Random House, says.

After she was fired upon, Mata Hari remained upright for a fraction of a second.

"She did not die the way you see in moving pictures after people are shot. She did not plunge forward or backward, and she did not throw her arms up or to the side. She collapsed onto herself, her head still up, her eyes still open. One of the soldiers fainted.

"Then her knees buckled and her body fell to the right, legs doubled up beneath the fur coat. And there she lay, motionless, with her face turned toward the heavens," Coelho writes.

As Mata Hari waited for her execution in a Paris prison, one of her last requests was for a pen and some paper to write letters.

Over the past twenty years, MI5 in the UK and Germany and Holland have released their files on Mata Hari, and it provided Coelho with a trove of information as he was researching his novel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A journalist was shot dead in Mexico's northern city of Chihuahua, and an industry group demanded an investigation into whether the killing was linked to his work.

Jesus Adrian Rodriguez was attacked yesterday by strangers while getting into his vehicle to go to his workplace, Grupo Radio Divertida, the Forum of Journalists of Chihuahua said.

"The journalists in Chihuahua and throughout the country are extremely dismayed by the murder of their comrade, who has been working for many years as a reporter," the forum's president Angel Zubia said in a statement, demanding that the Chihuahua state prosecutor launch an investigation.

Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, who face threats from both authorities and organised crime.

The Inter American Press Association has registered 11 murders of Mexican journalists so far this year.

According to the National Human Rights Commission, 118 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ousted Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry today created a stir in his battle with the Tatas when he linked one of its directors Vijay Singh to the VVIP chopper scam, a charge vehemently denied by the latter.

Mistry, who is locked in a boardroom tussle with the Tatas, alleged Singh had a role in the AgustaWestland chopper scam as it happened when he was the Defence Secretary in 2010.

"As Defence Secretary, Singh was a key official involved in award of Rs 3600 crore VVIP helicopter contract to AugustaWestland in 2010," Mistry's office said in a statement in Mumbai.

Singh, however, rejected the charge, saying the deal was approved by the Union Cabinet well after he had retired from government service.

"I was defence secretary from 2007-2009 and the present cases being prosecuted by CBI pertain to 2004-2005. The AugustaWestland acquisition was approved by the Cabinet well after my retirement," Singh said in an emailed statement.

"To connect me with this matter is slanderous and malicious," Singh, an independent director on Tata Sons board, said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rajasthan government has recently launched a mobile App that provides latest information about tourist attractions in Ajmer and Pushkar with rich content including pictures, audio and video streams and cultural stories.

The App is comprehensive and one-stop solution for tourism needs, a senior official said.

"More than 40 places of Ajmer and Pushkar have been covered in the App which instantly provides real-time and highly contextual content to the user," Shiv Shankar Heda, Chairman of the Ajmer Development Authority, told PTI.

Tourists just need to download an app LeZgo which provides tourism content with multiple features and convenient utilities.

Useful utilities, like free WiFi, weather information, language translator, forex converter, compass, cab booking, upgraded customs information for foreign visitors, SOS function are among other features of the App, which provides inputs in 12 prominent languages.

After Ajmer, the App will be localised for Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Pali and Bharatpur soon, the official said, adding currently it has nearby 1500 users.

The user can search for tourist destinations, get custom designed holiday packages, book a cab in a jiffy, check out the latest and upcoming events in the vicinity, listen along custom designed audio streams "for enjoyment and deep immersion into the culture," he said.

The App works on the iBecons and Internet of Things (IoT) technology. IoT is a device which is installed at the tourists points which provides information to the tourist having the App in their smart phones.

Strategically placed IoT devices gives a personalised welcome message from the state government and local administration making the tourist feel special.

The App, designed by Begaluru based Sohamsaa Systems, has been recently launched in Ajmer jointly by the Ajmer district administration and the Development Authority.

"The tourists must get an immerse experience of culture, history, languages, food, music, spirituality, sciences, wisdom, Yoga and wellness apart from all the excitement," Parag Prasad, CEO and MD of the company said.

"When the user comes in the range of IoT device, all the rich contents, audio-video streams and others gets automatically downloaded. The user need not any guide as he receive the most authentic content related with the monument or the place," he added.

Information ranging from details about cities, places



and attractions, rich text with pictures and cultural stories, audio streams, interactive fun and trivia features, travel bookings on flights, trains, buses and cabs, upcoming events in the vicinity of the city.

"The project enables us to provide an exhilarating experience to the user that his understanding and appreciation of India will increase multi-fold. Such tourists will then visit us more often and will also spread the word to their networks of friends and family," Prasad said.

The App is Hyper-Local as it enables local searches for many facilities and utilities as well as provides information on upcoming events in that city, he said.

SanjayJohri, Deputy Director Tourism department (Ajmer), said that the department has provided details about the tourist places.

The desert state of Rajasthan has many of the prominent tourist destinations in the country which is frequented by lakhs of both foreigners and domestic tourists throughout the year though the peak tourist season remains from October to March.

Besides massive forts and stunning palaces, the state is famous for its rich and diverse art and culture, colourful fairs and festivals, cuisines, wildlife, museums and heritage properties.
India's converging telecom and changing digital landscape is creating opportunities for entities like DTH operators, banks and big media and content companies to enter into Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) business, according to consulting firm Deloitte.

"In addition to the diversified and segmented nature of India market, we're also witnessing converging telecom and changing digital landscape similar to some mature markets.

This means there is an opportunity for newer entities across key industry verticals, for example, DTH operators, Banking, Over-The-Top (OTT) players and big media and content companies to enter into the MVNO business," Neeraj Jain, Partner, Deloitte India told PTI.

Earlier this year, Telecom Department released licence guidelines for virtual network operators, opening the door for new class of players who will act like retailers for telecom service providers.

The Virtual Network Operators will be entities providing telecom services like mobile, landline and internet but only as retailer for full-fledged telecom operators such as BSNL, MTNL and Airtel.

The entry of such operators is expected to push down cost of providing telecom services for companies and even give them room for cutting down tariffs.

"Looking from the prepaid customer base, new MVNO's Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) could be around Rs 200 per month...This largely depends on the quality of service and the differentiation MVNOs offers. If MVNOs focus on pure play voice services and focus on price as differentiator then ARPU could be around Rs 150 per month," Jain said.

Based on firm Deloitte's estimates, MVNOs could capture 60 to 80 million subscribers with topline revenue between Rs 1,000-1,300 crore per month over the next 2-3 year timeframe.

Deloitte's recent report titled 'MVNO 2.0 - Opportunity for entities aspiring to be part of Indian telecom ecosystem', has pointed out that the participation in the last three spectrum auctions has resulted in debt in the books of mobile network operators or MNOs.

"With growing debt, managing the tightrope walk of Return-On-Investment has become a major challenge for MNOs. To overcome the challenge, MNOs should look at MVNOs as partners and choose to work with them by opening up some under-serviced customer segments, demography wise, and some underutilised networks capacities and assets, geography wise.

"With this thought process, entry of MVNOs could be seen as an opportunity for MNOs to monetise their underserviced segments and underutilised assets," the report said.

The report further said that opportunities for MVNO players in India include tapping demand for bespoke products in highly-penetrated markets, subscriber acquisition in rural markets and Tier 2/3 cities which are upcoming hubs of business and academic activities.

The report also flags low call rates, maintaining consistent Quality of Service, and limited spectrum holding as key challenges before MVNOs.

"Lower and fragmented spectrum holding by MNOs could make entry of MVNOs in certain regions unviable and may impact service quality," the report added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mr. President,

As you form your administration, I have one recommendation for you: hire my friend Mike Lotus.

Who is Mike Lotus?

Mike Lotus is a fierce and passionate servant of Jesus Christ, patriot, and father. He loves his God, these United States of America, and his wife and five children.

Though these loves are the center of his world, they might not strike you as things that should single him out as someone worthy of your attention. Great to have, you might say, but why should I care? Many of the fellow citizens of our America, the greatest nation of history, love and serve their God, love and serve this nation, and love and serve their spouse and children. Many of those, in the wise (and weary) words of my own beloved mother, herself a mother of six, have been crazy (and devoted) enough to have given this republic five citizens as Michael and Jean Lotus have.

My, you New Yorkers are a tough lot. Let me mention a few of the many things that should persuade you to hire Mike Lotus.

In his day-time job, he is Michael J. Lotus, attorney at law, practicing in Chicago, Illinois. He is an experienced warrior of law, fighting for the same overlooked Midwesterners whose love of country allowed you to pierce Mrs. Clintons formidable blue wall and win the presidency over the near universal scorn of those that have led this great nation into shame.

On top of the demands of his law practice and his large and busy family, Mike has also somehow found enough time to be a fearless advocate for the conservative cause and loyal volunteer for the Illinois Republican Party. This can be a lonely and thankless job, especially in the harsh blue wilderness of Mrs. Clintons birthplace and President Obamas chosen hometown. Yet he continues to go out, watch the local polls, and fight the good fight for the GOP in a town run by Democrats so dedicated to civil rights that they believe that no-shows, the dead, and the fictional deserve the equal right to vote in our nations elections. In a town where the dead rose en mass for JFK in 1960, Lotus-scale exorcisms are too small on their own to stop legions of the dearly departed pressed into voting one more time for the city machine. But you become a determined and experienced exorcist in the face of such chronic outrages and, in the demon-haunted swamp you are descending into, you need all the great exorcists you can get.

Mike is a fighter in the arena of ideas. With his good friend James C. Bennett, he wrote America 3.0: Rebooting American Prosperity in the 21st CenturyWhy Americas Greatest Days Are Yet to Come. In America 3.0, Mike and Jim lay out one road toward making America great again. While they differ in some details from your emerging plan to keep America great into this new millennium and beyond, in the larger thrust and spirit of their program they are in accord with the direction you want to take this country: up. It never hurts to have men of practical affairs who can double as men of practical ideas on your side. In Mike (and Jim), youd hire a man who hits these two and other marks. Consider it a multitude-to-one deal, something well within your art.

Mike and I differ on a few points of policy. For example, Im a mercantilist and a protectionist and hes a staunch advocate of free trade. Weve had some energetic debates on this and other topics. Yet Mike has always been a good sport even when, as I too frequently do, I get lost in rhetorical excess. When the tide, as it sometimes but rarely does, goes against him, he salutes and does his duty like a good soldier and carries on with your ideas as if they were his own. It is a rare quality in these days where comprehensive indoctrination is often mistaken for thorough education and a brave and uncanny ability to regurgitate the views of the entrenched and powerful on demand is conflated with intelligence and insight that Mike can mix independence of mind and loyalty without leaving either shortchanged.

You cant fake authenticity, as your opponent in the recent presidential election so readily demonstrated.

Hire Mike Lotus. You wont be disappointed.

Godspeed,

Lynn C. Rees

Murray, Utah, USA

December 11, 2016
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today kick started five-month long 'Narmada Sewa Yatra' from Amarkantak, from where the river originates, amid chants of 'Narmada Maiyya Ki Jai'.

"I am inviting one and all to join this Yatra, no one should be left out from taking advantage of this holy mission. By the time this Yatra gets over, each and every village will be defecation free," said Chouhan while announcing a sewage treatment project at Amarkantak costing Rs 15.50 crore.

Accompanied by saints, villagers and activists before starting the Yatra, Chouhan planted saplings near the bank of Narmada river amid loud cheers from people. The nearly 3500-kilometers long Yatra is aimed at making Narmada, the life line of Madhya Pradesh, pollution free.

Of 3500-Km, the leaders, activists and villagers would cover a distance of 1900 km by foot.

The Chief Minister will take part in the yatra in phases at least once in a week.

"The saplings will be planted along the sides of the river. The farmers will get annual compensation of Rs 20,000 per hectare to plant fruit trees for three years on both sides of river," he said.

"Besides, the sewage treatment plants will come up in the towns on the banks of river to ensure that affluents are not released into it," Chouhan said while addressing the public at the launch of river conservation campaign.

"A de-addiction drive too will be run in the villages on the banks of the water body during Yatra," he added.

Singh said he was trying to 'repay the holy river' as the sand mafia have exploited it excessively. "Maiyya (mother Narmada), please save us and forgive us," he said.

He said Narmada has blessed MP abundantly. "It was because of the river, that the state got four annual National Awards consecutively for leading in agriculture yield in the country. Due to Maiyya (Mother Narmada) our growth rate was superb," he said.

Also addressing the meeting, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the river has benefitted his state hugely. He said Gujarat will also join in the Yatra when it reaches there.

Senior RSS leader Bhaiyaji Joshi said civilisations have developed along the banks of rivers in India.

He said culture, religion, business, among other things, had their genesis alongside the rivers. Ministers of MP state cabinet were also present at the launch of Yatra.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The apex consumer commission has pulled up the Postal Department for "deficiency in service" by delaying delivery of an application form of a man for the post of a Civil Judge which made him miss the chance, saying its attitude was of "a deliberate attempt" to hide the real reason for the wrong doing.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission upheld the state commission's order directing the department to pay Rs 25,000 as compensation and Rs 10,000 as litigation expenses to Rajasthan native Gajanand Sharma.

"Such conduct of the Postal Department, leads to irresistible conclusion that there was a willful default on the part of its official(s) concerned," the commission said.

"The attitude of the Postal Department is a deliberate attempt to hide the real reason for the wrong doing of its employee(s) in not delivering the letter within the norms prescribed by the Postal Department itself," the commission bench headed by M Shreesha said.

"The case of the complainant (Sharma) falls within the ambit of exception carved out under Section 6 of the Post Office Act. Having held so, and there being a clear deficiency of service under Section 2(1)(g) of the Consumer Protection Act and I am of the opinion that a reasonable compensation of Rs 25,000 awarded by the State Commission is completely justified," it said.

According to the complaint filed by Sharma, on May 8, 2010, he had sent an application form through speed post from a post office at Mandawar in Rajasthan to the High Court Registrar of Madhya Pradesh.

It said this application for the Post of 'Civil Judge, Jr.Division' reached the destination two days after the last date of May 12, 2010, and got rejected on this ground.

The postal department claimed it did not have any knowledge as to what date the said article should reach the destination and the delay caused in delivering of the article was not because of its intentional negligence.

It also contended that the Department was exempted from any responsibility under Section 6 of the Post Office Act.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The National Green Tribunal has directed the Centre to clarify its stand on distilleries and sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh manufacturing, storing and transporting ethanol without obtaining permission from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO).

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar ordered the ministries of Environment and Petroleum, PESO and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to apprise it what action it was mulling to take against industrial units running without license.

"We direct the counsel appearing for MoEF, Ministry of Petroleum, PESO and CPCB to take clear instructions as to what course of action they propose to adopt, particularly in regard to the matter in issue and with regard to the industries which are generating absolute Ethanol without any license," the bench said.

The matter is listed for next hearing on December 13.

The order came during hearing of a contempt plea filed by NGO SAFE alleging that authorities were allowing illegal operation of these units without license and in contravention of the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules 1989, putting lives at grave risk.

The NGO had referred to UP government's affidavit and contended that only two of the 35 distilleries had requisite license while the others were manufacturing ethanol illegally.

"The industries manufacturing absolute alcohol or ethanol were not only operating illegally without the requisite permission from competent authorities, but also manipulating the actual total production, storage and sales figures of absolute alcohol causing not only huge financial loss to state revenue and also jeopardising safety of people and environment," the NGO had said in its contempt plea.

The NGT on May 9 had directed that no manufacturer will produce absolute alcohol without seeking permission from the Ministry of Commerce, Chief Controller Explosives and other authorities.

"It is in view of the fact that under the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989 and Chemical Accidents (Emergency Planning, Preparedness and Response) Rules 1996 as notified under the provision of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 such permission is required," the tribunal had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Eleven countries have agreed to cut their oil output, teaming up with the OPEC cartel in an exceptional bid to end the world's glut of crude and reverse a dramatic fall in income.

Russia and 10 other non-OPEC states will reduce their production by more than half a million barrels per day (bpd), OPEC announced yesterday.

The deal will take effect from the start of 2017 and last for six months, though it may be extended depending on market conditions.

"I am happy to announce that a historic agreement has been reached," said Qatar's Energy Minister Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The cut will contribute to OPEC's own initiative to ease a saturated market and end a price slump that has brutally affected the economies of many oil producers.

On November 30 its members announced a slash in output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) beginning in January, to 32.5 million bpd.

Under that deal, OPEC called on non-member producer states to lower their output by 600,000 bpd. Yesterday's deal approves cuts totalling 558,000 bpd.

Russia had already signalled it would provide half of that production cut in the first half of 2017.

Among the other countries that will contribute cuts Kazakhstan agreed to reduce production by 20,000 bpd, Mexico 100,000 bpd, Oman 40,000 bpd and Azerbaijan 35,000 bpd, according to Bloomberg.

The deal also includes Malaysia, Bahrain, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, South Sudan and Brunei.

"This is a truly historic event, the first time that so many oil-producing countries are meeting in one room, to accomplish what we've done," Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told a press conference.

"In the room we had more than half of the global oil" production, he said.

In a statement following the meeting, OPEC said the other oil giants were working "to achieve oil market stability in the interest of all oil producers and consumers".

A monitoring committee, comprising three OPEC and two non-OPEC members, will now be set up.

Sada said OPEC would continue its efforts to persuade non-OPEC producers to join the reduction effort.

And in another signal to the markets, the cartel's leading producer Saudi Arabia announced that it would go "substantially" beyond its commitment of production cuts made last week.

In a speech to the conference earlier, Novak stressed the plunge in oil prices had led to "severe consequences".

"What the past two months have shown is that there is a growing consensus among producers that the market recovery process has taken far too long... It has had a major impact on all our countries, in terms of economic growth, heavy losses in revenue and deep social spending cuts.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A large number of followers of Osho (Acharya Rajnish), spiritual guru, thronged at his birth place - Kuchwada in Raisen district, about 140-km from Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal - to celebrate his birth anniversary on December 11 as 'Anand Utsav'.

About 200 followers of Osho from Japan, China, US, Sri Lanka, Australia, Canada and other countries, in addition to India, gathered here.

"The followers from India and abroad are participating in three day meditation camp. They remembered Osho, celebrating his birthday by cheering, dancing, holding candles and paying floral tribute to their spiritual leader," said Swami Sahaj, who is camping here.

Another follower Swami Chaitanya Kirti said Osho has become more relevant in the present circumstances.

"Osho has given the message of love, peace and joy. In today's busy life, one needs to engage Osho's meditation techniques," said Swami Chaitanya, who is convener of this camp. Osho was born here on December 11, 1931.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said India has always wanted to have friendly relations with all its neighbours but Pakistan has betrayed India and returned peace initiatives with terrorist attacks.

Referring to the invitation extended to SAARC countries for the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi, he said this was done because "we realised if we want to make India a powerful country we need cooperation of all neighbouring countries".

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before the formation of the government, had held a party meeting and we decided if we want to make India a powerful country we need cooperation of all the neighbouring countries. So we decided to invite all the neighbouring heads of state/government and we invited Nawaz Sharif also, and he had come," Singh said.

"Sharif was invited not just to shake hands but let the hearts of the two countries to meet," he said, adding Pakistan should understand "our intentions but it has failed to do so".

He also said Modi, "breaking all the protocols", went to attend a function in Sharif's family while returning from Afghanistan.

"We try our best that our neighbours live in peace with us. We want development of India as well as that of Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. All should progress. We want this. But what has Pakistan given us in return of our large-heartedness?



"We got Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Uri where terrorists entered and launched cowardly attacks on our soldiers," Singh said. "But we also showed them what we are capable of," he added.

"I thank our soldiers who succeeded in giving the message we cannot only hit them here but if need arises we can hit them anywhere," Singh said, referring to the surgical strikes carried by the army inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

He accused Pakistan of continuously fuelling terrorism and said India wants friendly ties with the neighbouring country but will never compromise on the issue of terrorism.

"I ask them (Pakistan) why they are not saying they are not ready to compromise on terrorism. If India says this why Pakistan is not saying the same," Singh said.

He said after Gurdaspur and Pathankot terror attacks, Pakistan had stated it wanted to cooperate and sent a team to India. "But after the team's return to Pakistan, they refused to allow Indian SIT to visit Pakistan," he said.

(Reopens DEL 58)



He also said there is no good terrorist or bad terrorist.

"Terrorist is a terrorist no matter which country he belongs to. There is no good or bad terrorists," Singh said.

Referring to his visit to Pakistan to participate in the SAARC Interior Ministers' conference in August, Singh said, initially he wanted his MOS to take part in it, but when he came to know that protests were taking place against the visit he decided to go and "issue a statement against terrorism from the Pakistani soil".

"Leaders of terrorist organisations were leading those protests so I decided to go and whatever has to be said I will say it. Was the government of Pakistan not in a position to stop them? We decided to speak it from within the heart of Pakistan and we spoke it from within Pakistan," he said.

He said India is incomplete without Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and no power in the world can separate them from the country.

He said India and Pakistan have fought four wars and every time India has given a befitting reply.

He said Pakistan has realised it cannot defeat India in wars so it has resorted to "proxy war".

"It has taken support of terrorism. With terrorism, it wants to separate Jammu and Kashmir from India. Pakistan should realise this reality that terrorism is not the weapon of brave but the weapon of cowards," he said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh today accused Pakistan of "conspiring" to divide India along religious lines and warned the neighbouring country that it would be "splintered" into 10 nations if it failed to quell terrorism.

"Pakistan is conspiring to divide India on religious lines but it will not succeed. We were divided in 1947 on religious basis. We have not been able to forget that... All Indians are brothers, whether they are born from the womb of a Hindu mother or a Muslim mother," he said addressing a Martyrs' Day function in Kathua district.

Singh accused Pakistan of waging a proxy war against India.

"We want to live in peace with Pakistan but it has indulged in sponsoring a proxy war against India. Every Prime Minister of India wanted to mend relations with Pakistan but it did not understand the language of peace and attacked India four times. But our brave soldiers gave them a befitting reply."



The Home Minister said Pakistan was waging the proxy war through terrorism, which is a weapon of the weak.

"Terrorism is the weapon of the weak and not the brave," he said.

"Pakistan came into existence after India got divided on religious lines but it could not keep itself united. In 1971, it got split into two and, if it does not mend its ways, it will get splintered into 10 pieces and India will have no role in it," he said.

Singh said terror groups ISIS had the whole world worried because of its activities but failed to spread its roots in India because of the Muslims.

"When the entire world is worried about ISIS, I can say it as the Home Minister of the country, as I know the reality that ISIS has not been able to spread its roots in India and the credit for this goes to the Muslims of the country, the followers of Islam," he said.

He said people might not know but when a member of somebody's family got radicalised, others came to him to seek his help to save the child from the clutches of the ISIS.

He also offered India's cooperation to Pakistan to help eradicate the menace of terrorism from its soil.

"If Pakistan is serious about eradicating terrorism but is incapable of doing that and wants cooperation, we are ready to help it eradicate terrorism from there," the Minister said.

Singh said India always wanted to have friendly relations with all its neighbours but Pakistan betrayed India and returned peace initiatives with terrorist attacks.

"Narendra Modi, before the formation of his government,



had held a party meeting and we decided if we want to make India a powerful country we need cooperation of all the neighbouring countries. So we decided to invite all the neighbouring heads of state/government and we invited Nawaz Sharif also, and he had come," Singh said.

"Sharif was invited not just to shake hands but let the hearts of the two countries to meet," he said, adding Pakistan should understand "our intentions but it has failed to do so".

He also said Modi, "breaking all protocol", went to attend a function in Sharif's family while returning from Afghanistan.

"We try our best that our neighbours live in peace with us. We want development of India as well as that of Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. All should progress. We want this. But what has Pakistan given us in return for our large-heartedness?



"We got Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Uri where terrorists entered and launched cowardly attacks on our soldiers," Singh said. "But we also showed them what we are capable of," he added.

"I thank our soldiers who succeeded in giving the message we cannot only hit them here but if need arises we can hit them anywhere," Singh said, referring to the surgical strikes carried by the army inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

He said after Gurdaspur and Pathankot terror attacks, Pakistan had stated it wanted to cooperate and sent a team to India. "But after the team's return to Pakistan, they refused to allow Indian SIT to visit Pakistan," he said.
Virendra Tawde, accused in the murder cases of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and activist Govind Pansare, has approached the Bombay High Court seeking to be impleaded as a respondent in the petition filed by Maharashtra government seeking stay in the Pansare trial.

The state CID, probing the Pansare murder case, had earlier this year filed a petition in the high court seeking stay on the trial till a forensic report from Scotland Yard Police laboratory was obtained.

The impending report pertains to a bullet and some cartridges recovered in the Pansare murder case that were sent by CBI, which is probing the Dabholkar case, to the UK for forensic tests last month.

The CID petition had earlier sought the high court to stay the framing of charges against the arrested accused, Sameer Gaikwad. The HC had then granted the stay.

Tawde, an alleged member of right wing group Sanathan Sanstha, who was arrested on June 10 this year by CBI in the Dabholkar case, was recently also arraigned as accused by CID in the Pansare case.

Following this, Tawde filed an application in the high court seeking to be included as respondent in CID petition.

"If the applicant is not joined as a respondent in the petition, there would be grave and irreparable harm and prejudice to the interests of the applicant," said the application filed recently.

The CBI, through the forensic reports, wants to ascertain if there is any link between the Pansare, Dabholkar and Prof M M Kalburgi murder cases.

The high court had in June this year granted interim stay on the trial against Gaikwad.

While Dabholkar was murdered in Pune on August 20, 2013, Pansare was shot on February 16, 2015 in Kolhapur. He died on February 20. Prof Kalburgi was murdered on August 30 last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As Parliament remained deadlocked over demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today accused opposition parties "discarded" by people of trying to "suppress" the truth, drawing angry retort from BSP supremo Mayawati.

"Parliament is not being allowed to function for 20 days. We are ready for debate (on demonetisation), but we are not being allowed to present our viewpoint by those very parties that have been discarded by the electorate," Modi said even as the Winter Session is left with just three more working days.

Within hours of Modi slamming the opposition, Mayawati hit back at the Prime Minister, saying it was a classic case of pot calling kettle black.

"By blaming opposition parties, the Prime Minister is running away from government's responsibility and answerability...But his remarks are totally wrong. 'yeh ulta chor kotwal to dantey jaisa hai' (it is like pot calling kettle black)," she said in a press release in Lucknow.

Mayawati said Modi was harping on the same tune and his speech at BJP's Parivartan Yatra in Bahraich, addressed through mobile phone from Lucknow, was no different.

Modi earlier said these (opposition) parties never wanted to tread the path of honesty "but we will definitely win this fight against corruption".

He was addressing BJP's Parivartan Yatra here through mobile phone from Lucknow after the IAF chopper carrying him failed to land due of poor visibility in Bahraich, which is close to Terai region of Nepal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A fire arms trafficker has been arrested here and 27 high quality pistols seized from his possession by the Special Cell of Delhi Police.

Police said the operation was a part of their ongoing process of neutralising the supply of illegal arms to Delhi and NCR region in which several other arms traffickers were also nabbed earlier.

Police arrested 50 year-old Ram Singh, a resident of Madhya Pradesh and seized 27 high quality illegal pistols from his possession and a case under the Arms Act has been registered against him.

DCP of Special Cell, Pramod Singh Kushwah said they got an information yesterday that an inter-state gang was involved in supply of illegal pistols to criminals based in Delhi, Haryana and UP and the gang members would be coming to deliver a consignment to a receiver on NH 24 near Akshardham Sethu here and a special cell team was constituted.

Police said Singh was caught near Akshardham Sethu with a bag and during interrogation, he disclosed that he had come to deliver illegal pistols which were concealed in the bag. On checking, the police team found 27 pistols of 0.32 bore in it.

It said Singh had come to supply arms in Delhi and NCR on earlier occasion also. He was earlier convicted in an Arms Act case in Madhya Pradesh, it said.

Police said further investigation is in progress and efforts are being made to find out his associates in Delhi, NCR and Madhya Pradesh.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China's State Council has released a national plan on environmental improvements for the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), detailing tasks to cleanse polluted air, water and soil.

The plan set the goals of a more environmentally friendly way of living, considerable reduction of major pollutants, effective control of environmental risks, and a sounder ecological system by 2020.

To achieve those targets, the State Council asked Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, as well as regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt to draw up a red line, or bottom line, for ecological protection by the end of 2017, while other areas should come up with a red line before the end of 2018.

Consumption of coal, which is a major source of pollution in China, will be strictly controlled.

Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, regions along the Pearl River and Yangtze River Delta, and the 10 cities with the worst air quality should realize negative growth in coal consumption, according to the plan.

Specifically, coal use in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, and regions along the Pearl River Delta should drop by around 10 percent during the 2016-2020 period, while consumption in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui should fall 5 percent.

China's environmental protection still lags behind its economic status, and decades of breakneck growth have left the country saddled with problems such as smog and contaminated waterways and soil.

Northern China has frequently been choked by winter smog, showing the war on pollution is an urgent and arduous task.
CPI(M) in Kerala today described as "uncivilised" the alleged action of Madhya Pradesh government, its police and RSS in preventing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan from attending a function in Bhopal yesterday.

The action of Madhya Pradesh government and police in preventing Vijayan from attending the function was "uncivilised" and also violation of federal principles and constitution, State CPI(M) secretariat said in a statement here today.

The party alleged that the incident happened with the knowledge of Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and BJP's national leadership.

Vijayan was supposed to attend a felicitation programme by Kerala Samaj yesterday. However, when he was about to leave to attend it, Madhya Pradesh Police told him not to go there as RSS and other organisations were protesting against it.

The party Politburo also said the incident was a "telling commentary" on the condition of law and order machinery in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh which cannot protect a Chief Minister of another state in its own capital.

"The Politburo strongly condemns the anti-democratic action of the police and state administration ... This incident shows how the state government acts at the diktat of the RSS," the party said in the statement.

The police should have arrested and removed the nearly 250 RSS protesters who were in front of the venue and instead of that, they denied permission for a Chief Minister of state to meet the people of his home state, the party said.

The police, however, denied the allegations by CPI(M) and said, no question arises of not providing security to the Kerala Chief Minister.

The party also called for organising demonstrations in the state to protest against the action of RSS and Madhya Pradesh government.

The ruling CPI-M led LDF Convener Vaikom Viswam condemned the incident and said preventing the freedom of travelling of a state Chief Minister cannot be allowed.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President V M Sudheeran also condemned the Madhya Pradesh police action of denying permission for Vijayan to attend the function.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari today greeted people on the occasion of Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Mohammad, and appealed to them to recall his message to work towards universal brotherhood, tolerance and well-being of all.

"On the auspicious occasion of Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of the Holy Prophet, I extend my heartiest greetings and best wishes to all my fellow countrymen, in India and abroad," Mukherjee said in a message on the eve of Milad-un- Nabi.

"May the message of the Holy Prophet inspire us to work towards universal brotherhood, compassion, tolerance and the well-being of all. Let us on this day recall the life and ideals of Hazrat Mohammed Saheb and re-dedicate ourselves to the service of humanity," the President said.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, in his message, said the Holy Prophet showed the humanity the righteous path of compassion and universal brotherhood.

"Convey my warm greetings and best wishes to the people of our country on the auspicious occasion of Milad-un-Nabi/ Id-E-Milad, celebrated as the Birthday of Prophet Mohammed," Ansari said in his message.

The Holy Prophet showed the humanity the righteous path of compassion and universal brotherhood, he said.

"May His eternal message continue to guide us to building a peaceful and harmonious society," Ansari said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Squeezed out of Twitter and other social media websites cracking down on hate speech, far-right activists are finding a home on a new platform that promises never to censor content.

Launched in August, Gab has become known as a safe haven for the "alt-right" movement dominated by the white supremacists who are helping fuel America's deepening polarization.

The social network currently has 100,000 members and another 200,000 on its waiting list, according to the company.

"All are welcome to speak freely," spokesman Utsav Sanduja, who is a Canadian-us-cHindu with roots in India, said.

Gab is unable to accommodate all those who want to join, he adds, because it is still in its test phase.

The social network's rise comes amid Twitter's suspension of political activists for purportedly promoting racist and harassing comments.

One of the new "Gabbers," Richard Spencer, heads the white supremacist National Policy Institute, whose account Twitter has suspended.

Spencer, whose "Hail Trump" comments were seen as evocative of the Nazi era, joined the Twitter exile along with Milo Yiannopoulos, accused of fomenting a social media campaign against the African-American actress Leslie Jones.

Gab's appearance follows the launch two years ago of another free-speech labeled platform, Voat, which has had limited success.

But the new site comes amid escalating tensions and acrimony over politics in social media.

Some say the new guidelines for major platforms represent an effort to curb harassment and hate, others call it censorship.

Reddit, an online and messaging board, announced last month that it would crack down on "toxic users" in an effort to curb some incendiary comments from supporters of President-elect Donald Trump.

"We have identified hundreds of the most toxic users and are taking action against them, ranging from warnings to timeouts to permanent bans," Reddit chief Steve Huffman wrote.

Gab meanwhile pledges no censoring or filtering, allowing users to post messages of 300 characters, compared to Twitter's 140-character limit.

Headquartered in the Caribbean island Anguilla, Gab is "bootstrapped," or self-financed, with some donations from the "Gab community."



Despite its user base, Gab denies having a political agenda.

"Gab is for everyone and our mission is to challenge censorship on a global scale," Sanduja says.

"Whether it is from authoritarian governments persecuting their own people, politically incorrect citizens engaging in peaceful and civil discourse or whistleblowers in establishment institutions seeking a safe refuge, Gab will always be there for them and the people.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Russian President has turned down the offer of a dog as a gift from the Japanese government, according to a Japanese MP.

Koichi Hagiuda did not give a reason as to why the gift had been rejected by Putin.

Japan gave Putin a female Akita called Yume in 2012. This dog was intended as a companion for her, the BBC reported.

Hagiuda wrote in a blog post: "Unfortunately, we heard from our counterparts, and our hope to present a bridegroom was dashed."



If accepted, the gift would have been presented to the Russian president at a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan next week amid low expectations of a breakthrough in a territorial row that has blocked a peace treaty to formally end World War II.

The territorial row stems from the Soviet Union's seizure of four islands off Hokkaido, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kuriles.

Akitas breed of dogs originate from northern Japan.

Putin also owns a male Bulgarian Shepherd called Buffy, which was given to him by the Bulgarian prime minister in 2010.

His Labrador, Konni, given to him as a gift by Sergey Shoigu, currently Russian defence minister, died in 2014.

Putin once brought Konni to a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is scared of dogs. Some press reports at the time said he had done so to intimidate her.

But earlier this year, Putin told a German newspaper that he did not know about her fear.

He said: "When I learned that she does not like dogs, I apologised, of course.
Tamil 'Superstar' Rajinikanth on Sunday paid rich tributes to late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, describing her as a 'kohinoor diamond' who had made her way up through difficulties in a male-dominated society.

At a condolence meeting, organised by the Indian Artistes' Association or the Nadigar Sangam for and actor-journalist Cho S Ramaswamy, Rajinikanth also recalled his strong statements against her during the 1996 Assembly polls, which had "hurt" her.

"I had hurt her. I was a key reason for her (party's) defeat," he said, referring to his criticism of the then AIADMK government.

The actor had then famously remarked that "even god can't save Tamil Nadu" if Jayalalithaa's AIADMK was elected to power again. The then DMK-TMC (Tamil Maanila Congress) combine had swept the polls amid strong anti-incumbency.

Jayalalithaa, however, later proved to be a "golden-hearted" leader, Rajinikanth said.

Paying rich tributes to the former chief minister, he said it was with great difficulty that she could take over the reins of the AIADMK following the death of its founder and her political mentor MG Ramachandran and that she had overtook him in achievements.

He likened her to a diamond, saying the challenges of life had further polished her.

Having lost her father at the age of two and mother 20 years later, she faced various challenges including having no family but achieved fame by hard work in a male-dominated society, he said.

"Today, she is resting like a kohinoor diamond at the MGR memorial site and enjoys the love and affection of so many people," he added.

He also paid rich tributes to Ramaswamy, his long time friend.

Hospitalised on September 22 and having suffered a cardiac arrest on December 4, 68-year-old had passed away the next day.

Ramaswamy, a veteran journalist, satirist, playwright and actor died of illness on December 7.
The total amount of seizure in the raid by the city police at a law firm in southeast Delhi's GK-I area today neared Rs 13.5 crore, of which Rs 2.6 crore was in new banknotes released after demonetisation, a senior police official said.

The raid was carried out by Crime Branch at the office of T&T Law Firm last night, the officer said.

"The recovered amount is close to Rs 13.5 crore. Out of the recovered money, Rs 7 crore is in the form of demonetised Rs 1,000 notes.

"Rs 3 crore is in the form of Rs 100 notes and Rs 2.61 crore is in the form of Rs 2,000 denominations. Rest of the cash is in the form of Rs 50 and Rs 500 denominations," said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (Crime).

When the police team raided the office, the rooms were locked and a caretaker was present.

"It's probably one of the several office premises which was mainly used as cash godown guarded by just one guard," said the officer.

Police said that more cash was likely to be recovered in the follow-up raids.

The IT department has been informed and will be probing the case ahead.

Police said that the law firm whose office was raided belongs to Rohit Tandon.

According to I-T department sources, the lawyer had recently declared unaccounted income worth over Rs 125 crore after searches were carried out against him.

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An RSS leader died of heart attack after his son was arrested in a theft case at Khatoli town here, police said today.

A police team led by Sub Inspector Ajay Kumar arrested Abheykand Sharma from his house yesterday for the latter's alleged role in a theft case, SHO K P Singh said.

Abheykhand's father Chetan Prakash died later due to the shock over his son's arrest, he said.

Meanwhile, SI Ajay Kumar, was suspended over allegedly misbehaving with the accused's father.

A group of Hindu activists also staged a protest against the incident.

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Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan today met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray at his residence here.

The meeting, that took place in the evening, assumes significance as Khan's upcoming film "Raees", which features Pakistani actress Mahira Khan, is scheduled for a release next month, party sources said.

Notably, the MNS has in the past objected to casting of Pakistani actors in Bollywood movies citing the neighbouring country's involvement in terrorist attacks in India.

Earlier in October, the MNS had staged high-voltage protests against the release of filmmaker Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" for featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.

The Bollywood superstar had previously run into trouble for the release of "My Name is Khan" in 2010, with another right wing party, Shiv Sena, opposing its screening then.

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The list of candidates released by SP state president has once again brought to the fore the tug-of-war within the ruling party clan as names of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's brother and another mafia don Ateeq Ahmad might not be palatable to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The list of 23 candidates clearly bears the stamp of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal as Ansari's brother and sitting Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED) MLA Sigbatullah Ansari has been nominated from Mohammadabad in Ghazipur - a seat he presently holds.

QED's merger with Samajwadi Party had been openly opposed by the chief minister and the issue clearly became a flashpoint in the feud in the Yadav clan ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.

Another controversial name in the list released yesterday is that of mafia don Ateeq Ahmad who has been fielded from Kanpur Cantt seat.

Ateeq, an accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal, is on Akhilesh Yadav's 'blacklist'.

A former MP from Phoolpur, Ateeq was also president of the Apna Dal from 1999 to 2003.

Though Shivpal said winnability and loyalty to the party have been the main criteria in selecting candidates, analysts pointed out that in the process objections raised by Akhilesh over some of the candidates appeared to have been overruled.

Though the SP has changed a few candidates, the name of Aman Mani Tripathi, who was recently arrested by the CBI for the murder of his wife Sara Singh, remains on the list.

The chief minister reportedly "did not approve" of his candidature and it was expected that the party might replace him.

The latest ticket distribution might cause fresh ripples in the Yadav family as recently SP General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav said he would have the "final say" in ticket distribution by virtue of the posts he held in the party and SP Parliamentary Board.

"Tickets are finalised by member secretary of the board,



the post which I hold. My say will be final in ticket distribution," Ramgopal had said recently.

Ramgopal's tough stand on ticket distribution came amid tussle in the party over the exercise in which both Akhilesh and his uncle Shivpal wanted to have major say.

The chief minister has said on record that he would like to have a say in selection of candidates as he was seeking a second term.

SP has also fielded two turncoats who came from BSP.

One of them is Hasnuddin Siddiqui, warring brother of BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui, who has been named for the Banda seat. Naseemuddin is considered a close confidant of BSP president Mayawati and is the Muslim face of her party.

Hasnuddin, the youngest of the kin, had initially been trying to get into BSP but Naseemuddin refused to get him on board. Irked by his brother's stance, Hasan turned rebel and eventually joined the SP.

In 2011, SP gave him a ticket to contest 2012 assembly elections from Banda.

But when Akhilesh objected, Hasan's ticket was cancelled.

Hasan embarrassed his powerful brother in 2014 Lok Sabha elections when he started campaigning against Naseemuddin's son, Afzal, who was contesting from Fatehpur parliamentary seat.

Afzal lost the elections to BJP's Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.

Another candidate who recently joined SP after quitting BSP is Abdul Mannan who has been fielded from the Sandila seat.

Another prominent candidate is Abdullah Azam, son of senior minister Mohd Azam Khan who will be making his political debut from Swar Tanda Assembly seat in Rampur district.
Former Defence Secretary Vijay Singh on Sunday vehmently denied ousted Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry's allegations of having played a key role in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP choppers scam, saying the Cabinet had approved the deal well after he had retired from government service.

"I was defence secretary from 2007-2009 and the present cases being prosecuted by CBI pertain to 2004-2005. The Augusta Westland acquisition was approved by the Cabinet well after my retirement," he said in an emailed statement.

Earlier in the day, Mistry had alleged: "As Defence Secretary, Singh was a key official involved in award of Rs 3600 crore VVIP helicopter contract to AugustaWestland in 2010".

"To connect me with this matter is slanderous and malicious," Singh, an independent director on Tata Sons board, said.
A Beijing mother's article describing how her 10-year-old son was bullied at school went viral, bringing back memories for Chinese people who were bullied and triggering widespread discussion on parenting.

Zhongguancun Second Primary School, a renowned primary school in Haidian district, on Saturday morning issued a statement saying it has been communicating with parents on both sides, and called for the public to let the school handle the situation.

"The school has been actively talking with the relevant parents to solve the dispute objectively and fairly. Further effort will be made to achieve an outcome that is recognized by all parties," it said.

After having a toilet waste-paper basket thrown on his head and being mocked by other classmates, the fourth-grade boy was diagnosed with acute stress disorder, a mental illness characterized by severe anxiety, according to the article published online Thursday.

It said the school described the case as a "joke that went too far," and that the parents of the boy who threw the basket believed their son was "just being naughty."

The mother wrote that her son had been bullied for almost a year by his classmate.

The father, surnamed Wang, told Xinhua that his son is still emotionally unstable and not currently going to school.

"We are accompanying him to adjust, and he will not return to school until the case is closed," he said.

The parents of the bully have not yet answered their phone calls.

Although the article has not been verified by the other party or the authorities, it has been shared over 100,000 times on WeChat, and read over 6 million times on Weibo, a Twitter-like service.

People expressed their outrage over the matter, and recalled their past experiences of being bullied.

One web user, an apparent left-behind child who grew up with her grandmother, said she had been dragged by her hair and spat on during kindergarten and up to fourth grade in primary school.

"When I reported it to my teacher, he threw a question back in my face, 'why were you the only one being bullied?'" she recalled in her post, adding that the bullying did not stop until she was transferred to another school.

Another web user said she was sent to hospital for a week.

"The violent guys had good academic scores, and I was ugly and slow in school. The teacher just turned a blind eye," she said.

"My sense of inferiority has haunted me since then," she said, adding that the bullying she suffered at school has influenced her life.

The case has sparked discussion online on how to educate children to prevent them from being bullied.

An online survey on Weibo, which has drawn 100,000 participants, showed nearly two-thirds of parents would advise their children to take "a tooth for a tooth" response to bullying.

"I will tell my kid not to initiate a violent fight, but if he is bullied he has to fight back," one web user wrote.

Bullying and violence at schools and colleges have been widely reported in recent years. In late April, a video that showed a schoolgirl being repeatedly slapped by a group of older girls went viral.

In June 2014, another online video showed several teenagers in eastern Zhejiang Province burning a first-grade boy with cigarettes.

Last year, a junior-high student jumped from the fourth floor of a school building as he "just could not tolerate being bullied every day any longer."

Last month education guidelines, including advice on how to deal with bullying, were released as the country moves to address violence among students.

The guidelines, jointly released by nine organs including the Ministry of Education, the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, ordered schools to be aware of the consequences of bullying and violence, and that officials should be held accountable for serious incidents of bullying or violence in areas under their jurisdiction.

Students with severe behavioral problems should be transferred to special schools suitable to their needs, or in more serious cases should receive administrative or criminal penalties, the guidelines said.

An official with the Beijing Municipal Education Commission told Xinhua that it had ordered the district commission of education and the school to properly deal with the case.

Haidian District Commission of Education has not answered phone calls from Xinhua.
Two persons have been arrested for allegedly murdering a farmer in Shamli district, a police official said today.

55-year-old Islam was allegedly shot dead by five persons, including his son Fazil, over a property dispute on October 18, Additional SP AK Jha said.

"Fazil confessed that he gave Rs one lakh to the other accused to kill his father. He along with his accomplice, Sadakat, was arrested yesterday ," he said.

Police has launched a search operation to arrest the remaining accused in the case.

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Shapoorji Pallonji Group's real estate arm SP Real Estate (SPRE) expects its residential portfolio to reach 20 million sq ft over the next 6 years, including its affordable housing offering under the brand 'Joyville'.

"We have been present in the luxury and mid-income segments and recently made a foray into the affordable housing or aspirational urban housing as well call it.

"Given the growing demand for housing, we expect our residential portfolio to reach 20 million sq ft of development across 9 projects in various metros in next 6 years," SPRE Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Cyrus Engineer told PTI here.

The company has joined hands with Standard Chartered Private Equity, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for 'Joyville' projects.

The partnership is investing about USD 250 million, which will be used primarily for buying land, project approval and initial infrastructure expenses.

"We are developing our first affordable project in Howrah in Kolkata and now we are looking at expanding to Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune, Noida, Gurgaon and the MMR region.

"Along with this, we are also expanding our luxury and mid-income projects in other geographies, especially major metros," he said.

Engineer further said the company is looking at various models like redevelopment and joint development management for expanding its presence in the residential segment.

Asked about the investments the company plans for expanding its presence, he said, "We already have arrangement for the affordable housing projects. For the other developments, we have our internal accruals and debt.

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To prevent tragic incidents like the recent collapse of an under-construction building here and to ensure the safety of workers, the state governments should effectively implement the provisions of various Acts, Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said today.

There are a number of Acts, including Building and Other Construction Workers Act, EPFO Act, Minimum Wages Act, Gratuity Act and Compensation of Payment and Wages Act for the benefit of workers, he said.

Observing that labour is in concurrent list, he said the state governments must implement the Acts in the interest of workers.

Violation of rules has been found in the incident of under-construction building collapse at Nanakramguda here last week, he said. Eleven people, all construction workers and their family members, were killed in the building collapse.

Stressing on preventive action to avoid tragedies like building collapse, Dattatreya said he would hold a meeting with Telangana Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao soon on the issue.

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The sword of the Chhatrapati Shivaji statue installed at the Raigad Fort was found damaged, leading to tension in Kolhapur district.

Police said a nearly four-inch portion of the nearly 40 inches long sword of the statue was found damaged yesterday.

An official of the heritage department, which puts a garland around the statue every morning, found it broken and informed the police.

Subsequently, an offence under IPC section 379 (theft) and relevant provisions of Ancient Monuments Preservation Act has been registered by the Mahad police in Raigad, located adjoining Mumbai.

A sculptor from Kolhapur will soon repair the statue.

The of the incident led to tension in Kolhapur district. A large crowd of the Maratha warrior king's admirers gathered at the Shivaji chowk area in Kolhapur last night and sought immediate action against the culprits.

Kolhapur's acting Collector Nandkumar Katakar reviewed the situation and assured the crowd that the damaged portion of the sword would be restored and CCTVs would be be put up around the statue at the historic Fort.

He also spoke to Kolhapur Guardian Minister Chandrakant Patil and Raigad Collector regarding the issue.

Following his assurance, those gathered at the Shivaji chowk left the place.

Notably, social activist Sambhaji Raje Chhatrapati, a descendant of the 17th century Maratha king and a Rajya Sabha member, along with some other people from Kolhapur had contributed to the installation of the statue.

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Tamil cinema actors under their umbrella organisation Nadigar Sangam (South Indian Artistes' Association) today held a condolence meeting for departed former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and veteran journalist Cho S Ramaswamy, both former stars.

Top actors led by 'Superstar' Rajinikanth participated and paid homage to Jayalalithaa and Ramaswamy, both of whom had acted in a number of movies.

Actors placed lit candles before large portraits of the two deceased persons at the condolence meeting held at Raghavendra Marriage hall here.

Besides Rajinikanth, Sivakumar, Chachu, SIAA President Nasser, Vishal, Karthi, Gauthami Tadimalla, Rohini and a host of actors paid homage to Jayalalithaa and Ramaswamy.

Hospitalised on September 22 and having suffered a cardiac arrest on December 4, the 68-year-old Jayalalithaa had passed away the next day.

Ramaswamy, a veteran journalist, satirist, playwright and actor had died of illness on December seven.

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Celebrating the tenth year of Young Astronomer Talent Search (YATS), Tata Steel in collaboration with Pathani Samanta Planetarium (PSP) has brought the much acclaimed Vikram Sarabhai Space Exhibition of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the first time to Odisha.

The week-long exhibition was inaugurated today at the Pathani Samanta Planetarium here by Kailash Chandra Sahoo, Director Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar and Arun Misra, Vice President, Project Gopalpur and Managing Director, Tata Steel SEZ.

The exhibition will be on display from December 13 to 17, a Tata Steel release said.

The mobile exhibition presented by Vikram Sarabhai Space Exhibition (VSSE), Ahmedabad, is having a set of about 20 static panels related to Remote Sensing Satellites and Communication Satellite and their applications, Chandrayaan/Mars mission, models of the camera of Mars Mission, satellite images; scaled down models of launch vehicles like PSLV and GSLV, various satellite models and a working model showing satellites orbiting around earth.

While mechanical component parts used in satellites are on the display, there are various video documentaries on launching of the Mars Mission.

For students of higher classes there is also a video display on how to join ISRO. ISRO's Geo portal-BHUVAN website will be demonstrated during the exhibition as well. A team of scientists and engineers from Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, are also present to interact with students.

Bringing in the ISRO exhibition is a momentous occasion to mark the tenth edition of YATS. The aim of this exhibition is to develop scientific temper amongst students and researchers and to make the common man aware of the contributions of ISRO initiatives in our daily lives, Arun Misra said.

During the inauguration ceremony, Kailash Chandra Sahoo said "We are proud to host ISRO's first ever exhibition in the state. This will help to develop scientific temper among students.

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Three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and two wounded in the country's rebel east, the bloodiest day for government forces in more than a month, Kiev said today.

"Over the past 24 hours three Ukrainian soldiers were killed in combat," military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told journalists.

"It happened as a result of an enemy mortar attack near Krasnogorivka," some 20 kilometres west of the de facto rebel capital Donetsk, he said, noting a "sharp increase" in shooting by the pro-Russian rebels.

Nearly 10,000 people have died since Ukraine's mostly Russian-speaking eastern industrial regions revolted against Kiev's pro-Western government in April 2014.

Kiev and the West have accused Russia of supporting rebels and deploying troops across the border, claims Moscow has repeatedly denied.

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The Trinamool Congress today condemned BJP state president Dilip Ghosh for using "abusive and goonda-like" language against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while announcing a three-day protest against the Centre's demonetisation of high-value notes.

"We have seen the abusive and goonda-like comments of Dilip Ghosh against our party supremo. We are not taking it lightly. We strongly condemn the language used by him," TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee told newspersons here.

Asserting that the chief minister would continue to hold protest in different parts of the country over people's miseries owing to demonetisation, Chatterjee said, "No one can stop Mamata Banerjee from going around the country on the issue till the Centre rolls back its decision."



"The words used by Ghosh goes on to show that he is mentally imbalanced. He has even threatened to kill our party people," he alleged.

"He is trying to be in the by making such dangerous comments. He should not try to blacken the culture of Bengal by using such filthy language," Chatterjee said.

Chatterjee, who is also the state's Parliamentary Affairs and Education minister, announced a state-wide protest from December 14 to December 16 against demonetisation.

"TMC workers, supporters and the suffering public will join protest-march and meetings to be held in every block of the state on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday," Chatterjee said.

Speaking at a meeting of the party's youth wing held at West Midnapore district's Jhargram yesterday, Ghosh said Banerjee has "lost her mind" after the demonetisation drive and that was why she recently visited Delhi and Patna.

"That's why she (Banerjee) is visiting Delhi and Patna. And failing to achieve anything, she is sitting in Nabanna (state secretariat). We had thought that she would ultimately jump in the Ganga... This person (Banerjee) has lost her mind. The state's people have realised their mistake of bringing in change in West Bengal," Ghosh alleged.

In a statement earlier in the day, TMC said that after failing to fight Banerjee on her stand on demonetisation, the BJP has started issuing "dangerous personal threats to the Bengal CM."



"The BJP cannot fight Mamata Banerjee on policy, good governance and her principled stand on demonetisation on behalf of millions who are affected," TMC said in a statement.

"BJP is desperate to silence the voice of the opposition. The Bengal BJP president spews deeply dangerous, threatening, abusive and completely false personal statements against her. A new low in politics," it said.

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Severe cyclonic storm 'Vardah' will make a landfall between north Tamil Nadu and south Andra Pradesh on Monday with both the coastal states putting in place a number of measures to deal with it and Tamil Nadu announcing holiday for all educational institutions in four districts.

The Regional Meteorological Centre said 'Vardah' lay centred at 330 km east of Chennai at 2.30 pm on Sunday and would move westwards before making landfall between north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts on Monday afternoon.

Under its impact, rains started on Sunday night and gradually increase on Monday in the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, S Balachandran, Director, Area Warning Centre, said.

On December 12, heavy to very heavy rains were likely in some places in these districts, he said, adding, strong winds could gust upto 80-90 kmph.

The sea would be rough, he said and asked fishermen to not to venture into the sea for the next 48 hours.

Chief Minister O Panneerselvam held a meeting of the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority which also asked the armed forces to be on standby.

The Tamil Nadu government declared holiday for educational institutions in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, besides coastal taluks of Villupuram.

"They should take necessary steps for ensuring the safety of their students especially hostel inmates and their water and food requirements," an official release, detailing the discussions the Chief Minister had with his senior officials including Chief Secretary B Ramamohana Rao, said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation through a teleconference with Collectors and top officials on Sunday evening. He directed them to be alert and undertake necessary rescue and relief efforts in view of the threat.

Food and other essential commodities should be kept ready in adequate quantities, he said.

"Take all steps to prevent loss of lives and to minimise damages to crops and properties," Naidu told the officials.

The Tamil Nadu government also asked private establishments and undertakings in these districts besides coastal taluks of Villupuram to allow their staff avail holiday or work from home.

Panneerselvam gave instructions for appointment of senior IAS officers as monitoring officers for these districts to oversee and monitor related works in coordination with the District Collectors, the release said.

"Arrangements to be made for evacuating people in low lying and vulnerable areas. Relief centres to be kept in readiness along with necessary food, water and other arrangements. Army, Navy, Air-force and Coast Guard have been alerted to be on standby for deployment as and when necessary," it said.
Severe cyclonic storm 'Vardah' will make a landfall between north Tamil Nadu and south Andra Pradesh tomorrow, as both the coastal states have put in place a number of measures to deal with it even as TN announced holiday for all educational institutions in four districts.

The Regional Meteorological Centre said 'Vardah' lay centred at 330 km east of Chennai at 1430 hours on Sunday and would move westwards before making landfall between north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts tomorrow afternoon.

Under its impact, rains will start tonight and gradually increase tomorrow in the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said.

On December 12, heavy to very heavy rains were likely in some places in these districts, he said, adding, strong winds could gust upto 80-90 kph.

The sea would be rough, he said and asked fishermen to not to venture into the sea for the next 48 hours.

Chief Minister O Panneerselvam held a meeting of the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority which also asked the armed forces to be on standby.

The Tamil Nadu government declared holiday for educational institutions in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, besides coastal taluks of Villupuram.

"They should take necessary steps for ensuring the safety of their students especially hostel inmates and their water and food requirements," an official release, detailing the discussions the Chief Minister had with his senior officials including Chief Secretary B Ramamohana Rao, said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation through a teleconference with Collectors and top officials this evening. He directed them to be alert and undertake necessary rescue and relief efforts in view of the cyclone threat.

Food and other essential commodities should be kept ready in adequate quantities, he said.

"Take all steps to prevent loss of lives and to minimise damages to crops and properties," Naidu told the officials.

Tamil Nadu Government also asked private establishments and undertakings in these districts besides coastal taluks of Villupuram to allow their staff avail holiday or work from home.

Panneerselvam gave instructions for appointment of senior IAS officers as monitoring officers for these districts to oversee and monitor cyclone related works in coordination with the District Collectors, the release said.

"Arrangements to be made for evacuating people in low lying and vulnerable areas. Relief centres to be kept in readiness along with necessary food, water and other arrangements. Army, Navy, Air-force and Coast Guard have been alerted to be on standby for deployment as and when necessary," it said.

The Tamil Nadu government has asked people to stay



indoors during the heavy rains, stock adequate food, medicines and drinking water at home and use them judiciously.

NDRF, SDRF, Fire and Rescue services department personnel have already been pre-positioned and shall be immediately utilised wherever necessary for rescue and relief operations, the release said.

Teams will be deployed with adequate equipment like power saws and transportation for removing fallen trees and restoring traffic, it said.

Health department has been asked to take measures to organise special camps and to pre-position generators, emergency supplies, medicines and oxygen cylinders in Government hospitals.

All emergency measures have been put in place in Andhra Pradesh, officials said.

Three teams of NDRF personnel have been kept ready in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh as heavy to very heavy rain ranging up to 17 cm is expected tomorrow.

Chittoor and Kadapa districts are also expected to receive very heavy rainfall while Anantapuramu and Prakasam districts too will receive moderate rain.

Four senior IAS officials have been deputed to Nellore, Chittoor, Kadapa and Prakasam districts to oversee rescue and relief operations.

(REOPENS MDS18)



Meanwhile, Puducherry government has declared tomorrow a holiday for all educational institutions in Puducherry and Karaikal regions due to heavy rains and squally weather forecast under the impact of cyclone.

Announcing this, Chief Minister V.Narayanasamy said in a release that heavy rains have been forecast coupled with cyclonic storm in the Union Territory tomorrow.

He appealed to the people of Puducherry to stay safe and procure their requirements in advance.

The entire administration has been geared to rise to any exigency and toll free phones 1070 and 1079 can be contacted for any help and emergency, he said.
Twenty-five tombs spanning from Shang Dynasty to Ming Dynasty are found during an excavation at Xintang county in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. [Photo/Guangzhou Daily]

Twenty-five tombs spanning from Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC) to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) were found during an excavation at Xintang county in Guangzhou of Guangdong province.

The findings included three tombs from Shang Dynasty, one pit tomb from the late Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD), 19 brick-chambered tombs from Jin (265-420) and Southern Dynasties (420-589), one pit tomb from Tang Dynasty (618-907) and one tomb from Ming Dynasty.

The archaeological site is located at Longjingshan and Zongzaigang, which is in Zengcheng Economic and Technological Development District's Xintang county, and 36 kilometers away from urban Guangzhou. A total area of 66,000 square meters was under excavation.

Zhu Hairen, head of the archaeological team said these tombs have special features compared with tombs from Six Dynasties (222589) in Guangzhou ancient town, which are rare to find in excavations in Guangzhou.

There was also an abundance of unearthed relics: stone tomahawks, crystal penannular jade ring, sonim pottery kettle from Shang Dynasty, copper bowl, copper washing bowl, terrine from Western Han Dynasty, chicken-spout pot, dishes, bowls, and small cups from Jin and Southern Dynasties.

Zhu said that stone tomahawks were a kind of sacrificial vessel during Shang Dynasty and was a symbol of power, which reveals that the tomb owner may have had military power during his lifetime.

Such densely distributed and well-preserved tombs from Jin and Southern Dynasties have been discovered for the first time beside the ancient Guangzhou town, and the largest tomb cluster from Six Dynasties in Zengcheng district, which shows that a large group of people had lived along Zengjiang River since Six Dynasties.

The archaeological work started in September this year and will be completed soon. The archaeological team will extract all the unearthed relics and refill the tombs later.
Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao today greeted President Pranab Mukherjee on his 81st birthday, hailing his "wisdom, sagacity and statesmanship."



"Your sagacity, wisdom and statesmanship will further strengthen our nation's friendly relations with countries across the globe," he said in his message greeting the President, which was released by the Raj Bhavan here.

Extending his heartiest greetings, Rao wished Mukherjee a long, happy and healthy life in his distinguished service to the nation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President-elect Donald Trump today rejected as "ridiculous" the CIA's reported assessment that Russia intervened to help him win the closely-contested US election against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump told Fox that the claim as another "excuse" pushed by Democrats to explain his upset victory against Hillary.

"It's just another excuse. I don't believe it," Trump said. "...Every week it's another excuse. We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College."



The 70-year-old real estate billionaire-turned-politician spoke at length about his Cabinet selection process, defending his decision to tap several military generals while previewing an announcement soon on his secretary of state choice.

The Republican leader vowed as well to "clean" up and "speed" up government agencies, without necessarily dismantling outgoing President Barack Obama's legacy.

But while staying careful not to personally criticize the sitting president over his intelligence agencies' analysis on foreign cyber-interference in the election, Trump made clear he rejects their assessment so far.

"Nobody really knows, and hacking is very interesting. Once they hack, if you don't catch them in the act you're not going to catch them," he said. "They have no idea if it's Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place."



Trump was responding to a Washington Post report that the CIA concluded in a secret assessment that Russia interfered in the race to boost Trump.

Intelligence agencies reportedly found individuals connected to the Russian government gave WikiLeaks hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, as well as from Hillary Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta - though did not have "specific intelligence" showing Kremlin officials directed the activity.

Shortly before the interview with Trump was aired today, a bipartisan group of senators described the Russia interference reports as serious.

"For years, foreign adversaries have directed cyberattacks at America's physical, economic, and military infrastructure, while stealing our intellectual property. Now our democratic institutions have been targeted. Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American,' Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Chuck Schumer and Jack Reed, said in a statement.

"Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyberattacks. This cannot become a partisan issue. The stakes are too high for our country," the statement said.

Amid the CIA findings, the White House also said on Friday that President Obama has ordered his intelligence agencies to conduct a full review of hacking during the 2016 election and present their findings before he leaves office.

Trump's transition team responded by saying the election "ended a long time ago" and "it's now time to move on.

REOPENS FGN 49



"Every week it's another excuse. We had a massive



landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College," Trump said in the interview.

Trump has 306 electoral votes in the electoral college as against 232 of Clinton, who notably received 2.5 million more votes than he got.

Trump said that this was an assessment of the CIA as being reported in the media.

"I'm not sure they put it out. I think the Democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country. Frankly, I think they're putting it out. It's ridiculous," he said.

"We ought to get back to making America great again, which is what we're going to do. And we've already started the process," he added.

Trump claimed that the intelligence community is not sure about who were behind the hacking and they are fighting among themselves.

"Of course, we're going to make changes at the top (in these intelligence agencies). I mean, we're going to have different people coming in because we have our people, they have their people. I have great respect for them. But if you read the stories, the various stories, they're disputing. And certain groups don't necessarily agree. Personally, it could be Russia. I don't really think it is. But who knows? I don't know either. They don't know and I don't know," he reiterated.

Responding to a question that he is receiving just one intelligence briefing every week, Trump said he does not want to be told the same thing everyday.

"I'm like a smart person. I don't have to be told the same thing and the same words every single day for the next eight years. I don't need that. But I do say if something should change, let us know," he said.

Trump said he would also like to know who was involved in the hacking when he was asked about the investigations being ordered in this regard by outgoing President Barack Obama.

"I think President Obama's been terrific. He's been very respectful of the process and everything else. So, I saw that. I want it (investigations) too. I think it's great. I don't want anyone hacking us. I'm not only talking about countries. I'm talking about anyone, period," he said.

Asked if there was a political motive, he said, "It could be. I mean, it could be. Hey, look, we had many people saying one of the great victories of all time. They're very embarrassed," he said.
A 42-year-old tourist from Madurai was seriously injured after he was attacked by an elephant.

According to forest officials Shamkumar along with his friends came to Sathyamangalam yesterday and after visiting some places they halted a private gust house at Arepallam area in Hassanure forest range area in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.

When Shamkumar cameout from guest house today he was attacked by the elephant.

He was initially treated in Sathyamangalam Government Hospital and was later referred to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital in the noon for further treatment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Antonio Guterres, a former Portuguese Prime Minister will be sworn in tomorrow as the next UN Secretary General, succeeding Ban Ki-moon as the ninth chief of the 71-year old world body.

President of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson will administer the Oath of Office to Guterres, 67, at a special plenary meeting of the 193-member General Assembly here. The Secretary-General-designate will then address the General Assembly.

Guterres was unanimously appointed by the General Assembly as the successor to Ban, after the 15-nation Security Council had in October decided by acclamation to send his name to the Assembly for final approval.

Ban's second five-year term as the world's top diplomat ends on December 31 and Guterres will assume his new role for a five-year term beginning January 1, 2017. The former Portuguese Prime Minister and UN High Commissioner for Refugees had remained the front-runner in the election to choose Ban's successor amid growing calls by civil society and several UN member states to elect a woman Secretary General.

During the special plenary meeting, speakers will pay tribute to Ban and after being administered the Oath of Office the Secretary-General-designate will also address the General Assembly.

Among those paying tributes to Ban will be Thomson and Representatives from Burkina Faso who will speak on behalf of the African States, Lao People's Democratic Republic who will speak on behalf of the Asia-Pacific States, Latvia who will speak on behalf of the Eastern European States, Costa Rica who will speak on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean States, Sweden who will speak on behalf of the Western European and other States and the United States of America who will speak in its capacity as the host country.

Following his election, Guterres had vowed to work as a "convener" and "bridge-builder" to help find solutions to the world's pressing challenges.

He had underscored that human dignity, gender equality and fighting the alliance of violent extremists and expressions of xenophobia will be among his priorities as the world's top diplomat.

"I am fully aware of the challenges the UN faces and the limitations surrounding the Secretary-General," Guterres had said in his first address to the General Assembly following his appointment as the 9th Secretary General of the UN.

He had said the dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire a "humble approach - one in which the Secretary-General alone neither has all the answers, nor seeks to impose his views; one in which the Secretary-General makes his good offices available, working as a convener, a mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved.

(Reopens FGN 23)



Guterres had underscored the importance of diversity in meeting the challenges of the world.

He had called on the international community to ensure that "we are able to break the alliance between all the terrorist groups and violent extremists on one side and the expressions of populism and xenophobia on the other side."



"These two reinforce each other and we must be able to fight both of them with determination," he had said.

Having worked as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for 10 years, Guterres had said he has witnessed "first hand" the suffering of the most vulnerable people on earth.

"I have visited war zones and refugee camps where one might legitimately ask: what has happened to the 'dignity and worth of the human person'," he said.

The immunity among people of the world to the plight of those most socially and economically underprivileged has underscored that he has the "acute responsibility" to make human dignity the core of his work.

He had also noted that gender equality will be a focus area of his work as the UN Chief.

"I have long been aware of the hurdles women face in society, in the family and in the workplace just because of their gender," Guterres said.

"I have witnessed the violence they are subject to during conflict, or while fleeing it, just because they are women," he said adding that the protection and the empowerment of women and gender parity in the organisation "are and will continue to be a priority commitment for me.
A day after he was advised by Madhya Pradesh Police not to attend an event in Bhopal in view of Sangh Parivar protest, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today hit out at the BJP-ruled state saying police did not take action against the protesters as it was organised by RSS.

Vijayan, who is a senior member of the CPI(M) politburo, said the experience he underwent in Bhopal is a reflection of the culture of the Sangh Parivar and the government supported by them.

"It (protest) was organised by the RSS. When a Chief Minister of a state is going to attend a programme, a protest is organised without any reasons. And police is not taking any action as the protest is being organised by the RSS, then asking the Chief Minister not to attend the function.

"We should see a cultural issue in it," Vijayan told reporters here.

CPI(M) had alleged the chief minister was supposed to attend a felicitation programme organised by Kerala Samaj in Bhopal yesterday but when he was about to leave for attending it, Madhya Pradesh Police told him not to go there as RSS and other organisations were protesting against it.

Following the protest, the programme was cancelled and the Kerala Chief Minister went back.

Leaders of some Hindu outfits had organised a protest before the BSSS college gate, where Pinarayi was supposed to be felicitated in the evening. Police later took nearly 20 protesters into custody from the spot.

Bhopal Malyali Community Association Programme Convenor O D Joseph had said the programme was organised without the presence of Vijayan, whose scheduled visit to the venue was "cancelled due to security reasons".

DIG of Bhopal Raman Singh Sikarwar had clarified that in view of the protest by Hindu outfits, police requested the Kerala Chief Minister to delay his visit to the venue for security reasons.

"We have never said that we won't provide security to him. We were ready to take him to the venue but in order to avoid unpleasant situation, we had just asked him to delay the visit," he had said yesterday.

"However, Vijayan decided not to visit the venue and therefore it was cancelled," he had claimed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Describing it as a "bitter experience", Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today hit out at the BJP-led government in Madhya Pradesh a day after he was advised by police there not to attend an event in Bhopal following Sangh Parivar protest.

The incident also drew flak from rival Congress-led UDF in Kerala.

Slamming the BJP-led government and RSS, Vijayan, who is a senior member of the CPI(M) politburo, said what happened in Bhopal was "unjustifiable".

He said it was a "reflection of culture" of the RSS and its affiliates.

Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy described as "shocking and unfortunate" what Vijayan experienced in the BJP-ruled state and said it was a "naked violation of protocol" underlined in relations between the states in a federal structure.

BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, however, hit out at Vijayan, accusing him of playing "low level politics" over the issue.

Noting that such incidents have "never ever" happened in Kerala, Vijayan said recently when Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited a village in politically volatile Kannur district in the midst of high tension due to political violence, no such incidents had occurred there.

"This is the difference in the mindset and culture," said Vijayan, terming the incident as a "bitter experience".

The chief minister alleged that the Madhya Pradesh police did not take action against the protesters as it was organised by RSS.

"When a chief minister of a state is going to attend a programme, a protest is organised without any reason. And police is not taking any action as the protest is being organised by the RSS... Then they (the police) asking the chief minister not to attend the function.

"We should see a cultural issue in it," Vijayan told reporters in Kochi.

The CPI(M) Kerala state secretariat described as "uncivilised" the alleged action of Madhya Pradesh government, its police and RSS in preventing the chief minister from attending the function.

The party alleged that the incident happened with the knowledge of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and BJP's national leadership.

Vijayan was supposed to attend a felicitation programme by Kerala Samaj yesterday. However, when he was about to leave for the venue, Madhya Pradesh Police told him not to go there as RSS and other organisations were protesting against it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Writer and scholar Akshaykumar M Kale, a critic of modern Marathi poetry, was today elected President of the 90th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan to be held here from February 3 to 5.

Kale is also a member of the General Council of Sahitya Akademi.

The three-day annual conference is expected to be attended by Marathi litterateurs from Maharashtra and other parts of the country.

Returning Officer Makarand Agnihotri announced the election of the 63-year-old author to the post of President after counting of votes here.

Agnihotri said a total of 1,071 members were eligible to vote in the elections. Of these, only 914 cast their votes of which 50 were found to be invalid.

Kale got 692 votes, while his nearest rival Pravin Davane polled 142. The other two candidates in the fray - Madan Kulkarni and Jayprakash Ghumatkar - secured 27 and 3 votes respectively, he said.

A well-known critic of modern Marathi poetry, Kale was Professor and Head of Marathi Department at RTM Nagpur University.

In the field of criticism of modern Marathi poetry, his contributions have attracted the attention of scholars of Marathi language and literature throughout the state.

Kale has been involved in research activities and has regularly published research articles in journals such as 'Pratishthan', 'Maharashtra Sahitya Patrika' and 'Yugawani'.

His articles have been published in various state and national magazines and newspapers, and he has authored many books.

Some of his books include 'Suktasandharbha', 'Govindagraj Samiksha', 'Kavita Kusumagrajanchi', 'Arvacheen Marathi Karyadarshan', 'Mardhekaranchi Kavita : Aakalan Aswad aani Chikitsa', Rashtrasanta Tukdoji Maharaj - Vyaktiani Wangmay', 'Grace Vishayi' and 'Sampradayik Sadhbhav Ani Samajik Shantata'.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The total amount of seizure in the raid by the city police at a law firm in southeast Delhi's GK-I area on Sunday neared Rs 13.5 crore, of which Rs 2.6 crore was in new banknotes released after demonetisation, a senior police official said.

The raid was carried out by Crime Branch at the office of T&T Law Firm last night, the officer said.

"The recovered amount is close to Rs 13.5 crore. Out of the recovered money, Rs 7 crore is in the form of demonetised Rs 1,000 notes.

"Rs 3 crore is in the form of Rs 100 notes and Rs 2.61 crore is in the form of Rs 2,000 denominations. Rest of the cash is in the form of Rs 50 and Rs 500 denominations," said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (Crime).

When the police team raided the office, the rooms were locked and a caretaker was present.

"It's probably one of the several office premises which was mainly used as cash godown guarded by just one guard," said the officer.

Police said that more cash was likely to be recovered in the follow-up raids.

The IT department has been informed and will be probing the case ahead.

Police said that the law firm whose office was raided belongs to Rohit Tandon.

According to I-T department sources, the lawyer had recently declared unaccounted income worth over Rs 125 crore after searches were carried out against him.
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Six workers were killed Saturday morning at a railway station in central China's Henan Province, local railway authorities have said.

A freight train crashed into six people working on the rails at 9:42 a.m. at Anyang Railway Station on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, according to Zhengzhou Railway Bureau.

Two of the victims were employees of the railway bureau while the other four were migrant workers.

An investigation is underway.
Cameroun: Prison for Pangolin Scale Traffickers in Tibati :: CAMEROON

Two wildlife traffickers have been sentenced to 3 months imprisonment terms each by the Titbati Court of First Instance. The two, Ndjoheu Jean Marie and Nwana Doh Felix were arrested in Ngaoundal on the 30th of August 2016 with over 100 kg of giant pangolin scales they attempted to sell. They were ordered to pay fines and damages of over 8 million CFA Francs.

The operation and legal follow-up fall with the framework of the effective wildlife law enforcement initiative launched in 2003 by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife to track and prosecute wildlife law offenders.

Many had been anxiously waiting for the outcome of the verdict as one of the traffickers enjoyed huge popularity in the town of Tibati. Nwana Doh Felix who is popularly known by his nickname Etoo was well known to the many including law enforcement officials, the judiciary and administrative authorities and it was feared that he could get off the hook because of his numerous connections. The judge handling the matter saw it otherwise and decided to slam a prison sentence to the popular Etoo.

He therefore seized the occasion to pass a strong message against wildlife traffickers in a zone that is well known for trafficking activities. The town is close to the Mbam Djerem National Park that was classified in 2000 to protect the several wildlife species and their habitat. Tibati serves as the traffickking base which is not far from the park and wildlife trafficking activities extend to far off commercial centres of Yaounde and Bertoua.

The operation that led to the arrest was carried out with the technical assistance of an international NGO called LAGA and the arresting team comprised elements from the gendarmerie territorial brigade in Ngaoundal. When information on the arrest was received by the DO for Ngaoundal, he immediately went to the gendarmerie territorial brigade where he held a brief discussion with the Chief of Brigade and promised support from his office to the legal proceedings against the traffickers..

Sources close to the case say the main trafficker had transported the scales from Tibati were he resides to Ngaoundal where he planned to do business and shortly before his arrest, he hired a car that transported the scales and stopped in front of a bar where the driver and his assistant off loaded the scales that were stocked in used rice bags. They would be arrested before they completed the deal.

Pangolin scales are fast becoming a commodity of choice for wildlife traffickers who have the necessary organizational skills and logistics to handle because they are bulky. Online reports say over 4 tons of pangolin scales shipped from Cameroon were seized in Hong Kong this year. The rising scale of the trade is obliging some conservationists to call for a destruction of scales stocks pilled from seizures. This is the case with ivory stocks that have been destroyed by several nations, weary of the plummeting population of elephant that are killed for ivory.
| BY Lynchy |

Aussie entrepreneur David Prior, who bought the mothballed 200-year-old Scotch distillery Bladnoch in January 2015, has launched a new scotch brand Pure Scot with a spot created by Chocolate Studios, Melbourne.

Says Prior: Last year we fought to buy a 200-year-old scotch whisky distillery. You cant make scotch whisky. Youre an Aussie surfer, they said. Well it seems Pure Scot is proving them wrong again.

Pure Scot flies the flag for individuality. We say theres no right way to drink scotch whisky.

Before taking on the scotch world, Prior built up the yoghurt brand five:am from scratch in 2009, and sold it in 2014 to UK-based consumer products company PZ Cussons for $80 million. In 2013 the company employed 65 staff, supplied over a thousand outlets around Australia, delivered 250% increase in revenue over the previous year and won the 2013 Company to Watch award.
| BY Lynchy |

Many in the industry in the Asia-Pacific region will be saddened to hear of the passing of accomplished writer and creative director Strephyn Mappin, who has died in Nigeria of what is believed to be a heart attack.

His daughter Georgia wrote this on Mappins Facebook page yesterday afternoon, which shocked all who knew him: Its with a very heavy heart I have to announce that my Dad, my hero, Strephyn Mappin died yesterday from what we think was a massive heart attack in Nigeria. I cant believe he is gone, I dont want to believe he is gone  I dont really know what to do. Please just hug your dads tonight and tell them you love them, you just never know when its going to be the last time.

During his career Mappin, who was principal at his own company Animal Writes since 2011, has worked for O&M, Young & Rubicam, Saatchi & Saatchi, George Patterson and BWM. Hes been a copywriter, Creative Group Head and Creative Director. His work has won awards ranging from D&AD, Clio, AWARD, Caxton and Golden Stylus through to multiple local advertising awards and Asian advertising awards. Hes worked in most states of Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, the UK and the USA.

Mappin grew up in Perth, graduating from Curtin University in 1978 with a BA in English and later studied writing at the Australian Film and Television School in Sydney. He is also the author of over 20 novels and collections of short stories, which have been translated into 6 languages, and has worked part-time for over 10 years as a manuscript assessor for Driftwood Manuscripts. He was also the S from popular cartooning duo, S&M Cartoons.

There are currently 127 comments on Facebook in response to the tragic news, including one from Rob Belgiovane, who hired Mappin as creative group head / head of copy at BWM from 2004 to 2011:Goodbye old friend. 40 years of laughs, love and honesty. I loved you Streph. And Ill miss you madly. All our love to Tina, Zac, Georgia and Caiden xxx.
A greater emphasis by WorkSafe ACT on proactive inspections and issuing improvement, prohibition and stop-work notices in the past two years has seen the number of "non-compliant workplaces" across all industries, fall from 37 per cent in the year to March 2015, to just 4 per cent in the year to March 2016.
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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who boasts a 30-year relationship with China, to be the next U.S. ambassador in Beijing, a spokesman for Trump said Wednesday.

"The governor has a lot of experience and grasp of trade issues, agriculture issues and the understanding of China," Jason Miller told reporters.

Branstad, an early supporter of Trump, met with the president-elect in New York on Tuesday. He has accepted the offer, according to media reports.

"He's someone who has very much impressed President-elect Trump not just during the meetings but also on the campaign trail," Miller said. "We couldn't be prouder of the selection."

"It's very clear that Governor Branstad is someone who'll represent our country well on the world stage," he added.

Branstad, 70, has long nurtured a close relationship with China, having visited China multiple times. He served as the governor of Iowa between 1983 and 1999, and again since 2011.

In 1985, Xi Jinping, then party secretary of Zhengding County in the Chinese province of Hebei, led an agricultural delegation to Iowa and stayed with a local family for two days.

Branstad, the Iowa governor at the time, met Xi for the first time and hosted Xi and his colleagues warmly.

During his visit to the United States in 2012, Xi, then Chinese vice president, went to Iowa for a reunion with the family that hosted his delegation 27 years ago. Branstad and Xi met again on the occasion.

During Xi's state visit to the United States in September 2015, Branstad flew to Washington to take part in a welcoming banquet for the Chinese president.

Pundits believed Branstad's expertise on China and friendship with Chinese and U.S. leaders would facilitate him in lubricating the development of the most important bilateral relationship in the global political arena.

His longtime relationship with China could help smooth things out. His personal touch could go a long way in avoiding conflicts caused by miscommunication or misinterpretation.

It is widely believed that the nomination sent a positive signal to the development of the China-U.S. relations amid a mixture of messages from Trump over his attitude toward China.
It will identify the issues that get in the way of efficient and consistent service delivery. It will establish a way to deal with "impediments to co-ordination" and a way to "identify and address potential issues before they escalate".
Museums, universities and galleries, whose content used to be aggregated through the service, have been asked to provide funding if they "wish to expose their collections through Trove" since July 1, the Department of Communications and the Arts told a Senate estimates committee.
"This is an agency that has previously settled fair agreements quickly and with minimum fuss, yet this time have instead for the first time gone on strike and voted no not once but twice," Ms Donnelly said.
Mustafa Abdul Wahid, acting executive president of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA), told Daily News Egypt that operators face having their licences revoked in some circumstances.

Etisalat, Orange and Vodafone are the three operators that can now provide 4G services in Egypt  after a hard-fought negotiation with the NTRA  in competition with Telecom Egypt, which has had a licence for some time.

The 4G service licence obliges companies to provide good 3G service in the areas where 4G signals may be weak to ensure that all clients have access to decent communication services, Abdul Wahid told the newspaper.

He said the list of sanctions contained in the 4G licence agreement includes terms about the quality of service that companies are obliged to provide. They include deterrent penalties for companies if they go below a stipulated quality.

He said sanctions also include a fine of up to 25% of the insurance value paid by the company, amounting to 100 million Egyptian pounds ($5.6 million) each time. This fine will be payable if companies delay payment for the service or break any of the contract terms, reported the newspaper.

In theory the new licences are for unified services, allowing the three companies to provide fixed services in competition with Telecom Egypt. However, Abdul Wahid told the newspaper that the companies had not yet submitted requests to begin fixed services.

Etisalat and Orange each have 10MHz of spectrum for 4G services and Vodafone  which has a complex relationship with Telecom Egypt  has 5MHz. Not all of the spectrum is immediately available, as NTRA has to evict current users.
Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car

I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ...
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U.S. President-elect Trump is expected to nominate Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, NBC News reported on Saturday, quoting two sources close to the transition process.

However, NBC reported that the unnamed sources cautioned that nothing is final till Trump officially announces the pick probably next week.

Tillerson, 64, is the Texas-based oil company's CEO since 2006 and had moved ahead of other candidates for the position of the country's top diplomat after former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, once a favorite to be the next U.S. secretary of state, dropped out of the competition on Friday.

Meanwhile, NBC quoted one source as saying that former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton would be deputy secretary of state "for day-to-day management of the department."

Like Trump, Tillerson has no government experience and so far little is known of Tillerson's views about foreign affairs.

The Wall Street Journal quoted sources as saying that Tillerson's initial emergence as a candidate for the country's top diplomat surprised senior Exxon officials, including Tillerson himself.

But in Tillerson, a seasoned business executive, some Trump advisers saw a "mold-breaking pick who would bring an executive's experience to the diplomatic role," the Journal reported.

As Exxon's CEO, Tillerson, set to retire from the company in 2017, oversees business operations in over 50 countries and has known Russian President Vladimir Putin since 1990s when they first met.

Tillerson was awarded Russia's Order of Friendship in 2013, a state decoration to reward foreign nationals whose work is aimed at the betterment of relations with Russia.

Tillerson joined Exxon in 1975 and has spent his entire career at the company.
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Italian President Sergio Mattarella said Saturday he would make a decision "in the coming hours" to solve ongoing government crisis, and give the country a new full-functioning cabinet.

Mattarella released a short statement at the end of the third day of talks with political party leaders. Italy needs a new prime minister to form a transition government, after outgoing Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella (C) gives a speech after the consultations at the Quirinale Palace in Rome, capital of Italy, on Dec. 10, 2016. Italian President Sergio Mattarella said Saturday he would make a decision "in the coming hours" to solve ongoing government crisis, and give the country a new full-functioning cabinet. [Xinhua]

Renzi's resignation was linked to the sounding defeat of a cabinet-backed constitutional reform in a referendum held on Dec. 4.

"The country needs a full-functioning government in a short space of time: there are deadlines and commitments at domestic, European, and international level ahead of us, which have to be dealt with and respected," Mattarella said.

His decision would be expected as early as on Monday, local media reported.

Outgoing Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni was believed to emerge as the likeliest candidate to take the prime minister post, according to Ansa news agency.

Other plausible names included Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, a respected economist whose figure might be reassuring for the market, and president of the senate and former anti-mafia prosecutor Pietro Grasso.

Mattarella started consultations on Thursday, involving all the political forces in the parliament.

Renzi's outgoing cabinet has remained in charge as caretaker until a new cabinet is formed.

Angelino Alfano (C), leader of Italy's New Center Right (NCD) party, speaks after his consultations with Italian President Sergio Mattarella (not seen in the picture) at the Quirinale Palace in Rome, capital of Italy, on Dec. 10, 2016. Italian President Sergio Mattarella has met with major party leaders in bid to choose a new prime minister for setting up a transition government after the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Wednesday. [Xinhua]

Italy needs a swift way out of the political crisis to address pressing issues -- financially troubled Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank (Italy's third largest), the electoral system, the reconstruction in earthquake-hit central regions, and some relevant international commitments in 2017.

Renzi's center-left Democratic Party and some minor allies said they were ready for snap elections, but also for taking part in a "national unity government" involving all major parties.

Yet, the option was rejected by the oppositions, which were all calling for an early election.

Mattarella on Saturday restated that a change in the current electoral system was a necessary precondition to early elections.

"From these meetings has emerged, as a priority, a general need to harmonize the two laws ruling over the election of the lower house and of the senate, an indispensable condition to proceed with elections," he said.

Any decision concerning the electoral law will have to take into consideration an upcoming ruling by Italy's Constitutional Court on its legitimacy, which is set to take place on Jan. 24.
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

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In June 2014, Justin Ross Harris failed to take his 22-month old son, Cooper, to day care and instead left him inside the familys Hyundai Tucson while he went to work.



Five minutes after returning to his car at 4:15 pm that day, Harris pulled over to find his son in his rear-facing car seat and attempted CPR. Two hours later, Cooper was pronounced dead.

Throughout the two-year long trial, Harriss defense team blamed Coopers death on a simple memory lapse. Prosecutors meanwhile said Harris was an adulterer who loved himself and his other obsessions more than that little boy, according to the Washington Post.

Ultimately, the jury sided with the prosecutors and found Harris guilty on all eight charges against him. Harris has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 32 years.

Discussing the sentence, Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark said: Except for the fact that the defendant has no prior criminal record, there is no mitigating fact or circumstance in this case. This court finds particularly that the defendant intentionally and unnecessarily in a wanton manner, caused and inflicted upon Cooper Harris unnecessary and wanton severe physical and mental pain and agony.

VIDEO
An unknown automotive startup dubbed Rivian Automotive is on the verge of purchasing Mitsubishis former assembly plant in Normal, Illinois.



According to the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, Rivian plans on investing up to $175 million by 2024 in the plant and could ultimately employ no less than 1,000 workers.

Little is known about Rivian other than the fact that it was founded in 2009 by current chief executive officer RJ Scaringe. The company asserts that it is developing sustainable mobility solutions and Automotive News reports that this could involve a vehicle being manufactured at the facility alongside other associated technologies.

Among Rivians staff include Lawrence Achram, a former Chrysler vice president as well as Larry Erickson, a former designer at General Motors and Ford.

Mitsubishi officially ended production at the plant in November last year and closed the facility in May. It was then sold to asset auction and liquidation service Maynards Industries in June.

PHOTO GALLERY
Jessica Jean Cornelison

LOCATION: Kansas City, MO

PRIMARY MEDIA: Ink, digital [Photoshop]

EDUCATION: Kansas City Art Institute [BFA illustration, 2013]

MAJOR PROJECTS:

Miyazaki Reverie themed gallery show [artist]

In-progress zine about monsters and their environment

WHAT IS THE MOST VALUABLE PIECE OF ARTISTIC ADVICE YOU HAVE EVER RECEIVED, AND FROM WHO?

The most valuable piece of artistic advice Ive ever received was from Tomer Hanuka. He said to steal from artists you admire. Itll create the unique you that we all strive for in our signature illustrative styles. I used to get too nervous that I was copying someones style but its artthats what its for. We build upon each other and create new foundations in a different perspective; thats what makes illustration so much fun for me.

MORE: Tumblr/Twitter/Behance/Instagram
Photo: Contributed

An RCMP officer has filed a lawsuit alleging he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after being exposed to a "significant volume" of child pornography while working in a specialized unit.

Const. Michael Wardrope says he was exposed to disturbing videos, photographs, interviews and interrogations as a member of the child abuse and sexual offence unit in Surrey, B.C.

He says in the lawsuit filed in British Columbia Supreme Court that when he was hired he told his bosses he had three young children, had to commute hours per day and didn't think viewing child porn would be healthy for him.

He says despite assurances from his superiors, within the first three months on the job he was required to work overtime and was exposed to child pornography.

About a year and a half later, the lawsuit says, he was showing symptoms of having a nervous breakdown and although he was transferred 10 months later, his health was irreparably damaged.

None of the allegations has been tested in court and the RCMP says it cannot comment.
The number of people applying for law enforcement jobs has declined steadily in recent years, both across the nation and in the Chippewa Valley.

Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matthew Kelm said the departments latest hiring process netted approximately 45 applicants for four positions. Of those, 35 moved on to the second step of the process, a written test to assess logical reasoning, reading ability and communication skills, among other things.

Kelm said these numbers are a lot less than normal. Typically, they get more than 60 applicants for one position. Years before that, it was even more.

When I was hired 15-17 years ago, it was over 100 (applicants) for one spot, he said. We did our written test at the middle school and had the entire area filled with people.

Those days are gone, though, and Kelm doesnt expect to see them come back.

The department filled all four positions from those 35 people who applied, with the last officer hired set to begin Dec. 20.

Alhough the number might be less, Kelm noticed one positive thing about these applicants.

For whatever reason, I dont know if we got lucky or if its a trend, but the candidates we did have were pretty high quality, he said.

A national crisis

In other parts of the nation, departments arent getting so lucky. In areas on the East Coast, police departments are relaxing age-old standards for accepting recruits, from lowering educational requirements to forgiving some prior drug use, to try to attract more people to their ranks.

We have a national crisis, said Eugene ODonnell, a former New York City police officer and now a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. For the first time in my life, I would say I could never recommend the job.

There is no national standard for becoming an officer; its left up to each state to set requirements.

The Chippewa Falls Police Department closely follows Wisconsins standards, some of which include 60 college credits and having no felony convictions.

On top of that are physical fitness standards that have long been academy graduation requirements. Even after graduation, recruits often face a background check that might include a credit-history review.

Hiring is particularly problematic in this environment we live in, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a police research and policy organization. Ive been in a room with a large group of police ... Ive asked how many of you would like your son or daughter to be a police officer, and no one raises their hand.

That may apply to larger departments in bigger cities, but Kelm doesnt have that mindset working in Chippewa Falls. He wouldnt trade his job for anything.

Theres a lot of local support for our police officers, he said. The only time we feel (fear) is when we turn on the TV (or) log onto Facebook. Thats where we see negative stuff. Its a tougher time because of that perception, but the job is the same.

New methods

Police departments are trying different ways to tackle the lack of applicants.

In Wichita, Kansas, Police Chief Gordon Ramsay is working to relax some standards, saying it will help officers relate better to people they encounter.

People who have struggled in life ... can relate better to the people we deal with, Ramsay said. My experience is they display more empathy.

In Arizona, the states Peace Officer Standards and Training Board adopted new guidelines to allow for prior use of Adderall, often used to treat attention deficit disorder or as a study aid, if the use was not extensive.

Education requirements were changed in Louisville, Kentucky, where police recently set aside a requirement for at least 60 college credit hours after seeing a steady decline in applications. In the past fiscal year, applications for the force dropped to 1,081 from 1,867 the year before, said Sgt. Daniel Elliott, the agencys commander of recruitment and selection.

In just a month since it was scrapped, the agency received so many applications  667  that it had to stop accepting them to ensure it had time to properly review them, Elliot said.

In Chippewa Falls, Kelm doesnt believe lowering standards is the answer.

Rather, its about re-examing the requirements and using science-based practices to make sure whats required is accurately measuring the recruits ability to become an officer.

Like for the physical agility portion, are we having people do whats necessary for the job or are we losing people on a specific test who would still be qualified for the job? Kelm said. Make it a scientific test so were getting good people and not getting rid of people for not a scientifically-valid reason.

Officers still need to be fully qualified, which means Kelm has no plans to lower standards. He thinks that would lead to an even bigger problem down the road.

We cant hire someone to solve a 1-2 year problem and end up with a 30-year problem, he said. These are the people backing our officers up on calls. Ttheir life could depend on the person we choose and train.

Chippewa Falls police have pushed harder to get the positions publicized by using social media and contacting colleges to make sure students know they are hiring.

Lack of women, minorities

Another problem police departments are having is in recruiting women and minorities. Kelm said it starts before police departments even come into the picture, when students are in college and choosing what they want to do with their lives.

In that respect, its up to criminal justice departments to recruit and remind students the job is about making a difference and helping people in the community, no matter their age, gender, orientation, race or otherwise.

Eric Anderson, director of Chippewa Valley Technical Colleges criminal justice program, said enrollment numbers at the department have actually gone up in the past couple of years. The department is now back to the capacity it was a few years ago.

It seems when the economy is on the decrease, enrollment numbers increase, Anderson said. When people start being laid off, losing their job, thats when they tend to seek further education in the tech field.

However, just because a student goes into the program doesnt mean they want to be a police officer. Anderson sees students in all areas of the field.

The focus is on law enforcement, courses are geared that way, but well find a lot of students here want to transfer to a university, or get into probation, parole or corrections, he said.

Police departments can help, too. Kelm said its important to reach out toward minorities and women who do show an interest in criminal justice and advocate to them.

He attended an outreach program at McDonell Central Catholic High School and spoke to the students about how valuable having those groups of people are to the department.

Maybe the people were talking to arent going to apply for 10 years, but youre building a workforce for the future, he said. Were only ever going to hire the best person for the job, whether they are male, female or whatever. But we want that to be them.

When I was hired 15-17 years ago, it was over 100 (applicants) for one spot. We did our written test at the middle school and had the entire area filled with people. Matt Kelm, Chippewa Falls police chief
Photo: The Canadian Press

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson marked the United Nations' International Human Rights Day by signing a pledge to take action against racism for the next 101 days and beyond.

Robertson was joined by representatives of community groups including the Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia and Battered Women Services Society on Saturday.

They are calling on Vancouver residents to join them in 101 days for a rally on March 19, in observance of the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination two days later.

The pledge marks a commitment to speaking out against hate and discrimination, working to build bridges across communities and listening to fellow citizens with empathy and compassion.

Robertson says over the last year the city has welcomed refugees from around the world and passed a policy to provide access to city services without fear to people with uncertain immigration status.

In neighbouring Richmond, residents rallied on Friday against racist flyers targeting the Chinese community that have been circulating in the city.
Photo: CTV Vancouver

The police continue to search for suspects after a car smashed into a downtown Vancouver Versace store during an alleged robbery.

Officers were called to a break-and-enter at the designer store at 747 Thurlow Street, early Saturday

According to police reports, it appears the car drove through the front window. Occupants then grabbed some merchandise before driving away.

Reports suggest the vehicle involved in the incident was a Mercedes.

What was stolen is yet to be determined. The investigation is ongoing.

With files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: Castanet Staff

A grow-op went up in flames in Kelowna just before midnight Saturday.

The Kelowna Fire Department says 16 firefighters responded to a structure on McCurdy Road near Highway 97 at about 11:45 p.m.

"Fire crews arrived to a fully involved building," says Platoon Capt. Steve Wallick.

"The resident on the property told firefighters that the 40-foot by 60-foot structure was a legal grow op."

FortisBC, BC Ambulance Service and a city sand truck also attended.

"The fire was extinguished without incident," says Wallick.

"The Kelowna Fire Department would like to remind everyone to exercise caution when using electrical appliances."

The cause hasn't yet been determined and the fire is under investigation.
Photo: Google Street View

The Grinch was busy in West Kelowna Sunday morning, stealing a much-used computer.

At around 6 a.m. Dec. 11, someone broke into New Image Salon and Spa on Gosset Road in West Kelowna.

Sydney Koren, with New Image, said the thieves entered the building by picking the lock with a butterknife.

Koren said the culprits ripped the companys computer, cords and all, from the sockets, leaving the monitor in pieces on the salon floor.

We are without a computer and this is a crazy time for us, said Koren. That has 26 years worth of client files, all future appointments and anyone who purchased a gift certificate over the past couple months.

We are asking the community for help in putting the puzzle back together, she said.

Anyone with an appointment or who has purchased a Christmas gift certificate within December, are being asked to call 250-768-9554 or email Sydney at [email protected].

Koren said police managed to follow the suspects' tracks a short distance, where it is believed they got into a car.

Anyone with information on the crime is urged to call police or CrimeStoppers.
Photo: Twitter

UPDATED 2:53 P.M.

Fire fighters in Langley, continue to battle a blaze that tore through a four-storey condominium complex Sunday morning.

City of Langley Fire Chief Rory Thompson says crews got a call about a fire on a fourth floor balcony around 10 a.m. and about 55 fire fighters were still attacking the flames several hours later.

He says no deaths have been reported, but two firefighters were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and a resident rescued from the top floor was taken to hospital for assessment.

Thompson says it's believed that everyone is out of the buildings and crews will do another check once it has been stabilized.

Dan McDonald lives on the building's second floor and says seeing flames jumping from the roof this morning was surreal.

Thompson says it's unlikely anyone living in the building, which has about 60 units, will be able to return home any time soon.

Firefighters are battling a blaze in a Langley, apartment building that has smoke billowing through the streets.

Local media reports from the scene say it appears that parts of the top of the building have started to cave in.

Dozens of firefighters are working to spray foam on top of the flames.

Smoke could be seen billowing into the air, as massive flames devoured the building.

An elderly man was rescued from the fourth floor, and treated by paramedics.

Hundreds of people living in the condo waited outside. It was not immediately clear if anyone was trapped in the building.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

 with files from CTV Vancouver
BOMB THREAT SCARE EARLIER.!! NEVER BEEN APART OF SUCH THING. BUT GLAD WE ARE OK AND MADE IT TO OKLAHOMA SAFELY.!!
The following editorial appeared in The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday, Dec. 7:

It should not have taken thousands of protesters to camp out at Standing Rock  and especially not the use of water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas by local authorities as they tried, in vain, to disperse the crowds  for federal authorities to seriously consider the grievance that brought the members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their supporters to assemble there in the first place. The decision announced Sunday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to not grant a needed easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline segment under a North Dakota water reservoir was welcome but badly overdue.

A certain amount of celebration by oil pipeline opponents is understandable, of course. State officials and the pipelines developer, Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, have treated protester concerns with the same level of respect Richard Daleys Chicago police officers extended to anti-Vietnam War demonstrators in 1968. The U.S. has a long, shameful history of taking advantage of Americas indigenous peoples, particularly when energy and mineral rights are involved. Donald Trumps election hasnt exactly signaled good times for the environmental movement either.

And before conservatives start screaming about politics and overreaching by an outgoing administration in its final weeks, they ought to acknowledge the next president is already flexing the same muscles by promising, for example, to personally intervene (with steep tariffs, if necessary) when companies are moving facilities abroad. So lets not delude ourselves into believing theres some sort of ideological purity involved. Rather, the Standing Rock standoff comes down to this  is there a better route available for a pipeline that threatens to pollute drinking water supplies and disturb sacred burial sites?

Frankly, that question should have been fully answered months ago, and its clearly only getting investigated adequately now because of those hardy souls living in tents and yurts and other makeshift camp sites in Standing Rock willing to face a brutish Plains winter and unsympathetic state authorities. That they were joined in recent weeks by hundreds of military veterans who came to protect them and demonstrate solidarity with their cause underscores their moral authority. The nation can give proper respect to a group thats been collectively treated as second-class citizens for generations or it can side exclusively with a politically-connected energy company seeking to transport crude oil from the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas.

Trump has indicated in the past that he is inclined to support the $3.7 billion pipeline project, and, during the campaign, he spoke often about a desire to help the fossil fuel industry. But the Standing Rock Sioux have also touched a nerve in this country among all those average Americans who, like those Carrier workers in Indiana, dont want to see their lives ruined by greedy corporations and indifferent bureaucrats. A populist president who won by promising to stand up for the Davids against the Goliaths might want to take note.

Resisting the idea that every ounce of fossil fuel available on this planet must be exploited isnt anti-American or anti-progress or anti-capitalism, its pro-common sense. We cant continue to spew greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the air in the belief that there are no adverse consequences. The science on this subject is clear and convincing. Whether blocking (or more likely delaying) this particular pipeline ultimately slows extraction of oil in any meaningful way remains to be seen, but this much is certain: A far more costly day of reckoning is coming if the U.S. and other countries dont reduce harmful emissions from the use of fossil fuels.
LA CROSSE  Cardinal Raymond Burke, former bishop of the La Crosse Diocese, is publicly challenging Pope Francis.

On Sept. 19, Burke, along with three cardinals from other countries, wrote to the pope privately demanding he answer five questions concerning his document, The Joy of Loving (Amoris Laetitia).

The heart of their questions is whether it could be interpreted that divorced and remarried Catholics, without an annulment, could receive Communion in some cases. The four asserted that his approach is eroding the churchs doctrinal absolutes, and he must dispel any ambiguities.

On Nov. 14, these Cardinals went public when they learned that Francis was not going to respond to their demands. As I read the questions, without going into detail, they sounded like the questions Jesus was asked to trap him.

On Nov. 18, Francis responded to his critics in the Avvenire, the official newspaper of the Italian hierarchy. He insisted he was following the model of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). He said this Council returned to the source of her nature  the Gospel. This shifted the axis of Christian understanding from a kind of legalism, to the person of God, who became mercy in the incarnation of the son.

Without mentioning names, Francis was direct. He said some of his critics are acting in bad faith to foment divisions. When asked about critics who accuse him of Protestantizing the Catholic Church  an objection often raised by conservative Catholics in the U.S.  he responded, I dont lose any sleep over it.

The heart of the differences between the Pope and these cardinals seems to be how they understand God. Is God a legalistic rule maker or compassionate and merciful? Because the pope just celebrated the Year of Divine Mercy, it is clear where he stands.

Jesus ran into a similar problem when the Pharisees confronted him about healing on the Sabbath. They said it was against the law. So, to the Pharisees, God is a law giver.

Paul had a similar challenge with those who wanted Gentiles to obey the Jewish law. Paul insisted that they are saved not by the law but by an active faith in Jesus.

Another difference focuses on how much specific circumstances affect the interpretation of the law. These cardinals favor a stricter interpretation of the law  obey the law without exception. The pope says that sometimes circumstances can affect interpretation of the law.

The pope is not saying anything goes: Divorced and remarried Catholics need to go through a process of discernment. Its like the process of discernment that a husband goes through as he breaks the speed limit to rush his soon-to-deliver-wife to the hospital. This husband accepts the law, follows it generally, but discerns that the law givers, the elected officials responsible for the law, would understand that his special circumstances make this an exception.

Similarly, the pope stated that divorced and remarried Catholics may go through a discernment process with a priest and may conclude they can, in good faith, return to Communion. Such a couple may be one that has a deep faith demonstrated by prayer, attendance at Mass, generosity toward the poor and faithful care for all their children. They are sorry for whatever they contributed to the failure of their previous marriage, but believe that love and justice mandate them to stay in their current marriage. They believe God, the lawgiver, is compassionate and merciful; therefore their consciences are at peace about returning to Communion.

This explanation is firmly rooted in Catholic theology since Thomas Aquinas, and its reaffirmed in the teachings of Vatican II. The teaching is that the final arbiter of moral decisions is a well-formed conscience. Vatican II states that conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a person. There each one is alone with God, whose voice echoes in the depth of the heart.

No cardinal in the U.S. has publicly backed Burke, and some have even spoken out against him. Cardinal Blase Cupich says what the pope has published is an authoritative document that is faithful to what the bishops of the synod had approved with a two-thirds majority vote. Cardinal Kevin Farrell comments, I have a hard time understanding why some bishops have reacted negatively. Cardinal Joseph Tobin adds that the challenge by the four cardinals is at best naive.

Burke has raised the stakes by saying if Francis does not offer a clarification, the next step would be to make a formal act of correction of a serious error  a phrase that some believe is tantamount to accusing the pope of heresy.

How will this turn out? Stay tuned.

Vince Hatt was on the staff of Franciscan Spirituality Center in La Crosse for 18 years and retired as director in 2011.
In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
On the wall by the welcome desk for the Second City mainstage, a new sign has appeared. "Second City has a zero tolerance policy and does not allow hate speech of any kind whether it's directed toward our artists, employees or patrons," it reads. "Those verbalizing any homophobic, misogynistic, xenophobic, racist or prejudiced comments will be asked to leave."

So, America, in the fall of 2016, we have been reduced to this.

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What more depressing end to a walk into a comedy theater could ever one imagine? Especially this theater, which has been in existence in Chicago for more than more than half a century, has played to Americans (and global citizens) of every stripe, has pushed the envelope whenever one presented itself for movement, and never before, even in the height of the tumult of the 1960s, or even in the terrifying aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, felt the need for such a sign?

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The commercial operation known as Second City has always been predicated on a somewhat uncomfortable conversation with an audience because the audience has tended to be of more disparate points of view than at other arts institutions. But this always has been one of its primary assets. In the quarter-century of my attendance, it also has been a place where one laughs at one's own prejudices, as well as the other side's (however you want to define that) warped point of view, a meeting place for red-state and blue-state America, for the intellectual elite and the great Chicago working class, a place of inclusion, if only by equality of insult, a safe place.

A joint for reasonable, courteous conversations, where one has always felt the inexorable pull of change, and even the progress of diversity, much slower than ideal, for sure, but still happening faster than in artier places. If we give the Second City management the credit of assuming that they would not have posted such a sign unless they have had good reason to feel the need, and I think we should, then what does this say about how we all now are conducting ourselves when we come together in public?

Might the president-elect take this on? Like, now. Before we all fall apart.

The frisson of the sign extends to the show, directed by Anthony LeBlanc. The new mainstage cast  Paul Jurewicz, Rashawn Nadine Scott, Jamison Webb, Shantira Jackson, Kelsey Kinney and Martin Morrow  of "The Winner ... of Our Discontent" takes their title as gospel. This is a show that is furious at America, and that makes it very difficult to be funny for America, especially since the implication is at least some of America, right in this very theater, would be partaking of hate speech, had they not been admonished otherwise. The show similarly ignores that comedy requires a receptive atmosphere on the part of the paying customer to be funny. By the end of the show I saw, the audience was cowed.

You might argue with the foundation that recent events suggest such treatment is deserved. But still. It made me so terribly sad for our shared democracy.

One emblematic moment came Friday night when Morrow, a very talented newcomer with huge prospects if he takes more risks, asked an audience member for the suggestion of a place the person likes to go. "Second City," came back. Morrow dismissed it tartly. "Well, we're already here," he said (I'm paraphrasing only slightly). "Somewhere else!"

Now, dismissing, or redirecting, suggestions is not without precedent at Second City. In rare circumstances. For the good of the show. But this did not qualify as such. A few moments later, Morrow asked another audience member for something in the news.

"Dexter Fowler going to the Cardinals," came back.

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I felt some relief in the room at that moment. This was a great suggestion.

"The Winner ... of Our Discontent" has, as it should and has been the case here for a while now, a diverse cast. But the audience remains sadly homogenous (I saw all of three faces of color among the hundreds therein, and I looked hard) There are many sketches in this show based on the identification of white privilege  rarely is a character conjured without an identifier of race. No problem there  it is the right of this cast to express themselves. I am all for exposing the prejudices of a white audience to that audience without fear or hesitation. It's good for such an audience, which by its very racial makeup displays the veracity and importance of the issue. Experienced performers like Scott know how to do that well. This cast could have nailed that one. It could have been part of their main racial theme if they had wanted.

But when Morrow said "no, something not about sports" to that Fowler suggestion, he broke for me an inviolate Second City rule, implying that here was a show that did not want to listen to its audience, especially if the audience challenged its orthodoxy in any way. That is a mistake, and bad for the republic, for it closes off conversation. I have watched audiences for years lean in to Second City performers and understand things about themselves they have never understood before. On Friday night, I felt many of them shrink back into themselves.

In fairness, there are moments in this show that depart from that pervasive sense. Jackson, a fascinating new talent when she doesn't rush herself, poked a little fun at how often a guy washes his car, and she took down his protestations of regularity with the mocking firmness, but also a note of shared empathy that actually accrues power to the performer and also, I'll wager, helps prevent some of the behavior that led Second City to that sign. That was missing when she said, "if you thought this was going to go in a different direction, that says more about you than me."

Sharper takedowns also benefit from cleverness  you can handle a cast dismissing the entire state of Indiana when they do so thus: "Indiana is like a Greyhound bus overturned and became a state." So was a sketch about "black heaven."

Where's white heaven? "That's called earth."

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Edgy. And very funny. At least when I saw it opening night, the current e.t.c. show, "A Red Line Runs Through It," was full of stuff like that. But it appears that the audience over at e.t.c. lacked tolerance and made such bite impossible, feeling empowered instead to make the performers feel unsafe. It's just so depressing. Why can't people behave better?

Perhaps as a consequence, we now get a mainstage show that is too much on the nose, too much of the time, beginning with its combining of the joy of the Cubs World Series victory with the devastation (for this cast) of the Trump victory. It is too familiar an image  it was common conversation last month, and for this to qualify as a Second City opener, it needed to be flipped, expanded or turned on its head. Progressive aims, it must be intuited here, are best served by the promotion of complexity and empathy for one's fellow human, which does not have to mean acquiescence. And, this very talented cast needs reminding, hearts must be moved for minds to be won. May happier moments be ahead on Wells Street and may God bless us, everyone.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @ChrisJonesTrib

When: Open run

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Where: Second City Mainstage, 161 N. Wells St.

Running time: 2 hours

Tickets: $19-$46 at 312-664-4032 or secondcity.com

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Watch the latest movie trailers.

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)
The distressed-looking dog stood on her owner's hospital bed and leaned into his face, sniffing around a tangled mess of wires to find him.

Ryan Thomas Jessen had gone to the hospital for what he thought was a migraine, but it turned out to be a brain hemorrhage, his sister, Michelle Jessen, wrote on Facebook earlier this month.

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The hemorrhage, which doctors believe may have been brought on by high blood pressure, would prove fatal.

But before Jessen died, the 33-year-old Californian's family wanted to let his dog, Mollie, see him one last time.

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"The hospital did the sweetest thing for us and allowed us to bring my brother's dog in to 'say goodbye' so she'd know why her human never came home," Michelle Jessen explained on Facebook. "If you knew my brother, he really loved his sweet dog."

Relatives captured the heartbreaking moment and shared it on social media. The video has since been viewed more than 10 million times.

"Buddy? Hey, Ryan?" a man says in the video.

Then a woman calls out, "Hey, Daddy Ryan."

"Hey, Ryan," the man says again. "Say goodbye. Bye bye."

"Bye bye, Daddy Ryan," the woman says.

The dog's frenzied sniffing fills the aching silence.

"There he is; can you smell him?" the man gently asks the dog. "Yeah."

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Then, they help the pup find a spot to lie down between her human's legs.

Jessen's mother said on Facebook that her son died Nov. 30.

"He thought he had a migraine, but it was a ventricular brain hemorrhage," she wrote.

"It happened so quickly."

She said her son was an organ donor and that his family members were grateful to be able to help others.

His sister said in a message that a 17-year-old boy would receive Ryan Jessen's heart.

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"As sad as it is to lose Ryan," Michelle Jessen wrote, "we know his heart is going to bring so much joy to the family of the recipient. I wish Ryan could know what a difference his heart will make for that young man."

As for Mollie, she will remain with relatives.

"Don't worry about the dog!" Michelle Jessen wrote. "We're keeping her!!! She's part of the family."

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End of the ride? Tourists turning away from elephants as entertainment






I am beyond upset and frustrated. Last year, I booked a vacation at Sandals Ochi Beach Resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, for my pregnant girlfriend and myself. It was supposed to take place in early January of this year.

After news of the Zika virus broke in January, we contacted Sandals to get a refund for the trip because of the seriousness of the health advisory. That is the only reason we don't want to go to Jamaica.

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At that point, Sandals advised us that we already had paid in full, and it claimed that we were outside the refund period. We provided a note from our doctor stating that travel to Jamaica was highly discouraged and against her medical opinion, due to family-planning concerns and the issues with Zika. The Sandals reps should have refunded our trip at that time.

They were not swayed, and in an effort to find a solution, we temporarily accepted their idea of pushing the trip back a year, which laughably cost us a fee as well. I was skeptical but felt we had no choice, given that the trip was days away and we clearly could not go. In the time since then, concerns about Zika have only intensified.

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We contacted Sandals again this past July to try to get refund of our purchase. We originally had paid for a trip, been told that we could not cancel because it was too close to the date and then had paid a fee to move the trip forward a year. We spoke with a customer-service representative on the phone and were led to believe that we could get a refund for the trip. But that has not happened. Can you help us get a refund from Sandals?

 Kevin Kordosky, Tucson, Ariz.

A: You'd think a company like Sandals would try to help you in a situation like this. But its refund policy, which you agreed to when you booked your vacation, is clear. If you cancel 30 to 15 days prior to arrival, you'll receive 50 percent of the purchase price, including any applicable airline fees. If you're anywhere from 14 days to zero days before arrival, no refunds. It's all spelled out on Sandals' website: www.sandals.com/general/legal.

Sandals and your travel agent probably also recommended travel insurance. Some insurance, such as the pricier, cancel-for-any-reason variety, might have helped you secure a partial refund. But most normal insurance, which would have excluded any pre-existing medical conditions, would have been useless.

I'm troubled that a manager left you with the impression that you might get a refund. You could have avoided that by putting your request in writing. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of Sandals' executives on my consumer-advocacy site: http://elliott.org/company-contacts/sandals.

The real question is: Who should take the financial loss for the Zika outbreak? Sandals  or you? I'm not sure if this is an "either/or" kind of question. In a perfect world, no one would be left holding the bill. Sandals would get its money, and you would be able to keep your vacation.

I contacted Sandals on your behalf. The company says it agreed to refund your room upgrade fee and a private candlelight dinner you'd paid for. You should see both of those items on your credit card statement soon. Sandals told me that it "understands your concern" and has extended your trip credit for one year from your current travel date.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the author of "How to Be the World's Smartest Traveler." You can read more travel tips on his blog, www.elliott.org, or email him at chris@elliott.org.

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Malik Gillani remembers the first day his world turned upside down. It was Sept. 11, 2001, the day terrorist attacks cast a cloud of suspicion on his entire Muslim community.

When the Indian-born Muslim woke up the day after the 2016 presidential election, his world was shaken again. Donald Trump had won the White House. The country's next leader had proposed barring Muslim immigrants from coming to the U.S. and, early in his campaign, had made vague references to the possible registration of those who already live here.

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While many Muslims sought solace at their mosques after Trump's election, Gillani found comfort in the same church that welcomed him nearly 15 years ago.

First United Methodist Church at Chicago Temple opened its doors to Gillani and his husband, Jamil Khoury, in 2003 when it agreed to let them stage a reading about Israeli-Palestinian relations in the basement. Named for the historic trade routes that connected cultures from the East and West, the theater company Silk Road Rising has since become a way for playwrights and performers to delve into the myriad issues facing American Muslims and immigrants.

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Since the church converted the basement into a theater space in 2006, Gillani and Khoury have produced more than 70 plays, readings, video plays and panel discussions, many of which explore being Muslim, Asian or Middle Eastern in America. But while the theater has become a mainstay for Chicago's theatergoers, it has not drawn a sizable Muslim crowd. Many of the productions have tackled issues that community leaders say are simply not a priority for local Muslims.

But earlier this year, as the presidential campaign renewed fears of discrimination among Muslims, the theater staged two productions that hit closer to home. "Mosque Alert" told the story of a suburban Muslim congregation's struggle to build a house of worship. "Ultra-American" featured comedian Azhar Usman's commentary on the balance of being Muslim and American in a polarized political world.

Gillani and Khoury watched the faces of the audience change as more religiously observant Muslims sought to understand Islam's place in the U.S., let alone inside the oldest church in Chicago. When those patrons expressed unease that the play conflicted with one of the five daily prayers, the church took its accommodation one step further, opening additional space for audience members to perform those prayers during intermission.

Now people of any faith who need a place to pray or meditate can use the Mabuhay Fellowship room inside the church. "Mabuhay" means welcome in the Filipino language of Tagalog.

"What does interfaith dialogue look like in practice?" asked Gillani, executive director of the theater. "What it looks like in practice is going to a theater to watch a play written by a Muslim and going into the Mabuhay room of a Methodist church to pray knowing you can do that with safety, you're not going to be bothered and you're welcomed to be who you are."

The church's gesture of interfaith hospitality has been a balm for many of the artists Silk Road Rising has featured as their anxiety grows over Trump's personnel choices for his administration. Last month, Trump named Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn as national security adviser, a man who has said Islam is not a religion, but a cancer and political ideology. As Indiana governor, Vice President-elect Mike Pence sought to bar resettlement of Syrian refugees in his home state earlier this year.

Jamil Khoury (left) and partner Malik Gillani (center) talk to friends before the show Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016 at Silk Road Theatre in the Chicago Temple. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Khoury is not Muslim, but his father is from Syria.

"As someone from a Middle Eastern Christian background, it's a different type of vulnerability, but my husband is Muslim so I very much own this as our struggle," said Khoury, Silk Road's artistic director who has penned two live plays and all of the video components produced by the theater.

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Khoury said the amplified minority-status vulnerability among Silk Road artists has galvanized the group to rethink and reinvigorate its mission.

"How do we respond to a president-elect who used race-baiting and fears of immigrants and refugees and Islamophobia to advance his campaign and the fact that those efforts paid off?" he said. "What is our responsibility as theater-makers and artists, people who see our activism and artistic work as intertwined and complementary?"

Plays now will revolve around at least one of six themes. They will champion feminism as well as the rights of immigrants, Muslims and the LGBT community. They will denounce colonialism and racism.

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Khoury hopes the new approach will draw more nontraditional theatergoers as they see their voices and experiences represented  much like the Muslims who attended the last two shows.

The Rev. Myron McCoy, senior pastor of Chicago Temple since 2014, said even though he inherited the relationship with Silk Road Rising from his predecessor, the Rev. Philip Blackwell, he believes the little theater in the church basement has enhanced the church's values of embracing all people, especially those who are threatened and marginalized. Since becoming pastor, he has assembled a committee to coordinate with the theater and has invited Gillani and Khoury to Sunday school classes.

When the current show "Christmas at Christine's," a holiday music revue set in a Filipino Christian-Jewish household, opened last week, the church bought out an entire show for the Filipino members of its congregation.

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Earlier this year, the church used Silk Road's stage to host an event with Larycia Hawkins, the tenured political science professor at west suburban Wheaton College who donned a head scarf in solidarity with Muslims, then left the evangelical school after it tried to fire her for saying Muslims and Christians worship the same God.

"We're finding ways to collaborate and cooperate, which is increasingly necessary. As a society, we say we're diverse, but many times the diversity is not connected," McCoy said. "We're attempting to create some intersections so folks can be more acquainted with cultures beyond their own."

mbrachear@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @TribSeeker
A man who was found unconscious near a bus stop Dec. 5, 2016, in the city's East Garfield Park neighborhood. (Police photo)

A man who police asked for help identifying after he was found unconscious at a bus stop on the West Side has been identified, police said.

The man was found Dec. 5 near Central Avenue and Jackson Boulevard. He was taken to Loretto Hospital where he was admitted for treatment, police said. Police Saturday said the man had been identified, but did not give any information about his identity or how he was identified.

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The man was finger printed by police in hopes of identifying him, but the search came up negative.

Anyone with information about the man was asked to contact the Area North Special Victims Unit at 312-744-8266.
Josephine Regnier, a 94-year-old World War II Navy veteran, sits next to Jimmy, center, and Tommy Pieprzyca, right, who own Villa Rosa Pizza a block away from Regnier's home. The Pieprzycas offered a $5,000 reward for information, with helped lead to an arrest of a person in the case. (Judy Dusk)

A 26-year-old man is facing criminal charges in the home invasion of a World War II veteran who was left with broken ribs, a black eye and a head injury, as well as two other unrelated robberies, authorities said.

Olajuwon Claiborne, of the 1500 block of East 69th Place in the Grand Crossing neighborhood, faces a charge of home invasion causing great bodily harm, charges of aggravated battery with a victim of 60 years old or older, robbery with a victim of 60 years old or older and robbery.

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Claiborne was ordered held without bail in a hearing midday Sunday in Cook County Bond Court.

He is accused of beating and robbing a 94-year-old Navy veteran who served in World War II last Wednesday at her Southwest Side home in the 5100 block of South Long Avenue in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood. Prosecutors said Claiborne also is charged in two other robberies dating back to July.

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The woman was waiting outside her home for her daughter to pick her up for a doctor's appointment when she went inside to seek relief from the cold. That's when Claiborne followed her inside, punched her and took off with her purse, police said. Police and the woman's family said there was $50 inside her purse.

Claiborne took off in an SUV that crashed about three blocks away in the 5700 block of South Archer Avenue, police said.

Claiborne was arrested Friday in the 6900 block of South Harper Avenue, which is feet away from where he lives, according to a news release from police.

Family members said the woman was taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, where she was treated for a couple of broken ribs, a black eye and a head injury.

Chicago police said Claiborne is suspected of being involved in two other robberies and an aggravated battery incident, according to a news release from the department.

The Chicago Tribune's Deanese Williams-Harris and Elyssa Cherney contributed.
GREENCASTLE, Ind.  Indiana State Police say a Cloverdale police officer and another man have been injured in an exchange of gunfire near Greencastle.

The shooting took place shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday when officers arrived at a residence to investigate a theft at a Greencastle store a few minutes earlier. State Police say a man confronted the officers near the front door and fired a shotgun, striking Cloverdale officer Luke Brown in the chest.

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State Police say Brown "returned fire, striking the suspect in the torso."

The 27-year-old Brown, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was taken to a Terre Haute hospital with what police said appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries. Brown is a two-year veteran of the Cloverdale Police Department.

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The 48-year-old alleged suspect was being treated at an Indianapolis hospital.

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A police evidence technician places an evidence marker at a crime scene in the 1300 block of South Komensky Avenue on Dec. 7, 2016, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

A 64-year-old man died days after he was shot in the head last week while he was driving in the Lawndale neighborhood, police said.

Otis Hatchett was pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m. Friday at Stroger Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office and Chicago police. Detectives were investigating the shooting as a homicide.

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Hatchett lived in the 100 block of North Menard Avenue, according to the medical examiner's office. Police previously had given his age as 54, but the medical examiner's office and public records show he was born in 1952.

Hatchett was shot about 6:25 p.m. last Wednesday while he was driving a black four-door Toyota in the 1300 block of South Komensky Avenue. Someone outside of his car opened fire, wounding him in the head, police said. He had been taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.

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Investigators believe the fatal shooting may have been a case of mistaken identity, according to preliminary information from a law enforcement source.

The 54-year-old man was shot on the same block where a 52-year-old man, Sylvester Rainge, had been fatally shot the day before.

In that shooting, Rainge was outside just before 4:30 p.m. last Tuesday when someone approached and began shooting at him, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Chicago Tribune's Jeremy Gorner contributed.
The FBI notified the Illinois Republican Party in June that some of its email accounts may have been hacked, but party officials were not told that it was part of a wide-ranging federal investigation of Russian activity in the nation's political system, the state GOP's executive director said Sunday.

Nick Klitzing said the state GOP on its own found 18 of its emails on the website DCLeaks.com. The New York Times reported the website was an outlet that U.S. intelligence officials and private cybersecurity companies believe was created by a unit controlled by the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.

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Klitzing said FBI agents raised questions about emails involving the state GOP accounts during their visit. The four email accounts involved were inactive or rarely used, and the hacked emails dated to 2015, long before the 2016 contests for president and Illinois offices, Klitzing said.

A review of the emails provided by the state GOP shows the messages were largely rudimentary in nature, ranging from requests for training and local party event invitations to reports and discussion that U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton should be considered a "dark horse" candidate to replace House Speaker John Boehner, a contest ultimately won by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

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The disclosure of the hacked email accounts comes amid reports by the Times and Washington Post that assessments by American intelligence agencies, including the CIA, concluded that Russia acted to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Republican President-elect Donald Trump and to hurt Democrat Hillary Clinton's chances.

Trump, appearing on Fox News Sunday, dismissed the CIA assessment as "ridiculous."

"Nobody really knows, and hacking is very interesting. Once they hack, if you don't catch them in the act you're not going to catch them," he said. "They have no idea if it's Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place."

The Republican National Committee also has vehemently disputed a New York Times report that its computer systems had been hacked, as had occurred to the Democratic National Committee.

The compromised Illinois GOP emails provided to the Tribune were dated from August to October of 2015 and did not involve Trump, Clinton or the presidential contest. The emails were sent to the state Republican Party.

The subjects of the compromised emails included a suburban York Township Republican Women's event; a request by McLean County GOP Chairman Chuck Erickson to attend a county training event that included Erickson's phone number; and a notification from Mike Bigger, a member of the Illinois Republican State Central Committee, that he would be attending an event "and bringing a $1,000 check" from the Stark County party organization.

Other compromised emails included a half-dozen messages from Chicago businessman Peter Smith, chairman of Corporate Venture Alliances LLC, involving the October 2015 GOP contest to replace Boehner as House speaker. Smith is a longtime Republican conservative and has been a supporter of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Smith's emails were sent to what Klitzing described as an unused email account for Richard Porter, the state's Republican national committeeman.

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Smith's emails discussed conversations he had with Matthew Boyle, Washington political editor for Breitbart News Network, as well as a link to a Breitbart story headlined, "Meet Peter Roskam, Dark Horse Candidate for Speaker," which Smith sought to tell Porter was "as good as it can get."

Klitzing said the FBI came to the state GOP in June and asked about email accounts. The FBI urged officials to change passwords and take other steps commonly recommended by information technology experts to make email accounts more secure, he said.

"We thought it was weird that the FBI was giving IT advice," Klitzing said. The June visit was the last the Illinois GOP heard from the FBI and there was no discussion about who might have been the source of the hacking, he said.

DCLinks.com has posted more than 200 emails involving Republican activists and GOP state parties, but gained greater notoriety over documents involving the Democratic Party and Clinton campaign officials. Many of the DCLinks.com Democratic emails also appeared on the more popular WikiLeaks website.

The disclosure by the Illinois Republicans marks the second time that part of the state's political system was hacked through what is considered to be foreign involvement.

In June of this year, information involving as many as 90,000 Illinois voters was hacked in a one-month cyberattack of potential foreign origin on the State Board of Elections. Board officials restated that no files of registered voters were erased or modified, and that no voting history information or voter signature images were captured.

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After the Illinois cyberattack and another attempt in Arizona, the FBI issued a "flash alert" to warn of malicious attempts to obtain access to states' election voter registration information. The FBI alerted Arizona officials in June that Russians were behind the assault on the election system in that state, the Washington Post reported.

rap30@aol.com

Twitter @rap30
Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by at least 2.8 million, according to a final tally. The result marked the biggest gap between the popular vote and the electoral college in almost 150 years. (AFP/Getty Images)

Reporting from Washington  The final results of the 2016 presidential election look like this: Hillary Clinton got roughly the same number of votes that President Obama received four years ago en route to his reelection, but she nonetheless lost the presidency to Donald Trump, who came in at least 2.8 million votes behind her.

That's a highly unusual outcome  the biggest gap between the popular vote and the electoral college in almost a century and a half. Only now, with almost all the nation's ballots counted, have analysts begun to flesh out what led to that result and what implications it has for the nation's deep political divisions.

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Start with California, where Clinton beat Trump by almost 2 to 1, amassing a margin of more than 4.2 million votes. That's a victory more impressive even than Obama's in 2012, and it included a win in Orange County, which had sided with the Republican in every presidential election back to 1936.

But Clinton's huge majority in the nation's largest state was also part of her key weakness  a base of support too concentrated in the big, urban areas of the northeast and the West Coast.

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A candidate gets all of a state's electoral votes whether she wins by four or 4 million, so in the national picture, the huge size of Clinton's majority in California, as well as a similarly lopsided margin in New York, did her no good. Clinton piled up similarly "wasted" votes in some big, Republican states  notably Georgia and Texas  in which she did significantly better than recent Democratic nominees, but not well enough to win any electoral votes.

By contrast, Trump's vote "was incredibly efficient," said Tom Bonier of TargetSmart, a Democratic data and strategy firm based in Washington. "Where he lost, he lost big. Where he won, he won by a little. There weren't many wasted votes. He won almost all the close ones."

Trump narrowly eked out the victories he needed in key states of nation's industrial belt, taking Michigan by 10,704, according to final returns, Wisconsin by 22,717 and Pennsylvania by just under 45,000, according to a compilation of the latest data maintained by David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report.

The reasons that happened varied from state to state, Bonier and other analysts note. In Ohio and Wisconsin, for example, turnout fell, belying the image of an army of previously hidden Trump voters storming the polls.

In Pennsylvania, by contrast, that image may be more accurate  turnout rose significantly across the state. Similarly, in Florida, Clinton won heavily in nearly all the places that Democrats generally count on, but lost because of a huge election-day upsurge in heavily white, nonurban counties of the central part of the state, according to an analysis by Democratic strategist Steve Schale.

One big, consistent piece of the problem was that Clinton performed worse than Obama did in blue-collar, predominately white communities outside of major cities; such as the counties that include Scranton and Erie, Pa.; Youngstown, Ohio; Green Bay, Wis.; and Daytona Beach in Florida. In many such counties, Clinton's vote was 15 percentage points or more below what Obama received in his reelection.

"When I look at those blue-collar areas, I'm still kind of in awe" over how dramatic the change was, said Sean Trende, election analyst for the RealClearPolitics website.

Clinton actually did better than Obama in counties that have high levels of education  Orange County being a prime example  as well as suburban counties outside Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and several other major cities.

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Indeed, the share of the white population with a college degree or higher turned out to be one of the strongest predictors of which candidate would win a particular area this year.

Trump's weakness in those suburban counties, which in the past have often sided with Republicans, provides "a big red, flashing sign for both parties," said Trende.

The danger for Democrats is that "if Trump can bring those suburban Republicans back into the fold" without losing his core support among blue-collar, white voters, "he could win a pretty significant victory" in the next election, Trende said.

The danger for Republicans is that if Trump fails to improve his standing in the suburbs, "there are a bunch of GOP representatives from those districts" who could suddenly be at risk.

Like the "where" of Trump's victory, the "when" is also fairly clear: He won heavily among voters who made up their minds in the final two weeks of the campaign.

The USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times "Daybreak" tracking poll of the election provides evidence on that score. The poll, which tracked roughly 3,200 people through the campaign, resurveyed them after the vote.

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Those who had said they were certain about which way they would vote almost all followed through as predicted. But among the smaller group who were still uncertain about their vote in late October  people who said, for example, that they were only 60% likely to vote for their favored candidate, Trump did notably better than Clinton.

That finding suggests that voters who were undecided, or only weakly committed, late in the campaign broke toward Trump. Pollsters for both the Trump and Clinton campaigns say their internal data found similar results.

Clinton aides blame that late surge for Trump on FBI Director James B. Comey, saying that he heavily influenced the outcome with his disclosure, 10 days before the election, that the bureau was looking at a trove of emails that might be related to Clinton's handling of classified data while secretary of State. Comey said days later that the newly identified emails would not change his previous conclusion that there was no evidence to warrant indicting Clinton.

Trump aides say that other factors were also at play, including the president-elect's unexpectedly disciplined focus on his campaign message in the contest's final two weeks. But they don't deny that Comey's letter played a role.

In contrast to the "where" and "when," the "who" and "why" of Trump's success remain more elusive. Analysts know, for example, that some people who voted for Obama four years ago turned around and voted for Trump this year. But they don't yet have a good picture of how many did so compared with the number of Obama voters who simply stayed home.

Some of the answers won't be known until states release their detailed voter files, showing who actually voted this year. Only a few states have done that so far.

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Even before all the numbers are available, however, an intense and potentially disruptive argument has started among Democrats about which groups in their coalition were most responsible for Clinton's defeat and what the answer means for the party's future direction.

One big argument involves the relative importance of economics and race.

Aides to Trump say he won because voters in blue-collar communities favored his economic message. Particularly in the Midwest, he scored with his promise to bring jobs back to a region that has suffered from stagnant incomes and declining economic mobility for decades, they say.

Some Democratic analysts agree, at least in part. Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg said Friday that a postelection poll conducted by his firm showed that Democrats and independents who had voted for Trump held many doubts and anxieties about the his character. Nonetheless, they "held their noses and voted" for him "because he offered a different economic vision," Greenberg wrote in analyzing the poll's findings.

Other Democrats and some academic analysts stress Trump's ability to play on racial resentments among his core supporters.

Michael Tesler, a political scientist at UC Irvine, has spent the year studying the role of race in the campaign. In a series of articles, he has described survey data that show a strong link between measures of racial resentment and support for Trump among white voters.

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Whites who scored high on questions that are designed to measure racial animosity or anxiety were more likely to favor the Republican candidate this year than they were in 2008 and 2012, when the Democratic candidate was the country's first African American president, he found. That could be a result of some of the racially tinged language Trump used in the campaign.

Another issue involves how badly Clinton underperformed among millennial generation voters.

The Clinton campaign's internal data indicate that the drop-off among voters younger than 30 was a key problem. Those voters mostly did not side with Trump  he remains unpopular with younger Americans  but enough either stayed home or voted for third-party candidates to make the difference in the closest states.

"We needed to be in the low 60s with young people, and at the end of the day, we were in the high 50s," Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, said at a recent conference held by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "That's part of why we lost."

David.Lauter@latimes.com

For more on Politics and Policy, follow me @DavidLauter

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UPDATES:

9:05 p.m.: This article was updated to report that Hillary Clinton now leads Donald Trump in the popular vote by 2.8 million votes. An earlier version of the story reported her lead as 2.7 million votes.

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This article was originally published at 3:10 p.m.
GREENCASTLE, Ind.  State Police say a central Indiana police officer shot by a man during an exchange of gunfire is recuperating after being released from a hospital.

Lt. Jeff Hearon with the State Police's Putnamville post said Sunday that Cloverdale Officer Luke Brown was treated and released from a Terre Haute hospital following Saturday's shooting and "is doing fine."

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Brown was shot in the chest Saturday afternoon when he arrived at a Greencastle residence to investigate a theft at a local store in the city about 40 miles west of Indianapolis. He was wearing a bulletproof vest.

State Police say Brown returned fire and struck the suspected gunman in the torso.

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Hearon says the 48-year-old man who allegedly shot Brown remains hospitalized Sunday in Indianapolis. He did not know the suspect's condition.

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Republicans Senators John McCain (Arizona) and Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) have been highly critical of Donald Trumps comments about Russia. On Sunday, they joined Democrats in demanding a wide-ranging probe of Russias election influence. (Michael Reynolds / EPA)

Two Senate Republicans joined demands for a bipartisan probe into Russia's suspected election interference allegedly designed to bolster Donald J. Trump as questions continue to mount about the president-elect's expected decision to nominate a secretary of state candidate with close ties to Russia.

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John McCain, R-Ariz., - the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee - joined calls by incoming Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer, N.Y., and Armed Services ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., for a thorough, bipartisan investigation of Russian influence in the U.S. elections. Their statement came two days after The Washington Post reported the CIA's private conclusion that Russia's activities were intended to tip the scales to help Trump.

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"Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American," the four senators said in a statement on Sunday morning. "Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyber-attacks."

"This cannot become a partisan issue. The stakes are too high for our country. We are committed to working in this bipartisan manner, and we will seek to unify our colleagues around the goal of investigating and stopping the grave threats that cyberattacks conducted by foreign governments pose to our national security," they added.

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But McCain and Graham - who frequently criticized Trump before and after his election - have often bucked Republican leaders, and their embrace of a wide-ranging Russia probe does not necessarily signal support from other Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

One GOP senator - Sen. James Lankford, Okla., who serves on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee - agreed with McCain's and Graham's decision to support a bipartisan investigation of suspected cyber intrusion by Russia in the U.S. elections.

"Cybersecurity investigation of Russian interference can't be partisan," Lankford tweeted Sunday.

Republicans may be loathe to join calls for such a wide-ranging investigation into Russia's election-related activities given that Trump has dismissed the CIA claims as "ridiculous." They may worry about picking an obvious fight with the president-elect before he is even inaugurated. Trump has signaled he wants a warmer relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he praised during the campaign.

"I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it ... No, I don't believe it at all," Trump said of the CIA charges on "Fox News Sunday."

McConnell himself has been notably silent since the Post report was published on Friday night, and his No. 2, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, downplayed the significance of it in a series of tweets - although some of them suggested Congress' review of Russian actions should broaden.

"All this 'news' of Russian hacking: it has been going on for years. Serious, but hardly news," Cornyn tweeted Saturday.

The Texas Republican seemed to support, however, a wider look at Russia as a global actor rather than one confined to its role in the U.S. election, retweeting a tweet from Graham: "Cyber-attacks, undermining NATO, Ukraine, butchery in Syria, etc. I intend to look at all things Russia - not just election influence."

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Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., in his first substantial comment on Russian hacking since the report Friday, said Sunday he "rejects any politicization of intelligence matters," calling foreign intervention "unacceptable."

For the most part, other key Republicans were silent on the issue of whether to embrace a bipartisan look at whether Putin's government was behind the hacks of the Democratic National Committee emails and their publication by WikiLeaks in an alleged bid to help Trump and damage Hillary Clinton's campaign.

At the same time, several Republican senators raised concerns about Trump's likely nomination of Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil CEO, as secretary of state due to his ties to Putin. Republicans in a 52-to-48 Senate have only the slimmest of margins to get him confirmed, should Democrats decide to uniformly oppose the nomination. Only three Republicans would need to side with Democrats in order to defeat Tillerson.

"It's a matter of concern to me that he has such a close relationship with Vladimir Putin, that that would color his approach to Vladimir Putin and the Russian threat," McCain told CBS' Face the Nation.

"Being a 'friend of Vladimir' is not an attribute I am hoping for from a Secretary of State," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted Sunday.

Republicans outnumber Democrats by only one vote on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which must approve a secretary of state nominee before the full Senate votes. Over the weekend, several committee Democrats, including Sens. Bob Menendez, N.J., and Chris Coons, Del., stated their deep skepticism of Tillerson as a candidate.

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Menendez called the idea Tillerson could be named secretary of state "alarming and absurd," concluding that "the Trump administration would be guaranteeing Russia has a willing accomplice in the President's Cabinet guiding our nation's foreign policy."

Yet the committee's chairman, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., - who was considered a possible pick for Trump's secretary of state - has said Tillerson would be a good choice.

"If it is Rex Tillerson, he is a very good individual," Corker tweeted.

Should Tillerson make it to a floor vote, Democrats could not block the nomination alone. If Democrats stick together, Republicans must muster at least 50 of the 52 votes they will have to successfully confirm him, as Vice President-elect Mike Pence could cast the tie-breaking vote.

Graham has already also strongly hinted that he might oppose the nomination.

"I don't know the man much at all, but let's put it this way: If you received an award from the Kremlin, order of friendship, then we're gonna have some talkin'," Graham said early Saturday morning. "We'll have some questions. I don't want to prejudge the guy but that's a bit unnerving."

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The Washington Post writer Mike DeBonis contributed to this report.
Valparaiso High School will have counselors in place for students and staff Monday in light of the death of one of its students in a car accident over the weekend.

Rafael Bonilla, 16, of Valparaiso, a passenger in the car, died at the scene of the Saturday evening accident, Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris said Sunday. Police said speed was a factor in the crash.

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"Rafael (a junior) was well-liked by his classmates and teachers as he always seemed to have a positive outlook each day," said Reid Amones, the high school principal. "He was involved at school and was particularly invested in the Spanish Club."

The high school staff, as well as its guidance and social worker staff, were notified about Rafael's death, Amones said.

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"We will have counselors and support available for students and even staff members who may need someone to talk to on Monday and beyond, as needed," he said.

The accident occurred shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday on County Road 600 West, just north of Division Road in Center Township. Another boy, also 16 and of Center Township, was driving and was transported to Porter Regional Hospital for his injuries, said Sgt. Jamie Erow, public information officer for the Porter County Sheriff's Office, in a news release.

The driver was talking and conscious when police arrived on the scene and complained of head pain.

According to police, the driver, whose name was not released Sunday, was northbound on County Road 600 West in a 2014 Jeep Wrangler at a high rate of speed when the driver lost control and drove off the roadway to the east, striking a tree.

Neither drugs nor alcohol are believed to be a factor in the crash, Erow said, and both boys were wearing seat belts.

The school corporation's Culture and Student Services Team will work with Rafael's family on whether there will be a memorial program at the school, said Denise Koebcke, the corporation's student leadership climate coordinator.

"We just want to help the family and be considerate of their wishes," she said.

Freelance reporter Michelle L. Quinn contributed to this report.
President Xi Jinping has said he is confident that China will well achieve its major economic and social targets for 2016, and that the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) will be off to a good start, according to a statement released Friday.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks at a CPC Central Committee meeting held Tuesday to solicit opinions on the proposed economic work from non-CPC personnel.

In a world economy beset with increasing instabilities and sluggish recovery, China has stuck to its new development concept and the basic tone of making progress while maintaining stability, and firmly pushed forward reforms that include supply-side structural reform, Xi said.

Stressing that China's task of stabilizing growth, promoting reform, adjusting structure, improving people's livelihoods and guarding against risks was still arduous, the president called on the nation to maintain solidarity in face of a complicated situation and difficult task.

Premier Li Keqiang briefed the meeting about the government's economic work this year and plans for 2017.

Leaders of China's eight non-communist parties and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce attended the meeting. Economist Li Daokui was also present as a representative of personages without party affiliation.

The attendees said they agreed with the central leadership's analysis of China's economic situation this year and the planning for next year's economic work.

They also put forward opinions and suggestions on issues including supply-side structural reform in property sector, fiscal and financial support for poverty alleviation, and industrial innovation.

Other topics covered were creating new financing channels for small and medium-sized companies, upgrading the manufacturing sector, fostering new growth momentum, controlling risks in foreign exchange management, and boosting the sharing economy.

Xi expressed thanks to non-CPC personnel for the contribution they made to the national economic and social development, noting that the central leadership will seriously consider their opinions and suggestions.

Xi especially praised the non-communist parties' effective supervision over poverty reduction work in eight provinces this year, and called for continued efforts to supervise government work and make suggestions.

Under China's multi-party cooperation system, non-communist parties participate in state affairs under the leadership of the CPC. The CPC and non-communist parties work together and supervise one another.
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Renowned Chinese economist Li Yining has reiterated the key role of property rights protection in motivating investors and invigorating the economy.

"We should provide equal legal protection to all kinds of property rights, be they public or non-public, tangible or intangible," Li said at a forum in Beijing Saturday.

He stressed that the country should seek new dividends from new systematic reforms, and that property rights protection reform is a key in the process.

Although China has been gradually improving property rights protection, incidences of infringement on private assets and illegal seizure of non-public assets still occur.

Recognizing this flawed system has undermined the confidence of private investors, China's central authorities last month issued property rights guidelines seeking to ensure uniform legal protection for all kinds of property rights for all individuals and entities.

Li said a slew of reforms will inject new momentum into China's development.

China's GDP grew 6.7 percent in the third quarter of this year, steady with the first half of the year and within the government's target range between 6.5 and 7 percent for 2016.
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A primary school student was stabbed to death by a schoolmate in Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province on December 9.

The sixth grader, surnamed Liang, was attacked by a fifth grader, surnamed Feng, with a knife after they had a quarrel outside the classroom.

Police said Liang died on the way to the hospital.

The case is still under investigation.
"The Coming War on China" is the latest film by veteran radical filmmaker John Pilger. It is a groundbreaking film about U.S.-China relations, which debunks the myth of China's supposed expansionist aims and objectives in the Asia Pacific region and beyond. Its aim is to "break the silence" about what is really happening. It shows that the dominant narrative in the Western media about China has been crafted in such a way as to make the aggressor appear to be the victim.

In order to present a more balanced and accurate account of U.S.-China relations, Pilger delves into the historical background  the Opium Wars  which led to China's century of humiliation at the hands of Western powers. He reveals that U.S. drug dealers profiting from Chinese opium trade used this money to develop America's first five railroads and to establish top east coast university cities: Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Colombia. Indeed, former U.S. President Roosevelt's personal wealth originated from his family's role in the China drug trade. However, Chinese people were demonized with the help of Hollywood. They were presented as sinister and dangerous people, and were perceived as "the yellow peril."

Pilger shows that the 1949 revolution not only brought an end to China's national humiliation, it also exacerbated the implacable hostility of the USA towards a truly independent China.

The film is broken into different sections. It examines U.S.-China policies historically and in relation to China today. And it shows the fate of the tiny islands used by the United States as nuclear testing sites. It also looks at present day popular resistance  on the Marshall Islands, in Okinawa in Japan, and on the Jeju Islands in South Korea  against U.S. naval bases that are designed to attack China.

America's $600 billion military budget ensures continued U.S. global hegemony and technological superiority. Out-going U.S. President Obama's so-called Pivot to Asia strategy, identified China as the primary enemy of the U.S. The U.S. military doctrine Vision 2020, aims to achieve full-spectrum dominance, which means it seeks control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum: in outer-space, on earth, in the air, on the seas, under the sea, as well as in psychological, biological and cyber forms of war.

Pilger visits Bikini Island, one of the Marshall Islands, and tells the horrific story of how, from 1946 onwards, the U.S. used these islands as a testing ground for the H-bomb. And, incredibly, the equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb was exploded there every day for 12 years. This testing on Bikini Island was, perversely, turned into the embodiment of sexual desire  and it became the marketing concept for the skimpy women's beachwear, now universally known as the bikini.

The consequences for the people of these islands were catastrophic. Cases of cancer culled the population. Babies were born that resembled jellyfish rather than human beings. And U.S. officials regarded this as an experiment to gather data about the impact of radiation on humans. Despite efforts by U.S. officials and the U.S. government to present this as some sort of historical mistake, Pilger shows that the U.S. gave almost no compensation to the islanders, and that their barbaric treatment continues to this day. He visits the Reagan Missile test site in the Marshall Islands. Each missile fired from this base costs US$100 million. But less than 1 mile away, 12,000 locals and refugees from other contaminated islands live without any healthcare treatment and in squalor. Many have no electricity or access to clean water.

Pilger visits China for the first time since the 1970s and is astounded by the progress in human development, living standards, infrastructure and openness. His interviews with locals crush the widespread myth that the Chinese people are enslaved and have no freedom. And he interviews businessman and social scientist Eric Li, who correctly explains that although China has many billionaires and wealthy capitalists, politics decides what happens, not the interests of big business lobbies. Li points out that Western governments cannot change the basic policies that are operative in their countries. These basic policies remain the same regardless of changes in the elected government because society is dominated by the interests of big business. However, in China, the Communist Party remains in command, and the sweep and scope of changes that have happened are far greater than in Western countries.

This film is a wake-up call to thinking people everywhere. It can play an important role, particularly in view of Donald Trump's hostile language and behavior towards China. By countering the lies of the China threat, Pilger has produced a powerful weapon against a U.S. war on China.

Heiko Khoo is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/heikokhoo.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Nation works for healthy global economy as it marks 15 years in the organization

China will continue to push for globalization, and multilateral talks and promotion of trade, as it marked the 15th anniversary of joining the World Trade Organization on Sunday, according to Chinese trade officials and experts.

China must continue to support the organization, said Tu Xinquan, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

WTO membership has significantly invigorated Chinese companies and the economy, with China making progress far greater than expected in the 15 years.

Since China joined the WTO as its 143rd member on Dec 11, 2001, it has grown into the world's second-largest economy, while millions of its people have been lifted out of poverty thanks to the wide range of products it makes, from garments to bullet trains and industrial robots.

It will be critical for China to take practical measures to confront potential challenges caused by trade friction and rising protectionism, currency wars and capital outflow in 2017, said Zhang Yansheng, chief economist of the Beijing-based China Center for International Economic Exchange.

Zhang said factors such as the Brexit talks scheduled to start next year, new trade policies anticipated from US president-elect Donald Trump and different trade protectionism measures springing up in both developing and developed countries will all add to uncertainties for both Chinese and global economies next year.

Zhang Jianping, director of the research center for regional economic cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, suggested China build up a global network of free trade areas to lower tariffs, while further opening up investment and services industries.

Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang said earlier in October that China will work with G20 members to jointly set up a global trade alert index, similar to various indexes being used in the financial industry, to further help companies avoid risk.

China has been the world's biggest trader of goods by volume for three consecutive years. It has also become the largest trade partner of over 120 countries and regions, data from the Ministry of Commerce show.

The country shipped $2.28 trillion in goods to global markets in 2015, about 7.6 times higher than the volume in 2001. It bought $1.68 trillion in foreign products, an almost sixfold increase from 2001.

China will also urge more technical and financial assistance to less-developed economies, especially African and Pacific island states, Shen said.

As the world's second biggest investor, the country's outbound direct investment jumped 53.3 percent year-on-year to reach $145.96 billion in the January-October period this year, exceeding the country's total ODI amount in 2015.
A World Trade Organization official in Geneva says China's entry to the group in December 2001 is one of the most significant economic events in modern world history, mainly because of the move's win-win outcomes in the past 15 years.

Yi Xiaozhun, deputy director-general of the WTO, made the comments in an exclusive interview with China Daily ahead of the expiration of China's 15-year transition period on Sunday.

"China's historic accession has made both China and the WTO stronger and more vibrant," said Yi, in a written interview with China Daily.

China maintains that under the terms of its WTO entry, it should be given market economy status with the end of the transition, a view backed by over 100 countries, including the United Kingdom.

The United States, Japan and Canada still refuse to treat China as a market economy because of outstanding anti-dumping cases, even though they had agreed to market economy recognition when China entered the WTO.

The European Union, which needs agreement among all 28 member states to recognize China's market status, is split. The EU has proposed reforming its trade defense regulations by introducing a "market distortion" concept, which China says is not in accordance with WTO practices.

Yi said China has made "deep and broad commitments" to reach this point, while accelerating major steps in liberalizing trade before entry into the WTO, citing China's reduction of most-favored-nation tariffs from 45 percent in 1992 to 15 percent in 2001. And in 2015, the average of such tariffs was reduced to 9.5 percent.

Yi also said China's trade-weighted average tariff is now as low as 4.5 percent. China also has opened up more than 100 services subsectors such as finance, insurance, legal services, telecom, distribution and courier logistics.

"On top of its trade liberalizing efforts, China overhauled some 3,000 laws and regulations at the central government level, and many more at the local level, in order to bring China's legal system into compliance with WTO standards," Yi said.

Yi said that during the previous 15 years, both China and the world have seen trade flows rise dramatically.

"For all the attention given to China's rise as an export powerhouse, commentators have focused less on the question of China's imports," he said. "This is a significant contribution to the world economy, which is too often overlooked."

"In the absence of the surge of imports into China over the last six or seven years, it's very likely the global recession would have further deepened and that Asian countries would have been more adversely affected," he said.

Furthermore, China is one of the few major developing countries that committed to granting duty-free treatment for up to 97 percent of products made by least-developed countries.

"Ever since 2008, China has become the leading export destination for poor countries, absorbing about a quarter of their total exports," Yi said.

By bringing China under its umbrella, the WTO took a huge step toward achieving its goal of universal membership and inclusiveness, he said.

"As a result of China's accession, one of the world's biggest economies is now playing by the same multilaterally agreed rule book as other major trading nations," Yi said.

"This is no small achievement, particularly in terms of strengthening global trade governance and the multilateral trading system."

China and many of its policy changes will inevitably have a huge impact on the rest of the world, he said.

"Hence, in the latest WTO Trade Policy Review on China in July this year, the WTO called upon China to assume the increased responsibility and leadership that comes with being a central player in the multilateral trading system," Yi said.

China was encouraged to ensure fair and equitable participation of State-owned enterprises in market competition, build better mechanisms for intellectual property protection and work with all members to address the problem of overcapacity, he said.

"It is essential that China continue to play an active and constructive role in the WTO so that the multilateral trading system can continue to deliver new trade reforms in the future," Yi said.
Coldwell Banker Bain real estate broker Mark Reys prepares to hang an "Open House" sign outside of a home for sale in Seattle. [Photo/Agencies]

Just a few days after Vancouver announced a tax on foreign property investors, Seattle real estate broker Lili Shang received a WeChat message from a wealthy Chinese businessman who wanted to sell a home in Canada and buy in her area.

After a week of showings, he purchased a $1 million property in Bellevue, across Lake Washington from Seattle. He soon returned to buy two more, including a $2.2 million house in Clyde Hill paid for with a single cashier's check.

Shang said she's been inundated with similar requests from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong after Vancouver's provincial government enacted a 15 percent tax on foreign homebuyers in August to help cool soaring real estate values. With Chinese investorsthe largest pool of foreign capitallooking for a place to put their cash, the unintended consequence of the fee has been to push demand to cities such as Seattle and Toronto.

"The tax was the trigger of this new wave of investment now coming to Seattle," Shang said. "Why pay more for the same thing?"

Vancouver, which has seen detached-home prices double in a decade, joined areas including Australia and China's Hong Kong in taking steps to slow housing demand after an unprecedented surge of foreign investment. Chinese buyers, in particular, are accelerating purchases overseas, spurred by a weakening yuan and rising prices at home. They're also venturing farther afield as costs soar in some of their favored markets.

Home-purchase inquiries from the Chinese mainland have jumped in Seattle and Toronto since the Vancouver tax was announced, according to Juwai.com, the country's largest overseas property website.

For Vancouver investors, Seattle is a lure because it's a waterfront city just a few hours away by car. It's also more affordable than other West Coast destinations. Toronto, as one of the world's financial capitals, already has an established base of foreign investment in condominiums and a large Asian population.

"Chinese money isn't going to sit and wait," said David Ley, a Vancouver-based professor at the University of British Columbia's Department of Geography, who focuses on housing. "Investors are going to find another city," and Toronto and Seattle are the top two contenders, he said.

While there are no figures specifically showing purchases made by offshore buyers, brokers say demand in Seattle and Toronto has been robust, particularly for the high-end properties Chinese investors tend to favor.

In Seattle, about 12 percent of all homes this year sold for at least $1 million, double the share over the Past decade, according to brokerage Windermere Real Estate. Single-family home prices in King County, where the city is located, jumped by almost 15 percent in October from a year earlier, data from the local realtors association show.

The average price of a Toronto home rose by 23 percent in November from a year earlier, while sales soared by almost 17 percent, the local real estate board reported on Dec 2. In Vancouver, meanwhile, sales have plunged since July and were down by 37 percent last month compared with the year before.

About half of the homes sold in Seattle's suburbs are going to Chinese buyers, with many of the transactions requiring the use of interpreters, international banks and multiple escrow deposits, according to Dean Jones, chief executive officer of Realogics Sotheby's International Realty. This is up from about 30 percent last year, he said.

"This is Vancouver 2.0," said Jones, who lived in the Canadian city about two decades ago, when the capital flow from Asia started to accelerate. "A lot of the same motivations and goals are being replicated in Seattle."

The Seattle metropolitan area has seen a 50 percent jump in house prices in the past five years, thanks in part to a booming technology industry and growth in companies such as Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp. Still, the median home value is $409,900, less than in San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to Zillow Group Inc. In Vancouver, the benchmark home price is C$919,300 ($680,000), or C$1.06 million with the tax.

"Most of my Chinese investors, 60 to 70 percent, compare Vancouver and Seattle," said Carrie Brown, a broker at Ewing & Clark Inc at Seattle.

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An engineer monitors the automated production line at Chint Group's photovoltaic components factory in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Company rides explosive growth in international business to expand beyond electrical equipment

The Zhejiang-based Chint Group, China's leading industrial electrical equipment and new energy enterprise in the private sector, is pushing forward its overseas mergers and acquisitions.

At the same time, it is forging cooperation agreements on production capacity and equipment manufacturing along the Belt and Road Initiative.

"We are going to do more acquisitions to complete a whole industrial chain," said Nan Cunhui, chairman and founder of Chint Group.

Founded in 1984, Chint Group has seen its businesses expand over the years, from electrical equipment to power transmission and distribution equipment and services, instruments and meters, building appliances, photo-voltaic power generation and equipment manufacture.

In October, the company signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement with Veolia, the world's largest environmental services provider, covering almost all of Chint's industrial chain across new energy, power transmission and distribution.

Chint's international business has seen explosive growth for a year, especially in the field of new energy.

For instance, Chint's solar components factory in Malaysia started mass production in January. It is the company's third components factory after those in China and Germany.

In March, Chint completed two PV power plant projects in Thailand. It also drew up a plan to build one more components factory in the country to expand its business.

So far, Chint has established factories, R&D centers and marketing branches in about 80 countries in Europe, North America, Russia, South America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. It constructed more than 30 overseas ground PV power plants, and sold its products to over 130 countries and regions.

Its PV business grew by 80 percent last year; its power electronics products sector in the North American market grew by 168 percent; and the domestic and overseas general contract business grew by 425 percent.

According to Nan, Chint's chairman, the company has benefited from its acquisition of Conergy, a German PV company. At the time, the latter was on the verge of bankruptcy. Chint acquired its components factory in 2014.

"We had a very efficient circulation network. We sold the products from our German factory to the Asian market. The factory runs well now," said Nan.

The acquisition provided a chance for the Nan-led Chint to introduce the German factory's management systems and automation production lines into its manufacturing bases in China, South Korea, Japan, India, the US, Spain, Thailand and Malaysia.

This helped to increase their production efficiency. "Now, six engineers can operate the whole process at one workshop, whereas just two years ago, we had to use dozens of workers to complete all work," said Lu Chuan, CEO of Chint New Energy, a subsidiary of Chint Group.

"We can even monitor the manufacturing process at factories in different countries from our headquarters."

To meet the needs of domestic and overseas markets, Chint Group funneled 3 to 10 percent of its sales revenues into R&D each year. In its high-end equipment sector, the R&D investment reached 50 percent of its sales revenues.

Last year, Chint launched China's largest PV power plant project, a 2 billion yuan ($294 million) 200-MW light project to complement local agriculture, at a mountainous area in rural Quzhou, Zhejiang province.
Greenland Financial exhibits at an expo in Shanghai. [Photo/China Daily]

A one-year-old internet finance firm from the stable of Greenland Group, a Chinese mainland developer, is on the verge of full-year "positive profit".

That will make the mainland's property market sit up and take notice as its profit margins have gradually decreased after the last home price boom.

The Greenland arm's imminent profit will also likely vindicate mainland developers who have been expanding into the internet finance sector in search of new market opportunities.

Greenland Financial Information Services is the subsidiary of Greenland Hong Kong, the listed unit of Greenland Group. Greenland HK CEO Chen JunIt said the internet finance arm was established last year, in line with the group's "real estate plus internet service" strategy, which emphasizes shifting from an asset-heavy model to an asset-light model.

Land development is traditionally an asset-heavy business, for the developers need to buy the land before developing projects, which means they rely heavily on the company's own capital.

Asset-light model refers to those internet finance businesses where relatively few capital assets are required compared with their operations. The asset-light model can lower profit volatility, provide greater flexibility, and higher cost savings compared with the asset-heavy one.

Greenland Financial has formed three main business sectors: one, an online wealth management platform, providing various investment products for all users; two, professional assets allocation and wealth management services for middle-class clients; and three, a cloud platform to provide internet technology and data analysis services.

With more than 500,000 registered users, the wealth management platform has seen its transaction volume approaching 20 billion yuan ($2.94 billion).

Greenland Financial manages more than 5 billion yuan in assets and sells mostly bond-type real estate wealth management products.

"Although the company is only one year old, we are going to post positive profits at the end of this fiscal year, which is rare among financial services companies," said Yang Xiaodong, president of Greenland Financial.

"Backed by Greenland Group's enormous assets and a customer base of 15 million clients, the company's revenue and profit will double each year over the next two to three years. I am confident about that. And I hope after three years, the company will seek listing on the capital market."

Steven Jia Fei, vice-president of Greenland Financial, said the company will focus on data analysis services next year and strengthen precision advertising services to target potential customers.

Greenland Hong Kong has also signed cooperation agreements with Guangxi Railway Investment Group and China Cinda Asset Management to invest in mainland real estate projects.
Tourists enjoy a leisurely experience at the beach in Sanya, Hainan province, Dec 13, 2015. [Photo/IC]

SANYA - On China's southernmost island province of Hainan, the tropical beach resort city of Sanya would be the perfect choice for those wanting to escape the harsh winter in the north were it not for the tourist scams that plague the island.

Restaurants charge exorbitant prices after meals are ordered. Taxi drivers make inconvenient detours for high fares. And local guides make forced stops to earn commission.

But all that is now changing.

In October the city established the country's first tourist police, to win back the hearts of tourists.

Disguised as a tourist, Qin Kaishou together with his fellow policemen went to a seafood restaurant on Youyi Road.

Qin, 26, stared at the waiter who was recording plate numbers of taxis that dropped customers to dine.

"The industry and commerce sectors have reported the restaurant offering kickbacks to taxi drivers for bringing customers. The money can reach up to 40 percent of the bill," he said.

A taxi driver can get up to 20,000 yuan ($2,900) commission every day during peak season, that is a monthly income for a middle manager in many companies, he said.

After three hours, Qin finally saw the restaurant owner giving cash to a taxi driver.

A total of 15 people, including two restaurant owners, eight waiters and two taxi drivers, were caught by Qin's team and over 20,000 yuan in kickbacks was seized.

The case is among over 200 cases that have been closed by the tourist police since they started. More than 250 people have been detained, leading to a 50 percent reduction in complaints from tourists, the city public security bureau said

"In major tourism resorts such as Tianyahaijiao, or the End of the Earth, tourist police will be there in 15 minutes if needed," said Chen Xiaokun, head of the bureau.
ZHENGZHOU -- Six workers were killed Saturday morning at a railway station in central China's Henan Province, local railway authorities have said.

A freight train crashed into six people working on the rails at 9:42 a.m. at Anyang Railway Station on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, according to Zhengzhou Railway Bureau.

Two of the victims were employees of the railway bureau while the other four were migrant workers.

An investigation is underway.
NANNING -- Police in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region had arrested four suspects for selling counterfeit cigarettes online, they announced Saturday.

Laibin City police launched an investigation in March after receiving information about counterfeit cigarettes being sold online.

According to the investigation, a man surnamed Gan and two other men in neighboring Hunan Province acted as agents selling cigarettes via online payment platforms or messaging apps such QQ, Alipay and WeChat.

They bought the cigarettes from a man surnamed Zhang in eastern China's Fujian Province.

The three agents were arrested in late September, with Zhang captured in Yunxiao County of Fujian in late October.

The police seized 77,000 cigarettes worth 133,500 yuan ($19,348).
Starting next year, China will promote city betterment and ecological restoration programs on a nationwide scale to accelerate transformation of urban development to ensure quality upgrades and sustainability, said Chen Zhenggao, minister of Housing and Urban-rural Development.

"All cities should fully implement the plans set by the central government at the national conference on city development late last year in promoting the city betterment and ecological restoration programs," said the minister at a national site meeting on Saturday in Sanya, Hainan province.

"The approach is in line with the country's supply-side reform and a natural choice for development of cities in China after years' fast growth. It is also a practice of adopting foreign experience."

The minister called for Chinese mayors to learn from Sanya and spoke highly of its achievements at the site meeting attended by around 90 mayors to summarize the tropical city's experience in carrying out city betterment and ecological restoration programs to build a quality and livable city for people.

Since April 2015, Sanya, dubbed as China's oriental Hawaii which expects to receive more than 16 million visitors this year, has made remarkable progress in tackling its urban problems caused by rapid growth in recent years, such as ecological deterioration, water pollution and construction chaos.

Some shrinking beaches have been refilled with fine sands and grown with plant vegetation like mangrove, which are salt-resistant, wind-proof and good for stabilizing the sand. Pollution sources to major rivers have all been shut down, and most illegal buildings have been demolished to make space for parks and streets.

"The changes taken place in such a short time are really impressive and the Sanya people have done a very good job," said Ren Yujiang, vice mayor of Hulunbeir, Inner Mongolian autonomous region, during a field visit to the Dongan Wetland Park on Saturday.

"The fast adoption of new ideas and concepts by the Sanya leadership and their concentration, determination and sense of responsibility and mission in carrying out the city betterment, and ecological restoration programs have set a good example for other cities," said the minister.

He encouraged city mayors to adopt the PPP mode to raise more social funds to support their city betterment and ecological restoration programs and work out feasible projects to ensure success of their efforts.

Zhou Qingyu, vice-president of China Development Bank, said: "Sanya has developed a sustainable approach of growth which other cities can learn and copy. The CDB would like to provide continuous financial support to Sanya's city betterment projects."

"The bank is also ready to provide financial support to other cities in developing sponge projects, comprehensive underground pipelines, construction of characteristic rural towns and all kinds of ecological protection efforts," said Zhou.
BEIJING - Renowned Chinese economist Li Yining has reiterated the key role of property rights protection in motivating investors and invigorating the economy.

"We should provide equal legal protection to all kinds of property rights, be they public or non-public, tangible or intangible," Li said at a forum in Beijing Saturday.

He stressed that the country should seek new dividends from new systematic reforms, and that property rights protection reform is a key in the process.

Although China has been gradually improving property rights protection, incidences of infringement on private assets and illegal seizure of non-public assets still occur.

Recognizing this flawed system has undermined the confidence of private investors, China's central authorities last month issued property rights guidelines seeking to ensure uniform legal protection for all kinds of property rights for all individuals and entities.

Li said a slew of reforms will inject new momentum into China's development.

China's GDP grew 6.7 percent in the third quarter of this year, steady with the first half of the year and within the government's target range between 6.5 and 7 percent for 2016.
A series of awards were presented in Beijing on Tuesday to people and agencies who have contributed to the development of China's education industry over the past year.

The annual awards, called the Golden Wings, were launched by Chinese internet technology company NetEase's education channel in 2009. The theme of this year's awards was exploring the future of China's education.

Zhou Chenggang, president of New Oriental Education & Technology Group's overseas study consultancy arm Vision Overseas, won the award for outstanding contribution to education in 2016.

Actress Zhu Yuanyuan won an award for her role in TV series A Love for Separation, which tells the story of Chinese parents who send their children away to study overseas at an early age. Zhu played the role of a mother who tries to give her daughter the best education possible, a performance that resonated with many Chinese parents.

Education agencies and companies JJL Overseas Education, TAL Education Group and EF Education First were also awarded at the ceremony.

Zeng Guangming, vice president of NetEase Media & Technology Group, said in his keynote speech that China's education system is improving all the time, but it is still far from ideal.

"In that sense, it still has a long way to go, and the future of it relies on every one of us," he said.

Gu Mingyuan, honorary chairman of the Chinese Society of Education, said that basic principles and ideas must be adhered to even in an era of rapidly evolving technology.

"The introduction of information technology and the internet has greatly changed the education environment and teaching approaches, but we should know that these technologies are just tools," he said.

"The core of education is still people  teachers and students, their interaction and the affection between them. People cannot be replaced."
[CAI MENG/CHINA DAILY]

With an unusual display of riches, a medical professional calls into question public attitudes toward wealth and the need for better pay for his profession.

Ren Liming is a urologist with the Second People's Hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan province. He was thrust into limelight when he posted a photo of a down jacket he just boughtwith the eye-popping price tag of 10,000 yuan ($1,400).

Some were amazed by his flaunting of personal wealth. They thought people in the healthcare industry should keep a low profile because of the prolonged tension between doctors and patients in China.

Many doctors have been accused of taking cash gifts from patients or their familiesto the point that they represent a significant part of their income.

Admittedly, Ren's expensive jacket, together with the revelation that he makes 1 million yuan a year, raised the suspicion that his lavish lifestyle is built on this so-called gray income.

Just as he was supposed to be shedding tears of regret over the outburst of vanity, Ren came forward and divulged more personal information to a local reporter.

He owns three properties and about one-fifth of his annual income, i.e. 200,000 yuan, is from his day job at that hospital, an amount that he spends on clothing alone.

He derives other income from online consulting and offline teaching, practicing medicine at other places and making healthcare-related investments.

The purpose of "spilling the beans", he says, is to instill pride in young professionals who are just entering the business. He says many of his peers in the top echelon make as much as he does, or even more.

He also addresses the sensitive topic of "gray income", saying that if your legal earnings are high enough you'd have no incentive to take bribes.

But I suspect that his real motive is to promote his businesses as well as his personal name. Now that he is the best-known urologist in the city, requests for consulting would go through the roof, I imagine.

Which is not wrong, albeit a bit unconventional. If so, Ren was exploiting the nation's hate-the-rich mentality for his own good.
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CAIRO - A bombing at Cairo's largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49, many of them women and children attending Sunday mass, in the deadliest attack on Egypt's Christian minority in years.

An official surveys the damage of an explosion inside the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt, December 11, 2016 [Photo/Agencies]

The attack comes as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi fights battles on several fronts. His economic reforms have angered the poor, a bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has seen thousands jailed, whilst an insurgency rages in Northern Sinai, led by the Egyptian branch of Islamic State.

The militant group has also carried out deadly attacks in Cairo and has urged its supporters to launch attacks around the world in recent weeks as it goes on the defensive in its Iraqi and Syrian strongholds.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but exiled Brotherhood officials and home-grown militant groups condemned the attack. Islamic State supporters celebrated on social media.

"God bless the person who did this blessed act," wrote one supporter on Telegram.

The explosion took place in chapel, which adjoins St Mark's, Cairo's main cathedral and the seat of Coptic Pope Tawadros II, where security is normally tight.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis condemned what he called the latest in a series of "brutal terrorist attacks" and said he was praying for the dead and wounded.

The chapel's floor was covered in debris from shattered windows, its wooden pews blasted apart, its pillars blackened. Here and there lay abandoned shoes and sticky patches of blood.

"As soon as the priest called us to prepare for prayer, the explosion happened," Emad Shoukry, who was inside when the blast took place, told Reuters.

"The explosion shook the place... The dust covered the hall and I was looking for the door, although I couldn't see anything... I managed to leave in the middle of screams and there were a lot of people thrown on the ground."

Security sources told Reuters at least six children were among the dead, with the blast detonating on the side of the church normally used by women.

They said the explosion was caused by a device containing at least 12 kg (26 pounds) of TNT.

Police and armoured vehicles rushed to the area, as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the compound demanding revenge for the attack that took place on a Muslim holiday marking the Prophet Mohammad's birthday and weeks before Christmas. Scuffles broke out with police.

A woman sitting near the cathedral in traditional long robes shouted "kill them, kill the terrorists, what are you waiting for?.... Why are you leaving them to bomb our homes?"

"EGYPTIAN BLOOD IS CHEAP"

Though Egypt's Coptic Christians have traditionally been supporters of the government, angry crowds turned their ire against Sisi, saying his government had failed to protect them.

"As long as Egyptian blood is cheap, down, down with any president..." they chanted. Others chanted "the people demand the fall of the regime", the rallying cry of the 2011 uprising that helped end Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.

Sisi's office condemned what it described as a terrorist attack, declaring three days of mourning and promising justice. Al-Azhar, Egypt's main Islamic centre of learning, also denounced the attacks.

Orthodox Copts, who comprise about 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people, are the Middle East's biggest Christian community.

Copts face regular attack by Muslim neighbours, who burn their homes and churches in poor rural areas, usually in anger over an inter-faith romance or the construction of church.

The last major attack on a church took place as worshippers left a new year's service in Alexandria weeks before the start of the 2011 uprising. At least 21 people were killed.

Egypt's Christian community has felt increasingly insecure since Islamic State spread through Iraq and Syria in 2014, ruthlessly targeting religious minorities. In 2015, 21 Egyptian Christians working in Libya were killed by Islamic State.

The attack came two days after six police were killed in two bomb attacks, one of them claimed by Hasm, a recently-emerged group the government says is linked to the Brotherhood, which has been banned under Sisi as a terrorist organisation.

The Brotherhood says it is peaceful. Several exiled Brotherhood officials condemned the bombing, as did Hasm and Liwaa' al-Thawra, another local militant group.

Coptic Pope Tawadros II cut short a visit to Greece after learning of the attack. Church officials said they would not allow the bombing to create sectarian differences.

But Christians, convinced attacks on them are not seriously investigated, say this time they want justice.

"Where was the security? There were five or six security cars stationed outside so where were they 12 kg of TNT was carried inside?" said Mena Samir, 25, standing at the church's metal gate. "They keep telling us national unity, the crescent with the cross... This time we will not shut up."
COLUMBUS  Dustin Fox demanded a jury trial in his burglary case right up until the eve of when a pool of potential jurors would be called into the Platte County Courthouse on Monday morning.

Then he didnt.

When the 11th hour before his scheduled trial rolled around, Fox didnt choose to place his fate in the hands of a jury of his peers. He took the negotiated deal offered by the Platte County Attorneys Office, agreeing to plead no contest to burglary, theft and stalking.

Fox will be sentenced Jan. 20 for the break-in and theft at a Lindsay convenience store and stalking of an ex-girlfriend in a separate incident July 15-16.

The Ewing mans call was the same one made by an overwhelming majority of criminal defendants in cases resolved in county and district courtrooms.

About 1 to 2 percent of the Platte County Attorneys Offices 1,200 to 1,300 criminal prosecutions each year wind up going all the way to trial before a jury or judge.

Some defendants just wait until the final hour, said Platte County Attorney Carl Hart, adding that the minuscule percentage could amount to about two dozen cases combined in county and district courts that go to a jury or judge.

We could be trying cases all the time, but is that necessary to get defendants under the sentencing jurisdiction of the courts? Hart asked rhetorically.

Our criminal justice system is pretty responsive to the community. People just have to be confident that were using public resources responsibly, he said.

Hart factors in several considerations when entering into plea talks.

When making a charging decision, said Hart, his guiding principle is to do justice while maintaining his ethical obligation for a just result.

A prosecutor looks at the provability of facts, combined with considering arguments raised by the defense, and keeping in mind there must be a reasonable chance of convincing 12 jurors to convict a defendant, said Hart, adding that the victim and public safety are also scrutinized.

The risks an offender may pose to the public and victim  such as past criminal history, substance abuse, mental health issues and relationships with antisocial peers  are also examined when making a charging decision, he said.

We try not to over-file charges, but you might start high to get leverage to induce (a defendant) to plead to a reduced charge, Hart said.

Prison isnt the only answer for offenders pleading guilty.

You cant pigeonhole negotiated pleas, its not one-size-fits-all, Hart said.

The county jail, probation or diversion programs created by the courts and prosecutors could be other alternatives to sending some offenders to prison, he said.

There are a lot of different things we look at in the context of a case while working out a negotiated plea, Hart said.

The Platte County Attorneys Office has seen a jump in assault, theft and drug distribution cases on court dockets in 2016 compared to a year ago.

The prosecutors office has filed 136 assault cases through November, up from 115 during all of 2015. The office has prosecuted 85 cases of possession/distribution of drug cases so far this year compared to 52 in 2015.

The increase in drug possession/distribution cases is a product of law enforcements aggressive pursuit of those crimes and the use of cooperating witnesses, Hart said.

Theft cases have risen from 58 in 2015 to 84 through November of this year and shoplifting filings have climbed from 108 to 129.

The office has handled 1,185 criminal cases so far in 2016, under the 1,349 prosecuted for all of 2015. Felony criminal cases climbed to 123 in 2016, up from 113 during 2015. Juvenile cases increased from 278 in 2015 to 305 so far this year.

Alcohol-related offenses for adults and minors are on pace to sink to their lowest levels in at least a decade.

Harts office has filed 118 adult driving under the influence cases so far in 2016, a plunge from 176 in 2015. Minor in possession of alcohol cases have numbered 75 so far this year, a dip from 103 in 2015.

In 2008, the prosecutors office reported 309 DUIs and 319 MIP cases.

County public defender Tim Matas advises his clients on the nature of the charges they face, but doesn't direct them to a plea.

If the state makes a plea offer, I advise as to what a client is looking at in terms of possible penalties, but Im not the one making the decision. Its my clients decision, said Matas, whose office defends 600 to 700 cases annually.

I will generally make a counter-offer on behalf of my client, he said.

The county attorney's office or public defender's office can request help from the Nebraska Attorney General's Office.

Judges are not involved in the bargaining process.

Judges routinely inform defendants when a plea agreement is entered in the court that they are not bound by the terms of the deal, especially regarding sentencing recommendations.

However, judges can only sentence defendants under the parameters of the charges they are convicted of, not the initial charges that might have been reduced because of a plea deal.

The public defender estimated that the percentage of his offices cases that are resolved through negotiated pleas is in the high 90s. Maybe a half dozen or even less during a year end up proceeding all the way to trial, he said.

Some defendants accept a negotiated plea based on factors other than guilt or innocence.

A client who is unable to post bond and has been sitting in the county jail may accept a plea offer just to get home and get back to work, Matas said. Others insist on their innocence and any deal they may be offered would be insufficient, he said.

Realistically, Matas said, the local court system doesnt have the time or resources to stage a trial every week during the year.

The legal system would grind to a halt, the public defender said.

Paul Schumacher has seen the plea bargain system from both sides. As a former county prosecutor and current practicing attorney and state lawmaker, he sees a criminal justice and trial system that is time-consuming, resource-intensive and expensive.

Weve got a luxury legal system that if it were rolled out all the time, we couldnt afford to use it, said the state senator from Columbus.

That results, out of necessity, in the plea bargaining system, said the lawmaker, who employed the plea tactic back-and-forth with defendants while serving as county attorney.

You had to, Schumacher said.

But in exchange for the plea bargain system and offer of reduced charges, the defendant gives up all those expensive rights available through the trial system.

It works until the prosecutor or law enforcement makes a mistake, such as the Beatrice 6 murder trial, Schumacher said. The downside is the prosecutor can sometimes extort a guilty plea, but the upside is it keeps the system moving.

The senator said habitual criminal statutes, mandatory minimum sentences and piling on multiple charges have been effective in pressuring defendants to plead guilty.

A prison reform bill, LB605, was supported by Schumacher in 2015.

The bill's intent is to curb overcrowding in prisons and contain corrections spending.

The bill attempts to fight the states prison overcrowding problem by steering low-level offenders to probation to boost post-release supervision. The bill also attempts to curtail recidivism.

The trouble is the system has criminalized a lot of behavior  drug and alcohol addiction and mental health issues  but not solved the problems, Schumacher said. Weve gotten rid of people (and filled prisons) with people who are nuisances, but not threats to public safety.

Philosophically, LB605 has been a good solution, but practically its another question, Schumacher said.

We had to do something, he said.
(Photo : Getty Images) China has been accused of dumping cheap steel products to Europe.

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China has been angered by the European Union's decision to launch a new investigation into whether Chinese manufacturers are selling steel into Europe at unfairly low prices.



The European Commission has ruled that a complaint lodged by the EU's steelmakers association Eurofer regarding certain corrosion resistant steel needs a thorough investigation.



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According to the EU's official journal, the commission has also decided that it would initiate another anti-dumping probe into certain cast iron products from China and India. The commission is also set to determine whether the existing duties on Chinese steel seamless pipes and tubes should be allowed to continue for another five-year period.



China, in response, insisted that Europe's steel problems are down to the region's economic weakness.



Wang Hejun, a China Commerce Ministry official, said that Beijing was showing huge concern and a high degree of attention to the claim. He, however, insisted that Europe's trade problems could be attributed to the region's slow economic growth.



In a statement on the ministry's website, Wang urged Europe to analyze its steel problems with a rational eye, saying Europe "should not adopt mistaken trade protectionist measures that limit fair competition."



The European Union probe coincides with Beijing's 15th anniversary to the World Trade Organization (WTO).



China is fighting to be granted a market-status economy, as per the agreement it signed on joining the WTO.



If the US and other WTO members agree to start viewing Chinese prices as fair market value, they will find it much more difficult to challenge the country's cheap imports.



Meanwhile, the EU has currently put in place 40 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures in place, 18 of which are against Chinese products.



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(Photo : Getty Images) The US government and EU urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to release detained political prisoners under the country's custody.

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The United States and the European Union have insisted that China should release more than half a dozen political detainees in its custody.



According to the two governments, the human rights situation has been steadily deteriorating, with hundreds of lawyers and activists getting detained in the past year.



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"I remain extremely concerned about the ongoing detention of Chinese lawyers," Max Baucus, the United States ambassador to China, said. "China's treatment of these lawyers and advocates calls into question its commitment to the rule of law."



Since assuming office in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has overseen a massive crack down on freedom of speech, human rights lawyers, religion, and proponents of feminism.



Attorneys such as Li Heping, Xie Yang, and Xie Yanyi are under custody, and Baucus singled out their cases, calling out for their immediate release.



Tashi Wangchuk, a detained Tibetan language advocate, and Ilham Toti, a Muslim Uighur academic serving a life sentence, were also mentioned.



The European Union also chirped on the issue, urging China "to immediately release any individual who has been detained for seeking to exercise, protect or promote their own rights or the rights of others."



The calls were made to celebrate the Human Rights Day, a United Nations holiday commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. China is a signatory of the accord.



In a statement, the European Union said that it is extremely concerned about the human rights activists and their families who have been harassed of their efforts to promote rights, which are protected in China's constitution and international law.



Chinese activists, on the other hand, are worried that the United States' statement could be the last as there are beliefs that US President-elect Donald Trump could pull back from defending human rights around the world.



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TagsChina human rights, china, European Union, Barack Obama, donald trump, President Xi Jinping
(Photo : US Navy) Two AV-8B Herriers of the U.S. Marines about to take-off from the USS Wasp.

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Northrop Grumman F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) Carrier Strike Group (CSG) resumed airstrikes against ISIL (or ISIS) targets in Sirte, Libya in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the U.S. military campaign against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.



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"U.S. 6th Fleet is fighting 'Daesh' on multiple fronts, simultaneously supporting three combatant commanders," said Vice Adm. Christopher Grady, Commander, United States Sixth Fleet.



"As a flexible, adaptive force, we are committed to defeating Daesh, we are committed to our NATO allies and partners, and we are 'where it matters, when it matters.'"



The three combatant commands supported by the Sixth Fleet are U.S. Central Command, U.S. Africa Command and U.S. European Command.



U.S. Marine Corps Boeing AV-8B Harrier vertical take-off and landing jets of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) are conducting precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte from the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) as part of Operation Odyssey Lightning (OOL).



Operation Odyssey Lightning is the codename for the U.S. military effort to support the Libyan Government of National Accord-aligned forces fighting against ISIL and other radical Islamist militants.



The Eisenhower's CSG returned to the Sixth Fleet area of operations Dec. 4 after conducting strikes from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea from June 28 to July 7. It completed 116 sorties in support of OIR.



Eisenhower's CSG consists of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69); Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3; guided-missile cruisers USS San Jacinto (CG 56) and USS Monterey (CG 61), and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 26 with guided-missile destroyers USS Roosevelt (DDG 80), USS Mason (DDG 87) and USS Nitze (DDG 94).



Operation Inherent Resolve demonstrates the deep commitment of the U.S. and regional partner nations to eliminating the terrorist group ISIL and the threat it poses to the international community.



Wasp is deployed as part of the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) to the Sixth Fleet area of operations to support maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts.



Wasp initially used AV-8B Harrier jump jets as strike aircraft and added AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopters to provide close air support on these strike missions. She conducted 330 strikes since the mission began, an average of more than four strikes per day.



Commander, Amphibious Squadron 6 commands the Wasp ARG, which consists of amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41), amphibious transport dock USS San Antonio (LPD 17) and Wasp. The 22nd MEU is currently embarked on the Wasp ARG.



The 22nd MEU had been conducting precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte since early August from the Wasp ARG as part of OOL. Both Wasp and San Antonio conducted sorties in support of OOL during their time in the Sixth Fleet area of operations.



With its headquarters in Naples, Italy, the Sixth Fleet conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, joint, and interagency partners in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.



The Sixth Fleet is the United States Navy's operational fleet and staff of United States Naval Forces Europe.



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TagsU.S. Navy, Operation Inherent Resolve, Northrop Grumman F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets, Vice Adm. Christopher Grady, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. Marine Corps, Boeing AV-8B Harrier, Vertical Take-off and Landing, Operation Odyssey Lightning, ISIS, ISIL, Sirte, Libya
(Photo : Lockheed Martin) Israeli F-35I Adir (concept art).

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Israel, the most powerful military state in the Middle East, will receive its first of 50 Northrop Grumman F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters on Dec. 12 at very public ceremonies to be attended by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.



The first two of these fifth generation stealth, multirole fighters -- considered the best and most sophisticated fighters in the world -- will land at the Israeli Air Force's (IAF) Nevatim Airbase in Be'er Sheva (the largest city in the Negev Desert section in southern Israel).



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Israel's fleet of F-35s will be based at Nevatim Airbase. The Israeli F-35s are designated F-35I "Adir." The word "adir" is Hebrew for "mighty."



The F-35I is a variant of the standard F-35A but customized according to the IAF's needs. It features advanced stealth capabilities that help pilots evade sophisticated missile systems.



Israel is the first country in the Middle East to receive the F-35 and will be the first country outside the United States with an operational F-35 squadron. Each Israeli F-35I costs an estimated $96 million.



Carter and Israeli Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman will be at Nevatim to welcome the arrival of the first two F-35ls.



"I think we don't fully understand the big advantage of the F-35," said an Israeli air force official.



"I think it's going to be learned in the next few months, maybe years. I think it's a very super-tech airplane."



The first F-35ls are expected to become operational by late 2017. It can mount an array of weapons and go supersonic at Mach 1.6 (1,900 km/h).



The F-35l might be modified to carry nuclear bombs but Israel will never confirm this capability.



Lockheed Martin said the Israeli F-35Is have been designed to deal with the most advanced threat systems now being fielded in the Middle East.



The F-35Is will help Israel maintain its already massive military edge in the Middle East, particularly as its main enemy, Iran, is actively enhancing its military influence in the region.



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TagsIsrael, F-35l "Adir", Israeli Air Force, Northrop Grumman F-35 Lightning II, Nevatim Airbase, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman




1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
(Photo : BAE Systems) Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle.

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The U.S. Army this December is expected to begin testing the "Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV)," a heavily armored and more survival armored personnel carrier (APC) that will carry infantry in support of M1-Abrams tanks and M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles in a future war.



AMPC will replace the venerable but outdated M113 APC that saw extensive service during the Vietnam War. If it passes extensive multi-year trials, the AMPC will become the army's new "battle taxi." The army plans to order 2,900 AMPVs, each of which can carry a crew of two plus six soldiers.



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BAE Systems, makers of the AMPV, will deliver 29 of the next-generation infantry vehicles to undergo 52 months of engineering and manufacturing tests. In December 2014, BAE was awarded a $383 million contract to begin the Engineering, Manufacturing, and Development (EMD) phase that will lead to the production of the 29 test vehicles.



Besides being battle taxis, AMPVs will conduct resupply; perform battle command functions; deliver organic indirect fires; provide logistics support and medical treatment and perform medical and casualty evacuation.



"At the end of the day, a combat vehicle is about a box," said AMPV program director Maj. Gen. David Bassett.



"(Inside, are the latest) mobility system, lethality system, communications system and some other things. If you can take all those and put them on an existing vehicle, then maybe you don't have to build a whole new vehicle from scratch, along with the risk associated with that kind of development."



The army plans to build five AMPV versions: a General Purpose troop carrier; a Medical Evacuation Vehicle (MEV) for ambulatory and litter patients; a Medical Treatment Vehicle (MTV) with medical equipment; a Mortar Carrier Vehicle (MCV) mounting a 120 mm mortar and a Mission Command (MCmd), which is a mobile command post.



AMPVs are to move as rapidly as M1s and Bradleys in an armored brigade combat team during unified land operations over multiple terrain sets with superior force protection, survivability, and mobility than the M113.



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(Photo : Getty Images) China's ambassador to the UN Liu Jieyi failed to stop the UN Security Council from discussing North Korea's human rights violations.

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Despite its vehement opposition, China has failed to stop the United Nations (UN) Security Council from discussing North Korea's unrestrained human rights violations during its third meeting on the issue on Friday.



A high-ranking senior official of the UN said there are "appalling human rights violations" in Pyongyang despite China's repeated attempts to prevent the members from taking up the issue.



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China's ambassador to the UN Liu Jieyi said the UN was not in the position to discuss the human rights abuses being perpetrated by Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-un.



Undivided attention



Liu said the UN was not the right forum to bring up North Korea's human rights violations saying the Council's responsibility was to focus on issues and problems confronting international peace and stability.



"Given the current context, where a plethora of dire challenges are confronting international peace and security, the council should scrupulously honor its responsibility and focus on issues concerning international peace and security with undivided attention," Liu told the 15-member council.



Liu had earlier appealed to the Security Council to take on measures that would be more helpful in easing the tensions on the Korean Peninsula and not further escalate the situation by discussing North Korea's human rights record.



Human rights situation



Liu's appeal was made days ahead of the Security Council meeting. He said that China opposes the "aberrations" by the UN to discuss North Korea's human rights situation.



The ambassador said the UN Charter clearly stipulates that the main responsibility of the body is to address issues concerning international peace and security and ensure the protection of nations from destabilizing factors.



He said that the meeting ran contrary to the UN Charter and proved to be detrimental to the peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.



"We do not allow the Peninsula to be torn by turmoil or war under any circumstances," he said.



Under fire



North Korea has been under fire in recent years for its human rights abuses with the US blacklisting Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-un for carrying out human rights violations.



A landmark UN report released in 2014 concluded that Kim and his security and military officials had committed Nazi-style abuses and that they should be brought to justice.



The UN Security Council last month imposed new and harsh sanctions on North Korea aimed at slashing its coal exports to China by more than 60 percent in response to Pyongyang's latest nuclear test on September 9.



North Korea has denounced the sanctions saying it is an "abuse of power" and vowed to will retaliate.



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TagsNorth Korea, UN Security Council, human rights abuses, international peace and stability, Chinese ambassador Liu Jieyi, Kim Jong Un
(Photo : Getty Images) Beijing in recent months has been immensely forthcoming about carrying military exercises in the sensitive region of Western Pacific.

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China slammed Japan on Saturday for allegedly interfering its recent air force training in the Western Pacific region, claiming that two Japanese F-15 fighter jets had abruptly intercepted its exercises.



The report about the latest face off between the air forces of both countries comes barely two weeks after similar a strife had taken place in the Western Pacific region. The earlier encounter also occurred during Chinese air force's training in the region.



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The Japanese jets "endangered the safety of the Chinese aircraft and the crew" by flying too close and "launching jamming shells," Chinese Defense Ministry's spokesman Yang Yujun told media.



He then asserted that the Miyako Strait is an international waterway and China's military training was in accordance with international laws and practices.



Yang reminded Tokyo about similar interferences by Japanese air forces and ships in recent past and that such obstructive practices can easily lead to misunderstanding between the two familiar foes.



Tokyo so far has not issued any response to China's claim of interference.



Beijing in recent months has been immensely forthcoming about carrying military exercises in the sensitive region of Western Pacific. After carrying out a military exercise in September, China has also conducted drills in the last week of November.



The Chinese government, however, maintained that these exercises are not targeted to any third country and are part of the annual training program.



China and Japan Arch Rivals



The mistrust and suspicion in China and Japan's bilateral relation run immensely deep. While unresolved maritime disputes have largely contributed to the mutual acrimony, both neighbors are equally burdened by their historical past.



The maritime disputes center around the East China Sea and South China Sea. Although Japan is not a direct party in the South China Sea conflict, it has never hindered it from interfering in the dispute, which has further complicated the relationship.



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TagsJapan, China and Japan, China Military Training, China Western Pacific
(Photo : Getty Images) China made the firearms available for Philippine forces in an apparent move to further sustain its good relations with the Duterte administration.

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Just a month after the US State Department decided to stop the sale of rifles to Manila, firearms ordered by the Philippines from China are ready to be shipped, Philippine President Duterte on Sunday during a visit to the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Northern Luzon Command at Camp Servillano Aquino in Tarlac City.



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China made the firearms available for Philippine forces in an apparent move to further sustain its good relations with the Duterte administration amid the territorial dispute between the two countries over the West Philippine Sea.



It is unclear, however, what kind of guns the Philippine government would acquire from Beijing as Duterte did not provide details of the arms deal.



"China is pressing me. The firearms are already available for me to receive. They are really prodding me," Duterte said.



Duterte directed Delfin Lorenzana, the Philippine Secretary of Defence, to send a military general to formally receive the guns from Beijing. The arms were offered to the Philippines on a 25-year grant.



"If it's a grant payable in 25 years, that's practically giving and It's obvious that China wanted to give us firearms," Duterte said.



Compared to the previous administration, Duterte's administration chose to be friendly with China as part of what he described as part of his efforts to pursue an independent foreign policy.



During his state visit to China in October, Duterte renewed the Philippines' ties with China as he met with China's President Xi Jinping. The two leaders agreed on various matters including the territorial dispute in the South China Sea.



Apart from China, the Philippine government is also considering getting firearms from Russia.



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TagsPhilippines, china, Duterte, Chinese President Xi jinping, firearms
In 1862, when Lars Skrefsrud asked the Norwegian Missionary Society to send him out as a missionary, the mission leaders in Stavanger, Norway turned him down. They didn't want an ex-con representing them on the foreign field. Lars had just spent four years in prison for theft. But he persevered and became Norway's best-known missionary.

Lars would not give up because Christ had transformed his life. A Norwegian named Hans Hauge had recently led Scandinavia in revival. The influence of Hauge's movement reached Lars even in prison. He read religious books and repented of the alcoholism and wild living that had put him behind bars. He was encouraged by his friend Anna Olsum, who never stopped believing in him. Gifted with the ability to master languages, he learned English and German while in prison.

His knowledge of German came in handy. When the Norwegian Missionary Society rejected him, he turned to the Gossner Mission Society in Germany. This Baptist mission gave Lars the training he needed. From 1861 when he left prison until he left for India in 1863, Lars fasted almost constantly, eating only bread, cheese and water. He was determined to bring his body into submission. During those two years, he attended church services daily.

The Gossner Mission allowed Lars to go to India; he worked his way there at his own expense. There he worked among the Santal people who lived north of Calcutta. Anna joined him on the mission field and they married.

A war between Denmark and Germany left bad feelings. When the Gossner leaders refused to allow Lars to work with his friend Hans Peter Boerreson, a Dane, Lars withdrew from the mission.

Lars and Hans joined another Baptist Mission Society. Soon they left it, too, and formed the Santal Mission. To get the funding they needed from Norway, they had to return to their Lutheran roots. They had abandoned infant baptism but now went back to the practice. The one blot on their record was the misleading information they issued to friends back home on this subject, trying to make it appear they had not really adopted Baptist practice earlier.

In spite of this episode, their work prospered. By 1890, Santal mission had 6,000 baptized church members. The Santal tribe suffered from oppression by their Hindu neighbors. Lars not only labored to obtain British protection for them, but preserved their language by reducing it to written form.

He translated the Bible into the Santal tongue and produced a hymnal using native tunes. He wrote textbooks and even collected traditional Santal myths into a book. The schools that he founded taught farming, animal care, carpentry and other useful skills. Determined to make the Santalese self-sufficient in agriculture, he also wanted to give them a church they could run themselves. "It is the heathenism we want to get rid of, not the national character." He made as few changes in Santal culture as he could consistent with Christianity. When Lars died , there were between 15,000 and 20,000 Santal Christians.

Bibliography:
Attack On Cairo Cathedral Kills At Least 25

At least 25 people have died and dozens more have been injured after a bomb exploded at Cairo's largest Coptic cathedral in the deadliest attack on the Christian minority in years.

The blast was detonated at 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) on Sunday and struck the side of the church used by women and children. The incident, which happened on the Prophet Mohammed's birthday, caused waves of anger across Egypt as hundreds of Christians and Muslims gathered to protest outside St Mark's Cathedral.

The crowd demanded Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, the interior minister, be dismissed after a perceived security failure led to the attack. Christians are convinced attacks on them are not seriously investigated.

"The Ministry of Interior cannot protect our churches. It is time for us to protect ourselves," said one protester. Others demanded the fall of the regime.

The attack comes as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi fights battles on several fronts. A bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has seen thousands jailed, while an insurgency rages in Northern Sinai, led by the Egyptian branch of ISIS.

The militant group has also carried out deadly attacks in Cairo and has urged its supporters to launch attacks around the world in recent weeks as it goes on the defensive in its Iraqi and Syrian strongholds.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but exiled Brotherhood officials and home-grown militant groups condemned the attack as ISIS supporters celebrated on social media.

The attack took place in a chapel that adjoins St Mark's, Cairo's main cathedral and the home of Coptic Pope Tawadros II, where security is normally tight.

Coptic Christians make up about 10 per cent of Egpyt's population and face discrimination and persecution.

As the largest Christian community in the Middle East, many face regular attacks by Muslim neighbours, who burn their homes and churches in poor rural areas, usually in anger over an inter-faith romance or the construction of church.

The last major attack on a church took place as worshippers left a New Year's service in Alexandria weeks before the start of the 2011 uprising. At least 21 people were killed.

Egypt's Christian community has felt increasingly insecure since Islamic State spread through Iraq and Syria in 2014, ruthlessly targeting religious minorities. In 2015, 21 Egyptian Christians working in Libya were killed by Islamic State.

The attack came two days after six police were killed in two bomb attacks, one of them claimed by Hasm, a recently-emerged group the government says is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been banned under Sisi as a terrorist organisation.

The Brotherhood says it is peaceful. Several exiled Brotherhood officials condemned the bombing, as did Hasm and Liwaa' al-Thawra, another local militant group.

Coptic Pope Tawadros II cut short a visit to Greece after learning of the attack. Church officials said they would not allow the bombing to create sectarian differences.

Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom said he heard the news "with great sadness".

He said he was praying for those whose lives had "so senselessy ended" and for their families and friends.

In a statement on Sunday he said: "We also pray for every Coptic parish and community across Egypt as they fill their churches this morning, as well as for the broader Egyptian society that fall victim to similar inhumane attacks."

He added: "We share in this tragedy but are encouraged by the strength and resilience of our brethren in Egypt that we have grown accustomed to and learn from. We pray God's peace and protection upon the Christians of Egypt, the broader Egyptian society, Christians around the world worshipping this morning and all faith communities that fall prey to similar attacks."

At the Vatican, Pope Francis condemned what he called the latest in a series of "brutal terrorist attacks" and said he was praying for the dead and wounded.

Sources said the explosion was caused by a device containing at least 12 kg (26 pounds) of TNT.

Police and armored vehicles rushed to the area, as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the compound demanding revenge for the attack that took place on a Muslim holiday marking the Prophet Mohammad's birthday and weeks before Christmas. Scuffles broke out with police.

A woman sitting near the cathedral in traditional long robes shouted, "kill them, kill the terrorists, what are you waiting for? ... Why are you leaving them to bomb our homes?"

Though Egypt's Coptic Christians have traditionally been supporters of the government, angry crowds turned their ire against Sisi, saying his government had failed to protect them.

"As long as Egyptian blood is cheap, down, down with any president," they chanted. Others chanted "the people demand the fall of the regime", the rallying cry of the 2011 uprising that helped end Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.

Sisi's office condemned what it described as a terrorist attack, declaring three days of mourning and promising justice. Al-Azhar, Egypt's main Islamic center of learning, also denounced the attacks.

Additional reporting from Reuters.
Here's Why Husbands Should Confess Their Lust for Other Women to Their Wives, According to One Pastor

Men are visual creatures, and are therefore more prone to infidelity. Pastor John Piper, founder of Desiring God, said that even married men cannot escape lust for other women.

In a video message posted on his website, Piper said most men aren't proud of their lust for other women. There are two main reasons why they will try to hide this fact from their wives. First, it's because they like it, and next, their wives might respond in a way that would show their own insecurities.

Piper warned that men should deal with their hidden lust early on instead of keeping it a secret. Otherwise, Satan will pounce on their marriage and destroy it, he warned.

"There are a lot of people who don't even believe in Satan," he said. "And there are Christians who never give serious thought to how deceptive and destructive his designs are."

The theologian said Satan is quite deceptive, so his attacks often come when people least expect them. "You turn the light on, it goes away. You keep the light off, he might run right up your leg," said Piper.

Husbands might be terrified to confess their sins to their wives out of fear that they might not be forgiven. Piper quoted James 5:16 to encourage them: "Confess your sins to one another... that you may be healed."

If men let their hidden lust remain, Piper said they will allow darkness to remain and run rampant in their marriage. At the same time, they will be giving Satan the upper hand.

"Don't let yourself off the hook if you say, 'Well, I don't fantasise about doing things with other women. I just fantasise about seeing things,'" he said.

Piper paraphrased Jesus Christ in Matthew 5:28 when He said that anyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery in his heart. "So, the question is," Piper said, "is that woman in your head your wife?"
Meet The Christian Artist Working In Gaza

Only about 1,200 Christians remain in Gaza -- a tiny fraction of the population in a territory run by Hamas Islamists -- but artist Naser Jeldha is doing what he can to preserve its Christian heritage through art.

In his studio in the heart of old Gaza, not far from a 5th century Orthodox church, Jeldha spends his days carving religious figurines, chiseling low-relief carvings of Biblical scenes and painting portraits of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and the saints.

"My message is about my religion," said the gray-bearded 57-year-old, a member of the Greek Orthodox community.

"I want to make it visual, I want to make people see it, not only to be kept as texts in church."

As he works, steel-rimmed spectacles perched on his nose, Jeldha listens to Byzantine prayer music that echoes softly around the studio, creating an atmosphere from another era.

The walls are covered in his pictures, with more laid out on the arms of chairs and sofas, and others propped on a 150-year-old Russian piano in the corner. As well as painting and sculpture, Jeldha plays the accordion, piano and guitar.

In the run up to Christmas - celebrated on January 7 in the Orthodox church - Jeldha is busy making pieces as gifts for friends and relatives.

While he has been an artist for 35 years, he does not display his works or offer them for sale. Instead, he presents them as gifts at weddings or events on the Christian calendar. He does, however, have plans for a public showing soon.

In the next two weeks, he is also hoping he will be one of about 800 Christians granted a permit by Israel to leave Gaza and travel to Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to attend prayer services in Jesus's birthplace.

"We have applied for permits and if we get them I intend to travel with my family," said Jeldha, who is determined to remain in Gaza despite the departure of many Christians over the last decade in the face of rising economic hardship.

While Gaza's Christians generally enjoy good relations with their Muslim neighbors, there have been isolated attacks by hardline Salafist groups on Christian tombs and symbols.

Hamas, the Islamist movement that has ruled Gaza since 2006, is keen to ensure the Christian community feels safe and protected. Its leaders occasionally visit the heads of the three Gaza churches to build stronger relations.

Jeldha acknowledged that the economy was suffering, with the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt, a move to pressure Hamas, limiting trade, driving up costs and causing despair.

Despite that, Jeldha, whose white front door is adorned with a small cross painted in blue, said he would never leave.

"I have lived in this neighborhood for 54 years. I have brotherly and wonderful relations with Muslims," said the father of four. "Gaza is beautiful and I will not leave it...I do not feel I am a stranger here."
Nigeria Church Collapse: Up To 160 Dead, Says Hospital Director

Up to 160 people were killed when a church roof collapsed during a service in southern Nigeria on Saturday, according to Associated Press.

Hundreds of people were inside the Reigners Bible Church in the southern city of Uyo, Akwa Ibom state. They were attending a service for the ordination of a bishop.

Local hospital director Etete Peters of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital said morgues are overflowing and the final death toll likely will be much higher. Many are still thought to be trapped beneath metal girders and corrugated iron roof that collapsed on top of the packed building.

The governor of Akwa Ibom state, Udom Emmanuel, was present at the service and tweeted that he "shared in the agony of the moment".

I was present at the church during the incident and shared in the agony of the moment. pic.twitter.com/uZTHbcNfoP  Udom Emmanuel (@MrUdomEmmanuel) December 10, 2016

In a series of tweets, he said that he had personally supervised rescue operations, and declared Sunday, December 11 and Monday, December 12 to be days of mourning.

I declare Sunday, December 11 and Monday, December 12 2016 as days of mourning in #AkwaIbom #Udom Emmanuel pic.twitter.com/T3IDvVNEsh  Udom Emmanuel (@MrUdomEmmanuel) December 11, 2016

Other news sources put the deatht toll at 60 adding it could increase as the rescue operation continues and the debris is removed by a crane.

President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari said: "This evening I spoke with Gov Udom Emmanuel to commiserate with him on the tragic collapse of the Reigners Bible Church building in Uyo.

"I asked the Governor to convey to the people of Akwa Ibom the deep sorrow felt by me, and by the entire country, over this tragedy.

"I pray that the souls of the deceased will rest in peace, and that the injured will experience quick recovery.

"Any tragedy that affects any part of Nigeria affects all of us. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the people of Akwa Ibom."

The state government said it would investigate to see if building standards had been compromised.

The multi-storey building of the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed in Lagos in 2014, killing 116.
Officials in New Mexico Won't Remove Ten Commandments Monument Despite Court Order

Officials of a city in the United States are standing up for their Christian faith and are poised to defy a local court ruling declaring a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of their city hall as unconstitutional.

Members of the city council in Bloomfield City, New Mexico unanimously voted in favour of a proposal seeking a review by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals of a local court ruling calling for the removal of a Ten Commandments monument on city hall grounds, Christian News reported.

The council members based their decision on the fact that many of the city's 7,000 residents support the retention of the monument on the city hall grounds. In fact, some local residents even conducted a vigil around the monument last month.

At a recent city hall meeting, Anne Frost of Farmington, just outside of Bloomfield, equated defending the Ten Commandments Monument to standing up for God.

"We need to stand up for God, and then he will bless us," Frost said, Christian News said. "We need to eliminate this silliness of Church versus State."

The controversial monument was built in 2011, after a resolution was approved allowing private citizens to place historical displays at Bloomfield City Hall. Although the resolution was approved by the city council, the construction of the monument was funded by private money.

"Presented to the people of San Juan County by private citizens recognizing the significance of these laws on our nation's history," the inscription on the monument reads.

Wiccans Jane Felix and Buford Coone of the Order of the Cauldron of the Sage, however, claimed that they were offended by the monument. With the assistance of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, they filed a lawsuit against the city.

"Our clients who are not Christians, they took issue with this and it made them feel alienated from their community," Alexandra Smith, ACLU legal director, told local television station KRQE.

In 2014, U.S. District Judge James Parker ruled in favour of the Wiccans and the ACLU, saying the monument indeed violated the U.S. Constitution. The city filed an appeal, but the appeals court upheld the district court's ruling.
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This story appeared in the Houston Chronicle on May 4, 1968. The words and headlines are reprinted as they ran then.

Doctors at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital here today transferred the heart of a young woman who died of a gunshot wound to a man whose "ragged" heart was faltering.

This afternoon, some 12 hours after the operation began, the patient's condition was reported "encouraging" and he was showing no indication of rejecting his new heart.

Recipient of the heart is Everett Claire Thomas 47, of Phoenix, Ariz., an accountant. He is the world's ninth heart transplant case.

Lungs Are Clear

Dr. Denton Cooley, who headed the team of surgeons of Baylor University college of medicine, told newsmen:

"I do not want to sound too optimistic, but the patient's condition is encouraging. The liver that previously was enlarged has been reduced, the lungs previously filled with fluid are now clear, and the kidneys are working well."

Dr. Grady Hallman, also of the heart transplant team, said "we have detected no sign that he is attempting to reject the heart."

The surgeons disclosed they modified techniques employed in earlier heart transplants.

A part of the donor's heart usually not removed was taken, and no effort was made to keep the donor heart supplied with blood during the operation.

Instead, speed was relied upon to let the transplanted heart resume functioning before tissue damage occurred from lack of blood.

Pulse Is Normal

Dr. Cooley said of the patient: "His blood pressure and pulse are normal. Three hours after the operation he was awake and responded to commands."

The surgeon added that "you must remember he has been a very sick man, bedridden for weeks and several times at the point of death. He is very weak, but we hope he can recover."

The team that performed the transplant operation included Dr. Cooley, Dr. Hallman and Dr. Robert E. Bloodwell. Dr. Cooley said they were assisted by about 20 nurses, technicians and other hospital personnel.

Thomas, who originally had been slated for replacement of all three heart valves, received the heart of a 15-year-old married woman.

The donor was identified by her father-in-law and Mrs. Kathleen Martin of 5509 Charrin Dr. in north Harris County. She and her husband, Charlie L. Martin III, 18, had been married about six months, said the father-in-law, Charlie L. Martin Jr.

The young woman was brought to St. Luke's about 6 p.m. Thursday gravely injured by a gunshot wound in the brain.

She was kept alive for three hours by artificial respiration. However, she remained in a coma and all attempts to resuscitate her failed, said a hospital spokesman.

A brain wave test using an electro encephalogram could find no indication of brain activity. Doctors concluded the brain was irreversibly damaged.

When she died shortly before midnight, Thomas was taken to the operating room. His chest was opened and his damaged heart examined. The surgeons found dense calcium deposits around one valve. The deposits extended into the wall between the two heart chambers and the opening where blood vessels enter the heart.

The donor heart was moved to the operating room.

The lower part of Thomas' heart was removed. The two lower chambers of the donor heart were sewed in place. This technique of heart transplant was developed by Dr. Norman Shumway of Stanford University Medical School, who only Thursday performed the eighth human heart transplant.

When the heart chambers were in place, the large blood vessels from the donor heart were attached to those of Thomas.

Clamps blocking the blood from the area were removed and heart action resumed. At first the heart beat was wildly erratic.

Hospital officials said a single electric shock restored the regular heart beat.

They said Thomas' blood pressure became normal.

The transplant began at 1:01 a.m. and ended at 1:36 a.m. The entire operation lasted three hours.

A heart lung machine, which provides oxygen to the blood and removes carbon dioxide during open heart surgery, was used for 46 minutes.

Thomas, at 3 a.m., was taken to a special room inside the surgical suite. His condition was described as satisfactory.

Within this room, a germ-free environment is maintained.

The decision for a heart implant operation resulted from swiftly moving events that began when Mrs. Martin was taken to Ben Taub Hospital at 3:15 p.m. with a gunshot wound in the head. A sheriff's department report said the wound was self-inflicted.

Mrs. Martin had been a patient of Dr. Cooley, who earlier had performed an operation to correct a narrowing of an artery leading from her heart. Her family wanted Mrs. Martin to be treated by Dr. Cooley again, so she was transferred to St. Luke's about 6 p.m.

William Forster, administrator of Ben Taub, said the hospital board has forbidden release of bodies for transplant purposes except after "grave precautions" have been taken, including a ruling by a special committee that a transplant could be made.

In this case, the patient was transferred to St. Luke's while she was still alive. It was only after the physicians could find no indication of brain activity that the transplant decision was made.

Permission was obtained from Thomas and from members of Mrs. Martin's family.

The hospital said Thomas' heart was damaged extensively from rheumatic fever 15 years ago. Thomas, a Roman Catholic, entered the hospital for replacement of three heart valves. Surgery originally was scheduled for today.

Thomas, accompanied by his wife, Helen, came to the hospital Sunday. Mrs. Thomas was at the hospital when the historic operation was performed.

The couple has three sons, who remained in Phoenix. They are Karl, 12, Paul, 17, and Mark, 20.

The first human heart transplant was performed Dec. 3 by Dr. Christian Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa.

Three of the nine transplant patients still survive, including Thomas, Dr. Phillip Blaiberg, a South African dentist, is the only long time survivor. He has now returned home. His operation was performed on Jan. 2.

Surgeons in London today were attempting the 10th known transplant. They were putting the heart of an Irish construction worker, who died in a fall, into the body of another man.

UPDATE

Everett Thomas was the first U.S. heart transplant recipient well enough to go home from the hospital. On Nov. 21, 1968, Thomas received a second heart transplant at St. Luke's in Houston after showing signs of rejecting the first heart. Cooley led the team that performed the second operation. A Chronicle story at the time noted it was the Cooley team's 15th heart transplant and the 25th done in Houston.

Thomas died two days later. At the time he had been the longest-living American with a transplanted heart and the world's second man to get two transplanted hearts.

Cooley remained the president emeritus of the Texas Heart Institute, which he founded in 1962, until his death last month.

- Erin Mulvaney
For over 20 years Americans could expect to live and average of 78.9 years, but recent studies are showing the first drop in life expectancy since then.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. population as a whole is now living an average of 78.8 years, which means people are passing away about a month earlier.
Houston-area man fatally stabs 1-year-old daughter and himself A Texas man fatally stabbed his daughter and himself after forcefully taking her.

Migos rapper Takeoff honored by bandmate Offset Houston hip-hop legends also weighed in on the tragic shooting.
A long line of local and needy citizens gathered outside of Cross Church of Cleveland and the Family Life Center on Dec. 10 for an early Christmas blessing as Repair the Breach ministries hosted its annual Angel Select Toy Drive.

Repair the Breach ministries is a non-profit organization that formed in 2004 that helps those who have lost their way or require assistance by providing for needs that are spiritual or physical.
Donald Trump promised American citizens he would take sweeping measures to bring back prosperity to the United States, yet some critics doubt if his proposals will work. A close examination of Mr. Trump's words show how some of his ideas remain preposterous.

Politifact reports on Nov. 10:

1. Cancel Obama executive actions on immigration and guns.

Undoing DACA, which deferred deportation and allowed immigrants to apply for work permission, would make undocumented people who arrived in the United States as children subject to deportation.

Can anyone imagine the uproar of deporting children from their parents? This legal requirement would produce so much economic and emotional hardship for both parents and their children. To aggravate the issue, it may take years before immigration service approves their re-entry into the country. This could produce political backlash with many bad ramifications because stopping this problem only creates five more problems.

Trump called Obama's executive order to require background checks on firearms sold at gun shows an assault on the Second Amendment, and vowed he would "unsign that so fast." He's also promised to ban gun-free zones in schools and on military bases on day one.

Most Americans question why Mr. Trump said background checks show an assault on the 2nd amendment because it does not deny anyone a right of owning a gun. It only requires some cautious steps to procuring one. Unlike some paranoid fanatics who do not like any criminal history reviews, most reasonable people see no problem with requiring a background check on anyone buying a firearm. Would it create a more dangerous condition if a person buying a gun had no background check requirements?

Besides, why does Mr. Trump want to ban gun free zones in schools and military bases? Rather than aggrandizing this point into a political issue, good citizens know gun free zones do not harm anyone or violate any human rights. Should not schools rank at the top for one of the safest places for children, educators, and parents? Furthermore, why cannot military bases have the same privilege? Does Mr. Trump think that everyone having guns in his or her possession anywhere and everywhere will lower the amount of crime?

2. Ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare.

Independent analysts have estimated that Trump's plan would cause 21 million to 25 million (mostly low-income) people to lose their coverage, increase out-of-pocket spending for everyone and cost $550 billion over a decade.

History will record Obamacare as a failure, but repealing the program may produce more severe problems and repercussions. Mr. Trump does not understand that having healthcare under insurance programs only escalates the cost. His administration must devise a new method of guaranteeing and delivering healthcare to every citizen in this country, yet control costs so it can remain affordable for even people in poverty. Although many business leaders do not like socialized medicine, still Europe has several countries that administer this healthcare method effectively and control prohibitively high costs. Can the United States someday guarantee that healthcare stands as a right for all American citizens? Perhaps Mr. Trump can address this question by working to create an innovative healthcare program that functions well and controls costs.

3. Suspend immigration from "terror-prone" countries and implement "extreme vetting."

Trump first brought up the idea of extreme vetting in August, comparing it to ideological screening tests used in the Cold War. He has said that Muslims or at least those from "terror-prone" countries would be the targets.

Trump didn't mention specifics of the screening test. Presumably it would include questioning of visitors' political views. Trump said the United States needs to screen members of terrorist organizations and vet "any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles - or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law."

Without turning the United States into a police state, Mr. Trump cannot administer any extreme vetting measures. Considering that some people do not tell the truth, questioning visitor's political views would only show an act of futility.

Suspending immigration from terror prone countries does not address the problem correctly. Wise observers know that Muslim people do not cause terrorism. Criminals create these heinous and flagitious acts regardless of their religious beliefs. Undoubtedly, screening and background checks must occur, but a loss of human rights and dignity must not happen.

4. Build a wall and have Mexico pay for it.

Trump has vowed from the beginning of his campaign to "build a great, great wall on our southern border" and "have Mexico pay for that wall." As president, he would make good on the promise by introducing the End Illegal Immigration Act, which would also establish penalties for immigration violations. The act would fully fund construction of the wall by imposing the cost on Mexico.

Mr. Trump's declaration stands patently absurd. Estimated costs to build a wall from Brownsville, Texas to Tijuana, California range from 25 billion to 30 billion dollars. With the nation having a 19 trillion dollar debt, the United States could never afford such a long term, massive project. Besides, Mexico's president clearly stated they would not pay for any wall separating the two countries.

Sorry Mr. Trump. Notwithstanding your wishful thinking, this idea will not materialize.
The Cleveland ISD Star Students for the week ending

Karina Mena (2nd grade): "Karina is a great helper in the classroom! She is always smiling, and has a great attitude and willing to lend a helping hand to both her peers and teachers. Keep it up, Karina!" ~L. Posey, Southside Primary

Demari Viands (5th grade): "Demari is doing a GREAT job in Science, I am so proud of him." ~P. Pool, Eastside Elementary

Cherokee Edwards (11th grade): "Cherokee is doing an awesome job with her school work, thank you for your hard work! Keep it up." ~S. Peters

Billie Jo Harwig (11th grade): "She did an awesome job with her school work. Thanks for working hard! Keep it up." ~S. Peters

April Fields (9th grade): She is doing great job in class, thanks for your hard work. Keep it up." ~S. Peters

Alex Weitzel (4th grade): "Alex has made tremendous improvements in his work and his attitude is wonderful!" ~K. Ballew, Northside Elementary

Giselle Viera (4th grade): "Giselle works hard every day and actively participates in class. She is always willing to help her fellow classmates." ~K.

Black, Northside Elementary

Akalin Collins (4th grade): "Akalin has shown tremendous effort in improving her math grade. She goes out of her way to help me with any task. She is a pleasure to have in class." ~D. Snyder, Northside Elementary

Jayden Rangel (4th grade): "Jayden is a great student, he pays attention and follow directions. Good job!" ~Mrs. Hamilton, Northside Elementary

Lilliana Pena (3rd grade): "Lilliana is a conscientious and responsible young lady that always strives to do her best. She is a model student for her peers." ~D. O'Dell, Northside Elementary

Sana Bham (5th grade): "Sana is always giving me 110 percent all the time. She is incredibly smart and never stops trying. She comes to school ready to learn, and never lets anyone or anything stop her. Sana is a fantastic student all the way around, and she deserves to be a Star Student!" ~N. Miller, Eastside Elementary

Logan Faust (6th grade): "Logan is polite, respectful, a hard worker, and helpful with peers!" ~D. Black, Eastside Elementary

Dinora Gutierrez Garcia (6th grade): "Dinora has shown substantial improvement! Her attitude is great and she is a hard worker! And she is helpful with her peers." ~D. Black, Eastside Elementary

James Berry (6th grade): "James is polite, respectful, and he always has something nice to say." ~D. Black, Eastside Elementary

Katherine Mena (6th grade): "Katherine is an amazing student. She is always so helpful and kind I really enjoy having her in my class." ~K. Manwaring,

Karla Faz (2nd grade): "Karla always finishes all her activities in the classroom. She follow directions and classroom rules all the time." ~J. Martinez, Southside Primary

Perla Ramirez (8th grade): "Perla works very hard in class, she is a voracious reader! She works well with her classmates, and she is respectful to me. She is a Star Student!" ~M. Amini, CMS

Mark A. Hernandez (8th grade): "Mark goes over and beyond to help his fellow students. He recently exhibited this behavior during class when a substitute teacher was in the class, and Mark helped the class stay on task and helped his fellow students with the lesson." ~Dr. Barnes, CMS

Melayna Howard & Nicholas Hines (7th grade): "Both of these students went out of their way to help one of their fellow students with understanding an assignment. Their extra effort makes my classroom a better place and I think they are awesome! Thank you both!" ~J. Conkle, CMS

Antonio Torres (5th grade): "He is so kind and a hard worker, he is willing help you at any time." ~L. McWhorter, Eastside Elementary

o Luis Rodarte (4th grade): "Luis is a hard working student, he is always willing to help his peers and his teachers." ~D. Brown, Northside Elementary

Jocelyn Espinoza (4th grade): "Jocelyn is very helpful and works very hard in math class, she has been a joy to have in my class." ~K. Black, Northside Elementary

Joshua Ruis (4th grade): "Joshua is a sweet person with a very caring heart. He does a great job with his spelling words." ~B. Hamilton, Northside Elementary

Ruben Barron (4th grade): "Ruben always gives 100% effort in class, and is always ready to help others when they are having trouble." ~K. Ballew, Northside

Elementary

James Berry (6th grade): "James is a wonderful student! He is always well mannered and does his best." ~K. Manwaring, Eastside Elementary

Josue Zamora (6th grade): "Josue is making improvements daily and it has not gone unnoticed! Keep up the good work Josue!" ~K. Manwaring, Eastside Elementary

Nathan Maldonado (5th grade): "Nathan is a Star Student because he consistently takes the time to give his best. The extra time he puts in has shown in the improvement of his writing skills. Nathan also always finds a way to help in the classroom!" ~J. Sanchez, Eastside Elementary

Eddi Ramos (5th grade): "Eddi is a reliable, dedicated, and enthusiastic learner. He works well with his peers, and excels on his own. He always has a smile on his face. Eddi is a Star Student!" ~J. Sanchez, Eastside Elementary

Daisy Gonzales (6th grade): "Daisy loves to help other students in math. She has improved her skills in math dramatically! She is an amazing girl!" ~J. Rangel, CMS
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In the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning, hardcore Hatchimals fans lined up outside a Houston Target to snatch up the newest Christmas-season craze.

By 4 a.m., parents looking to buy into this year's most popular fad started queueing up to rush the newest shipment of the part-Furby, part-Tamagotchi toy.

Big chain stores nationwide have been running out of the hatching robotic stuffed animals, sending desperate parents on Hatchimal hunts.

TREE HUNTING: Where to cut down your own tree in the Houston area

The colorful cuties come inside a large egg and as kids care for them and play with them, eventually they hatch into cooing little furry friends with eyes that light up.

One woman who lined up four hours before a Houston Target opened its doors Sunday said she'd been tracking the toy online to see where it would be available.

"I found one so far, but I need four," she said, sitting next to a row of parents waiting in fold-up chairs, hot coffee in hand. A few days earlier, she waited 40 minutes for her first Hatchimal, she said.

CHRISTMAS CONTROVERSY: Religious Charlie Brown display causes backlash

One patient parent walked up to the store's glass doors and peeped inside.

"I'm buying one for my niece," said Alicia Doffing, smiling as she waited outside.

"She better play with it and enjoy it," she joked.

Walmart said Thursday that it started restocking the hot toy after a dry patch and earlier in the week Target announced a new shipment would arrive on Sunday, with a limit of two per person.

"While additional product will hit retail shelves in December, we anticipate this inventory will also sell out quickly," Spin Master, the Hatchimals' maker, cautioned on its website. "We have increased production and a whole new batch of Hatchimals will be ready to hatch in early 2017."

HELP A SANTA: Mr. Claus searching for lost wedding ring

As demand has skyrocketed, parents have resorted to printing out Hatchimals IOU letters from Santa.

But some holiday Grinches have been looking to profit off the toy craze by snatching up dozens and reselling them at a huge mark-up online.

Sara Gruen, the bestselling author known for 2006's "Water for Elephants," snagged more than 150 of the cuddly toys in an effort to raise money to support a prisoner she says has been wrongfully convicted.

But after dropping $23,000 on the adorable toys, the North Carolina-based discovered she could only list three per week on EBay, according to the Philly Voice. To recoup her investment, Gruen launched a Shopify store dubbed Gruen Zoo and off-loaded the coveted toys in short order.
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.
Port Authority commissioner James Rubin was frustrated. Appointed to the bistate agencys board by New York governor Andrew Cuomo a year earlier (in 2011), hed been around long enough to know that the Authoritycharged with ensuring the safe operation of bridges, tunnels, trains, airports, and ports in New York and New Jersey, and with securing the nations highest-value terrorist target, the 16-acre World Trade Center complexwas a complete mess. Spending on security had doubled since 9/11 and now consumed roughly one-fourth of the agencys massive budget. Police overtime, in particular, was soaring, but the Port Authoritys leaders seemed unable to manage their own cops, contending that the unions called the shots.

As head of the Port Authoritys security committee, which oversees the agencys police force and public-safety programs, Rubin decided to force the issue. He wrote to thenPort Authority chairman David Samson, reminding him of the exhaustive evaluation of security policies, personnel, and technology that Michael Chertoff, the former Homeland Security director who now heads a security-consulting firm, had conducted in 2011. The Chertoff teams disturbing conclusion, he wrote, citing the secret report, whose key findings have never previously been disclosed, was that the Port Authoritys security practices were profoundly deficient at every level, in every key functional area.

The main target of the reports devastating judgment, as Rubin called it, was the Port Authority police force. Summarizing his findings in a closed meeting, Chertoff had told the board that the police departments leadership was not only derelict but wholly unprepared for security responsibility. In light of this finding, Rubin wrote in his letter to Samson, a copy of which was obtained by City Journal, it was imperative that we act expeditiously to remedy the problems identified. Though neither Rubin nor Chertoff nor their legal consultants and analysts would respond to calls for comment, Chertoffs team reportedly recommended that the board hire a chief security officer, who would centralize security functions. But this alone would not be enough, the report (and Rubin) stressed: the new security chief couldnt reform or control his force, much less fulfill the Port Authoritys security mandate, if the board failed to empower him by adopting sweeping structural and legal changesespecially to contracts with its police unions.

Though the board appointed Joseph Dunne, a respected former New York Police Department official, as its first security chief soon after Rubins impassioned plea for change, and Dunne and his successor hired more cops and tried to curb costs, almost none of the broader structural and legal reforms that Chertoff recommended were adopted. An examination of the Port Authority police and its operationsincluding correspondence secured under the Freedom of Information Act, other independent reviews of police performance and compensation, and interviews with more than a dozen veteran counterterrorism experts, scholars, and law-enforcement officialssuggests that the Authoritys police remain poorly managed, overcompensated, and hamstrung by work rules. These rules, negotiated by the unions and accepted by Port Authority management, are a particular problem when it comes to security because they restrict the agencys ability to deploy its police effectively.

The police forces woes cant be separated from those of the scandal-prone Port Authority and its growing politicization. Political patronage infuses the agencyironically, in that the Port Authority was born in the Progressive era and intended by its architects to exemplify expert nonpolitical governance. (See The Port Authority Leviathan, Winter 2016.) New Jersey governor Chris Christie, for instance, initially won the loyalty of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association (PAPBA) early in 2013 by promising to ensure that Authority police, and not the NYPD, would be in charge of security at the World Trade Centers new Freedom Tower. The Port Authority has long viewed Ground Zero as an iconic part of its domain, since 37 of its cops died there on 9/11, almost twice as many as the NYPD lost. But Christies pledge also assured the creation of hundreds of new jobs and dues-paying members for the union, which now represents some 1,500 of the Port Authoritys 1,900 cops. (The main contract, expired since 2010, continues in force.)

The governors vow, following the unions endorsement, that he would nevernot ever on my watch let the NYPD protect the Trade Center site set off a bitter turf war with then-NYPD commissioner Raymond Kelly, who refused to accept a marginal role for his officers at the complex. The two police departments eventually hammered out a memorandum of understanding, calling for shared policing authority and spending. Relations improved further after Kelly retired and was succeeded by William J. Bratton (who has just himself retired). But New York cops dislike of their Port Authority counterparts continues to simmer, reinforced by a historical rivalry and by resentment of the Authority forces far more generous compensation and retirement benefits and less demanding working hours.

Patronage also played a role in a scandal in which the Port Authority police union has been implicatedBridgegate, which arose from a decision by Christies aides to order lane closings and cause massive gridlock at the George Washington Bridge, the nations busiest motor-vehicle crossing, to punish Fort Lees mayor for refusing to endorse the governors reelection. David Samson, the chairman to whom Rubin complained and Governor Christies highest-ranking appointee, resigned in disgrace in 2014 and pleaded guilty in July to bribery charges. Chertoff, to whom he had awarded the sole-source, $1.3 million contract to review the Authoritys operations, nonetheless served as his lead attorney. Governor Christies other senior appointee, Bill Baroni, the Port Authoritys deputy executive director, went on trial in September for Bridgegate-related charges.

PAPBA head Paul Nunziato initially defended the lane closures, telling the press that he had come up with the idea to study new traffic patterns at the bridge. But the subsequent discovery of e-mails by Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly calling for some traffic problems in Fort Lee demolished Nunziatos story. He wound up under investigation, suspected of having helped facilitate the closures to curry favor with the governor. Neither he nor anyone from the union has been accused of wrongdoing, but a key witness in the Bridgegate trial testified that Nunziato offered to lie to protect Christies appointees.

Recent security breaches, including at the World Trade Center site, raise alarms about the effectiveness of public-safety functions at the Port Authority. In 2013, four men, one of whom worked in construction at the World Trade Center site, BASE-jumped off the Freedom Tower and filmed their stunt. Soon after, a 16-year-old fascinated by the tower donned a hard hat, scrambled through a hole in the fence, and rode to the 88th floor with the help of a construction-elevator operator, though he had no ID. Other incidents arouse concern. In 2014, nine rookie Port Authority police, celebrating their police-academy graduation, were fired, and three of their supervisors disciplined, after getting drunk and disorderly at an infamous Hoboken bar.

Even deeper problems were evident in August, when a stampede at John F. Kennedy Airport was triggered by false reports of a terrorist attack in Terminal 1 and Terminal 8, the latter staying closed for several hours. Despite the Port Authoritys frequent drills and trainingits police must get live-fire training each year, which even the NYPD doesnt mandatethe agencys reaction seemed dysfunctional. While senior NYPD and Port Authority police praised their own officers response, calling it textbook, the police union and several of those caught up in the melee strenuously disagreed. There was no addressable signage; police had no access to public address systems, or cell phone alert systems to alert patrons or tell them where to go, Nunziato said in a press release. In a separate letter provided to City Journal, he blasted the Authority for having no plan to communicate with the public and for allowing information from social mediawrong, misdirected and without confirmationto fill the vacuum.

Other observers, however, blamed the Port Authority police for the fiasco. A senior NYPD official told the Daily News that the PAPD needed a lot more preparation on procedures. The union said that part of the problem was that not enough officers were on duty, but the average cost for employing a Port Authority cop has risen so much that hiring new employees has become exorbitant; regional airport budgets have come under fire for their bloat. United Airlines filed a complaint with the FAA, which singled out police compensation as a key factor.

Others have complained about the cost and effectiveness of the PA police. In the 2013 New York mayoral race, Republican candidate Joe Lhota said that he had long had reservations about the PAPDs competence. He later apologized for calling them mall cops.

Relations between the agency and its police union have been contentious for decades, as official correspondence from the early 1990s, provided by a former Port Authority official, reveals. As far back as the 1960s, unions were contesting the agencys efforts, over a 15-year transition period, to let civilians perform such nonspecialized duties as collecting tolls and manning tunnel catwalk booths. In a 1990 memo to Stanley Brezenoff, then the agencys executive director, Louis LaCapra, the human-resources director, grumbled about the unions successful pushback, starting in 1978, against civilianization. LaCapra noted that the unions had blocked the creation of new civilian guard posts at the World Trade Center and at Port Newark and had forced the Authority to stop civilians from abandoning cars at Pier 40. Arbitration decisions had given police the exclusive right to drive ambulances at Newark airport, he added, which police had never before done there. The union also claimed on behalf of its members the responsibility for making first contact with homeless persons at Authority facilities, to the exclusion of social workers or anyone else. These measures increased costs and lessened efficiency.

Relations between the agency and its police union have been contentious for decades, as official correspondence reveals.

In a memo to the commissioners from July 1990, Port Authority executive director Stephen Berger observed that it was apparent for some time that the agencys police unions had a radically different view of themselves and their mission than does the management of the Port Authority. A consultant hired to assess what was then known as the Public Safety Department agreed that the loyalties of many of our police officers are to the unions, not to the Port Authority and that the police saw themselves as on a mission to enforce federal and state criminal laws, rather than to protect life and property at, and to facilitate the operations of, Port Authority facilities. If there was a justification for our having a separate police force, Berger wrote, it was to meet the agencys specific needs. The polices focus on catching bad guys, he argued, diverts police attention and resources away from the areas in which they could actually contribute most effectively to the safety and security of people using our facilities. The emphasis on arresting large numbers of people for minor offenses at the bus terminal, for instance, often left inadequate numbers of officers patrolling the building. This, in turn, prompted a general impression of disorder and of insecurity among travelers, tenants, and others at the Terminal, he wrote.

Police unions, Berger lamented, had taken a remarkably insular view of such issues. Bergers effort to defuse tensions by meeting with union leaders to explain their conflicting visions had failed. Predictably, but unfortunately, he wrote, the immediate reaction has been resistance. During the next few months, Berger intended to re-establish management control of police functions in a number of critical areas, including routine security functions at the World Trade Center, patrolling airport parking lots, abandoned-car duty, and contacts with the homeless. If the police union refused to compromise and relinquish such minimum basically civilian functions, he concluded, he would urge the commissioners to consider whether the agencys police could and perhaps should be part of the general policing obligations of the NYPD and the New Jersey State Police. Other functions, he argued, could clearly be performed with equal or greater effectiveness, at lower cost by civilians. But based on his experience with the Authoritys police unions, he concluded, he could not be optimistic about our ability to secure a satisfactory outcome.

Others share that skepticism. Current commissioner Kenneth Lipper said that he did not know whether it would be possible to dissolve the PAPD and have local and state law enforcement and private contractors ensure security: Is the NYPD willing to take over these functions? Does the contract permit it? Would we get the same coverage and protection? Would both governors permit it?

Today, Port Authority management missteps and union victories continue to shape staffing assignments for PAPD officersmost dubiously, for the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) cadres. Thanks to a decades-old contractual obligation between the Authority and the union that requires police officers to perform firefighting and rescue duty at airportsan arrangement in effect at no other U.S. airportscops who fight fires and do rescue work at Authority airports have been trained for double duty. As a result, theyre paid a lot extraup to $144,000 per year. But in 2012, the FAA fined the Port Authority for misreporting training and for failing to assign police who were trained as firefighters to the airports. The federal agency also barred those assigned ARFF duty at airports from doing patrol duty and other police work. Some Authority officials hoped to assign fire and rescue personnel who were paid much less than expensive cops. But the union got wind of this, and in a 2013 settlement got the Authority to agree to assign cops to these posts, though they could no longer go on patrol.

The result has been a dramatic rise in total security expenditures, including overtime and new police to replace those lost to ARFF. According to public documents, the aviation budget department containing the ARFF team was responsible for $154 million of the $211 million hike in Authority-wide security spending planned between 2009 and 2016or roughly 70 percent of the increase. The union blames Port Authority management for running afoul of the FAA. This was managements fault for losing months of firefighting training records, said Robert Egbert, the unions spokesman. If management wanted to take the jobs away from the union, it was obligated to enter a negotiation. This was yet another terrible management mistake, he said. But the union has fought to hang on to its expensive prerogatives.

The burden of the police departments costs weighs heavily on the Port Authority. A detailed report of what Port Authority police earn, compared with what neighboring police departments earn (prepared by the Citizens Budget Commission, a New York Citybased public watchdog group), concluded in late 2012 that the Port Authority Police Department, then about 1,700 strong, was already one of the countrys largest and most richly compensated law-enforcement units. At the time, the commission estimated that payments to police constituted about $372 million of the Port Authoritys $406 million public-safety budget. Within New York and New Jersey, only the Nassau and Suffolk County police were paid more. Port Authority senior officers received hourly pay 25 percent to 48 percent above that of senior officers at neighboring municipal police forces. Excluding overtime, pensions, and health benefits, average salaries for rank-and-file police topped $108,157 after six years of service and rose to $117,884 in their 25th year. And unlike officers in New Jersey, Port Authority police dont contribute to their health insurance, a benefit that can add an amount comparable to 50 percent of their base salaries to their compensation, the CBC reported.

Supplemental pay made compensation disparities even more pronounced. Port Authority police earned from as much as 14 times the compensation of Jersey City cops to double that of senior NYPD officers. Senior Port Authority police earned 23 percent more than federal agents, and between 32 percent and 57 percent more than New York and New Jersey state troopers. Yet Port Authority police worked fewer hours a year than officers in other police forces, with more days off and shorter tours.

A consistent factor in this pay gap, according to an analysis of Port Authority compensation between 2008 and 2014 obtained by Open the Books, a watchdog group pressing for greater government transparency, is overtime. Overtime work for police at Port Authority has been out of control for years, says Adam Andrzejewski, the groups founder. Overtime costs at the agency over the past seven years have averaged roughly $300,000 a day, $2 million a week, and more than $100 million a year, much of that earned by the police. City Journals Steven Malanga describes a typical example, culled from Open the Books data. Thanks largely to overtime sweeteners provided by the Port Authority, one police lieutenant who retired in 2013 with an annual salary of $129,000 began collecting the following year a lifetime pension of $172,000, or one-third above his base pay. (See Bloated, Broke, and Bullied, Spring 2016.) According to the Open the Books database, public-safety employees are extremely well compensated, even within Port Authority ranks. Between 2008 and 2014, seven of the top 15 most highly compensated Authority employees worked in security: three police sergeants, two police lieutenants, and two rank-and-file police officers. Their total compensationwhich includes base pay, overtime, comp-time cash-in, longevity bonus, shift-differential payments, time-off pay, unspecified retro-payments and one- time payments, FICA pickup payments, and all other paymentsranged from $324,000 to $403,000.

Containing overtime was a priority for Joseph Dunne, the Authoritys first security chief. Oscar Tango, Dunne said in an interview in the spring of 2014, using police jargon for overtime, has a lot to do with what gets done. Thats just a fact of things. The same was true for the NYPD, he added, but his former employers overtime costs per capita are far lower than those of the Port Authority. Dunne confirmed that the PAPDs overtime costs were growing rapidly as he came on board: $80 million in 2011, $107 million in 2012, and $139 million in 2013.

To get overtime under control, Dunne and his then-deputy, Thomas Belfiore, another NYPD veteran who succeeded him in the PAs top security post, hired the two largest police recruit classes in recent Port Authority history, adding up to 450 new officers. Between 2012 and 2016, they also hired 18 law-enforcement officers from outside the force to fill senior ranks. Only one of the rank-and-file police represented by Nunziatos PAPBA applied for promotion, since it would mean the loss of overtime.

Overall, Belfiore says, the Port Authority and its security department have made significant progress in reining in overtime and other expensesbut the Port Authoritys proposed budget documents, found on its website, suggest a different story. Though the PAPD overtime budget was briefly curtailed in 2015 to 738,000 hoursand overtime through March, Port Authority officials say, is below its projected levelthe planned overtime budget for the entire year has risen to 1,041,000 hourshigher than in 2014, despite the employment of hundreds of new cops who were supposed to right-size the department. Commissioner Kenneth Lipper, from New York, noted: Overtime costs are largely police-related. And thats because of contractual issues and a culture within the police department.

Lipper added, When junior people are offered overtime, they tend not to take it and leave it for the senior police, where its embedded in their pensions. That really drives up costs. The agencys security budget continues to grow, increasing from $454 million in 2009 to $645 million in 2015. The projected security budget for 2016 is $662 million, or 22 percent of the proposed operating budget.

Some counterterrorism experts say that the Port Authoritys police will never be reformed until management wrests control from the union, a view echoed by several top security officials who know the police force best. Belfiore and Dunne, for instance, point to specific examples of contractual terms that limit the forces productivity. The Authority, said Dunne, has yet to control unpredictable, unlimited sick time, which is guaranteed by union rules. Another problem is managements limited ability to control police deployments. Under the union contract, rank-and-file police bid on assignments, which, with few exceptions, get awarded according to seniority. So you wont always get the people best suited for an assignment, Belfiore says.

To take another example of onerous rules, the contract provisions governing the Authoritys K-9 unit, composed of some 28 dogs and handlers, reduce the number of functional hours that officers work. The dogs, Belfiore said, must be transported to and from a handlers home to his assignment at a transport hub or the World Trade Center, or, in the event of vacation or rest time, to one of the Authoritys kennels. In addition to getting the standard 75 minutes a day for meals and other breaks, moreover, K-9 handlers get a special K-9 hour, usually the last hour of every day, to care for their dogs. While the Transportation Security Administration offsets some of these expenses, it doesnt cover all of them, Belfiore says. The unions Egbert defends the K-9 provisions. Unlike people, he said, dogs cannot work an eight-hour shift. They must be hydrated, fed, and get rest, he said. A dog is a being.

Overturning such prerogatives is difficult at the Port Authority, its officials complain, because of the unions power. Port Authority police enjoy numerous protections, including a provision of the bylaws, known as Rule 3, that gives them the right to refuse to cooperate with internal investigations. The agencys inspector, Michael Nestor, recently told the Bergen Record that the PAPBA is a consistent roadblock to investigations and to disciplinary actions, adding that officers routinely refuse to cooperate with investigations, including disciplinary matters. Earlier this summer, the Bergen Record reported, the union persuaded friendly New Jersey legislators to kill a bill that would have eliminated Rule 3. The union, for its part, says that Rule 3 has never stopped a criminal investigation and that the right to refuse to answer questions in a disciplinary interview exists for all Port Authority employees, unionized or not.

Port Authority officials and independent terrorism experts say that Chertoff and his team oversaw the last sustained effort to wrest management control of the Port Authoritys police force from its many contractual obligations. Dunne confirmed that Chertoffs group had warned him that the Port Authority police suffered from a lack of senior management. Some of our senior officers were running two or three commands, he said, and you just cant do it. Its impossible.

Two sources said that the Chertoff report, though lengthy, did not contain written recommendations. Rather, they explained, Chertoff conveyed his findings in meetings with senior Port Authority officials. After reviewing the police forces union contracts, as one source reported and another confirmed, the Chertoff team lawyers unanimously called them, from a management standpoint, the worst they had ever seen. Mike Delikat, a partner at Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe; Daniel Murphy, Jr., a partner at Putney, Twombly, Hall & Hirson; and Robert W. Lynn, now New York Citys commissioner of the Office of Labor Relations, called the contracts massive giveaways. They reportedly also agreed that the contracts should be renegotiated to bring them more in line with those of comparable police departments. The Chertoff team formulated a substantial reform plan, along with a resolution to implement it, which Chertoff discussed with several commissioners.

It was this resolution that Rubin tried, once more, to persuade the Port Authoritys governing board to adopt. In his letter, dated October 18, 2012, he informed Chairman Samson that Baroni, then the deputy executive director of the agency, had told him that no Christie-appointed commissioners who were members of his security committee would even agree to discuss the resolution. I regret that, Rubin wrote. Every week we delay empowering the new CSO [chief security officer], we are delaying the actions our consultants say are necessary to keep our facilities safe. Four years later, the Port Authority police force remains the weak link in the New York metro areas public-safety profile.

Research for this article was supported by the Brunie Fund for New York Journalism. This is the fourth in a series of articles on the Port Authority.

Top Photo: False reports of a shooting at JFK Airport in August set off panic among travelers, left confused by lack of communication by Port Authority police. (BRIGITTE DUSSEAU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
cleveland police car 2.jpg

Two people were shot early Sunday during a home invasion in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood, police said.

(File photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Two people were injured early Sunday in a shooting that occurred during a home invasion in the city's Tremont neighborhood, police said.

The shooting happened on the 3100 block of West 11th Street, Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said. The two victims arrived at MetroHealth in a private car about 2 a.m.

One of the victims suffered a gunshot wound to the back, and the second victim was shot in the thumb, Ciaccia said. Their current conditions are unknown.

Few details about the circumstances of the shooting were released Sunday morning. It's unclear if the shooting victims were staying at the home or if they were responsible for the break-in.

This post will be updated if more information about the incident is released Sunday.

If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section.
Arkansas Executions

This July 2014 file photo shows bottles of the sedative midazolam at a hospital pharmacy in Oklahoma City. Ohio is planning to execute its first death row prisoner in three years next month using a three-drug cocktail that includes midazolam -- but pursuant to a 2014 shield law that masks how the state acquired the drug.

(AP)

The Ohio Bill of Rights forbids the state from inflicting cruel and unusual punishments. But the shameful secrecy imposed by a 2014 Ohio law makes it impossible for citizens to judge whether the method the state plans to use starting next month to resume executing prisoners violates that prohibition or other aspects of Ohio law.

We have long opposed capital punishment. It is erratically imposed -- more often than not, carried out against those without means. Death-penalty appeals cost taxpayers plenty and pain victims' families. And there's always the possibility an innocent person will be executed.

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Yet whether an Ohioan favors or opposes the death penalty, there are serious questions about whether Ohio's administration of lethal injection is constitutional.

The state's first lethal injection law, signed 15 years ago by Republican Gov. Bob Taft, says Ohio must use "a drug or combination of drugs of sufficient dosage to quickly and painlessly cause death."

Convicted murderer Dennis McGuire isn't alive to testify whether his January 2014 execution, Ohio's most recent, was painless. But his execution wasn't quick, after the state was forced to use an experimental combination of two drugs on McGuire because makers of a preferred drug in its execution cocktail had forbidden its use for executions.

A witness of McGuire's execution, Alan Johnson of The Columbus Dispatch, reported that, about five minutes after the drugs started flowing, McGuire visibly "struggled, made guttural noises, gasped for air and choked for about 10 minutes" then "issued two final gasps and became still." It was 24 minutes into the process before he was pronounced dead.

True, as Johnson also reported, McGuire's death "wasn't the terrifying, brutal death he inflicted on his 22-year-old victim in 1989." The murder of Joy Stewart, of Preble County's West Alexandria, also denied life to her unborn son.

Ohio's next execution, the first since McGuire's, is set for Jan. 12, when Ronald Phillips is scheduled to die for the 1993 Summit County rape and murder of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter.

For Phillips' execution, an Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman confirmed, the agency intends to use a three-drug mixture -- a combination of midazolam, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride. The spokeswoman added that the department has "all three drugs in its possession" and that they're "FDA approved" but she would not comment as to the source, citing the 2014 shield law.

The blanket secrecy surrounding Ohio executions makes it impossible for Ohioans to know whether the state is overpaying for drugs and who is benefiting, or whether Ohio's constitutional ban on cruelty is being traduced in their names.

Executions in Ohio should not resume until this repugnant silence on a matter of grave public importance is lifted.

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Mario Innocenzi filled a truck with items to take to the Tennesse forest fire victims.

(Mark Holan/special to cleveland.com)

PARMA, Ohio - Mario Innocenzi has been the owner/operator of Mario's Barbershop in the Pleasant Valley Shopping Center for the past year.

He bought the barbershop from a barber who had it for 60 years. His sons, Nikko and Zak, cut hair with him and will continue the business after he retires.

He also has a big heart.

When he and his wife and family went to the Westgate Resort in Gatlinburg, Tennessee this past summer, they had a great time, but when they were returning from a family trip to Orlando Thanksgiving Weekend, they found the resort and the surrounding communities ravaged by forest fires.

It broke Innocenzi's heart to see such devastation and the affect it has had on thousands of families and businesses. In the spirit of Christmas, he decided to collect food and clothing and toys for the families of that area.

"I've got kids and grandchildren," Innocenzi said, "and it would have killed me to think that they had nothing Christmas morning."

He put up a post on Facebook and got the word out that he wanted to fill a truck with anything and everything people would be willing to donate.

He called a friend of his, Spencer Chapil, who owns Bright Eyed Moving and Storage in Wickliffe, and Chapil donated the use of a truck. Innocenzi asked clients and friends to fill the truck, which he planned to drive down to the Pathways Church in Sevierville, Tennessee Dec. 10.

He parked the truck in front of the barbershop Dec. 5, and by the end of the week, it was filled with new and used clothing, canned goods, bottles of water and paper products.

"Someone even dropped off 500 pounds of dog food," Innocenzi said. "We can't forget about them."
CEO , CEO and COO are among the small group of top tech leaders who will attend a summit with President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday at Trump Tower in Manhattan, according to numerous sources with knowledge of the situation.

Invites for the gathering went out last week, as has been previously reported, but only to a small group of largely Silicon Valley execs whose names were not announced.

But  as Recode can now report, because we still do that quaint journalism thing  is a very heady group of less than a dozen, comprising most of the key players in the sector.

Those who will be attending (although most of the companies declined to comment to Recode) along with Page, Cook and Sandberg, include: CEO Satya Nadella; CEO Chuck Robbins; CEO Ginni Rometty; CEO Brian Krzanich; and CEO Safra Katz.

It's not clear who the others are, but sources said CEO and founder Jeff Bezos was invited. He is likely to attend, said sources.

Bezos' presence would be awkward, obviously, given how aggressive his Washington Post has been in its reporting on Trump and how many times the reality show star turned President-elect has attacked Amazon on a number of issues.

Trump has done the same to Apple, dinging it on taxes and the making of its popular products outside of the U.S. He even called for a boycott of Apple after it refused to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.

The invite for the Wednesday event came from Trump's chief of staff Reince Priebus, as well as his son-in-law and chief whisperer Jared Kushner and, of course, his biggest tech supporter, investor Peter Thiel.

Those close to the process said that Thiel  who is on the Facebook board with Sandberg  and others helping Trump reach out to the tech community had a hard time convincing them to attend, largely due to his persistent public hostility to one of the U.S. economy's few bright and innovative arenas.

In addition, most of Silicon Valley's leadership backed Trump rival and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and were even more supportive of outgoing President Barack Obama.

Tech companies also stand on the other side of a myriad of key issues from Trump, including immigration reform, encryption and a range of social concerns. But those involved said that tech leaders had little choice in accepting the invitation, even if they wanted to decline, opting to engage now even if they later oppose Trump.

"Look, this is obviously a circus," said one person close to the situation. "Everyone in tech just wants to be invisible right now when it comes to this administration, but has to participate since we have done it before."

The list of those not invited is even more interesting, including from pretty much all of its most innovative companies.

Thus, no on Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, no on Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, no on CEO Reed Hastings, no on CEO Marc Benioff, no on Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield and no on Dropbox CEO Drew Houston.

In other words, most of the cool kids are staying West. "I think my invite got lost in the mail," joked one. "Of course, this kind of thing will never happen again as of January."

And prominent venture capitalists and entrepreneurs like Marc Andreessen, Max Levchin and Reid Hoffman were also not invited. Let that sink in  both Levchin and Hoffman worked with Thiel at PayPal and are close to him. Hoffman has been a big critic of Trump and continues to be.

Sources also said Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman, another prominent and vocal Trump detractor, is also not going. During the campaign, the Republican stalwart  one of the few in Silicon Valley  called Trump a "dishonest demagogue" and compared him to Hilter and Mussolini. Let's be fair, that's pretty hard to walk back.

Another prominent techie, Jack Dorsey, CEO and inventor of Twitter, Trump's favorite method of digital communication, told me last week he was not invited and later said he was not sure if he was. I have asked for clarification, but maybe Trump will tweet it out soon enough.
watch now

Consumers plan to spend this holiday season, an average of nearly $936. That is one of the highest averages on record, according to the National Retail Federation. With so many options, how do you find the perfect gift without going over budget? Consumer Reports, which reviews products all year, recommended a broad list of stocking stuffers and full-fledged gifts.



Stocking Stuffers

Source: Consumer Reports

"When it comes to stocking stuffers you want to get the most value for your dollar," Lauren Lyons Cole, Consumer Reports' money editor, told CNBC's "On the Money" recently. Her suggestions may appeal to the foodie on your list. For example, the Sur La Table Citrus Reamer ($5) is a hand juicer designed to get every last drop of juice out of your fruit.

"Our testers found super easy to use, easy to clean and it's the price of one fresh juice," Cole told CNBC's On The Money.







Source: Consumer Reports

Another option for a simple gift is Sidehill Farm Jam ($6 for a 9 oz. container) The tasty jam is handmade in Vermont and contains only natural ingredients, fruit and sugar.



Source: Consumer Reports

The last stocking stuffer Consumer Reports recommends is the Microplane Premium Classic Zester/Grater, which sells for about $15. "It's easy to zest with and it adds a lot of flavor to your dishes," said Cole.





'Everyone's taking photos'

Source: Consumer Reports

If you are looking to spend a little more, Consumer Reports says there are great options that won't break the bank. Their first recommendation is the Photojojo Telephoto Lens 2X ($20), a lens which can be added to a smart phone to make pictures sharper.

"Everyone is taking photos on your phone these days and I think this is a gift that is going to look a lot more expensive that it actually is," Cole said.





Source: Consumer Reports

For music lover, Consumers Reports recommends the Scosche SportClip 3 Earbuds ($30). "These are only $30 but these tested as having very good sound quality, which is hard to find at this price point," said Cole.





$50 Budget

Source: Consumer Reports

If you're looking to spend around $50, Consumer Reports recommends the Cuisinart Power Advantage HM50 ($40), a hand mixer their testing found outperformed models that cost twice as much. There are less addons to this mixer, but the magazine said the wire beaters work.

Source: Consumer Reports

For the cord-cutter, Consumer Reports suggests the Roku Streaming Stick ($50), which lets you get your favorite shows and movies anywhere with an Internet connection. While Roku sells more expensive models, the magazine said this one rated excellent in picture quality and features.



$100 Budget

Source: Consumer Reports

If you're looking to spend more, there are items that will appeal to the techie on your list. The Merge VR Goggles ($80) are a virtual reality headset that works with both Apple and Android smartphones. They are made of soft foam and have adjustable lenses for a better fit.





Source: Consumer Reports

For the coffee-lover, there is the Bruer Cold Bruer ($80), which makes cold-brewed coffee. "It's the fastest rated cold brewing system and it also has a permanent filter, so it's easy for cleanup," Cole said.





Source: Consumer Reports

For the home-chef, Consumer Reports recommends the Cuisinart Classic Knife Set ($80). "It comes with 50 knives. That's like $5 per knife, you can't find that. They're very lightweight so they performed well," said Cole.



Splurge Gifts

Source: Consumer Reports

If budget is no object, the magazine recommends the Sonos Play 5 Wireless Speaker ($500), which also happens to top Consumer Reports' rating list. "This is amazing for getting sound all throughout your home. It is wire free, so very simple to set-up," Cole said.





Source: Consumer Reports
Amazon 's new concept convenience store doesn't just save money, it saves shoppers' time. That, however, is part of what makes the rise of the robots unstoppable, one expert said. At a time when a growing number of observers have lamented the potential impact of growing automation on flesh and bone workers, the retail giant introduced something that may be a game-changer. On Monday, Amazon announced a new Seattle location, Amazon Go, that has no registers. Instead, shoppers scan into the store with their free Amazon Go app, shop as normal, and leave the store with the items billed to their Amazon.com account. "With Amazon, it's not just about reducing labor costs at all  they've come up with something disruptive," Martin Ford told CNBC's "Power Lunch" this week. "I don't think there is anyone that doesn't hate standing in line at a retail store, and they've figured out a way to basically get rid of those lines," he said. "So this is something that is not just about eliminating jobs, it's going to create enormous advantages for consumers. So it's an inevitable process."

Amazon employees are pictured outside the Amazon Go brick-and-mortar grocery store without lines or checkout counters, in Seattle Washington, U.S. December 5, 2016. Jason Redmond | Reuters

It's unclear exactly how ambitious Amazon's expansion plans are for Amazon Go, but it faced immediate backlash as "the end of jobs." "I don't think we can stop it," said Ford, the author of "Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future." "It's a part of capitalism, that there's going to be this continuous drive for more efficiency."

Ford pointed out that retail salespersons and cashiers were among the occupations with highest employment in the U.S., according to Bureau of Labor statistics data from earlier this year.

What it leads to is more job destruction, and less job creation, especially for average typical people that don't necessarily have PhDs from MIT. Martin Ford Author of "Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future."
As Iraq's government battles against terrorists, a few investors aren't entirely deterred from seeing opportunities in the war-weary country, which has yet to ascend to formal emerging market status. Some are taking a "long view" that calibrates inherent risks against potential opportunities.

Iraq is gradually emerging from a brutal two-year economic downturn, coupled with a bloody conflict with ISIS, and still percolating civil strife that has wreaked havoc on its infrastructure and institutions. Last month, one investor told CNBC a full-fledged economic revival would take at least a decade to come to fruition.

Yet a 2015 State Department report noted Iraq's "long term potential" for U.S. investors, largely based on its status as the world's fifth largest repository of oil reserves and massive reconstruction and infrastructure development needs. "U.S. companies have opportunities to invest in security, energy, environment, construction, healthcare, agriculture, and infrastructure sectors," the report said, noting Iraq's voracious import demand needs.

Meanwhile, a few experts point to the oil rich country's vast natural resources, and a youthful and growing population that provides it with the manpower to achieve stabilityeventually. Along with a growth rate predicted to top 7 percent this year, Iraq's underlying fundamentals make it a golden opportunity for investors brave enough to look beyond the sound and fury. So where might crafty investors place their faithand funds?



"Two major themes will drive Iraq's revival over the immediate and long term," Ahmed Tabaqchali, chief investment officer of the Iraq Fund at Hong Kong-based Asia Frontier Capital told CNBC recently. The firm specializes in frontier and exotic investments.

Tabaqchali explained that rebuilding with the country's booming population in mind should help drive growth.

"Wholesale infrastructure, careful rebuilding of the economy and reconstruction of ISIS-liberated areas are key," he told CNBC in an interview from London, as will consumer consumption. "Iraq's young population is hungry to catch up with the rest of the world after all the years of conflict," he added.




Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a town hall meeting on March 14, 2016 at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa , Florida.

President-elect Donald Trump dismissed a CIA assessment that Russia provided WikiLeaks hacked emails in order to help him win the election.

"I think it's ridiculous," Trump said in an interview with Fox News broadcast Sunday. "I think it's just another excuse."

Trump said he doesn't believe the report, and doesn't know why it came out. When asked about Democrats in the House asking for a probe into the hacking and President Barack Obama ordering a review, Trump said Obama has been respectful about the change of power process. He also pointed out that people should investigate other countries and individuals outside of Russia.

"They talk about all sorts of things," he said. "We had a massive landslide victory as you know in the Electoral College. I guess the final numbers are 306, and she's down to a very low number. No, I don't believe that at all."

Actually, Trump's unofficial 306 to 232 margin over Hillary Clinton ranked 46th of the 58 Electoral College votes for president in terms of percentage (56.9 percent).

The New York Times reported American intelligence agencies have "high confidence" that Russia intervened in the later stages of the 2016 election to help Trump win the presidency. Senior administration officials said the Russian government gave WikiLeaks emails from the Democratic National Committee and from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. The agencies also found evidence that Russia hacked the Republican National Committee's computer systems, but did not release the information.

Trump also addressed taking an unprecedented phone call from Taiwan, saying he was notified of the short congratulatory call a few hours before it came in.

"I fully understand the 'one China policy,' but I don't know why we have to be bound unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade," Trump said.

The call was the first time a president-elect or president had contact with Taiwan since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, according to Reuters.



The president-elect said it would have been "very disrespectful" not to take the call, and pointed out that China has been linked to devaluation of the American dollar, placing heavy taxes on American goods coming into its country, and building a "fortress" in the South China Sea. He also said that its biggest fault was "frankly not helping us with North Korea."

"I don't want China dictating to me, and this was a call put into me," Trump said. "It was a very nice call. Short. And why should some other nation be able to say I can't take a call?"



The president-elect brushed off the need for daily intelligence briefs, according to The New York Times. He said his vice president, Mike Pence, would receive them, and he would take them "when I need it."

"You know, I'm, like, a smart person," he said. "I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years," he said.



In addition, Trump will discuss his potential picks for secretary of State, which include Exxon Mobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Mitt Romney.

He also addressed how he believed maintaining a stake in NBC's "The New Celebrity Apprentice" and his real estate holdings was not a conflict of interest since he wasn't actively managing the companies. Trump added last week he turned down seven deals with "one big player, great player" worth $1 billion because it may be perceived as a conflict of interest.

Disclosure: NBC is owned by NBCUniversal, which is the parent company of CNBC.


Dennis Gates and new-look Mizzou basketball ready for introduction

It's been an offseason filled with change for Missouri basketball. Now, Dennis Gates and company are ready to get the games underway
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Im not at all sure that George W.Bush would always have polled well among Conservative Party members, so Donald Trumps lack of emphatic support among them is perhaps not all that surprising.

Indeed, he is recovering his position, if our monthly survey is anything to go by. In August, we asked whether Party member respondents would rather he or Hillary Clinton won Americas presidental election.

She took 46 per cent to his 17 per cent  further evidence, were it needed, that this sites readers are not the knuckle-draggers that some tend to assume.

Seventeen per cent, by coincidence or otherwise, say that they are very pleased that he won in our latest survey. Twenty-seven per cent say that they are pleased. So thats 44 per cent on the plus side of the ledger for Trump.

Meanwhile, 17 per cent are very displeased  those those with the strongest feelings cancel themselves out. To that total, add 14 per cent who are simply displeased, and one thus finds 31 per cent, the best part of a third, unhappy with his victory.

The rest refuse to make up their minds yet, if ever. We had 851 replies to the survey overall, with only two respondents skipping the question. Love him or loathe him, Americas president-elect gets people going.
CORNWALL, Ontario  Santa and Mrs. Claus dropped into the Benson Centre on Saturday, Dec. 10 to encourage knitters as they participated in a Knit In. Warm Up Cornwall, a non-profit organization, held the Knit In, which asked volunteers of all skill levels to join them to knit warmth items to help keep Cornwall warm.

Co-Founders of Warm Up Cornwall, Chantal and John Gilmour have been keeping Cornwall warm for a few years now. They had been donating knitted items to the Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers, Big Sister and the Agape Centre as well as leaving items in random areas where people may find themselves in need of a hat, mitts or a scarf. This year they were asked by the Red Cross to take over the Knitting Program. Previous years, John Gilmour explained, the Red Cross program handed out 1,500 to 3,000 items annually.

The group is always looking for more volunteer knitters, but they also have a holiday wish; Warm Up Cornwall needs a donated place to meet.

Knitting is a social activity. said John Gilmour. With that in mind, he said, We need a larger facility, so we can do more Knit Ins. We would like to do this at least two times a week.

Warm Up Cornwall supplies knitted items to many area charities, as well as providing local schools with a continuous stock of mitts and hats. The small group, including expert knitters, novices and a few yarn rollers who gathered to help fulfill the need, enjoyed the festive guests.

Gilmour later said, We figure we will hand out 400 sets in just the winter celebration, and another 200 along Pitt Street at bus stops and randomly place within the area.

Volunteer knitter, Teena Raymond learned of this Knit In from a Facebook post. She explained her grandma taught her to knit as a child. She has recently taken up the hobby again. It really sucks to be broke and cold in the winter, she said. If I can knit something to help someone out, I will.

Warm up Cornwall has drop off locations for finished items (knitted and non-knitted items) and yarn at different locations in Cornwall. If you have a facility they could use to meet or want more information about the group visit: https://www.facebook.com/Warm.Up.Cornwall.Ontario/

They are always looking for more knitters. Gilmour, who is a yarn roller said, Knitters are the smartest people I know. Everything they make, they make with love.
It was a much-needed boost for Connecticut when Henkel elected in October to create a new office in Stamford for its huge consumer products division and move hundreds of jobs east from Scottsdale, Ariz., where the unit has been based.

As it turns out, those Arizona newcomers may be acquainted with a few locals upon their arrival.

In a new study of city-to-city household moves by the U.S. Census Bureau, Fairfield County continued to attract far more new residents from New York City and its outlying suburbs than it ceded, gaining nearly 5,700 people in 2014 on a net basis in the annual exchange of taxpayers and talent.

But the census report illustrates the impact other locales have in the overall local population, whether cross-country  including the Phoenix area, where nearly 400 people loaded moving trucks for a relocation to Fairfield County in 2014, versus 200 people heading that way  internationally, or even with Connecticuts borders.

If Florida is feared as a magnet for moneyed Fairfield County residents seeking sunnier climes and shelter from Connecticut taxes, other parts of Connecticut draw far more people, the Census Bureau points out. The New Haven area  including Milford  picked up nearly 1,600 more residents from Fairfield County than it lost in 2014, while the Hartford region eclipsed that with more than 2,000 net new arrivals from the southwestern corner of the state. Even tiny New London proved a bigger draw, with nearly 700 local residents heading there versus slightly more than 200 arriving.

And while the Census Bureau does not break out the international destinations of local residents, it does track newcomers from foreign regions, with Fairfield County getting 5,000 new residents from Asia and Europe alone and nearly 3,000 more from other Western Hemisphere nations, highlighting the importance of immigration to the region.

Speaking at Fairfield University in late November, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy put words on the internal argument for people considering a move, often weighing the scales of economic opportunity versus established roots in Connecticut and other elements of the state they may love.

Why anyone would live in a place they dont want to live in to save money  I understand it if you are a billionaire and you are worried about your (tax) exposure, Malloy said. Ill tell you where I want to (be): ... close to my family ... in an environment that I am comfortable with and that has four seasons.

It is a decision that some 375 Henkel employees in Arizona have been weighing as to whether to head east or stay put and look for new work, of myriad other companies that have shifted employees into or out of Connecticut. The most prominent was General Electric (NYSE: GE), which took 200 senior executives to Boston this year where it is building a new headquarters.

If the loss of that tax base is worrisome, a Connecticut Data Collaborative analysis of IRS statistics found that Connecticut had higher percentages of people making at least $150,000 a year between 2010 and 2014 than the previous five-year period, at 17.4 percent of the population most recently compared to 14.6 percent between 2005 and 2009.

Omega Engineering, which had been based in Stamford for a half-century, considered uprooting its own headquarters for locations outside Connecticut before deciding to move its headquarters to Norwalk. The company sells thermocouples that measure temperatures in engines and industrial systems.

President Joe Vorih became the second person to lease an apartment at the new SoNo Pearl Apartments in South Norwalk; and the first to move in after the building opened this summer. Whereas the first lessee moved here from Chicago, Vorih spends his weekdays here and his weekends at his existing home in Niantic outside New London, where is wife is an emergency room physician. Wherever he may be living on any given day, it is in Connecticut.

In a business like ours, recruiting talent is always No. 1, Vorih said. The great thing about being in this part of Connecticut is the talent base we can get, whether its engineers, marketing, finance professionals  its really almost unrivaled. ... We really like it here.
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn, is applauding President Obamas National Ocean Council for approving the first-ever Northeast Ocean Plan, providing a blueprint of the regions marine life, cultural resources, commercial fishing, maritime economy and recreational use.

Todays announcement shows that when people work together, they can solve problems, Murphy said.
Cross, Crescent and common cause

The steeple of the United Congregational Church at 877 Park Ave. in Bridgeport is visible for miles.

One hundred and sixty feet tall, its topped by the symbol of Christianity, a cross, a crucifix, proclaiming it a sacred place.

Sometime after May 1, 2017, though, the cross will come down, and likely put in its place will be the crescent moon and star that are the symbols of Islam. Thats the scheduled closing date of the sale of the church to Bridgeports Islamic Community Center.

The Rev. Sara Smith, Esq., senior minister at the church and an ebullient Kentucky girl, describes the steeple as a beacon of hope not only for her congregants but for the sizable  800 to 1,000  number of people around this area the church serves through a variety of programs.

Ahmed Ebrahim, the 49-year-old president of the Islamic Center, said the other day the steeple, regardless of what may sit atop it, will continue to serve that role.

It was a low-key but extraordinary ceremony early last week at which it was announced that the church, home to a 321-year-old congregation that dates back to the Pilgrims, would be sold to the regions Muslims. It is a cavernous yet elegant space.

These are delicate times for American Muslims, particularly given the stinging rhetoric of President-elect Donald Trump during the recently concluded campaign. Just last week the Islamic Center of New Haven received a venomous piece of threatening hate mail.

As Americans, we are concerned about our country foremost, not just as Muslims, Ebrahim said the other day. He came to the U.S. from his native Egypt in 1999 to pursue his Ph.D. He earned it at Rutgers, worked in the SUNY system for five years, and is now an associate professor of accounting at Fairfield University. He lives in Fairfield.

You feel sad that the politicians talk this way, he said, but the support we have of the people around us is reassuring.

While the Congregational congregation stands at a modest 300 members  the cost of keeping up the building is just crippling them  the Muslim community is swelling.

Thirty years ago, for instance, when I first made the acquaintance of a man named Aziz Seyal, there were a handful of Muslims in the area.

Today, by Ebrahims estimation, there are about 1,000 families that are involved in the Islamic Community Center. They need space.

Seyal is 65 now and still lives in Fairfield. Some of our children went to Fairfield Warde High School together. He has seen the community grow. It now includes people from all over the Middle East  Syria, Iraq, Iran, many of them who came to escape war  Asia, African countries like Yemen, Somalia and Sudan, Europe and a smattering of Canadians. The community is growing also because of new generations. Seyal, for instance, now has 12 grandchildren. He is a sales vice president with William Raveis.

Assigned spots in the yawning nave of the church are other symbols  a bible, baptismal font, pews, an altar, organ and red-bowed Christmas wreaths. They will go. Even a couple of crosses in the churchs magnificent stained-glass windows will be excised. Symbols of Islam will replace them.

One faith will move out of the space and be replaced by another. Interestingly, they all seemed to be on the same page, though. It did not seem like a clash of culture or faith, but of a respectful  and pragmatic  turning of a page. The Muslims intend to keep up the community work so ably performed for years by the United Congregational Church. The church, by the way, is not folding. Theyll move into temporary quarters until they can figure out a permanent fix.

Muslim, Jewish, Christian, they are all children of Abraham. They all stood together the other day at the announcement. They looked to me like ordinary people with sort of the same mission in life, but with different notions of the Almighty.

The steeple is a thing of beauty, particularly when viewed from the roof of the Post building at 410 State St. on a winter aftenoon when its set against a backdrop of swirling tangerines, purples, blacks and scarlets of a December dusk. It will remain beautiful whatever tops it, as long as it stays a beacon of hope.

Michael J. Daly is editor of the editorial page of the Connecticut Post. Email: mdaly@ctpost.com.
10 Aralk 2016 Cumartesi, 18:45

DECIPHERING 15 JULY

On the evening of 15 July we witnessed a bloody, but unsuccessful, coup attempt. Undoubtedly, the stifling of the coup attempt, still believed by one section of the opposition to have been orchestrated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and in which 248 people lost their lives resisting the putschists, stopped Turkey from sliding into a far more bloody period. The most fitting conclusion to be reached about the coup attempt is that, despite the few scraps of information blowing around, aspects of it remain shrouded in darkness.

Over time the huge wave of arrests, detentions and purges, which in the direct aftermath of the coup attempt targeted the ranks of the Gulenist organisation dubbed the Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organisation (FETO), was escalated to include all opponents of the AKP. Over and above the thousands of people, chiefly soldiers, police officers, members of the judiciary, academics and teachers, who were purged from public bodies, some 40,000 people were remanded in custody on suspicion of involvement in the coup.

However, apart from certain dubious pronouncements that have found their way into the media until now, there is no information in the public domain as to what happened on the evening of the coup, the events prior and subsequent to it and the substance of the investigation. Certain questions that raise doubts in everyones mind still remain unanswered, ranging from the timing of the attempted coup to the shortcomings of the National Intelligence Agency (MIT) despite having been tipped off by a major. With everybody and his uncle standing accused of FETO involvement based on mutually contradictory claims and statements, criticism is deflected away from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is alleged to have shared power and have been a partner in crime with the Fethullah Gulen organisation. The uncontested claims and unanswered questions only serve to feed suspicions that the coup attempt was orchestrated to tighten the AKP or President Recep Tayyip Erdogans grip on power.

Regime construction through decrees with the force of law

By means of the decrees with the force of law issued in the immediate aftermath of the coup, construction of a new regime has been speeded up as the state is reassembled. There is ever weaker adherence to universal rules and principles of law and democracy. The civil service is being reorganised such that the sole demand made is obedience. To serve these ends, while one brotherhood that exploits religion as a tool is proclaimed to have been the chief culprit behind the coup, members of other religious brotherhoods are embedded into the civil service.

Did nobody notice?

In the wake of the coup attempt, it is no surprise to see an increase in the number of probes being launched into the Gulen Brotherhood, proclaimed to be a terrorist organisation in the aftermath of the 17/25 December 2013 corruption investigations. The consensus that emerges from a great many indictments is that the Gulenists began to organise in the military in the 1970s and these efforts accelerated after 1984.

Bearing in mind that, despite the large number of news items, articles, books and interviews to appear since the 1990s concerning the Gulenists organisational efforts within the state focussing chiefly on the arms of the civil service charged with security, i.e. the military, police, judiciary and intelligence agency, no heed was paid to these assertions, the most important question that begs an answer is, Did nobody notice this fact? Or, did they prefer not to notice? Who is to account, and how, for the slackness that both civilian governments and the military, alleging to be the guardian of secularism, displayed towards such an organisation? Or was this slackness adopted as a conscious choice?

It is beyond doubt that the Gulenists did not pose an immediate threat, but did so once their power had reached a zenith. The AKP government clearly does not bear sole responsibility for the threat posed to the state and society by an organisation whose activities stretch back in time over nearly half a century. But, it is a fact that the AKP ruled as a single-party in the final years in which the Gulenists went from strength to strength. The glory years during which FETO was powerful enough to make the state function in parallel with it coincided with the period of power sharing set up in consort with the AKP.

Predicated on this fact and taking stock of the ongoing detentions and purges and the scary allegations underlying them, you might well inquire, If the Gulen Brotherhood was indeed so well organised within the military and civil service, why did it need to stage a coup? But, more significantly, even though the Gulenists had made their intentions as against the AKP and Erdogan clear with their probes into MIT of 7 February 2012 and graft of 17/25 December 2013, it would be far more penetrating and to the point to ask why the coup attempt that lead to 248 people losing their lives was not/could not be prevented.

From forced marrage to forced coup

It would be somewhat unfair to say that the AKP and Erdogan bore sole responsibility for the Gulen Brotherhood besieging the state. The Gulenists organisational activities within the state, even if they encountered obstacles from time to time, stretched over 45 years, 30 of which preceded the birth of the AKP. As such, a good many governments and people bear responsibility for the process that saw the Gulenists besiege of the state. But, it is a fact that the greatest burden of responsibility rests on the AKPs shoulders. For, to quote President Erdogans words, the Gulen Brotherhood was given everything it asked for and, so, it was in the period from 2007 to 2012 under the AKPs watch that its power reached a zenith.

It was the military that both created the biggest rift between the pair, thanks to the role assumed by the Gulen Brotherhood in the 28 February coup of 1997, and that brought them into a forced alliance. Following the memorandum of 27 April 2007, the AKP entered an alliance with the Gulen Brotherhood to get the military to retreat from politics. The Gulenists members embedded within the police and judiciary, through a whole host of intrigues, launched the Ergenekon and Balyoz investigations. In the space of a few years, the AKP, along with the Gulen Brotherhood with which it had formed an unofficial alliance, eliminated their common enemies. In the process, the Gulenists took their organisation within the state to the height of its glory, drawing on the virtually limitless means that the AKP government threw their way. The Gulen Brotherhood, with the police and judiciary at its beck and call, embarked on settling its own personal accounts. When this process reached its conclusion with no remaining enemy to be taken care of, the two partners came to blows over the sharing of state power and the spoils.

7 February  the first rift

The first rift between the pair was witnessed in the form of the affair known as the MIT probe on 7 February 2012. The apparent target was the top echelons of the intelligence agency, but this was really the Prime-Minister of the day, Erdogan. This initial crisis ended with the Gulenists taking a step backward before it had greatly escalated. However, the forced marriage had broken down. In the aftermath of this affair, the ugly divorce proceedings between the couple commenced.

The war, which broke out with the attempt to close the supplementary education centres which constituted the Gulen Brotherhoods most important source of people and money, turned into an irreversible all-out battle for control with the probe targeting the government and Erdogan known as 17/25 December into graft, and that into the MIT trucks. With the AKP, emerging, albeit with a reduced share of the vote, as the first party in the general and local elections that came shortly later, it propelled its natural leader Erdogan into the office of president a few months later, and this spelt the beginning of the end for the Gulenists.

Erasure operation

Under Erdogans instructions, a purge began of the Gulenists embedded within key parts of the civil service. The AKP, having, thanks to its overwhelming parliamentary majority, turned the law into its doormat and the executive and judiciary into its cudgel, embarked on what was virtually an erasure operation against the Gulen Brotherhood. Within the police force, many senior police officers who were alleged to be members of the Gulen Brotherhood were either remanded in custody or removed from their posts. Likewise, a great many judges and prosecutors who were known to be Gulen Brotherhood members embedded within the judiciary were moved to passive duties.

Various group companies were seized through the appointing of curators so as to deprive the Gulen Brotherhood of its sources of finance, as were media organisations know to belong to the Gulenists so as to put an end to their messages of opposition to the government.

When the Turkish Armed Forces turn came

The turn came of the Turkish Armed Forces, the place where the Gulenists, its organisation within the security arms of the civil service now gradually contracting with the probes that had been launched, had for decades concealed themselves most effectively. In the first two separate investigations initiated in Izmir and Ankara, tabs were kept on a few hundred officers who had been named as suspects. They appeared almost certain to be purged at the Council in August. Had the attempt of 15 July not been made, Prosecutor Okan Bato, who was leading the probe centred on Izmir, had decided to stage a massive raid targeting the Gulenist organisation within the Turkish Armed Forces in the early hours of the following morning. There was talk of several hundred officers being arrested in these raids.

The Gulenist soldiers, having learnt of these developments from sound sources, of necessity brought the coup they were planning to stage on another date forward and launched the bloody attempt on the evening of 15 July.

2:

How the Gulenists took over the military



The indictment drafted in Ankara a few days ago into the coup attempt contained the appraisal that, The Turkish Armed Forces did not break off connections with anybody it knew to be Gulenist after 2003. Subsequently, the initiative passed to the organisation. The Ergenekon and other military trials took place thanks to the sway exerted by the organisation over the Turkish Armed Forces.

The Gulen Brotherhood used its forces in the police and judicial bodies to remove the barriers standing in its way inside the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF). Drawing on the political support accruing from the partnership established with the AKP government, various trials were launched into illegal organisations on the pretext of prosecuting coupists within the Turkish Armed Forces.

Ergenekon spawned a chain of lawlessness that lead to trials like Sledgehammer, Military Espionage and Poyrazkoy at the end of 2010. The upshot of these trials was that hundreds of staff-officers were disqualified from promotion. A total of 61 generals and admirals were retired at the three annual Supreme Military Council conventions while the contrived trials were in process: 12, 37 and 12 in each subsequent year.

We get an idea of the way in which these trumped-up trials were exploited from the high degree of involvement in the coup attempt by the remaining staff-officers who were promoted in the environment of impaired competition once hundreds of officers had been removed from the system. By the time these cases had been adjudicated, the line-up for appointment and promotion within the military had changed beyond recognition.

Navy targeted first

The most efficacious trial for purging was undoubtedly Sledgehammer. At first sight, it may have appeared that army officers activities were the focus of the Sledgehammer trial in that it revolved around a planning seminar held within the First Army Command, but numbering among the 194 suspects were, alongside 22 admirals, 90 staff-officers from the Naval Forces Command whose turn had come or was about to come for promotion to admiral. Thanks to espionage and other such trials that were later launched in Istanbul and Izmir as the Sledgehammer proceedings were expanded under a further two indictments, another 50 or so naval officers were added to the list of those earmarked for purging. Some 140 naval staff-officers, subject to a block on promotion, were either expelled from the TAF or forced to depart.

The Sledgehammer indictment, under which a large number of naval staff-officers stood accused, was drafted at the beginning of the summer in 2010. Only seven staff-officers were promoted to rear admiral at the Supreme Military Council convention that was held at the beginning of August. Many staff-officers who were due for promotion to admiral were under criminal prosecution facing charges such as involvement in a coup and this disqualified them from promotion at the Supreme Military Council. As the first steps were taken to activate the purges, the field was left clear for those unimplicated by the Sledgehammer trial.

Fast tracked to Admiral

Many staff-officers who, thanks to the purging mechanism involving contrived probes/trials, had jumped to the front of the line were promoted to the rank of admiral at the Supreme Military Council conventions in the years after 2010, untrammelled by such obstacles. A significant number of these officers who had the organised purging of their rivals to thank for their promotion from staff-officer to rear admiral featured as actors in the bloody attempt of 15 July 2016. Prior to the coup attempt, 58 people were included in the rank of admiral in the Naval Forces Command, 51 of them in combat positions and seven in other areas. When we consider that 24 of them are on remand or have fled due to their involvement in the coup we can conclude that the Gulenists controlled nearly half the admiral-level positions in the Naval Forces Command in the lead up to the coup.

Totally unaffected

Sedat Ergin compiled the following breakdown in an article in Hurriyet newspaper in which he concluded that the roles in the coup attempt of the naval officers who had been promoted from staff-officer to admiral at the Supreme Military Councils over the six years since the Sledgehammer conspiracy, indicate that, even though the Gulenists were in open conflict with the government following 17-25 December, their advances in the navy had been totally unaffected by this:

2010 SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL:

Omer Faruk Harmanck, one of eight staff-officers to be promoted to admiral, has been remanded in custody as one of the leading actors on the naval front of the 15 July coup attempt, as Chief of the Staff of the Northern Sea Area Command in Istanbul. Although he was stationed in Istanbul, Rear-Admiral Harmanck was apprehended at the coups main headquarters in Ankara, the Aknclar Air Base.

2011 SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL:

Chief of the General Staff: Necdet Ozel  Naval Forces Commander: Murat Bilgel. Of the seven staff-officers promoted to rear admiral at this council, two were remanded in custody last week for participation in the coup attempt and two are on the run.

2012 SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL:

Chief of the General Staff: Necdet Ozel  Naval Forces Commander: Murat Bilgel. At this council, eight staff-officers were promoted to rear admiral. In the aftermath of the coup, three of this batch are on remand and one is on the run.

2013 SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL:

Chief of the General Staff: Necdet Ozel  Naval Forces Commander: Murat Bilgel. This council would appear to have been a record year for the Gulenists, because, of the eight staff-officers to be promoted from captain to rear admiral, seven now stand accused of involvement in the coup attempt. Six have been remanded and one has fled.

One of the key figures in the coup attempt, former Air Force Commander Akn Ozturk, was promoted to full general and became air force commander in 2013, at a time when a large number of commanders had been remanded under the Sledgehammer plot. It was decided at the Supreme Military Council convention held in 2015 for Ozturk, whose post was transferred to Abidin Unal, to remain a Supreme Military Council member for a further year.

2014 SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL:

Chief of the General Staff: Necdet Ozel  Naval Forces Commander: Bulent Bostanoglu. Of the rear admirals who were promoted at this council, two have been remanded on the grounds of involvement in the coup attempt.

2015 SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL:

Chief of the General Staff: Necdet Ozel  Naval Forces Commander: Bulent Bostanoglu. This was another bumper year for the Gulenists. Five of the seven naval officers promoted to rear admiral in this year stand accused of participation in the coup. In addition, Mustafa Zeki Ugurlu, still on the run in the USA, was promoted to vice admiral at this Supreme Military Council. A further three rear admirals who had been promoted that year were granted extensions at this council, meaning they were retained within the system in one way or another.

... AND THE ARMY

The purging and promotion operations witnessed in the navy also occurred in the army. A significant number of the generals who have been remanded in connection with the coup attempt had been promoted particularly at the Supreme Military Council conventions held in 2013, and those in 2014 and 2015. Of the 21 generals remanded in connection with the attempted coup, 18 were brigadier generals who had been promoted from colonel at the 2013 Supreme Military Council convention. A noteworthy point is that the first nine officers in line for promotion have all been remanded. As to those promoted in 2014, one was killed during the attempt and 19 generals have been remanded as suspects in the coup attempt, as have 22 generals from among those promoted in 2015. A comparative inspection of the Supreme Military Council decisions over the 2011-2015 period and the list of remanded generals produces the following breakdown:

2011 SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL: The Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Army Commander was Full General Necdet Ozel. At this council, 22 staff-officers were promoted to general; only three of these have been remanded. So, the proportion of these generals who got mixed up in the coup was low.

2012 SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL: The Chief of the General Staff was Full General Necdet Ozel and the Army Commander was Hayri Kvrkoglu. Those in first and second line among the five major generals promoted to lieutenant-general at this council, Metin Iyidil and Erdal Ozturk, have been remanded following 15 July. Only two of the 12 to become major generals at the same council have been remanded on grounds of coup involvement. Six of the 23 staff-officers promoted to brigadier general at the 2012 Supreme Military Council have been remanded following the coup attempt. There is a slight increase in the degree of involvement in the coup attempt by those promoted in this period.

2013 SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL: The Chief of the General Staff was Full General Necdet Ozel and the Army Commander was Hayri Kvrkoglu. Of the 25 staff-officers promoted to brigadier general at this council, 18 have been remanded following 15 July. A noteworthy point is that all of the nine officers who first in line for promotion have been remanded.

2014 SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL: The Chief of the General Staff was Full General Necdet Ozel and the Army Commander was Hulusi Akar. A lieutenant-general, Adem Huduti, was promoted to full general at this council, and he was among those remanded during the coup attempt. Five major generals rose to the rank of lieutenant-general and, of these, Ibrahim Ylmaz and Salih Ulusoy were remanded in the aftermath of 15 July. At the same convention, 11 brigadier generals became major generals. Today, five of these are on remand. What is most striking is that 21 staff-officers became brigadier generals and, of these, 12 are on remand today. This means that of these 21 brigadier generals, 12, making a percentage of 57, are today on remand. The proportion is 57%. Brigadier General Semih Terzi, the first of this batch and one of the leading protagonists in the coup attempt, was shot dead by junior officer Omer Halisdemir while resisting a raid on the Special Forces Headquarters on the evening of 15 July.

2015 SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL: The Chief of the General Staff was Full General Necdet Ozel and the Army Commander was Hulusi Akar. At this Supreme Military Council, six major generals were promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. Two of these are on remand today. Of the nine generals to be promoted from brigadier general to major general, two have been remanded. One of them is the well-known Mehmet Disli. As to the 26 officers who were promoted from colonel to general, 18 have been remanded in the aftermath of 15 July. The proportion is scary: 70%. This data as a whole points to the way the Supreme Military Council conventions of 2013, 2014 and 2015 served to fast track the generals with involvement in the coup attempt into their posts.

One of the figures closest to Akar, his aide-de-camp Levent Turkkan, has admitted to being a Gulenist.

Prime duty: To turn the military into an adjunct of the Gulenists

There is no known example of the Gulen Brotherhood, in all its organisational activities extending over 45 years, being involved in any violent act whatsoever. Various assertions have been raised in the pro-government media as to Gulenist involvement in certain assassinations and murders. However, no concrete evidence has been put forward to back up these assertions. The question as to why the Gulenists resorted to a coup attempt does not tax the understanding of those who have followed Turkish politics, the relations between these two important power centres in the near past and the tension-filled battle between them. For, had the coup not have been attempted, the Gulenists embedded presence within the TAF, the place where it had concealed itself best, would have constituted the last front in the frenetic battle that had been taking place for several years with the AKP. Another question that is weighing down on everyones mind is whether the Gulenists, whose presence within the military is thought to stretch back to the 1980s, were strong enough to bring off a coup.

In the main indictment into the Gulen Formation drafted by Ankara Republic Chief Prosecution, certain claims are raised concerning the Gulenists embedded presence in the TAF. According to the indictment, which contains the pronouncement that, The FETO formation within the TAF had assumed worrying dimensions, there is talk of the Gulenists organisational activities within the military having accelerated after 1984 and most of the students who had been infiltrated into the TAF having risen to the rank of staff-officer, colonel or general. The indictment, which speaks of the expulsion from the army by Supreme Military Council decision of a total of 400 TAF staff between the years of 1983-2014 on suspicion of Gulen Brotherhood membership, concludes, However, The Turkish Armed Forces did not break off connections with anybody it knew to be Gulenist after 2003. Subsequently, the initiative passed to the organisation. The Ergenekon and other military trials took place thanks, not to the elimination of military tutelage over civilian politics, but to the sway exerted by the organisation over the Turkish Armed Forces. Today, there is a significant presence in terms of staff-officers having FETO membership in the TAF. Their obligatory and prime duty, in line with the organisations political goals, is to turn the military into an adjunct of the Gulenists and to take it under control. There exists an organised TAF brotherhood formation that does not come under the remit of military discipline and its hierarchy.

If one were to go by the AKP government and the Turkish media as a whole, responsibility for this bloody coup attempt lies with members of the Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organisation (FETO). The most important evidence in corroboration of this thesis are the statements made at the public prosecutors office by certain soldiers who are alleged to have had a role in the coup attempt. The maker of one of the most important statements is Lieutenant Colonel Levent Turkkan, who acted as aide-de-camp to Chief of the General Staff Full-General Hulusi Akar. He described in his statement that has been leaked to the press how the Gulen Brotherhood, of which Turkkan says he is a member, planned the coup and was listening in on Full-General Hulusi Akar via a bug that he himself had planted in his office. However, it would appear from photographs carried by the media of Turkkan, the maker of this statement to which so much importance is attached, that his ribs and hands had been broken and he had undergone severe torture.

The apprehension while acting in consort with the coupists of certain police officers who had been dismissed from the profession or removed from their posts due to various probes and who are alleged to be members of the Gulen Brotherhood strengthen the suspicions pointed at the Gulenists. One of these police officers, Police Intelligence Branch Deputy Director Gursel Aktepe explained at the prosecutors office that he went into action after having received the following message on his phone: The coup is on; let everyone come out in support; proceed to the vicinity of their former workplaces and enter communications with General Mehmet.

Akars statement

The maker of the most damning statement as to the coup attempts Gulenist connection is Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar. Akar has recounted how on the evening of 15 July, when he was asked to append his signature to the coup declaration after he had been taken hostage, he was told, If you wish, we can arrange for you to speak to our opinion leader, Fethullah Gulen. Akar said that the maker of this proposal was brigadier general Hakan Evrim, the commander of the Aknc Air Base, the coups headquarters in Ankara, but the former rejected it saying, I wont speak to anybody. Evrim, conversely, has said in his statement in which he has rejected both Akars statements and the accusations, I am not acquainted with Fethullah Gulen.

3:

The bloody evening draws ever closer



According to the police memorandum drafted into the 15 July coup attempt, work began on the coup infrastructure in January 2016. The available intelligence suggests that preparations for the coup were in full swing in the TAF by 8 July.

No definitive information has emerged over when the 15 July coup attempt, one of the bloodiest putsch attempts in Turkeys political history, was planned and the stages involved in its preparation.

It would scarcely have been possible to plan and organise such an attempt in a few days. It is possible to hazard guesses about how this was done based on information that has so far been leaked to the media and the statements of certain suspects.

A draft memorandum has been compiled by the Ankara Anti-Terror Branch Directorate into the planning of the coup, collated from digital data examination, phone calls and the statements of confessors and suspects.

According to the police memorandum that is still under preparation, work on the coup infrastructure began in January 2016. It is claimed that the coup order was forwarded by Fethullah Gulen to professor of divinity Adil Oksuz, alleged to have been the organisations person with top responsibility for the TAF. Oksuz, who at this stage in the process was making constant trips abroad, passed on the plans for the coup to the organisation leader and generals at commander level who would participate in the coup. One allegation made is that Oksuz held meetings in Ankara on various dates and at different addresses with coupist military staff within the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) in the course of these preparations. From the accounts given by the secret witnesses with the aliases Raven and Hat, who have given statements in the investigation being conducted by Izmir Republic Chief Prosecution, the coup planning was conducted in a villa in Ankara. The secret witnesses asserted that soldiers and civilians who they claimed to be the top echelons of the FETO/PDY organisation attended the meetings. Coup preparations intensified considerably in the June-July period. According to the draft memorandum, Adil Oksuz, who passed on Fethullah Gulens orders and planned the coup together with military personnel, and Kemal Batmaz, who was captured in footage giving orders to armed forces staff at the Aknc Air Base on the evening of 15 July, were the top two figures in the coups civilian grouping.

The juntas military leader

The anti-terror polices findings indicate the coups military leader to be the Head of the Chief of the General Staffs Personnel Plan and Management Department, Brigadier General Mehmet Partigoc?, who signed the Lightning Operation Plan on the evening of the coup and sent it to units around the country. Partigoc, whose signature also appeared on the Peace at Home Council declaration that was read at gunpoint on state television, was revealed from the examination of digital data emanating from the evening of the coup at the Chief of the General Staff Headquarters to have been the military staff member at the head of the chain of command in Turkey as a whole. Also contained in the file are allegations that Partigoc, who is said to have given the orders on the evening of the attempt, further, prior to the coup, supplied the commanders involved in the coup with the places where they would serve and lists of other military staff who would act under their orders. It is also asserted that the list of those who would act as commander of provinces where martial law was to be proclaimed was drawn up and forwarded to the relevant people by Partigoc.

According to the police, Major General Mehmet Disli, brother of the Justice and Development Party (AKP)s Deputy General Chair Saban Disli, was the second highest person in the coups military grouping. As to the duty assigned on the evening of the putsch to Disli, Head of the Chief of the General Staffs Project Management Department, this was to detain members of the chain of command who resisted the coup and to persuade them to participate in the coup.

Coup preparations in full swing

The only indication until now of when the coup preparations began comes from certain suspects statements to the public prosecution. According to these statements, over the four days from 11 July a meeting was held every evening at the Aknc Main Jet Base Command. The venue for putschists coup planning meetings in Istanbul, on the other hand, was the Air Force School building in Yesilkoy. The available information points to coup preparations being in full swing within the TAF by 8 July.

THE DOCUMENT THAT CONTRADICTS FULL GENERAL OZEL

Following the attempted coup, former Chief of the General Staff Necdet Ozel has come in for more criticism than anybody else, standing accused of not taking effective action over the Gulen Brotherhoods presence within the TAF despite the warnings. Ozel, branding the accusations unfounded, has countered that all tip-offs and allegations were examined in both judicial and administrative terms and the documents relating to this are present in the Chief of the General Staffs archives. However, a document dated 4 January 2016 unearthed within the coup investigation has contradicted Necdet Ozels account of events.

The document, obtained during a search conducted at the Chief of the General Staffs Personnel Directorate following the coup attempt, proves that the Gulenists were able to carry on organising within the TAF despite intelligence units reports and warnings. The document contains the results of an investigation conducted by the Chief of the General Staffs Personnel and Intelligence Directorates into 1774 military personnel who had been named as personnel with FETO connections.

It was reported in the document that was submitted for the Chief of the General Staffs approval that nothing untoward had been detected as to 1277 of the named military staff, while 457 of them needed to be investigated in detail. It would emerge in the probe launched in the aftermath of the coup that, of the 1774 military staff who had been named months earlier but continued in their posts, 1668 participated in the attempt. In fact, those who signed the reports clearing them would also be remanded as coup suspects.

Chronology of the coup

8 JULY / ANKARA

There is a reference in Lieutenant Colonel Mural Bolats statements to the coup first being spoken of on 8 July. Lieutenant Colonel Bolat, Battalion Commander at the Army Aviation Regiment at Ankara Guvercinlik, learnt of the coup from the Regiment Deputy Commander Lieutenant Colonel Halil Gul in a video call the latter made to him via a smartphone. In his statement, Bolat, stating that Regiment Commander Lieutenant Colonel Fevzi Okka and his Deputy Lieutenant Colonel Gul had called him while he was on leave between the dates of 1-16 July and asked him to cut his holiday short, but he refused to do this, said, Gul, in the video call I had on 8 July, made a gesticulation calling for silence, mouthed the words, The situation is very grave and showed me a 9-mm diameter bullet. It was then that I realised he was trying to explain something very important.

12 JULY 19:00 HOURS / ISTANBUL

According to the indictment drafted by Istanbul Republic Chief Prosecution, meetings were held at the General Nurettin Baransel Barracks in Maltepe over three days. It has been established from camera footage that the units in Istanbul participated at the meetings on 12, 13 and 14 July. It is alleged in the indictment that the WhatsApp group named Peace at Home used by the putschists was created at the meeting that commenced at 19:00 hours on 12 July and ended at 01:30 hours on 14 July. It has also been established from camera footage that Brigadier General Ozkan Aydogdu, Major General Eyup Gurler, former commander of the Kuleli Military High School Mursel Ckrkc and Kahramanmaras Garrison Commander Uzay Sahin participated at the meeting.

12 JULY / ANKARA

According to the statements of suspects and secret witnesses, a group of the coupists were holding meetings at the coups Ankara headquarters of Aknc Air Base. Discussed at these meetings were details such as who would be assigned where in the putsch, which units would participate in the putsch and who would be placed in detention, and preparations for the coup of which ever more officers were becoming aware were proceeding rapidly. Lieutenant Colonel Umit Gencer, stationed in the Presidential Guard Regiment Command, learnt of the putsch with three days to go. According to his statement before a judge, Gencer learnt of the putsch when Colonel Enver Topal, who had summoned him on 12 July, told him, I have taken up a duty; there will be a coup at about 3 o clock in the morning on Friday. Lieutenant Colonel Gencer was to learn of his duty from Presidential Guard Regiment Commander Colonel Kutsi Bars at 20:30 on the evening of 15 July: He was to see to it that the coup declaration that was thrust into his hand containing the martial law order signed by the Chief of the General Staff was read on state television.

14 JULY / ANKARA

Brigadier General Gokhan Sahin Sonmezates met up with Major Sukru Seymen of the Special Forces Command, one of those in charge of the Marmaris team, in Ankara. According to Major Seymens statement, after having met Colonel Osman Klc, who like himself served in the Special Forces Command, he met up with Sonmezates in a house whose address he does not remember. As per his statement, Brigadier General Sonmezates gave him the order: Assemble a twelve-person team, yourself included. I will supply the arms, equipment and helicopter. The TAF will take power within the chain of command. If need be, Davut Ucum can have you transferred by helicopter.

14 JULY / ANKARA - OSTIM

On the same day at 19:00, the three lieutenant colonels went together in two cars along with Major Okan Kocakurt from Army Aviation to a flat in an apartment complex in Ankaras Ostim. According to Bolats statement, there were another four people who he imagined to be from Special Forces Command. Bolat recounted how at this meeting, at which he says he was not included, the seven officers discussed the final coordination of the coup. Bolat says that the discussions continued into the night and the plan was to be put into action at 03:00 hours in the morning on 16 July. However, Bolat, who thought that they had been rumbled during high-level inspections conducted at the bases at about 18:00 on 15 July, realised that the plan had not been abandoned on hearing Lieutenant Colonel Halil Gul say, Come on, were starting.

4:



With the words, Action is commencing, he went to Akars room



While the 15 July putschists final meetings were in progress, a major went to the intelligence service (MIT) and gave a tip-off about a raid and an assassination. MIT passed the information on to the General Staff and an extraordinary meeting was held. While a whole host of measures were being taken and announced, certain commanders were heading for two separate weddings totally unaware of this order.

Feverish preparations were going on at the General Staff Headquarters on 15 July. The coupists were holding their final meetings. Meanwhile, a major went the MIT Undersecretariat and gave a tip-off: A raid would be staged on MIT and Hakan Fidan or top-ranking people would be assassinated.

MIT passed on the information to the General Staff and, at a meeting attended by the Chief of the General Staff, the Second Chief of the General Staff and the Commander of the Land Forces, later to be joined by the MIT Undersecretary, a whole host of measures were taken: All military flights were to be banned. Armoured vehicles were not to leave their units.

Curiously, certain commanders were on their way to two different weddings or were heading home totally unaware of this order. After MIT Undersecretary Fidan had left the General Staff, Major General Mehmet Disli, having said, Action is commencing. It has been brought forward from three in the morning to now, went to Akars room.

Informer from the military goes to MIT

-15 JULY AFTERNOON / GENERAL STAFF

Full General Akars aide-de-camp, Levent Turkkan, was at a meeting together with Colonel Orhan Yklkan, who had told him the day before that a coup would be staged, in Major General Mehmet Dislis room, in whom he had confided, in common with the latter, to having Gulenist membership. Turkan gave the following account in his statements to the public prosecution: There were just the three of us in the room. As soon as we entered, we began to discuss the matter of the coup. Major General Mehmet Disli said he would go on his own to General Hulusi Akars room before the coup attempt started and notify him of the coup and, should he accept, he would assume command of coup action. In saying this, he commented, I will ask the Chief of the General Staff if he wants to be Kenan Evren or not. He also told us that, in notifying the Chief of the General Staff of the coup, he would tell him that we liked and respected him and, should he accept, they would place him at the head of the coup. He was holding a piece of notepaper. He wrote down one by one what he was going to say to the Chief of the General Staff. From his comments, it appeared that, if Hulusi Akar agreed to assume command of the coup action, the Second Chief of the General Staff would be Full General Akn Ozturk.

15 JULY 14.45 HOURS /ANKARA - YENIMAHALLE

At the time preparations were underway at the Chief of Staff, an unknown officer identified only as H.A. who serves in the rank of major at the Army Aviation School turned up at MIT headquarters and, having introduced himself, said that he wanted to pass on a tip-off on a very important matter. After a short wait, Major H.A. told the officials who were brought before him what he knew. However, contrary to what has been believed until now, the tip-off was not that a coup was imminent. The major said that there was going to be a raid on MIT and Hakan Fidan or top-ranking people would be assassinated.

15 JULY 15.30 HOURS / ANKARA - CANKAYA

The person who was going to tip the coupist Frat Alakus as to which hotel the President was staying at in Marmaris was Erdogans chief aide-de-camp Ali Yazc. Frat Alakus and Emir Guven went to the Presidential Guard Regiment at 15:30 on 15 July and met up with Ali Yazc to make final plans for the most important phase of the putsch. On Yazcs desk were some satellite images and plans marked Marmaris on which certain tourist facilities were marked. According to Guvens statement, Yazc said, Ill go and see the President and find out where he is. They wont suspect me. If there was any bother, Yazc was going to point to an empty envelope in his hand and say that he had brought an envelope from the General Staff containing important information about the Parallel Structure.

15 JULY 16.03 HOURS / ANKARA - YENIMAHALLE

With the interview with Major H.A. continuing at MIT, an investigation was also conducted as to who this unknown informer was and it was discovered that H.A., who had not previously been a source of regular information, had his Gulenist contacts to thank for helping him to find his wife. The informant H.A. passed on the names of two officers whom he knew to have been assigned to this operation apart from him. Finally, once they were sure about the content of the tip-off, the information was passed on to Undersecretary Hakan Fidan.

15 JULY 17.04 HOURS / ISTANBUL - BAGCILAR

One of those who gave testimony to the commission set up by parliament to investigate the coup attempt was Colonel Davut Ala, who was shot while resisting the coupists in the course of the putsch. Colonel Ala brought up an interesting detail in his testimony. Colonel Ala said that on the day of the coup a message came on his mobile phone saying: Warning about demonstrations on 15-16-17 July in Ayasofya, Taksim and Sultanahmet, on Marmaray suburban railway, underground and ferry services, and in Sancaktepe, Fatih and Kartal. Ala, noting that this message was suspicious, said, Virtually everywhere in Istanbul had been covered by a demonstration warning. Normally, a demonstration warning comes but it is for a specific area. A demonstration warning for everywhere in Istanbul for three days running. It was obvious from this that preparations were in the making.

15 JULY 17.00 HOURS / GENERAL STAFF

According to Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akars statement, the Second Chief of the General Staff Full General Yasar Guler passed on the information forthcoming from MIT. Full General Akar took the information forwarded from MIT seriously and began to hold a meeting with Yasar Guler and Commander of the Land Forces, Salih Zeki Colak, over the measures to be taken. MIT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan also came to the General Staff and joined the meeting with Full General Akar.

15 JULY 18.30 HOURS / GENERAL STAFF

At the meeting at which Hakan Fidan was also present, the measures to be taken took shape. With a flight ban imposed on military helicopters and planes within Turkish air space as a whole, it was decided to order those in the air to return to base. Once Second Chief of the General Staff Yasar Guler had conveyed the order in question to the Air Force Command and Control Centre, the order for all air force planes flights to be halted was conveyed to all bases. Akar also said in his statement that as part of the measures to counter a possible putsch he ordered Commander of the Land Forces, Salih Zeki Colak, to take staff from Central Command and the Legal Advice Section and go to the Army Aviation Academy and settle the matter in a way that would leave no room for doubt and to take administrative and judicial measures in a speedy manner. Akar, saying, In our assessment of the forthcoming information we concluded that it might be part of a bigger plan, did not stop at the measures taken and went on to telephone Ankara Garrison Commander, Lieutenant General Metin Gurak, and assign him a duty. This was for Gurak to go to the Etimesgut Armoured Units Division and take precautions to ensure that no tank or armoured vehicle left the unit for any reason whatsoever.

Countermove by the coupists

15 JULY 19.26 HOURS / GENERAL STAFF

Procedures to halt flights as per the General Staffs orders had been completed. Headquarters instruction for flights to be halted and for planes on duty in the air to be grounded had been forwarded to the Air Force Control Centre and all units were notified of this directive by the Air Control Centre in Eskisehir. At 19:56 hours, to confirm that the decisions taken had reached all units, the directive and orders were sent once more by way of confirmation. The coupists, who realised why the commanders were meeting with MIT administrators at the Chief of the General Staff Headquarters, made a countermove. First, they wanted to get rid of the military staff they thought would resist them from Headquarters. One of these was the non-commissioned officer Mahir Eser from Chief of the General Staff Full General Hulusi Akars protection squad. Eser gave the following account of events in statements he gave to the police and public prosecution, While I was on sentry duty in front of the commanders office an announcement was made over the radio at about 20:00 to prepare for departure. The guard cars and Akars staff car came. But, a little later, the order came from the adjutancy office for all guard cars to be withdrawn to the garage. The cars were withdrawn.

I was approached by Reconnaissance Element Team Commander, Sergeant-Major Isa, who relieved me and he told me there was not going to be a departure any more. While I was walking along the corridor, I saw non-commissioned officer Talha, who dealt with the Special Forces computer business, in civilian dress coming along the opposite corridor where the Second Chief of the General Staff was located in the direction of Akars adjutancy office. I was surprised, because it was normally impossible for a non-commissioned officer to be in that corridor. After the adjutants greeted non-commissioned officer Talha in a familiar manner, they went together to their office. My suspicion was aroused and I hung about for a while. Then, because the Protection Director was on leave, I went to Sergeant-Major Muharrem Uzun who was filling in for him, and asked him. He replied, I dont know, either.

Unaware of the orders

15 JULY 20.31 HOURS / GENERAL STAFF

MIT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan left the Chief of Staff Headquarters. To confirm the order, the instructions were sent for a third time to all units. However, although orders prohibiting land and air movements of any kind had been announced, curiously, certain forces and army commanders, unaware of these orders, were on their way to two separate weddings in Istanbul and Ankara or were heading home. According to Lieutenant Colonel Levent Turkkans statement, the operation started following Hakan Fidans departure and twenty fully equipped soldiers from Special Forces Command entered Headquarters. At this point, Major General Mehmet Disli, having said, Action is commencing. It has been brought forward from three in the morning to now, went to Akars room.

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/yazi_dizileri/643404/_Faaliyet_basliyor__dedi_Akar_in_odasina_gitti.html



5:

Commander, its a done deal and everyone has set out.



At 9 pm on the evening of the attempted coup, Major General Mehmet Disli entered Chief of the General Staff Akars room and tried to win him over to the coup. With this ending in failure, the sound of gunfire began to ring out from headquarters. In Istanbul, on the other hand, the tanks had long since rolled out onto the streets.

On the evening of 15 July, Major General Mehmet Disli entered Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akars room and his proclamation, Commander, the operation is starting, met with a stern reaction from Akar. Disli, unable to win Akar over, left the room and ordered the soldiers who had come from Special Forces Command to go into Akars room.

A while later, the sound of gunfire began to ring out from the Chief of Staff Headquarters and warplanes were flying low over Ankara. In Istanbul, the bridges were being closed by armoured units. With posts appearing on social media about the tanks in the streets, news of the coup attempt spread throughout the country and Turkey dug in for a long night.

What operation? Are you crazy?

* 15 JULY EVENING / GENERAL STAFF

Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar recounted the following, noting, While I am not fully certain, it was probably approaching 21:00 hours, in the statement he gave to the public prosecution following the coup attempt:

While I was working with my back to the door at the round meeting table, there was a knock at the door. I said, Enter, and I even said something like: Whos that at this time? When I looked, I saw that Major General Disli who served at Headquarters had come. Disli sat on one of the chairs at the table at which I was sitting and said things like, Commander, the operation is starting. We will take everybody. The battalions and brigades have gone out into the streets. You will see in a short while, in a manner that different greatly from his temperament that I had known and been accustomed to in the past. At first, I could not make any sense of it. He may perhaps have said planes when he spoke. But, I realised that this was an operation that I can describe as a putsch and I shouted furiously, What are you talking about, jerk? What operation? Are you crazy? Give me a break! I asked where the Second Chief of the General Staff and the other commanders were. He replied to me saying things like, Dont get worked up. Calm down. Theyll come. I kept on furiously fielding questions like, I will have nothing to do with you or with anybody else or those involved in such things. How dare you speak to me like this? Who are they? Who are you all? I had got very angry. I told them the path they had taken was wrong, they had landed themselves in a huge quagmire, they would pay the price and told them, if nothing else, to do the decent thing and halt this business before others got embroiled in it and before it became a matter of life and death, and to put a stop to this putsch that they had just embarked on. But I was unable to persuade him. He tried to keep his temper even though I had come out in such furious opposition and, appearing calm, said things like, Commander, its a done deal and everyone has set out. Because my back was to the door, I did not notice if the door was open or shut. At this point, I think Mehmet Disli made a move to go out.

THEY THROTTLED AKAR

* 15 JULY 20.50 HOURS / GENERAL STAFF

According to their statements, Aide-de-Camp Turkkan was waiting in front of the office door with Colonel Orhan Yklkan, Military Assistant Colonel Ramazan Gozen, Captain Serdar Tekin, and Senior Master Sergeant Abdullah Erdogan who served on the protection squad. Beside them were also fully equipped soldiers with arms and helmets wearing training gear who had come from Special Forces Command. They could not hear what Disli and Akar were saying. Aide-de-Camp Turkkan said that when Mehmet Disli, who came out five minutes after he entered the room, gave the order directed at them as soon as he emerged, Hes in the midst. Go in.

According to Turkkans statements, once in the room, which the officers who served closest to Full General Akar entered along with Disli followed by the fully equipped soldiers who had come from Special Forces Command, they heard their commander address the following to them: Youre making a mistake. This is not on. Aide-de-Camp Turkkan, holding a pistol pointed at Akar, shouted, Commander, sit down and dont get up. Calm down and dont cause difficulties.

Akar, who states that at this juncture somebody pushed him and made him sit on the chair, gave the following description in his statement of how he was beaten: At that moment, somebody else from behind covered both my mouth and nose with something like a hand towel and tried to stop me breathing. He wrapped his arm round my throat and pulled it tight. While I was flailing around because I was having difficulty breathing with an object like a string being rubbed at my throat, somebody else put plastic handcuffs on my wrists. With me resisting like this, they closed my mouth so as to leave my nose open.

Aide-de-Camp Turkkan, who indicated in his statement that it was Captain Serdar Tekin who covered the commanders mouth, sat Akar on one of the chairs after putting the revolver he was holding down to one side. Akar, given the water he asked for and having drunk it, made the most extraordinary request of the far from ordinary evening at General Staff Headquarters. Akar, even under these conditions, said he wanted to perform ritual ablution and prayer. According to Aide-de-Camp Turkkans statement, Akar changed clothes in the rear portion of the office in the presence of Captain Serdar Tekin and Senior Master Sergeant Abdullah Erdogan and performed his prayer.

According to the statements, Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar was unwilling to cooperate with the junta. The Special Forces Command team members that had split up within Headquarters were handcuffing and detaining everyone the coupist military men pointed out, acting together with certain civilians. At about 21:30, Second Chief of the General Staff Yasar Guler was also manhandled and detained in his office by a group from the Special Forces Command team under Adjutant Mehmet Akkurts command. Meanwhile, a clash erupted outside Headquarters between the coupists and the commanders guards.

Sound of gunfire at Headquarters

* 15 JULY 21.35 HOURS/ GENERAL STAFF

Full General Salih Zeki Colak, who was unaware that the putsch had started, came to General Staff Headquarters on being phoned by Aide-de-Camp Levent Turkkan. Turkkan told him, Commander, our Chief of the General Staff is awaiting you and especially Chief of Staff Ihsan Uyar, and he complied with this order. Colak, thinking that the Special Forces Command soldiers he saw while they were entering Headquarters were there on an exercise, suddenly heard gunfire. He now imagined there to be an attack from outside and the Special Forces Command teams were at Headquarters for protective purposes. While he was getting out of his car, he heard the voice of the Chief of the General Staffs Military Assistant Staff Officer Ramazan Gozel, not knowing him to be in the ranks of the coupists, calling him to come into the building. It was only after Colak entered along with Chief of Staff Ihsan Uyar and the Special Forces Command teams put guns to their heads and made them lie on the floor that he realised what had happened. At this moment, Adjutant Infantry Sergeant Major Bulent Aydn, who set about resisting the team members, was killed. Commanders Colak and Uyar had their hands and feet handcuffed in Full General Yasar Gulers room to which they were taken and were left waiting with bags placed over their heads.

The Prime-Ministerial Coordination Centre was informed that gunfire had been heard at the General Staff Complex. When officials at the Armed Forces Command Operations Control Centre were phoned, they replied that an exercise by the quick reaction squad was underway.

* 15 JULY 21.45 HOURS / ANKARA

The go-ahead was given for the F-16s, used in the air raids that caused the greatest amount of damage in the putsch, to take off. Despite the order banning flights, as of 21.45 hours take-offs started from certain military bases using various identification codes and call signs. Allegations have it that the figure directing the air operations was Air Pilot Staff Lieutenant Colonel Hakan Karakus, commander of Squadron 141 at Aknc Base, whose in-laws are Brigadier General Hakan Evrim and Akn Ozturk.

The putsch, whose launch had been slated for three in the morning of 16 July, was brought forward when it became clear that they had been rumbled. Once they were informed that the chain of command had been taken hostage at the General Staff, the coupists moved into action. At the same time as gunfire was ringing out from Headquarters, warplanes were flying in the skies over the capital, performing low flights and breaking the sound barrier at times. After F-16s had started performing low flights over the area in which parliament and General Staff Headquarters are situated, another call was made to the Armed Forces Command Operations Control Centre. Once more, the reply forthcoming was that an exercise was underway. In these same minutes, work was in progress on preparing the F-16 warplanes that would be used in the air raid staged on the Police Special Operations Directorate and the Aviation Branch Directorate situated in Golbas.

* 15 JULY 22.30 HOURS / GENERAL STAFF

The top-level commanders, having been detained by the coupists including some of the officers closest to them, were to be taken to the juntas headquarters, the Aknc Base. At Major General Mehmet Dislis command of, Were going, Special Forces Command soldiers put Hulusi Akar on board a helicopter. In the helicopter, alongside the soldiers who had their guns trained on Akar, was Mehmet Disli. At about 22:30, Salih Zeki Colak and Ihsan Uyar were also bundled onto another helicopter. A twenty-minute flight saw Colak and Uyar transported to Aknc, just like the other detained commanders. Brigadier General Atilla Gokesaoglu and Brigadier General Ertugrulgazi Ozkurkcu were also detained at General Staff Headquarters and brought to Aknc.

* 15 JULY 22.30 HOURS / ISTANBUL - MODA

Certain forces and army commanders were not even aware of the hive of activity that had started in the afternoon at General Staff Headquarters and the host of measures that had been taken. Even though national air space had been closed to military flights, Air Force Commander Full General Abidin Unal had for some reason not been informed of this order. Commander Unal had not interrupted his habitual programme and had gone to the wedding of his comrade in arms Air Force Lieutenant General Mehmet Sanvers daughter at Istanbul Moda Sea Club to which he had been invited. All the generals and top level commanders making up the Air Force top brass had also come to Istanbul for the wedding. Despite having been proposed as the marriage witness, former Air Force Commander Full General Akn Ozturk intimated that he would be unable to attend and made a daytime congratulatory phone call. A further figure who did not accept the wedding invitation was Brigadier General Hakan Evrim, commander of Main Jet Base No 4 at Aknc, the coupists headquarters.

Having learnt of the coup, Full General Unal, having no idea that his detention was imminent, and the other 24 generals attending the wedding retired to a room in the club and began to assess the situation. Full General Unal, giving the warning that, If there is any flight from any base, the commander there will be court martialled, asked all the base commanders in his presence to call their bases and check out the situation.

6:

A huge gift from God

With jets making sonic booms over Turkey, the Prime-Minister came on television to announce that there had been a putsch. When President Erdogan landed at Istanbul, he was to say, This is a huge gift from God.

In the hours when people were trying to make sense of the explosions heard in Ankara and Istanbul, Prime-Minister Yldrm, declaring the events to be a putsch, announced that a group within the TAF was attempting a coup. As to the coupists, they were having the declaration signed by the Peace at Home Council read out on state television.

President Erdogan, who had not made an appearance for days, called, first from the hotel in Marmaris where he was on holiday and then appearing live on CNN Turk television, on citizens to take to the city streets and airports and he also urged citizens to resist the coup.

The coupist soldiers, for their part, were trying to pin Erdogan down. By the time the coupists had definitively identified Erdogans location, the latter had left the hotel where he had been staying and had set out for Istanbul. When he landed at Istanbul, he commented, This action is a huge gift from God to us.

Prime-Ministers announcement

* 15 JULY EVENING

With the four generals who were at the wedding in Istanbul setting off for the Control Centre in Eskisehir under orders from Air Force Commander Full General Abidin Unal, the host of the wedding, commander Mehmet Sanver, called his former commander, Akn Ozturk. Ozturk, on being informed that flights were taking place counter to orders and low flights were being performed, replied that he had no knowledge of anything, even though he was at the Aknc Air Base. Full General Unal took the phone and asked Akn Ozturk, Theyre flying planes in Ankara. Whats going on over there? Are they holding a coup contrary to your orders? Ozturks reply from the base that was the coups headquarters was curious, I suspect it is just night flying. Ill look into it.

At this juncture, the commanders were trying to neutralise the Air Control Centre in Ankara, which appeared to be under the coupists control. Orders for all military flights were to be taken, not from Ankara, but from the Air Control Centre in Eskisehir and all bases were notified. Within a short space of time, there were no uncontrolled flights anywhere apart from Ankara Aknc, Adana Incirlik and Balkesir.

* 15 JULY 23.05 HOURS

With news of the explosions and sounds of shooting being heard in Ankara and Istanbul spreading through social media, the first official figure to proclaim that a coup attempt was underway was Prime-Minister Binali Yldrm. Prime-Minister Yldrm linked up by phone to the NTV station and, declaring the events to be a putsch, announced that a group within the TAF was attempting a coup.

The putschists bloodiest attack was the one targeting the Police Special Operations Directorate in Golbas. The first attack on the Special Operations centre, which was capable of conducting air raids and would be the most important unit in any armed resistance to the coupists, was staged at 23:16. Seven police officers lost their lives in the first air raid carried out by the putschists targeting the helicopter runway. The main toll was taken in the second bombing raid staged with F-16s. This was at 23:58, before the fire left behind by the first attack had been put out. This attack took the lives of 43 policemen.

* 16 JULY 00.13 HOURS / ANKARA - TURKISH RADIO AND TELEVISION CORPORATION STUDIO

A group of coupists who had raided the state television studios in Ankara had the coup declaration signed by the Peace at Home Council read out. Shortly after the declaration had been read out, the Turksat Satellite Communications and Cable TV Operations Company blacked out state television.

The entrance to Ankara Police Headquarters, another of the putschists targets, was blocked with riot control vehicles as a precaution against possible attack. The coupists arrived at the front of police headquarters, which they wanted to capture, at 00:21 and started to clear the blocked path by pushing riot control vehicles with tanks. Even if at this moment a clash erupted to the sound of intense gunfire, it was not long before the tanks had taken control of the entry to the headquarters. They came under fire from citizens who wanted to resist them as well as police officers, whom the coupists were calling on to surrender.

President makes his first appearance

* 16 JULY 00.24 HOURS / MARMARIS

President Erdogan, accustomed to appearing on a daily basis before the cameras and speaking, had most astonishingly not made an appearance ever since 9 July. Despite all the tumult of the evening, it was past midnight before the coupists prime target, Erdogan, first broke his silence. No TV station or news agency picked up any of the comments made by Erdogan when he first appeared before local stations and journalists in Marmaris after security measures had been put in place.

It was 00:24 when Erdogan, who says that these initial comments of his could not be broadcast due to various technical problems, appeared for the first time on a TV station broadcasting nationally. CNN Turks Ankara News Manager Hande Frat linked Erdogan into a live broadcast by means of the Facetime application that enables video chat over smart phones. In his comment, Erdogan, stating, as had those before him, that a coup attempt was being made by, A small minority within the TAF, announced the Gulen Brotherhood to be the culprit behind the putsch by saying it was, A move incited by the parallel structure. Erdogan, also urged citizens, calling on them to take to the city streets and airports, to resist the coup.

It now became clear who the victor would be in the coup attempt

* 16 JULY 00.30 HOURS/ IZMIR - CIGLI

Brigadier General Gokhan Sonmezates and Major Sukru Seymen, while awaiting definitive news of the place where President Erdogan was staying, went over the plan. Under the plan, Special Forces Command teams would stage the operation to detain President Erdogan while the Combat Search and Rescue team would provide cover. According to Major Seymen, the 27-man team would easily pull off the operation because the President and his three or four-man guard team would be in holiday mode. The putschist brigadier general approached the teams who were strapping on their equipment. Brigadier General Gokhan Sonmezates, whose past military successes had become something of a legend so much were they spoken of and who aroused admiration and respect in all the officers making up the raid team, passed on the sought-after news:

The Turkish Armed Forces have seized power throughout the country. Martial law has been proclaimed. From now on orders will be given by the Chief of the General Staffs office with which I am in communication.

* 16 JULY 00.40 HOURS / DALAMAN AIRPORT

President Erdogan, whose whereabouts the putschists were still trying to determine and whom they aimed to detain, if need be in an armed clash, had completed his preparations to depart from Marmaris not long after his television appearance. The awaited news came at last. The plane that would pick Erdogan up from Marmaris and take him to Istanbul had left Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport and landed at Dalaman Airport. To confuse the coupists, who were believed to be monitoring air traffic, the dedicated presidential plane TC-ATA was given the appearance of a civil flight with the code THY-8451. Although President Erdogan had appeared live on a TV station and said that he was going to Istanbul, the operation team was still waiting for news to go to Marmaris.

* 16 JULY 01.30 HOURS / IZMIR - CIGLI

Finally, the news that Brigadier General Gokhan Sonmezates most needed came. One of the coupists at Aknc Base, Lieutenant Colonel Huseyin Ylmaz, intimated that the President was at the Grand Yazc Club Turban Hotel in Marmariss Icmeler area. At this very time, Erdogan was heading along with his family for Dalaman Airport in a helicopter that was rising from the hotel. Meanwhile, the call Erdogan had made from television screens had resonated and one of the main places to which citizens poured was Ataturk Airport. At 01:00, the soldiers who had taken over the control tower were arrested. The plane carrying Erdogan took off from Dalaman once news had been given that Ataturk Airport had been cleansed. With the clocks pointing to 03:18, while the wheels of the plane TC-ATA were touching down on the runway in Istanbul, the helicopters carrying the teams secure in the belief that they were going to assassinate Erdogan were beginning their descent on Marmaris

* 16 JULY 03.20 HOURS / MARMARIS

The helicopters carrying the operation team, following a flight of more than one hour, reached Marmaris. The pilots landed at the given coordinates close to the hotel where the President, whom they imagined they were going to detain, had been staying. The operation team did not know where the hotel was and one of its members asked Atilla Barbaros Teoman, whom they encountered on the road, according to the statement made by the latter, Where are scumbag Tayyips villas? and he told them the way in fear. It was 03:30 by the time the assassination team entered the hotel that they had found with a passer-bys assistance and which the President had long since left by the time they came.

* 16 JULY 03.25 HOURS / ISTANBUL

Just as the assassination teams were seeking him out in Marmaris, Erdogan was facing the press hordes at Ataturk Airport, where his plane had landed seven minutes earlier. Erdogan said two important things in his speech, in which he repeatedly stated that the Gulen Brotherhood was the culprit behind the putsch. The sentence, Today, as you know, there was unfortunately a stirring in our armed forces in the afternoon, indicative as it was that the putsch preparations had been unearthed hours earlier, may have slipped from his lips. But this was not all that slipped from his lips, and he added, This action is a huge gift from God to us.

7.

Unanswered questions: The July 15 Coup Attempt

It has still not been possible to pierce the veil of secrecy over many of the events experienced on the day of the bloody coup attempt. The truth about 15 July will only come out into the open once a full answer has been given to these questions.

Although the Gulenists had made their intentions as against the AKP and Erdogan clear with their probes into MIT of 7 February 2012 and graft of 17/25 December 2013, it would be far more penetrating and to the point to ask why the coup attempt that led to 248 people losing their lives was not/could not be prevented.

It is everybodys right to find out the truth, mindful of those who were killed resisting the coupists on the evening of 15 July. In this vein, let us pose a few questions about the coup attempt whose answers remain shrouded in darkness.

Why could it not be prevented in view of the tip-off that was given?

* Even though the informant Major H.A. came to MIT at 14:45 on 15 July and said that a raid would be staged on the organisation, why could the coup not be prevented?

MIT, which was incapable of unearthing intelligence about the imminent coup, learnt a few hours in advance in a tip-off made to it on the day the putsch took place that certain preparations were underway. In fact, the tip-off given by Major H.A. was about a raid that would be staged on MIT targeting Undersecretary Hakan Fidan. Undersecretary Fidan, who went to General Staff Headquarters following the tip-off, held a meeting with Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar and top-ranking commanders and saw to it that certain measures were taken. Even if these were touted to the media as being measures aimed at preventing the coup, it became apparent a few hours later on the same day that they were useless.

To be charitable to them, perhaps neither MIT nor the military officials realised that a coup was imminent. As things stand, it could be said that the measures taken at the meeting held at General Staff Headquarters were aimed at preventing the raid that would reportedly be staged on MIT, and not the coup. However, Akar said in his statement, based on the investigation made especially at the Army Aviation Academy, In our assessment of the forthcoming information we concluded that it might be part of a bigger plan.

Military units were not put on standby despite the risk that It might be part of a bigger plan. Is an explanation not warranted as to why Full General Akar, with time in hand to pass on information, failed to notify the air force and navy as well as army commanders?

Why did Hakan Fidan not deviate from his programme?

* What did Hakan Fidan do after he left the Chief of the General Staffs office?

After Hakan Fidan left the meeting at General Staff Headquarters at 20:31, he did not deviate from his habitual programme. Fidan went off to dine with Head of Religious Affairs, Mehmet Gormez, and one of the Syrian opposition leaders, Ahmad Moaz Al-Khatib, in Ankaras Cankaya district. Despite a tip-off having been made about a raid targeting him, how is one to explain Fidan going out to dinner?

Why were the President and Prime-Minister uninformed?

* Why did MIT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan not inform President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime-Minister Binali Yldrm?

The intention to stage a raid on MIT is not a commonplace matter. Despite this being part of a larger plan, nobody appears to have been capable of grasping this. At least, this may be the impression it is wished to give. On the day and evening of the coup, Hakan Fidan passed on no information about the affair to either Prime-Minister Binali Yldrm, to whom he reports, or President Erdogan, who had referred to the former as my repository of secrets. After the coup attempt started at 21:30, both President Erdogan and Prime-Minister Binali Yldrm say that they were unable to get hold of MIT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan. It remains a matter of mystery as to why Fidan did not answer the phone or could not be contacted.

When did Erdogan find out?

* Why has Erdogan made five different comments as to when he learnt of the coup attempt?

The prime target of the coup attempt, President Erdogan, has given a full five different times in comments he has made on different dates as to when he learnt of the putsch. Each comment has only served to fuel suspicion. In the comment he made at 04:22 on 16 July at Ataturk Airport having arrived from Marmaris while the putsch attempt was still underway, he said There was unfortunately a stirring in our armed forces in the afternoon.

The first contradictory time then emerged in a television broadcast in which he took part on the CNN International station on 18 July 2016. Erdogan said, I received news at about 8 o clock that evening and learnt that there were developments in certain regions. So, I decided to make a move. When Erdogan participated in an Al Jazeera television programme on 20 July 2016, this time he said that he learnt of the stirring within the TAF from his brother-in-law.

Erdogan then went on to state something totally different in a comment he made to Reuters on 21 July 2016, indicating that his brother-in-law, who called him at about four or half past four, told him there was something stirring in the vicinity of Beylerbeyi and access to the bridge was being blocked. Finally, Erdogan, speaking on an ATV-A News Partner programme on 30 July, said, On that day, we heard at some time around 21:15 that something had started. At 21:30 my brother-in-law called me. Which of these times is correct?

Why did they stand by Ozturk?

* Why did Chief of the General Staff Akar and Air Force Commander Unal make a comment in which they stood by Akn Ozturk, who is supposedly a coup suspect?

It invited suspicion that former Air Force Commander Akn Ozturk, proclaimed as of the first day to be the coups number one suspect, failed to attend Combatant Air Force and Air Missile Defence Commander Mehmet Sanvers daughters wedding despite being the wedding witness and was present at the Aknc Base on the night of the coup. It has proved impossible to pin down whether Ozturk was a coupist or intermediary and, according to his own statement, he was at the Aknc Base accommodation on the day of the coup to visit his grandson. Ozturk, who despite having been tortured gave a statement in which he rejected the accusations, described how he tried to prevent the coup attempt of which he says he became aware thanks to Air Force Commander Abidin Unals phone call.

Comments that supported Ozturks defences were included in a statement emanating from the General Staff on 21 July concerning the coup attempt. It was said in the Chief of the General Staffs statement, Air Force Command called Full General Ozturk, who was in the accommodation area at Aknc Base in Ankara, and informed him that the flights taking off from Aknc were illegal and requested that he speedily go to Aknc and try to prevail on those staging the putsch there. However, this is not included in Hulusi Akars statements.

Moreover, Mehmet Disli has also said that he called Ozturk at the behest of Akar, whom he accompanied to Aknc, and, in response, Ozturk came to the base in civilian attire. This assertion of Dislis has been confirmed by Akar. Why did the General Staff stand by Akn Ozturk, who is believed to have been a coupist by the prosecution and government? If Akn Ozturk is, as he claims, innocent, why is he on remand?

Were the Gulenists on their own?

* Did only military staff who are purportedly members of the Gulen Brotherhood take part in the 15 July coup attempt?

It has become apparent that political unity does not reign in the TAF and that the Gulen Brotherhood, despite having considerable clout, lacks the strength to pull off a coup on its own. The thousands of people who have until now been arrested/remanded in custody in connection with the coup attempt stand accused of FETO membership. The existence of people who have no Gulenist connections among those remanded and in coup plan documents and duty lists cited as grounds for remand is evidence that Fethullahs followers were not on their own in the coup attempt. Put forward as the main reason for the failure of the coup is the thesis that a putative coup alliance crumbled. The series of comments emanating from inside the TAF that this was a putsch that was not within the chain of command support the suspicion that there was an alliance which crumbled. In fact, certain of the top brass who issued such comments, some of whom are not Gulenists, have been remanded on suspicion of coup involvement. All of this adds weight to the theses both that the Gulenists were not on their own in attempting the coup, and also that there existed an alliance of putschists.

What was the political orientation of the military personnel who were not Gulenists and what were their motives for participating in this putsch, and who were the civilian accessories that gave them support? More importantly, if it existed, why and how did the alliance of coupists crumble? Could negotiations of one kind or another conducted after the government learnt of the coup attempt during the daytime have led to the alliance crumbling?

Why was Hulusi Akar spoken of as being in the midst?

* What did it mean when Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar was referred to as being in the midst?

Hulusi Akars chief aide-de-camp Levent Turkkan has described in his statement that Major General Mehmet Disli said to them, having emerged from Hulusi Akars room which he had entered for the purpose of winning him over to the coup, Hes in the midst. Go in. Does the statement, Hes in the midst with reference to Akar, who asserts that he was asked to obtain the signatures on the coup declaration but refused, not strengthen claims of this being a coup attempt that was abandoned while being within the chain of command? Which of these is true?

Why were Akar and Disli in the same helicopter?

* Why did Mehmet Disli, alleged to have been one of the junta, accompany Akar in the same helicopter?

It has been ascertained that Akar, who describes how he was released in a raid, went of his own accord to the Cankaya Mansion, having been provided with a helicopter that was located at Aknc by the coupists, realising that they had failed. The strange thing is that Mehmet Disli, alleged to have been one of the junta, stepped out of the helicopter along with Akar. Akar has indicated that Disli boarded the helicopter so that it would not be fired on. According to the statement, while Disli was in the helicopter, he also searched certain parts of it. What and who inspired the confidence in Disli, who had tried to persuade Akar to join the coup, to get on that helicopter?

What went on at the General Staff Headquarters?

* Why has camera footage recorded at the General Staff on the night of 15 July not been released in full?

The sole indication until now as to what went on at the General Staff is provided by the statements of the suspects and certain commanders who were taken hostage. Additionally, segments of security camera footage that support the statements have been assembled in video and photograph form and made public. In other words, rather than serving to shed light on the events in full, images have been selected that support the impression it is wished to give and these have been disclosed. With it obvious that releasing the camera footage in full would dispel question marks, this is not done. Likewise, the raw records from the security cameras at Aknc Base have not been released. Why?
Civil War Gala to be held Saturday in Somerset

The 14th annual Col. Robert Cummins Civil War Gala will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Somerset Church of the Brethren, 606 Berlin Plank Road in Somerset.
Is Theresa May ever going to be happy?

This morning she should be positively beaming. The brewing Brexit revolt by rebellious MPs has been skilfully and decisively crushed, arguably rendering the impending High Court judgment on Article 50 moot. She has effortlessly cleared a tricky by-election hurdle in Sleaford. And the latest opinion poll gives her a whopping 17-point lead over Labour, the highest rating since Gordon Brown was plumbing the depths of his unpopularity in 2009.

But the mood in Downing Street is not one of elation. Nor even of quiet satisfaction. Theyre gripped by insecurity, one Minister explained to me. They think people are out to get her. And I dont mean Labour, or even the backbenchers. I mean her own Cabinet.

Theresa May, pictured last month at the CBI conference, is paranoid that her Cabinet is out to get her, writes DAN HODGES

This paranoia manifested itself in several ways last week. First there was the surreal order, revealed a week ago in The Mail on Sunday, to launch a crackdown on leaks.

Then it emerged that special advisers and Ministers had been ordered to curtail their Twitter and social media activity. On Wednesday, MPs were treated to the spectacle of the hapless Leader of the Commons, David Lidington, floundering his way through Prime Ministers Questions. On Thursday we had the latest  and most humiliating  public dressing-down of Boris Johnson, following some unguarded but accurate criticism of the Saudis.

And then yesterday it emerged that former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan had been banned from Downing Street for daring to criticise the Prime Ministers 900 leather trousers

Wonder why Lidington was filling in for Theresa, an MP asked me, rather than Boris or Philip Hammond? Its because theyre scared of giving them a platform. Her team still see threats everywhere. They feel they need to hold people in check and put them in their place.

There is a bizarre paradox starting to work itself into the heart of the May premiership. The stronger she is, the more domineering she seems to become. Decision-making is becoming more centralised. The public punishment beatings of Ministers who err have become increasingly aggressive.

Indeed, theres something almost Nixonian about the culture that is developing within No 10. The decisions that ultimately doomed his presidency were taken at the height of his popularity. And Ministers cannot align the Governments standing  and in particular Mays personal approval ratings  with the mood of suspicion that greets them when they walk through that famous black door.

I think part of the problem is that she and her staff still cant believe all this has happened, says one Government insider. If you look at her key advisers like Fiona [Hill] and Nick [Timothy], theyd left Government. They thought it was over for them. And Theresa herself was never the favourite to succeed Cameron. That was always going to be a straight fight between Boris and George.

There are other factors at play, not least Theresa Mays own personality. For all the talk of the new Iron Lady, May has found the transition to the highest-profile public-facing role in government difficult.

After a strong first outing, her PMQs performances have become uneven and hesitant. She is surprisingly nervous during major speaking engagements. And she remains intensely uncomfortable discussing any aspects of her private life or personal biography.

She also appears strangely isolated  both in a personal and political sense. One of the reasons people frequently discounted her chances of becoming PM was that she had no base within the parliamentary Conservative party. Base in this context was Westminster code for friends, and there is no sign she has managed  or even attempted  to cultivate new alliances or relationships since her accession.

Yesterday it emerged that former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan had been banned from Downing Street for daring to criticise the Prime Ministers 900 leather trousers (pictured)

David Cameron and George Osborne crafted what essentially became a dual-premiership, while Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher surrounded themselves with ideological soulmates. May has taken it upon herself to do the heavy-lifting of government entirely on her own. And that is too heavy a burden for any individual to carry. Its also an unnecessary burden. She is a better Prime Minister than she realises. She is genuinely popular with the voters. She enjoys the loyalty of the Conservative grass-roots. And her colleagues, while nervous in the way MPs are always nervous at times of political transition and upheaval, actually welcome some elements of her new management style.

With David [Cameron] I could send him a casual text, and hed always respond, says a Minister. Whereas if I sent Theresa a text shed think Id gone mad. But the flip side of that was that if you were doing your job without any fuss, youd just slip off Davids radar. Theres no danger of slipping off her radar.

Mays inner circle argue this is what the country needs now. A serious leader for serious times. And to an extent, theyre right.

But there is difference between being in command and being in control. And the reality is that at the moment, May is hanging on too tight. There might have been a moment when Boris Johnson was dangling on his zip-wire when she thought: Theres the man to communicate Britains vision to the world in a disciplined and structured way.

Maybe she looked at David Davis, and told herself: Hes a person who will skilfully obfuscate, rather than give a straight answer to a straight question.

Perhaps she looked at Philip Hammond and said: He knows the importance of putting the politics first and the economic realities second.

But I somehow doubt it. If Mrs May wanted to exert a steely grip over her Ministers, she should have chosen a different set of Ministers. For good or ill, Johnson and Hammond and Davis are their own men. And she knew that when she appointed them. Yes, mistakes will be made. But mistakes are always made. What matters is whether the Government  collectively  is getting the big strategic decisions right. And at the moment it is.
What fun it is on the rare occasions when a Cabinet Minister tells the truth. It upsets all the right people.

The Government squawks and flaps and tries to drown out the revelation with fresh lies. The semi-official political press starts babbling about how the culprit has made a gaffe, a word used by nobody else, meaning embarrassing but honest statement.

And the rest of us can enjoy it. So it is with Foreign Secretary Johnsons attack on Saudi Arabias nasty, violent meddling in other countries, mainly responsible for turning Syria into a wasteland of ruins, full of corpses and weeping mourners.

I prefer Boris Johnsons gaffes to official falsehoods. Those who refuse to admit the truth cannot protect this country against the many dangers which threaten it

He was careful  and correct  to level the same charge against the Iranian ayatollahs. But attacks on Iran are politically and diplomatically acceptable, and anyone can make them. Justified criticism of the Riyadh despotism is taboo because this country has crawled so deep into the pocket of Saudi Arabia that it cannot find its way out.

Actually, I understand why we need to grovel quite a bit to the Saudis. We are poor and they are rich. They have lots of oil and ours has almost run out. They buy our aircraft and our weapons, which most people prefer not to do.

So a certain amount of politeness and flattery are necessary. They can have as many Royal visits as they like, and I can put up with us flying flags at half-mast when Saudi royalty dies. Why not? We recently entertained the Chinese dictator Xi Jinping in Buckingham Palace.

We get a lot in return for such gestures. But in recent years, the Saudis have asked too much. We should never have agreed to support their attempt to overthrow the Syrian government.

It was a policy motivated by spite. It required Britain to back the Al Nusra front, a bloodthirsty gang of hate-filled fanatics. These are exactly the sort of people we warn against in our anti-extremism programmes at home, and it is very hard to tell what separates them from Islamic State.

We have been reduced to pretending, to the laughter of all who know anything, that these merciless Christian-hating, church-defiling sectarian brigands are moderates. Worse, by helping them to destabilise Syria we have created the biggest wave of Middle Eastern migration into Europe in history. Worse still, we picked the wrong side.

Russia, understanding the Middle East far better than we do, bet that Syrias Assad would beat off the Saudi attack. And the battle of Aleppo has proved them right. Moscows prestige and influence in the Middle East is now at an all-time high. Ours is pitifully low.

Even now we dont realise it. The head of MI6, who was a much more impressive figure when we didnt know who he was than he is now we can actually see and hear him, made an unwise public appearance last week.

A certain amount of politeness and flattery are necessary. We recently entertained the Chinese dictator Xi Jinping in Buckingham Palace

It seemed he had not read the papers or watched the news, as he used the occasion for an ill-timed and particularly ill-aimed attack on Russia. He wrongly blamed the Kremlin for turning Syria into a desert (that was the Saudis, egged on by us, the French, the Turks and the USA). He also attacked Russia for alienating supposed moderates in the Middle East.

This from the Chief of Intelligence of the country which has done more to annoy open-minded, pro-Western people in the Middle East than practically anywhere else, from the overthrow in a squalid putsch of Irans beloved (and elected) leader Mossadegh, to the Suez, Iraq and Libya fiascos.

Perhaps his agents out there are still telling him what he wants to hear, rather than what is actually happening. Once, all this stuff was far-away and theoretical. But now that the people whose countries we have wrecked can find their way to Calais in their tens of thousands, it isnt.

And thats why I prefer Boris Johnsons gaffes to official falsehoods. Those who refuse to admit the truth cannot protect this country against the many dangers which threaten it.

It's no good moaning now about the new plan to persecute soldiers for actions they undertook during the Northern Irish troubles, while IRA murderers go free.

This is the Peace Process you foolishly bought from the Blair creature back in 1998.

It was a surrender, not a victory, and it is time we grasped that.

The search for Sully's enemy

Life saver: Tom Hanks as pilot Chesley Sullenberger in Sully

Clint Eastwoods clever and engrossing film Sully, about the amazing landing of a passenger jet on the freezing Hudson River, needed a villain. Who could it be?

After all, pilot Chesley Sully Sullenberger behaved like the well-trained and self-disciplined gentleman he is, keeping his head and using all his years of experience to land an Airbus on water without killing anyone, after geese destroyed his planes engines and turned it into an enormous glider.

And the passengers, instead of scrambling over each other and clawing for their possessions as the plane sank (which must have been a temptation), behaved like grown-ups and made their way sensibly to the exits.

All the rescue services did as they should have done.

Who was left to be the bad guy? The government. To put it mildly, the movie plays up the investigations which concluded that Sullenberger might possibly have made it to an actual airport runway, if hed acted inhumanly fast.

I found all this very believable. But actually the pilot had already become such a figure of admiration that in real life he was more or less above criticism.

It tells you a lot about the modern USA, and the victory of Donald Trump, that the authorities are the ones who come out of it badly.

The search for Sully's enemy: The Airbus in the Hudson in 2009

Im not sure why the Government is so chipper about the big Commons vote for beginning the process of leaving the EU.

One of the rules of politics is that really big majorities, like very long-standing ovations, are signs that people are concealing their real feelings.

It is in the late-night sessions, the committees and the lobbies that the pro-EU MPs will try to frustrate the process.

The myth of wind power...blown wide open

The current mild weather may make us forget that British winters can still be ferociously cold. How will we cope with such cold, once the current plan to shut down coal-fired power stations is complete?

I asked National Grid to tell me where our electric power came from in the mainly chilly week from November 28 to December 4. For most of that time, an average of just above 14 per cent came from coal, while less than six per cent came from wind.

In the Friday of that week, just two per cent of our power came from all those forests of windmills which cost us so much and make such a mess of the landscape.

A surprisingly large part of the rest was made up of nuclear (just over 25 per cent) and gas (just under 55 per cent) with a small amount sent across from France and the Netherlands by undersea cable.

With coal gone, as it soon will be, and as our worn-out nuclear stations close as well, what are we going to do? Solar power, in midwinter? We are not building any new gas generators, new nuclear plants are many years away, and the wind often doesnt blow much in very cold weather. Frances nuclear systems are getting old and are breaking down more and more frequently.

Any company or householder looking at figures like these would worry, and act. Yet we do neither. It is because our elites minds are closed by Warmist dogma. Quite soon, sensible people will be buying their own private generators, as they do in Third World countries.
Suits actress recently spent time with Harry after he diverted flight back to UK

Meghan Markle isn't letting Canada's chilly weather put a damper on her workout routine.

The Suits actress, who is dating Prince Harry, made her way to a yoga class in Toronto on Saturday.

Markle, 35, was dressed down in a pair of white sneakers and a khaki green jacket with a matching scarf.

Meghan Markle, who is dating Prince Harry, made her way to yoga class in Toronto on Saturday

Markle, 35, was dressed down in a pair of white sneakers and a khaki green jacket with a matching scarf

She lugged both her yoga mat and a $1,500 Mulberry tote bag as she made her way to the studio.

The active actress has been spotted out and about in Toronto several times this week since Harry returned to Britain after visiting her over the weekend.

But this time Markle skipped the jewelry, sporting neither the couple's matching love bracelet or a necklace decorated with both her and Harry's initials.

On Thursday Markle was spotted wearing her the love bracelet as she made her way to another yoga class.

The Suits actress proudly wore the blue and white bracelet as she stepped out in a long coat, hat and scarf in Toronto.

It has not been confirmed Harry gave Meghan the bracelet but she has suggested they may have matching 'his and hers' accessories in photo posts on Instagram in which she was wearing a bracelet identical to the one sported by the royal.

It may have been sub zero temperatures in Toronto but Meghan Markle was prepared to brave the weather in order to take her pooch to the vet

Prince Harry, 32, sent rumours swirling about their relationship when he wore his own before the cameras last month.

Prince Harrys relationship with the TV star came to light at the end of last month when fans realized the couple had been wearing matching bracelets for months.

Meghan shared a picture of herself wearing her bracelet during a stay at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire earlier this year, sparking rumours that she was close to the young royal.

Meanwhile, the besotted royal made a 1,700-mile detour to visit the American actress on the way back home from an official tour of the Caribbean on Sunday.

The besotted royal, 32, made a 1,700-mile detour to visit the American actress on the way back home from an official tour of the Caribbean on Sunday

Meghan is pictured wearing her Prince Harry 'love bracelet' at Soho farm house earlier this year

He had been scheduled to fly directly to London from Barbados but instead stopped off in Toronto, where Miss Markle, 35, is based while filming US TV legal drama Suits.

The couple spent two nights holed up together before Harry broke cover yesterday afternoon and darted out to a waiting car and headed for the airport.

The prince took a 6.30pm British Airways flight from Toronto to London arriving at 6.25am - in time for an official engagement in the City less than four hours later.

While Harry will reimburse the public purse for the cost of his flights, the security officers seen with him outside Meghan's apartment are thought to be Canadian, and funded by Canadian taxpayers.

Less than four hours after landing in London, he arrived bleary-eyed at the annual ICAP charity day, which sees traders donate all of their profits to a series of charities, including his own, Sentebale, which supports orphans and children affected by the HIV/Aids epidemic in Lesotho.

Breaking cover: Covering his head with a hood, Prince Harry dashed out of girlfriend Meghan Markle's Toronto apartment and bundled into a waiting car, pictured, yesterday afternoon. The couple spent two nights holed up together after Harry made a detour to visit her at home

Jet set: Following his tour of the Caribbean, Harry had been scheduled to return immediately to Britain on a commercial flight funded by the taxpayer. However he later took a different flight to Toronto, where Miss Markle is based while filming US legal drama Suits

After almost three weeks apart, Harry and Miss Markle enjoyed a low-key weekend inside Miss Markle's apartment.

Security staff were positioned around the property and guards with earpieces patrolled the area, a witness said.

Harry and his girlfriend are also believed to be planning a pre-festive getaway together before he returns to Sandringham in time for Christmas.

The couple have yet to make an official appearance together but Meghan continues to drop subtle hints about the budding relationship.

She has been spotted wearing a personalised gold necklace that appears to be subtly decorated with the letters M and H.
Sarah Hicks admits that during primary and secondary school she was 'chubby'.

Fast forward just seven years and that had all completely changed.

In 2013, at the age of 23, Ms Hicks from Wantirna, east of Melbourne, began starving herself in an effort to fulfil her ex-boyfriend's wish of her looking like a 'porn star'.

Having tipped the scales at 78 kilograms in school, she then dropped to just 42kgs and was so anorexic doctors feared her eating disorder may eventually kill her.

But anorexia is just the beginning of Ms Hicks' shocking battle with body image.

From being fat-shamed as a kid, to skin and bones in her early 20s and exercising so much that many local gyms banned her - Ms Hicks' yo-yoing weight has had such a severe toll on her body it's not an exaggeration when she calls it 'torture'.

Sarah Hicks has faced a rollercoaster battle with her weight that has seen her go from 78 kilograms when in school (pictured) to as little as 42kgs when suffering from anorexia

The 26-year-old from Melbourne was told by her ex-boyfriend that he wanted her to look like a 'porn star' and so began to starve herself (pictured)

'I was always picked on for being overweight and I left high school in Year 8 because I was bullied so severely,' Ms Hicks told Daily Mail Australia.

'When I was 18, 19 or 20 I was curvy and with social media shoving celebrities in your face, you think you have to look a certain way.

'My dad called me "fat" and my ex-boyfriend told me he wanted me to have a body like a "porn star or a Barbie doll" - they were the words he actually used.

'And so, because of all that pressure I just tortured myself.'

Despite dropping 36kgs and doctors fearing she may die while suffering from anorexia, Ms Hicks emerged from hospital alive.

On medication and eating again, she put on 10kgs to recover to a healthier weight.

Ms Hicks soon dropped 36kgs and became so sick and frail doctors feared she may die

The dramatic weightloss transformation from her 'chubby' days (left) to her time suffering from anorexia (right) took an enormous toll on Ms Hicks body. 'I completely switched from one thing to another,' she told Daily Mail Australia

After overcoming her battle with anorexia, Ms Hicks then became addicted to fitness and would sneak out of her house while her mum was sleeping to run through the night

But in an age where #fitspo reigns supreme on social media, convincing herself that she was in fact healthy was a lot easier said than done.

'What happened was I started eating better and put the weight back on, so I went and replaced the anorexia with an exercise addiction.

'I completely switched from one thing to another - I think I liked it because it was just something I could control in my life.

'I'd do really sneaky stuff like put a rock by the back gate so no one could hear me leave and then get up while everyone was sleeping and run all night.

'I was forced to skip from gym to gym in my area because I was going for so long everyday they'd become worried I was overdoing it and would ban me.

'I'd tell my mum I was going to see a movie with friends and then just jump in my car and drive to the local oval and run for hours on end.'

While during her body image battle Ms Hicks always aimed to be 'healthy', the end result of years of her weight rising and falling was anything but.

Currently weighing around 57kgs, the 26-year-old is not only still concerned about her weight but also the health problems her troubled years have caused.

'I'm still in and out of hospital because anorexia caused me to have a lazy bowel which means I cant go to the toilet properly,' she said.

'I have chest pain, stomach issues, I struggle to sit on a chair because my tailbone sticks out and my period has stopped, which is bad for my hormones.

Having stared in the mirror as her weight yo-yo'd over the years, Ms Hicks knows just how hard it is for young people in the modern era.

Bombarded by celebrities on social media and television, she says what's considered a 'good' body type is a long way removed from a normal body.

Ms Hicks is often in and out of hospital because of a lazy bowel, chest pain, stomach issues and other problems caused by the trauma she put her body through for so many years

The 26-year-old today (pictured) hopes she can use her story to improve the lives of young people who may be suffering from eating disorders or aren't confident in their bodies

That's something Ms Hicks hopes society can realise and change - fast.

'I see girls every single day on Facebook posting photos with waist trainers and it just makes me sad,' she said.

'They clearly think they're not good enough the way they are and that's no surprise when you look at all these celebs are getting botox and buttock implants at a young age.

'If I had a message for all these girls and guys  and it's important to realise guys go through it too  it would be to surround yourself with people who accept you as you are.
The former professional dancer James Jordan has claimed Claudia Fragapane was kicked off Strictly tonight because she will not be on the shows lucrative arena tour.

In what came as a surprise to many viewers, Claudia found herself in the bottom two with her professional partner.

James Jordan took to Twitter to accuse the show of fixing the results.

He said: 'Well done judges and producers! You got exactly what you wanted and exactly what I predicted. Such a shame, a great show but not fair.'

The former professional dancer James Jordan has claimed Claudia Fragapane was kicked off Strictly tonight because she will not be on the shows lucrative arena tour

James Jordan (pictured) took to Twitter to accuse the show of fixing the results

Olympic gymnast Claudia Fragapane found herself in the bottom two with Danny and Oti, but was in tears as she was sent home by the judges ahead of the final

He added: 'Claudia not doing the Strictly Tour #justsaying'.

A BBC spokesperson said: 'Each judge scores each dance independently, based on its merits and in their expert opinion.'

Danny Mac and Oti Mabuse received the least amount of votes alongside Claudia Fragapane and her partner AJ Pritchard.

Danny and Oti have consistently scored high throughout the series, making history when they achieved the maximum 40 points for their samba - the first time ever a male celebrity has scored that highly for the tricky dance.

He has been praised for his routines and placed first this week with 77 points.

He said: 'Well done judges and producers! You got exactly what you wanted and exactly what I predicted. Such a shame, a great show but not fair'

Yesterday it was reported that fans were being blocked from voting in the show's semi-finals - with some even labelling the technical fault as a fix.

Millions tuned in to cheer their favourites on, but thousands were unable to vote because of the glitch.

The issue started as the voting lines opened, forcing the show's staff to take to Twitter to apologise to outraged viewers.

The BBC Strictly account tweeted: 'Apologies, we had a slight technical error at the start of the Vote. If you had problems, please try again. The Vote is open until 20.40.'

Ore Oduba found himself in the bottom two the previous week before TV judge Robert Rinder was sent home by the judges
Bronze turkey plus all the trimmings, spaghetti in a Roman trattoria and a small roast pheasant for two have all been my Christmas dinner at different points over the years, depending on whether it has been my turn or not to spend this most significant day with my children.

As many divorced parents will agree, Christmas is a minefield of potential loneliness; a tug of love, with a strong chance that someone will be left out.

For 12 years my ex-husband and I had alternate Christmases with our children, a compromise that worked as well as could be expected for us, although the in between year was horrible for both of us. There is no day as long as Christmas Day when you are outside the family that you love.

As many divorced parents will agree, Christmas is a minefield of potential loneliness; a tug of love, with a strong chance that someone will be left out (File photo)

This year, however, things are different.

I got married earlier this year, and in the run-up to Christmas my husband and I embarked on some basic DIY. We have made a big oval top that sits on top of our round kitchen table, and it is big enough for a seriously large family.

It arrived this year for an important reason: it is my turn to have the children, and the Christmas family gathering at our house will, for the first time, include my ex-husband, his mother and his siblings, my mother, the children, a trio of little cousins and, of course, me and my new husband.

Its time for our blended family Christmas.

The turkey is ordered, the tree is earmarked, and the day will unfold with the usual landmarks: Christmas stockings, the Christmas morning church service (where a live, interactive Nativity play takes place), then a quick walk before we head home for lunch.

This is the classic Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and crying out to be enjoyed by one big family.

I am really looking forward to it  and so is my husband. This year there is a sense of relief that no one is being left out.

A few years ago, I would not have ever bet on this turn of events. When the children were young (they were 14, 12 and seven years old when we split), Christmas had so much emotional freight attached to it.

I even found that a splinter of sadness pierced the joy of the on year celebrations as I began to anticipate the loneliness of the off year. I imagine it was the same for my ex-husband, who hasnt remarried.

Now, with one son aged 28, the other 25, and my daughter 19, the pressure of slicing family life into his week and my week is off.

My sons both live abroad, and have done so for the past three years, so all of us are keen to spend time with them. They come back at Christmas and family is the priority.

My sons both live abroad, and have done so for the past three years, so all of us are keen to spend time with them (File photo)

Its amazing how much of the antagonism of divorce falls away simply because you both miss your grown-up kids.

Given that there is so much intensity of emotion around Christmas, there is something soothing about the rituals a family puts in place to celebrate it.

Whether its playing charades, dressing the pug up as an elf or watching the big Christmas Day film, it comes with an expectation of laughter and ease that sets the mood of the day.

Similarly, the amazing effort that goes into preparing Christmas dinner is a shared experience, rich with forensic detail that means everyone can have a part, no matter how menial.

Whether you are one of the little cousins peeling sprouts, a teenager pouring too much brandy on the pudding or Mum wielding her powers of persuasion over the turkey to will it to be ready on time, you are all involved.

A jigsaw puzzle of Elvis Presley is waiting for the right combination of family members who want to sit around piecing together his famous golden suit. Such time-honoured rituals with a twist are great for healing old relationship rifts and for opening the way to new shared memories.

Of course, seeing the children is the priority of our Christmas Day.

But also, there is an important acknowledgement of the different generations who all come together infrequently in a far-flung family. This year we will have 14 at the table, and the age range hits just about every decade up to 90.

Christmas is tribal, clannish, and a time to set aside all sorts of differences. After all, people come great distances (in our case, sons from Berlin and Beirut, and their uncle from Barcelona) and everyone makes a huge effort, and that in itself is worth celebrating.

Even when my ex and I spent our Christmases separately, my children always wanted to see their younger cousins on both sides, whose adorable and hilarious utterances are favourite family memories.

Whether cousins were available or not, we would also include close friends, single friends, families or parts of families who were, like us, lopsided post-divorce, or bereavement or just about any circumstance that doesnt fit the Waitrose ad come true.

There is a parallel universe in which the recognition of how tough Christmas Day can be brings gallows humour and lots of tearful gratitude.

Gathering up various individuals and families was what we did to magnify the Christmas experience in the years I was with my children. The alternate years, I was sometimes one of the gathered, sometimes not. Planning Christmas when I didnt have the children had an element of playing musical chairs. Searching, furtively at first but with increasing panic, I would make indirect inquiries about what my friends were doing.

There would be a discussion about a holiday or a yoga week, but it rarely came to anything: too expensive, too difficult to coordinate dates, too painful to commit to doing something so different when the maternal magnet tugs you towards family, home and hearth.

Suddenly, I would look round and it would be a only few days to go before Christmas and I would have no plans. Terror struck. Blind panic.

I remember one year, an extra cold Christmas, icy roads made going out in rural Norfolk, where I live, very treacherous.

Instead, I lit the fire and retreated to the sofa with my duvet and many films to watch, many Chocolate Oranges to eat.

I dont know if I would label it the worst Christmas, but I do remember a lot of hugging the dog and tears wiped on her fur.

It was actually saved from utter gloom by the arrival of a fire engine, when I thought I had set fire to the chimney.

No damage, but I had a cheery cup of tea with the firemen, offered them Christmas cake and felt I was taking part in a rom-com movie.

(Take note anyone who is contemplating this kind of Christmas: Stanley Kubricks multi-Oscar-winning period drama, Barry Lyndon, is good and long, so is Gone With The Wind, and thank God for the invention of the box set.)

I have spent other challenging Christmas Days with close friends, on a plane and driving up and down motorways.

This year, the experience of sharing Christmas with the extended family will be exciting and fulfilling

Girlfriends have included me in their family Christmas, and it is fascinating to be an onlooker rather than a central character.

I have been granted an insight into what it will be like to be an older relative, as my girlfriends and their husbands tussle with the personalities in their families while I am on the sidelines. Everyone is always friendly, but I know I am not essential.

Of course, meeting my new husband and having another person at my side through the non-family Christmases has been a huge bond between us. His children are always with their mother for Christmas, so he and I have experimented with many versions of Christmas together.

We have had a strange extended Sunday lunch at a pub by the sea, and other years have cooked our own pheasant for two. One year, he and I even drove across many counties to have Christmas lunch with his daughter, his ex-wife and her husband.

We have also been away, to Rome, where it poured with rain and we queued outside the Vatican for a damp and crowded audience with Pope Francis.

Last weekend I made a Christmas cake. Its trussed in a tin on a dark cool shelf, but it comes out every few days to have brandy dribbled into skewered holes.

This is something I do every year, whether I am with the children or not, as there are always visitors, and the children like it when they come back after Christmas. It is my own private ritual, and the smell of it baking is the sensory opening of the Christmas season for me.

This year, the experience of sharing Christmas with the extended family will be exciting and fulfilling. There are personalities enough to make sure there are no awkward silences.

There are also absences, sad gaps, such as grandfathers. An annual get-together no matter what season it is, is a solemn reminder that nothing stays the same.

In time my children will head off to the home of their partners parents. Then, probably, a stage will come when they begin to have their own families, their own Christmases. Suddenly, one day, I will wake up and find myself hoping to be included by them, and life will have come full circle.

I might then look back at the alternate years of their childhood Christmases as a luxury. In the meantime, though, I dont want to take anything for granted.

All of us, under the tinsel and turkey, have moments of loneliness over the festive season. It isnt possible to be a part of a family and not know loss. It is the counter-balance to love. Christmas throws this into stark relief.
Singing boosts health and wellbeing, so make the most of these uplifting holidays...

NOTES ON PORTUGAL

Stay in the 12th-century monastery in Guimaraes where youll enjoy daily musical tuition leading to a concert in a local venue. Wine tasting and trips to Porto and Braga are also on the agenda.

Stay in the 12th-century monastery in Guimaraes where youll enjoy daily musical tuition leading to a concert in a local venue

INSIDER TIP: Take the cable car in Guimaraes to the mountaintop, Penha, for great views.

DETAILS: 7 nights cost from 1,295 all-inclusive and trips depart on August 11 and 19, 2017, responsibletravel.com. Flights to Porto from 124 return in August, britishairways.com.

SING AND SAIL

On this musical cruise, workshops are led by Bob Porter, who founded Londons Brandenburg Choral Festival, and culminate in a grand finale for fellow passengers. Shore excursions include Pisas Romanesque Cathedral and Florence.

Shore excursions include Pisas Romanesque Cathedral (pictured) and Florence

INSIDER TIP: See where the Popes have historically holidayed, in the medieval town of Castel Gandolfo.

DETAILS: The 11-day Renaissance & Rivieras cruise departs Rome on May 27, 2017, stopping at Sardinia, Elba, Florence, Pisa, Marseilles, Cannes and Nice. Price is 2,195pp including return flights, transfers, meals and drinks, 3 choral workshops and 7 excursions, voyagestoantiquity.com.

CROATIA CHORAL

Lap up the scenery in Split while singing daily, led by Croatian conductor Danilo Tepsa. Theres a speedboat trip to the Blue Lagoon and the island of Vis. Youll also perform in a 13th-century cathedral in Trogir.

Lap up the scenery in Split while singing daily, led by Croatian conductor Danilo Tepsa

INSIDER TIP: You mustnt miss the ruins of Diocletian Palace, which make up Splits old town.
At The Mail on Sunday we take great pride in the quality of our journalism. All our journalists are required to observe the Editors Code of Practice and The Mail on Sunday is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), the new regulatory body for the Press set up in response to the Leveson Inquiry. We aim to correct any errors as promptly as possible.

A news story last Sunday said the Casey review into ethnic integration would say that some British Muslims are so isolated they believe up to 75 per cent of the country is also Islamic. In fact the review refers to a survey in one school with Asian pupils who believed 50 to 90 per cent of the total British population was Asian.

If you wish to report an inaccuracy, please email corrections@dailymail.co.uk.

To make a formal complaint under IPSO rules please go to www.dailymail.co.uk/readerseditor where you will find an easy-to-use complaints form.
Donatella Versace in her ritzy, glitzy new hotel in Dubai

Its no surprise that the Italian fashion house Versace chose Dubai for its second foray into hotels (the first, on Australias Gold Coast, is best known as the luxurious bolthole that celebs escape to on being turfed out of ITVs Im A Celebrity). Versace has always been about more than just a catwalk, Donatella herself told Front Row at the hotels recent launch party. Dubai is a city that combines a deep respect for tradition and an obsession with the future. This mix is also what defines the Versace world. The Palazzo Versace could just as well be named Planet Versace: cushions, sofas and mosaic floors come in every print imaginable  even the apples in the gym are emblazoned with the iconic medusa logo. And, just like Dubai, what the hotel lacks in intimacy, it makes up for in glamour.

Rooms from 840, though last-minute rates are available for less, palazzoversace.com

Barbour goes back to the classics: timeless, practical coats

For those of us more likely to be found in Devon than Dubai, we segue to the wonders of quilted and wax jackets. Namely those by Barbour, which Front Row has eyed up on a number of fashion folk about town (and country). Moving away from its trend pieces of recent years, Barbour has returned to what it does best  timeless, practical coats that look great on all and induce brisk walks in fresh air. From 139, barbour.com.

Once upon a time, you could only get a table at the Ivy by venturing into Londons West End. Now it has six outposts, with openings this year in Bristol and Wimbledon. There is even a new private dining room at its popular Kings Road spot, Ivy Chelsea Garden (above). What to wear? See below...
Marianela Nunez as Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty

YOUR HOT TICKET TO THE ROYAL BALLET

YOU readers are invited to an exclusive live cinema screening of The Sleeping Beauty, plus a Q&A with dancers from The Royal Ballet, at Picturehouse Central in Londons Soho on 28 February at 6.30pm.

Starring Principal dancers Marianela Nunez and Vadim Muntagirov, and performed to Tchaikovskys sparkling score, The Sleeping Beauty is at the heart of the classical repertoire and a landmark production for The Royal Ballet.

When and where

Tickets, priced 25, include entry to the live cinema broadcast, the Q&A session, plus a welcome glass of fizz and a bag of gourmet popcorn.

To book, please visit youroyalballet.eventbrite.co.uk. For more information about the production, visit roh.org.uk/cinema.
THE STORY

Joan Seabrook, a would-be archaeologist, has had a fascination with the Arabian desert since her childhood, when her father regularly read to her from One Thousand and One Nights. Now, at the age of 26, she finally hopes to see it for herself, when she and her fiance Rory travel to the Gulf state of Oman to stay with a diplomat friend inthe ancient capital city of Muscat.

It turns out to be the trip of a lifetime, but not for the reasons she had imagined. It is 1958 and the country is in the middle of an armed insurrection, which prevents Joan from travelling to the interior. However, she seeks out local resident Maude Vickery, a legendary explorer in her day and one of Joans great heroines. Now old, frail and prickly, she is nevertheless still a force to be reckoned with and her friendship with Joan has dramatic consequences, putting lives and relationships at risk  including their own. This is an expansive piece of storytelling, full of adventure, betrayal, shocking secrets and passion.

THE TASTER

A compelling and beautifully written tale of adventure, mystery and love - SANTA MONTEFIORE

The breeze fluttered Joans robes and veil and some air crept underneath to cool her. She took a deep breath and when she exhaled it was with a laugh, an incredulous laugh. She had done it  she had been where few Westerners ever had, against all the rules, in a disguise, and come out again without mishap. It may have been illegal, but Joan decided that it being illegal didnt make it wrong. She felt euphoric, invincible; she felt she could stretch out her arms and soar over the city.

THE AUTHOR

Katherine Webb was inspired to write the character of Maude Vickery by the life of Gertrude Bell, a pioneer female explorer at the turn of the last century  and close friend of Lawrence of Arabia  whose remarkable achievements are all but forgotten today. Read more about the background to the novel in Katherines exclusive piece at youreadinggroup.co.uk, where you will also find suggested topics for your own book club discussion.

BUY THE BOOK
Murdered women's friends recognised the dead bodies from the tattoo. (Picture for representation)

Two little tattoos helped Delhi Police piece together a double murder after hacked-up bodies of two masseuses from a Munirka spa were found days apart last month.

The police arrested two of the accused on Saturday after investigations indicated that the crimes were prompted by greed and sexual jealousy as the women were allegedly involved sex trade.

According to police authorities, four people murdered Assam native Sushma Rai, alias Sonam, carved up her body into pieces using khukuris and choppers, then wrapped the remains in a polythene bag and dumped it outside Baba Gang Nath Marg in South Delhi.

The killers were afraid that the victim's roommate Nayesha, who's from Nepal, could give details of Sushma to Police.

So they killed her and mutilated the body in a similar manner and dumped the pieces of her beheaded body at separate locations in Munirka.

The victims apparently deposited some money with one of the alleged perpetrators who was refusing to return it.

Of the four accused, one is the husband of one of the women. He is still absconding, the police said.

'A tattoo near the lower portion of Sushma's torso and another of three stars engraved on the right wrist were preserved by the investigators and her friend identified them,' said RP Upadhyay, joint commissioner of police (southeast range), Delhi.

Police went through her call records to zero in on the people she was most frequently in contact with over the days preceding her death.

A witness led the police to the deceased's residence. They found that the two bodies were discovered only about 500 metres apart.

'During a search of the deceased's rented room, police could not get any substaniail clues like blood stains there,' Upadhyay said.

Two women working in a spa in Delhi were killed and their mutilated bodies was recovered by police

'We noticed that another woman living with her, was also missing for the past 10-11 days. This increased our suspicion and it appeared to be connected with the first body found in the Munirka drain.'

'The second one was identified by the deceased's friend as Nayesha.'

Further investigation revealed that both victims were spa workers and belonged to Nepal.

They were associated to a group of people from Nepal, who provided logistical and financial support to Nepalese migrants in India.

This syndicate comprise three men identified as Jeevan, Govind and Arjun. It was also learnt that the group had rented several accommodations in south Delhi.

The landlords of these places revealed that the three men had left Munirka village on November 25.

'We have corroborated these sequences of events on technical parameters and it became imperative to carry out a profiling of the suspects,' Upadhyay said.

'Thorough search of rented accommodations used by the suspects was undertaken along with forensic experts. In this exercise, in one of the accommodations, bloodstained clothes were found. The place where the second body was discovered was found to be less than 50 metres away.'

Investigations and searches for the absconding suspects also brought into focus a woman identified as Mini Sangam, alias Neha, who is a native of Shillong.

She was reportedly in a close relationship with Arjun and was apparently a foster mother to his kids.

Officials made the first breakthrough on December 9, when they arrested Jeevan from the Anand Vihar interstate bus terminal.

He was about to escape to Nepal. Jeevan told cops that he, Govind and Arjun killed the two victims while Mini Sangam was the instigator and a co-conspirator.

The deceased were in contact with Govind, Arjun and Jeevan for the past six to eight months and deposited large sums of money with Arjun that the women had been earned at the spa.

Both Sushma and Nayesha were demanding their money back repeatedly, but Arjun was refusing to return.

According to police, Arjun had married Sushma a day after Karva Chauth to avoid paying up. The marriage made Mini jealous and she decided to eliminate Sushma at any cost.
PM was speaking at a rally in Deesa, Gujarat where he

This was not an ordinary decision, and the difficulties will continue for 50 days, he said

PM Narendra Modi cautioned that the coming days may be even tougher, but the situation will gradually move towards normalcy after the 50-day period

Acknowledging the difficulties thrown up by the note ban decision, PM Narendra Modi cautioned that the coming days may be even tougher, but the situation will gradually move towards normalcy after the 50-day period.

He also slammed the Opposition for disrupting Parliament saying he has been forced to speak out in 'Jan Sabha' (among people) as he was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha.

'I had said from day one this is not an ordinary decision. It is full of difficulties. It is a difficult decision and I had said a lot of hardships and problems will be faced,' he said at a rally in Deesa, Gujarat.

'For 50 days this difficulty has to be there. And this difficulty will even increase, but after 50 days, I have done my calculation, the situation, in one go, will gradually move towards normalcy.'

'You will see after 50 days that situation will slowly start improving in front of your eyes,' Modi added.

The PM's remarks assume significance in the context of reports of widespread difficulties being faced people in accessing their money in banks and all-round impact on the economy because of cash-crunch after the announcement of demonetisation.

The PM also targeted the Opposition for disrupting Parliament over demonetisation, noting that even the President was unhappy with their conduct.

'Opposition is not allowing me to speak in Lok Sabha, so, I have decided to speak in 'Jan Sabha'. But, whenever I would get a chance, I will try to represent the voice of 125 crore people in Lok Sabha,' Modi said, in a retort to the opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi accusing him of running away from speaking on demonetisation in Parliament.

PM also targeted the Opposition for disrupting Parliament over demonetisation, noting that even the President was unhappy with their conduct

The PM said those criticising him and highlighting people's problems should also inform masses that they do not need to stand in queue and can use mobile banking.

'You must be aware that the Opposition is not allowing the Parliament to function. I am surprised that despite government's assurance that the PM is ready to speak on the issue (of demonetisation), the situation has not improved.'

Modi also said that the government is ready for a debate on the issue if the Opposition is willing.

'Opposition is running away from a discussion because they know that their lies will be nailed,' the PM said.

The PM added demonetisation will root out terrorism, corruption and fake currency.

'Demonetisation has broken the backbone of terrorism and Naxal movement. I am fighting against terrorism as fake currency funds their activities,' he said after inaugurating a Rs 350- crore cheese plant. (Agencies)

BJP leaders plan a countrywide information blitzkrieg

The Narendra Modi government is planning a nation-wide information blitzkrieg to drive home the long-term benefits of the demonetisation move, and to counter the growing negative perception, especially in rural areas, amid the cash crisis.

Realising that just speaking from the Capital will not work, BJP lawmakers have been instructed to reach out to people all across the country and clear confusion among the largely 'under-informed rural India' to negate any feelings of anger kicked off by the Opposition's 'politics over paisa movement.'

Speaking to Mail Today, Union Minister for Urban Development, and Information and Broadcasting, M Venkaiah Naidu, said that once Parliament's winter session gets over on December 16, party leaders, members and volunteers will go out in their respective constituencies to make the people informed about the benefits of demonetisation.

Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari pays at a juice corner using Paytm app

'People are with us. We only need to tell them that there are hardships on the way as a revolution takes place,' said Naidu.

Elaborating on the need for the information sharing exercise, Naidu said that the government has received a lot of feedback that those involved in the agriculture sector and unorganised industries that employ casual labour have been worst hit by the note ban as they do most of their transactions by cash.

Party insiders say that senior leaders now think that such people should have been informed of immediate remedial measures.

Instead, a lot of information remained limited to press meets and leaders in TV studios in the New Delhi circuit. The information drive attempts to correct this', they said.

Venkaiah Naidu said that PM has struck at the roots of those with vested interests, so tremors are natural

'There is other side to the Opposition charge that marriage season was hard hit, but we have got reports that people in some marriages were happy with modest spending.

Those really hit were from the casual labour sector, but they too devised internal payment modes,' said Naidu.

He said that cashless transaction is the next step his ministry is pursuing in urban local bodies to cut corruption and to ensure 'ease of doing business.'

'Similar benefits coming directly from demonetisation for rural population need to be informed to them, hence the partymen will be out soon to be with the people,' he added.

Talking about the constant disruptions in both the houses of Parliament, which has stalled the passage of several key reforms, Naidu said that the Prime Minister has struck at the roots of those with vested interests, so tremors are natural.

'The Opposition is just trying to divert from the larger gains of the entire drive, which is strictly against corruption, ensures accountability and transparency.

A revolution like this against a system that has penetrated our minds and lives for 70-odd years cannot deliver instant results,' the union minister said.

He also rubbished the charges against Prime Minister Modi made by the Opposition, particularly the Left, that the note ban was 'antipoor and pro-corporate'.
A Delhi court sent the former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi and others to custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Saturday till December 14 for their alleged involvement in the Rs 3,767- crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal case.

Tyagi blamed former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office for tweaking the deal in favour of the Italian firm.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sujit Saurabh allowed the CBI to quiz Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi alias Julie Tyagi, and Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan.

Tyagi blamed former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office for tweaking the deal in favour of the Italian firm.

Senior advocate N Hariharan, who represented the former IAF chief, claimed that the decision to procure 12 VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland was a collective one and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) was also a part of it.

'It was a collective decision and not his (Tyagi's) individual one. It was a collective decision of which PMO was also a part,' he told the court.

The CBI alleged that Khaitan was the brain behind how the money given as bribe reached India and how it was transferred through several companies.

Tyagi's lawyer claimed that PMO was also a part of the decision

While seeking their custodial interrogation, the agency said the accused were required to be confronted and their assistance was needed to collect evidence and details of the bribe amount paid by AgustaWestland through different back channels abroad.

It said they were required to be interrogated and confronted with each other and incriminating evidences.

The agency alleged that Tyagi had abused his official position, and when he was the Air Chief Marshal, he had made huge investments in land and other (properties) and he had not disclosed the source of his income.

CBI has not ruled out the involvement of several others in the entire conspiracy.

'It was a very large conspiracy having international ramifications. Involvement of others in the conspiracy cannot be ruled out.'

'Sensitive documents were procured by the firm's officials and several important information regarding the procurement of choppers were conveyed to the firm after which the AgustaWestland got the deal,' a CBI official said.

Former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi was produced at the Patiala House court in New Delhi

During the hearing, senior public prosecutor Raj Mohan Chand said that on October 31, 2004, SP Tyagi was appointed the IAF chief while he had to take charge on January 1, 2005.

Till that time, he was attached with the then IAF chief.

The agency said at a meeting on March 1, 2005, a fresh tender was issued for procurement of choppers and a U-turn was made over the earlier decisions taken regarding the deal.

Former Air Force chief SP Tyagi was sent to four-day CBI custody on Saturday, a day after he was arrested for alleged corruption in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case.

According to the decision taken at first, the choppers had to be twin-engined, but after this meeting, at Tyagi's instance, it was amended to at least twin engined, it alleged.

This amendment was intended to make AgustaWestland eligible for entry as its choppers had three engines, the CBI claimed, adding that Carlo Gerosa, the alleged European middleman, and Sanjeev Tyagi were known to each other.

Later, another alleged European middleman, Guido Haschke, came in contact with Sanjeev through Gerosa, it said.

The CBI further alleged that officials of AgustaWestland visited India several times and they, along with Haschke, unofficially met Tyagi and continued their contact.

Tyagi's counsel N Hariharan opposed CBI's contentions and said the decision to procure the choppers from AgustaWestland was a collective decision of which PMO was also a part.

'The file moved through several levels but I am the only one who has been arrayed as accused,' he said, adding that the investments were made by him post-retirement and there is no ground to seek his remand.

Tyagi's counsel argued that the entire material is already with the CBI for sometime and Tyagi joined the probe whenever he was called for.

There was a house search a day after the registration of the FIR and CBI had seized all required materials.
Arvind Kejriwal could not even differentiate between wheat and paddy as AAP national convener was not aware of the basics of the agrarian state, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said on Saturday.

Badal said Kejriwal's repeated utterances that SAD and Congress being hand-in-glove reflects that he not only has scant knowledge about Punjab's geology and topography but also about the state's polity.

'Every Punjabi knows that Congress was a sworn enemy of Punjab and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Any compromise (by SAD for the polls) with Congress is unimaginable,' Badal told reporters in Raikot on the sidelines of his Sangat Darshan programme.

CM Prakash Singh Badal alleged that AAP suffers from anti-Punjab syndrome

The 89-year-old CM alleged AAP was also suffering from the anti-Punjab syndrome which has been exposed by the policies pursued by the Kejriwal government in Delhi.

'AAP government in Delhi discontinued teaching of Punjabi language in schools, didn't observe a holiday on sacred Baisakhi festival, demolished the 'Piau' outside Gurdwara Sisganjh Sahib and above all have submitted an affidavit against the state in Supreme Court on SYL issue.

'Disguised in robe of Aam Aadmi (common man), these people were working overtime against the interests of the state,' he said.

Badal blamed the AAP government for discontinuing teaching of Punjabi language in schools in Delhi

Badal alleged that Congress was solely responsible for ruining the state by meddling in its social, economic, political and even religious affairs and no Punjabi could ever forgive it for these sins.

'While it is on record that Akali leadership was put behind the bars by successive Congress governments, everyone also knows that Kejriwal became Delhi's Chief Minister first time from Congress' support.'

'He is just trying to mislead the people by making frivolous statements.'

'However, wise people of Punjab will not get swayed away by tantrums of Delhi chief minister as they know well that Congress and AAP are two sides of the same coin,' he said.

Notably, AAP is eyeing to wrest the power from SAD-BJP combine in Punjab in the upcoming Assembly polls early next year.

Replying to another query, the chief minister said that the demonetisation move of the BJP-led NDA government was in the larger interest of the country.

He said the decision was aimed at eliminating parallel economy propelled by the black money.

Any good step does have initial problems but in the long run, country will be immensely benefited by this visionary step taken by the Prime Minister, the five-time CM said.

Asked about some SAD leaders including a few sitting MLAs switching loyalties just before the assembly polls, Badal said: 'it was some disgruntled and over ambitious people who failed to get ticket for the elections or the positions desired by them because of which they deserted the party.'

Earlier, addressing the gatherings during 'Sangat Darshan' in villages Sudhar, Halwara, Barhundi and Raikot, CM Parkash Singh Badal said Congress and AAP were just raising hollow slogans and false promises with a single aim of assuming power in the state.
A law firm owner whose home was raided by the Crime Branch and Income Tax officials managed to dodge the police after he received an SOS alert from a mobile phone app that allowed him to watch it 'live' from afar.

Rohit Tandon is the founder of T&T law and has an office space at his home in Greater Kailash-I. Being security conscious, Tandon equipped his office with top-of-the-line CCTV cameras and security features that send out an alert when the raid took place, police said.

However, the security features were not sufficient to stop police from finding Rs 13.65 crore in cash from his office/residence, of which Rs 2.62 crore was in Rs 2,000 notes that were introduced after demonetisation.

A law firm owner whose house was raided by the Crime Branch has dodged the police and gone underground after he received an alert from an app that allowed him to watch it 'live' (pictured Rs 13.65 crore in cash recovered)

According to police, if anybody switches on any electrical appliance at Tandon's home, he gets a notification on his phone.

Sensing that something is wrong on receiving the alert around 10.30pm on Saturday, he switched to the monitoring feature and watched the raid on his phone.

Ravindra Yadav, Joint CP (Crime Branch), said Tandon has gone underground since the raid and Income Tax officials are conducting an inquiry into the source of the money.

Tandon's house was also raided on October 6 this year. At that time, he had declared an undisclosed income of Rs 125 crore to the I-T department.

Yadav said that police had been keeping a close watch on Tandon over the last couple of months and conducted the raid after they received a tip-off about a huge consignment of new notes reaching his house.

Police found Rs 13.65 crore in cash from his office/residence, of which Rs 2.62 crore was in Rs 2,000 notes that were introduced after demonetisation

'We received information that Tandon is hoarding a pile of cash illegally and is indulging in transactions with old and new currency notes.

'Accordingly, a round the clock watch was kept on his activities by the crime branch, especially at his house in Greater Kailash,' said the joint commissioner.

'From the premises, new and old currency notes were recovered to the tune of Rs 13.65 crore, of which Rs 2.62 crore was found in newly introduced notes of Rs 2,000.

'Apart from this, Rs 7.70 crore was in denomination of Rs 1000 and Rs 3.06 crore was in smaller currency notes of Rs 100 and Rs 50,' Yadav added.

The cash, which had been stashed in luggage bags, wall cabinets and boxes, has been handed over to the Income Tax Department for a probe.

Rohit Tandon is the founder of T&T law and has an office space at his home in Greater Kailash-I. Being security conscious, Tandon has equipped his office with top-of-the-line CCTV cameras and security features that send out an alert when the raid took place, police said.

According to sources, it was learnt that Tandon haa connections in the political sphere, but his office was raided following strict directions from the Prime Minister's Office that anybody hoarding black money should not be spared.

The crime branch is also scanning the list of his clients as it includes an arms dealer, who is now out on bail, and Gautam Khaitan, who was arrested for his role in the AgustaWestland scam.

Tandon, who first came to the limelight when he bought a bungalow in central Delhi for Rs 100 crore in July 2014, is well-networked in legal circles.

According to police, Tandon had brought the property in Jor Bagh via a special purpose company called Devlin Corp, from the Ruia family, which promotes the Essar group.

Sources in the I-T department said their search threw up documents about several other properties of the lawyer, besides some investments in shell companies.

Tandon is also the founder of Zeus Law Associates, which he set up around 2005 and exited around February 2014 to start T&T, leaving his brother-in-law Sunil Tyagi and partner Vivek Kohli in charge of Zeus.
Congress Chief Amarinder Singh said on Sunday that he will request Priyanka Gandhi campaigns for the party along with her mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi in the upcoming state Assembly elections in Punjab.

'Both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi would be campaigning for Congress in Punjab and I would also request Priyanka Gandhi to help with the electioneering in the state,' he told reporters.

Hitting out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's announcement that a Dalit will become the Deputy CM of Punjab if the AAP comes to power in the polls, Singh said, 'The AAP government in Delhi has no Sikh or Dalit minister.'

Congress Chief Amarinder Singh has said that he will request Priyanka Gandhi (pictured) to campaign for the party along with her mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi in Punjab

On being questioned over the delay in announcing the party candidates for the state polls, slated for 2017, the senior Congress leader said, SAD and AAP are one-member and one-family party respectively, while Congress is a well-structured organisation that works on principles and processes.

He said the delay in the announcement would have no impact on the prospects of victory of Congress candidates in the polls, adding that they would get ample time to campaign.

United front: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (right) with her mother Sonia Gandhi attend a political rally together

'We are a large party which needed to go through systems and processes to ensure proper ticket allocation,' Singh said.

On being asked whether Manish Tewari will contest the Assembly election, the former Punjab chief minister said the Congress President would take a final call on it.

He also did not comment on choice of Navjot Singh Sidhu joining Congress.
Luxury car manufacturer Bentley held secret talks with Brexit Minister David Jones on Thursday  calling for the Government to clarify plans to leave the European Union.

The summit with Bentley chief executive Wolfgang Durheimer and other senior executives at the firm follows unease within the motor industry over suspected Government guarantees to Japanese manufacturer Nissan aimed at protecting it from the side effects of Brexit.

Earlier last week, Durheimer had warned that Brexit posed a risk to Bentleys plans, saying: I cannot delay progress for Bentley even if that means building cars outside Britain. Bentleys growth must come first and building in Britain second.

Meeting: Classic car manufacturer Bentley held secret talks with Brexit Minister David Jones on Thursday

A spokesman for Crewe-based Bentley  which sells more than 10,000 cars a year worldwide and has an annual turnover of 1.4billion  told The Mail on Sunday that the talks with Jones had been private.

He said the head-to-head was an initial meeting to find out where we are as a business.

The spokesman added: As an industry, its important to alleviate that uncertainty and any agreements should be made on behalf of the whole industry.

He said Bentley  owned by Volkswagen  needed more certainty in order to make future decisions about where to manufacture new models. We have to go through a competitive process with other Volkswagen factories.

'It has to be efficient and we have to operate in an acceptable environment to put us in the best possible position.

Its up to the UK Government to alleviate uncertainty about that. Our intention would always be to build any future models in Crewe. However, we have to make sure we are in the best possible position to do that.

Bentley is understood to be preparing the launch of a new luxury line to compete with Aston Martins Vantage and other two-seater cars from Ferrari and McLaren priced at about 150,000.

Driving seat: Bentley boss Wolfgang Durheimer wants more certainty from the Government before making future plans

Durheimer is believed to be in the process of seeking board approval from Volkswagen for production of the new model which could begin as soon as next year.

The spokesman added: We have invested more than 840 million in our headquarters in the past three years and we are committed to further expansion and our ambition to build new models in Crewe.

A Government spokeswoman confirmed that Jones visited Bentleys HQ last week to get a flavour of the opportunities but also what are the problems that will be caused because of Brexit and help us inform negotiations as we go forward.

In August, Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn warned that important investment decisions will not be made in the dark.

He added: If I need to make an investment in the next few months and I cant wait until the end of Brexit, then I have to make a deal with the UK Government.

His comments were interpreted as a warning over the future of the Nissan plant in Sunderland, which opened in 1986.

But in October, he emerged from a productive hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May saying he was confident the Government will continue to ensure the UK remains a competitive place to do business.

Future: Bentley is understood to be preparing the launch of a new luxury line to compete with Aston Martins Vantage

Business Minister Greg Clark confirmed a month ago that he had sent a letter to Nissan in October containing assurances over continued funds for training and skills, regional grants and research backing. The letter made it clear that the UK would remain competitive.

He said of the EU negotiations that it was very important that we make a commitment to keep competitive.

Our objective would be to ensure we have continued access to the markets in Europe and vice versa without tariffs and bureaucratic impediments and that is how we will approach those negotiations.

But he said there was no specific promise to compensate Nissan in the face of any new tariffs because that would be anti-competitive.

Senior figures across the motor industry have been open about their nervousness as Britain moves towards separating from the EU.

They are concerned that failure of Brexit Secretary David Davis and International Trade Minister Liam Fox to conclude a free trade deal with the EU would mean falling back on basic World Trade Organisation rules.

That could mean car exporters facing tariffs of up to 10 per cent.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said that would leave the industry facing an annual 4.5billion tariff  comprising 2.7billion on imports and 1.8billion on exports.

Jaguar Land Rover strategy director Hanno Kirner said in September that disastrous tariffs could damage business and British jobs.

There have also been concerns that US giant General Motors could close its Vauxhall factory.

A report in July by industry analyst LMC Automotive said GM was the most likely to shift production to Germany or Poland if it felt it could no longer justify a UK presence.

In October, GM said it would take whatever action is necessary to put its European division back on track.




Nearly six months after the EU referendum, 47 per cent of the population are worried about leaving the EU, compared to 39 per cent in September, according to research from consumer body Which?

Those concerned about rising food prices climbed from 50 per cent to 58 per cent in the same period, while the number of people expressing fears over the exchange rate of sterling has increased from 44 per cent to 53 per cent.

This survey comes just days after a consortium of 30 British food and drinks associations warned that Britons would have less choice in what they eat after Brexit.

Those concerned about food prices climbed from 50 per cent in September to 58 per cent.

The consortium, which includes the likes of the British Beer and Pubs Association, the Food and Drink Federation and the Agricultural Industries Confederation, also warned that Britons will have to pay more for their food unless EU workers employed in the industry are allowed to remain in the country after Brexit.

They have called on the Government to offer unambiguous reassurance to the 4million people employed across the whole food supply chain that they can remain in the UK.

In a letter published in the Guardian, they said that all options should be explored for workers to be able to keep working in the UK. 'If they are not, the UK will face less food choice and higher food prices,' they said.

Which? has called for the Government to champion the interests of consumers in the strategic negotiations, including gaining agreements on prices, protections, and roaming charges.

Vickie Sheriff, director of campaigns and communications at Which?, said: 'Consumer confidence is key to economic stability and growth so the uncertainty about Brexit that increasing numbers of people in the UK are feeling must be addressed.

'We have found there is a growing concern about the impact of Brexit and worry that consumers' interests will not be represented in the negotiations.'

Nearly six months after the EU referendum, 47 per cent are worried about leaving the EU.

The monthly Consumer Insight Tracker online survey of around 2,000 households found that Britons were sceptical as to whether the impact on consumers would feature in withdrawal negotiations: just 31 per cent said their interests would be represented in the divorce talks with Brussels.

This compares with 72 per cent who believe that consumer interests are either very or fairly important in the Brexit negotiations.
Mark Boleat is the City of Londons top politician. Technically just another local council chief  but this is no ordinary council.

As head of the City of London Corporation he oversees Britains financial capital, its multi-billion-pound banking, insurance and financial markets industry.

Last year the Citys financial industry and its army of well-paid workers contributed 71billion in taxes to the Treasury  nearly 12 per cent of the whole national tax revenues.

Leading role: Mark Boleat is the City of Londons top politician

And with finance and the economy central to Brexit, it puts Boleat at the heart of Britains EU debate.

In the campaign Boleat made no bones about where he stood, warning of the threat to the City.

Sitting in his private meeting room in the Guildhall  the City of Londons historic town hall  he is still warning of the cost. Other European cities are set to take business he declares.

The places that will get business in Europe will be Luxembourg, Dublin and Frankfurt. None have the infrastructure to take huge numbers of people, but maybe each could take 5,000. But the biggest beneficiary will be New York.

He adds: I have been told by a number of business people that they have already stopped all investment here. And that 71billion in tax revenue will shrink.

Boleat points to research suggesting as much as 10billion could be lost in a worst case scenario and warns that the Citys finance firms are planning for just that.

In the meetings I am in with City businesses, they are not interested in that question  hard or soft  because they have to assume the worst case. They have no choice.

Thousands of jobs. Possibly billions of pounds in lost taxes. A catastrophe?

Career path: Boleat, it seems, is very much a politician but he argues it is policy that interests him. I toyed with standing for Parliament in my 20s, but I didnt stand in the end

Absolutely not, declares Boleat, for while he evidently not a fan of Brexit he is also desperate to see more measured views, on both sides of the debate.

There is no point in saying its a catastrophe. If you were to say all the banks will leave, well thats not true. We are being very measured in what we say.

And he reports that Brexit politicians are also being more measured. We dont hear Ministers talking about easy solutions any more, says Boleat with relief.

Ministers now know it will not be easy and that there will be some hard decisions.

He refers to the raft of complex regulation of the City currently intimately intertwined with European institutions.

Some politicians said this would be easy, but those at the coal face, in David Daviss department in particular, realise its not.

The reference to Brexit Secretary Davis is timely. A memo taken by a City of London official during a meeting with Davis, leaked last week and gave a worrying impression of where he stood.

During the meeting, held three weeks ago, Davis reportedly showed no interest in softening the blow of Brexit for the City through a transitional arrangement.

Double sided: While not a fan of Brexit, Boleat says he is desperate to see more measured views on both sides of the debate

Davis department meanwhile said the memo did not properly reflect Government policy or Mr Davis view.

A City of London spokesman said the note was the Citys interpretation of our meeting with the Secretary of State.

Boleat, who was not at the meeting, did not want to comment further.

But he has a clear message on his hopes for a smooth Brexit. When we say transitional arrangement people think that means a delay, but no, thats not what it means. You are not delaying, you are making the transition smooth.

THE CITY OF DREAMS FOR MARK The most powerful man in the City of London began his career as an economics teacher at Dulwich College in London. But Mark Boleats rise since he graduated in 1970 from Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) with a first-class Economics degree has seen him hold influential posts in industry, building societies and insurance. He joined the think-tank The Industrial Group in 1972 before moving on two years later to the Building Societies Association (BSA), where he became director general in 1986. In 2002, he was elected as a councillor in the City of London and appointed to his present post as head of the Corporation four years ago.

So we still leave, but there could be a load of provisions that make that leaving less damaging and that could last for 1-3 years.

'That could be a blanket arrangement  like staying in the single market for three years, or it could be sector by sector.

Boleat says the Government does now recognise the complexity of Brexit. We think the issues are far better understood, he says. And he adds the work needs to be done by the UK  we cannot expect Europe to do it for us.

The ball is in our court. Europe is not going to negotiate until we say: This is what we want.

But he still has fears for the financial sector and its access to European markets and that too much store is being set on trade deals beyond Europe.

There is a notion that it will all be fine with a trade deal with Australia. But we know what Australia wants and that is better access for their people to come and work here without being discriminated against.

Trade deals generally dont cover financial services. Such deals on goods do not give market access for financial services. They will also not tackle the Citys dependence on financial workers from Europe.

About 10 per cent of City workers are from the EU, Boleat says. Now, I dont think we are going to round up the Europeans and chuck them out.

'No one is calling for that and that is not going to happen. But that still leaves some uncertainty. People will be wondering, can my girlfriend come and live here? What if I leave for a few months, can I come back?

We are hearing from a few businesses that it is now more difficult to get EU nationals to come.

As an example he describes a hypothetical deal which would be hampered if visa controls are too complex.

Imagine youre a bank and you get a mandate to do a government bond issue for Poland.

'Next week, you could bring over people from Poland from your office or affiliate there. They would come over, work for a month and then go back.

But if theyve got to apply and fill in a 10-page form which is going to be assessed, the answer is you are not going to do it.

The City is also facing a challenge from continental rivals such as Paris and Frankfurt who have begun marketing campaigns to lure British finance firms to them.

On this, though, Boleat seems unfazed.

Advert: France has attempted to lure British finance firms to its quarters

The French had their poster, Tired of the fog? Try the frogs! The Germans had a cocktail party in Hyde Park.

The 67-year-old shrugs. Such marketing will not make much difference. What will matter is the substance, he argues, and on that Britain needs to make sure its tax and regulation is as attractive to finance as possible.

Boleat, who was born on Jersey, lives in Northwood, North West London, but spends most weekday nights in a flat above his offices. Most nights I have more than one event to be at.

Last night, I was at the Queens diplomatic reception and it was fantastic. I had a chat with Boris and with four other Cabinet Ministers.

Boleat, it seems, is very much a politician but he argues it is policy that interests him. I toyed with standing for Parliament in my 20s, but I didnt stand in the end.

My real interest is policy, I hate campaigning. Those people who are in politics because they want power, but havent got a clue what to do when they get there...I find that very depressing.

It seems a particularly barbed point in the current climate. Does he have anyone in particular in mind?

No, he quickly shoots back.
A 75-year-old man has been charged with the chilling murder of a young British couple almost 40 years ago when they were sailing on his boat in the Caribbean Sea.

Silas Duane Boston is accused of beating and tying up Christopher Farmer and his girlfriend Peta Frampton, who were both 25 at the time, before throwing them overboard in a fit of rage.

The Californian man had allegedly attached weights to them and covered their heads before dumping them alive between June and July 1978.

Silas Duane Boston, 75, has been charged with the 1978 murders of British couple Christopher Farmer and Peta Frampton when they were sailing on his boat in the Caribbean Sea

Their corpses were found on about July 8 floating at sea off the coast of Punta de Manabique, Guatemala.

A probe into the British couple's murders went cold even though Boston was interviewed a number of times by investigators about their disappearances.

The case was relaunched thanks to an investigation into the 1968 disappearance of Boston's former wife, Mary Lou Boston.

Boston is also accused of killing her.

He was arrested last week at a convalescent home in the town of Paradise in northern California. Boston appeared in federal court on Thursday in a wheelchair and entered a not guilty plea.

British tourist Christopher Farmer (middle) was allegedly beaten and bound before being thrown overboard by Silas Duane Boston. The alleged killer's two sons, Russell and Vince (pictured), were on board the boat at the time

Farmer and Frampton, both from Manchester, England, were fresh university graduates in their mid-20s - he from medical school and she from law school. They had decided to take a year off to travel.

They first went to Australia before setting off to the Americas and had remained in close contact with their families throughout their journey.

A probe into the British couple's murders went cold but was relaunched thanks to an investigation into the 1968 disappearance of Boston's former wife, Mary Lou Boston (pictured), who he is also accused of killing

They informed their parents in a letter that they had met Boston while in Belize and they had chartered his boat to take them to Mexico.

Frampton in a letter dated June 29 indicated it was not always smooth sailing on the boat as Boston's two young sons, who were also on board, squabbled frequently and he had a short temper.

Their families became concerned when they failed to hear from them for several weeks and alerted authorities who eventually connected two bodies found off the coast of Guatemala to the couple.

Boston's two sons, Russell and Vince, have implicated him in the brutal killings, according to the criminal complaint.

Vince, who was 13 at the time, told investigators that he had seen his father beat Farmer with a billy club and then attempt to stab him with a fillet knife that broke.

He said Boston bound both of his victims before dumping them overboard.

A 38-YEAR-OLD COLD CASE: British couple Christopher Farmer and Peta Frampton, both 25, took a year off to travel in 1978. June 29, 1978: Frampton sent a letter to her parents saying they had met Boston and were chartering his boat from Belize to Mexico. She said his two sons were also on board and Boston regularly lost his temper at them. June and July 1978: Sometime after the letter was sent, Boston allegedly murdered Frampton and Farmer. He allegedly beat them before weighing them down and throwing them overboard to drown. July 8, 1978: The bodies of the couple were found off the coast of Guatemala. It became a cold case until it was relaunched thanks to an investigation into the 1968 disappearance of Boston's former wife, Mary Lou Boston. December 1, 2016: Boston is arrested over Farmer and Frampton's deaths. December 8, 2016: He was charged with their murders and faced court to enter a not guilty plea. Advertisement

Boston allegedly later bragged about the killings, telling a former friend how he had tied the couple, put bags over their heads and dumped them overboard.

'Boston said the female on the boat heard the splash of the male victim entering the water and started calling her boyfriend's name and after a couple of minutes Boston threw the female into the water,' the friend told investigators, according to the complaint.

Both Boston's sons and the friend had apparently failed to come forward out of fear he would come after them.

'Russell stated he recalls Boston being intoxicated after the murders of Farmer and Frampton and he threatened to kill the boys,' the complaint states.

Both Russell and Vincent also told investigators that their father had bragged about killing their mother and several other people.

He allegedly took his wife to an undisclosed location and then ordered her to run before shooting her.

Boston faces life in prison if convicted in the murders of Frampton and Farmer.

Federal prosecutor Phillip Talbert on Thursday said the persistent efforts of investigators, notably the FBI and the police in Sacramento, had allowed the case to go forward.
The world's oldest known seabird is expecting  again.

Biologists spotted the Laysan albatross called Wisdom at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge earlier this month after she returned to the island to nest.

She was incubating an egg at the same nest she uses each year with her mate.

She's believed to be 66 years old and is the world's oldest known breeding bird in the wild.

A photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows the world's oldest known seabird tending to an egg she laid, with her mate, at Midway Atoll, about 1,200 miles NW of Honolulu

Biologists spotted the Laysan albatross called Wisdom at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge earlier this month after she returned to the island to nest

Biologists spotted the Laysan albatross called Wisdom in the Midway Atoll, pictured, - a small U.S. territory that lies nestled in the North Pacific between Hawaii and Japan

The bird incubates an egg at the same nest she uses each year with her mate

HISTORY OF THE SEAFARING BIRD An albatross has an average wingspan of 11 feet. They spend most of their days out at sea and spend hours gliding on headwinds. Its ancestral Hawaiian name moli means a bone tattoo needle which was made from the bone of an albatross. The bird was famously mentioned in Samuel Taylor Coleridges epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, where the mariner shot an albatross, which was considered a sign of good luck. As punishment, the mariner was forced to wear the dead albatross across his neck. The phrase has come to mean carrying a great burden. Nineteen of 21 species of albatross are threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Advertisement

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's project leader for the refuge, Bob Peyton, said in a statement Friday that Wisdom has been returning to Midway for over six decades.

Experts believe the grey and white bird could have raised between 34 and 40 chicks in her lifetime - and she is showing no signs of stopping.

'As the worlds oldest known bird in the wild, Wisdom is an iconic symbol of inspiration and hope for all seabird species,' said Dan Clark, refuge manager for Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

'She provides to the world valuable information about the longevity of these beautiful creatures.

'In the case of Wisdom, she has logged literally millions of miles over the Pacific Ocean in her lifetime to find enough fish eggs and squid to feed herself and multiple chicks, allowing us the opportunity to measure the health of our oceans which sustain albatross as well as ourselves.'

An ornithologist first put an identification band on her in 1956.

Wisdom is pictured incubating the egg before it hatches

The Laysan species of albatross traditionally mate with one partner for life and lay only one egg at a time, each year. It takes much of that year to incubate and raise the chick, here Wisdom is pictured in 2013

Wisdom, left, is at least 66-years-old and is pictured with her mate

Midway is about 1,200 miles northwest of Honolulu. It's part of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

The Laysan species of albatross traditionally mate with one partner for life and lay only one egg at a time.

However, scientists do not know whether Wisdom has had the same mate for all these years.

Laysan albatross breed on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, at Kaena Point, and on Kauai, at Kilauea Point.

Wisdom's chick from February 2012. Scientists estimate that Wisdom has between 35-40 offspring

Wisdom's mate pictured carefully guarding their new chick in 2013

Their feeding grounds are off the west coast of North America, including the Gulf of Alaska, and they spend their first three to five years constantly flying, never touching land. Scientists believe they even sleep while flying over the ocean.

Albatross lay only one egg a year, but it takes much of that year to incubate and raise the chick. After several consecutive years in which they have successfully raised and fledged a chick, the parents may take the occasional year off from parenting.

Nineteen of 21 albatross species are listed as threatened with extinction from a variety of causes, including lead poisoning on Midway Atoll, injuries from longline fishing, climate change and ingestion of garbage floating on the ocean.

An estimated five tons of plastic are unknowingly fed to albatross chicks by their unsuspecting parents each year.
Republican President-elect Donald Trump's campaign manager returned to her native New Jersey to lead a holiday parade and some are feeling bah humbug about it.

Kellyanne Conway was grand marshal of Saturday evening's Christmas parade in Hammonton, where Trump topped Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November presidential election.

By the sound of the crowd, it was pro-Kellyanne too, despite some protesters.

She received nothing but cheers when she stepped off the department's fire truck, reports Press of Atlantic City.

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Republican President-elect Donald Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is pictuered arriving at the Hammonton Fire Department Christmas Parade where she was grand marshal

Conway, in a fur coat, rode on a fire truck as part of the Hammonton Fire Department's Christmas parade Saturday evening

The choice of Conway, a Hammonton native, was generally liked by the locals, most of whom voted for Trump over Clinton, but Conway said she's been getting death threats

The sometimes controversial campaign manager said brief remarks and asked for prayers 'our outgoing president and vice president ... and for our new president and vice president,' reported the outlet.

She also suggested sending a thank you card to a soldier or buying a winter coat for someone less fortunate.

But some showed up to protest, despite the bone-chilling weather.

Brittany Papale, a Hammonton native who now lives in Philadelphia, held a sign asking, 'Where would Hammonton be without migrant workers?'

She told the outlet that while people were 'mean' on Facebook, they were nice to her at the parade.

Some protesters showed up at the parade, but at least one said the crowd treated Conway nicely. Conway graduated from St Joseph's High School in Hammonton in 1985

A few people held signs, one said 'Liberal Snowflakes Unite' and another 'No Room for Rascist [sic] rhetoric'. Parade goers said the crowd looked larger than usual

Conway rode on a fire truck covered in Christmas lights (pictured) at the parade. She also received the keys to the city, where she grew up

Parade goers said the crowd looked larger than usual, most likely thanks to the fame of its grand marshal.

A group that bills itself as an anti-fascist organization planned to protest what it views as the politicization of the parade. South Jersey Antifa said its members were outraged that Conway had been picked to lead the parade.

'She is not an acceptable role model and we call on the Hammonton Fire Department to drop her,' the group said in a Facebook post.

The group said it had been getting 'a lot of threatening messages from Trump supporters' and urged its members to travel in a buddy system at the parade. It's unclear how many went.

'They are not ready for what they think they are ready for,' wrote one critic, Mark Catanio, on the group's Facebook wall.

'If any of you cry baby sissys yell scream point and my kids notice or feel frightened i will slap the taste buds out ur mouths,' wrote Anthony Ford, Jr.

The group also suggested its members dress up as Santas, reindeer, or elves. 'Let's show them Santa doesn't like naughty fascists!' it said.

The campaign manager went to high school in Hammonton (main street, left) at the St Joseph's High School (right and spent her summers working at a local farm

Conway (pictured walking through the lobby of Trump Tower on Monday) spent summers working at Indian Brand Blueberry Farms before leaving for college in Washington, DC

Others were quite happy with the choice of Conway as grand marshal.

'It's a great idea. She's from the area. She grew up down here and worked on the farms,' Frank Ferry of Egg Harbor Township told ABC 6.

Conway was raised in nearby Atco and graduated from St Joseph's High School in Hammonton in 1985.

She spent summers working at Indian Brand Blueberry Farms before leaving for college in Washington, DC.

'Everything I learned about life and business started on that farm,' she told NJ.com.

Conway also received a key to the city.

The parade chairman said protesters didn't bother him. 'I don't have any problems with protesters,' Mickey Pullia, who invited his friend Conway to the parade, told ABC 6.

Donald Trump's campaign manager (pictured with him) regularly makes media appearances on behalf of Trump and has even been spoofed on 'Saturday Night Live'

While it was clear that Conway was in friendly territory in Hammonton, she's not necessarily so welcome in other parts of the country, she says, claiming she has received death threats.

Referring to former Clinton communications director Jen Palmieri's op-ed in The Washington Post on Thursday which said Trump's campaign catered to white supremacist's, Conway told MSNBC's Chris Matthews: 'Ask Jen Palmieri that because she's writing an op-ed, somebody else in The Washington Post today has a scathing headline about me which is not true but did lead to some death threats today and that'll be on their doorstep.'

Conway regularly makes media appearances on behalf of Trump and has even been spoofed on 'Saturday Night Live.'
The family of a mentally ill inmate who was beaten to death in a Northern California jail will receive $3.6 million under a settlement.

Santa Clara County agreed to settle a wrongful death and civil rights violation claim brought by the family of 31-year-old Michael Tyree, who was found dead in his cell last year. The settlement will be paid to Tyree's two sisters, Shannon Tyree and Elizabeth Ott, and his seven-year-old daughter.

'The family would much rather have their brother than any amount of money. It's the most bittersweet money,' attorney Paula Canny told the San Francisco Chronicle.

'He was loved,' Shannon Tyree told NBC News. 'He was part of a family.'

Michael Tyree, above, was beaten to death in his jail cell on August 26, 2015 - he had been diagnosed bipolar

The county has agreed to pay $3.6 million to the family of a mentally ill inmate who was beaten to death at the Santa Clara County jail last year

Three correctional officers were charged with murder in Tyree's death and will face trial in January.

Jereh Lubrin, 28, and Matthew Farris and Rafael Rodriguez, both 27 at the time of the assault, were charged September 2015.

Tyree, who had been diagnosed as bipolar, died from internal bleeding and suffered significant liver and spleen damage from having his back, legs, arms and head beaten. An investigation determined he had been hit for hours before he was found in his cell.

Correctional officers Matthew Farris (left), Jereh Lubrin (center) and Rafael Rodriguez (right) have been charged with murder after allegedly beating a mentally ill prisoner to death in his cell

Tyree, in a photo several years before his death, had a history of mental illness and addiction - his sister Shannon said 'He was loved'

He was found naked and covered with feces and vomit. Prosecutors said he said 'Sorry' and 'Stop' during the beating.

Tyree, who was serving five days for misdemeanor theft and drug possession, had been housed by himself in a section of the jail reserved for inmates who are in protective custody or have special needs. He was scheduled to be moved to a facility for the mentally ill.

Before the assault, he went to get his medication, but pocketed the pills instead of taking them.

Lubrin confronted the man. Later, its alleged that Lubrin and Farris assaulted the mentally ill man in his cell while Rodriguez guarded the door. They are accused of beating another inmate the same night.

Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith had said the three guards were the only people with access to Tyree's cell the night he died.

Several inmates told police they could hear Tyree screaming for several minutes.
Venezuela's socialist government seized 4.8 million toys from a private company that is accused of under-reporting its inventory to sell some toys at higher prices.

The country's fair pricing authority seized the toys from three warehouses run by Kreisel, Venezuela's largest toy distributor, on Friday.

Two company executives have been detained on suspicion of promoting price speculation.

The government said it intends to hand the toys out as Christmas gifts to poor children this holiday season.

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A member of Venezuelan Armed Forces is shown walking among boxes of toys during an operation at a warehouse run by Kreisel, a toy distributor in Caracas, Venezuela on Friday

Members of the Venezuelan national guard stand next to boxes full of confiscated toys in one of Kreisel's warehouses in Caracas

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is shown above during a meeting earlier this week

Agency director William Contreras said the seizure would teach companies 'that you can't play with the rights of Venezuelans.

The operation began on Thursday and law enforcement officials remained at the warehouse on Saturday.

Some of the confiscated toys were reportedly bought by Kreisel all the way back in 2008 and were kept in storage so they could be sold for a higher margin of profit, as high as 25,000 per cent, according to government officials.

The consumer protection agency has asked officials to prohibit executives at the company from being able to leave the country during the investigation.

Agency director William Contreras (pictured) alleged that Kreisel under-reported its inventory in order to sell some toys at higher prices

One Twitter user told CNN that the government is 'worse than Grinch' (shown above)

Another asked: 'Now what? Is Maduro the modern Grinch?'

Some critics called the consumer protection agency has become 'the Grinch that stole Christmas' because now families will not be able to buy the confiscated toys, according to CNN.

One Twitter user told CNN that the government is 'worse than Grinch.'

Contreras, however, said the executives at the toy distributor 'don't care about our children's right to have a merry Christmas.'

'They say we're stealing the toys from this company, but the company committed fraud against our country,' Contreras said.

Francisco Fernandez, Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce President, called the government's actions 'irresponsible,' saying that is endangering private property and discouraging the creation of jobs.

'This was plundering of inventory. The government didn't even respect the company's right of due process,' Fernandez told CNN.

The operation began on Thursday and law enforcement officials remained at the warehouse on Saturday.

Kreisel has not commented officially beyond responding to Twitter messages of support.

At this time, it is not clear if the confiscation will have an effect on the country's toy market in the run-up to Christmas.

Meanwhile, local supply committees will be in charge of distributing the toys 'fairly' to children, authorities said.

Venezuela has been wracked by a deep economic crisis accompanied by shortages of goods ranging from food staples to medicine.

In recent days President Nicolas Maduro ordered stores to lower their prices between 30 and 50 per cent.
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Explosive text messages have revealed how Theresa May banned a 'soft Brexit' former Cabinet Minister from Downing Street for criticising her 995 leather trousers.

Ex-Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has been told not to attend a scheduled Brexit meeting with the Prime Minister on Wednesday after an extraordinary text spat with Mrs May's joint chief of staff Fiona Hill.

Hill ripped up Morgan's No 10 invitation after the MP publicly criticised the PM's trousers.

The 'Trousergate' clash came after Hill met Morgan and Tory pro-European cheerleader Alistair Burt at No 10 and invited them to put their case to the PM this week. But after subsequently reading Morgan's jibe about May's trousers, a furious Hill texted Burt: 'Don't bring that woman to Downing Street again.'

Morgan texted Hill: 'If you don't like something I have said or done, please tell me directly. No man brings me to any meeting. Your team invites me. If you don't want my views in future meetings you need to tell them.'

Hill texted back to Morgan: 'Well, he just did. So there!'  believed to be a reference to Burt having taken her to the previous meeting.

Three days later, No 10 told Morgan formally her name had been axed from the list of MPs invited to see May on Wednesday.

Details of the text message exchange are one of several new Tory leaks that have come despite Mrs May ordering a strict clampdown on such disclosures  as we reported last week.

The 'Trousergate' row started when Loughborough MP Ms Morgan said: 'My barometer is always, 'How am I going to explain this in Loughborough market?',' adding that Mrs May's trousers had 'been noticed and discussed' in party circles. She added: 'I've never spent that much on anything  apart from my wedding dress.'

Morgan's ban means that the new group of 'soft Brexit' Tories  branded the 'Pragmexits' because they want a 'pragmatic exit' and oppose hardline calls to quit the single market  will see May on Wednesday without their leader and co-founder.

Instead, the delegation will be led by Burt. It will include 'soft Brexit' Tory MPs including Anna Soubry, Sir Nicholas Soames and Nick Herbert. The dispute underlines the increasing tensions over Brexit that threaten to tear the Conservative Party in two. And it highlights the powerful role that Hill holds in May's inner circle.

Morgan's dismissive comment about May's leather trousers struck a raw nerve with Hill, who is both fiercely loyal to the Prime Minister and credited with 're-inventing' her previously frumpy image with kitten heels and designer label clothes, such as the leather trousers.

In a pre-recorded interview on the BBC's Sunday Politics, Ms Morgan defended her criticism of the government, saying being a backbencher at a time of 'weak' opposition meant she had a duty to scrutinise the Brexit process.

Standing in front of a framed portrait of Mrs May in her constituency office, she said: 'Nobody comes into politics to be a thorn in their party leader's side.

'But, at the end of the day, it is such a massive issue that if you don't stand up for what you believe in I'm not sure what the point is of going into politics.'

However, Adam Stares, deputy chairman of Mrs Morgan's Loughborough constituency association, said he had 'no idea what she is playing at'.

He told the programme: 'There's a lot of people who think she is taking side-swipes at the Government and at Theresa May.'

One Tory MP said: 'For Downing Street to ban Nicky from the meeting just because she made a mild remark about the PM's trousers is appalling, absurd and will backfire.

'Some people in No 10 are acting like a medieval monarch's courtiers, not responsible civil servants in a modern democracy.

In her Maidenhead constituency last Friday, in Amanda Wakeley coat (765); Longchamp bag (60); Russell & Bromley boots (455); Amanda Wakeley skirt (unknown)

'How dare they treat a highly respected ex-Cabinet Minister in such a high-handed way.'

Before she was banned, Morgan and Burt had attended two meetings with Hill at No 10  at Hill's request  after they informed Downing Street they were setting up their soft Brexit 'Pragmexit' group. They told her they wanted to help May fend off growing pressure from hardline Brexiteers to leave the single market and customs union, and cut all links with the EU.

'They told her they knew she would have to compromise in negotiations with the EU in the national interest and would protect her from inevitable cries of betrayal from the anti-EU fanatics when she did,' said a well placed source. 'Hill said the PM would appreciate such advice and agreed to set up the meeting.'

But Hill's tone changed dramatically after Morgan's leather trouser comments. Critics say the Prime Minister's expensive wardrobe is at odds with her pledge on the steps of No 10 when she succeeded David Cameron to do more for hard-up families who were 'just about managing'  the so-called JAMs. A hint that May was irked by Morgan's comments about her trousers came when the Prime Minister was asked about them during her trip to the Middle East last week.

She replied defensively: 'I believe it is important for politicians to get out and about and that's what I continue to do. It is important we have a country that works for everyone.'

At a summit in Bahrain on Tuesday night, wearing custom-made shocking pink jacket with Mandarin/ Nehru cut (1,000); and Russell & Bromley twist flats (195)

Friends of Morgan say that she was 'shocked and puzzled' by Hill's texts, and on Wednesday May's Parliamentary Private Secretary, Tory MP George Hollingbery, who is her Commons 'eyes and ears', confirmed that Morgan could not attend this week's meeting.

Twenty four hours earlier, at a champagne party hosted by Soames, Ms Morgan delivered a powerful rally cry for 'soft Brexit' Tories to make their voices heard and help Mrs May as the Government prepares to sign Article 50 triggering negotiations on Britain's exit from the EU.

The party, in Soames's Commons office, marked an alliance of two groups of 'soft Brexit' Tories, both invited to see May at No 10 on Wednesday; experienced MPs led by Morgan and Burt and 2015 Commons newcomers led by Bath MP Ben Howlett. At that point, Morgan had not been notified of the No 10 ban.

Burt and Soames echoed Morgan at the party, saying that it was vital for 'moderate, mainstream' Tories to fight for a 'sane and sensible' Brexit deal.

Wednesday in Bahrain, wearing an LK Bennett coat dress (250); Amanda Wakeley Horizon midnight peg pant trousers (295), Russell & Bromley twist flats (195)

One MP at the meeting said: 'It was all a bit hush-hush because there is such fear of being targeted by Brexit nutcases.' The Mail on Sunday has been told that MPs win Morgan's 'Pragmexit' group include Burt, Soubry, Howlett, Ken Clarke, Nick Herbert, Claire Perry, Dominic Grieve, Sir Simon Burns, Sarah Wollaston, Mark Menzies, Stephen Hammond, Bob Neill, Neil Carmichael, Keith Simpson and Tom Tugendhat  and most were at Soames's bash. Ten of them have been invited to No 10.

To avoid allegations that she was plotting against the Government, Morgan informed Chief Whip Gavin Williamson, who sent deputy whip Anne Milton to attend on his behalf. 'We have only ever wanted to act as loyal Tories and help the PM avoid being forced down an extremist route on Brexit,' said one MP.

'The whips and No 10 told us they need us to shield her against the excesses of her own ministers like [International Trade Secretary] Liam Fox, but the treatment of Nicky has poisoned the well.'
One of Australia's worst killers has offered to undergo chemical castration in a bid to be released from jail after more than 30 years behind bars.

Samuel Leonard Boyd, 61, was sentenced to five consecutive life terms in 1985 for the depraved murder of four people in Sydney's south-west and has consistently been diagnosed as a sexual sadist.

On Friday, he appeared before victims' families in the New South Wales Supreme Court and offered to take anti-libidinal medication to reduce his testosterone and levels of sexual arousal, as part of his bid for parole.

Samuel Boyd (pictured leaving the NSW Supreme Court on Friday) has appeared before his victims' families offering to undergo chemical castration

Boyd, 61, is serving five conservative life terms for murdering three women and a man during the early 1980s in Sydney's southwest. (Stock image)

'If my libido is a problem, as the court deems it is, then it has to be addressed,' he told the court, Fairfax Media reported.

Boyd told the court in Sydney he had ceased having fantasies about sadistic behaviour since being jailed, adding he had found God.

'I've tried to embrace the Christian philosophy in how I conduct my life in matters of everyday living,' he said.

The Scotish-born killer was 29 when he murdered his first victim Rhonda Celea, 27, in September 1982.

He was working as a pest exterminator at the mother of two's house.

He slashed her throat and her body was found naked with abrasions around her private parts but police didn't have enough evidence to charge him at that stage.

Four women were brutally stabbed at a special school in Sydney's southwest in April 1983. (Stock image)

Seven months later, on April 22 1983, he beat Gregory Wiles, 27, to death with hammer following a drinking session at Liverpool.

A short time later, he went to the Glenfield Park Special School and terrorised three women who worked there as supervisors.

He forced them to undress, tied them up and made them lie on a bed.

Following threats of sexual abuse, he repeatedly stabbed each of the women with a knife, with one of his victims having 27 incisions in her throat.

Two of them died but remarkably one of them, Olive Short, survived.

Sexual sadist Samuel Leonard Boyd has offered to be chemically castrated to reduce in his libido in a bid to get parole after more than 30 years in jail. (Stock image)

Murdered woman Patricia Volcic's daughter Emma's victim impact statement was read out in court.

'I was 10 years old, turning 11 in August, and I will never forget the look on dad's face when he told us mum was never coming home and that a bad man had done something to her,' she said.

Crown prosecutor Huw Baker said Boyd's murderers were in the 'worst category'.

'The cruelty exhibited and the pain and indignities inflicted on the victims was such that the applicant could not have attached any value whatsoever to the lives he took,' he said.
The federal government on Friday said the police force that serves two polygamous towns found to discriminate against non-believers should be disbanded.

The U.S. Department of Justice made the recommendations in closing arguments, which were due Friday.

The DOJ also wants a monitor appointment to oversee the overhauling of some of the towns' operations.

The towns face a January 9 deadline for turning in their closing arguments.

The DOJ says the Marshal's Office operates as an arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Justice Christ of Latter Day Saints, a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, which disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.

The Department of Justice says the Marshal's Office that serves two polygamous towns - Colorado City, Arizona (pictured) and Hildale Utah - operates as an arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Justice Christ of Latter Day Saints

Lawyers for the federal government say the sect's activities are dictated by the commands of their jailed leader and prophet, Warren Jeffs (pictured), at the expense of the rights of nonbelievers

A jury concluded nine months ago that nonbelievers were denied police protection, building permits and water hookups by officials in Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah.

The jury found the Colorado City Marshal's Office violated the rights of nonbelievers by breaking the First Amendment's promise that the government won't show preference to a particular faith and force religion upon people.

Jurors concluded officers treated nonbelievers inequitably when providing police protection, arrested them without having probable cause and made unreasonable searches of their property.

Two girls are pictured walking on a street Hildale, Utah, in this file 2006 photograph

It's now up to U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland to decide how to remedy the discrimination.

The government says the local sheriff's office should take over policing in both towns.

'The severity and unique nature of the constitutional violations, and the (Colorado City Marshal's Office) refusal to reform make disbandment necessary,' the government wrote.

Lawyers for the federal government say the sect's activities are dictated by the commands of their jailed leader and prophet, Warren Jeffs, at the expense of the rights of nonbelievers.

A jury concluded nine months ago that nonbelievers were denied police protection, building permits and water hookups by officials in Colorado City and Hildale

Jeffs is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for sexually assaulting underage girls he considered wives.

At trial, the towns denied the discrimination allegations and said the government was persecuting town officials because it disapproved of their faith.

They vigorously opposed the request to disband the police department and the appointment of a monitor.

Their lawyers say police departments in other municipalities that have been targeted in federal civil rights investigations haven't faced remedies as drastic as disbandment.

Jeffs is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for sexually assaulting underage girls he considered wives (2007 photo)

The towns also have suggested they can resolve their problems through policy changes and employee training and should be able to demonstrate their compliance through reports and documents.
One of the getaway cars used to murder Sydney gangster Pasquale Barbaro was secretly bugged by police, recording everything the accused hitmen said after the killing.

It allegedly caught the accused killers casually talking inside a black Subaru WRX just moments after they allegedly gunned down the 35-year-old on November 14.

They were allegedly later heard complaining about inhaling smoke an singeing their eyebrows after they torched the other car, a stolen grey Audi Q7.

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One of the getaway cars used to murder Sydney gangster Pasquale Barbaro (pictured) was secretly bugged by police, recording everything the hitmen said during the killing

The hitmen were heard complaining about inhaling smoke an singeing their eyebrows after they allegedly torched the other car, a stolen grey Audi Q7 (pictured)

The bugs also picked up what sounded like the men burning clothes used in the murder, and recorded the WRX's movements, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

The car was bugged as part of a separate ongoing investigation by Strike Force Raptor into the supply of ice and firearms linked to the Burwood chapter of the Rebels bikies.

Abuzar Sultani, 27, Joshua Baines, 24, Wais Danishyar, 23, and Siar Munshizada, 28 were arrested on November 29 over Barbaro's killing and remain in custody.

Barbaro was ambushed and shot multiple times as he ran for his life on November 14

The gunman fired the first shots from the driver's seat at about 9.30pm before chasing him down the road and pumping a few more bullets into him as he lay dying, for good measure

Police will allege the WRX was parked at Sultani's house on Australia Avenue in Olympic Park and left at 7.42pm to pick up Baines from his place in Wentworth Point.

They then met up with the stolen Audi on Ring Street, Belmore, at 8.13pm and drove to Larkhall Avenue, Earlwood, where Barbaro was meeting construction identity George Alex.

It was on that street, a few doors down from Alex's house, that Barbaro was ambushed and shot multiple times as he ran for his life.

According to CCTV and witness statements, it was one of the men in the Audi who allegedly fired the shots after parking across the road from Barbaro's Mercedes.

Abuzar Sultani, 27, is the alleged mastermind behind Barbaro's assassination. The Subaru was parked at his house in the hours before Barbaro was killed

Siar Munshizada, 28, was also arrested on November 29

Joshua Baines, 24, was arrested in the same raids and is still in custody. He was allegedly the second person in the Subaru before the murder

The gunman allegedly fired the first shots from the driver's seat at about 9.30pm before chasing him down the road and pumping a few more bullets into him as he lay dying, for good measure.

The WRX did laps around the block while the murder was carried out, just in case the gunmen needed reinforcements.

The Audi was spotted burning in Concord, half an hour's drive away, at 10.14pm while the WRX was parked about 100 metres away, and the recording device allegedly picked up several men getting into it breathing heavily.

Munshizada along with the other three appeared in court early this months over the murder
In the final days before Hillary Clinton's stunning defeat in the election, one of her campaign staffers warned her she would likely lose, despite polls showing she was the heavy favorite - but he was ignored by the rest of the staff, according to a report.

Jake Sullivan, Clinton's chief foreign policy director, was reportedly the 'only one' in her 'inner circle' who warned her of her impending fate before the November 8 vote.

Sullivan is also said to be the only one of her aides to press in the last days of the campaign whether Clinton should spend more time in the Midwestern swing states.

Donald Trump ended up winning the election, shocking many throughout the nation and prompting widespread protests.

The revelations detailing how Trump got elected, and subsequently Clinton's defeat, have been revealed in a lengthy report by Politico's Glenn Thrush.

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In the final days before Hillary Clinton's (pictured during the campaign) stunning defeat in the election, one of her campaign staffers warned her she would likely lose, despite polls showing she was the heavy favorite - but he was ignored by the rest of the staff, according to a report

Jake Sullivan, Clinton's chief foreign policy expert (pictured) was reportedly the 'only one' in her 'inner circle' who warned her of her impending fate before the November 8 vote

In the days going into the November 8 race, Clinton was projected by nearly every national public opinion poll as the heavy favorite.

Despite this, Sullivan had reportedly warned the Clinton campaign of a possible defeat.



Sullivan, 'a brainy and nervous former State Department aide who took on an increasingly important political role as the campaign ground on - was the only one in Clinton's inner circle who kept saying she would likely lose, despite the sanguine polling,' Thrush wrote, citing Sullivan's friends.

'He was also the only one of the dozen aides who dialed in for Clinton's daily scheduling call who kept on asking if it wasn't a good idea for her to spend more time in the Midwestern swing states in the closing days of the campaign.'

His warnings were quickly dismissed and the rest of the campaign staff spent more time debating whether Clinton should visit Texas or Arizona, according to Politico.

Clinton ended up flying to Republican-leaning Arizona the week before the election in an effort to expand the Democratic electoral map, spending precious time in a state that had tantalized her party.

Clinton pictured with Sullivan in October 2015 during a break in testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the House Select Committee on Benghazi

However, her trip to Arizona was planned before news broke just 10 days before the election that the FBI was getting back into Clinton's email investigation.

During Clinton's campaign, the investigation into the use of her private email server served as an issue that did permanent political damage.

One long-time Clinton insider described it as 'cancer' while another said 'she's her own worst enemy,' according to Politico.

At the time of the FBI's announcement in October, Clinton was surging ahead in national and state opinion polling, and commentators were speculating about the size of the electoral college blowout she might score.

FBI director James Comey sent a letter to Congress on October 28 announcing that the FBI had uncovered emails possibly related to its earlier probe into her use of a private server as secretary of state.

The new examination was sparked by an unrelated investigation into former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of one of her top aides, Huma Abedin.

Comey announced a week later that he had reviewed emails and continued to believe she should not be prosecuted, but the political damage was already done.

The timing of Comey's decision to write the letter to Congress remains hotly debated, but officials for both campaigns have said it proved to be a turning point in the race where Clinton had little margin for error.

In a post-election conference call with her top campaign funders, Clinton said Trump was able to seize on both of Comey's announcements and use them to attack her, according to two participants on the call.

Clinton and Donald Trump pictured during the final presidential debate. Trump narrowly won in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - three states Clinton needed to flip in order to take enough electoral votes to win the election

Elan Kriegel, Clinton's director of analytics, told Politico his team saw Clinton's numbers collapse among educated whites.

Clinton had hoped to end her last month of campaigning by rebuilding her image, but her team was instead forced to attack Comey, Politico reported.

She has blamed Comey for her loss, saying his decision during the campaign's final weeks to re-open a probe into her email use as secretary of state broke her momentum toward victory.

Clinton told donors during the call that her campaign was leading by large margins in nearly every battleground state and was tied in Arizona until Comey released his letter.

She said Comey's decision to go public with the renewed examination of her email server had caused an erosion of support in the upper Midwest, according to three people familiar with the call.

The memo prepared by Clinton's campaign, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, said voters who decided which candidate to support in the last week were more likely to support Trump than Clinton.

'In the end, late breaking developments in the race proved one hurdle too many for us to overcome,' the memo concludes.

Clinton, as early as 2013, had begun having serious talks about running for president and what a campaign would like, people close to her told Politico.

One of the former secretary of state's most influential friends and advisers, Cheryl Mills, reached out to David Plouffe who was a prime architect behind both of President Barack Obama's presidential campaign in having a major role in the campaign.

Clinton has blamed FBI Director James Comey (pictured) for her loss, saying his decision during the campaign's final weeks to re-open a probe into her email use as secretary of state broke her momentum toward victory

Plouffe, who had just taken a high-paying job with Uber, declined.

But offered Mills a plan of action and personnel suggestions and strategic advice that had worked well for Obama  making adjustments to outperform Obama with Hispanics and educated whites to compensate for the loss of black voters and young people, according to Politico.

Most Democrats believed Ploufe had devised a durable presidential strategy that could serve almost any nominee, but would later say presidential campaigns are about personality, not party.

'Presidential campaigns are driven in large part by personality, not party,' he wrote in the New York Times a few days after the election.

'Ronald Reagan, President Obama and now Mr. Trump all were able to create electoral coalitions unique to them.'

Clinton failed to appeal to an unpredictable segment of the electorate, middle-income whites in the Midwest.

During the campaign, Clinton struggled to maintain a guarding lead and also had a hard ceiling of support, like Trump - with her continuously 'getting stuck at 45 to 46 per cent in a lot of these states,' Trump aide Kellyanne Conway told Politico.

However, Thrush notes the root of her insecurity and caution as a presidential candidate was that she simply never had a feel for politics.

Clinton previously told Thrush during an interview in April that she was not 'a natural politician.'

'I'm not somebody who, like my husband or Barack Obama, justit's music, right? I am someone who loves doing the job that I have,' she said.

'I would love having the job of president because I know how to do it. I know what the country needs. But the campaigning part is hard for me.'

Clinton also wanted to run her campaign her way, much to the frustration of her staff, which consisted of frequently flying to her Chappaqua, New York home on most days and holding her debate prep sessions at a nearby conference center in order to cram and campaign, according to Politico.

The hesitation about the 'campaigning part' was reportedly why a lot of her campaign staff viewed the campaign as a risky game where the candidate with the worst final news cycle would probably lose.

Meanwhile, Trump's decision to run for president, reportedly spurred in part by wanting to beat former Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, has undoubtedly changed American politics.

During his campaign, Trump's decisions were largely shaped by his intuition and were driven by his 'branding genius and reality TV showmanship,' according to Politico.

Comparatively, his decisions were reportedly largely uninformed by research, polling, ideology and fact.

'Above all, every call he made was buttressed by a sense of daring that allowed him to take advantage of every mistake made by every opponent he faced,' Thrush wrote of Trump.

'This was a candidate who decided from Day One that he would win or lose on his own terms, playing the cable networks for free airtime, using his Twitter feed to communicate directly with the media and votersas if the 'Fireside Chats' were written by Don Kingand eschewing traditional advertising for rowdy and rousing mass rallies like leather-lung politicians in the era before microphones.'

During his campaign, Trump's anti-Jeb Bush crusade was serve as an existential enterprise.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a 'Thank You USA' tour rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Friday

'Jeb was the embodiment of the establishment, everything the people we were meeting on the road would tell us they didn't want,' Corey Lewandowski, Trump's first campaign manager, told Thrush earlier this year.

Meanwhile former Trump adviser Mike Caputo said Jeb 'represented everything Trump stands against.'

'You couldn't have drawn up a more perfect opponent for us,' he told Thrush.

During his campaign, Trump believed his unique look projected strength, the one attribute he wanted the world to see.

'He's a visual guy,' one of his longtime friends told Thrush.

'When he comes off of O'Reilly or Hannity, it's always, 'How did I look? How was the lighting?' Never heard him ask about how he sounded, not once.'

Trump's election victory is also in part thanks to two rival candidates, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, not being able to stop him and his advantage as having national name recognition compared to the over Trump challengers.

His challengers ahead of the primaries were avoiding attacking other candidates as a way to make a good first impression with voters, according to Politico.

However the other Republican candidates reportedly did not take Trump seriously as a candidate and instead pulverized each other instead of confronting the threat Trump posed.

'This is the most amazing partnone of these other campaigns ever took Trump seriously, so we never had to go and out and really attack Marco and Jeb early on because these idiots were attacking each other,' a top aide to Trump told Thrush.

Despite Trump's outrageous attacks on people slamming Sen. John McCain, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, by saying McCain was not a war hero because he was captured by the North Vietnamese, his infamous arm-flap impersonation of a disabled reporter and when he insulted the parents of a dead war hero.

At that time, one of his Trump aide's thought 'this was it,' and even started updating his LinkedIn page, according to Politico.

But even after insulting of the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed while serving with US forces in Iraq during his nomination speech, Clinton's pollster and his team were shocked to learn that dial groups of swing state voters monitored during the speech 'spiked' the darker Trump got, a staffer with knowledge of the data told Thrush.

A month before Election Day, Trump suffered a backlash after he was hit by a bombshell when a lewd hot-mic tape from 2005 surfaced.

In the tape, he was caught bragging about seducing a married woman and boasting about how being a star means he can get away with anything when trying to bed a woman.

The fallout that ensued was damaging, with several Republicans calling for him to quit the race.

Trump's daughter Ivanka was mortified, and urged him to apologize immediately, two people close to the family told Thrush.

Trump released an apologetic video and dismissed the tape as a 'distraction' before attacking Bill Clinton while resurrecting claims that have hung over him for decades.

Trump's strategy was to stick to his core brand by reinforcing his refusal to play by the usual rules of politics, a longtime adviser told Thrush.

Going into Election Day, Team Clinton had been confident she would win, but she ended up losing in a devastating defeat to Trump who had a large support in rural and exurban white America that was not reflected in the polls.
Theresa May is under pressure after more campaigners questioned Brexit

Theresa May's allies have dubbed troublemaking MPs the new bastards as the Prime Minister faces another legal challenge to Brexit and pressure in the Commons.

The Government is facing another challenge after a group announced it would take action to ensure Britain stays in the single market.

At the same time, a group  of up to 40 MPs  wants Mrs May to publish her plan to quit Europe and to avoid a hard Brexit  one that leaves us out of the single market.

The Sunday Times says today this group is now meeting weekly in the Commons, and is said to include Nicky Morgan, Anna Soubry and former Chancellor George Osborne.

The newspaper also says Tory chief whip Gavin Williamson has even been detailed to keep a close personal eye on the trio.

The new bastards label is a nod to the bastards former Prime Minister John Major said were trying to thwart him over Europe.

Once Eurosceptics, the term now applies to Europhiles.

Mrs May is under pressure after more campaigners questioned what the historic EU referendum means to the countrys relationship with Europe.

Lawyers for British Influence, a pro-single market think tank, argue leaving the EU should not mean exiting the single market which European countries use to trade with each other.

The group will write to the Government next week and warn that legal action will be taken unless Parliament is given more input on the conditions of Brexit.

The Government is already entangled in its Supreme Court appeal to ensure ministers can approve the formal EU exit  under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty  without Parliament's agreement.

British Influence argues the June 23 Brexit referendum gave no mandate to also leave the single market.

Mr Wilding, who is a Remain supporter, has been tweeting about the think tank, British Influence's bid to stay in the single market

The government (left) is facing yet another legal challenge to Brexit which has been made partly by Peter Wilding (right)

On its website, the group states: Remaining in the EEA (European Economic Area) is fully compatible with the Brexit referendum 'red lines' of ending budget contributions to the EU, repatriating legal sovereignty and, to a significant extent, free movement of people.

The think tank argues that leaving the single market must be done through invoking Article 127 of the European Economic Area agreement  which Brexit did not directly address.

One of the think tanks directors, Peter Wilding, who coined the term Brexit, said: This is the solution to Brexit.

'We believe the Government has not understood the value of remaining in the EEA after Brexit, nor has it understood how we leave the EEA, or that we do not need to leave the EEA in order to respect the red lines the June 23rd referendum established.

'This is not about stopping, thwarting or delaying Brexit, but getting a smarter Brexit that delivers for the UK and doesnt destabilise the continent of Europe.'

Mr Wilding is a Remain supporter but the other backer of the legal challenge is the Tory lobbyist Adrian Yalland, who voted for Leave.

Commentators think that although MPs will vote for the country to leave the EU, they will not necessarily back a separate bill to allow Britain to exit the single market.
A boy who is almost two was splashing about in a backyard swimming pool for five minutes before he almost drowned.

A doctor and an intensive care paramedic arrived by helicopter to treat the 22-month old toddler at Castle Hill, in Sydney's north-west, on Saturday afternoon.

He remained in a critical condition several hours after he was rushed to The Children's Hospital at Westmead, shortly before 4pm.

A 22-month old boy was in a pool for five minutes before he almost drowned at Castle Hill, in Sydney's north-west. (Stock image)

A CareFlight helicopter airlifted a doctor and an intensive care paramedic to the boy's street on Saturday afternoon. (Stock image)

The boy was believed to have been in the pool for five minutes before he was found at the Castlewood Drive home, the Seven Network reported.

However, NSW Police declined to say if the boy was unsupervised.

'We're investigating the matter as a whole,' he told said.

'There's nothing to say anything's untoward but it's something that we'd probably look at and establish whether it was misadventure.'

The boy almost drowned in a pool at Castlewood Drive, in Castle Hill (pictured)

A CareFlight helicopter carrying the doctor and the paramedic landed on grass across the road from the house, a spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

An ambulance then took the boy to the hospital, about an hour after emergency crews were called.

New South Wales police attended the scene on Saturday.

They may investigate if the pool fence complied with safety standards and ask The Hills Shire Council to take a closer look, a police spokeswoman said.
Sister Sarah Kuteh was dismissed for breaching guidelines after offering to pray with patients before operations

A nurse with 15 years experience has been sacked after discussing Christianity and offering to pray with patients before operations.

Sister Sarah Kuteh was dismissed for breaching guidelines, even though her job involved asking people preparing for surgery about their religion.

The mother-of-three, who is now suing the hospital for unfair dismissal, said she was offering solace to patients she believed were happy to chat about their beliefs, and described her sacking as disproportionate and punitive.

The row comes after Theresa May told MPs that Christians should feel able to speak about their faith at work. The Prime Ministers comments followed criticism by Government watchdog the Equality and Human Rights Commission, highlighted by The Mail on Sunday, of politically correct organisations that curb freedom of expression.

Mrs Kuteh broke down in tears as she recalled being suspended and escorted from Darent Valley hospital in Dartford, Kent.

She said: It was embarrassing for me  and painful after all I had done in my years as a nurse. I was told I couldnt even speak to my colleagues. All I had done was to nurse from my heart. How could it be harmful to tell someone about Jesus?

But bosses at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust said her unwanted discussions had upset patients and she had also failed to heed warnings that she was being unprofessional.

Sister Kuteh is now suing the Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent for unfair dismissal

Mrs Kuteh, a committed Christian who started nursing in London before moving to Dartford in 2007, became a sister in 2012 while working in the intensive care department. She started a new role in November 2015, assessing patients health before they underwent surgery. Part of her job was helping them complete a questionnaire, which included a question on religion.

She admitted she may have spoken to a few patients without their express permission when she first began the job. But she was more careful after a warning in April this year that there had been complaints and her approach breached conduct guidelines about discussing personal beliefs.

Mrs Kuteh said conversations sometimes arose if a patient failed to put anything in the box marked Religion, and she might ask them why and even tell them how her faith had helped her overcome adversity. But she added that it was often the patients who spoke about their faith first, and she had no intention of imposing her beliefs on others.

In June, Mrs Kuteh was shocked to be told three further complaints had been made, after which she was told to stop assessing patients and was suspended a few days later.

She was sacked in August after an investigation, and her appeal was rejected.

During the investigation the nurse was told one patient had complained she had given her a Bible she did not want and had said she would pray for her. Another allegedly said she had felt uncomfortable that Mrs Kuteh was preaching at her.

Mrs Kuteh, who is taking the trust to an employment tribunal with the backing of the Christian Legal Centre, claimed her disciplinary process was flawed as she was not initially shown the complaints.
David Morris, Conservative Party MP has been criticised for claiming for car trips in the UK while he was abroad

The top MP at the centre of a Commons expenses row faces fresh allegations of getting taxpayers cash for UK car journeys while being on foreign junkets.

David Morris claimed 550 in MPs expenses for nine car journeys in Britain while he was visiting Australia, Canada and Nepal, according to official records.

The disclosures come three weeks after The Mail on Sunday revealed how records show he claimed 1,400 in mileage for 25 car journeys while on trips to the Falklands, Gibraltar, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia.

It means Mr Morris, aide to Scottish Secretary David Mundell, appears to have racked up nearly 2,000 in mileage expenses for 34 car journeys covering 5,944 miles, which coincide with him being on 14 foreign visits.

The Morecambe and Lunesdale MP continues to deny any wrongdoing and blames inept officials at the Commons expenses watchdog, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), for discrepancies in his expenses claims.

But it also emerged yesterday that a member of the public has complained to the Metropolitan Police over Mr Morriss mileage claims.

Tory MP David Morris, a former pop musician, is likely to be questioned by officials from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) after complaints by members of the public

The latest controversy surrounds nine mileage claims by Mr Morris when official reports say he was on three foreign trips.

According to a report of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, he was on an eight-day visit to Nepal in February 2011. But he is also recorded as filing a 26 mileage claim in his Lancashire constituency on February 25, the day before the Nepal trip finished.

Between August 20 and 24, 2012, Mr Morris is listed as one of five MPs on a five-day visit to Australia with a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) delegation. Official expenses records show he claimed 153 for four separate car journeys in his constituency during the same period.

Between April 5 and 13, 2014, a CPA report says he was part of a delegation who visited Canada, though records show he claimed 370 in UK mileage over the same period.

Three of the nine latest expenses claims highlighted relate to the day he either left or arrived back in the UK. Mr Morris has previously blamed IPSAs antiquated computer system for getting his claims wrong.
Iain Duncan Smith is being lined up for a return to the Cabinet after impressing Theresa May with his passionate campaigning for a 'hard' Brexit.

The former Work and Pensions Secretary, who helped to destabilise David Cameron's Government by resigning over plans to cut disability benefits, is 'first in line' for promotion if one of the 'three Brexiteers'  Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Brexit Secretary David Davis or International Trade Secretary Liam Fox  are ejected from the Cabinet.

Iain Duncan Smith (right) is being lined up for a return to the Cabinet after impressing Theresa May with his passionate campaigning for a 'hard' Brexit. He could replace Boris Johnson (left)

The news comes as Downing Street has grown increasingly irritated by Mr Johnson's maverick performance as Foreign Secretary, including accusing Saudi Arabia  a key UK ally  of engaging in 'proxy wars' in the Middle East.

It produced the latest in a string of slap-downs for Boris by No 10, which said his views did not represent 'the Government's position'.

But Boris's defiant allies claimed Downing Street was trying to undermine him because they felt 'threatened' by him. And they warned he would not be intimidated, saying he was going to do the job 'in his own way' by speaking honestly.

No 10 also has reservations about Fox's performance, having had to warn him against pursuing turf wars with the other Brexiteers.

Former leader Duncan Smith has positioned himself at the head of the 'hard' Brexit camp, arguing that the Prime Minister should be prepared to leave the single market to regain full control over borders.

A well-placed source said: 'The expectation is that if Boris or Liam blow up, Iain will be slotted into their place'.

Meanwhile, reports last night said Mrs May is to receive the cold shoulder at the European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday by being excluded from a private dinner for the 27 other members of the EU.

Theresa May has banned ministers and Whitehall officials from using Twitter in the latest attempt to crack down on leaks in her Government

Theresa May bans ministers from Tweeting

Theresa May has banned ministers and Whitehall officials from using Twitter in the latest attempt to crack down on leaks in her Government.

The order was issued after No 10 grew enraged by the amount of 'message indiscipline' from ministers and in particular the special advisers  known as SPADS  who work for Cabinet Ministers.

It comes after last week's Mail on Sunday revealed a memo from Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood warning government departments against leaking information about the Brexit process. Sir Jeremy said that a 'spate of corrosive leaks' must end on the orders of Mrs May.
Trump has insisted that Putin's government did not interfere with the election

Has urged the intelligence community to turn over all the

Chuck Schumer has demanded an investigation into Russia's election meddling, after the CIA said the Kremlin helped Trump win.

The incoming Senate Democratic leader called for a congressional probe into the matter.

'That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core,' he said Saturday.

'It's imperative that our intelligence community turns over any relevant information so that Congress can conduct a full investigation.'

According to reports, the CIA found that Russia's interference with the presidential elections went beyond an attempt to undermine American democracy as a whole - and actively favored Donald Trump's chances.

Chuck Schumer has demanded an investigation into Russia's election meddling, after the CIA said the Kremlin helped Trump win

The CIA found that Russia's interference with the presidential elections went beyond an attempt to undermine American democracy as a whole - and actively favored Donald Trump

Those who provided WikiLeaks with emails from hacked Democratic accounts have been identified by intelligence authorities as members of a Russian campaign who worked towards the goal of seeing Trump elected, officials told the Washington Post.

The shocking conclusion, made by a 'consensus' of intelligence agencies, was reported the same day President Barack Obama ordered a review of cyber attacks that targeted Democratic organizations and operatives during the 2016 elections.

But Trump's transition team shot down the findings, issuing a statement that read: 'These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.'

Confidential emails from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, the Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, were steadily leaked on WikiLeaks in the months before the election, damaging her White House effort.

The US has previously tiptoed around Russia's involvement in the elections, saying the goal was to undermine the American electoral system as a whole.

But intelligence agencies found the Russians also hacked the Republican National Committee, one official told the New York Times, even though those emails were never released.

The CIA presented the growing evidence during a secret meeting with a number of senators last week, with agents saying it had become 'quite clear' that the Russians were supporting a Trump victory, the Post reported.

One official who spoke to the Post described it as a 'consensus view', but not all 17 intelligence agencies agreed with the CIA's findings.

While the individuals who handed the hacked emails to Wikileaks are known to the intelligence community, with links to the Russian government, there's no evidence showing the Kremlin orchestrating their efforts, one official told the Post.

But the Russian government has been known to utilize middlemen in the past.

Others point to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's denial that the Russian government provided the emails of key Democratic party members.

Trump has also shot down signs pointing to Russian interference, telling TIME: 'I don't believe they interfered...Anytime I do something, they say "Oh, Russia interfered.''

He continued: 'It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.'

Obama is also pushing for a full review, with the goal of publishing the findings before Trump's inauguration

On Friday, his transition team likened the intelligence agencies to those who made flawed claims about Saddam Hussein.

They told Politico: 'The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It's now time to move on and "Make America Great Again."'

Obama, meanwhile, is pushing for a full review to be completed before Trump's inauguration.

Initiated just this week, the review runs parallel to congressional calls for an inquiry, but wasn't inspired by them, according to the White House.

Lisa Monaco, Obama's homeland security adviser, said at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor on Friday that it was vital to 'understand what this means, what has happened and to impart some lessons learned.'

The move comes after Democrats in Congress pressed the White House to reveal details, to Congress or to the public, of Russian hacking and disinformation in the election.

Some Republican lawmakers, including Arizona Senator John McCain and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, also have called for congressional probes of what happened.

'When it comes to all things Russia, I am going to be kind of hard-ass,' Graham told a reporters in the Senate last month, as DailyMail.com reported.

Democratic lawmakers also have pushed for a bipartisan commission to investigate the meddling in U.S. elections from abroad.

Hacked emails revealed that staffers had their own concerns about Clinton's private email server, creating negative headlines in the final days of the campaign

Clinton campaign chair John Podesta's personal account got hacked and his emails were posted on WikiLeaks during the campaign. Embarrassing disclosures followed

The White House said Friday at least some of the information would be made public.

He's requested this report be completed and submitted to him before the end of his term, said White House spokesman Eric Schultz.

Schultz noted that the Obama and McCain campaigns had intrusions in 2008. He said there are no known hacks from 2012 but the review will include that year as a precaution, based on what we know now.

We are committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections, and this report will dig into this pattern of malicious activity timed to our elections, Schultz said. The assessment will specifically look at activity that coincides with U.S. elections, he said.

We're going to make public as much as we can, Schultz said, but considering that the report will contain highly sensitive and maybe even classified information some intelligence will be held back.

Given that the directive to launch this review was just this week we want to make sure that that process unfolds in all due accord, the White House official said.

The DNC hack, on the eve of the Democratic convention, revealed a series of damaging emails, and fueled Clinton rival Senator Bernie Sanders' contention that that the party had been working to assist Clinton.

The Podesta hack had Team Clinton playing defense for the final weeks of the campaign, as emails revealed all manner of deliberations about Clinton's private email server, Clinton Foundation matters, and exposed fissures within Clinton's network of political operatives about how to handle the conflicts.

The US Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a statement on October 7, one month before the election, stated that 'the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.'

'These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process,' they said.

Germany's domestic intelligence agency on Thursday reported a spike in Russian propaganda and disinformation meant to destabilize the German elections, Reuters reported.
A man touted as a future leader of One Nation is being investigated over assault.

Sean Black, a staffer for the Pauline Hanson-led party, has been under investigation by Queensland police since August when he allegedly committed the assault.

Mr Black, a media and policy advisor for Queensland senator Malcolm Roberts, is yet to be charged over the alleged offence, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

'Queensland Police received a complaint in relation to this matter,' a spokesperson for the police said.

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Sean Black (pictured), a media and policy advisor for One Nation, is under investigation for an alleged assault from Queensland police

Touted as a potential future leader of the party in Queensland, Mr Black has been a member of all sides of politics in the state since the early 1990s. He joined Labor in the mid-1990s and in 2010 married LNP member Hanjal Ban (right), before the pair divorced in 2012

'At this stage no one has been charged (but) investigations into the complaint are continuing.'

Daily Mail Australia approached Mr Black about the matter, however he had 'no comment' to make.

Because of the ongoing investigation details of the alleged assault cannot be revealed.

Now a high-flying One Nation member, Mr Black has been a member of all sides of Queensland politics since the early 1990s.

The former real estate agent joined the Labor party in an effort to limit the rise of Ms Hanson when her One Nation movement exploded at the 1996 election.

Despite never being charged or his involvement confirmed, Mr Black left the party in the wake of an alleged vote-rigging scandal.

In 2008 he was elected to Logan City Council, but was reportedly accused of intimidating staff and fellow councillors.

While Mr Black admitted to raising his voice and swearing at staff, he claims being banned from entering council chambers was due to the efforts of his political opponents.

Should Pauline Hanson's (pictured) party pick up seats at the upcoming Queensland election, Mr Black is being touted as a potential leader of One Nation at a state level

He then married high-profile Liberal National Party member Hajnal Ban in 2010 in a lavish ceremony attended by LNP members and millionaire Clive Palmer.

Ms Ban - who made headlines when it was claimed she'd undergone surgery in Russia to make herself taller - and Mr Black divorced in 2012.

Following their impressive performance at this year's federal election, One Nation is tipped to pick up a swag of seats at the next Queensland state election.
NO ONE HERE IN FORSAKEN ALEPPO EXPECTS TO LIVE - STILL THE WORLD SITS ON ITS HANDS

From Waad Al-Kateab, Channel 4 news journalist reporting from inside Aleppo's besieged rebel district

Waad reporting from inside the rebel-held area of Aleppo

There is not a single spot in forsaken Aleppo  the most dangerous place on Earth by some distance right now  where it is possible to escape the sense of impending peril. Fatalism infects us all.

No one expects to live much longer. Maybe this will be the last time I type; the last time I record what is happening to my home city.

Thats not an easy thought to contemplate with an unborn child growing inside me and an 11-month-old baby daughter sleeping at my side.

A noose has hung around us since the Syrian army and the Russians began besieging Aleppo 110 days ago and now it grows ever tighter.

Time is running out. We slide inexorably towards what seems like the end  and yet the rest of the world sits on its hands. Soon we will be overrun completely. After that, who knows?

To all of you, to the governments of the West, I issue this heartfelt plea: in the short time that is left please do something, please remember your humanity. Work towards setting up an effective aid corridor. Drop vital supplies. Please do something.

Its too late to save ancient, once beautiful Aleppo in any physical or aesthetic sense.

Time is running out. We slide inexorably towards what seems like the end  and yet the rest of the world sits on its hands. Soon we will be overrun completely. After that, who knows?

Relentlessly pounded by bombs of every size and shape, it is now a morass of rubble and concrete, no stone left untouched, as if trampled upon by giants. It is flat. Nothing left. Just air. Yet even the air is polluted with chlorine gas or dust, or pungent nitroglycerin  the smell of bombs.

Everyday city noises  the rumble of traffic, car horns and voices  have been replaced by the screech of bombs and then silence. Aleppo has also become a city of darkness.

Save for a few generators that serve the one remaining hospital and a few bakeries, we have no electricity.

Neither do we have running water. We use primitive means to extract what we can from old wells. You can pass many days without washing your hands. Taking a shower or bath is too great a luxury.

Before the bombing became so persistent and before the chlorine gas attacks started, I used to film life outside the hospital  the only one left in the city  where I live with my husband Handra, a doctor.

Now I limit myself to what happens inside, the aftermath of massacres for instance.

But mostly I am preoccupied with staying alive and more prosaic concerns.

Nappies for instance. I have one pack left and I have come to think of it as an expensive treasure. It will run out soon. Only 40 per cent of bakeries are functioning and those that are are open for only a few days a week. The quality of bread is very bad because other stuff is added to the flour to make the loaves last longer.

At the beginning of the siege, aid agencies began an allotment project, with the aim of growing vegetables to cover some of the needs of the city. It was an excellent idea.

But the allotments were lost completely when the regime made further advances.

Every time a district falls, its people flee  but have no place to go. If they head for the government-held areas they face death and if they remain they face a similar fate. There is no choice.

Food and water is not the biggest issue. It is the final push from the regime, the heavy bombardment that is causing massive casualties.

The hospital is targeted daily by shells. On Friday one fell in front of the emergency gate. An ambulance driver lost both of his legs, and another member of staff died while bringing in a child hed found in rubble.

Yesterday a makeshift hospital was bombed and we had to move the casualties and medical staff to our hospital.

One girl lost her left eye but wanted to stay where she was because she was worried her mother and father wouldnt be able to find her.

Yesterday a makeshift hospital was bombed and we had to move the casualties and medical staff to our hospital

I tried to calm her down and persuaded her to stay with me or stay here  and said I would look for her mother. We could not find a bed so put her in with a wounded woman  who by some kind of miracle turned out to be her mother.

Here, tears are mixed with blood, happiness with sadness. It was like a scene from Hollywood. At the end of the day, we lay our heads on a pillow, the sounds of war planes all around. I pull the covers tight over me and cuddle up to my husband and daughter.

I mumble, pray to my god, for this war plane to leave us without bombing  or to go and bomb somewhere else. Truthfully, I dont want to be forced to leave my city, to flee the place that I belong to.

I want to stay so my destiny will be the same as the soil. We have a cause. And we will sacrifice ourselves for this cause. I want to live in dignity in my own country.
Campaigners have said that Rupert Murdoch (pictured) should face a 'fit and proper person test'

MPs have urged the Prime Minister to block Rupert Murdoch's 11.2bn bid to buy Sky - in a move which would see him have control over a TV network spanning 22 million homes.

The 85-year-old's 21st Century Fox made the offer to take full control of the company - which they already own 39 per cent of - five years after a failed attempt following the phone hacking scandal.

If successful, the deal would give Fox control of a paid-for television network used in households in Britain, Ireland, Austria, Germany and Italy.

However, campaigners, MPs and a former chairman of the BBC Trust have urged Theresa May to prevent the takeover from happening.

Sir Michael Lyons, who became chairman of the BBC Trust in 2007, said that Murdoch's proposal should face a 'fit and proper person' test.

He told the Observer: 'Is she [Mrs May] really interested in a different type of future for this country?

'If so, she should do anything in her power to resist the further growth in the Murdochs' grip on news and media. I recognise options are limited, but that doesn't mean we should stay silent or ignore the fitness test.'

Sir Michael Lyons (pictured), who became chairman of the BBC Trust in 2007, said that Murdoch's proposal should face a 'fit and proper person' test

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband instantly called on Prime Minister Theresa May to refer the bid to Ofcom

Meanwhile, others raised their concerns given the scale of the political power which would be given to Murdoch if the deal goes ahead.

Former shadow culture secretary and Labour MP Chris Bryant told The Guardian that the damage done to the political system is 'immense'.

He said: 'Have we in Britain learned nothing about handing over the largest broadcaster by value and the largest share of newspapers to a single individual?

'The damage that does in the end to our political system is immense.

WHAT WILL MURDOCH AND FOX OWN? In 2013, following the closure of the News of the World, the media mogul split his businesses and Fox then acquired the Sky stake. The New York-based company now owns a 39 per cent stake in Sky. Sky has 22million customers across five countries - the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Austria. It has annual revenues of more than 11billion and is Europe's leading investment of television content. The company has a programming budget of 4.9billion. It paid 4.2billion for the rights to show Premier League football for three years from the 2016/17 season. The company regularly shows Super Sunday - where up to three matches can be viewed from 12 noon to around 6pm. It also has a deal with HBO - a huge network in the US - to exclusively show a number of television series, including Game of Thrones. The fantasy drama is Sky's most popular show, pulling in more than five million viewers for each episode. Sky's revenues rose by seven per cent to nearly 12bn earlier this year. Advertisement

'It's a phenomenal concentration of social and political power and if we let it go through without so much of a by your leave, we will rue the day. Again.'

Mr Bryant also called for rival media organisations and people who object to his takeover bid to collaborate and attempt to bring it to a halt.

Labour MP Paul Farrelly, who is a member of the culture, media and sport select committee, also told the newspaper: 'It looks like a business as usual for Rupert Murdoch, as though phone hacking never happened.

'Rebekah Brooks is back at the helm of News UK and now the Murdochs have moved in on Sky.'

Their comments came after former Labour leader Ed Miliband, 46, instantly called on Mrs May to refer the bid to Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Politicians Vince Cable and Tom Watson have also criticised the move.

Watson, who is deputy leader of the Labour Party said he did not oppose the bid in theory but explained regulators must properly vet the move.

He said: 'This bid has been expected since 2011.'

Hacked Off - who fight for a free and accountable press - have also said the bid needs to be checked by Ofcom.

Dr Evan Harris, Joint Executive Director, said: 'This bid ought to be checked by Ofcom, not only on competition grounds but on whether Rupert and James Murdoch continue to pass the "fit and proper person" test.

'Given recent revelations around email deletions that have emerged in court papers, and the conviction of the Murdoch 'favourite' Mazher Mahmood, it is clear that that question can only be answered by the Leveson Phase 2 Inquiry which was established to get to the truth of precisely these matters.

Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Tom Watson said the tests should be applied by Ofcom to see if the bid allows media plurality in the UK

Sky paid 4.2billion for the rights to show Premier League football for three years from the 2016/17 season

'It is surely more than a coincidence that the Prime Minister's secret meeting in New York with Rupert Murdoch was followed swiftly by her attempt to cancel the Leveson Phase 2 Inquiry into the News Corp hacking cover-up, and then this takeover bid.'

As political opposition to the plan mounts, Sky shareholders have begun voicing their own concerns.

A committee of independent directors said they are prepared to send Fox's offer to shareholders for approval.

But bosses of City firms have questioned the directors' decision to accept the 10.75 per share for Sky - valuing the company at 18.5bn.

Alastair Gunn, a fund manager at Jupiter Asset Management, told the Telegraph that Fox's approach 'ought to be the start of the process, not the conclusion'.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IN MURDOCH'S BID TO TAKE OVER SKY? Once the deal is confirmed, culture secretary Karen Bradley will have 10 working days to decide whether she will issue a public interest intervention notice (PIIN). That will need to detail the concerns she has with the deal - she could raise concerns about whether Rupert Murdoch is a 'fit and proper' person, or highlight issues of competition. If she raises a PIIN, Ofcom will conduct an initial investigation within 20 days. If it has concerns, Ms Bradley will have to ask Fox to address any issues, and decide whether to accept what they suggest. A rejected compromise would send the bid to the Competition and Markets Authority for full review, which could take up to six months. After their scrutiny, Ms Bradley will have 30 days to block, approve or approve the deal with conditions. Many believe Ms Bradley will have to raise a PIIN because to do nothing could lead to accusations of bias. What happened in 2010? An investigation was launched the last time Rupert Murdoch's organisation wanted to take over Sky because News Corp, 21st Century Fox's then parent company, owned the Times and the Sun. Now, the newspaper assets and the film and television studios are two separate companies, meaning technically there are no longer concerns about media ownership in the UK. But, because both companies have the same owner, there may still be concerns raised. Can Europe intervene? In 2014 Sky took full control of Sky services in Germany, Austria and Italy in a 7billion deal, and in 2010, the European Commission gave the plans the go ahead. The pan-European deal is likely to make Fox hopeful that any concerns would be passed by the European Commission. Advertisement

Another Sky shareholder said: 'Our initial reaction is one of serious disappointment that they have rolled over like this.'

Although the price is 36 per cent higher than what the shares closed on Thursday, City experts said they have been trading even higher than that.

John Whittingdale, former chair of the culture, media and sport committee, today said that Murdoch's bid - if successful - will see News Corporation 'consolidate' their control.

He told MailOnline: 'I expect Ofcom will advise on whether or not there are any grounds for concern.

'This is an increase from 39 per cent to 100 per cent. In some ways News Corporation already has control and it's really a question of consolidating that control.

'Ofcom needs to provide advice, let's wait and see (if there are any problems). If not, I would not see a problem with it.'

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband was among the first to question whether the Murdoch bid for Sky was in the public interest

He urged the Prime Minister Theresa May to honour her words uttered on the Downing St steps

Murdoch, who was chairman of News Corporation from 1979 to 2013, was forced to pull out of a bid to take full control of Sky in 2011.

The decision followed a public outcry over journalistic practices after it was revealed that reporters at News of the World hacked the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler.

Liberal Democrat Vince Cable, who was Britain's business secretary at the time of Murdoch's first bid, told BBC radio the media tycoon's new takeover attempt would not be in the public interest.

Cable referred Murdoch's original bid to regulator Ofcom and said his latest offer should face the same scrutiny.

Liberal Democrat Vince Cable, who was Britain's business secretary at the time of Murdoch's first bid, said the new takeover attempt would not be in the public interest

That attempt to buy Sky through his News Corp business provoked uproar among some UK politicians, who said it would give the billionaire owner of The Sun and The Times newspapers too much control over Britain's media.

Cable said the issue was the same in 2016.

He said: 'This is yet again a threat to media plurality, choice, just as it was six years ago when I referred this to the competition authorities and it should be investigated.

'The ownership of the media, whether you're looking at press, radio, television is very highly concentrated and this makes it even more concentrated.'

It will be up to Karen Bradley, the Conservative government's culture, media and sport minister to decide whether the plurality situation has materially changed since 2010.

David Yelland, a former editor of Murdoch's Sun newspaper,said: 'Will the government really say he can't own more than 39 percent of it? I don't think so.
Former Icelandic minister Ogmundur Jonasson claims the FBI attempted to frame Julian Assange during a mission to Iceland

A former Icelandic minister has claimed that the FBI attempted to frame julian assange during a mission to Iceland.

Ogmundur Jonasson, who currently serves as a member of the Icelandic Parliament, said US authorities told him in June 2011 that hackers were trying to destroy software systems in the country.

The authorities said there was an 'imminent attack' on Iceland's government databases and that the FBI would send agents to investigate.

Jonasson said he was immediately skeptical of the FBI's intentions.

'I was suspicious,' he told Katoikos. 'Well aware that a helping hand might easily become a manipulating hand!'

Jonasson said it was only when a 'planeload' of FBI agents arrived in August that he realized the true reason for their visit.

The former minister claims the FBI was seeking Iceland's 'cooperation in what I understood as an operation set up to frame Julian Assange and WikiLeaks'.

Jonasson said he immediately told the FBI agents to leave the country.

Jonasson said that he sent home a 'planeload' of FBI agents in August 2011 after they allegedly asked for cooperation 'in wan operation set up to frame Assange (pictured) and WikiLeaks'

'Since they had not been authorized by the Icelandic authorities to carry out police work in Iceland, and since a crack-down on WikiLeaks was no on my agenda, I ordered that all cooperation with them be promptly terminated,' he said.

'I also made it clear they should cease all activities in Iceland immediately.'

Jonasson said he also made it clear that when it came to picking a side, he was Team Assange.

'I also made it clear at the time that if I had to take sides with either WikiLeaks or the FBI or CIA, I would have no difficulty in choosing: I would be on the side of WikiLeaks'.

Despite the fact that this happened five years ago, and was heavily reported about in 2013, this appears to be the first time Jonasson has publicly claimed the US was trying to 'frame' Assange.

When the story first broke, Jonasson told the New York Times that 'eight or nine' FBI agents had arrived to gather material on WikiLeaks.

The former minister said he had asked the agents to leave because 'they had misrepresented the purpose of their visit'.

Jonasson said he made it clear he was 'on the side' of WikiLeaks and Assange and has several times raised the issue of giving Edward Snowden (pictured) asylum in Iceland

In fact, it later became known that the FBI's Iceland operation was part of a 'wide-ranging investigation' into WikiLeaks and Assange for releasing hundreds of thousands of military documents in 2010.

WikiLeaks itself provided information about the incident, claiming the FBI had sent agents to interrogate an 18-year-old Icelandic citizen.

The individual had allegedly worked as a volunteer for WikiLeaks and had visited Assange that summer.

That same citizen later deceived a Canadian volunteer who wanted to raise funds for 'WikiLeaks merchandise', having them send the money to his personal bank account rather than the organization.

WikiLeaks makes no mention of the FBI trying to frame the organization or Assange, and Jonasson offered no evidence to support his new claims.

The former minister said he believes its 'very important' that whistleblowers are protected, saying: 'We owe a lot to Edward Snowden. We owe a lot to Assange. We owe a lot to WikiLeaks'.

'I look at what [Assange] stands for and that is where I side with him; his endeavors to open the secret world of the military and of power-politics'.

Assange is currently at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he is avoiding extradition to Sweden on rape and molestation charges.
Tommy Sheldon, 5, died after his psychotic mother doused him in petrol and set him on fire

The number of killings by people with mental health problems is being seriously underplayed by Government-commissioned researchers.

A third of cases are being excluded from reports used by Ministers deciding how to deal with schizophrenics and others with potentially dangerous conditions, according to a charity that helps families of victims.

The most recent annual report fails to include dozens of victims because the perpetrators were not seen by mental health specialists in the year leading up to the killings, campaigners say.

Among those not counted is five-year-old Tommy Sheldon, who died two weeks after his psychotic mother doused him in petrol and set him on fire.

Teresa Sheldons horrific crime is excluded  even though she was detained indefinitely in a secure hospital under the Mental Health Act  because she had only sought help for depression from her GP.

Similarly, under current rules, the appalling killing of new father Jeroen Ensink will not be included in next years annual report by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (NCISH).

Dr Ensink was stabbed to death in London last Christmas by a Nigerian student suffering from what psychiatrists later called an enduring psychotic illness linked to cannabis use.

The appalling killing of new father Jeroen Ensink (right, pictured with his wife Nadja), will not be included in next years annual report by the NCISH

Dr Ensink was stabbed to death in London last Christmas by Nigerian student Femi Nandap, who was suffering from what psychiatrists later called an enduring psychotic illness

But as Femi Nandap was not known to NHS mental health services at the time, the killing  which occurred as Dr Ensink was walking to post cards announcing his daughters birth  will be omitted.

Nandap was given an indefinite hospital order at the Old Bailey in October, after earlier admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

Last night, Julian Hendy, founder of bereavement charity Hundred Families, called for such killings to be included in future NCISH annual reports. This would put pressure on authorities to take these repeated tragedies more seriously, he added.

SET ON FIRE BY HIS PSYCHOTIC MOTHER Tommy Sheldon died two weeks after being covered in petrol and set on fire by his mother Teresa. A court heard she was suffering psychotic symptoms linked to depression. However, Teresa only saw a GP about her illness, not a mental health specialist. It means that her five-year-old sons death is not included in the patient homicide figures. Advertisement

Mr Hendy  whose father Philip was stabbed to death in 2007 as he went to pay his paper bill  also accused NCISH researchers of playing down the number of killings as they feared stigmatising the mentally ill.

It is a serious disservice to brush this issue under the carpet, which is what they are trying to do, he said. If you dont know the scale of the problem, how are you going to tackle it?

But lead researcher Professor Louis Appleby, of the Centre for Mental Health and Safety at Manchester University, said: It is misleading and cruel to suggest to bereaved families that their loved ones are not counted in what Hundred Families wrongly call official statistics.

He said NCISH published additional figures every year for homicides by mentally ill people who had not been seen by mental health specialists in the previous 12 months.

Nonetheless, the last time NCISHs report contained the more complete figures was in 2013. Then, it published the estimate that  on average  123 people annually across the UK die at the hands of the mentally ill.

These statistics included victims, not only of killers known to be recent patients of mental health services, but also of a broader category  people with mental illness at the time of the offence.

The report made headlines, triggering concerns from mental health charities that millions suffering from conditions including schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder  the vast majority of whom are harmless  could be stigmatised.

Nadja and Fleur Ensink: On December 29 last year, Nadja's husband Jeroen was killed as he stepped out of his familys North London home to post cards announcing the birth of daughter

Julian Hendy, founder of bereavement charity Hundred Families,pictured with his father Philip who was stabbed to death in 2007 as he went to pay his paper bill

Since then, NCISHs annual reports have focused on patient homicides  killings committed by individuals known to have been patients of specialist mental health services in the previous year.

Consequently, NCISHs 2016 annual report stated there were an average of 63 victims of patient homicide a year in England, 14 in Scotland, four in Wales and two in Northern Ireland  83 in total.

Mr Hendy said: Victims of people found by a criminal court to have been mentally ill when they carried out the killing, but who were not patients of specialist mental health services at the time, are being excluded.

Teresa Sheldon was involved in a bitter custody battle over her son Tommy when she drove him in her Ford Fiesta to a remote field in August 2014, doused him in petrol and set him on fire.

Last year a court heard how she had been suffering from psychotic symptoms linked to her depression on the day of the attack.

Nadja Ensink-Teich (left) stood outside the Old Bailey in October and demanded to know why schizophrenic Femi Nandap had been free to kill her soulmate husband, Jeroen (right)

Her former husband Ross said that in the weeks before the killing she had been given antidepressants by her GP, but was never seen by specialist mental health services.

Sheldon admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was detained indefinitely at the secure Bracton Centre in Kent under the Mental Health Act.

Mr Sheldon, 36, from Southampton, whose son died two weeks after the fire, said: We can only imagine the pain he endured. If you are mentally unwell and kill someone, surely it should be recorded?

But Professor Appleby responded: Hundred Families believe our figures underestimate the scale of the problem. The mental health world takes the opposite view.

It points out that in our patient group, only 60 per cent have mental illness, the others having alcohol or drug dependence or personality disorder. For this reason they will sometimes quote a figure of 30-40 homicides per year by patients with mental illness. I would say we are the only group in this debate that does not have an interest in making the figures look higher or lower.

A Department of Health spokesman said: We know that a homicide by a person with mental illness is extremely rare, but we must make sure that everyone affected gets the care they need at an early stage, before they get to a crisis point.

Our investment in mental health, backed by the waiting time standards we have brought in, is a decisive first step, but we are determined do more, and will be outlining further measures in due course.
These calculations are based on official Government figures and show the true cost of green energy

A bombshell report reveals today that despite years of promises by Labour, Coalition and Tory governments, the radical shift to green renewable energy will have cost the economy 319 billion by 2030  three times the annual NHS budget for England.

Instead of cutting energy bills, the policy will be adding an average burden of 584 a year to every household by 2020, and 875 by 2030. Yet this is only the start. By 2050, green energy policy will be costing every household 1,390 a year, based on 2014 prices.

The reports calculations are derived entirely from official figures issued by Government departments and the Office for Budget Responsibility. They reveal for the first time the true cost of levies on bills to fund the shift to renewable energy.

The impact results from the 2008 Climate Change Act, and will be felt mainly by the poorest and so-called JAMs  those families who are just about managing.

Over the period 2014-2030, the report says, the accumulated burden borne by every household will be 10,800. The countrywide cost to the economy in 2014-2020 will be 95 billion, rising to 319 billion in 2014-2030, and an eye-watering 1.035 trillion from 2014-50, by which time the economy, thanks to the Act, is supposed to have become almost decarbonised.

The report, The Cost Of The Climate Change Act, is by Peter Lilley, the Conservative MP and former Trade Secretary. He was one of only three MPs who voted against the Act, piloted through Parliament by then Labour Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. The report will be published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the think-tank founded by Lord Lawson. Sometimes attacked for its sceptical view of climate science and energy policy, its advisory council includes some of the worlds leading experts.

Senior figures from all main parties have claimed repeatedly that green energy would be good for the economy and save money. In 2005, Chancellor Gordon Brown said most businesses could easily achieve 20 per cent reductions in bills.

In 2014, the Lib Dem Energy Secretary Ed Davey claimed the impact of all the Governments energy and climate change policies mean that household bills are currently around 90, on average six or seven per cent, lower than otherwise. But this, the report says, was an astonishing claim to make of a policy that involves massive subsidies of costly energy sources.

In fact, as Mr Davey spoke, the Governments own Climate Change Committee, which sets the countrys carbon budget targets under the Act, had quietly issued figures showing that, even then, the average household was paying out 248.

Philip Hammond echoed the claim while he was Foreign Secretary last year by insisting: Renewables will reduce the cost of energy and the risks of climate change.

The Act is the worlds most aggressive law, imposing rigid emissions cuts: 35 per cent from the level in 1990 by 2020, and 80 per cent by 2050  a cut so deep it will require total economic restructuring.

The bombshell report shows that the cost of green energy will be 319bn by 2030, more than three times the annual NHS budget in England

Yet it has so far done nothing to reduce the threat of climate change. The report says the UKs unilateral measures are increasing its carbon footprint, because industries and jobs are being outsourced to high-emitting countries such as China and India, and our imports from such countries are rising.

Under the much-vaunted UN Paris Agreement, India is allowed to triple its already-massive coal production by 2030, and has not said when its emissions will peak. China says it will only begin to reduce its emissions after that date.

Mr Lilleys report says previous calculations of the cost of green energy have been massive underestimates. First, they take no account of the green levies and taxes paid by businesses, two-thirds of the total, assuming they have no impact on consumers. In fact, official figures show, the cost is passed on.

Second, they fail to take account of the huge system costs of connecting and managing renewable energy sources by the National Grid, and of paying for back-up fossil fuel plants needed when  as during the recent still, cold spell  neither wind nor solar panels produce more than a tiny fraction of nominal capacity.

Also being hidden is the colossal cost of restructuring the entire economy: if emissions are cut by 80 per cent by 2050, not only will electricity have to come almost entirely from non-fossil fuel, but total output will have to roughly triple, to power millions of electric vehicles and heat most homes.

It is time to pierce the cloud of messianic idealism that has so far dominated policy discussion, the report concludes. Only then can we have a realistic debate about the most cost-effective ways of reducing emissions, and whether it is worthwhile sticking to the Climate Change Act targets. While JAM families suffer, the rich will prosper. Citing the lucrative payments made to landowners for wind farms and solar panels, former Cabinet Secretary Lord Turnbull says in a foreword that the only people to benefit will be the better-off, those who own large properties and extensive land, pocketing most of the subsidies.

An Energy Department spokesman said: Our priority is ensuring families and businesses have a secure, affordable, clean energy supply.

Now SECOND set of data shows world temperatures have cooled... and spikes were caused by El Nino - NOT by man

New official data issued by the Met Office confirms that world average temperatures have plummeted since the middle of the year at a faster and steeper rate than at any time in the recent past.

The huge fall follows a report by this newspaper that temperatures had cooled after a record spike. Our story showed that these record high temperatures were triggered by naturally occurring but freak conditions caused by El Nino  and not, as had been previously suggested, by the cumulative effects of man-made global warming.

The Mail on Sundays report was picked up around the world and widely attacked by green propagandists as being cherry-picked and based on misinformation. The report was, in fact, based on Nasa satellite measurements of temperatures in the lower atmosphere over land  which tend to show worldwide changes first, because the sea retains heat for longer.

Cooling: New Met Office world data shows a big fall from heat spike caused by El Nino this year

It is true that the massive 2015-16 El Nino  probably the strongest ever seen  took place against a steady warming trend, most of which scientists believe has been caused by human emissions

However, now the drop in temperature is also showing up in the authoritative Met Office Hadcrut4 surface record, compiled from measurements from more than 3,000 weather stations located around the world on both sea and land.

To the end of October, the last month for which figures have been released, Hadcrut4 had fallen about 0.5C from its peak in the spring.

The reason is the end of El Nino. The natural phenomenon, which takes place every few years and has a huge impact on world weather, occurs when water in a vast area of the Pacific west of Central America gets up to 3C hotter than usual.

It has now been replaced by a weak La Nina, when the water becomes colder than usual. This means temperatures may still have some way to fall.

El Nino is not caused by greenhouse gases and has nothing to do with climate change. It is true that the massive 2015-16 El Nino  probably the strongest ever seen  took place against a steady warming trend, most of which scientists believe has been caused by human emissions.

But when El Nino was triggering new records earlier this year, some downplayed its effects. For example, the Met Office said it contributed only a few hundredths of a degree to the record heat. The size of the current fall suggests that this minimised its impact. When February produced a new hot record for that month, at the very peak of El Nino, newspapers in several countries claimed that this amounted to a global climate emergency, and showed the world was hurtling towards the point when global warming would become truly dangerous. Now, apparently, the immediate threat has passed. It would be just as misleading to say lower temperatures caused by La Nina meant the world was into a new long-term cooling.

The Mail on Sundays report was picked up around the world and widely attacked by green propagandists as being cherry-picked and based on misinformation

El Nino is not caused by greenhouse gases and has nothing to do with climate change

But the big question is: what will happen when both El Nino and La Nina are over and the Pacific water returns to its neutral, average state? Professor Judith Curry, of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, who is president of the Climate Forecast Applications Network, said it would take years before it was clear whether the long-term warming trend was slowing down, staying the same or accelerating.

The bottom line is that we cant read too much into the temperatures of a year or two, she said. We will need the perspective of another five years to understand what is going on.

The Mail on Sunday report two weeks ago, showing that world temperatures are fast falling from their record peak, triggered outrage from green lobbyists and rival papers around the world.

There were claims  now exploded by the Met Office data shown here  that our report was misleading and cherry-picked.

Yet bizarrely, the fiercest criticism was reserved for claims we never made  that there isnt a long-term warming trend, mainly caused by human emissions.
After staying tight-lipped for months during the trial, Gable Tostee is hitting back at his critics group forums on social media calling and slamming them as 'hypocrites'.

Appearing under the alias Eric Thomas, Gable Tostee lambasted the keyboard warriors as as they continue to refuse he is not responsible of Warriena Wright's death - despite being acquitted of the murder and manslaughter two months ago.

Mr Tostee has defended himself against a tirade of social media comments.

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After staying tight-lipped for months during the trial, Gable Tostee is participating in group forums on social media calling keyboard warriors 'hypocrites'

Mr Tostee has defended himself against a tirade of social media comments

Eric Thomas wrote in reply to a comment, 'Why should I take responsibility or show remorse for something which I am not responsible for? Do you not believe in the rule of law?'

'Do you believe your opinions are above the law?'.

Another comment saw him calling a user a 'hypocrite'.

'What a convincing rant,' he wrote.

Gable Tostee, aka Eric Thomas, defending himself from keyboard warriors

Gable Tostee, aka Eric Thomas, called a user a hypocrite when they accused him of not liking the attention

'Attention needs to be given in order to be received. Why comment on my post then complain about me getting attention? Hypocrite?'

According to The Courier Mail, Mr Tostee was also fiercely defending allegations he tampered with the audio from his phone the night Warriena Wright fell to her death.

Mr Tostee has been completely cleared of any of these allegations as evidence proves they are untrue.

'Quit talking through your asshole,' Mr Tostee wrote, reported the publication.

'I've answered every question completely honestly and there is evidence to back it up.

'It's not my problem when stubborn delusional nutcases like you only believe your own fantasies.'

In a warning to people posting on social media against Mr Tostee, criminal laywer specialist Michael Bosscher told the publication that Facebook comments on social media can still be used as claims for defamation.

'Some people think that whatever they write on social media is somehow exempt from potential defamation proceedings  and that is completely incorrect.'
How the International Trade Secretary may look in tights

Theresa May has delivered a knock to Liam Foxs ego by saying she could picture the International Trade Secretary in tights.

Mrs Mays latest trouser-related incident came when she was asked in an interview about her historical hero Elizabeth I  and whether that made Fox her modern-day Sir Francis Drake, the swashbuckling seaborne adventurer who was close to the Tudor court. In response the Prime Minister exclaimed: Think about the tights!

But Mrs May also showed irritation in the interview with the Financial Times at the mention of Britains only other female PM, saying that she disliked lazy comparisons with Margaret Thatcher. Ive never thought of myself like anybody else, or as doing the job like anybody else, Mrs May said.

And while Thatcher was capable of being coquettish with her male Ministers, when Mrs May was asked whether she flirted with her colleagues, she responded by saying: Perish the thought.

The Prime Minister also revealed that her fashion sense, including her infamous kitten heels, has helped to attract new female talent into politics.

Theresa May at home in her 995 Amanda Wakeley leather trousers. The Prime Minister has revealed that her fashion sense has helped to attract new female talent into politics

She recounted striking up a conversation in a Commons lift with a woman and asking about her nice pair of shoes.

Mrs May added: She said she liked my shoes as well. And then she looked at me and said, Your shoes got me into politics something that can make people feel that they can approach a politician, or that politicians are like them, not some different species, I think is very important.
Two dirty tricks inquiries have been launched into Britains biggest specialist foreign aid contractor after a Mail on Sunday expose.

Adam Smith International is facing an investigation by the Department for International Development (DFID) following our revelations that it obtained secret Government files on aid policies and spending plans.

Last night, ASI admitted it no longer employed Raja Dasgupta, its senior international development manager for Africa, after this newspaper told how he had boasted to colleagues that the illegally obtained documents would help them obtain lucrative new contracts. The aid giant  which has won DFID contracts worth nearly half a billion pounds  will also be probed by MPs on a powerful committee over its attempt to deceive them by faking glowing testimonials about its work.

This is how the Mail On Sunday last week reported that MPs had been misled by Adam Smith International

DFID said that it was conducting an urgent investigation into the serious allegations exposed by this newspaper.

Taxpayers should be in no doubt we will deal swiftly and robustly with any contractor found to have acted unethically  they deserve nothing less, a spokesman said.

ASI has been at the centre of our investigations into Britains 12 billion aid budget, which is meant to help the worlds poorest people but has led to soaring profits and pay for fat cat private firms working for DFID.

Last week, we told how the firm had potentially gained an unfair advantage over rivals when Mr Dasgupta  who worked for DFID until June  illicitly obtained 18 confidential Government aid documents.

Scandal: In March, The Mail on Sunday revealed how Britain fritters away billions in foreign aid - including paying salaries to convicted terrorists

Agenda setting: The Mail On Sunday's reports on foreign aid fat cats in April this year, left, and in May last year, right

He emailed the reports to colleagues, saying: Please find attached some draft DFID Business Plans Ive got hold of Id appreciate if you could treat these with the right level of sensitivity  it could be detrimental if DFID know that we have these, particularly via me.

I think these can help us on BD [business development] planning and strategic approach on bids.

Last night, ASI said in a statement: Without the knowledge of senior management and on his own initiative, an employee of Adam Smith International and former DFID employee circulated DFID country and regional plans to a number of employees. The obtaining and circulation of the material was entirely unsolicited. The employee is no longer working for Adam Smith International and has apologised to the organisation for his actions.

Adam Smith International is conducting a full, rigorous investigation into this matter. We will take swift and firm action against anyone found responsible for inappropriate or unethical behaviour. We are fully co-operating with DFID and providing whatever help we can.

ASI will also be questioned by the International Development Select Committee after the firm drafted gushing tributes about its work which were sent to MPs investigating poverty barons  but passed off the letters as independent submissions from foreign politicians and officials. Internal emails leaked by a whistleblower showed that a senior director had given detailed instructions to staff on how to avoid the submissions looking suspicious, including pointing out it would not be plausible to pretend to be an illiterate farmer sending a statement in perfect written English.

The committee met last week and agreed to investigate the issues, writing to ASI and DFID to demand explanations by early next month.

Given the seriousness of the allegations raised by recent media coverage, I will be proposing that we reopen our call for evidence, said chairman Stephen Twigg.

ASI insisted: We wholly deny that we falsified evidence. This is false and highly defamatory. The submissions were either written entirely by the individuals involved, or in some cases Adam Smith International staff helped produce initial drafts at the request of beneficiaries after they had articulated their views. All submissions were signed off by each beneficiary.

THE 1BILLION SECRET: WHY DO WE SEND CASH TO REPRESSIVE REGIMES? THIS MAN KNOWS... BUT HE WON'T TELL YOU WHY The Prime Ministers most senior security adviser has told MPs 1.1 billion of foreign aid spending should be kept secret and only discussed in private. Sir Mark Lyall Grant also refused to rule out dispersing chunks of the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund that he oversees in countries that use torture. Guarded: Sir Mark Lyall Grant, above, at the joint committee on national security strategy This new fund was launched last year with more than five times the budget of its predecessor, as part of the Governments move to pour aid into the worlds most fragile states and conflict zones. But it has sparked controversy over handing cash to countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, where the Foreign Office is spending 2.1 million on the security sector, despite claims of torture. The CSSF also uses taxpayers cash to train security officials in Ethiopia, a one-party state holding a British father of three without charge. The country also jails journalists and kills pro-democracy protesters. Last year a Cabinet row erupted to force the cancellation of a 5.9 million training contract for Saudi prisons in one of the worlds most barbaric justice systems. Despite this, at a summit last week Mrs May told Gulf rulers, including those in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, that Britain was their partner of choice. Now it has emerged that Sir Mark, the Prime Ministers national security adviser, told a joint committee on national security strategy two weeks ago that some of the CSSFs 97 projects were clearly secret and they did not want them discussed in public. He even rejected publication of strategies for individual countries as it might offend those without one, but admitted it was hard to prove impact. Violence: Police arrest a protester in Bahrain, which receives aid from the UK despite concerns over human rights Julian Lewis, chairman of the Defence Select Committee, asked if they should tear up the fiction that we are in any way able to hold you to account as to how you are spending this very large sum of money. Sir Mark responded by suggesting they meet in private so he could share more information. The former diplomat added that the committee could keep its oversight role and examine spending only if there were private sessions to ensure things that need to be kept secret can be kept secret. Astonishingly, he accepted it was reasonable to assume there would be human rights questions in some of the 40 countries in which they were spending money, adding that the definition of a questionable human rights record left rather a lot of scope for interpretation. The rapid spending increase is part of the Governments aim to hit the UN target of spending 0.7 per cent of national income on aid. Dr Lewis said last night he was alarmed to discover MPs could not monitor such a big slice of the 12 billion aid budget. I was surprised by the way large sums are being disposed of in such an unsupervised style, he said. There was also an angry response from human rights groups fighting to stop aid going to foreign forces involved in abuses. This shadowy fund provides support to security forces in countries where dissidents are routinely arrested, tortured and sentenced to death, said Harriet McCulloch of Reprieve, which fights against the death penalty. It is little surprise that the Government is so keen to draw a veil of secrecy over this programme. They must urgently commit to greater transparency about overseas security spending. Last year, it was disclosed that Britain was spending 185 million on foreign police forces in places such as Bangladesh, Congo and Nigeria, despite cuts to domestic forces. Yet even as spending in fragile states was ramped up, the official watchdog criticised UK efforts to promote security and justice for overambitious targets, poor focus and naive repetition of failed initiatives. The problem is too much money and too much ambition, said one former military officer engaged in the sector. This results in a lack of credible strategy. The source said that officials refused to accept criticism of schemes, adding: The public would be upset to see how much of this money is being spent on the ground. It is not strengthening our national security. A Government spokeswoman said the CSSF would publish its first annual report next year and planned to increase accessibility of project information. She added that Britain sought to play a leading role in the world to bring about positive changes and protecting human rights was a key part of the funds role. Advertisement

High salaries, bonuses and suspect cash withdrawals

It all sounds so positive on Adam Smith Internationals website: an example of the way in which the aid giant spends British Government money to make life better in troubled places.

The firm boasts of helping to spend 30 million of taxpayers cash in 2008, setting up a non-profit facility to improve the investment climate in Afghanistan. This included creating appropriate governance and management structures, recruiting and mentoring the management team. Yet a leaked internal audit from three years later reveals a rather different picture.

Report: Harakat cost the UK 30m in 2008

The organisation, Harakat, which strongly disputes the report, was accused of having a family business mentality with high salaries, unauthorised payments to relatives, unexpectedly high cash withdrawals, suspicious invoicing and false documentation.

More than three-quarters of first-year income went on administration and expenses, with the chief executive paid 225,000 over the first two years, in a country where the GDP per capita is under $500 a year.

Auditors even warned of possible manipulation of disbursements to trigger bonus payments, which is deceptive and fraudulent.

They found 271 cash withdrawals worth 458,500 over the first two years  higher than expected.

The brother of one director received payments that could not be accounted for.

Sources at DFID admit they had to take robust steps to resolve the issues, including sending a senior adviser to address widespread concerns. A DFID review in 2011 admitted key targets of contributing to increased economic growth and private sector investment were not achieved.

Yet Harakat was handed another four-year UK contract worth 15 million last year after claims it had created 20,000 jobs. DFID is committed to securing peace in Afghanistan, where UK aid is helping tackle poverty, said a spokesman.

An ASI spokeswoman said they were not responsible for Harakats management or finances. Our role was as a sub-contractor. We helped set up and register the organisation, she said.
Brooklyn's borough president has reached out to President-elect Donald Trump, requesting that he meet with a female Muslim New York City police officer and other Muslim officers.

Eric Adams penned the December 6 letter to the former reality star, which was obtained by Yahoo News.

He wrote: 'I hope that you will accept my request for you to meet with NYPD officer Aml Elsokary, a native Brooklynite who, along with her 16-year-old son, was the victim of a hate crime in her neighborhood.'

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Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams (left) wrote a letter asking President-elect Trump meet with Officer Aml Elsokary (right) and her colleagues from the NYPD Muslim Officers Society

Adams wrote in the letter to Trump: 'According to New York City Police Department (NYPD) statistics, there has been a 115 [per cent] spike in bias-based attacks since Election Day - which have had a particular impact on Jewish, LGBTQ, and Muslim communities - compared to the same period last year.'

Elsokary, a New York City native who joined the force after the September 11 attacks, said she was off duty in her Brooklyn neighborhood December 3 when she encountered a man yelling and pushing her 16-year-old son.

When she intervened, she said, the man referenced ISIS and threatened to slit her throat.

It was the first time anything like that had happened to her, she said at a news conference with New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio on Monday.

'I became a police officer to show the positive side of a New Yorker, a Muslim woman, that can do the job,' Elsokary said.

'I help everybody, no matter what your religion, what's your faith, what you do in New York. I'm born and raised here.'

President-elect Donald Trump is interviewed by Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday at Trump Tower on Saturday in this image

The man accused of making the threat, Christopher Nelson, 36, was arraigned Monday on a felony charge of menacing as a hate crime.

The police department cited Elsokary for bravery in 2014 after she and a partner ran into a burning building to save a baby.

Police Commissioner James O'Neill recalled visiting Elsokary at the hospital where she and her partner were treated for smoke inhalation.

'You and your partner did a tremendous job that day,' O'Neill told her at Monday's news conference.

Adams wrote: 'The 900 Muslim-American members of our nation's largest police department, part of a greater law enforcement fraternity that encompasses thousands of our citizens and their families, deserve guidance on how they will be protected amid this uncertain national climate, just as they protect our streets every day.

'Moreover the welfare of these officers speaks to the greater welfare of the millions of law-abiding Muslim-Americans, many of whom are fearful at this critical juncture in our history.'

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told Yahoo News that Trump's believed to have gotten the letter but she doesn't know if a meeting will take place.
Theresa May could be brought down as Prime Minister if she sides with Eurosceptic Tory MP headbangers and walks away from EU negotiations with nothing, Ken Clarke has warned.

He was speaking the day after flaunting his credentials as the Conservatives chief anti-Brexit rebel as the only Tory MP to vote against May in a Commons debate which, nominally at least, approved her timetable for breaking with Brussels.

Sunk deep in an old green armchair in his Commons office after a good lunch, it is hard to tell where the well-padded upholstery begins and the former Chancellors well-padded suit ends. There was no padding in the 76-year-old veteran Europhiles defiant message to May.

He said she wont last long as PM if she sides with Tory Brexit cheerleaders, mocked a speech she made which sent the pound crashing  and urged her to put a wet towel on in future. And he claimed Chancellor Philip Hammond was as pro-European as Clarke himself, and joked about being a new Tory bastard  the term given by John Major to anti EU rebels who destroyed his Government 20 years ago.

Ken Clarke has warned Theresa May could be brought down as Prime Minister if she sides with Eurosceptic Tory MPs

Heartily rude and robust as ever, Clarke, due to stand down as an MP in 2020 after half a century in Parliament, says he will oppose Brexit to the end.

If I ever voted to leave the EU I would be the biggest unhung hypocrite. The idea that I should just because I was on the losing side in the referendum by a couple of per cent is nonsense, he says, adding with breezy contempt that 70 per cent supported the Iraq War at the time.

He claims  or perhaps hopes  May, Hammond, Boris and the rest of the Cabinet merely pay lip service to the Brexit hardliners  and secretly agree with him.

Clarke claims that May merely pays lip service to the Brexit hardliners  and secretly agrees with him

Ive never heard Theresa make a Eurosceptic remark. There is no majority in Parliament for the headbanger tendency. Theyre cock-a-hoop but they cant get a Commons majority. If she lets them tow her around, she wont last long. Theresa always says how in favour of free trade she is. Its difficult to equate that with pulling out of the biggest and best-organised free trade area in the world. Her Government isnt suddenly going to start pretending to agree with the likes of [John] Redwood, [Bill] Cash and [Bernard] Jenkin. If it does, it will be defeated.

Laid-back, red-wine-loving jazz fan Ken and buttoned-up vicars daughter Theresa are chalk and cheese. Earlier this year he was caught on microphone calling her a bloody difficult woman.

Ken is happy to put it on the record. She needs to be bloody difficult and sort out the warring in her Cabinet, he says. She is a straightforward, no-nonsense Surrey Tory lady. (When Clarke first knew May, she lived in Wimbledon, formerly part of Surrey.) Thats a compliment!

He groans at her Brexit means Brexit mantra. Better that than any more statements that make the pound crash! he quips, a reference to her crowd-pleasing Tory conference speech about leaving the EU that sparked a mini sterling crisis.

Put the wet towel on [her head], read the brief and work out what the Government is going to do, he says, admonishingly.

Clarkes patronising put-downs are delivered with such cheek and charm that few take offence. Even Nigel Farage calls him a national treasure. His anti-Brexit stance has made him the target of the internet hate mob. But he wont back down and believes Hammond will make sure May does not go down the hard Brexit route. Not least because there is a risk of recession in the next two or three years and Brexit could make things worse.

Clarke was the only Tory MP to vote against May in a Commons debate which, nominally at least, approved her timetable for breaking with Brussels

Philips as pro-European as I am. The duty of a Chancellor is to find 101 ways of saying no to people who insist two plus two equals five. Philip will. He understands economics and is no weakling. If he just sits there and allows the economy to be wrecked on his watch, he will carry the blame. Boris is the same  not that he knows much about economic policy, he guffaws.

When Clarke was in Majors Cabinet, Eurosceptic rebels such as Redwood and Iain Duncan Smith were treated as loony troublemakers, branded bastards by Major. Today, the roles are reversed and Brussels defender Clarke is the bastard voting against a Conservative PM.

It amuses him. The one thing the bastards and I have in common is that we have strong views and dont change them.

But behind the bluster, he is worried. If IDS is the new norm, it doesnt bode well for the Tory Party or our country, he shrugs.
Father-of-two Dave Tyler suffered a near-fatal blood clot while his head was bent backwards over a basin

A customer who suffered a devastating stroke as a result of having his hair washed at a salon has won 90,000 compensation.

Father-of-two Dave Tyler suffered a near-fatal blood clot while his head was bent backwards over a basin  the latest case of so-called beauty parlour syndrome.

Experts believe that as the neck extends, the artery can over-extend and become torn, either blocking it completely or causing a clot which restricts blood supply to the brain.

Sound engineer Mr Tyler began suffering headaches and collapsed during a business meeting two days after visiting the Headmasters salon in Brighton in 2011.

The 45-year-old was rushed to hospital and later transferred to Londons National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, where a consultant asked him: Have you had your hair cut recently?

There is little public awareness of beauty parlour syndrome and cases are rare, but specialists can recognise the telltale signs. Doctors told Mr Tyler that he had suffered an initial blood clot in the salon which had given him the headaches.

The clot burst two days later, sending lots of smaller clots into his brain  blocking the blood supply and causing a stroke, known as a lateral medullary syndrome.

His symptoms included slurred speech, poor muscle co-ordination, double vision, violent hiccups and partial loss of pain and temperature sensation.

Sound engineer Mr Tyler began suffering headaches and collapsed during a business meeting two days after visiting the Headmasters salon in Brighton in 2011

Speaking of his collapse, Mr Tyler said: I felt the whole side of my body go numb and while waiting for the ambulance my eyes went ping and started rolling. This made me nauseous so I was sick.

I took a swig of water without knowing Id lost the ability to swallow. The water wasnt going anywhere and I couldnt breathe. And because I wasnt able to swallow, I ingested some of the vomit into my lungs and developed pneumonia.

WHAT IS BEAUTY PARLOUR SYNDROME? Beauty parlour syndrome was first diagnosed by neurologists in the US and describes what can happen when the head of a customer at a salon is pushed back against a basin while their hair is washed. This can tear an artery, blocking it completely or reducing the flow of blood to the brain, resulting in a stroke. The number of recorded cases is extremely small. Advertisement

Mr Tyler was in hospital for three months and initially came home in a wheelchair. Following physiotherapy, he is now able to walk with a stick but still suffers pain. I will never drive again because I have permanently wobbly double vision, he said.

Mr Tyler, who has worked with Simply Red, Radiohead, Blur and Bjork, used to love long country walks and sailing a dinghy with his wife Kirsty and daughters Holly, 11, and Hazel, eight, but said: Those days are now over.

Mr Tyler claimed he was not offered adequate neck protection when he had his hair washed, saying: There was a minimal layer of towel.

His lawyers brought a product liability claim against Headmasters but the case was settled before it reached court in February, with Mr Tyler receiving 90,000.

Hairdressers do not need formal qualifications to wash a clients hair.

The Hairdressing and Beauty Industry Authority has issued a training leaflet, but this says only: When at the basin, make sure your client is comfortable and positioned correctly to avoid wetting their clothing and to avoid excess pressure on their neck.

Hair specialist Mary Gill, who provided expert evidence for Mr Tylers case, said the industry did not warn customers or staff sufficiently of the dangers.

Mr Tyler, who has worked with Simply Red, Radiohead, Blur and Bjork, used to love long country walks and sailing a dinghy but said: Those days are now over

Mr Tyler believes people should have the option of having their hair washed while facing forward, and that trainee hairdressers should be told of the worst-case scenario.

In 2000, a British woman, Pamela Crabb, 51, suffered a stroke which left her with slurred speech after having her hair washed at a salon.
A 'robot' doctor called Watson has been pitted against a panel of 15 leading medics  and found to be just as good as them at treating cancer.

In a development that will send a chill down the spine of health professionals everywhere, the IBM-designed computer program worked out the best way to treat patients in a fraction of the time that it took the highly paid specialists.

Working together, 15 consultant oncologists took 12 minutes on average to recommend a treatment plan for each patient. But it took the supercomputer, dubbed Watson For Oncology, just 40 seconds.

A 'robot' doctor called Watson has been pitted against a panel of 15 leading medics  and found to be just as good as them at treating cancer (stock image)

Man and machine were each given notes from 638 former breast cancer patients to assess  minus one vital piece of information: the treatment plan their doctors had chosen.

In nine out of ten cases of early-stage breast cancer, both human and artificial intelligence came up with identical recommendations, according to the results of the study.

Watson, which works in a similar way to mobile phone personal assistants such as Siri, has been 'taught' to weigh up evidence by doctors at the world-renowned Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.

It has already assimilated 200 medical textbooks, the case files of four million patients, and has access to cutting-edge research.

Cancer expert Dr Andrew Nordon, deputy chief health officer at IBM Watson Health, said: 'It doesn't get tired, it isn't susceptible to human biases, and it has a limitless capacity.'

The IBM-designed computer program worked out the best way to treat patients in a fraction of the time that it took the highly paid specialists (stock image)

But Watson and the human panel had to agree to differ when it came to treating more advanced disease, where breast cancer had spread. In such cases they disagreed 55 per cent of the time. Dr Nordon also conceded: 'It can't look a patient in the eye and understand their emotional state  yet.'

Nevertheless, Watson is already being used in a number of leading US cancer centres, and some in India and Thailand.
Australians could die from a shortage of antibiotics, an infectious diseases expert says.

Hospitals are already stockpiling and rationing back-up antibiotics to deal with a national shortage.

Australian National University Medical School professor of infectious diseases Peter Collignon said the use of these substitute antibiotics was a risk to patient safety.

Australia is dealing with a shortage of antibiotics including a treatment for diarrhea. (Stock image)

'These are decisions that will lead to the deaths of people if they can't get an effective antibiotic,' the Canberra-based microbiologist told The Sun-Herald.

These back-up treatments are also more likely to see superbugs develop, which are resistant to antibiotics.

Drugs to treat diarrhea, chickenpox, shingles and genital herpes are the latest antibiotics to be in short supply.

These medicines are also the least likely to cause resistance to antibiotics.

Hospitals are already stockpiling and rationing back-up antibiotics, which make patients more susceptible to being infected with a superbug

KEY ANTIBIOTICS IN SHORT SUPPLY

Vancomycin - used to fight intestinal bacteria that causes diarrhea Aciclovir - used to treat chickenpox, shingles, cold sores and genital herpes Metronidazole - treats vaginal infections and bacterial infections of the stomach, skin, joints and respiratory tract Source: drugs.com Advertisement

Vancomycin, an antibiotic used to treat diarrhea, will not be available until February 2017, drug manufacturer Pfizer has confirmed.

'Bad luck if you have a serious life-threatening infection,' Dr Collignon tweeted.

It is also used to treat a common superbug in Australian hospitals, methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus.

Dr Collignon slammed the major drug companies for failing to stock up on antiobiotics and antiviral drugs.

'Not having the drug is almost the same as having a bug so resistant the drug doesn't work; patients do very badly,' Dr Collignon told Fairfax Media.

'This is, in my view, is absolutely unacceptable.'

Microbiologist Professor Peter Collignon says a drug used to treat superbugs in Australian hospitals is unavailable for two months

Australian National University professor infectious disease Peter Collignon says people will die if the shortage of antibiotics is not addressed

The infectious diseases professor has slammed big drug makers for failing to produce enough antiobiotics

Professor Peter Collignon tweeted Pfizer's out of stock report for key antibiotics

He also took to Twitter to slam drug manufacturer Pfizer for failing to produce enough Vancomycin.

'How can Pfizer and other big pharma companies let so many antiobiotics and antivirals be out of stock for so long?,' he asked.

A spokesman for Pfizer said the exit of other manufacturers and distributors had caused the supply shortage for Vancomycin and metronidazole, a drug used to treat bacterial infections.
Maurice Kirk has vowed to recover his battered vintage aircraft, fix her up and continue his perilous journey

He has crash-landed in one of the most dangerous places on Earth, been robbed and beaten up by bandits and jailed by the local regime, and is now dangerously ill after contracting malaria.

But intrepid 72-year-old aviator Maurice Kirk has vowed to recover his battered vintage aircraft, fix her up and continue his perilous journey across Africa.

His crash in South Sudan last week was the second time Mr Kirk and his single-engine 1943 Piper Club have come unstuck on the 8,000-mile Vintage Air Rally from Crete to South Africa. He previously went missing, only to touch down in Ethiopia, where the authorities accused him of illegally entering the countrys airspace.

Mr Kirk, who has already found himself in many a perilous situation  not least as a close drinking buddy of Oliver Reed  admits that his current circumstances are a bit of a jam.

Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday from his sick bed in South Sudan, he said: Im staying here, and Im going to rescue her. Hes affectionately referring to his Piper Cub, which lost its propeller and one of its legs when it crashed near the town of Narus.

After emerging from the wreckage, Mr Kirk was dragged away by bandits. I was roughed up by the locals, who dragged me through brambles that have terrible thorns, he said. I have deep cuts all over my legs. They stole my mobile phone, my camera and my emergency beacon.

He was left for dead by his robbers, but police arrived and seized him for not having a visa  as if he would know where he was going to crash.

They were surprised to see a British pensioner in one of the most dangerous areas of a nation that has been in the grip of civil war since gaining independence in 2011  and were unsure what to do. So Mr Kirk says they forced him to sit under a tree for two days before he was picked up by the South Sudanese army, who put him in a lorry for five hours, then locked him in a cell under armed guard.

They put me in a concrete building, which I later found out was a police station, with 27 security guards watching my every move, he said. I was incredibly shaken up, and there were flies everywhere.

Maurice Kirk had his passport confiscated by South Sudanese authorities after crashing his plane during the Crete to Cape Town air rally

In the jail, in the town of Kapoeta, he fell badly ill with sepsis and malaria, with his temperature soaring to a near-fatal 106F (41C). While there, he was summoned to meet the areas governor  who has a flock of pet ostriches, according to Mr Kirk  who ordered that the lost pilot be flown to South Sudans capital, Juba, with a military escort. He is now holed up in a Western hotel in the city.

The army dont trust me and wont let me return to my aeroplane, Mr Kirk said. One way or another, I am in a bit of a jam. Nevertheless, he is determined to continue his journey.

However, his passport has been seized by authorities and the phone that was stolen was his main navigational tool. And he used his maps to make cigarettes while in jail, once again showing his renegade  or reckless  spirit. The best use I have found for these charts is to be smoked with a bit of tobacco, he said.

People have told me I have to get out of here. I could end up spending two months in jail in horrific conditions

He said he was trying to get a visa to leave the country and continue his adventure, but because I didnt have a visa to get in, the minister for immigration told me to bugger off.

The South Sudan government and the British Embassy are thought to be trying to convince Mr Kirk to return home to Britain, and the Foreign Office says it is providing support. But Mr Kirk has other ideas and is vowing to rejoin the Vintage Air Rally route  despite having been kicked off the official adventure in a row over his rebellious approach.
Everything seemed to be going well, he matched with a girl on Tinder and after a few days of good conversation they were swapping nude selfies.

But instead of a promising date, the next step in their relationship was a threat to send the compromising photos to all his family friends unless he paid up.

Instead of paying the $500 demand, the Perth man fessed up and publicly warned everyone he knew they could be sent naked photos and video of him.

A Perth man's Tinder match threatened to send nude photos of him to his family and friends unless he paid $500 (stock image)

Instead of paying he fessed up and publicly warned everyone he knew they could be sent naked photos and video of him

'I thought she was a real girl who was into me (stupid me right), but it was actually a person saving all the s**t I sent them to then demand $500 in bitcoin or they send the files to everyone I know,' he wrote on Facebook.

'I do not negotiate with terrorists (I couldn't pay anyway) so basically unless you want to see my fat naked body in glorious HD, don't open those files.'

The unfortunate man said he was very cautious but 'they fooled me real good'.

Knowing there were many fake people on the internet, he tried a series of tests to determine if his match was a real person, but they were 'very convincing'

'The attacker is either actually a real girl who's decided to f**k with dudes like me or has a f**king s**t load of different shots of the same chick,' he said.

Knowing there were many fake people on the internet, he tried a series of tests to determine if his match was a real person, he told WAToday.

He did a reverse Google image search of all her photos, which turned up nothing, and while he was sceptical everything seemed convincing.

A cyber safety expert said the girl was probably real and was working in concert with at least one other blackmailer

Finally he asked her to send a photo of herself with a thumbs up, and she replied with one in less than two minutes.

'The thumbs up photo, I thought well there's no way someone has access to that at a moments notice, a thumbs up photo of a fake person,' he said.
The Duke of York, dubbed 'Air Miles Andy',(stock image)

Prince Andrew is underfire after spending 3,000 on a helicopter flight from London to Norfolk when he could have gone by train.

The Duke of York, dubbed 'Air Miles Andy', splashed out on the journey to a construction site in Bircham Newton on Thursday.

He is due to be in Sandringham, the Queen's Christmas residence, in two weeks' time.

The sixth-in-line to the throne could have used a train to get from Kings Cross to Kings Lynn for just 34.60. And only 33 would have been needed for a trip in a chauffeur-driven car to the north Norfolk location.

The Queen's Flight is available for other members of the royal family to use but the Queen only travels to Sandringham every Christmas via train.

It is funded by the Sovereign Grant, taxpayers' money given to the Queen through income made on royal land and property.

The helicopter could be seen taking off from Buckingham Palace at around 2pm on Thursday.

Prince Andrew was taken around the Bircham Newton site run by Constructionarium and was 'clearly interested' in its expansion, according to boss Robin Holdsworth.

The 56-year-old royal was dressed in wellington boots and a high visibility jacket for the tour.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman told the Express: 'From time to time the Duke of York, like other members of the Royal Family, uses a helicopter to travel to official engagements. The Duke has also used public transport in the past.'

Andrew's fondness for traveling by air has seen him visit six countries, including China and Estonia since April, even though he stepped down as the UK's special representative for trade and investment in 2011.

The Duke of York, dubbed 'Air Miles Andy', splashed out on the journey to a construction site in Bircham Newton on Thursday

The spokesman said the Duke's role meant he had to represent the Queen at international engagements.

The Court Circular, which records the Royal Family's activities, notes that the Duke also used a helicopter to visit the production set of Journey's End in Cardiff on December 2, which cost another 3,000.

A train from London to Cardiff would have cost just 43.

On Friday, Prince Andrew released a statement denying there is a rift between him and the Prince of Wales.

This comes after Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were at the centre of a royal battle because their father reportedly raised fears any children they have could be classed as 'commoners'.
Nigel Farage has got the hump with new Ukip leader Paul Nutall for trying to get him a peerage - and stated: 'Stop bloody trying to get me enobled'

Nigel Farage has got the hump with new Ukip leader Paul Nuttall for trying to get him a peerage. During the leadership race, Nuttall called for Farage to be packed off to the Lords; Now, with No10 fretting that corruption claims could trigger a by-election in the Thanet South seat that Nigel nearly won in 2015, Farage has barked at his skinhead successor: Stop bloody trying to get me ennobled. I could have one more go at Thanet. Thats told him.

Boris Johnsons gaffe-strewn odyssey as Foreign Secretary  his latest fumble being a potshot at the Saudis  is an I told you so moment for Michael Gove, who detonated his suicide vest during the leadership race by declaring Boris unfit to be leader. A friend says: He could have added that Boris wasnt cut out for the cucumber sandwich diplomatic circuit either.

Plans to swell the Commons coffers by opening up Parliament on a Sunday have hit the buffers  because the police snipers who help to protect the Palace refused to work on the Sabbath. The crack marksmen, who lurk unseen on the rooftops of Whitehall, demanded double-pay to give up their weekend. The snipers grumpily refused to accept a day in lieu instead, so the plan has been shelved.

Lisa Tremble, former Labour aide

Is Blairs thumb in the anti-Brexit pie?

As Remainer Gina Miller marched to the Supreme Court last week for her anti-Brexit legal case, the eyes of arch-sceptics were drawn to an Amazonian figure towering over her: Lisa Tremble, left, a former Labour aide who works for a law firm behind the bid. As Lisa is a die-in-a-ditch Blairitie  she spun for his Cabinet Ministers Charles Clarke and David Miliband  the Brexiteers have gone into full conspiracy mode about Tonys hand in the whole fandango.

Dirty work, Therese...
Like many people of my generation, influenced by the begging bowl concerts of Live Aid, I wanted to believe in aid and the idea that we could end poverty on our planet with enough cash.

But over the years I have been investigating the aid industry, I have discovered the flaws in this simplistic argument  and that something dark lies at the heart of this swollen sector. And that is the C-word: corruption.

Not just the corruption of cash being stolen  although there is enough of that going on as budgets become ever bigger. British donations will double over this decade to an incredible 16 billion by 2020.

Over the years he has been investigating the aid industry, IAN BIRRELL said he has discovered that something dark lies at the heart of this swollen sector

But the more insidious, corrosive kind of corruption caused by uncontrolled sums of money swilling around Whitehall and then sprayed across the world regardless of cautionary advice coming from economists, experts and developing nations.

This kind of corruption warps the human spirit. So people professing to do good end up causing harm, conniving to cover up misdeeds and crunchiing the core ideals they claim to espouse.

Sadly, I have seen this all too often as major charities and fat cat private firms chase gold spewing from government coffers. They pose as modern-day saviours of the poor, clad in the clothing of compassion, while serving their own interests and lining their own pockets.

This is why officials in the Department for International Development have the highest median salaries in Whitehall at 52,700 a year  more than twice the average across the civil service. Some have had bonuses, presumably as reward for shoving enough cash out of the door.

This is why a giant charity such as Save the Children thinks it acceptable to issue emotive appeals for cash while it collects 104 million in contracts from the state, colludes on a campaign for aid with Ministers that dupes the public and pays a former Danish politician 235,000 a year in salary.

And this is why we find a company such as Adam Smith International, Britains largest specialist aid contractor, engaged in dirty tricks to protect soaring profits and margins as it  along with other private firms  milks the largesse of taxpayers that allows it to dole out hefty six-figure sums as rewards to its directors.

There are even contractors that fail to pay tax as they cream off cash from running projects for the state. Sadly none of this is surprising to me now  although I have frequently been accused of not caring about global problems of poverty for pointing out such hard truths.

Thats why this paper has campaigned with vigour to restore sanity to this public spending boom. Bad aid causes damage to both developing nations and domestic faith in politics.

The campaign has showed the folly of forcing government to give away 0.7 per cent of national income to hit a dodgy and outdated aid target proscribed by the UN. It exposed concern among voters, with readers responding in such big numbers to a petition and forcing a parliamentary debate.

A succession of stories has revealed the results of this daft policy with revenues from taxes used to help pay salaries for Palestinian terrorists, provide English lessons for North Korean government officials and pump cash into countries wealthy enough to have their own space programmes. The latest scandal involving Adam Smith International, as reported over the past fortnight, is the inevitable consequence of politicians thinking they look kind by frittering other peoples money.

The Mail on Sunday has campaigned with vigour to restore sanity to this public spending boom

This is what happens when spending is determined by doling out a fixed slice of UK wealth rather than needs on the ground, let alone controlling ever-rising torrents of cash.

And when a state department, now more powerful in many developing nations than the once-imperious foreign office, develops the blinkered mindset of an obsessive idealist and starts behaving like a charity.

A system develops in which people flit without controls between the department doling out huge sum of cash and those spending it; in which evaluations are carried out by the same firms chasing multi-million-pound contracts; and in which politicians, celebrities and journalists accept favours they would frown on elsewhere.

As one aid contractor put it to me this week: When a Dfid contract to run a project is worth millions and you get paid 20,000 to evaluate it, why would a consultant ever criticise a scheme? Especially when those that do get forced from the gravy train, criticism is buried under fresh reports from more pliant operators and talk of transparency turns out to be little more than empty words.

So corruption goes ignored  or as another insider told me this week, endless workshops replace any real attempts to stop theft. Whistleblowers are crushed rather than cherished, as I reported when one Briton spoke out about shameful profligacy in the Caribbean island of Montserrat.

How the paper has reported Ian Birrell's investigations into the foreign aid funding world

I have seen documents exposing how more than half the huge budgets proclaimed as assisting poor people disappear on bureaucracy. Money meant to alleviate hardship gets swallowed up by fat salaries for consultants, flights home, smart cars and lovely houses with cleaners. I have heard from decent aid workers dismayed by waste and modish policies calcifying attempts to help the poor or resolve humanitarian crises; from Asian academics angered by the way the aid boom fuels corruption and undermines development of democracy in their nation; and from young Africans infuriated by the sight of wealthy Westerners jetting in for endless talking shops.

Such annoyance is only intensified when local staff doing the same jobs as Westerners get paid less by charities and contractors, which undermines claims of fairness alleged to lie at the heart of this hypocritical world. No wonder so many people increasingly resent the patronising policies of the poverty industry.

Slowly but surely, the lucrative aid sector and its lavish spending is being exposed. Even the most devout aid disciples are starting to accept that a tide of uncontrolled aid can lead to a calcifying dependency culture.

It felt significant to see former Development Minister Andrew Mitchell  the Tory guru of aid  distance himself last week from the idea of embedding the absurd UN aid target in law.

There are many good people trying to achieve great things within the aid world. And there are many urgent humanitarian problems around the planet. But as elsewhere there are also many careerists and charlatans, sophists and swindlers, often styling themselves as saviours.

The lesson of recent events is that the same concerns, constraints and controls that apply to all other branches of state spending should apply to aid.
There is not a single spot in forsaken Aleppo  the most dangerous place on Earth by some distance right now  where it is possible to escape the sense of impending peril. Fatalism infects us all.

No one expects to live much longer. Maybe this will be the last time I type; the last time I record what is happening to my home city.

Thats not an easy thought to contemplate with an unborn child growing inside me and an 11-month-old baby daughter sleeping at my side.

Time is running out. We slide inexorably towards what seems like the end  and yet the rest of the world sits on its hands. Soon we will be overrun completely. After that, who knows?

A noose has hung around us since the Syrian army and the Russians began besieging Aleppo 110 days ago and now it grows ever tighter.

Time is running out. We slide inexorably towards what seems like the end  and yet the rest of the world sits on its hands. Soon we will be overrun completely. After that, who knows?

To all of you, to the governments of the West, I issue this heartfelt plea: in the short time that is left please do something, please remember your humanity. Work towards setting up an effective aid corridor. Drop vital supplies. Please do something.

Its too late to save ancient, once beautiful Aleppo in any physical or aesthetic sense.

Relentlessly pounded by bombs of every size and shape, it is now a morass of rubble and concrete, no stone left untouched, as if trampled upon by giants. It is flat. Nothing left. Just air.

Yet even the air is polluted with chlorine gas or dust, or pungent nitroglycerin  the smell of bombs.

Everyday city noises  the rumble of traffic, car horns and voices  have been replaced by the screech of bombs and then silence. Aleppo has also become a city of darkness.

Save for a few generators that serve the one remaining hospital and a few bakeries, we have no electricity.

Neither do we have running water. We use primitive means to extract what we can from old wells. You can pass many days without washing your hands. Taking a shower or bath is too great a luxury.

Before the bombing became so persistent and before the chlorine gas attacks started, I used to film life outside the hospital  the only one left in the city  where I live with my husband Handra, a doctor.

Waad reporting from inside the rebel-held area of Aleppo

Now I limit myself to what happens inside, the aftermath of massacres for instance.

But mostly I am preoccupied with staying alive and more prosaic concerns.

Nappies for instance. I have one pack left and I have come to think of it as an expensive treasure. It will run out soon. Only 40 per cent of bakeries are functioning and those that are are open for only a few days a week. The quality of bread is very bad because other stuff is added to the flour to make the loaves last longer.

At the beginning of the siege, aid agencies began an allotment project, with the aim of growing vegetables to cover some of the needs of the city. It was an excellent idea.

But the allotments were lost completely when the regime made further advances.

Every time a district falls, its people flee  but have no place to go. If they head for the government-held areas they face death and if they remain they face a similar fate. There is no choice.

Food and water is not the biggest issue. It is the final push from the regime, the heavy bombardment that is causing massive casualties.

The hospital is targeted daily by shells. On Friday one fell in front of the emergency gate. An ambulance driver lost both of his legs, and another member of staff died while bringing in a child hed found in rubble.

Yesterday a makeshift hospital was bombed and we had to move the casualties and medical staff to our hospital.

One girl lost her left eye but wanted to stay where she was because she was worried her mother and father wouldnt be able to find her.

Yesterday a makeshift hospital was bombed and we had to move the casualties and medical staff to our hospital

I tried to calm her down and persuaded her to stay with me or stay here  and said I would look for her mother. We could not find a bed so put her in with a wounded woman  who by some kind of miracle turned out to be her mother.

Here, tears are mixed with blood, happiness with sadness. It was like a scene from Hollywood. At the end of the day, we lay our heads on a pillow, the sounds of war planes all around. I pull the covers tight over me and cuddle up to my husband and daughter.

I mumble, pray to my god, for this war plane to leave us without bombing  or to go and bomb somewhere else. Truthfully, I dont want to be forced to leave my city, to flee the place that I belong to.

I want to stay so my destiny will be the same as the soil. We have a cause. And we will sacrifice ourselves for this cause. I want to live in dignity in my own country.
A Florida woman allegedly offered sex to a police officer after she was found drunk and topless following a car accident.

Jamie Schmude, 30, was arrested for driving under the influence after she was involved in a traffic crash in Stuart.

Authorities said Schmude was not wearing a shirt and her unbuttoned jeans were lowered to her thighs when officers discovered her inside the car, which reeked of alcohol.

Schmude was allegedly slurring her words and speaking incoherently as she was taken to a hospital, a Martin County Sheriff's deputy following closely behind.

Jamie Schmude, 30, was allegedly drunk and topless when she was arrested for driving under the influence following a traffic crash in Stuart, Florida

At the hospital, the officer read Schmude her rights and told her that he was conducting a DUI investigation, according to TC Palm.

Schmude then proceeded to yell at the nurses for 20 minutes and caused a 'big scene' before suddenly falling asleep, according to police.

She woke up 'several times' and 'belched loudly, which emitted the very strong odor of alcohol', the affidavit states.

Schmude did not know where she was when she woke up again.

When the deputy told her she was at the hospital, Schmude replied that she was 'always getting into trouble'.

She then told the deputy he was the 'sexiest thing' she's ever seen.

Schmude allegedly told one deputy that he was the 'sexiest thing' she's ever seen and then said she was going to have sex with him

Schmude told the officer she was 'going to' have sex with him and then began to bite her lower lip and moan while staring at the deputy, the affidavit states.

She then thrust her hand in her crotch area.

'This act took place at least three times', the affidavit reads.

Schmude then became 'very belligerent and cocky' when she was taken to jail, confessing that she had drank 'a lot of Ciroc' that night.

Her blood alcohol content level was measured at 0.168 and 0.161, more than twice the legal limit.
Hundreds of patients are feared to have died unexpectedly at three NHS hospital trusts since they were put in special measures regimes intended to make them safer.

The three hospitals, which together serve around 1.5 million people across Lincolnshire, East Yorkshire and Essex, should have improved after hospital inspectors descended in 2013 to put doctors and managers under close scrutiny.

But a fresh study of patient death figures suggests mortality rates have risen.

Struggling: But United Lincolnshire Trust 'does not accept interpretation of figures'

Professor Sir Brian Jarman discovered United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust had much higher death rates in 2015/16 than in 2013/14.

The number of unexpected deaths almost tripled from 129 to 357 according to the official measure, called the Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI).

Mortality rates also rose at neighbouring North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, and at Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust.

The findings are surprising because a study last year concluded special measures, instigated by NHS England medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, were effective.

That review found there was hard evidence the regime worked, with mortality rates falling almost three times more at 11 trusts put in special measures, than they did nationally. The two Lincolnshire trusts exhibited a consistent downward trend. Colchester was not among the 11 analysed.

Prof Jarman, co-director of the Dr Foster Unit at Imperial College, London, said his more recent research indicated seven of the Keogh 11 did have lower death rates in 2015/16 than two years earlier.

But he concluded: These new data do show potential ongoing problems at the two Lincolnshire hospital trusts.

A spokeswoman for NHS Digital, which publishes SHMI figures, said United Lincolnshire had risen from an as expected mortality rating to a higher than expected rating over the two years.

United Lincolnshire has been struggling with staff shortages, and in August was forced to close its A&E at Grantham hospital at night. But associate medical director Dr Richard Andrews said the trust does not accept Prof Jarmans interpretation of our mortality figures.

Lawrence Roberts, medical director at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole, said its SHMI figure remained as expected and does not show our patients are dying unnecessarily.
A chef was outraged when a customer left a note on the back of a receipt calling the Christmas music inside the Florida restaurant 'offensive'.

Michael Lugo, who works at Michael's Tasting Room in St. Augustine, Florida, shared the customer's note, which read: 'Christmas music was offensive. Consider playing "holiday" music or less religious themed.'

Lugo posted a photo of the handwritten note on Facebook and pushed back against the customer's criticism, saying Christmas was a celebration of family.

Michael Lugo, who works at Michael's Tasting Room in St. Augustine, Florida, was upset about a customer's complaint about the Christmas music playing in the restaurant

The Facebook post attracted more than 300 reactions, and some supporters rallied against 'politically correct' culture, while others vowed to stop by the restaurant for a meal

Lugo, who works as both the chef and the manager at the restaurant, said one of the servers showed him the note, which he shared with the caption: 'Really...what's wrong with people?'

'It's all about celebration of family and gathering with friends and people and it's a tradition. It's not about a religion it's not about anything else. I am a Christian but I don't push that as my agenda. I think that Christmas is Christmas,' Lugo told the First Coast News.

Lugo revealed it was actually the second time in the same week he received a complaint about the holiday music.

He wrote: 'We will continue to be us, it's worked well for ten years, but it is sad that two times in one week basic Christmas music has angered our patrons...is this what we've become in America?'

The Facebook post attracted more than 300 reactions, and some supporters rallied against 'politically correct' culture, while others vowed to stop by the restaurant for a meal.

Lugo thanked people for their support, and said complaints like the one written on the back of the receipt puts his staff under 'unfair' stress (file photo of Michael's Tasting Room)

Bethany Walter wrote: 'That's crazy! Were they also offended by the Christmas lights decorating the city?'

Joe Saviak wrote: 'We are a pluralistic nation and a free society - part of the deal of life in America is we see, hear, and experience all kinds of different speech, art, culture, etc.

'It's not fatal to hear something with which you may not personally agree - it's tolerable - in fact, we can respect it, find value in it, and even enjoy it.'

Julie Wesling urged people to show empathy, writing: 'Not everyone celebrates Christmas. Most who don't seem happy to support those who do.

'But sometimes the ever presence of music, ads, displays etc is overwhelming.

'Maybe this person is really hurting because they lost a loved one during Christmastime. Maybe they were having a really hard day.

'I don't think they should be condemned to hell for making a suggestion! I think Jesus would have compassion.'

Lugo thanked people for their support, and said complaints like the one written on the back of the receipt puts his staff under 'unfair' stress.
The charred remains of a 31-year-old mother was found in her torched car behind a schoolyard playground in a suburb of Detroit.

The woman, Diana Pesserl, who has a seven-year-old son, was found inside her burning vehicle in West Bloomfield Township on a woodsy, well-traveled path behind Pine Lake Elementary School around 1:30am on Friday, according to Click on Detroit.

Police responded to a report of a fire at 3333 West Long Lake.

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The charred remains of Diana Pesserl, 31, were found inside a burning car in West Bloomfield Township in Michigan on Friday

Pesserl, above, was found dead of one bullet to the abdomen - dental records and an autopsy were used to make an identification of the charred corpse

Dental records and an autopsy were used to make a positive identification, and Pesserl, who was fully clothed, was determined to have died from one bullet to the abdomen.

Police followed tire tracks from the crime scene to a nearby house that was slightly less than a mile from the victim's house.

Cops were seen removing six cans of gas from the home. Two teens in the home were questioned.

The 19-year-old who lived in the home was released, the other teen, who is 18 and visiting, was held on an unrelated warrant for carjacking in Detroit, according to WXYZ.

Pesserl's car, above, was found on fire behind the school early in the hours of Friday

Police questioned a teen and a friend of the teen who lived in the house above, which wasn't far from the crime scene

At the time the car was burning, the teens were spotted at an Orchard Lake boat ramp and the lake was later dredged for evidence.

Police said the teens are officially persons of interest.

Police were asking neighbors whether the mom liked to sit in her driveway late at night in her car and listen to music, according to WDIV 4

Six cans of gasoline were removed from the house by police, who also searched a pond where the teens were seen on a boat ramp near the crime scene

'Yup, thats my boy!! I made him! Incredible. And he's smart, witty, sly, and sweet as pie to boot. Lucky momma rt here and I know it,' she wrote on Facebook about her young son.

West Bloomfield's Chief of Police, Michael Patton, said he did not know why the mom was targeted.
A giant 3.5 metre great white has been spotted only 30 metres from surfers on Sunday with up to five sharks caught in the newly laid nets across the mid north coast.

The patrolling aerial team spotted a massive 3.5 metre great white in Byron Bay, only 30 metres from surfers, and surf lifesavers were able to usher the shark away.

The Department of Primary Industry reported up to five great white sharks were caught in the 25 newly installed nets across Northern NSW. Another 75 smart drums will be employed across the coast in the coming months.

A giant 3.5 metre great white has been spotted only 30 metres from surfers on Sunday with up to five sharks caught in the newly laid nets across mid north coast

The 3.5 metre great white shark in Byron Bay was ushered out of the Pass

With the smart Drumline technology only placed last week, a 3.2 metre great white shark was caught tangled in the net off Sharpes Beach, Ballina, just before midday on Saturday

With the smart Drumline technology only placed last week, a 3.2 metre great white shark was caught tangled in the net off Sharpes Beach, Ballina, just before midday on Saturday.

The large female was tagged and released by DPI researcher Dr Paul Butcher, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

A 2.72 metre white shark, 3 metre white shark, 2.37 metre and a 2.59m female white shark were also caught, tagged and released from Lennox head to Evans Head beach along the coast.

A 2.72 metre white shark, 3 metre white shark, 2.37 metre and a 2.59m female white shark were also caught, tagged and released from Lennox head to Evans Head beach along the coast

The hi-tech Shark Management Alert in Real Time (SMART) drumlines alert a team immediately when it senses a shark has been caught.

NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Lands and Water, Niall Blair said the new technology in place and surveillance are combining well.

'Although we can't guarantee there will be no shark attacks, the NSW Government is doing all we can to minimise the risk,' Mr Blair told the publication.
Two U.S. House seats were also up for grabs; Republican Mike Johnson won 4th District, while controversial former sheriff's captain Clay Higgins won the 3rd

ran for Senate two times before, and won this election with support of Donald Trump and Mike Pence, who stumped for him last week

Republican John Kennedy handily beat out Democrat Foster Campbell to win Louisiana's Senate race, giving the GOP a 52-48 majority in the chamber.

Kennedy, who was favored to win the traditionally red state, secured the nation's last Senate seat for the upcoming term in January on Saturday.

A total of 24 candidates, including Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, jostled for the top two position on November 8 before facing off on Saturday in a run-off election established by Louisiana's unique primary system.

Republican John Kennedy (left) handily beat out Democrat Foster Campbell (right) to win Louisiana's Senate race, giving the GOP a 52-48 majority in the chamber

Trump told a crowd of nearly 5,000 people in Baton Rouge on Friday: 'If [Kennedy] doesn't win, I've got myself a problem in Washington'

Vice president elect Mike Pence also stumped for Kennedy last Saturday even though the state treasurer was favored to secure the Senate seat

Republican David Vitter, who currently holds the seat, chose not to seek re-election after losing the 2015 gubernatorial race, and 24 candidates fought for the position.

But Kennedy was a front-runner throughout the race, and the victory is a long-sought one for for the Oxford-educated lawyer in his fifth term as treasurer.

Kennedy had unsuccessfully campaigned for a Senate seat twice before, running first in 2004 as a Democrat and the most recent two times as a Republican.

He won this time around, embracing Donald Trump's anti-establishment rhetoric on a platform of 'defend[ing] conservative Louisiana values'.

Both Trump and vice president elect Mike Pence stumped for Kennedy on two separate occasions in the last week.

Pence attended private fundraisers and appeared at a rally last Saturday, while Trump took time out of his transition to support Kennedy.

Trump told a crowd of nearly 5,000 people in Baton Rouge on Friday: 'If [Kennedy] doesn't win, I've got myself a problem in Washington.'

After Trump's election victory, along with a GOP sweep in both chambers of Congress, some Democrats saw Campbell as a last-ditch opportunity to secure some ground and narrow the Senate margins.

He received more than $2.5million in individual donations, but the state utility regulator was seen as such a long-shot candidate that national Democratic organizations that they offered little assistance to his campaign.

Voters chose Clay Higgins (left), a former sheriff's captain with no political experience, to the US House. He beat out Scott Angelle, who held public office for nearly 30 years (right)

Two U.S. House seats were also up for grabs.

Republican Mike Johnson triumphed over Democrat Marshall Jones in the 4th District race between two lawyers.

In the 3rd District, voters chose Clay Higgins, a former sheriff's captain with no political experience known as the 'Cajun John Wayne' over fellow Republican Scott Angelle, who has held public office for nearly 30 years.

Higgins and Angelle emerged as the top two out of 12 contenders in the November 8 primary.

While had his fair share of controversy and resigned from his job after referring to potential criminals as 'animals' and selling his own merchandise. His ex-wife also sued him for $100,000 in unpaid child support.
While President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that the U.S. Air Force should cancel its order with Boeing aircraft because the project's cost had spiraled - Boeing executives say they are far more worried about his antagonism toward China.

Earlier this week, Trump set off a firestorm when he called out Boeing for the '$4 billion' cost of two new Air Force One jets, saying the aerospace company had to bring the price down.

The tweet followed veiled criticism from Boeing about the incoming administration and the company's share price fell.

However, the main concern among current and former Boeing executives is China.

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While President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that the U.S. Air Force should cancel its order with Boeing aircraft because the project's cost had spiraled - Boeing executives say they are far more worried about his antagonism towards China.

Trump set off a firestorm Tuesday morning by tweeting that the U.S. Air Force should 'cancel' its order for new Air Force One jets because of cost overruns at Boeing

'The vulnerability to China is pretty clear,' one former senior Boeing executive told CNN.

Trump upended decades of diplomatic protocol when he spoke on the phone with the leader of Taiwan last week.

Trump tweeted on December 3: 'The President of Taiwan CALLED ME today to wish me congratulations on winning the Presidency. Thank you!'

He later tweeted: 'Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call.'

The worry among Boeing heads is that increased opposition toward China on trade or an even closer diplomatic posture toward Taiwan could have consequences for U.S. businesses.

Trump (left) accepted a congratulatory phone call from the Taiwanese leader, Tsai Ing-Wen (right), on Friday, sparking controversy over a breach of protocol

Trump upended decades of diplomatic protocol when he spoke on the phone with the leader of Taiwan. He tweeted about the call lats week

He later wrote: 'Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call

'I think it's all uncharted waters,' one Boeing customer who rents planes to China told CNN.

While Boeing has been previously caught in the middle of diplomatic tensions, Boeing executives say China is different.

In Brazil, a Boeing loss of a 2013 fighter deal was reportedly spurred by leaked revelations that the U.S. spied on the Brazilian president.

The following the year, the supply of Russian titanium used on Boeing's jetliners was reportedly threatened by U.S. and European sanctions on Russia.

But 'China is a different ballgame,' a former Boeing executive told CNN, adding that the U.S. has a 'very delicate tightrope to walk and not impact our ability to sell.'

If Trump follows through on his threat to impose heavy taxes on U.S. companies that move jobs overseas and still try to sell their products to Americans, Boeing would be a prime target.

The worry among Boeing heads is that increased opposition toward China on trade or diplomatic posture toward Taiwan could have consequences for U.S. businesses

Tariffs are meant to give homegrown companies a price edge by making their foreign competitors' products more expensive  and to punish foreign countries for unfair trade practices, but they could prove costly and even start a trade war.

Tariffs are imposed at the border, and importers would likely try to pass along as much of the cost as possible to their customers.

Chinese state media have warned that any new tariffs imposed by Trump would lead to retaliation against Boeing, Apple iPhones and U.S. corn and soybeans.

For example, The Global Times, a Chinese newspaper, has already warned that China could retaliate by limiting sales of U.S. cars and by ordering aircraft from Europe's Airbus instead of America's Boeing.

Consumers would probably have to pay up because there are few alternatives to Chinese-made for many products.

China, for instance, produces about 70 per cent of the world's laptops and cellphones.

Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the Air Force One replacement program's costs are 'totally out of control. ... We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money'

And of the nearly 500 Being 737 jets delivered in 2015, one quarter reportedly went to Chinese airlines - a market worth a trillion dollars over the next 20 years.

If China shifted aircraft orders from Boeing to Airbus, it would also cause a significant drop in output for Boeing, including a loss of market share that would the company the ability to lower prices and win other jobs, as well as a loss of jobs.

Boeing has not had U.S. competitor since 1997 and has enjoyed unrivaled domestic monopoly status, according to CNN.

In the coming years, Boeing reportedly plans to open a facility near Shanghai to install airline cabins inside of 737s for Chinese airlines.

The company has said it is not opening final assembly plants outside the U.S., noting its China facility would support thousands of jobs stateside with increasing orders.

Airbus recently opened a similar plant in the U.S. and already assembles competing A320s jets in China, according to CNN.

Trump suggested in a rare visit to the lobby of Trump Tower on Tuesday that the Boeing contract could be continued once he moves to Washington because he wants Boeing to be profitable  to a point.

Air Force One, the president's 'mobile Oval Office,' boasts 4,000 square feet of space, classified communications gear, missile defenses and a surgical suite

'The plane is totally out of control. It's going to be over $4 billion  it's for [the] Air Force One program. And I think it's ridiculous,' Trump said. 'I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money.'

The current Air Force One planes will reach the end of their expected useful lives in 2017.

China flew a long-range bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons over the South China Sea in recent days, according to US officials.
A suspicious fire that heavily damaged an Islamic community centre is being investigated as fire fighters battled to control the blaze.

More than 50 firefighters were called to an Islamic centre in Fawkner, Melbourne's north, on Sunday morning at around 2.36am as flames engulfed the building.

The words 'Islamic State' were sprayed on the side of the building, according to Nine News.

A suspicious fire that heavily damaged an Islamic community centre is being investigated as fire fighters battled to control the blaze

More than 50 firefighters were called to an Islamic centre in Fawkner, Melbourne's north, on Sunday morning at around 2.36am as flames engulfed the building

It took an hour to control the fire and a crime scene was set up as police investigate the incident.

Metropolitan Fire Brigade Commander Andrew Dixon said investigations were ongoing.

'Responding crews could see the fire from Thomastown, such was the intensity of the fire,' he told the ABC.

'The centre itself is a place of gathering for the local Islamic community.'
Alec Baldwin took the night off from playing Donald Trump on SNL this week, but the show made sure to provide an exciting guest to fill his shoes.

Breaking Bad's infamous meth cook Walter White was resurrected from the dead as the show's cold open poked fun at Trump's cabinet picks.

And Bryan Cranston was on hand, wearing White's famous pork pie hat once again, as Kate McKinnon's Kellyanne Conway revealed he had been picked to head the Drug Enforcement Agency.

The skit began as a segment of CNN show 'The Lead with Jake Tapper', with Beck Bennett's Tapper interviewing Conway about Trump's new cabinet.

Bryan Cranston resurrected Walter White from the beloved show Breaking Bad in an SNL skit that poked fun at Donald Trump's cabinet picks

Cranston donned White's famous pork pie hat once again to play the meth cook, who Kate McKinnon's Kellyanne Conway revealed had been picked by Trump to head the DEA

'Kellyanne, Trump has nominated Scott Pruitt to head the EPA even though he is a fossil fuel advocate that doesn't believe in climate change.'

'Yes, actually, he is ready to protect us all from the environment,' Conway confidently replies.

'I'm not sure that's how it works,' Tapper deadpans. 'This pick is not the only one that has people scratching their heads.'

'There's also the decision to name the CEO of Carl's Jr. And Hardee's Andy Puzder even though he doesn't support the minimum wage.'

'It's almost as if Mr Trump appoints these people to undermine the agencies they represent,' he tells Conway.

'Nope, they're alt-good,' she replies, McKinnon making sure to throw in a knowing wink.

Tapper then interrupts the segment to announce that the new head of the DEA is a 'high school teacher from New Mexico named...Walter White'.

White reveals he's a 'big fan' of Trump, saying his wall from Mexico will mean 'a lot less competition for the rest of us'

McKinnon's Conway tells Beck Bennett's Jake Tapper that White was came highly recommended by Steve Bannon'

The studio audience bursts into applause as Cranston suddenly appears, reprising the role that won him four Emmy Awards.

'Walter is amazing,' Conway tells Tapper. 'He came highly recommended by Steve Bannon. '

'Oh yeah, Steve's the best,' Cranston replies. 'We've had some times.'

White then reveals Bannon found him in the comment section at Breitbart.

'I'm really surprised he tracked me down, I've been off the grid for awhile,' he adds, noting that White dies in the show's series finale.

Tappen then asks if White, supposedly just a high school science teacher, actually knows anything about the DEA.

'Trust me,' he tells Tapper, 'I know the DEA better than anyone, inside and out.'

White's brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, was a DEA agent in the show. His slow realization that White was the famed Heisenberg was a major plot point in the series.

The conversation then turns to Trump, with White revealing he's a 'big fan'.

'I like his style, he acts first and asks questions later,' he says. 'I also like that wall he wants to build.'

'Nothing comes in from Mexico - meaning a lot less competition for the rest of us.'

'You mean jobs?' Tapper asks.

'Sure,' he slyly replies.

Cranston's White said he and Trump also agree that it's time to 'Make America cook again'

'Walter is actually a genius with chemicals, and we're so lucky to get him,' McKinnon's Conway then says.

'The top companies in the country had been knocking on his door for years, but he never answered.'

'I am the one who knocks,' White replies, referencing one of the show's most famous lines.

'And Mr White, do you foresee any problems with congress considering your limited experience?' Tapper asks.

'Well, they might get hung up on the fact that I faked my own death,' he replies, revealing how he has suddenly emerged from the grave.

'I'm only the third person in the Trump cabinet to do that,' White then adds.

'Mr White is actually such a great fit for this administration,' Conway then tells Tapper. 'He is first and foremost in support of small business.'

'Oh, absolutely. Donald Trump and I agree. It's time to make America cook again,' White replies.

'We want to fill this nation with red, white, and a whole lot of blue.'

Kate McKinnon's short appearance as Angela Merkel was another highlight of Saturday's episode.

Kate McKinnon's impression of German Chancellor Angela Merkel was another highlight as she discussed her dream of becoming 'besties' with Hillary Clinton

McKinnon's Merkel visited Weekend Update to discuss her feelings about Donald Trump being chosen as Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year', a title she had received just the year before.

'It kind of undermines the honor for me,' Merkel admits to Colin Jost. 'It's, like, winning the Nobel Prize for physics, and then the next year they give it to Hoobastank.'

Merkel then confesses to Jost that she had dreamed of becoming best friends with the first female president.

'I was so sure we were going to be besties,' Merkel admits. 'Staying up all night eating junk food, playing "F' Marry Kill" the leaders of Asia'.

'We would do each other's makeup - just Chapstick and sun block. Watch our favorite movie Bad Mom. In Germany this is a mom who lets her child go to art school.'

And Merkel said they would naturally talk about Barack Obama, suddenly letting herself grow wistful.

'Oh, my Barack,' she says, before breaking out Sarah McLachlan's I Will Remember You.

'He just made his last visit to Germany as president, and I stole one of his gloves so he would come back and get it,' she confesses.
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They say a man's home is his castle, but with 24 security cameras, 18 search lights and two reinforced steel gates this house in Hurstville is more like a fortress.

The otherwise-unremarkable single-storey redbrick on a quiet suburban street has locals and passers-by alike scratching their heads wondering why anyone would need so much security.

Alex and Julie Saikaly bought the 770 square metre property on Australia Street almost 26 years ago and their reason for over-the-top security is nothing sinister.

This house in Hurstville, Sydney, might be the most protected suburban home in Australia

Alex and Julie Saikaly say they bought the $60,000 worth of security because they don't trust the people in their neighbourhood who they think are thieves

The house in 2005 before the massive security upgrade has roller shutters and the gate but nothing else

'People in this neighbourhood are thieves so we don't trust them,' Ms Saikaly told Daily Mail Australia.

'This is our home and we don't want to move, so we spent a lot of money on cameras.'

At a cost of about $60,000, the whole set up is more than a third of the $160,000 the couple paid for their house in 1991 and took more than a month to install.

The cameras cover every possible angle and can even see next door's driveway.

In addition to the cameras, lights and steel gates there are electric roller shutters on the garage and windows and bars on the doors to ensure no one has any chance of making it inside.

It has 24 security cameras, 18 search lights and two reinforced steel gates

The cameras cover every possible angle and can even see next door's driveway

More of the cameras not on the front corner of the house which has at least 10 by itself

Multiple cameras and search lights have ever inch of the property covered

In addition to the cameras, lights and steel gates there are electric roller shutters on the garage and windows

Even their two trailers parked on the street outside are fulled locked down, chained together and secured with two heavy steel chains each bolted into thick rings somehow embedded into the concrete gutter.

Sydney Security Specialist managing director Michael Brilley said 24 security cameras for a single-storey home was 'probably overkill'.

'You just need to cover all of the external perimeter so youve got enough coverage so that every door and window is covered,' he told the Daily Telegraph.

It comes as a survey by Crime Stoppers shows 40 per cent of Australians have been burgled, only four per cent while they were away on holiday and none per cent while they were still in the house.

The otherwise-unremarkable single-storey redbrick on a quiet suburban street has locals and passers-by alike scratching their heads wondering why anyone would need so much security

Even their two trailers parked on the street outside are fulled locked down and are chained together

The are then secured with two heavy steel chains each bolted into thick rings somehow embedded into the concrete gutter

Bars on the doors ensure no one has any chance of making it inside
While college students across the country have been poring over their textbooks as they face their final exams, a select few at the University of Texas have taken to jumping over them instead.

Waleed Maoed, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, and several friends filmed themselves competing in a series of random physical challenges dubbed the 'Library Olympics'.

The hashtag first appeared among students pulling off similar stunts in the libraries of the University of Houston, and other schools have joined in with their own versions.

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Waleed Maoed, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, and his friends filmed themselves competing in a series of random physical challenges dubbed 'Library Olympics'

Some feats were pulled off discreetly in the stacks of the library, while others garnered quite a significant audience

Each video shows the students competing in challenges that range from hurdling over a row of office chairs to library cart races as they distract their fellow classmates.

In the Library Olympics at UT Austin, the video begins by showing a number of students putting on their game faces and warming up for the physical feats ahead.

One student was discreet in showing off his physical prowess by quietly doing gymnastic tumbles through the library stacks, for example.

But others garnered quite a significant audience, with some students joining in, applauding the competitors and judging their performances.

There were of course a number of upsets as well, with one team competing in the '90 degree angle race' crashing into a shelf on the turn as one student struggled to maneuver a library cart with another person seated on top.

Students hurdled over a row of office chairs in the library as students looked on

One team competing in the '90 degree angle race' crashed into a shelf on the turn as one student struggled to maneuver a library cart with another person seated on top

One student expertly frog-leaped over a tall stack of library books, before another person tried to do the same with disastrous results.

In one bizarre turn, a student competing in the '100m breastroke' ran to the bathroom, tore off his tshirt, and laid across a running sink, splashing his face with water as he flailed his arms.

Since the University of Houston video surfaced on November 30, UT Austin followed suit, along with a version created by students at the Sam Houston State University.

The challenges certainly distracted a large number of students who were filmed cheering people on and reacting dramatically to upsets and close calls
The host, for the Vasculitis Foundation, denied the alleged incident

Three people including a Roosters forward were claimed to have been taken to

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A host of celebrities attended an exclusive Palm Beach party on Saturday evening but the night turned sour for three people when they were injured in an alleged incident and taken to hospital.

More than 600 guests attended the annual Palmbu party, which is held by Theo Chambers, son of Chambers Cellar founder Steven Chambers, at his beach house property in Palm Beach.

But after the party was claimed to be shut down, an ugly incident allegedly occurred sending three people to Mona Vale Hospital, including Roosters forward Dylan Napa.

Napa, a 33-year-old man and a woman in her twenties were all taken to hospital with injuries but were released shortly afterwards, according toThe Daily Telegraph.

A host of celebrities attended an exclusive Palm Beach party on Saturday evening but the night turned sour for three people when they were injured in an alleged incident and taken to hospital (pictured)

Het Tonkin (left), model Hannah Cooper (left) and footballer Sam Fong (right) attended event held by Theo Chambers, son of Chambers Cellar founder Steven Chambers, at his beach house property in Palm Beach

Models Amelia Schubert (left) and Julliette Perkins (right) were among the guests at the annual Palmbu party

NRL forward Dylan Napa (left, playing for the Roosters, right with female friend) was allegedly knocked unconscious by a man with a fire iron outside the property at about 3am. He was taken to Mona Vale Hospital and released on Sunday

Around 600 people attended the event, which shut down the music around 10pm

But after the music stopped and the party apparently ended, an alleged incident sent three people to Mona Vale Hospital, including Roosters forward Dylan Napa (party revellers Chantelle Lunt and model Casey Cotelloe are pictured)

Esther Cronin (pictured) is pictured at the fancy dress party, which is held in support of the Vasculitis Foundation

Dylan Napa a 33-year-old man and a woman in her twenties were all taken to hospital with injuries but were released shortly afterwards (not pictured)

However, Mr Chamber said security had cleared his property of partygoers by the time of the incident and they were not related.

'There is no information suggesting that the charity event and [incident] were in any way connected,' he told the publication.

The charity party, for the Vasculitis Foundation, attracted 600 people including Kyle Sandilands' girlfriend Imogen Anthony, models Krystal Dawson and Amelia Schubert, Australia's Next Top Model contestant Vitoria Triboni.

Host Theo Chambers denied any incident occurred at the annual party (pictured is Imogen Anthony at the event on Saturday)

Model Krystal Dawson (right) is seen at the party with Imogen Anthony (centre)

Partygoers dressed up in all sorts of costumers from Captain America, to native Indians and sailors

Partygoers dressed up in all sorts of costumers from Captain America, to native Indians and sailors.

A neighbour from the Palm Beach mansion said the music stopped at around 10pm, but people appeared to hang around.

'The music stopped at 10pm but the party continued on until the early hours of the next morning. You could hear a commotion with people talking and yelling and all the rest for hours,' she told the publication.

'The music stopped at 10pm but the party continued on until the early hours of the next morning. You could hear a commotion with people talking and yelling and all the rest for hours,' a neighbour said
A married real estate attorney with two young children was strangled to death in his office on Wednesday, and police say the attack wasn't random.

Jigar K. Patel, 36, a lawyer with a flourishing practice in Northbrook, Illinois, was found dead by police after his wife reported him missing, according to WGN-TV.

Patel lived with his family, including his two young daughters, in Prospect Heights, about an hour outside of Chicago.

An autopsy found that he was asphyxiated with a chord or rope.

Police said Patel was the sole intended target, but they have not revealed any motive behind the brutal slaying.

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Jigar K. Patel's office on Shermer Road, above, in Northbrook was the scene of the gruesome crime, the town's first murder in 17 years

Butsome residents were not soothed.

'Its been very concerning,' Kathryn Samuelson, owner of Trattoria Oliverii Restaurant, told the outlet. 'Were very close to where the situation happened, co-workers live in the area and the community has a right to know whats going on.

'They say we dont have to worry and then we hear that they dont have a suspect in custody.'

This is the sleepy community's first murder since 2009, according to JWC Daily. The cause of Patel's death was ligature strangulation, meaning a cord or rope was used.

Police Chief Charles Wernick said that a special task force is investigating the crime but that the victim was the intended target

Patel was last seen at 4pm by his secretary who then left for the evening, said the outlet. His wife called police a few hours later.

'He was supposed to be someplace after work and didnt show up,' said Northbrook Police Chief Charles Wernick.

Asked by reporters if the suspect might have been an angry business associate, Wernick said it was too soon to tell.

'Everything is on the table,' he said. 'Were looking at everything.'

Police have been canvassing local businesses, looking at their surveillance videos, and also closely checking Patel's business calendar.

Patel is the owner of the JKP Law Firm which specializes in commercial litigation, condominium law, and real estate transactions.

Its website says it handles matters relating to landlord-tenant disputes and judgments against defaulting tenants among other legal quagmires involving real estate.

'Mr. Patel has handled countless actions against delinquent unit owners,' the site says.

The Patel family had moved to the area less than a year ago, said a neighbor who spoke to the Chicago Tribune.

According to his LinkedIn page, Patel graduated from DePaul University College of Law in 2006.
WWE wrestler John Cena may have been the host of SNL, but on Saturday it was Kate McKinnon's short appearance as Angela Merkel that stole the entire episode.

McKinnon's Merkel visited Weekend Update to discuss her feelings about Donald Trump being chosen as Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year', a title she had received just the year before.

'It kind of undermines the honor for me,' Merkel admits to Colin Jost. 'It's, like, winning the Nobel Prize for physics, and then the next year they give it to Hoobastank.'

Kate McKinnon's short stint as German Chancellor Angela Merkel stole the show on SNL's Weekend Update on Saturday

McKinnon's Merkel admitted that was sad Hillary Clinton was not elected president, confessing she had dreamed of the two of them becoming best friends

Merkel then confesses that 2016 has been a hard year for her, or a 'real Volkswagen' as she describes it.

But the German chancellor says she's been able to cope in the bath with her 'two best friends' - 'a glass of Riesling and an adult coloring book'.

'The other day I colored a peacock,' she reveals. 'Then David Cameron called. He always knows how to cheer me up.'

'He says let's call Donald Trump and pretend to be the president of Taiwan.'

'Are you worried at all about the rise in nationalism in America and Europe?' Jost asks.

'No. Nationalism in Europe? What could go wrong?' Merkel replies, allowing for a beat of silence to pass before adding: 'That was the first German attempt at sarcasm. I'll work on it.'

'It was good. It was good,' Jost reassures her. 'You're not excited then, I assume, about the alt-right movement?'

'Ah, yes, in America it's the alt-right. In Germany we call it why grandpa-pa lives in Argentina now,' she deadpans.

Jost then turns the conversation to Hillary Clinton, asking if Merkel has spoken to her since the election.

'No, no,' she replies. 'She is so deep in the woods. I'm worried she'll come upon a candy house.'

Merkel then reveals she had dreamed of becoming best friends with the first female president.

'I was so sure we were going to be besties,' Merkel admits. 'Staying up all night eating junk food, playing "F' Marry Kill" the leaders of Asia'.

Merkel said she imagined they would stay up all night 'eating junk food, playing 'F' Marry Kill' the leaders of Asia' and doing each other's makeup

Merkel believed they would also talk plenty about Barack Obama, confessing that she stole one of his gloves during the president's recent trip so that he would have to come back

'We would do each other's makeup - just Chapstick and sun block. Watch our favorite movie Bad Mom. In Germany this is a mom who lets her child go to art school.'

And Merkel said they would naturally talk about Barack Obama, suddenly letting herself grow wistful.

'Oh, my Barack,' she says, before breaking out Sarah McLachlan's I Will Remember You.

'He just made his last visit to Germany as president, and I stole one of his gloves so he would come back and get it,' she confesses.

'Apparently, he has many gloves.'

Jost, realizing Merkel is growing sadder and sadder, tries to cheer her up.

'It's the holidays, remember?' he says.

'You're right, you're right,' she says. 'Maybe I will get some of the gifts on my list.'

'This year I asked for world peace, a bowl so I can cut my own bangs, and a gift certificate to my favorite store.'

'The Women's Warehouse - you're going to look the way you look. I guarantee it.'
A 'well-mannered' 19-year-old Georgia man who dreamed of joining the Air Force has been accused of killing his girlfriend at his parents' home.

Elijah Ramoutar, of Covington, is charged with murder after he allegedly strangled his high school sweetheart Alyssa Wright, to death on Tuesday.

His arrest shocked Wright's family, as they believed he was a respectful man.

Police have not revealed a potential motive.

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Elijah Ramoutar (left) is charged with murder and allegedly strangled his high school sweetheart Alyssa Wright (right), to death on Tuesday

The couple attended prom in April and graduated in May. They are pictured together

The victim's mother, Melinda Wright, told WSB-TV: 'He was always a real well-mannered boy. I never had any problems with him, always been respectful.'

Alyssa Wright said she was going to see Ramoutar at his family's home on Tuesday night, WXIA reported.

Melinda Wright recalled to WSB-TV: 'We were sitting on the bed, laughing, joking about things that were starting to look up for us. She said, "Bye. I love you. I'll be back."'

Alyssa Wright's body was discovered at Ramoutar's house Tuesday.

Deputies responded Tuesday regarding a 'trouble unknown' call from a third party, the Rockdale Citizen reported.

Melinda Wright said: 'Never seen this coming. Ever. I mean, he was always with us at family functions. He was... whatever she needed, he would do.'

She said: 'I don't wish no harm to him. But... I'm angry. Why? I want justice for my baby.'

The victim's mother, Melinda Wright (pictured), told WSB-TV : 'He was always a real well-mannered boy. I never had any problems with him, always been respectful'

Melinda Wright said that Ramoutar 'was always with us at family functions. He was... whatever she needed, he would do'

Alyssa Wright's body was discovered at Ramoutar's house Tuesday. Deputies responded regarding a 'trouble unknown' call from a third party

The high school sweethearts attended prom together in April and graduated in May, according to WSB-TV.

Wright had been studying for the medical field, and Ramoutar was planning to join the Air Force, the report said.

A vigil took place at her alma mater, Alcovy High School, on Friday night.

Her stepfather Jonathan Andrews told WSB-TV: 'Words don't explain just how good it feels to know that this many people care about someone who meant so much to me.'

He said: 'I think her charisma brought all these people out here, because she's a beautiful person.'

A GoFundMe page for Alyssa Wright's funeral expenses says that she was working toward becoming a nurse

A vigil took place at Alyssa Wright's alma mater, Alcovy High School, on Friday night

A GoFundMe page for Alyssa Wright's funeral expenses says that she was working toward becoming a nurse.

It says: 'We just need to be able to give her the funeral she needs. She deserves the world and now we can give her nothing but a funeral.

'Please help us give her what she deserves. She is dearly missed by everyone. Nobody will ever replace her or the love she gave us.'

Ramoutar was arrested and is in the Newton County Jail, online records show.
Austin health officials clashed after it was revealed employees had been hanging bags of condoms and lube from the trees of a park notorious for being a sex spot.

Shannon Jones, the director of the Austin Health and Human Services, only found out about the initiative at Walnut Creek Park on Friday after a local news station broke the news.

The city's Parks and Recreation Department was also not informed about the project, which HHS employees started a month ago to try and promote safe sex.

Austin health officials clashed after it was revealed employees had been hanging bags of condoms and lube from the trees of a park notorious for being a sex spot

The city's Parks and Recreation Department was also not informed about the project, which HHS employees hoped would promote safe sex at Walnut Creek Park

The idea was the brainchild of Akeshia Johnson-Smothers, the HIV/STD program manager of the department.

Johnson-Smothers hoped the packages would provide more information about safe sex as HIV rates continue to rise in the city.

Fifty-three people in Austin were diagnosed with HIV in the first three months of 2016 and 288 total were diagnosed in Travis County, which includes the city, in 2015.

Walnut Creek Park has been identified as an area in the city where HIV transmissions is a problem, particularly among gay men, according to Shannon.

'The rates of HIV in our community are high,' he told the Austin American-Statesman.

'We need to use traditional and nontraditional efforts to reduce the spread of disease.'

But on Friday afternoon the health department announced the condom bags had been removed from the park.

HIV/STD program manager Akeshia Johnson Smothers said she had hoped the packages would provide more information about safe sex as HIV rates continue to rise in the city

'While we will continue to engage in both traditional and non-traditional outreach efforts, we are no longer engaged in this particular type of outreach,' the statement read.

Jones said there would be an investigation into how the condom program was vetted and that some staffers may face potential disciplinary action.

'Most of the programs that we do, we have a vetting process,' he said.

'We have reminded staff of that.'

Parks Director Sara Hensley said that although the department supports safe sex education, it wasn't sure the plastic bags were the 'best way to get the message across'.

'Plastic bags, of course, can fall into the creek and hurt critters,' she said. 'We have to weigh, is this appropriate?'

'Our parks are open to everyone, including young children and others.'

Fifty-three people in Austin were diagnosed with HIV in the first three months of 2016 and 288 total were diagnosed in Travis County, which includes the city, in 2015

But Johnson-Smothers believes the bags were not intended to be 'in your face' or 'demeaning or anything of that nature', she told KXAN.

'It's actually intended to provide information for you to access education,' she said.

'Not just the safe sex tools. It gives you our Facebook website for you to go there and learn about who we are and what we do and why we do it. It's more than just condoms. Look at it that way.'

Carole Barasch, the department's spokeswoman, also defended the initiative.

'It's not like they were trying to decorate the trees,' she said.

Meanwhile, City Council member Leslie Pool believed the department needed to find a 'more appropriate way' to get their safe sex message out.

Walnut Creek Park is known for being a place where people are often arrested for having sex in public.
An Uber driver from Virginia drove a customer 400 miles to a destination all the way in Brooklyn, New York in what is believed to be the longest Uber ride in history.

Janis Rogers picked up a customer outside a Ben & Jerry's in Williamsburg, Virginia at noon on June 9, who said she needed to go to Brooklyn to see her boyfriend.

Rogers then drove the 397-mile journey in her 2005 Prius to Brooklyn, taking nearly eight hours and costing her customer $294.09, according to the New York Post.

After reaching the destination, she drove back to her Newport News, Virginia, home - arriving around 3.45am - and did the entire trip without using the restroom, she said.

Janis Rogers, 64, an Uber driver from Virginia, drove a customer 400 miles to a destination all the way in Brooklyn, New York in what is believed to be the longest Uber ride in history

'I was wide awake and kept on going. I don't have a problem with going for a long time,' she told the Post.

Rogers said she took on the seven hour and 42 minute fare, which was significantly longer than the average Uber ride of 5.4 miles, because 'it was an adventure.'

She suspects the customer at the time, who she described as a girl who was about 19 or 20, had been taking Uber rides up the coast.

Rogers said when the girl got into her car, she asked the driver 'how far north can you take me?'

The 64-year-old at the time did not have much going on that day, so she told the girl 'I'll take you all the way,' much to her passenger's surprise, she said.

The young woman then slept the entire ride while curled up in a blanket Rogers keeps in the back seat of her car, the Uber driver said.

When they arrived at the Putnam Avenue destination in Brooklyn by nightfall, the two parted ways and no tip was offered, she said.

'She didn't seem excited to see her boyfriend,' Rogers told the Post. 'She was kind of blase. She looked tired.'

Rogers and her customer traveled 397 miles from Williamsburg, Virginia to Brooklyn, New York on June 9. The trip took seven hours and 42 minutes and the bill for the fare was $294.09

While Rogers earned nearly $300 from the fare, she calculated the trip essentially only earned her about $9 per hour after driving 15-and-a-half hours and spending $32 for gas and tolls, she said, adding it was not 'lucrative.'

During the trip, she did not spend any money on food or drinks, and noted the ride was 'a little bit scary.'

'I had never been anywhere downtown in New York,' Rogers said.

'I've driven through New York to visit my sister in Maine. But never downtown.'

The Uber drive first suspected she might have clocked the longest ride in Uber history when one of her fellow riders searched it on Google.

The search reportedly pulled a story about a driver in California who drove a passenger 320 miles from Santa Barbara to Palo Alto in 2014.

Uber did not immediately respond to Dailymail.com's request for comment.
The sister of Salim Mehajer has revealed she is having a baby boy just months after tying the knot in a lavish wedding ceremony.

Khadijeh 'Kat' Mehajer married Ibrahim Sakalaki in a spectacular reception at one of Sydney's exclusive venues, surrounded by hundreds of family and friends in August.

The newlyweds couldn't contain their excitement as they revealed on Instagram that they are expecting a boy at a gender reveal party on Sunday.

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Kat and Ibrahim pose together before revealing the gender of their baby in front of family and friends

As he pops the balloon, a fountain of blue confetti explodes and reveals the male gender of their baby

Khadijeh 'Kat' Mehajer married Ibrahim Sakalaki in a spectacular reception at one of Sydney's exclusive venues. Pictured: The couple on their wedding day

Kat Mehjarer and her husband Ibrahim Sakalaki announced they are expecting their first child

Kat with her younger sister Sanaa at Kat and Ibrahim's gender reveal party

The pair took to social media to announce their pregnancy just months after tying the knot

The room was split into blue and pink decorations with 'Is it a boy?' and 'Is it a girl?' written on either side.

A video showed family and friends counting down as Ibrahim prepared to pop a neutral, black balloon.

As he pops the balloon, a fountain of blue confetti explodes and reveals the male gender of their baby.

Earlier this week the pair took to social media to announce they are expecting their first child together.

'1 + 1 = 3. We are pleased to announce Baby IKS2017,' Mrs Sakalaki wrote, along with a loving photograph.

Gazing at her husband, Kat appeared to show no signs of a baby bump as Mr Sakalaki placed his hand gently over her stomach.

The glamorous couple looked more loved up than ever as they smiled for the photo.

The pair have received messages of congratulations, with excited loved ones sharing their delight at welcoming a little member into their family.

'Beyond excited. I think this child will have to be my favourite nephew/niece,' Kat's sister Aiisha Mehajer said.

Also gushing about the baby was Constance Siaf, who attended the couple's wedding as Salim's rumoured loved interest at the time.

'Omg [oh my god] cannot WAIT,' she wrote on Mr Ibrahim's Instagram page.

The controversial former Auburn deputy mayor told Daily Mail Australia he was 'delighted by the news'.

'I know that Kat, as the lovely, smart and confident woman she is, will have no issue handling the challenges that come with being a new mother,' he said.

'I am proud of all her achievement she has completed so far and wish her, her husband and my future niece or nephew all the good graces imaginable.'

A video showed family and friends counting down as Ibrahim prepared to pop a neutral, black balloon

The happy couple embraced as they finally shared the gender of their child to family and friends

Salim Mehajer celebrating his sister and brother-in-law's extravagant wedding in August

The glamorous couple looked more loved up than ever as they announced the exciting news

The pair got married in a spectacular wedding reception at one of Sydney's exclusive venues

The newlyweds couldn't contain their excitement when they announced their happy news

Mr Mehajer is yet to congratulate the pair publicly on social media but posted a video of himself with a baby just two days ago.

'A child reminds us of three things: To be happy for no reason, To always be busy with something, Get what they want when they want...' he wrote.

The baby announcement comes just three months after the pair exchanged their vows in an extravagant ceremony at Sydney's luxurious Doltone House.

The nuptials saw Kat dazzle in a $10,000 gown, with an intricately designed wedding cake, showing pink and white roses on each tier.
The father-of-two grabbed it from her and found more drugs inside

, he saw his daughter pick up the pipe

A father has been left reeling after his two-year-old daughter picked up a broken glass methamphetamines pipe during a family stroll and tried to put it in her mouth.

Stephen Casey, a 36-year-old electrician, went for a walk last week with family members visiting from South Africa, as well as his wife and eldest daughter Cloeagh, along the foreshore in Mandurah, south of Perth.

But when the family paused outside of a local restaurant to admire the view, Mr Casey said he noticed Cloeagh pick something up and raise her arm toward her face.

Stephen Casey (centre) was taking a stroll with his family in Mandurah, south of Perth, last week when he saw his two-year-old daughter pick up a broken meth glass pipe and try to put it in her mouth

The horrified father-of-two said he grabbed the pipe and upon further inspection, noticed it had a plastic bag with meth inside and burnt residue (pictured)

'It's the whole shock of it  what would have happened if she had ingested it. It would have caused some serious issues,' he said (pictured centre on their family walk)

'My daughter reached down and grabbed something and was just about to put it in her mouth when I noticed it was a meth pipe,' the father-of-two told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Casey said upon further inspection, he was horrified to find more drugs inside a plastic bag in the pipe and 'burnt bits' at the back of the broken pipe.

'It's the whole shock of it  what would have happened if she had ingested it. It would have caused some serious issues,' he said.

The father, who moved from South Africa to Australia seven years ago for a 'better life', said he disposed of the pipe but took to social media to post about the situation and vent his frustration.

'The reason I reacted the way I did is because I moved here from South Africa because I wanted a better life for my daughters,' he said.

The 36-year-old electrician (pictured with his daughter) was left reeling and took to social media to vent his frustrations

'The reason I reacted the way I did is because I moved here from South Africa because I wanted a better life for my daughters,' he said

Mr Casey said the drug problem in his area has gotten worse since he arrived.

'If you go out at night you do see people under the influence and see a lot of people with mental health issues,' referring to one night he called the police after seeing a man roaming the streets naked.

Although his family does have a better life in Australia, Mr Casey said he wishes the meth epidemic wasn't 'so in your face.'

'It's quite scary especially when you have two small daughters and to think this is the society they will grow into  it's really worrying as a parent,' he said.

Mandurah Mayor Marina Vergone told Perth Now the incident was 'extremely concerning.'

'I'm a parent of three sons and if I saw that in my child's hand, I would be outraged.'
Hospitals have been told all pregnant women should be tested for carbon monoxide to see if they are smokers.

The screenings would take place when mums-to-be book hospital appointments, partly as a way to save the NHS up to 2billion a year - the cost of treating 475,000 smokers - and to prevent smoking-related complications at birth.

Duncan Selbie, the head of Public Health England, wrote a letter to NHS trust executives pushing for the drastic measures.

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Hospitals have been told all pregnant women should be tested for carbon monoxide to see if they are smokers

'Smoking during pregnancy is associated with a range of negative outcomes, including miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth and neonatal complications,' Mr Selbie wrote, as revealed by the Mirror.

His recommendations for pregnant women are the latest in a drive to make the NHS completely smoke-free.

With almost 10million adult smokers in the UK, and about six million deaths around the world each year from smoking, Mr Selbie has told hospitals to ban smoking on their property as a whole in effort to get them to quit.

Scotland's largest health board banned smoking on all of their grounds last April.

'We are yet to give tobacco control the overt NHS leadership the scale of the problem warrants,' Mr Selbie said.

'I ask you to champion the changes that will bring us closer to a tobacco-free NHS and, ultimately, a tobacco-free generation in England.'

'We are yet to give tobacco control the overt NHS leadership the scale of the problem warrants,' Mr Selbie said

But after Mr Selbie's most recent declaration, users of Mumsnet exploded with anger, calling the potential screenings 'intrusive nannying' and 'draconian'

But after Mr Selbie's most recent declaration, users of Mumsnet exploded with anger, calling the potential screenings 'intrusive nannying' and 'draconian.'

Many agreed that expectant mums should be trusted to tell the truth about their smoking habits, not penalised based on lifestyle choices.

Deborah Arnott, from Action on Smoking and Health, said that if enacted, the carbon monoxide screening would merely be another box to check in accessing pregnant women's health.

'Women undergo a range of tests when pregnant, and testing for carbon monoxide should be one of them,' she told the Mirror.
A man who twice threatened police with a shotgun after fleeing a random breath test is hiding out on the NSW north coast.

Officers had been searching for the man since he pulled the gun about 7.50am on Sunday and fled from an RBT on the Pacific Highway at North Macksville before again aiming the shotgun at police at a road block on a dirt road at nearby Valla.

The man drove into bushland after encountering the road block and the abandoned van was found about 11am.

Police are searching for 37-year-old David Bell (pictured) after a man twice threatened police with a shotgun after fleeing a random breath test on the NSW north coast on Sunday

'(It) has been secured for forensic analysis,' police said.

Police say they believe 37-year-old David Bell can 'assist with the investigation into the incidents' but have warned people to avoid him as he may be armed and is wanted on interstate warrants.

The search for the driver of the van was suspended on Sunday afternoon.

Anyone who sees Bell, who is described as Caucasian, about 180cm tall with a solid build, brown hair and with tattooed fingers, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Two teenagers have reportedly gone missing from south-east Queensland over the weekend.

Police are searching for a 12-year-old girl who was last seen around 4.30pm on Saturday in the suburb of Woodridge in Logan, south of Brisbane.

She has been described as Caucasian with a slim build and long blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a pink top and has brown eyes.

A 12-year-old girl (right) and a 15-year-old boy (left) have reportedly gone missing from south-east Queensland over the weekend, forcing the police to appeal to the public for help

Officers are also looking for a 15-year-old boy who has not been seen since 7am on Friday on Fitzroy Street, in Nanango - west of the Sunshine Coast.

The boy has been known to travel in the area between Caboolture and Morayfield, but police said they are concerned because of his age.

He is described as of Caucasian decent with a slim build and about 180cm tall.

He also has short black hair and was last seen wearing a white t-shirt and grey shorts.
Ricky Tomlinson, who is sat in the chair, played Jim Royle in the Royle Family

Ricky Tomlinson has said he believes in ghosts and he has been visited by the spirit of his dead son.

The actor, 77, who starred as Jim Royle in The Royle Family, said he regularly talks to his son, Clifton, in his head and has felt his son's presence in his bedroom.

Clifton died in December 2004 aged 33. He had suffered from an addiction to alcohol and drugs.

Speaking to the Sunday People he said: 'Its not just this time of year, its regularly. He was great and harum-scarum. He knows I loved him.

'Its difficult. Im one of three brothers. When we lost my dad, it was a tremendous loss. I loved him. But it was a different feeling when Clifton died. Our Clifton. He was my eldest lad.'

In 2013, Ricky, who is currently starring in Sky 1 series The Last Dragonslayer, revealed to the MailOnline that his son visited him when he was writing in Wales.

He said: 'Ive got a little place in Wales where I go now and again, generally to do a bit of writing.

'Its a little one-bedroom cottage and I went there on his birthday, the 4th of December. It was snowing and howling and the trees were getting blown over. It was dreadful, absolutely dreadful.

'I got there about 11pm. I lit the fire and as I was sitting there a butterfly came in. In December! Its impossible, there are no butterflies in December, but it came and stayed with me all night.

Ricky has said he has been visited by the spirit of his son, Clifton, who died in 2004

Ricky playing the wizard, Moobin, in the Sky 1 series The Last Dragonslayer

'I put my hand out, I wanted him to come and sit on my hand, he wouldnt. But he stayed with me all night and I just thought that was wonderful. I felt his presence, it was him. I was made up. I loved him, he was a cracking lad.

Clifton was one of three sons Ricky had with his former wife Marlene. The couple broke up in 1986 and he remarried in 2003 to Rita Cumiskey.

He added that he has felt his son's 'weight' on his bed and his mother, Peggy, used to speak to his late father, Albert, when she was dying in 2013.
The brother of one of serial killer John Christie's victims has asked for her body to be exhumed from a pauper's grave so he can be interred next to her after his death.

Peter Mylton-Thorley, 82, wants permission from the Archbishop of Westminster to exhume his sister Beryl Evans and her daughter Geraldine, who were both murdered by Christie.

Christie murdered at least eight women over the course of a decade between 1943 and 1953 at his home at 10 Rillington Place, near Ladbroke Grove, in west London.

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Peter Mylton-Thorley, 82, wants permission from the Archbishop of Westminster to exhume his sister Beryl Evans and her daughter Geraldine, who were murdered by John Christie

John Christie, left, framed Timothy Evans, right, for the murder of his wife and daughter who was sentenced to death and hanged in what was later ruled a miscarriage of justice

Beryl Evans, pictured with her daughter Geraldine, were both murdered by John Christie

Mr Mylton-Thorley tracked down his sister's body to a pauper's grave in Gunnersbury Cemetery in West London in the middle of the Catholic section despite her being Jewish

Police originally arrested Beryl's husband Timothy, who was framed by Christie for the murders. Beryl was pregnant with the couple's second child at the time of her murder.

However, Timothy Evans hanged following his conviction which was later ruled a miscarriage of justice.

The BBC has produced another drama starring Tim Roth who played the bespectacled serial killer who was a special constable during the Second World War.

Timothy Evans and his wife were both tenants in the same building as Christie, where they got to know the serial killer.

Christie murdered at least eight women at 10 Rillington Place, pictured, between 1943-53

The house where the murders took place was later knocked down and replaced by a garden

Christie, pictured being led away from court, was executed on July 15, 1953 in Pentonville

Mylton-Thorley told the Sunday Mirror, he discovered his sister and niece have been buried in a pauper's grave inside a Catholic graveyard in West London. He said his sister was Jewish and the current grave is unsuitable.

He said: 'It has been 67 years and I havent got long left. All I want is to be buried with my sister. It would be wonderful to have that closure.'
The roof of a crowded church in southern Nigeria has collapsed onto worshippers, killing at least 160 people, a hospital director said.

Morgues are overflowing and the final death toll will likely be much higher, Etete Peters of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital told the Associated Press.

Dozens of people were also injured in the collapse in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom state.

Youth leader Edikan Peters said many other victims are in private mortuaries scattered all over the city of Uyo.

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In this image taken from video people stand at the scene after the roof of The Reigners Bible Church International collapsed onto worshippers in Uyo, southern Nigeria on Saturday, killing dozens, witnesses and an official said

Rescuers carried the wounded and the dead from the church which was still being built

The Reigners Bible Church, pictured, was packed with worshipers when it collapsed

The Reigners Bible Church International was reportedly still under construction when it was crowded with worshippers to ordain founder Akan Weeks as a bishop on Saturday.

Workers had been rushing been rushing to finish it in time for the ceremony, witnesses said.

Hundreds of people, including Gov. Udom Emmanuel, were inside when metal girders crashed and the corrugated iron roof caved in, they said.

Gov Emmanuel and Weeks escaped unhurt, police spokeswoman Cordelia Nwawe said.

The church was reportedly still under construction when it collapsed. Workers had been rushing been rushing to finish it in time for the ceremony, witnesses said

Despite this, Gov Emmanuel told the Premium Times that the incident left him traumatised: 'I was present at the church during the incident and shared in the agony of the moment.'

The state government said it will investigate to see if building standards were compromised, said the governor's spokesman, Ekerete Udoh.

Buildings collapse often in Nigeria because of endemic corruption with contractors using sub-standard materials and bribing inspectors to ignore shoddy work or a lack of building permits.
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A terrorist detonated a 12kg bomb inside a church targeting Cairo's main Coptic Christian community killing 25 people, including six children, and wounded a further 49.

The bombing, which is the latest attack on Cairo's Coptic community, saw a terrorist enter the church and blast the female's side of the building.

Riots have since erupted outside the building as protesters have arrived, chanting for the resignation of Egypt's interior minister and fighting with police.

Footage from the scene shows dead and wounded victims being carried from a church beside the historic building in the centre of the Egyptian capital.

Egypt's official news agency confirmed the bomb attack was the second to take place in the capital over the weekend.

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A 12kg bomb detonated inside a church beside St Mark's Cathedral in Cairo this morning in the city centre

Riots have since erupted outside the cathedral as protesters have been fighting police and demanding the resignation of Egypt's interior minister for a 'lack of protection' of the Christian community

A nun inside the cathedral looked shellshocked, pictured, and could not hold back her tears after the deadly attack

The terrorist targeted the section of the church packed with women and children before detonating their bomb

Some 25 people were killed, including six children with 49 people rushed to hospital with a range of blast injuries

St. Mark's Cathedral is the seat of Egypt's Orthodox Christian church and is home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.

The attack was one of the deadliest on the religious minority in living memory.

However, members of Egypt's Coptic Christian community have been targeted by members of the Muslim Brotherhood who supported the ousted former leader Mohamed Morsi

Morsi's supporters accused the Christians of backing President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi who led the overthrow in July 2013.

Commenting on the attack, El-Sisi announced a three-day state of mourning. He said: 'The pain felt by Egyptians now will not go to waste, but will result in an uncompromising decisiveness to hunt down and bring to trial whoever helped through inciting, facilitating, participating or executing this heinous crime.'

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, however, some supporters of the ISIS celebrated the attack on social media.

One message said: 'God is great, God is great, God is great.'

Another wrote: ' God bless the person who did this blessed act.'

The bomb killed 25 people including six children after it detonated around 10am local time

Suspected terrorists lobbed a bomb over the wall at St Mark's Coptic Christian Cathedral

Chandeliers were damaged and knocked from the ceiling while the walls and windows were peppered by shrapnel

One man recovered pieces of metal believed to have been used by the bomb maker to inflict additional damage

The bomb went off according to witnesses just as the priest was approaching the altar in order to inflict maximum casualties

A device containing about 12 kg of the explosive TNT had denoted on the women's side of the cathedral, the security sources said.

Emad Shoukry said: 'As soon as the priest called us to prepare for prayer, the explosion happened.

'The explosion shook the place... The dust covered the hall and I was looking for the door, although I couldn't see anything... I managed to leave in the middle of screams and there were a lot of people thrown on the ground.'

Mourning soon turned to anger as relatives of those killed in today's bombing gathered outside the Cathedral

There were scuffles between riot police and Coptic Christians, angered over today's attack which killed 25 people

The bomb exploded inside the church and was left in an area to specifically target women and children

Relatives of the victims were held back from the scene by police officers following the blast

St Mark's Cathedral, pictured, is the spiritual home of Egypt's Coptic Christian Community

Emergency services raced to the scene of today's blast which claimed more than 25 lives

The bomb was wrapped in metal balls which peppered a marble pillar and ripped through the flesh and bone of worshipers

The blast took place around 10am local time, 8am GMT.

State television quoted a security official saying a bomb made of TNT appeared to have been behind the explosion.

A crowd outside the cathedral chanted: 'Tell the sheikh, tell the priest, Egyptians' blood is not cheap.'

Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop for the Coptic Church in Britain said: 'The church is deeply loved by many Coptic faithful in Cairo and it has a regular parish presence.'

He said services had been held in the church on Sunday morning, while the adjacent St Mark's Cathedral was being renovated.

The explosion took place in St Peter and St Paul Orthodox Church which is attached to the adjacent Cathedral

The explosion ripped through the church killing 25 people land injuring approximately 49 according to officials

The explosion went off inside of the chapel, killing and wounding worshipers

He added: 'It's an easier target because its entrance is outside the precincts' of the cathedral.

Cathedral worker Attiya Mahrous said: 'I found bodies, many of them women, lying on the pews. It was a horrible scene.'

There was no claim of responsibility for any attack, but jihadists in Sinai have targeted Christians before, as well as Muslims they accuse of working with the government.

The bombing was condemned by Al-Azhar, Egypt's top Sunni authority.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb said: 'The vile terrorist explosion was a great crime against all Egyptians.'

Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 90 million, have faced persecution and discrimination dating back to the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.

Dozens have been killed in recent years in sectarian attacks and clashes throughout Egypt.

With security forces as the main target, militants have repeatedly attacked policemen and soldiers since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and unleashed a bloody crackdown on his followers.

Most of the attacks are conducted in the Sinai Peninsula by a branch of the Islamic State group, although militants have also targeted security forces and government officials in Cairo.

On Friday, six people died in a bombing next to a police checkpoint in the Talibiya area of Cairo shortly before Muslim weekly prayers when the streets are mostly empty.

Security services stood guard outside the cathedral after this morning's fatal bombing

Turning their sights on the Copts, Islamists in August 2013 attacked churches and homes of Copts in retaliation for the deadly dispersal by security forces of protest camps of Morsi supporters in two Cairo squares.

Enraged by the crackdown in which hundreds died, mobs of alleged Islamists lashed out at Copts in the Upper Egypt province of Minya, accusing them of backing the military.

More than 40 churches were attacked nationwide after the crackdown, with most attacks in Minya and Assiut, Human Rights Watch said at the time.

The Copts were also often targeted during Mubarak's rule.

In 2011, a suicide bomber killed 21 worshippers outside a church in the coastal city of Alexandria.
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A photography series documents how illegal street art has become an integral part of one of Sydney's trendiest suburbs.

Sydney based photographer Kasia Sykus has captured scenes of graffiti art on walls, garage doors and sidewalks that have become part of suburban life in Newtown, in the inner west.

The 'Somewhere in Newtown' series took her eight months to complete using film photography to capture the street art subculture that has become an undeniable identification of the area.

Sydney based photographer Kasia Sykus has documented graffiti art in Newtown, in Sydney's inner west

Her series 'Somewhere in Newtown' looks at how the illegal street art has been normalised and integrated into the suburb's life

It took eight months for the talented photographer to complete using 35mm film and adding a messy boarder to tie in the grunge visuals of the scene

She told Daily Mail Australia her inspiration for the project came from living in the area, being surrounded by the street art and its ever-changing street scenes.

'I have always had a strong liking for the art form and being able to capture the form into street photography scenes about Newtown has been an enjoyable and natural process,' Ms Sykus said.

'I've seen artists themselves on the street, creating graffiti, wars where artists cover over one another artist's work, and pieces of graffiti that have lasted from a few months to just a day.'

Her photographs show graffiti tags on garage doors and small sections of walls, as well as murals on the outside of old buildings and terrace homes.

This photograph shows a teddy bear glued to the wall and tags layered on top of each other on the wall - a sign of a tag war between artists

Some of the graffiti around Newtown is painted on small sections of walls

This artist painted the peaceful phrase 'love is the answer' on the top of a dark and grey brick wall

'You can tell a lot about the place from the graffiti, but also the scene around it, and thats what I wanted to capture in this series,' she added.

'Newtowns Graffiti ranges from artistic and colourful murals to gang and street tags, covering fence lines and train stations.'

Ms Sykus shot the entire series using 35mm film, which she said requires the photographer to be present with making aesthetic judgments of a scene.

She added: 'giving the photographs a messy boarder tie in with Newtown and the grunge street visuals you see there on a day to day basis.'

Some of the tags are painted on terrace home walls and garage doors, as well as the streets

Ms Sykus: 'I have always had a strong liking for the art form and being able to capture the form into street photography scenes about Newtown has been an enjoyable and natural process'

The untouched scenes from Ms Sykus' series reveals the modern and gritty side of Newtown, which is home to some of the Australia's most revered street artists, particularly during the 80s and 90s.

'One of the reasons I wanted to capture the series is because I have experienced nothing like it before,' she added.

'It also comes down to the vibe and atmosphere of Newtown itself as a suburb, those who have been know what its all about,' Ms Sykus added.

'People have viewed the series and later on have come back to it and noticed things they didnt the first time around.'

'There is so much happening within most of the scenes you cant take it all in the first time around.'

'It also comes down to the vibe and atmosphere of Newtown itself as a suburb those who have been know what its all about', she said

Ms Sykus' inspiration came from living in the area and seeing the ever-changing graffiti scenes
The Students Union at Oxford University have issued a statement denying that they are encouraging students to use gender-neutral pronoun 'ze' instead of 'he and she'.

Earlier reports in The Sunday Times suggested the Students Union had published a leaflet telling students to use gender neutral pronouns in order to avoid causing offence to transgender students.

The Union published a denial on their website, saying 'we would like to clearly state that we would never tell anyone to use 'ze' pronouns instead of 'he' or 'she'.

Oxford University Students Union denies they are encouraging students to use the gender neutral pronoun 'ze' in place of the traditional 'she' and 'he'

Peter Tatchell, an LGBT rights campaigner, told MailOnline: 'It is a positive thing to not always emphasise gender divisions and barriers.

'It is good to have gender-neutral pronouns for those who want them but it shouldn't be compulsory.

'This issue isn't about being politically correct or censoring anyone. It's about acknowledging the fact of changing gender identities and respecting people's right to not define themselves as male or female.

'Giving people the 'ze' option is a thoughtful, considerate move.'

Earlier reports had suggested the student union had published a leaflet telling students to use gender neutral pronouns in order to stop transgender students being offended.

The Union has issued a denial on their website adding 'we would like to clearly state that we would never tell anyone to use 'ze' pronouns instead of 'he' or 'she.' It is unclear which department at Oxford University had released the information.

Cambridge University made the indication that they also wanted to move in a similar direction.

Sophie Buck, welfare officer of the Students Union said: 'Events start with a speaker introducing themselves using a gender neutral pronoun.

'It's part of a drive to make the union intersectional.'

Franky Sissons, a transgender student at King's College at Cambridge said: 'Gender neutral pronouns are good...It should happen in lectures too.'

The Mail on Sunday recently reported on a a guidebook for teachers, parents and pupils to that had be sent to schools around Britain advising against using language that suggests there are only two genders.

It encouraged avoiding using the terms 'boys' and 'girls' in case of potentially offending transgender pupils.

According to Oxford University behaviour code, using the wrong pronoun to define a transgender person is an offence.

Jordan Peterson, a professor in Canada, uploaded a video on YouTube discussing his refusal to use gender neural pronouns.

He said he was heckled and his office door was glued shut.

He said: 'UK universities should resist this. Whole disciplines have become irretrievable from these doctrines.'
A letter written by a soldier involved in the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade has shed light on who was to blame for the military defeat.

On October 25, 1854, Lord Raglan, commander of the British forces, wanted to send the Light Brigade to stop Russians capturing weapons during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War.

But due to miscommunication, 673 soldiers were instead sent to another location and became surrounded by a different artillery battery when they charged into the valley.

They were overpowered and 107 soldiers were killed, 187 were wounded, 50 were captured and 400 horses were slaughtered.

A scene from the 1968 film The Charge of the Light Brigade shows soldiers riding on horses during the battle

For years, the finger had been pointed at Lord Raglan, but Lieutenant Frederick Maxse's letter implies that a younger soldier was to blame for the disaster.

Lieut Maxse, who was serving on Lord Raglan's staff, wrote that Captain Louis Nolan, a 36-year-old officer, was responsible.

His letter was discovered with other documents inside the British Library, reports Patrick Sawer at the Sunday Telegraph.

Capt Nolan was the messenger who passed on Lord Raglan's orders to Lord Lucan - the officer who carried out his instructions.

He instructed him to 'follow the enemy and try to prevent the enemy from carrying away the guns'.

Professor Saul David, a military history teacher at the University of Buckingham, has studied Maxse's letter and said Capt Nolan exaggerated Raglan's orders.

Capt Nolan told Lord Lucan: 'Lord Raglan's orders are that the cavalry should attack immediately.'

'There, my Lord! There is your enemy! There are your guns!'

But Capt Nolan was one of the first men to die after being struck by shrapnel from an exploding shell.

In his letter Lieut Maxse wrote: 'On looking to the left, saw poor Nolan lying dead who 10 minutes before I had seen eager & full of life, galloping down to Lord Lucan, anxious & determined to make him do something with the cavalry (of which he is a member).'

He added that Nolan resented the behaviour of the men.

The Charge of the Light Brigade was re-enacted in the 1928 silent war film Balaclava (pictured)

Lieut Maxse wrote: 'He was always very indignant at the little they had done in this campaign & bitter against Lord L.

'All the cavalry lay this disastrous charge on his soldiers & say that he left no option to Lord L to whom they say his tone was almost taunting on delivering the message  if he was to blame he has paid the penalty.'

Nigel Kingscotee, a second staff officer, also said that Capt Nolan was to blame and told Raglan's son he would have 'been broke by court martial' if he survived.

Prof David wrote in the BBC History Magazine that 'Nolan bears the chief responsibility for what followed'.

He said: 'So contemptuous was he of Lucan's ability, so desperate for the cavalry to show its worth, that he failed in the one essential task of a staff galloper: to provide the officer in receipt of the message with the necessary clarification.
A Chinese actor hopes his career as a Barack Obama impersonator will not be finished now that the president is about to leave the Oval Office.

Xiao Jiguo, 30, who bears a striking resemblance to the US leader, has spent years perfecting the outgoing President's gestures - even having plastic surgery to look more like the commander in chief.

However, Xiao's future earning potential might be at risk now that Obama will be replaced next month by Donald Trump.

Xiao Jiguo, 30, has spent the past several years learning how to mimic President Obama

Xiao spent hundreds of hours studying Barack Obama, pictured, and learning his mannerisms

Xiao has even had plastic surgery so he even looks more like the Commander in Chief

Xiao, who is from the Sichuan province in central China first came to public prominence after appearing on the TV talent contest 'Chinese Dream Show' in 2012.

To perfect his act, he has studied hundreds of video clips to perfect the president's mannerisms.

Before achieving fame, he worked as a waiter.

Now, he has filmed a comedy series called 'Obama Goes on Dates'.

Xiao has appeared on an online comedy show called 'Obama Goes on Dates'

However, Xiao's earning potential might be at risk when Donald Trump replaces Obama

Xiao admitted he has even undergone plastic surgery to look more like President Obama

Xiao first came to public prominence when he performed on the 'Chinese Dream Show' in 2012
A mother has revealed the heartbreaking moment she walked in on her son Ronan trying to cut off his penis with a knife at the tender age of four.

Now aged 12, Ronan goes by the name Emma and is a bubbly, intelligent young girl who will soon begin permanent hormone blocking treatment to become a woman.

Parents Megan and David Hayes, of Caboolture, north of Brisbane, always knew their then-son was different, choosing to play with feminine toys and dress up as a girl.

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Emma Hayes (pictured), a bubbly 12-year-old girl from Caboolture, will begin permanent hormone treatment to become a woman

Australian schoolgirl Emma Hayes, 12, (right) started her life as a boy named Ronan (left)

But now they face the difficult decision of putting Emma on puberty blockers, followed by hormone replacement therapy and then eventually sex reassignment surgery should she wish to do so.

Emma has started high school and is learning about make-up, as well as attracting the attention of boys in her class, Ms Hayes told 60 Minutes on Sunday.

Starting the hormone treatment will prepare their daughter for what the future holds, she said.

'She's been extremely worried about her Adam's apple. Obviously, nothing's changed whatsoever but, in her head, it's that obvious fear that, 'Oh,my god, I'm turning into a man!'' Ms Hayes said.

Emma's journey started after Ms Hayes found her then-son attempting to cut off his penis as an upset toddler.

Parents Megan and David Hayes (pictured with Emma) always knew their then-son was different, choosing to play with feminine toys and dress up as a girl

Emma is seen talking with Channel Nine reporter Karl Stefanovic (pictured)

'I found her in the room just with a knife and pants down, and she tried to cut off her own penis,' Mrs Hayes said.

'[She] wanted to cut it off. She just didn't want it there. She didn't think it belonged there. She only ended up with a little scratch.'

The Australian schoolgirl was diagnosed at the age of eight with gender dysphoria - a condition where people don't identify with their biological sex.

Meagan and David (pictured) face the difficult decision of putting Emma on puberty blockers, followed by hormone replacement therapy and then eventually sex reassignment surgery should she wish to do so

Emma joked that one of the reasons she was afraid of becoming a man is because they 'are smelly'

And her parents have shown their support by letting their daughter enrol in school as a girl and taking her shopping for make-up and clothes as she adapted to her new identity.

'I think we did [make the right decision]. I couldn't see a future for Emma if we had of forced her to be Ronan, I don't think she would be here,' her father David said.

For her 18th birthday, Emma has already told her mother that she wants to go on a trip to Bangkok so she could get breast implants.
Michael O'Leary is the chief executive of budget airline, Ryanair, which is arguing for a compensation case to be heard in an Irish court

Fears are mounting that Ryanair customers may have to fight for compensation in Irish courts following a new court case.

The low-cost airline, run by Michael O'Leary, have told a passenger, who claimed for delayed flight to Italy in 2015, that the dispute should be heard in Ireland rather than England in line with a clause in its terms and conditions, according to her lawyers.

The passenger, known as Ms Menditta, will have her case heard in Liverpool next April.

However, if the court agrees, there are fears that all Ryanair passengers could be forced to go through Irish courts to chase denied compensation.

Currently, a passenger could claim up to 500 for a delayed flight, however, there are concerns that people will not bother chasing their owed cash if they have to go through the Irish courts.

Speaking to The Guardian, Nicholas Parkinson, of flight compensation firm FlightDelays.co.uk, said: 'If passengers were only able to bring a claim using Irish solicitors in the Irish courts, the vast majority of passengers living outside the Republic of Ireland will probably not bother to bring a claim at all  especially bearing in mind that most claims against Ryanair are only worth between 210 and 350.

A woman, known as Ms Menditta, is having her case heard at Liverpool County Court in April

'To our knowledge no other reputable airlines have a similar clause in their terms and conditions or, if there are, they do not attempt to rely on this clause.'

A spokesman for Ryanair said: 'Ryanair requires our customers to submit flight disruption claims directly to Ryanair before engaging third party 'claims chasers' like Flight Delays.

'We do this solely to ensure that all Ryanair customers will receive 100 per cent of their compensation (250) without deduction of claims chaser fees, which in the case of Flight Delays can amount to 50 per cent of the compensation payable to the passenger.

'Since Ryanair customers can claim this compensation directly from us, with no fees, these 'claims chasers' provide no useful service whatsoever.

'Claims chasers don't like our terms and conditions, because they are designed solely to protect our customers, and ensure they receive 100 per cent of the compensation they are due.'

Earlier this month, Ryanair launched a new discount holiday package scheme with the aim of becoming the 'Amazon of travel'.

The low-cost airline will offer flights with accommodation and transfers bundled together to customers in the United Kingdom and Germany.
ISIS has recaptured the historic city of Palmyra having driven out forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad during a sneak counter attack.

The governor of Homs province confirmed on state television that the army was trying to regain control of the city.

In the government's first official admission that Palmyra had fallen once again to the militants, Talal Barazi was quoted on Ikhbariyah TV as saying the army had pulled out of the city.

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An ISIS-affiliated news agency released footage of its terrorists reportedly attacking Palmyra

Bashar al-Assad has concentrated on crushing his opponents in Aleppo allowing ISIS to regroup and launch a counter-offensive on Palmyra, which had been freed in May

The released video shows one terrorist taking pot shots with a PKM light machine gun

He said: 'The army is using all means to prevent the terrorists from staying in Palmyra,

After a sudden withdrawal by regime forces, ISIS jihadists made a lightning-fast advance across Palmyra, sparking new worries for its remaining ancient treasures.

According to Russia Today, ISIS managed to muster 4,000 terrorists supported by tanks and truck mounted with heavy machine guns.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been focused since mid-November on second city Aleppo, where they have retaken about 85 percent of the one-time rebel bastion in the city's east.

On Sunday, they pounded the shrinking rebel enclave in Aleppo's southeast with artillery and air strikes, seizing a large part of the Maadi district, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 10,000 people had fled the remaining rebel-held districts since midnight, heading to government-run west Aleppo and newly retaken areas in the city's north and centre.

An estimated 120,000 people have poured out of east Aleppo since late November, according to the Britain-based monitor.

State news agency SANA said at least 4,000 people had fled rebel districts in just hours on Sunday and were taken by bus to temporary shelters.

This terrorist is seen firing an anti-tank missile during the reported attack on Palmyra

ISIS recaptured the historic city after a fierce battle with troops loyal to Bahar al-Assad

ISIS claims they even had a T-72 tank supporting its advance into the historic city

Heavy bombardment on the east could be heard through the night, rattling windows across the city in the west.

US and Russian officials were expected to continue talks in Geneva Sunday on trying to reach a ceasefire in Aleppo, but a week of intense diplomatic efforts have failed to stem the fighting.

Backing from Moscow, which launched an air war in support of Assad last year, has been crucial in the Syrian army's ability to make gains across the country.

Russian raids overnight bolstered Syrian soldiers fighting off an ISIS offensive on Palmyra, the renowned UNESCO World Heritage site in central Syria.

ISIS was driven out of Palmyra earlier this year

But the jihadists launched a fresh attack on Sunday, the Observatory said, recapturing all of Palmyra after Syrian armed forces pulled out.

'Despite the ongoing air raids, ISIS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city,' said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

The ISIS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that the terror group regained 'full control' of the city on Sunday after taking the citadel, which overlooks Palmyra from a strategic hilltop.

Capturing Palmyra from ISIS in May was considered a major symbolic victory for Assad's forces -- and for its Russian ally.

Russia has come under severe criticism in the West for its continued political and military support for Damascus as the regime pursues its all-out assault on east Aleppo.

Bashar al-Assad had been concentrating on Aleppo in the north of the country, allowing ISIS to regroup and launch their surprise attack on Palmyra and recapture the ancient city

Bashar al-Assad sent his tanks and troops north to Aleppo, pictured, to drive out the rebels

Syrian government forces have been increasing their stranglehold on the city of Aleppo

By concentrating their attack on opposition forces in Aleppo, pictured, Assad allowed ISIS to regroup and recapture the historic city of Palmyra which had earlier been recaptured

Moscow says it is consulting with Washington on the terms of a ceasefire in the city after a full rebel withdrawal, but there has been no sign of an agreement so far.

Pope Francis on Sunday made a heartfelt call for an end to violence in Aleppo and across war-ravaged Syria.

'I appeal to all to choose civilisation: no to destruction, yes to peace, yes to the people of Aleppo and Syria,' he said.

At least 413 civilians have been killed in east Aleppo since the November 15 start of the offensive, according to the Observatory, and 139 killed in rebel rocket fire on the city's west.

With such heavy fighting, the retaking of Aleppo by Assad's forces appears to only be a matter of time.

'It looks now as if sadly Aleppo will fall,' British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told BBC television on Sunday.

The loss of east Aleppo will deal the biggest blow to Syria's opposition since the start of the country's civil war in 2011.

'We're now past the point where the opposition has any hope of pulling things back,' said Yezid Sayigh, a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

Assad 'will have in effect broken the back of the armed opposition... and the idea that the regime can be overcome militarily will be finally put to rest.'

After meetings in Paris on Saturday, Western and Arab powers called for talks between the regime and opposition to end the war.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who called the regime's bombings of Aleppo 'war crimes', said the time was ripe for a return to negotiations.
Russia is a rival to the West and must not be treated as an 'equal' partner, the Defence Secretary has warned.

Sir Michael Fallon insisted people must 'understand' the potential threat Vladmir Putin poses amid concerns over what attitude Donald Trump will take to Moscow.

The US president elect made clear his desire to reset relations with Russia during his triumphant campaign to become commander-in-chief.

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Appearing on the BBC's Andrew Marr show today, Sir Michael Fallon insisted people must 'understand' the potential threat Vladmir Putin poses

He is thought to be lining up former Exxon boss Rex Tillerson, who has strong ties to Russia, as his secretary of state.

But there has been anxiety among European powers over the prospect of a change in tack.

One of the main points of tension is Russia's annexation of the Crimea and fuelling of unrest in Ukraine.

Mr Putin's military has also been supporting Bashar Assad's regime against rebels in Syria.

The bombing of Aleppo, which has left thousands of civilians dead or wounded and starved of supplies, has also sparked an outcry.

Appearing on the BBC's Andrew Marr show today, Sir Michael refused to comment on Mr Tillerson's potential appointment.

However, he warmly welcomed Mr Trump's decision to make James Mattis his defence secretary.

One of the main points of tension between President Vladimir Putin (pictured) and the West has been the annexation of the Crimea and fuelling of unrest in Ukraine

Donald Trump has indicated he wants to reset US relations with Russia, and is expected to appoint a secretary of state who has experience working with Moscow

He said he wanted to work with his counterpart 'to be strong against Russian aggression towards Nato, to de-escalate tensions with Moscow and to continue to work with Russia on how we get towards a settlement in Syria'.

But he cautioned: 'That can't be treating Russia as an equal. Russia is a strategic competitor to us in the West and we need to understand that.'

He went on: 'There are things we have to talk to Russia about, of course, to de-escalate tension, to explain the purpose of our deployments within Nato to reassure the eastern members of Nato, and to persuade Russia to use its influence where it has great influence and one of those countries is Syria.

'But it can't be business as usual or some great deal with Russia.'
Donald Trump has hit out at claims by the CIA that Russian hacks on Democratic email accounts were made to help him win the presidency.

'I think it's ridiculous. I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it,' he said during an interview with Fox News Sunday that was taped on Saturday.

'I don't know why and I think it's just - you know, they talked about all sorts of things. Every week it's another excuse.'

He went on to blame Democrats for putting out reports about the CIA's remarks, made after a secret assessment of Russia's role in the mid-election cyber attacks on the DNC and Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.

Donald Trump dismissed CIA claims that Russian hacks were intended to help him win the election as 'ridiculous', also claiming that Democrats were pushing the reports in the media

The CIA told senators in a secret meeting that they believed hacks on Democratic emails in the election were intended to aid Trump's victory. That meeting was revealed by press on Friday

In a secret meeting that emerged Friday through The Washington Post, the CIA told a group of senators that Russian hacks had the specific goal of getting Trump elected.

Previously, the Agency had suggested that the hacks might have been intended to more generally undermine the public's faith in the electoral system, without favoring a particular candidate.

When asked whether he thought that the CIA was trying to overturn the election results, Trump said he didn't think 'they're saying anything'.

'If you look at the story and you take a look at what they said, there's great confusion. Nobody really knows, and hacking is very interesting,' he said.

'Once they hack if you don't catch them in the act you're not going to catch them.

'They have no idea if it's Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place. I mean, they have no idea.'

And in a Capitol meeting, a senior FBI official also doubted the claim, saying there wasn't enough proof that Russia had a specific aim or favorite in the presidential race

He also said that he believed Democrats were behind the reveal of the CIA's assessment of the hacks.

'I'm not sure [the CIA] put it out,' he said. 'I think the Democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics, and frankly I think its ridiculous.'

He also said he would be making 'changes at the top' in the intelligence community, 'because we have our people and they have their people,' adding that 'I have great respect for them'.

Trump isn't the only one who is unsure about the startling claim of Russian collusion.

In a secret House Intelligence Committee meeting, a senior FBI official refused to conclusively say that the Russian hacks into Democratic emails were intended to help Trump, an official from the briefing told The Washington Post.

'It was shocking to hold these [CIA] statements made about Russian intentions and activities, and to hear this guy basically saying nothing with certainty and allowing that all was possible,' the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

CIA director John Brennan (pictured in 2014) may be looking for a new job when Trump takes over, as the President-elect has promised 'changes at the top'

But despite repeated prodding for two hours by Republicans and Democrats in the committee, the FBI counterintelligence official would not back the CIA's new direction.

While his CIA equivalent had been 'direct and bald and unqualified' about Russia's scheme to aid the new president-elect, the FBI agent's statements wee 'fuzzy' and 'ambiguous'.

There just wasn't enough evidence of intention, the FBI said.

'There's no question that [the Russians'] efforts went one way, but it's not clear that they have a specific goal or mix of related goals,' a US official who was at the meeting said.

Part of the problem is the way that two two organizations view the disparate and incomplete evidence available to law enforcement and intelligence operatives.

'The FBI briefers think in terms of criminal standards - "Can we prove this in court?"' one official said.

'The CIA briefers weigh the preponderance of intelligence and then make judgment calls to help policymakers make informed decisions.

'High confidence for them means "We're pretty damn sure." It doesn't mean they can prove it in court.'

The hacks, including one on the emails of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta (pictured) and another on DNC staff, led to much bad publicity for the Democrats during the election

The division between the FBI and CIA's opinions of the case was mirrored in the Republicans and Democrats at the hearing.

Many Republicans agreed with the FBI's caution, saying that the CIA's analysis lacked concrete evidence.

Some also suggested that Russia would have preferred Clinton - a politician with whom the country is familiar - over a firebrand who has talked about expanding the US military.

One even joked that 'Republicans are from Mars, Democrats are from Venus,' a source said.

President Obama has ordered an investigation into the Russian hacks, to be completed before he leaves office next month.

And a bipartisan group of lawmakers have demanded that it be accompanied by a joint congressional investigation into the cyber-attacks.

In a statement released Saturday morning, Senators John McCain (R-Arizona), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) and Chuck Schumer (D-New York) asked Congress 'to examine these recent incidents thoroughly'.

'This cannot become a partisan issue. The stakes are too high for our country. We are committed to working in this bipartisan manner,' they added.

The group also called for solutions to be devised to defend against future cyber-attacks.

One observer said it was due to a difference in philosophies: The FBI wants a case that could stand up in court; the CIA is more comfortable backing less concrete theories

In his extensive Fox News Sunday interview, Trump also explained his positions on a series of issues, and revealed some of his plans for the presidency.

Controversially, he said that he doesn't see why the US should be bound to the 37-year-old 'one China' policy that recognizes China as the true owner of Taiwanese territory.

That policy was introduced by Jimmy Carter in 1979, in line with an identical UN motion passed that year, but Trump impinged on it last week when he received a phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

Beijing complained, but Trump told the channel that he didn't think a foreign country should dictate who he spoke to, and suggested that the one-China policy might be changed if China doesn't offer a better 'deal'.

Trump also said that despite claims that his business created a conflict of interest with his presidential plans, he has turned down 'billions' of dollars in offers in just one week.

He said he turned the deals down last week because they might be 'perceived as a conflict'. He will reveal his plans for his business interests on Thursday.

Trump also said in the Fox News interview Sunday that he might end the 'one China' policy, and that he and Melania would indeed move into the White House

The President-elect also said that despite rumors he would indeed be moving out of New York's Trump Tower and into the White House once he takes over.

He said Melania would stay in New York for a little longer while son Barron finishes school, but they would then relocate to Washington.

Until then, he said, he wouldn't be lonely: 'No, I'll be working. I'll be working. It's a very special place and it represents so much and there's a lot to do, there's a lot to do, more than I ever thought.

He also said that he would look at how daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner could be involved in his administration - depending on 'how the laws read'.

The mid-election hacks resulted in leaks of 19,252 emails and 8,034 attachments from the DNC that showed staffers mocking and apparently undermining Bernie Sanders' campaign to be the Democratic candidate.

A second hack saw emails being leaked from the account of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, including some that apparently discussed payments to the Clinton Foundation in exchange for meetings with Bill Clinton.

The FBI has also been under fire of late because of Director James Comey's decision to publicize the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails - going against FBI policy, which prohibits influencing an election.
Defiant Boris Johnson made clear he will keep speaking his mind today as he held talks in Saudi Arabia after a major row over his criticism of the key UK ally.

The Foreign Secretary emphasised his commitment to being 'candid' despite suffering his latest brutal slapdown from Theresa May.

Last week the Prime Minister flatly disowned remarks by her Cabinet minister in which he accused the Kingdom of 'puppeteering' and fighting 'proxy wars' in the Middle East.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson met Saudi Arabia's King Salman today after accusing the country of stoking proxy wars across the Middle East

The spat led to a showdown meeting between the pair in which Mrs May - who herself visited the Gulf last week - voiced her irritation but stressed she had confidence in his ability to continue in the job.

Allies of Mr Johnson have insisted he has no need to say sorry to the Saudis as he has said the same thing to them face-to-face in the past.

There have also been complaints that Downing Street aides are trying to undermine him because they feel threatened'.

At a joint news conference with the Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir today, Mr Johnson hailed the strength of the ties between the states.

'I'm here to emphasise the friendship that exists between the UK and Saudi Arabia, and that is something that is developing and expanding,' he said.

In an apparent reference to the controversy over his comments, Mr Johnson added: 'It's also fair to say that we believe in candour in our relationship.

'Now is the time for us to talk about the positive things that we are doing together.'

Mr Johnson's remarks about Saudi have divided opinion among Tories.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson insisted he had been 'absolutely right' but former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind warned that the 'jury's out' over his future in the role.

Riyadh is supporting the internationally-recognised government of Yemen against Iran-backed Houthi rebels but thousands have been killed in bombardments.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon attempted to play down the spat as he appeared on the BBC's Andrew Marr show today

Mr Johnson, who is in Saudi Arabia for a long-arranged visit, gave a speech to Gulf leaders on Friday emphasising the strong links between Britain and the region.

Tory former Cabinet minister Ken Clarke said Mr Johnson's personality was 'always going to emerge' but the criticism had been 'pretty silly'.

He told Murnaghan on Sky News: 'I thought what Boris said about Saudi Arabia and Iran I rather agree with and I hope the Government are consulting their lawyers closely about how much longer we can carry on without querying some of the things the Saudis are doing in the Middle East whilst we are supplying them with weapons.'

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon attempted to play down the spat today.

He told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: 'Saudi Arabia is a friend of this country and is fully entitled to defend itself and is also entitled to help bring about a settlement in Yemen that restores the legitimate government. That has the support of the United Nations.'

The Prime Minister (pictured at a conference in the Gulf last week) was said to have been infuriated by Mr Johnson's forthright criticism of Saudi Arabia

He added: 'We can't keep moralising in public about Saudi Arabia. If you want to bring about change in Saudi Arabia then you have got to work with Saudi Arabia and we are doing that.'

Asked if Mr Johnson would raise concerns about Riyadh running proxy wars during his meetings in the kingdom, Sir Michael replied: 'He will be reminding Saudi Arabia that we support Saudi Arabia.'

Sir Michael said Mr Johnson was a 'huge personality' around the world.

'The media, with great respect, are now starting to over-textualise every remark he makes in answer to every question,' he said.
A great-grandmother, who was conned out of $1,000 was given a huge surprise on Saturday.

Ola Donalson had cash and money orders stolen by a saleswoman who came to her house to speak to her about a new walker.

She told the 76-year-old woman that she had been sent to speak to her by her doctor which made the scam even more convincing.

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A woman wearing medical scrubs entered the home of a 76-year-old Ola Donalson, a Texas widow, stealing almost a thousand dollars

Members of the a Dallas Corvette Club heard about Mrs Donalson's story and set about raising the money in order to repay her

Mrs Donalson was touched at the club's kindness and spirit of generosity that helped recoup the funds for her that had been stolen

The cash was laying around on a table when the woman, who was dressed in hospital scrubs, arrived.

The conwoman distracted her by asking for a flashlight. It was enough time for the woman to find her wallet and take $45 in cash and several hundred more dollars in money orders.

Not suspecting that the lady might be a conwoman, it wasn't until after she left that Mrs Donalson realized she had been the victim of a theft.

But a Corvette club in Dallas felt inspired to help the great-grandmother after seeing her story and showed up at her house with cash and prayers.

Dallas police told Fox4 they are still searching for culprit. Cops are still investigating the scam and have not made any arrests.

The conwoman distracted her by asking for a flashlight. It was enough time for the woman to find her wallet and take $45 in cash and several hundred more dollars in money orders

Mrs Donalson says she's usually very careful about who she lets into her home but made an exception for a stranger who seemed to already know a lot about her

The 76-year-old was given quite the surprise as members of the car club waited outside her home to cheer her on and give her the cash that she needed

'This could be my mother. It could be my grandmother. Any of these guys' mom. And this is just something we just couldn't let go by without trying to do something,' said Keith King of Unique Corvette Club of DFW.

Mrs Donalson was enormously grateful for the response: 'I cannot believe that people have come together for me like that. I cannot believe that people have come together for me like this.'

It's a gift to Mrs Donaldson's children, too, who say their mother wanted to give up after the theft. 'I'm literally speechless,' said her daughter, Donna.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to raise even more money for Mrs Donaldson.
Aside from a Polar Penis, Alex has been suffering with a swollen face and developed icicles on his beard

An Antarctic explorer has said he has developed a shocking condition while trekking to the South Pole - a frozen penis.

Alex Brazier, who is the son of Julian Brazier, MP for Canterbury and Whitstable, has suffered from the condition during his expedition.

The 26-year-old is one of six military reservists doing the trip, which is aiming to raise 100,000 for ABF The Soldiers' Charity.

So far, they have raised more than 19,000.

The group have named themselves SPEAR17 (South Pole Expedition Army Reserve 2017).

In the SPEAR17 blog, Alex wrote: 'We've discovered some of the other joys of strong wind and low temperatures.

'We found that for some reason I was getting particularly chilly in the nether regions, and there's a phenomenon called Polar penis, which sounds hilarious but as it turns out incredibly unpleasant, and really quite painful and cold, so suffering a bit from this this morning.

'Fortunately, I now have a large thick woollen hat stuffed down in that region, it turned out to make all the difference.'

In another blog, Alex revealed he had also been suffering with a swollen face.

The team are attempting to ski more than 1,100 miles unsupported to the South Pole

He posted: 'My right eyelid has swelled up like a balloon. It doesn't appear to be infected but I'm keeping an eye on it.

'Pretty annoying as it's a bit painful and it stops my field of view.'

The team are attempting to ski more than 1,100 miles unsupported to the South Pole.

WHAT IS POLAR PENIS? When exposed to extremely cold temperatures for long periods of time, 'Polar Penis' occurs. Symptoms of the condition include pain, swelling and the penis drops in temperature. Advertisement

Once their first landmark is reached, they will restock their rations before continuing over the Titan Dome, down the Shackleton Glacier and onto the Ross Ice Shelf to complete a full traverse of Antarctica.

They are expected to reach the Pole by the end of December and complete the trek by the end of January, when they will return to the UK.

Each man is also hauling a pulk, which holds their tent, food and other essentials they may need, while battling through the coldest place in the world.
Raymond Hewlett (pictured) died of cancer aged 64 in 2010 and lived an hour away from where Madeleine disappeared in Portugal

Detectives desperately searching for missing Madeleine McCann wanted to spy on the family of a dead paedophile suspect, it was revealed today.

Raymond Hewlett died of cancer aged 64 in 2010 and lived an hour away from where Madeleine disappeared in Portugal nine years ago, aged three.

He was jailed three times in the UK for his vile crimes against young girls in the 1970s and 1980s.

And officers working for Scotland Yard planned to monitor Hewlett's ex-wife and children, according to Nick Pisa at the Sun on Sunday.

Hewlett denied involvement in Madeleine's disappearance but wrote a letter to his son Wayne before he died, saying the youngster was 'stolen to order' by a gang based in Belgium.

His son Wayne, a builder, told the newspaper that he felt he was being watched in 2015 at home in Telford, Shropshire.

He said: 'My partner and I thought someone might be watching the house. We would notice a car with somebody in it parked so they could see in.'

He added that it would have been the 'biggest waste of money' if it was linked with Madeleine as he told detectives 'all he knew' when he was asked a few years ago.

Hewlett's ex-wife Mariana lives in Germany, while two of his six children reside in Portugal and there is no suggestion that any of Hewlett's family members were involved in the disappearance.

Madeleine McCann (left) went missing nine years ago and her parents (right) believe she is still alive

Investigators were trying to establish if there was a link between the gang and Hewlett's family.

A source told The Sun on Sunday: 'The surveillance was to gather information on Hewlett's family and their connections.

'They were not suspected - it was more of a fishing expedition to see who they associated with and if any of the ring were in contact.'

Hewlett raped a 12-year-old girl he had just lured to his car and was jailed for 12 months in 1972.

Six years later he attempted to rape another underage girl and was jailed for four years - only to be locked up for a further six years for abducting a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint.

It comes as officers probing the disappearance were given extra money to try and find a new lead in the investigation.

British police and their Portuguese counterparts investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in the Algarve

Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann have kept believing that their daughter is still alive.
A 16-year-old boy at an elite Victorian private school has been charged with drug trafficking and possession after police exposed a 'sophisticated drug syndicate'.

The Girton Grammar School student was arrested on school grounds in September, sparking concerns from parents that illegal drugs were being peddled on campus.

After investigation the teenager was charged with drug use, trafficking and four counts of graffiti - and is due to appear in the Children's Court at a later date.

A 16-year-old student from the elite Girton Grammar School in Bendigo, Victoria, has been charged with drug trafficking and possession

Police exposed a 'sophisticated drug syndicate' and arrested the boy after an investigation in September (stock image)

The school was alerted by police of the pending arrest and fully co-operated, headmaster Matthew Maruff told AAP after he was apprehended last month.

The teenager was expelled from the school, while five other students were asked by staff about drug use off-campus and told to stay home until the investigation was complete, Mr Maruff said.

The headmaster said there was no suggestion any drug activity had taken place at the school.

In a statement on the school's website at the time of the surprising arrest, Mr Maruff said 'we are shocked by this incident'.

'Girton Grammar School takes a zero tolerance stance when it comes to anything to do with illegal drugs,' the statement read.

'We have a duty of care to our students to make sure that school is a safe place to be so any illegal activity of any kind at the school is unacceptable.'
A one-year-old girl has tragically drowned in a backyard swimming pool - just a day after a 22-month-boy was found unconscious in the water.

Police say that at about 4.15pm on Sunday the girl was found floating in the pool on Thunderbolt Drive at Raby in Sydney's southwest.

The toddler was pulled from the water and rushed to Campbelltown Hospital by ambulance where she was pronounced dead a short time later.

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A one-year-old girl has drowned in a backyard pool (pictured) in Sydney's southwest

Police say that at about 4.15pm on Sunday the girl was found floating in the pool

Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

The drowning comes less than a day after a 22-month-old boy fell into a backyard pool in Castle Hill, north-west of Sydney, at 4pm on Saturday.

He was rushed to The Children's Hospital at Westmead after he was found unconscious following a near-drowning incident.

The little boy was revived by family members and paramedics at the scene before he was airlifted the Children's Hospital in a critical condition.

The toddler is fighting for his life but due to privacy restrictions, his current condition is unknown.

The boy was believed to have been in the pool for five minutes before he was found, Seven Network reported.

The little girl was pulled from the water and rushed to Campbelltown Hospital by ambulance
A homeowner made light of a foiled burglary by adding hilarious recorder music to his own CCTV footage - turning it into a rather lame, real-life version of 'Mission: Impossible'.

Nate Gasser, who lives in Dallas, Texas, shared the video Thursday on YouTube, where it has been viewed more than 800,000 times. He said a 'master thief' broke into his home the previous day around 11.35am after disabling the alarm with a hammer.

Gasser said he called the police after noticing his system had been disabled and arrived home while cops confronted the man. Officers eventually handcuffed and arrested the suspect.

The break-in went from scary to hilarious when Gasser edited CCTV footage of the event and added songs from 'Mission: Impossible', 'Rocky' and 'Cops' - played on a recorder.

A Dallas homeowner turned his CCTV footage into a hilariously lame real-life version of 'Mission: Impossible' after a burglar broke into his home by adding recorder music to the clip

Nate Gasser posted the video (pictured) Thursday on YouTube. He said a 'master thief' broke into his home the previous day around 11:35 am after disabling the alarm with a hammer

The 'Mission: Impossible' theme begins as the man can be seen rummaging around the front yard. The suspect manages to get inside the house.

Gasser inserted a note in the footage saying the man had disabled the alarm with a hammer, prompting Gasser to call 911 and race back home.

'He had about 30 minutes to rummage through the house, dumping out every rubber maid tote of summer clothing and cleared out all closets,' Gasser wrote on YouTube.

The recorder music starts again as a police car pulls up, this time to the sound of the 'Rocky' theme. Two officers step out of the vehicle and inside the house, where a commotion can be heard.

The clip includes songs from 'Mission: Impossible', 'Rocky' and 'Cops' played on a recorder and ends with Dallas police officers arresting the suspect (pictured)

Gasser (pictured left with his wife) said the suspect spent 30 minutes inside his home, 'dumping out every rubber maid tote of summer clothing and cleared out all closets'

The officers can then be seen walking out with the suspect in handcuffs, leading him away to the sound of the 'Cops' soundtrack.

Gasser thanked the Dallas Police Department for busting the suspect.

'My eight-foot board-on-board fence, my clearly marked security signs (front and back) my two 50-pound dogs, my outdoor and indoor cameras were no match for this master thief,' he wrote.

Gasser chose to make light of the event after it ended well.
Saturday Night Live's latest Trump takedown took a surreal twist as the absence of Alec Baldwin forced the cast to think outside the box - and inside the president-elect's head.

The two-and-a-half-minute 'Through Donald's Eyes' skit, shot from Trump's point of view, 'revealed' how the future commander in chief sees the the world - literally.

That apparently includes a paralyzing fear of his new job, a creepy relationship with Kellyanne Conway and his ideal form: professional wrestler John Cena with huge hands.

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Give the man a big hand: SNL's latest jab at Donald Trump purports to show the world through his eyes, including 'biased' media (left) and his ideal form (wrestler John Cena, right) in a mirror

That shrinking feeling: As Trump's self-confidence gets smaller, so do his hands. In this scene a Hollywood actress denouncing him on TV leads to him becoming scared of his aides

The clip paints Trump as a frightened child who can't deal with information and whose reality changes as his self-confidence dips.

His day begins in the palatial splendor of Trump Tower, as he takes in the news - screwing up a copy of 'The Failing New York Times' while a Fox News reporter played by Vanessa Bayer mindlessly repeats his buzzwords.

After a quick glance in the mirror - revealing Cena with giant foam hands - the President-elect heads into a nightmarish meeting.

At first, high on self-confidence, Trump only hears his aides chanting 'Trump, Trump, Trump'.

But after seeing a beautiful Hollywood star warning 'Trump is lies. Trump can't do anything' on TV, the aides turn evil, and begin hissing 'Loser! Everyone hates you! Loser!'

His hands begin to shrink, and even an angry tweet - 'MEDIA STUPID. TRUMP IS KING. MEDIA IS BAD. SAD!' - can't cheer him up.

Tweet dreams: Trump tries to get his self-confidence back in the dreamlike sequence with some angry tweeting - 'MEDIA STUPID. TRUMP IS KING' - but it isn't enough to cheer him up

Allied invasion: Trump's confidence is restored by Melania until Mike Pence (both left) arrives and bores him to sleep with talk of work. He's then enraged by one of his fans (right)

Dream time: Kellyanne Conway then arrives to lull the agitated Trump to sleep, promising his 'favorite dream'

A brief appearance by Melania, on the other hand, works wonders - until Mike Pence bores the President-elect to sleep with work: 'Focus. Other people. Other people not Trump. So many people.'

Kellyanne Conway wakes him up to meet a fan, played by a slobby Bobby Moynihan in a 'Make America Great Again' cap.

As Trump realizes that he's given up glamor and glitz for fans like Moynihan - 'Can't wait for that thing you promised! Hollywood models are not your people. I am your people!' - he begins to freak out.

But then Conway returns, soothing him: 'Mommy does everything. Mommy lives for you. Sleep now, shush-shush-shush. Sleep and dream favorite dream.'

And that favorite dream: Meeting himself - played by John Cena again - in a hall and dancing as Trump tells himself: 'I love you.'

This was a rare recent sketch in which Alec Baldwin didn't play Trump.
Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate in the recent presidential election, conceded on Friday that there would not be a recount of votes in Michigan.

During a rally that drew dozens of supporters in frigid Detroit temperatures, Stein slammed the voting system in the Wolverine State, The Detroit News reported.

The Michigan Supreme Court put a halt to the recount a day earlier by a vote of 3-2, ending whatever faint hopes there were of going over all 4.8million ballots.

Stein insists that if the recount went ahead, Donald Trump, who officially won the state by 10,704 votes over Hillary Clinton, would have his victory overturned.

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Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein speaks at a rally in downtown Detroit on Saturday

'We may be moving out of the court of law, but we're moving into the court of public opinion,' Stein said on Saturday.

Despite her setback in Michigan, all was not lost for Stein and her supporters.

A federal judge allowed Wisconsin's presidential recount to move forward Friday as a another federal judge in Pennsylvania planned to take the weekend to decide on a Green Party-backed request to recount paper ballots and examine election computer systems for signs of hacking.

US District Judge Paul S. Diamond in Philadelphia said he will rule Monday on the recount bid by Stein in Pennsylvania, where Trump won by about 44,000 votes.

Stein conceded that the Michigan vote recount was over after the state's highest court put an end to it on Friday

Stein, who finished far behind Trump and Clinton, is seeking a recount of potentially more than 1 million paper ballots and a forensic examination of election system software in six large counties, including Philadelphia, that use paperless electronic voting machines.

Stein had asked for a recount in those three states in the hopes that it would reverse the results of the election.

If Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania would flip to Clinton, she would win the presidency, not Trump.

'In the three states where filed recounts, we had Donald Trump, his superPACs and the Republican Party pulling out all the stops,' Stein said.

Stein raised over $7m to fund a recount in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. If the outcomes there would be reversed, Hillary Clinton (right) would defeat Donald Trump (right)

'And you have to wonder, why are they doing this? What is Donald Trump afraid of? Either he does not have faith in democracy or he does not believe he won this election.'

Stein supporters and Green Party officials alleged that there were frequent voting irregularities in Michigan.

One speaker at the rally said that a polling place in Ionia County used a garbage can as a ballot box, while another polling place in Gibraltar had used duct tape to seal another ballot box.

'Count every vote, and make sure every vote counts,' Stein said. 'This dysfunction in our elections flows downhill. It flows to communities that do not have resources...The equipment that's used is prone to break. And it's not just the 87 scanners that failed in Detroit on Election Day.'

Oakland County clerks count election ballots during a recount in Waterford Township, Michigan, on Monday. Trump defeated Clinton in Michigan by 10,704 votes

Stein said that another 'red flag' was the unusually high number of ballots that were cast in Michigan  75,000  in which the voter did not make a choice in the presidential race.

'This is a sky high number, far higher than anything that has been seen before in the state,' Stein said.

'That really raised questions, and when we tried to ask those questions, you see what we got. We asked "do we have a voting system we can trust?" and we got a resounding "no".'

Stein was able to raise over $7million from donors to fund the recounts. She said that states should have automatic recounts in order to give voters confidence in the integrity of the system.

'We shouldn't have to have a bake sale on steroids and raise millions of dollars in order to have assurance that our votes actually count,' she said.
A teacher at Omaha Westside High School in Nebraska was fed semen while taste testing her students' attempt at making frosted turnovers (file image)

A high school cooking teacher in Nebraska was fed semen while taste testing her students' attempt at making frosting.

One of the home economics teachers at the Omaha Westside High School on Thursday assigned baked turnovers to her freshman class.

When it came time to add the frosting, three students, ages 14 and 15, allegedly excused themselves and went to the bathroom to get an extra ingredient.

Two of them reportedly masturbated into a cup and mixed their semen with frosting, which was spread on their turnovers, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

The female teacher tasted one of the baked goods and 'noticed something amiss,' the newspaper reported.

Two students at Westside High School (pictured) who are not named because they are minors, now face misdemeanor charges of disturbing the peace in juvenile court

Another student told the teacher she'd overheard the boys talking a bout their plan.

Once interviewed by school administrators, two of the boys admitted to the plot while the third said he 'chickened out,' the World-Herald reported.

The two boys, who are not named because they are minors, now face misdemeanor charges of disturbing the peace in juvenile court, the World-Herald reported.

'The students will face consequences,' school spokeswoman Brandi Petersen told the newspaper.

'We do not tolerate anything of this nature.'

Schools officials are 'working with Omaha police to determine what, if any, criminal citations are issued,' the spokeswoman added to the World-Herald.
President-elect Donald Trump shed more light on his plans for his living and working arrangements once he officially becomes president of the United States.

Talking to 'Fox News Sunday's' Chris Wallace, the incoming commander-in-chief- said he was going to live in the White House with his family, wife Melania and 10-year-old son Barron.

'We will be staying in the White House,' the president-elect confirmed.

He also told the Sunday show host that he was actively pursuing how to include his eldest daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner in his administration.

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President-elect Donald Trump (right) sat down for an interview with 'Fox News Sunday' host Chris Wallace (left) and talked about his future living arrangements

Donald Trump (left) told Chris Wallace (right) that he planned to move into the White House and that Melania and Barron would be joining him after the first few months

Donald Trump (left) said that Melania Trump (right) would be moving into the White House after Barron Trump is done with school for the year

The president-elect's youngest child Barron (right) will eventually move into the White House with his mother Melania (left)

'Barron's going to finish up school because he's got just a couple of months to go so it's a little hard to take him out of school,' Trump explained. 'And Melania will be back and forth the that first couple of months.'

Wallace asked the Republican if he wouldn't get 'lonely rattling around the White House' all by himself.

'No, I'll be working. I'll be working. It's a very special place and it represents so much and there's a lot to do, there's a lot to do, more than I ever thought,' Trump replied.

'There's so many thing we can do to "Make America Great Again" and that's what it's all about,' the president-elect continued, repeating his campaign slogan.

'I'll be working, I won't be lonely at all,' Trump added.

While Trump told Wallace that he still planned to hand over his businesses to his three adult children, Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr., the president-elect said his transition team was working on figuring out how Ivanka and Jared Kushner could play a role in his administration.

Donald Trump (left) told Chris Wallace (right) that he's trying to figure out how to legally include his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner in his administration

Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and Tiffany Trump pictured on the election night

The president-elect said he'd like to be able to include daughter Ivanka Trump (left) and her husband Jared Kushner (right) in his administration

'We will have to see how the laws read,' Trump said.

There's a federal nepotism law that could make official roles for the couple legally and politically problematic.

'If you look at Ivanka, you take a look and she's so strong, as you know, on the women's issue and childcare and so many things, she would be so good  nobody could do better than her  we'll have to see whether or not we can do that,' Trump acknowledged.

Politico reported last week that Ivanka planned to hire a chief of staff and several aides to assist her as she moves into the role of first daughter, which historically has been an un-official role.

'And I'd love to have Jared helping us with deals with other nations,' Trump said. 'Let's see if we can do peace in the Middle East and other things.'

Kushner, a real estate developer and media tycoon in his own right, helped his father-in-law run a lean and data-centric campaign, which allowed for his Electoral College victory using fewer resources than Clinton's team.

Calling his son-in-law 'very talented,' Trump said his team was looking at what could be done from a legal standpoint right now.

The president-elect also maintained that his kids, including Ivanka, would be taking over his business  and that it wouldn't present a conflict of interest.

'They're not president,' Trump responded, when Wallace pointed out that Trump had bashed his rival Hillary Clinton, suggesting she was using the Clinton Foundation as a way for donors to pay to play while she was serving as secretary of state.

'Oh, I see what you're getting at,' the president-elect acknowledged.

He told Wallace that the kids won't be making deals for the company while he's in office.

'They're not making deals. And they're going to run my company  I have a lot of property and great stuff. They're going to run it,' Trump said. 'Hopefully they're going to run it properly.'
Thousands of supporters flocked to a Washington, DC pizzeria over the weekend, showing their solidarity for the restaurant that was targeted by a gunman after being drawn into a conspiracy theory.

Patrons lined outside Comet Ping Pong's door on Connecticut Avenue, bringing signs that read: 'We're still here' and 'Fake news is not OK'. More than 2,000 said they would attend a #StandWithComet event on Facebook, committing to buying some of the restaurant's homemade pies.

Comet Ping Pong, which gets its name from the ping pong tables available for customers, has been drawn into a conspiracy theory that falsely claims affluent Democrats run a child trafficking ring, partly inside the restaurant.

A man was arrested Sunday and charged with firing a rifle inside the pizzeria. He later said he wanted to investigate the reports, which have been fueled by fake news.

Supporters lined up outside Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria in Washington, DC over the weekend, after it was targeted by a gunman who was investigating fake news claims

More than 2,000 said they would attend a #StandWithComet event on Facebook. Some had left flowers and signs outside the restaurant, one of them reading: 'Fake news is not OK'

Patrons have left tokens of support outside the restaurant, including signs proclaiming: 'Stop the hatred. Real news, not fake news' and 'Love, not hate. Real, not fake' (pictured)

The #StandWithComet Facebook events urged diners in the DC area to visit Comet Ping Pong between Friday and Sunday. 'No doubt this awful event and the malicious mistruths spread beforehand have left the staff feeling unsafe and on edge,' the page reads. They need a little light in all this darkness.'

Supporters have shared photos of their trips to the pizzeria, as well as their meals, on social media using the hashtag #StandWithComet. One of them reported that the restaurant was packed on Saturday at lunch time. Another shared a snap of her gluten-free pie with butternut squash and goat cheese, which she said was 'completely awesome'.

Patrons have left signs and flowers as tokens of support outside the restaurant. One of the signs reads: 'Stop the hatred. Real news, not fake news.' Another one proclaims: 'Love, not hate. Real, not fake.'

Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury, North Carolina, was arrested Sunday. Police say he fired a military rifle inside the restaurant while investigating the false claims. No one was injured.

Welch later told the New York Times there weren't any children inside. 'I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way,' he said.

Pizzagate originated after Wikileaks published emails hacked from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta contained. Some thought emails referring to pizza contained code words and were actually related to a child trafficking ring.

There has been no evidence of the so-called abuse and no victims have come forward.

Supporters shared photos of their trips to the pizzeria on social media using the hashtag #StandWithComet. One of them reported that the restaurant was packed on Saturday

Another Comet Ping Pong supporter shared a snap of her gluten-free pie with butternut squash and goat cheese, which she said was 'completely awesome'

One supporter went to Comet Ping Pong on Friday and said she enjoyed delicious pizza and good wine while showing solidarity for the restaurant

Edgar Maddison Welch (pictured), 28, of Salisbury, North Carolina, was arrested Sunday. Police say he fired a military rifle inside the restaurant while investigating the false claims
A baby was born on a rescue ship after his refugee mother survived travelling on a wooden boat from Libya.

The young boy was born on the Aquarius boat, just off the coast of Libya at 1.50pm today, after his mother was rescued last night.

The boy, who weighed about 6.8lbs, was named Favour by his mother. Both the child and the mother are 'perfectly healthy', according to MSF Sea.

The mother was photographed happily breastfeeding baby Favour after their traumatic ordeal

Baby Favour was cared for by the Medecins Sans Frontieres nurses

Despite the excitement over the new baby, MSF tweeted their concern over the use of the wooden boats

The SOS Mediterranee GER account tweeted their congratulations to the mother

Around 36 people were thought to be on the wooden boat, which was located in the Mediterranean, 12 miles off the coast of Libya.

They were rescued by Medecins Sans Frontieres, a medical organisation, and SOS Mediterranee France, a rescue organisation.

MSF Sea, the rescue branch of the medical organisation, described the boat as 'toy like'.

MSF Sea wrote: 'We are shocked every time we see one of these big wooden boats. It's a miracle everyone survived.'

The wooden boat, which contained about 36 people, also held the heavily pregnant mother before she was rescued

They later tweeted: 'Welcome to the world, Favour. He's 3.1kgs and against all odds is beautifully healthy and doing well.'

Another rubber boat also appeared while the team were rescuing the people on board the first boat. They also survived and joined the rest on the Aquarius ship.

The SOS Mediterranee Fr Twitter account have said that after successfully completing four rescues in 24 hours, the Aquarius boat is now heading to Italy with 678 people on board.

In October, 1,000 people arrived in Italy a fter being rescued off the coast of Libya by the Italian Red Cross.

Elsewhere, the Irish vessel LE Samuel Beckett rescued 772 refugees during a 'complex search and rescue operation' off the coast of Tripoli, Libya.
More than 1,500 flights have been cancelled at Chicago and Detroit airports as a result of heavy snow, and more is set for large parts of the country in the coming days.

A blanket of snow swept over the Great Lakes and the Northeast during the winter storm, causing chaos at two of the nation's busiest airports.

The wintry weather mostly moved out of the Plains overnight on Saturday, pushing further into Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.

Flight-tracking website FlightAware reported that 1,397 flights were canceled in Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports  about half arrivals and half departures.

By Sunday afternoon, 159 flights had been cancelled at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, FlightAware reported.

Parts of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin had seen more than half a foot of snow by early Sunday afternoon, and more is forecast for the beginning of the week.

More than 1,500 flights have been cancelled at Chicago and Detroit airports as a result of heavy snow, and more is set for large parts of the country in the coming days

A blanket of snow swept over the Great Lakes and the Northeast during the winter storm, causing chaos at two of the nation's busiest airports.

Parts of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin had seen more than half a foot of snow by early Sunday afternoon, and more is forecast for the beginning of the week.

Temperatures in Chicago on Sunday will drop as low as 24F overnight.

Temperatures will pick up slightly on Monday to 26F but falls again during the evening to a freezing 16F.

Early Sunday, 1,181 flights were canceled at OHare International Airport and 163 flights were canceled at Midway International Airport.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told Fox 32 that residents should take precautions from the snow and cold.

'We want residents to know city departments are prepared to assist those needing well-being checks, snow removal and other cold-weather services,' said Emanuel.

'We ask Chicagoans to do their part and shovel sidewalks and help out by checking in on family, friends and neighbors during extremely cold or snowy weather.'

Detroit is also expected to receive about eight inches of snow, while Cleveland could see up to six inches, and Burlington, Vermont, could get up to three.

The wintry weather mostly moved out of the Plains overnight on Saturday, pushing further into Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana

Temperatures 15 to 30 degrees below average will follow the cold rain and snow in the coming days through much of the Midwest and East

Early Sunday, 1,181 flights were canceled at OHare International Airport (file picture) and 163 flights had been canceled at Midway International Airport

The Ohio River valley and Mid-Atlantic will see a mix of snow, freezing rain and rain.

Temperatures 15 to 30 degrees below average will follow the cold rain and snow in the coming days through much of the Midwest and East.

'The air mass on the way for the middle of December is likely to be substantially colder, when compared to that of this past week and this weekend,' AccuWeather lead long-range meteorologist Paul Pastelok said.

The news came the same day as the I-75 was shut down in Michigan on Friday after 40 cars and three semis were involved in a pile-up caused by icy conditions.

North central states are likely to reach dangerously low temperatures thanks to windchill in the coming weeks, making the possibility of further crashes a terrifying possibility.

Those in North Dakota and northern Minnesota - who have already spent the last week dealing with heavy snowfall - can expect highs at or slightly below zero.

And Chicago saw its airport and roads shut down Wednesday, will find its highs dropping to the mid-teens.

Geese walk along the snow covered waterfront park through heavy snowfall as the first winter storm of the season hits the area in Portland, Oregon

Snow falls around the Space Needle, in Seattle as a wintry mix of snow, ice and rain showered the area

Winnipeggers were digging out and pushing on after days of snow in Winnipeg

What this means for those further south, however, won't be known until the start of next week.

The cold air could crash into the Deep South and I-95 corridor, or it may be held back a little - meaning that temperatures may be around the lowest points reached this weekend.

However, temperatures could still drop in the South later in the week, with Atlanta having highs in the 30s and the possibility of a freeze occurring on the Gulf Coast if clear skies and diminished winds prevail.

And in the third week of December another blast may sweep across the northern plains and down to the South and East Coast states.

This weekend, more than 20 million Americans are under a winter weather warning, watch or advisory, according to CNN.

Those in northwestern states haven't been able to escape the bitter cold, however.

Pile-up: Icy conditions led to 40 cars and three semi trucks colliding on the northbound Interstate 75 near Holly Road in Michigan

Crash: The I-75 crash saw the road shut down by police. Southbound lanes were also affected after rubberneckers caused other crashes, police said

There were massive pileups involving more than 50 vehicles in Michigan and Ohio which left three people dead and dozens injured on Thursday. Pictured is the I-96 near Lansing, where three died in a 40-car crash

On Friday Seattle found itself under a rare one-to-three inches of snow, which it shared with other parts of Washington state.

That night, Washington state troopers announced that in the preceding 24 hours they had been called out to 113 collisions in King County alone.

A winter storm warning - with sleet, rain and snow expected - was issued for the area covering Southeast Washington and Northeast Oregon.

And in Portland, freezing rain led to power lines and trees being weighed down by ice and ultimately collapsing.

Portland Fire & Rescue tweeted Friday night that they were working to rescue between 75 and 100 people from a light rail train stopped by a high voltage power line down on the tracks. It was cleared by 10pm.

Snow joke: Residents in the north - such as these people at Standing Rock, North Dakota - have already experienced huge amounts of snow, and more cold weather is now expected

Injuries: There have been no reports of fatalities, but several injuries have been reported. More incidents like this could occur as the cold blasts descend next week

Blizzards: Denver, Colorado (pictured), has already been hit with snow, and will only get colder. It's not known yet if the Arctic blast will make it all the way down to the Deep South, however

In total, the fire department was called to 378 emergencies between midnight Friday and 7.30pm, with more than 120 being related to power issues and falls on ice.

Three people died and 11 others were hurt following a pileup on a snow-slickened Interstate 96 near Lansing, Michigan Thursday.

And the Lake County sheriff's office said about 20 people were injured in a chain reaction crash Thursday in Ohio.

However, there may warmer days ahead for Christmas, AccuWeather says, as warmer Pacific air and the polar jet stream cutting across the Canadian border may conspire to keep the Arctic cold away from the whole of the US.
President-elect Donald Trump has revived questions over his plans for the US-Chinese relationship by saying he might break the decades-long 'one China' policy depending on trade deals.

At present China and Taiwan both claim ownership of each-other's territories, but the US only recognizes the Chinese claim, while maintaining unofficial ties with Taiwan.

Speaking to Fox News Sunday, Trump said: 'I fully understand the "one China" policy, but I don't know why we have to be bound by a "one China" policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.'

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Donald Trump told Fox News Sunday that he might end the 'one China' policy that recognizes Taiwan as a Chinese territory if China didn't offer better deals

Trump stirred concern in Beijing last week by speaking to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (pictured), a breach of protocol. Experts say this could lead to military conflict if pushed

This is the latest installment in an ongoing drama surrounding the two countries, which began when Trump accepted a congratulatory telephone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on December 2.

That call - the first with a President or President-elect since Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979 - prompted a diplomatic protest from Beijing.

Analysts have said continuing on this path could provoke military confrontation with China if goes too far.

But Trump dismissed China's objection during the Fox News interview.

'I don't want China dictating to me and this was a call put in to me,' he said. 'It was a very nice call. Short. And why should some other nation be able to say I can't take a call?'

'I think it actually would've been very disrespectful, to be honest with you, not taking it,' he added.

Beijing had no immediate comment on Trump's remarks.

Taiwan is one of China's most sensitive policy issues, and China generally lambastes any form of official contact by foreign governments with Taiwan's leaders.

After Trump's phone conversation, the Obama administration said senior White House aides had spoken with Chinese officials to insist that Washington's 'one China' policy remained intact.

The administration also warned that progress made in the US relationship with China could be undermined by a 'flaring up' of the Taiwan issue.

Following these latest comments, a White House aide said the Obama administration had no reaction beyond its previously stated policy positions.

In the Fox interview, Trump also criticized China over its currency policies, its activities in the South China Sea and its stance toward North Korea.

He plans to nominate Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as the next US ambassador to China, choosing a long-standing friend of Beijing after rattling the world's second largest economy with tough talk on trade and the call with the leader of Taiwan.

Trump has nominated Iowa Governor Terry Branstad - who he says has a long friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping (pictured) - as the next US ambassador to China

But in the Fox interview, Trump brought up a litany of complaints about China that he had emphasized during his presidential campaign.

'We're being hurt very badly by China with devaluation, with taxing us heavy at the borders when we don't tax them, with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldn't be doing, and frankly with not helping us at all with North Korea,' Trump said.

'You have North Korea. You have nuclear weapons and China could solve that problem and they're not helping us at all.'
The following exchanges between Cosby and Constand lawyer Dolores Troiani took place in 2005 and 2006. They are excerpted for brevity and to delete legal squabbling and repetition.

[On Andrea Constand]

Q. When did you first develop a romantic interest in Andrea?

A. Probably the first time I saw her (at Temple's arena).

[On the night in question]

Q: Can you tell me ... what you recall of the night in which you gave the pills to Andrea?

A: Andrea came to the house. I called her. ... We talked about Temple University. We talked about her position. And then I went upstairs and I got three pills. I brought them down. They are the equivalent of one and a half. The reason why I gave them and offered them to Andrea, which she took after examining them, was because she was talking about stress.

[Cosby describes a several-minute sexual encounter that followed.]

Q: So, you're not telling us that you verbally asked her for permission?

A: I didn't say it verbally, I said. The action is my hand on her midriff, which is skin. I'm not lifting any clothing up. This is, I don't remember fully what it is, but it's there and I can feel. I got her skin and it's just above the hand and it's just above where you can go under the pants.

Q: Then what happens?

A: I don't hear her say anything. And I don't feel her say anything. And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped.

I don't hear her say anything. And I don't feel her say anything. And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped.

[Troiani asks Cosby about a phone call a year later between Cosby and Constand's mother, Gianni Constand, who told him something was wrong with her daughter, who was also on the line.]

Q: What was the thing that you did not want to talk about?

A: I didn't want to talk about, 'What did you give her?'

Q: Why?

A: Because we're over the telephone and I'm not sending anything [the pill bottle] over the mail and I'm not giving away anything.

Q: Why didn't you simply tell her ... that you had given her daughter an over-the-counter drug called Benadryl?

A: I'm not going to argue with somebody's mother who is accusing me of something. And then when I apologize she says to me, 'That's all I wanted to know, Bill.' ... And I'm apologizing because I'm thinking this is a dirty old man with a young girl. I apologized. I said to the mother it was digital penetration.

And I'm apologizing because I'm thinking this is a dirty old man with a young girl. I apologized. I said to the mother it was digital penetration.

Q: When she sat here and cried (Constand, during her deposition), how did you feel?

A: I think Andrea is a liar and I know she's a liar because I was there.

[Cosby testified that he had gotten quaaludes from his doctor in Los Angeles in the 1970s. He said he was given seven prescriptions for the now-banned sedative, ostensibly for a sore back.]

Q: Why didn't you ever take the quaaludes?

A: Because I used them.

Q: For what?

A: The same as a person would say, 'Have a drink.'

Q: You gave them to other people?

A: Yes.

Q: Did you believe at that time that it was illegal for you to dispense those drugs?

A: Yes.

Q: Why didn't you ever take the quaaludes? A: Because I used them. Q: For what? A: The same as a person would say, 'Have a drink.'

Q: How did [the doctor] know that you didn't plan to use [them]?

A: What was happening at that time was that, that was, quaaludes happen to be the drug that kids, young people were using to party with and there were times when I wanted to have them just in case.

Q: When you got the quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?

A. Yes.

[Cosby acknowledges having a sexual relationship with accuser Therese (Picking) Serignese starting around 1976, when she was 19. Serignese, who has gone public with her accusations, has said the first time she met Cosby at a Las Vegas hotel in 1976, he gave her quaaludes and a glass of water before they had sex.]

Q: Did you give her quaaludes?

A: Yes.

Q: What effect did the quaaludes have on her?

A: She became in those days what was called high.

Q: She said that she believes she was not in the position to consent to intercourse after you gave her the drug. Do you believe that is correct?

A: I don't know. ... How many years ago are we talking about? 197(6)? ... I meet Ms. Picking in Las Vegas. She meets me backstage. I give her quaaludes. We then have sex.

Q: Why didn't you ever take them yourself?

A: I get sleepy.

Q: How would you know that if you never took them?

A: Quaaludes happen to be a depressant. I have had surgery and while being given pills that block the nervous system, in particular the areas of muscle, the back, I found that I get sleepy and I want to stay awake.

Q: Is that why you don't drink alcohol?

A: Exactly.

[Cosby says that while he was filming one of his sitcoms, a modeling agency would send 'five or six' models to his studio each week. He says he would give the struggling, young actresses 'a very, very good meal.' He describes a sexual encounter he had with one of them in 2000.]

Q: She says that just days after ... she told you that she did not drink, you told her to come over to [your townhouse] and served her amaretto. Do you recall serving her amaretto?

A: No.

Q: That you told her to sit next to you on the couch and that you put your arm around her and began massaging her shoulder and arms suggestively. Did that occur? ... This occurred sometime after you met her parents.

A: I need clarification on time.

Q: She's 17 and I believe throughout the time she knows you she becomes 18 or 19.

Q: On a later occasion you had her masturbate you with lotion. Did that ever happen?

A: Yes.

Q: (She) used the lotion to rub your penis and make you ejaculate?

A: Bingo.

[Cosby is also asked about a young actress who filed a complaint with New York police that never led to charges. She is named in the deposition but has not gone public with her account and has not returned messages left with family members over the past year. The AP does not identify sexual-assault accusers without their consent]

Q: Do you recall saying that you had threatened to sue the National Enquirer for printing [her] story?

A: Yes.

Q: Do you remember how old she was when she worked on the television show?

A: About 19.

Q: Did you ever develop a romantic interest in [her]?

A: Yes. .... I called her, talked to her.

Q: What did you talk about?

A: I believe, this has been a long time, her twin sister, her brother, their education.

Q: What did you tell her was the reason why you were inviting her into the house?

A: Her career.

[On the 19-year-old's second visit]

A: I fed her dinner, gave her three drinks. We went then to the living room. We went through acting, elementary moves. We then went to the sofa. We laid down together. I was behind her.

She said that she believes she was not in the position to consent to intercourse after you gave her the drug. Do you believe that is correct? A: I don't know.

Q: Was she lying down or sitting up?

A: No, she was down.

Q: Did she fall asleep?

A: Yes.

Q: What did you do when she fell asleep?

A: I got up.

Q: Did you engage in any type of sexual contact with her while you were on the couch?

A: No.

Q. Are you aware that the woman's statement was that on the night of the dinner at your New York townhouse, 'At some point Cosby and the woman were sitting on a sofa and Cosby was massaging her back?'

A: Yes.

Q: 'Cosby then lowered his pants in an effort to receive oral sex?'

A: 'In an effort to receive oral sex,' that did not happen.

Q: 'The woman rebuffed Cosby's advances and was immediately sent home, driven by Cosby's driver?'

A: And that is not true.

[Cosby is asked about educational trusts he offered Constand and others, through his foundation or otherwise.]

Q: How would [the money to Constand] come?

A: It would come through our writing a check.

Q: And our being who?

A: The family.

Q:Was [this] to disguise that you were paying money to Therese? A: Yes. Q: Who were you preventing from knowing that? A: Mrs. Cosby.

Q: Would your wife know about that?

A: My wife would not know it was because Andrea and I had had sex and that Andrea was now very, very upset and that she decided that she would like to go to school or whatever.

Q: How would you explain to your wife that you were giving this personally as opposed to using the foundation?

A: I would say to her that there is a person I would like to help.

[In paying Therese Serignese, Cosby acknowledges the money would flow through his representatives at the William Morris agency.]

Q: So, was the purpose of that to disguise -

A: Yes.

Q: I have to finish my question. Was [this] to disguise that you were paying money to Therese?

A: Yes.

Q: Who were you preventing from knowing that?

A: Mrs. Cosby.

[Cosby was asked by Constand's lawyer about granting an exclusive interview to the National Enquirer in 2005 in exchange for the tabloid agreeing not to publish a story about accuser Beth Ferrier, who has gone public as another accuser attached to Constand's lawsuit.]

Q: What is your understanding of the agreement that you had with the National Enquirer?

A: I would give them an exclusive story, my words.

Q: So that you knew when [your] article was printed ... that you had to make the public believe that Andrea was not telling the truth? A: Yes.

Q: What would they give you in return?

A: They would not print ... Beth's story.

Q: Did you ever think that if Beth Ferrier's story was printed in the National Enquirer that would make the public believe that maybe Andrea (Constand) was also telling the truth?

A: Exactly.

Q: So that you knew when [your] article was printed ... that you had to make the public believe that Andrea was not telling the truth?
Advertisement

A busy high street has been left submerged in water after London was hit by its third burst water main in a week.

Hundreds of residents in Stoke Newington were forced to flee their homes after the 30in water main ruptured.

Dramatic photographs and video footage showed gallons of water flowing down the road in North London.

Emergency workers and dozens of firefighters raced to the scene at around midday yesterday to help out.

They evacuated around 150 properties - including a block of flats - and more than 350 residents fled their homes.

A busy high street in Stoke Newington, North London, was left submerged in water after a burst pipe caused major flooding

Residents in the area of North London were forced to flee their homes after the 30-inch water main ruptured yesterday

Dramatic photographs and video footage show gallons of water flowing down the high street as emergency workers arrived

Hackney Council set up a rest centre at Stoke Newington Town Hall and Thames Water put up residents in hotels.

Six fire engines and some 40 firefighters were sent to the scene in an effort to minimise flood damage.

It is the third time a burst water main has caused flooding in London in a week, with Islington affected on Monday.

Meanwhile, torrents of water flowed down street and flooded into people's homes in Blackheath on Saturday.

Alan Scott posted footage of residents wading through the water in Stoke Newington yesterday.

He captioned the video by saying: 'FLOOD!!! Stoke Newington right now. It's chaos.'

Other residents who were left stranded in their flats shared photographs on Twitter.

Sarah Nurse wrote: ' Absolute carnage outside our flats! #stokenewington #flood #stranded!'

It is the third time a burst water main has caused flooding in London this week, with residents in Islington affected on Monday

Thames Water said it had stopped the flow of water and was working with London Fire Brigade to minimise flooding impact

Thames Water said it had stopped the flow of water in Stoke Newington.

It added that it was working with the London Fire Brigade to reduce the impact of flooding.

Bob Collington, director of Thames Water, said: 'It has been an extremely difficult week and, having visited and spoken to a number of those impacted, I am personally devastated for those customers who have suffered flooding so close to Christmas.

'We are doing everything we can to help them and will make sure they are not left out of pocket for what has happened.

'The bursts are a clear reminder that we need to keep investing in our ageing and sometimes fragile network, with many pipes in London well over 100 years old.

'I have started a full investigation into recent events to understand what has gone wrong and, as a top priority, will look at every single way possible to reduce the risk of any further disruption.'

An aerial photograph shows the flooded area affecting Stoke Newington High Street, as emergency crews arrived

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said several basements in the area were underwater yesterday

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said several basements in the area were underwater following the burst pipe.

Station Manager Nicol McCallum, who was at the scene, said: 'Crews used specialist inflatable boats to evacuate the most vulnerable residents and help others recover valuables.

'Firefighters laid down sandbags to try and minimise the water damage.'

She added that emergency teams were working to divert water away from homes and businesses.

Hackney Police advised the public to avoid the area following the flooding.

Residents who were left stranded in their flats shared photographs from their homes, while one person shared footage of people wading through the water
Dramatic footage captured the moment a huge tree fell on an Oregon house after the state was hit with Arctic weather.

Cellphone video, filmed by a passer-by, shows part of the tree blocking the street after it collapsed on top of a car.

Suddenly a loud, cracking noise is heard and the rest of the tree came tumbling down on the property in Portland on Friday.

No-one was hurt in the fall and everyone in the house were able to get out safely, CBS News reports.

A winter storm warning - with sleet, rain and snow expected - has been issued for Oregon as the US braces for a big chill.

In Portland, freezing rain led to power lines and trees being weighed down by ice and ultimately collapsing over the past few days.

Portland Fire & Rescue tweeted Friday night that they were working to rescue between 75 and 100 people from a light rail train stopped by a high voltage power line down on the tracks. It was cleared by 10pm.

Dramatic footage captured the moment a huge tree fell on an Oregon house after the state was hit with Arctic weather

Cellphone video, filmed by a passer-by, shows part of the tree blocking the street after it collapsed on top of a car

Suddenly a loud, cracking noise is heard and the rest of the tree came tumbling down on the property in Portland on Friday
The search for a missing Georgia girl who was allegedly kidnapped by her friend's 37-year-old father has been found by police in Tennessee.

Calah Noel Waskow, 15, disappeared from Evans, Georgia, near Augusta, on December 4. She was found unharmed, along with alleged kidnapper Jason Arlis Johnson, in the town of Sevierville on Saturday.

'I just got so emotional, I just busted into tears,' Calah's mom, Nora, told 26 NBC. 'I mean, just to hear her voice and just such a relief, you know? A heavy burden lifted, you know?'

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Calah Noel Waskow (left), was believed to have been abducted on Sunday by 37-year-old Jason Johnson (right), who is wanted for child molestation. The pair were found by cops on Saturday

Calah's parents put out the call when they realized their daughter wasn't in her bedroom on the morning of December 5.

She had been taken from their home, cops said.

The teen was feared to be in 'extreme danger' by police, because Johnson, whom she had been seen with previously, was already wanted on child molestation charges.

But a Tennessee Sheriff's Department says an eagle-eyed man spotted the pair on Saturday and called police dispatch, then followed them from gas station to gas station.

Eventually the pair went into the Russel Stover Candies in Sevierville, around 250 miles away from Calah's home, where police were able to bring them in.

Nora was put on the phone to her daughter at around 3.30pm Saturday, after being called by an officer from the sheriff's department.

She said 'Momma, I just want to come home,' Nora said. 'She said she saw us on the news and she said she was okay. She said she was all right.'

Calah was taken to hospital but is reportedly unharmed, and was kept at a juvenile detention facility overnight, until a judge could sign her into her parents' care.

Police have not yet said whether Johnson has been charged.

Calah's parents, Nora and Rick Waskow, received the call that Calah was safe on Saturday afternoon. She was spotted with Johnson in Tennessee. She wasn't injured, police said

Johnson was wanted for aggravated child molestation, child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor

Calah and her alleged abductor were seeing each other prior to her disappearance, deputies told WRDW.

And Waskow's older brother, Jayson Wheatley, said three or four women have contacted the family on Facebook stating Johnson had abused their children.

'Different relationships that he's had. He had molested their daughter. One lady in particular she went to the sheriff's office and made a report but unfortunately there wasn't enough evidence for them to have a case,' he told ABC7.

'It's been three or four different ladies come forward on Facebook messaging and everything else stating he had done it to their children as well.'

Johnson was wanted for aggravated child molestation, child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

Columbia County Emergency Services Division director Pam Tucker posted this message prior to Calah being found

(Video courtesy of WLTX)

Johnson was last seen in a tan 1998 Ford Crown Victoria with a South Carolina license tag number KVJ-240.

The amber alert was originally issued in Georgia Thursday, and was expanded to the neighboring state of South Carolina in hope of catching her abductor, but was then cancelled for unknown reasons.

Authorities had waited to activate an alert because they at first believed Calah was a runaway, according to a report from Fox 13.
Donald Trump on Sunday said he's not interested in getting daily intelligence briefings  an unprecedented public dismissal by a president-elect of the nation's massive and sophisticated intelligence apparatus.

Trump, who also called a recent CIA assessment of Russian hacking 'ridiculous', made the remark as key congressional Republicans joined Democrats in demanding a bipartisan investigation into the Kremlin's activities.

They also questioned consideration of Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson  who has close business ties with Moscow  as head of the State Department.

Asked whether he's rejecting valuable intelligence on 'Fox News Sunday,' Trump was defiant.

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Donald Trump (pictured with host Chris Wallace) said on Sunday he's not interested in getting daily intelligence briefings and would prefer to be updated only when big changes happen

'I get it when I need it,' he said on Fox News of the top-secret briefings sessions, adding that he's leaving it up to the briefers to decide when a development represents a 'change' big enough to notify him.

'I'm, like, a smart person. I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years,' Trump said.

The CIA has concluded with 'high confidence' that Russia sought to influence the US election on behalf of Trump.

The finding alarmed lawmakers, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., who said Sunday he planned to put Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., a staunch Trump critic, in charge of investigating the claim.

McCain also has questions about Tillerson's business relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, although it's not clear Tillerson will be nominated.

Sunday afternoon, Tillerson had still not been formally offered the job, according to a person with knowledge of the process who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Exxon steadily expanded its Russian business on Tillerson's watch even as its rivals faced expropriation and regulatory obstacles.

In 2013, Putin bestowed the Order of Friendship on Tillerson.

'I'm, like, a smart person. I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years,' Trump told Wallace about the daily briefings

Trump, also called a recent CIA assessment of Russian hacking 'ridiculous', as key congressional Republicans joined Democrats in demanding a bipartisan investigation into the Kremlin's activities. Pictured are the CIA headquarters

'Maybe those ties are strictly commercial and got to do with his business in the oil business. Fine,' McCain said on CBS' 'Face the Nation.'

And 'we'll give him a fair hearing. But is it a matter of concern? Certainly it should be a matter of concern.'

McCain wasn't alone in raising questions about whether there would be enough blowback to sink a Tillerson nomination.

'Being a "friend of Vladimir" is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState,' tweeted Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, Trump's former campaign rival and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Pennsylvania Democratic Senator Bob Casey said the developments 'raise serious questions about whether the incoming administration will adequately stand up to Russia's aggression'.

Trump's remarks came as key Republicans questioned consideration of Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson (pictured), who has close business ties with Moscow, as head of the State Department

Trump said Tillerson's relationship with Moscow was a selling point.

'A great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company,' Trump told Fox News in an interview broadcast Sunday. He called Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker impressive, and said former bitter rival Mitt Romney is still in the mix.

'These are all very different types of people,' he said. 'But when you ask me about Rex, I mean, he's a world-class player. There's no question about it.'

Later Sunday, Trump tweeted: 'Whether I choose him or not for "State"- Rex Tillerson, the Chairman & CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!'

Separately, Trump also rejected the CIA's conclusion that Russia tried to interfere with the presidential election and blamed 'very embarrassed' Democrats for the public release of the assessment. The Washington Post first reported the CIA finding on Friday.

'It's ridiculous,' Trump said of the CIA's assessment.

He added, however, that he doesn't necessarily oppose President Barack Obama's order for a review of campaign-season hacking. 'If you're gonna to do that, I think you should not just say "Russia". You should say other countries also, and maybe other individuals.'

The White House has said the probe would focus on any breaches by other countries, and past elections.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain has questions about Tillerson's business relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured)

Trump's incoming chief of staff, Reince Priebus, shrugged off allegations that Russia helped Trump win.

He said: 'The Russians didn't tell Clinton to ignore Wisconsin and Michigan.'

The Democratic candidate was expected to win in these two states but they went to Trump instead.

'She lost the election because her ideas were bad. She didn't fit the electorate. She ignored states that she shouldn't have and Donald Trump was the change agent,' Priebus said on ABC's 'This Week'.

Trump's win, he added, 'had nothing to do with the Russians'.

Turning to business matters, Trump said he is leaving his worldwide enterprise to his executives and children, vowing, that he will 'have nothing to do with management'. He's expected to discuss the arrangement at a news conference on Thursday.

He also said he is 'studying' the Paris climate agreement to reduce carbon emissions. But he doesn't want the agreement to put the US 'at a competitive disadvantage with other countries'.

Trump also departed from Republican orthodoxy by vowing to heavily tax companies that leave the US and then try to sell products here 'like we're a bunch of jerks'.

'That's the dumb market,' he said. 'I'm a big free trader, but it has to be fair.'
A murder investigation has been launched after a mother of two was found burnt to death in a house fire.

The body of a woman named locally as Andraya Webb, 39, was found on Saturday after firemen put out the blaze in Swindon, Wiltshire.

Police arrested a 32-year-old man on suspicion of murder and arson.

A murder investigation has been launched after a mother of two Andraya Webb was found burnt to death in house fire

Emergency services were called to the fire on Drew Street, Swindon at 5.40am on Saturday

A tent was erected outside the house as crime officers wearing white forensic boiler suits entered the home to salvage evidence.

Neighbours named the woman as Andraya Webb, the mother of two young boys.

It was not known whether the boys were in the house at the time of the fire.

Maria Vitale said: 'How awful! Those poor children have been left without a mother.'

Lulu Malkin said: 'Those poor, poor children'.

Tributes poured in on social media for Ms Webb, a training administrator at business development service UK SBS Ltd.

Hannah-Louise Fusco wrote: 'Wow I feel sick after reading this and then I realised I know the family! Such a lovely lady.'

Wiltshire police refused to say if the woman found dead and the man arrested knew each other.

A spokesman said the woman's family has been told but she has not been formally identified.

The spokesman added: 'A 32-year-old local man has been arrested in the Swindon area on suspicion of murder and arson following a fire at house on Saturday morning. He is currently in police custody.

Tragic: Tributes poured in on social media for Ms Webb, a training administrator at business development service UK SBS Ltd

Sorely missed: Ms Webb pictured with her two sons

'Emergency services were called to the fire on Drew Street, Swindon at 5.40am on Saturday.

'Sadly, a woman was pronounced deceased at the scene.'

Detective Inspector Paul Catton said: 'Our inquiries will continue in the area, around the address where the fire took place and I would like to thank the local community for their help and patience while we carry out our work.
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The world's largest children's charity has celebrated its 70th anniversary by releasing a series of photographs detailing the work it does to protect young people across the globe.

Unicef was first established on 11 December, 1946 to 'bring help and hope' to children suffering in the aftermath of the Second World War.

On the 70th anniversary of its founding, the charity renewed its call for people to reach out to millions of children whose lives and futures are endangered by conflict, crisis, poverty, inequality and discrimination.

A collection of images stretching over seven decades show the work the charity has done in 190 countries and territories and through the efforts of 13,000 national and international staff to reach every child.

Children, holding hands to form a circle, play during recess at Mulemba Primary School in Maganja da Costa, one of the poorest districts in Zambezia Province

Two boys collect water at a Mark II handpump where other children have also gathered, on the outskirts of the town of Laghman in the province of the same name

A woman embraces her severely malnourished child at a nutritional rehabilitation centre in the southern Zinder Region of Niger

In 1983 in Pakistan, girls share books and a bench after class in their school in the city of Karachi

Usher Sanca, 7, is a first grade student at UNICEF-supported Ponta Nova Unified School, in the village of Ponta Nova, Oio Region, Guinea Bissau

In 1946 in Yugoslavia, three boys, who are wearing clothes donated by the Dutch Red Cross, share a desk in a school in the city of Karlovac in the north-western region of Croatia

A nurse-midwife weighs a child on a Unicef-provided scale at a health centre in Tuma, northwestern Ghana

Boys who have been displaced by inter-ethnic violence play volleyball, outside a Unicef-supported child-friendly space, in Pibor Town, Pibor County, Jonglei State

A School Brigade member demonstrates proper hand washing techniques to fellow students during regular everyday assembly at Sakhua Government Primary School in Ishworgonj, Mymensingh

Two boys are cheered on by their companions during the long-jump event of a sports competition at the UNRRA-run El Shatt camp for Yugoslav refugees, near the north-eastern port city of Suez

Malnourished children receive a meal of rice and dal at an anganwadi centre in Sullineabad Village, Bihar State

A health worker vaccinates a boy in a camp for people displaced by flooding, in Sukkur, a city in Sindh Province. Unicef and partners are providing immunization and hygiene services to help prevent disease outbreaks

A woman cradles her baby in Mwembeladu Maternity Home in Zanzibar, Tanzania (left), while a girl eats food from a bowl at the local community health post in Klaten District, Central Java Province

A baby receives a dose of oral polio vaccine in a children's clinic at Omdurman Hospital in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan

With other small children nearby, three-year-old Concepcion Uribe wears leg braces to support her polio-weakened limbs, as she swings in a hammock outside a rural Unicef-assisted health centre

people stand on the train platform outside Vinojug transit center, as the train starts moving in Greece earlier this year
A beauty editor who became known as New York's enfant terrible due to her well-documented drug addiction is back to tell how getting hooked on pills changed the course of her life, costing her two jobs and resulting into multiple rehab stints.

Cat Marnell, 34, landed a job as an associate editor at Conde Nast's Lucky Magazine in her mid-twenties. She later worked at XoJane.com, where she wrote about beauty products and her drug use at the same time - at one point snorting a line of bath salts on camera.

Marnell left XoJane in 2012 after the website's publisher sent her to rehab. But she kept using drugs and documented her substance abuse for Vice over the course of a summer.

She revealed at the time that she had secured a book deal, which is believed to have been worth at least $500,000. Marnell has since completed her memoir, 'How To Murder Your Life', which will hit the shelves in January.

Cat Marnell, 34, became known as New York's enfant terrible due to her well-documented drug addiction. She has written a memoir, 'How To Murder Your Life', due to be released in January

Marnell said her addiction began when she was 15 years old and attending the upscale Lawrence Academy boarding school in Groton, Massachusetts. Her father, a psychiatrist married to a psychotherapist, gave her a prescription for Ritalin, Marnell wrote.

She soon began to crush the pills to snort them instead of swallowing them, according to Page Six. A few years later, Marnell became addicted to cocaine and heroin.

Her editing career took off at Lucky magazine, where she started as an assistant before being promoted to associate editor. By that time, Marnell was struggling with insomnia and self-mutilation, as well as bingeing and purging.

Marnell, who said she looked like a 'corpse bride', went to rehab for six weeks while at Lucky. She eventually quit her job after four years in 2010.

'My ambition and my addiction had been duking it out like two boxers in a ring for years. My ambition was bloodied,' Marnell wrote in the book.

Her erratic lifestyle eventually left her unable to accomplish regular tasks, such as showering.

'I took baths every morning because I was too weak to stand in the shower; I wrote rent checks in highlighter; I had three prescribing psychiatrists and zero OB-GYNs or dentists; I kept such insane hours that I never knew whether to put on day cream or night cream; and I never, ever called my grandma,' Marnell wrote in her book.

Jane Pratt, the founder of Sassy and Jane magazines, hired Marnell in 2011 for her new website, XoJane.

There, Marnell famously snorted a line of actual bath salts on camera - a pun on drugs similar to amphetamines, which have nothing to do with actual bath salts.

'I didn't get high but I did feel weird and then I got a little headache and then I felt dumb but that's how I always feel when people talk to me about Google+ and Pinterest and Wikis and 'Faberge'; omigod,' Marnell wrote at the time.

Marnell (pictured) landed a job as an associated editor at Conde Nast's Lucky Magazine in her mid-twenties. She later worked at XoJane.com, writing about beauty products and drug use

She also penned a heartfelt essay about drug use after Whitney Houston's death, writing: 'Let me posit that drugs weaken our life instincts, those compulsions that are intended to keep us, for as long as naturally possibly, from being sucked into the supposedly seductive (says Dr Freud, though his ideas about all this have certainly been contested) current of death drive and alluring self-destructive tendencies.'

Marnell left XoJane in 2012 after the website's publishers sent her to rehab.

'I'm always on drugs,' she told Page Six at the time. 'Look, I couldn't spend another summer meeting deadlines behind a computer at night when I could be on the rooftop of Le Bain looking for shooting stars and smoking angel dust with my friends and writing a book, which is what I'm doing next.'

Pratt wrote an emotional post on XoJane following Marnell's departure, with the subtitle: 'And I'd rather be on a rooftop smoking angel dust than writing this post.'

'I know some of you disagree, but I maintain that Cat is a brilliant writer and one of a kind,' Pratt wrote.

In her memoir, Marnell says her addiction began when she snorted Ritalin pills as a teen

Marnell wrote about her substance abuse for Vice over the course of the next summer and wrote a goodbye story on the website in January 2013. That year, she overdosed on heroin, according to Page Six.

She also landed a book deal, which according to Jezebel came with a $500,000 advance.

Marnell attended rehab in Thailand two years later and said she has since traded drugs for exercise.

Marnell also returned to XoJane, writing about her previous lifestyle: 'That s**t wasn't cool, but I tried to make it look cool.'

'So while I was being praised over and over again in the press for my "unflinching honesty," the truth was, I was controlling my image the whole time.

'I was an abusive, manipulative, entitled a*****e who worked one thousand times less than everyone else, collected a salary without coming into the office, was high on PCP constantly And yet got hugely and wildly rewarded for it because I was good at making myself look like a cool rebel in the press.'
However, the long-haul flights are not expected to commence until March 2018

Qantas said passengers will be able to book the flights as early as April 2017

The 14,466km flight between Perth and London will take

Qantas will be selling flights direct to London from Perth as soon as next year, giving Australians the first opportunity to fly to Europe without a stopover.

Australians can expect to spend around 17 and a half hours on the direct European flight, with Qantas taking bookings for the 'game changing' route from April 2017.

Qantas will use its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners to ferry passengers on the 14,466-kilometre flight from March 2018, and claim to have improved its long haul experience by reducing cabin noise, enhancing air quality and decreasing turbulence.

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Qantas will be offering non-stop flights from Perth to London on its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners (pictured)

'When we designed the interior of our 787s, we wanted to make sure passengers would be comfortable on the extended missions the aircraft was capable of,' Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said.

He said the 'game-changing aircraft' offered Australians the first ever direct link to Europe.

'When Qantas created the Kangaroo Route to London in 1947, it took four days and nine stops. Now it will take just 17 hours from Perth non-stop,' he said.

Mr Joyce is in negotiations with airport officials to allow passengers to board the 787 for London using the airport's domestic terminal, making it easier to transfer to the international flight for domestic travellers from Sydney or Melbourne.

'Our customers, from Perth, are going to have a service that saves you three hours getting to London and from the UK getting here,' Mr Joyce said.

'From Melbourne and Sydney and all other destinations in Australia, it will save you an hour going through Perth compared to Dubai or Singapore or other destinations.'

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce with Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett and Perth Airport CEO Kevin Brown hold a model of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce speaks to media at the launch of the new non-stop Perth to London Route commencing in 2018

The 14,466-kilometre flight from Perth to London would take 17 and a half hours

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT QANTAS' DREAMLINER 787-9 JET The new fleet of Dreamliner 787-9s will be used for long-haul flights. Every passenger in economy class will get a whole inch of extra legroom, compared to those flying on Qantas A380s Seats will feature personal device holder and USB ports, more storage areas, a seat-back mood light designed to minimise disturbance for other passengers and a high-definition entertainment touchscreen. The new airplanes will also have a more streamlined and simplified kangaroo on the tail. Advertisement

Premier Colin Barnett announced the state government will pour $14 million into upgrades of the airport's terminal.

This includes the construction of Australian Border Force and quarantine infrastructure at the airport.

The longest non-stop passenger route is currently an Emirates Airlines 14,200 kilometre Dubai-to-Auckland flight started in March 2016, taking 16 hours 35 minutes in an Airbus A380.

That route beat the previous non-stop record held by the Qantas Dallas-Sydney route that takes 17 hours to fly 13,800 kilometres.

Qantas chief Alan Joyce is close to making a deal with Perth airport officials to allow passengers to board the 787 for London from the airport's domestic terminal
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was offered a number of positions within the new Trump administration  though not the gig he wanted, attorney general  and so he turned them all down.

Two sources told NJ.com that Christie could have been Homeland Security secretary, Veterans Affairs secretary, the U.S. ambassador to Italy or a White House adviser.

Those same sources said that the New Jersey governor wasn't offered the role of attorney general, which went to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., one of the earliest cabinet decisions the president-elect made.

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was reportedly offered jobs within the Trump administration, but now the coveted job of attorney general

Donald Trump (left) met with Chris Christie (right) about administration gigs at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club on November 20. And while Trump may have offered Christie a number of jobs, he didn't give him the job he wanted

Christie was also interested in filling the shows of Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, leaving the helm of the GOP to become Trump's incoming White House chief of staff.

Trump ally Sen. Jeff Sessions (pictured) was nominated by the president-elect to be attorney general - a job Chris Christie had coveted

The governor also won't be getting that position and so will likely finish out his second term in New Jersey, which, because of term limits, will be his last.

Because of Trump's Atlantic City casino connections, the president-elect and the New Jersey governor have known each other for 15 years.

Christie was one of the first major Republican Party figures to back Trump in the primary, as he endorsed the billionaire shortly after giving up on his own White House dreams.

Trump paid back Christie the favor by naming him the head of the Trump transition team.

However, in recent weeks, Christie has reportedly been on the outs with members of Trump's team.

He was replaced by Vice President-elect Mike Pence as head of the transition and made a vice-chair instead.

The New York Times reported that some of Trump's advisers were becoming wary of Christie, as two of his former aides were found guilty on all counts that were related to the George Washington Bridge closures, the scandal dubbed 'Bridge-gate.'

Christie was also reportedly demoted after irritating Trump on election night, trying to squeeze into pictures with the newly-elected president, while the family and campaign staff was up onstage.

'Trump got annoyed,' a source told Yahoo News.

Christie's fall within the ranks of team Trump wasn't, however, a power play by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who said in an interview with Forbes that the two men had buried that hatchet.

Christie had, as a U.S. attorney in 2005, jailed Kushner's father on tax evasion.

'Six months ago Governor Christie and I decided this election was much bigger than any differences we may have had in the past, and we worked very well together,' Kushner told the business magazine.

By late November, Christie seemed to know his political fate would be to remain in New Jersey.
The first African American priest in the US is one step closer to becoming a saint.

Father Augustus Tolton, who served in Illinois in the late 1800s, was exhumed from St. Peter's Cemetery in Quincy on Saturday as part of the long process of being canonized.

Tolton was born in 1854 as a slave in Missouri before his family escaped to Illinois. He went on to study in Rome because he was rejected from seminary schools in the US for being black, according to the Father Tolton Guild.

Father Augustus Tolton, the first African American priest in the US, is one step closer to becoming a saint more than a century after his death

When Tolton was 10, he and his family settled in Quincy after they escaped through the Underground Railroad, according to the Father Tolton Guild.

He worked at a tobacco factory and went on to enroll in a local Catholic school, where he expressed his interest in becoming a priest.

While seminaries in the US would not accept him on the condition of his skin color, Tolton received the support of several members of the church and they arranged for him to study at the Propaganda Seminary in Rome.

He intended to become a missionary in Africa, but instead returned to the US, where he offered his first Mass in New York City to a largely black congregation.

Tolton eventually returned to Quincy with great fanfare, and served as a pastor at St. Joseph Church for three and a half years before moving to Chicago.

Tolton eventually died in 1897 at the age of 43. He was submitted as a candidate for sainthood more than a century later by the late Cardinal Francis George in 2010.

His remains were exhumed from St. Peter's Cemetery in Quincy on Saturday as part of the long process of being canonized (pictured, his gravestone)

But the process of being canonized is a convoluted one, and the V atican now needs to confirm if Tolton performed three miracles.

The process starts with waiting at least five years after their death, which, in Tolton's case, was not an issue.

The person up for sainthood then has to pass several stages, during which he or she is granted titles like 'servant of God' or 'venerable'.
The human skull was found with metal mesh and surgical screws implanted into the skull, which experts say is indicative of injuries that the person sustained

A falcon led its owner to the remains of a human skull in a wooded area of rural Texas on Friday.

Authorities in Parker County, which lies about 20 miles west of Fort Worth, are asking for the public's help in identifying the skull, which was found at around 1pm on Friday, Fox 4 reported.

The discovery was made by two falconers, who keep falcons or other birds of prey for training and hunting purposes.

The two men's trailer had a tire blowout, forcing them to pull over to the side of the road, according to the Star-Telegram.

That is when the men decided to exercise the falcons.

One of the birds then flew out of range, forcing the owner to follow it into a nearby wooded area off Interstate 20.

When the falconer approached his bird, he noticed a human skull nearby.

The two men then alerted investigators from the Parker County Sheriff's Office, who arrived on the scene.

Shortly afterward, one of the sheriffs noticed a bone that may have been human just a few feet away from where they found the skull.

The skull and the bone were recovered and taken to a forensic lab where experts began analyzing them.

A crime scene technician from the Parker County Sheriff's Office examines the skull after it was discovered in a wooded area off of I-20 west of Fort Worth, Texas

A crime scene technician who examined the skull said that there is evidence of previous damage and injuries.

'There have been surgical repairs made following previous damage including metal mesh and surgical screws implanted in the skull,' the technician, Heather Huffman, said.

'We did not recover the lower mandible and no additional bones were discovered at the scene.'

Investigators said it is too early to determine whether the skull belonged to a male or a female.
Staff at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Florida left a veteran's body in a shower for nine hours in February then 'falsely documented' what happened, an internal report has revealed.

After the veteran - who is not being named - died, staff at Bay Pines VA Healthcare System asked an employee described as a 'transporter' to move the body to the morgue. That person told them to go through official channels.

They didn't, the report said, resulting in a horrific farce that, according to the report, 'demonstrated a lack of concern, attention and respect' for the veteran, The Tampa Bay Times reported.

Staff at Bay Pines VA Healthcare System failed to follow proper procedure for sending a body to the morgue, leading to it being forgotten about and left in a shower room for nine hours

At first the deceased veteran was left in a hallway of the hospital's hospice unit, the report said.

Then he was moved to a shower room, where he lay for nine hours, undisturbed - something that subjected the body to 'an increased risk of decomposition'.

After the fact, the report said, staff 'falsely documented' what had happened in reports, misrepresenting the issue as a breakdown in communications that never occurred.

The problems didn't stop there, the report said.

Hospital staff didn't check a 24-hour nursing report that would have confirmed whether the death had been reported.

They also didn't speak to one another about whether the handover had been performed, or update a nursing chart to confirm who was in charge of the body.

And when investigators questioned them on the incident, staff blamed a lack of clerical staff then recanted that statement.

After The February incident, staff 'falsely documented' what had happened, an investigation said. Some told investigators there was a lack of clerical staff but then recanted that statement

The hospital ordered retraining and procedural changes, and took 'appropriate personnel action' according to a spokesman.

But it hasn't been revealed whether that action included staff being reprimanded or fired.

'We feel that we have taken strong, appropriate and expeditious steps to strengthen and improve our existing systems and processes within the unit,' said hospital spokesman Jason Dangel.

'It is our expectation that each veteran is transported to their final resting place in the timely, respectful and honorable manner. America's heroes deserve nothing less.'

In a statement to ABC Action News, Dangel denied that hospital investigators had tried to 'cover up' the incident, saying that an investigation was held 'as soon as the issue was reported'.

However, his remarks did not appear to address the report's claim of staff 'falsely' documenting what had happened.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) accused the hospital of not firing the staff responsible. The hospital hasn't confirmed whether or not anyone was fired

Republican US Representative Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) was incensed by the story, he said in a statement on his Facebook page.

'I am deeply disturbed by the incident that occurred at the Bay Pines VA hospital, and even more distressed to learn that staff attempted to cover it up,' he wrote.

'The report details a total failure on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs and an urgent need for greater accountability.

'Unsurprisingly, not a single VA employee has been fired following this incident, despite a clear lack of concern and respect for the Veteran. The men and women who sacrificed on behalf of our nation deserve better.'

Bilirakis is a vice chair on the United States House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and has spoken out about reforming the VA system.
Sydney's second airport at Badgerys Creek will finally take off after more than 50 years of negotiations.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has given the green light for construction of the long-awaited airport, despite no provisions yet for a rail link.

A plan for the 1800ha site is expected to open in the mid-2020s, initially serving up to five million passengers a year.

Federal Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher said the airport will open with a single 3.7km runway, with a second runway planned for the following decades.

Sydney's second airport at Badgerys Creek will finally take off after 50 years of negotiations

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is expected to give the final tick of approval on Monday

He said the airport would be 'road ready'.

'The federal and state governments are working together on a scoping study on the rail needs of western Sydney and western Sydney airport,' he told ABC radio on Monday.

'The prime minister has charged that study with asking the question: could rail be ready when the airport opens or if not then how soon afterwards?'

He said while the airport plan will have land set aside for a train station and a train line route, it does not actually include a rail link.

Instead, Mr Fletcher emphasised plans for road transport, including the new M12 motorway, which will connect the M7 to the airport.

The 1800ha site in western Sydney will initially service about 10 million passengers a year

Critics, however, say the government needs to be 'honest and transparent' about its plans for the airport.

'They've got to bring all the information to the table,' Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) president and Blacktown mayor Stephen Bali told ABC radio on Monday.

'If the airport's going to go ahead it's got to be successful, it's got to be the game changer for Sydney - at the moment there are too many short cuts and a lack of transparency.'

As far as the rail link, he said no land has been aside outside the airport for a rail corridor to link into the airport.

He also raised concerns about the airport's viability, citing a report from the ATO that shows Kingsford Smith Airport generatated $1.1 billion in revenue but didn't pay tax.

Badgerys Creek (pictured) is set to turn into Sydney's long-awaited second airport

Mr Bali said with the second airport set to be heavily subsidised, he can't see how it will be an economic boom for western Sydney.

'After 50 years of discussion we still have no real rail plan,' he said.

'It is a 24/7 airport, versus Mascot, which is only 16 hours.'

Meanwhile Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says Sydney needs the second airport at Badgerys Creek because Kingsford Smith airport is already operating at capacity.

'Sydney is already full, Kingsford Smith is full, we have called for this capacity for sometime. (This) will be great for Sydney, NSW and Australia,' he told Network Seven on Monday.
Bill Clinton has paid tribute to Janet Reno, the first female US Attorney General, at her memorial.

Reno was nominated by Clinton in 1993 and served nearly eight years during his presidency - making her the second longest serving Attorney General.

Reno died November 7 at age 78 from complications from Parkinson's disease. She had battled the disease for 20 years, including most of her time as attorney general.

Today, Clinton remembered Reno as a professional who never took the easy way out when making the tough decisions.

'I don't believe Janet Reno ever cut a corner in her life. Not as a prosecutor and not as a person,' Clinton told her friends, family and colleagues at the memorial on Sunday.

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Former U.S. President Bill Clinton delivers the eulogy at a public memorial service honoring former Attorney General Janet Reno on Sunday in Miami. Reno died November 7 at age 78 from complications from Parkinson's disease

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, seated left, claps as Clinton gets a hug from former Attorney General Janet Reno's sister Maggy Reno Hurchalla, right, after Clinton delivered the eulogy

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, right, shows former Attorney General Janet Reno's niece, Hunter Reno, a personal letter from President Barack Obama, before reading it

The service was held at a Miami-Dade College campus not far from the Reno family home.

Current U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says Reno was a trailblazer for women and minority lawyers, recalling a conference early in her tenure as attorney general for African-American lawyers that proved pivotal for Lynch.

In those days, Lynch recalled, 'main Justice'  as the department's headquarters is widely known  was the territory of mostly older white men.

'She made us feel valued. She made us feel that we could do anything. And that was her gift,' Lynch said. 'I was inspired by her. I wanted to be like her.'

Former Attorney General Janet Reno's niece, Hunter Reno, left, moves into the open arms of her aunt, Maggy Reno Hurchalla, center, before she gives the family remembrances of her sister

Members of the U.S. Border Patrol fold an American flag to be presented to former Attorney General Janet Reno's family

Reno was involved in many major and controversial 1990s issues, including the deadly raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, the controversial return to Cuba of 5-year-old Elian Gonzalez and the Clintons' Whitewater probe.

She also led the department through many major prosecutions, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing case, the capture of 'Unabomber' Theodore Kaczynski and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Clinton said the 1993 standoff in Waco was one of the most difficult moments of his young presidency when, with Reno leading the way, the decision was made to storm the compound amid allegations that children there were being abused during a 51-day standoff.

Clinton (left) remembered Reno (right) as a professional who never took the easy way out when making the tough decisions

The buildings caught fire and burned to the ground, killing 76 people including many children.

Reno, Clinton said, never wavered in taking responsibility.

'She didn't wait. She knew it was a disaster. She went out and said 'I made the decision. It's my responsibility,'' Clinton said.

'That's what she did for eight years. Up and down and up and down, she was there.'

She was nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1993 and was the second longest serving Attorney General

Reno, who famously told reporters 'I don't do spin', found herself at the epicenter of several political storms during the Clinton administration

President Barack Obama sent a letter of condolences and former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida also attended, with Clinton recalling that Graham was the first person to suggest Reno for the attorney general's position.

The audience included many current and former state and federal prosecutors who worked with Reno over the years.

Reno was Miami-Dade County's top prosecutor before she was elevated to attorney general by Clinton, and after leaving Washington she ran unsuccessfully for governor of Florida.

Many people may also remember Reno as the subject of a recurring 'Saturday Night Live' skit in which comedian Will Ferrell poked fun at her admittedly awkward style with 'Janet Reno's Dance Party.'

Reno appeared on the skit after leaving the Justice Department in 2001.

Janet Reno is pictured at a podium in this file photograph

Family and friends said in person Reno was warm, funny and compassionate, and she died in bed at home surrounded by people who loved her, said Rabbi Judith Siegel, who was there.

'She was surrounded by a circle of friends and family. We all sang and we all prayed together,' Siegel recalled. 'She was a leader in her family, in her community, and in our nation.'

Her goddaughter Gabrielle D'Alemberte confirmed she died from 'complications' of Parkinson's disease.

Tributes have flooded in for the prosecutor, including one from former Attorney General Eric Holder who described Reno as a 'strong leader' who put cracks in an 'unjust glass ceiling'.

In 1995 Reno was diagnosed with Parkinson's after noticing a trembling in her left hand, pictured at a Grammy after-party in 2005

Reno, who famously told reporters 'I don't do spin', found herself at the epicenter of several political storms during the Clinton administration.

The former Miami prosecutor faced criticism early in her tenure for the deadly raid on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas, where sect leader David Koresh and some 80 followers perished.

She became embroiled in other scandals including Whitewater, Filegate, bungling at the FBI laboratory, Monica Lewinsky, alleged Chinese nuclear spying and questionable campaign financing in the 1996 Clinton-Gore re-election.

In the spring of 2000, Reno enraged her hometown's Cuban-American community when she authorized the armed seizure of five-year-old Elian.

The boy was taken from the Little Havana home of his Miami relatives so he could be returned to his father in Cuba.

After leaving Washington, Reno returned to Florida and made an unsuccessful run for Florida governor in 2002 but lost in a Democratic primary marred by voting problems.

The campaign ended a public career that started amid humble beginnings. Born July 21, 1938, Janet Wood Reno was the daughter of two newspaper reporters and the eldest of four siblings.

She grew up on the edge of the Everglades in a cypress and brick homestead built by her mother and returned there after leaving Washington. Her late brother Robert Reno was a longtime columnist for Newsday on Long Island.

After graduating from Cornell University with a degree in chemistry, Reno became one of 16 women in Harvard Law School's Class of 1963

After graduating from Cornell University with a degree in chemistry, Reno became one of 16 women in Harvard Law School's Class of 1963.

Reno, who stood over 6ft tall, later said she wanted to become a lawyer 'because I didn't want people to tell me what to do.'

In 1993, Clinton tapped her to become the first woman to lead the Justice Department after his first two choices  also women  were withdrawn because both had hired illegal immigrants as nannies. Reno was 54.

'It's an extraordinary experience, and I hope I do the women of America proud,' Reno said after she won confirmation.

Clinton said the vote might be 'the only vote I carry 98-0 this year.'

Clinton tapped Reno to become the first woman to lead the Justice Department in 1993 (pictured)

A little more than a month after taking office, however, Reno became embroiled in controversy with the raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco.

The standoff had started even before Reno was confirmed as attorney general.

On 28 February 1993, agents from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms made a surprise raid on the compound, trying to execute a search warrant.

But during the raid gunfire erupted, killing four agents and six members of the religious sect.

That led to a 51-day standoff, ending 19 April 1993, when the complex caught fire and burned to the ground.

The government claimed the Davidians committed suicide, shooting themselves and setting the fire.

Survivors said the blaze was started by tear gas rounds fired into the compound by government tanks, and that agents shot at some who tried to flee.

Reno had authorized the use of the tear gas to end the standoff and later called the day the worst of her life.

'It was a dangerous situation,' Reno said of the incident during a 2005 lecture at Duke University. 'The tragedy is that we will never know what was the right thing to do.'

She was known for deliberating slowly, publicly and in a typically blunt manner.

Reno frequently told the public 'the buck stops with me,' borrowing the mantra from President Harry S. Truman.

She was known for deliberating slowly, publicly and in a typically blunt manner, pictured with Clinton in 1993

Reno is pictured being presented with the American Judicature Society 2009 Justice Award

In 1995 Reno was diagnosed with Parkinson's after noticing a trembling in her left hand.

She said from the beginning that the diagnosis, which she announced during a weekly news conference, would not impair her job performance.

And critics  both Republicans and Democrats  did not give her a pass because of it.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder paid tribute to Reno, saying: 'I was privileged to have served with her at the United States Department of Justice.

'She was a strong leader who was unaffected by her physical limitations and who cared deeply about those who were too often neglected and marginalized by our society.

'In particular, her work to better the lives of children stands as a testament to her remarkable compassion and is an integral part of her legacy.

'As our first female Attorney General she put innumerable cracks in an unjust and unwise glass ceiling.

'She was in the vanguard of those women who endured much and helped make possible the gender progress that our nation has long needed and is still making real.'
Parole officers have reportedly admitted they have no idea where Schapelle Corby is living, just six months before she is due to leave Bali.

The convicted drug smuggler, 39, is registered to live with her former brother-in-law and legal guarantor, Wayan Widyartha, at his compound in Kuta.

But locals claim to have never seen Corby in the area and believe she never lived there, while Wayan has packed up and sold his surf shop, New Idea reported.

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Parole officers have admitted they have no idea where Schapelle Corby is living (she is pictured near Kuta Beach in May, 2014)

Corby is registered to live with her legal guarantor Wayan Widyartha, her sister Mercedes' ex husband (Wayan and Mercedes are pictured together in February 2014)

'I never see Corby here. As far as I know, she never lived here,' said a man, known as Nyoman, who owns a store opposite Wayan's surf shop

'We've not seen Wayan either,' Nyoman said. 'He's left here for good.'

He is believed to have sold his surf shop, Kuta Board Room, last month.

Despite having no idea where she is living, a parole officer told New Idea Corby always reports to them monthly as required.

Locals said they haven't seen Corby at Wayan's compound. He last month closed his surf shop, Kuta Board Room (pictured)

Schapelle and sister Mercedes Corby are pictured together after she was released on parole

'We don't know for sure whether she is still living in Wayan's house now,' the parole officer told New Idea.

'We never receive any reports of her doing something that breaks the rules. But we don't directly observe or monitor her 24 hours a day, it's impossible.'

Corby's friend and former inmate, who wanted to be known as Ms Rina, said the 39-year-old was simply enjoying her life.

She rides a motorcycle and tours the island now that people don't pay so much attention to her, Ms Rina said.

Mercedes is pictured with her children Wayan, 17, Nyeleigh, 15, and Nyoman, nine,

Mercedes is pictured with her ex-husband Wayan, who is Schapelle's legal guarantor (Mercedes and Wayan are pictured in February 2014)

Her sister Mercedes said she is 'fine' and the siblings still speak every day.

When Corby returns to Australia on May 27 next year, and may move in with Mercedes and children Wayan, 17, Nyeleigh, 15, and Nyoman, nine, in Tugun, Woman's Day earlier reported.

Mercedes split with her husband Wayan, Corby's legal guarantor, and has moved back to the Gold Coast with her three children.

Corby was arrested trying to smuggle 4.2 kilograms of marijuana in her boogie board bag from Australia in October 2004.

She was convicted the following year, but maintained her innocence.

She was released on parole from Kerobokan Prison in February 2014.

Corby was arrested trying to smuggle 4.2 kilograms of marijuana in her boogie board bag from Australia in October 2004
Time was running out for Tess the golden labrador after she was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition.

But she is now back to her playful old self  and enjoying lots of cuddles from the little boy who loves her most  after a surgeon who normally operates on humans was drafted in to save her.

Six-year-old Joseph Foster and his family launched an appeal last month to raise the 7,500 they desperately needed for the little-known treatment.

The operation is only offered at a single English veterinary centre, and is so rarely performed on dogs that a surgeon experienced in human medicine must oversee it

After their plea was featured in the Daily Mail, donations from more than 400 well-wishers meant the target was reached just 24 hours later  and Tess received a lifeline.

The operation is only offered at a single English veterinary centre, and is so rarely performed on dogs that a surgeon experienced in human medicine must oversee it.

Tess, 17 months, was diagnosed with atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardia, which causes the heart to beat too fast.

She was on costly medication after suffering heart failure twice in six months. Her surgery involved removing the abnormal pathways that create the erratic rate. Dr Martin Lowe, a consultant cardiologist at Barts and Great Ormond Street hospitals in London, teamed up with veterinary cardiologist Pedro Oliveira at Davies Veterinary Specialists in Hertfordshire. Despite a couple of complications, Tess, bought as a puppy for 400 by Josephs family, pulled through  and more than a week later is recovering well.

Joseph, who lives in Bridport, Dorset, with his parents and sister Ellie, 17, said: It is really nice to have Tess back.

Six-year-old Joseph Foster pictured with the family's beloved pet dog Tess

Joseph and his family launched an appeal last month to raise the 7,500 they desperately needed for the little-known treatment

She is really playful and she is much happier now  she jumps up a lot. I want to say thank you to the people who helped us, who gave us the money to help Tess. Im so happy she had the operation because she would have died by now but she hasnt because she is a really lucky dog.

The four-and-a-half-hour procedure involved inserting catheters into veins in Tesss legs and neck, and guiding them to the heart. The team recorded electrical signals to show where the abnormal heartbeats were being generated, and destroyed problem areas with radio waves.

Surgeons believe Tess has been cured thanks to the procedure, called radiofrequency ablation. This will be confirmed by heart tests in six months time.

Dr Lowe said: From Tesss point of view, without the operation it is highly likely that she wouldnt have survived. She should be absolutely fine now.

Tess, 17 months, was diagnosed with atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardia, which causes the heart to beat too fast

Josephs mother Rachael Rodgers, 42, a healthcare assistant, said: Shes got so much more energy now and she just looks so happy  she is wagging her tail all the time. Were looking forward to taking her on long walks. We feel like we have got our dog back.

His father James Foster, 44, a law lecturer, added: Its absolutely amazing. All our Christmases have come at once.
North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un cackles as he guides a military drill practising an attack on the South.

Kim watched with binoculars as North Korea's special operation forces conducted an exercise aimed at 'destroying specified targets of the enemy', including the Blue House, the North's KCNA news agency said.

The ruling Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun also carried a two-page report on the drill, showing pictures of a building resembling the Blue House being overrun by North Korean troops and set ablaze.

What a laugh: Kim Jong-Un holds binoculars as he watches the military exercise with his smirking generals behind him

One photo showed Kim roaring with laughter as he watched the simulated attack.

'Well done, the enemy troops will have no space to hide themselves, far from taking any counteraction,' state-run KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

No date was given for the military exercise in Sunday's report.

The South Korean military 'strongly condemned' the drill, warning there would be fatal consequences if confronted by the North.

'If the enemy conducts a provocation based on its rash judgement, we will strongly and firmly retaliate with a fatal blow against the North Korean leadership,' the defence ministry's joint chiefs of staff said in a statement.

The North's KCNA state news agency report did not mention the South Korean parliament's vote on Friday to impeach its president, Park Geun-hye.

Park will remain in the Blue House, though her powers have been suspended and assumed by the South's prime minister while the Constitutional Court weighs parliament's impeachment vote.

Firepower: Missiles are launched from a hilltop during the drill by special operation forces

In flames: The building resembles South Koreas presidential palace

Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has been high this year after two North Korean nuclear tests and an unprecedented flurry of ballistic missile tests.

The North's tests have brought tighter U.N. Security Council sanctions but no indication North Korea and its young leader Kim are willing to compromise on its nuclear and missile programmes.

The Rodong Sinmun pictures included one of Kim observing the exercise through binoculars.
Santa this year took on a surprising shape for a Virginia teacher: Olympic gold medalist Ryan Held.

The teacher, Brittany Del Rocco, participated on a gift exchange through the image-sharing website Imgur alongside some 25,000 people.

She expected a gift from a random person  she just didn't think it would come from Held, who won the 4x100 freestyle relay in Rio alongside Michael Phelps, Nathan Adrian and Caeleb Dressel.

Virginia teacher Brittany Del Rocco expected a gift from a random person  she just didn't think it would come from Olympian Ryan Held (pictured)

Held gifted the teacher an autographed swimming cap from the Rio 2016 Olympics, alongside a letter for Del Rocco's students (pictured)

'I came home after a long day at work and checked the mailbox and found a package inside,' Del Rocco told FOX5.

'I knew it was from a Secret Santa, but my husband and I both signed up, so I had to check to see which one of us it was for.'

The gift: Held's autographed swimming cap from the Rio 2016 Olympics, alongside a letter for Del Rocco's students.

'I pulled this swimming cap out of the package and I had a legitimate freak out,' she told FOX5

'I turned the envelope back over and this time paid attention to the name @Heldilox Ryan Held, Olympic gold medal swimmer.

'Cue the second total freak out!

Del Rocco and Held ( participated on a gift exchange through the image-sharing website Imgur alongside some 25,000 people

In the letter, Held wrote: 'Even though we did not go to the same school, we went through the same hardships: the difficulty of a particular subject, social exploration, time management, the start of dating, school projects, Faith, and acceptance of oneself and others.'

'I can relate to how you are feeling and what you are going through, though do not let thees factors drag you down and get in the way of accomplishing your dreams.

'When I was your age, I told myself I was going to swim in the Olympics,' Held added. 'I was nowhere near Olympic caliber then, but I set goals, worked towards them, had a positive mindset, and refused to be satisfied.

Held (left) won the 4x100 freestyle relay in Rio alongside (from right) Michael Phelps, Nathan Adrian and Caeleb Dressel

'Slowly but surely I became the person I am today,' Held said. 'Though the beauty of it is, even though our paths are different, doesn't mean we are lost.

'Your goals may to be the fastest Rubik's cube solver, the best painter, the next hit vlogger, or the best [typist].
Britain's most reviled mother Karen Matthews has turned to God and given up booze as she today begged for forgiveness after faking the kidnap of her own daughter.

Shannon Matthews, then nine, was found drugged and tethered inside the base of a double bed in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, because her mother was desperate to grab 50,000 in reward money.

Karen, now 41, was jailed for eight years in 2008 but released in April 2012 after serving half her sentence.

Today it can be revealed she is a teetotal born-again Christian living on benefits in southern England under a new name inspired by her favourite Hollywood star.

She has even 'f****** given up swearing', Karen told a friend, adding: 'I know I did something wrong but I'm not the baddest person people are making out. I am sorry for hurting people.'.

Shannon (left) was just nine-years-old when she disappeared from her home in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire, in a kidnapping orchestrated by her mother Karen (left)

Karen Matthews was a regular fixture on TV during the search, often seen crying for her missing daughter, when she knew where she was all along

The Mirror says Karen is struggling to get by on her 25-a-week benefits, saying: 'Theyve completely lowered my money. Its a horrible life'.

But she is happy to have found God.

She told a friend: 'When I left prison I picked up a Bible and saw a passage about "God loves you". I knew I was hated by everyone, cut off from my family. But here they were, saying I was loved'.

She takes solace from her bible study group in a local cafe.

Karen told told the friend: 'I get to meet people and talk. They are kind and dont judge'.

Fake: Karen Matthews smiles after Shannon was found hidden in a bed base - it would later transpire she had hidden her there

Shannon, now 18, is not believed to have any contact with her mother after she was found a new home when Karen was jailed.

She was just nine-years-old when she disappeared from her home in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire, in February 2008.

Her disappearance sparked a 3.2million police hunt and her mother appeared before the media pretending to be distraught as hundreds of local people helped in the search.

However, Shannon was found 24 days later by police, hidden in a compartment under a divan bed in a flat one mile from where she lived with her mother.

She had been drugged and tethered under the bed by her mother and accomplice Michael Donovan, then 40, as part of a desperate plot to claim 50,000 in reward money.

They had planned to release the schoolgirl at Dewsbury Market, drive around the corner to 'discover her' then take her to a police station and claim the reward before splitting it 50/50.

However, the pair's horrific crime was discovered by police and Matthews, a mother of seven, and Donovan were jailed for eight years for kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.

It came as one of the key women involved in the search for Shannon shortly after her disappearance claimed the community 'paid the price' for the crimes.

Julie Bushby was among those who slept all night in a community centre with the lights kept on to act as a beacon to help the schoolgirl find her way home.

But she told the Mirror that many in the neighbourhood feel as though they are partly blamed for what happened.

She said: 'It's as if they punished us for what happened and killed our community spirit.

'There's only about a handful of the originals left on the estate. Most have moved because they don't want to be associated with it.'

The home of Karen Matthews in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, was the focal point for the 3-week hunt for Shannon

The dramatic events surrounding the disappearance of Shannon, who turned 18 this year, is likely to be dragged back into the spotlight in the new year with the release of a BBC TV film about the saga.

Her mother's trial heard the ordeal left Shannon 'disturbed and traumatised' and suffering from nightmares

The Moorside Project will feature Game Of Thrones star Gemma Whelan as Matthews and will focus on her friend, Julie Bushby, played by Sheridan Smith, who led the community's search for Shannon.

Shannon was found in Donovan's flat in Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, in the base of a divan bed.

The youngster had been drugged and forced to adhere to a strict list of rules while held captive.

Prosecutors said Donovan kept Shannon imprisoned as part of a plan he and Matthews hatched to claim a 50,000 reward offered by a national newspaper.

The court was told the ordeal left Shannon 'disturbed and traumatised' and suffering from nightmares.

The officer who led the inquiry, Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan, said at the time of her conviction that Matthews had 'totally betrayed' her daughter, and condemned her as 'pure evil'.

In 2010, a serious case review into Shannon's case concluded that her abduction could not have been foreseen by social services and other agencies involved with her family.

Shannon Matthews was drugged and kept on a leash as her greedy mother tried to get her hands on the 50,000 reward money

Shannon Matthews was freed by police and allowed to start a new life away from her dysfunctional home.

The schoolgirl was not physically harmed during her time in Donovan's flat, although she was fed sleeping pills to sedate her.

When police smashed their way into Lidgate Gardens after a tip-off, they discovered a long strap knotted to a roof beam at one end of the flat with a large loop dangling at the other.

Shannon Matthews had been drugged and tethered under the bed by her mother and accomplice Michael Donovan, then 40, as part of a desperate plot to claim 50,000 in reward money

Life for Shannon in her makeshift prison was also governed by a set of rules scribbled on a sheet of paper, which police found on top of a television set

This was used to restrain Shannon during more than three weeks of captivity.

Jurors in her mother's trial were told that, at full stretch, the elasticated strap would have allowed the then nine-year-old limited movement around some of the rooms, but was not long enough for her to reach the front door.

Life for Shannon in her makeshift prison was also governed by a set of rules scribbled on a sheet of paper, which police found on top of a television set.

The note banned her from going near windows, making any noise or banging her feet.

Several words were underlined to stress their importance. She was, however, allowed to play her Super Mario computer games and her music CDs.
Karly Tophill with her son Dylan Kissling aged 13, from Goldsithney, Cornwall

It will be a familiar tale to most parents  a teenager who just wont get off his smartphone.

But when mother Karly Tophill imposed a dramatic year-long ban to separate her teenage son from his iPhone, she was shocked by the change in his behaviour.

Within six weeks she said 13-year-old Dylan seemed happier, more talkative and more energetic, did better with homework and even volunteered to help her with household chores.

Now Karly, 41, is encouraging other parents to introduce one phone free day a week for their families to see if they spot similar benefits.

Dylan used to spend two hours a day playing games on his phone and his mother said she worried he was rushing through homework to get back to using social media.

It would be a struggle to get him off the gadget to get ready for school in the mornings, the mother-of-two said.

She said: Dylan was spending a lot of time on his phone and I wasnt comfortable with that.

He was using it too much. Hed be coming home from school and using it to play games for about two hours in the evening, and in the morning.

Deep down, I didnt think he liked being contacted constantly. He felt pressured to reply to friends.

Finally, in October, she confiscated his iPhone 4 and imposed a year-long ban, which she admitted was unpopular at first.

But just six weeks later she noticed he was playing more with his younger brother Marley, 10, and spending more time outside and on his homework.

Karly, who lives with her two sons and their father Sam Kissling, 41, near Penzance in Cornwall, said the teenager had even told his father he thought he was better off without the phone.

She said: Dylan has always been a happy child but I would say he is more engaged and energetic, more up for doing things.

He seems to have much more energy, and he takes much more time with homework now because he isnt in a hurry to get it over with so he can check his Instagram.

He often says the kids are on their phones a lot a school, checking social media accounts. I think its making a big difference with him not having it in the classroom.

Now hes even up for doing housework. When he gets bored he will ask if I need help with housework and he will end up Hoover-ing our entire home.

The yoga teacher said the experiment had worked so well that she had now relented over the year-long ban and reduced it to three months.

Her youngest son Marley, who does not have a smart phone, had volunteered stop using all electronic gadgets for one day a week including watching television, she said.

Dylan, a keen surfer and rugby player, said: I was upset at the start but its not actually bad. It gives me more time to do other things.

I would like to have a phone but its not that bad. Id like to have one to watch YouTube and stuff on it, and Instagram.

In the mornings I was taking ages to get ready for school. Because I had my phone I would go on it for ages and then Id have ten minutes to get ready.

Karly said her teenage son is much happier since the ban on his phone, and the 13-year-old has even admitted he feels better to his father

Karly said the smartphone ban had made her more conscious about the amount of time she spent on social media herself, and said parents had to lead by example.

She said: Adults can be the culprits too. Im guilty of it. Ill think, Im bored  lets have a look on Facebook.

Clearly most kids will not jump on board this idea with open smiles. However, as creative beings surely we as parents can come up with cool incentives to make this happen.

Its handy to take time out to do something that does not entail technology. That would require a change with the parents too and would help the child. They could do it together.

Its been a great decision for us  Id call on others to follow.

Karly posted an idea of a phone free Friday on Facebook and has offered free yoga classes to 11 to 16-year-olds in her area who adopt the idea for six weeks.

Charities and academics have previously warned about the risks of teenagers becoming addicted to smartphone use.
Nicky Morgan was under attack last night for criticising Theresa May over her expensive taste in trousers  despite having a 950 handbag herself

Nicky Morgan was slammed today by a Tory Remainer ally for 'trivialising' a fight over Brexit by attacking Theresa May's 995 trousers.

Sir Nicholas Soames said he was 'fond' of the former education secretary but warned she had badly mishandled the 'Trousergate' row.

The stinging criticism from the grandee comes after the Loughborough MP was branded 'impertinent' by another senior Tory.

Downing Street today refused to deny allegations the former education secretary has been banned from Downing Street over the bizarre row.

And Mrs May's official spokeswoman refused to answer questions about whether the Prime Minister used a discount card for the glamorous Amanda Wakeley trousers.

The Prime Minister has a discount card for the high-end store which she has noted on her register of interests since 2013.

The extraordinary row has gripped Westminster and escalated at the weekend after incendiary text messages between Mrs Morgan and Mrs May's co-chief of staff Fiona Hill emerged.

But Sir Nicholas said: 'What Nicky Morgan said of the Prime Minister was completely unacceptable and succeeded in trivialising a very important argument that a group of us was making about Brexit.

'I am not the least surprised that the Prime Minister said she did not want Nicky Morgan to come.

'I very much regret it. I'm fond of Nicky but it is a great pity she said that,' he told the Evening Standard.

But senior Tory Des Swayne slammed Mrs Morgan, branding her 'impertinent' and warning in a BBC interview: 'It's rude to talk about money.'

Former minister Ed Vaizey today said it was an 'unfortunate' row and said he regretted it had happened.

A Tory MP told MailOnline that the Prime Minister must 'get a grip' over her aides following the bitter row.

Last week she laid into the Prime Minister after Mrs May wore designer leather trousers worth 995 for a magazine photo-shoot, suggesting it would not go down well with her constituents 'in Loughborough market'

Mrs Morgan launched her attack last week after the Prime Minister was photographed in the extravagant trousers in a magazine photoshoot - claiming her constituents 'in Loughborough market' would not understand the extravagance.

She made the intervention despite being regularly photographed with a 950 handbag. Critics have suggested the furious spat is fuelled by a wider Tory row over Brexit.

Sir Nicholas Soames said he was 'fond' of the former education secretary but warned she had badly mishandled the 'Trousergate' row.

Mrs May's 995 Amanda Wakeley trousers were on the brink of selling out today after days of furore.

Mrs May's official spokeswoman today refused to deny Mrs Morgan was 'banned' from Downing Street.

She said: 'The Prime Minister meets with MPs and others regularly.

'I'm not going to go into details of those meetings.'

Asked if the controversial trousers had been bought with a discount card her spokesman said: 'I'm not going to get into the details of the PM's purchases for her wardrobe.'

Yesterday Mrs Morgan  who was sacked by Mrs May in July and is now leading a Tory backbench rebellion to her plans to push through Brexit  was accused of disloyalty by activists in her own constituency.

The deputy chairman of Loughborough Conservatives said she should stop taking 'side-swipes' against the Government and start to defend the party she was elected to represent. But Mrs Morgan vowed to continue being a 'thorn in the side' of the Prime Minister.

A source close to Mrs Morgan last night claimed the bag was about 12 years old and had been a gift.

Mulberry Bayswater handbags, with their iconic golden lock and brushed leather interior, are highly prized but do not come cheap.

The high-quality product is popular because it is functional and roomy, with a classic shape and colour. It is very heavy and features small metal feet on the bottom.

The Prime Minister ditched the brown leather trousers, which caused a stir, for grey jeans as she attended the service, near Maidenhead, with her husband Philip

May sported a paired-back look as she wrapped up in a red scarf, which she teamed with a 200 Barbour Purple Carline Liberty Print Beadnell Jacket, featuring a purple floral lining, and grey jeans

Last night pro-Brexit Tory MP Nadine Dorries said: 'It is clear that Nicky Morgan was looking for a reason to attack the Prime Minister rather than making a genuine criticism.

'I think it shows Nicky Morgan's comments were sexist, because she never criticised David Cameron's extremely expensive suits.

A source close to Mrs Morgan last night claimed the bag was about 12 years old and had been a gift

'Sadly, the ragged band of nutcase Europhiles will find any excuse to take a pot shot at the Prime Minister.

'They do not believe the result of the referendum should be honoured. They are working to find any means possible to undermine the position of the PM and her Brexit ministers.'

The row broke out last week after the Prime Minister was pictured wearing the Amanda Wakeley-designed 'bitter chocolate' trousers, which come with a 955 price tag.

Mrs Morgan expressed doubts about the choice, saying: 'My barometer is always, 'How am I going to explain this in Loughborough market?'

'The MP said the trousers had been 'noticed and discussed' in Tory circles and sent the wrong message.

She added: 'I don't have leather trousers. I don't think I've ever spent that much on anything apart from my wedding dress.' Mrs May denied she was out of touch for wearing the trousers.

Her joint chief of staff, Fiona Hill, was furious, according to text messages seen by the Mail on Sunday.

Mrs Hill had previously met Mrs Morgan and fellow Tory Alistair Burt and invited them to a meeting with Mrs May about their views on Brexit this week.

But Mrs Hill texted Mr Burt to tell him: 'Don't bring that woman to No 10 again' after she spoke out about the Premier's trousers.

Mrs Morgan, however, found out about the message and sent the aide a stinging riposte. The message said: 'If you don't like something I have said or done, please tell me directly. No man brings me to any meeting. Your team invites me. If you don't want my views in future meetings you need to tell them.'
A photo of L Ron Hubbard was on display at the festive event held in the church of Scientology

It was billed by the local council as the towns Christmas fair for all the family, with real reindeer, a sleigh and an ice-skating rink.

But scattered among the festive stalls and fairy lights were pamphlets for the Church of Scientology.

This was in fact an event entirely organised and funded by the controversial church.

East Grinstead Town Council promoted yesterdays all-day event on its website, on social media and through its sister organisations as East Grinsteads Christmas Fair and Winter Wonderland.

It distributed festive posters produced by the church, which made no reference to it being a Scientology event  aside from small print at the bottom that was impossible to read on the internet. On closer examination, the text appears to say that individuals may be refused entry for any reason at the discretion of Scientologist staff.

Yesterdays fair was held at the churchs UK headquarters in the West Sussex town, a castle where Hollywood star Tom Cruise  its most famous member  is thought to now live. The main event was held in the Great Hall where stalls that sold Christmas gifts and activities for the children were flanked by large, illuminated boards with written guidance from its founder, the late L Ron Hubbard.

Among the stalls and the ice rink were pamphlets about the religion, which doesn't specifically celebrate Christmas but allows followers to if they wish

Behind one cake stand were two boards that listed the Scientologists Codes of Honour  the first on the list was that its members must do what they can to inform the public of their religion. On one stall, children made Christmas cards with glitter and felt tip pens on a table that was scattered with dozens of Scientology booklets entitled The Way to Happiness.

Tom Cruise is one of the most high profile followers of the religion

The children could also have their photograph taken with a woman dressed as an elf  in front of a large and imposing photograph of Hubbard. Scientology books and jewellery are sold in the gift shop of Saint Hill Castle  set in a 100-acre estate where Hubbard once lived. Most locals would have known that it is the Scientologist headquarters.

Yesterdays event, attended by several hundred families, was overseen by Scientology staff who were dressed in identical navy suits with belts with the religions symbol on the buckle in gold. Scientology has faced many controversies since it was formed in 1954. It has been reported that its members are required to shun family and friends who are not sympathetic to the church and deserters describe how they were brainwashed, something the church has always denied. It is classed as a cult in some countries.

But East Grinstead Town Council has long had links to the church, with councillors and the town mayor, Bob Mainstone, attending many of its events.

Recent renovations to the castle are said to have cost 11million. Cruise, 53, has been dipping into his fortune to make the headquarters a landmark, sources claim.

While Christmas is not part of Scientologys religion, its members are free to celebrate such cultural events, its website says.

A town council spokesman said the fair was not a council event and that it promotes a variety of events on its website and social media.

A spokesman for Scientology in the UK said: Saint Hill staff and the Church of Scientology hold many events of interest to the public.
of uploads this year and compiled using an algorithm

it's clear to see why the images were such a hit

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The sun peeks through the trees deep in a Danish forest, two swans press their heads together to keep warm on the Finnish ice and stars dust the night sky above an Australian plain.

An amazing ten photos from across the globe have been revealed as photo-sharing platform Flickr's best of 2016, selected from the billions of uploads this year.

Taking the top spot of the worlds favourite photo is the serene Cuando Amanece la Pasion, depicting a small boat on a placid lake under a spectacular sunrise at the Aveira Lagoon in Portugal.

In second place is The Lonely Tree, an image snapped in Wanaka, New Zealand of a vast lake with a single green tree seemingly growing out of the water - the mountains providing a dramatic backdrop to this frequently photographed spot.

Third came Zig-Zag, of a winding road through a forest with the pink sunrise breaking through the trees ahead. Other images that made the cut were breathtaking shots of the moon and dramatic topical thunderstorms.

The top 10 photos list was compiled using an algorithm that measures social and engagement metrics, alongside curation of the images from Flickr staff.

Taking the top spot of the worlds favourite photo this year is the serene Cuando Amanece la Pasion, depicting a small boat on a placid lake under a spectacular sunrise at the Aveira Lagoon in Portugal

In second place is The Lonely Tree, an image snapped in Wanaka, New Zealand of a vast lake with a single green tree poking out of the water, the mountains providing a dramatic backdrop to this frequently photographed spot

Third came Zig-Zag - a fascinating photo of a winding road through a forest in an unknown location with the pink sunrise breaking through the trees ahead

This picture of a larger-than-life giant moon looming behind a bare tree was taken with a 800mm lens

Mungo National Park in New South Wales, Australia is the setting for this magical shot of stars scattering the night sky as sunlight crests the horizon

'This place is outstanding,' the photographer said of this Maldives island, 'If you ever visit the Maldives, go to Lux* South Ari Atoll. The 10km long house reef and the white sandy beach and amazingly blue lagoon puts you in heaven every single day'

'First time I've ever shot lightning I'm ashamed to say - couldn't resist the swaying palms & granite rocks as foreground,' the photographer said of this dramatic tropical storm

This endearing image is entitled Braving the Cold and shows two swans bending their heads towards each other on a desolate plain of ice in Espoo, Finland

The Palais du Luxembourg in Paris, France, is shown in black and white here, reducing its normal impressive gilded glory and lending a nostalgic feel to the image

This photo, entitled Sound of Silence was taken late afternoon, deep in the forest of Rold Skov, Denmark

Flickr's best British photos of 2016

Flickr also rounded up Britain's favourite photography by curating a list of the top 10 geotagged photos.

Number one was a lighthouse battered by a stormy sea in Porthcawl, Wales. In second place was Every Forgotten Dream in which light breaks though a countryside gate and in third was a photograph of a sunset over a harbour in Devon.

Other images included an eerily calm sea with a lifeboat floating on its glassy surface and sunlight over a beach looking out to the Isle of Wight.

Flickr also rounded up Britain's favourite photography by curating a list of the top 10 geotagged photos. Number one was a lighthouse battered by a stormy sea in Porthcawl, Wales

In second place was Every Forgotten Dream in which light breaks though a countryside gate

'The harbour at Brixham, south Devon, captured just after sunset and following a stroll along the pier that leads from the middle-right into the distance,' said the photographer of this image

A group examine cameras for sale while the man appears to be on the point of purchase in this black and white shot

The photographer said of this ethereal image at Selsey Lifeboat Station: 'The rusting metal stanchions stood proudly in the calm waters and the complete absence of any breeze as the sun made its journey below the horizon gave the scene an almost ethereal feel. The gentle lap of the incoming tide rapidly soothed away the stresses of the week as I attempted to capture the stark beauty of this place in the gathering dusk'

'The low clouds would move over the ridge hiding and then revealing various portions of the ridge, while simultaneously the light would shift highlighting sections of the ridge,' the photographer said of his morning on the Isle of Skye

This image, entitled, Alone in the Universe depicts 'The iconic lone tree at Llyn Padarn, Snowdonia on a beautiful moody dawn'

'A shot across from West Wittering to the Isle of Wight in the distance. The rays of light breaking through the clouds were quite epic,' said the photographer of his piece, Kingdom of Heaven

In a more urban scene - unlike the other photographs of the natural world in the top 10 - this image of two people striding down a tunnel was called Pathway to the Starship
on the fitness lifestyle scene of the beachfront resort town in a project called Dogtown Diary

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A Los Angles photographer has captured striking shots of quirky tourist hotspot Venice Beach.

Venice was founded in 1905 by developer Abbot Kinney on the west coast of the US as a beachfront resort town complete with canals and gondolas to replicate the original Italian city. Today it is one of the most popular destinations in LA for both visitors and locals.

Photographer Franz Steiner has his studio on the beach and here shares his talent and passion for photography in the fitness lifestyle scene of Venice Beach in a project called Dogtown Diary.

In scenes that wouldn't look out of place in a Baz Luhrman film, a Los Angles photographer has captured striking shots of quirky tourist hotspot Venice Beach

Venice was founded in 1905 by developer Abbot Kinney as a beachfront resort town complete with canals and gondolas to replicate the original Italian city. Today it is one of the most popular destinations in LA for both visitors and locals

Photographer Franz Steiner has his studio on the beach and here shares his talent and passion for photography in the fitness lifestyle scene of Venice Beach in a project called Dogtown Diary

His images focus on young men and women skateboarding, surfing and relaxing at the beach, as well as grittier street shots

Los Angeles is famous for street art and murals throughout Venice add to the areas vibrant energy - here a behatted young man paints graffiti onto a wall

His images focus on young men and women skateboarding, surfing and relaxing at the beach, as well as grittier street shots.

Many of the photos are snapped mid-action such as a skater leaping into the air, his hat flying off his head or youths larking about on top of a tall, precarious climbing frame.

Steiner, who comes from a family of artists and travelers (Steiners father is a retired photographer and painter, and mother a travel agent/owner of Steiner Ferien in Germany) studied film at university before chasing the art and creative world in New York and Los Angeles.

For his first photography work he combined fashion lifestyle photography with CGI, producing a collection of images depicting robotics and artificial intelligence in every day situations.

The Venice Beach Recreation Center includes several childrens play areas with a gymnastics apparatus, as well as handball courts, tennis courts and volleyball courts. The outdoor basketball courts attract some of the best streetballers in the country

Life's a beach for these youngsters, two of whom can be seeing risking life and limb as they spar on top of a climbing frame at dusk (left) and another who sits taking a break from skateboarding (right)

The $2-million Venice Beach Skatepark opened in 2009 and is one of LAs many excellent skateparks

Steiner, who comes from a family of artists and travelers (Steiners father is a retired photographer and painter, and mother a travel agent/owner of Steiner Ferien in Germany) studied film at university before chasing the art and creative world in New York and Los Angeles. In this image a group of friends hang out at the beach

A woman strides across a beach, a surfboard in her arms, as a full moon lights up the sky (left) and clouds gather at sunset above a Venice street - the sea just visible in the background (right)

This catapulted him to success owing to a portion of that collection being licensed for stock photography at a time when no images were available covering that topic and/or creating mixed media to create photorealistic imagery.

Before long he was being regularly sought out by directors and producers in the advertising world for his surgical-eye and photo-retouching abilities to finalize imagery for global campaigns which include Google, Samsung, Coors Light, Kendall and Kylie, Inc., and Beats by Dre to name a few.

Steiner does away with conventional color harmonies and imposes extravagant new configurations - but he will always remain true to the integrity of the image.

Many of the photos in the series are snapped mid-action such as this skater caught leaping into the air, his hat flying off his head

For his first photography work Steiner combined fashion lifestyle photography with CGI, producing a collection of images depicting robotics and artificial intelligence in every day situations

This catapulted him to success owing to a portion of that collection being licensed for stock photography at a time when no images were available covering that topic and/or creating mixed media to create photorealistic imagery

Before long Steiner was being regularly sought out by directors and producers in the advertising world for his surgical-eye and photo-retouching abilities to finalize imagery for global campaigns which include Google, Samsung, Coors Light, Kendall and Kylie, Inc., and Beats by Dre to name a few

A helicopter flies low over the beach resort (left) while the 16,000-square-foot skate park remains eerily empty (right)
She's very much revelling in being a mother to biological children Sunday Rose, 8, and Faith Margaret, 5, whom she shares with husband Keith Urban, 49.

But Nicole Kidman revealed in the January 2017 issue of Vogue Australia, that adopting Isabella Jane, 23, and Connor Cruise, 21, whom she shares with ex-husband Tom Cruise, 54, was always on the cards.

'I knew that I was going to have a child and that it didnt matter [how], I actually didnt know if I was ever going to give birth to a child,' the 49-year-old candidly revealed to the fashion magazine.

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'I always knew I'd adopt': Nicole Kidman, 49, revealed her maternal side after sharing that her biological daughters Sunday Rose, 8, and Faith Margaret, 5, whom she shares with husband Keith Urban, 49, are raised as 'international' children

'I always knew I'd adopt; I just always wanted a child,' she said.

Promoting her new movie about adoption, Lion, Nicole explained her own experiences drew her to the movie and noted the bond between mother and child goes beyond blood.

'We have many mothers, biological...adoptive but the way in which mothers can love and the power of that and that launches you off into the world'.

'We have many mothers': Promoting her new movie about adoption, Lion, Nicole noted the bond between mother and child goes beyond blood

'I just wanted a child': The now 49-year-old actress explained she yearned to be a mother from a young age and knew she would have children, even if she didn't give birth to them

Extended brood: Nicole also shares adopted children Isabella Jane, 23, and Connor Cruise, 21, with ex-husband Tom Cruise, 54. Pictured back in 1996 in Sydney

The actress also told the monthly magazine that her biological children Sunday Rose and Faith are raised as 'international' citizens.

'Our children are being raised that way where they have elements of American and then they have elements of Australian and then they sort of....international.'

This is not the first time Nicole has revealed her maternal side.

International family! Nicole says she's raised her girls to be international citizens as they jet-set between their family home in America and time in Australia

Last month, the redhead told New York Magazine that she's 'very much the caretaker' in the family.

'In my family, I'm very much the caretaker.

'My husband always says, 'You can't save the world, Nicole,' but I think it's just an inherent part of me.

Married bliss: Nicole tied the knot with Keith in 2006 and are often spotted together on the red carpet

Long-lasting love: Speaking to Who at the premiere of new film Lion in Los Angeles this month, Nicole told the publication: 'Just love each other, lavish each other with love,' referring to her successful ten-year marriage with Keith

'The love is abundant, and it doesn't just evaporate or disappear - it's just there,' she continued.

Nicole recently said that the secret to her and Keith's ten-year marriage is to 'lavish each other with love.'

Speaking to Who at the premiere of new film Lion in Los Angeles this month, she told the publication: 'Just love each other, lavish each other with love.'

The actress quickly added: 'Also we just happen to like each other, too. That works.'
The scandal-loving Duke of Manchester has filed for divorce from his third wife Laura  and announced the news in an extraordinary Facebook rant to friends.

Alexander Montagu, 53  nicknamed the Dodgy Duke thanks to his colourful past  made a series of sensational allegations about his American wife, including the claim she had stabbed him with a knife.

My wife, who claims she loves me, slashed my thumb, he wrote.

However, police investigating the incident ruled out foul play  and arrested and charged him for making a false statement.

Alexander Montagu, 53, made a series of sensational allegations about his American wife, including the claim she had stabbed him with a knife

He has been placed under house arrest until his trial.

During his Facebook tirade, the Duke, who lives in Las Vegas, added: Laura has gone back to her maiden name and is no longer the Duchess of Manchester.

'If she attempts to use the title she be COMITING FRAUD [sic].

I hate to correct him but, according to law, Laura can continue to call herself Laura, Duchess of Manchester.

Although he is the bearer of one of Britains great hereditary titles  Alexander is one of only 24 people outside the Royal Family to retain the title of Duke in the UK.

He was born and brought up in Australia. His family once owned four vast estates in Britain and Ireland, but Alexander has squandered what has remained of his fortune.

He has previously demanded that a court in Nevada treat him as a pauper due to a lack of funds  a request that was granted.

In 2007, the Duke was also exposed as a bigamist at the High Court following a custody fight with second wife Wendy.

When I received a call last week from one of my spies telling me they had just seen Kate Moss scoffing kebabs on Brick Lane I laughed off the idea. After all, as Kate herself once said, nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.

But then I decided to do a bit of digging and, as my picture shows, the supermodel was indeed scoffing fast food out of a van. Alas it wasnt a kebab.

Kate, 42, was helping her younger brother Nick sell Vietnamese street food from a stall he operates in East London

Instead Kate, 42, was helping her younger brother Nick sell Vietnamese street food from a stall he operates in East London  a venture he has cleverly named Vietvan.
The fashion sales company which boasts Sophie Monk as an ambassador has become embroiled in legal trouble.

Carousell, a website and app where users can sell their clothing to others, has been served a cease and desist letter from an Australian lifestyle site with a similar name.

The drama came after a press release for the app, and its new partnership with the KIIS FM host, landed on the desk of The Carousel's founder Robyn Foyster, reported The Daily Telegraph.

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Bad timing: Sophie Monk announced she would sell her clothing through the popular app to raise money for charity just days before the company's legal dramas were revealed

Robyn was aware of the selling app, and had previously sent out a cease and desist letter claiming her company had trademarked The Carousel and other words surrounding the name.

Despite waiting months to hear back, the press release had been the first contact she'd had with the company since sending the notice.

'I wrote back to the PR,' she said.

'I explained and [said] can you please give them a prompt to at least give me a call, and I haven't heard from either party.'.

Purging: As the former Bardot singer prepares to move house, she used the opportunity to get rid of some of her belongings

Carousell launched in Singapore in 2012, and has specific pages for users in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, the US and Australia.

Robyn, the former editor-in-chief of Women's Weekly and New Idea, set The Carousel live in 2014, according to a press release published by Mumbrella.

She told the Telegraph her company had held the trademark since 2013.

Carousell applied for an Australian trademark in July last year, but are yet to receive it.

For a good cause: Money raised from the sale will go towards the Make A Wish Foundation

The sales app confirmed they had received Robyn's cease and desist letter, but were still reviewing the matter with their own legal team.

Sophie Monk, while having no personal investment in the legal battle, has recently signed on as the face of the app.

She had pledged to sell some of her old clothes as she prepares to move house to raise money for the Make A Wish Foundation.

Among the list of items to be auctioned off is an eye-popping blue faux fur coat, a fur key-chain, a set of workout gear and a silk robe emblazoned with the word MONK on the back.

Sophie Monk was due to auction off her pre-loved items via Carousell on December 14th at 3pm AEST.

Daily Mail Australia have contacted the radio star for comment.
She was this year's most controversial contestant.

And Honey G may have been booted off The X Factor weeks before but she was back with a bang on Saturday night when she took the stage at the final to debut her first single.

The 35-year-old aspiring rapper joined the bevy of A-list guest stars in taking the stage alone - leading to uproar from viewers who blasted the special treatment she received over other eliminated hopefuls.

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Rapping up: And Honey G may have been booted off The X Factor weeks before but she was back with a bang on Saturday night when she took the stage at the final to debut her first single

Belting it out: The 35-year-old aspiring rapper joined the bevy of A-list guest stars in taking the stage alone - leading to uproar from viewers who blasted the special treatment she received over other eliminated hopefuls

Honey G, who finished fifth on the ITV talent show, took to the stage for a performance of some of her biggest covers from the show whilst also giving fans a sneak preview of her debut single.

Speaking to host Dermot OLeary after her performance, she said: 'It felt wicked (to be up there). I just want to plug my single that's coming out on December 23 called The Honey G Show.

'Everyone whos locked in, were going to rip it up. This is the Honey G official takeover ... There was a sneak preview of my upcoming single in that medley.

'Everyones got to go out and buy it and support the single. Honey Gs taking over. Its Honey G time.'

Honey in the House: The rapper, who finished fifth on the show, took to the stage for a mash-up of some of her biggest covers whilst also giving fans a preview of her debut single

Chart topper? Speaking to host Dermot afterwards, she said: 'It felt wicked (to be up there). I just want to plug my single that's coming out on December 23 called The Honey G Show

I say Honey, you say G: She added in a plea to her fans: 'Everyones got to go out and buy it and support the single. Honey Gs taking over. Its Honey G time'

During the performance, Honey G and the X Factor judges - Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Nicole Scherzinger and Sharon Osbourne - all donned Honeys trademark sunglasses, which had her name scrolling across them in lights.

The Harrow-born rapper, real name is Anna Georgette Gilford, is the first former contestant to perform a solo track at the final of the series which they took part in.

However, the decision to bring back Honey G was blasted by fans, with one viewer taking to Twitter to write: 'So you let Honey G come back to Wembley but no one else? What makes the talentless waste of a rap Honey so special? Very strange decision? (sic)'

Rapper supreme: During the performance, Honey G and the X Factor judges - Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Nicole Scherzinger and Sharon Osbourne - all donned Honeys trademark sunglasses, which had her name scrolling across them in lights

Picking it up: The Harrow born rapper, real name is Anna Georgette Gilford, is the first former contestant to perform a solo track at the final of the series which they took part in

Grunge girl: Honey amped up the glamour of her usual grungy ensembles by sporting her favoured style of a bomber jacket emblazoned with chunky silver gems

Divisive: However the comeback performance and announcement of her single was met with mixed reviews from fans on Twitter

Another user added: 'Why was Honey G getting special treatment over the other finalists??? Not as if Emily will get a five minute slot to give a promo for her new single... shocking behaviour X-factor (sic)'

However, some were pleased to see the return of the rapper, with one writing: "Shocking that she was ever voted out. HONEY G IS THE XFACTOR!!! What a performance!!! (sic)"

Earlier in the evening, Honey joined the other finalists to perform a mash up of Little Mixs 'Shout Out To My Ex', DNCE's 'Cake By The Ocean' and Justin Timberlake's 'Cant Stop The Feeling'.

During Saturday night's show, 5 After Midnight left the competition, leaving Matt Terry and Saara Alto to fight it out to be crowned this year's 'X Factor' champion.

'Strange': One viewer complained: 'What makes the talentless waste of a rap Honey so special?'

Big fans: While another was pleased to see the return of the rapper, writing: 'Shocking that she was ever voted out. HONEY G IS THE XFACTOR!!! What a performance!!! (sic)'

Big things coming: Honey's single is set for release on December 23
She may have just been trying to whip up support for her act Matt Terry, but Nicole Scherzinger inadvertently put her foot in it on Saturday night's X Factor.

'Come on, England! Get behind your own!' the Hawaiian-born beauty told viewers, following Matt's first song.

Her comments were quickly corrected by presenter Dermot O'Leary who said to Matt that he would 'probably want Scotland and Wales to get behind you as well.'

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Faux pas: Nicole didn't impress fans upset at her failure to mention Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland on Saturday night's X Factor

Fans were not particularly happy with the comment, with some suggesting the 37-year-old was making reference to the fact that Matt's main rival Saara Aalto is Finnish.

'C'mon @NicoleScherzy, you know by now the UK isn't just England!' tweeted one fan, while another added: 'Nicole Scherzinger seems to forget that the UK contains more than just England!'

Another Twitter user was even less impressed, adding: 'Vote for your own England? Seriously? @NicoleScherzy that's wrong on so many levels.'

However, other fans were full of praise for the ex-Pussycat Doll, especially with her Purple Rain duet.

'Got to say, that's the best X Factor performance ever with @NicoleScherzy,' tweeted one fan, while another wrote how much they 'couldn't wait' for her next album.

Not impressed: Fans took to Twitter to criticise Nicole for her faux pas

However, the criticism didn't seem to have affected Matt's standing as a fan favourite, with viewers voting him through to Sunday night's grand finale where he'll battle it out with Saara.

However, 5 After Midnight were disappointed to come third, with members Kieran Alleyne, Nathan Lewis and Jordan Lee narrowly missing out in a place.

Jordan said: 'What can I say? It's been the best experience ever! There's been so much support and so much love. I can't thank you guys enough.

'And we just hope for the best; the best people come out third, the best people come out second and the best people win it. That's how it is.'

Whilst Kieran added: 'It was amazing. We just want to say thank you to everybody that's voted for us. To Simon, Nicole, Sharon and of course, Louis.'

Their mentor Louis Walsh was full of praise for the group, telling host Dermot O'Leary: 'Catch them on the X Factor tour. This is the start! It's all going to happen for them.'

Successful act: Nicole was thrilled when fans voted Matt Terry through

More praise: Other fans were much more supportive of Nicole, praising her duet of Prince song Purple Rain with Matt Terry

Earlier in the evening, 5 After Midnight opened the show - which was broadcast live from Wembley Arena, London - with a rendition of Beyonce's Crazy In Love, which received high praise from the judges.

Nicole told them: 'That is the way you open up the X Factor final at Wembley Arena. Your energy is electric. Awesome job.'

Whilst Sharon gushed: 'The energy in here is Crazy In Love for you guys. Great performance from you all.'

And despite a little dig at Louis, Simon praised the trio, telling them: 'This worked in the real world. The reason you've done so well is because you've worked so hard. This is what the X Factor's all about.'

Into the final: Matt Terry will battle it out against Saara Aalto on Sunday

Sing when you're winning: Matt gave an effortless performance of Take Me Home

Later, the hopefuls returned to the stage to perform hit song 'Tears' with Clean Bandit and last year's 'X Factor' winner Louisa Johnson.

Meanwhile, Matt Terry wowed with an effortless performance of Take Me Home full of his signature falsetto whilst Saara Alto took to the stage to stun the 12,000-strong audience with Everybody Wants to Rule the World.

During the final, Matt duetted with his mentor Nicole for a performance of Prince's 'Purple Rain' and Saara was joined by her dream collaborator Adam Lambert to sing Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

The X Factor continues on Sunday night when Saara and Matt will fight it out to be named this year's X Factor champion. Kylie Minogue, Madness and Little Mix will also perform.

Victorious: Nicole and an emotional Matt thank fans for their support




He's one of the most prolific and talented directors in Hollywood history.

So when Steven Spielberg got up to speak at Kirk Douglas's 100th birthday party on Friday evening, the audience was riveted.

The 69-year-old Raiders of the Lost Ark director had nothing but admiration for the silver screen legend.

A big fan: Steven Spielberg had nothing but admiration for Kirk Douglas at his 100th birthday bash

'I used to think 100 was a number that was the impossible dream' he began, before explaining how impressed he was with 'what you have done with your life.'

After reminding Kirk that he was an 'honorary member of the Spielberg family', the movie mogul delivered what was perhaps the ultimate compliment.

'I wanted to come here and say I've been shooting movies and television shows for 47 years now and I've worked with the best of them and you're the only movie star I ever met,' he gushed.

Sweet gesture: After reminding Kirk that he was an 'honorary member of the Spielberg family', the movie mogul delivered what was perhaps the ultimate compliment

Major praise: 'I wanted to come here and say I've been shooting movies and television shows for 47 years now and I've worked with the best of them and you're the only movie star I ever met,' he gushed

VIP: When Steven Spielberg got up to speak at Kirk Douglas's 100th birthday party on Friday evening, the audience was riveted

He continued, 'there is something that you have that no one else ever had... When you watch Kirk's performance in anything, in anything he's ever done, you cannot take your eyes off of him. It's not possible to look away from him.'

Spielberg called it an optimistic ferocity and it's something he challenges all his actors to achieve in his films.

'You're a miracle man,' he concluded.

Old friends: Longtime funnyman Don Rickles, 90, had his own tribute to the screen icon

Recognizing greatness: Studio executive Jeffrey Katezenberg, 65, also stopped by

The Jaws director was only one of many A-listers and industry titans on hand for Kirk's milestone birthday.

Longtime funnyman Don Rickles, 90, had his own tribute to the screen icon, and studio executive Jeffrey Katezenberg, 65, also stopped by.

Of course Kirk's famous progeny were there as well, including son Michael Douglas, 72, and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, 47.
Their torrid relationship was tested to the limit when he betrayed her for an old flame.

But the fiery passion between Ross Poldark and his wife Demelza has been rekindled  judging by their embrace in our exclusive pictures from the set of the next series of the BBC drama.

Heart-throb Aidan Turner, 33, who plays the troubled hero in the 18th Century Cornish saga, and 24-year-old Eleanor Tomlinson were filmed laughing and hugging joyfully before gazing deeply into each others eyes.

The fiery passion between Ross Poldark and his wife Demelza has been rekindled  judging by their embrace in our exclusive pictures from the set of the next series of the BBC drama

The scene from the third series of Poldark  set to be broadcast next year  was shot at a Grade II listed farmhouse near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, amid tight security.

The couples embrace suggests that Demelza has fully forgiven Ross for the adulterous night he spend with his former fiancee Elizabeth Warleggan, played by Heida Reed, in the last series.

Public opinion was divided over their controversial encounter and whether it showed consensual sex or rape.

Heart-throb Aidan Turner, 33, who plays the troubled hero in the 18th Century Cornish saga, and 24-year-old Eleanor Tomlinson were filmed laughing and hugging joyfully

Now it seems the Poldarks marriage is back on track despite a question mark over the paternity of Elizabeths unborn child.

The home-coming scenes show a brooding Ross galloping across wintry fields before leaping into Demelzas arms.

Off-screen, Turner was spotted last week with his girlfriend  artist Nettie Wakefield, 28  as they smoked cigarettes after leaving fashionable London restaurant Scotts of Mayfair.
Some would argue that his career is currently on fire.

But luckily for Jared Leto, it seems his house was not, though the Los Angeles Fire Department was called to his massive compound on Friday night.

According to TMZ, the 44-year-old Dallas Buyers Club actor's house was evacuated when someone smelled smoke.

False alarm: Luckily for Jared Leto, it seems his house was not on fire, though the Los Angeles Fire Department was called to his massive compound on Friday night

After dispatching multiple units however, firefighters could find no evidence of fire at the 50,000 square foot property.

Leto originally purchased the unique Laurel Canyon property, which appears more industrial than residential from the outside, for $5 million back in January of 2015, according to Variety.

It was originally known as the Lookout Mountain Laboratory and/or the Lookout Mountain Air Force Station, and was constructed in the 1940s to serve as a military film studio.

Multipurpose: It was originally known as the Lookout Mountain Laboratory and/or the Lookout Mountain Air Force Station, and was constructed in the 1940s to serve as a military film studio

Out and about: Jared did not seem too concerned about the situation as he was quite active on Snapchat on Saturday night

The My So-Called Life hunk's historic home features eight bedrooms, tiled floors, and low-beamed ceilings.

The blue-eyed teen idol maintains his luscious mane in any one of the property's 12 bathrooms.

Speaking of bathtubs, there's one prominently placed in one of the luxurious screening rooms.

Strip mall? Leto originally purchased the unique Laurel Canyon property, which appears more industrial than residential from the outside, for $5 million back in January of 2015

Real estate mogul? While he is now ensconced in his compound, back in November he placed another one of his Hollywood Hills homes on the market for an asking price of $1, 999,000

While he is now ensconced in his compound, back in November he placed another one of his Hollywood Hills homes on the market for an asking price of $1, 999,000.

It seems the actor, who purchased the four-bed and three-bath starter house for 1.65 million in 2006 before he hit mega-star status, was finally over his nostalgia (his girlfriend at the time, Cameron Diaz, often stayed there) and was ready to unload the piece of real estate.

The contemporary-style home was built in 1955 and features 4,021 square feet on a private and secluded lot in east Hollywood Hills.
He celebrated his dad's amazing life as her turned 100 on Friday.

And on Saturday it was Michael Douglas's turn to play the awesome dad, as he brought his two children to the world premiere of Rogue One: A Star Wars story.

The 72-year-old brought 16-year-old son Dylan and 13-year-old daughter Carys to the exciting screening at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

From Spartacus to Star Wars: Michael Douglas, 72, took his teenage children to the Rogue One premiere on Saturday, the day after celebrating dad Kirk's 100th birthday

The Ant-Man star looked sharp in a dark navy suit and black button down, forgoing the tie.

Dylan out-formalled his dad in his black suit, with a matching lilac shirt and tie.

Mom lookalike Carys meanwhile looked gorgeous in a short black dress, finished in a cute white bow belted around the waist.

The siblings' mother, 47-year-old Catherine Zeta-Jones, unfortunately missed the flick.

Still got it: The Ant-Man star looked sharp in a dark navy suit and black button down, forgoing the tie

Proud dad: Dylan out-formalled his dad in his black suit, with a matching lilac shirt and tie. Mom lookalike Carys meanwhile looked gorgeous in a short black dress, finished in a cute white bow belted around the waist

She did however make her father-in-law's party the night before at the Beverly Hills Hotel, along with 150 or so other friends and family.

Carys and Dylan obviously made it too, as did the Spartacus legend's 97-year-old wife of 62 years, Anne Buydens Douglas.

On Saturday night the trio rubbed shoulders with the cast of the eagerly awaited Star Wars spin-off, including Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen and Riz Ahmed.

All together: On Friday, the trio joined Michael's wife Catherine Zeta Jones and stepmom Anne Buydens Douglas at his dad's 100th birthday party at the Beverly Hills Hotel

Oddly, just like all of the press stops before it, Forest Whitaker was once again nowhere to be found.

Hollywood Blvd and Vine St, along with many of the surrounding streets were shut down for the entire weekend of the premiere, closing off a 20-block section in the heart of Tinseltown.

Set before the events of 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope, Rogue One sees the Rebel Alliance enlist Felicity's Jyn Erso to help steal the blueprint of the Galactic Empire's planet-vaporising Death Star, which her father helped to build.

All star: On Saturday night the Douglases rubbed shoulders with the cast of the eagerly awaited Star Wars spin-off, including Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen and Riz Ahmed
The Hunger Games starlet has been filming a western movie in Oklahoma.

But Stef Dawson has returned to her native Australia this week ahead of the opening of the Hunger Games exhibition in Sydney's Darling Harbour.

And local fans are in for a special treat, with the Sydney leg of the tour the first to display Stef's character, Annie Cresta's wedding dress.

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Cutting the ribbon: Hunger Games actress Stef Dawson, who plays Annie Cresta, has returned home to Australia to help open the film's exhibition in Sydney

The Hunger Games: The Exhibition opens in Sydney's new convention centre, the ICC this month with props, costumes and interactive exhibits to give fans of the film an immersive experience.

'It's like stepping into the world of Panem,' Stef told AAP.

'You really feel like you're on set in that kind of environment and it's very interactive. There's a lot of fun things to do.

Immersive: The 27-year-old says she personally loved the interactive exhibition and took her friends in New York to go and see it

'I took my mates to it in New York and there was this cool photo where it looks like you're on the chariots like in Catching Fire (the second film in the franchise).'

The 27-year-old will also be present at the opening on December 20 for a two-hour meet and greet with fans.

Hunger Games was a huge career boost for the flame-haired actress, who has since gone on to star in The Lennon Report and television hit Cleverman.

Moving on: Since filming wrapped on the franchise hit, she has gone on to star in The Lennon Report and television hit Cleverman

She is currently filming The Mustanger and the Lady, which is due for release in May next year.

Despite her growing star and varied projects, Stef admitted she hadn't completely let go of the franchise and would love to see it continued.

'They're such complex stories, each character in that world, you could make a movie about every single one of them, there's so much to them,' she gushed.

'Who knows what the future will bring, but as far as I know there are no plans yet.'
Sally Obermeder is counting down the days till she is holding her second baby.

And as she awaits the birth via a surrogate in the United States, the Australian TV personality is getting in a little family bonding in the meantime.

The 43-year-old took to Instagram on Saturday to share a special moment, seemingly inside the obstetrician's office, as her daughter Annabelle met with her unborn sibling.

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Making friends: Daily Edition co-host Sally Obermeder shared an adorable photo to Instagram on Saturday as her daughter Annabelle reached out to touch the baby bump of their surrogate, Rachel, as the family eagerly awaits the birth of the new bub in the United States

The image showed the five-year-old with her little hand spread out out across surrogate Rachel's belly as she gently touched the baby bump .

'Everything about this picture makes my heart explode with love and gratitude,' Sally captioned the heart-warming photograph.

It was shared with her 60,000 Instagram followers, and received an outpouring of well wishes from fans and friends.

Exploding: As she waits for the arrival of her second child, Sally says she feels 'love and gratitude'

Sally chose to use a surrogate mother for her second pregnancy after she was diagnosed with breast cancer the day before giving birth to Annabelle in 2011.

Though extensive treatment, including 16 rounds of chemotherapy put her in remission, doctors warned her becoming pregnant again would be incredibly dangerous for her health, reported Woman's Day.

She first met Rachel, from Wisconsin, in 2014 and the already mother-of-three agreed to carry her child for no financial gain.

Growing family: Due to a battle with aggressive stage three breast cancer after Annabelle's birth in 2011, Sally has been medically advised against carrying future children herself, and decided to use a surrogate in the US to have another child

The unborn child is something Sally feels she could never truly repay the American woman for.

'How do you even repay someone, like a bottle of perfume just doesn't cut it. The gift, I mean, it is priceless,' she gushed.

'How amazing that there are people like Rachel in this world, like a woman from the other side of the world who I don't even know who would do this for me?'
Whilst many families spent Saturday lounging about at home, Reese Witherspoon brought hers with her on a day out.

Her husband Jim Toth and their four-year-old son Tennessee joined her for a day of shopping at the Brentwood Country Mart.

The 40-year-old had bundled up in the Mary-Lou Plaid Sweater from her brand Draper James, which she'd launched last May.

A weekend out: Reese Witherspoon spent part of her Saturday strolling about the Brentwood Country Mart

Her jumper, which presently retails at $165 (131.22), featured a red, green and blue tartan pattern splattered across its front.

Its sleeves and hem, however, were a solid blue, elegantly complementing the dark pair of tight jeans the Wild actress had selected.

She completed her outfit with cat-eye sunglasses and a pair of orange stilettos, slinging a black leather Yves Saint Laurent purse cross-body from her right shoulder.

Family day: She was accompanied by her husband Jim Toth and their son Tennessee

A half-decade on: The actress and the talent agent have been married since 2011

Adding to the family: Their four-year-old is the couple's only biological child together, though she's got two other children by her former marriage to Ryan Phillippe

Meanwhile, her spouse of five years went for head-toe-black, a figure-hugging T-shirt matching his jeans and the sunglasses dangling from his neckline.

The Walk The Line star was certain to keep her youngest child entertained, getting him an orange Brentwood Country Mart balloon as well as a lollipop.

Whilst Tennessee is the only biological child Mr and Mrs Toth have got together, he is in fact his mother's third.

A bit of promotion: She'd got on the Mary-Lou Plaid Sweater from her brand Draper James, which she'd launched last May

Entertained: She kept her son occupied with a lollipop for part of their day

A splash of haute couture: The Wild actress accessorised with a black leather Yves Saint-Laurent purse

Her marriage to Ryan Phillippe, which lasted from 1999 to 2007, yielded a now 17-year-old daughter called Ava and a now 13-year-old son called Deacon.

Whilst Draper James hadn't set up shop at the Brentwood Country Mart, another famous platinum blonde was, indeed, hawking her brand there.

Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle company Goop, which had inaugurated a pop-up shop at the Mart in 2014, continued the tradition this year with Goop Gift.

Augmenting the look: Black cat-eye sunglasses clashed against her platinum blonde hair

Festive: She and her son had also got an orange Brentwood Country Mart balloon

A supportive man: Gwyneth Paltrow, who'd got a pop-up shop Goop Gift at the marketplace, was joined by her boyfriend Brad Falchuk when she turned up on Saturday

Paltrow herself had turned up on Saturday, her producer boyfriend Brad Falchuk trailing along behind her.

Later that day, Witherspoon's Snapchat showed her sat in a white bathrobe, Ava stood behind her in a red dress. 'My makeup artist,' purple text read.

Another Snapchat post showed her light-festooned Christmas tree in a corner. White text read: 'Tree Trimmed,' next to a white check mark in a green square.

Mother-daughter time: That day, Witherspoon's Snapchat showed her sat in a white bathrobe, Ava stood behind her in a red dress

'My makeup artist': Her daughter appeared to be helping the film star get ready for her evening
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She plays a no-nonsense warrior in the upcoming blockbuster.

But Felicity Jones cut a ladylike figure as she attended the world premiere for the highly-anticipated Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in Hollywood on Saturday.

The 33-year-old actress looked majestic as she hit the red carpet in a semi-sheer corset style gown.

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Majestic! Felicity Jones looked radiant at the world premiere for the highly-anticipated Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in Hollywood on Saturday

The Academy Award-nominated actress was radiant in the low-cut flowing number which flashed a hint of decolletage.

She stood out from the crowd in the lustrous silver and gold metallic garb which was adorned with floral embroidering throughout.

Felicity posed for fans with her hunky co-star Diego Luna, 36 - who portrays the role of Captain Cassian Andor - as he was polished to perfection.

Showstopper! The 33-year-old actress made sure to turn heads as she hit the red carpet in a semi-sheer corset style gown

Flawless! The Academy Award-nominated actress was radiant in the long flowing number

Svelte: The English actress showed off her enviable physique in the lustrous garb which flashed a hint of decolletage

Pretty as a petal! Her intricately detailed frock was adorned with floral embroidering throughout

The award-winning actor donned a fitted navy suit with black skinny neck tie, crisp white dress shirt and polished black shoes.

Felicity will hit the big screen as Jyn Erso in the epic space opera flick which is the first stand alone Star Wars anthology film.

The Theory of Everything starlet recently told Metro newspaper that she doesn't think it's a 'big deal' as a female playing the lead role in such a huge film.

Fan-atical! The Theory of Everything starlet took time to sign autographs for hordes of admirers

Picture perfect! Felicity paused for a snapshot with her hunky co-star Diego Luna, 36

Polished to perfection! The award-winning actor donned a fitted navy suit with black skinny tie, crisp white dress shirt and polished black shoes

'We are half the population': Felicity recently told Metro newspaper that she doesn't think it's a 'big deal' as a female playing the lead role in such a huge film

All-star lineup! Mads Mikkelsen, Riz Ahmed, Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk and Donnie Yen (L-R) posed for a cast snapshot at the hotly-anticipated world premiere

'People keep saying how amazing it is having a female lead and I just sort of feel, well, of course, it shouldn't be such a big deal. We are half the population.'

Despite this, Felicity admitted that during her childhood, she would pretend to be a male character rather than the glamorous Princess Leia.

She said: 'I was definitely Han Solo! Or Luke Skywalker. I was a tomboy. I think that's what I tapped into playing Jyn. I was very sporty.'

Star Wars soldiers! A group of Stormtroopers led the way as they entered the red carpet premiere

Good company! The entire cast and crew reunited as they posed with several Stormtroopers

Beaming! Felicity was all smiles while posing up a storm with fans who waited to catch a glimpse of the beauty

Natural beauty! The English actress went with a touch of rosy cheek, shimmering eye shadow and peach glossy lip to match the tone of her ensemble

Dapper! Co-stars (L-R) Alan Tudyk, Diego and Donnie Yen smouldered in their fitted suits

Say cheese! Mads Mikkelsen posed for selfies with fans dressed up in full costume

World-class event! The premiere for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was held at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood

Brave beauty! Felicity - who portrays no-nonsense warrior Jyn Erso - showed no fear as a towering Stormtrooper passed by

Nothing but love! Fans from all different walks of life crowded together to celebrate at the world premiere for the epic space opera flick

Highly-anticipated! The masses began to gather early for the star-studded event held at Hollywood's Pantages Theater

Pulling out all the stops! The red carpet was staged with iconic props from the film

Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, 51, plays Jyn's father Galen, and trailers suggests that he is perhaps the designer of the most powerful space station ever built.

Set before the events of the 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope, Rogue One sees the Rebel Alliance enlist Jyn to help steal the blueprint of the Galactic Empire's planet-vaporising Death Star.

In the original Star Wars film, those plans wind up in the hands of Princess Leia and then Luke Skywalker, who ultimately destroys it successfully.

Chewie approved! Peter Mayhew, 72 - best known for playing Chewbacca in the Star Wars film series - gave the upcoming film two thumbs up

Shining star! Jaime King, 37, dazzled in a shimmering gold and black strapless gown

Flawless! The Sin City starlet flaunted her svelte figure in the form-fitting number

Family affair! Michael Douglas, 72, looked sharp in a black suit as he attended the world premiere with the two children he shares with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones - Dylan, 16, and Carys, 13

Ricky Martin attended the star-studded premiere with fiance Jwan Yosef and eight-year-old twin boys, Matteo (L) and Valentino (R)

Effortlessly cool! Mario Lopez, 43, looked handsome as ever dressed in all black

Leaping for Lucasfilm! Brooklyn Nine-Nine star and NFL star Terry Crews, 48, caught some air as he flew into the world premiere in Hollywood

Like father, like son! Terry mimicked the pose with his adorable nine-year-old son Isaiah

Laid-back looks: Fall Out Boy members Pete Wentz and Andy Hurley dressed in their typical rocker style

The Gareth Edwards-directed film co-stars Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Alan Tudyk, Ben Mendelsohn and Mads Mikkelsen.

It also features an all-star lineup including Forest Whitaker, James Earl Jones and Jimmy Smits.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is scheduled to hit theatres on December 16.

Red hot! Rachael Leigh Cook, 37, looked exquisite in a bright crimson strapless jumpsuit

Ageless beauty! Thelma and Louise star Geena Davis defied her 60 years as she looked youthful in a chic black coat

Warm welcome: Bill Nye the Science Guy, 61, was graciously greeted by costumed characters

Matching in monochrome: Star Trek actor Wil Wheaton, 44, attended the premiere with his wife Anne, who looked stunning in a black dress with cut-out panels throughout

Star Wars selfie! Wheaton jumped in front of a group of costumed fans and snapped a quick photo

Feminine frock: Entourage actress Constance Zimmer, 46, channeled her inner tomboy in a chic black and white ladies' suit

Red carpet romance! Comedian Chris Hardwick, 45, attended the premiere with his actress and heiress new bride Lydia Hearst, 32

'Merry Force Be With You': Backstreet Boys members Kevin Richardson and A. J. McLean playfully posed with Stormtroopers

Bonding Backstreet Boys! Kevin took to the red carpet with his adorable nine-year-old son Mason

Father-daughter duo: Comedian Kevin Smith, 46, and his daughter Harley Quinn Smith, 17, attended the star-studded affair
On Saturday, the L.A. Dance Project rang in its annual gala at the Theatre At Ace Hotel in Los Angeles.

Natalie Portman had donned a flowing black dress that minimised the bulging bump indicating her second pregnancy.

On her arm was her husband of four years, choreographer Benjamin Millepied, who'd co-founded the organisation in 2012.

On Saturday, the L.A. Dance Project rang in its annual gala at the Theatre At Ace Hotel in Los Angeles

Portman, who in 2011 won an Oscar for playing a ballerina in Black Swan, had done her hair into winsome curls that rested comfortably on her shoulders.

A bit of light fringe encircled her neckline, and cloth flowers lined the cuffs of her full-length sleeves. Red nail paint clashed against her outfit.

The 35-year-old accessorised with a gleaming black clutch, as well as a pair of glistening drop earrings.

Hand of support: On her arm was her husband of four years, choreographer Benjamin Millepied, who'd co-founded the organisation in 2012

Chic: The 35-year-old had donned a flowing black dress that minimised the bulging bump indicating her second pregnancy

Happy couple: Benjamin and actress Natalie were side by side as they posed for photos

Next to her, her husband had got on an attractive midnight blue suit with swirling baroque patterns on its jacket.

A matching tie clashed against his white dress shirt, and he completed his ensemble with black shoes that appeared to be made of suede.

The Jerusalem native and the Bordeaux native have already got a child: a son called Aleph, born in June the year before his parents' wedding.

Next to her, her husband had got on an attractive midnight blue suit with swirling baroque patterns on its jacket

Stylish: Portman, who in 2011 won an Oscar for playing a ballerina in Black Swan, had done her hair into winsome curls that rested comfortably on her shoulders

Expanding the family: The Jerusalem native and the Bordeaux native have already got a child: a son called Aleph, born in June the year before his parents' wedding

Per Time Out, the gala's been scheduled as a two-day event, stretching across Friday and Saturday and including several dance performances.

Among them was the debut of a piece called Homecoming, which Millepied himself choreographed to a score by Rufus Wainwright.

On The Other Side, choreographed to a suite of Philip Glass piano etudes, is another Millepied piece, though it's already had its world premiere over the summer at Sadler's Wells.

Augmenting the look: The 35-year-old accessorised with a gleaming black clutch, as well as a pair of glistening drop earrings

In good company: The actress was also joined by handsome British star Robert Pattinson

Connection to dance: Portman won an Academy Award in 2011 for playing a ballerina in the Darren Aronofsky film Black Swan

Raising a glass: The actress was on hand to celebrate with American composer, pianist and film producer Nicholas Britell
Nicole Kidman joined Lion co-stars and producers in paying a visit to the British Consulate in Los Angeles.

The Hollywood star was welcomed into the government building by British Consul General Chris O'Connor on Saturday.

A glamorous-looking Nicole was joined by co-star Dev Patel and the film's youngest cast member Sunny Pawar, while director Garth Davis was also in attendance.

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Government business: Nicole Kidman joined Lion co-stars Dev Patel (R) and Sunny Pawar (middle) and producers in paying a visit to the British Consulate in Los Angeles

The 49-year-old cut a classy figure in an all-black ensemble as she posed with the aforementioned pair in front of a Christmas tree.

Nicole wore a knee-length dress, featuring a silver chain decoration, paired with a pair of black leather boots.

Later as she chatted to an unidentified man during the visit, the Australia star wrapped a black shawl around her shoulders.

Warm welcome: The Hollywood star was welcomed into the government building by British Consul General Chris O'Connor on Saturday

Feeling festive: The 49-year-old cut a classy figure in an all-black ensemble as she posed with Dev (R), Sunny (middle) and Chris (L) in front of a Christmas tree

She wore her trademark ginger locks in a ponytail as she accessorised with earrings, a silver watch and a collection of rings.

Meanwhile, Slumdog Millionaire star Dev, who plays Nicole's adopted son in the film, looked smart in a dark blue suit.

The 26-year-old went without a tie to go with a grey shirt as he left his curly black locks untamed.

Chilly, Nicole? Later as she chatted to an unidentified man during the visit, the Australia star wrapped a black shawl around her shoulders

However, the star of the visit was eight-year-old Sunny, who cut a charming figure in a black tuxedo.

The youngster, who plays a younger version of Dev's character Saroo Brierley in Lion, wore a smart bow tie to complete his dapper ensemble.

After its release in November, Lion has been touted as a possible winner at next year's Oscars - with Nicole already picking up the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Hollywood Film Awards for her role as Sue Brierley.
He launched his career in the hospitality business 19 years ago and is now worth $400 million.

And in his latest interview, Jamie Oliver has revealed the scary sides to his fame and fortune.

Speaking to Stellar magazine, the 41-year-old revealed he has been physically and verbally abused by random men in the street.

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The dark side to fame: Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has revealed he's been physically and verbally abused by random men in the street since launching his career 19 years ago

While going into details, he explained to the publication that he was 'chased by one massive dude' back in 1999 after the launch of his TV series, The Naked Chef.

'I thought I was going to get a proper kicking; he pinned me against the wall,' the world renowned chef said.

'He said: 'If I had seen you a month ago, I would have beaten the s**t of you, but actually I've learned to cook. In fact, I think I'm better than you; go on, move on".'

Scary: He has explained he was 'chased by one massive dude' and 'pinned up against a wall' back in 1999 after the launch of his TV series, The Naked Chef

Horrible: The published author added that he would have 'proper blokey blokes, built like a brick' queue in lines of his book signings for hours, just to hail abuse at him at the end

Jamie added that similar incidents happened on a number of occasions throughout his rise to international fame.

The TV star and published author went on to explain that he would have 'proper blokey blokes, built like a brick' queue in lines of his book signings for hours, just to hail abuse at him at the end.

'At the last minute, they don't want to give me a hug and say "thank you", they just start to abuse me and take the piss out of me and start being quite horrible,' he told the publication.

Annoying: The TV star said: 'At the last minute, they don't want to give me a hug and say "thank you", they just start to abuse me and take the piss out of me and start being quite horrible'

Now years on from the confronting scenes, Jamie said he believes he has finally shaped the view that cooking was 'just for girls' and that males are beginning to get involved more.

But ungracious fans aren't the only people the father-of-five has found himself getting into beefs with.

Early last year, Jamie re-ignited his feud with fellow celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay by accusing him of being 'deeply jealous' of his success.

He publicly hit out at his Scottish rival after he criticised him for not attending the opening of his new restaurant - Jamie's Italian - in Hong Kong.

Shifting a change: Now years on from the comforting scenes, Jamie said he believes he has finally shaped the view that cooking was 'just for girls' and males are beginning to get involved

Heated: But ungracious fans aren't the only people the Jamie (L) has found himself getting into beefs with. Early last year, he re-ignited his feud with fellow celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay (R)

During an opening in Sydney, Australia, Jaime said: 'Gordon will do anything to try and take the p**s out of me because he is deeply jealous and can't quite work out why I do what I do and why he can't do that.

'He is too busy shouting and screaming and making our industry look like a bunch of shouters and screamers.'

The feud between the two has been long running, with Gordon saying Oliver was 'just a cook' while he proclaimed himself to be 'a chef' during a tour in 2010.

A year earlier, he admitted he was not a fan of Oliver, describing him as a 'one-pot wonder.'
They've been together for two years.

And Robert Pattinson looked very much in love with fiancee FKA Twigs as they stepped out together on Saturday.

The 30-year-old actor cosied up to the private-school educated rapper from Cheltenham, UK, as they attended L.A. Dance Project Annual Gala in Los Angeles.

Together: Robert Pattinson stepped out with fiancee FKA Twigs on Saturday

Robert looked dashing in a well-fitted blue suit as they socialised at the Ace Hotel Theatre in Downtown L.A.

He omitted to wear a tie, preferring to leave his white shirt unbuttoned at the neck revealing a few chest hairs.

The Harry Potter actor sported a light dusting of facial hair and quiffed his brunette tresses into place.

Look of love: The 30-year-old actor cosied up to the private-school educated rapper from Cheltenham, UK, as they attended L.A. Dance Project Annual Gala in Los Angeles

The actor seems to be in a great mood, as he put his rugged good looks on display for the evening.

The British actor looked to be in a happy mood, alongside his serious-looking lady-love.

Twigs, whose real name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, 28, wore a glamorous red gown and pulled her hair into braids.

Dashing: He put his rugged good looks on display for the evening

Follicle challenge: He omitted to wear a tie, preferring to leave his white shirt unbuttoned at the neck revealing a few chest hairs

She recently explained to ES Magazine why she doesn't feel her age.

Explaining her viewpoint, she said: 'In human years, I am like 28. But how old are we really? We don't even know. In time that humans have set, which isn't real, I'm 28. But like how old am I? You don't know how old you are.
Bindi Irwin has just said goodbye to boyfriend Chandler Powell as he leaves Australia to head back to his native U.S.

And after Bindi shared a sweet tribute to her wakeboarder beau, Chandler also took to Instagram to gush about his girl.

Chandler, 20, shared a sweet shot of himself and Bindi in matching Khaki outfits holding hands on a stroll, writing: 'Each goodbye gets more and more difficult.'

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Sweet: Chandler Powell gushed about girlfriend Bindi Irwin as he left Australia for his native US

'It seems like just yesterday I arrived in Australia for your birthday,' Chandler wrote in part of his post, with Bindi's 18th birthday being in July.

'I always carry even the smallest of moments, like these sunset walks through the zoo, with me no matter where I go.'

'Counting down the days until I'm back with you again creating more incredible, unforgettable memories.'

Young love: In another image, Chandler can be seen driving a car while Bindi snaps a photo and he wrote that he 'wouldn't trade these days with you for anything in the world'

He added: 'Thank you for making me so happy each and every day.'

In another image, Chandler can be seen driving a car while Bindi snaps a photo and he wrote that he 'wouldn't trade these days with you for anything in the world.'

'Had the best time driving through the Glasshouse Mountains Christmas shopping.'

'Hiking, looking for wildlife, stopping at little towns in the mountains...,' he added.

It comes after Bindi took to Instagram to gush about Chandler as she waved him goodbye at the airport.

'You mean the world to me': It comes after Bindi took to Instagram to gush about Chandler as she waved him goodbye at the airport

The daughter of late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin wrote in part of her post: 'I miss you so much already. You really do mean the world to me.'

Upon seeing the post, Chandler responded in an equally affectionate manner.

He said: 'You are my world and mean everything to me. Thank you for the best adventures and memories I could ever have wished for. I miss you so much already but will see you soon.'

She also shared a throwback video of them hiking the Glass House Mountains in Queensland.

Adventures: She also shared a throwback video of them hiking the Glass House Mountains in Queensland

Before flying back to his native Florida, Chandler had been helping out around Australia Zoo and joining Bindi in her wildlife conservation role.

Chandler's return home comes in the wake of Woman's Day reporting that the loved-up pair were set to move in together.

The publication also reported that they were soon to become engaged, rumours which were dismissed as 'false' by a spokesperson for Australia Zoo.

The pair have been dating for just over two years.
They split in September last year, with Australian actress Rebel Wilson admitting she chose to focus on her career rather than her relationship.

And on Saturday, the 36-year-old star was seen heading to Hollywood celebrity hotspot Catch LA, with ex Mickey Gooch Jr.

Showing off her curves in a black striped dress, Rebel beamed as the pair made their way inside, with the outing being shortly after Mickey's new relationship was revealed.

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Stepping out! Australian star Rebel Wilson was seen with ex Mickey Gooch Jr (L) in Hollywood at the weekend, heading to dinner at Catch LA

Rebel looked dolled up for the evening and wore her frock with a white jacket and black pointed flats.

Her thick blonde locks were pulled back into her signature ponytail and she wore makeup including light foundation and a glossy pink lip.

She also carried a studded black leather handbag which appeared to be Alexander McQueen.

Pretty: Her thick blonde locks were pulled back into her signature ponytail and she wore makeup including light foundation and a glossy pink lip

Night on the town: Rebel looked dolled up for the evening and wore her frock with a white jacket and black pointed flats

Flashback: The pair are seen here when they were dating

The Bridesmaids star appeared in high spirits and beamed as she and Mickey made their way inside.

Rebel hopped out of a chauffeured car with Mickey standing by and waiting as she exited the vehicle.

He was dressed in a black leather and suede jacket with a black T-shirt and trousers, with closed in shoes.

Catching up: The Bridesmaids star appeared in high spirits and beamed as she and Mickey made their way inside

Still friends? The pair split last September and have worked on films including Pitch Perfect and How to Be Single together

Memories: The pair are seen here on a holiday while dating

The pair split last September and have worked on films including Pitch Perfect and How to Be Single together.

They had first taken their romance public in May.

Earlier this year, Rebel revealed to The Daily Telegraph that she chose to split with Mickey so as she can concentrate on her booming career.

'I obviously chose career over relationships and I dont regret that decision one bit,' Rebel told the publication.

'A lot of my friends who are married now wish theyd taken the same path  where you really went after your career and your dreams.'

'Thats not to say both are mutually exclusive, because you can have it all if you want to,' she said.

Moving forward: Earlier this year, Rebel revealed to The Daily Telegraph that she chose to split with Mickey so as she can concentrate on her booming career

What happened? According to a source close to the pair, their sudden break-up was apparently due to a lack of chemistry between them

New love: Meanwhile Mickey is currently dating brunette agent Brittney Weiskopf

According to a source close to the pair, their sudden break-up was apparently due to a lack of chemistry between them.

'They got to the point where they both realized the attraction really wasnt there anymore and they would be better off as friends,' ET reported.

'Rebel told him she didnt want to continue with the relationship if she didnt see it moving any further than where it is now - and Mickey agreed.'

Meanwhile Mickey is currently dating brunette agent Brittney Weiskopf and has been sharing a number of loved up snaps on Instagram recently.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Rebel and Mickey's representatives for comment.

New girl: Mickey and Brittney have been sharing a number of loved up snaps on Instagram recently
They're the young dancers who have amassed 14million Instagram followers between them.

And American stars Maddie Ziegler, 14, and sister Mackenzie, 12, have announced they will tour Australia next year.

During a string of gigs across the country, local dancer Marko Panzic will run classes before the sisters hit the stage to perform, The Daily Telegraph reported.

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'What's important is personality and stage presence': Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler have revealed their secrets to becoming dance stars as they prepare to kick off their Australian tour

'A lot of people think that only good dancers have amazing technique and train a lot,' Maddie told the paper.

'What is more important is dancers who have really good potential and personality and stage presence.

'As long as you know what you're doing and you're passionate about it, that is what we think makes a great dancer.'

The Ziegler sisters starred in reality US series Dance Moms, while Maddie was a judge on this year's American version of So You Think You Can Dance.

'I don't want to always be seen as a reality TV person': Talented dancer Maddie announced her decision to leave US reality show Dance Moms earlier this year

Earlier this year, Maddie announced her decision to leave Dance Moms after six seasons on the reality show, which documents day-to-day activities of the young dancers at Abby Lee Dance Company.

'I don't want to always be seen as a reality TV person,' she told Hunger magazine of her decision to leave the program.

'I want people to see that there's more that I can do, and that's why I'm heading into acting.'

Kepping busy: Maddie will star alongside Naomi Watts and Jacob Tremblay in first feature film, The Book of Henry

Aside from her successes starring in music videos - including her appearance in Sia's Cheap Thrills video - Maddie is planning a full-fledged acting career.

The star made her acting debut in 2012 playing the character Young Deb Young Deb on an episode of the Lifetime series Drop Dead Diva.

Maddie, who later appeared in other televisions series, including a role on Pretty Little Liars, will star alongside Naomi Watts and Jacob Tremblay in first feature film, The Book of Henry.

The Maddie & Mackenzie Australian Tour kicks off in Melbourne on January 9, 2017.
She's currently enjoying a romantic holiday in Bali.

And Bachelor reject Kiki Morris kicked back on an inflatable unicorn as she took in the sun's rays poolside.

Wearing a stunning lace-up white swimsuit, the bronzed model showcased her lithe limbs as she took to Instagram on Sunday.

Somewhere over the rainbow? Bachelor reject Kiki Morris kicked back on an inflatable unicorn as she took in the sun's rays poolside

She captioned the post: 'the only thing better than tanning by the pool, is tanning on the pool on a unicorn!'

And since holidaying in Bali, the 28-year -old has been sharing snaps of herself in a variety of swimwear non stop.

The day before, the reality TV beauty shared a 1950s-inspired photo of her in a bikini.

Her toned physique was on full display as she posed retro-style with one slender leg forward.

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Bali baby: The Bachelor's Kirralee 'Kiki' Morris has celebrated the beginning of her beach holiday in Bali with a sexy bikini photo posted to Instagram on Saturday

Kiki covered her face from the harsh Balinese sun with a wide-brimmed straw hat.

She held the hat in place for the photo with both arms raised above her head provocatively.

The bikini featured a pink Hawaiian print which seemed perfect for the beach get away.

Busting out: Kirralee 'KiKi' Morris certainly won the attention of her Instagram fans last Tuesday after posting a busty selfie wearing nothing but a bondage-style bikini

The highwaisted bottoms showed off Kiki's trim pins, with her toned tummy boasting an ideal tan.

The skimpy low-cut top revealed her surgically-enhanced ample assets and she captioned the photo: 'Bali Babe'.

The beach holiday appears to have been long awaited by Kiki.

Dangerous curves ahead! The 28-year-old has made a name for herself on Instagram thanks to her enviable body

On Tuesday, she posted a busty selfie wearing nothing but a bondage-style bikini.

Kiki was working hard on her tan ahead of her upcoming trip to Bali.

In the racy photo, Kiki shields her eyes as she pouts for the camera and sizzles in the sun.

The blonde's sensational figure was on full display, with her mint green two-piece struggling to contain her ample assets - both top and bottom.

Practising for Bali? The Bachelor reject has posted several bikini photos recently as she counted down to her holiday

The shot also showed off Kikis tattoo down the side of her ribcage, as she reclined on a sun lounger.

The final countdown. BALI, Kiki captioned the photo, ahead of hitting up the Indonesian island for a romantic getaway.

The toned beauty is in Bali with her new boyfriend, Jeremy Banks.

The pair went public with their relationship in late October.
They're counting down until their wedding day.

And on Sunday, former Hi-5 star Fely Irvine, 27, has revealed that she and fiance Tai Hara, 26, have purchased their own home.

Taking to Instagram, the brunette beauty shared a shot of a house key, captioning the snap: 'Officially home owners.'

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A new nest for the soon-to-be newlyweds: On Sunday, former Hi-5 star Fely Irvine, 27, has revealed that she and fiance Tai Hara, 26, have purchased their own home

In the shot, the keyring reads: 'This must be the place.'

The girlfriend of Tai's former Home and Away co-star Kyle Pryor, Julia- Rose O'Connor, congratulated the pair on the purchase.

She used emoticons to comment on the post, including a champagne bottle popping open.

Doing well: Taking to Instagram, the brunette beauty shared a shot of a house key, captioning the snap: 'Officially home owners'

Fely tagged Tamarama Beach, suggesting her and her man purchased a pad in the eastern suburbs of Sydney.

Fely has had a total of three hen's celebrations, at NSW' Central Coast, London, and Las Vegas, with Tai also celebrating in the US.

The smitten couple announced their engagement in January last year, after getting engaged in Scotland over the Christmas break.

Bride-to-be! Fely has had a total of three hen's celebrations, at NSW' Central Coast, London, and Las Vegas, with Tai also celebrating in the US (seen in the US)

At the time, Tai told New Idea how he hid the ring from Fely while away.

'I'd been carrying the ring around Europe for two weeks wrapped in three different bags and a sock, because it wasn't as if I could hide it in the hotel safe,' he said.

Fely, who is half Scottish and half Filipino, described the engagement to Daily Mail Australia as a complete shock: 'I didn't see it coming at all! It was perfect.'

Tai got down on one knee at her family's ancestral home - Drum Castle, in Scotland just outside Aberdeen - on their second anniversary.
She's not been shy about showing off her incredible physique by modelling her own swimwear collections.

So it was no surprise to see Kimberley Garner flaunting her slim pins as she embraced the warm weather in California on Saturday.

Heading out to a meeting in Los Angeles, the former reality star, 26, rocked a chic summery ensemble - showcasing her lithe legs to the max in a pair of tiny denim shorts.

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Sun's out, legs out: Kimberley Garner flaunting her slim pins as she embraced the warm weather in California on Saturday

Teaming her thigh-grazing bottoms with a low-cut white top and naval overcoat, Kimberley struck a balance between high-fashion style and laid-back chic.

She added a pair of block-heeled leather boots to the mix, which served to subtly define her legs.

Accessorising with a Yves Saint Laurent handbag, the model and businesswoman also clutched her trusty iPhone in one hand, and a healthy green shake in the other.

Wearing her blonde locks loose and in a centre-parting, which framed her pretty features.

A leggy display! Heading out to a meeting in Los Angeles, the former reality star, 26, rocked a chic summery ensemble - showcasing her lithe legs to the max in a pair of tiny denim shorts

Kimberley's trip stateside comes not long after she debuted her latest racy swimwear collection.

And Kimberley Garner proved the career change was definitely a good choice as she sizzled in her own skimpy designs during a racy photoshoot in Antigua.

The 26-year-old former reality star showcased her incredibly toned abs and lean limbs as she posed provocatively in a tiny black crochet bikini.

Sizzling: Kimberley Garner, 26, sizzled in her skimpy designs during a racy photoshoot in Antigua

The blonde beauty looked every inch the beach babe as she posed in the sizzling black two-piece, which featured subtle gold toggles.

Teasing a glimpse of her cleavage, Kimberley showcased chic accents to her swimwear like the lace-up detail across the neckline.

Posing against an idyllic backdrop, the model eschewed accessories to let her statement swimwear take centre-stage.

Looking good: The former MIC star showcased her incredibly toned abs and lean limbs as she posed provocatively in a tiny black crochet bikini

Beach babe: The designer slung a delicate white kaftan from her shoulders as she larked around in front of the camera

Boasting a deep, golden tan, she wore her golden tresses in a tousled style and sported minimal make-up.

The designer slung a delicate white kaftan from her shoulders as she larked around in front of the camera.

Kimberley appeared on E4 reality show Made In Chelsea for one series in 2012 before launching her self-titled swimwear range one year later - to huge success from loyal fans and bikini lovers.

Natural beauty: Boasting a deep, golden tan, she wore her golden tresses in a tousled style and sported minimal make-up

Kimberley proudly ensures all the pieces in her collections are made in England and the Italian fabric is hand-cut in London - in a luxury touch to help her designs stand-out in the market.

Speaking to MailOnline, she said: 'I designed this year's swimwear collection all around the Island, with tropical-inspired hand drawn prints.

'I wanted it to capture that balmy, relaxed feeling of being on holiday.

'It's really cool being a young designer and I love the creative process, from design to seeing the final product. This collection is my favourite yet.'

Making a splash: She posted this racy snap in a black embroidered swimsuit on her Instagram
She's just days away from giving birth to her second son.

But despite being heavily pregnant, Teresa Palmer is still getting into the festive spirit.

On Sunday the blonde beauty shared a snap to Instagram of her with her husband Mark Webber and son Bodhi-Rain enjoying Christmas carols in Adelaide.

Getting festive! On Sunday the blonde beauty shared a snap to Instagram of her with her husband Mark Webber and son Bodhi-Rain enjoying Christmas carols in Adelaide

The actress captioned the post: 'We are a bunch of Christmas nerds!! Thanks #Adelaidecarols for having us, such a wonderful night.'

Teresa glowed as she went completely makeup free, wearing a black T-shirt with a Santa hat graphic.

She covered her long blonde locks with a black hat and wore grey skinny leg jeans.

About to pop: Teresa glowed as she went completely makeup free, wearing a black T-shirt with a Santa hat graphic

Looking good: She covered her long blonde locks with a black hat and wore grey skinny leg jeans

Adorable! She and her man dressed Bodhi in a red Christmas outfit, including a red T-shirt that featured images of Santa Claus, a reindeer and an elf

She and her man dressed Bodhi in a red Christmas outfit, including a red T-shirt that featured images of Santa Claus, a reindeer and an elf.

Meanwhile, Teresa has been keeping fans updated throughout her entire pregnancy.

And on Friday, Teresa Palmer took to her mummy blog to deliver one final post before welcoming her second son - whom she said was 'the size of a watermelon.'

'Last pregnancy update is here,' exclaimed the actress, who also mentioned that she was in the 39th week of a 40 week pregnancy.

'The size of a watermelon!' Teresa Palmer took to her pregnancy blog on Friday to write about her unborn watermelon-sized baby

'Just wanted to send my love, appreciation and gratitude to you all for joining me on this journey,' she continued.

She then explained that her baby was 'between 7-9lbs/3.1-4kg, the size of a watermelon!'

The actress added: 'I wont make any assumptions but Bodhi was 8lb at 38 + 6 and Im 40 + 2 today so we will see! Im guessing he will be bigger than 8lbs.'

'I wont make any assumptions but Bodhi was 8lb at 38 + 6 and Im 40 + 2 today so we will see! Im guessing he will be bigger than 8lbs,' wrote the blonde beauty

Teresa was noticeably absent from the AACTA awards in Sydney on Wednesday night, despite her starring role in Mel Gibsons smash-hit film Hacksaw Ridge.

But as the glitz and glamour of the awards show unfolded, the heavily pregnant star and her husband both shared Instagram snaps of her bulging baby bump from a more low-key locale.

The blonde beauty looked ready to pop in the pics, with her second child due any day.

'Ready to pop': Teresa looked lovingly at her burgeoning belly and son Bodhi Rain in a candid snap posted to Instagram on Wednesday

In Marks Instagram post Theresa stood before the camera cradling her ballooning stomach, in a pose reminiscent of Demi Moores iconic Vanity Fair cover shoot from 1991.

The star- who is known for keeping things carefree - looked au naturel in the pic, posing against a bush backdrop.

She wore a loose-fitting strapless floral dress, with her wavy blonde locks adding to the relaxed look.

'Magic': Teresa looked at one with the word as she cradled her baby bump and leaned back into the arms of son Bodhi Rain

American-born Mark, an actor and activist, and Teresa met in 2012 and married in Mexico in 2013. Son Bodhi Rain was born the following year.

At the same time, Teresa also took to social media to upload her own pregnancy pic.

In her snap, which was shot from above, Teresa sat barefoot and cross-legged on the floor, highlighting her bulging belly.

She closed her eyes, as Bodhi Rain leaned in from behind.

Contrast: The star's intimate pregnancy pics marked a contrast from the more glamorous looks Teresa sports on the red carpet

Wearing another loose-fitted tie-dye outfit, Theresa went makeup free.

She looked fresh faced and at one with the world.

Some magic here waiting for the littlest love to join our tribe. #40weekstoday, Teresa captioned her photo.
His new blockbuster show on Amazon Prime has been greeted with acclaim from both the critics and public alike.

But it seems that the success of The Grand Tour may have gone to Jeremy Clarkson's head, as the presenter had his face beamed onto the world's tallest building for the show's finale.

Filming the end of series one in Dubai over the weekend, the world-famous landmark played a part in the spectacular curtain call - with the building being used as a giant billboard.

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Got a big head? It seems the success of The Grand Tour may have gone to Jeremy Clarkson's head, as the presenter had his face beamed onto the world's tallest building for its finale

Having already taken in the likes of Los Angeles, Johannesburg and even Whitby, it seems the show was determined to have a spectacular blow-out for its finale.

Travelling to Dubair with the now famous Grand Tour tent, Jeremy. 56, and his co-stars, Richard Hammond and Jamey May couldn't resist leaving their mark on Dubai.

As night set in, the trio decided to give the first series of their block-buster motoring show an epic send-off.

Making the most of the city's record-holding landmark, which has seen the likes of Hollywood hardman Tom Cruise scaling it, the trio projected Jeremy's face onto the building.

Filming the end of series one in Dubai over the weekend, the world-famous landmark played a part in the spectacular curtain call - with the building being used as a giant billboard

Lighting up the 829.8 metre building with the journalist's grinning face, it seemed as though the TV favourite may have been given a bit of an ego-boos after the show's triumphant debut in November.

But the closing scene wasn't all about Jeremy, as the building also proudly displayed the show's logo on it's face as a huge cluster of fireworks exploded.

The shot was captured by James May and The Grand Tour team, who quickly took to Twitter to share the image with fans on Sunday.

Making their mark: Travelling to Dubair with the now famous Grand Tour tent, Jeremy. 56, and his co-stars, Richard Hammond and Jamey May couldn't resist leaving their mark on Dubai

James, 53, showed off his wry sense of humour, captioning the image: 'Our Grand Tour space rocket taking off last night.'

The closing spectacular should come as no surprise to fans of the former Top Gear trio, who have made their latest venture an action-packed, money-burning affair.

So far the programme has delighted fans with its action-packed content, which has included huge stunts and some of the world's most expensive cars.

Episode one, The Holy Trinity, saw the trio race each other in a Ferrari La Ferrari, McLaren P1 and a Porsche 918.

The second installment of the series then saw them take on a death-defying mission (a pastiche of Tom Cruise's The Edge Of Tomorrow), which saw them race around a city with machine guns in an Audi.
She recently relocated to Melbourne with her daughter to move in with her partner Bachelor's Sam Wood.

But her new beau may have to dig deep this festive season with Snezana Markoski revealing a list of 10 items on her Christmas list which add up to a whopping $3,500.

Speaking to Popsugar, the stylish mother-of-one revealed her list to include new fitness gear, an expensive Olympus camera and 'daggy' shoes.

Merry Christmas! Bachelor's Snezana Markoski has created her ultimate Christmas list for the festive season with a total cost of items reaching $3,500

In the candid interview the brunette beauty revealed the reasons behind her luxury list saying each item has a specific significance.

When speaking of a pair of Givenchy Chain-Trim Leather Crisscross Slides costing a whopping $993.63 Snezana admitted she once thought the shoes were 'daggy'.

'Having a European background, we always get my Dad a pair of what was once considered 'daggy slides. But this year, I want a pair and it's not a joke.'

Luxury: Some items on Snezana's list included an inflatable swan, a Saint Laurent card case, an expensive candle and what she said she used to described as 'daggy shoes'

A candle from Diptyque Figuier which costs $73 was another luxury item on Snezana's list, who admitted she does 'pay a small fortune on them'.

The beautiful brunette, who often posts pictures on Instagram from her life with Sam, said her next item was more practical than luxurious.

When speaking of the Olympus Pen E-PL8 camera she hoped to get she said: 'I love taking photos.'

Family unit: Snezana relocated to Melbourne with her daughter Eve to live with her partner Sam Wood after the Bachelor

Adding that the item would be perfect to keep in her handbag when blogging or taking high quality family snaps.

A Linley Trafalgar Crystal and Rosewood Whisky Decanter costing $746.34, Holly Ryan Droplet Hook Earrings in Silver costing $80 and a $250 Saint Laurent Leather Card Case were next on the list.

Following those items were an assortment of fitness gear and clothing which Snezana explained would be great to work out in, for the new year.

Cute: Sam is often seen posed with Snezana and her daughter Eve in pictures posted to Instagram

Last but not least, Snezana added an unusual item to her list in the form of a giant inflatable pool swan costing almost $100.

Snezana explained the purchase as the perfect match to the balmy summer temperatures witnessed in an Australian Christmas.

'I'm currently loving the fun summer vibe ... the Australian holiday season goes hand-in-hand with pool and beach parties,' she finished.

Loved up: Sam and Snezana met and fell in love on The Bachelor Australia last year

In total the items cost a whopping, $3,441.91, almost hitting the $3,500 mark.

Whether Sam is up to the challenge of buying all the items is yet to be confirmed, but will likely leave his partner very happy indeed.

Sam and Snezana met on The Bachelor Australia and moved into their $1.4million home in July.
She's the glamorous model who recently graced the Victoria's Secret runway.

And on Monday, exotic Australian-Indian model Kelly Gale showed exactly why she is one of the world's most sought after models.

Taking to Instagram, the 21-year-old beauty shared a mirror selfie displaying her stunning looks and extremely ample assets.

If you've got it, flaunt it! Sizzling hot Victoria's Secret model Kelly Gale has shares an incredible selfie showcasing her stunning figure and ample bust

The former playboy model took the snap while backstage at the Victoria's Secret fashion show last month.

'After show before the party,' she captioned the photo she shared with her 523,000 followers.

Kelly rose to international stardom after walking for the renowned designer in 2013 and then again in 2014, with her runway appearance in November marking her third.

What a stunner! The 21-year-old brunette beauty is making waves in the modelling world

Kelly, who has walked for the likes of Chanel and Ralph Lauren, shared her excitement with The Daily Telegraph calling the experience a 'dream come true.'

'When I walk (at the VS show) there's just a million emotions and thoughts that run through my mind,' explained Kelly.

'I started dreaming about this show when I was 13, and saw Adriana Lima on the runway, so it really is a dream come true,' she added.

'I started dreaming about this show when I was 13': Kelly had her dream of becoming a Victoria Secret's Angel come true in the label's Paris show

'When I walk (at the VS show) there's just a million emotions and thoughts that run through my mind,' she told The Daily Telegraph

Joined by her long time boyfriend Johannes Jarl, Kelly debuted her wings in France at the 2016 Victoria Secret's Paris Fashion show.

Johannes and Kelly are often seen plastered across each other's Instagram walls, and were pictured embracing in the street's of Paris in a snap uploaded by the VS model.

Taking to Instagram, Johannes expressed how proud he is of his girlfriend writing next to a picture of her from the show and wrote: 'Kelly completely owned the show.'

Dare to bare: In September, Kelly posed for sizzling hot topless pictures in Playboy

Kelly shared her own excitement ahead of taking the Paris runway by posting pictures of special Angel airline tickets which she received to jet off to Paris.

The brunette bombshell broke into the modelling industry after being discovered outside a coffee shop in Gothenburg, Sweden when she was just 13-years-old.

She received her big break in 2012 after being asked to walk in Chanel's pre-fall fashion show and has since gone from strength-to-strength.

Selfie time: Kelly's social media accounts are flooded with sexy selfies

In September, Kelly posed for sizzling topless pictures in Playboy revealing a little bit about herself.

She said: 'Women in Sweden are treated with a revolutionary level of respect that is unsurpassed in history.

'Still the biggest obstacle is appreciating - and incorporating - each genders uniqueness into society.'

City of love: Kelly is often seen posed with boyfriend Johannes Jarl who joined her in France for the show. The two were seen embracing in the street's of Paris in a snap posted to Instagram
They've been hard at work filming a number of high-octane scenes in recent weeks.

And after The Grand Tour had wrapped up their filming on the shores of Loch Ness, Scotland, it seems that Jeremy Clarkson and co. were in the mood to celebrate.

Having been on location at Fort August and the lake for a number of days, the 56-year-old and James May, 53, headed out to toast the success of their new show.

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To good times: After The Grand Tour had wrapped up their filming on the shores of Loch Ness, Scotland, it seems that Jeremy Clarkson and co. were in the mood to celebrate

Heading to the aptly named Lock Inn last week, Jeremy and his co-star looked to be in very high spirits as they sat down to enjoy a boozy meal.

The former Top Gear presenters looked to have left their co-star Richard Hammond at home, as they laughed and joked the night away together with some friends.

Dressing down for a meal out in the comfy surrounds of the homely pub, Jeremy and James (nicknamed Captain Slow) enjoyed a bottle of white wine.

Cheers, to Captain Slow! Having been on location at Fort August and the lake for a number of days, the 56-year-old and James May, 53, headed out to toast the success of their new show

Time for a Lock Inn? Heading to the aptly named Lock Inn last week, Jeremy and his co-star looked to be in very high spirits as they sat down to enjoy a boozy meal

Clearly having chosen a vintage to their liking, the pair raised their glasses and then proceeded to tuck into their meal.

Following their grub Jeremy headed outside with his glass, presumably to indulge in a post-supper cigarette.

Whilst the Yorkshire-born presenter kept his cool as the duo departed the pub and headed for home, James couldn't suppress a roguish grin.

A quick pit-stop: On the way into the pub, Jeremy stopped for a quick cigarette

No hamsters allowed: The former Top Gear presenters looked to have left their co-star Richard Hammond at home, as they laughed and joked the night away together with some friends

Top Booze? Dressing down for a meal out in the comfy surrounds of the homely pub, Jeremy and James (nicknamed Captain Slow) enjoyed a bottle of white wine

A text... from hamster? The pair were shown a phone half-way through the meal, which they seemed to find amusing

The likely lads: Clearly having chosen a vintage to their liking, the pair raised their glasses and then proceeded to tuck into their meal

Tucking in: Jeremy in particular looked to be enjoying his meal

Ready to roll? Both Jeremy and James looked to be on good form as they enjoyed their night out, clearly in need of some R&R after their hectic filming schedule

Jeremy, James and Richard had all arrived in Scotland earlier in the week, and had been filming scenes around the town and at the Loch - where the Grand Tour studio tent had been pitched.

Locals were able to witness some of trio's famed motor-based hijinks unfold on their quiet roads, as three masked men - dressed up like the trio - sped around the town in some classic cars.

Other locations used for filming the series so far include California, Johannesburg in South Africa and Whitby on the Yorkshire coast.

Don't forget the wine! Following their grub Jeremy headed outside with his glass, presumably to indulge in a post-supper cigarette

Out in the cold: James also headed outside the pub, pint in hand

Telling some tales: Wrapped up in his quilted parka, the TV stalwart regailed some freinds with a story as the group enjoyed a smoke

Play it cool: Whilst the Yorkshire-born presenter kept his cool as the duo departed the pub and headed for home, James couldn't suppress a roguish grin

TAXI! The duo and their friends all piled into a taxi following the meal, with the two stars barely able to suppress their giggles
Recent conservational endeavours on behalf of the Elephant Crisis Fund were momentarily put on hold as Dutch model Doutzen Kroes returned to her day job this week.

The former Victorias Secret Angel, 31, proved just why shes one of the most desirable women on the planet in a series of stunning new promotional shots for Netherlands based lingerie brand Hunkemoller.

In four new images Doutzen showcases the latest range of racy undergarments from her popular Doutzens Stories collaboration with the Dutch label.

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Stunning: Recent conservational endeavours on behalf of the Elephant Crisis Fund were momentarily put on hold as Dutch model Doutzen Kroes returned to her day job this week

Revealing her perfectly proportioned physique, the model strikes a coquettish pose in a black lace bra and stockings.

A second shot finds Doutzen in an equally revealing state while modelling a bold blue variation with intricate chain embellishments.

Reclining on a large double bed, the mother of two is in a playful mood as she debuts a third design from the new range - a simple but no less striking black two-piece.

Hello boys: A second shot finds Doutzen in an equally revealing state while modelling a bold blue variation with intricate chain embellishments

Doutzen ends the set in a midnight blue two-piece teamed with sheer black stockings and suspenders.

The model, a Hunkemoller brand ambassador, ended her contract with Victoria's Secret in late 2014 due to a conflicting woork schedule.

The news of her departure was only confirmed the news following fellow Angel Karlie Kloss exit in February the following year.

Doetzen calling: Reclining on a large double bed, the mother of two is in a playful mood as she debuts a third design from the new range - a simple but no less striking black two-piece

There were mixed reports about the reasons for the Dutch beauty's exit, with Page Six claiming the pay 'isnt what it used to be'.

An insider told the website at the time: 'Older contracts like Alessandra Ambrosio were in the millions, now theyre like $100,000.'

However, CMO Ed Razek slammed the speculation on his Instagram account with a heartfelt post.

The bold and the blue-tiful: Doutzen ends the set in a midnight blue two-piece teamed with sheer black stockings and suspenders

He shared: 'After I posted the news about @karliekloss leaving VS I got a number of texts asking me why I hadn't said anything about @doutzen leaving at the end of last year. Fair question.

'The simple answer is I should have. Doutzen had a lucrative opportunity in Europe and it would have conflicted with her VS obligations.

'So, at her agencys request, we released her from contract. There was no conflict. No animosity. None of the nonsense I've read on Instagram.

For a good cause: The model has devoted her time to wildlife preservation and the Elephant Crisis Fund, with whom she has collaborated on the #KnotOnMyPlanet campaign

'She had a great business opportunity, and I wanted to be fair to someone I adore and respect. That's all. ]

'I honestly believe Doutzen is one of the most stunningly beautiful people in the world. And I always will. I have told her that many times. Now you know.'

More recently the model has devoted her time to wildlife preservation and the Elephant Crisis Fund, with whom she has collaborated on the #KnotOnMyPlanet campaign.

Doutzen was inspired to get involved after meeting wildlife conservationists during a trip to Kenya with her husband, Dutch DJ Sunnery James, and their two children.
It's been an uncertain year for the marriage of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne.

2016 started with the revelation that the rocker cheated on his wife of 35 years with celebrity hairstylist Michelle Pugh, leading to speculation that their marriage was over.

But on the contrary to this, the couple have revealed their plans to renew their wedding vows for the second time.

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'It's all I want for Christmas this year': Sharon Osbourne says she's 'happy' as she reveals plans to renew her wedding vows with unfaithful husband Ozzy

Sharon, 64, was asked by her husband if they could say 'I do' all over again.

Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, she said: 'Ozzy has asked me to renew our wedding vows and I'd like to.

'I'm happy and to be honest that's all I want for Christmas this year.'

It's been a tumultuous year for the celebrity couple, who split up for a brief stint in May, allegedly partly thanks to his sex addition.

Marital issues: 2016 started with the revelation that the rocker cheated on his wife of 35 years with celebrity hairstylist Michelle Pugh, leading to speculation that their marriage was over

Happy ending? The couple have revealed their plans to renew their wedding vows for the second time

Sharon disappeared from the radar for a while, before agreeing to return to the judging panel of The X Factor UK, throwing herself into her work and looking noticeably more frail.

During the scandal, their daughter Kelly, 31, got involved, tweeting then deleting: 'Anyone looking for cheap chunky LOW-lights a blow out and a b***j** call...' allegedly alongside Michelle's phone number.

However, the family unit were soon able to work through the revelation, and Ozzy, 67, surprised Sharon with a bunch of flowers on her 64th birthday in October on live TV.

Sharon has admitted that their careers have got in the way of their relationship at times.

I do - again: Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, she said: 'Ozzy has asked me to renew our wedding vows and I'd like to'

She added to The Sun: 'In my life I have been so blessed but when one side of your life is so brilliant other things can suffer. It is hard when you are both successful and both working away.

'It is easy to take each other for granted. We have been married for 35 years and been together 38 years. You have to have some ups and downs.'

The former music manager, who refers to her husband affectionately as a 'dirty dog', has admitted to being somewhat of a long-suffering partner to Ozzy - trying to help him kick his addition to drugs for the past 25 years.

Long suffering: It's been a tumultuous year for the celebrity couple, who split up for a brief stint in May, allegedly partly thanks to his sex addition

Marriage, drugs and rock n roll: The former music manager, who refers to her husband affectionately as a 'dirty dog', has admitted to trying to help him kick his addition to drugs for the past 25 years

Sharon met Ozzy when she was 18, whilst working for her father, Don Arden, who was managing Black Sabbath (Ozzy's band) at the time.

Ozzy was ultimately sacked from Black Sabbath in 1979, after which Sharon took him on as a solo client and began to date him on the side.

The two were married in Maui, Hawaii, on 4 July 1982.

Finalist: The feisty red-head has other things on her mind this weekend, however, as she will be standing by her X Factor act, Saara Aalto, who battles Matt Terry for the 2016 crown on Sunday night at Wembley Arena

Reality star: After a fairly low key decade in the 1990s, the family returned to mainstream fame in their reality series The Osbournes, in which Sharon and Ozzy appeared more than happy in their married life

There were allegedly issues between the pair from the very beginning of their union, with reports of physical altercations between the pair supposedly taking place fairly regularly.

This climaxed in 1989 when Ozzy was arrested following a drug-fuelled attempt at strangling his wife.

This forced the entertainer to enter rehab, which Sharon saw as a positive step towards their future, after which she forgave him, didn't press charges and continued with their marriage.

Revival: In 2015, the series was allegedly up for a revival, but any plans of this have since fizzled since the martial problems between Ozzy and Sharon this year

After a fairly low key decade in the 1990s, the family returned to mainstream fame in their reality series The Osbournes, in which Sharon and Ozzy appeared more than happy in their married life.

In 2015, the series was allegedly up for a revival, but any plans of this have since fizzled since the martial problems between Ozzy and Sharon this year.
He was by her side on-screen for the popular royal drama and love story, Victoria.

But new boyfriend Tom Hughes was playing the supporting role for a different drama last weekend, as he joined Jenna Coleman in meeting her former Doctor Who co-star Peter Capaldi.

Jenna, who played The Doctor's assistant Clara Oswald between 2012 and 2015, went hand-in-hand with Tom for a romantic Christmas shopping trip in Primrose Hill, London, confirming that things are going strong for the acting couple.

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Holding hands: Jenna Coleman was seen holding hands with Victoria co-star Tom Hughes last weekend, as they went Christmas shopping in London's Primrose Hill

The couple didn't seem to have come across 12th Doctor Peter by chance, since he seemed to be taking a break from filming at the time.

Familiar with the acting great, Tom greeted Peter with a hug and even stood to one side while fans asked for a selfie for the TV veteran.

To keep warm, Peter wore a padded jacket over the top of what appeared to be nurses' scrubs, worn with trainers.

Reunited: The pair went along to see her old Doctor Who co-star Peter Capaldi, who appeared to be filming

Always involved: Though Jenna left her part in Doctor Who in 2015, she seems to still be involved in part

Old friends? Tom seemed familiar with Peter and even greeted him with a hug

Sharing a hug: Jenna and her former acting companion still seemed close

The trio stopped to chat for some time before hot new couple Tom and Jenna departed to complete their festive shopping spree.

Fans will remember that Jenna was seemingly killed off in Series 9 of Doctor Who, but talk of a return started again as soon as June when he hinted that he had filmed a scene with the actress.

He said: 'Im not sure how successfully Clara was able to wipe his mind,' speaking of the final scenes in which Clara was supposed to be wiped from The Doctor's memory.

Cute couple: A playful Jenna was spotted entertaining her boyfriend in novelty glasses during their shopping trip

Humorous: The pretty brunette showed off her funnier side

Do you think I'm specsy? Clearly enamored with the shades, Jenna was later seen leaving in them

Friends in common: The pair are said to have been dating for over a year now

Organising a meet-up? The duo were quite comfortable in one another's company

He added: 'I just I was about to tell you something I cant tell you,' before teasing: 'I just shot something that Clara was still there in.'

Pearl Mackie, 29, was pictured filming scenes for the popular sci-fi drama in woodland in Cardiff, as Series 10 commenced work in November.

Pearl was cast in April to replace Jenna - who quit the sci-fi series after its ninth outing - when the show returns in spring 2017.

She was first seen filming for the show in June. Pictured on set at a late-night shoot at Cardiff University, she showed off her svelte figure in a striped vest top and jeans.

Elsewhere, the ITV drama Victoria has just been commissioned for a second series, starring Jenna and her on and off-screen love interest Tom.

The drama is likely to air in Autumn 2017 after ratings averaged 7.7 million viewers and the show took a 29.7% share of viewing figures.

Heading for dinner? The romantic shopping trip also appeared to feature a dinner

Perfect twosome: The duo have been getting on famously, even reportedly moving in together

Bye for now? Jenna and Tom briefly parted ways during their day out

Chic, as always: Jenna wore a long, stylish overcoat and platform shoes

Fashion fan: The actress is always known for keeping up appearances

Alongside its success, it was the backdrop for actress Jenna's real-life love story with Tom, which they are yet to confirm in person.

Speculation that they were an item began in September when The Mail On Sunday revealed that they had been enjoying a private romance for almost a year.

The source said: 'Theyve been together for months, on and off since last summer.'

Chatting away: Even though Jenna doesn't seem to be involved in Doctor Who at this time, she kept close contact with her former co-star

In touch: Jenna previously played The Doctor's assistant for three years

Keeping warm: Peter wore a padded jacket over the top of his clothes

Another source added: 'The reason the chemistry is so tangible is because they are dating in real life. Those scenes are very real. They are completely hooked on one another.'

It was even reported in late September that the duo had moved in together, having known each other in separate acting circles for as long as three years.

The pair are said to have first met on BBC2 drama Dancing On The Edge but Jenna was in a long-term relationship with fellow actor Richard Madden at the time.

Tom has also had a high profile relationship with Ophelia Lovibond and they had been living together at that time too.

One for the fans: Tom was asked to take a picture with the Doctor for a fan

Obliging: Actor Tom was only too keen to capture the precious moment

Will you? A keen Doctor Who fan approached the group

Giddy: The trio all shared a laugh with one another
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Matt Terry has been crowned winner of The X Factor 2016 following Sunday night's final.

The Bromley-born crooner was left astounded as he discovered he had beat out competition from fellow hopeful Saara Aalto, 29, after the duo battled it out in the live show in Wembley Arena.

Led by Nicole Scherzinger, the 23-year-old reigned victorious in the show's 13th series after which he belted out the winner's single Christmas Comes Around, written by Ed Sheeran.

He is the eighth solo male to win the show, although his predecessors have often failed to find chart success - a curse Matt is no doubt aiming to defeat.

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Triumph: Matt Terry was embraced by a joyous Nicole Scherzinger after being crowned winner of The X Factor 2016 during Sunday night's final

Ecstatic: The young singer hugged his mentor after winning the show, and with it a lucrative record deal

As host Dermot O'Leary announced the news that he had trumped his rival, Matt's reaction was so dramatic that he collapsed to the floor shortly before scooping his mentor into his arms.

The show's head honcho and chief judge, Simon Cowell lauded the rising star for his win as he said: 'Matt it's your night, it's an important record you know that' - a comment which could allude to his status as a male winner.

Following the news she had narrowly missed the crown, gracious Saara conceded: 'Thank you people for all the support this has been amazing so I'm so happy and I'm so happy for Matt.'

As he belted out the winner's single his fellow finalists joined him on stage while he tearfully sang the record during which he was congratulated by his cohorts, who bundled on top of him in an overjoyed display.

Taking to his Twitter page after the show, the budding musician's disbelief was clear to see as he thanked his fans with the message: 'I can't believe it!!! Thank you to every single one of you that voted for me  #xfactorfinal'

He followed up his gracious statement by excitedly posting the cover of his new single - which saw him smouldering at the camera with a hand poised behind his head - beside the words: ' Still COMPLETELY in shock! I'm so grateful! So happy to say my new single #WhenChristmasComesAround is out now!!!'

He's a winner! Matt struggled to contain his emotions as host Dermot O'Leary delivered the news

This is my moment: Matt looked anxious as he awaited the spectacular result which he admitted he had 'waited his entire life for'

Overwhelmed: Matt clutched his chest as he looked overjoyed to be crowned winner

Unbelievable: His delighted reaction no doubt stirred joy in the hearts of both his voters and the audience

Gracious defeat: Saara was happy to land in second position, as she said before the final it was her preferred spot

Thanks so much: As a forerunner for the win, Matt's success was not a total surprise but certainly a delight

Supportive: Host Dermot gave the rising star a supportive hug after the announcement

Matt's two victorious performances of the evening saw him sing Sam Smith's Bond theme Writing's On The Wall before he later returned to the stage to belt out Randy Crawford's 1980 hit One Day I'll Fly Away.

Ahead of his performances, he stated: 'I have never wanted something more in my entire life'. Fellow judge Louis lauded his efforts, while panellist Sharon Osbourne, who acted as Saara's mentor, said: 'Those huge notes were just amazing, I do love you very much.'

Simon concurred, saying: 'What I like about you is that you want to win and I love working with winners and now we're seeing the person I wanted to see all those weeks ago. I think you're going to do it.'

The final countdown: Matt led the pack as he stepped out of the double doors to discover his fate

When it comes round! After the winner was announced, the artwork for Matt's debut single was projected on the screen to encourage viewers to head to iTunes to purchase the charity single

All the gang back together: All the finalists rushed onto the stage to cuddle Matt after hearing his news

Belting it out: Matt was amazingly composed as he belted out the hit following his amazing news

Having forged an incredibly close bond throughout the show, Nicole was so overwhelmed as she delivered her gushing praise of the hopeful, she was reduced to tears while looking intently at Matt.

Voting stats revealed by ITV after the show revealed to viewers that the 2016 final had been one of the closest ever - with Saara securing the higher public vote in the quarter, semi and first final episode on Saturday.

However Matt clearly had more of a impression and impact on viewers on Sunday, as he overtook the Finnish powerhouse to beat her with 48.5% of the vote under his belt, compared to her 40.4% after the phone line freeze - with the remaining 11.1% attained by 5AM the previous evening.

Hold me close! The mentor and protege looked as though they were set to burst with happiness

Astounded: As host Dermot O'Leary announced the news that he had trumped his rival, Matt's reaction was so dramatic that he collapsed to the floor shortly before scooping his mentor into his arms

Overwhelmed: As she delivered her gushing praise of the hopeful, she was reduced to tears while looking intently at Bromley-born crooner

Hold it in! Nicole was sobbing her way through the praise she lavished on her charge

Friends for life: It was clear to see how close Nicole and Matt had grown in their short space together

He's a winner! Matt was a perfect professional as he belted out his winner's single following his astonishing victory

All in this together! It was clear to see the bond the group had formed

While Matt will be riding high on his victory, the history of the show's male winners will no doubt be a concern - after a number of male victors signed to Simon Cowell's SyCo record label have seen short-lived careers.

Previous winners including Steve Brookstein, Ben Haenow and Shayne Ward have been dropped by Syco, in the past, so the 23-year-old will no doubt be keen to prove himself and shake the curse.

Steve himself, who was the very first champion of the show back in 2004, was quick to show his bitterness surrounding the competition on Twitter - after he was dropped just eight months after his X Factor victory.

Better luck: Matt is no doubt desperate to shake the 'curse' which has befell previous winners after he became the eighth solo male to walk away with the crown

Not so great: Previous winners including Steve Brookstein, Ben Haenow and Shayne Ward (left-right) have been dropped by Syco, in the past, so the 23-year-old will no doubt be keen to prove himself and shake the curse

Cheeky! Matt's cheek was adorned with Nicole's lipstick as they cosied up following the win

Venting his anger on the social media site, the 48-year-old wrote to his 20,000 followers: '#xfactorfinal every year it's the same old crap. Watched by perverts, divs, gay mafia and Zionists. Can't wait til it ends.'

The singer received heavy backlash for the message - with him admitting in further controversial Tweets: 'I think I've upset the divs and the gay mafia' and 'Funny, not many perverts are moaning about my tweets.'

He then appeared to poke fun at further past winners and other artists in the industry, finishing his tirade with: 'I'm really sorry if I offended anyone. I suffer depression and will seek help. I will then release a new album and be really nice in public.'

Helping him celebrate! Matt was surrounded by his wellwishers and former co-stars

Meanwhile 2015 winner Ben was axed a mere 13 months after beating Fleur East to the winner's title, after which a source told The Sun: 'Simon made the decision with a heavy heart. He was a big supporter of Ben but its simply down to business - Fleur East, who came second, has done much better.'

On Sunday evening, Saara opened the competitive performances when she was first to perform shortly before future winner Matt stormed the stage in what became a tense face-off while the show was peppered with performances from icons including Kylie Minogue, Madness and Little Mix.

Despite losing the show, Saara's performance of Whitney Houston's 2009 hit I Didn't Know My Own Strength won her rave reviews, with Nicole stating: 'I knew we found someone special. I know you couldn't have had a better mentor. Not only do you have a voice out of this stratosphere but you make me smile', before Simon said congratulations to Nicole and Sharon for what they have done for their acts.

Giving a nod to Saara's Finnish roots, Simon insisted he would like to have a contestant from another country win: 'I like the fact that this show is open to anyone. I would be privileged if we could have someone from a different country.'

In between performances, Dermot asked the judges what had been the highlight of the series for them, leading to an emotional Sharon replying: 'My highlight was coming back to the show.

Wowing the crowds: The Finnish native, 29, stormed the stage with the 'bonkers' track after which Simon told her he had fallen in love with her along with the British public with her track which he described as amazing

Happy smiles: Despite her defeat, Saara remained smiling till the end

His last chance: Matt took the next finalist performance, ahead of which he revealed he was thankful for The X Factor as he came onto the show at a hard time in his life

'It came at a time of my life when I really needed to have fun and I've loved every minute of it.' After her emotional outburst Simon planted a kiss on her cheek before Nicole comforted her as she began crying.

The flame-haired icon recently revealed that she and husband Ozzy Osbourne are planning to renew their wedding vows, after it emerged he had been unfaithful earlier this year - which was potentially the cause for her tears.

Following Sharon's upsetting outburst, Former X Factor winners Little Mix took the stage as the result approached when they joined Charlie Pluth in belting out their new single Oops before he departed the stage and they gave a stunning rendition of new hit Touch.

The stunning group, comprising of Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock dazzled in sexy pink ensembles which were relatively covered up before they whipped off the getup to expose tiny leotards.

Emotional times: An emotional Sharon told Dermot what she enjoyed most about the 13th series, to which she replied: 'My highlight was coming back to the show'

Holding it together: 'It came at a time of my life when i really needed to have fun and I've loved every minute of it.' After her emotional outburst Simon planted a kiss on her cheek before Nicole comforted her as she began crying'

Upping the sex appeal: Following Sharon's upsetting outburst, Former X Factor winners Little Mix took the stage as the result approached as they joined Charlie Pluth in belting out their new single Oops before he departed the stage and they gave a stunning rendition of their hit Touch

Got it going on! The stunning group, comprising of Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock dazzled in sexy pink ensembles which were relatively covered up before they whipped off the getup to expose tiny leotards

Of their own win, Jesy said: 'When we were on this stage everything went into a blur and when we heard our name we couldn't believe it' before Perrie offered advice to the eventual winner, saying: 'Get some sleep, use the platform, work hard and have fun.'

The show kicked off with host Dermot O'Leary spinning onto the stage in a red convertible car while tuxedo-clad and surrounded by a bevy of beauties.

The judges burst onto the stage looking sensational, all looking their very best for the big battle to commence. Looking fabulous in a sheer gown, Nicole staggered onto the stage in a tight fishtail number - seemingly struggling to walk in the stunning gown.

As she flashed every inch of her incredible figure from beneath the gown, she clutched on to Simon due to the form-fitting mermaid silhouette of the gown.

Former winners: Of their own win, Jesy said: 'When we were on this stage everything went into a blur and when we heard our name we couldn't believe it' before Perrie offered advice to the eventual winner, saying: 'Get some sleep, use the platform, work hard and have fun'

Sexy again! The ladies were blasted earlier this series for their sexy ensembles at the show and it seems they are drowning out the criticism by getting even saucier

Strutting their stuff: Looking fabulous in a sheer gown, the Pussycat Dolls songstress staggered onto the stage in the tight fishtail number - seemingly struggling to walk in the stunning gown

Glam girls: Sharon complemented the pop star as she too opted for a dazzling look, with her ensemble comprising of head-to-toe gold sequins

Sharon complemented the pop star as she too opted for a dazzling look, with her ensemble comprising of head-to-toe gold sequins. Shunning her usual gothic head-to-toe black, she opted instead for festive glamour - in a colour scheme which perfectly suited her trademark red tresses.

The first of the night's all-star appearances was Kylie Minogue, as the Australian icon was lowered from the ceiling on a huge glittering bow while sporting an androgynous ensemble.

She covered Rozalla's legendary 1992 hit Everybody's Free, as she was brought onto the station and surrounded by glitter suit clad dancers in a snow boots before she introduced the finalists to the stage.

Hunky host: The show kicked off with host Dermot O'Leary spinning onto the stage in a red convertible car while tuxedo-clad and surrounded by a bevy of beauties

Vroom, vroom! Dermot arrived in a particularly dramatic style as a car was wheeled onto the stage

She should be so lucky! Kylie was sizzling on the stage as she wowed with her iconic presence

Funky getup: Covering up her very famous posterior, she wore a pair of wide-legged trousers

She should be so lucky! Kicking off the all star appearances of the evening was Kylie Minogue, as the Australian icon was lowered from the ceiling on a huge glittering bow while sporting an androgynous ensemble

She knows how to make an entrance! Kylie wowed in her dazzling descent onto the stage

Down she goes: Kylie looked every inch the pop icon as she hit the stage

Joining the blonde beauty on the stage, Saara put on a typically kooky display in an A-line silver mini dress with a thick waist belt while Matt wore his trademark winter coat - this time in a grey number.

Hot on Kylie's heels was British legends Madness who arrived on stage suited-and-booted as they belted out their new track Mr Apples before mashing up the song with their iconic hit Our House.

Dermot spoke to the group's lead singer Suggs asking what advice he would give to the hopefuls, yet he stole a moment for self-promotion, saying: 'Our album Can't Touch Us is number one in America... My advice is keep going. If you don't you won't know what's to come.'

Madness were followed by slightly less iconic performances, as some of the most memorable failed auditionees returned to the stage to sing Starship's 1987 hit Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.

Shortly before the show, Saara shared a sweet selfie as she beamed alongside Matt, shortly after she revealed to The Sun that she would prefer to come second on the show to give herself more freedom.

Chatting away: Saara put on a typically kooky display in an A-line silver mini dress with a thick waist belt while Matt wore his trademark winter coat - this time in a grey coat

Going mad! Madness were followed by slightly less iconic performances as some of the most memorable failed auditionees returned to the stage to sing Starship's 1987 hit Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

Calm before the storm! Saara took to Twitter ahead of the show to share the snap with Nicole Scherzinger's protege Matt as they prepared for the show

He's off: A delighted Matt was seen leaving Wembley Arena following his triumph on Sunday evening

Plenty to look forward to: Matt has a busy year ahead after beating Saara Aalto to The X Factor crown
Another Sunday, another visit to church for regular congregant Jennifer Garner.

Though he'd arrived separately, her estranged husband Ben Affleck had turned up to services that day as well.

Both 44-year-olds were nicely turned out, the 13 Going On 30 star having pulled on an elegant sky blue dress.

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Cheery: Ben Affleck was spotted on Sunday arriving at church in Los Angeles

Her hem stopped a bit above the knee, allowing her to showcase her impressively toned legs as she headed up the pavement.

A large watch glinted on her left wrist as she carried a black leather purse that complemented her red-soled black stilettos.

She'd pulled her sunglasses up onto her head, pulling back her hair, which otherwise fell free onto her thin black jacket.

Regular congregant: His estranged wife Jennifer Garner was also seen that day heading toward her weekly services

Chic: The 13 Going On 30 star had pulled on an elegant sky blue dress

Once services ended, she was seen leaving with her and Affleck's three children: 11-year-old Violet, seven-year-old Seraphina and four-year-old Samuel.

Meanwhile, the Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice star looked upbeat, having selected a pewter grey jumper that emphasised his well-built physique.

He'd rolled his sleeves up, showcasing his toned forearms whilst he crossed the car park in faded grey and white trainers.

The Justice League figure?: Meanwhile, the Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice star looked upbeat, having selected a pewter grey jumper that emphasised his well-built physique

Black jeans completed the Argo director's ensemble, and he'd slicked up the front bit of his dark brown hair.

After the service, he wished the photographers a merry Christmas as he walked back across the car park to his vehicle.

Whilst promoting her Christian-themed film Miracles From Heaven, which opened in March, Garner discussed going to church with her children.

Family day: The Juno actress had brought along her three children by Affleck, including their seven-year-old daughter Seraphina

Rounding out the bunch: Their three-year-old son and youngest child Samuel had also accompanied his mother to church

During an appearance on Good Morning Texas this February, she noted that 'I grew up going to church every Sunday of my life, and when I did move to LA, it wasn't something that was just part of the culture there in the same way, at least in my life.'

Though the change 'didn't mean that I lost who I was,' she conceded that 'there was something about doing this film, and talking to my kids about it and realising that they were looking for the structure of church every Sunday.'

She called it 'a great gift of this film, that it took us back to finding our local Methodist church and going every Sunday. It's really sweet.'
He revealed recently that a private sexual video of his was released onto the internet without his permission - which he calls the 'worst thing that ever happened' to him.

And Joel Dommett has addressed the traumatic incident on his social media - by penning a letter to his Facebook from the point of view of his penis.

The comedian, 30, uploaded the witty but well-written message to his Facebook page on Friday, in a bid to help others who have suffered the same humiliation.

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Dishing the dirt: Joel Dommett has addressed the traumatic incident of his 'catfishing' on his social media - by penning a letter to his Facebook from the point of view of his penis

Joel had briefly spoken about the matter on I'm A Celebrity, but took to his Facebook page on Friday to tell the full story of when he was duped into having internet sex with someone posing as Russian model Natalia Noir.

The note begins from the perspective of his manhood, stating: 'Recently, after being a relative recluse for Joels entire life (with the exception of the odd drunken public appearance), after a stupid error on Joels part there are now pictures of me, Joels part on the internet.'

Going on to explain how the situation occurred, the letter continues: 'Joel was Catfished a long time ago by somebody pretending to be someone else on the internet and was lured into Skype sex.'

Doing his bit: The comedian, 30, uploaded the witty but well-written message to his Facebook page on Friday, in a bid to help others who have suffered the same humiliation

Plenty to smile about: Joel seemed in high spirits as he hit the town at London's Tape nightclub on Sunday evening after his rather startling revelation

It's party time: The I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star was joined by a whole host of X Factor contestants, some of the Little Mix girls and Nicole Scherzinger for his night out

However he then reveals that the session had been 'entirely fake' and has now come back to 'bite' him, after the cruel troll released the footage on the Internet.

Talking about the devastating effects this had on him, the Skins star wrote: 'Its a genuinely horrific thing for another human being to do, to take advantage of what is private of someones life and make it public for everyone to see.

'He obviously chose to go into Im a Celebrity and people may argue that you are forfeiting a life of privacy with that choice, which he agrees with to a degree, but there is a line,' which he explains was crossed in sharing of the clip.

Devastated: Talking about the fallout, he wrote: 'Its a genuinely horrific thing for another human being to do, to take advantage of what is private of someones life and make it public'

Amidst his heartfelt and personal admission however, Joel wove in plenty of jokes referring to his manhood and its portrayed personality - in his usually witty style often aired on the jungle-based show.

The start of the letter pokes fun at the legalities of the matter - stating that the penis had written the message as 'damage limitation' while it was in the Australian jungle and therefore 'unable to defend itself'.

He also includes an array of hilarious comments in order to lighten the mood of the piece - at one point discussing how he and 'Joel's ass' are good friends, before making fun of himself wearing a beanie during the video later on.

Funny guy: Amidst his heartfelt admission however, Joel wove in plenty of jokes referring to his manhood - in his usually witty style often aired on the jungle-based show

Yet, the end of the piece ends in a touching and poignant tone, in order to provide points of help for individuals who has suffered the same cruel fate, and reassure them that will recover in time.

He finishes his speech: 'This is a new type of crime and it's not just happening to people of below average levels of fame like Joel', before providing links to further information and the number for the Samaritans.

The personal piece was met with high praise from fans, garnering close to 5,000 likes and hundreds of comments.

Helping hand: Yet, the end of the piece ends in a touching and poignant tone, in order to provide points of help for individuals who has suffered the same cruel fate

One user was quick to praise the comic, writing: 'Well done for speaking out to help others caught in the same trap as you'.

While another applauded him for clearing up the matter in the jungle, adding: 'Everyone has seen what a true gent you are and that defines you, not this video.'

Joel had revealed the unfortunate incident to The Mirror prior to his arrival in the jungle - before later discussing with his fellow camp mates on the show how 'easy' it to find photos of his genitalia on the web.

Big fan: Joel gained a huge amount of new supporters after his witty and entertaining appearance on this year's I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

Despite his past, Joel was an immediate hit on the show - placing in second behind winner Scarlett Moffatt after making fans laugh and women swoon each night.

It seems his love life may now be on the up - having gained a huge amount of admirers after his jungle stint, including former TOWIE star Ferne McCann.

The beauty had admitted on This Morning that she really fancied the star, who then proceeded to accept the proposition of a date.

Ladies man: It seems his love life may now be on the up - having gained a huge amount of admirers after his jungle stint, including former TOWIE star Ferne McCann (L)

Chatting with Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, he was asked how he felt after hearing that she'd publicly declared her love for him.

'Thats lovely,' he admitted. 'I think shes absolutely wonderful.'

Undeterred, Ruth asked Joel if he would consider taking the This Morning showbiz correspondent out on a date, to which he was happy to oblige.

'Shes Ferne McCann not Ferne McCant so well have to set that up  live on TV!' he said, adding: 'Ill have to check with (my mum) Penny.'
Joshua retains world heavyweight title, targets Klitschko

Anthony Joshua paved the way for a fight against Wladimir Klitschko next year by making quick work of Eric Molina in a third round win on Saturday.

The Briton successfully defended his IBF world heavyweight title for a second time with another brutal demonstration of his power-punching to claim an 18th stoppage win from as many professional bouts at the Manchester Arena.

Joshua forced the stoppage in two minutes, two seconds of the third round after first flooring American Molina with a right.

British boxer Anthony Joshua, seen in November 2016, forced the stoppage in two minutes, two seconds of the third round after first flooring American Eric Molina with a right December 10, 2016 JUSTIN TALLIS (AFP/File)

Klitschko, the former world No 1 who lost three titles on points to Joshuas fellow Briton Tyson Fury last year, was ringside to check on Joshua and could not have failed to have been impressed.

Klitschko -- 41 in March -- and Joshua are being lined up to meet on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, and the Ukrainian will be a big step up in class to Molina.

"I was patient and we move on. This is not the end of the story, said Joshua in the ring.

"You will realise what Im all about now. Klitschko wants his belts back and may the best man win. I will worry about myself and training."

Klitschko then got into the ring and promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed Joshuas next fight would be against the Ukrainian.

"You want a big fight and you've got it," said Klitschko to the crowd.

Joshua, the 2012 Olympic gold medallist, made a measured start against Molina and was content to take his time behind his jab in the first two rounds, before unleashing his power punches early in the third.

Molina, 34, looked comfortable for most of the first round, except for a ramrod jab that rocked him back on to his heels.

Joshua, 27, boxed cautiously in the second round as well, catching Molina at close range with a left uppercut but he did give the challenger anything to be concerned about until the third round.

Joshua unloaded with more venom in the third and then caught Molina flush with a right to the jaw in the Americans corner.

Molina only just beat the count and when the action resumed Joshua landed a quick flurry of punches which was enough for referee Steve Gray to call the fight off.

Molina lasted nine rounds with Deontay Wilder, who holds the WBC version of the world title, before his fellow American knocked him out last year.

But Joshua got the job done quicker and only two boxers have managed to take the north Londoner beyond three rounds.

Molina, who had only been drafted in as an opponent at less than six weeks notice after Klitschko decided not to box Joshua, suffered his fourth career defeat in his 29th fight.

British heavyweights Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora settled their domestic dispute, which came close to being scrapped earlier in the week, with Whyte winning a controversial split points decision.

Whyte won by 115-114, 115-114 to 115-113 in an the eliminator for the WBC world heavyweight title, held by Wilder.

Briton Khalid Yafai lifted the vacant WBA world super-flyweight title unanimously on points after flooring Panamas Luis Concepcion in the tenth round with a left hook.
Somalia suicide truck bombing kills more than 20

More than 20 people were killed Sunday in a suicide truck bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police said, in a fresh strike claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group.

"The tally we have made so far indicates that more than 20 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the blast," said Ibrahim Mohamed, a Somali police commander.

He said the toll might rise further as the injured and dead had been taken to different hospitals around the city. It was unclear how many people had been in the vicinity of the blast.

The Shabaab is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government of Somalia and regularly stages deadly attacks on government, military and civilian targets Tobin Jones (AU UN IST/AFP/File)

Abdikadir Abdirahman Adem, director of Mogadishu's AMIN ambulance service, said his staff had transported 48 injured people to hospital.

"The bomber targeted a civilian area. There were porters and other small-scale traders in the area when the blast occurred," said Mohamed.

In a chaotic scene after the explosion in the seaport area, an AFP journalist saw bystanders hauling bodies away on makeshift stretchers, overturned chairs and tables and scattered belongings.

A Somali security officer meanwhile guarded a suspected jihadist, blindfolded, on the back of a black pickup truck.

"I saw a woman and her daughter die on the spot," a shocked witness said, adding: "I saw with my own eyes six dead people."

The Shabaab group claimed responsibility in a statement distributed on its Telegram messaging account.

It said the target was a military base close to the port and claimed to have killed "nearly 30". The group frequently exaggerates the number killed in its attacks.

A spokesman for the city adminstration, Abdifatah Omar Halane, said investigations were under way.

The Shabaab is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government of Somalia and regularly stages deadly attacks on government, military and civilian targets in the capital and elsewhere in the war-torn country.

Sunday's attack took place close to the entrance to city port and was large even by Mogadishu's standards.

"I have never witnessed such a blast which caused so much devastation," said local resident Abdukarim Osman.

The attack comes as Somalia is in the process of electing a new government with the much-delayed presidential vote due on December 28.

Prior to Sunday's blast, the Shabaab claimed an attack on Mogadishu in August when a car bomb outside a popular hotel close to the presidential palace, leaving 15 dead.
British minister expects Assad to recapture Aleppo

British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said on Sunday that Syrian government forces would likely recapture the battleground city of Aleppo from rebels.

"It looks now as if sadly Aleppo will fall," Fallon told BBC television, as the Syrian army tightened its grip and air strikes pummelled the shrinking rebel enclave in the east of the besieged city.

But he refused to accept that the Russian-backed regime of President Bashar al-Assad was heading for overall victory in Syria's long-running civil war.

British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon refused to accept that the Russian-backed regime of President Bashar al-Assad was heading for overall victory in Syria's long-running civil war Justin Tallis (AFP/File)

"How can you be winning by bombing hospitals, by blocking humanitarian aid convoys?" Fallon asked.

"And you end up with a country that the regime only controls 40 percent of, and is still opposed by most of his people. That's not a victory for anybody."

He said Britain would keep appealing to Russia "to use its influence to get this civil war stopped, to help us rebuild Syria with a genuinely plural government that can appeal to all the people of Syria".

"Then we can get on with the task of dealing with Daesh," or Islamic State, he added.

On the issue of Russia, he warned that while "there are things we have to talk to Russia about, of course to deescalate tension" -- including on NATO deployments in eastern border -- "it can't be business as usual".
IS retakes Palmyra after Syria army withdrawal

The Islamic State jihadist group recaptured Palmyra on Sunday after Syrian armed forces pulled out of the desert city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

The jihadists made a lightning-fast advance across the city after overrunning a northern neighbourhood and capturing the famed citadel to Palmyra's west.

The Islamic State group was ousted from Palmyra in March 2016 by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia Maher AL MOUNES (AFP/File)

The IS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that IS regained "full control" of the city on Sunday after taking the citadel, which overlooks Palmyra from a strategic hilltop.

IS launched an offensive last week near Palmyra, a renowned UNESCO World Heritage site.

It seized oil and gas fields before making a major push into the desert city on Saturday, sparking new worries for Palmyra's remaining ancient treasures.

But a fierce Russian bombing campaign killed scores of IS fighters and forced others to withdraw at dawn on Sunday.

"Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on jihadist positions around the city," he told AFP.

In a statement issued in Moscow, the defence ministry said Russian warplanes conducted 64 air strikes against "positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants" in Palmyra.

"Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra," it said in a statement.

"The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery," it said, adding that the strikes killed more than 300 militants and destroyed 11 tanks and 31 vehicles.

Russia has carried out a bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

- Hit-and-run -

IS fighters have used hit-and-run tactics to cut their losses of personnel and equipment, withdrawing under intense bombardment but quickly relaunching an attack when skies are clear.

The jihadists have killed around 100 members of Syrian government forces since launching simultaneous attacks on several regime positions near Palmyra on Thursday, the Britain-based Observatory said.

They targeted areas including near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and seized government checkpoints, silos and the village of Jazal, northwest of Palmyra.

In May last year, the Sunni Muslim extremist group seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites.

They were ousted from Palmyra in March by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia.

That was hailed as a major victory, with Russian celebrities travelling there since March staging concerts and making public appearances.

Moscow has been under severe criticism for its air strikes on Aleppo -- which it says it stopped on October 18 -- where the anti-Assad opposition is currently holed up in just a fraction of the territory it once controlled.

The city's eastern districts are still being bombed by the Syrian regime which Washington has labelled "war crimes" and a UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire to stop the carnage.
British FM's 'proxy war' comment misconstrued: Saudi Arabia

The press took out of context comments by Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson about "proxy wars" waged by longtime ally Saudi Arabia, the Saudi foreign minister said Sunday, deeming the matter closed.

In a video reported last week, Johnson at a conference in Rome, accused Saudi Arabia and its regional rival Iran of "puppeteering" and "playing proxy wars".

A video of his comments was posted on the Guardian website.

Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson Tiziana Fabi (AFP/File)

"I have no doubt that his comments as reported in the press were misconstrued," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters at a joint news conference with Johnson in Riyadh.

"If you look at the actual video of what was said, it was not as implied in the press," Jubeir said.

The British minister was on an official visit to the kingdom, during which he met King Salman.

The Guardian report came on Thursday, a day after British Prime Minister Theresa May attended a summit with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states in Bahrain.

Downing Street had to pull Johnson back into line, saying the comments reflected his "personal position".

"There are no mixed messages that we are getting from Britain," Jubeir said, noting that Saudi-British ties go back more than a century.

"We don't have any doubt in where Britain stands, and Britain has no doubt in where we stand," he said as Johnson sounded agreement.

"I believe that the matter is closed," the Saudi minister said.

Johnson thanked Jubeir for his comments.

A former mayor of London less than six months into his ministerial job, Johnson is a colourful and captivating speaker who has made a series of diplomatic blunders.

- 'Positive things' -

Asked at the press conference if he would apologise, Johnson said he was "here to emphasise the friendship" between the two countries.

But he added: "We believe in a candour in our relationship", emphasising the word "candour".

"And now, if you don't mind, is the time for us to talk about the positive things that we're doing together," Johnson continued.

May and the Gulf leaders agreed at their Bahrain summit to form a "strategic partnership" to foster defence and other ties.

Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite-dominated Iran support opposite sides of the war in Syria and also in Yemen, where Riyadh has since March last year led a coalition bombing campaign against Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

On Saturday, Tehran summoned the British ambassador to protest against "interference" by May, over comments she made at the GCC summit.

She said her country would help "push back against Iran's aggressive regional actions".

In a joint statement, GCC states and Britain said that they "oppose and will work together to counter Iran's destabilising activities".

Iran and Britain reopened their respective embassies in 2015 following an international agreement to curb Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
Syria army advances in Aleppo but rolled back in Palmyra

Syrian forces pushed forward in Aleppo Sunday as thousands fled rebel-held areas, but they lost ground to the south where the Islamic State group recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra.

After a sudden regime withdrawal, IS jihadists made a lightning-fast advance across Palmyra, sparking new concerns for its remaining ancient treasures.

Since mid-November, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been focused on second city Aleppo, where they have retaken more than 85 percent of the one-time rebel bastion in the city's east.

A member of Syrian pro-government forces walks on a street in al-Maadi district of eastern Aleppo on December 11, 2016 after they retook a large part of it from rebel fighters George OURFALIAN (AFP)

On Sunday, they pounded the shrinking rebel enclave in southeast Aleppo with artillery and air strikes, seizing the Maadi district and several other neighbourhoods, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 10,000 people had fled remaining rebel-held districts since midnight, heading for government-run west Aleppo and newly retaken areas in the city's north and centre.

An estimated 120,000 people have poured out of east Aleppo since late November, the monitor said.

State news agency SANA said that on Sunday alone, at least 8,000 people had fled rebel districts through several government-run crossings.

It said approximately half were transferred to temporary shelters, while the rest were staying with relatives in west Aleppo.

An AFP correspondent in the west said air strikes on the east were less intense as night fell, but artillery fire could still be heard.

- Army withdraws from Palmyra -

US and Russian officials were expected to continue talks in Geneva Sunday on trying to reach a ceasefire in Aleppo, but intense diplomatic efforts over the past week have failed to stem the fighting.

Backing from Moscow, which began an air war in support of Assad last year, has been crucial in the Syrian army's ability to make gains nationwide.

Russian raids overnight bolstered Syrian soldiers fighting off an IS offensive on Palmyra, the renowned UNESCO World Heritage site in central Syria.

But the jihadists launched a fresh attack Sunday, the Observatory said, recapturing all of Palmyra after government forces pulled out.

"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

He said IS was "combing the city" for any remaining Syrian soldiers.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency said the group regained "full control" of the city after taking the citadel overlooking Palmyra from a strategic hilltop.

Capturing Palmyra from IS in May was a major symbolic victory for Assad's forces -- and for its Russian ally.

Moscow has come under severe criticism in the West for its continued political and military support for Damascus as the regime pursues its assault in Aleppo.

Russia says it is consulting with the United States on the terms of an Aleppo ceasefire after a full rebel withdrawal, without any sign of an agreement so far.

- 'Yes to peace' -

Pope Francis called Sunday for an end to violence in Aleppo and across Syria.

"I appeal to all to choose civilisation: no to destruction, yes to peace, yes to the people of Aleppo and Syria," he said.

At least 413 civilians have been killed in east Aleppo since the offensive began on November 15, the Observatory said, and 139 killed in rebel rocket fire on the city's west.

The UN children's agency said all children in Aleppo were suffering from trauma.

"I have never seen in my life such a dramatic situation (as) what is happening to children in Aleppo," said Radoslaw Rzehak, UNICEF's field office head inside the devastated city.

Assad's forces retaking Aleppo appears to be only a matter of time.

The loss of east Aleppo will deal the biggest blow to Syria's opposition since the civil war began in 2011.

"We're now past the point where the opposition has any hope of pulling things back," said Yezid Sayigh of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

Assad "will have in effect broken the back of the armed opposition... and the idea that the regime can be overcome militarily will be finally put to rest".

After meetings in Paris on Saturday, Western and Arab powers called for talks to end the war.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who called the regime's bombings of Aleppo "war crimes", said the time was ripe for a return to negotiations.

Rebels "can still win a political settlement that honours the fight and all they've invested," Kerry said.

In a rare public appearance on Sunday, Assad attended a celebration at a Damascus mosque to mark the Prophet Mohammed's birthday, SANA reported.

Syria: Islamic State fighter retake Palmyra Sophie RAMIS, Jonathan JACOBSEN (AFP)

"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman Maher AL MOUNES (AFP/File)

A member of the Syrian pro-government forces patrols in west Aleppo's Ithaa district on December 11, 2016 George OURFALIAN (AFP)
On Madagascar beaches, families search for MH370 clues

It was a heartfelt journey before Christmas, a search for clues about loved ones who disappeared in a still unsolved mystery. The mission was a long shot, at best.

But for several families seeking answers over the fate of relatives who perished aboard flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, any effort is better than none.

Frustrated by a lack of progress in official investigations into the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, the families spent the past week in Madagascar, combing beaches.

Relatives of missing MH370 passengers headed to Madagascar on December 3, 2016 harbouring hopes of finding seaborne debris RIJASOLO (AFP/File)

Fragments identified with "near certainty" as coming from the aircraft were discovered in recent months on the coast of East Africa, prompting the unorthodox search.

Jiang Hui, a 44-year-old from China who lost his mother on the flight, has not given up hope of finding out why 239 people disappeared without a trace.

"When I first found debris on Wednesday, I was very excited... and very sad," he said, after a day that was both physically and emotionally gruelling.

"Whenever we discover this kind of fragment, I think we are getting closer to the truth. This is what I want to hope for," he said, under a boiling hot sun.

Neither the location nor the cause of the crash is known, feeding wild conspiracy theories. The families have covered parts of Madagascar on foot, by 4x4 vehicles and on quad bikes.

- Trying to stay positive -

And they have been accompanied by Blaine Gibson, an American amateur investigator who has also been trying to find out what happened to flight MH370.

Over two days of searching, the team found debris on Nosy Boraha, an island off the eastern coast. After a discovery on the second day, a Malaysian woman who lost her husband onboard MH370, burst into tears.

But such finds harden Hui's resolve.

"I think our trip to Madagascar was justified," he said before the group left Sunday, mindful that such discoveries are just the starting point in the quest for clues, as the fragments could easily have come from a boat, not a plane.

The finds bore no identifiable features and they will be passed to local authorities before being sent to Malaysia for analysis. The process can take months.

Whether in hope or out of actual belief, Hui tries to stay positive.

"I have done a lot of research on aeroplane debris to know what it looks like. I know very well what to look for," he said.

Some of the families ventured to Madagascar out of a sense of desperation, exasperated at the lack of progress in the official searches and investigation.

It is believed MH370 crashed into the Indian Ocean, but an extensive deep-sea hunt off Australia's west coast failed to find a single piece of debris.

- Message in a bottle -

As such, families took matters into their own hands.

"I would prefer that the authorities do this," rather than rely "on tourists or fishermen to find debris by chance", said Hui, adding that a coordinated effort would be "much better".

In Madagascar, some officials from the Malaysian government travelled with the relatives of MH370 victims.

"The bigger the piece (of debris), the greater the chance we have of determining its origin," explained Aslam Basha Khan of the Malaysian Ministry of Transport.

"But sometimes we are not able to make a direct link with the plane," Khan said.

The families also used the trip to heighten awareness among the local population about the search.

In Nosy Boraha, a guide named Cyriak Rakotosoa, who found a piece of debris in October, has become an ally.

"I tell the fishermen that if they find something similar they should bring it to the hotel. But usually if they do, they use it to repair a roof."

In a sign of the distress felt by the families, Li Er You, a Chinese man whose only son was on MH370, threw a bottle filled with money and a letter into the sea.
Girls 'aged 7 or 8' commit suicide attack in Nigeria

Two girls, thought to be only seven or eight years old, conducted a double suicide attack in a northeastern Nigerian market Sunday, killing one person and wounding 18, officials said.

The attack in Maiduguri was not immediately claimed by Boko Haram but bore the hallmarks of the jihadist group which often uses women or girls in such operations -- especially in Borno state -- the epicentre of their insurgency.

Borno state governor Kashim Shettima confirmed the toll to journalists while visiting victims in hospital.

Emergency services and soldiers gather at the scene of a suicide bomb attack on a market in Maiduguri, after two girls approximately seven or eight years old blew themselves, killing themselves and wounding at least 17 others STR (AFP)

The girls were "seven or eight", a militia member in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, Abdulkarim Jabo, told AFP, recalling that he saw the attackers immediately before the first explosion.

"They got out of a rickshaw and walked right in front of me without showing the slightest sign of emotion," he said.

"I tried to speak with one of them, in Hausa and in English, but she didn't answer. I thought they were looking for their mother.

"She headed toward the poultry sellers, and then detonated her explosives belt."

Governor Shettima said he would meet security agents, market officials and civilian vigilantes -- who are assisting the military -- to try and strengthen security at market places.

The second explosion was apparently triggered slightly later as bystanders were helping the wounded.

"We removed 17 people with different degrees of injuries," said Bello Dambatta of the local emergency management agency.

- 'Mutilated bodies' -

"The mutilated bodies of the two suicide bombers were also evacuated."

Boko Haram jihadists have laid waste to northeast Nigeria since they took up arms against the government in 2009.

They are seeking to impose a hardline Islamic legal system on the country's mainly-Muslim north.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than two-and-a-half million more displaced by the unrest.

But the Nigerian military's campaign against the jihadists is increasingly bogged down as it confronts suicide attacks, looting and indiscriminate slaughter.

Rights groups say thousands of women and girls have been abducted by the group. In the most infamous incident more than 200 schoolgirls were taken from the remote town of Chibok in 2014.

The jihadists have used abducted females as sex slaves and human bombs, while boys are enlisted to fight.

Northeast Nigeria has been buffeted in recent weeks by a string of devastating attacks.

On Friday at least 45 people died and 33 others were wounded in another double suicide attack carried out by female bombers, at a marketplace in the town of Madagali.

In October another set of female suicide bombers killed 17 people at a station near a camp for internally displaced persons.

In February 2015, Boko Haram used an eight-year-old to carry out a suicide attack in Potiskum, in Yobe state, and a 10- and 18-year-old pair were involved in a failed July 2014 attack in Funtua, in northwestern Katsina state.
Netanyahu wants to discuss Iran deal options with Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to discuss with US President-elect Donald Trump ways to get rid of the Iran nuclear deal, he said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday.

"I think what options we have are much more than you think. Many more," Netanyahu said in the interview with CBS's "60 minutes."

Netanyahu gave no details on what he will be proposing when he meets with Trump, but minimized the downside of Washington backing out of an accord that includes other world powers, including its European allies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been an ardent opponent of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal ABIR SULTAN (Pool/AFP)

"There are ways, various ways of undoing it," he said. "I have about five things in my mind."

Netanyahu has been an ardent opponent of the 2015 agreement, which places curbs on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from US and other international sanctions.

He alienated the administration of outgoing President Barack Obama by denouncing it in an address to a joint meeting of the US Congress.

Trump has criticized the nuclear agreement as a "disastrous deal," but has stopped short of saying he would rip it up, instead suggesting he would renegotiate or dismantle it.
EU, Mali reach agreement to return migrants: Netherlands

The European Union on Sunday reached an agreement with the Malian government aimed at enabling the return of migrants who have reached Europe's shores, and whose asylum requests have been refused.

"It is the first time the EU establishes such a precise mechanism with an African country with regards to returning failed asylum seekers," said a statement from the Dutch foreign ministry, which signed a joint declaration on the EU's behalf.

The declaration seeks to fight "the root causes of illegal migration" and to "enable the return from Europe of Malian migrants", the statement said.

Under the European Union deal, "Malian civil servants will travel to EU member states to help determine the identity of migrants, in order to accelerate their return" LOUISA GOULIAMAKI (AFP/File)

The agreement came after a summit in the Maltese capital Valletta in November 2015, when EU leaders agreed with their African counterparts to set up a 1.8-billion-euro ($1.9-billion) fund to help address the root causes of migration.

In return, African countries would step up border controls and accept the repatriation of those who make it to Europe but are judged to have no right to remain.

The EU-Mali declaration lays the foundations for schemes to help young people find work, and seeks to strengthen the country's security forces.

In addition, Mali and neighbouring states are expected to step up the fight against people-smugglers while improving their border security.

A total of nine projects, with a budget of 145.1 million euros, were adopted.

Under the declaration, "Malian civil servants will travel to EU member states to help determine the identity of migrants, in order to accelerate their return," the statement said.

The number of migrants from African nations -- including Mali, Nigeria and The Gambia -- who risk their lives at sea in a desperate bid to reach Europe has increased considerably in recent years, official figures show.

The EU-Mali agreement, which will be presented in Brussels on Monday, is "necessary", according to Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, whose country held the EU's rotating presidency earlier this year.
'Hamilton' mixtape beats Stones on US album chart

A compilation inspired by the Broadway smash hit "Hamilton" opened at number one Sunday on the US album sales chart, easily outpacing the first Rolling Stones album in a decade.

"The Hamilton Mixtape" features interpretations of songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical by top acts including Sia, John Legend and Wiz Khalifa.

The compilation album sold 187,000 copies or their equivalent in downloads or streaming in the week through Thursday, monitoring service Nielsen Music said.

L-R: Phillipa Soo, Christopher Jackson, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Anthony Ramos attend Miranda's final performance of "Hamilton" on Broadway at Richard Rodgers Theatre on July 9, 2016 Nicholas Hunt (Getty/AFP/File)

"Hamilton," a hip-hop reimagining of the US founding fathers, has been one of Broadway's hottest tickets in years.

"Hamilton" recently returned to the news when Vice President-elect Mike Pence attended and the crew voiced concern to him over how the next administration would treat minorities, prompting an angry rebuke by President-elect Donald Trump.

The Rolling Stones opened at number four on the Billboard chart with "Blue and Lonesome," a cover album of Chicago blues standards that is the rock legends' first studio release since 2005.

"Blue and Lonesome" had opened at number one in Britain, the first for the Stones in their native country in more than 20 years.

The Stones have not had a number one in the United States since 1981's "Tattoo You"

Nonetheless the Stones extended a US record with "Blue and Lonesome" as the band now has entered the top 10 with 37 albums. Second is Barbra Streisand with 34.

R&B sensation The Weeknd slipped to number two on the latest Billboard chart with "Starboy," which earlier broke a streaming record on Spotify.
Trump's pick for State is an accomplished executive

WASHINGTON (AP)  President-elect Donald Trump has found an accomplished American executive in Rex Tillerson, but one whose longstanding support for free trade, international law and an expansive U.S. presence in the Middle East largely doesn't fit with what Trump has pitched to supporters.

A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Tillerson came to Exxon Mobile Corp. as a production engineer straight out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1975 and never left. Groomed for an executive position, Tillerson came up in the rough-and-tumble world of oil production, holding posts in the company's central United States, Yemen and Russian operations.

His nomination as the country's top diplomat would be the nascent Trump administration's most concrete outreach yet to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Success in Russia required aligning the company's interests with those of the Russian government, mettle and good relations with Putin. Exxon steadily expanded its Russian business even as its rivals faced expropriation and regulatory obstacles, and in 2013 Putin bestowed the Order of Friendship on Tillerson.

FILE - In this Friday, March 27, 2015 file photo, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson delivers remarks on the release of a report by the National Petroleum Council on oil drilling in the Arctic, in Washington. On Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump moved closer to nominating Tillerson as his secretary of state, meeting privately with the business leader for the second time in a week. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

In 2006, Tillerson won the battle to succeed former Exxon CEO Lee Raymond. Under the Texan's leadership, oil prices broke records and Exxon's profits helped make it the most valuable public company in the world, with a security force totaling thousands of employees, direct channels with governments worldwide and a strong aversion to American sanctions or limitations on where it could operate.

Tillerson has used Exxon's enormous profits to explore new regions for oil and gas and to invest in new acquisitions like XTO Resources, a company that had helped pioneer drilling for natural gas in formations of shale in the United States. But over the years oil has become more difficult and expensive to find as large, easy-to-tap reservoirs in stable countries were slowly depleted. Exxon and other giant oil corporations found it ever more difficult to replace the oil they sold every day with new resources, and they were forced to look in every more difficult and hostile regions for oil and gas.

"Energy made in America is not as important as energy simply made wherever it is most economic," he said in 2007 in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations. "We are free-market, free-trade advocates," he said in another speech to the group five years later, declaring that the greatest boon for American energy security would be support for oil production and trading worldwide.

While Tillerson advocates for a hands-off approach to markets, he's backed continued American engagement in the Middle East. After the Iraq war, Exxon agreed to develop a large project in still-unstable southern Iraq at terms that less favorable to Exxon than most deals. In 2011, Tillerson announced an expansive relationship with Russia's Rosneft that will spend years and billions of dollars developing technology to explore and produce oil and gas in icy waters in the Russian Arctic.

While the revolutionary gains from shale fracking have poised the U.S. to supply far more of its own energy, Tillerson has said it would be a mistake to step back.

"The question you have to ask is, 'Well then, who steps into that void,'" he said, suggesting it would be a "large consuming country" such as China.

While his predecessor was a firm skeptic about the link between fossil fuel combustion and climate change, Tillerson has softened the company's position on the issue, even if he's unconvinced by the most dire predictions of the consequences.

At an industry conference in 2007, Tillerson acknowledged Earth's climate is changing, the average temperature is rising and greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. He also noted that climate remains a complex area of scientific study. Exxon remains under fire for its past efforts to undercut climate change  even as recently exposed internal documents show the company's own scientists recognized climate change's legitimacy as early as the 1970s.

But he said it's clear the risks of climate change to society and ecosystems could be significant, and it's prudent to develop and implement "sensible strategies that address these risks while not reducing our ability to progress other global priorities such as economic development, poverty eradication and public health."

Tillerson was slated to retire in March at age 65 under the company's mandatory retirement policy. Paid $27.3 million last year, Tillerson has accumulated roughly $160 million in Exxon stock along with $149 million of unvested stock options, according a proxy statement the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Boston Celtics' flight arrives in Oklahoma after bomb scare

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  The Boston Celtics got a scare when they were told of a bomb threat on their private flight to Oklahoma City.

The Boston Globe (http://bit.ly/2hbx9Jc ) reports the plane landed safely around 5:00 p.m. at Will Rogers World Airport, where players were told to leave their bags and proceed to their hotel.

The FBI's Oklahoma City field office said late Saturday that a thorough search of the aircraft "did not locate an explosive device" and that the agency is investigating the incident.

The Boston Globe says only a few team executives were aware of the threat during the flight and that others in the party were informed upon landing in Oklahoma City, where the Celtics face the Thunder on Sunday.
Iran proposes regional anti-terror bloc to include Saudis

TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Iran has proposed the formation of a bloc of Muslim countries to fight terrorism and boost economic cooperation that would include its regional rival Saudi Arabia.

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told a security conference on Sunday that the two countries, along with Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan, should join together to promote "regional peace based on Islam, defending the Palestinian people, fighting terrorism and economic interests."

Shiite-majority Iran and mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia are bitterly divided, and support opposite sides in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in January after Iranian demonstrators stormed Saudi diplomatic facilities to protest the execution of a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric.

Larijani said Saudi Arabia and other nations should know that Iran is not "their enemy." He said Iran is opposed to "warmongering in Syria and Yemen" and wants to resolve regional conflicts through "national solidarity governments resorting to democratic methods."

"Iran is not after creating an empire and hegemony in the region," he said. "Our viewpoint is aimed at improving unity."

Iran is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and sponsors the Hezbollah armed group in Lebanon as well as state-sanctioned Iraqi Shiite militias. At a two-day security summit in Bahrain last week, the leaders of Western-allied Arab Gulf countries agreed on the need to counter Iran's "destabilizing activities" in the region.
Top contender to lead State known to back free trade, Russia

WASHINGTON (AP)  The top contender to lead U.S. foreign policy under Donald Trump is known for his longstanding support of free trade, international law and an expansive presence in the Middle East that doesn't fit with Trump's pitch to supporters.

Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson also is known for his Russia connections and would be the Trump's most concrete outreach yet to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Success in Russia required aligning the company's interests with those of the Russian government, mettle and good relations with Putin. Exxon steadily expanded its Russian business even as its rivals faced expropriation and regulatory obstacles, and in 2013 Putin bestowed the Order of Friendship on Tillerson.

FILE - In this Friday, March 27, 2015 file photo, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson delivers remarks on the release of a report by the National Petroleum Council on oil drilling in the Arctic, in Washington. On Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump moved closer to nominating Tillerson as his secretary of state, meeting privately with the business leader for the second time in a week. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

"He's a world-class player," Trump said on "Fox News Sunday." ''To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia, he does massive deals, not for himself, for the company."

Trump's own relationship with Russia was an issue through much of the campaign. The CIA has concluded with "high confidence" that Russia sought to influence the U.S. election on behalf of the Republican, an assessment Trump has rejected.

On Sunday, Trump called that assessment "ridiculous."

A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Tillerson came to Exxon Mobil Corp. as a production engineer straight out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1975 and never left. Groomed for an executive position, Tillerson came up in the rough-and-tumble world of oil production, holding posts in the company's central United States, Yemen and Russian operations.

In 2006, Tillerson won the battle to succeed former Exxon CEO Lee Raymond. Under the Texan's leadership, oil prices broke records and Exxon's profits helped make it the most valuable public company in the world, with a security force totaling thousands of employees, direct channels with governments worldwide and a strong aversion to American sanctions or limitations on where it could operate.

Tillerson has used Exxon's enormous profits to explore new regions for oil and gas and to invest in new acquisitions like XTO Resources, a company that had helped pioneer drilling for natural gas in formations of shale in the United States. But over the years oil has become more difficult and expensive to find as large, easy-to-tap reservoirs in stable countries were slowly depleted. Exxon and other giant oil corporations found it ever more difficult to replace the oil they sold every day with new resources, and they were forced to look in every more difficult and hostile regions for oil and gas.

"Energy made in America is not as important as energy simply made wherever it is most economic," he said in 2007 in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations. "We are free-market, free-trade advocates," he said in another speech to the group five years later, declaring that the greatest boon for American energy security would be support for oil production and trading worldwide.

While Tillerson advocates for a hands-off approach to markets, he's backed continued American engagement in the Middle East. After the Iraq war, Exxon agreed to develop a large project in still-unstable southern Iraq at terms that less favorable to Exxon than most deals. In 2011, Tillerson announced an expansive relationship with Russia's Rosneft that will spend years and billions of dollars developing technology to explore and produce oil and gas in icy waters in the Russian Arctic.

While the revolutionary gains from shale fracking have poised the U.S. to supply far more of its own energy, Tillerson has said it would be a mistake to step back.

"The question you have to ask is, 'Well then, who steps into that void,'" he said, suggesting it would be a "large consuming country" such as China.

While his predecessor was a firm skeptic about the link between fossil fuel combustion and climate change, Tillerson has softened the company's position on the issue, even if he's unconvinced by the most dire predictions of the consequences.

At an industry conference in 2007, Tillerson acknowledged Earth's climate is changing, the average temperature is rising and greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. He also noted that climate remains a complex area of scientific study. Exxon remains under fire for its past efforts to undercut climate change  even as recently exposed internal documents show the company's own scientists recognized climate change's legitimacy as early as the 1970s.

But he said it's clear the risks of climate change to society and ecosystems could be significant, and it's prudent to develop and implement "sensible strategies that address these risks while not reducing our ability to progress other global priorities such as economic development, poverty eradication and public health."
Overfished halibut under scrutiny as Maine's catch increases

BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP)  Federal fishing regulators say they are looking to change the way they manage Atlantic halibut in the wake of a surge in catch of the fish.

The government lists Atlantic halibut as "overfished" and conservationists want to protect it. But many fishermen say the catch is up because the stock has been rebuilt over recent years.

East Coast fishermen caught more than 215,000 pounds of Atlantic halibut in 2015 in the most productive year of fishing for the flatfish since 1972. Catch of the fish in nearshore Maine waters is helping drive the increase, regulators say.

Atlantic halibut steaks are displayed for sale at a seafood market, Friday, Dec, 9, 2016, in Portland, Maine. Federal fishing regulators consider the species overfished and are looking to change the way they manage the Atlantic halibut fishery. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle)

The regulatory New England Fishery Management Council decided last month to review management of halibut, which is popular with diners and chefs for its thick, meaty steaks. Exactly what form regulation changes could take isn't yet known.

"We've identified that this is an issue, and this will be a priority for 2017," Janice Plante, a spokeswoman for the council, said.

The council has also asked that Maine's state fishing managers adjust the way they oversee halibut. Part of the issue is that if fishermen exceed their quota for the fish, it can trigger restrictions on fishing that impact fishermen who operate in federal waters. About 40 percent of the halibut catch for the 2015 fishing year was taken in state waters, mostly in Maine.

Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association, said Maine should consider limiting the amount of halibut fishing in state waters. Otherwise, federal fishermen will be negatively affected by the surge in state catch, he said.

Martens also said better data also is needed because many fishermen believe the stock has rebuilt significantly in recent years, and that's why catch is up.

"The story is that this is a rebuilding success," he said. "In New England, we don't know what to do with successes."

A spokesman for the Maine Department of Marine Resources declined to comment beyond acknowledging that the agency is reviewing the council's request, and taking it seriously.

Some conservationist groups have tried to dissuade consumers from buying Atlantic halibut.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lists it as a "species of concern," meaning there are "concerns regarding status and threats," but also insufficient information about whether a listing under the federal Endangered Species Act is warranted.

Atlantic halibut is fished commercially off New England, with the majority of the catch coming ashore in Maine and Massachusetts. The fish is of high economic value, frequently serving as an entree item in the $30 range, and its price per pound at the dock has doubled for fishermen in the last ten years.
The Latest: Israel vows to work with Trump to undo Iran deal

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):

2 p.m.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling President-elect Donald Trump a strong supporter of Israel, and says he wants to work with Trump to undo the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration and other world powers.

Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, left, and his son Jack, right, watch an Army-Navy NCAA college football game at M&T Bank Stadium, Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

"I know Donald Trump," Netanyahu told CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview that will air Sunday night. "He feels very warmly about the Jewish state, about the Jewish people...there's no question about that."

Netanyahu said there are "various ways of undoing" the 2015 deal, in which Iran agreed to limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions on its oil industry and finances.

"I have about five things in my mind," Netanyahu said, declining to go into further detail.

Trump has been harshly critical of the nuclear deal, and Netanyahu tried to block it.

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12:30 p.m.

Donald Trump says he may  or may not  choose Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state.

The president-elect tweeted Sunday: "Whether I choose him or not for 'State'- Rex Tillerson, the Chairman & CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!"

Republicans and Democrats have national security concerns about Tillerson's ties to Russia. Exxon steadily expanded its Russian business on his watch even as its rivals faced expropriation and regulatory obstacles. In 2013, Putin bestowed a medal on Tillerson.

Concerns about Tillerson generated enough blowback Sunday to raise the prospect that his Senate confirmation could be tricky.

Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted: "Being a 'friend of Vladimir' is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState."

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12:05 p.m.

Sen. John McCain says the Senate Armed Services Committee will go to work "immediately" to investigate allegations that hackers directed by Russia tried to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.

The Arizona Republican told CBS' "Face The Nation" Sunday that the effort will be led by GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and a Democratic co-chair.

McCain also said ultimately he'd like the Senate to create a special committee to investigate the allegations. Such "select" committees take time to set up.

President-elect Donald Trump has dismissed the CIA's conclusion that Russia tried to drive his victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

McCain called Russian leader Vladimir Putin "a thug, and a murderer, and a killer, and a KGB agent."

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9:52 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump's incoming chief of staff says it's "insane" to suggest that Russian hacking influenced the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

Reince Priebus said Sunday the Russians "didn't tell Hillary Clinton to ignore Wisconsin and Michigan."

Priebus, who will step down as chair of the Republican National Committee, told ABC's "This Week" that Clinton "ignored states that she shouldn't have, and Donald Trump was the change agent... Donald Trump won in an electoral landslide that had nothing to do with the Russians."

The CIA has concluded with "high confidence" that Russia sought to influence the U.S. election on behalf of the Republican.

Priebus said he supports further investigations. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers of both parties are calling for the issue to be examined.

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9:50 a.m.

Vice President Joe Biden says Democrats didn't show enough respect to working class voters in last month's presidential election.

He says in an interview on CNN airing Sunday that some people have been left behind in the current economy and "we never got a chance to speak to it in this election and I think we paid a price for it."

Biden also is warning Democrats not to question the motives of many of those who voted for Trump: "These are good people man. These aren't racists. These aren't sexists."

Biden says Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's plans to help voters, citing free college education as an example, got drowned out because the bulk of the debate was about "females and/or his boorish behavior."

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9:25 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump says he is "studying" the Paris climate agreement to reduce carbon emissions. But he doesn't want the agreement to put the U.S. "at a competitive disadvantage with other countries."

Trump says in an interview with "Fox News Sunday" that he's not trying to take a wrecking ball to President Barack Obama's legacy. He says, "I don't want to do that at all. I just want what's right."

Trump is pointing to lengthy wait times for permit approvals from the Environmental Protection Agency as something hurting job creation.

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9:25 a.m.

Sen. Ben Cardin, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says it's important for a Trump administration to work closely with the intelligence community and "stop being naive" on Russia.

Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," the Democratic Maryland senator says Russia has attacked European institutions. Now, he says, it's trying to undermine America.

He said whether Russia was purposely trying to get Donald Trump elected is something that lawmakers need to investigate. Cardin says Russia is a bully and is controlled by a "corrupt regime."

Other senators, from the Senate Armed Services Committee, including GOP Sen. John McCain, said Sunday they too think the allegation should be examined.

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9:12 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump is pushing back against charges that his businesses create a conflict of interest when he takes control of the White House, saying his "executives will run it with my children."

Trump tells "Fox News Sunday" that he will "have nothing to do with management."

Trump has said he will leave his businesses and is planning a news conference on Thursday to outline how he will separate himself. But his transition team has not yet said what the structure would look like.

Trump says in the interview that he turned down "seven deals with one big player" last week because he thought it could be "perceived as a conflict of interest."

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9:01 a.m.

Donald Trump says the CIA's conclusion that Russia interfered in the presidential election is "ridiculous" and being used by Democrats as "just another excuse" for his defeat of Hillary Clinton.

The President-elect tells "Fox News Sunday" that he doesn't necessarily oppose President Barack Obama's order for a review of campaign-season cyberattacks. But he adds that in any such effort "you should not just say 'Russia.' You should say other countries also, and maybe other individuals."

The Obama administration has said the review is not just about Russia or the election. The White House says the report will look at other election-year incidents, including 2008 and 2012 cyberattacks linked to Chinese hackers.

Trump has long said the culprit could be China or just a random hacker sitting on a couch. The CIA has concluded with "high confidence" that Russia sought to influence the U.S. election on behalf of the Republican.

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8:30 a.m.

The Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee are joining with Democrats in calling for an examination of reports that Russia interfered in the presidential election.

Chairman John McCain, incoming Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and others said in a joint statement Sunday that the CIA's report of Russia's efforts in the election "should alarm every American."

The leaders said they will push "to unify our colleagues around the goal of investigating and stopping the grave threats that cyberattacks conducted by foreign governments pose to our national security." Russia was the only country mentioned in the statement.

President Barack Obama ordered a full review of campaign-season cyberattacks to be completed before he leaves office. President-elect Donald Trump has dismissed the CIA's assessment that Russia powered his defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks with members of the military, including Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, second from right, during an Army-Navy NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Kyrgyzstan holds vote to change constitution

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP)  Kyrgyzstan has held a referendum on implementing changes to its constitution, including amendments to strengthen the office of prime minister.

With almost 100 percent of ballots counted, 79.6 percent of voters supported the changes and about 15 percent voted against, Kyrgyzstan's Central Election Commission said Sunday.

Turnout in the Central Asia nation was 42 percent, according to election officials. A 30 percent turnout was required for the vote to stand.

Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambayev, right, greets an elderly woman as she arrives to vote at a polling station in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016. Voters in Kyrgyzstan are casting ballots in a constitutional referendum that includes amendments that boost the power of prime minister. (Kyrgyz Presidential Press Service Pool Photo via AP)

Political infighting before the referendum, which required one simple "yes" or "no" answer to a packet of 26 constitutional alterations, had fueled fears of a new round of instability in the impoverished ex-Soviet state of 6 million on China's mountainous western frontier. Kyrgyzstan has seen the violent overthrow of two presidents since gaining independence in 1991.

President Almazbek Atambayev's critics have claimed the result could allow him to move into the prime minister's seat, while retaining much of his power, after his current term as president ends next year. Atambayev has repeatedly denied plans to seek another elected office.

The new amendments will allow the prime minister to appoint and dismiss Cabinet ministers and regional governors without consulting the president. The prime minister will also have a crucial say in shaping the government budget and an enhanced role in military and law-enforcement decision-making.

Atambayev's supporters cast the amendments as part of efforts to increase the power of parliament and strengthen checks and balances between branches of government.

The changes will also see marriage defined as a union between a man and a woman, effectively banning same-sex marriages in the mostly Muslim country.

Kyrgyzstan has repeatedly altered its constitution by referendum since the end of the Soviet Union, most recently in 2010 when a popular vote handed more power to parliament and curbed the authority of the president.

Kyrgyzstan used to host a U.S. air base that supported military operations in Afghanistan, but it evicted the U.S. in 2014. It still hosts a Russian air base and is part of a Moscow-dominated economic and security alliance of ex-Soviet nations.

A soldier takes a ballot as he comes to vote at a polling station in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016. Voters in Kyrgyzstan are casting ballots in a constitutional referendum that includes amendments that boost the power of prime minister. (Kyrgyz Government Press Service Pool Photo via AP)

Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambayev, right, speaks to the media after voting at a polling station in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016. Voters in Kyrgyzstan are casting ballots in a constitutional referendum that includes amendments that boost the power of prime minister. (Kyrgyz Presidential Press Service Pool Photo via AP)

Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambayev, right, pose for the media as he prepares to vote at a polling station in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016. Voters in Kyrgyzstan are casting ballots in a constitutional referendum that includes amendments that boost the power of prime minister. (Kyrgyz Presidential Press Service Pool Photo via AP)
John Glenn remembered by 'Hidden Figures' cast at premiere

NEW YORK (AP)  John Glenn, depicted in "Hidden Figures" as a space trailblazer who also gave critical support to pioneering black women at NASA who helped him orbit the earth, was fondly remembered by the cast at the movie's premiere.

"He's a hero. John Glenn was always on the right side of history. During a time when these women, because of their gender and the color of their skin, were often times treated like second-class citizens, he extended his hand out, and he trusted women, and women of color, with his life," said Janelle Monae, one of the film's stars.

Glenn, a former Democratic U.S. Senator, died last week at the age of 95. Also a former U.S. military pilot in World War II and the Korean War, he became a national hero in 1962 when he succeeded in circling Earth.

Octavia Spencer, from left, Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monae attend the special screening of "Hidden Figures" at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

"Hidden Figures" tells the story of a trio of African-American mathematicians, also called "computers," at NASA in the early 1960s who helped get him there.

"Empire" star Taraji P. Henson portrays Katherine Johnson, the woman responsible for the calculations that led to Glenn's orbit. The other mathematicians are played by Monae and Oscar winner Octavia Spencer.

Glenn was instrumental in breaking down color and gender barriers at a time when it was unpopular. For Henson, Glenn signified what America is supposed to represent.

"When he decided to shake the colored computers' hands, he told them their lives matter. And in turn, Katherine told him his life mattered as she made it a point to get those numbers right, so he could come back home and see his family. So that's what it's all about. It's about pushing, putting our differences aside, and getting to a common goal. And that's moving humanity forward," Henson said.

Jim Parsons, who plays astronaut Tom Stafford in the film, also hailed Glenn.

"What's so interesting and sad and touching about him passing away right as this movie is coming out is that we are introducing three other major faces of that exact same movement," Parsons said. "As the film shows, John Glenn was one of the people who let one of these women into the room at a time when that wasn't being allowed."

Glen Powell portrays the legendary astronaut in film. He wished he had the chance to meet him.

"We were attempting to try to set that meeting up. He was very ill for like the past year. So he was in Ohio, and we never got a chance to meet him," Powell said. "But I will say that I've done enough research on John Glenn to truly understand the man and come to love him even more. So it's a tragic loss, but at the same time he lived 95 amazing years. I don't think there's a human being on the planet that inspired more lives and more generations."

Based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, "Hidden Figures" opens in limited release on Christmas Day, before going wide on Jan. 6.

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Follow John Carucci at http://www.twitter.com/jacarucci.

Pharrell Williams, from left, Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae attend the special screening of "Hidden Figures" at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

Janelle Monae attends the special screening of "Hidden Figures" at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

Jim Parsons attends the special screening of "Hidden Figures" at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
A fire at the main lodge at Boyne Highlands, a popular ski resort in northern Michigan, injured 12 people and forced the evacuation of dozens more early Sunday.

The Harbor Springs Fire Chief says the blaze is suspicious, WWTV reported.

The resort said the injuries didn't appear to be life-threatening, although one person was taken to a hospital about 180 miles away in Grand Rapids.

A fire at the main lodge at Boyne Highlands, a popular ski resort in northern Michigan, injured 12 people and forced the evacuation of dozens more early Sunday

Brandi Mikowski identified that individual as 23-year-old David Chauvette to MLive, and revealed he was taken for smoke inhalation and is not breathing independently.

Boyne said 40 per cent of the lodge has some fire damage, and much of the rest of the building was affected by smoke and water. There were 113 guests in 64 rooms.

The fire was reported around 1.30am Sunday at the lodge in Harbor Springs, 75 miles northeast of Traverse City.

The cause was under investigation and the resort was closed.

'There was smoke billowing all over the place,' said local photographer Alex Childress, who drove to Boyne around 3am when he heard about the fire.

General Manager Mike Chumbler said staff went door to door to ensure that guests had been alerted. They were moved to lodging elsewhere at the resort.

Boyne said 40 per cent of the lodge has some fire damage, and much of the rest of the building was affected by smoke and water. There were 113 guests in 64 rooms. The resort is seen in a file photo

Chumbler said: 'We, as a resort, in the last year have gone through a mock fire scenario. ... I'm proud of our response and that the team stepped up. It was good that we practiced like we did.'

Lodge guest Emily Hanford told WWTV: 'Security had knocked on the door, I was like, I can smell the smoke, so I figured that it was bigger than just a safety evacuation kind of thing.

'Then when we got outside and there's just smoke everywhere and then you could see there were things that were falling down from the sky.'

Harbor Springs Fire Department Chief John Cupps told the TV station: 'People were screaming out the windows, so our initial thing was get ladders up to the windows and get the people out.'

He also revealed to the outlet: 'One woman I believe jumped from a second story window and sustained some injuries.'

It was Boyne's third weekend of the winter season  and a snowy one.
Israeli lawmaker campaigns to investigate PM Netanyahu

JERUSALEM (AP)  A leading Israeli opposition lawmaker has launched a campaign calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be investigated for corruption.

Erel Margalit of the Zionist Union party said Sunday he aims to get the Supreme Court to have Netanyahu interrogated.

At issue is a scandal over reports that Netanyahu's personal attorney represented a German company involved in a $1.5 billion sale of submarines to Israel, raising questions about the prime minister's possible involvement. Reports later emerged that Iran, Israel's arch enemy, has a stake in that company.

Police say they are looking into it but not investigating.

Margalit said "This is corruption at its worst."

The campaign clip shows images portraying Netanyahu as living lavishly and newspaper headlines about scandals.

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http://bbwanted.co.il/
French parliamentary delegation heading to Syria

PARIS (AP)  A delegation of three members of the French Parliament will head to the Syrian border near Aleppo on Monday to call for an immediate cease-fire and a humanitarian aid for civilians.

Cecile Duflot, Herve Mariton and Patrick Menucci said Sunday in a statement they are asking for the evacuation of civilians from Aleppo, which has been under fire for months.

The delegation is visiting the region as rank-and-file lawmakers, not as representatives of the whole French Parliament.

They insist Europe must stand strong against the massacres committed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia, according to the statement.
Netanyahu says he hopes to work with Trump to undo Iran deal

JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he believes U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will be a good friend to Israel and hopes the two countries can work together to dismantle the international nuclear agreement with Iran.

"I know Donald Trump," Netanyahu told CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview scheduled to air Sunday night. "And I think his attitude, his support for Israel is clear. He feels very warmly about the Jewish state, about the Jewish people. There's no question about that."

Netanyahu's remarks are significant in part because critics have accused Trump of tolerating anti-Semitism among some of his supporters.

While the two countries are close allies, relations were sometimes tense between Netanyahu and President Barack Obama because of their vastly different world views on the Iran deal and other issues. And there is sentiment in the nationalist Israeli right wing that Trump's election could usher in a new era of relations with the United States.

Netanyahu said in the interview he "had differences of opinion" with Obama and the "most well-known, of course, is Iran."

The Israeli prime minister has been one of the fiercest critics of the nuclear deal. During the campaign, Trump also spoke harshly about it.

Iran has long backed armed groups committed to Israel's destruction and its leaders have called for it to be wiped off the map. Israel fears that Iran's nuclear program is designed to threaten its existence.

Netanyahu said there are "various ways of undoing" the 2015 deal, in which Iran agreed to limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions on its oil industry and finances.
A look at Palmyra, the historic Syrian city retaken by IS

BEIRUT (AP)  A look at Palmyra, the archaeological gem that Islamic State fighters retook Sunday from Syrian troops in a major advance after a year of setbacks in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

LOCATION

A desert oasis surrounded by palm trees in central Syria, Palmyra is also a strategic crossroads linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, with the country's east and neighboring Iraq. Located 155 miles (215 kilometers) east of Damascus, the city was once home to 65,000 people before the Syrian civil war began. The Islamic State group captured the city in May 2015 and held it until May 2016, when they were forced out by a Syrian and Russian military campaign. However, most Palmyra residents did not return after it was retaken by the government. Activists estimated the city is now home to a few hundred families.

FILE -- In this April 1, 2016 file photo, soldiers look over damage at the historical Bel Temple in the ancient city of Palmyra, Homs provence, Syria. Palmyra, the archaeological gem that Islamic State fighters retook Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016, from Syrian troops, is a desert oasis surrounded by palm trees, and a UNESCO world heritage site, that boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts. It is also a strategic crossroads linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, with the country's east and neighboring Iraq. (AP Photo, File)

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HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE

A UNESCO world heritage site, Palmyra boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts. Syrians affectionately refer to it as the "Bride of the Desert."

Palmyra was the capital of an Arab client state of the Roman Empire that briefly rebelled and carved out its own kingdom in the 3rd Century, led by Queen Zenobia. Before the war, it was Syria's top tourist attraction, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each year.

Palmyra was first mentioned in the archives of Mari in the 2nd millennium B.C., according to UNICEF's website. The town was the hub of a network of caravan trails that carried silks and spices from eastern Asia to the Mediterranean.

Palmyra became a prosperous region during the Hellenistic period and later became part of the Roman Empire. But its rebellious Queen Zenobia challenged Rome's authority. The city was plundered in A.D. 272 after she was captured during a long siege.

In more recent times, Palmyra has had darker associations for Syrians. It was home to the Tadmur prison, a notorious facility where thousands of opponents of President Bashar Assad's government were reportedly tortured. IS demolished the prison when it first controlled the city.

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DESTRUCTION

Last year, IS destroyed the Temple of Bel, which dated back to A.D. 32, and the Temple of Baalshamin, a structure of stone blocks several stories high fronted by six towering columns. The militants also blew up the Arch of Triumph, which had been built under the Roman emperor Septimius Severus between A.D. 193 and A.D. 211. Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria's head of the Antiquities and Museums Department based in Damascus, said despite the destruction, some 80 percent of the ancient ruins remained intact.

The extremists have destroyed ancient sites across their self-styled Islamic caliphate in Syria and Iraq, viewing them as monuments to idolatry. In August, IS militants beheaded Khaled al-Asaad, an 81-year-old antiquities scholar who had devoted his life to studying Palmyra. His body was later hung from a Roman column.

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STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE

Over the last year, IS has suffered a string of defeats in both Syria and Iraq, losing several towns and cities it had captured in 2014. It is now under attack in Mosul, the last major urban center it controls in Iraq. A Kurdish-led Syrian force, backed by the U.S., is also pushing toward Raqqa, the group's de-facto capital in Syria, from the north. Meanwhile, Turkey is backing Syrian opposition fighters who have reached the outskirts of al-Bab, the IS stronghold in northern Syria.

In going for Palmyra, IS picked a soft target to demonstrate that despite its battlefield losses, it retains the ability to carry out large attacks.

With its losses in Iraq and elsewhere in Syria, the militants are eyeing new terrain. Mohammed Hassan al-Homsi, a native of the city who runs Palmyra News Network, said they chose Palmyra for its desert terrain linked to Iraq's and its surrounding oil and gas fields. It is also steering away from Syria's north, where the various anti-forces have focused their fight.

The extremist group also appeared to be taking advantage of the Syrian and Russian preoccupation with Aleppo, timing its attack to coincide with a massive government offensive to capture the last remaining opposition-held neighborhoods in the northern city.

FILE - This file photo released March 27, 2016, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows destroyed statues at the damaged Palmyra Museum, in the city of Palmyra, central Syria. Palmyra, the archaeological gem that Islamic State fighters retook Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016, from Syrian troops, is a desert oasis surrounded by palm trees, and a UNESCO world heritage site, that boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts. It is also a strategic crossroads linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, with the country's east and neighboring Iraq. (SANA via AP, file)

FILE -- In this April 14, 2016 file photo, Russian soldiers stand on a road as smoke rises from a controlled land mine detonation by Russian experts inside the ancient town of Palmyra, Syria in the central Homs province. Palmyra, the archaeological gem that Islamic State fighters retook Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016, from Syrian troops, is a desert oasis surrounded by palm trees, and a UNESCO world heritage site, that boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts. It is also a strategic crossroads linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, with the country's east and neighboring Iraq. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

FILE - This file photo released March 27, 2016, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a destroyed statue outside the damaged Palmyra Museum, in Palmyra city, central Syria. Palmyra, the archaeological gem that Islamic State fighters retook Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016, from Syrian troops, is a desert oasis surrounded by palm trees, and a UNESCO world heritage site, that boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts. It is also a strategic crossroads linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, with the country's east and neighboring Iraq. (SANA via AP, File)

This file photo taken April 8, 2016 and provided by Russian Defense Ministry press service, shows the ancient ruins in Palmyra, Syria. Palmyra, the archaeological gem that Islamic State fighters retook Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016, from Syrian troops is a desert oasis surrounded by palm trees, and a UNESCO world heritage site, that boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts. It is also a strategic crossroads linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, with the country's east and neighboring Iraq. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service Photo via AP, File)

FILE -- This file photo released March 28, 2016, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows destroyed statues at the damaged Palmyra Museum, in Palmyra city, central Syria. Palmyra, the archaeological gem that Islamic State fighters retook Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016, from Syrian troops is a desert oasis surrounded by palm trees, and a UNESCO world heritage site, that boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts. It is also a strategic crossroads linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, with the country's east and neighboring Iraq. (SANA via AP, File)

FILE - In this April 14, 2016 file photo, a Syrian man carries a carpet as he walks through a devastated part of the town of Palmyra as families load their belongings onto a bus in the central Homs province, Syria. Palmyra, the archaeological gem that Islamic State fighters retook Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016, from Syrian troops is a desert oasis surrounded by palm trees, and a UNESCO world heritage site, that boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts. It is also a strategic crossroads linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, with the country's east and neighboring Iraq. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
Boy, 17, charged with murder of two men

A teenage boy has been charged with the murder of two men in Ipswich, Suffolk Police said.

The 17-year-old, who has not been named, is due to appear in court on Monday.

He was held by police following the deaths of Barry Street, 32 and Nathan Oakley,18, who died on Thursday from suspected stab wounds.

A male collapsed outside Ipswich Hospital with suspected stab wounds, Suffolk Police said

Police had first responded to reports of a stabbing at West Meadows, Ipswich. They received another call 15 minutes later reporting a male had collapsed outside Ipswich Hospital with suspected stab wounds.

Post-mortem examinations confirmed the pair died as a result of stab injuries.

The suspect was detained a short time later and taken into custody.

He is due to appear at Ipswich Youth Court on Monday.
May aide and Morgan clash over 'trouser-gate'

A bitter spat erupted between a top aide to Theresa May and Nicky Morgan after the former Cabinet minister was banned from a No 10 meeting in a row over the Prime Minister's trousers.

Fiona Hill branded the sacked former education secretary "that woman" after Ms Morgan was publicly critical of the PM's decision to wear leather trousers that cost nearly 1,000 during a photo shoot for a newspaper.

The joint chief of staff had previously met with Ms Morgan and fellow Tory Alistair Burt and invited them to a meeting with Mrs May about their views on Brexit next week.

Nicky Morgan was critical of Theresa May's choice of leather trousers

But t ext messages obtained by the Mail on Sunday show that Ms Hill texted Mr Burt to tell him "Don't bring that woman to No 10 again" after she spoke out about the premier's decision to pose in Amanda Wakeley-designed ''bitter chocolate'' trousers.

Ms Morgan, however, found out about the message and sent the aide a stinging riposte.

The message seen by the Mail on Sunday said: " If you don't like something I have said or done, please tell me directly. No man brings me to any meeting. Your team invites me. If you don't want my views in future meetings you need to tell them."

Ms Hill, believed to be referring to the pair attending the previous meeting together, replied: " Well, he just did. So there!".

Earlier this week Mrs May insisted she was not out of touch with ordinary people because she opted to wear costly clothing.

Speaking during trip to Bahrain, the PM said: ''Look, I stood on the steps of Downing Street and said what I did about the importance of a c ountry that works for everyone because that is what I have heard from people as I have gone around the country, as I have met people in a whole variety of circumstances.

''I believe it is important for politicians to get out and about and that's exactly what I continue to do. It is important that we have a country that works for everyone.''

Ms Morgan had expressed doubts about the fashion choice, insisting: ''My barometer is always: 'How am I going to explain this in Loughborough market?'''
Concern grows over consequences of Brexit and food price rises, says survey

Concern is growing over the consequences of Brexit and food price rises, a new survey shows.

Research for consumer magazine Which? shows that nearly six months after the EU referendum almost half the population (47%) are worried about withdrawal, up eight points since September.

Those concerned about the cost of food has also climbed from 50% to 58% in the same period, according to the bi-monthly Consumer Insight Tracker online survey of around 2,000 households.

Those concerned about the cost of food has also climbed from 50% to 58% in the same period, according to the Consumer Insight Tracker online survey

The number of people expressing fears over the exchange rate of sterling has increased from 44% to 53%, and 39% said they were anxious about holiday prices, a question not previously asked.

The research also found worries that the impact on consumers would not be paramount in withdrawal negotiations, with just 31% saying their interest would be represented in the divorce talks with Brussels.

This compares with 72% who believe that consumer interests are either very or fairly important in the Brexit negotiations. This is higher than the amount of people, 62%, who think the interests of large businesses are either very or fairly important in the talks.

Which? called for the Government to champion the interests of consumers in the strategic negotiations, including gaining agreements on prices, protections, and roaming charges.

Vickie Sheriff, director of campaigns and communications at Which?, said: "Consumer confidence is key to economic stability and growth so the uncertainty about Brexit that increasing numbers of people in the UK are feeling must be addressed.
Claudia Fragapane quicksteps out of Strictly semi-final

Olympic gymnast Claudia Fragapane has narrowly missed a place in the Strictly Come Dancing final as she became the 12th celebrity to depart the dance floor.

Fragapane got the boot after facing actor Danny Mac in the dance-off, but credited the show for boosting her confidence.

After hearing the news she said: "I can't believe I made it this far to be honest. Everyone is so lovely and I'm just so happy that I've made it this far and everyone has just been incredible people, and to come out and not be as confident as I was, I feel like a different person now, all thanks to this show."

AJ Pritchard and Claudia Fragapane

All four couples left in the competition performed two routines in the semi-final.

Fragapane and her professional partner AJ Pritchard opted to perform their quickstep to When You're Smiling by Andy Williams in the dance-off, and Mac and his partner Oti Mabuse chose to repeat their American smooth to Misty Blue by Dorothy Moore.

The judges unanimously opted to save Mac, who has topped the leaderboard in previous weeks and was the first contestant in the history of the show to score a perfect 40 for a samba.

Paying tribute to Pritchard, Fragapane said: " Oh you have been absolutely amazing, you really have pushed me to the best of my ability. You have been so lovely to me and you've really boosted my confidence and it's all thanks to you."

Pritchard told host Tess Daly: "I'm just so proud of her, so proud of how far you've come and just how confident you are now. Thank you."

After the dance-off, judge Craig Revel Horwood said both couples were worthy of full marks, before opting to save Mac and Mabuse.

His fellow panellist Darcey Bussell added: "Both performed to such an outstanding level and it makes it very hard to choose," while Bruno Tonioli also praised both couples but said Mac and Mabuse had " an edge in artistry and emotional impact".

Head judge Len Goodman said he was in agreement with his fellow judges.

On Saturday sports presenter Ore Oduba reached the top of the leaderboard for the first time since week five.

The BBC broadcaster, who had no dancing experience before taking part in the competition, received his best ever scores with partner Joanne Clifton.

Oduba, whose parents had flown over from Nigeria to watch from the studio audience, scooped a combined 77 for his two dances.

Next Saturday, Oduba, Mac and singer Louise Redknapp will perform three routines in the battle to lift the glitterball trophy in the show's grand final.

They will perform their favourite dance, the judges' choice, and a spectacular show dance, in a bid to win the viewers' votes.

Fans will also be treated to group performances, musical moments and surprises as the series draws to a close.

It has been reported that Goodman, who will depart the show after the final but will appear in the pre-recorded Christmas special, will be putting on his dancing shoes for the event.
Campaigners have instructed lawyers to begin a legal challenge over w hether leaving the EU means automatic withdrawal from the single market.

The British Influence think tank wants a judicial review of the Government's legal position on membership of the wider European Economic Area which forms the internal trading bloc.

The think-tank believes leaving the EU does not mean quitting the EEA which extends the single market's tariff-free trade in goods to countries like Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

The British Influence think tank believes leaving the EU does not mean quitting the European Economic Area

A legal challenge could result in Parliament being given the final say on EEA membership.

A spokesman said: "There is no need for a hard Brexit and there is no mandate for a hard Brexit."

The group believes Britain does not need to quit the single market to control immigration, end payments to EU coffers or return powers to Parliament.

It also says voters did not decide to leave the trading arrangement when they backed Brexit in the June 23 referendum.

Group chairman Peter Wilding said: "This is not stopping Brexit, this is shaping it. The country demands a win-win, smart Brexit, not a lose-lose ideological hard Brexit which will damage the UK, damage Europe and for which there is no need and no mandate."

Fabian Picardo, chief minister of Gibraltar, said the overseas territory had a different settlement to the UK going into the EU and "that must be the case" when Brexit negotiations are carried out.

He told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "I think it is going to be a differentiated deal for different sectors of industry, for different parts of the United Kingdom. It's going to be a multi-faceted deal and one of those facets has to be the facet that applies to Gibraltar."

Open Britain, which is campaigning to keep Britain in the single market, said polling it commissioned shows half of Leave voters are not prepared to be a penny worse off as result of quitting the EU.

Labour former leader Ed Miliband, a supporter of the group, said: "The Government will rightly be subject to an almighty backlash from Leave voters if it makes decisions about our economic future that make them far poorer and leaves less money for public services.

"Having voted for a better future, this would be the ultimate betrayal. The onus, therefore, is on the Government to ensure a Brexit that is fair to working people.

"Both Remain and Leave voters share the desire to put our economy first. The Government must protect our economic future and address the deep concerns about our unequal country that drove Brexit. Parliament and the country will hold them to account in the weeks and months ahead."
Battle of Orgreave documents due to be released next year

Home Office files concerning events at the Battle of Orgreave are due to be released next year among a cache of records relating to the 1984 miners' strike.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the Home Affairs Select Committee the documents would be among 30 files planned to be released to the National Archives.

The subject titles suggest at least one file relates to the clash between police and strikers that became one of the bloodiest events of the dispute.

Amber Rudd told the Home Affairs Select Committee that 30 files would be released to the National Archives

A further three files are said to be under consideration for release by the Home Office.

Ms Rudd said in a letter to the committee: "We intend to transfer all 30 of the remaining Home Office files to the National Archives, and are working to complete this as quickly as possible. The files should be publicly available at the National Archives in the first half of 2017."

The Home Secretary came under fire from campaigners when she announced in October that there would not be a parliamentary inquiry into the events.

Vera Baird, police and crime commissioner of Northumbria Police and a former Labour MP for Redcar, who acted for miners when she was a barrister, previously said she was "concerned" that the Home Office was still holding the files in light of Ms Rudd's decision.

The so-called Battle of Orgreave saw police deploy horseback charges and baton-wielding "snatch squads" as 6,000 officers from around the country attempted to prevent striking miners from blocking deliveries at a South Yorkshire coking plant.

Some 95 people were charged with riot and violent disorder, but cases collapsed and South Yorkshire Police were later required to pay compensation.

Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: "The committee wants to establish what information on Orgreave the Government and police still have that has never been published. The Home Secretary's agreement to make public 30 further files on Orgreave is welcome.
Johnson voices 'deep concern' over Yemen but backs Saudi-led campaign

Boris Johnson has spoken of the "candour" that exists in Britain's relations with Saudi Arabia following talks in the kingdom just days after it emerged he had criticised the key ally.

The Foreign Secretary suffered a humiliating slapdown from Number 10 when he claimed the kingdom was behind "proxy wars" in the Middle East.

Riyadh is supporting the internationally-recognised government of Yemen against Iran-backed Houthi rebels but thousands have been killed in bombardments.

Boris Johnson suffered a humiliating slapdown from Number 10

At a press conference following meetings with King Salman and Saudi ministers, Mr Johnson said he had a "deep concern" about the suffering of Yemenis but backed the Saudi Arabia-led military intervention in the country.

"It's not just a relationship based on trade or security, it's a relationship between peoples," he said.

Mr Johnson added: "I should just stress as far a Yemen is concerned, Britain supports the Saudi-led campaign to restore the legitimate government and we have continued our dialogue on the conduct of this operation, a detailed dialogue.

"Of course, we continue, like everybody in this room and around the world to have a deep concern for the suffering of the people of Yemen."

Mr Johnson said the friendship between the two nations was "developing and expanding".

"I'm here to emphasis the friendship that exists between the UK and Saudi Arabia and, of course, that is something that is developing and expanding," he said.

"And, it's also fair to say that we believe in a candour in our relationship. And now, if you don't mind, is the time for us to talk about the positive things we are doing together.

Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said: "Th ere are no mixed messages that we are getting from Britain. Britain is an ally of Saudi Arabia's."

He added: "We don't have any doubt in where Britain stands and Britain has no doubt where we stand."

The Defence Secretary, meanwhile, claimed Mr Johnson's criticism had been misreported and "taken out of context".

Sir Michael Fallon also attempted to play down No 10's rebuke, giving an account of what happened at a regular briefing between journalists and Downing Street officials, despite not having been there.

And he accused Nick Robinson, who was standing in for Andrew Marr on his eponymous BBC One Sunday morning political show, of "making a meal" out of the furore.

He said: "I think you really are making a meal of this. Boris's comment, as we have already established, was taken out of context in the reporting that implied we didn't support Saudi Arabia.

"Downing Street was asked the question and Downing Street answered it."

Theresa May's official spokeswoman told reporters the Foreign Secretary's comments were his own personal view and they did not reflect Government policy, after footage emerged of him accusing Saudi Arabia of "puppeteering".

Sir Michael said Mr Johnson was a "huge personality" around the world.

"The media, with great respect, are now starting to over-textualise every remark he makes in answer to every question," he said.
Qantas to launch first non-stop flight from UK to Australia

People will be able to fly from the UK to Australia non-stop for the first time when Qantas launches a direct service in 2018.

The airline will operate non-stop flights from London to Perth - a 14,498-kilometre journey lasting around 17 hours - using the 787-9 Dreamliner.

It will be the first regular passenger service to directly link Europe to Australia and is expected to be the third-longest passenger flight in the world.

Qantas flights will begin in 2018

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the history-making flight would be a watershed for travel, tourism and trade.

"When Qantas created the kangaroo route between London and Australia in 1947, it took four days and nine stops. Now it will take just 17 hours from Perth non-stop.

"This is a game-changing route flown by a game-changing aircraft. Travellers from Europe have never had a direct link down under before, so the opportunities this opens for them to explore Australia are huge," he said.

Mr Joyce said the direct route is expected to appeal to European travellers who want a non-stop link to Australia and will see Australian travellers from across the country hub through Perth to London, boosting tourism in both directions.

"A direct flight makes travelling from the UK to Australia a much more attractive proposition to millions of people.

"We expect many travellers from Europe will start their time in Australia with a visit to Perth before going on to see other parts of the country," he said.
Drone footage shows devastation in Old Aleppo

ALEPPO, Syria, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The Syrian army has released drone footage showing the widespread destruction in Old Aleppo, which it took control of from rebels this week.

Bombed-out buildings and destroyed roads, the result of ground fighting and air strikes, could be seen in the footage released on Thursday as the army pressed ahead with an offensive to retake all of Aleppo, once Syria's most populous city.

Reuters journalists heard the sound of nine air raids in about half an hour in Old Aleppo, in the centre of the city, on Friday. Intense clashes also occurred in Sheikh Saeed in the south of the eastern sector.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that reclaiming Aleppo would swing the course of the nearly six-year civil war in his favour.
Kenya oil tanker accident kills at least 25 in fire - Red Cross

By Anthony Githonga

NAIVASHA, Kenya, Dec 11 (Reuters) - A fireball from an oil tanker on one of Kenya's main highways has engulfed several vehicles and killed at least 25 people, a Red Cross official said on Sunday.

"We have so far collected 25 bodies from the scene of the accident after a lorry heading to Uganda lost control and rammed into several vehicles," said Red Cross official Felister Kioko at the scene.

The accident happened late on Saturday night 10 kilometers (six miles) north of the central town of Naivasha.
Some shareholders unhappy over terms of Murdoch's Sky bid- report

LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Some shareholders are unhappy about the terms of a preliminary deal struck by Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox to take over British pay-TV Sky, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.

On Friday, Murdoch's Fox proposed 10.75 pounds ($13.52) a share in cash, backed by Sky's independent directors, in its second attempt to buy the 61 percent of the firm which it does not currently own.

But some shareholders are disappointed that the independent directors have not pushed to better the $14 billion bid which would give Fox control of a pay-TV network spanning 22 million households in Britain, Ireland, Austria, Germany and Italy.

It "ought to be the start of the process, not the conclusion," Alastair Gunn, a fund manager at Jupiter Asset Management was quoted as saying by the Sunday Telegraph Newspaper.

The firm was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters on Sunday.

An unnamed shareholder was quoted by the paper as saying: "Our initial reaction is one of serious disappointment that they have rolled over like this."

Analysts at Citi characterised the offer as a "low-ball bid," citing a fair value assessment of 13.50 pounds per share.
Soft-spoken loyalist Gentiloni gets nod to replace Renzi as Italian PM

By Crispian Balmer

ROME, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The soft-spoken son of an aristocratic family, Paolo Gentiloni is set to become Italy's fifth prime minister in as many years, promoted thanks to his unwavering loyalty to outgoing premier Matteo Renzi.

Two years into the foreign minister's job, Gentiloni was asked by President Sergio Mattarella on Sunday to form a new government tasked with tackling much-need electoral reform and a seemingly unending crisis in the banking sector.

He will need to win confidence votes in parliament, expected this week, to take office and even after overcoming that hurdle, he might only survive a few months, with many political chiefs demanding elections as soon as a new electoral law is approved.

Nonetheless his rise to power is remarkable for an unassuming centre-left politician who has made more friends than enemies in his long career and is viewed as a safe pair of hands rather than an inspiring leader.

He has Renzi to thank for his ascent.

In Oct. 2014, with virtually no international experience, he was unexpectedly handed the foreign affairs portfolio by Renzi, whom he had supported in a 2012 battle to grab the leadership of the Democratic Party.

Fast forward two years, and Renzi has once again pushed Gentiloni forward after resigning from the premiership following a clear defeat in a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reform.

As leader of the largest party in parliament, Renzi had a decisive say in who should replace him, and will have to keep the new administration alive. Critics say he chose the low-key Gentiloni to keep control from behind the scenes.

"A cast-iron Renzi supporter with little charisma ... and above all expendable," Alessandro Di Battista, a leading light in the main opposition party, the 5-Star Movement, wrote on Facebook in reference to Gentiloni.

"He could be prime minister for a few months without endangering Renzi, who could prepare himself for a comeback."

"SMOKED EVERYTHING"

Paolo Gentiloni Silveri was born in November 1954 to a noble, Roman Catholic family. As a high-school student drawn to radical leftist politics, he dropped his double-barrelled surname.

He is quoted as having told Italy's Magazine publication that his youthful transformation was: "From one of the boys who played volleyball to one of the men who smoked everything".

After graduating in political science, Gentiloni turned to journalism, leading an environmental magazine for eight years before moving into mainstream politics and organising Francesco Rutelli's successful campaign to be Rome mayor in 1993.

In 2001 he was elected to parliament with the centre-left Margherita (Daisy) party, which was later folded into the broader Democratic Party.

In 2006 he was appointed communications minister, but his two main reform efforts - to shake up state broadcaster RAI and reform the television market - never made it into law.

His political career appeared to wane when he stood in primaries to become the centre-left candidate for Rome mayor in 2012, only to finish a distant third. But Renzi's unexpected call in 2014 propelled him back into the cabinet.

Diplomats say that as foreign minister, Gentiloni has dealt competently with a number of difficult events, such as the killing of student Giulio Regeni in Egypt, the chaos in neighbouring Libya and the ongoing migration crisis.

A pro-European, he has called on willing EU states to work together on creating a joint permanent military force.
Syrian army advance in Aleppo as rebels face "death or surrender"

By Laila Bassam and Angus McDowall

ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The Syrian army and its allies advanced on Sunday in southeast Aleppo and a rebel official said insurgents face "death or surrender" in an ever smaller enclave, with large numbers of civilians under very fierce bombardment.

Russian and U.S. officials are meeting in Geneva on Sunday for more talks on an elusive deal for civilians and fighters to leave the city, diplomats said, but the rebel official said the Aleppo insurgents had had no word yet on their progress.

The fall of all of Aleppo to President Bashar al-Assad would bring him the biggest victory yet after nearly six years of civil war, but he would still remain far from restoring government control over his country.

More than 200 miles (120 miles) away, Islamic State staged a surprise advance on the city of Palmyra over the weekend despite losing ground elsewhere in the country, showing how volatile the fortunes of war are and how stretched the army and its allies are.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the militants had recaptured the ancient city on Sunday after briefly retreating in the face of heavy Russian air strikes.

Heavy shelling and air raids pounded Aleppo's besieged rebel pocket from midnight on Saturday and throughout Sunday morning, a Reuters reporter in the city said, with explosions at a rate of more than one a minute. Gunfire was also heard.

"The result will certainly be a complete end of the district, in a tragic way," said the Turkish-based official from the Jabha Shamiya rebel group, which is present in Aleppo.

Thousands of refugees are still pouring from the areas of fighting. The Observatory said on Sunday that more than 120,000 civilians had left the eastern part of the city as the government advance closed in, but that tens of thousands remained.

Assad's forces are supported by Russian air power, Iran and Shi'ite militias from Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. Together they have helped to turn the tide of conflict his way after he seemed to be on the back foot in mid-2015.

The mostly Sunni rebels include groups supported by the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies, but also some jihadist factions that receive no assistance from the West.

The army seized the al-Maadi district on Sunday morning before rebels were able to return and continue fighting there, said the Jabha Shamiya official.

A Syrian military source said the army and its allies had captured the al-Asila and Aaajam districts, southeast of Aleppo's ancient citadel, as well as the southern portion of the Karam al-Daadaa neighbourhood.

The Observatory also said the army had advanced in those areas.

Reuters reporters on a tour of Old City districts captured by the army saw how its historic covered market had been pounded, with ancient quarters reduced to a warren of defensive positions adorned with rebel slogans.

"Embrace death for Aleppo" was one.
UK's Boris Johnson in Saudi Arabia says candour important, stresses friendship

RIYADH, Dec 11 (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson reiterated Britain's close ties to Saudi Arabia on a visit on Sunday and said candour was also important, days after making comments widely seen as critical of the conservative Gulf Arab country.

He said in a joint news conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir that he had deep concern for Yemeni suffering but recognised Riyadh faced a grave threat from that country's conflict, in which the kingdom is leading a coalition of Arab forces against an Iranian-allied Yemeni group.

"I'm here to emphasise the friendship that exists between the UK and Saudi Arabia, and that is something that is developing and expanding," Johnson said.

"And it's also fair to say that we believe in candour in our relationship. Now is the time for us to talk about the positive things that we are doing together."

Footage was published in British media on Thursday of Johnson accusing Saudi Arabia, an old ally of Britain's, and Iran of stoking proxy wars across the Middle East.

Prime Minister Theresa May's spokeswoman said his remarks did not reflect actual policy.

Asked if Riyadh had been getting mixed messages from Britain, Jubeir replied "Absolutely not". Jubeir said Johnson's comments had been misconstrued, and Britain and Saudi Arabia had enjoyed a long strategic relationship extending over 100 years.
Israel banks to save 1 bln shekels a year from cost-cutting, says regulator

TEL AVIV, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Israeli banking regulator Hedva Ber said on Sunday she expects the banking system to save at least 1 billion shekels ($261 million) a year starting in 2020 from mandatory job reductions, branch closures and embracing more technology.

Ber, the Supervisor of Banks who a year ago ordered banks to become more efficient, said about 5,100 jobs will be cut from Israel's largest banks over the next five years, or a net 10 percent of the total workforce.

At the same time, 200 bank branches -- 20 percent -- will be closed or merged, she told the Globes business conference.

"Banks in Israel compared to the rest of the world are not efficient," Ber said, noting that Israeli banks' expenses stand at 69.4 percent, versus 63.8 percent for the OECD group of wealthy nations. "Banks need to adapt to a new world."

That, she said, includes a move to digital branches and services where customers can bank by phone apps and the internet, which would lower fees and overall costs.

Israelis have long complained about banks charging too many fees, including for making deposits and withdrawing money from their own accounts.

To encourage banks to become more efficient and offer early retirement plans, Ber offered to allow higher dividend payouts, the spreading of the cost of the streamlining steps and an ability to implement them without negatively affecting banks' abilities to meet capital adequacy requirements.

Israel's largest bank, Hapoalim, said in October that 1,500 workers will take early retirement from 2017-2020 at a cost of 1.2 billion shekels, in addition to 300 workers expected to leave the bank voluntarily in 2016.

Leumi, Israel's second-largest bank, plans for about 700 workers to retire early this year as part of a multi-year efficiency. Israel Discount Bank, the country's fourth-largest, expects to reduce its workforce by 1,000.
Iran says may spare condemned tycoon if he pays back debt

DUBAI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Iran may spare the life of businessman Babak Zanjani, sentenced to death for fraud, if he can pay back large sums he owes to the government for oil sales despite sanctions, a judiciary spokesman said on Sunday.

Earlier this month, Iran's supreme court upheld the death penalty against Zanjani, accused by prosecutors of owing the government more than $2.7 billion for oil sold on behalf of the oil ministry by circumventing sanctions.

"The sentence has been upheld, but the law stipulates that if he returns the money, something can be done," judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei told a weekly news conference, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Ejei said Zanjani would be allowed to contact unidentified people overseas who could pay back his debts, IRNA reported.

Critics of the sentence, including President Hassan Rouhani, said Zanjani's execution might make it impossible to recover the funds and uncover the identity of officials who supported him.

By his own account, Zanjani had for years helped circumvent sanctions by arranging billions of dollars of oil deals through a network of companies stretching from Turkey to Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.

Zanjani amassed a fortune of $10 billion, along with debts of a similar scale, the tycoon once told an Iranian magazine.
Islamic State militants capture Palmyra despite heavy Russian strikes

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Islamic State captured the ancient city of Palmyra on Sunday despite dozens of Russian airstrikes to push back the militants a day after they briefly seized the city in eastern Syria, a war monitor and the militants said.

In the government's first official admission that Palmyra had fallen once again to the militants, state media quoted the governor of the province of Homs, where the city is located, as saying the army had pulled out of the city.

The collapse of the city's defences despite the heavy bombing and reinforcements sent by the Syrian army has exposed the limitations of the Russian backing that has turned the tide of the conflict in President Bashar al-Assad's favour.

"The army is using all means to prevent the terrorists from staying in Palmyra," Homs Governor Talal Barazi was quoted as saying, hours after IS and a Britain-based monitoring group both said the militants had full control of the city.

Barazi later said militants had brought in reinforcements from their de facto capital of Raqqa and from Deir Zor province in eastern Syria bordering Iraq.

Rebels said the focus of Syria's overstretched army on defeating insurgents in their last urban stronghold of Aleppo may have diverted much needed resources to defend the city, where Moscow had in recent months beefed up its defences.

The recapture of Palmyra is a major reversal for Syria's government and its Russian backer, which hailed the city's capture in March, sent troops to protect it and even staged a concert there.

Earlier on Sunday, Russia said its jets had helped force the militants out of the city centre overnight while Syria's army only acknowledged there was a large offensive by the militants from several fronts near a major grain silo 10 km (6 miles) east of the city.

Amaq, a news agency linked to Islamic State, said the militants had captured the ancient Crusader Castle that overlooks the city and were back in control of Palmyra, an account backed by the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict.

Palmyra, the site of a Roman-era city and spectacular ruins in the centre of Syria, has become an emblematic battleground in a civil war now in its sixth year.

Forces allied to Syria's government first recaptured the city from Islamic State in March, a victory held up as a major turning point in the war and the biggest reversal for the militants since Russia's intervention to support Damascus.

But Islamic State militants launched a surprise advance on the city on Thursday, taking control of nearby oil and gas fields and pushing towards the T4 airbase, one of Syria's largest, which is used by Russian forces, the Observatory said.

Russia's defence ministry said its jets had launched 64 strikes and killed more than 300 militants overnight, helping the Syrian army push the main force back.

More than 4,000 Islamic State militants had since regrouped and launched a second attack on Sunday, Russian news agencies cited Moscow's monitoring centre in Syria as saying.

Amaq said the group had expanded its control of areas around the desert city on Sunday and seized al-Bayarat, the Tadmur triangle area to its west, and took control of the nearby Hayan gas field
Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa had left for the United States yesterday for medical purposes, a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna spokesman said today.

Last week, the Colombo High Court allowed Basil Rajapaksa to travel to the US for three months for medical purposes.

The travel ban on the former minister was lifted after nearly two years, the spokesman said.
The unveiling of the new statue of this truly great politician on Sunday by President Sirisena himself brings to mind memories: I had the privilege of knowing the gentleman for many years and in the 1960s in particular, I had the privilege of being associated in his Food Drive, which was without doubt the greatest contribution made by any of our leaders to improve domestic agriculture in our country. Agriculture was his first love. It was he who initiated the policy of giving land to the poorest of the poor; he also provided them with the necessary facilities to engage in the production of paddy/rice and other food crops. It was he who first advocated a guaranteed price for paddy and the establishment of the necessary organizations (Agricultural Produce and Sales Societies) by the Marketing Department and the Ministry of Trade and Commerce. This paddy marketing system was subsequently improved upon by Phillip Gunawardena and T.B. Illangaratne who were Ministers in their time.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of Dudley Senanayake, as the first Minister of Agriculture of the post-independence government, was the inauguration of the Gal-Oya scheme in 1948. The volume of water in the Gal-Oya reservoir exceeded the volume of water in all the reservoirs (tanks) in the country. Dudley was responsible for both the Gal Oya and the Walawe irrigation schemes which have contributed immensely to the development of our country. Over 30,000 families had been settled under these two schemes alone. Dudley was also responsible for the Padaviya and Kanadarawa projects and a number of other irrigation schemes. The Food Drive, which I made reference to earlier, was not confined to paddy production but was extended to other crops and the farming community benefited immensely from Dudleys initiatives. Dudley was indeed an icon and we have yet to produce another leader of his ilk.

"Dudley always considered the Tamil people as being also our people and was prepared to treat them as equal citizens and to have the rights of other citizens in the country and to live in dignity"

As I have stated, no leader in our country did as much for the peasantry of our country as he did and the results of the election of 1970 was a shocker. I shall never forget the day when the results of the 1970 elections were announced, indicating that Prime Minister Dudley had lost the election; I could not believe it, I went to Woodlands to meet PM Dudley, and his personal Secretary told me that the PM was in the hall. I walked in and no one was there; I sympathized with him and inquired as to how this could have happened. He said something like this the Marxists have helped the SLFP to fool the people and they have pulled it off, their campaign was better than ours; he was indeed depressed for he had done so much in the previous five years and did not expect to lose in this manner.

His life story and the speeches he made in Parliament were indeed inspiring and worthy of emulation. Bradman Weerakoon who served as official Secretary when Dudley was Prime Minister, says this of him in the Preface to the book Dudley Senanayake, a Biography, His kind of politics transcended party, ethnicity, religion, language, class or caste, up-country, low-country differences, or any of the many identities which divide our people. To cite but one instance from his political life; the colonial government had at one time imprisoned Dr. NM and Phillip Gunawardena and he took it upon himself to criticize the Governor for this act in the National Assembly itself, though NM and Phillip were from the Opposition; he always stood for Justice, Democracy, Fair play and the Rule of Law. He was respected and loved by the people and this could be gauged from the fact that almost a million people from the four corners of Sri Lanka, from all walks of life, came to Colombo to wish him goodbye at a time when he was not holding any office. He was indeed a model politician and an example to politicians of today.

"No leader in our country did as much for the peasantry of our country as he did and the results of the election of 1970 was a shocker"



I wish now to address another important issue, namely the Tamil issue and how he viewed it. The Tamil leaders at the time wanted a federal form of government but he was for a Unitary State; Dudley was a friend of all communities and was committed to the concept of One Country One Nation. The Tamil parties also wanted the government to stop the settlement of people from outside the Province in the new areas that had been opened up under the Gal Oya and other new irrigation schemes but this too was rejected by Dudley, who pointed out that there were over twenty ancient Buddhist shrines in the Eastern province where Sinhalese people had lived for centuries until Malaria drove them out. The Tamil political parties also wanted all Tamils of Indian origin to be granted citizenship, which was rejected by Dudley. On the language issue his first effort to arrive at a fair solution/settlement (he came to an Agreement with Mr. S.J.V. Chelvanayagam) was sabotaged by so called Sinhala nationalists who were in fact racists. Dudley thereafter called for a bipartisan approach and said that the issue should be taken out of politics and settled through a round table conference of all those with interests. Incidentally Dudley stated that S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike also had made the same appeal and stated that it must be resolved soonest as it was Dynamite! sadly he too failed. Dudley always considered the Tamil people as being also our people and was prepared to treat them as equal citizens and to have the rights of other citizens in the country and to live in dignity but the Federalists queered the pitch by making unacceptable demands for political reasons.

To conclude, may Dudley Senanayake be remembered in the history of our country as one of the greatest leaders we were privileged to have. I wish to conclude this appreciation with a quote from Bradmans Preface, which I have referred to earlier, he quotes from a poem by Gilbert Holland which Brad states reflects the spirit of this great son of Lanka:



A time like this demands

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands

Men whom the lust of office does not kill

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy

Men who possess opinions and a will

Men who love honour, men who cannot lie.
Former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa commenting on the yesterdays incident which took place at the protest held at the Hambantota harbour said the government was defending the Navy's unlawful action.

A tense situation prevailed at the Hambantota Port when the navy tried to release the two ships seized by workers staging a protest at the port. Navy personnel fired warning shots to disperse the protesters. The Navy Commander is also alleged to have threatened a journalist who was present at the scene.

In a tweet, Mr. Rajapaksa said The same government that persecutes our military for winning the war is now defending the Navy's unlawful and embarrassing recent action.
Journalist Dileep Roshan lodged a complaint at the Hambantota ASPs Office alleging that a fat person wearing a short trouser and a blue shirt scolded him in filth and assaulted him and he later identified the assailant as the Navy Commander.



He has also stated that he informed the media leaders about the matter and he made the complaint for his future protection.



He has also given a detailed description of the assault made on him by the Navy Commander.
They say that reading biographies is perhaps the best way to learn real life lessons. That is because a biography is a record of practice. Of what worked and what didnt. The life of Muhammad is perhaps one of the most well documented in human history. Having said that one may ask why his life and all the detail are important at all? I am not speaking from the perspective of a Muslim for whom to study the life of Muhammad and to live his life in accordance with it, is a religious requirement. I am asking this from the perspective of a neutral reader, Muslim or not, who is looking for biographies to read. The answer lies in the facts related to his life which are public knowledge. Here was someone who in a period of 23 years, took his people from being the weakest, most despised and oppressed in their community to being the leaders and role models in the same community. And he did all that without lies, cheating, corruption, violence or bloodshed. My question is, Would you like to know how to do that? Would you like to know how to bring about not incremental but transformational change in your society? Then read the life of Muhammad.



In the words of J. Krishnamurty, It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. I dont think there is anyone, including the 1% who appear to have it all who will disagree that we are very sick. Humanity is sick. The earth is sick. We are all very sick. This is no longer an academic issue for people to write scholarly papers about. It is something that we, the people of the world, need to address recognizing it as the dire emergency that it is. If we dont, the clock would be ticking backwards for us and fast. And the time is very close where we would have to make our own position as the inhabitants of this earth; not its owners as we like to believe; completely untenable. We need action. And we need it now.

Call it a strange coincidence but 5th Century Makkah was a microcosm of our global capitalist, pluralist, multicultural, multiracial society. Let me describe the Makkah that Muhammad was born into, grew up and lived in, until the age of 50. That is a long time for someone to spend in one town but that was what Muhammad did.

Makkah was a town with one single claim to fame  the Kaaba. This is the House of Allah built by Ibrahimu (Prophet Abraham) and was a place of pilgrimage from time immemorial. Access to the Kaaba was open to anyone who wanted to come. The environs of the Kaaba were declared a sanctuary with all killing, hunting and fighting banned within that sanctuary. This was the main reason why Makkah developed as a town, because it was a safe haven for everyone from any of the many frequently warring tribes.

Another similarity that 5th century Makkah had with our modern society is that it was a world of business. Businessmen were its leaders and they ran the town. Acquisition of wealth was the primary concern. Makkan society was materialistic based on a free market economy. Markets were not regulated by any central authority. Traders charged the best price they could get, hoarded in times of scarcity and sold at great profit and bought goods from as far afield as Syria and Yemen to sell in Makkah. Makkah being a sort of an aggregator of people from all of Arabia, was a great sellers market where high prices could be commanded as goods sold in Makkah were simply not available in any other part of Arabia. That is how Makkan traders became its nobility and created a sort of oligarchy. You can draw similarities with our capitalist society today and see how close 5th century Arabia was to most of our 21st century world.

Makkah was also a multicultural and pluralistic place as all centres of trade tend to be. That is because if you want to promote trade you must make it easy and safe for people from multiple origins, belief systems and cultures to coexist peacefully. All that is good for business. And so it was. In Makkah, the local people mostly worshipped idols but Jews, Christians, Magians all lived in Makkah, each practicing his or her own religion without any interference from anyone else. Very much like what happens in most Western countries today. And for the same reason; it is good for business.

"I dont think there is anyone, including the 1% who appear to have it all who will disagree that we are very sick. Humanity is sick. The earth is sick. We are all very sick"



The reason Ive spent so much time on drawing a picture of Makkan society of the 5th century showing its similarities to our 21st century society is because I want to hypothesize that because Muhammad despite being a person with almost no resources, support or political power, could bring about a complete transformation of his society, then we have reason to hope that the methods he used can work today for us as well.

To quote Alphonse de Lamartine, in his book, History of Turkey who said, If greatness of purpose, smallness of means and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare compare any great man in history with Muhammad?

Muhammad didnt focus on bringing about any materialistic changes in the lives of people. The changes he brought about ideological, ethical and moral, changed not only their lives but also changed the structure, laws, freedom and behavior of Arab society. Muhammad brought about changes in the way people thought, in their ideals and benchmarks which led to a change in what they considered important, which in turn led to a change in their behaviour which brought about a change in society. As they say, it all begins at the top; in the mind. Once we change our attitude,behaviour changes which lead to perceptible results in and around us. All change must begin with us internally, with how we view the world, what we want from it, what we find satisfaction in and what we are prepared to do (and not do) to get it. We need to define the meaning of a good life, and be clear about what investment we are prepared to make, to get it.

"He didnt say, Muslim neighbour. He said, Neighbour. In Islam, there is no distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims in respect of the rights of citizenship"



I mention this here because in our race today, to garner all resources for oneself without a thought about others, we have created a society that is crying out in pain and grief. It is inconceivable to imagine that the resources of the world can possibly be concentrated in the hands of so few, but as they say, fact is stranger than fiction. I can imagine the derision if any author dared to suggest that 62 people would own 50% of global assets and the rest of the world would watch silently. But that is not fiction. That was fact. For perspective, let me state that an omnibus has 65 seats excluding the drivers seat.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/18/richest-62-billionaires-wealthy-half-world-population-combined

What was the change that Muhammad wrought in his society?

In my view, there were three major principles that he promoted:

1. Accountability to Allah from whom nothing is hidden

2. Truthfulness

3. Spreading goodness all around

This was the essence of the religion he brought, Islam. That was why he said, The best of you is the one who is the most beneficial to all people.

Let us look at each of these principles in the life of Muhammad briefly.



1. Accountability to Allah from whom nothing is hidden

What makes a mistake a crime is that the criminal knows that what he is doing is illegal, immoral and wrong. People dont commit sins, oppress others, commit violence or evil because they dont know the difference between right and wrong. They do them because they think they can get away with them. Muhammad taught that this belief was a fallacy because no matter what we think, speak or do is known and seen by our Creator to whom we will return and to whom we must give an account of what we did.

Muhammad taught that good and evil were absolute values. They dont depend on who did them or who these are applied to. He taught that human values apply to all humans, not only to Muslims. On the contrary Muslims have an additional responsibility to act according to the values of their religion because they believe in Muhammad and in Islam.

He said to his daughter Fatima, O! Fatima, dont think that you will be favoured by Allah because you are the daughter of His Messenger. You will stand before your Creator on the basis of your own deeds.



2. Truthfulness

Muhammad was known among his people even before he started preaching Islam as As-Sadiq ul Ameen  The Truthful and Trustworthy. And that is what he taught his followers; to be truthful in every aspect of life. Someone asked him, Is it possible that a Muslim may be a coward? He replied, Yes. They asked, Is it possible that a Muslim may commit adultery? He replied, Yes. They asked him, What is it that a Muslim cannot possibly do? He replied, A Muslim cannot tell a lie.

He taught that virtue and vice were absolute values. They are not relative to your personal worth, religion, race or anything else. Right and wrong dont depend on who do them. That is why truthfulness is the basis of all goodness. He held himself to this value of truthfulness to such an extent that when he was migrating to Madina from Makkah and his life was threatened, he still had valuables that his enemies had entrusted him with. Before he left, he gave them to his cousin Ali bin Abi Talib and instructed to return them to their owners. What can you say about the truthfulness of someone who was trusted by his own enemies?



3. Spreading goodness all around

Muhammad said to his people, The best of you is the one who is best to his neighbour. He didnt say, Muslim neighbour. He said, Neighbour. In Islam, there is no distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims in respect of the rights of citizenship.

He said, A Muslim is responsible for the welfare of his neighbours, up to seventy houses on either side of his house. Imagine a society that is based on this value of responsibility to ones neighbours.

On another occasion, someone asked him how he could determine if he was a good man. Muhammad said to him, If your neighbour says that you are good, then you are good. If your wife says that you are good, then you are good.

Finally, on the issue of womens rights which everyone today accuses Islam of denying. Women in Muhammads time were treated as property owned and inherited by men, to be used and abused at will. Women had no rights at all. Many Makkan people buried their newborn daughters to escape the cost of raising a girl child. Sounds familiar in todays context?Let us see what Muhammad gave women in the 5th century.



1. Right to own property and income and to keep whatever she earns without sharing anything of it.

2. Right to be paid to bring up her own children including nursing them.

3. Right to marry anyone of their choice.

4. Right to divorce the husband even without his consent and to have this written in the marriage contract.

5. Wife need not serve his parents or family at all.

6. Right to receive the Mehr (bridal gift) and not to pay any dowry at all.

7. Right to retain the Meher if she gets divorced. It remains her property to do with as she likes.

8. Right to inherit from her parents, children and husband.

9. Wife has a right in the husbands property and income. It is the duty of the husband to support the wife unconditionally. He has no right in her income or property, even if it was purchased with his money.



The reality is that to this day many of these rights are denied to women in so-called advanced countries which dont operate under Islamic law.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that Muhammad left for us all, Muslim or not alike, a way of life, a code of conduct and behaviour that is as applicable today as it was in his time. It is my contention that if people followed his way, then we would be able to cure the sickness of selfishness, cruelty and indifference that we are plagued with and create a society based on compassion, mutual responsibility and accountability to Allah from whom nothing is hidden.



Now, hows that for a new world order?
ayalalithaa Jayaram -- the iron lady of Tamil Nadu (TN), film star-turned politician, acolyte of the then TN supremo M.G. Ramachandran and four-time Chief Minister, who ruled the South Indian State -- died of cardiac arrest on Monday, December 5.

To thousands of her supporters she was fondly known as Amma and enjoyed the status akin to that of a deity, many of them literally worshiped the ground she walked on. Famous for her welfare policies, including programmes to distribute wedding jewellery and cheap meals to the poor, there was another side to Tamil Nadus former Chief Minister. Stories of her ruthlessness abounded A US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks described her as the consummate autocrat whose total domination of her party was legendary.

What is often not recognized is the fact that she was a pragmatist. In 1983, when the then government-sponsored attacks on the Tamil population led to an exodus of refugees to South India and other countries in the West, passions in Tamil Nadu boiled over. Both the people and state politicians felt it their duty to protest on behalf of Sri Lankas Tamils given the proximity and the ethnic ties involved.



Unfortunately for too long, Sri Lankan Tamil politicians have looked to India to champion their causes via pressure raised in Tamil Nadu. With this shortcut available to them, Sri Lankas Tamil politicians without trying to win over the opposition to their point of view, rushed to India begging support for one cause or another,

That is not to say that the Sri Lankan Tamils do not face discrimination in their own country nor that the governments in power had made serious efforts to win the support of the Tamil people, soothe their fears or put forward its own point of view to our immediate neighbour before a bad situation escalated.

Rather it has almost become a policy of all Sri Lankan governments to blame individual politicians across the Palk Straits for events taking place here, thereby aggravating tensions between the two countries.



It is in this light that the non-Tamil civilian population in Sri Lanka has come to view Tamil Nadu politicians in general and Indias political leadership in particular with suspicion; believing it is their desire to dominate and keep the island nation in subjugation.

While Jayalalithaa is viewed by the Tamils of the country as a person supportive of their cause; non-Tamil Sri Lankans loathe Tamil Nadus so-called Amma. What most people in Sri Lanka do not realize is that Jayalalithaa never supported the LTTE or division of Sri Lanka. Even while she was an MP in Indias parliament of 1984, she took a very balanced view of the Sri Lankan problem. She was sympathetic to the Tamil cause, but was opposed to the division of the country.

She felt the division of Sri Lanka on ethnic lines would lead to a fragmentation of India along similar lines. She stressed the need for a political settlement which met the just demands of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka. Jayalalithaa was also totally opposed to the LTTE. During the final days of the war on terrorism she took up the cause of Tamil civilians caught between the warring factions. It was also a measure to silence arch rival Muthuvel Karunanidhi and his DMK.



More recently she raised the controversy surrounding the arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan waters. It was widely felt that her action was based on anti-Sinhala sentiment. But those worst affected were actually the Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen. Here again her action was pragmatic, to keep the votes of the TN fisher community with her party and not an anti Sri Lanka move.

One of the sticking points was Sri Lankas failure to recognize that action which appear to be discriminative to local Tamils cause an adverse reaction in neighbouring Tamil Nadu and ultimately adversely affect relations with its central government, due to rising passions in its Southern State.

But Sri Lankas biggest failure has been that, no government had tried to improve relations with the political authorities of Tamil Nadu, even though most of our politicians often visit its many shrines and temples on pilgrimage. Especially now, coming out of a near 30-year ethnic war, its time to address this problem.
The Navy took swift measures to disperse the port employees who staged a protest campaign at the Hambantota Port premises yesterday, the Navy said.

It said in a statement that the employees were disrupting the routine work of the harbour and creating a huge loss of revenue to the government while the shipping companies were incurring heavy demurrage.

The protesting Port employees were obstructing the operations of the Merchant Ships berthed alongside the jetty and was causing much damage to the ships and adjacent facility by putting up obstacles of heavy machinery, equipment and usage of Gantry cranes blocking the movement of ships.

The Sri Lanka Navy who is the competent authority to carry out the ISPS (International Ship and Port Facility Security) Code had to intervene today to disperse the protesters from the two ships and the adjacent facility to make way for normal port operations. The protesters were holding the ship by force and had seized its operation which is a grave violation of International laws and norms which could be treated as an act of piracy, whereas the punishments are very severe in nature.

The Naval personnel entered the Hambantota harbour premises by naval craft by the sea passage and boarded the two ships and its berthed pier, and brought the situation under the Navys control having laid a cordon around the jetty area. Moreover, the Navy paved the way to sail the forcefully held car carrier Hyperion Highway back to its next port of call in Oman this evening, and also the naval personnel managed to clear all obstacles laid around jetty and adjacent premises, restored power supply, operated tug boats and fleet units and provided seaborne security in a well-coordinated and executed operation. As a result of above sabotage carried out by port employees the Shipping agent of Hyperion Highway had to incur a total demurrage of USD 400,000 for the last 4 days of non-operation.

The other merchant ship named MV Hoyanger which is still berthed at the pier is yet to unload the cargo and cannot proceed to the next port of call unless unloading the cargo onboard, which may have to stay a few days until the port operations are normalized.
Some sections of India appear elated at the election of Donald Trump as next US President, obviously because he is perceived as "anti-Muslim" and because of his public announcement that he loved "Hindu", using the word as synonymous for India.

New Delhi, however, will need to temper its expectations from the billionaire real estate developer about whom the only thing predictable is his unpredictability. Despite being devoid of political experience and his wayward nature, Trump will have to primarily serve the interests of the US, not India, and the two do not always coincide.

Disillusion awaits certainly if anyone assumes that the moment he occupies the White House, Trump will inflict more pain on Pakistan for taking the US for a ride in Afghanistan vis-a-vis the Taliban and for unhindered transport of terror to India.

Though he may be highly opinionated, he will be compelled to work within the parameters set by his party colleagues and officials if he wants the US to remain the foremost world power.

Anyhow, no US president can translate everything he said during the election campaign into practice. But a lot of what he does in the sphere of foreign relations will depend on the equation he has with different world leaders.

Trump formally takes charge as US President in January 2017. But some world leaders, notably the Japanese prime minister, have already met him in Washington. One does not know if any senior Indian leader has met him or is planning to call on Trump to prepare the ground for the kind of rapport Modi reportedly had with Barack Obama.

The foreign secretary visited Washington after the presidential election results were announced but that trip alone may not be enough to bring India on the radar of the new incoming US administration.

Despite all the hoopla about burgeoning India-US relations over the past two-three years, there are many rough areas which remain and which India will find difficult to negotiate with the "Hindu"-loving Trump.

Backed heavily by the White middle class, which does tend to be rather inward looking and conservative, Trump will have to live up to his promise of taking back American jobs that he suspects have been taken away by Indians (and some other nationals, the Chinese in particular).

He will not give up his call for American capital to return home, affecting investments in countries like India. Not much should be made of the fact that Trump will be mindful of Indias concern in these areas merely because he has some business interest in this country or even the monetary help some rich Indians in the US had offered to his campaign.

US-Pakistan ties under the Barack Obama administration remained strained. (Photo: Reuters)

It is probable that India will gloss over some of the unresolved issues with the US. But what India will not be able to overlook is the possibility of the Trump administration ignoring India's security concerns that arise out of the China-Pakistan axis.

The outgoing Obama administration looked ambiguous in its China policy, confining its admonitions of China to criticism of its human rights record and showing firmness in opposing Chinas expansionist policies that include arbitrary claims over the South China Sea.

US-Pakistan ties under the Obama administration have been under strain no doubt, but it will be wrong to assume that it happened because of "pressure" from India or to show agreement with Indias security interests.

Had that been the case, the US would not have continued to believe, as it has all along, that to bring stability in Afghanistan its only option is to depend on Pakistan. The Obama administration appeared quite receptive to Pakistans objections on Indias increasing footprints in Afghanistan.

The US has been making proforma statements on Pakistans continuous export of terror, asking it to "do more". It makes no difference because Pakistan has seen that defying the "advice" will bring no harm to it. India must try and get the Trump administration to go beyond the "do more" mode on Pakistans principal export to the world.

US exaggeration of Pakistans role in shaping the future of Afghanistan has made Pakistan believe it can now adopt an in-your-face attitude towards the White House.

Pakistans newfound swagger comes as a result of Chinas tight embrace with a $46 billion-plus package and Russia, scorned by the West, reaching out to it in a desperate bid to expand its considerably shrunk area of influence.

India has enjoyed good relations with the US under Obama, but it is forgotten that the foundation for it was laid by the "historic" 123 Agreement with the US to end Indias long period of nuclear isolation.

An important task before the mandarins of South Block will be to alter the misconception that without the US mollycoddling Pakistan, Afghanistan will remain unstable. Afghanistan will remain unstable as long as Pakistan interferes in its affairs with the help of its proxies.

It is true that the election of Trump has worried the Pakistanis. But they have lost no time in chalking out policies to retain, if not improve, their perilous ties with the US. PM Nawaz Sharif felicitated the president-elect. His diplomats have got into action to make friends in the new US administration even as their chief assignment continues to be vilifying India.

Pakistan is among the most disliked countries in the US and the West. But that cannot allow India to sit back with a false sense of assurance.

India and its influential diaspora in the US will do well to court influential Republicans to expose Pakistan as the country that lives by exporting terror to India and much of the world.

Well, India may like to rely on Americans of Indian origin, be they lawmakers or occupying high positions in the new US administration, to align US policies with Indias interests. But we should not forget that Americans of Indian origin are Americans first and their loyalties lie there.
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KG, BorgWarner Engineering Kibo RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Esslingen GmbH, BorgWarner Europe GmbH, BorgWarner Europe Holding S.a. r. l., BorgWarner Gateshead Limited, BorgWarner Germany Holding GmbH, BorgWarner Germany Holding Services GmbH, BorgWarner Germany REH GmbH, BorgWarner Germany REM GmbH, BorgWarner Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, BorgWarner Global Holding S.a. r. l., BorgWarner Heidelberg I RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Heidelberg II RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Heidelberg REH GmbH, BorgWarner Heidelberg REM GmbH, BorgWarner Holding Inc., BorgWarner Holdings Limited, BorgWarner Hungary Kft., BorgWarner IT Services Europe GmbH, BorgWarner India Holdings Inc., BorgWarner Investment Holding Inc., BorgWarner Ithaca LLC, BorgWarner Ketsch Plant RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Ketsch REH GmbH, BorgWarner Ketsch REM GmbH, BorgWarner Kft., BorgWarner Kibo RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Korea Holdings (PDS) B.V., BorgWarner Korea Holdings LLC, BorgWarner Korea LLC, BorgWarner Limited, BorgWarner Ludwigsburg GmbH, BorgWarner Ludwigsburg RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Markdorf Plant RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Markdorf REH GmbH, BorgWarner Markdorf REM GmbH, BorgWarner Massachusetts Inc., BorgWarner Mauritius Holdings Ltd., BorgWarner Mexico Holding BV, BorgWarner Mexico Holdings II LLC, BorgWarner Mexico Holdings LLC, BorgWarner Morse Systems India Private Limited, BorgWarner Morse Systems Italy S.r.l., BorgWarner Morse Systems Japan K.K., BorgWarner Morse Systems Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner Muggendorf RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner NW Inc., BorgWarner Netherlands Holdings (PDS) B.V., BorgWarner Oroszlany Kft., BorgWarner PDS (Anderson) L.L.C., BorgWarner PDS (Changnyeong) LLC, BorgWarner PDS (Indiana) Inc., BorgWarner PDS (Livonia) Inc., BorgWarner PDS (Ochang) LLC, BorgWarner PDS (Thailand) Limited, BorgWarner PDS (USA) Inc., BorgWarner PDS Brasil Produtos Automotivos Ltda., BorgWarner PDS Irapuato S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner PDS Mexico Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner PDS Technologies L.L.C., BorgWarner Poland Sp. z o.o., BorgWarner Pyongtaek LLC, BorgWarner Romeo Power LLC, BorgWarner Rzeszow Sp. z o.o., BorgWarner Shenglong (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner South Asia LLC, BorgWarner Southborough Inc., BorgWarner Spain Holding S.L.U, BorgWarner Sweden AB, BorgWarner Systems Lugo S.r.l., BorgWarner Thermal Systems Inc., BorgWarner Thermal Systems of Michigan Inc., BorgWarner TorqTransfer Systems Beijing Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Tralee Ltd., BorgWarner Transmission Products LLC, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Arnstadt GmbH, BorgWarner Transmission Systems GmbH, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Korea LLC, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Tulle S.A.S., BorgWarner Trustees Limited, BorgWarner Turbo & Emissions Systems France S.A.S., BorgWarner Turbo Systems Engineering GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems LLC, BorgWarner Turbo Systems Worldwide Headquarters GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems of Michigan Inc., BorgWarner Turbo and Emissions Systems de Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner UK Financing Ltd., BorgWarner UK Holding and Services Ltd., BorgWarner US Holding LLC, BorgWarner USA Industries L.L.C., BorgWarner United Transmission Systems Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Waterloo Inc., BorgWarner Wrexham Limited, Cascadia Motion LLC, Creon Insurance Agency Limited, Delphi Technologies, Dytech ENSA, Gustav Wahler GmbH u. Co. KG, Haldex, Kuhlman LLC, Kysor Europe Limited, M. & M. Knopf Auto Parts L.L.C., NSK-Warner (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., NSK-Warner K.K., NSK-Warner Mexico S.A. de C.V, NSK-Warner U.S.A. Inc., New PDS Corp., Old Remco Holdings L.L.C., Old Remco International Holdings L.L.C., Remy International, SeohanWarner Turbo Systems LLC, Sevcon, Sevcon New Energy Technology (Hubei) Company Limited, and Transmission Systems AutoForm LLC.

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New Media Investment Group Inc. invests in, owns, and operates local media assets in the United States. The company's principal products include 146 daily newspapers with total paid circulation of approximately 1.5 million; 323 weekly newspapers with total paid circulation of approximately 268,000 and total free circulation of approximately 1.4 million; 132 shoppers with total circulation of approximately 3.1 million; and 581 locally-focused Websites, including Internet and mobile devices with approximately 364 million page views per month. Its principal products also comprise 77 business publications; and UpCurve Cloud and ThriveHive, which provides digital marketing and business services. In addition, the company produces niche publications that address specific local market interests, such as recreation, sports, healthcare, and real estate. Further, it offers print and online products that offer local market news and information on various topics comprising local news and politics, community and regional events, youth sports, opinion and editorial pages, local schools, obituaries, weddings, and police reports, as well as commercial printing services for publishers; and prints commercial materials, including flyers, business cards, and invitations. Additionally, the company produces approximately 350 annual events with a collective attendance approximately 400,000, such as themed expo, signature event, endurance event, and white label event services; and provides digital and print advertising services. It reaches approximately 22 million people per week; and serves approximately 199,000 business customers. New Media Investment Group Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.
W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writer in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including premises operations, commercial automobile, property, products liability, and general and professional liability lines. It also provides workers' compensation insurance products; accident and health insurance and reinsurance products; insurance for commercial risks; specialty environmental products for contractors, consultants, and property owners and facilities operators; specialized insurance coverages for fine arts and jewelry exposures; umbrella and excess liability coverage products; and liquor liability and inland marine coverage for small to medium-sized insureds. In addition, this segment offers directors and officers, and surety risk products, as well as products for technology, and life sciences and travel industries; cyber risk solutions; casualty, group life, and crime and fidelity related insurance products; personal lines insurance solutions, including home, condo/co-op, auto, and collectibles; automobile, law enforcement, public officials and educator's legal, and employment practices liability, as well as incidental medical insurance products; and at-risk and alternative risk insurance program management services. The Reinsurance & Monoline Excess segment provides other insurance companies and self-insureds with assistance in managing their net risk through reinsurance on a portfolio basis through treaty reinsurance or on an individual basis through facultative reinsurance. W. R. Berkley Corporation was founded in 1967 and is based in Greenwich, Connecticut.
A recent poll from Pew Research Center found nearly 60 percent of voters believed crime rates had increased in the United States since 2008.

The general reality, while crime has steadily dropped, people have consistently thought crime is going up even just year to year, Fordham University School of Law Professor of Law John Pfaff said.

The reality is violent crime rates have fallen nearly 20 percent in that time frame, and even with a rise in crime in 2015, the violent crime rate in the United States remains lower than it was just three years earlier, according to the FBI.

Multiple times during his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump claimed murder rates in the United States are at a 45-year high  a statement divorced from reality.

The murder rate in the United States in 2015  the latest full-year of data available  was not even at a 10-year high, according the FBI.

The murder rate in United States in 2015 was 4.9 per 100,000 people, according to the FBI. This is less than half the murder rate in 1980.

In fact, the murder rate in 2014 of 4.4 per 100,000 was a historic low, according to the FBI  whose data goes back to 1960.

Overall, crime rose sharply in the 1980s and has fallen significantly since the 1990s.

So, why do a majority of voters still believe crime levels are higher than they really are?

In some ways the crime drop has been a victim of its own success, Pfaff said. Far fewer people experience crime on day-to-day basis, so they get it from the news and things appear far worse than they really are.

Theres always enough crime to keep the local nightly news leading with something that bleeds, he said.

Pfaff said this has led people to believe crime is more frequent than it is and remains unchecked because of lack of personal experience with crime.

I went to college in the South Side of Chicago in the early 1990s, and you could feel things get safer while I was there, Pfaff said. So, even if the nightly news started with some horrible crime, my own perceptions were things were getting safer every month on campus.

Thats not true anymore, he added. Things are so low that people dont have that experience.

Crime and perception

As crime rates began to drop in the 1990s, so did the percentage of people who believed crime was getting worse.

In 1993  around the beginning of the crime rate drop  roughly 87 percent of people believed crime was rising, Pfaff said, citing research by Gallup.

By 1998, that number had dropped to 54 percent, he said, and in 2001, the percentage of people who believed crime rates were increasing dropped below 50 percent for the first and only time since the early 1990s.

That number jumped to more than 60 percent in 2002 and has remained around that point since, Pfaff said.

Ive never seen anyone actually test this, but it certainly seems like the attacks of 2001 just created a general ambient sense of fear for people to be more scared, he said. The 90s were kind of a time that things were going pretty well. You had the dot-com boom, crime was dropping. ... In general, the 90s felt like things were going fairly well, and then 2001 hit and general sense of fear took over.

Violent crime victimization in Cumberland County happens, but it is rare.

There were 48 reported aggravated assaults in the county in 2015, according to Pennsylvania State Police. This equates to roughly 20 assaults per 100,000 people.

For comparison, the aggravated assault rate nationally was 237 assaults per 100,000 people in 2015, according to the FBI.

DUIs accounted for nearly 30 percent of criminal charges in the county in 2015, according to Cumberland County Insight. Drug crimes accounted for about 24 percent of criminal charges and less than 1 percent of all cases included both a drug crime and a violent offense, according to court records.

As for the more serious violent crimes, sexual offenses accounted for less than 2 percent of all criminal cases in 2015, aggravated assault was charged in 1.4 percent of the cases and only 1.2 percent of all cases included a robbery charge, according to Cumberland County Insight.

I think we need to think a lot about how we tell this crime story in a way that doesnt sell the scary Its always getting worse narrative or in a way that isnt just dry numbers that is going to engage people, Pfaff said. There has to be a way to tell that this is how crime is moving that sort of gets beyond our inherent fear. ... We havent done that yet. I think thats something that needs to be worked on, a lot.
OGE Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy and energy services provider that offers physical delivery and related services for electricity, natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy. It provides retail electric service to approximately 879,000 customers, which covers a service area of approximately 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas; and owns and operates coal-fired, natural gas-fired, wind-powered, and solar-powered generating assets. As of December 31, 2021, the company owned and operated interconnected electric generation, transmission, and distribution systems, including 16 generating stations with an aggregate capability of 7,207 megawatts; and transmission systems comprising 54 substations and 5,122 structure miles of lines in Oklahoma, and 7 substations and 277 structure miles of lines in Arkansas. Its distribution systems included 350 substations; 29,494 structure miles of overhead lines; 3,365 miles of underground conduit; and 11,125 miles of underground conductors in Oklahoma, as well as 29 substations, 2,795 structure miles of overhead lines, 349 miles of underground conduit, and 662 miles of underground conductors in Arkansas. The company was founded in 1902 and is based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Duke Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities and Infrastructure, and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity in the Carolinas, Florida, and the Midwest; and uses coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, oil, renewable generation, and nuclear fuel to generate electricity. It also engages in the wholesale of electricity to municipalities, electric cooperative utilities, and load-serving entities. This segment serves approximately 8.2 million customers in 6 states in the Southeast and Midwest regions of the United States covering a service territory of approximately 91,000 square miles; and owns approximately 50,259 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure segment distributes natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation natural gas customers; and owns, operates, and invests in pipeline transmission and natural gas storage facilities. It has approximately 1.6 million customers, including 1.1 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as 550,000 customers in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky. The Commercial Renewables segment acquires, owns, develops, builds, and operates wind and solar renewable generation projects, including nonregulated renewable energy and energy storage services to utilities, electric cooperatives, municipalities, and corporate customers. It has 23 wind, 178 solar, and 2 battery storage facilities, as well as 71 fuel cell locations with a capacity of 3,554 MW across 22 states. The company was formerly known as Duke Energy Holding Corp. and changed its name to Duke Energy Corporation in April 2005. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Valley National Bancorp operates as the holding company for Valley National Bank that provides various commercial, retail, insurance, and wealth management financial services products. It operates through Commercial Lending, Consumer Lending, and Investment Management segments. The company offers non-interest bearing, savings, NOW, money market, and time deposit accounts; commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, residential mortgage, and automobile loans; loans secured by the cash surrender value of life insurance; home equity loans and lines of credit; and secured and unsecured other consumer loans. It also invests in various securities and interest-bearing deposits with other banks; and provides international banking services, such as standby and documentary letters of credit, and related products, as well as foreign exchange transactions, documentary collections, foreign wire transfers services, and transaction accounts for non-resident aliens. In addition, the company offers investment services for individuals and small to medium sized businesses; and trusts and custom -tailored investment strategies for various retirement plans. Further, it provides trust services, such as living and testamentary trusts, investment management, custodial and escrow services, and estate administration to individuals; tax credit advisory services; property and casualty, life, health, and title insurance agency services; and health care equipment lending and other commercial equipment leasing services, as well as owns real estate related investments. Additionally, the company offers online, mobile, and telephone banking services; and overdraft, drive-in and night deposit, automated teller machine, remote deposit capture, and safe deposit facility services. As of December 31,2021, it operated 232 branch offices in New Jersey, New York, Florida, and Alabama. The company was incorporated in 1927 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
YWCA Carlisle will host a holiday open house Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 301 G St. in Carlisle.

Guests will be able to tour the facility, enjoy a variety of holiday displays in the lobby (including a tree decorated with ornaments created by the YWCAs preschoolers and the Angel Tree Giving Tree), listen to a preschool class sing holiday songs and savor holiday cookies and beverages.

An indoor Winter Wonderland Walk will also be available to walk a mile or more in the gym and have a chance to sign positive thoughts about the community and coming together to solve social justice issues.

Despite how busy the holiday season gets for everyone, we look forward to welcoming and meeting with residents and members of YWCA Carlisle to celebrate this special time of year, said YWCA Carlisle Executive Director Robin Scaer. We invite our friends to stop by between 11 am  1 pm on Dec. 15, even for just a moment, during holiday shopping and preparations and reflect on the good things going on in our community."
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. provides insurance and financial services to individual and business customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. Its Commercial Lines segment offers workers' compensation, property, automobile, liability, umbrella, bond, marine, livestock, and reinsurance; and customized insurance products and risk management services, including professional liability, bond, surety, and specialty casualty coverages through regional offices, branches, sales and policyholder service centers, independent retail agents and brokers, wholesale agents, and reinsurance brokers. The company's Personal Lines segment provides automobile, homeowners, and personal umbrella coverages through direct-to-consumer channel and independent agents. Its Property & Casualty Other Operations segment offers coverage for asbestos and environmental exposures. The company's Group Benefits segment provides group life, disability, and other group coverages to members of employer groups, associations, and affinity groups through direct insurance policies; reinsurance to other insurance companies; employer paid and voluntary product coverages; disability underwriting, administration, and claims processing to self-funded employer plans; and a single-company leave management solution. This segment distributes its group insurance products and services through brokers, consultants, third-party administrators, trade associations, and private exchanges. Its Hartford Funds segment offers investment products for retail and retirement accounts; exchange-traded products through broker-dealer organizations, independent financial advisers, defined contribution plans, financial consultants, bank trust groups, and registered investment advisers; and investment management and administrative services, such as product design, implementation, and oversight. The company was founded in 1810 and is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut.
Maximus, Inc. provides business process services (BPS) to government health and human services programs. It operates through three segments: U.S. Services, U.S. Federal Services, and Outside the U.S. The U.S. Services segment offers various BPS solutions, such as program administration, appeals and assessments, and related consulting works for U.S. state and local government programs, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, child support programs, Preadmission Screening and Resident Reviews, and Independent Developmental Disability assessments. This segment also provides program eligibility support and enrollment; centralized multilingual customer contact centers, multichannel, and digital self-service options for enrollment; application assistance and independent health plan choice counseling; beneficiary outreach, education, eligibility, enrollment, and redeterminations; person-centered independent disability, long-term sick, and other health assessments; and specialized consulting services. The U.S. Federal Services segment offers centralized citizen engagement centers and support services; document and record management; case management, citizen support, and consumer education; independent medical reviews and worker's compensation benefit appeals; Medicare and Medicaid appeals; and federal marketplace eligibility appeals. This segment also provides modernization of systems and information technology infrastructure; infrastructure operations and support services; software development, operations, and management services; and data analytics services. The Outside the U.S. segment offers BPS solutions for governments and commercial clients outside the United States, including health and disability assessments, program administration for employment services, and other job seeker-related services. The company was incorporated in 1975 and is headquartered in Tysons, Virginia.
Andrew Puzder has gone out of his way to downplay the needs of his workforce. Primarily, this means those Hardees and Carls Jr. workers who have joined the nationwide clamor to raise the minimum wage.

Puzder is President-elect Donald Trumps selection for Secretary of Labor. Hold on to your paychecks; this could be a bumpy ride.

Raising the minimum wage, granting overtime pay, inconvenient questions about why so many burger flippers and French fry scoopers are also on public assistance  it all receives a dismissive wave from Puzder. Too much federal regulation, he says. Not good for business.

Given Puzders role as CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc., this is to be expected, as was the shouts of dismay at his nomination.

One organizer (Kendall Fells) pressing to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 termed Trumps choice of Puzder as akin to putting Bernie Madoff in charge of the Treasury.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.), told the Wall Street Journal, With Mr. Puzder, the fox is in the hen house. She went on to say his nomination is the greatest assault on workers that we have seen in a generation.

A moment please, amid the chaos of name-calling, lest we lose perspective on the complicated problems of low-wage workers and so many others who have a tenuous tether to middle class status.

Going on four decades now, economic policy has consistently undermined wage earners in favor of pleasing corporate managers and Wall Street. The tools that have been were widely discussed during the presidential campaign; the off-shoring of jobs, raiding pension funds, all to concentrate profits more in the hands of those at the top income brackets.

This shift basically occurred over the stretch of Puzders career. And it happened through the acts of Congress, the courts, state legislators and a press too eager to gulp down the spin that this was all market forces at work. Unions increasingly were seen as the bad guys, out of touch.

So when Puzder says that government needs to get out of the way of business, he finds ready ears absorb the message. But hes only telling a piece of the story.

The dire situation that too many fast-food workers feel is not, as Puzder likes to posit, simply the work of over-regulation.

Consider the Fight for $15, raising the federal minimum wage. Fast food is where the most public of these battles have been fought, with regular protests outside Americas favorite golden arches and other venues.

The pressure would double the federal minimum wage, on the outset a seemingly an outrageous contention. Puzder has said that the protesters might as well be demanding their own firing. He argues that the workers will price themselves out of a job, that bosses like him will merely find ways to offset the higher labor costs through automation, decreasing employment. And its true, as some restaurant jobs have been replaced by the efficiency of technology; like touch screens to order food.

But realize that we have also let the minimum wage stagnate far too long. By some calculations, the minimum wage would be at about $21, had it been allowed to rise alongside with productivity gains. That is $5 higher than what many people think is asking too much.

In more tempered writings, Puzder has indicated that he would be OK with a $9 federal minimum. Or perhaps something that eases the increased labor costs on owners over time, incremental increases. If he really gets honest, hed have to also admit that estimates about how much cost would have to be passed onto customers is also a subject of much debate.

And states and cities have begun to raise their minimum wages, something that Puzder cant roll back even if he is confirmed.

Despite what many people of solid middle class status like to tell themselves, the plight of the low-wage workers that Puzder employs, and often fights, affects you and your household. And not just if they get your order for extra ketchup correct as you go through the drive through.

They are connected to the slipping grasp on a chance at middle class status that so many Americans feel viscerally. It is the anxiety that helped elect Trump.

Puzder was an early and loyal supporter to Trump. The offering of a cabinet post is his reward.

The question that remains to be seen is how loyal he can be to yearnings of the American workforce.

Mary Sanchez is an opinion-page columnist for The Kansas City Star. Email her at msanchez@kcstar.com.
India, Vietnam sign Civil Nuclear deal, three other agreements

Published: December 10, 2016

India and Vietnam have signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement. With this, Vietnam became 14th country with which India has signed the civil nuclear deal.

The MoU in Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy was signed by Sekhar Basu, Secretary of Department of Atomic Energy and Pham Cong Tac, Vietnams Deputy Minister of Science and Technology in New Delhi.

The two countries also signed three other agreements in the fields of energy, aviation and government cooperation. These agreements will enhance aviation links, cooperation in the area of energy efficiency and promotion of parliamentary cooperation between both countries.

Vietnam also extended invitation to India to explore energy in South China Sea (SCS). It has urged India to intensify economic engagement with Southeast Asia, highlighting Indias importance as a regional power. It also supported Indias multilateral membership plans including UNSC.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2016

Topics: Aviation Sector  Civil Nuclear Deal  Energy Sector  India-International Relations  India-Vietnam  National

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RICHMOND  Carters Grove, one of the countrys most significant examples of Georgian architecture, survived the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.

Attacked in recent years by insects and damaged by water, the property on the north shore of the James River in James City County was in danger of falling into disrepair until a Chicago businessman bought the property about 8 miles southeast of historic Williamsburg in 2014 for $7.2 million  and took on the monumental task of preserving it.

The sale to Samuel M. Mencoff included an 18,700-square-foot mansion, 476 acres, a caretakers house, a horse stable and a museum that once housed artifacts from the site, according to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which has close ties to the property.

Mencoff, co-founder of a Chicago-based private equity firm, declined to comment.

He is halfway through a three-year renovation project that by some accounts will cost more than double what he paid for the property.

Tim Leahy, a construction superintendent for the Carters Grove project, said he is not at liberty to talk about the owner, except to say that he loves being a steward of historic properties and he will do whatever it takes to make sure they are meticulously preserved.

When horse hair was discovered as insulation in window sashes, for instance, it was duly reinforced with more horse hair.

The owner wishes to restore the property to its grandeur and enable it to last another 265 years, said Leahy, who works with Kirby Perkins Construction, a Newport, Rhode Island, company in charge of the job.

The firm has worked with Mencoff to restore historically significant properties in the Midwest and in Newport, which is famous for its mansions and one of the wealthiest cities in the United States.

All-new mechanical and electrical systems will be installed at Carters Grove without disturbing the historic fabric, Leahy said. You cant move a door or a window or disturb a fireplace or chimney to put in an air-conditioning duct.

The main staircase, paneling and other historic features have been covered in plywood during construction to ensure that they dont get dinged by equipment.

Carters Grove is a U.S. National Historic Landmark, the highest designation an historic property can receive. It is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register. Preservation and conservation easements are attached to the property, meaning it cannot be developed or materially altered.

Some historic elements, such as the staircase with intricate woodwork, cannot be altered at all, not even with paint.

The craftsmanship is exemplary, Leahy said. We are humbled to be a part of the restoration and preservation. We cant do enough to ensure the quality that the house de-serves.

Kirby Perkins Construction is working with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and Colonial Williamsburg to ensure adherence to the easements.

This work is comprehensive, addressing needs of the entire site, not just the house itself, said Julie V. Langan, director of the Department of Historic Resources.

Highlights include rehabilitation and preservation of the mansion according to the secretary of the interior standard, Langan said. They also include restoration of the entire exterior of the building, rehab of the kitchen and building systems, rehab of outbuildings and site improvements in coordination with the U.S. Army of Corps of Engineers and James City County.

The grounds will be repurposed for farming and an equestrian center, Leahy said. The property is zoned agricultural and assessed for $4.6 million, according to James City County records.

Eight people with Kirby Perkins Construction moved here from Rhode Island to manage the project. An additional 12 to 15 tradesmen are working on it, along with subcontractors from the Richmond and Washington, D.C., areas.

The general contractor is sourcing material  including black walnut and hand-blown glass  from around the globe. It shipped windows from the mansion to its shop in Rhode Island, where they were reglazed, preserved and returned to their proper place in Virginia.

Wood used for reconstruction, such as longleaf pine, is selected based on growth rings so it will match with existing wood, Leahy said.

***

The mansion is made up of a main section built in 1755 and two older dependencies or smaller houses on either side, which were connected to the main house during a major renovation in 1928. The roof was raised 9 feet in that renovation.

Easements were placed on the property at the time, with most restrictions applying to the main house.

Despite being more than 260 years old, the house is as solid and as plumb at they come, Leahy said.

The interior will be repainted with original colors, a process of discovery by scraping and analyzing paint chips. Its a very scientific analysis of paint layers using microscopy, Leahy said.

Exterior work includes restoring and reflashing a Buckingham slate roof, so it can last an additional 200 years, Leahy said. The entire roof was removed, tagged and reinstated. Each piece of slate, some weighing as much as 10 pounds, was inspected.

The masonry for the brick exterior is in amazing shape and does not need to be repointed, despite its age, Leahy said. The mortar, which was made on site, incorporated the burning of oyster shells to create lime. That type of old-fashioned work creates a tenacious grab.

***

The plantation was built for Carter Burwell and most likely named for the wealthy Carter family and nearby Grove Creek. It was built on a tract known as Martins Hundred, which was settled by the English colonists around 1620 and decimated during the Indian Massacre of 1622.

Carters Grove, after multiple owners and the death of the last resident in 1964, was gifted to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1969.

The foundation opened the plantation to tourists for years but closed it to the public in 2003. Later that year, Hurricane Isabel damaged Carters Grove Country Road, which connected the estate to historic Williamsburg. The foundation announced in late 2006 that the property would be offered for sale under restrictive conditions.

In December 2007, Halsey Minor, a former Charlottesville resident and founder of technology-product review site CNET, acquired the property for $15.3 million and planned to use it for his private residence and a Thoroughbred breeding program.

However, Minor never lived there and filed for personal bankruptcy in 2013. As part of the bankruptcy proceeding, the property was put back on the market for $14.95 million.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which held a note on the property, was owed nearly $8 million at the time, including $2 million for repairs and $30,000 a month for upkeep.

When the property didnt sell on the open market, it was put up for auction in May 2014. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation was the only bidder and participated with a credit bid to take back the property, preserve and resell it.

In stepped Mencoff, putting the plantation under private ownership once again  and the resulting work in progress.

All of this work achieves the very highest standards and the owner is to be commended for his willingness to execute the very best solution for each aspect of the work, said Langan with the Department of Historic Resources. The project team is exceptional, as is the owners commitment to doing the right thing by this landmark property.
Julius Rosenwald amassed a personal fortune without dulling his conscience or staying his moral compass.

When the part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company met with his friend, Paul J. Sachs, they often discussed ways they could make the nation better. Sachs, a museum director and partner in the financial firm Goldman Sachs, made an impact on the national betterment front by creating one of the first museum studies courses in the country.

During one of the congenial get-togethers in the early part of the 20th century, the two men sought to pinpoint the most urgent need in American society at the time. They quickly agreed that it was the desperate lot of many black citizens, particularly those living in the South.

These were strong, brilliant men with the drive and connections to make a difference. Sachs got things going by introducing Rosenwald to educator Booker T. Washington.

Rosenwald had read Washingtons autobiography and was deeply moved by it. When the two men met, they immediately hit it off and quickly became close friends.

The famous educator knew where help was most desperately needed, and the business tycoon had the financial wherewithal to do something about it. Washington was convinced that education was what would pave the path that would lead black children out of poverty.

To this end, Rosenwald wielded his checkbook like a claymore sword to clear the way, and give the underprivileged children a leg up in life through education. He started by paying for six small schools in Alabama that would serve rural black children.

The structures, built in 1913 and 1914, were constructed by black craftsmen, which also helped to improve their lives. The initial schoolhouses provided knowledge on how best to go about a project that Rosenwald intended to grow on a monumental scale.

In 1917, Rosenwald created the Rosenwald Fund with the single ambition of it becoming an instrument for the well-being of mankind. From the establishment of the fund until 1948, when the money was completely exhausted, it contributed more than $70 million.

The money was used to create public schools, colleges, universities, museums, Jewish charities and black institutions. The building of what became known as Rosenwald Schools was a large part of the funds improvement efforts.

It contributed millions of dollars in matching funds to the building of more than 5,000 schools, shops and dwellings for the teachers employed by the institutes of learning. These schools were constructed throughout the South from 1917 until 1932.

Several of the schools were built in Albemarle County. One of them was just honored with the installment of a state historical marker issued by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

The marker commemorates St. John School, which was built in 1922-23 in Cobham. The sign is located at 1569 St. John Road in Keswick.

The Rosenwald Fund provided $700 toward the construction of the two-classroom wooden structure. Those living nearby donated an additional $500, and Albemarle County contributed $1,300.

The schools were designed to last, and the carpenters made sure this would be the case. Evidence of the superior workmanship can be found in the fact that the schoolhouse still stands. Five other former Rosenwald Schools built in Albemarle County are now used as private homes.

St. John Elementary School was closed in the 1950s. For years, the former school was used as a private home. Then, in 2003, it was bought by St. John Baptist Church.

Funds are being raised to transform the building into the St. John Family Life and Fitness Center. A part of the center will house a museum that will help tell the story of the school.

Rosenwald was born and raised in a house in Springfield, Illinois, one block from the home of Abraham Lincoln. The 16th president of the United States loved learning, but he had spent less than a year in a schoolhouse.

Lincolns generous hometown neighbor did what he could to ensure that this wouldnt happen to black children. By the time the Roaring 20s were coming to an end, a third of rural black children living in the South were being educated in Rosenwald Schools.

In 1916, a young journalist, B.C. Forbes, wrote a profile piece about Rosenwald. The writer, who would go on to found Forbes magazine, wrote the following about his subject:

The greatest thing about Julius Rosenwald is not his business, but himself; not what he has, but what he is  his character, his personality, his sincerity, his honesty, his democracy, his thoughtfulness, his charity of heart, his catholicity of sympathy, his consuming desire to help the less fortunate of his fellow creatures.
Union Government scraps import duty on wheat

Published: December 10, 2016

The Union Government has waived the import duty on wheat to zero from 10 per cent for an indefinite period.

This move aims to improve domestic availability in the wake of rising prices and concerns about the wheat crop in 2016-17.

The duty was waived because of uncertainty over the wheat output this year. Despite a rise in area sown, questions are raised over condition of the wheat crop, low fertiliser and pesticide use due to and fears of a warm winter.

The waiving of import duty will make wheat imports (especially from Australia and Ukrainian) considerably cheaper. This will fuel imports to over 6 million tonnes in 2016-17. This will be the highest wheat imports in the 10 years.

Background

The wheat production in the country will be around 93.50 million tonnes in 2016-17 as per the government estimates. However, many experts have pegged the figures around 90 million tonnes due to year-on-year droughts in 2014 and 2015. Moreover, Union Governments own wheat stocks are at an all-time low due to less procurement.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2016

Topics: Agriculture  Business  Economy  imports  National  Wheat

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Changes were made to this story on Dec. 15, 2016.

Albemarle County Public Schools staff and officials are looking at ways to rethink the divisions policies and management regarding leave in order to cut down on chronic absenteeism in its teaching staff.

During the 2015-16 school year, nearly 32 percent of teachers  almost one in three  were absent for 10 or more days, according to data provided by the county schools.

Those absences consisted of several types of leave, including sick, personal and maternity, as well as professional development and workers compensation.

The frequency of chronic absenteeism in the county was higher than the rate in Charlottesville City Schools, which was 24 percent during the same school year, and was even higher than the most recently available national figures.

According to the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights, 27 percent of teachers nationwide were chronically absent during the 2013-14 school year, the most recent data available.

Albemarle division staffers are recommending that the School Board update the personal leave policy and find ways to make it easier to track and manage planned leave and absences. In doing so, the schools could cut down on teacher absenteeism and more efficiently handle the need for substitutes.

In addition, finding ways to reduce chronic absenteeism would cut down on costs both financially  hiring substitutes  and academically.

But one thing that Matt Haas, deputy superintendent of the county schools, wants to make clear and emphasize is that its not a teacher problem the division is looking at. Instead, it is a leave management one.

This is not about saying that teachers have not been fulfilling a commitment, or they've been negligent in some way or not being good, he said. It's really about how we've been managing leave because whatever you establish as the norm is really what employees will do.

***

During a School Board meeting last month, division staffers presented data that indicate most of the personal leave used by county teachers was taken on Fridays and Mondays, around the holiday breaks and at the beginning and end of the school year.

Currently, Albemarle teachers are allowed two personal leave days per year. However, according to the county schools policy, teachers can take more than two personal leave days at the discretion of their principal or administrator.

Staff asked the School Board to consider a policy revision that would make it clear how many personal days teachers are allowed to use per year.

Another suggestion has been to make it so that no more than 5 percent of teaching staff at a particular school are on planned leave on any given day. Haas said this would allow for some wiggle room if a teacher needed to take an unplanned day off.

But school administrators and education advocates point out that its important to take into consideration medical, personal or other legitimate issues that can cause teachers to miss multiple days  rather than just focusing on the number of days missed.

John ONeil, director of communications for the Virginia Education Association, said something important to consider with the absences is that teachers face a lot of professional challenges, and sometimes those challenges require them to miss class.

What [VEA is] really striving for is a strong relationship between a caring, committed teacher and each student, and things can get in the way of that  thats a fact, he said.

You don't know and you can't predict when things are going to happen that are going to require some of them to be out, Carole Nelson, director of human services for the city schools, said.

Nelson pointed out that a teacher taking a sick day is likely more beneficial in the long run, rather than a teacher toughing it out in the classroom instead of recovering at home and stopping the potential spread of illness.

So a brief absence can actually save the cost of extended absences that can arise when diseases spread or don't get treated, she said.

Another reason why teachers have missed days is because of professional development.

Nelson said in the city schools that they make sure to space those days out so as to avoid having teachers across all grade levels out of their classrooms on the same day, therefore limiting the need for substitutes on a given day.

Its extremely important for our staff, for their professional developments and its important because it passes on for the instructional learning for our students and for their achievement ultimately, which is our goal; its why were here, she said.

And there were several absences related to the Family and Medical Leave Act, a federal law that allows extended leave for certain circumstances. Some of the leave commonly associated with the law is related to childbirth, adoption or taking care of a family member.

In the county schools, 6 percent of teachers missing 10 or more days were absent under the legislations provisions. In the city schools, 22 percent of the 24 percent were FMLA related.

***

While there are arguably several appropriate instances for teachers to be absent  even chronically, in some cases  there is still a cost associated with their leave.

Financially, filling a classroom with a substitute, temporarily or for an extended period of time, costs money. Last school year, the county schools spent a total of more than $1.3 million on short- and long-term subs.

And when teachers are out of the classroom for a long time, students can be affected academically.

Jim Wyckoff, a professor at the University of Virginias Curry School of Education, said its not uncommon to see student achievement drop when teachers are absent.

The other thing that we know is that that also depends on the quality of the substitutes, of course, he said.

***

The School Board is not expected to take action on any recommendations to change the divisions leave policies until January at the earliest.

But Haas said they've been able to be more diligent in managing when teachers take planned leave, seeing decreases in absences so far this school year.

Our personal leave use is way down and our overall leave use has come down, as well, so I think students are getting a better experience and I really appreciate everybody pitching in together to make this happen, he said.

Haas said he hopes the changes they've put in place so far are sustainable throughout the school year.

Again, we want teachers to use their leave when they need it, he said. So Im hoping that they're still using it when they need it, and that the principals are managing it in such a way that we don't get to the end of the year and it goes through the roof again.  Im hoping we haven't just pushed off a problem until April.
As Santas elves busily prepare toys for children all over the world, city police will be busy collecting toys for children right here in Charlottesville.

Charlottesville police would like people to consider donating a new, unwrapped toy that officers can give to a Charlottesville child on Dec. 19.

Donors can drop off toys in a colorful holiday box in the lobby of the Charlottesville Police Department at 606 E. Market St. until 5 p.m. Thursday. There are additional dropoff locations at Alakazam Toys, Kilwins and My Chocolate Shoppe on the Downtown Mall. My Chocolate Shoppe will give a free gift to anyone who donates a toy.

Toys for children of all ages, from infants to teenagers, are appreciated, but police ask that people not bring violent toys, such as BB guns or pellet guns, according to Officer Eric Thomas.

From 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Hunter Wyant, from State Farm Insurance, will collect toys for the drive at Milli Coffee Roasters. For every person who donates a toy, Wyant will donate a toy. Food and drink also will be served.

For more information, call the city police at (434) 970-3280.
Ray Sturges has an affinity for postage stamps, and when he saw a recent arrival, he almost swooned.

The president of the Charlottesville Stamp Club locked eyes for the first time on the fresh-off-the-press Nativity Forever stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service. The unveiling took place on Nov. 3, at Saint Johns Church in Washington.

I was most impressed when I first saw the stamp at the post office, Sturges said. I bought three sheets of them, and thats what were using this year for our Christmas cards.

Its not just the scene, but the colors that grab your attention. The big star at the top center catches the eye first.

Then the color gets lighter and lighter, as it does with the coming of dawn. It makes it appear that its night at the top of the stamp, and then here comes morning and we see Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in the manger.

Sturges called the colors perfect. Thats quite a compliment from a person who inspects stamps with a magnifying glass.

My impression is that whoever designed this stamp, I would hope that person would design another one, Sturges said. This shows good thinking in coming up with a design thats pleasing and eye catching.

We get used to a lot of Christmas stamps after decades of looking at the same type of scene. Its good to have something different, and this is.

Sturges sounded surprised when told that the stamps designer is local talent Greg Breeding. He is president of Charlottesville-based Journey Group, which provides clients with visual storytelling that can be applied to print, websites, branding and other kinds of marketing.

Breeding also gets credit for designing the popular Johnny Cash postage stamp in 2013. He served as art director and designer of that effort.

The new stamp is the third in a series that Breeding created with renowned illustrator Nancy Stahl. The first depicted the flight of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus to Egypt and the second was of the Magi.

Nancy Stahl is a brilliant illustrator who has successfully created many U.S. postage stamps, Breeding said. Her versatile approach involves simple and elegant graphic shapes that uniquely bring her subjects to life.

And it is that quality of simplicity that enables her work to reduce so successfully at stamp size. Because this stamp is one in a series that features brilliant sky backgrounds, we were torn with whether or not to create a stable environment around the Holy Family.

We certainly experimented with the idea, but the attempts to include a structure overwhelmed the rest of the design, so we decided to simplify the design.

The introduction of a new stamp is especially big news for collectors of stamps, known as philatelists, and postal officials. Janice Walker, U.S. Postal Service corporate communications vice president, said the following at the recent dedication ceremony:

Today, we honor one of the most symbolic images in the world, Walker said. An image that for Christians from all walks of life celebrates the story of the nativity  the birth of Jesus Christ.

This beautiful stamp includes a brilliant star that stands out in both its illustration and in its meaning of Christmas. There are no greater traditions than those of the holidays, and the Postal Service is happy to help you celebrate and honor your traditions.

Louis Giuliano, a former U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors member, also spoke during the event.

During my time with the Board of Governors, I witnessed the launch of a stamp series that spoke deeply to my Christian faith, Giuliano said. The first stamp, aptly named Holy Family, was issued in 2012 and illustrated the journey of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus into Egypt.

In 2014, I was honored to stand here in Saint Johns Church to help dedicate the second stamp in the series, Christmas Magi, which illustrated the story of the Three Wise Men.

Stahl, who is based in New York City, has provided the artwork for more than a dozen postage stamps. These include Snowy Egret, Wisdom and Bighorn Sheep.

This stamp is in a series of Christmas stamps that have a similar design and theme, said Stahl, who in 2012 was inducted into the Illustrators Hall of Fame by the Society of Illustrators. So, mostly, it was: How do I present something thats similar, but different?

We started with it being Bethlehem at night. I said, Well, you know they wouldnt have had street lamps that were turned on, so how am I going to draw Bethlehem at night? But I tried my best.

Then they said, No, lets do Mary and Joseph. Then there was a big thing about whether there would be a manger or not. Its not exactly my call.

Im just the hands that create the work. Theres a lot of committee meetings and stuff that Im not privy to. I try to desperately get something that they will agree to.

Stahl managed to do that and more. No small feat considering the rather limited range of subject matter one has to draw from when it comes to this particular event.

Most Christmas stamps show what is called the Madonna and child, which shows Mary and the baby Jesus, Sturges said. Thats dominant, and its used because a lot of artists during the last four centuries have painted that particular scene.

The Postal Service uses that to make a lot of stamps, and thats OK  to a point. But eventually they look so much alike that it kind of loses its appeal.

Then, along comes this new one, and its different in a positive way. As soon as I saw it, I grabbed it right off the bat. Its an impressive stamp, and that means something to us collectors.

Stahl and Breeding worked closely with a number of Postal Service art directors who are responsible for designs of stamps. And theres the Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee, which carries a lot of weight when it comes to what will pass muster and become a stamp.

The committee was created so that what, or who, will appear on a stamp is in the hands of citizens, and not the government. Although these arbitrators are recruited, they are all volunteers.

Committee members get together four times a year to approve the stamp subjects and designs. However, the postmaster general has the final say.

Reaching that hallelujah moment when the verbal stamp of approval is given is often a long and arduous journey. This certainly was the case with Nativity Forever.

I did some with the manger, without the manger, with the star, Stahl said. I just threw everything I could at them, and theyre the ones who decide which one to go with.

What I was trying to get at was the dawn of a new existence  a new life. I chose the colors I did so there would be this sense of dawn, but I needed the night sky for the star to stand out.

I was pleased with it in the end. But it was a real struggle this time, because they did want to start with something different, and they werent always happy along the way.

Although the intense scrutinizing of the smallest details of the stamp can make artists look heavenward for strength, it has its purpose. In the case of the new stamp, at least according to Sturges, it has elevated an often mundane sticker to something worthy of admiration and a closer look.

For something as small as a postage stamp, an immense amount of thought goes into its makeup. Breeding was looking to design Nativity Forever in such a way that it could evoke larger thoughts of what the tiny image actually means.

Although it was necessary for the blue sky to give way to white for the sake of the silhouettes, it was my hope that the lighter night sky might be perceived as the glow from the city of Bethlehem, Breeding said. Seen this way, the sense of isolation that is so central to the story is accentuated.

They look, to me, to be utterly alone, reinforcing that the Christ child was born into abject poverty.

While Stahl created the artwork, Breeding in a way created the framework that helps make it pop visually.

I think Gregs design for the stamp is lovely, Stahl said. Its sort of a combination of classic Christian imagery, and yet its modern.

He put on it that dark selvage  the edge where the perforations are  and that makes it look modern to me. And I think it has an emotion of sublimity, but also I always want there to be some grace and hopefulness.

Im so used to looking at it large on the screen that when I see it small, I often wonder if people can pay attention to it and see what I saw. Its so nice that the expert [Sturges] saw it in the way that I meant for it to be.
The St. Francois County Sheriffs Department was notified the children who were thought to be with a couple being sought in connection with the shooting and stabbing of a Leadwood man on Tuesday morning have been found.

Sheriff Dan Bullock said the children were picked up in Georgia by the grandfather and are being taken back to Florida. He added they are advising the police department there to contact the childrens division.

At this time it is unclear how the children were located and found to be in the grandfathers custody. The Daily Journal will bring more details as they become available.

The assault took part at the home at 221 Fifth St. where the victim, Silas Laycock, 43, and suspects Angela Laycock, 43 and Timothy Perkins, 37 all lived together, along with the Silass and Angelas four children.

The sheriffs department took over the case Tuesday night at the request of the Leadwood Police Department.

Silas was assaulted by the couple, which included stabbed with a knife, being struck multiple times with an ax and being shot with a shotgun. Its believed that the victim, the two suspects and the four children were all at the home at the time of the assault.

Laycock was transported by ambulance to a St. Louis hospital Tuesday afternoon after he drove himself to a Leadwood convenience store seeking help. He was rushed into surgery and is expected to survive his injuries.

According to Bullock, Leadwood Police Chief Will Dickey responded about 1:30 p.m. to a call from an individual at the Leadwood BP gas station and convenience store reporting that someone there had been shot and stabbed.

Upon his arrival, Dickey reportedly found Silas laid over in the seat of a pickup truck and was told by the victim that his wife and her boyfriend had stabbed him and shot him.

On Thursday, the suspects, were spotted in Jefferson City by a law enforcement officer and a pursuit began, but was ended due to bad weather before the pickup was stopped. Formal charges were also filed against the couple.

Both Angela and Perkins are being charged with one Class A felony of first-degree assault, three counts of armed criminal action, four counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of felony restraint.

On Friday, the state police in Arkansas were notified to be on the lookout for the couple and the white 2006 Chevrolet pickup truck, possibly with Montana plates, although the plates may have been removed. The license plate number on the vehicle is unknown.
Charlottesville City Councilor Wes Bellamy is being widely denounced for tweets he tweeted years ago. I think he should be given a break.

I don't know Bellamy well and have not communicated with him about this. I don't support everything he's done even in recent years. I have almost nothing but contempt for the Democratic Party. I don't believe Bellamy deserves more of a break than would anyone else from some other demographic. I don't sympathize in the least with the disgusting things he tweeted.

And yet I find this criticism of him outrageous. And I find it consistent with some disturbing trends that extend well beyond Charlottesville.

 Privilege. The problem of unfair privilege here is not one of race or class or gender but of age and position. If you grew up before every spring break lunacy and adolescent pretense was enshrined forever on the internet (outside of wise European efforts to provide a right to be forgotten), you must be very careful in criticizing those who have grown up since that underappreciated age. If you have not stuck your neck out into the fire of partisan politics, you must give careful consideration to what most ugly and most deeply forgotten thing you would be at risk of becoming known for if you did.

 People change. The cartoonish belief that people never change cannot withstand a moment's skepticism.

Scrawled across the Free Speech Wall on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville is: "Wes Bellamy = David Duke." The intended point is presumably that a member of an oppressed racial minority can be racist.

But there is an enormous difference here. Bellamy denounces and apologizes for the things he tweeted years ago, and in recent years there is no public evidence of his still holding those beliefs. Duke openly maintains and advocates for his racist beliefs.

If people never change, and their ugliest actions are their true ones, while their better actions are always false, then this distinction doesn't matter. But that isn't reality.

I can't swear that Bellamy has changed, but the odds are heavily in favor of it. Most people do. Most people do dramatically. Most people deny to themselves the extent to which they do. Go find the oldest thing from yourself online, even if only a year old; it may not be at the level of repulsiveness of Bellamy's tweets, but it will not be who you are today.

If George Wallace or Robert McNamara had died sooner than they did, it would remain ridiculous to maintain they could not have reformed their views. It is almost inevitable that views will evolve to some significant degree, for the better or for the worse.

 Race. Much of the criticism of Bellamy is dripping with racism and indignant accusations of hypocrisy, both because Bellamy's race is imagined to bestow privileges on him and because Bellamy has voiced criticism of the public display of Confederate statues as racist.

Whether or not such criticism is racially motivated is irrelevant to its merits. If Bellamy's actions merit his punishment, banishment, etc., then they do so regardless of how we came to learn of them.

But let's be clear about race in the United States. The white portion of the greatest subsidized generation (post-World War II) benefitted widely from subsidized mortgages and insurance, free college, and grants and loans from the Small Business Administration. The median wealth of white households is 13 times that of blacks in large part because of massive privileges handed to whites over the decades and centuries.

The United States is becoming a caste society with extremely low economic mobility, and those castes parallel racial divides created by the benefits of government-created wealth.

This does not sanction unfairness to white people. This does not mean that a white person who made racist and sexist comments years ago and now rejects them shouldn't be given a break, too. But it does give context to the generally false belief that it's easier to grow up black than white in the U.S.

That Confederate statues were put in their places of prominence in Charlottesville in the 1920s for racist reasons, accompanied by banning blacks from the parks, is not actually a matter of dispute. Whether someone demands the removal of the statues for racist reasons doesn't alter that reality.

 Trivial pursuit. U.S. media tend to present U.S. politics as akin to the election of a prom king or queen. That is, you are not supposed to approximate the ideal of direct democracy by electing someone who will enact the policies you favor. Rather, you are supposed to elect a model human being whom you would like to be friends with and whom you wish to hold up as a model to children.

Thus, we go through a presidential campaign, and the candidates are hardly even asked basic budgetary and policy questions  yet we learn their biographies in detail.

There is nothing trivial about racism, sexism, misogyny, or violence in personal lives. Words are actions and do matter. But there is a difference between revealing that a politician is opposing the will of the people and revealing that a politician used to be, or even still is, a horrible person. Of course it would be ideal to elect both small-d democrats and wonderful people. But we've been led to imagine that all that counts is the latter, whereas the former is actually far more important and far more lacking in our country.

 Stop trying to throw away human beings. We live in a society in which an airline bans a man for life for uttering some obnoxious, possibly drunken Trumpisms on a flight. For life!

Our country allows the sentencing of children  children!  to prison for life. For life! People who've gone to prison and served their time are denied the right to vote or travel or serve on juries forever.

We're taught that skills, abilities, and  even more absurdly  attitudes are all in-born and permanent, including criminal tendencies. But try to find a teacher who hasn't tried to educate students not to repeat the teacher's mistakes.

 Hypocrisy. Has Bellamy himself argued against giving others a second chance? If so, he was wrong and should be opposed in that position. But is there no hypocrisy among his critics? Most of this country is prepared to completely forgive and excuse one or the other of these two things:

1) Hillary Clinton taking millions from Saudi Arabia and Boeing into her family foundation and making it her mission to waive legal restrictions on Boeing selling planes to Saudi Arabia  planes put to immediate use slaughtering innocent families in Yemen.

2) Donald Trump declaring that the United States should "steal their oil," "kill their families," ban Muslims, and wall off Mexico, while modeling intense sexism and cruel mockery of the disabled.

If you voted for either of those people, even as a "lesser evil," please leave Wes Bellamy the heck alone!

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org.
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Nacogdoches, TX (75965)

Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 81F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph..

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Bank of Baroda has appointed SBI Capital Markets, while Central Bank has engaged a couple of merchant bankers including IDBI Capital as advisors.

Mumbai: Looking to strengthen its position in the home loan segment, Bank of Baroda is in talks to buy a majority stake in Cent Bank Home Finance (CBHFL), the housing finance subsidiary of Central Bank of India, say sources. Central Bank holds 64 per cent stake in CBHFL, while Hudco, UTI and National Housing Bank are the other promoters.

"Talks are at an advanced stage. Central Bank has agreed to sell its entire stake to BoB," a source told PTI. It is, however, not clear whether Bank of Baroda has approached other shareholders of CBHFL to purchase their stakes as well.

According to sources, BoB has appointed SBI Capital Markets, while Central Bank has engaged a couple of merchant bankers including IDBI Capital as advisors. Both, Bank of Baroda as well as Central Bank did not respond to calls and text messages.

CBHFL was incorporated as Apna Ghar Vitta Nigam and was subsequently renamed as Cent Bank Home Finance.

It began operations in June 1991. Investment bankers say Central Bank could get Rs 250 crore for its 64 per cent stake in CBHFL. The deal is part of Central Bank's attempt to shore up its bleeding balance-sheet, which has been mauled by mounting bad loans since the past few years.

The cash-strapped government had earlier this year asked its banks to sell noncore assets to beef up core capital. At the recent first tranche of capital infusion, the government had given Rs 1,729 crore to Central Bank.

In the September quarter, its gross NPAs doubled to 13.70 per cent year-on-year, while its net NPAs more than doubled to 8.17 per cent. For 2015-16, GNPA stood at 11.95 per cent and net NPA stood at 7.36 per cent.

In 2014, the bank had tried to sell its 8.34 per cent stake in IL&FS. But so far, the deal could not happen as the bank was unable to get right price for its stake in the infrastructure financing firm.

The home loan market, which includes banks and housing finance companies, is roughly growing at 25-30 per cent. Home loans currently constitute nearly 10 per cent of the overall advances of BoB and in the September quarter, this portfolio stood at Rs 26,327 crore, registering a year-on-year growth of 12 per cent.
Private sector players also feel that they will have to explore if they need to come up with some common products for online and offline so as to provide identical products cheaper when sold online.

Mumbai: Insurance companies, which have seen digital sales constitute only a miniscule portion of overall income, expect a jump in online sales following government incentives for promoting new modes of payment after demonetisation.

Private sector players also feel that they will have to explore if they need to come up with some common products for online and offline so as to provide identical products cheaper when sold online.

Following the November 8-9 demonetisation, the government over the weekend asked public sector insurers to provide discounts of up to 10 per cent on the premium amount for general insurance policies and 8 per cent in new life policies of Life Insurance Corporation sold online.

LIC sells only two policies online now -- a term-policy 'E-Term' and a single-premium policy Jeevan Akshay. A senior Corporation official told PTI that "even though we are yet to receive details from the government, we still believe that the move will give a push to digital sales of our two policies."

LIC could sell only 8,000 plans through its customer portal, out of the total of 2.6 crore policies sold by it last financial year, he said. Life insurers need the regulator Irdai's approval to sell online and therefore most of the products are not compatible for digital sales.

So the government move will allow them to have a common product that can be sold both offline and online. However, private sector life players, despite their technology adoption, have not developed any product that can be sold through both the modes.

Private sector player SBI Life said even though it has similar products, it does not have any identical products now.

"We don't have any such common products that can be sold online now but will be exploring this option now," SBI Life chief executive Arijit Basu said. SBI Life earned total premium of Rs 7,100 crore last year, of which merely Rs 25-30 crore came from online sales.

The company sold merely 15,000 policies online out of 13 lakh it sold last year, he said, adding that "if policies are sold online, they become cheaper by 10-12 per cent".

Largest non-life insurer New India Assurance expects the government move to help it double its online sales this year.

"We believe that the government move will encourage more people to buy policies online and we hope it will result in an increase in online by over 100 per cent in a year's time," New India chairman G Srinivasan said.

He maintained that the government move will be applicable on retail products only which include motor, health, personal accident and household segments New India is looking at achieving 100 per cent growth in online sales which stood at Rs 150 crore last year.

"We are selling 30,000 policies every month online. Currently, our online sales are clipping at 15-20 per cent which I expect to clock more than 100 per cent growth now," Srinivasan said.

Among the private sector general insurers, the market leader ICICI Lombard said it has no plan to offer any additional discount to online customers as already it sells three to four products online.

"We are already selling three to four retail products through our customer portal, known as E-Channel. We provide small discount for online sales. Despite so many products only 5 per cent of our sales are online," ICICI Lombard's Sanjay Datta said.

SBI General said it gives some discounts to policyholders who buy online. "Right from the start, we have been offering 10 per cent discount on car and two-wheeler policies, as well as retail health policies bought online," Gunjan Ghai of SBI General said.

"We are happy to support a cashless economy, as it will result in direct customer acquisitions and a seamless system for conducting business. In fact, online customers have higher ticket sizes and better renewals due to ease of transaction," he added.
SBI Cards is also in the process of speeding up customer acquisition process by reducing the delivery period so that more and more people are added to the network.

New Delhi: To tap opportunities arising out of limited cash supply, SBI Cards will soon launch a credit card with a cap of Rs 25,000 for those at the lower strata of the society, who have the capacity to pay but don't have cards, a top company official said.

"For the lower strata of society who do not have credit worthiness to get card, what we understand today is that each bank account has some money. So, we can give them secured card, even if they don't have any credit history.

So, card with a limit of Rs 25,000 against the security of bank deposit can be given to anyone," SBI Cards & Payment Services (SBI Cards) Chief Executive Vijay Jasuja told PTI in an interview.

The problem is not that these people don't have money to spend, but they don't have cards to use, Jasuja said, adding SBI Cards will offer them secured cards in about two-three months.

After government's decision to ban old banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, SBI Cards has been witnessing a surge in card usage and expects to add 20-25 per cent more customers.

"Since this move (demonetisation), there is surge in the usage of cards both in terms of number of transactions and volume. Our plan was to grow by 900,000 to 100,000 cards in one year but with this change, it will be extra by at least 20-25 per cent new set of customers," he said.

He also said that the company has simplified card acquisition process and is planning to reduce the income cut-off criteria for giving credit cards to potential customers. Jasuja said that even Jan-Dhan account holders can be potential customers.

SBI Cards is also in the process of speeding up customer acquisition process by reducing the delivery period so that more and more people are added to the network. "Today, the delivery time is 9-11 days, what we are doing is that we are trying to reduce it to 2-3 days, that is the minimum," said the official.

The company will also deploy more people on the field who will be present in all prominent markets and malls so that if anyone wants a card, the team can talk to such people, accept their application, document and quicken the period of processing and delivery.

With less encouragement for cash transaction post demonetisation, Jasuja is of the view that there will be major shift in consumers' spending behaviour. "The kind of people who use credit cards are already using cards, but may be, they spend 20 per cent by card and 80 per cent by cash.

That component will shift. Now, they will spend 90 per cent on card and 10 per cent in cash," he said further. However, he feels that it will take about a year for normality to return post demonetisation as infrastructure like Point of Sale (PoS) terminals acceptance, manufacturing capacity and regulations are time consuming.

Pointing at the changing needs of the people, Jasuja said the company is now getting calls from customers to re-activate the cards which had become dormant. "There is large number of customers who are inactive, so now we are getting calls from them pro-actively from their side for activation of the cards.

We have also very aggressively launched the scheme to go back to inactive customers for activation of cards and the results are quite encouraging," he said. He further said the company's strategy is now that people should be able to get cards in a relatively hassle-free manner and that more and more people should be covered.
Mumbai: Over the past few months, we have seen Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt having a gala time shooting for their upcoming flick 'Badrinath Ki Dulhania' and now that the shoot has completed, the stars 'can't believe' it's over already!

Alia took to her Twitter account to share her feelings in a couple of posts.

She wrote, "I can't believe #badrinathkidhulania is over already!!!!! It feels like we started shooting just yesterday! Guess cause it's like family!!"

Varun too shared her experience and said says he does not want to come out of the film's character Badree.

"I usually want to leave my character and move ahead but with badree I don't want to I want to keep him with me.#badrinathkidhulania," wrote the 'Dishoom' star.

On a related note, Varun and Alia made their Bollywood debut together in 2012 with Karan Johar's 'Student of the Year' and this is their third flick together.
Mumbai: Recently, there were several reports claiming that Kangana Ranaut hiked her fees to whooping Rs. 15 crore, more than the amount Deepika Padukone is being paid for Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Padmavati, making her the highest paid female actor in the industry.

However, Kangana shot back at the reports by saying that her fees is nobodys concern. At a fashion show, Kangana was asked about the rumours but rather than denying or confirming, she slammed the reports by saying, How much I charge is no ones business. It is only for me to know.

The actress, who walked at Manish Aroras fashion show as his showstopper, currently has three upcoming films lined up; Vishal Bhardwajs Rangoon which also stars Shahid Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan, Hansal Mehtas Simran and Ketan Mehtas Rani Lakshmi Bai.
Rumours of Mahira being replaced by an Indian actress were also doing the rounds. Farhan Akhtar, producer of 'Raees', has refused to pay 5 Cr to Indian Army, as demanded by MNS, saying the army has 'refused to take it'.

Mumbai: The self-imposed ban by right-wing activists has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the fate of Shah Rukh Khan-Mahira Khan starrer Raees. The makers of the film, which marks the debut of Mahira, has faced vehement criticism in the past for casting a Pakistani actress in it.

Mahira is not the only one facing repercussions of the strained Indo-Pak relations, actor Fawad Khan, who played a pivotal role in Karan Johars Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, was given a 48-hour ultimatum to leave India days after the Uri attacks. As a result, Fawad was not part of the films promotions.

In fact, Karan Johar was ordered to pay 5 Cr to National Defence Fund as a mark of respect towards the Indian Army. In order to ensure a smooth release of his multi crore project, Johar promised the MNS that he will never work with Pakistanis again.

But now we hear that the makers of Raees, who were earlier rumoured to have chopped down Mahiras role to just one song and a couple of scenes, are planning on shooting the rest of the movie in a neutral location.

According to a report that appeared in Pinkvilla, Mahira and SRK will shoot for two songs across Middle East.

"Now, that the dust has settled down, the makers of the film decided to shoot the remaining songs with Mahira Khan who plays SRK's love interest - but outside India and a country where nobody could object. They decided to fly to Dubai first and shoot one song in Abu Dhabi or Bahrain and then fly to Morocco for the second. It is all done with utmost secrecy and is very hush-hush till the songs are shot and the team flies back, so nobody finds out. Whatever patchwork remained was completed few days back with SRK in Mumbai. After the two songs are shot abroad, Raees will be complete, said the source.

The trailer of Raees has garnered rave reviews, some even calling it Shah Rukhs career best. Slated for a January 25 release, the trailer of the film has been viewed more than 100 million times till today.
The fan Lonardo Tanno goes down on his knee to propose. (Photo: Twitter | Coldplayvideo)

Melbourne: The audience of the Melbournes A Head full of Dreams concert of Coldplay got more than they had expected when the bands frontman Chris Martin paused the concert midway to let a fan propose marriage to his girlfriend.

Thanks to Martin, the award for the proposal of the year will go to Lonardo Tanno, 31, for popping the question to his girlfriend, Felicia Lie, 26, on the stage of Coldplay.

But not all went down as planned. Martin accidentally invited the wrong woman on the stage and was left a little embarrassed.

Asking her to leave Martin said, What the (expletive) are you doing here?

Soon after, Felicia Lie came on the stage and all was as planned. Tears rolling down, Lonardo Tanno said, So for the past three years, thank you for your love. Thank you for giving me a chance.

While Tanno was about to complete his speech, the crowd was heard crying out, Get on your knee, which Tanno did.

So in the midst of Coldplay, my new best friend Chris, and all the people here in Melbourne I just want to say I love you. Will you marry me?"

By telling the groom to not take too long since the people have to catch trains, Chris Martin lightened the mood.

However, it was not long before Felicia Lie accepted the proposal.

I was surprised  I guess it was a mixture of disbelief and happiness, Lie said, speaking to Daily Mail Australia.

He is definitely invited to our wedding  although I know he has a very busy schedule, she added.

Here is a video of how it all went down:
Rajinkanth will next be seen in '2.0'.

Chennai: Actor Rajinikanth on Saturday called on DMK chief Karunanidhi who was recently hospitalised for a week for nutritional and hydration support and enquired about the 93-year-old leader's health.

Clad in a white kurta, Rajinikanth arrived at the Gopalapuram residence of Karunanidhi and spent sometime with the leader and enquired about his health, DMK sources said.

Noted Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu too visited Karunanidhi and enquired about his health at the same time.

The former Tamil Nadu chief minister was admitted to the Kauvery Hospital here on December 1 after being treated at home for a drug-induced allergy.

"After medical treatment, he has improved substantially and was discharged from the hospital," Kauvery Hospital Executive Director Dr S Aravindan had said on December 7.

On December 8, the party had asked its workers and well- wishers to avoid visiting the leader as he had been advised rest and warned against contracting any infection.
The two projects intend to take art out of the gallery space and depict it as a means to connect with cultures, communities and to promote education.

As the third edition of Kochi Muziris Biennale begins on Monday, the Kashi Art Gallery in Fort Kochi is ready with its two collateral projects to enthral art lovers. The first project  Artist; the Public Intellectual  displays art works by eight artists while the second one  Landscapes and Silence  comprises works by nine artists. The two projects displayed at the Town House in Fort Kochi intend to take art out of the gallery space and depict it as a means to connect with cultures, communities and to promote education.

The first project, which has artworks by Gigi Scaria, Margaret Lanzetta, Meydad Eliyahu, Paula Sengupta, Aditi Vinayakan, Aswathy Sivadas, Govind Kamath and Sarath Menon M.B, is curated by Tanya Abraham. Through this project, I have attempted to portray the artist as a free entity who is able to penetrate the density of things; the many layers of historical, social and political conditioning that can be peeled away or exposed (through art), to reveal the rawness associated with it, says the curator. The construction of the artist-individual in this sphere is a vital aspect to the manner in which the public is able to view things. Once this position is carved out in a vehement and distinct way, the position artists play as intellectuals aimed at public good becomes relevant, she adds.

If Gigi exposes issues and difficulties women face in our society through his video installations, Margaret works with Indian saris. My project will examine the language of pattern migration as manifested in contemporary saris, says Margaret.

Meydad documents the migration history of Kochi Jews from Kerala to Israel through his works. Paul Sengupta has taken the nuances of the Tibetan community in exile as his subject for the collateral project.

The second project, curated by Wayne Baerwaldt and Tanya is an Indo-American one and captures the unique sense of silence found in rural spaces, which is disappearing rapidly. In both Canada and India, were experiencing rapid changes in rural lifestyles. While attempting to understand the complex socio-economic interpretations of such changes, some artists are responding to the aesthetic qualities associated with them, says Wayne.

The project has artworks by Terry Billings, Risa Horowitz, Gabriela Garcia-Luna, Sheila Spence, Paul Butler, Shubha Taparia, G.R. Iranna, K.K. Muhamad, and Sebin Joseph. The four Indian artists in this exhibition bring a range of experiences and perspectives, to represent concepts of silence in diverse landscapes and situations, says Tanya. Besides exhibitions, interactive programmes are also organised at the venue to spread the ideas among common men. The projects will be open till March 29, 2017.
He posted the picture on Facebook for his girlfriend to see on a Bali trip (Photo: Facebook)

Bangkok: A marriage proposal is one of the most special events in a persons life as it changes their lives forever as it marks the most significant decision for a couples life. While people do make sure that they come up with the most touching way to pop the question, some literally take it to another level.

While one man created a buzz by proposing to his girlfriend during a Coldplay concert, a Bangkok based photographer named Keow Wee Loong climbed all the way up worlds highest bridge in China to take a picture proposing to his girlfriend from the astonishing height.

The picture taken by a drone was later posted by him on social media for his girlfriend to see while they were on a trip to Bali, and this certainly was too daring a proposal to turn down for the girl named Marta Sibielak.

The daredevil photographer came up with the idea after his girlfriend told him that she found Disneyland proposals cheesy and wanted something unique. He also said that people should take precautions and take their capability in consideration before doing something like this.
Rajindari Devi lying on the ground after her son had beaten her up

NEW DELHI: A 40-year-old son, who mercilessly assaulted his mother, was sent to jail on Friday. Neighbors alleged that victims son always snatched her rental income and physically abused her.

A neighbour of the victim, Rajindari Devi (70), shot a video on November 24 when Nand Kishore, the victims son, was beating his mother at their home in Shadara area.

Later, the neighbour filed a complaint with the Shahdara police station against Nand Kishore but later the complaint was withdrawn due to pressure from her son and other locals. However, on Friday activist Kundan Srivatsava again filed the compliant following which Kishore had been arrested and sent to Tihar Jail.

On November 24, Kishore brutally thrashed his mother, Rajindari Devi, to kill her, but she was saved somehow, wrote activist Kundan Srivatsava in a post online on Wednesday.

The videos posted on Facebook by Mr Srivastava showed the old woman lying on the ground, and answering bystanders questions even as her son tried to stop her. Her blood stained clothes can be seen in the video. She was later taken to GTB Hospital for treatment.

Based on the police complaint, a team from the Delhi Commission for Women visited the victim at the hospital, but she refused to give statement against her son and even accused her neighbours of harassing her family for property. Police said that acting on the complaint, the son has been arrested and sent to jail.
Two of the critically injured have been referred to Sadarhospital in Biharsharif while remaining 20 got treatment at a primary hospital at Bind. (Photo: Representational Image)

Biharsharif (Bihar): At least five passengers were killed and 22 others injured when a bus skidded off the road and fell into a roadside ditch in Nalanda district on Saturday.

The accident occurred near Misia village under Bind police station area when the driver lost control of the vehicle, District Magistrate Thyag Rajan said.

The bus was straightened with the help of three cranes, the DM said after visiting the spot.

The driver and his assistant have fled from the spot.

Two of the critically injured have been referred to Sadarhospital in Biharsharif while remaining 20 got treatment at a primary hospital at Bind, Rajan said.

Family members of each of the deceased were provided Rs four lakh as ex-gratia, he said.
Hyderabad: An Anti-Corruption Bureau officer said Serilin-gampally, where the building that collapsed was situated, is the golden goose for GHMC staff from deputy municipal commissioners to assistant city planners and section officers.

Civic officials and builders work to mutual benefit, with disastrous consequences for the public. This explains why there are so few complaints of illegal buildings or violations coming from this fast developing sector.

ACB deputy superintendent of police V. Ravi Kumar, taking the example of the Nanakram-guda building collapse, said: There is mutual consent between town-planning officers and builders. The kickbacks depend on the violation  whether it is a deviation, or illegal floor, or an illegal building. There are not many complaints unless the demand of a bribe is made to a genuine builder who may complain. Even the deputy commissioners do not react to complaints, if any.

The GHMCs vigilance officer added, A majority of cases are of the officer allowing construction of illegal floors. The builder seeks permission for G+3 but another two floors are illegally constructed. Also, a large percentage of deviation (from the sanctioned plan) is allowed, like a pent house, flats in the parking area, flat area equal to the plinth area.

Town planning officers themselves advise the clients to approach the court for a stay by filing misleading petitions. Once an injunction order is issued by the court, the building will not be demolished by the GHMC. Both builders and officers collude for each other's benefit. When a complaint is filed with the Vigilance department, the court order not just protects the builder, but the officers too. There are over 6,000 cases of illegal buildings pending in the courts.

The GHMC is contemplating the setting up of a tribunal to hear these cases. Municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao is in talks with the government for the same.
Chennai: A day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam backed V K Sasikala for the post of AIADMK General Secretary following the death of his predecessor J Jayalalithaa, another senior leader and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai also batted for her to take over the reins.

Sasikala had even given suggestions to Jayalalithaa on party affairs and governance in the past, he said and urged her to take over the "reins" of AIADMK.

"At this juncture when Honourable Amma (Jayalalithaa) is not amongst us, respected Chinnamma (Sasikala) is the only person who is capable, who has (the) acumen and experience, to lead the AIADMK party," he said.

Sasikala was associated with Jayalalithaa for the last 35 years and had made "several sacrifices", he said.

"Due to political vendetta, false cases have been foisted against Chinnamma, and Chinnamma went to jail and underwent many struggles. Chinnamma protected Amma during such struggles," Thambidurai, also the AIADMK Propaganda Secretary, said in a statement.

"Chinnamma has given valuable suggestions to Amma regarding party administration and also on governance. Like this, the list of traits of Chinnamma can go on," he said.

He recalled that whenever "persons like me" went to Jayalalithaa to get directions, either during polls or other times for important decisions, she had "directed us" to consult Sasikala and implement them.

Sasikala had shown him the "right path" to follow and given him "innumerable" advices and suggestions and had stood shoulder to shoulder with Jayalalithaa during "testing times and historical moments," he said.

Sasikala possessed all the qualities to lead AIADMK, he said, adding, she was the only person "capable" of following the path taken by Dravidian veteran CN Annadurai, his party founder, MG Ramachandran, and Jayalalithaa "in embracing the party cadres, without the considerations of caste and community."

Even when Jayalalithaa was addressed as 'Amma', her confidante Sasikala was addressed as 'Chinnamma' and the former Chief Minister also "accepted" this and "given her approval and recognition," Thambidurai said.

"This itself proves that Chinnamma is the political heir after Amma," he said.

"Hence, with folded hands, the entire party cadre and I, plead with Chinnamma to wholeheartedly accept our request to take the reins of the AIADMK party and to lead from the front, for the sake of 1.5 crore partymen and to protect Tamil Nadu," he urged.

Yesterday, Panneerselvam had backed Sasikala to be the party's next General Secretary.

"There is no second opinion on the issue. If anyone has second thoughts, they are not true AIADMK workers," he had said.

Meanwhile, scores of party functionaries, including MLAs, MPs and former lawmakers continued to meet Sasikala at Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence for the second day, and urged her to take over the leadership of AIADMK.

Posters and banners also came up in different parts of the state asking her to lead the party.
Bahraich (UP): The chopper carrying Prime Minister Narendra Modi failed to land in Bahraich for his Parivartan rally due to poor visibility.

Following this, the Prime Minister addressed the Parivartan rally through a a phone call.

He returned to Lucknow enroute Delhi before addressing the rally.

You must have seen that the government is going after people who have stashed black money. Government committed to empower poor, he said.

For Uttar Pradesh to progress, poverty and 'goonda raj' needs to be removed, Modi added.

On the demonetisation issue, Modi claimed that Parliament has not been allowed to function by those very parties which have been discarded by the electorate.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said NDRF teams have been deployed in Tamil Nadu on account of the cyclonic storm. (Photo: File)

Chennai/New Delhi: Severe cyclonic storm 'Vardah' over the Bay of Bengal will make landfall near Chennai on Monday, the weather office said on Sunday as the coastal states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh brace to deal with it.

The system is expected to bring heavy rainfall in coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, and southern Andhra Pradesh.

"Vardah lay centred at about 440 km east of Chennai (at 0830 hrs today) and the system is expected to move westwards and cross Chennai by December 12 afternoon," S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said in Chennai.

However, its intensity will get reduced considerably by the time it makes the landfall.

The MeT office in Delhi has briefed the PMO and the Cabinet Secretariat on the cyclonic storm. K J Ramesh, Director General of the IMD said, "I have personally spoken to chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, while the regional MeT offices are in constant touch with the Disaster Management Commissioners of these two states."

Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) at Chennai said the storm is expected to bring heavy rainfall in northern coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, including the capital city. Southern Andhra Pradesh is also expected to receive heavy showers.

Wind speed would be in the order of 40-50 kph, it said. Isolated heavy to very heavy rain is likely to commence this evening in north Coastal Tamil Nadu and Puduchery and Southern Andhra Pradesh, the RMC said in its weather warning put on its website.

Squally winds and rough to very rough sea conditions are expected along and off Andhra Pradesh, north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts from tonight, it said.

"Storm surge of about 1 metre above astronomical tide is expected at the time of landfall," the RMC said.

IMD said it may cause damage to thatched huts and power and communication lines.

The damage may also be caused to paddy crops, banana, papaya trees and orchards in Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu; Ongole and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, the IMD said in its advisory.

It also urged fishermen in Tamil Nadu, Puduchery and Andhra Pradesh coasts to keep away from the seas for the next 48 hours.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said NDRF teams have been deployed in Tamil Nadu on account of the cyclonic storm.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, each consisting of 38 rescuers, have been deployed in Chennai, Tiruvallore and Kancheepuram, the force said on its official

Twitter handle.

The teams have also been deployed at Nellore, Sulurpeta, Parkasham and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, it tweeted.

The force has also asked people to get information from TV and radio on the cyclone and advised them to keep a stock of dry fruits and keep their mobile phones charged.

Cyclone Nada, which later weakened, had made a landfall near Chennai in the first week of December, bringing much-needed showers in Tamil Nadu. The state has witnessed a below normal Southwest Monsoon as well as Northeast Monsoon, a phenomenon which brings rains in some parts of southern India, especially Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has put the administration of the respective districts on alert even as the Navy assumed a "high degree" of preparedness to involve itself for possible rescue operations.

State Revenue Minister RB Uthayakumar said the district administration of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallore and Villupuram have put in preventive steps to avoid any inconvenience to the public and are prepared to face any eventuality.

The Eastern Naval Command (ENC), for its part, "has assumed high degree of readiness to render necessary assistance."

"All operational ships have been readied up and kept standby to undertake Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations including evacuation, should the situation demand," a PIB (Defence) release said.

These ships were embarked with additional divers, doctors, inflatable rubber boats, integral helicopters and relief material that include food, tentage, clothes, medicines and blankets, it said.

Further, 30 diving teams with Gemini boats and four platoons with additional relief material are ready to be pressed into action at short notice, it said.

The ENC is closely monitoring the situation and is in constant communication with the state administration to augment rescue and relief operations, it said.

Naval aircraft were also "standing by" at the Naval Air stations Rajali and Dega to undertake reconnaissance, rescue, casualty evacuation and air drop of relief material to the stranded, it added.
Bengaluru: We were capable of settling the Ganga water sharing issue with Bangladesh, but we are yet to resolve the Cauvery river sharing issue between two states - Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, lamented former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda.

While speaking at the seminar Water- the way forward, organised by city-based NGO Vande Bharatham on Saturday, he pointed out that it was not easy to find an a solution to the Cauvery river water sharing issue and recalled his efforts to resolve it.

When we held talks with the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Karunanidhi, to build a dam near Hogenal, he did not agree. When we requested Tamil Nadu government to build a dam to prevent all the Cauvery water which drains into oceans, there was no response, Mr Gowda said. He lamented that Tamil Nadu even opposed a project to supply drinking water at Mekedatu, despite being assured that water will be supplied to them during distress, he added.

On the interim order directing Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu, the former prime minister said, In my experience we hardly see any rains in the months of September, October and November. There is no water in the state. The Supreme Court has scheduled the next hearing of special leave petition filed by Karnataka on December 15, he said.

Rajendra Singh, popularly known as waterman of India, batted for community involvement to solve Cauvery imbroglio. He said, People have to be taken into confidence and involved in decision making.
The 1992 made 'Robinson R44' which was originally with Pawan Hans, was later sold to a private aviation company which used it for joy rides after repairing it. (Photo: ANI Twitter)

Mumbai: A pilot was killed while three others injured when a helicopter crashed in Mumbais Aarey Colony area of Goregaon on Sunday.

According to ANI, the four have been shifted to hospital for medical aid.

Eyewitnesses said the aircraft had been completely burnt. Three fire engines are at the spot trying to douse the flames.

The helicopter 'Robinson R44' crashed in Filter Pada area of Aarey Colony in Goregaon, said the report.

The 1992 made 'Robinson R44' which was originally with Pawan Hans, was later sold to a private aviation company which used it for joy rides after repairing it, said the report.
The police has seized around Rs 49 lakh in two incidents. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: In the first case Saidabad police arrested three people including a school teacher and recovered Rs 29.7 lakh in new currency from them. The trio were trying to exchange the cash with demonetised currency for 15 per cent commission with another party.

The main suspect is Bingi Vasu Goud, 32, a realtor, from Barath Nagar, Uppal. Police recovered Rs 20,16,000 in Rs 2000 notes and Rs 6,44,000 in Rs 100 notes.

The second accused Bandaru Venkatesh, 28, district coordinator at Data Pro Computer Centre in Dilsukhnagar, had Rs 3,16,000 in his hand in Rs 2,000 notes. Their associate Madugula Mohan, 51, a government school teacher, was acting as mediator.

Mohan had contacted the duo asking them to provide the cash for another party, who had agreed to pay 15 per cent commission for the new currency. As soon as we got information we arrested the trio before the exchange took place, said Saidabad inspector K. Sattaiah. The arrested persons and cash were handed over to I-T department for verifications. The suspects told the police that they had collected the Rs 2,000 from friends and relatives.

In the second case Cyberabad police nabbed two persons who were carrying unaccounted cash in Chandanagar.

On Saturday, police intercepted two youths from Ayyappa Society and found Rs 20 lakh in new currency. They said that they were carrying the cash for purchasing land in HUDA Colony and had documents.

We informed the I-T department and inquiry is on, an official from Cyberabad said.
The Cabinet felt that justice was not done to the newly-born state, formed primarily to seek more waters for the region deprived for the last 60 years.

Hyderabad: After prolonged discussions, the TS government has decided to move the Supreme Court challenging the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-2 (Justice Brijesh Kumar Tribunal) verdict over sharing of Krishna waters among the riparian states.

The TS Cabinet, which met on Saturday, went through the report submitted by the Cabinet subcommittee headed by Irrigation minister T. Harish Rao and decided to challenge the verdict. The Cabinet felt that justice was not done to the newly-born state, formed primarily to seek more waters for the region deprived for the last 60 years. Infographic

Senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan, who appeared for TS before the Justice Brijesh Kumar Tribunal, told the subcommittee that the Tribunal did not consider key points raised by the state and even ignored just demands raised before it, hence there was prima facie reason for the government to move the Apex Court seeking justice. The Cabinet approved the suggestion and gave the go ahead for filing of a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court.
BENGALURU: The numbers tell their own story  18 of the 20 major cache of currency notes are from Karnataka  a fact which mirrors the ugly underbelly of a new modus operandi of corrupt netas and babus to route unaccounted cash to money lending business.

Post-demonetization, the states reputation has dipped to a new low, far from its exalted status as one of the most progressive states, in the wake of a series of cases of unaccounted cash seized by officers of Income Tax and police departments.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to banish the scourge of black money, dishonest politicians and babus have discovered a new method of converting stockpiles of currency notes albeit with the connivance of some bankers. A senior Congress leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described this nexus as a mafia which fears no law.

This kind of transportation of pink notes cannot be possible without politicians and bureaucrats joining hands, the leader remarked adding that while corrupt bureaucrats invest their unaccounted money on gold, foreign currency, benami property and money lending through their aides, politicians invest in real estate deals, on educational institutions, mining and money lending as well.

The leader remarked that politicians and bureaucrats have replaced corruption with a new term: service charges. These services charges have to be paid for any project to progress in a state which once took pride in the fact that the Chief Minister was brought under the purview of the Lokayukta.

Former DG&IGP, Shankar Bidari, felt that corruption has reached the zenith in the state, though cases of graft did make headlines during the last 20-25 years.

We have reached such a stage where we need to use binoculars to spot honest officers in this corrupt system. According to me, nearly 75 per cent of the bureaucrats and 95-98 per cent of politicians are corrupt, though the degree of corruption varies, he added.

He said cash of several crores of rupees seized recently from two government officers was only a tip of the iceberg as there were several big fishes in the government who enjoy political patronage. Once any big project is cleared, a cut goes to politicians and bureaucrats before the execution, he added.

Dr Vaman Acharya, a member of BJP/RSS think tank and former chairman of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, remarked according to my information, of the total 4,60,000 crore of Rs 2,000 denomination notes printed in security presses, at least 50 per cent has reached wrong hands, and the rest to common man. I feel this exercise is a failure as black money has gone back as black money in the form of pink notes. The demonitisation has not yielded the results we had expected. However, it is to be seen how the Union government takes stringent steps to check this illegal trade of new notes.
Kathua: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday accused Pakistan of "conspiring" to divide India on religious lines but said it will not succeed.

"Pakistan is conspiring to divide India on religious lines but it will not succeed. We were divided in 1947 on religious basis. We have not been able to forget that... All Indians are brothers, whether they are born from the womb of a Hindu mother or a Muslim mother," he said addressing a Martyrs' Day function in Kathua district.

Singh said nowhere in the world other than India 72 sects of Islam live together peacefully.

He said that as the Home Minister of the country, he wanted to make it clear that India is committed to taking along everybody and moving ahead on the path of development.

He also offered India's cooperation to Pakistan to eradicate the menace of terrorism from its soil.

"If Pakistan is serious about eradicating terrorism but is incapable of doing that and wants cooperation, we are ready to help it eradicate terrorism from there," the minister said.

He said, "We want to live in peace with Pakistan but it has indulged in sponsoring a proxy war against India.

"Every Prime Minister of India wanted to mend relations with Pakistan but it did not understand the language of peace and attacked India four times. But our brave soldiers gave them a befitting reply."

After repeated defeats, Pakistan has understood that it cannot defeat India in wars so it has resorted to sponsoring proxy war, he said, adding that "terrorism is the weapon of weak and not the brave".

Singh said that while the entire world was concerned about the spread of ISIS, the terrorist organisation has failed to spread its roots in India.
Chennai: The state cabinet, which met on Saturday in a changed and solemn environment owing to the passing away of former Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa, urged the Centre to confer Bharat Ratna on Jayalalithaa. It also resolved to rename the MGR memorial where she has been laid to rest.

A resolution adopted by the Cabinet that met under the new Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam for the first time on Saturday, resolved to recommend to the Central government to present Bharat Ratna award to Jayalalithaa. Another resolution decided to rename the Bharat Ratna Dr MGR memorial as Bharat Ratna Dr. Puratchithalaivar MGR and Puratchithalaivi Amma Selvi J. Jayalalithaa memorial.

Apart from installing a life-size portrait of Jayalalithaa in the state Assembly House, the Cabinet said the memorial for Jayalalithaa would be erected on the site where she was laid to rest at a cost of Rs.15 crore. It also resolved to prevail upon the Centre to install her life-size bronze statue in Parliament House.

The cabinet expressed shock and profound grief over her sudden demise on Dec. 5 and said she had the peoples welfare alone in her mind and was a symbol of hope for the Tamils. She was an unparalleled political leader in the India and had upheld the objectives of Anna and MGR besides was instrumental for the spectacular growth of the AIADMK, a resolution said and recalled that she became Chief Minister for the sixth time
Mumbai: Escalating the boardroom battle at India's largest conglomerate, ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry on Sunday claimed that the firm's director Vijay Singh played a key role in AgustaWestland scam.

Amusing to see Vijay Singh concoct theories to defend his role in Ratan Tata's conspiracy to replace Cyrus Mistry, Mistrys office said, adding, As defence secretary, Vijay Singh was key official involved in award of Rs 3600 Cr VVIP helicopter contract to AugustaWestland in 2010.

Mistry also claimed that Vijay Singh, a 1970 batch retired IAS officer from Madhya Pradesh cadre, had no track record either as MP chief secretary or as defence secretary. Vijay Singh is currently the non-executive director of Tata Sons.

On January 1, 2014, India had scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the IAF over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of payment of kickbacks of Rs 450 crore by it for securing the deal. Ex-air force chief SP Tyagi was arrested by the CBI only recently for his role in the scam, facing allegations of receiving kickbacks.

Mistry also claimed that being a part of the nominations and remuneration committee (NRC) of Tata Sons, Singh had on June 28, 2016 gave a glowing review of his (Mistry's) performance as the chairman of the Tata Group.

"After reviewing the performance of the chairman, the members unanimously recorded their recognition of his significant contributions across group companies and expressed their appreciation of his multi-faceted initiatives aimed at preserving and promoting cohesive functioning of the group in accordance of its distinctive values," Mistry said quoting from the minutes of the meeting as recorded by the board of Tata Sons.

On charges that "Mistry was doing nothing" at Tata Motors, the ousted chairman claimed that Singh had stated that "Tata Motors has come up with some of their best models in recent years under his watch".

He also said Singh was part of the Tata Sons board that agreed that the company could evaluate opportunities in the QSR segment at the board meeting on June 29, 2016. Singh had said this was one of the reasons for the sacking of Mistry.

Singh had claimed that another reason for Ratan Tata losing his confidence in Mistry was the group's failed bids (two separate bids Tata Power and Tata Motors for the multi-thousand crore Future Combat Infantry Vehicle contract from the Army).

On this, Mistry today said Singh and Tata both were very much in the loop on various discussions on the project.

"What is beyond comprehension is that Singh seems to want Tata Sons to favour one listed Tata company over another. This would not happen under Mistry's watch," the statement said.

The war of words between Mistry and Tata Sons escalated on Sunday as the conglomerate, on Sunday charged Mistry of misleading to get selected as chairman of the company. The firm also alleged Mistry of retracting on his promises, concentrating powers and using free-hand given to him to weaken management structures.
Hyderabad: A war of words has broken out between the ruling TRS and the Opposition over illegal constructions in Hyderabad, in the aftermath of the collapse of a six-storey building in Nanakramguda in which 11 persons lost their lives.

Taking exception to the Opposition blaming the TRS government for the unfortunate incident, animal husbandry minister T. Srinivas Yadav said that illegal constructions were rampant in Congress and Telugu Desam rules. Mr Yadav said that the Congress leaders were misleading the people through a false campaign against the TRS.

He also rejected the demand of TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy for resignation of municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao on moral grounds.

One calls the Chief Minister and ministers by their first name and talks nonsense. Another demands the resignation of KTR on moral grounds. There were rampant illegal constructions during Congress rule. How many illegal buildings cropped up in the past 2.5 years and how many in the last 15 years to 20 years? Mr Yadav said.

He added, We will expose the Opposition with facts on illegal constructions in the city in the Assembly. A person who had gone to jail is also talking against the government. We will wash them away.

Congress senior leader and former Vice-Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority M. Shashidhar Reddy had demanded filing of criminal cases and sacking of Mr Yadav from the TS Cabinet besides action against erring officials for irregularities in the construction and allotment of houses for poor in IDH colony.

Meanwhile, Telangana state Telugu Desam president L. Ramana joined Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy in demanding the resignation of Mr Rama Rao over the Nanakramguda tragedy. Elsewhere, TS TD working president and MLA A. Revanth Reddy accused the TRS government of destroying the GHMC.

Before the elections, GHMC had `800 crore in fixed deposits, but now the corporation is in Rs 2,000 crore debt. TRS talked about skyways, highways, making Hussainsagar lake water like coconut water etc. Forget development, when there were heavy rains, Jubilee Hills went without power for three days. Corporators have turned commission agents, he alleged.
Telangana IT minister K.T. Rama Rao on Saturday held a meeting with department officials and service providers at the Secretariat to finalise the launch of TS-Wallet.

Hyderabad: TS-Wallet, the Telangana governments mobile App being developed by the IT department, to enable people to make cashless transactions, is ready and will be launched soon.

IT minister K.T. Rama Rao on Saturday held a meeting with department officials and service providers at the Secretariat to finalise the launch of TS-Wallet.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao recently announced their governments plans to make Telangana a cashless economy state by encouraging digital transactions.

TS-Wallet is ready and will be launched very soon. The modalities of TS-Wallet has been submitted to the CM for approval. The CM will take a call on the launch date, Mr Rama Rao said.

Mr Rao said initially people can use TS-Wallet to pay GHMC bills, water bills and to avail services of Mee Seva centres adding that it will be extended to all services and the entire state later.

He said the government is taking all precautions to ensure security features and privacy for users of TS-Wallet and assured that it will be user-friendly. Mr Rao said the government is taking steps to ensure that people can use TS-Wallet services without paying any user charges. He said TS-Wallet can be utilised to avail both government and private services.



TS-Wallet logo will be launched by CM this week. The logo would be launched during the district collectors conference on December 14. The services will also be launched soon after, Mr Rao said.



He stated that TS-Wallet can be utilised in five ways. Those having a smart phone or feature phone or computer can use the facility. Those without phone can also use it. A call centre is being set up for the purpose and people can use TS-Wallet facility by calling the call centre number.



Mr Rao said it would be enough for users to avail TS-Wallet services if they have phone number or Aadhaar number.



He said the TS-Wallet services would be available in Telugu also besides English for the convenience of people from all sections of society.
Chennai/Amaravati: Severe cyclonic storm 'Vardah' will make a landfall between north Tamil Nadu and south Andra Pradesh tomorrow, as both the coastal states have put in place a number of measures to deal with it even as TN announced holiday for all educational institutions in four districts.

The Regional Meteorological Centre said 'Vardah' lay centred at 330 km east of Chennai at 1430 hours on Sunday and would move westwards before making landfall between north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts tomorrow afternoon.

Under its impact, rains will start tonight and gradually increase tomorrow in the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said.

On December 12, heavy to very heavy rains were likely in some places in these districts, he said, adding, strong winds could gust upto 80-90 kph.

The sea would be rough, he said and asked fishermen to not to venture into the sea for the next 48 hours. Chief Minister O Panneerselvam held a meeting of the

Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority which also asked the armed forces to be on standby.

The Tamil Nadu government declared holiday for educational institutions in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, besides coastal taluks of Villupuram.

"They should take necessary steps for ensuring the safety of their students especially hostel inmates and their water and food requirements," an official release, detailing the discussions the Chief Minister had with his senior officials including Chief Secretary B Ramamohana Rao, said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation through a teleconference with Collectors and top officials this evening. He directed them to be alert and undertake necessary rescue and relief efforts in view of the cyclone threat.

Food and other essential commodities should be kept ready in adequate quantities, he said.

"Take all steps to prevent loss of lives and to minimise damages to crops and properties," Naidu told the officials. Tamil Nadu Government also asked private establishments and undertakings in these districts besides coastal taluks of Villupuram to allow their staff avail holiday or work from home.

Panneerselvam gave instructions for appointment of senior IAS officers as monitoring officers for these districts to oversee and monitor cyclone related works in coordination with the District Collectors, the release said.

"Arrangements to be made for evacuating people in low lying and vulnerable areas. Relief centres to be kept in readiness along with necessary food, water and other

arrangements. Army, Navy, Air-force and Coast Guard have been alerted to be on standby for deployment as and when necessary," it said.

The Tamil Nadu government has asked people to stay indoors during the heavy rains, stock adequate food, medicines and drinking water at home and use them judiciously.

NDRF, SDRF, Fire and Rescue services department personnel have already been pre-positioned and shall be immediately utilised wherever necessary for rescue and relief operations, the release said.

Teams will be deployed with adequate equipment like power saws and transportation for removing fallen trees and restoring traffic, it said.

Health department has been asked to take measures to organise special camps and to pre-position generators, emergency supplies, medicines and oxygen cylinders in

Government hospitals.

All emergency measures have been put in place in Andhra Pradesh, officials said.

Three teams of NDRF personnel have been kept ready in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh as heavy to very heavy rain ranging up to 17 cm is expected tomorrow.

Chittoor and Kadapa districts are also expected to receive very heavy rainfall while Anantapuramu and Prakasam districts too will receive moderate rain.

Four senior IAS officials have been deputed to Nellore, Chittoor, Kadapa and Prakasam districts to oversee rescue and relief operations.
New Delhi: A group calling itself Legion hacked NDTV senior journalist Barkha Dutts Twitter account on Saturday.

A message posted by the group through Dutts Twitter account claimed that it had also accessed the journalists email account and would make her private messages public.

The hackers also tweeted out Dutts email address and password, and hailed its own actions, saying, Long live the legion.

The tweets, which contained offensive language, were deleted immediately, but one tweet remained pinned on top for a while before it disappeared as well.

Legion is the same group which had earlier hacked fugitive businessman Vijay Mallyas account.

The group warned that former Indian Premier League (IPL) Chairman Lalit Modis account would be their next target.

Subsequently, senior journalist Ravish Kumars official Twitter handle was hacked by the same group as well.

Defending its actions, the hackers on Sunday said, We use twitter as a means to reach the public. We dont just hack twitter accounts. Go through the data and find out.
The Government had informed Parliament that one billion plastic notes of Rs 10 denomination would be introduced in a field trial. (Photo: DC)

Meerut: In a bizarre incident, four youths from Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh bought a second-hand car and paid for it in Rs 10 notes, which they had looted from a State Bank of Indias rural branch last month.

The youths, identified as Nasir, Rakesh, Afzal and Titu, had looted Rs 10 lakh in Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes soon after it was replenished. They then spent the money on parties every night.

Their lavish lifestyle after the loot led to suspicion among the locals in Behat tehsil, who complained about them to the police. Police have arrested Nasir but the other three are absconding.

One of our informants near the village told us that Nasir had bought a second-hand car recently and paid for it in Rs 10 notes. When we investigated further, we found that he and his friends had been spending lavishly and spending money exclusively in Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes. Some people even said that they had money kept in gunny bags. We brought Nasir in for questioning on Friday and he confessed to him crime, Saharanpurs superintendent of police (rural) Rafiq Ahmed.

They stole Rs 5 lakh in Rs 10 notes and another Rs 5 lakh Rs 20 notes. We recovered Rs 50,000 from Nasirs possession and seized the car. The rest of the money is likely to be with the other three accused, who are currently absconding, he said.
Bengaluru: A condolence meeting was organised by AIADMKs Karnataka unit in Bangalore Tamil Sangam on Sunday. Cutting across their political associations and language people from various political parties, including BJP, Congress and representatives from various organisations took part.

Most leaders shared their association with Jayalalithaa and spoke about her administrative capabilities and her care for the upliftment of the downtrodden. Pugazhendhi, secretary of Karnataka state AIADMK, told Deccan Chronicle, Amma's death is a huge loss for us. The nation has missed a great leader who steered Tamil Nadu towards greater economic heights with her welfare schemes. Her laudable quality was that she was a great learner and used to grasp things quickly and take decisions boldly.
The students in these schools are unable to sleep well due to the severe cold and they are finding it difficult to wake up early in the morning.(Representational image)

Khammam: The dip in temperature has hit education of children studying in Kasturbaa and other government residential schools in Telangana. The students in these schools are unable to sleep well due to the severe cold and they are finding it difficult to wake up early in the morning.

The cold is severe in Agency areas so much so that it is dropping below 10 degree Celsius in some areas. As students are not able to sleep well and focus on their studies, the government has decided to supply woollen blankets to 3 lakh kids this year. The cost of each blanket will be Rs 642 and the government sanctioned Rs 15 crore for this.

Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Education Kadiam Srihari said the problem was identified first in 391 Kasturbaa schools in the state, in which 73,000 girls are studying.

The children are not having proper blankets to protect them from the cold and this affecting their studies, he said, adding that students in other residential schools and welfare hostels were also facing the same situation.

The issue has been taken to the notice of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and he sanctioned woollen blankets to the students. The Kasturbaa schools admit students of economically oppressed section in the society but who are good at academics. Closed circuit cameras are being set up in Kasturbaa schools and digital classroom would be started in these soon.

It has been planned to set up 210 new residential schools in 2017-18 to help 2 lakh under-privileged children. Encouraging girl child education is a priority for TS government. Not a single girl child must be left illiterate.

Minimum temperature recorded at 12.3 C

Temperatures have dropped in Nizamabad district in the last few days. Following cold wave from neighbouring Maharashtra, people in the district are being inconvenienced due to the cold. On Sunday, minimum temperature was recorded at 12.3 Celsius.

Unable to bear the severe cold, people are remaining indoors till the sun has completely warmed up the atmosphere in the mornings. Similarly, people are returing homes early as it is getting dark and cold soon.

Many people are buying winter wear to keep themselves warm. They are throning sweater shops at Khaleelwadi areas. Tibetans, who set up shops at the Government General Hospital area, are happy over the dipping temperatures as it is helping them do brisk business.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, sources in the metrological department said that cold wave from north India usually affects people in Nizamabad and Adilabad districts. In addition, the geographical conditions in the district also have impact on the weather, both in summer and winter.

The misty mornings are causing inconveience to commuters plying through the district. Children and old-aged persons are catching infections due to the severe cold conditions.

Doctors are advising people, specially children and pregnant women, not to venture out in the severe cold as it would lead to serious health problems. Very low temperatures are being recorded at many places in the state.

Green cover brings down temperature

Low temperatures are being recorded in Adilabad district due to forest cover and hill area when compared to Nirmal, Mancherial and Asifabad districts. Still, there is a considerable stretch of dense forest areas in the Adilabad district and this resulted in temperatures falling to even 4 degree Celsius in winter.

The temperatures are also low in the areas where number of tanks with full of rainwater and streams and rivulets are flowing. Especially, irrigation projects such as Satnala, Kadam, Mattadivagu are with full of storage rainwater which is also contributing factors to the low temperatures in the Adilabad district.

The low temperatures are being recorded in forest areas while normal temperatures in the plan areas and residential areas and towns. The density of the population is also contributing to the low temperatures. Temperatures are normal in coal belt area when compared to forest areas. The density of population in a given area is another factor which affects temperature of a place.
In court on Saturday, Mr Tyagi, who headed the IAF between 2005 and 2007, said changing specs of the helicopters was not his decision alone. (Representational image)

New Delhi: A top Congress leader close to the party high command is set to come under the CBI scanner following the arrest of former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi in the multi-crore AgustaWestland bribery case.

Sources said the role of the senior Congress leader is being probed on the basis of the ruling given by the Milan court of appeals  equivalent to an Indian High Court  on April 8.

The Italian court had ruled that the Rs 3,565-crore AgustaWestland contract involved payoffs to Indian officials. The annexures attached to the judgement also point at close to Euro 30 million worth of commission being budgeted for distribution among decision-makers in India who included politicians, bureaucrats and IAF officials, among others. In its order, the Italian court said payments in cash as well as through wire transfers were made to the Tyagi family and a part of them were destined for the officer himself, sources said.

Italian ruling named several congressmen

Investigators are probing the alleged role of the Congress leader on the basis of the Italian courts order. The 226-page court ruling mentioned names of several Congress leaders, primarily in communication between the middlemen.

The judgement also mentioned statements given by the middleman Guido Haschke, documents recovered from his suitcase, and his conversations with business partner Carlo Gerosa and alleged middleman Christian Michel, among other witnesses. Mr Tyagi who was arrested on Friday, has been remanded in CBI custody for four days.

In court on Saturday, Mr Tyagi, who headed the IAF between 2005 and 2007, said changing specs of the helicopters was not his decision alone. Mr Tyagis lawyer said in 2003 the PMO asked the Air Chief to get involved. The CBI may now seek clarification from the then PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh. During a 2005 meeting, the changes in requirements were suggested, Mr Tyagis lawyer said.

The CBI had earlier recorded statements of three former Governors  M.K. Narayanan of West Bengal, B.V. Wanchoo of Goa and E.S.L. Narasimhan of AP. Mr Narayanan, was National Security Advisor, Mr Wanchoo was head of the Special Protection Group and Mr Narasimhan was head of Intelligence Bureau in 2005. All three had attended the 2005 meet which allowed key changes in the tender specifications of the VVIP helicopter.
HYDERABAD: A Good Samaritan in the city has got an NRI tycoon Deepak Kant Vyas, founder of Redberri Global Corp., St. Louis, to adopt a village near Bibinagar in Yadadri district.

When the Samaritan noticed that someone was grabbing a 24-acre land belonging to Mr Vyas, he Googled the tycoon and mailed him an alert. The gang had created fake documents and was trying to dispose of the land.

Mr Vyas, who had never returned to his native village in Bibinagar, met minister K.T. Rama Rao when he was in Chicago, and complained to him. On the ministers directions, revenue and Cyberabad police officials arrested 10 members of the gang. Mr Vyas offered a reward to the Samaritan but he refused the money and asked him to provide health and education facilities by adopting the village. In October, Mr Vyas met Mr Rama Rao in Chicago and submitted a memorandum. Following this, the minister directed revenue and police department to launch a search operation in Bibinagar. Special teams were formed by Rachakonda Commissionerate.

Realtors faked NRI land papers

Police commissioner Mahesh M. Bhagwath said, The plan was to encroach on the land to the extent of 24 acres, it involved forgery, fabrication of revenue records, creation of fake Aadhaar card by nearly 21 persons in Survey No. 567,569,583 of Raghavapuram (v) Bibinagar (m) Yadadri district.

He said Mr Vyas had not seen the land for 15 years. Noticing this situation, one Korni Mahesh, a real estate businessman, and 20 others created fake documents, passbooks, and even rubber stamps with the designation of the mandal revenue officer and the revenue divisional officer, Mr Bhagwath said.

The role of the sub-registrar will be ascertained after a thorough verification of the records. The police on December 15 arrested 15 members of the gang and six are absconding, he said.

After the operation ended, Mr Vyas thanked the city resident and offered to help him. The Samaritan turned the offer down and instead urged him to adopt Bibinagar to strengthen its health and educational facilities. The NRI is in talks about the adoption.

Minister K.T. Rama Rao said, Public is requested to go for registration of any particular piece of land or plot or a house with proper documents containing link documents, government fee receipts, encumbrance certificate and the original certificate of the revenue department. Without proper link documents public should not go for registration of any property.
Most of the people in Hyderabad spent their Sunday holiday waiting for long hours to withdraw money from ATMs. (Photo: DC)

Hyderabad: On the whole, the demonetisation drive hasnt shown any impact on the real estate sector in Hyderabad. Property registrations took a big hit in the first week after the announcement of demonetisation as bankers were busy with old currency exchange, deposits and withdrawals. This led to a delay in generating bank challans.

Registrations bounced back a week after the government made arrangements for challan generation and encouraged online transactions. Telangana state sub-registrars association president Rachakonda Srinivasa Rao said the number of property registrations had fallen to 10 per cent compared to the daily average, from November 9 to 19.

As banks began issuing challans from November 21, the number of registrations has been increasing. Now registrations have reached 50 per cent compared to normal days, he said.

The public has a fear of income-tax notices in cases of online deposits and transactions. Once they realise the advantage of online transactions, all registration offices will have a number of transactions. Most probably, it will pick up in December, he said.

Mr N. Prabhakar, a realtor from Gachibowli, said that there was no impact on the real estate sector. Except for registrations, transactions and agreements are going on as usual. Layout developers may face some impediments but as regards construction of apartments, no impact was observed, he said.

Mr S. Ram Reddy, president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai) (Hyderabad Chapter), said 95 per cent of customers were from the middle class.

They purchase property with bank loans. There is no need of money transaction for these sales, he said. He said that the real estate sector might be hit in 2017 due to the Goods and Services Tax and Real Estate Regulatory Act.

GST will come into existence from April 2017 and RERA from May 2017. This will show a big impact as the cost increase is expected to be 18 per cent in GST against the present charge of 5.5 per cent and RERA will reduce the number of constructions leading to a hike in price, he said.

CREDAI general secretary P. Ramakrishna Rao said real estate associations would meet Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar seeking a cut in registration fee by two per cent.
Most of the people in Hyderabad spent their Sunday holiday waiting for long hours to withdraw money from ATMs. (Photo: DC)

Hyderabad: Banks in the state have failed to exchange even one-third of the currency out of a total Rs 55,000 crore old currency deposits made by people since November 8, leading to a severe currency shortage. The banks could disburse only Rs 15,000 crore till date.

The shortage has been aggravated since December 10 due to successive holidays for banks till December 12. The banks will reopen only on December 13 after second Saturday, Sunday and Milad-un-Nabi.

All banks and ATMs went dry within three hours on Saturday, and even certain malls which were designated to swipe cards for currency ran dry.

While the RBI sent nearly Rs 16,000 crore to the state so far, less than five per cent of this comprised lower denomination notes, intensifying the change problem.

The RBI, which supplied only Rs 2,000 notes for the first three weeks after demonetisation, started disbursing lower denomination notes only in the last 10 days after the state government made repeated requests as the shortage of small notes had halted business transactions and affected people fr-om lower income groups and small traders.

Release of Rs 500 note is expected to ease the change shortage.

The Rs 2,000 notes comprised over 95 per cent of the total currency supplied by the RBI. This has only exacerbated the practice of hoarding lower demonination notes.

The finance department officials said that the change problem would not be resolved in the near future, if such a huge gap existed between higher and lower denomination rates.

We are left with no option but to encourage cashless transactions to ensure that the business activities continue as usual, especially in small shops, vegetable and fruit markets, said finance minister Etela Rajender.

He said bankers had told the government that the state required 15 lakh point-of-sale card-swipe machines for the purpose, which will take a considerable time to supply. The state had 35,000 swipe machines before November 8, which has increased to 51,000.
Hyderabad: Tension mounted in the Rein Bazaar area in the city as some people launched a protest against an offensive social media post.

The protesters filed a complaint with the police alleging that the culprits were trying to trigger communal tension in the city by sharing the offensive post with others.

Rein Bazaar police booked a case and kicked off an investigation.

A group of youths gathered near the police station demanding action against social media users on Saturday night after the objectionable post was shared by locals on Facebook and WhatsApp via the Internet.

They also gave a written complaint on this. We could not confirm whether the users, who shared the content on Facebook are based in India or abroad. But based on the complaint we registered a First Information Report (FIR), said inspector G. Ramesh.

We have written to Facebook seeking all details of the users. Action will be taken against the culprits after that, the inspector added.

The cops said an obscene photograph was morphed and offensive material written on it by the culprits.
Hyderabad: Like it has been for the last two and half years, the ruling TRS will again be on the offensive against the Opposition in the winter session of the Assembly.

It has also decided to take up special discussion almost every day on all its flagship programmes and schemes. We dont have any objection to allowing the Opposition to take up any issue in the house, but they all have to fall in line with the discipline of the house and the agenda. We will not spare taking action agai-nst the members who are unruly, legislative affa-irs minister T. Harish Rao said on Sunday.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been proposing a new agenda for the ruling party by taking up a special discussion on all the flagship programmes of the government.

Accordingly, the legislative affairs minister has prepared a set of items like special discussion on Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya, new irrigation projects and other development and welfare activities on a day-to-day basis.

The government which completed two and a half years in office by December 2 could not conduct any public meeting as planned due to the impact of demonetisation. However it has decided to utilise the winter session of the legislature for a publicity blitzkrieg on all its schemes.

There is nothing wrong in these special discussions. Earlier during the Telugu Desam and Congress regimes such things have taken place. After all government schemes and policies are meant for the public. If the Opposition is serious about any lapses on the part of the government, they can participate in the discussions and rai-se whatever they wish to, Mr Harish Rao said.

Meanwhile, sources said, both the Congress and the TD who together have 15 members (excluding the defected) will coordinate their efforts to corner the government especially on fee reimbursement to students, one-time clearance of farmers loan waiver etc. The Opposition including BJP has decided to put the government in a corner over various issu-es concerning Hydera-bad including bad roads, illegal buildings etc.
The total loss to crops was estimated at hundreds of crores of rupees. (Representational Image)

VIJAYAWADA: Vardah cyclone, which is similar to 1990 Machilipatnam cyclone, now has thrown a challenge to everyone on how to minimise damage.

The 1990 cyclone was the worst disaster to affect Southern India after the 1977 cyclone. The system was first noted as a depression on May 4, 1990 but the next day the depression intensified into a cyclonic storm and started to intensify rapidly, becoming a super cyclonic storm by early May 8.

Over one lakh animals perished. The total loss to crops was estimated at hundreds of crores of rupees. The present Vardah cyclone also indicates similar kind of possible loss, according to scientists.

AP is extremely vulnerable to cyclones, storm surges and floods. Since the 1975, the state has faced over 60 cyclones. In the last four decades, almost every year, the state had experienced either a storm, a cyclone or heavy rains and floods.

The deadliest cyclone in the past 40 years was the one that struck Andhra's coast in November 1977, killing 10,000 people. About 2,50,000 animals died, 12 lakh houses were damaged and crops in more than 14 lakh hectares were destroyed.

The State Disaster Management department's statistics has indicated that about 44 per cent of the state is vulnerable. The stretch between Nizampatnam in Guntur district and Machilipatnam in Krishna district is the most prone to storm surges.

2 fishermen go missing in Bay of Bengal

Two fishermen Isipalli Mahendra, 19 and Gamtala Acharao, 35 of Suryapet village in Kakinada rural mandal went missing after they fell off their boat into the sea near Bhyravapalem Moga in Tallarevu mandal of East Godavari district on Sunday. Efforts were on to find them. According to sources, seven fishermen of Suryaraopet village had set off for fishing into the Bay of Bengal on Thursday.

On hearing Fisheries officials alerts to return home on account of cyclonic storm Vardah, they turned back. But, their boat got struck in an oil exploration rig near Bhyravapalem Moga. Mahendra and Acharao fell into the sea. While the remaining five fishermen were trying to rescue them, a big tidal wave hit them and the boat tilted and its diesel leaked out into the sea.

The five fishermen, somehow, held the boat and swam ashore.They informed the Fisheries Department about the duo. Fisheries deputy director Ms. Anjeli said rescue operations were being made by the Indian Coast Guard and marine police in the sea.
Chennai: In yet another case of manual scavenging deaths, two lost their lives when they were tasked to clean a septic tank, without any safety gear, in a private company in Red Hills, on Saturday.

The city police arrested three persons and launched a manhunt for the owner of the cleaning mop manufacturing firm. The incident was reported at around 10 am in the manufacturing facility of B. Bharath kumar, (46), of Govindapanaicken Street, Sowcarpet, located in Payasambakkam in Pulliline Village Panchayat, Red Hills.

The deceased were identified as Mani, (45), of Indra Nagar, Grand Line village, Red Hills, and Selvam, (48), of JJ Nagar, Theerthakariyampattu, Red Hills.

Bharath Kumar had arranged to clean the septic tank in the facility, which is used to collect sewage, and industrial waste. A sewer tanker cleared the sewage water, and the sludge remained in the septic tank. In order to remove the sludge, Bharath Kumar hired four persons including the deceased duo.

While Mani and Selvam lowered themselves into the pit, their coworkers waited in the surface to collect the sludge removed from the pit. Both Mani and Selvam collapsed were exposed to the obnoxious gases soon after they entered the pit, which is 25 feet deep.

Rattled by the development, the co-workers who called out the collapsed duo for a while fled the site. The firms supervisor Sivakumar, (62), of Athipattu, Minjur, alerted Fire and Rescue Services who fished out the bodies, and the Red Hills Police moved the bodies to Government Stanley Hospital for pos mortem.

The firm did not provide any safety gear for the victims. Red Hills police arrested Sivakumar, two other employees Rajendran, (48), of Alandur, and Mani, (60), of Vilangadupakkam.

A hunt is on to trace Bharath kumar, who is at large. Both the deceased are the sole winners of their family. Mani is survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son while Selvam is survived by his wife, a daughter, and two sons.
Guruvayur: Tens of thousands of devotees thronged the Lord Sree Krishna Temple here on the occasion of 'Ekadesi' festival on Saturday. Devotees came from all over the state and the country to offer prayers to the idol of Lord Sree Krishna and celebrate 'Ekadesi' day (the anniversary day of the consecration of the idol). Due to three holidays in a row starting from Saturday, there was unprecedented rush of devotees, the Guruvayur Devaswom authorities told DC. Guruvayur Ekadesi is observed on the Shukla Paksha (bright fortnight) Ekadas in the Malayalam month of Vrishchikam.

By Saturday afternoon, more than 50,000 devotees visited the temple. The doors of the sanctum sanctorum, which were opened in the wee hours of 'Desami' day on Friday, will be closed only on the 'Dwadesi' day on Sunday. The sanctum sanatorium which will be closed at 9 a.m. on Sunday will be opened at 4.30 p.m. No devotee will be allowed to enter the temple during this time. Devotees were on a fast by avoiding starch food. At the 'Annadanam' (feast for devotees) held at the Annalakshmi, which is a daily event at the temple, 'Ekadesi' food and pudding made of wheat were served starting from 9.30 a.m. More than 30,000 devotees took part in it.

In the run up to the 'Ekadesi' in the last 30 days, 'Ekadesi Vilaku' was conducted every day by several individuals and organisations. The 15-day-long Chembai Carnatic music fest which is considered as a blend of devotion and music ended at midnight in Melpathur auditorium on Saturday with the rendition of the most favourite compositions of Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. The 'Shukla Paksha Ekadasi' in Vrishchikam also has historical importance. It was only on this day Hindu believers of all caste were allowed to enter the temple before the temple entry proclamation in 1936.
KASARGOD: A group of miscreants hurled fire torches and stones at the Sreerama Bhajan Mandir at Kappanayadukkath, near Perumbala here, causing minor damage early on Saturday. The flags outside the main building and the nets and glasses of the mandir were destroyed in the attack. Four youngsters, including a minor boy, were arrested in this connection. They were identified as Marzook A.M. Mohammed Rashid, Ummer Farooq, all aged 19, and a minor boy, natives of Kappanayadukkath.

Police force was deployed in the area which was gripped by tension and Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan visited the mandir. A peace meeting was also held to avoid communal incident. Adhur CI Sibi Thomas said that the miscreants wanted to create communal tension in a peaceful area. The accused would be produced in the court later, he said. The Bhajan Mandir was being used by more pilgrims due to the Sabarimala pilgrimage season. Forensic officials reached the spot and collected evidence. Unconfirmed reports said that sand smugglers created the incident to distract the attention from their work.
Puducherry: Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy urged the union government to take immediate step to set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB). Welcoming the Supreme Court order on forming CMB, Mr Narayanasamy said that the Centre should ensure that Karaikal region of Union territory receives 7 TMC of water, the due share as per the Cauvery water tribunal award.

Talking to newspersons here on Saturday, he said that the government has formed a panel to decide on the modalities for the use of plastic money in the transactions of the government as well as for the public. Talking on demonetisation, he said small vendors and industrial production were affected by the sudden decision taken by the central government without making any preparations. Ordinary people are suffering by the demonetisation move.

Labourers are left without cash and the marriages had to be stopped due to the cash crunch. 97 people lost their lives after demonetisation was announced by standing in queues at bank branches CM added

He alleged RBI is showing discrimination in allotment of currency to the states. RBI is providing more money to the northern States, while allotting less to the rest of the country. The Union Territory received only 40 percent of the notes of Rs 2,000 denomination and only 5% of `500 denomination out of its total due

The CM said that he would point out the inadequate supply of notes to the UT at a meeting on GST, scheduled to be held in New Delhi, adding that there would be a reduction of 15 per cent in Excise duty following the demonetisation.

Talking about the issue of dredging in the Old port here, Mr Narayanasamy said that an amendment would be a necessity to proceed with the work. The territorial administration had signed an agreement with Chennai Port for the development of the old port here.

He also informed that the government has decided to increase the taxes for drinking water and drainage, in a cabinet meeting held recently and this would be notified in the Gazette shortly, Dearness Allowance (DA) at the rate of 2 percent to the Government employees will be disbursed with the current month salary. The state will incur an additional Rs 2.4 crore towards this.
To his critics, former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda has converted the Janata Dal (S) into his fiefdom and more so after he was re-elected party national president and son, H.D. Kumaraswamy state unit president. But if you meet him, he will take pains to convince you why he is not what his critics say. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, after attending a seminar on the Cauvery row, Mr Gowda attended a brainstorming session with party leaders at the JD(S) office before returning home for an interview. Skipping his lunch, this eighty-four-year-old leader relished a cup of butter milk to take a volley of questions while reminiscing on the past and returning to the present to explain what his strategy would be for the 2018 assembly polls. In an interview with Deccan Chronicle, Mr Gowda at least three times stressed that he had committed himself to the public cause and had never been diverted from his objective. Here are excerpts from the interview.

Congratulations on your election as JD (S) national president..

What can we do sir? Ours is a regional party. It is no big deal for me personally.

How will your election as national president and Mr Kumaraswamys as party state president help re-build the party in the state?

At present, our focus is on Karnataka. I am not going to enter UP which is going to elections in a few months from now. We are there in Kerala and Maharashtra. We are part of the government in Kerala. Compared to other coalition partners, our ministers in Kerala have performed really well. I am happy. We made some in-roads in Maharashtra. We have party units everywhere. In one of the town municipalities, we won 11 out of 17 seats. In the direct election held to the mayors post, we won. It shows the party is regaining ground slowly in spite of the fight with NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena. This election of me and Kumaraswamy was part of the exercise we did as per EC guidelines. We finished this exercise before the EC deadline concluded. Let me be frank with you. I am 84 and wanted to hand over the baton to someone else. I consulted Kerala and Maharashtra units. What they told me was: You have two-and-a-half years left as MP. As per the party constitution, the next election of national president will be held after five years. So, as a former PM and MP, you have a lot of clout and should continue as national president. Since he (Kumaraswamy) is a former CM, they wanted him to continue.

Your plans for the future..

First, we will announce office bearers for the state and national unit. Before doing this, we will examine which community benefited last time in the districts, who remained with us and who was committed. Based on these inputs we will finalise the office bearers. Then we will constitute teams. One will be led by me and the other by Mr Kumaraswamy and we will tour the state. Once we return, we will sit together and assess the strength of our party at the grassroots. I told my party workers to enrol at least 25,000 new members in each assembly segment. The money collected from the new members should be deposited. This money will be given to candidates contesting elections for the deposit amount.

You have made Basavaraj Horatti working president. One can understand this. But B.M. Farooks appointment may rankle your party MLAs.

No, not at all. He is running several institutions, doing philanthropic activities. From the profit he gets from his company, he has set aside money for this, built a trust for this. I went and attended several functions. (pauses) For me he is important. Because Zameer (Ahmed Khan)and (Iqbal) Ansari have left, Mr Farook is a force to reckon with. He has already organised a big rally in Mangaluru and is planning to hold one in Kodagu. He did not run away after he lost the RS polls.

Why did Zameer and Ansari leave?

No, I do not want to comment on that.

Do you think the CMs plan to increase reservation to 70 per cent and give internal reservation will impact your plan?

No, it will not damage my party. I do not want to comment about the 70 per cent reservation proposal. See, to bring internal reservation within reservation, no Constitutional amendment is required. When Devraj Urs was CM, I was the opposition leader. He would attack me asking if a party of Vokkaligas and Lingayats can come to power? Who was behind giving reservation to the Valmiki community? Whoever I groomed whether they remember me, that is not the issue. I will tell you an incident. Late Chandrashekharji when he became Prime Minister, called me and said he wanted to make me a minister in his cabinet. Devi Lalji said he would make me a RS member from Haryana. After losing the parliament polls, should I go and stand before a MP who defeated me? I said no but proposed names of upcoming leaders from different communities for chairmen posts of boards and corporations. Two came through. I told Devi Lalji that if you help with these appointments, I will come back (to power). Thats how I encouraged different microscopic minorities. Now, this is going to be a testing period.. whether what I did for Karnataka will be repaid (by making Janata Dal (Secular) come to power in 2018). God will decide.

Moving on, the House Committee on NICE misappropriations has submitted its report, what is your reaction?

(Takes a deep breath) Frankly I have not gone through the report. So I cant comment in detail. But, what I can say at this point is: All this while, everyone was saying I had indulged in personals attacks and there was no substance in my allegations. At least now, I can say there is god. The House committee has corroborated my views.

The report spoke about then urban development minister (D.K. Shivakumar) who is also a minister in the present government. What do you have to say?

(Smiles) I will react in detail once I go through it. On this issue, I had made so many requests to then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and incumbent PM Narendra Modi. Nobody bothered to do anything. My concern was: hundreds of innocent farmers were cheated which I cant sit back quietly and watch. They (promoters of NICE) tried to lure me. I took a principled stand and said, No. I have never done anything for my personal benefit in life as I am committed to the masses.

Finally, have you finished your autobiography? When is it coming out?

It is almost over. Some have suggested that it should be released any day after January 15 (after Sankranti as it is considered auspicious). Others felt it could be done coinciding with my birthday which is in May. It will be in both English and Kannada.
In the undiluted chaos and out-and-out anarchy that has been unleashed on the nation by the Tuglaki firman of Narendra Modi a la demonetisation (I can claim copyright to this phrase as I coined it on Twitter to describe this whimsical diktat on November 8 at 9.07 pm) an important date went virtually unobserved, i.e. November 26. On that day the BJP-led NDA government completed 30 out of its 60-month term in office. It perhaps is a good occasion to take stock of the two-and-a-half years of this man and a half government.

The first casualty of the past 30 months are Indias liberal and creative spaces. The manner in which a binary view of nationalism has been used as bludgeon to browbeat alternative points of view and contra voices has, perhaps, only three parallels in modern history  the disastrous reign of the Nazis in Germany from 1933-1945, the Stalinist Purges in the erstwhile Soviet Union and the cultural revolution of Mao Zedong.

An insidious narrative is being attempted to be institutionalised that it is anti-national to question the BJP, seditious to query the government and traitorous to raise legitimate questions of the defence establishment. Artists, writers, academicians, film personalities and those engaged in creative arts have been compelled to install a censor in their heads out of fear of right reactionary policing.

The true test of a democracy is not only to hear the dominant majority, but also to give equal space to a creative minority even if its point of view is unpopular or unpalatable. The attempt to reposition the mainstream debate in the country to the right and establish that as the new normal is a toxic abomination that needs a robust push back.

The second casualty has been the nations harmony. From day one, attempts have been orchestrated to intimidate, terrorise and brutalise minorities using extremely crude tactics. The campaigns of ghar wapsi, love jihad, the insidious crusade against beef and other culinary choices coupled with lumpenism masquerading as vigilantism on cow protectionism are all designed to instil the spectre of inferiority among the minority  that while they may be equal citizens in theory they are less than equal in practice.

The lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq and the brutal gangrape and murder of an entire family in the Mewat region of Haryana by alleged gau rakshaks evidences Kristallnacht  the unending night of the broken glass that has been unleashed on the country.

The third casualty has been internal security. The most glaring example of that is the complete mishandling of the situation in the Kashmir Valley. It has been six months now and the Valley continues to simmer with anger. Rather than understanding and even appreciating that given the long-drawn conflict conditions in the state, a child born in 1990 who today would be 26 years old has only seen violence as a constant standard.

Curfew, cordon and search. Men in olive green or khaki carrying AK-47s breaking down doors followed by arbitrary detentions if not enforced disappearance are the staple that an entire generation has grown up on, notwithstanding the truth of it or otherwise. It has led to both a repressed pent up rage and a romanticisation of terror.

Coupled with this is the belief that Muslims globally are under attack. Else why would a Burhan Wani be the poster boy of young Kashmiris rather than an Athar Aamir ul Shafi Khan who stood second in the civil services exam?

The fact that the ISIS has not yet established a base in India and in the Kashmir Valley should only be a source of cold comfort for the Indian security establishment. In todays day and age, self-radicalised youngsters making the leap of faith from the Internet keyboard to becoming suicide bombers are chilling realities of our times.

The fourth casualty is the economy. Given that I had devoted an entire piece on December 2 to the very illegality of this currency swap, or notebadli as it is colloquially known, it is not worth belabouring the point. The fact that an entire nation has been made to queue up like beggars trying to get their own money exchanged is perhaps the most breathtaking vignette of this absurdity.

Out of the Rs 14,17,000 crores that were demonetised, Rs 11,00,000 crores are already back in the system as of December 3 and there is still almost a month to go.

The economic cost of the loss of productivity as well as the hit that retail, real estate, services and myriad sectors of the non-formal economy would take is as yet in the realm of conjecture but not a single economist worth his salt has supported this irrationality. India could be heading into an era of serious social unrest.

The fifth casualty has been the mishandling of the relationship or lack of it with Pakistan. Since September 2014, there has been unprecedented escalation in cross-border firing from both sides.

The lurch from the sublime to the ridiculous in the approach to that country has emboldened the deep state in Pakistan to run circles around the mandarins in South Block.

The chest-thumping on the operations along the Line of Control conducted by senior ministers of the government coupled with the attempts to rewrite the no first-use nuclear doctrine in the public space by the defence minister all point to a very myopic and politically transactional view of vital national security issues. The blockade of Nepal and the estrangement with China has ensured that the neighbourhood-first policy lies in tatters.

The inability to skilfully handle the global power dynamic has even driven Indias all-weather ally, Russia, to explore a military relationship with Pakistan. Except for buying arms from the US and signing military foundational agreements there has not been a single big idea in the relationship in the past 30 months.

If one takes a long view of the past 30 months, internal chaos and external tension are the two overriding themes that manifest themselves. A nation on the edge can certainly not be the definition of achche din.
Eras and institutional decades can seem contrived and imposed ex post, a too-convenient way of explaining the past and divining the future. Sometimes, though, they are helpful shorthand that tease out inflection points and bracket phases.

With two new chiefs in two months in two institutions, a subtle shift in eras may be upon us in the Army and the Supreme Court.

Bajwa is the first chief of the Zia era  the first army chief to have joined the military, in 1980, after the Zia coup. Chief Justice Nisar will be, nearly, the last chief justice from the Iftikhar Chaudhry era. Change, surely, is upon Pakistan.

Because his shadow is receding quicker, its easier to start with Chaudhry. This much is clear: If Chaudhry had been around, this Panama Papers and London flats business would not have tied his court in knots.

A slashing, smashing, alarming judgement would have been handed down in double-quick time and, depending on his whims and the partialities involved, the PML(N) would either hastily be searching for a new PM or crowing about court-authored vindication.

Where the incumbent has seemed uncertain and, at times, flummoxed, Chaudhry would have assumed centrestage with relish.

Where the incumbent has seemed satisfied with averting a political crisis by pre-empting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Islamabad lockdown, a Chaudhry intervention on November 1 would merely have been a prelude to a marvellous, fantastical Chaudhry-esque storm.

Chaudhry was bad for the system. But his successors, in trying to bring balance back after years of judicial hyperactivism, have overcompensated. So the incumbent thought it a good idea to get mixed up in a political/legal dispute, but then didnt have the gumption to impose his will.

Jurists and experts can argue over what else could have been done. For our purposes, whats important is the reassertion of the old order.

The traditional court  and we must slot the next few successors in this mould until they prove otherwise  is protective of the institution. It is a court above the hoi polloi; a paternalistic, benevolent institution that dispenses justice and is for the people, but never among them.

Chaudhry was of the katchery mould, a freewheeler alert to both what works with the people and what he could get away with. The trappings and solemnities of office surely mattered, but only to the extent that they projected power. The rest was made up as occasion demanded. It was terrible  but important in one undeniable way: he made the court a player again. In the institutional scheme of things, in the system of checks and balances, the court was emphatically relevant again.

Chaudhry did it in three ways: his own celebrity, which he was more than thrilled by; his populism, which allowed him to ride roughshod over tradition and legal precedent and by forcing a consensus on his court.

His successors  repulsed, for reasons good and bad, by the Chaudhry template  have walked back all three practices. But theyve replaced it with a nothingness: a court above the hoi polloi and therefore with no populist support; and a court unable to be relevant, even in a disruptive way, to the institutional order and a checks-and-balances scheme.

Successive chief justices have now left the system arguably worse than what they inherited. In his last days, Mulk got involved in the election rigging allegations  but extracted no electoral, democratic or institutional gains as a result.

Now, the incumbent couldnt resist a shot at immortality  or infamy  and ended up disappointing everyone. The next in line, CJ Nisar, will inherit a system that has wiped out all the gains and losses of Chaudhry  and will be poorer and richer for it. Good luck to him.

On to Bajwa. He actually is a triple first. First chief born in the 60s  1960  and therefore first chief born after the first coup.

First chief commissioned in the Zia era  in 1980  and therefore first chief who lived none of the culture before. And first chief wholly and entirely with a senior  brigadier plus  career rooted in post-9/11 and post-2004, when the boys waded into Fata. Those are seismic changes in the history of the country and the institution. Its possible the epochs may cancel themselves out: the last decade of militancy countering the lessons of Zia. Or its possible the memory of the 90s transition to democracy may burn stronger than the post-2008 version.

But the beginning of an era it surely is. Because in a chief or two, well be slipping into the longest era of all: the Children of Zia.

That is, the ones who only know of life since the greatest social experiment in our great, miserable history. Good luck to all of us.

By arrangement with Dawn
A (CBI) vehicle carrying former chief of Indian air force, retired Air Marshal SP Tyagi comes after he along with other accused were produced in a Delhi court on Saturday. (Photo: PTI)

The arrest of people in high places for corruption and defrauding the exchequer shakes the confidence of ordinary people in the system. The balance is restored only when an expeditious trial leads to punishment as decreed by law in a transparent manner.

The arrest last Friday of former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, who retired in 2007, is thus a moment of introspection not only for the retired officer but for the country, too. He is accused of lowering technical specifications to permit AgustaWestland, a British entity linked to Finmeccanica, an Italian firm, to sell choppers for VVIP duties.

While allegations flung at political leaders, including those whove held the office of Prime Minister, have become common and, alas, also a part of our political culture, it is generally assumed that when civilian or military officers reach the pinnacle, they have gone through a consistent process of vetting in their careers and have cleared a high bar of personal integrity. It is this which makes the arrest of Mr Tyagi intriguing.

Since a Milan Court of Appeals sentenced the CEOs of both AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica for paying bribes to secure the contract, Mr Tyagi has been extensively interrogated by the CBI. His name figured prominently in discussions in this country even earlier after it cropped up in the Italian judicial system. A cousin of the former Air Chief had close business dealings with the chopper suppliers over many years.

In light of these developments, the UPA government ordered a CBI inquiry, and subsequently cancelled the deal in early 2014. The CBI filed an FIR against Mr Tyagi (and others) in 2013. In these three years it is not clear what kind of evidence the investigators have found. Was there a new development that necessitated his arrest?

These questions are pertinent because the CBI has a negative reputation of doing its political masters bidding. In high-profile allegations in defence deals, the CBI has typically produced records of foreign courts, usually with little domestic corroboration. Also, no sooner was the recent arrest made than defence minister Manohar Parrikar in public comments took credit for his government being prompt in pursuing corruption cases, and contrasted this with the slow pace under the Congress-led UPA.

This is an effort to politicise the issue and the temptation should have been resisted if the outcome has to be transparent. In the absence of this, names of not just Mr Tyagi but public figures from the UPA era can be bandied about without a firm basis. In Mr Tyagis case, it is to be hoped the CBI has material that will stand up in court.
The world was in a tizzy over Donald Trump being elected as President of US. The Mexicans were bristling at the suggestion that they may be asked to share the cost of the wall the Republican candidate promised to build to keep migrants out. The Trump phenomenon has caused ripples in many countries and organisations, from Pakistan through West Asia to Nato. India would have been hoping to come off better than most in a Trump presidency with many optimistically pointing to his more positive assessment of the country. But his principal animus against foreigners is bound to come out in his stay at the White House.

The feeling against Bangaloring had been gaining currency in the US with Barack Obama himself expressing concerns. Where the US can hurt the Indian IT industry the most is in denying H1-B non-immigrant visas, of which companies like Infosys, TCS, Cognizant and Wipro are the most frequent users.

Mr Trump cannot be faulted for trying to create jobs for Americans as well as restoring jobs they have been in danger of losing to H-1B workers. There is certain logic to opposing moves such as those by Disney World in cutting costs by hiring foreigners. The sons of the soil policy of no nation can be argued against even in the age of globalisation. Indian IT firms must simply find better ways to enhance their US businesses.
M.G. Ramachandran had it easy in making a smooth transition from a silver screen messiah to a do-gooder chief minister of Tamil Nadu. A subtle tweaking of celluloid image, which was carefully crafted by an army of ideologically-driven and commercially-motivated cinema screenwriters, directors and producers, and peddling it in electoral politics  and, Bingo, the transformation was smooth and seamless.

Indian cinema, mostly prone to being a lazy copycat, produced a successful sequel in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh by actor-turned chief minister N.T. Ramarao. As is with movies, there were other lacklustre ones, not to mention a spectacular flop or two. But for Jayalalithaa, who appeared as one of the several voluptuous co-stars of M.G.R. in movies, there were no easy transitions. In fact, she had to initially, but only fleetingly, leverage her on-and-off screen persona of being a image-building prop of M.G.R., only to brutally shed it and emerge as a woman of her own right. And, that will surely be a subject of scores of academic dissertations intersecting gender, media and politics.

The uniqueness of the Jayalalithaa phenomenon is the way she systematically dismantled the sexualised image of being an unconventional and quasi-legitimate second fiddle to a cinema and political giant to emerge from the male shadow and build, or reinvent, a new persona by bringing to the fore her real and hitherto latent attributes. There will no parallels in a long time to come. The only way she could have emasculated the patriarchal power was by being mercurial, dictatorial, ambitious, whimsical, and desexualised political diva.

As she found her feet in politics and consolidated her grip over the party apparatus and backed by phenomenal popular support, Jayalalithaa went about projecting herself systematically not only as a tough cookie, but also a mercurial and whimsical chieftain  being unpredictable, even seemingly bordering on irrationality ensured that no party deputy could ever dare to seek, leave alone demand, explanations. Throwing even seasoned and senior leaders off -balance  with innumerable reshuffles and dropping powerful men without any explicit rhyme or reason  was critical to wipe out semblances of even mild assertion and opposition. By demonstrating time and again her unquestionable power to take decisions was a part of a carefully cultivated mystique.

For a woman, that too a single woman without any male or family support system, surviving in the world of male-dominated politics can be quite challenging. The time-tested way to survive and thrive was by being dictatorial and authoritarian. Given how skewed the gendered power equations are and the extent of in-built anti-women norms and prejudices in the society, especially in politics, being a democrat is impractical. She learnt her lessons from trailblazers like Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher.

Also Read: Bengals giant slayer nations Pied Piper?

For Jayalalithaas larger than life image, it was important to constantly project herself as an ambitious leader. It was part of the powerful leader package. Backed by convent education and a proven track record of being an able but tough administrator, she could pitch for a national role just to keep the national parties and leaders at bay  so that they could not dare to destabilise her at home. Despite enjoying little clout outside her home state, Jayalalithaa was politically shrewd enough to exploit compulsions of coalition politics to prove her point.

Finally, the transformation of Jayalalithaa from a glamorous heroine (Kavarchi Kanni as appeared in early film credits) to a radical leader (Puratchi Thalaivi) to Amma*, deserves an in-depth study. And, to ward off any salacious scandals involving men, she went beyond the sisterly titles of Mayawatis behenji and Mamata Banerjees didi to assume the role of amma, a desexualised matriarchal identity that washed off the last traces of her on-screen vivacity and oomph. She also had the courage to choose another woman  Sasikala - as her trusted confidante and companion  yet again, challenging rigid patriarchal norms.

Also Read: In UP, Behenjis elephant fights for a comeback

What does the future hold for the AIADMK party and its government? M.G.R., despite being a towering leader, never felt secure enough to groom a male successor to him. He left behind two women  his wife Janaki and his protege Jayalalithaa  to fight for his legacy. Jayalalithaa deservingly won it hands down. Likewise, Jayalalithaa too did not leave behind a clear male successor, after failed attempts through a foster son who proved to be a disaster, further reinforcing her distrust in men. Instead, she left behind a woman to fight for the spoils of her political legacy and personal fortunes. Will Sashikala come out of Jayalalithaas shadows and re-enact part two of the Jayalalithaa act? It is intermission, go and grab your cola and popcorn tub. Picture abhi baaki hain mere dost.

(The writer teaches journalism in a Chennai college)
I had always known that the moment a fashionable woman in kitten heels became the Prime Minister someone would start noticing her clothes. And after Princess Catherine  whose clothes are discussed ad nauseam  we would now have begin to check out the price of the PMs trousers. Of course, we had no such detail before about PM David Camerons suits  whilst we would occasionally learn what his wife wore and how much it cost. Also, men usually wear the same boring black or blue  and we have been admiring Theresa Mays outfits for some time. And why not? For a change we have a good looking woman at the helm!

However, I had not imagined that it would lead to a face off among the feministas. But according to the tabloids, there has been a falling out between a former education secretary, Nicky Morgan and the PMs team over the price of the PMs trousers. Ms May was photographed wearing a pair of leather trousers which cost 995  and Ms Morgan was upset enough to say that the pants had been noticed and discussed. And so, while Ms Morgan was part of a group that discussed Brexit with the PM she is no longer an invitee. A rather rude note was supposedly sent out about it by the PMs Chief of Staff, Fiona Hill, to another MP saying, Dont bring that woman to Downing Street again. Hmm. It seems that all PMs have to look out for the price tags on their clothes as otherwise it might upset the JAMs  or Just About Managing families.

Meanwhile, we now know the cost of every piece of clothing that the PM wears, from her Amanda Wakeley coat to her Russell & Bromley shoes. However, she was also wearing a silk Nehru jacket, which was tagged at 1,000. Now that even shocked me. Someone obviously charged her three times the price!

There is a lovely Chinatown in London and Chinese restaurants across the country. But trust the Chinese to want what is practically a British invention  the quintessential pub. Now the Chinese want English pubs in reverse ethnic exports. And not just any old pub. They want the pub that David Cameron took President Xi Jinping to when he came to stay at the Chequers, the Prime Ministers weekend retreat. The Plough is picturesquely located in the Chiltern Hills. After seeing it on TV, one Chinese company Sino Fortune made a bid for it. The pub was not available for sale but the landlord settled for 2 million for its lookalike. Now the Plough will be copied across China so the Chinese can, like the English, down their Sunday pint.

Christmas is coming. Madame Tussauds has just unveiled the royal family. There beside the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are Prince Charles and Camilla, William and Kate. The younger princes, Andrew and Edward and the Princess Royal, Anne, alas  did not make the grade.

But the younger royals now have a serious complaint. As the Queens children they are a called HRH  His/Her Royal Highness. But only the children of the monarchs sons have the title HRH. Princess Annes daughters are just commoners. Andrew and Edward are worried that their grandchildren will have no title; just be commoners like the rest of us. So they want the Queen to guarantee that their daughters husbands will be made Earls which then solves the problem. No more slumming for the grand children, honour saved!

Even more serious is Prince Harrys problem. He is not the son of a monarch but only a grandson. William is alright because he is in the line of succession. So if Harry marries his latest love Meghan Markle right now  their children will be commoners. But if he were to wait till Prince Charles became the monarch then his children would be royals. But would he really want to wait for 10 more years?

Jumpin Jack Flash! The incredible and ageless Mick Jagger, 73, is to be a father for the eighth time. The Rolling Stones have just released their new record revisiting their old love of the Blues. But Mick has attracted a series of beautiful women. The latest Melanie Hammick, a ballet dancer is the fifth woman to bear Mick a child. His oldest is 46-year-old Karis and Mick is already a grandfather and a great-grandfather. But there is just no stopping him!

Not everyone is complimentary about Mick Jaggers latest achievement. But there has been a rush of compliments for what a rather extraordinary mother  Julie Bradford  has done for her daughter Jessica. When Jessica was diagnosed at 18 as having grade 2 cervical cancer, she realised that the radiotherapy treatment would leave her infertile. However, the doctors managed to freeze her eggs. So now recently her mother Julie, 45, offered to be the surrogate mother and carry her grandson. Her daughter gratefully accepted. The result  Jack Jenkins already a week old. A happy baby who does not wake up at night nor does he cry. However, while the family is delighted the biology has been simple but the relationship is complex!
When Mayawati stepped out to address a function on B.R. Ambedkars anniversary in Lucknow, she never imagined that there would be another star attraction apart from her.

When Mayawati stepped out to address a function on B.R. Ambedkars anniversary in Lucknow, she never imagined that there would be another star attraction apart from her. Sadhana, a government employee in Uttar Pradesh posted at Ambedkar Memorial, is Mayawati lookalike who had been posted at the function venue.

Dressed in her uniform, Ms Sadhana stood at the gate and BSP workers were shocked to see their Behenji standing at the gate instead of the dais. This happens with me all the time and now I have become used to the short-lived spell of respect. Once BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui was taken aback to see me, she says.

Her husband Radhey Shyam is an accountant with UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam and he happily informs that a number of visitors to the memorial get themselves clicked with Sadhana and she never disappoints anyone. Ms Sadhana has been a part of the memorial staff since 2011 and says that she has never met Ms Mayawati though she would like to do so some day.

Knowing Ms Mayawatis nature, we are not sure if she would be equally happy to meet her lookalike since a few years ago, she had forced one of her legislators  also called Mayawati  to change her name to Maya Prasad.

The tigress roars again

Even a supposedly routine Army exercise at two toll plazas at Palsit and Dankuni on NH 2 in West Bengal incensed West bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee so much that she went on a warpath against the Narendra Modi government.

For the past few months she had been criticising the Centre on one issue or the other. Sometime she accused it of stopping allocation of MGNREGA funds to West Bengal on another occasion she flayed it for giving orders directly to bureaucrats like DMs, SDOs and BDOs. However, it was Mr Modis demonetisation decision, which seems to have provided her with the most powerful weapon against him.

Ms Banerjee dubbed Mr Modi Tughlaq and even Hitler for taking such an arbitrary decision which has plunged the entire country in a financial chaos. Her MPs were in the forefront in Parliament raising their protest against demonetisation. That she was not willing to give even an inch to Mr Modi and the BJP became evident when she tried hard to unite the entire Opposition on this issue walking an extra mile by even calling up bete noire CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

Patnaik, the Duryodhan?

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Prasad Harichandan is a good spinner of words. Normally considered a mild and gentleman politician, the young PCC chief is very articulate in his approach. Never does he sound harsh and rough while taking on the opponents on different issues. His adroit use of soft and subtle words sets him apart from his contemporary politicians  both in the Congress and rival parties.

When his colleagues as well as BJP leaders recently condemned Odisha chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik in strongest words for removal of black stoles, scarves and shawls worn by women at the venue of chief minister Naveen Patnaiks meeting in Sundargarh district recently by security personnel so as to avert possible showing of flags, Mr Harichandan, as usual, maintained his calm and did not give any immediate reactions.

He, however, broke his silence when he was hounded by scribes to interpret the situation.

What should I say of him (Naveen Patnaik) and the action by his security personnel? He is just like a Duryodhan in a Kurusabha. That is why crime against women is increasing in the state during his reign, said Mr Harichandan, leaving journalists to understand between the lines and write their own copies.

Chouhan: Not so fit

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan apparently takes pride in him being a fitness freak. He is always seen walking with long, rapid strides to the venue of his public meetings to flaunt his physical fitness.

I have hardly put on weight ever since I became chief minister of the state in 2003. I still have sunken cheeks unlike those who develop puffy cheeks after coming to power was his constant refrain in his public addresses.

His fitness regime from which he was believed to have never deviated includes walking, jogging and yoga session. He has also admirers of his fit like a fiddle physique among public figures that included Union urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu. A recent incident involving Mr Chouhan has however threatened to tatter his assiduously built image as a fitness enthusiast.

Last month, Mr Chouhan almost fell on the ground after being pushed by National Security Guard commandos of Union home minister Rajnath Singh. One of the commandos accidentally had pushed Mr Chouhan when the NSG people rushed suddenly to give cover to Mr Singh at Datia in MP recently.

Mr Singh and Mr Chouhan along with BJP national president Amit Shah were at Datia to pay obeisance to Pithambara, the presiding deity of the local shrine.

According to eyewitness account, Mr Chouhan was almost thrown off the ground by a mere brush from a NSG commando. Mr Chouhan appeared to have moved on since then never heard of speaking about his physical fitness thereafter.

The push has shaken off his belief (as fitness freak), a few ruling BJP leaders quipped.
London: Over 1,00,000 people from laboratories around the world for the first time have conducted a unique global experiment that verified the laws of quantum physics, thus refuting Albert Einsteins understanding of the microscopic world. Twelve laboratories from around the world came together to put in motion the BIG Bell Test.

The experiment  coordinated by ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Spain  powered by human randomness is aimed to demonstrate that the microscopic world is in fact as strange as quantum physics predicts.

Predictions such as particles behaving in a random way, determining their properties only when we look at them; strange instantaneous interactions at a distance  were all questioned by Einstein, who rejected them completely.

During the 48 hours in which it was November 30th at different place on the planet, participants contributed to the initiative, generating sequences of zeros and ones as random as possible through a video game.

Each of these bits was used to control in real-time the experimental conditions of the labs.

They moved mirrors, polarising filters, waveplates  elements located on optical tables and that affect the type of measurements that are made on the different quantum systems in each lab.

Together all the participants provided scientists with millions of unpredictable, independent decisions which were used to measure their particles.

This independence is a crucial feature for the conclusions of the Bell tests to be valid. By early afternoon, some of the labs had been able to obtain preliminary results, confirming violations of Bells inequality, and thus refuting Einstein, giving their complete support to the predictions of quantum physics.

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Obama's homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, told reporters the report's results would be shared with lawmakers and others.

US President Barack Obama has ordered intelligence agencies to review cyber attacks and foreign intervention into the 2016 election and deliver a report before he leaves office on Jan. 20, the White House said on Friday.

In October, the US government formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election, and Obama has said he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin about consequences for the attacks.

The review and its timeline are a signal that Obama wants the issue addressed before he hands power to President-elect Donald Trump, who cast doubt on Russia's hacking role and praised Putin during the campaign.

Obama's homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, told reporters the report's results would be shared with lawmakers and others.

"The president has directed the intelligence community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election process and to capture lessons learned from that and to report to a range of stakeholders, to include the Congress," she said during an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the review would be a "deep dive" that would look for a pattern of such behaviour over several years during election time, dating as far back as the 2008 presidential election.

He noted that Obama wanted the review completed under his watch. "This is a major priority," Schultz said.

During his campaign for the White House, Trump called on Russia to dig up missing emails from his opponent, Hillary Clinton, from her time as secretary of state under Obama, a fellow Democrat. That move prompted critics to accuse him of encouraging foreign actors to conduct espionage.

The New York businessman has said he is not convinced Russia was behind the attacks.

"I dont believe they interfered," Trump told Time magazine about Russia in an interview published this week. "That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Any time I do something, they say, Oh, Russia interfered."

People Trump has nominated for top national security posts in his new administration have taken a harsher stance toward Moscow.

Russian officials have denied all accusations of interference in the U.S. election.

Obama has come under pressure from Democratic lawmakers to declassify more intelligence on the alleged hackings.

A government source said the review was sparked in part to respond to those demands as well as to determine how much material related to the subject could be made public.

Given President-elect Trump's disturbing refusal to listen to our intelligence community and accept that the hacking was orchestrated by the Kremlin, there is an added urgency to the need for a thorough review before President Obama leaves office next month, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

Monaco said cyber attacks were not new but might have crossed a "new threshold" this year.

When she was working as a senior Federal Bureau of Investigation official in 2008, she said, the agency alerted the presidential campaigns of then-Senator Obama and Republican Senator John McCain that China had infiltrated their respective systems.

"We've seen in 2008 and in this last election system malicious cyber activity," Monaco said.

Asked if Trump's transition team was not concerned enough about Russia's influence on the election or about other threats to the United States such as infectious disease outbreaks, Monaco said it was too soon to say. She noted that she had not met with her successor because the Trump team had yet to name one.

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In this Friday, March 27, 2015 file photo, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson delivers remarks on the release of a report by the National Petroleum Council on oil drilling in the Arctic, in Washington. (Photo: AP)

Washington: ExxonMobil President and CEO Rex Tillerson is President-elect Donald Trump's top pick for secretary of state, US media reported Saturday, with NBC reporting that Tillerson has already been chosen.

Tillerson, 64, is an oil executive with extensive experience in international negotiations and a business relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump has already made the choice, according to NBC News, citing two unnamed sources close to the transition process.

Asked in an interview with Fox News -- which will air in full on Sunday -- why it made sense to appoint a businessman as the nation's top diplomat, Trump said Tillerson is "much more than a business executive."

"I mean, he's a world-class player," the president-elect said. "He knows many of the players and he knows them well.

He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company, not for himself, for the company."

If he is officially nominated, Tillerson may face sharp questioning during confirmation hearings before the US Senate.

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona on Saturday expressed "concerns" over Tillerson's links to Putin, whom the senator called "a thug and a murderer."

"We will have hearings on that issue and other issues concerning him will be examined," McCain told CNN. "That's the time to make up your mind as to whether to vote yes or no."

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton will be Tillerson's deputy secretary of state "for day-to-day management of the department," NBC News added, citing one unnamed source.

The sources cautioned NBC that nothing was final until Trump makes the official announcement, which will likely come next week.

Other media outlets, including CBS News and The Wall Street Journal, describe Tillerson as the leading candidate for the job of top US diplomat.

According to the Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, other candidates still being considered include Bolton, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and former CIA director David Petraeus.

The outspoken former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is no longer in the mix. Trump announced in a statement Friday that Giuliani had removed himself from the running.
Washington: Pakistan Prime Minister's top foreign policy aide Tariq Fatemi, who has been in the US for a week for 'familiarisation meetings' with President-elect Donald Trump's transition team, is yet to meet anyone from the incoming administration, a media report said on Sunday.

Fatemi, special assistant on foreign affairs to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, however, has held meetings with senior officials of the outgoing Obama administration and US lawmakers and is hoping to meet some members of the incoming Trump administration early this week, Dawn newspaper reported.

Such meetings are highlighted in press releases issued by the Pakistan embassy, which claims that these talks have helped create a better understanding of Pakistan?s position on various issues, it said.

So far the only comment from the US side came from the State Department's deputy spokesman Mark Toner who said that US officials did discuss "a range of bilateral and regional" issues with Fatemi and these included "regional stability and counter-terrorism cooperation".

But he did not say if the meetings helped resolve the differences that have strained Pakistan's relations with the United States, the report said.

Neither the Pakistan embassy nor the Trump team have said anything about Fatemi's meetings/probable meetings with the officials of the incoming administration, it said.

Earlier this week, Fatemi visited New York, from where US President-elect Trump is conducting his business, but Pakistani diplomats said he was only there to meet senior UN officials and returned to Washington the same day.

A senior Pakistani diplomat, when asked why Fatemi had not yet met members of the Trump team, was quoted by the paper as saying that "protocol did not allow him to meet them in his official capacity" but he and the embassy were trying to arrange some informal meetings.

One such meeting, with Stephen Hadley, the former Bush administration's national security adviser, may happen this week, the report said.

The embassy official claimed that Fatemi has also been "very active on telephone," speaking to the Trump team. "We are reaching out to the 'influentials' not 'probables,' the paper quoted the official as saying while explaining why Fatemi had not yet met Trump officials although he has been in the US for almost a week now.

"We are trying to meet the people who have influence and are feeding into the transition process," the official said.

While the Pakistan embassy insists that it would not be appropriate for Fatemi to hold formal meetings with officials who are not in the government yet, officials from other countries are doing exactly that, the paper noted.

Senior officials and leaders from across the globe are visiting New York for meeting Trump officials, it said.
The accused identified as Crystal Brooke Howell crept up to her father when he whe he was taking a nap on the sofa and shot him in the head, killing him instantly. (Photo: Facebook)

Columbia: A 17-year-old girl from South Carolinas Columbia was arrested for murdering her father and making false claims that he had abandoned her and killed himself, only to host wild parties fuelled with drugs and debauchery.

According to a report in The Mirror, the accused identified as Crystal Brooke Howell crept up to her father when he was taking a nap on the sofa and shot him in the head, killing him instantly. She then dragged his lifeless body towards a shed on the grounds, where she stuffed his body in a plastic storage and covered it with a sleeping bag. She later sold the gun and got rid of the sofa.

Howell was arrested when two of her male friends moved a pinball machine out into the shed and one of them noticed the plastic container with her fathers decomposing body inside.

"I never want to see anything like that ever again in my life, it has ruined me" one of Howell's friends told a local paper.

Howells friends then informed the police about the grisly crime. However, Howell had fled the scene by the time police arrived.

She was arrested the very next day at a motel and confessed to the crime after interrogation.

Crystal pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and another charge of concealing a death in October 2016.

"Miss Howell had previously told her friends that her father had killed himself. She then started to drive his car and spend his money. She had her friends move in, had a drug-fuelled party and even had a stripper pole installed in the kitchen" the prosecution said.

Though her lawyers claimed that she suffered from mental health problems, the prosecution said it was a planned and brutal execution.

Crystal, now 20, was ordered to serve a minimum of 30 years- 25 years for the murder, and five years for hiding the body. She is to spend her sentence in an adult prison.
President-elect Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to supporters during a rally in Michigan. (Photo: AP)

Washington: A secret CIA assessment has found that Russia sought to tip last months US presidential election in Donald Trumps favor, The Washington Post reported on Saturday, a conclusion that drew an extraordinary rebuke from the president-elects camp.

These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, Trumps transition team said, launching a broadside against the spy agency.

The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. Its now time to move on and Make America Great Again.

The Washington Post report comes after President Barack Obama ordered a review of all cyber attacks that took place during the 2016 election cycle, amid growing calls from Congress for more information on the extent of Russian interference in the campaign.

The newspaper cited officials briefed on the matter as saying that individuals with connections to Moscow provided anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks with emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee, Democratic nominee Hillary Clintons campaign chief and others.

Those emails were leaked out via WikiLeaks in the months before the election, damaging Ms Clintons White House run. The Russians aim was to help

Mr. Trump win and not just undermine the US electoral process, the Post said.

It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russias goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Mr Trump get elected, the newspaper quoted a senior US official briefed on an intelligence presentation last week to key senators as saying.

CIA agents told the lawmakers it was quite clear that electing Mr Trump was Russias goal, according to officials who spoke to the Post.
Washington: President-elect Donald Trumps transition team has circulated an unusual 74-point questionnaire at the Department of Energy that requests the names of all employees and contractors who have attended climate change policy conferences, as well as emails and documents associated with the conferences.

In question after question, the document peppers Energy Department managers with pointed queries about climate science research, clean energy programmes and their employees. More broadly, the questionnaire hints at a significant shift of emphasis at the agency toward nuclear power, and a push to commercialise the research of the Energy Departments laboratories, long considered the crown jewels of federal science.

Energy Department employees, who shared the questionnaire with The New York Times and spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly, described the questionnaire as worrying. Mr Trump has just tapped Scott Pruitt, a climate change denialist, to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

The questionnaire suggests the Trump administration plans a witch hunt for civil servants whove simply been doing their jobs, Robert Weissman, president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, said. Democrats and Republicans alike should unite to condemn any action that intimidates, threatens or retaliates against civil servants for lawfully doing their jobs.

- By arrangement with the New York Times.
Beijing: About 20,000 ancient trees on the renowned Mount Tai in east China's Shandong Province now have "digital ID cards" which will provide a range of information about the environment, condition of trees, climate, diseases and pests, official media reported on Sunday.

The digital ID cards hold basic information on the trees collected by a new monitoring and management system for ancient trees on the mountain, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Providing basic information and a real-time map of the trees, the system helps rangers examine the growing environment and conditions of the trees, and monitor physiology, climate, diseases and pests, the local scenic area management committee said.

The system can calculate whether a tree is healthy, weak or dying, while recording the harm a tree has suffered and the degree of any damage.

There are 18,195 ancient trees on Mount Tai, and 1,821 of them are classified as first-class ancient trees, which are more than 300 years old, particularly rare, or of historical significance.

The mountain is home to several famous trees such as a pine named "yingkesong" (literally guest-welcoming pine).

As a popular tourist attraction on Mount Tai, the over 500-year-old pine was put on the World Cultural and Natural Heritage list.

Mount Tai, one of China's Five Sacred Mountains, holds great historical and cultural significance.

Its peak is referred to as the "Jade Emperor Peak" and is approximately 1,500 metres.
Islamic State (ISIS) has no place in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, President Joko Widodo has said. (Photo: AFP)

Bogor: Islamic State (ISIS) has no place in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, President Joko Widodo has said, amid growing concern that Southeast Asia was becoming a fertile ground for the dreaded terror group.

"Indonesia opposes all forms of extremism and violence," Widodo said ahead of his state visit to India, beginning Monday.

"The ISIS has no place in Indonesia," he said adding that his country takes a comprehensive approach in fighting extremisms and terrorism through hard power by law enforcement and legislation; as well as soft power by taking religious and cultural approach.

"Indonesia will always cooperate with all countries to fight terrorism," he said, adding that such cooperation will be through the exchange of information as well as intelligence exchanges and cooperation.

His comments came against the backdrop of Singapore Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam's remarks last week that the extremist beliefs of terror group ISIS have spread and taken root in South-east Asia.

Towards the end of last year, Indonesia had detected clear signals of an attack and arrested several individuals. Still, the capital Jakarta was struck by bombs in January, killing eight people.

A top Indonesian military General last week warned that ISIS, which is in retreat in Iraq and Syria, is building its base in Mindanao, a restive island in the Philippines.

The attempt by ISIS to create a fully pledged wilayat, or province, in the southern Philippines poses a serious security threat to Indonesia, the military officer had said.

However, Widodo indicated that ISIS sympathisers in Indonesia are merely a disaffected minority.

"Islam in Indonesia is on the whole moderate. Diversity is part of who we are. (But) we are dealing with this threat (terrorism and radicalism), not only through security and legal measures but also working with religious groups to tackle extremism," he said.

"We also play an active role in international forums such as the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and the Global Counter Terrorism Forum," he said.
"The ministry of defence has called for a report from the Navy on alleged attack against protesting port workers," Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi said today. (Representational Image)

Colombo: Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry on Sunday sought a report from the Navy over a clash between security forces and striking dock workers who had held up a Japanese vessel at a port demanding job security.

"The ministry of defence has called for a report from the Navy on alleged attack against protesting port workers," Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi said today.

"The Navy had done their job to provide security to vessels. The ships were held for days," Hettiarachchi said.

Sri Lankan navy yesterday fired warning shots to disperse the striking dock workers who had prevented a Japanese vessel from leaving Hambantota port for four days by placing gantry cranes to block its path.

The Navy said it acted within the law to prevent a sea piracy situation.

Opposition legislators told parliament yesterday that eight workers were wounded when the navy stormed the main pier, but the government denied there were casualties.

The Joint Opposition in Parliament carried out a demonstration accusing the government of allegedly using Navy personnel to "assault" employees of the Hambantota Ports authority who were conducting a strike.

The temporary port workers at Hambantota port have been striking since Tuesday demanding that they be taken on as permanent employees of the state-owned Sri Lanka Port Authority after a move by the government to lease the port to China.

Some 483 temporary workers are demanding that they be made permanent before the lease.

Navy Commander Ravi Wijegunaratne was accused of threatening a television reporter during the protest.

Navy Commander Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, has dismissed the allegation, Hettiarachchi said. Hettiarachchi said he personally looked into the matter after media reports alleged that the Navy Commander had allegedly threatened the journalist.

The government is in talks with a Chinese company to sell an 80 per cent stake in the loss-making USD 1.3 billion Hambantota port.
Putin also owns a male Bulgarian Shepherd called Buffy, which was given to him by the Bulgarian prime minister in 2010. (Photo: AFP)

Tokyo: Russian President Vladimir Putin has turned down the offer of a dog as a gift from the Japanese government, according to a Japanese MP.

Koichi Hagiuda did not give a reason as to why the gift had been rejected by Putin.

Japan gave Putin a female Akita called Yume in 2012. This dog was intended as a companion for her, the BBC reported. Hagiuda wrote in a blog post: "Unfortunately, we heard from our counterparts, and our hope to present a bridegroom was dashed."

If accepted, the gift would have been presented to the Russian president at a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan next week amid low expectations of a breakthrough in a territorial row that has blocked a peace treaty to formally end World War II.

The territorial row stems from the Soviet Union's seizure of four islands off Hokkaido, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kuriles.

Akitas breed of dogs originate from northern Japan. Putin also owns a male Bulgarian Shepherd called Buffy, which was given to him by the Bulgarian prime minister in 2010. His Labrador, Konni, given to him as a gift by Sergey Shoigu, currently Russian defence minister, died in 2014.

Putin once brought Konni to a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is scared of dogs. Some press reports at the time said he had done so to intimidate her.

But earlier this year, Putin told a German newspaper that he did not know about her fear. He said: "When I learned that she does not like dogs, I apologised, of course."
Riyadh: The press took out of context comments by the British foreign secretary about "proxy wars" waged by longtime ally Saudi Arabia, the Saudi foreign minister said Sunday, deeming the matter closed.

In a video reported last week Boris Johnson, at a conference in Rome, accused Saudi Arabia and its regional rival Iran of engaging in "puppeteering" and "playing proxy wars".

The video of his comments was posted on the Guardian website.

"I have no doubt that his comments as reported in the press were misconstrued," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters at a joint news conference with Johnson in Riyadh.

"If you look at the actual video of what was said, it was not as implied in the press," Jubeir said.

The British minister was on an official visit to the kingdom, during which he met King Salman.

The Guardian report came a day after British Prime Minister Theresa May attended a summit with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states in Bahrain.

Downing Street had to pull Johnson back into line, saying the comments reflected his "personal position".

"There are no mixed messages that we are getting from Britain," Jubeir said, noting Saudi-British ties go back more than a century.

"I believe that the matter is closed."
They were convicted of theft, bribery, breaking in, wrecking private properties, possessing stolen items, forgery and using forged papers. (Representational Image)

Dubai: An Indian is among 12 South Asian men sentenced up to five years in Dubai for breaking into a warehouse and stealing two trucks loaded with over 3,000 laptops worth 5 million dirhams.

The 12 suspects, 10 Pakistanis, an Indian and a Nepalese, played different roles in the crime.

They broke into the warehouse and bribed a Nepalese security guard to allow the trucks loaded with 3,317 stolen laptops to drive out of the port in May 2015.

In August, the Dubai Court of First Instance handed the 12 defendants, aged between 22 and 55, different jail terms varying between six months and five years, the Gulf News reported.

They were convicted of theft, bribery, breaking in, wrecking private properties, possessing stolen items, forgery and using forged papers.

A security guard, who accepted Dirhams 1,500 in bribe from a 27-year-old Pakistani man to allow the defendants to drive out two trucks in which they had loaded the stolen laptops, and the latter were both jailed five years.

The Dubai Appeal Court rejected the 12 appeals lodged by all the accused and upheld their primary rulings.

Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm said all the accused will be deported following the completion of their punishments.

The defendants also caused 5,500 dirhams worth of damage to the warehouse of a distribution company.

A Pakistani defendant falsely reported to the police that the trucks had been stolen even though he was aware that the vehicles were used in the heist. A Pakistani convict confessed that they stole the laptops but denied wrecking the doors.

"The warehouse was open. Some of the defendants were not aware that the laptops were stolen...I asked them to drive the trucks out of the port," the Pakistani convict told the appellate court.

The company's sales manager testified that they locked the warehouses and left for the weekend.

"On Saturday, we discovered that the glass of a window had been broken. The watchman and I entered the warehouse and saw glass splinters all over the floor from inside. Then we went to the back doors [loading area] and discovered that the doors had been wrecked. Following a quick inventory, we discovered that 3,317 laptops had been stolen. We reported the matter to the police. When the police came, we realised that the culprits had switched off the electricity to disable the CCTV cameras," he said.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.
The demolished 2,000-year-old temple of Baal shamin in Syria's ancient caravan city of Palmyra (Photo: AP)

Beirut: The Islamic State jihadist group recaptured Palmyra on Sunday after Syrian armed forces pulled out from the desert city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that IS regained "full control" of the city on Sunday.
In September 2015, Islamic State fighters destroyed two of the most important temples in the UNESCO-listed Syrian city of Palmyra. (Photo: AFP)

Beirut (Lebanon): Jihadist fighters of the Islamic State group on Saturday re-entered Syria's famed ancient desert city of Palmyra from which they were driven out eight months ago, a monitor said.

"IS entered Palmyra on Saturday and now occupies its northwest. There is also fighting with the army in the city centre," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The jihadists began an offensive in recent days near the town which is on UNESCO's world heritage list.

In May last year, IS seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites.

They were ousted from Palmyra in March by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia.

Meanwhile, the Turkish army and its allies entered the Islamic State group's bastion of Al-Bab in northern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"They entered Al-Bab from the northwest after violent clashes with the jihadists as Turkish artillery bombarded the town," the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Heavy fighting was ongoing late Saturday in the town near the Turkish border, he said, which has been under IS control since 2014.

Al-Bab is the last bastion IS has in northern Aleppo province.

In August, Turkish troops entered northern Syria in an unprecedented operation Ankara said targeted both IS and Kurdish fighters.

Turkish media said on Friday it was sending 300 commandos to reinforce its military campaign inside Syria.

The offensive comes as a US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance presses an offensive on IS's de facto Syrian capital of Raqa southeast of Al-Bab.
Beirut: Islamic State group fighters withdrew from Syria's Palmyra at dawn on Sunday following heavy Russian air strikes, only hours after they had re-entered the famed ancient city, a monitor said.

"Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

The raids killed a large number of the jihadists in the desert city in central Syria, Abdel Rahman said, without being able to give a precise number.
Baghdad: US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter held talks in Baghdad on Sunday to discuss the coming stages of the offensive to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group.

Carter flew to the Iraqi capital on an announced visit to "survey key locations directly supporting the battle for Mosul", the Pentagon said in a statement.

The United States leads an international coalition providing assistance in the form of air strikes, equipment, training and advise on the ground to Iraqi forces battling the jihadists.

US forces are stationed in Qayyarah, the main staging base for the southern front of the Mosul offensive that was launched on October 17, as well as in the autonomous Kurdish region.

Around 5,000 US troops are deployed in Iraq as part of an "advise and assist" mission to support Iraqi federal and Kurdish peshmerga forces battling jihadists.

US special forces are also active on the ground in Iraq, as well as in neighbouring Syria, where another offensive is under way to retake the other major remaining IS bastion of Raqa.

On Saturday, Carter told a security forum in Bahrain that Washington was sending 200 extra troops to join the 300 it has already deployed to support the Raqqa campaign.

Carter met US troops, senior coalition commanders and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad, a coalition spokesman said.

He was also expected to hold meetings with Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani during his visit to Iraq, possibly his last as US Defense Secretary.

Abadi had promised Mosul would be retaken by the end of 2016 but the going has been tough for Iraqi forces inside the densely populated city and commanders have warned the battle could go on for months.

90,000 displaced

Most of the fighting inside Mosul, where hundreds of civilians still live, has been carried out by Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service in the east of the city.

The army's 9th and 11th divisions have also moved in, while a myriad of forces are deployed on other fronts south, north and west but have not entered the city.

Top commanders on Saturday said that federal police and elite interior ministry forces would soon join the army in southeast Mosul.

The Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary forces have been fighting on a western front, in a campaign aimed at retaking the town of Tal Afar and cutting IS supply lines between Mosul and Syria.

Hashed forces said on Sunday they had retaken four more villages near Tal Afar and southwest of Mosul, continuing an advance which has seen fierce desert battles in recent days.

The US-led coalition has launched hundreds of air strikes on Mosul and its surroundings in recent months but its action has been hampered by the continued presence of a large civilian population.

According to the United Nations, about 90,000 people have fled their homes since the start of the offensive.

"With the military operation moving deeper into the city, fighting in the densely populated parts of Mosul may trigger larger scale displacement," it said.

The latest humanitarian emergency compounds a years-old crisis which has seen more than 620,000 people forced to flee their homes in Iraq this year alone.
This is the biggest goods movement between the two countries since 2005 when China built what it calls the Friendship Highway to link towns on two sides. (Photo: File)

Beijing: China has initiated a major goods movement to Nepal via Tibet, in a move that could severely affect Indian businesses in the region.

According to a report, the first major consignment of goods worth USD 2.8 million has left the Chinese border for Kathmandu.

This is the biggest goods movement between the two countries since 2005 when China built what it calls the Friendship Highway to link towns on two sides across difficult mountain terrain, said the report.

The move will severely hit Indian businesses which had unfettered access to the Nepali market for decades, said the report.

Goods of daily use, electronic and electrical appliances are being transported. Dozens of trucks set off from the Tibetan border port of Gyirong for Kathmandu, 860 kilometres away, said Chinese news agency Xinhua.

China has been encouraging Nepal to reduce its dependence on India for the supply of goods and services like energy and telecommunication since early this year.

A week ago, Nepal signed an agreement with China on movement and exchange of containers, as well as another for use of Chinese telecommunication goods and facilities.

This move is of mutual benefit to the two countries. China feels that goods movement across the border will encourage Nepal to accept the Chinese offer for rail connectivity. On the other hand, Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda has accepted the movement because he wants Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the mountainous country.

It is said that China is eager to please Prachanda also because it wants the PM to remain in power for a long time. This is because his main Opposition rival Sher Bahadur Deuba, recently attended a meeting in which the prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile was present, thus angering China.
Islamabad: Baloch Kurd liberation activist and World Baloch Womens Forum president Naela Quadri Baloch has demanded that the United Nations - which has turned blind and has closed its ears and mouth - to wake up and pay heed to what is going on in Balochistan.

The Pakistani Army has (a) licence to kill us, licence to rape us, licence to torture, licence to take out organs and sell them, because the Pakistan army is involved in the organ trade of the Baloch people with the help of the Edhi Foundation; and, Pakistan is running rape cells, where Baloch women are abducted, kept and raped. Pakistan is doing all kinds of those atrocities that a sane human mind cannot imagine, Naela told ANI.

Stating that Pakistan is committing genocide of the Baloch people with the full support of China as a form of ethnic cleansing, Naela said: The International Day of Human Rights was announced by the UN, but it is silent despite the atrocities and the level of genocide going on in Balochistan by the Pakistan Army and the Pakistani establishment. Its like a kind of situation where Baloch people have no rights that even your animals have.

The Baloch activist said, We have found more than 100 mass graves with more than 100 bodies in each, and doctors say they were alive when they were buried in those mass graves.

They are burning Baloch villages and towns - it is a situation that no human heart can see and keep silent, she said, adding, But we are surprised and we are worried about the legal status of the UN now.

She said Balochistan is needed for connecting the Indian Ocean to the Central Asia and for the economic corridor (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor-CPEC). It is not a corridor; it is our home; it is a corridor for outsider; it is a corridor for occupiers and passersby; for us it is our home, she said.

Naela said, On this day, on behalf of the Baloch nation, on this International Day of Human Rights, we demand the UN to please wake up and to please listen what is going on in Balochistan.

A nation of 40 million people - one of the biggest nations on the earth - is living without a country and needs you, Naela appealed to the UN, adding: A nation is going to be finished from the face of the earth, so we are an endangered nation.

Your (UN) work for the endangered species and animals, the world is working for them but what if we are endangered? So, the Baloch nation is going to be finished from the face of the earth and the U.N. is silent and the international community is silent, its a very-very worrisome situation for us, she added.

Observing International Human Rights Day on December 10, Baloch political activists around the world, including the UK, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Germany and many other European nations - held protests against the atrocities committed by the Pakistan establishment on their people back home.

It was on December 10, 1948, when the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In Geneva (Switzerland), Abdul Bugti of Baloch Republican Party said, The objective of the protest demonstration is to highlight the abuses in Balochistan on this occasion. There are massive human rights abuses going on in Balochistan by the terror-state of Pakistan, its army and intelligence agencies.

They are engaged in killing and enforced disappearances of Baloch civilians on daily basis. We have been highlighting these issues and we want international community to stop Baloch genocide, he added.
Speaking at the Judicial Conference yesterday, the CJP said if other institutions failed to perform their duties then the judiciary could intervene to fulfill the aspirations of the people. (Photo: ANI)

Lahore: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali has said all institutions in the country must stay within their domain, adding that the judiciary has the authority to review laws formulated by the executive.

Speaking at the Judicial Conference yesterday, the CJP said if other institutions failed to perform their duties then the judiciary could intervene to fulfill the aspirations of the people.

Stressing on the need for effectively coping with bribery, black-marketing and cronyism, he said that the supremacy of the law was crucial for maintaining peace, protecting rights and upholding the principles of social welfare.

The judiciary, he said, needed the cooperation of the bar to fulfill its responsibilities.

At the occasion, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah said that institutions should have priority over individuals.

Stressing the need for coordination between various departments linked with the judiciary, he said that all problems could be resolved through dialogue.

"All institutions must keep within their limits, keeping (the ideals of) national progress supreme."
Taslima Nasrin wrote that theres no god, and the carefully constructed religious system perpetuated an edifice of patriarchy, power and self-interest.





Clerics benefitted from this. Politicians played weathercock, turning this way and that, according to the mood of the times. That is Taslimas opinion. You could agree or argue with her. She herself suffered from patriarchy, power and the self-interest of politicians. Religion and politics should ideally be debated with clear minds, with no heroes or villains. We do have the example of Shankaracharya in our own cultural backyard, travelling across the country, centuries ago, to prove his point through debate. In the 21st century, Taslima, for her pains, found herself exiled.



This book contains her thoughts. It has poetic outpouring, diary jottings and phone conversations, extracts from articles, personal peeves and ramblings, the (sometimes paranoid) suspicions of one manipulated and used by shakers and movers of the body politic, a cornered person who finds she has no one to appeal to.



You have to get into her skin, in a closed room, with no one else to talk to but her captors, nowhere to go, no clue about her future. And all this, not as punishment, but to ensure her safety from violent fundamentalists, to safeguard her freedom! You have to feel her frustration. The irony of the whole world knowing shes being held, but no one is able to facilitate her release. It makes you wonder at the nature of freedom.



Exile was written five years ago. Translated skillfully by Maharghya Chakraborty, it reaches us in English now. In her Preface, Taslima talks about the flak and injury she faced for presenting the truth as she sees it, placing herself squarely in the plight of Galileo and Darwin. If we stop expressing our opinion because someone will be hurt by them, if we curb the growth and development of scientific knowledge, if we forcibly try to stall the march of civilization, we will end up inhabiting a stagnant quagmire, bereft of knowledge and growth.



Her book Dwikhandito left a trail of indignation and hatred in its wake. It was banned, she was exiled, shunned, and even former friends turned away.



Apart from proclaiming that Islam is not a religion of peace, and that fundamentalists are only being true to their religion, she also drops the names of men shes been intimate with. Have I broken someones trust? I do not remember ever making promises that I will never speak about these incidents to anyone! The repercussions include strongly worded diatribes by men of letters against her integrity and morality.



Expelled from Bangladesh, she lived and worked in cities in the West before coming home to roost in Kolkata, which is just this side of her Bangla homeland, sharing the same language, habits and food. Happy with her writing, friends and admirers, her life is soon shattered. In Hyderabad, to attend the launch of her book Shodh translated into Telugu, she is attacked by Islamic fundamentalists, actually orchestrated by politicians in search of an appropriate cause. That sets off a chain of events.



The dates dont matter here. Nor do people and their reasons. Its the sequence of causes that matters. The writing that doesnt cause a stir until a time comes. Political opportunism dictates everything. It happens, as only a well-oiled system can make it happen. The perception of threat to her life, the pressure to leave West Bengal, the flight to Jaipur, and then, the scariest of all, the drive to the airport to return to Kolkata, which ends up in a safe house in Delhi, sequestered, lonely, and ignorant of the future.



Through all this, Taslima steadfastly refuses to leave India and seek refuge in Western countries where shes been feted and welcomed, since India is closest in character and emotion to her home. Her friends turn cold; others pressurise her to leave for her own sake. Her admirers send messages of confidence, but when the time comes, there are more protestors than supporters on the streets. This is a book that shows what can happen to the bravest soul, the strongest will, when pushed against the wall.



There are repetitions. Entreaties, grouses and bitter examples are paraded again and again, often in the same words throughout the book. She praises India, chastises it for its political duplicity, shows up the hollowness of bureaucratic assurances. This becomes more frequent as we see the rise of her desperation, her terrible loneliness, her diary  the only receptacle for her confidences. The irony of the liberal Left, the secular, egalitarian Left, buckling under the compulsions of the Islamic vote bank. She says, theyll do anything against Hindu fundamentalists, but not say a word against the Islamists. Celebrities support her graciously in words. Politicians turn into a brick wall, diplomacy adding cement to personal embarrassment.



Exile can be read in different ways  as an ode to the impossible dream of being able to uphold the truth by maintaining it; as a portrait of politics that rarely recognises the human viewpoint; as the slow decline of a woman who stood strong. Finally, Taslima leaves India, holding a piece of paper that says she can return any time.



Exile

Taslima Nasrin, translated by Maharghya Chakraborty

Penguin

2016, pp 335, Rs 599


Delhi Police today raided the office of a law firm in southeast Delhi's Greater Kailash-I area and recovered Rs 10 crore in cash, of which Rs 2.5 crore was in new banknotes released after demonetisation.





The raid was carried out by the Crime Branch at the office of T&T Law Firm, said a senior police officer.



"Rs 10 crore was recovered. Out of which, Rs 2.5 crore was in new currency notes and the rest in old notes. The I-T department has been informed," said the officer.



When the police team raided the office, its rooms were locked and a caretaker was present.



Police are searching for the firm promoter Rohit Tandon.



Police said more raids would be conducted in this connection.
A 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death after he tried to intervene in a brawl between his school mates in east Delhi's Shakarpur area on Friday.





One juvenile has been apprehended and few others are being questioned by the police for the crime.



Body of the victim Akash has been handed over to the family after postmortem for last rites, said police.



Class 10 student Akash is survived by his parents and an elder sister. Police said Akash lived in Mandawali and studied in a government school in Shakarpur.



On Friday, police said, Akash didn't go to school for some unspecified reasons. However in the afternoon, after having lunch, he walked towards his school to meet his friends.



In the evening, Akash was standing at the boundary of a ground near the school and watching his colleagues play a sport where the members of opposing teams were hitting each other with a ball.



As the play was on, suddenly two boys of opposing teams starterd having an argument over some issue. Soon the players of the opposing teams started beating each other, forcing Akash to intervene.



As Akash was persuading the boys to stop the fight, a boy lunged toward him with a knife and stabbed it on his chest multiple times.



An injured Akash was rushed to nearby Metro hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.



The accused in the case was nabbed from his home on Friday and the next day he was produced before a juvenile justice board which sent him to a juvenile home, said police.
A jealous woman instigated her lover to murder his wife and her roommate in south Delhi's Munirka last month. Police said the new wife had taunted her about being the "other woman", provoking the killings.





The bodies of the two women - one of them beheaded - were found in separate places in Munirka last month.



Police have arrested one man and the woman and are looking for two others

The arrested are identified as Mini Sangam and Jeevan. Mini hails from Shillong in Meghalaya while Jeevan is from Nepal. Arjun and Govind are still at large, police said.



The crime was first noticed on November 18 when a young woman's body was recovered wrapped in polythene outside a temple in Munirka.



A week later, a headless body of another woman was found, half a kilometer away from the temple, inside Munirka village's sewer.



With the identity of both the bodies still a mystery then, several police teams were formed to crack the cases.



On the very next day, police said, a person identified the second body to be of Sushma Rai, a native of Assam.



The witness told police that Sushma had been missing since November 16, and he then led the investigators to a rented house where she had been staying with a Nepali woman Nayesha.



During investigation, it was found out that Nayesha had also been missing from the place for the last 10-12 days.



Investigators noticed that the women's rented house was barely 100 metres away from the temple from where Nayehs'a body was found and only 500 metres from where Mini's body was found.



With both the cases starting to look related to each other, police got the mobile call details of Mini and found out a bunch of people with whom she had been in contact in the last few days before her disappearance.



Police said the two women were spa workers and were in touch with a group of persons hailing from Nepal.



This group was identified as consisting of Jeevan, Govind and Arjun. It was also learnt that this group members had rented accommodation in south Delhi, and used to help people from Nepal or with Nepali roots, get rented houses in Munirka and nearby areas.



Landlords of these properties revealed to police that the trio had left Munirka village in the evening of November 25 and were not seen again since then.



While Jeevan and Govind were learnt to be living alone, Arjun was said to be living with two children, reportedly from an earlier marriage. The cell phones of the trio were switched off. However, the last location of some of the many numbers being used by them were found to be along an international border.



Continuing investigation brought into the picture another woman named Mini Sangam, who was reported to be in close relationship with Arjun, and was learnt to be taking care of his children as a foster mother. Neha was also found missing.



On December 9, information was received that Jeevan was expected to arrive at Anand Vihar ISBT for boarding a Delhi-Sonauli bus which would take him to the Indo-Nepal International border. A police team nabbed Jeevan at the ISBT.



During his interrogation, Jeevan disclosed that a large sum of money earned by Sushma and Nayesha, which they used to deposit with Arjun for safe custody, had been accumulated. Though both the women were pressing hard for their money, Arjun, had developed other ideas.



Jeevan further disclosed that Arjun, who was in a live-in relationship with Mini, decided to exploit the soft corner that deceased Sushma had towards him in order to avoid paying her dues.



"Arjun clandestinely married Sushma a day after Karwa Chauth and managed to convince her that from now onwards, their assets and liabilities were common," said R P Upadhyay, Joint Commissioner of Police (southeast).



However, one day, in order to spite Mini, Sushma - who used to be jealous of Mini for her closeness with Arjun - disclosed to her that she had married Arjun.



"This was the precipitating point for Mini, who, thereafter, became the prime motivator and instigator for the trio to eliminate Sushma at any cost," Upadhyay added.



Over the following days, several plans were hatched and finally, in the wee hours of November 17 Sushma was brutally murdered by the trio, beheaded and dumped in a nearby sewer using its manhole.



The story, however, did not end there as Nayesha, who was also owed money by the trio, was the closest friend and roommate of Sushma and was in the knowledge of her marriage with Arjun.



"Accordingly, within the next 24 hours of the murder of Sushma, Nayesha was also killed and her body was dumped along the road side in a black plastic sack," said a police officer.



With the help of technical analysis and information given by Jeevan, Mini was also arrested on December 10.


Reacting to the Rajasthan High Court's decision of scrapping reservation given to the Gurjar community, its leaders held a meeting on Saturday to chalk out a plan to restart their agitation to get increased quota in government jobs and education institutes.





Members of Gurjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti blamed the state government for this and once again threatened to launch mass agitation across the state.



Gujjar Samitis spokesperson Himmat Singh Gurjar, holding state government responsible for courts decision, told DH, Today, we started analyzing the courts judgement in depth. The state government has deceived us. We knew that the decision would not be in our favour until Gurjar reservation gets listed under Schedule IX of the Constitution. We will be holding the stir once again in the state.



A high level meeting will be held on Sunday to decide the further strategy.



Dissatisfied with the decision, Gujjar leader, ex-army Col Kirori Singh Bainsla said, We will fight until justice is pronounced. Our community is ready to fight, the BJP government has failed to fulfill their promises.



The Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court on Friday struck down the 5% quota in Special Backward Classes (SBC) reservation in the state given to Gujjars and five other communities.



The bench, comprising Justice M N Bhandari and Justice J K Ranka, pronounced the judgement. The decision to provide reservation was taken on November 28, 2012. A separate 5% quota to the SBCs without touching the 21% reservation available to Other Backward Classes took the overall reservation in jobs and education to 54% in the state.



Since 2006, the Gujjars have created the stir demanding quota. The community members blocked national highways and railway tracks and were fired upon by the

police.



As many as 72 people died during the agitation. The Gujjars showed their discontent with the courts decision and held the state government responsible for not not fulfilling their promise to get the provision protected under Schedule IX of the Constitution.



The community, presently enjoying the OBC status, had initially demanded its inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes and was later persuaded to accept the creation of a new reserved category for it.



The court held that the special reservation beyond the permissible limit of 50% cannot be made and the report of the OBC Commission of the state was a calculated one to favour these communities.
Oregon Court of Appeals Judge James C. Egan describes the work of his court with the common sense you would expect from a country boy who grew up in Tangent.

Egan says Oregons 191 circuit court judges mine the ore; the 13 members of the Oregon Court of Appeals hammer it into shape; and the states seven Supreme Court judges put a fine edge on it.

Egan, 60  who prefers to be called Jim unless hes at work  officially took office in February 2013. An attorney for 25 years, Egan was a circuit court judge for 2 years.

The Circuit Court is like a roller coaster and the Court of Appeals is more like a merry-go-round, Egan said. Every day at the Circuit Court, the hallway is lined with people and the cases vary greatly. You go from hearings to trials, to jury instructions. We might have anything from a murder arraignment to a drug sentencing to a sexual abuse trial.

By contrast, although the judges are hearing the same types of cases as the lower courts, the hallways of the Court of Appeals are quiet, which belies the urgency of the caseloads facing each judge.

The court handles anywhere from 2,500 to as many as 4,000 cases per year, although about 70 percent of the cases are affirmed quickly.

Egans fellow Court of Appeals judges are Chief Judge Erika Hadlock, Rex Armstrong, Darleen Ortega, Timothy Sercombe, Rebecca Duncan, Joel DeVore, Erin Lagesen, Douglas Tookey, Chris Garrett, Meagan Flynn, Roger DeHoog and Scott Shorr.

When Egan took the oath of office four years ago, he became the 10th sitting judge and although three new positions had been approved, they had not yet been funded. That has since occurred and there are now 13 judges who work in panels of three.

Whats really nice is that we hear a lot of workers compensation cases and I specialized in that for many years in private practice, Egan said. I have been fortunate to write decisions on two key cases.

Egan, who spent 34 years in the military  active and reserves  said his first year on the Court of Appeals was a lot like someones first year in the Marine Corps. I enjoyed the challenge. It was a real hoot, but I got lucky and got a seasoned clerk who had a great teaching personality.

Egan said that is important, since the judges actually have a style book which sets out parameters about language and styles used in writing decisions.

Egan said clerks serve for two years and most of them are overachievers who graduated in the Top 10 percent of their classes at law school.

But I like to mix it up, Egan said. Every other year I pick someone from an alternative group. For example, Jennifer Potter had practiced law in Albany for five years. She is female and Hispanic, both of which are under-represented. She brought a completely different perspective that was much needed.

Former delinquent

If there was a surprise involved in the move to the Court of Appeals, it was the sheer volume of cases. Egan predicts that will only grow.

Each panel of three judges is assigned about 625 cases per year, so thats two per day and each comes with 50 to 100 pages of briefs, Egan said. We affirm 70 percent of the cases right off the bat on average, which shows Oregon judges are by and large getting things right.

On average, the judges complete one case each week and they write a 15- to 20-page decision for each.

We try to get cases out within six months, but some can take more than a year, Egan said.

Thats a sharp contrast to the circuit courts, where you have to learn to make decisions in five minutes, Egan said. But its also important to remember that you are making a decision based on perhaps the worst 10 minutes of someones life.

Egan calls himself a former juvenile delinquent, which proved beneficial as a Circuit Court judge.

I used to tell kids who werent understanding the seriousness of their situation about my jail cell, Egan said. They thought I was talking about having an open cell to put them in. Instead, we would take them up to the fourth floor of the courthouse, to the old jail and I would show them the cell I spent some time in. They usually got the message.

He also took pride in helping the young people grasp complex subjects by reading classic books such as To Kill a Mockingbird" to learn about racial issues, or Of Mice and Men to understand real poverty.

Egan said each judge brings a unique background and profile to the court. He is one of two judges who have served as Circuit Court judges, along with Roger DeHoog, who served on the Deschutes County bench.

Before a hearing, the three of us on our panel meet briefly around a conference table, Egan said. We have all read the briefs. We take an informal straw poll and then hear about half the cases. The other half are decided on the briefs alone.

In about half of the cases, the court affirms the lower court judges ruling.

They then argue about the remaining 15 percent.

We dont really argue, Egan said. Its really just a conversation and our clerks and staff attorneys are present. They often comment as well.

Egan sits on the Judicial Fitness Commission, which has had some interesting cases in the last year, including that of Marion County Judge Vance Day, who was indicted on gun and misconduct charges.

Egan says its too early to tell whether Oregons new recreational marijuana laws will increase the Oregon Court of Appeals caseload.

It will probably depend on whether President-elect Trumps administration exercises pre-emption, which means that federal law outweighs state laws, Egan said.

Marijuana possession remains illegal under federal law at this time.

One thing Egan misses since becoming an appellate judge is that he cannot be active in politics, even on the local level. He said he has been interested and active in politics since he was a teen.

My wife, Michelle, and I like to take part in walks to benefit charities, Egan said.

Between them, the Egans have eight children. His wife went back to college a few years ago and is now in her third year at Oregon State, where she is studying sociology, a subject her husband finds fascinating.

Egan recently retired from the military after 34 years of active and reserve military duty.

It guess it was in my genetics, he said of his enlistment in the Marine Corps while a long-haired Willamette University student in the 1970s. My dad served in the Army Air Corps at the end of World War II.

Egan said he has no plans to retire from the bench any time soon.

Ill probably still be working when Im 75, he said.

Egan has served as a pro-tem judge on the Supreme Court. The case involved Kip Kinkel, who killed his parents and two students at Thurston High School in Springfield.

Would he be interested in serving on the Oregon Supreme Court?

He says yes, but that all depends on timing of potential openings and if he is in an election cycle. His current term expires in 2019.

In the meantime, the judge continues to be visible in the mid-valley: At 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 4, he will talk with two sections of the AVID college prep classes at South Albany High School. Last year, he and two other judges heard three real cases at West Albany.
Other contenders for the secretary of state position include former CIA Director David Petraeus and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker.



Tillerson's Exxon has billions of dollars in business partnerships with Russian-companies, he said, adding that the Exxon CEO opposed the sanctions that were passed under the Obama Administration to keep Putin in check.



"And Tillerson has even been awarded a medal by Vladimir Putin. And if that wasn't enough, Putin's apparent hack of the RNC means he also has leverage over the President-elect and the incoming Chief of Staff," he said.



Democratic Senator Ed Markey said Trump Administration should expect a major battle if Tillerson is nominated as Secretary of State.



"Nominating Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson to be Secretary of State would be handing over the keys to US foreign policy to Big Oil. Donald Trump would be sending a strong signal to OPEC and the entire global fossil fuel industry that oil will be America's primary foreign policy priority. We cannot allow oil to replace diplomacy as the currency of the US Department of State," Markey said.



"I am deeply concerned that Tillerson's long and close ties to Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin could unduly influence his decision making at a time when we need to be direct and tough with Russia, given recent credible reports of Russian efforts to interfere in our democracy, and events in Syria and Ukraine," said Senator Chris Coons.



"The role of Secretary of State should not be bestowed upon someone whose only notable experience with foreign governments involve multimillion dollar deals with Russia and whose experience with the federal government seems to be limited to campaigns against the effects of climate change," demanded Senator Robert Menendez.



The news about Tillerson's likely nomination has come a day after President Barack Obama ordered intelligence officials to conduct a full review of "malicious cyber activity" during the 2016 US presidential polls, amid growing concerns over Russia's interference in the American election cycle.



"The President, earlier this week, instructed the intelligence community to conduct a full review of the pattern of malicious cyber activity related to our presidential election cycle," White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz told reporters on Friday.



Obama has requested this report be completed and submitted to him before the end of his term, he said.



Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson has emerged as the leading candidate for secretary of state in a Donald Trump administration but two top Republican Senators warned that his nomination could face intense scrutiny due to the veteran oil executive's close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.The final announcement is expected to be made in the middle of this week. If nominated by the US President-elect, 64-year-old Tillerson would be quite an unusual selection to the top post of America's top diplomat.Tillerson, is currently on top of the list of Trump's Secretary of State because of his contacts with the world leaders, in particular Russian President Putin, US media said.Tillerson, who met with Trump in New York yesterday, is considered one of the faces of Big Oil globally.Transition officials, however cautioned that Trump has not made a final decision yet. However in an interview to Fox News, Trump praised the Exxon Mobil CEO."He's more than a business executive; he's a world-class player. He's in charge of I guess the largest company in the world," Trump told Fox News."To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company  not for himself, for the company," he added.Tillerson emerged as Trump's leading candidate for Secretary of State over 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and three others.The Washington Post warned that Tillerson's nomination could face intense scrutiny in the Senate, considering his years of work in Russia and the Middle East on behalf of the multinational petroleum company.Already, two leading Republican hawks, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have voiced concerns about Tillerson's serving as the nation's top diplomat because of his ties to Putin, the daily said.In 2011, Exxon signed a deal with Russian oil giant Rosneft to provide access to oil resources in the Arctic.Rosneft's largest shareholder is the Russian government. Putin attended the Exxon signing ceremony and later awarded Tillerson the country's Order of Friendship.NBC News which first reported about Tillerson's possible nomination, said that Tillerson would be joined by the former US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, as the Deputy Secretary of State, who would be responsible for the day-to-day management of the State Department.Reacting to reports about Tillerson, the Democratic National Committee communications director Adam Hodge said Trump's "outrageous pick" of Tillerson to be Secretary of State demonstrates once again that he lied to the country about draining the swamp, and he's turning the government over to the same Wall Street bankers, Washington insiders and special interests he railed against during the campaign."It's also another victory for Vladimir Putin, who interfered in our election to help elect Trump and now has a close ally with no foreign policy experience serving as America's top diplomat," he said in a statement.
Bestselling author Paulo Coelho retells the unforgettable story of history's most enigmatic woman Mata Hari in her voice through her final letter.



Termed as a novel based on real events, "The Spy" is translated from the Portuguese work by Zoe Perry.



"Although I tried to base my novel on the actual facts of Mata Hari's life, I had to create some dialogue, merge certain scenes, change the order of a few events, and eliminate anything I thought was not relevant to the narratives," Coelho says.



When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless. Within months she was the most celebrated woman in the city. As a dancer, she shocked and delighted audiences; as a courtesan, she bewitched the era's richest and most powerful men.



But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari's lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917, she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees, and accused of espionage.



"The Spy" is the unforgettable story of a woman who dared to defy convention and who paid the ultimate price.



On her execution, Coelho writes, "Shortly before 5 am, a party of 18 men - most of them officers of the French army - climbed to the second floor of Saint-Lazare, the women's prison in Paris. Guided by a warder carrying a torch to light the lamps, they stopped in front of cell 12.



"Nuns were charged with looking after the prison. Sister Leonide opened the door and asked that everyone wait outside as she entered the cell, struck a match against the wall, and lit the lamp inside. Then she called one of the other sisters to help.



"With great affection and care, Sister Leonide draped her arm around the sleeping body. The woman struggled to waken, as though disinterested in anything. According to the nun's statement, when she finally awoke, it was as though she emerged from a peaceful slumber."



When a French lieutenant held out a white cloth to one of the sisters and asked them to blindfold Mata Hari's eyes, she asked "Must I wear that?"



"If Madame prefers not to, it is not mandatory," replied the lieutenant.



"Mata Hari was neither bound nor blindfolded; she stood, gazing steadfastly at her executioners, as the priest, the nuns, and her lawyer stepped away," the book, published by Penguin Random House, says.



After she was fired upon, Mata Hari remained upright for a fraction of a second.



"She did not die the way you see in moving pictures after people are shot. She did not plunge forward or backward, and she did not throw her arms up or to the side. She collapsed onto herself, her head still up, her eyes still open. One of the soldiers fainted.



"Then her knees buckled and her body fell to the right, legs doubled up beneath the fur coat. And there she lay, motionless, with her face turned toward the heavens," Coelho writes.



As Mata Hari waited for her execution in a Paris prison, one of her last requests was for a pen and some paper to write letters.



Over the past twenty years, MI5 in the UK and Germany and Holland have released their files on Mata Hari, and it provided Coelho with a trove of information as he was researching his novel.



"I ended up with a mountain of documents," Coelho says, "but also with a question: What did Mata Hari write in those letters? And how was she caught in so many traps, set by both friends and enemies?"


Retired employees have been roped in by the Bank Note Press (BNP) at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh to meet the demand for new currency following the cash recall exercise which has triggered a huge liquidity crunch.





The facility, managed by Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL), is working round-the-clock to help tide over the cash crisis.



"The unit is working to its full capacity with the help of retired and experienced employees. The first consignment of new notes was sent to Bhopal on December 1," a senior BNP officer told PTI on condition of anonymity.



Several consignments were sent to Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Guwahati, Kanpur, Bengaluru, Indore and Bhopal since then, he said.



The BNP has been regularly sending two to three consignments of currency notes to the Indore airport for transporting them to different locations of the country.



"The consignments are airlifted to different cities, where RBI chests are located. The unit was printing Rs 20, 50, 100 and 500 bills prior to the demonetisation announcement. Now, the unit is only printing the new currency notes of Rs 500 denomination", BNP officer added.



The employees are also working during lunch break and have their meal as and when they get time to ensure the printing work does not suffer, he said.



In addition to engaging the retired employees, the unit has also cancelled the leave and weekly holidays of all its staffers, he said.



Another officer lamented the shortage of staff at Dewas BNP, located about 150km from the state capital Bhopal.



"Over the years, the strength of employees had been reduced to half at 1,500 following modernisation of printing process. We are under pressure now following demonetisation," he added.



The employees, however, are in high spirit over the renewed targets. "I skipped the marriage of my own brother after the unit started working round-the-clock," said Anil Gupta, an employee of BNP.



Another staffer Suraj Sharma said he could not attend the marriage ceremony of his sister-in-law.



"We are working round-the-clock in interest of the country. This is not disturbing us. Instead, we are feeling proud," said Kamal Chouhan, a retired employee.



Another facility in Madhya Pradesh contributing in dealing with the November 8 note invalidation fallout is Security Paper Mill (SPM), situated in Hoshangabad, about 75km from Bhopal. This mill produces the paper for currency notes.



"We have increased the production of security paper used for currency notes. As many as 1,200 employees of this unit are also working round-the-clock to meet the requirements of paper for currency notes," a senior official of SPM said.
Expressing concern over virtual washout of the Winter Session of Parliament amidst continued opposition protest on demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said parties "discarded" by the people have stalled proceedings in both the Houses.





"Parliament has not been allowed to function for 20 days. We are ready for a debate (on demonetisation) but we are not being allowed to present our view point by those very parties that have been discarded by the electorate," he said.



Modi was addressing BJP's Parivartan Yatra through mobile phone from Lucknow after the IAF chopper carrying him failed to land in Bahraich due to poor visibility.



"They (opposition) come to the Well of the House...throw paper at the Speaker. We want to put forth the government's view point...but they are not allowing us to do so," he said.



On demonetisation, he said, "You must have seen that the government is after people who have stashed black money. The government is committed to empowering the poor. The people are also taking pain to ensure the country moves on the path of development."



Attacking Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, Modi said both the parties are talking in the "same tone". He said both the parties are facing "hardship" due to note ban.



Modi said only BJP could fulfil aspirations of the people of Uttar Pradesh and appealed to the electorate in Awadh region to vote for the party in the coming Assembly polls in the state.



"For Uttar Pradesh to progress, poverty and goonda raj need to be removed," he said.

"Police are also helping those who are indulging in hooliganism. We have to crush those patronising 'goondagardi' (hooliganism). BJP will fulfill aspirations of the people of the state," he said.



Asking people to learn to use mobile banking, Modi said, "I am addressing you through mobile. You can turn your mobile into your bank. You have to learn it slowly."



Modi was national general secretary of BJP when he visited Bahraich in 2001 for the first time, and later in November 2013 for the second time.



This was BJP's 5th Parivartan Yatra to be addressed by the Prime Minister in the state.



Modi has earlier addressed four parivartan rallies at Ghazipur, Agra, Kushinagar and Moradabad. His next rally is scheduled to be held in Kanpur on December 19.



State BJP President Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "The Prime Minister Narendra will try to come again to Bahraich when his schedule and weather allow."
Two girls approximately seven or eight years old blew themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian market today, killing themselves and wounding at least 17 others, witnesses said.





The girls were "seven or eight", a local militia member in Maiduguri, Abdulkarim Jabo, told AFP.



Emergency services on-site in the town, the epicentre of the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency, said 17 people sustained injuries.



Maiduguri militia-man Jabo said he saw the girls today immediately before the explosion.

"They got out of a rickshaw and walked right in front of me without showing the slightest sign of emotion," he said.



"I tried to speak with one of them, in Hausa and in English, but she didn't answer. I thought they were looking for their mother," he added.



"She headed toward the poultry sellers, and then detonated her explosives belt."

The attack was not immediately claimed by Boko Haram but bore all the hallmarks of the jihadists, who have regularly used women and young girls to carry out suicide attacks in their seven-year insurgent campaign in the troubled region.



On Friday at least 45 people died and 33 others were wounded in another double suicide attack carried out by female bombers in the northeast.
The Islamic State jihadist group recaptured Palmyra today after Syrian armed forces pulled out of the desert city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.





"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.



The jihadists made a lightning-fast advance across the city after overrunning a northern neighbourhood and capturing the famed citadel to Palmyra's west.



The IS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that IS regained "full control" of the city today after taking the citadel, which overlooks Palmyra from a strategic hilltop.



IS launched an offensive last week near Palmyra, a renowned UNESCO World Heritage site.



It seized oil and gas fields before making a major push into the desert city yesterday, sparking new worries for Palmyra's remaining ancient treasures.



But a fierce Russian bombing campaign killed scores of IS fighters and forced others to withdraw at dawn today.



"Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.



"The army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on jihadist positions around the city," he told AFP.



In a statement issued in Moscow, the defence ministry said Russian warplanes conducted 64 air strikes against "positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants" in Palmyra.



"Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra," it said in a statement.



"The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery," it said, adding that the strikes killed more than 300 militants and destroyed 11 tanks and 31 vehicles.



Russia has carried out a bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.



IS fighters have used hit-and-run tactics to cut their losses of personnel and equipment, withdrawing under intense bombardment but quickly relaunching an attack when skies are clear.



The jihadists have killed around 100 members of Syrian government forces since launching simultaneous attacks on several regime positions near Palmyra on Thursday, the Britain-based Observatory said.



They targeted areas including near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and seized government checkpoints, silos and the village of Jazal, northwest of Palmyra.



In May last year, the Sunni Muslim extremist group seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites.
Two persons were killed and three others injured in a freak accident that involved an explosion in a moving chemical tanker and subsequent pile-up of three vehicles on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway today, causing massive disruption of traffic for hours.





"The incident occurred near a petrol pump at Wadoli village in Palghar district adjoining Mumbai in afternoon when the tanker carrying some inflammable chemical caught fire while moving while a truck rammed into it from behind, causing an explosion," Talasari tehsildar (revenue official) Vishal Doundkar told PTI.



Due to the impact, the affected tanker hit another truck ahead of it while a car collided with the tanker from behind.



The deceased have been identified as Ramesh Khot and Razzak Bapu Gavad who were travelling in the truck that hit the tanker from behind.



The injured persons have been identified as Ajinkya Patil (29), Prachi Patil (50) and Rasika Patil (50), who were travelling in the car.



Talasari police inspector Keshav Naik said the tanker belonged to Mumbai-based Amit Roadlines.



Fire tenders from nearby areas and also Khanvel on the outskirts of Gujarat were dispatched to douse the flames, Doundkar said, adding the tanker was gutted in fire.



The authorities had a tough time in managing the traffic on the busy highway as the accident took place just near a petrol pump which was also cordoned off.



The accident caused a massive traffic snarl on the busy highway, with long queues of vehicles stretching upto at least five kms.


Last year, Google consumed as much energy as the city of San Francisco. Next year, it said, all of that energy will come from wind farms and solar panels.





The online giant said recently that all of its data centres around the world would be entirely powered with renewable energy sources sometime next year.



This is not to say that Google computers will consume nothing but wind and solar power. Like almost any company, Google gets power from a power company, which operates an energy grid typically supplied by a number of sources, including hydroelectric dams, natural gas, coal and wind power.



What Google has done over the past decade, with relatively little fanfare, is participate in a number of large-scale deals with renewable producers, typically guaranteeing to buy the energy they produce with their wind turbines and solar cells. With those guarantees, wind companies can obtain bank financing to build more turbines.



The power created by the renewables is plugged into the utility grid, so that Googles usage presents no net consumption of fossil fuels and the pool of electricity gets a relatively larger share of renewable sources. We are the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world, said Joe Kava, Googles senior vice president of technical infrastructure. Its good for the economy, good for business and good for our shareholders.



Unlike carbon-based power, Kava said, wind supply prices do not fluctuate, enabling Google to plan better. In addition, the more renewable energy it buys, the cheaper those sources get. In some places, like Chile, Google said, renewables have at times become cheaper than fossil fuels.



Whether Google is the largest buyer of renewables would be difficult to verify, as many industries do not release data on how much energy they consume. There is no doubt, however, that Googles large computer complexes, along with similar global operations by Amazon and Microsoft, are among the worlds fastest-growing new consumers of electricity.



Google hopes that success in working with large wind farms, like the 50,000-acre facility in Minco, Oklahoma, which supplies Googles large data centre in Pryor, Oklahoma, will spur development of the industry. NextEra Energy, which owns the wind farm, has about 115 wind farms in the United States and Canada.



About 25 percent of US electricity goes to businesses, and companies like Google are about 2 percentage points of that. Dominion Virginia Power, located in a state with perhaps the worlds largest concentration of data centres, last year had a demand increase from those customers of 9 percent, while overall demand was nearly flat, according to Dominion.



Google operates eight different businesses, including internet search engines, YouTube and Gmail, each of which has more than 1 billion customers. They run on a global network of 13 large-scale data centers, each one a complex of many buildings containing hundreds of thousands of computers.



The 5.7 terawatt-hours of electricity Google consumed in 2015 is equal to the output of two 500 megawatt coal plants, said Jonathan Koomey, a research fellow at Stanford Universitys Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance. That is enough for two 140,000-person towns. For one company to be doing this is a very big deal. It means other companies of a similar scale will feel pressure to move.




Around 43% of the 1,079 high court judges posts remain vacant at present, but the government seeks to put the blame for the delay in filling up vacancies majorly at the doors of higher judiciary.





According to official statistics as of November 1, there are 461 vacancies in 24 high courts with Hyderabad and Karnataka having the highest proportion of vacancies.



While the Hyderabad High Court has a vacancy of 60.8% (38 vacancies against 61 posts), Karnataka has 59% (37 against 62) vacant posts of judges in its high court.



If one goes by the numbers, the Allahabad High Court has the highest number of vacancies  there are just 77 judges, while the sanctioned strength is 160, leaving 83 vacancies. Allahabad High Court has around 51% vacancy, while the high courts in Chhattisgarh (50%) and Assam (45.8%) also have higher proportion of vacancies.

The Department of Justice under the Ministry of Law, however, appears not willing to take the blame for the delay in filling up vacant posts.



In its deposition before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in October, the department pointed major reasons for the delay in filling up vacancies.



Major reasons for delay in filling up of the vacancies are due to rejection of candidates recommended by the High Court Collegium ranging between 30 to 80% by Supreme Court Collegium for various reasons, adverse Intelligence reports, creation of 173 additional posts and halting of fresh selection between April 13 to December 16, 2015, due to National Judicial Appointments Commission case in the Supreme Court, it told the Parliamentary panel.



In many cases, it said, the High Court Collegium recommends names to the Supreme Court after two years of occurrence of such vacancies, which is in contravention to the Memorandum of Procedure for the process of appointment.



The panel, on its part, expressed its deep anguish that recruitment process for the vacancies occurring as early as in 2007 was not initiated by certain high courts as late 2016.



The committee understands that several high courts wait initiation of the proposal till a bunch of vacancies becomes available. This practice is not desirable and leads to delay in filling up the vacancies apart from being violative to the timeliness laid in the Second Judges Case and existing Memorandum of Procedure and needs to be discontinued forthwith, the panel said.
All roads led to the Palace Grounds on Sunday, where the happening couple from the Kannada film industry - Yash and Radhika Pandith - hosted a grand reception exclusively for their fans.





The number of fans kept swelling throughout the day, resulting in traffic snarls outside the ground.



This is reportedly the first time in Sandalwood a reception was hosted only for the fans.

After entering wedlock on Friday, the couple had organised a separate reception for their friends from the film industry and political bigwigs on Saturday.



As the couple walked up on to the tastefully decorated stage at around 11 am, the fans erupted in jubilation. The fans made a human pyramid and some climbed atop trees to have a glimpse of the couple. A few tried to even cross the barricade and climb on to the stage.



The police and bouncers had a tough time managing the crowd, which is estimated have been over 40,000. This prompted Yash to ask his fans to maintain order.



In the afternoon, the fans were treated to a special lunch, of popular Karnataka recipes, including ragi balls (mudde). Besides a buffet system, a separate lunch counter was arranged for people from the film industry.



About 600 people were involved in serving the food. The reception was attended by fans from all over Karnataka. Hussain S, a young fan from Yadgir district, is in the city since Saturday only to see the star couple.



I spent the night in Bengaluru with the hope to meet him today. They are my favourite actors and I do not miss their movies, he said. Mahesh M V from Nandini Layout too attended the event, along with his wife and children.



I am Yashs diehard fan. We saw the video of him inviting all the fans for the reception on Facebook, he added.


Hindu Spiritual and Service Foundation, along with RSS, will organise a five-day state-level Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair - 2016 from December 14 on the National High School Grounds in Basavanagudi.





Speaking with journalists here on Sunday, Muralli Mallayappan, the Foundations reception committee vice president, said that this will be the second edition of the fair in Karnataka.

The five-day conclave will have more than 250 Hindu socio-religious service institutions from across the state showcasing their services. Various cultural and spiritual programmes will also be held. At least three lakh people, along with 200 students from various educational institutions, are expected to take part.



The event will include six themes  conserve forest and protect wildlife; sustain environment; foster womens honour; preserve ecology; inculcate family and human values and instill patriotism. Eminent personalities from different walks of like, including Dr K Kasturirangan and Sri Shivaratri Deshikendra Mahaswami of Sutturu Mutt, will participate, said Arakalli Venkatesh, coordinator. On day 1, a Shobhayatra will be held from Basavanagudi Ganapathi Temple to the National College Grounds. On December 15, patriotic programmes on Rasthra Vandana will be held. On December 16, cultural programmes on Mathru Vandana will be held and on December 17, special yoga sessions will be held.


Unidentified miscreants damaged the statue of St Antony and displaced the statue of St Lawrence at Our Lady of Health Church in Shirva on Sunday.





Parish priest Rev Fr Stany Tauro told DH that the statue of St Antony was broken while the statue of St Lawrence was displaced. He added that no damage was caused to the Church.



These two statues, kept in the portico of the Church, were found broken and displaced.



The incident might have taken place between 1 pm and 3 pm. Prayers were held in the Church in the morning and the statues were intact. As it was Sunday, no one was present on the Church premises after the prayers, he added.



The Shirva police have registered a case.
In a series of statements that would sting Ratan Tata, ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry on Sunday linked former defence secretary Vijay Singh, a member of the board of Tata Sons, with the AgustaWestland chopper deal.





Its amusing to see Vijay Singh concoct theories to defend his role in Ratan Tatas conspiracy to replace Cyrus Mistry. To understand the true motives of Vijay Singhs statements, it is important to understand his track record, the office of Mistry said in a detailed statement targeting Singh, a non-executive director of Tata Sons.



A 1970-batch IAS officer, Singh was a former chief secretary in the Madhya Pradesh government and has served in the Union government in various capacities, including as defence secretary. In the three-page statement, the Mistrys office quoted several media reports against Singh.



In 2006, he was unceremoniously removed from the post of chief secretary by the then chief minister during the clean-up of the Rs 700 crore Inter Corporate Deposit (ICD) scam in Madhya Pradesh, the statement said.



It further said: As recent media headlines indicate, the ex-chief of the IAF, S P Tyagi, was arrested by the CBI in the AugustaWestland scam. Many questions continue to remain unanswered. As defence secretary, Singh was a key official involved in the award of the Rs 3600-crore plus VVIP helicopter contract to AugustaWestland in 2010. It is a matter of public record that the government had to cancel the contract, dubbed Choppergate by the media, due to charges of corruption and graft.



Then targeting Ratan Tata, the statement further added: In 2010, Ratan Tata had set up a JV with Italy-based Finmeccanica SpAs helicopter unit AgustaWestland, called Indian Rotor Craft (IRL) to manufacture AW119 utility helicopters. Media reports indicate that the assembly line envisaged in this JV would address part of Finmeccanicas offset obligation arising from the sale of the now cancelled VVIP helicopters.



It is a matter of record that Ratan Tata travelled to Italy to voluntarily depose for Finmeccanicas chief Guiseppe Orsi as a defense witness in 2014. Incidentally, in April of this year, an Italian court sentenced Orsi to jail for false accounting and corruption, the statement points out.



After the retirement of Tata, on his instructions, Singh was invited to join the Tata Sons board in 2013.



Meanwhile, former defence secretary Vijay Singh denied Cyrus Mistrys allegation, saying AgustaWestland acquisition was approved by the Cabinet after his retirement, reports PTI.


Exxon- Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson has emerged as the leading candidate for secretary of state in the Donald Trump administration, reports said.





But two top Republican senators warned that his nomination could face intense scrutiny due to the veteran oil executives close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.



The final announcement is expected to be made this week. If nominated by the US President-elect, 64-year-old Tillerson would be quite an unusual selection to the top post of Americas adminstration.



Tillerson is currently on top of Trumps list because of his contacts with the world leaders, in particular Russian President Putin, the US media said.



Tillerson, who met Trump in New York on Saturday, is considered one of the faces of Big Oil globally.



Transition officials, however, cautioned that Trump has not made a final decision yet.

However, in an interview to Fox News, Trump praised the ExxonMobil CEO.


Hindu Spiritual and Service Foundation, along with RSS, will organise a five-day state-level Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair - 2016 from December 14 on the National High School Grounds.





Speaking with journalists here on Sunday, Muralli Mallayappan, the Foundations reception committee vice president, said that this will be the second edition of the fair in Karnataka. The five-day conclave will have more than 250 Hindu socio-religious service institutions from across the state showcasing their services. Various cultural and spiritual programmes will also be held. At least three lakh people, along with 200 students from various educational institutions, are expected to take part.



The event will include six themes  conserve forest and protect wildlife; sustain environment; foster womens honour; preserve ecology; inculcate family and human values and instill patriotism. Eminent personalities from different walks of like, including Dr K Kasturirangan and Sri Shivaratri Deshikendra Mahaswami of Sutturu Mutt, will participate, said Arakalli Venkatesh, coordinator.


A government appointed committee on higher education has recommended that a centralised system be put in place for appointment of assistant professors in universities across the state.





The panel headed by former Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor Dr N R Shetty has submitted its recommendations in this regard to the state government.



At present, aspirants for the post of assistant professors have to apply separately at the university levels. Besides, there are different recruitment rules in different universities.



When contacted by DH, Dr Shetty said that besides bringing in uniformity, rules could be framed under the new system to ensure the best of budding teaching talent is absorbed at the university level. Another recommendation of the Dr Shetty panel that most of the state universities be brought under a single umbrella legislation, has been accepted by the government.



A bill in this regard will be introduced in the state legislature when it meets in January 2017, official sources said.



At present, there are 21 legislations governing 27 state universities. The umbrella legislation will cover 22 universities barring Rajiv Gandhi University for Health Sciences (RGUHS), University of Agricultural Sciences at Bengaluru, Dharwad, Raichur and Shivamogga and Karnataka State Law University, Hubballi.



The identity and the jurisdiction of the universities, however, will remain untouched.

Will remain the same.



The structure of present universities including the highest decision making body - the Syndicate- and other bodies such as Academic Council will remain the same.



Dr Shetty said the common legislation will ensure uniformity in functioning of universities, academic calender of events, conduct of examinations, appointment of staff, admission process among others. Besides, there will be uniformity in the appointment of vice-chancellors and other officers of universities, he added.



While the Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000 covers varsities of Bangalore, Mysore, Davanagere, Gulbarga, Tumkur among others, there are separate legislations for single discipline universities such as engineering, Kannada, Sanskrit, folklore and music.



Dr Shetty, who also heads the University Review Commission constituted by the Governor (who is the chancellor of the all universities in the state), said that the report being prepared by this panel will be finalised in about four weeks.



In 2014, the then Governor H R Bhardwaj had constituted the Commission for reviewing the functioning and financial administration of universities. Dr Shetty said agricultural universities in the state were functioning efficiently while the RGUHS seem to be facing problems.



There is a provision to constitute a University Review Commission once every five years by the Chancellor.






Severn Trent shares are a 'buy' for the Sunday Times' Inside the City column. Not only are the water company's stock paying a 3.7% dividend yield, but infrastructure investors have been hunting for value in the sector in recent years. For example, National Grid's sale of a majority stake in its gas infrastructure business for more than a 50% premium over its value.

Such thinking has seen Severn Trent driven up to September's all-time high just above 25, some way above the 22 offer the company rejected in 2013. But in just over two months Severn Trent has seen its market value leak by 17% in on what the columnist said were fears about an imminent Bank of England rate rise making its debt payments more costly. That makes it one to watch.

Shares in Assura PLC are worth holding, said Questor in the Sunday Telegraph. The property developer, which raised 300m from investors this year, specialises in doctors' surgeries and walk-in centres, generally leasing them to the National Health Service on an average lease of at least 13 years. The ageing UK population provides growing long-term demand, while many NHS GPs are looking to move surgeries to more up-to-date buildings and more and more looking to rent rather than own.

While Assura argues that the NHS's shortage of local GPs that is shifting more strain onto already stretched hospitals, the current government policy is hardly funnelling much funding, leaving many NHS trusts to delay using what resources they have on property spending. Shares in the FTSE 250 group, which is being led by finance director Jonathan Murphy as it searches for a full time chief executive to take over after Graham Roberts stood down in the summer, have been unspectacular performers this year but yield 3.8%.

Hotel Chocolat was a 'long-term buy' for Midas in the Mail on Sunday. The St Lucia cocoa estate owner, manufacturer and retailer, which has also begun to open cafes, served up some mouth-watering profits growth in the year to June and is expected to grow sales by nearly a quarter and profits by at least a third in the current year. Since the company listed on AIM in May at just under 150p and had almost doubled in October before beating nibbled down to 260p at the end of last week.

Most of profits are for the present being invested in growth but management plan to pay a dividend from 2018. The business should be fairly resistant to economic fluctuations as the chocolate price range goes from 1 to 165, or 100-300 for varieties of chocolate-based hampers. Growth plans are focused on the UK for now, but there is already one store overseas, in Copenhagen and a boutique hotel near the St Lucia plantation, with a gradual expansion abroad to be led by the online offer.
Inflation, abortion on Ohio voters' minds as election nears

What are the most important issues for Ohio voters? We canvassed the state as the midterm election nears. Here's what we learned.
Want to win $1.2 billion Powerball? Be careful what you wish for
We all know President-Elect Donald Trump is not a big fan of the First Amendment. During the campaign, the Republican complained it has too much protection for free speech. Hes routinely targeted journalists at rallies and on Twitter as an intimidation tactic.

After winning the election, Trumps first tweet took aim at people protesting against him, which he whined was unfair. A few weeks later, he went even further, tweeting the threat that those who exercise their 1A right to burn the American flag could be jailed or stripped of their citizenship.

But while Trump dominates news coverage by unloading outrageous tweets and unveiling cabinet picks with reality show-style flair, the Michigan Legislature has fired a shot against the First Amendment.

Those of us in the Mitten State are used to Republicans who control state government ramming through unpopular right-wing legislation during the lame duck session. Unions are a frequent scapegoat, as we saw with the 2012 Right to Work law.

This time around, the House has narrowly passed bills that would jack up fines on unions for illegal picketers (from $1,000 to $10,000 a day) and make it easier to hire replacement workers (i.e. scabs).

Using labor for political target practice is bad enough. At a time when Michigans median income still clocks in $5,000 below what it was in 2007, its amazing that lawmakers keep going after unions trying to win and protect fair wages. But the bills will also likely silence peaceful protests. My read of the legislation (as well as that of several lawyers) is that its written so broadly that it could run afoul of the First Amendment.

Now that may not deter the Republican-controlled Legislature from sending this package to Gov. Rick Snyders desk. And the governor, whos a lawyer, has a history of signing bills that experts warned were unconstitutional.

But it would really be something for a significant First Amendment challenge to originate in Michigan. And its likely a sign of things to come in the Trump era.
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In support of the Standing Rock Sioux tribes campaign to protect their water and sacred grounds from the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Center for Biological Diversity and artist Roger Peet installed a mural of an endangered butterfly at the Oceti Sakowin camp, where hundreds of tribes and allies gathered in peaceful protest.

Here are the 10 murals that have been installed so far as part of the Endangered Species Mural Project:

In addition to the threat to people, water and sacred places, the Dakota Access Pipeline could also kill the Dakota skipper, a rare prairie butterfly protected under the Endangered Species Act. The brightly colored butterfly mural is intended as a show of support of the water protectors and to symbolize the harm the project will cause to people and wildlife. It is painted on the side of a structure built by the Shelter for the Storm project to provide shelter for indigenous media collectives during the frigid winter.

It was an honor to paint this mural in the Oceti Sakowin frontline camp and to offer it to the assembled water protectors as something bright and beautiful within the vibrant assembled communities of First Nations peoples, said Roger Peet, who leads the centers national endangered species mural project. The struggle at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline is native-led and native-voiced, and the protectors there are facing down police violence in defense of all species, large and small, including even the tiny but tough Dakota skipper.

Dakota skippers are small butterflies with hooked antennae and thick, muscular bodies that enable a faster, more powerful flight than other butterflies. They have already lost nearly two-thirds of their original range due to loss of native prairie habitat. They are currently found only in the eastern half of North Dakota, northeastern South Dakota and western Minnesota, and are already extirpated in Iowa and Illinois. They were protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2014.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged that the threatened butterflies will be harmed by construction and maintenance of the pipeline, but issued a permit that allows the butterflies to be killed and their habitat to be degraded. The service suggested to the company and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the butterflies be monitored and that voluntary conservation measures be taken to try to minimize the overall harm to the species.

Respecting the diversity of the Earths cultures and people is intrinsically connected to protecting its plants and animals, so the plight of the Dakota skipper butterfly is directly connected to the plight of indigenous cultures that will be irreparably harmed by the pipeline, said Tierra Curry, a senior biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity. The government should stop the Dakota Access Pipeline because of the threat it poses to tribal rights, to endangered species and to our collective future.

The pipeline could harm 19 endangered species including the pallid sturgeon, Topeka shiner, whooping crane, interior least tern, piping plover, rufa red knot and northern long-eared bat.

The structure on which the mural was painted is one of two designed and built by Oregons Shelter for the Storm Project, coordinated by activists Esther Forbyn and Matt Musselwhite. It was framed entirely using solar power and with timber felled and milled by hand from dead trees in communities in southern Oregon. Two indigenous media collectives will use the structures for warmth and power in the coming final stretch of the struggle against the pipeline.

Its vital that indigenous voices have a warm and safe space from which to do their work, said Peet. Our work to build and decorate these structures is a small way to help amplify the native-led struggle against the bankrupt energy systems that are destroying the world.
By Sarah Lazare

Donald Trumps transition team is instructing the Department of Energy (DOE) to hand over the names of all of the agencys contractors and employers who have worked on key climate policies under President Barack Obama, raising concerns that a witch hunt is being orchestrated by the incoming administration.

The request was included in a 74-question internal document that was distributed last Wednesday. Bloomberg journalists Catherine Traywick and Jennifer Dlouhy

first reported the memo, which was publicly posted by E&E News.

In the 40th question, the Trump administration requests a complete list of staffers who have participated in international climate negotiations. Can you provide a list of Department employees or contractors who attended any of the IA Conference of the Parties (under the UNFCCC) in the last five years? the document states.

During his campaign, Trump vowed to 

cancel the Paris climate agreement, which was negotiated by representatives of nearly 200 countries.

The 27th question in the document states, Can you provide a list of all Department of Energy employees or contractors who have attended any Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon meetings? Can you provide a list of when those meetings were and any materials distributed at those meetings, EPSA emails associated with those meetings, or materials created by Department employees or contractors in anticipation of or as a result of those meetings?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal bodies use the Social Cost of Carbon to estimate of the economic damages associated with a small increase in carbon dioxide, according to a

statement from the EPA. The Obama administration has employed the metric to calculate the potential outcomes of policies aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The tool has garnered

fierce opposition from conservatives and climate deniers, including David Kreutzer, who is part of Trumps transition team for the EPA. A senior research fellow for the conservative Heritage Foundation, Kreutzer previously referred to the Social Cost of Carbon as fundamentally flawed.

Question 29 states, Which programs within DOE are essential to meeting the goals of President Obamas Climate Action Plan?

Furthermore, the document instructs the DOE to provide lists and information about lab researchers, including, Can you provide a list of the top twenty salaried employees of the lab, with total remuneration and the portion funded by the DOE? Teryn Norris, a former appointee to the DOE,

noted on Twitter that The questions on lab researchersoutside positions, prof society memberships, publications, websitesare extremely concerning.

That an incoming administration is requesting the personal information of all civil servants who worked on these key initiatives and research is raising alarm.

Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, declared in a

press statement that Creating lists of employees smacks of McCarthyism and should cease immediately.

It looks like Trump and his administration are planning a political witch hunt which has no place in American government: purging or marginalizing anyone who has worked on the issue of climate change, John Coequyt, climate policy director for Sierra Club, said in a

press statement.

This action should not be viewed in isolation, Kimmel continued. The Trump transition team is teeming with individuals with a proven history of attacking climate scientists and undermining climate science. Several transition team members now overseeing federal agencies have harassed scientists based on their research and have long signaled a desire to dismantle federal climate science research.

News of the questionnaire broke shortly before media outlets

reported that the oil barron Rex Tillerson, current CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp., is Trumps appointee as Secretary of State. Thomas Pyle, who leads Trumps energy transition team, is the president of the Institute for Energy Research, which was established by Charles Koch. He formerly worked as a lobbyist for Koch Industries.

In addition to pledging to tear up the Paris climate agreement, Trump vowed during his campaign to reverse environmental protections and approve more pipelines and oil and gas drilling. In 2012, Trump

falsely stated on Twitter that The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

Meanwhile, environmental campaigners and scientists have long

warned that Obamas climate policies do not go far enough to address the crisis.

Reposted with permission from our media associate AlterNet.
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Date: 11/12/2016 Bluetooth 5, the new diffrentiator for IoT SoCs The new Bluetooth 5 can now power the handsets, wearables, and more specifically IoT devices with longer range, higher data speeds, and the specs redesigned for IoT products such as Smart home devices.



For chip developers, this is now a time to integrate Bluetooth 5 supporting transceiver silicon inside their chips. The leading silicon IP vendor CEVA released its RivieraWaves Bluetooth 5 IP. CEVA said Bluetooth 5 is a significant upgrade over prior Bluetooth standards, offering both improved features for existing use cases and breakout features to open up exciting new IoT applications for the smart environment.



Katy Scheck, Director of Marketing at the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, commented: "We're excited to see companies like CEVA leverage the latest Bluetooth 5 technology that will deliver more capabilities and open more possibilities for companies and developers to bring about an accessible, interoperable Internet of Things. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group looks forward to continuing to collaborate closely with our member companies like CEVA to evolve our technology roadmap."



CEVA, incorporating RivieraWaves, is the leading IP vendor providing solutions for Bluetooth low energy and Bluetooth dual mode, with a long pedigree stretching back more than fifteen years. With dozens of customers and numerous products in mass production, CEVA Bluetooth IP has shipped in more than a billion devices to date. With Bluetooth 5, CEVA remains at the forefront, with multiple licensees already engaged and customer silicon in hand.



Aviv Malinovitch, vice president and general manager of CEVA's Connectivity business unit, stated: "We congratulate the Bluetooth SIG on the release of the Bluetooth 5 specification and we are confident that this is a major milestone in the evolution of Bluetooth. The enhancements and new features that the Bluetooth SIG has incorporated into Bluetooth 5 positions this standard well to increase its footprint in the smart home, the smart city and beyond. We continue to see excellent traction for our Bluetooth IP with both semiconductor companies and OEMs and we're anticipating rapid adoption of the Bluetooth 5 standard by the market."



Features: The RivieraWaves Bluetooth IP platforms consist of a hardware baseband controller, a digital modem, and software protocol stack. For Bluetooth low energy, this protocol stack encompasses the Link Layer up to the GAP/GATT plus a comprehensive set of Services and Profiles. For Bluetooth dual mode, this protocol stack presents an industry standard HCI interface. A flexible radio interface allows the platform to be deployed with either one of the RivieraWaves RF IPs or various partners' RF IPs, enabling optimal selection of foundry and process node.



For more information on RivieraWaves Bluetooth IP platforms, go to http://www.ceva-dsp.com/RivieraWaves-Bluetooth-Platforms.

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Date: 11/12/2016 New LoRa multi-band picocell ref design for number of indoor applications Semtech announced its new SX1308 LoRa multi-band picocell reference design for multiple indoor applications. The new SX1308 picocell gateway IC along with SX1255 or SX1257 LoRa RF transceiver are offered as low cost solution . Selling pricing for the LoRa picocell gateway through equipment manufacturers is expected to be less than $100 for fully certified products. Through its work with member companies and IoT industry groups, the LoRa Alliance is making LoRaWAN the standard for LPWANs focused on low-power, long-range IoT applications. To date, there are LoRaWAN public and private networks in more than 50 countries worldwide, claims Semtech.



Semtech says its LoRa picocell reference design offers a USB interface for low power gateway designs and connects thousands of sensors in a building or residential community within a range of one mile for outdoor sensor connectivity. The ref design simultaneously receive LoRa and FSK messages on multiple channels with high -139dBm sensitivity. The SX1308 is footprint compatible with the SX1301 data concentrator to simplify the gateway design effort and to support an operating temperature range of 0-70 Celsius. The LoRaWAN picocell network is designed to interoperate with any surrounding LoRaWAN infrastructure and complement existing WiFi networks for cloud connectivity.



The LoRa picocell reference design helps in speeding up the design of IoT enables smart applications such as smart appliances, smart thermostats, door/window monitors, and other equipment used in-home by consumers, and meters, security systems and inventory management systems for small businesses.



This new LoRa picocell gateway complements the robust LoRaWAN infrastructure by providing a low cost, easily adoptable IoT platform for use in homes, small businesses and buildings, said Vivek Mohan, Director of Wireless Products for Semtechs Wireless and Sensing Products Group. The influx of LoRaWAN network rollouts throughout the world is making IoT more prevalent in everyday consumer applications, and this picocell gateway platform supplements the existing public LoRaWAN network infrastructure by providing coverage in hard-to-reach indoor areas.

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I never met middle of the road New Mexico congressman and DCCC chairman Ben Ray Lujan and, although we've been making a commotion here about Pelosi firing him, I bear him no personal animus. What I don't like is that the Democrats had a reasonable chance to take back a lot of seats in the House, which is Lujan's job. He failed-- pretty miserably -- so Pelosi should have found someone better to do it in 2018. But that isn't how she does things. I've spoken to nearly a dozen members of Congress who have told me, more or less, that Lujan shouldn't be blamed for screwing up because it was really Steve Israel's fault since he was in charge of giving Lujan on-the-job training and he was pulling the strings . That was also Pelosi's fault-- keeping that hopeless loser around after he had already proven himself unqualified to have anything to do with the effort of winning seats (for Democrats).





At two times I was president of two different record companies. The first was my own, 415 Records, a small independent outfit in San Francisco, and one major label under the Time-Warner corporate umbrella, Reprise Records. Both companies did well... but that doesn't mean there weren't problems. There always were-- as there are in all businesses. And if things didn't go well-- you know the phrase, "the buck stops here?" That doesn't mean the buck stopped at the desk of my head of marketing or head of promotion or at the business affairs office or publicity office or international office... or any other office other than the president's office.





ever winning back the House so long as they're in place. Democratic voters don't want recycled Republicans, NRA shills, Republican-lite fake Dems, and more crap from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party which is, basically, the only kind of candidates the DCCC believes in. But that, apparently isn't how they look at this inside the Beltway. So Lujan's back at the helm. But it's not all as horrible at it usually is. At least Lujan is trying to slay the Nemean Lion, slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra, capture the Ceryneian Hind, capture the Erymanthian Boar, clean the Augean stables in a single day , slay the Stymphalian Birds, capture the Cretan Bull and, last but not least, steal the Mares of Diomedes. Personnel was a problem-- a big one-- but the underlying Rahm Emanuel ideology and operating procedures held over by Chris Van Hollen, Steve Israel and, most recently, Lujan will prevent the Democrats fromwinning back the House so long as they're in place. Democratic voters don't want recycled Republicans, NRA shills, Republican-lite fake Dems, and more crap from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party which is, basically, thekind of candidates the DCCC believes in.





Roll Call that Democratic incumbents have been Lujan finally dumped incompetent and much-failed Steve Israel operative Kelly Ward, the executive director. Good first step! Last week Simone Pathe reported forthat Democratic incumbents have been complaining about DCCC staffers

Whether or not disgruntled members grievances about the DCCC are legitimate, their complaints are indicative of a disconnect between parts of the caucus and the committee.



The griping isnt directed at New Mexico Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, whom the caucus elected to a second term as committee chairman Monday night.



We truly believe he never really headed the DCCC, Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego said last week. The perception is that Pelosi ran the show, beginning with her appointment of the chairman.



Members generally like Lujan and believe that making his slot an elected position is a step toward bringing transparency to a committee that they think needs more of it-- even if theyre not quite sure what it is theyre looking for behind the curtain.



Whatever it is, they believe it begins with wresting perceived power away from staff. Our mission, Gallego said, is this is going to be a membership-driven DCCC instead of staff- and consultant-driven.



...[T]he DCCC fell below expectations publicly set by leadership and came nowhere close to winning the 30 seats needed to take the majority during a presidential year when Democrats should have had the advantage based on turnout.



Midwestern Democrats have blamed the DCCC for abandoning its working-class base. Traditionally, though, crafting a national economic message is the job of Congress or the White House.

Pelosi put Steve Israel in charge of that and he failed dismally, as he failed at everything he's tried to do in terms of House leadership. Israel's horribly failed messaging offers nothing for anyone to vote for and that's why the Democrats failed to gain even close to as many seats they should have. Unfortunately, Lujan and Pelosi insist everything and everyone is to blame for the serial failures (except themselves).

In its first post-election discussion with members last month, Lujan said that many of their recruits were on a upward trajectory-- with Virginias LuAnn Bennett tied with Rep. Barbara Comstock, for example-- until the release of the letter from FBI Director James B. Comey about potentially reopening an investigation into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons emails.



But some Democrats say theyve heard similar excuses after disappointing election results in 2010, 2012 and 2014.



As long as the storyline is, Our polling was great! Our strategy was perfect. James Comey screwed us, then its a sign theres no drive for accountability, one Democratic consultant said. Somehow, every cycle when the DCCC falls short, someone else is to blame, he said.



That perception of failure exists among some members who are taking aim at a campaign committee that they dont think has been working for them. A members opinion and understanding of the DCCC may be influenced by their reliance on the committee to get elected and re-elected.



...I sat in all the recruitment meetings that were run by Cheri Bustos and Denny Heck, and I thought they did a great job, said New York Rep. Kathleen Rice, elected in 2014 from a district Obama twice carried by double digits. But I didnt know anything about the staffers that were there. Was everything being carried out? We just dont know.

Three useless New Dems scratching each other's backs-- Kathleen Rice is a mess and Bustos and Heck are, if anything, even worse. These 3 are the very epitome of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Like Lujan, all three of them have F scores from ProgressivePunch. Their lifetime crucial vote ratings:

 Denny Heck (WA)- 74.54

 Kathleen Rice (NY)- 61.84

 Cheri Bustos (IL)- 48.56

No one wants to openly talk about the self-enriching revolving door policy the Democrats tolerate or encourage between consultants and DCCC staffers. But it's certainly been a major factor in the performance of the DCCC since Rahm started running-- and ruining-- the committee in 2005.

As eager as they are to give Lujan another chance, members are taking their frustrations out on the committee staff-- much more so than in cycles past.



We realize that its also unfair to blame him for the direction of the DCCC when systematically that staff of the DCCC, starting from the top, and almost all the way through middle-management, has been nothing but bureaucratic and ineffective for many, many years, Gallego said last week when answering a question about why he wanted to keep Lujan on as DCCC chairman.



He wasnt given the time or the power to get rid of them, the freshman Democrat added.



While Gallego and others suggested the staff was handpicked by Pelosi, thats hardly the vast majority of bodies sitting in the DCCCs South Capitol Street office.



Its far easier to blame a nameless, faceless, nebulous staff than it is to confront reality, said a senior Democratic strategist not working with the committee this cycle.



Ryan, whos had limited interaction with the committee, pointed his finger at the greater web of political consultants who do business for the DCCC and their recruits. They need to go on a consultant detox, he said.



Theres a closed shop, a Democratic consultant added. That would be OK if there were a record of success, he said, but were not winning the close races.



...The perception remains that a limited class of consultants contributes to a group-think culture, but the committees independent expenditure arm did add at least five new consulting firms this year, including Latino and women-led shops.



There are favorites that get played and that tends to be with the larger firms, or the people staff think they can get a job from, another Democratic consultant said.



Any consultant who feels he or she isnt getting enough business could have an incentive to complain. But the closed shop concern is bigger than one consultant or even one party.



It is something we faced, Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said outside the speakers lobby Monday night.



After losing 30 seats in 2006, Cole said the NRCC opened up.



You put staff in and tell them, I dont want a select group of people here. We want to throw this open, we want everybody whos a reasonable consultant to have a legitimate opportunity to compete, he said.

Friday, Lujan fired more DCCC incompetents-- though he didn't even consider getting some of the garbage members like Bustos and Heck out of the works, even though it was they, not the staffers, who set the policy. He hired Dan Sena, a Ward deputy?, to take her place, and made Aaron Trujillo chief of staff and Meredith Kelly communications director. "More of the same," is what one congresswoman told me in disgust after the announcement. Ughhh.

Politico, Thomas Mills started the respected blog, PoliticsNC and this year he ran for the NC-08 seat held by Richard Hudson. He spent $380,866 to Hudson's $2,431,160 and received 131,428 votes (41.2%) to Hudson's 187,909 (58.8%). The DCCC didn't recognize his race in any way whatsoever. Yesterday he wrote a post for How The Democratic Party Lost Its Way , which has been called to my attention by nearly a dozen former congressional candidates who have an equally dim view of the DCCC in the Pelosi era. Mills, though, started with a good DCCC experience-- in 1998 as the campaign manager for Mike Taylor. By 2016, though, with his own campaign, the DCCC experience was pretty awful, something dozens of Democratic candidates all over the country will tell you. "After the primaries," he wrote, "I reached out to them. But despite leaving numerous messages on both email and answering machines, I never got any response. When I eventually used my Congressional connections to get an audience, I took my pollster and media consultant to a meeting that lasted all of 15 minutes. We left with little more than a list of reasons why the DCCC wouldnt be helping our campaign."

Back in the 90s when I started out, the DCCC was tasked with contesting as many races as possible and providing staff, training and direction to the campaigns in the field. Today, theyre narrowly focused on a small number of highly targeted races. Other campaigns get little attention or support.



Democrats need to be sharper going into the next election cycle. With a 50-plus seat deficit in the House, the party will have to win more than just the most competitive seats. Theyll probably need a wave in which they figure out how to win some longshot races. That wont happen unless the party actively recruits good candidates around the country and treats them with respect and encouragement. And it also wont happen unless the party provides campaigns-- especially in the toughest districts-- with the training, support and infrastructure to create or take advantage of opportunities.



...Democrats should be thinking broadly instead of narrowly. Successful political organizations are entrepreneurial and opportunistic, especially when they are 60 seats in the minority. But despite the dismal record its racked up in recent years, the DCCC has become insular and myopic. Candidates and consultants cant reach high-ranking staffers. Reaching ranking members is unthinkable. The circle of people influencing the political strategists rarely reaches outside of the beltway, which means the strategists-- like so much of Washington-- have lost touch with the people whose votes they need to attract. They rely on polling and focus groups to give them an understanding of the challenges facing families today. Those tools would be greatly enhanced if the people using them had regular contact with the people they are trying to reach.



Much of the insularity seems to be rooted in a lack of accountability. For staff, theres little penalty for failure. They often either get rehired or go to work for consulting firms that have contracts with the DCCC. And the Democratic Congressional leadership comes predominantly from safe districts. Most ranking members havent run competitive races in many years, if theyve run them at all. They dont understand the skills and experience they need in a caucus staff since they dont really know what a professional campaign organization looks like and they dont understand what candidates in competitive districts need to succeed.



The DNC stopped providing its training academy in the late 1990s. Since then, training been contracted out to organizations like Wellstone Action, which has a heavy field emphasis or EMILYs List, with a fundraising emphasis. Weve lost the intensive trainings that focused on basic management and strategic skills.



Its not only the training thats taken a hit. Despite their 60-seat deficit heading into 2016, the Democrats didnt appear to do much candidate recruiting except in the most competitive districts. In Texas, Hillary Clinton won in a congressional district where Democrats didnt even field a challenger. Numbers, not potential, guided the DCCC efforts. Instead of looking for possibilities, or trying to create them, the committee only paid attention to the districts that looked viable on spreadsheets.



The DCCC and other campaign committees ought to retool their campaign operations looking back to the 1980s and 1990s. Back then, they introduced research and polling to campaigns. Now, they should be teaching campaigns how to use social media and online operations to reach voters early and build low-dollar fundraising operations.



Today, Democrats are so far in the hole that they could use the opportunity to try new tactics and strategies to see if they can win in some unlikely places. Longshot and marginal races are not won in the final two months of a campaign. Theyre won because candidates put together campaigns that prepare them to take advantage of opportunities throughout the cycle. Social media and online fundraising give candidates the platforms to build profiles and low-dollar fundraising operations, as well as create excitement among their base before the paid media and field campaigns begin.



For Democrats to be successful, they need leaders, both campaign professionals and elected officials, who understand how modern communications and campaigns have changed. They would be wise to reach out to operatives and consultants who live outside the Washington, D.C., bubble to better understand voters. They should get back to their roots: recruit candidates to compete in as many races as possible; create an army of professional operatives across the country to run campaigns cycle after cycle; provide a base level of support for every candidate who files; introduce innovative strategies and tactics and teach campaigns how to use them. Theyll need the leadership to take them there.

And, alas, that's never going to happen while Nancy Pelosi is the House Democratic Leader. She should give it up and let the party she loves, and has served for so many years, get a new lease on life. This morning I was speaking with a recent candidate who told me he thinks he's better off with the DCCC not getting involved in his race in any way. "All they can do," she told me, "is diminish my chances of winning. They don't seem able to bring anything worthwhile to the table... They're from a bygone era. It's pretty sad... As you pointed out in your blog, the best people who won this year, like Pramila and Nanette Barragan, Carol up in New Hampshire, Jamie Raskin all won without any involvement with the DCCC."





Pelosi has turned the House Democratic Conference into a morgue




DWT readers were familiar with Maybe because I lived in Amsterdam for 4 years and write about the politics there from time to time, I like to think thatreaders were familiar with Dutch neo-fascist Geert Wilders even before he noisily aligned with Trump and even before Trump went from being a national joke to being a national tragedy. Yesterday, Wilders, the likely Trump/Putin candidate for prime minister of Holland next year, was convicted "of inciting discrimination and of insulting a group for saying that the Netherlands would be safer with fewer Moroccans," in a statement he made in 2014. The judges didn't convict him of inciting hatred and didn't fine him as the prosecutors requested. Using a typical demagogue tactic he led a throng of racists in The Hague chanting "fewer, fewer" after asking the question, "Do you want more or fewer Moroccans in this city and in the Netherlands?"





Nina Siegel, writing for the NY Times speculated that "the trial seems to have improved his partys standing, rather than diminishing it, among voters." A master of manipulation and classic propaganda technique, Wilders calls his far right party the Freedom Party (PVV), although what it advocates is far from freedom for millions of people living in the Netherlands. Just listen to his carefully misleading statement below (in English, not the language of his country). Wilders had boycotted the court for the verdict, using the opportunity to portray himself as a victim of the establishment, calling his conviction "a great loss for democracy and freedom of expression," instead. One day the 3 judges will regret that they didn't send him to prison and throw away the keys.





The general election is scheduled for March 15-- just 3 months from now. All of the most recent polls-- including one by Ipsos released Thursday-- show the Wilder's neo-fascists leading, more so after Trump's win here. The Ipsos poll has the PVV with 29%, the center-right VVD with 27%, a religious-right party, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) with 18%, the progressive D66 with 17%, the Socialists (SP) with 12% and the Labour Party (PvdA) with 11%, same as the Greens (GL). Most other polls have shown the neo-fascists with higher numbers,although none with enough support for an outright win. The VVD would be unlikely to form a right-of-center government without Wilders and Wilders would be unable to form a fascist government without current prime minister Mark Rutte and the VVD. Rutte always says he won't involve his party with Wilders unless he "withdraws" his racist statements about Holland's huge Muslim population, about 5% of the population. Part of Wilders' election manifesto is a promise to close every mosque in the country.
Speculations are rife on whether the President-elect will be able to deliver on the promises announced during the election campaign and what will be its overall effect on the economy.

To make the job easier, Commerzbank has come up with a novel idea to make a Trump-o-meter, which will demonstrate how far US economic prospects might improve or deteriorate as a result of the proposed measures. A score of -50 is extremely negative while +50 is extremely positive.

The calculations will be arrived at after analyzing the six important proposed measures.

1. Tax cuts: Donald Trump promised to cut both income and corporate taxes during his campaign, his treasury secretary Mnuchin reiterated slashing of corporate taxes from 35% to 15%. These measures will reduce the burden on the taxpayers by at least 2% of GDP.

However, analysts at Commerzbank believe that cuts of 1.5% of GDP are more realistic as this would avoid overburdening of finances. Our first adjustment to the Trump-o-meter, in the area of taxes, is assigned a score of +30 (on a scale of -50/+50).

2. Foreign trade: America first: - While the President-elect has reiterated his promise to renegotiate NAFTA and withdraw from TPP, Commerzbank analysts believe that Trump may opt out of TPP quickly but NAFTA is likely to take time.

Trump is unlikely to carry out all his threats, judging by Mnuchins more cautious statements on the subject of currency manipulation. Therefore, on protectionism we initially set the Trump-o-meter to -20, said Commerzbanks analysts.

3. Immigration: no more deportations than under Obama: - Trump had promised to deport the 11 million illegal immigrants in the US, roughly 3% of the population. His attorney general Jeff Sessions is expected to enforce existing regulations and increase penalties whoever hires illegal immigrants.

However, Commerzbank believes comprehensive deportations, beyond the record figures of 400,000 people per year already reached under Obama, would be administratively and legally difficult to accomplish. In the policy area of immigration we initially set the Trump-o-meter to -20.

4. Obamacare to be rolled back: - Trump will go ahead with his promise to roll back Obamacare and replace it with the Empowering Patients First Act. While Trump administration is keen to implement its plans, the democrats are likely to delay the withdrawal of Obamacare by all procedural means possible.

Healthcare reforms affect a very important market but take effect slowly, if at all, which dampens their direct economic impact. Therefore, in the area of healthcare reform, we are setting the Trump-o-meter to a neutral 0 for the time being.

5. Infrastructure: much ado about not much: - Commerzbanks analysts doubt that the tax incentives will be able to mobilize huge sums of money as presented in a paper by Trumps economic policy adviser Peter Navarro.

For investors such as pension funds, which pay no federal taxes, tax incentives are not attractive in any case. Such programmes, may, therefore, have positive effects on the economy, but they are unlikely to be very great. Therefore, in the area of infrastructure, we are setting the Trump-o-meter to +10.

6. Deregulation: The devils in the detail: - Trump is likely to repeal many of the regulations passed by Obama. However, Dodd-Frank is unlikely to be repealed completely, though, its rules might be relaxed so that the smaller banks are able to do business.

Trumps administration is likely to send a signal that regulations will not be tightened further, which should see more investment by the companies. On deregulation, we are therefore setting the Trump-o-meter initially to +10, said Commerzbanks analysts.
Trump's Picks versus Reagan's By: David Henderson

As someone who has, to put it mildly, not been a fan of Donald Trump (see here and here, for example), Ive been pleasantly surprised by many of his picks for cabinet positions. Looking at them, I conclude, at least for the present, that they are on average better than Ronald Reagans picks.

Here are what I regard, given my current information, as the best picks, with, alongside, the ones Reagan chose for that position. They are not necessarily in order of strength because I dont know enough to do that.

Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos. She, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer article meant to be a hit piece, is an ardent school choice advocate. The Philly Inquirer adds, sarcastically, Sorry, kids. Right, because not being able to choose a school is whats really good for kids.

Compare that to Terrel Bell, Reagans choice. Reagan had said during the 1980 campaign that he wanted to get rid of the newly formed Department of Education. He didnt try hard and his choice of Bell sent a signal that that wasnt about to happen.

Secretary of Health and Human Services: Tom Price. Price has pledged to dismantle Obamacare. He even has a plan to do so. Its not particularly to my liking, but just to have a plan going in puts him one up on Richard Schweiker, a liberal Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, who was Reagans pick. Schweiker did not attempt any serious deregulation of health care. (Although, to his credit, he was a strong opponent of the draft.)

Secretary of Labor: Andy Puzder. Puzder has been an outspoken critic of minimum wage increases. If he persuades Trump to hold the line on the current federal $7.25 minimum wage rather than raising it to $10.10 an hour or even higher, he will have helped preserve jobs for at least a few hundred thousand people, mainly young people. Compare that to Reagans pick of Ray Donovan. I worked for Ray in the Labor Department and found him to be a nice man and an opponent of raising the minimum wage. But he was fairly ineffective. Yes, there was a policy success: Reagan held the minimum wage constant in nominal terms. But that was more Reagan than Donovan. Puzder will have his hands full persuading Trump to keep his hands off.

Head of EPA: Scott Pruitt. The EPA is out of control. In a forthcoming review in Regulation, I lay out the problem with its push for higher fuel economy in cars. But its out of control in other ways too. Pruitt will likely rein in, and even reverse, some of its most extreme excesses. One good sign: he is a global warming skeptic. Maybe hell also avoid EPA-created environmental disasters like the 2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill. Reagans pick was Anne Gorsuch, who did manage to deregulate but, as far as I could tell, didnt do it well.

Those are the good picks.

There are some that could well be as bad as, or worse than, Reagans. I have in mind two.

Attorney General: Jeff Sessions. One of the areas where Obama made some progress was in laying off drug enforcement in states that allow medical marijuana. But Sessions would almost certainly try to reverse that progress. Someone who says Good people dont smoke marijuana is not an ideal pick. (Of course, even if it were true that no good people smoke marijuanaand its notthat belief would not be a problem if Sessions were willing to tolerate people being bad. But hes an enforcer of (his) morals.) Reagans pick was William French Smith. Smith federalized a lot of crime and amped up the drug war substantially. He also proposed a national ID card, a proposal that my late Hoover colleague Marty Anderson, then an adviser to Reagan, shot down by speaking out of turn at a Cabinet Council meeting. (See his Revolution: The Reagan Legacy, pp. 275-276.) Sessions could be worse than, better than, or equal to Smith.

CIA Director: Mike Pompeo. Pompeo has advocated the death penalty for Edward Snowden. Thats bad. On the other hand, Pompeo at least wants to give Snowden due process. Thats better than Hillary Clintons proposal for Julian Assange, which was to murder him with a drone, assuming this report is accurate. Reagans pick was Bill Casey, who got the United States heavily intervening in Nicaragua. Both Pompeo and Casey were bad picks. Its hard to know whos worse.

I havent covered the whole waterfront. Also, I havent backed up here the various judgments Ive made here about the minimum wage, global warming, CAFE laws on fuel economy, etc. If you want to see my backing for these, do a search on my EconLog posts.
policies as irrelevant to their struggles does more to protect economic privilege than to promote social justice....

...racial justice and gender equality cannot be achieved without confronting economic inequality  not when people of color and women are overrepresented among the financially disadvantaged. And its difficult to see how the Democratic Party will ever take aggressive action to combat inequality, unless its downscale wing becomes both larger and more class conscious. Any discourse that encourages working-class voters to see social democratic

Less concerning than Clintons attempt to exploit this weakness, was the way her narrative was internalized and amplified by some advocates of social justice  and has, thus, outlived her campaign.

....in Reeds framing, Sanderss calls for expanding the social welfare state and taking a more adversarial approach to financial regulation are less relevant to the average black family than the way the senators plan for free state college would undermine private, historically black colleges and universities; even though only 2 percent of black college students attend such institutions, and Sanders expressed openness to amending his proposal to accommodate such schools.....

But her specific critique is unsatisfying for a few reasons. For one, its not clear why criminal-justice reform is considered a racial issue, while expanding federal employment or the social safety net is not: None of these reforms target racial disadvantage explicitly, but all would disproportionately benefit people of color.... And Sandra Bland had a job remains a favorite slogan among some advocates for racial justice. (As does the considerably more asinine  Goldman Sachs didnt shoot Michael Brown .)

Legal analyst and racial-justice advocate Imani Gandy derided Sanderss answer, tweeting, Sandra Bland HAD a goddamn job. She still ended up dead. Jobs is not the solution....

Absolutely, the senator replied. Because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to millionaires, were going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids.

Absolutely, the senator replied. Because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to millionaires, were going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids.

At a debate in February, Sanders was asked if he thought race relations would improve under his administration.

At a debate in February, Sanders was asked if he thought race relations would improve under his administration.

For the left to overcome its infighting and realize the promise of the rainbow coalition, it will need to be on guard against this particular brand of liberalism; because an identity politics that disdains class solidarity is one that will fail the most vulnerable members of the marginalized groups it claims to represent.... the growth of the Democrats upscale wing has coincided with a vast increase in economic inequality.... The class divide within the Democratic Party is growing at the same time that the divide between classes in the United States is doing the same..... a Democratic Party increasingly divided between a predominately white professional class, and a largely nonwhite working class, left-wing identity politics

Clintons single-issue charge wasnt grounded in Sanderss neglect of racial and gender equality in policy terms. Rather, it referred to the greater rhetorical emphasis he placed on issues of redistribution  and the attendant implication that economic justice is a central, unifying concern for Democrats of all colors and genders. It was an objection to the politics of class solidarity.

Her supporters didnt think so. ---- Clintons single-issue charge wasnt grounded in Sanderss neglect of racial and gender equality in policy terms. Rather, it referred to the greater rhetorical emphasis he placed on issues of redistribution  and the attendant implication that economic justice is a central, unifying concern for Democrats of all colors and genders. It was an objection to the politics of class solidarity. ------

[Clinton] framed Sanderss emphasis on the importance of economic redistribution as an affront to the causes of racial, gender, and LGBT equality. Not everything is about an economic theory, right? Clinton asked a crowd in Nevada this past February. If we broke up the big banks tomorrow  and I will if they deserve it, if they pose a systemic risk, I will  would that end racism? Clinton went on to ask whether forcing Wall Streets largest firms to separate their commercial and investment banking wings would end sexism and discrimination against the LGBT community or make people feel more welcoming to immigrants overnight?

What Bernie Sanders Gets Right About Identity Politics

By



Last week, Bernie Sanders argued that the Democratic Party must work to diversify Americas political class, while fighting to advance the rights of African-Americans, women, LGBT individuals, immigrants, and other marginalized groups. He then stipulated that those fights cannot be won without advancing the material interests of the working class, because our rights and economic lives are intertwined.







Many liberal commentators declared this argument to be, at best, a testament to Sanderss  white male brogressive  cluelessness  and, at worst, a sign of the senators latent white supremacy

Sanders bears some responsibility for attracting this invective. His tweet poorly summarized the argument of his op-ed: The senator has, on occasion, used the phrase working class to refer to a segment of Trumps base. Thus, his pull quote could be misinterpreted as a suggestion that the desire to nominate diverse candidates must be balanced with the need to appeal to white voters in the Rust Belt. Further, one didnt need to misinterpret Sanderss argument to take exception to it. Many decried his implication that there are Democrats who need to be told that diversity isnt everything. Which is a reasonable complaint: Sanders has frequently attacked such straw men, at times, implying that Hillary Clintons entire campaign message was Im a woman, vote for me. Nonetheless, Sanderss actual contention was the opposite of what many of his critics claimed: He did not argue that there is an inherent tension between identity politics and economic populism, but rather, that the latter is necessary for realizing the formers aims  which is to say, that the goals of racial justice and gender equality cannot be achieved absent the redistribution of economic power away from corporate America and toward the working class.

This point is both accurate and necessary. While no one in the Democratic Party believes that a candidates skin color or genitalia determines his or her progressive bona fides, many have spent the past year arguing that Sanderss appeals to class solidarity  and the social democratic programs that he hopes that solidarity can yield  are of little use to anyone who isnt white or male.

This context is critical for understanding the post-election, intra-left debate over identity politics.



imes

In recent days, liberal Democrats have rightly rejected calls for the party to abandon its advocacy for the identity-based concerns of marginalized groups. Among the most prominent of such calls was a New York T op-ed by Columbia Universitys Mark Lilla, which implored Democrats to cease their moral panic about racial, gender and sexual identity, and embrace a politics of commonality, like those practiced by Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

white identity can be mistaken for one of universalism  and how costly that mistake can be: As Slates Jamelle Bouie notes , Lillas veneration of these figures illustrates how easily a politics ofcan be mistaken for one of universalism  and how costly that mistake can be:

Reagan gutted federal civil rights enforcement, nominated judges hostile to the rights revolution, and elevated a conservative legal movement that, in the years since, has chipped away at the victories of the 1960s. Bill Clinton was an expert practitioner of identity politics, with a shared vision aimed at white Americans. As a candidate, he took steps to repudiate the black left. As president, he reinforced the trend toward mass incarceration and enshrined discrimination against LGBT Americans within federal law. To describe either Reagan or Clinton as exemplars of a post-identity politics is to submerge whiteness, maleness, and Christian belief as identities.

As an alternative to Lillas prescription, Bouie argues that progressives must revive Jesse Jacksons vision of a rainbow coalition  a movement that unites the disparate factions of the disempowered without ignoring the distinctions between their struggles, and thus addresses all material disadvantage, whether rooted in class or caste.



To the extent that the phrase identity politics signifies a commitment to alleviate the burdens of being an Other in a nation founded on the principle that all [straight, white, propertied] men are created equal, identity politics is indispensable for realizing Jacksons ideal.



But this is not the identity politics that Sanders recently called on the Democratic Party to move beyond. Rather, he and his sympathizers are concerned with a strain of corporate-friendly liberalism that deploys identity-based critiques of class politics as tools for obscuring the divergent material interests of rich and poor Democrats.

For the left to overcome its infighting and realize the promise of the rainbow coalition, it will need to be on guard against this particular brand of liberalism; because an identity politics that disdains class solidarity is one that will fail the most vulnerable members of the marginalized groups it claims to represent.

To understand why such class-blind identity politics is ascendant  and thus, likely to bedevil the left in the coming battles for the soul of the Democratic Party  one needs to consider the growing socioeconomic divide within blue America.

A tale of two parties.

Going into 2016, the Democrats were a tale of two parties, a coalition that linked cosmopolitan capitalists and upwardly mobile professionals to a largely nonwhite working-class base: In 2012, Obama won roughly as many votes from the bottom 40 percent of Americas income ladder as he did from the top 40 percent. That same year, the top 0.01 percent of earners contributed 25 percent of all donations to the party of organized labor  up from 7 percent in 1980.

As that last figure suggests, the class contradictions in the Democratic tent werent always this severe. Throughout the 1980s, Americans making over $100,000 voted for GOP presidential candidates by a two-to-one margin. In his race against Mitt Romney, Obama won 45 percent of all ballots cast by Americans with six-figure salaries. And this fall, Hillary Clinton won 46 percent of Americans who make more than $250,000 a year, according to exit polls, while Donald Trump took 41 percent of voters who make under $30,000  a 16-point improvement on Romneys share of that bracket (all of these figures derive from exit polls ). Democrats still do better with the working class than with the rich; but this is becoming less and less true.

Critically, the growth of the Democrats upscale wing has coincided with a vast increase in economic inequality: Over the past four decades, the gap between the average earnings of families in the top quintile of the income ladder  and that of those in the middle quintile  has grown from $68,600 to $169,300 (both those figures are inflation adjusted).

In other words: The class divide within the Democratic Party is growing at the same time that the divide between classes in the United States is doing the same.

The challenge this presents to Democrats is not unlike that confronted by Richard Nixon, when he sought to fortify and expand the GOPs gains among the white working class. Then, to mollify class tensions within the silent majority, Nixon deployed appeals to white identity politics (a.k.a white racial resentment, a.k.a. racism), to obfuscate the divergent material interests of rich and poor Republicans.

In a Democratic Party increasingly divided between a predominately white professional class, and a largely nonwhite working class, left-wing identity politics  or, more precisely, intersectional critiques of economic reductionism  can serve a similar end.

And, in fact, Hillary Clinton  and liberal commentators sympathetic to her campaign  used identity politics to that very end, throughout the 2016 Democratic primary.

What Clinton talked about, when she talked about a single-issue candidate.

To the extent that the Clinton-Sanders race was a debate about domestic policy (as opposed to personal competence), it was a debate about whether the government should drastically increase taxes in order to fund a massive increase in social spending.

Sanders argued in the affirmative, contending that the government has a moral responsibility to guarantee health care to every citizen and access to higher education for every adolescent with the intellectual aptitude to pursue it. The senator further argued that the sorry state of the nations infrastructure  and the scarcity of well-paying blue-collar jobs  justifies a $1 trillion investment in rebuilding Americas roads and bridges.

Clinton offered alternative proposals in each of these policy areas, but the size and scope of her plans were constrained by her opposition to raising taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year.

If ones central concern is advancing social equity, the best case for preferring Clintons platform was its political safety. After all, the Democratic primary is not a referendum on federal policy, but a means of selecting a candidate to send into a high-stakes general election. For understandable reasons, however, Clinton didnt want to frame her candidacy as an argument for the virtues of risk-aversion. So, she instead framed Sanderss emphasis on the importance of economic redistribution as an affront to the causes of racial, gender, and LGBT equality.

Not everything is about an economic theory, right? Clinton asked a crowd in Nevada this past February. If we broke up the big banks tomorrow  and I will if they deserve it, if they pose a systemic risk, I will  would that end racism?

Clinton went on to ask whether forcing Wall Streets largest firms to separate their commercial and investment banking wings would end sexism and discrimination against the LGBT community or make people feel more welcoming to immigrants overnight?

Her supporters didnt think so.

Of course, there are literally no policies that could satisfy these criteria. Clintons point was that many within the Democratic coalition confront non-economic forms of oppression and that Sanderss emphasis on material concerns betrayed his (implicitly white, male) ignorance of those barriers to equality. In other, oft-repeated words, Sanders was a single-issue candidate.

Clinton reiterated that charge in the debates , on the stump, and in television advertisements , though she rarely specified what this single issue was  sometimes it appeared to be campaign-finance reform, at others, it sounded like the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall.

This ambiguity reflected the fact that the characterization was transparently false. Sanderss issues page featured proposals on such varied subjects as the gender wage gap, criminal-justice reform, LBGT equality, the need to establish chapter 9 bankruptcy protection for Puerto Rico, and the San Carlos Apache tribes rightful claim to the land known as Oak Flat.

On the nexus of issues concerning gender and racial equality, Sanderss positions were comparable  if not more comprehensive  than Clintons. To take just one example, Sanders campaigned in support of the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act, a Senate bill with 21 Democratic co-sponsors that guarantees 12 weeks of paid family leave to full-time employees, funded by a slight increase in the payroll tax. Clinton could not offer her support for the bill, because it would (very modestly) increase taxes on Americans who make less than $250,000.

Thus, Clintons single-issue charge wasnt grounded in Sanderss neglect of racial and gender equality in policy terms. Rather, it referred to the greater rhetorical emphasis he placed on issues of redistribution  and the attendant implication that economic justice is a central, unifying concern for Democrats of all colors and genders. It was an objection to the politics of class solidarity.

The utility of identity-based critiques of economic populism to the Democrats money wing is well-illustrated by Atlanta mayor Kasim Reeds endorsement of Clinton  which, as the Intercept discovered, was primarily written by a corporate lobbyist.

Sanders assumes his single-issue platform will help everyone, but only Clintons plans work from the ground up to identify and break down barriers unique to African-American families, Reed wrote with the aid of Tharon Johnson, a lobbyist for UnitedHealth and MGM resorts, among other clients. For the single mother riding two buses to her second job, Sanders one-issue platform just doesnt cut it. And for the poor child in Flint, Michigan, forced to drink tainted water from a government tap, Sanders Wall Streetfocused message doesnt carry weight.

One would imagine that this single mother might have found Sanderss plan for universal child care to be of use. And while its true that Wall Street reform would not resolve Flints water crisis, to the extent that the crisis was the product of systemic racism  which is to say, of the state governments indifference to a politically and economically disadvantaged African-American community  the dysfunction of our financial system is clearly relevant. Among the proximate causes of black Americas current disempowerment is the legacy of the subprime mortgage crisis, which erased 43 percent of the communitys wealth. Loan officers at Wells Fargo pushed black clients  or, as they referred to them,  mud people   to take out subprime loans, even when their credit histories qualified them for prime ones.

But in Reeds framing, Sanderss calls for expanding the social welfare state and taking a more adversarial approach to financial regulation are less relevant to the average black family than the way the senators plan for free state college would undermine private, historically black colleges and universities; even though only 2 percent of black college students attend such institutions, and Sanders expressed openness to amending his proposal to accommodate such schools.

Few campaigns, including Sanderss, treat their opponents arguments with maximal intellectual honesty. And the single-issue attack gestured at one of the Vermont senators genuine political failings. Policies aside, Sanders was rarely eloquent in connecting his economic message to the lived experience of black voters.

Less concerning than Clintons attempt to exploit this weakness, was the way her narrative was internalized and amplified by some advocates of social justice  and has, thus, outlived her campaign.

The problem with class-blind identity politics.

At a debate in February, Sanders was asked if he thought race relations would improve under his administration.

Absolutely, the senator replied. Because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to millionaires, were going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids.

Legal analyst and racial-justice advocate Imani Gandy derided Sanderss answer, tweeting, Sandra Bland HAD a goddamn job. She still ended up dead. Jobs is not the solution.

Its understandable that some would object to a candidate answering a question about race relations with a discussion of race-neutral economic policies. And Gandys vigilance in guarding against attempts to erase the subject of police violence from our national debate is admirable.

But her specific critique is unsatisfying for a few reasons. For one, its not clear why criminal-justice reform is considered a racial issue, while expanding federal employment or the social safety net is not: None of these reforms target racial disadvantage explicitly, but all would disproportionately benefit people of color. (To take just one example, the uninsured rate among African-Americans is roughly twice that of whites, while the rate for Latinos is nearly four times as high. Those ratios have declined significantly since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, but they could be all but eliminated by a truly universal, Medicare-for-all system).

For another, if we understand race relations as a euphemism for the systemic disadvantages that African-Americans face, increasing opportunities for employment within black communities would seem a vital way of improving such relations.

Finally, the fact that Sandra Blands employment status did not save her from discriminatory treatment at the hands of police does not mean that expanding economic opportunities for African-Americans would have no effect on the communitys vulnerability to such abuse. Certainly, reforms that directly combat police violence are urgently needed. But Gandys assertion is akin to claiming that, since Kelly Thomas was white  and still ended up being beaten to death by California police  race is irrelevant to ones risk of being physically abused by cops.

In fact, African-Americans who are given opportunities for economic advancement have a far lower (while still far too high) risk of being victimized by our (profoundly racist) criminal-justice system. Black men who lack high-school diplomas are roughly ten times more likely to be incarcerated than those who complete college. And African-American men with college degrees have a lower risk of being incarcerated by the time they reach their mid-30s than do white men who lack high-school diplomas.

The central importance of employment opportunities to the well-being of African-American individuals and communities is reflected in how often black voters cite a lack of good jobs as the top problem facing them in public opinion polls.

Nonetheless, Quartz cited Gandys critique as evidence that Sanderss central problem with minority voters was his emphasis on economics. And Sandra Bland had a job remains a favorite slogan among some advocates for racial justice. (As does the considerably more asinine  Goldman Sachs didnt shoot Michael Brown .)

Some liberal commentators went even further, suggesting that social democratic reforms werent merely irrelevant to racial justice  but antithetical to it. In early March, New York Times columnist Charles Blow reflected on Sanderss economic agenda over Twitter.

Blows ethical objection to taxing the wealthy at pre-Reagan levels is a bit odd for a writer who focuses on issues of social justice: To believe that millionaire capitalists and landlords earn their passive income  and thus, that it would be immoral for the state to confiscate half of their gains  is to embrace the ethical framework of right-wing libertarians. But Blow is entitled to an idiosyncratic worldview. His response to those who encouraged him to see our current tax rates in historical context, however, was more troubling.

Here, Blow appears to suggest that there is an inescapable correlation between high top-marginal tax rates and Jim Crowstyle racial discrimination. No writer should be judged by his or her weakest tweets, and Blow is an incisive commentator who would likely frame his argument more cogently given more time and characters. Still, his sentiment is worth dwelling on for the way it crystallizes the pathologies of class-blind identity politics: A reference to our nations legacy of racism is deployed as an argument against raising taxes on disproportionately white Americans to fund social programs that disproportionately benefit black ones.

Without question, the non-class-based dimensions of disadvantage in the United States  which women, LGBT, and nonwhite voters are acutely aware of as a function of their identities  must be addressed by any political party that considers itself progressive. And identity-based social movements like Black Lives Matter helped the Democratic Party better earn that label in 2016, by forcing both its presidential candidates to adopt platforms more representative of their voters interests.

But racial justice and gender equality cannot be achieved without confronting economic inequality  not when people of color and women are overrepresented among the financially disadvantaged. And its difficult to see how the Democratic Party will ever take aggressive action to combat inequality, unless its downscale wing becomes both larger and more class conscious.
NEW YORK, EU.- US President-elect Donald Trump attacked union leader of Carrier, who denied that the Republican had prevented the company from moving more than 1 thousand jobs to Mexico.



Chuck Jones, who heads the local union of United Steel Workers at the Carrier plant in Indiana, told reporters that Trump had lied by asserting that through his efforts the company held more than a thousand jobs in the United States.

Jones said from Wednesday afternoon that the company Carrier confirmed that it will retain at the Indiana plant only 730 unionized jobs and 70 non-unionized jobs; while 550 positions will be eliminated to be transferred to Mexico.

About 300 jobs that Trump boasted he saved through his alleged negotiations with Carrier were never considered to be moved to Mexico, according to The Wall Street Journal.

By keeping 800 jobs in Indiana, Carrier will receive a 7 million dollar tax incentive over the next 10 years as part of the deal.

Following Jones' remarks, Trump sent a message late Wednesday through his Twitter account blaming the union leader that Carrier had initially decided to move jobs to Mexico.

The president-elect wrote that Jones "has done a terrible job. Not surprisingly, companies are leaving the country. "

Later, Trump resumed his offensive against Jones and stated that if his union operated as it should "it would have kept those jobs in Indiana."

He also urged him to reduce membership fees and dedicate "more time to work and less time to talk".

The attacks on Jones continued, albeit now from alleged supporters of the president-elect. The union leader revealed in several interviews that he has received death threats, following criticism expressed by Trump.

"They do not bother me too much," Jones said in an interview with the Journal.

I nthe interview, the union leader insisted that Trump's assertions about the more than 1 thousand jobs held in Indiana are "a complete falsehood."

Meanwhile, the United Steel Workers union issued a message in defense of Jones.

"Chuck is a hero, not a scapegoat: you and others know about Carrier thanks to him, and the tireless work of members from day one to save all jobs there," the union stressed.

NTX/I/MZG/SRA/EUA16/JCG
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WASHINGTON - After belittling Pentagon brass in his campaign, Donald Trump is seeking their counsel in his cabinet in perhaps unprecedented fashion and triggering debate on the civilian-military divide embedded in the Constitution.

The president-elects selection this week of retired Marine Gen. John Kelly to run Homeland Security was his third choice of a retired general for a high-level post - and there could be more.

Another nominee, James Mattis, like Kelly a retired four-star general from the Marine Corps, will need a special waiver from Congress to run the Pentagon under a 70-year-old law requiring that the civilian head of defense be gone from active duty for seven years. Mattis retired as head of the United States Central Command in 2013.

Before he selected Mattis and Kelly, Trump, who didnt serve in the military, tapped retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as his national security adviser. Flynn, the most controversial security-related pick whose son was fired from the transition team for tweeting links of fake news, led a veritable military parade in and out of Trump Tower in recent weeks.

David Petraeus, who became the most famous recent American general in part due to a sex scandal accompanied by his mishandling of classified materials, is on a short list of potential appointees as secretary of state. Texan and Exxon-Mobil Corp. Chief Executive and Rex Tillerson, who met with Trump on Tuesday, is the lists newest addition.

Also, Adm. Michael Rogers, who heads the National Security Agency, was a candidate for director of national intelligence - and still may be in line for the sensitive position.

The military typically places the military atop lists of institutions people trust the most. And theres a history of military leaders who went on to government success - from George Washington to Dwight Eisenhower and other recent former generals like Brent Scowcroft and Colin Powell in the Bush administrations.

Yet the embrace of the military by Trump, who was expected to have a complicated relationship with the Pentagon, has surprised many analysts. Trump did not serve in the military and his assertion that I know more about ISIS than the generals do went down in the lexicon of memorable campaign quotes.

An open letter from 50 Republican national security veterans four months ago questioning Trumps fitness for duty underscored concerns about Trump as commander in chief, with 7,000 nuclear warheads at his disposal.

But now, Trumps cabinet picks are raising questions about whether generals will hold too much sway in White House chambers where security policies get mapped out.

Loren DeJonge Schulman, who was a top aide to National Security Adviser Susan Rice and before that a Pentagon official, spoke of the dynamics in deliberations she has experienced first-hand.

If you have a table with a majority of general officers, its the same if you have a roomful of lawyers or business leaders. I dont want to say its good or bad, but it will almost certainly change the tenor of the debate, she said.

Schulman, now deputy director of the nonprofit Center for a New American Security, said she agrees with characterizations of Mattis as an exceptional choice.

She added: But because hes exceptional, Congress in particular and people should have a debate. Because it really could have downstream implications in regard to civilian control of the military.

Daniel Benjamin, who was Hillary Clintons main counterterrorism adviser at the State Department and in the 1990s worked in the National Security Agency, said, The history of nations run by military leaders is not a happy one.

Benjamin said he has especially high regard for Mattis while he worries about Kellys challenge managing the culture at Homeland Security, where morale has suffered.

But he has concerns about Flynn, he said, noting what he has seen as adherence by generals to hierarchies and taking orders.

Its an open question how prepared he is going to be push back against presidential decrees, and thats a really big deal, Benjamin said. A president needs to hear contrary views from his staff.

Trumps sudden fondness for the military may be escaping some scrutiny because of the reputations of his choices, particularly Mattis, whose nickname Mad Dog comes not from his disposition but from his role of commander in battle in the Persian Gulf War. He prefers the sobriquet warrior monk.

Kelly, who led the U.S. Southern Command until earlier this year, is a border hawk vested with what could be an unenviable challenge of carrying out the deportations Trump has promised - however extensive they may be. Trump is expected to spell out the dimensions of that task in January when he decides the fate of some 742,000 Dreamers enrolled in DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.)

Tom Ridge, a moderate Republican and the first head of Homeland Security, a department born in 2002, noted the nations recent security needs while offering praise for Kelly.

Never have the threats facing our nation been more complex or diverse, Ridge said in a statement to the San Antonio Express-News.

Congress, where Republicans will oversee confirmation proceedings, is unlikely to pose significant obstacles to Trumps generals. Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, referred this week to Trumps G&G cabinet - generals and Goldman-Sachs.

Led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, Democrats may erect a filibuster when legislation for Mattiss waiver arrives. That would mean Mattis would need 60 votes, which seems likely unless something unforeseen develops.

House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, said this week that the waiver for Mattis needs due deliberation but has given no indication it will encounter a problem.

Leadership from top generals is something that is attractive to Mr. Trump and to the country right now, he remarked recently.

William Inboden, of the University of Texas at Austin, was among the Republicans who signed a letter in August warning that Trump would be a dangerous president and would put at risk our countrys national security and well-being given that he lacks the character, values and experience to be president.

In an interview, Inboden, who was senior director of strategic planning in George W. Bushs National Security Council and also worked for Powell at the State Department, said he will continue to call it like I see it but said he is pleasantly surprised at Trumps cabinet selections.

Inboden, who directs the Clements Center for National Security, said he has no concern about the preponderance of generals who will surround Trump. He said the military suffers from the caricature of always being the most prone to use force, but in his experience often they are the most reluctant.

I think the president should be able to draft the best available athlete, as it were, he said. Given the important role the military has played in international and border security in the post-9/11 era, it makes sense that some of the most talented people available with talent and managerial experience would be military officers.

bill.lambrecht@express-news.net
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Sid Miller, the Texas agriculture commissioner perhaps destined to join President-elect Donald Trumps administration, has a prolific social media presence. The politician regularly posts memes, photos and his reactions to daily news, at times critical of reporting and often without attribution. His Miller for Texas Facebook fan page has more than 330,000 likes.

On Nov. 27, 2016, Miller posted a fresh unattributed photo, this time of the muscled actor Dwayne The Rock Johnson, shown wearing a T-shirt with a message Miller endorsed. Johnsons shirt read: We stand for the flag, we kneel for the fallen, along with this Miller caption: Thanks to Dewayne Johnson AKA The Rock for standing up and defending our flag. There are a few good guys left in Hollywood and The Rock is one of them.

As of early December 2016, Millers Johnson post had drawn 3,500 reactions, 1,092 shares and 111 comments, all supportive, some praising Johnson for being a stand up guy whos not ashamed to admit his love for country, or telling Johnson he is The Rock for a reason.

Is photo real?

But when we saw the photo presentation, it looked to us like the unsourced photos shirt text had alignment problems. Also, the text on the T-shirt looked skewed and a smudge next to Johnsons right arm looked as if there might have been additional removed text or imagery.

We knew, too, that Miller had previously posted a photo lacking accuracy. In March 2016, we found Pants on Fire what turned out to be Millers Facebook post of a fake image of Barack Obama holding a T-shirt with Marxist revolutionary Che Guevaras face on it. Separately, the Texas Tribune in December 2016 compiled what its story described as 10 Miller posts of demonstrably false, misleading or unsupported information.

A reverse image search

We started our review of the Johnson photo posted by Miller by conducting a reverse Google image search of it. Such a search enables anyone to pull up similar images across the web, demonstrating if other versions have been posted in digital spaces. If multiple versions of a photo exist online, a reverse Google image search can show some of the different iterations.

What came back from our search: The same T-shirt and Johnson pose with other slogans displayed, such as Only elephants should wear ivory or Still here, still strong, Native Pride.

Additional results showed Johnson standing in a blank V-neck T-shirt, without any text. And among those, one photo came from the cover of the August 2013 issue of Essence Magazine; that photo shows Johnson wearing a similarly fitting navy blue V-neck T-shirt, without any text on the shirt. Then again, Johnson holds a different pose and presents a different facial expression.

Other results  on websites such as Pinterest and Mid-day.com, an Indian news and lifestyle website  showed what looked to us like a blank T-shirt version of the Miller-posted photo.

Miller spokesman calls inquiry 'silly'

So, what gives?

We turned to a Miller campaign spokesman, Todd Smith, to find out where Miller picked up his Facebook-posted photo. Smith said he personally had no clue and said ours was a silly, silly inquiry. He said the message of the T-shirt is what counts. When asked what his comment would be if the photo itself was fake, he said he hadnt heard complaints from Johnson.

Johnson representative says Miller photo photoshopped

Next, we endeavored to reach someone familiar with Johnsons photo history. After calling Johnsons public relations team, we heard from Britt Johnson with the Garcia Companies, who identifies herself as a social media spokesperson for Johnson.

Britt Johnson said by email: While I cant recall where that photo was taken, I can say with confidence that the image/shirt shared by Miller was photoshopped.

Forensic photography expert

Separately, a web search led us to a forensic photography expert at the Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute at Syracuse University. By email, Cathryn Lahm responded that what she looked at after downloading a copy of the photo wed shared from Millers Facebook post and viewing the photo in her software program, the T-shirt The Rock is wearing is most likely plain and the graphics were placed on the photo  made to look  like it was actually on his shirt, referring to the pro-flag message. She said the artist likely applied the graphic design onto an existing image, so Johnson would look like he was wearing the presented T-shirt.

The original image was shot at some press event  I think  based on the hot flash shadows as if he is walking the red carpet for some opening of a movie or an event, Lahm said. If she had to go to court about the authenticity of the Miller-posted photo, Lahm said, she would call the image a fake.

Our ruling

Miller posted a photo of The Rock wearing a T-shirt with a message calling for people to stand for the flag and kneel for the fallen.

That image, we found, was a product of photo manipulation. It looks to us like Johnson actually posed in a plain shirt without any message.

We rate this photo post False.

FALSE  The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.

frahman@express-news.net
WASHINGTON  An extraordinary breach has emerged between President-elect Donald Trump and the national security establishment, with Trump mocking U.S. intelligence assessments that Russia interfered in the election on his behalf, and top Republicans vowing investigations into Kremlin activities.

Trump, in a statement issued by his transition team Friday evening, expressed complete disbelief in the intelligence agencies assessments.

These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, Trumps team said, adding that the election was over and that it was time to move on.

Though Trump has wasted no time in antagonizing the agencies, he will have to rely on them for the sort of espionage activities and analysis that they spend more than $70 billion a year to perform.

At this point in a transition, a president-elect is usually delving into intelligence he has never before seen and learning about CIA and National Security Agency abilities. But Trump, who has taken intelligence briefings only sporadically, is questioning not only analytic conclusions, but also their underlying facts.

To have the president-elect of the United States simply reject the fact-based narrative that the intelligence community puts together because it conflicts with his a priori assumptions  wow, said Michael Hayden, who was the director of the NSA and later the CIA under former President George W. Bush.

With the partisan emotions on both sides  Trumps supporters see a plot to undermine his presidency, and Hillary Clintons supporters see a conspiracy to keep her from the presidency  the result is an environment in which even those basic facts become the basis for dispute.

Trumps team lashed out at the agencies after The Washington Post reported that the CIA believed that Russia had intervened to undercut Clinton and lift Trump, and The New York Times reported that Russia had broken into Republican National Committee computer networks just as they had broken into Democratic ones, but had released documents only on the Democrats.

The president-elect finds himself in a bind after strenuously rejecting for months all assertions that Russia was working to help him, though he did at one point invite Russia to find thousands of Clintons emails.

While there is no evidence that the Russian meddling affected the outcome of the election or the legitimacy of the vote, Trump and his aides want to shut the door on any such notion, including the idea that Russian President Vladimir Putin schemed to put him in office. Instead, Trump casts the issue as an unknowable mystery.

It could be Russia, he recently told Time magazine. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.

The Republicans who lead the congressional committees overseeing intelligence, the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security take the opposite view. They say that Russia was behind the election meddling, but that the scope and intent of the operation need deep investigation, hearings and public reports.

One question they may want to explore is why the intelligence agencies believe that the Republican networks were compromised while the FBI, which leads domestic cyberinvestigations, has apparently told Republicans that it has not seen evidence of that breach. Senior officials say the intelligence agencies conclusions are not being widely shared, even with law enforcement.

We cannot allow foreign governments to interfere in our democracy, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee who was considered by Trump for secretary of Homeland Security, said at the conservative Heritage Foundation. When they do, we must respond forcefully, publicly and decisively.

He has promised hearings, saying the Russian activity was a call to action, as has Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the few senators left from the Cold War era, when the Republican Party made opposition to the Soviet Union  and later deep suspicion of Russia  the centerpiece of its foreign policy.

Rep. Peter T. King, R-N.Y., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said there was little doubt the Russian government was involved in hacking the DNC.

All of the intelligence analysts who looked at it came to the conclusion that the tradecraft was very similar to the Russians, he said.

Even one of Trumps most enthusiastic supporters, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said Friday that he had no doubt about Russias culpability. His complaint was with the intelligence agencies, which he said had repeatedly failed to anticipate Putins hostile actions, and with the Obama administrations lack of a punitive response.

Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said that the intelligence agencies had ignored pleas by numerous Intelligence Committee members to take more forceful action against the Kremlins aggression. He added that the Obama administration had suddenly awoken to the threat.

Like many Republicans, Nunes is threading a needle. His statement puts him in opposition to the position taken by Trump and his incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who has traveled to Russia as a private citizen for RT, the state-controlled news operation, and attended a dinner with Putin.

Nuness contention that Obama was captivated by a desire to reset relations with Russia is also notable, because Trump has said he is trying to do the same  though he is avoiding that term, which was made popular by Clinton in her failed effort as secretary of state in 2009.

A president must sort out how to evaluate the evidence presented to him each day in the Presidential Daily Brief. Obama, for example, came to question the CIAs analytic skills after being briefed not long after the 2010 uprising in Tunisia.

Obama asked what the chance was that the street protests would spread to Egypt; he was told less than 20 percent. Tahrir Square erupted within days.

Intelligence can get politicized, of course, and one of the running debates about the disastrously mistaken assessments of Iraq that Trump often cites is whether the intelligence itself was tainted or whether the Bush White House read it selectively to support its march to war in 2003.

But what is unfolding in the argument over the Russian hacking is more complex, because tracking the origin of cyberattacks is complicated. It is made all the harder by the fact that the CIA and the NSA do not want to reveal human sources or technical abilities, including U.S. software implants in Russian computer networks.

This much is known: In mid-2015, a hacking group long associated with the FSB  the successor to the old Soviet KGB  got inside the Democratic National Committees computer systems. The intelligence gathering appeared to be fairly routine, and it was unsurprising: The Chinese, for instance, penetrated Obamas and McCains presidential campaign communications in 2008.

In the spring of 2016, a second group of Russian hackers, long associated with the GRU, a military intelligence agency, attacked the DNC again, along with the private email accounts of prominent Washington figures like John Podesta, the chairman of Clintons campaign. Those emails were ultimately published  a step the Russians had never taken before in the United States, though the tactic has been used often in former Soviet states and elsewhere in Europe. That moved the issue from espionage to an information operation with a political motive.

One person who attended a classified briefing on the intelligence said that the investigators had explained that the malware used in the cyberattack on the DNC matched tools previously used by hackers with proven ties to the Russian government. That sort of pattern analysis is common in cyberinvestigations, though it is not conclusive.

But the intelligence agencies had more: They had managed to identify the individuals from the GRU who oversaw the hacking efforts. That may have come from intercepted conversations, spying efforts or implants in computer systems that allow the tracking of emails and text messages.

In briefings to Obama and on Capitol Hill, intelligence agencies have said they now believe that what began as an effort to undermine the credibility of U.S. elections morphed over time into a much more targeted effort to harm Clinton, whom Putin has long accused of interfering in Russian parliamentary elections in 2011.

But to hedge their bets before the election, according to the briefings, the Russians also targeted the RNC, Republican operatives and prominent members of the Republican establishment, like former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

But few of those emails have ever surfaced, save for Powells, which were critical of Clintons campaign for trying to draw him into a defense of her use of a private computer server.

A spokesman for the RNC, Sean Spicer, disputed the report in The Times that the intelligence community had concluded that the RNC had been hacked.

The RNC was not hacked, he said on Twitter. The @nytimes was told and chose to ignore. On Friday night, before The Times published its report, the committee had refused to comment.

________

Scott Shane and Eric Lipton contributed reporting.
BAKER CITY, Ore. (AP)  The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center will be the new home of a book of historic pioneer maps thanks to Sen. Ron Wyden.

Through a partnership between the Library of Congress and the office of the Oregon Democrat, the 170-year-old, seven-section topographical map of the Oregon Trail that is bound into a book, has been secured for display at the Interpretive Center on Flagstaff Hill about five miles east of Baker City.

Center Director Sarah LeCompte is excited to receive the map.

"It's a great document to have," she said. "It's something that is really authentic and original that our visitors can see. Our visitors always love that  not a duplicate or a replica of the real thing, but the real thing."

The Interpretive Center, which is operated by the BLM, will celebrate its 25th anniversary in May.

More than 2.2 million visitors have toured the center since it opened on May 23, 1992.

Wyden stated in a press release that as the son of a librarian, he is always gratified when a significant piece of history finds its proper home.

"That's why I am so pleased to play a part in bringing this book of maps to Baker City where it can be appreciated for generations to come."

The map was developed by cartographer Charles Preuss, who accompanied frontiersman John C. Fremont and his wife Jesse Benton on an expedition along the route of the Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon in 1843. Fremont and his wife wrote a book about the expedition, "A Report of the Exploring Expedition to Oregon and California," for the U.S. Congress that was published in 1845.

It included another version of the map also created by Preuss. The Interpretive Center has a copy of that report on display but does not have the map that was included with it. The map Wyden's office has procured for the center is a larger and more detailed version of the one that was published with Fremont's report.

Congress ordered the creation of this seven-section map in 1845 from the field notes and journal of Fremont along with the sketches and notes of Preuss. It was published in 1846.

LeCompte said the map will complement the center's exhibits.

"(Fremont) was one of the first explorers to really document the route," LeCompte said. "He followed the route that was later used by the Oregon Trail pioneers. Essentially those maps are the first accurate maps of the way out West."

Wyden's spokesman Hank Stern said the senator has interns who occasionally select books to fulfill requests from Oregon schools, libraries and eligible nonprofits. Almost all of these selections are recently published books. But occasionally the Library of Congress discards surplus books that are much older. The book of maps is one example of that.

"Wyden's office recognized the historical value of the item and the office offered it to the Interpretive Center," Stern said. "Senator Wyden strongly believes that history comes alive when people can see firsthand such unique documents as this book. And when it comes to the history of Oregon's pioneers, the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center struck him as the perfect home for this 170-year-old treasure."

LeCompte said the map will be on display at the Center in June.

The map's debut at the Center will coincide with a temporary exhibit that depicts Fremont's expedition along the Oregon Trail and includes items and artifacts from the journey and personal items that belonged to him. The exhibit originates from the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, Nevada, and the Deschutes Historical Museum of Bend.

"The timing is perfect," LeCompte said.

The Interpretive Center is renting the exhibit for the summer of 2017.

LeCompte said the map is one of the first to show the route of the Oregon Trail.

The map includes temperature readings, elevations and weather patterns for each day of the journey, as well as extensive notes describing the terrain, flora and fauna, and the Native American tribes encountered on the 14-month journey.

"(The map) is a pretty important document," LeCompte said. "(Fremont's) writings and those maps were the first accurate information that was available for Americans making their way out West."

According to Stern, the book of maps is quite rare. One copy that is not in great condition is for sale online at Arader Galleries for $6,800.

Fremont was an American military officer and an early explorer and mapmaker of the American West, who was one of the principal figures in opening up that region to settlement and was instrumental in the U.S. conquest and development of California. He was also a politician who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. presidency in 1856 as the first candidate of the newly formed Republican Party.
British 'Quality Standard Mark' lamb has been touring central and southern Germany in a bid to boost its growing popularity.

The visiting truck toured 21 high-end supermarkets over the course of 37 days as part of AHDB Beef & Lamb initiative allowing local foodies to sample Quality Standard Mark lamb.

The Quality Standard Mark Scheme for beef and lamb provides high levels of assurance about the meat people buy. All beef and lamb carrying the Mark is chosen according to a strict selection process to ensure it is succulent and tender. Quality Standard Mark (QSM) beef and lamb is produced to higher standards than required by law with a supply chain which is fully assured and independently inspected at every stage.

The German tour, which made its final stop at the end of November, has been hailed a success after gaining the support of retailers and supermarket butchers as well as local consumers.

Experts at AHDB Beef & Lamb say its essential to develop strong links with the German market  especially with the premium retail sector. Sales of UK lamb are on the rise with exports to Germany rising to 13,000 tonnes this year.

AHDB head of meat exports, Jean-Pierre Garnier said: The German market for lamb is progressing well with more and more people appreciating its taste. Over the last three years, Germany has become the second largest market for UK lamb and sales are rising year after year.

Retailers and supermarket butchers are very supportive of this campaign and it has been praised by German consumers. We will be looking to build on this in 2017.

Research suggests that between 10 and 20% of German people are foodies who look for high quality produce, enjoy cooking and sharing, and travel to food festivals  a demographic AHDB and farmers are keen to target.
"AEGIC, a partnership between the WA Government and GRDC, is active particularly in the noodle wheat trade area and DAFWA works to assist AEGIC in this and other relevant areas through access to production and agronomic research information and expertise as required in this and other relevant areas."
Consistent with the recommendation from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), I have decided that the acquisition of Kidman as proposed would not be contrary to the national interest and will be permitted to proceed as proposed, he said.
Two 14-year-old boys have been charged in connection with having a gun at Unity Reed High School in Manassas this week. The gun was not brandished toward other students and was not part of an
Will Gov. Coopers veto become useless? Cumberland voters to decide

Republicans need five seats  three in the NC House, two in the NC Senate  to get carte blanche control of the state. Cumberland County voters can help that happen or prevent that from happening.
Felicity Jones thinks it's "wonderful" that young girls can look up to her 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' character.

Felicity Jones

The 33-year-old actress - who plays Rebel Alliance fighter Jyn Erso in the hotly-anticipated film - is thrilled young girls have such strong independent woman to look up to as a role model.

She said: "I just feel it's a wonderful moment that young girls get to celebrate someone like Jyn just as they did with Daisy Ridley's Rey [in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'].

"She is someone who has great humanity, she has an independent spirit and lives by her beliefs, and I think there's something wonderful about her for a young girl to admire."

And the 'Theory of Everything' star admits it was "pure joy" seeing Stormtroopers on the set of the science fiction film.

She added: "Every single day, you're focused and you're very studious and you're practicing your lines and then all that reverence goes out the window when you feel the pure joy of seeing the creatures.

"Obviously there's a person inside, but when you see this creature walking across the set, you just can't do anything but smile."

Meanwhile, Felicity also opened up about how she used "The Force" to secure her the part of Jyn.

She told the New York Daily News: "The first time I met Gareth [Edwards; the director] for the film, we had to do the whole meeting in whispers ... because we were sitting in a cafe in Los Angeles and we didn't want anyone to overhear. I thought there was a real synergy between us. I thought I got the part ...

"I remember being very Zen about the whole process because I desperately wanted to do it. But I thought the disappointment would be so great if I didn't get it that I kind of used 'The Force' to get me through."
5 After Midnight have placed third on 'The X Factor'.

5 After Midnight at the X Factor final (c) Syco / Thames / Dymond

The boy band - which includes Kieran Alleyne, Nathan Lewis and Jordan Lee - narrowly missed out in a place in the 'X Factor' final after being kicked out of the competition on Saturday night (10.12.16).

Jordan said: "What can I say? It's been the best experience ever! There's been so much support and so much love. I can't thank you guys enough. And we just hope for the best; the best people come out third, the best people come out second and the best people win it. That's how it is."

Whilst Kieran added: "It was amazing. We just want to say thank you to everybody that's voted for us. To Simon, Nicole, Sharon and of course, Louis."

And their mentor Louis Walsh was full of praise for the group, telling host Dermot O'Leary: "Catch them on the 'X Factor' tour. This is the start! It's all going to happen for them."

Earlier in the evening, 5 After Midnight opened the show - which was broadcast live from Wembley Arena, London - with a rendition of Beyonce's 'Crazy In Love', which received high praise from the judges.

Nicole told them: "That is the way you open up the X Factor final at Wembley Arena. Your energy is electric. Awesome job."

Whilst Sharon gushed: "The energy in here is Crazy In Love for you guys. Great performance from you all."

And despite a little dig at Louis, Simon praised the trio, telling them: "This worked in the real world. The reason you've done so well is because you've worked so hard. This is what the X Factor's all about."

Later, the hopefuls returned to the stage to perform hit song 'Tears' with Clean Bandit and last year's 'X Factor' winner Louisa Johnson.

Meanwhile, Matt Terry wowed with an effortless performance of 'Take Me Home' full of his signature falsetto whilst Saara Alto took to the stage to stun the 12,000-strong audience with 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World'.

During the final, Matt duetted with his mentor Nicole for a performance of Prince's 'Purple Rain' and Saara was joined by her dream collaborator Adam Lambert to sing Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

The 'X Factor' continues on Sunday night (11.12.16) when Saara Aalto and Matt Terry will fight it out to be named this year's 'X Factor' champion. Kylie Minogue, Madness and Little Mix will also perform.
GIBSONS, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/10/16 -- Western Economic Diversification Canada

The Sunshine Coast celebrated the announcement of $360,000 in Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program funding to the Gibsons Community Building Society, which will support the development of the new Nicholas Sonntag Marine Education Centre and multi-purpose room space located at the Gibsons Public Market.

This new Centre will benefit Sunshine Coast residents by adopting modern technology that will reduce its environmental impact and provide a new education centre and recreation space. This project will also involve the participation of the Squamish First Nation.

Pam Goldsmith-Jones, Member of Parliament for West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast - Sea to Sky Country, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada, made the announcement today in Gibsons.

The Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program is part of Canada 150 Celebrates, the Government of Canada's celebration of our country's 150th anniversary of Confederation. Budget 2016 provided an additional $150 million over two years to Canada's Regional Development Agencies to deliver further community funding across the country, starting in 2016-17, with Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) being responsible for administering the program in Western Canada.

Through investments in community infrastructure, the Government of Canada will invest in projects that seek to renovate, expand and improve existing community infrastructure, with a focus on recreational facilities, projects that advance a clean growth economy, and projects with a positive impact on Indigenous communities.

Quotes

"Projects that involve strong partnerships with Indigenous communities and contribute to a cleaner, greener environment are priorities for this Government. I am proud to note that in addition to meeting these goals, the residents of Gibsons will benefit from this new and improved amenity."

-- Pam Goldsmith-Jones, Member of Parliament for West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast - Sea to Sky Country

"We are very grateful for this significant federal government support of the Nicholas Sonntag Marine Education Centre at the Gibsons Public Market. We look forward to creating an important learning destination where residents and visitors of the Sunshine Coast will experience inspiring and lasting connections to our local Salish Sea waters for generations to come."

-- Pam Robertson, President of the Gibsons Community Building Society

"We are thrilled to receive this support from the federal government which reinforces how this community development project demonstrates a partnership with government, community and the corporate sector. The CIP 150 funds celebrates our heritage which is a part of Canada's celebration of our history, but also encourages economic development and building healthy communities for our future"

-- Gerry Zipursky, Executive Director of the Gibsons Community Building Society

Stay Connected

Twitter: @WD_Canada, @canada150th, @MinisterISED,

Hashtags: Canada150 / CBC2017 / RadioCanada2017

Website: Western Economic Diversification Canada, Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program, Gibsons Community Building Society

Facebook: @canada150th

Instagram: @canada150

WD Toll-Free Number: 1-888-338-WEST (9378)

TTY (telecommunications device for the hearing impaired): 1-877-303-3388

Additional Links

Government of Canada Announces Support for Community Infrastructure in British Columbia

Backgrounder: The 150th Anniversary of Confederation in 2017

IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL.

Contacts:

Ben Stanford

Regional Communications Manager

Western Economic Diversification Canada

604-666-7038

ben.stanford@canada.ca



Nancy Grenier

Director of Communications and Marketing

Gibsons Community Building Society

Gibsons, British Columbia

604-741-3421

ngrenier@telus.net




OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 12/11/16 -- The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada has reached tentative deals for over 18,000 public service professionals.

"These deals are not just good for our members, they're good for all Canadians," said Institute President Debi Daviau. "We've made major progress on issues of public interest, including scientific integrity, contracting out, domestic violence and the safety of northern nurses."

In an unprecedented agreement, PIPSC has enshrined scientific integrity in collective agreements. Scientists will have the right to express themselves on science and their research without being designated as official spokespersons.

The deals secure a 5% general economic increase over four years, starting in 2014 when the last contract expired. Additional monetary agreements were made based on professional and occupation-specific deficiencies.

The parties have established a process to improve employee wellness and support, inside a collective agreement, so that members will never have to choose between going to work sick or staying at home without pay. Until a new system has been agreed to at the bargaining table in the next round, the existing sick leave system remains firmly intact.

The tentative agreements apply to members from the AV, RE, SH and SP groups. The government's proposals to the NR group were not sufficient for continuing negotiations, leading to an application for binding conciliation. Negotiations are ongoing for over 32,000 other PIPSC members.

"The gains we made in this round of bargaining were only possible because of the solidarity of our members, other federal bargaining agents and the entire labour movement in Canada," said Daviau. "The President of the Treasury Board, Scott Brison, was committed to a fair process and improving conditions for bargaining. I thank him for living up to those commitments."

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents some 55,000 scientists, Information Technology experts, auditors and other public service professionals, most of whom work for the federal government.

Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter (@pipsc_ipfpc)

Contacts:

Johanne Fillion

(613) 228-6310 ext 4953 (office)

or (613) 883-4900 (cell.)

jfillion@pipsc.ca




The Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG), a Western Pennsylvanias life sciences investment firm, appointed James (Jim) F. Jordan as President and Chief Executive Officer.

He succeeded John W. Manzetti, who is elected to the position of Executive Chairman of the PLSG.

Both Jordan and Manzetti will continue to serve in their current positions within the Accelerator Fund LLC, the PLSGs for-profit venture capital fund, as Managing Director and Founder and Managing Director respectively. In addition to his role as Executive Chairman of the PLSG, Manzetti, who founded the Accelerator Fund in 2010, will continue to be responsible for the management of Fund I and II investments and exploring potential follow-on funds. He will also participate in PLSG fundraising and strategic planning.

Since its inception in 2002, PLSG has invested directly and indirectly more than $22 million in nearly 80 companies.

FinSMEs

11/12/2016
Sarthak Sardana aka Sartek might be that one EDM DJ among several names pasted together on a festival poster, and more often, apart from the hardcore EDM ravers, hes probably not a recognisable name. But fame is not one of Sarteks goals, as much as he often gets recognised when hes out and about at, say, a local coffee shop in Connaught Place in Delhi. He offers a little vaguely during our conversation, I try to keep an open type of profile.

And its not as though he lays low  because youd have to be enterprising if you got signed to Dutch electro house star Hardwells label Revealed and play over a hundred shows in the span of a year. Sartek is more or less open to talk about anything, whether its the contentious DJ Mag Top 100 DJs list (the mistake people make is that they pay so much money for a rank they dont deserve) or admitting how simplistic his track-making process is (it depends on how Im feeling throughout the week).

Fresh from his appearance at the Electric Daisy Carnivals first edition in India (on home ground, at the Buddh International Circuit in Delhi NCR), Sartek played only his own music, tracks like Dopamine, Back to the Future and Dont Need Love, which have topped electronic music aggregator Beatports electro house charts and earned radio play on broadcasts hosted by top DJs such as David Guetta and Armin Van Buuren. Playing our own music for your set in the EDM world is a risk, especially when anyone gathered just wants to hear the hits, but Sartek said he mashed up his own hits to give a new feel to old tracks.

If he was rising alongside Indian EDM peers such as Shaan and Lost Stories on festival stages and then playing opening sets for the likes of Hardwell in India, he was also becoming known in specific EDM global circles for releasing his 2013 debut single Apocalypse via Tiestos Magik Muzik label, also a first for any Indian producer.

The backstory to that release is the four years it took him to go from inspired to aspiring to full-fledged producer. "It all started for me after I attended a legendary trance DJ gig by Ferry Corsten in 2007, having no idea what dance music is all about. The gig changed the perspective of music for me as I never knew electronic music could make me so inspired, seeing happy vibes all over. I joined an academy in Delhi in 2009 to pursue my passion and love for dance music while attending my Chartered Accountancy classes," Sartek told IANS.

And now, with his workflow and recognition and regular flow of gigs that take him to Europe as well as Hyderabad and to private sets in Agra, Sartek has his own monthly radio show called Back to the Future that features upcoming Indian producers. He says, Before, I used to struggle with putting my music out, then I realised there are tons of producers who make good music in this country, but dont have the knowledge or credentials to promote their music.

But among his contemporaries, we ask if the DJ community isnt as vain and filled with airheads as we think it is, and he says theres usually never any rivalry or dirty looks thrown backstage at a festival. Rather than judge or trying to guess what one or another is going to play, we just talk to each other. Hey bro, Im going to play this track. Then well make last-minute changes. Thats something quite fun, because you have to change up your set for the next DJ. You decide and debate, but its all in fun. Nothing negative in this.

And as much as desi bass producer Nucleya has risen to new levels of fame and already been bestowed legend status, Sartek says theres plenty of audiences for each distinct branch of electronic music to go around in India. Our following is different from Nucleyas. Some people are doing techno, they have a different type of sound. But what Ive noticed in India is that it all boils down to what kind of support were getting from Western countries. Which is very weird, we have five times the population they have. If Sartek is supported by (The number 1 DJ on DJ Mags top 100 for 2016) Martin Garrix, Sartek is big. If Sartek is supported by Indian DJs, it doesnt mean much to people.

He chalks down another five to eight years before Indias EDM scene builds its own fleet of established DJs and producers. And then Sartek can be the Martin Garrix from India, he says.
New Delhi: Escalating the boardroom battle at India's largest conglomerate, on Sunday Tata Sons charged Cyrus P Mistry of misleading to get selected as Chairman, retracting on his promises, concentrating powers and using free-hand given to him to weaken management structures.

Days ahead of meetings of shareholders of group companies to consider removing Mistry from board of key listed companies, Tata Sons said it is bringing out "key facts" that resulted "in the loss of confidence" in him and leading to his removal.

Tata Sons said Mistry "misled" the Selection Committee set up in 2011 for selecting a Chairman of Tata Sons to succeed Mr Ratan Tata, by "making lofty statements about his plans for the Tata Group and more importantly indicated an elaborate management structure for managing the Tata Group, given its diversity of business, by suggesting a management structure aimed at dispersal of authority and responsibility."

"These statements and commitments from Mr Cyrus Mistry played an important role in the Selection Committee's final selection of Mr Mistry as Chairman. After waiting for a period of four years, almost none of these management structures and plans have been given effect to. Clearly, in our opinion, the Selection Committee was misled in its choice of Mr Mistry," it said.

It charged Mistry of "inappropriate" conduct by retracting from his promise to distance himself from his family enterprise - Shapoorji Pallonji & Company to create "a sense of breach of trust" and posing "significant challenge to the high corporate governance principles Tata Sons strived for."

"This retraction, created grave concerns on Mr Mistry's ability to lead the Tata Group devoid of personal conflicts and put to risk the high standards of self-less governance, that lies at the core of the Tata philosophy," it said.

Mistry, it said, had over the past 3-4 years concentrated all power and authority only in his own hands as Chairman in all the major Tata Group operating companies and "gone about systematically diluting the representation of Tata Sons on the Boards of various Tata Companies."

Mistry took advantage of the "free hand" and trust "to weaken management structures in Tata Companies acting contrary to his fiduciary duties," Tata Sons said in the appeal to shareholders.

Tata Sons said its Board has been concerned for some time about the financial performance as the holding company's dividend income (other than from TCS) declined continuously and staff costs more than doubled.

"All this would have resulted in losses but for the TCS dividend. Mr Mistry did not show concern about these issues and the increasing dependence of Tata Sons on TCS. The Board could not accept this any further as it had the potential to risk the financial viability of Tata Sons," it said.

Taking strong objection to Mistry's latest letter to the shareholders on corporate governance, Tata Sons said the Tata Group has functioned for 149 years and set standards of corporate governance all through this period.

"It is therefore shocking that Mr Mistry, who was given the privilege of heading the group, should, in a short period of four years, be now lecturing us on corporate governance.

"The corporate structure of the group which prevailed under the leadership of Mr JRD Tata for over 50 years and thereafter Mr Ratan Tata for over 20 years, exemplified the best corporate governance practices. Mr Mistry consciously dismantled this long established corporate structure by identifying himself as the only Tata Sons representative on the boards of Tata operating companies," the statement said.

Under the Governance Guidelines Framework which Mistry himself introduced in 2015, there is a clause to the effect that all employees of a Tata company should, after their employment ceases, immediately resign from the Boards of all Tata companies where they are functioning as Non-Executive Directors.

"Therefore Mr Mistry, on ceasing to be the Executive Chairman of Tata Sons, should have immediately resigned from the Boards of all other companies under his own guidelines. Yet he has chosen not to do so in wilful breach of the Governance Guidelines Framework," it said.

In the appeal to shareholders, Tata Sons said it needs the support of all big and small shareholders who have stood with Tatas always to remove Mistry.

On Mistry's constant complains about "bad" legacy issues, Tata Sons said he was fully aware of them and nevertheless choose to be the Chairman as a challenge to turn around and resolve these issues.

He "conveniently ignores the good legacies which he inherited, namely TCS and JLR, which account for nearly 90 per cent of the group's total profits and which helped him to claim good aggregate group results."

"It has always been Tata's policy to tackle difficult situations and turn them around but instead he has only taken the easy option of taking large amounts of write-offs to huge detriment of the shareholders and blaming it all on the past management, while doing little to fix the challenges faced by certain companies," Tata Sons said.

Stating that Tatas have faced many critical problems in companies like Tata Steel and Tata Motors, it said these can be overcome by strong management action and financial support from Tata Sons.

"In our opinion, mature responses to challenges of business are at the core of the Tata philosophy, and in our opinion, Mr Mistry has failed to live up to it," it said.

Tata Sons alleged that it was Mistry who decided to go on a public campaign in the media by making irresponsible and incorrect allegations.

"Mistry's statements have caused the Group (including the companies where he continues to be the Chairman) enormous damage and caused considerable financial loss to all shareholders, running into tens of thousands of crores and in our opinion, Mr Mistry alone is responsible for such losses directly arising from his irresponsible and incorrect statements.

"His actions and statements have also caused instability and confusion in these companies and their managements which would have been avoided if he had done the right thing by stepping down from the Chairmanships and Boards as is normally done," Tata Sons said.

Instead, Mistry, it said, seems to have taken the stand that even if he ultimately has to relinquish, he would have the satisfaction of damaging a great institution built up over 150 years after just five years of his tenure.

"It is also ironical that Mr Mistry is resisting his removal from the Boards of these very same Tata Companies which he has attacked by his false allegations and caused enormous harm to," it said.

Tata Sons said Mistry was appointed as the Chairman of the various Tata Companies only through his Chairmanship of the parent company, Tata Sons Ltd.

And so when he was removed as Chairman of Tata Sons on 24 October, "propriety and reason demanded that he step down from the Chairmanship of the various Tata Companies."

"Instead, Mr Mistry has chosen to resort to selective media leaks, media statements and to make a public spectacle,

knowing fully well that his actions would hurt and damage the companies even while remaining as their Chairman," Tata Sons said in the statement.

The holding company said Mistry alleges legacy issues faced by Tata Companies but has sought to entrench himself in the Board of such Tata Companies, whilst making false allegations against such companies.

"In our opinion, his actions are driven by a perverse motivation to cause harm to the "Tata" brand and to intentionally erode shareholder value," it said.

Stating that the operating Tata companies and Tata Sons have worked cohesively and seamlessly for the benefit of all stakeholders, the statement said, "There has been no other agenda or personal interest as ultimately even the dividends paid to Tata Sons and subsequently to its own shareholders went back to philanthropy except for those paid to the minority shareholders."

"The operating Tata companies have individually grown and prospered but they have also benefited in no small measure from being part of the Tata Group.

"This encompasses the ability to attract and retain management and employees, use the TATA brand nationally and internationally, which has been painstakingly built up over the past decades, help in the marketing of their products and their ability to attract capital in all forms and give the comfort of safety because of the past default-free record," it said.

Tata companies cannot exist in a vacuum but benefit from being part of the Tata Group, it said adding all such benefits are likely to be at stake if Mistry continues to remain Chairman, as his continuance is likely to lead to

fragmentation of the Tata Group.

"For this purpose alone, Tata Sons would need the support of all, big and small, shareholders who have stood with the Tata Group at all times," it said.

Tata Sons said it wants to put the current turmoil in the Group behind it. "Tata companies have always been managed by dedicated professionals under the supervision of their Boards which, till recently, comprised a judicious mix of persons representing the promoters, the management and independents - as prescribed by the applicable regulations and which is also the case in almost all corporate entities in our country."

This structure ensures that the interests of all constituents, namely, shareholders, employees and consumers are protected and good corporate governance is followed and constantly improved upon.

"Tata companies must therefore quickly return to focusing on inancial consolidation, prudent and strong Balance Sheets and sustainable returns and? values to their shareholders, big and small," it said.

Meanwhile Mistry accused Tata Sons director Vijay Singh of concocting theories to defend his role in Ratan Tata's

conspiracy to replace him.

Mistry says Vijay had no track record either as MP chief secy or as defence secy.

Mistry claims Vijay Singh played a key role in the AugustaWestland scam.
By Ahmed Mohammed Hassan and Ali Abdelaty

| CAIRO

CAIRO A bombing at Cairo's largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49, many of them women and children attending Sunday mass, in the deadliest attack on Egypt's Christian minority in years.The attack comes as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi fights battles on several fronts. His economic reforms have angered the poor, a bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has seen thousands jailed, whilst an insurgency rages in Northern Sinai, led by the Egyptian branch of Islamic State. The militant group has also carried out deadly attacks in Cairo and has urged its supporters to launch attacks around the world in recent weeks as it goes on the defensive in its Iraqi and Syrian strongholds.There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but exiled Brotherhood officials and home-grown militant groups condemned the attack. Islamic State supporters celebrated on social media. "God bless the person who did this blessed act," wrote one supporter on Telegram.The explosion took place in chapel, which adjoins St Mark's, Cairo's main cathedral and the seat of Coptic Pope Tawadros II, where security is normally tight.At the Vatican, Pope Francis condemned what he called the latest in a series of "brutal terrorist attacks" and said he was praying for the dead and wounded.The chapel's floor was covered in debris from shattered windows, its wooden pews blasted apart, its pillars blackened. Here and there lay abandoned shoes and sticky patches of blood. "As soon as the priest called us to prepare for prayer, the explosion happened," Emad Shoukry, who was inside when the blast took place, told Reuters."The explosion shook the place... The dust covered the hall and I was looking for the door, although I couldn't see anything... I managed to leave in the middle of screams and there were a lot of people thrown on the ground."

Security sources told Reuters at least six children were among the dead, with the blast detonating on the side of the church normally used by women. They said the explosion was caused by a device containing at least 12 kg (26 pounds) of TNT. Police and armoured vehicles rushed to the area, as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the compound demanding revenge for the attack that took place on a Muslim holiday marking the Prophet Mohammad's birthday and weeks before Christmas. Scuffles broke out with police. A woman sitting near the cathedral in traditional long robes shouted "kill them, kill the terrorists, what are you waiting for?.... Why are you leaving them to bomb our homes?"

"EGYPTIAN BLOOD IS CHEAP"

Though Egypt's Coptic Christians have traditionally been supporters of the government, angry crowds turned their ire against Sisi, saying his government had failed to protect them."As long as Egyptian blood is cheap, down, down with any president..." they chanted. Others chanted "the people demand the fall of the regime", the rallying cry of the 2011 uprising that helped end Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.Sisi's office condemned what it described as a terrorist attack, declaring three days of mourning and promising justice. Al-Azhar, Egypt's main Islamic centre of learning, also denounced the attacks. Orthodox Copts, who comprise about 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people, are the Middle East's biggest Christian community.

Copts face regular attack by Muslim neighbours, who burn their homes and churches in poor rural areas, usually in anger over an inter-faith romance or the construction of church. The last major attack on a church took place as worshippers left a new year's service in Alexandria weeks before the start of the 2011 uprising. At least 21 people were killed.Egypt's Christian community has felt increasingly insecure since Islamic State spread through Iraq and Syria in 2014, ruthlessly targeting religious minorities. In 2015, 21 Egyptian Christians working in Libya were killed by Islamic State.The attack came two days after six police were killed in two bomb attacks, one of them claimed by Hasm, a recently-emerged group the government says is linked to the Brotherhood, which has been banned under Sisi as a terrorist organisation.The Brotherhood says it is peaceful. Several exiled Brotherhood officials condemned the bombing, as did Hasm and Liwaa' al-Thawra, another local militant group. Coptic Pope Tawadros II cut short a visit to Greece after learning of the attack. Church officials said they would not allow the bombing to create sectarian differences. But Christians, convinced attacks on them are not seriously investigated, say this time they want justice. "Where was the security? There were five or six security cars stationed outside so where were they 12 kg of TNT was carried inside?" said Mena Samir, 25, standing at the church's metal gate. "They keep telling us national unity, the crescent with the cross... This time we will not shut up." (Additional reporting by Arwa Gaballa, Amr Abdallah, Mohamed Abdel Ghany and Amina Ismail, and Philip Pullella in Rome; Writing by Amina Ismail and Lin Noueihed; Editing by Ros Russell and Raissa Kasolowsky)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Katya Golubkova

| MOSCOW

MOSCOW Russian state holding company Rosneftegaz on Saturday signed a deal with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and commodities trader Glencore (GLEN.L) to sell a 19.5 percent stake in state-owned oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM), Rosneft said.The privatization deal, which Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin called the largest in Russia's history, was announced by Rosneft in a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.Its success suggests the lure of taking a share in one of the world's biggest oil companies outweighs the risks associated with Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.Rosneft had been under pressure to secure a sale of the 19.5 percent stake to help replenish state coffers, hit by an economic slowdown driven by weak oil prices and exacerbated by sanctions.

Rosneft said in a statement the budget would receive 710.8 billion rubles ($11.37 billion) from the sale, including 18.4 billion rubles in additional dividends from Rosneftegaz. It said the additional dividends were due to a change in its dividend policy, according to which it will pay at least 35 percent of net profit according to international accounting standards in payouts twice a year.

Rosneft confirmed that Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) was a major creditor for the deal and said it would be closed by the middle of December.A Rosneft source said Intesa and a syndicate of four or five key banks would provide 7 billion euros of financing.

The Italian lender will provide "significantly over 50 percent" of the financing, while Glencore will hedge the bulk of its stake in Rosneft, the source added.Sechin called QIA and Glencore "strategic investors" and said he was confident their work together would lead to synergies for Rosneft. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Writing by Alexander Winning and Jack Stubbs; Editing by David Evans and Dale Hudson)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
On a nippy December morning, a mild fog floated over the road curving towards the Rashtrapati Bhavans ceremonial hall. Around a water fountain, women in stiff sarees and men in suits manned the gates. Once the guests entered the hall, there was passionate fire in their words that quickly livened up the winter morning. The Laureates and Leaders for Children Summit is a first-of-its-kind congregation of global leaders to address the cause of childrens rights.

The two-day summit began on Saturday with opening remarks by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi. India is a land of compassion, love and humility. Today, only and only the cause of children can unite the world and a united future is urgently needed, said Satyarthi whose powerful efforts through the Bachpan Bachao Andolan have drawn the world's attention towards the problems of child labour, slavery and issues arising from stolen childhoods.

Children are not the ones responsible for war, yet they are the worst affected by violence. They are denied education and die of preventable diseases. It is time that solutions that are bold and transformative are put in place, he said. These include holistic policy for children, science and technology that is substantive and making children the beneficiaries of growth and development. Moral, political and intellectual voices need to come together and turn the tide in favour of childhood, which is in danger, he said, urging the potent minds in the room to bend the arc of history in favour of the children. In the spirit of building the legacy we want to leave behind, the summit took off.

President Pranab Mukherjee then addressed the summit which was attended by the Dalai Lama, Princess Charlene of Monaco, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, Unesco pecial Envoy on Literacy for Development and Jose Ramos-Horta, former president of Timore-Leste and Nobel Peace Laureate.

The President reminded the audience that 10 December is Human Rights Day and it is only education that neutralises disadvantages and equalises opportunities. What is required are pro-active policies that place childrens issues at the centrestage.

"We are all the same," said the Dalai Lama. Asserting that the universality of kindness as a source of mental peace, he pointed out that if man has created violence, it is his responsibility to earn back his peace. A healthy body and a healthy mind have a cross-connection. The basis of inner peace is warm-heartedness, he said and hoped that those born in the 21st century strive to make it a century of peace and not strife.

While some children die a slow death due to preventable diseases, others lose their lives to accidents. Princess Charlene of Monaco drew the attention of the audience to the fact that the biggest accidental killer of children is drowning. The World Health Organisation estimated that 372,000 people drowned worldwide in 2012. More than 40 fatalities every hour and more than half the victims are under the age of 25 and children under the age of five are the most affected. In case of a non-fatal drowning, often the victim is left with severe after-effects, in particular neurological. Not just formal and moral education, but life skills need to be imparted to children. She reiterated Mandelas words on owing our children a bright future.

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein spoke about the thousands of refugees his country hosts and how a majority of them are children, who are victims of rape, prostitution and are forcible relocated. As of November 2015, UNHCR reported that there are 4,289,994 Syrian "persons of concern" of whom 630,776 are registered as refugees in Jordan. There are about 1.4 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, only 20 percent are living in the Za'atari, Marjeeb al-Fahood, Cyber City and Al-Azraq refugee camps. There is a deficit of hope and dignity, he spoke, in a language most people seem to immediately understand.

Kerry Kennedy, president, Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Centre, told Firstpost that protecting the dignity and safety of the human rights defenders is important because it motivates others to take up the cause. The Speak Truth To Power curriculum developed by her foundation is based on the UNs principles of human rights education and taught to millions of students around the world. Using the stories of human rights defenders in an innovative, flexible manner, lessons are designed to fit any subject, teaching students that they too can learn to self-identify as a human rights defender and have a role to play in the global fight for justice.

Amid world leaders like Julia Gillard, former prime minister of Australia; Gilbert Houngbo, former prime minister of Togo; Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate; Jeffrey Sachs, director, The Earth Institute; Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Laureate; Angel Gurria, secretary-general, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development; was a young boy named Imtiyaz Ali. He was trafficked from Bihar at age nine and made to work in a garment factory for Rs 50 a day. After being rescued by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, he said his life has found a goal. If one mans conviction can change thousands of lives, imagine if each one present in this hall (let alone the country) thought like him, how many lives will be saved? he added.

The summit featured sessions on Circles for Freedom: Lend Voices to our Children, Childrens Freedom, Creating Better Lives: Healthy & Educated Children and Changing Our Childrens Future: The Ripple Effect; Building collective wisdom for our children. These voices that are raised were in favour of humanity, and not for political or economic gain. And, even those millions who have been nearly deafened by roars of violence and injustice are waiting to hear them.
Follow live updates of Cyclone Vardah here

Chennai/New Delhi: Severe cyclonic storm Vardah over the Bay of Bengal will make landfall near Chennai on Monday, the weather office said on Sunday, as the coastal states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh brace to deal with it.

The system is expected to bring heavy rainfall in coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, and southern Andhra Pradesh. "Vardah lay centred at about 440 km east of Chennai and the system is expected to move westwards and cross Chennai by 12 December afternoon," S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said in Chennai. However, its intensity will get reduced considerably by the time it makes the landfall.

The Met office in Delhi has briefed the PMO and the Cabinet Secretariat on the cyclonic storm.

KJ Ramesh, director general of the IMD said, "I have personally spoken to chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, while the regional Met offices are in constant touch with the disaster management commissioners of these two states."

Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) at Chennai said the storm is expected to bring heavy rainfall in northern coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, including the capital city. Southern Andhra Pradesh is also expected to receive heavy showers.

Wind speed would be in the order of 40-50 kph, it said.

Isolated heavy to very heavy rain is likely to commence this evening in north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and southern Andhra Pradesh, the RMC said in its weather warning put on its website. Squally winds and rough to very rough sea conditions are expected along and off Andhra Pradesh, north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts from tonight, it said.

"Storm surge of about 1 metre above astronomical tide is expected at the time of landfall," the RMC said.

The IMD said it may cause damage to thatched huts and power and communication lines.

The damage may also be caused to paddy crops, banana, papaya trees and orchards in Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu; Ongole and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, the IMD said in its advisory.

It also urged fishermen in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh coasts to keep away from the seas for the next 48 hours.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed in Tamil Nadu on account of the cyclonic storm.

The NDRF teams, each consisting of 38 rescuers, have been deployed in Chennai, Tiruvallore and Kanchipuram, the force said on its official Twitter handle.

The teams have also been deployed at Nellore, Sulurpeta, Parkasham and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, it tweeted.

The force has also asked people to get information from TV and radio on the cyclone and advised them to keep a stock of dry fruits and keep their mobile phones charged.

Cyclone Nada, which later weakened, had made a landfall near Chennai in the first week of December, bringing much-needed showers in Tamil Nadu. The state has witnessed a below normal Southwest Monsoon as well as Northeast Monsoon, a phenomenon which brings rains in some parts of southern India, especially Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has put the administration of the respective districts on alert even as the Navy assumed a "high degree" of preparedness to involve itself for possible rescue operations.

State Revenue Minister RB Uthayakumar said the district administration of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallore and Villupuram have put in preventive steps to avoid any inconvenience to the public and are prepared to face any eventuality.

The Eastern Naval Command (ENC), for its part, "has assumed high degree of readiness to render necessary

assistance."

"All operational ships have been readied up and kept standby to undertake Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations including evacuation, should the situation demand," a PIB (Defence) release said.

These ships were embarked with additional divers, doctors, inflatable rubber boats, integral helicopters and relief material that include food, tentage, clothes, medicines and blankets, it said.

Further, 30 diving teams with Gemini boats and four platoons with additional relief material are ready to be pressed into action at short notice, it said.

The ENC is closely monitoring the situation and is in constant communication with the state administration to augment rescue and relief operations, it said.

NDRF teams deployed in #TamilNadu; 05 teams from 04th Bn NDRF consisting of 38 rescuers in each team.@NDRFHQ #cyclonevardah  NDMA India (@ndmaindia) December 11, 2016

Naval aircraft were also "standing by" at the Naval Air stations Rajali and Dega to undertake reconnaissance, rescue, casualty evacuation and air drop of relief material to the stranded, it added.

In Andhra Pradesh, all emergency measures have been put in place in SPS Nellore district as Vardah is expected to cross the Bay of Bengal coast between Sriharikota and Chennai Monday evening.

Three teams of NDRF personnel have been kept ready in Nellore district as heavy to very heavy rain ranging up to 17 cms is expected. Chittoor and Kadapa districts are also expected to receive very heavy rainfall while Anantapuramu and Prakasam districts will receive moderate rain.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation through a teleconference with Collectors of these districts and top officials this evening. He directed them to be alert and undertake necessary rescue and relief efforts in view of the cyclone threat.

Food and other essential commodities should be kept ready in adequate quantities, he said. "Take all steps to prevent loss of lives and to minimise damages to crops and properties," the Chief Minister told the officials.

Four senior IAS officials have been deputed to Nellore, Chittoor, Kadapa and Prakasam districts to oversee rescue and relief operations.
The large black crosses look like multiplication signs with squiggles at the top left corner. The edges are uneven, a bit of paint dripping at places, but the strokes are broad and bold, over two feet long.

Such signs have been painted on the shutters of some of the shops in the main market at Newa. Newa is a market hamlet on the highway from Srinagar to Pulwama. It is within Pulwama district in south Kashmir. Pulwama is arguably the district worst affected by unrest over the past five months, and within the district, Newa is a nerve centre of agitation.

Not just agitation, Newa is also a centre of Lashkar-e-Taiba militants. Yes, those black crosses on shop shutters are warnings  warnings that those shops have been marked by Lashkar-e-Taiba activists for defying the hartals ordered through the 'protest calendars' issued in the name of the joint Hurriyat groups.

Many well-informed Kashmiris, including some Hurriyat leaders, acknowledge that control over the situation in Kashmir has been harnessed by Pakistan, that the broad guidelines come from there for how and when protests and various degrees of violence are to be organised.

In Newa, Pakistan does not need remote control mechanisms. Lashkar, the most aggressively anti-India war group based in Pakistan is right there.

A local asks me quite nonchalantly whether I would like to meet Abu Dujana, as if it were the most natural thing. Since Dujana is Lashkars militant head in Kashmir, the suggestion startles me.

I look around to take in how well that surreal suggestion fits with the physical and social landscape. I have just emerged onto a rock-and-mud surface that suffices for a road. We have turned sharply right towards a makeshift bridge that has remained makeshift two years after a flood destroyed the bridge. Theres been no proper reconstruction yet.

I have just had a series of chats with locals in Gudoora village, not far from Newa. Much of the angst expressed in those conversations revolved around forces discourtesy  things like their entering houses with shoes on, breaking doors late at night, and disrespecting womens privacy. These essentially cultural issues plug into receptivity to foreign militants.

So apparently, even a militant head as major as Dujana flits around places such as these, quite at home. Those who want to can get to him.

Continuing instability

For all the recent talk of restored normalcy, Pulwama is one of those Kashmir districts that remains unsettled. Not only was it one of the three most disturbed Valley districts (along with Kulgam and Kupwara) in summer and autumn, it not only still simmers, it is home to militiants. Several are of Hizb-ul Mujahideen, but Lashkar too is embedded in some pockets of the district such as Newa.

Theres more surreality in how the power of the state is exercised. A police officer at the Pulwama police station airily explains the relative lack of protests in places like Tral, compared with Pulwama, saying that "thats because there are militants there. They dont attract attention where there are militants". Visits to places like Gudoora indicate that there are plenty of militants in Pulwama too. So that sort of talk from police officers is either calculated to mislead, or that such officers live in la-la-land.

In places like Newa (which apparently falls under the jurisdiction of the Pulwama police station), people even talk of posters urging shopkeepers to follow 'protest calendars', and announcing that Lashkar will deal with those who continue to flout it.

Even that police officer says later in our conversation that a hundred or so local militants are probably active now, 10 or 12 of them in Pulwama. His estimate is that there must be double that number of foreign militants, since, he points out, the ratio of locals to foreigners in encounters with the forces is often 1:2.

His theory is that, for the moment, the HM (often local) boys have been instructed to sustain themselves and survive, rather than get exposed, while Lashkar operatives engage in battle as and when.

That Lashkar not only engages in operations but seeks to impose its will on shopkeepers and others in places like Newa indicates that hard-core militants are entrenching themselves. The future looks as bleak as the wintry landscape of bare poplar clusters standing in a grey-brown haze in sub-zero day temperatures.
Among the four people injured in the helicopter crash in Mumbai's Aarey colony on Sunday, one person has died. The accident took place at 12.15 pm, reports CNN-News18.

According to ANI, four people were injured and were shifted to a nearby hospital for medical aid, adding that the helicopter Robinson R44 crashed in the Filter Pada area of Aarey Colony in Goregaon. The Robinson R44 helicopter belonged to Aman Aviation that offers an aerial viewing of the city, according to NDTV.

#FLASH 1 woman has died in 'Robinson R44' Helicopter crash in Filter Pada area of Aarey Colony in Goregaon in Mumbai  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

At least six fire tenders have been rushed to the spot. The chopper, with four persons on board, crashed and caught fire in Goregaon locality here, officials said. The injured were taken to the Seven Hills Hospital where the pilot succummed to his injuries. The other two are critically injured.

Mumbai: Four injured in helicopter crash in Aarey Colony (Goregaon), shifted to hospital for medical aid.  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

#SpotVisuals: Four injured in helicopter crash in Filter Pada area of Aarey Colony in Goregaon in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/SIdHr4RjIv  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

The fire has been extinguished, added ANI.

Goregaon helicopter crash: Fire extinguished with the efforts of 3 fire engines  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

Further details of the accident are awaited, according to BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation's Disaster Control wing.

With inputs from agencies
The invite was intriguing: A bold red square declaring a new exhibition at the PR Gallery of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (the erstwhile Prince of Wales Museum), titled India's Design Story. Curated by Divya Thakur, contemporary design maven and founder of Design Temple, it promised to tell through objects from our living spaces, the story of how design evolved in India. A second part of the exhibition, staged at the Goethe Institut (a hop, skip and jump away at Kala Ghoda) would showcase ideas through time  the philosophies and principles that had shaped design in India, and presumably by extension, the objects on display in part one as well.

To tell the design story of India seems like an ambitious undertaking, but it's one Thakur is suited to tell. And it's a story that does need to be told, cohesively and compellingly. What is the Indian aesthetic, is there such a thing in the present day that can be termed as Indian design? What makes design in India unique? What makes design in India commonplace? These are questions that the casual observer or layperson would be hard pressed to find answers to from a single source.

Thakur tries to make a narrative so vast in scope, fairly intimate and accessible.

Intimate in the sense that the gallery in which part one  the objects  have been exhibited, isn't a vast one. The space is constrained, so the objects are placed in fair proximity to each other, and the viewer. Second, these objects are drawn from day-to-day life  appliances, fixtures, furniture.

The first exhibit, occupying pride of place at the starting point of the show is a charkha. Lettering on the wall (it is written in first person, from the POV of the object) celebrates the charkha as a symbol of nation-building.

Next is a small display of fans  the pankha. Beginning with the humble bamboo and cane handheld version to more ornate versions in cloth and sporting embroidery all the way to old-fashioned table fans and then sleeker ceiling fans, the exhibits give way to light fixtures. A short succinct chart traces the evolution of these objects  from the Argand Lamp to the now ubiquitous LED bulb. As a side note, there's also an anecdote about Kishenchand Kaycee, who set up Radio Lamp Works Limited in 1938, to manufacture electric lamps in India with Italian support. It continued production through World War II and was renamed Bajaj Electricals in 1960.

On the other side of this room, a small cooler stands; a little crooked and lost. Next to it is an old-fashioned, bulky Godrej fridge. Posters and yesteryear advertisements for the refrigerator show how these were sold by playing on the health and wellness concerns of Indian households. Old radio sets and telephones are positioned too in this section.

Other objects in this section of the exhibition include kitchen utensils and the 'mixie'. There is also an entire table dedicated to dinnerware. Padlocks and chests have a section of their own, a small space is dedicated to screens and wall texturing, and then a rather large end of the gallery is given over to chairs. There are wooden chairs and woven chairs and modas and canvas recliners, ugly metal office chairs and more.

Mundane or imbued with meaning?

That is the question that one is left with on viewing the objects. It's easy at first to get swept up in a wave of nostalgia, or in the novelty element. But take a step away from these objects and it does not seem like they are narrating India's design story  maybe only a chapter of it.

The objects that have been chosen then start to seem like a random collection, somewhat kitsch.

Part two of the exhibition  Ideas Through Time  features cloth stretched across bamboo frames at the Goethe Institut, on which are written down and explained, principles like 'kala', 'vidya', 'prakrutik'. Sound design for this segment is by Yogi Ponappa while the calligraphy is courtesy Rajat Bhele.

The two parts of 'India's Design Story' do work separately, but perhaps unifying them at the same location may have helped present a more holistic picture.

Is it even possible then, to tell the story of India's design evolution purely through objects? What about landscape or architecture or textile and civil infrastructure? A multi-pronged/collaborative narrative might work better. A few pots and pans or obsolete appliances, no matter how picturesque, cannot give the complete picture.
Life is long and love is small and selfish, and I do love you, I love you, I do. In a crisp 3-page story, Sweet, Sharanya Manivannan writes this of love. Ironically enough, a small and selfish thing as that unravels over pages  283 to be exact. It shapes people, the places they inhabit, with its poignancy and theyre caught in its spell, suspended, in one or another kind of heartbreak. Then, theres something terrific that pours from it.

The High Priestess Never Marries is Sharanyas debut collection of short stories. Some of these have previously appeared in journals and literary magazines. But they hold together as a collection  a bold meditation on the nuances of love. As she explores its many textures and contours, language, it seems, is given a whole new purpose.

In Boyfriend like a Banyan Tree, one of my favourites from the collection, the narrator dreams of a boyfriend who will sustain her like a banyan tree sustains the terrain of its presence. Under the aegis of whose boughs she will walk, knowing that the same love that roots them, raises her. The imagination of romance in this is spectacular, almost making one forget that it draws from a convention of masculinity in romance  qualities of strength, protection and gentility. On the other hand, its anthropomorphism elevates the desire to something primordial, transcending the individual and perhaps along with that any labels.

Quite in contrast to this desire, an old and lonely woman sinks into her naked brown body for comfort in The Black Widow  her heart as a cavern with its entrance agape. The self-sufficiency here comes devoid of choice. But in another story, Ancestress, it comes as a fully-conscious one. It is of an emphatic embrace of destiny, a course that often follows the bitterness of rejection. As the story implicitly tells though, it is not to be reduced to a consequence of just that. There is substantial agency even in what one chooses to do after loss, how one can still decide the course of their transformation.

You know what to expect from a writer like Sharanya, high-priestess first, poet next. Femininitys glorious spectra reveals itself: the women are timid, furious, self-sufficient, needy, devastated but never once insignificant. At a time when the idea of femininity is undergoing a transformation, the stories assume a didactic quality. They tell us that theres no one template to follow, that every kind can prove to be one vulnerable to criticism. What matters most is what one tells oneself  truth exists only in these crystallisations.

As Sharanya told me in this interview, experiences, aided by the richness and mutability of mythology, can be alchemised into creating resonance for oneself. In doing so, she also challenges reductive narratives of Goddesses and spins sensitive stories of their empowerment. It is a wonderful, mutually sustaining barter. And in other acts of storytelling, she takes destitute women and elevates them into Goddesses by virtue of their transcendence. Sarala Kalis is a portrayal that will stay with you long after the story is over.

Most stories in the collection consciously stop at any fulfilling resolution. Like the narrator herself in a few of them, they leaving us longing. I myself have learnt to love your absence, your aftermath, everything tinged with a brief and bittersweet beauty, like the world after a storm. Indeed. Sharanyas greatest gift lies in imbuing the mundane with meaning. They come as snippets offering wisdom from a soul that is forever seeking. My greatest redemption from this book though came from the sensual imagination of Chennai, a city that I had always dismissed as bordering on insipid. Whether it is in describing the Gemini circle at midnight as as empty as a morning after, or alluding to the salty lure of the constant sea, or describing the colour of earth in Tamil Nadu  'red ochre, burnt umber, areca, sienna  the geography is seen through a hedonistic kaleidoscope. And deeply set within this landscape is profound reckoning; who, for instance, would think of a kiss that is sad as immortality and as wise as the original sin? Only the oracle, the high priestess, as one of her ex-lovers says.

For all its poetic indulgences, The High Priestess Never Marries is ultimately about finding salvation in oneself. Lovers come and go, but it is you who is a constant, it seems to say. Therefore, grieve fully and deeply, and render the past in beautiful metaphor. The renewed self that emerges in the aftermath makes for a story of great courage and grace.
Reading William Dalrymple and Anita Anand:s new book, Kohinoor: The Story of the Worlds Most Infamous Diamond, I was tempted to draw the kind of charts that are now so in vogue due to the popularity of shows like Game Of Thrones and The Walking Dead, where the body count of important characters runs into double digits. The kind of charts that trace every death that occurred across every season, categorised according to how each gruesome end came about.

If such a chart were indeed to be made, based on this history of the Kohinoor (also written as 'Koh-i-Noor'), it would have to account for several dead, maimed or maddened kings, slaughtered commoners, sacrificed queens, ruined lives, and devastated cities and provinces.

Dalrymple and Anands book is ostensibly about the Kohinoor of course, but it is also the story of a remarkable number of remarkable men (and some women) who died as a consequence of having, or wanting to have, possessed the jewel.

The Kohinoors true history is not the one that is popularly known; nor are the facts pertaining to it the ones you'll find on Wikipedia. Dalrymple and Anand set out to prove that most of what is on Wikipedia is incorrect  thanks to being based on the flawed account provided by a Theo Metcalfe, an Englishman tasked by Lord Dalhousie (who took the Kohinoor from its last Indian owner, the young Maharaja Duleep Singh of Punjab, and gave it to Queen Victoria) to find out everything he could about the famed jewels origins. Metcalfe  who began to trace the gems story in Delhi a whole 100 years after the Kohinoor had last been there, taken away by Nader Shah from the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah Rangila  relied on bazaar gossip rather than actual historical truths, and the account he came up with, was more colourful than correct.

As Dalrymple and Anand trace the Kohinoors back story spanning several centuries, what emerges is not just the tale of a very valuable gem: What emerges, is a narrative of greed, and of ambition. Of men who coveted, and of men who caved in. It is a story of abominable, at times stomach-churning violence (Shah Zaman Durrani was blinded with hot needles; Shah Rukh, the grandson of Nader Shah, had molten lead poured onto his head as a 'crown' in a Game of Thrones-like moment). Rarer, are instances that depict grace or loyalty, courage or the steadfast fulfillment of responsibility.

What was this gem that so many gave up so much to have  even if fleetingly?

Possibly derived from the Golconda mines, the Kohinoor  aka the 'Mountain of Light'  was a 190.3 metric carat stone. Its very early origins are difficult to establish  popular lore connects it to the Symantaka jewel mentioned in the Vishnu Purana (popular lore, as Dalrymple and Anand have reminded us in their book, cannot be relied on in the case of the Kohinoor). Kohinoor: The True Story posits that the jewel was possibly in Baburs possession, from there passing to Humayun. Its first possibly verifiable appearance is as part of Shah Jahans peacock throne.

The Kohinoor travelled a great deal  with Nader Shah (who took it from Muhammad Shah Rangila, after defeating him in battle and killing thousands of civilians in Delhi) to Persia (now Iran), with Ahmad Shah Durrani (who Nader entrusted the jewel to, in anticipation of the assassination that ended his life) back to Afghanistan, with Shah Shuja to Punjab (where Maharaja Ranjit Singh gained custody of the stone) and from Maharaja Duleep Singh (Ranjit Singhs 10-year-old son and successor) to Queen Victoria in England, thanks to the machinations of Lord Dalhousie. Queen Victoria was the last ruling monarch to ever wear the Kohinoor.

It left a bloody trail, but that is not what gave the Kohinoor its fame in the modern world. While it had long been a symbol of power (every ruler would take up the gem for himself after vanquishing its previous owner), the Kohinoor gained its celebrity status thanks to The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. Nearly 300 million visitors flocked to the grand glasshouse in which the event was held; the Kohinoor  having recently reached England from India on the HMS Medea, a journey that left most of the crew dead due to cholera and the ship itself battered thanks to several storms  was the star attraction. The newspapers of the day published odes to the Kohinoor, but visitors to the Exhibition were less than impressed. The gem, in its original shape and size, did not glitter as European-cut diamonds did. Stung at the criticism, Prince Albert (Queen Victorias husband) ordered that it be cut to better catch the light. And so the Kohinoor was cut to size  reduced by more than half to about 90 metric carats.

Today, it lies glittering in its case at the Tower of London, beside the Cullinan Diamond and some other gems. It is only the 90th biggest stone in the world, but it is still at the centre of at least three governments attempts to take it from the English (India, Pakistan and Iran). Where the Kohinoor's final resting place will be is anyone's guess, but Dalrymple and Anands efforts have at least made the past of the world's most infamous gem a lot less murky.

***

Watch this video interview in which William Dalrymple and Anita Anand speak exclusively with Firstpost about how they uncovered the story of the Kohinoor  he came across it while researching the Durrani dynasty for his book The Return of the King; she approached it from the point of view of Maharaja Duleep Singhs descendant Princess Sophia. Together, they managed to piece together the little known true history of this stone, and gave the Kohinoor its due.

Kohinoor: The Story of the Worlds Most Infamous Diamond by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand is published by Juggernaut Books
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his charge that Opposition parties were not treading the path of honesty, saying that the "most corrupt" people were talking about eradicating corruption.

The most corrupt people are talking about removing corruption 1/4  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 11, 2016

"Demonetisation (has been) done only to help Modi babu and his close associates," Banerjee said in retaliation for the prime minister's attack on Opposition parties over corruption and disruption of Parliament due to protests against demonetisation.

"The most corrupt people are talking about removing corruption," she said, joining issue with Modi over his attack on the Opposition parties earlier in the day.

#DeMonetisation done only to help Modi babu and his close associates 2/4  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 11, 2016

Addressing BJP's parivartan rally in election-bound Uttar Pradesh, Modi said the Opposition parties never wanted to tread the path of honesty "but we will definitely win this fight against corruption".

"Parliament is not being allowed to function for 20 days. We are ready for debate (on demonetisation), but we are not being allowed to present our viewpoint by those very parties that have been discarded by the electorate," Modi said addressing the rally at Bahraich through mobile phone from Lucknow after his helicopter failed to land there due to poor visibility.

"Demonetisation has meant complete demolition of the Indian economy," Banerjee said in a series of tweets,

continuing her unrelenting attack against the Modi government over invalidation of Rs 1,000 and old Rs 500 notes.

#DeMonetisation has meant complete demolition of the Indian economy 3/4  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 11, 2016

"The arrogant and destructive attitude of this government is trying to destroy the world's largest democracy," the Trinamool Congress supremo said.

The arrogant and destructive attitude of this govt. is trying to destroy the world's largest democracy 4/4  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 11, 2016

The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has remained firm on demonetisation despite concerted criticism and protests by opposition parties and disruption of both houses of Parliament during the ongoing winter session of which only three days are left.
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Kathua (J&K): On Sunday Home Minister Rajnath Singh accused Pakistan of "conspiring" to divide India on religious lines but said it will not succeed.

"Pakistan is conspiring to divide India on religious lines but it will not succeed. We were divided in 1947 on religious basis. We have not been able to forget that... All Indians are brothers, whether they are born from the womb of a Hindu mother or a Muslim mother," he said addressing a Martyrs' Day function in Kathua district.

Singh said nowhere in the world other than India 72 sects of Islam live together peacefully.

He said that as the Home Minister of the country, he wanted to make it clear that India is committed to taking along everybody and moving ahead on the path of development.

He also offered India's cooperation to Pakistan to eradicate the menace of terrorism from its soil.

"If Pakistan is serious about eradicating terrorism but is incapable of doing that and wants cooperation, we are ready to help it eradicate terrorism from there," the minister said.

He said, "We want to live in peace with Pakistan but it has indulged in sponsoring a proxy war against India.

"Every Prime Minister of India wanted to mend relations with Pakistan but it did not understand the language of peace and attacked India four times. But our brave soldiers gave them a befitting reply."

After repeated defeats, Pakistan has understood that it cannot defeat India in wars so it has resorted to sponsoring proxy war, he said, adding that "terrorism is the weapon of weak and not the brave".

Singh said that while the entire world was concerned about the spread of Islamic State, the terrorist organisation has failed to spread its roots in India.

Singh credited the Muslims of India for thwarting the designs of the Islamic State to spread its tentacles in the country. "When the entire world is worried about IS, I can say it as the home minister of the country as I know the reality that IS has not been able to spread its roots in India and the credit for this goes to the Muslims of the country, the followers of Islam," he said.

He said that the people might not be aware that if a member of somebody's family gets radicalised, the family comes to him and appeals to save their child from the clutches of the Islamic State.

"Pakistan will never understand this India. Pakistan came into existence after India got divided on religious lines but still it could not keep the entire Pakistan united. In 1971, the same Pakistan got further divided into two pieces and I feel if Pakistan does not mend its ways, it would further get divided into 10 pieces and India will have no role in that division of Pakistan. We will not do it," Singh said.

He said that Indian ideology has never been that of an expansionist and history is witness to the fact that India has never attacked any country for expanding its boundaries.

"We do not want to conquer any other country, we do not want to harass any other country. India is a country of saints and sages who advocated that the whole world is one family. We not only consider the people living within the boundaries of India as our family members but the people living on this planet are part of our family," he said.

The minister said India always wanted friendly relations with Pakistan and that was why soon after the Kargil war ended, the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee extended a hand of friendship toward Pakistan.

"Not only this, he went to Pakistan but what has Pakistan given in return, repeated ceasefire violations," he said.

He said that "during the visit of the officers of Pakistan Rangers to India I told them that the Border Security Force or Indian soldiers will not fire the first bullet on any civilian of Pakistan because at some point in time it was part of our family".

"We still do not consider them separate, they are still our brothers and we do not want to fire a bullet on any brother or any human being but keep it in mind that if you fire the first bullet on the soldiers of India then we will tell our soldiers not to keep count of the bullets they fire," Singh said.
Jagraon (Pb): On Sunday, Aam Aadmi Party Convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress of "befooling" the people of Punjab on the issue of Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.

Both Congress and SAD are responsible for constructing SYL and are now shedding crocodile tears to misguide the people of state, he said.

"Parkash Singh Badal being CM of Punjab in 1978 acquired land for SYL and now in 2016 is trying to act as the savior of Punjab waters by passing resolution regarding it. He must clarify if he was wrong in 1978 or now in 2016," he said.

Kejriwal said that then Prime Minister Indra Gandhi signed agreement regarding SYL and initiated construction work along with Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh.

Even Punjab Congress welcomed the move at that time, he added.

The AAP leader accused Badal and Amarinder of allegedly being hand in glove to get power and misguiding the Punjab people by submitting resignations.

"Badal and Amarinder are trying to get political mileage on SYL issue. SAD-BJP are alliance partners in Punjab and the same alliance is in power at Centre and in Haryana but their leaders give different statements on SYL issue while in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab," he said.

He said that if SAD-BJP wanted to solve the issue they could have done it long ago but their motive is to politicise the issue as Punjab elections are near.

Kejriwal said only AAP can protect the waters of Punjab.

He assured the people that nobody will be allowed to snatch the rights of state.

The AAP leader said that Punjab does not have extra water and question of giving it to any other state does not arise.

Kejriwal promised to revive the economy of Punjab with dairy farming as its mainstay.

Speaking at the Annual Pashu Mela of Progressive Dairy Farmers Association here, he said that dairy farming will be the bedrock occupation for removing unemployment in Punjab after Aam Aadmi Party forms the government.

He said interest-free loans to dairy farmers will be given after AAP comes to power.

Kejriwal also promised to provide education loan to students wishing to pursue a career in dairy farming.
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday took a jibe at Rajnath Singh, saying that while he agrees that Pakistan is trying to divide India along religious lines, the home minister and his "boss" Prime Minister Narendra Modi have also been doing the same.

Responding to the remarks of Singh that Pakistan has been "conspiring" to divide India on religious lines, Rahul tweeted: "Yes Rajnath Singhji Pakistan is trying to divide India along religious lines; has it struck you that you & your boss have been doing the same?"

Yes Rajnath Singhji Pakistan is trying to divide India along religious lines;has it struck you that you &your boss have been doing the same?  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) December 11, 2016

Addressing a Martyrs' Day function in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, the home minister said, "Pakistan is conspiring to divide India on religious lines but it will not succeed. We were divided in 1947 on religious basis. We have not been able to forget that... All Indians are brothers, whether they are born from the womb of a Hindu mother or a Muslim mother."
Chennai: On Sunday, at its first meeting, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet decided to recommend late AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa for 'Bharat Ratna', the highest civilian honour of the country, and to propose to the Centre to install her life-size bronze statue in Parliament complex.

At the meeting chaired by Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and a small portrait of Jayalalithaa on the table, a number of decisions were taken to honour the late Chief Minister.

"A resolution was adopted in the Cabinet to recommend to the Centre to award Bharat Ratna to honourable Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa," an official statement said.

It was also proposed in the Cabinet meeting to raise a memorial building for the leader at the MGR Memorial site, where she was laid to rest.

The Cabinet also resolved to rename the memorial as Dr Puratchi Thalaivar MGR and Puratchi Thalaivi Amma Selvi J Jayalalithaa Memorial.

The Cabinet also proposed to unveil a portrait of the leader in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

The meeting condoled Jayalalithaa's death saying the 68-year-old leader had dedicated her life for the betterment of the people of Tamil Nadu, and help the state take giant strides in sectors like social welfare, education and growth.

"We promise to work in the path laid down by Amma who is now watching us perform" from Marina where she was buried, the Ministers said, condoling her death.

She was an "unparallelled leader" in the sense that she was AIADMK General Secretary for 28 of her 35 years of public service, a seven-time MLA and leading the party to many victories including the 2011 and 2016 assembly polls and 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the resolution said.

She had overcomed many challenges presented by rivals and had ruled the state with the sole motive of people's welfare, it added.

It said Jayalalithaa had donated gold jewelleries she was wearing to the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri during the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

Tracing her life from her being born to Sandhya-Jayaram in 1948, it said Jayalalithaa grew to be a bright student in school and excelled in arts like music and dance.

She was even lauded by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for her speeches in Rajya Sabha on issues including internal security, it said.

Earlier, Panneerselvam and other Ministers paid floral tributes to Jayalalithaa's portrait and then held the meeting.
Just after the Dalai Lama visited Mongolia in November 2016 for four days, Chinas tail caught fire. There was actually no apparent reason for going hyper since this was the ninth visit of Dalai Lama to Mongolia. But then China's comprehensive national power (CNP) has risen since, even as the economy is slowing down. China perhaps also wanted to signal strong resolve on Tibet to US President-elect Donald Trump, other than the Communist Party of China (CPC) indicating to the Chinese public that it is in total control and can dictate terms to any country. So post the Dalai Lamas visit to Ulan Bator, China forbade her officials from any interactions with Mongolia. But this is not all: Mongolian trucks crossing into China's autonomous province of Inner Mongolia are now charged a toll tax of Yuan 10 (Rs 97.9) per truck, and 0.1 percent of the worth of the cargo if it is beyond Yuan 10,000.

Mongolias Buddhist population was some 1,459,983 people during the census held in 2010, which was 53 percent of the total population of 2,753,685. As on January 2015, Mongolia's total population was estimated to be 3,000,251 people. About 59 percent of the total population is below age of 30 years, of which 27 percent are below the age of 14 years. This arbitrary Chinese action of imposing toll tax on Mongolia portrays the pettiness of the CPC; Mongolia being a country with GDP of $11.76 billion (2015 figures) that over the past 20 years has transformed into a vibrant multi-party democracy with booming economy, and is at the threshold of major transformation driven by exploitation of its vast mineral resources as per World Bank. China surely is not in penury to require money from such toll tax variety of 'sanctions' but would this be the norm for the much trumpeted one belt, one road (OBOR) project  countries on Chinas periphery acquiesce to CPCs diktats or pay toll tax?

Obviously, China decided to "punish" Mongolia in this manner for entertaining the Dalai Lama since Mongolia is landlocked; sandwiched between Russia and China, besides Mongolia being largely dependent on China for transit. In addition, Russia has warmed up to China with the Obama administration having gone all out to squeeze Russia in every possible manner, economic sanctions included. Mongolia sought Indias support against Chinas obstructionist move, in the backdrop of such arbitrary Chinese action despite Mongolia always supporting Chinas One China policy. Mongolia till now was dependent on Russian transit rights but Chinas imposition of the blockade-like situation will tax the Mongolian economy. India has said it is sympathetic to the problems being faced by Mongolia and will help them utilise the $1 billion financial assistance offered in 2015 during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tide over the economic sanctions imposed by China.

As expected Chinas Global Post went berserk frothing at the mouth, and in its typically jaundiced language warned Mongolia of dire consequences for seeking financial help from India, dubbing it "politically harebrained", adding, Mongolia should be alerted that it cannot afford the risks of such geopolitical games." But why should be China so mortally scared of the Dalai Lama when she has succeeded in systematic destruction of the Tibetan-Buddhist culture of Tibet and settled seven million Han Chinese in Tibet overwhelming the Tibetans through demographic invasion. There is no insurgency in Tibet  quite opposite to Xinjiang. Tibetan self-immolators in China include teenagers, nuns and monks, majority in China's Sichuan province, especially around the Kirti Monastery in Ngawa City, Ngawa County, Sichuan, Labran Monastery in Xiahe, and some in Gnasu and Qinghai provinces, besides TAR.

In recent years, CCPs policy has become harsher against Tibetan monasteries. Many Buddhist monasteries including Dron-na, Tarmoe and Rabten have been forced to shut down in Driru County, Kham Region of eastern Tibet in TAR, where monks have been forced to vacate  all under the garb of CCP's "patriotic re-education" campaign, even issuing orders for the Chinese flag to be put atop private homes. Some closed monasteries have been converted into prisons and as per reports filtering out despite total clampdown on media and communications in TAR, least details of the cultural genocide gets revealed. There is little chance of Tibetan rebellion overthrowing the Chinese regime in Tibet. So why be scared of the Dalai Lama who has never even talked of independent Tibet? On the other hand, if the west conspires to orchestrate an implosion of China, which may well happen in case the CPCs aggression crosses western redlines, it is unlikely to centre on Tibet considering the multiple fault-lines that China has.

What China is mortally scared of is a group of any people getting together that may set them thinking in one direction; call it phobia of the CPC devolving around its own insecurity. That is why a simple exercising group like Falun Gong was banned in China. And that is why the atheists of CPC abhor any religion because religion implies gatherings at the place of worship, leave aside gatherings at religious ceremonies and other activities. That is why the clampdown on Buddhists in Tibet, beating of monks and Buddhists gathered to celebrate Dalai Lamas birthday, and the genocide in Xinjiang. But China makes exceptions in portraying a benign face for religious tolerance where her strategic interests override CPCs inherent phobias. Prominent example is Chinas $3 billion investment in Nepals Lumbini project that would help China achieve its long-term strategic goal of bringing Nepal irrevocably under its influence. China has already expanded its railway to Shiatse (Xiagze), seat of Panchan Lama in 2014 in Tibet, which is some 450 kms from Kyirong. By 2020, China plans to extend this rail link to Kyirong which is a mere 26 kms from the Nepal border. Former Nepalese PM Oli during his visit to Beijing in March 2016 had requested China that the Chinese rail link be extended to cross the China-Nepal border. Nepal is also seeking Chinas assistance in constructing a monorail in Kathmandu.

The China-Nepal rail line and the Lumbini project is the Nepalese version of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Chinas Confucius Institute in Kathmandu University, co-established by Hebei University of Economics and Business, with full support from Office of Chinese Language Council International is spearheading Chinas soft power invasion. China is investing in hydropower and tourism development in Nepal. During 2015, Nepal endorsed FDI proposal worth $360 million by China to establish a cement plant in Nepal. This is over and above the numerous ongoing development projects and three star hotels in Kathmandu over past several years manned by PLA disguised as civilians. In recent years, hundreds of Buddhists in Kathmandu have been holding demonstrations to protest authorities stopping them from building a Gompa in the jungles of western Nepal. Ironically, Buddhists make up about 10 percent of the population in Nepal but yet are under severe restrictions because of Chinas subjugation of Nepal.

Nepal, under Chinese pressure, stopped issuing refugee identity cards, leaving many Tibetans unable to get higher education or jobs. In recent years, Thinley Lama raising his voice for rights of 20,000 Tibetan refugees in Nepal was put behind bars. Anything Tibetan or Buddhist is anathema to China and the lives of Tibetan refugees in Nepal is turning into hell with Chinese pressure. China is going full hog to crush Tibetan activities in Nepal. Since 2010, Nepal commenced deportation of Tibetans crossing the border  handing them back to Chinese authorities. Nepalese authorities prohibit Tibetan residents from gathering in groups, whether to mark the birthday of the Dalai Lama or just to picnic.

China continues to occupy large parts of Mongolia calling it Inner Mongolia. In her dream of becoming a Great Power on fast track, Chinas behavior towards her neighbours can expected to be highly irrational and bullish, with the exception of Pakistan that has surrendered her sovereignty to China. It is only ethical for India to support Mongolia in every possible way including in fields of defence and security.

The author is veteran Lieutenant General of Indian Army
Rome: Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni was chosen on Sunday to be the country's next premier and pledged to get straight to work on forming a new coalition with the same Democrat Party-led majority.

"I'm aware of the urgency to give Italy a government in the fullness of its powers, to reassure the citizens and to face with utmost commitment and determination international, economic and social priorities, starting with the reconstruction of the quake-hit areas," the 62-year-old Gentiloni said.

Fellow Democrat Matteo Renzi has been staying on as premier in a caretaker role since he offered his resignation on 7 December after his nearly three-year-old government suffered a stinging defeat in a referendum on reforms.

The populist 5-Star Movement and other opposition forces have been clamoring for an early election, but Italian President Sergio Mattarella noticed that Renzi's outgoing government still commands a majority in Parliament.

On Saturday, the day before he gave Gentiloni the mandate at the Quirinal presidential palace, Mattarella said Italy's next government must deal with several urgent priorities, including bad loans that are burdening several Italian banks, an economy that has resisted growing for years and an ambitious construction programme for several towns destroyed by earthquakes.

The president also noted there was wide political consensus for a rapid overhaul of Italy's electoral law before Italians vote in a new election.

Gentiloni said he'd make the president's priorities his top concerns too, as he puts together his proposed cabinet. He told reporters he considered Mattarella's entrusting him with the task of forming a new government "a high honor, and I'll try to carry out the task with dignity and responsibility."

Gentiloni had emerged as a likely pick after the president held three days of consultations with political and parliamentary leaders.

While serving as foreign minister in Renzi's nearly three-year-old center-left coalition, Gentiloni had lobbied for an international support to help end years of violence and fighting in Libya. The North Africa nation's lawless coast has turned into a vast launching pad for smugglers, who collect millions in profits as they send hundreds of thousands of migrants out in unseaworthy boats toward Italian shores.

Gentiloni also spearheaded Italy's demands that the Egyptian government work to learn who tortured and killed a young Italian researcher in Cairo this year.

The 5-Star populists, who back letting Italians decide if they want to stay in the 19-nation shared euro currency, want elections soon, to capitalize on the angry mood of voters who have punished ruling parties in much of Europe.

It is up to the Italian president to decide if or when to dissolve Parliament and call for a new election ahead of a spring 2018 due date.
By Tife Owolabi

| UYO, Nigeria

UYO, Nigeria At least 100 people were killed by the collapse of a church in southeastern Nigeria, a resident and photojournalist who visited a morgue said on Sunday, but officials put the death toll at just 27."At Uyo teaching hospital where I am now I could see over a hundred corpses, many are heaped on top off each other on the floor," said photojournalist Ini Samuel. "Eye witnesses also said yesterday corpses were packed in four each bag."Gary Ubong, a resident, said the church's roof had collapsed on worshippers while a pastor was being consecrated as bishop in the presence of government officials."I saw more than 100 dead bodies brought out on loaders," said Ubong, who said he had rushed to the scene after the accident. "I also went to two hospitals and saw heaps of dead bodies difficult to count."State police spokeswoman Cordelia Nwawe said 27 had been killed and 30 injured when the Reigners Bible church in Akwa Ibom state capital Uyo collapsed during a service on Saturday.

Etete Peters, Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo teaching hospital, said 21 bodies had been delivered to his clinic and two of the injured admitted for treatment had died."Victims are in private hospitals and mortuaries scattered all over Uyo metropolis. We can't really tell how many people have died so far," he said. "We do not have space as people are still being brought in."State police commissioner Murtala Mani "debunked speculations that as many as 60 or 120 worshipers died in the incident," state news agency NAN said. The state emergency agency NEMA said in a statement that six people had been killed and 115 injured.

Another Uyo resident, Akpan Eminem, said he had been told by hospital staff that 79 people had died in the accident.State governor Udom Emmanuel, who escaped unhurt from the church service, ordered the arrest of the building contractor, state news agency NAN said.

Buildings collapses are frequent in the West African nation and often blamed by officials on lack of construction permits and the use of cheap materials amid widespread corruption.Critics say Nigerian authorities tend to understate the death toll at such accidents or suicide bombings by the Boko Haram jihadist group in the north of the country.Following a gas plant blast in southern Nigeria a year ago the presidency said "tens of people" had been killed while witnesses counted more than 100 bodies. Police had then just confirmed eight dead. (Reporting by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu, Ulf Laessing, Tife Owolabi, Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh; Editing by Ros Russell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Baghdad: US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Iraq Sunday to discuss the coming stages of the ongoing offensive to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group.

Carter had arrived in Baghdad and would "survey key locations directly supporting the battle for Mosul," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The United States leads an international coalition providing assistance in the shape of air strikes, equipment, training and advising on the ground to Iraqi forces battling the jihadists.

US forces are stationed in Qayyarah, the main staging base for the southern front of the Mosul offensive that was launched on October 17, as well as in the autonomous Kurdish region.

Around 5,000 US troops are deployed in Iraq as part of an "advise and assist" mission to support Iraqi federal and Kurdish peshmerga forces battling jihadists.

US special forces are also active on the ground in Iraq, as well as in neighbouring Syria, where another offensive is under way to retake the other major remaining IS bastion of Raqa.

On Saturday, Carter told a security forum in Bahrain that Washington was sending 200 extra troops to join the 300 it has already deployed to support the Raqa campaign.

The Pentagon said Carter would meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Kurdish leader Massud Barzani and the commander of the US-led coalition, Lieutenant General Steve Townsend.

Abadi had promised Mosul would be retaken by the end of 2016 but the going has been tough for Iraqi forces inside the densely populated city and commanders have warned the battle could go on for months.
Iran is close to finalizing a deal to buy dozens of passenger jets from Europe's Airbus, having signed a $16.6 billion deal with Boeing earlier on Sunday, an Iranian official told Reuters.

The Airbus deal, seen likely to involve a first batch of about half the 118 jets provisionally ordered in January, should be completed in "the next couple of days," the official said.

The two deals follow an intense final flurry of negotiations between Iran and Western planemakers in an effort to formalize provisional contracts announced earlier this year, which face mounting political criticism in both Washington and Tehran.

Boeing said earlier it had reached an agreement to sell 80 aircraft to IranAir under last year's agreement by world powers to lift nuclear-related sanctions on Iran.

The first aircraft to reach Iran will be European, however. Airbus jets and turboprops from ATR, half-owned by Airbus, will start arriving in 2017.

Boeing deliveries are due to start in 2018, the Iranian official said, adding that part of the overall deal signed on Sunday was subject to further agreements on financing.

"Airbus is at a more advanced stage when it comes to deliveries," the official said.

He said ATR had received U.S. Treasury permits needed due to its reliance on U.S. parts. A spokeswoman for ATR confirmed it had licenses and said it was "working to finalize the deal".

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Geert Victor De Clercq)
Tata Sons on Sunday renewed its appeal to shareholders of Tata group companies to remove Cyrus Mistry from the board of those companies, saying his presence as chairman "is likely to lead to fragmentation of the Tata Group".

In a boardroom coup in October, Mistry was ousted as chairman of Tata Sons, holding firm of the $100 billion Tata empire, but he remains on the board of some group companies.

Patriarch Ratan Tata is back at the helm temporarily, and a public power struggle has since ensued between the two sides.

The letter comes days ahead of key meetings at six group companies, including Tata Motors and Tata Consultancy Services , when shareholders are expected to vote on removing Mistry from their board.

In a four-page letter, Tata Sons said Mistry misled the selection committee set up in 2011 to select a chairman of Tata Sons to succeed Ratan Tata, by making lofty statements about his plans for the Tata Group, but in the next four years none of those "plans have been given effect to".

Tata Sons also said at the time of appointment Mistry agreed to distance himself from family enterprise Shapoorji Pallonji & Co, but after some time he retracted his position.

Mistry's office did not offer any immediate comment.

In the letter, Tata Sons said Mistry over the past three to four years concentrated power and authority as chairman in all major Tata operating companies and tried to weaken management structures in Tata companies "acting contrary to his fiduciary duties".

On Monday, Mistry defended his position to shareholders of six Tata group companies, explaining why he should not be removed as director at their shareholder meetings.

Tata Sons, in a statement on Wednesday, said Mistry was removed as chairman because the board of Tata Sons had lost confidence in him and his ability to lead the group.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Additional reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Dale Hudson)
In this clip fromMotley Fool Answers, the cast welcomes Fool historian Matt Trogdon onto the show to talk about past presidents and important lessons for investors.

This time, their focus is the folly of trying to predict what will happen to the specific companies based on the upcoming administration. For those who are already buying and selling based on what they predict Trump will do, consider how the expert views failed to pan out for Obama, Bush, and Clinton.

A full transcript follows the video.

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This podcast was recorded on Nov. 8, 2016.

Alison Southwick:Now time for a history lesson. You've got a few examples, here, of some stocks that were supposed to take off after certain people were elected and then, spoiler ...

Robert Brokamp:It didn't happen.

Matt Trogdon:It didn't work out that way.

Southwick:Yeah.

Trogdon:Going back to the last three elections in which we ushered in a new president. So most recently President Obama elected first time in 2008. Analysts thought that alternative energy companies would do well. Folks thought that the Obama administration would be bad for stocks. So since Obama's been president (I think I looked at it around February 1 of the year he was inaugurated through yesterday), the iShares Clean Energy ETF has gone from $15.23 a share to $8.89 ...

Southwick:Oops. That's the wrong direction.

Trogdon:... so that went down. Chevron, meanwhile, has gone from $60.71 up to $105.29 and Bank of America, of course, has gone from about $4.00 a share to about $16.67. So the Obama administration not terrible for Bank of America.

Brokamp:Right.

Trogdon:Going back to 2000 when George W. Bush was elected, there was a belief that his term would be beneficial for bank stocks and for drug companies, and actually, the two companies I looked at, here, are two of the first stocks that I ever bought ...

Southwick:Aw!

Trogdon:... JP Morgan Chase. And there's an aside. When I bought this, I called my broker and said, "I'd like to buy JP Morgan," and he said, "Well, it's JP Morgan Chase." And looking back on it, thank you for adding so much value. Get the point, right?

Southwick:How old were you?

Trogdon:I was in college, I think.

Southwick:Oh, OK.

Trogdon:Yeah, so during the Bush presidency, JP Morgan Chase dropped, actually, from $46.67 down to $31.53 and then the second company I owned shares of at the time was Pfizer, and Pfizer dropped from $45.00 a share to $17.71. And again, that was during an administration that we thought would be beneficial to banks and to drug companies.

And then finally during the 1992 election, when Bill Clinton became president, there was the belief that he was going to remake the healthcare system at that time, and so the thought was that drug companies would get hurt there. Instead, the aforementioned Pfizer increased almost 800% in value in Clinton's presidency, Merck jumped 300%, and Johnson and Johnson jumped 385%. So those are three instances where the prognosticators got it wrong.

Brokamp:It's difficult, because investing is, in and of itself, a prediction. You're buying a stock because you're making a prediction that it's going to be worth more.

Trogdon:Oh, sure.

Brokamp:But history has shown it's a very difficult game, and you just hope that people who made these brave prognostications had more investments in their portfolio other than these stocks. I hope, for example, you had something other than Pfizer and JP Morgan in your portfolio, Matt.

Trogdon:I think I did, yes.

Southwick:Early learning experience.

Trogdon:My family had invested stuff for me, but those were two of the first that I had picked. I think it just goes to show the difficulty with taking one event, whatever it is, and trying to boil it down and saying it's going to be good for one particular type of stock. And then investing in that, right? I mean, you're committing a whole host of investing sins by doing that.

Brokamp:Yeah.

Trogdon:I'll tell you a funny story of someone I talked to, because you know you work at The Motley Fool and everyone always wants to talk investing. And someone I talked to recently -- maybe it was a year ago -- said, "Hey, what do you think about medical marijuana stocks? I mean, I really think they're going to go up."

I'm like, "Man, I don't know. I haven't given it any thought." But you see that, right?

Brokamp:Yeah.

Alison Southwick has no position in any stocks mentioned. Matt Trogdon has no position in any stocks mentioned. Robert Brokamp, CFP owns shares of Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool recommends Chevron and Johnson & Johnson. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
When it comes to risk, not all stocks are created equal. Different factors -- namely, business quality, investment predictability, and valuation -- simply make some stocks less likely to underperform than others. Unsurprisingly, risk-averse investors are particularly interested in stocks with lower chances of underperforming, so these are important factors for low-risk investors to consider. Fortunately, there are a number of stocks that score well on these factors that investors can buy today. I believe Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) (NYSE: BRK-A) are two.

Here's a look at how each of these businesses fares when it comes to business quality, investment predictability, and valuation.

Image source: Getty Images.

Business quality

Disney and Berkshire represent two of the highest-quality publicly traded businesses.

The quality of their financials is arguably indisputable. Not only do both companies have very strong balance sheets, but also their propensity for generating excess cash has only improved in recent years, highlighted by Disney and Berkshire's rapidly rising annual free cash flow during the past five years.

DIS Free Cash Flow (TTM) data by YCharts

Further, each of these companies has strong durable competitive advantages, positioned to help them sustain strong financial positions and per-share intrinsic value growth over the long haul.

Disney benefits from both the scale at which it can deploy and benefit from its media assets and the underlying brands of those media assets. Between its parks and resorts, entrenched relationships with cable networks, consumer products, and increasing mobile distribution, Disney can scale the distribution of its timeless, diversified content, including ESPN, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and the world-class Disney brand itself, in a way other media companies simply can't match.

With famed investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger at Berkshire's helm, it's no surprise the company's holdings include some of the lowest-risk, most sustainable companies in the world. After all, Buffett literally coined the term "economic moat," which captures the idea that a business' competitive advantage should serve as a moat in a similar way a castle's moat keeps its enemies at bay. The wider and deeper this moat, the better, Buffett argues. Berkshire Hathaway's holdings benefit from a range of economic moats, including scale, cost advantages, network effects, high switching costs, and brand power.

Great examples of high-quality Berkshire subsidiaries include Geico, Duracell, Nebraska Furniture Mart, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. And its top stock holdings include enduring names such as Coca-Cola, American Express, and Wells Fargo.

Investment predictability

When it comes to investment predictability, Berkshire Hathaway is arguably the gold standard. Buffett is known for his tendency to prefer investments in simple, understandable businesses. Further, the majority of Berkshire's investments have long track records of profitability.

Disney's business is arguably much more difficult to predict -- especially in the near term. With over half of Disney's operating income coming from a single segment, media networks, the company is highly dependent on the segment's success. And the risk in this segment is magnified when investors consider the bulk of Disney's media networks segment comes from a single program: ESPN. If ESPN faces challenges, therefore, these challenges will materially affect the company's bottom line.

But the powerful brands under Disney's name, including ESPN, have incredible staying power thanks to their long-standing popularity with consumers. So while there's a good chance investors may see near-term volatility with ESPN or the company's blockbuster-driven movie segment, the powerful brands driving these segments' results are here to stay. Further, Disney's investment predictability benefits from both a long track record of success and the fact that the company's business model is simply easy to understand.

Image source: Getty Images.

Valuation

Helping lower the risk of investing in these stocks, both Berkshire and Disney trade with conservative valuations. Berkshire and Disney's price-to-earnings ratios of 17 and 18, for instance, are relatively cheap considering the backdrop of their average annualized five-year EPS growth of 13% and 18%, respectively.

Overall, both investments are great examples of stocks for low-risk investors. While Disney's valuation is arguably cheaper than Berkshire's, considering the company's recent growth and its continued growth potential, Berkshire -- with its diversified set of enduring assets -- beats Disney when it comes to investment predictability. And both companies get a 10 out of 10 when it comes to business quality.

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Daniel Sparks owns shares of Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Berkshire Hathaway (B shares) and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool recommends American Express and Coca-Cola. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Once you've made a budget and built up some savings, it may be time to start thinking about how to help your money grow with investments. To do that, you'll need to open a brokerage account to start placing orders online. Two well-known brokerage services, TD Ameritrade and TradeStation, can help investors get started. Here's how these brokers compare on key features and criteria.

Trading costs and commissions

Trading commissions are universally much lower today than in the past, so trading cost differences now amount to mere dollars and cents at most discount brokerages. In the following table, we've compared the standard commission schedules of TD Ameritrade and TradeStation.

Data source: company websites.

Standard commission rates may be higher than the actual rate you pay. For instance, TradeStation offers a number of volume discounts for active traders, with reduced commissions based on how many trades you make each month. Both brokers also offer no-transaction-fee (NTF) funds and waive commissions on these orders.

Commission-free ETFs and NTF Funds

TD Ameritrade and TradeStation both offer the ability to trade some funds and ETFs without paying a transaction fee or commission on every purchase. The following table shows the number and type of mutual funds and ETFs available on their respective NTF lists.

Data source: company websites.

Investors who plan to buy and hold individual stocks may not care all that much about the availability of no-commission ETFs and NTF mutual funds at any given broker. For fund investors, however, avoiding transaction fees can potentially save you thousands of dollars in the long run.

Importantly, the number of commission-free ETFs or NTF mutual funds isn't as important as whether your preferred fund is available in a fee-free variety.

Account minimums

Before online brokers came to dominate the industry, brokerages were mostly limited to the wealthy. Luckily, account minimums at TD Ameritrade and TradeStation are accessible for new and experienced investors alike. TD Ameritrade offers no-minimum accounts, meaning you can open an account for as little as $1. TradeStation requires a minimum account size of $5,000 for taxable accounts, and $5,500 for IRAs.

Note that TradeStation charges a minimum activity fee of $99.95 per month for investors who do not trade a minimum number of futures (10 round-turn contracts), options (50 contracts), or stocks (5,000 shares), or who don't maintain a minimum balance of $100,000. If you don't trade frequently, you'll need to maintain a $100,000 balance to avoid the minimum activity fee.

Start small with an online discount broker and watch your investments pile up. Image source: Getty Images.

Trading platform

A flashy trading platform may look nice, but The Motley Fool doesn't do much trading. We like to buy and hold for the long haul, so we don't really care too much about the bells and whistles of a trading platform.

For long-term investors, TD Ameritrade and TradeStation offer trading platforms that make buying and selling stocks, ETFs, and funds a breeze. Long-term investors will find that either broker has plenty of functionality to suit their needs. Admittedly, the quality of a trading platform largely comes down to personal preference.

International stocks and ADRs

Neither TD Ameritrade nor TradeStation offers direct trading on foreign stock exchanges. However, investors can invest in foreign companies that have American-listed American depositary receipts (ADRs). If international stocks are your thing, be sure to see if the stocks you'd like to own have an American-listed ADR.

Research quality and tools

Online discount brokers became tremendously successful because they cut out the extras of full-service brokerage firms and thus found it possible to reduce trading commissions for their clients. However, online discount brokers are building out impressive research tools that give their clients the ability to find great investments and better understand their portfolios.

TD Ameritrade and TradeStation both offer access to third-party and proprietary research tools. Clients of either brokerage will enjoy access to Thomson Reuters data, for example, in addition to screening tools for individual stocks and funds. Third-party research tools are numerous at both brokerages, as each broker gives their clients access to research and expert opinions from a variety of sources.

Mobile app reviews

Want to trade from your phone or tablet? TD Ameritrade and TradeStation have an app for that! Here's how their users and clients rated their mobile capabilities on iOS and Android, as of Dec. 1, 2016).

Data source: relevant app stores.

The broker that fits your needs

Long-term investors will find a lot to like as customers of TD Ameritrade or TradeStation. After all, both brokerages offer inexpensive trades, no-transaction-fee mutual funds, and research to help you better understand your investments and get a second opinion when you'd like to. While The Motley Fool does not endorse any particular broker, we are interested in helping our readers select a broker that is right for them. See Fool.com's Broker Center for a comparison of online discount brokers. Investors who are opening a brokerage account for retirement should check out our frequently updated special-offers page for IRA accounts.

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Jordan Wathen has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends TD Ameritrade. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) F-35 stealth fighter jet is a marvel of technology. It could also do marvelous things for Lockheed Martin's stock.

Lockheed Martin is the nation's largest pure-play defense contractor, producing at one and the same time the world's most popular fighter jet (the F-16 Falcon), the most popular military aircraft that's not a fighter jet (the C-130 Hercules), and the most popular combat helicopter as well (the Sikorsky Black Hawk). As it steps into the 21st century, Lockheed is aiming to ensure its dominance of military aerospace with its newest product, the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter.

Underbelly of the beast: Lockheed Martin's F-35. Image source: Lockheed Martin.

Big news on the F-35

Lockheed Martin took another big step toward that goal last month, when the Pentagon announced -- in its daily recap of big contracts -- that it has just awarded Lockheed Martin $7.2 billion in new F-35 contracts. As the Pentagon explained, Lockheed has been asked to produce 90 new F-35s in various configurations for various buyers, including:

44 F-35A conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) fighters for the U.S. Air Force

Nine F-35Bs capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) for the Marines, and two more for the Navy

16 F-35As and three F-35Bs for allied nations participating in the F-35 project

16 F-35As for nonparticipating "foreign military sales" customers

(The Pentagon did not say so specifically, but judging by where the "work will be performed," it appears that the allied customer may be Britain, and the "foreign" customer Japan.)

What it means for Lockheed Martin

One day, the F-35 could account for as much as 50% of the revenueLockheed takes in in a given year. Already, ramping sales of Lockheed's most (in)famous product has the F-35 accounting for 21%of Lockheed Martin's business. And it only takes a bit of number-crunching to see why the F-35 project is gaining so much steam.

The bulk of the F-35s ordered by the Pentagon last month -- 76 out of the 90 -- are for the cheapest of the three F-35 variants that Lockheed Martin builds: the F-35A CTOL fighter.

Now, it's well known that the Air Force has asked Lockheed to bring the F-35's average cost per plane down to $85 million. Last time we checked in on the company, at the time of the Pentagon's $1.3 billion May 2016 plane purchase, Lockheed had already succeeded in dropping that average cost below $100 million (engines not included). This latest bulk purchase of F-35s, however, shows that Lockheed has made even more progress on that front.

Ninety aircraft sold for $7.2 billion works out to a per-plane cost of just under $80 million. Again, this is exclusive of engines, which cost about $16.5 million per plane. Add those engines into the mix, and the F-35 is still costing the Pentagon close to $96 million. But even so, this is a remarkable accomplishment. Assuming Lockheed can fulfill the Pentagon's order on-time and on-budget, it appears that the company has succeeded in shaving 20% off the airplane's cost in just six months' time.

What it means for investors

As Lockheed continues to succeed in shrinking the F-35's cost, customer interest in the aircraft -- both in the U.S. and abroad -- is likely to pick up. That $20 million reduction in sticker cost is going to ease a lot of concerns about the airplane's performance. If Lockheed succeeds in keeping the plane's price down, I predict it will result in a big boost to the company's top line in the quarters to come.

And on the bottom line?

Well, at the 10.7% operating profit margin that Lockheed's Aeronautics business earns on its products, this sale alone is likely to yield about $770 million in pre-tax profits for Lockheed -- about $2.62 per share. Crunching the numbers provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, I estimate that after taxes, this single sale will be worth about 13% of the profitthat Lockheed Martin nets in a year. That's still not up to par with the 21% of Lockheed's revenue stream that F-35 sales represent, but it's getting there.

And the closer the F-35 gets to pulling its weight on Lockheed Martin's bottom line, the closer I think the stock gets to becoming a "buy."

10 stocks we like better than Lockheed Martin When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

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Rich Smithdoes not own shares of, nor is he short, any company named above. You can find him onMotley Fool CAPS, publicly pontificating under the handleTMFDitty, where he's currently ranked No. 340 out of more than 75,000 rated members. Follow him on Facebookfor the latest in defense news.

The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Getty Images.

For most health insurance providers, the Affordable Care Act, which you know better as Obamacare, has been a veritable nightmare. Most insurers are losing money on their individual ACA plans, and some of the largest names in the industry have begun pulling back on their coverage options.

Perhaps the most vocal opponent of Obamacare has been Stephen Hemsley, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), the largest health insurance company in the United States. UnitedHealth Group has suggested that its aggregate losses from Obamacare between 2015 and 2016 could be near $1 billion. As such, Hemsley announced earlier this year that UnitedHealth would significantly reduce its coverage options in 2017 to just three states from the 34 it's offering ACA plans in this year.

In the not-so-distant rearview mirror are giants Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Humana (NYSE: HUM), which had intended to merge with one another, but were denied by regulators because it would unfairly have reduced competition. If allowed to combine, Aetna and Humana had every intention of expanding their ACA offerings. However, when regulators put the kibosh on their combination, both companies swiftly announced a reduction in their 2017 ACA offerings. Aetna wound up reducing the number of counties it's offering coverage in for 2017 by nearly 70%, while Humana slashed its county-based offerings almost 90%.

Even Anthem (NYSE: ANTM), which had been viewed as a poster child of success under the ACA given how well it has attracted customers covered by the Medicaid expansion, has threatened to throttle back its ACA plan offerings by 2018 if it doesn't see its financial performance improve in 2017.

Image source: Getty Images.

But some Obamacare insurers are turning a profit

Yet, some of the biggest names in health insurance, which have been among the most critical opponents of Obamacare, are actually making money (in some cases a lot of money) in select states according to USA Today.

In particular, privately operated Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) wound up reporting a gross profit of around $400 million on its statewide ACA plans after raising premiums by 32% in 2016. This comes after BCBSNC lost approximately $400 million on its statewide ACA plans in 2015. However, Darcie Dearth, the spokeswoman for BCBSNC, told USA Today that the simplistic formula of subtracting medical expenses paid from premiums collected fails to account for the company's operating expenses, or how new customers who sign up for insurance will affect their expense ratio in the coming year.

In similar fashion, Aetna reported profits of $12 million on its ACA plans in Texas, and $8 million from its plans in Pennsylvania. However, that didn't stop Aetna from packing its bags and leaving both states. Aetna has lost more than $430 million on its ACA plans since Obamacare was launched, and it reported a $200 million pre-tax loss on its individual ACA plans during the second quarter.

Health insurers which have strong roots in helping Medicaid patients have also done well (in fact, far better than their larger counterparts). Centene (NYSE: CNC) and Molina Healthcare (NYSE: MOH), which both centered their businesses around low-income individuals and families, have benefited from 31 states taking federal funds and expanding their Medicaid programs. The result is both companies have generated profits from their association with Obamacare.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why insurers are generally struggling to make money on ACA plans

Yet, the reality of Obamacare is that most insurers don't see the program as sustainable. There are four reasons why that is, and why most insurance companies simply can't turn a profit.

For starters, Obamacare completely changed how insurance companies "fished" for new members. In the days before the ACA, insurers could deny coverage to people because of pre-existing medical conditions. If a consumer was deemed to have a costly, chronic condition, they could be turned away. Under the ACA, insurers are no longer able to deny coverage because of an existing medical condition -- a provision of Obamacare that President-elect Donald Trump has praised. This resulted in insurers getting an influx of sicker patients enrolling in ACA plans -- since these were individuals who'd previously been shut out of the system -- and thus having to pay higher-than-expected medical expenses.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) also let the health insurance industry down. Heading into Obamacare's first open enrollment period in fall 2013, insurers were told by the CBO that some 21 million people could be enrolled by 2016. However, the CBO's estimates weren't even in the ballpark. Its current estimate calls for about 10 million paying enrollees on ACA marketplace exchanges by year's end. The CBO simply misjudged how many people would leave their employer-sponsored care for an ACA plan, and also miscalculated how many people were uninsured from the get-go.

Insurers have also struggled to court healthier young adults to enroll. The individual mandate, which is the actionable component of the law requiring consumers to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty come tax time, simply hasn't done its job and it's easy to see why. The Kaiser Family Foundation forecast that the average household Shared Responsibility Payment (SRP) in 2016 would be $969. Yet, the cheapest annual insurance most non-subsidized individuals can find runs $2,400 to $3,600 a year. This large gap makes it cheaper for healthier young adults to just take their lumps with the penalty and remain uninsured. Unfortunately, insurers desperately need these healthier young people to offset the higher costs of sicker new enrollees.

Image source: Getty Images.

Lastly, the risk corridor was of little use to the industry. The risk corridor was designed to pull money from overly profitable ACA insurers and funnel that cash to ACA insurers losing excessive amounts of money because they priced their premiums too low. Of the $2.87 billion requested for disbursement by money-losing ACA insurers, just $362 million was paid out. Knowing that there was no true financial backing for money-losing insurers, new entrants were discouraged, and three-quarters of Obamacare's approved healthcare cooperatives closed their doors due to losses.

Obamacare's future is cloudy

The incoming Trump administration also presents as a reason for insurers to potentially shy away from the ACA marketplace.

Donald Trump repeatedly pledged throughout his campaign that he would repeal and replace Obamacare once he was in office. Though Trump has opined that he may keep two Obamacare provisions -- requiring insurers to accept all applicants and allowing children under the age of 26 to stay on their parents' plan -- having Republicans in control of both houses of Congress will likely lead to major changes.

What might the future hold for healthcare in America? That's really anyone's guess at this point, but it's pretty clear that even with a stray profit here and there from big insurance providers, the Obamacare we've come to know may not be sustainable over the long term.

10 stocks we like better than UnitedHealth Group When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and UnitedHealth Group wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

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*Stock Advisor returns as of Nov. 7, 2016

Sean Williamshas no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen nameTMFUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle@TMFUltraLong.

The Motley Fool recommends Anthem and UnitedHealth Group. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
A hospital in Philadelphia is denying a 3-year-old a kidney transplant because she suffers from mental disabilities, her parents say.

Chrissy Rivera, the mother of Amelia, last week posted a blog entry that described an encounter she claimed happened at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She said she was there to discuss treatment for her daughter, Amelia, who was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a rare genetic defect that can cause physical and mental disabilities.

Experts say the situation is much more complex.

Rivera wrote that a doctor, whom she did not name, told her and her husband, Joe Rivera, that Amelia wouldn't be eligible for a transplant because of her quality of life and her mental condition.

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"I put my hand up. 'Stop talking for a minute. Did you just say that Amelia shouldn't have the transplant done because she is mentally retarded. I am confused. Did you really just say that?'" she wrote. "I begin to shake. My whole body trembles and he begins to tell me how she will never be able to get on the waiting list because she is mentally retarded."

Rivera's story was seen by Sunday Stilwell, the mother of two severely autistic boys, and she began an online petition last Friday, demanding that the hospital give a transplant to the girl. By Wednesday morning, nearly 25,600 people had signed it.

I put my hand up. 'Stop talking for a minute. Did you just say that Amelia shouldn't have the transplant done because she is mentally retarded. I am confused. Did you really just say that?  Chrissy Rivera, Amelia's mother

"I read Chrissy's original blog post, and I just cried. I couldn't believe it," said Stilwell, whose boys are 6 and 9. "I shared it on Twitter with all my followers and on Facebook."

Children's Hospital said in a statement that it "does not disqualify potential transplant candidates on the basis of intellectual abilities."

"We have transplanted many children with a wide range of disabilities, including physical and intellectual disabilities," it said, adding that it is "deeply committed" to providing the best possible medical care for all children, including those with disabilities.

The hospital did not comment further, citing patient confidentiality laws, but noted the debate on its Facebook page.

Conjoined Twins Separated

"We're listening. We hear your concerns and take seriously your posts, emails and phone calls," it wrote, adding, "Please know that you have been heard and that your feedback is appreciated."

Stilwell has been in contact with Rivera daily over the events.

"There's a lot of camaraderie" between parents of special-needs kids, Stilwell said. "Almost all of us, across the board, have experienced some discrimination. I've certainly had some bad run-ins with some certainly ignorant doctors, but nothing like this. That's part of the reason I did it. I couldn't actually believe this was happening."

Messages seeking comment from the Riveras through Facebook and to their home were left Wednesday.

The issue the Riveras face is not simple, said Arthur Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics.

For example, the blog notes that Rivera told the hospital that "we plan on donating" the kidney, since they come from a large family.

Former Miss Venezuela Loses Battle with Breast Cancer

"Most adults can't donate an organ, because it won't fit" a child, Caplan said. "You're starting to say you're going to use another child as a living donor, and that's ethically really trouble."

The supply of organs for child transplants is "extremely limited," Caplan added.

"So you have hard choices to make," he said. "Dialysis may be a better option."

However, in recent years some hospitals have pioneered ways to use an adult's kidney in a child.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 87,820 people were awaiting kidney transplants as of last February. The National Kidney Foundation, which seeks to enhance the lives of people affected by kidney disease, said 4,573 patients died in 2008 while waiting for kidney transplants.

A 2006 study from Ohio State University on kidney transplants for patients with mental disabilities found that the one- and three-year survival rates for 34 people were 100 percent and 90 percent, respectively.

"The studies reported good compliance with post-transplant medications due to consistent support from family members or caregivers," the paper noted.

The researchers added that previous controversies over mental disabilities and transplants led the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations to express concern that many people with disabilities are "denied evaluation and referral for transplantation."

Rivera's blog noted that doctors said Amelia won't need a transplant for six months to a year.

Some experts said that if Rivera's claims are accurate, the hospital's actions are very disturbing.

"Everyone deserves an equal chance to these organs, regardless of your mental capacity," said Charles Camosy, a professor of Christian Ethics at Fordham University.

Camosy said that while it's true that there are shortages of kidneys and other organs, the criteria used to make transplant decisions "should not ever devalue those that are mentally disabled."

"This is a growing movement that transcends liberal or conservative that says this kind of life, because it's so vulnerable, it deserves special protection," he said.

Whatever the medical details of Amelia's situation, her mother's blog captured the anger of parents with disabled children who don't want outsiders to decide life and death issues.

"Do not talk about her quality of life," Rivera wrote of her exchange with the doctor last week. "You have no idea what she is like. We have crossed many, many road blocks with Amelia and this is just one more. So, you don't agree she should have it done? Fine. But tell me who I talk to next."

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Mary Beth Happ, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center whose research focuses on communication with non-vocal patients, said that the issue of severe mental disability and kidney transplants has been a source of contention for nearly two decades.

"Co-existing health problems such as weakened immune system and/or heart disease, which are prevalent in (Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome), are an additional risk that transplant centers and parents must consider," Happ wrote in an email.

But Happ and Caplan noted that it's virtually impossible to have a full discussion of Amelia's case because of medical privacy laws.

"We're seeing this more and more where very private, difficult medical decisions are debated in the media without the full facts," Happ said, adding that while the general discussion can be good, the risks of one side or another inflating the situation is "really problematic."

Caplan said he has heard of cases in which other transplant programs considered severe mental disability as a factor in transplants.

"With scarcity, social factors do count, with every transplant," he said.

Based on reporting by the Associated Press.

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A doctor and not the hospital denied 3-year-old Amelia Rivera a kidney transplant because she suffers from mental disabilities, her parents now say.

"It's one doctor who's never seen us who is making this call," Joe Rivera told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "We've had a great experience with (the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia). We're not against CHOP, but maybe something needs to be changed. One guy tarnished their reputation."

Rivera, 39, and his wife Chrissy plan to meet with hospital officials next week, amid a growing online furor that has experts warning the situation may be much more complex than many realize. The hospital has not commented on the child's case, citing patient confidentiality laws, but acknowledged the online discussion and said on its Facebook page that "we hear your concerns."

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Chrissy Rivera posted a blog entry last week that described an encounter she claimed happened at The Children's Hospital. She and her husband were there to discuss treatment for her daughter, Amelia, who was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a rare genetic defect that can cause physical and mental disabilities. Amelia will need a transplant in six months to a year.

Chrissy Rivera, 36, wrote that a doctor, whom she did not name, told her and her husband that Amelia wouldn't be eligible for a transplant because of her quality of life and her mental condition.

"I put my hand up. 'Stop talking for a minute. Did you just say that Amelia shouldn't have the transplant done because she is mentally retarded. I am confused. Did you really just say that?'" she wrote. "I begin to shake. My whole body trembles and he begins to tell me how she will never be able to get on the waiting list because she is mentally retarded."

Joe Rivera said he was left thunderstruck.

"It just felt like that you were punched in the gut," he told the AP. "It was mind blowing how people think these days."

But he said that the experience was not necessarily indicative of the treatment they've gotten from the hospital.

Afterward, Chrissy Rivera, who teaches high school senior English, detailed the exchange on the blog.

Her story was seen by Sunday Stilwell, the mother of two severely autistic boys, and she began an online petition Friday, demanding that the hospital give a transplant to the girl. By Wednesday afternoon, 26,520 people had signed it.

Quinceanera Party Despite Cancer

"I read Chrissy's original blog post, and I just cried. I couldn't believe it," said Stilwell, whose boys are 6 and 9. "I shared it on Twitter with all my followers and on Facebook."

Children's Hospital said in a statement that it "does not disqualify potential transplant candidates on the basis of intellectual abilities."

"We have transplanted many children with a wide range of disabilities, including physical and intellectual disabilities," it said, adding that it is "deeply committed" to providing the best possible medical care for all children, including those with disabilities.

It noted the debate on its Facebook page. "We're listening. We hear your concerns and take seriously your posts, emails and phone calls," it wrote, adding, "Please know that you have been heard and that your feedback is appreciated."

Stilwell has been in contact with the Riveras daily over the events.

"There's a lot of camaraderie" between parents of special-needs kids, Stilwell said. "Almost all of us, across the board, have experienced some discrimination. I've certainly had some bad run-ins with some certainly ignorant doctors, but nothing like this. That's part of the reason I did it. I couldn't actually believe this was happening."

The issue the Riveras face is not simple, said Arthur Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics. For example, the blog notes that Chrissy Rivera told the hospital that "we plan on donating" the kidney because they come from a large family.

"Most adults can't donate an organ because it won't fit" a child, Caplan said. "You're starting to say you're going to use another child as a living donor, and that's ethically really trouble."

The supply of organs for child transplants is "extremely limited," Caplan added. "So you have hard choices to make," he said. "Dialysis may be a better option."

However, in recent years some hospitals have pioneered ways to use an adult's kidney in a child.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 87,820 people were awaiting kidney transplants as of last February. The National Kidney Foundation, which seeks to enhance the lives of people affected by kidney disease, said 4,573 patients died in 2008 while waiting for kidney transplants.

A 2006 study from Ohio State University on kidney transplants for patients with mental disabilities found that the one- and three-year survival rates for 34 people were 100 percent and 90 percent, respectively.

"The studies reported good compliance with post-transplant medications due to consistent support from family members or caregivers," the paper noted.

The researchers added that previous controversies over mental disabilities and transplants led the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations to express concern that many people with disabilities are "denied evaluation and referral for transplantation."

Whatever the medical details of Amelia's situation, her mother's blog captured the anger of parents with disabled children who don't want outsiders to decide life and death issues.

"Do not talk about her quality of life," Rivera wrote of her exchange with the doctor last week. "You have no idea what she is like. We have crossed many, many road blocks with Amelia and this is just one more. So, you don't agree she should have it done? Fine. But tell me who I talk to next."

Mary Beth Happ, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics and Health Law, said that the issue of severe mental disability and kidney transplants has been a source of contention for nearly two decades.

"Co-existing health problems such as weakened immune system and/or heart disease, which are prevalent in (Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome), are an additional risk that transplant centers and parents must consider," Happ wrote in an email.

But Happ and Caplan noted that it's virtually impossible to have a full discussion of Amelia's case because of medical privacy laws.

"We're seeing this more and more where very private, difficult medical decisions are debated in the media without the full facts," Happ said, adding that while the general discussion can be good, the risks of one side or another inflating the situation is problematic.

Caplan said he has heard of cases in which other transplant programs considered severe mental disability as a factor in transplants.

"With scarcity, social factors do count, with every transplant," he said.

Based on reporting by the Associated Press.

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She couldn't make it home for New Year's, but one of the world's smallest surviving babies is finally ready to go home.

Melinda Star Guido weighed only 9  ounces at birth less than a can of soda. After spending her early months in the neonatal intensive care unit, a team of doctors and nurses will gather Friday to see her off.

Melinda has been growing steadily and gaining weight since she was born premature at 24 weeks in August at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. She is the world's third smallest baby and the second smallest in the U.S.

Best Pix of the Week

Now weighing 4 pounds, doctors said Melinda has made enough progress to be discharged. It's too early to know how she will fare developmentally and physically, but doctors planned to monitor her for the next six years.

Most babies this small don't survive even with advanced medical care. About 7,500 babies are born each year in the United States weighing less than 1 pound, and about 10 percent survive.

A study published in the journal Pediatrics in 2010 found that many survivors have ongoing health and learning concerns. Most also remain short and underweight for their age.

There are some rare success stories. The smallest surviving baby born weighing 9.2 ounces is now a healthy 7-year-old and another who weighed 9.9 ounces at birth is an honors college student studying psychology, according to doctors at Loyola University Medical Center in Illinois where the girls were born.

Soon after birth, Melinda was treated for an eye disorder that's common in premature babies and underwent surgery to close an artery. Melinda's mother, 22-year-old Haydee Ibarra, held her for the first time after the operation in November.

Despite the hurdles, doctors said Melinda was fortunate she did not suffer serious complications such as bleeding in the brain.

Based on reporting by the Associated Press.

Former Miss Venezuela Loses Battle with Breast Cancer

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A new saliva test is helping the average woman determine her risk of developing breast cancer.

Alicia Anderson found out about a year ago on her 40th birthday that her mammogram revealed something suspicious.

I was extremely surprised because I had previous mammograms and it was no big deal. They were clean. This one was it hit me hard, she said.

Although it turned out to be nothing, Andersons doctor, Dr. Jay Staub of Dallas Health Central Womens Care, still recommended Onca Vue, a new cutting-edge genetic test.

Former Miss Venezuela Loses Battle with Breast Cancer

The test showed Andersons chance of developing breast cancer was 10 times higher than the average woman, even though the disease does not run in her family.

The mother of two and nurse anesthetist admits she had her doubts about the new technology and her results.

I did. And my doctor said they ran the test more than once to make sure the results were more than accurate, she said. From there I did my own research.

Dr. Staub is on the physician advisory board for Intergenetics, the company that makes the test. In the last year hes offered it, 60 to 70 percent of his patients have used it with most insurance companies covering a portion or most of the cost.

Quinceanera Party Despite Cancer

And while getting the news that she has a high probability of one day developing breast cancer, Anderson feels better knowing she can try to catch it early if it ever comes to that.

Id rather have more information to have more power, to have more control over my health care in the future so I think thats what the test gave me, she said.

The folks at Susan G. Koman for the Cure said they simply dont know enough about the knew test to comment on it, but do encourage women to have frank discussions with their doctors about potential risk factors for the disease.

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When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Poland last week, he found a Polish Jewish community virtually unrecognizable to any student of history. Thats because 22 years after the fall of communism and more than 70 years after the Nazis annihilated three million Polish Jews (of the 6 million total Jews murdered), Polish Jews are embracing their identity and faith in inspiring and frankly unbelievable ways.

And thats not just because there is a laudable Museum of the History of Polish Jews that opened with fanfare last month or a moving tribute to the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that brought international attention to the bravery of the Ghetto fighters so many years after their heroic actions.

Its because the countrys 25,000 Jews  though a far cry from the millions that built a robust Jewish civilization throughout pre-war Poland  are eager to innovate Jewish life through street festivals, educational and religious programs, and by investigating their familys past, despite the pain.

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And this is extraordinary in a country whose Communist-led post-1967 anti-Zionist purges forced many Jews to either emigrate from Poland or head underground, hiding their identities for many decades to come. And yet after Communism fell, some Jews  like their Catholic neighbors who enthusiastically clung to their faith  were able to explore what it meant to be a Jew in a place where for the better part of 50 years it was unthinkable. And in many ways it was because a parent or grandparent shockingly revealed their Jewish heritage on their deathbeds.

So how did this happen?

Quietly and effectively, local and international Jewish organizations, philanthropists, and advocates  running the pluralistic gamut of religious movements and cultural options  have invested in both Jewish people (some who proudly identified as such and others who have since come out) and in synagogues, community-wide Sabbath dinners, camping experiences, Jewish learning conferences, Jewish Community Centers and youth clubs, urban holiday events, study groups, and even Jewish cooking classes.

Today in Warsaw and Krakow, centers of Jewish life, one can take a Hebrew class in the morning, learn how to make latkes at lunchtime, and meet with other people who are exploring their Jewish heritage  in some cases long hidden by their families for fear of persecution  at night.

Young Polish Jews are also leading the way. In many ways they have inherited a tremendous historical legacy, but are remaking it in their own image.

Take Antonina Samecka, a Polish Jewish fashion designer whose RISK. MADE IN WARSAW brand has a special line festooned with Jewish imagery and humor. By incorporating Stars of David in the design and creating a You Had Me At Shalom T-shirt, it embodies the vanguard of Jewish Poland today  a mix of pride and creativity.

And the picture would not be complete without mentioning Jewish heritage tours around the country, family genealogy research in corners of Poland where there are no Jews left, and a trend among some Jews to acquire a EU passport and embrace the country their parents and grandparents left behind.

Add to this a growing number of Jewish expats living and breathing Polish culture and language and you have an enigmatic phenomenon that is bolstering a local communitys confidence in itself and its identity.

Such confidence has led to extraordinary results: just this past weekend in Krakow, the 7@Nite Festival opened the historic citys seven remaining synagogues to the public for a lively celebration of Jewish life and culture attended by thousands of people.

This event organized and run by my organization with other local Jewish groups  hosts everything from a poetry reading to a multimedia tour through the seven gates of Jerusalem, from a dance workshop to a photography exhibition, from DJs playing Jewish funk, rock, and hip-hop to a hummus and grilled vegetable feast in a synagogue courtyard.

For Krakow resident Bozena Pitorak, a civil engineer, 7@Nite was the perfect way to reconnect with her Jewish roots as her mother was Jewish. Last year she attended 7@Nite at the urging of her son and was immediately inspired by an Israeli dance workshop.

Soon after, Pitorak started taking Hebrew classes at the Krakow JCC, became a member, and frequently attends Shabbat dinners and Jewish holiday celebrations. This year, she returned to the festival as a volunteer, proudly transformed and Jewishly identified.

After reconnecting to Judaism I feel stronger, and this influences my private life and my work, she said. My dream is that more Jews come out, go to the synagogue, and become members of the community.

In a scene in Steven Spielbergs iconic film "Schindlers List," the brutal Nazi Amon Goeth proudly hails that he and his soldiers are about to destroy 600 years of Jewish history in Krakow. And although they succeeded in liquidating the citys ghetto and sending the survivors to the death camps, the winds of history have shifted to prove him wrong.

Today, in tens of thousands of Jewish faces and lives, in song and prayer, and even in new forms of Jewish self-expression, Jewish life in Poland is blossoming. And that is cause for celebration.
Sen. Marco Rubio and other GOP senators fired a warning shot this weekend over President-elect Donald Trumps consideration of ExxonMobil Chairman Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, raising concerns about the global energy titans reported Russian ties.

Tillerson is thought to be a favorite for the position of top U.S. diplomat and met again with the president-elect in New York on Saturday, though Trump would not confirm his selection in an interview with Fox News Sunday. The president-elect said only that hes getting very, very close to an announcement.

But Rubio, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and later endorsed Trump, posted a thinly veiled warning about Tillerson on Twitter Sunday morning, without mentioning him by name.

Being a "friend of Vladimir" is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState - MR  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 11, 2016

Tillerson is reported to have close ties to Russia. Democrats already have seized on the accounts, with the Democratic National Committee preemptively declaring such a choice another victory for Vladimir Putin.

Republicans have taken a more measured  but still cautious  approach.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told Fox News on Saturday that Putin is a thug and while he doesnt know the nature of Tillersons relationship with the Russian leader, its a matter of concern.

Speaking Sunday with CBS News Face the Nation, McCain said the Senate would give him a fair hearing and noted Tillersons ties could be strictly commercial.

But he reiterated that it should be a matter of concern. He voiced concern that Tillersons relationship could color his approach toward Putin and the Russian threat.

Amid the bipartisan debate, Trump tweeted late Sunday morning: Whether I choose him or not for State- Rex Tillerson, the Chairman & CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!

The Wall Street Journal reported last week on Tillersons ties to Putin and other world leaders.

Under his leadership, Exxon has steadily expanded its Russian business even as rivals faced expropriation and regulatory obstacles.

In 2011, Tillerson announced an expansive relationship with Russia's Rosneft that will spend years and billions of dollars developing technology to explore and produce oil and gas in icy waters in the Russian Arctic. In 2013, Putin bestowed the Order of Friendship on Tillerson.

Trump, though, still has not announced his choice for the State Department job.

Trump told Fox News Sunday that he has others as candidates for the post, while lauding Tillersons record.

He's much more than a business executive. I mean, he's a world-class player.  He's in charge of an oil company that's pretty much double the size of his next serious competitor. It's been a company that's been unbelievably managed. And to me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company -- not for himself -- for the company, Trump said. I have tremendous respect for him.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News Sunday Morning Futures that Tillerson would be a smart pick.

Noting that experts in the State Department would be on hand to assist the next secretary, McCarthy said Tillerson has an understanding of what world leaders are looking for and knows what buttons kind of push them.

Speaking on ABC News This Week, incoming Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus also defended Tillerson as an incredible businessman and American patriot.

While noting a conclusion has not been made, he stressed that Tillerson is in the business of finding oil around the world, and said the fact that he actually has a relationship with people like Vladimir Putin and others across the globe is something that [we] shouldn't be ... embarrassed by.

Asked about tough questions from Republican senators, he said, We don't have concerns about confirmation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump, in an exclusive interview with Fox News Sunday, decried as ridiculous the CIAs reported assessment that Russia intervened in the election to boost his candidacy  describing the claim as another excuse pushed by Democrats to explain his upset victory.

It's just another excuse. I don't believe it, Trump said.  Every week it's another excuse. We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College.

Trump spoke with Fox News Chris Wallace in the president-elects first Sunday show interview since winning the election.

He spoke at length about his Cabinet selection process, defending his decision to tap several military generals while previewing an announcement soon on his secretary of state choice. He vowed as well to clean up and speed up government agencies, without necessarily dismantling President Obamas legacy.

But while staying careful not to personally criticize the sitting president over his intelligence agencies analysis on foreign cyber-interference in the election, Trump made clear he rejects their assessment so far.

Nobody really knows, and hacking is very interesting. Once they hack, if you don't catch them in the act you're not going to catch them, he said. They have no idea if it's Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place.

Trump was responding to a Washington Post report that the CIA concluded in a secret assessment that Russia interfered in the race to boost Trump, not just undermine confidence in the system.

Intelligence agencies reportedly found individuals connected to the Russian government gave WikiLeaks hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, as well as from Hillary Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta  though did not have specific intelligence showing Kremlin officials directed the activity.

The assessment was shared with key senators.

TRUMP TEAM SAYS 'MOVE ON' AFTER OBAMA SEEKS HACKING PROBE

Shortly before the interview with Trump aired on Sunday, a bipartisan group of senators described the Russia interference reports as serious.

For years, foreign adversaries have directed cyberattacks at Americas physical, economic, and military infrastructure, while stealing our intellectual property. Now our democratic institutions have been targeted. Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; and Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a statement.

 Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyberattacks. This cannot become a partisan issue. The stakes are too high for our country.

Amid the CIA findings, the White House also said Friday that President Obama has ordered his intelligence agencies to conduct a full review of hacking during the 2016 election and present their findings before he leaves office.

Trumps transition team responded by saying the election ended a long time ago and its now time to move on.

WikiLeaks Julian Assange also has previously said the Russian government was not the source.

Trump and his supporters point to ambiguity inside intelligence and law enforcement agencies in arguing that Russias role is not clear. Indeed, the Post later reported that while the CIA pointed to Russia, a senior FBI official suggested to lawmakers that the agency and bureau were not on the same page on the matter.

Speaking with Fox News Sunday, Trump said theres great confusion.

He went so far as to assert, Democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country.

Trump said the efforts could be political, adding Democrats are very embarrassed.

Trump also was asked about reports that hes getting just one presidential intelligence briefing a week. Trump said he doesnt need to be told the same thing every day, saying, I get it when I need it.

Trump, meanwhile, told Fox News he wants to make government more efficient, especially when it comes to the EPA.

EPA, you can't get things approved. I mean, people are waiting in line for 15 years before they get rejected, okay? That's why people don't want to invest in this country, he said. ... So we're going to clean it up. We're going to speed it up and, by the way, if somebody is not doing the right thing we're not going to approve.

But asked if hell take a wrecking ball to the Obama legacy, Trump said, No. I don't want to do that at all.

Trump went on to defend his selection of several retired generals for key positions, including secretary of Defense and Homeland Security.

I like generals. I think generals are terrific, you know? They go through schools and they sort of end up at the top of the pyramid. And it's like a test. They passed the test of life.  And I like the three that I have very, very much, he said.

He also said hes getting very, very close to picking a secretary of State nominee, amid indications hes leaning toward ExxonMobil boss Rex Tillerson.

He's much more than a business executive. ... He's a world-class player, Trump said of Tillerson, without confirming the choice.

As for Trumps recent attempts to pressure American companies not to move operations abroad, the president-elect was unapologetic and denied that moving and selling back to America represents the free market.

Thats the dumb market, okay? That's the dumb market. I'm a big free trader, but it has to be fair, Trump said. We're being stripped of our workers.

He said he wants to pursue a 35 percent tax on companies that leave, saying, There are going to be consequences.

He predicted nobodys going to move.

Trump responded to reports that hell keep a stake in business interests like Celebrity Apprentice and his real estate operations. He defended the arrangements, saying hell have nothing to do with the management.

Trump said his executives and children will run his company, and denied any similarities to the Clinton Foundation taking money from foreign governments while his 2016 rival was at the State Department.

This is different, Trump said.  I am turning down billions of dollars of deals. I will tell you, running for president -- the money I spent is peanuts compared to the money I won't make, and that's okay, because this is so important.  This is a calling.
President-elect Donald Trump left the door open Sunday on how exactly he plans to overhaul the regulation-heavy agenda pursued by the Obama administration, suggesting he wouldnt dismantle all that his predecessor has done  while making clear the government needs to be more business-friendly.

Asked in an exclusive interview with Fox News Sunday whether hed take a wrecking ball to President Obamas legacy, the construction magnate responded:

No. I don't want to do that at all. I just want what's right.

The answer may have surprised those watching Trumps recent Cabinet selections, which have included: a prominent ObamaCare critic to lead the Health and Human Services Department; a foe of Obamas overtime pay expansion to lead the Labor Department; and a state attorney general currently suing the Environmental Protection Agency to lead that very agency.

Trump, at the same time, has sent mixed signals about his plans, meeting in recent days with prominent climate change activists Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Asked on Fox News Sunday about the implications of those meetings as well as his Cabinet selections, Trump indicated his interest is in making the government more efficient and responsive to business.

TRUMP RIPS CLAIMS OF RUSSIA INTERFERENCE IN 2016 RACE

At the EPA, he said, You can't get things approved. I mean, people are waiting in line for 15 years before they get rejected, okay? That's why people don't want to invest in this country.

Trump said: So we're going to clean it up. We're going to speed it up and, by the way, if somebody is not doing the right thing we're not going to approve.  We can't let all of these permits that take forever to get stop our jobs.

Trump steered clear of committing to specific actions regarding projects that have pitted environmental interests against the energy industry, while suggesting economic considerations are paramount to him.

On the long-disputed Keystone pipeline that was halted by the Obama administration, Trump said youre going to have a decision fairly quickly.

Asked about the Dakota Access Pipeline, which the Army Corps of Engineers wants to re-route following protests, Trump said he did not want to answer right now.

But I will tell you, when I get to office, if it's not solved, I'll have it solved very quickly, Trump said, before adding: Something will happen. It'll be quick. I think it's very unfair. So, itll start, one way or the other.

Trump, meanwhile, said he is still studying the Paris climate agreement  a pact, backed by the U.S. and dozens of other nations, committing countries to curb the global rise in temperatures  but, I don't want that agreement to put us at a competitive disadvantage with other countries.

When asked where he stood on the environment and climate change, Trump would not be pinned down. I'm very open-minded. I'm still open-minded. Nobody really knows, Trump said. Look, I'm somebody that gets it and nobody really knows. It's not something that's so hard and fast. I do know this: other countries are eating our lunch.

Taken together, Trumps comments, meetings and appointments speak to an incoming president still weighing his options on how drastically he wants to reverse or halt the Obama regulatory agenda.

In an indication that the incoming administration may be preparing for big changes with regard to energy sector programs and rules, his transition team reportedly has sent around a questionnaire asking the Energy Department for a list of appointees and senior executives  and details on who has spearheaded the agencys clean energy initiatives.

One unnamed department official described the questionnaire as a hit list, according to an Associated Press report. The memo sparked alarm among some Democrats, as did Trumps decision last week to name Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA.

Pruitt has been involved in lawsuits against the Obama EPA, including over the controversial Clean Power Plan and waterway regulations. He also has suggested the debate over global warming  and the impact of human activity on global temperatures  is unsettled.

Former Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders suggested Sunday that the Pruitt pick suggests the meetings with Gore and others are not informing policy decisions.

Im glad they reached out to Gore, but apparently they are not hearing what Gore has to say, he told CBS News Face the Nation. Sanders said its troubling Trump would appoint a climate change denier to lead the EPA.

Trumps first order of Obama legacy business may be the Affordable Care Act, with congressional Republicans eager to send a repeal bill to his desk next year. Trump has said he plans to nominate Georgia Rep. Tom Price to lead HHS, which would put an outspoken ObamaCare critic at the helm of the agency that implemented the law.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News Sunday Morning Futures that the Obama administration pushed investment out with its raft of rules and predicted a shift toward what he called common-sense regulation, including with health care.

Our No. 1 focus is jobs [in the House], he said. [ObamaCare] is going to collapse on itself. We have to look at health care in a new form and have a new health care system.
The State Department is warning that more than your money and marriage are at stake if you visit strip clubs in the Bulgarian capital.

The U.S. Embassy in Sofia issued a security alert Tuesday saying the city's "gentlemen's clubs" should be avoided after two bombings and a shooting seriously injured several people at strip parlors there in August and September. The bombings have been blamed on turf wars between rival criminal gangs.

The blandly worded message avoids comment on the wisdom of visiting such clubs apart from the question of personal safety. It notes that security is generally better for tourists and business travelers in Bulgaria since the country joined the European Union.

It's not the first time the embassy has urged U.S. business travelers and tourists to stay away from Bulgarian strippers. Earlier this year, an embassy crime report noted several incidents of club patrons being roughed up after refusing to pay outrageous fees for drinks and private dances.
More travelers seeking a vacation that gives them a spiritual boost are making pilgrimages to holy Incan sites and spending time with shamans in the magical mountains of Peru.

In the past two years spiritual tourism has boomed in the South American country, according to guides and tour operators in the region outside of the World Heritage site, Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incans.

Guides are seeing increased pilgrimages to Incan holy sites and interest in the Incan end of times myths, growing in conjunction with curiosity about the Mayan calendar marking the end of the world in the year 2012. Unlike Mayan myths, Incan myths don't predict a moment in time when the world will end, but rather believe that the glaciers atop the Andes will melt and the Incan kings will return to save the world.

According to our elders and some shamans from the mountain, when the glaciers will melt down then our Inca King will get back to the power and walk and live everyone as in the past, and heal mother Earth, cleanse Mother Earth and help us find harmony in the natural world, explained Contiki Tours guide Gaby Puma, who herself hails from a small village high in the Andes mountains.

In addition to the visitors may be lured by a desire to fill a personal spiritual bankruptcy, says Mandy Kalitis, a tour guide with Etnikas which operates a Shamanic healing center in Cusco City, Peru. People are trying to find some way to connect with something real again, so we are seeing more and more people coming to Peru for a spiritual awakening, she said.

So how do you achieve that spiritual awakening?

The basis of traditional healing in Peru is similar to psychotherapy -- looking beyond the ego to see personal flaws and showing people a path to changing their perspective on their lives. This is coupled with lots of chantings, coca leaf chewing and the occasional imbibing of a hallucinogenic substance. Some of the services provided tend to be more of the hippy variety -- including oracle readings with coca leaves, cleansing and flourishing ceremonies, offerings and blessings to mother earth, crystal cleansings and music therapy with Andean melodies.

You would think it would only attract a certain type of adventure traveler--but spiritual tourism is now attracting an older, more conservative group of travelers than in years past.

American visitors are asking Puma to take them to spiritual pilgrimages around Cusco, referred to by the natives as the belly button of the universe, and El Valle Sagrado, or the Sacred Valley. These sites include the Incan Pisac ruins, where the visitor enters the walled Incan city through a narrow slit in the rock wall, meant to symbolize the birth canal of the Earth.

It is to symbolize a cleansing and rebirth when you walk through, Puma explained. On the opposite side of the passageway is the old Intihuatana, or Temple of the Sun.

Also getting a lot of foot traffic are the ruins at Ollantaytambo, which includes a terraced temple sector with another Sun temple, and is a traditional starting off point for the three or four day Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu.

But it's not just the sights. There is also the rush to enjoy interactive spiritual tourism, whereby local shamans are employed to help cleanse the evils of the modern world from a visitors soul.

On a recent trip to Peru I experienced my own Andean cleansing and Earth Mother (also known as Pachamama) blessing on a recent Contiki tour of South America that stopped through the Sacred Valley.

The ritual employed three shamans, Karos, Claudio and Manano. When it was my turn I was nervous to approach Claudio. He spoke no English, I spoke no Quechua (the traditional Incan language) so we were relegated to hand gestures and grunts. He indicated I should kneel. He first cleansed my head with a generous splash of Florida water--a type of cologne that blends an array of floral essential oils. It was chilly. He then began to wipe his hands up and down my body, like a frantic TSA employee at an airport security checkpoint.

He went into a trance-like state as he chanted and violently wiped the negative energy from my knees to my calves. He placed two sacred stones, or cuyas, from Machu Picchu in my hands. He indicated that I should bow my head and he placed his mouth over the crown of my head, right above my widows peak and blew, the way a mother will blow on a childs hands to warm them up, sending a tingly heat through face.

He then put three perfect coca leaves in my hand and indicated that I should put them in the side of my mouth and let them marinate in my saliva. I did, and stood there dumbly before he ushered me back to the fire where I would be able to stay warm.

The whole ceremony was simple, and I walked away feeling not terribly healed or cleansed.

But there are other shamanic rituals that can be much more intense, including the ingestion of Ayahuasca, the spirit vine a hallucinogenic plant-based potion that facilitates mystical visions in order to bring about mental clarity.

As I was leaving for Peru a close friend said to me, Dont drink anything the shamans give you. He had imbibed a mixture of Ayahuasca months earlier and apparently, still wasnt right.

I asked Angel Herrera, Etnikas general manager, about choosing the right Shaman who knows his way around these seemingly dangerous substances. His recommendation to travelers is to be wary of people who talk too much about their spirituality and how they can help you.

We work with many traditional healers from the Andes and the Amazon and unless asked none of them openly talk about what they do. When asked they will answer questions and be helpful ,but it is not something that they advertise, Herrera said.

He added to be careful of centers that charge much less than others. If a center is charging much less, their shaman are likely not being paid well and therefore they will likely not be working with very skilled healers.

If you are dealing directly with a local healer this is different, as they will set their own pricing and do not have any other overhead. But as mentioned before they often do not advertise what they are, and so as a Westerner it can be difficult to connect with authentic healers on your own, Herrera said.

Lastly, people should always be aware of the ratio of participants in a ceremony to the number of people leading it. As with anything else, no matter how good a master shaman may be they will only be able to work effectively with a certain number of people.

Kalitis added that the boom in spiritual tourism is something of a double edged sword.

It has given rise to charlatans. People need to be incredibly careful who they work with, particularly the Shamans who work with the sacred plants and the mind shifting experiences, Kalitis said. Ask for recommendations, ask around and just be careful.
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Americans get dressed up for Halloween, take kids trick or treating, and tell tales about ghosts and witches. But in Nicaragua, some locals and curious tourists seek out real, live witchesor brujos, who claim to be able to cast spells on people and cure all sorts of ailments, including impotency, male pattern baldness and more.

Diriomo is a small town located about a half hour southwest of Granada, a city with an abundance of colonial charm. Marta Vasconcelos, director of tourism and culture for Diriomos municipal government, says a growing number of foreign visitors are coming to the town in search of real witches. Vasconcelos recently told a Nicaraguan news website that the number of foreign witch tourists visiting the town has more than doubled in recent years to about 15-20 per month.

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My search for real witches began at the Hotel Plaza Colon in Granada, where the young men I queried were curious about witchcraft and volunteered to accompany me to Diriomo, which is home to at least fifteen witches, free of charge. But would the witches of Diriomo be willing to share their tradecraft with a nosy gringo? A local guide had told me that locals and tourists travel to Diriomo to consult witches, but when I asked him to introduce me to one he balked.

They wont talk to a journalist, he said. Witches dont like to tell people how they operate.

The warning only intensified my interest in visiting Diriomo, and I found kindred spirits in Victor and Carlos, two hotel employees in their early thirties, who said they wanted to accompany me to the town on their day off. We boarded a beat up old chicken bus appropriately called El Brujo (The Witch) because it services Diriomo, and other so-called Pueblos Blancos, named after the color of their pure white churches, and competed for space with a blind man playing a harmonica in the aisle for tips and a swarm of vendors hawking neon-colored drinks in plastic bags.

On the 45-minute ride out to Diriomo, we met a Nicaraguan man named Frank who said hed introduce me to the best witch in town for $10. He had a prominent stab wound on his arm and vaguely implied that hed been deported from the U.S., but I hired him anyway. El Brujo puttered into Diriomos main square, which faces an impressive cathedral across from a drinking establishment called Brujos Bar, and a group of brujo touts greeted the bus, hoping to bring passengers to a witch for a fee.

Diriomo is a quiet place that comes alive once per year for its annual dicking festival in which participants whack each other with dried bull penises. The four of us walked through the sleepy village, past small, brightly colored houses. Frank led us to a modest house with a Nicaraguan flag and the name Andrea Pena emblazoned on an iron security gate. We followed him inside, walking through a large, high-ceilinged living room filled with rocking chairs and a collage of paintings, old photographs and Christian banners, into Andreas office.

Pena pulled back a red curtain behind her desk to close us off from a bedroom where a man was taking a siesta on an unmade bed. A heavyset woman with a sad face and a weary expression, she appeared to be about 60 and was wearing a sleeveless, powder blue house dress. Her office was crammed with papers, religious posters, ceramic butterflies, potions and assorted debris. Pena told us that a male witch in the village cured her of panic attacks many years ago. He saw that she had a gift of her own and decided to teach her the craft.

People come from all over the world to see me, she said. Managua, Panama, Colombia, and even the United States. 

She said that most of her clients came to her to cure various ailments, cast spells, or to divine the future.

And how do you cure people? I asked.

Pena opened up an old wooden chest that was filled with her own press clippings, photos, stained spiral notebooks and bottles, some of which looked like they once contained Brut 33 or Ice Blue Aqua Velva.

I use all natural medicines, she explained. Plants, herbs and things like this. I give them a special bath with these things and I say prayers for them.

Pena seemed guarded, unwilling to divulge any of her secrets, so we said our goodbyes and I happily told Frank that we no longer needed his services. A shirtless man in an oppressively hot little shop down the street told us that there were plenty of other witches to choose from, including one named Francisco Flores, who lived on the corner.

A kid with a crew cut ushered us inside Floress humble cinder block home and introduced us to his uncle Francisco, the witch. Flores, who appeared to be about 50, invited us to sit on rocking chairs across from him in a semi-outdoor living room that was protected from the street by a cinder block wall and was sealed off from the backyard with a pink curtain. Unlike Pena, he seemed happy to talk to us about his craft, which he said he learned from his father about 15 years ago. Flores said that there are at least 15 witches in the village and claimed that he was one of the three best in town.

If your wife leaves you for another man, for example, I can help with that, he boasted. When Im finished, she will come back begging you for forgiveness. And I can also make anyone irresistible to members of the opposite sex.

How do you do that? I asked, pulling my carved wooden rocking chair a little closer to his.

I give them a bath with natural medicines and potions, he said. They get one bath per month for about six months. And it works! It works even for people who are fat or ugly.

Flores wouldnt tell me what was in the baths and said they cost about $500-$1,000 each, as Carlos and Victor shot me disbelieving looks. He was sizing me up as a potential customer and figured that, as an American, I could probably afford an expensive bath.

But if you want just one bath, he ventured, noticing my hesitation, It costs about 5,000 Cordoba. ($217.)

Can you cast negative spells on people? I asked.

I have a potion I make and if you can get them to drink it, it can really hurt them, he said.

But what if they wont drink it? I asked.

Thats O.K., he said. Usually, I go to peoples houses, late at night when theyre sleeping, and sprinkle the potion on their doorsteps. That works too.

What if theyre in the U.S.? I asked.

No problem, he said. All I need is their name and birthdate. And if you have a photo of them, that is very helpful.

Flores bragged that he could also cure impotence and male pattern baldness and insisted that he had natural medicines that were even better than Viagra for kick starting ones sex life.

Lets say I catch my wife in bed with another man, I said, hoping to test his limits. And Id like him to get a terminal illness, or maybe get run over by a truck, for example.

I could eliminate him within a day or two, he replied. But I dont prefer to use my power to do things like that.
A big-game hunter from Montana is accusing a Canadian outfitter and a world-renowned guide in Tajikistan of fraudulently turning his dream of bagging a rare argali sheep known as the "Marco Polo" into a living nightmare.

Rick Vukasin (vuh-KAH'-sihn) says in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Reno last week that he spent more than $50,000 pursuing the once-in-a-lifetime adventure in Tajikistan near China's border in December 2012.

The 65-year-old electrician says he was lucky to land a 400-pound ram with the coveted, spiraling horns.

He was mortified two months later when he opened up the box shipped to his home in Great Falls to find the horns were not those of his trophy animal.

He's seeking $75,000 in damages from Canada-based Ameri-Cana Expeditions and Tajikistani guide, Yuri Matison.
A small Indiana towns Christmas tree has run afoul of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU of Indianapolis is suing Knightstown over the display, which includes a lighted cross at the top of the tree.

Fox 59 Indianapolis reported Friday that the cross in the middle of town never bothered anyone in the town of 2,000 -- until now.

A couple weeks ago they had a crowd here, said Knightstown resident Mark Tompkins. Everybody was here. Everybody was fine with it. But now youve got one person, you know, out of everybody.

Tompkins disagrees with the ACLU lawsuit even though a relative is the plaintiff, according to the station.

ACLU CHAPTER: HIGH SCHOOL'S POLICE EVENT

SENDS 'FRIGHTENING MESSAGE'

The ACLU says in the lawsuit that Joseph Tompkins objects to the cross because it violates the separation of church and state.

The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, says Tompkins has been forced to come into unwelcome contact with the display, causing him irreparable harm.

The station reported that Tompkins says in the lawsuit that he doesnt want his tax dollars used to light and maintain the display.

I think we can find people in this town that can replace that 0.0004 cents to give to him and not have to worry about it, Knightstown businessman Lau Ghioc told the station in response.

The Indianapolis Star reported Friday that Joseph Tompkins wants the town to remove the cross and pay him monetary damages.

A call to a Knightstown representative for comment on the lawsuit wasnt returned, the paper reported.
For as far back as anyone can remember, there's always been a cross atop the Christmas tree on the square in Knightstown, Indiana.

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But that could change if the Grinches at the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana have their way.

The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against the town on behalf of Joseph Tomkins, a resident who said the image of the lighted cross has caused him "irreparable harm."

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"The cross is the best known symbol of Christianity and Knightstown's prominent display of this symbol represents an establishment of religion in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit demands the immediate removal of the cross, monetary damages and a declaration that the cross display violates the First Amendment, the Indianapolis Star reports.

Mr. Tompkins alleges he is "forced to come into direct and unwelcome contact" with the cross as he drives through town.

It's unclear whether the town will hire an attorney and fight this modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge, but many in this small town are ready to wage a yuletide legal battle.

"There's a church on every corner here," resident and relative Mark Tompkins told Fox 59.

For more on this story, visit ToddStarnes.com.
The Boston Celtics got a scare when they were told of a bomb threat on their private flight to Oklahoma City.

The Boston Globe reports the plane landed safely around 5 p.m. at Will Rogers World Airport, where players were told to leave their bags and proceed to their hotel. The plane and bags were searched, and players were still waiting for their luggage to be delivered Saturday evening.

Celtics spokesman Jeff Twiss says the FBI is investigating the incident.

The newspaper says only a few team executives were aware of the threat during the flight and that others in the party were informed upon landing in Oklahoma City, where the Celtics face the Thunder on Sunday.

The team departed for Oklahoma City from Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts.
A fire at the main lodge at Boyne Highlands, a popular ski resort in northern Michigan, injured 12 people and forced the evacuation of dozens more early Sunday.



The resort said the injuries didn't appear to be life-threatening, although one person was taken to a hospital about 180 miles away in Grand Rapids.



Boyne said 40 percent of the lodge has some fire damage, and much of the rest of the building was affected by smoke and water. There were 113 guests in 64 rooms.



The fire was reported around 1:30 a.m. Sunday at the lodge in Harbor Springs, 75 miles northeast of Traverse City. The cause was under investigation and the resort was closed.



"There was smoke billowing all over the place," said local photographer Alex Childress, who drove to Boyne around 3 a.m. when he heard about the fire.



General Manager Mike Chumbler said staff went door to door to ensure that guests had been alerted. They were moved to lodging elsewhere at the resort.



"We, as a resort, in the last year have gone through a mock fire scenario. ... I'm proud of our response and that the team stepped up. It was good that we practiced like we did," Chumbler said.



It was Boyne's third weekend of the winter season -- and a snowy one.



"The weather was just turning for us," Chumbler told the Petoskey News-Review.


Facing uphill battles to find jurors willing to convict police officers, prosecutors in two states say they will try again for guilty verdicts against white officers in the fatal shootings of black men.

A judge in the case against a former University of Cincinnati police officer set a Monday hearing to arrange dates for a retrial. Jurors deadlocked on murder and voluntary manslaughter charges against Ray Tensing in the death of Sam Dubose. A mistrial was declared Nov. 12.

A South Carolina jury also couldn't reach a verdict Dec. 5 on the same charges against a former North Charleston officer. The prosecutor says he will try Michael Slager again for the death of Walter Scott.

Legal experts say the mistrials underscore difficulties prosecutors face in pursuing criminal charges against police.
Prosecutors say a 75-year-old Northern California man was implicated in a cold case double murder on the high seas by his two sons.

Silas Duane Boston, of Paradise, was charged Thursday in Sacramento with killing a young British couple off Guatemala in 1978 in front of his sons, who were 11 and 13 at the time.

A judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf, the Sacramento Bee reported.

His attorney told the paper that Boston has been living in a convalescent home and suffers from arthritis and has difficulty hearing.

The complaint against Boston reads like a crime novel.

COUSINS ENTER PLEAS IN 1973 SHOTGUN SLAYINGS OF 2 GIRLS

It alleges Boston tortured Christopher Farmer and Peta Frampton and then tossed them overboard from his boat. Their bodies were found on July 8, 1978.

Authorities interviewed Boston but the case went cold.

The break in the case came last year when Sacramento police began looking again into the 1968 disappearane of Boston's wife.

At the time Mary Lou Boston disappeared, Boston told police that his wife dumped him for another man after looting their bank account, the complaint says.

When cops spoke to Vince and Russell Boston about their mother, they told them about Farmer and Frampton.

Nothing would have happened if the Sacramento Police Department had not thought to consult with this office about what could be done with a 38-year-old homicide in the Caribbean Sea, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said in a press release.

The complaint says cops and the FBI were told Boston may have killed his wife when they interviewed of friend of his.

The friend said Boston told him he killed his wife because she wanted to divorce him.

MOM OF MISSING BOY IN HAWAII PLEADS GUILTY TO MANSLAUGHTER, NEARLY 20 YEARS AFTER HIS DISAPPEARANCE

The complaint also says one of Bostons sons told a Sacramento detective that his father mowed down a man in a fatal hit-and-run in 1972.

The sons are quoted as saying they were afraid of going to cops out of fear Boston would kill them.

Boston appeared in court for his arraignment in a wheelchair.
Survivors, staff and family members of victims who were killed during the Orlando nightclub massacre are gathering outside Pulse to mark the six-month anniversary of the rampage.

They are gathering in the early hours Monday for a moment of silence at 2:02 a.m., the exact time gunman Omar Mateen started shooting inside the gay nightclub.

The early-morning memorial at Pulse is not open to the public but just those with a direct connection to the shooting.

Later in the day, local officials are organizing a memorial service at the Orange County Regional History Center.

The names of each of the 49 patrons who were killed will be read.

Dozens of others were seriously injured in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Federal homeland security officials should move faster to require rail and transit agencies across the nation screen their employees using federal terrorism watch lists, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said.

The New York Democrat told The Associated Press on Saturday that the Department of Homeland Security should immediately step in to enforce a recommendation made nearly a decade ago that mass transit employees be crosschecked with the federal watch lists.

"With terror threats from ISIS sympathizers and lone wolves ever possible, it is just not acceptable that every single front line transit employee is not checked against the federal terror watch list like airlines do," Schumer said. "Railing for rail security is a no-brainer."

A report released by the Sept. 11 Commission in 2007 urged federal authorities to check the immigration status of front-line rail employees and run them through the federal government's consolidated terrorist watch list.

Records show the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration have an action pending to require the screenings, but the policy hasn't been finalized. Schumer said the agency should move faster to enact it.

Schumer, the incoming Senate minority leader, said it is "shocking that this commonsense safety gap was never closed."

A Homeland Security spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government maintains several types of terror watch lists. According to the National Counterterrorism Center, about 1.1 million people, including about 25,000 U.S. citizens, were on the 2013 version of the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, a repository of information used to compile the consolidated Terrorist Screening Database.

About 420,000 people are on the so called no-fly list, a subsection of the larger FBI Terrorist Screening Database. Civil libertarians have argued many people on such lists have never been accused of a crime and have no connection to terrorism.

In a May report, Homeland Security's Inspector General said the Transportation Security Administration, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, "has not urgently prioritized the need to implement these rail security requirements."

TSA attributed the delays in implementing the policy to the complex federal rulemaking process, the report said, adding that without the requirement TSA could not force Amtrak to implement new screening protocols.

Amtrak did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday evening.

___

Follow Michael Balsamo on Twitter @MikeBalsamo1.
Blankets of snow and driving rain forced hundreds of flight delays and cancellations and made for messy morning commutes on Monday as a storm that dumped several inches of snow on the Midwest made its way east.

The National Weather Service issued winter storm and winter weather advisories for parts of the Great Lakes and the Northeast overnight, which could affect millions of Americans.

Snow fell throughout northern New England Monday, triggering traffic jams on snow-packed roads and forcing schools to cancel or postpone classes.

Into early Monday, the storm had dumped more than 6 inches of snow on several states in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions, causing dangerous travel conditions.

It's a "slap of reality" after a mild November, National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Schmidt in La Crosse, Wis., said.

The National Weather Service forecast snow across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Up to a foot could hit parts of southern Vermont. At least several inches had already fallen across the region by Monday morning. Some rain was expected to mix with the snow in southern New Hampshire.

The National Weather Service reported more than 10 inches fell in Lake Orion and Flat Rock. Parts of Macomb County got more than 9 inches.

Snow generally cleared out of the Chicago area on Sunday night, though some snow fell on Monday morning in other parts of Illinois. The storms left Chicago-area freeways with patches of snow and ice, leaving dangers for drivers. The area received more than 6 inches of snow as of Sunday night.

Airports in Chicago and Detroit stranded thousands of travelers after more than 1,500 flights were canceled over the weekend, according to FlightAware.

The storm forced many schools to cancel classes on Monday and prompted the University of Connecticut to postpone some final exams.

The Ohio River Valley and Mid-Atlantic regions were expected to receive a mix of snow, freezing rain and rain through the day on Monday.

"For the rest of the day the best advice is just to stay off the road if you can, and otherwise go slow and give yourself more time to reach your destination," National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Steinwedel said. "If you don't have to drive or go somewhere, stay home."

Temperatures 15 to 30 degrees below average will follow the cold rain and snow in the coming days through much of the Midwest and East Coast, forecasters have warned.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump's campaign manager returns to her home state of New Jersey to lead a Christmas parade on Saturday.

Kellyanne Conway was grand marshal of the parade in Hammonton. She also received a key to the city.

Conway asked the parade crowd to "pray for our outgoing president and vice president" and "our new president and vice president." She also asked people to "do something special this holiday season," suggesting the crowd write a thank you note to a soldier or buy a coat for someone in need.

Conway mostly steered clear of politics during her brief remarks.

The Hammonton Fire Department says Conway was raised in Atco and graduated from St. Joseph's High School in Hammonton in 1985.

"Spread the real cheer and the generosity and the sheer love that comes from being in Hammonton," Conway said.

An anti-fascist group said it had plans to protest what it says is the politicization of the parade. The group, South Jersey Antifa said Conway is not an "acceptable role model."

"We call on the Hammonton Fire Department to drop her," the group posted on social media before the event.

The NJ.com reported that there was some protest signs, one in particular reading "No room for racist rhetoric." The website said that there was also signs in favor of Conway.

Conway regularly appears in the media on behalf of Trump and has even been spoofed on "Saturday Night Live."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click here for more from NJ.com.
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It was the place where Jewish women did their ritual bathing. It was a tuberculosis clinic. It survived the German onslaught and became a gathering point for Holocaust survivors.

Now "the white building," the headquarters of the Jewish community and one of the few surviving remnants of the infamous Warsaw Ghetto, could be torn down to make way for a multi-story tower that would fit seamlessly into a modern city skyline.

The building's fate will soon be determined by the Culture Ministry, which has been asked by advocates of historic preservation to declare it a historical monument, a classification that would ban its destruction. It's not year clear how officials will decide, though previous rulings by other state offices had declared the building not worth saving. Now those for and against destroying the old building are anxiously awaiting a verdict.

What is perhaps unexpected in this case is who is fighting for what: Warsaw's Jewish community, which owns the dilapidated three-story building, is making the case for its destruction. The community leaders argue that a bigger building is needed to accommodate a Jewish community that is re-emerging in the young Polish democracy after the Holocaust and decades of communist repression.

The white building, in the heart of the city's business district, is the place where the Jewish community gathers for lectures, Shabbat dinners, holidays, even sports. Jewish leaders argue that it is too cramped, bleak and fungus-infested to continue serving the needs of a community that has roughly tripled in number in the past decade.

Today, it can no longer accommodate all those who want to join Shabbat dinners after Friday evening prayers. There is no room for festive celebrations on the holiday of Purim. And a new Reform congregation, which embraces a modern style of worship different from the Orthodox services held in the Nozyk synagogue, must meet across town in rented rooms.

"An opinion that I can't agree with is that the building is more important than the future of the community," said Andrzej Zozula, vice president of the Jewish community. "Because unfortunately that's the gist of the conflict."

Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich has even been evoking the precedent of King Herod rebuilding the Second Temple in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago as he makes the case to tear the structure down.

"As much as we respect the past, we build for the future," Schudrich said. "As much as there was a holiness to the temple that stood, that temple was reconfigured to a much more grand scale to meet the needs, the desires of a living Jewish community. And so this is some way represents the struggle we have here."

The debate is also a microcosm of deeper issues that emerge in city planning today in Warsaw, a city that was almost totally destroyed during World War II and which has seen massive development as the economy has boomed in the post-communist era. Architectural gems key to the nation's identity were meticulously rebuilt after the war  like Warsaw's Royal Castle and Old Town Square. Some prewar buildings here and there also survived, sometimes thanks to chance, sometimes because they headquartered the Nazis and were therefore spared the leveling that was the German response to two major uprisings  the Ghetto uprising of 1943 and a larger revolt by the entire city in 1944.

In the old ghetto area, almost nothing remains of the past. Just next to the white building stands the Nozyk synagogue, the only prewar synagogue still in existence in Warsaw. It survived because the Germans turned it into a horse stable. There is a prewar church that largely survived across the street as well as four buildings on nearby Prozna Street, with aging brick facades still bearing bullet holes. Here and there fragments of the old ghetto wall can also be found.

But it's very little considering the large and vibrant Jewish community that existed before the war in Warsaw, where one person in three was Jewish, and the hell that hundreds of thousands of Jews were subjected to in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.

The debate over the white building raises questions that underlie several building projects across the city: Should rare old buildings be saved if doing so holds back modernization? What exactly is worth saving, anyway, in a city like Warsaw? Should structures like the white building, which would be unremarkable in a city like Rome or Paris, be preserved simply because almost all other relics of a past time have turned to ash and dust?

In this case, opponents of the plan say Jewish leaders don't have the right to destroy a rare surviving structure, arguing it belongs to Poland's larger patrimony. But Jewish leaders counter that it would be unfair if they are prevented from developing, when skyscrapers all around have long erased any trace of the neighborhood's prewar character.

The white building is in a clear state of decay. Though it has a cellar that dates back more than two centuries, most of building is about 130 years old and has undergone major transformations since.

Today the interior feels sad, with old linoleum and carpeted floors and cramped offices for those who work there. It does, however, boast a couple of notable features, including a wooden staircase and two plaques inscribed in Polish, Hebrew and Yiddish dating to the 1930s, when the building was a tuberculosis clinic serving the Jewish community. Jewish leaders vow to save those elements no matter what. But they want to replace the building itself with a taller structure that would contain plenty of space for a Jewish community center and additional space to rent out to support the community's financial needs.

There are no specific plans yet for the new development because investors must still be found  and that depends first on getting permission to rebuild. But Jewish leaders say they envision a building that could rise up to 80 meters (260 feet)  or nearly 20 stories.

Fighting those plans is a small but determined group of architects and others  including Jews and non-Jews  who believe the structure, located at 6 Twarda Street, should be saved as a site of historical importance to all of the city's people. They acknowledge that the white building is indeed in a sad state, but they accuse the Jewish community of letting it deteriorate to justify its destruction.

"To me this is a scandal because it's the historical legacy of all Poles," said Joanna Jaszunska, a graphic designer. "This is the last moment when we can save the building."

They argue that despite all the changes to the building, it should be preserved because it reflects the changing fate of Jewish life in Warsaw. Built in the early 1880s, it has housed a mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath, and was also home to families. In the 1930s came the tuberculosis clinic, and just after the war it became a place where Holocaust survivors were registered and could lodge overnight.

"We think this object should be saved and should remain as a memento connected to the history of the Jewish community," said Janusz Sujecki, a political scientist who has written a book about the surviving buildings on Prozna Street. He belongs to an organization, the Association of Protectors of Warsaw's Cultural Heritage, that filed a petition to the Cultural Ministry asking it to be declared a historical site.

A ruling from a separate state heritage office last year refused to grant the white building the status of a historical monument. While it acknowledged its long history intertwined with Warsaw's Jews, it ultimately declared the structure "bereft of artistic qualities."

It's not yet clear when the Culture Ministry will decide how to classify the building. But Sujecki says that if his side loses, it will keep fighting and file yet another appeal.
A group of Egyptian Christians who were detained in Libya where they had gone for work say they were tortured to the point they wanted to die.

The Copts, who were swept up last month in a raid on a Benghazi market and held on charges of proselytizing because they had Christian symbols on their stalls, told MidEast Christian News the para-police organization the Ansar el-Sharia forced them to make pro-Islam declarations and insult the late Coptic Pope Shenouda. The claims came a day after another Copt arrested in the roundup was buried after dying while in Libyan custody. His family says he was tortured, as well.



I will never forget the torture my colleague, Matta Younan, suffered when he refused to say Pope Shenouda was despicable, said Amgad Makar Zaki, 26, who had worked in Libya since 2003. The group of as many as 100 immigrants from neighboring Egypt was held for nearly a month before being deported back home.

Younans life was threatened and he was beaten over the head with a stick until a police officer told the torturers to stop.

From time to time, an Islamic preacher came to tell us about Islam and question our Christian faith and the Bible, added Zaki. We constantly heard them shouting Obama, Obama, all of us are Osama, in reference to al-Qaedas late leader Osama bin Laden.

Zaki told the news service the Libyan Islamists arrested the priest of a Benghazi Christian church, shaving his mustache and torturing him.

Copts, who make up as much as 10 percent of Egypts population, have demonstrated against the Muslim Brotherhood government of Mohamed Morsi, saying it did little diplomatically to protect the rights of its Christian citizens who were working in Libya.

I was deeply affected by the position of the Egyptian embassy, said Zaki. Some of us contacted the Egyptian ambassador to intervene and he said he could not do anything.



Sherif Tawwab Nabil, a 15-year-old student, said his father went to work in Libya so he could provide for his family. The son relayed that while his father was selling clothes on a table in one of the markets in Benghazi, dozens of bearded men attacked the area and arrested Christians after checking their right hands for customary tattoos of the cross.



Atef Nadi Habib, a 33-year-old vendor from Minya, said Copts in Libya face violent oppression never seen during the reign of strongman Col. Muammar Qaddafi, who was ousted in a U.S.-backed revolution in 2011.

I have worked in Libya for 13 years, and I hold a passport, a residence permit and all my documents are legal, Habib said. Conditions were stable, but suddenly the situation changed and Copts began to be subjected to constant threats.



Habib said the tormentors forced the men to strip and repeat the phrase Allahu Akbar. He said the captives repeated the phrase because God is great in all religions. But when they were ordered to state the two tenets of Islam  There is no god but Allah and Mohammad is His Messenger, they pronounced the first statement only until they were tortured further and relented.
A former public works minister known for leading the 2010 rescue of 33 miners trapped underground in the Atacama desert quit Chile's presidential race Monday after a financial scandal.

Center-right politician Laurence Golborne is also a former chief executive officer of retailer Cencosud. His candidacy was jeopardized last week when the Supreme Court fined retailer Cencosud $70 million for increasing its supermarket unit's credit card maintenance fees when he was in charge in 2006. The court said card clauses were abusive and affected 608,000 clients.

Golborne's candidacy was also troubled by accusations that he didn't include information about an offshore account registered in the British Virgin Islands in his declaration of assets.

"I want to be clear: I don't want to be an obstacle to any decision," Golborne told reporters Monday. "As of this moment I bring down my candidacy in all forms for this nomination. Decide freely what is best for the country."

The resignation is expected to weaken the possibility that a candidate from the conservative governing coalition can beat former President Michelle Bachelet, the front-runner in polls for the Nov. 17 election.

"This leaves the Alliance in a situation with diminished real opportunities of challenging Michelle Bachelet, who has been consolidating as a real alternative," said Guillermo Holzmann, political science professor at the Universidad de Valparaiso.

Golborne had been competing against former Defense Minister Andres Allamand for a chance to represent the center-right coalition in the primary elections that will be held June 30. Officials planned to meet Monday night, and Economy Minister Pablo Longueira was considered likely to join the race.

___

Luis Andres Henao on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LuisAndresHenao
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A lizard dipped in wine may not seem like an obvious asthma remedy, but as Cambodian traditional healers strive to turn their ancient wisdom into a professional industry such treatments are finding their way into the classroom.

For generations, the secrets of "Kru Khmer" traditional remedies have been passed down by word of mouth -- often from father to son -- with each expert tweaking the methods along the way.

But in an attempt to freshen up the ancient art and better regulate the industry, Cambodia's Ministry of Health has opened a traditional medicine school, with funds from a Japanese foundation.

Cambodia is home to thousands of Kru Khmer practitioners -- medical plant experts whose mysterious concoctions of roots, barks and leaves are used to heal common ailments.

The school, which opened in 2009, has trained some 345 Kru Khmer so far, with a particular focus on hygiene and anatomy.

"It's good to have training like this because it teaches us correct, safe methods," said Kraing Dhein, a student at the school.

A certain kind of tree bark is said to help breast-feeding women produce enough milk, while the pungent durian fruit is well-known as a treatment for rheumatism.

Other remedies are potentially dangerous -- in the worst case, powerful homemade rice wine is known to have been recommended to pregnant women.

"This training is more professional than what students learn from their ancestors," said Kong Sokdina, project manager for CatMO, a traditional medicine organisation that manages the courses.

"They are taught many subjects, such as the ethical code of treatment... they wouldn't know otherwise."

During the five months of training, students are taken on regular field trips to study local varieties of plants and learn about their natural healing properties -- such as those that can act as antibiotics or have antiseptic qualities.

The final trip on the course is to southern Kampot province, home to many unique plant species.

"We can find roots that no longer exist elsewhere," said professor Ky Bouhang, chair of the Cambodian Traditional Healers Association.

Some 80 percent of Cambodia's population live in rural areas, often in villages with no doctors, let alone a hospital.

Even where local healthcare is available, many villagers cannot afford professional medical care.

Traditional healers offer a cheaper alternative -- and business is prosperous.

On the outskirts of Phnom Penh's Orussey Market, many Kru Khmer man tables heaped high with dried plants and animal parts, roots, barks and other traditional treatments.

Tauch Sreythoeun opened her stall at Orussey soon after she finished training.

"Some (customers) want plants to help reduce fever, for example, so I mix them a treatment from several roots," she told AFP.

Patients usually seek out a Kru Khmer for help with minor gripes, such as stomach aches and exhaustion, which do not demand the attention -- and expense -- of a proper doctor.

"Traditional medicine can help treat the poorest people because people (living) in the country do not have enough money to go to the hospital or see a doctor," said Soung Kimsath, still a Kru Khmer student.

But some adherents claim the discipline is so powerful that it can replace modern medicine entirely.

Pov Rany has regularly consulted traditional healers ever since she discovered she had a cyst in her chest.

"I believe in traditional medicine, I think it is effective and good for my health," she said.

"I don't use modern medicine because drugs contain chemical substances and counterfeit products."

Some doctors warn about the dangers of relying solely on traditional healers -- especially for serious illnesses.

But in Cambodia, the pull of traditional medicine is strong.

Many see it as tried and trusted ancient wisdom in contrast to the country's myriad local pharmacies, which dole out expensive and often counterfeit Western medicines, with no proper advice or prescription.

The most obscure power of the healers pertains to the spirits. Many Cambodians believe Kru Khmer have the capacity to literally blow bad spirits out of the body.

"I cured a woman who had shingles with my magic breath," said Ky Bouhang.

"Today, she can work again in her farm while no other treatment had been a success."
EXCLUSIVE: A study cited in a just-published evaluation of the ugly problem of sexual exploitation by U.N. peacekeepers calculates that as many as 58,000 women in Monrovia, Liberia, alone engaged in prohibited transactional sex with peacekeepers in return for food, clothing, money or other favorsmostly money-- over a nine-year period ending in 2012.

By contrast, in 2012, the United Nations peacekeeping force in Liberia, or UNMIL, reported just nine substantiated allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse, out of 61 such allegations across all such U.N. missions, according to an annual report put out the following year by Secretary General Ban Ki-moons office.

The huge chasm between those numbersone set from the U.N., the other from a study financed in large measure by the government of Sweden --is certain to keep fanning skepticism about under-reporting, flawed investigation methods, resistance to investigation and a culture of impunity toward sexual offenses in U.N. peacekeeping. They also help to underline tensions between various branches of the U.N. itself over how to cope with the sexual abuse problem.

The 2012 study was based on a carefully weighted survey of 1,381 Liberian households, and involved detailed questions for 475 women between the ages of 18 and 30, including questions about the age when they first engaged in quid-pro-quo sexual behavior. The results were then extrapolated across the areas of the Liberian capital of Monrovia where the selected households were located.

The researchers called their findings stunning. The study concluded that about just under one-half of all the women surveyed said they had engaged in transactional sex and roughly three-quarters of those sexually active women or more than a third of the overall queried female population aged 18 to 30had such relations with U.N. personnel, who have been a major presence in Liberia since 2003.

The data we have collected show unambiguously that transactional sex with U.N. personnel is a ubiquitous life experience among young women in Monrovia, the study declares.

There is an even darker side to the ubiquitous life experience. Among other things, the survey reveals that a great many of the 18-to-30-year-old women who exchanged sex for valuables were under age 18 when they first began to do sosome 58 percent of the sample. And about 5.7 percent of the overall sample who provided their age revealed that they were under 14 years old when they began their transactional sex.

The survey questionnaire did not ask how many of these women were active with U.N. partners while they were under-age.

However, according to Michael Gilligan, a professor of politics at New York University whose research team carried out the two-month study, it is not an outlandish assumption that thousands of the women involved with peacekeepers were significantly under-aged.

Transactional sex is prohibited for all U.N. staffers and United Nations forces conducting operations under United Nations command and control by a 2003 bulletin from the U.N. Secretary General. The ban covers the exchange of money, employment, goods or services for sex, including sexual favors or other forms of humiliating, degrading or exploitative behavior.

Another section of the Secretary Generals order bans sex by U.N. personnel with anyone under the age of 18, regardless of the age of majority or age of consent locally. A senior U.N. official told Fox News that sex with anyone under age 18 is considered to be non-consensual rape.

I would bet the farm on our numbers, Gilligan told Fox News. He added that they clearly show that the current system is not working.

The survey was specifically conducted in order to bring some scientific method to studying the actual magnitude of the U.N. sexual exploitation problem, as opposed to the anecdotal testimony of victims, whose accusations are often vetted by U.N. personnel, or investigated by countries that supplied the peacekeeping troops in the first place.

The research for Gilligans study was financed not by the U.N., but in large measure by Swedens Folke Bernadotte Academy, the Swedish governments official agency for peace, security and development.

The survey did not attempt to determine how many U.N. peacekeepers or other staff membersas opposed to local women-- were engaged in prohibited sexual activity. However, the study notes, it seems reasonable to suspect that this number is large, given the large share of women reporting transactional sex with U.N. personnel, and the limited duration of most peacekeeping deployments.

We have every reason to believe our evidence is very, very finely tuned, Gilligan told Fox News.

The 80-pageLiberian study was briefly acknowledged mid-way through a 53-page evaluation of the U.N.s efforts to tackle the sexual exploitation issue by the organizations internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, or OIOS, made public on June 15.

The OIOS evaluation, which took 18 months to complete, noted that the non-U.N study had concluded that over one-quarter of Monrovias women between 18 and 30 had engaged in transactional sex by U.N. peacekeepers, and observed that the widespread violation depicted in the survey would necessarily imply under-reporting of banned sexual transgressions.

The OIOS document did not take note of the substantial percentages of under-age sex revealed in the non-U.N. survey.

The rest of the OIOS study was more plain-spoken than the U.N. customarily is in describing the peacekeeping sexual abuse morass.

Among many other things, it noted:

buck-passing behavior by U.N. departments and missions over who was responsible for reacting to sexual abuse allegations;

minimal responses when action was finally taken: between 2008 and 2012, the evaluation observed, a grand total of nine civilians and police personnel were referred to national authorities for prosecution;

a subsequent data gap on what those national authorities did next;

foot-dragging by peacekeeping missions in referring allegations for investigation;

risk of loss of evidence/witness tampering amid the delays;

slow action and even refusal to act on the part of missions regarding allegations of sexual abuse;

the refusal of troop-supplying countries to let the U.N. know within a 10-day limit whether they were investigating wrong-doing by members of their military contingents;

An observed irreconcilable conflict of interest in requesting national investigators to investigate their own troops;

slow investigations by OIOS itself when called on to do so (average investigation time: 16 months);

an admission that the U.N. has behaved very poorly in terms of help for victims of sexual abuse: only 26 out of 217 acknowledged victims of such abuse have been referred for assistance and of those referred, little is known what assistance, in reality, was provided to them.

For the first time, the OIOS evaluation also itemized a short list of countries whose uniformed troops had committed officially substantiated acts of sexual exploitation and abuse between 2010 and 2013.

The top offender: South Africa, with 9 substantiated cases. The second-place offender: Uruguay, with eight cases, followed by Nigeria, with seven.

In all, however, the substantiated total came to just 64 cases.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LIST

The OIOS evaluation also records regretful reactions to the report from the U.N.s departments of peacekeeping operations and field supportthe core of peacekeepingeven as those bureaucracies asserted that they remain fully committed to ensuring that the Secretary-Generals zero tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations personnel is comprehensively implemented in all peacekeeping missions.

CLICK HERE FOR THE OIOS REPORT

The peacekeepers point out that they had created an accountability framework containing refined indicators of performance in the areas of prevention, enforcement and remedial action in peacekeeping missions,  along with a specific risk assessment framework for sexual exploitation and abuse.

Overall, they said, efforts at better training and prevention  are having a positive impact.

The peacekeeping departments also objected to the OIOS naming of countries with substantiated allegations of abuse  which does not take into consideration that thousands of personnel were deployed over that period and that Member States with a greater number of allegations are amongst those deploying the greatest number of troops.

The conclusion to be drawn from Liberia, however, seems to be that the problem is much, much bigger than that.

George Russell is editor-at-large of Fox News and can be found on Twitter: @GeorgeRussell or on Facebook.com/George Russell
A leading Israeli opposition lawmaker has launched a campaign calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be investigated for corruption.

Erel Margalit of the Zionist Union party said Sunday he aims to get the Supreme Court to have Netanyahu interrogated.

At issue is a scandal over reports that Netanyahu's personal attorney represented a German company involved in a $1.5 billion sale of submarines to Israel, raising questions about the prime minister's possible involvement. Reports later emerged that Iran, Israel's arch enemy, has a stake in that company.

Police say they are looking into it but not investigating.

Margalit said "This is corruption at its worst."

The campaign clip shows images portraying Netanyahu as living lavishly and newspaper headlines about scandals.

___

http://bbwanted.co.il/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V24Er5vmEpo&feature=youtu.be
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Polls are open early Sunday in Macedonia for a general election called two years early.

The early election was part of a Western-brokered agreement to end a serious political crisis, which began when the opposition accused the conservative government of an illegal wiretapping operation that targeted 20,000 people.

Former conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who had headed the government since 2006, is seeking a fresh mandate. His VMRO-DPMNE party leads a 25-party coalition called "For a Better Macedonia." His main opponent is Zoran Zaev, who heads a left-leaning coalition called "For Life in Macedonia."

Nearly 1.8 million registered voters are eligible to choose 123 lawmakers for the single-chamber parliament. Three seats are reserved for Macedonians living abroad.

Polls close at 7 p.m.
Romanians began voting Sunday in a parliamentary election a year after a massive anti-corruption drive forced the last Socialist prime minister from power.

The country of about 19 million is one of the poorest in the European Union and perceived as one of the most corrupt.

Romania's biggest party, the Social Democratic Party, is expected to come first and will likely try to form a majority with smaller parties. In all, 504 seats are up for re-election in Romania's bicameral Parliament.

President Klaus Iohannis, who by law is not allowed to belong to any party, urged Romanians to vote.

"I voted for a prosperous and strong Romania," Iohannis said after casting his ballot in the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

Former Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned after mass protests following a nightclub fire in October 2015 that killed 64 people. The country is currently run by a government of technocrats headed by Premier Dacian Ciolos, a former EU agriculture commissioner.

In recent days, Iohannis has reiterated his commitment to the anti-corruption fight.

"Corruption is stagnation, contempt for citizens and the law. As I've said before, corruption kills," he said Friday.

Polls close at 9 p.m.
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Several hundred members of the Serbian police and army have staged a protest complaining of low wages and poor living standards.

Dressed in civilian clothes, the protesters gathered Sunday in front of the Serbian government headquarters, holding Serbian flags and banners. One banner read: "There is no justice in Serbia."

The gathering was the second in two weeks, reflecting problems the Serbian government faces amid efforts to cut public spending as part of austerity measures.

Serbia's Interior and Defense ministries said in a joint statement that protests aren't the way to deal with problems in the country. They added that solutions can be found only "in accordance with reality."

Police and army unions behind the protests have claimed army and police members have faced pressure not to join.
Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces have killed or gravely wounded more than 2,000 Islamic State fighters in the battle for Mosul since October, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Sunday.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend told reporters there are still an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters defending Mosul. He applauded the efforts of Iraqi security forces, who began their offensive on Oct. 17 in what has been billed a decisive phase of the anti-IS fight.

"By our calculations, we think we have killed or badly wounded over 2,000," Townsend said at a joint news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter at Qayara air base.

Townsend disputed any suggestion that the Islamic State has managed to fight the Iraqi government forces to standstill in Mosul.

After citing the estimated 2,000 IS casualties, he added, "I don't think that suggests anything about a stalemate. This is a major urban area. Any army on the planet, including the United States Army, would be challenged by this fight."

"The Iraqi army has come back from near-defeat two years ago, and now they are attacking this major city 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) from Baghdad," Townsend said. "I don't think there is anything in there about a stalemate."

Townsend said U.S. intelligence estimated before the Mosul campaign kicked off in October that IS had 3,500 to 6,000 fighters in the city. He said the current estimate is 3,000 to 5,000.

US officials have declined to say how many Iraqi government troops have been killed in the Mosul fight.

Carter made an unannounced visit Sunday to the Qayara base, flying in from Baghdad after meeting with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and sharing lunch with American troops. It was Carter's first visit to Qayara since it began operating as an Iraqi staging base in October.

Carter toured the air base, greeting soldiers and offering holiday wishes. He assured them the Mosul campaign is on track.

"Everything is going according to the plan of a year ago," Carter said

Sunday's visit came as Iraqi security forces have been slowed in their nearly two-month-old offensive against IS, which has occupied Mosul for more than two years.

In Bahrain on Saturday, Carter announced he is sending another 200 troops to Syria to train and advise local fighters combatting IS. There are already 300 U.S. troops authorized for the Syria effort, and some 5,000 in Iraq.

The recapture of Mosul, the country's second largest city, is crucial to the Iraqis' hopes of restoring their sovereignty, although political stability will likely remain a challenge afterward.

Carter told an international security conference in Bahrain that the battle for Mosul and for the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremists' self-described caliphate, would be crucial for defeating the group, which has claimed attacks worldwide.

"The seizure of these two cities is necessary to ensure the destruction of ISIL's parent tumor in Iraq and Syria  the primary objective of our military campaign  and put ISIL on an irreversible path to a lasting defeat," he said, using another acronym for IS.

He did not predict how long it might take for Iraqi forces to prevail in Mosul, but he sounded a note of optimism.

"This is a complex mission that will take time to accomplish, but I am confident that ISIL's days in Mosul are numbered," he said in Bahrain.

Iraqi forces have only captured a handful of eastern Mosul neighborhoods since launching the offensive in mid-October. On Sunday they came under mortar fire as they worked to clear villages along the Tigris River to the south, part of operations to secure supply lines for a campaign that is likely to stretch into the coming year.

Carter, whose tenure as defense secretary will end in January if his designated successor  retired Marine Gen. James Mattis  is confirmed by the Senate as expected, also made the case for keeping U.S. forces in Iraq even after the Islamic State group is dislodged from Mosul.

"Beyond security, there will still be towns to rebuild, services to re-establish, and communities to restore," he said in Bahrain. The extremists, he predicted, will attempt to survive by reinventing themselves "in some other shape or form" after they lose their grip on Iraq and Syria.

In Baghdad, six separate bombings targeting mostly streets and markets frequented by civilians killed 12 and wounded more than 30 people Sunday, according to Iraqi police and hospital officials. IS claimed responsibility for one of the attacks in southern Baghdad in a statement posted by the group's Amaq news agency. All Iraqi officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the press.

Left unaddressed by Carter during his visit to Iraq was a possible change in course under President-elect Donald Trump when he takes office next month.
Clouds roiled on the horizon, saturated and spitting as six of us waited in the sterile anteroom of the Northern Alaska Tour Companys aviation office in Fairbanks. A giant map of the state hung on the wall, and my gaze returned to it repeatedly.

There we were, landlocked in Alaskas center. Further north, beyond the massive Yukon River valley, was Deadhorse, an oil town at the mouth of Prudhoe Bay. East of Deadhorse, cleaving to the landmass below it and perched on the blue Beaufort Sea, was our destination: Kaktovik, the only occupied village in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Here, polar bears converge every fall, waiting for sea ice to form so they can head out and live adrift throughout the winter.

Along with five friends, I was waiting for clearance to board a plane to Kaktovik and see polar bears up close. Ours was a day trip and tours on subsequent days were full, which meant that if we couldnt fly out of Fairbanks, we wouldnt get to Kaktovik. Autumn in Alaska is a volatile time of year, weather-wise. It can be sunny one day, snowy the next. In theory, thats part of the excitement. But waiting for our flight clearance, I was cursing the rain gods.

Listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, polar bears have become a potent symbol of the impact of climate change. This is because they rely on sea ice for their survivalthey need it to hunt seals, their primary preyand climate change has contributed to the ices record low levels. A NASA researcher estimates that since 1979, more than 600,000 square miles of winter sea ice has melted away. Additionally, the ice that remains thinned by 65 percent between 1975 and 2012. As it has diminished, mortality among young and old polar bears has increased, and federal scientists have documented an overall population decline over the past 20 years.

Polar bears traditionally congregate in and around Kaktovik, an Inupiat village of about 250 residents, while awaiting fall sea-ice formation. The bears are attracted to the village in part because of its annual bowhead whale hunt, allowed under native treaties.

Residents may harvest up to three whales each year. Villagers rely on whale meat to subsist through the harsh winter, and they leave the blubber and other inedible (to humans) whale parts to satiate the hungry bruins. Counterintuitive as it may seem, the system has been working well for decades. Feed the predators and coexist. Its only in recent years that a tourism industry has cropped up around the practice, with people like me willing to travel above the Arctic Circle for the chance to visit this forlorn and distant place and see the bears in their native habitat.

Some environmentalists warn that global warming could destroy polar-bear habitats and ultimately lead to the species extinction. Its widely accepted that a loss of sea ice will force major adaptation upon the bears, and the population decline will probably continue. I hope we defy the gloomiest predictions, but I decided to take this fall trip in part because I wanted to see polar bears in the wild before it was too late.

OFF TO SEE THE BEARS

Just when I was beginning to wonder whether our trip would be canceled because of the quixotic Fairbanks weather, the rain stopped and tour company manager Matt Atkinson rushed my group to the tarmac. We hustled into the Piper Navajo Chieftain piloted by Heather Zulkanycz, buckled up, taxied to the runway and, after getting clearance from air-traffic control, took to the sky.

Within minutes, civilization gave way to a lush and broad wilderness snaked with rivers. From cruising altitude, the muted colors of fall created a mosaic that mesmerized me until clouds descended and obliterated the view.

After an hour of flying through fog, the gray broke to reveal an endless panorama of some of the steepest, most rugged mountains Id ever seen. The Brooks Range. For a moment, I forgot all about the bears and lost myself in this landscape, equal parts dazzling and intimidating.

We refueled in Deadhorse and then flew another hour to Kaktovik, landing on the long, sandy strip that constitutes the Barter Island runway (I tried not to notice the ocean waves lapping at its edges.)

Then Heather herded us into a waiting van and drove into town, a remarkably isolated outpost with buildings constructed of abandoned shipping containers.

Kaktovik is the opposite of a tourist trap. There are no souvenir shops, no ice cream stands. This is a town with only a few dirt roads and very few cars. Locals drive four-wheelers. We saw a post office and a fire station, but no grocery store. We ate a quick lunch at a cafeteria-like restaurant and then met up with Vejborn Reitan, our local guide, and set out to see the bears.

BEARS IN THE FLESH

The first ones we saw were on the beach, en route from the airstrip to town. They were gathered around large chunks of blubber, refuse from a recently harvested whale. Three bears, their muzzles red with blood, ignored us as we slowed down to take a good look. But Vejborn moved us along. The locals are private about their traditions, reticent about discussing them and completely opposed to being photographed by outsiders.

We tried to respect that, but it was hard. Seeing polar bears so close sent a jolt of energy through the van. We were mere feet from one of the biggest, fiercest animals in the world, and they were as oblivious to us as cows grazing in a field. Vejborn promised that wed see a lot more, and we quickly realized he was right. They were everywhere. Some loafed in the fresh air, others gnawed on large blocks of blubber. We saw very little separation of people and bears; there were no fences separating wildlife areas from residential ones.

Vejborn ushered us onto a fishing boat and we set out on the ocean. Though high winds kept us close to shore, we saw even more bears. They were huge, with paws the size of a childs head, clearly visible through binoculars. But . . . they were also cute. Even bears with bloody muzzles that had been gorging themselves on whale leftovers looked sweet and innocent and cuddlyeasy to say with whitecaps and a boats hull between us. Add in the cubs, which were adorable, and my group of six was smitten.

Our five-hour tour was more visual than it was educational. At least that was my initial reactionas an amateur naturalist, Ive been on more than my share of nature tours. I expected an impassioned lecture from our guide on bear biology and climate change, and I thought Id end the day armed with enough facts to feel like I could actually do something to help polar bears. (I realize the irony in this expectation; simply getting to Kaktovik burned significant amounts of fossil fuel, a major contributor to climate change.) But my time in Kaktovik left a much greater impression than a guides memorized spiel could have.

As I stepped off the boat and onto the rocky shore, heart beating with the thrill of sharing the air, the world, really, with wild polar bears, I understood in a visceral way the intricate complexity of that world. I also saw clearly how insignificant I was in the big picture. This is one reason I travelto see how others live and to remind myself of my small role.

My life couldnt be more different than those of the friendly residents of Kaktovik who waved as they passed us in 4x4s. Their weather is wind and rain, their skies gray and damp. And yet, despite their isolation, they are a vibrant community with traditions and a culture theyre not willing to exploit to appease the thousands of global tourists who flock to their village each fall.During my brief stay, I ate the tastiest chicken soup of my life, complete with talons in the broth, and stopped in at the eclectic Waldo Arms, one of two ramshackle (but very popular, especially among wildlife tourists and film crews) hotels in the village. I experienced the thrill of flying in a bush plane with an unflappable pilot who managed to land smoothly even as 20-knot crosswinds swept across our path. In other words, I spent a day in the life in a remote Alaskan village perched on what felt like the end of the Earth and saw with my own eyes the animal that has come to symbolize one of the greatest man-made threats of all time.
IN NOVEMBER 1942, the military forces of the United States and Britain in an operation code-named Torch, invaded Algeria and Morocco and cleared French-held territories of Nazi control.

A year later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Englands prime minister Winston Churchill met in Casablanca to plot the future course of war to defeat Nazi Germany.

Churchill insisted that the two leaders take a break from their deliberations to spend a few days in Marrakech. Soldiers guarded the roads for the five-hour drive from Casablanca, and planes circled overhead. And so they did, visiting the Atlas Mountains at sunset, with Churchill concluding that its the most beautiful place on Earth.

It is fitting then that the U.N. Climate Conference COP22 held in Marrakech, 73 years later, would be a place to make history. Not to save democracy and civilization but the entire Earth from environmental catastrophe.

A year ago this month, the Paris Agreement was signed at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change summit, known as COP21. In it, nations agreed to keep the increase of the average global temperature to below 2 C (3.6 F) of pre-industrialization levels. But even this reduction target, as difficult as it is, might not be enough.

If emissions from human activities continue unabated, it could trigger runaway planetary warming, researchers warn. Writing in the latest issue of the journal Nature, they project that an increase of 1 C (1.8 F) will release an additional 55 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere by 2050. This could trigger a positive feedback and push the planets climate system past the point of no return.

Thus, a group of interfaith clergy, in addition to myself, traveled to COP22 to make the case that faith leaderswho have the ear and the heartsof billions (85 percent of the Earths population identifies with a religion) want action by governments to curb carbon emissions.

This was my fifth COP event with other faith leaders, joined this time by 20 young ecologists from 14 African countries. Their perspectives on climate impactssuch as soil erosion and droughtshelp explain why they view the federal inaction here in the United States so strongly.

Each of these next-generation leaders face resistance to a shift to renewable energy. On a team-building trek through a Berber village and forest in the Ourika Valley of the Atlas Mountains, our group rested for tea on the roof of a mountain house. There, Joshua Amponsem of Ghana, sporting a Coal no more shirt, described how established interests lobby lawmakers to do the wrong thing, out of expediency. He asked what the election of Donald Trump would mean.

Were getting the picture, and to this creation-care advocate, its like a bad dream. The president-elects nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, is a close ally of the fossil-fuel industry, claims the science of climate change is not settled, and wants to shut down the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan, aimed at cleaning up old and new coal-burning utility plants and transitioning to clean or renewable energy.

A majority of Americans support environmental protection, renewable energy and want efforts to counteract climate change. So, whats our duty to the country and common good?

First, as people of faith, we need to support action to protect our precious air, water and land. This must be a priority. For those who want an incentive, read on: God says I will destroy those who destroy the Earth. Revelation 11:18. Thats a clear warning about the sin of ecological destruction from the Bible.

What America needs is a reduction of emissions of human greed, ignorance and hatred. If the human community must learn to live within the carrying capacity of Earth to survive, then a major shift in consciousness is required, says Dena Merriam, founder of the Contemplative Alliance and organizer of the interfaith delegation to Morocco.

Second, spiritual leaders can help their flocks to see old truths in new ways. That is, put a love of creation, with our duty to be stewards, alongside science and innovation, to do energy-saving changes to their facilities and help lobby for our government to do the same; and to understand that cutting carbon pollution is a spiritual responsibility, and then act on it.

Climate skeptics in Congress respond, I am not a scientist, to defend their inaction, but this is no excuse. They should quit claiming ignorance, own up to reality and tell their oil and gas campaign contributors they owe it to the common good of the country and the Almighty to change directions.

Third, faith leaders can change the atmospherereduce political polarizationby reframing the environmental crisis as a spiritual and cultural one, rather than a scientific or political issue. More empathy and less apathy is needed.

Finally, the goal is transformation of our society toward renewable energy and good jobs. It was clear from statements and presentations at COP22 that momentum for these thingsand carbon reductionis gathering steam. This is true of the 194 countries that have signed onto the Paris Accord, whether or not Trump withdraws from the agreement. Maybe together with these partners we can persuade him to change his mind.

Donald Trump should visit the Atlas Mountains, like earlier leaders, and see the snow-capped terrain and beauty for himself. It might persuade him theyre worth saving. The people of Morocco, especially the children, would be grateful.

The Rev. Richard Cizik, a Stafford County resident, is president of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good.
South Carolina's Largest Sorority Retail Store Launches E-Commerce Website

Local sorority retail store in Conway, South Carolina launches just in time for the holidays a new e-commerce website for Greek Licensed Products for a wide variety of sororities.

--

Coastal Greek, a popular sorority retail brand with a retail outlet in Conway, South Carolina, this week officially unveiled their new, comprehensive website platform for all sorority sisters looking to take their orders directly from the distributors.

Born from a passion for providing sororities with an affordable and high quality way to celebrate their sisterhood and sorority passion together, Coastal Greek updates weekly to bring every single sorority lineage in the United States the apparel, merchandise, and products they need to strut their stuff.

"Our website makes finding the perfect sorority product as easy as can be, with a sorority search bar right at the top, breaking down all of the sororities in one location," said Annie Smith, Founder and Owner of Coastal Greek. "Whether you're in Alpha Phi, Tri Sigma, Kappa Delta, Phi Mu, and the dozens of other sororities on our college campuses, we've got you covered."

Products currently available on the site for interested shoppers include apparel, bags, drinkware, merchandise, and stationary. They even have a section for Big Sister/Little Sister items. A few of the sororities such as Tri Sigma and Sigma Alpha Iota have baby items which make a great Christmas gift. Passionate about their product, Coastal Greek plans to add even more selection for shoppers looking to flash their sorority pride. New items are posted on their Facebook (Facebook.comCoastalGreek) and Instagram pages on a regular basis.

"We wanted to launch our platform just in time for the holiday shopping season," said Smith. "Whether you yourself are a proud sorority sister, or one of your family members just joined a chapter, you can visit our website and get them the perfect holiday present. Spread the word, and head on over today to check out our expansive product selection."

All of Coastal Greek's products are officially Greek Licensed Products. The online retailer has officially solidified themselves as the largest sorority store in South Carolina. They have been awarded the exclusive sorority retailer for Tri Sigma, Alpha Phi, Sigma Kappa and Phi Sigma Sigma. There is a separate website for Sigma Alpha Iota and they are the exclusive retailers for this organization.

For more information, or to start shopping today, visit: http://coastalgreek.com/.

For more information, please visit http://coastalgreek.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Annie Smith

Organization: Coastal Greek

Address: 303 Main Street, Coinway, 29526 United States



Release ID: 153296

For more information visit r



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Nintendo Switch Latest News & Update :Indies Beginning To Turn Out For The Console Handheld Mixture

Nintendo Switch is working up buildup particularly after the video uncovers weeks back. Simply this week, it included more buildup as they guested for Jimmy Fallon highlighting the Switch's capacity to run The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Taking after the pattern, Indies are presently beginning to turn out from covering up and step by step appearing of their underlying yields for the Console-Handheld mixture.

To start with - a Nintendo Switch elite diversion called Seasons of Heaven has been reported to take off one year from now. The activity experience diversion is created by Any Arts Production, in light of a comic arrangement by Nicolas Augusto. The data is taken from a French site: Gameblog, saying that the title will highlight a kid named Yann. This child has Asperger's disorder and has a French bulldog Ani. Inside the diversion, it is conceivable to switch characters and each has particular gameplay groupings. The title is right now running under Unreal Engine 4.

Second - The Sacred Hero is to be declared for the Nintendo Switch also. This nonmainstream game is finished by designer Simplicity. The official mystery trailer can be seen on the footage posted underneath this article.

As of this written work, there is very little thought about the second title, The Sacred Hero, however judging from its trailer it looks very like a Zelda game. The sword stuck on a stone inside a give in and the rich green woods sprinkled in daylight, gives it away as a Zelda-ish diversion. The Sacred Hero won't be a Nintendo Switch elite, in any case, as it is booked to take off for PC also one year from now.

With this new exertion, indie devs will have the advantage by acquainting themselves with Nintendo and its market, a magnificent strategy to fight Microsoft and Sony stages. This would return Nintendo in the gaming business race, as per Itechpost. With all the past few sections retouched together, it is apparent that Nintendo and the free engineer group are as yet having close ties as nonmainstream diversions are entering Nintendo Switch. 2017 will be a decent year for Nintendo.
Samsung Galaxy S8 Release Date,Price, Specs, Features, News & Update: Release Date Pushed, Samsung Aims To Beat iPhone 8 With S8?

2016 is definitely a controversial year for Samsung with its release and pull out of Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Now the company aims to redeem itself with Samsung Galaxy S8, but its date is pushed because Samsung has a lot of big plans for the latest mobile device that they will release.

According to reports, Samsung lost around $6 billion because of the Note 7 issues that 2016 will definitely be remembered about.Samsung Galaxy S8 is said to the Samsung's way of redeeming itself and its user from the damages that their previous mistake has cost them. It is said that Samsung is preparing to beat Apple's iPhone 8. Samsung Galaxy S8 is expected to utilize the next gen processor, Qualcomm Snapdragon, aside from this the bezel-less display is also an anticipated feature of Samsung Galaxy S8. It is also said that Samsung will drop the home button and place a virtual one, Samsung Galaxy S8 will have is aimed to have an "all display" to achieve the bezel-less feature.

On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy S8 is also expected to remove its headphone jack and replace it with a USB-C for both charging and audio. Experts said that this move will make Samsung seem to imitate Apple when it is a fact that Samsung criticized Apple for removing the headphone jack for iPhone 7.

Additionally, Samsung Galaxy S8 is expected to cost around $850 while Samsung Galaxy S8 Edge will be at around $900. other reports stated that Samsung Galaxy S8 will be available on AT&T with no downpayment for $35 a month,24 months contract. It is also stated that Samsung Galaxy S8 can be preordered to major retailers two weeks before Samsung Galaxy S8 Release Date. Which do you think is better iPhone 8 or Samsung Galaxy S8? Shar your thoughts below! Stay tuned for more of your Samsung Galaxy S8 updates!

Read Next:iPhone 8 Release Date, Latest News & Update: Apple Reveals Prices For IPhone 7S , IPhone 7S Plus, Newest iPhone Features Details Here!
Scarlett Johansson Has Revealed An Extremely Wild Dream! Will Disney Ever Accept It?

This may come as a bit of a surprise but Hollywood's very own Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson, says she is desperate to become a Disney princess. In fact, the 32-year-old actor has apparently been asking around for the role of a princess for the last 20 years.

"Right now, I have the dream that I will someday be a Disney princess but it's probably not going to happen. I've been asking for that job for the past 20 years and nobody has booked me", the starlet revealed. When you see films from 50 years ago, the characters reflected what people wanted to project to the world, which was very black and white and guarded, idealistic or whatever. It's not that way anymore. Films that have a better audience reaction now are the ones where the characters are flawed", she added further.

Johansson has been in front of the camera for around two decades and is still going strong, with several projects, including animated movie Sing in the pipeline. There's been a great deal of change in the industry since she started out, with A-listers now being targeted on their every move by the press and the public through the Internet - something Johansson is horrified of. "I remember watching Macaulay Culkin dealing with the media, but it was because he had that Shirley Temple effect and he was making so much money. That was a very unusual situation for him," Johansson said of the Home Alone star.

"It's nice to have a diverse group of people so that it doesn't become so one-note - to have a female energy on set, to have different types of people and different vibes, and a more balanced creative environment," she explained. We wish her all the luck for her dreams and wildest of goals.
LG V5 Latest News & Update: New LG V-Series Mid-Range To Be Launched Soon, What We Know So Far

It has been spilled! LG V5 is speculated to be launch soon. Most of the brand's consumers are very much thrilled about the new flagship, however, there some who are just not as excited as before. Reports cited that the said new member in the LG's family tree is a mid-range phone and there's nothing much to expect with the "about-to-launch" smartphone.

LG V5; New LG V-Series Mid-Range To Be Launched Soon!

It is a bit of surprise when the news first came out and many of the company's consumers have asked for more enticing information about the new LG V5. The new mid-range flagship of LG was leaked on MySmartPrice earlier.

However, the LG V5 release date hasn't been announced yet. LG loyalties will surely wait for its launch date in the upcoming days.

Yes, it is true that LG V5 doesn't carry monster specs that people will make say "wow" to hence, there are still features that users will surely look forward to. It doesn't showcase a great design but its curves look very pleasing to the eyes.

LG V5 Design & Specifications

LG V5 is a regular smartphone that comes with microUSB charging port. This is just the same with the mid-range recently launched smartphones by Asus, Google, Le Eco and more.

The said standard mobile phone, hence, includes a fingerprint sensor. This is located at the back of the device. The LG V5 size is 148.65 x 75.30 x 7.5/8mm. Its display screen is noted to be around 5.3-inches to 5.5-inches.

LG only revealed little information about the alleged LG V5 new flagship. But the brand loyalties are continuously hoping to release more its features and specifications to have a closer look including its price, Android Geeks noted.

Moreover, there are speculations that the particular mobile will not be launch under the V -Series. This is basically because the alleged LG V5 specifications do not match the standard set of LG V-Series.
'Criminal Minds' Season 12 News, Spoilers & Update: New BAU Agent Coming In; Fans Disappointed; Show Is Not Bringing Back Thomas Gibson!

Fans got their hopes high when they heard there is going to be a new character in Criminal Minds hoping it will be Thomas Gibson but apparently they will be disappointed. Gibson was fired because he got into a disagreement with one of the writers. The writer surely knew how to cut Gibson off so he could bring him back later in the show if needed, but it looks like he wont be needed after all.

According to TV Line, fans started a boycott to bring Gibson back, but the show cast waited until the end of the episode to introduce a new actor. It is probably for the best. Adam Rodriguez also rejoined the cast as Luke Alvez, Aisha Tyler was promoted as a series regular actor as well as Paget Brewster.

According to Headline & Global News, fans didnt get enough time to adjust themselves to the show without Gibson, now they have to see another actor replacing their former favorite. He joined when Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) told her team they will need Mr. Scratchs help for one of their cases. Emily will ask for Interpols assistance and thats when the new character is stepping in. Some of the fans are willing to give him a chance to prove himself, while some of them are cutting the show. Another problem arises for the cast of Criminal Minds, Dr. Spencer Reid wants to take a little time off to be with his family because his mother suffers from dementia.

According to Broadaway World, Criminal Minds has the most viewers in adults 18-49 and 25-54 category preliminary live plus same day ratings. Criminal Minds had 7.73 million viewers up, this is the largest audience for the show since October 12. The show revolves around FBI agents who had to deal with criminal masterminds on daily basis. It looks like even those who werent interested in the show anymore watched it to see the new actor.

Criminal Minds season 12 episode 9 will be released on January 4, 2017 on CBS.
Nokia News & Update: Nokia Android Phone To Launch In 2017!

Nokia, the giant seller of mobile phones located in Finland is planning to take the market in 2017 with a new lineup of Android smartphones. HDM is the new brand with the licensee for all of Nokias devices. HDM is working on a new generation of smartphones which will work on Android.

According to Top Tech News, HDM is aiming to become a serious threat to todays competitors Samsung and Apple. Florian Seiche, the president of the company HDM believes it is time to renew the mobile industry. Nokia will give to people a useful device with a clear purpose, and since Nokia is a trusted brand, people are excited about their announcement. Microsoft bought what was remaining of Nokia in 2013 and launched their Nokia Lumia model. After the model was on the market it was labeled as unsuccessful. Recently, Microsoft gave the license to HDM with a 10-year agreement. A former Nokia executive, Arto Nummela is now the CEO of HDM, he said HDM wants to be one of the key players on the market. Android mobile operating system is used by 86% of the worlds smartphones, so the new model will work on Android as well. HMD will keep the quality like Nokia once had.

According to The Verge, some say there is no place for another mobile company on the market. The world doesnt need another android phone maker, but people are eager to see what kind of phone HDM is preparing to launch in 2017. Yes, to make a successful sale on the market, Nokia will need more than just another Android phone, but as they announced they are working on something more exciting.

According to VR-Zone, there are speculations that the upcoming phone will be named D1C. There is an information that the phone will have 2GB RAM for $150 or 3GB RAM for $200. The launch time is not specified but rumors say it will launch in the first quarter of 2017.
'Outlander' Season 3 Premiere, Spoilers: Catriona Balfe, Sma Heughan Reveals Spoilers; Rape Scene Explained; How will it End?

"Outlander" Season 3 will premiere on Starz this on April 2017 but fans are now starting to question if the series is still worth watching. Afte the airing of season 2, may of the show's fans expressed their dissatisfaction about how the story turned out. Many criticized the lack of intimacy in the show unlike in season 1. Will the third part of the series revive the interest of the viewers or not?

Filming

According to News Every Day, filming for "Outlander" Season 3 already started and updates hints that fans will surely love what they will witness in the upcoming episodes. Since viewers are begging for more Claire and Jamie screentime together, the showrunners seem to focus more on the couple's story arc than to divided their every moment individually.

In Caitriona Balfe's interview for "Outlander" Season 3 press tour, she revealed that she will be having more episodes with Sam Heughan's character, Jamie. Some fans think that "more" means the couple will have more steamy scenes in the forthcoming episodes as the viewers and especially the showrunners know that the reason for the decline of viewership is because this is what the fans are looking for.

However, the anticipated scene of Claire and Jamie might happen in the second half of "Outlander" Season 3 as Caitriona Balfe also revealed that "she has not filmed many scenes with Sam Heughan yet." adding on, the actress also revealed that the scenes she shot with the actor are not in order.

In addition to this, Sam Heughan also revealed that in "Outlander" Season 3, many questions about his character will be answered in the upcoming season. It will be the main focus on season 3.

Rape Scene

Season 1 featured a long rape scene while season 2 has two, and spoilers hint that there will be another one in "Outlander" Season 3 and Jamie will be involved. Though fans are already immune to this kind of storyline, it seems like majority did not like one particular scene- Geneva and Jaime's sexual encounter.

Based on IBT, Diana Gabaldon's explanation, Geneva and Jaime's scene is not rape and the book clearly describes why, however, many readers of "Voyager" labeled it the other way around.

The scene described by Gabaldon revealed that Geneva was the one who approached Jaime as she does not want to be a virgin before she gets married to a man old enough to be his grandfather. She threatened him that all the secrets from the latter's family will be exposed and this reason left Jaime with no choice but to agree as he needs to protect his family.

Ending

According to Caitriona Balfe, the ending of "Outlander" Season 3 will more likely to be the same as how "Voyager" ended.
Star Wars News, Spoilers & Update: Disneys CEO Bob Iger Reveals More About Future Star Wars Movies

Variety catches up with Disney's CEO Bob Iger to give an update about the upcoming Star Wars movies from the company during the 'Rogue One: A Star Wars World Premier'.

See the video here:

Disney CEO Bob Iger on the new #StarWars movies fans can expect through 2019 pic.twitter.com/PtCdeYREHr  Variety (@Variety) December 11, 2016

Here's what Bob Iger has to say about the future movies planned for the Star Wars franchise: "We've made Star Wars VII, shot Star Wars VIII. The title will be announced at some point. That comes out in 2017. And then we have another standalone film, which is the origin story of Han Solo, that will come out in 2018. 2019 will be Star Wars IX, with director Colin Trevorrow. That's being written. We have another standalone Star Wars story that's in development, and we don't have any other specifics to share with the world right now, but I can guarantee there will be more Star Wars films."

What's interesting is that Disney's CEO confirms that there is definitely going to be a third anthology movie in the works. Just a brief background--when Disney purchased Lucasfilm back in 2012, they promised 2 series of Star Wars films. The first series is the sequel trilogy which consists of Episode VII, VIII and IX, and the second series are the anthology film, with Rogue One being the first. New and old fans can expect to see a Star Wars movie every year up until 2020.

But last year, director Josh Trank, who was originally the one to direct the third anthology film--a Boba Fett-centric spin-off--left the project and the spin-off was supposedly shelved by Disney instead, which hindered the original schedule of having new films released until 2020.

However, Disney's CEO confirmed in another interview earlier this year that there is already a writer working on the 2020 film, although it's not yet clear whether it's still focused on Boba Fett. And he confirms with Variety today that the third anthology movie is still in the works.

But it remains to be seen whether that third film will still be about Boba Fett, or if it will be released on 2020. All the other titles mentioned by Bob Iger such as Episode VIII, IX and the Han Solo-focused second anthology film already have writer-director teams assigned to them. The only thing confirmed about the third anthology is that there is a writer working on the script.

Who knows, the famous Mandalorian bounty hunter might find its way back in the 2020 schedule of Star Wars.

To see more about Bob Iger's plans in development for Star Wars, watch this video here:
Carrie Fisher Regrets Revealing About Her 'Star Wars' Affair With Married Harrison Ford 40 Years Ago And Feels Guilty About It

From her recently-released autobiography The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher revealed about her affair with her Star Wars co-actor Harrison Ford.

It was an intense, three-month affair according to the actress, that "It was Han and Leia during the week, and Carrie and Harrison during the weekend." It was a confirmation that the on-screen chemistry displayed on set between Han Solo and Princess Leia was definitely not for display alone. However, Carrie Fisher was only 19 at the time and Harrison Ford was already in his thirties and married with two children.

Harrison Ford did get a heads-up and a draft of The Princess Diarist before it was published, although the actor hasn't spoken about the issue. He did get teased about it by James Corden during Steven Spielberg's Ambassadors for Humanity gala dinner last Thursday, and the movie star showed he was a good sport on the joke.

But Carrie Fisher does think the actor might have been a little peeved about the matter. She explains on The Graham Norton show that "I told him, 'I've found the diaries I kept during the first Star Wars and I'm thinking of publishing them.' He joked about sending for a lawyer so he was aware of them and I told him that if there was anything he didn't like he should let me know. I sent them to him and waited for him to get back to me. He is incredibly private and I am sure the whole thing bugged him but he comes out of it well. I liked him."

The actress reveals that she also feels embarrassed on the aftermath of the revelation about the real-life affair between Fisher and Harrison Ford. "I had no idea it would cause such a sensation. 400,000 news sites picked up on it and it became a little embarrassing. They made a lot of things up which I've now had to talk about - I never said he was bad in bed!"

Carrie Fisher also added that she did remain in touch with Harrison Ford long after their affair ended and she does feel guilty revealing it to the whole world. "I saw him a lot because I became friends with his second wife and I can remember three times when we were all together that I, of course, made an oblique reference to it and he just grunted! I do feel guilty - I never thought about it before, but I guess he will be asked about the affair for the rest of his life!"

Watch the full episode of Carrie Fisher in The Graham Norton show below:
GTA 5 News & Update: Players Earn Double XP Today; More GTA$ & 50% Discount on Major Items Now! Check Details Here!

"GTA 5" is ready to give away bonuses for multiplayer mode this week. This offer is part of the weekly promotions launched by Rockstar Games and it will run from Dec. 8 until Dec. 12.

The "GTA 5" Online "Executive Bonus Weekend" will give double XP and RP. As indicated on Rockstar Game's website, there will also be discounts on major items and bonuses on specific game modes.

"Get ready to hit the ground running in Import/Export - coming soon to GTA Online - and to better assist CEO's to prepare, we've tailored this week's bonuses toward getting the gear you need faster," Rockstar Games stated.

The "GTA 5" Online modes that will give double XP and RP are Hunting Pack, Entourage, Deadline and Extraction. Gamers should also be aware that they can earn triple RP by racing in "Premium Stunt Race: Canyon Crossing," and if they can finish in top 3, they can get more GTA$.

"Weekend Premium Stunt Race: "Canyon Crossing" In Super vehicles thru Dec 12th; 3X RP for all, GTA$ payouts for top 3," Rockstar Games tweeted on Dec. 10.

What's more, players of "GTA 5" online will get 50 percent discount on office decor and renovation and executive offices. Half price off is also applicable to Turreted Limo (vehicle), CEO Assistant Services (Helicopter pickup, vehicle dropoff, etc) and FAF&F Clothing Items.

For the 25 percent discount, the "GTA 5" items included in this bracket are Special Cargo Pickups, Warehouse Vehicle Upgrades (Transport Truck/Plane/Boat), Benefactor XLS, Enus Cognoscenti, Gallivanter Baller, Grotti X80 Proto and

Vapid FMJ.

Meanwhile, the "GTA 5" is also set to launch its Import/Export DLC on Dec. 13. This update will make players richer since they can set up their own importing and exporting business.

"GTA 5" players will actually steal luxury vehicles and resell them for big bucks. Since the stolen cars will definitely come in continuously, huge warehouses and lavish executive offices are included in the DLC for extra car storage and business center.
Girl Meets World Season 4 Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Sabrina Carpenter, Rowan Blanchard Spotted Filming, Did Disney Finally Say Yes?

"Girl Meets World" season 4 is brimming with cancellation rumors after the cast posted cryptic messages on social media. However, the two lead stars Sabrina Carpenter and Rowan Blanchard were spotted filming in New York. Did season 4 just got the green light from Disney Channel?

Sabrina Carpenter, Rowan Blanchard Spotted Filming

The Internet is brimming with speculations why "Girl Meets World" season 4 won't get aired. For one, the content of the show is becoming more mature becoming inappropriate for the network's audience. Earlier reports claim that Carpenter and Blanchard are not in good terms, prompting them to leave. However, recent reports claim that Carpenter and Blanchard were spotted filming in the Big Apple.

So did Disney Channel finally give the green light to "Girl Meets World" season 4? This doesn't seem to be the case, though. The cast reportedly failed to convince Disney Channel to renew the series for next season. This could mean that the two stars may be filming under a different network, presumably Freeform.

It's the 1st of December! Side to the left to see what's behind #GirlMeetsWorld logo advent calendar day #1 #GirlMeetsWorldSeason4 #SaveGMW pic.twitter.com/7in1KzIVwu  Boy Girl Meets World (@B_G_M_W_Fans) December 1, 2016

'Girl Meets World' Season 4 On Freeform

It was previously reported that Carpenter and Blanchard were allegedly spotted on the streets of New York, prompting fans to believe that "Girl Meets World" season 4 has finally been renewed. However, the renewal didn't take place under Disney Channel. Speculations say that Freeform is already geared towards the production of the upcoming season.

However, there were other reports claiming that these speculations are mere speculations and not true. Carpenter and Blanchard haven't spoken about "Girl Meets World" season 4 or the alleged filming in New York. Disney Channel keeps its silence on the matter as well.

Meanwhile, GamenGuide previously reported that Blanchard has called for its renewal on Twitter, encouraging their fans to get the attention of Disney so the series gets renewed for the fourth season. As of date, however, the cast and Disney Channel have remained mum about the renewal. Stay tuned to GameNGuide for more updates on your favorite shows!
The construction site for a controversial oil pipeline in North Dakota is about 1,400 miles from Corvallis.

But while its development isn't exactly local, the Standing Rock Sioux-led effort to stop the pipeline from being built near tribal lands has garnered support in Benton County.

The Corvallis Standing with Standing Rock Facebook page has nearly 300 members and features daily posts about the effort to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Hundreds of Oregon State University students gathered for a protest this fall.

Some students at the university have been collecting supplies to send to the self-styled "water protectors" camp. At least 10 Benton County residents have camped out with pipeline opponents, and a group with the Rural Oregon Project, which includes OSU staff and alumni, is traveling to Standing Rock over winter break. A Friday night benefit concert in Corvallis for the camp raised $2,700.

Luhui Whitebear-Cupp, an OSU employee and member of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation, a tribal nation in California, is just one of the people with local connections to have visited the Standing Rock Reservation during the months-long protest. She and her family spent time with the water protectors over Labor Day weekend, arriving the day after a private security company used dogs to attack protesters.

It was a very powerful experience, she said of the visit. We went specifically for ceremony, to be in prayer with the water protectors.

Whitebear-Cupp said people who havent been a part of the resistance efforts look at it as just a protest, and dont understand the importance of the native ceremony and practices at the camps.

They want people to be in prayer; thats the center of what is going on there, she said.

Whitebear-Cupp said the protest is about protecting water from oil leakage and spills, but it's also about tribal sovereignty because the pipeline is being built on lands that the Standing Rock Sioux never ceded in a treaty.

They are defending so much more than the land at this point, she said.

Pipeline at issue

At issue is the 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline, which would stretch from the Bakken Formation, where North Dakota and Montana meet Canada, through South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. Pipeline developers Energy Transfer Partners say it would decrease U.S. reliance on foreign oil and would free up railways to transport other cargo.

But opponents, including the Standing Rock Sioux, argue that the pipeline will destroy the tribe's burial sites, prayer sites and culturally significant artifacts. Opponents also cite environmental concerns such as possible contamination due to pipeline breaches and eventual greenhouse gas emissions.

Whitebear-Cupp said while the media coverage of the water protectors focuses on their confrontations with police, her own experience was that the confrontations are only a small part of what's taking place at the site.

They are mostly there for peaceful prayer, she said. The response has been pretty brutal.

Philomath beekeeper Jake Weil went to Standing Rock over the week of Thanksgiving. He also arrived after a controversial law enforcement response to the people at the camp, an incident in which officials sprayed water protectors with hoses in subfreezing conditions.

That is really a human rights violation when its 25 degrees out, he said. (According to PBS, police said they were using the fire hoses both for crowd control and to put out fires started by the protesters. The Washington Post has posted a video which shows people around a campfire with tarps being sprayed with hoses.)

It really looks like a war zone, with the gear (the police) are wearing, he said. Weil said he saw police spraying fire hoses near people in a prayer circle to intimidate them.

Weil said he had followed the stories about the camps and the oil company since the summer before deciding to go.

As it dragged on I got more and more outraged about what was happening there, he said.

Weil said that when he arrived, he was blown away by how the camps were run: volunteers shared the work of preparing food and running the camp. People were required to take a class on nonviolent protest before becoming part of any direct actions to the pipeline protest.

I was amazed by how well it was run; given the conditions there are amazingly well-organized, he said.

Weil said the issue has attracted opposition for a variety of reasons: Some protesters are concerned about the threat to tribal sovereignty while others worry about a possible threat a spill could pose to the drinking water of the 18 million people who live downstream from the proposed pipeline. Other opponents are driven by a desire to slow the development of infrastructure around oil extraction.

We need to keep that oil in the ground, he said.

Ameyalli Manon, a fourth-year OSU student in fisheries and wildlife management and a student employee at the Native American Longhouse, organized a campus protest against the pipeline in early October that she said was attended by around 200 people. Since then she and her fellow student employees have collected supplies at the Longhouse from a water protector wish list. When they began sorting through items Thursday, the pile they'd collected partially filled a Longhouse hallway.

Manon, who is connected to the Osage Nation in the Midwest and Mazahua people in Mexico, said she thinks people in Benton County and across the U.S. have supported the Standing Rock Sioux because social media has helped spread word about the cause.

Thanks to social media, word got out as when things started to escalate, she said.

Although the Army Corps of Engineers denied a critical permit for the pipeline last week, Manon said she's trying not to get her hopes up, since Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the pipeline, has said it plans to move forward with the project.

Dont let your guard down because of what happened with the denial of the easement. Dont let that make you think this is over. Its not over.

Manon, who hasn't been to Standing Rock herself, added that one of the positives of the pipeline situation is that it has raised awareness of native-land issues.

Weil said seeing so many people united behind a single cause at Standing Rock was life-changing.

I feel pretty cautiously optimistic. I think people are waking up and seeing whats happening with the environment, he said.

Whitebear-Cupp said the water protectors aren't going away. And protesters still remain at Standing Rock.

They are 100 percent committed to their cause, she said.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc addresses the event (Photo: VGP)



Attending the 60th founding anniversary of the university in Hanoi on December 10th, he said the agricultural sector needs to forge ahead with reform to cope with challenges such as climate change, sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, declining production value, agricultural income inequality, and increasing non-agricultural activities, he said.

Others concerning issues include drawing private and foreign investment, developing agricultural cooperatives, devising land policies, and promoting farm produce brands, he noted.

In the context of the fourth industrial revolution, it is necessary to seek measures for Vietnams agriculture to become a model, but not to lag behind, he stressed.

The PM urged the university to study strategic priorities on rural infrastructure, early weather warning systems, diseases management, environmental institutional capacity, and farming tools usage.

He also ordered initiatives to improve the production system, and increase the quality of products and local income.

He suggested building agricultural clusters and forging connectivity between farmers and businesses.

On the occasion, the PM presented the second Ho Chi Minh Order to the university.

Established in October 1956, the Vietnam National University of Agriculture has trained over 90,000 local and foreign students in the fields of plantation, flora protection, land management, animal husbandry, veterinary, and aquaculture./.
Philomath Fire & Rescue personnel and volunteers had a rough start to the weekend early Saturday morning with two structure fires only five hours apart.

Of course, it wasnt a good start to the weekend for those particular property owners either. In one case, a metal storage shed with a recreational vehicle and boat inside was lost and in the other, a mobile home used for a marijuana-growing operation went up in flames.

Ive never had two house (structure) fires in one night my whole career, said Philomath Fire & Rescue chief Tom Miller, who has been involved with firefighting for more than 25 years.

The first call came in at 12:50 a.m. when homeowners in the 1800 block of McBee Road north of Philomath reported a fire on their property in a storage building. According to Lt. Rich Saalsaa, fire and life safety officer, the homeowner awoke to the sound of his motor homes horn, opened the drapes to his residence to investigate and discovered flames.

A 1999 29-foot RV, a 12-foot boat on a trailer, a riding lawn mower and other yard care equipment were lost in the blaze. The storage shed measured about 49 feet by 24.5 feet. There were no injuries.

Saalsaa estimated the nearby house at about 50 feet away from the storage barn. Miller said firefighters stopped the fire from spreading to a pump house.

The firefighting operation wrapped up at about 3 a.m. An investigation that followed later in the morning determined it was accidental due to catastrophic electrical failure, Saalsaa said, adding that an extension cord leading to the motor home had shorted or overheated from wear in a pig-tail connection in the barn through the wall of the pump house.

The financial loss in the fire was initially estimated at $60,000 total  $30,000 for the building and $30,000 for its contents.

Philomath Fire & Rescue had 18 personnel at the scene with five more from neighboring fire departments  three from Corvallis and two from Monroe. Philomath had two engines and a water tender at the scene while Corvallis sent an engine and Monroe contributed a water tender.

Just as firefighters were decompressing from the McBee Road incident, another fire call came in at 6:27 a.m. in the 24000 block of Ervin Road south of Philomath. Upon arrival, firefighters found a mobile home fully engulfed in flames.

The structure, a 10-by-40-foot single-wide mobile home, was being used to grow marijuana plants. The trailer had no residents.

The financial loss from the fire was estimated at $45,000, which reportedly included 78 marijuana plants in various stages of maturity, along with the lighting and heating equipment, and the mobile home. An earlier report that indicated a loss of $290,000 was released by officials before verification.

"We are suspecting that an electrical or mechanical failure was the source of the fire, but due to the damage, it will remain as undetermined," Saalsaa said.

Several extension cords were being used from outside the building to run fans and heaters, Saalsaa said. The owner left at 5 a.m., roughly 90 minutes before the report of the fire, and reported everything was fine.

Miller said the fire was out by 8 a.m. There were no injuries.

On this second fire call of the morning, around 18 personnel were at the scene, including those from Corvallis. Philomath Fire & Rescue had two engines and two water tenders at the scene with one engine from Corvallis.

It took nearly 10,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire, Saalsaa said. There was a total loss of the mobile home.

Saalsaa led both investigations with assistance from the Linn-Benton Fire Investigation Team, the Oregon State Police and the state fire marshal.

In the same general vicinity of the first fire on McBee Road, Philomath Fire & Rescue had responded two days earlier to the 1100 block of West Hills Road to a chimney flue fire. Eleven firefighters responded to that fire at 1:03 p.m. Thursday and needed about 30 minutes to clear the house of smoke and flames.

In that incident, the fire was contained to the chimney but caused minor smoke damage to the home, Miller said. One man was home at the time of the blaze but he escaped without any injuries.

Miller said it was believed that a large buildup of creosote led to the fire. Creosote is a black, oily residue that can build up in chimneys, furnaces and stoves when there is an absence of adequate airflow.

Luckily it didnt get into the house, Miller said about the fire. We were afraid it was going to get into the attic but thankfully it didn't.

Miller recommended that all homeowners with chimneys have their flues cleaned before using the fireplace as creosote buildup can be a major fire hazard.

People need to make sure theyve cleaned their flues before they start burning, Miller said. We have flue-cleaning equipment that they can borrow at the fire station, if they need it.

In addition to the flue equipment checkout program, the local fire department also has smoke detectors available for those in need.

And anybody thats disabled or elderly and needs help changing batteries (in smoke detectors), well come out and do that for free, Miller added.

Departments see a higher frequency of structure fire calls during cold weather with people firing up stoves, fireplaces and space heaters.

We just want people to be fire safe and pay attention to what theyre doing," Miller said.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla (R) presents the Friendship Medal to Vietnamese Ambassador Duong Minh (Photo: VNA)



A presentation ceremony was solemnly held in Havana during which Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla handed over the medal to Ambassador Duong Minh.

Announcing the decision earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Rogelio Sierra reviewed progresses in the two countries friendship during the diplomats working term, laying emphasis on achievements in agriculture, trade, biotechnology, construction, education, finance and tourism.

For his part, Ambassador Duong Minh pledged that he will continue contributing to preserving and developing the special relations between Vietnam and Cuba in any posts in the future./.
kacylee at 11-12-2016 04:37 PM (5 years ago) (f)



Fire gutted the only ultra modern shopping mall in Benin, Edo State last night. Managing Director of the Super Mart Mr Philip Edigin said that the fire started at about 12 mid night.

Fire gutted the only ultra modern shopping mall in Benin, Edo State last night. Managing Director of the Super Mart Mr Philip Edigin said that the fire started at about 12 mid night. He disclosed that all effort to get the State fire service to come to their rescue proved abortive as the fire service told him they have no diesel to work. He said he was later able to get help from the Nigeria Air force fire service, IDSL NPDC and before the State fire service came at about 6am.

Meanwhile a supervisor in the State Fire Service Mr Franklin Agbonlahor appealed to government for urgent upgrade of facilities and equipment of the fire service.

Edo State Governor, Obaseki has ordered full investigation into the incident. The governor, who disclosed this on Sunday when he paid an on the spot inspection to the mall also said investigation would be conducted into the activities of the state fire service. He described the damage done to the mall as catastrophic and a major disaster.























He disclosed that all effort to get the State fire service to come to their rescue proved abortive as the fire service told him they have no diesel to work. He said he was later able to get help from the Nigeria Air force fire service, IDSL NPDC and before the State fire service came at about 6am.Meanwhile a supervisor in the State Fire Service Mr Franklin Agbonlahor appealed to government for urgent upgrade of facilities and equipment of the fire service.Edo State Governor, Obaseki has ordered full investigation into the incident. The governor, who disclosed this on Sunday when he paid an on the spot inspection to the mall also said investigation would be conducted into the activities of the state fire service. He described the damage done to the mall as catastrophic and a major disaster. Quote This incident happening at this time of the year is a catastrophe. I have asked for written report and investigation into the cause of the fire. We will also investigate the claim by an official of the state Fire service on the allegation of lack of equipment. Because I understand that trucks were distributed by the NDDC and the State Government during the last administration.

The governor said that to avert future fire disaster in Super Mart and even vehicles, all vehicles and super Mart would henceforth be made to have fire extinguishers. The governor said that to avert future fire disaster in Super Mart and even vehicles, all vehicles and super Mart would henceforth be made to have fire extinguishers.

Post Reply 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 11-12-2016 04:37 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero
Samsung Galaxy S8

We already know that Samsung is manufacturing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset. Eventually, we can't rule out the fact that the upcoming Samsung flagship, Galaxy S8, will be equipped with this processor. As per the existing rumors, the Galaxy S8 might feature an "all screen front" design, which will embed the home button in the screen instead of having a physical button. As the Galaxy Note 7 was a hard hit on the company, the Sammy fans are eagerly looking forward for the Galaxy S8 that is expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2017. The rumored features of the Galaxy S8 include a 4K display, edge-to-edge screen, and a better camera.

LG G6

LG's upcoming flagship is likely to be called LG G6 and it might also join the devices that will be launched in the first few months of the next year. The rumors regarding what this smartphone might feature are surfacing online letting fans speculate what features the upcoming LG flagship might arrive with. The recent rumors suggest that the South Korean tech giant might ditch the modular design this time with the G6. Also, the LG G6 is reported to feature glass or reflective metal on its read and arrive with an iris scanner. The other rumors related to the LG G6 rule out the possibility of a curved OLED screen and its likely to have a similar display as the LG G5. Dual camera setup, Android Nougat, and Snapdragon 835 processor will also be a part of this phone.

HTC 11

Its only recently that we are getting to see HTC 10 in the headlines for receiving the Android 7.0 Nougat update. However, the manufacturer is also making news for the upcoming HTC 11 smartphone. The HTC 10 didn't fail to impress its fans with its iconic design, great audio quality, impressive seflie camera and other features, though it was overpriced. That's already making the HTC fans want to know what's coming next from the HTC headquarters. As of now, HTC 11 is rumored to be announced at the MWC 2017 and feature the Snapdragon 835 SoC. It is claimed to run on Android Nougat and come with a feature called Sense Touch that will let users swipe or tap the edge to perform specific functions. Other rumors point out at a 5.5-inch display with QHD 1440p resolution, a 12MP main snapper with dual camera and a 5MP selfie shooter as well.

OnePlus 4

OnePlus 4 is the 2017 flagship that we like to see from the Chinese manufacturer. The company has made a slew of worthy launches with a lot of impressive features and specifications since 2014. This upcoming OnePlus phone is believed to be launched at a premium price as it is likely to arrive with a more premium build and high-end aspects. The device is expected to be comparable with the other expensive flagship devices that exist in the market in terms of design and looks. As per the ongoing rumors, the OnePlus 4 might featuree a 5.5-inch 4K 2160p display, Snapdragon 835 processor, the latest Oxygen OS, 8GB of RAM, and other high-end camera.

Xiaomi Mi 6

As Xiaomi is one of the successful manufacturers in the market, it goes without stating that the upcoming Mi 6 smartphone has been recognized as a highly anticipated device. Xiaomi Mi 6 might make its way into the market early next year. As per the existing rumors, the Mi 6 might arrive with a 5.2-inch display with 4K resolution. Otherwise, this upcoming Xiaomi phone might feature a Snapdragon 835 processor that can render better performance in all kinds of tasks. The Mi 5 attained a great position for itself in the market, and we expect more from the Xiaomi Mi 6.
Army to test new armored vehicles as it updates older platforms

By David VergunDecember 9, 2016

WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- The first armored multipurpose Vehicle, or AMPV, is scheduled to be handed over to the Army Dec. 15 for testing.

The AMPV demonstrator will roll out of the BAE Systems plant in York, Pennsylvania, to begin a 52-month engineering and manufacturing development phase for the vehicle. At least 29 of the vehicles will be manufactured for this phase of the procurement process, officials said.

If the low-rate production option for the AMPV is approved, procurement officials said several hundred of the vehicles will be manufactured for testing over the next four years.

The AMPV will replace the armored brigade combat team's M113 family of vehicles. The AMPV addresses the M113's shortcomings in survivability and force protection, and size, weight, power, and cooling, known as SWAP-C; officials said. It is also designed to incorporate future technologies and the Army's network.

The AMPV has a brand new hull, but it maintains some of the Bradley legacy design, allowing for some compatibility efficiencies, according to Maj. Gen. David G. Bassett, program executive officer for Ground Combat Systems. In fact, about 60 to 70 percent of the parts are common with existing ground combat vehicles, Bassett said during a press conference in October.

The AMPV also has the additional space inside to allow for the addition of new systems in the future, and it comes with an improved power train. The hull is stronger from a force protection perspective, too, he said.

Meanwhile, many Bradleys are still in service, "so we're building new capabilities in an incremental way over time," he added.

"I'd love to have replacement programs today for Abrams and Bradleys," Bassett said. "We could get those plans [for replacements], but it just doesn't fit into this portfolio and budget requirement, so instead we're looking at, do you want to do an ECP-3 [engineering change proposal] on a Bradley or do you want to bridge to a new platform? We're making informed decisions."

UPDATING CURRENT COMBAT PLATFORMS

The M-109 Paladin, the M1 Abrams tank and the M-2 Bradley have been around for decades, but their capabilities today are nothing like they were when they originally rolled out of the factory, Bassett said.

The vehicles are updated periodically with various upgrades as new technologies evolve, making them far more capable than their original design, noted Bassett, who is the program executive officer for Ground Combat Systems.

"At the end of the day, a combat vehicle is about a box," he said. "[Inside, are the latest] mobility system, lethality system, communications system and some other things. If you can take all those and put them on an existing vehicle, then maybe you don't have to build a whole new vehicle from scratch, along with the risks associated with that kind of development."

The box concept does have its limitations, though, he added. For instance, the size of the power train on a Bradley is limited because of the size of the engine cavity, so plopping in a larger one isn't possible. But still, even if the hull has to be replaced, some elements of the existing vehicle could be retained.

The AMPV, "is a great example of that," he pointed out, with its brand new hull and many Bradley legacy designs.

LOW-RATE PRODUCTION

Besides using existing platforms in ways that designers never anticipated, Bassett said, the Army has been saving money in other ways.

"Across the board, the way we're affording all the things we're affording is by producing things at really low rates, which gives us an operational flexibility to ramp up when dollars are available," he said, adding "that creates fairly slow modernization across our formation."

For instance, production rates on the Stryker for the engineering change proposal could be as low as one brigade every three years, "because you're just not getting at the level of resources to create an efficient production rate," he explained.

As to the modernization rates of Abrams and Bradleys, they will certainly be lower than one brigade a year, he said. "Those are all symptoms of that budget environment."

DREAM MACHINE

A new suite of mobile protected firepower (MPF) vehicles is also being conceptualized. The MPF is meant to fill the need among infantry brigade combat teams for something like a light tank, Bassett said. The Abrams is too heavy to be air dropped and, once it's on the ground, it can't maneuver in constricted areas like narrow mountain roads or alleyways.

In August, when industry representatives were invited to the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, the technical requirements for the MPF were purposely kept to a minimum, he said, because "we're trying to be open-minded."

For instance, a maximum weight of 32 tons was one requirement, which would allow it to be air dropped, he said.

Also among the requirements: the cannon must be capable of destroying a minimum number of targets and must provide a certain level of protection. The cannon could be 57-millimeter, 105-millimeter or 120-millimeter, which was mainly to save money because those cannons are already in the Army's inventory, he explained.

Like a tank, the new vehicle should be tracked so that it can scale over rubble from destroyed buildings and other obstructions like burned-out cars, said Col. Jim Schirmer, project manager for armored fighting vehicles.

Of course, the MPF vehicle would need certain levels of mobility, protection and firepower, he said, but the advantages of the tradeoffs between such capabilities must be considered. For example, a light vehicle that offers greater mobility would also have less protection and firepower than an Abrams.

The MPF suite of vehicles will include ground mobility vehicles, light reconnaissance vehicles as well as the tracked vehicle just described, Schirmer said.

As to the timeline, the Army is initiating prototyping to develop the MPF while pursuing short-term, non-developmental alternatives, Bassett said.

The Army is preparing now to issue an "analysis of alternatives" for the MPF in early 2017. A competitive request for proposal may also be released next year.

"We're not willing to go through a lengthy bottom-up design process," Bassett said. "We're willing to give you time on your own to get a design ready to compete, and then we'll evaluate that fairly rapidly in the engineering, manufacturing, development phase, not unlike what the Marine Corps did."

He added, "We can learn a lot from the Marine Corps and programs like JLTV [Joint Light Tactical Vehicle] where we benefited greatly from the competition of more than one vendor."

(ARNEWS Editor Gary Sheftick contributed to this article. You can follow them on Twitter: @vergunARNEWS and sheftickARNEWS.)

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Strikes Target ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Dec. 10, 2016  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack, bomber, fighter, remotely piloted aircraft as well as rocket artillery conducted 10 strikes in Syria:

-- Near Raqqah, four strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and a chemical storage area and destroyed a vehicle bomb decoy, a command-and-control node, a communications node, a weapons storage facility and a fighting position.

-- Near Ayn Isa, three strikes engaged three ISIL tactical units and destroyed five fighting positions and two vehicle bombs.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed an ISIL oil wellhead.

-- Near Manbij, a strike destroyed an ISIL headquarters building.

-- Near Palmyra, a strike destroyed 20 oil tanker trucks.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, fighter, rotary and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 10 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Mosul, nine strikes engaged four ISIL tactical units, destroying seven ISIL-held buildings, five vehicles, 10 fighting positions, eight front-end loaders, three mortar systems, two weapon caches, an excavator, an armored vehicle and a heavy weapons system. Eleven supply routes and two ISIL compounds were damaged. An ISIL tactical unit was suppressed.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a front-end loader, two dump trucks and a tunnel entrance.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat it poses to Iraq, Syria, the region and the wider international community. The destruction of targets in Syria and Iraq further limits ISIL's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

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A corner of Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA)



Isao Iijima, a special adviser to the Japanese Prime Minister, made the statement at a meeting with Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong in the city on December 10th.

He said the Japanese Government will continue cooperating and assisting the construction and development cause of Vietnam in general and HCM City in particular.

The official reiterated Japans wish to make investment in Vietnam and asked the local authorities to provide more support for Japanese businesses in the city for mutual benefits.

Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said the two sides have co-organised a number of programmes in economics, culture, tourism, education and investment.

The southern metropolis will create the best conditions for Japanese firms to do long-term business, especially in the fields of infrastructure, transport, environment and clean agriculture, he added.

Earlier on December 9th, Phong hosted a reception for Tsutomu Takebe, special adviser to the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance, who wished to host economic, culture, education, and tourism events with HCM City./.
Carter: U.S. Will Deploy More Troops to Syria to Combat ISIL

By Shannon Collins DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2016  The United States will deploy approximately 200 additional forces to combat Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant forces in Syria, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said during his speech today at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.

The additional U.S. troops, which will include special operations forces, trainers, advisors and explosive ordnance disposal teams, will assist in coalition efforts to eject ISIL from Raqqa, the terrorist group's self-styled capital in Syria, the secretary said.

"These uniquely skilled operators will join the 300 U.S. special operations forces already in Syria, to continue organizing, training, equipping and otherwise enabling capable, motivated, local forces to take the fight to ISIL, and also bringing down to bear the full weight of U.S. forces around the theater of operations like the funnel of a giant tornado," Carter said. "This latest commitment of additional forces within Syria is another important step in enabling our partners to deal ISIL a lasting defeat."

Middle East

Carter said the Middle East region is home to a strong U.S. military posture comprising more than 58,000 American personnel ashore and afloat -- including more than 5,000 on the ground in Iraq and Syria -- along with air, ground, maritime and ballistic missile defense assets. These forces, he said, are not only countering terrorists like ISIL and al-Qaida; they are deterring aggression and protecting U.S. interests and allies.

The U.S. has reached a critical milestone in the counter-ISIL coalition's military campaign plan, the secretary said.

"As we meet today in Bahrain, American and coalition forces are engaged in an intense effort to help isolate and collapse ISIL's control over Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, bringing the great weight of our entire range of capabilities to bear in the enabling of capable and motivated local forces," he said. "The seizure of these two cities is necessary to ensure the destruction of ISIL's parent tumor in Iraq and Syria -- the primary objective of our military campaign -- and put ISIL on an irreversible path to a lasting defeat."

Reaching this point is the result of deliberate actions taken since last year, Carter said. Back in 2015, Carter said h consolidated the war efforts for Iraq and Syria under a single, unified command -- first led by Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, and now by Army Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend.

Last October, Carter said, he and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford developed, and President Barack Obama approved, the first in a series of recommendations to accelerate the counter-ISIL campaign --

"Since then, President Obama has approved every recommendation for additional forces and capabilities that the chairman and I have taken to him as we saw opportunities to accelerate the campaign -- including just last week," Carter said.

Objectives

The overall coalition military campaign plan devised last year had and continues to have three objectives, Carter said. The first, he said, is to destroy the ISIL cancer's parent tumor in Iraq and Syria, "because the sooner we crush both the fact and the idea of an Islamic state based on ISIL's barbaric ideology, the safer we'll all be."

The second objective, he continued, is to combat ISIL's metastases everywhere they emerge around the world: in Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere. The third objective, he said, is to work with U.S. intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement partners to help protect the U.S. homeland and its people from attack.

"The strategic approach of our military campaign in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere is to leverage all the tools at our disposal to enable capable, motivated, local forces to deal ISIL a lasting defeat," Carter said. "IT was necessary to recommend this strategic approach because the only way to ensure that once defeated ISIL stays defeated is to enable local forces to seize and hold territory rather than substitute for them. Consistent with this approach, we have employed some of the U.S. military's and our coalition partners' most unique and exquisite capabilities, and some of our most specialized personnel -- from air power and special operations forces, to train, advise, assist capabilities on the ground, to logistics and mobility, to intelligence and cyber tools."

Carter added, "These assets have been able to not only help directly enable local forces on the ground; they can also bring to bear the full weight of American and coalition military might."

Significant Results

By combining U.S. capabilities with local partners, they have been squeezing ISIIL with simultaneous pressure from all sides and across domains through a series of deliberate actions to continue to build momentum, the secretary said.

"For example, when U.S. and coalition special operators conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture ISIL leaders, it creates a virtuous cycle of better intelligence," he said. "This, in turn, generates more targets, more raids, more airstrikes and more opportunities that can be seized to generate even more momentum."

Carter said countries from across the counter-ISIL coalition, including some in the region, are contributing to these military efforts. Many in the Middle East host coalition forces, enabling the U.S. to bring to bear force more efficiently, he said.

"Some are contributing on the ground or have contributed in the air campaign. And countries closest to the fight are making a key difference -- including Jordan and Turkey," Carter said. "Turkey, for example, hosts coalition strike aircraft at Incirlik, as well as a High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, at Gazientep. And Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield is helping to seal the Turkish-Syrian border so that ISIL can no longer exploit it."

He added, "As a result of all of this, since last year -- play by play, accelerant on top of accelerant, town after town, from every direction and in every domain -- the campaign has delivered significant results."

In Iraq, U.S. and coalition forces have been helping the Iraqi security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga forces to systematically dislodge ISIL from city after city, such as Ramadi, Hit, Rutbah, Fallujah, Mahkmur and Qayyarah, Carter said. With the help of the U.S., the coalition is now taking back the neighborhoods in eastern Mosul and moving west, he said.

"This is a complex mission that will take time to accomplish, but I am confident that ISIL's days in Mosul are numbered," the secretary said.

Carter said the U.S. and local partners put an end to ISIL's expansion in Syria, and began to systematically roll it back toward Raqqa. That, he said, is "an important objective, since it is the so-called capital of the so-called caliphate, and a hub for plotters of external attacks."

The secretary added, "After helping capable, motivated, local Syrian partners defend Kobani, we enabled them and other local forces to retake Shaddadi, the Tishrin Dam, Manbij, Jarabulus and Dabiq -- not only denying ISIL control over those areas, but also cutting off some of its primary lines of communication into Iraq and Turkey."

The U.S. is now helping tens of thousands of local Syrian forces isolate Raqqa, from which they're now only 15 miles away, Carter said. The U.S. is helping them generate the additional local forces necessary to seize and hold the city of Raqqa, he said.

Campaign Continues

In addition to taking back territory, the campaign is yielding results in denying ISIL the finances, supplies, freedom of movement, and command and control it needs to survive, the secretary said.

"As a coalition, we've systematically targeted ISIL-controlled oil wells, trucks for smuggling the oil -- including, just on Thursday, 168 trucks in a single strike, the largest airstrike of this kind to date -- and we've also targeted revenue repositories as well. We've deliberately focused on severing the territory ISIL controls in Syria from the territory it controls in Iraq," Carter said. "Leaders of the terrorist group can no longer travel between Raqqa and Mosul without the risk of either being struck from the air or hunted down by the coalition's Expeditionary Targeting Force. In fact, since we began accelerating our campaign last year, we've killed the majority of ISIL's most-senior leaders."

Carter said while these results in Iraq and Syria are encouraging, the coalition must stay focused on the continued execution of the plan.

"The inevitable collapse of ISIL's control over Mosul and Raqqa will certainly put ISIL on a path to a lasting defeat, but there will still be much more to do after that to make sure that, once defeated, ISIL stays defeated," he said.

Meeting With Bahrain's King

Also today in Manama, the secretary met with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain, according to a DoD news release.

The two leaders discussed the strength of the U.S.-Bahraini defense relationship, the enduring nature of the U.S. presence in Bahrain, and the steadfast U.S. commitment to regional security, the release said.

During the meeting, Carter noted his appreciation for Bahrain's continued support for U.S. personnel and especially for the long-standing support for U.S. Naval Support Activity  Bahrain, according to the release.

Carter also briefed Bahrain's king on the counter-ISIL coalition's progress toward Mosul and Raqqa, the release said. The secretary pointed out that Bahrain's support of the coalition was a critical component of the campaign's successes.

Carter and Bahrain's king also agreed on the need to focus not only on battlefield victories, but also on winning the peace by focusing on reconstruction, stabilization, and reconciliation after ISIL is driven from Iraq and Syria, the release said.

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Coalition Airstrike Kills ISIL Leader in Syria

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2016  Coalition warplanes targeted and killed terrorist Boubaker al-Hakim in Raqqa, Syria, Nov. 26, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a Defense Department statement issued today.

Al-Hakim, a Tunisian, was an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant leader and longtime terrorist with deep ties to French and Tunisian jihadist elements, Cook said in the statement.

The deceased terrorist is also suspected of involvement in the 2013 terror attacks against Tunisian political leadership, Cook added.

Al-Hakim's death degrades ISIL's ability to conduct further attacks in the West and denies ISIL a veteran extremist with extensive ties, Cook said in the statement.

Cook said the coalition will continue to track and eliminate ISIL terrorists who threaten the United States and its allies.

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Pentagon to offer Trump tougher military options on Daesh

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 1:38PM

The Pentagon is drawing up proposals to offer to Donald Trump if his incoming administration decides to intensify the military campaign against the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group, according to a report.

Trump has publicly called for a tougher military action against the terrorist organization wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria.

Military officials said the options under consideration include reducing White House oversight of decisions before an operation is conducted and giving more tactical authority to the Pentagon, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The recommendations might also include easing restrictions on the number of US troops needed to carry out a mission.

Though the proposals are not likely to dramatically change the overall US strategy, they will open windows for the Trump administration to move more battlefield decision-making back to the military, officials said.

"Once the new administration is in place, we will offer recommendations going forward, should the new administration wish to amend those assumptions or the current approach," a military official told The Journal.

Trump's pick for national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, said the new administration will fully assess the military's authorities to execute the fight against Daesh.

Military officials acknowledged that giving more latitude to the Pentagon will result in deployment of more US forces.

Congressional Republicans and some military officials have criticized the White House in the past for being overly cautious when considering requests to conduct military operations and send troops to combat.

"Part of the problem is, is that inside of the military right nowtheir hands are tied," Gen. Flynn said in a recent interview with Fox News.

White House officials said they approve all requests for military operations and authorities they receive.

There are about 5,000 American troops in Iraq and up to 300 special operations forces in Syria. Those numbers are governed by so-called business rules.

The White House has strict oversight over the force level used in various military missions. Officials say some requests for more troops have required weeks or even months to win approval.

During his campaign, Trump often blamed President Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for the creation of Daesh and instability in the Middle East.

"The Obama-Clinton foreign policy unleashed ISIS (Daesh) (and) destabilized the Middle East," Trump said in a foreign policy speech in August.

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Beijing reiterates right over S China Sea islands amid Vietnam activities

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 10:4AM

China has asserted its sovereignty rights over disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea as Vietnam begins dredging work in the region.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Friday that his country's sovereignty rights over the Spratly Islands were "indisputable," and called on other states to help preserve calm in the contested waters.

"We hope and urge the relevant country can earnestly respect China's sovereignty and rights, stop illegal occupation and illegal construction activities, do not take any actions that could worsen the situation, meet China in halfway, make joint and due efforts to protect peace in the region of the South China Sea," he said.

Late last month, the US-based satellite firm Planet Labs released images showing Vietnamese vessels in a newly dug channel between the lagoon and open sea at the Ladd Reef, situated on the southwestern fringe of the Spratly Islands.

Analysts said the images hinted that Hanoi was preparing for extensive construction on the reef, which already hosts a lighthouse and an accommodation facility for Vietnamese soldiers.

Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, predicted that Vietnam could be working to use the reef as a post for fishing boats and supply ships.

China is involved in maritime disputes in the South China Sea, where several countries, including Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines, have overlapping claims.

A Hague-based court of arbitration recently ruled in a case brought by the Philippines that China's claims to sovereignty over the disputed areas in the South China Sea were invalid. Beijing rejected the ruling and stressed that it does not recognize the decision.

The US has sent several of its warships to the South China Sea to protect what it calls "freedom of navigation" there, but Beijing accuses Washington of interfering in the regional issues and deliberately stirring up tensions.

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US says will deploy 200 extra forces to Syria's Raqqah

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:55AM

The United States has announced plans to send 200 more troops to Syria to allegedly join operations aimed at retaking the Syrian city of Raqqah from the Daesh terrorist group.

"I can tell you today that the United States will deploy approximately 200 additional US forces in Syria," US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told a security conference in the Bahraini capital, Manama, on Saturday.

They will add to 300 American special forces already operating in Syria which has been fighting foreign-backed militancy for years.

Carter said troops were only about 25 kilometers away from Raqqah, adding they were helping SDF militants who are mainly comprised of Kurdish fighters.

The announcement came a day after Turkey said it was dispatching 300 special troops to Syria to reinforce its US-backed incursion of the Arab country.

The Turkish army said on Friday its troops and militants had seized control of a highway between the key regional towns of al-Bab and Manbij on Friday.

Damascus has already strongly criticized the United States and Turkey for deploying troops to the Syrian soil, saying it amounts to an act of aggression.

The new deployments come at a time of rapidly changing realities on the ground where Syrian troops are tightening the noose around foreign-backed militants.

The Syrian government now controls 93 percent of Aleppo, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Friday, adding troops would continue to liberate the city's east after the removal of civilians is completed.

The US and its allies have been pushing for a halt to military operations in the face of Syrian army advances in Syria.

Western and Middle Eastern backers of militants fighting to topple the Syrian government were meeting in Paris on Saturday to discuss the situation.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers from Europe and their counterparts from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE were likely to renew calls for an end to the onslaught.

Retreating terrorists now control only a pocket of Syria's second city, whose fate is seen as pivotal to the outcome of a nearly six-year-old war that has killed more than 400,000 people.

"My goal in all this is... to get both sides, all of the forces, to the table in Geneva. And that's what we're working on," Kerry said as he arrived for the meeting.

The European Union meanwhile said on Friday it would introduce more sanctions on Syria over the offensive in Aleppo.

"The EU will act swiftly ... with the aim of imposing further restrictive measures against Syria targeting Syrian individuals and entities supporting the regime as long as the repression continues," the bloc's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned the US against easing its alleged arms embargo on militants.

Peskov said US weapons could end up in wrong hands if Washington went ahead with the plan to lift restrictions on arms deliveries to the so-called "moderate" militants.

The warning came a day after the White House said US President Barack Obama had relaxed the so-called Arms Export Control Act for the militants in Syria.

"Certainly, the worst result of this decision would be those weapons, including MANPADs [man-portable anti-air missiles], ending up in the hands of terrorists," Peskov said.

Last year, Washington earmarked almost $500 million to arming and training of the "moderates." It had also slackened its arms embargo against certain militants back in 2013.

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Gambia ruler rejects presidential poll a week after conceding defeat

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:10AM

Gambia's long-time President Yahya Jammeh has rejected the results of the country's recent presidential election a week after conceding defeat to his rival.

"I hereby reject the results in totality," Jammeh said in a televised address late Friday, insisting that investigations since the December 1 poll have revealed a number of voting irregularities, which he described as unacceptable.

"Let me repeat: I will not accept the results based on what has happened," added Jammeh, who has ruled the West African country for more than 22 years.

During the address, the Gambian ruler further underlined that some figures in the election results had been transposed and that voter turnout had been suppressed.

"Our investigations reveal that in some cases voters were told that the opposition has already won and that there was no need for them to vote and, out of anger, some of them returned home," Jammeh said.

The remarks came just a week after he was shown on state television calling opposition candidate Adama Barrow and cheerfully wishing him the best.

"You are the elected president of The Gambia, and I wish you all the best," Jammeh said to Barrow at the time, adding, "I have no ill will."

The striking turnaround is expected to incite indignation among the opposition as well as a large number of Gambians living in exile abroad.

This is while in the week since Jammeh conceded defeat, dozens of political prisoners had already been set free on bail.

It remains to be seen whether the small African country of only 1.9 million people would tolerate Jammeh's renewed rule.

Following news reports about his defeat last week, Gambians reportedly took to the streets - singing, dancing and shouting "Freedom!"

Western governments have been especially critical of Jammeh's rule in Gambia pointing to his directives to quit the commonwealth of former British colonies and the Western-led International Criminal Court (ICC).

In quitting the Commonwealth in 2013, Jammeh described the organization as a "neo-colonial institution." He also announced in October that Gambia would leave the ICC, which he dismissed as the "International Caucasian Court."

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Macedonia Holds Elections In Wake Of Wiretap Scandal

December 10, 2016

Macedonians are going to the polls for parliamentary elections that voters in the Balkan nation hope will help put an end to almost two years of political instability triggered by a massive wiretapping scandal.

But lingering anger over the scandal and a large number of undecided voters make for one of the hardest elections to predict since Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Central to the contest is former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's bid to regain the top post less than a year after he stepped down in the wake of major antigovernment protests over the recordings, which critics said implicated him and aides in corrupt deals, vote rigging, and trumped-up criminal prosecutions against opponents.

The election has been postponed twice, in April and June. It pits Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party against the opposition Social Democrats (SDSM), with several smaller parties and coalitions -- some representing the large ethnic Albanian minority -- also on ballots.

Macedonia was plunged into political crisis in February 2015, when the SDSM began releasing a series of secretly recorded tapes it claims show that parts of the leadership of the VMRO-DPMNE-led government were responsible for the illegal surveillance of some 20,000 people including journalists, politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties, activists, and religious leaders.

The incendiary recordings, released on a weekly basis by SDSM leader Zoran Zaev, sparked antigovernment protests attended by tens of thousands of people. Zaev claims that the recordings were provided by a whistle-blower in the Interior Ministry.

Gruevski has denied the illegal surveillance and corruption accusations, and sought to turn the tables by claiming that the opposition cooperated with unnamed foreign intelligence service to push him from power. He did not provide evidence.

He stepped down in January 2016 as part of an EU-brokered deal that put an interim government in place, but remains head of the VMRO-DPMNE and seeks to return to power as prime minister -- the top office in the country of 2.1 million.

Hard To Call

The snap poll is the result of the agreement, which was signed by the heads of the four main political parties in July 2015.

Elections had been set for April but were postponed twice amid opposition calls for measures to ensure they are free and fair -- such as cleaning up the electoral rolls, which included thousands of deceased people and fictive voters.

Gruevski, 46, is hoping to secure a majority of 63 seats for his coalition by promising to create 70,000 new jobs and lower the unemployment rate from 24 percent to 17 percent.

Led by Zaev, 42, the opposition has pledged to fight corruption, improve the country's democratic standards, and support the work of the EU-backed Special Public Prosecution Office (SJO), which is investigating the allegations that emerged from the wiretapping scandal and has charged Gruevski and 13 other people with "enticement and carrying out a criminal act against public order."

Zaev has been vigorously pursuing the votes of ethnic Albanians, who make up a quarter of the population and in the past have mainly supported the Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (BDI), which is VMRO-DPMNE's main coalition partner, and the Democratic Party of Albanians. The SDSM candidate list includes several prominent ethnic Albanian public figures.

Some 1.8 million registered voters will cast ballots to fill the 123 seats in the unicameral parliament in the December 11 elections. Each party puts forward a list of 20 candidates in each of the country's six electoral districts, and seats are awarded on a proportional basis.

A poll commissioned by independent TV station Telma and published on December 5 showed VMRO-DPMNE with 23.3 percent of the projected vote and SDSM with 19.4 percent -- a margin far smaller than in the last elections, in 2011, when the VMRO-DPNME bested the SDSM by 11 percentage points.

But with 15.1 percent undecided and 17.6 percent refusing to tell the pollster which party they would vote for, this is the least predictable vote held in Macedonia.

'Colorful Revolution'

The election could affect the pace of Macedonia's long march toward EU membership and its stated goal of joining NATO.

The country officially became an EU candidate in 2005, but critics have accused Gruevski of damaging the campaign by dragging his feet on reforms and weakening the country's democratic institutions.

Russia voiced support for Gruevski's conservative government during the height of the massive antigovernment protests dubbed the Colorful Revolution -- a reference to the paintball street protests and a play on the "colored revolutions" that have brought down relatively Moscow-friendly governments in Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan in the past 15 years.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of stirring up a "colored revolution" in Macedonia and said it was "dangerous" to undermine Gruevski's government.

Western diplomats say hurdles to EU membership include shortcomings in judicial independence and the rule of law as well as an escalating crackdown on media freedom in recent years. But the main obstacle is Macedonia's continuing name dispute with EU-member Greece, which has a region with the same name.

The crisis in Macedonia is the worst since some 200 people were killed in a seven-month conflict between the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) and Macedonian armed forces.

The fighting ended with the August 2001 signing of the Ohrid Framework Agreement, which gave ethnic Albanians more rights and reintegrated the former rebels into the government. Many of them are now in VMRO-DPMNE's junior coalition partner, the BDI.

With reporting by the Macedonian Unit of RFE/RL's Balkan Service

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/macedonia-elections -after-wiretap-scandal/28168877.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Suicide Attack on Yemeni Army Base Kills at Least 50

By VOA News December 10, 2016

At least 50 Yemeni soldiers are dead after a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of an army base in the city of Aden, according to local security officials.

Officials said the bomber detonated himself in a crowd of hundreds of soldiers who had lined up to collect their salaries near the entrance of the Solban base along the outskirts of the city.

The attack, which was later claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group, left around 70 other soldiers wounded.

Islamic State jihadists have attacked military troops before in Aden, which is still under the control of Yemen's exiled government.

Saudi Arabia, which took in Yemen's exiled president, intervened in the Yemeni civil war in 2015 to combat the Iran-allied Houthi fighters who seized Yemen's capital city of Sanaa the previous year.

The Houthi forces were removed from Aden last summer, but repeated attacks carried out by Islamic State and al-Qaida militants has made it difficult for government forces to control the area.

Since the beginning of the conflict nearly two years ago, at least 10,000 people have been killed.

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Car Bomb Attack in Somalia Hits Police Checkpoint, Kills 2

By Mohamed Olad Hassan December 10, 2016

At least two police officers were killed and four others wounded in a car bomb attack on a police checkpoint near the Somali capital Mogadishu Saturday, officials and eyewitnesses said.

"The criminals have again carried out one of their cowardly attacks. This time they hit a police checkpoint at the Siinkadheer in the outskirt of Mogadishu," Mogadishu regional admin spokesman, Abdifitah Omar Halane told VOA Somali.

He said one police officer was killed and four others wounded in the attacks, but witnesses saw two bodies at the scene of the blast where nearby tea shops and stalls were damaged.

"I saw the dead bodies of two police officers and the suicide attacker and four injured soldiers," a minibus driver who witnessed the attack told VOA.

Somalia's militant group al-Shabab, whose goal is to overthrow the internationally backed Somali government and impose its strict interpretation of Islam, said one of its militants carried out the attack.

"One of our brave martyrs rammed a car with huge explosives into the checkpoint manned by the soldiers of the apostate," a statement aired from Radio Andalus, al-Shabab's official mouthpiece said.

Halane said, "The car exploded as the police forces stopped it at the checkpoint and when they suspected the suicide attacker blew himself up."

He said the car was heading to Mogadishu where a vote was under way at polling center for a new parliament.

Similar voting has been taking place across the country for weeks where some 14,000 people representing Somalia's federal states have been chosen to pick the 275 lawmakers.

Those members of parliament will choose a new president on December 28.

Al-Shabab accuses the presidential and parliamentary candidates of being foreign stooges.

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African Union Criticizes Gambian President Over Rejected Election Results

By VOA News December 10, 2016

The African Union is calling on Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to accept the results of the presidential election earlier this month as he said he would.

AU Commission Chairperson Nkosozana Dlamini-Zuma said, "The chairperson of the commission strongly urges President Yahya Jammeh to facilitate a peaceful and orderly transition and transfer of power to the new president of The Gambia."

Jammeh had conceded defeat after the December 1 poll, but issued a statement Friday saying "unacceptable errors" were found by election officials and he is no longer conceding to opposition candidate Adama Barrow.

Dlamini-Zuma said said Jammeh's rejection of the results is "null and void" as he has already conceded. She said Barrow's triumph "is the true expression of the will of the people."

Jammeh has ruled Gambia for more than 22 years.

After the election results were announced, state media broadcast a phone call in which President Jammeh told Barrow that he wanted to hand over power graciously and vowed not to contest the results.

Jammeh congratulated Barrow for his "clear victory" and praised the elections as "transparent" and "rig-proof." He also said, "Allah is telling me my time is up," and added he would move to his farm after leaving office in January.

Barrow, 51, represented a coalition of seven opposition parties that challenged Jammeh.

Jammeh, also 51, has ruled the tiny West African nation since taking power in a military coup in 1994. He won four subsequent elections that critics said were neither free nor fair and supported a 2002 constitutional amendment that removed presidential term limits. He once said he could rule Gambia for "a billion years."

Rights groups have often accused Jammeh of having political opponents and journalists either arrested or killed.

Amnesty International said in a statement after the election that the new administration would have an obligation to "transform the human rights situation in Gambia, freeing political prisoners, removing repressive laws and entrenching newly found freedoms."

Gambia is a former British colony that occupies a narrow sliver of land surrounded by French-speaking Senegal. About 880,000 Gambians were eligible to vote in the poll, which took place under a complete communications blackout, including social media platforms.

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Lao Minister of Science and Technology Boviengkham Vongdala (R) presents the Itsala Order to Vietnam's Deputy Minister Tran Viet Thanh (Photo: VNA)



He was conferred with this Order by the countrys Minister of Science and Technology Boviengkham Vongdala in Vientiane on December 9th.

The Order aims to recognise his excellent achievements and wholehearted dedication to assist Laos in this field, especially in making legal science and technology documents and in professional activities.

His efforts were said to have considerably contributed to the reinforcement of the friendship, unity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States and peoples.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Thanh expressed his honour to receive the noble Order of the Lao State, considering it as the Lao Governments recognition of the close and fruitful cooperation between the two countries ministries of science and technology.

He said he wants to join the ministries officials in continuously fostering bilateral science-technology connections in a more effective manner./.
US military claims killing 50,000 Daesh terrorists in Iraq, Syria

Iran Press TV

Sun Dec 11, 2016 1:36AM

A senior US military official has claimed that the the so-called "coalition" forces have killed 50,000 Daesh (ISIL) terrorists in the past two years throughout Iraq and Syria, pointing to a figure that is considerably larger than previous estimates.

The latest assessment by the unidentified official who, according to an AP report, spoke on condition of anonymity since he lacks authorization to publicly discuss the matter, even exceeded the 45,000 estimate announced in August by Lt. Gen. Sea MacFarland without pointing to how Pentagon had arrived at such assessment.

According to the report, US authorities have "expressed reluctance to disclose specific numbers" but assert that ISIL terrorists have been able to replace militants "rapidly."

The claim was made during an address to "a small group of reporters" in which the military official further stated that airstrikes by the US-led coalition "could be more aggressive in places like Mosul, where Iraqi troops are battling to retake the city, but civilian casualties are a risk," according to the report.

When asked for details, the official pointed to the presence of "enough [US] special operations forces currently deployed" in Iraq, but insisting that a key issue under consideration is what forces may be needed "to help the Iraqi troops hold Mosul" after Daesh terrorists are flushed out of the city, the report adds suggesting US plans to deploy additional forces to Iraq even after the looming defeat of the foreign-backed militants from the country.

The report also cites Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US military in Iraq, as suggesting that the current military campaign in Iraq is "reducing the numbers and capabilities" of ISIL terrorists.

"Unfortunately, we're seeing younger fighters; perhaps adolescent age, rather than adults," Dorrian added.

The development came as over 90 Iraqi soldiers perished Friday when US war planes erroneously bombed their positions near Mosul as government and volunteer forces were battling to flush Daesh terrorists out of the major northern city. Some 100 more Iraqi troops were also wounded in the so-called friendly-fire attack.

Iraqi army soldiers, pro-government fighters from Popular Mobilization Units -- also known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha'abi -- and Kurdish Peshmerga forces launched joint operations on October 17 to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

The advance of the Iraqi forces, however, has been slowed down due to the presence of hundreds of thousands of civilians, many of whom are prevented by the armed militants from leaving Mosul.

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Troops Deployed in Gambia After President Rejects Election Defeat

Sputnik News

01:50 11.12.2016(updated 05:58 11.12.2016)

Troops have been deployed in the capital of the Gambia after President Yahya Jammeh suddenly rejected his defeat in last week's election.

President-elect Adama Barrow said he had the support of the army after his surprise victory December 1, telling the AFP that the country's defense chief had called him to offer his backing.

"He said the security of this nation is assured by the armed forces," said Barrow said. "He said he was loyal to President Yahya (Jammeh) because he was the elected president" and "now that I am elected in to office by the Gambian people, he will support me."

Jammeh initially accepted the result of the vote, which put an end to his 22 years in power. Now, however, he is calling for a fresh vote and appears unlikely to actually give up control of the small west African nation, the Guardian observes.

The US embassy in Banjul, the capital, has called on the army to respect the rule of law in the country and the rule of the people, BBC's Channel 4 reported.

Speaking on state TV December 9, Jammeh announced his "total rejection" of the results, and called for "fresh and transparent elections which will be officiated by a god-fearing and independent electoral commission."

Jammeh already faces accusations of serious human rights abuses.

"I wish to inform you that the outgoing president has no constitutional authority to reject the result of the election and order a fresh election to be held," Barrow said after Yammeh's statement, according to Channel 4.

Gambia's neighbor Senegal has called for a UN Security Council meeting on the burgeoning crisis.

 Sputnik

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Top leader of Daesh-linked terrorists killed in eastern Malaysia

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 3:42PM

Security forces in Malaysia have killed a senior leader of the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf Takfiri terrorist group in a shootout off the coast of the eastern province of Sabah on the island of Borneo, the Philippine military says.

The death of Abraham Hamid is "a big blow" to Abu Sayyaf, said Philippine regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan on Saturday.

"it neutralized one of the notorious bandits and will degrade their capability for spotting and kidnapping victims in the future," the spokesman added.

He went on to say that two other terrorists had also been killed alongside Hamid in the gun battle with Malaysian police off the town of Lahad Datu in Tawau Division in the eastern parts of the province on Thursday night. Two more militants were also arrested in the incident.

The militants had kidnapped skippers of two fishing boats when they were confronted by Malaysian security forces. The confrontation lasted some 20 minutes. Search continues for two remaining kidnappers, who apparently fled the scene.

The slain leader was involved in a deadly kidnapping, among other crimes, last year, when several foreigners were abducted in a tourist resort in the volatile southern Philippines. Two of the abductees were later beheaded after the required ransom was not paid.

Sabah police commissioner Abdul Rashid Harun said the anti-terror operation was considered to be Malaysian authorities' first direct confrontation with Abu Sayyaf kidnappers off the coasts of eastern Sabah.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak praised the security forces, saying Kuala Lumpur and Manila would cooperate to curb recurring abductions.

"Do not give any room whatsoever to the criminals to encroach into the country's territory and cause chaos. Continue to safeguard the country's waters, borders and sovereignty," the premier said in a blog post on Friday, addressing the security forces.

Based primarily in and around the islands of Jolo and Basilan in the southwestern regions of the Philippines, the Takfiri terrorist group has been conducting bombings, abductions, assassinations and extortion since its foundation in 1991 with seed money from al-Qaeda.

The ultra-violent terrorists, who pledged alliance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the summer of 2014, have also been involved in other criminal activities, including rape and drug trafficking, in what they describe as their battle for an independent province in the Philippines.

The loose criminal network of Abu Sayyaf, literally meaning "Father of Swordsmith" in Arabic, has reportedly diminished greatly in number after it lost over 800 militants in 12 years since 2000, shrinking to a group of between 200 and 400 members, but continues to survive on ransom and extortion.

The militants have been in constant clashes with Philippine forces across the troubled region in the past 25 years.

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Obama orders probe into Russia role in Trump election

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:40AM

US President Barack Obama has ordered American intelligence agencies to investigate Russian cyber attacks as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concluded that Russia moved deliberately to help elect Donald Trump as president, not just to undermine the US political process more generally.

Obama requested that the intelligence agencies issue a report before he leaves office next month, White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Adviser Lisa Monaco told reporters Friday.

"The President has directed the Intelligence Community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election process. It is to capture lessons learned from that and to report to a range of stakeholders," Monaco said.

Obama issued the order shortly before The Washington Post reported that US intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who were part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and reduce Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the election.

Apparently, before publishing the report, the Post informed the White House about the content of its story, as this is standard practice with some American newspapers.

Citing unnamed US officials briefed on the matter, the Post said individuals connected to Moscow provided thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including the chairman of Clinton's presidential campaign, to WikiLeaks.

The hacked emails provided to WikiLeaks were a regular source of embarrassment to the Clinton campaign during the presidential race.

"It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia's goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected," the Post quoted a senior US official as saying. "That's the consensus view."

It was now "quite clear" that electing Trump was Russia's goal, the Post quoted officials as saying on condition of anonymity.

However, the CIA's conclusion was not based on a formal assessment by all 17 US intelligence agencies, the Post said. There are still minor disagreements among intelligence officials about the assessment because some questions are unanswered.

Intelligence agencies did not have specific information showing Moscow directed the individuals to pass the hacked emails to WikiLeaks and those individuals were "one step" removed from the Russian government rather than government employees, another senior official told the Post.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said in a television interview that the Russian government was not the source of the emails, the Post said.

In October, the US government formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election.

Trump has repeatedly rejected reports that Russian hackers were working to help his campaign and says the reports were politically motivated.

Trump's transition office issued a statement Friday questioning the credibility of the CIA in response to the report. "These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," the statement said. "The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It's now time to move on and 'Make America Great Again.'"

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North Korea capable of launching nuclear weapons: US

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 1:37AM

North Korea has become capable of launching nuclear weapons, a US military official says, noting that the secretive regime does not seem to have acquired the technology to control the weapon after it is launched.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said Friday that Pyongyang had the ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a series of its Ballistic missiles, but probably lacked the know-how to deliver a re-entry vehicle onto the designated target.

According to the official, North Korean researchers were trying to overcome a series of limitations in this regard, including the weapon's ability to get back to the Earth's atmosphere without burning up.

He said the threat from North Korea's nuclear arsenal is so serious that the Pentagon has been continuously revising its contingency plans for a possible attack.

"It is the threat that keeps me awake at night, primarily because we don't know what the dear leader in North Korea really is after," he said.

"Truthfully, they have the capability, right now, to be able to deliver a nuclear weapon. They're just not sure about re-entry and that's why they continue to test their systems," the official added.

In March, Admiral William Gortney, the then head of US Northern Command, said that the North had learned how to make a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a long-range missile.

After a successful launch of a submarine-launched missile in August, North Korea leader Kim Jong-un declared his country a nuclear power fully equipped "with nuclear attack capability."

According to the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, North Korea's successful launches of two Musudan mid-range ballistic missiles provide Pyongyang with the technology to develop intercontinental missiles by 2020.

The missiles have a theoretical range of between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometers, making them capable of reaching any part of South Korea, Japan and the US territory of Guam in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

North Korea, which is under harsh UN sanctions over its nuclear tests and missiles launches, says it will not give up on its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and dissolves the US-led UN command in South Korea.

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North Korea Now Has an ICBM That Can Reach US Mainland

Sputnik News

00:43 11.12.2016

North Korea is now in possession of a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach the US mainland, according to a senior US military official.

North Korea has developed an ICBM capable of delivering a nuclear payload to the US mainland, according to an anonymous US military official, who spoke with DefenseTech.com on conditions of anonymity. However, they have not yet solved a key thermal insulation problem, which means their warhead would burn up as it reenters the atmosphere over its target.

Still, "[i]t's the threat that keeps me awake at night," DefenseTech quotes the official saying.

Earlier this year North Korea claimed it developed a new mobile ICBM called KN-14, and later displayed it on a military parade in October. Pyongyang also claimed that month that it successfully tested heat insulation materials for the missile, but the US official could not confirm that this technology is already in use.

According to the official, the United States takes the North Korean threat seriously enough to transfer some of the "authority to counter weapons of mass destruction" from US Strategic Command to the Joint Special Operations Command.

There is almost no data available about the KN-14 capabilities, Russian defense analyst Vladimir Khrustalev wrote in Lenta.ru in October. However, most experts agree that North Korea's claims have a somewhat solid basis.

"The most conservative estimates place its maximum theoretical range with a nuclear payload at 5,500-6,500 kilometers, with some saying that it could travel as far as 12,000," Khrustalev wrote.

The North Korean missile program might become a problem for new US President Donald Trump, according to General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, a former commander of US Forces-Korea and now the supreme allied commander of NATO. He speculated that Trump will have to seriously consider a preemptive strike on North Korea before the Koreans launch their nuclear missile.

Khrustalev also noted that North Korea's missile program has another purpose, not connected with delivering nuclear warheads.

"There is a rather ambitious space program," Khrustalev said. "Analysts have often dismissed it as a fantasy, but reality begs to differ."

Could it be that it is North Korea's space program that actually concerns the United States? This cannot be excluded, judging by the sentiments of another former commander of US Forces-Korea, General Walter Sharp.

Sharp believes the US must destroy any Korean missile on a launch pad, because the US cannot know for sure whether the missile would carry a satellite or nuclear warhead. Such an aggressive stance is interesting, considering a single ICBM should not be a real problem to the much-advertised US missile defenses, including THAAD in South Korea and Aegis, which can be installed on US military ships across the Pacific Ocean, if these systems are actually able to live up to their reputation.

 Sputnik

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India Eyes Indian Ocean, Defense Minister Visits Island Nation of Mauritius

Sputnik News

11:46 10.12.2016(updated 12:15 10.12.2016)

Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar is visiting Mauritius for three days; the trip holds significance, as India is expected to leverage its position in the region by offering a line of credit to Mauritius for additional defense purchases.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar has arrived in Mauritius, where he will hand over two upgraded Cheetah helicopters to the nation's government during his three-day visit. Sources say Parrikar will also commission an Indian-built fast patrol naval vessel for the country's coast guard. In September, India presented the country a 50+ meter fast patrol vessel. The ship is fitted with a 30mm Close Range Naval-91 gun, 12.7mm heavy machine guns and 7.62mm medium machine guns, as well as state-of-the-art navigation and communication equipment. Goa Shipyard, which manufactured the vessel, has claimed that vessel is capable of achieving a high speed of 35 knots.

Parrikar is scheduled to meet with the Prime Minister and President of Mauritius during his three-day tour, during which he's expected to discuss a range of issues including furthering defense relations. Parrikar will tour an Indian Navy hydrographic survey ship stationed off the island nation's coast.

Last year in March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned the sale of a 1,300 metric ton Indian-built naval patrol vessel, the 'Barracuda', for the Mauritian National Coast Guard. This was the first strategic sale to Mauritius amid the growing presence of China in the Indian Ocean. Mauritius followed up this order with the purchase of eleven 14.5m fast interceptor boats and two fast attack crafts from Goa Shipyard.

Mauritius is home to approximately 1.35 million people, the vast majority of whom live on the island of Mauritius, which controls several nearby islands. According to the US Central Intelligence Agency, ethnic Indians constitute 68 percent of the nation's population and 'creoles' of mixed African and Indian descent account for an additional 28 percent.

 Sputnik

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23 expert units to participate in 'Prophet Mohammad-4' military drill

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Chabahar, Sistan and Baluchestan prov, Dec 10, IRNA -- Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Forces Brigadier General Kiumars Heidari said that some 23 expert units of Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces (NEZAJA) are to take part in 'Prophet Mohammad-4' military drill.

The commander made the remarks while visiting the operational forces attending the event.

Heidari said that 'Prophet Mohammad-4' military drill will start work on Sunday, December 11, near the towns of Nik Shahr and Konarak in this south eastern province.

The event will be held in an area covering 220,000 km, he said, adding that the drill aims to promote the capabilities of Iran's Army Ground Forces.

Since this drill is regarded as a big military practice, it focuses on the purpose of increasing coordination of armored corps, artillery, Special Forces and rangers, he noted.

'Prophet Mohammad-4' military drill will be held on December 11-13.

9376**1424

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Shamkhani: Iran ready to respond to US over breach of nuclear deal

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Dec 10, IRNA -- Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said on Saturday that the nuclear deal was a clear sign of Iran's soft power and that Iran will respond to the United States over breach of the deal, JCPOA.

Shamkhani made the remarks in a meeting with visiting Secretary-General of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Ramadan Abdullah.

Shamkhani made clear that Washington must know that the Islamic Republic of Iran reserves the right to retaliate extension of Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) by the Congress which is the gross breach of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

He hailed the stand of Palestinian Islamic Jihad reflected in a recently issued 10-article statement by the movement, saying that any strategy except for resistance to the Israeli occupation will lead to mirage.

Shamkhani noted that the cause of Palestine and the liberation of the Holy Beit ul-Mqaddas is the first priority of the Muslim World.

The Palestinian official, for his part, hailed Iran's support for the Palestinian resistance, saying the Islamic Republic of Iran is the only country in the world that really supports the cause of Palestine and refuses to recognize the fabricated Zionist regime.

He blamed certain Arab states for opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran for their regional goals.

He said that the Islamic Republic of Iran is vanguard of international campaign against terrorism and helps restoration of peace and stability in the region.

9341**1416

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Iran will give tough response to possible US aggression: Senior commander

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 2:8PM

Iran's chief Armed Forces spokesman has warned the United States against any possible act of aggression against the Islamic Republic, vowing a harsh response to enemies' moves.

"If the US warmongers and their stooges carry out an immature and unprofessional act, they will definitely face the Iranian combatants' tough response," Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, said on Saturday.

"The current military and security conditions of the Persian Gulf are in such a way that the enemy's forces and equipment are completely within the reach of Iran's military forces," he added.

He emphasized that the Iranian military forces have "full dominance and control over the Persian Gulf region more than ever."

Jazayeri said the Islamic Republic and the Iranian Armed Forces would not joke with anybody when it comes to defense and security matters and would "definitely respond to any move that seeks to endanger the country's security."

The commander pointed to earlier US threats against Iranian ships and said, "Those who seek to cause Iranian boats to sink in the Persian Gulf have no military common sense."

Back in September, US President-elect Donald Trump said during his election campaign that Iranian ships attempting to provoke America "will be shot out of the water" during his presidency.

On November 10, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri played down Trump's harsh anti-Iran rhetoric, saying, "That person, who has just risen to power, has talked off the top of his head."

Back in August, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the country's Armed Forces must boost their preparedness to deter any enemy aggression.

"In the face of such an enemy, which seeks to undermine the country's defensive prowess, the Armed Forces' preparedness must be boosted to an extent that the enemy would not even dare to think about any aggression," Ayatollah Khamenei stated.

In January, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy arrested the crews of two US patrol boats that had trespassed into Iranian territorial waters. Iran released them after making sure that they had done so by mistake.

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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
Iraq sends reinforcements to east of Mosul

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 11:0AM

A senior Iraqi commander says a number of new contingents have been sent to the east of the northern city of Mosul to bolster the military forces already deployed there.

Major General Najim al-Jabouri, the head of the Operations Command in Nineveh Province, of which Mosul is the capital, made the announcement on Saturday. The reinforcements comprise both Iraqi army units and officers with the country's federal police, he said.

The operation to retake Mosul began on October 17. The Takfiri terrorist group of Daesh seized the city in 2014, when it overran territory in a large-scale offensive in the country and named Mosul its so-called headquarters.

Daesh has been setting off hundreds of car bombs, unleashing mortar barrages, deploying snipers, and using locals as human shields to slow the advance of the security forces trying to liberate the city.

The troops have made significant gains both on the southern and eastern fronts of Mosul but were forced back last week within hours of seizing the al-Salam hospital in the east, which Daesh had been using as a base. More than 20 servicemen died in a Daesh attack there.

Reports said on Friday that the troops based on the eastern flank of Mosul had nevertheless recaptured Tamim District and destroyed three sites used by the group to make car bombs and as many arms depots.

So far during their battle against the Daesh terrorists, the Iraqi military and its allies have forced them out of Ramadi, the capital of the western Anbar Province, Fallujah, another city in the province, and Tikrit in the north-central Salahuddin Province.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said Mosul would be back under government control by yearend. But the government operations for the liberation of the city have slowed down amid the presence of civilians there.

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Libya: UN envoy welcomes temporary cessation of hostilities for civilian evacuation in Ganfouda

10 December 2016  Welcoming the announcement of a temporary cessation of hostilities by the Libyan National Army in the Ganfouda area, in the Libyan city of Benghazi, to allow evacuation of civilians, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Libya called on the parties to the conflict to ensure that civilians are protected.

"I call on parties to the conflict in Ganfouda area to ensure smooth and safe evacuation process during the ceasefire period," Special Representative Martin Kobler, also the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), said in a news release issued by the Mission.

"Civilians must always be protected and should not be subjected to any form of harassment or maltreatment during this process," he added.

Also in the release, Mr. Kobler reminded all parties of their obligations in accordance with

international human rights and humanitarian laws to ensure the safety and the dignity of the civilians trapped in Ganfouda.

The head of UNSMIL had expressed deep concerns over the fate of trapped civilians in Benghazi's Ganfouda area and underlined the need for their safe evacuation.

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Russia to Start Advanced PAK FA Fighters Production on Schedule in 2017

Sputnik News

17:01 10.12.2016

Russian Aerospace Forces Commander Viktor Bondarev said that the tests of Russian Sukhoi T-50 (PAK FA) fifth-generation fighters are proceeding in leaps and bounds, the eighth prototype has already been delivered.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Tests of the Russian Sukhoi T-50 (PAK FA) fifth-generation fighters are proceeding on schedule and production deadlines will be fully met in 2017, Russian Aerospace Forces Commander Viktor Bondarev said Saturday.

"All deadlines remain unchanged, the PAK FA tests are proceeding in leaps and bounds, the eighth prototype has already been delivered. The plane is demonstrating excellent flight and technical characteristics. This is our future and our hope," Bondarev said.

Currently, the PAK FA stealth multirole fighter project is in advanced stages of development and is undergoing flight testing. The aircraft is expected to complete tests this year before serial production commences in 2017.

 Sputnik

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Upgrading a Hellduck: Russia's Su-34 to Get State-of-the-Art Overhaul

Sputnik News

16:49 10.12.2016

The next few years will see the further modernization of the Su-34, a Russian strike fighter; the warplane will get new armament and electronic warfare systems, according to the Russian news network Zvezda.

The Russian Defense Ministry first announced plans to modernize the Sukhoi Su-34 multipurpose strike fighter, designated by NATO as Hellduck, in July 2016, Zvezda recalled.

Based on the Su-27 fighter, the Su-34 is a 4++ generation jet, which can accelerate to a maximum speed of 1,200 mph (1,931 km) and can fly 2,500 miles (4,023 km) without refueling.

"Our plan is, after some time, to upgrade this aircraft to extend its life and increase the number of aircraft weapons. The plane is very popular in our armed forces, and it has a good future," Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov said, referring to the Su-34.

During the Syrian campaign, the Su-34 made effective use of its onboard arsenal of a 30 mm cannon, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and KAB-500S laser-guided bombs, allowing it to destroy terrorist infrastructure facilities and command centers.

The Defense Ministry now wants to add to this from its impressive arsenal of anti-ship missiles, such as the modified Kh-35 missile and even plans to adapt the Su-34 to launch a new generation of so-called aeroballistic missiles.

Late last year, the Su-34 fighter was equipped with a Khibiny aircraft electronic countermeasures system, something that Zvezda said will help turn the Su-34 into an electronic warfare plane.

The system was developed by the Radio-Electronic Technology Concern (KRET), Russia's largest radio-electronics holding company, founded in 2009.

Installed on the wingtips of Su-34s, the Khibiny system provides the jets with electronic warfare capabilities and enables them to carry out effective electronic countermeasures against radar systems, anti-aircraft missile systems and airborne early warning and control aircraft.

Additionally, the SU-34 is expected to be equipped with a modernized airborne radar with improved characteristics before the end of this year, according to Zvezda.

"Work on the project is facilitated by the fact that the Su-34's electronic warfare systems can be modified, in line with specific purposes and concrete tasks," Zvezda said.

Right now, the aircraft has a multi-target, electronically passive scanned array forward radar, enabling it to 'hunt' for enemy aircraft and equipment at a range of between 200-250 km.

The plane is also equipped with rearward-facing radar, and can be equipped with M402 Pika side-looking radar. In addition, its L175V/KS418, Digital RF Memory-equipped jamming system allows it to be used as a battlefield jammer.

The selection and continuous monitoring of targets is achieved using airborne radar and the Platan's electro-optical targeting system, mounted on the fuselage.

It is equipped with a laser target marker, which measures the distance to the target using laser telemetry. Plans to modernize the Platan system is also in the pipeline.

KRET, which is upgrading the Su-34 electronic warfare plane, "proceeded from the assumption that if necessary, any tactical aircraft can be upgraded to conduct electronic warfare, which is cheaper and which is very effective," according to Zvezda.

 Sputnik

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Syria sends reinforcements to Palmyra to counter Daesh

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 10:51AM

The Syrian army says reinforcements have been deployed to the ancient city of Palmyra in the west-central Homs Province to prevent the Takfiri Daesh terrorists from further advancing toward the city.

The army said in a statement on Saturday that clashes are underway between government forces and the terrorists, who have advanced to the city's outskirts.

The statement said that the militants had seized areas to the northwest and southeast of the historic city.

According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the terrorist group launched the recent offensive late on Thursday, when it seized grain silos northeast of Palmyra, and has since taken at least partial control of oil and gas fields to the city's northwest.

The Syrian army, backed by popular forces and a wave of Russian airstrikes, retook the ancient city from Daesh on March 27 following weeks of military operations.

Syrian army and allied forces are also busy driving the Takfiri terrorists from the strategic northwestern city of Aleppo. On Friday, government forces liberated 52 blocks in the eastern parts of the city and are now in control of 93 percent of the whole city, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The recent army gains come despite the persistent financial and military support that many foreign states have been providing to the militants since 2011 to bring about the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.

Meanwhile, foreign-backed militant on Saturday carried out new rocket attacks on government-held areas in Aleppo, leaving ten civilians dead and injuring 25 others.

In an earlier assault, which targeted several districts, including Bustan al-Zahra, Seif al-Dawla, and Old Aleppo, nearly a dozen civilians had lost their lives and some 128 others had been injured.

Thousands of Syrian civilians are leaving militant-controlled areas in the flashpoint city through humanitarian corridors opened by Syrian government forces.

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IS Militants Enter Syria's Palmyra

December 10, 2016

Islamic State (IS) militants have entered the ancient city of Palmyra in eastern Syria for the first time since Syrian forces recaptured the city earlier this year, according to a monitoring group.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights said the militants entered Palmyra on December 10 after taking strategic heights near the city and capturing the northern part of Palmyra.

The Syrian Army earlier said it had sent reinforcements to Palmyra, which Syrian troops, backed by Russian air strikes, captured from IS militants in March.

The militants were pushing toward the T4 air base, one of Syria's major military bases, near Palmyra that is used by Russian forces.

The IS offensive on Palmyra, which began on December 8, has left dozens of Syrian soldiers dead.

The observatory said the militants had gained control of some oil and gas fields around the city.

U.S.-led coalition warplanes destroyed 168 oil tanker trucks near Palmyra belonging to IS militants on December 9.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/syria- islamic-state-retakes-palmyra- russia/28168810.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Kerry Accuses Assad Of 'War Crimes' As Aleppo Offensive Rages On

December 10, 2016

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the Syrian government's bombardment of the city of Aleppo amounts to "war crimes" and has called for Damascus allies Russia and Iran to help end it.

Kerry's remarks came as the Syrian government launched a fresh round of air strikes on December 10 targeting the shrinking rebel enclave in Aleppo.

Kerry, speaking to reporters after a meeting in Paris with the Syrian opposition and top European diplomats, said, "Russia and [Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad have a moment where they are in a dominant position to show a little grace."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault urged a diplomatic solution to the nearly six-year-old conflict, saying that "we need to tie down the conditions for a genuine political transition, and negotiations must resume on a clear basis."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said, "there can be no military solution in Syria."

U.S. and Russian military experts and diplomats were due to meet in Geneva later on December 10 to discuss details about the rebels' exit from eastern Aleppo.

Kerry admitted his expectations of those talks were "very constrained."

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on December 10 that Syrian government forces had halted their offensive to allow for the evacuation of civilians.

Moscow said some 50,000 civilians had fled the eastern part of the city over the past two days.

But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, said heavy clashes were still under way on December 10.

In less than a month, Syrian government troops and allied militias have taken over 85 percent of east Aleppo, containing the rebels to just a few neighborhoods.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/syria- aleppo-assault-continues- truce-talks/28168543.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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IS Back in Palmyra, Driving to Regain Control of Syrian City

By VOA News December 10, 2016

Islamic State extremists fought their way into the ancient central Syrian city of Palmyra on Saturday, monitors said, after two days of intense fighting with government forces.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors and reports on Syria's long-running civil war, said the IS advance had reached as far as a key hospital, after oil fields and strategic outposts near the city fell to IS fighters in recent days.

The extremist push in Homs province came nine months after militants were driven from the city by Syrian government forces and their Russian allies, in a counteroffensive touted at the time by Syrian military officials as a "fatal blow" to the jihadist organization.

The government of President Bashar al-Assad had not commented on the Palmyra fighting by late Saturday, and no updated casualty figures were immediately available. But monitors said Friday that 50 troops allied with Damascus had been killed in the IS offensive.

Fighting in Aleppo

To the north, monitors reported heavy fighting in southeastern districts of the city of Aleppo, after a two-week offensive by the Russia-backed Syrian army and its Shi'ite allies that has split the city's rebel-held east and left rebel forces in disarray. Witnesses to Saturday's fighting said rebels were holding their ground in the devastated eastern sector.

The observatory reported 24 civilians killed by government ordnance since Friday and said at least nine others had been killed by retaliatory rebel artillery fire into government-controlled sectors of the city during the same period.

In other developments, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the deployment of 200 more military personnel to northern Syria, to help the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the push to capture the IS stronghold of Raqqa.

Carter said the 200 troops would include special forces trainers, advisers and explosive ordnance disposal teams. The new force will join 300 U.S. military personnel already deployed in the north to assist in the push to defeat IS at Raqqa.

The U.S. Central Command tweeted Saturday that the U.S. force would stand ready to "directly assist NATO ally Turkey" in the regional fight against extremist forces.

In Paris, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with other top diplomats Saturday in an attempt to revive stalled talks with Russia on easing the Aleppo crisis, which has left tens of thousands of civilians in the city's east without food or other supplies.

U.S. and Russian diplomats were holding separate closed-door talks in Geneva at the same time, in an effort to find agreement between Moscow and Washington on the situation in Aleppo.

The Paris talks included foreign ministers from France, Germany, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and a representative of the European Union. France's Jean-Marc Ayrault said they agreed on sweeping aid provisions and a ban on torture and retaliatory killings once the fighting stops.

The French diplomat said the ministers' plan would take hold only if the Syrian government and Russia both agreed to terms of the emerging post-battle plan for Aleppo.

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Syrian HNC Ready to Resume Talks Without Preliminary Conditions - French FM

Sputnik News

16:36 10.12.2016(updated 16:48 10.12.2016)

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault stated that the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) is ready to resume talks without preliminary conditions and the talks should continue on transparent basis within the framework of UN resolution 2254.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) is ready to resume talks on political settlement without any preliminary conditions, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Saturday.

"Syrian opposition is ready to resume talks without preliminary conditions the talks should continue on transparent basis within the framework of UN resolution 2254," Ayrault said following the ministerial meeting of the Friends of Syria Group.

An international meeting of the so-called Friends of Syria Group members was held in the French capital on Saturday. Ayrault, as well as his counterparts from Germany, the United States, Qatar, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Italy and Jordan participated in the meeting.

 Sputnik

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China Condemns US Defense Bill Provision on Taiwan

By VOA News December 10, 2016

China has spoken out against a U.S. defense bill passed Friday which includes a provision calling for yearly military exchanges with Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a breakaway province.

"China firmly opposes any kind of military exchanges between Taiwan and the U.S.," China's defense ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a press briefing, according to The Global Times state-backed news agency. "What the U.S. Congress has done has interfered with China's domestic affairs, undermined the cross-Straits stability, infringed upon China's sovereignty and security and would finally harm the interests of the U.S."

Yang also said that China urges the United States to "correct their mistakes", and that China retains the right to "take further action" in response to the adoption of the bill, according to the Global Times.

The bill, which overwhelmingly passed the U.S. Senate Friday and now awaits President Obama's signature, advises the Secretary of Defense to "conduct a program of senior military exchanges between the United States and Taiwan", and also calls for a briefing by February on the feasibility of U.S. port calls in the Pacific by Taiwanese forces.

Military exercises between Taiwan and the United States are not new, as the bill notes, but should Obama sign this legislature into law it could lead to high-level exchanges involving senior military leaders from both countries. Under the Taiwan Relations Act, which the U.S. Congress passed in 1979, the United States has routinely provided weapons and military equipment to bolster its self defense.

The National Defense Authorization act (NDAA), an annual defense policy bill, also includes a $3.2 billion increase in military spending.

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Freshly retired Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg says he could see himself trying his hand at acting in the future.

The 31-year-old claimed the 2016 title after a tension-filled season finale in Abu Dhabi last month only to shock the F1 community with the news of his retirement five days later, on the eve of the FIA Prize Giving ceremony in Vienna, Austria.

Speaking to news agency AFP in a wide-ranging interview, Rosberg was asked whether the list of his post-F1 activities could include acting.

Yes, Id like to, he replied. I know several actors in Germany so perhaps one day, thatd be cool. I already have some experience because as a driver you have to shoot a lot of commercials. Id quite like to be an action hero!

Before taking Hollywood by storm, Rosberg admits he has not had much time to savour his retirement as he has been busy touring the world to celebrate his title success.

The first proper free time Ill get will be Christmas. Its exciting as its a new chapter in my life, and a big change too. It will be great to see what comes up next but spending more time with my family is the top priority right now.

Well be in Ibiza, with the Christmas tree, the family dinner and the turkey! Then, Ill look at new projects where I can show my commitment but thatll wait until the New Year.

INTERVIEW: Stoffel Vandoorne: The long wait is over

TECHNICAL: Under the skin of the Force India VJM09

FEATURE: Nico Rosberg in numbers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Turkey seeks to arrest 55 suspected Gulen movement financers as crackdown widens

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 2:44PM

Turkish officials have issued arrest warrants for dozens more people, including business figures, over suspected affiliation to the network of US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of having masterminded the failed military coup in mid-July.

Turkish-language NTV television news channel reported on Saturday that security forces from the Istanbul Police Department Financial Crimes Unit had raided 57 separate locations in the city and sought to arrest 55 suspects on charges of transferring large sums of cash back and forth between Turkey, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kazakhstan since 2014.

According to the report, some suspects were arrested in the raids, while police are still seeking others who are abroad and not found in their official addresses.

Some of the suspects are believed to be using ByLock mobile application, which the Turkish government claims to be the top communication tool among members of the Gulen movement.

The Turkish government has accused Gulen of being behind the July 15 putsch, cracking down on anyone believed to be his supporter.

Ankara says it has been successful in significantly diminishing the power of Gulen's supporters in state institutions following the coup.

The Pennsylvania-based cleric has strongly condemned the coup attempt and denied any involvement in it.

Turkish officials say over 240 people were killed and more than 2,100 others injured in the coup attempt.

Tens of thousands of people, including military personnel, judges and teachers, have been suspended, dismissed or detained as part of the post-coup crackdown.

International rights groups argue that Ankara's crackdown has gone far beyond the so-called Gulenists and targeted Kurds as well as government critics in general.

On May 24, the European Parliament decided to temporarily halt accession negotiations with Turkey over the large-scale crackdown.

Turkey submits bill on expanding presidential powers to parliament

Meanwhile, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Saturday presented a bill to the parliament, which would change the country's constitution and expand presidential powers.

The package would also bring structural changes to Turkey's security and judiciary.

Earlier in the day, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that Ankara continued "to work on changing the system to ensure instability is removed from Turkey's political history absolutely."

The Turkish prime minister further claimed that the bill would protect Turkey against any future coup attempt.

The drive for the constitutional change and expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers come as the AKP has 317 of 550 seats in the parliament. Calling a referendum on the constitution in Turkey requires 330 votes, which means the governing party needs more than a dozen votes from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

The Turkish legislature's second- and third-biggest parties, the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), both oppose the intended constitutional reforms.

Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli says the referendum could take place in March, April or May.

CHP President Kemal Kilicdaroglu has, in return, expressed strong opposition to the proposed changes.

"This is a regime change, not a system change. This country has a 140-year parliamentary system tradition. There are disruptive directions here and they can be corrected," he told NTV.

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Turkish warplanes bomb northern Iraq, kill 19

Iran Press TV

Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:15AM

Turkish fighter jets have bombarded an area in northern Iraq, killing at least 19 people.

The warplanes took off from an air base in Diyarbakir and targeted the northern Iraqi region of Gara on Saturday, military sources said.

They said the bombing came in response to threats that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants were preparing an attack on military units at the border.

Turkey frequently launches air attacks in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq without coordination with the Baghdad government.

Ankara has also deployed troops into Iraq, sparking a bitter rift with Baghdad which views it as a violation of its sovereignty.

They are based in a town near the Iraqi city of Mosul which is currently the focus of a massive operation to recapture it from Daesh terrorists.

Turkey says its troops are there to fight Daesh and train Kurdish forces. In October, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Turkey would keep troops in Iraq despite Baghdad's opposition.

Turkey's parliament earlier voted to extend the deployment of an estimated 2,000 troops across northern Iraq by a year to combat "terrorist organizations" - a wording broad enough to refer to Kurdish militants as well as Daesh.

Iraq condemned the vote, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned Turkey risked triggering a regional war. Both countries have summoned each other's ambassadors in a mounting diplomatic standoff.

Turkey shares a 1,200 km border with Syria and Iraq. Its army launched an incursion into Syria in August allegedly to push back Daesh and prevent the US-backed Kurdish YPG militia from seizing ground.

Ankara regards YPG an offshoot of the PKK. The Turkish military has also been pounding the group's alleged positions in Iraq and Syria in breach of the Arab countries' sovereignty.

Turkey and the PKK had ceased long-running armed hostilities since 2013 until a deadly July 2015 bombing in Suruc, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting Turkey's military operations in turn.

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Murder is the most visible perception of crime despite its low percentage (0.1 percent) of total crime, according to a presentation Danville City Council received from Police Chief Philip Broadfoot this week.

Thats the understatement of the year.

As we write this, there have been 16 homicides in Danville this year and nearly 150 shootings.

It matters little that a third of the murders have been related to gangs because of the finality of homicide and Danvilles relatively small size. If people think that even one murder is terrible  and we do  then having 16 in a city of less than 43,000 people is much, much worse.

Broadfoot has taken plenty of public criticism on social media for this years violent street crime, but the chief has been open and honest about the problems Danville faces. Its also interesting that Broadfoot hasnt used the crime wave to get Danville City Council to fund more patrol officers.

Instead, Broadfoot will work with other law enforcement agencies and the public schools to trade information about gangs in Danville, bring a fixed presence to two other areas of the city (there is already a police precinct on Green Street) and work to build public awareness about the problem of stolen firearms becoming part of Danvilles crime problem.

All of those initiatives are important. But if 2017 brings the same number of homicides that occurred here in 2015 (six), wed want all of the work started this year to continue.

Thats because crime control is core government function, and the threat caused by violent young people eager to settle scores with guns is a threat no matter how many times it happens during a single year.

Danville has to stay on top of its crime problem, even if it seems like the crime problem is under control. The stakes are too high to quickly forget the horrible lessons that Danvillians have had to learn in 2016.

Our advice to Chief Broadfoot is to meet with other members of the criminal justice system and the schools  and trade information. Hire a crime analyst. Buy more police cars so every officer has a car on every shift. Spend the money. Do the work.

If violent crime falls, keep up the good work. If what theyre trying doesnt work, try something else.

Danvilles government must continue to work hard to fight street crime regardless of the statistics.
Not as bad as Florida 2000. As bad as these recounts were, the results stood up. In historical terms, this recount does not pass the famous Gore v Bush Florida recount of 2000. There are many reasons for this, including the closeness of the vote, the fact that multiple states were involved and the delay in asking for the recount. (In Florida, the election was never called and Gore did not concede until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled.)

Voting machines were not hacked. Throughout this recount process in many states (with recount efforts also taking place in Nevada and other states), no evidence of hacking of the vote has come forward. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the Obama administration, has refuted claims related to hacking poll equipment. [Note: The wider hacking claims surrounding the election and Russian influence is listed separately below under ugly  but does not involve the counting of votes.]

Voting equipment problems were uncovered with people, process and technology that can be (and must be fixed) by 2020. Many proponents of these recounts are saying that the effort was worth it  since the attention was drawn to many issues such as old equipment, recount inconsistencies between states and other concerns. While I believe these issues could have been addressed in other ways, I agree that the problems must be fixed. Here are some of those articles to reference: Yeah, Trump won. Here's why we still need a recount Michigan COUNT BY COUNTY REVEALS VOTING MACHINE DISCREPANCIES Jill Stein files federal lawsuit seeking PA recount; Easier to hack than an iPhone

Many proponents of these recounts are saying that the effort was worth it  since the attention was drawn to many issues such as old equipment, recount inconsistencies between states and other concerns. While I believe these issues could have been addressed in other ways, I agree that the problems must be fixed. Here are some of those articles to reference:

More lawyers please. The amount of money spent on legal fees, attorneys and court fights is staggering. Of course, this is a good item, if you are a lawyer who is in court. But my point is that the legal wrangling, lawsuits and overall arguments are very complex with recounts. Lesson learned: This will not change in the future and could get even worse if the election results were closer, or real fraud or genuine hacking is found in future elections.

The amount of money spent on legal fees, attorneys and court fights is staggering. Of course, this is a good item, if you are a lawyer who is in court. But my point is that the legal wrangling, lawsuits and overall arguments are very complex with recounts. Lesson learned: This will not change in the future and could get even worse if the election results were closer, or real fraud or genuine hacking is found in future elections. These recounts did not improve overall trust in the system. Far from improving the trust and integrity of the process, more questions were raised than answered. This article explains why: prolonging the campaign by seeking a recount breeds unwarranted doubt about the legitimacy of our elections  without any real evidence to back it up. Nevertheless our current situation can still, prompt Congress and state legislatures to devote greater resources to election technology.

Detroit, Mich., discovered that up to half of the votes may have been ineligible for recounts. Since the recount was stopped by court orders in Michigan, well never know for sure what might have happened. However, some further review is needed going forward. Some media outlets claimed there may have been actual voter fraud in Detroit precincts, but more investigation is necessary.

Hacking has become the new buzzword for everything. This is likely a trend as we head into 2017, with more maybe was hacked defenses in every area of life. I am especially interested in the hacking claims involved in these recounts and how the courts dealt with them. For example, I wrote this under item 6 last time: These recounts set up a dangerous precedent for future elections and potentially for many other areas of life where anyone can question any numbers based upon the view maybe there was a hack  somewhere, somehow.  Is our new threshold a potential for hacking? If we use that litmus test in other areas of life, what can be excluded?

Aggrieved or not aggrieved that is the question.Since Jill Stein finished a distant fourth in the vote count in Michigan, the judicial system finally determined that she was not harmed by the vote and did not have the legal standing to request this statewide recount in the first place. When the Michigan Supreme Court denied Jill Steins final recount appeal on Friday night, the recounting of votes, which was suspended earlier in the week by a federal judge , officially ended.Sure, more rallies and protests are planned, final vote tallies will be recorded in Wisconsin, and court rulings are still planned in Pennsylvania, but the clean-up crews are starting to assemble with federal election deadlines fast-approaching In Grand Rapids, Mich., President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his view that the recount attempt was a ploy by Stein to raise money. I heard a half hour ago, we totally won it. Not that we care about that.Steins attorney Mark Brewer said he was disappointed but not surprised by the ruling from what he called a very partisan court.I think theyre wrong, and they just made up a new standard of law solely for the purpose of this case, Brewer said of the determination that Stein was not an aggrieved candidate. This is now going to affect every other recount going forward.Back at the beginning of this post-election process, I offered 10 problems with these recounts and why this entire episode was a bad idea in my The Trouble With Recounts in the Name of Hacking. Many of same arguments were used by politicians from the right and left as well as by the judges who ruled in the lawsuits.Nevertheless, these recount events happened. It is time to move on and try to make lemonade out of these lemons. So, in that line of thinking, what are our takeaways? I know there will be books and white papers and many journal articles written on 2016 recount lessons learned, but here are my initial thoughts.I have grouped nine items into three groups of three that I have placed under the headings of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.Thankfully, (federal judge) Goldsmith agreed : The vulnerability of our system of voting poses the threat of a potentially devastating attack on the integrity of our election system. But invoking a courts aid to remedy that problem in the manner plaintiffs have chosen  seeking a recount as an audit of the election to test whether the vulnerability led to actual compromise of the voting system  has never been endorsed by any court, and would require, at a minimum, evidence of significant fraud or mistake  and not speculative fear of them. Such evidence has not been presented here.I think this point is key, since there are millions of vulnerabilities of all types of computer systems in the world  and an endless number of IoT devices and vulnerabilities are coming soon. No doubt, we can show many ways to hack many devices in labs, and companies must take these matters seriously. Still, to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on recounts in America, was not the best use of our precious resources regarding this endeavor.As I predicted, this recount process became a significant global side-show that received plenty of attention and international and local media coverage  with thousands of articles and side-stories. For example: the BBC wrote, US election 2016: Could recounts change result? At this point, most people are worn-out by this election, recounts, related hacking claims and certification timelines. The stock market has already decided that Donald Trump has won, and the rally on Wall Street is setting all-time records But I also think that the potential for hacking issue has wider implications for other areas of life. The way that the courts dealt with Jill Steins original hacking claims can tell us how data breach laws, hacking assertions and hacktivist activities might play-out in the courts in coming years.Keep in mind that raising possible concerns about the legitimacy of any data can have devastating impacts on the public trust of many institutions and the people, process and technology used. Thousands will show how various devices have been hacked in labs. Hacking is set to take on an even larger role, as the number of alleged real incidents grows.A lawyer friend once answered a question of mine regarding potential lawsuits in this way: If it moves  sue it. If it doesnt move, move it  then sue it. This legal adage has now moved on to be relevant for elections and recounts and hacking. Next stop  who knows.And beyond election recounts, I suspect that we may not have heard the last of the line: Were you aggrieved?Especially when it comes to hacking.
Awestruck by the immortal musicians lining Fillmore Auditoriums corridors, 25 weeks pregnant Stars female vocalist Amy Millan, glowing and beaming, dedicated the Stars  Fillmore Auditorium performance to Jerry Garcia , who shes sure is still kicking it up there somewhere! The eloquent, Montreal based indie pop group, shaking its fans from midweek stupor, would have had Jerry crying happy tears this November night.

Time Can Never Kill The True Heart, off Stars  2002 LP Heart, posts Millans velvety vocal against minimalist instrumentation and lyrics ridden with confusion, anxiety, and self-doubt, One step closer to the sea wall / looking down, you can see allone heart but the mind was in two / one half filled with the dreams of a saint / the other filled with nothing but hate.

Torquil Torq Campbell, Stars  front man, spun thrilling, heated groove on electronic Set Yourself On Fire, hurling white roses into the crowd as he belted with Broadway pomp: In every single place that has ever, ever been / Hiroshima, Los Angeles and each town in between.

Millan donned her tough, resilient persona to contrast vulnerable lyrics on Bitches in Tokyo, as she bets, All this sabotage you bring / well, I can't take it / 'cause I just want you back / I just want you back. The brunette fixed her eyes on the crowd, shouting, Whered you put my heart, San Francisco?

Campbell bantered on about the hardships of being Canadian, mostly regarding the difficulties of satisfying his marijuana hobby while on tour in America. Free merch for anyone that gets Torq pot! Millian teased. Fans looked toward each other, shifty eyed, ready to transact. Your Ex-Lover Is Dead, opening track off fan favorite Set Yourself On Fire, has the blonde front man weaving a tale of ill fated coincidence, God that was strange to see you again / introduced by a friend of a friend / smiled and said yes I think we've met before / in that instant it started to pour. Millan countered, playing off her male counterpart, This scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin / tried to reach deep buy you couldnt get in / now youre outside me you see all the beauty / repent all your sins. As fans erupted in frantic applause, Stars genuflected in respect to the best club in the world, San Francisco, Fillmore!

After confessing that he assaults people with friendship in an attempt to get them to ignore his faults, Torq Campbell launched into synth laden Take Me To The Riot, as chiming guitar met bombastic vocals and dramatic lyrics. Campbell pounded the mic with an infectious chorus, declaring a simultaneously soul pumping and anthemic, Saturday nights in neon lights / Sunday in the cell / pills enough to make me feel ill / cash enough to make me well / take me, take me to the RIIIOOTTTTT!!!! Holding his last note for an eternity across punctuating percussion, the male vocalist threw his arms in the air as girls greeted him with hysterical shrieks seldom heard outside of roller coasters. Torq, drenched, looked down at his soaked shirt and declared: Im sweating like Karl Rove in the Castro!

When the time came, the crowd begged and pleaded for an encore. Echoes of please come back and dont leave us filled the theatre. Suddenly, the auditorium went dark, and Ike Eisenhowers iconic farewell address seeped through the speakers. Perhaps more apropos of Veterans Day than Stars whose native flag has exactly one maple leaf and, ironically, zero stars -may have themselves have realized, the former military general admonished we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influenceby the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists. Chillingly, the septuagenarian President cautions: We should take nothing for granted. The cardigan clad hipster stood agape, eyes wide: So intense man, like Church!

Stars claimed the floral stage once more, armed with a melodica and Torqs death stare for Celebration Gun. A wall of bubbles blew off the stage, as Torquell Campbell and Amy Millan complemented tightly arranged, richly layered shoegaze guitars with scenes of destitution desert wind and a perverse desire to win / history buried in shame, and crippling realities morning's papers, ink stains my fingers/ my hands grow darker everyday / are the beating drums / celebration guns?
A North Carolina Ku Klux Klan group has announced that it will hold a rally May 6 in Asheboro, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
San Jose Police Department / San Jose Police Department

A teacher at a San Jose high school had a months-long relationship with her 17-year-old male student, coercing a minor 15 years her junior with her status as an authority figure, police said Thursday.

The teacher, Trudy Hill, who taught at Santa Teresa High School, a public school in south San Jose, was arrested Thursday after surrendering to detectives, according to the San Jose Police Department.
Actors and actresses are praised for their gaze-gripping action scenes, but typically there is a stuntman or woman behind the most action-packed scenes.

These brave souls are often looked over when the final product comes through, but we should all take a moment to acknowledge the physically and mentally challenging work they all do. After all, not everyone could jump off of a four story building to the ground or have a fight on a fly helicopter.
The big news in the fashion world this week was the announcement that Bella Hadid is following in her sister Gigi's footsteps, right down the runway for Victoria's Secret.

The 20-year-old model will appear in the fashion show airing Dec. 5 alongside her big sister Gigi. Gigi made her debut with VS last year. Turns out modeling just runs in their genes.
Monkeys should be able to speak if human brain in control: study

(Xinhua) 10:13, December 11, 2016

[File photo]

Monkeys have the vocal tracts to produce human speech sounds, but what they lack is a speech-ready brain, a new study has found.

The study, conducted by researchers from the U.S. and Europe and published this week in the U.S. journal Science Advances, used X-ray video to see within the mouth and throat of macaque monkeys induced to vocalize, eat food, or make facial expressions.

The scientists then used these data to build a computer model of a monkey vocal tract, allowing them to answer the question "what would monkey speech sound like, if a human brain were in control?"

The results showed that monkeys could easily produce many different sounds, enough to produce thousands of distinct words.

For example, monkeys could produce comprehensible vowel sounds -- and even full sentences -- with their vocal tracts if they had the neural ability to speak.

The researchers noted, however, that while monkeys would be understandable to the human ear, they would not sound precisely like humans.

Therefore, the researchers concluded that previous research -- largely based on plaster casts made from the vocal tracts of a monkey cadaver -- underestimates primate vocal abilities and that evolution of human speech capabilities required neural changes rather than an adaptation of vocal anatomy.

"Now nobody can say that it's something about the vocal anatomy that keeps monkeys from being able to speak -- it has to be something in the brain," said Asif Ghazanfar, a professor of psychology at the Princeton University and one of the study leaders.

"Even if this finding only applies to macaque monkeys, it would still debunk the idea that it's the anatomy that limits speech in nonhumans."

Thore Jon Bergman, an assistant professor of psychology and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan, who is familiar with the research but was not involved in it, said that the research could help narrow down the origin of human speech.

"It looks like mainly neuro-cognitive -- as opposed to anatomical -- differences contribute to the broader range of sounds we produce relative to other primates," Bergman said in a statement released by the Princeton University.

"An important part of understanding human uniqueness is to know what our relatives do," he said. "This study shows that the anatomical capability to make a variety of sounds, as we do with speech, was present long ago. This is useful for understanding the starting point for the evolution of language."
Opioid deaths continued to surge in 2015, surpassing 30,000 for the first time in recent history, according to CDC data released Thursday.

That marks an increase of nearly 5,000 deaths from 2014. Deaths involving powerful synthetic opiates, like fentanyl, rose by nearly 75 percent from 2014 to 2015.

Heroin deaths spiked too, rising by more than 2,000 cases. For the first time since at least the late 1990s, there were more deaths due to heroin than to traditional opioid painkillers, like hydrocodone and oxycodone.

In the CDC's opioid death data, deaths may involve more than one individual drug category. Many opioid fatalities involve a combination of drugs, often multiple types of opioids, or opioids in conjunction with other sedative drugs like alcohol.

In a grim milestone, more people died from heroin-related causes than from gun homicides in 2015. As recently as 2007, gun homicides outnumbered heroin deaths by more than five to one.

These increases come amidst a year-over-year increase in mortality across the board, resulting in the first decline in American life expectancy since 1993.

Congress recently passed a spending bill containing $1 billion to combat the opioid epidemic, including money for addiction treatment and prevention.

Much of the current opioid predicament stems from the explosion of prescription painkiller use in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Widespread painkiller use led to many Americans developing dependencies on the drugs. When various authorities at the state and federal level began issuing tighter restrictions on painkillers in the late 2000s, much of that demand shifted over to the illicit market, feeding the heroin boom of the past several years.

Drug policy reformers say the criminalization of illicit and off-label drug use is a barrier to reversing the growing epidemic.

"Criminalization drives people to the margins and dissuades them from getting help," said Grant Smith, deputy director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance. "It drives a wedge between people who need help and the services they need. Because of criminalization and stigma, people hide their addictions from others."
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos gives a speech after receiving the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize at an awarding ceremony in Oslo, Norway, Dec. 10, 2016. Juan Manuel Santos received the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize on Saturday for his efforts to bring his country's five-decade-long civil war to an end. [Photo: Xinhua/Zhang Shuhui]

A grand Nobel Prize Awards issuing ceremony have been held in Stockholm Concert Hall by the Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf in front of over one thousand scientists, politicians dignatories and royal guests. CRI's Chen Xuefei has more from Stockholm.

Professor Carl-Henrik Heldin, Chairman of the Board of the Nobel Foundation said that he is worried about the current world.

"Just as in the era of Alfred Nobel, today there is dark cloud in the sky around the world, terrorist acts are a part of many people's daily lives, and wars are underway in many places. International cooperation and cross-border movements and openness are being criticized, science and knowledge are being questioned, for example regarding climate issue being one recent issue. Leading politicians both in Europe and the US are winning votes by denying the knowledge and scientific truth. "

Heldin said that the Nobel Prize is very important because Nobel prizes have been rewarded to those who help fight against poverty, are committed to scientific discoveries, authors of literature and verse, as well as political leaders contributing to peace.

"Alfred Nobel wanted to reward those who confer the greatest benefit to mankind. He understood the power of example, and this is the central concept behind his will. Good role models show their work through words and deeds, proving that it is possible to understand the world and to improve it. They confirm that people can tackle the biggest challenges of our era. Doing so requires creative and innovative individuals who are willing to take the lead to find the solutions and broaden our awareness. And he wanted us to be inspired by the Nobel Laureates and what they have achieved for humanity. "

This year's Nobel laureates include Professor David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz in physics, Professor Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa in chemistry, professor Yoshinori Ohsumi in medicine, and Professor Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom in economic sciences. They received their Nobel medals and diplomas from the hands of Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Nobel prize Laureate in Literature Bob Dylan failed to attend the awards ceremony, but his famous song "A hard Rain's Gonna fall" was sung by Patti Smith.

Earlier in the day Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos received his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.

Except Santos, the Nobel Laureates all attended a grand banquet together with the Swedish King and Queen in the famous City Hall of Stockholm.

It has been a great tradition and a true showcase for Swedish fashion in combination with science and art.




Haiti - Religion : Mass of consecration at the Cathedral of Sainte Anne of Anse-a-Veau





Saturday, de facto President Jocelerme Privert participated in the Mass of Consecration of the Diocese at the Sacred Heart of Jesus and at the Immaculate Heart of Mary, held at the parish of the Cathedral of St. Anne of Anse-a-Veau (Nippes). The religious ceremony took place in the presence of notables, national and regional politicians as well as a foreign delegation and several hundred Catholic faithful.



In his homily for teh occasion, the chief celebrant, Archbishop Pierre Andre Dumas, preached "mercy, peace, love and joy among the Catholic faithful in particular and the Haitians in general." He called them to put love at the center of their lives "Because love is this vocation that God has given us", also advocating "a culture of solidarity and concord" between them.



In his prayer of consecration, Jocelerme Privert handed over "the Government, public officials and all citizens to the protection of Almighty God". He also offered to the Lord the decisions of the public administration, so that they would always be taken "for the good of the people and inspired by the values of the Gospel."



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Thomas C. Oden, respected editor, researcher, author, and one of the most gifted ecumenical scholars of our time, passed away Thursday morning, December 8, 2016, at the age of eighty-five.

"Tom Oden was unique among evangelical theologians," said Dan Reid, associate publisher and IVP Academic editorial director. "At IVP Academic we look back on our long association with Tom Oden with great thankfulness and no small degree of wonder. We always felt we were caught up into something much bigger than ourselves, just as we felt Tom Oden was himself carried along by Spirit and providence. We are immensely grateful for the life of Thomas C. Oden and feel privileged to have shared in fulfilling a portion of his visionary faith, and the energy with which he lived it out."

Oden, known most recently for his advocacy for the rebirth of modern orthodoxy, spent his career researching, creating, and editing volumes that tied the modern church to its ancient and historical roots. He was the general editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and the Ancient Christian Doctrine series as well as the author of Classic Christianity, a revision of his three-volume systematic theology. Until his death, he served as the director of the Center for Early African Christianity at Eastern University in Pennsylvania.

"Tom Oden had a mind and heart that never rested," said Andrew T. Le Peau, former associate publisher for editorial at InterVarsity Press. "He was always exploring what new things God was up to in the world, ultimately realizing that it was what God had been doing from ancient times to the present. His unusually entrepreneurial intellect and his warmth of spirit will be dearly missed."

Oden wrote and edited hundreds of books, articles, and essays and gave speeches on such topics as church and the world, church controversies, evangelicalism, Kierkegaard, the Methodist church, church discipline, John Wesley, postmodernism, and more. His first volume with InterVarsity Press was Two Worlds (1992), which discussed the dichotomy of perishing modernity and emerging postmodernity and their impact on Christianity. He quickly followed this with the launch of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture in 1998, forever changing the face of IVP's publishing program.

"When in the 1990s he contacted IVP about a proposed commentary series drawing from the church fathers, his contagious enthusiasm carried us along into one of the most exciting chapters in our academic publishing history," said Reid. "The launch of the twenty-nine volume Ancient Christian Commentary was the immediate result, but there followed the Ancient Christian Doctrine series, the Ancient Christian Texts series, and the Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity. And mixed into these massive initiatives were his explorations of early African Christianity. Oden had drunk deeply from the springs of the early church, and his visionary and entrepreneurial instincts seemed to require an entourage of editors, scholars, and graduate students to channel his ever-expanding vision into reality."

The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture was the recipient of many awards, including the 1999 Christianity Today book award winner for Mark, the inaugural volume in the series. J. I. Packer praised the whole, writing, "The conspectus of patristic exposition that this series offers has been badly needed for several centuries, and the whole Christian world should unite to thank IVP for undertaking to fill the gap. For the ongoing ecumenical conversation, and the accurate application of early Christian thought, and the current hermeneutical debate as well, the Ancient Christian Commentary will prove itself to be a really indispensable resource."

"Tom was my Doktorvater in historical and systematic theology and passed on to me and generations of students his great love of the Triune God and the ancient legacy of patristic exegetical and Trinitarian theology," said Joel Scandrett, assistant professor of historical theology and director of the Robert E. Webber Center at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA. "As a first-year doctoral student, he asked me to be his teaching assistant in theology, and to help him organize a little project called the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. I am forever in his debt, in more ways than I can number."

Oden's lifetime of work reveals that Christians need to rely upon the wisdom of the historical church, particularly the early church, rather than exclusively on modern scholarship and theology. In his 1992 volume After Modernity... What? he called for churches "to begin to prepare the postmodern Christian community for its third millennium by returning again to the careful study and respectful following of the central tradition of classical Christianity."

"It was my distinct pleasure to work with Tom Oden on the formation of the Ancient Christian Commentary book club in the late 1990s," said Jeff Crosby, publisher, InterVarsity Press. "Even more, it was a privilege to learn from his journey of faith and style of scholarship that engaged students and the church across such a wide spectrum of traditions and which called for and helped realize a 'rebirth of orthodoxy.' He will be missed."

In Oden's memoir, A Change of Heart, he writes, "I regard my serious readers as a great blessing because they have proven to be more important than thousands of standby observers. I still follow the hope of Kierkegaard in his authorship that he might reach out for 'that one single individual.' I feel as he did, that if I have only one, a single truly listening reader, I will be grateful. And I know the angels will be singing."

Oden served as the Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology and Ethics at Drew University in New Jersey from 1980 until his retirement in 2004. Oden received a BA from the University of Oklahoma (1953) and a BD from Southern Methodist University (1956), earned his MA (1958) and PhD (1960) from Yale University, and a doctor of letters from Asbury College (1990).

Oden had a long teaching career, which included positions at Yale University, Southern Methodist University, Phillips University, Texas Medical School, Princeton Theological Seminary, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the School of Theology at Claremont, the General Theological Seminary, and Drew University. He also held positions at Ruprecht Karl University in Heidelberg, Germany, the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, and Moscow State University.

Throughout his career, Oden also served in many professional and political organizations, including the American Theological Society, American Academy of Religion, Phi Beta Kappa, American Society for Christian Ethics, Rotary Club, Americans for Democratic Action, World Federalist Movement, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples. He observed the Vatican Council II (1965) and participated in the White House Conference on Urban Initiatives (1985), peace walks, demonstrations, and many other religious and political conferences. Additionally, Oden was active in the Confessing Movement in America until his passing, particularly within the United Methodist Church.

Tags : thomas c oden thomas c. oden death thomas c. oden funeral thomas c. oden news
Published on 2016/12/08 | Source

Go Sun-woong's "Escape_Time to Breathe" which is the 36th 'This Year's Best Artist Award' hosted by the Korean Art Critic Council, will be held at the KB Sky Theater from the 9th.

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"Escape_Time to Breathe" is based on the interviews of North Korean defects. The play starts off with the question, "Are the lives of these people who risked their lives to start a new life happy in South Korea?" North Korean sisters Mi-seon and Mi-yeon tell the story of adjusting to a new system, poverty and social criticism.

This generation's storyteller Go Sun-woong took down the fence between stage and audience to deliver a more realistic story of the defects. In the first 40 minutes of the play, the story unravels in silence and intensity.

Go Sun-woong says, "The KB Theater is most appropriate for the play as it's round. The energy of the actors on stage and the unique layout of the theater will create a new piece of work".

"Escape_Time to Breathe" will be live from December 25th to January 9th.
Published on 2016/12/11 | Source

Korean cosmetics companies are giving a fillip to the country's shrinking exports as they remain wildly popular especially among Chinese customers.

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Amore Pacific and LG Household and Health Care were honored by the government on Monday for surpassing US$200 million in exports a year (US$1=W1,172).

Amore exported $284.95 million worth of products from June 2015 to May 2016, up 45 percent from a year earlier. LG posted $270 million in exports.

"We received an award for surpassing $100 million in exports in 2013, and we broke the $200-million mark in just three years", a staffer at Amore Pacific said. "Our strategy to target Asia and North America with our leading brands such as Sulwhasoo and Laneige paid off".

Amore Pacific has local offices in 14 countries including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and the U.S.
Published on 2016/12/11 | Source

Soprano Park Hye-sang will make her debut in Korea in Charles Gounod's opera Romeo et Juliette based on William Shakespeare's play.

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The opera will be performed on Dec. 8 to 11 in Seoul to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

Park graduated from Seoul National University and studied at the Juilliard School in New York.

As soon as she was cast for the role of Juliette last summer, Park left New York for Paris to take an intensive French language course and some private lessons at the Opera Bastille.

"My dream came true as I have eagerly wanted to play the role for years", Park said. "I will do my best to nail it".
Published on 2016/12/11 | Source

An outdoor ice park will open for the winter in Yeouido, Seoul on Friday.

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The park operates between 10 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. until Feb. 17 next year and offers places to skate and sled, as well as a snow playground.

For safety, a maximum of 400 people are allowed inside the ice rink at any one time.

Admission fees for skaters are W1,000 for one-and-a-half hours and W2,000 for one day (US$1=W1,172). Sledders will be charged W2,000 for two hours and W3,000 for the whole day. Skates and helmets can be rented for a separate fee of W1,000.

Visitors can opt to pay W5,000 to use both facilities all day long, or W50,000 for the winter season. A 10 percent discount will be offered to groups of 20 people or more.

The ice rink in front of Seoul City Hall is closed this year due to weekly protests against President Park Geun-hye, which are now in their sixth straight week.

Read this article in Korean
China is seriously concerned and makes "solemn representations" regarding an incident on Saturday where Japanese fighter jets closely harassed and shot decoy projectiles at Chinese air force planes, Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said in a press release.

The incident occurred when Chinese air force planes were passing through the Miyako Strait to conduct a regular exercise over the West Pacific Ocean, Yang said.

Japan scrambled two F-15 fighter jets to intercept the Chinese planes, endangering the safety of the Chinese planes and its pilots.

Chinese pilots reacted quickly, and continued to carry out the related exercise, Yang said.

The Miyako Strait is a universally acknowledged international flight passage, Yang said. The exercise had been planned within this years air force training routine. It does not target any specific country nor objective and it adheres to international law and practices.

The reactions from the Japanese jets were dangerous and unprofessional. It disturbed the flight freedom granted by international law, Yang added.

Numerous interference by Japanese fleets and planes in recent years could easily lead to misunderstanding and misjudgment, causing friction or even conflict in the air and at sea, Yang said.

We urge Japan to bear maintaining regional security and the big picture of Sino-Japanese relations in mind, Yang said. And to take effective measures to prevent security issues in the air and at sea.
Reaching Back into the Past, Part 1

by Tom Yamachika, President Tax Foundation Hawaii

Imagine that you are a business in this scenario.

Its the mid-1990s. You would like to begin operations in the State of Washington. You research the rules and you find that Washington has a tax on business (which is called the Business and Occupations Tax, and is very similar to the Hawaii General Excise Tax). However, there is an exemption from the tax if your business in the state is exclusively through a local agent. The exemption has been on the books since 1983. You ask the Washington Department of Revenue for a ruling on whether this exemption would apply to you if you did this, and they say in 1996 that it does.

At the turn of the century, the Department of Revenue hands out a notice to you and those in your industry. It says that the Department is changing its mind about how the exemption works. Consequently, the ruling that you have is no longer worth the paper its printed on. A couple of years later, you get audited. The Department denies the exemption. You decide that you arent going to simply roll over and take this punishment, so you file suit.

In 2009, the Supreme Court of Washington rules that the exemption you were relying on is clear, and that you qualified for it. (There is some question as to how clear the statute actually is. The trial court ruled for the Department on this issue, the Washington Court of Appeals came to the same decision, and the Washington Supreme Courts decision was the result of a 5-4 vote.) The years involved in the litigation are tax years 2000 to 2006.

The Department of Revenue, however, doesnt stop there. It goes to the Washington Legislature and asks them to declare that the dumb old court was wrong, and that the statute means now, and always has meant, what the Department has concluded. In other words, the Department asked the Legislature to pass a bill to change the exemption law, retroactive to the date the exemption was originally passed. Again, this is now 2010, and the bill is retroactive to 1983. (Only one of the 147 current legislators was also a legislator in 1983.) The Department argues that unless the bill is passed, the Supreme Courts horrid decision will saddle the State with large and devastating revenue losses. The bill is passed, and signed into law.

You now get audited for years 2007 to present, and the Department is adamant that the revised law applies. You scream bloody murder, and are back in the courts. In 2016, the Washington Supreme Court upholds the law, ruling that the Legislature needs a good reason to enact retroactive laws, but the prospect of debilitating revenue losses was a good reason. If thats a good reason, you argue, will there ever be a tax case without a good reason? You go to the U.S. Supreme Court, thinking that one good definition of Due Process violation is your case.

The ending to this story has not yet been written. Its now in the queue for consideration. Dot Foods, Inc. v. Washington Department of Revenue, No. 16-308.

If Dot Foods loses, none of us is safe. We all make decisions about how to conduct our affairs based on the rules that the government lays out before us. If we properly rely on those rules, should our government be able to upend them years later with a shout of, You believed us when we told you it was okay? What a dummy!

And what does this say about the role of the courts? Does the court decision mean anything when the losing agency can just go to the legislature to have a do-over no matter how much time has elapsed in the meantime?

Our constitutions need to be there to stop outrages like this from ever happening. Lets see if the case will play out that way.

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VIDEO: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Introduces Legislation to Stop Arming Terrorists

News Release From Office of Rep Tulsi Gabbard December 8, 2016

Washington, DCRep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) introduced the Stop Arming Terrorists Act today. The legislation would prohibit the U.S. government from using American taxpayer dollars to provide funding, weapons, training, and intelligence support to groups like the Levant Front, Fursan al Ha and other allies of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, al-Qaeda and ISIS, or to countries who are providing direct or indirect support to those same groups.

The legislation is cosponsored by Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT-AL), Barbara Lee (D-CA-13), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA-48), and Thomas Massie (R-KT-04), and supported by the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and the U.S. Peace Council.

Video of Rep. Tulsi Gabbards speech on the House floor is available here

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said, Under U.S. law it is illegal for any American to provide money or assistance to al-Qaeda, ISIS or other terrorist groups. If you or I gave money, weapons or support to al-Qaeda or ISIS, we would be thrown in jail. Yet the U.S. government has been violating this law for years, quietly supporting allies and partners of al-Qaeda, ISIL, Jabhat Fateh al Sham and other terrorist groups with money, weapons, and intelligence support, in their fight to overthrow the Syrian government.[i]

The CIA has also been funneling weapons and money through Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and others who provide direct and indirect support to groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda. This support has allowed al-Qaeda and their fellow terrorist organizations to establish strongholds throughout Syria, including in Aleppo.

A recent New York Times article confirmed that rebel groups supported by the U.S. have entered into battlefield alliances with the affiliate of al-Qaeda in Syria, formerly known as al Nusra. This alliance has rendered the phrase moderate rebels meaningless. Reports confirm that every armed anti-Assad organization unit in those provinces [of Idlib and Aleppo] is engaged in a military structure controlled by [al-Qaedas] Nusra militants.

A recent Wall Street Journal article reported that many rebel groups are doubling down on their alliance with al Nusra. Some rebel groups are renewing their alliance, while others, like Nour al-Din al-Zinki, a former CIA-backed group and one of the largest factions in Aleppo are joining for the first time. The Syria Conquest Frontformerly known as the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Frontis deeply intermingled with armed opposition groups of all stripes across Syrias battlefields.

The CIA has long been supporting a group called Fursan al Haqq, providing them with salaries, weapons and support, including surface to air missiles. This group is cooperating with and fighting alongside an al-Qaeda affiliated group trying to overthrow the Syrian government. The Levant Front is another so-called moderate umbrella group of Syrian opposition fighters. Over the past year, the United States has been working with Turkey to give this group intelligence support and other forms of military assistance. This group has joined forces with al-Qaedas offshoot group in Syria.

This madness must end. We must stop arming terrorists. The Government must end this hypocrisy and abide by the same laws that apply to its citizens.

That is why Ive introduced the Stop Arming Terrorists billlegislation based on congressional action during the Iran-Contra affair to stop the CIAs illegal arming of rebels in Nicaragua. It will prohibit any Federal agency from using taxpayer dollars to provide weapons, cash, intelligence, or any support to al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups, and it will prohibit the government from funneling money and weapons through other countries who are directly or indirectly supporting terrorists, concluded Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

Stephen Kinzer, a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University, and award-winning author and journalist said, The proposal to stop sending weapons to insurgents in Syria is based on the principle that pouring arms into a war zone only intensifies suffering and makes peace more difficult to achieve. Congress made a decision like this about the Nicaraguan contras during the 1980s. Aid to the contras was cut off by the Boland Amendment. The result was a peace process that finally brought an end to wars not only in Nicaragua, but also in El Salvador and Guatemala. This is the example we should be following. Cutting off arms shipments forces belligerents to negotiate. That is what we achieved in Nicaragua. It should be our goal in Syria as well.

Donna Smith, Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America said, "Progressive Democrats of America believes that it is fundamentally wrong for the United States to fund those groups or individuals aligned with al-Qaeda, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, ISIS, or other terrorist/extremist organizations. The 'Stop Arming Terrorists' bill authored by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, of Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District, would help bring an end to the human tragedy unfolding in Syria where the haunting eyes of the innocent children of Aleppo call on us all to stop supporting those who threaten and kill them with ferocious intention. War is war, and terrorism is terrorism whether waged by the state or from external forces. PDA supports this measure."

Alfred Marder, President of the U.S. Peace Council said, The U.S. Peace Council is honored to endorse and support the Stop Arming Terrorists Bill as a major contribution to peace. This legislation will serve to galvanize the anti-war movement and the opposition to regime change policies that characterize our present foreign policy.

Background: The Stop Arming Terrorists bill prohibits U.S. government funds from being used to support al-Qaeda, ISIS or other terrorist groups. In the same way that Congress passed the Boland Amendment to prohibit the funding and support to CIA backed-Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s, this bill would stop CIA or other Federal government activities in places like Syria by ensuring U.S. funds are not used to support al-Qaeda, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, ISIS, or other terrorist groups working with them. It would also prohibit the Federal government from funding assistance to countries that are directly or indirectly supporting those terrorist groups. The bill achieves this by:

Making it illegal for any U.S. Federal government funds to be used to provide assistance covered in this bill to terrorists. The assistance covered includes weapons, munitions, weapons platforms, intelligence, logistics, training, and cash. Making it illegal for the U.S. government to provide assistance covered in the bill to any nation that has given or continues to give such assistance to terrorists. Requiring the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to determine the individual and groups that should be considered terrorists, for the purposes of this bill, by determining: (a) the individuals and groups that are associated with, affiliated with, adherents to or cooperating with al-Qaeda, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, or ISIS; (b) the countries that are providing assistance covered in this bill to those individuals or groups. Requiring the DNI to review and update the list of countries and groups to which assistance is prohibited every six months, in consultation with the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees, as well as the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Requiring the DNI to brief Congress on the determinations.

###

[i] Levant Front (U.S. backed, via the MOC in Turkey) is working under an Ahrar al Sham led umbrella group: http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/December%202%20EDITS%20COT_2.pdf ; U.S. support for Levant Front: http://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/57605?lang=en ; CIA groups cooperated with Jayesh al-Fateh http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/01/19/the-cia-s-syria-program-and-the-perils-of-proxies.html; U.S. weapons arriving in Syria through covert, CIA-led program, via Saudi Arabia and Turkey; CIA can provide support http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-syria-obama-order-idUSBRE8701OK20120802

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MP: Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard Spearheads Effort To Cut US Funding To ISIS, Al-Qaida


[File photo: Rex Tillerson]

U.S. President-elect Trump is expected to nominate Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, NBC News reported on Saturday, quoting two sources close to the transition process.

However, NBC reported that the unnamed sources cautioned that nothing is final till Trump officially announces the pick probably next week.

Tillerson, 64, is the Texas-based oil company's CEO since 2006 and had moved ahead of other candidates for the position of the country's top diplomat after former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, once a favorite to be the next U.S. secretary of state, dropped out of the competition on Friday.

Meanwhile, NBC quoted one source as saying that former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton would be deputy secretary of state "for day-to-day management of the department."

Like Trump, Tillerson has no government experience and so far little is known of Tillerson's views about foreign affairs.

The Wall Street Journal quoted sources as saying that Tillerson's initial emergence as a candidate for the country's top diplomat surprised senior Exxon officials, including Tillerson himself.

But in Tillerson, a seasoned business executive, some Trump advisers saw a "mold-breaking pick who would bring an executive's experience to the diplomatic role," the Journal reported.

As Exxon's CEO, Tillerson, set to retire from the company in 2017, oversees business operations in over 50 countries and has known Russian President Vladimir Putin since 1990s when they first met.

Tillerson was awarded Russia's Order of Friendship in 2013, a state decoration to reward foreign nationals whose work is aimed at the betterment of relations with Russia.

Tillerson joined Exxon in 1975 and has spent his entire career at the company.




We're a family of seven living in Georgia where Andrew's working as a professor at GSU. You can read more about us here
(Xinhua) 14:21, December 11, 2016

An election for the committee which is responsible for choosing the next Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong began on Sunday, during which more than 230,000 registered voters can cast their votes.

According to the Hong Kong Basic Law, the chief executive shall be elected by a broadly representative Election Committee and appointed by the Central People's Government. The committee is composed of 1,200 members under 38 subsectors.

A total of 1,239 candidates run for 733 seats in 25 subsectors/sub-subsectors on Sunday's polling day. Up to 110 ordinary polling stations and two dedicated polling stations set up at police stations are open from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. local time for voters in the contested subsectors/ sub-subsectors to cast their votes.

The Electoral Affairs Commission of Hong Kong earlier announced that polls will be only conducted for 25 subsectors/sub-subsectors. For the other 13 subsectors/sub-subsectors, the number of validly nominated candidates in each of them does not exceed the number of committee members allocated. Therefore, 467 seats were returned uncontested.

The committee members come from four main social sectors, including 300 from Industrial, commercial and financial sectors; 300 from the professionals; 300 from the labor, social services, religious and other sectors; and 300 from members of the Legislative Council, representatives of members of the District Councils, representatives of the Heung Yee Kuk, Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress, and representatives of Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
(Xinhua) 15:12, December 11, 2016

Trade between the world's two largest economies has shown signs of improvement as the U.S. trade deficit with China, a long-term U.S. concern, narrowed significantly in October.

In October, U.S. exports to China reached a three-year high of 13 billion U.S. dollars, contributing to the month's 4.2 percent decrease in the trade deficit with China, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

The U.S. overall trade gap for the month grew 17.8 percent, the biggest increase since March 2015, to 42.6 billion dollars from the surprisingly low September deficit, data from the department showed.

China's measures to promote steady economic growth have contributed to the growing consumer appetite for U.S. imported goods, said Bai Ming, researcher with an institution affiliated with the Ministry of Commerce.

Chinese figures show that the nation's trade surplus with the U.S. has been growing since 2000, reaching 42.1 billion dollars in 2002 and surpassing 200 billion dollars in the January-November period of this year.

The growth has slowed in recent years, with just a 0.9 percent year-on-year increase in the first eleven months of this year, largely due to improvement of the trade balance between the two countries, experts have said.

With the transfer of processing trade, the main source of trade surplus between China and the United States, to other regions such as Southeast Asia, the trade gap between the two countries has narrowed in recent years, said Zhang Yansheng, head researcher with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

Customs data show that China has been the world's second largest importer for seven consecutive years, with its imports standing at 1.68 trillion dollars in 2015.

The nation's total imports are expected to reach 8 trillion U.S. dollars in the next five years.

In the first eleven months, China's overall trade surplus narrowed to 3.11 trillion yuan (about 457 billion U.S. dollars), down 5.8 percent from the previous year, latest customs data show.

China is pursuing an overall trade balance rather than addressing its trade imbalance with any particular country, experts have said.

During U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's campaign trail, he promised to bring back lost manufacturing jobs by renegotiating free trade deals and levying hefty tariffs on trade partners.

Though the remarks were aimed at appealing to voters, they show the growing tendency of protectionism in the United States, which will hurt itself as well as its trade partners, Bai said.

Trade between China and the United States reached 558.4 billion dollars in 2015, hundreds of times greater than in 1979 when China-U.S. diplomatic relations were established. The United States has become China's second largest trade partner while China is the U.S.' largest trade partner.

China-U.S. trade rose at an average annual growth rate of over 7 percent in recent years in defiance of the global downturn after the 2008 financial crisis.

U.S. goods and services, including 22 percent of its cotton, 26 percent of Boeing airplanes and 56 percent of its soybean, were sold to China, creating nearly a million jobs for the exporter.

For a long time, U.S. exports to China were mostly primary goods and agricultural products, but not products where the United States had a comparative advantage such as high-tech products, Zhang said.

To narrow the U.S. trade deficit with China, the United States should relax its restrictions on the export of high-tech goods to China, and combine its technology and experience with China's competitive equipment and industries, Bai said.

The two sides can also jointly develop the third-party markets and continue to promote trade in services, which will help balance bilateral trade, Bai added.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 33 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Dec. 11.

Armenian army was using mortars and large-caliber machine guns.

Armenian armed forces, located in Barekamavan village of Ijevan district and Chinari village of Berd district subjected to fire the positions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces located in Gizilahjili village of Gazakh district and Aghbulag village of Tovuz district.

The positions of Azerbaijan's Armed Forces were also fired from positions of Armenian military units located near to the occupied Goyarkh village of Tartar district, Shirvanli village of Aghdam district, Kuropatkino village of Khojavand district, Horadiz, Garakhanbayli villages of Fuzuli district, Mehdili village of Jabrayil district, as well as from positions located on the nameless heights in Tartar, Khojavand, Fuzuli and Jabrayil 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.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11

Trend:

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev has offered condolences to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan over casualties and injuries as a result of the terrorist attack in Istanbul.

I was deeply saddened by the news of heavy casualties and injuries as a result of a terror attack committed in the Besiktas district of Istanbul, said President Aliyev in his letter.

We condemn this terror attack, and consider it important to carry out a joint and resolute struggle against all manifestations of terrorism, he noted. On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my deepest condolences to you, the bereaved families, loved ones of those who died and the brotherly people of Turkey, and wish the injured the swiftest possible recovery.

May Allah rest the souls of the dead in peace! added President Ilham Aliyev.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11

Trend:

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry has condemned the terrorist attack committed in Istanbul, Turkey.

We condemn in strongest terms the bloody terror act perpetrated in Besiktas region of Istanbul, which caused for many deaths and injuries, Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

We convey our heartfelt condolences to the families who lost their loved ones as a result of this treacherous terror act, and the brotherly People of Turkey, share their sorrow and wish speedy recovery to the wounded, reads the statement. We reiterate our solidarity with the brotherly Turkey.

As a state suffering from terrorism, Azerbaijan firmly condemns all forms and manifestations of terrorism and supports the efforts of the international community in the fight against terrorism, the statement said.
Candidates with no legislative history not uncommon

Maryland's candidates for governor do not have long legislative records. Wes Moore has none at all. Analysis shows that is not uncommon.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11



By Farhad Daneshvar  Trend:

Irans aviation system is likely to witness a considerable boom in its capacity for carrying passengers following a deal reportedly inked between the countrys flag carrier, Iran Air, and the US aircraft maker, Boeing, on December 11.



Iranian Transportation Minister Abbas Akhoundi has said that the Sundays historic deal is expected to double the Iranian flag carriers capacity for carrying passengers, the official news website of the Iranian government reported.



The number of purchased seats through the deal equals to 50,000 which amounts to over two-folds of the existing seats in the countrys whole aviation fleet, the minister said in a statement issued after finalizing the aircraft deal on Sunday.



Elaborating on the countrys plans to renew its aviation fleet the minister said that a much awaited contract for purchasing 100 Airbus planes as well as 20 ATR planes is expected to be finalized soon.



The minister further announced plans to offer the shares of the flag carrier airline through the domestic and international stock exchanges after obtaining the required permissions.



Earlier on the same day Iran announced that it has finalized a $16.6 billion deal with Boeing for purchasing 80 passenger aircraft.



The head of Iran Air, Farhad Parvaresh, has said that the contract envisages purchasing 50 Boeing 737 aircraft and 30 Boeing 777 planes.


Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:



A high-ranking Russian delegation including two ministers has arrived in Iranian capital city of Tehran to discuss expansion of bilateral trade ties.



Mehdi Mohtashami, an Iranian deputy ICT minister, has said that the 13th meeting of Iran-Russia Joint Economic Commission was launched this morning in Tehran, Tasnim news agency reported.



The 590- member delegation will attend several meetings with Iranian counterparts to discuss ways for expansion of ties in various areas, the report said.



According to the official the trade turnover between the two countries currently stands at $1.5 billon which is expected to hit $2.5 billion over the next year.

According to the deputy minister, Russia is expected to invest in several projects in Iran including the construction of two thermal power plants in southern parts of the country as well as a project on the electrification of a railroad in north eastern Iran.



In the meantime, Iranian media outlets have reported that Russias Energy Minister Alexander Novak would visit the Islamic Republic on Tuesday for talks on ways to expand Iran-Russia energy relations.
HICKORY -- For more than a decade, St. Stephens High School art students have supported the national Empty Bowls program meant to help end hunger in local communities. This year, St. Stephen's visual arts teacher Lori Deal-Flynn is expanding the reach of the program.

At the beginning of the school year, I presented a plan to our National Art Honor Society members to increase the amount of money we raise for the soup kitchens (in Hickory and Newton), Flynn said in an email to The Record. The plan included asking all area high schools (Catawba County, Newton-Conover, and Hickory City) to collaborate with us on the Empty Bowls Project.

Bunker Hill Highs visual art teacher Jana Farris and the schools principal didn't hesitate to volunteer their help. Farris recently had her Beginning Visual Design class making pots.

This was something I was involved in when I was in college in Pennsylvania, Farris said. I just think its a great thing.

It combines helping people and the kids get to see how they can make a difference in the community and then its art.

The Empty Bowls Program started 25 years ago by Imagine Render, a non-profit organization that strives to create positive and lasting social change through the arts, education and projects that build community, according to emptybowls.net.

At an event, guests pay to select a bowl  they also get to keep  made by pottery students and then enjoy a simple meal together.

St. Stephens High will host the local Empty Bowls Event on Feb. 25, with proceeds going to support The Corner Table in Newton and The Hickory Soup Kitchen. Tickets will go on sale in January.

Farris decided to get a jump on getting bowls ready with her beginners art class this month since the pottery class doesnt start until January. Theyre using clay coils to build their bowls and shes hoping to get 60 made in time for the event.

Bunker Hill freshman Kashia Her said she was excited to combine art with helping others.

I really like to help those in need  after I heard were doing this not just because of eating but also giving to those who need it, this just became a whole different experience for me, Her said. Its included with art, and thats also my favorite thing to do, so its a mixture of caring and art. Its a good combination.

Farris sees this kind of project expanding her students educational experience by offering greater awareness of their communitys needs.

This is a way for them to help, and its not like they have to go into a homeless shelter where they might be too intimidated, or they wouldnt have the opportunity to do it, she said. This way they can still help with that and be aware there is a need for this kind of thing. Flynn is also planning on making some other changes for Empty Bowls this year.

We are seeking business partnerships to help raise funds, increasing the number of bowls from 300 to 500 with an anticipated goal of $10,000, she said.

Flynn added she is also available for presentations to church groups and other civic organizations to discuss the event.

We are also asking for area potters to donate bowls to help increase our inventory. We will take seconds or orphans from their studios, Flynn said.

For more information about the event, email lori_deal-flynn@catawbaschools.net.

Also visit hickorysoupkitchen.org and thecornertable.org (Newton) for more information about the organizations.
An artists work speaks a lot about his journey. A ceramic show by Bhuvnesh Prasad, titled Terracotta to Ceramics, brings to fore his journey from terracotta to ceramic works. The artist, whose interest in terracotta began at the age of 10, believes in experimenting with the medium and is now dabbling in terracotta cookware, that draws inspiration from his ancestral home in Rajasthan where people still use the same.

Prasads works will be displayed in three series. In the first, Transparent Glaze, clay pieces are inspired by the forms and shapes in the universe. This universe is full of forms in space, I have been doing forms and shapes for many years. I began with traditional forms that were done in my family but having assisted other ceramic artists I learnt that in pottery, we can achieve unlimited forms and shapes, explains the National Award-winning artist.

In the second series, Love for Rajasthani Drums, Prasad creates clay pots that are elegant and delicate. His third series, Simplicity of Forms, involves playing with the architecture of the pots. My work is a natural play between clay body, glazing and firing; with temperature ranging from 950-1050c. I do not use any colour glazes. I create colour by using the technique of the reduction glaze  so in my process of creation there are no oxides and no colour, he says.

CATCH IT LIVE WHAT: Terracotta to Ceramics WHERE: Lalit Kala Akademi, Rabindra Bhavan 35, Ferozeshah Road, Delhi ON TILL: December 14 TIMINGS: 11am- 7pm NEAREST METRO STATION: Patel Chowk on Yellow Line

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Breaking his silence on the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal issue, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal has said Punjabs water will not go out of the state.

Responding to the media queries at Jagraon on Sunday, Kejriwal said Punjab doesnt have enough water to meet demands of its own farmers and has no water to spare. Aam Aadmi Party will protect the water of Punjab, he said.

He said the Congress and BJP leaders were giving different statements in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. AAP leaders have a uniform stand on SYL and no water will go out of Punjab, he said.

Later, during the Beiman Bhajao Rally organised by Bains brothers at Dana Mandi here, AAP leader HS Phoolka reiterated the words of Kejriwal ont he issue.

The Congress and SAD-BJP leaders are giving contrasting statements in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, but Kejriwal has frankly stated that Punjab has already less water and only Punjab has the right on its water, Phoolka said.

Slamming chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and other SAD leaders, Phoolka said, It was Shiromani Akali Dal that had acquired land for the SYL canal in 1978 and it is now befooling the people. Chief minister Badal should apologise for acquiring the land for SYL.

Kejriwal said the alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party and Lok Insaaf Party will make Punjab free of drugs and corruption.

After revealing the Swiss bank account numbers of family members of Captain Amarinder Singh, Kejriwal said Captain was still silent on the issue.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

The construction headquarters of IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) has asked Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, to cancel a contract for the purchase of 10 ships from South Korea.

Commander of Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters, brigadier general Ebadollah Abdollahi, asked Rouhani to cancel the contract as soon as possible, Tasnim news agency reported Dec. 11.

He said that the Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters is ready to construct 10 ships on EPCF (Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Installation and Finance) basis with 85 percent finance and 15 percent share of Iranian government.

He added that the South Koreans signed a similar deal, worth $215 million 8 years ago but refused to fulfil their commitments.

Meanwhile, today Iran enjoys the capability to manufacture ships and considering the need to activate the domestic production capacity to confront the unemployment problem it is very surprising that the institutions and organizations sign such contracts with foreign parties, Abdollahi said.

Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has finalized a contract with the South Korean industry giant, Hyundai to buy 10 ships worth $650 million.

Hyundai said that the company will build several container ships and oil tankers for the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines for delivery from year 2018.

It is the first contract to purchase ships from South Korea after lifting sanctions by implementing the nuclear deal last January.
The tri-annual meeting of the All India Democratic Womens Association (AIDWA) organised the eleventh edition of their national-level convention in Bhopal on Saturday, with Kerala chief minister Pinarai Vijayan in attendance.

The convention will conclude on December 15.

Addressing the gathering, Vijayan accused BJP-governed states of being run by RSS activists. Nagpur, the headquarters of RSS, is not far from Madhya Pradesh. They have a huge influence here too. The Madhya Pradesh government has employed RSS-influenced people at all high positions. And therefore, scams like Vyapam and issues like the SIMI encounter are not being resolved... The communal dispensation of the RSS across the country is so grave that people are paying a huge price in different forms, demonetisation being one of them.

Vijayan compared Kerala and Madhya Pradesh and spoke how the latter was performing poorly as far as gender-equality is concerned.

The condition of women in Kerala was very bad and we had to work for equal opportunities for their education, health and overall welfare... The government of Madhya Pradesh is not able to prove itself on these fronts. Women are delivering (babies) outside hospitals, getting raped and are being murdered in this state, he said.

Radhika Vemula  the mother of Rohit Vemula, the Hyderabad University PhD scholar who committed suicide in January  also spoke at the event. The year 2016 will never be forgotten. My son died and like him, so many people are dying now. When somebody kills a person, he is called a murderer. Today, because of demonetisation, around 100 people have lost their lives across the country, what do you call (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi now? she said.
The Central government will continue administering the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) after the state government made an unsuccessful bid to wrest control of the hospital dedicated for 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy victims.

The state governments attempt over the last few months to take over the management of the hospital, citing poor management, failed to find ground at a high-level meeting chaired by Union health minister J P Nadda in Delhi on Friday.

Centres department of health research (DHR) will continue running the medical institution, the meeting, comprising state health department principal secretary, Gauri Singh and DHR officials, decided.

A meeting was held on Friday and BMHRC will continue to be under central government administration, Singh said on Saturday, adding that the state government would help in its functioning.

She also said that the Centre has assured improvement in the operations and conditions of BMHRC and that sufficient funding would be provided for the same.

The decision has come as a big relief for the 700 employees of the hospital who opposed the takeover fearing lower salaries.

We are very happy. We will still be central government employees. The hospital would also get better doctors if DHR really focuses on it, said Kisun Sahu, head of paramedical staff union.

The state government had been trying to take over the hospital, since 2014 citing poor management by the central department.

The proposal gained momentum after state health minister Rustam Singh said last month that Gauri Singh had written to the Centre in this regard following the resignation of 15 doctors of the hospice, which also lacks many specialists required for treating the gas victims.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had urged Nadda to hand over the hospital to the state.

Activists representing the gas victims too had opposed the takeover, with Abdul Jabbar of Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS) saying that BMHRC is the only hope for 5 lakh gas victims. At least there are proper technologies and equipments in BMHRC, he said.

However, minister of state for gas relief and rehabilitation Vishwas Sarang had on Thursday assured gas victims that no such action will be taken and BMHRC would continue to function under DHR.

Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre is a referral and tertiary care centre for the thousands of gas tragedy victims who are first seen at the primary care level in the 8 mini units (satellite health centres) spread around in the city, and then referred to the advanced and specialized departments at the hospital.
The Bhopal district administration has urged the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) to put on hold its plan to build a 10 Mega Watt (MW) solar power plant at Jamboree ground here. The district administration claims BHEL had not informed it about the plan and sent a formal communication only five days ago.

The board of directors of the public sector undertaking (PSU) in November had cleared the proposal to build the Rs 54-crore solar plant spread over 50 acres of the 200-acre Jamboree ground. The PSU plans to supply the power generated to its township.

The district administration has asked the BHEL management to put on hold for some time their 10 MW solar power plant project. Senior state government officials concerned need to be informed about as the solar plant is proposed to be set up on a part of Jamboree ground, which is situated in the heart of the city and is important for several reasons, district collector Nishant Warvade told HT.

He said BHEL management had never informed the district administration formally about its plan to set up the solar plant. The district administration received a formal communication from the BHEL management only about five days ago to which I have replied, added Warvade.

A senior government official, requesting anonymity, said the power plant should not come up at the Jamboree ground. Usually, a solar power plant is built on non-productive land. In this case, BHEL has proposed to use part of the ground, which is situated at the heart of the city and is used for many important events of the state government. The land is presently with BHEL on a lease of 99 years and the state government has written to Centre several times in the past to get it back, the official said.

The PSU officials, meanwhile, claim that the district collector neither raised any objection nor asked them to put the project on hold. The district administration has only asked us to provide the details of the location of the power plant, which will come up at the eastern most side of BHEL near Vivekananda School, said public relation officer, BHEL, Bhopal, Vinodanand Jha.

The BHEL management has already invited tenders for construction of the boundary wall and the control room of the plant. The tenders would be finalised in the next 20 to 25 days and the plant would be built next year by April-May, Jha said.

Meanwhile, president of Youth Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Deepak Gupta accused the BHEL management of negligence in handling the affairs of the proposed plant and said the people of the BHEL township will suffer due to it.
Operators of Janani Express, which provides 24x7 emergency ambulance services to rural patients in MP, have decided to approach the Union ministry of health against Ziqitza Healthcare Limited, which was awarded the contract for the scheme.

Ziqitza has started operating its Janani Suraksha services in six districts  Bhopal, Sehore, Neemuch, Morena, Mandsaur, and Betul. The company is expected to start operations in another 10 districts by February.

However, the Janani Express Sanchalak Sagh (JESS) has accused Ziqitza of charging the government an additional Rs 760 crore for their service but at the same time has laid off about 2,000 ambulance drivers.

Ziqitza has fixed a rate of Rs 16.94 per km with the government but will pay only Rs 8.50 to the operators. At present, the government pays Rs 10 per km to the operators, JESS deputy state head Govind Gupta told HT.

The company currently provides ambulance services in Punjab, Odisha and Jharkhand. Its services were discontinued in Rajasthan after some irregularities were found, with the case currently being probed by the CBI.

Gupta said the ambulance operators will take up the issue with the Union health minister as the state government was not listening to them. We have already met some officials and with enough evidence, we will prove how Ziqitza conducted a scam in Rajasthan. It is very surprising that the MP government decided to give them the charge of all ambulance services. They have also been accused (of irregularities) by the Kerala government, he said.

Ziqitza chief financial officer Manish Sancheti, however, denied the allegations. After the government gave us the contract, some people lost their jobs and thus are protesting. Six to seven private players didnt want us to operate in MP because their profits would go down. We are trying to provide the best service by being cost-effective and we are also trying to help small private owner-entrepreneurs by asking for their services, Sancheti told HT.
In a major embarrassment to the Madhya Pradesh government, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had to return without attending a function in Bhopal after Bajrang Dal activists staged a protest against him on Saturday.

The Bajrang Dal activists raised slogans such as Killers of RSS workers, go back and People of this country will never forgive you for murdering of RSS workers during the protest. Police said chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan tried to alleviate the situation by asking Vijayan over the phone to return only after attending the event, but to no avail.

Vijayan, on his maiden visit to Bhopal, was supposed to attend a felicitation event organised for him at the Bhopal School of Social Sciences (BSSS) auditorium around 5.30 pm. A reception was planned for him by the United Malayalee Association, Bhopal Malayalee Association and South Bhopal Kerala Samajam.

However, while Vijayan was heading to the venue, Bajrang Dal activists agitated in front of the BSSS college gate. When informed about the protest, the Kerala chief minister returned to his hotel and told the organisers that he wont be able to attend the event.

If Kerala CM comes here again, well ensure he returns from airport itself

Bajrang Dal district convener Sonu Dubey said they staged the protest because the Kerala chief minister had failed to prevent RSS workers from being systematically killed in his state. We wont allow such people to enter Bhopal. If the Kerala CM comes here again, we will ensure that he returns from the airport premises itself, he added.

Protesters appeared at the venue virtually out of the blue: DIG

When asked if this amounts to a security lapse, deputy inspector general of police (Bhopal) Raman Singh Sikarwar said the occurrence was rather unexpected.

The protesters appeared at the venue virtually out of the blue. We called in additional security personnel to prevent any untoward incident, and also asked the driver of the Kerala CMs car to delay his arrival. But we were later informed that he decided to not attend the function, citing a delay in schedule, Sikarwar elaborated.

Sikarwar said the Bhopal collector also reached the spot after the matter was brought to his notice. The collector and I asked the Kerala CM to attend the function, but he had already made up his mind to return. Even CM Chouhan made a similar request. Nineteen people have been arrested in connection with the protest, and a case has been registered at the Bagh Sewania police station.
Taking cognisance of media reports and complaints by an NGO, members of the MP women and child development committee have begun a fact-finding mission on the abuse of inmates at a state-run home for boys in Bhopal.

A five-member team of legislators on Friday visited the Residential Bridge Course (RBC), Bairagarh, where 20 boys between the ages 7 and 11 years were allegedly sexually and physically abused by warden Ajay Sharma. The committee, led by MLA Usha Thakur, inspected the premises of the RBC and questioned the principal of the RBC about the facilities provided.

Thakur also interacted with the mothers of victims, who shared their grievances and informed the committee about the abuses their children had suffered.

Talking to HT, Thakur said things had not been cleared yet but she was inquiring into the matter. I talked with 17 students. They didnt inform us about sexual abuse but a group of mothers met the committee and informed us about corporal punishment and sexual abuse their sons suffered, she said. The mothers also informed that the accused had made some offensive videos of children and I asked them to provide those videos and other evidences which can prove the allegations.

However, child rights alliance representatives, who were present during the visit of the committee, alleged that education department was defending Sharma.

On the complaint of students and NGO members, Sharma was booked by the Bairagarh police under Sections 323, 75 and 82 of IPC, but even after the FIR, the police have not arrested him. On Friday, when the committee members reached the RBC, Sharma was fearlessly roaming at the school premises and interacting with officers of the education department, said Seema Kurup, a representative of Child Right Alliance.

After the complaint, Sharma has become a threat for the students but instead of taking any action against him, education department officers are meeting with him cordially, she said.

However, School education district project coordinator SS Rathore said, We have expelled all the members of the staff, including Sharma. He was present in the school premises on Friday as he was called to register his statement before the WCD Committee.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhans brother-in-law Sanjay Singh Masani on Saturday accused Vyapam scam whistleblower Anand Rai for allegedly maligning his image on the social media with defamatory remarks.

Masani reportedly has issued a legal notice to Rai asking him to retract from all his statements and has sought a public apology within 15 days.

Anand Rai has defamed me by posting several tweets making several fake accusations and allegations against me. He alleged that I get the benefit for being the brother-in-law of the CM. He also alleged in his tweets that I possess black money and have invested it in the film industry, Masani said at a press conference in Bhopal.

Mumbai high court advocate, who is the counsel of Masani, Rajesh D Bindra said, Rai has made false and reckless allegations to harm my clients reputationA notice has been served to Rai to retract all his statements, allegations, accusations and imputations made by him on twitter as well as on television within 15 days from the date of receipt of this notice and also to address a written public apology, failing which my client shall initiate legal action.
Actor Harshvardhan Rane shot to fame in February with his debut release Sanam Teri Kasam. While the 32-year-old was still basking in the glory, he never thought what was in store next. During a recent trip to Moscow for his films screening, he was reportedly approached by a popular Russian filmmaker for an action drama.

Reportedly, the movie will feature high-octane action sequences never attempted before on the big screen. I liked the narration and I love this genre and havent tried it earlier, so lets see how things go, says the actor.

Actor Harshvardhan Rane made his Bollywood debut with the film Sanam Teri Kasam that released in February 2016. (Pramod Thakur/HT Photo)

Rane says it was a pleasant surprise to be offered an international project right after his first Hindi film. I am humbled, but Im equally clear about my love for mainstream Bollywood films. (Also) I dont think its a shift form Hindi cinema, but anything new in life is growth, and I feel any form of growth makes us a better individual, he adds.

About the Russian project, he says, I will take a call once I am back to India. I love to give my life and soul while preparing for any character. And yes, itd be very interesting to do an action film after a romantic one.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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Actor Richa Chadha who is currently shooting in the capital for her next film, took some time out to visit her school. The actor is Sardar Patel Vidyalayas alumna and was passing her school building when she decided to stop and visit.

I am glad I decided to enter the school building. I spent some of the loveliest and most innocent years of my life here. It was here that I did my first professional play and dance skit. School is such an important time and it shapes you into the individual you will become. I am so happy I could go back, says Richa.

The actor, who was last seen in director Omung Kumars film Sarbjit got a chance to meet her teachers and spend time with them. A source close to the actor says, It was an emotional time for the actress and also the school authorities who are still working there. Richa also got to meet a few of her teachers who are still with the school.

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It was December 6, 1992. My body was burning from fever but my mind was preoccupied with developments in faraway Ayodhya. Our correspondent had reported the night before that the kar-sevaks (volunteers) were not in a mood to return empty-handed this time.

Over the last three years, we had been watching how the tensions were being stoked in the country. At times, women were being requested to climb up on their terraces and create noise by striking a plate (thali). At other times, when the door-bell rang you found a group of young men standing at your doorstep advocating the construction of the Ram temple and requesting for a donation. Most parts of India were abuzz with red-hot discussions about the Ram temple. People from our generation, who had only heard about the struggle for Independence and the Partition, were gripped by anxiety.

Read | RSS asks BJP to address its core agendas including the Ram Mandir in UP poll campaign

During this period I discovered new facets of people I knew. During my student days in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), I was introduced to a professor who had a habit of showering his pupils with his intellect. Calling himself progressive, he used to make sharp critiques of the caste system, communalism, dynastic politics and the diktats of the university administration. So endearing was his style that people had no option but get mesmerised. During those days when I visited BHU, I found the passage to the Singh Dwar blocked. I discovered that a procession of Ram bhakts was passing through the area. Their charged up slogans were piercing the sky it appeared. I recognised the professor vigorously shouting slogans in the crowd. Later I asked him: Werent you a Leftist in the 1980s? I had lost my way. The temple in Ayodhya is a symbol of our pride, he replied.

Clearly, at that juncture of time, historical points of view had assumed new layers.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav was trying to stop this wave. He said at a rally that till the time he was there, even a bird could not flap a wing in Ayodhya without his permission. But the conflict kept escalating. The situation became so bad that on October 30, a few kar-sevaks broke the police and paramilitary personnel security ring and climbed the dome of mosque. They were made to get off after many attempts. Emboldened by this their leaders announced that they would knock down the mosque on November 2 itself.

Read | Chidambaram says Narasimha Rao made a fatal political error over Babri masjid

The sun on November 2 appeared like huge, fiery ball of conflict. One of my IPS friends was posted at Ayodhya that day. Many years later, when we met in Delhi he told me that the kar-sevaks had adopted an innovative strategy that day. They were hiding behind the women and the elderly who were pleading with the soldiers to let them move forward by falling at their feet. Out of respect and conditioning, the soldiers would retreat two steps and the kar-sevaks would move forward in this manner. After some time one young officer understood that they would keep advancing in this manner. They gave a formal warning to the kar-sevaks that fell on deaf ears. Left with no choice they had to use tear gas and carry out a baton charge. The situation deteriorated so much that the police had to open fire at Hanuman Garhi in Ayodhya. Fourteen people were killed in the incident.

By the time the officer returned home late at night, his wife had heard the news about the police firing. Looking at the bloodstains on her husbands uniform she assumed her husband had ordered the firing on the kar-sevaks. For a few minutes she went into deep shock. His wife is from the administrative services and not unlettered. Clearly, the security personnel were fighting a battle at many levels.

In those tumultuous times communal riots flared up in many parts of the country. More than 2,000 people lost their lives in these riots. It appeared we had been split wide open forever. India would never be the same after the morning of December 6, 1992.

Read | 24 years since Babri demolition, Ram mandir hardly an agenda for UP polls

Twenty-four years after the Babri masjid demolition, I can say with a sense of relief that our apprehensions of 1992-93 have been proved to be unfounded. At times, one is happy to be proved wrong.

This doesnt mean that the Ayodhya issue has been resolved. Before every election, there is an attempt to draw the genie out of the bottle. It is a tradition that is on the lines of a tradition that is followed in Pune every November 15. Every year, a group of people gather around an urn. The urn contains the ashes of Nathuram Godse, who assassinated the Mahatma. His remains havent still been sent for immersion. The group of men believes that the immersion will happen only in the Indus river of an undivided India.

Read | Yatras show shift in BJPs focus  from temple to development

Nathurams younger brother Gopal Godse wrote a book where he justified the vadh (killing) of the Mahatma, saying that it was essential. He was a staunch believer in the rebuilding of an undivided India, but most people ignored him. Most people in the country are not aware of his ambition.

The good news is that the youth of the 21st century have braced themselves up for every new challenge that lies ahead. They dont have time for such talk.

Shashi Shekhar is editor in chief, Hindustan

letters@hindustantimes.com
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

Voting as part of a referendum to make amendments to the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan and elect members of local councils started at 08:00 (UTC/GMT+6) on Dec. 11.

During the constitutional referendum Kyrgyz citizens will be able to vote for or against the introduction of over 20 amendments to the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan.

The amendments, in particular, envisage strengthening the prime ministers powers in relation to the parliament of Kyrgyzstan. The amendments also cover the regulations of the Constitution relating to high values  human rights and citizenship.

During the referendum, citizens can vote "for" and "against" all amendments as a whole. It is impossible to choose some amendments out of a list of amendments. The referendum will be declared valid if more than 30 percent out of 2.851 million citizens included in the electoral lists cast vote.

The voting will last until 20:00 (GMT+6).

Kyrgyzstans current Constitution was adopted in the referendum in June 2010, immediately after the overthrow of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Those amendments changed the form of government in Kyrgyzstan from presidential to parliamentary. Kyrgyzstans main law has been changed several times since 1991 when the country gained independence.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Jayalalithaas death has plunged Tamil Nadu into a state of political flux. Since Monday night, when the iron lady of southern politics passed away, there has been much talk about the future of the AIADMK and how politics in the state will realign itself.

For now, O Panneerselvam  the number two in Jayalalithaas Cabinet  has taken over as chief minister. He may be a good administrator but lacks the charisma of a leader that the AIADMK needs to navigate into the future. Many within the party are looking to Sasikala Natarajan, the departed leaders most trusted aide, but she lacks political experience and a wider acceptance among AIADMK members. She also carries baggage, being named in the disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa. The case, which involves a probe into allegations that Jayalalithaa had amassed wealth valued Rs 64 crore in disproportion to her known sources of income, is being heard by the Supreme Court. Legal experts have said the case would continue as the other accused are alive.

Read | Not Amma to all: The other side of Jayalalithaas legacy

Unlike its main rival, the DMK, which is a strong cadre-based party, the AIADMK has always leaned on the charisma and mass appeal of its leader. First, it was actor-turned-politician MGR, or MG Ramachandran, who broke away from the DMK to form his party in 1972, and then Jayalalithaa, who took over the reins after her mentors death in 1987. In the three decades that the latter was at the helm, the AIADMK came to be a party of sycophants that rarely encouraged cultivating new leaders. What also makes its state somewhat precarious is that, with 135 MLAs, the ruling party has just about a majority in the 235-seat assembly. Several of them are first-time MLAs who could be vulnerable to poaching by the DMK. Thankfully though, the DMK has its own challenges to overcome. The health of its 92-year-old leader and patriarch M Karunanidhi has been a subject of speculation in recent times. Members of his family, including daughter Kanimozhi and grand nephew Dayanidhi Maran, are facing serious corruption charges. Stalin, seen as Karunanidhis successor, would rather want to stay focused on sorting out internal squabbles and reviving the party.

Read | It maybe a while before we see a Bollywood equivalent to Jayalalithaa

Hence, there is an opportunity for both the Congress and the BJP in the southern state, which sends 39 MPs to the Lok Sabha and often decides who gets to form the government in New Delhi. The Congress will seek to revive its fortunes in the southern state that it once ruled and commanded a respectable vote share until the 1990s. The BJP will try to fill the political vacuum created in the state, where it worked hard to gain a foothold in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The party and its government at the Centre have moved swiftly, promising to help the new leader of the AIADMK tide over challenges he faces and tightening the noose around scam-tainted leaders of the DMK.

BJP leaders do not see any immediate possibility of growing into a big size party in the state, but do see possibilities of an eventual and formal tie-up with the AIADMK, a move that did not see the light of the day during the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The last thing we want is a split in the AIADMK, a senior BJP functionary told Hindustan Times.

Read | BJP may look for a foothold in Tamil Nadu after Jayalalithaas death

But breaking fresh ground in Tamil Nadu for a national party is easier said than done. For all these years, politics in the southern state has revolved around the twin issues of identity and caste. The primacy of identity politics and caste is what guided the rise of Dravidian parties through the 1960s and 1970s alongside a decline of the Congress.

Anti-Hindi and anti-Brahmin agitations may have become a thing of the past, but the linguistic pride of the Tamils and the centrality of caste in electoral mobilisation still influence political outcomes. That is why whenever a section or group of Tamil society has felt abandoned by the dominant Dravidian parties, it hasnt been appropriated by a national party. Instead, we have seen newer regional formations such as the PMK, Vijayakanth-led DMDK or Vaiko-led MDMK, which continue to be influencers.

Also, the contradictions between national-level policy making and local imperatives  manifest in disputes such as the distribution of the Cauvery waters  have often constrained national parties in winning the support of the Tamil people.

What held true for the Congress will apply to the BJP as it seeks to cash in on the opportunity in the post-Jaya Tamil Nadu. Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi be able to buck the trend, and script a different story?

The author is Chief Content Officer, Hindustan Times

He tweets as @rajeshmahapatra

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The Congress on Sunday announced to field candidate in all assembly constituencies in poll-bound Uttarakhand, in a setback to six Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) MLAs who backed its government in the house during a political crisis early this year.

Congress state unit president Kishore Upadhyay told the media here on Sunday that following his recent meeting with AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi, it was decided that the ruling party would field candidates in 70 constituencies.

The decision has been taken and it will be implemented in every aspect, he said without mentioning anything about the PDF MLAs, who are cabinet ministers in chief minister Harish Rawats government.

The PDF - comprising two BSP legislators, one from Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and three Independents - has always been a serious bone of contention between Upadhyay and Rawat.

The PDF has been supporting the Congress government in the state since its formation in 2012. It rescued Rawats government in the 70-member house during a political crisis triggered by disqualification of nine rebel Congress MLAs early this year.

Besides, Upadhyay said he has already received more than 1,000 applications for party tickets to contest the assembly polls to be held early next year.

He also announced that the newly formed state election committee would hold its first meeting on December 18-19 in the presence of AICC general secretary and state in-charge Ambika Soni and co in-charge Sanjay Kapoor.

Upadhyay said the state manifesto committee would also hold its first meeting on December 19 in the presence of Soni.

Party will leaders will also take part in next round of Satat Vikas Sankalp Yatra which has been renamed as Samaveshi Satat Vikas for Janashish on December 19, he said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Uttarakhand on December 23, Upadhay said. During the visit, Gandhi will address party members.
It was a frantic phone call from Assam by the sister of Sonam, one of the deceased, to her former boyfriend Rohit (name changed) that gave police the first breakthrough in the murders of Sonam and her roommate Nayesha.

Their bodies were recovered within a distance of 100 metres in south Delhis Munirka on November 18 and 25, but remained unidentified and unconnected till November 27. That was the day Sonams former boyfriend paid a second visit to the mortuary and identified her with the two tattoos on her body.

His first visit was on November 19, a day after the first body was found dumped near Baba Gang Nath temple. Rohit could not identify the body. It was not Sonam, he had said.

On November 18, Sonams sister called Rohit, asking him to visit Sonams flat and check on her because her mobile phone was switched off since the night of November 16.

On November 27 Rohit approached us again and enquired about Sonam. As a second body was recovered by then, we took him to the mortuary. He claimed it was his former girlfriend, said a senior investigating officer.

Rohit took the police to Sonams flat. She shared the place with another woman, Nayesha, who was also missing for over a week, police learnt.

As investigators searched for Sonams roommate, one Pooja (name changed) approached them saying Nayesha was missing. She was shown the body recovered on November 18 and she identified it as Nayesha.

Read: Delhi Police claim brutal murders of Munirka sex workers solved, arrest two

Our next task was to identify their killers and arrest them, the officer said.

Investigators prepared a list of people who frequently called Sonam and Nayesha. They zeroed in on Arjun, Neha, Govind and Jeevan, whose mobile numbers were switched off. They were missing as well.

The last call location of Arjun was traced near Indo-Nepal border. The call was made to Neha. Using her mobiles last location, we traced Neha to a guest house in south Delhi. On questioning her, Jeevan was caught near Anand Vihar bus terminal. He was planning to flee to Nepal, the officer added.

Neha and Jeevan revealed that Arjun planned the murders. He was annoyed with Sonam and Nayesha because they demanded Rs 600,000 from him. Despite being in a live-in relationship with Neha, Arjun had secretly married Sonam to avoid her demands for money.

Read: Love triangle, sex ring, money behind chopped bodies found in Delhis Munirka

But as he continued maintaining his live-in relationship, Sonam became jealous of Neha. She sent Neha photos of her wedding with Arjun. Enraged, Arjun and Neha killed Sonam with the help of Govind and Jeevan.

They dumped Sonams headless body in a sewer of a building where Arjun lived a year ago.
Air quality in the national capital stayed very poor on Sunday as dense fog descended on the city in the early hours even as the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC) said it expects fog to subside from Sunday.

The overall Air Quality Index read 369, which is very poor. Individual air quality monitoring stations had AQI readings between 300-400, with Dhirpur clocking the highest reading at 398.

According to the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) advisory, people with heart or lung diseases must avoid exertion when the air quality is very poor.

In the morning, the 24-hour rolling average of PM10 and PM2.5 touched very poor limits, respectively, according to (SAFAR) data, reading 343 and 210 microgram per cubic metre, respectively.

PM2.5 and PM10 are ultra-fine particles that are the dominant pollutants in Delhi. The acceptable levels of PM 2.5 and PM10 are 60 and 100 microgram per cubic metre respectively.

Forecasts had predicted this foul air quality because of cold waves in the entire northern belt, upper wind towards Delhi region and calm lower winds.

The main factors that influence Delhis air quality are wind speed and direction. Whenever the surface wind speed decreases, pollution levels shoot up.

Delhi, a city of about 20 million people, is among the worlds most polluted according to the World Health Organisation, has been struggling to clean up a toxic cocktail of dust, smoke and gases from its air.

Track pollution levels in your city with this real-time air quality map

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The Delhi government has formed a three-member committee to review waiting charges for three-wheeler autorickshaws.

Auto rides may become costlier if the committee agrees to the demands of auto unions for a fare revision.

Transport Minister Satyendar Jain has directed the committee, comprising senior officers from the transport department, DIIMTS and the department of weights and measures, to submit its report on revision of the existing waiting charge.

Autorickshaw unions have been demanding revision of waiting charges for a long time, saying the current charges were very nominal, government officials said.

As per existing fare system, if an auto gets stuck in traffic congestion and is also asked to wait for more than 16 minutes, a passenger pays the driver around 60 to 80 paisa per minute.

The transport minister has asked the three-member committee to prepare a report on the demand to revise the waiting charge and submit it as soon as possible, the official said.

The Delhi Autoricksaw Sangh has welcomed the governments move and asked it to immediately introduce revised waiting charges.

There has been no increase in waiting charge for several years. We have been demanding that new waiting charge in traffic jams should be included in the actual fare, said Rajendra Soni, general secretary of Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh.

The government had earlier formed a four-member committee to revise fares of autorickshaws and yellow-black (kaali-peeli) taxis.

The committee consisting of officials of the Delhi transport department will submit its report to the government. The fares were last revised by the then Sheila Dikshit government in May 2013.

At present, the base fare for autos is Rs 25 for the first two kilometres, while for every subsequent kilometre travellers have to pay Rs 8.

Those choosing yellow-black taxis for travel have to pay Rs 25 for the first kilometre. The charges for every subsequent kilometre is Rs 14 for non-AC taxis and Rs 16 for AC taxis.

There are about 80,000 autorickshaws and 12,000 yellow-black taxis in Delhi.
The thick fog that has enveloped the city right at the beginning of December this year makes it look like peak winter.

Scientists said the early onset of fog this year was a warning that December this year might be the foggiest in the last five years.

Weather experts said the wind speed in the first week of December had been lower than that reported during the corresponding period in the last five years.

An assessment by the climatology department of the International Climate Brigade, which has been working with IIT-Delhi in a pollution research, shows that the average wind speed in the first week of December has been negligible.

The problem is that the day time wind speeds have been low this time. Generally, the average wind speeds at night during winter is around 1 to 3kmph. This picks up during the day and reaches around 10 to 12kmph. This helps disperse pollution particles and clear the fog. This year, however, the day time wind speed has been low, said Dr Satish Kumar Yadav, research head at International Climate Brigade.

#WATCH: Blanket of dense fog covers the national capital affecting vehicular movement, trains & flights, visuals from Delhi's RK Puram area. pic.twitter.com/4NmjKks25B  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

Between December 1 and 7 this year, the average wind speed during the day has been around 5kmph, which is not strong enough to disperse fog, causing a drop in visibility during early morning and late night hours. Experts say that a wind speed of at least 12kmph is required to blow fog and pollution particles away.

The visibility during this period has oscillated between 200-250 metres, during the early morning and late night hours. On Thursday morning, the visibility dropped to 150 metres at the airport, which led to flight delays and cancellations.

Read: Delhi wakes up to another foggy morning, reduced visibility in many areas

In 2015, the average daytime wind speeds during the first week of December was around 10kmph.

Shambhavi Shukla, a research associate with the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said the pollution levels will only continue to get worse if such conditions persist. She said that with the temperature dipping and the fog getting denser, the pollution levels in December will also get more severe.

We are surely headed for the foggiest December experienced in a long time. The temperature will go down further in the coming days and wind speed is also unlikely to increase. This will lead to the particulate matter and dust getting trapped near the surface and having an impact on visibility, she said.

Explaining the conditions likely to persist in the coming days, Shukla said generally in the first week of December the wind speed is higher and subsequently as the month progresses the wind speed decreases. As the air gets heavier, it traps particles in the air and floats in the atmosphere.

The moisture in the air mixes with these particles causing a deadlier form of fog called smog, which was experienced in the city on the first week of November.

She said that unlike during the other time of the year when rain can bring down soaring pollution levels, in winters the showers only make the condition worse. The effects of this will also be seen in the early weeks of January.

Winter showers are not enough to wash away the pollutants. In fact, it lets the dust from the ground escape and remain suspended in the air, making the air quality worse, Shukla said.

However, some weather experts said that it was too soon to predict that if this December would be the foggiest or not. If wind speed picks up and the temperature does not drop much, the situation will not get worse.

Yes, the fog this year has been denser compared to previous years, but it is too early to say that this will make way for a foggy month. A lot of other factors also play a part in dispersion of fog and if those are favourable, we might have a regular December, a weather expert said.

Read | Car rams truck in dense fog in Ghaziabad, 4 killed

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Police raided the office of a law firm at Greater Kailash in south Delhi on Saturday night, and seized over Rs 13.56 crore in cash from suitcases, cupboards and trunks.

As much as Rs 2.6 crore found on the premises of the establishment  called T&T law firm  was in new currency notes, sources said.

After the raid, police notified income tax authorities and transferred the money to them.

Firm owner Rohit Tandon, who was reportedly watching the raid live through CCTV cameras installed in the office, went underground after the incident.

Police said Tandons office was previously raided on October 6, when he disclosed assets worth Rs 128 crore to the income tax department. However, he had made no mention of the money recovered from the Greater Kailash property. According to sources, the earlier raid yielded currency notes amounting to Rs 28 crore.

Though authorities suspect Tandon may have been receiving his legal fees in paper currency, leading to the cash pile-up in his office, the theory is yet to be verified. The source of the new notes needs to be identified. The income tax department is looking into it, and we will help wherever possible, a police officer said.

Tandon is also believed to have bought a Jor Bagh bungalow worth Rs 100 crore with unaccounted money.

Confirming the raid, joint commissioner of police (crime) Ravindra Yadav said: In a joint operation with income tax officials, the inter-state crime branch team raided an office of the T&T law firm. We recovered cash amounting to Rs 13.5 crore  out of which Rs 3 crore were in Rs 100 denomination notes, Rs 7 crore in scrapped Rs 1,000 currency notes, and Rs 2.6 crore in new Rs 2,000 currency notes.

Yadav said police had been tipped off in this regard two weeks ago. We carried out the raid on Saturday, after which Tandon went underground. This is a big achievement for us, he added.

Sources said Tandon is a close associate of arms lobbyist Sanjay Bhandari, who was earlier targeted by income tax officials for his alleged proximity with defence dealers. Sources said Bhandari, later booked under the Official Secrets Act, was closely associated with Gautam Khaitan  who was arrested in relation with the AgustaWestland chopper scam in 2014.

However, an official said Tandons link with Bhandari must have been purely business-related and unconnected with the matter at hand.

Further investigation in the case would be conducted by income tax and enforcement department officials, said Yadav, clarifying that police wont initiate legal action against the accused.
The Delhi governments mohalla clinics scheme, which aims to provide better primary care coverage in the national capital, is proving to be popular with residents, offering key advantage to the beneficiaries, according to a report published in The Lancet journal.

The clinics opened as part of a flagship programme by the AAP government launched in July last year. The initiative is aimed at expanding the reach and range of health services in unserved and underserved areas such as slums, the report said.

In a unique model, all services  consultation, medicines, and diagnostic tests  are offered in one place and are free for people from all income groups, The Lancet said.

In existing state-run dispensaries and hospitals, people have to visit three different places for these services and make more than one trip, it said.

According to the report, doctors and paramedics are also overworked and absenteeism is high. To circumvent such problems, compensation for doctors and staff in mohalla clinics is linked to the number of patients they see.

Read: Eight lakh treated in five months at Delhi mohalla clinics

We get patients from nearby areas, about 100 to 120 patients every day. Earlier they would go to a government facility located far off or to private providers in the vicinity, spending a good amount of money in both cases, said Ramesh Bansal, the doctor in charge of the Sultanpuri mohalla clinic.

There are 106 such clinics in Delhi and close to 1.5 million patients have visited them in the past year.

Delhi has a fragmented health system run by multiple state and central government agencies and municipal corporations, as well as a range of private providers.

The health system of the Delhi government alone has 36 hospitals (10,000 beds), 185 dispensaries and dozens of other facilities, catering for 33 million outpatient visits every year, the report said.

Four municipal corporations run their own networks of dispensaries. Yet many areas remain underserved, some facilities remain under used or poorly staffed as the different health systems are not inter-linked.

Although mohalla clinics have added another layer to the existing system, they offer key advantages, according to the journal.

They provide an assured package of services, facilitate access to basic services, with potential for referral linkage, and make it all affordable by reducing indirect costs like travel and lost wages, said Chandrakant Lahariya, a public health specialist who was involved in designing the concept.

He said the project could help address problems of unqualified providers and overcrowding at tertiary-care facilities.

Read: Delhi: Mohalla clinic gets a medicine dispensing machine

Chandrakant Pandav, a community medicine expert at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), noted that a serious limitation is the focus on curative care and neglect of preventive and promotive care. Under pressure from populist politics, these clinics are ending up equating holistic health care with curative care.

Pandav, however, feels preventive outreach services, linkage with existing health facilities, and monitoring and quality assurance of diagnostic services could help improve the services being provided by the clinics.

The high-level expert group on Universal Health Coverage established by the Central government had recommended in 2011 a substantial increase in public health financing to provide universal access to free primary care services including essential medicines and diagnostic tests.

Mohalla clinics appear to be putting this strategy into operation. There is already a good case for scaling this up in Delhi and potentially in other Indian states because people seem to like these services, said Robert Yates, Senior Fellow at Chatham House, London, UK, after a recent visit to a clinic in Delhi.

Evidence from around the world shows that increasing access to publicly financed primary care is the best way to accelerate health coverage, said Yates.

Although some states have studied the model and are keen to replicate it, scaling it up in Delhi to 1,000 clinics by the year-end has been caught up in a political dispute, the report said.
In India, the reservation issue is such a touchy one that taking a strong stand against it is always interpreted as being pro-caste and anti-poor. On the other hand, if one is for quotas, then one is quickly labelled anti-merit. This polarised situation works beautifully for political parties: Instead of using quotas judiciously, they use it as doles for votes in elections. But thankfully, the courts are there to do the hard talking: Last week, the Rajasthan High Court struck down a law providing education and job quotas to pastoral community Gujjars among other groups. A division bench of Justices Manish Bhandari and JK Ranka passed the order on petitions challenging an October 2015 government notification that gave 5% reservation to the special backward classes (SBCs), including Gujjars. The law, the petitioners said, violated the 50%-limit set by the Supreme Court a few years ago. The 5% quota had pushed up the reservation in the state to 54%. More importantly, the court said that reservation should not be provided to achieve political goals. The court also noted that data for establishing the backwardness of the five communities had not been collected to the extent required.

Read: Gujjars upset over Rajasthan HC order scrapping their education and job quotas

The courts decision could be a headache for the Vasundhara Raje government: Even though Gujjars are just 7% of the states population, they are politically an influential community and launched an agitation in 2007 for reservation in government jobs and education. More than 70 people have been killed in the decade-long stir in clashes with police and other communities opposing the demand. The state government could be staring at another round of agitation because they feel cheated by the government.

In the last few years, there have been several demands for quota from communities, which can do without them: Gujjars in Rajasthan, Patels in Gujarat and Marathas in Maharashtra. Most of these groups have been agitating because they have not been able to keep up with the changing times marked by low yields in agriculture, shrinking employment outside farming and the demands of a knowledge economy. In such a challenging situation, it is hardly surprising that political parties keep on taking the easy way out.
Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp brightened the day of child patients of Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital by dressing up in his Pirates Of The Caribbean character Captain Jack Sparrow.

The actor chatted up with the young patients in his movie avatar, which is very popular with kids.

Johnny Depp surprised ill children at the hospital in London dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow  pic.twitter.com/bPJajUJfDx  MadDepphead (@deppsvideos) December 9, 2016

Depps daughter Lily-Rose was successfully treated for renal failure at the same hospital in 2007.

One patient captioned the image, saying, This is actual Johnny Depp. Just came in to the hospital. Im so confused.
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said at a press conference Dec. 11 that he hopes the countrys people will support the amendments to the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan, KyrTAG news agency reported.

He emphasized that the election and referendum in Kyrgyzstan are currently being held in an open and transparent manner.

Now my greatest hope and dream is that the people of Kyrgyzstan show awareness and support the amendments to the Basic Law, he said. God grant that not less than 30 percent of voters support the new constitution.

It was previously reported that it was proposed to make 30 amendments to the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan.

Voting as part of a referendum to make amendments to the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan and elect members of local councils started at 08:00 (UTC/GMT+6) on Dec. 11.

The amendments, in particular, envisage strengthening the prime ministers powers in relation to the parliament of Kyrgyzstan. The amendments also cover the regulations of the Constitution relating to high values  human rights and citizenship.

During the referendum, citizens can vote "for" and "against" all amendments as a whole. It is impossible to choose some amendments out of a list of amendments. The referendum will be declared valid if more than 30 percent out of 2.851 million citizens included in the electoral lists cast vote.

The voting will last until 20:00 (GMT+6).
Despite a huge surge in total deposits in Jan Dhan accounts following demonetisation, about one-fifth of these still continue to have no balance.

Net addition in the 25.8 crore Jan Dhan accounts was just Rs 288 crore during the week ended December 7, taking total deposits to about Rs 74,610 crore.

The percentage of zero balance account however remained flat at about 22.9% despite the addition of Rs 29,000 crore in total deposits in about 30 days after demonetisation of high value notes took effect on November 9.

After the initial surge, total deposits in Jan Dhan accounts have seen a decline week after week. As much as Rs 1,487 crore was parked in these accounts during 7 days ended November 30, as against Rs 8,283 crore in the previous week.

The accretion was Rs 18,615.54 crore a week after demonetisation which moderated to less than half to Rs 8,582.57 crore during the 7-day period November 17-23.

Deposits in the 25.8 crore such accounts totalled Rs 74,609.50 crore at the end of December 7, as per the Finance Ministry data.

Read: A month of demonetisation: From peoples pain, job losses to political war

The upper limit for deposits in Jan Dhan account is Rs 50,000.

The overall amount was Rs 72,834.72 crore in 25.68 crore accounts at the end of November 23.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised entire nation with demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, deposits in Jan Dhan accounts have increased by 28,973 crore. As of November 9, the balance in about 25.5 crore such accounts was Rs 45,636.61 crore.

The aggregate deposits increased to Rs 64,252.15 crore in a week ended November 16.

Last week, the government said that inflows into Jan Dhan accounts have come down significantly after it warned people not to allow their accounts to be misused for converting black money into white.

After setting a cash deposit limit of Rs 50,000 in Jan Dhan accounts, the government had on November 18 cautioned account holders that they will be prosecuted under the I-T Act for allowing misuse of their bank accounts through deposit of black money in Rs 500/1,000 notes during the 50-day window till December 30.

The directive came against the backdrop of reports that some people were misusing other persons bank accounts to convert their black money into new denomination notes.

Read: Demonetisation: Modi warns people stashing black money in Jan Dhan accounts
Eight labourers were buried alive in Uttarakhand on Saturday evening when part of a hillock fell over them while they were working at a construction site.

Nine labourers were trapped alive when part of the hillock fell in Ramgarh, circle officer Bhowali RS Hyanki said.

Eight of them suffocated to death while one was rescued alive, he said. Most of the workers belonged to Lakhimpur Khiri in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.

One injured, 8 dead after getting trapped under building debris in Nainital, Uttarakhand last night (earlier visuals of rescue operations) pic.twitter.com/6GlPXioR5e  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

The deceased labourers have been identified as Deshraj, Rahul and Ramesh Rana from Lahimpur Khiri, Ajay Kumar, Mithun, Arun, Devindra and Ujjwal from Palamu in Jharkhand, Hyanki said.

The labourers were constructing a private residential building when they were buried alive.
The ruling AIADMK on Sunday said that 470 persons had died of shock after the demise of party supremo and former chief minister J Jayalalithaa on December 5, and announced a relief of Rs 3 lakh to the families of the deceased.

It also released the details of six persons had reportedly attempted suicide after Ammas death. On Sunday, the party also announced Rs 50,000 for their treatment.

Having had hospitalised since September 22, 68-year-old Jayalalithaa suffered a cardiac arrest on December 4, and passed away the next day.
Defending Narendra Modi who has been drawing flak post the demonetisation drive, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Sunday said the nation has finally got a Prime Minister who puts forth his views before the nation.

Shah, who was addressing the Tridev Sammelan here, also used the occasion to corner former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

Rahul Gandhi asks what has been achieved in last two-and-a-half years. The first in that list is giving India a Prime Minister, who speaks, Shah said.

The country (earlier) got a Prime Minister whose voice could only reach the ears of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, he added while alleging that Dr Singh was only a mouth-piece of the Congress.

The BJP president highlighted the scams, which took place in the last ten years during the Congress-led UPA regime.

The people have not forgotten that how many scams and cases of corruption surfaced during the 10-year regime of Sonia (Gandhi) and Manmohan Singh, he said.

Shah also reached out to the voters ahead of next years assembly polls and urged them to vote for the right party and choose the right government in Himachal Pradesh.

If Congress-mukt Bharat has to be achieved then the Congress will have to be defeated in Himachal as well, he said.

The BJP presidents assertion comes a day after Prime Minister Modi countered the oppositions charges of running away from a debate on the governments move to ban high-value currency notes.

We are ready to debate on demonetisation but I am not being allowed to speak in Lok Sabha so I am speaking in a jan sabha (public meeting), said Prime Minister Modi.

Parliament is not being allowed to function. What is happening in Parliament has even anguished our President, who has tremendous political experience, he added.

The ongoing Winter Session of Parliament has witnessed repeated disruptions with a united opposition demanding a debate on the demonetisation move.
After a TV channel and a website to promote digital payments, a nationwide toll-free helpline number 14444 will be launched soon to educate people and provide support related to cashless mode of transactions.

The service is expected to be operational within a week.

Government had sought Nasscoms help in providing support on a mass scale to people. We had requested a single nationwide helpline should be set up which now assigned by the DoT which is 14444. We are putting call centre support at the back-end. It is fairly advance stage of operation, IT body Nasscom President R Chandrashekar told PTI.

It is awareness with intention of conversion in actual transaction. It is to help people at the first level to zero in on the option most suitable for them that depends on person whether he has feature phone or not, Aadhaar number or not, bank account so many combination need to be seen, Chandrashekhar added.

To educate people on digital transactions, the ministry of electronics and IT had on Friday launched free-to-air channel DigiShala which will be available on Doordarshans DTH platform and CashlessIndia website to educate people about digital transactions.

As per IT and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, digital payments have increased in the range of 400 to 1,000 per cent since November 8 after scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

When asked about timelines for operationalising Cash Mukt Bharat Abhiyan Helpine number, Chandrashekhar said, We are hoping that before the end of next week, it will be available.

He said that once people will start using a particular methodology then helpline of particular digital payment service provider will also be made available through the helpline.
The severe cyclonic storm Vardah is expected to cross the Bay of Bengal coast between Sriharikota and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradeshs SPS Nellore district after 5pm on Monday, bringing with it high velocity winds of up to 100kmph and heavy rainfall of about 19 cm.

Indications that the cyclonic storm may weaken before making a landfall have come as a bit of relief for the Andhra administration but the state of high alert will remain till the situation eases.

Prakasam and SPS Nellore districts on the Bay of Bengal coast are likely to be hit heavily because of the cyclone while Chittoor and Kadapa districts of Rayalaseema are also expected to receive heavy rainfall, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Saturday.

We have kept four teams of National Disaster Response Force ready while four senior IAS officers are being deputed to these districts to oversee the rescue operations, he told a press conference on Saturday night after a video-conference with district collectors and top officials.

The intensity of Vardah may not be as high as Hudhud, which battered Visakhapatnam in October 2014. Nevertheless, we are taking all precautions to minimise the damage, if any. We are taking the help of Isro to track the cyclonic progression and accordingly we are taking all necessary emergency measures, he added.

The district collectors have been directed to put things in place to carry out relief and rehabilitation measures on a war footing in case of any unavoidable damage.

Under the influence of Vardah, rainfall ranging up to 19cm is expected along the coastal districts from Visakhapatnam to SPS Nellore and also Chittoor and Kadapa.

Nellore district alone may receive 15 cm of rain on Monday, the chief minister said.

But Nellore district collector Revu Mutyalaraju informed the CM that his team was fully geared up to meet any eventuality.

Meanwhile, director general of police (in-charge) Nanduri Sambasiva Rao said police forces in the coastal district were well prepared to handle the situation.

Our preparedness is very high. We have boats, search lights, ropes and other equipment ready. We are roping in about 150 volunteers of Police Sevadal to help in the rescue and relief operations in Prakasam and Nellore districts, he told reporters after a review meeting with IGs Harish Gupta (law and order), N Sanjay (South Coastal Zone), DIG PVS Ramakrishna (Eluru Range) and superintendents of police.

We only hope there will be no devastation, he remarked.
An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) was shot dead along with a woman he was allegedly having an affair with, in outer Delhis Rohini Sector 24 on Saturday.

Police said the ASI was shot dead by gamblers whom he had abused.

The partially nude body of Joginder (45), an ASI posted with the first battalion of Delhi Armed Police, was found with five bullet injuries in a room at his Deep Vihar property by locals on Sunday. The semi-naked body of the woman, with three bullet injuries, was lying on a bed nearby.

The accused, Jeet Dahiya and Sandeep, have been arrested. A hunt is on for four of their accomplices. Police refused to disclose the identity of the woman, who was married.

Joginder, a resident of Mundka, had rented out his plot in Rohini to a property dealer six months back.

The accused were allegedly involved in gambling in Adarsh Nagar along with Joginder, and used to take a community space on rent for holding illegal dancing and gambling sessions.

Deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) MN Tiwari said Dahiya and Joginder had a monetary dispute.

According to police, the altercation grew after Dahiya misbehaved with Joginders nephew.

Joginder had sent his nephew to one of the gambling sessions few days ago and asked the accused to give him special treatment. But the nephew complained to Joginder that he was thrown out by the men who had been drunk.

Angered, Joginder fought with Dahiya and the others and abused them which did not go down well with the rest.

Demanding an apology, Dahiya, along with five men, went to Joginders plot around 4.30 pm on Saturday, but were abused again by the latter. They got drunk at Sandeeps house and hatched a plan to murder Joginder and returned to his plot around 10.30pm.

When Joginder abused them again, Dahiya allegedly took out a pistol and fired five times at Joginder, killing him on the spot. Later, he allegedly shot the woman in the bed as he did not want to leave behind a witness.

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The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will meet in New Delhi on Sunday to break the deadlock over administrative control on assessees in the new tax regime.

Last week in its meeting, the Council had failed to break deadlock on jurisdiction over assessees.

The issue of dual control  whether the centre or the state will have authority on GST assesses is one of the thorny issues that needs to be ironed out. Three GST legislations  CGST, IGST and compensation law  need to be finalised after which they will be introduced in Parliament.

The finalisation of these laws will pave the way for introduction of GST legislations in the ongoing winter session of Parliament, which ends on December 16.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley had said the agenda for Sundays meeting will be completion of approval of CGST and IGST draft and discussion and resolution of cross empowerment law.

He pinned hopes on a quick resolution of the issue of tax jurisdiction with states.

We are still targeting April 1, 2017, for rollout of GST. Are we close to a resolution? I will keep my fingers crossed, Jaitley said after the meeting on December 4.

Jaitley had also said that the Centre and states are working out the mode of tax administration under which a tax payer would be assessed only once and that assessment has to be accepted by both the taxing authorities.

Read | Govt scrambles to pass GST-linked bills but chances bleak
Wishing President Pranab Mukherjee on his 81st birthday on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the President always put Indias interest above everything and that the nation was proud to have such a well read and knowledgeable President.

Taking to Twitter, the Prime Minister said that President Mukherjees tremendous experience and wisdom has benefitted the nation greatly.

Birthday wishes to Rashtrapati Ji. His tremendous experience & wisdom has benefitted the nation greatly. I pray for his long & healthy life. Pranab Da always puts Indias interest above everything. We are proud to have such a well read & knowledgeable President, he said.

Besides the Prime Minister, the nations top brass including Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu, Kiren Rijiju and Piyush Goyal among others also wished the President.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao also conveyed his greetings to the President, wishing him a happy, fruitful and long life.

Prime Minister Modi has earlier rebuked the Opposition for holding the Parliament hostage and said that the proceeding in the House had anguished President Mukhejee, referring to the Presidents recent criticism of the prolonged logjam in the national legislature over the currency ban.

Happenings in Parliament anguished our President, who has tremendous political experience, PM Modi said in Deesa, where he inaugurated a Rs 350 crore cheese plant.

An angry President Mukherjee on Thursday had said in a clear message to Parliamentarians, For Gods sake, do your job. You are meant to transact business in Parliament. Disruption of Parliament is not acceptable at all.
It had been three days since violence had broken out in Kashmir following the killing of militant leader Burhan Wani. Reports of widespread clashes and stone pelting at security forces were pouring in from across the Valley, especially near Insha Mushtaqs home in troubled south Kashmir.

In the afternoon, the 15-year-old had just opened a street-facing window when her world went black  a pellet cartridge fired from a close range blinded her.

Since that day, July 11, the class 9 student has undergone a series of surgeries in Srinagar, Delhi and Mumbai hospitals but to no avail. I cant sleep at night. Sometimes I get scared. I sleep during the day, she tells HT.

Insha became the global face of Kashmirs pellet woes  hundreds of people who were blinded or maimed by pellet guns used by security forces to manage crowds.

Photos of her in dark glasses sparked sympathy and outrage on social media across the world. Yet, her world has changed forever.

In a small room in her home in the picturesque village of Sedow, around 60km from Srinagar, she sits wearing dark goggles. Her scarred forehead remains covered by a headscarf.

I cant see anything, but the pain is not as intense as earlier Inshas voice breaks off.

At first, she could not even move around the house on her own, says Inshas mother Afroza Bano. But now, she says, her daughter can at least sense the rooms by touching the walls and move without help.

On Inshas lap lies a tablet phone, on which her cousin sister plays Naat  Islamic songs praising Prophet Mohammad  for her.

Insha Mushtaq is helped by her mother to move around the house (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo )

The phone, Insha says, was gifted to her by Dr S Natarajan  a Padma Shri recipient and Mumbai-based ophthalmologist who visited Srinagar thrice and operated on over 200 pellet victims. The blinding has not shattered Inshas dreams especially that of continuing her education and becoming a doctor. Insha says that if vision, to whatever extent possible, comes back even in one eye, she will continue her education.

Writing exams with pellets in eye

Inshas resilience is mirrored in 16-year-old Tabish Rafiq Bhat, who took his class 10 board examinations, despite his left eye being blinded by pellets. Tabish, a resident of Pampore town around 20km from Srinagar, was hit by pellets on July 9. Six pellets perforated his left eye, of which three still remain lodged inside even after rounds of surgeries and check-ups at Srinagar and Amritsar hospitals.

His uncle, Abdul Majeed Bhat, says he was not pelting stones but caught in between protesters and forces while returning from tuition classes. Doctors have told me I will never be able to see with my left eye again, says Tabish, who aspires to do an MBA course in the future. Undeterred by his partial blindness, Bhat chose to sit for exams in the November session. But preparing for exams in such a condition was not easy. My right eye starts watering after reading or writing for some time. A headache starts and I cannot concentrate for a long time, says Tabish, who does not wear glasses to cover the injured eye.

I will be back

Like Bhat, Zuhaib Maqbool  a 30-year-old Srinagar-based photojournalist whose left eye was blinded by pellets when he was covering a protest  is also hopeful of his return to photography. All my colleagues are out there covering the conflict while Im battling my injury. I was not throwing stones but doing my job, says Zuhaib.

Sporting shades to cover the blinded eye, Zuhaib waits for his turn at the crowded ophthalmology department of Srinagars SMHS hospital. In three months, Zuhaib has undergone four surgeries apart from making umpteen rounds for check-ups.

But Zuhaibs resilience is unmistakable. I wont give up journalism. I will be back even if with only one eye, quips the photographer.
Some 28.1 percent of voters participated in the referendum on amendments to the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan as of 16.00 (GMT+6 hours), the countrys First Deputy Prime Minister Mukhametkaly Abulgaziev said Dec. 11 at a press conference, 24.kg news agency reported.

He said that the largest percentage of voters is in Naryn and Talas provinces, which is 30 percent each.

Of the 14,000 voters living abroad, 618 people cast their votes, the first deputy prime minister noted.

Some 29.1 percent of voters came to the election of local councils, Mukhametkaly Abulgaziev said.

Kyrgyz Deputy Interior Minister Almaz Orozaliev said that 16 offenses facts have been registered in general. The police officers are holding inspections. All the materials will be given to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Kyrgyzstan.

Also, eight cases of power outage were recorded.
An Indian national facing the death sentence in Indonesia on charges of drug smuggling may not be pardoned, President Joko Widodo has indicated, by saying that the capital penalty is handed down only to individuals who have carried out serious crimes and is not based on nationality.

Ahead of his state visit to India, Widodo said, My duty as President is to uphold the law and Indonesias sovereignty. This will be applied in all cases, including those involving capital punishment.

Read | Not executed, but not safe: Gurdips fate hangs in balance in Indonesia

Asked if he would pardon Indian national Gurdip Singh, who is facing death sentence in Indonesia on drug charges since 2004, the president told PTI The death penalty is imposed only on individuals who have carried out serious crimes, and is not based on nationality.

Indonesia has 1.2 million people addicted to drugs, 40 to 50 of them die daily due to drug abuse and 4.5 million are undergoing rehabilitation, he said.

Singh, 48, was arrested at the Soekarno Hatta airport in 2004 for smuggling 300 grams of heroin. His execution by firing squad was deferred on July 29 this year.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at that time had said that India was exploring all legal options to prevent his execution.

Appealing to the Indonesian government for mercy to Singh, his wife Kulwinder Kaur had said he has spent 14 years in jail which was enough penance for his crime if he was guilty and he should be sent back.

Widodo, however, said, Drugs are a serious threat to Indonesia, and in particular for the countrys younger generation. Indonesia is now facing an emergency situation due to illicit drug trafficking and abuse.

Indonesia continues to act decisively to address this drug problems through law enforcement and international cooperation, he said.

We also run a variety of programmes to increase public awareness of the dangers of drugs, the president said adding that death penalty remains a part of Indonesian law.

Read | Be strong: When Indian man on death row made last call to kin from Indonesia
Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi charged opposition parties with trying to suppress truth by blocking debate in Parliament on the note ban issue, BSP supremo Mayawati said on Sunday it was a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.

By blaming opposition parties, the prime minister is running away from governments responsibility and answerability...But his remarks are totally wrong. yeh ulta chor kotwal to dantey jaisa hai (it is like pot calling kettle black), she said in a statement.

Mayawati said Modi was harping on the same tune and his speech at BJPs Parivartan Yatra in Bahraich, addressed through mobile phone from Lucknow, was no different.

The BSP chief was referring to Modis remark that since he was not allowed to speak in Parliament by opposition parties, he was compelled to speak outside on demonetisation.

It is absolutely wrong on the part of the prime minister to say like this, she said.

This is a wrong statement and does not behove the leader of the party in majority in Parliament to speak like this and mislead people, she said.

Mayawati said when the prime minister of a country accuses the opposition of not allowing him to speak in Parliament, it is a charge against him and not against the opposition.

As Parliament remained deadlocked over demonetisation, Modi today came down heavily on opposition, describing them as discarded parties trying to suppress truth.

Parliament is not being allowed to function for 20 days. We are ready for debate (on demonetisation), but we are not being allowed to present our view point by those very parties that have been discarded by the electorate, he said.

They (opposition) come to the Well of the House...throw paper at the Speaker, we want to put forth governments view point...by they are not allowing us to do so...in a way they are trying to suppress the truth, Modi said, and also accused rival parties SP and BSP of talking in similar refrain against note ban.
Raids across the country on Saturday yielded a haul of over Rs 44 crore including Rs 32 crore in new currency and 82 kg of gold.

Delhi Police raided the office of a law firm in south Delhi last Saturday night and seized Rs 13.65 crore in cash -- counted till Sunday morning -- of which Rs 2.6 crore was in new bank notes.

The raid was carried out by the Crime Branch at the office of T&T Law Firm, said a senior police officer.

When the police team raided the office, its rooms were locked and only a caretaker was present.

Police are searching for the firm promoter Rohit Tandon.

In Karnataka, the Income Tax department seized Rs 5.7 crore cash in new notes, 32kg of gold and jewellery, and Rs 90 lakh of old notes stashed inside the bathroom tiles of a hawala dealer in the remote town of Challakere.

The I-T department seized the alleged undisclosed assets from the unidentified hawala operator as part of its raids against black money hoarders.

The seizure was carried out after the I-T departments investigation wing in Panaji began searches on Friday against casino and bullion traders in Hubballi and Chitradurga districts.

Raided T&T law firm in GK I,amount of atleast 8 crores expected,of which atleast 2+ crores in new notes: Delhi Police Crime Branch pic.twitter.com/565CMYdoi0  ANI (@ANI_news) December 10, 2016

In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, the Income Tax department seized Rs 24 crore in new notes in Vellore and 50 kgs of gold from businessmen Sekhar Reddy, adding to the biggest confiscation of black money post-demonetisation.

Police officials say that the new seizure was made when I-T officials checked a car in Vellore after interrogating the three men who had been earlier arrested in Chennai two days ago when the tax operations began.

The raided premises belong to the industrialist Sekhar Reddy, his associate and family member Srinivasalu Reddy, and their agents, including a man named Prem, an I-T official said. So far, 4 out of the total 8 premises that have been searched, he added.

Read | Rs 100 crore deposited in over 40 fake accounts in Axis Bank branch: I-T dept

Reddy, a prominent industrialist was also a member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Trust Board. Following the seizures of cash and gold, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu ordered his removal as a member of the board of trustees.

On Friday, the three men were arrested after IT officials seized Rs 90 crore in old high denomination notes and Rs 9.63 crore in the new Rs 2000 note. I-T officials also seized 127 kg gold from premises belonging to Reddy in Chennai.

(With inputs from agencies)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a Parivartan rally organised by the BJP in Uttar Pradeshs Bahraich via phone his helicopter failed to land there due to poor visibility on Sunday afternoon.

This is the PMs third visit to Bahraich. He was the BJP national general secretary when he had first visited the district in 2001. He made a second trip in November 2013.

It was supposed to be the PMs fifth Parivartan rally in Uttar Pradesh post-demonetisation. He has earlier addressed mammoth rallies at Ghazipur, Agra, Kushinagar and Moradabad. His next rally is scheduled in Kanpur on December 19.

Follow live updates here:

3.30 pm: UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya says the party will work out fresh dates for another rally in Bahraich that the Prime Minister can attend.

3.25 pm: Akin to the address he delivered on Saturday at Dessa in Gujarat, Modi says his government is devoted to the welfare of the poor. He concludes his brief speech by vowing to win the war against the corrupt.

He also says that Uttar Pradesh needs to break free from goondaraj to be able to progress.

3.20 pm: Prime Minister Modi brings up demonetisation, says the opposition is trying to crush truth and honesty and that he is being attacked by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party over the currency ban.

The people of UP know that the Parliament is not being allowed to function by political rivals.

3.15 pm: Unable to land due to the dense fog, PM Modi speaks to the people in Bahraich via phone.
Superstar Rajinikanth on Sunday paid rich tributes to late Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa, describing her as a Kohinoor diamond who had made her way up through difficulties in a male-dominated society.

The actor was at a condolence meeting organised by the South Indian Artistes Association or the Nadigar Sangam for Jayalalithaa and actor-journalist Cho S Ramaswami.

Recalling his strong statements against her during the 1996 assembly polls, Rajinikanth said, I had hurt her. I was a key reason for her defeat.

The actor had then famously remarked that even god cant save Tamil Nadu if Jayalalithaas AIADMK was elected to power again. The then DMK-TMC (Tamil Maanila Congress) combine had swept the polls amid strong anti-incumbency.

Jayalalithaa, however, later proved to be a golden-hearted leader, Rajinikanth said,

The actor said it was with great difficulty that she could take over the reins of the AIADMK following the death of its founder and her political mentor MG Ramachandran, but she had even overtaken him in achievements.

Having lost her father at the age of two and mother 20 years later, she faced various challenges including having no family but achieved fame by hard work in a male-dominated society, he said.

Read| Tamil Nadu: After Jayalalithaa, the field is now wide open

Today, she is resting like a kohinoor diamond at the MGR memorial site and enjoys the love and affection of so many people.

The challenges in her life polished her further, he added.

He also paid rich tributes to Ramaswamy, a veteran journalist, satirist, playwright and actor died of illness on December 7. Ramaswamy was Rajinikanths long time friend.

Read| Not Amma to all: The other side of Jayalalithaas legacy
The secondary or resale property market in Indore has been adversely impacted by the demonetisation of the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes as people are short of cash, while the impact on new projects will be visible from the next financial year, say experts.

Property prices are more or less stable for now.

The secondary property market in the heart of the city has been hit as prices are more than the guideline rates. However, there has been little impact on the outskirts, where prices are below the guideline rates and there is no cash component involved. As for new projects, the impact will be visible only after April 30, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) Indore executive body member Vijay Gandhi told HT.

The resale of property, where the payment is partially done in cash, has almost come to a halt. There is a lull after the governments decision to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Usually, the resale of property involves cash component of around 30-40%. Even taking into account home loans, it is not possible for many buyers to pay entirely by check. We expect the resale property market to remain subdued for the next 12 months, said a property broker, requesting anonymity.

Some developers and property dealers in the city are a worried lot after the demonetisation as they were already grappling with slow sales and rising inventory levels.

Given the uncertainty caused by demonetisation, people could postpone their plans to buy property. It remains to be seen whether the rise in inventory levels will lead to a fall in prices, Indore Property Dealers Association president Rajendra Bhaiya said.

Builder Naveen Mehta, however, feels that the demonetisation will not have a serious impact on new projects and says it will benefit the end users.

Property market in Indore had been showing signs of revival during the Diwali season, just before the Centre announced the demonetisation. The outskirts of the city including the Ring Road, Bypass Road and the Super Corridor are witnessing more development due to the high property prices in prime localities and the shortage of land for construction activity. While land comes at a rate of Rs 10,000-Rs 12,000 per square feet in the city, it drops to around Rs 800-2,500 per square feet on the outskirts of Indore.
State finance minister Jayant Malaiya on Saturday said the government aims to double the income of farmers in Madhya Pradesh in the next five years.

Malaiya was addressing a rally of farmers on Laxmibai Mandi premises near Indore.

At another rally of farmers held near Indore, Malaiya distributed certificates of crop insurance amount to some farmers. A total of 59,000 farmers of the district received more than Rs 105 crore under the national crop insurance scheme.

Addressing the rally, Malaiya urged the farmers to adopt modern farming methods and make use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides in a balanced way. He also asked the farmers to focus on organic farming.

The finance minister also inaugurated a three-day fair being held to train farmers in modern farming methods. The fair will also have technical sessions in which experts will explain the modern farming methods to farmers. Local panchayat office-bearers and BJP leaders were present on the occasion.
Madhya Pradesh might have topped the country in infant mortality rate as per a latest government survey, but it is making progress to rid itself of the dubious distinction, according to a health expert.

There was a reduction of 30% in the IMR rate in the state between the year 2009-2014 as against nationwide fall of 25% during the same period, pointed out Dr Gagan Gupta, a health specialist with the UNICEF.

With 52 deaths of children less than one year of age per 1,000 live births, the state has the highest IMR rate in the country, according to the 2014 sample registration system (SRS) baseline survey released earlier this year by the registrar general of India.

Dr Gupta, who is in the city to take part in the ongoing 36th annual neo-natal conference, spoke at length on the way ahead for neo-natal care both in the country as well as the state.

He said though Madhya Pradesh showed remarkable progress in checking IMR rate, the state still needs to take several collective measures to improve its situation.

Dr Gupta also pointed out the basic flaws that afflict the entire neo-natal care in the country. India is the only country where mortality rate of females is higher than males. Generally, it is the opposite. This is because girl child is not given the proper care which she should ideally be given, he said.

Citing figures for the state Dr Gupta added that the percentage of mortality of female newborn is 17% higher than males.

The Unicef and the National Neo-natal Forum also declared 2017 as the year of female newborn to ensure that the focus of health care shifts towards them.

The emphasis will be on admitting the newborns to the SNCU so that they receive adequate care.

Dr KK Diwakar, a neonatologist from Kerala, said early initiation to breastfeeding is the key to reducing the mortality rate among newborn and infants.

Over 300 delegates, health experts, pediatricians and neo-natal care experts are attending the conference which will conclude on Sunday.

UNICEF MEASURES TO CHECK IMR

Care of the female newborn: From introducing her to the SNCU in case of a critical condition to ensuring that a follow up of her health condition is done at community based centres

Breastfeeding: It can reportedly avert 22% of neo-natal deaths.

Quality care: All the facilities being provided to the newborn should be in such a condition that issues like Asphyxia, which is the most common condition resulting in the death of a newborn, can be checked.

Special care for babies born too soon or too small: Premature and under-weight babies have a very high mortality rate. Therefore, special care needs to be given to them.

Follow up with the community: One million babies in the country and one lakh in the state walk out of the SNCU, but how many are able to make it to their fifth birthday is something the health department needs to look into.
MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday exhorted farmers to take interest in growing fruits and vegetables along with traditional cereals to earn additional profits.

I am committed to making agriculture a profit-making business and want income via agriculture to double in the next five years. I want farmers children to be industrialists and every support will be extended to them to set up food processing units, Chouhan, addressing a convention of farmers from different districts of the Ujjain division, said.

The chief minister also said that the area of land irrigated has substantially increased in the 11 years that he has been at the helm of affairs  40 lakh hectares  from what it was under the Congress rule  seven lakh hectares.

He also urged the farmers to adopt cashless payment mode and said that training programmes would be conducted in all mandis in the state.

Chouhan also symbolically handed over certificates of compensation to some farmers over insurance relating to the 2015 Kharif crops. Principal secretary (agriculture) Rajesh Rajora said Rs 4400 crore was being disbursed to 20 lakh farmers under the insurance scheme. The chief ministers office tweeted that this was the countrys first crop insurance claim distribution.

Passengers suffer after buses acquired for meet

Bus passengers in Indore were left in the lurch on Saturday as the transport department acquired nearly 440 buses to ferry farmers for the Ujjain convention.

The passengers who suffered most were those who commute daily trip between Indore and Mhow.

Meanwhile, regional transport officer MP Singh said buses leave for Mhow every 4-5 minutes, for which adequate arrangements were made. He said available buses made multiple rounds to address the needs of passengers.
A wildlife safari will be introduced at Jaisalmers famed Desert National Park this week to allow tourists to enjoy diverse wildlife that exists amid the Thar desert besides boosting economy.

The park is spread in an area of 3,000 sq km and formed of undulating sand dunes, jagged rocks, dense salt lake bottoms and inter-medial areas. Various species of animals such as black buck, chinkara, desert fox and cat, blue bull, desert gerbil, sand grouse and gecko, fringe-toed agama eagles inhabit the park.

Endangered Great Indian Bustard, one of the worlds heaviest flying birds, can also be seen in it. In winter, the park hosts an incredible variety of migratory raptors such Himalayan and Eurasian Griffon Vultures, Eastern Imperial Eagle and Saker Falcon.

An Indian tourist will be charged `50 as entry fee and a foreigner `300 along with `1,000 as safari vehicle fare, an official said on Sunday.

Jaisalmer, also known as Golden City for yellow stones that buildings are made from give it a distinctive golden glow, is a tourist hotspot for its sand dunes, Sonar Quila (Jaisalmer fort), Tanot Mata temple and traditional Rajasthani architecture. The safari at the park will add another feather in its cap.

Jaisalmer district conservator of forest (wildlife) Anoop KR told HT, This week, we will be starting wildlife safari at the park for tourists. Under the eco-tourism programme, the safari is being started where tourists will be able to see unique found only in dessert areas such as in Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner.

People were conducting desert safari outside the park but now tourists would be able to see desert animals inside the park, he said, adding that a 12-km trail has been identified and tourists will be accompanied by registered guides.

Guides are residents of villages inside the park. They were given training for a year by my department and Wildlife Conservation Trust, a Mumbai-based NGO, he said.

Anoop said: Our objective is to promote and encourage tourism in Jaisalmer. If the initiative works then wildlife safari will also come in itinerary of tourist, which will extend their stay for a day. In addition to this, the move will provide livelihood to local residents as they are involved as guides and vehicles drivers.

He said vehicles used for safari were registered with the forest department and no other vehicles would be allowed inside.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Islamic Republics flag carrier, Iran Air, has announced it has finalized a contract with, Boeing, the US giant aircraft manufacturer, to purchase 80 Boeing passenger planes, IRNA news agency reported.

According to the report, the head of Iran Air, Farhad Parvaresh, has said that the contract envisages purchasing 50 Boeing 737 aircraft and 30 Boeing 777 planes.

He added that the aircraft will be handed over to Iran over a period of 10 years.

The report added that the US government has approved the deal.

Fletcher Barkdull, Boeings regional sales director, told IRNA that the $16.6 billion deal was inked after receiving the US governments approval.

According to the report, Iranian Transportation Minister Abbas Akhoundi participated in the ceremony for inking the contract.

Iran had signed a basic plane purchase agreement with Boeing earlier this year.
Dhruva

Cast: Ram Charan, Arvind Swamy, Rakul Preet Singh

Director: Surinder Reddy

Rating: 2/5

Dhruva suffers from a very esoteric cinematic disease. Its known as the sickness of slickness. So hell-bent is it to out-slick the original Tamil film Thani Oruvan, that director Surinder Reddy orders his entire team to workout in the gym of their minds.

Ram Charan, of course, takes the gyming to the literal level. He tones his policeman characters physique to an unbelievably chiselled level of sinewiness. And just to prove how serious he is about being monstrously macho with his gun and muscles, he even takes off his shirt at one point to display his abundant talent.

Policemen in real life are often unfit and potbellied. Not this one. Not this time.

Ram Charans performance is so physically fit that it screams for attention. Ditto the film.

Dhruva is a wannabe Mukul Anand film. In the 1980s, Mukul Anand redefined slick thrills in Bollywood with his Amitabh Bachchan actioners. Surinder Shetty could be the late Mukul Anands new avatar. I see the same fidgety restlessness in his narrative stratosphere. The same impatience to get on with the story and not allow it to be bogged down by comic and romantic relief. Rakul Preet Singh is the wallflower that Telugu cinema relegates its leading ladies to being. Think Kabali. Think Radhika Apte.

Ram Charan looks extremely fit in Dhruva.

This is a welcome change in Telugu cinema where the main plot is weighed down by demoniacal diversions. Dhruva sticks to the straight and not-so-narrow path. Its a classic cat-and-mouse chase saga about a devious scientist(Arvind Swamy) whose evil ambitions to destroy the world are thwarted by a police officer who gives nothing away from his expressions. This abundance of secrecy may seem terribly clever when dealing with a villain who is smart enough to outwit even the smartest of heroes.

But then the strong and silent hero could be the way he is because he has no other option. Throughout the pulsating proceedings, punctuated by bouts of gripping action and relentless chase, Ram Charan remains expressionless to the point of seeming like a rock that has not moved from its place for centuries. Luckily, this rock moves with the speed of lightning. Ram Charan is an action hero. He should remain that way.

In Dhruva, Rakul Preet Singh is the wallflower that Telugu cinema relegates its leading ladies to being.

To see some acting chops, we have Arvind Swamy encoring his villainous act from the original Tamil film with remarkable relish. Swamy is suave and riveting. Every time he shares a frame with Ram Charan, Swamy chews up the frames with a monsters appetite. I almost felt sorry for Ram Charan for having chosen such a formidable adversary.

Dhruva, though meant to be a vehicle for Ram Charans comeback (his career has not seen a success for quite some time), ends up being a made-to-order vehicle for Arvind Swamy. Of course, Ram Charan will benefit from this films success. He has played the expressionless policeman in Toofan (Zanjeer in Hindi). He makes the khaki uniform look positively pale.

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A 32-year-old man fired at his wife with a country-made revolver during a domestic brawl in Tulinj in Nalasopara (East) on Saturday night.

The man, Ramesh Ramlal Rajbhar, then admitted her to a private hospital, where officials informed the police what had happened. He was then arrested.

Rajbhar works as a motorcycle mechanic and stays with his wife Rekha and two children at the the Saidham Thakur chawl, Santosh Bhuvan.

On Saturday, Rajbhar and Rekha had a fight. Enraged, he pulled out a country-made revolver and fired one round in to Rekhas thigh from behind.

In a state of panic, he then admitted her to the Golden Park Hospital. The police arrested Rajbhar under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act.

He will be produced before the Vasai court on Monday, said a Tulinj police official.

The doctors have removed the bullet from Rekhas body. However, she is critical owing to the loss of blood, said Dr Malcolm Pestonjee from Golden Park Hospital.The Tulinj police are in the process of questioning Rajbhar to ascertain how he obtained the gun.

Read

Thane man held two days after attacking wife

Man held for assaulting daughter and pregnant wife in Mumbai

Man held for killing colleague over financial dispute
A year has passed since the murder of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Hemant Bhambhani, but the police have not been able to nab key accused Vidhyadhar Rajbhar. As per police officials, his last location was recorded in Assam on February 10 this year. For nearly 10 months after February, the police have not got even a single clue where Vidhyadhar is.

Sources said Rajbhar has been changing his mobile handset and phone number so police could not trace his location. Earlier the police had traced Rajbhars location after the murder to Madhya Pradesh and later in Chennai when he spoke to his mother and lawyer to get advice.

Initially, police were hoping that Rajbhar will surrender to the police but after the chargsheet was filed, it does not look like he will do that, said a crime branch source.

Kandivli police have deployed police personnel to keep watch on Rajbhars family members, which seems to be the only way to trace him, but now they too have gone silent. The crime branch has no option but to wait and watch as there are no fresh clues. The case is being investigated by the crime branch unit 7.

Close friend of Hemas family had even announced a reward of Rs1 lakh for information on Rajbhar. Hemas family had sought permission for the move from the Mumbai police and had circulated posters with Vidyadhars new and old photos across and outside the city.

Read

Upadhyay-Bhambhani murders: HC likely to hear Chintans bail plea

Mumbai double murder: Sessions court rejects Chintan Upadhyays bail plea
As his four-year-old son watched helplessly, dentist Umesh Bobale, 40, stabbed his accountant wife Tanuja, 36, repeatedly in the chest, stomach and legs, killing her instantly at their Dadar home on Sunday morning. Bobale then coolly called up the police control room, gave them directions to his home in Kohinoor Towers, and told them to come arrest him as he had killed his wife.

The couple had separated in March but friends and family had got them to try and patch up. Tanuja had returned to Bobales home earlier in the morning as the couple had decided to give their relationship another chance. But they soon started arguing about how much money Bobale should give Tanuja every month, police quoted Bobale as saying. While Tanuja, who is an accountant with a firm at the Bandra-Kurla Complex, wanted Rs15,000 a month, Bobale said Rs10,000 should be enough as they were going to live together.

Police said the dentist, who has a clinic at Jogeshwari, told them that he lost his temper and picked up a knife from the kitchen and stabbed his wife repeatedly. Their four-year-old son was witness to the whole incident. In fact, police said he had told them that his father killed his mother.

After Bobale called the police control room, the Shivaji Park police went to his home on the third floor of Kohinoor Tower on Bal Govind Das Road and arrested him. The child was given into

the care of his mothers aunt with whom they were staying while the couple was separated.

The senior inspector of the Shivaji Park police station Gangadhar Sonawane said the child was an important witness in the case He said there was a case registered against Bobale earlier under the domestic violence act. Now he has been arrested for murder.

Read

24-year-old physiotherapist found dead in Mumbai

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We dont believe in sitting idle, says Yvonne Dsouza, president of Borivlis IC Womens Welfare Association (ICWWA), as she enters her small office, which serves as the groups service centre.

The ICWWA was started in 2001 as a group to help women and underprivileged children. It then expanded its scope to eco-friendly activities. Eight years ago, we decided to take our work) up a notch and start green drives in our colony by planting saplings, said Angela Fernandes, committee member, ICWWA.

We conducted the plantation drive twice and planted 22 trees each time. We also objected when officials tried to cut the trees, Fernandes said.

The groups current project is the crucial issue of electronic or e-waste disposal. E-waste refers to broken or old electronic gadgets that contain toxic materials, which can harm human, animal and plant life. If the wastes are disposed of at regular garbage dumps, the chemicals can leach into the soil and water. Some of these materials, if extracted safely, can be recycled.

This was the first time we took up such an initiative. We received a good response from the residents. During the drivel we collected two tempos worth of e-waste. We plan to conduct such initiatives monthly, said Dsouza. The e-waste is then handed over to municipal officials, who recycle and dispose of it safely.

The 18-member committee has created a WhatsApp group to inform residents about their initiatives. The group includes police personnel and municipal corporation officials. In this way, if we plan to start an initiative, we can get a green signal from government officials immediately, said Fernandes.

The group has conducted workshops and seminars to educate them about waste management, pollution control, women empowerment and education for children.

The registered charitable trust association has more than 370 members, after beginning with just 10. Locals pay Rs100 for a lifetime membership.

As Mumbai struggles to dispose of its daily output of nearly 10,000 tonnes of garbage and its dumping grounds are saturated, associations such as these inform citizens how to reduce their waste. We regularly make announcements, telling society members to segregate waste. A considerable change has come over the colony over the years, said Suzanne Valles, a member of the association.

Everything takes time. People need to be aware and actively participate in such events, Dsouza said.

The ICWWA sponsors all the associations events and workshops by selling hand-me-downs donated by members. We call it the White Elephant Sale. Residents who are on a Christmas cleaning spree have been giving us their items, Valles said.

Chandrakant Tambe, an official with H-West municipal ward, said the collection of e-waste is the most important aspect of waste management. This is an important initiative. It will help the municipal corporation. The support of people reduces the pressure on us. Development can be sustained only if people participate and have the right mindset, Tambe added.

Read

Andrew Ganj ward leads the way in safe management of e-waste

Parel society segregates 100% waste at source

Soil around Mumbais garbage dumps contains hazardous levels of mercury: Study
One person died and three others were injured when a helicopter crashed in Aarey Colony in Mumbais Goregaon on Sunday.

The accident occurred at the Filter Pada area of Aarey Colony, a green belt in suburban Goregaon.

The deceased was identified as Prafulla Mishra. Ritesh Modi, 35, Sanjiv Shankar, 24, and Vrinda, 34, were injured in the crash, doctors said. The injured were rushed to Mumbais SevenHills Hospital to be treated for burn injuries, police confirmed.

Three fire tenders were rushed to the crash site.

Preliminary information suggests that there were two crew members and two passengers in the privately-run helicopter and they took off from Juhu on a joyride.

People gather around the wreckage of the helicopter. (Arijit Sen/HT )

Locals alerted police and fire brigade after they spotted smoke billowing from the crash site.

We saw smoke in our area at around 11.45am and realised something untoward has happened, an eyewitness said.

Apex aircraft investigation body, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), will probe the crash.

The DGCA officials are already on the crash site to collect evidence for probe. Since, ab initio its an accident, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will be conducting a probe into it. We are sending a team of investigators to Mumbai tomorrow (Monday) to start the probe, a senior AAIB official said.

(With agency inputs)
For the last 20 years, says Shantaram Gadekar, his family has managed to stay afloat through the many cycles of drought in the rain-shadow Sangamner taluka in Ahmednagar district thanks to the successful milk co-operative movement here that has brought him a fixed fortnightly income. Solely on the sale of milk, Gadekars family managed to marry off the daughters of the house, take and pay back the loans and do farming. In a nut shell, the milk money has helped Gadekar fight the vagaries of climate and market price for crops.

But, over the last one month, Gadekar has found out that while this income  from selling 17 litres of milk daily  has not stopped, it has no value for him. Nearly, Rs 15,000 is sitting in Gadekars account with the Kanifnath milk co-operative society in his village in Raitewadi. The income is from the last two fortnightly payments from the Sangamner Taluka Co-operative Milk Producers Sangh made to the Ahmednagar district central co-operative bank and then transferred to his milk co-operative society. But, he has no access to this money.

The withdrawal limit for the entire milk co-operative society that has an account with the Ahmednagar DCC, taken as one individual holder, is Rs24,000 for a week. In Gadekars village alone, there are more than 200 members linked to the Kanifnath milk co-operative society.

We are trying to distribute the money in installments, giving more to those who are in dire need. But, its way too little. Most of the villagers now are living on credit, but how long can that last , asks Santosh Mandekar, chairman of the Kanifnath Milk Producers Co-operative Society.

In adjoining, Khandgaon village, its the same story. Khandgaon with a population of 3,500 people has 786 members linked to the local milk dairy.

I was counting on this money for my rabi sowing. Do you know how much investment is required to grow onions on one acre ? It can take as much as Rs40,000. I was counting on rotating some of the money got from milk and sugarcane payments for this, instead I am now running pillar to post to just get my own income in my hands, said Shivaji Misre, farmer from Khandgaon village. Misre has Rs25,000 as the first installment for his cane payment from the Bhausaheb Thorat Co-operative Sugar factory and Rs10,000 from the milk payment sitting in his account.

On the whole, the Sangamner Taluka Co-operative Milk Producers Sangh that sells milk under Rajhans brand, has around 50,000 members (only from the taluka), organised under as many as 207 dairy societies. It collects nearly 2.30 lakh to 2.70 lakh litres a day and has daily payments worth Rs 70 lakh to the milk producers spread across 171 villages. All these transactions are carried out through the district central co-operative bank.

The co-operative sugar factorys first installment to its 22,000 member farmers is to the tune of Rs34 crore. Our co-operative ecology is very strong. The issue is not cashless transactions; we started RTGS and cheque payments over a decade back. The problem is the cash crunch, which has affected the entire supply chain from our wholesale buyers to retailers across the state and even in Surat to our individual members, said Dr P J Ubalepatil, managing director of Sangamner taluka milk co-operative.

To put this in perspective, one needs to understand the states co-operative sector. For instance, Sangamner in Ahmednagar district is one of the most successful models set up by co-operative doyen and Congress leader Bhausaheb Thorat, currently run by his son and former revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat. In the taluka, everything from the sugar factory to milk dairy and even petrol pumps are run on co-operative basis, which means group of farmers are stakeholders in the business. All their transactions are in turn linked to the Ahmednagar DCC that has 286 branches in the district, with 39 branches in Sangamner taluka alone. When we ask for Rs 10 crore as our requirement, we get Rs25 lakh to Rs30 lakh in cash. How are we to disburse this among our 10 lakh account holders ? One understands that there has been mismanagement in various district co-operative banks but why paint the entire sector and all banks as bad ?, asks Raosaheb Varpe, Managing Director of Ahmednagar DCC.

He added, Our bank has no such history, instead we have been very successful. We have been given our license by RBI. When one of our account holders wants to withdraw Rs24,000, we cant give him the amount. We offer Rs2,000 to Rs 4,000 and at the maximum Rs 10,000.

The co-operative sector in Maharashtra has largely been in the hands of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, who have dominated the district bank, sugar as well as milk co-operative sector. Several banks, sugar factories have had to be liquidated following flagrant mismanagement of its accounts but many others run successfully and continue to hold the strings of the rural economy. For now, the demonetization decision has put a spoke in the wheels of this entire sector, affecting the livelihood of lakhs of farmers.

The co-operative sugar factorys first installment to its 22,000 member farmers is to the tune of Rs34 crore.

Our co-operative ecology is very strong. The issue is not cashless transactions; we started RTGS and cheque payments over a decade back. The problem is the cash crunch, which has affected the entire supply chain from our wholesale buyers to retailers across the state and even in Surat to our individual members, said Dr P J Ubalepatil.

To put this in perspective, one needs to understand the states co-operative sector. Sangamner in Ahmednagar district is one of the most successful models set up by co-operative doyen and Congress leader Bhausaheb Thorat, currently run by his son and former revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat. In the taluka, everything from the sugar factory to milk dairy and even petrol pumps are run on co-operative basis, which means group of farmers are stakeholders in the business.

All their transactions are in turn linked to the Ahmednagar DCC that has 286 branches in the district, with 39 branches in Sangamner taluka alone. When we ask for Rs 10 crore as our requirement, we get Rs25 lakh to Rs30 lakh in cash. How are we to disburse this among our 10 lakh account holders ? One understands that there has been mismanagement in various district co-operative banks but why paint the entire sector and all banks as bad ?, asks Raosaheb Varpe, Managing Director of Ahmednagar DCC.

Our bank has no such history, instead we have been very successful. We have been given our license by RBI. When one of our account holders wants to withdraw Rs24,000, we cant give him that amount. We offer Rs2,000 to Rs 4,000 and at the maximum Rs 10,000 if there is a dire need, he added.

The co-operative sector in Maharashtra has largely been in the hands of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, who have dominated the district bank, sugar as well as milk co-operative sector. Several banks, sugar factories have had to be liquidated following flagrant mismanagement of its accounts but many others run successfully and continue to hold the strings of the rural economy.

For now, the demonetization decision has put a spoke in the wheels of this entire sector, affecting the livelihood of lakhs of farmers.

READ MORE

Note ban effect in Maharashtra: Cabbages worth Rs80,000 sold for Rs6,000

Maharashtra to link its schemes for the poor with Aadhaar

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Actor Shah Rukh Khan met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray at his home on Sunday evening to discuss his film Raees, which is scheduled to release in January and stars Pakistani actor Mahira Khan.

Sources in the MNS told HT Khan called on Thackeray to assure him that contrary to the rumours on social media, his Pakistani co-star will not come to India to promote the film.

The move comes after the controversy over the movie, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which released in October. MNS had taken an aggressive stand against the movie, as it starred Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. Khan promised he will not promote the movie with Mahira. Thackeray has promised to not create any problem for the release of the film, said an MNS leader and associate of Thackeray.

Ameya Khopkar, MNS Chitrapat Karmachari Sena chief, said, Khan has promised that he will not get Mahira Khan to promote Raees. There will be no interference from our end.

The MNS hardened its opposition to Pakistani artistes in films after the Uri attack in September.

It was only after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis intervention and a meeting with all concerned, including Thackeray, that Karan Johars Ae Dil Hai Mushkil got released. It had led to another controversy with filmmakers committing Rs5 crore towards the Army Welfare Fund at the intervention meeting, which activists and civil society members termed extortion money.

Khan ran into trouble during the release of his movie, My Name is Khan. The movie was released under unprecedented security with the then Congress-NCP government going all out to ensure protection to the movie.

Read more: MNS threatens multiplex owners before Ae Dil Hai Mushkil release
As the BJP leaders MP Kirron Kher, local chief Sanjay Tandon, veteran leaders and former MPs Satya Pal Jain and Harmohan Dhawan came together to release their manifesto the vision document for MC elections 2016, bonhomie and sarcasm were on display.

MP Kirron Kher was as usual her witty self and did not lose a chance to make the event lighter. Soon after entering she looked at additional solicitor general of India, Satya Pal Jain, and said, You kept us waiting. To this Jain, immediately replied, Thank god, someone waits for me.

Kher, in another light remark, standing next to Chandigarh BJP chief, said, One looks really short standing next to Mr Tandon.

The event proceeded and Tandon started listing out achievements. As he credited the MC for 24-hour supply of water project after agreement with Punjab Government, Kher intervened. She said, I actually took the water issue with the Punjab and Haryana governments.

In a similar reaction, when Tandon, attacking Congress, said that getting water was not rocket science and was just a simple thing, Kher nodded, implying, It is not that simple.

Even when Tandon remarked demonetisation was like labour pain and would bear fruitful results as a baby boy, Kher interrupted and said, I take exception, it can be a baby girl too.

But in the end, as they say all is well that ends well, Kher said, We all our working together as a team for citys development and are delivering as one, be it party leaders, MPs or councillors.
The manifesto released by the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiromani Akali Dal combine on Saturday, just a week before the city goes to municipal corporation (MC) polls, harps largely on the issues taken up by city MP Kirron Kher with the Centre and the UT administration in the past two-and-a-half years.

Out of the listed promises in the manifesto, which the party describes as a vision document, only 30% issues come directly under the MCs preview. The document promises conversion of residential property from leasehold to freehold, employment opportunities and an affordable housing scheme-- the initiatives Kher has been working upon. Some of these were also listed in the MPs manifesto when she contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. In what can be termed as a complete change from the past, the manifesto did not talk only about civic issues, but the holistic development of the city from health, education, transport to housing issues.

PARTY PUTS UP UNITED FRONT

Putting up a united front, all the senior leaders of the party were present during the release of the manifesto at the party office in Sector 33 here. Kirron Kher, veteran party leaders and former MPs Satya Pal Jain and Harmohan Dhawan came along with city unit party chief Sanjay Tandon.

Tandon said the BJP has always given priority to welfare of the people and the document brings out the vision of the party, which takes a holistic view of overall development of the city.

Commenting on the impact of demonetisation on MC elections, he said, The central government is trying its best to reduce the difficulties faced by the common man, but everyone in the system understands that for a massive clean-up, some days of difficulty is unavoidable. The intelligent people of Chandigarh will not fall into the trap of misinformation laid by the opposition parties.

The major achievements highlighted included increased age limit for entry into government service in Chandigarh from 25 years to 37 years, need-based changes allowed by the Chandigarh Housing Board, increase in MBBS seats at GMCH32 from 50 to 100, PNG gas pipe, new buses by CTU, an over bridge at the Tribune roundabout to decongest traffic. Interestingly, all these can be attributed to the MP.

The MCs achievements included initiating work for laying pipeline for 24-water supply, 20 new tubewells, garbage bins worth Rs 1 crore installed across the city, public toilets constructed to make city open defecation free, cleaning of roads through road-sweeping machines and inauguration of green belts.

In the vision document, some of the promises made are projects already being initiated by the UT administration such as underground electrical wiring, intelligent traffic light system, Sector 16 GMSH to be upgraded by setting up an ICU and a new fleet of buses for CTU.

Past ten months vs past 14 years

The vision document and the manifesto achievements, carrying pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national chief Amit Shah, senior local BJP leaders, give a comparative account of work done in the past ten months, under BJP mayor, versus the past 14 years. They also have pictures of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

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Tehran, Iran, December 11



By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:



Seven Iranian lawmakers have moved to question Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif over his relaxing policies on Syria over the past few months.



The complaint has been handed over to the presiding board of the Parliament to be put on agenda for a session with the foreign minister, Mehr news agency reported December 11.

The most important question in the draft is why Zarif recalled Ambassador Mohammad Reza Rauf Sheybani from Syria.

In a written warning last week, 10 MPs criticized Zarif for him taking so long to name a fill-in for Sheybani, whose legal term in Syria ended a few weeks ago.



In todays question, the seven MPs have also showed indignation with Zarifs removing Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, former deputy foreign minister for African and Arab affairs, from his post a few months ago.

They go on to accuse Zarif of making the moves to give advantage to some current, adding, the Foreign Ministrys policy is defending the resistance current is seriously questionable.

Iran is the staunch supporter of the legal government in Syria, now headed by President Bashar Assad.

Tehran has condemned any terrorist move to change the future of Syria, in devastating conflict since 2011, instead calling for free, democratic elections where real Syrian individuals decide their fate.

The chances of impeaching Zarif are scanty, however, as he became immensely popular in Iran after he hammered out a long-desired nuclear deal with the group 5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany) in 2015.
He lights up amid people. Parkash Singh Badal, once the youngest sarpanch of India and now its oldest chief minister, is a peoples politician, a title that even his most virulent critics dont deny him. The morning is cold and gloomy, but the towering 62 89-year-old is wide alert, beaming a smile at a sangat darshan, a tete-a-tete with villagers wrapped in blankets, eager to get their grouses to Badal Saab, gearing up for the election early next year.

Its the cellular age  arch rival and Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh has promised 50 lakh 4-G mobiles to Punjab voters  but the patron of the Shiromani Akali Dal believes in the old world one-on-one connect. Its never failed him, not since 1947 when he was first elected sarpanch of his namesake Badal village in Bathinda at the age of 20.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Today the village, which has been transformed from a dusty hamlet to a sparkling oasis, is eponymous with the first dynasty of Punjab and the Akali Dal. The surname Badal spells power. The Punjab Cabinet has four members of the family  chief minister Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal, son-in-law Adaish Partap Singh Kairon and Sukhbirs brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia. Sukhbirs wife Harsimrat is a Union minister.

Its quite a moral climbdown for a leader who was once a harsh critic of the Gandhi dynasty.

The Shiromani Akali Dal, the second oldest party of India, known for morchas (movements) and motivated cadre, is now a family affair. Ashutosh Kumar, a professor at the political science department of Panjab University, says like Akbar, Badal has used matrimonial alliances to strengthen his hold on Punjab. He married his daughter Parneet into the Congress heavyweight Kairon family, and his son into the powerful Majithia clan. Now he is systematically giving tickets to sons of Akali leaders to promote the hegemony of his own son.

LONG INNINGS ON MIDDLE PATH

The Badal dynasty stems from the long innings of its patriarch, who still maintains a punishing schedule, starting his day with the sun at 5 and winding up at 11. His stamina is legendary. When asked about his age before the 2007 Punjab elections, he said: Bhaj ke dikhawan (Shall I run and show you?)

Read | At Moga, SAD show focuses on selling Brand Badal

An MLA on a Congress ticket at 25, and the then youngest chief minister at 43, Badal Senior, as he is now known, has weathered 69 years in Punjab politics.

Badal recounts how he wouldve never entered politics had it not been for an influential relative, a minister, who acceded to his request for being made a tehsildar only to tear the appointment letter. He told me: Become someone who appoints tehsildars.

Ashutosh calls Badals middle path his greatest strength. Though he spent 17 years in jail in various Akali morchas  a fact that prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call him Nelson Mandela  he never went against India.

Calling him a shrewd reconciler, Ashutosh says: He built bridges with the BJP despite their ideological differences.

Another Punjab expert says its essentially a social alliance. Badal knew this was the only way to heal the wounds caused by militancy.

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal during a state level function in Amritsar. (PTI Photo)

1996 was a watershed. With an uncanny sense of popular mood, Badal broadened the SADs ideological underpinning from a Panthic entity to a party of Punjabis, and stitched up an alliance with the saffron party that swept into power in 1997. That catapulted Badal on to the centre-stage after two decades in political wilderness. The made-for-each-other alliance has since been going strong.

An artful balancer of his core Panthic ideals with his political interests stretching to other communities, Badal is inarguably the most popular Akali leader among the states 42% Hindu populace that looks up to him as the guarantor of communal amity. But his rock-solid support base lies in the rural peasantry  a constituency that he has assiduously nurtured.

Dr Pramod Kumar, director of the Institute of Development and Communication (IDC), attributes Badals long innings to his politics of moderation in a state riven by militancy, coupled with a strong understanding of the Punjab peasantry. Also, most articulate leaders of the Akali Dal, like Partap Singh Kairon and Baldev Singh, joined the Congress.

SHREWD POLITICIAN ENSURES SON RISE

Badal has always guarded his turf. Be it Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Baldev Singh or even Capt Amarinder Singh, he either kept them busy or cut them to size. In 1996, he denied the Patiala ticket to Capt Amarinder, pushing him back to the Congress. Badal has shrewdly sidelined potential challengers from within the party and drafted frontline Akali leaders progeny into Akali politics  all this, to consolidate Sukhbirs grip on the party.

In a carefully choreographed succession politics, Sukhbir was anointed party chief, and heir apparent, in 2008 when he was barely 45. That laid the foundation of the first family-dominated rule in Akali history. Today, Sukhbir and Harsimrat are the fulcrum of Akali power politics.

LIKE FATHER, UNLIKE SON

Badal has also mastered the Panthic idiom. Dr Manvinder Singh of the department of Guru Nanak Studies at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, says whats unique is the way he has continued to remain a committed Sikh, while giving equal respect to other religions and minorities. But other scholars criticise his appropriation of the Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the Akal Takht. Its no secret that he appoints the SGPC chief.

Read | Badal in Punjab: At 89, countrys oldest CM seeks votes to add 10 years to life

Today, the Badal brand of politics is under fire by his son-heir apparent. An officer says: If Badal is substance, Sukhbir is style. Comparing them, an observer says: While Badals politics sprouts from his actions, Sukhbirs politics dictates his actions.

LITMUS TEST FOR SPIRITED SURVIVOR

The charges of corruption against the family have been growing as has its conglomerate of businesses that include a transport company, TV channels and luxury hotels. An exponential growth of the Badalss business empire has an overlap with their years in power since 2007  an open secret that feeds an undercurrent of anger against the ruling family.

The family also saw a power struggle when Badals nephew Manpreet Badal, the finance minister from 2007-10, ditched the SAD to float his own outfit, the Peoples Party of Punjab, and later joined the Congress. An insider says the family had decided to activate Sukhbir at the Centre and leave the state to Manpreet. Differences arose when Manpreet remained a passive spectator, while the Badals were hounded on charges of corruption by the Amarinder regime of 2002.

Harcharan Bains, a long-time aide of the chief minister, says that Badal doesnt let professional (read political) events dictate his personal ties. While Badal Senior may continue to get along with his brother and Manpreets father Gurdas Badal, Manpreet and Sukhbir are not on talking terms.

Today, the man who draws his power from the common man faces a formidable challenge from the Aam Aadmi Party. Bains says Badal is a spirited survivor. Every time the party is in trouble, he goes back to the people.

In the 2017 assembly elections, however, the Akali patriarch, who turned 89 last week, faces his last test that will judge not only his chequered legacy but also the future of the Badal dynasty.

Meanwhile, Parkash Singh Badal is doing what he does best: Courting people.

THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE SERIES ON PUNJAB POLITICAL DYNASTIES. NEXT EDITION WILL BE ON CAPTAIN AMARINDER SINGHS FAMILY.
The Punjab council of ministers on Saturday gave the nod to The Punjab Regulation of Fees of Unaided Education Institutions Ordinance, 2016, in a bid to curb the practice of excessive charges at private schools.

The decision was taken in view of the proposal mooted by the education department to constitute a regulatory authority/mechanism for the purpose of regulating fees of unaided schools in the state, the government spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the cabinet meeting that chief minister Parkash Singh Badal chaired accepted a demand by the Punjab Unaided Technical Institutions Association (PUTIA) and gave approval to revise a policy of August 17 to cut by half the compounding fee on institutional/public buildings.

PILGRIMAGE TO PATNA

To help people of Punjab undertake a free-of-cost pilgrimage to Patna Sahib in Bihar on the 350th Parkash Utsav of Guru Gobind Singh, the cabinet gave approval to 10 special trains and 200 buses.

MINORITY MATTERS

Cabinet decided to amend Punjab State Commission for Minorities Act, 2012, thereby making a provision to appoint its chairperson for three terms of three years each subject to the maximum age of 70. However, the term of appointment of senior vice-chairperson, vice-chairperson and members would be the same as earlier  three years, and re-appointment for one term until the age of 70.

NO PENAL INTEREST

The cabinet approved the waiver of Rs 35 lakh penal interest payable by Bhai Randhir Singh Trust, Ludhiana, by granting relaxation in the existing rules.

ADAMPUR AIRPORT

Nod to acquire over 40 acres in Kandola village of Adampur in Jalandhar district at a cost of Rs 16 crore. This land will be transferred to the Airports Authority of India for the construction of civil terminal at Indian Air Force station.

INDUSTRY INDEX

Cabinet approved policy to grant concessions to real estate sector by allowing payment of dues by the developer in six quarterly instalments starting January 1, 2018, after the lapse of moratorium period on December 31, 2017. Change in land use (CLU) to be charged for passages/gaps would not affect the overall planning of the project. Rate of interest on outstanding amount of external development charges (EDC) would now be 9.5% instead of 10%, and rate of penal interest would be 1% instead of 3%. In case of default for more than two quarters, benefit of moratorium shall not be extended and other approvals would be stopped.

SUB-DIVISION, SPECIAL POWERS

Cabinet upgraded sub-tehsil Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran district as a new sub-division along with the requisite staff. And, to protect gram panchayats shamlat land, village streets and public property from illegal encroachment, cabinet gave the power of special executive magistrate to all district development and panchayat officers (DDPOs) and block DPOs or BDPOs, subject to the condition that the officer would have to pass the requisite exam of Criminal Procedure Code.

LOW LOTTERY TAX

Cabinet slashed the rate of tax on four-digit lottery scheme from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 62,500 per draw. Agents would conduct minimum 24 draws daily. This decision is expected to get revenue of nearly Rs 55 crore a year.

MISSIONS UAE

On news reports of death sentence awarded to 10 youths from Punjab in United Arab Emirates (UAE), the cabinet decided to send ministers Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Madan Mohan Mittal to the Indian Mission in UAE.

EMPLOYMENT

The cabinet decided to abolish 25% direct quota for the post of sub-divisional soil conservation officers. Now 100% of these officers would be promoted from amongst soil conservation officers. The cabinet also decided to enhance the retirement age of the Chairmen of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) from 65 to 67.
A 29-year-old woman from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become the first Pakistani woman to join the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) in the restive province that frequently witnesses terror attacks.

Rafia Qaseem Baig, who joined the police force as a constable seven years ago, will work in the BDU after completing her 15-day training along with 31 other male members at Nowsheras School of Explosive Handling, media reports said.

During her training, she will learn about the types of bombs, their identification and ways to defuse them.

Rafia, who belongs to a highly educated family, said a blast near a sessions court seven years ago motivated her to join the force.

She completed her masters degree in International Relations. She then pursued another masters degree in Economics and worked at the International Rescue Committee where she developed a passion for law and enrolled in an LLB programme that is currently under way.

Given her academic qualifications, she was offered jobs in many companies and non-government organisations. However, she chose to join police force in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when extremists were targeting security forces.

After her appointment, she was asked to undergo training sessions in areas including Adezai, Michni and Salman Khel in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. These were the declared red zones at that time.

She spent 10 days patrolling these localities with a large number of male police personnel.

Rafia was also the only female member of an investigation team that rescued Lady Reading Hospital physician Dr Intikhab Alam 48 hours after his abduction in 2010.

She says the police force is not just a profession. Its a passion and inspiration for those who have a spirit of devotion for the country.

More than 600 women are serving in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police department in different capacities from junior clerk to deputy superintendent.
A British-Algerian journalist died Sunday three months into a hunger strike to protest a two-year jail term for offending Algerias president in a poem posted online, his lawyer said.

I can confirm the death of the journalist Mohamed Tamalt in Bab el-Oued hospital after a hunger strike of more than three months and a three-month coma, Amine Sidhoum said on Facebook.

The prison service, in a statement said Tamalt had died of a lung infection for which he was receiving treatment since it was detected on December 4.

Tamalt, a dual national, launched the hunger strike in protest after his arrest near his parents house in the capital Algiers on June 27.

The 42-year-old blogger and freelance journalist who ran a website from London where he lived was charged with offending President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and defaming a public authority in the poem which he shared on Facebook.

A court in Algiers sentenced him two years in prison on July 11 and fined him 200,000 dinars ($1,800), and an appeals court upheld the ruling a month later.

Human Rights Watch had urged Algerian authorities to release him in August when he was reportedly in critical condition.

The Algerian authorities should quash the case against Tamalt and send the message that free speech will be respected in Algeria, it said at the time.
Hundreds of Syrians stood in long lines on Sunday, some getting on government buses, to flee the ever shrinking rebel-held enclave of eastern Aleppo as military troops and allied militias continued their push to regain full control of the opposition stronghold.

Syrias state news agency said at least 4,000 people fled the enclave Sunday. The state TV channel said more than 70,000 of eastern Aleppos estimated 275,000 residents have fled in recent days  mostly to government-held western Aleppo districts.

Residents said government airstrikes hit the last remaining bridge that linked eastern and western Aleppo, a largely symbolic strike. They also reported that government and allied troops kept up their bombing of a handful of neighbourhoods, which have become the shelter for most of the civilians who chose to remain.

There is not a building that remains standing, said Mohammed Khandaqani, a medical administrator who remains in Aleppo, speaking of his neighbourhood, al-Maadi, near the old city. He said government troops have advanced there, and others said most of the newly displaced resident left from that area. This scorched earth policy is truly overwhelming.

State TV on Sunday showed hundreds of Syrian men gathering, apparently to leave eastern Aleppo while some women were getting on the buses. The images from the exit routes, which have also been broadcast live by the Russian military, have been playing nearly every day since the ground offensive began dislodging opposition fighters bit by bit from eastern Aleppo neighbourhoodstarting from the north.

The swift Russia-backed ground offensive, which began on November 26, followed an intensive aerial bombing campaign that knocked out most of the medical facilities, targeted civil defence and municipal vehicles and blocked roads with rubble. The eastern Aleppo area has also been cut off from outside assistance since July by a government siege.

A state TV broadcaster said insurgents still control around 7 sq km in the citys east, down from the original 45 sq km they once held.

Rebels captured the eastern half of Aleppo, Syrias largest city and former commercial capital, in 2012. The governments recapture of the city would mark its greatest victory since the war began in 2011.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov says 291 rebels have surrendered. On Friday, Russian officials said more than 1,000 have surrendered. Opposition fighters in eastern Aleppo had vowed not to leave the city, after they offered a cease-fire proposal to the government last week, which was largely ignored. The cease-fire was the clearest sign the rebels were no longer able to hold on to the city, but talks to evacuate the civilians under United Nations monitoring and possibly maintain some opposition presence in the eastern enclave, have failed.

Brigadier general Zeid al-Saleh, the head of the security committee in Aleppo city, told state TV channel al-Ikhbariya that Syrian forces, are working to settle the battle with (the opposition) soon.
British foreign secretary Boris Johnson reiterated Britains close ties to Saudi Arabia on a visit on Sunday and said candour was also important, days after making comments widely seen as critical of the conservative Gulf Arab country.

He said in a joint news conference with Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir that he had deep concern for Yemeni suffering but recognised Riyadh faced a grave threat from that countrys conflict, in which the kingdom is leading a coalition of Arab forces against an Iranian-allied Yemeni group.

Im here to emphasise the friendship that exists between the UK and Saudi Arabia, and that is something that is developing and expanding, Johnson said.

And its also fair to say that we believe in candour in our relationship. Now is the time for us to talk about the positive things that we are doing together.

Footage was published in British media on Thursday of Johnson accusing Saudi Arabia, an old ally of Britains, and Iran of stoking proxy wars across the Middle East.

Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesperson said his remarks did not reflect actual policy.

Asked if Riyadh had been getting mixed messages from Britain, Jubeir replied Absolutely not. Jubeir said Johnsons comments had been misconstrued, and Britain and Saudi Arabia had enjoyed a long strategic relationship extending over 100 years.

British military personnel have been involved with advising the Saudi-led coalition as it pursues a campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemens civil war. The war has killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians, and unleashed a humanitarian crisis in the poorest country in the Middle East.
The central question facing Exxon Mobile Corp. chief executive Rex Tillerson if he becomes US secretary of state is whether a life-long oil man with close ties to Russia can pivot from advancing corporate interests to serving the national interest.

Tillerson, 64, got his start as a production engineer at Exxon in 1975 and has worked there ever since, running business units in Yemen, Thailand and Russia before being named chief executive in 2006. He was expected to retire next year.

Critics suggested that if President-elect Donald Trump were to choose Tillerson - as a source familiar with the situation said he was expected to do - it would continue a trend of selecting some aides who may favor a softer line toward Moscow.

Among these is Trumps pick for national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who raised eyebrows when he sat beside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow banquet last year and who has argued that the United States and Russia should collaborate to end Syrias civil war and to defeat Islamic State militants.

Some former officials said it was an open question whether Tillerson could make the transition from running Exxon, a vast company that explores for oil and gas on six continents, to the even greater complexity of being secretary of state.

Negotiating a real estate deal or an oil contract with Saudi Arabia is not the same thing, said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department Middle East specialist now at the Wilson Center think-tank in Washington.

Its not a complicated summit where you are trying to reconcile historical woundings, religious identities, sectarian tensions.

Im not arguing that he cant make this conversion. I just dont think we know.

A straight arrow?

Many US officials are worried by Russias increasingly aggressive behavior. It annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war and is accused of interfering in US domestic politics.

US intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, and not just to undermine confidence in the US electoral system, a senior US official said.

In his role at Exxon Tillerson maintained close ties with Putin and opposed US sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea.

Daniel Yergin, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, said Russia represented a relatively small portion of Exxons overall operations and played down its significance.

It was a business relationship, Yergin said.

The whole Russian thing is so much front and center now so its inevitable that those questions be asked but, obviously, if you are a major oil company, you want to go to where your resources (are). You have to replace your reserves, he added.

If he becomes secretary of state, the interests he will pursue will be US interests. This is an Eagle Scout kind of guy. He was president of the Boy Scouts, he said. He is a straight arrow. If thats his mission, thats what hell do.

In an interview to be aired on Fox News Sunday, Trump praised Tillerson as much more than a business executive.

Hes a world class player, Trump said. To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well.

However, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, a senior Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would weigh Tillersons nomination, was unsparing in his criticism of the possible appointment.

Reports that Rex Tillerson could be nominated to be our nations top diplomat (are) alarming and absurd, he said. With Rex Tillerson as our secretary of state the Trump administration would be guaranteeing Russia has a willing accomplice in the presidents cabinet guiding our nations foreign policy.

Climate change

Should Tillerson be nominated, climate change could be another controversial issue.

Exxon is under investigation by the New York Attorney Generals Office for allegedly misleading investors, regulators and the public on what it knew about global warming.

However, if chosen, Tillerson would be one of the few people selected for major roles in the Trump administration to believe that human activity causes climate change.

After Trumps election, Exxon came out in support of the Paris Climate Agreement. It has also advocated for a carbon tax and internally factors in a theoretical price on carbon as it weights manufacturing and exploration costs of projects.

Some environmental groups are alarmed at the prospect of Exxons CEO as the countrys top diplomat.

Donald Trump appears intent to undo a century of environmental and social progress and return America to the age of robber barons and corporate trusts, said Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law.

Who better to turn to than Exxon, the granddaddy of them all?
Iran Air on Sunday said that it had finalised a contract to buy 80 planes from US firm Boeing, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Fifty of the planes are 737 and the other 30 are the long haul 777 that will be delivered to Iran Air in a period of 10 years, said Farhad Parvaresh, chief executive of the national carrier, who signed the contract with Boeing officials in Tehran.

IRNA reported that the contract was worth USD 16.6 billion (15.7 billion euros).

Following an initial agreement in June, the sale of the planes was given final approval by the US government in September.

Washington lifted many of its sanctions on Iran under a nuclear deal that came into force in January, but many restrictions have remained in place that mean companies trading with Tehran must receive explicit approval from the White House.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for killing a counterterrorism police officer and wounding his young son in Peshawar.

The militant group in a statement on Sunday says its fighters carried out the shooting, but gives no further details.

Riazul Islam was returning home with his son on Saturday evening after prayers in a suburban mosque when gunmen fired several shots and escaped on a motorcycle.

Islam had survived two bomb attacks in the past three years, one of which severely wounded him.

Peshawar sits at the edge of Pakistans tribal regions along the Afghan border and has been the scene of frequent militant bomb and gun attacks in recent years.
After days of uncertainty, the Madhes-based parties in Nepal have decided to support the constitution amendment bill tabled in parliament.

The bill is expected to address concerns of Madhesi people who have been protesting over the content of the statute.

The government had registered a motion in parliament seeking changes in some provisions of the new constitution, including those on federal boundaries, language and citizenship.

At that time, the Madhesi Morcha, an alliance of Madhes-based parties, had rejected the proposals and called for changing it entirely.

But a meeting of the Federal Alliance, of which the morcha is a part, on Saturday decided to support the proposal if the government revises it to address their concerns, especially on the provision pertaining to federal boundaries.

This is a notable shift in the approach of regional parties as they had earlier refused to take ownership of the billdespite the fact that it was introduced at their insistenceclaiming the proposal addressed none of their demands.

A statement issued after Saturdays meeting said the amendment bill has more or less addressed their concerns on three issuescitizenship, representation in the Upper House and working language of provinces.

The morcha demanded that the government agree to revise the proposal and term five most populous districts of Tarai/Madhes region---Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Kailali and Kanchanpuras disputed districts.

The government had earlier refused to revise the bill, and is yet to make its position clear after morcha softened its stance.

Recently, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda said he would not withdraw the proposal but will revise it if needed, in remarks the morcha termed as a positive step.

After the bill was registered in parliament, the main opposition CPN-UML has been obstructing House proceedings, calling the amendment proposal anti-national and vowing not to allow its passage.

The party and its several sister organisations have been holding protests opposing the content of the bill.

The federal alliance denounced the activities of CPN-UML.

The acts of UML, which has been obstructing House and opposing to discuss amendment bill, are against the spirit of parliamentary norms and democratic values, it said.
Tehran, Iran, December 11

By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the visiting Ammar al-Hakim, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and leader of the National Iraqi Alliance, that Iraq should not trust the United States.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, whenever we heeded that recommendation we won, but when we neglected it we lost, the Leader said, his official website reported December 11.

Against their claims, they never seek to uproot terrorists, but plan to partially keep them for their future agenda, Ayatollah Khamenei asserted.

When Daesh (Islamic State, aka IS, ISIS, ISIL) was selling Iraqi oil, the US would only stand by and watch the queue of tankers, therefore Americans should not be trusted.



The Leader also said the development of Iraq will benefit Iran, adding, Evermore coordination between the two countries will also benefit both sides.
South Korea warned Sunday of fatal consequences for Pyongyangs leadership if provoked into conflict, after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw a military drill simulating an attack on Seouls presidential Blue House.

Kim watched with binoculars as North Koreas special operation forces conducted an exercise aimed at destroying specified targets of the enemy, including the Blue House, the Norths KCNA news agency said.

The ruling Workers Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun also carried a two-page report on the drill, showing pictures of a building resembling the Blue House being overrun by North Korean troops and set ablaze.

One photo showed Kim roaring with laughter as he watched the simulated attack.

Well done, the enemy troops will have no space to hide themselves, far from taking any counteraction, state-run KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

A combat drill of the service personnel of the special operation battalion of KPA Unit 525 is seen in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on December 11, 2016. (KCNA via REUTERS)

No date was given for the military exercise in Sundays report.

The South Korean military strongly condemned the drill, warning there would be fatal consequences if confronted by the North.

If the enemy conducts a provocation based on its rash judgement, we will strongly and firmly retaliate with a fatal blow against the North Korean leadership, the defence ministrys joint chiefs of staff said in a statement.

There are growing concerns of fresh provocations by Pyongyang following Fridays impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye which has left the country without a recognised leader.

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn, who has temporarily taken on the role and authority of acting president, held an emergency cabinet meeting and ordered the military to be extra vigilant against the North.

North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests already this year and multiple missile launches in its push for a weapon capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.

The UN Security Council slapped its toughest sanctions yet on the North last month over its fifth nuclear test in September, capping the Norths annual coal exports -- its top external revenue source.
Pakistans new army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Sunday abruptly removed the head of the countrys spy agency ISI and made several other significant changes in the armys top brass, as part of a major reshuffle.

Gen Bajwa, who took over from Gen Raheel Sharif two weeks ago, however, did not name Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtars successor at the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Lt Gen Akhtar has been appointed president of the National Defence University (NDU), the army said in a statement.

The newly-promoted Lt Gen Bilal Akbar has been appointed chief of general staff, it said.

Lt Gen Nazir Butt - presently president of the NDU - has been appointed as corps commander Peshawar (11Corps), replacing Lt Gen Hidayat-ur Rehman, who was appointed inspector-general Training and Evaluation (IGT&E) at General Headquarters (GHQ).

Lt Gen Asim Salim Bajwa, presently heading armys media wing, has been appointed inspector-general, arms (IG Arms) at GHQ.

Read | Experience in Kashmir affairs was Gen Bajwas key to Pak Armys top post

On December 9, seven major generals were promoted to lieutenant generals, the statement said. And on November 29, Gen Javed Bajwa officially took charge as the 16th chief of army staff during a ceremony in Rawalpindi.

A career infantry officer belonging to the Baloch Regiment, Gen Javed Bajwa is said to have extensive experience of handling affairs in Kashmir and northern areas of Pakistan.

Among other changes he undertook on Sunday, the newly promoted Lt Gen Hamayun Aziz has been appointed inspector-general C&IT at GHQ, while newly promoted Lt Gen Qazi Ikram has been appointed chief of logistic staff at GHQ.

Another newly promoted Lt Gen Sher Afgun has been posted 31 Corps Commander which is based in Bahawalpur near Indian border, while newly Promoted Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal will continue as DG FWO and newly promoted Lt Gen Naeem Ashraf has been appointed Chairman Heavy Industries Taxila(HIT).

The army chief has not appointed heads of ISI, ISPR and Rangers in Sindh.

Officials said the army chief might consult the political leadership before making these politically sensitive appointments.

Read | US welcomes appointment of Gen Qamar Bajwa as new Pak Army chief
Paolo Gentiloni was named as Italys new prime minister on Sunday following reformist leader Matteo Renzis resignation in the wake of a crushing referendum defeat.

Gentiloni, who served as foreign minister under Renzi, was asked by President Sergio Mattarella to form a new centre-left government that will guide Italy to elections due by February 2018.

A close ally of the outgoing premier, Gentiloni now has to put together his own government team ahead of a parliamentary approval vote expected on Wednesday.

In a brief statement, Gentiloni said there was an urgent need for a fully functioning government to address a series of pressing international, economic and social issues.

Chief among those is a looming crisis in the troubled banking sector and ongoing relief efforts after a series of deadly earthquakes between August and October.

Mattarella turned to Gentiloni after opposition parties rebuffed overtures about a possible national unity government. The president rejected opposition demands for an immediate election.

Not by choice but out of a sense of responsibility I will be forming a government based on the outgoing majority, Gentiloni said.

Renzi, who had been in power for two years and 10 months, resigned last week after voters overwhelmingly rejected a package of constitutional reforms on which he had staked his future.

The populist Five Star Movement, which has led calls for immediate elections, said it would boycott Wednesdays vote because the new government would have no legitimacy.

This government is not even worthy of a vote against it, said Giulia Grillo, head of the Five Star group in the Senate.

Puppet premier?

Gentiloni, 62, is very close to Renzi and will be seen by the opposition as a puppet premier keeping the seat warm for former boss, who is planning a comeback at the next elections, whenever they are.

In a statement on his Facebook page, Renzi, 41, admitted it had been a wrench to leave office and vowed to pursue his reform agenda.

It was painful to pack the cartons yesterday evening, Im not ashamed to say: Im not a robot, he wrote.

Only those who try to change things can help a country as beautiful and difficult as Italy.

Five Star, Italys biggest opposition party, and the far-right Northern League are demanding a vote as early as possible.

But Mattarella, who enjoys extensive executive powers during government crises, has ruled that the current electoral laws must be revised first.

Theoretically that could happen quickly but the process of harmonising the rules governing elections to the two houses of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, could also drag on for months.

As things stand, the lower house would be elected by a system under which the largest party is guaranteed a majority of seats while the Senate would be voted in under a proportional representation system.

Most observers agree that this is a recipe for chaos.

Small investors fury

The situation could be simplified at the end of January, when the constitutional court is due to rule on the legitimacy of the new winner-take-all system for the Chamber of Deputies.

Gentiloni had taken over as foreign minister in October 2014, replacing Federica Mogherini who is currently serving as EU foreign policy chief.

He is a longstanding friend and soulmate of Renzis and cynics will say that the silver-haired, grey-suited politicans primary qualification for the job is that he poses no threat to the former premiers comeback plans.

Gentilonis first tricky task as prime minister is likely to be overseeing a rescue of troubled bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS).

A state-funded salvage operation is seen as inevitable following the European Central Banks refusal on Friday to allow more time for a private bailout.

Under EU rules, state funds can be injected into troubled banks only if private creditors accept losses. In the case of BMPS, this could hit many small investors who hold the banks junior bonds.

Imposing losses at smaller banks last year caused outrage in Italy and damaged Renzis standing.
Islamic State fighters have captured Palmyra castle overlooking the ancient city in eastern Syria, a news agency affiliated to the militants said on Sunday.

Heavy Russian air strikes had pushed back the militants from inside the city hours after they captured it last Saturday in a surprise multi-pronged offensive, according to a war monitor and rebels familiar with the situation.

Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on jihadist positions around the city, Abdel Rahman told AFP.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday that its jets carried out 64 air strikes during an operation to drive Islamic State out of the strategic areas around the city that it had secured, killing more than 300 militants.

A still image taken on December 11, 2016 from a video released by Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency on December 10, 2016, purports to show Islamic State fighters advancing over the Hayan mountain south of Palmyra. (REUTERS)

Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra, it said in a statement.

The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery, it said, adding that the strikes killed more than 300 militants and destroyed 11 tanks and 31 vehicles.

Russia has carried out a bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

IS began an offensive last week near Palmyra, which is on UNESCOs World Heritage list.

The jihadists killed around 50 members of Syrian government forces after launching simultaneous attacks on several regime positions near Palmyra on Thursday, the Britain-based Observatory said at the time.

They targeted areas including near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and seized government checkpoints, silos and the village of Jazal, northwest of Palmyra.

In May last year, the Sunni Muslim extremist group seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites.

They were ousted from Palmyra in March by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia.

The recapture of Palmyra was hailed as a major victory, with Russian celebrities travelling there since March staging concerts and making public appearances.

Moscow has been under severe criticism for its air strikes on Aleppo -- which it says it stopped on October 18 -- where the anti-Assad opposition is currently holed up in just a fraction of the territory it once controlled.

The citys eastern districts are still being bombed by the Syrian regime which Washington has labelled war crimes and a UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire to stop the carnage.
US president-elect Donald Trump has said that one of his first executive orders after assuming office would be to order investigation into all visas abuses that undermine jobs for the American worker, indicating that foreigner workers, including Indians, may face tough scrutiny under his administration.

While Trump did not identify or name any particular visa abuse, lawmakers for the past few years have expressed concern over abuse of H-1B visas by companies.

During his presidential campaign, Trump had emphasised tightening immigration and criticised companies that ship jobs overseas to countries like India and China.

One of my first executive orders will ask the Department of Labour to investigate all visa abuses that undermine jobs and wages for the American worker, Trump said at a rally in Michigan on Friday.

We will fight to protect every American life. During the campaign, I also spent time with American workers laid off and forced to train the foreign workers that were brought in to replace them. Thats not going to happen anymore, Trump said.

He was apparently referring to cases like that of Disney World and other American companies wherein people hired on H-1B visas, including Indians, displaced US workers.

The company thats out there right now, they say youre going to train the people that are going to replace you, and if you dont do it, youre not getting your severance pay, OK, not going to happen to our people anymore, Trump said.

He also vowed to end illegal immigration.

To protect our country from terrorism and extremism, I will suspend immigration and refugee admissions from regions where they cannot be safely processed or vetted, he said.

On immigration, we will build a great wall and we will put an end to illegal immigration and stop the drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth and many other people. Got to stop the drugs, he said.

And were going to have people come into our country, hundreds of thousands of people. We want them to come in because were going to have big, beautiful doors in that wall, but theyre going to come in legally through a process legally, he said.

Trump said he believes in peace through strength.

We will, however, get rid of ISIS, Im sorry. We will get rid of ISIS. ISIS has to go. At the same time, we will ensure our veterans have the best medical care in the world. Its about time, he said.

And on healthcare, we will repeal and replace Obamacare. Were going to have healthcare thats much less expensive. They will be much better, much stronger. The murder rate our country has experienced is the largest increase in 45 years. You dont hear that. We are going to support the incredible men and women of law enforcement and we are going to bring this crime wave to an end, he said.
Iraqi and US-led coalition forces have killed or gravely wounded more than 2,000 Islamic State fighters in the battle for Mosul since October, the top US commander in Iraq said Sunday.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend told reporters there are still an estimated 3,000-5,000 IS fighters defending Mosul. He applauded the efforts of Iraqi security forces, who began their offensive on October 17 in what has been billed a decisive phase of the anti-IS fight.

By our calculations, we think we have killed or badly wounded over 2,000, Townsend said at a joint news conference with US defence secretary Ash Carter at Qayara air base.

Townsend disputed any suggestion that the Islamic State has managed to fight the Iraqi government forces to standstill in Mosul.

After citing the estimated 2,000 IS casualties, he added, I dont think that suggests anything about a stalemate. This is a major urban area. Any army on the planet, including the United States Army, would be challenged by this fight.

The Iraqi army has come back from near-defeat two years ago, and now they are attacking this major city 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) from Baghdad, Townsend said. I dont think there is anything in there about a stalemate.

Townsend said US intelligence estimated before the Mosul campaign kicked off in October that IS had 3,500-6,000 fighters in the city. He said the current estimate is 3,000-5,000.

US officials have declined to say how many Iraqi government troops have been killed in the Mosul fight.

Carter made an unannounced visit Sunday to the Qayara base, flying in from Baghdad after meeting with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and sharing lunch with American troops. It was Carters first visit to Qayara since it began operating as an Iraqi staging base in October.

Carter toured the air base, greeting soldiers and offering holiday wishes. He assured them the Mosul campaign is on track.

Everything is going according to the plan of a year ago, Carter said

Sundays visit came as Iraqi security forces have been slowed in their nearly two-month-old offensive against IS, which has occupied Mosul for more than two years.

In Bahrain on Saturday, Carter announced he is sending another 200 troops to Syria to train and advise local fighters combatting IS. There are already 300 US troops authorized for the Syria effort, and some 5,000 in Iraq.

The recapture of Mosul, the countrys second largest city, is crucial to the Iraqis hopes of restoring their sovereignty, although political stability will likely remain a challenge afterward.

Carter told an international security conference in Bahrain that the battle for Mosul and for the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremists self-described caliphate, would be crucial for defeating the group, which has claimed attacks worldwide.

The seizure of these two cities is necessary to ensure the destruction of ISILs parent tumor in Iraq and Syria  the primary objective of our military campaign  and put ISIL on an irreversible path to a lasting defeat, he said, using another acronym for IS.

He did not predict how long it might take for Iraqi forces to prevail in Mosul, but he sounded a note of optimism.

This is a complex mission that will take time to accomplish, but I am confident that ISILs days in Mosul are numbered, he said in Bahrain.

Iraqi forces have only captured a handful of eastern Mosul neighborhoods since launching the offensive in mid-October. On Sunday they came under mortar fire as they worked to clear villages along the Tigris River to the south, part of operations to secure supply lines for a campaign that is likely to stretch into the coming year.

Carter, whose tenure as defense secretary will end in January if his designated successor  retired Marine Gen. James Mattis  is confirmed by the Senate as expected, also made the case for keeping US forces in Iraq even after the Islamic State group is dislodged from Mosul.

Beyond security, there will still be towns to rebuild, services to re-establish, and communities to restore, he said in Bahrain. The extremists, he predicted, will attempt to survive by reinventing themselves in some other shape or form after they lose their grip on Iraq and Syria.

In Baghdad, six separate bombings targeting mostly streets and markets frequented by civilians killed 12 and wounded more than 30 people Sunday, according to Iraqi police and hospital officials. IS claimed responsibility for one of the attacks in southern Baghdad in a statement posted by the groups Amaq news agency. All Iraqi officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the press.

Left unaddressed by Carter during his visit to Iraq was a possible change in course under President-elect Donald Trump when he takes office next month.
Regular rail service through the worlds longest tunnel began on Sunday, carrying passengers deep under the Swiss Alps from Zurich to Lugano.

The famed Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) had a ceremonial opening in June, attracting European leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande for its maiden ride.

The Swiss national rail service (SBB) had announced that Sunday would mark the start of normal commercial traffic through the 57-kilometre (35-mile) GBT, which took 17 years to build, at a cost of over 12 billion Swiss francs (USD 11.8 billion, 11.2 billion euros).

The Swiss news agency ATS reported that the first regular passenger train to use the GBT pulled out of Zurich at 6:09 am (0509 GMT) and arrived in Lugano at 8:17 am, with the tunnel passage shaving a full 30 minutes off the previous travel time for the same route.

Its Christmas, SBB chief Andreas Meyer was quoted as saying by ATS after the journey was over.

The 57-kilometre new Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT), which runs under the Alps, was first conceived in sketch-form in 1947 but construction began 17 years ago. (AFP)

The ambitious GBT project has won praise across Europe for its pioneering efforts to improve connectivity from Rotterdam to the Adriatic.

The Swiss funded tunnel was largely made possible by technical advances in tunnel-boring machines, which replaced the costly and dangerous blast-and-drill method.

The GBT has surpassed Japans 53.9-kilometre Seikan tunnel as the worlds longest train tunnel.

The 50.5-kilometre Channel Tunnel connecting Britain and France has been bumped into third place.
There has always been some scepticism about the Vatican. A number of conspiracists have always felt that the holy city is privy to a lot of knowledge about the Vatican, but is choosing to keep quiet about it.

Rumors and whispers about the church's knowledge about aliens will soon be exposed, according to Disclose.tv. This is a website and television channel that is involved in a lot of news about aliens.

Even Pope Francis has revealed that the earth has been visited by aliens a number of times.

Jose Gabriel Funes, the director of the Vatican Observatory and its chief astronomer has been reported to have said that the "multitude of creatures on Earth" proves that life exists not just on earth but even in other places. Hence, there is no conflict between life on earth as well as in other planets.

Disclose.tv reported: "Another representative of the Vatican, the priest Guy Consolmagno suggested that aliens exist and that they are actually saviours of mankind. These views are downright shocking because gossips suggest that the Vatican knows more about extraterrestrial life and of creation, but understandably hid them so far. With the start of a new era, this information should be made public to prepare public opinion for when the truth will be revealed."

A press conference by the Vatican will shortly reveal everything Vatican knows about aliens, says Disclose.tv.

The link between Vatican and aliens is of course not "new". The secrets might be new though, when they come out in the public.

YouTube/The Others

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

Explosives' blast injured two IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) members in Irans southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.

The incident occurred Dec. 11 morning while an explosive trap was blasted in Kouhak region near Saravan city, Tasnim news agency reported.

One of the wounded guards is reported to be in serious condition.

Sistan and Baluchestan Province has witnessed frequent clashes between Iranian forces and drug smugglers as well as rebels in recent years.
Just when you thought Shia LaBeoufs rap career had already been given far too much encouragement, hes received his biggest co-sign yet. Chance The Rapper took to Twitter today to endorse the actor whos recently been releasing some no-holds-barred freestyles, suggesting that he would definitely buy Shias album, and that it could potentially be a classic.



Chances tweet, much like Shias rap career, clearly isnt meant to be taken entirely seriously, but its probably all the validation the actor needs to continue his string of disses. In case you havent been following, Shia has been going back and forth with rappers Lil Yachty and Soulja Boy, as well as Hot 97 radio personality Peter Rosenberg. Get caught up on the whole timeline here.

Chance The Rapper
When OVO Sound Radio was rescheduled to tonight from last Saturday, the assumption that Drakes project More Life, which he announced would be released in December, might be premiered on the episode. However, when these type of big premieres take place, they usually coincide with Drake co-hosting the episode, which wont be happening tonight.



Either way, itll worth tuning in, as Murda Beatz, DJ Premier, and Bobby Konders will be supplying mixes, on top of Oliver El-Khatibs regular slot. With all that going on, surely some new music will be played somewhere. Dont forget the many songs Murda Beatz played on his last time on OVO, including tracks from Migos and Quavo.



Check out the poster for tonights show below, and tune into Beats 1 at 6PM EST to heard it all live.

OVO Sound Radio
Saudi Arabia signaled it's ready to cut oil production more than expected, a surprise announcement minutes after Russia and several other non-OPEC countries pledged to curb output next year.

Taken together, OPEC's first deal with its rivals since 2001 and the Saudi comments represent an effort by producers to wrest back control of the global oil market, depressed by persistent oversupply and record inventories.

"This is shock and awe by Saudi Arabia," said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd. in London. "It shows the commitment of Riyadh to rebalance the market and should end concerns about OPEC delivering the deal."

Oil prices have surged more than 15 percent since OPEC announced Nov. 30 it will cut production for the first time in eight years, rising this week briefly above $55.

The price rise has propelled the shares of energy groups from Exxon Mobil Corp. to shale firms such as Continental Resources Inc.

Riyadh agreed with OPEC on Nov. 30 to cut its production to 10.06 million barrels a day, down from a record high of nearly 10.7 million barrels in July.

Growth in demand

"I can tell you with absolute certainty that effective Jan. 1 we're going to cut and cut substantially to be below the level that we have committed to on Nov. 30," Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih said after Saturday's meeting.

The Saudi minister said he was ready to cut below the psychologically significant level of 10 millions barrels a day - a level it has sustained since March 2015 - depending on market conditions.

Al-Falih made his announcement after non-OPEC countries agreed to reduce production by 558,000 barrels a day, suggesting he had been waiting for the deal before committing to further cuts.

The non-OPEC reduction is equal to the anticipated demand growth next year in China and India, according to data from the International Energy Agency.

The OPEC and non-OPEC pact encompasses countries that pump 60 percent of the world's oil but excludes major producers such as the U.S., China, Canada, Norway and Brazil.

"The deal speaks volumes about the Saudi commitment to rebalance the market," said Yasser Elguindi, a veteran OPEC watcher with consultant Medley Global Advisors. "No one is talking any more about $30 a barrel oil."

Saudi Arabia has long insisted that any reductions from the group should be accompanied by action from other suppliers. OPEC two weeks ago agreed to reduce its own production by 1.2 million barrels a day.

Al-Falih and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak revealed they have been working for nearly a year on the agreement, meeting multiple times in secret.

"This is truly a historic event," Novak said. "It's the first time so many oil countries from different parts of the world gathered in one room to accomplish what we have done."

Move might backfire

Russia pledged to cut output by 300,000 barrels a day next year, down from a 30-year high last month of 11.2 million barrels a day.

Mexico agreed to cut 100,000 barrels, Azerbaijan by 35,000 barrels and Oman by 40,000 barrels.

The chain of announcements signal Saudi Arabia is trying to push oil prices above $60 a barrel - and perhaps closer to $70 a barrel - as it attempts to fill a fiscal hole and prepares a partial flotation of its crown jewel, state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco, in 2018. But the move toward higher prices might backfire as it risks the resurgence of U.S. shale drilling from Texas to North Dakota.

"Emotionally, the market will likely rally," said Adam Ritchie, founder of AR Oil Consulting. "But beyond rebalancing supply and demand, we have excess inventory that is astronomic that will continue to keep a lid on prices."

Oil fell from over $90 per barrel in early 2014 to as low as $40 early this year, briefly sending the average price of regular gasoline at the pump to under $2 for motorists in the United States. Oil closed at $51.58 on Friday.

The focus of the market will turn now to compliance as historically OPEC and non-OPEC countries have cut far less than promised. In late 2001, for example, Moscow promised to reduce output, but actually it increased it the following year.

"The oil-price crash impelled terrified producers into collective supply restraint agreements," said Bob McNally, founder of consultant Rapidan Group in Washington and a former White House oil official. "Occasionally these loose, ad-hoc producer agreements enjoyed temporary success, but all eventually failed due to cheating."
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WASHINGTON - The Texas oil industry is poised to have one of its own at the highest echelon of U.S. government with Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson rising to the top of President-elect Donald Trump's list to be next secretary of state.

The ascension of the 64-year-old Tillerson comes at a critical time for the oil and gas sector, as it is beleaguered by calls from governments worldwide to radically cut carbon emissions to combat climate change. It also puts Tillerson in one of the most powerful positions on the world stage, giving the industry a visibility it has not enjoyed since Dick Cheney, the former Halliburton CEO, served as vice president to former President George W. Bush.

Tillerson, a native of Wichita Falls who lives outside Dallas, met with Trump again Saturday for two hours at Trump Tower. He is the favored pick by top advisers Stephen K. Bannon and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, according to multiple news reports Saturday.

Sources warned, however, that Trump, famous during his presidential campaign for relying on gut instinct and not the advice of his close circle of family and advisers, could go in another direction. Other names still in the running reportedly include former presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

An Exxon spokesman declined to comment Saturday.

Rising to the top

As the head of one of the world's most powerful companies - its foreign affairs division is sometimes compared to the State Department itself - Tillerson would enter the office with relationships already long established with many heads of state, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At a time when relations have been particularly fraught over the war in Syria and Russia's activities in Ukraine in 2014, Tillerson is a seasoned hand in Russia who ran Exxon Mobil's operations there in the 1990s and more recently signed a historic deal with state-owned Rosneft to drill in the Russian Arctic.

His close ties with Putin, however, are already raising eyebrows. U.S. Sen. John McCain, for instance, said Saturday that it's "a matter of concern."

Tillerson rose steadily through the ranks after joining Exxon in 1975 shortly after graduating from the University of Texas. Before age 40, he was named a general manager, overseeing oil and gas operations across a large swath of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas. Then it was on to Yemen and Russia, before eventually rising to a short list of potential successors to Lee Raymond as CEO.

He is "the essential Exxon product," said Joseph Pratt, a history professor at the University of Houston who wrote a recent book on the Irving-based company. "Exxon is a meritocracy that really tests you, the whole way up."

Renowned within the company for his discipline and even temper - traits he is said to ascribe to training with the Boys Scouts of America - Tillerson beat out his competition and became CEO in 2006.

As news spread of Tillerson's likely posting to the Trump administration Saturday, it drew cheers within Texas oil circles from Houston to Midland.

John Christmann, CEO of Houston-based Apache Corp., said Tillerson "will offer a fresh perspective to the position."

Jeanne Phillips, spokeswoman for Dallas oil billionaire Ray L. Hunt, pointed to "Rex's experience around the world" and said he would be an "excellent choice for secretary of state."

Steven Pruett, president of Elevation Resources in Midland, said he was a "big fan" of Tillerson and applauded his likely appointment. "It's very exciting for Texas," Pruett said.

Over the past decade Tillerson has shown himself to be a less combative leader than predecessors like Raymond. When oil prices rose to record levels in 2008 - driving up Exxon profits and anger from motorists - Tillerson went on NBC's "Today" show to explain the vagaries of the international oil markets.

On climate change, a minefield for oil CEOs the past decade, Tillerson has acknowledged scientific findings that humankind is causing the earth's temperature to rise. And while calling for a tax on carbon emissions at-large, he has also questioned the social impact of a large-scale pull back from fossil fuels.

Earlier this year the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requested the records of Exxon and its auditor to examine whether the company had properly warned investors of the threat carbon regulation posed to its business.

"The conflicts of interest with this secretary of state pick abound," Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in an email. "You wouldn't hire the CEO of a tobacco company to serve as surgeon general. So why would you pick the leader of an oil and gas corporation to spearhead a position tasked with national security and global climate action?"

'He's got the skills'

Tillerson would add to a Trump Cabinet thick with executives from business and finance. The real estate mogul turned politician has already announced former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as his treasury secretary and Andy Puzder, head of the restaurant group that includes chains such as Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, as his labor secretary.

Considering the size of Exxon's global operation and the far-reaching scope of the secretary of state's office, Tillerson is expected to get tough questioning by the Senate if he is the nominee.

Like other corporate leaders to make late career moves into government, ethics experts say Tillerson would likely be advised to sell off any holdings that pose a potential conflict of interest, including Exxon shares valued at $145 million, according to a filing with the SEC in April.

More immediately, Tillerson would suddenly be thrust into a spotlight very different from his current role as CEO, in which he is judged by the strength of Exxon's quarterly earnings reports. His media availability is largely limited to Exxon's once-a-year annual meeting.

"He's got the skills you'd want to see in a secretary of state," said Jim Krane, an energy fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute of Public Policy. "But he's a businessman first and foremost, and that's not the same as being a diplomat."
Eight years ago, after Pablo Guzman's mother was revived from a heart attack and regained consciousness, she told the family that a beautiful lady had taken her hands and led her to heaven through pathways of bright red roses. The flowers, she said, had a delightful fragrance and were filled with fresh dew.

Guzman's mother was revived from the heart attack and told the story on Dec. 11, the day before Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day. For Guzman, now the president of the Guadalupana Association of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, that timing clearly indicated that the guiding woman was the Virgin. His mother, he believes, came back from the spiritual experience to tell the story; she died a week later.

"We all have in our families a story to tell related to the Virgin of Guadalupe," says Guzman, a native of Mexico. "It's in our families' tradition."

The Guadalupe is the Virgin Mary of Mexico, but more and more, she is the Virgin of Houston as well.

An Aztec woman

Dec. 12 is the last day of the novena in celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Virgin who appeared to Juan Diego, an indigenous peasant, on that date in 1531. It was at the top of the Tepeyac Hill, north of what's now Mexico City.

"Spaniards had already conquered Mexico, but there was a lot of tension and animosity between the native people and the Europeans," explains Fr. Michael Buentello, director of Campus Ministry at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

So it was significant, Buentello says, that Diego saw this "blessed mother appearing as an Aztec woman, with very native, indigenous features, and she is pregnant, telling Juan Diego in his own native language that she wanted a chapel built in her honor."

Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle

It's said that the area's bishop did not believe the indigenous man until he saw a miracle for himself. As proof, Juan Diego brought the prelate a bouquet of roses that the Virgin had given him. He wrapped the roses in his tilma, an Aztec cloak. When he opened the tilma, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was printed in the fabric.

Buentello says the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, where the image is enshrined, has become the second most visited site in the Catholic world, second only to the Vatican. Since Pope Leo XIII granted permission for her coronation in 1895, she has been proclaimed as the Patroness of the Americas.

Before either Texas or Houston existed, Our Lady of Guadalupe was fervently celebrated by Mexican-Americans living in this area. And as new generations of immigrants bring Mexican customs and culture across the border, the celebration has continued to grow.

In their homes, they celebrate Las Mananitas, the traditional serenade of the Virgin, and share pan dulce (sweet bread), chocolate and tamales.

But it wasn't until 1973 that Houston began official celebrations of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Then-Bishop John Markovsky recognized the need to serve the diocese's growing Hispanic community.

The first procession and Mass took place that year in Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Houston's East End.

"The crowd was too big and the church too small, so the mass was moved to outside the church, and later to the market across the street," says Elenita Ruiz, a historian for the Guadalupana Association. She is one of the last living organizers of the early celebrations.

Ruiz says that as the crowd grew year after year, so did the challenge of finding a place for the annual celebration. It moved from church to church until 1997, when the Office of Hispanic Ministry of Galveston-Houston and the Association decided to host the Mass at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Now, the annual procession and mass honoring the Our Lady of Guadalupe starts at 1700 San Jacinto behind the Co-Cathedral in Downtown and goes from there to the George R. Brown Convention Center, where the Mass is celebrated. This year Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, will preside.

Houston's icons

According to the Archdiocese, until recently, the 6-feet-by-4-feet Our Lady of Guadalupe icon carried in Houston processions was brought from Mexico, where it had made contact with St. Juan Diego's tilma.

That 6x4 icon was used in the procession until last year. "It was very heavy to carry and difficult to move," says Guzman. It was also logistically difficult to work with, since it was used not only for the procession but also for many other activities around the city.

In 2015, the association introduced a Houston image of the virgin to the celebrations. This icon is 4-feet-by-3-feet, smaller and lighter than the first. Amada Tamez, a devotee of Our Lady of Guadalupe, bought it at the Cristo Rey shop in the East End.

"In looking for a theological meaning, our lighter Virgin can be carried by just two persons, like the two disciples of Jesus Christ," says Guzman. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus sent his disciples on missions in pairs, two by two.

Guzman calls the newer, smaller icon "La Peregrina" (The Pilgrim) because she spends each month in a different family home. Her hosts are members of the Guadalupana Association, whose members belong to almost 50 churches in the archdiocese.

Before this year's procession, La Peregrina stayed in the home of Roberto Chavez.

"We have hosted the Virgin several times," Chavez says, "and when she is in our house, we pray to her every day and celebrate rosaries at least once a week."

For those rosaries, Chavez invites all the members of his family  the daughter with her husband and kids, the mother, brothers and everyone who wants to join. "We all pray and then we share food together," he says. "It does not matter what we eat as long as it's homemade: tortillas with huevos rancheros, pan dulce, tamales and then our son and the younger children can bring something else if they want, like barbacoa."

Their celebration is more than a family moment. "Having the Virgin of Guadalupe visiting our home, to me, is an opportunity to show our gratitude because she is the one to whom we go in our difficult times," says Roberto's wife, Nelly Chavez. "She gives us strength for not having fear. She assures us that she is there; that she is our protecting mother."

Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle

The Guadalupe has been adopted by Hispanic groups other than Mexicans. Her celebration is a "very important feast for all Catholics, and I am not aware of any other Virgin Mary that is more celebrated than Our Lady of Guadalupe in Houston," says Buentello. "Whether we are Hispanic or non-Hispanic, we certainly know and have an understanding of the significance of her apparition in Mexico and what it means for all of us Catholics."

The Virgin, who appeared to native people as a native herself, represents, according to Buentello, "hope for those who may not have been seen important in the eyes of the world. Hope, as the blessed mother is telling that God cares about all and especially those (who are) economically disadvantaged, those who are rejected, who are not part of the inner club. She reaffirmed that there is dignity to all people."

To the hill

Guzman says that many call the new icon "Lady of the Immigrants." He likes to see her as the Patroness of Houston, a diverse city where the majority of people come from some other country or state.

"Our Lady of Guadalupe meets people where they are. It does not matter where we are  Houston, Latin-America or anywhere in the world. When you find yourself wrapped in your mother's gaze, you are home," says Sergio Castillo, Director of the Archdiocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry.

Fr. Buentello says that in a diverse city like Houston, most people understand "what it is like to be displaced." If you think about it, he says, "shortly after the birth of Jesus, Joseph takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt. They were fleeing the oppression of King Herod, who was trying to kill them. People come [to Houston] not only fleeing oppression but also for a better life. They leave behind everything, and they come with not much."

With the older and newer icons both now in service, Houston has now a unique Lady of Guadalupe tradition.

In the procession, the newer, lighter La Peregrina  Lady of the Immigrants, Patroness of Houston  is carried to an altar at the convention center, where the older, larger icon awaits.

"Maybe we could say that the George R. Brown is the Tepeyac (hill)," says Guzman. "We go with the Pilgrim in the procession, but the old one that was touched by the tilma is waiting at the top, and we go through the streets like going to meet the lady. She is always in spirit with us, but physically, she is waiting for us at the top of our hill in Houston."

Olivia.Tallet@chron.com

Twitter: oliviaptallet
VICTORIA  Refugees, immigrants and other kids who do not speak English are entitled to the same special education services as native speakers. But in this Southeast Texas city, they seldom get them.

Just 39 of the nearly 1,000 English Language Learners here receive services like tutoring, counseling and speech therapy, 70 percent fewer per capita than a decade ago.

Many more need help, but usually, teachers say, their pleas are ignored.

"It's almost impossible to get my kids into special ed," said Arlene De Los Santos of Patti Welder Middle School. "They have to have very, very severe needs for the school to even consider it."

The situation in Victoria exemplifies a new reality playing out across Texas.

From Beaumont to El Paso, school districts facing pressure to lower their special education numbers have decided to do it by shutting out thousands of English Language Learners, the Houston Chronicle has found.

Districts have used a range of tactics, from refusing to conduct eligibility evaluations in other languages or accept medical records from other countries to blaming language barriers for problems caused by disabilities, according to data and interviews with dozens of current and former educators. Some have eliminated special education altogether from schools for international students.

Many districts have even held trainings to warn teachers that English learners are over-identified in special education, when statistics show the opposite is true.

The moves have taken place as immigration politics have become increasingly sensitive in Texas. Most English learners were born in the United States, studies show, but many have parents who are not American citizens.

The revelations add a civil rights dimension to the controversy over the Texas Education Agency's decision to set a special education enrollment target.

Statewide, only 7.3 percent of English learners now get special education , compared to 8.7 percent for native speakers. That 20 percent difference is three times higher than the gap that existed when the target began in 2004.

"Even if the policy was not meant to be discriminatory, it has clearly had that effect," said Gary Orfield, a prominent longtime social scientist and co-founder of The Civil Rights Project while at Harvard University, who called it the most outrageous education policy he's ever seen. "If schools are creating systems in which students are not getting services simply because of the language they speak, that's discrimination."

The TEA target, which the Chronicle revealed earlier this year, set 8.5 percent as the ideal maximum rate of students who should be in special education. Agency officials have audited school districts for exceeding the benchmark and penalized districts for over-identification of minorities. But they have not levied any punishments for under-identification.

As a result, Texas has lowered its overall special education rate from near the longtime national average of 13 percent to exactly 8.5 percent. That is the lowest of any state, by far.

If English Language Learners were in special education at the same rate as they were in 2004, about 40,000 more of them would now be receiving those services.

The U.S. Department of Education, which is hosting public "listening sessions" in five Texas cities this week as part of an investigation into the issue, has said it is particularly concerned about the low number of English learners in special ed.

In defending the benchmark to federal regulators last month, TEA officials acknowledged "some possible under-representation" of English learners.

They declined to answer questions for this story.

Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle

When Karen Aramburu moved from Mexico to Houston two years ago, she thought she would get help for her daughter, then 11 and dealing with autism, epilepsy and hypotania, a muscle disorder.

But when she asked Houston Independent School District for special education, she was told there was a "waiting list" for eligibility evaluations.

Aramburu, who cares for her daughter full time while her husband works as a candy distributor, did not get any information about the process in the only language she speaks  Spanish. She did not know there was no such thing as a waiting list. Or that she could compel the district to evaluate her daughter by filing a written request. HISD, which provides special education to 7.4 percent of students and just 5.3 percent of English learners, did not tell her or perform an evaluation, even as Alexia got failing grades, cried throughout classes and had bathroom accidents, records show.

More than a year later, an advocate finally told Aramburu how to force HISD to evaluate, and Alexia was found eligible for extensive services.

"Nobody told me until it was so late," Aramburu said in Spanish on a recent afternoon, grimacing as she gazed at her daughter.

The family now lives in Katy.

A HISD spokesman said the district does give families information in Spanish and focuses on proper identification of disabled English learners.

Many educators said immigrants often do not understand how special ed works. Part of the reason for the dramatic drop among English learners, they said, is that parents are less able to fight the hurdles the TEA target has brought for all families seeking special education.

"These parents don't understand the system," said Iliana Benitez, a social worker at Baylor College of Medicine. "Culturally, they're not inclined to speak up ... and nobody tells them they have rights."

Many school districts have actively worked to keep English learners out of special education so they can keep their overall numbers low, the Chronicle has found.

Dozens of current and former educators said they were made to attend trainings in which they were told that the TEA had concluded they were over-identifying English learners. Virtually all those districts were actually under-identifying them, data show.

At the trainings, the educators said they were told to assume struggles of English learners were the result of language issues and to request special ed evaluations only for failures lasting months or years.

"They always try to pass off deficits as due to language and cultural barriers," former Fort Worth teacher Megan Houston said. "So (the kids) have to fail classes to get tested, even when the teacher, counselor, principal, etc all can tell it's more than a language problem."

Parents reported more subtle discrimination.

Rosa Sanchez of El Paso said that when she asked that her kindergartener be tested for dyslexia, Canutillo ISD refused and only gave her information on how to appeal in English.

Evangelina Cardenas of Pflugerville, in Central Texas, said that when she noticed her shy daughter was struggling in school, she asked to observe her in class to see if she should request special education. She said she was turned away because "only parents with Social Security Numbers" can observe.

Her daughter, Ashley, fell further and further behind. The district warned the family about it in 2013, school records show, and she got a 24 percent on her first state math test.

But the district did not put her in special ed until this fall, when an advocate intervened  four years after her issues first arose.

In Desoto ISD, near Dallas, former school psychologist Marcy Barlow said her school decided that students could be classified as either English Language Learner or special education  but not both.

And in Beaumont ISD, multiple current and former employees said the district does not accept medical records from other countries, does not conduct evaluations in other languages and only rarely allows English learners to also be in special ed.

A spokeswoman denied those allegations and said the district gives special ed to all who need it.

The district, which has been under scrutiny for poor performance and dysfunction, now serves just 4.2 percent of English learners in special ed. Its overall rate is 7.5 percent.

"It's very important to the district to stay below the TEA cap," said Janice Brassard, who taught at the district for 27 years and then served on the school board for nine, up until 2014. "(English learners) are getting language services, so they say, 'Well, they're already serviced.'"

Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle

Federal law requires schools to provide both language and disability services to disabled English learners, and experts say both are critical.

"Think of a student as a flower," said Madeline Mavrogordato, an education professor at Michigan State University. "If you only give them language services and not disability services, you're giving them only sun and not water. It's not enough."

Mavrogordato and other experts also said English learners are just as likely as native speakers to have disabilities.

In fact, research has found English learners and other minorities are more prone to disabilities because they are more likely to be born prematurely, at low weight or with fetal alcohol system and to be malnourished or exposed to toxins like lead.

"There is absolutely no reason for them to be in special ed less often," said Jarice Butterfield, the director of special ed for California's Santa Barbara County and an expert on disabled English learners.

Nevertheless, unlike African Americans, who have been put in special ed at higher rates than white students nationwide, prompting concern from some academics and officials, English learners have historically been under-identified.

In the past, that has been partly due to difficulty in discerning whether student struggles were caused by linguistic problems or disabilities, but that issue has eased with new tests in other languages, said several experts, including Butterfield.

"That shouldn't be a major issue," she said.

In Texas, before the TEA benchmark, when about 12 percent of all students were in special ed, English learners had a lower rate (11 percent) and African Americans had a higher rate (14 percent), according to state data.

After a decade in which the state has pressured school districts to cut special education  and has penalized districts for over-identification  little has changed for African Americans. They are still more likely to get services than white students, and the divergence is almost exactly the same rate.

For English learners, however, there has been a significant decline.

Few places have been more affected than Victoria, a city near the Gulf of Mexico that is best known for hosting a country music festival called Bootfest.

The city gave special ed to 11.8 percent of students before the TEA target, including 13 percent of English learners.

Today, the rate for English learners has sunk to 4 percent, helping to drop the overall district rate to 8.9 percent.

De Los Santos and others said the district often cautions teachers against requesting that English learners be evaluated, citing "over-identification."

That has led to a 78 percent decline in English learners identified as having "learning disabilities," such as dyslexia, and a 55 percent drop in the speech impairment category.

In addition, according to Victoria ISD, none of its nearly 1,000 English learners has autism.

A spokeswoman said the district "has remained dedicated to addressing the needs of our ELL student population." She added that Victoria ISD does not pay special attention to the TEA benchmark.

A review of school board meeting notes shows otherwise.

The benchmark has been described as a goal at several meetings. At one, in October 2014, special education director Michelle Goebel said the district's special education rate had fallen to 8.6 percent, very close to the "TEA target" of 8.5 percent.

"We are definitely headed in the right direction," she said.

Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle

In some Texas schools for English learners, special ed does not exist at all.

Austin ISD's International High School, a new campus for foreign newcomers, had just one special ed student among its 368 kids and no special ed teachers in the 2014-15 year, state data show.

Similar dynamics now exist in many schools. Houston ISD's Las Americas school only evaluated one of its 144 students for special education last year, according to the district.

In Austin, four current and former International High School employees blamed the TEA benchmark for the lack of services, saying administrators have blocked their school's students from special ed to help keep the district's overall numbers low.

"The district decided to make it extraordinarily difficult for our students to get special education...," said Peggy Robinson, who retired from the district in August 2015. "I think the cap is the reason."

Austin ISD declined comment.

The lack of services has had disastrous consequences, educators said.

In August 2011, an International High School student named Marcos Cruz brandished a knife at several people, including two boys on their way to an East Austin bus stop. Cruz was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which can result in a lifelong prison sentence.

Before the incident, Cruz's teachers had tried to get him into psychiatric counseling. But administrators had turned them away, claiming he was struggling only because he could not speak English.

Five years later, former English teacher Melissa Arasin still wonders what would have happened if he had gotten special ed.

"It was clear it wasn't just a language issue. This kid needed help," she said. "Everybody knew it."

***

For others, the suffering has unfolded more slowly.

When Andres Hernandez arrived from Matamoros, Mexico in 2006, it was obvious he had special challenges. He was diagnosed with dyslexia, and his family hoped his school would help.

But they were in Beaumont, where schools were cutting back on English learners in special ed.

The district did not even test to see if Hernandez qualified for services, records show. Instead, according to his mother, Irene Aviles, the district told her it could not do evaluations in Spanish.

Aviles was a single mother working at two different restaurants. She could not fight the district.

Over the next few years, her son struggled. He had to repeat eighth grade. But he was never evaluated for special education.

Last year, he dropped out of school.

Now, Hernandez is about to turn 19. He is a friendly young man who loves to play the drums and wants to be a mechanic, but he is struggling to get a GED.

"I'm worried, and I feel guilty," Aviles said in Spanish. "I wish there was something more that I could have done."

Staff photographer Marie D. De Jesus contributed reporting to this story.
Brenda Madrigal thought she would get kicked out of high school for not having citizenship documentation or a Social Security number.

Now 22, Madrigal had to apply to Houston Community College as part of her admission to an early-college high school. She was surprised when she was accepted without issue, even as an undocumented immigrant.

On Saturday, she told about 250 similarly situated students and parents at Houston Independent School District's DREAM Summit that they, too, could go to college.

"It's hard. It's really, really hard, but it's not impossible," said Madrigal, who is now studying for a master's degree. "If I can do it, they can too."

The summit, held at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, gave information about financial aid, college applications and ways to prepare for higher education to immigrant students. Representatives from college admissions offices, immigrant advocacy groups and HISD departments set up information booths, and speakers gave students and parents a road map to higher education.

Nearly 23 percent of the Houston metro area's 6.3 million residents were born outside the country, according to the Migration Policy Institute. An estimated 350,000 of those Houston-area immigrants are undocumented, and about 39,000 are estimated to be under the age of 16.

Gracie Guerrero, HISD's assistant superintendent of multilingual programs, said some non-citizen students do not know they have options after high school.

"They may have heard some erroneous information that it doesn't matter what you do in high school because you can't go to college anyway. But that's not true," Guerrero said. "They need to know that college is a possibility for them and they can get financial assistance."

The summit is named after the controversial Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM Act, which is legislation first proposed in 2001 to give undocumented immigrants who came to the United States before age 16 and lived here continuously for five years a path toward eventual legal status if they attend college or serve in the military. Congress has tried multiple times and as recently as 2010 failed to muster enough votes to pass the measure into law.

Therefore, 10 states, including Texas, have gone ahead and enacted their own similar laws. Under the Texas version of the DREAM Act, undocumented students who have a high school diploma or attained a GED in Texas can qualify for in-state college tuition and state financial aid, so long as they show they've lived in the state for three years and are seeking legal residency.

Although Texas was the first state to adopt such a law in 2001, conservative lawmakers have tried and failed to repeal it as recently as 2015. Similar laws are on the books in nine other states, including California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

But in the wake of President-elect Trump's sharp rhetoric on immigration and undocumented immigrants, some area students wonder if they'll be able to attend public colleges and pay in-state tuition in the coming years.

Guerrero hadn't heard many concerns about it Saturday, but said she has on some school campuses.

"In general, you hear about issues like parents not wanting to send their students to school" out of fear they'll be rounded up, she said. "We've heard concerns of students worrying they won't find their parents when they come home."

Lathaly Araujo, a 17-year-old senior from Peru, is nervous Trump and those with anti-immigration sentiments will urge states like Texas to repeal their versions of the DREAM Act. She worried that she and others who are not yet citizens won't be able to get financial aid for college. Still, Araujo has applied to the University of Houston and Rice University.

Melissa Chapman, who moved to Houston from Colombia a year and a half ago, was more optimistic.

"I don't think he'll be able to cut the dream of having an education," Chapman said of Trump. "You have the right to study and you have the right to obtain knowledge. It would be hard to take that away."

Though Chapman is 18, she's a junior in high school. American schools would not accept some of her high school credits from Colombia, but she's making the most of retaking her classes here. After one semester of English as a second language course, she is now earning college credit in Advanced Placement English. She's working to boost her grade point average with hopes of getting as many scholarships and college admission offers as she can.

Chapman was encouraged by the financial aid offerings listed Saturday and to see college students like Madrigal succeeding.

"It makes you feel like you're not alone," she said. "People are in my same situation, and it's nice to know that they can take your hand and help you."
The Syrian army managed to repel a Daesh attack on Syrian Palmyra, regaining full control over the embattled city, a source in a militia reported, Sputnik reported.

Earlier, it was reported that the Syrian armed forces together with local militias were engaged in fierce fights against the Daesh militants on the outskirts of the ancient city.

Prior to that, media reports emerged alleging that Daesh has reentered Palmyra after being ousted from the city by Syrian troops with air support from Russia earlier in the year.

Let me repeat that Palmyra is under control of the army and militia. Daesh militants are carrying out intense attacks, but they have been repulsed, the military source told RIA Novosti.

According to Al Masdar news agency, the Daesh terrorists that entered the city were forced to flee after the Syrian Air Force's jets supported by Russian aviation shelled them.

The Syrian Army with militias regained control over all slopes of Mountain Tar near Palmyra.
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A lit candle - the warmth and glow of which is a classic symbol of the holiday season - is believed to have caused a fire that claimed the life of a well-liked and vibrant teen early Saturday in Pasadena.

A house in the 200 block of Randall erupted in flames around 12:30 a.m. with three generations of women inside.

Alma Isabel Adame, 17, was overcome by smoke, authorities said, and died in the back yard after firefighters pulled her out of a second-story bedroom.

"She was perfect. She was the most caring person I have ever known," said Henry Gomez, her 16-year-old boyfriend. "She made me feel loved, because, before her, I was a very emotionless person and as soon as she came along, everything changed."

Gomez and other classmates from Pasadena High School described Adame as a kind young woman who sang in the school choir, loved animals and planned to become a veterinarian. She had applied to Texas A&M University's flagship in College Station and the Corpus Christi campus as well as the University of Houston.

"She volunteers at a church. For Halloween, she gave out candy," said Ethan Delgado, 17. "She's a good person. This shouldn't have happened to her."

Dylan Diaz, 16, said he will remember Adame as a shy individual who opened up when she got to know people and a student who expressed strong, clear ideas in their sociology class.

By Saturday afternoon, there was a small memorial of flowers, balloons and photos on the edge of the front yard in the shadow of a melted green city garbage canister.

The two-story, wood-framed yellow house was tricky for firefighters to navigate, Pasadena Fire Marshal David Brannon said, because of several renovations. The original one-story house was encased by a second floor, side additions and concealed voids where flames hid.

"The firefighters actually pulled the girl out pretty quickly," Brannon said. "The fire was actually under control in a timely manner, but it was all the hidden spots that made it difficult."

Adame's mother, whose name has not been released, jumped from a second-level bathroom window, the fire marshal said. She sustained smoke inhalation injuries and several burns and bruises from the leap. She was intubated at Bayshore Medical Center in Pasadena, then transferred to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, Brannon said. She is expected to survive, he added.

The teen's grandmother, who is in her 70s, escaped the house unhurt.

The preliminary cause of the fire was determined to be accidental.

"It looks like it is going to be a candle on a table," Brannon said.

Dale Lezon contributed to this report.
While most paleontologists dig up prehistoric bones from the ground, Lida Xing hunts for fossils in the amber markets of Myanmar. In 2015, he made a remarkable find: Trapped in what looked like golden glass was the feathered tail of a dinosaur.

Along with the primitive plumage, the 99-million-year-old amber also preserved soft tissue and eight complete vertebrae. The tail bones indicated that the specimen belonged to a dinosaur that was not a prehistoric bird and also provided researchers with insight into the evolution of feathers.

"This is the first time that skeletal material from a dinosaur has been found in amber," Xing, who is a paleontologist at China University of Geosciences in Beijing, said in an email. He and his colleagues published their findings Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

After performing a CT scan and microscopic analysis, Xing and his colleagues realized that the feathers did not belong to a bird because the specimen's tail vertebrae were not fused into a rod, as they are in modern birds. The feathers most likely belonged to a baby nonavian theropod, meaning it looked more similar to a velociraptor or Tyrannosaurus rex than to a modern bird. That said, it was probably only about the size of a sparrow.

After Xing found the amber, he sent it to Ryan McKellar, a paleontologist at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada, to further investigate the specimen.

"When it hit my desk, I was blown away," McKellar, an amber expert and an author of the study, said. "It's one of those things where you're like, 'Wow, it's the closest you'll ever get to holding a fleshed-out dinosaur in your hands."

Most modern bird feathers have a central shaft called a rachis; think of the ink rod in a quill pen. Branching from the rachis are smaller shafts called barbs, and then branching from the barbs are smaller filaments called barbules.

But this specimen lacked the rachis; it just had barbs and barbules down its ribbonlike tail.

The finding suggests that the barbs and barbules evolved before the rachis in feathers.

That is interesting because the rachis seems to aid in flight. It could be that dinosaurs with more primitive feathers used them for temperature regulation, camouflage and visual signaling, rather than flight.
WASHINGTON - An extraordinary breach has emerged between President-elect Donald Trump and the national security establishment, with Trump mocking U.S. intelligence assessments that Russia interfered in the election on his behalf, and top Republicans vowing investigations into Kremlin activities.

On Saturday, intelligence officials said it was not until the week after the election that the CIA altered its formal assessment of Russia's activities to conclude that the government of President Vladimir Putin was not just trying to undermine the election, but also had acted to give one candidate an advantage.

Wary of being seen as politicizing their findings, CIA analysts had been reluctant to come to that conclusion in the midst of the election - even as many supporters of Hillary Clinton believed it was obvious, given the leak of emails from her campaign chairman and others.

One intelligence official said there were indications in early October that the Russians had shifted their focus to harm Clinton.

The CIA's slowness in shifting its assessment, another official said, was one reason President Barack Obama ordered a full review of "lessons learned" on the operation to influence the election.

But the disclosure of the still-classified findings prompted a blistering attack against the intelligence agencies by Trump, whose transition office said in a statement Friday night that "these are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," adding that the election was over and that it was time to "move on."

Trump has split on the issue with many Republicans on the congressional intelligence committees, who have said they were presented with significant evidence, in closed briefings, of a Russian campaign to meddle in the election.

The rift also raises questions about how Trump will deal with the intelligence agencies he will have to rely on for analysis of China, Russia and the Middle East, as well as for covert drone and cyber activities.

At this point in a transition, a president-elect is usually delving into intelligence he has never before seen, and learning about CIA and National Security Agency capabilities.

But Trump, who has taken intelligence briefings only sporadically, is questioning not only analytic conclusions, but also their underlying facts.

"To have the president-elect of the United States simply reject the fact-based narrative that the intelligence community puts together because it conflicts with his a priori assumptions - wow," said Michael Hayden, who was the director of the NSA and later the CIA under former President George W. Bush.

With the partisan emotions on both sides - Trump's supporters see a plot to undermine his presidency, and Hillary Clinton's supporters see a conspiracy to keep her from the presidency - the result is an environment in which even those basic facts become the basis for dispute.

There is no evidence that the Russian meddling affected the outcome of the election or the legitimacy of the vote, but Trump and his aides want to shut the door on any such notion, including the idea Putin schemed to put him in office.

Instead, Trump casts the issue as an unknowable mystery.

"It could be Russia," he recently told Time magazine. "And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey."

The Republicans who lead the congressional committees overseeing intelligence, the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security take the opposite view.

They say that Russia was behind the election meddling, but that the scope and intent of the operation need deep investigation, hearings and public reports.

Rep. Peter T. King, R-N.Y., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said there was little doubt the Russian government was involved in hacking the DNC.

"All of the intelligence analysts who looked at it came to the conclusion that the tradecraft was very similar to the Russians," he said.

There are splits both within the intelligence agencies and the congressional committees that oversee them. Officials say the CIA and the NSA have not always shared their findings with the FBI, which they often distrust.

The question of how vigorously to investigate also has a political tinge: Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, for example, are pushing hard for a broad investigation, while some Republicans are resisting.

But tracking the origin of cyberattacks is complicated. It is made all the harder by the fact that the CIA and the NSA do not want to reveal human sources or technical abilities, including U.S. software implants in Russian computer networks.

This much is known: In mid-2015, a hacking group long associated with the FSB - the successor to the old Soviet KGB - got inside the Democratic National Committee's computer systems.

In the spring of 2016, a second group of Russian hackers, long associated with the GRU, a military intelligence agency, attacked the DNC again, along with the private email accounts of prominent Washington figures like John Podesta, the chairman of Clinton's campaign. Those emails were ultimately published. That moved the issue from espionage to an "information operation" with a political motive.

In briefings to Obama and on Capitol Hill, intelligence agencies have said they now believe that what began as an effort to undermine the credibility of U.S. elections morphed over time into a much more targeted effort to harm Clinton, whom Putin has long accused of interfering in Russian parliamentary elections in 2011.
WASHINGTON - Rex Tillerson, chief executive of Exxon Mobil, whose extensive deal-making for the energy giant has plunged him into global politics from Yemen to Russia, is expected to be offered the secretary of state post this weekend by President-elect Donald Trump, according to two people close to Trump's transition team.

Tillerson, 64, has spent the past 41 years at Exxon, where he began as a production engineer and went on to strike deals around the world for a company that explores, buys and sells oil and gas in some of the globe's most troubled corners.

Those travels have engendered close ties with a number of world leaders, notably President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who has known Tillerson for more than two decades, and who awarded him the country's Order of Friendship in 2013. The next year, Washington's relationship with Moscow was plunged into a deep freeze with Russia's annexation of Crimea and its shadow war in eastern Ukraine, a problem that Tillerson would inherit.

Trump is famously mercurial and could change his mind before making his final decision public. A transition spokesman, Jason Miller, declined to comment.

But Tillerson met with Trump for more than two hours at Trump Tower in New York on Saturday, and two key Trump advisers, his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have told Trump that Tillerson is in a "different league" from his other options. Among the other contenders have been Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, and Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Trump's team has discussed the possibility of appointing as deputy secretary John Bolton, a highly conservative and combative veteran of the George W. Bush administration. Trump has also spoken with Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a far more centrist figure.

Lacking experience

If confirmed by the Senate - which seems all but assured - Tillerson will deal with many of the world leaders he encountered at Exxon, but with a very different agenda. With no background in diplomacy outside the energy arena, he will have to manage a raging war in Syria that has consumed the last year of diplomatic efforts by Secretary of State John Kerry, an increasingly aggressive Russia, a rising China that is staking claims in the South China Sea, and a North Korea that is growing closer to being able to launch a nuclear-armed missile at the United States.

The kind of deal-making diplomacy that Tillerson has excelled at is very different from the kind of alliance-building required of a secretary of state, often without the incentive of profits for negotiating partners.

In the case of Russia, he would face the question of whether to lift sanctions imposed against the country by the Obama administration and European allies, measures that Trump has expressed doubts about. Those sanctions brought to a halt a major drilling project for Exxon in 2014.

He has also signed deals to develop oil fields in the autonomous region of Kurdistan, angering an important U.S. ally, Iraq, which bars such direct dealings.

Tillerson assumed the role of chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil in January 2006, and during his tenure the company acknowledged, for the first time, the science underlying climate change. It has said it supports the creation of a carbon tax, which most Republicans have opposed, and it also supported the Paris climate agreement, a major focus of Kerry's time in office. Trump has vowed to abandon the climate pact.

Tillerson's success in business gives him a major credential with Trump, who values that background, along with loyalty, above other traits. The question is how Tillerson will mesh with the far less hierarchical world of the State Department, where dissent is common, leaks about decision-making are often the order of the day, and success and failure are not measured on a balance sheet.

Close ties to Russia

He is no stranger to political upheaval, however. Exxon has operations in about 50 countries, and Tillerson has not been shy about promoting the interests of his company, whether they coincide with U.S. policy or not.

Shortly after he took the helm, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela moved to nationalize the assets of 22 foreign oil companies. Most chose to negotiate compensation arrangements. But Exxon Mobil, along with ConocoPhillips, took Venezuela to international arbitration court, and in 2014 Exxon won a $1.6 billion compensation package.

It was a fraction of what the company had demanded, but Exxon showed unusual toughness. The company also mobilized a serious exploration effort in Guyanese waters claimed by Venezuela, and that work is expected to eventually result in major production.

Exxon has close ties to the Qatari national oil company, and has partnered with the Qataris in building a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Gulf of Mexico coast that is designed for importing gas and may eventually be used for exporting it, as well.

But most controversial is Exxon's close relationship with Russia, which Tillerson has worked hard to strengthen. Exxon has various joint ventures around Russia with the state-backed oil giant Rosneft, and has contributed to social programs in education and health.
Straight truth

Thank you for the latest insightful columns by Chris Tomlinson, specifically "Business leaders are preparing to clash with bigots in Austin" (Page B1, Wednesday) and "Breitbart boycotts sound like KKK tactics" (Page A2, Thursday). In both columns your business columnist writes with authority, is well-informed and doesn't mince words. In the first article he cuts through the bogus bathroom bill sponsored by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and calls for lawmakers in Austin to come up with real solutions for real problems. In the second column he reminds readers that Breitbart News is using KKK tactics to put pressure on companies that have discontinued advertising with Breitbart. These tactics were frightening back in the 1920s and are very disturbing now, almost a century later.

Your readers are very fortunate to have Tomlinson telling it like it is. We should heed his call to contact our state senators to address the real problems of the citizens of Texas and to "stand up for what's right."

Sandra Walsh, Houston

Clear thinking

Why does Chris Tomlinson assume those of us who support Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are narrow-minded and do not understand the situation at hand? By extension, all (practicing) Catholics are bigots, as Pope Francis? Really?

We "bigots" certainly understand that gender dysphoria exists and always has. We also know that you can either go along with the dysphoria or you can take the organic approach and counsel those affected back into the reality of their bodies.

Either way, they have the liberty to do either or neither.

I wish the Republicans in power would be consistent and apply the bill for both transgendered "men" and "women." They also need to stop couching the issue as one of "women's safety." The real reason for support of Patrick's bathroom bill stands beautifully on its own: thoughts don't generate reality.

As for Tomlinson's dire prediction of negative financial consequences for standing up for truth, I say, let's take a stand; enough "progressive" silliness.

Diane Sulpizio, Houston

Enough already

Regarding "Bathroom politics" letters (Page A16, Friday), I've had it with the bathroom talk. I can't count the number of times I've been at an event at the Hobby or Wortham centers, very classy places, when I admired a very beautiful transgender woman in the ladies bathroom.

These women always made me feel underdressed and less female alongside them. Not once did I feel physically threatened - stylistically threatened, perhaps, but not physically. I had no problem with them being in the stall next to mine. They deserved to be there every bit as much as I did. Get over this, people.

Joanna Friesen, Houston
For the first time in our nation's history, we have elected a president whose only experience is running a business.

That might seem like just what Washington needs these days, but business and government perform fundamentally different functions, and they require different types of leadership.

Business is about being nimble, beating the competition, and making money. Success often requires quick decision-making. CEOs may seek advice, but ultimately, their decisions are final.

Government is about spending money, often on things the businesses won't, from moon shots to Medicare. Doing this requires compromise. A president must build consensus, even with those who oppose him. His executive orders can be challenged in court and his vetoes can be overridden.

CEOs focus on quarterly profits, and executives are rewarded with annual bonuses and stock awards. Government must take a longer view, funding programs that can have implications for future generations.

Government exists to ensure everyone has an equal chance to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To do that, it must make rules that create the most opportunity for the most people over the long term.

CEOs, because of their short-term focus, often eschew regulation, even if the rules may enable their businesses to make more money in the long run. In 1934, for example, Wall Street claimed Congress was destroying capitalism by adopting the Securities Exchange Act. Those rules created unprecedented investor confidence and laid the foundation for a stock market that became the greatest source of capital in history. It was one of the most important business regulations adopted, yet it was decried by business leaders at the time.

Even in the most open-minded companies, CEOs mostly are surrounded by people who agree with them. CEOs may say they want lieutenants who challenge them, but few lieutenants advance by disagreeing with the boss. Presidents can't afford the luxury of yes men. They must be told quickly when their policies are failing or things are not going as planned. They must be warned about the potential dangers and unintended consequences of their actions.

CEOs may keep secrets from shareholders and employees, at least up to a point. Being unpredictable might give them an edge in negotiations.

During the last debate of the campaign, when asked if he would accept the results of the election, President-elect Trump said, "I'll surprise you." The comment shows a fundamental lack of understanding about the presidency: he owed us an explanation because he wanted to work for us.

Presidential business is supposed to be conducted in public, and everything a president does, from going to dinner with family to taking a vacation to meeting with foreign leaders is a matter of public record. Initially, Trump has demonstrated he sees responsiveness more as a game than a responsibility.

CEOs often are thin-skinned, although it depends on the industry. Airline executives, exposed to frequent criticism, quickly develop rhinoceros hides. But industries like oil and gas, which have less direct public contact, are more likely to have executives who bristle at criticism. Even though he owned a failed airline, Trump has shown he handles criticism more like an energy executive. Like many CEOs, he believes he should be able to control the coverage about him. A president must rise above petty vanity and realize media does not exist to make him look good.

Trump has also said he won't draw a salary as president. That might appear to be a paean to fiscal prudence, but it's a thumb of the nose to the American people, a declaration that he does not work for us. He may not need our money, but the power we grant him comes with strings attached.

Trump's lack of experience in politics doesn't disqualify him from office. Politics, like janitorial services, requires no experience.

Plenty of business people have successfully transitioned to lower public offices - Mike Bloomberg, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, to name just a few. But they understood that in moving into politics, they had to do things differently. Trump was elected, in part, because of his stalwart refusal to change.

But for him to succeed, he must understand the biggest difference between his old job and his new one: A CEO works; a president serves.

Steffy (@lsteffy), a former Houston Chronicle business columnist, is a managing director with the communications firm 30 Point Strategies and a writer-at-large for Texas Monthly. He is working on a biography of Houston oilman George Mitchell. Contact him via lorensteffy.com
As a consequence of Hillary Clinton's overwhelming victory in the presidential election, Democrats locally swept every district and county judgeship. The hundreds of thousands of voters who unceremoniously ousted all Republican judges did so because they voted straight-party Democratic. They came to defeat Donald Trump and by one quick click defeated every other Republican on the ballot. (The GOP judges who survived were in appellate courts covering more than Harris County.)

Of course, straight-party voting elected Republican judges in past sweeps, especially in nonpresidential, or gubernatorial, years. In politics, the cruel truth is, "Live by the sword, die by the sword."

One of the victims on Election Day was District Judge Ryan Patrick, a well-regarded first-term jurist who had received many endorsements, including from this newspaper. Patrick is the son of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is said to favor abolishing the option of straight-party voting. This would be a wise and statesmanlike act by a major Republican leader while his party continues to hold near-two-thirds majorities in both houses of the Texas Legislature.

But doing away with straight-party voting is only one electoral reform the Legislature needs to consider next session. Another is to abolish party labels on judicial candidates altogether. Texans prefer electing their judges, which is why voters fill all benches from the state Supreme Court down to justice of the peace. It is also why proposals to appoint judges have never gotten anywhere.

Yet if we are to have an elected judiciary, we don't have to have a partisan one. In the 1979 legislative session, right after Texas chose its first Republican governor in modern times, I introduced a bill for the nonpartisan election of judges. I figured that Democrats, then the massive majority, would want to preserve their judges against an incoming Republican tide.

Wrong. My Democratic colleagues bet that their day would come again, and it did - but only for a while.

This is a moment, when the state's political tide may shift again, to exempt judges from the peculiar passions of a general election. We should hold judicial elections in November of odd-numbered years. This would shorten the ballot in general elections like 2016's, when Harris County voters had to decide no fewer than 37 judicial races. It would also allow voters to study the candidates, their judicial philosophy and who supports them.

Since the current Texas constitution was adopted in 1876, there has been a statewide referendum on proposed amendments to the document every odd-numbered year. Thus the state is already paying for an election; it would have to pick up the added cost of runoffs.

There would be some other practical issues with moving to the nonpartisan election of judges.

Houston city elections are held in November of odd-numbered years, and local conservatives might fear subjecting now-Republican judges to a liberal electorate. But the 2015 City Charter change giving four-year terms to all city elected officials means no municipal elections in 2017, 2021, 2025, etc. This is when elections for district and county judgeships could be held.

Because party labels are a shorthand way of determining judicial philosophy, the nonpartisan election of judges would increase the use and importance of endorsement slates and newspaper editorials. Such slates - some determined by interviews with candidates, others by the purchase of an ad in the endorsement mailer - are already influential, especially in party primaries.

Republicans today, like Democrats a generation ago, might prefer taking their chances with the current partisan system of choosing judges. But the 2016 election was a warning that GOP candidates in Harris County may be doomed in every presidential election year from now on, and some analysts predict Republican doom in gubernatorial years as well.

No system is perfect, and voters may always puzzle over unfamiliar names on a long judicial ballot. But the status quo is decidedly imperfect - and increasingly ominous for local Republicans. Just ask Ryan Patrick.

Untermeyer was a Republican state representative from Houston from 1977-81.
Seven people were killed in a village in northeastern Bulgaria when a cargo train derailed and exploded, demolishing about 50 houses and public buildings, officials said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

Several dozens were injured and at least five of the victims remain in critical condition in hospital, health authorities said.

Bulgaria's government said it is preparing to announce Monday a day of national mourning following the deadly incident.

Twelve of the private train's tanks, carrying propylene, very volatile and highly flammable gas, derailed at the rail station of the village. One of the tanks struck a high-power line and exploded in flames early on Saturday, police said.

The powerful blast flattened dozens of houses and public buildings, leaving people under the ruins.

Officials ordered a full evacuation of the village so that the propylene can be safely removed. Specialists are conducting an operation to transfer gas from the tanks of the train at the center of the blast.

"The draining of tanks is a very complex and slow process," outgoing Prime Minister Boiko Borisov a few hours after arriving at the village, some 380 km northeast of the capital Sofia and home to around 1,000 people, according to a police official. "It should be done very carefully."

The operation is expected to take a day or two to complete.

"Two blasts have caused a serious fire and ruined at least 20 buildings. There are many people injured ... many with burns," Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov said.

An 18-year-old man has died of his wounds in the hospital in the northern town of Shumen, a hospital official said.

Some 200 firemen are putting out the fires and are cooling the derailed tanks to avoid further blasts. Rescue teams, including sniffer dogs, are searching for survivors in houses near the train lines.

"I helped take out six people under the ruins. Three were dead, three alive. There are no houses left standing near the incident - within 300 meters from the railways," said Stefan Stefanov, who lives in Hitrino.

Prosecutors said they are investigating the incident. Possible speeding or malfunctioning of the train tanks are among the most likely reasons for the incident, the head of the parliamentary commission Nastimir Ananiev said.
In his own words, President Obama stated We cant wait for Congress to do its job, so where they wont act, I will and over past 8 years, thats exactly what he has done at the expense of the American people. With Obamas self-proclaimed unconstitutional approach to going around Congress to push his own liberal agenda, it is no surprise that the last 8 years have been bad for rural America and the families who make their living off the land. President Obama has issued hundreds of new major regulations since taking office, each with an estimated cost to the American economy of $100 million or more. With out of-control agencies like the EPA and IRS, rural America has been impacted tremendously by the expansion of intrusive job-killing regulations under the Obama Administration.

However, it is not enough to point to how much the Obama Administration has hurt rural America, the battle has been to stop his efforts and proactively fight for the people of southeast and south central Missouri. This year alone, I am proud to have led the charge on real initiatives that focus on reining in big government and providing relief for rural America and especially the farmers, ranchers, small business owners, and families that make up our community. My SCRUB Act was designed to remove outdated regulations and take an axe to the more than 175,000 pages of federal regulations on the books that are suffocating growth in this country. Also, after it was uncovered the IRS was spending over $500 million in collected user fees each year as a slush fund to implement Obamacare mandates instead of improving their service to taxpayers, I led the charge on the IRS Oversight While Eliminating Spending (OWES) Act to return those funds to taxpayers and was pleased my House colleagues approved the legislation in April. In July, two of my amendments aimed at reining in the Department of Interior and the out-of-control Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were adopted to prevent millions of taxpayer dollars from funding liberal propaganda supporting new EPA regulations and funding of radical environmental groups. I also have led the charge to make sure that not one penny is allocated to implement the disastrous Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.

President-elect Trumps commitment and passion to tear up so many of the regulations we have seen in the last 8 years is absolutely the right approach and because of the leadership I have taken to eliminate bureaucracy and red-tape I have been asked to work with the Trump Administration on this effort. I am compiling a list of agency rules and regulations that must be repealed so that true reform in Washington can be achieved and so that the farmers and families in our region can do what they do best  provide for themselves, the nation and the world. This list includes disastrous threats harming rural America like the WOTUS Rule, efforts to shut down the coal industry, restrictions on family farm and estate transfers, the Veterinary Feed Directive Rule which adds unnecessary burdens when trying to get feed for ones animals, and executive orders which have encouraged an influx in illegal and unchecked immigration.

We also have additional hope with the selection of Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt this week by President-elect Trump to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). His selection would be a win for rural America and a promising sign that relief from burdensome regulations created by the Obama Administration is coming in the near future. Pruitt shares my belief that the states should have more control, not the federal government. He will drastically shrink the imprint and size of the EPA and has been a leading legal opponent to the Obama Administrations war on coal and assault on farmers and ranchers water usage. He has argued against the Liberal agenda in local courts, state courts and the United States Supreme Court. I believe General Pruitts expertise will prove vitally important for advancing an aggressive agenda during the first 100 days of President-elect Trumps administration.

With people in leadership like Attorney General Pruitt who are committed to fighting for rural America and for states rights and against an intrusive bureaucracy led by the Obama Administration over the past 8 years, I am confident that the roots in rural America are going to be in a better position to take hold and grow. We have some digging out to do, but I along with the new Trump administration and Attorney General Pruitt are ready to bring the shovels and get to work.

Jason Smith represents Missouris 8th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Contact him at 573-335-0101 or visit https://jasonsmith.house.gov
An Edgar Springs woman was injured in a crash Sunday morning at Simmons, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

Tpr. Marty Wiseman said a northbound 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer driven by Tracy D. Sutton, 46, ran off the right side of the roadway, overturned and struck a fence at about 9:15 a.m.

Sutton, who was wearing a seat belt, was taken by ambulance with minor injuries, to Texas County Memorial Hospital in Houston. The vehicle was totaled.

The Houston Rural Fire Department rescue squad also responded.
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The CRTC is telling Canadians who are unhappy with their cable TV packages to "demand better" from their providers.

The regulator posted a series of tips on its website, suggesting consumers haggle with their providers or threaten to cancel their plan in order to get the best deal.

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The CRTC posted tips to help customers haggle with their TV providers over the phone.

However, the advice didn't sit well with some consumers, who worry the CRTC isn't doing enough to enforce its regulations.

As of December 1, TV service providers are required to offer single channels a la carte as part of the 2015 ruling that mandated providers offer pick-and-pay options.

The ruling was intended to help please customers after the disappointing roll out of skinny basic cable packages earlier in the year, that saw the CRTC receive hundreds of complaints from dissatisfied consumers.

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The pick-and-pay system was intended to offer customers cheaper options and more choice, but many of the premium channels are so costly that choosing individual channels would see consumers' bills rise.

"It's pointless, I hate calling the cable company," one unhappy customer told CBC News, adding that, "... it's not going to change that [the cable companies] don't offer what you'd want."

Skinny-tv failed, now ppl v unhappy w/ pick-and-pay. No carrot on end of stick from CRTC to make these providers take regulation seriously.  Dylan Armitage (@dylanarm_) December 1, 2016

Shaw Cable advertises that single channels start at just $3 each, but a premium channel like HBO or Sportsnet can cost as much as $18 per month on top of a basic cable package.

And the prices are similar with the other big providers. Bell, for example, offers HBO bundled with The Movie Network for $20 a month.

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Youll get more choice and flexibility, but the price might be quite high, Public Interest Advocacy Centre executive director John Lawford told the Financial Post.

The CRTC does have one trick in its back pocket. The company chose to only renew broadcaster licences for one year, instead of the usual seven. If TV providers don't comply with the new regulations, they could see their licences revoked.
At least 28 people died and 70 were injured in an explosion outside St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo, Egyptian Health Minister Ahmed Rady said Sunday, Sputnik reported.

Rady said the bomber targeted the right wing of the church, which is reserved for female worshippers.

The majority of those killed during the Sunday prayer service were women and children, he said. A source in the country's Interior Ministry said that the explosive material TNT was used to create the bomb.

"A high-power explosive device containing TNT detonated," the source said. The news website Sada El-Balad cited a source in the investigation team as saying an unknown attacker threw a bomb inside the cathedral during a prayer service.
scarletsails via Getty Images

You can imagine the mood that descended on the international climate conference in Marrakech last month when news emerged that Trump would be the next occupant of the Oval Office.

On the morning of 9 November, the usually unflappable US delegation arrived at the conference site with visible tear tracks staining their cheeks. Negotiators wandered aimlessly between meeting rooms, fearing the entire intergovernmental process they had engaged in for decades had become redundant overnight. It was an atmosphere that reeked of defeat and resignation.

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And yet, by the second week, a kind of buoyancy had returned to the conference attendees. It was like the fire in their eyes had suddenly been relit and everyone felt comfortable, once again, to talk about action and ambition.

On the penultimate day of the conference, John Kerry convened a last-minute press conference where he reaffirmed the US's commitment to the Paris Agreement and even promised to 'double' efforts to meet that commitment.

As I listened to the rapt applause that marked the conclusion of Kerry's speech, I couldn't help but notice that it expressed the somewhat contrived relief and vindication of all those in the room. People obviously needed to hear that their efforts had not been in vain; but aside from offering group therapy for the environmental movement, what use were the words of the outgoing Democratic Secretary of State?

I watched people leave that press event with a rekindled sense of purpose and, sure enough, a few hours later breakout meetings hatched all over the conference, exploring how to address climate change in a post-Trump world.

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At the time, I worried that we might be in denial about the reality of the situation - 'denial' being a characteristic that, perhaps ironically, is more commonly applied to detractors of anthropogenic climate change. What if we had blinded ourselves to the implications of a Trump Presidency as a sort of self-coping mechanism for the blow we had suffered the previous week?

On the last weekend of my stint in Morocco, I managed to finally escape the negotiations and explore, not just the 'Red City' of Marrakech, but also the neighbouring Atlas Mountains. It was then that I was reminded of how vastly different societies - in this case, Arabic, Berber, and French - can coexist in relative harmony. As a result, I started to consider ways that a Trump administration could be positively engaged in our work and, before long, I found my earlier reservations and cynicism diminishing.

By the time I boarded a plane back to London, I had already become privy to countless strategies that sought to embed what can be described as climate-friendly policies into US domestic politics. Many of these well-intentioned strategies are now taking flight but the emphasis, so far, has been to dictate to the President Elect the importance of the US's continued involvement in the Paris Agreement and, more generally, its support for a low-carbon economy.

Such a tone, I feel, may be misjudged. In my experience, bullies react in one, universal way to being told what to do: they do exactly the opposite. By provoking Trump in this manner, we are in danger of proverbially 'backing him into a corner', which may give our cause less room for manoeuvre over the course of his four-year term.

I am not suggesting that we blinker ourselves to the prospect of Trump's regime - and, in particular, to the appointment Scott Pruitt as Head of the Environmental Protection Agency - but before the official inauguration, I believe we should hold our nerve.

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It is not the time to wag fingers in a schoolmasterly fashion at Donald Trump. Instead, we should use this interregnum - ahead of Inauguration Day - to shore-up our own messaging, so that we are ready for Trump's government, whatever it brings.

Unlike the feelings that stalked me midway through the Marrakech negotiations, I now know there is still so much cause for hope when we consider climate action. I predict we'll need all hands on deck in these coming years - both those trying to work with Trump and those trying to work against Trump - to ensure our messaging survives.
I. The Idea that the Problem Was the Democrats' Abandonment of the White Working Class

OK. No doubt there's some truth to this. No dout, the less educated white working class has reasons to be dissatisfied with their economic condition and their economic prospects, and no doubt the Democratic Party could do a better job of communicating with such Americans and of addressing their dissatisfactions. No doubt all this is worth addressing.

But let's not sidetrack ourselves into thinking that this is the main problem that accounts for all the white working-class voters who went for Trump and for Republicans down ballot.

Think of it this way: however much the Democrats have moved away from their previous staunch defense of working-class, they are still clearly so far and away better than the GOP at looking out for the interests of average Americans that no working class voter, with his/her head screwed on straight, who was motivated by concerns over their declining economic situation, should have considered even for a moment voting for the Republicans.

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 Which party has looked out for making sure they got health-care coverage? (And which opposed it?)

 Which party has called for raising the minimum wage. (And which opposed it?)

 Which party tried to extend unemployment benefits during the Great Recession? (And which tried to cut them short?)

 Which party works to insure the rights of workers to organize and to bargain collectively with employers? (And which has systematically undermined those rights?)

Is there a single issue, bearing on the economic interests of the white working class, on which the Republicans have been the better champion of those interests? I can't think of any.

All of which means this: however much Democrats should boost their advocacy for working-class Americans, and however much they should improve their ways of selling themselves to such voters, the main problem here lies with the voters themselves.

The problem is whatever led them to turn to the people who so demonstrably, so obviously, have not had their interests at heart.

So clearly: Being way better than the Republicans didn't do the trick for the Democrats, so it follows that being even more dramatically better isn't the key to turning things around.

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What most urgently needs to be addressed is whatever it is in the way these voters were thinking and feeling that could lead them to vote for a Party -- the GOP -- that has consistently shown itself to be the agent of the very plutocratic forces that have stacked the deck against average working Americans.

And as for Trump, much the same applies: as President Obama so eloquently argued on so many occasions during the campaign, it made no sense to think that Trump -- with his long history -- would be the champion of working Americans.

With Trump, there is this additional factor: the man had a long and much-publicized history of scamming people, of breaking agreements, etc.

So the question again focuses on the nature of the thought-processes and reigning passions of the working-class voters who voted for Trump: what in the hell could make them think that a man with Trump's history of conning people wouldn't prove to be just conning them as well?

And now, of course, with his appointment of all these plutocrats, the great Trump con of the election of 2016 is coming into ever-clearer focus.

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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announcing the creation of the Islamic State, June 30, 2014

The political constellation of the Middle East has been, until recently, relatively durable for the better part of three-quarters of a century. Except for the division of the British mandate of Palestine between Israel and Palestine and the border revisions precipitated by four subsequent wars, the rest of the region largely adhered to its World War II era frontiers. True, there was no shortage of additional conflicts, some of which did result in minor border revisions, but their impact on the overall political geography was minor.

In June 2014, after successfully expelling Iraqi military forces and seizing control of large portions of Anbar, Nineveh, Kirkuk and Salah al-Din provinces, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed the birth of Islamic State (IS) comprised of the regions in Syria and Iraq under his control. Al-Baghdadi also proclaimed himself caliph of IS, simultaneously declaring himself the supreme political, religious and military leader not only of the roughly six million inhabitants of the world's newest political state, but of the one and a half billion Sunni Muslims worldwide.

In making the announcement al-Baghdadi also famously announced the abrogation of the Sykes-Picot Treaty, highlighting an agreement long forgotten by everyone save for historians and the odd diplomat. He followed up his announcement by ordering the filling in of the moats that had previously marked the desert border between Syria and Iraq.

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This symbolic erasure off the national frontiers, and by extension of the nations that they defined, that had resulted from the imposition of Sykes-Picot was a declaration that the contemporary nation states of the Middle East lacked legitimacy. Their governments therefore were equally illegitimate. Per al-Baghdadi, it was the duty of every good Muslim to oppose those governments. Only the Islamic State and its restored caliphate was the true expression of the political and religious unity of the Muslim world.

Sykes-Picot had a rather convoluted history. Technically, it was called the Asia Minor Agreement. It was negotiated by a British diplomat named Mark Sykes and a French diplomat named Francois Georges-Picot, hence its name. Its roots lay in the entry of the Ottoman Empire into WW I.

On October 27, 1914, renegade elements within the Ottoman military, most likely with the compliance of German advisors, staged a raid on the Russian naval base at Sevastopol. The raid was led by two former German cruisers, the heavy cruiser Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau which had recently been gifted to the Ottoman navy by the German government. The original German crew and officers had remained, now wearing Ottoman uniforms and ostensibly part of the Ottoman Navy.

The raid had occurred against the express wished of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V, who had insisted that the Ottoman empire remain neutral in WW I. Following the raid, Mehmed V repudiated the attack calling the attackers renegades acting without the authority of his government and offering to pay reparations to the Russian government for any damage done.

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Russia, looking for an excuse to attack the Ottoman Empire, rejected the offer and promptly declared war. Russia demanded that its British and French allies accept Russian control of Constantinople and large portions of the Black Sea coast and, most importantly, Russian control of the Turkish Straits and portions of the surrounding coastline. Reeling at the time from the German onslaught on the Western Front, (the First Battle of the Marne was barely a month old) Great Britain and France had little choice but to agree.

Subsequently, with the consent of the Russian government, Great Britain and France developed a plan for the partition of the rest of the Ottoman Empire. This was the genesis of what would become the Sykes-Picot treaty.

After the war ended, Lenin insisted that the allies honor the terms of their original agreement with Russia. The Allies refused claiming that the Bolsheviks had forfeited their territorial claims when they had signed a separate peace with the Central Powers at Brest Litovsk. Lenin, incensed, ordered Pravda to publish the text of the Sykes-Picot agreement (the Russians had been furnished a copy). That's how the world subsequently learned of how Britain and France were planning to carve up the Ottoman Empire.

Original division of the Ottoman Empire proposed in the Sykes-Picot Agreement

Sykes-Picot was the first, but not the only treaty that would subsequently define the political topography of the Middle East. Two concerns us today, because they appear to be the next World War I era agreements about to be cast aside; the Treaties of Lausanne and Ankara that, among other things, defined the national frontiers of modern Turkey.

Shortly after the onset of WWI, Britain had landed troops in southern Mesopotamia and seized control of the Shatt al-Arab and the city of Basra. The attack was ostensibly to protect the flank of the oil fields recently discovered by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and the refinery at Abadan. That refinery was the Royal Navy's principal source of fuel oil.

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Later, British forces were ordered to march on Baghdad, as a show of British military power to the Empire's Muslim subjects. Enver Pasha, the Ottoman Minister for War, had been trying to incite Muslims in the British and Russian empires to revolt and declare a jihad against their colonial masters.

British interest in Mesopotamia was also prompted by another consideration. Russian success against Ottoman troops in Eastern Anatolia had opened the prospect of Russia seizing control of Mosul. The region around Mosul was believed to hold significant oil deposits as evidenced by numerous petroleum seeps. Oil was subsequently discovered there in 1927.

The first march on Baghdad ended badly, with the British Army suffering, at the Siege of Kut, its worse humiliation in half a century. The subsequent campaign fared better and British forces steadily advanced northward, seizing Baghdad on March 11, 1917 and continuing to advance up the Tigris valley.

Hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies were supposed to end on October 31, 1918 when the terms of the Armistice of Mudros went into effect. Per the Armistice, both sides were to hold their positions as of October 31 pending a formal peace treaty that was to follow.

The War Office in London however, instructed the British Commander in Mesopotamia, General William Raine Marshall, "to make every effort to score as heavily on the Tigris before the whistle blew," so notwithstanding the terms of the Mudros armistice, British forces under General Alexander Cobb continued to advance northward till November 14.

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The last battle fought between British and Ottoman forces had been at al-Shirqat, 65 miles south of Mosul, on October 25. Had London observed the terms of the Mudros armistice, that would today have been the northern frontier of Iraq. Kurdistan as well as Mosul and much of Nineveh and northern Salah al-Din province would have remained part of the Turkish Republic that would subsequently emerge post WW I.

Northern Iraq had never been part of historic Mesopotamia. Its traditional population had been predominantly Kurdish, Turkoman and Christian. Prompted by its suspected oil wealth however, Great Britain bolted the region to its mandate of Mesopotamia that would subsequently be organized under League of Nations auspices.

Map submitted by T. E. Lawrence to the Eastern Committee of the War Office with proposed boundaries for Iraq. Status of region around Mosul left unspecified. November 1918

Ironically, in the Sykes Picot agreement, that portion of the Ottoman Empire had been slated to become part of the French mandate of Syria. Great Britain hung on to it however and instead agreed that the French government could seize the 25% interest in the Turkish Petroleum Company owned by the German government in compensation.

Which brings us to the present day and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's insistence on a role for the Turkish military in the liberation of Mosul. On December 3, 2015, Ankara deployed a detachment of 150 Turkish soldiers and 25 tanks to the Iraqi town of Bashiqa, 10 miles north of Mosul. Ostensibly, they were there to train the Hashd al-Watani, the local Sunni militia and to assist Kurdish Peshmerga forces. The Turkish force was subsequently increased to battalion strength, now numbering about 600.

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In addition, Iraqi sources claim that there are at least 1,500 more Turkish troops deployed in Northern Iraq conducting counterinsurgency operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The presence of Turkish troops in Iraq, a blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty, has precipitated strident protests from Baghdad and anti-Turkish demonstrations from various Shia militias.

On October 30, in response to the deployment of al-Hashd al-Shaabi Shite militias west of Mosul, Turkey moved an unspecified number of troops to Silopi along its border with Iraq and warned those militias to not attack the IS held town of Tal Afar or any of the surrounding villages. The area has a large Sunni Turkoman population which Erdogan has vowed to protect.

The Turkish government has stopped short of abrogating the treaties of Sevres and Ankara which defined Turkey's borders. On the other hand, in what amounts to a de facto abrogation, Erdogan has insisted that "Mosul is ours" and that "Mosul is Turkish". Erdogan has also resurrected the "National Covenant", a 1920 declaration by the last Parliament of the Ottoman Empire that reaffirmed that Northern Iraq was an integral part of Turkey and which identified a broad surrounding area from Cyprus to Aleppo to Batum as belonging to the Turkish state.

Erdogan has asserted that Ankara had a right to a Turkish sphere of influence over the region that once made up the Ottoman Empire, noting that "Turkey bears also responsibility towards the hundreds of millions of brothers in the geographical area to whom we are connected through our historical and cultural ties." He went on to add. "It is a duty, but also a right of Turkey to be interested in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Crimea ... and other sister areas"

What exactly are Ankara's objectives here? Does Erdogan harbor any fantasy that Mosul and its surrounding region is somehow going to be returned to Turkey? That's not going to happen short of a war between Turkey and Iraq.

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Is Erdogan looking for a seat at the negotiating table and some chips with which to play? If so, to what end? A piece of Mosul's oil wealth, a Turkish sponsored and protected Sunni state from a sectarian division of Nineveh province or simply some role in the subsequent political organization of Northern Iraq? Is this an attempt at political grandstanding for supporters back home, a gambit to preclude safe havens for the PKK, or is Ankara serious about developing its own, anti-Iranian/anti-Shia arc of influence in the region of the historic Ottoman Empire?

Western media typically portrays the "Kurds" as a single entity. There are deep divisions within the Kurdish community however, not only among Iraqi Kurds but especially between the Kurdish government in Erbil and the PKK. Ankara has attempted to develop close ties with Iraqi Kurdistan while being vehemently opposed to the creation of a PKK sponsored Kurdish state in Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, St. Petersburg, August 9, 2016

Turkish air forces have been attacking the predominantly Kurdish, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria while at the same time Turkish artillery has been supporting the advance of Kurdish Peshmerga troops against IS controlled territory north of Mosul. Moreover, notwithstanding the bitter, historic rivalry between the PKK and Iraqi Kurds, Erbil, to Ankara's displeasure, has granted safe havens to the PKK.

There is a larger issue here however that goes beyond the Battle for Mosul. Turkey is increasingly behaving like a rogue actor in the Middle East; showing ambivalence about respecting the historic basis of the status quo and demonstrating a willingness to act unilaterally with military force to change that status quo or at the very least mold it more to its liking. That is a role that will bring Ankara into conflict with Washington and one that is incompatible with a large role for Turkey in the European Union.

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Ironically, Erdogan's desire to develop a "Turkish sphere of influence" in the Middle East, to counter the "Iranian/Shia arc of influence" that now stretches from Tehran through Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Gaza could, under the right circumstances, be in America's interest. Erdogan's insistence of going it alone and on framing that policy in increasingly Islamist and anti-American terms, however, makes it problematic for the United States.

Turkey's role in the Syrian conflict is already at odds with NATO's objectives in the region. Ankara's air attacks against the SDF, the principal American proxy in the ground war against the Islamic State, is also incompatible with American interests in the area.

Even more disturbing, is that such attacks could not have occurred without Russian compliance. That means that for all practical purposes Ankara and Moscow are teaming up to attack an American proxy force in Syria. Strange behavior from a NATO ally; especially one that has received billions of dollars in American military assistance over the years.

That does not mean that Turkey will leave NATO or that the US will lose access to its Turkish facilities. It may well suit Erdogan to maintain that illusion of normalcy in its relations with the United States and Europe. It does mean however, that the appearance of cooperation is just that, an illusion, and that, it is likely, Turkey will move too continue to restrict what operations the US can conduct from Incirlik while continuing to pursue a "go it alone" regional policy that is fundamentally incompatible with American and NATO's objectives in the area.

The expression "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" has often been used to describe the Byzantine nature of Middle East politics. For the United States, however, it seems that in the Middle East even its friends act like its enemies. Time for a serious rethink of US policy in the region and how it is being conducted.

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New York, NY USA - July 16, 2016: Donald Trump speaks during introduction Governor Mike Pence as running for vice president at Hilton hotel Midtown Manhattan

The revelations about Russia's role in our recent election confirm what many suspected during the campaign. The revelations answer some questions that have been raised in recent days. For example, it is now clear that Jill Stein, who is also cozy with Russian President Vladimir Putin, took such an active role in calling for recounts to take attention away from the real story. Similarly, we now know that people like Senator Bob Corker and Mitt Romney, whose views on Russia are firmly in the mainstream of Republican foreign policy opinion, were never really in the running for Secretary of State, but were fodder for media speculation before President-elect Trump decided upon Rex Tillerson, a man with a close relationship with Putin, for that key position.

Unfortunately, the story of Russia's involvement in the recently completed campaign raises a lot more questions than it answers. These include how we allowed this to happen, what our diplomatic response should be, whether President Obama should have made this news public earlier and to what extent this taints Donald Trump's victory.

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The last question is the most important one. Donald Trump won this election by fewer than 100,000 votes in three key states, while losing the popular vote by 2.5 million. In other words, the was a very close race. While we cannot know for certain that enough voters would have changed their mind about Trump if they had known the extent to which he was getting help from the Kremlin, it is a very strong possibility that the vote would have been meaningfully different. The election, however, cannot be redone. Additionally, Donald Trump cannot be retroactively docked votes and thus have the outcome changed. Instead, Trump will assume the presidency under enormous suspicion, but that was going to happen anyway.

There are two avenues that can be pursued that might make a difference. The first is a congressional inquiry. Both houses of the next congress, as everybody knows, will be controlled by the Republicans, but that will make the inquiry even more important-if it happens. Already several Republican members of congress have expressed concern over the Trump-Russia connection. The next weeks and months will be the time for them to act on these concerns. If they do, it will likely be damaging to Trump personally, but a sign that there may just be some hope for American political institutions to act as a check on a new President with stated authoritarian goals.

The second approach is a more immediate, but more unlikely one. Any progressive who has spent time discussing, or arguing, politics with a conservative has experienced that moment when the conservative triumphantly announces "it is a republic, not a democracy." Usually the conservative isn't quite sure what that means, but uses that as a way to explain away some patently anti-democratic policy or institution. For some reason, Trump supporters have stopped saying that in recent days.

The reason for that, of course, is that the Electoral College, which is one of those aforementioned undemocratic institutions, meets on December 19th. Members of Electoral College, from some states, are not required by law to vote for the winner of the popular vote in their state. This has been the source of much of the discussion around faithless electors in recent weeks, and the possibility, or hope, that some members of the College of Electors from states that voted for Trump would cast their vote for somebody else because Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, or simply because they don't like Donald Trump. That possibility was extremely unlikely but the Russia hacking revelations change that. It is now perhaps only very unlikely, that the Electoral College will fail to certify Donald Trump as the next president, but if this story stays in the news and gets bigger over the next few days, that too could change.

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It is now apparent that Russia's role in this election is one of the major stories that deserves attention from the media and from American citizens. Responsible media outlets must focus on getting to the bottom of this rather than on obvious distractions such as Rex Tillerson's management style, whether or not Kellyanne Conway will take a job in the White House or even Donald Trump's latest Tweets.
The Victory Fund Institute 2016 International LGBT Leaders Conference planners were the first to admit this year's conference was not what they had anticipated it would be. They planned around their Presidential Appointments Institute which was primed to push the Clinton administration, through their transition team, to hire record numbers of LGBT personnel. They were set to fight for the first 'open' LGBT member of the Cabinet and an openly lesbian or transgender ambassador. As the saying goes "the best laid plans of mice and men" do go astray.

Victory Fund has prided themselves on supporting openly LGBT candidates of both Parties. So how Victory Fund responds to the Trump administration will be interesting and important for their future. It is my hope responses to attacks on LGBT rights and on potential nominees to the cabinet will come from both Democratic and Republican Office holders who have won their races with the support of the Victory Fund. To date there has been no out-reach from the Trump transition team.

So instead of promoting LGBT candidates for positions and talking about new inroads that can be made to ensure LGBT equality around the world there was a sense of sadness, frustration, and people questioning how to approach the Trump administration which looks as if it will be populated with the most anti-LGBT individuals Trump could find.

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A group of millionaires and billionaires joined by their anti-women and anti-LGBT beliefs. People whose views appear to be in lock-step with those of transition chair, presumptive VP-elect Mike Pence, who is notoriously anti-gay and anti-women. Pence wanted to take money from HIV-AIDS education and healthcare and instead use it to pay for conversion therapy.

The choice for the Department of Education is Betsy DeVos whose family began Amway and has funded every anti-gay initiative across the nation. Tom Price (R-GA) is Trump's choice for Health and Human Services. According to a column by Brendan Morrow "In 2011, he proposed the Protect Life Act, which would have denied government funding to health care plans that cover abortions. He has been given a rating of zero by Planned Parenthood and a rating of 100 from the National Right to Life Committee. He also voted against legislation requiring that insurance plans cover contraception. In terms of LGBT rights, Price voted in November 2007 against a bill to prohibit workplace discrimination against Americans based on their sexual orientation. He also voted to constitutionally define marriage as being between a man and a woman, and he voted against repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The Human Rights Campaign gives him a rating of zero percent."

In Trump's alternate universe he can say "marriage-equality is a settled issue so it no longer matters what he thinks" and then say he is for overturning Roe v. Wade. He apparently has no understanding once he nominates a Supreme Court Justice he no longer controls what they do and both those decisions have an equal chance of being overturned if the right cases come before the court.



So the tone of the conference went from somber, to calls to fight and trying to figure out the best way to do that. In one plenary session Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) said "the time for mourning is over. It's time to regroup, stand-up and fight for the things we all believe in."

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The opening plenary session presented some of the Gay ambassadors President Obama appointed. Rufus Gifford, Ambassador to Denmark; Randy Brewster Ambassador to the Dominican Republic; Ted Osius, Ambassador to Vietnam who was skyped into the session; Michael Guest, Ambassador to Romania during the Bush administration 2001-2004; and Randy Berry Special Envoy for LGBT rights at the state department. The session was led off by Todd Larson who is with USAID. He spoke eloquently about what has been happening and his hopes for the future. One ambassador not represented was John Berry, who had been appointed Ambassador to Australia after serving as head of OPM in Obama's first term.

The ambassadors spoke of how far we have come and of taking part in Pride parades around the world and flying the rainbow flag from their embassies during Pride month. The consensus was it would be difficult for the Trump Administration to totally turn back the clock on these efforts. There may be no gay ambassador's named but local embassy staff and Foreign Service officers would support continuing the policies that exist. While all the LGBT Ambassadors named thus far have been white men it was agreed the foreign service is changing, if too slowly, and there is hope in the future there would be more people of color and women LGBT ambassadors named.

Some highlights from other plenary sessions included Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) speaking about how we move forward and how she is looking at Wisconsin and what happened there in this election as she looks to her 2018 reelection campaign.

A standout speaker for me, and clearly the rest of the audience, was Dr. Rachel Levine. Dr. Levine, who is transgender was appointed by Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Tom Wolf as Physician General of the state of Pennsylvania. She is a woman of great accomplishments according to her bio 'including being Vice-Chair for Clinical Affairs for the Department of Pediatrics and Chief of the Division of Adolescent Medicine and Eating Disorders at the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital-Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Dr. Levine graduated from Harvard College in 1979 and the Tulane University School of Medicine in 1983. She completed her training in Pediatrics at the Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City in 1987 and then did a Fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at Mt. Sinai from 1987-88. Dr. Levine taught at the Penn State College of Medicine on topics in adolescent medicine, eating disorders and transgender medicine. In addition, she has lectured nationally and internationally on these topics and has published articles and chapters on the medical management of eating disorders."

Beyond all this it is evident Dr. Levine is a great spokesperson for the LGBT community. Contrary to some of our spokespeople she has actually done something in the real world and is able to relate to people in a different way. It would be my hope the Victory Fund find ways to have Dr. Levine speak to different audiences we want to influence.

At the Saturday lunch there were representatives from Emily's List and the Center for American Progress who spoke of the need for new messaging. But the highlight of the session was listening to newly elected Florida legislator Carlos Guillermo Smith from Orlando. He spoke of the impact the massacre at Pulse Nightclub had on him and his campaign. He then introduced three brave survivors from Pulse who were in the audience. The three were Adrian Lopez and his husband Javier Nava, and Christopher Hansen. They received a well-deserved and passionate standing ovation from the audience both for their courage that night and for their continued commitment to fighting for LGBT rights.
The GCC summit in Bahrain has sanctioned the resumption of Britain's role that existed prior to the independence of some of the member states - dubbed gunboat diplomacy - and inaugurated a Gulf-British agreement to deter Iran and jointly confront strategic and security threats pursuant to a British commitment to help safeguard the GCC six member states. The message sent out by British PM Theresa May, the guest of honor at the gathering, was unequivocal: your wellbeing and security is our wellbeing and security, she told the Gulf leaders, vowing that Britain was aware of the strategic threat posed by Iran to the Gulf and the Middle East. May pledged to work together to deter Iran's aggressive behavior in the region, in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, or the Gulf itself. The mechanism for Britain to fulfill its commitments will be an upgraded British base in Bahrain, facilitated by the Bahraini government with broad implications for the Gulf region.

The strategic partnership between the GCC and Britain, which the Bahraini king said represented a qualitative shift in their relations, comes at a time when Russia is consolidating its foothold in the Middle East via Syria, where the Russians both maintain bases and are an active party to the civil war alongside the forces of Bashar al-Assad. But the British rush to forge strategic security and trade ties with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain also constitutes a message to Trump's America that London intends to press forward with close engagement of the Gulf whether Trump wants to be part of the partnership or not.

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Yet according to reports, there are indications the US intends to maintain long-term presence in the region, possibly through military bases. The US needs to guarantee a permanent presence in Iraq after the battle for Mosul, said commander of the international coalition forces US Gen. Steven Townsend at the summit. The division of spheres of influence through the military presence of the major powers in the Middle East is a clear signal that a new regional order is emerging, and also of the restoration of the security equilibrium in the Gulf region.

Bahrain, by hosting the Gulf Summit, the UK-Bahrain summit, and the Saudi-Bahraini summit within the space of three days succeeded in scoring internal and regional security achievements, sending a message to Iran that its regional and international support are rock solid.

The visit by the British premier to Manama was her first to the Gulf region. According to a veteran Gulf commentator, the visit marked "the return of British imperialism to the Gulf." But the UK's comeback is timely, according to some figures from the Gulf and Bahrain, the latter being the soft belly of the Arabian Gulf region that Iran has exploited to meddle in the region's affairs. Britain's strong presence through the UK naval base in Bahrain will guarantee some deterrence that all sides, particularly Iran, are sure to take stock of. Bahrain is in need of a partner that understands its composition, one with whom there are historical relations and one that is reliable and dependable.

This does not mean that Bahrain or the Gulf have decided to forfeit historical security ties with the US or replace the US with the UK as their exclusive strategic partner. The Bahraini foreign minister, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, was clear in saying that the enhanced and expanded partnership with Britain was not at all a response to the perceived US retreat from the region, or an indication that the Gulf countries intend to abandon the strategic partnership with the US. The final statement of the Manama summit then said that the Gulf countries looked forward to enhancing historical and strategic ties with the United States.

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This does not invalidate the clear reality, despite the hopes harbored by the Gulf countries of renewed US interest in them, that Britain has decided not to wait for the demystification of ambiguous US policies on the Gulf before acting. Britain took the initiative to remove any ambiguity or hesitation regarding UK-Gulf relations, sought after by the government of Theresa May especially in the wake of Brexit, in order to expand British-Gulf partnership through an institutional commitment, and consolidate them at all levels through strategic engagements based on shared security, economic, and technological interests. This came in the midst of Gulf doubts regarding US policies in the region, especially under Barack Obama, and on the eve of the transition into unchartered waters under president-elect Donald Trump. The British reassurance came at a time when the countries of the GCC were in dire need for reaffirming the bond with major Western powers.

This development could prompt Iran to respond with threats and escalate against Gulf countries starting with Bahrain. Some in the Gulf expect this, but without the usual apprehension. Indeed, Britain has reassured Gulf leaders that it will not accept provocations or stand idly by Iranian meddling and attempts to destabilize the Gulf, and would provide deterrence through its military base in Bahrain.

It is difficult to imagine that Britain could confront Iran militarily to defend the Gulf countries, however, particularly since London was a close partner of Washington in the Iraq War, which presented Mesopotamia to Iran on a silver platter. It is hard to envisage a British-Iranian military clash, also because Britain was one of the key countries that pushed for the nuclear deal with Iran, which emboldened the latter.

True, Britain has recently - and very timidly - began to speak out against Iran's role in Iraq, Yemen, and Syria. However, Britain continued not to hold Iran to account for these actions throughout the nuclear talks, further emboldening Tehran.

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Perhaps the British government concluded that the best way to compensate its Brexit-induced losses lay in improved relations with the GCC. Theresa May pledged to work hard to conclude a free trade deal between Britain and the GCC, and told the summit the time was right to renew British-Gulf commitments at all levels.

The joint statement by Gulf leaders and the British PM emphasized the two sides' lasting commitment to protecting shared security interests in the Gulf through the new strategic partnership between the GCC and the UK, including by deterring and repelling any foreign aggression, and enhancing bonds through technical assistance, cooperation, and training in security and defense.

The joint statement addressed the Syrian issue. The two sides affirmed that Bashar al-Assad has lost his legitimacy and should have no role in Syria's future. The statement urged the international community to be united in calling on Assad and his backers, including Russia and Iran, to support a genuine political process. The statement also reaffirmed the two sides' "strong support" for the Syrian opposition, and said the leaders of the two sides would step up pressure on the Assad regime and its backers by increasing financial and economic restrictions.

But ultimately, Syria's presence in the summit was low-key, and no strong denunciations came out against what is happening in Aleppo, as though some are now surrendered to the fact that it is too late to do anything. There are clear differences between the positions of the Gulf states in Syria, the majority believing Syria is now the exclusive prerogative of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. According to sources, these two countries insist on continuing support for the Syrian opposition.

By contrast, Yemen was more strongly present at the summit. However, here too there are differences in the positions of the six Gulf states. Some believe the time has come to put serious pressure on Yemeni president Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi to agree to the roadmap proposed by the UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed based on American and other ideas.

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The joint statement affirmed once again political action in accordance with the Gulf initiative and resolution 2216. Some speeches stressed the legitimacy represented by President Hadi, while others stressed the importance of the international roadmap above all. More importantly, the Gulf leaders and British officials spoke in the joint statement about working together for the reconstruction of Yemen, including the rehabilitation of the economy, ports, and public services after a political solution is agreed.

The leaders of the two sides also expressed support for international efforts for a power-sharing solution in Libya. They stressed the need to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of the two-state solution, and welcomed the election of a new president in Lebanon, calling for strengthening Lebanese institutions and stressing the need to combat all terrorist groups active on Lebanese territory and posing a threat to the country's security and stability. On Egypt, the leaders very briefly said in the statement that the GCC and the UK support the cooperation between the IMF and Egypt.

The GCC-UK summit stressed the importance of fighting terrorism, especially groups such as al-Qaeda, ISIS, and similar groups. The two sides agreed on a number of counter-terrorism measures, including on foreign fighters enlisted with terror groups.

The year 2017 will be a special one for Bahrain, the current president of the GCC before handing over the presidency to Kuwait in 2018. Bahrain had an important start with the security of the Gulf and the messages of support were strong, especially in the wake of the visit by the Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz to Bahrain. Saudi Arabia, as Bahrain's King Hamad bin Issa said, represents the Gulf and Arab strategic depth and mainstay of the security and stability of the region. For its part, Britain has made a strong comeback to the Gulf region through its naval presence in Bahrain, with important implications that are sure to reassure the people of the Gulf.
They had tattoos.

They stood at 5'10, wore necklaces and ate mammoth, bears, fish, insects, and horses. Our ancestors the Cro-magnons men, the very first modern humans left us traces of their art and way of life. They made weapons and jewelry with shells, bone, and animal teeth. The weather was harsh (ice age) so they took refuge in caves and created beautiful art.



No fox hole.

On one fateful day in 1940, four teenagers fooling around some hilly slopes in the Dordogne province of France, possibly to eye some foxes, came upon an opening in the earth. They did not know yet that their priceless discovery was more important to the human race than anything that was seen before.

What they found in the valley of La Vezere was 19,000 to 20,000 years old. Drawings and engravings in the rocks above their heads and alongside seemingly endless corridors. The traces left behind by fellow humans from a very long time ago. They left us proofs and images of their daily lives and struggles. That same year, the site was declared a national landmark.

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The Lascaux cave is one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century. The cave displays paintings from the Paleolithic era of some 2,000 figures of men and animals in several shades of red, yellow and black, created by mineral pigments. They showed us how and what they ate, how they hunted, what their daily animals were and the battles they fought.

The first original paintings of the human kind.

The entrance to the cave (used always in the singular form, not the caves) starts at an altitude of 185 meters, overlooking the valley floor. The shape of the cave hints that there were several entrances. The total length of the accessible parts is 235 meters and is divided into seven sectors: the Hall of the Bulls, the Axial Gallery, the Passageway, the Nave, the Chamber of the Felines, the Apse, and the Shaft.

In 1947, work began to make the cave accessible to the public. The blocked entrance was redefined and the cone of earth and rocks that had acted as a thermal buffer, cushioning the effects of the external climate on the air inside, was eliminated.



A bronze door was installed to close the site, as well as steps to ease down the way to the Hall of the Bulls. The cave floors were lowered to create an itinerary and lighting was installed alongside it. The cave opened to the public on July 14, 1948. In 1959 an air-conditioning system was installed.

The discovery of some sort of green disease developing on the rocks led to the closure of the cave to the general public in 1963, as fear of human over-frequentation was polluting the environment.

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Lascaux II.

In 1972, rights were granted for the creation of a replica to accommodate the high number of visitors' demands to witness the extraordinary legacy seen at the cave. An old nearby quarry, which was already partly underground, was chosen as the future site, baptized Lascaux II.

It opened to visitors in 1983. This copy is replicating 90 percent of the cave. It has welcomed millions of visitors.

The original Lascaux cave was put on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, along with all of the decorated caves in the surrounding Vezere valley.

Lascaux III is a traveling exhibition since 2012 that has visited Bordeaux, Bruxelles, Paris, Geneve, Chicago, Houston, Montreal; currently visiting South Korea, and then Japan. With reproductions, 3D exhibits and films, the show introduces the cave to all ages with impeccable impressions and informative displays.

Back to the past.

Recreating the exact atmosphere inside the original cave, Lascaux IV is now completed and will offer this time a complete copy of the cave in its entire splendor. With the most advanced new techniques at their disposal, teams of scientists and rock specialists were able to copy-cat the exact figures and animals represented by our ancestors - with true colors and identical feel.

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At a cost of 66 million Euros, the 8,500 square meters new landscape building represents the totality of the cave.

Yesterday, French president Francois Hollande inaugurated the new exhibit Lascaux IV, the complete copy (fac-simile in French) of the original cave, which was closed to the general public due to human contamination and damages in 1963. The official name for Lascaux IV is International Center of Parietal Art Montignac-Lascaux, it will open to the public on Dec. 15.

(Parietal art is the scientific and archaeological term for artwork done on cave walls or large blocks of stone.)

To recap:

1/Lascaux, the original cave.

2/Lascaux II, the incomplete copy of the original (90 percent), open to the public until now, set to be shut down this month and reserved for scholars or specific groups and researchers.

3/Lascaux III is a travelling exhibit gone around the World's museums.

4/Lascaux IV, the new digital and integral reproduction that will allow more in-depth discovery of the famous paintings.

More info:

Lascaux.

Tel: 05 53 50 99 10. www.lascaux.fr.

Entrance fees: Adults 16 ; 10.40  ages 5-12.

Nocturnal visits Mondays from May to Sept.

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Sao Paulo's mayor Fernando Haddad has a lot to finish up before he hands over Brazil's biggest city to the incoming mayor, Joao Doria, on December 31, 2016. One urgent task: finally passing his long-debated affordable housing plan.

The city's severe housing shortage particularly affects poor residents. According to recent data, at least 13,706 of its poorest households (those earning less than three times the monthly minimum wage of US$250) live in slums or squatter settlements. Another 53,214 share housing with other families, and 22,297 households live in overcrowded conditions.

Affordable housing is a key component of Mayor Haddad's master plan for Sao Paulo, which was praised at the United Nations Habitat 3 conference in October for its emphasis on "social urbanism". To meet the needs of some 1.2 million homeless or precariously housed citizens, it calls for upgrading slums and granting land tenure to their residents, conversion of abandoned buildings, new construction and, critically, rent subsidies.

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It's scheduled for vote by the city legislature in the coming weeks, but approval is no guarantee it will be implemented. Doria won by campaigning to take the city in a different direction than his Workers' Party predecessor; his urban development secretary has already promised to make housing regulations more "appealing" to real estate developers.

My house, my life, my struggle

In Brazil, a nationwide emphasis on home ownership has failed markedly to provide housing for the country's poorest. Unlike the United States and Europe, where a significant part of housing inventory consisted of government-owned rentals, Brazilian policy favours people buying, not renting, apartments.

The federal Minha Casa Minha Vida programme ("My House My Life"), launched in 2009, aims to make home ownership accessible by providing high subsidies and low monthly instalments. To date, 2.6 million units have been built.

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Poor households face numerous obstacles to home ownership. Minha Casa Minha Vida has eased the legal requirements of contracts, as people working and living in the informal sector often cannot provide proof of income and other required documentation.

But families that earn meagre wages in informal jobs as street vendors or domestics may find it just as difficult to stay in their homes. According to the University of Sao Paulo's LabCidade, an urban planning think tank, the lowest-earning Minha Casa Minha Vida beneficiaries struggle to pay even reduced utilities and condo fees.

Among poor people who do manage to keep their homes, Minha Casa Minha Vida has unintentionally sent many into urban exile. The same LabCidade report showed that from a majority of the programme's most affordable big-city units are located in the outskirts, where land prices are lower. Thus many of its poorest beneficiaries are stranded far from downtown job opportunities and public transportation.

Those who purchase more homes more centrally located in expensive cities often end up acceding quickly to real estate pressure. Sao Paulo real estate prices went up 153% between 2009 and 2012. Beneficiaries often resell their units, indirectly transferring public subsidies to better-off families, while the poorest return to substandard living conditions.

Home ownership as an affordable housing strategy has the additional downside of limiting residential mobility. That is, unemployed or underemployed home owners have less flexibility to pursue job opportunities, because they're attached to a specific neighbourhood for the medium- or long-term.

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A roof over your head or a roof of your own?

For Brazil to serve the needs of its poorest citizens, it must complement the home ownership system with alternative ways to access housing. Rent subsidies, like those proposed in Haddad's housing plan, are critical. But I'm also looking internationally for successful models that Brazil could emulate.

Collective ownership, in which residents co-own properties, is an affordable housing model common in Uruguay and other Latin American countries. Co-ops would have great advantages for Brazil, with its organised housing movements and squatters who occupy numerous abandoned buildings in cities across the country.

Community-based land trusts, which finance nonprofit organisations to build and manage housing developments on behalf of a community, would also be a beneficial addition. This approach has been successful in offering affordable access to housing and land in the US, with pilots in Kenya and elsewhere, according to the United Nations.

Finally, there are housing projects. Despite its well-documented imperfections, the New York City Housing Authority is an important example of successful, affordable housing policy. Simply having a municipal entity tasked with public housing is a feat; Brazil has nothing of the sort. It also provides a model for selecting tenants, financial management of public properties and, critically, allowing poor people to live in wealthy neighbourhoods.

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Sao Paulo does have some experience in this realm, to mixed results, as my research shows. In 2002 the city converted six buildings into public housing, including Parque do Gato project ("Cat's Park"), to house unemployed people relocated from the slums, and Vila dos Idosos ("Seniors' Village"), for retirees.

The former is now in a bad state of repair. The move was not accompanied by a jobs programme, and approximately 70% of residents are unable to pay maintenance fees. Seniors Village, on the other hand, is well maintained; retirees' fixed incomes have managed to keep payments up to date.

Brazil's exclusive investment in buying property to build new housing as an affordable housing policy has ignored the needs of its poorest citizens and inflated the real estate market, according to a 2014 report, "benefiting primarily owners and investors and making it even more difficult for the low-income population to access adequate housing".

If Mayor-elect Doria does not consider alternatives such as full rent subsidies, public housing and co-ops, he will fail Sao Paulo by repeating mistakes made with Minha Casa Minha Vida. Governments are not corporations. A city that only values profits and efficiency does so at the expense of real solutions for complex problems.

Simone Gatti, Postdoctoral Researcher in Architecture and Urban Studies, University of Sao Paulo
By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji, Stands Up For Them)

On December 29, 1990, the Lakota people gathered to mourn the 100th anniversary of the massacre of their people at Wounded Knee.

To the white people of South Dakota and, yes to the rest of America, December 29, 1990 is just another day. But to the Lakota people, December 29 is a day they have commemorated every year since 1890. It was a day when nearly 300 of their relatives were shot to death in cold blood by the enlisted men and officers of the United States 7th Cavalry. Ironically, 21 members of the 7th Cavalry were awarded Medals of Honor for this horrific slaughter of men, women and children. Perhaps the American soldiers who slaughtered the men, women and children at Mai Lai in Vietnam should have received Medals of Honor also. Perhaps as many as 500 Vietnamese were massacred there.

White people ask why we Lakota still talk about Wounded Knee as if it was not ancient history. If something terrible happened to your grandmother -- that's right, your grandmother -- something so heinous that it became a part of American history, would you still consider that to be ancient history? I think not. A grandmother can never be ancient history. The memory of her is much to near.

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Consider this. On December 29, 1890, my grandmother, Sophie, was an 18-year-old employee at the Holy Rosary Indian Mission, a Jesuit boarding school just a few miles from Wounded Knee. She was called to help feed and water the horses of the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry that had just rode on to the mission grounds chasing down survivors that had escaped the slaughter. My grandmother never talked about it and I never learned about it until reading a Holy Rosary anniversary article mentioning her name and the events that occurred on that infamous day.

My grandmother, who is now deceased heard and saw the aftermath of that day. Now does that make the Massacre at Wounded Knee ancient history to me? It most definitely does not. Many other Lakota still living today had grandmothers and grandfathers that were either killed or survived the massacre. No, it is not ancient history to the Lakota. To us it seems like only yesterday.

In early December of 1990, as the 100th anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee approached, I wrote the cover story for USA Today. I quoted an editorial that appeared in the Aberdeen (SD) Saturday Review on January 3, 1891, just five days after the massacre. The author wrote about those terrible "Redskins," his favorite word for Indians. He wrote, "The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one or more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth."

That editorial calling for the genocide of the Lakota people was written by L. Frank Baum, the man who would later write, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." There have been many others before and since that called for genocide against a race of people. Adolph Hitler and Pol Pot come to mind. But then they never followed up their calls for genocide by writing a charming book for children. It appears to be unthinkable to most Americans that such a wonderful man as L. Frank Baum could be compared to other inhuman beasts that called for the extinction of a race of people. Even the Editorial Page Editor of USA Today thought that and said he would have to leave out the part about Baum in my article. I told him if he did he should just pull the entire article. He decided to run it.

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In 2006, descendants of Baum asked the Lakota people to forgive Baum for the editorials he wrote calling for their annihilation. What do you think the Jewish people would say today if the descendants of Adolph Hitler approached them asking them to forgive Adolph for nearly exterminating all Jews? It's a tough question because the attempted extermination of the Jews was taken much more seriously than the extermination of the Lakota people. After all, according to the white man, we were just Indians and sub-humans at that and we didn't have the power of the press or of the free world to support our claims to life. In order for America to expand, the people of the Great Sioux Nation had to be eliminated.

December 29, 2016 will mark the 126th anniversary of the slaughter of innocents at Wounded Knee. As is their custom, the Lakota people will gather at the mass grave where the bodies of men, women and children were dumped and they will pray and ask the United States government to do something it has never done in those 126 years; to apologize to the Lakota people for this day of death. They will pray that the Medals of Honor handed out to the murderers be rescinded and they will pray for peace between the Lakota and the rest of America. There will be a ceremony called "Wiping Away the Tears," and this ceremony will conclude a day of mourning, a day when the Lakota reach out to the rest of America for peace and justice.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11

Trend:

Turkey has declared one day of national mourning over the twin bombing in Istanbul which killed 29 people, the Milliyet daily reported.

According to a decree signed by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, flags will be lowered to half-mast across the country.

The first explosion occurred on Saturday around 22:30 local time (7:30 pm GMT) outside the Besiktas Vodafone Arena when a car exploded near a special police units bus. The second explosion, which took place in a nearby park, is believed to have been caused by a suicide bomber.



According to recent data, the twin bombing killed 29 people, of whom two are civilians and 27 are police officers, 166 people have been left wounded. Many of the wounded are in critical condition.



The Interior Minister announced earlier that ten suspects had been detained in relation to the terrorist attack.
GBK, the special events company behind many high-profile Gifting Lounges during the Oscars, Golden Globes and Emmys among others, recently got in to the holiday season by holding its inaugural Giving Lounge.

GBK teamed with charity auction company Bidding for Good and event location OUE Skyspace LA to create a twist on the traditional gifting model. This time, celebrities collected gifts not for themselves, but for the charity of their choice.

Celebs such as Naomi Grossman (American Horror Story), Madison McLaughlin (Arrow), Meghan Ory (Once Upon a Time), Drake Bell (Drake & Josh), Heather Tom (The Bold and the Beautiful), Renne Olstead (The Secret Life of the American Teenager) and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila (American Ninja Warrior) picked up numerous luxury items estimated collectively to be worth over $8000, which will be donated to their favorite charity in time for the holiday season.

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These included handmade leather hats from American Hat Makers and soy candles from Katya's Candles, which come with a surprise sterling silver or Swarovski crystal ring in side.

Shoe company Guilty soles handed out the most stylish of shoes - block heeled booties, slip-on sneaker, lace-up heels and more. Tuft & Needle gifted adaptive foam-based mattresses with support layers that react based on pressure. The gel and graphite inside the mattress make it heat wicking and breathable.



Cerina Vincent with Guilty Soles shoes.

Pool time got more fun at the event as Swimline and Solstice Watersports gave out inflatable lounge chairs and novelty floats in such shapes as pretzels and sugar skulls. Tempt Brands gifted Street Affaires sunglasses for men and women.

Food and spa brands also got in on the charity action, including sandwich maker Ike's Place, Polkadot Cupcake and mobile spa Manly Hands, which specializes in reflexology treatments of hands, feet, shoulders, neck and arms.

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Gilles Marini and Jimmy Jean Louis with hats from American Hat Makers


Amid treasurer race, where Kansas puts its money is increasing an issue

As the race for state treasurer heats up, debate about how Kansas is investing its KPERS portfolio and state funds has increased.
The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, said it carried out a terrorist attack in Istanbul, Milliyet newspaper reported.

According to the latest data, death toll in the Istanbul terror attack has reached 38 people, 30 of them being police officers. A total of 155 people are being treated in hospitals. Putin expressed condolences to the families of victims and wished speedy recovery for the injured.
Turkish warplanes have destroyed one of PKK's 'headquarters' located in Zap region of Northern Iraq on Sunday after a deadly terror attack claimed by a PKK offshoot group killed 38 people in Istanbul, Sabah reported.

Turkish carried out an aerial operation against the area between 08:50-09:40 p.m. local time. The jets took off after receiving an intelligence report about the location of terrorist targets, the statement released by the Turkish military said.

"12 PKK terrorist targets were shot 24 times in the area, all of them being destroyed completely," the statement said.

The warplanes returned to their bases in safety, it added.

The operation was a clear retaliation to Saturday's PKK attack in Istanbul, which left 38 dead and 155 wounded.

The militant group is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, US, EU and many other countries in the world.
Pope Francis marks short-while silence in prayer (Photo : Getty images/Pacific Press)

Pope Francis denounced media organizations that focus on smears and scandals in order to promote fake news with a view to discredit people in public life.



Expanding disinformation was "probably the greatest damage that the media can do", the Pope said to the Belgian Catholic Weekly, Tertio. "It is a sin to defame people," the pontiff added.



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Using electrifying words, Francis stated that journalists and the media must avoid falling into "coprophilia" - an exceptional interest in excrement, while those reading or watching such stories expose behavior like coprophagic who eat feces.



The Guardian reported that the pope excused self for applying the terminology that some might find repellent.



"I think the media have to be very clear, very transparent, and not fall into - no offence intended - the sickness of coprophilia, that is, always wanting to cover scandals, covering nasty things, even if they are true. And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia, a lot of damage can be done," he said.



World Religions News reported that pope Francis has always been very candid about own views and shared own opinions on matters such as politics and journalism. A few months ago, pope openly called journalists as "terrorists" for extensive fear and hatred at an audience with popular figures from the media.



From the Pope's speech, it is apparent that Pope is not afraid to address issues absolutely without trying to beat around the bush.



This interview is yet another example of the pope's profound way of marking issues. Pope Francis recognizes the supremacy of the media as being a highly influential force in shaping opinions and empowering people through knowledge and information.



However, the pope expressed own disappointment that this same power has been exploited to distribute lies thereby causing extensive misery and untold suffering among people.



The monarch of the Vatican trusts that the media should be keenly transparent and honest in its functions. Pope observed that in today's world, companies and governments are constantly endeavoring to patch up scandals and crimes through media.



Furthermore, the pope stated that people who work for the media and journalists should refrain from being used by vested entities and report issues with full honesty as own will.






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Michael Moore was one of the few people to accurately predict Donald Trumps victory. Among pollsters, media commentators and even some members of the Republican party, it was widely considered beyond the bounds of possibility.

Nevertheless, now that he has won, the Oscar-winning documentary-maker and left-wing political commentator, has made it crystal clear he will not be accepting the rise of Mr Trump or resigning it to the annals of history. On the contrary, Moore is planning to lead national protests and planned resistance to disrupt the President-elects inauguration in January.

If by some awful happenstance Trump shows up to be sworn in on January 20th, I will be there helping lead the national protest and non-violently disrupting the inauguration of a man no one other than the electoral college elected - and I'll also be doing my own thing as a private citizen (activities I won't disclose now), Moore told The Hollywood Reporter.

 Michael Moore suggests Trump still might not become President

This impending disaster requires everyone to get involved now - all hands on deck! This is not a drill! he concluded.

But Moore, who in July correctly predicted Mr Trump would win the presidential election, also suggested it would be foolish to assume the billionaire property developer would make it to his inauguration at the White House.

President Donald Trump life in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 President Donald Trump life in pictures President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump poses in a rocking chair once used by President John F. Kennedy at his New York City residence Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump with his new bride Marla Maples after their wedding at the Plaza hotel in New York Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Celina Midelfart watch the match between Conchita Martinez and Amanda Coetzer during U.S. Open. She was the date whom Donald Trump was with when he met his current wife Melania at a party in 1996 Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas serving as the grand marshal for the Daytona 500, speaks to Donald Trump and Melania Knauss on the starting grid at the Daytona International Speedwa Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump talks with his former wife Ivana Trump during the men's final at the U.S. Open Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and his friend Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive at the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode : 'The Phantom Menace,' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump talks with host Larry King. Trump told King that he was moving toward a possible bid for the United States presidency with the formation of a presidential exploratory committee Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump answers questions as Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura looks on in Brooklyn Park. Trump said on Friday he 'very well might' make a run for president under the Reform Party banner but had not made a final decision Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump makes a face at a friend as he sits next to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso before the start of the 2003 Miss Universe pageant in Panama City Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Entrepreneur Donald Trump is greeted by a Marilyn Monroe character look-a-alike, as he arrives at Universal Studios Hollywood to attend the an open casting call for his NBC television network reality series 'The Apprentice.' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Simon Cowell present an Emmy during the 56th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Megan Mullally perform at the 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump, poses with his children, son Donald Trump, Jr., and daughters Tiffany and Ivanka Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump told Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner on Tuesday she would be given a second chance after reported misbehavior Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as his wife Melania holds their son Barron in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. property mogul Donald Trump stands next to a bagpiper 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 Reuters

The question assumes [Trump] will be inaugurated. If there's one thing we've learned from this election, don't assume anything that's supposed to happen will, he said. If I had told you a year ago that a socialist would win nearly half of all the Democratic primaries and caucuses (22), that would have sounded insane.

If I would have told you that a candidate bragging about his sexual assaults or attacking a Gold Star family would be his path to winning, you would have ended this interview.

If I would have told you that Donald Trump was going to win, you might have called upon a family member of mine to do an intervention. Oh wait. I did say that! Why was there no intervention?!

On Wednesday, Moore called for protestors to disrupt Mr Trumps inauguration on his Twitter account. He shared a link to #DISRUPTJ20, an event which seeks to mobilise protesters against his inauguration.

Since Mr Trumps victory, Moore has enjoyed something of a renaissance and has become one of the most vocal critics of the President-elect and a hugely popular mouthpiece for those on the left. He has made his rounds on the TV news circuit, discussing the factors behind the seismic election result and its repercussions.

Moore recently suggested Mr Trump was likely to be impeached and suggested he would break the law during his first term as President.
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When Steve Bannon appeared to compare himself to the Star Wars villain that is Darth Vader, he probably did not expect to find himself plastered on actual Star Wars posters in Hollywood. However, thanks to a street artist, the former executive chairman of Breitbart's own words have become reality.

Sabo, a Conservative artist who has dedicated his career to producing politically incorrect street art, has subverted posters of the new Star Wars film. The name of the film has been tweaked from Rogue One to Rogue Won. The cast has been replaced with none other than a valiant-looking Donald Trump in the foreground and Hillary Clinton looking ominous in the background. At the very bottom of the poster, the title of the film has been ammended to instead read, Rogue Won: A Culture War Story.

If this was not enough to get the message across, the President-elect is surrounded by his posse in the poster. Chief strategist, Steve Bannon and Breitbart News tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos are two of the people in the faux advert.

President Donald Trump life in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 President Donald Trump life in pictures President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump poses in a rocking chair once used by President John F. Kennedy at his New York City residence Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump with his new bride Marla Maples after their wedding at the Plaza hotel in New York Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Celina Midelfart watch the match between Conchita Martinez and Amanda Coetzer during U.S. Open. She was the date whom Donald Trump was with when he met his current wife Melania at a party in 1996 Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas serving as the grand marshal for the Daytona 500, speaks to Donald Trump and Melania Knauss on the starting grid at the Daytona International Speedwa Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump talks with his former wife Ivana Trump during the men's final at the U.S. Open Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and his friend Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive at the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode : 'The Phantom Menace,' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump talks with host Larry King. Trump told King that he was moving toward a possible bid for the United States presidency with the formation of a presidential exploratory committee Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump answers questions as Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura looks on in Brooklyn Park. Trump said on Friday he 'very well might' make a run for president under the Reform Party banner but had not made a final decision Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump makes a face at a friend as he sits next to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso before the start of the 2003 Miss Universe pageant in Panama City Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Entrepreneur Donald Trump is greeted by a Marilyn Monroe character look-a-alike, as he arrives at Universal Studios Hollywood to attend the an open casting call for his NBC television network reality series 'The Apprentice.' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Simon Cowell present an Emmy during the 56th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Megan Mullally perform at the 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump, poses with his children, son Donald Trump, Jr., and daughters Tiffany and Ivanka Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump told Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner on Tuesday she would be given a second chance after reported misbehavior Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as his wife Melania holds their son Barron in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. property mogul Donald Trump stands next to a bagpiper 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 Reuters

Bannon and Yianopolis are both associated with the so-called alt-right movement. While Bannon declared far-right website Breitbart the platform for the alt-right, Yiannopoulos has been dubbed a spokesperson for the movement. To be clear, the movement 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 they are not the only people to feature in the Star Wars image that has been posted at bus stops and other locations near the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. Conservative pundit Ann Coulter, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Fox News host Sean Hannity, and Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes who was an early Trump supporter, also appear gathered around the billionaire property developer.

There is also a spoof version of the Fox comedy Why Him? starring Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch and James Franco. Instead, it features Cranston, Mr Trump and Clinton engaged in a group hug. The text says: Of all the guys his country could have chosen ...  and beneath it says See you in Canada. This is a direct jibe at the celebrities, including Cranston, who pledged to leave the US if Mr Trump became President.

It does my heart well to know Hollywood went all out producing all kinds of girl-power movies in anticipation of the first woman president only to have their parade totally rained on by a white-skinned, blue-eyed, all-America loving, pussy-grabbing blowhard of a man's man, Sabo told The Hollywood Reporter.

I've never seen Hollywood's panties in such a bunch, and it was well worth the price of a vote  Id never seen the mainstream media sell their souls for a candidate the way they did for Hillary, and she still lost.

Sabo is at loggerheads with most street artists who tend to be fairly liberally minded. He has targeted and mocked by everyone from Hillary Clinton to Bernie Sanders, Leonardo DiCaprio and Lena Dunham in his artwork.

My aim as an artist is to be as dirty, ground level, and mean as any Liberal artist out there, more so if I can. Use their tactics, their methods, appeal to their audience, the young, urban, street urchins with a message they never hear in a style they own, Sabo says on his website.

He tends to put up his creations in the early hours and they tend to remain for a fair few hours before authorities rip them down.

Disney did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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A British neo-Nazi group is expected to be labelled a terror organisation and banned in a landmark first for the UK.

An order proscribing fascist group National Action is due to be laid before Parliament on Monday. It will be the first time membership of a far-right group has been outlawed in the UK.

The self-styled nationalist youth movement has praised and glorified Thomas Mair, the white supremacist who murdered Labour MP Jo Cox in what a court described as a terrorism offence, and employs anti-Semitic language lifted direct from Adolf Hitlers Nazi party.

The groups Yorkshire branch, which is believed to consist of about 100 fascists, also encourages lone wolf activism on its website, a phrase which usually refers to acts of terrorism committed by individuals.

Proscribing organisations is difficult because groups often skirt around the law, a senior government source told The Sunday Times. National Action, however, has been deemed to have crossed the line and glorified terrorism.

One tweet by the group reportedly showed a picture of Mair with the message: VoteLeave, dont let this mans sacrifice go in vain. Jo Cox would have filled Yorkshire with more subhumans!

Another read: only 649 MPs to go.

The group has also altered its listing on Google to read: Death to traitors, freedom for Britain!, a slogan which echoes the phrase Mair said in court when asked to give his name soon after being charged with Ms Coxs murder.

 'Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!'

Mair received a life sentence for the killing when he was convicted last month. The 53-year-old was revealed to have a Third Reich eagle monument, embellished with a swastika, and other Nazi paraphernalia in his bedroom, along with information on white supremacist neo-Nazi movements in the UK and abroad.

The Yorkshire branch of National Action has been accused of seeking to incite the murder of Jewish people, tweeting a derogatory term used by the Nazis to describe Jews during the holocaust: Tykes gassin K#kes is our motto, #Yorkshire needs you #AntiCommunism #ProNationalSocialism #DefendBritain."

The groups Twitter account has now been suspended.

National Action is not unique in the UK. The North West Infidels said on social media the group believes Ms Cox got what she deserved because of her liberal views and pro-EU stance and urged supporters to fight extremism with extremism.

The British government appears to be taking the threat posed by the far-right more seriously than in the past, leading to speculation other groups could be banned in the near future.

Speaking after Mairs conviction, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: I am determined that we challenge extremism in all its forms, including the evil of far right extremism.

People at risk from far-right indoctrination now account for 25 per cent of all cases receiving help from Channel, the official scheme for those deemed likely to engage in violent extremism, The Times reported.

National Actions monthly update for November, posted on the groups website, dismissed reports it could be proscribed as below discussion on grounds of extreme ignorance.

We neither sanction or endorse terrorism, it said.

Far right and anti-fascists clash in Dover, January, 2016 Show all 6 1 /6 Far right and anti-fascists clash in Dover, January, 2016 Far right and anti-fascists clash in Dover, January, 2016 Dover Police separate anti-fascists and right-wing protesters PA Far right and anti-fascists clash in Dover, January, 2016 Dover Right-wing protesters and anti-fascist demonstrators clash PA Far right and anti-fascists clash in Dover, January, 2016 Dover Anti-fascists break through police lines PA Far right and anti-fascists clash in Dover, January, 2016 Dover Far-right protesters march on the streets of Dover PA Far right and anti-fascists clash in Dover, January, 2016 Dover Diane Abbott MP speaks to anti-fascists in Dover PA Far right and anti-fascists clash in Dover, January, 2016 Dover Police hold back far-right demonstrators PA

MPs and Peers, however, are reportedly expected to have approved the order banning the group by the end of the week.

Anyone joining or drumming up support for proscribed organisations faces criminal prosecution. Groups can also have their assets frozen.

The Home Office said: As a matter of routine, we do not comment on whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription.
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Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has stressed Britain's close ties with Saudi Arabia, days after he was rebuked by Downing Street for accusing the kingdom of being behind "proxy wars".

"I'm here to emphasise the friendship that exists between the UK and Saudi Arabia, and that is something that is developing and expanding," Mr Johnson said at a joint news conference in Riyadh with Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir.

"And it's also fair to say that we believe in candour in our relationship," he added. "Now is the time for us to talk about the positive things that we are doing together."

Mr Johnson was slapped down by Downing Street over comments he made last week at a conference in Rome, where he accused Saudi Arabia and Iran of stoking proxy wars across the Middle East.

 Boris Johnson: Saudi Arabia is playing proxy wars

Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokesperson said the Foreign Secretary's comments were his own views and did not reflect Government policy.

However, Mr Johnson said he recognised Saudi Arabia faced a grave threat from the conflict in Yemen, where the kingdom is leading a coalition of Arab forces in support of the internationally recognised government against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

He added: "Of course, we continue, like everybody in this room and around the world to have a deep concern for the suffering of the people of Yemen."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (EPA)

Mr Jubeir said Riyadh was "absolutely not" getting mixed messages from Britain.

"We don't have any doubt in where Britain stands and Britain has no doubt where we stand," he added.

He said Mr Johnson's comments had been misconstrued, and Britain and Saudi Arabia had enjoyed a long strategic relationship extending over 100 years.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon also attempted to play down No 10's rebuke on Sunday morning.

He told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "The media, with great respect, are now starting to over-textualise every remark he makes in answer to every question.

"Downing Street was asked whether this misreporting of what Boris had said, whether that was Government policy. Downing Street simply answered the question."

British military personnel have been involved with advising the Saudi-led coalition as it pursues a campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen's civil war.

The war has killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians, and unleashed a humanitarian crisis in the poorest country in the Middle East.
Iranian and Chinese Universities Seal Deal to Work on Joint Scientific Projects

A building on the MERC campus in Karaj, Iran. (Photo : MERC)

The Institute of Materials and Energy (MERC) in Karaj, Iran and Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MoU) to foster closer scientific cooperation.



The MoU was signed by Dr. Mohammad Mahdi Hadavi, MERC chief Executive Officer, and Tan Tianwei, president of Beijing University of Chemical Technology.



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The agreement includes cooperation on joint international projects; student and professor exchange programs and holding workshops and joint international seminars on advanced materials and renewable energies.



It also covers joint cooperation in technology commercialization and production of knowledge-based products.



MERC has developed close academic ties with a number of Chinese universities in the past. Its first PhD program (in Materials Engineering) was established in 1991 as a joint program with Shanghai University.



In 2015, MERC becan its collaboration with "The International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE)" for training international students in short-term programs.



There are currently some 250 students are enrolled at MERC in the fields of renewable energies, nanotechnology, thin film physics, ceramics, and materials engineering.



Established in 1971, MERC started its research activities in materials engineering, renewable energies, semiconductor technologies and environmental issues.



With 80 faculty members and advanced laboratories, MERC has developed extensive collaborations with national and international universities and industrial research institutes over the past few years.



Over the decades, MERC has extensively collaborated with Iranian and international universities and industrial research institutes.



Among MERC's key objectives are establishing an effective link between research and production; extending the interaction between researchers inside and outside Iran for transferring needed technologies and supporting scientific initiatives.



The city of Karaj is located in northern Iran. It is Iran's fourth largest city.



Beijing University of Chemical Technology, also known as Beihua, is one of the most prestigious multidisciplinary universities in China. Founded in 1958, BUCT has made considerable strides in the core fields of science and technology.



It is also renowned for integrating the academic disciplines of management, economics, law, the liberal arts, education and medicine.


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British people will not accept a Brexit which leaves them financially worse off, research has suggested.

The finding comes amid ongoing debate over whether a Hard or Soft Brexit should be enacted when the UK leaves the European Union. The study, conducted by YouGov for Open Britain, found 62 per cent of Labour voters and 59 per cent of people living in the north would not be willing to incur any financial penalty at all by leaving the EU.

Just one in 10 people would be prepared to lose more than 100 a month for the cause.

In addition, most Britons did not expect to lose money at all, with one in five saying they feel their financial situation will not be impacted on by Brexit at all. Just one in 20 believe they will be better off.

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "The Government will rightly be subject to an almighty backlash from Leave voters if it makes decisions about our economic future that make them far poorer and leaves less money for public services.

Having voted for a better future, this would be the ultimate betrayal. The onus, therefore, is on the Government to ensure a Brexit that is fair to working people. Both Remain and Leave voters share the desire to put our economy first. The Government must protect our economic future and address the deep concerns about our unequal country that drove Brexit. Parliament and the country will hold them to account in the weeks and months ahead."

Peter Kellner, former President of YouGov said: This is the first poll to look specifically at whether Leave voters are willing to accept any financial loss as a result of Brexit.

The answer is that few are prepared to. And given that very few expect to be worse off, the Government could have real difficulty in delivering a Brexit that satisfies those who voted for it.

Much uncertainty remains regarding the nature of EU withdrawal, including whether the UK will retain access to the single market and keep freedom of movement. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Theresa May announced what many interpreted as a U-turn when she conceded she will outline her Brexit plans in more detail before she triggers Article 50, the formal processes through which the UK leaves the EU.

In his first Autumn Statement since the 23 June referendum vote, Chancellor Philip Hammond revealed borrowing will balloon by 122bn over a six-year period following a Brexit budget shortfall  58.7bn of which has been caused because of the uncertainty created by EU withdrawal.

Of that 58.7bn, some 16bn would be caused by lower immigration, the Office for Budget Responsibility has said, because an influx of migrants would have delivered an economic boost.

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

In addition to budget shortfalls, further costs may be incurred by EU withdrawal.

Earlier this month Brexit Secretary David Davis said one possibility the Government is considering is making payments to the EU in order to retain access to the single market.

He was asked to clarify his stance by Labour MP Wayne David in the House of Commons: Will the Government consider making any contribution in any shape or form for access to the single market?.

Mr Davis replied: The major criterion here is that we get the best possible access for goods and services to the European market - and if that is included in what you are talking about, then of course we will consider it.
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Theresa May is facing a fresh legal challenge to her Brexit plans as campaigners prepare to petition the High Court for Britain to stay in the single market.

The claimants, including one Remain and one Leave voter, are seeking a judicial review into Ms May's apparent decision to opt for a hard Brexit  meaning foregoing access to the single market in exchange for withdrawing Britain from freedom of movement for European workers.

Such a review could theoretically give MPs the power of veto over the terms of the UK's exit.

Peter Wilding, chairman of the pro-Europe pressure group British Influence who is credited with coining the word Brexit, and Adrian Yalland, a Conservative lobbyist who voted to leave, launched the High Court bid to ensure the country got a win-win, smart Brexit; not a lose-lose ideological hard Brexit which will damage the UK.

They told The Sunday Times there was no mandate for leaving the single market and were concerned the country would be acting illegally if it did not get a proper mandate.

Mr Yalland, whose partner is Polish, said: The Government thinks we leave the single market automatically when we leave the EU. I think they could be wrong.

So my judicial review will ask the court to decide who is correct.

"Why does this matter? Well, because membership of the single market is the ace card which the EU obviously wants in its hand during the Brexit negotiations.

Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Show all 13 1 /13 Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Supreme Court Brexit Challenge People wait to enter the public gallery outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private arrives at the Supreme court in London on the first day of a four-day hearing Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waves the EU flag in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Satirical artist Kaya Mar poses with two of his paintings in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin. The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Businesswoman Gina Miller arrives at the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Attorney General Jeremy Wright arrives at the Supreme Court in London EPA Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Protesters outside the Supreme Court in London, where the Government is appealing against a ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs' approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union PA wire Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protesters wearing a judge's wigs and robes stands outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protester holds up a placard outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waiting to enter the public gallery waves a European Union flag outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters

But if the UK can trigger Brexit and not be forced out of the single market then the ace card is actually in the UK's hands, which significantly enhances the UK's Brexit negotiating position.

He said if the courts rule the Government is wrong about single market membership, they must also trigger Article 127 of the Lisbon Treaty which regulates it.

If they do so, he argues, they may need to get the permission of Parliament as membership was originally ratified there in 1993.

It comes as the Government faces being forced to get Parliament's approval to trigger Article 50 after the Supreme Court heard arguments from campaigners Gina Miller and Deir Dos Santos this week.

They argue the Government cannot take away British citizens' rights without the consent of Parliament, while the Government argues it alone has the right to decide on foreign policy matters.

The judgement is due to be published in a few weeks.
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A fresh legal challenge to Brexit is to go ahead after tens of thousands of pounds were raised within just 48 hours to take the case to court.

The challenge, which will now go before Ireland's High Court, contends Article 50 should be revocable once it is activated.

Under EU law, a member state has two years after Article 50 is triggered before it must leave the union.

But the new legal bid argues that the European Council and the European Commission may have breached EU law in relation to Article 50. The case is being brought to Ireland, as an EU member state needs to be named in the legal action and Ireland is the UK's closest neighbour and has a similar legal system.

It is expected the Irish High Court will be reluctant to get involved in the issue at length, increasing the chances that it will be referred on to European courts instead - where those behind the challenge hope to force a ruling on whether Article 50 can be revoked once it has been activated.

Given the nature of Brexit, the potential involvement of European courts in the matter is expected to be controversial for Leave supporters.

Tax specialist barrister Jolyon Maugham launched the crowd-funded bid to take the new legal challenge on Friday evening, and the target figure of 70,000 was successfully raised within 48 hours following donations from more than 1,800 individuals.

On his crowdfunding page, he argues that if Article 50 cannot be revoked then the Government will be forced to accept whatever Brexit deal the EU puts before it, good or bad.

He writes: If we cannot withdraw our Article 50 notification then Parliament will have to accept those agreements - whatever their content. Like a Model T Ford, it will be able to choose any colour it wants, but only so long as it's black. The Government will have free reign to do exactly what it wants. There will be no control by Parliament.

But if the notification can be withdrawn Parliament will have a choice: it will be free to reject that deal. And, because the Government knows this, and because it wishes to deliver the result of the Referendum, it will have to try to do the deal that Parliament wants or it will risk the possibility that Parliament throws the deal out.

So it is only by establishing whether we can revoke Article 50 that Parliament can fulfil its obligation to deliver a Brexit for the 100%.

The legal action is being taken against the Irish government, the European Commission and the European Council, to argue that they have breached the law in relation to Article 50.

The case has been taken to Ireland in order to be heard by another EU member state, with a similar legal system to that of the UK. It will argue that Article 50 may have already been triggered and so other EU nations have broken the rules by not engaging in negotiations with the UK about withdrawal.

It is expected that the move will mean the Irish court refers it to a higher court operating on a European level.

Professor Gavin Barrett, a law professor at University College Dublin, told Irish national broadcaster RTE: I can image that there would be a certain degree of scepticism that this case is being brought in Ireland as opposed to being in a United Kingdom court.

I think there are good strategic reasons for doing it in the sense that Irish courts would probably be historically less reluctant about referring matters to the European Court of Justice.

 Will you be able to remain an EU citizen after Brexit?

The action will also be led by Dublin solicitor Simon McGarr and barrister Joseph Dalby SC. The group is seeking a British MEP to agree to join them as plaintiff.

Mr Maugham told The Irish Times he expects the action to begin within the next two weeks.

Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Show all 13 1 /13 Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Supreme Court Brexit Challenge People wait to enter the public gallery outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private arrives at the Supreme court in London on the first day of a four-day hearing Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waves the EU flag in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Satirical artist Kaya Mar poses with two of his paintings in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin. The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Businesswoman Gina Miller arrives at the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Attorney General Jeremy Wright arrives at the Supreme Court in London EPA Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Protesters outside the Supreme Court in London, where the Government is appealing against a ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs' approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union PA wire Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protesters wearing a judge's wigs and robes stands outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protester holds up a placard outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waiting to enter the public gallery waves a European Union flag outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters

The news follows a Supreme Court case this week, which heard a government appeal to a High Court ruling against Theresa Mays Brexit plans.

The High Court ruled Ms May has insufficient authority to trigger Article 50, and thereby begin EU withdrawal, as constitutional law requires parliament to be consulted on matters which result in citizens losing rights, which they would through cessation of EU membership.

In the Supreme Court appeal, the Governments lawyers argued this was not the case as Parliament voted to hold the EU referendum and could thereby be seen as approving EU withdrawal.

A judgment in the Supreme Court appeal is expected to be announced in January.
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Labour politician Andy Burnham is becoming a paler version of Nigel Farage, a leading Tory MP has claimed.

Ken Clarke made the comments amid growing backlash to Mr Burnhams recent criticism of immigration. The former Labour leadership candidate said in a House of Commons speech last week that Labours position of supporting free movement of people is undermining the cohesion of the UK.

Mr Burnham told MPs that places such as Greater Manchester continue to take in the vast majority of the countrys asylum seekers and refugees and largely they do so without any strife or difficulty. I dont want to hear anyone claim that people in places like Leigh that voted to leave are in any way xenophobic or racist.

They are welcoming, generous people but they also want fairness and they dont think its fair that the countrys least well-off communities should experience pressure on wages, on housing, on public services without any help to manage it.

Mr Burnham, who is MP for Leigh, stood by his comments, today telling Sky News: I believe weve got to have a system that is more linked to people coming to fill a specific job in the labour market rather than speculative free movement, which has actually caused some difficult challenges in parts of Greater Manchester. Weve seen downward pressure on wages.

Appearing in an interview on Sky News after Mr Burnham, Mr Clarke expressed distaste at the Labour MPs comments, saying he did not understand immigration unlike Foreign Secretary Boris Johson.

Mr Clarke said: Unlike Andy, going on about free movement of labour, sounding a bit like a paler version of Nigel Farage, Boris has never been anti-immigrant. Boris does realise that the economic interests of Britain are helped if we have free access to the biggest open market in the world.

Mr Burnhams comments have also provoked a backlash from within his own party, with Lord Spencer Livermore warning Labour politicians should not indulge the dangerous fantasy that the UK is besieged by immigration through extreme pronouncements. He told The Guardian: It just feels like the direction of travel at the moment is all in one direction, and Labour is lurching too far towards an anti-immigration position that hasnt necessarily been thought through.

An apparent move towards anti-immigration rhetoric by some in the left has been linked to the recent surge in support for Ukip and anti-EU sentiment.

 Diane Abbott calls Tory single market claims 'misleading'

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott appeared to later contradict Mr Burnhams comments, expressing her support for freedom of movement as part of Brexit negotiations. She said: Access to the single market and freedom of movement are inextricably linked and it would be wrong, and the Labour party has said this over and over again, it would be wrong to put the economy anything other than first.

Theres going to be negotiation, but its misleading to suggest to people, as some people do, that we can access to the single market and just dump freedom of movement.

Nobel winner slates Britain's 'stupid' immigration reforms Show all 8 1 /8 Nobel winner slates Britain's 'stupid' immigration reforms Nobel winner slates Britain's 'stupid' immigration reforms 04-nobelwinner1-gt.jpg Getty Images Nobel winner slates Britain's 'stupid' immigration reforms 04-nobelwinner2.jpg Nobel winner slates Britain's 'stupid' immigration reforms 04-nobelwinner3.jpg Nobel winner slates Britain's 'stupid' immigration reforms 04-nobelwinner4-gt.jpg Getty Images Nobel winner slates Britain's 'stupid' immigration reforms 04-nobelwinner5-bbc.jpg BBC Nobel winner slates Britain's 'stupid' immigration reforms 04-nobelwinner6-AFPgt.jpg AFP/Getty Images Nobel winner slates Britain's 'stupid' immigration reforms 04-nobelwinner7.jpg Nobel winner slates Britain's 'stupid' immigration reforms 04-nobelwinner8-AFPgt.jpg AFP/Getty Images

Following his election as new Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall has said the partys strategy is to replace Labour by appealing to working-class voters, especially in the north of England who would have traditionally supported the party. Addressing supporters during a victory speech, Mr Nuttall said: My ambition is not insignificant  I want to replace the Labour Party and make Ukip the patriotic voice of working people.
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Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has waded into the Cabinet row over Middle East policy saying we can't keep moralising in public about Saudi Arabia.

His words appeared to be aimed at Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson who earlier this week accused the country of puppeteering and playing proxy wars in the region, in the wake of the Kingdoms involvement in a brutal bombing campaign in Yemen.

The comments from Mr Johnson have already earned him a stern rebuke from Downing Street aides, which in turn saw allies of the Foreign Secretary demanding Theresa May call off the dogs.

Recommended Johnson was right to criticise Saudi Arabia

With the Foreign Secretary due to visit Saudi today, Sir Michael sought to play down the furore in a difficult interview by claiming Mr Johnsons comments had been taken out of context.

But he then told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show: Saudi Arabia is a friend of this country and is fully entitled to defend itself, and is also entitled to help bring about a settlement in Yemen that restores the legitimate government. That has the support of the United Nations.

He added: We can't keep moralising in public about Saudi Arabia. If you want to bring about change in Saudi Arabia then you have got to work with Saudi Arabia and we are doing that.

 Boris Johnson caught on video accusing ally Saudi Arabia of playing proxy wars

After Mr Johnson said at a conference in Italy that both the Saudis and Iran are puppeteering and playing proxy wars, Downing Street slapped down the Foreign Secretary with Theresa May's official spokesperson telling reporters his words were his own personal view and did not reflect official policy.

But Sir Michael attempted to play down No 10's rebuke, giving an account of what happened at the briefing between journalists and Downing Street officials despite not having been there.

He said: I think you really are making a meal of this. Boris's comment, as we have already established, was taken out of context in the reporting that implied we didn't support Saudi Arabia.

Downing Street was asked the question and Downing Street answered it.

Asked if Mr Johnson would raise concerns about Riyadh running proxy wars during his meetings in the Kingdom, Sir Michael replied: He will be reminding Saudi Arabia that we support Saudi Arabia.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

Sir Michael said Mr Johnson was a huge personality around the world.

The media, with great respect, are now starting to over-textualise every remark he makes in answer to every question, he said.

Downing Street was asked whether this misreporting of what Boris had said, whether that was government policy. Downing Street simply answered the question.

Allies of Mr Johnson have privately claimed Ms Mays aides are pursuing a vendetta against the Foreign Secretary and have demanded they back down.

His comments have divided the Tories with Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson claiming he is absolutely right on Saudi Arabia, while former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said the jury's out over his future in the role.

Despite the reported incidents of civilian deaths and the worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen, the UK has signed off 3.3bn in arms sales to Saudi Arabia since the start of its offensive.

Tory former Cabinet minister Ken Clarke said Mr Johnson's personality was always going to emerge but the criticism had been pretty silly.

He told Murnaghan on Sky News: I thought what Boris said about Saudi Arabia and Iran I rather agree with and I hope the Government are consulting their lawyers closely about how much longer we can carry on without querying some of the things the Saudis are doing in the Middle East whilst we are supplying them with weapons.
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Twenty-two people have been killed and another 35 wounded in a bombing at Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral, according to Egyptian state television, in the second deadly attack to hit the Egyptian capital in two days.

Egypt's official Mena news agency said an assailant lobbed a bomb into a chapel close to the outer wall of St Mark's Cathedral, seat of Egypt's Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.

On Friday, six policemen were killed in a bomb attack in Cairo claimed by a group suspected by authorities of links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants fighting the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

As defence minister, el-Sissi led the July 2013 ouster of Mohammed Morsi, an elected Islamist president who hails from the Brotherhood.

Islamist militants launched a wave of attacks on security forces and Christians in response, as the government waged a sweeping crackdown on Morsi's supporters and other activists.

AP
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At least 60 people have been killed in Nigeria after a church roof collapsed during a bishops ordination ceremony attended by the state governor.

Reports suggested the Reigners Bible Church in Uyo, the capital city of Akwa Ibom state, was being used for the ceremony despite still being under construction.

Hundreds of people are believed to have been inside when metal girders fell and the corrugated iron roof caved in.

An official said at least 60 bodies have been recovered and the death toll is likely to rise as rescuers rush to remove debris.

Udom Emmanuel, the governor of Akwa Ibom state, was inside the church when the incident occured but was able to escape.

In a statement, he described the collapse as "an unfortunate incident" and said he had "shared in the agony of the moment".

Mr Emmanuel said: "I was present at the church during the incident and shared in the agony of the moment.

"Thereafter, I personally supervised rescue operations and evacuation of the injured to the hospital. I directed all emergency organisations, agencies of government and corporate organisations especially the construction companies to be involved in the exercise. They acted promptly and I commend their sense of patriotism and gallantry."

He said the state would cover the medical costs of those injured and would hold an inquiry into whether anyone had compromised building standards.

 400,000 children at risk from Nigeria famine

Citizens should "remain calm, pray for the injured and avoid undue speculation as the situation is being given the best possible attention", Mr Emmanuel added.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said he had spoken with Mr Emmanuel to "commiserate with him on the tragic collapse".

He said: "I asked the Governor to convey to the people of Akwa Ibom the deep sorrow felt by me, and by the entire country, over this tragedy.

"I pray that the souls of the deceased will rest in peace, and that the injured will experience quick recovery.

"Any tragedy that affects any part of Nigeria affects all of us. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the people of Akwa Ibom."

The incident comes two years after 116 people were killed when the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed in Lagos, Nigeria.

Building collapses are not uncommon in the country as a result of corruption causing contractors to use sub-standard materials and bribe inspectors to ignore risks.

Additional reporting by agencies.
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Nigerian authorities say the death toll from a church collapse on Saturday has risen to 160, that local mortuaries are overflowing and that the number confirmed dead could yet rise further.

The incident involved the Reigners Bible Church in Uyo, the capital city of the southern Akwa Ibom State.

Hundreds of worshippers gathered inside the church for the ordaining of a bishop on Saturday, despite the fact that the building was still under construction.

Witnesses said metal girders gave way and crashed to the ground before the entire corrugated iron roof caved in.

The final death toll will likely be much higher than 160 and public mortuaries are no longer able to cope, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital director Etate Peters told the Associated Press.

Youth leader Edikan Peters said many other victims have been taken to private mortuaries scattered all over the city of Uyo.

The state government said it will investigate to see if building standards were compromised.

Udom Emmanuel, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, was among those inside the church when the roof collapsed, but was able to escape.

In a statement, he described the collapse as an unfortunate incident and said he had shared in the agony of the moment.

He said construction workers involved in building the church were among those who helped with the evacuation, adding: They acted promptly and I commend their sense of patriotism and gallantry.

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. 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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said he had spoken with Mr Emmanuel to commiserate with him on the tragic collapse.

He said: I asked the Governor to convey to the people of Akwa Ibom the deep sorrow felt by me, and by the entire country, over this tragedy.

I pray that the souls of the deceased will rest in peace, and that the injured will experience quick recovery.

In 2014, 116 people died when a multi-storey building of the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed in Lagos. A coroner blamed structural faults.
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Two girls thought to be around seven or eight years old died in blasts in a crowded area near a market in Nigeria, killing one person and wounding 18, officials have said.

The doubl attack in Maiduguri was not immediately claimed, but bore the hallmark of Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group which has been waging an insurgency to establish an Islamic state in the country.

One bomber appeared no older than seven and the second about eight years old, Abdulkadir Jabo, a civilian self-defence fighter who stopped them from going into the market said.

"I asked the older girl where she was going but she could not speak Hausa or Kanuri ... and appeared very unsettled, so I turned her back," he said.

Seconds later, the device she was wearing exploded, followed by that on the younger girl, he added. It is unlcear if they detonated the bombs, of if they were detonated remotely.

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

Police Commissioner Damian Chukwu identified the bombers as teenage girls. Earlier, officials said they were a man and a woman. There was no way to resolve the discrepancies.

The blast occured near Maiduguri's Monday Market, just weeks after the state government reopened the roads leading to the market.

They had been closed for two years over security concerns after previous bombings at the market killed dozens of people.

Boko Haram has used scores of women and girls in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions some o those are among the many thousands they have kidnapped over the years.

In one particularly horrific instance, a female suicide bomber carrying a baby on her back was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint on 28 November, detonating her explosives and killing the woman and the baby.

Recommended Schoolgirl suicide bombers kill dozens in Nigerian market

The latest attack comes after two schoolgirl suicide bombers killed 57 people and wounded 117, including 120 children, in a coordinated attack on a crowded market in the town of Madagali 150 kilometres (95 miles) southeast of Maiduguri on Friday.

Suicide bombings and attacks on military camps continue since the military dislodged insurgents from towns and villages earlier this year, though Nigeria's government claims it has the insurgents on the run.

President Muhammadu Buhari declared the uprising "technically defeated" a year ago. On Friday, he vowed Nigeria's military is working "at slamming the final nail in the coffin of Boko Haram".

The seven-year insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and created a massive humanitarian crisis.

Addtional reporting by Associated Press
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Cadillac has distanced itself from a widely-circulated casting call for real alt-right people to appear in one of its advertising campaigns, which the car company says was issued without authorisation.

The notice was emailed out before appearing on social media, and sought any and all alt-right thinkers/believers for a Cadillac TV advert to be filmed later this month.

This is a beautifully artistic spot that is capturing all walks of life in America, the notice continued. Standing together as a union. This is not meant to be offensive in any way. Just a representation of all sides.

Alt-right, short for alternative right, is a relatively new term used to describe a group of people with far-right political beliefs.

Since its genesis, the term has been associated with white supremacism, Islamophobia and intolerance of liberalism.

The recent election of Donald Trump as US president was praised by alt-right followers as a victory for their movement, and saw figures including Breitbart editor Steve Bannon, whose website has courted an alt-right readership, claiming important government roles.

Cadillac responded by disavowing the notice, confirming the brand did not authorise or approve a casting notice for an alt-right (neo-Nazi) role in a commercial.

We unequivocally condemn the notice and are seeking immediate answers from our creative agency, production company and any casting companies involved, the company said in a statement on Twitter.

The Cast Station, an Austin-based casting company, confirmed it had sent out the notice by mistake and issued an apology to Cadillac and its owner General Motors.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The notice was drafted by an employee, who was immediately terminated for her actions, the agency wrote on Facebook. Additionally an outside third party further altered the breakdown without our knowledge and posted it on social media.

Cadillac unequivocally did not authorize this notice or anything like it, and we apologize to Cadillac for the ex-employee's actions."
Gong Yoo attends the 'Train To Busan' photocall during the 69th Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo : Getty Images/Andreas Rentz)

Gong Yoo's popularity has risen to another level following the strong performance of his new drama "Goblin." Recently, the tvN drama's ratings rose to nearly twice its level as compared to its premiere episode.



With the successful debut of the new fantasy series "Goblin," Gong's brand reputation has also increased. An insider from South Korea's advertising industry told All Kpop that several companies have expressed interest for the "Train to Busan" actor to become their brand model.



Advertisement

Shortly after "Goblin" aired its first episode, around 50 advertisers contacted the South Korean actor's agency for a potential endorsement deal. Aired on Dec. 2, Friday, the tvN drama's premiere posted impressive ratings and even surpassed TV popularity scores of other hit dramas such as Lee Min Ho's "Legend of the Blue Sea" and "Descendants of the Sun."



When tvN released the second episode for "Goblin" on Dec. 3, Saturday, more companies joined the race to lock in an endorsement deal with Gong, according to the said insider. Around 60 to 65 advertisers were estimated to have contacted the actor during the fantasy series' debut weekend.



Gong already has nine brand ambassadorship contracts with several companies. Some of his brand endorsements include partnerships with a coffee brand, cosmetics, cars, various clothing labels and more.



Meanwhile, episode 3 of "Goblin" posted double-digit TV ratings with viewership shares at nearly twice its level as compared to the tvN series' first episode. Released on Dec. 9, the said episode reached a viewership rating of 12.5 percent, according to Nielsen Korea, as cited by OSEN.



TV ratings for "Goblin" episode 3 rose 6.2 percentage points from the premiere episode's rating of 6.3 percent. Viewership shares are also higher than episode 2 which posted a TV rating of 7.9 percent.



"Goblin," also known as "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God," airs every Friday and Saturday on tvN. Watch the drama's teaser below:






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Donald Trump has questioned whether the US should continue its support for the One China policy unless Beijing makes concessions on trade and other issues.

I dont want China dictating to me, he said while defending his recent phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, he said: I don't know why we have to be bound by a 'One China' policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.

The President-elect was responding to a question about his phone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, which represented a break with decades of US diplomatic tradition that recognises Beijing as the sole representative of China.

Mr Trump said he had only a few hours notice that the call was coming and that reports it had been prearranged by his team were false.

The One China policy means Beijing and Washington both consider Taiwan a part of China.

Mr Trump went on to claim China was also a currency manipulator and needed to do more to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

He said that as North Korea's main patron, China could solve that problem but they're not helping at all and also criticised China's aggressive actions in the South China Sea.

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 said it would have been disrespectful not to take the call from Ms Tsai, who had congratulated him on his victory.

He said: It was a very nice call. Short. And why should some other nation be able to say I can't take a call?

The One China policy grew out of the ending of the Chinese Civil War in the late 1940s when the Nationalist government under Chiang Kai-shek was overthrown by the Communists, forming the Peoples Republic of China, and fled to the island of Formosa (now Taiwan)  where they formed the Republic of China.

At the time the Nationalists vowed to return to Beijing and for many years Western powers recognised them as the official rulers of China.

But the US first formally adopted the One China policy in 1972 when President Richard Nixon opened up relations with China under the ailing Chairman Mao Tse-tung  despite continuing informal relations with Taipei.

The People's Republic of China had replaced the Republic of China as a permanent member of the UN Security Council a year earlier.

In recent years a movement has grown in Taiwan calling for the government to declare official independence from the Chinese mainland  something Beijing fiercely opposes.

Additional reporting by agencies
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Donald Trump is not a loyal American because of his pro-Russia sympathies, a former presidential candidate and CIA operative has claimed.

Evan McMullin, who ran as an anti-Trump independent candidate during the election, attacked the former reality stars reported pick for Secretary of State  ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson  who has close ties to the Kremlin.

In a series of tweets, the former Republican adviser said Mr Trump had identified a potential secretary of state unlikely to oppose (his) alignment with Putin.

He accused the President-elect of purposely dismantling barriers that protect our nation from dangerous Russian subversion, which he has also welcomed.

The news that Mr Tillerson, an oil executive who was awarded the Order of Friendship by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013, could become the countrys top diplomat first emerged on Saturday.

Mr Trump is expected to make the official announcement next week though his transition team stressed nothing was final.

ExxonMobil was forced to suspend its operations in 2014 after Russias illegal annexation of Crimea led to sanctions by Western powers.

The companys head of Russian oil operations, Glenn Waller, said the company would return to project as soon as sanctions when lifted  leading to allegations of a conflict of interest.

It comes after the CIA announced Russian hackers did try to influence the US election in Mr Trumps favour.

It said they were behind the massive hack of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails but did not release the data they had also mined from the Republican National Committee (RNC).

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

But during an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Mr Trump dismissed the claims, saying the CIAs conclusion was ridiculous.

"I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it," he continued.

He later tweeted: "Whether I choose him or not for 'State'  Rex Tillerson, the Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker".

Mr Trump also claimed he did not need daily intelligence briefings because he intended to bring in his own people to the spy agencies when he assumes office in January.

He said: "We're going to have different people coming in because we have our people, they have their people. And I have great respect for them. But if you read the stories, the various stories, they're disputing. And certain groups don't necessarily agree."

Additional reporting by agencies
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Donald Trump has thanked African-Americans for not voting in the US presidential election.

The President-elect told a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that black voters who stayed at home on Election Day were almost as good as those who voted for him.

Mr Trump said: The African-American community was great to us. They came through, big league. Big league.

And frankly if they had any doubt, they didnt vote, and that was almost as good because a lot of people didnt show up, because they felt good about me.

Exit polls suggest Mr Trump received the support of just eight per cent of black voters compared to 89 per cent for his Democrat rival, Hillary Clinton.

Despite this, Mrs Clinton won a smaller proportion of votes from ethnic minorities, including African-Americans, than Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. The current President garnered 93 per cent of black Americans votes in the 2012 election.

Mr Trump is currently on a victory tour of the states that delivered him victory in the 8 November election. Michigan was one of the previously Democrat states that he was able to turn, although a state-wide recount could theoretically alter that result.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

The President-elect repeated his populist message during the rally. He said: "The American people will be in charge. Your voice, your desires, your hopes, your aspirations, you will never again fall on deaf ears."

He also reiterated his pledge to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, saying: "We have people coming into our country by the thousands, thousands and thousands of people and now I don't have to campaign so I don't have to say Hillary's going to increase it by 550 percent.

"No, I don't have to say it anymore. Isn't it nice?"

The rally was interrupted by several protestors who were removed from the venue after the President-elect ordered security staff to Get em out of here.

 Trump says 'lock her up' chant only 'plays great before the election'

It comes as a leaked report by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said Russia interfered in the presidential election in order to promote Mr Trump.

Reports said US intelligence officials had concluded with high confidence that Russia was involved in hacking Democratic Party computers and handing secret documents to WikiLeaks to publish.

Sources said the fact Republican Party computers were also hacked but their contents not released showed Russia was intentionally attempting to assist Mr Trump.

The President-elects team responded to the suggestion by saying: These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. Its now time to move on and Make America Great Again.

President Barack Obama has ordered a full investigation into the reports.
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An Electoral College member in California has filed a lawsuit as part of an attempt to block Donald Trump's installation as President.

Democrat Vinz Koller of California is the 10th Presidential elector to join the anti-Trump club, and is trying to overturn a law that will force him to cast his vote for Hillary Clinton because she won the popular vote in his state. A similar action was filed in Colorado days earlier.

The aim of the suit, Politico reports, is to undermine such rules in 29 states across the country, including in areas where Republican electors have voiced concerns about Mr Trump.

Mr Koller's lawsuit argues that the US founding fathers intended electors to have free choice in how they voted.

Melody Kramer, his lawyer, wrote: "Though Hillary Clinton and Timothy Kaine won the majority vote in California and are qualified for office, [Mr Koller] cannot be constitutionally compelled to vote for them.

 Electoral College voting: How the United States decides its president

"[He] must be allowed to exercise his judgment and free will to vote for whomever he believes to be the most qualified and fit for the offices of President and Vice President".

Hillary Clinton's life in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Hillary Clinton's life in pictures Hillary Clinton's life in pictures Hillary Rodham Clinton as a Wellesley College senior Getty Hillary Clinton's life in pictures Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham in at Wellesley College Getty Hillary Clinton's life in pictures Hillary Rodham Working with the House Committee on Nixon's Impeachment Case Getty Hillary Clinton's life in pictures US Presidential candidate Bill Clinton with wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea at the Democratic National Convention Getty Hillary Clinton's life in pictures Bill and Hillary Clinton at the Inaugural Ball Getty Hillary Clinton's life in pictures Bill and Hillary Clinton with Barbara Bush Getty Hillary Clinton's life in pictures First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, President William Jefferson Clinton their daughter Chelsea, at the first state dinner of the Clintons administration Getty Hillary Clinton's life in pictures Hillary Clinton meets with 12 chidren in response to their letter to the President concerning their health problems Getty Hillary Clinton's life in pictures Nelson Mandela jokes with First Lady Hillary Clinton Getty Hillary Clinton's life in pictures Senator Hillary Rodham comforts Maren Sarkarat the conclusion of the Family Memorial Service held at Ground Zero of the WTC Getty

Mr Koller is trying to persuade some three dozen Republican electors to reject Mr Trump and support another candidate from their party.

The Electoral College members will meet on December 19 to cast their votes. Mr Trump, who won the popular vote in states whose numbers of electors total 306, needs only 270 of them to vote for him to secure the Presidency.
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Seven penguins have been found dead at a zoo in Canada in mysterious circumstances, prompting an investigation.

The birds were said to have drowned in a holding area at the back of Calgary Zoo in Alberta, shortly before they were due to perform in the parks Penguin Plunge show.

Veterinary experts said the Humboldt penguins may have been panicked by something which occurred near their pen, and zoo keepers are studying CCTV footage for clues as to why they died.

The entrance and exits to the holding area were fully secured, and there is no indication yet whether a loud noise may have scared the birds.

"It was very surprising for us to find this group of birds dead," Jamie Dorgan, the zoo's director of animal care, told CBC News. Our penguin keeper was quite shocked to see that multiple penguins were dead in the pool.

What caused these animals to get into a situation where they would have drowned is something we are going to look at. It seems to be some stressor led to these birds going into some kind of panic but it's hard to say what could have triggered that.

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

Over 20 birds live within the Humboldt colony at the zoo, alongside king, gentoo and rockhopper penguins.

"It seems like a bit of a mystery," Rob Laidlaw of Zoocheck Canada added. "I can't really imagine what could have happened.

A number of animals, including a 12-year-old river otter and giant capybara, have died in the care of Calgary Zoo over the past decade. Two staff members were disciplined for the otters death.
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Russia "targeted America's democratic institutions" with its hacking of the presidential election, four senior US senators have said in a joint statement.

The bipartisan group, which includes former presidential candidate John McCain, said "the stakes are too high for our country" to allow evidence of the hack uncovered by the CIA to become a party-political issue, and that the American public must be kept better informed.

The CIA concluded that hackers backed by the Russian government targeted Democratic officials' email accounts with the specific aim of Donald Trump winning in November.

But the President-elects transition team has dismissed the findings, comparing them to investigations into Iraqs non-existence weapons of mass destruction.

Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham, and Democrats Charles Schumer and Jack Reed, issued the statement on Sunday.

They said: "For years, foreign adversaries have directed cyber attacks at America's physical, economic and military infrastructure, while stealing our intellectual property.

"Now our democratic institutions have been targeted.

"Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American."

They added: "Congress's national security committees have worked diligently to address the complex challenge of cyber security, but recent events show that more must be done.

"While protecting classified material, we have an obligation to inform the public about recent cyber attacks that have cut to the heart of our free society.

"Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyber attacks.

"This cannot become a partisan issue. The stakes are too high for our country."

US Presidential election: key moments in pictures Show all 12 1 /12 US Presidential election: key moments in pictures US Presidential election: key moments in pictures The 2005 Access Hollywood video which showed Mr Trump bragging to Billy Bush Getty US Presidential election: key moments in pictures Hillary Clinton and her health concerns Getty US Presidential election: key moments in pictures Hillary Clinton and her health concerns Getty US Presidential election: key moments in pictures Mr Trump suggests gun-supporters could kill Hillary Clinton to prevent her from picking the supreme court justices Reuters US Presidential election: key moments in pictures Melania Trump plagiarises Michelle Obamas speech Getty US Presidential election: key moments in pictures Mr Trump said that judge Gonzalo Curiel would not be able to rule fairly, as he was of Mexican heritage United States Federal Court/AP US Presidential election: key moments in pictures Donald Trump anxious over securing black vote Reuters US Presidential election: key moments in pictures Hillary Clinton and concerns about securing black vote Getty US Presidential election: key moments in pictures Pope Francis Questions Donald Trump's Christianity Getty US Presidential election: key moments in pictures Donald Trump and his relentless remarks against Mexican people Getty US Presidential election: key moments in pictures Donald Trump and the sexual assault allegations Getty US Presidential election: key moments in pictures FBI director announced that there would be no charges for Hillary Clinton amid email scandal Getty

Senator Graham added on Twitter: "Russia is trying to break the backs of democracies - and democratic movements - all over the world.

"I'm not challenging the outcome of the election, but very concerned about Russian interference. Don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out what Russia is up to."

President Barack Obama has ordered a "full review" into claims of election hacking. His homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco said: "We may have crossed into a new threshold."

Mr Obama expects the full report before he leaves office on 20 January. Although Ms Monaco said the report would be shared with members of Congress, it was not clear that the findings would be made public.
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China flew a nuclear-capable bomber outside its borders in a show of force less than a week before US President-elect Donald Trumps phone call with the president of Taiwan, it has been reported.

The 10-minute telephone call with President Tsai Ing-wen was the first by a US president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of One China. It led to protests from Beijing.

The Xian H-6 bomber flew along the disputed 'nine-dash line' around the South China Sea, US officials told Fox News, passing over a number of disputed islands. The officials said it was designed to send a message to the incoming administration.

 Donald Trump breaks US policy stance with Taiwan call

The Pentagon reportedly found out about the flight on Friday and officials said it was the first long-range flight along the demarcation line in more than 18 months  though this sortie extended further than previous ones.

The H-6 is the Chinese version of the Russian Tupolev Tu-16 jet bomber and has been used by China to drop nuclear devices in tests.

Mr Trump has used Twitter to criticise Beijing's policies, including the build-up of a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea.

Fox reported that Admiral Harry Harris, the head of US Pacific Command, had warned repeatedly about Chinese military build-up in the area over the last year. Satellites have shown China preparing to ship advanced surface-to-air missiles to contested islands, it said.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

The US first adopted the One China policy in 1972 after meetings between Richard Nixon and Chairman Mao Tse-tung, and it was later solidified by President Jimmy Carter.

Under the policy, the US retains unofficial ties to Taiwan while recognising Beijing as representing China. China considers Taiwan a renegade country.

White House officials said they spoke with the Chinese leadership following Mr Trumps call with President Tsai.

Federal officials called to reassure the country that the US still adheres to One China, which does not recognise Taiwan as its own sovereign nation.
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A Danish man has won a landmark case against Apple after a five-year legal battle.

David Lysgaard has been embroiled in an ongoing dispute with the huge tech company over a replacement he was given for a faulty iPhone 4 he purchased in 2011.

Mr Lysgaards phone stopped working after a year and Apple agreed to give him a remanufactured phone which was listed as good as new.

The consumer complaints board agreed that under the Danish Sale of Goods Act, Mr Lysgaard was entitled to a brand new phone or his money back.

Apple appealed the ruling but the Glostrup District Court sided with Mr Lysgaard.

After a comprehensive review, the court finds that David Lysgaard [] had a warranted expectation of receiving a brand-new product equivalent to the original purchase, the court said, according to the Local.

The remanufactured phone that David Lysgaard was given could contain reused modules so the phone cannot qualify as brand-new.

Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty

Before the decision, Lysgaard told TV2 that he was nervous about taking on the company.

One shakes a bit when you receive a summons from one of the world's biggest companies. That's not something you experience every day, Lysgaard told TV2.

 Apple appeals court decision on unlocking an iPhone

But the more Apple stepped up, the more stubborn I became.

It's about large companies needing to follow the laws that we have. It's also about how many other regular people in Denmark have been through something similar but have just ended up accepting that things are just as Apple says they are.
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Twice as many children from immigrant families took Germanys university prep exam in 2015 as in 2010, a new report has found.

A total of 17 per cent of teenagers from immigrant backgrounds completed the country's Abitur exam, taken by 17 and 18-year-old school leavers, last year, compared to just nine per cent six years ago, according to the government Commission for Immigration, Refugees, and Integration.

In terms of participation and integration were on the right path in Germany, said commission chair Aydan Ozoguz, an MP for the country's Social Democratic Party.

Children with immigrant backgrounds are much more likely to go to kindergarten, more teenagers are getting higher school qualifications in comparison with five years ago, employment among immigrants is up.".

The percentage of children from immigrant families who gained a final school qualification also rose from 38 per cent to 43 per cent in the six years.

There are currently 17.2 million people from immigrant backgrounds living in Germany, that constitutes 21 per cent of the total population, and is 1.8 million more than in 2014. Around half hold German citizenship, and most come from Poland, Russia, and Turkey.

In 2015, Germany opened its doors to refugees, leading 1.1 million asylum seekers to arrive in the country. About 900,000 have been give refugee status.

School authorities at the time said they needed to employ at least 25,000 new teachers and support staff to cope with the large number of new pupils.

Many schools have since organised welcome classes and extra reading practice for immigrant children, in response to the influx.

But Ms Ozoguz, whose parents move to Germany from Turkey in the 1950s, said, despite progress, chances of success in later life are still heavily dependent on whether or not a child in Germany comes from an immigrant background, which is not good enough.

Children who move from another country to Germany, or who are born to parents from elsewhere, are still twice as likely to live in poverty, a fact which has remained unchanged for years," she said.

Even if the number of people with migration backgrounds in employment has risen from 7.54 million to 7.72 million, unemployment is now almost three times as high among immigrants as it is among German citizens."

Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Show all 13 1 /13 Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Volunteers walk a group of refugee children towards their school on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children pose at a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Syrian Kurd mother combs Roza's hair, as she prepares to go to a volunteer-run school in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children attend an English language class at the volunteer run school on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children carry vegetables in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A newly arrived Syrian refugee, 13, holds her sister, 2, in a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children pretend they go to school as they play in a refugee camp in the island AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Greek girl walks past a graffiti on her way to a school on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Malian refugee child poses from behind a fence in a makeshift camp AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Syrian Kurd mother combs Roza's hair, as she prepares to go to a volunteer-run school in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Syrian family from Aleppo newly arrived to Greece sits in a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A child carries a broken blackgammon game in a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A child holds onto her mother, Djeneba from Mali, before attending school in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty

Ms Ozoguz added that she was concerned about the public debate surrounding the country's open door policy, and unsupported allegations refugees had caused a rise in crime.

She said the far-right Alternative for Germany party had exploited the situation and created "opinions that dont always correspond to the truth", The Local reported.

"[Some people] are trying to create the image that criminality will rise if more refugees come here, she said. "At the moment, there is as good as no criminality among Syrian refugees."
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An island off the coast of Sweden has raised national security concerns about a Russian gas provider building pipelines under the Baltic Sea, as tensions linger between the two nations.

Officials on Gotland, Swedens largest island, have been discussing whether Russian company Nord Stream should be allowed to construct pipes in the area around Apotekskajen harbour in Slite, which is seen to be a strategically significant site.

The project, which would cost up to 60 million Swedish kronor (5.1 million) to build, cannot go ahead as planned unless the lease on the harbour is granted.

Politicians from Swedens major parties said they have reservations about the plans, following Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the gradual militarisation of the Baltic region.

"The Government must put its foot down and acknowledge that this harbour is of strategic importance and should therefore not be used in this way, Eva Nypelius, a senior member of the Gotland regional assembly, said.

Local politicians cannot make such decisions about security."

Tensions have been high between Russia and Sweden since the Russian ambassador Viktor Tatarinstev said the Government in Moscow would take military countermeasures if Sweden were to join Nato.

In October 2014, Russian fighter jets entered Swedish airspace over the Baltic Sea, exacerbating tensions between the governments of the two nations.

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 February this year, Sweden re-militarised an old Cold War frontier base on Gotland, in response to perceived aggression from Russia.

However, Bjorn Jansson of the Social Democrat party said the lease could raise funds for the municipality, and dismissed security fears.

This is a commercial company that wants to hire our port. We have no other view of it. It has worked out fine in the past and we are prepared to do it again this time," he said in a statement.

A final decision on the future of the Nord Stream project will be made in February next year.
CZ 807. (Photo : CZUB)

The Czech assault rifle CZ 807 BREN firing the Soviet 7.6239mm cartridge is said to be one of three finalists in the Pakistan Army's search for a new weapon to replace its decades-old Chinese Type 56 and the German Heckler & Koch G3 rifles.



The claim was made by the CZ 807's maker, "Ceska zbrojovka a.s. Uhersky Brod (CZUB)," or the Czech Arms Factory.



Advertisement

CZUB Director of Military Weapons Martin Sanda told Czech media the CZ 807 is a special version for the Pakistan Army derived from the CZ 805 used by the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic.



"(The) Czech arms industry has successfully participated in the tender for the rearmament of the Pakistani army with its CZ 807," said Sanda.



"Of the original eight candidates which met the extremely rigorous demands of the Pakistani army, there were only three finalists, including the CZ 807."



The other two alleged finalists haven't been revealed but informed sources claim these two are the Kalashnikov AK-103 and the FN SCAR-H.



The case for the AK-103 is strong since it's a Russian weapon and fires a 7.6239mm cartridge round similar to that of the Type 56 (a Chinese version of the AK-47). The same can also be said for the SCAR-H since this weapon also fires a 7.62x39mm round.



Among the other firms competing for the Pakistan Army's new assault rifle are the Heckler & Koch HK-416 and the Beretta ARX-200. The ARX is chambered for the 7.62x51mm NATO round while the HK-416 fires the 5.56x45mm NATO round.



Sanda said rifle tests were conducted this year, "in all weather conditions from the Himalayan glaciers, where the temperature dropped below -40 C up to the jungle or desert, where they climbed to the contrary, we recorded + 54 C."



"Apart from these tests conducted directly by users of the combat units and weapons, they were tested in laboratory under applicable methodologies."



Sanda said the CZ 807 was evaluated as "the best in the context of user tests, for example, but also as the most accurate direct comparison of standardized absolute world elite.



"Additionally, the testing was attended throughout by CZ representatives who collected valuable data for further development of service weapons. Some of them spent most of the year in Pakistan in difficult conditions."


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A series of unidentified drones have been reported hovering above armed forces during military exercises in Sweden and Norway.

Officials said unmanned aircraft were spotted above Swedish territory on three separate occasions.

In June, a remote-controlled craft flew over a Nato training exercise in Sweden, while another flew over an air base in Hagshult in early September and a drone was spotted during a naval exercise in November .

We have information that on two occasions at night there was some kind of unmanned aircraft over Uto, Philip Simon, the Swedish armed forces chief press officer, said in relation to the unmanned-crafts spotted during the Nato exercise, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported.

Norway also reported similar incidents and there have been sightings of more than 10 drones during military exercises in Oslo, according to Swedish paper Svenska Dagbladet.

We have noticed what has happened in Sweden, and when we do not know the identity, we can not exclude the possibility that a foreign power can stand behind the drones in Norway, Lt Col Johan Ole Skogmo, from the Norwegian army, said.

The drones were close and behaved in a way that drones do when filming an activity."

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

While there is no direct evidence linking Russia to the drones, the sightings of the unmanned aircraft will raise speculation around Moscow's involvement.

Fredrik Westerlund, security policy analyst at the Swedish Defence Research Agency, told Svenska Dagbladet that reports of Russian research into the military use of drones was potentially significant.

This is a confirmation that Russia sees modern warfare as a dependent of an information advantage, the drones are often used for information gathering, he said.

Gustav Gerdes, the chairman of the organisation Unmanned Arial Systems Sweden, said the sightings were most likely private drones used by members of the public.

If you are sitting on an island in the archipelago and have a drone, theres a lot of life in the area. Well [you can] fly there and check what it is, Mr Gerdes said.
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Iran and Boeing have signed off on a $16.8bn deal for 80 passenger planes to be delivered over the next 10 years.

The deal was reached after the US and other countries lifted sanctions on Iran, following its agreement to limit its nuclear ambitions in 2015.

Boeing said it will support nearly 100,000 US jobs, while Iranian transport minister Abbas Akhoundi called the agreement "historic" and said 8,000 Iranian jobs would be created, NBC News reported.

The first planes are set for delivery in 2018. In all, Iran will buy 50 Boeing 737s and 30 777s.

The country's current 250-plane aviation fleet was largely bought before the revolution in 1979, and only about 160 planes were deemed fit to fly earlier this year, according to NBC.

Mr Akhoundi said: "The deal has a clear message for the world - we support peace and security as well as the growth of Iran based on a win-win policy.

"We hope that despite changes in the US administration, the country will remain loyal to its commitments."

Recommended Iran just sentenced twelve people to jail because of their Instagram

British security officials are set to discuss the Iran nuclear deal with Donald Trumps advisors after the President-elect signalled he would tear up the agreement.

Downing Street said the UK placed a great deal of importance on the pact and had put substantial diplomatic effort into securing it.
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Isis has recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra in the face of heavy Russian air strikes and Syrian army resistance, nine months after it was driven from the city.

Monitoring groups the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Palmyra Coordination Committee (PCC) said militants stormed the city in a multi-pronged attack on Sunday afternoon.

Russia earlier said it had helped repel the Isis assault, driving the jihadis back to orchards outside the city and killing 300 militants in the process.

But the Russian Defence Ministry later said the militants had regrouped and launched a second, more successful attempt.

They confirmed statements issued by Isis propaganda outlets claiming control of the city's 2,000 year-old Roman ruins, a Unesco World Heritage site.

The Amaq Agency said in an alert posted to the encrypted messaging service Telegram: "Breaking, Islamic State forces take complete control over Palmyra city."

The new battle for Palmyra comes almost nine months after Isis was driven out of the city at the end of March.

Recommended What Palmyra looked like before Isis

But this was not before they had inflicted widespread damage to the city's ancient Roman structures, including the destruction of the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel.

Militants first overran Palmyra in May 2015, after which they forced residents of the neighbouring modern city Tadmur to live by their brutal interpretation of Sharia law.

The occupation also saw the murder of the citys 81-year-old director of antiquities, Khaled al-Asaad, and Palmyra's ruins used as the backdrop for a series of gory executions and propaganda videos.

Isis had been advancing on Palmyra since Thursday, when the group launched a surprise attack on the Syrian army and pro-government Shia militias.

Monitors with the PCC said militants approached from more than one axis on Saturday, fighting their way into the al-Amiriyah district before targeting the citys citadel.

Palmyra's Arch of Triumph recreated in Trafalgar Square Show all 5 1 /5 Palmyra's Arch of Triumph recreated in Trafalgar Square Palmyra's Arch of Triumph recreated in Trafalgar Square A replica of Palmyra's Arch of Triumph is erected in Trafalgar Square Palmyra's Arch of Triumph recreated in Trafalgar Square The original arch was destroyed by the Isis and the replica has been crafted using the latest 3D printing and carving technologies by the Institute for Digital Archaeology Palmyra's Arch of Triumph recreated in Trafalgar Square A replica of Palmyra's 2,000-year-old 'Arch of Triumph' is constructed in Trafalgar Square Getty Images Palmyra's Arch of Triumph recreated in Trafalgar Square Experts from Oxford and Harvard universities and the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) built the replica arch using 3D imaging produced from photographs of the monument, which was blown up by Isis in October 2015 Getty Images Palmyra's Arch of Triumph recreated in Trafalgar Square A replica of the Palmyra's 2,000-year-old 'Arch of Triumph' in Trafalgar Square Getty Images

The same group reported that Isis had shot down a Syrian government fighter jet in nearby Jazal.

Isis has been mounting a concerted propaganda effort to highlight the campaign as its forces are beaten back in its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul.

Amaq released footage on Sunday which appeared to show close-ups of the city's ruins. In videos on Saturday, fighters were shown advancing against the Syrian army through the desert, while clips sent out the previous day showed a huge suicide car bombing hit an army checkpoint on a road approaching the city.
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Syrian rebels in Aleppo have been forced back and restricted to a small area of the city after a series of heavy strikes from pro-government forces, according to a rebel group.

The conflict in the war-torn city in northern Syria will end in a tragic way without intervention from foreign nations, and rebels imminently face a death or surrender situation, an official from the Jabha Shamiya group said.

He claimed rebels in Aleppo had not received any news about meetings between the US and Russia to resolve the crisis, which has left the city almost completely destroyed. He said rebel areas remained full of civilians, many of them unable to escape the conflict.

Syrian government forces have reclaimed large rebel-held areas of the city and have reportedly used chemical weapons to clear out fighters, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee.

Last week, the Syrian army successfully reclaimed the entirety of Aleppo's historic city centre, after months of fighting.

Rebel leaders continue to say they will not give up the city, although they have relinquished almost two-thirds of their territory since the government's assault intensified a fortnight ago.

Officials from the US, UK, Germany and other nations met with the Syrian opposition in Paris on Sunday for fresh talks aimed at ending the conflict.

Foreign minister Boris Johnson accused Bashar Assad's regime of a flagrant disregard for human life in its treatment of Aleppo.

In pictures: Aleppo bombing Show all 14 1 /14 In pictures: Aleppo bombing In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Smoke rises after airstrikes on the rebel-held al-Sakhour neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family runs for cover amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Al-Qatarji in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man reacts as he stands on blood stains at a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held area of Aleppo's al-Fardous district, Syria, April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damage of the airstrikes in the rebel-held area of Aleppo on April 28 Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damaged the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-backed al-Quds hospital after it was hit by airstrikes, in a rebel-held area of Syria's Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians evacuate an injured man amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following an air strike on a rebel-held of Aleppo on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo People inspect the damage at a site hit by airstrikes, in the rebel-held area of Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man leads a woman in tears and child out of the scene after airstrikes hit Aleppo AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Civil defence members search for survivors after an airstrike at a field hospital in the rebel held area of al-Sukari district of Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian boy is comforted as he cries next to the body of a relative who died in a reported air strike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Soukour in the northern city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family walks amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike in the Bustan al-Qasr rebel-held district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers and rescuers remove a baby from under the rubble of a destroyed building following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Kalasa in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians help a wounded youth following an air strike on the Fardous rebel held neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers evacuate people from a damaged building following a reported airstrike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Tareeq al-Bab in the northern city of Aleppo

The situation in Aleppo remains dire with desperate images of destruction and a flagrant disregard for human life being splashed across the media on a daily basis, Mr Johnson said.

We agreed our first priority must be the protection of civilians and ensuring access for humanitarian aid. It's essential that the regime and its backers provide the United Nations that access with immediate effect.

Last week, Aleppo council president Brita Haji Hassan said an estimated 800 people have been killed in eastern Aleppo in the past month.

Additional reporting by Reuters
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As The Independent predicted, Qantas will fly from Heathrow to Perth using the latest Boeing 787-9 jet.

The airline claims the journey of 9,010 miles will take 17 hours from Western Australia to London. In practice the plane is likely to fly further and take longer because of the need to avoid airspace perceived as dangerous.

The most direct route from Perth to London crosses the Indian Ocean to Sri Lanka, follows the western coast of India, and passes over Iran, the Caucasus and the disputed Crimea region.

When Qantas created the Kangaroo Route between the UK and Australia in 1947, the journey involved nine stops and took four days.

In recent years the Australian airline has cut back its European network, eliminating a Heathrow-Perth route that stopped en route in Asia to refuel. Qantas now operates only two flights from Britain. Each day, Airbus A380 jets depart from Heathrow to Melbourne and Sydney via Dubai.

Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas, said: This is a game-changing route flown by a game-changing aircraft. Travellers from Europe have never had a direct link down under before, so the opportunities this opens for them to explore Australia are huge.

Mr Joyce said passenger comfort on the 17-hour flight was a key consideration. He claimed the airline is redesigning our on-board service to help reduce jetlag.

The planes will carry 236 passengers in Business, Premium Economy and Economy cabins  and will be fitted with a crew rest area above the passenger cabin.

Aircraft technology has long allowed a flight of this length. In 1989, a Qantas Boeing 747 with an exceptionally low load flew non-stop from Heathrow to Sydney. In 2004, Singapore Airlines launched a route from its base to New York which is 500 miles longer than London-Perth.

But ultra-long-haul aviation is very expensive. Even a highly efficient aircraft, such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, has a high fuel burn, and additional staff  including two pairs of pilots  are required. Airlines will operate such routes only if they expect strong demand from business travellers and leisure passengers prepared to pay a premium to fly non-stop.

The launch of the route has been delayed by a dispute between the airline and the Western Australian government about who should pay for changes at Perth airport to allow easy transfers to and from the London flight.

It is believed Qantas already has the slots at Heathrow it needs for the new operation; they are currently leased to British Airways.

Timings for the new link have not been revealed. It is thought there may be an early evening departure from Perth, arriving around noon next day in London, which would allow plenty of time for transfers at either end. The return flight would then take off from Heathrow around 3pm, arriving late afternoon the next day in Perth, in time for onward connections.

There are concerns, though, about the value of connections to the non-stop flight. All the mainland state capitals in eastern Australia  Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide  already have one-stop links from Heathrow and other UK airports. And Australians flying to Europe also enjoy a wide range of possible one-stop links via South East Asia and the Gulf.

Gary Leff, a US-based aviation blogger, wrote: A London direct flight would be most valuable only to passengers with London as their final destination. Why overfly whatever European city youre headed to, and be forced to connect at Heathrow?

Seats will not go on sale until April 2017. When the route launches, it is expected to be the third-longest passenger flight in the world. At present Emirates holds the record with its Dubai-Auckland service at 8,824 miles. Next month Qatar Airways starts flying from its base in Doha to Auckland, a distance of 9,032 miles  marginally longer than London-Perth. In addition, Singapore Airlines plans to reinstate its link to New York in 2018.

The longest route currently operated from Heathrow is Garudas 7,275-mile flight to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. Next month British Airways starts flying to Santiago in Chile, a journey of a similar length.

Click here to view Australian tours and holidays, with Independent Holidays.
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On Saturday, the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell interrupted the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyns speech about domestic violence against women on World Human Rights Day  which in itself was an ironic act.

Corbyn was about to speak when the Syria Solidarity UK protesters, led by Tatchell, took to the stage to protest. Tatchell alleges that Corbyn hasnt done enough about the situation in Aleppo, with the Labour leader failing to speak out more to demand British air drops. Meanwhile, Tatchell held an actions not words poster. The last time I checked, Corbyn wasnt in government. What has he got in his power, apart from words?

Tatchell and others say they want Syria suspended from the United Nations, so why not take the protest to those who have the power to do this like the sitting UK Government? And why werent the demonstrators also gathered outside the Russian Embassy on Human Rights Day, voicing their criticism of Putins involvement in Syria, or at a Conservative Party event protesting about Aleppo? Instead, they decided to raise questions about Syria with the opposition leader while the cameras were rolling.

You dont have to be a banner-waving Corbyn supporter to realise that Tatchells actions were both wrong and misguided. Corbyn has consistently been on the right side of history on matters of human rights, fighting social injustices and inequality. He is one of the very few politicians who has spoken out about the dismal situation in Syria and the Wests failure to resolve the conflict humanely, which made the protest utterly futile.

 Protesters disrupt Jeremy Corbyn speech with Syria protest

As a gay activist, I have friends who are close to Tatchell and I admire his tireless work as a campaigner. But just because he has done some peerless work fighting for LGBT rights doesnt mean all protests he makes should have impunity. On this occasion, Tatchell made a poor decision.

Its exactly these kind of opportunist stunts from the so-called Left which give rise to the likes of Ukip. The further reaches of the right in Britain dont need to expend their effort attacking Corbyn when others are doing their work for them. You need no greater example of this than those in the right-wing press applauding Tatchells actions.

I cannot see what Tatchell hoped to achieve by targeting Corbyn in such manner, interrupting his important speech about violence against women for failling to oppose a war he has made clear he absolutely opposes. It is baffling.

What I saw Saturday from the Labour leader was a calm and dignified man being publicly embarrassed while national TV cameras rolled. He handled the situation with patience and even thanked the protestors for raising the point. How many of us would have been so graceful in such circumstances?

After coming out, I read an article by Tatchell in Gay Times in which he wrote that shock tactics are sometimes necessary in order to expose injustice. I agree  but what injustice had Corbyn committed here? All Tatchell achieved was the undermining of an event aimed at raising awareness of domestic violence against women. That is no victory, for Syria or for himself.
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The Stop the War Coalition (STWC) is in moral meltdown and in the throes of a rebellion by many of its longtime supporters  including me  over its one-sided Syria protests and its persistent failure to listen to appeals from democratic, anti-war and civil society activists inside Syria. The air strikes by presidents Assad and Putin on apartments, markets, hospitals, schools, mosques, civil rescue teams and aid convoys are war crimes that echo Guernica, Dresden and Cambodia. So where are the protest marches by Britain's leading anti-war organisation?

Ridiculed by some as the stop the Western war coalition, disenchantment with the organisation has become widespread since the summer and is spreading to longtime, loyal supporters who were once its bedrock. Last month Muslim activists privately pressed its leaders to more strongly and publicly condemn Assad and Putins war crimes  to no avail. They were palmed off with the usual excuses: that condemning the UK and US is the anti-war movements first duty and top priority. As if it cant protest both!

The coalition wont even campaign for airdrops of food and medical supplies to besieged civilians. It seems theyd rather see hungry, sick families die than taint themselves with the imperialist collaboration of supporting Western humanitarian aid. In a breathtaking display of double standards, they supported aid convoys to refugees in Calais but not to those in Aleppo. No wonder the movement is increasingly discredited.

Stop the War Coalitions annual conference in October was heckled by protesters who condemned the organisation  and its keynote speaker, Jeremy Corbyn  for not mobilising against the indiscriminate bombing of Aleppo, and other war crimes, by Syrias president Assad and his Russian allies. Just before the conference, an open letter to Corbyn, signed by Labour party and Momentum activists, criticised his failure to condemn these war crimes and to push for humanitarian aid to the besieged civilian populations.

Stop the War coalitions former chair, Jeremy Corbyn, backs its stance on Syria (Getty)

Symptomatic of the rot at the heart of Stop the War Coalition is former chair Andrew Murrays article published in the Morning Star in October. A leading official in the anti-war movement, Murray blasted the West but didnt even mention Russias mass killing of women and children in Syria.

The coalition is, or was, one of the great people power, progressive social movements of the past half-century. It mobilised millions against the Iraq war. I was a supporter from the outset. I salute much of what the coalition has done and achieved since its formation in 2001. It has been right on foreign and military policy more times than successive British governments. But on Syria the movement has lost its way, big-time.

It pains me to say this: Stop the War Coalition has betrayed the Syrian people who protested peacefully for democracy in 2011 and have been massacred by Assad ever since. The principles of internationalist solidarity have been dumped. Responding to critics it its own ranks, the coalition belatedly, and somewhat mutedly, condemned the Assad and Putin bombing of civilians but has never organised a march against them. Indeed, although quick to demonstrate in opposition to any and all Western interventions, the coaltion has failed to even once rally against the military intervention in Syria by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.

Chris Nineham, STWC vice-chair, rejected calls to organise protests against Russia, saying his organisations focus is on what our Government is doing and that protesting Russia wouldnt make a blind bit of difference as to what Putin does. The organisation never offered that reasoning when alerted to US war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo. It rightly protested loud and clear.

The Syrian war has, so far, resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being killed and more than 11 million people being displaced, wounded, or tortured  most of them civilians. A staggering 11.5 per cent of the entire population have suffered injury or death. In what could be seen as a bid to deflect criticism from the Assad tyranny, STWC has portrayed Isis as the main threat to Syrians. This is nonsense.

The people of Syria are being denied a voice at anti-war rallies (Getty)

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), Assads forces were responsible for 96 per cent of the more than 180,000 civilian deaths, including more than 18,000 children, between March 2011 and November 2015. Isis certainly is murderous but it accounted for only 3 per cent of civilian fatalities, with 3 per cent of civilian deaths due to other military forces, including rebels and the US-led coalition. Youd never know this from reading the blogs on the STWC website.

An updated report last month by the SNHR documented that the civilian death toll since 2011 has now risen to 202,973, and that 188,729 of these fatalities can be attributed to Assads forces. This expose was dismissed by many coalition supporters as Western propaganda. Some smeared the SNHR as CIA stooges and agents of imperialism. The SNHR report also revealed that 86 per cent of the 23,863 children killed, and 88 per cent of the 22,823 women killed in the conflict, were murdered by the regime, which was also responsible for 99 per cent of the 12,836 deaths under torture.

In a survey of Syrian refugees in Germany, conducted by Syrian NGOs under the supervision of the Berlin Social Science Centre, 70 per cent said they fled Syria to escape Assad, not Isis. But the coalition prefers to shout against Isis.

The Russians, who ostensibly came to Syria to fight Isis have, in fact, massacred more civilians than the Isis terrorists. They are in Syria as an army of occupation, propping up a fascist regime; echoing the way the US intervened in Vietnam to sustain the Saigon tyranny. Russia is the new imperialist thug on the block, but the anti-imperialists of STWC look the other way and do nothing.

Echoing the we know best neo-colonial smugness of the Western establishment, STWC has refused requests to have Syrian democrats and left-wingers opposed to Assad speak at its Syria events; but it has offered a platform to Syrians Issa Chaer and Mother Agnes, who have respectively defended the Damascus regime and claimed that allegations of chemical attacks by Assads forces are fabricated. This perceived policy of exclusion was highlighted at the November 2015 STWC public meeting on Syria in the House of Commons, chaired by Diane Abbott. No Syrians were allowed on the speakers panel  at a meeting about Syria!

Some anti-war and anti-Assad Syrian democrats went to the meeting anyway, but were not invited to speak. When they eventually shouted out in frustration, they were jeered, and smeared by some as warmongers  falsely accused of wanting the West to bomb and invade. STWC stewards tried to eject them.

One of the invited speakers at that meeting was Tory MP Crispin Blunt. Although he said he opposed military intervention, he stressed that air strikes and troops on the ground would be necessary in the end to defeat Isis. In other words, he was ultimately pro-war and he later did vote for the UK bombing campaign. Despite favouring military intervention, he was given a Stop the War Coalition speaking slot but anti-war Syrian democrats were not.

When it came to questions from the floor, Green MP Caroline Lucas urged that the Syrians be allowed to speak. Her request was ignored. She later cited this suppression of Syrian voices as one of the reasons she ended her official role in the coalition. Near the end of the meeting, I personally appealed to Diane Abbott to let the Syrians have their say but she refused and closed the meeting early rather than allow the Syrians to be heard. Even if the coalition believed the Syrians were wrong, as a fundamental principle of democratic open debate, they should have been given a chance to speak.

BBC2s Daily Politics show later highlighted this silencing of Syrian voices by the coalition. Syrian democrats complain that the coalition always protests against Western intervention but has failed to support demonstrations against the Russian, Iranian and Hezbollah military interference in Syria, which has escalated the conflict and led to the rising civilian death toll.

Dwindling numbers of Syrians at marches are a consquence of the coalitions silence about the crimes of Damascus

In its defence, the coalition says its main purpose and effectiveness is to challenge UK Government war policies; to hold our own Government to account. I agree. But surely this does not preclude also protesting war crimes and tyranny by other parties to the Syria conflict. Cant they do both? Such consistency would give the anti-war movement greater authority and credibility  making it more impactful and effective.

Whats more, despite its claims to only back protests against the UK Government and not against the policies of other governments, the coalition has commendably supported demonstrations against the Saudi bombing campaign in Yemen, against President Sisis dictatorship in Egypt and against the Israeli attack on Gaza. It has also championed laudable causes completely unrelated to its anti-war remit, including the Refugees Are Welcome demonstration in March and the anti-austerity protests at Octobers Tory party conference.

Just last week STWC published a stinging critique of Louise Caseys report on integration and cohesion in Britain. It seems theyve got an opinion on everything, but are unwilling to campaign against Assad and Putins barbarities in Syria, which constitute some of the biggest war crimes since the US carpet-bombed Cambodia in the 1970s.

So why, exactly, is the coalition willing to rally against so many diverse injustices but not against those by the Syrian and Russian regimes? It has led many critics, including some on the left, to accuse them of collusion and being apologists. Perhaps these inconsistencies are one reason for the movements dwindling public support. The December 2015 Stop Bombing Syria national demonstration in London drew less than 5,000 people. This is much smaller than STWC protests a few years ago, which often ran from 20,000 to 100,000 people.

There were also significantly fewer Muslims present, prompting one coalition insider to confide to International Business Times that many Muslims were feeling alienated by an organisation that is perceived to mostly turn a blind eye to the Assad dictatorship and that has failed to actively campaign against the mass slaughter of Muslim civilians by his regime.

As well as systematically ignoring war crimes committed by Assads forces, STWC supporters have, to my face, misrepresented and dismissed the Syrian civil society opposition to Assad as jihadi extremists and imperialist cheerleaders.

They imply there are no democrats and left-wingers in Syria; erroneously depicting the conflict as being solely between Assad, US-backed Islamist rebels, Isis and other fanatics. This invisibilises and marginalises the non-violent, secular, democratic, local community and non-aligned opposition to Assads tyranny. These progressive oppositionists include the Local Coordination Committees, Planet Syria, the White Helmets and many other civic organisations based inside Syria who daily risk their liberty and life in defence of democratic and humanitarian ideals. They oppose both Assad and Isis but get no support or solidarity from the coalition.

Another tactic favoured by defenders of STWC is to defame groups like Syria Solidarity UK as US stooges, militarists and neo-cons  even though many of their members are anti-war, left-wing and anti-imperialist.

In the run-up to the parliamentary vote on air strikes in Syria last December, I wrote an article setting out why I opposed the push for war and David Camerons proposals to bomb Isis. I argued that far from stopping Isis attacks on the UK, as Cameron claimed, air strikes could provoke retaliation, making such attacks more likely. They also risked radicalising a new generation of Muslims in Britain and Syria, pushing them into the arms of Islamist extremists.

This did not stop STWC activists from later denouncing me face-to-face as a warmonger, bomber Tatchell and the mouthpiece of America.

Peter Tatchell campaigning for the Syrian Network for Human Rights

To substantiate this accusation, they misrepresented my call, which echoed that of democratic Syrian civil society organisations, for the UN General Assembly to use resolution 377A (Uniting for Peace) to override the Security Council to mandate no-bombing zones, civilian safe havens and humanitarian aid corridors.

They claimed these proposals would require bombing and this would make matters worse for civilians. In fact, this call is a bid to stop Assad and Putins bombing, which would save many lives.

STWC is rightly concerned about the civilian casualties that would ensue, and are ensuing, from Western bombing missions. I share that concern and oppose those missions. But the number of civilians killed by US-led coalition air strikes (at least 459 in 2014-15, according to the Airwars project), is dwarfed by the total of more than 200,000 civilians killed since 2011  the vast majority by the Assad regime.

Losing all perspective and proportionality, STWC organises demos against the US-led coalition forces responsible for the death of hundreds of people but not against Assad who has killed nearly 200,000. Nor does it rally against the Russian bombing campaign, with its indiscriminate use of illegal cluster and phosphorous bombs.

In the year to September 2016, Russian air strikes killed 3,264 civilians, including 911 children and 619 women  many times more than the number killed in the same period by the US-led coalition, which STWC ceaselessly protests against. Arent its protests somewhat one-sided and disproportionate?

For more than three years, and particularly during the Vienna peace talks in 2015, Syrian civil society organisations appealed to the US, Russia and the UN to agree to no-bombing zones to save civilian lives by marking out populated areas where air strikes would be forbidden.

STWC repeatedly rejected this appeal, arguing that enforcement of a no-bombing zone would result in civilian deaths. Yes. It might. But innocents are already dying in their thousands. Even Natos months of aerial attacks in Libya, which went beyond a no-bombing zone and are not a model to emulate, resulted only 72 confirmed civilian fatalities, according to Human Rights Watch (though the real figure was probably higher).

What is worse: no-bombing zones that could result in a couple of hundred non-combatants dying or the continuation of the current Assad and Putin attacks that have resulted in scores of thousands of civilian casualties? If no-bombing zones had been enforced three years ago, they would have by now saved many times more lives than may have been lost in their enforcement.

Writing in The Guardian, Lindsey German, convenor of Stop the War Coalition, remained adamant: The answer to the misery of the people of Aleppo... is not a no-fly [no bombing] zone, which in fact entails military intervention All that this will bring to the people of Aleppo is more suffering.

But this is not the view of Syrian civil society organisations, whose appeals STWC continues to arrogantly disregard. By not supporting no-bombing zones, this coalition is, by default, giving Assad and Putin a free hand to continue bombing civilian areas  a bizarre and, some would say, shameful stance for a supposedly anti-war organisation.

Stop the War Coalition failed to respond to multiple requests for an interview and/or comments in response to the accusations in this article.

For more info about Peter Tatchells human rights campaigns, to receive his email bulletins or to make a donation: Peter@PeterTatchellFoundation.org
The fund, believed by market sources to range from 50m-100m in value, would pump more cash into the economy for Irish businesses seeking to grow

British investment firm Business Growth Fund (BGF) is preparing an SME-focused fund in conjunction with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), the Sunday Independent understands.

The fund, believed by market sources to range from 50m-100m in value, would pump more cash into the economy for Irish businesses seeking to grow.

A spokesperson for BGF said the company was "unable to comment", while an ISIF spokesman said its policy was not to comment on "transactions that may or may not be under consideration until the transactions have been completed."

If the fund proceeds it would represent a foray into the Republic for BGF, which has already been active in the North.

"Backed by five of the UK's main banking groups - Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered - BGF is an independent company with up to 2.5bn with which to make long-term equity investments," BGF's website states.

The growth capital it provides is usually between 2m-10m for a minority equity stake and a board seat, the website says.

ISIF - managed by the NTMA - is an 8bn sovereign fund with a mandate to "invest on a commercial basis in a manner designed to support economic activity and employment in Ireland".

It recently made headlines for taking a 32pc equity stake in non-bank lender Finance Ireland for 30m. It has also invested in a 30m fund alongside BMS Finance to provide non-bank debt to SMEs, and a 60m fund alongside Causeway Capital Partners for "established SMEs in Ireland and the UK".
The furniture and home furnishings giant, which this week posted annual sales of 152m at its Irish operations, plans to open a customer service hub at its Ballymun store next May

Up to 30 jobs are to be created by Ikea at a new customer support call centre in Dublin.

The furniture and home furnishings giant, which this week posted annual sales of 152m at its Irish operations, plans to open a customer service hub at its Ballymun store next May.

A support office in Peterborough in England currently deals with UK and Ireland inquiries. Ikea Ireland market manager Marsha Smith said the company wanted to "increase the post-sales customer experience" for Irish shoppers.

"If you ring a contact centre you want to speak to someone locally, and you want to talk about the store you've just been in. If you phoned Ikea today you would get put through to Peterborough, so we wanted something more local," said Smith.

The Swedish company is Ireland's largest home furnishings retailer with sales here making it Ikea's fastest growing market in Europe. Sales increased from 132m in 2015 to 152.5m for the financial year ending in August.

Staff numbers increased by 110 during the year, bringing the firm's total headcount in Ireland to 663.

In September, Ikea opened an order-and-collection point in Carrickmines, adding to its flagship store in Ballymun.
Screen capture of Rayna (Connie Briton) and Juliette's (Hayden Panettiere) duet performance in 'Nashville.' (Photo : Youtube/ABC Music Lounge: Nashville)

It was just last May when the hit American television drama series, "Nashville," ended the fourth installment of its franchise. Since the fifth season of the show has already been confirmed, recent reports claim that there is a new character entering the series and a premiere special is set to air this December.



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According to Guide, the trailer of "Nashville" Season 5 revealed that a new face is going to enter the scene. Sources also said that the character will be named Clay and that he has been rumored to have a certain type of relationship with Maddie (Lennon Stella).



Moreover, it can be remembered that the finale of "Nashville" Season 4 ended with a cliffhanger regarding the uncertainty of Juliette Barnes's (Hayden Panettiere) survival, after it was said that her plane is having trouble while still on air.



In relation to that, the same report confirmed that Juliette will survive the plane trouble cliffhanger. It was said that the executive producers of the series, Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, already revealed the survival of the said character. Despite of that, it may take time before Avery (Jonathan Jackson) will know that Juliette has survived.



On the other hand, it can be recalled that ABC announced its cancellation of the series which left fans of the show disappointed. As a result, fans were reportedly launch a social media campaign for the revival of the series, which paved the way for "Nashville" Season 5 to be picked up by CMT. Reports also said that the cast of "Nashville" thanked the fans for their efforts for the show's revival, One Country has learned.



In regards to the release date of "Nashville" Season 5, it was already confirmed that the show will return on Jan. 5, 2017. The good news is that a 2-hour premiere special will be aired ahead of the scheduled date this coming Dec. 15.






ISME, which represents small to medium companies, has written a letter to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan raising concerns over a bank allegedly seeking signed, undated letters of resignation as collateral for a business loan.

The body has also raised the issue with the governor of the Central Bank and the The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE). The State has a "substantial equity stake" in the unnamed bank.

According to ISME, the directors who are members of the organisation, submitted to the request, but the organisation said it considered it to be "an intimidatory, extortionate practice". It sets out a series of questions in all of the letters.

In the letter to the Central Bank, it asked: "If the practice of requiring signed, undated letters of resignation as collateral for lending is consistent with the prudential requirements for credit institutions set out by the ECB."

In the letter to the ODCE, ISME asked: "If the practice of signing an undated letter of resignation as collateral for lending is consistent with a director's duties under the Companies Acts?"

It also asked where the directors of a company, willingly or unwillingly, have signed undated letters of resignation, is there an obligation on them to inform other creditors, or to note the fact in their statutory accounts.

"Does the ODCE consider this practice generally governed by the duty of disclosure?," it said.

The letters were issued in recent days and banks contacted by the Sunday Independent said that they could not comment without specific information in relation to the complaint.
Older members of Independent News and Media's defined benefit (DB) pensions schemes could see their expected retirement income maintained at up to 90pc of their restructured pensions under a counter-proposal offered by the company.

INM, which publishes independent.ie and the country's leading newspapers including the Sunday Independent and Irish Independent, has faced criticism amid claims that it was seeking to walk away from the defined benefit pension schemes, which the company's management says are unsustainable.

Without extra funding, plans to wind up the schemes would have seen future pensioners lose 30pc of their expected retirement income.

The pensions of hundreds of DB members had already been cut by some 40pc in 2013 when INM restructured its schemes.

Talks were held last Friday between management and the trustees who have asked INM to contribute 12m into replacement DB schemes and give special consideration to members aged 62 and over.

It is understood INM's counter-offer, though significantly less than the 12m sought by the trustees, would see the schemes fully funded, with 65-year-olds maintaining 90pc of their pensions, 64-year-olds 85pc and those aged 62 and 63 maintaining 80pc. The additional sums would also see younger members of the scheme maintain as close to their 2013 levels as possible, rather than the 30pc feared when the company announced it was no longer contributing to the plans. The board of INM meets on Thursday.

The company has refused to disclose details of the proposals or the content of the meetings held with the trustees. The trustees are due to meet with the Pensions Authority on Tuesday and it is understood that members of the schemes want to be fully consulted before any revised deal is agreed.

INM chairman Leslie Buckley led a stormy EGM last Monday where members of the schemes strongly opposed the passing of two resolutions aimed at cleaning up INM's balance sheet, allowing the group to resume paying dividends for the first time since the financial crisis.

The resolutions were carried overwhelmingly by investors including businessman Denis O'Brien (29.88pc stake) and Dermot Desmond, a 15pc shareholder in INM via his IIU Nominees vehicle.

The board is understood to be anxious to resolve the pensions issue following a turbulent week in which Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar said he would consult with the Office of the Attorney General to see if the Government could intervene in a forthcoming application by INM to have its capital reduction plan approved by the High Court.

Page 7 Business: Will INM pension decision spell more closures for schemes?
It could be a problem.

Dropbox's chief operating officer (COO) was talking about Irish universities' relative slippage in standards.

If you missed it, Irish universities have fallen down the international rankings almost every year for the past eight years.

Only one of the three most-quoted rankings bodies has any Irish college - TCD - in its top 100. And at 98, it has plummeted compared to its 47th ranking just a few years ago. (Another of the top three rankings has TCD at 224th.)

Aside from funding cuts that mean decaying campuses, the State won't let our main colleges pay competitive salaries or raise realistic fees from students. That can lead to some second-rate lecturers and researchers compared to elite rival institutions in other countries. That, in turn, can lead to less talented students from abroad. And that, in the long run, may lead to less interest from tech, science and pharmaceutical companies in setting up higher-end research facilities in Ireland.

Take a walk around an Irish university's facilities and you'll see what I mean. Some, such as Trinity, UCC and UCG, have pretty buildings and communal squares on site. But many parts of these campuses are drab or decaying. Audio-visual and IT equipment provided is often second-rate. Research labs are frequently basic. UCD's head of mechanical engineering Michael Gilchrist recently told an Oireachtas committee that some class experiments had to be repeated five times with students because of only one set of test equipment.

Whatever about grateful Irish students attending their local facility at a cut-price rate, little of this impresses high-paying foreign students. American students, in particular, don't have an appreciation for shabby chic over cutting-edge apparatus. And they like to have internationally-renowned lecturers or professors who are leaders in their field, not whoever will work for the State-capped salary.

Money would sort some of these problems out. But Irish universities seem shackled compared to soaring rivals.

This is the background to what the COO of Dropbox and I were chatting about at a networking event the company held in Dublin two weeks ago.

Companies like Dropbox are eternally, irrevocably attracted to countries with good universities.

Two months ago, I interviewed Microsoft's president Brad Smith. One of the main brakes on Microsoft pulling the plug on a post-Brexit Britain, he said, was Oxford and Cambridge. Microsoft, like so many other top companies, needs to be where the best emerging brains are.

For some reason, this basic economic dynamic isn't appreciated by Irish policymakers or the Irish public. Or if it is, it's wilfully subjugated to serve more immediate political goals.

Keeping fees down so that young people can qualify as basic engineers or accountants is still a far higher priority among Irish policymakers than enabling universities' facilities to create an elite class of graduates who might build things (and, thus, employ basic engineers and accountants).

It's a vicious circle that affects all of us in the end. It increases the likelihood of Ireland having to extend its reliance on tax breaks for multinationals to locate its customer support centres here.

Unfortunately, many policymakers don't rate an ambitious third-level ecosystem on a par with other things. Call centre jobs are just as good as research jobs to a great many ministers, politicians and commentators. And college fees staying capped at unrealistic levels is better for short-term political health than higher-achieving colleges and the economic halo around those.

We may as well admit that we have a cultural apathy to higher education, too.

So long as someone has a certificate - any certificate - in his or her hand, the State considers its role to be fulfilled. Many policymakers may still regard this as a huge achievement, thinking back to their own grandparents (or parents), who may not have completed second-level education.

Talk to these people about prioritising elite education systems and they'll shake their heads.

"Elite is a dirty word here," one university official recently told me. "It's only really acceptable for sport."

All of this is a touchy subject with universities and an even touchier one with policymakers. Officially, authorities point to the country's marketing logo: Ireland is a country with "an educated young workforce". But the next time you hear this uttered by a Government minister, IDA official or multinational vice-president, check the context in which they're speaking. It will almost certainly be against the backdrop of an investment announcement for junior or mid-ranking jobs. Those same jobs are almost always supplicant roles for the higher-end design jobs held by the company's main brains centre abroad. And that brains centre is usually close to some top university.

"There is a strong sense that the system is fundamentally broken," said Ned Costello, chief executive of the Irish Universities Association.

The recently-published Cassells report into education said an additional 600m - or up to 10,000 a student a year - was needed to get the third-level system back into competitive shape.

We're now at a critical juncture in public policy on this. Do we want to settle into mid-table mediocrity for good? Or can we get over our past to compete at the top?
A leading shareholder proxy advisor has recommended that investors vote against Gary McGann becoming the new chairman of the food group Aryzta over concerns about the number of directorships he holds.

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which issues advice for investors, raised McGann's workload in his role as chairman of Paddy Power Betfair. McGann is also non-executive director of three other listed companies.

Aryzta moved to allay concerns over McGann's directorships last month. A letter from outgoing chairman Denis Lucey to shareholders said that under Aryzta's articles of association, only three external public company mandates could be held. He said the issue would be dealt with "no later than six months" after the appointment. He said McGann was fully aware of the time commitments involved. However, in an updated alert, ISS did not change its recommendation.

ISS said: "Whilst it is recognized that McGann is an experienced director and former executive, there are concerns regarding McGann's potential workload and whether it would allow him to devote sufficient time to his mandate at Aryzta." It referenced the integration of Paddy Power and Betfair, although market sources said this was now completed.

"McGann would now be entrusted with overseeing a potentially difficult period at Aryzta... plus additional board work from other mandates," said ISS.

ISS said in a note issued after Lucey's letter that "considerable outside demands on the new board chairman would represent a governance risk for Aryzta, at least in the short term". It noted that in spite of this some shareholders might wish to support McGann's election at the Aryzta AGM on Tuesday.

Glass Lewis, another leading advisory, also flagged concerns, although on balance was in favour of the appointment. "We believe that the time commitment required by this combination of board chairmanship/memberships may preclude this director from dedicating the time necessary to fulfil the responsibilities required of a director, especially considering the extensive time commitment generally required of a FTSE 100 board chairman."

However, it said "we believe that shareholders will be able to make an informed evaluation of the appropriateness of Mr McGann's position on the board on a regular basis".

A spokesman for Paddy Power Betfair said McGann would continue to be chairman for the foreseeable future.
Every once-in-a-while, the marketing and advertising community gets a kick up the ass. And when it does, it's generally deserved. Most of the time the kick is administered by a regulatory body or organisation as a reminder that whatever marketing sleight-of-hand or advertising hocus pocus they are trying to foist upon consumers, it is either breaking the law or is not in keeping with the spirit of the self-regulated codes to which most marketing and advertising practitioners are obliged to adhere to.

In many cases, a rap on the knuckles will suffice and the offender, like a naughty school boy who has been caught smoking behind the bicycle-shed, promises not to do it again. But, as naughty school boys often do, they re-offend again and again. At some stage they will find that their ad or their piece marketing communications will not run in a newspaper or on TV. And in some cases, they can face fines. But that's why we have rules and codes. It's also one of the many benefits that comes with being part of the European Union, which has gifted us with a wide range of regulations aimed at protecting consumers from dubious and often overzealous marketing practices.

The simple rule-of-thumb test, according to the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI), is that all marketing communications should be legal, decent, honest and truthful. They should also be created with a sense of responsibility to both consumers and society at large.

It's more than fair to say, however, that the vast-majority of marketers and advertising practitioners - and the brands they work for - behave responsibly and ethically. Indeed, over the past number of years, a strong culture of compliance, policed by the likes of the ASAI, Copy Clear and even the Central Bank of Ireland, has developed within the wider marketing communications industry.

But in the marketing world, there will always be grey areas that are open to both interpretation and obfuscation as marketers and advertisers do whatever it takes to woo consumers by the subtle use of packaging, branding and marketing jargon - some of which bears no reality to what's inside the packaging, never mind some of the spurious claims that are being made about its provenance.

A case in point is Tesco's spat with the National Farmers Union (NFU) in the UK, which recently lodged a complaint with Trading Standards over the retailer's use of made-up British farm brands like Willow Farms, Boswell Farms and Woodside Farms. According to the NFU, the use of these British-sounding made-up farm brands is misleading consumers into thinking that they are buying British produce when in fact some of product came from the Netherlands and Denmark

The NFU also found that beef that originated in Ireland was being sold under the somewhat comforting and reassuring Boswell Farms brand.

For its part, Tesco is not about to blink any time soon, given that some of its other rivals have their own made-up farm brands.

Indeed, when it came to announcing its second quarter results in October, Tesco ceo Dave Lewis attributed some of the success of the group's turnaround to increased sales of these farm brands.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen what Trading Standards in the UK has to say, if anything at all, about the NFU's claims.

But this spat with Tesco will not have gone unnoticed this side of the Irish Sea where food manufacturers here have fallen under the spotlight after the Food Safety Authority (FSA) and the ASAI announced last week that they were calling for a halt to brands spuriously associating themselves terms like artisan/artisanal, farmhouse, traditional and - possibly the most-over used word in food manufacturing - natural.

A quick walk through the nation's shopping aisles will unearth a large number of brands that use these terms on their packaging and as part of their marketing message to consumers. Some of them can legitimately stake their claims to do so.

According to the FSA, "it is recognised that the marketing of food is essential for business development in the food industry and that marketing terms are designed to resonate with consumers.

However, when marketing terms are used incorrectly they have the potential to mislead. Consumers should be confident that the foods they buy are accurately and truthfully described and labelled".

The guidelines - which were arrived at after consultation with the food industry - set out strict rules about how these much-abused terms can be applied by food manufacturers, while they will also support the ASAI's own Code of Standards.

As any forensic linguist (this is not a made-up job) worth his or her organically-harvested salt will know too well the mere mention of words like farmhouse, artisans and traditional in food marketing conjures up reassuring images of idyllic and pastoral settings that could be plucked from a Thomas Hardy novel where everything that is produced is both wholesome and natural.

While some people can see through all of this for what it is - marketing baloney - there will be others who don't and this is precisely the reason why a robust, but fair, regulatory environment is needed.

Consumers, no matter how gullible or daft they may seem, need to be protected, not just from marketers or advertisers trying to pull a fast one, but also from themselves.
With less than two shopping weeks to Christmas, those leaving it late are in danger of being ripped off in the dash to buy gifts.

"Traders can make a lot of their money on last-minute shoppers because the person is trying to get something as quickly as they can," said Fergal O'Leary, member of the consumer and competition watchdog, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). "Some traders prey on the idea that people are under [time] pressure."

Last-minute shoppers are more vulnerable to scams and rip-offs because they often let their guard down in their rush to buy something. This can be particularly the case with online shopping - because threats, additional costs and other problems are often not as visible as they are on the high street.

Here are eight rules to stop your biggest online shopping spree of the year from burning a big hole in your pocket.

1. Get a Christmas delivery guarantee

Late delivery is one of the biggest problems you could run into if you have left it until now to order your Christmas gifts online.

Under EU law, an online retailer based in the EU can take up to 30 days to deliver something to you - unless the business has agreed to deliver your goods earlier. In the run up to Christmas, a number of retailers guarantee to deliver before Christmas as long as you order your gifts before a certain date.

"You don't have to pay for your goods if you don't get them before Christmas if the business had promised to do so," said O'Leary. "You don't have to pay to send the goods back either."

Some retailers, such as Next, even allow you to keep your goods for free if it promised to deliver them before Christmas - but failed to do so. Should you be planning to buy something from a website outside Ireland, you could have less than a week to get you get your order in if you want it to arrive before Christmas Day. Indeed, it may already be too late to order now for a pre-Christmas delivery.

So before you order something online, check if the retailer can deliver to Ireland before Christmas and ideally, choose one that is guaranteeing delivery before then. Be sure too that the item you're ordering is in stock.

With amazon.co.uk, you must order before either December 18 or December 20, depending on whether you're paying for delivery or not.

With dell.ie, the last order date for products that are 'ready to ship' (as opposed to custom-built computers) is December 16. You may have already missed the last order date if buying a laptop or desktop. Should you have been planning to order something on forbiddenplanet.co.uk, you've already missed the last order date for delivery to Ireland before Christmas. Tomorrow is the last date to order something from bookdepository.com - if the item is being dispatched from Britain.

Even where a store promises to deliver before Christmas, that guarantee will not usually apply if delivery is delayed by extreme weather or the unavailability of a courier. Some retailers state on their websites that they cannot guarantee delivery before Christmas even if you have your order in on time.

"Ultimately, a retailer can't fully guarantee that something will arrive before Christmas - there may be a problem with a logistics partner or an error in the delivery," said David Fitzsimons, chief executive of Retail Excellence Ireland. "But in the main, the vast majority of items will be delivered on time."

2. Check delivery costs

When ordering online, always check how much you will have to pay in delivery charges. An item might seem cheaper online than it is on the high street - until delivery charges are added on.

3. Beware 'copycat' sites

"Some websites are set up to look very similar to well-known sites - but they're 'copycat' sites," said O'Leary. "The URL might just have one letter different to the URL of the well-known site."

'Copycat' sites are fraudulent sites and so you'll typically lose money if you hand your card details over to them. "Don't put your credit or debit card details into a website without checking it out first," said O'Leary.

4. Use a price-comparison website

You won't have much chance to shop around if pushed for time so go to a site which has done it for you. Price-comparison websites such as pricespy.ie and compare.ie can quickly tell you where the best deals are - as long as the product you're after is on their website.

5. Beware the sterling exchange rate

The weak sterling has encouraged many Irish consumers to head to British online retailers for their Christmas shopping. You could however get caught out by movements in the sterling exchange rate should you have to return something you bought in the North or from Britain.

The European Consumer Centre (ECC) in Dublin has received a number of complaints from Irish consumers who have sought refunds for items bought from British online stores. "When they have gone to return the item, the refund offered was less than what they paid for it because of movements in the sterling exchange rate since they first bought it," said Martina Nee, spokeswoman for the ECC.

As the prices in British online stores are quoted in sterling, any refund will be offered in sterling too. Let's say sterling is weaker against the euro at the time you seek a refund than it was at the time you originally bought the product. You'll lose a bit of money when you convert your sterling refund back into euro if this happens because your sterling will buy you less euro than it would have at the time you bought the product. The inverse is also true.

There is little you can do to protect yourself against foreign exchange rate movements. However, if buying from a British online store, do what you can to avoid finding yourself in a position where you may have to seek a refund. Don't go overboard buying things you don't need - and only buy good-quality products.

6. Beware card charges

When buying within the eurozone, you'll be charged exactly the same as you would in Ireland to use your ATM, credit or debit card. However, you're charged more to use those cards if using them outside the eurozone - including in Britain and the North - and these charges can add up.

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7. Look for the CE mark

Inspect any products you have ordered online when they arrive in the post. Don't purchase any toys, electrical appliances, mobile phones or cosmetics unless you can find the CE mark. Otherwise, you could be buying an unsafe gift - and it could injure the individual you have bought it for.

The CE mark should appear on the product itself, in the instruction manual or on the packaging. Check the CE mark carefully as it could be a fake - and make sure too that you can find the manufacturer's name and contact details on or with the product. Avoid anything that looks very cheap online as that's an indication that it could be a fake.

"If you're seeing something going for half the price that it is anywhere else, you have to ask yourself if it is a fake," said O'Leary.

Counterfeit goods are illegal - and the Revenue Commissioners will seize any fake goods that it finds coming into the country. You will lose your goods and your money if this happens - and it is very unlikely that a vendor of fake goods will refund your money.

8. Know your tax

Be aware of the tax implications of buying online - particularly from a website which is based outside the EU. You usually have to pay 23pc Vat (value added tax) on the full value of the item if you order something online from outside the EU which is worth more than 22. Furthermore, if the item you order is worth more than 150, you will likely be hit with other import charges (such as customs duty and excise duty) as well. On top of the Vat and customs duty, you'll have to cough up a handling fee to An Post.
Teeling Whiskey is on a major recruitment drive as it expands on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Dublin-based distillery is hiring 10 staff for its visitor centre in the Liberties and is recruiting a team of six brand ambassadors for its sales and marketing division in the US.

The Irish-owned distillery, which manufactures four whiskey brands and a Spirit of Dublin poitin, operates a popular visitor centre at its headquarters on Newmarket Square that has attracted more than 90,000 visitors since it opened last year.

Founded in 2012 by Jack Teeling, the distillery now employs 55 staff and exports to 44 countries.

"We are looking at increasing our headcount by 25pc over the coming months following strong organic growth in our business," said Teeling, the company's managing director.

The 10 new staff being hired here will work in the distillery's visitor centre, gift shop, cafe, and events management department. Six new brand ambassadors will be added to Teeling's eight-strong US-based sales and marketing division.

"For us, in terms of our overall numbers, this is a big investment in the US market," said Teeling.

"But the US market is so huge and we need Irish people who are passionate and who can tell our story to the bars, restaurants and consumers to enable us to get where we need to grow."

Teeling Whiskey is being supported by IBEC's Export Orientation Programme which helps firms with international marketing and exporting.

Run by brothers Jack and Stephen, the entrepreneurial sons of industry veteran John Teeling, the founder of Cooley Distillery, located on the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth, Teelings' turnover at the firm more than tripled last year to almost 24.5m.

This was largely due to bulk whiskey sales to Great Northern Distillery, the Dundalk-based facility bought by John Teeling from Diageo two years ago.

Teeling Whiskey sold whiskey worth 1m to GND, enabling it to kick-start its expansion into supplying the secondary market.

Earlier this year, Teeling posted a pre-tax profit of 2.9m.
Saturday Night Live spoofed Conor McGregor for the first time this week and completely butchered his accent.

Comedian and SNL star Alex Moffatt played the UFC lightweight champion in a game show skit called Where'd Your Money Go, a twist on the US show Jeoprady.

Host Charles Barkley, played by Keenan Mitchell, quizzed the "ignorant millionaires" on how they spent their vast fotune.

Moffatt as McGregor was dressed in a faux mink coat as a nod to the Gucci fur McGregor wore at the UFC 205 pre-fight press conference last month in New York.

Mitchell as Barkley ribbed McGregor for his love of expensive suits and recent purchase of a $350,000 Rolls Royce. He told McGregor that he needed to get himself a Roth IRA (a special US retirement account with tax incentives).

"I've been in the IRA since Protestants moved into my neighborhood," Moffat as McGregor quipped in an accent that was somewhere between a fantasy west Cork and Kerry land with hints of Hollywood 'Oirish' and echoes of Darby O'Gill.

Later, Mitchell as Barkley calls Moffat's McGregor an "angry little leprechaun" after he provided an inappropriate answer to a question about a stripper.
Egypts parliament will discuss two new draft media laws in a plenary session on Monday, with the first aiming to set up a syndicate for workers in audio-visual media, while the second seeks to regulate media outlets in general.

The discussion comes after the two draft laws were revised by the State Council and approved in three hearing sessions by parliament's Media, Culture and Antiquities Committee last week.

Committee head Osama Heikal told reporters that the two draft laws will be debated in a plenary session on Monday after revision by parliament's constitutional and legislative affairs and the budget committee.

Heikal said that the first 89-article draft law aims to set up a syndicate for the first time for audio-visual media workers, especially in the field of television and radio.

The second law aims to create three regulatory bodies that will oversee all media outlets in Egypt.

According to Monday's schedule of debates, parliament will discuss two laws on the Syndicate of Egyptian Media People  the first drafted by the government and the second by 60 MPs led by independent deputy Tamer Abdel-Kader.

Also on Monday, parliament will discuss two laws on the Institutional Regulation of the Press and the Media.

The first 90-article draft law was prepared by a special commission composed of both independent and government-affiliated experts in media law, and the second was drafted by 101 MPs led by independent deputy and high-profile journalist Mostafa Bakri.

Heikal said that the draft law on the Syndicate of Egyptian Media People stipulates that all those who work in the field of television and radio channels, including TV anchors and directors, should be university graduates and have a proven record in television and radio media activities.

The syndicate will also be in charge of defending its members, improving their living conditions and drafting a code of ethics for all those who work in audio-visual media activities.

Once the legislation on the three media bodies is ratified by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and their board members are named, the committee will begin discussing the second law on media and press conditions, Heikal said.

If the law on the three media regulatory bodies is approved by MPs on Monday, the president will be expected to issue a decree within two weeks on the forming of their boards.

Each board will comprise 13 members; three of whom are to be selected by the president [including the board heads], says Article 32.

The three bodies would be the Higher Council for Media Regulation (HCMR), the National Press Organisation (NPO) and the National Media Organisation (NMO).

The NPO, according to articles 27 and 84, will replace the current Higher Press Council, taking charge of supervising state-owned press organisations. The NPO will also be responsible for selecting board chairmen and the editors of their affiliated publications.

The NMO will replace the current Radio and Television Union (RTU), and will be mandated with overseeing state-owned audio-visual media, radio, and digital media institutions in a manner that guarantees their independence, professionalism and profitability.

The NMO will also be tasked with reforming the giant Radio and Television Union and turning it into a profitable business.

The HCMR will regulate all media outlets, whether audio-visual, digital or print  whether public or private  in coordination with the NPO and the NMO, according to Article 1.

The HCMR will also take charge of licensing media outlets and drawing up a code of media ethics, with a focus on respecting public morals and national security concerns, by which all media organisations  public, private or partisan  must abide.

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Eva Ellis, manager of the ISPCA Longford centre, with some of the beagles Picture: Frank McGrath

We are standing in a muddy yard in Longford in the damp gloom last Tuesday, waiting for the arrival of some very special guests. Shortly before 4.30pm, an ISPCA van sweeps in. The back door swings open and several pairs of liquid brown eyes peer out from stacked cages. They're what we've been waiting for: 10 confused beagles shivering and crouching, smelling of excrement and vomit, on the cusp of a new life.

We coo. The dogs gaze back dolefully. One quivering creature squeezes himself as far back in his cage as he can, as though trying to disappear. Only one is brave enough to put his curious snout through the mesh of his cage, tail wagging.

Most have soiled themselves or thrown up on the three-hour journey from the medical research facility in Mayo that has released them to the care of the ISPCA's national animal centre. The travel sickness is normal, according to Eva Ellis, who manages the centre.

Not only have these dogs never been in a car before; they have never set paw outside the confines of the medical research facility where they were born and reared in concrete kennels in a controlled, indoor environment of 20 degrees, so that veterinary products for the domestic market could be tested on them.

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Likewise, they have never experienced sun, rain, wind or snow. This soft drizzly December evening marks their first exposure to Ireland's elements.

The beagles have come from the Charles River Laboratory, a US multinational with a plant in Glenamoy, although the ISPCA has declined to identify the facility. Dogs and cats were bred on site primarily for testing veterinary products, but in recent years animal campaigners have staged protests there. Earlier this year, Charles River announced that it was closing its Glenamoy facility and releasing the 350 dogs and almost 300 cats that remained onsite into the care of the ISPCA and Dogs Trust.

After weeks of preparations and negotiations - under the auspices of the Health Products Regulatory Authority - 30 dogs and 12 cats were transferred to the two animal welfare groups last Tuesday. Dogs Trust took 20 dogs while the cats and 10 dogs went to the ISPCA.

The 600 or so animals that remain at the facility will follow over the coming weeks and months.

The agreement between the research facility and the animal welfare organisations is unique in this country. Both Dogs Trust and the ISPCA hope that this project will set a precedent with other facilities here that use animals for testing.

It remains to be seen how the animals, bred in captivity, will adapt to the outside world and they will be monitored closely as they take tentative steps into their new lives. This lot shivering in the ISPCA vans on a damp Tuesday evening are the pioneers.

"It is a special day," said Eva. "They are absolutely delighted and they are delightful little dogs."

But there is work to do. The dogs and cats must be introduced to their new home. The cats are carried from the van in their cages. The beagles are carried one by one from the van to their new pen in the arms of ISPCA staff Kelley Hynes and Neil Leonard. They are carried because they have never been walked on a lead before, or even had a collar around their necks - another thing they will have to get used to.

These beagles are aged one and two years and were kennel mates at the research facility. When the last of the beagles is carried in to join his pals, the other dogs crowd around to greet him.

Most of them seem delighted with their new digs. They sniff furiously around the pen, noses to the ground and tails aloft.

Some of them slide around like puppies on the shiny tiled floor - a surface that's totally new to them. One dog discovers a fleece blanket in a corner and pads it gingerly with his hesitant paw before eventually settling himself on it.

When we humans invade their space, bellies are proffered for scratching and ears for tugging while one astute fellow crawls onto Eva's lap and stays there. Two or three hide themselves away in corners, shivering. These ones just need time to adapt, says Eva. "They have a lot to learn."

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The dogs and cats come to the ISPCA without names. They were identified by number at the research facility.

"That will be one of our tasks, to find them names," says Eva. Being the festive season, they end up being called Carol, Gloria, Dancer, Dazzler and Ebenezer.

In their past lives dedicated to research, the dogs lived in a quite sterile environment, in concrete pens, 10 hours of light and 14 of darkness every day. But they had small runs to exercise in and toys to play with.

"What we will do is, we will monitor them, we will assess them and split them up with other dogs so they are not dependent on each other and they will learn independence of their siblings or kennel mates, as they are introduced to other dogs," adds Eva.

The dogs will be gradually introduced to other breeds. All beagles, these dogs have never met another dog that is not like them, but they will eventually be matched up with confident, happy animals that they can learn from.

They will also be introduced to collars, harnesses and leads in preparation for their first 'walkies'. The pleasures that lie ahead include their maiden hike through the forests that surround the ISPCA centre.

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But that's at least a week away. "That is going to be a lot for them to learn and to observe and to get their little heads around. But it's all positive," says Eva.

In the feline zone, meanwhile, the cats are getting their heads around their terrace of glass houses equipped with slides, poles and toys and some luxurious-looking fabric.

They too are a little the worse for wear from their first car journey, and after casting curious eyes around their new abode, settle in to clean their soiled fur.

The ISPCA and Dogs Trust plan to find homes for all 650 or so retired lab animals. Most of the cats are expected to be rehomed in the UK with the help of the Cat Protection Society. The ISPCA hopes to find new homes for the beagles in Ireland.

Preparing the animals for a life of domestic bliss is another challenge. They have never clapped eyes on a sofa or a vacuum cleaner. As part of their transition therapy, the research facility worked with the ISPCA to recreate a typical human living space, complete with a large mirror so the animals can get used to seeing their own reflection, tables, chairs, a blaring television, a washing machine and even a rubbish bin.

The research facility was "very co-operative with us", says Eva, following ISPCA guidelines to try to socialise the animals.

It is hoped that they will be ready for rehoming after Christmas. Given their unique background, potential adopters must meet the ISPCA's strict criteria.

"Love and care is not enough. We need experience and patience and willingness to invest time and other resources into training and the highest standards of care," adds Eva.

In a statement this weekend, an ISPCA spokesperson listed the requirements: "We will need not only loving and caring homes for these animals but also experienced and patient owners.

"Hence we will be seeking experienced dog and cat owners, ideally owners with previous experience in adopting a rescue puppy/dog or a kitten/cat.

"In cases of dog adoption, we will prefer adopters with an existing confident house dog as the retired dogs have always been in the company of other dogs.

"We want to make it clear that we may not be able to rehome these dogs or cats to families with young children or busy households.

"Adopters will have to be willing to invest time into providing their new pet with the best standards of care including correct training and socialising where necessary," the statement says.

We leave the cats and dogs to bed in at the ISPCA centre on what is the first night of the rest of their lives.

Later we learn that the beagles threw a crazy party. Staff came around the next morning to find they had monstered all the toys and ripped the fleecy blankets to shreds.

By Friday they were pulling tinsel off the Christmas tree. Go guys.

They've done their bit for caninehood and catdom. We reckon they have earned a blowout. Happy Christmas.
Basic pay can rise by more than 25pc when overtime, unsocial hours payments, and other allowances are included (Stock picture)

The highest earning rank-and-file garda in the State trebled his pay last year - earning 62,996 in overtime alone. Another junior officer nabbed the second spot in the 'overtime league', topping up their salary by 51,141.

Third on the list was an inspector who had a salary boost of 50,587.

These new figures secured by the Sunday Independent show how the overall garda overtime bill has soared in the past five years.

In 2012, the figure was 41m - this had escalated to 71m in the first 10 months of this year. The large rise has resulted in an overtime pay bonanza for individual gardai.

A trawl through official records reveals the top 20 payments made to members last year totalled 931,582.

This means each garda took home, on average, an additional 46,580.

The top 20 individual payments range from 41,276 to 62,996. Figures also show eight rank-and-file gardai clocked up enough hours to share an overtime pot of 380,035. They topped up their pay by an average of 47,500 each.

Meanwhile, five inspectors stationed across the country shared 244,190 in extra payments, each adding an average 48,830 to their pay cheque.

Overtime is only payable to members at garda, sergeant and inspector rank. The massive increase in overtime has been driven in part by the extra resources deployed in Dublin to combat the murderous Kinahan-Hutch feud.

Much of the focus of the crackdown on gangland crime has concentrated on the north inner city area.

The bill in the Dublin Metropolitan North Central Division soared from 5.2m in 2015 to 8.2m so far this year.

Latest developments confirm security costs - and the resulting overtime bill - will continue to be high in the area for the coming months.

Just last week notorious criminal Mark 'The Guinea Pig' Desmond, was shot dead during a gangland gun attack in the capital. Gardai believe the murder may be linked to the Kinahan-Hutch blood feud.

In total, spending across the six Dublin divisions has increased by 8m in the past 12 months.

Outside of Dublin, gardai based in Louth have earned the highest amount from working additional hours, followed by officers stationed in Laois/Offaly, Mayo, Galway, Limerick, Donegal and Meath.

Basic pay can rise by more than 25pc when overtime, unsocial hours payments, and other allowances are included.

Members of the force are entitled to a number of additional payments depending on their grade and where they are deployed.

Salary on attestation after 32 weeks is 23,750. Gardai assigned to front-line duties and working a particular roster can earn various unsocial hours payments.

Such payments can amount to between 25pc and 30pc of their earnings. At the 25pc level, a garda's pay package is boosted by 5,937, bringing the total to 29,687. This is before overtime is factored in.

There are also payments such as uniform maintenance and boot allowance, to which new gardai may be entitled.

Following the recent round of negotiations in the wake of threatened industrial action, rank-and-file gardai have voted to accept a Labour Court recommendation on improved pay and conditions.

The Government estimates the deal will cost 50m.

Under the Labour Court proposals, rent allowance of around 4,000 will be increased by 500 per year because of the "evolving" rental market. The allowance, which was abolished for newer recruits some years ago, will be restored to them from that date, and will be integrated into the pay of all gardai, resulting in a boost to overtime and premium payments.
Irish Water has spent 5m on outside business strategists, lawyers, computer experts, public relations and finance specialists in the six months after the Government formally suspended the controversial charges, the Sunday Independent can reveal.

The revelation that the embattled utility has paid over 826,000 a month on consultants since May 1 - when it was effectively placed in limbo by the Government - will infuriate nearly one million people who have handed over 144m in water charges last year.

Those who paid their bills still have no idea if they will get that money back if charges are ultimately abolished.

Last night Fianna Fail's environment spokesperson Barry Cowen said legislation was urgently needed to ensure the utility was fully accountable for all money it spent.

The list of lucrative contracts includes an average monthly bill of nearly 3,000 for public relations services at a time when a major question mark hangs over the future funding of the company.

Documents reveal nearly 5m was spent on 'third-party' services from May 1 to the end of October this year. This includes 775,141 on 'business change' support services.

Ernst & Young was paid 406,268 for its expertise, while official records show accounting and consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers received 123,570.

Efforts to improve customer services supports also came with a hefty price tag, costing 774,848. It is estimated 32,285 is being spent every week to help improve and streamline customer services.

Ernst & Young also emerged a big winner, earning almost 486,000 for its expertise in the area.

Official records also show that hiring in legal expertise remains a major drain on resources - costing on average 56,800 a month.

In total, 340,830 was ring-fenced to cover costs in this area over a six-month period. Dublin-based legal firm McCann Fitzgerald was paid a total of 79,071 since the beginning of May. The next highest earner was Philip Lee, a specialist commercial law firm, who received payment of 71,438. Invoices for the services provided another law firm, Arthur Cox and Company totalled 45,410. Some 55,700 was allocated to covering the fees of a 'senior counsel', although records do not specify the reason for the expenditure.

PricewaterhouseCoopers received another separate payment of 68,000 for its "support on specific technical investment and engineering projects". A further 113,277 was spent to ensure the "highest standards of governance" in areas like business analysis, information security and data protection. And Murray Consultants, one of Ireland's biggest public relations agencies, was paid 16,866.

The expenditure comes against a backdrop of continuing uncertainty as to what approach will be adopted with customers who have already paid their water bills.

In a statement, Irish Water said it can require technical assistance and third-party support at any given time. Such expertise was not required on a permanent basis and therefore it was considered more "cost effective" to employ third-party specialists "as they are required".

A spokesperson said the use of third-party external service providers represents just over 1pc of its annual operational costs. A company spokesman said the relevant data covers the period of May 1 to October 31 this year.

This was on the basis the clause facilitating the suspension of water charges was contained in the confidence and supply arrangement - put in place at the beginning of May on formation of the Government.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Fianna Fail's environment spokesperson Barry Cowen said legislation was urgently needed to ensure the utility was fully accountable for all monies it spent.

He pointed out that the confidence and supply arrangement Fianna Fail has agreed with Fine Gael commits to retaining Irish Water as a national utility in public ownership. He said the agreement meant the company must be answerable to the Dail under a number of headings.

"We would have hoped that process would be complete by now, but it's obviously not, and it's something we'll be taking up with the minister, with a view to bringing forward relevant legislation to give effect to that."

He believes this would result in greater "transparency" in the operations of the utility.

The commission established to examine its future operations recommended that funding for the country's water infrastructure should come through general taxation - but that there should be charges for wasteful use.

A special Oireachtas committee will now also decide if those who did not pay previous water charges should be prosecuted.

Deputy Cowen says the party is keeping an "open mind" on whether those who use excessive amounts of water should be liable for some financial payment.

"The main thrust of the recommendation is that it is paid for out of general taxation, and we agreed with that analysis.

"But there are many questions outstanding," he said.

In a statement, Irish Water said "significant progress" had been made since the suspension of charges.

This includes "continuing the development of a single way of working for Irish Water as a public utility, to allow for a full transformation of services to the utility from local authorities.

"This is an enormous undertaking.

"We have developed new systems for local authorities to report vital information on operations, leakage, water and waste water quality to us electronically and in real time in a standardised and consistent way".

These and other projects had required "specialist support", but would have a "lasting significant value" for Irish Water as a utility.
Fine Gael deputy leader James Reilly has warned colleagues against electing a "flashy" leader to succeed Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

In comments perceived by some party members as an attack on Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar's leadership ambitions, Mr Reilly said: "People have a had a very painful experience of flashy leadership in the past.

"There is no substitute for hard work and honest endeavour and that is what Enda Kenny has brought as Taoiseach, and he still delivers," the Fine Gael senator told the Sunday Independent.

Responding to Mr Reilly's comments, a Fine Gael Cabinet minister suggested that they were aimed at Mr Varadkar. "You certainly wouldn't describe Frances Fitzgerald or Simon Coveney as flashy," the source said.

A number of senior Fine Gael figures moved to support Mr Kenny after this newspaper revealed Mr Varadkar had been assured of the support of more than 30 parliamentary party members ahead of the leadership campaign. Buoyed by a surprise rise in his personal popularity in a national opinion poll last week, Mr Kenny's supporters insisted there should be no pressure on him to step aside to make way for a successor.

Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan told the Sunday Independent people "underestimate" Mr Kenny's standing among other European leaders and said his EU connections will be essential during Brexit negotiations.

"With Brexit I spend a lot of my time in other countries, and particularly in the matter of Brexit I see first hand on a daily basis the esteem and respect with which Enda Kenny is held. In the context of Brexit, esteem and respect are two really important attributes," Mr Flanagan said.

Mr Kenny's leadership has come under pressure after it was reported in this newspaper that senior ministers were discussing the prospect of him stepping down next summer. There is concern that Mr Kenny will not quietly resign, but rather he will have to be removed through a heave.

Last week, however, senior party figures were for the first time suggesting the possibility of the Taoiseach fighting on as leader for a third term, due to the uncertainty around Brexit and the rise in Mr Kenny's personal support.

"It would be difficult for anyone to move on him if his popularity keeps increasing," a source said.

One Cabinet member pointed out that neither Mr Varadkar or Mr Coveney had spent time at high-level EU summits and were not known by key European leaders involved in the Brexit negotiations.

Mr Coveney is becoming increasingly isolated among colleagues, with many wondering who would support him once the campaign officially begins. Several Fine Gael TDs last week questioned whether anyone in the party had pledged to back him for the leadership.

Many party members are disappointed with the minister's handling of both the water charges debacle and the housing crisis. He is also struggling to put his stamp on his much-hyped rental strategy, which is due to be published next week.

Government sources said Mr Coveney has not been able to convince the Department of Finance that elements of his strategy will not negatively impact on the rental sector, and Fine Gael TDs are also wary of his rental plan.
Bernadette Scully (58) of Emvale, Bachelors Walk, Tullamore, is charged with the manslaughter of her daughter, Emily Barut (11). Photo: Collins Courts

A jury of seven women and five men will determine the guilt or innocence of Bernadette Scully, the 58-year-old general practitioner accused of the manslaughter of her profoundly disabled 11-year-old daughter, Emily Barut.

Ms Scully, on trial at the Central Criminal Court, is charged with unlawfully killing Emily at their home at Emvale, Bachelor's Walk, Tullamore. It is alleged that she killed her by an act of gross negligence, involving the administration of an excessive quantity of the sedative chloral hydrate, on September 15, 2012.

She has pleaded not guilty.

Monday

The jury of 12 and presiding judge Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy heard evidence of statements Ms Scully gave to gardai when she was arrested, in which she said she did not make a conscious decision to take her daughter "out of this world" when she gave her too much sedative.

Inspector Ger Glavin of Portlaoise Garda Station testified that he arrested Ms Scully on April 7, 2014, and she was interviewed four times that day.

The trial has heard that Emily had severe epilepsy, as well as microcephaly and cerebral palsy.

She had the mental age of a six-month-old, and could not move or speak.

Ms Scully explained to gardai that Emily had been in a lot of pain for the last two weeks of her life, after having a procedure to replace the tube into her stomach through which she received fluids and medication.

She said she had given her daughter chloral hydrate when she became upset at 2am and 6am, and had given it again when she had an "unprecedented" seizure around 11am.

It was just the two of them in the house as her partner was attending her nephew's funeral.

"My whole aim had been to keep her alive and keep her going," she said.

She told gardai that she had never given that much chloral hydrate before and accepted she had given too much.

"What was I to do, stand there and watch her fit?" she asked.

She said 'her little lips went blue' when she gave her the final syringe.

"I'm not sure how long it took. It seemed like an eternity," she added.

"My hands were shaking," she said. "I took her up in my arms and she died in my arms."

It was put to her that she was relieved when it was over, but she said that's not how she felt.

"I wanted to go with her. Even to this day, I didn't want her to be on her own," she said.

"At the time, I didn't stop to think," she said. "I had nothing else to give her."

Tuesday

The defence cross-examined Insp Glavin.

Kenneth Fogarty SC, pointed to other possible contributors to her death mentioned in the post-mortem report. These included two of her illnesses and inflammation of the lungs.

"Were the investigators' minds closed off to other possibilities?" Insp Galvin was asked.

Insp Glavin said that consideration had been given to other possible causes of death, but that "there were excessive amounts of chloral hydrate administered".

He said the full post-mortem report had been put to the accused in interview, and that Ms Scully had "ample opportunity to highlight any other issues as to cause of death."

"The gardai did not enter the interview room blinkered as to chloral hydrate being everything. As an investigator and interviewer, I could not ignore the figures Dr Scully produced during interview and also the figures produced in the toxicology report."

Wednesday

Ms Scully gave evidence questioned by her own counsel. She testified about her earlier life before the birth of Emily. She had married a doctor in 1986. "It became apparent during the course of our marriage that he was homosexual. I had got married in good faith. He was working in the practice as well and it was very difficult," she said. The marriage was dissolved.

She was later introduced to her second husband and they had Emily together. However, that marriage broke down in 2003 and she was left with his gambling debts and a 1m Revenue bill.

She testified that she had had IVF treatment and suffered two miscarriages before becoming pregnant with Emily.

Emily didn't cry when she was born but the doctor told her she had a lovely, quiet, baby girl. Emily had difficulty feeding and when she was two weeks old, she fell asleep and wouldn't wake up. Ms Scully drove her to hospital in Dublin as her husband didn't drive.

She said she fell into the arms of the doctor she met in Crumlin and began crying.

Measurements were taken and tests carried out.

"The doctor told me: 'She'll have severe mental retardation. She'll probably develop epilepsy. She may not walk. She may not talk. She may have difficulty hearing'. This all just came out just like this. He said a few more words and he just left," she recalled.

She was asked about the hours leading up to Emily's death on that Saturday.

She said she had been off work for six months, but had recently returned to work.

She said that Emily went to sleep around nine that night and Ms Scully went to sleep in the bed beside her around 11 or 12.

"She woke at 2am, upset, crying. It was building up to a crescendo," she recalled. "I got her in beside me, massaged her, walked around a bit with her She liked to have her head in my chest."

She said she couldn't settle her, and she was beginning to cry louder and louder.

"I said I'd have to help her rest," she said.

She said she didn't want to give chloral hydrate, which she kept for emergencies, without having tried other things. She said she gave it to her at that stage and Emily fell asleep.

She explained that she had given her a 10ml syringe, holding one up in the witness box.

"I didn't sleep after that. I cried. I just felt so sorry for the poor little thing," she said. "It was hard to sleep when she'd be in beside you but she just needed warmth."

She said that Emily was whimpering in her sleep and woke again around six, and was really upset.

"She was sort of stiffening a little as well. You might have said she was fitting at the same time," she said. "She was crying and distressed."

She said that on that night the cry was like that of a baby with colic, who couldn't be consoled.

She said she did all the ordinary things again to try to comfort her.

"Ordinary things didn't do anything for Emily. They wouldn't stop it. The consultants couldn't stop it," she said. "I gave her some more chloral hydrate. I think it was about 7mls."

Ms Scully said that she herself had been crying.

"I wasn't able to help her," she said. "I could cure everybody else and I couldn't help Emily." She said that some time after 11am, Emily started to cry loudly again and she had again tried to comfort her.

"It was just relentless," she said. "You'd have a pain in your brain. I was so tired, I thought, 'what else can I do?'

"She let out a really odd shout out of her. Her little body arched back," she said. "She really started to stiffen and jerk. The bed was shaking. That wasn't normal for Emily."

She said she was subconsciously ticking off all the medicines she couldn't give Emily because she couldn't tolerate them. She said she remembered what a consultant had said about chloral hydrate being an anti-convulsive, as well as a sedative.

"It wasn't a normal fit. Her little face was contorted. I didn't know what was going on."

She said she would usually have someone with her when giving chloral hydrate but her partner had gone to her nephew's memorial service.

"I took the bottle with me and I gave her 10mls and waited a few minutes," she said. "The seizure continued all the time. You'd think it's an eternity."

She said the medicine didn't change it.

"That's what really panicked me," she said. "After a few minutes, when it was still going, I gave her some more."

She said she thought she gave 5mls at that stage.

"Everything went quiet and her little lips went blue on her little face," she said. "I just took her up in my arms and I just held her and it was just so quiet. I knew she wasn't breathing. I said: 'Em, please don't go'."

She said they had always been together.

"She was part of me. We went everywhere together. She was the little baby I always wanted," she said. "I knew what resuscitation was about and Dr Sheridan had said to me years ago about Emily not being for resuscitation," she said. "Her life was miserable at times, but we did have some lovely times."

She said that when her daughter was gone, she told her she was coming with her.

"I fixed her hair and I put her Padre Pio medals beside her," she said.

"Something just happened in my head. I could not let Emily go somewhere else and suffer somewhere else without me being with her to help her," she said, describing two failed suicide attempts after Emily had passed.

Her barrister, Kenneth Fogarty, SC asked about a suicide note Ms Scully had written that day.

He said that, on one reading of it, it might appear that it had come into existence before Emily's death. She said it had not.

"I loved that child more than life itself," she said. "That letter did not come into existence until afterwards."

She said she was single-minded after Emily had passed. "I needed to get to wherever Emily had gone," she explained.

Thursday

The prosecution began the cross-examination of Ms Scully and she repeated that her daughter had a massive fit after 11am.

"So, you decide you need to do something to stop this fit?" asked Tara Burns SC, prosecuting.

"I was standing there with her, not there with my logical medical head on me," she replied. "I was working with my emotional mind, as a mother, looking at my baby, thinking 'I am going to have to stop this fit'."

She said that chloral hydrate was the only anticonvulsant she had.

"If you're in a hospital, you don't have that emotional contact that I have with my Emily so you're not standing back and thinking," she said.

Ms Burns questioned her about the aftermath of Emily's passing, when she wrote a suicide note and made two attempts to take her own life.

"Can I suggest to you that the reason for that action was an acknowledgement by you after Emily's death that you had been a cause of her passing?" she asked.

"I wasn't the cause," Ms Scully replied. "I did not cause Emily's death. It's so hurtful to hear that."

She said that she and her daughter were 'just tied together', that she had slept beside her all her life.

It was put to her that she had accepted that she had given her too much chloral hydrate in her voluntary statement to gardai.

"I gave Emily too much in relation to what I normally gave her," she replied. "I would not normally give two doses in one sitting. That's what I meant by that."

Ms Burns suggested that her actions afterwards supported a proposition that she had felt responsible for Emily's death.

"No I didn't. I wanted to go with Emily," she said. "Emily came before anything in my life."

The barrister then asked her to explain two portions of the note: "If anyone thinks I'm awful for doing this, you should have listened to poor little Emily crying the last eight days. I love her dearly, Bernie," she read from the envelope in which the note was found. "I meant, if anyone thinks I'm awful for killing myself. I'm talking about as the doctor, who was working with people who had committed suicide and I was letting them down," replied Ms Scully. "I was very distressed after seeing her suffer so much and I couldn't save her. I wanted to save her." Ms Burns then read from the letter: "I do not want to die. I can not let Emily's suffering continue. I can't watch it any longer. The pain is too big, the struggle each day is too hard, the loneliness and isolation too much."

Ms Scully said she meant that she couldn't let Emily's suffering continue elsewhere.

"I can not watch this world without her. The loneliness and isolation would be too much without her," she added. "I did not have my thoughts clearly organised on paper." Ms Burns noted that she had an absolute love for Emily and had attempted to have her treated with dignity during her life.

"Your conduct after the event doesn't seem to equate with a respect for Emily in terms of letting her peacefully pass," she suggested, however. "There instead seems to be, by your actions, an acknowledgement that this is laid at your door."

Ms Scully didn't agree.

"I had lost my reason for living. I had lost my Emily," she said. "I left Emily in my bed where she wanted always to be." She said Emily was always happiest in that bed, on her chest.

"I laid her peacefully on my bed," she continued. "I did not want to go on. I did not want to live after Emily was gone.

"I had this beautiful little baby. She was like my little bird with a broken wing. My job was to protect her, and not just medically; as her mother," she said. She said they had suffered so much at the hands of services that were not there.

"We were forced back into our little shell," she said. "I created a little world at home for her. It was her beautiful little world."

Friday

The jury heard evidence from a private nurse specialising in disabilities, who said Dr Scully had provided a level of care that was "100pc plus" for Emily.

Noreen Roche, with 40 years of nursing experience, visited Dr Scully's home on June 29, 2009 at the request of a solicitor in relation to a family law case and had observed her caring for her daughter.

Ms Roche observed that Dr Scully was "hassled, anxious and run off her feet" from caring for her daughter and working four days a week as a GP, and received 29 hours a week of care from the health service, but she was unsure of this continuing due to cutbacks. She said Emily was one of the most profoundly disabled cases she had come across and that she had wondered if the quality of her care had assisted in her survival.

The jury will return on Tuesday to hear closing arguments.
Thalia Heffernan says she gets jealous looking at pictures of fellow models Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner. Photo: David Conachy

She arrives, shaggy-haired, in biker boots with no makeup. In her down time, Ireland's most sought-after model, Thalia Heffernan (21), shirks high-octane glamour - opting instead for natural curls, flat shoes and jeans.

It comes from years of altering her image for her line of work.

"I am dressed up every day of my life to suit a client. What they want me to look like," she said. "I am lucky, because I am young I can be quite a chameleon."

Having started as a teen model at 15, she was "thrown into the deep end of the adult world" and her youth brought its own issues to negotiate.

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"I was doing bridal wear at 15," she says, "and I can almost do child's wear still. So I constantly jump between characters."

In her teens, it led to a period of uncertainty - a confusion in her own sense of self.

"I have had an identity crisis a few times where I was going from school to work and showing up in my school uniform, and then being put in a pair of heels and a dress to perform, or to do what the client wanted me to do. Then I would be getting back into my uniform to go home.

"So if my friends asked me to go for dinner, I wouldn't even know what to do with myself. For a long time I was very basic with what I wore. I kept it quite comfortable and I think now, since I turned 21, I've started to develop my own style."

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Asked how it felt to dress in bridal wear and take on the guise of an older woman while still in her teens, she says: "I didn't process it at the time. I fell into it quite naturally and quite luckily and quite easily. But yeah, I am finding it more difficult now, looking back on myself. When you scan through old photos, it stuns me. I look at a picture of myself when I was 15 and then I will look in the mirror now - when I have no make-up on and I look older [in those photos] than I do now." But she says, "I really don't think it angers me, I think it's more so that I have always had a problem with the whole industry being false. I think it's very apparent that doing bridal at 15 - not many women are going to look the way I looked the way I did when I was 15, in their wedding gown."

It's one of the reasons her opinions have become stronger in recent times. Only hours after the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was televised, Thalia posted a piece about the impact the world of fashion has on women who are trying to emulate what they see.

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On the morning after the event, she was scrolling through the photographs and thought: "You know what? I feel like I am not good enough looking at these pictures - how do young girls feel who aren't in the industry?"

The post made headlines around the world and sparked a huge reaction from fans.

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She explained: "I look at photos and I get jealous, I am not going to lie. I look at beautiful people like Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner and think, 'God, I wish I could be like them', and then I have to remind myself that I will never be like them and I don't want to have to change myself to be like them, but I am the only person who can be me and that's what everyone should be saying. Once you're happy in yourself, happiness will then come. And I am still learning that."

She says: "The society we live in, sadly, is one that tells us you aren't good enough unless you do this or look like this - '50 ways to improve your sex life' - all that kind of pressure. There is so much expectation on young girls - and boys and men and women of all ages. I guess I do really feel a responsibility to stress I don't look like I do in those photos."

She added: "I am telling you I have lots of problems in myself and I am happy to openly admit that... and I can guarantee that the girls in [the] Victoria's Secret [show] all have the same in their own way."

Although now one of Ireland's most in-demand models, she has recently been through tough times, having been out of work due to an underactive thyroid gland. And although working out and eating healthy, she gained two stone before the condition was diagnosed. "To be honest, I was incredibly upset. I didn't want to leave my house, I didn't want to do anything. And because of my job, it was incredibly difficult. I couldn't work and - when I did work - I didn't feel good. I had to take a hiatus for a while to figure out what was going on," she said.

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Now back on the front covers of magazines and recently unveiled as the new face of make-up brand Flawless, she is also newly single after splitting from Dublin graffiti artist Maser.

She says the one word she would use to describe what she has learned about love is that it is "bittersweet".

Maser, who created the hugely popular 'Repeal The 8th' image, hit headlines recently when he flew to Iceland with Vogue Williams, his ex-girlfriend of five years, shortly after the break-up with Thalia.

Vogue, who has stayed friends with the artist ever since they broke up - posted a number of photos on social media during their trip.

Asked how she felt about it, Thalia said: ''Well I am a human being - that's all I am going to say about it.''

She added: "Like I said, bittersweet. With love comes pain as well, so that's just that. You have to accept that if you are willing to fall in love, pain is going to come hand in hand. When you have something, you have to cherish it, but with everything comes good and bad."

A photo posted by ThaliaAngelHeffernan (@thaliaheffernan) on Sep 15, 2016 at 1:14pm PDT

In recent months she has started a course in animal psychology and this weekend she adopted a dog named Bowie from the DSPCA after it was abandoned in a field in a cardboard box.

"I cried yesterday in the shelter at the thought of what some people can do... there is such innocence with animals... there is nothing quite like looking into the eyes of an animal and feeling the love [resonate] from them.''

Now busy rehearsing for RTE's Dancing with The Stars, the model says she wants to show people her real self. She added: "I am going to rehearsals with no make-up on and show people the real me as opposed to the photo-shopped, edited version they are used to."

A photo posted by ThaliaAngelHeffernan (@thaliaheffernan) on Nov 16, 2016 at 8:46am PST

Her other motivation for doing the show is to motivate young people to follow their dreams. "I want to show people you don't have to be any age to follow your dreams. I am doing the show to show young people they can grab life with both hands. Hopefully I will be a good role model."

RTE's 'Dancing with the Stars' starts on RTE One on January 8
Media stories involving deer are rare. There have been a couple recently. They don't usually have happy endings like Rudolph, who went down in history because of his nose!

I have a boyhood memory of a stag exhausted by the chase, escaping and standing hidden and trembling amid the dense brush and rubble of an ancient burial ground. Earlier, as men, dogs and horses trotted along, I had opened a field gate for them to pass. The clink of metal meant a 'tanner' or two for my services.

On my way home past the graveyard, I disturbed the deer which crashed through into an open field, antlered head held high towards the only visible exit, a tunnel beneath a railway bank. This open mouth led to a lane which beckoned onwards towards the tang of the sea. By now the huntsmen had long galloped in another direction.

The stag reached the foreshore and entered the water and began swimming towards a cluster of rocks occupied by a gathering of great black-backed gulls (old men of the sea), but could not find a foothold. It swam on, not back towards the shore, but towards other rocky outcrops on which there would be no footing. I felt that, exhausted, this would inevitably end in its watery demise.

My mother thought otherwise.

She felt the stag might have gone out of sight round a headland and have come ashore. I wanted to believe her.

The hunters' objective was to have cornered and captured the stag and returned it to the hunt deer-park. For some years now, this practice has been illegal. Deer have been hunted in Ireland since earliest times - antler bone pins have been found at Neolithic sites - but the Normans put their military stamp on it in the 12th Century when they brought their own spotted breed to join the native reds on the hills.

The Celts held the stag in high esteem as lord of the forest for its nobility, swiftness and strength. Its branching horns or points being regarded as symbols of the fertility of the forest itself. The shedding and regrowth of the antlers was equated to the natural cycle of death and regeneration.

There are three species of deer in Ireland - the native red (rua fia), fallow (fia bui) of the Normans (best known as the herd in the Phoenix Park) and the smaller sika, introduced to the Powerscourt Demesne from Japan in the mid-19th Century. There is some hybridisation, oddly enough, of the sika and native red (which is as big as a pony).

Stag antlers are variable ,and the number of points, from around eight to 40 depending on the size of the animal, are not age calculators, but the antlers get smaller as the animals age. Weekend countryside ramblers sometimes pick them up as souvenirs - as do red squirrels.

A Scots photographer of Highlands wildlife stumbled on this fact, and found the squirrels liked to chew on the bone. He tied an antler near a nut feeder for some covert camera shots and caught them gnawing away. It's the calcium content, apparently. Field mice also fancy a nibble - as do the deer themselves.
Rory O'Neill, famous for his drag queen persona Panti Bliss, boarded at Gormanston College in Meath during the 1980s. The all-boys school was founded by the Franciscan order.

"In boarding school it was a case of survival of the fittest," he tells Review. "For me, personally, it quite suited me. I was an independent kid and I was never homesick.

"I got on well with the bad boys and I got on well with the swots. There was nothing to mark me out. I wasn't ginger-haired or buck-toothed or fat.

"There were other boys who should never have been there, because they were bullied horribly every day of their lives. They had a miserable time."

Rory was at Gormanston during the time of Father Ronald Bennett. The priest acted as bursar of the school and was later sentenced to jail for indecently assaulting boys at the school.

"He was abusing boys and we all knew about it. The idea that nobody knew about it is bullshit. We talked about it and made jokes about it. You think it's part and parcel of what happens.

"He never touched me. I was a mouthy, independent kid, and abusers are probably wary of the type who would tell anybody.

"Because Fr Ronald was the bursar, you had to go to him if you ever needed money. The other bizarre thing about it is that he was the guy in charge of sex education. Twice a year in first year and twice a year in second year, every student had to go to his office for a private sex talk."

O'Neill says the school broadened his horizons after he came from his home in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo.

"I have no regrets about it and I think my parents made the right decision. It suited my temperament. You need to be a social personality to get on at boarding school. If you are a quiet loner, it is probably not good for you.

"You need to have social skills, and at that age - 12 or 13 - a lot of kids don't have them. Sometimes I wonder if it made me too independent. People sometimes say that about me.

"Gormanston wasn't a horror show. A modern kid might find the conditions spartan, but to me they were fine.

"There were plenty of nice people working there and Franciscans are relatively civil.

"Most of them were decent people. They weren't cruel to us, but having to look after 500 boys in an enclosed space is an almost impossible task."

At the time, Rory was not openly gay, and says he was very slow understanding his sexuality.
This is the third explosion this week; the previous two blasts targeted security personnel

Twenty-three people were killed after an explosion inside a church attached to the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo early Sunday, one of the deadliest attacks on Egyptian Christians in years.

Minister of Health Ahmed Emad said another 49, most of whom are believed to be Copts, were injured in the blast that took place in Abbassyia district near downtown.

"Twenty-nine people were discharged from hospitals after receiving treatment. Three people are still in a critical condition," the health ministry said in a statement.

A bomb went off in the small church of St Peter and St Paul (El-Botroseya), the Coptic Church's spokesman Rev Paul Halim told Al-Ahram Arabic news website.

The church was built in 1911 on the tomb of Boutros Ghali, who was Egypt's prime minister from 1908 to 1910.

The blast occurred in the church's ladies section, according to local media. The St Mark Cathedral was left undamaged.

"The explosion was caused by a 12 kilogramme TNT bomb," a security source told state news agency MENA.

Security forces have blocked the main roads surrounding the cathedral.

Hospitals where the injured are being treated, including Dar El-Shefaa and Ain Shams University Hospital, have called for blood donations, while calls on social media for people to donate have gone viral.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing so far. Islamist groups are waging an insurgency against the Egyptian state in North Sinai and sporadic attacks have occurred in Cairo and other governorates since Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was toppled in mid 2013.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said that the country will observe three days of mourning following the explosion.

"More united"

"Terrorism targets the country's Copts and Muslims... Egypt will only be made stronger and more united in such circumstances," President Sisi said in a statement.

He vowed to hold accountable the assailants and put on trial all who have "incited, facilitated or participated" in the terrorist attack.

The president described the Sunday church attack  as well as the Friday blast in Giza that left six policemen dead  as part of "a war against the great Egyptian people."

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his "shock and grief," particularly given the high number of women and children among the victims, Russian media said.

Al-Azhar, the world's oldest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, condemned the "terrorist attack that occurred this morning in the Saint Mark Cathedral in Abbasiya, which led to killings and injuries."

"Targeting houses of worship and the killing of the innocents are criminal acts that violate Islamic principles," Al-Azhar said in a statement.

Al-Azhar expressed full solidarity with the Egyptian Church and Egyptian Copts in the face of "terrorism."

The statement also expressed condolences to Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II, to the families of the victims, and to all the Egyptian people, wishing a speedy recovery of the injured.

A church source told Al-Ahram that Pope Tawadros II has cut short his visit to Greece, and is on his way back to Cairo "to directly go to the location of the explosion."

After the explosion, dozens of Coptic and Muslim protesters gathered at the cathedral, chanting against the attack on the church in a show of both anger and unity.

The number of protesters increased on Sunday evening to several hundreds, with a group of them performing Coptic prayers near the site of the blast.

"Not worried"

"We are not worried; our churches are open and prayers are continuing as normal. God is here for us," said Amira, who lives close to the protest site.

Waheed El-Attar, who has owned a medical supply shop adjacent to the church for over a year, says that despite the bombing, "Egypt is safe compared to a lot of countries."

Some protesters demanded the resignation of the interior minister, accusing him of dereliction, while others attempted to remove the cordon barricades around the cathedral, which led to minor skirmishes with security forces.

"I do not think todays attack was targeting Christians. It is part of a series of terrorist attacks. There are [security] shortcomings," said Hani, a truck driver and brother of one the people injured in the blast.

Hani said that although his brother was wounded in the attack, he did not sustain any serious injuries.

"My brother called us on the phone crying [after the explosion] and asking for our help." Hanis brother was in the area to apply for a job, but headed to the church afterwards.

"My brother entered [the church] through the front doors without undergoing a security check. I will be staying [at the protest site] until [a government official] addresses the situation, even if it takes me days," he added.

"If my brother had died, there would have been no better place for him to die. I would have been upset, but also happy for him. If I could see myself or my family die for this country to get better, so be it."

Earlier in the day, a group of Muslim clerics joined the demonstration to show solidarity with the Coptic protesters.

Dina Shehab, who works with an emergency intervention team, said "we came here voluntarily after we heard the news this morning."

Shehab said that her team of 25 to 30 people offers first aid for those who might need it at the protest site, though she added that they have not witnessed any major injuries.

"The [protest] has been peaceful so far."

This is the third explosion this week; the previous two blasts targeted security personnel. On Friday, an explosion killed six policemen and injured three others in Giza's Haram district and another occurred in Kafr El-Sheikh international road, killing one civilian and injuring three policemen

There have been several attacks on churches following the 2013 dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adawyia sit-in protesting the toppling of Morsi.

But one of the worst terrorist attacks against Copts in Egypt was in 2011 when 23 people were killed in an explosion at the Two Saints Church in Alexandria.

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Brendan OConnor Opinion The jig is up as Feis fixing has former winners like me reeling

As the holder of the Marie Cranny Perpetual cup for Extempore and Public Speaking (Under 15s) in Feis Maitiu in, of all years, 1984, I would like to use this platform to say this feis-fixing scandal has sullied my legacy, and that of all other holders of the cup down the years (you had to give it back at the end of the year).
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Dan O'Brien Opinion While we catastrophise about Covid, we ignore risk of running out of cash

We Irish view the world in an increasingly strange and unhealthy way. We catastrophise about Covid in a way other European countries do not. We focus on how bad the effects of the virus could get, on how many more restrictions might be imposed by Government and how helpless we are in the face of the virus.
Not for nothing was Barbara Bush known as 'The Enforcer'

Barbara Bush, tougher than her husband and known to her family as 'The Enforcer', is probably the most popular of all ex-US first ladies of recent times. Jackie Kennedy is remembered across the globe for elegance and tragedy, but she was not loved. Rosalynn Carter worked hard and was a noted campaigner on issues of mental health, but she has suffered in retrospect because of her bitterness at his defeat by Ronald Reagan, who is widely perceived to have been as great a success as Carter was a failure. The brittle Nancy Reagan was an essential support to her husband, but was thought to care little for anyone else. Hillary Clinton was loathed by those who thought her a careerist. The likeable Laura Bush did a lot of useful work but lacked her mother-in-law's commanding personality. And although Michelle Obama had rock-star status, that has diminished as she and her husband embrace luxury and celebrity. Betty Ford is probably the closest rival, having been far more effective and formidable than her husband Gerald, the 38th president, and still having a posthumous reputation for her prowess as a campaigner on addiction, not least because so many of the famous troop to the Betty Ford Clinic.
Musical La La Land is hoping to pave the way to Oscar glory with success at the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday.

The film has received 12 nominations, including nods for stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the best actor and best actress categories.

Sci-fi drama Arrival and Moonlight, which follows a gay black man coming of age in Miami, scored 10 nominations for the awards show, which recognises both film and television talent.

Actor and comedian T J Miller is hosting the ceremony in Santa Monica, California, two days after he was arrested for allegedly hitting an Uber driver.

La La Land, which has been hailed as an early favourite for Oscar nominations, is up for best picture, best director for Damien Chazelle and best original screenplay at the Critics' Choice Awards.

Arrival and Moonlight scored best picture and best director nods, with Amy Adams receiving a best actress nomination for her role as a linguistics expert in Arrival.

Skyfall star Naomie Harris scored a best supporting actress nomination for her role as a crack addict in Moonlight, while fellow Briton Dev Patel is up for best supporting actor for his role in Lion.

La La Land, Arrival and Moonlight are joined in the best picture category by Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Lion, Loving, Manchester By The Sea and Sully.

Adams and Stone will compete for the best actress award against Annette Bening for 20th Century Women, Isabelle Huppert for French film Elle, Ruth Negga for Loving and Natalie Portman for Jacqueline Kennedy biopic Jackie.

Denzel Washington, who both directed and stars in Fences, has picked up nominations for his directing and acting, while his co-star Viola Davis is nominated as best supporting actress.

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Washington and Gosling will vie for the best actor prize alongside Casey Affleck for Manchester By The Sea, Joel Edgerton for Loving, Andrew Garfield for Hacksaw Ridge and Tom Hanks for Sully.

In the television categories, The Night Manager, starring Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman, is up for a number of awards.

The BBC series is nominated for the best limited series or movie made for television award, while Hugh Laurie and Elizabeth Debicki picked up nods for their supporting roles.

Hiddleston will compete against Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch for best actor in a limited series or movie made for TV, while Colman is in the best actress in a limited series category alongside The People v OJ Simpson star Sarah Paulson.

BBC Three comedy Fleabag and royal drama The Crown also scored nominations at the American awards.

Fleabag, which streams on Amazon Prime in the USA, received a nod for best comedy series, while creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge picked up a best actress in a comedy nomination.

Netflix's prestige series The Crown, which stars Claire Foy and Matt Smith, has been nominated for best drama series, while John Lithgow, who plays Winston Churchill, has been recognised in the best supporting actor in a drama category and Jared Harris, who plays King George, is recognised in the guest performer category.

The 22nd Critics' Choice Awards starts at 5pm local time. (1am Monday UK time).
Members of the special police forces stand guard to secure the area around St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral after an explosion inside the cathedral in Cairo, Egypt December 11, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

An explosion inside Cairo's Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people, most of them women, and injured 49, Egypt's state television said.

Security sources told Reuters that at least six children were among the dead.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, however, some supporters of the Islamic State militant group celebrated the attack on social media.

"God is great, God is great, God is great," one wrote on Telegram messenger.

"God bless the person who did this blessed act," wrote another, also on Telegram.

A device containing about 12 kg (26 pounds) of the explosive TNT had denoted on the women's side of the cathedral, the security sources said.

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"As soon as the priest called us to prepare for prayer, the explosion happened," Emad Shoukry, who was inside the cathedral when the blast took place, told Reuters.

"The explosion shook the place... The dust covered the hall and I was looking for the door, although I couldn't see anything... I managed to leave in the middle of screams and there were a lot of people thrown on the ground," he said.

Orthodox Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people, are the Middle East's biggest Christian community. They have long complained of discrimination under successive Egyptian leaders.

Islamists are waging an insurgency led by Islamic State's branch in North Sinai, where hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed. The insurgents have also launched deadly attacks Cairo and other cities.

On Friday, two roadside bombs - one in Cairo and one north of the capital - killed six policemen and wounded six others.
Rubbish areas strewn with dirty Father Christmas beards and plastic reindeer are the only signs that this is China's Christmas town

There are no elves, no snowpiles and it is thousands of miles from the North Pole, but what is really missing from the real-life Santa's Workshop - a grimy Chinese city that produces 60pc of the world's festive paraphernalia - is any interest in Christmas.

"I have absolutely no idea what this is," a migrant worker named Ms Wang says, holding aloft a bauble emblazoned with a smiling reindeer that she has just made at a factory in Yiwu.

In a couple of weeks, the decoration will be hung from a Christmas tree in a western household among dozens of sparkling, glittering decorations that were probably all produced in the city in eastern China.

Ms Wang works at Dongyang Nuoya Arts & Crafts Co, one of 800 Yiwu businesses that produce decorations worth more than 1bn yuan (137m) each year.

The company sells baubles and trimmings that are made from a production base in a crumbling, eight-storey, multi-use industrial centre in Yiwu's hilly suburbs.

It is a grey, silent, concrete district, where workers with sullen faces earn about 10 yuan (1.37) an hour.

Rubbish areas strewn with dirty Father Christmas beards and plastic reindeer are the only signs that this is China's Christmas town.

The landscape is far removed from the thatched, snow-covered cottages commonly depicted as workshops in the fairy tales, but the sound of jingling bells as one approaches Dongyang Nouya's factory is unmistakable.

Inside, a dozen women are fastening bells onto bright purple trimmings, while others glue images of Father Christmas, snowmen and reindeer onto white polystyrene balls, transforming them into baubles.

"Workers at the factory do not know what all the stuff they are working on is used for," said Yang Fuyun, who owns the company.

"They just focus on production and how much they can earn. It's the same with most of the factories in the city."

However, a lack of seasonal cheer does not stop it from being Christmas every day in Yiwu.

The city of one million people is home to what is reputedly the world's biggest wholesale market, which houses shops packed with endless boxes of tinsel, Father Christmas hats, six-foot-high plastic reindeers and rows of Christmas trees.

Yiwu is a trading boom town that produces countless numbers of goods commonly found in discount stores across the world.

Christmas goods make up a large proportion of these exports, but Yiwu also benefits from rising Chinese interest in the traditionally western festival.

Communist China banned Christmas half a century ago, as religion was suppressed during the Cultural Revolution, and there is still no national holiday on December 25.

However, the commercial aspects of Christmas are booming, as almost all the glitzy malls and high streets are decked with decorations, and present-giving has become increasingly common.

The festive season is also gaining popularity due to the rise of Christianity in China, where many who have gained wealth from the country's economic boom are searching for answers to life's more meaningful questions.

China's Christian population is thought to number about 100 million, and experts predict it will increase to almost 250 million people by 2030 - giving China the biggest population of Christians on Earth.

Churches in big cities are packed in the run-up to Christmas, but many of those attending are seeking to feel more 'Christmassy', and have little knowledge of the story of Jesus Christ.

The trend does show that Christmas is becoming part of Chinese life - particularly among city-dwellers and the middle-classes. In that respect, it is perhaps unsurprising that the workers in Yiwu, who are often migrants who have come from poor rural provinces, have little interest in Christmas.

There doesn't appear to be much inclination locally to educate the workers on how the fruits of their labour will inject festive cheer to millions in the coming weeks.

"What's the point in our workers knowing anything about Christmas? It means nothing," said Cai Qinliang, the deputy head of the Christmas Gifts Association in Yiwu.

"People are not thankful for Christmas - they can make money by making other things if there was no Christmas," he said. "It's nothing more than a holiday anyway."

 Telegraph

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Donald Trump has said he has no intention of receiving daily intelligence briefings from the CIA. (AP)

US President-elect Donald Trump has called a recent CIA assessment of Russian hacking "ridiculous".

Mr Trump also says he is not interested in getting daily intelligence briefings - an unprecedented rejection of the nation's massive and sophisticated intelligence apparatus.

The president-elect's remarks come as key congressional Republicans joined Democrats in demanding a bi-partisan investigation into the Kremlin's activities and questioned consideration of Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson - who has close business ties with Moscow - as head of the State Department.

Asked whether he is rejecting valuable intelligence on Fox News Sunday, Mr Trump was defiant.

"I get it when I need it," he said of the top-secret briefings sessions, adding that he is leaving it up to the briefers to decide when a development represents a "change" big enough to notify him. "I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years."

The CIA has concluded with "high confidence" that Russia sought to influence the US election on behalf of Mr Trump. The finding alarmed legislators, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain who said he planned to put senator Lindsay Graham, a staunch critic of Mr Trump, in charge of investigating the claim.

Mr McCain has vowed to scrutinise Mr Tillerson's business relationship with Russia President Vladimir Putin, if Mr Tillerson is nominated. Exxon steadily expanded its Russian business on his watch even as its rivals faced expropriation and regulatory obstacles. In 2013, Mr Putin bestowed the Order of Friendship on Mr Tillerson.

"Maybe those ties are strictly commercial and got to do with his business in the oil business. Fine," Mr McCain said. "And "we'll give him a fair hearing. But is it a matter of concern? Certainly it should be a matter of concern."

Mr McCain was not alone, raising questions about whether there would be enough of a backlash to sink a nomination for Mr Tillerson.

"Being a 'friend of Vladimir' is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState," tweeted Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio, Mr Trump's former campaign rival and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Pennsylvania Democratic senator Bob Casey said the developments "raise serious questions about whether the incoming administration will adequately stand up to Russia's aggression."

Mr Trump said Mr Tillerson's relationship with Moscow was a selling point.

"A great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company," Mr Trump told Fox News in an interview broadcast on Sunday. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker is impressive, and former bitter rival Mitt Romney is still in the mix, Mr Trump added.

"These are all very different types of people," he said. "But when you ask me about Rex, I mean, he's a world-class player. There's no question about it."

Mr Trump also rejected the CIA's conclusion that Russia tried to interfere with the presidential election and blamed "very embarrassed" Democrats for the public release of the assessment. The Washington Post first reported the CIA finding on Friday.

"It's ridiculous," Mr Trump said of the CIA's assessment. He added, however, that he does not necessarily oppose President Barack Obama's order for a review of campaign-season hacking. "If you're going to do that, I think you should not just say 'Russia'. You should say other countries also, and maybe other individuals."

The White House has said the probe would focus on any breaches by other countries, and past elections.

Mr Trump's incoming chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said Mr Tillerson's nomination is not a done deal but shrugged off allegations that Russia helped Mr Trump win.

He said: "The Russians didn't tell Clinton to ignore Wisconsin and Michigan," two states she was expected to win that went instead for Mr Trump.

"She lost the election because her ideas were bad. She didn't fit the electorate. She ignored states that she shouldn't have and Donald Trump was the change agent," Mr Priebus said. Mr Trump's win, he added, "had nothing to do with the Russians".

On other matters, Mr Trump said he is leaving his worldwide business empire to his executives and children, vowing, that he will "have nothing to do with management". He is expected to discuss the arrangement at a news conference on Thursday.

He also said he is "studying" the Paris climate agreement to reduce carbon emissions. But he does not want the agreement to put the US "at a competitive disadvantage with other countries".

AP
President-elect Donald Trump is thought to be moving closer to nominating Exxon Mobil chief executive Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state after a private meeting.

Mr Trump has privately signalled that he plans to ask Mr Tillerson to take the powerful cabinet post, according to sources.

Some advisers worry that Mr Tillerson's ties to Russia would lead to a contentious Senate confirmation hearing and keep alive questions about Mr Trump's relationship with Moscow.

The CIA has assessed with "high confidence" that Russia sought to influence the US election on behalf of Mr Trump, who spoke throughout the campaign about improving Washington's relationship with Moscow.

Mr Tillerson rose to prominence through Exxon's Russian energy business and was awarded Russia's Order of Friendship.

The president-elect's deliberations over his pick to lead the State Department - particularly his consideration of Mitt Romney for the post - have exposed the deep rivalries within Mr Trump's team.

Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway warned publicly that his supporters would feel betrayed if he were to choose a fierce rival for the post, especially given that some loyal allies - most notably former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani - also wanted the job.

Mr Giuliani officially took himself out of consideration for the cabinet on Friday, although his standing had already been diminished. In addition to Mr Romney, Mr Trump has also been considering Tennessee senator Bob Corker and John Bolton, former US ambassador to the United Nations.

Internal divisions were also complicating efforts to set up senior White House staff. Long-time aides are fearful of being left out of the mix as incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus builds the West Wing team. Mr Trump had given him wide authority in decision-making over White House jobs.

But four people involved in the transition said Mr Trump was irritated after learning of his loyalists' frustrations with Mr Priebus in recent press reports.

AP
Donald Trump is thought to be moving closer to nominating Exxon Mobil chief executive Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state after private meetings between the two.

The president-elect has privately signalled that he plans to ask Mr Tillerson to take the powerful cabinet post, according to sources.

Some advisers worry that Mr Tillerson's ties to Russia would lead to a contentious Senate confirmation hearing and keep alive questions about Mr Trump's relationship with Moscow.

The CIA has assessed with "high confidence" that Russia sought to influence the US election on behalf of Mr Trump, who spoke throughout the campaign about improving Washington's relationship with Moscow.

Mr Tillerson rose to prominence through Exxon's Russian energy business and was awarded Russia's Order of Friendship.

He has argued against sanctions the US and European allies imposed on Russia after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

In an interview, the president-elect praised Mr Tillerson as "much more than a businessman".

"He's a world-class player," Mr Trump said on Fox News Sunday. "To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia, he does massive deals, not for himself, for the company."

The president-elect's deliberations over his pick to lead the State Department - particularly his consideration of Mitt Romney - have exposed deep rivalries within Mr Trump's team.

Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway warned publicly that his supporters would feel betrayed if he were to choose a fierce rival for the post, especially given that some loyal allies - most notably former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani - also wanted the job.

Mr Giuliani officially took himself out of consideration for the cabinet on Friday, although his standing had already been diminished. In addition to Mr Romney, Mr Trump has also been considering Tennessee senator Bob Corker and John Bolton, former US ambassador to the United Nations.

Internal divisions were also complicating efforts to set up senior White House staff. Long-time aides are fearful of being left out of the mix as incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus builds the West Wing team. Mr Trump had given him wide authority in decision-making over White House jobs.

But four people involved in the transition said Mr Trump was irritated after learning of his loyalists' frustrations with Mr Priebus in recent press reports.

Mr Trump is said to be intrigued by the prospect of putting an international businessman in the State Department. He has already selected others with predominantly private sector experience to his cabinet, including billionaire investor Wilbur Ross for commerce.

Mr Tillerson, 64, is a Texas native who joined Exxon straight out of college in 1975 and never left.

Exxon also has operations in Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, and many other countries. Africa and Asia were its leading sources of oil production in 2015, ahead of the US. The company says it has a diverse portfolio of oil and gas projects around the world to mitigate risks, including political ones.

Mr Tillerson has held posts in the company's operations in Yemen and Russia. Success in the latter post required aligning the company's interests with that of the Russian government.

Early in the company's efforts to gain access to the Russian market, he cut a deal with state-owned Rosneft. The neglected post-Soviet company did not have a tremendous amount to offer, but Exxon partnered with it "to be on the same side of the table", he said, according to Private Empire, an investigative history of Exxon by reporter Steve Coll.

AP
US President-elect Donald Trump has called a recent CIA assessment of Russian hacking "ridiculous".

Mr Trump also says he is not interested in getting daily intelligence briefings - an unprecedented rejection of the nation's massive and sophisticated intelligence apparatus.

The president-elect's remarks come as key congressional Republicans joined Democrats in demanding a bi-partisan investigation into the Kremlin's activities and questioned consideration of Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson - who has close business ties with Moscow - as head of the State Department.

Asked whether he is rejecting valuable intelligence on Fox News Sunday, Mr Trump was defiant.

"I get it when I need it," he said of the top-secret briefings sessions, adding that he is leaving it up to the briefers to decide when a development represents a "change" big enough to notify him. "I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years."

The CIA has concluded with "high confidence" that Russia sought to influence the US election on behalf of Mr Trump. The finding alarmed legislators, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain who said he planned to put senator Lindsay Graham, a staunch critic of Mr Trump, in charge of investigating the claim.

Mr McCain has vowed to scrutinise Mr Tillerson's business relationship with Russia President Vladimir Putin, if Mr Tillerson is nominated. Exxon steadily expanded its Russian business on his watch even as its rivals faced expropriation and regulatory obstacles. In 2013, Mr Putin bestowed the Order of Friendship on Mr Tillerson.

"Maybe those ties are strictly commercial and got to do with his business in the oil business. Fine," Mr McCain said. "And "we'll give him a fair hearing. But is it a matter of concern? Certainly it should be a matter of concern."

Mr McCain was not alone, raising questions about whether there would be enough of a backlash to sink a nomination for Mr Tillerson.

"Being a 'friend of Vladimir' is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState," tweeted Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio, Mr Trump's former campaign rival and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Pennsylvania Democratic senator Bob Casey said the developments "raise serious questions about whether the incoming administration will adequately stand up to Russia's aggression."

Mr Trump said Mr Tillerson's relationship with Moscow was a selling point.

"A great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company," Mr Trump told Fox News in an interview broadcast on Sunday. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker is impressive, and former bitter rival Mitt Romney is still in the mix, Mr Trump added.

"These are all very different types of people," he said. "But when you ask me about Rex, I mean, he's a world-class player. There's no question about it."

Mr Trump also rejected the CIA's conclusion that Russia tried to interfere with the presidential election and blamed "very embarrassed" Democrats for the public release of the assessment. The Washington Post first reported the CIA finding on Friday.

"It's ridiculous," Mr Trump said of the CIA's assessment. He added, however, that he does not necessarily oppose President Barack Obama's order for a review of campaign-season hacking. "If you're going to do that, I think you should not just say 'Russia'. You should say other countries also, and maybe other individuals."

The White House has said the probe would focus on any breaches by other countries, and past elections.

Mr Trump's incoming chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said Mr Tillerson's nomination is not a done deal but shrugged off allegations that Russia helped Mr Trump win.

He said: "The Russians didn't tell Clinton to ignore Wisconsin and Michigan," two states she was expected to win that went instead for Mr Trump.

"She lost the election because her ideas were bad. She didn't fit the electorate. She ignored states that she shouldn't have and Donald Trump was the change agent," Mr Priebus said. Mr Trump's win, he added, "had nothing to do with the Russians".

On other matters, Mr Trump said he is leaving his worldwide business empire to his executives and children, vowing, that he will "have nothing to do with management". He is expected to discuss the arrangement at a news conference on Thursday.

He also said he is "studying" the Paris climate agreement to reduce carbon emissions. But he does not want the agreement to put the US "at a competitive disadvantage with other countries".
CONCORD  Construction crews started work on Hotel Concord renovations this week and are on schedule to transform the old hotel into apartments and commercial spaces by the end of 2017 and residents could start moving in by January 2018.

Gabriel Lipsky, an assistant superintendent with Rehab Builders, said they started pre-demolition work on the building on Monday, pulling up carpet and starting on the project. Rehab Builders is the construction company in charge of the project and Lipsky is a partner on the Hotel Concord project.

Rehab Development  the organization that renovated the old Heilig-Meyers furniture store at the corner of Cabarrus Avenue and Church Street, transforming the building into Lofts 29  is spearheading the roughly $5.3 million Hotel Concord redevelopment project. The project includes Hotel Concord, the old First Charter Bank building and the Concord Telephone Exchange Company properties.

Rehab Development looks to transform those buildings into 40 market rate apartments with seven commercial spaces, one of which will be the Hotel Concord event space that is already in use.

The apartments look to range from a 385 square foot studio space at $950 a month up to an 882 square foot two bedroom space at $1,500/$1,600 a month. The rates have not been locked down, but all rent rates will include all utilities, such as water, power, internet and cable TV.

The building itself is gorgeous, Lipsky said. You dont see this kind of construction, you dont see masonry anymore and getting to bring that back. Its going to be a fun project to work in to see this building get put back together the way it should and the fact that its such an old building, its a highrise, and its in downtown, in kind of a cool location.

Hotel Concord is located at 14 Union St N, Concord and the other properties are located along 21 Cabarrus Ave. E., 4 Union St. N. and 22 Union St. N.

Standing in one of the old hotel rooms with large glass windows overlooking Union Street and Cabarrus Avenue, Lipsky talked about the construction project and how residents will soon be able to enjoy living in a fifth floor apartment in downtown Concord.

When you look out the windows, it kind of speaks for itself. You can literally see the whole downtown, Lipsky said. And then you can see the hills past downtown. Its a very cool space and its going to adapt real well.

After the renovation

Here is a breakdown of some of the ideas the developers have planned for the Hotel Concord and other properties:

 Hotel Concord itself will have 38 market rate loft apartments on the four upper floors of the hotel and approximately three retail spaces at street level.

 The historic ballroom of the Hotel Concord will be refreshed and reopened to continue as the event space it has been operating as for years. The event space will be operated by same management crew currently running the operation.

 The old banks corner lobby looks to be a community market featuring upscale grocery items and fresh produce.

 The Concord Telephone Exchange Company properties, which are located behind Hotel Concord on Cabarrus Avenue, will be transformed into two large upper level apartments with two additional commercial/retail areas at street level.

 Parking for the project will be located in the reconfigured parking area located between the Lofts 29 building and Hotel Concord.

Located in the heart of historic downtown Concord and established in the early 1900s, the Hotel Concord is one of the area's oldest historic hotels but over the years the upper floors have fallen into disrepair.

The only areas of the Hotel Concord that are in use today are the lobby, kitchen, ballroom (including mezzanine), and a small portion of the basement, all being operated as part of a single event venue.

Promoting downtown business

Lynn Neal, who has been managing events at Hotel Concord for six years, said she will have to temporarily suspend events at the hotel and her last event at the hotel will be on New Years Eve. But developers said they look to have the Hotel Concord event space back open and ready for her to use by the 2017 holiday season. And she is already taking bookings for 2018 at the popular Hotel Concord event space.

While the Hotel Concord is being renovated, Neal is using her company, The Venues, to book events at her new event location, Orchard Estates. She also continues to push events to downtown, using other venues, such as the Piedmont Renaissance Center.

When Neal can start operating out of Hotel Concord again in late 2017, she knows the events coordinated there will help support economic development downtown.

A lot of times when events wrap up here they go downtown, they go to Lil Roberts, they go across the street, Neal said. We definitely feed the downtown, whether its prior to the events or after the events.

Patrick Reilly, with Rehab Development, said the downtown area was one of the draws of the Hotel Concord project.

We really like the walkability and the overall feel of the downtown area and this gem being restored will hopefully help it continue to be enjoyed by the community for many years to come and we hope people enjoy living here, Reilly said.

The walkability of downtown can also help Hotel Concord boost downtown Concords economy.

According to a 2014 study completed by Place Economics analyzing the contribution of upper floor residential spaces to a downtown district, it is estimated that the 40 market-rate apartments with the Hotel Concord project will generate more than $414,000 a year in increased sales in downtown Concord.

Plus, Hotel Concord will add more commercial space to downtown with the event space as an anchor and the six other commercial spots. Reilly said they are actively seeking commercial businesses for the sites and the old bank building is prime real estate.

Reilly said the old First Charter Bank space could have a variety of uses, including a wine bar with a grocery store.

I think you could package several different concepts effectively together to maximize the use of that space, Reilly said. And we are definitely open to talking to people that have interesting ideas about that and come up with something that compliments the overall redevelopment goal for the community at large.
Here we bring you a quick roundup of our news, analysis and reviews on important happenings and developments in Kollywood this week that you should not miss if you are a film buff. Take a look!

Actor Dhanush surprised everyone by announcing that he is going to venture into the most difficult task of film direction with Power Paandi` in September 2016. Now he has announced the release date of his debut directorial

Dr.J.Jayalalitha the six time Chief Minister who ruled the Tamil film industry until late 1970s passed away after a 75 day long treatment in Apollo Hospitals, Chennai leaving the entire Tamil population in a state of shock and grief. Here is IndiaGlitz tribute to the Amma` of Tamil Nadu

The most unexpected combination of director Selvaraghavan and Santhanam is a reality now. The film was launched with a formal pooja this week and here is the details of the lucky girl who plays the heroine, cast and crew

In a day after the passing away of his long time friend, the former Chief Minister J.Jayalalitha, the real multifaceted legend Cho Ramaswamy passed away. Here is IndiaGlitz tribute to the much loved comedy actor and the most admired political satirist

Thala Ajith cancels his shooting in Bulgaria and returns to Chennai to pay his last respect for Amma and Cho. Details are here

Trisha is still ruling Kollywood and she was popular in Tollywood until recent years. She has acted in Kannada and Hindi films. Now the evergreen Chennai beauty is going to enter Malayalam cinema after more than15 years of her acting debut and that too as the pair of a leading young generation star

Director Siddique has been planning for the Tamil remake of Malayalam super hit comedy flick 'Bhaskar The Rascal' for quite a long. First Thala Ajith and then Superstar Rajinikanth's names were connected with the project. But now the project has gone to a actor you would have least expected but definitely be a perfect fit.

There is a air of suspicion around the death of Chief Minister Dr.J.Jayalalitha who breathed her last in Apollo Hospitals Chennai after suffering a cardiac arrest. In the most surprising turn, actress Gauthami has written a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to clear the air of suspicion

After the critically acclaimed super hit Appa`, Samuthirakani has launched his next directorial project with a talented young hero.

Superstar Rajinikanth's important Birthday decision after Tamil Nadu CM's death

Title of Jayam Ravi`s film with director Vijay which is touted to be a pre-historic film

Here is IndiaGlitz critic`s take on director Venkat Prabhu`s multi-starrer sequel Chennai 600028 II`
Single-digit reduction in NBS rates The revised NBS rates for ensuing Rabi season have been announced by the Government of India. New rates have not seen much steeper cuts as was widely anticipated; therefore, positive for complex (NPKs) fertilizer companies. This brings much comfort to the domestic complex fertilizer companies as a steeper cut would have entailed higher inventory losses. 03 Nov 2022 11:10 AM

October 2022 auto sales: PV and CV segments continue to impress Underlying demand trend has stayed strong for PV and CV segments. Analysts at IIFL Securities estimate October 2022 wholesale dispatches in PV, MHCV and LCV segments to have grown 30%, 24% and 14% YoY, respectively. They expect the above segments to clock 25-35% volume growth in FY23. 02 Nov 2022 11:43 AM

Initial signs of moderation in API cost pressures: IIFL Securities High raw-material inflation, elevated freight expenses, and normalization in marketing spends have impacted margins of Indian pharma players over the past 12 months. However, some of these API/RM cost pressures have started abating in Q3CY22. Cipla, Sun, JB Pharma and Torrent remain IIFL Securities top-picks in the pharma sector owing to lowest risk to IIFL Securities margin and earnings estimates for these companies. 01 Nov 2022 10:53 AM
6.15am: The prodigal son has forced me to enter an agreement that involves running three times a week, which is the only reason I am strapping up my weak left leg and getting ready to leap over potholes, skid on the remains of four-legged and two-legged creatures and give myself a star if I spot the rather elusive credit card-swiping beggar that our government seems inordinately proud of.

BCCL

6.30am: Hoodie zipped, I check the air quality by logging onto an App called SAFAR which has been misspelled and should have been SUFFER, because it is rather likely that when you spot the disastrous level of PM 2.5 you may just suffer a heart attack on the spot. Today, the Air Quality Index is 310 and it states, Avoid outdoor activity. So I merrily unlace my shoes and collapse on the couch.

7am: The prodigal son is heading off to school and asks, You are still here, what about your run? We had a deal! Munching on the leftovers from the babys breakfast, I add, I invoke the Force Majeure clause that clearly states a party is not liable to perform its obligations as a result of Acts of God including fire or other natural disaster. Not having decent air to breathe counts as a man-made disaster if not quite a natural one. And my foot is also aching a bit!

Anyway, I just read an article in Time magazine about how even injured people can burn calories. Chewing, they say, also counts as exercise  15 calories an hour if you keep at it!

He sniggers, Mom your foot only hurts because you constantly keep putting it in your mouth! And have you figured how many calories you will end up consuming in an hour?

I snap, What am I, Aryabhata to do all these calculations early in the morning? Mind your business and go to school.

10.30am: Scrolling through my phone on the way to the office, I stumble on the news that to instill committed patriotism and nationalism, the Supreme Court has now ordered all cinema halls to play the national anthem and folks are obliged to stand up and show respect to the same.

Now, I am admittedly one of those barmy women who get teary-eyed during our national anthem and bellow it out as loudly as we can, much to the embarrassment of our children.I have even gone on a tour to the Wagah border where, along with the 200 people sitting beside me, I too screamed myself hoarse with Jai Hind and Bharat Mata Ki Jai competing vigorously with the Pakistanis raising their slogans across the border, because not having variable parameters to judge nationalism, we seem to simply define it by volume, hoping the loudest wins.

bollygama.com

But I still cant wrap my head around how and why I am obliged to feel patriotic when I have merely booked tickets for Befikre, and am about to see Ranveer Singh in his tight red underwear.

2pm: Tucking into some biryani with an old friend, I tell her about the Supreme Courts order and she sighs, This nationalism fever is contagious. My husband has suddenly become so patriotic that whenever the national anthem plays, even on television, he drops everything and immediately stands up.

I giggle, Perhaps you should count yourself lucky. Now, you wont have to dress up as a nurse or a skanky French maid, just get into your bedroom, and play Jana Gana Mana on your iPhone.

She squeals, You have such a twisted mind, gross!

I reply, Everyone is mixing nationalism and sex. Im just making jokes but Shree Maruti Herbal is advertising its Stay On pill with a tagline that says: Think demonetization, think Stay On

Its not a bitter pill. Its a power capsule. Watch with pride the emergence of Super Power- the India!

She laughs, Yuck, I prefer the anthem idea.

BCCL

I reply,  Err..On second thought, the anthem only lasts for 52 seconds. I have another suggestion  swallow the bitter pill called demonetization, forget about cash on delivery to conceal evidence of your purchase and just buy a vibrator with your credit card.

6pm: A straw hat perched jauntily on my head, I am helping the baby dig holes to plant sweet pepper and tomato seeds. We have begun working on our little vegetable patch and kitchen compost, though getting my building society to agree to composting seems a slightly trickier proposition.

My phone pings with an email from the friend who is helping us set up, You convinced your building to go ahead? Dont know why composting isnt mandatory! It turns 200 kg of waste into 20 kg of rich compost which means less landfill waste and incineration, significantly reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. They should at least give municipal tax benefits to societies who shift to composting. Everyone will switch once the government dangles this carrot.

I type back using a rather unoriginal veggie pun, I am trying and perhaps you are right about this carrot incentive because as things stand right now, most of my neighbours dont carrot all.

And wondering why respecting our national anthem seems so much more important than respecting our land, I put my phone away and go back to planting a few more seeds before the sun sets.
Its not just common people, but even celebrities face worst forms of harassment every now and then. The latest celeb to fall prey to it is TV actress Tinaa Dattaa. She had a horrible experience recently when she was travelling from Mumbai to Rajkot for an event.

Tinaa Dattaa FB

She revealed that she was sexually harassed on the flight and it has definitely left a foul taste in her mouth. She went on to say that she has travelled all across the world, but she has never had such a harrowing experience.

Throwing light on the incident through her Facebook profile, she recalled that she was on a Jet Airways flight and was accompanied by her manager. While she was allotted seat number 30A , her manager sat on 30C. The duo was engrossed in their work related discussion and thats when she felt that someone was trying to sneak his hand through the sides!

shortday.in

The man then started touching her inappropriately. Like any normal person would have reacted, Tina yelled at him. The guy realized his folly and immediately apologized to her. Tina then tried to seek the crews intervention but to no avail. They turned a blind eye towards the incident. In fact, she was presented with a lame explanation that these things happen and they will change the mans seat!

Tinaa Dattaa FB

Tina, who rose to fame with her hit serial Uttran, spoke to a leading daily and raised her concerns on women safety in India.My question is that what if this happened with their family members would they still be so calm about the matter. I felt so violated and yet no one was there to support except one family in the entire aircraft, we as Indians do not care for the safety of our fellow beings, the entire flight did not stand up for this except that family. Are there no safety measures for your passengers? Is this how you are treated and get to hear all sorts of excuses? Unfortunately, after so much argument, no one came forth for my help.

Read her full post here:

YESTERDAY morning I was travelling to Rajkot with Jet Airways 9W 7001, departure time 10:25am from Mumbai. I have experienced a horrible experience which I would like to narrate and go viral about it.

I boarded my flight and was allotted seat no 30A and my manager was seated on 30C, we were discussing some work related topic when suddenly I felt that someone was trying to sneak their hands through the sides. A passenger seated on seat 31A by the name of Rajesh tried to fiddle with me and started touching me inappropriately, at first I thought it's a kid but when I turned behind I was horrified to see it was a full grown man, I yelled at him and he was stammering and was ashamed and apologised. I called for the air hostess Ms. Pooja & Mr. Abhijeet to intervene in the matter, but they were not at all helpful instead they had the audacity to tell me such things happen and they will change the mans seat. I demanded for the man to be deported but I was told that I should also deport to file a complaint, I demanded to speak to the captain after much persuasion was I allowed to speak to him, Mr. Jagjeevan Singh was not friendly his reaction was one of a disgusted person, his reply to the whole matter was, before take off they are not responsible for anything that happens post take off they would take responsibility , my question being had this happened with their family members would they still be so calm about the matter. I felt so Violated and yet no one was there to support except one family in the entire aircraft, we as Indians do not care for the safety of our fellow beings, the entire flight did not stand up for this except that family. Is there no safety measures for your passengers?? Is this how you are treated and I get to hear all sorts of excuses how the matter is not on their (captain) jurisdiction and nothing can be done and apparently this is very common in flights (according to the air hostess). Finally after much arguments I had no say as no one came forth for my help.

Second incident on the same flight, while I was having my meal the passenger in front of me seated 29A reclined their seats and was not willing to budge this created difficulties for me to eat. Air hostess Diana intervened in this and requested the man to upright his seat, this man was so rude to her started yelling at her she even warned him that she would call cops on landing but it did not seem to affect him at all. All the captain had to say was this does not come under our protocol.

I have some serious questions to Jet Airways, do you not have any safety measure ?? I was violated and no action was taken apart from changing the mans seat, another person yelling for no rhyme or reason! I never expected this from Jet, I've been an ardent flyer with this airways but i won't take my chances next time. Truly disgusted with the events that took place this morning.

As Indians, there was no one to raise their voice, everyone sitting on their seats and enjoying the show! This is ridiculous, I wonder if this happened with their family, would they still be this calm? Serious questioning needs to be done...





NO ACTION WERE TAKEN BY JET..

In a clarification to Indiatimes on Twitter, this is what Jet Airways had to say,
One month after demonetisation, the Supreme Court is hearing several public interest petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the demonetisation notification, which declared that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would no longer be legal tender post midnight on November 8, 2016.

BCCL

The preamble to the notification stated that its objective was to eliminate fake currency used for financing terrorism and to address the problem of unaccounted money in the economy. Read More

1. PM Modi Says He's Ready To Face Punishment If Things Don't Become 'Normal' After 30 December

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again asked people to remain calm and patient in the wake of demonitisation. He said that things will slowly become normal again.

He said, ...Lekin pachas din ke baad maine hisab lagaya hai ki dheere, dheere, kar ke pehle jaisi sthithi ki taraf aage badhenge (After 50 days, I have calculated, we will slowly, slowly, move towards what the situation was earlier). Read more

2. Manmohan Singh's Office Knew Changing Requirements To Fit AgustaWestland's Bid Says SP Tyagi

Former IAF chief Shashindra Pal Tyagi claimed that the Prime Minister's Office was party to the decision in 2005 to change the operational requirements of choppers for IAF's VVIP squadron, which allegedly resulted in AgustaWestland bagging the order.

Manmohan Singh was the prime minister at the time. The charge, fraught with serious political implications, was leveled by Tyagi's defence counsel N Hariharan while opposing CBI's plea for a 10-day remand for the former air chief and co accused  his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi and Delhi-based lawyer and alleged middleman Gautam Khaitan. Read more

3. ISIS Back Palmyra Just 9 Months After It Was 'Driven Out'. Assad, Russia Busy In Bombing Aleppo

Just nine months after they were driven out of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, which is also a UNESCO world heritage site, the terror group has claimed of taking control of parts of the city.

ISIS fighters entered Palmyra's northern and northwestern neighbourhoods on Saturday and nearly encircled the city, even though confusion remains over how much area have fallen to them. Read more

The hacker group, named 'Legion', has struck again. This time the targets were TV journalists Barkha Dutt And Ravish Kumar.

We use twitter as a means to reach the public. We dont just hack twitter accounts. Go through the data and find out, the hackers posted from Kumar's account. Read more

5. Pakistan Should Mend Its Ways Or We Will Tear It Into Ten Pieces, Says Rajnath Singh

Home Minister Rajnath Singh On Sunday hit out at Pakistan for trying to divide India on religious lines. Addressing a rally in Kashmir's Kathua, Singh said Pakistan wants to break off Jammu and Kashmir from India through terrorism, but it should know that terrorism is the weapon of the "coward" and not the "brave".

He also said even after India offered to improve the bilateral ties, Pakistan has resorted to supporting terrorists in Kashmir. Read more
On December 1, a court in the UAE sentenced to death 10 young men from Punjab for the murder of a Pakistani national over an argument over bootlegging in the Emirate of Al Ain.

Indian Express

The families of all the boys, who are in their 20s, have pleaded innocent and asked the state and central governments to help bring them back home. The Punjab cabinet has now decided to send two of its ministers, Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Madan Mohan Mittal, to the Indian Mission in the UAE to lobby for the release of the boys.

SP Singh Oberoi, who is a hotelier in Dubai and also heads Sarbat Da Bhala, is pursuing this case and has even filed an appeal in the high court. In the past, Oberoi has helped secure the release of Indian men from jail by paying blood money to the victims families.

We are trying to contact the family of the man who was killed, he said.

If the boys dont get released, he said, paying blood money to the families will then be the only option.

With inputs from agencies
Shedding weight will entail not one but two surgeries for the 500-kg Egyptian woman who wants to fly to Mumbai for a bariatric weight-reduction surgery.

AFP

"It is not technically possible for people with a body mass index of over 60 lose their excess weight easily. Most need two surgeries, done a few years apart," said bariatric surgeon Dr Muffazal Lakdawala, whose tweet last week ensured that 36-year-old Egyptian woman Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty got a visa to fly to India.

"Our endocrinologists have looked at her present prescription and suggested some new medicines," he said, adding that talks are on with various airlines to arrange a special chair and raise funds for her.

primeirahora

Most morbidly obese patients first undergo a sleeve gastrectomy and then a relatively new procedure called SADI (Single Anastomosis Duodenal-Ileal Bypass) to lose around 80% of their excess weight, said the doctor.
Former IAF chief Shashindra Pal Tyagi claimed that the Prime Minister's Office was party to the decision in 2005 to change the operational requirements of choppers for IAF's VVIP squadron, which allegedly resulted in AgustaWestland bagging the order.

intoday.in

Manmohan Singh was the prime minister at the time. The charge, fraught with serious political implications, was leveled by Tyagi's defence counsel N Hariharan while opposing CBI's plea for a 10-day remand for the former air chief and co accused  his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi and Delhi-based lawyer and alleged middleman Gautam Khaitan.

Hariharan claimed that the decision to change the specifications was not an "individual" but a "collective one", and was taken much before Tyagi became the air chief. He also said Tyagi was never a part of the procurement process for the choppers.

Tyagi and others have been accused of rigging the operational requirements  bringing down the operational flying height ceiling from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres  to help AgustaWestland bag the Rs 3,564-crore order for 12 helicopters. Metropolitan magistrate Sujith Saurabh sent all three accused to CBI custody for four days, till December 14. Tyagi is the first former service chief to be arrested.

IndianExpress

Tyagi's defence can create complications for Congress, with BJP accusing it of complicity in the scam.

"It was not an individual decision. It was a collective decision of which the PMO was also a part. The file moved along so many officers - none of them have been arraigned (in the case) as accused," Tyagi's counsel Hariharan said as he opposed CBI's bid for a 10-day remand for the three accused.

Hariharan cited the CBI FIR to say the PMO in a meeting in 2003 had suggested the Chief of Air Staff and defence secretary to jointly review the matter related to the operational requirements of the helicopters, especially for keeping the service flight ceiling at 4,500m. The senior lawyer argued that the transactions related to the procurement of choppers were under way before his client assumed office as the air chief on January 1, 2005.

Washington Post

CBI had argued that Tyagi was appointed air chief on October 31, 2004. Between his appointment and December 31, 2004 he had "remained attached with the Air Chief" before assuming office. The agency argued that changes in the OR were made at Tyagi's insistence to help AgustaWestland and after he took over as air chief.

"In a meeting held on April 1, 2005 in which the defence secretary and other stakeholders took part, it was laid down that helicopters should be twin-engine. Later, at the insistence of S P Tyagi, when the OR was put up 'at least' was added before 'twin engine' by the IAF. It got approved," it said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh On Sunday hit out at Pakistan for trying to divide India on religious lines. Addressing a rally in Kashmir's Kathua, Singh said Pakistan wants to break off Jammu and Kashmir from India through terrorism, but it should know that terrorism is the weapon of the "coward" and not the "brave".

PTI/ File

He also said even after India offered to improve the bilateral ties, Pakistan has resorted to supporting terrorists in Kashmir.

"Despite our best efforts, Pakistan remained non-committal in fight against terrorism. It rather responded with cowardly terror attacks at Pathankot, Uri and other places," he said.

Singh also said that the Indian Army is giving fitting reply to Pakistan's aggression. Referring to the division of Pakistan in 1971, Singh said if the country doesn't mend its ways it will be broken into ten pieces.
A number of people are being falsely implicated in terror related case across India, using fabricated evidences against them, the first Peoples Tribunal has found out. According to the report investigating agencies over the years have made up proofs against individuals, particularly from the minority community.

The jury, headed by Justice AP Shah, former chief justice of the Delhi High Court released the report in the Capital on the occasion of World Human Rights Day, on Saturday.

Muhammad Amir Khan

The issue of forced confessions extracted under duress, delay in granting bail, wrongful detention, malicious prosecution, and presenting fabricated evidence has become endemic to terror-related prosecution, said Justice Shah while releasing the report.

He said that the security agencies have a prejudiced understanding and approach towards terror related case where they target youths from a particular community. This, he said, is coupled with acceptance of a section of judiciary that should be careful about miscarriage of justice in every case.

"Courts are also willing to accept low-grade evidence in terror cases," said Justice Shah.

newsgram.in

Examining the role of media, the report recommends that media must play stick to the basic ethics of journalism and do not begin a parallel trial of the accused. According to the jury, media publishes and broadcasts reports about the accused, without any concern for the truth.

In many cases, the jury has found that the media reports have virtually ruined the lives of the accused who are acquitted by the court, later. Media should publish an apology if the undertial is proved innocent and gets acquitted from the court.

Media reports results in building a discourse against the accused, which later affect their acceptability in the society, said Justice Shah.

Livelaw

Manisha Sethi, member of Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association (JTSA) and jury rapporteur - reminding that India is a signatory of Article 14 (6) of International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) - said that the government has to do a lot about the victims of wrongful prosecution by the security agencies.

There were ten testimonies made before the jury. All the cases reflected that there had been malicious and biased investigation by the police. Now, the question is about the psychological and social harms that the victims have suffered. There are a plenty of them, she said.

Among those who deposed before the jury were:

1. Shoeb Jagirdar: Mecca Masjid case.

2. Mohammad Amir Khan: Various charges under Explosive Act.

3. Dr Yunus: In Jaipu SIMI Case

4. Abdul Azeem: Aurangabad Arm Haul case

5. Maulana Salees: SIMI case

6. Wasif Haider: Sedition case

7. Nisar and Zahir Ahmed: 1996 Railway Blas Case

8. Wahid Sheikh: 7/11 train blast case

9. Iftikhar Gilani: Official Secrets Act

The report has recommended reforms for institutions including police, media and judiciary. It has demanded after acquittal, the government should ensure proper integration of the victims in the society by compensating them and prosecute the officers, who indulge in malpractices.

Muhammad Amir Khan, a Delhi resident, who was arrested under various sections of Explosive Act, narrating his ordeal demanded that the civil society and the government should do something to stop such trials. According to him, the under trials in forged cases face a lot of torture in the prison which affects rest of their lives.

We have heard about Abu Gharib prison, our prisons are not any better. I thank the civil society organisations who stood by me in difficult times, but there is still a lot to be done, because many innocent people are still suffering due to false cases against them, Khan said.

Amir Khan/Facebook

The jury, headed by Justice AP Shah, also included filmmaker Saeed Akhtar Mirza, G S Bajpai (NLU Delhi Registrar), journalist Neena Vyas, Delhi academic Nandini Sundar, TISS Deputy Director Abdul Shaban, journalist Vinod Sharma and advocate Monica Sakrani.
Egypt's Al-Azhar condemned Sunday the "terrorist attack that occurred this morning in the Saint-Peter Church in Abbasiya, which led to killings and injuries."

In a statement, Al-Azhar, the world's oldest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, underlined that targeting houses of worship and the killing of the innocents are criminal acts that violate Islamic principles.

Al-Azhar expressed full solidarity with the Egyptian Church and Egyptian Copts in the face of "terrorism."

The statement also expressed condolences to Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II, to the families of the victims, and to all the Egyptian people, wishing a speedy recovery of the injured.

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Just nine months after they were driven out of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, which is also a UNESCO world heritage site, the terror group has claimed of taking control of parts of the city.

AFP

ISIS fighters entered Palmyra's northern and northwestern neighbourhoods on Saturday and nearly encircled the city, even though confusion remains over how much area have fallen to them.

According to unconfirmed reports at least 50 Syrian soldiers were killed in the ambush while others have fled. The Syrian Army has acknowledged the development and said they have sent reinforcements to the area.

Palmyra fell in just three days after the ISIS fighters launched simultaneous attacks from three directions of the surrounding desert.

The recapture of Palmyra will be a huge moral booster to the Islamic State which has been rapidly losing grounds in neighbouring Iraq and Libya.

EPA

The group which was driven out in March this year, thanks to some aggressive air campaign from Russia might have been regrouping in the shadows and was waiting for the right moment to strike back, analysts believe.

They took advantage of the Assad government and Russia shifting their focus on recapturing Aleppo from the Syrian rebels. Palmyra has been seen as a strategic location for IS, because of its close proximity to oil fields.

AFP

The historic city which is home to some Roman Empire era relics had played a huge part in the ISIS propaganda in its initial days. ISIS fighter after capturing the city in May 2015 had gone on a rampage destroying a number of buildings and statues as the world witnessed it in horror.

The ancient Roman temple complex was also the 'stage' for mass beheadings by ISIS, including the city's archaeological director.

AFP

After the terrorists were driven out various international agencies had come together and had began the process of restoring the city which was left in shambles.
AP

4 Islamic State gunmen were killed after they opened mortar fire on Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers in the Southern Golan Heights, in the first ISIS-Israel clash.

The incident saw ISIS allies Shuhada al-Yarmouk organization, attempt to ambush Israeli forces.

After IDF's Golani Brigade retaliated, Israeli forces spotted a vehicle outfitted with a heavy machine gun, and 4 gunmen several hundred meters from the border. An Israeli aircraft bombed the car, killing the gunmen. Read more here

Here are 5 more stories for you:

1. Mangalyaan Completes One Revolution Around Mars, Data To Help Answer Questions On Life

isro

Stating that the country's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan, has completed one revolution around the Red Planet, Ritu Karidhal, deputy operation director of Bengaluru-based MOM ISRO Satellite Centre said studies based on analysis of data being sent by the orbiter would soon answer different queries related to life on the planet.

Mars Orbiter Mission got into orbit around September 2014 to closely study Marss atmospheric composition. It was a mission that successfully demonstrated Indias technological capability for interplanetary exploration.

"The span of two years on Earth nearly equals to one year on Mars. The Mangalyaan, which entered into the orbit of Mars around two years ago, has completed one revolution. The data being sent by it over a period of last two years is being studied by ISRO for analysing atmospheric configuration," said Karidhal. Read more here

2. After Demonetisation, Tourists In Pushkar Had To Perform On Streets To Make Money And Get Home

hindustantimes

When demonetisation hit tourists at Rajasthan's Pushkar, many of them were stranded. The money they were carrying turned to paper overnight, leaving them "virtually penniless."

To fund their return tickets to Delhi, 2 groups of tourists from Germany, Australia and France began to put on a show near the famous Brhama temple, and at the Gau Ghat crossing on Saturday.

"We came here on November 8 to see the famous Pushkar fair. The same night government of India announced demonetisation of R500 and R1000 banknotes. Whatever change we had in Rs100 and lower denominations are exhausted," Jayden, an Australian tourist added. Read more here

3. NASA's International Space Station Is Now Visible From Shimla And Everyone's Thrilled About It

AFP/representational image

If you are the kind who loves to gawk at the sky during the night, count stars, or just observe its beauty, it's time you go to Shimla.

The International Space Station (ISS) of NASA is visible in Shimla skies these days, much to the delight of city residents and tourists. It is seen as a bright shining star moving at high speed.

How cool is that?

ISS has already been spotted at many places around the globe and from November 21, it is being spotted in Shimla, where it will be visible till December 6, 2016. On Saturday, ISS was seen in Shimla for a minute at 5:30 am, for a minute at 6:37 pm and again at 7:06 pm. Read more here

4. Of The Rs 400 Crore In Fake Currency Circulation, Only Rs 29.64 Crore Was Found Last Year

BCCL/representational image

Is India doing enough to detect fake notes, cited by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a significant reason for withdrawing 86 per cent of India's currency, a process popularly known as "demonetisation"?

Apparently not. In 2015-16, only 16 of every 250 fake notes were detected, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of government data.

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 per cent of money in circulation. On November 9, in response to Telugu filmstar Nagarjuna's tweet praising "demonetisation" -- Modi tweeted: "Dear @iamnagarjuna, this step will check corruption, black money and fake currency rackets that slow our progress." Read more here

5. Muslim Woman Beat Up By Bajrang Dal Tells Court That They Gangraped Her And Wanted To Hang Her

screen grab/times now

When a group of Bajrang Dal men first accosted and then mercilessly beat up a Muslim couple in Khurja in Bulandshahr district last week, thinking the woman was Hindu (she later turned out to be Muslim, but that didn't stop the beatings) and that it was a case of love jihad, the woman had kept quiet about one thing. In court, she has now alleged that the Bajrang Dal men later gang-raped her. Following this, police have changed the original FIR to include gang rape charges.

In an interview to a local Hindi news channel, the woman said on Saturday that the men not only raped her but tried to hang her by a noose one of them made. "My friend and I were sitting in a room when a group of men approached us and asked us why we were sitting there. They started beating both of us and dragged him out of the room before raping me. One of them suggested to the others that we should be hanged by a noose." Read more here
Churches in Germany have claimed that more and more Muslim refugees are converting to Christianity as they settle into a new life in the European country.

The Independent

Footage of three refugees being baptised at the Evangelical-Freikirchlichen Gemeinde in Berlin has emerged. Priest, Matthias Linke, asks them, Do you believe from the bottom of your heart that Jesus Christ is your Lord and saviour, and will you follow him every day of your life?

AFP reported them answering with a yes afterwhich they were all dipped into basin filled with holy water.

Reuters

Linke added, A lot of them come to Germany and think, here I can choose my religion and I want to choose a religion of freedom. For many Iranians that Ive baptised, Christianity is the religion of freedom.

Felix Goldinger, a Catholic priest in Speyer, said he has baptised many refugees from Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and Eritrea.

Reuters

Some of the converted refugees were introduced to Christianity upon their arrival in Germany or on their way to Europe, whereas some tried following the religion back in their home countries but were restricted.

There are those, who believe that the conversions are taking place because it gives refugees a higher chance of being granted asylum in Germany where Christianity is the dominant religion.

Also, others believe that becoming Christian will help them integrate into society more easily than as Muslims.

Reuters

Since the onset of the refugee crisis, an estimated number of 900,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Germany.
At least 22 people have been killed and dozens of others were injured in a powerful blast near St Marks Cathedral, seat of Egypts Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.

Twitter

According to Egypt's state media a bomb was lobbed inside a chapel that is adjacent to the cathedrals outer wall.

Twitter

Even though there was no immediate claim of responsibility of the blast, analysts say it had the imprints of the Islamic State militant group.

Twitter

About 10 percent of Egypt's 82-million population are Christians. Sunday's blast was the second major explosion in the Egyptian capital in two days. On Saturday, six policemen were killed when a bomb exploded on a main road leading to the pyramids at Giza.
An inquiry has been launched by a health department in South Africa after a man, thought to be dead, was found alive in the fridge of a state mortuary.

The District Attorney in the KwaZulu-Natal province said the young man was the victim of a motorcycle accident in KwaMashu on Monday night.

The department can confirm that an internal inquiry is underway regarding this matter, KwaZulu-Natal health department head Sifiso Mtshali said on Friday.

The shocking incident took place while the DA was conducting an oversight visit at the Mahatma Gandhi hospital, adjacent to the morgue, on Tuesday.

The party said Emergency Medical Rescue Services declared the man dead at the scene. He was taken to the Phoenix mortuary and put in a fridge.

However, when the family arrived for identification purposes on Tuesday morning, a pulse and breathing efforts were found in the patient by mortuary staff, who then immediately transported him to another hospital for resuscitation.

Doctors and nurses managed to resuscitate and warm him. His relatives received counselling.
Nigerian newspaper headlines December 11, 2016.

Premium Times

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, on Friday outlined a 10-point fiscal roadmap to reset the Nigerian economy to a path of growth.

Guardian

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), has called on the government to provide enabling environment for its members through reduction of taxes on imported pharmaceutical raw materials, to ensure the continued survival of pharmaceutical businesses in the country.

The Sun

President Muhammadu Buhari, governors, traditional rulers and prominent Nigerians yesterday eulogised the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi for his leadership qualities and achievements since he ascended the throne a year ago.

Leadership

Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel, yesterday, escaped unhurt as the building of the Reigners Bible Church International in Uyo, during a worship session.

The Nation

Just as experienced during the 2015 general elections and the March 19 rerun, yesterdays legislative rerun in Rivers State was again marred by killings, bomb blasts, gunshots, thuggery, violence and snatching of ballot boxes and other electoral materials.

Vanguard

Forty-one days after the coastal states of Niger Delta under the auspices of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, led by former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, met with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, the people are still unsure of Mr. Presidents frame of mind.

Punch

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has submitted an official report to the Independent National Electoral Commission on the 100 electoral officials who allegedly received part of the $115m (N23bn) disbursed on the instruction of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, during the build-up to the 2015 presidential election.

Thisday

The Head of Media and Public Affairs, of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, yesterday disclosed that the commission would drag more bank managing directors and chief executives of banks to court over allegations of money laundering.
Nigerian police officer, Alkali Mohammed, was beheaded during Saturdaysrerun election in Rivers State, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

Mr. Mohammed, a deputy superintendent of police, was killed during an ambush at Omoku, Onelga Local Government Area, CLEEN Foundation said in its report of the election. He was killed alongiside his police aide, the group which monitored the election and works closely with the police said.

Other police officers confirmed Mr. Mohammeds death to PREMIUM TIMES. They said he was a member of the Mobile Police19 team in Port Harcourt and is a son of a retired police officer.

There were several cases of violence, ballot box snatching in the Rivers election to elect lawmakers that would represent the state in local and federal parliaments.

We call on the Inspector General of Police to investigate all cases of voter harassments and intimidation during the elections, especially the alleged shooting to death of Mr. Mbari John MeeBari, killing of DSP Alkali Mohammed and his orderly who was beheaded during an ambush at Omoku, Onelga LGA, CLEEN said in its report.

The police are yet to officially announce the killing of the officials. The Rivers Police spokesperson did not pick or return calls to his phone.

Details later

Source: PremiumTimes
President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, has revealed that he suffered racism in office, adding Americans primary concern about me has been that I seem foreign.

In 2009, Obama became the first ever African American to be elected to office and the first president born outside the contiguous United States.

He said to CNNs Fareed Zakaria while reflecting on his legacy: The concept of race in America is not just genetic, otherwise the one-drop rule wouldnt have made sense.

Its cultural. Its this notion of a people who look different than the mainstream, suffering terrible oppression.

But somehow being able to make out of that a music and a language and a faith and a patriotism,

I think theres a reason why attitudes about my presidency among whites in Northern states are very different from whites in Southern states.

Are there folks whose primary concern about me has been that I seem foreign, the other? Are those who champion the birther movement feeding off of bias? Absolutely.

The 55-year-old said the colour of his skin had absolutely contributed to white Americans negative perceptions of his time in office.

I think theres a reason why attitudes about my presidency among whites in Northern states are very different from whites in Southern states, he said.

Obama further told Zakaria in the special interview that he did not mind being defined as the nations first black president.

According to Zakaria, Obama was raised by three white people: his mother, Ann Dunham, and his grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham.

And an Indonesian, you can throw in there, Obama added, making reference to his stepfather, Lolo Soetoro.

David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Obama at the White House who now runs the Chicago Institute of Politics, concurred.

Its indisputable that there was a ferocity to the opposition and a lack of respect to him that was a function of race, Axelrod said.

According to him, at least one powerful Republican was personally disrespectful to Obama.

He (the Republican)said to him (Obama), we dont really think you should be here but the American people thought otherwise. So were going to have to work with you, Axelrod said.

President-elect Donald Trump, promoted birther arguments, encouraging hackers to look into Obamas place of birth in 2014.

Trump said back in August 2012 that an extremely credible source called his office to tell him that Obamas birth certificate is a fraud.

The Republican, however, said recently that he no longer believed that Obama was born in Kenya.

President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now, we all want to get back to making America strong and great again, Trump said.

He, however, made no apology for his previous statements and claimed that Hillary Clintons presidential campaign began the birther movement in 2008.
Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi has claimed that if he defects from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, APC, the party would collapse.

Umahi noted that anybody having such thoughts about his defection is just dreaming, because he remained one of the strong pillars holding the PDP.

Speaking through the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Senator Emmanuel Onwe, the governor maintained that the media speculations that was planning to pitch his tent with the ruling party was the figment of the imagination of rumour mongers.

Onwe said, There have been speculations as to whether the Governor of Ebonyi State is moving to the APC or whether he is remaining in PDP, and who is going with him and who is not going with him.

I want to address this matter hopefully once and for all, for all Nigerians to understand that Governor Umahi is one of the centre pillars of the PDP. And I say that with a very deep conviction from my soul.

This is a party on whose platform he has been the state Chairman for four years, a party on whose platform he was the deputy governor for four years and now, governor hopefully for eight years.

And anyone speculating about his commitment or his strength, or his role within the party or any doubt at all about whether he is remaining or decamping, is just dreaming.

Onwe believed that Umahis leadership style was one of the qualities that would lead the PDP out of its current challenges
The United Nations Security Council has insisted that Gambias incumbent President,Yahya Jammeh must step down after he lost last weeks Presidential elections. Yahya Jammeh who has ruled The Gambia for twenty-two years lost the Presidential election to the opposition candidate, Adama Barrow.

Jammeh initially accepted the results of the election and congratulated Barrow before making an unexpected turnaround to demand that fresh elections be held. He cited abnormalities in the elections and rejected the results totally.

The AU had earlier condemned his decision and urged him to allow the election results stand and the UN Security councils fifteen members have unanimously insisted that Jammeh must step down in January.

In a press statement issued today, the 15-member Council called on outgoing President Yahya Jammeh to respect the choice of the sovereign people of Gambia, as he did on 2 December, and to transfer, without condition and undue delay, power to the President-elect, Mr. Adama Barrow.

The Council also urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint, refrain from violence and remain calm, and requested that the security of President-elect Barrow and that of all Gambians be fully ensured.
A French multinational insurance firm is launching a global policy on parental leave for all its employees effective January 01, 2017. AXA Group employees in most of the 64 countries where the insurer operates will receive a minimum of 16 weeks and four weeks fully paid maternity and paternity leave respectively, regardless of their family situation.Thomas Buberl, Group CEO at AXA, said the policy aims to help the companys employees achieve work-life balance.This global policy gives all AXA employees the same rights and opportunities when expanding their family. I am convinced that a good balance between professional and private life is absolutely necessary to the performance and professional fulfilment of our employees, he said.In Asia, the policy will be extended across AXAs network of wholly owned entities and unique partners, taking into account local market legislation and social and cultural factors.Shubhro Mitra, regional chief HR officer at AXA Asia, said the policy is AXAs way of caring for employees and their family, and support the companys long-term sustainability in Asia.Parenting is a rewarding experience and as a caring employer, we want to ensure we provide our employees with the resources to support them on this journey, Mitra said. This is uniquely important for Asia where family is considered the cornerstone of culture and tradition and the reason we have committed to extending the global advantages through our partnership network and affiliates carrying the AXA brand.The new parental policy is an attractive offering, supports diversity, and will positively impact more than 23,000 employees and our future workforce for the long term sustainability and success of AXA in Asia going forward.While the 16 weeks maternity leave and four weeks paternity leave generally exceeds the legal minimum in the region, AXA said it will apply the greater benefit in territories where local laws or current benefits go beyond the advantages they offer.AXA is also offering parents flexible working options and dedicated HR and management support before, during, and after the parental leave period.
International think tank Geneva Association, in its first Cyber and Innovation research program report, said that the risks associated with the use of information and communication technology costs companies more than $100 billion every year. Costs per data breach for each company is pegged in the range of more than $2 million to nearly $4 million.However, cyber threats continue to be a challenge to insurers because of the lack of standards, a common vocabulary and best practices, the report went on to say.The insurance industry should globally work together with other stakeholders to collect and spread such information. One first idea would be to publish methods (standards and good practices) for cyber risk assessment, the Geneva Association said.Another inadequacy in the industry is the lack of understanding of such risk both on the demand and supply side.Thus, Geneva Association noted that it is incumbent upon the industry to start a dialogue among stakeholders and help define risk management strategies both at state and corporate levels. Further, apart from identifying its impact on daily life, the industry should be prepared to deal with cyber-risk on a larger scale.This could all be achieved by building up IT expertise within the ranks of the insurance industry, among brokers and insurers, as well as among its clients.On the side of governance, the report said that global risk is determined by the country with the weakest laws and policies, mainly due to the borderless nature of cyber-threats.To some extent, it is the country with the weakest legal system and the highest cyber criminality that determines the global cyber threat level. Therefore, international collaboration, such as some minimal criminal law standards, the exchange of information and interstate rendition, is urgently needed, the report went on to say.The Geneva Association report, Ten Key Questions on Cyber Risk and Cyber Risk Insurance, is a primer on the risks and state of the market.
Only two insurance firms have been named on a list of the 106 best firms in Australia for gender equality.The annual Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) employer of choice for gender equality citations were announced this week and for the second year running only Allianz and Suncorp made the cut.The total number of citations bumped up from 90 last year, and 76 in 2014, to 106 this year  but only two insurers could crack the list. This poor result begs the question: does the industry need to do more to promote gender equality?Charis Martin-Ross, head of diversity and sustainability at Allianz Australia, said that while only two firms had been granted the citation, the industry is heading in the right direction.I wouldnt say necessarily that insurance needs to do more; I think we are seeing some really good practice in this space, Martin-Ross told Insurance Business.The opportunity is actually for insurance companies to collaborate more. I dont think this is an area where we need to compete.The more we can collaborate across the insurance industry, the better off we will be together.Ed Cooley, executive general manager of talent and planning for Suncorp Group, agreed that the industry on the whole is moving toward more gender equality and stressed that brokers play an important role in the diversification of the industry.The brokers play a very important role, Cooley told Insurance Business.Ive spoken at events for major brokers where they bring together their clients and other players in the industry and they are very useful forums for sharing best practice and for promoting the importance of gender equality.Both Suncorp and Allianz approach gender equality in different ways. At Allianz, which won a citation for the eighth consecutive year, women represent 32.5% of the senior leadership roles in the business. This is ahead of its target of hitting 40% by 2020.Suncorp recruitment policies state that at least one male and one female be shortlisted for any senior management positions. Both firms invest in equality practices from recruitment through development.Both Cooley and Martin-Ross noted that equality is about more than box ticking as gender diversity makes economic sense for all insurance businesses, large or small.It has to start at the top, Cooley said on ways businesses can promote gender diversity.I think that if you go in with a mindset that there is a business reason for creating equality, it is not about social justice or not just the right thing to do; it is because businesses that take this seriously outperform businesses that dont.
The morning explosion killed at least 25 people and injured more than 31 at a Cairo church

Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Sunday that the country will observe three days of mourning following a morning explosion that killed at least 25 people and injured more than 31 at Saint Peter and Saint Paul church near the Coptic Cathedral.

"Terrorism targets the country's and Copts and Muslims... Egypt will only be made stronger and more united in such circumstances," the president said in a statement.

The president vowed to hold accountable the assailants and put on trial all who have "incited, facilitated or participated" in the terrorist attack.

The president described the Sunday church attack  as well as the Friday blast in Giza that left six policemen dead  as part of "a war against the great Egyptian people."

Egypt's Al-Azhar, the world's oldest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, also condemned the attack.

The Anglican Church in Egypt also denounced the attack, saying that "such an attack would not stop people from standing united in the face of terrorism."

The British ambassador in Egypt John Casson said he was "appalled by [the] attack on Coptic Cathedral."

The United Arab Emirates foreign minister Abdallah Bin Zayed, French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault and the US Embassy in Egypt also condemned the attack.

Egypt has been battling a North Sinai-based Islamist insurgency since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

While militant attacks  mostly limited to army and police targets  have mainly been focused in North Sinai, some attacks have reached other parts of the country, including the capital.

Egypt's Christians have been the target of several terrorist attacks in recent years. Several minor attacks targeting churches followed the dispersal of the pro-Morsi Rabaa El-Adaweya sit-in in 2013.

The largest attack targeting Christians in recent years took place in 2011, when 23 people were killed in an explosion at the Two Saints Church in Alexandria.

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A new survey released by specialist trade credit insurer Atradius has revealed a number of target markets for brokers to approach with trade credit cover.The Payment Practices Barometer Australia 2016 collected the opinions of 200 Australian businesses during the second quarter of the year and found that, on average, the ICT industry takes the longest to pay overdue receivables.However, Mark Hoppe , managing director ANZ of Atradius, said that while the ICT industry may show signs of late payment, other industries should be top of the list for brokers.The transport industry was the only sector where more Australian suppliers expect a worsening in B2B customers payment practices and Hoppe noted that this industry, as well as two others, should give brokers pause for thought.Particularly as we come into the New Year, in retail and construction, February and March is often a time when payments get drawn out because of cash flow. Its a time when brokers really want to make sure that their clients are on top of it, Hoppe told Insurance Business.If there is any sign of payments being stretched out, that is the time to say that we really need to take a look at some of these customers.Transport businesses traditionally carry more risk because they carry older debt and Hoppe noted that his firm has seen an uptick in claims from the sector throughout 2016.Trends in the trade credit space are all important for brokers looking to assist their clients in the market. For specialists, or more general brokers, knowing the industry in which their clients work and the payment history of that industry will help.Hoppe suggested that, rather than discussing whether businesses hold any bad debt, brokers should become more aware of the reasons for late payment in different industries. Differentiation between clients and industries is key; brokers should focus questions around payment trends, seasonality of late payments and comparisons with the rest of the industry.
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The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro is the first phone to feature Google's "Tango" technology. The price of this phone is $733.33. The main selling point of this phone is its ability to give the user the augmented reality experience in real-time. Now, let's discuss the review.

Design

The first thing you're going to notice about the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro is its size, which is 7.08 x 3.49 x 0.42 inches and weighs 259g. The sides and back are covered in metal and it has some "fashionable" exposed screws at the bottom. On the top of its back design, there is a fairly looking standard smartphone camera. Below it, there is an enormous camera that features an ultra-wide angle camera dedicated to measuring depth measurements to round out the Tango technology and some kind of sensor.

Display

The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro features a 6.4 inch 1440 x 2560 Quad HD screen. Its display quality is acceptably bright but struggles a little bit with visibility under sunny conditions. Though the display quality is good, it has some issues with color reproduction. Also, it struggles with mid-range tones becoming oversaturated. But despite these flaws, users can fix this by adjusting the color temperature and intensity on its software controls.

Sound

The sound quality is average at best, as you will notice that it is not rich with bass notes. The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro package comes in with a pair of JBL earphones which just like the phone's speaker sound quality, its sound quality is average. One thing great about the earphones is that it is quite comfortable to wear.

Processor

The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro runs on the latest Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Its chipset is the Snapdragon 652 which is quite surprising, given that the Tango technology demands a high processing power. But still, the Snapdragon 652 is somewhat capable of giving the phone some nice balance in its own way.

Memory

The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro's RAM is only 4 GB. Again, though this is not really surprising and in fact acceptable. But to be honest, I was expecting it to be at least 5 GB knowing that it features the Tango technology. The inbuilt storage is 64 GB and the external storage supports microSD up to 256 GB.

Battery

The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro houses a 4050 mAh battery which is commonly seen in 7-inch tablets. Now, because of its 6.4-inch screen, its battery life does not last long. Base on the video source, its screen-on time lasts for around 7 hours only. Recharge time is great because it can charge from zero percent to full battery in 100 minutes.

One more thing, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro does not feature the Type-C USB which is currently supported by most phones these days. Instead, it supports microUSB. Yes, it does not affect how the user uses the phone, but it feels kind of outdated in my opinion.

Camera

Its 8 MP camera performs fine. Its 16 MP camera performs fine as well and supports HDR which is great. However, both cameras struggle with the autofocus feature but still can deliver good quality pictures.

Video

Its performance is below average. First, it does not shoot in 4k. Second, the max resolution is only 1080@fps even though it has a Quad HD display. Third, it has issues with the noise canceling audio and focus. And lastly, based on the video source, there is said to be a clicking noise when viewing the recorded video samples.

About the clicking noise issue, the video source raised this issue to Lenovo. The answer Lenovo gave was along the lines of "that problem is out of the ordinary and you may just have ended up with a bad handset." Now, I'm not saying that this is true or this is exactly what Lenovo was implicating. Anyway, just view this video and interpret it for yourself.

Tango Experience

The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro has a number of apps for its Tango or augmented reality feature. I will only name 2 features that caught my interest. If you want to know the other apps, here is the link.

The first app is the Wayfair Measure. The idea of this app is like when you want to buy furniture, you can see how the furniture will look if it is placed in your home or anywhere you want to put it. I think this is a great app because you won't have to worry about buying a furniture out and impulse and only to later find out that it is not the best fit.

The second app is the Holo. The idea of this app is similar to Pokemon Go. However, with this app, you can choose when and where you would like to use the augmented reality feature. You can also walk around it in full 3D space, you can get close to it, and you can step away.

The Verdict

There were some issues shown about the augmented reality feature, but I chose not to touch on that topic for now because there are not that yet many source materials for that and I might make a mistake. But based on what I saw, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Tango apps would struggle and sometimes crash down when its augmented reality is pushed to its limits. For now, all I can say is that if you're the person who wants to experience new things, then this phone is for you. But if you're a person who prefers great quality performance, then the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro is not for you.
Like almost every Hollywood celebrity couple there is, "The Vampire Diaries" star Ian Somerhalder and his wife Nikki Reed of the "Twilight" fame have been plagued by countless rumors. Apparently, fans of Somerhalder and his former "TVD" co-star and ex-flame Nina Dobrev still cannot accept the fact that the actor is now a happily married man. The issues surrounding the trio range from marital conflicts between Somerhalder and Reed mainly rooted from Dobrev's supposed comeback on "TVD" to the couple's alleged divorce plans.

Ian Somerhalder And Nikki Reed Are Relationship Goals

Yet, with endless speculations on their marriage, Somerhalder and Reed have stayed classy and positive through it all. We can even say that the two don't seem to be fazed at all by the ongoing rumors about their relationship, which started from a whirlwind romance a few years ago. Also, unlike other celebrity couples who prefer to keep their romance and marriages under the radar, Somerhalder and his wife seem to have no problem expressing their affection for each other publicly.

A case in point is the duo's overly romantic messages over Facebook days ago, during the actor's 38th birthday. On Thursday, Dec. 8, Reed posted on her Facebook page an adorable photo of Somerhalder as a toddler along with a lengthy tribute message, wherein she described their sweet little moments together as husband and wife. In it, the "Twilight" actress called her husband "my human, my partner, my guy, my better half," and shared that her growing old with the actor is just her "favorite perk."

Not to be outdone, the birthday boy himself proudly shared his wife's tribute on his own Facebook page and gave his equally sweet response. "This is, the sweetest birthday note any man could ever get from his wife. Nikki Reed thank you my human. My heart is so full with your words and their meaning. I love you. Thank you for making this the... Best. Birthday. Ever," the "Lost" actor wrote.

Surely enough, the pair's posts quickly became viral and attracted thousands of "likes" from fans who find their relationship sweet and inspirational. As if their intense public declaration of love isn't enough for fans to root for them, the couple was spotted the day after attending an event for a worthwhile cause. As reported by Daily Mail, Somerhalder and Reed stepped out in style in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday night, Dec. 9 to attend the 25th Annual Captain Planet Foundation Gala. The couple looked chic and gorgeous together while posing together for some snapshots.

With their recent public sightings, social media posts and interviews, Somerhalder and Reed must have proven how their marriage is still very much intact and healthy and how the divorce rumors about them are quite far-fetched in reality. Understandably, the buzz may have been more persistent than ever following reports of Somerhalder's supposed reunion with ex-girlfriend Dobrev on "The Vampire Diaries." Still, Damon and Elena's fans should take note that the ex-couple's reunion, if ever it pushes through, will just be on a professional level and not a romantic one.

Ian Somerhalder On Delena Reunion

That being said, "The Vampire Diaries" fanatics should also not keep their hopes high when it comes to the supposed reunion of Damon and Elena in "TVD" season 8. In a recent interview with Variety, Somerhalder talked about the much anticipated comeback of Dobrev in the CW vampire series. When asked whether the actress will indeed be back on "The Vampire Diaries" season 8, Somerhalder said, "I don't know. I have zero idea. As a producer, I do have a lot of information and then there's a lot of information I don't have. I want the audience to be happy, but I also am very pro human."

As his character is continuously wreaking havoc in the series, Somerhalder is not looking forward to a happy ending for Damon. And since a Delena reunion can be one picture of a happy ending, the actor does not seem to keep fans disillusioned. "I don't think these guys should have the ability to wreak havoc, kill everybody, ruin the lives of so many and then get out with a happy ending. I think the happy ending is that we got to go on this amazing ride with these two guys. They've lived long enough," he concluded.
The Egyptian army has condemned Sunday's "cowardly" bomb attack targeting churchgoers at the St Peter and St Paul church in Cairo's Abbassiya district, saying it will only increase the people's determination and solidarity in the face of terrorism and extremism.

An army statement also extended condolences to the families of the victims after at least 25 people were killed and 49 were injured in the attack.

The Coptic Church's spokesman Rev Paul Halim told Al-Ahram Arabic website that the explosion took place in the small church also known as El-Botroseya, which is attached to the Coptic Cathedral.

Following the attack, Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced that the country will observe three days of mourning.

Al-Azhar, the world's oldest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, also condemned the attack.

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"Wayward Pines" Season 3 might finally see the light of day in 2017. Adding hype to the alleged release is the rumored crossover with another big hit "Stranger Things." Will fans be able to see a major twist on these series?

"Wayward Pines" Season 3: Reasons Why They Should Give It A Go

Recently, there have been talks as to whether or not "Wayward Pines" Season 3 should push through or not. Reports claim that the drastic drop in ratings has been a major concern to its producers and network as well. To recall, "Wayward Pines" Season 1 recorded a total of 3.8 million viewers. However, it declined to 2.4 million on its second installment.

With "Wayward Pines" Season 3, showrunners are expecting to have an increase in viewership ratings up to 3.5 million, including DVR numbers. Many speculate that these figures are what the show needs to secure the third installment.

There were also reports that "Wayward Pines" director and producer M. Night Shyamalan and show creator Chad Hodge is in the process of negotiating with FOX regarding the alleged third season. However, there has been no confirmation or update about this to date.

"Wayward Pines" and "Stranger Things" Crossover, Is It Possible?

Amidst the rumors of a third installment for "Wayward Pines," an alleged crossover with another hit series has been speculated. Reports suggest that "Wayward Pines" will team up with "Stranger Things" in an upcoming crossover.

News of the said crossover made fans of both series ecstatic. Many are wondering how both series will be incorporated with one another. However, some pointed out that the idea is a bit far-fetched considering that the two series air in different networks - "Wayward Pines" in FOX and "Stranger Things" in Netflix. So far, no confirmation has been made about the alleged crossover.

In case the "Wayward Pines - Stranger Things" crossover did come to fruition, fans will definitely be in for a treat. Check back for more "Wayward Pines" and "Stranger Things" updates.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced on Sunday the "brutal attack" at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo's Abbassiya district, which claimed the lives of 25 worshippers, according to Russian news agency Sputnik.

Putin expressed his "shock and grief," particularly given the high number of women and children among the victims.

The Russian president affirmed his country's commitment to assisting Egypt in its war against terrorism.

At least 49 people were injured after an explosion inside a church attached to the main Coptic Cathedral, according to the health ministry.

Following the attack, Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced the country will observe three days of mourning.
THE rolling hills of Wellow are alive to the sound of rare Swiss lambs bleating.



West Wight Alpacas has just welcomed the arrival of some extremely rare Valais black nose lambs  which originated in the high pastures of the Valais region in the Swiss Alps.



The lambs were born to already pregnant ewes bought by the attraction, which has also purchased a Valais black nose ram to help with breeding.



Unlike more common breeds, they have to be sheered twice a year, yielding a thick coarse fleece, which is used to make rugs.



So rare are the breed, the Swiss have now barred their export to foreign countries.
The procession will start at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Cairos Nasr City, a church source told Al-Ahram Arabic news website

Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II will lead on Monday the funeral procession for the victims of the Sunday bombing inside a chapel at Cairo's main Coptic Cathedral, a church source told Al-Ahram Arabic news website on Sunday.

The procession will start at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Cairos Nasr City, according to the source.

Pope Tawadros II has cut short a papal visit to Greece and is on his way back to Cairo "to go directly to the site of the explosion," another source said earlier in the day.

At least 25 people were killed and 49 injured after an explosion inside a church attached to the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo's Abbassyia district.



Following the attack, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced that the country will observe three days of mourning.

The world's oldest seat of Sunni Islamic learning Al-Azhar has condemned the attack.

Al-Azhar said that the targeting of houses of worship and the killing of innocents are "criminal acts that violate Islamic principles".

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Recently, Ronda Rousey has been surfacing the headlines, with the event UFC 207 set plus the not so traditional exchange with Nunes has just been on fire. The former UFC bantamweight champion has recently avoided the media in all forms possible when she and the current champion faced off for the weigh-ins in UFC 205.

After more than a year of inactivity inside the octagon, particularly the UFC after losing to Holly Holm at UFC 193, she has been focusing more on her Hollywood career in acting. Now the former bantamweight champion will be set to fight at UFC 207 against the new bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.

According to GamenGuide, there are rumors spreading that Ronda Rousey could retire anytime soon even after the announcement of her return to the octagon. Though the "Expendables" star would return, it does not guarantee that she will not retire after the fight, some say she will, some say she will not retire from the sport, well no one knows exactly what will be the final verdict of her decision and fans just have to wait and see.

According to Yahoo Sports, Rousey said that there is no need to hype her fight against Amanda Nunes since her defeat last year with Holly Holm has made her more of a skilled and knowledgeable fighter. There have been improvements and some say a lot has changed since her fight last year. One proof of it is the recurrent title changes from one to another fighter.

In conclusion, Ronda Rousey just really has one thing in mind and that is to avoid the media. She wanted to focus on the fight on hand and training, plus ultimately the goal that is to become the new UFC bantamweight champion again in UFC 207 against Amanda Nunes. For more of the latest news and updates feel free to visit Jobs & Hire.
The European Union (EU) has condemned the Sunday bombing at the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo that killed at least 25 worshippers and injured 49 others.

"Our thoughts now are with the victims and their families. The EU expresses its condolences to the bereaved, and stands side by side with Egypt in the efforts to defeat terrorism in their country," said a spokesperson for EU High Representative Federica Mogherini in a statement.



A bomb went off inside a church attached to the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo early Sunday, one of the deadliest attacks on Egyptian Christians in years.



Following the attack, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced that the country will observe three days of mourning.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing so far. Islamist groups are waging an insurgency against the Egyptian state in North Sinai and sporadic attacks have occurred in Cairo and other governorates since Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was toppled in mid 2013.



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Dr. Lee A. Beatty, a family physician at Riverbend Family Practice in Mount Holly, has been named 2016 Family Physician of the Year by the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians. He is a graduate of the Wake Forest School of Medicine.

First Tennessee Bank has been recognized by Greenwich Associates in the 2016 Greenwich Best Brand Awards for Small Business Banking. First Tennessee was honored in the Ease of Doing Business and Trust categories. In North Carolina, First Tennessee has operations in the Triangle, Winston-Salem, Greenville and Charlotte.

VF Corporation has been named a Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. VF had a perfect score of 100 points on the 2017 Corporate Equality Index. The Corporate Equality Index is the national bench-marking tool that assesses corporate policies and practices pertaining to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

Michael Skipper has joined Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Carolinas Realty as a sales associate in its Kernersville office.

Amy Smith, CPA, has joined Bernard Robinson & Company, LLP as tax supervisor.

Aaron Singleton has been named director of communications of the United Way of Forsyth County. Previously, he was director of news and media relations at Winston Salem State University. Singleton earned a bachelors degree in speech communications from Pennsylvania State University, where he later served as a writer and editor in the Public Information Department.

FirstPoint Background Screening Resources of Greensboro has been accredited by the Background Screening Credentialing Council of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners. FirstPoint demonstrated its continued compliance with the Background Screening Agency Accreditation Program.

Womble Carlyle has been named a Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation for the third consecutive year. Womble Carlyle received a perfect score of 100 points on the 2017 Corporate Equality Index. The measured criteria include: non-discrimination workplace protections, domestic partner benefits, transgender-inclusive health care benefits, company-wide organizational competency programs and positive public engagement with the LGBT community.

Candace Holder, the vice president and chief information officer at Surry Community College, has been awarded the Community Choice Award by the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina. The center is a non-profit organization that operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network, which provides broadband communications technology services and support to K-12 school districts, higher education campuses and academic research institutions across North Carolina.
State Rep. Evelyn Terry, D-71st, said Friday that she plans to attend the extra session of the N.C. General Assembly on Tuesday in Raleigh, which comes about six months after she announced she was being treated for a growth on her bladder.

Gov. Pat McCrory called for the extra session so legislators can consider providing financial assistance to residents who suffered from Hurricane Matthew and the recent wildfires in western North Carolina.

Terry declined to discuss her medical condition, saying that her health has improved. Carroll Leggett, her spokesman, confirmed on June 28 that Terry was being treated for bladder cancer.

According to General Assembly records, she last attended a session on May 12.

Terry said she soon will issue a public statement about her illness.

Terry, who ran unopposed, was re-elected on Nov. 8 to a third term representing House District 71. The district is heavily Democratic and covers south-central Winston-Salem.

I would like to thank all the voters and my colleagues for being so kind to me, Terry said. They have been so supportive to me while Im on this journey.
Community band to hold Christmas concert

The Winston-Salem Community Band will perform its annual Christmas concert at 5:30 p.m. today at Fries Memorial Moravian Church, 251 N. Hawthorne Road. Admission is free.

The concert will feature well-known sacred and secular tunes including Andersons Christmas Festival; Tchaikovskys Pantomime, from The Nutcracker, and Holsts In the Bleak Midwinter.

Boone police hold food, funds drive

The Boone Police Department is holding fourth Annual Holiday Food and Funds Drive. The drive will run through Jan. 13th. The food and funds will benefit the Hunger & Health Coalition in Boone. The coalition can buy $5 worth of food for every dollar raised.

Any non-perishable food item or monetary donation will be accepted. If other organizations, groups or individuals would like to help, call Lt. Chris Hatton at (828) 268-6942. The Boone Police Department is located at 1500 Blowing Rock Road, Boone.

Program for students held weekly

SMART ARTS, a program for students in grades 6 through 12 that offers such programs as mentoring, networking, innovative skills, health and beauty tips and technology is being held at Galilee Missionary Baptist, 4129 Northampton Drive. The program is from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the cost for the program is $25 per quarter per child.

For more information, call Kim Walker at (336) 695-2753.

Crisis Control selling holiday cards

Crisis Control Ministry is selling its 2016 Holiday Honor Cards. For $5 a card, cards can be sent by the purchaser or signed and sent by the Crisis Control staff. All proceeds benefit Crisis Control.

There are two design options available, one created by graphic artist Beth Jones and one painted by William Mangum, a local artist who has had a larger holiday honor card program since 1987.

For more information or to purchase holiday honor cards, visit www.cmcard.org or contact Vicki Jones at (336) 201-5290 or vjones@crisiscontrol.org.

Anderson High School class

to hold 50th reunion

A. H. Anderson High School Class of 1967 will have its 50th Reunion Celebration May 1921 in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Va. The cost is $477 a person for single occupancy and $328 a person for double occupancy. The trip includes an ocean-front hotel, a meet and greet dinner, transportation, and a dinner cruise on the Spirit of Norfolk. A $50 non-refundable deposit is required and the balance is due by Jan. 28. For more information, call Birdie Jackson at (336) 306-6393 or Linda Cole at (336) 473-7504.

Guardian ad Litem needs volunteers

The Forsyth County Guardian ad Litem program is accepting applications from people who would like to serve as volunteer advocates for children in foster care.

Training is provided, with the classes beginning Jan. 21. To learn more or to apply, go to www.volunteerforgal.org or call (336) 779-6650.

Volunteers needed to wrap gifts

The Friends of the Central Library need volunteers to help wrap gifts at Barnes and Noble, 1925 Hampton Inn Court, on Dec. 20-23. Most shifts are two hours, but any time is appreciated. Donations will benefit such Central Library programs as the Childrens Summer Reading Program and the librarys collections.

For more information or to volunteer, email jreiskind@gmail.com or call (336) 727-0734.

Scrollers club selling

Christmas ornaments

The Carolina Scrollers Club of Winston Salem is selling hand crafted, scrolled Christmas decorations at the Klingspor Woodworking Store, 532 Hanes Mall Blvd., in Pavilions Shopping Center. The sale will continue through the end of December. All proceeds will benefit Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina. For more information, visit www.carolinascrollers.com.

Tax-preparation volunteers needed

The Experiment in Self-Reliance needs volunteers to help with its free tax-preparation program.

The Forsyth Free Tax Program provides free tax-preparation services for low- and moderate-income residents at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites throughout Forsyth County. The program utilizes volunteer tax preparers who are certified by the Internal Revenue Service.

Volunteers will receive training to provide tax help. Training is offered both online and in the classroom.

For more information, contact Delores McCullough at (336) 722-9400, ext. 172, or email delores.mccullough@eisr.org.
The governments of several countries have expressed condolences to Egypt after a Sunday bomb attack targeting a church in Cairo killed 23 people and injured 49 others.

A spokesperson for EU High Representative Federica Mogherini said in a statement that our thoughts now are with the victims and their families. The EU expresses its condolences to the bereaved, and stands side by side with Egypt in the efforts to defeat terrorism in their country.

Russia: President Vladimir Putin denounced the "brutal attack" and expressed his "shock and grief," particularly given the high number of women and children among the victims.

France: President Francois Holland denounced the bombing in a statement, while French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault condemned the "gruesome attack" and affirmed his country's support for Egypt in its war against terrorism.

Germany: Foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned the recent "bloody attacks," reaffirming his country's support for Egypt's counterterrorism efforts.

USA: The US embassy in Cairo condemned the attack, while US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed condolences to his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in a phone call Sunday evening.

UK: Ambassador to Cairo John Casson said in a statement, I share the grief and disgust that Egyptians are feeling at the terrorist attack against El-Botroseya Church today and at Fridays attacks against police officers in Giza and Kafr El-Sheikh.

Belgium: Foreign minister Didier Reynders strongly condemned the hateful attack committed today in a Coptic church in Cairo, expressing his shock at this attack on civilians, who were killed for their belief.

Malta: Foreign affairs minister George Vella expressed his governments sympathy to those injured and the families and friends of the deceased, pledging his country's full support to Egypt.

The Vatican: Speaking after the Angelus prayer in St Peter's Square on Sunday morning, Pope Francis expressed special closeness to dear brother Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and prayed for the victims.

The Dutch, Armenian, Swiss and Danish embassies in Cairo have also condemned Sunday's terrorist attack.

In the Arab Region, the governments and ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia have condemned the attack.

Egypt's Ministry of Health announced in a statement on Sunday evening that the official death toll is 23 people, with 49 injuries.

Following the attack, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced that the country will observe three days of mourning.
A proposal being kicked around a state legislative committee would do away with salary schedules for public school principals in favor of allowing school districts to negotiate individual contracts.

With more than 200 principals and assistant principals working in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, officials say that would be difficult to manage on an individual basis.

Instead, the district would likely adopt its own formula for principal pay, said Superintendent Beverly Emory.

I certainly would want us to have a schedule, Emory said. I think its important for people to see, transparently, heres where I am and this is the criteria being used (to determine pay).

The Joint Legislative Study Committee on School Based Administrator Pay has been looking to overhaul principal pay in response to reports that average principal salaries in North Carolina are among the lowest in the country.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for school-based administrators in North Carolina is higher only than their peers in West Virginia. When adding Washington, D.C. in the mix, North Carolina ranks number 50 for principal and assistant principal pay.

Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph County, and co-chair of the committee said total dollars spent on principal pay by the state needs to increase at least 3 to 5 percent.

If were 50th in the nation, then what were doing is not the best way to go about getting the best principal in the best location, Tillman said at the committees meeting in October, and thats what were trying to do.

Getting rid of the salary schedule wouldnt necessarily change that, though. The proposal would take the average pay now per principal and give that to each district for distribution as that district sees fit. While this would give districts more flexibility in how they pay principals in various settings  for example, offering more to principals at struggling schools instead of always paying the most to principals at the largest schools  the proposal wouldnt improve average principal pay unless the state also threw more money into the pot.

The committee convened a panel of superintendents from around the state to weigh in on various aspects of the proposal like increasing administrator pay, giving districts total flexibility in administrator contracts and a suggestion to base some part of administrator pay on performance.

Emory was on the panel. She said the group she participated with showed little support for completely eliminating salary schedules for administrators, but was amenable to performance-based compensation that was paid in addition to increased base salaries for administrators.

From my group, the message was we would really like to have a salary schedule that recognizes and improves pay for principals and assistant principals, Emory said. We are also very open and would welcome a layer on top of that that was flexible, district by district, to have a performance component on top of the schedule.

Nearly all 115 school districts in the state add local dollars to administrator pay. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools has created its own formula to determine administrator pay. Local dollars are used to make up the difference between what the local formula calls for and what the state pays.

The district already uses its own formula to determine principal pay. The district has established a base salary for principals that varies based on school type and size. School system budget director Kerry Crutchfield said the district has been supplementing the salary provided by the state to ensure its administrators are paid more than theyd receive as teachers.

In the event the state does toss out salary schedules for administrators, Crutchfield said the district would likely keep the formula its using now, or some version of it.

It would be a more equitable starting point, he said.

Over the last few years, part of the problem with administrator pay has been that state formulas would have principals and assistant principals getting considerably smaller pay increases than the teachers in their buildings. With the large salary bumps given to teachers,  especially new and mid-career teachers  state formulas often resulted in assistant principals making less than they would have if theyd stayed in the classroom.

Where administrator pay used to be based on a percentage above what an individual would have made as a classroom teacher, those two schedules are no longer linked, creating some of the problems with administrator pay falling behind teacher pay.

The committee is also trying to create more equity between large and small districts. Large districts are often able to pay larger local supplements, thus attract both teachers and administrators away from less affluent areas. The committee is looking at allowing districts to negotiate individual contracts as a way to enable districts to have more flexibility for recruiting and retaining administrators, perhaps helping smaller, poorer districts and those with struggling schools that can be seen as more challenging.

Emory said she hasnt had trouble filling administrator positions thanks, in part, to a local effort to create a pipeline that promotes from within the district. She would, however, welcome efforts that could slow turnover.

I dont think our salaries arent competitive, but certainly people can go to Guilford (County Schools) and make more money in any administrative position, she said.

The committees next meeting date has not been set, but there is a chance members will try and meet this month. Tillman said he hoped the committee could meet three times and come away with a budget provision ready for the upcoming legislative session.
Long before presidential recounts crossed her mind, trash dumping and mercury contamination pushed Jill Stein into politics.

Stein, a physician, joined a 1990s movement to shut down or better regulate mercury-polluting incinerators in Massachusetts. She authored papers on child neurological damage and spoke at public gatherings. She testified at hearings as a medical expert.

Massachusetts eventually enacted strict limits on mercury emissions, and a few incinerators closed. But Stein had begun to see the system as set up to block change, and when the Green Party recruited her to run for governor in 2002, she took the chance.

I was part of a very frustrated public health initiative, and then the Green Party came to me and said, Why dont you run for office? Stein said in an October interview with The Associated Press. I said, Everything else is failing, I might as well try electoral politics.

Shes been trying ever since, running for president in 2012 and again this year, earning roughly 1.5 million votes. She lost the 2002 bid, as well as another run for governor in 2010, state representative in 2004 and Massachusetts secretary of state in 2006.

Stein is now gaining arguably more attention than she ever did on the campaign trail by pushing for recounts of the presidential contest in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. She has claimed, without concrete evidence, that the voting systems there are vulnerable to tampering and that a recount would reassure voters.

A judge in Michigan ended the recount this week, ruling Stein lacked standing. A recount is underway in Wisconsin, and a judge is set to rule Monday on whether one can begin in Pennsylvania. Stein said efforts to stop the recounts will only increase voters distrust in the system.
WASHINGTON  Seven years before Thomas Sims defended Sammie Stokes in a South Carolina death-penalty trial, he had prosecuted Stokes for assaulting his ex-wife.

The trial record shows Sims never told the judge in the murder case about that earlier prosecution, not even when the ex-wife took the stand against his client to recount the assault.

Stokes case is one of two the Supreme Court is weighing in which death-row inmates are raising questions about the actions of their lawyers. In the other, James Tyler of Louisiana pleaded not guilty to the murder charge against him, but his lawyer conceded Tylers guilt and did nothing to poke holes in eyewitness accounts that helped convict Tyler. The justices have yet to decide whether to hear either case, but word could come Monday.

The high court has taken up many cases that involve the Constitutions guarantee of a competent lawyer to a criminal defendant, but these cases pose different issues for the justices.

In the one from Louisiana, the question is whether Tylers rights were violated when the lawyer overrode his objections and put up no defense to the charge against him, choosing instead to focus on trying to avoid a death sentence. In the South Carolina case, the issue is whether Sims had a conflict of interest that prevented him from effectively representing his client.

Sims never told the judge in Stokes murder trial in 1999 of his prior involvement in prosecuting Stokes, or that the earlier case relied in large part on the testimony of Stokes ex-wife, Audrey Smith, according to Stokes current lawyers.

When prosecutors called Smith to testify in the sentencing phase of the trial, Sims pulled his punches, the lawyers wrote in their Supreme Court filing.

Faced with the witness whose cause and credibility he previously championed, Sims ignored multiple significant exaggerations and inconsistencies in Smiths testimony, they wrote.

Keir Weyble, Stokes lead lawyer, pointed to a high court ruling from June in which the court said a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice should have stepped aside from a case in which he had personally approved the prosecution 30 years earlier. The core principle is the same, Weyble said.

Sims, in private practice in Orangeburg, S.C., rejected the idea that he did anything wrong.

Its easy to sit 16 years later and say what someone didnt do 16 years before. I fought for Sammie and I wanted him to live out his life, Sims said.

Sims said Stokes said he wanted Sims to remain as his lawyer.

In Tylers case, there was no genetic evidence implicating Tyler found at the scene of the crime or on his clothing. Police never recovered the gun used to kill an employee of a Pizza Hut restaurant in Shreveport, La.

An eyewitness who was shot but survived described the shooter as real short, about 410, or nearly a foot shorter than Tyler. The other surviving shooting victim failed to pick Tyler out of a series of photos or a subsequent lineup, even though he was the only person common to both. A prostitute who testified against Tyler had served as a police informant who also had had charges against her dropped in exchange for her cooperation.

But defense lawyers did not attempt to discredit the prosecution witnesses because they already had conceded Tylers guilt, over their clients repeated objections.

Cathy Kelly, a Louisiana lawyer who worked on Tylers appeal, said the trial team had plenty of material to work with. They made a decision without investigating it, Kelly said. From the very beginning this was the way they were going to go.

Alan Golden, the lead defense lawyer at Tylers trial, said the case against Tyler was strong. Tyler went from his run-down hotel to the Pizza Hut across the street with a gun in one hand and a ski mask in the other, Golden recalled. The problem was, the ski mask wasnt on.

Tylers lawyers decided the best thing they could do was try to persuade the jury to sentence him to life in prison, Golden said.

Golden, now in private practice in Shreveport after many years as a public defender, said he couldnt recall whether Tyler objected to his trial strategy.
Dear Democratic Party leaders and surrogates:

I was recently having a conversation with a friend when the topic of the Rolling Stones came up. Though we are of the same generation, he is no longer enamored with the Stones attempts to hold back the clock of time.

He shared with me that the only way he would attend one of their concerts would be to hold up a sign that reads: Stop, Just Stop!

While I do not share his feelings about the Stones, I do find his sign reflective of my feelings about your party and some liberals: Stop, Just Stop!

Take a break. Use the holiday season for some honest self-reflection, a moratorium perhaps, but stop, just stop with the reflexive commentary on why you lost the presidential election.

It may not be as bad as you project; a mere 100,000 vote swing in two key states and it would have been the Republicans packing their bags, headed temporarily for the political wilderness. Its a cruel irony to have won the popular vote in four of the five elections this century only to have lost the presidency three of those times.

So stop with the silly hyperbole that, unless you change, the Democrats may not win another presidential election for another generation. Really?

You speak as if America is stagnant. Politics is Americas ultimate cyclical enterprise.

Im not advocating that you sit dormant. You have a Supreme Court battle that awaits, and the manner that Republican Senate usurped the Constitution in order to be in a position to replace the late Atonin Scalia justifies the fight.

I also understand the need to uncover what went wrong, but do you have enough information to make a valid assessment, roughly one month after the election? Some of your cohorts have offered that the marginalized white male is the new kingmaker of presidential elections.

You do realize there has never been a presidential election void of a segment of America that was not marginalized in some manner. Emphasizing the white male in this reactionary manner suggests that other constituencies that are part of your coalition are not as important.

That is not to offer that a portion of the white male population has not been marginalized  they have. But the public discourse has portrayed white males as the only group that has been marginalized, at a minimum, the only group that truly matters.

I dont think thats what youre saying, but it could easily be understood that way.

Who is truly marginalized in America? How are you defining it? Is your definition based on economic factors, education or zip code? Perhaps if you sought to answer that question authentically, you may create a different coalition going forward  a multicultural alliance based on shared economic and social aspirations.

Its not enough to engage in a battle over a diminishing slice of the pie. Maybe your task is a larger one  one that will require a more Herculean effort. Part of your defeat in 2016 was your failure to excite members of the Apathetic Party  the estimated 90 million who did not vote.

It is easy to doctor the numbers on the monthly jobs report by not counting those who have given up on seeking employment, not so when it comes to winning elections. Maybe its time to rethink identity politics in its present form.

Identity politics finds its roots in the 19th century with the passage of the 15th Amendment, which gave black males the right to vote. A coalition of abolitionists, black, white and women, originally led a campaign for the ratification of universal suffrage.

When the 15th Amendment was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification, it created a split within the abolitionist coalition. The result became a more bifurcated approach where groups based their politics on race, gender, orientation as well as other social factors.

How long will groups be pitted against each other with similar social locations, separated only by the percentage on melanin in their skin or XY chromosomes?

Is this 146-year phenomenon still applicable in the 21st century? Whats the common denominator in poor white, poor black and poor Hispanic?

Reactionary responses as to why you lost are also fueled with emotionalism that can blind you to certain truths.

But rarely has a political party remade itself inspired by knee-jerk responses. The task before you is to reclaim the spirit of the words echoed by Martin Luther King:

We may have come on different ships, but were all in the same boat now.

In the meantime, stop, just stop!
The consensus in Israel is that the relationship between the Jewish state and the United States is going to improve in a Trump administration, says former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Zalman Shoval.

On a recent visit to Washington, D.C., Shoval told me that he believes Donald Trump and his cabinet picks so far have a more realistic view of the Middle East than President Obama, who from his first days in office, perhaps before, believed it was his calling to fix once and for all, all matters between the U.S. and the Arab and Muslim worlds, as expressed in his Cairo speech. ... This gives Trump in the hearts and minds of more than a few Israelis a head-start.

Shoval said he believes the issue of a Palestinian state  the objective of U.S. foreign policy over several administrations  has become less concerning than the regional and international threat posed by a nuclear Iran. He likes recent statements by secretary of defense-designate Gen. James Mattis about the way forward in dealing with an unstable Iran, believing Mattis recognizes that as important as it is to defeat ISIS, the real threat in the Middle East is Iran.

Its not only the nuclear deal that bothers Shoval, though he believes Iran will eventually have a bomb, unless it is stopped. It is also bothersome that Iran continues with its terrorist activities, subsidizing anti-American and anti-Israel groups around the world because radical mullahs think their god has ordered them to do so. That makes any kind of diplomatic agreement with nations Iran regards as infidels impossible.

Even when the battle for Mosul is over and victory has been declared over that ISIS stronghold, Shoval believes, what it really will mean is that the Iranians and the Shia are going to be the real victors. They will continue their attempts to build a territorial corridor all the way to the Mediterranean along with Hezbollah, which is not only a threat to Israel, but also something the so-called moderate Arab states look at with a great deal of concern.

Shoval says he hopes the incoming Trump administration realizes that Iran cannot be a partner with the United States in the Middle East even if from time to time it seems like that because of whats happening in Syria. Ultimately, Iran is a great danger.

People like former President Jimmy Carter have a different worldview. In a recent op-ed for The New York Times, Carter called on President Obama to recognize a Palestinian state before he leaves office. Carter also called on the UN to pass a resolution setting the parameters for resolving the conflict.

I believe in miracles, but for the UN, or anyone else, to resolve a conflict in which one side thinks it has a heavenly mandate to destroy the other is not where most people would see as a good starting point for conflict resolution. Carter continues to trade off his one success  the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. But getting one thing right with a unique combination of leaders, one of whom  Anwar Sadat  was assassinated by Islamic fanatics for making peace with Israel, is like an astrologer wanting credit for one prediction that came true while ignoring hundreds that didnt.

Shoval disagrees with those who think the Israel-Palestinian status quo is not sustainable. He believes it is, otherwise a Palestinian state would mean Hamas and Hezbollah would be just 20 minutes away from Jerusalem and in a position to overwhelm Israel.

In his book The Field of Fight, Michael Flynn, Trumps pick to head the National Security Council, writes about President Obama: I find it simply incredible that an American president should believe a strategic alliance with Iran to be more attractive than our traditional embrace of Israel. Our new leaders need to reverse that, pronto. We will need Israel if were going to defeat the radical Islamists, and above all, the Iranians.

This is the opposite of wishful thinking.
RALEIGH  In what direction will North Carolina go under a Democratic governor-elect, Roy Cooper, and a Republican General Assembly? There are three possibilities.

The least likely scenario  but the one that progressives in North Carolina desperately hope to engineer  is a U-turn. They want to see Cooper wage years of unremitting ideological warfare. They want constant protests, lawsuits, vetoes and personal attacks on GOP politicians and conservative leaders.

They believe these tactics destroyed Pat McCrory and hounded him out of office. They now believe more of the same will destroy their other enemies and hound them out of office, so the Left can reverse the conservative policies enacted over the past six years.

I think these progressives are about to be disappointed. Cooper and his team can read election results and polls just as well as the rest of us. They recognize that his edge over McCrory was just two-tenths of a percent. They can see that in the same election cycle, Republicans won the presidential and Senate races, got the most votes for legislature (not just more seats because of district maps), and won their first modern majority on the Council of State. They know, in other words, that the sweeping public repudiation of conservative governance the Left hoped for did not happen.

Another scenario, widely expected among North Carolina politicos, is that state government is about to enter a period of stalemate and stasis. While Cooper will control state agencies and departments and use other powers to exercise policy influence on the margin, his budgets and major initiatives will be dead-on-arrival at the General Assembly. For their part, Republican lawmakers will be able to protect their past gains but will struggle to enact new ones. North Carolina wont reverse course, in this view, but neither will it continue its course of reform.

This is a more realistic scenario than Progressive Paradise, I admit. Still, I think it ignores the personalities involved. Cooper is a longtime politician with significant experience in the legislature, including instances in which Democrats and Republicans cooperated to elect leaders or enact legislation. As attorney general, he did not join many of the left-wing crusades his Democratic counterparts in other states concocted, although of course his decisions didnt please conservatives, either. In short, left-wing rabble-rouser is not a role that would come easy to Cooper.

Senate leader Phil Berger, House Speaker Tim Moore and other legislative leaders also have significant experience. While firmly committed to their conservative accomplishments to date, and hardly intimidated by Coopers narrow win, they will not assume that every interaction with the new governor needs to be a confrontation. When an opportunity presents itself to enact legislation of mutual interest, they will seize it.

That leads me to my final  and more hopeful  scenario. It assumes that while the two sides will lock horns on a variety of fiscal and policy matters, they will cooperate on some issues. For example, there appears to be bipartisan interest in building on North Carolinas initial round of criminal-justice reforms, which have saved the taxpayers lots of money without endangering the public. Lawmakers from both parties have also indicated concern about the inequities of our current school-financing system and the excesses of occupational licensing, which keeps some North Carolina workers from changing jobs or starting their own businesses.

A harder slog would be to reform the way the state regulates medical services. According to a new study by George Mason Universitys Mercatus Center, North Carolina ranks in the bottom 10 states in health care openness and access. We overly restrict competition among hospitals and innovation in service delivery. Virginia (no. 13) might be a good model to emulate here, although special-interest groups will fight such reforms tooth-and-nail.

Roy Coopers election gave Democrats around the country a rare piece of good news during an otherwise dismal showing. But it doesnt signal a leftward lurch in public policy or the North Carolina electorate. If Cooper assumes otherwise, hell get himself in trouble very quickly.
The North Carolina resident who took it upon himself to investigate allegations of crime in a Washington restaurant last weekend is only the tip of a much larger, more dangerous and potentially deadly iceberg. It requires vigilance from all of us.

Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury was arrested last Sunday after firing an assault rifle inside D.C.s Comet Ping Pong restaurant. He was there in response to an online conspiracy theory known as Pizzagate that alleges that Hillary Clinton, among other prominent figures, ran a child-sex trafficking ring out of the restaurants non-existent basement.

It boggles the mind that such a ridiculous story would gain any kind of credence.

The more disturbing aspect of the story is that it was shared online, along with other fake news stories, by former Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, President-elect Donald Trumps pick for national security adviser. We all need to demand better from him as he takes that top position.

The pizza shop conspiracy theory was far from the first to take hold in America. Other vicious lies include the claim that 9/11 was an inside job to justify invading Iraq and that the tragic Sandy Hook mass shooting was part of a false-flag operation intended to promote gun control. Believers in that insanity have actually harassed the mourning parents of the children who were murdered there.

Some Americans have embraced more pedestrian but equally invalid claims  that President Obama has banned saying Merry Christmas in VA facilities or that John Kerry hid a close familial connection to an Iranian official with whom he negotiated a nuclear deal - that are so easily disproved one must wonder why they received anything but a laugh to start with. Its incredibly irresponsible for anyone to spread such easily-debunked lies.

It makes us long for the civility of Sen. John McCain who, while running for president in 2000, was honest enough to reject his own supporters birther claims about Obama, even though it may have cost him politically.

We have to examine why so many fake stories are gaining traction today. Is it a failure of education? Is it because such stories are politically advantageous, confirming our worst instincts about political foes? Is there lead in the water? Perhaps a congressional investigation will be needed to determine why so many Americans are embracing so many lies.

Whatever political advantage may be gained by spreading lies is vastly outweighed by the great harm of blurring the lines between fact and fiction to individuals and society.

We need more strong leaders to speak out against fake news, like Pope Francis did last week. President-elect Trump, U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, and U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx should follow suit and condemn fake news.

But ultimately, each individual has to take it upon him or herself to approach information with skepticism and a willingness to examine claims critically before passing them on. The pizza shop incident last Sunday showed just how dangerous fake news is becoming.
Iran has proposed the formation of a bloc of Muslim countries to fight terrorism and boost economic cooperation that would include its regional rival Saudi Arabia.

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told a security conference on Sunday that the two countries, along with Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan, should join together to promote "regional peace" and defend the Palestinians.

Shiite-majority Iran and mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia are bitterly divided, and support opposite sides in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in January after Iranian demonstrators stormed Saudi diplomatic facilities to protest the execution of a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric.

Saudi Arabia announced the formation of a 34-member "Islamic military alliance" against terrorism nearly a year ago, which excluded Iran.

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Correspondent of the week

ALBERTO JOSE CARRILLO, Winston-Salem

Cubans fled Cuba

Heres something to consider the next time someone states something positive about Fidel Castro, such as that he was a champion of social justice.

Since his coming to power in 1959, well over 1 million of us Cubans left the island, which had a population of approximately 10 million. My family fled in the fall of 1960. When we departed we left all material possessions behind. Many Cubans were so desperate to leave that they jumped on an unworthy sea vessel for the treacherous voyage to the U.S. Many of them did not survive the trip.

So, my question to all those Castro fans is, if he was such a great man who did so many good things for his people, why did approximately 10 percent of the islands population leave?

Castro was a ruthless dictator who brought a repressive form of government to Cuba. In the process he imprisoned, tortured and killed thousands of his own people. My only thought upon learning of his death on Nov. 26 was good riddance. I wished we lived closer to Miami so I could have joined my fellow Cubans in the celebrations in Little Havana.

KEITH LYALL, Wilkesboro

A vote for Trump

One of lifes great pleasures is to enjoy my morning newspaper  the Winston-Salem Journal, of course!  over a hot breakfast at the local diner. I carefully fold the op/ed page so that I can easily read it as I enjoy my meal.

On occasion I call attention to myself by tearing something out of the paper. Any number of things I may see in the paper become items or reminders I wish to keep, and sometimes they are op/ed pieces that just cry out for a response. Such was the recent letter Republicans first (Dec. 2) in The Readers Forum.

The writer asserts that white Christian voters who voted for President-elect Donald Trump subjugated their Christian beliefs at the polls, that maybe super-church evangelical is a more palatable label for white power group, and that the white evangelical vote has nothing to do with Christianity.

Wow, wow, and wow. As a white Christian who voted for Trump, I, too, found the man repugnant and in many ways unsuitable for office. However, ours is a representative government with three branches; I voted for the conservative agenda for which I would like to see our representatives advocate. My vote for Trump was incidental.

Such sour-grapes assertions as made by the writer of Republicans first are simply unfounded.

******

DR. JEANNA AURIEMMA, Clemmons

Put children first

With a Democratic governor-elect and a Republican legislative majority, it is crucial to continue discourse on the controversial House Bill 2.

Overwhelmingly, exit polls on Election Day demonstrated that the majority of voters are against HB2. The focus of much of the media attention against HB2 has been related to the income lost for our state. As of October, the bill has cost North Carolina an estimated $650 million and counting. However, it is important that we go beyond money and think about this as a human rights issue  and more specifically, one that affects our children.

Close to 50 percent of transgendered youth have contemplated suicide and a shocking 1 in 4 has made a suicide attempt. Over 80 percent of transgendered youth report feeling unsafe at school and close to half have reported being physically abused.

School performance is lower among transgendered youth, which is not surprising.

Children should be able to go to school and focus on their education instead of being ostracized for living their lives according to their identified gender.

As a pediatrician practicing in Winston-Salem, I have seen the power of putting children first in our states legislation. As a state, we have chosen to give support to those who cannot speak for themselves, including legislation to retain pre-K slots, insurance reform to cover autism treatments and allocating funding to reduce infant mortality. Our children rely on us to advocate for their rights  let us show them that they have our support.

******

BOBBY FIELDS, Winston-Salem

Fake news

I know, I know, fake news. But not all of it is fake, and not everything President-elect Donald Trump tweets is false. Sometimes people just have trouble with the truth.

I dont see whats so hard to understand. Trump did win the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted for Hillary Clinton.

When You Write

The Journal encourages readers comments. To participate in The Readers Forum, please submit letters online to Letters@wsjournal.com. Please write The Readers Forum in the subject line and include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number. Or you may mail letters to: The Readers Forum, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. Letters are subject to editing and may be published on journalnow.com. Letters are limited to 250 words. Letter writers are allowed one letter every 30 days.

If you would like a photo of yourself included with your letter, send it to us as a .jpg file.

For more guidelines and advice on writing letters, go to journalnow.com/opinion/submit_a_letter.
David Bianculli, NPRs Fresh Air TV critic, has been a reviewer for over 40 years, and hes crafted a wonderful overview of the history of television with The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific.

Bianculli loves the medium, and it shows.

Rather than taking a year-by-year approach to showcase the best of television, he breaks it down by genre, including animation, Westerns, spy dramas, medical shows and crime.

He breaks down sitcoms into categories such as family and workplace comedies.

Each section chronicles the history while also showcasing those shows that Bianculli considers groundbreakers that have established the genre. Among the shows he considers the best for the legal category: Perry Mason, L.A. Law and Boston Legal.

What makes this book so much more than an examination of the history of TV is the personal touch that Bianculli adds when he recounts why he fell in love with particular shows or how he was influenced by what he saw on the screen.

He also interviews the creators behind the shows he considers the best of the best, and getting insight from legends such as Carl Reiner, Norman Lear and Steven Bochco truly captures why television continues to be the place where quality writing and imagination can reside.

The way we watch television might be changing, and there might be so many choices that nobody can watch everything.

But Bianculli reassures with his examination of the history of the medium that there will always be quality and groundbreaking storytelling.

There was a golden age of television, and he believes that we are now living in the platinum age.

This book is a must for anyone who has been enthralled by the images and stories on television.
UNC School of the Arts 50th annual production of The Nutcracker ballet opened Friday at the Stevens Center and will run through Dec. 18.

From the moment that the Mouse King curtain rises to the final fall of snowflakes, UNCSAs Nutcracker delivers to the community a true masterpiece  a feast for the eyes and ears from start to finish.

The ravishing colors of the sets must be seen to be believed, and the costumes  many by Kathryn E. Grillo  suit the dancers and dances perfectly. Note the trembling angel wings.

The growth of the decorated Christmas tree is a dazzling triumph of technology, with its whirling lights and disappearance in the clouds. The appearance of the Nutcracker Prince is truly magical.

The principal dancers change from night to night, and they were all thrilling in Fridays show.

Chris Martins Herr Drosselmeyer is dashing and mysterious. Taylor McCains Clara is dainty and daring, and Erik Kim partners her well in the roles of Sascha, who is Drosselmeyers nephew, and the Nutcracker Prince.

Kathryn Lovejoy is as light as snow in the role of the Snow Queen. She and Bret Coppa, the Snow King, are exquisite dancers, welcoming all to the Land of Ice and Snow. Coppa is good again as the Chinese dancer with high-flying splits in the air.

Yaman Kelemets Sugar Plum Fairy is womanly and gracious. Her Cavalier, Garret McNally, is a completely elegant dancer, both in his partnering and in his solo work. He made the death-defying lifts look effortless.

Matthew Donnell, director of the Preparatory Dance Program, was especially hilarious in the role of Mother Ginger.

The UNCSA Nutcracker Orchestra, under the direction of Leif Bjaland, played nearly flawlessly.

Although the opening night had some spills and chills, all involved recovered and covered gracefully, the sign of real pros.

Megan LeCrone, a UNCSA alumna who is now a principal dancer at New York City Ballet, was born in Winston-Salem and danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy here in 2000. She will reprise the role Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 14 and 15, with Martin Harvey, another professional dancer, as her Cavalier.

Robert Lindgren, UNCSAs first dance dean, adapted Marius Petipas original choreography for the school in 1966, and it was not changed substantially until 2009, when Ethan Stiefel was dean of dance. Stiefel brought the movement squarely into the 21st century with lively staging, particularly in the opening scenes.

Nigel Burley, Warren Conover and Susan McCullough also get choreography credits.

Although the original production in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1892, was not a success, countless ballet schools and companies throughout the U.S. now perform The Nutcracker annually.

Major ballet companies generate about half of their yearly revenues from The Nutcracker, and UNCSA funds Dance School scholarships with the production.
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

A couple of years ago an oil tanker showed up off the Texas coast with cargo from Iraqi Kurdistan.

The problem? Iraqi Kurdistan is a province of Iraq, and the central government in Baghdad claims that petroleum discovered in Iraqi Kurdistan is under the control of the Baghdad Ministry of Petroleum.

The attempt of Iraqi Kurdistan to export petroleum to the US without going through Baghdad created an immediate court case. But once the oil was caught up in US litigation, it became clear that US judges would rule in favor of the central Iraqi government.

Despite the clear leanings of the US judicial system, there is one powerful American who insists that Iraqi Kurdistan can do oil deals without reading in Baghdad.

Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson? Yep, that very one. The man Trump is hinting will be his secretary of state? Yes.

Tillerson as head of Exxon-Mobil was perfectly happy to do a deal with Iraqi Kurdistan even if the deal angered the central Iraqi government.

The deal was illegal in international law, but Tillerson really

pushed for it, because Exxon-Mobil apparently isnt satisfied with annual profits of $16 billion a year.

The backing of Exxon-Mobil for the Kurdistan Regional Governments interpretation of oil rights gave the KRG new confidence, and historians looking back on it may well see it as the moment in which the Iraqi Kurds started on their path to an independent country.

Getting the cooperation of the Iraqi government of PM Haydar al-Abadi in the fight against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) is crucial to success in that campaign. But you could imagine a President Trump being rebuffed by the Baghdad government of al-Abadi for interfering in the countrys internal affairs via that KRG oil deal.

Moreover, Turkey wont be too happy with the whole episode, either.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the meantime is planning to take advantage of the end of international sanctions on Iran by pumping oil through Iran to get around Iraqs objections.

So, yes, you got it. Tillersons corporation is de facto an ally of Iran and would have a reason to want US sanctions on that country dropped (those sanctions were just renewed by Congress for 10 years).



Related video:

CPT Iraqi Kurdistan: Exxon Mobil disrupts lives of farmers of Hajji Ahmed
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TeleSur |  

U.S. concern over alleged Russian foul play in this years election is ironic given decades of Washingtons deadly foreign intervention.

Revelations surfaced on Friday that a leaked document from the CIA has allegedly found that the Russian government had intervened in the U.S. election to help to elect Donald Trump.

For many, such a scenario seems unthinkable, but for decades successive U.S. administrations and the CIA have been meddling with other countries affairs backing foreign right-wing leaders across the world, with disastrous effects. We look at just some of the many examples.

Honduras

In 2009, President Manuel Zelaya was preparing for a non-binding referendum to ask the electorate if they would support a change to the constitution. The right-wing with the support of the military and U.S. backing from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton helped to support a military coup against the center-left leader.

Guatemala

In 1954, the CIA helped launch a coup against Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz, the countrys only democratic government. The brutal intervention is estimated to have led to the deaths of at least 200,000 people and decades of genocide.

El Salvador

At least 70,000 Salvadoran are thought to have been killed in the countrys civil war from 1979-1992, where the majority of deaths were attributed to right-wing security forces and deaths squads, which were again given U.S. backing.

Cuba

Not only has Washingtons blockade stripped the island of a massive US$753.7 billion since it was imposed in 1960, but the CIA helped to lead a band of Cuban mercenaries in their failed attempt to invade Cuba in April 1961. Late Cuban leader Fidel Castro is thought to have survived over 600 assassination attempts.

Indonesia

The U.S. along with other western powers supported former President Suharto for his anti-communist stance. Known as the Indonesian Genocide, Suharto carried out a national purge against suspected communists, with an estimated death toll reaching as many as 3 million. The CIA was known to supply the names of suspected communists to the Indonesian army and provide them with arms.

Iran

In 1953 the CIA along with help from the U.K. executed a coup known as Operation Ajax against Irans democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq. Mossadeq crime was that he wanted to nationalize the countrys oil industry.

Laos

Amid the raging U.S.-led war in Vietnam, Laos became the scene of a CIA secret war to cut supplies they believed were flowing to North Vietnamese communist troops. From 1964 to 1973, Laos became the worlds most bombed country per capita. While Obama this year apologized for secret war, the country is still plagued by unexploded landmines.

Chile

Again allegedly fearing communism, the U.S.-backed military dictator Augusto Pinochet overthrew democratically-elected president Salvador Allende in 1973 with the help of the CIA. Pinochet then ruled for 17 years and more than 3,200 people are thought to have been killed or disappeared, while more than 28,000 are estimated to have been tortured by his forces.

Via TeleSur
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Maan News Agency |  

BETHLEHEM (Maan)  Human rights organization Amnesty International released a statement Friday demanding Israel to drop the baseless charges against two Palestinian human rights defenders Farid al-Atrash and Issa Amro, who both currently face charges in an Israeli military court relating to their activism.

Both locals of the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron, the two are facing prison time if found guilty. The hearing to decide their fates was adjourned until Dec. 21, after their lawyer asked for a number of the charges to be dropped during a Nov. 23 hearing.



File Photo

In attendance at the Nov. 23 hearing were representatives from the the embassies and consulates of the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as representatives from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, and other international organizations.

Both activists were arrested by Israeli authorities in Hebron in February within three days of each other, for their participation in a peaceful protest.

Al-Atrash, a lawyer, was arrested during a peaceful march on Feb. 26 commemorating the 22 years since extremist American-born Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslim Palestinian worshipers killing 29 and injuring more than 120 in Hebrons Ibrahimi mosque in 1994.

The demonstration also called for the re-opening of al-Shuhada street, which was shut down soon after the massacre, and called for the removal of discriminatory restrictions on movement placed on Palestinians in the city.

During the protest, Israeli forces threw sound bombs and fired tear gas at the protesters.

Israeli officials later presented al-Atrash to the Ofer military court with charges amounting to participating in an illegal demonstration and attacking soldiers, according to Amnesty International.

Al-Atrash vehemently denied the charges, with video footage of the arrest corroborating his account, showing that he was standing and holding a poster peacefully in front of Israeli soldiers when he was pushed, dragged, and then violently arrested by a number of soldiers, according to Amnesty International.

Days later on Feb. 29, Issa Amro, coordinator of the Youth Against Settlements group, was arrested from the groups center in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebrons Old City for his participation in the Feb. 26 protest where al-Atrash was arrested.

On June 7, Israeli authorities handed Amro 18 charges, ranging from insulting a soldier to assault, with some of the charges dating back to 2010.

According to Amnesty International, Amro has denied all the charges, and alleges that he was beaten by the Israeli police while in custody on two occasions. He has also claimed that he has faced threats and harassment from the Israeli army, police, and settlers.

The statement added that Amro and al-Atrashs lawyer asked for a number of the charges to be dropped against Amro because of the how old some of the charges are, and because some of them were from closed police files.

Amnesty International believes that the charges against both men are baseless, and are solely related to their work as human rights defenders, the statement said.

The statement concluded by asking people to call on the Israeli authorities to immediately drop all the charges against Issa Amro and Farid al-Atrash, to put an immediate end to harassment of Issa Amro and other human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, to immediately investigate Issa Amros claims of beatings by the Israeli police, and prosecute those responsible if sufficient evidence is discovered.

Throughout tens of years of his activism, Amro has been highly regarded by Palestinian and international activists for his unrelenting commitment to nonviolent peaceful protest.

Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, has previously condemned what she said was a sustained campaign of harassment and assault at the hands of the Israeli military and settlers because of (Issa Amros) activism.

In a November statement, Mughrabi said imprisoning Issa Amro would be a travesty of justice and would silence yet another important critical voice in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and that if convicted, Amro would be considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

In 2011, an annual military courts report documented that Israeli military courts in the occupied West Bank have a 99.74 percent conviction rate for Palestinians brought before them.

Via Maan News Agency
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By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/RL) |  

Minou Aslani, head of the Womens Basij organization in Iran, has condemned efforts to increase the number of women in parliament and opposed campaigns to curb domestic violence as perceived assaults on Iranian society and traditional family values.

Minou Aslani, head of the Womens Basij organization in Iran, has condemned efforts to increase the number of women in parliament and opposed campaigns to curb domestic violence as perceived assaults on Iranian society and traditional family values.

The woman who leads female volunteers in Irans hard-line conservative militia, the Basij, has identified a new foe.

Minu Aslani has reportedly called the promotion of gender equality illegal and demanded that the countrys powerful judiciary take action against people who speak out against such state-sponsored discrimination.

These activities are in fact against our laws and the judiciary should take action, the semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted Aslani as telling reporters on December 2.

In the past, Aslani has condemned efforts to increase the number of women in parliament and opposed campaigns to curb domestic violence as perceived assaults on Iranian society and traditional family values. Pushing for greater female participation threatens to distort the identity of Irans women, she has said.

The latest broadside against opponents of gender-based discrimination appears to be a volley aimed at allies of relative moderate President Hassan Rohani, who campaigned in 2013 on a pledge to fight second-tier status for women and is expected to seek a second term in 2017.

At the December 2 press conference, Aslani argued that gender equality was a Western concept that isolates women. This is a path that has resulted in the solitude of women in the West, she said. Unfortunately some people in this country are following the outdated Western example  it is against human nature.

Aslani also criticized United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moons eight-year-old UNiTE To End Violence Against Women campaign, which is aimed at raising awareness about violence against women and girls.

Aslani argued that the initiative  which proclaims the 25th day of each month Orange Day  suggests to women and girls that they should not grant their love and affection to their families.

Why have authorities in our country given a commitment to the United Nations to achieve gender equality within the next 15 years? Aslani asked reporters.

She appeared to be referring to a UN development agenda for global action for the next 15 years, ratified by member states in 2016, that highlights gender equality and womens empowerment as a key priority.

Aslani added that Iran should have a plan for women to be active in society while providing emotional support to their families. Alongside social and economic activities, the main identity of a Muslim woman is centered on her role as a mother, she said.

She also complained that unnamed individuals in Iran have designed a questionnaire to gauge gender equality among various state bodies, adding that such activities were also against the law and the judiciary should take action.

Aslani also criticized Irans vice president for womens affairs, Shahindokht Molaverdi, who has expressed commitment to gender equality and angered hard-liners with her efforts to promote womens rights. She recently tweeted to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25:



[W]hat has the vice presidency for womens affairs done for virtue in society? Aslani asked.

Womens rights activists have sought to become more active and engage more thoroughly in Irans religiously conservative society under Rohanis presidency. But they have faced pressure from hard-liners in control of key institutions who believe feminist ideas are a violation of Islamic principles.

In August, Amnesty International warned against a renewed crackdown against womens rights activists in Iran, saying that they were being treated as enemies of the state.

In recent weeks, reports have said that as many as 20 women have been summoned and interrogated by the authorities for attending a seminar in Georgia on womens empowerment.

At least one of the seminars attendees, photographer and womens rights activist Alieh Matlabzadeh, has been arrested.

Golnaz Esfandiari is a senior correspondent with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She can be reached at EsfandiariG@rferl.org

Persian Letters is a blog that offers a window into Iranian politics and society. Written primarily by Golnaz Esfandiari, Persian Letters brings you under-reported stories, insight and analysis, as well as guest Iranian bloggers  from clerics, anarchists, feminists, Basij members, to bus drivers.

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Via RFE/RL
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a request by supporters of Presiden-elect Donald Trump [official profile] to block Wisconsins recount. Judge James Patterson ruled [Reuters report] that the recount is an inherent part of what ensures the integrity of elections. The challenge came from the Great America political action committee [website] and Stop Hillary PAC, both forming a challenge to stop the recount in the state. The state election committee has stated that the recount is around 88 percent complete, and expects the results to be concluded by Monday. Even if the recount is to go through, it was unlikely that recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania would have been able to change the ultimate outcome of the election.

Of the three states where Green Party [party website] candidate Jill Stein [campaign website] officially started a recount, Wisconsin may be the only one where the recount can go through. On Thursday a federal judge halted [JURIST report] the Michigan recount, citing that Stein did not have an actual chance at winning the election. That decision came after a challenge [JURIST report] brought by Trump supporters over the legality of the recount in all three states. In late November a Wisconsin Judge refused a request [JURIST report] to make the recount by conducted by hand. Earlier that week Hilary Clinton [campaign website] had joined the recount [JURIST report] challenge in the state of Wisconsin.
At least 16 people died early Sunday in a suicide truck bombing outside the busy sea port of the Somali capital Mogadishu, the director of the ambulance service said.

"We assisted 48 wounded people and carried 16 others who were killed in the blast," said Abdikadir Abdirahman Adem, director of Mogadishu's AMIN ambulance service.

Mogadishu residents described a huge blast that could be heard across the city and a plume of smoke that rose above the skyline.

A spokesman for the city adminstration, Abdifatah Omar Halane, confirmed the blast but gave a lower toll of "nearly 10" killed. He said investigations were underway.

The Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility in a statement distributed on its Telegram messaging account.

It said the target was a military base close to the port and claimed to have killed "nearly 30". The group frequently exaggerates the number killed in its attacks.

The Shabaab is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government of Somalia and regularly stages deadly attacks on government, military and civilian targets in the capital and elsewhere in the war-torn country.

The attack took place close to the entrance to Mogadishu's port.

"The bomber targeted a civilian area, there were porters and other small scale traders in the area when the blast occurred," said Ibrahim Mohamed, a senior police officer.

The attack comes as Somalia is in the process of electing a new government with the much-delayed presidential vote due on December 28.

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Islamic State group fighters withdrew from Syria's Palmyra at dawn on Sunday following heavy Russian air strikes, only hours after they had re-entered the famed ancient city, a monitor said.

"Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

The raids killed a large number of the jihadists in the desert city in central Syria, Abdel Rahman said, without being able to give a precise number.

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The Islamic State militant group recaptured Palmyra on Sunday after Syrian armed forces pulled out of the desert city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

The militants made a lightning-fast advance across the city after overrunning a northern neighbourhood and capturing the famed citadel to Palmyra's west.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that IS regained "full control" of the city on Sunday after taking the citadel, which overlooks Palmyra from a strategic hilltop.

IS launched an offensive last week near Palmyra, a renowned UNESCO World Heritage site.

It seized oil and gas fields before making a major push into the desert city on Saturday, sparking new worries for Palmyra's remaining ancient treasures.

But a fierce Russian bombing campaign killed scores of IS fighters and forced others to withdraw at dawn on Sunday.

"Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on jihadist positions around the city," he told AFP.

In a statement issued in Moscow, the defence ministry said Russian warplanes conducted 64 air strikes against "positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants" in Palmyra.

"Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra," it said in a statement.

"The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery," it said, adding that the strikes killed more than 300 militants and destroyed 11 tanks and 31 vehicles.

Russia has carried out a bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

IS fighters have used hit-and-run tactics to cut their losses of personnel and equipment, withdrawing under intense bombardment but quickly relaunching an attack when skies are clear.

The jihadists have killed around 100 members of Syrian government forces since launching simultaneous attacks on several regime positions near Palmyra on Thursday, the Britain-based Observatory said.

They targeted areas including near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and seized government checkpoints, silos and the village of Jazal, northwest of Palmyra.

In May last year, the Sunni Muslim extremist group seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites.

They were ousted from Palmyra in March by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia.

That was hailed as a major victory, with Russian celebrities travelling there since March staging concerts and making public appearances.

Moscow has been under severe criticism for its air strikes on Aleppo -- which it says it stopped on October 18 -- where the anti-Assad opposition is currently holed up in just a fraction of the territory it once controlled.

The city's eastern districts are still being bombed by the Syrian regime which Washington has labelled "war crimes" and a UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire to stop the carnage.

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KEARNEY - Feel free to peek inside four homes this holiday season.

The lavishly decorated homes will be on display for the Buffalo County Citizen Advocacy's 13th-annual Holiday Home Tour.

"The families who put their homes on display are really generous. They go to a great amount of expense and work to open their homes to the public," said Andra Frank, director of Buffalo County Citizen Advocacy, which is a partner agency of United Way of the Kearney Area.

The homes will be decorated with both the families' own special holiday pieces and items donated by area businesses.

Tickets to view the four homes cost $15 apiece. Proceeds will benefit Citizen Advocacy, which works to provide advocates for people in the community with developmental disabilities or mental illnesses.

"The goal is for advocates and their clients to form long-term, meaningful relationships," Frank said. "We assist many who have no families. We find them guardians, help them handle their money and provide friendship.

"Going on the home tour is a wonderful way to raise money for folks who are very vulnerable in the community and who may have been devalued," Frank said. She said the group's goal this year is to raise $10,000.

"Around 500 people go through the homes per year," Frank said. She said about 100 volunteers help show the homes. Each home also has a captain who coordinates that home's tours.

Home captains this year are Connie Glover, Mary Kommers, Julie Roach, Kim Roberts, Sanae Shea and Nancy Williams.

Betty Streff and Karen Carlson secured this year's homes as the chairwomen for the event. "They (the committee) usually try to get an older home on the tour, but this year the homes are newer," Frank said.

Chairwomen-elect are Tami Hellman and Jolie Bosshamer. Other committee members who have helped coordinate the event include Sandy Zecha, Michelle Sawicki, Lexi Kratzenstein and Stephanie Wegner.

e-mail to:

Holiday Home Tour

What: 2007 Kearney Holiday Home Tour of four local homes open to the public and decorated for the holidays

Who: Buffalo County Citizen Advocacy

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday

Tickets: $15. On sale at Antiques and Castaways; Herberger's; Hobby Lobby; Kearney Floral; REFIND; and Shopping Tripps. Donations are tax-deductible.

The Homes

- Dr. David and Belen Benavides

4409 Summit Road

Sponsor: Jackson Construction

Decorations: Shopping Tripps

- Mike and Judy Main

2907 Country Club Lane

Sponsor: Hellman, Main, Coslor and Kathol, PC

Decorations: FanciThat and Kearney Floral

- Steve and Jackie Mercer

3355 E. 11th St.

Sponsor: Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Decorations: Velda Butters of Excellent Choice

- Dr. John and Nancy Pflug

3204 17th Ave. Place

Sponsor: Jackson Construction

Decorations: Designs Unlimited, Shopping Tripps
A British-Algerian journalist died Sunday after having staged a hunger strike to protest a two-year jail term for offending Algeria's president in a poem posted online, his lawyer said.

"I can confirm the death of the journalist Mohamed Tamalt in Bab el-Oued hospital after a hunger strike of more than three months and a three-month coma" that followed, Amine Sidhoum said on Facebook.

The prison service, in a statement said Tamalt had died of a lung infection for which he was receiving treatment since it was detected on December 4. He had been in hospital since the end of August.

Tamalt, a dual national, launched the hunger strike on the day of his arrest near his parents' house in the capital Algiers on June 27, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The 42-year-old blogger and freelance journalist, who ran a website from London where he lived, was charged with "offending" President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and "defaming a public authority" in the poem which he shared on Facebook.

A court in Algiers sentenced him two years in prison on July 11 and fined him 200,000 dinars ($1,800), and an appeals court upheld the ruling a month later.

Amnesty International urged Algerian authorities on Sunday to open an "independent and transparent investigation into the circumstances" of the journalist's death.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), for its part, said it was "shocked" by Tamalt's death which had dealt a blow to freedom of information in Algeria.

"Why was there such a conviction just for words on Facebook which did no harm to anyone?" asked Yasmine Kacha, head of the North Africa department of RSF.

The New York-based HRW had urged Algerian authorities to release him in August when he was reportedly in critical condition.

"The Algerian authorities should quash the case against Tamalt and send the message that free speech will be respected in Algeria," it said at the time.

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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Sunday that Moscow had not reached an agreement with the United States for rebel fighters in Syria's Aleppo to have safe passage out of the city, RIA news agency reported.

Rebel officials told Reuters earlier on Sunday that a proposal had been tabled by the two countries for fighters to leave the city with their families and other civilians.

"What western agencies are reporting does not necessarily correspond with reality," Ryabkov said, adding that Russia was working to create the necessary conditions for the safe extraction of people from Aleppo.

"The issue of withdrawing militants is the subject of separate agreements. This agreement has not yet been reached, largely because the United States insists on unacceptable terms," RIA quoted him as saying.

Ryabkov said that talks between Russian and U.S. experts would continue in Geneva, RIA reported.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling President-elect Donald Trump a strong supporter of Israel, and says he wants to work with Trump to undo the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration and other world powers.

"I know Donald Trump," Netanyahu told CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview that will air Sunday night. "He feels very warmly about the Jewish state, about the Jewish people...there's no question about that."

Netanyahu said there are "various ways of undoing" the 2015 deal, in which Iran agreed to limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions on its oil industry and finances.

"I have about five things in my mind," Netanyahu said, declining to go into further detail.

Trump has been harshly critical of the nuclear deal, and Netanyahu tried to block it.

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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 ...
PARIS, Dec 11 (Reuters) - French central bank governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Sunday that the country's economic growth cannot be boosted by increasing state spending and the budget deficit.

Large budget deficits in France and Italy have not made these countries European champions of economic growth, Villeroy said in an interview with French financial daily Les Echos.

"Nobody should create any illusions in the electoral debate: the acceleration of French growth cannot come from budget spending," he said.

Several candidates from the left and the right in presidential elections set for April-May 2017 have outlined major spending programmes to kick-start economic growth and employment.

(Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by David Goodman)
TEL AVIV, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) is looking to create a new track for smaller companies to raise money, similar to the "Regulation A" programme in the United States.

ISA Chairman Shmuel Hauser said on Sunday there is a "financing vacuum" in Israel in which regulation does not do enough to help small to medium-sized business.

"We are examining the creation of a path with more lenient regulation that suits this range - similar to the U.S. Reg A," Hauser said during a speech at the Globes business conference in Tel Aviv.

"Doing this will allow a fresh way of thinking, and a release from the conventional shackles that are not necessarily suited for small and medium sized businesses," he said, without elaborating.

The ISA, together with executives at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, have been looking for new tools to help battle a drop in trading volume and company listings.

Hauser has partly blamed the bourse's woes on an anti-business environment in Israel as well as hefty regulations that his agency is in the process of easing.

The U.S. Security and Exchange Commission says the benefit of "Regulation A" is that it allows companies to offer and sell securities to the public, but with more limited disclosure requirements than what you would currently expect from publicly reporting companies.

In comparison to registered offerings, it says, smaller companies in earlier stages of development may be able to use this rule to more cost-effectively raise money.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Steven Scheer; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
* Gulf states reforming costly public sectors

* Over 50 percent of Gulf citizens work in government

* Proposed wage cuts prompt strikes in Oman, Kuwait

* Fears of future unemployment if no reform

By Tom Finn

DOHA, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Ahmed, a Qatari civil servant, used to arrive at his office at a government ministry in Doha late in the morning and leave for home after lunch, collecting a monthly salary of 40,000 rial ($11,000) and a generous housing and travel allowance.

But last month a government official made a surprise spot check on the ministry's offices and found dozens of employees absent.

"Punctuality is a duty," said a letter Ahmed received from the minister's office. "Qatar expects the best of its citizens."

For a country whose tiny population is the world's wealthiest per capita and which sits upon its largest natural gas reserves, increasing the productivity of its 90,000 public employees might seem like a needless task.

But it is part of a trend across the Gulf as economies there try to lessen the burden of costly public sectors.

Gulf states have for decades used their energy wealth to provide millions of citizens with cushy government jobs, part of a social contract by rulers that rewards political acquiescence and educational attainment with employment for life.

But high-paying public sector jobs that demand little of workers have led to bureaucratic inertia and an absenteeism culture that governments turned a blind eye to during the Gulf's boom years.

In 2011 a Kuwait government report found that half the country's state employees were absent from work between January and March, costing the country's treasury more than 10.5 million dinars ($35 million).

Since oil prices plunged in 2014, however, Arab monarchies have curbed subsidies and laid off staff as they try to trim budget deficits and build economies less reliant on hydrocarbons.

In the wealthier Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries of Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, where populations are small, more than 75 percent of employed nationals work in the public sector, according to the IMF.

The ratio is also high in oil-giant Saudi Arabia - which racked up a record budget deficit of nearly $100 billion last year - while in Oman, about 50 percent of employed nationals work in the public sector.

Bahrain has the lowest proportion of nationals working in the public sector, at 35 percent.

In one of the most dramatic efforts to shake government agencies out of their slumber, the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, carried out an early morning spot check on the city state's management in August, found empty desks, and sacked nine senior officials. Pictures of Sheikh Mohammed wandering the sparsely populated offices of the Land Department were widely published in local newspapers.

Qatar, in an apparent effort to codify the responsibilities of government employees and get them working harder, last month passed a law that raised pay for workers who have achieved higher levels of education and enforced a merit-based promotion scheme. The nation's young emir has warned citizens that the state "can no longer provide for everything" and local newspaper editorials mock lazy civil servants referred to jokingly by Qataris as "people of the couch". Neighbouring Saudi Arabia in September scaled back financial perks for public sector employees in one of the most drastic measures yet by the oil-rich kingdom to save money at a time of low oil prices. SKIVING

Lured by a generous salary and his own office overlooking the Arabian Gulf, 26-year-old Ahmed, who declined to give his second name, joined Qatar's ministry of transport last year after graduating from Qatar University.

On his first day, Ahmed said, he was surprised to find colleagues without clear responsibilities carrying documents from one office to another. "Many workers, even managers, were engaged in watching television or sleeping," he said.

One colleague advised him to get to know the "tea boys" - Nepali waiters who deliver tea to offices - so he could find out when his boss had left and do the same.

Other skiving tactics included leaving a jacket on the back of his chair so a casual observer would assume he was first to arrive at the office and programming e-mails to send themselves in the afternoon so managers thought he was still at work.

But superiors started to clamp down on those evading work, Ahmed said, after Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Qatar's emir, called on Nov 1 for Qataris to move off social welfare and "into action" in the face of low energy prices. PUBLIC ANGER

After Arab spring protests in 2011, rich Gulf states spent billions of dollars raising salaries and investing in subsidies and infrastructure in part to ensure quiet at home.

Wars and social turmoil spurred efforts in countries like Saudi Arabia to boost employment of their citizens and crack down on illegal hiring of foreign workers.

But today austerity is unnerving citizens for whom affluence and stellar growth are the norm.

Reforms are proving sensitive - politically consequential even - and there are fears that further cuts to sumptuous welfare states could heighten public anger.

In May oil workers in Kuwait went on strike against a proposed overhaul of the public sector payroll system . An election last month filled the country's parliament with opposition lawmakers opposed to wage cuts and taxes. Omani medics from state-funded colleges in November held a two-week strike after their salaries were cut.

Ending the legacy of public sectors being an engine of job creation, analysts say, is vital to avoid rising unemployment in years ahead if oil revenues decline again and nationals are still not working in the private sector.

But Gulf youth may still expect to be entitled to a share of the national wealth whether in the form of public sector jobs with high wages or breaks from future taxes.

(Additional reporting by Fatma Alarimi in MUSCAT; Editing by William Maclean/Jeremy Gaunt)
North Kitsap girls soccer keeps state tourney streak alive

Four teams  North Kitsap, Bremerton, Olympic and Sequim  came away victorious in the first round of the Class 2A West Central District tournament.
Lenna Himmelstein | Kitsap Sun Bayview, Idaho, is hundreds of miles from the Pacific Ocean, but for decades it's been home to a key Navy research center.

SHARE Lenna Himmelstein | Kitsap Sun Karl Krompholz, left, Clarence Scott, center, and Dave Linker, right, meet at the Captain's Wheel restaurant in Bayview, Idaho, while attending a World War II veterans' conference in Spokane. The group of Navy submarine veterans toured the Acoustic Research Detachment. Lenna Himmelstein | Kitsap Sun Marilou Bier owns the Pottery Shed, one of the few businesses in Bayview. She has been a resident of the tiny town for a little more than a year. After her daughter, Molly, bought a float home on Lake Pend Oreille, Bier visited and decided to stay. Photos by Lenna Himmelstein | Kitsap Sun Float homes line the edge of Lake Pend Oreille near the Bayview Acoustic Research Detachment. John F. Williams | U.S. Navy photo The SEA JET ties up to the pier after completing trials on Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho.

By Elaine Helm, Ehelmkitsapsun.Com

Bayview, Idaho </p> <p>Finding a Navy town 350 miles from the nearest ocean seems unlikely.</p> <p>But nestled between a state park and national forests on the shore of one of the deepest lakes in the nation, Bayview plays a unique role in naval history.</p> <p>Home to the Navy's Acoustic Research Detachment, the northern Idaho town has supported every major innovation in U.S. submarine design for more than half a century. </p> <p>Marie Streeter manages the Captain's Wheel Resort, a popular local restaurant and bar within sight of the base on Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced PON-de-RAY).</p> <p>"It's pretty much like family around here," Streeter said, after the lunch crowd died down on a recent Friday afternoon.</p> <p>Bayview has one main road, one general store and a handful of shops and restaurants. That makes even the small Navy base hard to miss.</p> <p>With 75 civilian employees, contractors and one active-duty officer in charge, the Navy is the largest employer in town. </p> <p>"They are our true regulars," said Monnie Cripe, Streeter's fellow manager at the Captain's Wheel.</p> <p>Most of the engineers and scientists who work for the Navy in Bayview commute about 40 minutes from Coeur d'Alene or more than an hour from Spokane. </p> <p>Bayview has about 250 permanent residents, according to the 2000 Census. Locals said the population can swell to several thousand during the summer months.</p> <p>"I grew up in a small town and I love it down here," Streeter said. "In the winter it's slow, but in the summer it picks up."</p> <p>The town has not always been so quiet.</p> <p>In three years during World War II, nearly 300,000 recruits trained at Farragut Naval Training Center on Lake Pend Oreille. </p> <p>Local lore has it that Eleanor Roosevelt saw the site when flying between Washington, D.C., and Seattle. She suggested it to her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was looking for a remote location to build a training facility. </p> <p>Whatever the reason, Bayview became home to the second-largest Navy training center in the nation and, briefly, the largest city in Idaho with a population of 55,000.</p> <p>The center shut down in 1946. But the Navy stayed.</p> <p>And over the past 50 years, the town became a hub of research and development for every new classification of U.S. submarine.</p> <p>Lake Pend Oreille is uniquely suited for acoustic testing because it's like a "big, deep, still bathtub," said Cmdr. David Kohnke, the officer in charge. </p> <p>Underwater microphones in the 1,150-foot-deep lake monitor noise generated by hull designs and propulsion systems.</p> <p>These hydrophones are sensitive enough to pick up the sound of rain or snowfall on the lake, Kohnke said, so they also pick up noise from wind and recreational boats in the area.</p> <p>That's one of the reasons most of the testing occurs at night on the lake's south half, closer to Bayview than to Sandpoint, a town with about 6,000 residents.</p> <p>Though known for good fishing, Lake Pend Oreille lacks the marine congestion of Lake Coeur d'Alene and other nearby lakes because it is mostly surrounded by public land.</p> <p>Coeur d'Alene National Forest wraps around most of the eastern side of the lake and part of the western side, just north of Bayview. </p> <p>Bayview also is surrounded by Farrugut State Park, which incorporates 4,000 acres of land that comprised the Naval Training Center.</p> <p>The area's remoteness means the lake's surface usually is quiet. More than half the time, the lake measures more still than "sea state zero," the technical term for flat calm, said Henry Netzer, director of the Acoustic Research Detachment.</p> <p>The lake's temperature also stays constant and cold below 100 feet, Netzer said, which replicates ocean-like conditions.</p> <p>In addition to acoustic testing, the lake is the site of other trials to measure the performance of submarine designs and technology, Kohnke said. </p> <p>Still, the Bayview base is a well-kept secret, even among submariners. </p> <p>"Most crews don't know we're here," Netzer said. "They're busy with operations and getting under way."</p> <p>A group of World War II and Vietnam-era submarine veterans toured Bayview recently during a side trip from their regional convention in Spokane. </p> <p>"I've heard of this place, but I didn't know that it extended that far back," said Karl Krompholz, who lives near Seattle and served from 1962 to 1966 on the diesel-electric submarine USS Cubera.</p> <p>The Acoustic Research Detachment recently began testing its first surface ship model, dubbed SEA JET.</p> <p>That has drawn more attention from local residents because it is so visible, Kohnke said.</p> <p>From her home on the lake, Bayview transplant Molly Bier has a front-row seat when the Navy takes SEA JET out for a spin.</p> <p>The futuristic technology creates a little bit of excitement in an otherwise quaint landscape, said Bier, who commutes to Spokane for work.</p> <p>"It's a town kind of stuck back 30 years ago," she said.<
Following an explosion this morning near Cairo's Coptic Cathedral, the state announces three days of mourning

A number of Egypt's cultural institutions declared three days of mourning starting Sunday 11 December till Tuesday 13 December, after an explosion near the Coptic Cathedral in Abbassiya district killed at least 25 people and injured 49.

The venues, who announced the halting of all culture activities during the three days, include the Cairo Opera House, across all its venues in Cairo, Alexandria and Damanhour; the Artistic Theatre House with all of the theatres that operate under its umbrella; and Bibliotheca Alexandrina's Arts Centre.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi declared in a statement that the country will observe three days of mourning.

The explosion is the largest attack targeting Christians since 2011, when 23 people were killed in an explosion at the Two Saints Church in Alexandria.

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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On John Keys final day as Prime Minister I cant find a better tribute to him than the words of 21 year old Jake Millar.

Jake wrote:

It was C.S. Lewis who once said Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. This is perhaps the greatest lesson I have learnt from our outgoing Prime Minister, John Key, a man who changed my life by doing just that. When I was 15-years-old, on Saturday the 4th of September in 2010, my father, Rod Miller, died in a skydiving plane crash in Fox Glacier, which killed nine people. It was the worst plane crash New Zealand had experienced in 17 years, and it tore many people apart.  Following the plane crash, John Key took the four-hour return drive from Hokitika to Fox Glacier to visit the crash site, and pay his respects to the victims. John Keys humanness and kindness inspired me during this difficult time, so I wrote to him as a 15-year-old, thanking him for caring, while asking him for some advice in regards to my own future. I was amazed to receive a very personal letter back directly from the Prime Minister. Not only did he address all of my points issue by issue in an extremely kind and personal way, but he also enclosed a card, saying he wanted to meet me.

Something not widely known about John is that he hand wrote a response to every kid who wrote him a letter. I understand it would be the last thing he did every evening before he crashed. He knew the difference it could make to get a personal response.

Several months later, John Key, while visiting the West Coast to see the victims families of the Pike River mine disaster, came to our family home in Greymouth for whitebait sandwiches, a cup of tea and a chat about my future. He didnt publicise the visit for political profit. No media were invited. He did it out of the goodness of his heart, because he wanted to help, and because he cared.

Jakes story will not be unique.

It was the goodness of John Keys heart that inspired me to try my hardest in life, and strive to be the best version of me that I could be. I vividly remember being inspired by the fact that John Key had lost his father as a young kid, before achieving his childhood dream. I remember thinking, if he could, why couldnt I?

I recall after Pike River John speaking to the kids who had lost a father and telling them that while this will be their darkest day, and they will worry that they will never be happy again, that he wanted to reassure them that you could have a very good and happy life despite losing your father at a young age.

Inspired by John Keys story, I worked with hunger and a sense of purpose to achieve my goal of becoming Head Boy of Christchurch Boys High School, and Head Boy of Adams House, the Schools boarding house, becoming the first student in 11 years to hold both roles. I then made the decision to turn down a $40,000 law scholarship and start my first startup OOMPHER, which was acquired by Careers New Zealand, a Crown Entity of the New Zealand Government, in May 2015, only 10 months after I launched it. Today, as the Co-Founder of Unfiltered, I have the great honour of travelling all over the world, interviewing the biggest names in global business, growing my second startup, Unfiltered, living a dream life between Auckland and New York City.

Inspiring  21 years old and onto his second startup.

The point to all of this is not that Im something great, but that its all been inspired by that early spark of inspiration: when John Key wrote to me. I remember running into John Key at a National Party function years after our first meeting, and he asked how my Mums art business was going. He had only met her once, years earlier. This showed how much he truly cared.

Thats a great memory.

Whether you loved or hated his politics, as Prime Minister, John Key was a good man. He had integrity. He cared about the people he represented. He did the right thing, even when no one was watching.  I am unsure how many lives John Key has changed over the years, but I know that mine was one of them. For that, I will be forever grateful.

I suspect this tribute from Jake will mean more to John than all the speeches in Parliament when he leaves the House.

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The minister will inaugurate Monday an exhibition to mark Luxor Museum's 41st anniversary, but the celebration to follow has been cancelled after Coptic Cathedral bombing

Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany will inaugurate a temporary exhibition to mark the 41st anniversary of Luxor Museum on Monday but the planned celebration afterwards has been cancelled after Sunday's bombing at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo.

El-Enany condemned recent terrorist attacks, including an explosion this morning at the St Mark Cathedral in Abbasiya that killed at least 25 people, as well as Friday's attack targeting police safeguarding a mosque in Giza's Haram district.

"Both attacks are criminal acts that violate the principles of all religions and moral values in targeting innocents and soldiers protecting the nation," El-Enany told Ahram Online.

He expressed his condolences to Egypts Coptic Pope Tawadros II, the ministers of defence and interior, as well as the families of the victims and all the Egyptian people.

El-Enany cancelled the celebration marking the 41st anniversary of Luxor Museum, but the temporary exhibition, in planning for several months ago, will open as scheduled. The minister will also inspect several archaeological sites in Luxor.

Elham Salah, head of the Ministry of Antiquities' Museums Department, said that the exhibition is to last 60 days and put on show a collection of 40 ancient Egyptian artefacts that were unearthed at King Amenhotep III Temple on Luxor's west bank.

Houring Sourouzian, director of the Conservation Mission of the Amenhotep III Temple Project, said that among the most important objects on show are the seated double life-sized statue of King Amenhotep III discovered during excavation work carried out in 2009 at the entrance of the Great Peristyle Court of the temple, and the red granite fragment depicting a scene showing a Nubian prisoner.

The exhibition will also feature a collection of amulets, stelae, scarabs and remains of clay vessels of different sizes and shapes.

Luxor Museum was originally opened to pubic in 1976 and was subsequently developed and enlarged twice, in 1989 and 2003.

It is an air-conditioned museum on two levels and is designed to create individual vistas at strategic positions to encourage an organised, uninterrupted flow of visitors.

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Lotte World Tower, the tallest man-made structure in Korea, is set to open in April. / Courtesy of Lotte Corp.



By Park Jae-hyuk

Lotte's grand scheme to build the tallest structure in Korea has been going smoothly, according to company officials Sunday, who said the Lotte World Tower in southern Seoul will be open to the public as early as April.

The company asked the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) on Wednesday to approve the opening of the second Lotte World, including the 123-story tower, to the public.

Lotte Group aims to open the observatory in February and celebrate the grand opening of the whole tower as well as the hotel in April.

The exterior of the tower was completed in October, after six years of construction which began in November 2010. Lotte said interior and landscaping work on the tower has been also completed.

The final inspection by the authorities, however, may take several months, because the 555-meter-tall tower will be the highest building in Korea and the fifth-tallest in the world.

If authorities discover any imperfections, they will demand the builder take action.

In 2014, the authorities took four months to finally approve the opening of Lotte World Mall, the lower part of the tower.

SMG plans to allow the opening of the tower, after a detailed inspection with private experts including local residents and civic groups.

Lotte has been confident of the tower's safety, as it dug 38 meters into the ground, so the ground can withstand loads of up to 750,000 tons. It also used concrete which can endure at least three hours of intense heat.

According to the company, Lotte World Tower can withstand 9.0-magnitude earthquakes and typhoons that are twice as strong as the notorious Typhoon Maemi.

The tower offers five fire shelters every 20 floors, which can be reached in 15 minutes from any area of the tower. Its 19 elevators can be used for evacuation in case of fire, so more than 15,000 residents can escape the building in an hour. The tower also has broad space for emergency stairs and over 160,000 sprinklers.

L-SWAT, a private anti-terrorism unit of Lotte, is ready to respond immediately in an emergency, along with Lotte's private fire fighters, fire engines and 400 safety guards. Lotte also runs a 24-hour situation room for the safety of workers and visitors.

If the tower is allowed to open, Lotte will accommodate Asian offices of international enterprises, luxury hotel, residential spaces and an observatory. The tower will also feature various amenities for local residents and tourists.

A Lotte official stated in a press release that "A futuristic vertical city will come into Korea, which will allow new possibilities in urban planning and economic growth."

Lotte World Tower also aims to obtain a certification of Leadership Environmental Energy Design, one of the most prestigious certificate systems granted for eco-friendly buildings. With the use of sunlight and geothermal facilities, the tower produces 15 percent of the energy it uses.
Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Corporate Planning Vice President Chung Ki-sun poses with Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) Marketing Director Amirsaman Torabizadeh during signing ceremony of a shipbuilding contract for 10 containers at HHI headquarters in Jung-gu, central Seoul, Friday. / Courtesy of Hyundai Heavy Industries



By Jhoo Dong-chan

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has clinched a $700 million order to build 12 ships for Iran's state-owned shipping company Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL). The deal is expected to provide financial room for the debt-ridden company.

According to HHI, Sunday, the nation's largest shipbuilder signed a deal to build at least eight ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs) and medium-range tankers for carrying petrochemical products for the largest shipping company in the Middle East, Friday. A total of four ULCVs and six containers are expected to be built under the deal, and the capacity of the container vessels will be 14,500 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) while tankers will be 49,000 tons.

"The deal is meaningful as HHI has won its first shipbuilding order and marked its foothold for future business in Iran," an HHI official said.

"In order to overcome the order cliff, the company will do its best to seek similar deals in overseas markets."

The ships are expected to be delivered in mid-2018.

"The ULCVs that have been ordered to be built will be the first of a new generation of vessels that Iran will acquire," IRISL said in a statement.

The deal is the first major international contract Iran has signed after the removal of financial sanctions in January, and HHI expects this deal to signal further deals with the Persian country, HHI said.

Iran has the world's second-largest proved gas reserves after Russia and the third-highest natural gas production in the world after Indonesia and Russia. It also ranks fourth in oil reserves with an estimated 153.6 billion barrels.

Apart from the deal with IRISL, HHI also won another shipbuilding contract worth 700 billion won with the government, the shipyard added.

Under the deal, the shipyard is expected to build one patrol ship and one submarine.
A view of Busan Harbor Bridge and the Busan Port International Passenger Terminal.

/ Courtesy of Busan Tourism Organization



Administrative support, tourism resources attract MICE visitors

By Jung Min-ho

Major corporations sometimes offer their employees free travel as a way to motivate them. This is one of the components of MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions), which has increasingly become an important part of Busan's tourism industry.

Over the past few years, the city of skyscrapers and pristine beaches has emerged as one of Asia's most attractive destinations for companies seeking such rewards.

The Busan Tourism Organization (BTO) said it offers various support services to help them develop and enjoy their tailor-made tour programs.

For example, when Amway China brought nearly 15,000 employees to Busan three years ago, the BTO secured the Busan International Film Festival's outdoor stage for their event.

"Basically, the idea was to make them feel like they were attending a party for movie stars," a BTO official said. "Many had their pictures taken on the red carpet that we prepared for them. Everyone really enjoyed the evening."





Chinese cruise passengers enjoy chicken and beer during their visit to this year's Busan Fireworks Festival and the Busan One Asia Festival in October. / Courtesy of Busan Tourism Organization



In August, companies affiliated with All Japan Mutual Aid Association, the country's largest wedding and funeral service provider, decided to send 10,000 employees to Busan through next spring as a reward for their work performances. The BTO has helped them in many ways since.

"We have helped them rent places they want and reduce prices for special tours. Depending on requests, our support services could be anything," the official said.

The BTO said its marketing and support services led to 12 large-scale incentive travel deals this year, up from nine last year. Most recently, Shanghai Weina Cosmetics decided to send 2,000 of its top performing workers to Busan between Dec. 20 and 22.

With the BTO stepping up its efforts, the number of incentive tours to the city is expected to continue rising.

From Nov. 7 to 11, the BTO held promotional events in Guangzhou and Shenzhen in China as part of its efforts. After it consulted with nearly 200 company representative in the cities, expectations are high for more successful deals.

The BTO believes Busan will grow far beyond just a popular summer destination in Asia, if the city tries a little harder to take advantage of its unique assets.

Situated at the southeastern end of the Korean Peninsula, Busan has beautiful scenery and a rich history of cultural exchanges. In 1876, it became the country's first port open to other countries for trade. It also has beautiful mountains, rivers and seas.

"Busan is heaven for all kinds of marine sports, and unlike many other port cities, everything including hotels, beaches and other fun things are close by, which makes it convenient for tourists," the official said.

Centum City, known as the world's largest department store, and Jagalchi Fish Market, the country's biggest marine market, are among the destinations of which the city boasts.

Centum City offers foreign tourists tax refunds and translation services. Currently, 5 percent of its sales come from foreigners. Its plan is to push the number to 15 in the next few years.

Jagalchi Fish Market lets tourists experience the traditional side of the city. Inside the main building, vendors sell just about every edible sea creature including crabs and eels, two of the locals' favorite foods.
In this altered image, Rep. Choo Mi-ae, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, places Lee's right hand into the pot containing burning coals. / Captured from the Internet



By Park Si-soo



Will ruling Saenuri Party leader Lee Jung-hyun really have his fingers burned?

He is under increasing pressure to keep his "promise" after President Park Geun-hye was impeached on Friday with the overwhelming support of opposition lawmakers and defiant members of the ruling party.

Lee, a Park loyalist, had gone to great lengths to derail the opposition-led impeachment drive. On Nov. 30, he told reporters, "I will put my hands into a pot of boiling sauce if the impeachment motion (against Park) is passed."

He made the comment to highlight his commitment to fending off Park's impeachment and to encourage fellow lawmakers of the ruling party to stand behind the idea of the President's voluntary resignation in April.












By Yi Whan-woo



After leading a successful campaign to impeach President Park Geun-hye, the opposition bloc is moving to nullify some of her signature policies and projects.



They include a plan to introduce the government-authored history textbook for secondary school students in March 2017, an agreement reached between South Korea and Japan in December 2015 over Tokyo's wartime sex slavery, and the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) that the two neighbors signed on Nov. 9, according to political sources Sunday.



Concerning economic issues, the three opposition parties  the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the People's Party of Korea and theJustice Party  have been against what they see as "business-friendly" labor policies, such as a performance-based wage system for public organizations.



The government has been embroiled in a dispute for making decisions "unilaterally" over the issues despite objections from the opposition bloc and progressive-minded civic activists.



"And the parties may try to press the government to revamp or even scrap those controversial policies and projects," said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University. "The opposition side may argue that because Park is now expelled from politics, such controversial policies and projects should no longer be taken for granted and their validity must be discussed from scratch accordingly."



Some sources said the opposition parties may capitalize on the envisioned talks with the government and ruling Saenuri Party to make their voices heard.



On Friday, DPK Chairwoman Rep. Choo Mi-ae proposed a three-way consultation body with the government and the ruling Saenuri Party to discuss how to help Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is now acting president, to normalize state affairs.



Choo said she would seek to correct "key administrative mistakes" made by the Park government and demand they be put on the agenda for public and parliamentary discussions if the trilateral meeting is held.



"By doing so, the opposition bloc, especially the main opposition DPK, may attempt to woo voters ahead of the early presidential election," Shin said.



Analysts speculated that the government's plan to author the history textbook was likely to be scrapped.



They pointed out that the Ministry of Education's effort to publish the textbook was grinding to a halt after the influence-peddling scandal surrounding Park and her confidant Choi Soon-sil began in late October.



The ministry also was embroiled in a dispute after errors were found in a draft of the textbook when it was released on Nov. 28. The draft also faced criticism for "glorifying" Park's late father, military strongman Park Chung-hee, and his reign in the 1960s and '70s.



The analysts said a plan to adopt a wage system based on workers' individual performances at state-run companies and other public organizations would not succeed, either.



Workers want to keep the system based on how many years they have served.



But the government implemented the performance-based salary system among high-ranked officials this year and has sought to expand it to all levels next year as part of efforts to reform the labor market and revitalize the economy.



Meanwhile, the experts remained skeptical about reviewing the Seoul-Tokyo deal over former Korean sex slaves before and during World War II as well as the agreement aimed at sharing military intelligence about North Korea.



"The opposition-led National Assembly may exercise its influence to make changes on the domestic policies that it thinks are wrong and therefore should be corrected," Shin said.



"But altering the agreements with Japan requires Tokyo's consent and any attempt to suspend them unilaterally will trigger international criticism and risk the country's reputation."



On Sunday, Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda told Fuji Television that the agreement over sex slavery must be kept regardless of Park's impeachment.



He said Japan would not accept any South Korean proposal for renegotiation.




By Rachel Lee

With President Park Geun-hye's fate now in the hands of the Constitutional Court following the National Assembly's impeachment, Friday, seven out of 10 citizens believe she should step down before the court makes its ruling, according to the latest survey.

The poll, conducted by Hankook Research after the impeachment at the request of Hankook Ilbo, sister paper of The Korea Times, showed 69.7 percent of respondents called for Park's voluntary resignation before the ruling, which will take up to six months. Only 22 percent said Park should stay until the court's ruling.

The survey was conducted with 1,000 Koreans on Dec. 9 and 10, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The results mean people do not back Park's legal battle to stay in power.

By region, Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces had the largest number among those calling for Park's early resignation (84.5 percent), followed by Gangwon Province and Jeju Island (74.1 percent).












By Jung Min-ho

The news that the National Assembly impeached the most unpopular president in the country's history, Park Geun-hye, apparently excited many Koreans, including business owners who offered giveaways in celebration of the historic moment.

Street vendors near Sinchon Station handed out free tteokbokki to thousands of people on Saturday afternoon, while many were still happily surprised with the voting result which came out the day before.

The vendors' association in western Seoul promised to give away tteokbokki near Sinchon, Hongik University and Ewha Womans University stations before lawmakers voted against the President over an influence-peddling scandal involving her confidant Choi Soon-sil.

According to the association, vendors prepared tteokbokki for 3,000 people initially but they ran out of food faster than expected. So they procured extras later for 1,000 more people.












Ambassadors of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden pose with Korea's Minister of Gender Equality and Family Kang Eun-hee, center, at a forum titled "Policy Cases of Utilizing Female Talents and Increasing Women in Managerial Positions" at the Korea Press Center in Seoul on Dec. 5. From left are Finnish Ambassador Eero Suominen, Danish Ambassador Thomas Lehmann, Swedish Ambassador Anne Hoglund and Norwegian Ambassador Jan Ole Grevstad.

/ Courtesy of the Embassy of Norway



By Rachel Lee

The ambassadors of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden gathered at the Press Center in Seoul with Korea's Minister of Gender Equality and Family Kang Eun-hee to discuss gender equality and boost cooperation in related policies and practices.

At the forum with the theme of "Policy Cases of Utilizing Female Talents and Increasing Women in Managerial Positions," on Dec. 5, the envoys and the minister also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), calling for more exchange of knowledge on the issue.

"Gender equality has always been extremely important to our countries," the ambassadors said in a statement. "We are happy to have this opportunity to work with Korea in sharing good practices and experience regarding gender equality policies."

"We see this event as a stepping stone for our countries to work closer together to raise awareness on the importance of gender equality and creating equal opportunities for men and women, also when it comes to issues such as career, entrepreneurship and innovation."

The forum was comprised of presentations showcasing the status quo of gender equality and policies in the private and public sectors of each country, as well as a panel discussion and Q&A with attendees.

Experts in various fields spoke about past challenges, trials and errors, and the key to success in realizing increased gender equality in their respective areas and countries.

Korean Institute for Gender Equality Promotion and Education President Min Moo-suk discussed policies to utilize female talent via means such as support of female youth employment, childcare, family-friendly company certification policies, re-employment policies for female career discontinuity, as well as quotas for female managerial positions in the private sector.

State Secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Laila Bokhari presented the successes and challenges in Norway over 60 years.

Pernille Ravn Jakobsen, Ph.D. from the Center for Innovative Medical Technology at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) discussed the importance of female roles in research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Ericsson-LG CEO in Sweden Patrick Johansson talked about the value and practice in diversity that Ericsson pursues worldwide.
By Zaynab El Bernoussi



IFRANE  China is quickly becoming a world power, capable of exercising considerable influence over other countries. And it is advancing to the center of the geopolitical stage just as  if not because  American and European leadership seems to be retreating into the wings.



China certainly has a receptive audience. One reason is that the "darker nations," as the international-studies scholar Vijay Prashad calls global-South countries, feel greater kinship with China than with the United States and Europe. They identify with China's history of anti-imperialist struggle, and even with Chinese people's physical appearance. If you are an emerging superpower, there is a distinct advantage to having the majority of the world's population hold such sentiments.



The way China plays its global role also differs notably from that of the West, because it emphasizes its similarities with the "rest," to use the historian Niall Ferguson's expression for the non-Western world. With this strategy, China has expanded its sphere of influence far beyond its immediate region.



Sub-Saharan Africa is often cited as an example of a region where China's influence has superseded that of Europe's former colonial powers. And, more recently, the Chinese government has stressed its long-standing interest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and in Egypt in particular. Earlier this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Cairo as part of a regional tour to promote China's "one belt, one road" initiative, a latter-day revival of the legendary Silk Road  the ancient network of trade routes connecting the Far East to the Mediterranean.



An important feature of China's complex regional strategy is its attempt to address partners on a more equal footing. In the case of Egypt, it has done so by appealing to a shared history  a tactic that resonates in both countries. When the Chinese travel site Kooniao recently showcased the geochemist Sun Weidong's assertion that Chinese civilization may have originated in ancient Egypt, Chinese readers responded with excitement; they were happy to be considered on par with Egypt. This episode suggests a revival of earlier discussions among Chinese officials in the post-World War II era, which also situated the origins of Chinese civilization in the West.



It is tempting to ask if China implicitly uses civilizational theories to endear itself to particular regions at particular times. What we do know is that China has had an interest in the Arab world at least since the start of the postcolonial era, when new countries were established across the MENA region. That interest was embodied in the relationship between the first premier of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai, and Egypt's independence hero and second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser.



Zhou and Nasser were both key leaders in the global South's struggle for independence and ideological autonomy. But the Cold War, the Sino-Soviet split, and Western international institutions' development programs soon disrupted cooperation among global-South countries, and ties between China and Egypt weakened. That changed this year with the highly publicized meeting between Xi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in January.



In 2012, former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi  who had won Egypt's first presidential election after former President Hosni Mubarak's regime was toppled in 2011  laid the groundwork. China was Morsi's first official destination outside the region.



When Egypt's military removed Morsi and el-Sisi became president, he continued to move his country closer to China. Xi returned the favor, and used his trip to Cairo to commemorate 60 years of bilateral diplomatic relations. Xi had visited Egypt 16 years earlier, and on his second official trip he praised Egyptian civilization: "If you drink from the Nile, you will return."



Egypt and China have agreed to a number of massive bilateral deals. One that stands out is a $45 billion Chinese-funded project to build a new Egyptian capital in the desert outside of Cairo. The project's symbolic importance is obvious: China wants to cement its role as the region's biggest ally, in place of the US.



Indeed, the renewed Sino-Egyptian relationship is a cornerstone of China's effort to attract new allies in regions once dominated by US and European interests. And it is here where China's reliance on a civilizational discourse of mutual respect and shared history stands in stark contrast to the West's colonial, post-colonial, and neocolonial discourse, which tends to frame local cultures as backwards or inferior.



By lavishing praise on Egypt's local culture, and by alluding to shared origins, China is strengthening its diplomatic relations and chances for future economic cooperation. In exchange, Egypt  a gateway to the Arab world  will become a crucial strategic ally for China. By deepening its relationship with Egypt, China stands to increase its influence in other MENA countries, too.





Zaynab El Bernoussi is Professor of International Relations at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Al Akhawayn University. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate.




A recent global index of students' academic assessments has called the competitiveness of the nation's public education into question.



Last week, the OECD announced the results of the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which showed that Korean students' academic ability tumbled from a 2012 report. In all three sectors  math, science and reading  Korea failed to rank in the top three. It is the first time since 2010 that Korea has fallen out of the top three in all these sectors in the triennial survey of 15-year-old students. Around 540,000 students in 72 countries took part in this report.



Japan took first place in math and science among OECD countries for the first time in the 2015 report. The strength of Japan's science education is one of the reasons for the country's global recognition in the field. Japan has produced 22 Nobel laureates in science, whereas Korea has produced none.



The report showed a significant drop in all three sectors, particularly in math and science. What is even more worrisome is that Korean students placed among the lowest in an index measuring students' enthusiasm for studying.



The report is a sign that the education policies of the Park Geun-hye administration have failed. Korean students, who are fed up with incompetent teachers and monotonous curriculum, are becoming wearier of the public education system. But the Park administration has done little to promote the quality of public schools.



The PISA report should be a wakeup call for the education ministry. The education ministry should prepare comprehensive measures to raise the competitiveness of public education. This is a crucial task for promoting the nation's global competitiveness in the long run. This is the kind of future-oriented mission the education ministry should focus on rather than wasting energy and budget on political projects like state-authored textbooks to control history education in secondary schools.




By Lee Min-hyung

LG-Hitachi said Sunday that it has clinched a 60 billion won ($51.57 million) water treatment contract with Paju City, raising its global profile in the water solutions industry.

The deal allows the joint venture between LG Electronics and Hitachi of Japan to build a facility for reusing wastewater at an LCD industrial complex in the city, Gyeonggi Province, according to the firm.

LG-Hitachi expects the facility to help revitalize the local economy, as this can help LCD firms operating in the complex to take advantage of a stable water supply, thereby increasing their production competitiveness. The company is set to finalize its construction by 2018 with a water treatment capacity of 41,200 tons daily.

"We are going to become a top-tier water treatment system provider on the global stage with the latest contract," LG-Hitachi Vice President Lee Dong-hyuk, who is in charge of its sales division, said in a statement.

The company also said the latest achievement is meaningful as it can help the local firms and contribute to the environment by reusing sewage water for industrial purposes.

LG-Hitachi Water Solutions was founded in 2012, providing eco-friendly water solutions in such areas as sewage water treatment, air pollution and waste resources management.

In 2011, LG Group named the water treatment business as its next growth area, along with batteries for electric vehicles, LEDs and solar energy. At that time, LG Electronics unveiled its plan to join the global top 10 water treatment players by 2020 by investing some 500 billion won.

LG Electronics has since focused on R&D in the area by developing core technologies for membrane water treatment systems, whereas LG-Hitachi pushes for winning contracts and establishing and maintaining facilities.
By Lee Min-hyung



Samsung Electronics is pushing ahead with its last resort to retrieve all remaining Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from its key markets, including the United States, disabling charging of the ill-fated devices via a software update.



The move is aimed at putting an end to lingering safety risks of the handset after it was recalled two months ago following continuous reports over its batteries catching fire while charging.



The latest in a series of recharging restrictions came from Samsung Electronics America where 1.9 million Note 7 devices were sold after it debuted in the global market in mid-August.



"To further increase participation (for the Note 7 refund and exchange program), a software update will be released starting on Dec. 19 that will prevent U.S. Galaxy Note 7 devices from charging and will eliminate their ability to work as mobile devices," the U.S. subsidiary of the world's largest smartphone vendor said in a recent statement.



In the U.S., Samsung has so far recalled 93 percent of all Note 7 devices, but it explained the latest measure was taken to guarantee 100 percent safety from threats of unreturned handsets.



This came days after the company announced it would implement the same measures in other global markets such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand where the software update will deactivate major services of the device _ including battery recharging, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.



In Canada, Note 7 users will not be able to access basic mobile services to make phone calls, send texts or use data, which will be effective on Dec. 15, according to Samsung Electronics.



"We strongly urge any customers still using the Note 7 to return their device for a refund or exchange between Dec. 7 and Dec. 15," the Canadian subsidiary of Samsung said last week. "We will continue to communicate daily with a push notification about this network deactivation event to ensure they continue to receive adequate notice."



Samsung has yet to announce whether it will adopt the same measure for the Korean market, but hinted at the possibility by saying: "We are considering conducting additional software updates here _ including restrictions on battery charges."



The firm sold 500,000 Note 7 devices in Korea, the second-highest following the U.S. market. Some 80 percent of all recalled Note 7s here have so far been returned as of Dec. 11, according to Samsung.



In October, Samsung recalled 3 million Note 7s sold in 10 countries amid growing controversy over its unconfirmed battery fires. The firm then launched replacement Note 7s with what it called safe batteries. But Samsung soon permanently halted its production and sales over continuous reports that the new devices which were considered safe were also catching fire.




Hello! Im Mark Olsen, and welcome to your weekly field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

Its getting to be the time for best-of lists and the like, and well be posting one of our own soon enough. Perhaps signifying how tough and occasionally arbitrary that list-making can be is something like filmmaker Robert Greenes hard-to-categorize Kate Plays Christine. Greene will be appearing soon at L.A.s Cinefamily, in events co-presented with local screening series Acropolis Cinema, for the local premieres of two of his earlier films, Fake It So Real and Actress. The evenings should make for a strong introduction to his work, which blend documentary and fictional storytelling.

Weve had a great year of screening events  with guests including Tori Amos, Pedro Almodovar and Kelly Reichardt  and could very well wind up with some more bookings as awards season rolls on. Were especially excited by the prospect of showing The Neon Demon big and bright and loud in a theater on Monday, Dec. 12. Director Nicolas Winding Refn and composer Cliff Martinez will be there for a Q&A afterward, discussing their ongoing collaboration. For more information, check in with events.latimes.com.

Advertisement

I Am Not Your Negro

Directed by Raoul Peck, and with a writing credit given to James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro is a powerful, dazzling look at identity and race as told through the work of Baldwin, specifically his attempt to write a book that examined the lives and deaths of three men he knew: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. The film includes extensive footage of Baldwin and features voiceover of Samuel L. Jackson reading his words.

In his review for The Times, Kenneth Turan said that what makes the film a mesmerizing cinematic experience, smart, thoughtful and disturbing, goes well beyond words.

Turan concluded his review with Not everything that is faced can be changed, Baldwin says at one point, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. As much as any film out there today, I Am Not Your Negro helps us face our racial divide and possibly begin to change it as well.

Writing for the Guardian, Jordan Hoffman said, It in no way diminishes Pecks work as a filmmaker to suggest that Baldwins ideas and personality are the author of this movie. It is a striking work of storytelling. By assembling the scattered images and historical clips suggested by Baldwins writing, I Am Not Your Negro is a cinematic seance, and one of the best movies about the civil rights era ever made.

Peck sat for a long conversation with programmer Thom Powers during the Toronto International Festival that you can watch here.

Peck also spoke during the AFI Fest in Los Angeles. In an interview for the festivals website, he said, If there was any pressure, it was the self-inflicted pressure to do right by Baldwin  to figure how to be faithful to his words, in a world that asked, at every moment, for simple answers to complicated issues.

La La Land

La La Land that has been so widely talked about since it first premiered on the festival circuit earlier this fall that its hard to believe its only just now getting its commercial release. Directed by Damien Chazelle, its a modern-day musical starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a pair of struggling artists, he a musician and she an actress, trying to make it in Los Angeles. The films candy-bright colors and sunny disposition mask a yearning for something richer and deeper.

In his review for The Times, Justin Chang wrote, Chazelle has assembled a vibrant, infectiously hummable pastiche of musical and cinematic styles  an entrancing ode to the glories of cinema past as well as a heartfelt expression of faith in the mediums future.

Reviewing for the New York Times, A.O. Scott said the film succeeds both as a fizzy fantasy and a hard-headed fable, a romantic comedy and a showbiz melodrama, a work of sublime artifice and touching authenticity. The artifice lies in the gorgeous colors, the suave camera movements and the elegant wide-screen compositions. In the songs and choreography too, of course, though it has to be said that, with one or two exceptions, these are more competent than dazzling. Youre more likely to remember what you saw than what you heard.

One of the things that is making La La Land a fascinating point of discussion is the fact there is any discussion at all, that a film which looks so harmlessly agreeable has also generated strong pushback from critics who arent having it.

At MTV News, Amy Nicholson, for example, wrote, Nostalgia  especially the type of nostalgia designed solely for knowing nods  gets in the way of the films ability to run. Eventually, La Las light-footed glee will trip over its baggage  Youre forever getting kicked out of the moment and asked to applaud.

For the New Yorker, Richard Brody noted of Chazelle: He venerates and celebrates bygone methods and mannerisms because he applies them like formulas  and those formulas take the place of original creation, of a spontaneous sense of style and a natural, personal sense of beauty  Theres even more verve in the musical parodies of Popstar than in the strenuous emptiness, forced whimsy, and programmed emotion of La La Land.

For The Times, Chazelle wrote about some of the musicals that influenced the film. There are expected names like filmmakers Vincente Minnelli and Rouben Mamoulian, and stars Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland and Cyd Charisse, but also more unexpected entries like Touki Bouki or Beau Travail.

Miss Sloane

Though it opened in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, the political thriller Miss Sloane is expanding around the country. Jessica Chastain gives a fiery performance as a Washington lobbyist who finds an unexpected purpose.

In his review for The Times, Justin Chang wrote, Reality, of course, is a fairly elastic concept these days, and if theres a flaw in Miss Sloane, its that in future years its juicy Machiavellian gamesmanship may not look farfetched but dated  a throwback to a time when there were clearer consequences for professional misconduct, when people still retained their capacity for outrage. See this smart, showboating movie now, before its simmering sense of justice begins to feel like a thing of the past.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw, left, and Jessica Chastain star in Miss Sloane. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times )

The film seems to be exactly the kind that The Times Steven Zeitchik wrote about recently when he looked at movies that have become caught up in the shifting sands of history, landing in an environment different from one their creators might have imagined.

The Trump victory is so seismic that it falls on to a very short list of events that change the way we perceive almost everything else, Zeitchik wrote. That includes  and maybe especially applies to  our cinematic escapism.

Writing about the film for the Washington Post, Alyssa Rosenberg added, Its a naive movie that believes itself to be cynical, and as a result, misses just how deep the rot in Washington really lies.

Stanley Kubrick movies in L.A.

All month long, L.A.s New Beverly Cinema is featuring Stanley Kubrick movies, including Barry Lyndon, Lolita, The Killing, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. (How they arent showing Eyes Wide Shut, which among its many virtues is an incredible Christmas movie, is another matter.)

Kubrick movies are easy to take for granted  you assume you know them and file them away  but part of their brilliance is how rewatchable they all are. Kim Morgan wrote an insightful essay on Barry Lyndon, which concluded, You have to think about it, search within yourself while these beautiful images soak into your soul. And Kubrick knew this power. As Kubrick himself said, The most important parts of a film are the mysterious parts  beyond the reach of reason and language. 

The American Cinematheque also has a real treat for those still find the theatrical experience something truly special, as it is giving a run throughout December to its brand-new 70mm print of Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Email me if you have questions, comments or suggestions, and follow me on Twitter @IndieFocus.
Walter White lives!

Well, at least he did for a few minutes on Saturday Night Live.

Emmy winner Bryan Cranston revived his high school science teacher-drug lord character from the now-defunct Breaking Bad during Saturdays show.

Imagine if Walter White was selected by President-elect Donald Trump to be the new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. That was the basis of SNLs latest cold open, poking fun at several of Trumps real-life cabinet picks that have left many political pundits befuddled.

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The sketch, which introduced the Dec. 10 show hosted by wrestler-actor John Cena, featured cast member Beck Bennett as CNNs Jake Tapper along with Trump surrogate Kellyanne Conway, played by Kate McKinnon. The two discussed a number of Trumps unconventional appointments, including those of Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general and a climate change denier, to head the Environmental Protection Agency and Andrew Puzder, the CEO of Carls Jr. and Hardees, who has argued against minimum wage increases, as secretary of Labor.

Its almost like Mr. Trump appoints these people specifically to undermine the very agencies they head, Bennetts Tapper said. Are these bad picks?

McKinnons Conway responded: No, they are not bad. They are alt-good.

Then, the two announced the selection of White as head of the DEA who Conway says came highly recommended by Steve Bannon, referring to the president-elects chief political strategist, who is known for his work as chairman of the controversial conservative website Breitbart News.

Steves the best. Weve had some times, Cranstons White said, adding that Bannon found him in the comment section at Breitbart.

The SNL writers worked in several references to the acclaimed series including having Cranston as White proclaim Trust me, I know the DEA better than anyone, inside and out and reprise his famous line I am the one who knocks and adding that he faked his own death, noting Im only the third person in the Trump cabinet to do that.

Cranston next appears on the big screen as an uptight dad in the James Franco comedy Why Him? opening Dec. 23.

Check out the SNL sketch in the video below:

Get your life! Follow me on Twitter: @TrevellAnderson.
Californians are likely to pay more for gasoline, electricity, food and new homes  and to feel their lives jolted in myriad other ways  because their state broadly expanded its war on climate change this summer.

The ambitious new goals will require complex regulations on an unprecedented scale, but were approved in Sacramento without a study of possible economic repercussions.

Some of the nations top energy, housing and business experts say the effort may not only raise the cost of staples, but also slow the pace of job and income growth for millions of California families.

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California is doing something no other state has done.  Gov. Jerry Brown

And now that Donald Trump, who has dismissed climate change, is headed for the White House, Californians may find themselves making sacrifices while the residents of other states are missing in action.

Two key laws this summer kicked Californias climate change fight into high gear.

Senate Bill 32 requires the state to cut greenhouse gases 40% below their level of 1990  based on evidence that a global reduction at that level would limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius above the temperature levels of a few decades ago.

Senate Bill 1383 requires similar reductions in methane, refrigeration gases and black carbon.

Before signing SB 32, Gov. Jerry Brown said he didnt expect problems.

California is doing something no other state has done, he said. We are bringing into law real measures backed up by the real power of the state of California. It will take some balance that we dont overdo it, but I am not afraid we are going to get to that point.

It is dubious as to whether the California goal will be achieved without large economic costs.  James Sweeney, director of Stanford Universitys Precourt Energy Efficiency Center

But nobody really knows whats in store for the state.

The Legislature relied on years of sophisticated computer modeling to understand how staying the course on the use of fossil fuels will disrupt Earths climate. No one, however, can point to detailed economic study of how the new goals will affect the worlds sixth-largest economy.

A preliminary analysis just released by the California Air Resources Board, which has sole authority to impose the new rules, projects a potential reduction of 25,000 to 102,000 jobs and the loss of $7 billion to $14 billion in gross state economic output. The board said those impacts are small relative to the states economy.

Other experts, however, note that too little is known to make solid predictions, while industry groups project severe consequences.

Although California set a goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 40% below 1990 levels, for example, the state did not collect greenhouse gas data before 1990. So no one can say how far back in its history as a state with cars and industry California will have to go to hit that emission level.

That benchmark could, however, require the state to emit no more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases than it did as far back as the 1960s, based on national data that do not take into account Californias faster growth and more energy-efficient economy.

Individual industry sectors always overestimate the costs and underestimate the benefits and assume that you will implement it in the dumbest possible way.  Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board

It is dubious as to whether the California goal will be achieved without large economic costs, said James Sweeney, director of Stanford Universitys Precourt Energy Efficiency Center.

He added that the enhanced climate change fight will likely lead to a less diversified and more fragile state economy. Meeting the requirement will require severe restrictions, far beyond those seen to date.

Exactly what restrictions are not clear, because the rules have yet to be adopted.

But Sweeneys analysis shows that the reduction in greenhouse gases will need to be eight times faster than the state has accomplished under the first climate change effort that started in 2006  and the rate of reduction is twice as fast as what U.S. agreed to under the Paris climate agreement.

California is already digging deep into state resources for the climate battle. It spends about $2 billion on energy efficiency and renewable-energy programs, according to the Legislative Analysts Office. And its regulatory trading systems redistribute several billion dollars a year. In total, the state allocates more on the climate battle than on state support for the University of California system.

Mary Nichols, the longtime chairwoman of the air board, acknowledges that the scale and breadth of the ramped-up regulatory effort to curtail greenhouse gases surpasses past programs.

Risky is whats happening to the climate.  Bill McKibben, co-founder of climate change activist group 350.org

It is the biggest thing we have done yet in sheer volume, she said. It requires a level of coordination between different agencies that we havent seen before.

Nichols added that every past era of environmental regulation prompted similar concerns of economic Armageddon, which proved to be unfounded.

Individual industry sectors always overestimate the costs and underestimate the benefits and assume that you will implement it in the dumbest possible way, she said.

It actually doesnt much matter to the climate whether California hits its goal of cutting emissions by 40%, because the state accounts for only 1% of worldwide emissions, said Severin Borenstein, a UC Berkeley business professor and expert on renewable energy. More important is the technology and practices that can be exported to the rest of the world.

Environmentalists are quick to point out that if Earths weather patterns continue to go haywire, it wont just be Californias economy that comes unglued.

Risky is whats happening to the climate, said environmentalist and author Bill McKibben. Everything else is just a challenge, which once upon a time Americans were good at stepping up to.

A Nissan Leaf is plugged into an electric-vehicle charging station at the Malibu Country Mart. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Critics, however, say that consigning Californians economic well-being to untested regulatory systems is reckless, and the hit on wallets has already begun.

Gasoline prices, for example, are headed up under several very complex regulatory systems, including the states low-carbon fuel standard and the cap-and-trade auction market.

And electricity prices will likely go up. At least half of Californias electricity must come from renewable sources by 2030, and though solar panel costs have dropped sharply and are subsidized by a 30% federal tax credit, existing long-term contracts already signed by utilities will likely continue to drive up the price of electricity, Borenstein said.

The states shift to natural gas for 60% of its in-state electricity generation could also lead to higher electricity prices. Gas prices have spiked 115% since March, though the impact has not yet filtered down to consumers.

Not once did anybody ask how we could do this.  Roger Isom, president of the California Cotton Growers and Ginners Assn.

When gasoline or electricity prices go up, people tend to use less. Manufacturers, however, may leave the state.

Over the long term, manufacturers will be choosing to put their money elsewhere, said Dorothy Rothrock, president of the California Manufacturing and Technology Assn. In 2000, California accounted for 5.6% of U.S. manufacturing investment. Today, it accounts for 1.8%, she said. A study by NERA, an economics research firm working for the manufacturers association, asserted that the climate goal could cost California households an average of $3,000 annually.

The California Energy Commission and the Public Utilities Commission have their own extensive regulatory programs to reduce energy consumption, and the climate change legislation will give them more legal backbone.

We are at the point where we have to ask does agriculture fit into Californias future.  Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of the Fresno Farm Bureau

The Energy Commission, for example, has a goal that by 2020 all new homes will have to meet a net zero energy mandate, meaning solar roofs will have to supply all the homes power while large amounts of insulation lower energy demand. Other rules apply later to government and commercial buildings.

It means buildings will be part of the solution, said energy commissioner David Hochschild.

But Dave Cogdill, president of the California Building Industry Assn., said the goal will add $45,000 to the average cost of a 2,500-square-foot home in California. The higher cost is likely to lead to fewer new homes, exacerbating the states housing and employment problems.

And a slowdown in construction could potentially reducing gross state product by $7.5 billion and employment by 75,000 jobs, said Brad Williams, an economist at Capitol Matrix Consulting who studied the legislation for the building association.

An analysis by Jeff Greenblatt, a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory expert on energy efficiency, projects that significant improvements of existing buildings will be necessary, but on a scale 30 times faster than the current rate of improvement.

It would be a huge lift. You could incentivize it, but I dont know how you would pay for it, he said.

The effects of the new rules on California agribusiness could be even more significant.

Martine Ledesma operates a crustbuster that compresses cotton into giant modules for handling at the Stone Land Company in Stratford, Calif. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times )

We are not saying we shouldnt do anything for the climate, said Roger Isom, president of the California Cotton Growers and Ginners Assn. But it would be great if somebody was on the playing field with us. Not once did anybody ask how we could do this.

Isom said the cotton industry is already in free fall.

Dairies are also bracing for a difficult future, said Anja Raudabaugh, executive director of the Western Dairymens Assn. Just this year, 53 dairies have gone bankrupt, left the state or simply closed their doors, a trend likely to accelerate, she said.

There is no way we can manage the reductions they want, she said.

Dairy herds produce roughly 10 million metric tons of the greenhouse gas methane each year, a consequence of cow flatulence, burping and manure.

Under SB 1383, that has to change.

At a heated meeting in June, dairy officials pleaded with the Air Resources Board that they already reduced methane emissions. Air board scientist Ryan McCarthy suggested that new technology could help, and the discussion turned to an experimental system from Argentina that would capture gas in a backpack on each cow through a hose inserted into their digestive system.

All of our jaws hit the floor, recalled Raudabaugh. It is an outlandish scheme.

Dairy worker Guillermo Sanchez tends to milking cows at Tom Barcellos dairy farm in Porterville, Calif. (Tomas Ovalle / For The Times )

Many other agriculture sectors will be facing new challenges that will drive up costs, according to Daniel A. Sumner, a UC Davis professor and director of the University of California Agricultural Issues Center. Agriculture will be smaller along with the rest of the economy, he said.

We are at the point where we have to ask does agriculture fit into Californias future, said Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of the Fresno Farm Bureau. We cant take anything that happened this year and say this Legislature and this governor want the agriculture industry here.

And as the economy changes, so will peoples lives.

State law, for example, requires development of denser urban communities, where residents will drive less.

People need to stop driving around and stop buying throw-away merchandise, said Greenblatt, the Lawrence Berkeley scientist.

That goal may prove tough, given that Californians drove more than ever this summer, up 6% from last year.

A 20% reduction in travel miles, currently about 190 billion annually, could be needed by 2030 to meet the states climate goals, according to estimates by the Air Resources Board. The agency says the public can walk, bike, ride share and use transit.

It is not draconian, McCarthy said.

Many, in fact, say that the changes Californias climate goals will spur are long overdue and will make Californians lives better.

Californians, said Nichols of the Air Resources Board, could have had cleaner air, more walkable, bikeable cities, and a head start on a vibrant green economy years ago.

What impeded that, she said, is that the entrenched power of the status quo wouldnt let go.

:::

Regulations the air board is considering

The Air Resources Board is in the early stages of formulating new regulations and reinforcing existing ones to achieve massively reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The agency released a draft of its ideas in early December, representing the largest and most comprehensive regulatory effort in state history. Here are some of the possible approaches:

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions at refineries by 20%.

Electrify boilers.

Increase renewable electricity by more than the existing 50% statewide requirement.

Cut greenhouse gas emissions at oil and gas fields by at least 25%.

Work with ports to develop super-low emission efficient ships.

Increase use of low-emission diesel fuels.

Reduce the amount of driving across the state.

Use fertilizers with lower nitrogen content.

Cut organic waste going into landfills by 75%. Increase landfill fees.

Improve freight transportation efficiency by 25% by 2030.

Deploy more than 100,000 zero-emission freight vehicles by 2030.

Have 4.3 million zero-emission vehicles operating by 2030.

Develop zero-emission rail vehicles.

Alter environmental rules to increase density in residential neighborhoods.

Accelerate replacement of residential gas furnaces.

Increase the large-scale storage of electricity.

Develop new pipeline systems to transport renewable natural gas from farms and landfills to urban users.

Modify the cap-and-trade auction system so that it covers the entire energy sector.

Implement rules to require state pension funds to sell holdings in coal producing companies.

Modify streets for more bicycle and foot travel.

ralph.vartabedian@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter @rvartabedian

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In a small mortuary in Los Angeles Koreatown, they remembered a young artist with a laugh that roared up from deep in her belly and dragged everyone else in the room into hysterics.

The funeral for Ara Christina Jo, 29, Saturday morning showed the wide scope of humanity shattered by the Oakland warehouse fire.

The 36 people who died in the Ghost Ship warehouse on Dec. 2 had converged from Berkeley and Claremont and Lakewood, from Ohio and Iowa and Massachusetts. And the backwash of grief followed their paths back home.

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The funerals and memorials were just beginning this weekend. More than 150 people gathered to mourn Jo, who grew up in Thousand Oaks and Anaheim before moving to Oakland to be an artist a decade ago. Artists in jeans and boots or lime-green suits sat with Korean family and friends in funereal black.

When she would laugh so loudly ... sometimes I didnt know what I was laughing about, recalled Jos church youth counselor, Rev. Ryan C. Lee.

Even if you never met Ara, chances are you heard her, recalled her friend Jeanette Lin. To Aras parents, please know Ara brought so much joy to me and so many others. Thank you for bringing her into the world.

Jo was an artist, a dancer, a karaoke legend, a try-anything person who would be late because she fell into a deep conversation with a long-lost friend she just happened to spot on the street. Let serendipity be your calendar is how one friend put her philosophy.

Hoona Jo holds a picture of his sister Ara Jo, who was one of 36 people killed in the Oakland warehouse fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times )

Jo worked at the Ink Stone, an art supply and printing shop in Berkeley, and curated a gallery called Sgraffito in Oakland. But she had myriad other projects.

The night of the fire, she had gone to the Ghost Ship to give $5 bang cuts at the party with her friend, Jennifer Kiyomi Tanouye, who was offering elaborate nail polish designs.

On Monday, Jos parents flew from South Korea, where they had returned to live, not knowing her fate.

At the memorial, her mother, Yoo Sook Jo, recalled how a bus ran over Aras ankle 10 years ago.

I am thankful we had ten more years with Ara, because she could have died that day.

Her cousin, Grace Kim, said Jo was the purest person she knew.

Jo was an artist, a dancer, a karaoke legend, a try-anything person who would be late because she fell into a deep conversation with a long-lost friend...

She doesnt have one ounce of jealousy in her body, she said. Ara never passed judgment on anyone or anything.

On Friday night, several hundred gathered at the Oakland Museum of California to pay tribute to the dead.

Oakland artist Chris Treggiari helped design a memorial adorned with the names of the 36 victims. A replica ship  its three masts missing sails  sat atop electric candles on a wooden altar.

Framed messages and candles were placed on top of wooden stools around the memorial, with notes such as, He inspired a hell of a lot of people.

Friends and family carry the casket of Ara Jo at the end of her funeral services. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times )

We just wanted to create a sacred space, said Treggiari, an adjunct professor at the California College of the Arts. We just wanted to get people talking and thinking and sharing.

Treggiari worked with Ghost Ship victim Alex Ghassan on a video installation called Oakland, I want you to know..., displayed over the summer at the local museum.

They worked side by side for more than four months, interviewing people for the documentary that covered issues like demographic change in the city of more than 400,000.

He was an extremely hard worker, and he had a great, incredible eye and his compositions were really beautiful, Treggiari said. We spent a lot of time together, and we had a lot of laughs. It was a pleasure to spend however many months together.

Museum director Lori Fogarty had a simple message for the East Bay art scene that some fear is under siege in the wake of the fire.

I want to extend strength and courage to the artist community, Fogarty said.

Just after 7 p.m., there was a moment of silence that was only interrupted by the sound of a drum and childrens voices. Hundreds of bubbles filled the air outside the museum while those in attendance held candles.

At the end of the two-minute reflection, someone let out a cheer: God bless Oakland!

ben.poston@latimes.com

Twitter: @bposton

joe.mozingo@latimes.com

Twitter: @joemozingo

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California National Guard: In the Dec. 8 Section A, an article about a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the California National Guard bonus repayments misattributed two quotations to Maj. Gen. David Baldwin, commander of the California Guard. The statements were made by Lt. Gen. Timothy Kadavy of the National Guard Bureau, who was testifying with Baldwin. In the first statement, Kadavy said that soldiers who unknowingly received improper bonuses would not be required to pay back the money. In the second, Kadavy said that soldiers ordered to change their military assignments would not have to return bonuses.

If you believe that we have made an error, or you have questions about The Times journalistic standards and practices, you may contact Deirdre Edgar, readers representative, by email at readers.representative@latimes.com, by phone at (877) 554-4000, by fax at (213) 237-3535 or by mail at 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. The readers representative office is online at latimes.com/readersrep.
A Redondo Beach police officer shot and wounded a suspect during a pursuit on Saturday evening, authorities said.

The suspect, who was not identified, and officers were engaged in a car chase that ended in a collision around 6 p.m., according to Redondo Beach Police Sgt. John Bruce. A short time later, an officer shot and wounded the suspect at South Leland and West 17th streets, near San Pedro High School, Bruce said.

The suspect was hospitalized with unknown injuries, according to Bruce, who could not say how seriously the person was wounded.

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No officers were injured. Bruce did not say where the pursuit began or what prompted the chase.

He referred additional questions to the Los Angeles Police Department, which he said was investigating the shooting since it took place in San Pedro. Calls to an LAPD spokesperson seeking additional comment were not immediately returned.

james.queally@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.
A man shot by Redondo Beach police after a vehicle pursuit Saturday is in stable condition, authorities said.

Officers began to follow a car driven by Thomas Dallaire, 36, at around 5:20 p.m. in connection with a suspected traffic violation in the southern part of city, said Sgt. Mike Snakenborg of the Redondo Beach Police Department.

Officers chased Dallaire into San Pedro, where he struck another car and came to a stop near the intersection of North Gaffey Street and West Summerland Place, authorities said.

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An officer approached Dallaires car and opened fire when Dallaire threw the car in reverse and tried to run him over, said Mike Lopez, spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

The chase ended near the intersection of Leland and 17th streets, when Dallaires car stopped working, authorities said.

Dallaire was transported to a local hospital in stable condition and treated for gunshot wounds and injuries sustained in the collision with the other car, Lopez said. No one else was hurt, he said.

Dallaire was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.

LAPD robbery/homicide detectives are investigating the shooting because the chase ended in San Pedro, Lopez said.

frank.shyong@latimes.com

Twitter: @frankshyong
Family members of victims killed in the 2011 Seal Beach salon shooting rampage have called on the California attorney generals office to accept the convicted killers guilty plea in exchange for a punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole, hoping to expedite a case that has languished for years.

But not everyone was on board with the idea that Scott Dekraai, who has pleaded guilty to the killings and is awaiting punishment, should escape the death penalty, a fact that became painfully clear as more than a dozen family members gathered Saturday for a news conference at Eisenhower Park in Seal Beach, steps from an ocean-view memorial that bears victims names.

We are exhausted from this continuous pain, and this has got to be over with, said Paul Wilson, whose wife, Christy Wilson, was killed as she worked in the salon. Life will never be the same for us, but we should have the chance to move on and heal.

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Thats where the agreement ended.

After Hattie Stretz, the sole survivor of the shooting, read prepared remarks calling on the state attorney general to accept the lesser punishment of life in prison, one of the victims daughters interjected from the row of family members behind her.

Were not all united in that, still, said Chelsea Huff, daughter of Dekraais slain ex-wife, Michelle Fournier. Huff said several of her family members dont agree with the idea of dropping the death penalty and that she had not been made aware of the statement or the news conference until the Orange County district attorneys office called her about it.

I want it to be over, but as a family we need to stick together, said Butch Fournier, Michelles brother. We still believe in the death penalty. We dont want him to have that last bit of control, that last bit of what he wants.

Stretz and others said they were unaware that any of the other family members still wanted to keep the death penalty option on the table.

Doing so could lead to lengthy appeals, she said.

The case has already been delayed for years, mired in hearings about the alleged mishandling of the case by prosecutors and a wide-ranging jail informant scandal that has drawn intense scrutiny.

Dekraai pleaded guilty two years ago to murdering eight people, including his ex-wife with whom he was involved in a custody dispute, in the 2011 shooting, but he has been awaiting trial to determine whether he will receive the death penalty or life in prison.

In addition to Fournier, 48, the victims of the shooting were salon owner Randy Fannin, 62; Lucia Kondas, 65; Michele Fast, 47; Victoria Buzzo, 54; Laura Elody, 46; Christy Wilson, 47; and David Caouette, 64, who was shot as he sat in his car outside.

Christina Stretz, left, and her daughter Anabella Stretz, 9, lay flowers on the memorial for shooting victims at Eisenhower Park. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times )

The defendant had previously offered to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison, but the plea deal was rejected by the Orange County district attorneys office because prosecutors refused to drop the death penalty.

Last year, Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals threw the district attorneys office off the Dekraai case, saying prosecutors had failed to turn over key information to the defense and citing a heavily scrutinized jail informant program.

Prosecutors had hoped to use Dekraais conversations with a jailhouse informant to prove that he deserved the death penalty.

Goethals said Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas handling of the case had become a comedy of errors, and he ordered the state attorney generals office to take over.

Last month, a three-judge appeals court panel affirmed Goethals decision.

In separate remarks Saturday, Wilson sharply criticized Rackauckas for recklessness that he said has further delayed the process and accused him of revictimizing the families.

Wilson said he was disappointed and surprised after hearing that all families were not in agreement.

I was told that everybody was on the same page and we want this to be over and get it wrapped up, he said. Im completely disappointed and surprised.

You have some family members that think just because the word death is the end result, that thats truly whats going to happen and all of a sudden this guy goes to the front of the line.

The Orange County district attorneys office said in a statement last month that it still supports the death penalty for Dekraai but said the decision whether to pursue that punishment is now up to the attorney general.

The state attorney generals office did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, public defender Scott Sanders said Dekraai understands and accepts that proceeding to sentencing without a penalty trial would mean an end to all trial and appellate challenges in this case and that he stands ready to begin serving the rest of his life in prison.

christine.maiduc@latimes.com

Twitter: @cmaiduc.

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Tensions between Donald Trump and U.S. intelligence officials boiled over Saturday as the president-elects transition team mockingly compared a secret CIA assessment that Russia tried to sway the U.S. election in Trumps favor to the agencys misjudgments on Iraqs weapons of mass destruction.

The widening public rift between the incoming president and the nations powerful intelligence community could pose high-risk problems both for his administration and for national security.

CIA leaders at agency headquarters in Langley, Va., are bracing for a potentially adversarial relationship with Trumps White House, especially over what the spy agency sees as Russias malign role on multiple fronts, according to two officials who requested anonymity in speaking about internal discussions.

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It sets up one of the great crises in the history of the executive branch, said Glenn Carle, a former senior CIA officer who spent more than two decades as a spy before retiring in 2007. All the agency can do short of insurrection is to present the facts when allowed to the executive we serve.

Trump has received only a few classified intelligence briefings since his upset victory last month, and CIA officials now believe it is because he has rejected their assessments on Moscows aggression in Ukraine, its pressure on Eastern Europe and its computer hacks to boost Trumps chances against Hillary Clinton.

Some compared the current tensions to the distrust that marked relations with Vice President Dick Cheney before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, when he was widely seen as cherry-picking raw intelligence and pushing agency analysts to support his views.

President Nixon had a famously frosty relationship with the CIA, which he considered too powerful and too independent. President Clintons first CIA director, R. James Woolsey, was so disliked in the White House that he could barely get an appointment to see the president.

Still, no other incoming president has publicly rejected a major CIA assessment about a security threat or declined regular classified briefings from officials representing the nations $70-billion-a-year global espionage and surveillance apparatus.

Nor has a transition team issued a statement like the one it emailed Saturday after the Washington Post reported that the CIA had concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putins government had authorized the hacking and leaking of Democratic Party emails this year in a deliberate effort to damage Clinton and bolster Trumps election prospects.

These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, the statement said, referring to the misjudgments and mistakes used to justify the invasion of Iraq, a systemic intelligence failure that badly tarnished the CIAs reputation.

The Trump teams statement went on to say that the Nov. 8 election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest electoral college victories in history, a claim that is untrue.

Eight of the 12 most recent presidential elections have been decided with a larger electoral college victory. And unlike most winners, Trump lost the popular vote.

Inside the CIA, career analysts have been mystified by Trumps repeated dismissal of evidence that Russia hacked into Democratic National Committee emails and copied communications from Clintons campaign chairman, John Podesta.

There are also growing concerns about Trumps pick for national security advisor, retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, whom the Obama administration fired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Flynns tenure there was rocky, in part because he ordered aides to chase theories that quickly became known as Flynn facts, since they were not deemed to be grounded in reality.

Trumps choice to run the CIA, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), an aerospace entrepreneur and former Army officer, could get caught in the middle.

He is willing to disparage the intelligence community when it benefits him.  Rep. Adam B. Schiff

Pompeo developed a rapport with CIA leaders as a member of the House Intelligence Committee panel that oversees the agency. Pompeo, who graduated first in his class at West Point, has a reputation as a quick study and an advocate for the CIA.

Now he will take over an agency that has been openly criticized by his future boss.

Hes going to be in an awkward spot when he is called to give a lay-down on Russia or some other topic, a former senior national security official who has advised Trumps transition team said in an interview.

CIA analysts will expect Pompeo to relay their unvarnished view, but Trump may not want to hear it, the former official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump has repeatedly said that he doesnt believe that Russia tried to interfere in the election, has praised Putin and has called for closer relations with the Kremlin.

I dont believe they interfered, Trump said in an interview with Time magazine published this week. The hacking, he said, could be Russia. It could be China. And it could be some guy in New Jersey.

U.S. agencies believe they have identified who in the Russian government was involved in ordering operations to disrupt the U.S. election and how they were orchestrated. They are reluctant to make the information public because that could compromise how the intelligence was gathered, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The FBI is still investigating the Russian hacks and have yet to find that a U.S. citizen assisted them, the official said.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Trump is not disregarding the intelligence because he has examined the information and disagrees with how it was interpreted. Rather, he said, Trump has rejected it because it doesnt fit with the political narrative he wants to tell.

That doesnt bode well for how Trump will act as president, Schiff said. He is willing to disparage the intelligence community when it benefits him, he said.

On Friday, the White House said that President Obama had ordered the CIA and other intelligence agencies to conduct a full review of foreign-based digital attacks aimed at influencing the election.

Obama ordered the review completed before he leaves office on Jan. 20, in what appeared to be an attempt to ensure the incoming administration doesnt kill the inquiry.

brian.bennett@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByBrianBennett

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In a decision that could alter U.S. relations with one of its principal rivals, President-elect Donald Trump is expected to choose Rex Tillerson, a powerful oil tycoon with close ties to Russias president, as Secretary of State, according to media reports.

Tillerson, chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp., one of the largest companies in the world, is likely to face rocky Senate confirmation hearings because of his companys business interests with Russia if he is formally nominated.

Many in Congress already are worried about Trumps refusal to recognize what the U.S. intelligence community has concluded was hacking by Russia and an attempt to help Trump win the presidential race.

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The Trump transition team said no official announcement would be made until next week at the earliest, and they cautioned that other contenders had not been completely eliminated. Trump often changes his mind, and the Tillerson nomination would be highly controversial.

Speaking in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on Fox TV, Trump expressed admiration for Tillerson, without confirming he was the choice.

Hes much more than a business executive, Trump told interviewer Chris Wallace. Hes a real player.

Tillerson, 64, has been Exxons chief executive for the last decade and often is included on lists of the countrys highest paid executives.

He emerged as a dark horse candidate for the State Department job last week after Trump conducted an unusual public selection process, interviewing a series of high-profile candidates.

Tillerson joined the global energy company in 1975 as a production engineer, and then worked his way up through the executive ranks.

The Texas native is the rare American who has had a personal relationship for years with Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer who has been Russias president since 2012 and has frequently clashed with the Obama administration.

Putin bestowed Russias Order of Friendship on Tillerson in 2013, two years after Exxon Mobil signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Russias largest state-owned oil company, Rosneft, for joint exploration and production.

When Russian forces invaded Ukraine and seized the Crimea peninsula in 2014, Tillerson lobbied against U.S. sanctions because Exxon would lose millions of dollars.

The Obama administration, with congressional backing, imposed the sanctions on Russia anyway, and Exxon was forced to abandon projects estimated to have cost it about $1 billion.

Exxon claims oil and gas operations in 50 countries on six continents. As its executive, Tillerson has traveled the world to strike deals, making contacts with leaders of all stripes.

Tillerson had been expected to retire from Exxon next year.

The oil industry is seen by critics as a rapacious business that has propped up dictators and run roughshod over environmental concerns and local indigenous groups in countries around the world.

That baggage almost certainly will follow Tillerson to his confirmation hearing if he is nominated.

Trump turned to Tillerson after his longtime friend and ally Rudolph W. Giuliani, the combative and increasingly strident former mayor of New York, dropped out of the race Friday.

Trump left Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee and former governor of Massachusetts, who did not support him during the election, twisting in the wind for weeks.

He also repeatedly praised retired Gen. David H. Petraeus, a highly respected combat commander who headed the CIA until his career ran aground in scandal. Petraeus ultimately pleaded guilty to furnishing highly-classified material to his biographer and lying to the FBI about it.

Trump apparently liked Tillersons brash, take-no-prisoners style of making a deal.

How that will play on the global stage of diplomacy is another question.

Environmentalists were appalled as the news spread Saturday.

Trump told the world we are the United States of Exxon, said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth-U.S. He wants to create a government controlled by robber barons that will accelerate the demise of workers, the environment and any semblance of a government for and by the people.

Tillerson has also expressed doubts about climate change as a phenomenon caused by human action. That puts him in accord with Trump, who has suggested global warming is a hoax perpetrated by China.

Resistance wasnt just from the left.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), the GOP presidential nominee in 2008, said he had concerns about the reported pick and would want to explore Tillersons ties with Russia during confirmation hearings.

Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia risk assessment group and a political scientist, predicted a Trump-Tillerson team would end trade sanctions against Russia and try to extract the United States from its global responsibilities.

The biggest change of Trump team is end of US exceptionalism, the idea that America stood for values different/better than other nations, Bremmer said on Twitter.

Trump has spoken glowingly of Putin and said he wants a better, more transactional relationship with Russia, one where the two governments might fight terrorism together but not dwell on other matters, presumably human rights or political values.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter

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Before coal became king and the Rust Belt rusted, the Pacific Northwest began building an economy based on timber. The Oregon Country shipped its first load of logs to China in 1833.

A century later, as national politics and the Great Depression intruded, this remote and rainy corner of the country became an early West Coast battleground for worker rights, with bitter strikes silencing lumber mills for months. It also became a stronghold for the Democratic Party, a place where immigrants and their children embraced President Franklin Roosevelts New Deal and his promise of solid wages for timber workers.

The region defied the Republican landslides that swept Eisenhower and Reagan into office in 1952 and 1980. It even stayed Democratic after Bill Clinton and later President Obama sharply reduced logging in old-growth forests to save an endangered bird, the northern spotted owl.

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Then came 2016.

For the first time since Herbert Hoover won the White House in 1928, Aberdeen and the other small outposts that make up Grays Harbor County here on the Washington coast did not vote for a Democrat for president. This year, they chose Donald Trump.

We could sense that there was a change happening in the harbor, said Steven Puvogel, who was chosen earlier this month as the new chairman of the Grays Harbor Democrats at their reorganizational meeting, which doubled as an election postmortem. Trump signs were popping up everywhere, but I didnt see a Hillary sign until I put one up myself. They were hard to even get around here.

Throughout the Northwest, from Washington to Northern California, historic timber-producing counties voted for Trump. Some had been Republican for years, while others had swung back and forth. Some, like Grays Harbor and its neighbor to the south, Pacific County, had not voted Republican in decades. (Pacific fell for Eisenhower in 1952 but quickly returned to the Democrats in 1956.)

And while they did not generate a single electoral vote for the president-elect, who lost by substantial statewide margins in Washington, Oregon and California, they did send a defiant message that coal country and the declining manufacturing core of the Midwest are not the only old economic regions where many working-class families feel that the Democratic Party has forgotten them and the role they played in building the country.

Can Trump restore the timber industry to its former glory? As with coal mining and manufacturing jobs, market forces create long odds. But he has helped revive a fierce political voice deep in the evergreens. If the vote for Trump here was striking in a historical context, it was not surprising given the loss of economic power the area has seen under Democrats.

All the jobs are in the cities now, said Dale Rutherford, 91, who grew up in Pacific County and worked in the woods until he was 83. I think people just wanted change.

Dale Rutherford, 91, of Lebam, Wash., said he voted for Donald Trump in part because he hopes the president-elect will create jobs building infrastructure. (William Yardley / Los Angeles Times )

Southwest Washington once produced stunning amounts of lumber  for sailing ships in the 19th century, for the war effort in the 1940s and for the housing boom that followed. Timber harvest in Grays Harbor peaked in 1988 at nearly a billion board feet. Last year, more than two decades after the first logging restrictions imposed under President Clintons Northwest Forest Plan, Grays Harbor harvested just 252 million board feet.

Complicating things further, much of the timber harvested in Washington is now shipped to China and milled there, meaning fewer jobs in mills here. Washington had about 500 mills in the late 1960s. Now it has fewer than 100, and the most successful ones are becoming highly automated, requiring fewer employees.

The powerful employment engines at work in other parts of Washington state, companies like Microsoft and Amazon.com and Boeing, have no outposts here. Unemployment in Grays Harbor is more than 8%, more than twice what it is in the Seattle area. Household income last year was $44,000, unchanged from a decade ago.

To many people, the stage for political change has been set for a long time, and Trump was not its only beneficiary. Grays Harbor and Pacific also voted Republican in the governors race for the first time in decades, and a libertarian Republican, Jim Walsh, a book publisher who moved from Los Angeles with his family almost 15 years ago, narrowly won an open seat in the state house district that includes the county.

But the shift right was not necessarily inevitable.

This spring, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders trounced rival Hillary Clinton in the Democratic caucus in Grays Harbor and Pacific counties. Sanders, like Trump, talked about blue-collar workers being overlooked. He also was seen as holding more nuanced views on gun control, while Clinton was portrayed, inaccurately, as ready to repeal the 2nd Amendment in a region that likes to hunt and believes strongly in the right to bear arms.

A home in Aberdeen, Washington (William Yardley/Associated Press )

What was Secretary Clinton offering these existing timber workers? said Brian Blake, a Democrat who has represented the area in the state Legislature since 2002 and was reelected by a wide margin in November. In the minds of these timber workers, the Northwest Forest Plan has been devastating. They dont see jobs in their communities, and they see a candidate saying we dont think you have a constitutional right to have a gun in your home.

As a party, weve got to craft strategies that speak to rural voters who are hurting, added Blake, who spent a decade working in the timber industry. We cant just be scaring them, saying if Trump wins hes going to take away the social programs that maintain you in poverty.

One Trump supporter, a relief operator at the Sierra Pacific Industries mill here, said, I dont even know how Democrats can go on with daily life sometimes.

They want everything given to them, he added, declining to give his name for fear of putting his own job at risk. They dont want to work.

The idea that Democrats do not want to work flies in the face of what made this place a political power in the 1930s. People demanded work back then  and many still remember what FDR did for them.

Blake, recalling campaigning door to door in his first race, said it was not uncommon to see framed pictures of Franklin Roosevelt in the entry halls of older residents.

Theres still an allegiance there, Blake said. But those voters are getting older.

Many towns in the Pacific Northwest like Aberdeen, Wash., seen here, began building an economy based on timber in the 1800s. (William Yardley / Los Angeles Times )

Rutherford, the lifelong timber worker, said he did not expect his industry to grow in the future, in part because so much has been logged already. He said he, too, had been drawn to Trump, partly because the candidate talked about government making major new investments in infrastructure, roads and bridges.

Rutherford, whose wife of more than 50 years died a few months ago, recalled being a teenager in the late 1930s and early 1940s and having friends who worked for Roosevelts Civilian Conservation Corps, some in nearby Olympic National Park.

I think theyre going to have to do what President Roosevelt did, he said, taking a break from writing Christmas cards in perfect cursive. Theyre going to have to make jobs.

william.yardley@latimes.com

Twitter: @yardleyLAT

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Democrats draw sharper battle lines in tug of war over party leadership By Chris Megerian Even as Democrats try to move past last years defeats, their internal fault lines show signs of deepening in the campaign for the partys leadership. The latest evidence came Wednesday when former Vice President Joe Biden endorsed Thomas E. Perez, who served as President Obamas Labor secretary, to chair the Democratic National Committee. We have a lot of good people vying for this important job, Biden said in a statement. But I do think for this moment and in this time, Tom Perez is our best bet to help bring the party back. The endorsement was seen as more evidence that key members of the recently departed Obama administration were backing Perez. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) with Sen. Bernie Sanders. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) It was followed by a statement from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont reiterating his support for Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), another leading candidate in the race. Although Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary, he has continued to try to pull Democrats to the left, and he has emphasized the need to create a grass-roots party. Obama left office with strong poll numbers, but under his watch, Democrats lost power not only in Washington but in states around the country, something Sanders and his allies have stressed in the fight over the party chairmanship. The question is simple: Do we stay with a failed status-quo approach or do we go forward with a fundamental restructuring of the Democratic Party? Sanders said. Read More Facebook

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Border Patrol chief is abruptly out after being brought in as a reformer By Brian Bennett The chief of the Border Patrol will leave his post at the end of the month, likely the result of a change in direction by the Trump administration and a reflection of the new power of the agencys union. Mark Morgan, the agencys head, was hired from the FBI in June to reform the force after a series of corruption allegations and problems with excessive force. He will leave the Border Patrol abruptly after seven months on the job, according to a person familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Morgans departure was first reported by the Associated Press. Morgan spent 20 years at the FBI and was first brought to Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrols parent agency, in 2014 to overhaul its internal affairs division. After a subsequent stint running the FBIs training academy, he started the top job at the Border Patrol in June. The Border Patrols union had opposed Morgans appointment, preferring a candidate who had risen through the ranks of the agency. The union endorsed President Trump in the election, breaking with its practice of remaining neutral in elections. News of Morgans departure comes a day after Trump announced he would build a border wall and hire 5,000 more Border Patrol agents, bringing the total force to 26,000. Trump said the Border Patrol union would have a lot of clout in department decisions. Facebook

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Trump was silent on new U.S. sanctions against Russia, but he praises Putins response By Michael A. Memoli After President Obama on Thursday announced retaliatory measures against the Russian government for what the U.S. has concluded were efforts to interfere in the election, President-elect Donald Trumps response was terse and dismissive, saying it was time to move on to bigger and better things. But after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he would not respond in kind to the U.S. actions  preferring to wait until the new administration takes office  Trump weighed in with high praise. Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2016 Trumps tweet did not appear to be off the cuff. As if to underscore his sentiment, Trump affixed the tweet to the top of his Twitter feed. And he posted an Instagram photo shortly after, quoting himself. View Instagram post Trumps effusive words were particularly striking given the bipartisan view of Putin as more adversary than ally. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said they supported the Obama administrations move to expel Russian diplomats and block access to two properties owned by its government. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) is expected to call a hearing on Russias cyber activities when the new Congress convenes next week. A Trump transition spokesman was asked earlier Friday whether Trump had spoken or planned to speak with Putin before his inauguration. The priority right now is for the president[-elect] to get an update next week from the intelligence community, Sean Spicer said. Trumps praise did get tacit approval from some quarters. The Russian embassy in Washington retweeted it. Facebook

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Most popular White House petitions included requests to label a hate group and deport Justin Bieber By Colleen Shalby Over the past five years, Americans have produced and signed nearly 5,000 petitions through the White Houses We the People site. How could we ever forget the effort to get the Obama administration on board with building a Death Star? Some, like that one and a petition to deport Justin Bieber, resulted only in conversation. But others made an impact. The Pew Research Center analyzed the petitions in a recent report. They ranged from serious, like an effort to ban gay conversion therapy at a state level that led the president in 2015 to support states bans, to playful. A request for Obama to appear on a previously unvisited talk show, for example, prompted him to appear on Real Time with Bill Maher in January 2016. In 2015, 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin requested a meeting with the first black president, something she never thought shed live to see. Her petition garnered only 19 signatures. But it nonetheless resulted in one of first couples most memorable meetings, this dance party: The petitioning system, launched in 2011, was part of Obamas open-government initiative. The most common topics for petitioning included healthcare, veterans issues and requests to honor individuals, such as Yogi Berra, and create or officially recognize holidays, like Talk Like a Pirate Day. While not every petition made a change or elicited a response from the White House, many captured a momentary pulse of the nation. Here are the five most popular: Legally recognize the Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group, posted Dec. 14, 2012; 367,180 signatures. Establish justice and prevent a great catastrophe, posted April 4, 2016; 331,914 signatures. File charges against the 47 U.S. senators in violation of the Logan Act in attempting to undermine a nuclear agreement, posted March 9, 2015; gained 322,117 signatures. Ask President Obama to appear on HBOs Real Time with Bill Maher,  posted Jan. 15, 2016; 314,226 signatures. Deport Justin Bieber and revoke his green card, posted Jan. 23, 2014; 273,698 signatures. Facebook

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Obama slaps Russia with sanctions for meddling in the U.S. election By Christi Parsons In the most sweeping retaliation against Russia in decades, President Obama slapped the country with new penalties Thursday for meddling in the U.S. presidential election, kicking out dozens of suspected spies and imposing banking restrictions on five people and four organizations the administration says were involved. All Americans should be alarmed by Russias actions, Obama said in a statement. Such activities have consequences. Read More Facebook

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How Trump and an Obamacare rollback could affect the growing gig economy By Chicago Tribune Gabby Golub of Chicago does chalkboard art for bars and restaurants in addition to driving for Lyft and working part time at her old high school. (Kristan Lieb / Chicago Tribune) A growing share of the U.S. workforce is reyling on alternative work arrangements, which include on-demand gigs through online platforms like Lyft or Uber as well as work through temporary help agencies, freelance assignments and independent contracts. The Bureau of Labor Statistics plans to conduct a comprehensive survey of these so-called contingent workers next year, its first since 2005, helping policymakers understand the size and makeup of a workforce not covered by many labor protections or privy to the benefits that come with a traditional employer relationship. Whether policy will catch up to the labor shifts is a question experts will watch in 2017. A major conversation point has been how to develop portable benefits that give gig economy workers access to retirement plans, unemployment insurance and paid sick leave even as they move from job to job. Read More Facebook

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Trump touts plans by Sprint and OneWeb to create 8,000 U.S. jobs By Jim Puzzanghera (Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images) President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday touted plans by telecom company Sprint and technology start-up OneWeb to hire a total of 8,000 workers in the U.S. in what he said was very good news for the economy. He appeared to be highlighting previously made jobs announcements. OneWeb, which is building a network of satellites to deliver high-speed Internet access, said on Dec. 19 that it expected to create nearly 3,000 jobs in the U.S. over the next four years after securing $1.2 billion in funding, mostly from Japans SoftBank Group Corp. And the head of SoftBank, which owns Sprint, said on Dec. 6 that the company had agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 jobs here. The announcement by SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son came after he met with Trump at Trump Tower in New York City. Trump touted it that day. Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Wednesday, Trump said Sprint was going to be bringing 5,000 jobs back to the United States. They have taken them from other countries. They are bringing them back to the United States, Trump said. Sprint, though, said in a statement that the jobs would be a mixture of new positions and others that were reinstated. It wasnt clear whether those jobs were part of the 50,000 that were mentioned earlier in the month at Trump Tower. We are excited to work with President-Elect Trump and his administration to do our part to drive economic growth and create jobs in the U.S., said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. We believe it is critical for business and government to partner together to create more job opportunities in the U.S. and ensure prosperity for all Americans. Trump also said the OneWeb hiring is very exciting. OneWeb did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 3:25 p.m.: This story was updated with comment from Sprint. Facebook

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Kerry offers fierce defense of Obamas support for Israel, urges resumption of Mideast peace talks By Laura King Secretary of State John Kerry outlines his proposals for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Zach Gibson / Getty Images) With President-elect Donald Trump tweeting from the sidelines, Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Wednesday outlined broad principles for reviving the moribund Israel-Palestinian peace process -- calls that quickly ignited a new burst of Israeli anger against the Obama administration. Kerrys lengthy and impassioned address, delivered at the State Department, marked the latest chapter in an unusually bitter public clash between the United States and Israel -- and the even more extraordinary spectacle of a president-elect again inserting himself into a sensitive diplomatic matter before taking office. In a speech lasting more than an hour, Kerry appealed for a hiatus in Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, called on Palestinian leaders to explicitly denounce terrorist attacks against Israelis, and warned repeatedly that the prospects for a two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state existing side-by-side, were in jeopardy. We cannot in good conscience do nothing, and say nothing, when we see the hope of peace slipping away, he said. Read More Facebook

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Former California lieutenant governor will meet with Trump to discuss running Agriculture department By Michael A. Memoli Abel Maldonado. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times) President-elect Donald Trump is considering former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado to lead the Agriculture department, a move that would bring greater diversity to the Republicans Cabinet. Maldonado will meet with Trump on Wednesday at his Palm Beach, Fla., estate. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer noted that Maldonado, owner of Runway Vineyards in the Santa Maria Valley, comes from three generations of farmers and has strong roots in the agriculture industry of California. Trump will also meet with Dr. Elsa Murano, the former president of Texas A&M University and a former Agriculture undersecretary for food safety, in connection to the post, one of the few Cabinet positions yet unfilled. Maldonado, 49, was once considered to be the kind of Republican who could break through the partys struggle to attract widespread Latino support. A Santa Barbara County farmer whose parents were Mexican farmworker immigrants, he served as mayor of Santa Maria before being elected to the state Assembly in 1998. Perhaps Maldonados most notable political moment came when he worked with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to force Democrats to embrace the top-two primary system for California during negotiations on the state budget crisis in 2009. Schwarzenegger rewarded Maldonado with the appointment to the then-vacant post of lieutenant governor in 2010. But Maldonados role in helping push the nonpartisan primary system made him a pariah among many conservative Republicans, and he failed in subsequent races for Congress in 2012 and a brief flirtation with a run for governor in 2014. If nominated and confirmed, Maldonado would be the sole Latino in Trumps Cabinet. Facebook

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Trump attacks Obama over Israel just ahead of Kerrys speech on the Mideast By Michael A. Memoli The detente between President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump, as both aimed to portray a smooth transition of power, appears in jeopardy. Trump condemned the Obama administrations foreign policy on Wednesday, tweeting he was doing his best to overlook inflammatory Obama moves, while engaging in 1990s-style sarcasm. Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks.Thought it was going to be a smooth transition - NOT!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016 Last week, Obama decided to have the U.S. abstain from a United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity, which allowed the measure to pass. The vote angered Israeli leaders, who accused senior U.S. officials of complicity in drafting the resolution, a claim disputed by the U.S. We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but.......  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016 not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016 Trumps postings came just before Secretary of State John F. Kerry delivered a major address on U.S. foreign policy that included a rebuttal to Israeli government criticisms of the Obama administration. Trumps statement of support for Israel was welcomed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long had a tense relationship with Obama. President-elect Trump, thank you for your warm friendship and your clear-cut support for Israel! @IvankaTrump @DonaldJTrumpJr https://t.co/lURPimG0wS  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) December 28, 2016 Trump transition spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that the president-elects tweets speak for themselves, very clearly. He also stressed that White House officials have been helpful and generous with their time, at least in terms of the mechanics of the transition. In a brief statement to reporters Wednesday night, Trump said he had a general conversation with Obama during the day. Very, very nice, was how the president-elect described the chat, which he said Obama initiated. A White House spokesman confirmed the call and characterized it as positive. When asked whether he thinks the U.S. should exit the U.N., Trump repeated his earlier comments that the global body is not living up to its potential. When do you see the United Nations solving problems? he asked. They dont, they cause problems, so if it lives up to its potential its a great thing, if it doesnt its a waste of time. The U.N. seemed to respond to Trump on Monday, in a message pinned to the top of its Twitter feed: Here's a list of 10 ways the UN makes a difference in the lives of millions every day.



See what else we do: https://t.co/MGT7G5uPFL pic.twitter.com/nMxHV0rvkf  United Nations (@UN) December 26, 2016 Times staff writer Christi Parsons in Honolulu contributed to this report. 5:10 p.m.: This story was updated with White House comment. 2:45 p.m.: This story was updated with Trumps comments. Facebook

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John Kerry, tireless in his diplomatic efforts, often came up empty-handed By Tracy Wilkinson John F. Kerry is nothing if not indefatigable, traveling to all corners of the world as Americas top diplomat over the last four years. But as he prepares to leave office, he confronts a mixed legacy: a handful of successes coupled with searing defeats, especially in the Middle East. His inability to halt the carnage in Syria, or to block Russias growing influence, ranks as the most serious blot on his record. But he also got nowhere trying to end the Israeli-Palestinian standoff, or to stop Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, from bombing civilians in Yemen. Kerrys greatest success was the historic accord to curtail Irans nuclear development program and a landmark climate change treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming. Read More Facebook

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At Pearl Harbor, Obama says we must resist the urge to demonize those who are different By Christi Parsons Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Obama. (Marco Garcia / Associated Press) President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scattered petals together on the waters of Pearl Harbor on Tuesday in a symbolic act aimed at laying to rest the enmity of the Japanese attack 75 years ago that drew the U.S. into World War II. In a moment consumed with history, both leaders were fixed on the future. They expressed concern that the lessons of the war might be forgotten amid a shifting world order and the anti-internationalist sentiment that has swept over politics around the globe, most notably with the ascendance of President-elect Donald Trump. Read More Facebook

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Obama and Japans Abe to visit Pearl Harbor amid renewed talk of nuclear concerns By Christi Parsons Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu on Monday. (AFP/Getty Images) President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are scheduled to honor the war dead at Pearl Harbor on Tuesday, marking the 75th anniversary of the attack that thrust the U.S. into World War II. The visit was planned as a coda to Obamas visit to Hiroshima in May, where Abe hosted him as the first sitting president to visit the site where the U.S. dropped one of two nuclear bombs in 1945 to end the war, the only instances of nuclear attacks in history. But the visit has taken on a new meaning. President-elect Donald Trump reawakened old fears of a nuclear arms race last week by declaring his commitment to strengthen and expand U.S. nuclear capability. In his remarks at Pearl Harbor, Obama will have an opportunity to address those renewed anxieties and to lay out the dangers of an arms race. Obama has fought to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to secure existing caches. The visit is meant to highlight the strength of the relationship between the U.S. and Japan, an administration official said. Several Japanese prime ministers before Abe have visited the Pearl Harbor site. But Abe is the first to go to the memorial at the resting place of the battleship Arizona, where 1,177 American military personnel died in the Japanese aerial attack on Dec. 7, 1941. Facebook

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Will the Feds Janet Yellen take away the punch bowl after Trump takes office? By Don Lee After three years of almost single-handedly juicing up the slow-growing economy, Janet L. Yellen and the Federal Reserve should be looking at easier days ahead. Yellen, in what will probably be her last full year as Fed chair, may finally get help from somewhere else in Washington. Tax cuts and infrastructure spending planned by President-elect Donald Trump, if backed by the Republican-controlled Congress, would lighten the load for a Fed whose easy-money policies have been the primary economic support for the nation. She is already breathing easier on the Feds employment mandate; the jobless rate has fallen to a nine-year low of 4.6%. Inflation, too, is under control and, by all accounts, creeping toward the central banks optimal level of 2%. And yet, Yellen may come under as much economic and political pressure as ever, on both the Feds policy and the independence of the institution. Read More Facebook

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Obama says he could have beaten Trump By Tracy Wilkinson (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press) President Obama says he could have defeated Donald Trump in last months election by recapturing the same vision of hope that twice carried him to the presidency. Obama also was mildly critical of the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, saying her campaign didnt do enough to get her message out. The remarks were notable because Obama has been careful since the election to avoid criticizing Trump, or to deliver a post-mortem on Clintons failed bid. Obama spoke in a wide-ranging interview with former senior advisor and now CNN commentator David Axelrod for the Democratic political operatives Axe Files podcast. The interview was released by CNN on Monday. You know, I am confident in this vision because Im confident that if I -- if I had run again and articulated it, I think I couldve mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it, Obama said. His comments were part of a wider discussion of what he called ugly sentiments of racism and xenophobia that surfaced during the 2016 campaign. Obama repeated his assertion that Clinton faced a double standard as a woman, which put her at a disadvantage. But he also said a kind of complacency set in that made the Clinton campaign too cautious and thus unable to get its message out sufficiently. If you think youre winning, then you have a tendency, just like in sports, maybe to play it safer, Obama said. During the interview, Obama also spoke of his family, the strength hed gotten from wife Michelle and the improbability of his own political career. And the president said the spirit that his candidacy originally inspired, especially among young people, was never snuffed out despite the last eight years of turmoil. The idealism and the dedication stayed with the staff and got us through some really hard times, he said. Trump later responded to the remarks on Twitter. UPDATE 2:07 p.m.: This article was updated with Trumps response. This article was originally published at 12:28 p.m. Facebook

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Obama personally authorized U.S. abstention from U.N. vote on Israeli settlements By Michael A. Memoli President Obama personally directed Friday that the U.S. abstain from a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity, seeing the escalation of settlement building as an increasing threat to the viability of a two-state solution to the regions problems. Ahead of the expected vote, Obama, who is vacationing with his family in Hawaii, convened a discussion Thursday with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John F. Kerry and other top national security officials. The vote was postponed, but U.S. officials continued to monitor discussions over the Egyptian-authored resolution until Friday. Obama spoke with national security advisor Susan Rice on Friday to issue his final decision. President-elect Donald Trumps intervention in the discussions, which included a conversation with Egypts president Thursday that preceded the delay in the planned vote, did not affect Obamas calculations, deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters.. Theres one president at a time, he said. The decision to allow the resolution to pass, rather than cast a veto to block it is consistent with long-standing, bipartisan U.S. policy opposing Israeli settlement activity, Rhodes said. One of the administrations great concerns was that such activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has accelerated significantly since 2011, when the U.S. last vetoed a comparable resolution. U.S. officials also have been concerned about continued incitements of violence by Palestinians, and Rhodes said the resolution voted on Friday included greater balance to reflect that than past resolutions. Weve been very concerned that these accelerating trends are putting the very viability of the two-state solution at risk, Rhodes said. In that context, we therefore thought that we could not in good conscience veto a resolution that expressed concerns about the very trends that are eroding the foundation for a two-state solution. He also underscored what he called Obamas iron-clad commitment to Israel and its security, noting that the administration recently concluded a major military assistance package. The U.S. did not vote for the resolution because of continued concerns about the United Nations as a venue for Middle East peace discussions, Rhodes said. He also responded to what he called strident comments of Israeli officials criticizing the U.S. move. It seems like the Israeli government wants the conversation to be about anything other than the settlement activity, he said. Facebook

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Trump team seeks to ease fears on womens programs at State Department By Tracy Wilkinson ( Andrew Harnik / Associated Press) Donald Trumps transition team said Friday its requests to the State Department for details on positions and funding for global womens programs were part of an effort to ensure and protect gender equality. The statement appeared to be an attempt to allay concerns that Trump might seek to cancel or roll back gender-focused programs at the State Department following a request by the transition team on Wednesday for information about them. Most were created or championed by Trumps campaign rival, Hillary Clinton, when she served as secretary of State during President Obamas first term. The transition team statement Friday did not outline Trumps plans for the programs, which seek to promote equality, education and vocational training for women around the world as well as combat gender-based violence. President-elect Trump will ensure the rights of women across the world are valued and protected, the statement said. To help fulfill this promise, the transition team inquired about existing programs at the State Department that helps [sic] foster gender equality, ends gender-based violence, and promotes economic and political participation  finding ways to improve them. The statement said the inquiry was one of hundreds of requests it sent to federal departments as part of the transition effort. Facebook

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Trump team asks State Department for details on programs aimed at helping women By Tracy Wilkinson Donald Trumps transition team has asked the State Department for details on programs aimed at benefiting women around the world, including identifying staff members who worked to reduce gender-based violence and promote women in the workplace. In an email sent to numerous State Department offices Wednesday, the president-elects transition team asked for urgent response to its inquiries about gender-related staffing, programming and funding. Many of the programs were begun or were championed by Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of State during President Obamas first term and who lost to Trump in November. The unusual request to the State Department follows a similar email to the Department of Energy. There the transition team asked for names of staff members who had worked on efforts to combat climate change, which Trump has dismissed as a hoax. Several Obama administration officials called that query chilling. The Trump team withdrew the request after it was widely criticized. The latest email suggests the incoming Trump administration will attempt to roll back some of the State Departments most innovative programs and may seek to penalize people who worked on them. People are freaked out, said a senior State Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The email asked the State Department to deliver issue papers from bureaus and offices (one paper max per bureau/office) outlining existing programs and activities to promote gender equality, such as ending gender-based violence, promoting womens participation in economic and political spheres, entrepreneurship, etc. It said the issue papers should note jobs whose primary functions are to promote such issues, as well as money allocated for those activities and programs in fiscal year 2017. While at State, Clinton made womens issues a top priority. An office was created to deal exclusively with global womens issues, and money was allocated for programs that promote education of girls, train women in marketable skills and offer microloans. Read More Facebook

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Trump taps seasoned Republican operative Sean Spicer as White House press secretary By Lisa Mascaro President-elect Donald Trump named Sean Spicer as his new press secretary, tapping a seasoned Republican operative as the public face of the new White House. Spicer, a top Republican National Committee strategist who brought a measure of establishment Washington to Trumps operation, is known for his combative but engaging approach to communications. He will likely take over the press podium as the top spokesman at the incoming White House. Two other veterans of the Trump campaigns press operation also will get White House jobs: Jason Miller, who had been Trumps communications chief after moving from the campaign of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, will stay in that role as communications director at the White House. Hope Hicks, who was Trumps spokesperson on the campaign trail and one of his earliest campaign aides, will be assistant to the president and director of strategic communications, and Dan Scavino will serve as director of social media. Sean, Hope, Jason and Dan have been key members of my team during the campaign and transition. I am excited they will be leading the team that will communicate my agenda that will Make America Great Again, Trump said in a statement. Facebook

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Obama eliminates post-9/11 registry for foreigners, making it harder for Trump to restart it By Brian Bennett (Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images) The Obama administration is taking apart a controversial, dormant national registry program that tracked visitors from countries with active terrorist groups for several years following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. A final rule eliminating the program will be published in the federal register on Friday. The move would make it more difficult for President-elect Donald Trump to revive the registry, which hasnt been used since 2011. The Department of Homeland Security determined it was ineffective and didnt improve security. Civil rights advocates have long said the program was discriminatory. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to track Muslims coming to the U.S. and require them to register. He later changed his stance to say he would bar people from countries with a record of Islamist extremism. Trumps policy advisors have been looking closely at ways to jump start the registry, called the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, after he takes office at the end of January. With the program being officially dismantled on Friday, Trumps team would have to issue new federal rules to restart it, a process that could take several months and would require a period for soliciting comments from the public, which likely would be contentious. The Trump transition team is preparing several executive actions for the incoming president, Trump spokesman Jason Miller told reporters Thursday morning when asked about Obama dismantling the registry. Stopping radical Islamic terrorists from entering the U.S. is of paramount importance, Miller said. He didnt say directly if Trump would rebuild the visitor registry. The American people strongly support tough measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country, and President-elect Trump has made clear that we will suspend admissions of those from countries with high terrorism rates and apply a strict vetting procedure for those seeking entry in order to protect American lives, he said. When asked on Wednesday if he would set up a registry for Muslims or impose a ban on Muslim immigrants in the wake of the truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, Trump said simply: You know my plans. Democratic lawmakers and civil liberties advocates have demanded in recent weeks that Obama dismantle the registry. Theyve cited a 2012 inspector general report that said Homeland Security databases collecting traveler fingerprints, flight manifests and intelligence information on foreigners are more effective at preventing terrorist attacks. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) praised the Homeland Security Departments decision to strip away dead-letter regulations no longer in use. These regulations symbolized an ineffective program based on religious and ethnic profiling, rather than individualized suspicion  a program based on fear, rather than reason, Leahy said in a statement. That has no place in this great country, under any administration. Facebook

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Trump is unwinding some foreign deals but many potential conflicts remain By Joseph Tanfani The Trump hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan, would be among the finest in the world, Donald Trump promised two years ago, another example of our involvement in only the best global development projects. But the dream of a world-class Trump Baku died this month, with Trump saying he was backing out of the deal because of delays and blown deadlines caused by the developer, a 34-year-old with close family connections to the countrys government. The demise of Trump Baku is not an isolated decision. With his inauguration less than a month away, President-elect Trumps company has pulled out of a few international business deals that might have created especially sticky conflicts and controversies for his administration. Read More Facebook

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Trump names UC Irvine professor and fierce China critic to new White House Trade Council By Don Lee Peter Navarro, left, and China expert Gordon Chang attend a screening of Death By China, the film adaptation of Navarros book, in New York in 2012. (Andy Kropa / Getty Images) President-elect Donald Trump, signaling that he intends to follow through on his tough talk on trade, is establishing a new White House-based trade council to be headed by a vehement critic of Chinas economic policies. Trump on Wednesday named Peter Navarro, a Harvard-trained business professor at UC Irvine, as director of trade and industrial policy and head of the newly created White House National Trade Council. The move sends a strong message: The Trump administration will take a much more aggressive posture to shrink the nations large trade deficit and combat what the president-elect and Navarro believe are forces behind Americas manufacturing woes  unfair and mercantilist practices on the part of China and other trading partners. Read More Facebook

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The issue of race has hung over Sen. Jeff Sessions like a shadow. Heres why By Del Quentin Wilber (Scott Olson / AFP/Getty Images) Jeff Sessions uneasy history with race can be traced back to the long, winding country roads that cut through the pine forests and farm land in this deep corner of the Deep South. As a boy, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III began each day before dawn, boarding a segregated bus to his all-white school. En route he and his classmates passed the bus ferrying black students in the opposite direction. The day ended when he sat down to dinner each night with his father, an avowed segregationist until the end of his life. Reflecting on those years, Sessions acknowledged recently that he knew back then that segregation was morally wrong and regretted standing by passively as civil rights leaders in the 1960s struggled and died in the fight for equality. I should have stepped forward more and been a leader and more positive force, Sessions said in February while participating in a ceremony honoring the Selma foot soldiers. Read More Facebook

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Kellyanne Conway will join Trump in the White House By Evan Halper (Gerald Herber / Associated Press) Donald Trump has named his media-savvy campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, to advise him in the White House in the role of counselor, his transition team announced early Thursday morning. The move comes after Conway sought to put to rest speculation that she would continue to serve as the public face of the Trump team. But the new job is sure to keep her profile high. Conway will will work with senior leadership to effectively message and execute the administrations legislative priorities and actions, according to a statement from the Trump transition team. Kellyanne Conway has been a trusted advisor and strategist who played a crucial role in my victory, Trump said in the statement. She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message. The appointment would boost diversity in a Trump inner circle made up mostly of older white men. It also sets up another potentially competing power center on a White House staff that already will have several, including Reince Priebus, the chief of staff; Stephen K. Bannon, the chief strategist; and Stephen Miller, the policy chief. Conway had previously turned down other proposals for White House jobs, telling reporters late last month that she did not want to spend long hours away from her children. At that point, Conway said she thought she could best help Trump by forming an outside organization to support his policies. But that role appears to have gone to Brad Parscale, who ran Trumps online operations during the campaign. Conway joined Trumps campaign during the summer when it was beset with infighting and disarray. She is widely credited with helping bring message discipline and professionalism to an operation in desperate need of it. In the run-up to the election and the weeks that followed, Conway was a ubiquitous presence on cable news networks, capably moving through her talking points in tough interview settings  often on the firing line and held to account for the exaggerations and incendiary remarks Trump was prone to make on the campaign trail and Twitter. I am humbled and honored to play a role in helping transform the movement he has led into a real agenda of action and results, Conway said in the statement. She is the founder and owner of the Polling Company, inc./WomanTrend, a GOP firm that has been advising candidates for two decades. Trump has not yet chosen a press secretary. But he is believed to be considering several candidates. Sean Spicer, former communications chief of the Republican Party who has served in a spokesman role for Trump through the transition, has been a prominent possibility, although Trump reportedly has considered several women, including conservative talk radio star Laura Ingraham and Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle. Facebook

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Trump Hotel employees in Las Vegas get a union contract By Kurtis Lee (Mike Nelson / Getty Images) Its owned by President-elect Donald Trump and is among a handful of hotels on the Las Vegas Strip to not be unionized. But that will change soon. For more than a year, Trump and his staff at the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas have fought efforts by employees and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 to negotiate a contract. But a four-year contract announced by the union on Wednesday will offer Trump employees annual wage increases, a pension and family healthcare, among other benefits. In Nevada, the culinary union is the states largest and most powerful, representing nearly 55,000 workers who serve cocktails and prepare food at hotels throughout the state. A majority of the unions members are Latino. Read More Facebook

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Wait! Dont cancel that Air Force One order just yet By Evan Halper Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016 After Donald Trump scolded Boeing earlier this month for the escalating cost of building a new Air Force One, the companys CEO projected confidence that Trump wouldnt be following through with his threat to cancel order! The two men met together at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Wednesday. Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said they spoke about a range of issues. The Air Force One project, which Trump complained would cost taxpayers more than $4 billion, invariably arose. Were going to get it done for less than that, and were committed to working together to make sure that happens, Muilenberg said. The company had previously noted that the project did not yet have a firm price tag. I was able to give the president-elect my personal commitment on behalf of the Boeing Company. This is a business thats important to us. We work on Air Force One because its important to our country, and were going to make sure that he gets the best capability and that its done affordably, Muilenberg added. He called the conversation terrific and Trump a good man who is doing the right thing. The presidential aircraft remains a long way from takeoff  a new plane wont be ready for use in the next four years. Even if Trump is reelected, he might not get to use the plane, as the earliest projected date for completion is 2024. Boeing is currently doing early development work on the plane  a modified 747  that will likely be outfitted with such gadgetry as top-secret communications equipment, countermeasures to foil missile attacks, and aerial refueling capability that would enable it to remain airborne for days at a time if necessary. The timing of delivery was among the topics that came up at Trumps meeting with the Boeing CEO. Thats what were going to work on together, Muilenberg said. We have an active 747 production line, and were eager to get started on the program. We havent actually started the build of the airplane yet, but once we finalize the requirements and make sure that its affordable, well launch on building the aircraft. Weve got a hot production line and were ready to go. The government actually has two planes outfitted to serve as Air Force One, which is the designation given to whichever plane is carrying the president. The current planes, which were put into service during the Reagan administration, are nearing the end of their design life. Facebook

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Fierce China critic and UC Irvine professor to head Trumps new trade council By Don Lee (Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times) President-elect Donald Trump is establishing a new White House-based trade office that will be headed by a UC Irvine professor known for his fierce criticisms of Chinese trade and economic practices. In appointing Peter Navarro as director of trade and industrial policy and the head of the new National Trade Council inside the White House, Trump is signaling that he wants to follow through on his tough campaign rhetoric in which he blamed the Chinese for the large U.S. trade deficit and manufacturing woes. During the campaign,Trump threatened to slap a 45% tariff on Chinese imports. Navarro, a Harvard-trained economist who advised Trump during the campaign, is the author of the book Death by China: Confronting the Dragon  a Global Call to Action. Trump endorsed the 2011 book as well as Navarros film version of the polemical work. I read one of Peters books on Americas trade problems years ago and was impressed by the clarity of his arguments and thoroughness of his research, Trump said Wednesday in a statement announcing the appointment. He will fulfill an essential role in my administration as a trade advisor. Trump said the new trade office would develop policies to shrink the nations trade deficit and curb the off-shoring of jobs, as well as to lead initiatives such as the Buy America, Hire America program. Navarro, in a statement, said he would be honored to serve Trump and the nation and to advise on policies to re-balance our trade, rebuild our industrial base, and restore Americas comprehensive national power by making America great again. Facebook

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Trump stops the drain the swamp talk as new alligators emerge By Evan Halper Newt Gingrich. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press) It made for a great slogan during the campaign, but now that hes won, Donald Trump is finding that maybe he doesnt actually want to drain the swamp. In fact, the alligators seem to be doing quite well. Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on Wednesday boasted about his access and proximity to Trump in announcing a new consulting firm he plans to open with former Trump campaign advisor Barry Bennett. The firms offices will be one block from the White House. Clients who pony up what are sure to be hefty fees for the firms services are being assured by Lewandowski in his marketing materials that he turned down multiple opportunities within the administration so he can serve them. The pitch implies Lewandowski will remain a de facto surrogate for Trump  with all the access that implies  as he bills those seeking to influence the Trump administration for his services. So perhaps the time is ripe for Trump to stop using the drain the swamp phrase. And that is what Trump has decided to do, according to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who describes himself as an outside advisor to the president-elect. Im told he now just disclaims that, Gingrich said in an interview on National Public Radio, referring to the slogan Trump used in the final phase of his campaign to crystallize his promise to cleanse Washington of insiders and self-dealers. He now says it was cute, but he doesnt want to use it anymore, Gingrich said, adding that perhaps all this swamp draining talk isnt presidential. Hes in a different role now and maybe he feels that as president, as the next president of the United States, that he should be marginally more dignified than talking about alligators in swamps, Gingrich said. I personally have, as a sense of humor, like the alligator and swamp language, he added. I think it vividly illustrates the problem, because all the people in this city who are the alligators are going to hate the swamp being drained. And theres going to be constant fighting over it. But, you know, he is my leader, and if he decides to drop the swamp and the alligator, I will drop the swamp and the alligator. Lewandowski, for his part, made no mention of swamps or alligators in announcing his new consulting firm would be open for business. Proud to launch our new venture today to support @realDonaldTrump achieve his agenda in Washington D.C. pic.twitter.com/ZEot6IrvJ4  Corey R. Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) December 21, 2016 Facebook

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Death penalty in steep decline, but not in Los Angeles County By David Savage Lonnie Franklin Jr. was tried and convicted of 10 counts of murder. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles County and the state of California again recorded the most new death sentences this year, amid a sharp decline across the nation in both executions and new death sentences. Judges and juries in Los Angeles County imposed a death sentence on four murderers during 2016, including Lonnie Franklin Jr., the so-called Grim Sleeper, who was convicted of killing 10 women. No other county had more than one death sentence, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Since 2010, Los Angeles County has recorded 36 new death sentences, more than any county in the nation. This year marked the first time in more than 40 years where no state recorded 10 or more new death sentences, the group said in its year-end report. California had the most with nine, followed by Ohio (five), Texas (four), Alabama (three) and Florida (two). California has by far the nations largest death row, with 750 condemned inmates, but it has not carried out an execution in the past decade. Overall, the report documented the steep decline for capital punishment over the past two decades. The number of new death sentences had fallen by 90%, from 315 in 1996 to only 30 this year. And the number of executions has fallen from a high of 98 in 1999 to 20 this year. Georgia (nine) and Texas (seven) accounted for most of the executions. The only other states to put inmates to death were Alabama (two), Missouri (one) and Florida (one). Robert Dunham, the groups executive director, says the nation is clearly turning away from capital punishment. Whether its concerns about innocence, costs and discrimination, availability of life without parole as a safe alternative, or the questionable way in which states are attempting to carry out executions, the public grows increasingly uncomfortable with the death penalty each year, he said. But his report noted that Californias voters, by a 53%-47% margin, rejected a ballot measure to abolish the death penalty, and narrowly approved a measure, by a 51%-49% margin, to limit appeals and expedite executions. Facebook

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New survey finds less optimistic Democrats seeking many paths to their future success By Cathleen Decker (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press) Since Hillary Clintons November defeat, Democrats have squabbled over how to return to prominence. Should they continue to court ascendant voter groups in the country, such as women, minorities and young people? Or should they turn to those who have long been in their camp but abandoned the party nominee this year, such as rural and non-college-educated voters. The answer, according to a Pew Research poll published Tuesday: Democrats want to walk both paths, simultaneously. The poll asked Democrats and Republicans whether their parties had spent too much, too little or just the right amount of time meeting the interests and concerns of specific groups of voters. Among Democrats, 64% said the party had spent too little time talking to rural voters, and 58% said the same about non-college voters. Almost two-thirds of Democrats said low-income voters had not gotten enough of the partys attention, and 58% said middle-class voters had been ignored to some extent. But Democratic voters did not want to let up on the partys outreach to its stronger supporters this year. About half said that the concerns of women and African American voters had gotten too little attention, while 43% said the same about Latinos. In the case of women, African Americans, Latinos, low-income voters, rural residents and younger voters, Democrats were substantially more likely than Republicans to say their party had not put enough emphasis on the groups concerns. The poll suggested far more confidence by Republicans than Democrats in their partys current positioning. Much of that may simply be the flood of confidence that accompanies a presidential victory. When the pollsters asked before the election about their view of their party, 61% of Republicans said they were optimistic, as did 77% of Democrats about their own party. After the election those figures reversed, with 79% of Republicans optimistic compared with 61% of Democrats. A key to Trumps success also was evident in the poll: a chameleon-like ability to make the different ideological groups in the party think he was one of them. Almost 3 in 5 conservatives said that Trumps views were conservative. And among moderates, 52% said that Trumps ideology was a mix of conservative and liberal, echoing their own posture. But queries about the new presidents impact on his party drew sharply partisan responses. More than two-thirds of all voters said that Trump had forced major changes on his party. Yet 72% of Democrats cast those changes as bad ones, while 83% of Republicans cast the changes as good ones. Facebook

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The artist and the senator: One built a desert masterpiece, the other a Nevada legacy By Lisa Mascaro When Sen. Harry Reid heard about a reclusive artist building a massive land sculpture across desolate acres in the Nevada desert, he knew they should meet. Its not just that Reid enjoys eccentrics and fighters, which he does. Michael Heizer had found an unusual way to express the majesty  and artistry  of the same lonely Nevada landscape that formed Reids childhood, when he would escape the dismal, rugged conditions of tiny Searchlight to play in the deserts hidden springs and abandoned fortresses. Both men discovered in Nevada what many outsiders miss. Far from seeing a nuclear wasteland, a dumping site or even a playground for gamblers, they drew inspiration from Nevadas quiet beauty. Heizer created an American masterpiece  a milelong complex of dirt, rock and cement rising from the desert floor like modern-day pyramids or the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. For Reid, his appreciation for Nevadas unique landscape became a cornerstone of one of the most lasting yet less-familiar pieces of his political legacy. Read More Artist Michael Heizer and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) speak in the Capitol. (Lisa Mascaro / Los Angeles Times) Facebook

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With 304 votes, electoral college seals Donald Trumps election as president  despite more desertions than ever By Michael Finnegan They convened amid unusual scrutiny, widespread protests and rafts of speculation about efforts to alter the outcome, but, in the end, the nations 538 presidential electors mostly stuck to the script Monday, formally sealing Donald Trumps victory with 304 votes in the electoral college, well above what he needed to capture the White House. After all the efforts to lobby Republican electors to desert Trump, only two did  a pair from Texas, one of whom voted for former Texas Rep. Ron Paul and the other for Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Indeed, instead of an uprising against Trump, the days voting was punctuated more by small, but persistent, gestures of Democratic discontent with Hillary Clinton. A handful of electors deserted her and a few more tried to, but were deterred by state faithless elector laws. Some of the Democratic dissenters were supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who lost the primaries to Clinton but galvanized the partys left wing. Others were backers of an abortive effort that had tried to recruit Democrats and Republicans to unite behind a third candidate other than Clinton or Trump. In the end, seven electors voted for a person other than the candidate who won their states  the largest number of electoral college desertions in a presidential contest in U.S. history, eclipsing a record set in 1808. Read More Facebook

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As electoral college meetings end in Hawaii, Bernie Sanders gets a vote that will stick By Michael A. Memoli David Mulinix, Hawaii elector who voted for Sanders, said Clinton wasn't qualified. Also said @POTUS wasn't progressive, but "conservative" pic.twitter.com/miCnZ6PzXI  Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) December 20, 2016 The last of the 50 states gave Bernie Sanders his first electoral college vote that counted. Hillary Clinton received three of the states four electoral votes after winning 60% of the popular vote here last month. But one elector, David Mulinix, said he cast his vote for the Vermont senator because he was the most qualified candidate. They can call me faithless, but the point is if we dont think someones qualified  and Hillary Clinton I do not feel is qualified, he said. Hawaiis electors are chosen by the major parties at their state conventions. Mulinix said he joined the party only this election cycle to support Sanders, who he said would have been elected president had he been the Democratic nominee. He had previously told the Associated Press he would cast his vote for Clinton, but said he changed his mind at the last minute. She did not lose the vote to Russian hackers; she lost the vote right there at the convention, he said, referring to the Democratic National Convention, where he said Sanders backers were treated unfairly. They robbed us, and the millennials know it. Mulinix, who, like his fellow electors, wore a lei made of green jade flowers, arrived for the vote with a list of candidates who had received votes in other electoral college meetings across the country. He was aware that an elector in Maine had tried to vote for Sanders but that his vote had been invalidated. An election official said the vote for Sanders here would count. The brief proceedings here in a nondescript conference room on the state Capitols third floor began with another elector, John Bickel, asking whether there was any penalty for electors who cast their ballots for someone other than the winner of the statewide vote. He said later that he had asked because he suspected someone might stray. The electoral college is outdated. If any election has proved the electoral college is outdated, its this one, Bickel said. Dolly Strazar, another elector and the vice chair of the state Democratic Party, said she had long supported the electoral college because it ensured some degree of competition between large states and small ones like Hawaii. It really seems in our times, its thoroughly outdated, she said. Janice Bond, the fourth elector, said she would have voted for Sanders but did not believe she was able to. She also expressed regret that President Obama, who was born in Hawaii and is vacationing here with his family, did not attend the meeting. To have him be on our island and not show face was disappointing, she said. Facebook

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No fireworks as Nevada electors cast votes for Clinton By David Montero Nevadas six electors cast their votes for Hillary Clinton on Monday afternoon in Carson City, reflecting her victory in the swing state despite losing the overall electoral college vote to President-elect Donald Trump. Clinton won Nevada by almost 3 points over Trump, and the swing state was one of her few bright spots on election day. The six electors  five from northern Nevada and one from Las Vegas  cast their ballots before about 75 people who had packed into the Old Assembly Chambers of the state Capitol. A few brought signs in support of Clinton, and there was some applause when the votes were cast. It all took place in less than a half-hour. No fireworks, said Wayne Thorley, deputy secretary of state for elections. He said about 40 people showed up in front of the state Capitol in the morning in sub-freezing temperatures to also show support for Clinton. Thorley said he hadnt anticipated a lot of controversy as the electors were required to sign a pledge before voting that said they wouldnt deviate from Nevadas Nov. 8 election results. Facebook

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In solemn ceremony, California electors cast votes for Hillary Clinton By Melanie Mason Casting my electoral vote for President and Vice President of the United States of .... https://t.co/jI2FGFCrVg pic.twitter.com/qufSJUM5WF  Susan Eggman (@SusanEggman) December 19, 2016 In a proceeding long on formalities and short on speeches, Californias 55 electors cast their vote for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Monday, a ceremony that coincided almost exactly with Republican Donald Trump clinching the national electoral college win. Contrasting with the spirited protests outside the state Capitol, the mood in the state Assembly chambers was muted, even a bit glum, as electors, tapped by the states Democratic establishment, convened to cast their votes for Clinton. California, which overwhelmingly backed Clinton in the presidential contest, requires all 55 electors to back the states winner. Todays solemnity and formality reminds us that in our nation, American greatness and American independence, rests on a foundation of law, said Assemblyman Ken Cooley (D-Cordova), who presided over the event. As written ballots were distributed, the room was completely silent, save for the clicking of camera shutters. Just moments before voting began, Trump, Clintons rival, had secured the electoral college win, with Texas, Californias perennial rival, putting him over the top. His victory went unacknowledged in the ceremony. Among the electors were current elected officials, such as Assemblywomen Susan Talamantes Eggman of Stockton and Shirley Weber of San Diego. Others included Christine Pelosi, daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Laphonza Butler, leader of the powerful labor union SEIU in California. Electors did not make individual speeches during the main ceremony, and Trumps name was hardly mentioned. But there were subtle references to the rancorous political season: Rev. Bob Oshita, the Assembly chaplain and former reverend of the Sacramento Buddhist Church, urged leaders to engage in calming self-reflection in an opening prayer. The tone grew considerably sharper at the end of the gathering, when Pelosi offered a motion calling for an investigation into Russian efforts to influence the election outcome. I move that as an Electoral College, we do not normalize this election. We do not accept Russian interference in our election, Pelosi said. Her motion was adopted by electors, with applause. View Twitter post This post was updated at 3:32 p.m. with comments from Christine Pelosi. It was originally published at 3:12 p.m. Facebook

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All of Floridas electoral votes go to Trump By Gray Rohrer Floridas electors applaud as the vote for Donald Trump is announced at the state Capitol in Tallahassee on Monday. (Steve Cannon / Associated Press) Donald Trump officially won all 29 of Floridas electoral college votes on Monday during a ceremony held at the Capitol in Tallahassee, despite pleas from protesters to electors to change their vote at the last minute. About 100 protesters gathered outside the Florida Senate chambers before the vote, chanting love trumps hate and flip the vote and holding signs that read Vote Your Conscience, Dont Make Russia Great Again! The electors, made up of Republican Party of Florida members and high-ranking elected officials like state Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, Senate President Joe Negron and state party chairman Blaise Ingoglia, did their best to ignore the protesters. Read More Facebook

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Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim was a Trump nemesis. Now the president-elect says hes wonderful By Evan Halper Donald Trump has decided that Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, one of his favorite villains during the presidential election, might not be so bad after all. Hes even wonderful, Trump now says. The two dined together Saturday at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, after which Trump had only nice things to say about Slim, according to a report in the Washington Post. Trump described the interaction with his erstwhile nemesis as a lovely dinner with a wonderful man. This is not how Trump talked about Slim, one of the worlds richest men, during the election. The Mexican billionaire was a regular target of the then-GOP nominee because of his large ownership stake in the New York Times. Add to that Slims generous contributions to the Clinton Foundation and his citizenship in the country Trump reveled in attacking, and he made for good fodder at Trump rallies. When Trump objected to the New York Times coverage of his campaign  and its reporting on the allegations by multiple women of past inappropriate sexual advances by Trump  he alleged it was all part of a conspiracy cooked up by Slim. Trump called the outlets reporters corporate lobbyists for Carlos Slim and for Hillary Clinton. The New York Times called Trumps charges a fabrication, saying Slim had never inserted himself in editorial decision making there. And Trump offered no evidence to the contrary. A spokesman for Slim said at the time the two had never met, and the Mexican businessman had no interest in involving himself in the U.S. election. Now theyve met. The takeaway from the meeting, though, is murky. Maybe it indicates Trump is softening his posture toward Mexico  or maybe it just indicates billionaires enjoy the company of other billionaires. Facebook

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Meet the California electors By Liam Dillon Among the electors are Janine Bera, the wife of Rep. Ami Bera of Elk Grove; Christine Pelosi, the daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and chairwoman of the state partys womens caucus; Eileen Feinstein Mariano, granddaughter of Sen. Dianne Feinstein; and Olivia Reyes-Becerra, daughter of Rep. Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles. State Assemblywomen Susan Eggman of Stockton and Shirley Weber of San Diego, former state Sen. Christine Kehoe of San Diego, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nury Martinez and Laphonza Butler, president of the Service Employees International Union chapter that represents home care employees, also are on the list. Read More Facebook

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Three Washington state Democratic electors vote for Gen. Colin Powell, one for Faith Spotted Eagle By Rick Anderson (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press) Despite a statute binding the 12 members of the electoral college to vote for the winner of the states 2016 presidential election popular vote, four Washington electors made history and risked a $1,000 fine by voting for someone else Monday. But it wasnt Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton, supported by 57% of the states voters, wound up with eight of the 12 electoral votes at a session held in the State Capitol building here. Gen. Colin Powell received three votes. And Faith Spotted Eagle, an elder of the Yankton Sioux, received one. Read More Facebook

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Colorado elector says he was oppressed by state law into voting for Clinton By David Kelly In Denver, all nine electors voted for Hillary Clinton, after one was replaced for casting his ballot for Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich instead. A boisterous crowd packed the state Capitol and booed when elector Michael Baca was dismissed and another sworn in to take his place. Vote your conscience! someone cried. The new elector voted for Clinton. Hecklers screamed Resign! Resign! at Secretary of State Wayne Williams after he shooed Bacas lawyer off the podium. Suspense had been building for weeks over how the electors would vote. Two courts blocked their attempts to vote for someone other than Clinton. State law here says electors must support the candidate who won the popular vote. On Sunday night they went to court again, this time asking a judge to reject a new oath drawn up by the secretary of state requiring electors to pledge to support the winner of the popular vote. Their motion was denied. As they waited, the crowd sang This Land is Your Land and America the Beautiful. But once the electors filed in, it was over quickly. Elector Robert Nemanich said he was oppressed by state law into voting for Clinton and would go to the U.S. Supreme Court. He did not elaborate. Lance Armstrong, 68, stood outside with an American flag. Im glad some of the electors made a point today, he said. Any point is better than none. Facebook

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Trump officially gets 270th electoral vote, sealing his election as president By Julie Westfall Donald Trump has obtained the required 270 electoral votes to become president. Although electors in dozens of states still have to vote, the electoral balloting in Texas put Trump over the majority threshold, according to a state-by-state tally by the Associated Press. Thirty-six of the states electors voted for Trump, one for John Kasich and one for Ron Paul. The next, and last, official step in the electoral process is for Congress to count the votes. Under the procedure set out by the 12th Amendment to the Constitution, that formal process is scheduled for Jan. 6. Some anti-Trump activists had hoped against hope that they could persuade electors in states that voted for Trump to defect, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Electors are nearly all party loyalists. Additionally, they faced more than two centuries of tradition and, in some states, legal obligations that called for them to cast their ballots according to which candidate won the popular vote in their states. No defectors have ever changed the result of a presidential election. Four electors today successfully defected in Washington state. Instead of voting for Hillary Clinton, who won the states popular vote, three electors voted for former secretary of State Colin Powell and one voted for Faith Spotted Eagle, an environmental activist. Electors in two other states who tried to vote against the states winner were replaced with alternates. There may be additional defections in the remaining states, but since Trump now has a majority of the electoral votes, those would not be enough to change the result. Facebook

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Emotions high in Maryland as electors unanimously vote for Clinton By Erin Cox (Erin Cox/Baltimore Sun) As Marylands 10 electors unanimously cast votes for Democrat Hillary Clinton for president Monday, several said they were privileged to vote for the countys first female presidential nominee. Outside, hundreds of anti-Trump protesters cheered as the solemn ceremony unfolded on live-stream television. A state delegate, who had the ceremonial task of handing the electors votes to another official, wept while executing her duty. This is an emotional moment for many, many women in this country and in this state, said Del. Maggie McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat. She added later: I guess I didnt cry enough on Nov. 8. Marylands electors were bound by state law to vote for the winner of Marylands popular vote, which Clinton secured with more than 60% of the ballots cast. About 100 protesters who had been chanting and singing around the historic State House grounds for at least four hours before the vote said they came in solidarity with protesters in Republican state capitols, pleading with electors not to endorse President-elect Donald Trump. This is appalling and unacceptable, and Im hoping the Republicans, in particular, rise above and do the right thing, said Cheryl Kreiser, a retired teacher from the Washington, D.C., suburb of Silver Spring. For an hour every day for the last 21 days, Kreiser has protested Trumps win on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It was the only way I could cope with the disappointment, she said. Marylands Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who wrote in his fathers name rather than vote for Trump on election day, opened Marylands 58th electoral college meeting but left the room before electors were sworn in. Each elector had been appointed by the Maryland Democratic Party state chair, Bruce Poole, who reminded the crowd the United States is not a direct democracy ruled by the popular vote. A lot of people lose sight of the fact that were a republic. Were not a democracy, Poole said. The whole idea was that the president would not be chosen just by the whims of the moment, but instead there would be an opportunity for people who were thoughtful, who had judgment, who had integrity to take a step back from the moment of emotion and consider what would be in the best interest of the country. Here is "the old book" where Maryland has recorded its Electoral College electors every year since 1789. pic.twitter.com/GlsaJd3F3X  Erin Cox (@ErinatThePost) December 19, 2016 Before he introduced Marylands electors, Poole lamented the state of political discourse in the country. We live in the age of information. It is not necessarily the age of wisdom or age of judgment, he said. People on both sides, on all sides, make decisions at the snap of a finger. Maryland was both the model for creating the electoral college and the first state in the country to vote to bypass it. Framers modeled todays system after the way the Maryland House of Delegates selected Maryland senators, a process the state later abandoned after it was considered undemocratic, according to a history of the electoral college written by staff at the Maryland Board of Elections. Hogan noted the state is one of six to have participated every year since 1789. In 2007, Maryland was the first state to vote to sign the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, a promise designed to award the electoral college to the winner of the national popular vote. It required enough states to comprise 270 votes to sign on for it to take effect. So far, only 10 states  including California  with a combined 165 votes have signed the compact. The president of Marylands electors, Courtney Watson, also co-chaired Clintons campaign in Maryland. She said she thought changes to the electoral college should be considered and described Monday as a poignant moment for Maryland residents. Its a very emotional time, she said. Many of us have worked long and hard, and for the first woman candidate. The point, though, is that people are still moved and even more engaged. And thats what I find promising for our future and the future of women. Facebook

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Christine Pelosi, daughter of Nancy Pelosi and California elector, demands to know the truth about Russian influence By Jazmine Ulloa Elector @sfpelosi: We won't stand down. #caleg pic.twitter.com/4cM3cE4Wb6  Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) December 19, 2016 California elector Christine Pelosi on Monday told crowds gathered outside the Capitol that she has been part of a chorus of people demanding to know the truth about Russian interference in the November presidential election. Pelosi, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosis daughter, is leading 10 other electors in a call for an intelligence briefing on Russian influence. Shouting into a microphone Monday, she said Russian hackers aim to turn the American people against each other and had marginalized her and others for speaking out. They trespass on servers, she said. They receive stolen emails. They pump out stories that day after day focus on scandal rather than policy, rather than talking about climate and immigration and human rights. Californias meeting of electors is about to get underway in the state Capitol. Facebook

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After prayer for national unity, Georgia electors vote for Trump By Jenny Jarvie Outside the Georgia Capitol today, some may have held a flicker of hope that a GOP elector would refuse to cast a ballot for Donald Trump as 45th president of the United States. Yet among the inner circle of Republicans who gathered inside the cozy, wood-paneled Senate chamber, there was little doubt about what would unfold. One by one, all 16 electors - dressed in formal business suits and red dresses, bow ties and blazers -- cast their ballots for the contentious Republican candidate. It was a short ceremony, with little opportunity for disruption. Security guards prevented the public from entering the chamber, cordoning off the hallway outside the room with a red rope and locking the main door before proceedings began. The electors chosen by Georgias Republican Party included well-connected attorneys and real estate agents, a high school teacher and a farmer. As they waited for the gathering to begin, many snapped selfies and waved at loved ones above in the upper gallery. After a call to order by the Georgia Republican Party chair, the electors bowed their heads, and Rachel Little, an elector and grass-roots Republican organizer, delivered an invocation. Lord, we know we are a divided country right now, she said. We pray that you will unite us.  We pray that [those who oppose Trump] will see our conservatism lived out in a gracious way. In a short speech, Gov. Nathan Deal hit out at activists who had bombarded electors with emails, letters and phone calls in an effort to sway their votes. You have been the subject of harassment by those who perhaps are not as dedicated to the proposition of what this body is supposed to do as they are agitated by the fact that the people didnt do what they wanted them to do. I have every confidence you will not succumb to that, Deal told the electors. My words to you: Do your job. Shortly before the electors cast their ballots, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Republican who represents Georgias 11th District, took to the podium to present a short history of the electoral college. Our founders actually despised the idea of democracy because mob rule often results in a decision made out of pure emotion, Loudermilk told the electors, after referencing the noise of protesters outside. It does not result in good government. In fact, our founders often cited the historic trial of Jesus as how mob rule does not work. The electoral college was devised to protect the integrity of government, Loudermilk said. To protect those who live in the rural areas of America, those who work, those who are part of the farming communities and part of the industrial communities, those who live and work every day, that their interests are protected as well of those who make their living on Wall Street. For a moment earlier this year, there was an inkling of a Republican revolt against Trump in Georgia. In August, Baoky Vu, a GOP elector based in Decatur, Ga., admitted he might not cast his ballot for Trump if he won. Within hours, however, he was forced to resign. Trump went on to win 51% of Georgias popular vote. On Monday, Vu did not show up at the Capitol, and he was formally replaced by a solid Trump backer, John Padgett, the chairman of the Georgia Republican party. There seems little chance that Georgia legislators might vote to overhaul the electoral college. Earlier this year, Republican legislators authored two bipartisan pieces of legislation in Georgias House and Senate that would have made Georgias electoral votes based solely on the outcome of the national popular vote. Yet both bills stalled, and Republicans say there is little momentum to revive the debate. The system prevents the tyranny of the majority, said Kirk Shook, an elector who is a high school teacher in rural Oconee County. He scoffed at those who, since the election, had sought to overhaul the electoral college system. Theres all this weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, Shook said of those who opposed Trumps win. And rightly so. Theres going to be a Republican president, a Republican Congress and a Republican Supreme Court. With the stroke of a pen, 90 percent of what Obama considered his legacy will be gone. Facebook

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Four Washington state electors defect from Clinton; one chooses Faith Spotted Eagle instead By Associated Press (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press) Four members of the electoral college in Washington state cast their votes for a candidate other than Democrat Hillary Clinton, who won the states popular vote. Its the first time in four decades the states electors have broken from the popular vote for president. Washingtons 12 electors met Monday afternoon in the state Capitol to complete the constitutional formality. Clinton got eight votes while other candidates got the remaining four. Elector Bret Chiafalo, who earlier in the day said he planned to vote for Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said that he ultimately changed his vote to former Secretary of State Colin Powell after conversations with other Washington electors. The exact breakdown of the other four votes wasnt immediately known, although at least one vote was cast for Faith Spotted Eagle. In last months election, Republican Donald Trump won 306 electoral votes to Clintons 232, though Clintons tally will now be lower. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win. The last time an elector broke from the popular vote in Washington was in 1976, when Mike Padden, who is currently a Republican state senator, voted for Ronald Reagan instead of Gerald Ford, who had won the state. Facebook

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Hundreds protest the electoral college at Capitol building in Sacramento By Jazmine Ulloa Protesters are now chanting, "hey hey ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go" pic.twitter.com/4nNyTMroI5  Marcus Yam  (@yamphoto) December 19, 2016 Cheers and chants of U.S.A and Keep him out filled the air Monday, as dozens of protestors gathered outside the California Capitol in a last ditch attempt to sway the electoral college from voting for president-elect Donald Trump. Speakers called Trump a celebrity and authoritarian unfit for the presidency. And they urged Congress to do away with the electoral college process, which they described as an outdated and broken system susceptible to foreign influence and manipulation. This is a secret system of voting where we are not allowed to see where the votes are actually coming from or how they are counted, Brent Turner, with the movement organization Democracy Spring, shouted into a microphone. John Franco, 52, says the electoral college is an outdated system that can be manipulated with or without hackers. #caleg pic.twitter.com/fs2L2W2HKp  Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) December 19, 2016 John Franco, a 52-year-old business owner visiting Sacramento from New Orleans, said he came to the demonstration with his family to protest that secret process. We dont feel a system that can be manipulated represents the interests of the people who voted for Hillary Clinton, he said. Rochelle Towers was among hundreds to protest at the CA Capitol today: "I'll take any shot that there is. #caleg https://t.co/QcOhWklrpx pic.twitter.com/mtx76NjdEW  Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) December 20, 2016 Rochelle Towers, 68, said she drove in from Oakland in an attempt to persuade the electoral college from voting for Trump. She said she would not have to live through a lot of what its decision would set in motion. But my children and grandchildren will, she said. Even though this is a real long shot, Ill take any shot that there is. Facebook

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Colorado elector removed after refusing to vote for Clinton By David Kelly A new elector is sworn in in Colorado after one refused to vote for Hillary Clinton. (David Kelly / Los Angeles Times) Eight of nine Colorado electors have voted for Hillary Clinton. One elector, Michael Baca, refused to vote for Clinton and was immediately replaced with an alternate, who was sworn in on the spot. As the crowd jeered, the new elector promptly voted for Clinton. Shouts of Resign! followed Secretary of State Wayne Williams announcement of the results. Protesters at the state capitol in Colorado. (David Kelly/Los Angeles Times) Facebook

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Electors say they have been barraged with emails By Nigel Duara View Twitter post Arizona elector J. Foster Morgan said he had received several letters protesting the election of Donald Trump, but experienced nothing on the scale of some his fellow Arizona electors whose email addresses were distributed to protest lists. They heard the worst thing imaginable, Morgan said. I just got a few letters. Despite protests outside the meeting, Morgan said, the vote went fine. Eleven votes for Donald Trump. Facebook

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Democratic electors in Minnesota and Maine try to vote for Bernie Sanders By Associated Press (Spencer Platt / Getty Images) A second elector  this one in Minnesota  has refused to cast a vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton in Mondays electoral college tally. It wasnt immediately clear why Muhammad Abdurrahman didnt vote for Clinton, but he was a delegate for Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention. The electors are pledged to cast Minnesotas 10 electoral votes for Clinton since she won the state. Abdurrahman was immediately replaced by an alternate who later voted for Clinton. Earlier in the day, a so-called faithless elector in Maine cast his vote for Sanders, who lost the Democratic presidential nomination to Clinton. David Bright said on his Facebook page that he cast his vote for Sanders because voting for Clinton would not have helped her win. But he ultimately voted for Clinton on a second vote after being ruled out of order. Facebook

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Utah voting goes off without incident  six for Trump By David Montero A protest sign outside the gathering of Utah electors (Rick Bowmer / Associated Press) Despite chants of vote your conscience and the whole world is watching from more than 100 protesters, Utahs six electors cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump today in Salt Lake City. Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox announced the official results within minutes of the votes being cast, but he was drowned out by jeers of Shame on you by the protesters. I hope you know this is what our country is all about, Cox said. I hope all of us here are sincerely grateful we live in a country where we have the opportunity to express ourselves. The six electors -- two small-business owners, a custom metal worker, a farmer, a Brigham Young University professor and a Republican activist -- quickly introduced themselves before casting their ballots. The votes were largely a formality, as the state requires electors to vote for the winner. Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by getting 45%t of the vote. He also withstood a challenge from Evan McMullin, who garnered 21% in what was largely a protest vote from those, many of them Mormons, who felt uncomfortable casting a ballot for Trump. Cox said the turnout for this years electoral vote was a far cry from 2012, when four people and one camera crew showed up. Im a big fan of the electoral college, Cox said to the restless crowd. You dont have to boo me now. You can boo me later. About 200 protesters and Trump supporters arrived in the rotunda of the state Capitol about three hours before the votes were cast shortly after noon. The room where the votes were cast was too small to accommodate everyone, and the fire marshal sought to limit occupancy to about 130 people. Interest was high, and the vote even drew Hawthorn Elementary School students, who helped lead the room in the Pledge of Allegiance. Cox thanked them for coming and told them they were getting an experience youll never forget. Facebook

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Clinton elector balks in Minnesota One of 10 Minnesota electors has decided not cast a vote, Muhammad Abdurrahan. An alternate is now being sworn in. #ElectoralCollege pic.twitter.com/4eN1PIrZdO  Dylan Wohlenhaus (@DylanWohlenhaus) December 19, 2016 In Minnesota, where the 10 electors had all pledged their votes to Hillary Clinton, one of them refused to go through with it. Elector Muhammad Abdurrahman opted not to vote. He was replaced by an alternate, who cast a vote for Clinton. Facebook

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As Pennsylvania went unanimously for Trump, a voice from the back: Thank you By Steve Esack Electors sworn in in Pennsylvania (Matt Rourke/Associated Press) In Pennsylvanias capital of Harrisburg, the states 20 electoral college voters selected Trump today in a ceremony marked by traditional pomp and bellowing protests. Trump won the popular vote in Pennsylvania by 44,292 votes  the first Republican presidential candidate to do so since 1988. It earned him the states 20 electoral college votes. When the result was announced shortly before 1 p.m. inside the gilded, ornate House chamber, protesters jeered and supporters cheered. Shame on you, a womans voice called down from the public balcony. Thank you, a male voters voice responded back from the floor. Facebook

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How some electors have reacted to all the mail from voters Facebook

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Protesters outside Florida Senate chambers: Trump is dangerous By Gray Rohrer Protesters gather outside the Florida Senate chambers ahead of the electoral college voting ceremony. (Gray Rohrer / Orlando Sentinel) A group of about 100 protesters huddled outside the Florida Senate chambers Monday morning as Floridas 29 electors prepared to cast their votes for Donald Trump in the formal electoral eollege vote ceremony later in the day. The protesters held signs that read You can fix this, keep America free, What would Hamilton do? and Electors: Protect Us, Trump is Dangerous, pleading for electors to change their minds and not vote for Trump, who beat Hillary Clinton by 112,911 votes in Florida, about 1.2%t of all votes cast in the state. Tallahassee resident Bonnie McCluskey held a sign reading Send it to the House. If enough electors across the country do not vote for Trump, hell fall short of the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency, sending the matter to the U.S. House. The reason Im here is because I dont trust [Trump]) and I think he will harm the United States, McCluskey said. My grandmothers were suffragettes; their ancestors were willing to be traitors to the British crown to create this democracy and I dont want to see it end. And that sounds awfully dramatic but thats how Im feeling. She said that part of the reason she doesnt trust Trump is because he didnt pay a company she worked for that did promotional videos for his buildings in 1998. They were basically given the opportunity to take 10 percent or go to court. Back then I didnt realize that was his business plan, McCluskey said. I didnt make the deal with him I was just one of the people who saw a company go bankrupt. Despite the pleas from protesters, all of Floridas electors are expected to vote for Trump. Some, such as Florida Senate President Joe Negron, have posted pictures of hundreds of letters theyve received asking them to change their vote but declaring theyll be voting for the Republican candidate. Facebook

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Colorado electors make last-ditch plea to switch votes By David Kelly Crowds await the electoral college vote at the Colorado Capitol in Denver. (David Kelly / For The Times) Colorado electors are trying a last-chance legal appeal to avoid voting for Hillary Clinton, and instead vote for an alternative candidate to replace Donald Trump. A week ago, a district court judge told them they had to vote for Clinton, who won the popular vote in Colorado. A few days ago, a federal appeals court upheld that decision. But just hours before the vote today, two electors filed suit to stop the Colorado secretary of state from requiring them to swear to vote for the candidate supported by the electorate. Their effort is part of a loose national scheme to defeat Trump by persuading Republican electors to join with Democrats, such as those in Colorado, and coalesce around an alternative candidate. There has been no decision so far. Facebook

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Chants of Shame! erupt as Wisconsin electors cast ballots for Trump By Bill Ruthhart Demonstrators erupt after Wisconsin's 10 presidential electors cast their #ElectoralCollege ballots for Republican Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/A0GrASaIbY  Bill Ruthhart (@BillRuthhart) December 19, 2016 Wisconsins 10 presidential electors unanimously cast their ballots for Republican Donald Trump as expected Wednesday, but the vote still drew chants of Shame from dozens of demonstrators who had pleaded for them to back away from the president-elect. The typically procedural vote in a fourth-floor conference room in the Wisconsin State Capitol was anything but routine as about 150 protesters greeted the 10 electors with signs pleading for them to vote your conscience not your pledge. In a short 15-minute meeting, the electors quickly cast their ballots for Trump. They did not address the controversial nature of the election and no speeches were made before the 
Until Nov. 8, everyone talked as if the presidential election would hinge on smallest incident: a killer ad, a fatal gaffe, an October surprise. But now, in the emerging conventional wisdom, tactics are suddenly deemed unimportant, as we rush to propound big theories about What It All Means. We now hear that Donald Trumps victory  which he is calling, preposterously, a landslide  was the result of the grand tide of history, a thundering declaration of Vox Populi: Identity politics is dead. Populism is ascendant. #WhiteWorkersMatter. The people want change.

The Democratic Party, without question, has lessons to learn and adjustments to make to win next time. But to interpret Hillary Clintons loss as a wipe-out by an inexorable tide instead of what it actually was  a contingent loss that could easily have gone the other way  risks prescribing a cure for the party that would be worse than the disease.

Trumps gains among the white working class have convinced many Democratic leaders and pundits that the party now has to run hard to the populist left if it is ever to win again. Signs are everywhere. Rep. Keith Ellison  one of the partys most left-wing members in Congress, one of a handful to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders for president  remains the favorite for Democratic National Committee chair. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, nobodys idea of a centrist, had to withstand a challenge for her post by Tim Ryan, a minor congressman from Ohio, who pushed his flyover cred and jobs, jobs, jobs. Reflecting the new anti-establishment consensus, Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan declared, Every single person in our caucus agrees the system is rigged employing an unfortunate cliche of insurrectionist demagoguery favored by Trump and Sanders to impugn Clintons credentials.

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The new concern for struggling white voters isnt wholly without merit. In hindsight, its clear that Clintons campaign should have emphasized her progressive economic policies more than it did (even though, according to exit polls, voters who named the economy as their chief concern preferred her to Trump). It also might have helped her to campaign in Wisconsin and Michigan (though repeated trips to Pennsylvania, Florida and North Carolina didnt deliver victories there). And perhaps Clinton should have attacked Trump as a con man and phony populist rather than as a racist, groper and mocker of the disabled (though polling recommended the latter line of attack).

Yet all of these ex post facto insights only underscore the provisional nature of the Democrats defeat; none of them invalidates the partys core liberal message, which  most pundits seem to forget  has always included a central commitment to economic fairness along with social inclusion and equal rights. In their quest to win back swing voters, party leaders must not jettison a philosophy that has been politically and economically effective.

The election of 2016 was not a repudiation of the Democrats. The mere fact that Clinton won the popular vote  by a larger margin than anyone else ever denied the presidency  shows that her message and the partys doctrines still command a vast and potentially winning following. That a shift of less than 90,000 votes in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania would have made her president suggests that something other than an ideological revolution was at work. A party that wins the popular majority in six of the last seven presidential elections doesnt need a gut-job renovation.

Compare todays situation to that of the period from 1972 to 1988. Back then, the Democrats lost four of five presidential races  three of them in true landslides. They barely eked out a victory in 1976 when the Republican Party was reeling from Watergate.

The Democrats liberalism in those years really was out of step with the country when it came to managing the economy, conducting foreign policy and coping with social unrest. Only after extended soul-searching and policy innovation did a new generation of leaders such as Bill Clinton and Al Gore find ways to reclaim the so-called Reagan Democrats  the white working class by another name  and reunite them with the Democratic liberal base into a winning coalition.

What the Democrats need today, in contrast, is an adjustment not an overhaul. Clinton, Obama and other Democrats in recent decades have pushed for (and often secured) more progressive taxation, higher wages, a stronger social safety net (including college savings programs and healthcare coverage), and stricter regulation of business and finance. Left-wingers would have you believe the party abandoned such goals, when in reality it was Republicans who thwarted more expansive healthcare reform, an increased estate tax and paid sick leave for workers.

Moreover, the Democratic Party today, unlike earlier incarnations, has also gotten behind policies to promote growth (such as investment in infrastructure), the high-tech sector and, yes, free trade. During both the Clinton and Obama administrations, GDP climbed, unemployment fell and deficits shrank. Contrary to popular belief, government data show these policies helped even those in the bottom quintile. And Democrats combined all this with new freedoms for women, racial minorities, and gays and lesbians.

The calls for Democrats to become more populist seem to amount to a matter of tone  marshaling an emotionally satisfying us-against-them rhetoric that blasts banks, big business and the 1%. Democrats shouldnt be shy about injecting their message with righteous indignation, but they shouldnt ignorantly imply the whole system is rotten. Theirs is the reality-based party  respecting expert knowledge, balancing growth and social needs and putting practicality over purity.

To get much more populist would require compromising core liberal values. A more Trump-like immigration policy might create a tighter domestic labor market in some sectors and drive up wages, but at the expense of betraying the partys historical openness to people seeking a better life. Trumps jobs program rests heavily on expanding fracking, which is anathema to environmentalists. A move toward Sanders-style socialism  such as making all public colleges and universities free  would likely alienate moderate voters.

Democrats possess one important advantage in our partisan, 50/50 nation: As the Republican Party has hurtled farther rightward the Democrats leftward drift has been more restrained. They must not now mimic the GOP and turn into a party of ideological purists, abandoning the political center and with it their best hope of becoming again a catholic, tolerant, pragmatic party that can win and govern.

David Greenberg is a professor of history and of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University. His latest book is Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
Not long ago, during the presidential campaign, Republican leaders in Congress had serious qualms about Donald Trump.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Trumps private remarks about women were repugnant. House Speaker Paul Ryan said his statements about a Mexican American judge were racist. Sen. Ted Cruz called him a pathological liar (to be fair, that was in the heat of a nasty primary campaign). Twelve of the 54 Republicans in the U.S. Senate, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona, either did not endorse or disendorsed their own partys nominee.

But that was all before election day. Now Trump is their leader, and the same GOP skeptics are doing their best to give him a cheerful honeymoon. If you were hoping Republicans in Congress would step up to provide vigorous checks and balances on the Trump administration, the signs arent encouraging.

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We are committed to  working hand in glove with Trump and his aides, Ryan said recently, before traveling to Trump Tower for a meeting with the president-elect. If we are going to go big, we have got to hit the ground running.

GOP senators are issuing statements supporting Trumps nominees for cabinet positions before their confirmation hearings have been held.

Despite Trumps populist rhetoric, his legislative program is essentially the same small-government conservatism theyve long been preaching.

And on the first real controversy of the new administration, Trumps insistence that he doesnt need to divest any of his businesses while hes in the White House, the partys leaders are studiously silent.

This is not what Im concerned about, Ryan said. I have every bit of confidence hes going to get himself right with moving from being the business guy that he is to the president hes going to become. however he wants to.

Its as if congressional leaders  knowing that Trump derided them during the campaign as a bunch of establishment pols who couldnt get anything done  are subjecting themselves to a lengthy job interview, trying to win Trumps confidence so they can handle the details of his legislative program.

In years gone by, Congress would exercise oversight even if the president came from their own party, said Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. But now the tribal instinct has taken over.

The reasons arent mysterious. However improbable his election, Trump is now the undisputed leader of the party, with support from 89% of Republican voters, according to a recent CNN Poll.

And by winning, hes given Republican leaders in Congress an opportunity theyve yearned for since at least 1994: one-party government from the right.

Weve been given the responsibility to govern, McConnell said last week. Thats what happens when you have the same party in control of the White House, the House and the Senate.

Moreover, the GOP leaders have noticed that despite Trumps populist rhetoric, his legislative program is essentially the same small-government conservatism theyve long been preaching: lower taxes, fewer federal regulations (including environmental and financial regulations) and an end to President Obamas health insurance program.

Naturally, there are some divisions in the GOP over Trumps policies, but theyve been muted so far.

Republicans dont agree on exactly how to replace the health care law, but the leadership has coalesced behind Trumps position that the program should continue until a replacement is ready, perhaps as long as three years. (A wait that long would also push the moment of truth past the next congressional election, an advantage in the eyes of some strategists.)

Trumps warning last week that he might slap punitive tariffs on American companies that send jobs overseas met with some mild pushback from Ryan and others who consider that kind of retaliation an intrusion on business freedom. We believe that the best way to get at this issue is through comprehensive tax reform, the speaker said.

And free-market, tea party Republicans are worried that Trump may propose an infrastructure plan that includes significant new federal spending.

If he can make that work through the private sector, it might be acceptable, Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), a leading fiscal conservative, told Politico. But aaaah! Its hard to do that.

Brats was a lonely voice, though. Deficits were a big deal for Republicans during the Obama administration, but I dont think deficits matter much to them anymore, said John Feehery, a former aide to the House Republican leadership.

In the face of the incoming Trump administration, the Obama-era divisions among Republicans in Congress dont matter as much anymore. Whatever their doubts before Nov. 9, theyre all Trump Republicans now.

doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com

Twitter: @DoyleMcManus

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook
CAMPING

Workshop

Experts will offer tips on gear, clothing, nutrition and more for winter campers.

When, where: 7 p.m. Monday at the REI store in Santa Monica, 402 Santa Monica Blvd.

Admission, info: Free.

HIKING

Full-moon hike

Explore nocturnal sites with a naturalist under a full moon at the George F Canyon Preserve. Two-mile round-trip hike will take about two hours. Age 9 or older

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When, where: Friday

Admission, info: $12 per person. Reservations required at www.pvplc.org. Group size limited to 20.

HIKING

Book signing

Author Casey Schreiner will sign copies of his new book: Day Hiking: Los Angeles.

When, where: 12-3 p.m. Saturdayat the Adventure 16 store, 11161 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles.

Admission, info: Free. (310) 473-4574

TRAVEL

Presentation

Chuck Jonkey will discuss his travels in search of exotic culture, music and dance.

When, where: 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Golden Dragon Restaurant, 960 N. Broadway, Los Angeles

Admission, info: $21 for lunch and program. Hosted by the Network for Travel Club. RSVP to Odette Ricasa (323) 578-3601.

Please email announcements at least three weeks before the event to travel@latimes.com.
Note to readers: Two letters published in the L.A. Times Travel section in print on Sunday, Dec. 11, and here online did not meet editorial standards. The Times Readers Representative says the letters werent civil, fact-based discourse.

Japanese internment

I see that writer Carolina A. Miranda has attached herself to the I feel-good contingent that feels sorry for the Japanese here in World War II [ Relevant Journey, Nov. 27]. But this is just another anti-U.S. remake of history.

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Remember, this was war for the life of our country. The Japanese had a clear way to land invading forces in California but lost their chance because they did not realize it.

Japanese have an extremely strong attachment to family, and even more so back then. First- generation and, to a lesser extent, Japanese here would have been expected to follow the wishes of their elders in Japan. Some, most or almost all might have refused, but the threat was there.

Had the Japanese been left on the streets of our city they would have been subject to hostility, injury and death at the hands of other citizens whose emotions ran high.

The U.S. government needed to concentrate on the war effort, not keep track of every reported espionage claim leveled against the Japanese. By the way, there were also internments for U.S. Germans though not as extensive as the Japanese.

Virtually everyone in the U.S. was assigned jobs to help the war effort. The Japanese were assigned the job of staying out of the way and not causing complications. Millions of Americans were assigned far worse jobs. Hundreds of thousands were wounded or died.

The interned Japanese were housed, fed, protected and cared for. Many who now complain would not even be alive if the internment had not been done.

I salute the Japanese for doing the part they were assigned during the war as I salute all those that sacrificed for the war effort. I have zero respect for those trying to rewrite history just to make themselves feel good.

Steve Hawes

Sunland

***

Maybe a little bit of balance in Mirandas article would have been appropriate. You need to read Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan by Bill OReilly and Martin Dugard to get the balance.

As the U.S. was putting families into the internment housing and feeding them, the Japanese were slaughtering Filipinos by the tens of thousands and U.S. soldiers after hideous torture.

War is evil, but I would have much rather been interned by the U.S. in California than by the Japanese in their captured lands.

One-way reporting is not very effective for the educated public. Please try a little balance next time. Its a lot more effective and honest.

Dick Venn

***

Not just for campers

Thanks for the shopping tips. I never go camping, but the SteriePen Pure+ in Gifts to Ease Them on Down the Road [Terry Gardner, Dec. 4] sure would be handy for an earthquake kit.

Kurt Sipolski

Palm Desert

UPDATES:

Dec. 12, 10:11 a.m.: This article was updated with a note to readers
When the Syrian army, backed by relentless Russian airstrikes, beat back Islamic State from the ancient city of Palmyra early this year, it marked the first in a string of significant defeats against the extremist group in the country.

But that victory appeared to have been short-lived. On Sunday, almost nine months after the jihadists retreat, Islamic State overran Palmyra once more, the group and activists said. The advance raises questions about recent pronouncements of the groups weakness  as well as Damascus ability to hold territories for which it has paid heavily in men and materiel.

It also suggests a doubling down on Syria by Islamic State and a return to the time before it proclaimed its caliphate in 2014. It had been all but defeated in Iraq then, but regrouped around the Syrian-Iraqi border before launching a blitz offensive that claimed a large swath of Iraqi and Syrian territory.

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A statement released by Islamic State on social media Sunday said the soldiers of the caliphate had secured their control over all of Palmyra city after three days of violent clashes.

It also issued a series of images showing its fighters with tanks, and pickups mounted with heavy guns, attacking what it said was the Jazal oil fields, northwest of Palmyra.

Amaq, a news agency affiliated with the group, posted a video on Sunday purporting to show Palmyra after Islamic State soldiers had arrived on its outskirts. It coincided with a statement saying the takeover had come after the collapse of the Syrian armys defenses.

Nasser Abdul Aziz, head of an activist documentation group with members inside the city, said in an interview on social media that Islamic State had taken Palmyra, and had begun broadcasting via loudspeakers that it was now safe for civilians to come out.

He added that hundreds of the jihadists, backed by heavy armor, had crossed from neighboring Iraq. They then massed at Raqqah, approximately 100 miles to the northeast of Palmyra and Islamic States de-facto capital in Syria.

As they marched towards the ancient city, they swatted away guard units in the oil fields to the east before storming Palmyra itself.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group with activists throughout the country, said the assault had killed approximately 120 pro-government troops.

The Palmyra Coordination Committee, which supports rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad, posted images purporting to show Islamic State fighters roaming Palmyras streets as they conducted house-to-house searches for government supporters. Another picture depicted Islamic States notorious white-on-black flag flying above a number of buildings.

Later on Sunday, the governor of Homs province, which includes Palmyra, said in an interview with the semi-official Ikhbaria television channel that Syrian forces had made a decision to withdraw from central Palmyra and fall back to the citys perimeter.

The Syrian state news agency, SANA, however, said Syrian army units were continuing their clashes with the terrorists from Daesh around Palmyra despite the reinforcements that may arrive for the group from Raqqah. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

The jihadists succeeded in subduing the city despite a barrage of 64 strikes by Russian warplanes, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The attacks, it said, had killed more than 300 militants and destroyed scores of vehicles.

Sundays assault echoed the lightning offensive that had first delivered Palmyra into the jihadists hands in May 2015, when they crossed the open desert with a convoy that quickly overpowered government troops.

Following the groups takeover, it staged a gruesome mass execution of suspected government collaborators in the remains of an ancient Roman theater, once home to an important music festival before the almost six-year crisis devastating the country.

The group also imposed its strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, and declared the priceless artifacts found in Palmyra to be pagan.

The jihadists smashed statues and busts. They blew up temples, as well as the iconic triumphal arch, months after beheading Khaled Asaad, the retired director of Palmyras museum.

But in March, Russia and Syrian warplanes pounded Islamic State positions, opening the path for Syrian army troops, government militiamen and Shiite irregulars from Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan to mount a difficult fight to seize the city.

It was the beginning of a string of setbacks for Islamic State and the erosion of the territories under its sway.

Sundays advance, Russia and activists said, relied on jihadists diverted from the battle for Mosul, now the epicenter of a massive campaign by the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi forces to wrest the city from the jihadists hands.

The offensives plans call for an exit to be provided from the citys western flank allowing Islamic State fighters to escape towards Syria.

Once out of Mosul, they would face a gantlet of coalition planes and Popular Mobilization Forces, Iraqi Shiite-dominated paramilitary groups dispatched to block the jihadists flight across the roughly 372-mile border between the two countries.

Yet much of its length remains in Islamic State hands.

The Russian Center for Reconciliation, the Russian militarys monitor in Syria, said its reconnaissance had registered the arrival of 5,000 Islamic State militants in Raqqah and the eastern province of Deir ez Zor from Mosul.

Palmyras loss also came as the Syrian army was on the cusp of regaining all of Aleppo, a city divided for more than four years into distinct cantons of government and opposition control. With government troops bearing down on the last of the opposition groups inside the city, another costly mission to snatch Palmyra would ease the pressure on the rebels.

Bulos is a special correspondent

MORE WORLD NEWS

Islamic State militants reenter ancient Syrian city of Palmyra

Pentagon will send 200 more troops to Syria

Supposedly defeated, Boko Haram blamed for killing 30 in suicide attack

UPDATES:

12:45 p.m.: This article has been updated throughout with staff reporting, background, analysis.

This article was originally posted at 5:20 a.m.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has established a new marine biosphere reserve covering a broad area that includes the Coronado Islands near the U.S. border and Todos Santos Island, site of a famed surfing spot off the coast of Ensenada.

The Pacific Islands Biosphere Reserve, formally established last week and located along the Baja California peninsula, is one of three new marine biosphere reserves decreed as Mexico hosted the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Cancun.

The area provides critical habitat for many species of marine birds, said Alfonso Aguirre Munoz, director of the Ensenada-based Islands Conservation and Ecology Group, which has worked with local fishing communities to promote the designation.

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The decree now legitimizes the hard work done by civil society during so many years, with already tangible and relevant results, Aguirre said. He was honored this month with the Midori Prize for Biodiversity for his work in protecting the islands.

The reserve, operating under Mexicos National Commission of Natural Protected Areas, is a protected area that is already operating, the [opposite] of a paper park, Aguirre said. The effort to restore the areas marine bird habitat has involved private organizations and government agencies in the United States and Mexico, he said, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the Audubon Society.

Conservationists around the world are very happy, said Serge Dedina, mayor of the San Diego County border city of Imperial Beach and executive director of the environmental group Wildcoast. Traditionally, conservationists have focused on the Gulf of California, but what were learning is that the Pacific is equally important.

The Pacific Islands Biosphere Reserve covers more than 2.7 million acres, an area that comprises 21 islands and 97 islets and the surrounding marine areas that serve as a habitat for marine mammals and seabirds, as well as commercially important fish and shellfish.

Biosphere reserves promote sustainable growth and protect ecosystems through the establishment of strongly protected core zones, together with as buffer zones and transition zones.

The Pacific Islands Biosphere Reserve complements protections already in place off the California coast. Now we have a chain of island conservation that extends from the U.S. all the way to Mexico, Dedina said.

A separate designation was made for the Pacific Biosphere Reserve, a 143-million-acre area that includes the Revillagigedo Archipelago off the tip of Baja California Sur.

Dibble writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Turkeys ruling party on Saturday proposed constitutional changes that would substantially increase presidential power, a move that comes months after a failed coup.

The proposal, introduced by the party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, came the same day two bombs exploded outside a soccer stadium in Istanbul, killing 29 people and wounding at least 166.

One blast was apparently caused by a suicide bomber, while the second was produced by a car bomb, the Associated Press reported.

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No one had claimed responsibility for the late-night attacks, and it was unclear whether they were related to the constitutional changes proposed by Erdogans ruling Justice and Development Party. Turkey has been targeted by Kurdish militants and by the group Islamic State.

In explaining the proposal unveiled Saturday, Erdogan aides say the presidency is modeled after those of the United States and France, but there will be no prime minister, unlike in France, nor the equivalent of a congressional branch of government.

The president would initiate the budget, name all ministers and rule by decree, while the parliaments role would be to approve the decrees, or call for new elections if it can muster a two-thirds majority.

If the proposed reforms are approved by parliament, Turks would vote in a referendum to determine whether to adopt the new system of government.

Erdogan needs the backing of 330 deputies in the 550-seat assembly to initiate a national referendum, and hes expected to be able to do that with the help of his own absolute majority of 316 members from the Justice and Development Party, bolstered by the 39 members of the Nationalist Movement party.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said the proposed constitutional amendment would be reviewed by the four political parties and the government over two parliamentary sessions.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters that each article would be voted on separately and would require 330 votes for approval, then the entire bill would be voted on. A referendum would take place 60 days after the parliamentary process is completed.

If approved, the constitutional reforms would take effect in 2019, and its conceivable that after nearly 14 years in power, Erdogan could qualify for two more five-year terms, allowing him to remain in office through 2029.

In addition to the coup attempt July 15, the country has experienced a struggling economy and several bombings and is concerned with fighting Kurdish militants in the southeast and Islamic State in neighboring Syria.

The leader of the main opposition party in parliament compared the reform proposal to the political systems of Nazi Germany and North Korea.

Is it right to give all the power to one person? I am the state is the motto of Hitler, Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the Republican Peoples Party said in an interview.

He said Turkey had almost turned into a North Korea, isolated from the civilized world.

Turkey is in the fifth month of a state of emergency, after the failed coup apparently staged by military supporters of Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic cleric living in self-exile in the United States.

The coup attempt was followed by a large-scale purge involving the suspensions or dismissals of tens of thousands of bureaucrats, teachers, soldiers and others who were considered suspect.

The Cumhuriyet, an opposition daily, has seen its editor in chief and 10 journalists jailed on charges of acting on behalf of a terror organization without being a member, a reference to the Gulen movement.

The crackdown provoked a stinging rebuke Friday from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

It is unacceptable that in the 21st century  to suddenly have the terrifying situation where people are scared to express their views, said Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media.

Gutman is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Duygu Guvenc in Ankara contributed to this report.

ALSO

Pentagon will send 200 more troops to Syria

In the battle for control of key oil installations in Libya, a military man takes center stage

Islamic State video of captured British photographer signals a shift in the groups propaganda

UPDATES:

7:30 p.m.: This article was updated to include the bombings in Istanbul.

It was first published at 5:10 p.m.
The case of an Iranian drug smuggler who faces a second execution attempt after surviving his first hanging has stirred an international outcry over what human rights groups consider the countrys excessive resort to the death penalty.

London-based Amnesty International issued an appeal Thursday for the Tehran regime to spare the life of the convict, identified in Iranian media as Alireza M., a 37-year-old hanged at a prison in the northeastern city of Bojnurd on Oct. 9.

Iranian media reported that the man hung for 12 minutes from a noose hoisted by a crane in the prison courtyard, and was pronounced dead by a doctor who witnessed the execution.

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The state-run Jam-e-Jam newspaper said morgue workers the following day noticed steam inside the plastic covering the convicts body and discovered that he was still breathing, the Guardian reported.

The man was transferred to Imam Ali Hospital in Bojnurd and awaits another execution attempt, to fulfill his death sentence.

When a convict is sentenced to death, he must die after the sentence is carried out, said Judge Nourollah Aziz Mohammadi, according to the Iranian newspaper. Now that he is alive, we can say the sentence was not carried out and must be repeated.

Under common law, though, a prisoner who survives execution by hanging or stoning is considered to have been acquitted, legal analysts told a reporter for the Los Angeles Times in Tehran.

The condemned mans fate reportedly has been of secondary interest to Iranians, who are more focused on the prospects of possible sanctions relief after President Hassan Rouhanis new team of nuclear negotiators met with representatives of six major world powers this week in what appears to have been a good start toward a nuclear pact.

It was unclear when authorities would return the condemned man to the gallows. Amnesty International quoted a judge as saying the man would be executed once medical staff confirm his health condition is good enough.

Under Iranian law, convicts should be conscious and healthy before execution, the Guardian said.

But rights advocates and opponents of capital punishment in Europe, the Middle East and the United States condemned the planned second execution attempt as the epitome of cruel punishment.

The horrific prospect of this man facing a second hanging, after having gone through the whole ordeal already once, merely underlines the cruelty and inhumanity of the death penalty, Philip Luther, Amnestys Middle East and North Africa program director, said in a statement. The Iranian authorities must immediately halt Alireza M.'s execution and issue a moratorium on all others.

The New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran had urged Tehran to halt death sentences earlier this month, noting that the pace of executions had accelerated since the early August inauguration of the purportedly reform-minded Rouhani.

While Rouhani was promoting a softer image of Iran internationally during his visit to New York two weeks ago, it was business as usual on the domestic front with scores of prisoners put to death following unfair trials, said Hadi Ghaemi, the campaigns executive director. Since Rouhanis inauguration, the increasing number of prisoners being sent to the gallows is indefensible.

The campaign reported that in the two weeks between Sept. 11 and Sept. 25, Iran sent a record 50 prisoners to the gallows, and that at least 402 executions have been carried out so far this year.

Amnesty put the number of Iranian death sentences carried out this year at 508, although noting that 221 of them have yet to be officially confirmed.

Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, based in New Haven, Conn., reported on Oct. 8 that Iran had put at least 125 of its citizens to death since Rouhanis inauguration.

The rapid pace of executions over the past month shows that while talk of human rights reforms has intensified with the release of high-profile political prisoners and promises for more pardons, there is still a long way to go in pushing change on the margins of society, said Gissou Nia, executive director of the documentation center. The seeming trend for reform has yet to extend to Irans liberal application of the death penalty, which disproportionately affects ethnic minorities and the poor.

ALSO:

Slavery still haunts Africa, where millions remain captive

Seven Balkan wannabes still need reforms to join EU, report says

Britain to accept public input in debate on U.S. and domestic spying

Twitter: @cjwilliamslat

carol.williams@latimes.com

Special correspondent Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran contributed to this report.
It is true that Microsoft hasn't been able to stand tall in the world of mobile technology till now with its various technology developed and raised for smartphone and tablets. But the company is not willing let their shoulders down in winning the mobile segment. As per a recent revelation, the tech giant announced that the full-fledged Windows 10 will run on the upcoming ARM-based processors built by mobile chipmaker Qualcomm.

However, Microsoft has already traced ARM technology with its few previous range of devices. According to The Verge, in its quest to get updated the company attempted to sacrifice its traditional desktop apps in favor of new touch-based apps for tablets with ARM processors. This initiative was taken by Microsoft 4 years back from now.

Microsoft's contribution to creating a new sensation with ARM processor gave birth to Windows RT. The ARM-based Windows RT technology first debuted in Microsoft's first Surface RT device. Genuinely, it was an effort made by the company with the focus to generate an ample amount of buzz among the tech gadget lovers with next gen touch-based apps.

But Microsoft was not able to satisfy the needs of its users as the Windows RT-based devices looked like a Windows devices but their operational attributes were different than an earlier Windows features. Perhaps, this is the reason why Windows now wants to overcome all its previous mistakes and create new masterpieces.

As per Forbes, the upcoming attribution of Microsoft will allow Windows 10 and its associated app to be completely operated on Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor. Which means the processor will be able to support some of the most used Softwares like Microsoft Office, Microsoft Games, and many other third party apps without any external subscription or permission.

Qualcomm also stated that the first devices running Windows 10 on its processors would be available by the second half of 2017. However, the company, which has been developing processors for Android devices since a long time now, is also said to ship its next level chipset Snapdragon 835 beginning from the first half of the next year. So, tech lovers can expect to see this upcoming processor in the certain range of windows devices. Although the official confirmation against this speculation is still awaited.
meadow the dog

Meadow, a one-year-old Black Labrador Retriever from Lopatcong Township, keeps a keen eye on Santa.

(John Best | lehighvalleylive.com contributor)

You've just finished putting up your holiday decorations and you've hung the stockings by the chimney with care.

Then kitty decides to eat a piece of the shiny tinsel that is dangling off the Christmas tree and has to be rushed to the animal hospital for emergency surgery.

These are the types of situations that veterinarians deal with each year during the holiday season.

Dr. Phil Zeltzman, a traveling board-certified surgeon based in Allentown, said pet owners shouldn't avoid enjoying their holiday traditions. But being aware of potential dangers to pets is one way to ensure the holidays remain a joyous season.

"I would rather talk about cute puppies and crazy kittens than life-threatening conditions," Zeltzman said, "but I happen to be the guy who removes the craziest things from pets' stomachs and intestines."

Ornaments, wrapping paper, ribbons and cranberry or popcorn strings can be tempting for dogs and cats. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) advises pet owners to keep those items off the floor and out of reach of pets.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) advises that tinsel should be avoided altogether for homes with pets.

Zeltzman said another potential hazard is water used at the base of Christmas trees. If that water contains fertilizer and your pet licks it, an upset stomach can result, he said.

Stagnant water can generate bacteria, which can be harmful to pets, so Zeltzman advises pet owners to cover the water basin with foil or a tree skirt.

Festivities often bring delicious holiday foods but those foods are for humans and not pets, Zeltzman said.

Emergency clinic doctors regularly treat dogs with chocolate toxicity, according to Zeltzman. Depending on the type and the amount, chocolate can cause vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, hyperactivity and an increased heart rate in dogs.

Fatty foods like gravy or turkey skin should be kept away from pets and sometimes, even in small amounts, can cause pancreatitis in pets, according to the AVMA.

Avoid putting indoor or outdoor lights on lower branches where animals can chew them. Zeltzman said people with younger pets should be particularly cautious regarding electrical wires.

If your pet likes to nibble on plants, keep in mind that poinsettia, mistletoe, holly and lilies are all toxic for pets, Zeltzman said.

Zeltzman suggests using decorations that cannot be easily ingested. While keeping some decorations on high shelves or at the tops of trees might work for dog owners, curious cats can find creative ways to investigate items no matter where they are placed, he said.

Never leave a lighted candle unattended and keep screens in front of fireplaces, Zeltzman warns.

If people properly "animal-proof" their homes, the fun of the holidays will remain fun, he said.

John Best is a freelance writer. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.
The British auto magazine has awarded the SKODA KODIAQ the title of best car for big families.

The Czech carmakers first large SUV impressed the panel with its high flexibility in everyday life, excellent price-performance ratio and as well as with its emotional design.

The SKODA KODIAQ will be available to Irish customers in March 2017.

Minimising stress is at the heart of the KODIAQs mission, is the verdict from the Top Gear experts.

Thats what its versatility is all about, because you never fear it wont ably put its shoulder to any task family life throws at it: fetching of stuff and carrying of people, hauling or going mildly off-road or defeating slippery roads.

Its reassuring and safe, but it manages to avoid tedium.

With up to seven seats, 24 driver assistance systems, more than 30 Simply Clever solutions, a maximum trailer load of 2.5 tonnes and the largest boot in its class, the SKODA KODIAQ was a clear choice for the best car for large families award.

In addition to its high flexibility in everyday life, the Czech automakers latest model also stood out due to its excellent price-performance ratio.

An additional plus point in the jurys evaluation: the emotional design of the SUV. With the SKODA KODIAQ, the brand has transferred their expressive design language to the SUV segment for the first time.

The distinctive interplay of elegant lines, sporty contours and a robust build symbolize protection and strength.

The latest model will be heading to the dealerships with all the brands strengths in early 2017.

The amount of room is characteristic of SKODA: with a length of 4.70 meters, a width of 1.88 meters and a wheelbase of 2.79 meters, the brands engineers have maximized the interior space.

This enables the vehicle to respond flexibly to various seating and cargo requirements  thanks also to the longitudinal and tilt-adjustable seats.

In addition, the SUV scores with practical intelligence through numerous useful Simply Clever solutions and innovative technologies, which would usually only be found in higher vehicle classes.

SKODA is launching their broad SUV campaign with the brands first large SUV.
Back in January, Willie Rennie called out both Amazon and Nicola Sturgeon over low wages and poor working conditions at the companys Dunfermline depot. A couple of months later, he found himself banned from the premises after Amazon management cancelled a planned meeting with workers to discuss the issues.

Things havent got any better for the beleaguered employees at the depot. This week, the Courier revealed that some seasonal workers were sleeping out in tents in this weather to save the costs of commuting to and from the depot.

Then an undercover reporter working for the Sunday Times () wrote about her experience of working there:

In one case, a woman who spent three days in hospital with a kidney infection was docked two points, reduced to one on appeal, despite providing a hospital note.

And:

Workers being threatened with dismissal if they accrued too many points for illness, late attendance or absence, or for making too many errors or failing to hit productivity targets A claim from a worker in Amazons on-site first-aid clinic that workers were under pressure to hit targets and were suffering injuries in the rush to collect products Workers were expected to cover more than 10 miles a day in the warehouse collecting items, but water dispensers to ensure they avoided dehydration were regularly empty  The reporter was told she had to sign an opt-out of the working time directive, which limits weekly hours to 48, in order to get a job.

Willie has called on Amazon to change its ways:
BERNARD Lucas, husband of Doolin Coast Guard member Catriona who was killed in Kilkee in September, collected a cheque for 1,000 on behalf of the organisation at the Strand Hotel on Monday night.

The Doolin Coast Guard was one of the beneficiaries of the recent Mid-West Press Ball, which raised 17,000 for charities and local voluntary groups.

Mr Lucas and his daughter Emma collected the cheque for the voluntary Doolin service, praised by Press Ball chairman, Ron Kirwan as all heroes, who put their lives at risk for the rest of us, as Catriona Lucas did.

The majority of funds raised was given to three groups  the Childrens Ark, the Neonatal Unit in Dooradoyle and to CARI (Children at Risk in Ireland), all of whom have a brief to work with the children, Mr Kirwan said.

They are to receive 3,000 each.

The rest was distributed in 1,000 lots to the Mid-West Simon Community, Cliona's Foundation, Limerick's Gateway to Education, the Limerick Lourdes Fund, Killaloe Diocese Pilgrimage Fund, Bothar and the Injured Jockeys Fund.

Mary Madden of CARI, based on the Ennis Road, said the funds would be of vital importance to the organisation.

We are so delighted and we simply cannot thank people enough.
FAMILIES across south county Limerick will no longer have to worry about finding a burial plot for their loved ones with the opening of a new cemetery in Ballingaddy, just north east of Kilmallock.

The cemetery, which has 699 spaces, has been officially opened by cathaoirleach of the Cappamore-Kilmallock district, Cllr Eddie Ryan, the Catholic Bishop of Limerick, Very Rev Brendan Leahy, and the Right Rev Gary Paulsen from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe.

There has always been an acknowledgment for many years that there was a need for additional burial spaces, however despite a number of sites being identified they failed to meet the necessary requirements and HSE regulations in relation to burial grounds.

The acquisition of a suitable site for a new burial ground in Kilmallock has proven to be problematic over the years, said Cllr Eddie Ryan.

But we soldiered on and eventually sourced this site. With the population we have in South Limerick, there was a real fear among the older people that they wouldnt be able to bury their loved ones in the own locality, he added.

With the opening of this new cemetery, that fear has been removed.

The proposal for the site in Ballingaddy, owned by the Clery family was first mooted in 2013.

Testing and analysis subsequently deemed the site to be suitable to be used for burials.

In 2014, planning permission for the cemetery, which is just over a mile from Kilmallock, was the first to be granted by the Cappamore-Municipal District.
PROMINENT Limerick developer Michael Tiernan has called for a redesign to the Rosbrien Interchange to facilitate access for traffic travelling from the M20.

At present, motorists travelling from Cork, Adare and Tralee cannot directly access the city at the interchange, instead having to use the Dock Road (N18, Junction 3) or Tipperary Road (N7, Junction 29).

Only traffic coming from the Limerick tunnel can use this exit, a situation which has existed since this facility was opened back in 2010.

But Mr Tiernan wants this situation to end, a view which was backed by councillors at this weeks transport meeting.

This is an issue which needs leadership at a council level. It needs to be looked at from an all Limerick point of view. It is critical, he said.

The businessman  who developed Arthurs Quay Shopping Centre  also called for the signage along the road from the tunnel approaching junction one of the M7  which motorists can use to access the city  be changed to remove Roxborough and be replaced with Limerick City Centre.

If you miss the Dock Road coming from Galway, youre not encouraged to use the Roxboro interchange slip-off to come to the city centre. If we were encouraging people to avoid Limerick, we couldnt have done a better job in trying to make sure people don't come in.

Cllr Mike Donegan, who seconded the motion, said: There is no signage which makes it clear it is Limerick City.

Cllr James Collins, Fianna Fail, who sits on the councils economic arm, Innovate Limerick, said efforts are being made in conjunction with the LEDP to make this part of the southside an employment hub.

But the problem is companies cannot get there. The biggest mistake made locally was the decision to not put an exit there, and we need to rectify this, he said.

Sinn Fein councillor Seighin O'Ceallaigh added: A major part of the regeneration is the economic boost these companies are supposed to get. We are investing so much into Southill, but there is no access to the road. It just does not make sense.

Director of service Vincent Murray said there would need to be significant extra road space for queued cars, and suggested this may not be possible. However, he said the council is currently reviewing access arrangements from the N18 to the southside regeneration area.
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Articol sustinut de MedLife Povestea unui ofiter maritim care s-a intors pe mare la doar doua luni dupa operatia salvatoare cu robotul da Vinci Xi. Avantajele chirurgiei robotice in tratarea cancerului de prostata
Scientists have found that rhesus macaque monkeys, like this one, have the vocal anatomy to produce human speech.

There is little doubt that non-human primates like Koko the gorilla are very intelligent. Koko, for example, uses sign language to communicate with people, telling them that she loves her pet cats, Miss Black and Miss Grey. Koko, however, is noticeably the strong and silent type, at least when it comes to speaking our language. She doesn't say a word.

They may not always show it, but new research, published in the journal Science Advances, suggests that non-human primates, even monkeys down on the food chain, have the vocal anatomy to produce clearly intelligible human speech. The discovery negates a long-standing theory that monkeys, gorillas, chimps and the like do not talk as we do because they are incapable of creating the sounds required for the skill.

"I hope that this new data dispels forever the widespread myth that monkeys and apes cannot speak because of anatomical limitations of their vocal tract," lead author Tecumseh Fitch of the University of Vienna's Department of Cognitive Biology told Seeker.

RELATED: Monkey-Made Nut Processing Site Found

Fitch, senior author Asif Ghazanfar, Bart de Boer and Neil Mathur investigated the range of movements that primate vocal anatomy could produce. Using X-ray videos, they captured and then traced the movements of a macaque's tongue, lips, larynx and more as the monkey vocalized, ate and made facial expressions. The researchers then used these X-rays to build a computer model of a monkey vocal tract, allowing them to answer the question: What would monkey speech sound like, if a human brain were in control?

You can hear the results, first with the monkey model saying, "Will you marry me?" and then, "Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas in French)."

(Recordings courtesy of Asif Ghazanfar, Princeton Neuroscience Institute; Image 1 Credit: Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble, Flickr; Image 2, showing Tecumseh Fitch in his lab: University of Vienna)

The experiment worked out great, and yet we're still left with the fact that monkeys and apes do not talk as we do. The explanation turns out to be more complex, and controversial, than you might think.

First, Fitch and his team believe that most mammals possess flexible, speech-ready vocal tracts. He said, "It seems clear that this type of flexibility evolved early on, for reasons other than vocalization, probably initially for food processingmanipulating and swallowing food."

He suspects that humans evolved at least two important changes to our brains that give us a communication edge.

Fitch explained, "We have direct connections between our motor cortical neurons and the neurons that actually control the vocal tract musculature, particularly those in charge of the larynx; and we have much more substantial connections, within our cortex, between the auditory cortexresponsible for hearing soundsand the motor cortex, responsible for making sounds."

Fitch says there are many theories attempting to explain how humans evolved both the brain and the vocal tract for speech. One of his favorites was formulated by famed British naturalist Charles Darwin, who theorized that our ancestors initially evolved to become "singing apes," or kind of a cross between gibbons and songbirds and being able to learn new songs. This musical ability, Darwin suspected, emerged first, and then later was put to use in speech.

X-ray of a macaque vocal tract. (Image credit: Asif Ghazanfar, Princeton Neuroscience Institute)

Fitch thinks it is unlikely we could teach non-human primates to speak, save for the remote chance that genetic engineering in future might make this possible.

Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at Yale University, told Seeker the paper "opens whole new doors for finding the key to the uniqueness of humans' unparalleled language ability."

RELATED: Monkeys in Brazil Are Making Knives Just Because

On the other hand, Constance Scharff, a professor in the Department of Animal Behavior at Free University Berlin, indicates we may undervalue the communicative skills of animals, many of whichlike parrotsare clearly very vocal.

Scharff told Seeker that she is glad the new study "puts another nail in the coffin of the idea that the absence of speech in macaques cannot be explained by an unsuitable vocal tract." Scharff also agrees that monkeys "do not seem to have the same regions and neural connections in their brains that humans use."

But, she quickly added, "there are other ways imaginable to achieve speech." She pointed out that parrots, seals and elephants either use quite different brain regions to vocalize, or the underlying systems remain largely unknown.

"As many experiments have recently shown," she added, "animals might not do things under natural conditions, but are capable of doing them when trained and prompted, such as sea lions and parrots moving to a beat."

"I am aware that so far the evidence in macaques points against 'speech-ready' neural hardware, but I think we do not know enough about all the ways brains can produce sounds in a speech-like way to say, 'Macaques don't because their brains can't.'"

Originally published on Seeker.
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) as his Secretary of the Interior. Here, the two pose for a photo at Trump International Golf Club in New Jersey on Nov. 20, 2016.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a sixth-term Republican from Washington State who is a climate change denier and an ardent opponent of regulations for greenhouse gas emissions, has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump for Secretary of Interior.

If McMorris Rodgers is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she would govern the management of more than 500 million acres of federal public lands, including more than 400 national parks.

Perhaps most critically, she would oversee the development of many of America's fossil fuels and renewables resources, including all of its offshore oil, gas and wind development. Federal land is the source of more than 20 percent of all the oil and gas and 40 percent of the coal produced in the U.S.

McMorris Rodgers would have the power to reverse Obama administration efforts to protect federally managed waters from oil and gas development as well as end the research into how coal mining affects the climate. Earlier this year, the Obama administration placed a three-year moratorium on federal coal leasing, and closed the entire East Coast and parts of the Arctic Ocean to offshore oil drilling.

Protection of Public Lands Cast in Doubt Public Lands May Be America's Best Climate Defense Offshore Wind Project to Go Live as Industry Eyes Trump

The land the Interior Department manages stores atmospheric carbon in trees and tree roots; protects biological diversity in wilderness areas, forests and national parks; and provides water for millions of people, mainly in the West.

McMorris Rodgers would also have wide-ranging influence over how the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey communicate to the public about global warming, potentially troubling in light of her denial of climate change and climate science.

"Scientific reports are inconclusive at best on human culpability of global warming," McMorris Rodgers falsely told the Spokane, Wash., Spokesman-Review newspaper in 2012. "Regardless of which theory proves correct, the goal is the same  to reduce carbon emissions, we need innovation in the private sector; not excessive government regulation to stifle some industries while rewarding others. I oppose 'cap and trade' and other big government schemes because they will destroy jobs while likely having minimal impact on the climate."

McMorris Rodgers signed a 2012 pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group funded by billionaire David Koch, promising that she would oppose any federal climate-related legislation that would raise revenue for the federal government, including a carbon tax.

Coming from Washington State, which is highly dependent on large hydroelectric dams for its electricity, McMorris Rodgers is a vocal supporter of hydropower and nuclear energy and has sponsored legislation expanding the development of small hydroelectric dams nationwide  a valuable source of renewable energy.

But she is also a major proponent of drilling public lands for fossil fuels.

The Interior Secretary oversees more than 500 million acres of public lands, including Arches National Park in Utah. (Image credit: Bobby Magill/Climate Central)

The League of Conservation Voters gives McMorris Rodgers a 4 percent lifetime score out of a possible 100 in their environmental scorecard because she has voted against bills that would have required the federal government to account for the social cost of carbon in administrative actions and required federally funded projects to be resilient to the impacts of climate change.

McMorris Rodgers has supported legislation that would have opened the Outer Continental Shelf to oil drilling, and opposed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as an air pollutant. She has also voted against tax credits for renewable electricity.

"That is not a record that is likely to inspire confidence from the environmental community," said Mark Squillace, a natural resources law professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder. "On the other hand, I dont sense that she has been a leading voice on public lands issues and so perhaps she will take a more conciliatory approach if she is confirmed as Interior Secretary."

He said that McMorris Rodgers has mostly voted with other Republicans on environmental and public lands issues.

"She also serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but again I have not seen clear signs of leadership on energy issues, other than a pattern of consistent votes in favor of fossil fuels and against taking action on climate change," Squillace said.

In 2011, McMorris Rodgers co-sponsored a bill that would have required the Interior Secretary to sell off more than 3 million acres of public lands in 10 western states, a bill driven largely by western Republicans who believed the land served no specific purpose. Selling it would have raised more than $1 billion for the federal government, Utah Sen. Mike Lee said at the time.

As Interior secretary, McMorris Rodgers will oversee water management in much of the West. The department's Bureau of Reclamation operates 476 dams and 348 reservoirs across the country, and it is in charge of numerous scientific endeavors and mapping the entire globe through the U.S. Geological Survey.

McMorris Rodgers has opposed the designation of new national monuments using the Antiquities Act. President Obama designated Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico in 2013. (Image credit: Bobby Magill/Climate Central)

Robert H. Nelson, a professor of public policy focusing on public lands management at the University of Maryland and a proponent of the federal government transferring federal public lands to the states, said that what's most notable about McMorris Rodgers' nomination is that, unlike other Trump cabinet nominees, she does not appear to be a well-known activist.

"If he had done that, he would have picked someone from a state like Utah," Nelson said, referring to Trump. "Her district, however, along with the rest of Washington State, is heavily affected by hydropower supplied from federal dams. There she has a higher profile. She has publicly supported, for example, keeping the four Snake River dams that many environmentalists would like to tear down."

Other experts and conservationists are grim about the future of public lands under McMorris Rodgers.

"Together the pro-fossil fuel team of McMorris at Interior and Scott Pruitt at EPA is a disaster in the making for efforts to reign in CO2 before we hit truly awful tipping points," said Jack Tuholske, director of the Vermont Law School Water and Justice Program. "Federal lands have enough coal, oil and gas to push us over any reasonable carbon threshold. President Obama has been fairly successful in limiting access to those resources, especially in his second term. All of those efforts could be undone with Trump's team in place."

Dominick DellaSala, chief scientist of the Geos Institute in Ashland, Ore., said McMorris Rodgers is no fan of the National Environmental Policy Act, the law that requires environmental review of new development and land management changes on federally owned land.

McMorris Rodgers is "bad but could be worse on these issues," DellaSala said. "She's not likely to champion public lands conservation issues."

Gary Wockner, director of Save the Colorado, a group advocating for conservation and preservation of the Colorado River, said McMorris Rodgers has an "extreme" anti-environment voting record.

"The U.S. Senate should do everything in its power to stop her appointment and stop Trump's impending war on the public lands, rivers, and wildlife of the West," Wockner said.

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Originally published on Climate Central.
A Brazilian artist who has made her name by colorizing poignant, well-known photographs is back with a new batch of colorized photos of some of the most famous people in history.

Marina Amaral, 21, is self-taught and has managed to make photo colorization a full-time job. Since this past summer her photos have made the rounds across the internet, with fans praising her for bringing history to life all over again.
Coming just three days after the county was allocated 350,000 in Rural Economic Development Zones (REDZ) funding and a number of weeks after the allocation of 380,000 in the Town and Village Renewal scheme, it was announced last Thursday that Longford will receive a further 232,560 under the CLAR programme.

The CLAR Programme provides funding for small scale infrastructural projects in disadvantaged rural areas that have experienced significant levels of depopulation.

Projects in Ballinalee (54,000), Foxhall, Legan (30,000), St Dominics, Kenagh (30,000) and Granard Rural (48,000) received the highest amount of funding in the CLAR programme which was unveiled by the Minister of State for Regional Economic Development, Michael Ring TD.

Cllr Micheal Carrigy said he has been campaigning since he was elected in 2009 for a pedestrian crossing to be installed in Ballinalee as the main R194 divides the village and he is delighted with the allocation of 54,000.

Cllr Carrigy remarked, With a large amount of Northern Ireland and HGV traffic passing through the village, these works will benefit school going children and those using the various community facilities. Funding has also been secured to erect new digital speed signs at Scoil Samhthann NS which is located on the main Granard/Longford Rd.

Confirmation of the 30,000 in funding for Legan to construct a pedestrian crossing at the school has been welcomed by Cllr Paul Ross.

Cllr Ross commented, This project is something that I have worked on since my election and will be of huge benefit to all residents in Legan and will make the village a safer place. The CLAR programme was effectively closed for new applications since 2009, but was reopened by Minister Ring in October this year.

Longford/Westmeath Independent Alliance TD, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, outlined, Rural development remains a key concern of mine and I am very happy to welcome this CLAR funding for Longford.

He added, CLAR funding is vital for small towns and villages as it helps to create an attractiveness for further social and economic growth. By creating a positive image, rural Ireland can position itself for future opportunities.

Local Fine Gael TD Peter Burke said, Fine Gael in Government is committed to ensuring that people living and working in rural Ireland feel the benefits as the economy con
In a joint statement to the Leader this week, Councillors Micheal Carrigy and PJ Reilly backed the announcement.

It's understood the works will consist of adding new fencing and roadway resurfacing approaching the shoreline with resurfacing of the car park itself also included.

Efforts to restore the popular tourist facility to its former glory have been a long running and, at times, contentious issue for many.

A large part of thatdiscord has followed a HSE decision taken three years ago to close the public toilets there on public health concerns.

Hopes of a breakthrough in re-opening the toilets gathered pace earlier this year when Longford County Council agreed to apportion 10,000 towards the project.

But it is news this week of a further 48,000 for supplementary improvement works which has been met with widespread approval from local politicians.

Continuing their joint statement, Cllrs Carrigy and Reilly claimed both have been actively involved in securing funding to upgrade this fantastic facility for some time.

They added that work on securing further funding with a view to installing playground equipment was also starting to take shape.
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: December 11 2016

The Missing Person Squad is investigating a Missing Juvenile that occurred on Friday, December 9, 2016 at 10:00 p.m. in New Cassel.

Manuel Pineda, 15, of New Cassel has been missing since December 9, 2016. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call 516-573-7347 or call 911.

New Cassel, NY - December 9, 2016 - The Missing Person Squad is investigating a Missing Juvenile that occurred on Friday, December 9, 2016 at 10:00 p.m. in New Cassel.

According to detectives, Manuel Pineda, 15, male Hispanic was last seen leaving his residence on Brooklyn Avenue. He is described as 57 tall, 140 lbs., brown eyes and black hair.

Detectives ask anyone with information about the above missing juvenile to contact the Missing Persons Squad at 516-573-7347 or dial 911. All callers will remain anonymous.
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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Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Maoist Killings in Malkangiri

by Suranjita Ray

For the last few decades now, Malkangiri district1 of Western Odisha has remained a concern of the governments both at the Centre as well as in the State. It not only ranks last in the indices of development and figures at the top for acute malnutrition, but more recently it has also seen horrors such as that of a father forced to walk six kilometres with the body of his 10-year-old daughter after the ambulance left them midway. Moreover, Malkangiri has seen an increasing number of deaths of children caused by Japanese Encephalitis (JE).2 Most importantly, the Naxal-hit district has made news headlines for the highest number of successful killings of the Maoists.

In the past two decades the Naxal movement has strengthened itself in almost fifty per cent of the districts of Odisha. Besides Malkangiri, the Naxalites have spread in several districts such as Koraput, Nabarangapur, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Kandhamal, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, and Jajpur. Ever since Sabyasachi Panda, the undis-puted leader of the Naxal movement, declared gun fight and guerrilla war as an important strategy to attain revolutionary goals, the Maoists, despite the organisational differences between the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist Liberation (CPI-ML Libration) and Peoples War Group (PWG), have resorted to a more militarised approach. The Chashi Mulia Samiti, a frontal organisation of the CPI (Maoist), has led several land capture programmes in the tribal villages of the south-western districts which experienced illegal transfers of land from the tribal people in particular. The Maoist-backed Chashi Mulia Adivashi Sangh (CMAS) in Koraput has also occupied large acres of non-tribal land claiming it to be their own. Though the emergence of the non-tribals as the landowning class and the tribals as landless are mutually constituted, it is significant to understand that increasing landlessness of the tribal people and the process of alienation of tribal land not only accelerated due to land transfers to the non-tribals, but also due to the dismantling of the community ownership of land, and control over the common land and forests.

Since the state in alliance with the corporate sector plays a vital role in acquiring common land in the name of development projects, despite resulting in alienation of livelihood resources, displacement, deprivation, disentitle-ment, and impoverishment for the large majority who remain disadvantaged and disempowered, the Maoists have waged a war against the development policies of the state. More than 40 per cent of the displaced families in Odisha who have lost control over the sources of livelihood due to the big development projects, are the tribal people. Though successive regimes in Odisha have acknowledged Naxalism as a socio-economic problem, there has been no clear policy to resolve the problem. Rather an important strategy to counter the rising influence of Naxalites has seen increasing killings of several Maoist cadres.

Feat of the State

Malkangiri, which was a part of the undivided Koraput district, saw the emergence of the Naxalite movement as a peasant movement in the early 1960s. The Naxal movement had a cumulative influence in Malkangiri due to the land transfers from the tribals to the non-tribals alongside the land disputes between tribals and Bangladeshi refugees. Surrounded by hills on three sides and Balimela reservoir on the fourth, Ramgarh village remains a safe place for the Maoists. Though there have been mass surrenders and killing of several Maoist cadres during the past encounters, the shooting and chasing by a joint team of Greyhounds Commandos and Odisha Police in the early hours of October 24, 2016, that killed twenty-four Maoists on the outskirts of Malkangiri along the Andhra-Odisha border, have exceeded the earlier killings. The death toll rose to thirty Maoists the next day. For the villagers, who are yet to recover from the rifles sounds, the mud walls struck by bullets remind one of the fear and insecurity that have become a regular living experience for the villagers in Ramgarh. The whereabouts of thirteen villagers out of the seventeen who were taken by the Maoists is not known. One of them has been shot. This recapitulates the killings of the villagers in the adjacent districts in the recent past. The police claimed that the villagersfive tribals, including a two-year-oldwere killed on July 26, 2015 as the autorikshaw in which they were travelling came in the line of firing between the police and Maoists at Pongalpadar in Kandhamal district. Three villagers from Nisanguda and Panchkul, including two tribals and a Dalit, who were looking for the missing goats of a panchayat ward member, were shot dead in a reserve forest of Kalahandi in the combing operations on November 15, 2015. (Mohanty, 2016: 8)

The killings of the Maoists, who had gathered on October 24 in a cut-off area of Malkangiri to re-strengthen their base, was the biggest loss suffered by the party in the last forty years of its revolutionary struggle. A press note, issued in the name of Pratap, accused the police of capturing its 11 comrades in injured condition and killing them after torture. He claimed that the killing of common people in fake encounters has become a routine and the October 24 encounter was a part of this series. The Maoists called for a bandh in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on November 3 in the light of the encounter with the security forces.

The anti-Maoist operation is a major success for the security forces as Malkangiri happens to be a major transit zone of the Maoists. The encounter has been understood as a befitting response to the earlier failed attempt by the Greyhounds when thirtytwo of them were killed on June 29, 2008 while returning in boats from a combing operation in a cut-off area of Malkangiri. Since this was understood as a victory for the Maoists, eight years later the killings of the Maoists is approved as a tactical response that is proportional to the killing of the Greyhounds and thus is counted as a bigger success for the state. (Ibid.: 12) It is a defeat of the Maoists across States as in the recent past several Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans in Dantewada and Sukma have been killed by skillfully concealed Impoverised Explosive Devices (IEDs) by the Maoists.

While the attack on the Maoists might have led to a brief period of peace, it is unwise for the government to assume that the former will not retaliate. Though the strength of the Maoists and their support-base has declined in the last one year as hundreds of Maoist supporters, including militias, have surrendered,3 it is important to comprehend that violence against the Maoists as a strategy in the past had failed to curtail violence by the Maoists. Increased killings in the past either of the Maoists, the police or the villagers have only aggravated fear and insecurity in these regions and normalcy remains a far dream. The harrowing histories of human tragedy unfold the failure of the state to resolve the conflicts that have grown over the years between the state and the people.

Since the Naxal insurgency is seen as abhorrent due to the growing violent nature of the movement, the mainstream security narratives most of the times concur with the increasing violence and coercion that people in the interiors of the rural areas have been experiencing in their everyday life. The Centres recent warning to the Chief Ministers of the worst Naxal-affected States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha to head unified commands to deal with the problem of the Left-wing extremism threat more effectively can only increase the conflicts and result in more violence. The more the state undermines the Maoist struggles, the more aggressive they would become giving rise to more and more repressive measures by the state.

While the intrinsic right of a nation to protect itself legitimises several such anti-Maoist operations, uncertainty about the official version of the alleged encounter has raised many doubts. The Left-wing poet and civil rights campaigner, P. Varavara Rao, calls the gun-fight in Malkangiri a fake encounter. He has demanded an inquiry by a sitting High Court judge. The police surrounded a Maoist meeting and shot them in cold blood and claimed it as an exchange of fire between them and the rebels.... Post-bifurcation, the influence of the Maoists has come down and they have not launched any major attacks. Since fake encounters are not allowed by law, it has raised many questions. Chiluka Chandrasekhar, the petitioner, alleged that the Greyhounds had gone ten kilometres beyond their perimeter to kill the Maoists who had only gathered there for a meeting. They should have been arrested instead of being killed.

Though the security forces alongside certain sections in the media justify such extra-judicial killings as significant to end the Naxalite movement, it is important to understand that resorting to violence to deal with the Maoists should not be the only necessary strategy. Several scholars alongside the human rights activists argue that despite the growing hostility, negotiation should always be given priority as a strategy to resolve conflicts in a democracy. Therefore the reasons for resorting to inhuman harsh laws against the Maoists remain disputed. While the Opposition and the ruling parties miss no opportunity to accuse each other of politicising the issue, what is even more troubling is that the utter turmoil around the killings has shifted the focus from the real issues that concern both the deprived tribal people and the Maoist protests. The Maoists allege that the leaders of the Odisha Government are siding with the mining barons conducting aggressive mining that has alienated the local tribal people from access to and control over their livelihood resources. However, the political class has not only consistently supported the development policies that have ignored the basic rights to means of livelihood of the tribal people, particularly in the south-western regions of the State, but has also made all possible efforts to convince the tribals that growing conflicts and insecurity in these region can only be resolved by killing the Maoists. Such a strategy reflects the political class perception of the role of a coercive and repressive state that will only perpetuate violence.

Growing Disparities

Though the last decade has seen Odisha as an emerging economy, the new symbols of prosperity and growth have remained confined to the urban cities of the coastal region and its benefits have been cornered by the dominant class. The increase in the average growth rate of Odisha is because of the higher growth rate in the coastal and northern regions. The growth rate in the southern regions continues to remain low. The western region of Odisha, in particular the KBK districts, continue to remain the poorest, backward and underdeveloped for certain communities and groupsthe underprivileged. Though increasing investment in employment expansion alongside the social sector, such as health, education, water, sanitation, child nutrition and targeted poverty reduction programmes, has provided some benefits to the tribal people, the experiences at the grassroots reveal that they remain largely relief measures. Despite a host of poverty alleviation programmes that provide immediate relief to the poor, the wide array of development programmes and huge grants that poured into this area have failed to change the growing dispossession at the local level. There has been no radical change in the systemic deprivation and extreme distress on the ground. Special attention to the KBK region has brought development in the already better-off blocks, further widening the regional disparities within the district. There is enough evidence that the states policies on development are flawed.

The irony is that none of the political parties addresses the underlying causes of the extreme need, distress and famine conditions that persist in Malkangiri as major issues even in the election campaigns. The least they have done is to ameliorate such conditions. The processes of systemic and cumulative deprivations are embedded in the social, economic, cultural, and political structures of society. The prolonged phase of stagnation with continuing dominance of the big landowners in the western region, its economic backwardness and tribal composition alongside the eastern-based character of the political parties, and its factional and personality-oriented politics, left the KBK districts in a state of uncertainty, instability, poverty and inequality as compared to the districts of coastal Odisha.

Though huge grants poured to develop the backward KBK region, there has been no intervention to alter the disadvantaged situation in which the tribal people are placed. The history of Malkangiri had seen the subjugation of the tribal people economically, socially, politically and culturally. Despite special packages for the district, the governments have failed to provide socio-economic opportunities to the people for realising their rights to livelihood. Malkangiri remains backward not only in terms of the Composite Development Index (CDI) but also in terms of economic development as little occupational diversification has taken place. Huge acres of land, rich with mineral resources across the regions inhabited by the tribal population of the State, have been converted for the benefits of the industrialists, building and mine-owners. Displace-ment of the tribal population has increased in recent times as 80 per cent of the ongoing projects in mining or industrial sectors are located in these regions. This has deprived the tribal people of the access to land, water and forests. Despite a series of socio-economic and political reforms and policies based on protective discrimination against injustice and inequality, and implementation of the Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) policy, dismantling of the traditional production systems has resulted in disintegration of the livelihood system, alienation, deprivation and landlessness. The R&R measures are more technical and economic in nature and ignore the cultural, social, and ecological aspects of rehabilitation. This has caused increasing unrest across the State bringing the majority of the landless tribal people/adivasis and Dalits directly into confrontation with the state. The prolonged confrontation has raised serious questions about the very nature of the state.

While it was important to reconstitute the decolonialised state on a genuinely popular basis and representative democracy was subject to several revisions in the past, the dialectical relations between the state and its people explain the process of democratic transition that has failed to change the class character of the state. The conscious decision of the state not to control the acquisitiveness of the economically dominant class has curtailed its ability to intervene to redistribute the basic productive resources. While policy reforms have evolved substantially, they have not contributed to the strengthening of mainstream policy-making for such redistributions. Rather, they have reinforced the marginalisation of the landless and the displaced. Despite the fact that ownership and control over land has major implications for the living conditions in an agrarian economy, land rights continue to remain neglected in the policy reforms. A growth-centric approach to development has contributed to an economy which is extractive in terms of resources and labour power. Lack of education and health-care, widespread unemployment, and the growing alienation amongst the poor, landless tribals have provided enough reasons for increasing the hostility between the people and the state.

Over the years, the State governments have accused the Central governments of the neglect of western Odisha. The lack of cooperation between the two governments enhanced the distress contributing to the development of apathy amongst the people towards the political parties. The general response of the villagers is that the politicians only make false promises in the pre-election campaigns as nothing has changed during the past and the disparities have become more conspicuous. Persistence of poverty, underdevelopment and distress in the KBK region despite being rich in natural resources is one of the major reasons for demanding Kosala Rajya as a separate State.

Increasing inequalities, deprivations and disparities have made the interiors of the rural areas more vulnerable to the forces of the Maoist movement. Violations of the peoples rights have seen the escalation in Maoist activity in vast areas of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh (southern), Odisha (western), and Jharkhand. Parts of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala have shown signs of a Naxalite revival. One of the reasons why the Maoists have been able to sustain themselves and even revive in certain areas is because of their contestation against the states big development projects which have resulted in increasing deprivation of certain sections of society that is inextricably and structurally entwined with the power relations at the local level. Therefore the intervention of the state to alter the structures of domination and control is important.

The Maoist insurgency in large parts of the country in response to the development policies of the state, based on the neoliberal ideology that privileges the capitalist class, and the states counter-insurgency strategies and use of violence against the Maoists and common people illustrates the para-military nature of the state structure resulting in violence, aggression, insurgency and counter-insurgency operations. Killing the Maoists, adivasis, and police in Malkangiri and elsewhere has become more frequent than in the past, which illustrates the declining space to engage with the state. Custodial deaths and encounter killings are no longer exceptional cases. The human rights and civil liberties activists and participants of protest movements, who challenge the states policies and development projects, are accused of supporting the Maoists.

Summing Up

It is important for the government to acknowledge that the Maoist movement cannot be simply understood as a violent movement that needs to be crushed from the legal stance. (See also Narayanan, 2016: 12) While the present Odisha Government expects the Naxalites to come to the negotiating table without any preconditions, the irony is that the response of the government has been primarily to address the movement as a major law and order problem. Unless Left-wing extremism in Odisha is addressed with strategies beyond the legal standpoint, it is unlikely that Maoists will give up their hostile approach towards the state. If the trend in violence and resorting to killings continues to be a necessary strategy of the government as well as the Maoists, it will foster revival of violence and insecurity, which has become the new normal to an extent that one fears to live without fear. This fear is not simply because of the increasing violence both by the state and the Maoists. It is also the fear of growing suppression of their values and subordination in their everyday living due to the state policies.

It is important that the government addresses the root causes of the increasing inequalities and deprivations to win the trust of the people, rather than seeking their support by convincing them that the Maoists are the common enemies of the state and the tribal people. It is high time the state rethinks its strategies to negotiate conflicts and initiate peace talks. The practice of democracy will remain incomplete without such pursuits.

[These understandings are based on insights I have drawn from working with the tribal people in the KBK region.S.R.]

References

Mohanty, Debabrata (2016), Killed in Anti-Maoist Ops: Elderly Couple Calling Son, Villagers Looking for Goats in The Indian Express, July 12, page 8.

..................... (2016), For Greyhounds, Comeback After Setback of 2008 in The Indian Express, October 26, page 12.

Narayanan, M.K. (2016), The Forgotten War in The Hindu, November 11, page 12.

Endnotes

1. Malkangiri in western Odisha is one of the eight districts of the KBK region that also include Kalahandi, Bolangir, Koraput, Nuapada, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, and Sonepur.

2. Though deaths have occurred in the past due to JE in Malkangiri, this year the State Government has totally failed to reach the children in the affected villages with the vaccine. The Zilla Adivasi Samaj Mahasangh has challenged the medical reports which find that consumption of beans of Cassia occidentalis, locally known as Bada Chakunda, is a major cause of death among children apart from JE. The Mahasangh argues that the tribals have been eating these beans for generations as a remedy against stomach ailments, skin diseases and worms and such consumption cannot become the cause of death among children.

3. As many as 222 Maoist sympathisers, that included 19 militia and 72 women, surrendered before the Malkangiri Police on November 22, 2016.

Suranjita Ray teaches Political Science in Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi. She can be contacted at suranjitaray_66[at]yahoo.co.in
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > LEMOA: Dark Cloud over Indian Sovereignty

by Abhimanyu Kohar

Today in the 21st century it is not easy to directly put a nation under slavery. But for the last 20 years, various Western agendas and treaties of powerful nations are indirectly driving the weaker nations to slavery. Amidst such agendas, there is a new treaty, LEMOA, under which America can deploy its soldiers at any place at any time in India. Nobody has any realisation of the problems we have invited after signing this treaty. After concluding this Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), like other nations we will be left with no choice but to accept every initiative taken by America. A matter of grave concern is the fact that the documents which the Government of India signed in this regard havent been made public yet. And if the civilians wont pressurise the government, there is a bleak possibility of the documents ever being made public.

Some Indian intellectuals who claim that LEMOA is only a logistic agreement are actually being fooled. It is a military agreement under the garb of a logistic deal. After World War II, when the USA started dreaming of conquering the whole world, they began deploying their troops in different countries under different names to ostensibly uphold democracy and human rights. But America suffered a huge amount of human loss in the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. So the US Government faced domestic pressure from the American civil society on the issue of deploying permanent military troops on any foreign soil since the civil society in the US was against any such deployment of American troops on foreign soil. Now the trick is here: soldiers are deployed as engineers for repairing and refuelling aircraft. Furthermore unlike any Army base, the American Government wont have to pay any customs duty for either all the equipment or other stuff that will come to India with these foreign troops. Imperialist America has installed as many as 800 bases in the world and a majority of them are in the name of logistic.

We will have to bear the consequences of such deals. Russia till date has been sharing and developing some of the finest technologies like Su-30 MKI, Brahmos Cruise Missile, T-90 tanks and Fifth Generation fighter aircraft Su-50 PAK FA FGFA etc. with India. But after the LEMOA deal, where American soldiers will be deployed on Indian soil, Russia is planning to take a stance of not helping India to develop some of the finest war technologies. Till date, Russia has unconditionally shared its top technology with India under the transfer of technology scheme. We can infer the same from the examples of sharing the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet technology. Neither has any nation provided such enormous military support to India, nor can any nation provide it in future. Under the LEMOA deal, America has offered India a manufacturing line of a 50-year-old obsolete fighter jet F-16, which stands nowhere in comparison with Russias fighter jet Sukhoi-30 MKI. A fact worth mentioning is that America is itself replacing the F-16s from its arsenal and introducing a better fighter jet (F-35) in its Air Force. There is another consequence which India may have to bear; it is that Russia has started forming military alliances with nations like Pakistan and China which can isolate our country within Asia.

India will have to surrender its free foreign policies to America after the LEMOA deal. This is yet another matter of serious concern. So far there have been so many nations that have forged friendly relations with India but are hard-core enemies of America. With an investment of Rs 2000 crores, India established the Chabahar port in Iran in consonance with its strategic interests. The question is: will India now succumb to Americas pressure and stop using the port? It has been well-proven in history that America imposes its own policies even on nations which are its allies. So now is America going to direct India regarding our foreign policies too? Will Indias foreign policies be pawns in the hands of America? Under Americas pressure will India cut its ties with all the nations that oppose America? After signing the LEMOA deal, the answers to these questions will be left to America. After signing the LEMOA, America will certainly be an integral part of Indias foreign policy schemes, a matter of grave concern. India will be no less than a slave to America which will act as its master and we will have to be ready to serve it at its beck and call.

We might have to bear for many years the social consequences of this deal as well. When Colombia struck a similar deal like LEMOA with America allowing the US forces in that country, it was forced to agree upon yet another treaty SOFA (State of Forces Agreement), under which a deployed American will not be convicted no matter what crime he commits at the other countrys base. Such personnel were free from any trial in the court despite making pornographic videos of 54 innocent minors in Colombia. Since 59 years, as many as 28,000 soldiers of the American Army are deployed in Japans Okinawa city. These Army personnel have been found guilty of heinous crimes like rape, eve-teasing and smuggling of drugs. Despite committing such crimes, no Japanese court has the right to put them directly behind bars because they are protected by the SOFA agreement. India also will have to suffer the same plight after deployment of American soldiers on its territory. A big question which arises is: will the Indian Constitution vest powers in the hands of the judiciary under which American convicts can be punished? During the Second World War, as many as two lakh American soldiers were deployed in India. British reports of that time convey that only after these deployments did illegal smuggling and eve-teasing start on a mass scale wherever they were deployed. Has our Indian Government given a thought to such matters of grave concern? Has the Indian Government considered as to how it would tackle such problematic situations?

In the year 2000, a man named Booz Allen was sent by America to India to read the minds of the Indian military leadership. According to the report published by him, the Indian military leadership thought that the whole world purposely kept them away from advanced technology. America tried to trap India through a deal that specified that if India signed four treaties, it would get access to advanced technology. The first among these was GSOMIA which was signed by the Vajpayee Government in 2002, and now after 14 years the Modi Government has signed the LEMOA treaty. After LEMOA, India will be asked to sign CISMOA. Under this treaty, India will have to share its entire military communication data with America. In the era of cyber warfare, if we are forced to unlock our encryptions for America, where will our security lie? Furthermore, in the war period, all data by the command centre is sent through such secured communication lines in the form of codes. If we are asked to share our communication codes, America can easily track our military movements. After CISMOA, India will be asked to sign BECA under which we will have to share all the information regarding our space satellites. It will have a highly negative effect for an independent nation like India.

Remember, only two equal countries can agree on deals. There is a huge difference between the military powers of India and USA. The government says that the armed forces of both the countries will be allowed to use each others base, but my question is: why do we need their base? Unlike the blue water navy, our Navy requires strategic powers only up to the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Why would a nation like India, which is itself a victim of terrorism and extremism, need to set up its base in America? We cant fulfill any of our strategic interests by sending the Indian Army to an American base, nor do we have the resources to send our Army so far.

For long years in the past, India has been a part of eminent bodies like the NAM and BRICS, which claim to be independent of and unbiased towards any ulterior political agenda. Only because of Indias independent stature, the whole world respected it and kept it on a high pedestal in the past. Back in 1948, when every nation agreed to the annexation of Palestine by Israel, it was India that stood for the people of Palestine and declared: Palestine is the birthright of Palestinians and nobody has the right to acquire it. But it is disheartening to witness India losing its independent stature by signing deals like LEMOA and GSOMIA.

A perception put forward by some intellec-tuals is that America would now support India in its war against China. This is quite amusing. In 2007, a similar deal like LEMOA was struck between the Philippines and America, but America did not come to its help when the Philippines was confronted by China on an island issue. Enduring such a wicked attitude, that countrys President has now ordered America to withdraw its troops from the Philippines. It is very much evident that we dont have friendly relations with China but only negotiations can help resolve the issues resulting in conflicts with it. But if there comes a call for military conflict then we have to become strong enough to tackle China.

Signing a treaty like LEMOA will be Indias biggest strategic failure. Concluding such a deal and sitting on the lap of a powerful nation is indeed no strategy at all. Agreeing to LEMOA is not being mindful of our vital interests but kowtowing to the sole superpower. This can again lead India to the never-ending tunnel of slavery. Therefore let us Stand Up and Start Resisting this Black Agreement LEMOA in order to Save our Freedom.

The author, a social activist, is the convenor of Yuva Kranti, a youth organisation which has raised its voice against the black agreement (LEMOA) from different platforms. Already it has organised a meeting of more than 25 organisations with the purpose of building a wider movement against LEMOA.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > India and the South China Sea Dispute

by Supriya Sharma

The Hagues Arbitration Tribunal on July 12 clearly backed the Philippines on the issue of the South China Sea (SCS) dispute. It also declared large parts of the South China Sea as international waters and a few as other countries Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). India stood in support of The Hagues ruling as it believed that the international law should always be abided.

Apart from being a member of the UNCLOS, there are three large reasons why India needs to play a role in the South China Sea. Though India is not a direct claimant in the South China Sea, it has 55 per cent of its economic stakes in the South China Sea. Secondly, to uphold its strong Act East Policy, it is seemingly expected to take a stand. Thirdly, it is answerable to its ASEAN colleagues. Hence, silence would not work in favour of India. Exemplifying this further, India had recently dismissed a picture printed in a state-run Chinese newspaper that stated that India was standing in support of China over the issue of the South China Sea.

At the 14th ASEAN meeting at Laos, Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh stated: As State Party to the UNCLOS, India urges all parties to show utmost respect for the UNCLOS, which establishes the international legal order of the seas and oceans.

Hence, India clearly supports freedom of navigation and overflight, and unimpeded commerce, based on the principles of inter-national law, as reflected notably in the UNCLOS. Indias stand on taking sides with the claimant countries is neutral as it wants the involved parties to directly resolve it. It also believes that the involved states should resolve it without any use of threat and force which would unwillingly lead to complications and affect the peace and stability of the region.

The South China Debate can either have opportunistic or paradoxical outcomes in various ways.

India has already offered military support to Vietnam, which is a direct and important claimant in the South China Sea. India has signed two major naval projects with Vietnam and discussions on installing the Brahmos Missile system and Varunastra in Vietnam is also underway. India has also offered a hand on modernising and upgrading their military equipment along with training the Vietnamese submariners. The Philippines military equip-ment are second hand and aged and that country has also already expressed its interest in purchasing cruise missiles and other military systems from India.

India, therefore, can be seen to be emerging as an important military partner in East Asia, especially with countries which are in dispute with the Chinese. The South China Sea dispute can be viewed as an important opportunity for India to improve its relationships with its East Asian neighbours. China has defiled its relationship with the countries of East Asia by declining the verdict and this could be an important fortuity for India to further augment its stature in the region.

India could play a crucial role in Americas Asia re-balancing theory, thereby also giving it an opportunity to enhance its relationship with the US. The US has been significantly looking up to the economically growing, nuclear India as a counter to Chinese hegemony in the region. India, along with the US, could help the regional states develop their capabilities. India could be an important strategic partner in counter-balancing Chinas growing offensive role in the region.

The opportunities could also be paradoxical. Many scholars have argued that the US rebalancing strategy in Asia is largely to serve its own interests. The US rebalancing strategy has four main elements: first, to ensure the US leadership position; second, to reinforce alliances and partnerships; third, to strengthen multi-culturalism; and fourth, to strengthen economic structures through initiatives like free trade agreements (FTAs). Apart from these four elements, there is a debatable additional element of a constructive cooperative partnership between the US and China. Thence, the US rebalancing strategy is more in favour of the US interests and it cannot be termed as a containment policy per se. However, India needs to carefully understand the American instinct and ensure that it does not become a gambit in the hands of Americas Asian strategy. China wants to be the Asian leader and closer Indo-US ties could be consequential for Sino-India relations. India should not blind itself and maintain its own strategic self-determination.

In June 2016, China blocked Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) apparently on a technical basis. Though China has mentioned that it is not against Indias entry into the NSG and talks will again take place, Indias growing and active support to countries involved in the South China Sea dispute may lead the Chinese to stand against Indias NSG dream. Apart from the NSG retaliation, the Chinese have also expressed their objection to the selling of Brahmos to Vietnam recently.

India will have to be diplomatically clever, and that too simultaneously, in order to be in the good books of China to avoid economic and political harm to the East Asian countries, especially the ones involved in the SCS dispute, in order to become a robust power in the region, and the US, in order to benefit from its Asian strategy. Various upcoming events and trends will further unfold what the SCS dispute actually means for India, an opportunity or a misfortune.

Supriya Sharma is the East Asia Researcher at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Envisioning Health Mobility in India

by Pradeep Nair

This article attempts to envision the vivifi-cation of the health sector with the substructure of technological, digital and mobile revolution in the country. The healthcare sector is the primary service provider and welfare set-up which also contributes largely to the Indian economy in terms of revenue and employment generation. The growing outreach of the digital technology and mobile phones would change the face and scope of the health services and its delivery. It would not only fasten up the access and excellence in medical facilities but would also change the perception of and about health. This would boost up the community health practices, preventive health care and breaking up of epidemic diseases. The article simultaneously underlines the need to check the overt commercialisation of health and health services which may confine health for wealth instead of inclusive health and medical practices and services.

Healthcare and the Indian Economy

The healthcare sector is the third largest contributor to the Indian economy in terms of the potential to generate revenue and employment. The Indian healthcare sector encompasses hospitals, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and supplies, medical insurance and diagnostics. Among the primary subsectors of the healthcare sector, hospitals and pharmaceuticals account for the largest revenue, contributing as much as 71 per cent and 13 per cent of the total revenue annually. The sector is expected to grow to US $ 158.2 billion in 2017 from US $ 81.2 in 2014-15. The per capita healthcare expenditure has increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3 per cent from US $ 43.1 billion in 2008 to US $ 88.7 in 2015. Further, the growth of mobile and wireless communication-based healthcare is expected to reach US $ 0.6 billion for India in 2017. India shipped 26.5 million smartphones in Q2 2015 which is up by 44 per cent from 18.4 million units for the same period last year. Thus, the mobility-based health industry is brimming with new health applications, devices and services.

The Indian healthcare industry has grown considerably in recent years, contributing around $ 30 billion, which amounts to five per cent of the GDP and is all set to cross $ 280 billion by 2020. In terms of percentage of GDP, India spends less on healthcare services than many of the developing economies of the world. Even though the government earmarked approximately $ 55 billion for healthcare under the 12th Five Year Plan, the investment is not adequate to meet the target of universal healthcare. At current growth rates, the health infrastructure will be unable to keep pace with the increasing demand of better healthcare for all. India will end up with a total bed density of around 1.7 to 1.9 per 1,000 people against the global average of 2.9, and the WHO guidelines of 3.5 in coming years. The health service providers density will also be remain only 1.7 per 1000 by 2022.

Indian Healthcare: Some Blatant Facts

India ranks 112th on the World Health Organi-sations (WHO) ranking of the worlds health system. The doctor-to-patient ratio for rural India, as per the Health Ministry statistics, stands at 1:30,000, much below than the WHOs recommended 1:1,000. The overall healthcare spending (public and private) accounts a mere four per cent of Indias GDP, far below than the average of 9.5 per cent across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Even in this, the private healthcare sector accounts for more than 70 per cent of this spend; while the public healthcares spend is only 1.4 per cent. In term of the total health expenditure per capita, India spends about one per cent of its GDP on public health, compared to three per cent of China and 8.3 per cent of the United States. In 2015, the Union Budget had allocated 33,150 crore INR for the healthcare sector and raised the health insurance premium from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 and from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 for senior citizens. The allocation is much less than other BRIC nations.

With the rising middle class population, the average real households disposable income will be double from 2010 to 2020 leading to an increased expenditure on healthcare. It is estimated that by the end of 2020 the country will require an additional 1.8 million new beds to fulfil the targeted two beds per thousand people. The emerging challenges will be the infrastructural requirement for primary and community health centres, nursing homes, clinics, hospitals; and the skill gap-shortage of doctors and trained para-medical staff. The solution is the deployment of wireless mobile communication technologies and its linkages to the rural areas to bridge the gap between the increasing healthcare demands and the services need to provide.

Mobility in Healthcare

Today, mobility is one of the most promising innovations and is expected to transform the way healthcare services reach the patient. India has witnessed significant activity in the mobile health space with the launch of several different services; however, the majority of initiatives are focused on spreading prevention and awareness messages. Entrepreneurship in mobility for health has now entered the Indian market as lot of the ICT-enabled health solution providers like Rockefeller Foundation, United Nations Foundation, Vodafone Foundation, GSM Association, PEPFAR (Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and Health 3.0 have already made their presence in India.

Mobile technologies include mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA) and smart-phones like blackberry, palm pilot, iPhone, enterprise digital assistants (EDA), and handheld and ultra-portable computers such as tablet PC, iPad and smartbooks. These devices have a range of functions and applications like photos and video (MMS), telephone and World Wide Web access and software application support. Technological advances and improved computer processing power mean that single mobile devices such as smart phones and iPads are increasingly capable of high level performance in many of these functions. The features of mobile technologies that may make them particularly appropriate for improving health-care service delivery processes relate to their popularity, mobility, and technological capa-bilities. The popularity of mobile technologies has led to high and increasing ownership of mobile technologies, which means interventions can be delivered to large numbers of people. The mobility of mobile technologies means that many people carry their mobile phones with them wherever they go. This allows the temporal synchronisation of the intervention delivery and allows intervention to claim peoples attention when it is required. For example, healthcare consumers can be sent appointment reminders that arrive the day before or morning of their appointment. Real-time (synchronous) communication also allows interventions to be accessed or delivered within the relevant context, that is, the intervention can be delivered and accessed at any time and wherever it is needed. For example, at the time healthcare service providers see a patient, they can access the management support system providing infor-mation and protocols for management decisions to whoever requires them. This is relevant for providing clinical management support in settings where there is no senior or specialist healthcare provider support or where there is no such support at night or at weekends. As mobile technologies can be transported wherever one goes, interventions are convenient and easy to access.

The rapid advancements in mobile communi-cation technology is providing enormous benefits to all the stakeholders in a healthcare system by helping them to track the genuineness of medicines, enhancing patient-care provider communications for updates regarding diagnosis and treatment, and to monitor the improve-ments in the treatment through real time data. The information which was distinct at one time and is placed at different placeshospitals, clinics, laboratories, pathologies is now possible to store at one place accessible by the patients and the service providers 24x7 from anywhere at any platformweb, mobile, desktop, iPad, tablet. All this happens because of the wireless mobile technology and the shift taking place in the mindset and behaviour of the patients, healthcare providers, pharmacists, para-medical staff, and the technology vendors. Due to this the impact on the quality of health-care is now clearly visible to a large extent.

To take this development further, the require-ment is to collaborate across the healthcare industry to integrate technology systems, applications and workflows. This will unleash the power of health mobility to facilitate safe and secure exchange of accurate and timely information and will further increase the efficiency of healthcare service providers. It will also help to improve quality in the healthcare system. When the authentication of medication is possible electronically before the patient leaves the care centres, the benefits will go far beyond improved patient care. Electronic information of critical healthcare available and accessible on finger-tips means saving of time wasted on wired phone, fax machine, physical travel thus assuring that the patients will get immediate and right treatment quickly after the problem is diagnosed.

References

Gesellschaft fur Konsumforschung (Society for Consumer Research, Germany) Report 2015 on Smartphone Prices.

India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) Report 2015.

Industry Report, Healthcare: India, The Economist Intelligence Unit, July 2014.

International Data Corporation (IDC) Report on Mobile Subscribers, June 2015.

PwC ReportTouching Lives through Mobile Health: Assessment of the Global Market Opportunity, 2015.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Report, 2015.

Pradeep Nair, Ph.D, is an Associate Professor and Dean, School of Journalism, Mass Communication and New Media, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Hegemony of Ultra-Nationalism as a New World Order

by Arun Srivastava

The word nationalism was the unwritten sanction for Hitler to kill six million Jews as the Germans cheerfully watched. In recent times the global fraternity is witnessing nationalism once again raising its head but this time in a more ugly and ferocious manner in the form of ultra-nationalism. What is significant is that the Right reactionary forces, articulating the interest of capitalism, have been fostering this resurgence. Whether it is the USA, India, or any other country, the scenario is the same; it is a global trend. While the victory of Donal Trump points to the surfacing of this menace, in India too the BJP and Modi Government have been indulging in the same game. Even in Russia, Putin has emerged as the public face of nationalism.

Ultra-nationalism owes its birth to nationalism, but it is the political leadership that allowes it to happen. Distinguishing ultra-nationalism from nationalism is illogical because nationalism is an ideology that invokes loyalty and devotion for the nation-state and claims to maintain the nation as a unified entity. It is a mechanism to suppress the peoples voice of protest against the anti-people manipulations and manoeuvres of the Rightist and anti-people forces. The threat of being levelled anti-national always scares the voice of protest.

Long back Noble Laureate Rabindranath Tagore had mentioned: It is the logic of the nation that it will never heed the voice of truth and goodness and will continue to go on in its ring dance... trampling under its tread all the sweet flowers of simple faith and the living ideals of man. We are witness to how the political class and institution have been misusing nationalism to serve their own vested interest. They have been using it to measure the nature and depth of the loyalty of an individual, especially the dissenting voice. This mechanism is purely the nascent form of an autocratic dictatorship.

Surprisingly this enjoys mass appeal. The common people, unaware of the real intentions of the political class and the elite rulers, often endorse this catchphrase. A closer look at their machinations would reveal that these people in reality do not subscribe to the concept and ethics of nationalism. They resort to it only to fool the people. They are in fact not bound by the ideals of nationalism. It is their economic interest that guides and shapes their approach to nationalism.

British political theorist Roger Griffin described fascism as a palingenetic form of populist ultra-nationalism. The term palingenetic referred to an idea that instantly struck a chord with the masses and gave a populist base for the rise of totalitarian regimes in the name of national prosperity. Significantlypalingenetic statements formed the central part of the Narendra Modi-led BJPs election campaign in 2014.

The political rise of US President Donald Trump has revealed the dictatorial core of the conservative movement, brought back into the political mainstream racism which many believed had been relegated to the past, and raised serious questions among the US allies about the quality of American democracy.

Trump is great at capitalising on the neo-conservsatives belligerent ultra-nationalism, but he has little use for their ideas. Trump has not seriously challenged the neocons control of the elite institutions. Britains Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was politically correct when he said: Trump is a rich white man who pretends to be against the elites and whips up anger against migrants. Politics is too often presented as a spectator sport, something obscure done by a few people in Westminster. Now politicians are important, but politics is about the reality of life for all of us, and thats far more important.

How right Karl Marx was when he wrote that, while people make their own history, they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past!

Putin has promoted a Eurasian Customs Union. If successful, it would be a major step towards rebuilding the empire, Moscow calculates, while undermining West European capitalism. That is why Moscow has stepped up his rhetoric against the European Union. The Russian Federations double-eagle coat of arms derives from an earlier Czarist emblem abolished after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Its a new Russia, Putin had told the audience during an interaction. Europes far-Right parties like the National Front in France, Ukip in Britain, Golden Dawn Greece embrace Putins nationalism and the promotion of traditional values.

Every state needs a defining view of its place in the world that it can transmit to its population through the media, education and political systems. This is crucial if the state is to maintain and sustain legitimacy in the eyes of the people it rules over. The British capitalist state system has evolved in a centuries-long conflict between different sections of the ruling class and the struggle of ordinary people for democracy.

A significant political development is taking place throughout the globe. Irrespective of their political and ideological leaning and belief, the countries are witnessing emergence of authori-tarian governments and rulers. These govern-ments are out to terminate the Opposition. They are reluctant to show the minimum elements of liberal approach and liberalism. They in fact try to maintain the skeleton of the Opposition so as to keep alive the stupefaction of functional democracy. These governments had asphyxiated the peoples aspirations and the Opposition through the effective use of the global media and IT. They have been resorting to misinformation and despicable propaganda to tarnish the image and credibility of the Opposition. The media, which is supposed to be the fourth pillar of democracy, has turned subservient to the rulers and is a partner in the nasty game of fulfilling the capitalist design to malign the image and integrity of the democratic forces. The governments have been following a new type of censorship. Earlier censorship was resorted to gag the voice of the rebel media, now it is used to stifle the voice of the rebel and distort the facts, as we have been witnessing in India in recent times. The TV channels particularly have been trying to exploit their effectiveness to cater to the needs of their political masters. This has been also helping them by raising their TRPs.

The style of governance and development priorities are undergoing a major change. The shift has been towards capital formation. The urban middle class, which have been promoting the market forces, have come to acquire the character of market for the governments as they personify the social, cultural and economic interest of the market economy. The approach of the government towards the people, especially the poor, has substantially changed. This has also invoked a transformation in the peoples perception. This perception is the new ground for emergence of a new polity. In fact the expansion of this perception provides the ground for the emergence and spread of neo-nationalism which is the other face of ultra-nationalism.

In the existing situation the media is the new front of the governments propagating the ideal and idea of neo-nationalism. In fact the governments have been striving hard to incorporate liberalism in their machinations. The governments are resorting to all capitalist modes of appeasement to win over the media which has turned gullible. The changes that were first injected in the media in the form of multi-editions in 1985 in India have now started yielding the gains. They have been simply trying to maintain the facade of being liberal and democrat but in actuality they have been the creators of the authoritarian and autocratic nation-state.

The BJPs campaign slogan acche din aane wale hain, meaning good days are about to come, attempts to create an impression of a sharp break from the previous period of bure din, or bad days, hinting as much of a cultural revolution as of a new-era economic development. The saffron aficionados claim that the Modi Government has been approaching fast its goal and the latest initiatives were the harbingers of the triumph; however, the fact remains that they have been simply communalising the political system and institution of the country by raising the issue of nationalism and patriotism. For them, anyone curious about the performance of the Modi Government was questioning its patriotic integrity. This is the most dangerous approach which would invariably weaken democracy and strengthen the element of fascism.

Palingenetic ideas not only create a fascist state but, infused with an aggressive Hindu nationalist agenda, make the functioning of democratic philosophy and culture quite difficult. Nationalism then becomes the nationalism of the Right-wing which uses the cultural ethos of the majority population as a shield for its political agenda. It is then used for crushing any form of dissent. As the next step nationalism acquires the character of ultra-nationalism. No doubt this raises the political stock of the elite ruler.

Vladimir Putins government has also sought to forge its own state nationalismand used elements of the ultra-nationalist agenda in its increasingly anti-Western and neo-conservative ideology. Scott Fitzgerald was right when he declared: The rich were different from you and me. But todays super-rich are also different from yesterdays: more hardworking and meritocratic but less connected to the nations that granted them opportunity and the countrymen they are leaving ever further behind.

The idea of two Americas was a central theme of John Edwards 2004 and 2008 presidential runs. What made the argument striking was that it was being offered by none other than the former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, a pre-eminent defender of the free market. When the high priest of capitalism himself is declaring the growth in economic inequality a national crisis, it indicates something has gone very, very wrong.

This widening gap between the rich and non-rich has been evident for years. In a 2005 report to investors, three analysts at Citigroup advised that the world is dividing into two blocsthe Plutonomy and the rest: In a plutonomy there is no such animal as the US consumer or the UK consumer, or indeed the Russian consumer.

Ultra-nationalism has been the machination of the capitalist economy, rather capitalism, to wipe out the liberal form of politics and socialist nature of economy. What is quite noticeable is that ultra-nationalism has been acquiring a global pheno-menon with the spread of globalisation. Globally connected economy has given rise to a new super-elite class. Its members belong to the transglobal community who have more in common with one another than with their countrymen back home. Whether they maintain primary residences in New York or Hong Kong, Moscow or Mumbai, todays super-rich are increasingly a nation unto themselves. They embody the spirit of ultra-nationalism.

It is interesting to watch that these people have been harping more on nationalism than socialism or secularism. Having become a part of the capitalist economic system, for them the catch-phrase of ultra-nationalism has been the most expedient mechanism to achieve their goal. During the last 20 years the Non Resident Indians, who had virtually abandoned India and also severed their relations with their kin in India, have become quite active to find and strengthen their family connections and identify themselves as Indians. The reason is that the liberal ethos has been of much help to them to further their economic interest and establish a plutocratic hegemonic state replacing pluralism.

The rise of the new plutocracy is connected to two phenomena: the revolution in information technology and the liberalisation of global trade. In a globalised world technological innovation, people, money, and ideas travel more freely today than ever before. From a global perspective, the impact of these developments has been overwhelming. This has boosted the per capita income. No doubt this helped create and strengthen the middle class, it actually helped the super elite to grow exponentially. With this income inequality has also increased in developing markets like India. Since the early 1980s, a neoliberal agenda of global capitalism has established itself as a hegemonic mission within the global political economy.

In other words, the perceived failures of globalisation, and what is largely seen as the failure of the political establishment across the world, has resulted in a growing revolt against the existing capitalist system. It is this failure that has emboldened ultra-nationalist and Right-wing political leaders such as Donald Trump, Nigel Farage of the UK. The anti-establishment, nationalist and anti-immigrant rhetoric of Farage actually echoed with the majority of the British voters while supporting Brexit. Already the Right-wing leaders in France and the Netherlands have been opting for similar demands in their own countries. Apprehensions are expressed that the rise of populism and ultra-nationalism and anti-establishment sentiments could pose a serious threat not only to the European Union but also to the survival of existing political establishments.

The victory of Trump has simply complicated the situation. It manifests success for the anti-establishment rhetoric and its ability to propel leaders such as Trump from the fringes into the political mainstream. His ability to tap into the anger and frustration among the general population against political elites and forces of economic globalisation has enabled him to galvanise a massive army of supporters.

In India also the situation is the same. The BJP has successfully managed to exploit the peoples anger against the Congress. Recently the special conclave of the RSS held in Madhya Pradesh has raised questions on globalisation. The leadership has been critical of globalisation. Decrying globa-lisation makes it explicit that this has ceased to function as an economic instrument to boost the political needs of capitalism and the capitalist economy. They are searching for a more effective instrument and ultra-nationalism has surfaced as that instrument.

One of the underlying assumptions of the globalisation hypothesis is that nationalism is on the rise. Resurgence of nationalism is rarely disputed and is seen as a defining feature of the post-Cold War world. A closer look would however make it clear that nationalism has been used according to the needs of the time. In the fifties the world witnessed the rise of nationalist politics in the developing world for national liberation and establishment of new states. Nationalism during those years represented the anti-imperial emancipatory force that helped legitimise the struggle of the oppressed peoples.

But today its dynamics has changed completely and it is being used to protect the interest of the anti-people forces and hegemonic policy of capitalism. Marx perceived the rise of nationalism in his native Germany as an outgrowth of Germanys political weakness and economic backwardness. He was highly critical of German nationalism, because it ended up glorifying the nation with all its regressive and backward features instead of fostering healthy self-criticism and promoting reforms. Marx foresaw that national identities forged in response to the global expansion of capitalism might appear to be particularly divisive.

Nationalism is the belief that the country is superior. After the victory of the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections the nationalism debate in India has been coloured by Hindutva politics. The essence of secularism is gradually being lost. Ultra-nationalism manipulates people and their feelings. This manipulation may happen simply because the nation is looking for a strong leader, because the ultranationalist is a strong charismatic speaker. Modi is being packaged and presented as the macho leader with a high-pitch vocal cord. He resorts to theatrics and this is something people like. Never in the past has any Prime Minister resorted to this kind of machination to win over the psyche of the people. Obviously this type of approach and body language is liked by the people, especially the urban middle class, for whom the body language is more important than the actual face and approach of the leader. People did not like Manmohan Singh as he lacked this element. Even Rahul Gandhi has not succeeded in garnering a large following

In the period of reforms and liberalisation this has become the major ingredient for good governance even if the rulers have no basic idea of governance. Adolf Hitler was elected because he was a strong leader and also promised a better life for Germans. He was an extreme ultranationalist. The fact remains that ultra-nationalism is intolerant. Intolerance places democracy under siege. A liberal democracy accepts the fact that in a free country one can have different opinions and should have equal rights. This is pluralism, and tolerance is its ultimate rationale. But an intolerant society does not accept dissent. It always suppresses the voice of protest through the mechanism of nationalism. Suppression of dissent is key to its survival.

The necessity for tolerance has been internatio-nally recognised. Even the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations underlines the need to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours.

The author is a senior journalist and can be contacted at sriv52[at]gmail.com
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > How Fidel Shaped Cuba and Influenced Latin America

TRIBUTE

by Nina Dey-Gupta

Fidel Castro was born on August 13, 1926 and passed away on November 25, 2016 after a prolonged illness of diverticulitis.

Gandhi and Castro were both political leaders. While Gandhis political experience and experiments in politics began in South Africa based on non-violence, Castros was a purely home-spun one shaped by events closer home in Cuba, having led a popular uprising against General Batista, the dictator, who had seized power in a military coup in 1952 and had tortured and killed most of the captured rebels. It was at the young age of 26, in July 1953, that Castro led a group of armed combatants to attack Batistas armed forces. Finally, completing his mission of overthrowing the dictator, he entered Havana as a victorious guerilla Commander on January 8, 1959.

From then on, Fidel became a towering international figure whose importance in the 20th century far exceeded what was expected from the head of state of a Caribbean island-nation of 11 million people. He remained in power longer than any other living national leader except the still reigning Queen Elizabeth II of England.

Fidels final high school report in Havana records:

He always distinguished himself in all subjects related to arts and letters. An excellent student... an outstanding athlete, always courageously and proudly defending the school colours. He won the admiration and affection of all. He will study law and we have no doubt that he will make a brilliant name for himself.

Castro had made a dramatic entrance on the stage of Cuba and subsequently international politics. In his autobiography, My Early Years, Fidel recollected his days at the University of Havana when violent gangs ruled student politics, his early thoughts about armed struggles, his travels in Latin America as an international student organiser, his participation in solidarity actions with Latin American anti-imperialist movements, his first-hand experience of a popular uprising in Colombia in 1948, and his years as a young lawyer that finally converted him into a political activist.

Soon after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, several journalists and writers flocked to the island for an interview with him to discover the real Fidel Castrothe man himself. Washington Post corres-pondent Lionel Martin was one of the first to focus on Castros early years, speculating with some humour that Fidels Law School grades for the Spring Semester of 1949his Senior Yearpresaged his lifes course. He received a Outstanding in Labour Legislation, and only a simple Pass in Property and Real Estate, grades befitting a convinced Socialist.

Tad Szule, a serious biographer of Castro, had close access to him, resulting in a long, direct relationship, starting with his first conversations in 1959 and later when posted in Havana in 1961 as a correspondent for the New York Times. Szule commented that Cuban and world history would have evolved differently had this single individual been less determined.

Much speculation has always surrounded Castros political evolution, particularly his relations with the Cuban Communist Party and his commitment to Marxist ideas. In an unprecedented personal dialogue with the university students in Chile in 1971, during the government of President Salvador Allende, Castro discussed the formation of his political ideas: I was the son of a landownera reason for me to be a reactionary, was educated in religious schools that were attended by sons of the richanother reason for being a reactionary. I lived in Cuba, in which all the films, publications and mass media were Made in USAa third reason for being a reactionary. I studied at a university in which out of thousands of students only thirty were anti-imperialists and I was one of them. Later, in another speech at the University of Havana, he described how he, a political illiterate, learned quickly to survive in an atmosphere where mafia-like groups ran student politics. The Colombian journalist Arturo Alapes interview with Castro in 1981 described how the 21-year-old youth Fidel developed consciousness of the need for Latin American unity with his outstanding moral and physical courage, and his unshakeable self-assurance.

Castro remains the most important leader to emerge from Latin America and decidedly one of the pre-eminent shaper of Cuban history, since his own hero, Jose Marti, struggled for Cuban independence in the late 19th century. Castros own brother, Raoul Castro (the current President of Cuba since 2008), once remarked: The most important feature of Fidels character is that he will not accept defeat. Castro defied the US for nearly half-a-century, which included 11 US Presidents, while his country, Cuba, stoically bore the five-decade-long economic blocade.

It was only recently in 2014 that President Raoul and President Obama announced normalisation of relations with the US and Cuba reopening embassies in their respective capitals in 2015. However, Fidel Castro remains one of the most outstanding figures of the 20th century.

[The author first visited Cuba in 2004 and later in 2006 at the invitation of the Ministry of Education, Republic of Cuba to attend the International Conference on Education. Due to the serious illness that gripped President Fidel Castro in that year (2006), her meeting with the Cuban leader could not unfortunately take place.]

Nina Dey-Gupta taught Comparative Education, Education in the Third World and Developing Countries and Pedagogy of History at the University of Delhi. She is the Co-Founder of the Indian Ocean Comparative Education Society (IOCES).
US Congress Passes Measure Opposing Speech and Media Freedoms

First Amendment rights are Americas most precious. Without them, all others are endangered.



Post-9/11, police state laws destroyed fundamental US constitutional rights, remaining ones eroding toward elimination altogether.



Fascism operates this way. Americans are fooled by government and media propaganda, claiming compromised freedoms provide greater security, not realizing theyre losing both.

On December 8, a bipartisan measure proposed by Senators Rob Portman (R. OH) and Chris Murphy (D. CT) was overwhelmingly passed as part of the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).



The so-called Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act (CDPA) hides its sinister intent - a body blow against vital First Amendment freedoms, an unconstitutional measure.



House members overwhelmingly passed it, Obama certain to sign it into law, another disgraceful black mark on his legacy (no pun intended), a record of shame, disgrace and lawlessness.



According to Portman, CDPA will improve the ability of the United States to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation.



False! Its intent is suppressing truth-telling, crucial in all free societies, state-friendly sanitized content alone considered acceptable.



The passage of this bill in the Senate today takes us one critical step closer to effectively confronting the extensive, and destabilizing, foreign propaganda and disinformation operations being waged against us, Portman added.



While the propaganda and disinformation threat has grown, the US government has been asleep at the wheel. Today we are finally signaling that enough is enough; the United States will no longer sit on the sidelines.



We are going to confront this threat head-on. With the help of this bipartisan bill, the disinformation and propaganda used against our allies and our interests will fail.



According to Murphy, Congress has taken a big step in fighting back against fake news and propaganda from countries like Russia.



When the president signs this bill into law, the United States will finally have a dedicated set of tools and resources to confront our adversaries widespread efforts to spread false narratives that undermine democratic institutions and compromise Americas foreign policy goals.



The State Department has responsibility for implementing the measure. Russia, China and Iran sympathizers are potentially endangered.



At this point, its unclear what developing a whole-of-government strategy will entail. Should writers like myself fear FBI agents arriving at our homes with an arrest warrant for truth-telling, exposing government war crimes and other wrongdoing?



Is full-blown tyranny the new law of the land with few people realizing it? Does America more than ever resemble Nazi Germany? Will truth-telling on vital issues henceforth be criminalized, especially geopolitical ones?



Obama governs under a police state apparatus. He institutionalized Big Brother spying on everyone. Hes waged greater war on whistleblowers than all his predecessors combined.



He made America resemble Guatemala. Called the deporter-in-chief, hes waged white supremacist war on immigrants of color throughout his tenure - mocking notions of welcoming tired, poor, wretched masses yearning to breathe free.



The late Helen Thomas (1920 - 2013) blasted his attempted control of the press, calling it shockingTheyre supposed to stay out of our businessPress control is worse than ever beforeIts blatant, she explained.



With truth-telling equated with fake news and Russian propaganda, things appearing heading to become much worse.



With Russia wrongfully accused of interfering in Americas election process to benefit Trump over Hillary, will he abandon notions of normalizing ties and cooperating with Putin in combating terrorism - fearing otherwise hell be called a Kremlin agent, making him vulnerable to impeachment?



Is the worst of what Orwell envisioned now reality in America and other Western societies, following in US footsteps?

By Stephen Lendman

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com

His new book as editor and contributor is titled Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

He lives in Chicago and can be reached in Chicago at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.



Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday through Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national topics. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 2016 Copyright Stephen Lendman - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




RIDGEWAY  If Karen Eggleston throws a holiday party, you can guess its more about crafts than food.

Wednesday, the artist held four invitation-only crafting parties at her home in Ridgeway. Throughout the year, Eggleston teaches craft and art classes in several locations yesterday, and each December, she said, she likes to hold free sessions in her home for her regular students.

One of the topics of Wednesdays sessions was a Christmas ornament using designs from paper napkins. She had four on display on a work table. Each ornament was hanging from a stand with a fancy hook.

I think theyre cute. I think theyre just adorable, Eggleston said.

A pack of 20 napkins costs about $3, and cardboard or wood bases are cheap. You could make 20 (ornaments) for just near nothing, she said.

Though the class demonstration on making one ornament took about an hour, when shes working on her own she can make an ornament in about 15 minutes, she said.

Here are her step-by-step instructions:

Start with a heavy, light colored cardboard or thin wooden circle or other pleasing shape.

Choose a design from a holiday napkin. This is the hardest part of the class, she said jokingly: Separate the plies of the napkin to get just the top ply with the design.

Though the women initially chuckled at her warning, some of them struggled to separate the tightly held layers.

Cut the napkin around the design about an inch larger than the ornaments cardboard or wooden base.

Using a folded napkin or piece of paper towel, lightly rub a very thin layer of glue across the entire surface of the base. She uses Mod Podge, which is described on its label as a waterbase sealer, glue and finish.

Set the design over the glued base where you want it, she said. Setting two fingers in the middle of the design, gently and slowly smooth the fingers toward the top and bottom to secure the napkin piece. Then do the same, spreading from the middle to the sides, until the entire napkin is secure. Wrinkles are OK in the napkin as you smooth it down, she said, but bubbles are not. If any edges are fraying loose, smooth them down with a little more glue.

Sand off the edges of the napkin from the ornament base with sandpaper once the glue is perfectly dry. Take a small piece of sandpaper, hold it at an angle to the base, and firmly scratch it downwards (like filing fingernails). It will leave a rustic edge.

Turn the base over and do the same thing on the other side, so the ornament has both sides decorated. Be sure to have the design facing upwards the same on both, she said.

Cut a hole about  inch from the top. For that, Eggleston uses a tool called a Crop-A-Dile hole puncher. Various models of it range in price from $20 to $40. It cuts a hole in anything, even wood, she said. Her model has a few different size options.

Darken the edges to give the ornament an antique look. Use a small wedge of sponge to dip into ink, and lightly brush the sponge against the edge of the ornament, one side at a time. Hold the sponge almost perpendicular to the horizontal plane, and rub down against the edge, in the same manner as you rubbed the sandpaper. For the edges, Eggleston uses Distress Ink in Vintage (brown) or Black Soot (dark gray).

Choose a hook. Dont underestimate the positive impact a good-looking hanger will make on the ornament overall. She offered a selection of fancy S-curve hangers, some with sparkly red or metallic beads on them, in silver, gold and pewter. She added a tiny heart-shaped tag that says made with love before crimping the bottom of the hanger to secure the ornament.

About the artist

Eggleston has taught classes for local organizations such as Henry County Parks and Recreation, Patrick Henry Community College, the Reynolds Homestead and the libraries.

Eggleston is most famous for her egg art. She carves and paints eggs such as ostrich, emu, rhea, goose, swan, pigeon, guinea and duck.

Her egg art was featured on the shopping channel QVC as one of Virginias top 20 products. Her custom eggs have been requested by such known names as Bill Elliott Racing and James Madison University. Currently she (and Steve Eanes) have ornaments hanging on the Virginia Christmas tree in Richmond.

The studio inside her home displays the egg sculptures she is famous for, as well as calligraphy, woodcarving and glass engraving.

Egglestons website is eggarts.net.
M K Abdul Shuhaib, working as an electrician, was arrested for abetting the suicide of Nanda Vinod. The police say he threatened to leak her private photos to break-up.
On Thursday, Judge Reinhold, star of stage and screen, was arrested at the Dallas, Texas Love Field Airport.

According to reports, Reinhold became belligerent after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents asked him to go through a second security screening. Words were exchanged, security was called, and Judge Reinhold had a really bad day.

I have all the sympathy in the world for Mr. Reinhold. Ive been on a few flights since 9/11, and Ive gone through a few security screenings, and at times, belligerence has seemed pretty tempting.

However, this is the price we must pay for safety. In order to ensure that our airplanes are safe, we must all go through an arduous, lengthy checkpoint process. We must take off our shoes and belts, we must go through metal detectors and scanners, and, on occasion, we must even be groped by strangers who make sure we dont have guns and explosives secreted on our persons, even if we are elderly wheelchair-bound grandmothers.

This is the price of freedom.

The price of freedom is also about 7.5 billion per year in taxpayer dollars, because thats how much it costs to operate the TSA. Sure, thats an awful lot of money, but at least were getting plenty of bang for our buck.

Right?

Last year, the Department of Homeland Security conducted a series of tests. Undercover investigators attempted to smuggle mock explosives and weapons through TSA checkpoints, just to see if they could outwit the TSA.

They succeeded wildly. In 95 percent of the trials, the undercover investigators successfully smuggled contraband onto airplanes, right under the noses of the TSA agents.

A 95 percent failure rate is unacceptably high. If an exterminator advertised that he could kill five percent of your termites, youd probably hire a different exterminator.

The Homeland Security investigation raises several questions. The first question, of course, is how on Earth is the TSAs failure rate so high?

Theres no clear answer to that question. One theory is that being a TSA screener is simply a profoundly boring job, and no human being can remain completely engaged while spending eight solid hours staring at an X-Ray screen trying to determine if every travel-size bottle of Prell is 3.4 ounces or less.

The investigation raises another question, however, and an interesting one: If the TSA isnt actually keeping us safe, then why hasnt there been a plane hijacking since the agencys inception?

In an op-ed for CNN, security technologist Bruce Schneier argues that contrary to popular belief, terrorists are rarer than we think, and launching a terrorist plot is more difficult than we think.

Smart terrorists are particularly rare, Schneier says, and a smart terrorist could easily outwit the TSA. Dumb terrorists are more common, he continues, but dumb terrorists could be stopped by less complex (and cheaper) security measures than those currently used by the TSA.

Instead of spending billions on security theater  that is, the false appearance of security, as currently provided by the TSA  we instead need to focus on our nations intelligence and investigation agencies, which are able to suss out terrorists before they ever arrive at the airport.

What we also need, Schneier points out, are vigilant passengers. Remember the shoe bomber in 2002 and the underwear bomber in 2009? These were two terrorists who made it onto airplanes with home-made explosive devices. TSA screeners didnt stop them; the other passengers did.

The TSA was formed in November 2001. To say it was a knee-jerk reaction to 9/11 would be an understatement. Now, 15 years later, we should be willing to reconsider how useful the agency really is, and we should rely on cold, hard data, not on our feelings.

We owe it to ourselves. And we also owe it to Judge Reinhold. The man is a national treasure, and he doesnt need this kind of stress in his life.

Ben Williams writes for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at benjamin.williams@martinsvillebulletin.com
FALMOUTH

 An armed Falmouth man was shot and wounded by police Friday night after he barricaded himself in his room in a "sober" house for recovering addicts and threatened suicide,

Patch.com

reported.

Falmouth Police

said the man was "highly intoxicated" and making suicidal threats while holding a gun to his head when police entered his room. The man then pointed the handgun at officers and they fired.

The suspect was hit once in the hip by a police bullet. He was transported to a local hospital before being transferred to a bBoston hospital later that night. Police say he suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Police were called to the Teaticket Highway house designed for addicts leaving rehab shortly after 8 p.m. Friday night. Officers found the apparently suicidal man locked in his room. They attempted to talk him out of his room using a cell phone but he refused.

The street near the home was closed off to traffic as police attempted to negotiate with the suspect.

When negotiations broke down and the man again threatened suicide, the Upper Cape Special Response Team made entry into the room. The suspect had the handgun to his head but turned the weapon toward police as they entered. Police then fired.

The suspect will be charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and a firearm with one prior violent crime.
HOLYOKE -- The members of ArteSana hope to weave their way from an informal group into a business.

A nonprofit "social enterprise," ArteSana is debuting its first product collection of handwoven accent pillow covers and participating in a Kickstarter fundraising campaign.

"It is our hope that from this point on we can position ourselves for continuous production and sales, selling mainly through our online store (artesana.co) but also partnering with select local retailers, and have our woven products become the basis of a sustainable business," said Katherine Moonan, founder and executive director.

The venture at 207 Elm St. consists of immigrant women using traditional hand-operated looms to weave discarded T-shirts into covers for accent pillows and the plan is to make other products like rugs, placemats and purses, she said.

ArteSana (Spanish for female artisan) also offers the women free English classes and workshops to encourage their creativity, she said.

"This perfectly reflects our core belief in the importance of art and creativity in social transformation. In choosing a Spanish word for our name we seek to honor the rich artistic and cultural heritage of Latin America and the Caribbean, and celebrate the profound contributions of Latina community members to the cultural vitality of our own region," Moonan said.

Selling the products, and the money from the Kickstarter fundraising drive, generates income for the weavers, the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes and the creativity workshops, she said.

Moonan said a "social enterprise" combines profit-generating with a charitable mission.

"One large national example of a non-profit social enterprise is Goodwill Industries. They accept donations and turn those into social programs and most importantly wages for their workers who are mainly from vulnerable populations," Moonan said.

The Kickstarter fundraising campaign was at $5,165 Friday night, which was ahead of the goal of $5,000 with a deadline of Dec. 15. Pledgers can donate money without expectation of a "reward," or pledge and receive a reward, essentially buying one of the handwoven pillow covers, she said.

"Though technically they are 'pledging' and receiving a 'reward' it amounts to us finding customers who want to buy our product. We aim to be self sustaining so that's a principal goal," Moonan said.

Exceeding the $5,000 goal is helpful because that is the "bare minimum" to cover first-round production costs, she said.

Moonan, of Holyoke, founded the project while teaching English to adults in Holyoke over three years ago.

ArteSana includes, according to an email from Tessa Murphy-Romboletti, director of the commercial-catalyst program known as SPARK:



Erika Perez, of Chicopee, a native of Honduras and experienced seamstress;

Ivette Aponte, of Springfield, who came from Puerto Rico to seek special education services for her daughter and is a fiber artist;

Pastora Torres, of Holyoke, who was an elementary school teacher in Ecuador for 38 years and came to the United States to help in raising her grandchildren after her son became a single parent;

Diana Rodriguez, of Springfield, who left Puerto Rico less than a year ago looking for better opportunities for her family.

The pillow covers are 18 inches by 18 inches of woven squares on the front and a single refashioned T-shirt as the backing, priced at $45 to $65. They are available for purchase on the Kickstarter page until Dec. 15, after which they can be ordered at the ArteSana online store, Moonan said.

SPARK, or Stimulating, Potential, Accessing, Resource & Knowledge, is a federal and state granted-funded program through the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce that helps entrepreneurs become business owners. Moonan has completed the program.

"Katy is a graduate of the SPARK Launch program and has been doing great work in the community," Murphy-Romboletti said.

Among organizations providing financial and other help to ArteSana are The Beveridge Family Foundation, OneHolyoke Development Corporation, Reader to Reader Inc, the Holyoke Creative Arts Center and the Holyoke Local Cultural Council, Murphy-Romboletti said.
Authorities are still working to determine the cause of a massive 10-alarm blaze that ripped through a Cambridge neighborhood just over a week ago.

The Dec. 3 fire displaced over 160 people and spread across 18 buildings in the Berkshire and York streets area.

A spokesman for the state fire marshal's office told WCVB News that an investigative team is still trying to determine the cause of the fire.

Jennifer Mieth said the team is eliminating several potential heat sources and continues to conduct interviews. The television station reports the fire's cause is believed to be accidental.



The city of Cambridge was able find homes for 14 families displaced by the Wellington-Harrington neighborhood fire. Another five families will be able to move in new units this week.

The city manager's office and the mayor's office in Cambridge along with the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development and the Cambridge Housing Authority worked together to find the families housing.

"The entire citywide response to this fire has been incredible," said Mayor E. Denise Simmons. "From the opening moments when the first fire fighters arrived on the scene, to the next 48 hours as money started flooding in to assist these victims, to this past week as City Hall was converted into a bustling hive of activity, with scores of victims getting connected with the services they need. This tragic event has shown the very best of Cambridge. The fact that so many of these families are now on the precipice of signing leases or getting the keys to their new homes speaks to the level of coordination and collaboration among the city staff and state agencies. It has truly been a fantastic effort on all fronts."

As of Friday, the city had dispersed over $184,000 in donations from the Mayor's Fire Relief Fund. Over $600,000 has been donated to the fund.
ELLINGTON, CT - Connecticut State Police are asking for help to identify two men who broke into local stores and stole money from an ATM machine.

The break-ins happened sometime early Thursday morning or Wednesday night. The owner of the Ellington Depot General Store, 1 Crystal Lake Road, reported at about 5:30 a.m. Thursday he arrived at his store to find the front door and a side window had been smashed. At about the same time, employees of the Lake Side Deli, which is about one-tenth of a mile away on Route 30, also reported the businesses had been burglarized, State Police said.

In both cases thieves had cut communication wires leading from utility poles to each of the businesses.

Thieves at the Lake Side Deli were able to force an ATM machine open and took an undetermined amount of cash, police said.

They also tampered with the ATM at the Ellington Depot General Store but were not able to steal money from the machine, police said.

Surveillance footage from both businesses showed at least two men broke into each.

Police believe they may have been driving a two-tone GMC pickup truck.

Anyone who can identify the men caught on tape or who has information about the break-ins is asked to call Det. Scott Crevier, at Eastern District Major Crimes at 860-896-3233 or text TIP711 with any information to 274637. All calls can remain anonymous.
NORTHAMPTON -- What happens when a person refuses to stop drinking and driving despite numerous arrests and convictions, time behind bars and in-treatment programs, and even the lifetime loss of their license?

If the ever-looming threat of thousands of dollars in fines and more time in jail or prison fails to be a deterrent, the answer, under Massachusetts state law, is essentially more of the same.

That's because in Massachusetts, repeat OUI offender penalties, including jail and prison sentences, max out at the fifth offense -- the point at which a lifetime license revocation kicks in under state law.

The maximum criminal penalty for conviction of a fifth offense is a potential sentence of at least 21/2 years in jail or between 21/2 and 5 years in state prison.

Those who continue to get arrested for drunken driving after that continue to rack up the fifth-offense charge -- and face the same potential sentence of no more than five years behind bars.

Bradley H. Jones Jr.

State Rep. Bradley H. Jones Jr., R-North Reading, has been striving to stiffen repeat OUI offender penalties for years. His efforts have yet to gain much traction within the Statehouse, but he said he plans to re-file a bill in January that would increase penalties.

Steven E. Gagne, first assistant district attorney for the Northwestern district attorney's office, called the potential for an OUI offender to keep driving drunk a kind of "Russian roulette" with public safely.

"It's frustrating," Gagne said. "The registry can say you are suspended for life, but that doesn't stop you from getting behind the wheel or even drinking and driving."

Such a case came to the fore in June when Deerfield police arrested 48-year-old Holyoke resident Crispin Mathieu for his eighth drunken driving offense. Given state law, however, Mathieu was charged with a fifth offense.

Police said they arrested Mathieu after he crashed his vehicle on North Main Street and fled the scene.

Mathieu -- who has a lengthy criminal history, including a manslaughter conviction for the stabbing death of a Northampton man in 1991 -- has permanently lost his license six times over. He has OUI convictions dating to 1988, according to court records and reports in archives of The Republican.

And, he was sentenced to 14 to 21 years in prison on the manslaughter conviction, with his first license revocation following in 2004, according to records from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles record reviewed by The Republican.

"Despite his initial lifetime loss of license, he continued to reoffend and accumulated those six lifetime losses on his record," Judith Riley, a state Department of Transportation spokeswoman, wrote in an email to The Republican.

A Massachusetts State Police trooper shows a preliminary breath tester displaying the results of a test on a driver during a sobriety checkpoint in April 2015.

Two of Mathieu's lifetime losses were triggered by chemical test refusals: one on Aug. 24, 2011, and the other in connection with his June 25 arrest in Deerfield, according to registry records. The Breathalyzer device is the most commonly known chemical test.

Under a state act known as Melanie's law, which was implemented in 2006 to enhance penalties for chemical test refusals, those who decline a test and already have three drunken driving convictions face lifetime revocation.

Gagne agreed to speak with The Republican on the topic of repeat OUI offenders in general terms. He declined, however, to specifically discuss the ongoing Mathieu case, which his office is prosecuting.

Gagne said the penalties for drivers who continue to drive after their license has been suspended for life are not very great -- a maximum of 21/2 years in jail.

"There really isn't that huge of an incentive to stop driving," Gagne said.

The stakes for drunk drivers change immensely, however, when somebody is seriously hurt or killed.

Conviction of felony OUI with serious personal injury brings a state prison sentence of up to 10 years. Conviction of felony motor vehicle homicide -- which requires prosecutors to prove the defendant was operating under the influence of drugs, alcohol or other intoxicating substances at the time of a fatal crash -- carries a maximum 15 year sentence.

At the time of his June arrest in Deerfield, Mathieu had two outstanding warrants: one for a charge of leaving the scene of a May 7 crash with injury in Holyoke and one for operating after suspension.

His prior OUI arrests include a 2005 incident in which he led police on a high-speed chase that began in Easthampton and ended in Northampton.

A photograph released by the Deerfield Police Department shows the car Crispin Matthew was driving when he was arrested in that town on June 25, 2016.

That followed a September 2004 guilty plea to a fifth drunken driving offense, when Hampshire Superior Court Judge Bertha D. Josephson sentenced him to three to five years in state prison. The judge, though, recommended he serve his sentence at the Hampshire County House of Correction, and that part of it be served at the former Western Massachusetts Correctional Alcohol Center on Howard Street in Springfield.

At a June 27, 2016 dangerousness hearing in Greenfield District Court, Judge Laurie McCleod ordered that Mathieu be held without right to bail for 120 days for the charges stemming from the Deerfield arrest.

Mathieu has since been indicted and arraigned in Franklin Superior Court in Greenfield. The 120-day period he was ordered held without bail expired in mid-October. He is currently being held in the Franklin County House of Correction, also in Greenfield, in lieu of $50,000 cash bail.

Mathieu appeared in Greenfield Superior Court on Dec. 7 for a pre-trial hearing. His lawyer, Timothy Flynn of Greenfield, told Judge John Agostini that he intends to discuss the possibility of a change of plea with Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Bucci. Agostini scheduled a lobby conference to take up that matter on Dec. 15.

A final pretrial conference was set for Feb. 17 and the case has been placed on the court's trial list for March.

Flynn declined to speak about the case with The Republican.

Deerfield police, after arresting Mathieu, said he had seven prior OUI convictions. A registry official who examined Mathieu's driving record at the request of The Republican determined, however, that he had an eighth on his record as well -- from Colorado.

The remaining seven include six in Massachusetts and one in New Hampshire. They include convictions in district courts in Northampton, Greenfield, Holyoke and Ware.

Repeat drunken driving offenders accruing convictions for the sixth or seventh time are relatively rare, Gagne said, explaining that repeat offenders typically clean up their acts by their fourth or fifth conviction.

"It's a wake-up call. It's an embarrassment," Gagne said. "They get the help they need and they get their life back on track."

Even if such cases are relatively rare, Gagne said he supports the idea of tougher sentences for those who don't change their ways after multiple drunken driving convictions.

Steven E. Gagne, first assistant district attorney for the Northwestern district attorney's office, in Hampshire Superior Court in October 2016.

Currently, he said, it's unusual for a judge to impose the maximum five-year prison penalty for a fifth drunken driving conviction or beyond.

"I think the courts should have greater flexibility to impose longer sentences," he said. "Unfortunately, you don't see these sentences until somebody gets hurt or killed and it's a little late at that point. It's almost like you are playing Russian roulette with public safety."

Jones, the state representative from North Reading and House Minority Leader, agrees with that sentiment and has been pushing for stiffer sentences for repeat OUI offenders since the 2007-08 legislative session, according to his communications director, Michael Smith.

Jones was prompted to address the issue of repeat OUI offenders after a Marshfield man somehow managed to keep his license until his 15th arrest for drunken driving in 2006.

His most recent version of the law, House Bill 1414, was filed in January 2015, went into study and will most likely expire at the end of the year when the current two-year legislative session ends.

Smith said the bill calls for allowing judges to levy a maximum of 7 years in prison after a third drunken driving conviction and 10 years following four or more convictions.

The bill also mandates community service and an alcohol dependence assessment prior to parole or probation.

Jones said he will likely re-file the bill in January for consideration during the 2017-2018 session.

But why hasn't the bill gained any traction? Jones said he wasn't sure.

"It's hard to pinpoint a specific reason why the bill hasn't passed yet," Jones said. "But I remain committed to doing everything I can to see to it that tougher penalties are enacted so we can keep repeat drunk drivers off the roads and protect the public before a tragedy occurs."

Gagne, who had not been aware of the legislation until recently, said he "would definitely be in support."

State Rep. John Velis

State Rep. John Velis, D-Westfield, a member of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, said he believes enhanced sentences for repeat OUI offenders is "something worth exploring."

Velis said he supports the idea of increased post-incarceration monitoring, which would include additional probationary terms and additional random alcohol screening.

"The stakes are way too high for us not to look at ways we can combat this," Velis said. "If a (repeat OUI offender) is so inclined to drink behind the wheel, how can we stop them? It's really about how can we get this person right again so they don't start drinking again."

State Rep. Todd Smola, R- Palmer, signed on to the legislation and said he will likely support it again.

"I think we need to get the message out that if you are repeat drunk driver and you continue to go down this path we are going to get tough on you," Smola said.

Smola said he understands that such repeat offenders need help. But, he said, "My sympathy wanes when you hear about these cases and there are lot of them out there."

Springfield defense attorney Thomas J. Rooke agreed that those who rack up multiple OUI convictions need help.

"It's an obvious sign that the person needs some intense treatment," Rooke said, adding that such treatment should be coupled with stringent conditions of probation that include Breathalyzer equipment tied into the person's home telephone that allows for multiple tests every day.

Thomas J. Rooke

Rooke said he believes prison time is warranted when a person with four OUI's gets convicted of a fifth. He said, however, he sees no need go beyond the current maximum of five years in prison.

"If it's the fifth OUI and there are no accidents involved and no personal injuries, the judge's discretion to impose up to five years is adequate punishment," Rooke said.

Rooke stressed that a judge's discretion can be important. He cited a hypothetical case in which a person, convicted of four OUIs over 20 years ago, is convicted of a fifth later in life.

"There's discretion in the statute for the judge to discount convictions that occurred more than ten years ago," he said.

Gagne said he believes enhancing the commonwealth's ability to to prove drunken driving cases in general would go a long way toward preventing first- and second-time offenders from reoffending.

One way to do that would be to get roadside or portable breath test results admissible in court, Gagne said. "If offered now they essentially get a preview of what their Breathalyzer result might be back at the station," he said.

In Rhode Island and some other states, it's a criminal offense to refuse a Breathalyzer test.

In Massachusetts, those who refuse a Breathalzyer test for the first time face an administrative loss of their license for 180 days through the state Registry of Motor Vehicles, but no criminal charges.

Repeat offender laws for drunken drivers vary considerably from state-to-state.

Texas, for example, caps out at the third offense, which, as with Massachusetts, becomes a felony charge. In Texas, however, the charge carries a maximum of ten years in prison, according to my texasdefenselawyer.com.

The stakes in the Lone Star State, however, rise quite rapidly after that, due to its "Three Strikes" law. Three felony convictions for OUI in Texas -- effectively the fourth, fifth and sixth convictions -- can mean up to life in prison.

Conviction of a fourth drunken driving offense in Rhode Island, meanwhile, is a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of three years, according to insidegov.com.

Smola, the state representative from Palmer, said he often meets with the victims of repeat OUI offenders -- or with their loved ones.

"There are countless examples of deaths and injuries from them. They go on forever," he said.
SOUTH HADLEY -- A knife-wielding man robbed Berkshire Bank on Lamb Street here of an undetermined amount of cash late Thursday afternoon before fleeing on foot, according to police who said he may have hooked up with another person in the Gaylord Street area driving a get-away car.

No bank employee was injured by the robber, who remains at large, police said.

The robber was described by police as 6-feet tall with a medium build, and was wearing tan pants, and a black or dark-colored hooded sweat shirt.

South Hadley police responded to the call at 5:17 p.m. on Dec. 8.

It is the second time this year the South Hadley branch of Berkshire Bank, at 74 Lamb St., was robbed.

Anyone with information is asked to call the anonymous South Hadley Police tip hotline at 413-538-8231, ext.6.
SOUTH HADLEY  A female pedestrian struck by an automobile on Newton Street (Route 116) on Friday morning was transported to a local hospital, police said.

South Hadley police said they received an emergency call to dispatch at 8:57 a.m. for a collision in the area of Rita Circle. An officer described the incident as "motor vehicle versus pedestrian."

Police did not release the woman's identity, nor the extent of her injuries.

A South Hadley business owner, Kevin Miele, who said he was in his vehicle travelling on Newton Street at the time and witnessed what happened, told The Republican that he saw the woman appear to get thrown about 10 feet in the air from the collision's impact.

Miele said he called 911 at once, and stayed with the woman until authorities arrived on scene.

"She is a very stoic woman. She was in pretty rough shape, she got banged up pretty hard," he said. "She went a good 10 feet in the air. It happened right in front of me."

Miele also praised the work of the town's police and ambulance rescue personnel.

"I just tried to help the woman," he said.

The map below shows the approximate location of the accident:
This story will be continually updated as more information becomes available

Communities across the state are announcing parking bans in anticipation of the region's first large snowfall predicted for this year.

Between 4 and 6 inches of snow is expected to fall in Western Massachusetts and Central Massachusetts is predicted to receive 3 to 4 inches. The Berkshires could possible see as much as 8 inches of snow.

People are advised to follow the bans because communities will tow cars to make it possible to plow roads.

AMHERST: The town has an overnight parking ban that runs from Dec. 1 through April 1. During between 2 and 6 a.m. no parking is allowed on any town streets. Parking is allowed in the meter lot on Pray Street and also on the lower level of the parking garage but vehicles there must be removed by 7 a.m.

CHICOPEE: There will be no parking on main roads and no parking on the odd side of side streets starting 11 p.m. Sunday.

GREENFIELD: The parking ban was instituted on Dec. 1. There is no parking on any street or public parking lot between 1 and 6 a.m. any day. Vehicles are also banned from parking on the south and east sides of the streets at all times.

EAST LONGMEADOW: On-street parking will be banned from 12:01 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday.

LUDLOW: The town has set a parking ban from 11 p.m. Sunday until 3 p.m. Monday. There will be no on-street parking during this time. Vehicle owners are subject to a fine and will be towed during a parking ban.

MONSON: A parking ban will begin at 6 p.m. Sunday. On-street parking is banned on all streets in the town. The regulations do allow parking on Main Street, between Hampden Avenue and Washington Street, from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.

NORTHAMPTON: All parking will be banned from city streets from midnight to 6 a.m. on Monday, except on Main Street where parking will be banned from 2 to 7 a.m. Free overnight parking is available in the city parking lot on Armory Street, except from 8 to 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Northampton snow hotline is 586-6969 if people have questions.

SOUTHAMPTON: All on-street parking is banned from November to April. Police will be enforcing the ban during the snowstorm.

SPRINGFIELD: A winter parking ban will begin at 7 p.m. Sunday. There is no parking on the odd side of the street from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Parking on the even side of the street is prohibited from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

WORCESTER -- The winter parking ban will begin at 6 p.m. Sunday. The city's permanent parking ban began on Dec. 1. The ban prohibited parking on emergency arteries and Worcester Regional Transit Authority bus lines.

The winter parking ban extends the ban to most city streets and allows parking on just one side of the street in most areas. More information can be found at the city's Winter Parking Ban page.
This updates a report filed at 6:37 a.m.

SOUTHWICK - A home dating to the 1800s was destroyed and three firefighters received minor injuries in a fire that started early Sunday morning.

It took firefighters about two hours to extinguish the blaze at 71 Coes Hill Road. The three firefighters were treated at the scene for cuts and injuries related to falls, Fire Chief Russell Anderson said.

The two adults living in the home were awakened at about 3:30 a.m. by smoke detector alarms and found smoke in the house. They were able to safely escape from the building, Anderson said.

"They appeared to have an issue with the wood stove and the fire quickly spread to the attic and into the rest of the house," he said.

When Southwick firefighters arrived the house was fully engulfed. Firefighters from Granville, Suffield, East Hartland, Connecticut and Lost Acres, Connecticut assisted at the blaze.

It took firefighters about two hours to extinguish the flames. Fire crews remained at the scene until at least 10:30 a.m. Sunday, cleaning up after the fire, he said.

"The area had no water and we had to shuttle water from a mile away," Anderson said.

The Fire Department used water from a far-away hydrant. Because of the 6 degree temperatures they also had problems with lines freezing, he said.
TEMPLETON, Ma  Massachusetts State Police are investigating a single-car accident in Templeton on Saturday morning that left two women dead.

Troopers were called to Route 2 in the vicinity of the Otter River Road overpass at approximately 1:20 a.m., for a report of a motor vehicle crash.

Police say that a 2010 Mercedes had been headed east on Route 2 when, for reasons not yet known, the car veered off of the road and rammed into a bridge abutment of the Otter River Road overpass. This caused the car to roll over, after which it burst into flames, police said.

After extinguishing the flames surrounding the burning vehicle, firefighters with the Templeton Fire Department discovered the bodies of the two women inside the car. They were both pronounced dead at the scene.

The identities of the victims are not being released to the public at this time, pending notification of family members.
A Winter Storm Warning has been posted for northern Berkshire County and a Winter Weather Advisory has been posted for the rest of the state Sunday morning.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency is calling for snow to move into Western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut after 5 p.m. on Sunday. The snow will spread across the state by 11 p.m.

"The heaviest period of snow will be from late (Sunday) to sunrise (Monday), although the snow should fall at rates of less than one inch per hour," Agency officials said.

Northwestern Massachusetts residents are expected to see between 4 and 6 inches of snow and there is a possibility of as much as 8 inches falling. Interior central Massachusetts may receive 3 to 4 inches of snow and the Boston to Providence, Rhode Island corridor is predicted to receive 1 to 3 inches of snow before it changes to rain.

The National Weather Service is also warning that there could be up to one-tenth of an inch of ice in a narrow corridor of northern Connecticut and areas of Western and Central Massachusetts south of the Massachusetts Turnpike.

The only area that will miss the snow will the southeastern part of the state, Agency officials said.

The snow is eventually expected to change over to rain. The rain-snow line will shift from Connecticut and Rhode Island northward along the Providence to Boston line between 4 and 7 a.m. Monday and between 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. for the remainder of the state.

Northwestern Massachusetts will be the exception, where the precipitation is expected to be all snow, Agency officials said.

Snow and rain is expected to end Monday afternoon starting in the northwest and heading to the southeast, officials said.

"Snow covered roadways and difficult and potentially hazardous travel with reduced visibility," officials said, advising people to avoid driving if possible.

Communities across the state are also calling for parking bans.

Those looking for more information about the storm can go to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency website. Information about power outages is available at http://mema.mapsonline.net/public.html . To learn more about a mobile app that can sends out Agency alerts go to www.mass.gov/mema/mobileapp.


An 18-year-old man drove himself to a friend's home Saturday night after he was shot in the ankle in Worcester.

The victim was walking out of an apartment building located at 327 Plantation St. around 7:30 p.m. when he heard people running up from behind him, police said. The victim realized the group of men was chasing him.

"As the victim ran, the males began shooting at him, striking him once in the ankle," police said. "The victim stated that no words were exchanged between himself and the suspects."

The victim got into his car and drove to a friend's house and then called police. The victim was located on Wall Street.

The victim was treated at the scene and then taken to a local hospital. His injury is non-life threatening. Police said the victim was unable to provide a description of the suspects.

Police continue to investigate the shooting.

Anyone with information about this incident can send an anonymous text to 274637 TIPWPD + your message or send an anonymous web based message at worcesterma.gov/police. Calls can also be made to the Detective Bureau at (508) 799-8651.
Listen to Johnsons podcast, listen to leaders like Mike Mansfield and Pat Williams. It might restore your hope for the future.

Marc Johnson doesnt pretend to know how to fix our broken political system, but he figures a good start would be to encourage people to learn about and reflect on our history.

Thats why he recently launched a podcast called "Many Things Considered," http://manythingsconsidered.com/podcast/ the motto of which is "Looking to politics past to make sense of politics present."

Episode 4  "The Leader"

By: Ed Kemmick

Full Story: http://lastbestnews.com/site/2016/12/decades-later-mansfields-thoughts-on-politics-ring-true/
A new smart phone app to be tested in Solana Beach will allow residents to electronically monitor minute-by-minute water use at their homes.

The app will flag any sudden spike in water consumption, which could indicate a broken or burst pipe, or a slow but steady increase, which might mean a pinhole leak or a loose connection.

by Phil Diehl, The San Diego Union-Tribune

Full Story: http://www.govtech.com/fs/Solana-Beach-Calif-to-Test-Smart-Water-App.html
"This is an unconstitutional constitutional amendment. This creates a nightmare for both prosecutors and defense attorneys," said Ashley Whipple, a Bozeman defense attorney and former Gallatin County deputy attorney. "It was sort of feel-good legislation that ran through on a public wave of sympathy."

Allowing victims to refuse to be interviewed by defense attorneys violates a defendants U.S. constitutional right to confrontation and to due process, and with an expected slow-down in the speed at which cases are prosecuted, defendants rights to a speedy trial could be at risk, attorneys argued.

And that can lead to far more time-consuming motions and other litigations, slowing down criminal cases.

"Marsys Law just tears at the fabric of our criminal justice system," said Bozeman defense attorney Al Avignone. "No citizen should feel better now with Marsys Law being passed. Everyone should be concerned."

By Whitney Bermes Chronicle Staff Writer

Full Story: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/crime/preparing-for-marsy-s-law-overwhelming-a-mess-and-a/article_220ca35b-60da-584d-83ed-4253594093cd.html
Welcome to Rocky Mountain College, a warm and welcoming college in its 138th year with a historic campus and highly respected faculty that educates students by combining a liberal arts-rooted curriculum with professional development programs. Students are taught across different disciplines, allowing them to speak, write, listen, communicate, take responsibility, solve, and lead. Our College is as much about character formation as it is about intellectual formation. Students will grow in wisdom, maturity, and character.

All Opportunities: http://www.rocky.edu/faculty-staff/employment-opportunities/index.php
A Marion woman charged with stealing firearms and possessing meth was given at least six months in prison.

Theresa Gayle Alsbroosks, 24, of Reid Street, Marion, was found guilty of two counts of felony larceny of a firearm and one count possession of methamphetamine. She was sentenced to six months minimum, 17 months maximum in prison.

Additionally, Alsbrooks was found guilty of one count of felony larceny of a firearm and one count breaking and or entering. She was given a six- to 17- month suspended sentence consecutive to the previous judgement. She must not be on the property of the victim. She was fined $250. She must pay court costs.

On Oct. 16, Gabriel Paul Miller of Wayne Street, Marion, reported to the Marion Police Department that someone broke into his home and stole three rifles, with a total value of $900, and 10 miscellaneous video games.

As Marion P.D. investigated Millers case, Daniel Albert Branch, 25, of 178 Reid Street, Marion, reported on Oct. 26 that Alsbrooks, with whom he had an on-again, off-again relationship, walked away with his two .22 caliber rifles, with a total value of $60.

According to Capt. Shanon Smith of the McDowell Sheriffs Office, deputies arrested Alsbrooks at Murphys Gas Station on Sugar Hill Road later that afternoon. During arrest, Alsbrooks was discovered to have possessed 3.4 grams of methamphetamine.

Subsequently, an investigation by Detective Lisa Morgan regarding Millers stolen rifles led Marion P.D. to Alsbrooks on Nov. 4.

She was given a total bond of $70,000.


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Espelage recently led a five-year study that examined links between bullying and sexual harassment among schoolchildren in Illinois. Espelage, who conducted the research while on the faculty of the University of Illinois, is a professor of psychology at the University of Florida.Nearly half - 43 percent - of middle school students surveyed for the study reported they had been the victims of verbal sexual harassment such as sexual comments, jokes or gestures during the prior year.The study followed 1,300 Illinois youths from middle school to high school, examining the risk factors associated with bullying and sexual harassment and the characteristics of the perpetrators. Students from four middle schools completed the surveys, and some of the youths and their teachers also were interviewed by the researchers.While verbal harassment was more common than physical sexual harassment or sexual assault, 21 percent of students reported having been touched, grabbed or pinched in a sexual way, and 18 percent said peers had brushed up against them in a suggestive manner.Students also reported being forced to kiss the perpetrators, having their private areas touched without consent and being "pantsed" - having their pants or shorts jerked down by someone else in public.About 14 percent of the students in the study reported having been the target of sexual rumors, and 9 percent had been victimized with sexually explicit graffiti in school locker rooms or bathrooms.According to Espelage, "sexual harassment among adolescents is directly related to bullying," particularly homophobic bullying.Homophobic name-calling emerges among fifth- and sixth-grade bullies as a means of asserting power over other students, Espelage said. Youths who are the targets of homosexual name-calling and jokes then feel compelled to demonstrate they are not gay or lesbian by sexually harassing peers of the opposite sex.About 16 percent of students in the study reported that they had been the targets of homophobic name-calling or jokes, and nearly 5 percent of youths reported that this harassment happened to them often.On the surveys, youths were asked an open-ended question about their most upsetting experience of sexual harassment. Fourteen percent of students who reported being victimized negated their experiences by writing that their peers' behaviors were "not really sexual harassment" because the incidents were "meaningless" or intended as jokes."What was most surprising and concerning was that these young people were dismissive of these experiences, even though they described them as very upsetting," Espelage said. "Students failed to recognize the seriousness of these behaviors - in part because teachers and school officials failed to address them. Prevention programs need to address what is driving this dismissiveness."Youths who were dismissive of sexual harassment experiences also were more likely to perpetrate homophobic name-calling, the researchers found.While students reported that large proportions of these sexual harassment incidents occurred in places such as school hallways, classrooms, gym locker rooms or gym classes where faculty and staff members ostensibly might witness them, the researchers found that many teachers, school officials and staff members failed to acknowledge that sexual harassment occurred in their schools.Many of these adults also were unaware that they were mandated by school district or federal policies to protect students from sexual harassment, Espelage said."These findings highlight the importance of making sexual harassment prevention efforts a priority in U.S. school districts, and that will require the efforts of students, faculty and staff members, school administrators and practitioners such as school psychologists," Espelage said. "Schools need to have a consistently enforced policy that clearly defines sexual harassment and establishes regulations against engaging in such behavior. School officials also must provide guidelines for faculty and staff members on how to address these incidents and how to respond appropriately to student reports of sexual harassment."Sexual harassment experiences varied across socio-demographic groups, depending on students' age, race and sex. For example, females were at greatest risk of sexual harassment, while African-American girls and boys were at greatest risk of being victimized by romantic partners, the researchers found.Counseling techniques, interventions and prevention programs for students need to consider these socio-demographic differences and address relevant factors that contribute to sexual harassment in racially diverse school populations, Espelage said.Source: Eurekalert
Post the currency demonetisation drive by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, if theres anyone who is taking the concept of cashless society seriously, its the temples in Kanpur who are now accepting donations through card payments and mobile wallets. In fact, Kanpurs Anandeshwar Temple has even applied for GPRS-enabled point-of-sale card swiping machines, so that devotees can donate money through debit and credit cards. There was a massive drop in cash donations after the ban on Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes.

 Wikimedia (image for representation)

Whats more, the temple, situated on the banks of Ganga, has also started Paytm services for devotees to transfer donations directly to the temples e-wallet. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is said to be one of the oldest temples in Uttar Pradesh, with more than 50,000 people on Mondays. The decision to accept card payments was taken by the temple following the Kanpur bar associations request to the lawyers to go cashless and install card swiping machines or use e-wallets. For devotees, this move can really be helpful. We wonder if these temples can help us out with getting cash as well, since the long queues in front of banks and ATMs havent really reduced much.

Source: The Indian Express
We unequivocally condemn the deadly bombing attack carried out today at Saint Marks Coptic Cathedral in Cairo.



This is a barbaric act aimed at striking against the multi-religious nature of Egyptian society.



We express our solidarity with the friendly Egyptian people and our sincere condolences to the families of the victims.
The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. 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Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.

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      1  2022    2  290,9  ,   18%     2021    36,6%       .
DTE Energy Company engages in the utility operations. The company's Electric segment generates, purchases, distributes, and sells electricity to approximately 2.3 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers in southeastern Michigan. It generates electricity through fossil-fuel, hydroelectric pumped storage, and nuclear plants, as well as wind and other renewable assets. This segment owns and operates approximately 698 distribution substations and 449,800 line transformers. The company's Gas segment purchases, stores, transports, distributes, and sells natural gas to approximately 1.3 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers throughout Michigan; and sells storage and transportation capacity. This segment has approximately 20,000 miles of distribution mains; 1,304,000 service pipelines; and 1,305,000 active meters, as well as owns approximately 2,000 miles of transmission pipelines. The company's Power and Industrial Projects segment offers metallurgical coke; pulverized coal and petroleum coke to the steel, pulp and paper, and other industries; and power, steam and chilled water production, and wastewater treatment services, as well as supplies compressed air to industrial customers. Its Energy Trading segment engages in power, natural gas, and environmental marketing and trading; structured transactions; and the optimization of contracted natural gas pipeline transportation and storage positions. The company was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; Panorama, a security management solution for the control of firewall appliances and software deployed on a customer's network, as well as their instances in public or private cloud environments, as a virtual or a physical appliance; and virtual system upgrades, which are available as extensions to the virtual system capacity that ships with physical appliances. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, and firewall; and DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention. In addition, the company offers cloud security, secure access, security operations, and threat intelligence and cyber security consulting; professional services, including architecture design and planning, implementation, configuration, and firewall migration; education services, such as certifications, as well as online and in-classroom training; and support services. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. sells its products and services through its channel partners, as well as directly to medium to large enterprises, service providers, and government entities operating in various industries, including education, energy, financial services, government entities, healthcare, Internet and media, manufacturing, public sector, and telecommunications. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
Camp Lejeune Town Halls Aim to Help Those Exposed to Toxic Water. Heres How You Can Go.

Retired Marine Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger made it his mission to tell the world that if they lived or served on Camp Lejeune...
DECEMBER 16: Seattle announced that Caminero has officially been released to pursue the opportunity in Japan.

DECEMBER 10: Mariners righty Arquimedes Caminero is close to a deal with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan, as noted by Yahoo! Japan (via Beyond The Box Scores Kazuto Yamazaki and Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune, who notes that the Mariners have already agreed to sell Camineros contract).

The 29-year-old Caminero is out of options, and the Mariners decision suggests that they dont foresee much of a future for him on a team with plenty of right-handed bullpen possibilities, even though he has four years of control remaining before free agency and has tantalizing velocity. Caminero throws harder than almost anyone  his 97.9-MPH average fastball velocity last year was faster than anyone except Aroldis Chapmans.

Caminero has had persistent problems with walks, with 4.9 BB/9 last year. His 3.56 ERA last year between the Pirates and Mariners looks decent on the surface, but his peripheral numbers have generally been unimpressive, and hes never been as dominant as his velocity would suggest, perhaps in part because he relies too heavily on his fastball. Through parts of four seasons in the big leagues with the Marlins and Pirates in addition to the Mariners, Caminero has a 3.83 ERA, 8.3 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in 155 innings.
On the heels of the Nationals acquisition of center fielder Adam Eaton, shortstop Danny Espinosa skipped the teams annual Winterfest this weekend because hes unhappy with his likely relegation to a bench role, a source told Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. With Eaton in the field, 2016 center fielder Trea Turner is set to take over at short next year, leaving Espinosa without an everyday spot.

The Nats do value Espinosa, evidenced by their unwillingness to non-tender him, but general manager Mike Rizzo didnt rule out trading the 29-year-old even before the club landed Eaton.

I could see him as utility player. I could see him as a player you could utilize in a trade context to get another piece that you need, Rizzo said last month.

If Washington does shop Espinosa, it shouldnt have difficulty finding a taker, tweets Chelsea Janes of the Post. Espinosa is reasonably priced  hes due an estimated $5.3MM in his final arbitration year  and has combined for 4.0 fWAR since 2015. The switch-hitter batted a modest .209/.306/.378 in 601 plate appearances last season, but he did club a career-high 24 home runs.

While right-handed pitchers have confounded Espinosa, who has slashed just .216/.294/.367 in 1,967 career PAs against them, he has been useful versus southpaws with a .257/.327/.454 line in 736 trips to the plate. Most of Espinosas value, though, has come in the middle infield, where he has totaled 35 Defensive Runs Saved and a 31.9 Ultimate Zone Rating.

By moving Espinosa, the Nats would likely turn to the 24-year-old Wilmer Difo as their primary reserve behind Turner and second baseman Daniel Murphy. They also havent closed the door on re-signing free agent Stephen Drew, as FanRags Jon Heyman tweeted earlier this week.
1:24pm: The Nationals tried to expand the Eaton deal to include Robertson, USA Todays Bob Nightengale tweets. The White Sox turned them down, however, so the two sides will discuss a Robertson deal as a separate proposition.

11:05am: Heres the latest on the Nationals hunt for a closer, with details trickling in from various reporters, including MASNs Mark Zuckerman. A new entry to the list of possible closers the Nationals are considering: David Robertson, who Zuckerman says the Nats have discussed with the White Sox. The White Sox are by now very familiar with the Nationals farm system after the Adam Eaton deal and the Chris Sale negotiations, so one might think the two sides could piece together a deal if there are additional prospects the White Sox like. At last check, though, the White Sox planned to wait to see where Kenley Jansen landed before striking a deal.

As with the Cubs deal for Wade Davis, trading for Robertson (who has two years and $25MM left on his contract) could be a way for the Nationals to avoid paying the exorbitant prices top closers like Aroldis Chapman and Mark Melancon have received on the open market, and that Jansen will likely receive. Robertson is, however, coming off a modestly disappointing season in which he posted a 3.47 ERA and a healthy 10.8 K/9, but with 4.6 BB/9. Robertson can block trades to five teams, but according to Cots Contracts, the Nationals are not among them.

As previously noted, the Nats did bid on Jansen, and they met with Jansens representatives this week. They join the Marlins and Dodgers in pursuit of the star closer. Theyve also talked with the Rays about a deal for Alex Colome. The 27-year-old Colome just had a brilliant 1.91 ERA, 11.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 season while saving 37 games for Tampa Bay. Acquiring Colome would likely require a steeper prospect price than acquiring Robertson, however, due to his low cost and four years of control remaining.
Our seminary in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is named St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. However, most Catholics do not know about this great saint whose feast day is on November 4th. He was the Archbishop of Milan from 1564 until 1584...
Rabbis installation at Keneseth Israel will get a boost of student creativity
December 11, 2016

Open Thread 2016-41

News & views ...

Posted by b on December 11, 2016 at 15:23 UTC | Permalink

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To understand why Saudi Arabia changed course and decided OPEC should go back to managing supply, look at two of the kingdoms biggest policy challenges: the urgent need to plug holes in its budget and the plan to sell a stake in the state-owned oil monopoly.

Two years after the worlds biggest exporter backed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries switch to a pump-at-will strategy to defend market share, Saudi Arabias oil minister promised to bear the biggest burden in curbing global supply. The market response suggests it may have been the prudent thing to do. By promising to cut production by just 4.7 percent, the country gained an 18 percent jump in oil prices.

The pain of prices below $50 had become too much for the Arab worlds largest economy. Saddled with budget deficits, the country cut spending and burned through more than a quarter of its foreign financial reserves in two years. The persistent price slump also threatened the centerpiece of the reforms sketched out by the countrys powerful deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman: privatizing what could become the worlds biggest publicly traded oil company, Saudi Arabian Oil Co.

Even $60 oil isnt enough to solve all the countrys fiscal issues, Apostolos Bantis, a credit analyst at Commerzbank AG in Dubai, said in an interview. Its more a question of building confidence in the economy. If crude stabilizes at higher prices, that will give more certainty and provide a stronger basis for the Aramco IPO.

Brent crude has jumped to about $55 a barrel since OPECs Nov. 30 decision to cut about 1.2 million barrels a day from its collective output. Saudi officials will meet counterparts from Russia and other independent producers on Dec. 10 to arrange a reduction of 600,000 barrels a day in non-OPEC supply.

For the Saudis, success would look like oil prices where they are now or a bit higher, said Robin Mills, chief executive of Dubai-based consultant Qamar Energy. The best outcome would be fighting shale to a draw and maintaining market share.

The kingdoms cabinet said Monday that the OPEC accord will stabilize oil markets and lead to greater investment in the industry, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

When OPEC met in November 2014, Saudi Arabia refused to cut output in the face of oversupply, leading Brent crude to collapse from its peak that year of more than $115 a barrel. The country has since sold its first international bonds, raising $17.5 billion in the biggest-ever issue from an emerging-market nation, and is taking steps to make the Middle Easts largest stock market more accessible to foreign investors.

Its also preparing to sell as much as 5 percent of the state oil company, the crown jewel known as Saudi Aramco.

OPECs output deal wont undo the fiscal damage wrought by three years of falling oil prices. For the Saudis, the agreement isnt so much about getting the country back in the black as it is about underpinning an ambition to wean the economy off oil, Bantis said.

Bantis and Qamars Mills both see oil staying above $50 a barrel next year, with Mills forecasting Brent at between $55 to $60 for the six months that the deal is in place. OPEC can extend the deal for another six months.

Break-even price

Prices are still far below break-even levels for Saudi Arabia, said Edward Bell, an analyst at Dubai-based bank Emirates NBD PJSC. The countrys fiscal break-even price will drop to $79.70 a barrel this year from $92.90 in 2015, the International Monetary Fund said in October.

Saudi Arabia agreed to pare its production by 486,000 barrels a day, to 10.058 million, according to OPEC. Iran, which the Saudis oppose in proxy wars from Syria to Yemen, is authorized to boost its output under last weeks accord.

Saudi Arabia is taking a big risk by reversing the pump-at-will strategy it had pursued to win market share, Mills said. If prices fall or if too much non-OPEC oil floods the market, the Saudis could come under pressure to make deeper cuts, he said.

The architect of Saudi Arabias pump-at-will policy, former oil minister Ali al-Naimi, said last week the new approach could work, if OPEC members hold to it.

His caveat: The unfortunate part is we tend to cheat.
OPEC is likely to bring the oil market into balance by the middle of next year, but its production cut looks set to fall short of its stated goal of draining the stockpiles that are depressing prices.

The oil market will rebalance toward the middle of next year, according to Nigerias Minister of State for Petroleum Emmanuel Kachikwu, bringing an end to more than three years when supply exceeded demand. However, Bloomberg News calculations based on OPEC data show that across the whole of 2017 there will be little overall reduction in record oil inventories -- even if the group convinces non-members to join supply curbs at a meeting on Saturday.

Even with 100 percent compliance from both OPEC and non-OPEC producers global stocks are unlikely to fall in the first half of 2017, said Tamas Varga, analyst at brokerage PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London. That should keep oil prices in check.

Crude prices could rise to $60 to $70 a barrel if the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries succeeds in bring inventories back to a normal level, Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino said recently, echoing a widely held view within the group, from Saudi Arabia to Iran. The portents for achieving this are mixed.

OPECs track record shows the group only delivers 80 percent of promised cuts. While Russia has pledged to come to the party and lower output by 300,000 barrels a day in the first half of 2017, other non-OPEC producers, such as Mexico, Azerbaijan and Colombia, are likely to dress up involuntary production declines, already factored in by traders, as cuts. That scenario would leave largely unchanged the 300 million-barrel global stockpile surplus Del Pino and his colleagues are targeting.

OPEC has said its agreement will accelerate the decline of global stockpiles and an optimistic Bloomberg scenario shows the call on the groups supply exceeding its output by 1.2 million barrels a day in third quarter. That depends on full compliance by OPEC members and for Russia to make good on its pledge, even as other non-OPEC producers make little contribution.

The analysis of the market re-balancing by Bloomberg News is based on OPECs own estimates and projections of crude supply and demand adjusted for potential scenarios of cooperation from Russia and other non-OPEC countries. Other consultancies and agencies have different views.

The International Energy Agency expects the re-balancing will happen early next year, while consultants at Rystad Energy expect a 1.26 million barrels-a-day deficit in the first quarter of next year if Russia is the only non-OPEC country to join the effort.

Assuming OPEC will stick to its promise could be wishful thinking. Ali Al-Naimi, former Saudi oil minister, said recently that the oil-club members tend to cheat.

As long as Russia makes a genuine output cut, OPEC is ready to accept that other non-OPEC nations pledge natural declines for a large chunk of their production cuts, according to people familiar with the talks, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. That will mean the re-balancing will take longer.

In a less optimistic scenario, in which OPEC only delivers 80 percent of its promised cut, the group would need non-OPEC rivals to deliver a genuine 600,000 barrels a day cut to make a significant dent in global oil stocks next year.

Despite Russias pledge, Moscow is only willing to reduce output gradually.

The Russian production cut will become visible only in spring, said Christian Boermel, Russia analyst at consultant Wood Mackenzie. Just as Russia made its compliance contingent on OPEC cutting its share, some countries might get suspicious if in the first months no results are seen.

Out of 14 non-OPEC nations invited to Saturdays talks in Vienna, only Russia, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Oman said they would attend as of Dec. 7. Kazakhstan said last week it had yet to decide whether it would join in cuts although its unlikely to do so considering its $50 billion Kashagan field just started pumping in October, according to Rystad.

We dont think too many non-OPEC countries actually have the power and will and influence over the oil companies to actually hold back barrels, Per Magnus Nysveen, senior partner and head of analysis at Rystaad said. However, Nysveen expects to see natural declines from most of these countries because their production was extremely strong in the second half of this year.

Still, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its monthly report last week that OPEC may need to wait even longer for the market to re-balance.

Continuing global supply growth in 2017 may postpone significant global inventory withdrawals until 2018, it said.
Reports of massive oil finds in West Texas are raising hopes those riches will bring opportunities to numerous industries.

Among those is Janine Iannarelli, founder and president of Par Avion Ltd., an aircraft broker.

My business, to some degree, is tied to the oil and gas industry by virtue of where I sit, she said in a phone interview from her Houston office.

In 32 years, Ive seen over and over again how the rise in oil and gas has given rise to aviation, she said.

Par Avion is an aircraft marketing firm that specializes in the exclusive representation and acquisition of business aircraft, such as the Bombardier Globals and Learjets, Citation, Falcon, Gulfstream, Hawker and Phenom product lines.

We operate in the pre-owned market, from six- to eight-passenger jets up to 12- to 14-passenger jets, she said.

When the industry strengthens or shows evidence of strengthening, she said there becomes a need to move the people who make business happen -- whether its geologists or field specialists -- to the field in a timely manner.

Thus, a need for business jets, she said.

They need a mode of transportation that allows for a quick response, Iannarelli said.

The 30-year business aviation veteran said that the charter jets can also be used in road shows to attract investors.

During the last oil boom, she said Houston-based charter aviation companies were booked weeks in advance.

She referenced the reports of major West Texas oil finds -- from Apaches Alpine High discovery to the U.S. Geological Surveys assessment that theres 20 billion barrels of crude to be recovered in the Wolfcamp formation of the Midland subbasin.

I think that footprint will expand. Its a big field, she said.

I have hope that renewed interest (from these finds) will mean new signs of life, that those workers who had their hours cut back will get those hours back, Iannarelli said.

That would translate into a need for transportation such as charter jets provide -- when workers need to get to the field early or need to make multiple trips, she said.

Iannarelli said she has worked with a number of exploration and production companies in Houston, where executives would fly out of the Sugar Land airport headed to Midland for a breakfast meeting and then to Fort Worth, possibly to pick up or drop off executives.

Its no mystery the correlation of that strength in the oil and gas industry to aviation, she said.

Already, her company has reached out to charter companies, and she is again bullish on the market.

Iannarelli was appointed to the Texas Aerospace and Aviation Advisory Committee by then-Gov. Rick Perry in October 2014 and was reappointed and named president by Gov. Greg Abbott in January. The board notes that Midland is a strategic hub, she said.

While there may not be any immediate signs that a growing oil and gas industry is boosting aviation, it would be silly of me to overlook the fact West Texas is a bright spot in the industry, she said.

Aviation is an important part of the Texas economy and Im happy to see the two industries go hand in hand, she said. Oil and gas will lead, to some degree, recovery in an aviation industry that continues to struggle after the downturn in 2009.
The glut of fuel supplies in the United States isnt stopping a new company in The Woodlands from building a new refinery in South Texas.

Houston native Christopher Moore recently formed Raven Petroleum to build a $500 million, 50,000-barrel-a-day refinery east of Laredo to export nearly all of its fuels to Mexico.

Hes hoping to become one of the first companies to build a large U.S. refinery in the past 40 years  taking advantage of the newly deregulated Mexican energy market and the surplus of Texas crude oil unlocked by the shale revolution.

It makes sense from a logistical standpoint. Were sitting right on top of our own feedstock, Moore said. Were really seeing that (Mexico) demand. Its materialized and escalated.

The developing nations fuel consumption is growing about 3 percent annually, which is twice the global average, according to the Oliver Wyman consulting and research firm.

Rob Desai, an energy analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis, says Raven Petroleums proposed South Texas Energy Complex can fill a unique niche.

From the supply side it makes sense to build there (in South Texas), Desai said. The issue is demand. But theres demand coming from Mexico. It seems a lot of the pieces are falling into place.

With the puzzle pieces connecting, it makes sense that Moore would name the company for a Celtic raven thats a symbol for divine providence.

The refinery project, which Moore wants to start building next year and open by the end of 2018, would create about 300 permanent jobs and 1,500 temporary construction positions.

But the big questions remaining are about financing, and for now he describes the project as having one founder and one funder  himself. Were looking at several debt financing sources, he said. Theres no private equity backing at this point, he added.

But he says theres no question that the project will proceed: Im all in.
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 []
New members inducted into Institute of ...
Len Suzio acknowledges that most people wouldnt seek a rematch against a political opponent who had won the two prior contests.



He admitted that he himself wasnt interested in running again this November until the legislature supported a budget in 2015 that included one of the biggest tax increases in state history.



Suzio, a Meriden Republican, said he decided to run against state Sen. Dante Bartolomeo, D-Meriden, and quickly heard frustration from constituents across the 13th Senate District who wanted change, matching the national anti-establishment movement that some voters say drew them to President-elect Donald Trump.



Theres just a widespread anger and frustration with politics as usual, and thats on the state level as well as on the federal level, Suzio said during a visit Wednesday to the Record-Journal.



He believes one reason Trump won the presidential race is because voters wanted a non-politician politician, and he thinks residents want a similar change in Connecticut.



Suzio also promised voters that a victory in the district would help shake up the legislature, and the Republican Party helped deliver on that promise.



The party picked up three seats in the Senate to even up the chamber at 18-18  the first tie in over 100 years  and trimmed the Democrats majority in the House to a 79-72 margin.



This alters the dynamics of the politics and power at the Capitol big time for the entire state of Connecticut, he said.



Suzios also optimistic that the narrow margins mean he can get some of his proposals passed now that he has the opportunity for the first time to introduce legislation.



Suzio first won the seat in a special election in 2011, but wasnt sworn in until after the deadline to submit bills. His second year in office, 2012, was during a so-called short-session, when bills are introduced through committees and lawmakers cant submit their own proposals.



He then lost in 2012 and 2014 to Bartolomeo before winning the seat this year.



Suzio said the top priority for the legislature should be taxes and the budget, followed closely by legislation that would make Connecticut more business friendly.



He said the state needs to provide confidence to businesses through predictable budgets, instead of having to cut spending or raise taxes to constantly keep spending plans in balance.



Suzio, who signed a pledge not to support tax increases, also said Connecticut needs to relax some of its regulations and permitting and licensing processes to help encourage more economic development.



He plans to reintroduce his First 5,000 program, a plan where the state would work with banks to offer loans to small businesses and start-ups.



Suzio also wants to push for changes to the states Risk Reduction Earned Credit program, which allows sentenced inmates to reduce their prison terms.



He continued his public criticism of the program even after losing elections in 2012 and 2014.



The program doesnt have enough restrictions to limit access for more dangerous criminals, Suzio said.



Additionally, he said the state doesnt have adequate resources to rehabilitate inmates, allowing them to earn credits for earlier release without ensuring that they changed their behavior or are prepared for a return to society.



I dont know how much we can really rehabilitate criminals when we dont have the resources, he said, adding that he would exclude anyone convicted of a violent crime, selling drugs, or sexual assaults.



Other proposals Suzio plans to introduce include allowing residents to bring initiatives to a statewide referendum without legislative approval and to recall a governor, as well as institute a term limit of 12 years in office for all legislators and constitutional officers.



Additionally, he wants the state to create a fund to collect donations from residents to help with social service costs.



Contributions would be deductible from the state income tax under the proposal, Suzio said.



msavino@record-journal.com 203-317-2266 Twitter: @reporter_savino






MERIDEN  The city plans to radically alter downtown traffic, converting key streets to two-way traffic and reversing the direction of other one-way streets. City officials believe the changes will enhance travel downtown, reduce speeds and increase driver safety.



We think its exciting to make these huge changes, said Public Works Director Bob Bass.



1. East Main Street at Pratt Street



East Main Street will shift from one-way westerly traffic to two lanes of traffic in each direction starting at the intersection of Pratt Street. That intersection will be changed, eliminating the left turn channel from Perkins Street. For pedestrians crossing the street, there will no longer be an island dividing traffic and turn lanes on Perkins Street.



The island is going to be removed and the entire intersection reconfigured, said Associate City Engineer Howard Weissberg.



The sidewalks along East Main Street will be expanded four feet to accommodate additional road width and signal lights will be replaced.



2. State Street



State Street will have two-way traffic passing in front of the new train station. Westbound drivers on East Main Street will have a turn lane to get onto State Street, allowing traffic to flow more freely through the intersection. The one-way section of State Street street that cuts between Perkins Street and East Main Street will switch to the opposite direction, with traffic flowing from Perkins Street to East Main Street.



At the rail crossing, additional gates will be installed on the western side of the tracks to halt traffic for passing trains, Weissberg said.



3. West Main Street at Colony Street



This intersection will be the hub of some of the most radical changes, The series of one-ways cutting between West Main Street and Perkins Street will be eliminated in favor of an expanded green area. A single southbound one-way will remain between West Main Street and Hanover Street. The two lanes of traffic on East Main Street will dwindle down to one lane in each direction when the road shifts to West Main Street at the Colony Street intersection.



This intersection is going to undergo a massive reconstruction in the future plan, said Weissberg.



4. Hanover Street



Plans call for Hanover Street to have one-way traffic in the opposite direction of the current traffic flow. Cars will now travel south from West Main Street or west on Perkins Street to Hanover Street.



5. Perkins Street



The one-way street will shift to a combination of one-way and two-way traffic.



You will be able to travel from East Main Street in a southerly direction all the way into south Meriden, Bass said. You will also have the opportunity for people to turn left onto South Colony, so well reduce the number of cars going over the rail road tracks because thats an issue we have had.



Traffic will flow one-way west from South Colony Street to Hanover Street. However, starting at South Colony Street there will be two-way traffic past Crown Street until the East Main Street intersection.



We cant provide a two-way network in this area, we have conflicts with the rail crossing and the amount of time it takes for a traffic signal to properly clear itself when a train goes through the intersection, Bass said.



6. Pratt Street Gateway



City officials hope to make Pratt Street the new entranceway to downtown. Plans call for the creation of a boulevard-style road with one lane of traffic in each direction separated by several landscaped medians. There will also be bike lanes to promote alternate forms of transportation. At the intersection of Pratt and Camp streets, a park is planned along the wooded area abutting Interstate 691.



The changes will be funded through a $3.2 million state grant and wont impede access to and from the Pratt Street fire station, Bass said.



The proposed plan does call for the median to be opened up sufficiently wide so the fire department can enter and exit safely, Bass said.



7. Harbor Brook Flood Control



Amid all the traffic changes, work continues downtown on expanding and widening Harbor Brook and replacing the bridges that cross it. Next is the Cooper Street bridge, with construction anticipated in 2017. It will be replaced as part of flood control efforts to prevent the next major storm from flooding planned developments near the brook.



Right now the width of the channel and the depth of the channel is not sufficient to carry the water associated with the 100-year storm. The bridges themselves have too narrow of an opening which constricts the water which creates some of the backup upstream, Bass said.



When were through, the openings of the bridges are wider, the channel is wider, which will allow the water to flow freely and not flood those properties as it has in the past.



ltauss@record-journal.com 203-317-2231 Twitter: @LeighTaussRJ




MERIDEN  The City Council voted to settle a lawsuit alleging negligence on the part of a police officer after a 24-year-old woman committed suicide by jumping in front of a car on Interstate 691.



City Attorney Deborah Moore described the $15,000 settlement as a business decision. To continue the case to trial would have left the city with a $100,000 insurance deductible. The council approved the settlement without admitting liability and expressly denying liability, according to the resolution.



The lawsuit stems from the death of Meghan Silvernale and is filed by her husband, Todd Cookingham, acting as administrator of her estate.



Attorney Jose Rojas, representing Cookingham, declined to comment on the case, citing pending litigation against the remaining defendants in the case.



Police Officer Kevin Ieraci, Hunters Ambulance, MidState Medical Center, Hartford Healthcare Corporation, Deepika Singh, M.D., Emergency Medicine Physicians of New Haven County, LLC, EMP Management Group, LTD, and Akashdeep Singh Aujla, M.D. are named in the lawsuit.



On June 14, 2013, Silvernale was traveling in a car with her boyfriend when he ended their relationship, according to the lawsuit. Silvernale, who was in the process of divorcing Cookingham at the time, threatened to kill herself and attempted to jump from the moving car. The boyfriend called 911 and Hunters Ambulance and Ieraci responded. Silvernale was subsequently taken to MidState Medical Center for evaluation. After being evaluated by the other health officials named in the lawsuit and not deemed an imminent danger to herself, Silvernale was released that night. Five hours after being discharged, Silvernale ran into oncoming traffic on Interstate 691 and was killed.



The lawsuit alleged Ieraci was negligent in his response to the situation by failing to properly document the events prior to the 911 call, failing to prepare and file a police report of the incident, failing to follow proper procedures regarding a suicidal person, and failing to relay pertinent information regarding Silvernale as a suicidal risk to emergency medical responders and hospital staff, among other allegations.



ltauss@record-journal.com 203 317-2231 Twitter: @LeighTaussRJ






What is the identity of the young man who died following an odd car accident which occurred on Oct. 18, 1984 in the town of Malvern, Arkansas?



The question has been pondered for 30-plus years.



At present, the answer is unknown.



The man had been hitchhiking in Louisville, Kentucky, when he was given a ride. The unknown hitchhiker told the driver that he was on his way to Houston, Texas and eventually to California.



But tragedy soon struck the duo. The car went off the road and plunged into a body of water.



The driver managed to escape, but the hitchhiker, submerged underwater for too long, died two days later. The death was ruled accidental.



With the hitchhikers identity unknown, he was simply given the number 3123 in the NAMUS system, the national database of unidentified human remains.



There is one seemingly important clue in this case. The driver who picked up the unidentified hitchhiker said the man may have been from the New Haven, Connecticut area.



The hitchhiker is described as being between 25 and 35 years of age, with medium to dark brown hair that was six inches in length. Also, he wore a chin beard that was two inches long. The man stood approximately 5-feet-8-inches tall and weighed 167 pounds.



The deceased had two scars; one was a small, circular shape on his left ankle, and the other was a healed wound from being shot in the chin with a BB gun.



Kermit Channel, executive director of the Arkansas State Crime Lab, believes that with modern technology, and the Internet, this case can finally be solved.



There is lot we can do today that we couldnt do 20 years ago, Channel said. Hopefully someone will see his picture and realize that this may be someone, like a relative or friend, that they havent seen in years.



Berlin resident Tiffany Menard knows the pain of having a loved one disappear. The military veteran was deployed in October of 2003 when her 40-year-old mother, Mary Menard, vanished.



A drug and alcohol addiction counselor, and a former addict, Mary Menard had recently relapsed.



When Tiffany returned to the United States in 2006, her mother still had not been found.



I remember searching Jane Does that could match her description, weekly, Tiffany said. Countless Internet searches of women who could have amnesia and not know their identities, while secretly hoping I would see her walking down the street.



Also, Tiffany and her family submitted DNA to a national database which compares genetic codes with unidentified human remains.



In October of 2014, Mary Menards remains were positively identified. Hers was one of three female bodies found in a wooded area behind a strip mall on Hartford Road in New Britain in August 2007.



A year later, convicted murderer William Devlin Howell was charged with Mary Menards murder.



My mother was found over a decade of searching, so I can only imagine all of the people who arent even reported, Tiffany Menard stated. Filing a police report was undoubtedly the most crucial first step my family could have done in getting the answers we needed. With the technology these days I feel there is an even bigger chance in finding closure. Sometimes I hear stories of people that were too ashamed to report because of the issues surrounding the disappearance, but its never too late.



Kermit Channel echoed that. Theres a feeling that when the family does a report or give DNA, they are admitting that their loved one is dead, he said. It shouldnt be like that.



Perhaps someone in Connecticut can help give No. 3123 his rightful name.






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The Bay Area got soaked with another round of showers Saturday morning, and more rain is expected this week throughout the region, forecasters said.

The rain continued Saturday with periods of heavy showers and should turn dry Sunday and Monday, said Bob Benjamin, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

Traffic from one end of the region to the other was snarled and slow as periodic downpours turned the roads into skidding platforms. A tree fell across State Route 13 in Oakland on Saturday afternoon, damaging one car and blocking traffic in both directions for several hours until it could be cleared.

Since Thursday, 2.08 inches of rain has fallen in San Francisco, 2.12 inches in Oakland and 1.79 inches in San Rafael, Benjamin said.

Meanwhile, more than 3 inches has cascaded down in parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains and Petaluma, and more than 2 inches in Kentfield since Thursday  welcome news for a region hit by five years of drought.

While Monday is expected to remain dry, the rest of the week appears to be unsettled with precipitation predicted to move in Tuesday and hang around through Thursday, according to Benjamin.

The rainfall will be joined by noticeably cooler conditions. By midweek, lows should be in the upper 40s.

Its going to be a cool week, and by midweek itll be cool and wet, he said.

Meanwhile, in the Sierra Nevada, up to 5 inches or more of snow was predicted to fall Saturday night on the higher peaks, according to the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

Overall, the Sierra has received impressive rainfall totals. In the 12 hours before Saturday morning, 4 to 5 inches of rain fell in the foothill and mountain locations, according to the weather service. It issued a flood advisory Saturday for the northern Sierra and surrounding foothills.

The rainy weather, coupled with track maintenance, caused periodic 20-minute delays Saturday on the Pittsburg/Bay Point BART line in the Pittsburg and San Francisco directions, according to BART.

Chronicle staff writer Jonathan Kauffman contributed to this report.

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
WTGS to get sneak peek at AAPG geolegends

For the AAPGs 100th anniversary in 2017, AAPG has been gathering interviews of geoscientists influential in the greatest discoveries in recent history. The West Texas Geological Society has been allowed a sneak preview with Geolegend Joe Gifford to narrate, elaborate and answer questions.

Members will gather for lunch and film clips, including discovering the Rhourde el Baguel Field, Algeria and the most prolific blowout in the Permian Basin at Crittendon Field December 14 at Midland Country Club. The luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m.

Cost is $50 and reservations can be made by calling 683-1573 or by email at wtgs@wtgs.org. Half the cost benefits the West Texas Geological Foundation scholarship fund. Sponsors include WTGS -WTGF-AAPG AAPG-DPA

Pennsylvania levels $3.5 million fine against gas driller

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Pennsylvania environmental regulators have fined a natural-gas driller more than $3.5 million for violations at 10 well sites and six pipeline locations.

The Department of Environmental Protection said Wednesday that subsidiaries of Rice Energy Inc. operated an unpermitted wastewater impoundment that leaked, improperly constructed wells, violated rules for erosion and sediment control, failed to obtain permits and committed other infractions.

Regulators say the violations took place over several years at sites in Washington and Greene counties, in western Pennsylvania.

Canonsburg-based Rice has already paid the fines. DEP has entered into several agreements with Rice and says the company has either fixed or is scheduled to fix the problems at its wells and pipelines.

A Rice Energy spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment.

Kinder Morgan maintains its slashed dividend for 2017

By Jordan Blum

Houston Chronicle

Houston-based pipeline giant Kinder Morgan in 2017 will maintain the dividend payment it slashed by 75 percent a year ago, with a goal of raising it back in 2018.

Kinder Morgan said it expects to pay investors 12.5 cents per share each quarter in 2017  the same as this year  but down from 51 cents a share per quarter as recently as 2015. The companys 2017 guidance, said it plans to revisit the issue later next year with a view toward delivering additional value to its shareholders in 2018.

In October, Kinder Morgans co-founder and executive chairman, Rich Kinder, said the pipeline company is poised to grow after using its cash to pay down much of its debt. Kinder said the tentative plan is to substantially increase the dividend again, but he did not provide a timetable at that time.

The company did receive good news a week ago from the Canadian government, which approved a $5.4 billion Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion that would ship heavy crude from oil sands in Alberta to Vancouver-area ports in British Columbia.

Kinder Morgan confirmed as expected it will seek to bring on a joint venture partner to help fund the project.

Shell in deal to assess 3 of Irans oil, gas fields, officials say

By Bloomberg

Royal Dutch Shell is signing a deal to assess three of Irans largest oil and gas fields, an official at the Oil Ministry said.

Shell will sign a memorandum of understanding with the ministry regarding the South Azadegan and Yadavaran oil fields, near the Iraqi border, and the Kish gas deposit in the Persian Gulf, the official said, asking not to be identified because he isnt authorized to speak to the media.

Talks are ongoing with Total for other fields, but no agreement is expected imminently, the official said.

Shells agreement will be to form working groups to assess the potential for future investment, not to develop fields, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Representatives of Total and Shell declined to comment.
Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have agreed to cut crude oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day beginning in January. Russia announced it would cooperate and lower production by 300,000 barrels per day, and there is some chance other nations representing about 20 percent of global production will also join in following an upcoming meeting.

The announcement of the cuts moved markets, and oil prices jumped significantly. There have been signs that an agreement was becoming more likely, but getting a deal done is very difficult in a cartel such as OPEC. Saudi Arabia is expected to contribute about half of the cuts, with its allies contributing the rest. Some OPEC nations will continue to produce whatever they can, as will other nations.

Its the first cut in eight years, marking an important strategic change. In November 2014, OPEC announced that it would try to maintain market share by increasing production, depressing prices, and shutting down higher-cost oil producers such as the U.S. shale segment. Crude oil prices, already off $100+ peaks due to oversupply, began to seriously tumble. West Texas Intermediate Crude spot prices were ultimately down from about $77 per barrel in November to less than $30 per barrel just a few months later. Drilling in U.S. shales dropped sharply, and production has fallen off. However, the oil-dependent OPEC economies have also been harmed, and revenue to OPEC nations has also fallen as a result of lower prices.

Gulf nations have been running huge budget deficits after years of surpluses and increasing cash and assets. Many countries in the region derive the majority of revenue from energy, and pressure has been mounting for a change. For example, in October, Saudi Arabia held its first (ever) international bond sale as part of an effort to shore up its economy and government, with subsequent offerings which could raise more than $100 billion through 2020. Two years of low pricing has taken its toll on Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members, resulting in the current agreement.

Some analysts have taken the position that the announcement isnt really a game changer because it will be difficult to actually curtail overall production. Not only do OPEC members have an incentive to cheat (and a long and distinguished history of doing so), but also non-OPEC countries can ramp up production. The challenge is increased by the current oversupply and the fact that some OPEC nations have increased production to record levels in advance of the coming cuts.

Even if the first round of OPEC production cuts is overcome by increases in non-OPEC nations, the fact that OPEC is shifting its strategy from driving down prices to run producers out of the business to supporting crude oil prices is significant. We can expect markets to begin to normalize and drilling activity to continue to trend upward to some extent here in the United States. It is also likely that OPEC will consider additional cuts if this round is insufficient to push prices into the desired range.

The other aspect of normalizing markets is the demand side of the equation. Although the rate of increase in crude oil consumption in China has slowed, demand in India has been growing fairly rapidly. The US Energy Information Administration notes that global economic data have been more positive than previous expectations, and increases in oil demand growth could help to support prices in the coming quarters. Recent data for manufacturing in the United States, Eurozone, China, and India also indicates potential for expansion.

Ultimately, oil prices are determined by many factors, not the least of which is the expectation of dramatic long-term growth in global demand. However, OPEC moving away from its objective of pushing down prices is one of the most important. It will take some time to work through the oversupply, and as prices trend upward, there will be incentives to ramp up production in non-OPEC areas. Even so, we are clearly closer to market normalization and a notable uptick in oil prices, which is good news for oil producers and the Texas economy.

Dr. M. Ray Perryman is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Perryman Group (www.perrymangroup.com). He also serves as Institute Distinguished Professor of Economic Theory and Method at the International Institute for Advanced Studies.
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In the wake of a viral story about an Odessa man not being allowed inside a Little Woodrows location in Midland, the Houston-based chain of bars has reversed its ban on customers sporting visible neck and face tattoos.

In early November Joeseff Rivera, filmed himself in front of the Little Woodrows location speaking out after the bars bouncer denied him entry into the establishment for having a small tattoo under his left eye.

In a statement released after Riveras video went viral, Little Woodrows said that it was changing its tattoo policy when it comes to neck and face artwork.

PREVIOUS: Midland Little Woodrow's gets complaints after denying entry to guy with face tattoo

"Little Woodrow's does not have an issue with tattoos as evidenced by the fact that we had no restrictions on tattoos of any kind except at two of our sixteen locations. At those locations, we implemented a policy where we requested that neck and/or facial tattoos not be openly displayed.

After further review, we have rescinded this policy. We continue to focus on providing a safe and comfortable environment for all our guests. The company regularly reviews and modifies its policies when it is deemed reasonable to do so."

LONE STAR PRIDE: Texas-themed tattoos any Texan would love

So there you go, heavily-inked ones, you have one more place to visit and drink with friends this holiday season.

Back in March 2015, a Houston man named Erik Leighton made headlines after he shared his story of being escorted out of a Bombshells location off Fuqua for having tattoos on his face.

That chain later told Leighton via text message that the area had an issue with gang activity and that face tattoos are by and large gang-related. The rule was meant to sidestep any possible violent confrontations. The location later apologized to Leighton over the incident.
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Six Flags Fiesta Texas brought San Antonians under the mistletoe on Saturday to break a world record.

At 4:15 p.m. Saturday, couples from across the San Antonio area smooched at once to set the Guinness World Record of most couples to kiss under mistletoe, according to a news release from the amusement park.

"Thanks to our guests today who braved the cold weather to participate," the park posted on its Facebook page. "We hope you had as much fun as we did!"

RELATED: Video: Harlem Globetrotter makes 583-foot trick shot from roof of Tower of the Americas

Six Flags Over Georgia formerly held the record of most couples kissing, which they set in 2015, the release said.

Six Flags Fiesta Texas teamed up with other parks across the country to break the record.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Virgin Mary of Mexico, but more and more, she is the Virgin of Houston as well.

Dec. 12 is the last day of the novena in celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Virgin who appeared to Juan Diego, an indigenous peasant, on that date in 1531. It was at the top of the Tepeyac Hill, north of what's now Mexico City.

On that date, the blessed mother appeared as an Aztec woman, with very native, indigenous features, and she is pregnant, telling Juan Diego in his own native language that she wanted a chapel built in her honor," says Fr. Michael Buentello, director of Campus Ministry at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

It's said that the area's bishop did not believe the indigenous man until he saw a miracle for himself. As proof, Juan Diego brought the prelate a bouquet of roses that the Virgin had given him.

He wrapped the roses in his tilma, an Aztec cloak. When he opened the tilma, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was printed in the fabric.

Buentello says the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, where the image is enshrined, has become the second most visited site in the Catholic world, second only to the Vatican. Since Pope Leo XIII granted permission for her coronation in 1895, she has been proclaimed as the Patroness of the Americas.

Before either Texas or Houston existed, Our Lady of Guadalupe was fervently celebrated by Mexican-Americans living in this area. And as new generations of immigrants bring Mexican customs and culture across the border, the celebration has continued to grow.

This Virgin has been adopted by Hispanic groups other than Mexicans. Her celebration is a "very important feast for all Catholics, and I am not aware of any other Virgin Mary that is more celebrated than Our Lady of Guadalupe in Houston," says Buentello.

"Whether we are Hispanic or non-Hispanic, we certainly know and have an understanding of the significance of her apparition in Mexico and what it means for all of us Catholics."

Read the details of the unique history of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Houston with its two icons of the Virgin, and why she is becoming the Patroness of Houston.

Olivia.Tallet@chron.com

Twitter: @oliviaptallet
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STAMFORD  Patsy Comunale stood outside his Westover home just hours after his sons body was found in a New Jersey grave and demanded Justice for Joey.

Exactly one month after the death, two of the three defendants accused of disposing of Joseph Comunales body are to be arraigned Tuesday in New York.

But none of them face murder charges.

The puzzling death of the popular Westhill High School graduate still has investigators trying to determine who stabbed the 26-year-old 15 times at a posh Manhattan apartment.

James Rackover, 25, lived in the apartment where police said blood was found splattered on the walls. Rackover was seen the night of the killing, according to his arrest affidavit, loading a large duffel bag into a car owned by his surrogate father, Jeffrey Rackover, a celebrity jeweler whose clients include President-elect Donald Trump.

James Rackover will be arraigned Tuesday with Lawrence Dilione, 28, of Jersey City, N.J., who told police he buried Comunales body in Oceanport, N.J., according to his arrest affidavit.

Rackover and Dilione have each been indicted on charges of hindering prosecution, tampering with evidence and concealing a corpse. The New York Police Department originally charged each of them with second-degree murder. However, the Manhattan District Attorneys Office dropped the murder charges pending further investigation into who used the knife to stab Comunale.

They could be brought up on the murder charges again at the hearing on Tuesday.

Patsy Comunale, who has attended each of the court hearings, declined to comment on the case when reached at his home on Friday.

Max Gemma, 29, of Oceanport, N.J., who lives about a mile from where Comunales body was found, was charged last week with hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence.

Police said Comunale went with college friends from Hofstra University to New York City on Nov. 12. As Comunales friends returned home, he stayed out with Dilione and three women he met at a Chelsea bar, police said.

The group went to Rackovers apartment in The Grand Sutton on the upper east side of Manhattan during the early morning hours of Nov. 13, police said.

Comunale was last seen several hours later on security footage riding back up the elevator with Dilione after they escorted the three women out of the building about 7 a.m. on Nov. 13, police said.

Police said Rackover was seen leaving his apartment that evening and putting a large duffel bag into the trunk of a Mercedes-Benz. License-plate readers tracked the car on the FDR Drive and then through the Holland Tunnel into New Jersey, police said.

The Mercedes was seen driving back into New York about 3 a.m. Nov. 14, police said. A cadaver dog made a positive alert on the trunk of the car and in Rackovers apartment where police collected blood spatters, according to court documents.

A few days later, Comunales body was found partially burned in a shallow grave in the New Jersey shore town.

Patsy Comunale, surrounded by a large group of his sons friends on the flagstone stairway leading to his home, was effusive in his praise for the investigators as he addressed the media several hours after his sons body was found.

I thank the Stamford Police Department, the NYPD and New Jersey authorities for all their hard work, Comunale said that night. Its just not right. These guys should pay, they have to pay. Ill be there every day. Justice for Joey, guys.

jnickerson@scni.com;
Two teen suspects were recently indicted on second-degree felony charges of aggravated robbery for allegedly stealing a Pearland womans car and cellphone as she was unloading her groceries outside her apartment on Nov. 7.

The suspects are identified as 18-year-old Brandon Bernard Robinson of Sugar Land and 17-year-old Tyrese Julius Preston of Kemah.

Pearland Police are still searching for a third person who managed to evade arrest. According to Pearland Police reports, around 8 p.m. police patrols were dispatched to the 2300 block of Windswept Dr. to investigate reports of a robbery-in-progress.

The victim told police she was unloading groceries from the front seat of her car when a man approached her with what appear to be a gun in the waistband of his pants. The man reportedly demanded the womans car keys.

At about that time two additional people wearing dark clothes approached the car. The first person then demanded the victims cell phone and after taking it, all three men jumped into the victims car and fled .

The terrified victim then ran to her apartment and called police. Pearland Police dispatcher broadcast a description of the car and the suspects and as additional officers responded to the scene one patrol officers spotted the alleged stolen vehicle traveling in the area N. Main and Orange St.

The officers tried to get the vehicle to stop but once they activated their emergency lighting all three people abandoned the vehicle in the middle of the road. One person was taken into custody near the vehicle but the remaining two ran into a field east of Main St.

Multiple units were called to help search for the two missing suspects on the ground. The Houston Police Departments Fox helicopter was also called to help with search efforts.

Officers soon located a second suspect walking down the road near where the car was abandoned. A Pearland Police K-9 unit tracked the third suspect to the area of Old Alvin just north of Orange but lost the scent, officials said.

Police have not yet located the third suspect. Officers later found a black air pistol believed to have been dropped by one of the suspects near the car.

Robinson and Preston are currently being held at the Brazoria County Jail and are scheduled to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing on Jan. 6, 2017.

Robinson is being held on bonds totaling $65,000 and Preston is in custody pending bonds totaling $55,000. Anyone with information related to the investigation may contact the Pearland Police Department at 281-997-4100. Callers can remain anonymous.
"Are you going live?"

It would be the final question Brooke Miranda Hughes would hear before a tractor-trailer plowed into the back of her car as it crawled down Interstate 380 in Pennsylvania just after midnight Tuesday.

Chaniya Morrison-Toomey, the passenger who posed the question, was referring to Facebook Live, which Hughes had just launched to broadcast live from her moving vehicle, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune.

The final moments of their young lives - marked by a flash of lights, screeching tires and then seven minutes of blackness - were captured on the live-streamed video after Hughes, sitting behind the wheel, held her phone near her face for the rest of the world to see.

Hughes, 18, and Morrison-Toomey, 19, were declared dead at the scene.

The driver of the truck that killed them was uninjured, according to the Associated Press.

Video of the incident, which began so innocuously, was posted on Hughes' Facebook page, where it has been watched more than 7,000 times, according to the Times-Tribune.

Facebook Live launched in 2015 and allows users to stream live video to their Facebook pages, where others can watch in real time, or after the fact. The service is used in a variety of capacities, from broadcasting breaking news, protests and events to giving lectures or communicating with friends.

Chris Cox, Facebook's chief product officer, told CBS News in April that Facebook Live allows users to bring "a little TV studio" to their pockets.

It was via Facebook Live that Diamond Reynolds broadcast the aftermath of the fatal police shooting of her boyfriend during a traffic stop in a Twin Cities suburb.

"Stay with me," she told Philando Castile. Her Facebook video quickly spread across social media and cable news, turning the deadly July confrontation into one of the highest-profile fatal police shootings in recent years. Last month, prosecutors in Minnesota charged the officer who killed Castile with second-degree manslaughter.

Following the fatal crash in the Poconos this week, Samantha Piasecki, a 17-year-old friend of the two victims, told the Times-Tribune that she had been in the car with Hughes and Morrison-Toomey earlier that night. But she asked to be dropped off at her mother's house in Scranton, before the wreck.

She told the paper that she ended up watching the crash video around 3 a.m. the same night.

"It broke me," she said.

"They were both down-to-Earth people," she told the paper. "They had good personalities. They had smiles that could light up dark rooms. Anytime you were with them it was always fun."

Piasecki told the Times-Tribune that she's guilt-ridden now because she feels like she "could have stopped it somehow" had she still been in the car.

Police told the Times-Tribune that Hughes was driving slowly in the right southbound lane of I-380 when the wreck occurred.

One of the car's wheels had been replaced with a spare tire, but it did not have a flat tire, as some early reports suggested, police said.

Police, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday, told the Times-Tribune that the investigation is ongoing.

They have not determined whether the driver of the tractor-trailer, Michael Jay Parks of Tobyhanna, Pa., will face charges.

The video, however unsettling, is not considered a violation of Facebook's community standards, according to a Facebook spokesman.

"However," the spokesman added, "a graphic warning screen has been added, auto-play has been disabled and it is not accessible for users under the age of 18.

"Additionally, the user's account has been memorialized."

Hughes was a student at West Scranton High School, according to the Times-Tribune. Her Facebook page says she worked at McDonalds.

On a GoFundMe page started to raise money for Morrison-Toomey's funeral, she was described as having an "energetic" spirit.

"Her jokes and faces that made you laugh," the page's description says. "Although Chaniya was only 19 she was full of so much life, positivity, and love that she could bring anyone out of the darkest place and make you think the world was sunshine and rainbows."

Since Facebook Live launched in April, millions have used the service to offer a glimpse into the big moments and small details of their lives.

The view isn't always pretty.

In September, a man who had just critically injured his ex-wife and fatally shot his namesake son in North Carolina made a chilling confession on Facebook Live.

"She lied on me, had warrants taken out on me," Earl Valentine told the camera while driving on a dark road. "She drug me all the way down to nothing. I loved my wife, but she deserved what she had coming."

Valentine acknowledged that the violent chain of events he started could end in his own death.

"Pleasure knowing all y'all," he said. "I've been very sick for months. And this is something that I could not help. So I don't know if I'm gonna make it where I'm going, but if I don't, I wish all of you a good life."

Within hours, authorities located Valentine at a motel in Columbia, S.C., where, they said, he committed suicide after being surrounded.

Valentine yet another example of a person using Facebook Live to discuss a violent act - or to showcase the act itself.

In June, Larossi Abballa, a terrorism suspect accused of killing a French police captain and his partner in their home, broadcast the aftermath of the attack on Facebook Live. An occasionally tearful Abballa, speaking a mix of French and Arabic, swore allegiance to the Islamic State militant group and encouraged others to follow his example and kill police.

A month later, a Georgia mother went on her daughter's Facebook account to broadcast herself beating the teenager - punishment for posting sexually explicit pictures on the site.

"This is my page now," Shanavia Miller told the camera after she fixed her hair. "Now I'm gonna need y'all to send this viral. Please share this because I'm not done. More to come."

A July shooting in Norfolk that injured three men was inadvertently captured on Facebook Live. In the video, three men are sitting in a car, smoking and listening to rap music. Five minutes into the video, there's a series of 30 gunshots.

The nascent live-streaming service is raising philosophical questions about the power of unfiltered Internet video that can reach millions instantly.

As The Post's Caitlin Dewey wrote in July:

- - -

Facebook Live, which launched globally in April, has quickly emerged as one of the Internet's dominant platforms for streaming unfiltered, real-time video. As Facebook has learned in the past week, however, that status comes with unique challenges.

Real-time video is exceedingly difficult to moderate, as it reaches its largest audience instantaneously and can be redacted only after that moment of impact. That limits the power of even a dedicated, 24-7 moderation team, which Facebook Live has. Despite growing concern that the tool could be abused - several shootings, a police standoff and an accused jihadist's confession have streamed on Facebook already - the company has remained intentionally (and characteristically) vague on the composition and guidelines of its moderation team.

- - -

The deaths of the two Pennsylvania teens came shortly after a 20-year-old Rhode Island man broadcast himself on Facebook Live driving erratically and reaching speeds up to 115 mph before hitting a dump truck, skidding across three lanes and slamming into a median, according to ABC News.

In that video, Onasi Olio Roja can be seen weaving in and out of traffic, blasting rap music and yelling, "Let's get it papi!" - moments before he totals his car.

"How lucky we are that no one else was hurt," said Capt. John Allen of the Rhode Island State Police said. "It's a grand slam of things not to do."

He was charged with reckless driving and operating a suspended license and arraigned from his hospital bed over the weekend, according to CBS affiliate WPRI.

In February, an Ohio teenager pleaded not guilty after she was accused of using a different live-streaming service, Periscope, to broadcast the rape of her 17-year-old friend. Marina Lonina, 18, a student at New Albany High School, outside Columbus, was attempting to record the assault as evidence, her attorney, Sam Shamansky maintained.

"She's in the habit of filming everything with this app called Periscope," Shamansky acknowledged at a court hearing in April, according to ABC affiliate WSYX. "She does everything possible to contain the situation even to the point of asking while it's being filmed to these Periscope followers, 'What should I do now? What should I do now?'"

Lonina faces charges of rape, sexual battery, kidnapping and pandering sexually oriented matter involving a juvenile and is due to appear in court on Dec. 12, according to the Columbus Dispatch.






Washington

The 114th Congress has limped to a close, two years of partisan acrimony punctuated by the occasional burst of bipartisan deal-making in the waning days of Barack Obama's presidency.

Ahead is uncertainty, as the GOP prepares to assume monopoly control over Washington for the first time in a decade come January, with Congress' relationship with an untested new president yet to be determined.

Thus far, congressional Republicans have been highly deferential to President-elect Donald Trump, even when his pronouncements fly in the face of long-held GOP goals like free trade and limited government. The question hanging over the next Congress will be whether Trump prevails on issues like his call for a $1 trillion infrastructure bill and steep tariffs to prevent outsourcing  or whether congressional Republicans steer him in a direction more in line with traditional GOP beliefs.

"We see the fact that we were given this opportunity to have unified government as a way to get this country back on track," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said in his final news conference before the House adjourned for the year. "And that includes getting our nation's finances back on track."

When lawmakers return to Washington on Jan. 3 and the 115th Congress gets under way, the Senate will immediately begin taking the steps necessary to pass a repeal of Obama's health care law. Republicans hope to present Trump with legislation to sign not long after his inauguration Jan 20.

Yet six years after Obama's health care overhaul became law, Republicans still do not know exactly what they'll replace it with, and disagree over how much time they should allow themselves to put a replacement into place.

Cooperation from Senate Democrats would probably be needed for the replacement, but Democrats say they won't be lending their support. That leaves the outcome of Republicans' push to repeal "Obamacare" unpredictable, and political risks high for the GOP. Republicans often accuse Democrats of overreaching by jamming laws through on party-line votes and say Democrats lost congressional majorities in the past as a result. Yet now Republicans must avoid committing the same mistakes themselves.

"We'll be moving in a different direction as a country, and I think we'd be wise to show some humility and move deliberately and make sure we don't make our changes, that we don't go too far too fast," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. "That's always the temptation after a big win and we saw what happened when President Obama did that, and made a lot of mistakes. We don't want to make mistakes."

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., wrote in a joint opinion piece Friday for National Review that voters have given Republicans a "historic opportunity."

"They gave us the House, the Senate, a majority of governor's seats, and the White House," Lee and Walker wrote. "Now we must honor the trust they have put in us." They added: "Congress and the Trump administration can't afford to fumble the repeal of Obamacare."

Before leaving Washington for the final time this year, Republicans boasted of their achievements over the past two years.

Ryan reeled off a list including a new bipartisan bill to spend billions financing medical research; ending the ban on exporting crude oil; new sanctions on Iran and North Korea; and a long-term highway bill.
The Conroe City Council agreed to form a committee to explore a facade program for the downtown area.

Councilman Duane Ham said it is critical for the council to protect downtown Conroe as growth continues.

"I think we all love the downtown," said Ham, noting there are plans to redo the Montgomery County Courthouse. "I want to work hard, and (Nancy) Mikeska has worked hard over the years, to keep old downtown, downtown.

"We are proud of it, we are here."

A facade is the face of a building, most often the side of the building that faces a street.

Mayor Toby Powell said he wants to make sure the council addresses the height of new construction in downtown as well.

"We are losing our horizon," he said. "I think not only a facade program, but we need to talk about building height as well."

Mayor Pro Tem Duke Coon agrees.

"Especially this time of year, the streets are full both Saturday and Sunday," Coon said. "The return on investment, we are starting to see."

Ham asked how the city could incentivize businesses already downtown to "get on board and put up a facade."

"Let's come up with things, ideas and coordinate with people," he said.

City Attorney Marc Winberry said in the past, the city did use incentives to encourage facades that reflect a historical appearance instead of setting regulations.

"There was an architect that was brought in with the city and the chamber to make recommendations about the facade standards," said Winberry, noting property owners were free to participate or not."

Winberry added that those businesses that did participate received a grant to pay for the majority of the cost for the facades. However, Winberry said he isn't sure whether that could apply today but suggested possible tax abatements or waiving building fees.

"The critical question is, do we want a program that is primarily regulatory  or do we want a program that is more of an incentive program " he said. "That's a major choice you need to make going forward."
A $50,000 cost reduction made a water study more palatable for the Conroe City Council Thursday.

Council members, during Wednesday's workshop, initially questioned city staff members' recommendation for a $170,000 study to evaluate options for treating a city water well near Conroe Park North Industrial Park. However, during the council's regular meeting, Director of Infrastructure Scott Taylor said a second look at the contract resulted in some modifications, dropping the cost to $122,388.

"This will perform what my intent and goal was to obtain this study," said Taylor, adding the last test on the well showed the total dissolved solids at 991 milligrams per liter, just shy of the 1,000 limit allowed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. "We are still concerned about that."

Total dissolved solids are inorganic salts and small amounts of organic matter that are dissolved in water.

The proposed study was prompted by concerns from a manufacturing company regarding water quality affecting production.

According to Taylor, Water Well 24 is a Catahoula Aquifer well; and while the well level of total dissolved solids is within acceptable standards, lowering it more would be beneficial.

Mayor Pro Tem Duke Coon said Wednesday the city is supplying water within specifications and asked whether staff has visited with the business about a water-filtering system in lieu of the city paying for the study and then possible treatment options.

Taylor said he had not discussed that with the company.

However, Coon said with the lower cost, he supported the study.

Mayor Toby Powell said the study is critical in regard to the businesses at Conroe Park North and their role in the community.

"We need to take that into consideration," Powell said.
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An estimated 1,500 people experienced the spirit of Christmas in Downtown Conroe Saturday.

The Kiwanis Club Christmas Parade's floats, bands, dance teams, classic cars and more drew the crowd to the streets along historical buildings, small business, the Farmer's Market at Founder's Plaza and Heritage Place Park. The parade started and ended on Metcalf Street and ran through North Main Street, Cochran, North Thompson, Simonton, North San Jacinto, West Phillips Street, Newton Street, West Davis Street and Texas 75.

"It's awesome," said Conroe resident Courtney Lowe, who watched with her 1-year-old son Cooper and 7-month-old son Creed on Texas 75. "We saw lots of fire trucks, Santa. He (Cooper) loved it. It keeps him occupied."

Behind Lowe, the Christmas celebration blocked off Simonton Street, where attendees had a chance to zip line across from a petting zoo, real snow hills, pony rides, train rides and more.

For the first time ever, the event featured a camel. Children lined up for a chance to ride, including Conroe resident Sakiya Merritt, 5, who rode with her brother Lonnie Merritt while attending with their parents Amy and Jack.

"I was scared," said Sakiya, who still enjoyed the ride. "It felt like I was going to fall off."

But Lonnie had no fear.

"I was excited," he said with a big smile on his face.

Across from the petting zoo where the big Christmas tree stands, people filled Heritage Place Park where they laughed at a juggler balancing on a ball throwing pins for people to catch and gasped at children daring to jump for a mechanical log roll before being wiped out. Surrounding them children painted their faces and sat in Santa's lap. All of the activities were provided by the city of Conroe through the Parks and Recreation Department.

Event Coordinator Elizabeth West described the attendance as a "great turnout" with more people than last year. She said the city hosts many free events such as the Christmas Celebration because those involved "like to see the family out and have a good time."

Conroe resident Liz Guerra, who brought her two 6-year-old children Natalie and Christian Dozal, commended the event.

"I think it is pretty awesome they host this with free admission, especially for families who have a lot of children," Guerra said. "I think (parades are important). There is so much chaos in the world, this brings people together and makes memories."

For more information about upcoming city of Conroe events, visit www.cityofconroe.org.
Beirut

Islamic State fighters appeared close to retaking Palmyra, Syria, on Saturday, just nine months after Syrian government forces drove them from the desert city, where they had terrorized residents and blown up irreplaceable ancient monuments.

Residents said Islamic State militants were battling soldiers in the city's center, after retaking outlying oil fields and nearly encircling the city over the past week as the government and its allies were focused on a pivotal battle in Aleppo, farther north.

Losing Palmyra for a second time would be a major symbolic and military blow for the Syrian government, which touted its reconquest of the city in March, after 10 months of Islamic State rule.

Russia, the government's main ally, which had helped with air support and advisers, flew an orchestra to play a victory concert in Palmyra's ancient amphitheater that month.

The Russians also established a small base in the city, but residents said all Russian troops had pulled out in recent days as the militants approached.

The setback in Palmyra comes as the government has been scoring its most important victories in years in Aleppo, once Syria's largest city.

The army and allied militias there have retaken most of the eastern half of the city. East Aleppo has been held for four years by rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad.

Another battle may further complicate the government's war strategy. A rebel coalition backed by Turkey made advances against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in the city of Al Bab in northern Aleppo province, an area that the Syrian government hoped to conquer from the group.

On Saturday, pro-government social media accounts said Russian advisers and other "allies" abandoned Palmyra.
Courtesy

A man was fatally shot by police Sunday in south Laredo after he allegedly stabbed an officer.

The man, 30, has not been identified. Police said the officer who was stabbed was taken to Laredo Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.
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Seoul, South Korea

The previous time South Korea's parliament voted to impeach a president, ruling party lawmakers bawled and hurled ballot boxes, a man set himself on fire in front of the National Assembly, and thousands glumly held candlelight vigils night after night to save late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun.

Twelve years later, the mood couldn't have been more different, with massive crowds returning to Seoul's streets on Saturday, a day after lawmakers voted in favor of removing disgraced President Park Geun-hye.

The vote for impeachment left protesters basking in pride, believing they had repaired a damaged democracy with their weekly demonstrations.

Thousands of people marched near streets close to the presidential palace, where the notoriously aloof Park will remain mostly alone for up to six months until the Constitutional Court rules whether she must step down permanently.

Carrying signs, flags and yellow balloons, they gleefully shouted for her to quit immediately rather than weather the court process.

The demonstrators waved their arms to the beat of gongs and drums and followed an effigy of Park dressed in prison clothes and tied with rope into a narrow alley near the presidential offices and residence, known as the Blue House.

"Park Geun-hye, get out of the house! Get out of the house now!" the marchers chanted. "Come down and go to jail!"

Seemingly, tens of thousands of demonstrators packed a large nearby boulevard that was the center of massive protests in recent weeks.

"We got off to a good first step (on Friday). It was a day when we all realized how strong we can collectively be," said Kim Hye-in, 51, an out-of-towner who spent her sixth consecutive Saturday in Seoul protesting against Park. "But we aren't there just yet. We need to keep gathering strength and protest until the court officially removes her from office."

Protest organizers said about 600,000 people turned out on Saturday.

On Friday, the opposition-controlled parliament passed an impeachment motion against Park, stripping her of her presidential duties and pushing Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn into the role as government caretaker until the court rules on Park's fate.

The impeachment came after millions of people demonstrated for weeks demanding the removal of Park, who prosecutors accuse of colluding with a longtime friend to extort money and favors from South Korea's biggest companies and to give that confidante extraordinary sway over government decisions. Park has apologized for putting trust into her friend, Choi Soon-sil, but has denied any legal wrongdoing.

In 2004, the Constitutional Court reinstated Roh after two months, saying that minor election law violations and accusations of incompetence weren't enough to justify his unseating as president.

The chances of the court restoring Park's powers are considered low because her charges are much graver, although some believe the court will need more than a couple of months to decide because her case is more complicated than Roh's.

Park will be formally removed from office if at least six of the court's nine justices support her impeachment, and the country would then hold a presidential election within 60 days.

While the historically large protests that helped push lawmakers to vote to impeach Park have been peaceful, the festive atmosphere kicked up a notch on Saturday as demonstrators let out relief that the president they so desperately want removed was finally halfway out the door.

"We accomplished a peaceful revolution," said Park Seong-su, a frequent anti-Park protester who faces a court trial for throwing what he said was dog feces at a Seoul prosecution office on Oct. 31
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One man is dead after a fender bender led to a fatal shooting on Southwest Freeway, according to authorities.

Around 3 a.m., Houston police responded to a call for shots fired on the highway over Richmond, according to HPD spokesman John Cannon.
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Mayor Ivy Taylors Council on Police-Community Relations will have its fourth meeting Monday night, and this time it has invited the public to speak.

The meeting will start with a workshop exercise for the councils members. Immediately afterward, the public is invited to share stories, voice concerns and recommend potential solutions during what is called a community listening session.

The meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Municipal Plaza B room at 114 W. Commerce St. Those interested in speaking during the community listening session should sign in between 5:45 p.m. and 6:15 p.m.

The council was created in September in the wake of a string of police shootings of black men, some unarmed, across the country. In San Antonio, tense community discussions ensued after local activists unsuccessfully pushed City Council to reject a police collective bargaining agreement because of rules that limit how much disciplinary evidence the police chief can consider when punishing officers.

The council consists of 50 community representatives, including religious leaders, police union members and City Council members Rebecca Viagran, Alan Warrick and Rey Saldana.

The panel has faced criticism for holding its first and third meetings behind closed doors.

Taylor decided to close the first meeting on the advice of a University of Texas at San Antonio professor who facilitated the meeting and wanted participants to freely discuss their feelings about law enforcement and policing.

The second meeting was open to the public and the media. The third meeting was closed because it was held at FBI headquarters, where everyone who attended had to undergo a criminal background check in advance.

Speaking to the San Antonio Express-News editorial board, Taylor said whether meetings would be open to the public had to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Mondays meeting will be streamed live at www.sanantonio.gov/ TVSA/liveontheweb or on the citys television channel and the government access channel.

eeaton@express-news.net
When Sigmond Frank Jack Danysh was a boy, he rode his horse to school 6 miles round-trip. Lunch was a cold sausage, carried in a pail, son Richard Danysh said.

He used to tell us that life was tough in the Depression, but we made it through, his son said.

Danysh did more than make it through. He thrived, building a family where God came first; his kids went to college, and he traveled the world with his bride.

Danysh died Dec. 7. He was 94

Born in DeWitt County to a farming couple with Polish roots, Danyshs father bought a 100-acre farm, a year before the Great Depression blanketed the country.

Working the harvests and helping to take care of the farm was hard work but he never forgot where he started and appreciated what he had, Richard Danysh said of his father. Moving into manhood, people thought he resembled actor Jackie Cooper, his son said. It was not long before everyone started calling him Jack.

Danysh graduated from Yorktown High School in 1941 and a year later enlisted in the Army during the height of World War II.

While training he came down with appendicitis and was sent home to recover. As he recuperated, he forged a relationship with Clara Jablonski, and a love story began.

More Information S.F. "Jack" Danysh Born: Sept. 20, 1922, DeWitt County Died: Dec. 7, 2016, San Antonio Preceded by: Parents Frank S. and Josie John Danysh; brothers Raymond and Eugene Danysh. Survived by: Wife Clara J. Danysh; sons Donald C. Danysh and daugher-in-law Linda, Richard C. Danysh and daughter-in-law Kathleen; daughter Donna D. Carrabba and son-in-law Joseph; numerous grandchildren, family and friends. Services: Memorial Mass 10:30 a.m. Monday at St. Matthews Catholic Church, 10703 Wurzbach Road. followed by a reception in the Church Hall. See More Collapse

Shortly after their engagement in 1945, Danysh left with the Signal Corp, being stationed in the Philippines and later Japan. His job was to show movies to the troops.

In A Rusty Ole American Dream, an article written by his grandson, Travis Danysh, he described the day the war ended.

I remember we were showing a movie to the GIs and they stopped us and came out on the intercom to announce that the Japanese had surrendered. ... No one stayed for that movie. The whole island was full of people raising hell that night, Danysh said.

Danysh married Clara Jablonski after the war, and they moved to San Antonio. Married for 70 years, they had three children.

To support his family, Danysh worked for Western Electric for 38 years. Early in his career, he worked converting Texas towns from the switchboard to dial phone services.

After retirement, Danysh, wanting to experience other cultures, traveled with his wife all over the United States and Europe. As an avid Catholic, volunteered at his church.

It was tough. I cant believe it looking at where we started and where we are today, he said to his grandson. I have to thank God.

iwilgen@express-news.net
To the editor:

An open letter to all local and state officials.

Stop the government overreach and mafia-style actions of the San Jacinto River Authority and the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District. It is in the public's best interest that all responsible elected officials address this immediately.

SJRA and LSGCD "cuddled up" with each other like two snakes to protect their own special interest, and the special interest of a select few. A little research and homework exposes their political and money trail, which is very easy to follow.

A special salute to the City of Conroe, Mayors Melder and Powell, their councils, and all the other cities that have joined the legal fight, including the many private water providers who have filed suit and are running toward the courthouse to protect the public, their customers, their business and everyone's private property and constitutional rights. In the meantime, these two "water monsters" who pride themselves and intimidate us by calling themselves state agencies continue their propaganda and legal delays at the taxpayers' expense.

It is past time these two boards were put under the public and voters' microscope. It is time these boards are reorganized to be elected by the public. Currently, the public has very little say, if any, about the management of these two boards. Together, they have orchestrated a billion dollars worth of bonded debt (principal and interest), with more debt planned to serve their own political and special interest. This must stop, and stop now.

Montgomery County Commissioners Court has two appointees, and yet the county is not a public water provider. Their two appointees, Tramm and Hope, continue to assault our constitutional and private property rights at the taxpayers' expense. The president of LSGCD, Richard Tramm, is up for reappointment. For the last 15-plus years, he has led the charge for the LSGCD on all of this, and he does not deserve to be reappointed.

SJRA's seat on the board must go, too. Get the fox out of the hen house. The public deserves better.

Granted, we the public may have been asleep when the GRP was born and implemented under a mysterious blanke of "no conflicts of interest." That's our fault, but we are wide awake now. More voter eyes are opening daily. We are watching to see what Judge Doyal, county commissioners and our elected officials do about this.

Robert D. Secrest

Resident, voter, taxpayer, business owner since 1963

More concerned about the Washington weasels

To the editor:

In reference to Mr. Linton's letter about him being worried about the Pacific Fisher Weasel, all in good humor of course, I am worried more so about the Washington, D.C., Weasels, which make up our congress. Hopefully they too can make a comeback if the Democrats don't destroy them first.

Jim Moore

Conroe

Salvation Army does the most good

To the editor:

Thank you to all who have supported The Salvation Army in Montgomery County for over 30 years. Many of you receive letters thanking you for your donations with an envelope addressed to "Houston." That envelope has a coded box for Conroe/Montgomery County and is a way to direct deposit to the Conroe Salvation Army Corps in Montgomery County.

Use these envelopes if you will, for your convenience and the fact that it uses the donations more efficiently with direct deposit. Everything has changed in the 30 years I have served you by being a member of the council; it is all good.

The Salvation Army still, as my father told me over 70 years ago in Paris, Texas, "always does the most good for the people." We are still doing the most good as best we can.

Thank you for all you do for the good of our friends and neighbors served by The Salvation Army.

A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Alice D. Coker

Montgomery
How do students learn about Connecticut? Lets hope its not from a textbook that sugar coats Connecticuts history of slavery (Fourth-grade textbooks take on Connecticut slavery scrutinized, Dec. 6, 2016)

Luckily, a new social studies text for third and fourth grade could be just months away.

In 2015 the Department of Education recommended incorporating Connecticut content into the public school social studies curriculum and created frameworks for doing so.

But that doesnt actually get content into the classroom. The state doesnt create or fund curriculum or resources. To implement the states recommendation, teachers, especially in the lower grades, need affordable and current resources about Connecticutas weve just learned by Norwalks example.

Connecticut Explored, the states nonprofit magazine of Connecticut history, decided to create one. Before last May, this would have been a no-brainer. Connecticut Humanities would have been a natural funder.

Oh, but wait. Governor Malloy zeroed out CT Humanitiess state funding in the 2016-2017 budget, leaving the heritage and humanities community with no competitive grant pool to apply to for projects like this.

On a shoestring of private funding, a team of teachers, curriculum specialists, and historians are developing a social studies textbook and companion website about Connecticut for third and fourth graders. But we still need a $1.50 per student to print and put this in the hands of 40,000 students next fall.

How is it that Humanities, so important in an era of fake news and, apparently, fake history, is inexplicably and unjustifiably reduced to $0 in the state budget? If Connecticut Humanities was properly funded in the state budget this and many other sorely needed education programs for children and adults could happen. Every legislator has a history museum and library (or two or three) in their district engaged with teaching children and adults alike.

I respectfully ask our governor and state legislators to correct this situation in the next budget. Put Connecticut Humanities back in the state budget at a fair level of funding. 40,000 third and fourth graders and the history museums in every town across Connecticut they visit will thank you.

Elizabeth Normen, publisher

Connecticut Explored
I am 8 years old. Some of my friends say there IS a Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in the Communist Party paper Granma, it's so." Please tell me the truth, El Presidente. Is there a Santa Claus?

- Virginia O'Hanlon

Dear Virginia:

Your little friends are wrong. Of course there is no Santa Claus. Did your papa not tell you that I banned all likenesses of Santa, a symbol of Yankee capitalist greed, in 1959?

Did your papa not read the 1959 Time article that explained how I required all Christmas decorations to be made of Cuban materials, with traditional Cuban scenes - that American-style Christmas trees had to be replaced with Cuban palms?

Does he not remember that I, the world's most successful Scrooge, canceled Christmas altogether in 1969 - that millions of Cuban children grew up without any sense of a Christmas tradition - and that I only eased the ban in 1998 when Pope John Paul II visited our country?

Believe in Santa Claus, Virginia? You might as well believe that freedom exists - as foolhardy American pigs do. Their freedom opens the floodgates to everything that is bad in the human heart - greed and vanity and dishonesty.

Only a benevolent dictator like Fidel can stop such freedom. Only I can open the floodgates to everything good in the human heart, such as generosity and selflessness and integrity. Those who refuse to embrace these traits will be beaten, jailed or sent to the firing squad!

I laugh when I read the various estimates of the political opponents I sent to their deaths - between 4,000 and 33,000. Even Fidel has lost count. But I had to whack these troublemakers. They stood in the way of the revolution. They didn't know that only with absolute power could I help my people, in particular the poor.

All the world knows I am a great champion of the poor. I love poor people so much, in fact, that I created millions of new ones.

I gave them education - I'm proud to say my country has the best educated janitors, maids and garbage collectors in Latin America!

I gave them free health care - albeit not very good health care. It's not my fault most of our doctors, in their greed, fled to other countries to enrich themselves with the livable salaries our communist country can never pay them.

My intentions are good and - as the progressive left in America will tell you - isn't that all that matters?

It's true that as my people have suffered - the average income in my country is $20 per month - I have lived a lavish life.

Forbes estimated my net worth at just short of $1 billion. Had I been a ruthless capitalist pig like America's president-elect, I, too, would be a billionaire many times over. But Fidel didn't do too badly as the dictator of a small communist island.

But getting back to your question, Virginia, of course there is no Santa Claus.

Look, Virginia, the most real things in the world are only those things that Fidel sees. Did Fidel ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not. Fidel only sees the good life that the revolution has brought to Cuba - including the finest fleet of rundown '58 Studebakers in all the world!

Alas! There is no Santa Claus, Virginia.

And now that I have answered your question, Fidel has a question for you: What are the names of these little friends who have been telling you lies about this Santa Claus? - Fidel Castro

Tom Purcell, author of "Misadventures of a 1970's Childhood" and "Wicked Is the Whiskey," a Sean McClanahan mystery novel, both available at Amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Send comments to Tom at Tom@TomPurcell.com.
Health officials in Brownsville are knocking on every door in a neighborhood where a woman contracted the Zika virus from a mosquito bite. She hadnt traveled to anywhere in the Caribbean or South America where the virus has exploded, nor had she been in contact with anyone who had. Since it wasnt a travel-related case of infection, Texas became the second state to report a locally transmitted Zika case due to a mosquito bite.

The woman was not pregnant, nor did she have the virus in her blood, waiting for the next mosquito to bite her and spread it, but this is still critical news for San Antonio residents this holiday season. Many of us have family and friends who live near Brownsville, and holiday visiting can accelerate the spread of this disease. Trust me, the Zika virus is not a gift you want to give or receive at an outdoor family picnic.

The symptoms of the virus can be so mild, they are often ignored or blamed on a common cold. Infected people might run a fever, have pain in their joints, a skin rash or even develop pink eye (conjunctivitis), but the real danger of Zika is that it can cause severe birth defects should the virus be contracted by a pregnant woman.

To prevent this tragedy, neighborhoods and communities must work together to prevent Zika from spreading, and those efforts must be ongoing and persistent, especially in areas of South Texas that dont usually get temperatures cold enough to kill mosquitoes in the winter months.

There are no vaccines or medications to treat Zika. The best actions to prevent it from spreading are to keep mosquitoes from breeding and to prevent bites. It is the Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti species of mosquito that can potentially carry the virus. Still, you dont have time to identify mosquito species when this pest is drilling into your bloodstream. Wear long-sleeve shirts and long pants so the bloodsuckers have the least amount of bare skin available to bite.

Insect repellent is also an effective way to avoid bites, but you need to read the label and reapply it every few hours. Repellents containing DEET, lemon-eucalyptus or picaridin are the most effective. Stay inside or in screened areas at dusk, when these pests are especially active.

Disrupting the mosquitos life cycle is key to eradicating Zika threats from your neighborhood. Since mosquito larvae thrive in standing water, that should be the first thing to eliminate in your yard. Check carefully in trash cans, toys, tarps, pet dishes, tires, tree stumps, birdbaths and flower pots for trapped water.

If youre planning to leave town for a holiday vacation, ask your neighbors to check your yard while youre away, especially if it rains. It only takes a few days for adult mosquitoes to hatch from eggs, so checking for standing water needs to be done two to three times per week.

Trim back tall grasses, and check gutters to be sure they are free of debris. If your neighbors are elderly or too busy to accomplish yardwork, offer to help them eliminate standing water and weeds.

The more you know about the Zika virus, the better you can fight it. If you feel any symptoms that resemble Zika, visit a doctor and get a diagnosis. Theres not much that can be done to help you feel better, but you can be extra mindful of not getting bitten and spreading the virus.

Avoid traveling to areas with active Zika virus transmissions  Central America, South America and the Caribbean  especially if you are pregnant or trying to conceive. If travel there cannot be avoided, wear protective clothing and repellent constantly, and use netting at night if needed. Since the virus can be transmitted through sex, use condoms or abstain from sex for six to eight weeks after returning from those areas.

All these precautions and rules may seem a bit intrusive, but the truth of the matter is that Zika can be a devastating disease to a fetus. Brain defects can leave a newborn with a lifetime of extreme-care needs, and the costs of this care are often borne by small local communities and school districts. If we can work together to eradicate mosquitoes and prevent the spread of the Zika virus right now, it will benefit all of us in the future.

Dr. Evan Ratner serves as the medical director for NextCare Urgent Care in San Antonio.
Next door to an unraveling Venezuela, Colombias new peace accord will bring much-needed stability to a troubled part of the world. More important, Colombians will benefit from a departure from years of unrelenting violence.

There are disagreements on how this accord was approved, this time through Colombias Congress, bypassing voters who narrowly rejected the measure Oct. 2. Congressional opponents walked out of the chamber before the vote.

Voters rejected the previous accord because of concerns that members of the rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, were being treated too leniently. They had demanded that rebels accused of war crimes and trafficking, for instance, be brought before a special court.

That will now occur, though the accord still prohibits prison for those who confess to war crimes.

But the fact of the matter is that without this sort of forgiveness or reconciliation and without a promise of political representation and a return to civilian life, there would be no deal.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his governing coalition in the Senate and House of Representatives were correct in keeping their eye on that ball.

No doubt, Santos rival, former President Alvaro Uribe, will continue to stir the pot. Nonetheless, the United States must help any way it can in fostering this peace.

There is no doubt that the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Santos this year, despite the accords rejection in the referendum, is well deserved.
EDITORIAL

It's become an annual tradition at St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica School in Beaumont - donating toys to the Beaumont Enterprise Empty Stocking Fund. But this is not a typical donation, and neither is the charity that benefits from it.

The students and staff at St. Anthony collected more than 250 toys in 2016 for the effort, ranging from Hot Wheels cars to board games.

It's a charming part of this holiday season, one that many children will cherish long after they have grown up. And it fits right in with the spirit of the Empty Stocking Fund, the city's oldest charity run by its oldest business.

Donations pour in all kinds of way. Kids save coins all year. Grandparents give a dollar for each year of their grandchildren's lives. Parents bring their tykes to The Enterprise lobby to make a donation - just as their parents did with them when they were little. Organizations like the Knights of Columbus cook up holiday treats and donate the proceeds.

And on and on. The Empty Stocking Fund has a real community feel to it, a connection to the people of this region that we cherish and honor. We don't toot our horn much, but we've been doing this for 104 years, and we've raised more than $2.1 million to help needy families and children. This year, Christmas Bureau volunteers will use the donations to help more than 500 families, many of which were impacted by Tropical Storm Harvey.

To do that, we depend on the generosity of Southeast Texans. If you can make a donation, we will deeply appreciate it. Our target is $50,000 again. Contributions may be mailed to the Empty Stocking Fund, P.O. Box 3071, Beaumont, TX 77704.

Starting the Monday after Thanksgiving, volunteers from the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission's RSVP program will be in The Enterprise lobby at 380 Main St. every day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to accept hand-delivered donations.

With your help, we'll make sure that some kids don't wake up to a home without toys on Christmas morning. At this time of year, we can't think of anything more important.
TV presenter Tinashe Mugabe can continue with his programme, The DNA Show, after the High Court ruled that medical bodies which banned it overstepped their powers.

The Health Professions Authority of Zimbabwe (HPAZ) and Medical Laboratory and Clinical Scientists Council of Zimbabwe (MLCSCZ) stepped in to stop the shows over concerns about the credibility of paternity test results revealed by Mugabe.

Mugabes company, Global DNA, has no DNA lab and was found to be merely a sample collection site which, allegedly, forwards the same to facilities with DNA testing capability.

On Wednesday, Justice Joseph Mafusire said because Mugabe and Global DNA were not medical professionals or bodies, they did not fall under the regulation of HPAZ and MLCSCZ.

It may well be that Mugabes activities require proper regulation, Justice Mafusire said.

But if there should exist some other law providing for such regulation, it has not been pointed out to the court. The two medical bodies simply exercised powers that the Act does not give them.

Mugabe appealed to the High Court last year after HPAZ and MLCSCZ banned his TV show on the basis that he was not qualified to issue paternity test results.

The two bodies had cancelled Global DNAs registration certificate as a health institution for non-compliance.

Mugabe sought a High Court declaratur that his company was not a medical facility, and as such the two had no powers to interfere with his operations.

Justice Mafusire agreed, finding that Mugabe and Global DNA did not have to register with HPAZ and MLCSCZ in the first place.

The judge ordered: In the result, the following orders are hereby granted: The applicant is not a health institution as defined by the Health Professions Act Chapter 27:19; the applicant does not fall under the control of the respondents in terms of the Act aforesaid; the suspension of the applicants operations by the respondents in September 2021 is hereby set aside and the respondents shall pay the costs of suit jointly and severally, the one paying the other to be absolved.

HPAZ and MLCSCZ argued in court that the DNA company was a health institution within the meaning of the Act, and was required to register.

 ZimLive

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Former First Lady Grace Mugabe and some of her relatives and allies are being stripped of 14 stands worth almost US$12,6 million in one of the most upmarket developments in Borrowdale, Harare, on the grounds that they acquired the land for next to nothing by abusing their connections with the then Government.

The 14 stands are in the plush suburb of Harare, Carrick Creagh due east of Borrowdale Brooke and between them cover 167 997 square metres, or almost 17 hectares, and at the quoted commercial selling price of US$75 a square metre they are worth US$12 599 775.

Mrs Mugabe owned four adjacent stands covering 7,36ha through a pair of front companies Montshow Private Limited and Navline Investments Private Limited in which her children are now directors according to company records. This land, at the US$75 a square metre selling price, should have cost US$5 525 550, but in practice it cost her almost nothing.

She and the other 10 land owners, four using companies, were able to get into the housing scheme without putting up the required purchase price because it is a Public Private Partnership joint venture between the Government and a private developer on State land.

They operated through a former minister who himself has corruption-related legal problems arising from the way he became involved in land deals and stand allocations. The ex-minister also included at least his alleged girlfriend in the Carrick Creagh scheme.

It is understood that Mrs Mugabe first used members of the State House staff in the original allocation of stands, and then carried out her intention of acquiring the formal ownership in the name of her companies.

But now Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo wants the corruptly-acquired land back and the title deeds cancelled. He announced his intention, and gave the required notice, in the Government Gazette on Friday last week and is placing the weekly press advertisement for the next three weeks, seeking objections.

Minister Moyo is able to do this under section 18(1)(b) of the Deeds Registries Act, which allows the minister to direct the cancellation of the deed for any land in respect of which the State has the right to claim transfer. The right being invoked is that the land in question was not properly paid for, being given away for what amounted to free.

The Act lays down the procedure that must be followed, and in particular the calling for objections and the need to study these objections before the cancellations can take place.

The minister is also relying on section 308(3) of the Constitution which requires him to take positive action in these circumstances. The section reads: It is the duty of every person who has custody or control of public property to safeguard the property and ensure that it is not lost, destroyed, damaged, misapplied or misused.

Mrs Mugabes four stands include the largest, third largest, fourth largest and sixth largest of the 14 stands. Two stands were registered in the name of Montshow Investments (Private) Limited: stand 306 of 18 034 square metres, and stand 307 of 25 133 square metres. The other two were registered in the name of Navline Investments (Private) Limited: stand 308 of 13 733 square metres and stand 309 of 16 744 square metres.

This block of four stands, covering 73 674 square metres should have cost US$5 525 550. Mrs Mugabe paid a token sum, basically getting the large block for free.

The other 10 stands were transferred as follows: stand 96 of 9 592 square metres to Timothy Mubhawu; stand 172 of 4 000 square metres to Lazarus Dagwa Kambarami Dokora; stand 195 of 3 971 square metres to Comverol Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd; stand 196 of 4 039 square metres to Cavord Trading (Pvt) Ltd; stand 269 of 13 857 square metres to Gloryboost Investments (Pvt) Ltd; stand 300 of 12 384 square metres to Taruvinga Hamura; stand 91 of 8 003 square metres to Olivia Farai Mashonganyika; stand 228 of 12 086 square metres to Junior Shuvayi Gumbochuma; stand 288 of 19 310 square metres to Olivia Tafadzwa Chinouya, and stand 99 of 7 081 square metres to Penking Investments (Pvt) Ltd.

Asked for comment, the developers lawyer Mr Munyaradzi Bwanya referred all questions to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works.

 Herald

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(Natural News) The latest in population control technology is being unveiled in Singapore, where the elderly are now being used as human guinea pigs in a collaborative trial to see how effectively humans can be tracked using wireless sensor technology. According to The Straits Times, two senior studio apartments have already been equipped with the technology, including the installation of seven small sensors strategically placed throughout the premises that actively monitor the whereabouts of the seniors who live there.

Every time Madam Ng Siew Eng, one of the participating elderly patients, leaves her house, her caretakers and family members are able to track her whereabouts thanks to a special device attached to her house keys. This device communicates remotely with a server that keeps tabs on her every move, that way if someone is needing to find her they can do so in real time, should an unexpected emergency occur.

While in her home, Madam Ng can also be monitored by the small devices attached to the walls of her living room, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. As she roams about her home, these devices communicate with the third party server to make sure she hasnt fallen, for instance, or isnt having trouble breathing. The system is even capable of monitoring her sleeping patterns.

Madam Ngs apartment is one of two in the area thats being preliminarily tested as part of a six-month trial being conducted by Adventist Home for the Elders and a local technology startup known as ConnectedLife. If successful  which by all indications so far, those in participation are favorable towards it  the technology could see greater expansion in the coming months and years.

Before, I was worried I might pass out and nobody would know, Madam Ng told the paper. Now, with this emergency button, Im very happy.

Human monitoring has its benefits, but is it just more Big Brother in our lives?

The technology is equipped with various smart elements as well that can detect unusual behavioral patterns that might indicate a person is injured or even dead. Spending too much time in the bathroom, for instance  too much time being inordinate amounts that break typical patterns  would trigger a call to a local family member or caregiver, who would know to come and check on the individual.

Tracking systems such as this one also allow seniors more freedom, advocates claim, giving them greater confidence to go more places without worrying that they might get lost or hurt. And their loved ones are then faced with less worry about what might happen out of eyeshot or earshot, a win-win for seniors in terms of prolonged independence during their latter years.

Josephine Teo, Senior Minister of State at the Prime Ministers Office, believes the technology is a wonder for seniors, and that it provides everyone involved greater peace of mind  which it definitely does. But such technology isnt without its fair share of privacy concerns, as having a constant eye inside the home and on ones person 24 hours a day leaves the door open for more government invasion into our lives.

Thats the scariest part of this [trend]  the potential for Big Brother, Rich Redelfs, a general partner at Foundation Capital, a wireless technologies venture capital firm, said to Computer World. Privacy is ultimately a moral issue, and that matters to us. The Internet as a whole has raised the issue for how much of our personal information might be seen by others.

Id say the biggest worry is the growing use of wireless video cameras in traffic.

Sources:

StraitsTimes.com

ComputerWorld.com
Sunday, December 11, 2016 by: JD Heyes Tags: contaminated water , filter , Lead , mercury This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author

(Natural News) A team of researchers led by academics at Rutgers University has developed tiny, glowing crystals that are able to detect and then bind heavy-metal toxins in drinking water such as lead and mercury.

The discovery, which was detailed in a paper published by the journal Applied Materials and Interfaces, may wind up being the latest powerful tool that can be used to find and then clean up contaminated water sources like drinking water in Flint, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey, Nature World News reported.

Known as luminescent metal-organic frameworks (LMOFs), the crystals work like small, reusable sensors and traps for heavy-metal toxins that contaminate drinking water supplies. Researchers also said that there are no other MOFs that have the same dual role of both finding and then capturing toxic heavy metals.

Others had developed MOFs for either the detection of heavy metals or for their removal, but nobody before had really investigated one that does both, Jing Li, a Rutgers chemistry professor and lead author of the study, said in a press release.

99 percent effective

The team found that one type of LMOF can be selective in identifying and absorbing more than 99 percent of mercury from a test mixture of both heavy and light metals over 30 minutes. Using an X-ray device at Berkeley Labs Advanced Light Source (ALS) and software tools, the research team could map a three-dimensional structure of the crystal with an atomic resolution. Simon Teat, a Berkeley Lab scientist, led this particular aspect of the study, the press release said.

The research team also discovered that the crystals contain hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and zinc atoms that line large, open channels. In the case of this study, the openings in the LMOFs framework permitted heavy metals to pass into the channels and then bind chemically to the MOFs.

With MOFs, youre typically interested in using the holes for something, Teat said.

The LMOFs were also found to be very selective of their targets. The research team saw that the crystals bound tightly to mercury and lead, while binding very weakly to lighter metals in contaminated water, like magnesium and calcium. The team also noted that the LMOFs can even be recycled, having survived three cycles of collecting, cleaning and reusing before showing any signs of degrading.

Knowing the crystal structures is one of the most important aspects of our research. You need those in order to perform subsequent characterizations and to understand the properties of these materials, Li explained.

The researchers said that more study of the LMOFs is still needed, but the results of their study are nonetheless very promising.

Promising results

The research team noted that heavily industrialized areas, cities with very old water regulations and infrastructure, and farming communities, are particularly susceptible to contamination of groundwater sources, which are often used for drinking water. Contaminated groundwater can also lead to soil contamination if it is not cleaned up. There is also concern that the contamination will spread to plants and animals, which broadens the path of exposure.

One focus of future research, Li said, would be to find a way to lower the cost of the LMOFs and make them even more durable, lasting for many more cycles. In addition, scientists could also look into developing water filters by blending LMOFs with polymers to create a solid film.

These filters could be used for capture on a larger scale, she said, adding that the current results are promising, but that she and her team would like to continue with their research.

The press release said that researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas and Rider University also participated in this research. The teams work was supported by the Department of Energys Office of Science.

Sources:

Pubs.ACS.org

NatureWorldNews.com

NewsCenter.LBL.gov
It was in 2012 when a private company called Mars One announced that they plan to send the first set of humans to set foot on the planet Mars. With the originally aimed schedule of 2024 nearing, it is about time that the first astronauts to reach Mars start to prepare. What is most interesting about this trip is that it may be a one-way ticket, as Mars One not only plans to set foot on Mars, but also plans to be the first to "establish a colony" on the red planet.

Mars One, as reported by The Guardian, is currently undertaking a painstaking process of selecting six groups of four astronauts from more than 200,000 volunteers all over the world who are ready to take on the challenge of reaching Mars for the first time. The final selection round includes a stage in which these "astronauts" are expected to cope with living in very harsh made-up Mars habitats.

A report from Washington Post described how NASA is preparing its astronauts for an upcoming Mars mission. With the planet's terrain different from our home planet, these astronauts must undergo very stringent training to have a full-on chance of survival.

According to the report, the "astronauts" being trained are carrying with them heavy equipment while they traverse rough terrains on the side of a Hawaiian mountainside. Scientists explained that this is the closest they could come so far to the actual terrain on the planet, and preparations are still a long way to go before the full design of the itinerary is cooked up.

It was reported by Time that since raising money to send astronauts to Mars is becoming a great difficulty, Dutch company Mars One has moved their planned mission from 2024 to 2026. Then just recently, the company once again delayed their plans to a newer date of 2031. With only about a decade and a half away, many are betting that this planned mission might not still be ready by 2031 and would need more technological advancements to succeed.
A team of researchers from the University of Washington has discovered a benign tumor in the jaw of a 255-million-year-old mammalian beast called gorgonopsian or gorgon.

The research, published in the journal JAMA Oncology, states that the rare find could be one of the oldest tumors and cancer cases ever discovered. The team discovered the tumor upon slicing the gorgon's jaw found in Ruhuhu Valley, Tanzania. The said cancerous tumor was located at the root of the creature's jaw near small teeth-like structures.

The said dental tumor had a compound called odontoma, which is usually characterized by ectopic miniature teeth that were also present in the fossil. Odontoma, usually found in mammals, is highly dangerous and requires surgery to remove it.

"We think this is by far the oldest known instance of a compound odontoma. It would indicate thi is an ancient type of tumour," Professor Christian Sidor from the University of Washington told Daily Mail in an interview.

Meanwhile, paleobiologist Megan Whitney recalled to Reuters that the discovery was a surprise for them. She said, "There was no indication that there was a tumor in this jaw. It looked normal before we cut it open. It was pure luck that we found the tumor."

Gorgnopsians or gorgons are ancient predators that existed long before the dinosaurs roamed Earth about 270 million to 253 million years ago. The species was wiped out during a mass extinction that happened in the late Permian Period.

The discovery of the fossilized cancerous tumor in the gorgon's jaw shows that tumors have already existed in ancient mammal ancestors. Whitney also said that this discovery paves way in "understand[ing] the evolution of diseases in deep time and have the potential to provide clues as to the causes of diseases that afflict humans."
A California judge rejected pimping charges Friday against the operators of a major international website advertising escort services that the state attorney general has called the "world's top online brothel," citing federal free speech laws.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris had charged Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer and former owners Michael Lacey and James Larkin, but Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman sided with attorneys for the men and the website in ruling that the speech was allowed under the federal Communications Decency Act.

The section of the act that applies to the case protects websites from content posted by third parties, such as restaurant or shopping reviews from being held accountable for scathing reviews left by customers or online news sites from vicious reader comments.

"This Court finds it difficult to see any illegal behavior outside of the reliance upon the content of speech created by others," Bowman wrote in Friday's ruling. "The whiff of illegality is detected only when considering the alleged content of the statements contained in the ads."

Bowman's action Friday makes final a previous tentative ruling.

Ferrer, 55, was charged with pimping a minor, pimping and conspiracy to commit pimping. Lacey, 68, and Larkin, 67, both from Arizona, were charged with conspiracy to commit pimping.

Ferrer was arrested Oct. 6 at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport, having arrived from Amsterdam after his Dallas headquarters was raided.

Lacey and Larkin are the former owners of the Village Voice alternative newspaper in New York City.

"I think this is a victory for the rule of law more than it is for Backpage," said Robert Corn-Revere, who represents Backpage. "Judge Bowman's ruling made clear that the protections of the First Amendment exist for a reason. I suppose that reason is to prevent this kind of abuse of power."

Harris, a Democrat who was elected to the U.S. Senate last month, alleged that more than 90 percent of Backpage revenue  millions of dollars each month  comes from adult escort ads that use coded language and nearly nude photos to offer sex for money.

She said in a statement that she disagreed with the court's ruling and will pursue every avenue under the law to hold the operators accountable.

"The Communications Decency Act was not meant to be a shield from criminal prosecution for perpetrators of online brothels," Harris said in the statement. "We will not turn a blind eye to the defendants' exploitative behavior simply because they conducted their criminal enterprise online rather than on a street corner."
A United Airlines flight that departed from San Francisco International Airport Saturday landed safely in Newark, N.J. after a passenger claimed that a bomb stuffed inside a backpack was on board the aircraft, NBC New York reported.

The San Francisco Police Department and the airline received word of the alert, but authorities gave the pilots the green light to continue on their scheduled heading.

Passengers were not made aware of the bomb threat until the plane touched down on the East Coast.

"They didn't say anything about this thing," Arjun Shah told NBC New York. "I just saw two cops when they landed and they didn't say anything about this."

Not having any knowledge about the potential danger was surprising, but Shah added that it made sense.

"It would just create panic on the plane so they did the right thing, I guess," he told NBC New York.

Bomb sniffing dogs and officers searched the plane after it landed in Newark, but they did not find anything, according to NBC New York.
A driver of a stolen vehicle in San Jose fled police Saturday night before fatally crashing into a light pole.

Two San Jose Police Department officers attempted to stop the female driver, but she immediately took off from the scene at a high rate of speed. Less than one minute later, she collided with the pole near Fruitdale Avenue and St. Elizabeth Drive, police said.

The two officers did not pursue the driver after she sped away, police said.

The driver's identity will not be released until the Santa Clara County Coroner's Office has confirmed her identity and notified her family.

Saturday night's crash marks the South Bay city's 43rd fatal traffic collision of 2016, according to police.
The famous  or infamous as the case may be  Stanford marching band has been disbanded through spring 2017.

In a letter to band managers, Greg Boardman, vice provost for student affairs, lauded the "irrepressible, exuberant style" of the often controversial, but always entertaining marching band. Since the 1960s, it has been a symbol of joy and pride for university students and alumni, entrenching itself as a "beloved component of Stanford culture," he said.

However, Boardman said he was "saddened and disappointed" by the band's "unacceptable behavior."

But this is not the band's first time facing the music.

It was found to have violated policies about hazing, sexual harassment, alcohol, and controlled substances, and prohibited from performing at away games including the 119th Big Game against UC Berkeley  during the 2015-16 season.

But on Dec. 1, an Organization Conduct Board determined that the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band had not done enough to resolve its problems.

The five-member panel reviewed files pertaining to four separate investigations into the band's alleged violation of Stanford's alcohol policy, student conduct guidelines, and an alcohol suspension and travel ban that were imposed in May 2015.

The board was in unanimous agreement that the band had violated its alcohol probation as well as the university's alcohol policy during recent events involving Stanford's unofficial mascot, the Tree. The board also frowned upon the group breaching its travel ban by dipping into band funds for a trip to Lake Tahoe, according to Boardman.

Each of these violations is concerning, Boardman wrote in his scathing letter. "In the aggregate, they show what we feel is a pattern of disregard for university policy and administrative directives.

As of Friday, all band activities have been suspended through the end of spring quarter 2017, and members are forbidden from performing on- and off-campus.

The band will also no longer remain a student-run group. From next year, its governance will be shuffled such that a professional music director is at its helm, Boardman said.

Boardman described the band's ongoing behavior as "incredibly troubling and indicative of a systemic cultural problem." That's why the panel was in favor of "extreme sanctions" and suggested the "immediate and total cessation of band and its activities through the end of academic year 2017-18," he wrote.

Such measures are only imposed when "it is clear that all other previous measures have been ineffective," Boardman said.

However, he admitted to worrying that the board's recommendation could be a mortal blow for the marching band.

"Indeed, it is likely that the Band would be unable to recover and reconstitute itself following such a long hiatus," Boardman wrote. "This would effectively punish not only members of the band who engaged in the misbehavior, but new and future band members, band alumni, and most regrettably, the Stanford community at large."

Toward that end, Boardman altered the sentence handed down to the marching band with the hope that it is able to retain its "essential features," but only after "addressing a total lack of accountability and responsibility.

If band members choose to ignore the suspension, however, Boardman said they could be individually disciplined.

Band members have until Jan. 23, 2017 to petition the sanctions.

"I understand that this has been a difficult process for all parties involved, but I hope you will see this as an opportunity for a collaborative solution that reflects the highest values and traditions of the university," Boardman concluded.
The Burlington Mall in Massachusetts reopened Monday after a water main break caused it to close over the weekend.

Just two weeks ahead of Christmas, the mall was shut down during a busy period after the water main break in the parking lot.

"It's kind of inconvenient because we planned our whole day around shopping," said shopper Erin Doughty.

Crews spent Sunday morning trying to fix the problem in the parking lot in front of Macy's. Customers were turned away at mall entrances while store employees tried to keep busy until the water came back on. The issue was causing no water pressure inside the mall and toilets were not working.

"We were very surprised we showed up we were going to Macy's and then we saw the construction and everything," said shopper Carol Doughty.

The mall opened back up at 9 a.m. Monday  24 hours after it was meant to open.

"The employees that were scheduled to come in, came in, and I had to call a couple of employees to tell them to come in later," worker Olivia Rivera said Sunday. "So we're going to be losing money today."

It was unclear what initially caused the break.
Chicago police identified a man found on the city's West Side earlier in the week after asking for the public's assistance on Saturday.

The man was discovered unconscious at a bus stop near S Central Ave and W Jackson Blvd in Chicago's South Austin neighborhood on Monday, according to a statement from police.

He was taken to Loretto Hospital where he was admitted for treatment, officials said. He since regained consciousness but was unable to communicate, according to police, only mumbling to himself.

He was finger printed, but the results were negative. He was later identified as a man who was reported missing from Chicago's North Side Uptown neighborhood in September.
As a Winter Storm Warning remains in effect across the Chicago area for the rest of the weekend, forecasts continue to call for several inches of snow to accumulate.

Here's a look at the latest snowfall totals from the National Weather Service:

(These totals will continue to be updated as they are reported)

Cook County

O'Hare Airport: 6.8 inches

Midway Airport: 6.4 inches

Addison: 2.8 inches

Arlington Heights: 2.2 inches

Botanic Gardens: 3.0 inches

Burnham-Hegewisch: 2.1 inches

Chicago: 3.5 inches

Chicago Heights: 2.3 inches

Chicago Ridge: 3.0 inches

Elk Grove Village: 7.7 inches

Hoffman Estates: 3.3 inches

Homewood: 3.2 inches

LaGrange Park: 3.3 inches

Lansing: 2.5 inches

Lincolnwood: 3.0 inches

Morton Grove: 2.0 inches

Oak Lawn: 4.7 inches

Oak Park: 3.0 inches

Palos Park: 2.4 inches

Park Forest: 3.0 inches

Park Ridge: 3.4 inches

Rogers Park: 3.1 inches

Roselle: 6 inches

Schaumburg: 3.3 inches

Worth: 3.0 inches

Boone County

Capron: 2.3 inches

Poplar Grove: 7 inches

DeKalb County

Cortland: 1.8 inches

DeKalb: 2.0 inches

Genoa: 4.6 inches

Sycamore: 2.0 inches

DuPage County

Addison: 4 inches

Bolingbrook: 2.3 inches

Burr Ridge: 2.6 inches

Carol Stream: 3.8 inches

Downers Grove: 6.9 inches

Elmhurst: 3.8 inches

Glen Ellyn: 2.5 inches

Lisle: 3.0 inches

Naperville: 3.3 inches

Roselle: 2.6 inches

Grundy County

Carbon Hill: 3.1 inches

Coal City: 2.4 inches

Mazon: 2.0 inches

Minooka: 1.9 inches

Morris: 2.3 inches

Iroquois County

Ashkum: 1.8 inches

Wateska: 1.5 inches

Kane County

Aurora: 3.0 inches

North Aurora: 2.5 inches

Batavia: 6.1 inches

Carpentersville: 2.8 inches

Elburn: 3.0 inches

Elgin: 6.6 inches

Geneva: 3.5 inches

St. Charles: 7.8 inches

Sugar Grove: 3.0 inches

Kankakee County

Bonfield: 1.5 inches

Bourbonnais: 2.0 inches

Momence: 2.7 inches

St. Anne: 2.0 inches

Kendall County

Montgomery: 2.5 inches

Oswego: 2.1 inches

Yorkville: 2.2 inches

Lake County

Beach Park: 3.0 inches

Buffalo Grove: 3.5 inches

Fox Lake: 3.8 inches

Grayslake: 2.6 inches

Gurnee: 5.8 inches

Highwood: 4.0 inches

Lake Villa: 7.8 inches

Lake Zurich: 3.1 inches

Libertyville: 7.2 inches

Lincolnshire: 3.0 inches

Lindenhurst: 1.5 inches

Mundelein: 3.6 inches

Riverwoods: 3.5 inches

Wadsworth: 2.2 inches

Waukegan: 6.4 inches

LaSalle County

Mendota: 1.0 inch

Marseilles: 1.4 inches

Ottawa: 2.3 inches

Sheridan: 1.5 inches

Somonauk: 2.5 inches

Streator: 1.5 inches

Lee County

Ashton: 1.5 inches

Dixon: 3.2 inches

Paw Paw: 1.0 inches

Steward: 1.2 inches

Livingston County

Chatsworth: 1.0 inches

Dwight: 1.0 inches

Fairbury: 0.8 inches

McHenry County

Algonquin: 3.0 inches

Bull Valley: 3.3 inches

Hebron: 4.0 inches

Marengo: 7 inches

McHenry: 4.8 inches

Wonder Lake: 3.9 inches

Woodstock: 3.5 inches

Ogle County

Byron: 2.5 inches

Polo: 1.0 inches

Rochelle: 3.0 inches

Will County

Crete: 3.5 inches

Homer Glen: 2.5 inches

Joliet: 4.2 inches

Lockport: 2.5 inches

Manhattan: 2.0 inches

Monee: 3.7 inches

New Lenox: 2.5 inches

Plainfield: 2.4 inches

Peotone: 5.8 inches

Romeoville: 4.3 inches

Wilmington: 2.8 inches

Winnebago County

South Beloit: 10 inches

Rockford Airport: 6.1 inches

Rockford: 8.5 inches

Roscoe: 7 inches

Winnebago: 7 inches

Jasper County, Indiana

DeMotte: 5.0 inches

Remington: 2.5 inches

Rensselaer: 2.6 inches

Wheatfield: 3.5 inches

Lake County, Indiana

Crown Point: 3.6 inches

Dyer: 2.4 inches

Merrillville: 3.0 inches

Munster: 2.6 inches

St. John: 3.8 inches

Schererville: 1.8 inches

Newton County, Indiana

Mount Ayr: 2.4 inches

Morocco: 2.0 inches

Porter County, Indiana

Chesterton: 4.3 inches

Hebron: 3.6 inches

Portage: 4.3 inches

Porter: 5 inches

Valparaiso: 5.0 inches

Snow began to develop across the area by late Saturday afternoon and is expected to continue through Sunday night with accumulations of several inches possible.

Far northern counties could see up to a foot of snow, according to the latest storm models, with as many as 8 inches possible in central sections of the metro area. Areas south of Chicago will likely see less snow, with accumulations of approximately 3 inches forecast. [[402534505, C]]

Forecasters warn the storm is still evolving so the snow predictions could change. Cook and the surrounding suburban counties will remain under the Winter Storm Warning through Sunday night at midnight, though Kankakee County, as well as Newtown and Jasper counties in northwest Indiana are under a less severe Winter Weather Advisory for that same period of time.
A man has been charged in connection with the home invasion and beating of a 94-year-old woman inside her home on Chicago's Southwest Side, according to police.

Olajuwon Claiborne, 26, was charged with one count of home invasion causing great bodily harm, two counts of aggravated battery of a person older than 60, one count of robbery of a victim older than 60, and two counts of robbery - all felonies, police said in a statement Sunday.

Just before 12 p.m. on Wednesday, Josephine Regnier was waiting for her daughter outside her home in the 5100 block of S Long Ave in the city's Garfield Ridge neighborhood when she returned inside to escape the cold, a GoFundMe page says.

Claiborne allegedly followed Regnier into the house, according to police, and battered her before taking her purse and fleeing the scene in her stolen car.

"This man rushed her in our side gangway door and literally just beat her silly," Regnier's daughter Judy Dusk said. "I don't know why he didn't just steal her purse, why he had to do that to her."

Family members said the WWII veteran and grandmother of six suffered a concussion, black eye and broken ribs in the incident, which fell on the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. She was taken to MacNeal Hospital, then transferred to Hines Veterans Administration Hospital where she was treated for her injuries and released on Saturday. [[405898325, C]]

The owners of nearby Villa Rosa Pizza, where Dusk works part-time, offered a $5000 reward for information after the restaurant's surveillance cameras captured the suspect crashing the stolen getaway car just minutes after the attack.

On Friday morning, Jimmy and Tommy Pieprzyca received a call from an informant, who came to their restaurant and called the suspect on speakerphone while meeting with police.

"I really felt like I was in an episode of Chicago PD," Jimmy said.

"We just wanted to do what we could to help. Everyone here is like family, it was like us helping our family," Tommy said, adding "It was a terrible, just a senseless crime."

Claiborne, of the 1500 block of East 69th Place in Chicago, was taken into custody around 1:35 p.m. on Friday and charged accordingly, authorities said. During the course of the investigation, Claiborne was also identified as the offender in two separate robberies and an aggravated battery, according to police.

A GoFundMe page to help pay for Regnier's medical bills raised $5,105 in two days, exceeding the original goal of $5,000.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter landed in Baghdad Sunday on an unannounced visit to thank U.S. troops and to assess progress in the fight to retake the northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State group.

Carter flew into Baghdad aboard a military cargo plane and and was greeted by Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend and U.S. Ambassador Douglas Silliman, NBC News reported.

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said Carter would survey key locations in the battle for Mosul, and discuss the next steps with Iraq's Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani as well as CJTF-OIR Commander LTG Steve Townsend.

The visit comes as Iraqi security forces have been slowed in their nearly two-month-old offensive against IS, which has occupied Mosul for more than two years.

The recapture of Mosul, the country's second largest city, is crucial to the Iraqis' hopes of restoring their sovereignty, although political stability will likely remain a challenge afterward.

Carter told an international security conference in Bahrain that the battle for Mosul and for the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremists' self-described caliphate, would be crucial for defeating the group, which has claimed attacks worldwide.

"The seizure of these two cities is necessary to ensure the destruction of ISIL's parent tumor in Iraq and Syria  the primary objective of our military campaign  and put ISIL on an irreversible path to a lasting defeat," he said, using another acronym for IS.

He did not predict how long it might take for Iraqi forces to prevail in Mosul, but he sounded a note of optimism.

"This is a complex mission that will take time to accomplish, but I am confident that ISIL's days in Mosul are numbered," he said in Bahrain.

On Saturday, an Iraqi commander said reinforcements have been sent to eastern Mosul after a major IS counterattack drove troops back earlier in the week. Iraqi forces have only captured a handful of eastern Mosul neighborhoods since launching the offensive in mid-October.

Carter, whose tenure as defense secretary will end in January if his designated successor  retired Marine Gen. James Mattis  is confirmed by the Senate as expected, also made the case for keeping U.S. forces in Iraq even after IS is dislodged from Mosul.

"Beyond security, there will still be towns to rebuild, services to re-establish, and communities to restore," he said in Bahrain. The extremists, he predicted, will attempt to survive by reinventing themselves "in some other shape or form" after they lose their grip on Iraq and Syria.

Left unsaid was a possible change in course under Donald Trump when he takes office next month.

Carter's visit to Iraq comes amid a round-the-world trip to thank deployed U.S. troops for their service over the holidays, meet with important regional partners and advance U.S. priorities, including the lasting defeat of IS.

The trip already has included visits to Japan, India, Afghanistan and Bahrain, where Carter announced on Saturday his plan to send up to 200 more troops to Syria to train and advise local fighters combatting IS. There were already 300 U.S. troops authorized for the Syria effort, and some 5,000 in Iraq.

The secretary will also travel to Israel, Italy and the United Kingdom, where he will conclude the trip by participating in the latest meeting of defense ministers from the leading military contributors to the international coalition to defeat IS.
A 58-year-old Hamden man was struck and killed by a car early Sunday morning.

Hamden police said that Harris Tendler was crossing Dixwell Avenue near Church Street around 2:15 a.m. when he was hit. Paramedics declared Tendler dead on scene.

The driver of the vehicle that hit him, identified as 70-year-old Piercey Lane of Bridgeport, immediately stopped and called for help, police said.

The front windshield of Lanes car was shattered during the collision and Lane was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

The crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Hamden Police Department Traffic Division on 203-230-4036.
Many federal employees will get a small Christmas gift from President Barack Obama.

Obama authorized a 2.1 percent pay raise for civilian agency employees so their raise will match that of Defense Department employees. Obama said in August that these workers would get a 1.6 percent raise but opted on Thursday to boost the amount by 0.5 percent.

The president said he reconsidered the raise  which follows a three-year pay freeze  in part due to "current and projected economic conditions."

"In light of the decision of Congress to provide a 2.1 percent pay increase for military personnel in 2017 and reconsideration of current and projected economic conditions, I have concluded it would be appropriate to revise my original alternative plan," he wrote in a letter submitted to the House and Senate and published by Federal News Radio.

An employee making $75,000 will see a $1,575 boost before taxes.

The nation's largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees, applauded Obama's decision.

Federal employees certainly deserve this modest boost in their pay, following years of pay freezes and miniscule increases that have left them worse off today than they were at the start of the decade, union president J. David Cox Sr. said in a statement. This pay adjustment will help employees pay their bills, reduce their debts, and cover the everyday costs facing working-class Americans.

The raise will take effect in January.
Officials at a prison in San Diego County are investigating a video that has gone viral: A group of inmates  some holding cellphones  filmed their own version of the Mannequin Challenge."

On Nov. 13, a YouTube user dubbed tben916 posted a video on YouTube titled Mannequin Challenge: Prison, which shows inmates at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJDCF) in Otay Mesa, California, taking part in the viral video trend where people hold still  as if they were frozen in time  while a moving camera films the scene.

The one-minute clip starts with inmates holding still in the bathroom, including one sitting on the toilet. It is unclear who is recording, but the camera then moves into what appears to be living quarters, showing an inmate holding a cellphone, a fake fight scene and an inmate reading. The video ends with another inmate in his bunk, also holding a cellphone.

On Thursday night, Terry Thornton with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, confirmed that the footage had been shot inside the RJDCF. She said officials at the prison are still investigating the incident, including how inmates obtained cellphones, which are not allowed in prison.

The RJDCF is located at 480 Alta Rd. The Warden is Daniel Palermo, who has worked there since 2006.
One person is dead after a pickup truck and jeep collided in North Richland Hills late Saturday night.

Police said it happened around 9:00 p.m. at Davis Blvd. and Emerald Hills Way.

Officers said a GMC Sierra pickup was going northbound on Davis Blvd when it collided with a Jeep Wrangler going southbound and trying to turn onto Emerald Hills Way.

The driver of the Jeep was ejected and died. Police have not released the name of the victim.

Police said the 25-year-old and 62-year-old males in the pickup truck were treated for life threatening injuries at a local hospital.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Its been nearly a year since an EF-4 tornado tore through Rowlett.



The tornado damaged almost everything in its path including homes, businesses, and something many don't think about right after a disaster, trees.

Saturday, dozens of volunteers planted hundreds of new trees in Rowlett.

The volunteers are with a Dallas-based organization called RETREET.

The founder, Grady McGahan, says RETREET has held similar plantings in 14 communities across North America, but the call to action has never come this close to home,

To be able to take the model that we've honed and the skills that we've developed and call in our volunteer base from all across the country, it is a very special moment, we're very proud and honored to be doing this, McGahan said.

In Rowlett alone, 1,100 homes were damaged by the tornado. About 500 were heavily damaged. Many homes are being rebuilt but some are still down to the slab.

Volunteers from as far away as Los Angeles helped plant new roots in Bobbi Hartleys front yard. Her neighborhood was ripped to shreds by the tornado.

I burst into tears. It was really sad because all of our neighbors, we've been here since day one, sorry, and it was not, not our neighborhood anymore, Hartley said, fighting back tears.

They may not have many leaves or thick trunks, the trees are still seen as a symbol of strength in an area forced rebuild from the ground up.

Now we've got almost a new house again and now we've got a new yard too. Its just really, very touching, Hartley said.

About 250 trees were planted Saturday in Rowlett. Residents submitted tree requests online.

The Texas Trees Foundation, Keep Rowlett Beautiful, City of Rowlett and the Home Depot Foundation helped make the event possible.
Dallas police are looking for three men who robbed several businesses at gunpoint early Friday morning.

At about 6:20 a.m., three black males robbed the Shell gas station on North Hampton Road. The men pointed handguns at the clerk and demanded cash, according to police.

The men are also wanted in three additional robberies that happened later Friday, between the hours of 6:20 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.

Police said they robbed the Taco Bell on Fort Worth Avenue, the Family Dollar located on Ferguson Road and also the Taco Bueno on South Buckner Boulevard in Dallas.

At every location, the men pointed guns at the employees, police said.

Two of the men are described as black, between the ages of 20-25-years-old and between 140-160 pounds. One was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt, black or gray pants, and carrying a black Levi's backpack with a red stripe. The second man was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.

The third man is described as black, between 25-30-years-old and 180-200 pounds. He was wearing a white T-shirt, long sleeve white under shirt and blue jeans.

The men used a white 2015 Jeep Compass with paper tags during the robberies.

If you have any information about this case, contact the Dallas Police Department.
A man died on the beach Friday night after tumbling at least 50 feet down Sunset Cliffs, officials confirmed.

At around 10:45 p.m., the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) was called to the 700 block of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard to investigate reports of a person down the cliffs.

Firefighters scaled down the cliffs and, on the beach below, discovered a man dead at the base. Emergency crews tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead on the beach, the SDFD said.

Details on what led to the mans tumble down the cliffs are unclear. San Diego Lifeguards told NBC 7 he fell at least 50 feet down onto the beach below.

On Saturday morning, the San Diego Police Department said the incident was under investigation, with officials looking into several possibilities, including if the man fell, jumped or was pushed. Police said it does not appear that the man experienced any sort of medical emergency before the plunge. It is unknown, at this point, if he was alone or with friends.

Rescue crews are called out to Sunset Cliffs for rescues several times a year for people who fall down the cliffs. Clear signs are posted along the area warning people of the danger of the unstable terrain and telling them to stay back.
An 18-year-old autistic student died Friday while on his way home from school.

San Bernardino resident Anthony Corona died after losing consciousness when school employees "restrained" him following an "altercation," according to the San Bernardino Police Department.

Corona, who attended Bright Futures Academy, a Riverside school serving special-needs students, got into an altercation with another student and school employees on the bus, police said.

The employees and the bus driver, who had exited the freeway to assist the employees, restrained Corona, who at "one point" lost consciousness, according to police.

School employees performed CPR and called for "emergency medical aid." Corona was taken to St. Bernadine's Hospital, where he later died.

The school issued a statement expressing its "deepest sympathy" to Corona's family, but said signs indicate its employees followed guidelines.

"At this time, our preliminary review indicates that all safety protocols were followed," the school said in a statement to NBC4.

The cause of Corona's death has not been determined, pending an autopsy report, police said.

Homicide detectives within the San Bernardino Police Department are investigating Corona's death.

School officials could not immediately be reached for further comment.
With Christmas a few weeks away, deputies from the Lakewood Sheriff's Station visited the wife of a deputy killed in the line of duty to put up some holiday decorations and honor the memory of her husband.

Deputies have been helping decorate Emma Powell's house in Torrance for 14 years.

"First year it was five people, then it was 12 and then it was 24," Powell said. "It just kept growing from there  It's amazing."

Powell's husband, Deputy David Alan Powell, was killed in the line of duty in 2002. He had been with LASD for 18 years.

Deputies visit the Powell house before every Christmas to mark the anniversary of his death. Deputy Greg Emerson, who helps organize the event, said the tradition started shortly after David Powell's death when a small group of people came up with the idea.

"They thought maybe we should at least go over to [Emma's] house, make sure she's not alone," Emerson said. "It kind of just snowballed from there."

On top of the decorations, Emerson said the deputies also help out around the house. Over the years, they have worked on remodeling the bathroom and helped with other household maintenance jobs.

"These guys work so hard, and they still make the time to come up and put my decorations up," Powell said.

Sgt. David Parker, who attended the event, said the sheriff's department needs to keep doing this to remember their fallen colleague.

"We cannot let a deputy's life being taken go forgotten," he said. "We cant forget the family."

Deputy David Powell was killed on Nov. 30, 2002 when he was shot in the chest while trying to force his way into a house. He and other deputies were trying to prevent a possible hostage situation.

David Powell was 42 when he died. He was survived by his wife Emma, four daughters and eight grandchildren.

Emerson said helping Powell is the least they can do. He said they plan to continue this tradition for as long as possible.

"As long as Emma's smiling the entire time, then it was a success," he said.

Emerson said about 50 deputies visited the Powell house this year to put up the Christmas decorations.
"La La Land,'' the musical "dramedy'' following a jazz musician's romance with an aspiring actress, will take a leading 12 nominations heading into Sunday's presentation of the Broadcast Film Critics Association's 22nd annual Critics' Choice Awards, formally kicking off the Hollywood awards season.

The sci-fi adventure "Arrival'' and the coming-of-age drama "Moonlight'' each have 10 nominations.

"La La Land,'' which reunites Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as romantic interests, is nominated for best picture, actor, actress, director, original screenplay, cinematography, production design, editing, costume design, score and two best song nods.

The best picture nominees are "Arrival,'' "Fences,'' "Hacksaw Ridge,'' "Hell or High Water,'' "La La Land,'' "Lion,'' "Loving,'' "Manchester by the Sea,'' "Moonlight'' and "Sully.''

Denzel Washington is one of several double-nominees heading into the ceremony, for his work as an actor and as the director of the best picture nominee "Fences."

Competing with Washington for best actor will be Casey Affleck for "Manchester by the Sea,'' Joel Edgerton for "Loving,'' Andrew Garfield for "Hacksaw Ridge,'' Gosling for "La La Land'' and Tom Hanks for "Sully.''

Nominated for best actress are Amy Adams for "Arrival,'' Annette Bening for "20th Century Women,'' Isabelle Huppert for "Elle,'' Ruth Negga for "Loving,'' Natalie Portman for "Jackie'' and Stone for "La La Land.''

On the television side of the awards, FX's miniseries "The People v. O.J. Simpson'' has a leading six nominations, while HBO's "Game of Thrones,'' AMC's "The Night Manager'' and Netflix's "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'' have five each.

Netflix's "House of Cards,'' History's "Roots'' and HBO's "All the Way'' and "Veep'' all have four nominations in the television categories.

Nominated for best drama series are "Better Call Saul,'' `"Game of Thrones,'' "Mr. Robot,'' "Stranger Things,'' "The Crown,'' "This is Us'' and "Westworld.''

Competing for best comedy will be "Atlanta,'' "Black-ish,'' "Fleabag,'' "Modern Family,'' "Silicon Valley,'' "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'' and "Veep.''

The ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica and televised by A&E.

Actor/comedian T.J. Miller will return as the show's host -- in spite of his Friday morning arrest in Hollywood on suspicion of battery. He was released from custody the same day.

Here is a complete list of nominees:

BEST PICTURE

 "Arrival''

 "Fences''

 "Hacksaw Ridge''

 "Hell or High Water''

 "La La Land''

 "Lion''

 "Loving''

 "Manchester by the Sea''

 "Moonlight''

 "Sully''

BEST ACTOR

 Casey Affleck, "Manchester by the Sea''

 Joel Edgerton, "Loving''

 Andrew Garfield, "Hacksaw Ridge''

 Ryan Gosling, "La La Land''

 Tom Hanks, "Sully''

 Denzel Washington, "Fences''

BEST ACTRESS

 Amy Adams, "Arrival''

 Annette Bening, "20th Century Women''

 Isabelle Huppert, "Elle''

 Ruth Negga, "Loving''

 Natalie Portman, "Jackie''

 Emma Stone, "La La Land''

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

 Mahershala Ali, "Moonlight''

 Jeff Bridges, "Hell or High Water''

 Ben Foster, "Hell or High Water''

 Lucas Hedges, "Manchester by the Sea''

 Dev Patel, "Lion''

 Michael Shannon, "Nocturnal Animals"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

 Viola Davis, "Fences''

 Greta Gerwig, "20th Century Women''

 Naomie Harris, "Moonlight''

 Nicole Kidman, "Lion''

 Janelle Monae, "Hidden Figures''

 Michelle Williams, "Manchester by the Sea''

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

 Lucas Hedges, "Manchester by the Sea''

 Alex R. Hibbert, "Moonlight''

 Lewis MacDougall, "A Monster Calls''

 Madina Nalwanga, "Queen of Katwe''

 Sunny Pawar, "Lion"

 Hailee Steinfeld, "The Edge of Seventeen''

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

 "20th Century Women''

 "Fences''

 "Hell or High Water''

 "Hidden Figures''

 "Manchester by the Sea''

 "Moonlight''

BEST DIRECTOR

 Damien Chazelle, "La La Land''

 Mel Gibson, "Hacksaw Ridge''

 Barry Jenkins, "Moonlight''

 Kenneth Lonergan, "Manchester by the Sea''

 David Mackenzie, "Hell or High Water''

 Denis Villeneuve, "Arrival''

 Denzel Washington, "Fences''

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

 Damien Chazelle, "La La Land''

 Barry Jenkins,"Moonlight''

 Yorgos Lanthimos/Efthimis Filippou, "The Lobster''

 Kenneth Lonergan, "Manchester by the Sea''

 Jeff Nichols, "Loving''

 Taylor Sheridan, "Hell or High Water''

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

 Luke Davies, "Lion''

 Tom Ford, "Nocturnal Animals''

 Eric Heisserer, "Arrival''

 Todd Komarnicki, "Sully''

 Allison Schroeder/Theodore Melfi, "Hidden Figures''

 August Wilson, "Fences''

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

 Stephane Fontaine, "Jackie''

 James Laxton, "Moonlight''

 Seamus McGarvey, "Nocturnal Animals''

 Linus Sandgren, "La La Land''

 Bradford Young, "Arrival''

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

 "Arrival,'' Patrice Vermette, Paul Hotte/Andre Valade

 "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,'' Stuart Craig/James Hambidge, Anna Pinnock

 "Jackie, Jean Rabasse,'' Veronique Melery

 "La La Land,'' David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco

 "Live by Night,'' Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

BEST EDITING

 Tom Cross, "La La Land''

 John Gilbert, "Hacksaw Ridge''

 Blu Murray, "Sully''

 Nat Sanders/Joi McMillon, "Moonlight''

 Joe Walker, "Arrival''

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

 "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,'' Colleen Atwood

 "Florence Foster Jenkins,'' Consolata Boyle

 "Jackie,'' Madeline Fontaine

 "Allied,'' Joanna Johnston

 "Love & Friendship,'' Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh

 "La La Land,'' Mary Zophres

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP

 "Doctor Strange''

 "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them''

 "Hacksaw Ridge''

 "Jackie''

 "Star Trek Beyond''

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

 "A Monster Calls''

 "Arrival''

 "Doctor Strange''

 "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them''

 "The Jungle Book'

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

 "Finding Dory''

 "Kubo and the Two Strings''

 "Moana''

 "The Red Turtle''

 "Trolls''

 "Zootopia''

BEST ACTION MOVIE

 "Captain America: Civil War''

 "Deadpool''

 "Doctor Strange''

 "Hacksaw Ridge''

 "Jason Bourne''

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE

 Benedict Cumberbatch, "Doctor Strange''

 Matt Damon, "Jason Bourne''

 Chris Evans, "Captain America: Civil War''

 Andrew Garfield, "Hacksaw Ridge''

 Ryan Reynolds, "Deadpool''

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE

 Gal Gadot, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice''

 Scarlett Johansson, "Captain America: Civil War''

 Margot Robbie, "Suicide Squad''

 Tilda Swinton, "Doctor Strange''

BEST COMEDY

 "Central Intelligence''

 "Deadpool''

 "Don't Think Twice''

 "The Edge of Seventeen''

 "Hail, Caesar!''

 "The Nice Guys''

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

 Ryan Gosling, "The Nice Guys''

 Hugh Grant, "Florence Foster Jenkins''

 Dwayne Johnson, "Central Intelligence''

 Viggo Mortensen, "Captain Fantastic''

 Ryan Reynolds, "Deadpool''

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

 Kate Beckinsale, "Love & Friendship''

 Sally Field, "Hello, My Name Is Doris''

 Kate McKinnon, "Ghostbusters''

 Hailee Steinfeld, "The Edge of Seventeen''

 Meryl Streep, "Florence Foster Jenkins''

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE

 "10 Cloverfield Lane''

 "Arrival''

 "Doctor Strange''

 "Don't Breathe''

 "Star Trek Beyond''

 "The Witch''

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

 "Elle''

 "The Handmaiden''

 "Julieta''

 "Neruda''

 "The Salesman''

 "Toni Erdmann''

BEST SONG

 "Audition (The Fools Who Dream) from "La La Land''

 "Can't Stop the Feeling'' from "Trolls''

 "City of Stars'' from "La La Land''

 "Drive It Like You Stole It'' from "Sing Street''

 "How Far I'll Go'' from "Moana''

 "The Rules Don't Apply'' from "Rules Don't Apply''

BEST SCORE

 "Moonlight,'' Nicholas Britell

 "Arrival,'' Johann Johannsson

 "La La Land,'' Justin Hurwitz

 "Jackie,'' Micachu

 "Lion,'' Dustin O'Halloran, Hauschka

TELEVISION

BEST COMEDY SERIES

 "Atlanta,'' FX

 "Black-ish,'' ABC

 "Fleabag,'' Amazon

 "Modern Family,'' ABC

 "Silicon Valley,'' HBO

 "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,'' Netflix

 "Veep,'' HBO

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

 Ellie Kemper, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,'' Netflix

 Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep,'' HBO

 Kate McKinnon, "Saturday Night Live,'' NBC

 Tracee Ellis Ross, "Black-ish,'' ABC

 Phoebe Waller-Bridge, "Fleabag,'' Amazon

 Constance Wu, "Fresh Off the Boat,'' ABC

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Anthony Anderson, "Black-ish,'' ABC

Will Forte, "The Last Man on Earth,'' FOX

Donald Glover, "Atlanta,'' FX

Bill Hader, "Documentary Now!,'' IFC

Patrick Stewart, "Blunt Talk,'' Starz

Jeffrey Tambor, "Transparent,'' Amazon

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Julie Bowen, "Modern Family,'' ABC

Anna Chlumsky, "Veep,'' HBO

Allison Janney, "Mom,'' CBS

Jane Krakowski, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,'' Netflix

Judith Light, "Transparent,'' Amazon

Allison Williams, "Girls,'' HBO

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Louie Anderson, "Baskets,'' FX

 Andre Braugher, "Brooklyn Nine-Nine,'' FOX

Tituss Burgess, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,'' Netflix

Ty Burrell, "Modern Family,'' ABC

Tony Hale, "Veep,'' HBO

T.J. Miller, "Silicon Valley,'' HBO

BEST GUEST PERFORMER IN A COMEDY SERIES

Alec Baldwin, "Saturday Night Live,'' NBC

Christine Baranski, "The Big Bang Theory,'' CBS

Larry David, "Saturday Night Live,'' NBC

 Lisa Kudrow, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,'' Netflix

 Liam Neeson, "Inside Amy Schumer,'' Comedy Central

BEST ANIMATED SERIES

 "Archer,'' FX

 "Bob's Burgers,'' FOX

 "BoJack Horseman,'' Netflix

 "Son of Zorn,'' FOX

 "South Park,'' Comedy Central

 "The Simpsons,'' FOX

BEST REALITY COMPETITION SERIES

 "America's Got Talent,'' NBC

 "MasterChef Junior,'' FOX

 "RuPaul's Drag Race,'' Logo

 "Skin Wars,'' GSN

 "The Amazing Race,'' CBS

 "The Voice,'' NBC

BEST STRUCTURED REALITY SERIES

 "Chopped,'' Food Network

 "Inside The Actors Studio,'' Bravo

 "Penn & Teller: Fool Us,'' The CW

 "Project Runway,'' Lifetime

 "Shark Tank,'' ABC

 "Undercover Boss,'' CBS

BEST UNSTRUCTURED REALITY SERIES

 "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown,'' CNN

 "Chrisley Knows Best,'' USA Network

 "Deadliest Catch,'' Discovery

 "Ice Road Truckers,'' History

 "Intervention,'' A&E

 "Naked and Afraid,'' Discovery

BEST TALK SHOW

 "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,'' TBS

 "Jimmy Kimmel Live!,'' ABC

 "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,'' HBO

 "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,'' Comedy Central

 "The Late Late Show with James Corden,'' CBS

 "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,'' NBC

BEST REALITY SHOW HOST

Ted Allen, "Chopped,'' Food Network

Tom Bergeron, "Dancing with the Stars,'' ABC

Anthony Bourdain, "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown,'' CNN

Nick Cannon, "America's Got Talent,'' NBC

 Carson Daly, "The Voice,'' NBC

 RuPaul, "RuPaul's Drag Race,'' Logo

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Peter Dinklage, "Game of Thrones,'' HBO

Kit Harington, "Game of Thrones,'' HBO

John Lithgow, "The Crown,'' Netflix

 Mandy Patinkin, "Homeland,'' Showtime

 Christian Slater, "Mr. Robot,'' USA Network

Jon Voight, "Ray Donovan,'' Showtime

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Christine Baranski, "The Good Wife,'' CBS

 Emilia Clarke, "Game of Thrones,'' HBO

 Lena Headey, "Game of Thrones,'' HBO

 Thandie Newton, "Westworld,'' HBO

Maura Tierney, "The Affair,'' Showtime

Constance Zimmer, "UnREAL,'' Lifetime

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Sam Heughan, "Outlander,'' Starz

Rami Malek, "Mr. Robot,'' USA Network

Bob Odenkirk, "Better Call Saul,'' AMC

Matthew Rhys, "The Americans,'' FX

Liev Schreiber, "Ray Donovan,'' Showtime

Kevin Spacey, "House of Cards,'' Netflix

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Caitriona Balfe, "Outlander,'' Starz

Viola Davis, "How to Get Away with Murder,'' ABC

Tatiana Maslany, "Orphan Black,'' BBC America

 Keri Russell, "The Americans,'' FX

Evan Rachel Wood, "Westworld,'' HBO

Robin Wright, "House of Cards,'' Netflix

BEST DRAMA SERIES

"Better Call Saul,'' AMC

"Game of Thrones,'' HBO

"Mr. Robot,'' USA Network

"Stranger Things,'' Netflix

"The Crown,'' Netflix

"This Is Us,'' NBC

"Westworld,'' HBO

BEST GUEST PERFORMER IN A DRAMA SERIES

Mahershala Ali, "House of Cards,'' Netflix

Lisa Bonet, "Ray Donovan,'' Showtime

Ellen Burstyn, "House of Cards,'' Netflix

Michael J. Fox, "The Good Wife,'' CBS

Jared Harris, "The Crown,'' Netflix

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, "The Walking Dead,'' AMC

BEST MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES

"All the Way,'' HBO

"Confirmation,'' HBO

"Killing Reagan,'' National Geographic

"Roots,'' History

"The Night Manager,'' AMC

"The People v. O.J. Simpson,'' FX

BEST ACTOR IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES

Bryan Cranston, "All the Way,'' HBO

Benedict Cumberbatch, "Sherlock: The Abominable Bride,'' PBS

Cuba Gooding Jr., "The People v. O.J. Simpson,'' FX

Tom Hiddleston, "The Night Manager,'' AMC

Tim Matheson, "Killing Reagan,'' National Geographic

Courtney B. Vance, "The People v. O.J. Simpson,'' FX

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES

Sterling K. Brown, "The People v. O.J. Simpson,'' FX

Lane Garrison, "Roots,'' History

Frank Langella, "All the Way,'' HBO

Hugh Laurie, "The Night Manager,'' AMC

John Travolta, "The People v. O.J. Simpson,'' FX

Forest Whitaker, "Roots,'' History

BEST ACTRESS IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES

Olivia Colman, "The Night Manager,'' AMC

Felicity Huffman, "American Crime,'' ABC

Cynthia Nixon, "Killing Reagan,'' National Geographic

Sarah Paulson, "The People v. O.J. Simpson,'' FX

Lili Taylor, "American Crime,'' ABC

Kerry Washington, "Confirmation,'' HBO

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES

Elizabeth Debicki, "The Night Manager,'' AMC

Regina King, "American Crime,'' ABC

Sarah Lancashire, "The Dresser,'' Starz

Melissa Leo, "All the Way,'' HBO

Anna Paquin, "Roots,'' History

Emily Watson, "The Dresser,'' Starz
Nearly 2,000 children and spouses of fallen military are getting a special all-expenses-paid trip to Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas via Snowball Express Sunday.

Its the eleventh year the Snowball Express has tried to brighten the holidays, a typically difficult time, for families of 1,800 fallen service members.

"Snowball Express is bringing hope and new happy memories to the children of military heroes who have died while on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001," the nonprofit said in a statement.

The families will head out of LAX and beyond on an all-expenses-paid trip to Texas with air travel covered by American Airlines and many of the flight crews donating their time to participate.

When they arrive, the families will be treated to a walk of gratitude, a tour of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, a fun night at Medieval Times, and a private concert Oscar-nominated actor Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band.
Miami Fire Rescue responded to a code one fire at an apartment building in Little Havana Sunday morning.

A teen says he, his mom and little brother were forced to evacuate when they saw smoke filling the hallways.

"You can't see anything it was all black with smoke," Carlos Moreno said.

Miami Fire Rescue responded just in time to the building located on 20th Avenue and West Flagler at around 4:25 a.m. Rescue crews aided some elderly residents and one person who was reported trapped on a balcony.

"We see that several people evacuated but other people in the floors above were elderly people and unable to get out quickly," Miami Fire Rescue Captain Ignatius Carroll said.

Daisy Garcia says firefighters saved her life when they entered her room and alerted her of the flames.

Garcia says while inside her apartment she didn't noticed the fire, but once in the halls she saw no clear way to get down if it hadn't been for the fire fighters.

Miami Fire Rescue officials say no one was injured but several people are now displaced from their homes.

"And when we were downstairs the fire got expanded and the window broke," Moreno said.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire and some residents received aid from Red Cross.
Google and the Cuban government have struck a deal giving Cubans faster access to the internet giant's content, two people familiar with the agreement said Friday.

Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google's parent company, will formally sign the deal Monday morning in Havana, the two people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not yet been publicly announced.

It allows Cubans access to a network called Google Global Cache that stores content from Google-run sites like Gmail, Google Drive and YouTube on servers that sit within relatively short distances of their end users around the world. Cuba suffers from some of the world's slowest internet speeds due to a range of problems that include the convoluted, and thus slower, paths that data must travel between Cuban users and servers that are often in the U.S.

Cuban officials appear to be accelerating their approvals of deals with U.S. companies in an attempt to build momentum behind U.S.-Cuba normalization before President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month. The Google pact will be announced less than a week after Cuba gave three U.S. cruise companies permission to begin sailing to the island next year. Officials familiar with the negotiations say other deals, including one with General Electric, are in the works.

The U.S. and Cuba have struck a series of bilateral deals on issues ranging from environmental protection to direct mail since the declaration of detente on Dec. 17, 2014, but business ties have failed to keep pace. The Cuban government has blamed the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. Many U.S. businesses say Cuba has been moving on most proposals so slowly that some suspect the government has been deliberately limiting the development of economic ties.

The Google program to be announced Monday could provide ammunition for U.S. advocates of closer ties with Cuba. Both pro-detente forces and those arguing for a hard line on President Raul Castro's single-party government have been pushing for Cubans to have better access to information.

If the Google deal proves to truly improve internet access for a significant number of Cubans, it ties information access to U.S.-Cuban detente in a way that could prove politically difficult to undo for anti-Castro officials in the incoming Trump administration.

It wasn't immediately clear if the Cuba server or servers would be on the island itself, or just closer than current ones. Neither was it clear how much faster Cuban users would be able to see Google content  home internet connections remain illegal for virtually all Cubans, forcing them to use public WiFi spots that are often shared by dozens of people at a time and run at achingly slow speeds.

"There are many other weak links in the chain," said Larry Press, a California-based expert on the Cuban internet. He said that while the technological impact of the deal remained unclear, it was a significant development for a country that has shied away from any ties between U.S. companies and a telecommunications infrastructure that is closely guarded against real or imagined threats to national security.

"It's also a sign that they're willing to go a little further with Google," Press said.
This weeks (Baldwin-less) "Saturday Night Live" continued its satirical coverage of Donald Trumps march to the White House with a surprise appearance from Breaking Bad drug kingpin Walter White  Trumps pick to run the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Trust me, I know the DEA better than anyone  inside and out," says Bryan Cranston, reprising his role as a chemistry teacher-turned methamphetamine producer.

His introduction comes during a CNN sit-down with Trump aide Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon) in which they dissect the president elect's cabinet picks.

CNN host Jake Tapper (Beck Bennett) begins with the PEOTUS appointee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Republican Oklahoma Attorney General and climate change skeptic Scott Pruitt.

Scott Pruitt is excited for the job, and he is ready to protect us all from the environment, Conway responds.

Not sure thats how it works, Tapper says.

Also under fire were Labor pick Andy Puzder (CEO of Hardees and Carls Jr.) and Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, whos said to have close ties with Russia and is Trump's reported pick for Secretary of State.

Its almost like Mr. Trump appoints these people specifically to destroy the very agencies they head. Are these bad picks? Tapper asks.

No, Jake, they are not bad; they are alt-good.

To further drive the point of Trumps questionable choices home, news breaks during the segment of another new appointment: Meth king Walter White for head of the DEA.

White explains that while he doesn't know Trump personally (he says Steve Bannon, Trump's top strategist, found him "in the comments section at 'Breitbart,'") he admires his plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Nothing comes in from Mexico, meaning a lot less competition for the rest of us," he explains.

"You mean jobs?" Tapper asks.

"Sure," White replies. [[405845445, C]]

The Trump skewering continues in "Weekend Update" where host Colin Jost asks German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Kate McKinnon) how she feels about her 2015 Time Magazine Person of the Year title being handed to Trump.

"It kind of undermines the honor for me," she says. "Its like winning the Nobel Prize for physics and then the next year they give it to Hoobastank."

McKinnon's Merkel also explains that the term "alt-right" goes by another name in Germany.

"In Germany we call it 'why Grand Papa lives in Argentina now,'" she says. [[405847055, C]]

WWE star John Cena hosted the show, kicking it off with an attempt at singing a Christmas song that was repeatedly interrupted by 'SNL' stars attempting to fight him.

Cena also appeared in sketches as a muscular man-servant and a muscular dating show host.

Musical guest Maren Morris performed "My Church."
An off-duty New York City Parks employee was busted for stashing guns and drugs in his Brooklyn apartment, police said Saturday.

Police arrested Charles McRae Friday in connection with an ongoing investigation.

Authorities said the 53-year-old faces a host of charges, including unlawful possession of marijuana, 16 counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, and two counts of criminal possession of a firearm.

Officers allegedly found a .9 mm pistol, a .38 caliber pistol, a large amount of marijuana, oxycodone and codeine pills, and over 100 fake license plates after conducting a search of McRae's East Flatbush apartment, the Daily News reports.
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State police say two men broke into the home of a 49-year-old woman who was watching her infant grandson and robbed her at gunpoint.

Police say the robbery occurred Friday night at a home just outside the town limits of Milton.

According to police, the woman saw someone trying to get into her house by tampering with an air-conditioning unit and called 911. Shortly thereafter, police say two men forced their way into the front door of the home.

Police say one of the invaders pointed a gun at the woman, who handed over some cash. The men left the house and drove away.

Police say the woman and her grandson weren't injured. Police have not identified any suspects.
Officials in Philadelphia say a city attorney identified in surveillance footage that captured an anti-Donald Trump vandalism incident will not be charged and will keep his job.

First Deputy City Solicitor Craig Straw told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Saturday that prosecutors had informed his office that police didn't submit a warrant requesting charges against 32-year-old Duncan Lloyd. He said Lloyd, who has been on a two-week leave without pay, will complete 40 hours of community service.

Authorities said the footage captured Lloyd, holding a glass of wine, filming or taking photos Nov. 25 as another man spray painted the words 'F*** Trump' on the wall of the Fresh Market grocery store on 8200 Germantown Avenue.

City inspector general Amy Kurland said the "punitive measures of unpaid leave and community service'' were appropriate.

Joe DeFelice, the chairman of the Philadelphia Republican Party, said that Lloyd should be fired for his actions.

For somebody with extensive legal training to feel entitled to vandalize a newly opened super-market strikes us at the Philadelphia Republican Party as an astonishing feat of idiocy," DeFelice wrote. "Did the extra glass of Shiraz give him some sort of delusional confidence that there are no cameras on Germantown Ave? The taxpayers should be entrusting exactly none of our faith into this man. He should be fired from our citys law department immediately.




The record number of bears killed in New Jersey's hunt has grown to 636.

The number was reached Saturday when hunters bagged seven bears during the sixth day of the second part of this year's hunt. The previous record was 592 bears killed in 2010.

The firearms-only hunt began Monday and ended Saturday. It followed October's six-day hunt, which was limited to bows and arrows and muzzle-loading guns.

Animal rights' groups and lawmakers say the hunt causes more problems and is inhumane.

On Saturday, former Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli joined the protesters to denounce the hunt. Opponents also are upset with the apparent death of a wild bear, given the name Pedals by its fans, that walked upright and that officials believe was killed in October.

The record number of bears killed in New Jersey's hunt has grown to 636.

The number was reached Saturday when hunters bagged seven bears during the sixth day of the second part of this year's hunt. The previous record was 592 bears killed in 2010.

The firearms-only hunt began Monday and ended Saturday. It followed October's six-day hunt, which was limited to bows and arrows and muzzle-loading guns.

Animal rights' groups and lawmakers say the hunt causes more problems and is inhumane.

On Saturday, former Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli joined the protesters to denounce the hunt. Opponents also are upset with the apparent death of a wild bear, given the name Pedals by its fans, that walked upright and that officials believe was killed in October.
San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy joined hands with faith communities and immigrant rights organizations on Saturday, Human Rights Day, for the 23rd annual Posada Without Borders celebration at the U.S.-Mexico Border.

In the U.S., participants gathered at Friendship Park within Border Field State Park while those in Mexico convened at the lighthouse at Playas de Tijuana. The two congregations, with only the border fence in between, sang and prayed in unison for peace and security for displaced refugees and immigrants worldwide.

The [Posada Without Borders] is a tradition that occurs every year in which we come together and pray within the Hispanic community, Bishop McElroy said. Its a way of anticipating Christmas and preparing our hearts and souls for Christmas.

The event also celebrated the Christmas Eve nativity story of Mary and Joseph and the moments leading up to the birth of Christ.

Bishop McElroy and Tijuana Archbishop Francisco Moreno Barron led the gathering in bilingual prayer.

In this particular moment in our political history, [the event] is a time of great hope and prayer for us, but also a time of great challenge and suffering, McElroy added.
San Diego Fire Rescue has extricated a driver from a wreck after they drove into a canyon in Torrey Highlands Park.

Witnesses say that the car drove off of a private road connected to Lansdale Drive that leads to a dog park at around 4:30 p.m.

The vehicle came to rest on an embankment about 30 feet below the road, SD Fire Captain Joe Amadour said.

One passenger was removed from the vehicle and taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.
City leaders, the Rock Church and thousands of volunteers united Saturday to spread the holiday cheer: giving toys to thousands of San Diego children.

The efforts were all part of the Rock Churchs 20th annual Toys for Joy drive, which has been collecting donations for families in need.

At Lincoln High School on Saturday those donations  toys, meals and clothing  were distributed to about 23,000 local kids and their families.

Thousands feeling the love of #ToysForJoy2016 at Lincoln HS via both tangible gifts and the greatest gift of the Gospel! #ToysForJoy pic.twitter.com/RQTYkjsTPs  Rock Church (@therocksandiego) December 10, 2016

We have thousands of people helping thousands of people. [Its a] symbol of the unity that can happen when people work together to serve other people, Pastor Miles McPherson, of The Rock Church, told NBC 7.

McPherson said hes grateful for the generous donations from San Diegans that make this event possible year after year. The Rock Church partners with local schools, businesses, community organizations and thousands of volunteers to make Toys for Joys happen.

We have 24,000 toys, we have a bag of food for every person that walks out  clothes they can take home as well, he added. Were also going to feed them and bless them bless every part of their life.

Thank you to the thousands of volunteers who brought holiday cheer to 23,000 San Diegans today at @therocksandiego #ToysForJoy. pic.twitter.com/X6RZKJGnfU  Kevin Faulconer (@Kevin_Faulconer) December 10, 2016

The festive event was attended by many city leaders, including Mayor Kevin Faulconer and San Diego Police Department Chief Shelley Zimmerman. They both manned a table full of toys and distributed the gifts to children.

Its great to be out here  to see the smiles on the childrens faces, said Faulconer.

This is the best day, added Zimmerman. All the community members coming together to make Christmas for so many families that probably wouldnt have one  this is what its all about.
A Meriden dentist previously accused of sexually assaulting patients was arrested Friday on a slew of charges following a reported burglary.

Police said around 10 p.m. Friday they responded to a reported burglary in progress. When officers arrived they spoted a vehicle fleeing the area. Police determined the vehicle was registered to Dr. Jeffrey Krahling, of Wallingford.

According to police witnesses identified Krahling as being involved in the incident. Krahling was arrested with help from Wallingford police and state police.

Krahling was charged with risk of injury, criminal mischief, stalking, tampering with a witness, intimidating a witness, breach of peace, reckless endangerment, interfering with police, criminal attempt to commit assault on an officer, violation of a restraining order, and reckless driving.

Meriden police did not release full details on the incident that led to these charges.

Krahling was held on a $1,000,000 bond.

Krahling was arrested back in October on accusations he sexually assaulted patients at his dental office. He is next scheduled to appear in court in that case on Jan. 18.

NBC Connecticut reached out to Krahling's attorney but has yet to hear back.
Federal fishing regulators say they are looking to change the way they manage Atlantic halibut in the wake of a surge in catch of the fish.

The government lists Atlantic halibut as "overfished" and conservationists want to protect it. But many fishermen say the catch is up because the stock has been rebuilt over recent years.

East Coast fishermen caught more than 215,000 pounds of Atlantic halibut in 2015 in the most productive year of fishing for the flatfish since 1972. Catch of the fish in nearshore Maine waters is helping drive the increase, regulators say.

The regulatory New England Fishery Management Council decided last month to review management of halibut, which is popular with diners and chefs for its thick, meaty steaks. Exactly what form regulation changes could take isn't yet know.

"We've identified that this is an issue, and this will be a priority for 2017," Janice Plante, a spokeswoman for the council, said.

The council has also asked that Maine's state fishing managers adjust the way they oversee halibut. Part of the issue is that if fishermen exceed their quota for the fish, it can trigger restrictions on fishing that impact fishermen who operate in federal waters. About 40 percent of the halibut catch for the 2015 fishing year was taken in state waters, mostly in Maine.

Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association, said Maine should consider limiting the amount of halibut fishing in state waters. Otherwise, federal fishermen will be negatively affected by the surge in state catch, he said.

Martens also said better data also is needed because many fishermen believe the stock has rebuilt significantly in recent years, and that's why catch is up.

"The story is that this is a rebuilding success," he said. "In New England, we don't know what to do with successes."

A spokesman for the Maine Department of Marine Resources declined to comment beyond acknowledging that the agency is reviewing the council's request, and taking it seriously.

Some conservationist groups have tried to dissuade consumers from buying Atlantic halibut.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lists it as a "species of concern," meaning there are "concerns regarding status and threats," but also insufficient information about whether a listing under the federal Endangered Species Act is warranted.

Atlantic halibut is fished commercially off New England, with the majority of the catch coming ashore in Maine and Massachusetts. The fish is of high economic value, frequently serving as an entree item in the $30 range, and its price per pound at the dock has doubled for fishermen in the last ten years.

The much larger Pacific halibut fishery, which is based around Alaska, generates more than 20 million pounds of fish per year.
A New Hampshire teenager is facing multiple charges following an alleged gun threat at a home in Manchester on Saturday.

Police said officers responded to a home on Merrimack Street at 5:11 p.m. when a 19-year-old resident called to report that he had been threatened.

The man said Anfernee King, 18, of Manchester, allegedly showed up at his door with a gun in his hand. King then fled the scene in a silver Nissan Maxima.

An officer spotted the vehicle near King's home and saw him getting out. When the officer told him to stop, police said King fled inside his house where the officer took him into custody.

While in custody, police said officers found a baggie of Xanax pills on King. A further search of Kings apartment resulted in the seizure of a semi-automatic handgun, more than ounces of marijuana and cocaine.

King was charged with 3 counts of possession of controlled drug, 1 count of criminal threatening, 1 count of falsifying physical evidence and 1 count of resisting arrest. He is due to be arraigned in the 9th Circuit Court Manchester on Monday.
Seeking sofa and loving owner

A SHY four-legged lover of fetch is seeking a new home

Branston, a five-year-old crossbreed hopes he can find a loving new owner to make his life a picnic.

Jenny Hopkins, assistant manager at Dogs Trust Newbury, said:

Branston is a smashing chap with so much love to give. His favourite game is fetch and he adores curling up with his favourite carers after a busy day. Branston can be a little shy when he meets new people but once he gets to know you, he will be a friend for life.

This loveable chap is best suited to a quiet, adult-only home with no other pets so he can have his owners all to himself. Potential new owners will need to be able to visit him a few times to build up a bond before bringing him into their homes.

Do you think you could give Branston a loving home? Please call the staff at Dogs Trust Newbury to arrange a visit on 0300 303 0292.

Dogs Trust Newbury is located at Plumbs Farm, Hamstead Marshall, Newbury, Berks, RG20 0HR.

Dogs Trust is the UKs largest dog welfare charity and cares for nearly 17,000 stray and abandoned dogs each year through its network of 20 Rehoming Centres across the UK and one in Ireland.



For more information about the charitys work please visit www.dogstrust.org.uk
Christmas display will raise funds for Myeloma UK

CROWDS gathered in a Newbury street last Wednesday for what is now the annual switch-on of a charity Christmas light display.

Ben Hunt, 19, welcomed friends and neighbours to the event which saw him light up the family home in Birchwood Road with thousands of festive lights and decorations.

Mr Hunt has been decorating the home, where he lives with his mother, for as long as he can remember and now uses the festive family tradition to raise funds for charity.

Last year we raised 180 for Cancer Research and this year were raising funds for Myeloma UK, he explained.

Ive been decorating the house with my grandad since I was little but this year he was diagnosed with AL amyloidosis (caused by deposits of abnormal protein in tissues and organs throughout the body) so he couldnt help and thats why Ive chosen the charity.

Around 70 people braved the freezing cold to watch the big switch-on with Mr Hunt, which this year incorporated a fireworks display to make the spectacle his biggest yet.

He said: It all went really well and on the night we actually raised 100 so its been a really good start.

I always remember decorating the house and I just really enjoy it.

I love Christmas.

Its always a bit of relief when you switch them on. I did test them a few times but you can never tell if theyre going to come on on the day.

Mr Hunt estimates there to be around 10,000 individual lights adorning the home, which has now become a bit of a festive landmark in the local area.

The lights will be switched on until January 1 with a collection box at the property for those who would like to donate.

Have you decorated your house this Christmas? Send your pics to our reporter chris.ord@newburynews.co.uk or to newsdesk@newburynews.co.uk
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Seeking support of Tata Power shareholders against promoters' proposal to remove him from the board, Cyrus Mistry has said that the company fared better than most of its competitors during his tenure.

The company has called an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on December 26, 2016, to consider the resolution for removal of Cyrus P Mistry as its Director.

"At the consolidated level for Tata Power,...efforts resulted in a marked improvement EBITDA over the last three years. There has been a re-rating of the power sector in Indiaover the last few years, and hence it would not be appropriate to compare its performance vis-a-vis Sensex. However, the company has fared better than most of its competitors during this time," Mistry said in a letter to shareholders.

Mistry joined the Board of Tata Sons in 2006 and was appointed Chairman of its Board in December 2012. He is currently Chairman of Tata Power.

He said that Tata Power faced several challenges in 2012 and the overwhelming threat to its survival was on account of situation at Mudra Ultra Mega Power Project (CGPL).

As per the letter, CGPL had been set up to almost double the generation capacity of the company with a huge capital investment of USD 2.6 billion and the plan was to use Indonesian coal.

Tata Power had invested USD 1.2 billion in coal assets, to secure low coal supply. However, regulatory changes by the Indonesian government challenged the viability of the project. Tata Power has filed a petition in central electricity regulatory commission and the matter is in the courts, it added.

Earlier this week power regulatory CERC has allowed Tata Power to pass through the increased cost of coal due to change in regulation by Indonesia. However, the relief is subject to approval of Supreme Court where matter is still sub judice.



NEW DELHI: Seeking support of Tata Power shareholders against promoters' proposal to remove him from the board, Cyrus Mistry has said that the company fared better than most of its competitors during his tenure. The company has called an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on December 26, 2016, to consider the resolution for removal of Cyrus P Mistry as its Director. "At the consolidated level for Tata Power,...efforts resulted in a marked improvement EBITDA over the last three years. There has been a re-rating of the power sector in Indiaover the last few years, and hence it would not be appropriate to compare its performance vis-a-vis Sensex. However, the company has fared better than most of its competitors during this time," Mistry said in a letter to shareholders. Mistry joined the Board of Tata Sons in 2006 and was appointed Chairman of its Board in December 2012. He is currently Chairman of Tata Power. He said that Tata Power faced several challenges in 2012 and the overwhelming threat to its survival was on account of situation at Mudra Ultra Mega Power Project (CGPL). As per the letter, CGPL had been set up to almost double the generation capacity of the company with a huge capital investment of USD 2.6 billion and the plan was to use Indonesian coal. Tata Power had invested USD 1.2 billion in coal assets, to secure low coal supply. However, regulatory changes by the Indonesian government challenged the viability of the project. Tata Power has filed a petition in central electricity regulatory commission and the matter is in the courts, it added. Earlier this week power regulatory CERC has allowed Tata Power to pass through the increased cost of coal due to change in regulation by Indonesia. However, the relief is subject to approval of Supreme Court where matter is still sub judice.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Cyrus Mistry today escalated his war of words with Tatas by accusing Vijay Singh, a nominee director on the Tata Sons board, of cooking up theories "to defend his role in the conspiracy" hatched by Ratan Tata to sack him as the chairman.

"It's amusing to see Vijay Singh concoct theories to defend his role in Ratan Tata's conspiracy to replace Mistry," a statement issued from his office claimed today.

Mistry also claimed that being a part of the nominations and remuneration committee (NRC) of Tata Sons, Singh had on June 28, 2016 gave a glowing review of his (Mistry's) performance as the chairman of the Tata Group.

"After reviewing the performance of the chairman, the members unanimously recorded their recognition of his significant contributions across group companies and expressed their appreciation of his multi-faceted initiatives aimed at preserving and promoting cohesive functioning of the group in accordance of its distinctive values," Mistry said quoting from the minutes of the meeting as recorded by the board of Tata Sons.

On charges that "Mistry was doing nothing" at Tata Motors, the ousted chairman claimed that Singh had stated that "Tata Motors has come up with some of their best models in recent years under his watch".

He also said Singh was part of the Tata Sons board that agreed that the company could evaluate opportunities in the QSR segment at the board meeting on June 29, 2016. Singh had said this was one of the reasons for the sacking of Mistry.

Singh had claimed that another reason for Ratan Tata losing his confidence in Mistry was the group's failed bids (two separate bids Tata Power and Tata Motors for the multi-thousand crore Future Combat Infantry Vehicle contract from the Army).

On this, Mistry today said Singh and Tata both were very much in the loop on various discussions on the project.

"What is beyond comprehension is that Singh seems to want Tata Sons to favour one listed Tata company over another. This would not happen under Mistry's watch," the statement said today.

Vijay Singh joined the Tats Sons board as a nominee director of the Tats Trusts in 2013.

Mistry questioned the reasons behind the massive 45 per cent hike in Singh's sitting fees from Rs 90 lakh to Rs 1.3 crore over the past one year alone.

Mistry also denied his claim on the Tata-Power Welspun Power deal, saying Singh, as a trust nominated director had explicitly supported this strategy.

Mistry claimed he invited Singh to join the Tata Sons board after being asked by Ratan Tata in 2013 as a nominee of the Tata Trusts.

MUMBAI: Cyrus Mistry today escalated his war of words with Tatas by accusing Vijay Singh, a nominee director on the Tata Sons board, of cooking up theories "to defend his role in the conspiracy" hatched by Ratan Tata to sack him as the chairman. "It's amusing to see Vijay Singh concoct theories to defend his role in Ratan Tata's conspiracy to replace Mistry," a statement issued from his office claimed today. Mistry also claimed that being a part of the nominations and remuneration committee (NRC) of Tata Sons, Singh had on June 28, 2016 gave a glowing review of his (Mistry's) performance as the chairman of the Tata Group. "After reviewing the performance of the chairman, the members unanimously recorded their recognition of his significant contributions across group companies and expressed their appreciation of his multi-faceted initiatives aimed at preserving and promoting cohesive functioning of the group in accordance of its distinctive values," Mistry said quoting from the minutes of the meeting as recorded by the board of Tata Sons. On charges that "Mistry was doing nothing" at Tata Motors, the ousted chairman claimed that Singh had stated that "Tata Motors has come up with some of their best models in recent years under his watch". He also said Singh was part of the Tata Sons board that agreed that the company could evaluate opportunities in the QSR segment at the board meeting on June 29, 2016. Singh had said this was one of the reasons for the sacking of Mistry. Singh had claimed that another reason for Ratan Tata losing his confidence in Mistry was the group's failed bids (two separate bids Tata Power and Tata Motors for the multi-thousand crore Future Combat Infantry Vehicle contract from the Army). On this, Mistry today said Singh and Tata both were very much in the loop on various discussions on the project. "What is beyond comprehension is that Singh seems to want Tata Sons to favour one listed Tata company over another. This would not happen under Mistry's watch," the statement said today. Vijay Singh joined the Tats Sons board as a nominee director of the Tats Trusts in 2013. Mistry questioned the reasons behind the massive 45 per cent hike in Singh's sitting fees from Rs 90 lakh to Rs 1.3 crore over the past one year alone. Mistry also denied his claim on the Tata-Power Welspun Power deal, saying Singh, as a trust nominated director had explicitly supported this strategy. Mistry claimed he invited Singh to join the Tata Sons board after being asked by Ratan Tata in 2013 as a nominee of the Tata Trusts.
Shruthi H M By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Paving the way for migration of a large section of the population dependent on unofficial credit transactions into the formal sphere, the demonetisation move by the central government has boosted the prospects of online credit platforms.

The move has, especially, fostered a demand for micro lending platforms that specialise in quick loans of small ticket sizes.

The surge in demand for such services is best exemplified by the prodigious jump in demand seen by small firms like Slicepay, an online credit platform that caters exclusive to college students.

According to senior officials in the company, Slicepay has seen a thousand percent increase in demand post demonetisation. Speaking to Express, co-founder Rajan Bajaj said that at least 8000 students had registered with Slicepay in the last three to four weeks.

Since these are college students, they are looking at borrowing even smaller sums of money  starting right from Rs 500. To cater to students requirements, Slicepay has even begun an offline credit service.

This means, that once the student is approved by Slicepay, they can buy products on the campus store and the money will be credited from Slicepay to the merchant. The student can repay it the month after. Slicepay can also be used by students now to recharge Paytm wallets, Rajan pointed out. Slicepay is aiming at a growth gradient of 50 percent month on month given the boost from the cash crunch, he added.

Rural communities too are opening up to digital transactions and online credit systems could give an overall push to credit system in rural areas, Rangan Vardan, founder of MicroGraam told Express.

MicroGraam is built around empowering rural entrepreneurs with easy access to loans. Even though, Vardan pointed out that it was too soon to see a drastic change over the last three weeks, there was definitely a shift in the mindset among rural communities.

It has not made much of a difference on the lenders side, but there was a difference on the borrowers side. Today, people in rural areas are aware of concept of Paytm. With a bit of awareness, rural communities will be able to cope with the shift to digital transactions. This will definitely help in better monitoring credits and also in gauging the strength of the credit taker. Otherwise, even if an Self Help Group (SHG) is repaying money, not everyone in the group might be chipping in, he observed.

Further, according to an insight study by Lendingkart Group and Dun & Bradstreet, as cash-based money lenders shut shop, there will be an increase in demand for credit from formal sources. Digital lending will be a frontrunner in repaying benefits but will also have extra responsibility as informal sectors have hit a barrier.

This will also strengthen the data systems, in turn leading to a stronger credit system, the study has found. Harshvardhan Lunia, co-founder and CEO, Lendingkart Technologies, stated: We are replacing our ways of dealing in currency notes with digital transfers. While today, for any corporate, the market size is limited as digital money is adopted, our NBFC will have a larger addressable market.

BENGALURU: Paving the way for migration of a large section of the population dependent on unofficial credit transactions into the formal sphere, the demonetisation move by the central government has boosted the prospects of online credit platforms. The move has, especially, fostered a demand for micro lending platforms that specialise in quick loans of small ticket sizes. The surge in demand for such services is best exemplified by the prodigious jump in demand seen by small firms like Slicepay, an online credit platform that caters exclusive to college students. According to senior officials in the company, Slicepay has seen a thousand percent increase in demand post demonetisation. Speaking to Express, co-founder Rajan Bajaj said that at least 8000 students had registered with Slicepay in the last three to four weeks. Since these are college students, they are looking at borrowing even smaller sums of money  starting right from Rs 500. To cater to students requirements, Slicepay has even begun an offline credit service. This means, that once the student is approved by Slicepay, they can buy products on the campus store and the money will be credited from Slicepay to the merchant. The student can repay it the month after. Slicepay can also be used by students now to recharge Paytm wallets, Rajan pointed out. Slicepay is aiming at a growth gradient of 50 percent month on month given the boost from the cash crunch, he added. Rural communities too are opening up to digital transactions and online credit systems could give an overall push to credit system in rural areas, Rangan Vardan, founder of MicroGraam told Express. MicroGraam is built around empowering rural entrepreneurs with easy access to loans. Even though, Vardan pointed out that it was too soon to see a drastic change over the last three weeks, there was definitely a shift in the mindset among rural communities. It has not made much of a difference on the lenders side, but there was a difference on the borrowers side. Today, people in rural areas are aware of concept of Paytm. With a bit of awareness, rural communities will be able to cope with the shift to digital transactions. This will definitely help in better monitoring credits and also in gauging the strength of the credit taker. Otherwise, even if an Self Help Group (SHG) is repaying money, not everyone in the group might be chipping in, he observed. Further, according to an insight study by Lendingkart Group and Dun & Bradstreet, as cash-based money lenders shut shop, there will be an increase in demand for credit from formal sources. Digital lending will be a frontrunner in repaying benefits but will also have extra responsibility as informal sectors have hit a barrier. This will also strengthen the data systems, in turn leading to a stronger credit system, the study has found. Harshvardhan Lunia, co-founder and CEO, Lendingkart Technologies, stated: We are replacing our ways of dealing in currency notes with digital transfers. While today, for any corporate, the market size is limited as digital money is adopted, our NBFC will have a larger addressable market.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Tears, floral tributes and emotional speeches figured in the condolence meet organised in the city for former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Sunday evening. Hundreds of workers and leaders cutting across party lines took part.

The meet, organised by the state AIADMK at the Bangalore Tamil Sangam office, was jampacked with the crowd stretching onto the streets. An emotional Karnataka State AIADMK Secretary V Pugazhendi said the world would never see another leader like Amma. She has done so many welfare schemes for the people, particularly women and the elderly. Amma will always remain with us, he said.

Lauding her political achievements, Pugazhendi said, Tamil Nadu had always voted the DMK and AIADMK to power alternatively. She broke that trend and brought her party to power again in 2016.

The secretarys speech left many women in the audience teary-eyed. Shantinagar MLA N A Harris said Ammas demise was a big loss not only for Tamils but for all people in the country. She has set the standard of how a leader needs to be and we must follow in her footsteps.

The welfare schemes and works carried out by former chief minister were highly commendable.

Minister for Urban Development and Minority Welfare R Roshan Baig billed her a very popular leader. Bangalore Tamil Sangam president T G Damodaran said Tamils were in a state of deep shock over her death.

BENGALURU: Tears, floral tributes and emotional speeches figured in the condolence meet organised in the city for former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Sunday evening. Hundreds of workers and leaders cutting across party lines took part. The meet, organised by the state AIADMK at the Bangalore Tamil Sangam office, was jampacked with the crowd stretching onto the streets. An emotional Karnataka State AIADMK Secretary V Pugazhendi said the world would never see another leader like Amma. She has done so many welfare schemes for the people, particularly women and the elderly. Amma will always remain with us, he said. Lauding her political achievements, Pugazhendi said, Tamil Nadu had always voted the DMK and AIADMK to power alternatively. She broke that trend and brought her party to power again in 2016. The secretarys speech left many women in the audience teary-eyed. Shantinagar MLA N A Harris said Ammas demise was a big loss not only for Tamils but for all people in the country. She has set the standard of how a leader needs to be and we must follow in her footsteps. The welfare schemes and works carried out by former chief minister were highly commendable. Minister for Urban Development and Minority Welfare R Roshan Baig billed her a very popular leader. Bangalore Tamil Sangam president T G Damodaran said Tamils were in a state of deep shock over her death.
Jayanthi Pawar By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: A group of youngsters who did not stand up when the national anthem was being played in a cinema theatre in Chennai were allegedly manhandled by another group of audience on Sunday.

The Supreme Court in its order dated November 30 mandated playing of the national anthem before screening of movies in all theatres across the country and the audience must stand up in respect. Amidst much debate over the contentious order of the apex court, a group of eight youngsters, mostly students and recent graduates, remained seated when the national anthem was being played before the morning show of Chennai 28 - II in the Kasi Theatre located at Ekkatuthangal, in the heart of the city.

The trouble began during the interval when one Vijayakumar picked up an argument with the youngsters questioning why they remained seated when the national anthem was played.

"During the interval, Vijayakumar caught my T-shirt and hit me from behind. He along with twenty others questioned why we did not stand for the anthem. He was threatening to kill us for not standing up for national anthem," said S Viji, 26, a freelancing movie reviewer.

Sabaratha, 21, who was one among the eight youngsters, said they decided to not to stand up not because they are unpatriotic, but were against imposing such things.

The theatre officials intervened during and a security guard stayed behind in the theatre, throughout the show. But an argument broke out

again in the parking lot after the show ended.

Allegedly, both the sides exchanged blows during the heated argument.

When Express spoke to Vijayakumar, the person whom the youngsters accused of assaulting them, he said the group of eight were taking selfies, clapping and whistling when the anthem was played. "Angered by this, along with around twenty others in the theater, I questioned the group during the interval. And a verbal fight erupted. Immediately the manger from the theater pacified us and we continued watching the movie along with a security guard," said a 28-year old Vijayakumar.

He said it was the other group that approached him and asked him to come near the theatre's entrance to talk after film was over. "As soon as we went, they assaulted us and we hit them back. By then the police intervened," he added.

Both the groups were taken to the MGR Police station and they filed counter complaints against each other. It is not clear yet how many FIRs police have filed, based on the complaints.

CHENNAI: A group of youngsters who did not stand up when the national anthem was being played in a cinema theatre in Chennai were allegedly manhandled by another group of audience on Sunday. The Supreme Court in its order dated November 30 mandated playing of the national anthem before screening of movies in all theatres across the country and the audience must stand up in respect. Amidst much debate over the contentious order of the apex court, a group of eight youngsters, mostly students and recent graduates, remained seated when the national anthem was being played before the morning show of Chennai 28 - II in the Kasi Theatre located at Ekkatuthangal, in the heart of the city. The trouble began during the interval when one Vijayakumar picked up an argument with the youngsters questioning why they remained seated when the national anthem was played. "During the interval, Vijayakumar caught my T-shirt and hit me from behind. He along with twenty others questioned why we did not stand for the anthem. He was threatening to kill us for not standing up for national anthem," said S Viji, 26, a freelancing movie reviewer. Sabaratha, 21, who was one among the eight youngsters, said they decided to not to stand up not because they are unpatriotic, but were against imposing such things. The theatre officials intervened during and a security guard stayed behind in the theatre, throughout the show. But an argument broke out again in the parking lot after the show ended. Allegedly, both the sides exchanged blows during the heated argument. When Express spoke to Vijayakumar, the person whom the youngsters accused of assaulting them, he said the group of eight were taking selfies, clapping and whistling when the anthem was played. "Angered by this, along with around twenty others in the theater, I questioned the group during the interval. And a verbal fight erupted. Immediately the manger from the theater pacified us and we continued watching the movie along with a security guard," said a 28-year old Vijayakumar. He said it was the other group that approached him and asked him to come near the theatre's entrance to talk after film was over. "As soon as we went, they assaulted us and we hit them back. By then the police intervened," he added. Both the groups were taken to the MGR Police station and they filed counter complaints against each other. It is not clear yet how many FIRs police have filed, based on the complaints.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan today met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray at his residence here.

The meeting, that took place in the evening, assumes significance as Khan's upcoming film "Raees", which features Pakistani actress Mahira Khan, is scheduled for a release next month, party sources said.

Notably, the MNS has in the past objected to casting of Pakistani actors in Bollywood movies citing the neighbouring country's involvement in terrorist attacks in India.

Earlier in October, the MNS had staged high-voltage protests against the release of filmmaker Karan

Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" for featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.

The Bollywood superstar had previously run into trouble for the release of "My Name is Khan" in 2010, with another right wing party, Shiv Sena, opposing its screening then.

MUMBAI: Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan today met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray at his residence here. The meeting, that took place in the evening, assumes significance as Khan's upcoming film "Raees", which features Pakistani actress Mahira Khan, is scheduled for a release next month, party sources said. Notably, the MNS has in the past objected to casting of Pakistani actors in Bollywood movies citing the neighbouring country's involvement in terrorist attacks in India. Earlier in October, the MNS had staged high-voltage protests against the release of filmmaker Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" for featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. The Bollywood superstar had previously run into trouble for the release of "My Name is Khan" in 2010, with another right wing party, Shiv Sena, opposing its screening then.
Ayesha Singh By

His death came without warning. Hanging from the ceiling fan of his second-floor apartment in Bengaluru, 19-year-old Sahej Marwah left behind distraught parents and loved ones fraught with pain. He was now an added number to the list of 1.3 million adolescents in the world who died last year from preventable or treatable causes. In India, that number is 86,224 for 10 - 14-year olds and 155,154 for those aged 15-19 years, according to Global Burden of Disease 2015 estimates. Suicide is the leading cause. Marwahs parents believe their son was being bullied by his roommates, with whom he often argued over religious matters. This time, the boys succeeded in silencing Marwah forever.

Many more voices will be silenced if we dont make childrens interest our priority. Weve been hearing the rhetoric that children are greatest victims in our society since Indias Independence, but little has changed in our social environment that compels teens to be better than the best. This trend is dangerous, says child rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kailash Satyarthi.



In India, 21 percent of the populationthat is, over 243 millionconstitute adolescents. In 2013 alone, 3,594 of them aged between 10-14 committed suicide. The same year, another 23,748 in the age group 15-19 took their lives, according to the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing.

Sandhyarani Behera from Odisha cant forgive herself even after four years of the death of her older daughter Sarojini. Unable to resist her mothers frequent rebukes for not clearing the annual Plus II examination, the 17-year-old girl committed suicide by consuming poison. I want to say sorry, but to whom? says Behera. Neither she nor her husband had thought that behind their daughters falling grades and declining health conditions lay depression. They were more interested in improving her performance. I would have counselled her instead of levelling accusations for her poor performance, she repents.

But the falling grades and declining health conditions are symptoms of a larger issuedepression. In Odisha, academics-related suicide is the leading cause of deaths. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) stated that the suicide rate in Odisha was 9.9 of one lakh people in 2014.

While self-harm is the front-runner in adolescent mortality matters, road accidents came a close second. More than 75,000 youths became victims of road accidents in 2014. According to traffic police, over 1,875 road-related cases were filed against minors in Bengaluru in 2015. Of the 5,004 road accidents in Karnataka in 2014, as many as 4,482 were caused due to reckless driving. Police believe that in many cases, parents were acted irresponsibly by giving vehicles to underage drivers. Reckless driving should be a criminal charge as it claims lives of those involved in the act and other innocent people, says a senior Karnataka Police officer. Incidents of motorcycle stunts are on the rise too. On September 1 this year, an 18-year-old youth was arrested for the death of a teenager girl during a motorcycle stunt in Bengaluru.

courtesy: Paul Jeffrey



Similarly, Varkeychen Alex, a BTech graduate from Pala in Keralas Kottayam District, lost two colleges in an accident when their motorcycle collided with a truck. They were returning after a test-riding a new superbike owned by one of them, says Alex.

Sebin Sebastian, an advocate from Kochi, lost two friends when the motorcycle they were riding crashed into a lorry. One was a college union president of Government Law College, Ernakulam, and the other was an LLB student. They died on the spot.

An Indian Council of Medical Research report states that 12 per cent of children between four and 16 years of age suffer from psychiatric disorders. Fear of stigma is part of the illness. Jodhpur-based 19-year-old Ankita Mahla, a Class XI student, injected herself with poison three years ago. In one of her last conversations with her friend Shoili Das, she had confessed that she had been feeling persistently low. We went to a therapist together because Mahla feared being judged by family members and friends about seeing a doctor for a mental issue, says Das. The session seemed to go well, and she had booked another one for the next day. Before daybreak, she had taken her life. Maybe it was depression, maybe it was something else, but her irrational fears about being labelled mad kept her away from her family and took her straight into the death trap, says Das.

In view of the unmet mental healthcare needs of children and adolescents of India, Clinical Psychologist at ePsyClinic.com, Aakriti Malik, and Dr Roopesh B N at NIMHANS, Bengaluru, carried out a research (currently unpublished) to understand awareness about child psychiatric conditions in parents and children and their expectations from mental health professionals. In a purposive sample of 40 parents, children and adolescents aged 10-16 years, it was found that more than half of the parents were unaware of their childs psychiatric conditions. The major barriers for parents were related to time, distance, lack of information about treatment options and financial constraints. Interestingly, the study found that majority children reported not being aware of their difficulties, says Malik.

The number of adolescents attempting and committing suicide is increasing. This should be seen in the light of unemployment, relationship difficulties and significantly high family-based abuse and violence. Even more important is the fact that there is a 90 percent treatment gap. It means 90 per cent adolescents who need help do not have access to it, says Dr Achal Bhagat, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals and Saarthak Mental Health Services, Delhi.

Lack of awareness and disclosure of mental health problems lead to exclusion from peers and from the educational system. Bhagat believes that educational systems do not facilitate access to mental health service. In fact, they have become a barrier. Parents may also ignore mental health issues. The problem is compounded by the increase use of substance use, he says.

Nikhil Santhosh, a 16-year-old student, jumped to his death from the ninth floor of Mantri Tranquil Apartments in Bengaluru. Police said he took the extreme step after his mother scolded him for securing poor marks in internal examinations. He left a one-line note stating, I dont deserve to be your child. Minutes before his death, his mother had said the same thing to him, You dont deserve to be our child.

Even as the rate of suicide (number of suicides per one lakh population) in Odisha compared to southern states, Puducherry and Sikkim is low, the rates are alarming, especially around board exam results. A majority of adolescents in the state grow up in villages, which have a high Dalit population that comprises around 22 per cent Scheduled Tribes and 17 per cent Scheduled Castes, whose literacy rate is very low. Professor Rita Ray of National Law University, Cuttack, says, Adolescents are vulnerable to many issues. The atmosphere for quality education is not liberal, which makes parents and children susceptible to study-related pressures.

Cases of youngsters drowning at tourist places in Kerala is also spiralling. On the other hand, the state rarely sees any adolescent die of a particular disease. This issue is nobodys priority, but it demands special attention as it is preventable. Adolescents should be made vigilant about the danger of water, says Dr N K Sanil Kumar, a urologist and a health activist from Kochi.

While certain reasons for adolescent deaths across the world may be universalsuch as road accidents and suicidessome are particular to India. Poverty is one such reason. Vanita (name changed) took her son from JIIPER in Puducherry to Dindigul Government Hospital, and finally to Madurai Government Hospital. I began spending all my days in the hospital, not because of my sons health condition but because we were homeless. Our landlord kicked us out fearing my son had caught a contagious disease, says Vanita. In the middle of it all, she lost her job.

It was finally diagnosed that he had tuberculosis, but because of little access to money, we spent sleepless nights in hospitals, she recalls.

In their right to survival, children and adolescents from urban slums and villages still face scarcity of safe drinking water and sanitation. Demolitions of urban slums to beautify cities and migration from villages to cities for employment displace marginalised adolescents and their families and denies their right to survival in new locations, says Sangeeta Macwan, Manager-Community Programmes, Sahaj Shishu Milap, an organisation working with adolescents and children. Abuse at home and workplace denies their right to protection.

Right to participation in social matters is not fulfilled, especially when decisions in their education and consent for early marriages are not taken from adolescents. When adolescents are neither treated as children nor as adults, it hampers their development to a great extent, says Macwan. In the presence of gender discrimination, the right to development among girls and boys from marginalised classes of society gets hampered. Over the years, adolescent girls have died because of delayed health treatment and have committed suicide because of severe violence and burns as a result of domestic violence, says Himalini from Thoughtshop Foundation, a social organisation working with problems plaguing adolescents and other issues.

Their rights to survival, protection, development and participation are violated. Neglected and with reduced opportunities for development, these girls experience low self-worth. They are considered a burden and become prone to child marriage and trafficking. What follows is that theyre are soon burdened with household chores, early pregnancy, child rearing and become victims of domestic violence. Some even end up displaying criminal behaviour. Thus, the cycle of violence continues, says Himalini.

Since a good part of her work involves working with marginalised communities who live in remote rural locations without medical treatment, Himalini says that delay in treating snake bites and consumption of local poison also cause deaths. In urban areas, adolescents who live along railway tracks are at a higher risk of losing their lives due to accidents.

There is an urgent need to structure fragmented adolescent health programmes and define a comprehensive programme addressing all the needs of adolescents under one framework. Working with teenagers requires focus since they are neither children nor adults. Creating safe spaces for adolescent girls and young women, building self-worth, providing them with life skills, sex education and enabling them to explore life goals beyond marriage are necessary, says Himalini.

Complications linked to early pregnancy and child marriage also need to be addressed urgently as these cause numerous deaths between the age group of 15 to 19. Working with parents, in-laws and healthcare providers on their role in maternal health is important. But what will help most is preventing early pregnancy, especially contraception (pre-marriage counselling), says Macwan.

The pressure on adolescents needs to be relaxed. Until a major shift in mindsets and attitudes is seen, status quo will be re-enforced. Teens of this world and the youth are living in extremely suppressive conditions and dont have avenues to express their idealism, says Satyarthi. Forty percent of the entire population is below the age of 18. To initiate a social environment where they are pushed to become tools of growth is necessary.

To raise a collective voice against discrimination, violence, slavery, trafficking and other issues that plague the young, Satyarthi recently brought together some of the brightest minds to discuss, deliberate and offer resolutions on the subject. His Laureates and Leaders Children Summit on December 10-11 at Rashtrapati Bhawan was a step in assessing the situation at a micro level. Lets take a small step today by listening to the young of this country. Then another step in understanding them closely. And finally, mobilising them to rise above all limitations and become the most empowered members of the community, he says.

In a century where our lives are moving faster than they ever did, we need to pause and think about the children who have little access to help, mental or physical. Lives can be saved with a little compassion, concern and empathy. Children, as it is said, are the future of a nation.

With Hemant Kumar Rout, Babu K Peter, Kiran Parashar and Johanna Deeksha

His death came without warning. Hanging from the ceiling fan of his second-floor apartment in Bengaluru, 19-year-old Sahej Marwah left behind distraught parents and loved ones fraught with pain. He was now an added number to the list of 1.3 million adolescents in the world who died last year from preventable or treatable causes. In India, that number is 86,224 for 10 - 14-year olds and 155,154 for those aged 15-19 years, according to Global Burden of Disease 2015 estimates. Suicide is the leading cause. Marwahs parents believe their son was being bullied by his roommates, with whom he often argued over religious matters. This time, the boys succeeded in silencing Marwah forever. Many more voices will be silenced if we dont make childrens interest our priority. Weve been hearing the rhetoric that children are greatest victims in our society since Indias Independence, but little has changed in our social environment that compels teens to be better than the best. This trend is dangerous, says child rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kailash Satyarthi. In India, 21 percent of the populationthat is, over 243 millionconstitute adolescents. In 2013 alone, 3,594 of them aged between 10-14 committed suicide. The same year, another 23,748 in the age group 15-19 took their lives, according to the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing. Sandhyarani Behera from Odisha cant forgive herself even after four years of the death of her older daughter Sarojini. Unable to resist her mothers frequent rebukes for not clearing the annual Plus II examination, the 17-year-old girl committed suicide by consuming poison. I want to say sorry, but to whom? says Behera. Neither she nor her husband had thought that behind their daughters falling grades and declining health conditions lay depression. They were more interested in improving her performance. I would have counselled her instead of levelling accusations for her poor performance, she repents. But the falling grades and declining health conditions are symptoms of a larger issuedepression. In Odisha, academics-related suicide is the leading cause of deaths. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) stated that the suicide rate in Odisha was 9.9 of one lakh people in 2014. While self-harm is the front-runner in adolescent mortality matters, road accidents came a close second. More than 75,000 youths became victims of road accidents in 2014. According to traffic police, over 1,875 road-related cases were filed against minors in Bengaluru in 2015. Of the 5,004 road accidents in Karnataka in 2014, as many as 4,482 were caused due to reckless driving. Police believe that in many cases, parents were acted irresponsibly by giving vehicles to underage drivers. Reckless driving should be a criminal charge as it claims lives of those involved in the act and other innocent people, says a senior Karnataka Police officer. Incidents of motorcycle stunts are on the rise too. On September 1 this year, an 18-year-old youth was arrested for the death of a teenager girl during a motorcycle stunt in Bengaluru. courtesy: Paul Jeffrey Similarly, Varkeychen Alex, a BTech graduate from Pala in Keralas Kottayam District, lost two colleges in an accident when their motorcycle collided with a truck. They were returning after a test-riding a new superbike owned by one of them, says Alex. Sebin Sebastian, an advocate from Kochi, lost two friends when the motorcycle they were riding crashed into a lorry. One was a college union president of Government Law College, Ernakulam, and the other was an LLB student. They died on the spot. An Indian Council of Medical Research report states that 12 per cent of children between four and 16 years of age suffer from psychiatric disorders. Fear of stigma is part of the illness. Jodhpur-based 19-year-old Ankita Mahla, a Class XI student, injected herself with poison three years ago. In one of her last conversations with her friend Shoili Das, she had confessed that she had been feeling persistently low. We went to a therapist together because Mahla feared being judged by family members and friends about seeing a doctor for a mental issue, says Das. The session seemed to go well, and she had booked another one for the next day. Before daybreak, she had taken her life. Maybe it was depression, maybe it was something else, but her irrational fears about being labelled mad kept her away from her family and took her straight into the death trap, says Das. In view of the unmet mental healthcare needs of children and adolescents of India, Clinical Psychologist at ePsyClinic.com, Aakriti Malik, and Dr Roopesh B N at NIMHANS, Bengaluru, carried out a research (currently unpublished) to understand awareness about child psychiatric conditions in parents and children and their expectations from mental health professionals. In a purposive sample of 40 parents, children and adolescents aged 10-16 years, it was found that more than half of the parents were unaware of their childs psychiatric conditions. The major barriers for parents were related to time, distance, lack of information about treatment options and financial constraints. Interestingly, the study found that majority children reported not being aware of their difficulties, says Malik. The number of adolescents attempting and committing suicide is increasing. This should be seen in the light of unemployment, relationship difficulties and significantly high family-based abuse and violence. Even more important is the fact that there is a 90 percent treatment gap. It means 90 per cent adolescents who need help do not have access to it, says Dr Achal Bhagat, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals and Saarthak Mental Health Services, Delhi. Lack of awareness and disclosure of mental health problems lead to exclusion from peers and from the educational system. Bhagat believes that educational systems do not facilitate access to mental health service. In fact, they have become a barrier. Parents may also ignore mental health issues. The problem is compounded by the increase use of substance use, he says. Nikhil Santhosh, a 16-year-old student, jumped to his death from the ninth floor of Mantri Tranquil Apartments in Bengaluru. Police said he took the extreme step after his mother scolded him for securing poor marks in internal examinations. He left a one-line note stating, I dont deserve to be your child. Minutes before his death, his mother had said the same thing to him, You dont deserve to be our child. Even as the rate of suicide (number of suicides per one lakh population) in Odisha compared to southern states, Puducherry and Sikkim is low, the rates are alarming, especially around board exam results. A majority of adolescents in the state grow up in villages, which have a high Dalit population that comprises around 22 per cent Scheduled Tribes and 17 per cent Scheduled Castes, whose literacy rate is very low. Professor Rita Ray of National Law University, Cuttack, says, Adolescents are vulnerable to many issues. The atmosphere for quality education is not liberal, which makes parents and children susceptible to study-related pressures. Cases of youngsters drowning at tourist places in Kerala is also spiralling. On the other hand, the state rarely sees any adolescent die of a particular disease. This issue is nobodys priority, but it demands special attention as it is preventable. Adolescents should be made vigilant about the danger of water, says Dr N K Sanil Kumar, a urologist and a health activist from Kochi. While certain reasons for adolescent deaths across the world may be universalsuch as road accidents and suicidessome are particular to India. Poverty is one such reason. Vanita (name changed) took her son from JIIPER in Puducherry to Dindigul Government Hospital, and finally to Madurai Government Hospital. I began spending all my days in the hospital, not because of my sons health condition but because we were homeless. Our landlord kicked us out fearing my son had caught a contagious disease, says Vanita. In the middle of it all, she lost her job. It was finally diagnosed that he had tuberculosis, but because of little access to money, we spent sleepless nights in hospitals, she recalls. In their right to survival, children and adolescents from urban slums and villages still face scarcity of safe drinking water and sanitation. Demolitions of urban slums to beautify cities and migration from villages to cities for employment displace marginalised adolescents and their families and denies their right to survival in new locations, says Sangeeta Macwan, Manager-Community Programmes, Sahaj Shishu Milap, an organisation working with adolescents and children. Abuse at home and workplace denies their right to protection. Right to participation in social matters is not fulfilled, especially when decisions in their education and consent for early marriages are not taken from adolescents. When adolescents are neither treated as children nor as adults, it hampers their development to a great extent, says Macwan. In the presence of gender discrimination, the right to development among girls and boys from marginalised classes of society gets hampered. Over the years, adolescent girls have died because of delayed health treatment and have committed suicide because of severe violence and burns as a result of domestic violence, says Himalini from Thoughtshop Foundation, a social organisation working with problems plaguing adolescents and other issues. Their rights to survival, protection, development and participation are violated. Neglected and with reduced opportunities for development, these girls experience low self-worth. They are considered a burden and become prone to child marriage and trafficking. What follows is that theyre are soon burdened with household chores, early pregnancy, child rearing and become victims of domestic violence. Some even end up displaying criminal behaviour. Thus, the cycle of violence continues, says Himalini. Since a good part of her work involves working with marginalised communities who live in remote rural locations without medical treatment, Himalini says that delay in treating snake bites and consumption of local poison also cause deaths. In urban areas, adolescents who live along railway tracks are at a higher risk of losing their lives due to accidents. There is an urgent need to structure fragmented adolescent health programmes and define a comprehensive programme addressing all the needs of adolescents under one framework. Working with teenagers requires focus since they are neither children nor adults. Creating safe spaces for adolescent girls and young women, building self-worth, providing them with life skills, sex education and enabling them to explore life goals beyond marriage are necessary, says Himalini. Complications linked to early pregnancy and child marriage also need to be addressed urgently as these cause numerous deaths between the age group of 15 to 19. Working with parents, in-laws and healthcare providers on their role in maternal health is important. But what will help most is preventing early pregnancy, especially contraception (pre-marriage counselling), says Macwan. The pressure on adolescents needs to be relaxed. Until a major shift in mindsets and attitudes is seen, status quo will be re-enforced. Teens of this world and the youth are living in extremely suppressive conditions and dont have avenues to express their idealism, says Satyarthi. Forty percent of the entire population is below the age of 18. To initiate a social environment where they are pushed to become tools of growth is necessary. To raise a collective voice against discrimination, violence, slavery, trafficking and other issues that plague the young, Satyarthi recently brought together some of the brightest minds to discuss, deliberate and offer resolutions on the subject. His Laureates and Leaders Children Summit on December 10-11 at Rashtrapati Bhawan was a step in assessing the situation at a micro level. Lets take a small step today by listening to the young of this country. Then another step in understanding them closely. And finally, mobilising them to rise above all limitations and become the most empowered members of the community, he says. In a century where our lives are moving faster than they ever did, we need to pause and think about the children who have little access to help, mental or physical. Lives can be saved with a little compassion, concern and empathy. Children, as it is said, are the future of a nation. With Hemant Kumar Rout, Babu K Peter, Kiran Parashar and Johanna Deeksha
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Arrested former Air Force chief SP Tyagi on Saturday told a designated court that the decision to procure VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland was a collective one and the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) was also a part of it. Tyagis accusations came during a hearing of the remand petition moved by the CBI. The CBI had on Friday arrested Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev and lawyer Gautam Khaitan.

The trio were arrested in connection with the alleged Rs 450 crore bribery case in the Rs 3767 crore VVIP chopper procurement deal. While the CBI sought 10-day remand of the accused for confronting them with one another, the court sent them for four-day of police custody till December 14.

The probe agency told the court that crucial information was collected from three countries - Italy, Switzerland and Mauritius - via letters rogatory and the accused are required to be confronted with it to unearth the larger conspiracy in the chopper deal case.

SP Tyagi being produced at Patiala House court in New Delhi on Saturday. ( EPS | Shekhar Yadav)

The CBI has alleged that a conspiracy was hatched to reduce the service ceiling of the helicopters from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres after which AgustaWestland became eligible to supply a dozen helicopters for VVIP flying duties.

It told the court that the words "at least twin engine" were inserted in the amendment proposal in 2005 for procuring VVIP helicopters to bring AgustaWestland into the eligibility criteria, adding that the changes were made deliberately as AgustaWestland helicopters had three engines and a service ceiling of 4,500 metres.

Senior counsel N Hariharan representing Tyagi claimed in the court, It was a collective decision and not his (Tyagis)individual one. It was a collective decision of which the PMO was also a part. The file moved through several levels but I am the only one who has been arrayed as accused.

A CBI vehicle carrying former chief of Indian air force retired Air Marshal SP Tyagi comes after he along with other accused were produced in a Delhi court on Saturday. (PTI)

CBI told the court that Tyagi had abused his official position and when he was the Air Chief Marshal, he had made investments in land and other properties and has not disclosed the source of his income.

At this point during the argument by the CBI counsel, the former IAF chief, who was present in the courtroom, told the magistrate, My agricultural lands were bought from 2002. I can give account of all my land investments if they (CBI) wa-nt. After hearing the arguments, the magistrate remanded the three accused to CBIs custody till December 14 saying, considering the seriousness of allegations and gravity of the matter, I am of the considered opinion that CBI custody of the accused is required for a fair probe.

(with inputs from IANS)

NEW DELHI: Arrested former Air Force chief SP Tyagi on Saturday told a designated court that the decision to procure VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland was a collective one and the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) was also a part of it. Tyagis accusations came during a hearing of the remand petition moved by the CBI. The CBI had on Friday arrested Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev and lawyer Gautam Khaitan. The trio were arrested in connection with the alleged Rs 450 crore bribery case in the Rs 3767 crore VVIP chopper procurement deal. While the CBI sought 10-day remand of the accused for confronting them with one another, the court sent them for four-day of police custody till December 14. The probe agency told the court that crucial information was collected from three countries - Italy, Switzerland and Mauritius - via letters rogatory and the accused are required to be confronted with it to unearth the larger conspiracy in the chopper deal case. SP Tyagi being produced at Patiala House court in New Delhi on Saturday. ( EPS | Shekhar Yadav)The CBI has alleged that a conspiracy was hatched to reduce the service ceiling of the helicopters from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres after which AgustaWestland became eligible to supply a dozen helicopters for VVIP flying duties. It told the court that the words "at least twin engine" were inserted in the amendment proposal in 2005 for procuring VVIP helicopters to bring AgustaWestland into the eligibility criteria, adding that the changes were made deliberately as AgustaWestland helicopters had three engines and a service ceiling of 4,500 metres. Senior counsel N Hariharan representing Tyagi claimed in the court, It was a collective decision and not his (Tyagis)individual one. It was a collective decision of which the PMO was also a part. The file moved through several levels but I am the only one who has been arrayed as accused. A CBI vehicle carrying former chief of Indian air force retired Air Marshal SP Tyagi comes after he along with other accused were produced in a Delhi court on Saturday. (PTI) CBI told the court that Tyagi had abused his official position and when he was the Air Chief Marshal, he had made investments in land and other properties and has not disclosed the source of his income. At this point during the argument by the CBI counsel, the former IAF chief, who was present in the courtroom, told the magistrate, My agricultural lands were bought from 2002. I can give account of all my land investments if they (CBI) wa-nt. After hearing the arguments, the magistrate remanded the three accused to CBIs custody till December 14 saying, considering the seriousness of allegations and gravity of the matter, I am of the considered opinion that CBI custody of the accused is required for a fair probe. (with inputs from IANS)
Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: As many as five Maoist commanders were arrested in Bihar and police defused 100 IEDs planted by the rebels in neighbouring Jharkhand on Sunday. A gram panchayat head was found shot dead in Jharkhand for allegedly being a police informer.

In Bihars southern Aurangabad district, three Maoists, including the founder of the Jharkhand-based splinter group of the outlawed CPI(Maoist), were arrested while two others were arrested in Jamui and

Munger districts, said police officials on Sunday.

Arvind Ram, the founder of Maoist splinter group Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJPP) wanted in a number of criminal cases, was arrested along with two of his associates in a raid in Khadaha-Sonedila area under NTPC-Khaira police station. Three country-made pistols, 15 live cartridges and an empty cartridge were recovered from the trio, said Aurangabad SP Satya Prakash.

In Jamui district bordering Jharkhand, hardcore Maoist leader Puran Murmu was arrested while police in Munger district arrested Gopal Das, another hardcore Maoist wanted in several criminal cases.

In a search operation conducted by police in Jharkhands Latehar district, a series of more than 100 improvised explosive devices (IED) were detected in the Donki Barmaiya forest under Manika police station area and defused on Sunday. The explosives were planted by the Maoists to trap and kill policemen patrolling the forest, said CRPF commandant Pankaj Kumar, who led the search operation.

The leftwing rebels shot dead a gram panchayat mukhia in Ranchi district in Jharkhand in the early hours of Saturday after accusing him of being a police informer. The body of Jiban Singh Munda, mukhia of Jago panchayat Tamar police station, was recovered on Sunday. Handwritten pamphlets left by the Maoists near the body said he was punished for collecting levy in the name of the rebels and informing police about their activities.

Nearly four Maoists came home and picked my father up. Then they shot him dead in cold blood a few minutes later, said Santoshi Kumari, the teenage daughter of Munda. Rajkumar Lakra, SP (rural) of Ranchi district, visited the site and said a manhunt has been launched to nab Mundas killers.

PATNA: As many as five Maoist commanders were arrested in Bihar and police defused 100 IEDs planted by the rebels in neighbouring Jharkhand on Sunday. A gram panchayat head was found shot dead in Jharkhand for allegedly being a police informer. In Bihars southern Aurangabad district, three Maoists, including the founder of the Jharkhand-based splinter group of the outlawed CPI(Maoist), were arrested while two others were arrested in Jamui and Munger districts, said police officials on Sunday. Arvind Ram, the founder of Maoist splinter group Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJPP) wanted in a number of criminal cases, was arrested along with two of his associates in a raid in Khadaha-Sonedila area under NTPC-Khaira police station. Three country-made pistols, 15 live cartridges and an empty cartridge were recovered from the trio, said Aurangabad SP Satya Prakash. In Jamui district bordering Jharkhand, hardcore Maoist leader Puran Murmu was arrested while police in Munger district arrested Gopal Das, another hardcore Maoist wanted in several criminal cases. In a search operation conducted by police in Jharkhands Latehar district, a series of more than 100 improvised explosive devices (IED) were detected in the Donki Barmaiya forest under Manika police station area and defused on Sunday. The explosives were planted by the Maoists to trap and kill policemen patrolling the forest, said CRPF commandant Pankaj Kumar, who led the search operation. The leftwing rebels shot dead a gram panchayat mukhia in Ranchi district in Jharkhand in the early hours of Saturday after accusing him of being a police informer. The body of Jiban Singh Munda, mukhia of Jago panchayat Tamar police station, was recovered on Sunday. Handwritten pamphlets left by the Maoists near the body said he was punished for collecting levy in the name of the rebels and informing police about their activities. Nearly four Maoists came home and picked my father up. Then they shot him dead in cold blood a few minutes later, said Santoshi Kumari, the teenage daughter of Munda. Rajkumar Lakra, SP (rural) of Ranchi district, visited the site and said a manhunt has been launched to nab Mundas killers.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Assam Rifles personnel have apprehended eight rebels of the Arakan Liberation Army (ALA), a major insurgent group of Myanmar, in Mizoram and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition.

Defence sources told Express that the rebels, who were in combat fatigues, were caught during an operation near Tuithumnar in Lwangtlai district on Friday and handed over to the district administration. The weapons seized from their possession included the sophisticated M16 and AK56 rifles.

Language is a problem and so we couldnt find out the reason for their infiltration. But what we understood was that they are all members of the Arakan Liberation Army , sources said.

The Arakan Liberation Army which is active in Rakhine and Karen states of Myanmar, was founded in 1968. But the arrests and imprisonment of a number of its leaders in the following months that year led to its dissolution.

Between 1971 and 1972, some of them were released and they re-established the outfit with the help of Karen National Union.

The ALA campaigns on a nationalist agenda and views the ethnic Rohingyas as illegal immigrants of Bangladesh and has long been very hostile to them.

Myanmar has around 20 insurgent groups. Over a dozen of them are in peace mode after signing ceasefire agreements with the Myanmar government.

GUWAHATI: Assam Rifles personnel have apprehended eight rebels of the Arakan Liberation Army (ALA), a major insurgent group of Myanmar, in Mizoram and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition. Defence sources told Express that the rebels, who were in combat fatigues, were caught during an operation near Tuithumnar in Lwangtlai district on Friday and handed over to the district administration. The weapons seized from their possession included the sophisticated M16 and AK56 rifles. Language is a problem and so we couldnt find out the reason for their infiltration. But what we understood was that they are all members of the Arakan Liberation Army , sources said. The Arakan Liberation Army which is active in Rakhine and Karen states of Myanmar, was founded in 1968. But the arrests and imprisonment of a number of its leaders in the following months that year led to its dissolution. Between 1971 and 1972, some of them were released and they re-established the outfit with the help of Karen National Union. The ALA campaigns on a nationalist agenda and views the ethnic Rohingyas as illegal immigrants of Bangladesh and has long been very hostile to them. Myanmar has around 20 insurgent groups. Over a dozen of them are in peace mode after signing ceasefire agreements with the Myanmar government.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: The militant violence and security forces casualties in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed an upward surge this year. At least 78 security men were killed and 213 injured till November-end, which is highest in the last four years.

The militant killings also witnessed an upward trend but the civilian killings in violent incidents dropped.

According to official statistics, the militancy violence witnessed a considerable surge this year. The encounters between militants and security forces and militants surprise attacks on security personnel witnessed an increasing trend this year.

As per the statistics, 307 militancy incidents took place across Jammu and Kashmir till November-end this year.

In these violent incidents, 78 security personnel including army men, paramilitary personnel, border guards and J&K policemen were killed and 213 others injured, it revealed.

During the same period, 146 militants were killed in gunfights with security personnel. 76 others were arrested or surrendered before the security forces.

In the militant incidents in 11 months, 14 civilians were killed and 61 injured.

As per the statistics the militancy incidents this year were highest in last four years.

As against 307 militancy incidents this year, 208 such incidents were reported in 2015, 222 in 2014 and 170 in 2013, reveals the official data.

According to the figures, the security forces casualties this year were highest in last four years. As against 78 casualties and 213 injuries this year, security forces suffered 39 casualties and 103 injuries in 2015, 47 casualties and 84 injuries in 2014 and 53 casualties and 74 injuries in 2013.

The militant killings this year was also on the higher side and was the highest in last four years.

As against 146 militant killings this year, only 46 militants died in security forces action in 2015, 52 in 2014 and 38 in 2013. Similarly, only 10 militants were arrested or surrendered last year as compared to 70 in 2014 and 86 in 2013, reveals the official data.

However, the civilian killings in militancy violence in the State this year were lowest in last four years. As against 14 civilian killings this year, 17 civilian deaths had taken place in 2015, 28 in 2014 and 15 in 2013. Similarly as against 61 civilian injuries this year, 70 had sustained injuries in 2015, 71 in 2014 and 31 in 2013.

Among the major militant attacks this year include EDI attack in February in which three young army officers were killed, attack on army base in Uri in September in which 19 soldiers were killed and November 29 fidayeen attack on army camp at Nagrota in Jammu in which seven soldiers including two Major-rank officers were killed.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh while addressing a gathering during Shahidi Diwas organized in Kathua, Jammu today paid tributes to the slain security personnel.

The nation would never forget sacrifices by the army, police and paramilitary forces personnel in various States while protecting borders and fighting militancy.

Nations heart beats for the brave heroes and their families, he said.

Singh said there isnt a single State whose jawans have not laid down their lives for the nation in Jammu and Kashmir and similarly the jawans from this State too have showed their courage in protecting the nation.

SRINAGAR: The militant violence and security forces casualties in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed an upward surge this year. At least 78 security men were killed and 213 injured till November-end, which is highest in the last four years. The militant killings also witnessed an upward trend but the civilian killings in violent incidents dropped. According to official statistics, the militancy violence witnessed a considerable surge this year. The encounters between militants and security forces and militants surprise attacks on security personnel witnessed an increasing trend this year. As per the statistics, 307 militancy incidents took place across Jammu and Kashmir till November-end this year. In these violent incidents, 78 security personnel including army men, paramilitary personnel, border guards and J&K policemen were killed and 213 others injured, it revealed. During the same period, 146 militants were killed in gunfights with security personnel. 76 others were arrested or surrendered before the security forces. In the militant incidents in 11 months, 14 civilians were killed and 61 injured. As per the statistics the militancy incidents this year were highest in last four years. As against 307 militancy incidents this year, 208 such incidents were reported in 2015, 222 in 2014 and 170 in 2013, reveals the official data. According to the figures, the security forces casualties this year were highest in last four years. As against 78 casualties and 213 injuries this year, security forces suffered 39 casualties and 103 injuries in 2015, 47 casualties and 84 injuries in 2014 and 53 casualties and 74 injuries in 2013. The militant killings this year was also on the higher side and was the highest in last four years. As against 146 militant killings this year, only 46 militants died in security forces action in 2015, 52 in 2014 and 38 in 2013. Similarly, only 10 militants were arrested or surrendered last year as compared to 70 in 2014 and 86 in 2013, reveals the official data. However, the civilian killings in militancy violence in the State this year were lowest in last four years. As against 14 civilian killings this year, 17 civilian deaths had taken place in 2015, 28 in 2014 and 15 in 2013. Similarly as against 61 civilian injuries this year, 70 had sustained injuries in 2015, 71 in 2014 and 31 in 2013. Among the major militant attacks this year include EDI attack in February in which three young army officers were killed, attack on army base in Uri in September in which 19 soldiers were killed and November 29 fidayeen attack on army camp at Nagrota in Jammu in which seven soldiers including two Major-rank officers were killed. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh while addressing a gathering during Shahidi Diwas organized in Kathua, Jammu today paid tributes to the slain security personnel. The nation would never forget sacrifices by the army, police and paramilitary forces personnel in various States while protecting borders and fighting militancy. Nations heart beats for the brave heroes and their families, he said. Singh said there isnt a single State whose jawans have not laid down their lives for the nation in Jammu and Kashmir and similarly the jawans from this State too have showed their courage in protecting the nation.
Namita bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Much against the perception that the SP list of 23 candidates announced by Samajwadi Party state chief Shivpal Yadav on Saturday would be taken by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and uncle Ram Gopal Yadav with a pinch of salt, Party national general secretary and Rajya Sabha member gave his thumps up calling it a consensus list.

Talking to media persons in Agra on late Sunday evening, Ram Gopal said that the names of candidates declared on Saturday were decided with the consent of all the senior party leaders. Mafia don-turn-politician Atique Ahmad, an accused in a number of murder, kidnapping and extortion cases, also figured on the list of 23 declared on Saturday. Besides, borther of another mafia don-turned-MLA Mukhtar Ansari and Quami Ekta Dal leader Sigbatullha Ansari was also a given party ticket from Mohammadabad constituency in the upcoming state elections.

On the issue of party giving tickets to criminals and musclemen, Ram Gopal cleared the air saying that it was not only party, but public also voted for them and ensured their victory. Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, the SP Rajya Sabha member said everyone was demanding him to come to the house and discuss the issue.

He said PMs decision to scrap high value currency notes had pushed the economy back by decades.

People are suffering and Prime Minister is not ready to speak in Parliament, he said. On the issue of striking alliance with Congress in UP and the role of Congress poll manager Prashant Kishore (PK), Ram Gopal asked whoPK was?

LUCKNOW: Much against the perception that the SP list of 23 candidates announced by Samajwadi Party state chief Shivpal Yadav on Saturday would be taken by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and uncle Ram Gopal Yadav with a pinch of salt, Party national general secretary and Rajya Sabha member gave his thumps up calling it a consensus list. Talking to media persons in Agra on late Sunday evening, Ram Gopal said that the names of candidates declared on Saturday were decided with the consent of all the senior party leaders. Mafia don-turn-politician Atique Ahmad, an accused in a number of murder, kidnapping and extortion cases, also figured on the list of 23 declared on Saturday. Besides, borther of another mafia don-turned-MLA Mukhtar Ansari and Quami Ekta Dal leader Sigbatullha Ansari was also a given party ticket from Mohammadabad constituency in the upcoming state elections. On the issue of party giving tickets to criminals and musclemen, Ram Gopal cleared the air saying that it was not only party, but public also voted for them and ensured their victory. Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, the SP Rajya Sabha member said everyone was demanding him to come to the house and discuss the issue. He said PMs decision to scrap high value currency notes had pushed the economy back by decades. People are suffering and Prime Minister is not ready to speak in Parliament, he said. On the issue of striking alliance with Congress in UP and the role of Congress poll manager Prashant Kishore (PK), Ram Gopal asked whoPK was?
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Two men from Tamil Nadu continue to be on death row in Qatar for allegedly murdering an elderly woman and India is continuing with its diplomatic efforts to get the harsh sentence commuted.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is closely monitoring the situation and hope there would be some reprieve for the Tamil men when the case come up for hearing in January next year.

"Subramanian Alagappa and Chelladurai Perumal continue to remain on death row and the third convict Sivakumar Arasan, his case was reviewed by the court and his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, the MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

"We have filed case with respect of all three, because we believe that the penalty is too harsh. We understand that the next hearing is on January 2, 2017. Our embassy in Qatar continues to closely monitored this case in association with the lawyer who has been appointed for all the three accused," he added.

Forty-five year old Perumal is a construction labourer from Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu. He has left for Qatar in 2011 and within three months he was accused of killing an elderly woman. Along with him Alagappa Subramaniam from Pudukottai district were handed the death sentence on May 30 this year whereas Sivakumar Arasan from Salem was given life imprisonment. The trio has been in the prison for the five years.

An advocate Suresh Kumar came to the aid of the convicts after reading about them in a newspaper and went to Qatar to meet them. He along with Perumals wife has asked the Indian Government to intervene.

NEW DELHI: Two men from Tamil Nadu continue to be on death row in Qatar for allegedly murdering an elderly woman and India is continuing with its diplomatic efforts to get the harsh sentence commuted. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is closely monitoring the situation and hope there would be some reprieve for the Tamil men when the case come up for hearing in January next year. "Subramanian Alagappa and Chelladurai Perumal continue to remain on death row and the third convict Sivakumar Arasan, his case was reviewed by the court and his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, the MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. "We have filed case with respect of all three, because we believe that the penalty is too harsh. We understand that the next hearing is on January 2, 2017. Our embassy in Qatar continues to closely monitored this case in association with the lawyer who has been appointed for all the three accused," he added. Forty-five year old Perumal is a construction labourer from Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu. He has left for Qatar in 2011 and within three months he was accused of killing an elderly woman. Along with him Alagappa Subramaniam from Pudukottai district were handed the death sentence on May 30 this year whereas Sivakumar Arasan from Salem was given life imprisonment. The trio has been in the prison for the five years. An advocate Suresh Kumar came to the aid of the convicts after reading about them in a newspaper and went to Qatar to meet them. He along with Perumals wife has asked the Indian Government to intervene.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The fate of an Indian facing death sentence in Indonesia will be discussed during Indonesian President Joko Widodo India visit beginning Monday. However, the Indonesian government has indicated that any change in his sentence is unlikely.

The Indian national, Gurdip Singh, has been facing threat of firing squad in Indonesia. After frantic diplomatic efforts from India his death sentence was postponed in July. But the only hope for the 48-year-old is winning a presidential clemency. Singh was convicted for carrying 300 gms of Heroin.

Before embarking on his state visit to India President Widodo has contended that the capital punishment given to convicts is based on the serious nature of their crimes and not on nationality. "My duty as President is to uphold the law and Indonesia's sovereignty. This will be applied in all cases, including those involving capital punishment. Asked specifically if he would pardon Singh on death row, President Widodo said: The death penalty is imposed only on individuals who have carried out serious crimes, and is not based on nationality.

Widodo will be coming on two day state visit to India, his first after assuming power in 2014, on December 12. He will be coming with a big delegation and would be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India has been trying to impress upon the Indonesian leadership to exhaust all legal recourses before the death penalty was carried out. Singh was arrested in 2004 from Indonesian Soekarno Hatta Airport and he was awarded death sentence in 2005 by Tangerang Court for carrying the contraband. Singhs appeal challenging the death penalty was turned down by the High court of Banten and the Supreme Court.

Indonesia resumed executions in 2013, ending a four-year unofficial moratorium on the death penalty. In the face of strong international criticism, Indonesia has defended the use of capital punishment, arguing the country is facing a drug emergency. Presently 1.2 million people in Indonesia are estimated to be addicted to drugs and about 4.5 million are undergoing rehabilitation.

NEW DELHI: The fate of an Indian facing death sentence in Indonesia will be discussed during Indonesian President Joko Widodo India visit beginning Monday. However, the Indonesian government has indicated that any change in his sentence is unlikely. The Indian national, Gurdip Singh, has been facing threat of firing squad in Indonesia. After frantic diplomatic efforts from India his death sentence was postponed in July. But the only hope for the 48-year-old is winning a presidential clemency. Singh was convicted for carrying 300 gms of Heroin. Before embarking on his state visit to India President Widodo has contended that the capital punishment given to convicts is based on the serious nature of their crimes and not on nationality. "My duty as President is to uphold the law and Indonesia's sovereignty. This will be applied in all cases, including those involving capital punishment. Asked specifically if he would pardon Singh on death row, President Widodo said: The death penalty is imposed only on individuals who have carried out serious crimes, and is not based on nationality. Widodo will be coming on two day state visit to India, his first after assuming power in 2014, on December 12. He will be coming with a big delegation and would be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India has been trying to impress upon the Indonesian leadership to exhaust all legal recourses before the death penalty was carried out. Singh was arrested in 2004 from Indonesian Soekarno Hatta Airport and he was awarded death sentence in 2005 by Tangerang Court for carrying the contraband. Singhs appeal challenging the death penalty was turned down by the High court of Banten and the Supreme Court. Indonesia resumed executions in 2013, ending a four-year unofficial moratorium on the death penalty. In the face of strong international criticism, Indonesia has defended the use of capital punishment, arguing the country is facing a drug emergency. Presently 1.2 million people in Indonesia are estimated to be addicted to drugs and about 4.5 million are undergoing rehabilitation.
Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: Determined to expose the Centre on demonetisation, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is going to chalk out his partys protest plans against the demonetisation exercise in a meeting of all RJD leaders  MLAs, MLCs, MPs, ministers, district unit chiefs  he would chair on December 17.

Yadav has been opposing the demonetisation exercise and the stress on cashless transactions, but he had put RJDs protest plans on hold due to differences on the issue with his ally and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who came out in open support of demonetisation. Now, with the 50 days sought by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the chaotic situation caused by demonetisation to be over coming to end shortly, Yadav is getting ready to launch a massive agitation against the move, said RJD sources.

Positioning himself as the messiah of the countrys rural, underprivileged masses, the RJD chief, who was formerly Bihar chief minister and Union railway minister, told journalists that the crises caused by demonetisation remains the same for farmers and people without bank accounts. Yadav believes that the idea of cashless transactions is being implemented in the country far ahead of its time and without enough preparations.

Only about 20 per cent people in the country have the capability to perform cashless transactions at this moment. The rest 80 per cent people living in rural areas are not familiar with cashless transactions, said Yadav to journalists at his residence. The current drive for cashless transactions is just another jumla (political gimmick) unveiled by Modi to divert the peoples attention from the failure of notebandi (demonetisation), he added.

RJDs Bihar state president Ramchandra Purvey described the December 17 meeting as a crucial party event and said Yadav has directed the partys state and national executive members, all elected peoples representatives and district-level office-bearers to assemble at the residence of MLC and former chief minister Rabri Devi to discuss the

impact of demonetisation. A plan of action for the partys upcoming agitation, Purve hinted, could be decided at this meeting.

Sources in RJD said Yadav has been very displeased with Nitish Kumar for his open support for demonetisation against the major view in the grand alliance. Therefore, the December 17 meeting appears to be a significant event in Bihar politics as Yadav would seek the view of the partys MLAs on the issue and take a decision.

In Bihars three-party grand alliance government led by JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar, RJD has the highest number of MLAs, followed by JD(U) and Congress. RJD leaders have recently said that it is their party that has kept the Nitish Kumar government alive and afloat.

PATNA: Determined to expose the Centre on demonetisation, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is going to chalk out his partys protest plans against the demonetisation exercise in a meeting of all RJD leaders  MLAs, MLCs, MPs, ministers, district unit chiefs  he would chair on December 17. Yadav has been opposing the demonetisation exercise and the stress on cashless transactions, but he had put RJDs protest plans on hold due to differences on the issue with his ally and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who came out in open support of demonetisation. Now, with the 50 days sought by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the chaotic situation caused by demonetisation to be over coming to end shortly, Yadav is getting ready to launch a massive agitation against the move, said RJD sources. Positioning himself as the messiah of the countrys rural, underprivileged masses, the RJD chief, who was formerly Bihar chief minister and Union railway minister, told journalists that the crises caused by demonetisation remains the same for farmers and people without bank accounts. Yadav believes that the idea of cashless transactions is being implemented in the country far ahead of its time and without enough preparations. Only about 20 per cent people in the country have the capability to perform cashless transactions at this moment. The rest 80 per cent people living in rural areas are not familiar with cashless transactions, said Yadav to journalists at his residence. The current drive for cashless transactions is just another jumla (political gimmick) unveiled by Modi to divert the peoples attention from the failure of notebandi (demonetisation), he added. RJDs Bihar state president Ramchandra Purvey described the December 17 meeting as a crucial party event and said Yadav has directed the partys state and national executive members, all elected peoples representatives and district-level office-bearers to assemble at the residence of MLC and former chief minister Rabri Devi to discuss the impact of demonetisation. A plan of action for the partys upcoming agitation, Purve hinted, could be decided at this meeting. Sources in RJD said Yadav has been very displeased with Nitish Kumar for his open support for demonetisation against the major view in the grand alliance. Therefore, the December 17 meeting appears to be a significant event in Bihar politics as Yadav would seek the view of the partys MLAs on the issue and take a decision. In Bihars three-party grand alliance government led by JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar, RJD has the highest number of MLAs, followed by JD(U) and Congress. RJD leaders have recently said that it is their party that has kept the Nitish Kumar government alive and afloat.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

BAHRAICH (UP): Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed UPs fifth Parivartan rally in Bahraich on Sunday through mobile phone as his helicopter couldnt land in the terai town situated on the Nepal border due to poor visibility. However, that hardly deterred him from launching a scathing attack on the opposition parties holding them responsible for the stalemate in Parliament over the issue of demonetization.

There is a deadlock in Parliament. We want discussion over the issue but they are not letting it take place for the last 20-odd days. They are not allowing us to speak as they do not want the truth to come out, he said. Modi's chopper hovered over the helipad in Bahraich for nearly 30 minutes and as the Air Traffic Control did not permit landing, it was decided that he would fly back to Lucknow on way to Delhi.

He addressed the rally from his mobile while sitting in his IAF helicopter at Lucknow airport. It was for the first time that Modi was addressing a rally through mobile phone and it gave him an opportunity to propagate the pluses of mobile technology, and mobile banking. Addressing the people, he said that even a strong helicopter could not land in Bahraich but he was able to address the people through mobile phone. Such is power of mobile phone, it can act as a bank branch, he said, urging people to switch over to cashless mobile banking.

Expressing his dismay over the impasse in Parliament over note ban, the Prime Minister said that the parties, which had been rejected by the people, were more vocal against the move of demonetisation. All those who are opposed to note ban have united. SP, BSP and Congress are speaking a common language, he state. Targeting the opposition parties over the issue, the Prime Minister said that in UP, they were standing in the path of war on corruption and black money.

The step of currency scrapping has hit the corrupt hard. The people of Uttar Pradesh know this very well, claimed Modi. The Prime Minister said that in UP, people were suffering from poor law and order. They had been deceived in the name of development. Without UPs development, the country cannot grow. My government is of the poor and for the poor. Whosoever troubles the poor will not be spared, he asserted.

"For Uttar Pradesh to progress, poverty and goonda raj need to be removed," he said. "Police are also helping those who are indulging in hooliganism. We have to crush those patronising 'goondagardi' (hooliganism). BJP will fulfill aspirations of the people of the state," he said. Seeking the support of the people of state in the upcoming Assembly polls, the Prime Minister said only BJP could fulfil aspirations of the people of Uttar Pradesh and appealed to the electorate to vote for the party.

Countrymen are bearing the pain but are with the government in this crusade against those who have stashed black money, said the Prime Minister. He added that in a bid put leash on corruption, anti-corruption agencies of the government were swooping down even on senior bank officials many of whom were exposed for committing irregularities in currency exchange and withdrawal during the execution of demonetisation.

Sharing the pain of those standing in queues outside banks and ATMs and taking a jibe on the corrupt, the Prime Minister said: Their problem is different from the "hardships" faced by the corrupt and dishonest. He expressed the confidence that the country would emerge victorious in this fight to help the honest." Later, addressing the huge rally, State BJP president Keshav Maurya said that state and district administration did not cooperate in holding partys rally.The officers are acting like Samajwadi Party workers, he said adding that it was their gameplan to foil PMs rally.

Meanwhile, reacting to the Prime Ministers speech, BSP chief Mayawati said that it was all paid crowd brought from different parts of the state for PMs rally in Bahraich. She also rejected PMs contention that the opposition was not letting Parliament function. "By blaming opposition parties, the Prime Minister is running away from governments responsibility...But his remarks are totally wrong. 'yeh ulta chor kotwal to dantey jaisa hai' (it is like pot calling kettle black)," she said in a press release.

Samajwadi Party state chief Shivpal Singh Yadav said that people had already rejected the party of slogans. When people discarded their black money slogan so they were now ranting cashless.

BAHRAICH (UP): Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed UPs fifth Parivartan rally in Bahraich on Sunday through mobile phone as his helicopter couldnt land in the terai town situated on the Nepal border due to poor visibility. However, that hardly deterred him from launching a scathing attack on the opposition parties holding them responsible for the stalemate in Parliament over the issue of demonetization. There is a deadlock in Parliament. We want discussion over the issue but they are not letting it take place for the last 20-odd days. They are not allowing us to speak as they do not want the truth to come out, he said. Modi's chopper hovered over the helipad in Bahraich for nearly 30 minutes and as the Air Traffic Control did not permit landing, it was decided that he would fly back to Lucknow on way to Delhi. He addressed the rally from his mobile while sitting in his IAF helicopter at Lucknow airport. It was for the first time that Modi was addressing a rally through mobile phone and it gave him an opportunity to propagate the pluses of mobile technology, and mobile banking. Addressing the people, he said that even a strong helicopter could not land in Bahraich but he was able to address the people through mobile phone. Such is power of mobile phone, it can act as a bank branch, he said, urging people to switch over to cashless mobile banking. Expressing his dismay over the impasse in Parliament over note ban, the Prime Minister said that the parties, which had been rejected by the people, were more vocal against the move of demonetisation. All those who are opposed to note ban have united. SP, BSP and Congress are speaking a common language, he state. Targeting the opposition parties over the issue, the Prime Minister said that in UP, they were standing in the path of war on corruption and black money. The step of currency scrapping has hit the corrupt hard. The people of Uttar Pradesh know this very well, claimed Modi. The Prime Minister said that in UP, people were suffering from poor law and order. They had been deceived in the name of development. Without UPs development, the country cannot grow. My government is of the poor and for the poor. Whosoever troubles the poor will not be spared, he asserted. "For Uttar Pradesh to progress, poverty and goonda raj need to be removed," he said. "Police are also helping those who are indulging in hooliganism. We have to crush those patronising 'goondagardi' (hooliganism). BJP will fulfill aspirations of the people of the state," he said. Seeking the support of the people of state in the upcoming Assembly polls, the Prime Minister said only BJP could fulfil aspirations of the people of Uttar Pradesh and appealed to the electorate to vote for the party. Countrymen are bearing the pain but are with the government in this crusade against those who have stashed black money, said the Prime Minister. He added that in a bid put leash on corruption, anti-corruption agencies of the government were swooping down even on senior bank officials many of whom were exposed for committing irregularities in currency exchange and withdrawal during the execution of demonetisation. Sharing the pain of those standing in queues outside banks and ATMs and taking a jibe on the corrupt, the Prime Minister said: Their problem is different from the "hardships" faced by the corrupt and dishonest. He expressed the confidence that the country would emerge victorious in this fight to help the honest." Later, addressing the huge rally, State BJP president Keshav Maurya said that state and district administration did not cooperate in holding partys rally.The officers are acting like Samajwadi Party workers, he said adding that it was their gameplan to foil PMs rally. Meanwhile, reacting to the Prime Ministers speech, BSP chief Mayawati said that it was all paid crowd brought from different parts of the state for PMs rally in Bahraich. She also rejected PMs contention that the opposition was not letting Parliament function. "By blaming opposition parties, the Prime Minister is running away from governments responsibility...But his remarks are totally wrong. 'yeh ulta chor kotwal to dantey jaisa hai' (it is like pot calling kettle black)," she said in a press release. Samajwadi Party state chief Shivpal Singh Yadav said that people had already rejected the party of slogans. When people discarded their black money slogan so they were now ranting cashless.
By PTI

KATHUA (J&K): Home Minister Rajnath Singh today accused Pakistan of "conspiring" to divide India on religious lines but said it will not succeed. "Pakistan is conspiring to divide India on religious lines but it will not succeed. We were divided in 1947 on religious basis.

We have not been able to forget that... All Indians are brothers, whether they are born from the womb of a Hindu mother or a Muslim mother," he said addressing a Martyrs' Day function in Kathua district. Singh said nowhere in the world other than India 72 sects of Islam live together peacefully. He said that as the Home Minister of the country, he wanted to make it clear that India is committed to taking along everybody and moving ahead on the path of development.

He also offered India's cooperation to Pakistan to eradicate the menace of terrorism from its soil. "If Pakistan is serious about eradicating terrorism but is incapable of doing that and wants cooperation, we are ready to help it eradicate terrorism from there," the minister said. He said, "We want to live in peace with Pakistan but it has indulged in sponsoring a proxy war against India.

"Every Prime Minister of India wanted to mend relations with Pakistan but it did not understand the language of peace and attacked India four times. But our brave soldiers gave them a befitting reply."

After repeated defeats, Pakistan has understood that it cannot defeat India in wars so it has resorted to sponsoring proxy war, he said, adding that "terrorism is the weapon of weak and not the brave". Singh said that while the entire world was concerned about the spread of ISIS, the terrorist organisation has failed to spread its roots in India.

KATHUA (J&K): Home Minister Rajnath Singh today accused Pakistan of "conspiring" to divide India on religious lines but said it will not succeed. "Pakistan is conspiring to divide India on religious lines but it will not succeed. We were divided in 1947 on religious basis. We have not been able to forget that... All Indians are brothers, whether they are born from the womb of a Hindu mother or a Muslim mother," he said addressing a Martyrs' Day function in Kathua district. Singh said nowhere in the world other than India 72 sects of Islam live together peacefully. He said that as the Home Minister of the country, he wanted to make it clear that India is committed to taking along everybody and moving ahead on the path of development. He also offered India's cooperation to Pakistan to eradicate the menace of terrorism from its soil. "If Pakistan is serious about eradicating terrorism but is incapable of doing that and wants cooperation, we are ready to help it eradicate terrorism from there," the minister said. He said, "We want to live in peace with Pakistan but it has indulged in sponsoring a proxy war against India. "Every Prime Minister of India wanted to mend relations with Pakistan but it did not understand the language of peace and attacked India four times. But our brave soldiers gave them a befitting reply." After repeated defeats, Pakistan has understood that it cannot defeat India in wars so it has resorted to sponsoring proxy war, he said, adding that "terrorism is the weapon of weak and not the brave". Singh said that while the entire world was concerned about the spread of ISIS, the terrorist organisation has failed to spread its roots in India.
Sanjib Kumar Roy By

Express News Service

PORT BLAIR: Though cyclone Vardah has moved away from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, it has left behind serious questions over the style of functioning of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration.

Political leaders and the public are now questioning whether the Administration had focused too much on evacuating tourists rather than thinking about the people of North and Middle Andaman, who witnessed flood-like situations. In addition, farmers in the region suffered losses due to the heavy rainfall.

Meanwhile, at Port Blair top officials were seen busy receiving evacuated tourists with flowers and taking photographs with them. Even press releases issued by the Andaman Administration focused primarily on the evacuation of tourists from Havelock and Neil Island, where tourists did not face any threat of flooding.

This is sad that evacuation of tourists was more important to the Administration than looking after the people of North and Middle Andaman, who suffered heavy losses because of Vardah cyclone. Still there is no indication that when farmers will get suitable compensation, said Sanjay Meshak, the convener of Aam Aadmi partys Andaman unit.



After the formation of cyclone weather over Andaman and Nicobar Islands since 7 December, there was pressure on the Andaman and Nicobar Administration after some reports in national news channels wrongly questioned whether the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are sinking, thus creating panic among tourists and their relatives in mainland India.

Perhaps due to these media reports, hardly any reference to the damages suffered by the residents of North and Middle Andaman was found in Andamans media releases. Even the government-run newspaper in Andaman focused prominently on the tourist evacuation efforts.

There was no threat to tourists in Havelock or Neil Island as it was showcased in media reports. The prime focus of A & N Administration should have been towards people of North and Middle Andaman, where there was actual crisis, Mr. B Chandrachoodan, the General Secretary of CITU, A & N Andaman told media today.

While expressing his sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Lt. Governor of A & N Islands, the Administration and to ANC for making special efforts for evacuation of tourists stranded at Havelock and Neil islands, the Pradesh Congress Committee has invited the attention of the Lt. Governor towards the problems of the farmers of these islands and demanded appropriate compensation to the farmers for the losses sustained by them due to heavy rain and cyclone.

Heavy down pour since 5/12/2016 and cyclone storm Vardah led to water logging, flooding in different parts of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The farmers of the islands are the worst affected as their paddy crops were submerged due to heavy rain and badly damaged. Similarly fruit bearing trees such as areca nut, coconut etc were uprooted by the cyclone storm Vardah at different areas all over the island. The farmers have sustained heavy loss due to heavy down pour and cyclone storm. In certain villages heavy damages have caused to their dwelling units and their live stocks, vegetables have also been vanished in the flooding. The farmers are in miserable condition and are in urgent need for help, said Mr. Kuldeep Rai Sharma, the president of Andamans Pradesh Congress Committee, in a letter addressed to the Lt. Governor.

PORT BLAIR: Though cyclone Vardah has moved away from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, it has left behind serious questions over the style of functioning of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration. Political leaders and the public are now questioning whether the Administration had focused too much on evacuating tourists rather than thinking about the people of North and Middle Andaman, who witnessed flood-like situations. In addition, farmers in the region suffered losses due to the heavy rainfall. Meanwhile, at Port Blair top officials were seen busy receiving evacuated tourists with flowers and taking photographs with them. Even press releases issued by the Andaman Administration focused primarily on the evacuation of tourists from Havelock and Neil Island, where tourists did not face any threat of flooding. This is sad that evacuation of tourists was more important to the Administration than looking after the people of North and Middle Andaman, who suffered heavy losses because of Vardah cyclone. Still there is no indication that when farmers will get suitable compensation, said Sanjay Meshak, the convener of Aam Aadmi partys Andaman unit. After the formation of cyclone weather over Andaman and Nicobar Islands since 7 December, there was pressure on the Andaman and Nicobar Administration after some reports in national news channels wrongly questioned whether the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are sinking, thus creating panic among tourists and their relatives in mainland India. Perhaps due to these media reports, hardly any reference to the damages suffered by the residents of North and Middle Andaman was found in Andamans media releases. Even the government-run newspaper in Andaman focused prominently on the tourist evacuation efforts. There was no threat to tourists in Havelock or Neil Island as it was showcased in media reports. The prime focus of A & N Administration should have been towards people of North and Middle Andaman, where there was actual crisis, Mr. B Chandrachoodan, the General Secretary of CITU, A & N Andaman told media today. While expressing his sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Lt. Governor of A & N Islands, the Administration and to ANC for making special efforts for evacuation of tourists stranded at Havelock and Neil islands, the Pradesh Congress Committee has invited the attention of the Lt. Governor towards the problems of the farmers of these islands and demanded appropriate compensation to the farmers for the losses sustained by them due to heavy rain and cyclone. Heavy down pour since 5/12/2016 and cyclone storm Vardah led to water logging, flooding in different parts of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The farmers of the islands are the worst affected as their paddy crops were submerged due to heavy rain and badly damaged. Similarly fruit bearing trees such as areca nut, coconut etc were uprooted by the cyclone storm Vardah at different areas all over the island. The farmers have sustained heavy loss due to heavy down pour and cyclone storm. In certain villages heavy damages have caused to their dwelling units and their live stocks, vegetables have also been vanished in the flooding. The farmers are in miserable condition and are in urgent need for help, said Mr. Kuldeep Rai Sharma, the president of Andamans Pradesh Congress Committee, in a letter addressed to the Lt. Governor.
By PTI

LUCKNOW: The list of candidates released by SP state president Shivpal Yadav has once again brought to the fore the tug-of-war within the ruling party clan as names of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's brother and another mafia don Ateeq Ahmad might not be palatable to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The list of 23 candidates clearly bears the stamp of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal as Ansari's brother and sitting Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED) MLA Sigbatullah Ansari has been nominated from Mohammadabad in Ghazipur - a seat he presently holds. QED's merger with Samajwadi Party had been openly opposed by the chief minister and the issue clearly became a flashpoint in the feud in the Yadav clan ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.

Another controversial name in the list released yesterday is that of mafia don Ateeq Ahmad who has been fielded from Kanpur Cantt seat. Ateeq, an accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal, is on Akhilesh Yadav's 'blacklist'. A former MP from Phoolpur, Ateeq was also president of the Apna Dal from 1999 to 2003.

Though Shivpal said winnability and loyalty to the party have been the main criteria in selecting candidates, analysts pointed out that in the process objections raised by Akhilesh over some of the candidates appeared to have been overruled. Though the SP has changed a few candidates, the name of Aman Mani Tripathi, who was recently arrested by the CBI for the murder of his wife Sara Singh, remains on the list. The chief minister reportedly "did not approve" of his candidature and it was expected that the party might replace him.

The latest ticket distribution might cause fresh ripples in the Yadav family as recently SP National General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav said he would have the "final say" in ticket distribution by virtue of the posts he held in the party and SP Parliamentary Board.

"Tickets are finalised by member secretary of the board, the post which I hold. My say will be final in ticket distribution," Ramgopal had said recently. Ramgopal's tough stand on ticket distribution came amid tussle in the party over the exercise in which both Akhilesh and his uncle Shivpal wanted to have major say.

The chief minister has said on record that he would like to have a say in selection of candidates as he was seeking a second term. SP has also fielded two turncoats who came from BSP. One of them is Hasnuddin Siddiqui, warring brother of BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui, who has been named for the Banda seat. Naseemuddin is considered a close confidant of BSP president Mayawati and is the Muslim face of her party.

Hasnuddin, the youngest of the kin, had initially been trying to get into BSP but Naseemuddin refused to get him on board. Irked by his brother's stance, Hasan turned rebel and eventually joined the SP. In 2011, SP gave him a ticket to contest 2012 assembly elections from Banda. But when Akhilesh objected, Hasan's ticket was cancelled.

Hasan embarrassed his powerful brother in 2014 Lok Sabha elections when he started campaigning against Naseemuddin's son, Afzal, who was contesting from Fatehpur parliamentary seat. Afzal lost the elections to BJP's Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti. Another candidate who recently joined SP after quitting BSP is Abdul Mannan who has been fielded from the Sandila seat.

Another prominent candidate is Abdullah Azam, son of senior minister Mohd Azam Khan who will be making his political debut from Swar Tanda Assembly seat in Rampur district.

LUCKNOW: The list of candidates released by SP state president Shivpal Yadav has once again brought to the fore the tug-of-war within the ruling party clan as names of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's brother and another mafia don Ateeq Ahmad might not be palatable to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. The list of 23 candidates clearly bears the stamp of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal as Ansari's brother and sitting Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED) MLA Sigbatullah Ansari has been nominated from Mohammadabad in Ghazipur - a seat he presently holds. QED's merger with Samajwadi Party had been openly opposed by the chief minister and the issue clearly became a flashpoint in the feud in the Yadav clan ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections. Another controversial name in the list released yesterday is that of mafia don Ateeq Ahmad who has been fielded from Kanpur Cantt seat. Ateeq, an accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal, is on Akhilesh Yadav's 'blacklist'. A former MP from Phoolpur, Ateeq was also president of the Apna Dal from 1999 to 2003. Though Shivpal said winnability and loyalty to the party have been the main criteria in selecting candidates, analysts pointed out that in the process objections raised by Akhilesh over some of the candidates appeared to have been overruled. Though the SP has changed a few candidates, the name of Aman Mani Tripathi, who was recently arrested by the CBI for the murder of his wife Sara Singh, remains on the list. The chief minister reportedly "did not approve" of his candidature and it was expected that the party might replace him. The latest ticket distribution might cause fresh ripples in the Yadav family as recently SP National General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav said he would have the "final say" in ticket distribution by virtue of the posts he held in the party and SP Parliamentary Board. "Tickets are finalised by member secretary of the board, the post which I hold. My say will be final in ticket distribution," Ramgopal had said recently. Ramgopal's tough stand on ticket distribution came amid tussle in the party over the exercise in which both Akhilesh and his uncle Shivpal wanted to have major say. The chief minister has said on record that he would like to have a say in selection of candidates as he was seeking a second term. SP has also fielded two turncoats who came from BSP. One of them is Hasnuddin Siddiqui, warring brother of BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui, who has been named for the Banda seat. Naseemuddin is considered a close confidant of BSP president Mayawati and is the Muslim face of her party. Hasnuddin, the youngest of the kin, had initially been trying to get into BSP but Naseemuddin refused to get him on board. Irked by his brother's stance, Hasan turned rebel and eventually joined the SP. In 2011, SP gave him a ticket to contest 2012 assembly elections from Banda. But when Akhilesh objected, Hasan's ticket was cancelled. Hasan embarrassed his powerful brother in 2014 Lok Sabha elections when he started campaigning against Naseemuddin's son, Afzal, who was contesting from Fatehpur parliamentary seat. Afzal lost the elections to BJP's Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti. Another candidate who recently joined SP after quitting BSP is Abdul Mannan who has been fielded from the Sandila seat. Another prominent candidate is Abdullah Azam, son of senior minister Mohd Azam Khan who will be making his political debut from Swar Tanda Assembly seat in Rampur district.
P Hareesh By

Express News Service

IBRAHIMPUR(SIDDIPET) : Under pressure of demonetisation, India is adapting willy nilly to what the Prime Minister called a less cash economy. Fed up of standing in queues at banks and ATMs, people are making a shift towards cashless transactions, mainly in urban areas. But how would a village cope?

To gain some insights into the coping process, New Indian Express visited Ibrahimpur, a village in Telangana, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Raos native district of Siddipet, which has been touted as some kind of a model village for the brave new world.

Its a village of a little over 270 households, about 80 km from Hyderabad, the state capital. After a few weeks of difficulties, the youth of the village, the district administration and the local bankers got together and decided to do something about it. A few PoS machines and a bit of political will helped. Something of a cashless economy has indeed been achieved in this island of rural India. In Ibrahimpur, one can go to a store or hotel without a rupee in ones pocket. Be it our groceries or even a bottle of toddy, we no longer need to look for small change, one villager said, flashing his RuPay card.

K Ramaswamy, who runs a kirana store in the village, said 50 per cent of his business now is cashless. I used to do business of `3,000 daily. After November 8, my business dwindled drastically. I got a Point of Sale (PoS) machine four days back and now my business has improved, he said, beaming. Ramaswamy, however, is quick to add that people, particularly the illiterate and the elderly, remain doubtful when he swipes their card. They get a message on their phones after the transaction is done but they cant read the message as it is in English.

The change is making the elderly and the uneducated nervous. At the village fair price shop, one couple, Shetty Lakshmi and Balaiah, stood around watching as fellow villagers bought their rations by swiping their cards. Balaiah seemed bemused. He has a phone but he can only take calls from his sons who live in Hyderabad and Siddipet. He cannot send or read SMS messages.But the harbingers of this change, the youth of the village led by a local leader named K Yella Reddy, say the people will have to clear the thicket as they go. Yella Reddy speaks like the Narendra Modi of Ibrahimpur.

On the day Express visited Ibrahimput, the collector of Siddipet, P Venkatram Reddy, came by to see how things were going. They know they have to change and the people of this village are more adaptable when compared to others, he says. At Ramaswamys store,the shopkeeper said villagers were skeptical whether the transactions were fair. Well talk to the service providers to see that SMSes come in Telugu, the collector said.

IBRAHIMPUR(SIDDIPET) : Under pressure of demonetisation, India is adapting willy nilly to what the Prime Minister called a less cash economy. Fed up of standing in queues at banks and ATMs, people are making a shift towards cashless transactions, mainly in urban areas. But how would a village cope? To gain some insights into the coping process, New Indian Express visited Ibrahimpur, a village in Telangana, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Raos native district of Siddipet, which has been touted as some kind of a model village for the brave new world. Its a village of a little over 270 households, about 80 km from Hyderabad, the state capital. After a few weeks of difficulties, the youth of the village, the district administration and the local bankers got together and decided to do something about it. A few PoS machines and a bit of political will helped. Something of a cashless economy has indeed been achieved in this island of rural India. In Ibrahimpur, one can go to a store or hotel without a rupee in ones pocket. Be it our groceries or even a bottle of toddy, we no longer need to look for small change, one villager said, flashing his RuPay card. K Ramaswamy, who runs a kirana store in the village, said 50 per cent of his business now is cashless. I used to do business of `3,000 daily. After November 8, my business dwindled drastically. I got a Point of Sale (PoS) machine four days back and now my business has improved, he said, beaming. Ramaswamy, however, is quick to add that people, particularly the illiterate and the elderly, remain doubtful when he swipes their card. They get a message on their phones after the transaction is done but they cant read the message as it is in English. The change is making the elderly and the uneducated nervous. At the village fair price shop, one couple, Shetty Lakshmi and Balaiah, stood around watching as fellow villagers bought their rations by swiping their cards. Balaiah seemed bemused. He has a phone but he can only take calls from his sons who live in Hyderabad and Siddipet. He cannot send or read SMS messages.But the harbingers of this change, the youth of the village led by a local leader named K Yella Reddy, say the people will have to clear the thicket as they go. Yella Reddy speaks like the Narendra Modi of Ibrahimpur. On the day Express visited Ibrahimput, the collector of Siddipet, P Venkatram Reddy, came by to see how things were going. They know they have to change and the people of this village are more adaptable when compared to others, he says. At Ramaswamys store,the shopkeeper said villagers were skeptical whether the transactions were fair. Well talk to the service providers to see that SMSes come in Telugu, the collector said.
By Express News Service

RAIPUR: A division bench of the Chhattisgarh High Court on Saturday issued notices to the state government and Centre on a PIL seeking intervention against the improper use of Gandhian logo  pictorial illustration of Gandhis spectacles with Swachh Bharat  on dust-bins, public toilets and trash cans across the country. The court sought the responses before February 20 next year.

The division bench of Chief Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Agrawal also asked the Chhattisgarh chief minister to take cognisance of the matter.

The PIL was filed by former Chhattisgarh minister Badruddin Qureshi. Gandhiji is the father of the nation. How could anyone think of depicting his belongings (specs) or image near toilets? This is absolutely unacceptable. I have requested the court to intervene and prevent the practice, Qureshi said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while launching his nation-wide cleanliness campaign on October 2, 2014, said, Swachh Bharat logo is not just a logo; through it, Gandhiji is watching us and so we all should clean India.

Since then, the pictorial depiction of Gandhijis spectacles with Swachh Bharat written near it has been used. At several places, sketches of Gandhiji have also been illustrated at the community toilets and on trash cans.

RAIPUR: A division bench of the Chhattisgarh High Court on Saturday issued notices to the state government and Centre on a PIL seeking intervention against the improper use of Gandhian logo  pictorial illustration of Gandhis spectacles with Swachh Bharat  on dust-bins, public toilets and trash cans across the country. The court sought the responses before February 20 next year. The division bench of Chief Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Agrawal also asked the Chhattisgarh chief minister to take cognisance of the matter. The PIL was filed by former Chhattisgarh minister Badruddin Qureshi. Gandhiji is the father of the nation. How could anyone think of depicting his belongings (specs) or image near toilets? This is absolutely unacceptable. I have requested the court to intervene and prevent the practice, Qureshi said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while launching his nation-wide cleanliness campaign on October 2, 2014, said, Swachh Bharat logo is not just a logo; through it, Gandhiji is watching us and so we all should clean India. Since then, the pictorial depiction of Gandhijis spectacles with Swachh Bharat written near it has been used. At several places, sketches of Gandhiji have also been illustrated at the community toilets and on trash cans.
Harpreet Bajwa and Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH/SRINAGAR: All infiltration-prone porous points on the Indo-Pak international border in Punjab will be sealed with laser walls by December 18 to thwart infiltration. Sources in the Border Security Force (BSF) said the force is in the process of installing laser walls and other surveillance equipment at all the 41 points identified by it.

The development comes even as official data revealed that casualties due to militant violence and security force counterattacks in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed an upward surge this year. At least 78 security men were killed and 213 were injured till November-end, the highest in the last four years.

Each laser wall will secure an area of 250 to 500 meters, depending upon the terrain. Around 200 laser walls will be installed, said a BSF official. Most of these walls have been procured from DRDO and from the R&D wing of the BSF. The lasers will detect movement and beam the exact location to the BSF. They will be monitored through an advanced satellite-based signal command system equipped with night and fog visibility tools.

Meanwhile, as per the statistics, 307 militancy incidents took place across in J&K till November-end. During the same period, 146 militants were killed in gunfights with security personnel. Seventy-six others were arrested or surrendered before security forces.

CHANDIGARH/SRINAGAR: All infiltration-prone porous points on the Indo-Pak international border in Punjab will be sealed with laser walls by December 18 to thwart infiltration. Sources in the Border Security Force (BSF) said the force is in the process of installing laser walls and other surveillance equipment at all the 41 points identified by it. The development comes even as official data revealed that casualties due to militant violence and security force counterattacks in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed an upward surge this year. At least 78 security men were killed and 213 were injured till November-end, the highest in the last four years. Each laser wall will secure an area of 250 to 500 meters, depending upon the terrain. Around 200 laser walls will be installed, said a BSF official. Most of these walls have been procured from DRDO and from the R&D wing of the BSF. The lasers will detect movement and beam the exact location to the BSF. They will be monitored through an advanced satellite-based signal command system equipped with night and fog visibility tools. Meanwhile, as per the statistics, 307 militancy incidents took place across in J&K till November-end. During the same period, 146 militants were killed in gunfights with security personnel. Seventy-six others were arrested or surrendered before security forces.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Two men from Tamil Nadu continue to be on death row in Qatar for allegedly murdering an elderly woman and India is continuing with its diplomatic efforts to get the harsh sentence commuted.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is closely monitoring the situation and hope there would be some reprieve for the Tamilians when the case come up for hearing in January next year. Subramanian Alagappa and Chelladurai Perumal continue to remain on death row.

The third convict Sivakumar Arasans case was reviewed by the court and his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.We have filed case with respect of all three, because we believe that the penalty is too harsh.

We understand that the next hearing is on January 2, 2017. Our embassy in Qatar continues to closely monitored this case in association with the lawyer who has been appointed for all the three accused, he added.

Perumal (45) is a construction labourer from Virudhunagar distric. He has left for Qatar in 2011 and within three months, he was accused of killing an elderly woman.

He and Alagappa from Pudukkottai district were handed the death sentence on May 30 this year, whereas Arasan from Salem was given life imprisonment. All the thress has been in the prison for last five years.

Advocate Suresh Kumar came to the aid of the convicts, after reading about them in a newspaper and went to Qatar to meet them. He, along with Perumals wife, has asked the Indian Government to intervene.

NEW DELHI: Two men from Tamil Nadu continue to be on death row in Qatar for allegedly murdering an elderly woman and India is continuing with its diplomatic efforts to get the harsh sentence commuted. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is closely monitoring the situation and hope there would be some reprieve for the Tamilians when the case come up for hearing in January next year. Subramanian Alagappa and Chelladurai Perumal continue to remain on death row. The third convict Sivakumar Arasans case was reviewed by the court and his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.We have filed case with respect of all three, because we believe that the penalty is too harsh. We understand that the next hearing is on January 2, 2017. Our embassy in Qatar continues to closely monitored this case in association with the lawyer who has been appointed for all the three accused, he added. Perumal (45) is a construction labourer from Virudhunagar distric. He has left for Qatar in 2011 and within three months, he was accused of killing an elderly woman. He and Alagappa from Pudukkottai district were handed the death sentence on May 30 this year, whereas Arasan from Salem was given life imprisonment. All the thress has been in the prison for last five years. Advocate Suresh Kumar came to the aid of the convicts, after reading about them in a newspaper and went to Qatar to meet them. He, along with Perumals wife, has asked the Indian Government to intervene.
Why are Pascal Bruckner, a French intellectual who will turn 68 in a few days, and others who are equally old, called New Philosophers? And what was their contribution?

Renounced Communism

Bruckner comes from the school of thought in France known as the New Philosophers writers with radical left backgrounds who, in the 1970s and early 80s, came out & condemned totalitarian doctrines. It was hugely effective and dealt a mortal blow to pro-communist ideas in Europe, writes Paul Berman in The Flight of the Intellectuals

But oppression in communist countries had already been well documented, right? So what did they say anew?

The New Philosophers central theme was always the Western intellectuals, and not so much the realities of life in faraway Soviet Union. They wanted to know why, in the face of mountains of evidence, so many intelligent people in the West kept on deluding themselves about USSR, Cuba, and other such regimes, writes Berman

Tyranny of Guilt

The erstwhile apologists of communism have now turned into apologists for radical Islam. Bruckner has taken them on in his recent works and believes the tyranny of Western guilt is responsible for their behaviour, which has resulted in increased support for the far-right in Europe

Why are Pascal Bruckner, a French intellectual who will turn 68 in a few days, and others who are equally old, called New Philosophers? And what was their contribution? Renounced Communism Bruckner comes from the school of thought in France known as the New Philosophers writers with radical left backgrounds who, in the 1970s and early 80s, came out & condemned totalitarian doctrines. It was hugely effective and dealt a mortal blow to pro-communist ideas in Europe, writes Paul Berman in The Flight of the Intellectuals But oppression in communist countries had already been well documented, right? So what did they say anew? The New Philosophers central theme was always the Western intellectuals, and not so much the realities of life in faraway Soviet Union. They wanted to know why, in the face of mountains of evidence, so many intelligent people in the West kept on deluding themselves about USSR, Cuba, and other such regimes, writes Berman Tyranny of Guilt The erstwhile apologists of communism have now turned into apologists for radical Islam. Bruckner has taken them on in his recent works and believes the tyranny of Western guilt is responsible for their behaviour, which has resulted in increased support for the far-right in Europe
Ravi Shankar By

If patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, regionalism is the first resort of the chauvinist. No other part of India has put patriotism to the test as much as Kashmir, a paradise that has become a purgatory of pain and infested with political families, which encourage, facilitate or use fear to maintain their fiefdoms and opulent lifestyles. The Abdullahs are a case in point. They are patriots of convenience when the going is good, milking the Indian state to keep them in style, but invoking the identity of the state when their political existence is threatened.

There was much glee in Islamabad last week, when former Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vindicated Pakistan of creating unrest in the Valley. He warned the Modi government, Dont be under the false impression that the unrest you are seeing in Kashmir has been ignited by Pakistan. He accused Union ministers of provoking Pakistan, and thereby inviting attacks on Indian soldiers. The stone pelting syndrome started when Omar was running the state in 2010; I remember covering the violence. Omar was cowering in his official residence, in Christian Louboutin shoes and a cashmere pullover sporting a Cartier watch on his wrist. He was apprehensive of going out into the streets which were teeming with angry young Kashmiris. He preferred the safety of a helicopter. Are you the last Abdullah? I asked. He laughed and said he certainly hoped so. But politics is the art of reincarnation by any means. After a terror attack in September 2013, Omar had hawkishly asked New Delhi to look at other options if Pakistan continued to wreak bloody mischief. So what has changed?

The Abdullah family has smelt blood. Mehbooba Muftis government is floundering politically and administratively in Srinagar. Bypolls are in the offing. Well-funded secessionists and mullahs have been whipping up separatist sentiments and waving Pakistan flags around. So, Senior and Junior Abdullah have discovered Islamabad as their new constituency. A couple of weeks before Omar absolved Pakistan of playing a deadly role in engineering death and destruction in the Valley, father Farooq refuted PoK was a part of India. Kya yeh tumhare baap ka hai? (Is this your fathers property?), he roared at the Central government.

Ironically, like all dynasts, he was bred to believe that Kashmir is his baaps own property, indeed. His father Sheikh Abdullah, the founder of the National Conference, had brought him up to believe so. Without him, neither Farooq nor Omar would have inherited relevance in national politics. If it was not for the Nehru family and Vajpayee oncewho alternatively jailed and supported the Sheikh, and made his progeny Union ministers in various governments, Pakistan would never have acquired a voice, however phoney, in the Indian political system.

Dynasty plays a cardinal role in power play, from Donald Trump to Rahul Gandhi. National interest often takes second place to family fortunes. The perilous politics of the Abdullahs is not for Kashmirs well being but for their own dynastys survival. The family had lost all relevance in its home state. Ironically, its significance to Pakistan is greater than its influence in India. Between the first Abdullah and the last, an endgame is being played out in Kashmir. If not checkmated in time, the loser will be India.

Ravi Shankar

ravi@newindianexpress.com

If patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, regionalism is the first resort of the chauvinist. No other part of India has put patriotism to the test as much as Kashmir, a paradise that has become a purgatory of pain and infested with political families, which encourage, facilitate or use fear to maintain their fiefdoms and opulent lifestyles. The Abdullahs are a case in point. They are patriots of convenience when the going is good, milking the Indian state to keep them in style, but invoking the identity of the state when their political existence is threatened. There was much glee in Islamabad last week, when former Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vindicated Pakistan of creating unrest in the Valley. He warned the Modi government, Dont be under the false impression that the unrest you are seeing in Kashmir has been ignited by Pakistan. He accused Union ministers of provoking Pakistan, and thereby inviting attacks on Indian soldiers. The stone pelting syndrome started when Omar was running the state in 2010; I remember covering the violence. Omar was cowering in his official residence, in Christian Louboutin shoes and a cashmere pullover sporting a Cartier watch on his wrist. He was apprehensive of going out into the streets which were teeming with angry young Kashmiris. He preferred the safety of a helicopter. Are you the last Abdullah? I asked. He laughed and said he certainly hoped so. But politics is the art of reincarnation by any means. After a terror attack in September 2013, Omar had hawkishly asked New Delhi to look at other options if Pakistan continued to wreak bloody mischief. So what has changed? The Abdullah family has smelt blood. Mehbooba Muftis government is floundering politically and administratively in Srinagar. Bypolls are in the offing. Well-funded secessionists and mullahs have been whipping up separatist sentiments and waving Pakistan flags around. So, Senior and Junior Abdullah have discovered Islamabad as their new constituency. A couple of weeks before Omar absolved Pakistan of playing a deadly role in engineering death and destruction in the Valley, father Farooq refuted PoK was a part of India. Kya yeh tumhare baap ka hai? (Is this your fathers property?), he roared at the Central government. Ironically, like all dynasts, he was bred to believe that Kashmir is his baaps own property, indeed. His father Sheikh Abdullah, the founder of the National Conference, had brought him up to believe so. Without him, neither Farooq nor Omar would have inherited relevance in national politics. If it was not for the Nehru family and Vajpayee oncewho alternatively jailed and supported the Sheikh, and made his progeny Union ministers in various governments, Pakistan would never have acquired a voice, however phoney, in the Indian political system. Dynasty plays a cardinal role in power play, from Donald Trump to Rahul Gandhi. National interest often takes second place to family fortunes. The perilous politics of the Abdullahs is not for Kashmirs well being but for their own dynastys survival. The family had lost all relevance in its home state. Ironically, its significance to Pakistan is greater than its influence in India. Between the first Abdullah and the last, an endgame is being played out in Kashmir. If not checkmated in time, the loser will be India. Ravi Shankar ravi@newindianexpress.com
Shankkar Aiyar By

What if the rules precluded multiple adjournments during the day? What if the days listed business agreed at the Business Advisory Committee meetings had to be completed? What if Parliament could not be adjourned sine die until the business listed for the session was completed? It is worth mulling over the questions this weekend.

On Friday, both the Houses adjourned18 days of the Winter Session virtually washed out for all intents and purposes. It is estimated that every minute of a Parliamentary day costs the national exchequer roughly `2.5 lakh. There is the issue of loss of public monies. More important is the erosion of expectation and credibility of the institution.

For 17 of the 18 days that Parliament was in session, the ruling NDA and the Opposition rendered the rule book of Parliament, intended to facilitate accountability by government, into an instrument of denial. The Opposition, which wanted discussions to be followed by voting, asked why the BJP was scared of voting? The ruling front countered this by asking why the Opposition was running away from discussion. Amidst the semantics of politics, the hapless citizen has been left out of the equation.

Every session, Parliamentarians troop up to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi to register their protests. They did so this session too. The Mahatma is witness to the promise made on currencythe `2,000 note, is called the Gulabi Gandhi. He is also invoked at every opportunity by parties of every shade. None, though, care to remember his talisman to think of the poorest and the weakest. MPs may well be elected on party symbols, but their primary obligation is to those they represent. Unsurprisingly, President Pranab Mukherjee rebuked MPs and said, For Gods sake do your job.

It has been a month since the government rendered illegal over 86 per cent of the currency in circulation. It is by far the biggest decision on currency and the most important political economy decision in four decades. People across the nation are looking for answers, for clarity on the many questions that baffle them. In theory, the Opposition is obliged to make the government accountable. In practice, the parties flail repeatedly.

Here are some questions that the Opposition is obliged to ask but did not: What was the process of the decision-making? For sure, persons of integrity and intelligence would have been consulted. What were the views? What is the legal map of delegalisation of currency? Was it under Section 26(2)? Does the section cover the subsequent notifications covering allowances and disallowances? Is the exercise a violation of provisions of the Constitution? Is the RBI competent to deny citizens access to their property, even if in one form and part? Can the RBI limit, cap and ration use of currency? Under what law were cooperative banks deemed unfit to handle cash?

The government cited four important reasons for the move. The objectives included tackling terror funding, extinguishing counterfeit currency, curbing black money and promoting a less cash economy. How has this played out? What was the estimate of counterfeit money in the economy and how much has been recovered? What was the estimate of black money and how muchas per the governmentwill be extinguished?

The government has been dynamic in easing and tightening restrictions. What was the basis on which these notifications were issued? What is the legal position on exemptions? The government has assured household savings in currency up to `2.5 lakh will be exempt from queries but has not elaborated. How will the government ensure households will not be harassed?

The demonetisation has impacted the day-to-day economics of the people. What is the estimation of the government of the impact on the economy? Will there be a hit, and how much, and if not, why not? What is the time frame for remonetisation of the economy? There are reports of people losing lives, of farmers in distress and small enterprises shutting down or downsizing. The government compensates those affected by natural disasters through the NDRF. Has the government thought of a similar mechanism to compensate those impacted?

The Opposition, in their obduracy, is missing the proverbial woods for the tree. Instead of arguing for votingwhich the political math shows was simply a rusethe parties could have asked for an extended discussion. Instead of asking for the presence of the Prime Minister, they could have asked for a clause by clause response to the questions raised.

It is not just the Opposition which has missed and messed an opportunity. The objective of ridding the economy of black money demands tackling both the stock created and the opportunities that create the flow. Small businesses deal in cash partly due to archaic labour laws and fear of Inspector Raj. This requires reformsin rules and regulation that incentivise use of cash and sustain Inspector Raj of the EMI kind. Corruption thrives on multi-layered permission. This calls for decentralisation. The BJP, in power in 11 states, could have outlined a promise for catalytic change. There is also the issue of political funding. The BJP, which completed half its term, could have leveraged the Winter Session to present a work in progress report and evangelised its own idea of India.

Parliamentary disruptions have been a recurring memepious promises are made only to be breached. On August 26, 1997, Purno Agtok Sangma called a special session of Parliament to observe the 50th anniversary of Independence. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then leader of the Opposition, had observed, We have turned the biggest Parliamentary democracy into a fish market. The session saw members promising to ensure orderly functioning of the House. Three months later, in the wake of the Jain Commission Report, it was business, rather no business as usual.

Similar promises were made at another special session, in 2000, as the Republic turned 50. Only to be breached soon thereafter. The instrument of blockade as an expression of protest was sort of invented by the Congress during the Vajpayee regime. During the UPA regime, the BJP patented it. Sushma Swaraj, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha averred, Not allowing Parliament to function is a form of democracy, while Arun Jaitley, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said, Parliamentary obstruction is not undemocratic.

It brings us back to the question: Can Indian hope for better? What if the President of India mandates that Parliament could not be adjourned sine die until the listed business of the session was completed? For sure, this is an idea that begs adoption on an election manifesto in the 2019 elections.

Shankkar Aiyar is the author of Accidental India: A History of the Nations Passage through Crisis and Change

shankkar.aiyar@gmail.com

What if the rules precluded multiple adjournments during the day? What if the days listed business agreed at the Business Advisory Committee meetings had to be completed? What if Parliament could not be adjourned sine die until the business listed for the session was completed? It is worth mulling over the questions this weekend. On Friday, both the Houses adjourned18 days of the Winter Session virtually washed out for all intents and purposes. It is estimated that every minute of a Parliamentary day costs the national exchequer roughly `2.5 lakh. There is the issue of loss of public monies. More important is the erosion of expectation and credibility of the institution. For 17 of the 18 days that Parliament was in session, the ruling NDA and the Opposition rendered the rule book of Parliament, intended to facilitate accountability by government, into an instrument of denial. The Opposition, which wanted discussions to be followed by voting, asked why the BJP was scared of voting? The ruling front countered this by asking why the Opposition was running away from discussion. Amidst the semantics of politics, the hapless citizen has been left out of the equation. Every session, Parliamentarians troop up to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi to register their protests. They did so this session too. The Mahatma is witness to the promise made on currencythe `2,000 note, is called the Gulabi Gandhi. He is also invoked at every opportunity by parties of every shade. None, though, care to remember his talisman to think of the poorest and the weakest. MPs may well be elected on party symbols, but their primary obligation is to those they represent. Unsurprisingly, President Pranab Mukherjee rebuked MPs and said, For Gods sake do your job. It has been a month since the government rendered illegal over 86 per cent of the currency in circulation. It is by far the biggest decision on currency and the most important political economy decision in four decades. People across the nation are looking for answers, for clarity on the many questions that baffle them. In theory, the Opposition is obliged to make the government accountable. In practice, the parties flail repeatedly. Here are some questions that the Opposition is obliged to ask but did not: What was the process of the decision-making? For sure, persons of integrity and intelligence would have been consulted. What were the views? What is the legal map of delegalisation of currency? Was it under Section 26(2)? Does the section cover the subsequent notifications covering allowances and disallowances? Is the exercise a violation of provisions of the Constitution? Is the RBI competent to deny citizens access to their property, even if in one form and part? Can the RBI limit, cap and ration use of currency? Under what law were cooperative banks deemed unfit to handle cash? The government cited four important reasons for the move. The objectives included tackling terror funding, extinguishing counterfeit currency, curbing black money and promoting a less cash economy. How has this played out? What was the estimate of counterfeit money in the economy and how much has been recovered? What was the estimate of black money and how muchas per the governmentwill be extinguished? The government has been dynamic in easing and tightening restrictions. What was the basis on which these notifications were issued? What is the legal position on exemptions? The government has assured household savings in currency up to `2.5 lakh will be exempt from queries but has not elaborated. How will the government ensure households will not be harassed? The demonetisation has impacted the day-to-day economics of the people. What is the estimation of the government of the impact on the economy? Will there be a hit, and how much, and if not, why not? What is the time frame for remonetisation of the economy? There are reports of people losing lives, of farmers in distress and small enterprises shutting down or downsizing. The government compensates those affected by natural disasters through the NDRF. Has the government thought of a similar mechanism to compensate those impacted? The Opposition, in their obduracy, is missing the proverbial woods for the tree. Instead of arguing for votingwhich the political math shows was simply a rusethe parties could have asked for an extended discussion. Instead of asking for the presence of the Prime Minister, they could have asked for a clause by clause response to the questions raised. It is not just the Opposition which has missed and messed an opportunity. The objective of ridding the economy of black money demands tackling both the stock created and the opportunities that create the flow. Small businesses deal in cash partly due to archaic labour laws and fear of Inspector Raj. This requires reformsin rules and regulation that incentivise use of cash and sustain Inspector Raj of the EMI kind. Corruption thrives on multi-layered permission. This calls for decentralisation. The BJP, in power in 11 states, could have outlined a promise for catalytic change. There is also the issue of political funding. The BJP, which completed half its term, could have leveraged the Winter Session to present a work in progress report and evangelised its own idea of India. Parliamentary disruptions have been a recurring memepious promises are made only to be breached. On August 26, 1997, Purno Agtok Sangma called a special session of Parliament to observe the 50th anniversary of Independence. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then leader of the Opposition, had observed, We have turned the biggest Parliamentary democracy into a fish market. The session saw members promising to ensure orderly functioning of the House. Three months later, in the wake of the Jain Commission Report, it was business, rather no business as usual. Similar promises were made at another special session, in 2000, as the Republic turned 50. Only to be breached soon thereafter. The instrument of blockade as an expression of protest was sort of invented by the Congress during the Vajpayee regime. During the UPA regime, the BJP patented it. Sushma Swaraj, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha averred, Not allowing Parliament to function is a form of democracy, while Arun Jaitley, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said, Parliamentary obstruction is not undemocratic. It brings us back to the question: Can Indian hope for better? What if the President of India mandates that Parliament could not be adjourned sine die until the listed business of the session was completed? For sure, this is an idea that begs adoption on an election manifesto in the 2019 elections. Shankkar Aiyar is the author of Accidental India: A History of the Nations Passage through Crisis and Change shankkar.aiyar@gmail.com
By Express News Service

TIRUPATI/VIJAYAWADA : The Andhra Pradesh government removed J Sekhar Reddy, sand mining contractor and partner in SRS Mining, from the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust Board on Saturday after Income Tax raids on the premises of his and his partners in Tamil Nadu unearthed a staggering stash of over Rs 100 crore and gold bars weighing 100 kg.



Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who reviewed the situation with the officials concerned, directed that Reddy be removed with immediate effect since his continuation would tarnish the image of the TTD and hurt the sentiments of devotees.



Sekhar Reddy stands removed from the board. A GO to this effect is being issued, Information Commissioner S Venkateswar confirmed to Express.



The I-T sleuths had on Thursday and Friday raided the premises of Reddy and his partners, Nagarathinam and SR Ramachandran and discovered about `106 crore cash and gold bars weighing 100 kg. The raids were conducted in Anna Nagar near Andhra Mahila Club and T Nagar in Chennai and two houses of Sekhar Reddy at Katpadi in Vellore district.



Sekhar Reddy was nominated to the TTD Trust Board on April 27, 2015 on the advice of the Tamil Nadu government. Reddy had paid a visit to former chief minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa when she was undergoing treatment at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai recently.

Top officials of the temple said they had no inkling that he was into something illegal.

TIRUPATI/VIJAYAWADA : The Andhra Pradesh government removed J Sekhar Reddy, sand mining contractor and partner in SRS Mining, from the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust Board on Saturday after Income Tax raids on the premises of his and his partners in Tamil Nadu unearthed a staggering stash of over Rs 100 crore and gold bars weighing 100 kg. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who reviewed the situation with the officials concerned, directed that Reddy be removed with immediate effect since his continuation would tarnish the image of the TTD and hurt the sentiments of devotees. Sekhar Reddy stands removed from the board. A GO to this effect is being issued, Information Commissioner S Venkateswar confirmed to Express. The I-T sleuths had on Thursday and Friday raided the premises of Reddy and his partners, Nagarathinam and SR Ramachandran and discovered about `106 crore cash and gold bars weighing 100 kg. The raids were conducted in Anna Nagar near Andhra Mahila Club and T Nagar in Chennai and two houses of Sekhar Reddy at Katpadi in Vellore district. Sekhar Reddy was nominated to the TTD Trust Board on April 27, 2015 on the advice of the Tamil Nadu government. Reddy had paid a visit to former chief minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa when she was undergoing treatment at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai recently. Top officials of the temple said they had no inkling that he was into something illegal.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today grilled Balasore MP and BJD leader Rabindra Jena for about seven hours for his alleged business links with the Seashore Group which is embroiled in the chitfund scam.



"The Seashore group had taken some money from us. They have returned some of it. We are yet to receive the remaining money. CBI questioned me about these transactions. I have answered all their questions and have provided them all necessary information, Jena told mediapersons after coming out of the CBI

Bhubaneswar office.



The BJD MP said the CBI had sought clarification on some documents submitted by him on the issue.



This is the second time that Jena has been questioned by the CBI for his links with the Seashore Group. CBI questioned him for the first time on January 12, 2015.



The CBI had summoned Jena to appear before it on November 14. However, Jena had submitted documents through his lawyer on November 26 as the Lok Sabha session was going on at New Delhi. The

investigating agency issued a notice to him on December 2 again asking him to appear in person before it.



The MP, a prominent entrepreneur, who headed the Supratik group of companies, had lent an amount of Rs 18 crore to the Seashore group in 2011-12 financial year. Seashore had paid back a major part of the loan, but still owed Rs 1.86 crore to him.

BHUBANESWAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today grilled Balasore MP and BJD leader Rabindra Jena for about seven hours for his alleged business links with the Seashore Group which is embroiled in the chitfund scam. "The Seashore group had taken some money from us. They have returned some of it. We are yet to receive the remaining money. CBI questioned me about these transactions. I have answered all their questions and have provided them all necessary information, Jena told mediapersons after coming out of the CBI Bhubaneswar office. The BJD MP said the CBI had sought clarification on some documents submitted by him on the issue. This is the second time that Jena has been questioned by the CBI for his links with the Seashore Group. CBI questioned him for the first time on January 12, 2015. The CBI had summoned Jena to appear before it on November 14. However, Jena had submitted documents through his lawyer on November 26 as the Lok Sabha session was going on at New Delhi. The investigating agency issued a notice to him on December 2 again asking him to appear in person before it. The MP, a prominent entrepreneur, who headed the Supratik group of companies, had lent an amount of Rs 18 crore to the Seashore group in 2011-12 financial year. Seashore had paid back a major part of the loan, but still owed Rs 1.86 crore to him.








Buddhist followers in a prayer ritual at Quan Su pagoda in Hanoi







The 14th National Assembly approved the Law on Belief and Religion at its 2nd session on November 18.Religious followers appreciate the law because it guarantees freedom of belief and religion for all people. But some foreign media have run articles that misunderstand or intentionally distort Vietnams law.

Freedom of religion has been the most frequently discussed human rights issue. The right to practice religion has been widely acknowledged in Vietnamese and international legal documents on human rights.



Some foreign media outlets said that civilized nations dont have the Law on Belief and Religion and Vietnams Law on Belief and Religion approved by the National Assembly doesnt support human rights. Here are some facts:



Freedom of religion was defined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948, the first international document on human rights prohibiting religious discrimination.



Contents of the UDHR were specified in Article 18 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by the UN in 1966.



Vietnam ratified the Convention in 1982. Article 18 says: Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.



In March, 1993, the UN Human Rights Council issued resolution 25 including an article calling on countries to ensure freedom of ideology, conscience, and religion in accordance with their Constitutions and laws, and possible measures to avoid intolerance of or discrimination against religion.



Article 1 of the 1905 French law describes the purpose of the act, which is to ensure freedom of conscience and to guarantee the free exercise of religion under the provisos enacted hereafter in the interest of public order.



Article 25 declares that all worship services organized in headquarters of religious organizations are under the governments oversight in the interests of public security.



The German Constitution defines that activities of a religious organization might be restricted or banned if its purposes and activities violate the criminal code or threaten the regime.



Countries have agreed that there is no absolute freedom of belief and religion. Its not true that countries dont have a law on belief and religion as some foreign media have said.



Freedom of belief and religion was acknowledged in Vietnams first Constitution in 1946 and was reaffirmed in the Constitution in 1959, 1980, and 2013.



The 1946 Constitution said: All people have freedom of belief. The latest 2013 Constitution declares: All people have freedom of belief and religion, to follow or not follow a religion. Religions are equal before the law.



The state respects and protects the right to belief and religion. No one is allowed to violate the freedom of belief and religion or take advantage of belief and religion to violate the law.



The Law on Belief and Religion adopted by the National Assembly on November 18, 2016, has improved Vietnams legal system and showed Vietnams responsibility to international law, including the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.



Religious dignitaries told the National Assembly that the approval of the law was a turning point in Vietnams religious policy which encourages religious followers to promote the values of religions and patriotism and combat hostile forces intention to sabotage socialism.



Volunteer activities to serve the nation



December 5th is observed as Global Volunteering Day. Activities have been held across Vietnam to honor volunteers and social activities for the community.



The Summer Youth Volunteer Campaign is a key activity of the Ho Chi Minh Youth Union. This years campaign, themed Young people work together to build new rural areas and urban civilization, targets 111 extremely poor hamlets in 12 poor provinces, provinces frequently affected by saline intrusion and droughts, and on islands. The campaign has provided vocational training to 30,000 people in rural areas and free medical check-ups for 400,000 people.



Head of the Party Central Committees Commission for Communications and Education, Vo Van Thuong, said: We have 6 million youth union members and over 20 million young people. Although they have different family conditions and educational levels, they share a strong enthusiasm. Young people nationwide have joined the Summer Youth Volunteer Campaign, which sends teams of volunteers to remote areas. We have cooperated with international volunteer organizations to have a bigger impact.



A number of ministries and sectors host regular volunteer programs. The Vietnam Red Cross Society, which has conducted blood donation drives in Hanoi and 16 other cities and provinces, expects to collect 7,000 units of blood this year. Duong Thi Thu Tham, a student at the Hanoi University of Mining, recently donated blood for the first time: Blood donations help people in need. Im happy that my blood can help someone. Its meaningful.



Volunteer activities have been part of several international events in Vietnam. At the 5th Asian Beach Games (ABG5) in Da Nang in September, young volunteers were on hand to provide assistance to foreigners and athletes.



Nguyen Thi My Huyen, a student at Da Nang University of Foreign Languages, said: Im proud to have been a part of volunteer activities at ABG5. It was an opportunity for me to contribute to the nation and improve my knowledge of foreign languages.



Young Vietnamese deem volunteering a social responsibility. Their good deeds have rallied other people to national construction and development.



International arrivals expected to reach 10 million in 2016



Vietnam expected international arrivals to reach 10 million in 2016, a landmark for the country, as the number of foreign tourists has surpassed 9 million so far this year.



According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the 11-month figure represented an increase of 25.4 percent against the same period last year, and well surpassed the set yearly target of 8.5 million.



The number of local tourists in 2016 has reached 57.7 million and revenue from tourism in 11 months was 368.6 trillion VND (16.6 billion USD), up 18.6 percent from 2015.



China leads the top ten countries with most tourists to Vietnam with 2.48 million arrivals (a surge of 53.9 percent), followed by the Republic of Korea with 1.38 million (39.2 percent), and Japan, 677,000 (10.5 percent).



The number of UK visitors surged 20.8 percent to 235,557 in the period. The UK is one of five European countries benefiting from Vietnams 15-day visa exemption policy.



Conference discusses designer cancer treatment



Significant progress has been achieved in understanding the molecular basis of cancer over the past 30 years, leading to new interventions suited to each patient, Professor Nguy?n Ch?n Hung, chairman of the Vi?t Nam Cancer Association, has said.



"The accumulation of this basic knowledge has established that cancer is a variety of distinct diseases and that defective genes cause these diseases," Hung said at a two-day oncology conference that ended on Thursday in HCM City.



The gene defects are diverse in nature and can involve either loss or gain of gene functions, he said, adding that this knowledge has been exploited recently to develop strategies for cancer prevention and treatment.



Dr Le Hoang Minh, head of the citys Oncology Hospital, said the country had seen an increase of cancer incidence. The hospital has admitted 27,000-28,000 new cancer patients every year, he said.



According to Th?ng Nh?t Hospitals oncology ward in Tan Binh District, 2,754 cancer patients have been treated there since 2012.



Of these, the proportion of patients with colorectal cancer was the highest, with 26.37 per cent.



Lung cancer ranked second with 22 per cent, followed by cancer of the stomach, liver, breast and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.



The citys cancer statistics in 2014 showed that the ratio of cancer in men was 172 per 100,000 and 138.7 per 100,000 for women.



The five most common cancers in men were lung, liver, colon and rectum, stomach and larynx.



Cancer of the breast, cervix uteri, colon and rectum, lung and thyroid were the most common among women.



The diagnosis of most common cancers in both men and women increased rapidly from the age of 40.



A survey of 27,092 cancer patients at three oncology hospitals in Ha N?i conducted in 2014 showed that 63 per cent were diagnosed and treated at a late stage.



Of these, patients with late-stage liver cancer accounted for the highest proportion, followed by gastric and bronchopulmonary cancers.



Tang Chi Thu?ng, deputy head of the citys Department of Health, said that a network of health facilities had been set up throughout the country to prevent and treat cancer.



In the city, the network is available at grassroots health centres and specialised hospitals.



It has helped detect nearly 25,000 new cancer patients in the city between 2011 and 2015.



Many doctors have been trained by experts from the citys Oncology Hospital and the Vi?t Nam Cancer Association, Thu?ng said.



At least 100 new medical school graduates have been sent to the Oncology Hospital for training and will work at its new branch now under construction.



The network has also sped up research to solve shortcomings in treatment, he said.



Via the network, doctors are trained in palliative care which has helped improve the quality of life for patients who are critically ill.



According to a study of the Oncology Hospitals doctors conducted from June 2013 to September 2014, palliative care focuses on making the patient comfortable and controlling pain.



The conference also discussed advanced technologies used in treatment by oncology hospitals in the country.



Endoscopic thyroidectomy via a unilateral axillo-breast approach, for instance, is used for treating thyroid goiters at the citys Oncology Hospital.



A study of this technique conducted by the hospitals doctors in 2014 showed that it was a feasible and safe procedure with good cosmetic results.



Moreover, advanced radiotherapies such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy are used at 108 Hospital, Hu? Central Hospital and the citys Oncology Hospital.



VN500 billion road incomplete after seven years



Provincial Road 675A, the section that passes through Kon Tum Province, from Se San 3 Hydroelectric Plant to National Road 14C, remains incomplete and barely usable.

Construction of the road, with total investment of VN 530 billion, (US$23.4 million), was expected to be finished by June 2014.

The project was approved by the Kon Tum Province Peoples Committee seven years ago, with the Peoples Committee being the investor, and there were three constructors -- Tru?ng Long JSC Co., Duy Tan Investment & Development JSC Co. and Tu?n Dung Co. Ltd.

For the most part of the road, only the rough grading of the roadbed has been completed and the first layer of gravel stones laid; in particular, on the section from Ia Toi DSpring to Se San 3, only the grading process was done, Nong Nghi?p Vi?t Nam newspaper (Vi?t Nam Agriculture) reported.

In addition, construction was poor on many portions of the road that passed over rivers or springs, which meant the road could easily be washed away by floodwaters.

During the hot days, wind and passing traffic kick up the dust and sand, making for an unpleasantly suffocating atmosphere; while during the monsoon, mud and floodwaters rendered the road hardly passable.

I had barely crossed a kilometre when my bikes tyres got punctured by the sharp gravel. A flat tyre occurs often. In the rainy season, the road is cut off at many sections. The road is nowhere near finished, a frequent driver on this road, Hoang Tu?n Anh, said frustratingly.

Along the road, only a handful of machines are seen operating. Most are grading the sections that got overrun with floodwater as a temporary measure to keep the route accessible.

Nguy?n H?u D?, deputy head of Sa Th?y Districts Investment & Construction Management Board, said merely a quarter of the total investment, or VN139 billion ($6 million), was disbursed to all three constructors.

Also, according to D?, the designed length and width of the road is 58km and 3.5m, respectively, but in reality, the road is only 54km long since the remaining 4km have already been used for a road leading to hydropower plant Se San.

Due to insufficient funds, only the road surface and water drainage system have been completed, plus, only sections of high slope were covered with asphalt.

Bridges have not been constructed. A temporary dirt road was built so vehicles could cross the rivers, but the floodwaters have washed it away.

This road was not used much earlier; it mostly serves national defence purposes. If the road is completed, it will be used for the increasing traffic from Ia Dom Commune. However, due to disorganised investment, barely had the roads base been laid, when it was destroyed by rainwater erosion, D? said.

He also added that every year, he still had to deploy machines to carry out temporary maintenance and repairs of the road, while waiting for the next disbursement of capital from ADB funds to finish the job and hand over the works.

According to Kon Tum Province Department of Transportation, the manager and investor of the project are the Sa Th?y District authorities. Prior to construction, the department offered advice and consultancy regarding initial investment, while maintaining that construction progress or site-clearing were the investors responsibilities.



Clarify responsibilities for 44 manager appointments: PM tells H?i Duong



Prime Minister Nguy?n Xuan Phuc has ordered the Peoples Committee of H?i Duong Province to quickly inspect and clarify the responsibilities of individual or organisation related to the case that there are 44 managers in its Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Department.



The large number of managers in the department - 44 managers and just 2 staff has sparked public reaction after it was reported by the media in late October.



Phuc asked the H?i Duong administration to cut down unnecessary managerial positions. The recruitment and appointment of officials must be in compliance with the government policy of downsizing the number of public officials and staff, he said.



He also tasked the Ministry of Home Affairs to work with the committee to public the responsibility of all the individuals and organisations involved in the case after the inspection finished.



At the governments regular press conference on November 22, Mai Ti?n Dung, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office, said: One local department with a total of 46 people but having up to 44 managerial officials is unacceptable.



Also at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Tri?u Van Cu?ng said the appointment of up to 44 managers in the department violated rules.



The number of managerial positions would be cut down to 27, Cu?ng said.



120 workers stricken with food poisoning



Some 120 workers at an industrial zone in the province were hospitalised last night after they fell ill with food poisoning symptoms.

The mass food poisoning occurred to workers at the Yakin Sai Gon Co. Ltd., located in the ?ng Phu Industrial Zone, ?ng Phu District, southern Binh Phu?c Province.

According to the workers, who are under care at hospital, upon having the extra-shift meal last night, many late-shift workers started to show symptoms of food poisoning, such as nausea, dizziness, stomache, and even fainting.

These workers were promptly rushed to Thanh Tam General Hospital and other hospitals in the ?ng Xoai Commune, Binh Phu?c Province.

Nguy?n Th? Anh, a worker of Yakin Sai Gon Co. Ltd., said that normally, late shift workers were provided with standard meals of rice. However, last night, the canteen decided to switch he menu and serve pork noodles and instant ramen with eggs instead. Some workers complained that the noodles and the broth were rather lukewarm.

By 10pm last night, the number of workers suspected to be affected by food poisoning had reached over 120.

Le H?u Huy, director of Thanh Tam General Hospital, said last night, upon being admitted to the hospital and receiving first-aid treatment for half an hour, health conditions of some of the workers had stablised. This morning, while some had recovered and were discharged from hospital, many others were still either unconscious or needed constant watch and intensive treatment.

The provincial Food Hygiene and Safety Department in conjunction with the provincial police and relevant authorities will meet with Yakin Sai Gon Co. Ltd. representatives to investigate the case.

The increasing number of food poisoning cases occuring in industrial zones throughout the years have triggered public concerns over the quality of meals for workers.



Ten fishermen rescued from boat capsize



A fishing boat with a crew of 10 fishermen on board was rescued from the waters of Phu Qu?c yesterday.

A hole was discovered on the boat while it was out catching sea animals off the Phu Qu?c coast, some 20 nautical miles from Mui Ha Tien. Water entered the boats hull and there were fears that the strong waves at the time could capsize the boat.

Colonel Ph?m Quang Oanh, commander of Zone 4s coast guard force of Kien Giang Province, said after communicating the incident the force sent a boat coded CSB2002 to rescue the fishing boat.

The boat was then pulled to the port of Zone 4s coast guard force in An Th?i Town of Phu Qu?c District.

The boat, called Huy Phuc, was captained by Nguy?n Thanh Hung, living in Kien Luong Town of southern Kien Giang Province.



Dance contest puts ethnic culture on show



The first Vietnamese professional minority ethnic dancing contest was held last week in Ha N?i.



The contest was held by the Vi?t Nam Dancing Artists Association and Literature and Art Association of Vietnamese Ethnic Minorities to showcase the dances of Vietnamese ethnic minorities.



Thirty dances of different ethnic groups were displayed in the contest, mostly group dances.



They were performed by the Vi?t Nam National Song and Dance Theatre and other provincial dancing troupes.



Nguy?n H?i Tru?ng from the Vi?t Nam Dance College and choreographer of one of the three first prize winners, Bru People Festival, said it was a privilege to win the contest, "It was such an honour for me to win first prize among other young talents. To create the dance, I have spent time studying the daily customs of Van Ki?u people to learn how to transmit their habits into dance. Although they are a minority, they are large in population, and less known by the public. I hope in coming years, young choreographers will learn how to combine traditional and modern factors of minority ethnic, so we can preserve the old and promote the new in this kind of dance," he said.



At the closing ceremony, 15 selected dances of Dao, Bru, Lo Lo, Mong, Pa Th?n, Tay, Si La people, which reached the final round, were awarded by the judges.



Three first prizes were given to Playing the Drums, Bru People Festival and Praying for Rain, while five second and seven third prizes were also awarded, respectively. The first prize was VN13 million ($573), second prize was VN10 million ($440) and third prize was VN7 million ($308).



Professor Tr?n Ng?c Canh, who has studied national folk and minority ethnic dance for many years, said contemporary dance has inherited the cultural values of folk and minority ethnic dance, and is also a useful guide for choreographers.



Cham Island launches photo contest



The Cham Island Maritime Protection Centre has launched a photo contest, the Cham Island-H?i An World Biosphere Reserve in My Eyes, to mark the 8th anniversary of world recognition in 2017.



The centre said the contest, which opened from May this year, is open for Vietnamese and foreign photographers till next March.



The organising committee said photos can feature landscapes, people, nature, relics, environmental protection, crafts, festivals and biodiversity in Cham Island, the biosphere reserves buffer zone and H?i An city.



Contestants can send up to 15 photos each.



The best 50 photos will go on display in an exhibition next May, and the award ceremony will be held on May 25th.



The contest winner will get a cash prize of VN8 million (US$356), while the runner and third place will take VN5 million ($222) and VN3 million ($133), respectively.



Five encouragement prizes will also be awarded.



Competitors can send original photos to khusinhquyenculaocham@gmail.com.



The Cham Island-H?i An World Biosphere Reserve, recognised by UNESCO in 2009, is home to 3,000 inhabitants living in eight islets with vast ecological diversity



The island, 20km off the coast of H?i An city, is a favourite eco-tour site for tourists, and was the first locality in Vi?t Nam to ban plastic bags and promote the 3-R (reduce, reuse and recycle) programme in 2011.



It hosts about 100,000 tourists annually, of which 10 per cent are foreigners.



The island is home to 1,500ha of tropical forests and 6,700ha of sea featuring a wide range of marine fauna and flora, including many endangered species such as salangane (swallows), the long-tailed monkey and the crab-eating macaque.



Ban on small boats a big worry for fishermen



The central coast citys plan to get rid of 1,100 small vessels (under 20CV) engaged in small-scale and near-shore fishing has sparked anxiety among fishermen whose sole means of livelihood is threatened.



a N?ng authorities say the move aims at protecting sea resources, promoting offshore fishing, and sea tourism, but the fishermen are not convinced.



They say the plan does not offer sufficient compensation for owners of demolished boats, or access to capital for investing in offshore fishing, no support for difficult job transitions and the chances of finding gainful employment are slim.



Hu?nh B?n, a resident of Thu?n Phu?c Ward, said his five-member familys livelihood relies entirely on using a 20CV boat to dive for chip chip (a type of clam).



For many years, clam diving has provided for our family. Its a backbreaking job, but every day I can earn between VN300,000-500,000 (US$13-22), enough to live on, B?n told the Tu?i Tr? (Youth) newspaper.



If the city terminates small boats, I dont know what I would do. We adults are too old now. Learning other trades is impossible for us.



From the same ward, 46-year-old Tr?n Minh Kh?n shares similar worries. He doesnt think he has the strength or experience to pursue a new trade.



The authorities have said they will pay a couple of millions to buy back our boats, but that will only be enough to cover living expenses for a few months. Then what are we going to do for a living?



Nguy?n Van Ng?, 57, of Th? Quang Ward, will have no part of the citys proposal.



Ng? is illiterate and has poor eyesight, but he still earns over half a million a day from fishing, enough to provide for a seven-member family, and hes determined to stick with my cheap basket boat for the rest of my life.



But most of the affected fishermen are despondent.



Ph?m Van Tuyen, 45, resident of Man Thai Ward, said if the plan is carried out, he will have no choice but to relocate elsewhere with his small vessel.



Tr?n Van Thanh, an official with the Son Tra District Economy Committee, said that this year, so far, they have received 11 applications to have the boats taken, mostly from old fishermen and households without successors to continue in their trade. A few others want to use the payment to buy fishing nets and co-operate with other fishing vessels, he said.



Thanh conceded that the compensation offered was not sufficient and the free vocational training classes are for jobs that fishermen dont find suitable.



?ng Cong Th?ng, Chairman of the a N?ng Farmers Association, said he has received many complaints from fishermen.



They want appropriate policies that will offer employment opportunities that match their qualifications, health, and age.



The citys labour department has been tasked with providing free vocational training courses for fishermen.



Ki?u Th? Thanh Trang, head of the departments vocation training division, said free training was being offered for 42 different jobs now, but the fishermen could propose others that better suit their needs. Her office will submit these suggestions to the citys Peoples Committee for review and appropriate follow-up, she said.



The a N?ng administration feels it has valid reasons for the plan to do away with small boats.



According to Vi?t Nam Fisheries Society (VINAFIS), near-shore waters are where parent fish come to spawn, and the young fish will also live there until adulthood.



Therefore, the small boats that catch these fish are exacting an expensive environmental toll.



Curbing fishing in shallow waters is the right move to prevent exhaustion of fishereies resources, the society argues.



In addition, most of the 1100 small boats are equipped with outdated machinery and communication systems, and some are just crude basket boats that are unsafe.



The city has announced that registered small boats will be bought back for between VN10 million ($440) and VN30 million ($1,320), depending on the size, build, and capacity; while unregistered small boat owners will be paid significantly lower amounts of between VN5 million ($220) and 10 million ($440).



The authorities are also pledging financial support of VN10 million ($440) per worker to transition to other jobs, but this support will not be available to workers of unregistered boats.



The protests against the move, though loud, are mostly from unregistered boat owners, said Nguy?n ? Tam, Deputy Director of the a N?ng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.



He said authorities had devised the support packages following numerous meetings with fishermen and relevant agencies that were organised after the plan was first conceived in 2014.



Hu?nh ?c Tho, Chairman of the a N?ng City Peoples Committee, has directed the city districts to properly use the allocated budget of VN25 billion ($1.1 million) in the next five years.



The plan holds significant meaning for the citys target of sustainable development of seafood exploitation and economic restructuring. Its implementation will follow a carefully laid roadmap with peoples opinions taken into consideration, he said.



However, VINAFIS also said an outright ban without proper consideration for pressing livelihood issues would be unwise.



It said the best way would be to identify and inform the fishermen of which shallow water areas are open to fishing, which areas are off-limits, and at which time of the year, for example, during breeding seasons.



The association has suggested a scheme similar to forest tenure, which will assign parts of the near-shore areas to local people, both to manage and to exploit.



Because their livelihoods depend on the sustainability of the near-shore ecosystem, the fishermen would be more conscious and welcoming of protection efforts; and the role of the government would be to ensure proper oversight and provide fishermen with guidance on best practices.



New ao dai designs for festive season



Veteran designer Dao Le Dieu Anh has introduced her latest ao dai (Vietnamese long dress) collection in celebration of the upcoming festive season and Lunar New Year (Tet).



The collection is based on shiny velvet and soft denim, the two trendy materials in the world for this Fall-Winter season 2016. According to Anh, velvet with its soft texture helps augment the beauty and elegance of women.



Ao dai in this new collection maintains traditional and basic features with raglan shoulders and shallow necks and button lines along the body.



A highlight of this collection is a combination of ao dai and Western-style wide pants suitable for women in casual and special occasions.



HCM City pins hopes on food hygiene management board



Director Nguyen Tan Binh of the HCMC Department of Health believed the management of food safety and hygiene in the city would be better with a specialized board to be up and operating next year.



The Prime Minister has recently given his nod to a pilot plan to set up a management board for food safety and hygiene in HCMC, which groups members from the departments of health, trade-industry and agriculture in the city. The Department of Home Affairs is preparing for the establishment of this board, expected to start operation early next year, said Binh at a question and answer session of the third meeting of the HCMC Peoples Council on December 8.



Earlier, many voters had proposed the health department and relevant agencies regularly inspect and strictly handle the trade of contaminated and hazardous food with unclear origin at wholesale markets across the city.



The city is a hub for trade of large volumes of food made at home or imported, and for supply of food to other parts of the country. Statistics show that the daily meat demand in the city is 1,000-1,200 tons, including 8,000-10,000 pigs, 800-900 buffalos and cows, and 100,000-120,000 poultry.



In addition, frozen food imports amount to some 264,000 tons per year. Furthermore, the city each year demands up to one million tons of vegetables and 170,000 tons of seafood.



In the past, the management of food safety in the city was overlapping, with many agencies involved such as industry-trade, health and agriculture. However, none of them took the central role, thus no one assumed the responsibility when problems occurred.

Meanwhile, quite a few production and business establishments are ignoring standards, ready to produce and process food that is unhygienic for a profit, belittling the health of consumers.



Statistics of the HCMC government reveal the city has in the year to date recorded six cases of food poisoning with 512 victims, none of them life-threatening.



To prevent food poisoning right from the stage of production, the city will organize training and certification exams for food producers and traders for nearly 56,000 people. In addition, a scheme on pork management, identification and traceability at the two wholesale markets Hoc Mon and Binh Dien will be piloted.



The food safety and hygiene management board will undertake the functions of state management and specialized inspection on food safety during the processing, storage, transport, circulation, distribution and trading of all kinds of food, additives, processing aids, instruments and packaging material.



VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE
By Express News Service

VELLORE, HYDERABAD: Two days after sealing the houses of sand mining baron Sekar Reddy, the sleuths of the Income Tax Department opened the seal and raided the houses on Saturday.

On Thursday, acting on a secret tip-off on unaccounted cash with the businessman involved in sand quarry business, official team led by Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax for Vellore region Muruga Boopathy raided Reddys houses at Gandhi Nagar in Katpadi. As no family members were present, the officials sealed the houses.

Income Tax officials at Sekar Reddys

house, before they broke open the seal,

in Katpadi on Saturday | Express

On Saturday, in the presence of Reddys family members, officials have searched the houses. Earlier, on Friday officials seized Rs 24 crore from Sekar Reddys car in Thondan Thulai village.

Meanwhile, the postal scam probe in Hyderabad has hit a new development. While inquiring into the postal scam allegedly carried out by Indian Postal Service (IPoS) officer K Sudheer Babu, the sleuths of Central Bureau of Investigation unearthed Rs 65.66 lakh, all in newly released currency notes. The worth of the scam has just gone up to Rs 3.75 crore with the fresh seizure.

Babu, senior superintendent of post offices, Hyderabad city division, and officer of 2011-batch, was arrested for his role in fraud in postal offices after demonetisation, on Friday. Apart from three cases already registered, CBI tagged a fresh case against him on Saturday. So far, the CBI officials have seized Rs 92.68 lakh of new currency notes in Rs 2,000 denomination, in these cases.

Investigation has revealed that Rs 3.75 crore was misappropriated by Sudheer Babu fraudulently by exchanging old currencies for new currencies from the post offices falling under his division.

On Saturday, a day after his arrest, the CBI Hyderabad unit officials carried out raids at the residences of Sudheer Babus relatives located in Ibrahimpatnam and seized Rs 65.66 lakh cash of all new currency notes.

During investigation, Sudheer confessed to his offence in connection with the fraud that took place in post offices in the city. Based on the confessional statement, the CBI officials seized the cash.

Sudheer safely kept his commission amount at his relatives house located at the outskirts of Hyderabad. CBI officials acted swiftly and seized Rs 65.66 lakh cash all new currency in the denomination of Rs 2,000, officials said.

The four cases against the Indian Postal Service officer, K Sudheer Babu, was registered by the CBI based on the complaint forwarded to them by the vigilance wing of postal department.

VELLORE, HYDERABAD: Two days after sealing the houses of sand mining baron Sekar Reddy, the sleuths of the Income Tax Department opened the seal and raided the houses on Saturday. On Thursday, acting on a secret tip-off on unaccounted cash with the businessman involved in sand quarry business, official team led by Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax for Vellore region Muruga Boopathy raided Reddys houses at Gandhi Nagar in Katpadi. As no family members were present, the officials sealed the houses. Income Tax officials at Sekar Reddys house, before they broke open the seal, in Katpadi on Saturday | ExpressOn Saturday, in the presence of Reddys family members, officials have searched the houses. Earlier, on Friday officials seized Rs 24 crore from Sekar Reddys car in Thondan Thulai village. Meanwhile, the postal scam probe in Hyderabad has hit a new development. While inquiring into the postal scam allegedly carried out by Indian Postal Service (IPoS) officer K Sudheer Babu, the sleuths of Central Bureau of Investigation unearthed Rs 65.66 lakh, all in newly released currency notes. The worth of the scam has just gone up to Rs 3.75 crore with the fresh seizure. Babu, senior superintendent of post offices, Hyderabad city division, and officer of 2011-batch, was arrested for his role in fraud in postal offices after demonetisation, on Friday. Apart from three cases already registered, CBI tagged a fresh case against him on Saturday. So far, the CBI officials have seized Rs 92.68 lakh of new currency notes in Rs 2,000 denomination, in these cases. Investigation has revealed that Rs 3.75 crore was misappropriated by Sudheer Babu fraudulently by exchanging old currencies for new currencies from the post offices falling under his division. On Saturday, a day after his arrest, the CBI Hyderabad unit officials carried out raids at the residences of Sudheer Babus relatives located in Ibrahimpatnam and seized Rs 65.66 lakh cash of all new currency notes. During investigation, Sudheer confessed to his offence in connection with the fraud that took place in post offices in the city. Based on the confessional statement, the CBI officials seized the cash. Sudheer safely kept his commission amount at his relatives house located at the outskirts of Hyderabad. CBI officials acted swiftly and seized Rs 65.66 lakh cash all new currency in the denomination of Rs 2,000, officials said. The four cases against the Indian Postal Service officer, K Sudheer Babu, was registered by the CBI based on the complaint forwarded to them by the vigilance wing of postal department.
Nirupama Viswanathan By

Express News Service

Vaan poyyinum thaan poyya, malaiththalai iya kadar kaviri (Even if the rain failed, the Cauvery will not), they once said. On some days, she was the gentle mother who cradled Lord Shiva at the Saranatha Perumal Temple near Kumbakonam, and on some others, she ran with such unsparing might that Karikala Cholan had to raise floodgates to tame her.

Nevertheless, as anyone in the Cauvery delta would tell you, Ponni, as the Cauvery is sometimes called, for her power to turn everything in her way to gold, never failed.

But in the 60 years that Mannargudi Ranganathan had been a farmer, this was a year like none other with both the skies and river having failed them. With the limited storage in the Mettur dam, it now also seems likely that the northeast monsoon would play truant, hitting them where it hurts the most.

There are some things that we have grown accustomed to, like the cyclone in the Tamil month of Aippasi and the eventual flooding, said the geologist turned leader of the Tamil Nadu Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association.

However, they said they had always braced themselves for the cyclone that had been occurring since 1952, which was usually at its worst in November and would last until December 22 by making sure their crops were fairly ripe by then, enough to withstand the wind and water. But this years plight had been least expected. They have been forced to forego the Kuruvai since the last five years, but they are staring at a strong possibility of losing Samba, their only crop of the year, this time.

Ideally, Samba should have begun on August 1. This time, it was by October end, said Cauvery A Dhanabalan, Cauvery Farmers Protection Association.

The dam was opened on September 20 this year, with water reaching the tail-end only on October 5, he added. Though the sluices have not been opened on the customary date of June 12 for the last few years, it was opened on August 9 last year, allowing the farmers five months for the long duration (150 days) Samba crop before the sluices close on January 28.

The delta is primarily dependent on the water from the dam, according to Ranganathan. From June 10 to September 30, 135 tmc out of the 192 tmc should be given and the northeast monsoon is required only for the remaining 55 tmc.

Residents of Thiruthuraipoondi fetching water from a pipe | Express

Divided by the delay

As a consequence of the delay in both the northeast monsoon and the release from the dam, the farming system in the delta has gone for a toss, dividing the farmers geographically, as those who are praying for rain and those against it.

Those in areas blessed with groundwater  mostly in 70,000 hectares in old delta  have gone ahead with the transplantation after raising the nursery. While the advantages of the transplantation method of paddy are many, copious water supply is essential and hence is mostly carried out in areas where ground water is available.

Muthu of Mariamman Kovil in Thanjavur, for instance, raises three crops a year, thanks to the borewell water available at 150 ft for his 15 acre paddy field. If there is a good spell of rain anytime soon, Muthus field would be waterlogged, killing young seedlings.

While there are drainage canals to avoid water from stagnating, the canals in many fields have not been desilted in several months, rendering them useless.

Some like Bose of Kalakudi in Thanjavur scrape together their savings to desilt the canals themselves. I have to spend Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 for it, said the 58-year-old farmer, who has spent his entire life farming, starting off with a two-acre field that he purchased a few years after coming from Madurai as a farmhand to Thanjavur and later managing to expand it to 10 acres.

However, as Ranganathan explains, the availability of ground water in the entire delta is only a maximum of 38 tmc, with which both irrigation and drinking water needs have to be met, forcing others in the delta to turn to direct sowing.

Hopeful after the showers in September, farmers in Thanjavur opted for direct sowing covering 25,000 hectares against a total of 60,000 hectares that came under Samba cultivation as on October. All of them are now looking skyward, looking for some relief.

Even so, Ganesan (55), who has eight acres of paddy field in Orthanadu, said it would take a lot more than mounting debts and the lack of rain to stop him from far ming. If my crops fail this season, I will borrow some more money and try again next season. Though his son does not stop asking him to give it all up and let him settle the debts, Ganesan said, This is all I know. This is what I will do until I die.

History of the delta The Cauvery delta, an equilateral triangle of 16 lakh acres, has the longest history of paddy monoculture, said Mannargudi Ranganathan.



Two thirds of the Cauvery basin has plastic clay soil, making it ideal for paddy because of its capacity to retain moisture.

The Vennar basin, however, entirely has plastic clay soil  the main reason why farmers in those areas find it impossible to shift to anything other than paddy. The new delta was formed after the Mettur dam was built in 1934. It includes parts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Pudukkottai.

United by woes, in life and death

Alagesan of Adichapuram and Rajesh Kanna of Keelathirupanthuruthi lived in places that are 60 km apart. But they had much in common. Both had debts, two acres of land that they did not own and two daughters and a son each. Both died on the same day also.

Two days after Rajeshs death, the family was clueless about what future holds for them. Twelve-year-old Ramani was at the entrance drawing something. Her brother Rajkiran, his head shaved, stood silently by his youngest sister, 10-year-old Yazhini, as his mother wailed. It had been 21 days since Rajesh (42) had directly sowed the seeds in his two acre field that he had leased for 12 bags/acre. With the mild showers, the area received a few days ago, some of his seeds had grown to see the light of day. But when he visited his field early on November 5, his crops had already withered. It was the second time this season that direct sowing failed him.

We took him to bundle paddy shoots in another nursery on a daily wage basis to take his mind off this, said his neighbour Rammaiah. He kept talking about how he would not be able to repay the loans and after just four or five bundles, he complained of a chest pain and we took him home where he died, Rammaiah added.



Alagesans house was built on poromboke land. His elder daughter Elakkiyas drawing adorns the entrance. Elakkiya had paid Rs 3,675 as fees to study BA History in a Government Arts College in Mannargudi.

I have to pay the balance of Rs 2,000 and have four books to buy, she said, flanked by her brother Akilavanan of Class IX and sister Yogapriya who is in Class XI. Alagesan was found dead in the field he had leased for Rs 18,000.

Sons of Alagesan and Rajesh also have something in common  both have not decided what they would grow up to be. A farmer? I ask and they shake their heads feverishly before the word fully escapes the mouth and you know not to ask again.

Digging deep for that elusive elixir of life

In 1998, Dhanabas father applied for free agriculture service connection. Today, 18 years later, a lot have changed. Dhanabal, who has a four acre farm in Tiruvarur, lost his father, but was blessed with two sons. But the free power supply that his father applied for still evades him.

For his application for connection to be accepted, TANGEDCO requires the sketch of the location of the bore that is issued by the Village Administrative Officer along with the ownership certificates, sale deed and the chitta. Once, the application is accepted, the service is awarded on a seniority basis.

Farmers have to install the borewells before applying for the free connection. However, even if it comes when it does, said farmers like Ahmed who has been lucky to avail the free connection in only 11 years, it would still burn a hole in the pockets to reinstall the borewell that is easily 15 years old when the supply finally arrived, setting them back by Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000.

The static water level in the borewell would have gone down by that time and often submersible pumps need overhauling or the borewell needs to be dug elsewhere for a considerable yield, said Varadarajan, a farmer in Mannargudi.

With the delay in monsoon and sometimes even otherwise, almost 17 per cent of the farming in the delta rely on borewells with the old delta region said to be having maximum borewells.

But farmers can opt for borewells if they have the money or the luck of being geographically positioned at an advantage for getting water at least at a decent depth. Those that have neither, turn to rented diesel engine pumping sets.

Kalaichelvan Thangavel of Keelathirupanthuruthi said that he rents the diesel engine for Rs 150 an hour for almost 10-12 hours a day. That apart, he also has to bear the diesel expenses that would work out to around Rs 170 an hour for around 1.5 litres of fuel, which is required to run the engine for an hour.

This, or the farmers borrow water from their rich counterparts in the neighbourhood who have borewells. However, some farmers like Ganesan, owner of an eight acre farm in Orathanadu, said that the power supply was erratic and hence it was difficult for farmers to lend water.

According to Kathir (name changed), the sanctioned connection is originally given for a load of 5 HP, but motors with a capacity of 7.5 HP to 10 HP were required for irrigation during times like these.

Salinity is the villain in Nagapattinam

The difference between Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam is the green of the fields. While most parts of Thanjavur and some parts of Tiruvarur have managed to retain the colour of the fields, the fields go from yellow to brown as one passes through Thituthuraipoondi to Nagapattinam.

Nagapattinam, already last in line for the Mettur water, is perhaps the worst affected with the delay of monsoons adding to their woes, apart from the usual waterlogging that Nagapattinam is known for.

Now that we have just sowed our crops, if there is an 80 mm shower, our crops will be ruined, said M Seran, a farmer who belongs to Nagapattinam.

Their crops must ideally be 60 days old and should have grown to a height of 2 ft to withstand the effects of waterlogging.

According to Seran, 57 per cent of Nagapattinam was affected by salinity. If at all groundwater is available in these areas, the pros are sometimes outweighed by the cons, farmers said.

For instance, additional measures to counter salinity is required, resulting in increased production costs.

Change in pH levels do not immediately affect the soil, but it leads to the deterioration of soil quality over a period of time. Ideally, the pH levels for irrigation water is between 6.5 and 8.4. When the pH increases beyond this range, sulphur or other acidic substances are often applied to counter the effects.

However, for small and marginal farmers, it is easier said than done.

After every time that we irrigate, we will have to apply copper sulphate because of the salinity here. One bag costs Rs 170 and we need two bags per acre, says a small farmer in Kottur, Nagapattinam.

Even after this is done, their yield is significantly lower than that in other delta regions such as Thanjavur, claim farmers in the district.

We only get around 20 bags per acre these days, said Seran.

The salinity phenomenon has crept into parts of Tiruvarur too, said farmers. When a farmer goes down, so do the farmhands. According to a memorandum presented by the Tamilnadu Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association and other associations to the technical committee headed by G S Jha that had visited the delta recently, landless labourers have lost mandays, especially in Nagapattinam.

With farmers foregoing the Kuruvai crop and the subsequent reduction in acreage of over 3.5 lakh annually and with unavailability of water during the most productive part of the crop season, landless labourers lose 70 out of 150 mandays in a crop year.

Irrigation water problems aside, residents of Raghunathapuram, 60 km from Nagapattinam, said that drinking water supply in itself was erratic in the region in stark contrast to Thanjavur where drinking water crisis is almost unheard of.

If water comes today, we dont really know when the water will be supplied next  it may be two or three days sometimes, said Alamelu, a housewife in Raghunathapuram.

Woman who learnt ropes of farming for the love of it

After her husband died 23 years ago, Indrani would go out pretending to inspect her five acre field, although there was nothing growing on it except weeds. In reality, she was checking what was going on at her neighbours farm.

Thats how I learnt how to farm, said the now 62-year-old from Kalakkudi in Thanjavur.

When her husband was alive, Indrani could easily count the number of times she had set foot on the field. It was mostly to fetch her husband for lunch or when he had visitors.

I began to watch the neighbouring fields carefully. When they brought tractors over or when they irrigate their fields. I decided I should do the same, she said.

She would farm because she had no choice. Her sons were still in school and she could not think of anything else to do.

One acre of a paddy field, in most places in Thanjavur, would yield around 30-32 bags in a good year, helping them make a total of around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000, more often than not, allowing them only to break even. There is no profit here and no loss. It has been that way for many years, said the mother of two sons.

Now, even after her sons have grown up, she is the only one taking care of the field. Her younger son works at a private firm and her oldest has left for a Gulf country leaving his wife and child with his mother.

The men of the house migrating, especially to the Gulf, was a common phenomenon in these areas.

Some women like 25-year-old Anu does not cultivate because she has to; she farms because it brings back memories of her father, because farming has given their family everything that they have today and it liberates her in a way that she has not yet found how to explain.

Everyone in her small village knows this papa, who single handedly takes care of her fathers field, but they dont know her name. Tell her this and she laughs.

When her father Gunasekaran died 10 years ago, Anu was just out of school. The villagers tried to persuade her mother into selling off the 100 acre land at a throw-away price.

Now who will take care of such a large field? Better sell it off now before it becomes a burden, they would tell her mother, who decided to keep the land. A decade later, Anu makes at least 2 lakh of profit from the paddy field.

Vaan poyyinum thaan poyya, malaiththalai iya kadar kaviri (Even if the rain failed, the Cauvery will not), they once said. On some days, she was the gentle mother who cradled Lord Shiva at the Saranatha Perumal Temple near Kumbakonam, and on some others, she ran with such unsparing might that Karikala Cholan had to raise floodgates to tame her. Nevertheless, as anyone in the Cauvery delta would tell you, Ponni, as the Cauvery is sometimes called, for her power to turn everything in her way to gold, never failed. But in the 60 years that Mannargudi Ranganathan had been a farmer, this was a year like none other with both the skies and river having failed them. With the limited storage in the Mettur dam, it now also seems likely that the northeast monsoon would play truant, hitting them where it hurts the most. There are some things that we have grown accustomed to, like the cyclone in the Tamil month of Aippasi and the eventual flooding, said the geologist turned leader of the Tamil Nadu Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association. However, they said they had always braced themselves for the cyclone that had been occurring since 1952, which was usually at its worst in November and would last until December 22 by making sure their crops were fairly ripe by then, enough to withstand the wind and water. But this years plight had been least expected. They have been forced to forego the Kuruvai since the last five years, but they are staring at a strong possibility of losing Samba, their only crop of the year, this time. Ideally, Samba should have begun on August 1. This time, it was by October end, said Cauvery A Dhanabalan, Cauvery Farmers Protection Association. The dam was opened on September 20 this year, with water reaching the tail-end only on October 5, he added. Though the sluices have not been opened on the customary date of June 12 for the last few years, it was opened on August 9 last year, allowing the farmers five months for the long duration (150 days) Samba crop before the sluices close on January 28. The delta is primarily dependent on the water from the dam, according to Ranganathan. From June 10 to September 30, 135 tmc out of the 192 tmc should be given and the northeast monsoon is required only for the remaining 55 tmc. Residents of Thiruthuraipoondi fetching water from a pipe | Express Divided by the delay As a consequence of the delay in both the northeast monsoon and the release from the dam, the farming system in the delta has gone for a toss, dividing the farmers geographically, as those who are praying for rain and those against it. Those in areas blessed with groundwater  mostly in 70,000 hectares in old delta  have gone ahead with the transplantation after raising the nursery. While the advantages of the transplantation method of paddy are many, copious water supply is essential and hence is mostly carried out in areas where ground water is available. Muthu of Mariamman Kovil in Thanjavur, for instance, raises three crops a year, thanks to the borewell water available at 150 ft for his 15 acre paddy field. If there is a good spell of rain anytime soon, Muthus field would be waterlogged, killing young seedlings. While there are drainage canals to avoid water from stagnating, the canals in many fields have not been desilted in several months, rendering them useless. Some like Bose of Kalakudi in Thanjavur scrape together their savings to desilt the canals themselves. I have to spend Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 for it, said the 58-year-old farmer, who has spent his entire life farming, starting off with a two-acre field that he purchased a few years after coming from Madurai as a farmhand to Thanjavur and later managing to expand it to 10 acres. However, as Ranganathan explains, the availability of ground water in the entire delta is only a maximum of 38 tmc, with which both irrigation and drinking water needs have to be met, forcing others in the delta to turn to direct sowing. Hopeful after the showers in September, farmers in Thanjavur opted for direct sowing covering 25,000 hectares against a total of 60,000 hectares that came under Samba cultivation as on October. All of them are now looking skyward, looking for some relief. Even so, Ganesan (55), who has eight acres of paddy field in Orthanadu, said it would take a lot more than mounting debts and the lack of rain to stop him from far ming. If my crops fail this season, I will borrow some more money and try again next season. Though his son does not stop asking him to give it all up and let him settle the debts, Ganesan said, This is all I know. This is what I will do until I die. History of the delta The Cauvery delta, an equilateral triangle of 16 lakh acres, has the longest history of paddy monoculture, said Mannargudi Ranganathan. Two thirds of the Cauvery basin has plastic clay soil, making it ideal for paddy because of its capacity to retain moisture. The Vennar basin, however, entirely has plastic clay soil  the main reason why farmers in those areas find it impossible to shift to anything other than paddy. The new delta was formed after the Mettur dam was built in 1934. It includes parts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Pudukkottai. United by woes, in life and death Alagesan of Adichapuram and Rajesh Kanna of Keelathirupanthuruthi lived in places that are 60 km apart. But they had much in common. Both had debts, two acres of land that they did not own and two daughters and a son each. Both died on the same day also. Two days after Rajeshs death, the family was clueless about what future holds for them. Twelve-year-old Ramani was at the entrance drawing something. Her brother Rajkiran, his head shaved, stood silently by his youngest sister, 10-year-old Yazhini, as his mother wailed. It had been 21 days since Rajesh (42) had directly sowed the seeds in his two acre field that he had leased for 12 bags/acre. With the mild showers, the area received a few days ago, some of his seeds had grown to see the light of day. But when he visited his field early on November 5, his crops had already withered. It was the second time this season that direct sowing failed him. We took him to bundle paddy shoots in another nursery on a daily wage basis to take his mind off this, said his neighbour Rammaiah. He kept talking about how he would not be able to repay the loans and after just four or five bundles, he complained of a chest pain and we took him home where he died, Rammaiah added. Alagesans house was built on poromboke land. His elder daughter Elakkiyas drawing adorns the entrance. Elakkiya had paid Rs 3,675 as fees to study BA History in a Government Arts College in Mannargudi. I have to pay the balance of Rs 2,000 and have four books to buy, she said, flanked by her brother Akilavanan of Class IX and sister Yogapriya who is in Class XI. Alagesan was found dead in the field he had leased for Rs 18,000. Sons of Alagesan and Rajesh also have something in common  both have not decided what they would grow up to be. A farmer? I ask and they shake their heads feverishly before the word fully escapes the mouth and you know not to ask again. Digging deep for that elusive elixir of life In 1998, Dhanabas father applied for free agriculture service connection. Today, 18 years later, a lot have changed. Dhanabal, who has a four acre farm in Tiruvarur, lost his father, but was blessed with two sons. But the free power supply that his father applied for still evades him. For his application for connection to be accepted, TANGEDCO requires the sketch of the location of the bore that is issued by the Village Administrative Officer along with the ownership certificates, sale deed and the chitta. Once, the application is accepted, the service is awarded on a seniority basis. Farmers have to install the borewells before applying for the free connection. However, even if it comes when it does, said farmers like Ahmed who has been lucky to avail the free connection in only 11 years, it would still burn a hole in the pockets to reinstall the borewell that is easily 15 years old when the supply finally arrived, setting them back by Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. The static water level in the borewell would have gone down by that time and often submersible pumps need overhauling or the borewell needs to be dug elsewhere for a considerable yield, said Varadarajan, a farmer in Mannargudi. With the delay in monsoon and sometimes even otherwise, almost 17 per cent of the farming in the delta rely on borewells with the old delta region said to be having maximum borewells. But farmers can opt for borewells if they have the money or the luck of being geographically positioned at an advantage for getting water at least at a decent depth. Those that have neither, turn to rented diesel engine pumping sets. Kalaichelvan Thangavel of Keelathirupanthuruthi said that he rents the diesel engine for Rs 150 an hour for almost 10-12 hours a day. That apart, he also has to bear the diesel expenses that would work out to around Rs 170 an hour for around 1.5 litres of fuel, which is required to run the engine for an hour. This, or the farmers borrow water from their rich counterparts in the neighbourhood who have borewells. However, some farmers like Ganesan, owner of an eight acre farm in Orathanadu, said that the power supply was erratic and hence it was difficult for farmers to lend water. According to Kathir (name changed), the sanctioned connection is originally given for a load of 5 HP, but motors with a capacity of 7.5 HP to 10 HP were required for irrigation during times like these. Salinity is the villain in Nagapattinam The difference between Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam is the green of the fields. While most parts of Thanjavur and some parts of Tiruvarur have managed to retain the colour of the fields, the fields go from yellow to brown as one passes through Thituthuraipoondi to Nagapattinam. Nagapattinam, already last in line for the Mettur water, is perhaps the worst affected with the delay of monsoons adding to their woes, apart from the usual waterlogging that Nagapattinam is known for. Now that we have just sowed our crops, if there is an 80 mm shower, our crops will be ruined, said M Seran, a farmer who belongs to Nagapattinam. Their crops must ideally be 60 days old and should have grown to a height of 2 ft to withstand the effects of waterlogging. According to Seran, 57 per cent of Nagapattinam was affected by salinity. If at all groundwater is available in these areas, the pros are sometimes outweighed by the cons, farmers said. For instance, additional measures to counter salinity is required, resulting in increased production costs. Change in pH levels do not immediately affect the soil, but it leads to the deterioration of soil quality over a period of time. Ideally, the pH levels for irrigation water is between 6.5 and 8.4. When the pH increases beyond this range, sulphur or other acidic substances are often applied to counter the effects. However, for small and marginal farmers, it is easier said than done. After every time that we irrigate, we will have to apply copper sulphate because of the salinity here. One bag costs Rs 170 and we need two bags per acre, says a small farmer in Kottur, Nagapattinam. Even after this is done, their yield is significantly lower than that in other delta regions such as Thanjavur, claim farmers in the district. We only get around 20 bags per acre these days, said Seran. The salinity phenomenon has crept into parts of Tiruvarur too, said farmers. When a farmer goes down, so do the farmhands. According to a memorandum presented by the Tamilnadu Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association and other associations to the technical committee headed by G S Jha that had visited the delta recently, landless labourers have lost mandays, especially in Nagapattinam. With farmers foregoing the Kuruvai crop and the subsequent reduction in acreage of over 3.5 lakh annually and with unavailability of water during the most productive part of the crop season, landless labourers lose 70 out of 150 mandays in a crop year. Irrigation water problems aside, residents of Raghunathapuram, 60 km from Nagapattinam, said that drinking water supply in itself was erratic in the region in stark contrast to Thanjavur where drinking water crisis is almost unheard of. If water comes today, we dont really know when the water will be supplied next  it may be two or three days sometimes, said Alamelu, a housewife in Raghunathapuram. Woman who learnt ropes of farming for the love of it After her husband died 23 years ago, Indrani would go out pretending to inspect her five acre field, although there was nothing growing on it except weeds. In reality, she was checking what was going on at her neighbours farm. Thats how I learnt how to farm, said the now 62-year-old from Kalakkudi in Thanjavur. When her husband was alive, Indrani could easily count the number of times she had set foot on the field. It was mostly to fetch her husband for lunch or when he had visitors. I began to watch the neighbouring fields carefully. When they brought tractors over or when they irrigate their fields. I decided I should do the same, she said. She would farm because she had no choice. Her sons were still in school and she could not think of anything else to do. One acre of a paddy field, in most places in Thanjavur, would yield around 30-32 bags in a good year, helping them make a total of around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000, more often than not, allowing them only to break even. There is no profit here and no loss. It has been that way for many years, said the mother of two sons. Now, even after her sons have grown up, she is the only one taking care of the field. Her younger son works at a private firm and her oldest has left for a Gulf country leaving his wife and child with his mother. The men of the house migrating, especially to the Gulf, was a common phenomenon in these areas. Some women like 25-year-old Anu does not cultivate because she has to; she farms because it brings back memories of her father, because farming has given their family everything that they have today and it liberates her in a way that she has not yet found how to explain. Everyone in her small village knows this papa, who single handedly takes care of her fathers field, but they dont know her name. Tell her this and she laughs. When her father Gunasekaran died 10 years ago, Anu was just out of school. The villagers tried to persuade her mother into selling off the 100 acre land at a throw-away price. Now who will take care of such a large field? Better sell it off now before it becomes a burden, they would tell her mother, who decided to keep the land. A decade later, Anu makes at least 2 lakh of profit from the paddy field.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Nalini Sriharan is one of the longest serving women prisoners in the world. Accused of hosting two female suicide bombers, Suba and Dhanu from Sri Lanka, along with her husband Sriharan alias Murugan, another convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Nalini has been languishing in Vellore jail for 25 years now.

In a recently released book, Rajiv Kolai: Maraikkapatta Unmaigalum, Priyanka Nalini Santhippum (Rajiv assassination: Suppressed facts and the Priyanka-Nalini meeting), compiled by journalist Ekalaivan, Nalini opens up on what transpired in the meeting between two women  the slain Prime Ministers daughter and the woman convicted for the murder.

The book also has three chapters dedicated to how Nalinis husband became his own counsel, a story about which very little is in the public domain, according to Ekalaivan.

The excerpts

We were the only family who were accused in this case. The CBI arrested six of us  my mother, younger sister and brother, maternal uncle and my husband. My sister Kalyani and uncle were let off after detention in custody of over 40 days. They were stripped of all belongings.

The rest of us were in the CBI custody for 60 days and shifted to Chengalpet prison. There were advocates visiting the other accused. None came for us. Particularly, none came for those from Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, the CBI was busy spinning yarns about my life. Citing my pregnancy, they created a debate on who the father of my child was. Was it Murugan? Or Sivarasan.

Our hearts crushed. That was the time advocate Duraisamy came to meet us in prison. Around May 19, 1992, four of them from the Saidapet camp were added as accused in the case. Only after that did the court bother to look if we had an advocate. After more than a year.

In January 1993, we were shifted to the special prison in Poonamallee, specially designed for the accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Two years had passed by then.

Only then did we receive in writing from the courts that we can appoint an advocate for us. Senior advocate Duraisamy agreed to be my counsel.

I spoke to my husband. Disgusted at the proceedings over time, he said, I dont mind what happens to me. I am not going to seek a counsel. I am cornered... You keep one, if you want.

Further, he wrote a letter citing previous incidents of bias from the court and sent it with attachments of proof from the previous two years of trial. That was it. There was an explosion of sorts in our prison. There was pressure to reconsider my husbands decision. Some suggested that we read up law books.

Cross-examination

An advocate, Chandrasekaran, lent two law books to my husband. He started poring over the books, sometimes over 18 hours a day. Among the 1,000 witnesses in the case, only 280 had deposed. Those statements itself ran over 20,000 pages. It was around the beginning of 1995, I think. First witness was Sriperumbudur Police Inspector Madhuram, the officer who had filed the First Information Report (FIR).

My husband got a chance only after nine advocates finished cross-examining the police inspector. Accused no 3, Sriharans cross-examination, came the announcement.

My husband got up and prepared. Everyones gazed at him. Some wondered if this is allowed, Some chided, What does he know? Some of them were hoping for the trial to turn into a comic event.

There was an important thing to be cross-examined with the Inspector. Armys Major Sabarwal, an explosives expert, had filed a report on the Sriperumbudur blast. Apart from explaining the technicalities of the explosives involved, the major in his report had mentioned that the site where the explosion happened (Sriperumbudur) had a Tigers training camp, adding, This is one of the reasons why I conclude they are behind the bombings.

It was attached to the chargesheet provided to us. It was a big mistake. It would accentuate our chances of being found guilty. My husbands cross-examination with Madhuram began.

How long have you been the Inspector of Sriperumbudur region? What sorts of crimes have you encountered? Any previous instances of explosives cases?

He threw in many such questions and all of a sudden he let the question he wanted to ask, Have you ever sent a report to your higher-ups about the presence of a terror organisation within your range?

No, said the Inspector.

Any training camp, in the past or present?

The Inspector again responded in the negative.

But there were reports that a Tigers training camp functioned in Sriperumbudur?

The inspector was restless now. There is nothing of that sort, he said. If anyone says so, it is nothing but a rumour. There is no truth to it, he added.

Then, is the report false?

Yes, if there is a report saying so, then it must be false, said the police officer.

There was resistance among other prisoners to my husbands line of questioning. Had we accepted Major Sabarwals report and went into trial, it would increase the odds against us was my husbands defense.

The 32nd witness

Cross-examination of the 32nd witness, Sub Inspector Anasuya, was very important for my husband. She was on duty when the explosion happened. When she appeared for trial, she had earned promotion and was a Deputy Superintendent of Police. After a few rounds, an irate Anasuya responded to all the questions with, Cannot say. Cant answer. She repeated it 11 times.

Such an answer is not allowed, according to law. The officer was probably not aware at that time that such answers would have repercussions. The States prosecutors understood though. What was shocking was when we read the witness deposition. The places where DSP Anasuya responded with cannot say were overwritten with cannot remember, do not know and forgot.

Dealing with witnesses

Badrinath, Avadi Manoharan, Prabhakaran  the CBI witnesses in the case deposed before the court that the CBI kept us at Malligai building for so many days and trained us on what to tell before the Judge.

The State produced another witness, Selvam. Their report claimed that my husband was staying at Selvams house and that police had recovered his photo ID from the home, according to Selvams statement.

Selvam was well prepared by the CBI. My husband began his cross-examination.

Did you go through the list of items seized from your house and signed under it, he asked.

Yes

Did you see me at your house? Are you sure it was me?

Yes

The CBI or police, they showed a photograph of me and told to say that the man in this photograph is Murugan. Is that right, my husband asked.

Nothing like that sir. I have seen you in my house, Selvam said.

You are an illiterate. You signed under what was given to you by the CBI. Am I right? my husband shot the next question.

No, I can read and write. I read and signed under it

You did not notice any photograph of mine in the house of yours. Did you?

Yes, I did not

In that case, you are also declining that they (police) told you to identify me from a photograph of mine?

Yes, I decline, Selvam said.

Sir, but you have signed under the statement that police found a photo ID of mine in your house and that they confirmed it was me by showing the photo ID. Now, did you sign under a false statement? my husband had him locked. Selvam was lost for words. Those in the court hall laughed.

When SPPs lauded Murugan

None of the government lawyers who were arguing for us were paid by the government. They were conspiring to somehow wreck the support we had.

One fine day, senior public prosecutors Thande and Gopinath called me. They had argued against us all along. I went to meet them. The two of them stood up. Suddenly, they blessed me. An important thing, they started and said, We observed your husband. His cross-examination skills are exemplary. That too, at such a young age. After release, ensure that he enrols for a course in law. He would make a good lawyer.

Judgment day

I have to tell about the run-up to the judgment day. All of us could barely sleep. Our stomachs were in knots. Police officers had started wishing us in advance.

The day arrived. The Judge began to read out his order. Accused number 1 Nalini sentenced to death, he announced. Similar fate for Santhan and my husband Murugan. When the Judge read out the same sentence for accused number 4 Shankar, my husband let out a loud chuckle.

I asked him why he did that.

Isnt this a circus? All witnesses and proof show that Shankar has no connection with this case, whosoever. Still, he is awarded the death penalty! Isnt this a thing to laugh about? he said.

The 26 of us spent our final sunrise at Poonamallee Prison soon after. The men were separated into three batches and sent to prisons in Puzhal, Vellore and Salem. The five of us, women, were sent to the Vellore womens prison.

CHENNAI: Nalini Sriharan is one of the longest serving women prisoners in the world. Accused of hosting two female suicide bombers, Suba and Dhanu from Sri Lanka, along with her husband Sriharan alias Murugan, another convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Nalini has been languishing in Vellore jail for 25 years now. In a recently released book, Rajiv Kolai: Maraikkapatta Unmaigalum, Priyanka Nalini Santhippum (Rajiv assassination: Suppressed facts and the Priyanka-Nalini meeting), compiled by journalist Ekalaivan, Nalini opens up on what transpired in the meeting between two women  the slain Prime Ministers daughter and the woman convicted for the murder. The book also has three chapters dedicated to how Nalinis husband became his own counsel, a story about which very little is in the public domain, according to Ekalaivan. The excerpts We were the only family who were accused in this case. The CBI arrested six of us  my mother, younger sister and brother, maternal uncle and my husband. My sister Kalyani and uncle were let off after detention in custody of over 40 days. They were stripped of all belongings. The rest of us were in the CBI custody for 60 days and shifted to Chengalpet prison. There were advocates visiting the other accused. None came for us. Particularly, none came for those from Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, the CBI was busy spinning yarns about my life. Citing my pregnancy, they created a debate on who the father of my child was. Was it Murugan? Or Sivarasan. Our hearts crushed. That was the time advocate Duraisamy came to meet us in prison. Around May 19, 1992, four of them from the Saidapet camp were added as accused in the case. Only after that did the court bother to look if we had an advocate. After more than a year. In January 1993, we were shifted to the special prison in Poonamallee, specially designed for the accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Two years had passed by then. Only then did we receive in writing from the courts that we can appoint an advocate for us. Senior advocate Duraisamy agreed to be my counsel. I spoke to my husband. Disgusted at the proceedings over time, he said, I dont mind what happens to me. I am not going to seek a counsel. I am cornered... You keep one, if you want. Further, he wrote a letter citing previous incidents of bias from the court and sent it with attachments of proof from the previous two years of trial. That was it. There was an explosion of sorts in our prison. There was pressure to reconsider my husbands decision. Some suggested that we read up law books. Cross-examination An advocate, Chandrasekaran, lent two law books to my husband. He started poring over the books, sometimes over 18 hours a day. Among the 1,000 witnesses in the case, only 280 had deposed. Those statements itself ran over 20,000 pages. It was around the beginning of 1995, I think. First witness was Sriperumbudur Police Inspector Madhuram, the officer who had filed the First Information Report (FIR). My husband got a chance only after nine advocates finished cross-examining the police inspector. Accused no 3, Sriharans cross-examination, came the announcement. My husband got up and prepared. Everyones gazed at him. Some wondered if this is allowed, Some chided, What does he know? Some of them were hoping for the trial to turn into a comic event. There was an important thing to be cross-examined with the Inspector. Armys Major Sabarwal, an explosives expert, had filed a report on the Sriperumbudur blast. Apart from explaining the technicalities of the explosives involved, the major in his report had mentioned that the site where the explosion happened (Sriperumbudur) had a Tigers training camp, adding, This is one of the reasons why I conclude they are behind the bombings. It was attached to the chargesheet provided to us. It was a big mistake. It would accentuate our chances of being found guilty. My husbands cross-examination with Madhuram began. How long have you been the Inspector of Sriperumbudur region? What sorts of crimes have you encountered? Any previous instances of explosives cases? He threw in many such questions and all of a sudden he let the question he wanted to ask, Have you ever sent a report to your higher-ups about the presence of a terror organisation within your range? No, said the Inspector. Any training camp, in the past or present? The Inspector again responded in the negative. But there were reports that a Tigers training camp functioned in Sriperumbudur? The inspector was restless now. There is nothing of that sort, he said. If anyone says so, it is nothing but a rumour. There is no truth to it, he added. Then, is the report false? Yes, if there is a report saying so, then it must be false, said the police officer. There was resistance among other prisoners to my husbands line of questioning. Had we accepted Major Sabarwals report and went into trial, it would increase the odds against us was my husbands defense. The 32nd witness Cross-examination of the 32nd witness, Sub Inspector Anasuya, was very important for my husband. She was on duty when the explosion happened. When she appeared for trial, she had earned promotion and was a Deputy Superintendent of Police. After a few rounds, an irate Anasuya responded to all the questions with, Cannot say. Cant answer. She repeated it 11 times. Such an answer is not allowed, according to law. The officer was probably not aware at that time that such answers would have repercussions. The States prosecutors understood though. What was shocking was when we read the witness deposition. The places where DSP Anasuya responded with cannot say were overwritten with cannot remember, do not know and forgot. Dealing with witnesses Badrinath, Avadi Manoharan, Prabhakaran  the CBI witnesses in the case deposed before the court that the CBI kept us at Malligai building for so many days and trained us on what to tell before the Judge. The State produced another witness, Selvam. Their report claimed that my husband was staying at Selvams house and that police had recovered his photo ID from the home, according to Selvams statement. Selvam was well prepared by the CBI. My husband began his cross-examination. Did you go through the list of items seized from your house and signed under it, he asked. Yes Did you see me at your house? Are you sure it was me? Yes The CBI or police, they showed a photograph of me and told to say that the man in this photograph is Murugan. Is that right, my husband asked. Nothing like that sir. I have seen you in my house, Selvam said. You are an illiterate. You signed under what was given to you by the CBI. Am I right? my husband shot the next question. No, I can read and write. I read and signed under it You did not notice any photograph of mine in the house of yours. Did you? Yes, I did not In that case, you are also declining that they (police) told you to identify me from a photograph of mine? Yes, I decline, Selvam said. Sir, but you have signed under the statement that police found a photo ID of mine in your house and that they confirmed it was me by showing the photo ID. Now, did you sign under a false statement? my husband had him locked. Selvam was lost for words. Those in the court hall laughed. When SPPs lauded Murugan None of the government lawyers who were arguing for us were paid by the government. They were conspiring to somehow wreck the support we had. One fine day, senior public prosecutors Thande and Gopinath called me. They had argued against us all along. I went to meet them. The two of them stood up. Suddenly, they blessed me. An important thing, they started and said, We observed your husband. His cross-examination skills are exemplary. That too, at such a young age. After release, ensure that he enrols for a course in law. He would make a good lawyer. Judgment day I have to tell about the run-up to the judgment day. All of us could barely sleep. Our stomachs were in knots. Police officers had started wishing us in advance. The day arrived. The Judge began to read out his order. Accused number 1 Nalini sentenced to death, he announced. Similar fate for Santhan and my husband Murugan. When the Judge read out the same sentence for accused number 4 Shankar, my husband let out a loud chuckle. I asked him why he did that. Isnt this a circus? All witnesses and proof show that Shankar has no connection with this case, whosoever. Still, he is awarded the death penalty! Isnt this a thing to laugh about? he said. The 26 of us spent our final sunrise at Poonamallee Prison soon after. The men were separated into three batches and sent to prisons in Puzhal, Vellore and Salem. The five of us, women, were sent to the Vellore womens prison.
Kumar Vikram By

The ministry of urban development has instructed the state administrations of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to speed up the construction of projects and also fix the responsibility for the delay.

In this regard, urban development secretary Rajiv Gauba held a meeting with the authorities concerned to discuss the halted projects connecting Delhi to UP and Haryana. Sources said he expressed displeasure over the slow progress on these projects. The secretary was dissatisfied with the work done by the state authorities concerned in these projects. He also informed the various departments of the states that these projects are significant in the wake of the rise in traffic congestion and pollution level in Delhi, said a senior official.

The urban development ministry believes that once completed, these projects would play a key role in reducing traffic congestion in major arteries of Delhi as well as pollution. There are nine different projects connecting Delhi and Haryana, including Kalindi Kunj bypass connecting Delhi and Faridabad. Similarly, there are four projects linking Delhi with UP, said the official.

Conceived in 2002, the Kalindi Kunj bypass project remains incomplete due to land acquisition issues. Under the project, a part of the road has to pass through the land owned by the UP irrigation department. The transfer of this piece of land is proving to be a major hurdle. Once complete, this bypass will help decongest NH-2 and Ashram Chowk. The bypass will begin from Ring Road near DND flyover and terminate near Badarpur border. Since part of the bypass is to be constructed on land in UP, concerned Delhi and UP government departments have been told to resolve such issues. Besides, help has also been sought from the Haryana government to fast-track this projects work, added the official.

Similarly, construction of another bridge on Yamuna connecting Noida and Kalindi Kunj will also help ease traffic congestion between south Delhi and Noida. Delhi PWD has been instructed to work on this along with their UP counterpart and send a proposal to fast-track the project, added the official. Delhi has the largest number of vehicle population of over 95 lakh. Over 32 per cent out of this are four-wheelers. As per a PWD official, construction of these projects will help decongest the roads a lot.

The connectivity of Delhi with NCR areas got a major boost when the government last week gave a green signal to the long-awaited Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) corridor. Expected to start operations by 2024, the corridor would reduce travel time between the capital and Meerut to about an hour.

The ministry of urban development has instructed the state administrations of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to speed up the construction of projects and also fix the responsibility for the delay. In this regard, urban development secretary Rajiv Gauba held a meeting with the authorities concerned to discuss the halted projects connecting Delhi to UP and Haryana. Sources said he expressed displeasure over the slow progress on these projects. The secretary was dissatisfied with the work done by the state authorities concerned in these projects. He also informed the various departments of the states that these projects are significant in the wake of the rise in traffic congestion and pollution level in Delhi, said a senior official. The urban development ministry believes that once completed, these projects would play a key role in reducing traffic congestion in major arteries of Delhi as well as pollution. There are nine different projects connecting Delhi and Haryana, including Kalindi Kunj bypass connecting Delhi and Faridabad. Similarly, there are four projects linking Delhi with UP, said the official. Conceived in 2002, the Kalindi Kunj bypass project remains incomplete due to land acquisition issues. Under the project, a part of the road has to pass through the land owned by the UP irrigation department. The transfer of this piece of land is proving to be a major hurdle. Once complete, this bypass will help decongest NH-2 and Ashram Chowk. The bypass will begin from Ring Road near DND flyover and terminate near Badarpur border. Since part of the bypass is to be constructed on land in UP, concerned Delhi and UP government departments have been told to resolve such issues. Besides, help has also been sought from the Haryana government to fast-track this projects work, added the official. Similarly, construction of another bridge on Yamuna connecting Noida and Kalindi Kunj will also help ease traffic congestion between south Delhi and Noida. Delhi PWD has been instructed to work on this along with their UP counterpart and send a proposal to fast-track the project, added the official. Delhi has the largest number of vehicle population of over 95 lakh. Over 32 per cent out of this are four-wheelers. As per a PWD official, construction of these projects will help decongest the roads a lot. The connectivity of Delhi with NCR areas got a major boost when the government last week gave a green signal to the long-awaited Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) corridor. Expected to start operations by 2024, the corridor would reduce travel time between the capital and Meerut to about an hour.
Pradip R Sagar By

NEW DELHI: Two Union ministers are caught in a political crossfire between the Congress and BJP over land-grabbing allegations in the Delhi Cantonment Board. Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh has written to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar regarding charges of BJPs Rachna Kadyan against the Congresss Vimal Chawdhary, accusing him of grabbing cantonment land worth crores. Parrikar has refrained from taking a decision, since his office is looking into the matter three months after Singhs letter in September. On December 5, Gen Singh reminded Parrikar about Kadiyans representation.

The political war in Delhi Cantonment Board has escalated with ex-chief of staff and MoS for External Affairs VK Singh writing repeatedly to Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar to investigate land grab accusations. BJP member Rachna Kadyan has alleged that Congress leader Vimal Chawdhary abused his powers by forcing the Cantonment Executive Officer (CEO), to sign an illegal document transferring land to a resident of Shastri Bazar. Singhs letter to Parikkar also said that Chawdhary insulted the national flag and CCTV cameras installed in the CEOs chamber recorded entire conversation. He also stated that the Cantonment Board had dismissed Chawdhary for misconduct, and is contemplating action under the Cantonment Act.

However, Singh is exasperated at the delay, commenting, considerable time has elapsed. I would request you to please look into the case for appropriate action, in his complaint.

Kadiyan alleged Chawdhary was involved in an illegal high-value property transaction. He has been misusing his authority in connivance with the builder lobby. We are seeking the intervention of highest authority in defence ministry, she said.

Parrikars office has not responded, since the matter is under investigation of Cantonment Board.

Chawdhary could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

NEW DELHI: Two Union ministers are caught in a political crossfire between the Congress and BJP over land-grabbing allegations in the Delhi Cantonment Board. Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh has written to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar regarding charges of BJPs Rachna Kadyan against the Congresss Vimal Chawdhary, accusing him of grabbing cantonment land worth crores. Parrikar has refrained from taking a decision, since his office is looking into the matter three months after Singhs letter in September. On December 5, Gen Singh reminded Parrikar about Kadiyans representation. The political war in Delhi Cantonment Board has escalated with ex-chief of staff and MoS for External Affairs VK Singh writing repeatedly to Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar to investigate land grab accusations. BJP member Rachna Kadyan has alleged that Congress leader Vimal Chawdhary abused his powers by forcing the Cantonment Executive Officer (CEO), to sign an illegal document transferring land to a resident of Shastri Bazar. Singhs letter to Parikkar also said that Chawdhary insulted the national flag and CCTV cameras installed in the CEOs chamber recorded entire conversation. He also stated that the Cantonment Board had dismissed Chawdhary for misconduct, and is contemplating action under the Cantonment Act. However, Singh is exasperated at the delay, commenting, considerable time has elapsed. I would request you to please look into the case for appropriate action, in his complaint. Kadiyan alleged Chawdhary was involved in an illegal high-value property transaction. He has been misusing his authority in connivance with the builder lobby. We are seeking the intervention of highest authority in defence ministry, she said. Parrikars office has not responded, since the matter is under investigation of Cantonment Board. Chawdhary could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
Meera Bhardwaj By

BENGALURU: Invoking regional and historical figures has become a political agenda in recent times in Karnataka. Not to be left behind, both the BJP and the Congress have been resurrecting Sangolli Rayanna, the 18th century warrior and freedom fighter of the Kuruba community from Belagavi, in an effort to gather mass support.

If BJPs K S Eshwarappa has formed a brigade in the name of the regional hero and vocalised his intentions to expand his base, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has quietly commemorated the warrior, renamed the city railway station and made way for erecting a memorial for him.

But it has caused ego hassles between B S Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa, with the former dismissing any party link to the brigade while his bete noire is trying to keep the brigade alive. In a veiled message to Eshwarappa, national secretary Muralidhar Rao warned BJP leaders of stern action if they attended the Rayanna convention in Belagavi last week.

A decade ago, the Sangolli Rayanna Hitarakshana Samiti was formed by Eshwarappa (when he was a minister in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government). The Samiti has now taken the form of Sangolli Rayanna Brigade.

In the background of the AHINDA plank, Siddaramaiah, who has emerged as the leader of the backward classes, too has invoked Rayanna. Analysts say this is the rise of identity crisis and caste politics in Karnataka with the two major political parties latching on to regional heroes to garner votes in the 2018 state elections. They add that by making efforts to reach out to the backward classes and the OBCs, Eshwarappa is hoping to break Siddaramaiahs firm hold over the AHINDA group comprising minorities, OBCs and dalits, and change the political equations in the next Assembly elections.

Media analyst K S Achyuthan explains, For the Congress, this is a deviation as they have always invoked national figures, usually Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi or Jawaharlal Nehru. With the Congress losing power in most states, Siddaramaiah is the tallest leader in Karnataka. So, he has been indulging in emotional symbolism as well as clever politics.

According to some political analysts, both are vying for the support of Kurubas and OBCs. At the same time, it shows how regional identity has gained prominence in Karnataka and how national parties can no longer force their hegemony on regional leaders.

Academic, Kannada playwright and poet Dr K Y Narayanswamy says there are two faces to this phenomenon. The power bargaining in democracy has become an obvious occurrence. Earlier, we had mass leaders who buried their caste identity, but nowadays, caste has come to the forefront for achieving political aspirations, he says.

BENGALURU: Invoking regional and historical figures has become a political agenda in recent times in Karnataka. Not to be left behind, both the BJP and the Congress have been resurrecting Sangolli Rayanna, the 18th century warrior and freedom fighter of the Kuruba community from Belagavi, in an effort to gather mass support. If BJPs K S Eshwarappa has formed a brigade in the name of the regional hero and vocalised his intentions to expand his base, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has quietly commemorated the warrior, renamed the city railway station and made way for erecting a memorial for him. But it has caused ego hassles between B S Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa, with the former dismissing any party link to the brigade while his bete noire is trying to keep the brigade alive. In a veiled message to Eshwarappa, national secretary Muralidhar Rao warned BJP leaders of stern action if they attended the Rayanna convention in Belagavi last week. A decade ago, the Sangolli Rayanna Hitarakshana Samiti was formed by Eshwarappa (when he was a minister in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government). The Samiti has now taken the form of Sangolli Rayanna Brigade. In the background of the AHINDA plank, Siddaramaiah, who has emerged as the leader of the backward classes, too has invoked Rayanna. Analysts say this is the rise of identity crisis and caste politics in Karnataka with the two major political parties latching on to regional heroes to garner votes in the 2018 state elections. They add that by making efforts to reach out to the backward classes and the OBCs, Eshwarappa is hoping to break Siddaramaiahs firm hold over the AHINDA group comprising minorities, OBCs and dalits, and change the political equations in the next Assembly elections. Media analyst K S Achyuthan explains, For the Congress, this is a deviation as they have always invoked national figures, usually Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi or Jawaharlal Nehru. With the Congress losing power in most states, Siddaramaiah is the tallest leader in Karnataka. So, he has been indulging in emotional symbolism as well as clever politics. According to some political analysts, both are vying for the support of Kurubas and OBCs. At the same time, it shows how regional identity has gained prominence in Karnataka and how national parties can no longer force their hegemony on regional leaders. Academic, Kannada playwright and poet Dr K Y Narayanswamy says there are two faces to this phenomenon. The power bargaining in democracy has become an obvious occurrence. Earlier, we had mass leaders who buried their caste identity, but nowadays, caste has come to the forefront for achieving political aspirations, he says.
PK Balachandran By

COLOMBO: After J Jayalalithaas death, Lankan Tamil community that had her support is waiting and watching what would be the next step of her successors.



The late Tamil Nadu CMs

involvement in the Sri Lankan Tamil issue began almost immediately after she joined the AIADMK in 1983. It was later that year that over one lakh Sri Lankan Tamil refugees poured into the state, pushed out by the anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka in July that year. Sensing a great political opportunity, the M Karunanidhi-led opposition DMK took the lead in supporting them.

This left AIADMK leader and then CM M G Ramachandran with no option, but to join the Eelam Tamil bandwagon. The party was galvanised and the new propaganda secretary Jayalalithaa was the face of AIADMK on the Sri Lankan issue. But once the public fervour died down, the Indo-Sri Lankan issue was taken over by the Centre and Jayalalithaa ceased to have a role in the matter. A believer of non-violence, she was shattered by the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. She then rode the anti-LTTE and anti-DMK wave and became CM in 1991.



By 1991, Tamil militancy and the counter-measures taken by the Sri Lankan Navy in the Palk Strait had revived the Kachatheevu issue. TN fishermen, who were suspected of aiding the LTTE and other Sri Lankan Tamil militants, were shot by the Lankan Navy leaving many injured or dead. Jayalalithaa blamed the transfer of Kachatheevu to Sri Lanka by two treaties in 1974 and 1976 for this as TN fishermen said that they were being attacked near Kachatheevu, around which they had a right to fish as per an understanding between India and Sri Lanka. The Lankan Navy, on the contrary, argued that TN fishermen were intruding well beyond Kachatheevuand poaching in Lankan waters.



But Jayalalithaa stuck to her guns, and got the State Assembly to pass a resolution seeking the retrieval of Kachatheevu as it had been handed over to Sri Lanka disregarding historical antecedents and without consulting the stakeholders in TN. To prove her superior credentials as a defender of TN fishermens rights, she even approached the SC in 2008.



Jayalalithaa tried to divert Palk Strait fishermen from shallow water trawling to deep sea fishing and sought around `1,055 crore from the Center for the switch over. In the absence of Central funds, she started a project worth `51 crore on her own.

The arrest of TN fishermen continued, forcing Jayalalithaa to write to the Centre seeking action against Sri Lanka. Jayalalithaa got involved in the Sri Lankan Tamil political issue only in 2011 when a post-war humanitarian crisis in northern Sri Lanka drew international attention.

The treatment of the three lakh war-displaced people in camps and charges of war crimes levelled by human rights organisations and the UN began to draw the attention of politicians in TN. On coming to power in 2011, Jayalalithaa pro-actively got the State Assembly to pass a resolution seeking economic sanctions against Sri Lanka and action against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and others war criminals.



These uncompromising actions were much appreciated by Sri Lankan Tamils who had reposed great faith in her. Even President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe lauded efforts her after her demise.

COLOMBO: After J Jayalalithaas death, Lankan Tamil community that had her support is waiting and watching what would be the next step of her successors. The late Tamil Nadu CMs involvement in the Sri Lankan Tamil issue began almost immediately after she joined the AIADMK in 1983. It was later that year that over one lakh Sri Lankan Tamil refugees poured into the state, pushed out by the anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka in July that year. Sensing a great political opportunity, the M Karunanidhi-led opposition DMK took the lead in supporting them. This left AIADMK leader and then CM M G Ramachandran with no option, but to join the Eelam Tamil bandwagon. The party was galvanised and the new propaganda secretary Jayalalithaa was the face of AIADMK on the Sri Lankan issue. But once the public fervour died down, the Indo-Sri Lankan issue was taken over by the Centre and Jayalalithaa ceased to have a role in the matter. A believer of non-violence, she was shattered by the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. She then rode the anti-LTTE and anti-DMK wave and became CM in 1991. By 1991, Tamil militancy and the counter-measures taken by the Sri Lankan Navy in the Palk Strait had revived the Kachatheevu issue. TN fishermen, who were suspected of aiding the LTTE and other Sri Lankan Tamil militants, were shot by the Lankan Navy leaving many injured or dead. Jayalalithaa blamed the transfer of Kachatheevu to Sri Lanka by two treaties in 1974 and 1976 for this as TN fishermen said that they were being attacked near Kachatheevu, around which they had a right to fish as per an understanding between India and Sri Lanka. The Lankan Navy, on the contrary, argued that TN fishermen were intruding well beyond Kachatheevuand poaching in Lankan waters. But Jayalalithaa stuck to her guns, and got the State Assembly to pass a resolution seeking the retrieval of Kachatheevu as it had been handed over to Sri Lanka disregarding historical antecedents and without consulting the stakeholders in TN. To prove her superior credentials as a defender of TN fishermens rights, she even approached the SC in 2008. Jayalalithaa tried to divert Palk Strait fishermen from shallow water trawling to deep sea fishing and sought around `1,055 crore from the Center for the switch over. In the absence of Central funds, she started a project worth `51 crore on her own. The arrest of TN fishermen continued, forcing Jayalalithaa to write to the Centre seeking action against Sri Lanka. Jayalalithaa got involved in the Sri Lankan Tamil political issue only in 2011 when a post-war humanitarian crisis in northern Sri Lanka drew international attention. The treatment of the three lakh war-displaced people in camps and charges of war crimes levelled by human rights organisations and the UN began to draw the attention of politicians in TN. On coming to power in 2011, Jayalalithaa pro-actively got the State Assembly to pass a resolution seeking economic sanctions against Sri Lanka and action against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and others war criminals. These uncompromising actions were much appreciated by Sri Lankan Tamils who had reposed great faith in her. Even President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe lauded efforts her after her demise.
By Associated Press

TEHRAN: Iran has proposed the formation of a bloc of Muslim countries to fight terrorism and boost economic cooperation that would include its regional rival Saudi Arabia.

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told a security conference on Sunday that the two countries, along with Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan, should join together to promote "regional peace" and defend the Palestinians.

Shiite-majority Iran and mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia are bitterly divided, and support opposite sides in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in January after Iranian demonstrators stormed Saudi diplomatic facilities to protest the execution of a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric.

Saudi Arabia announced the formation of a 34-member "Islamic military alliance" against terrorism nearly a year ago, which excluded Iran.

TEHRAN: Iran has proposed the formation of a bloc of Muslim countries to fight terrorism and boost economic cooperation that would include its regional rival Saudi Arabia. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told a security conference on Sunday that the two countries, along with Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan, should join together to promote "regional peace" and defend the Palestinians. Shiite-majority Iran and mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia are bitterly divided, and support opposite sides in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in January after Iranian demonstrators stormed Saudi diplomatic facilities to protest the execution of a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric. Saudi Arabia announced the formation of a 34-member "Islamic military alliance" against terrorism nearly a year ago, which excluded Iran.
By AFP

BEIRUT: The Islamic State jihadist group recaptured Palmyra on Sunday after Syrian armed forces pulled out of the desert city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

The jihadists made a lightning-fast advance across the city after overrunning a northern neighbourhood and capturing the famed citadel to Palmyra's west.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that IS regained "full control" of the city on Sunday after taking the citadel, which overlooks Palmyra from a strategic hilltop.

IS launched an offensive last week near Palmyra, a renowned UNESCO World Heritage site.

It seized oil and gas fields before making a major push into the desert city on Saturday, sparking new worries for Palmyra's remaining ancient treasures.

But a fierce Russian bombing campaign killed scores of IS fighters and forced others to withdraw at dawn on Sunday.

"Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on jihadist positions around the city," he told AFP.

In a statement issued in Moscow, the defence ministry said Russian warplanes conducted 64 air strikes against "positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants" in Palmyra.

"Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra," it said in a statement.

"The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery," it said, adding that the strikes killed more than 300 militants and destroyed 11 tanks and 31 vehicles.

Russia has carried out a bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

Hit-and-run

IS fighters have used hit-and-run tactics to cut their losses of personnel and equipment, withdrawing under intense bombardment but quickly relaunching an attack when skies are clear.

The jihadists have killed around 100 members of Syrian government forces since launching simultaneous attacks on several regime positions near Palmyra on Thursday, the Britain-based Observatory said.

They targeted areas including near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and seized government checkpoints, silos and the village of Jazal, northwest of Palmyra.

In May last year, the Sunni Muslim extremist group seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites.

They were ousted from Palmyra in March by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia.

That was hailed as a major victory, with Russian celebrities travelling there since March staging concerts and making public appearances.

Moscow has been under severe criticism for its air strikes on Aleppo -- which it says it stopped on October 18 -- where the anti-Assad opposition is currently holed up in just a fraction of the territory it once controlled.

The city's eastern districts are still being bombed by the Syrian regime which Washington has labelled "war crimes" and a UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire to stop the carnage.

BEIRUT: The Islamic State jihadist group recaptured Palmyra on Sunday after Syrian armed forces pulled out of the desert city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. The jihadists made a lightning-fast advance across the city after overrunning a northern neighbourhood and capturing the famed citadel to Palmyra's west. The IS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that IS regained "full control" of the city on Sunday after taking the citadel, which overlooks Palmyra from a strategic hilltop. IS launched an offensive last week near Palmyra, a renowned UNESCO World Heritage site. It seized oil and gas fields before making a major push into the desert city on Saturday, sparking new worries for Palmyra's remaining ancient treasures. But a fierce Russian bombing campaign killed scores of IS fighters and forced others to withdraw at dawn on Sunday. "Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman. "The army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on jihadist positions around the city," he told AFP. In a statement issued in Moscow, the defence ministry said Russian warplanes conducted 64 air strikes against "positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants" in Palmyra. "Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra," it said in a statement. "The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery," it said, adding that the strikes killed more than 300 militants and destroyed 11 tanks and 31 vehicles. Russia has carried out a bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015. Hit-and-run IS fighters have used hit-and-run tactics to cut their losses of personnel and equipment, withdrawing under intense bombardment but quickly relaunching an attack when skies are clear. The jihadists have killed around 100 members of Syrian government forces since launching simultaneous attacks on several regime positions near Palmyra on Thursday, the Britain-based Observatory said. They targeted areas including near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and seized government checkpoints, silos and the village of Jazal, northwest of Palmyra. In May last year, the Sunni Muslim extremist group seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites. They were ousted from Palmyra in March by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia. That was hailed as a major victory, with Russian celebrities travelling there since March staging concerts and making public appearances. Moscow has been under severe criticism for its air strikes on Aleppo -- which it says it stopped on October 18 -- where the anti-Assad opposition is currently holed up in just a fraction of the territory it once controlled. The city's eastern districts are still being bombed by the Syrian regime which Washington has labelled "war crimes" and a UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire to stop the carnage.
By AFP

ROME: Paolo Gentiloni was named as Italy's new prime minister on Sunday, filling a void left by close ally Matteo Renzi's resignation after a crushing referendum defeat.

Gentiloni, 62, served as foreign minister under Renzi. He was asked by President Sergio Mattarella to form a new centre-left government that will guide Italy to elections due by February 2018.

Opposition parties demanded an immediate vote, claiming the new government would be a puppet administration with Renzi pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

"Gentiloni is Renzi's avatar," said Luigi Di Maio, one of the leaders of the populist Five Star Movement.

The softly-spoken, grey-suited Gentiloni will mark a distinct change in style from the ebullient, hyper-active Renzi.

But he is expected to make only minor changes to his former boss's team before presenting them to parliament for approval on Wednesday.

In a brief statement after meeting Mattarella, he said there was an "urgent need for a fully functioning government" to address several pressing issues.

Chief among those is a looming crisis in the troubled banking sector and ongoing relief efforts after deadly earthquakes between August and October.

The board of Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS) was Sunday locked in crisis talks that will determine whether the world's oldest bank requires a state-funded and politically complicated rescue.

Mattarella turned to Gentiloni after opposition parties rebuffed overtures about a possible national unity government. The president rejected the opposition's demands for an election.

"Not by choice but out of a sense of responsibility I will be forming a government based on the outgoing majority," Gentiloni said.

- Renzi vows return -

Renzi, who had been in power for two years and 10 months, resigned last week after voters overwhelmingly rejected a package of constitutional reforms.

Five Star, which has led calls for immediate elections, said it would boycott Wednesday's vote because the new government would have no legitimacy.

"This government is not even worthy of a vote against it," said Giulia Grillo, head of the Five Star group in the Senate.

Renzi meanwhile admitted on his Facebook page that he had found it a wrench to leave office.

"It was painful to pack the cartons yesterday evening, I'm not ashamed to say: I'm not a robot," the 41-year-old wrote.

"Only those who try to change things can help a country as beautiful and difficult as Italy."

Five Star, Italy's biggest opposition party, and the far-right Northern League are demanding a vote as early as possible.

But Mattarella, who enjoys extensive executive powers during government crises, has ruled that the current electoral laws must be revised first.

Theoretically that could happen quickly but the process of harmonising the rules governing elections to the two houses of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, could also drag on for months.

- Bank on the brink -

As things stand, the lower house would be elected by a system under which the largest party is guaranteed a majority of seats while the Senate would be voted in under a proportional representation system.

Most observers agree that this is a recipe for chaos but the situation could be simplified at the end of January, when the constitutional court is due to rule on the legitimacy of the new winner-take-all system for the Chamber of Deputies.

Before then, Gentiloni will have to handle a long-feared banking crunch centred on the ailing BMPS.

The bank's share price has fallen by 85 percent this year after another slide on Friday, when it emerged that the European Central Bank is refusing to grant any more time for it to raise badly-needed new capital from private investors.

Analysts see a state financed rescue as inevitable but, under EU rules, that can only happen if private investors also take a hit.

The issue is difficult politically with BMPS because of the large number of small investors who hold the bank's junior bonds.

Imposing losses at smaller banks last year caused outrage in Italy and damaged Renzi's standing.

ROME: Paolo Gentiloni was named as Italy's new prime minister on Sunday, filling a void left by close ally Matteo Renzi's resignation after a crushing referendum defeat. Gentiloni, 62, served as foreign minister under Renzi. He was asked by President Sergio Mattarella to form a new centre-left government that will guide Italy to elections due by February 2018. Opposition parties demanded an immediate vote, claiming the new government would be a puppet administration with Renzi pulling the strings from behind the scenes. "Gentiloni is Renzi's avatar," said Luigi Di Maio, one of the leaders of the populist Five Star Movement. The softly-spoken, grey-suited Gentiloni will mark a distinct change in style from the ebullient, hyper-active Renzi. But he is expected to make only minor changes to his former boss's team before presenting them to parliament for approval on Wednesday. In a brief statement after meeting Mattarella, he said there was an "urgent need for a fully functioning government" to address several pressing issues. Chief among those is a looming crisis in the troubled banking sector and ongoing relief efforts after deadly earthquakes between August and October. The board of Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS) was Sunday locked in crisis talks that will determine whether the world's oldest bank requires a state-funded and politically complicated rescue. Mattarella turned to Gentiloni after opposition parties rebuffed overtures about a possible national unity government. The president rejected the opposition's demands for an election. "Not by choice but out of a sense of responsibility I will be forming a government based on the outgoing majority," Gentiloni said. - Renzi vows return - Renzi, who had been in power for two years and 10 months, resigned last week after voters overwhelmingly rejected a package of constitutional reforms. Five Star, which has led calls for immediate elections, said it would boycott Wednesday's vote because the new government would have no legitimacy. "This government is not even worthy of a vote against it," said Giulia Grillo, head of the Five Star group in the Senate. Renzi meanwhile admitted on his Facebook page that he had found it a wrench to leave office. "It was painful to pack the cartons yesterday evening, I'm not ashamed to say: I'm not a robot," the 41-year-old wrote. "Only those who try to change things can help a country as beautiful and difficult as Italy." Five Star, Italy's biggest opposition party, and the far-right Northern League are demanding a vote as early as possible. But Mattarella, who enjoys extensive executive powers during government crises, has ruled that the current electoral laws must be revised first. Theoretically that could happen quickly but the process of harmonising the rules governing elections to the two houses of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, could also drag on for months. - Bank on the brink - As things stand, the lower house would be elected by a system under which the largest party is guaranteed a majority of seats while the Senate would be voted in under a proportional representation system. Most observers agree that this is a recipe for chaos but the situation could be simplified at the end of January, when the constitutional court is due to rule on the legitimacy of the new winner-take-all system for the Chamber of Deputies. Before then, Gentiloni will have to handle a long-feared banking crunch centred on the ailing BMPS. The bank's share price has fallen by 85 percent this year after another slide on Friday, when it emerged that the European Central Bank is refusing to grant any more time for it to raise badly-needed new capital from private investors. Analysts see a state financed rescue as inevitable but, under EU rules, that can only happen if private investors also take a hit. The issue is difficult politically with BMPS because of the large number of small investors who hold the bank's junior bonds. Imposing losses at smaller banks last year caused outrage in Italy and damaged Renzi's standing.
By AFP

TOKYO: Russia has turned down Tokyo's latest attempt at dog diplomacy ahead of a summit between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later this month, an aide said, as the two leaders look to end a decades-old territorial row.

Japan had planned to give the Russian president -- who is known for being a canine lover -- a male Akita when he visits Japan on December 15 and 16, which will include a trip to Abe's home state of western Yamaguchi.

It was hoped the dog could accompany a female of the same breed named "Yume" -- which means "dream" in Japanese -- that Tokyo had presented to Putin four years ago as a thank you gift for Russia's help after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

"Unfortunately, we received a reply yesterday that they will not take him as the bridegroom," Koichi Hagiuda, one of Abe's close aides, said in a blog Friday.

At the much-anticipated summit -- and Putin's first such visit since 2005 -- Japan is hoping to make progress on a territorial dispute over the status of four Pacific islands near its north coast, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

Relations between Moscow and Tokyo have been strained for decades over the territorial row dating back to World War II. Soviet troops seized the southernmost islands in an archipelago off the northeast coast of Hokkaido just after Japan surrendered.

The seven-decade dispute over the islands' ownership has kept Moscow and Tokyo from signing a post-war peace treaty and hindered trade and investment.

TOKYO: Russia has turned down Tokyo's latest attempt at dog diplomacy ahead of a summit between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later this month, an aide said, as the two leaders look to end a decades-old territorial row. Japan had planned to give the Russian president -- who is known for being a canine lover -- a male Akita when he visits Japan on December 15 and 16, which will include a trip to Abe's home state of western Yamaguchi. It was hoped the dog could accompany a female of the same breed named "Yume" -- which means "dream" in Japanese -- that Tokyo had presented to Putin four years ago as a thank you gift for Russia's help after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. "Unfortunately, we received a reply yesterday that they will not take him as the bridegroom," Koichi Hagiuda, one of Abe's close aides, said in a blog Friday. At the much-anticipated summit -- and Putin's first such visit since 2005 -- Japan is hoping to make progress on a territorial dispute over the status of four Pacific islands near its north coast, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. Relations between Moscow and Tokyo have been strained for decades over the territorial row dating back to World War II. Soviet troops seized the southernmost islands in an archipelago off the northeast coast of Hokkaido just after Japan surrendered. The seven-decade dispute over the islands' ownership has kept Moscow and Tokyo from signing a post-war peace treaty and hindered trade and investment.
By AFP

BEIRUT: A Russian aerial onslaught killed scores of Islamic State group fighters in Syria's Palmyra on Sunday and forced others to withdraw hours after they had re-entered the ancient city, Moscow and a monitor said.

Russia's defence ministry said its warplanes carried out more than 60 strikes overnight on Palmyra, killing more than 300 IS jihadists and halting their offensive on the famed desert city in central Syria.

"Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on jihadist positions around the city," Abdel Rahman told AFP.

In a statement issued in Moscow, the defence ministry said Russian warplanes conducted 64 air strikes against "positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants" in Palmyra.

"Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra," it said in a statement.

"The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery," it said, adding that the strikes killed more than 300 militants and destroyed 11 tanks and 31 vehicles.

Russia has carried out a bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

IS began an offensive last week near Palmyra, which is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.

The jihadists killed around 50 members of Syrian government forces after launching simultaneous attacks on several regime positions near Palmyra on Thursday, the Britain-based Observatory said at the time.

They targeted areas including near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and seized government checkpoints, silos and the village of Jazal, northwest of Palmyra.

In May last year, the Sunni Muslim extremist group seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites.

They were ousted from Palmyra in March by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia.

The recapture of Palmyra was hailed as a major victory, with Russian celebrities travelling there since March staging concerts and making public appearances.

Moscow has been under severe criticism for its air strikes on Aleppo -- which it says it stopped on October 18 -- where the anti-Assad opposition is currently holed up in just a fraction of the territory it once controlled.

The city's eastern districts are still being bombed by the Syrian regime which Washington has labelled "war crimes" and a UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire to stop the carnage.

BEIRUT: A Russian aerial onslaught killed scores of Islamic State group fighters in Syria's Palmyra on Sunday and forced others to withdraw hours after they had re-entered the ancient city, Moscow and a monitor said. Russia's defence ministry said its warplanes carried out more than 60 strikes overnight on Palmyra, killing more than 300 IS jihadists and halting their offensive on the famed desert city in central Syria. "Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "The army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on jihadist positions around the city," Abdel Rahman told AFP. In a statement issued in Moscow, the defence ministry said Russian warplanes conducted 64 air strikes against "positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants" in Palmyra. "Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra," it said in a statement. "The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery," it said, adding that the strikes killed more than 300 militants and destroyed 11 tanks and 31 vehicles. Russia has carried out a bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015. IS began an offensive last week near Palmyra, which is on UNESCO's World Heritage list. The jihadists killed around 50 members of Syrian government forces after launching simultaneous attacks on several regime positions near Palmyra on Thursday, the Britain-based Observatory said at the time. They targeted areas including near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and seized government checkpoints, silos and the village of Jazal, northwest of Palmyra. In May last year, the Sunni Muslim extremist group seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites. They were ousted from Palmyra in March by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia. The recapture of Palmyra was hailed as a major victory, with Russian celebrities travelling there since March staging concerts and making public appearances. Moscow has been under severe criticism for its air strikes on Aleppo -- which it says it stopped on October 18 -- where the anti-Assad opposition is currently holed up in just a fraction of the territory it once controlled. The city's eastern districts are still being bombed by the Syrian regime which Washington has labelled "war crimes" and a UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire to stop the carnage.
By AFP

KANO: Two young girls approximately seven or eight years old blew themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian market on Sunday, killing themselves and one other person and wounding 18 others, sources said.

The girls were "seven or eight", a local militia member in Maiduguri, Abdulkarim Jabo, told AFP.

The attack was not immediately claimed by Boko Haram but bore the hallmarks of the jihadists, who routinely use women and girls to carry out suicide attacks, often in Borno state, the epicentre of their insurgency.

Borno Governor Kashim Shettima, visiting victims in the hospital, confirmed the toll in the attack.

Maiduguri militiaman Jabo said he saw the girls Sunday immediately before the explosion.

"They got out of a rickshaw and walked right in front of me without showing the slightest sign of emotion," he said.

"I tried to speak with one of them, in Hausa and in English, but she didn't answer. I thought they were looking for their mother," he added.

"She headed toward the poultry sellers, and then detonated her explosives belt."

Boko Haram jihadists have laid waste to northeast Nigeria since they took up arms against the government in 2009.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than two and a half million more displaced by the unrest.

Rights groups say thousands of women and girls have been abducted by the group. In the most infamous incident, in 2014, more than 200 schoolgirls were taken in the remote town of Chibok.

The jihadists have used abducted females as sex slaves and human bombs, while boys are enlisted to fight.

Northeast Nigeria has been buffeted in recent weeks by devastating attacks.

On Friday at least 45 people died and 33 others were wounded in another double suicide attack carried out by female bombers at a marketplace in the town of Madagali.

In October another set of female suicide bombers killed 17 people at a station near a camp for internally displaced persons.

In February 2015, Boko Haram used an eight-year-old to carry out a suicide attack in Potiskum, in Yobe state, and a 10- and 18-year-old pair were involved in a failed July 2014 attack in Funtua, in northwestern Katsina state.

KANO: Two young girls approximately seven or eight years old blew themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian market on Sunday, killing themselves and one other person and wounding 18 others, sources said. The girls were "seven or eight", a local militia member in Maiduguri, Abdulkarim Jabo, told AFP. The attack was not immediately claimed by Boko Haram but bore the hallmarks of the jihadists, who routinely use women and girls to carry out suicide attacks, often in Borno state, the epicentre of their insurgency. Borno Governor Kashim Shettima, visiting victims in the hospital, confirmed the toll in the attack. Maiduguri militiaman Jabo said he saw the girls Sunday immediately before the explosion. "They got out of a rickshaw and walked right in front of me without showing the slightest sign of emotion," he said. "I tried to speak with one of them, in Hausa and in English, but she didn't answer. I thought they were looking for their mother," he added. "She headed toward the poultry sellers, and then detonated her explosives belt." Boko Haram jihadists have laid waste to northeast Nigeria since they took up arms against the government in 2009. At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than two and a half million more displaced by the unrest. Rights groups say thousands of women and girls have been abducted by the group. In the most infamous incident, in 2014, more than 200 schoolgirls were taken in the remote town of Chibok. The jihadists have used abducted females as sex slaves and human bombs, while boys are enlisted to fight. Northeast Nigeria has been buffeted in recent weeks by devastating attacks. On Friday at least 45 people died and 33 others were wounded in another double suicide attack carried out by female bombers at a marketplace in the town of Madagali. In October another set of female suicide bombers killed 17 people at a station near a camp for internally displaced persons. In February 2015, Boko Haram used an eight-year-old to carry out a suicide attack in Potiskum, in Yobe state, and a 10- and 18-year-old pair were involved in a failed July 2014 attack in Funtua, in northwestern Katsina state.
AP By

TEHRAN: An adviser to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's former hard-line president, says the politician won't seek re-election in next year's presidential vote after apparently being discouraged by the country's supreme leader.

Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Ali Akbar Javanfekr on Tuesday as saying Ahmadinejad sent a letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei saying he wouldn't seek the presidency again.

In comments reported Monday, Khamenei was quoted as saying he recommended an unnamed candidate not seek office as it would spark a "polarized situation" that would be "harmful for the county."

Ahmadinejad previously served two four-year terms. Iranian law calls only for a one-term cooling-off period.

During his presidency, Ahmadinejad repeatedly questioned the scale of the Nazi Holocaust and predicted the demise of Israel. He also greatly expanded Iran's contested nuclear program.

TEHRAN: An adviser to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's former hard-line president, says the politician won't seek re-election in next year's presidential vote after apparently being discouraged by the country's supreme leader.Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Ali Akbar Javanfekr on Tuesday as saying Ahmadinejad sent a letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei saying he wouldn't seek the presidency again.In comments reported Monday, Khamenei was quoted as saying he recommended an unnamed candidate not seek office as it would spark a "polarized situation" that would be "harmful for the county."Ahmadinejad previously served two four-year terms. Iranian law calls only for a one-term cooling-off period.During his presidency, Ahmadinejad repeatedly questioned the scale of the Nazi Holocaust and predicted the demise of Israel. He also greatly expanded Iran's contested nuclear program.
#MBN Cable channel loses lawsuit against suspension order MBN, a cable TV channel, on Thursday lost a lawsuit against the government's order to suspend its operation for six months for accounting fraud. The Korea Communications Commis...

#Hybe Q3 Hybe posts highest Q3 revenue ever Hybe, the entertainment company behind K-pop superstars BTS, on Thursday reported a revenue of 445.5 billion won (US$314 million) for the third quarter of the year, up 30.6 percent...
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

A good deal of sunshine. High 73F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 58F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
Cyrus Mistry on Sunday escalated his war of words with Tatas by accusing Vijay Singh, a nominee director on the Tata Sons board, of cooking up theories "to defend his role in the conspiracy" hatched by Ratan Tata to sack him as the chairman."It's amusing to see Vijay Singh concoct theories to defend his role in Ratan Tata's conspiracy to replace Mistry," a statement issued from his office claimed on Sunday.Mistry also claimed that being a part of the nominations and remuneration committee (NRC) of Tata Sons, Singh had on June 28, 2016 gave a glowing review of his (Mistry's) performance as the chairman of the Tata Group."After reviewing the performance of the chairman, the members unanimously recorded their recognition of his significant contributions across group companies and expressed their appreciation of his multi-faceted initiatives aimed at preserving and promoting cohesive functioning of the group in accordance of its distinctive values," Mistry said quoting from the minutes of the meeting as recorded by the board of Tata Sons.On charges that "Mistry was doing nothing" at Tata Motors, the ousted chairman claimed that Singh had stated that "Tata Motors has come up with some of their best models in recent years under his watch".He also said Singh was part of the Tata Sons board that agreed that the company could evaluate opportunities in the QSR segment at the board meeting on June 29, 2016. Singh had said this was one of the reasons for the sacking of Mistry.Singh had claimed that another reason for Ratan Tata losing his confidence in Mistry was the group's failed bids (two separate bids Tata Power and Tata Motors for the multi-thousand crore Future Combat Infantry Vehicle contract from the Army).On this, Mistry said Singh and Tata both were very much in the loop on various discussions on the project."What is beyond comprehension is that Singh seems to want Tata Sons to favour one listed Tata company over another. This would not happen under Mistry's watch," the statement said.
Former Defence Secretary Vijay Singh on Sunday vehemently denied ousted Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry's allegations of having played a key role in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP choppers scam, saying the Cabinet had approved the deal well after he had retired from government service."I was defence secretary from 2007-2009 and the present cases being prosecuted by CBI pertain to 2004-2005. The Augusta Westland acquisition was approved by the Cabinet well after my retirement," he said in an emailed statement.Earlier in the day, Mistry had alleged: "As Defence Secretary, Singh was a key official involved in award of Rs 3600 crore VVIP helicopter contract to AugustaWestland in 2010"."To connect me with this matter is slanderous and malicious," Singh, an independent director on Tata Sons board, said.


#CycloneVardah is expected to cross coast btw South Nellore &Chennai by tomorrow evening: Disaster management commissioner MV Seshagiri Babu pic.twitter.com/KqxNYV7ZNc

 ANI (@ANI_news) 11 December 2016



Cyclonic storm Vardah over west central & adjoining south Bay of Bengal moved further west-northwestwards during past 6hrs with 20kmph speed



 ANI (@ANI_news) 11 December 2016



Severe cyclonic storm Vardah is likely to cross north Tamil Nadu and South Andhra Pradesh coast, close to Chennai, by December 12 afternoon. Wind speeds upto 90 kmph is expected to prevail at the time of landfall.One Hundred and ninety milimetre rains are expected in 6 districts: Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Chithoor, Cudappa, Ananthapur over the course of next two days due to cyclonic storm.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has appealed people along coastline to stay safe and take precautionary measure.According to IMD, the cyclonic storm Vardah, over west central and adjoining south bay of Bengal moved further westwards with speed of 11kmph.Currently it is 520 kms south-southeast of Nellore, 490 kms east-southeast of Machilipatnam and 480 kms east-northeast of Chennai. The system is likely to maintain its intensity upto evening of December 11 and then likely to weaken gradually while moving towards south Andhra Pradesh coast and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coast.Warnings have been issued along Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu coast line.Light to moderate rainfall at many places with isolated heavy to very heavy falls over south coastal Andhra Pradesh and north coastal Tamil Nadu is very likely to commence from December 11 evening for subsequent 36 hours.Squally winds speed reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph would prevail along and off Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts commencing from 11th December night. It will gradually increase becoming 70-80 kmph gusting to 90 kmph at the time of landfall.Sea condition would be rough to very rough along and off Andhra Pradesh and north Tamil Nadu coasts commencing from December 11 night. Sea condition along and off these coasts will become high from December 12 morning. Fishermen are advised not to venture into sea along and off south Andhra Pradesh, north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts during next 48 hours.The cyclonic storm is likely to weaken at landfall, but intensity may cause damage to thatched huts, minor damage to power & communication lines due to breaking of branches, major damage to Kutcha and minor damage to Pucca roads and some damage to paddy crops, banana, papaya trees and orchards.The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh has cancelled his trip to UAE & Kuwait to monitor the situation. The administration is all geared up to deal with situation arising due to cyclonic storm. Four IAS officers have been appointed for each of the four districts: Nellore, Prakasam, Chittoor and Kadapa.District collectors, police and all concerned departments have been instructed to be ready to carry out relief and rehab work. Also four NDRF teams are on standby to oversee rescue operations. Government is also taking help of ISRO to use latest technology to track cyclone progression and predict problem in advance, so that necessary emergency measures can be taken up.In 2014, very severe cyclonic storm "hudhud" had hit coast of Vishakhapatnam and had caused massive damage. Intensity of Vardah is expected to be less, but administration is making all efforts to minimise damage.
: High alert has been sounded and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been pre-positioned as severe cyclonic storm 'Vardah' will make a landfall between north Tamil Nadu and south Andra Pradesh on Monday.The alert has been sounded across Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu along the coast of Bay of Bengal, official sources said. One team of NDRF comprising around 40 personnel has been pre-positioned in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore, one in Tada, one in Salurupeta, one in Oongle, and one in Chitpore district.At present Vardah is 390 Kilometres east of Nellore and 330 kilometers east of Chennai. It is moving with a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. While, some mandals in Nellore are expecting rainfall of 10-20 centimeters, some others are expecting rainfall of 6-10 centimeters. District administrations in the two states have made necessary arrangements.In addition, another team is moving to Salurupeta while teams are on standby in Guntur and Hyderabad.Three NDRF teams were pre-positioned in Chennai, two in Tamil Nadu's in Tiruvalur, one in Mahabalipuram.Sources said another team is on its way to Chennai while one team has been out on stand by at Arakkonam.The Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai said 'Vardah' lay centred at 330 km east of Chennai at 1430 hours on Sunday and would move westwards before making landfall between north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts tomorrow afternoon.Under its impact, rains will start tonight and gradually increase tomorrow in the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said.On December 12, heavy to very heavy rains were likely in some places in these districts, he said, adding, strong winds could gust upto 80-90 kmph.The sea would be rough, he said and asked fishermen to not to venture into the sea for the next 48 hours. Chief Minister O Panneerselvam held a meeting of the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority which also asked the armed forces to be on standby.The Tamil Nadu government has also declared holiday for educational institutions in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, besides coastal taluks of Villupuram.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation through a teleconference with Collectors and top officials this evening. He directed them to be alert and undertake necessary rescue and relief efforts in view of the cyclone threat.Food and other essential commodities should be kept ready in adequate quantities, he said."Take all steps to prevent loss of lives and to minimise damages to crops and properties," Naidu told the officials.ALSO READ: Eastern Naval Command Prepared for Cyclone 'Vardah' Radar observations and satellite imagery indicated that Saturday's severe cyclonic storm, Vardah over west central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal moved West north-West wards and intensified into a severe cyclonic storm at 1800 UTC of 10th and lay near latitude 13.2N and longitude 86.4E, at about 660 Kilometres east of Chennai and it further moved westwards during past 6 hours with a speed of 13 Kilometres per hour and lay centred at 0300 UTC on December 11, 2016, over west central and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal near latitude 13.The cyclone is likely to cross North Tamil Nadu and South Andhra Pradesh coasts, close to Chennai as a Cyclonic Storm by December 12, 2016, afternoon. It may cause the following damages:) Heavy Rainfall Warning: Rainfall at most places with isolated heavy to very heavy falls over south coastal Andhra Pradesh, north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry is likely to commence for subsequent 36 hrs (from 11th December evening). The rainfall intensity will increase gradually becoming heavy to very heavy rainfall (7-19 cm) at a few places and isolated extremely heavy rainfall (= 20 cm) over Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu and Nellore and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh on December 12, 2016.) Wind warning: Squally winds speed reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph would prevail along and off Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts. It will gradually increase becoming 80-90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph during the time of landfall along and off Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Nellore and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh.) Sea condition: Sea condition would be rough to very rough along and off Andhra Pradesh and north Tamil Nadu coasts. Sea condition along and off these coasts will become high to phenomenal from December 12 morning.) Storm surge: The tidal wave of about one meter height above the astronomical tide is likely to inundate the low lying areas of Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh during the time of landfall.) Damage Expected: The storm will damage thatched huts, power and communication lines due to breaking of branches. It may cause major damage to Kutcha and minor damage to Pucca roads. Significant damage may be caused to paddy crops, banana, papaya trees and orchards over Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu; Ongole and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry.) Action Suggested: Fishermen are advised not to venture into sea along and off south Andhra Pradesh, north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts.: The sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy. Moderate rain will starts in the evening which gradually increase in time. Maximum and minimum temperature is likely to be around 29 and 21 degree Celsius respectively.
New Delhi: The Eastern Naval Command (ENC) is all geared up to carry out relief operations, as cyclone 'Vardah' is likely to make landfall near Chennai on Monday, the Indian Navy said on Sunday.



Cyclone Vardah's severe cycle is around 450 km east-north-east of Chennai and is likely to make landfall north of Chennai in the afternoon or evening of December 12.



"In preparation for the relief efforts of very severe cyclone Vardah, the Eastern Naval Command has assumed high degree of readiness to render necessary assistance," said an Indian Navy statement in New Delhi.



"All operational ships have been readied and kept on standby to undertake humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations, including evacuation, should the situation demand," the Indian Navy said.



The ships are embarked with additional divers, doctors, inflatable rubber boats, integral helicopters and relief material that include food, tentage, clothes, medicines and blankets, among other things, in quantities sufficient to sustain over 5,000 people.



"Additionally, 30 diving teams with Gemini boats and four platoons with additional relief material are ready to be pressed into action at a short notice," the navy said.



The Eastern Naval Command is closely monitoring the developments and the Flag Officer - Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area is in constant communication with the sate administration to augment rescue and relief operations.



Naval aircraft are also standing by at the naval air stations at Rajali and Dega to undertake reconnaissance, rescue, casualty evacuation and air drop of relief material to the stranded.



On Friday, the forces evacuated over 2,300 tourists, including a dozen foreigners, by air and sea from Andaman & Nicobar islands, which was hit by the cyclone.



Authorities on Sunday sounded an alert in Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Tamil Nadu as cyclonic storm Vardah over the Bay of Bengal has turned into a "very severe" one.



The storm is likely to cross north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast by Monday afternoon, said Indian Meteorological Department on Sunday.



According to the meteorological department, Vardah over west central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal moved further westwards and lay centred at 5.30 am over west central and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal, about 520 km east-southeast of Nellore, 490 km east-southeast of Machilipatnam and 480 km east-northeast of Chennai.
New Delhi: Train passengers may have to shell out more as Railways is mulling increasing fares in a bid to raise resources after the Finance Ministry rejected its proposal of a special safety fund.



According to the proposal, a safety cess will be levied to generate funds for strengthening track and upgrading signalling system and elimination of unmanned level crossings among other safety-related works to prevent mishaps.



Earlier Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had written a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking Rs 1,19,183 crore to create the special Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh for undertaking various safety works.



However, the proposal did not find much favour with the Finance Ministry and it asked the Railways to raise resources on its own by raising fares.



The Finance Ministry agreed to provide only 25 per cent and suggested that Railways raise 75 per cent resources itself for the special safety fund, sources said.



"Though the Railway Minister is not in favour of raising fares at this juncture when passenger bookings are falling and fares of AC-2 and AC-1 are already on higher side, the reluctance of Finance Ministry to provide a bail-out package has left the minister with no option," a source said.



According to the plan, the cess on Sleeper, Second Class and AC-3 will be higher while it will be marginal for AC-2 and AC-1.



A final decision on raising fares is yet to be taken as modalities are still being worked out, sources added.



Railways is witnessing train derailments on almost regular basis - two in quick succession in the recent past causing heavy casualties. Experts say these mishaps have taken place due to the lack of upgrading and proper maintenance of track and signalling system.



The basic thrust in the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh proposal is to go for modern signalling system and elimination of all vulnerable unmanned level crossings to prevent accidents. Since majority of accidents happen at unmanned level crossings it is essential to eliminate those level crossings through construction of road over bridges and under bridges.



Since Railways has decided to increase the average speed of trains, it is important that rail track and rail bridges are also strengthened along with signalling upgrade.



Apart from increasing speed of passenger service, Railways has also decided to run freight trains with 25 tonne axle load for which strengthening of track and rail bridge is essential.
New Delhi: The recent observation by the Allahabad High Court which termed triple talaq as unconstitutional and against the fundamental rights of Muslim women has reignited the debate around the controversial practice.



The government and women rights activists want the practice to go, but the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board says it is a religious issue which the executive should not interfere with.



Speaking to News18, two women from different walks of life shared their encounter with triple talaq.



Shahnaz Hasan*, Human Rights Activist



Recently, I was divorced by my husband through the unilateral, oral, instant and completely un-Islamic triple talaq as practised in India.



My husband was not in the same country as I was, we were living apart. One fine day, he decided to call off our marriage over the phone. It hit me like a bolt from the blue  and all my attempts at reconciliation were of no use. I wasnt even given a chance to meet him once before this decision was taken. I was told by some that since he has already decided to end our marriage and that we are no longer husband and wife, it would be un-Islamic for me to stay with him.



I wanted to take some time to think this through as I did not want to go ahead with the divorce. But I was told that it doesn't matter whether I sign the talaqnama or not; my husband could just say the word thrice and the divorce would be considered valid. I told my cousin that I am not going to give the divorce as per his convenience, let him do whatever he wants but I will not agree to it. To this, she replied that it didnt matter what I thought because once he utters the word three times, the divorce will be valid. It was at that moment it struck me that as a Muslim woman in India, I had no real rights and no control over my marriage. I was very much in disbelief and asked my cousin to verify. I was sure it couldnt be so easy to break the sanctity of marriage in a split second.



What about my rights as an equal partner in marriage? To me, triple talaq happened only in movies and there was no place for such a regressive practice in a secular country like India. I later found out to my shock that my cousin was right. Even though triple talaq is banned in majority of Muslim countries, it is still valid and practised in India.



In my case, there was no three-month waiting period observed, as sanctioned by our religion; there were no real attempts at reconciliation made by his family. The Quran says that a husband can say talaq once every month for the mandatory three-month period called iddah.



That left me with no option but to sign the papers. I am telling my story because I still consider myself fortunate enough to have a good job and the support of my family through this ordeal but not all women are so fortunate. My own experience made me think that if despite being so educated and independent, I could feel so helpless and lost, what happens to a woman who is not as educated and economically sound and falls victim to this medieval practice? Even though I work in an international organisation whose mandate is to safeguard human rights and gender equality, I realised that I have no real rights in my own country. I have to live with the fact for the rest of my life that my marriage ended over a text message. Triple talaq is not an issue only in the backward, uneducated part of the Muslim society, it is a problem seeped in every strata.



Najma Bano*, Jaipur shows artisan



I belong to a very poor family. My mother worked at homes washing utensils and clothes. I was married to Abdul, who worked in a stones shop as a karigar (artisan). On certain days, when my mother would be unwell, I would accompany her. At that time, she was working in a new place where some boys had come to stay in Jaipur from Makrana. They belonged to a rich family involved in marble business. One of the boys raped me, shot my pictures and showed them to my husband.



After that, in a fit of anger, my husband divorced me. I pleaded my case but in one go, I was divorced. My ordeal didnt end there. I was married to the man who raped me. He stayed with me for 20 days, living off the money given by my family. One fine day, he left to buy cigarettes but never returned.



After that my family went to the police station to file a complaint of rape against him but we were shown the talaqnama. The local police officer told me that I was divorced again and there is no rape in marriage. This time I wasnt even told that I was divorced, I got to know this from the cops. I was now divorced for the second time. Muslim women organisations are fighting my case, we will get justice. I am now working as a karigar for a Jaipur shoes manufacturer. Things are very tough as because of my case my sisters are not getting married."



*Names changed to protect identity




Gulbarga: Bheema Naik - Special Land Acquisition Officer in Karnataka  accused of helping mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy allegedly in a money laundering case for his daughter's lavish wedding was arrested by the the Mandya Police on Sunday.



He was arrested from Gulbarga and taken to the police headquarters for further investigation.



"Mandya Police team has arrested Bheema Nayak and Mohammad from a relative's house today," police said.



Bheemas name came in lime light after his driver Ramesh Gowda  who committed suicide on December 6 - alleged that Reddy along with BJP MP Sriramulu met Naik several times to convert unaccounted money (Rs 100 crore) for the wedding.



In his suicide note Gowda claimed that they met in a five star hotel in Bengaluru to discuss the matter. Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) officer Naik was accused by Gowda of having received a 20 percent cut for helping Reddy launder the money needed for his daughter's lavish wedding.



Along with 20 percent cut, Naik allegedly wanted Reddy to help him get a ticket to contest the 2018 Karnataka elections, Gowdas letter claimed.



In his suicide note, Gowda claimed that he was receiving constant death threats, which forced him to take such extreme step.



"He (Nayak) had got converted Rs 1000 and 500 notes belonging to them (Reddy) worth Rs 100 crores for 20 per cent

(commission) to Rs 50, 100 and 2000 notes. As I was aware of all these things, they had threatened me of dire consequences and told me they will get me killed from rowdies," the note claimed.



Mandya Police, which had registered a case under section 306 of the IPC (abetment of suicide), had formed three teams to look into the suicide of Ramesh.



The Criminal Investigation Department is also probing the case.



Income Tax officials had visited Reddys house in Bellary after the "Rs 500 crore" wedding and asked him to produce details.



According to reports, Reddy, who spent four years in Hyderabad and Bengaluru jails, had returned to Karnatakas Bellary after five years on November 1 to make preparations for his daughter's Rs 500 crore wedding.



The wedding of his daughter Brahmani was attended by at least 50,000 guests, which included top leaders of both the Congress and the BJP.



(With PTI inputs)
Mumbai: A private helicopter on a joyride crashed, killing the pilot and injuring three others, at an isolated spot in Mumbais Goregaon suburb on Sunday.



The helicopter, a Robinson R44 belonging to Aman Aviation Pvt Ltd, was on a sight-seeing flight over Mumbai when it suddenly crashed inside the forested Aarey Milk Colony and caught fire around 12.15 pm, said the BMC Disaster Control.







The deceased was identified as Praful Kumar Mishra. Those injured were identified as Ritesh Modi (35), his wife Bindra Modi (34) and Sanjiv Shankar (24).



Police personnel and locals extricated the victims from the burning chopper and rushed them to the Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri East.



(With IANS inputs)
The tragedy king of Bollywood turns a year older today. One of the greatest actors of all times, Dilip Kumar was born in Peshawar in 1922 as Mohammad Yusuf Khan. His father was a fruit merchant who owned orchards in Peshawar and Deolali (in Maharashtra, India). Dilip Kumar was schooled at Barnes School, Deolali. In the late 1930s, his family relocated to Bombay.



In 1942, in order to start his own career, he met actress Devika Rani, owner of Bombay Talkies, who asked him to sign up with the company on a pay of Rs. 1250 per year. Later, she requested to change his name from Yousuf to Dilip Kumar, and cast him in a lead role for the film Jwar Bhata (1944), which marked Dilip Kumar's entry into the Hindi film industry.



In the course of over 7 decades in the industry, Dilip Kumar established method acting as an essential part of film acting in Bollywood. He was among the top actors of the Hindi film industry during 1950s and 60s. His fans gave him the title of 'Tragedy King' for his perfection in death and tragic scenes. On his 94th birthday, let's take a look back at his 10 memorable films:



Andaz: Dilip Kumar shared screen space with Raj Kapoor for the first time in 'Andaz'. A love triangle, 'Andaz' shows Dilip Kumar as a romantic hero whose unrequited love costs him his life. The film turned out be one of the biggest grossers of the year.







Ram Aur Shayam: Very few actors have the panache to carry out double roles in films and that too so brilliantly. And, Dilip Kumar's act became an inspiration for many others actors to reprise the role of twins in films. The way he switches from a shy (Ram) to the vivacious (Shyam) is commendable.







Azaad: Dilip Kumar plays the role of a charismatic bandit who rescues Meena Kumari and pretends to be a wealthy person. The film was one of the biggest hits of 1950s.







Daag: Dilip Kumar proves why is he is the invincible tragedy king of Bollywood with his performance in 'Daag'. He plays the role of Shankar who succumbs to alcohol and moves onto the path of self destruction. The actor won his first Filmfare Award for 'Daag'.







Mughal-e-Azam: K Asif's magnum opus was a classic is every sense. From the dialogues to the sets to the acting, 'Mughal-e-Azam' spelled brilliance. Dilip Kumar beautifully brought out the romantic side of a prince who dares to go against his father and falls for a courtesan. His performance is still etched in the minds of many of his fans.







Naya Daur: With the onset of industrialisation, Dilip Kumar's role of a tongawala who dares to challenge the landlords became an inspiration for many. Dilip Kumar even went onto win Filmfare Award for Best Actor for 'Naya Daur'.







Devdas: Failed in love, Devdas (Dilip Kumar) takes to liquor after the marriage of Paro (Suchitra Sen). As a hopeless lover, Devdas drinks to reduce the pain of losing his lover Paro. Who can forget the popular dialogue, 'Kon Kambhakht Bardaasht Karne Ke Liye Peeta Hai'. Dilip Kumar beautifully brought the pain of unrequited love on screen.







Aadmi: Dilip Kumar was one of the actors who did not shy away from sharing screen space with other actors. He played the role of a jealous lover in 'Aadmi'. Dilip Kumar proved his acting prowess by playing a man on wheelchair and was much appreciated for his role.







Shakti: Despite sharing screen space with Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar was the star of the film. He played the role of an honest police officer who doesn't mind sacrificing his near and dear ones in the line of duty. Amitabh Bachchan played the role of Dilip Kumar's son in the film.







Saudagar: Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar came together in 1991 film 'Saudagar'. Influenced by the popular play 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Saudagar' was a love story. Dilip Kumar's performance was much appreciated in the film and also bagged him a best actor nomination at Filmfare Awards.









Here's wishing Bollywood's favourite actor a very happy and healthy birthday.




New Delhi: Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel on Sunday said demonetisation is the right decision to curb black money but cannot be termed as a surgical strike against wealth amassed illegally.



"As far as curbing black money is concerned, it is the right decision but it is not a surgical strike against the wealth amassed illegally.



"I could not see the son of Jaitley, Adani or Ambani in the queues. I saw only farmers and poor people there," Patel said.



Asked whether he supported demonetisation, he said, "It is a welcome step against corruption. But if it is merely a gimmick then it is not good."



It is okay if the government continues with the note ban but it should also address the problems of farmers and the poor, the Patidar leader said.



Asked if he will join protests against demonetisation, he said, "No. I will not protest demonetisation. I will protest corruption."



At a "Kisan Panchayat" organised by suspended AAP MLA from Bijwasan Col Devendra Sehrawat, Patel claimed that there is no development in Gujarat and the state is reeling under "a debt of Rs 3 lakh crore".
Islamabad: At least 14 persons were killed in fog-related accidents in Pakistan's Punjab province on Sunday.



Six members of a family were killed when their car fell into a canal in central Multan district, Xinhua news agency reported.



In neighbouring Vehari district, two persons died when a truck hit their bike due to low visibility.



In Sargodha district, two brothers were killed when their bike was ran over by a car -- also due to poor visibility.



Four persons were killed and several others injured in a van-bus collision in Narowal district.



The weather office said foggy weather was likely to persist in the plains of Punjab.
Tokyo: Russia appears to have snubbed a Japanese attempt at puppy-love diplomacy by declining a gift of a dog for President Vladimir Putin at a summit next week with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.



The Japanese government had planned to present Putin, widely known to be a dog lover, with a male Akita as a companion to Yume, a female of the same breed that Japan gave him in 2012.



But a Japanese legislator said Russia had turned down the offer.



"Unfortunately, we heard from our counterparts, and our hope to present a bridegroom was dashed," House of Representatives member Koichi Hagiuda said in a blog post on Friday, without giving a reason for the rejection.



Abe and Putin will meet in Japan on December 15-16.



They are expected to work towards reviving security talks and joint naval rescue training halted after Russia annexed the Crimea region in 2014. The two sides are also set to sign some business deals.



A territorial dispute over a group of islands has bedevilled relations between the two countries since the end of World War Two.



Putin is known to be an animal lover who has been photographed riding horses, swimming with dolphins and cuddling a leopard.



In addition to Yume, which means "dream" in Japanese, he is the owner of Buffy, a male Bulgarian Shepherd given by Bulgaria's prime minister in 2010.




Washington: The CIA has concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help President-elect Donald Trump win the White House, and not just to undermine confidence in the US electoral system. The report prompted the Obama administration to review the Russian hacking, the Washington Post reported.



Citing US officials briefed on the matter, the Post said on Friday that intelligence agencies had identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including the chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, to WikiLeaks.



The officials described the individuals as people known to the intelligence community who were part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and reduce Clinton's chances of winning the election.



"It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia's goal here was to favour one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected," the paper quoted a senior US official who briefed on an intelligence presentation made to US senators. "That's the consensus view."



The Obama administration has been debating for months how to respond to the alleged Russian intrusions, with White House officials concerned about escalating tensions with Moscow and being accused of trying to boost Clinton's campaign.



The Trump transition team dismissed the findings in a short statement issued Friday evening.



"These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It's now time to move on and 'Make America Great Again,'?" the statement read.



Trump has consistently dismissed the intelligence community's findings about Russian hacking.



"I don't believe they interfered" in the election, he told Time magazine this week. The hacking, he said, "could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey."



The CIA shared its latest assessment with key senators in a closed door briefing on Capitol Hill last week, in which agency officials cited a growing body of intelligence from multiple sources. Agency briefers told the senators it was now "quite clear" that electing Trump was Russia's goal, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, the paper reported.



On Friday, the White House said President Obama had ordered a "full review" of Russian hacking during the election campaign, as pressure from Congress has grown for greater public understanding of exactly what Moscow did to influence the electoral process.



"We may have crossed into a new threshold, and it is incumbent upon us to take stock of that, to review, to conduct some after-action, to understand what has happened and to impart some lessons learned," Obama's counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.



Obama wants the report before he leaves office January 20, Monaco said. The review will be led by James Clapper, the outgoing director of national intelligence, officials said.



During her remarks, Monaco didn't address the latest CIA assessment, which hasn't been previously disclosed.



US intelligence agencies have been cautious for months in characterising Russia's motivations, reflecting the United States' long-standing struggle to collect reliable intelligence on President Vladimir Putin and those closest to him.



Though Russia has long conducted cyberspying on US agencies, companies and organisations, this presidential campaign marks the first time Moscow has attempted through cyber-means to interfere in, if not actively influence, the outcome of an election, the officials said.



The reluctance of the Obama White House to respond to the alleged Russian intrusions before election day upset Democrats on the Hill as well as members of the Clinton campaign.



Within the administration, top officials from different agencies sparred over whether and how to respond. White House officials were concerned that covert retaliatory measures might risk an escalation in which Russia, with sophisticated cyber-capabilities, might have less to lose than the United States, with its vast and vulnerable digital infrastructure.



The White House's reluctance to take that risk left Washington weighing more limited measures, including the "naming and shaming" approach of publicly blaming Moscow.



By mid-September, the White House decided it was time to take that step, but they worried that doing so unilaterally and without bipartisan congressional backing just weeks before the election would make Obama vulnerable to charges that he was using intelligence for political purposes.



Instead, officials devised a plan to seek bipartisan support from top lawmakers and set up a secret meeting with the Gang of 12 - a group that includes House and Senate leaders, as well as the chairmen and ranking members of both chambers' committees on intelligence and homeland security.



Though US intelligence agencies were sceptical that hackers would be able to manipulate the election results in a systematic way, the White House feared that Russia would attempt to do so, sowing doubt about the fundamental mechanisms of democracy and potentially forcing a more dangerous confrontation between Washington and Moscow.



According to several officials, McConnell raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.
Washington: Democratic Senator Harry Reid on Saturday said FBI Director James Comey deliberately withheld information about Russian hacking in order to help elect Republican Donald Trump.



Comey had information showing that Russia sought to tip the November presidential election in Trump's favor, said Reid, the outgoing minority leader who is retiring at the end of the month.



"The FBI had this material for a long time," he told MSNBC. "But he, Comey, who's a Republican, refused to divulge this information about Russia interfering with the presidential election."



Comey "should be investigated by the Senate" and "other agencies of the government, including the security agencies because if there were ever a matter of security, it's this," Reid said.



However, he added that he does not believe Attorney General Loretta Lynch should try to fire the FBI chief.



"There's not enough time to do that, that would be a gesture in futility," he said.



Comey "let the country down for partisan purposes," Reid said, calling him "the new J. Edgar Hoover," a reference to the powerful long-time FBI director (1935-1972) who carried out domestic espionage against political dissidents and collected secret files of dirty secrets about political leaders.



Republicans on Saturday rejected news reports about a secret CIA assessment finding that Russia sought to tip the US election in Trump's favor.



The New York Times reported that US intelligence agencies had "high confidence" that Russian hackers infiltrated the Republican National Committee's computer systems as well as Democratic Party's, but released information taken only from Democratic computers.



President Barack Obama has ordered a review of all cyberattacks that took place during the 2016 election cycle, the White House said Friday.



Reid's successor as the top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, also called for a congressional investigation into the matter on Saturday.
Karachi: Pakistan's Air Force chief said the country faces "daring challenges" on domestic and international fronts as the regional scenario has changed, but added that the armed forces were ready to respond to "any misadventure" by the enemy.



"Pakistan's battle hardened troops are fully prepared to respond to any misadventure of the enemy. The armed forces have formidable challenges before them as the country is facing daring challenges on the domestic and international fronts which have changed the regional scenario," Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman said at a passing out parade ceremony at the Pakistan Naval Academy in Karachi.



Pakistan Air Chief Marshal made it clear that the tolerance and patience exhibited by Pakistan should "never be misunderstood by our enemy."



Earlier this week, after visiting International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2016 here, he had said: "Our successes in Zarb-e-Azb operation is a clear manifestation of greater synergy that exists amongst the sister organizations of the armed forces."



Last month, Aman had said Pakistan knows how to handle India and its soldiers are prepared to respond to the Indian aggression. He had also "advised" India to avoid what he called efforts to destabilise peace in the region.



Today, Aman highlighted the importance of the strategic Gwadar port and the USD 46-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor built with Chinese assistance.



"Gwadar Port has the vital importance in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project," he said.
As the Sugar Plum Fairy, Rat King and Queen, and a Nutcracker traipse across the stage at Brookville High School, a group of girls have the opportunity to set aside their health issues and showcase their talents.

The Lynchburg-area dance school Ballet Aresko performed "The Nutcracker" Saturday for the third year; a second performance is Sunday. The version of the Christmas favorite features about 15 girls who have special needs.

Fiona McPherson, 16, plays the Rat Queen in the ballet. She first started taking ballet lessons when she was 5 years old through a home school co-operative in Lynchburg. She started getting headaches about two and a half years ago, and was diagnosed with Lyme disease and other co-infections that suppress her immune functions and energy.

The studio allows McPherson to keep dancing and provides a great support system, she said. Because of the Lyme disease, she will have good days and sick days.

Even on the sick days, she will come to the studio to listen to the music and watch the performances.

Ballet Aresko was started in 2013by Liberty University graduate Laura Dunn.

Dunn said she didnt start the studio, which rents space from Grace Evangelical Free Church on Timberlake Road, specifically for children with special needs. That happened organically.

She started the studio originally to help girls who couldnt participate because of cost.

I saw this gap here for girls  we also have girls with Down syndrome and diabetes. Its been a natural thing, Dunn said. We try not to make them feel like they are different.

At the same time, the teachers are careful to not pressure those girls to perform when they cannot; lots of individual teaching is given to help the girls succeed, she added.

Twenty-year-old Anna Johnson was attending the University of Delaware for a degree in exercise science just last year. She moved back home to Lynchburg in April when her health began to deteriorate. She was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in August.

Cystic fibrosis causes a thick buildup of mucus in the lungs, pancreas and other organs. It is a progressive, genetic disease.

It affects everything. I am in pain 80 percent of the time. Dance for me is one thing I can do to feel normal and get away, Johnson said.

Johnson is attending Liberty University and plans to transfer to Randolph College to pursue a double major in dance and psychology.

Johnson plays multiple roles in The Nutcracker, including a snowflake and a flower in the Waltz of the Flowers scene.

For Lauren Britt, 18, being a dancer was something she wanted since childhood; she would often watch ballet performances on television.

However, Britt was diagnosed as a child with hydrocephalus, an abnormal buildup of fluid in the brain. She has had multiple surgeries to install shunts to drain the excess fluid.

She has memory problems, though she can see improvement with that in her dancing. I feel like, with each performance, I remember a bit more, she said Saturday.

At Ballet Aresko, the teachers and her classmates are supportive. Britt said she has opened up to the girls about her medical condition and they pray for each other.

The arts, in general, are good for human beings; it adds richness and joys. A lot of these girls have problems talking about [their health issues] ... they can dance it out, Dunn said.
Who killed Shenese?

A Republic Bank employee, Banfield left her workplace at Independence Square last Monday to shop at Pennywise and IAM & Co Ltd but she never made it back to her Santa Cruz home. On Thursday, her decomposing body was found on a shelf in a store-room on the third floor of IAM & Co Ltds Charlotte Street outlet, covered with cardboard boxes.

Shenese, who worked at IAM on Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain, went missing on January 24, 2015.

Her family said she left home to attend a job interview with a businessman as she was on three weeks vacation without pay. She too never returned home.

A week after her disappearance, a male passer-by found Sheneses body along a trail off Macqueripe Road in Chaguaramas with her hands bound behind her back.

However, because of the advanced stage of decomposition, formal identification was done via dental records and her mother eventually identified the body in June of that year.

Speaking to Sunday Newsday at their Lopinot Road, Arouca home yesterday, Sheneses parents, Sinatra and Paula Samuel said their hearts went out to Banfields parents as they knew exactly how the other family was feeling. They advised Banfields family to pray to God to help them through the ordeal, and said the Samuel family would be praying for them as well.

By the time I saw that girl missing on Monday, I carried the (news)papers to my wife and told her, You see this girl? The same way Shenese gone, this girl gone.

This looking as if its the same people that take her. I started to pray for the family one time. That mother would go down in her grave and never forget this, said Sinatra.

Almost two years later, Sinatra said he does not sleep properly, he has difficulty concentrating at work, every day his family feels the pain and emptiness of Sheneses loss, and now, the story of Banfield stirred up those feelings even more.

She was too special. She was loving. Just different. Time could never heal that wound. Even though I buried a body, I still felt as if she was alive somewhere but with this (Banfield) now, it hit me that shes really gone, said Paula.

To console ourselves a little bit, we tell ourselves that she was too precious for this earth and Jehovah took her back. Who could poor people like us depend on except God? added Sinatra.

Paula stated that the only visit the family ever got from the police was the night after they reported her disappearance, and the family was not contacted when it was suspected that the body found on February 1, 2015 was Sheneses.

Sinatra said that very day he found out about the body and went to see if it was his daughter. However, it was so badly decomposed that he was convinced that it could not have been her. And so they continued their own country-wide search for their daughter, even travelling to Tobago on several occasions, including acquiring Sheneses cell phone records and giving the last number called and received to the Anti-Kidnapping Squad.

Paula said it was six months later, while watching the police talk show, Beyond The Tape, that the host stated that the relatives of Shenese needed to go to the Forensic Science Centre in St James because there was a body bearing resemblance to her. There, Paula identified her daughter by her hair and index finger which had been twice trapped in a car door.

Then, in July a 46-year-old Sangre Grande man was arrested in a police sting operation after he allegedly placed advertisements for models then raped them. The number the man was using was the number that Shenese had called for the interview.

However, since then, they had not heard anything about the investigation.

While reading the stories of Banfields murder, several similarities occurred to them. Both women were around the same age, both would call and update their family on their activities, they were both religious, upstanding women, and the IAM connection.

Paula admitted that her daughters disappearance and murder did not get the kind of attention as Banfields. Therefore, since no one ever visited the family to tell them what happened to their daughter, she hoped Banfields death would shine a light on Sheneses case and possibly motivate the police to do more, and give both families justice for their daughters.
West sorry for police gang talk

I will not respond to that, I will respond next week ....because next week, he will not be the PCA director anymore, Seales declared yesterday On Friday, West had said, this gang , in reference to the TTPS, is left untouched and there have been no prosecutions.

He made the statements at a discussion titled Eat and Tweet: Anti- Corruption Debate held at the British High Commissioners Residence, Beaumont Road, Maraval.

The debate was held in observance of International Anti-Corruption Day. Stuart Young, Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Dion Abdool, chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute, and Richard Blewitt, UN Resident Co-ordinator and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, sat on a panel leading the debate on corruption in TT.

In an emailed statement yesterday, the Communications Unit of the PCA quoted West as saying, I apologise for the statement as having come over as an indictment against the entire TTPS. I ought to have said that there is an element of rogue officers within the service who have to be removed and brought before the courts. The Communications Unit went on to say that the director recognizes that there are many committed, honest and law abiding police officers who put their lives on the line every day in the fight against crime. The Director reassures the public that matters that come to the PCA are dealt with independently and impartially and that the Authority allows the rules of natural justice and due process to prevail. Seales told Sunday Newsday, West phoned him yesterday morning to unreservedly apologise for calling the TTPS the biggest gang after social media went abuzz and the story was highlighted in the newspapers.

Seales said the statement went viral and he was inundated with telephone calls . He declined to give details of the conversation with West but said he expressed regret for making the statement. Asked whether the apology was accepted, Seales said it was not up to him but the general membership of the TTPS to either accept or reject it. He said a decision will be taken following the determination of a court matter involving Ag Inspector Ian Carty on December 19.

I have nothing to say as yet, after the 19th (December), because theres a case that is going on, that is to be completed in which he (West) is the complainant, after that he may not be the PCA director. Seales was referring to a matter involving Carty of the Court and Process Department in Port-of -Spain which is expected to end on that date. Cartys charges relate to failing to co-operate with the PCA on the Day of Total Policing which was held on March 23, 2015 and which resulted in traffic gridlock virtually shutting down the capital city. Carty, who is also a trustee on the PSWA, was subsequently arrested and charged . The PSWA president said he is expecting a favourable outcome. Following the courts ruling , Seales said he and his executive would meet to discuss the way forward.

Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams also did not respond, only to say West had called him and apologised also, when questioned during a Christmas childrens party hosted by the police in Laventille yesterday.
I want justice for Shannon too

In an emailed release yesterday, Ali said in his 50 years of business he never experienced anything like Banfields death.

I too wish that Shannon Banfield gets the justice that she deserves, said Ali who offered, deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and will do everything to support them in their moment of grief. Giving his account of the companys role in the investigation, Ali said at about 1.30 pm on December 8 his son informed him that an employee found a dead body at the retail branch located at 39 and 41 Charlotte Street, Portof- Spain, at the back of the stock room.

The employee stumbled upon the body as he was searching for the cause of a bad odour.

Most members of staff believed the cause of the odour was a dead rat.

On being informed of the incident, Ali said he contacted the police, closed the store and asked all employees of the branch to remain.

Within 20 minutes, he said, Senior Superintendent of Police Boxill visited his head office at the Trincity Industrial Estate, where the main camera system is kept. He was unable to access the footage due to technical complications.

Boxill then informed him that the police would retrieve the CCTV footage from the Charlotte Street branch, the statement said.

Ali, in a subsequent call to Sunday Newsday, said a digital video recorder was handed over to the police.

In his email, Ali expressed disappointment that some media houses were publishing false accusations against me and my company, he said, I have never said that I am in a hurry to re-open my Charlotte Street branch for Christmas. His family, staff and himself, he said, were truly grieved and regret this most unfortunate incident and they are assisting the police with what is necessary to catch the perpetrators of this horrid crime.

Ali said the company requested all staff members cooperate fully with the police, advised the police of the status of the employees and provided them with copies of identification cards.

I do whatever is necessary to ensure my staff and customers are safe as possible. I have a good relationship with all members of staff as their period of employment ranges from five years to 36 years. We have few members of staff who have been employed with the company for under five years, he said.

Police investigators returned to the Charlotte Street store to further examine the crime scene.

Senior officers told Sunday Newsday they had received information about threats to burn down IAM & Company but added that close surveillance has been placed on the business-place.
People, not Martians, hurting women

It is co-workers, friends, neighbours, and relatives who committing these heinous acts.

The perpetrators, the people who are coming in to steal, to hurt, to kill and destroy, they are not Martians... They live with us, they eat with us, they walk among us.

They are our brothers, our fathers, our uncles, our sons, our daughters, our sisters, our mother. They are the people right among us who are causing the hurt and pain, she said.

Webster-Roy was speaking yesterday at the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Services distribution of care packages for offenders at the Womens Prison in Golden Grove, Arouca, to commemorate International Human Rights Day as well as the end of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, which started on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25.

She assured female prisoners, those convicted and on remand, that they still had the rights of every other human being on the planet, including the right to be loved, respected, nurtured, valued, and cared for, regardless of the mistakes they made, or the reasons why they were in prison.

I want to give you my commitment to do all in my power to ensure that I work with a government that works towards reducing the incidents of violence against women and the vulnerable in society, she said. She acknowledged the work of the NGOs who help to prop up society and bring about needed changes when government lapsed.

Webster-Roy also pointed out that some men had approached her to say that men experience violence as well. We are not saying that we dont value the rights of men. We are saying we live in a society where we should all have access to equal opportunities, equal rights of being valued.

Unfortunately, our women, a vulnerable sector of society, do not get to celebrate those rights in the same way as men do, she had to explain to them.

She admitted there was a limit to what Government and NGOs could do. She asked the prisoners to do all they could do to train their children to be good citizens, and to live the best they could live, not tearing down anyone. It calls for each and every citizen to look inside, to see how we could do better, be better and value the human rights of each and every citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, she said.

Noting that the past few days had been very difficult emotionally and spiritually, she asked that the movement of acting and speaking against violence in all forms be a continuous one, and not go in the way of talk in TT lasts nine days and done. She asked that the country stand in unity, put aside pride, position, political allegiances, race, and other divisions, and speak out against violence.

If we all start speaking out and saying its wrong together, trust me, God will do the rest and we could bring about the change that we want in Trinidad and Tobago, she said.
PHNOM PENH - About 653,144 Chinese holidaymakers had visited Cambodia in the first ten months of 2016, up 14 percent over the same period last year, the latest data of Tourism Ministry showed Saturday.

The number of Chinese visitors to Cambodia accounted for 16.7 percent of total foreigners to the kingdom during the January-October period, the data said.

China ranked the second largest source of tourists to the Southeast Asian country after Vietnam, whose 768,660 people traveled to Cambodia during the period, down 2 percent year-on-year.

Speaking during a Cambodia-China business forum last week, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen predicted that the kingdom could receive a total of 800,000 Chinese tourists in the year of 2016, an increase of 14.29 percent year-on-year.

He said, to date, direct flights between China and Cambodia reached to 94 per week, with 51 flights to Phnom Penh capital, 31 flights to Siem Reap cultural province and 12 flights to the coastal province of Preah Sihanouk.

Cambodia is famous for two cultural sites on the UNESCO's World Heritage List. One is the 12th century Angkor archaeological park and the other is the 11th century Preah Vihear Temple.

In addition, it has many interesting eco-tourism sites, including a 450-km pristine coastline stretching across four provinces in the country's southwestern part.
Bank of Guyana stops purchase of TT$

He has also warned commercial banks about the amounts of TT dollars they were buying.

The Stabroek News quoted Ganga as telling a press conference on Thursday that there was no chronic shortage of US dollars, but there was a situation that may have led to local businesses complaining about a shortage of foreign exchange.

Ganga said there was evidence that traders from Barbados, TT, and to a lesser extent Suriname, were buying large amounts of US dollars in Guyana. This was due, he said, to the economic situation in those countries.

Referring to comparative statistics, Ganga said the TT dollars in circulation in Guyana rose from $9.1 million in 2014 to $38 million to date. The Barbados dollars rose from $8 million in 2014 to $13 million presently.

Assuring that the Guyana economy was a solid one, Ganga said commercial banks were satisfy ing the local demand for foreign currency.

Nevertheless, they have been cautioned about the amounts of TT dollars they have been buying, he said.

The commercial banks are dealing with this situation as we speak. Some of them will be bringing back some foreign currencies they had elsewhere to address some of the demand, he said.

A lot of people would have gone to the commercial banks and to the cambios requesting foreign exchange for speculative purposes and it was easy to do so.

He also said Trinidad businesses were struggling to pay for goods such as sugar and rice from Guyana.

The Central Bank has asked commercial banks, Ganga said, to always be careful otherwise we will end up like Trinidad, where Trinidad cant pay GuySuCo (Guyana Sugar Corporation) for sugar bought over one month ago. It is just US$1 million. A rice exporter, he said, is owed about US$670,000 from a Trinidadian importer.

It is now reflecting in our system - their problem, he said.
Amcham, bankers hit wrangling over FACTA

In separate statements yesterday, the business associations once again expressed concerns about the derailed debate on the bill last Friday, following the Opposition walkout last Friday after a request to debate crime was rejected by the Speaker who ordered Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar out of the parliamentary chamber.

This transpired ahead of debate on the bill, which Government members began but then adjourned until tomorrow.

The passage of the bill, which requires a two-thirds majority of the Parliament, will pave the way for making the country compliant with the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Let good sense prevail, and commit to passing the Tax Information Exchange Bill, Amcham said in a release.

Co-operation between Government and Opposition will be required over the next few months to ensure that our country meets its Caribbean Financial Action Task Force commitments to credibly show that we are committed to fighting money laundering, the financing of terrorism and other financial crimes, Amcham noted. BATT made a similar case, in its statement, noting, This legislation is critical to enabling Trinidad and Tobago to meet the revised deadline agreed for the establishment of the regime to comply with FATCA. The associations hit the parliamentary impasse.

Amcham expressed disappointment by the continued political wrangling that was contributing to the delay of the passage of the piece of legislation that governs the implementation of the FATCA.

While Amcham believes that debate was a trade mark for a healthy democracy, it said, this should not occur at the expense of best interest of the country. Elected leaders were entrusted, Amcham said, to always put country first and to rise above the myopic political tactics that could cripple our financial institutions and be detrimental to our ability to do business with the rest of the world. Minor amendments which may now be needed, Amcham said, can be made without going to a Joint Select Committee, which will unnecessarily delay the passage of the legislation within the timeline which TT itself provided to the US government.

Apart from affecting TTs ability to do business with the rest of the world, Amcham said non-compliance by the deadline will also adversely affect trade relationship with the US, who is still a major trading partner of TT.

We trust that our elected leaders will put politics aside to ensure that the interests of TT come first, the chamber said.

BATT too urged Government and the Opposition to put aside partisan concerns and do what is right and in the best interest of Trinidad and Tobago.

The continued delay creates real risk to an economy already battered by the effects of falling revenue from the energy industry.

If we miss the revised deadline of February 2017 the country will be placed in an untenable situation and the effects could be far reaching for businesses and individuals alike, BATT stated.

The banking fraternity said it remains committed to providing both sides with comments on the legislation to help expedite the debate.

This is an important time in our democracy. While debate is necessary and healthy there comes a point when we must step back and do the right thing. Let this be that time.
TT, Liberia in crime fight

The signing ceremony last Friday came at the end of a four day visit by the Liberian officials.

In a statement at the signing ceremony at the FIUs office in Tower D at the International Waterfront Centre, Port-of- Spain, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago, Susan Francois, said although Liberia is far from this country, crime knows no borders and in todays world criminal networks operate on a global scale.

She said the statement is particularly apt when we consider the serious crimes of trafficking in persons; drugs and weapons; corruption; money laundering and the movement of criminally obtained money through wire transfers, across borders, in a split second. She added that, Terrorism and the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters who travel from their home country, including from Trinidad and Tobago, to Syria and Iraq, are also receiving global and national attention. She said just as crime knows no borders, information must also flow seamlessly across borders between intelligence and law enforcement agencies to solve crimes and bring those who commit them to justice.

She added financial intelligence units were set up facilitate this flow of information between countries and to overcome the obstacles which prevent cross-border information sharing on criminal activity.

Francois said the local FIU has already signed 21 MoUs with foreign FIUs, eight of them with FIUs outside the Caribbean including in Australia; Canada; South Africa and Colombia.

Last year the FIU received 25 requests for information from foreign jurisdictions and made 38 requests of its own, most of these to FIUs within the Caribbean and the others to FIUs in North America and Europe.

She said the local FIU sent 39 intelligence reports to foreign jurisdictions where it found a link with that country after the analysis of a suspicious transaction report.

Alex Cuffy, the Director of the FIU of Liberia, said although there are many other countries in West Africa, Trinidad and Tobago presented a good appetite for Liberia and he and his team were able to gather a lot of information about this country and when contacted the Trinidad and Tobago FIU was very receptive.
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(Newser)  The Muslim police officer who was the victim of an alleged hate crime this month is seeking a meeting with Donald Trump, Yahoo reports. Last Saturday, NYPD officer Aml Elsokary was off-duty when she says she saw a man pushing her teenage son. She says the man called her a terrorist, threatened to cut her throat, then told her to go back to her country. The man was arrested and charged with a hate crime. This week, Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams sent a letter to Trump on behalf of Elsokary and other members of the NYPD Muslim Officers Society.

In his letter, Adams cites a 115% rise in hate crimes in New York City since Election Day and asks Trump to offer reassurance to the country's Muslim-American population while giving "guidance" to others. "The welfare of these officers speaks to the greater welfare of the millions of law-abiding Muslim-Americans, many of whom are fearful at this critical juncture in our history, Yahoo quotes Adams as saying in his letter. Adams and Elsokary, who was commended for her bravery in 2014 after rescuing a baby from a burning building, plan to deliver the letter to Trump Tower in person if they don't hear back from the president-elect first. Read the full story here. (Read more Islamophobia stories.)
(Newser)  Iran said Sunday it has finalized a $16.8 billion deal with Boeing to purchase 80 passenger planes, reports the AP, a deal made possible by last year's landmark nuclear deal. The state-run IRNA news agency said 50 Boeing 737s and 30 Boeing 777s would be delivered over the next decade, in the biggest agreement to be struck with an American company since the 1979 revolution and US Embassy takeover. In September, Washington granted permission to Boeing and its European competitor Airbus to sell billions of dollars' worth of aircraft to Iran. The US and other world powers agreed last year to lift crippling sanctions on Iran in exchange for it curbing its nuclear activities. President-elect Donald Trump and several GOP lawmakers have criticized the deal, but it's unclear whether they would scrap the agreement, which was reached with Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China.

Iranian Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi, who attended the signing ceremony, said it was a "historic" day for Iranian aviation and that the deal would create 8,000 jobs for Iranians. "The deal has a clear message for the world: we support peace and security as well as the growth of Iran based on a win-win policy," he was quoted as saying. "We hope that despite changes in the US administration, the country will remain loyal to its commitments." Most of Iran's aging fleet of 250 commercial planes was purchased before 1979, and as of June only 162 were operational, with the rest grounded because of a lack of spare parts. Iran Air, whose website lists a fleet of 43 planes, offers direct flights to over 30 international destinations, including London. Iran Air CEO Farhad Parvaresh said the first Boeing plane is expected to arrive in April. (Read more Boeing stories.)
(Newser)  Two prominent Republicans and two prominent Democrats wasted little time in demanding a bipartisan investigation into the CIA's claim that Russian hackers worked to throw the 2016 election Donald Trump's way, reports Politico. "Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyber-attacks," reads a statement put out by Sens. John McCain, Chuck Schumer, Lindsey Graham, and Jack Reed. "This cannot become a partisan issue. The stakes are too high for our country. We ... will seek to unify our colleagues around the goal of investigating and stopping the grave threats that cyberattacks conducted by foreign governments pose to our national security." They said the report "should alarm every American." President-elect Donald Trump has dismissed the CIA's claims. (Read more Russian hackers stories.)
(Newser)  Donald Trump is reportedly down to four candidates for energy secretary, and they include two Democratic senators from big energy-producing states, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, and, uh, if history were any indicator the fourth name would escape Rick Perry's memory. Yes, Perry, the former Texas governor who famously forgot the third federal department he wanted to abolish during a 2011 presidential debate, is now the leading candidate to run that same department, reports Bloomberg, citing Trump transition insiders. Perry currently sits on the board of Energy Transfer Partners, which is behind the controversial pipeline project in North Dakota, notes Bloomberg. Also in the running are Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and former RNC chief Ray Washburne. Any of the four would break with recent tradition of appointing scientists to the post. (Read more Rick Perry stories.)
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Madison Square Park has been transformed into a gingerbread oasis thanks to Taste of Home! Gingerbread Boulevard is available to be enjoyed through December 18th.

Monday through Friday - 2 PM - 8 PM

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Chennai:

Strongly backing late Jayalalithaas long-time aide Sasikala, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Saturday said she should become general secretary and lead the AIADMK.



There is no second opinion on the issue. If anyone has second thoughts, they are not true AIADMK workers, Jaya Plus Tamil TV channel reported Panneerselvam as saying.



He said Sasikala shared Jayalalithaas grief, she lived with her as her trusted aide and was like a sister. She imbibed the thoughts and working style of Jayalalithaa by being with her for over 30 years. She lived like Jayalalithaas shadow till Ammas death, he said.

Also read | Jayalalithaa's long time aide Sasikala appears all set to take over mantle of AIADMK General Secretary

Like Amma, Chinnamma (as Sasikala is referred to by party workers) knows each and every party worker. To ensure continuance of the partys functioning with the same level of discipline one can find in the army, brought about by Amma, the only way out in the present situation is for Chinnamma to become the general secretary and lead the party, he said.



To fill the void in the party created by the demise of Amma, AIADMK senior party leaders and ministers have urged Chinnamma to take on the mantle of general secretary, he said.



Panneerselvam, also the party Treasurer, praised Sasikala for steadfastly supporting Jayalalithaa till the end. He condemned criticism against Sasikala from certain quarters and said rumours will not succeed.

Also read | Is Sasikala new Amma in Tamil Nadu? Political brainstorming on in AIADMK over who will step into Jayalalithaa's shoes



Earlier, a plea urging her to step into the shoes of Jayalalithaa was made by a delegation of leaders including AIADMK presidium chairman E Madhusudanan and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambidurai when they called on Sasikala at the Poes Garden residence of the late chief minister.



A host of state ministers, including Dindigul C Srinivasan and Electricity Minister P Thangamani expressed similar sentiments in interviews to the channel.



The leaders who called on Sasikala included former Ministers K A Sengottaiyan, B Valarmathi, Gokula Indira, former Chennai Mayor Saidai Duraisamy, party spokesperson C R Saraswathy and senior leader A Tamil Magan Hussain.



Sasikala, 60, has been a close aide of Jayalalithaa for three decades and has always been seen as a power centre in the party.

Also read | Subramanian Swamy claims AIADMK will head for split post Jayalalithaa's death



AIADMK Organisational Secretary C Ponnaiyan said there was nothing wrong in the Chief Minister and key party leaders consulting her. He had also asserted that the General Secretary would be elected soon and party remained united.



Jaya Plus Television Channel, a pro-AIADMK Tamil News channel, aired the opinions of several AIADMK functionaries and state ministers, who lent support for Sasikala and urged her to assume the top party position soon.

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Panaji:

Goa police on Saturday arrested three persons hailing from Uttar Pradesh who allegedly installed card-reading devices in point of sale (POS) machines at Calangute beach village.



Cybercrime cell of Goa police arrested Ramesh Chauhan (46), Alihusain Asad Galli (21) and Abhishekh Singh (29). They were apprehended from Calangute with debit/credit card skimmers when they were looking for prospective outlets to deploy these, Deputy Inspector General Vimal Gupta told reporters on Saturday.



He said the cybercrime acted on a tip-off received by Deputy Superintendent of Police Nelson Albuquerque.



The Cybercrime police station was assisted by Calangute police station during the raid, Gupta said.



Police have attached two skimmers, one laptop, four mobile phones, two pen drives and seven debit cards and other articles from the accused.



Whenever a customer swiped a debit or credit card in such machines, they recorded the card data along with the Personal Identification Number, a police officer said.



The Cybercrime police recovered a skimmer from the possession of arrested accused and others from the place where it was installed. The recovered skimmer look very similar to a genuine POS terminal that is credit/debit card swiping machine and cannot be identified as a skimmer by a layman, Gupta said.



A case under section 420 (cheating) of IPC and section 66 of IT Act has been registered in this regard, police said, adding a probe was underway.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Rex Tillerson is reportedly US President-elect Donald Trumps top pick for the post of secretary of state.



Rex Tillerson emerged Trumps leading candidate for the post over 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and three other people because he is a global business deal-maker and has close ties with Russia, reports said.



However, media reports said, Trump has not made a final decision. His spokesman Jason Miller has reportedly said that no announcement on the high-profile job was forthcoming in the immediate future.



Transition Update: No announcements on Secretary of State until next week at the earliest. #MakeAmericaGreatAgain, Miller tweeted.



The rumours of Tillersons posting were strengthened after the president-elect heaped praise on him in an interview released Saturday.

Trump's pick for Secretary of State, Exxon's Rex Tillerson, enjoying champagne toast w/ Putin + his associates after signing lucrative deal. pic.twitter.com/vS6NCMxd7T  Yashar (@yashar) December 10, 2016

Hes more than a business executive; hes a world-class player, Trump told Fox News in the interview, to be broadcast Sunday. Hes in charge of I guess the largest company in the world.



Trump called it a great advantage that Tillerson already knows many of the players, noting that he does massive deals in Russia.



The nomination would also put Trumps intentions toward Russia in the spotlight just as controversy is intensifying over reports that the Central Intelligence Agency has concluded that a Russian-led hacking effort of US email accounts was intended to boost Trumps election chances.

Also read | Barack Obama orders full review of cyber-attack during 2016 US presidential polls



According to reports Rex Tillerson, 64 years old, met privately with Trump on Saturday, four days after their first meeting.

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New Delhi:

A Delhi Police's Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police has been found dead in a property dealer's office in the Rohini area of New Delhi on Sunday morning. Dead body of a woman was also found next to him.



While the deceased woman has not been identified, the Police ASI has been identified as Jogendra Lakda of Rohini Crime Branch.



According to police officials, both were shot to death, woman suffered three bullet shots and ASI five.



The reports said that both bodies were found in the partlially dressed condition, which indicates to their conspicuous relations as cause of the death.



Jogendra Ladka was a resident of Mundka in outer Delhi. Senior officers of Delhi Police were present at the spot.
New Delhi:

India has asked American and French nuclear companies to furnish details of functional reactors designed by them as proof of their efficacy. The details have been asked by those companies which propose to build atomic plants in the country,

Sources said French company EDF and US firm Westinghouse are still not ready with fully operational "reference plants", a pre-requisite before a final General Framework Agreement could be signed with these entities.

The EDF proposes to build six nuclear European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) of 1650 MW each in Jaitapur and Westinghouse another set of six AP1000 reactors in Kovadda in Andhra Pradesh with an individual capacity of 1000 MW.

A senior government official said designs presented by the two companies are new, so even the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) wants to see how the technology works.

"We have told them to show a reference nuclear plant, which is functional and produces electricity. On paper, the designs of these companies look nice, but we should also know whether they work well or not. This will also help in getting clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, the nuclear watchdog in the country," the official said.

India specialises in Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors while the one which foreign companies are building are Light Water Reactors (LWRs) with some distinction from one another. Interestingly, the Russian have built Kudankulam units one and two, a VVER technology.

The EDF, which is now negotiating with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), said it had given Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant 3 as the reference plant.

The French government-owned company said the Flamanville plant with a capacity of 1630 MW should be operational by next year. However, sources said it might take a tad longer for the plant to become operational.

EDF is also building another EPR reactor Taishan in China and that is expected to be commissioned before Flamanville.

The company, which took over the reactor component of another French company Areva that was initially involved in discussion with the NPCIL, is building two more EPR plants in Hinkley Point in England.

The government official added that the NPCIL is hoping that by the time the negotiations are finalised, both these companies are in a position to showcase a reference plant.







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New Delhi :

The 13th and the current President of the country, Pranab Mukherjee is celebrating is 81th birthday on Sunday. In a career spanning over more than 60 years, Pranab Mukherjee has been the first citizen of the nation since July 2012.

Fondly called aPoltu Daa by his close ones, Pranab Mukherjee was born on 11 December 1935 in Mirati in Birbhum District in West Bengal, India, into a Brahmin family.

Pranab Mukherjee ventured into politics in 1969 when he became a member of the Rajya Sabha. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi recognized his potential and helped him Indian National Congress (INC).

President Mukherjee is also skilled with several years of diplomatic experience. He has served on the Board of Governors of the IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and African Development Bank.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to twitter to wish the President on his birthday.

Birthday wishes to Rashtrapati Ji. His tremendous experience & wisdom has benefitted the nation greatly. I pray for his long & healthy life. a Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 11, 2016

In addition, he has led the Indian delegations to the Commonwealth Finance Ministersa Conferences in 1982, 1983 and 1984. He participated in the Conference of Commonwealth Heads of Government at Auckland in 1995.

In June 2012, Pranab Mukherjee was nominated as the presidential candidate of the United Progressive Alliance. At that time, he was a part of the government, so he resigned to contest the presidential poll.

Pranab Mukherjee won the election by defeating P. A. Sangma in the race to Rashtrapati Bhavan, and was sworn into office on 25 July 2012 as the 13th President of India.

President Mukherjee is also a noted author and has written many books including aOff the Tracka (1987), aSaga of Struggle and Sacrificea (1992), aChallenges before the Nationa (1992), and aThe Dramatic Decade: The Days Of Indira Gandhi yearsa (2014).

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New Delhi:

After a TV channel and a website to promote digital payments, a nationwide toll-free helpline number 14444 will be launched soon to educate people and provide support related to cashless mode of transactions.

The service is expected to be operational within a week.

Government had sought Nasscoms help in providing support on a mass scale to people. We had requested a single nationwide helpline should be set up which now assigned by the DoT which is 14444. We are putting call centre support at the back-end. It is fairly advance stage of operation, IT body Nasscom President R Chandrashekar told PTI.

Also read | Soon, BSNL bill payment facility through private digital wallet like Mobiqwik, Paytm

It is awareness with intention of conversion in actual transaction. It is to help people at the first level to zero in on the option most suitable for them that depends on person whether he has feature phone or not, Aadhaar number or not, bank account so many combination need to be seen, Chandrashekhar added.

To educate people on digital transactions, Ministry of Electronics and IT on Friday launched free-to-air channel DigiShala which will be available on Doordarshans DTH platform and CashlessIndia website to educate people about digital transactions.

As per IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, digital payments have increased in the range of 400 to 1,000 per cent since November 8 after scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

Also read | Demonetisation one-month anniversary gifts: Govt showers discounts to push digital payments

When asked about timelines for operationalising Cash Mukt Bharat Abhiyan Helpine number, Chandrashekhar said, We are hoping that before the end of next week, it will be available.

He said that once people will start using a particular methodology then helpline of particular digital payment service provider will also be made available through the helpline.

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Rameswaram:

Eight Tamil Nadu fishermen were injured when they were allegedly attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy for fishing in their territorial waters.

Eight fishermen from Pudukottai district were fishing off Neduntheevu last evening when the Lankan naval personnel attacked them using iron rods and wires before chasing them away, Fisheries department Joint Director Sekar said.

The injured fishermen are being treated at the government hospital at Manalmelkudi in that district.

In another incident, more than 2500 fishermen from this island town were forced to return without their catch after they were allegedly chased away by the Lankan Navy for fishing off Katchatheevu, on Saturday.

The naval personnel allegedly pelted stones and snapped the nets of nearly 30 boats forcing the fishermen to flee and return to the shore this morning, Rameswaram Fishermens Association President P Sesuraja said.

The fishermen had ventured into the sea in more than 600 boats last evening and were fishing off Katchatheevu when they were attacked, he added.

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New Delhi:

For the first time in the decades-old militancy in Kashmir Valley, security forces have been targeted by a Naxal-style IED attack prompting agencies to brace up against the menace that has claimed numerous lives and maimed several troops in Left Wing Extremism hit areas.

Taking the development seriously, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), mainstay for anti-Maoist operations in the country, has rushed a team of its counter-Improvised Explosive Device (IED) experts to train and sensitise its troops, those of the BSF, Jammu and Kashmir Police and others against such blasts trigerred by the notorious command-wire technique.

This is for the first time. There have been IED attacks against security forces and their convoys in the past but using the command-wire technique was unheard and unseen.

This technique till now has been used by Naxals to target security forces in the LWE affected areas, CRPF Director General K Durga Prasad told PTI.

Taking cognisance of the incident, he has asked a team of IED experts, based at the exclusive Institute of IED Management (IIM) in Pune, to rush to the Kashmir Valley and sensitise the troops as to how to be alert against such deadly attacks.

The first of its kind command-wire IED blast was reported about a month back on the night of November 4 when militants targeted a police bullet-proof Rakshak jeep under the Dadasara Police Station area in Awantipora of Pulwama district, which led to injuries to three police officials.

The police team was rushing to a nearby spot after some gunshots were heard but as they were targeted by the blast, they had to be evacuated and rushed to a nearby hospital.

The blast was trigerred by joining the wires drawn from the IED and when the jeep, plying on the normal pucca road, went over it, the blast severely damaged the entire front and engine portion of the four-wheeler.

It could have been bad had the blast took place just behind the engine area.This is something new we witnessed. Taking no chances, we have asked all our units in the Kashmir Valley to prepare and plan against command-wire IEDs now, Prasad said.

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Alipurduar:

Four people, two males and two females were arrested by West Bengal CID near New Alipurduar railway station for possessing Ganja and old high denomination notes.

They were taken to New Alipuarduar GRP for interrogation.

They were about to board the Delhi-bound Avadh Assam Express.

Higher denomination banned notes worth Rs 10,000 and 40 kgs of Ganja were seized from them.

"The CID officers acted on a tip off and arrested them," New Alipurduar GRP said.

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NEW DELHI:

BSP supremo Mayawati on Sunday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks that government is not being allowed to speak on note ban in Parliament, saying the leader of a party with absolute majority should not be making such allegations and his emotional blackmail would not work.

She said it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Leader of a party with absolute majority (in Lok Sabha) should not make such allegations...yeh ulta chor kotwal to dantey jaisa hai, she said in a statement.

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said Modi is running away from accountability and responsibility. He is not ready to listen to the problems of people inside and outside Parliament. Therefore, things are getting complex, she said.

Mayawati said the emotional blackmail the Prime Minister was indulging in would not help the BJP and the government. Note ban has become a problem for 90 per cent of honest people, she said.

Mayawati also said that Modi was harping on the same tune and his speech at BJPs Parivartan Yatra in Bahraich, addressed through mobile phone from Lucknow, was no different from his speech in Gujarat yesterday.

The BSP chief was referring to Modis remark that since he was not allowed to speak in Parliament by opposition parties, he was compelled to speak outside on demonetisation.

Mayawati said when the prime minister of a country accuses the opposition of not allowing him to speak in Parliament, it is a charge against him and not the opposition.

As Parliament remained deadlocked over demonetisation, Modi today came down heavily on the opposition, describing them as discarded parties trying to suppress the truth.

Parliament is not being allowed to function for 20 days. We are ready for debate (on demonetisation), but we are not being allowed to present our view point by those very parties that have been discarded by the electorate, he said.

They (opposition) come to the Well of the House...throw paper at the Speaker, we want to put forth governments view point...by they are not allowing us to do so...in a way they are trying to suppress the truth, Modi said, and also accused rival parties SP and BSP of talking in similar refrain against note ban. Mayawati also reviewed poll preparedness and organisation of the party at a meeting of office bearers here.

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Geneva:

International airlines grouping IATA's chief Alexandre de Juniac claimed that India was among the "most open" aviation markets.

Further, he also said that the country will benefit from the regional air connectivity plan but imposing levy on carriers can also lead to disruption of competitive conditions.

While being appreciative of the Indian government putting in a "consistent plan" for the aviation sector, Juniac also emphasised the need to have the right infrastructure and lower costs for the airlines.

"In general, we are not favouring levies because we think that it is a disruption or disturbance in the competitive conditions," Juniac told PTI in an interview. His comments come against the backdrop of the government levying up to Rs 8,500 per flight on major routes from December 1 in order to fund its ambitious regional connectivity scheme.

The scheme -- UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) -- seeks to connect small cities by air as well as make flying more affordable for the masses.

"Regional connectivity is good for air traffic but using levy, tax or cross-subsidy system, let's name it as it is, is not convincing," he said, adding that it is being opposed by many operators as something which would not be efficient.

"We think that if you want to develop regional connectivity, first of all we need to have right infrastructure, airports and the lowest costs. So, for us there is a very clear link between the level of cost and the dynamism of aviation, the flow of passengers," Juniac said.

To provide viability gap funding for the flights operated under UDAN, a levy would be imposed on every departure on major air routes such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

Under the scheme, fares for one-hour flights would be capped at Rs 2,500.Juniac took over as the Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in September this year and has already visited India in his new role.

The grouping represents more than 265 airlines from across the world.
New Delhi:

JNU students on Sunday night took out a candlelight march on the campus in protest against alleged political shielding of students involved in a scuffle with missing M.Sc student Najeeb Ahmed.

The protest march is against shameless tokenism in the name of punishment against Najeebs assaulters, said JNU Students Union (JNUSU) president Mohit Pandey.

Four students involved in the scuffle at Mahi-Mandvi hostel of JNU on October 14 night, that allegedly led to the mysterious disappearance of Najeeb, have been identified and their immediate transfer from the hostel has been recommended in a Proctorial Board enquiry by the university administration.

What is more shameful and disgusting, that the JNU admin, after two months of Najeebs disappearance, has shown heights of tokenism in the name of punishment against Najeebs assaulters, JNUSU said in a statement.

The march by students started from Ganga dhaba. Najeeb had gone missing on October 15 following the scuffle allegedly with ABVP members the night before.

Delhi Police is trying to trace Najeeb but it has not been able to make any breakthrough even though a reward of Rs 10 lakh was announced by it for any information about him.

The case was initially handled by a special investigation team of south Delhi Police but later handed over to the forces Crime Branch. The mysterious disappearance and failure of police to trace him has led to protests by JNU students and various political outfits.

The mother and sister of the missing student also participated in these protests with several political leaders including Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal slamming police for not being able to trace him.

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After decades of selecting against elephants with the best ivory tusks, African elephants are now evolving to becoming almost completely tuskless. According to researchers, in some areas, almost 98% of female elephants have no tusks, in comparison to 2- 6% in the past.

Evolution on the Species

Tusks have evolutionarily benefited elephants in the past, serving as a tool to strip bark from trees, dig for food and water and perhaps fend off predators. However, in the past few decades, they also made them a major human target for ivory jewelry, and have served them a greater evolutionary disadvantage.

According to Joyce Poole, the head of charity Elephant Voices, told The Times that she has observed a direct correlation between the intensity of poaching and the percentage of females born without tusks in some of the herds she monitored.

In Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, 2 to 6 percent of female African elephants were recorded to be born tuskless in the past. However, after Mozambiques civil war, the park had seen a severe amount of poaching between 1977 and 1992. Now 33 percent of females in the park are born without tusks.

In Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa, 98 percent of females are now tuskless, after only 50 percent were tuskless in 1931.

Conservation Efforts

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Africas elephant population has declined by about 100,000 elephants since 2006, exclusively due to poaching.

These new numbers reveal the truly alarming plight of the majestic elephant  one of the worlds most intelligent animals and the largest terrestrial mammal alive today, IUCN Director General Inger Andersen said. It is shocking but not surprising that poaching has taken such a dramatic toll on this iconic species.

This has not been as effective on males. Almost all males are born with tusks. According to Joyce Poole, Because males require tusks for fighting, tusklessness has been selected against in males and very few males are tuskless.
France plans to prolong emergency rules

France,International, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Paris, Dec 11 (IANS) The French government proposed to extend the state of emergency which was put in place since the attacks in November 2015, for a further seven months to guarantee security at the 2017 presidential and parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Saturday.

"Continued terrorist threat makes (state of emergency) extension necessary," Xinhua quoted Cazeneuve as saying.

The French Prime Minister added emergency rules helped foil 17 terror attacks, arrest 517 suspects and seize 600 weapons so far this year.

The measure which offers extra powers to police to search homes, hold suspects and put people under house arrest, will run until July 15 to ensure calmness during the two-round presidential race in April 23 and May 7 and parliamentary election scheduled for June 11 and 18.

Gunmen stormed restaurants, coffees shops, theatre hall and stadium in central Paris, killing about 130 people in November 2015. French President Francois Hollande declared a state of emergency a day after the Paris attacks.

Four extensions of the measure have taken place since. It is set to expire on January 15.

--IANS

sku/
Gene Pierce remembers what it was like to drive around Seneca Lake in 1976. Lots of farmland, for sure. Vineyards with grapes on the vine, of course.

Gene Pierce is the owner of Glenora Wine Cellars, Knapp Winery and Restaurant, and Chateau LaFayette Reneau in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. He is pictured at Glenora, along the western shore of Seneca Lake, which he founded after the adoption of the New York Farm Winery Act of 1976.

In many ways, the countryside surrounding the longest lake in the Finger Lakes looks the same today. Except for one thing. In 1976, there were no wineries on Seneca Lake. Today,

"It's certainly different here now," said Pierce, a pioneer in New York's state's booming wine industry who founded

in Dundee in the 1970s. "All of it sprung from that time." In 1976, New York state was doing more than celebrating the nation's Bicentennial. That year, the state Legislature passed the New York Farm Winery Act. The law allowed small businesses that made wine from New York-grown grapes to sell their products directly from their own tasting rooms. Before that, they had to sell to wholesalers. In some ways, the law is just a

. But it kick-started a statewide industry.

Grape vines overlooking the shore of Seneca Lake at Wagner Vineyards in Lodi.

In all of New York state, 40 years ago, there were just 19 wineries, most of them fairly large. Today there are more than 400, ranging from the big to the boutique. In the Finger Lakes alone, the number jumped from 12 in 1976 to more than 130 today. "The change has been quite dramatic," said Jim Trezise, director of the

"It (the farm winery law) provided a lifeline for the grape growers. And it was the first real blueprint for how to succeed on the business side."

A GROWERS' CRISIS

Until 1976, the Finger Lakes had hundreds of independent grape growers, but almost all of them sold what they grew to large wine companies like Widmer, Great Western and

-- "especially Taylor," Trezise said. Those big wineries, on Keuka and Canandaigua lakes, had traditionally bought local gapes, mostly native American varieties like Catawba and Niagara. "If you were a Taylor grower, you had it made," Trezise said. "It was kind of a paternalistic relationship -- they took care of their growers." Then, in the mid-1970s, Taylor was sold to Coca-Cola. In the new corporate structure, the "bean counters" took over, Trezise said. They started looking for less expensive grapes. "At the time, imported wine was taking over, putting pressure on the domestic wine industry," Trezise said. The market for New York's grape growers started to dry up. "We could begin to see, even in the early '70s, that things were not going to be the way they had been," said Pierce, whose vineyards were located on what had been a long-standing family fruit farm. "For the growers, it was a crisis," Trezise said. The solution? If you can't sell your grapes to a wine-maker, you could make your own wine. There was a catch, however. The wine industry, like other alcoholic beverage makers, had to abide by what is known as the

a set of laws dating back to the end of Prohibition. Those laws made it nearly impossible for wineries to sell directly to consumers: A winery had to sell 95 percent of its production through a distributor or wholesaler, who then sold them to retailers or restaurants.

Jim Trezise, president of the New York State Wine & Grape Foundation, at Fox Run Vineyards south of Geneva.

That might work for huge wine companies, who can make up the extra expense of selling to wholesalers because of the volume they produce. But it would be different for small, start-up producers. "The economic difference is simple," Trezise said. "If I make a $10 chardonnay, and sell it, I pocket the $10 and put it toward my business. If I sell it to a restaurant or store, I have to discount it by a third. If I sell to a wholesaler, I'd have to sell for a 50 percent reduction. Small wineries can't afford that. The direct-sale to consumers is what made this viable." Gene Pierce agrees. "Selling a $10 bottle of wine for $5 -- the economics don't work."

SELLING DIRECT TO CONSUMERS

Some other states, like Pennsylvania, had already promoted small-scale wine-making to some extent. In New York, the effort to change the laws to make it possible came from growers like Pierce and Bill Wagner, who would go on to found the Wagner Vineyards winery on Seneca Lake. Other key players, according to Pierce and Trezise, were Jim Doolittle of Frontenac Point Vineyards near Ithaca, and John Dyson of Millbrook Vineyards and Mark Miller of Benmarl Winery, both in the Hudson Valley.

Tasting rooms like this one at a Finger Lakes winery came about after the adoption of the Farm Winery Act of 1976.

"It was a team effort," Pierce said. In June 1976, Gov. Hugh Carey signed the Farm Winery Act of 1976. It reduced licensing fees, eliminated the restrictions on direct-to-consumer sales and provided state help in marketing. "New York State was now on the side of small wineries," author Peter Burford writes in his recently published book,

. "... (The changes) made running a winery a business where talented winemakers could possibly turn a profit." Pierce opened Glenora in 1977. Others soon followed. A Finger Lakes driving tour that may have passed four or five wineries in the late 1970s soon became a tourism destination, with a stop every few hundred yards in some spots. "Suddenly small-scale, high-quality wineries were becoming a force in the Finger Lakes," Burford writes. "It was never going to be easy, but the scene was set for the wineries that we know today." Still, Trezise said, it was a risk. "The growers had to take a big chance," he said. "They had to get into a whole new business, build buildings, make wines, fill out forms, pay taxes and deal with regulations."

Bottles of Saperavi at Standing Stone Vineyards on Seneca Lake. Sapervi is a highly regarded dry red wine.

But many growers took that chance. They had another motivation: pride in their grapes. "If all their grapes went to another winery, they had no control," Trezise said. "If they opened their own winery, the end product is totally under their control." At least 90 percent of those first small-scale farm wineries were started by grape growers, like Pierce and Bill Wagner, Trezise said. "They were people committed to the industry. They're really why we have such a strong wine industry in New York today."

'AN EARTH-SHAKING LAW'

In the 1970s, most Americans were still primarily beer or cocktail drinkers, recalls Michael Turback, who opened a high-end restaurant (called Turback's) in Ithaca in 1968 and is now an

The surge in wine-making spurred by the farm winery act in 1976 came along at just the right time, he said.

"Finger Lakes Uncorked" is a constantly updates guide to visiting the region, from author Michael Turback.

"In hindsight, it was an earth-shaking law," said Turback, whose books include

a guide to day trips and getaways in the region. "It opened up the ability of farmers and wine-makers, or aspiring wine-makers, to be inspired by the greatest wines and wine-making regions in the world. And it came just as Americans were drinking more wine, inspired themselves by the great wines and wine-regions." In New York state, and especially the Finger Lakes, that inspiration was powered by the vision of Dr. Konstantin Frank, a Ukrainian immigrant who initially worked at Cornell University's agricultural research station in Geneva. Frank fervently believed that some of the classic European wine-grape varieties -- like Riesling, Chardonnay, Merlot and Pinot Noir -- could be cultivated in the harsh Upstate climate and produce quality wines. Before Frank, the vast majority of Finger Lakes wines were made from either native grapes, like Catawba or Concord, or from French-American hybrids, like Vignoles, Seyval or Cayuga White (many developed by researchers at Cornell University). The big Finger Lakes wineries back then made high-volume products that were not taken seriously by wine enthusiasts: Many were on the sweet side, and others suffered from the "grapey" aromas and flavors associated with native American grapes. Frank wanted to plant and make wine from vinifera grapes -- the European varieties that wine lovers pay attention to.

Dr. Konstantin Frank in the cellar of his winery on Keuka Lake.

In 1962, Frank opened his own winery,

overlooking Keuka Lake), and soon proved his theories about growing vinifera wine grapes in the Northeast were true. That, in turn, inspired many of the newly minted wine-makers of 1976 and beyond. "A lot of those early family farm wineries took their lead from Dr. Frank," said Fred Frank, Konstantin Frank's grandson. He now runs the business with his daughter, Meghan. "He showed them the way." But which was more important -- the farm winery law or the move to wines more prized by connoisseurs? "Those two things moved ahead down parallel tracks and then eventually merged," Trezise said. "I think you needed the combination, but I would say the farm winery (law) was in a sense more important. It made it economically feasible for people to take risks, and then when they did, they could move to vinifera. And these are the ones that are now recognized around the world. It allowed them (New York winemakers) to sell in New York City and other markets that wouldn't have paid attention before." In the years since 1976, Trezise, said, the state has often tweaked laws and regulations to offer more benefits and incentives to the state's winemakers.

SUCCESS AND RECOGNITION

Today, the Finger Lakes is gaining increased worldwide acclaim, winning international wine medals and attracting write-ups in respected wine journals. You'll find Finger Lakes wines in higher end retail shops and better restaurants. New York state has even become a destination for entrepreneurial winemakers, from Europe or California, who have joined the former vineyard owners in opening new wineries in the region.

Wine-making in New York state is now a $4.8 billion industry. This is the bottling line at Montezuma Winery near Seneca Falls.

At the same time, wine country is still a tourist attraction, the kind of destination that draws busloads of visitors (and bachelorette parties). To serious wine fans, that means the quality is still sometimes hit or miss. James Molesworth, a wine writer who covers the Finger Lakes for Wine Spectator magazine, summed up the region this way

a few years ago: "If you haven't checked out what the Finger Lakes has to offer, you're missing out," Molesworth wrote. "You're missing out on fresh, aromatic cool-climate whites such as Riesling, along with Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and others. You're also missing out on some great value, as many of the wines are often priced at less than $20. And you're missing out on the fun of exploring a region that is still developing and in search of itself. That means fits and starts, a mixed bag of quality and a scattershot of varieties and varying blends, but that's also part of the fun, shifting through a wide array of things to find out what the region does best." That mixed bag has spread to other regions in the state as well. Some, like Long Island and the Hudson Valley, have joined the Finger Lakes in providing a draw for both sophisticated wine drinkers and tourists just out to have fun. But it has become big business since 1976. Today, according to the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, the New York grape, grape juice and wine industry generates more than $4.8 billion in economic benefits annually for New York State. There are more than 1,600 family vineyards and more than 400 wineries. "It's hard to believe what we have now when you think of where we started," Pierce said. "All that happened in the last 40 years."

Don Cazentre writes about food, beverages, restaurants and bars for syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact him by email, on Twitter, at Google+ or via Facebook.
The Presidency has debunked claims by Chairman of the Civil Society Network Against Corruption, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraj that FG would pay Swi...

The Presidency has debunked claims by Chairman of the Civil Society Network Against Corruption, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraj that FG would pay Switzerland a $79m commission in order to receive a certain $400m looted by ex-Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.In a statement released yesterday, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun clarified that the amount payable to Nigeria from Switzerland is $321 million, and is being returned to Nigeria for projects which are subject to verification by the World Bank.She stated that there is no deduction of $79 million as suggested in the report which is both misleading and inaccurate. She assured that recovery will be made in full and that there is no commitment nor requirement to pay any commission."The Federal Government is committed to securing the return of all looted funds in their entirety and has never entered into any sharing arrangement as suggested in the report."Intense efforts continue to secure all monies due to Nigeria including an additional $400 million of Abacha loot held up in US Courts on which the Attorney General of the Federation and the Ministry of Finance are engaging with their US counterparts to secure expeditiously.
Former Vice-President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, has expressed sadness at the collapse of the b...

Former Vice-President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, has expressed sadness at the collapse of the building of Reigners Bible Church in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, and the loss of lives and injuries reportedly suffered by worshipers.In a press statement issued by his Media Office on Saturday, Atiku described the incident as horrendous and fearful, and a great test of faith given that the accident took place when the church building was packed full of worshipers who were in a jubilant mood during the installation ceremony of the Church Pastor to the exalted office of a Bishop.Atiku said many unsuspecting worshipers were caught in the confusion caused by falling blocks and collapsing roof and urged the congregation to be strengthened and comforted by Almighty God.The former Vice President implored relevant agencies and all men and women of goodwill to do all that is necessary in providing medical care to the survivors and counselling to families of the deceased.The APC chieftain said the Church building collapse in Uyo was one too many of incidences of building collapse across the country, adding that after the mourning, the relevant building authorities have to be more serious in approving building plans, renovation requests and monitoring of standards, equipment and the building process by experts.He said the high incidence of collapsed buildings was causing the nation a lot in terms of human life and materials as well as the confidence as to the ability of our builders to give our people safe structures.Atiku Abubakar condoled with the people and Government of Akwa Ibom State, Christian Association of Nigeria and families of all those who may have lost dear ones in the tragedy.
Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige has faulted the claims that the inability of President Muhammadu Buhari to pull the country out of the ...





Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige has faulted the claims that the inability of President Muhammadu Buhari to pull the country out of the current recession was due to lack of an economic team, saying that those orchestrating such claims were job seekers who failed in their bid to be appointed ministers.Ngige said that the Buharis economic team was composed of people of proven integrity adding that the pains Nigerians were experiencing were as a result of the depletion of the countrys foreign reserve by the past President Goodluck Jonathans administration.He defended the proposed plan by the Federal Government to borrow $30 billion from money lenders abroad, saying that unnatural situations demand unnatural solutions. The Minister spoke in an interview with reporters at the Annual Convention and 2016 Graduation Ceremony of Skill Acquisition Students of Bina Foundation, founded by Chris Atuegwu and his wife, Lady Ifeoma, weekend.He said that contrary to the statement purportedly made by Ohanaeze that Ndigbo were being excluded, Buharis antecedents showed that he loves Ndigbo, warning the Igbo to stop alienating themselves politically, but instead, embrace other parts of the country with open hands.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is to enlist the services of foreign assistants to trace the foreign accounts and pro...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is to enlist the services of foreign assistants to trace the foreign accounts and properties of some former governors, ex-ministers, businessmen and a few heads of parastatals who have been under discreet probe.Some of the ex-ministers and governors had either been questioned by the EFCC or put on trial in connection with the rot in the oil sector and the N23.29billion poll bribery scam.Also, the agency is still tracking some foreign accounts and assets of some suspects implicated in the $2.1b arms deals.The affected assets are suspected to be located in the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, Russia, South Africa, France and Mali.It was learnt that the anti-graft commission has been making clues available to some of these countries.A few of the houses under investigation in the UK and in the United States include those at 93b Shirehall Park, London, NW42QU; 50 Tenterden Grove, NW41TH; at 22 Parkwood, St. Edmunds Terrace, St Johns Wood, London, NW8 7QQ; 67, Wades Hill, Winchmore Hill, London, N21 1AU; 27 Tavistock Square, Holburn, London, WC1H 9HH ; 1220 West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland(Zip Code of 20910); 11711 Scooter Lane, Fairfax, VA 22030; 4227 Summit Manor Ct, Fairfax, VA 22033; and in Maryland at13116 Silver Maple Ct, Bowie, MD 20715;Others include $8.6 million duplex on Fifth Avenue in New York; Catonale 17, 6948 Porza in Tocina(Geneva, Switzerland); 775 Sarbonne Road, Los Angeles; 952 North Alphine Drive, Los Angeles; 815 Cima Del Mundo, Los Angeles, 1049 Fifth Avenue, New York, 1948 & 1952 Tollis Avenue, Santa Barbara; 157 West 57th Street, New York, 4100 Le Reve, Dubai ; and Grove End Road, London and Colina Doro, Montagnola, Switzerland.A top source in the commission said: We have been able to identify about 25 choice mansions but we are still tracking more foreign accounts and assets of some of the suspects involved in the $2.1billion arms deals and the N23.29billion poll bribery scam.Some of these suspects actually stashed their looted funds abroad, including the UK, UAE, US, Switzerland, Russia, South Africa, France, and Mali. We will locate all these accounts in other jurisdictions.Some of the accounts were slush types which were operated through some fronts, especially companies. A few of the mansions were bought in corporate names to shield the identities of the owners.Responding to a question, the source added: We have been trying to trace the assets of some ex-governors, ex-ministers and a few heads of agencies in some of these countries. In fact, we have written to some foreign jurisdictions on some former governors. Some of these assets are located in Marina in Dubai and others in Abu Dhabi.There is the case of a former minister who is under investigation with a choice property in the United Kingdom. We are looking at the possibility of seeking assistance to seize the asset.But the process of confiscating such assets is cumbersome because in some of these countries, their laws are very strict. You have to provide sufficient evidence before the court. But we are up to the task.So far, we are enjoying the cooperation of relevant agencies in other jurisdictions to track these illicit accounts and ill-gotten assets. By the time the trial of the ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke begins, you will see how far we have gone on her case. The process is tedious but it is worth it.In the past few years, politically exposed persons in the country and their cronies have stashed looted funds in the UK, US, UAE, Switzerland, France, Seychelles, and Island of Jersey.Some of the looted funds include $723 million (about N142.43 billion) repatriated from Switzerland in the last 10 years; $200b allegedly stashed in UAE; $480m to be released to FG by US; 22.5 million (N6.18billion) recovered from Island of Jersey; and about 400b in Europe, Asia and America. The Swiss government in March confirmed that it had so far returned $723 million (about N142.43 billion) of stolen funds seized from the family of the late former head of state, Sani Abacha, to the Nigerian government in the last 10 years. The amount excluded the $321million (about N63.24 billion) which the Swiss authorities recently said it was planning to repatriate to Nigeria.The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Debts, Senator Shehu Sani, said over $200 billion had been hidden in the UAE.He said: Over $200 billion are stashed away from Nigeria to Dubai alone. This may the monies stolen since in the past 20 years. I am not talking about estates and bonds and other securities bought with Nigeria stolen money.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has submitted an official report to the Independent National Electoral Commission on the 10...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has submitted an official report to the Independent National Electoral Commission on the 100 electoral officials who allegedly received part of the $115m (N23bn) disbursed on the instruction of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, during the build-up to the 2015 presidential election.Sources within the EFCC revealed that the acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, met with the Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, in Abuja last week.The report was said to have contained the outcome of the investigations and recommendations of the anti-graft agency on the scam.It was learnt that while some of the officials would face dismissal for flouting of INEC rules, a majority of the officials would be arraigned by the EFCC.Some of the officials reportedly returned over N300m while houses were recovered from some of them.An EFCC operative said, We have submitted the report to INEC and it is left for the electoral body to do its part. They will guide us on prosecution and other matters.We heard that some of the electoral officers have gone to court to stop INEC from dismissing them. However, this cannot stop us from bringing criminal charges against them.The source said the report contained the outcome of investigations in five geopolitical zones.The report contains the outcome of investigations in all the geopolitical zones except the North-Central. It will be done later, the source added.He said two houses and two plazas had been recovered from the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State during the 2015 election, Gesila Khan, while her accounts had been frozen.According to impeccable sources in the EFCC, Khan allegedly received N185.8m ahead of the March 28 and April 11, 2015 elections.The source also revealed that the EFCC had arrested one Fidelia Omoile, who was the INEC electoral officer in Isoko-South Local Government Area of Delta State during the 2015 polls.Apart from tracing over N112.4m to her, the commission also recovered some sensitive electoral materials during a search on her apartments in Edo and Delta states.The commission also arrested one Oluchi Obi Brown, who was the INEC Administrative Secretary in Delta State.She allegedly received over N111.5m.Further investigations by detectives revealed that Brown had about $75,000 in an account in the United States.The anti-graft agency also arrested one Edem Okon Effanga, who is a retired INEC official.Effanga was arrested alongside his alleged accomplice, Immaculata Asuquo, who was the Head, Voter Education of INEC in Akwa Ibom State.Effanga was alleged to have received over N241.1m, which he shared among INEC ad hoc workers during the last election.Also in Gombe State, 11 electoral officials, who supervised elections in the state during the 2015 general elections, admitted to receiving N120m out of the N23bn.The electoral officer for the Akko LGA in Gombe State, Ahmed Biu, and the one in charge of Gombe LGA, Mohammed Zannah, allegedly admitted to have collected the bribe from one Yunusa Biri, also a retired electoral officer, who acted as Gombe State coordinator of bribes for electoral officers in the state.The detective gave the names of some other detained officers as Godwin Maiyaki, Gambo Balanga, Bukar Benisheik, Dukku, Jibril Muhammed, Billiri, Dunguma Dogona, Funakaye, Mohammed Wanka, Kaltungo, Ishaku Yusuf, Kwami, Suleiman Isawa, Babagana Malami, Shongom and Nuhu Samuel.When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, said he was yet to be briefed on the submission of the report.I am not aware for now, he said on Saturday.Meanwhile, there are indications that INEC has removed the name of the former REC in Rivers State, Khan, on its list of commissioners in the states.The Deputy Director, Voter Education and Publicity of INEC, Mr. Nick Dazang, said in a telephone conversation with newsmen on Saturday that while the commission had nine serving RECS, Khan was not one of them.He promised to get her true status from the Legal Department of the commission but had not done so as of the time of filing this report.Dazang stated, The statistics that I have show that there are nine RECS now, who are serving and she is not one of them.The position of the commission has been that the public service rules will apply, but as of now, the EFCC is investigating, then, after the investigation, the public service rule will apply.But I know also that there is an internal committee that was looking into the case of those persons.Although Dazang could not give the findings of the INECs internal probe panel, he said the indicted officials had all appeared before the committee which had had several sittings.Oyekanmi, the spokesman for the INEC chairman, said the ongoing investigation into the alleged bribery scandal should be allowed to follow due process.He said, We should not preempt the outcome of the investigation. When the final decision is made, it would be made public. We have nothing to hide. Like I said, this is a serious crime that people are being accused of, and we have to allow due process.They have to be charged to court and we have to give the court the opportunity to deliver judgment. There is no internal panel that will preempt what the court is going to decide. It is what the court decides that will determine the action of the commission, not the other way round.He said the affected officials had not been sacked which meant that they would be entitled to their salaries.
Nigerians in Paris, France on Sunday accused President Muhammadu Buhari of paying lip service to the fight against corruption, with prosec...

Nigerians in Paris, France on Sunday accused President Muhammadu Buhari of paying lip service to the fight against corruption, with prosecution of only members of the opposition political parties. They also urged the government to legalize gay practice in Nigeria, saying such would create the needed atmosphere of freedom in the country.In separate email messages sent to our correspondent in Akure, a popular Nigerian musician, who is a Paris-based Gay activist, Victor Ologunowa stressed that the continued attacks by members of the Boko Haram will not help the country to grow.Ologunowa, who noted that a nation cannot witness rapid development when there is no peace, said, I am urging the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to find lasting solution to insecurity in the country. The news reaching us here on the level of insecurity in Nigeria is scary and uncalled for.He described the anti-graft war of the present government as selective, urging president Buhari to probe those who contributed money for his own election campaign.He added that, It is sad that only members of the PDP are being prosecuted and persecuted. Once you decamp to the All Progressives Congress, you become a saint.The anti-corruption war should not be selective, all past government officials who have misappropriated government funds like President Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar should not be spared.Ologunowa also advised President Buhari to keep to his campaign promises, stressing that, I think Nigerians voted for President Buhari to curb the level of poverty in the country not to add to it. The president should know that people are suffering and wallowing in abject poverty. How long will it take the president to listen and act on the suffering of the people.Stressing on the need for the Nigerian government to legalize activities of gay people in the country, he said legalizing gay will give people freedom of association and choice, as enshrined in the nations constitution.
Nigeria's Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, has unveiled a document, the 2017 Fiscal Roadmap, which is aimed at pulling Nigeria out of r...

Nigeria's Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, has unveiled a document, the 2017 Fiscal Roadmap, which is aimed at pulling Nigeria out of recession.



Here are the propositions in the document:



1. Recognise inherited debt profile after a robust audit process:

Introduce promissory note programme to finance verified liabilities

Issue debt certificates to contractors, Ministries, Departments & Agencies (MDAs), and State governments

Improve cash flow of businesses

Improve Banks Non-Performing Loans (NPLs)

Free up Banks balance sheet for lending to private sector

Improve governments business interaction with the private sector



2. Mobilise private capital to complement Government spending on infrastructure:

Roads Trust Fund

Family Homes Fund

Extend infrastructure tax relief to a collective model to attract clusters of corporate entities

Expand the provision of infrastructure

Drive growth of non-oil sector.

Drive economic growth



3. Strengthen fiscal/monetary handshake:

Replace administrative measures on list of 41-items with fiscal measures to reduce demand pressure in parallel market

Encourage domestic food production through specific incentives e.g. accelerated depreciation on food manufacturing equipment and Zero (0%) duty on green houses

Planned revitalisation of refineries

Increase Diaspora remittances via participation in the buyer support scheme for the Family Homes Fund

Reduce demand for US Dollars

Increase supply of US Dollars



4. Incentivise exports:

Restructure the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) to a tax credit system

Rationalise tariffs and waivers in key export sectors

Encourage/incentivise non-oil exports

Drive import substitution



5. Encourage investment in specific sectors through fiscal incentives:

Accelerated depreciation on equipment in strategic sectors e.g. food processing, mining and power

Rationalise tariffs and waivers in priority sectors

Drive investment in strategic sectors



6. Continue expansion of fiscal space through revenue enhancement and cost consolidation:

Customs Single Window (being implemented through a Private Public Partnership (PPP) scheme)

Template for non-allowable expenses for government agencies.

Overhead cost control by the Efficiency Unit

Continuous risk based audit by the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit

Revenue enhancement

Cost containment



7. Improve fiscal discipline at Sub-National level:

Extension of efficiency unit at Sub-National level

Fast track municipal bond issues to deepen the bond market

Conversion to International Public Sector Accounting Standards by all State Governments.

Improved fiscal position at Sub-National level



8. Enable and accelerate Recoveries process:

Whistle-blower scheme

Centralised database on recovered assets

Asset tracing

Professional management of recovered assets

Increased efficiency of Recoveries process

Increased budgetary funding availability from Recoveries



9. Rebalance debt portfolio to extend maturity and optimise debt service cost:

Rebalance public debt portfolio with increased external borrowing (60:40 target)

Extend maturity profile of public debt portfolio

Deploy long-term debt instruments including Infrastructure and Retail Bonds

Maximise use of concessionary loans

Rebalanced debt profile withimproved debt service to revenue ratio



10. Catalyse Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) growth through specific measures to improve capacity and access to finance:
Outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama has disclosed that he absolutely suffered racism in office, adding Americans primary concern abou...

Outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama has disclosed that he absolutely suffered racism in office, adding Americans primary concern about me has been that I seem foreign.The concept of race in America is not just genetic, otherwise the one-drop rule wouldnt have made sense.Its cultural. Its this notion of a people who look different than the mainstream, suffering terrible oppression.But somehow being able to make out of that a music and a language and a faith and a patriotism, Obama said, in a special looking back on his legacy with CNNs Fareed Zakaria.I think theres a reason why attitudes about my presidency among whites in Northern states are very different from whites in Southern states.Are there folks whose primary concern about me has been that I seem foreign, the other? Are those who champion the birther movement feeding off of bias? Absolutely.Obama said the colour of his skin had absolutely contributed to white Americans negative perceptions of his time in office.The president said: I think theres a reason why attitudes about my presidency among whites in Northern states are very different from whites in Southern states.Obama told Zakaria in the special interview on his legacy that was taped in September that he did not mind being defined as the nations first black president.According to Zakaria, Obama was raised by three white people: his mother, Ann Dunham, and his grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham.And an Indonesian, you can throw in there, Obama added, making reference to his stepfather, Lolo Soetoro.David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Obama at the White House who now runs the Chicago Institute of Politics, concurred.Its indisputable that there was a ferocity to the opposition and a lack of respect to him that was a function of race, Axelrod said.According to him, at least one powerful Republican was personally disrespectful to Obama.He (the Republican)said to him (Obama), we dont really think you should be here but the American people thought otherwise. So were going to have to work with you, Axelrod said.President-elect Donald Trump, promoted birther arguments, encouraging hackers to look into Obamas place of birth in 2014.Trump said in an August 2012 tweet: An extremely credible source has called my office and told me that @BarackObamas birth certificate is a fraud.The Republican, however, said recently that he no longer believed that Obama was born in Kenya.President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now, we all want to get back to making America strong and great again, Trump said.
Gogo Tamuno of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been declared winner of the Okirika Ogu/Bolo federal constituency of Rivers State by...

Gogo Tamuno of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been declared winner of the Okirika Ogu/Bolo federal constituency of Rivers State by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.Announcing the result on Sunday, the Return Officer in the area, Okwulehie Ikechukwu said Tamuno polled a total of 11,668 votes to defeat Maureen Tamuno of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who garnered 5,995 votes.Ikechukwu made the announcement at the collation center for the Rivers East senatorial District at the council hall in Port Harcourt, the state capital.On the level of violence that marred the election, Ikechukwu said, I was escorted here by policemen and soldiers. The level of violence in the area was very high.
Candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Rivers South-East senatorial district , Senator Magnus Abe has been declared winner of the ...

Candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Rivers South-East senatorial district , Senator Magnus Abe has been declared winner of the conclusive Legislative election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.Announcing the results, the Returning officer for Rivers south East senatorial district, Professor Onukwuisi Gideon said 2,627 votes were rejected out of the 154, 703 total votes cast.Senator Abe of APC polled 125, 938 votes, kingsley Onyekwere Okechukwu of LP scored 549 votes , Comerade Oke Ude of NNPP scored 96 votes, Senator Olaka Nwogu of PDP scored 25394, while Efrida of UDP scored 99 votes.In other results from Rivers South-East; Barry Mpigi of the APC was declared winner of Tai/Oyigbo/Eleme Federal Constituency with 48,760 votes to defeat PDPs Jacobson Mbina who polled 11,737 votes.Maurice Pronen of the APC was also declared winner for the Khana-Gokana Federal Constituency seat with 68, 219 votes while Dum Deekor of PDP scored 20, 329 votes.Friday Nkeeh of the APC was also declared winner for the Rivers State House of Assembly seat, Khana Constituency 2 with 15,000 votes to beat his closest rival, Dinebari Loolo of the PDP who polled 4,000.Dr Innocent Barikor of the APC was declared winer of the election for Gokana state Constituency with 24,624 votes, defeating PDPs Israel Ngbuelu.Results are still being collated in Ahaoda-East for the results from Rivers West Senatirial district while results for Rivers  East Senatorial District is still being collated in Port Harcourt.In the meantime, the Independent National Electoral Commission , INEC has said only results announced by its returning officers will be accepted.
Like the 2015 general elections and the March 19 rerun, yesterdays legislative rerun in Rivers State was again marred by killings, bomb ...

Like the 2015 general elections and the March 19 rerun, yesterdays legislative rerun in Rivers State was again marred by killings, bomb blasts, gunshots, thuggery, violence and snatching of ballot boxes and other electoral materials.The Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, alleged that two agents of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were shot dead in Bodo-Ogoni in Gokana Local Government Area of the state, allegedly by security agents.Bodo-Ogoni is the hometown of the Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), Chief Kenneth Kobani, while the shooting mostly took place at St. Pius College of the crude oil and gas-rich town, when accreditation and voting were about to commence.The deafening gunshots in Bodo made the electorate and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to scamper to safety.There were also bomb blasts in Abonnema-Kalabari, the headquarters of Akuku-Toru LGA of the state, with elections in the area postponed till today.Hoodlums equally engaged security personnel in heavy shootout in Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoniland and the seat of Khana LGA of the state and other parts of the council, with gunshots also recorded in Etche LGA of Rivers.The electoral commission announced the cancellation of the polls in Unit 3, Ward 9 of Bolo in Ogu/Bolo LGA of the state, over snatching of electoral materials by hoodlums.4INECs electoral materials for the rerun in Unit 10, Ward 3 of Oyigbo, the headquarters of Oyigbo LGA of the state were snatched by hoodlums.The Rivers Chairman of the PDP, Chief Felix Obuah, raised the alarm on the arrest and killing of many members of the party, allegedly by soldiers in Tai-Ogoni and Gokana-Ogoni LGAs of the state.He said: PDP in Rivers State condemns Nigerian Armys arrest and killing of members of PDP in Tai and Gokana LGAs. The soldiers arrested over 200 PDP members in Tai LGA, 12 innocent PDP members were shot and one member of the party was killed in Tai LGA.Barako community in Gokana LGA was also invaded by soldiers; scores of PDP members were arrested.The General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the newly-created 6 Division of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, Maj.-Gen. Kasimu Abdulkarim, described as false, the alarm raised by Rivers PDP chairman.Maj.-Gen. Abdulkarim, yesterday in a telephone interview, admonished all right-thinking Rivers people and other stakeholders to ignore the lies of Obuah and other leaders of the PDP.The GOC said: It (Obuahs allegation) is not true. Let them not create conflict within a conflict. Nobody should raise any alarm. I have just returned to the office in Port Harcourt, from monitoring the elections, which have been peaceful and the voters are orderly.I was with the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Operations), Habila Joshak, when the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, called him to know the security situation on the ground and he (DIG) told IGP that everywhere was very calm and the electorate exercising their franchise. I do not know why they will cry wolf, where there is none.Bulk of the voting yesterday took place in seven LGAs of Andoni, Akuku-Toru, Bonny, Etche, Ikwerre, Khana and Gokana, while the rerun was planned for 1,840 polling units in the 23 LGAs, across the three senatorial districts of the state, before violence erupted in some parts of the state.The polls were to elect three senators, eight of 13 members of the House of Representatives and nine (not 10) of 32 members of Rivers House of Assembly, excluding Degema constituency, being occupied by an ex-militant leader, Farah Dagogo, based on favourable judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja penultimate week.To ensure free, fair, credible and peaceful rerun, there was heavy deployment of soldiers, policemen, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agents in the hitherto volatile Niger Delta state.The Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), could not vote yesterday at his Ubima hometown in Ikwerre LGA, because the result sheet was missing, with the presiding officer of his Unit 14 later arrested by security agents.Gunmen also carted away all the electoral materials in Unit 16, Ubima, shortly after another indigene of the town, Sir Celestine Omehia, a former Rivers governor, but of the PDP, voted.Heavy shootout was also witnessed at Ubima till late in the evening yesterday, with the electoral materials of Unit 3, Ward 8 in the town also carted away by hoodlums, while the ballot boxes of some units in Ward 3, Elele, in the same Ikwerre LGA, were snatched.The Rivers governor, later in an online statement yesterday evening by his Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, accused the Nigerian Army and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police of killing the two PDP agents, hijacking electoral materials and working to deliver a particular candidate in Rivers Southeast Senatorial District.He claimed that no matter the use of the Nigerian Army and SARS personnel by the APC-led Federal Government, Rivers state would never be conquered.Wike stated that he was reacting to the mass shootings by soldiers and policemen in Khana, Gokana, Akuku-Toru and Etche LGAs of the state during the rerun, alleging that the security agents were deployed in Rivers to manipulate the results of the polls.He alleged that true to the claim by the APC governors and leaders of the party that they would use federal might against Rivers people, he claimed that the military had been used to rig the elections in parts of the state, even when INEC was still collating the results at the LG level.The governor claimed that in Khana LGA, the election materials for the entire LGA were hijacked by soldiers and SARS personnel.He noted that in Gokana LGA, soldiers hijacked electoral materials for Wards 2 and 3 in Bodo, where the military men killed the two PDP agents, allegedly in the process of fleeing with the materials.Wike stated that out of the 19 wards of Etche LGA, soldiers and SARS operatives hijacked electoral materials for four wards.He stressed that the unfortunate onslaught by the military and SARS personnel started in the night of December 9, when Amaechi backed by a battalion of soldiers and over 20 SARS personnel, allegedly attempted to hijack electoral materials from the Isiokpo INEC headquarters in his Ikwerre LGA (Amaechi is from Ubima), but was resisted by the youths.The Rivers governor noted that in Opobo-Nkoro LGA, where the governorship candidate of the APC during the 2015 election, Dr. Dakuku Peterside (he is from Opobo Town, the LG headquarters), hails from, soldiers allegedly hijacked electoral materials and took them to the home of a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the APC, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja.Wike said: I anticipated it. I tried to let the world know that these are the plans of the security agencies.In all my political career, I have never experienced this kind of invasion by security agencies. What causes violence is when you give certain persons undue advantage.Be assured that we are resisting it. It may take our lives, but we will resist it to the last. That is what is expected, when you are fighting for freedom. You must make sacrifices.It is unfortunate that we are congratulating the opposition for winning in Ghana, but here the military men are directly involved in rigging and hijacking of electoral materials.They say they want to give Rivers State Governor problems, but you are not giving Rivers State Governor problems, you are giving Nigeria problems.Rivers governor also stated that he had informed an unnamed National Commissioner of INEC and the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the commission in Rivers State, Aniedi Ikoiwak, of the problems in Khana and Gokana LGAs, with an assurance that action would be taken.The Rivers Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), was contacted at 6:51 p.m. yesterday to react to Wikes allegations, but he declared that the Rivers police command was not aware of what the governor claimed to have happened during the rerun.Peterside, who is also the Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), however, declared that no amount of propaganda and lies could save Wike and his PDP from being rejected by Rivers people.The APC chieftain, while speaking yesterday, after visiting his Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro federal constituency, where he said voting went on smoothly, lauded INEC and its officials for the impressive performance, in spite of the challenging situations.He accused the governor of embarking on all manners of propaganda and blackmail against the leaders of the APC, security agencies and INEC, in an attempt to hoodwink unsuspecting members of the public.Peterside, a former member of the House of Representatives, expressed displeasure at the manner known sympathisers of PDP and serving Rivers government officials were spreading falsehood and publishing fake results both in the traditional and social media.He said: Rivers people are tired of Wike and his PDP propaganda, which defy any form of civility and sense of decorum. The governor has made all manner of cries and wailing, in an attempt to be seen as the victim and attract sympathy, even he is busy hatching evil plans by the day.The truth is that is the Rivers governor and his PDP members have been plotting all manner of evil and are desperate. Wike is only crying, because all his plans have been checkmated by the presence of security agencies and determination of Rivers people to reject him, because of his deceit.The NIMASA boss also called on Rivers people to ignore results being circulated on the social media and mischief of PDP members, who he insisted had been stopped in their known tracks.
The Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions has warned that the ponzi investment scheme, MMM, is a pyramid...

The Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions has warned that the ponzi investment scheme, MMM, is a pyramid that would soon burst.It then called on Nigerians to be wary of the investment model that originated from Russia. MMM involves directing clients to make money available for an anonymous person with a promise of 30 per cent return within a month.Speaking in an interview with Saturday Vanguard, Chairman of the committee, Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim and other members of the committee alerted Nigerians to the dangers of investing in MMM.Any Financial institutions of any kind that is not under the regulation of a Regulator such as MMM is a pyramid that will soon burst. We engaged the CBN and they have issued a statement in the recent past. So Nigeria should be wise and know that there is no free money anywhere. One wonders which investment can yield 30% flat any where in the world, he said.For Senator Gbolahan Dada, APC, Ogun West, It is unfortunate that some unscrupulous Nigerians are capitalizing on the current economic hardships to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians by encouraging them to part with their hard earned money with mouth-watering interest or returns.MMM does not contribute or add value to the economy because the records of such transactions are not kept and not made open to the public or regulatory authorities. It is a product of fraud and nothing good comes from fraud.Speaking about the financial implications of investing in MMM, Dada said, The money involved in MMM are usually spent by the promoters on frivolities. The promoters engage in ostentatious lifestyles. They hardly have concern for the unsuspecting investors. It is fool hardy for any members of the public to fall prey to the scheme despite warnings from stakeholders. Those patronizing MMM will have a tale of woes to tell after losing their deposits.
Three people have been confirmed dead in Sundays bomb explosion in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Three people have been confirmed dead in Sundays bomb explosion in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.An official of the local vigilante called Civilian-JTF, involved in the rescue and evacuation of victims of the blasts, confirmed the death to journalists.So far, three persons are dead, Bello Danbatta told journalists on phone.It was a suicide bomb attack, we are trying to ascertain the actual number of those injured in the hospital now, he added.An official of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, also confirmed the casualty.NEMAs national spokesman, Sani Datti, said three of the dead persons are female bombers, while 17 persons that were injured have been evacuated to hospitals in Maiduguri.Two explosions rocked Maiduguri on Sunday morning in a crowded area near Maiduguris main market.The two blasts occurred in quick succession at about 8:48 a.m.
HAMMONTON -- Santa may have been the finale for the Hammonton's parade but as soon as Jolly Saint Nicholas was out of view, the paradegoers made their way to the real star of the show -- Kellyanne Conway.

Conway, who went to St. Joseph's High School around the block from the parade dais, led a successful presidential campaign for Donald Trump. On Saturday night, she was the marshal of Hammonton's Christmas Parade.

She was among fans Saturday night, as the crowd began chanting Trump's name as they went to take pictures of her at the end of the parade.

"Hammonton, what a wonderful parade, fabulous," Conway said to the crowd.

Conway rode a firetruck at the head of the parade with her family -- waving at passersby. One woman, a fellow alum of St. Joseph, ran to her to give her a bag of school memorabilia.

"We're extremely happy to have Kellyanne Conway back representing our town and we're super excited to have an alum of St. Joseph's High School representing us that way," said Jodi Kollias, before making her way to hand Conway the swag bag.

It wasn't the only present Conway received. At the end of the night she was handed a red hat, only instead of Trump's campaign slogan of "Make America Great Again" it said "USA."

"I've often reflected on what it means to have been born and raised and spent the first 18 years of my life, every holiday and summer since, here in Hammonton, New Jersey," she said after getting off the fire truck and onto the dais, located off Ronald Reagan Drive.

There were a handful of protest signs, saying Conway deserves to be on Santa's naughty list or reading "No Room for Racist Rhetoric" but there were also signs saying "Kelly Rocks" and "Heart U Kelly."

"Over the years I've taken many of my college and law school classmates and my friends from life back here to Hammonton and to Atco to really savor what it means to have grown up here," Conway said to the crowd. "And tonight I want to wish each and every one of you a very happy, healthy, Merry Christmas. A very wonderful, blessed 2016. And to our friends who celebrate a holiday other than Christmas, we celebrate with you as well."

She told the crowd to do something nice for someone this season, to pray for the outgoing President Barack Obama and for the new president, Trump.

The biggest applause break was for the new president.

According to unofficial election results, Trump won the majority of votes in Hammonton, gaining 3,513 votes versus Hillary Clinton's 2,117 votes. Trump's name could be found on a couple of the trucks in the parade as well, one reading "Veterans for Trump."

Mickey Pullia, a Hamilton councilman and fire department lieutenant, helped organize Conway's appearance at the parade. The Hammonton Fire Department organized the Christmas parade.

The parade ran along Bellevue Avenue from North Liberty Street through Egg Harbor Road. On Central Avenue, Conway was awarded the key to the township.

This year is the 150th anniversary for Hammonton. For Floss Schauer, her family has made a tradition out of coming to the parade, ever since some of her family moved there. She comes from Williamstown and other members of the family come from Deptford for the parade.

According to Schauer, Conway being at the parade wasn't political, it was honoring a local woman.

"This is her hometown, she's grand marshal of the parade and I think people are coming out to see her," Schauer said.

As Bill Crescenzo puts it, "Local girl does good," he said while wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat. He doesn't always go to the parade but he made sure to go this year to see Conway.

Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
MONTCLAIR -- A college student whose body was found at Eagle Rock Reservation was remembered by family and friends Saturday as a motivated young adult whose tragic death occurred before her time.

About 100 people gathered outside the home of Sarah Butler to recall the life of the Montclair native and student at New Jersey City University in Jersey City.

"We love Sarah immensely, and I want to tell you about not just how much of a great dancer she was but a great person," said Shirlise McKinley-Wiggins, founder and director of nearby Premiere Dance Theatre.

Butler was home for Thanksgiving break when she went missing. Her body was later found at the reservation in West Orange.

McKinley-Wiggins recalled when Butler danced at an audition at Harlem's Apollo Theater earlier this year.

"When Sarah hit that stage we got the most applause," McKinley-Wiggins said.

Butler also worked at Park Street Branch YMCA in Montclair where she was employed part-time as a lifeguard.

"I can't even believe I'm standing here saying this because I wanted to be able to make this speech for her accepting some amazing award or doing something cause I know at the end of day she was capable of great things," said her friend Leneda Brown. "And she was just a really beautiful person."

Authorities at the Essex County Prosecutors office have not disclosed details of Butler's death but have ruled it a homicide.

A 20-year-old Orange man, Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, was charged with strangling Butler and dumping her body at the 400-acre reservation. He is currently being held at the Essex County Jail on $1 million bail.

After remarks on Butler the crowd released white balloons in the air. They then marched with candles to the nearby studio Butler was a part of.

"It's just sad she had to go as soon as she did, it's not words for it, it's very hard for us," her father, Victor Butler said.

Fausto Giovanny Pinto may be reached at fpinto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @FGPreporting. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Repauno.jpg

Plans for the newly revamped Repauno Site include a port, cold-storage facilities and liquid petroleum gas storage. (Photo provided)

GREENWICH TWP. -- After years of negotiating and meticulous planning, the Delaware River Partners, LLC, is working to bring the former Repauno Plant back to life as a port-related industrial park used for imports and exports despite concerns from environmentalists and some neighbors.

The plan for the Gibbstown property, formerly a DuPont dynamite and chemical plant, includes a number of cold storage warehouses, underground storage tanks for butane, which would repurpose the anhydrous ammonia cavern from the original DuPont plant, and an eventual port for importing and exporting goods.

It is a plan that has excited officials in the tiny town of Greenwich. It's a chance to turn a blighted area around, and improve residents' economic future.

"This is a great day for Gibbstown," Greenwich Mayor George Shivery said when the plan was first announced. "We're talking about jobs, talking about ratables and we're talking about bringing Gibbstown back to the level it was 20 years ago."

The proposal

The plans for the Repauno Site include cold storage warehouses, underground butane storage and a port for importing and exporting goods. (Photo provided)

Sitting on Repauno Avenue in Gibbstown, the remains of the old DuPont factory are marked by a brick sign with Repauno Plant across it in steel letters.

The cracked walkways are dotted with empty sheds and storage tanks that once bustled with activity but have been left untouched for decades.

For more than 120 years, the DuPont Corp. manufactured dynamite and chemicals on the site. The plant, stretching across 1,900 acres along the Delaware River, saw the occasional explosion and chemical leak.

Delaware River Partners, a subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group LLC, took ownership of the site over the summer.

According to Kirk Fairley, secretary for the Greenwich Township Planning Board, the overall plan for the site includes a working port for cold storage of fresh and frozen fruits and flowers. The site would also work as a new vehicle receiving depot and a location of fuel activities.

While the site has been undergoing some maintenance, little by little being cleaned up, no major work has started.

Is the new project safe?

The plan initially prompted concerns from the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club over a draft proposal which included the storage of liquid natural gas (LNG) at the site.

Shivery says that plan has since been dropped and the tanks will actually store butane.

The Sierra Club is concerned that LNG could still play a role in the site's future.

Jeff Tittel, director of the NJ Sierra Club, called this an "unneeded and unnecessary project." Greenwich should reject the plan, he said.

"They must come out against this proposal because Delaware River Partners plans to transport hazardous materials through communities and ship them right on the Delaware River," Tittel said prior to the second approval meeting on Monday night. "This facility will have major safety implications for people living near the River, while threatening our public health and the environment."

And there are others who have concerns about the plan. A group of residents, calling themselves the Concerned Citizens for the Redevelopment of the Repauno Site (CCRRS), want the property redeveloped but don't want anything there that will bring significantly more truck, car or rail traffic.

They also don't want any redevelopment of the project to spill beyond the DuPont property, said Rich Friendlich, a member of CCRRS, the group collectively thinks the.

What's next?

The project has been broken up into phases, to be approved by the Greenwich Township planning board piece by piece. The board approved plans for phase one, a cold storage warehouse, on July 11.

Phase two, approval of the underground butane storage plan, was up for approval on Monday at another planning board meeting.

Senator Stephen Sweeney spoke at the meeting attesting to the good the revitalization will bring to Gibbstown and the jobs it will provide.

The group voted unanimously to pass the plan.

"There's no timeline for anything to be done yet," said Shivery. "There's still more parts that need approval before anything can be done."

Officials from Fortress Investment Group could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Caitlyn Stulpin may be reached at cstulpin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitstulpin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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A 22-year-old man was shot in the thigh on Friday night in a Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood, officials said.

(Jersey Journal file photo)

JERSEY CITY -- A 22-year-old man was shot in the thigh on Friday night in a Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood, officials said.

The victim, an Ocean Avenue resident, was shot near Garfield and Bramhall avenues at about 9:15 p.m., city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said.

He was brought to Jersey City Medical Center to be treated for a non life-threatening injury and has since been released. Morrill said the victim was "uncooperative" with police.

No arrests have been made and the shooting remains under investigation.

The shooting comes less than 24 hours after a 27-year-old man was shot on Van Nostrand Avenue. The victim, Darryl Fields of Old Bergen Road, was later arrested after police found a weapon in his girlfriend's apartment.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
JERSEY CITY -- A meeting to discuss traffic safety throughout the city is set to take place on Tuesday night.

The meeting, organized by Safe Streets JC, will be held at the Gallo Center in Lincoln park from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Public Safety Director Jim Shea are expected to attend.

In recent months, there has been a growing concern about pedestrian safety on Jersey City streets. Three people were killed in crashes on Kennedy Boulevard in two week period, including an 11-year-old boy on his way to school.

Safe Streets JC was founded by West Side residents Kara Hrabosky and Paul Bellan-Boyer about three years ago. Since its founding, several safety improvements have been made to Kennedy Boulevard.

Traffic light timing has changed along Kennedy Boulevard and pedestrians have extra time to cross the busy roadway at more than half of the intersections in Jersey City.

Last year, Hudson County received a $3 million grant to replace traffic signals and add speed alert signs at 16 intersections on Kennedy Boulevard on the city's West Side.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
EWING -- Algernon Ward graduated Trenton State College in 1987, the year construction of Dr. Paul Loser Hall was announced at the school, which would later be renamed The College of New Jersey.

Ward, 63, was on the student body government at the time and had no idea who Paul Loser was - other than that his family had donated money to get a building named after him.

"It's one of those things that went right by you," said Ward, a Trenton activist and former school board member.

Three current TCNJ students are pressing to have Paul Loser Hall renamed after discovering documents that show Loser - the superintendent of Trenton Public Schools from 1932 to 1955 - fought to keep schools segregated even after the practice was made illegal.

Court testimony and other documents show that Loser was vindictive after losing the State Supreme Court case of Hedgepeth and Williams v. The Board of Education in 1944. He fired teachers and deliberately overcrowding the once all-black Lincoln School.

The recent findings have sparked community debate and the college has said it will engage in a conversation about Loser's legacy.

Ward said the recent research has convinced him a name change is warranted. If he had known Loser's past when he was a student, he would have fought to prevent the naming at the time, he said.

"The thing was, not everybody during his time was a segregationist -- even after Hedgepeth Williams, he continued to push forward with segregation," Ward said.

"The building memorializes him and his actions," he said. "I don't think he deserves to be recognized as a pillar of our community - unless you can point to his beneficial role for all Trenton students."

Other residents with connections to the city and school are weighing in too.

Kris Tucker, 48, is a TCNJ graduate and her father, the late Ernest Williams, was the city's first black police chief. Her aunt, Thelma Napoleon Smith, was a principal and educator in the Trenton school district.

Tucker's grandmother Berline Williams joined Gladys Hedgepeth in the landmark Hedgepeth Williams case, when her uncle was not allowed to be enrolled in the school closest to the family home.

"The rationale at the time, was that the school, Junior No. 2 was not built for people of color," Tucker said. " The school was later renamed Hedgepeth-Williams Middle School in honor of the women.

Students who wish to have the name of Loser Hall changed placed this flyer on the campus' music building.

Court transcripts show Loser argued for black children who lived only blocks away from Junior No. 2 to attend the further away Lincoln School. Tucker's grandmother fought to change that.

Tucker said people of color could be harassed and killed for speaking up against any type of injustice at that time, but her family would not be silenced.

"Because my grandmother believed in the importance of education, neither Mr. Loser's opinion or reaction could soften her resolve," she said.

"I hope that the name is changed or amended to be more representative of the whole story," she said.

Michael Kuzma, 83, was born in Trenton in 1933, "in the shadow of the Trent house," he said. Though a white Catholic, he was raised in a now-demolished black and Jewish neighborhood downtown.

Kuzma said he was shocked to learn that Loser is being remembered as a racist and segregationist.

"Paul Loser was held in great esteem," he said. He describes Loser as a "marvelous" and "hands on" superintendent who was concerned about the quality of both the teachers and the education they provided.

"Trenton High teachers had more doctorate and master's degrees than you'll find at universities today," he said. "I always thought that was because of the superintendent."

Nearly all Trenton schools were integrated under Loser, save Lincoln School and Junior No. 2, he said.

"I walked into my kindergarten class in 1939 and I still remember all my black friends' names," he said.

Kuzma was 11 years-old when the Hedgepeth Williams ruling was handed down. He says he doesn't remember it being a prevailing public discussion. The country was in the midst of World War II, which dominated the news, he said.

He questions how much Loser was really for segregation, because it was common for public figures of that time to be for one policy publicly and for the opposite policy in private.

"You can't rewrite history," he said. The name should "absolutely not" be changed.

Elizabeth Lacy, 83, attended Lincoln School in 1944 and later became a teacher in the city after Loser was no longer superintendent.

Her mentor was P.J. Hill, the principal of Lincoln School, who became one of the first black principals of an integrated school at Lincoln in 1946.

While some black students went to schools with white children, "98 percent" of black children went to Lincoln School no matter where they lived in the city.

"There were a few black students at Jefferson School," she said, but the way black children got into other predominantly white junior schools is a mystery to her, she said.

She remembers many of Trenton's black students making their daily trek past Jefferson School to attend classes 20 blocks away at Lincoln School.

Documents dated after the Hedgepeth Williams ruling paint a complex picture of Loser. One letter from 1954 suggests Loser was still arguing for segregation of schools. Another dated a year and half later, praises his integration methods.

Leroy Morris, a Trenton doctor, wrote to Loser on April 30, 1945, to encourage Loser to stop misquoting him as being in favor of segregation.

"For fear of being misquoted again by you as to my position regarding segregation, I wish to state emphatically that I never have been, never hope to be in favor of segregation in any form, because it is my firm belief that segregation does not in any way help to make our democracy function," Morris wrote.

A letter written by Mrs. Edward Yard, the executive secretary of the Trenton Committee for Unity, on Sept. 16, 1946, includes an update on the progress of integration.

"The thing I want stressed is that the Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools through out suggestion have performed this integration very well," Yard wrote. "Dr. Loser I believe has tried very hard to make the integration successful."

"However, it was the Trenton Committee for Unity which was responsible for instigating the change," she wrote.

Efforts were made to speak to relatives of Loser, but those contacted did respond to requests for comment.

Greg Wright may be reached at gwright@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregTheWright. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
A lot of conservatives were worried that as president Donald Trump would abandon the right-wing positions he espoused in the campaign.

Trump has put them at ease by doing two things.

He put a lot of conservatives in key positions.

Better yet, he didn't include any New Jerseyans - especially New Jerseyans named Christie.

Gov. Chris Christie was passed over for a cabinet post. By week's end it was reported that he won't even get the fig leaf of the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee.

Meanwhile Trump has been assembling a cabinet that is as far to the right as any in recent history.

"This is the most conservative cabinet I've ever seen," said Phil Kerpen of American Commitment, a Washington-based free-market advocacy group. "He's not falling for the crutch of 'We need the same old people because they're the ones who know how to do it.' So far they're all ideological conservatives."

If Christie had been retained as head of the transition, Kerpen said, we could have expected "the usual suspects" for the cabinet, the same sort of moderate Republicans who opposed Trump in the primaries.

We certainly wouldn't have seen people like Trump's most controversial pick. That was Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

The publisher of Climate Depot - a website that is either "realist" or "denialist" depending on your politics - pronounced it "refreshing that a Republican President is not throwing the EPA over to the green activists and the media by appointing a weak administrator. Christine Todd Whitman he is not."

No, he's not. Pruitt is a hard-nosed advocate of fossil fuels who rejects the idea they must be phased out in the name of climate change.

The other governor named Christie was clueless on climate change when she was named EPA administrator by George W. Bush.

In her first big interview with the New York Times back in 2001, Christie Whitman famously confused the issue of carbon dioxide and climate change with the issue of chlorofluorocarbons and the ozone layer.

And that was the high point of her tenure, during which she tried to steer Bush toward the same sort of climate-change activism that Trump is now so firmly rejecting.

As for the other governor named Christie, it's now clear why he was ousted from his position as head of the Trump transition.

Though Christie has a talent for talking tough, he's something of a sheep in wolf's clothing when it comes to right-wing politics. Like Whitman, he's surrounded himself with moderates and kept conservatives at arm's length.

It's impossible to imagine him handing the Donald a cabinet filed with people like surgeon Ben Carson as Housing and Urban Development secretary or fast-food exec Andy Puzder to head Secretary of Labor. Trump is also expected to pick an advocate of oil drilling, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington State, to head the Department of the Interior.

But it's that EPA pick that most reveals where Trump is headed. And he's not headed into the trap into which Christie fell as New Jersey governor, at least not according to one conservative Republican.

Assemblyman Mike Carroll of Morris County recently put up a post on his Facebook page in which he noted that Democrats here are "promising ever higher taxes, more spending, more mandates, and more regulations."

He concluded "And, then, they're shocked -- SHOCKED!! -- that the economy stinks."

In the case of Christie, Carroll said, he inherited a state where growth was checked by such Democratic initiatives as the Highlands Act, which was signed into law in the waning days of the McGreevey administration.

"When you cut off 100,000 some acres in most desirable part of the state and say you can't do anything there, you can't then bitch about the fact the economy sucks," Carroll told me.

Christie was too busy aspiring for higher office to confront the Democrats on such matters. But if the choice for EPA chief is any indication, Trump won't be falling into that trap, Carroll said.

He cited the Obama administration's recent mandate that the approval process for projects that come under the National Environmental Policy Act should include climate-change review.

"They're out there claiming on the one part they want all this infrastructure work," Carroll said of the Democrats. "They then adopt these rules that say the feds won't spend any money on any infrastructure which allegedly has an adverse effect on climate change."

We can expect Trump to be pro-nuclear, pro-pipeline and pro-anything else that gets the economy going. If he's going to be judged by his ability to produce a booming economy, then he will eliminate any governmental obstacles that get in the way.

Liberals may hate it.

But the more they hate it, the more conservatives will like it.

SPEAKING OF AIRHEADS AND CLIMATE CHANGE: Another embarrassment to New Jersey is Assemblyman John McKeon from Essex County. McKeon is the leading advocate for climate-change alarmism in the Assembly. Yet, like Christie Whitman before him, he doesn't even know what carbon dioxide is.

Here's an article from the Observer in which McKeon terms the Pruitt nomination "Extremely disturbing."

No, what's extremely disturbing is that McKeon was railing against carbon dioxide for years when he had no idea what it is and what it does.

As you can see from the above link to a post of mine from 2012, McKeon made a complete fool of himself when he stood up on the Assembly floor and pronounced that the problem with carbon dioxide is that it depletes the ozone layer.

Nope. That's chlorofluorocarbons.

At that point McKeon had spent five years pushing legislation to get the state into the Regional greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade system that would have made our electricity bills "skyrocket" as President Obama once put it.

The reason is that solar costs much more than any other form of power generation.

And oh, yeah. When I saw McKeon leaving a hearing on that bill he was driving a giant SUV.

There is nothing I hate more than when politicians who can't run heir own lives tell us how to run our lives.

In that regard, I wonder if Trump ever caught this campaign video Christie made in 2009 embracing Obama's climate alarmism.

This is not the kind of guy you want assembly an energy-friendly cabinet. Check how he attacked Jon Corzine for not being left-wing enough on climate alarmism.
FieldTurf Duraspine broken fibers

Athletes often leave FieldTurf Duraspine fields covered in pieces of turf as if they have just played on a freshly mown lawn. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

By Eric Daliere

As Walter Cronkite once said, "In seeking truth, you have to get both sides of a story." The Sunday Star-Ledger story on FieldTurf ("The 100-yard deception,) has sparked a lot of misconceptions about the company and its actions, which is why I want to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

Is this simply the typical obligatory response from a CEO when a media outlet paints his company in a negative light? Not if you believe that facts matter.

In the past week, we have heard or read the following: The Star-Ledger uncovered new emails revealing that we sold defective playing fields and covered it up, fields are failing in New Jersey because of this issue, and taxpayers are being ripped off.

Each of these statements resulted from The Star-Ledger story, and we know them to be inaccurate and not reflective of who we are as a company.

The fact is that the evidence and data show the Duraspine UV issue has not caused, and will not cause, fields to fail during their warranty periods in New Jersey. The story makes its argument to the contrary by showing several fields that looked older as they aged. This part they got right. Fields do age. Just as a tire loses tread over time, splitting and fibrillation is normal for fibers -- it is not itself the sign of a defect.

Furthermore, the numbers speak for themselves: Of the 114 Duraspine fields installed in New Jersey that have passed their eight-year warranty period, only 14 have been replaced. Those replacements were due to normal wear, and 12 of those customers chose a FieldTurf field a second time. The other 100 of these fields that have passed their warranty period are still being played on. The truth is the vast majority of customers in New Jersey have been happy with their product and taxpayers have received good value.

Let's also review the issue of the emails in the story.

Emails taken out of context can be misleading. What they show in this case is certain employees expressing that the Duraspine product was not going to be the major breakthrough FieldTurf's former supplier had led them to believe it was. Was there some initial concern and disappointment? Absolutely. But there is a difference between what the story alleges and people expressing disappointment about a product, while still believing it will meet or exceed warranties and be as good as or better than the alternatives on the market.

Of course, there are customers who, following the publication of the story or when contacted for it, questioned their product -- even if they were happy with it until now. We understand this reaction and are committed to setting the record straight with all stakeholders.

To be clear, there was a problem with the Duraspine product. I joined FieldTurf in late 2009. In 2010, I became concerned that the fiber was wearing out earlier than our supplier promised us in certain environments. We initiated an investigation and determined that in high-UV (sunny) areas, this was the case. We sued the fiber supplier, declaring what we believed the defect to be and stating which types of customers we expected to be impacted. We did not hide from it. In fact, the emails in The Star-Ledger story were taken from the public record in that litigation.

FieldTurf has been proactive in dealing with this problem, and began manufacturing its own fiber to ensure quality control. In high-UV markets where Duraspine has been an issue, we replaced fields and cooperated closely with our customers. We have worked hard to make things right for these customers, and the vast majority have been happy. How can we prove this? Most have remained FieldTurf customers.

Facts matter. In this case, we believe that once all of the facts are heard and understood, it will be clear that we have been committed to doing right by our customers.

Eric Daliere is chief executive of FieldTurf.

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The newest candidate to throw his hat into the governor's race was the first New Jersey official to publicly endorse Donald Trump, and is now aiming to emulate his campaign, right down to the red and white ball caps and autocratic, half-baked policy proposals.



"As far as I'm concerned, (Trump) touched the heart of the people, and that's what I'm doing here," said Steven Rogers, a Nutley commissioner who says he wants to treat drug dealers like terrorists, and is seeking the Republican nomination.



Just one problem. This man is running in New Jersey, where Hillary Clinton trounced Trump, winning by 13 percent of the vote, and Gov. Christie - another early Trump endorser - now has an 18 percent approval rating, the lowest of any governor in memory.



Good luck with that.

Rogers shows shades of Trump as he enters N.J governor's race



Rogers says he will govern by executive fiat, and throw out the state law that says you have to have "justifiable need" to carry a gun, even though most voters support stricter gun laws, and -- most critically -- legal experts say it's not within the governor's authority to repeal state laws through executive order, as reported in Politico.



He wants to repeal the gas tax hike by executive order, too; something that, again, he has no legal authority to do. "I actually said, if I was able to do that," Rodgers said, after he was pressed on the point. Right.



Rogers says he will prosecute drug dealers like terrorists by, somehow, changing federal law. And he's pledging to invest in transportation infrastructure, without explaining where that money will come from absent the dedicated gas tax.



Given our budget crisis, about the last thing we need is another con man in a red cap who makes wild promises he can't keep and lives in fiscal fantasyland. If Rogers wants to touch hearts in New Jersey, start by apologizing for Trump.

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Remember when he said clean air and "crystal clear water" were vitally important? Never mind. (AP Photo | Evan Vucci, File)

A credible new study predicts that climate change will cause wetter storms everywhere, but especially in the Northeast, where scientists warn of more intense rains and almost biblical flooding in the years ahead. Great.



Now a category 5 political hurricane is forming outside the White House, with Donald Trump's selection of climate change denier and fossil fuel industry footman Scott Pruitt as his environmental protection chief.



This is a frightening signal that Trump intends to follow through on his reckless campaign vow to abandon the effort to contain climate change. He's chosen the right man for that job.



Pruitt, as attorney general in Oklahoma, was a lead architect of the legal attack against the EPA - not just on regulations curbing climate emissions, but on rules to limit smog and soot pollution. Fossil fuel lobbyists were literally writing letters on his official stationary.

Officials voice concerns about Trump's potential environmental impact



All this spells disaster for America's environment, and the global fight against climate change. The impact will land particularly hard in New Jersey because we are vulnerable to flooding and rising sea levels, and because half of the pollution in our air floats here from states to our west, like Pennsylvania and Ohio. Only the EPA can protect us from the smog and soot flowing in here, clogging the lungs of our children and elderly, and spewing mercury into our waterways.



Gov. Christie mostly abandoned the effort to get the feds to crack down on those dirty Midwestern coal plants. But the bigger problem is that President Obama's Clean Power Plan, which mandates a shift away from the use of coal, has been halted in court. The Obama administration is fighting that decision, but the plan is all but dead now, thanks to Trump's EPA pick - provided he's confirmed by the Senate.



Our state's regulations for water quality, among the strongest in the nation, may be a casualty, too. They've been under all-out assault by Christie, and a new federal rule that would have given us more firepower to fight him in court is also ensnared in a legal battle, and likely doomed.



The Passaic River cleanup, ordered by the EPA, will be virtually impossible to reverse under Trump. But while the ink is dry on the settlement, the implementation and follow-through by the river's polluters may be in jeopardy.



And don't expect an EPA that helps states adapt to climate change any longer. Sandy and Irene were not one-off events: The clock is ticking for the Jersey Shore, and we need to be planning for storm surges and flooding caused by sea level rise.



It all underscores the importance of getting rid of Christie, so New Jersey can take action on its own. Rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to curb emissions, and turbo-charging our efforts to conserve energy, the cheapest way to cut down on greenhouse gases, should be our first steps. We desperately need a governor who will reverse Christie's rollbacks, expand the protections we have, back the science of climate change and stand up to Trump's carbon-soaked EPA.



Trump had been softening on climate. After calling it a hoax during the campaign, he told the New York Times editorial board that human activity may indeed contribute, he said he was rethinking his plan to rip up the Paris climate accord, and he met with Al Gore.



All just words, it seems. His choice of Pruitt signals his real intention. So much for the clean air and "crystal clear water" Trump said were vitally important.



So brace yourself. Our best hope now is that we elect a governor who helps us weather the coming storm.



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It's been a humbling year for pundits who make predictions.

But it's a living, and I have another one: Within a year, America will have a raging case of buyer's remorse over Donald Trump.

I'm not talking about scandal, though the potential there is enormous. I'm talking about policy.

With his latest cabinet picks, Trump has made it depressingly clear that he intends to govern from the far-right, not from the middle.

Congress might like that, but most Americans will not. It's the classic rookie mistake. He's overreaching.

Some examples:

Scott Pruitt, his pick for the EPA, loves the smell of burning coal and would free power plants to spew all the carbon they want, free of charge. Americans disagree by margin of 2-1.

As attorney general in Oklahoma, Pruitt once wrote a letter vigorously defending a natural gas companies that was being pressed by the Obama administration to clean up its act. The letter it turned out, was drafted by the gas company, and sent on Pruitt's stationery. Awkward.

Trump's pick as labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, opposes raising the minimum wage. And again, the American people overwhelmingly disagree.

Puzder runs a fast-food joint that prides itself on ads showing flat-belly babes in bikinis snarfing down oversized cheeseburgers, which of course makes no logical sense.

Trump's pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, is big on mass incarceration as the best way to fight the drug war. Most Americans now regard that as folly as well.

Sessions reminds me of the generals in World War I who kept sending soldiers into machine-gun fire, long after the tactic was a proven failure. He has the same kind of fossilized brain, one that is immune to new evidence.

For health and human service secretary, Trump chose Tom Price, a man who opposes abortion rights, even in cases of rape, and wants to ban funding for Planned Parenthood. Again, a big majority disagrees.

This goes on and on. Almost across the board, Trump is picking reptiles whose views clash with the majority of Americans.

His education secretary, Betsy DeVos, wants to provide vouchers so students can use public money to cover tuition at private schools, even religious ones. His reported pick at Interior, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, wants to open pristine federal lands to the tender mercies of drilling and mining companies.

All this is terrifying, really. Trump softened his rhetoric after the election, on big issues like immigration and climate and the Iran nuclear deal. That allowed me to exhale for a few days, to dream that it might not be so bad.

But these picks have sobered me up. This is the most conservative cabinet in modern history, made even scarier by the lack of experience.

I was impressed by Ben Carson, briefly. When his name came up as a candidate for Housing and Urban Development, he admitted he was unfit for the job. "He's never run a federal agency," a friend said on his behalf. "The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency."

Then he was offered the job, and he accepted it! What the hell, several other cabinet members were equally unqualified. And so is the new president. Come on in!

The New York Times ran a story Friday listing all the ways that Trump's cabinet officers differ with the views of most Americans.

It's as if Bernie Sanders were elected, and filled his cabinet with socialists. At some point, that would end badly. And so will this.

Keep this in mind, too: Democrats cannot filibuster any of these appointments. To stop these nominations, they would need help from Republicans.

That's because Democrats changed the filibuster rule in 2013, a move that is now blowing up in their faces.

Suppose, though, that Trump eventually decides to tamp down his own cabinet's worst instincts, to heave them all towards centrist ground.

Even that might not work. Because he still has House Republicans to contend with. And one of their top priorities will be to cut entitlement spending by turning Medicare into a voucher system, forcing seniors shop for their own insurance.

Polls show that is about as popular among seniors as swallowing a cockroach.

"That's a deal-breaker right there," said Rutgers Prof. Ross Baker. "These people are serious deficit hawks, and I don't think they're going to roll over and play dead for him. The vast majority of Republicans in Congress didn't want him, we know that. They've been forced to accept him, grudgingly and reluctantly."

Politics is terrifying these days, on a global scale. Martin Luther King Jr. said the arc of history is long, but bends towards justice, and I've always taken comfort from that. But I don't trust that anymore. I'm rattled.

Trump is about heave the pendulum to the right. If history is any guide, it will swing back. The arc will bend like it should. And since I need to occasionally exhale, that's the theory I'm embracing for now.

More: Tom Moran columns

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
TRENTON -- President-elect Donald Trump offered Gov. Chris Christie numerous positions in his incoming administration, but the New Jersey governor turned them down, two sources with knowledge of Trump's transition efforts told NJ Advance Media.

The sources said those jobs included Cabinet-level posts like Homeland Security secretary and Veterans Affairs secretary, as well as other posts, like a White House advisory role and U.S. ambassador to Italy.

But the sources noted Christie, a longtime Trump friend and adviser, was not offered the role of U.S. attorney general -- a post the governor reportedly coveted.

And sources confirmed earlier this week that Christie would not assume another job he lobbied for: chairman of the Republican National Committee. The sources requested anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.

Thus, despite months of speculation over where Christie might land in Trump's White House, it appears likely the governor will indeed remain in New Jersey to finish out his second and final term, which ends in January 2018.

The sources said Christie did not consider any of the posts he was offered to be a good fit for him.

The revelations come amid questions over why Christie and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- two of Trump's most loyal allies throughout his campaign -- did not receive the jobs they were hoping for as Trump prepares to assume the Oval Office. Trump, a celebrity real estate mogul, has repeatedly said loyalty is paramount to him.

But while Giuliani was seeking to become U.S. secretary of state, Trump released a statement Friday saying the mayor had withdrawn his name for consideration.

The New York Times reported Friday that while Giuliani was offered numerous other positions, including attorney general, he declined.

Trump ultimately chose another ally, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, as attorney general.

Citing anonymous Trump advisers, the Times reported that Trump's inner circle had issues with both Giuliani and Christie -- including the shadow of the George Washington Bridge scandal that has hung over Christie.

Christie has been friends for nearly 15 years with Trump, a former Atlantic City casino magnate. And in February, shortly after ending his own bid for the party's presidential nomination, the governor was one of the first major Republicans to endorse Trump for the White House -- a decision that was widely ridiculed among many establishment members of the GOP.

In May, Trump named Christie the chairman of his transition team and reportedly was close to naming him his running mate. The governor was then reported to be a top contender for attorney general or another Cabinet post.

But shortly after his victory in the general election last month, Trump replaced the governor as transition chair and demoted him to one of several vice-chairs.

Christie began to assert in public that he planned to remain governor instead of working for Trump in Washington D.C.

"For some reason, people think I'm equivocal about this," the governor said during a news event at the Statehouse on Nov. 29. "And I'm not. I'm completing my term."

Then, last week, reports emerged that Christie was angling to replace Reince Priebus -- Trump's incoming White House chief of staff -- as RNC chair, possibly running the party as a volunteer while remaining governor.

But the chairmanship has commonly been a full-time post. And one source said Priebus wanted to pick his own successor.

Another source said Christie and Trump mutually decided he wouldn't assume the chairmanship and noted that the governor wanted to "stop the rampant speculation."

That source said Christie is still close with Trump and will remain an informal adviser, adding that the governor is "really at peace" with how the situation unfolded.

Christie will begin his final year as governor with his popularity among Garden State voters at an all-time low. Recent polls show Christie's job approval rating has dropped into the teens.

The governor has also left open the possibility of leaving the state "if something extraordinary happens in the world where my service is needed."

"That's not being equivocal about it," Christie said at the November news event. "That's understanding what the real world is. But I want you to all take a deep breath and relax."

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
Oliver Hart Banquet speech

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Oliver Harts speech at the Nobel Banquet in the Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 2016.

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I want to begin by observing that scientific research is a communal activity and that neither Bengt Holmstrom nor I could have won this prize without the help of many others. We had the crucial support of our teachers, co-authors, students, and family members, some of whom are here tonight. We are enormously grateful to them.

Bengt Holmstroms connection to Sweden is well-known  he is a Swedish-speaking Finn. Mine is less well known, but it is still very important. Part of my family is Danish and my mothers brother, together with his daughter, my cousin, were among those who escaped to Sweden in the famous boatlift of Danish Jews in 1943. Without Swedens willingness to accept refugees this part of my family would not have survived.

My cousin is here tonight as one of my guests.

At a troubled time in the world, this is a reminder of how important it can be for a country to open its doors to those suffering from persecution.

I became an economist for rather unusual reasons. I graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1969. This was in the midst of student revolutions and the idea of getting a real job seemed unattractive. The answer, of course, was further study. But in what? People told me that mathematics was being applied to economics, and I also had a second reason for choosing that field. I used to like to argue about politics, but I found that my fellow-debaters at some stage raised an issue like the balance of payments and at this point I lost the argument.

I decided that I had to learn something about this subject!

After 47 years working in the area, I have learned that economics is both more and less powerful than people think. It is more powerful because it provides an indispensable set of tools for understanding human behavior. Whether we are talking about an individuals decision about how much education to get, a firms decision about how much to invest, or a societys decision about how best to tackle global warming, economics can provide an invaluable perspective. In the context of the current prize my co-laureate and I have shown that economics can throw light on whether teachers should be rewarded according to their students test scores; or whether prisons should be run by private companies or by the government.

This is the good news about economics. It can help us to understand many things. The bad news is that it is not the whole story. For understanding many questions other things matter too: psychology, history, sociology, politics. This is the sense in which economics is less powerful than people think. It provides only part of the answer.

With the award of this prize I know that people will listen to Bengt and me in a way that they never did before. I hope that, as we promote the insights of economics, we always remember that other voices need to be heard too.

Let me close by thanking those who have bestowed this amazing honor on the two of us. Bengt and I are deeply grateful.

Thank you.

Copyright  The Nobel Foundation 2016

To cite this section

MLA style: Oliver Hart  Banquet speech. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Thu. 3 Nov 2022. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2016/hart/speech/>
State Sen. Bodi White, a Republican from Central, finished second in the Baton Rouge mayoral runoff and will return to his seat in the state Legislature.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
Welcome to nonleaguedaily.coms news provision, your go-to source for all non league updates, rumours, interviews, and much more besides.

Founded by a team with a genuine passion for the world of non league football, nonleaguedaily.com understands exactly what supporters of the so-called lower leagues are looking for. You want the high-quality reporting, in-depth analysis, and match reporting that matches that is more commonly found in the journalism for the top flights, but with the focus firmly fixed on the national leagues.

We understand that your passion, interest, and dedication is constant, and we believe you need a news service that matches that commitment with its own dedication and thoroughness  so thats what you can expect from our site.

The latest non league news, as and when it happens

Conventionally, non league news has always travelled fairly slowly, especially when compared to the instantaneous, constant breaking news cycles found in the upper leagues. Tales are told on terraces, rumours passed between pub patrons and circled between supporters at the latest game, often forced to remain somewhat local initially before word eventually spreads to other locales.

For us, this slow spread may be fairly organic in nature, but it simply isnt compatible with the modern football environment. Its also not conducive to the current fast-paced, always-available media landscape, nor the way that people tend to consume news nowadays. Thats why we have put together a non league news source that fans can turn to for the latest updates, as and when they happen, and as and when you want to read them. Non-league news now is the only acceptable speed at Betting.co.uk.

We update our non-league football news coverage constantly, bringing you all the latest developments and seeking to spread the word as quickly and accurately as possible. So if youre wondering whats happening both with your local team and with the lower leagues as a whole, you can visit us for non league news now, and be confident the stories you find are completely up to date.

News reported by passionate fans

Our efforts to bring you the very best non league football news are undeniably a professional concern, and one that we take seriously. We are  if youll excuse the uncharacteristic tooting of our own horns  good at what we do, and we know that the efforts we make in this regard are one of the reasons our site has enjoyed such success thus far.

However, everyone who writes for us also shares our readers enthusiasm for non league football. Were not just churning out content in the hopes of cashing in on a professional dream; were here because we want to be, and will always be dedicated and committed to non league football as an entity and thriving in the experience of being able to talk about our favourite subject whenever we can. We create non-league news now that is written by genuine fans and enthusiasts, for fans. We know what you want to know and what matters most to an ardent non league supporter, and we always ensure that focusing on these elements is our guiding principle as we seek to solidify our status as an online non league paper fans can always rely on.

When compiling non league news, we think with the mind of a fan first and foremost. We cover the angles and stories that we find compelling and that we know our fellow non league enthusiasts also care about. News doesnt have to be dry and formulaic, in our opinion. When its written by people who are genuinely as fascinated by the stories they are reporting on as their readership will be, we believe news can be interesting, compelling, and even have a sense of personality and humour.

News content written with passion and expertise

We believe that thanks to our dedication, insightfulness, and commitment to our subject matter of non league today, we are offering the best of both worlds to those searching for an online non league paper. We give you the professional approach we feel is appropriate for news about one of the most intriguing aspects of UK football; an aspect that we genuinely feel does not receive the interest and plaudits that it should be generating. Nevertheless, we dont let that professionalism take over everything we do: we remain committed fans, nurturing our own personal interest in non league football and ensuring every word we compose is infused with a sense of passion and dedication that enhances the posts we create.

Its therefore obvious that our non-league content today isnt ever going to be dry, basic, or put together by a tired staff writer who has never heard of any team below the Championship before they rush off to the pub for the evening. Our writers are genuine experts: were covering non league football because we want to, because we believe in it, and because its where our strengths lie. The result is informed content that capitalises on our deep knowledge of the history, as well as the present-day realities, of non league football in the UK.

Beyond news: the nonleaguedaily.com interview series

One of our goals with nonleaguedaily.com is to not just dryly report the news from an outsiders perspective, effectively regurgitating press releases that are devoid of genuinely illuminating information. We also go right to the source of the stories: the managers and club insiders who have direct experience, and often influence, on the sport and how it is managed.

We regularly conduct interviews as part of our news provision, asking the questions that are on everyones lips and providing the best possible view into the non league world. We have reporters pitchside at matches, microphone to hand and plentiful questions ready to be asked. The end result for you, the reader, is the kind of information and close-up looks into the non league world that just cant be found anywhere else.

As our commitment to providing interesting interviews amply demonstrates, we want to be involved in breaking the stories that everyone then talks about, rather than following along and focusing solely on what everyone already knows. If youre looking for leading content that you cant find anywhere else, and that goes right to the centre of the non league world, then you can turn to nonleaguedaily.com for all the benefits of a conventional non league paper, but in electronic, easily-accessed form.

A host of other content to enjoy alongside the non league today

Our focus on providing non league news will always be maintained: we consider this aspect the most important of what we do, and it will always be the recipient of our time, dedication, and interest. Well be here, a consistent and trustworthy news portal, for as long as non league football news exists.

With that said, when you have read up on the latest goings-on, were here with further content for you to enjoy. Naturally, given our partnership with leading brand Betting.co.uk, we provide guidelines for those interested in the world of sports betting. Well help you find the best UK bookmaker with our plentiful coverage of existing brands; ideal if youre looking to put your newfound knowledge, courtesy of us, about non league to use and place a few bets.

Furthermore, we also provide highlights of all the latest UK betting offers, so you can ensure youre achieving the best value with all the latest betting deals whenever youre betting on the latest non league matches. Youll find all of this coverage is as consistent and reliable as our non league news provision,

Non league features and deep dives

Returning to the world of non league football, we also provide a range of feature content that goes deeper and further into the non league world than ever before. Less instantaneously topical but still hugely relevant to the modern game, our features are the dream deep dives that we feel non league fans deserve. Were always striving to do better, offer more, and ensure that non league fans can enjoy the same wealth of content as followers of the top tiers, so you can expect top-flight content with the same commitment and dedication as found throughout the upper echelons of the sport.

So whether youre looking to find the most recent non league football news, seeking a new bookmaker for your non league bets, or hoping to delve deep into a niche non league-related topic, nonleaguedaily.com is always going to be worth a visit.

Return to nonleaguedaily.com for all your non league news needs

Weve told you what you can expect from nonleaguedaily.coms news; now we need to put our confidence where our promises are, make sure we deliver on those promises, and establish trust as an online non league paper you can trust. We look forward to welcoming you back to our news section and showcasing the best we have to offer, from exciting new non league interviews to cutting-edge news to transfer speculation. If you want to truly have your finger on the non league pulse, then nonleaguedaily.com is always going to be here for you.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President-elect Donald Trump shut down some of his companies in the days after the election, including four that appeared connected to a possible Saudi Arabia business venture, according to corporate registrations in Delaware.

News of the move comes days before Trump was expected to describe changes he is making to his businesses to avoid potential conflicts of interest as the U.S. president.

The Trump Organizations general counsel, Alan Garten, described shutting down the four companies as routine housecleaning, and said there was no existing Trump business venture in Saudi Arabia. The four Saudi-related companies were among at least nine companies that Trump filed paperwork to dissolve or cancel since the election.

The recent dissolutions represent a fraction of Trumps global network of companies  the breadth of which has raised conflict-of-interest concerns about whether Trump can balance being an international businessman while conducting the nations business abroad as

president.

Trumps holdings include more than 500 private companies, some of which he creates for prospective deals. The complex and changing structure makes it difficult for Americans to track his financial interests and partners. Trump has disclosed the names and some details about companies in public filings. But a complete picture of Trumps finances is unclear, given that he broke with decades of presidential precedent by not releasing his tax returns during the campaign.

Next week Trump said he plans to announce how he will separate himself from his business interests once hes president.

Trump operates branded hotels and resorts in a handful of countries around the world, though he and his executives have talked about expanding more globally. Last year, Ivanka Trump singled out the Middle East and Saudi Arabia as potential locations.

During the campaign, he created eight companies that included Jeddah, a major Saudi city, in their formal names. Four of those companies were shut down months after they were created. The other four were dissolved about one week after the election.

Trump for years has routinely named corporate entities after the projects to which they were connected. Companies set up as part of licensing or management deals in Indonesia and India bear the names of the cities where those projects are located. The same is true for some of his companies connected to properties and business ventures in the United States.

Garten said Friday that the dissolution of the companies, which occurred last month, was part of a periodic process to shed corporate entities that were no longer needed or were set up for ventures that did not materialize. Garten said he did not know why the companies were set up last year or whether they involved a business ventures in Saudi Arabia that didnt happen.

Im not aware of any deal in Saudi Arabia, Garten told The Associated Press. Ill go further, there is no deal in Saudi Arabia.

Garten declined to say whether the closures were related to Trumps election or his expected announcement next week about how he will be handling his businesses as president.

There is nothing preventing Trump from establishing new businesses or using his existing companies to expand in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. There also is nothing to prevent his children from re-establishing the same companies he shut down, but in a different name.

Business deals in a country like Saudi Arabia  a strategic U.S. partner  raise potential conflicts of interest because there is not much distinction between the Saudi royal family and major Saudi businesses.

Its important that the U.S. president have a close relationship with the Saudi king and crown prince, said Lori Plotkin Boghardt, a fellow at the Washington Institute and expert in U.S.-Gulf relations. But we also want to have a president who can talk frankly to the Saudis about any complications in the relationship and uphold American interests, she said.

Saudi Arabia has long been a key American ally in the Middle East, prized for years for its vast oil reserves and depended on by a succession of American presidents for its potential as a Persian Gulf peacemaker. But President Barack Obama and some U.S. counterterror officials have grown increasingly frustrated with Saudi Arabias unofficial role in exporting ultraconservative religious dogma and funding terror groups and the militant Taliban movement.

Trump also shut down several shell companies that he had created over the past seven years which had no listed income or value. For instance, Trump Marks Magazine Corp., founded in 2007, had no listed value and was dissolved the day after the election, according to Delaware corporation documents.

Some of the now-dissolved Trump entities are U.S.-based limited liability companies, legal structures that provide owners with limited legal and tax protections. The entities, commonly abbreviated as LLCs, often offer owners pass-throughs, ensuring that they are taxed only for the income they receive.
Some large Northwest Indiana employers scored high marks for being LGBT-friendly in a new study.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nations largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, recently released its annual Corporate Equality Index for Fortune 1000 companies and major law firms. A record 517 businesses earned a top score of 100 this year.

Eight large employers in the Region were among the 1,043 companies graded, with five receiving perfect scores of 100. The scores are based on non-discrimination policies, employment benefits, responsible citizenship, public commitment to LGBT equality and demonstrated organizational competency around LGBT inclusion.

Nationwide, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation found rapid progress in areas like non-discrimination policies for gender identity, transgender-inclusive health care coverage, and supportive inclusion guidelines for transitioning transgender employees.

Unilever, which operates a soap-making factory in Hammond, again scored a perfect 100 in the study.

Unilever U.S. is honored to be recognized for a ninth straight year by the Human Rights Campaign, and we are extremely proud to uphold our perfect score of 100 percent on the CEI, said Mike Clementi, Unilever North America vice president of human resources.

As an organization, we work hard to provide an environment where all employees feel valued, included and bring their personal passions to the workplace. We believe an inclusive workplace is critical to our growth as a company.

The multinational company that operates the former Lever Brothers plant at 1200 Calumet Ave. near the border of Hammond and Chicago offers employees benefits including gender affirmation surgery, hormone therapy, and equal medical coverage for same-gender partners.

Several Region companies shine

Ford, Lear, Arconic, and Praxair also aced it with scores of 100. Ford operates the Chicago Assembly Plant in Hegewisch and the Chicago Stamping Plant in Chicago Heights; Lear has seat factories in Hammond and Portage; Arconic runs the Alcoa Howmet aerospace casting factory in LaPorte; and Praxair is an industrial gas supplier with extensive local operations in Whiting, East Chicago, Hammond, Portage, Michigan City, Griffith and Hobart.

"We are proud to have received a perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index," Praxair Chief Diversity Officer Vanessa Abrahams-John said. "Having a successful company requires diverse perspectives and an inclusive workplace, and we are proud of our employees who create such a welcoming environment at Praxair."

Lear was the only Tier 1 automotive supplier to get a perfect score, and Ford got a score of 100 for the 12th straight year.

"The diverse backgrounds of our employees truly make us a stronger company, and we are extremely proud of our policies and programs that support equality," Ford Motor Co. Chief Diversity Officer Meeta Huggins said.

Arconic was just spun off from Alcoa, which has attained a 100 out of 100 for the last eight years.

At Arconic, we understand that our employees contribute their best when they can bring their whole self, every day, everywhere, said Vas Nair, executive vice president, human resources environment, health, safety and sustainability.

Diversity drives success

Merrillville-based NiSource Inc., the parent company of NIPSCO, got a score of 75, which was the fifth highest for any company headquartered in Indiana. It missed out on a perfect score for not offering transgender-inclusive health insurance coverage or firm-wide organizational competency programs, according to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation report.

"Inclusion and diversity allows NiSource to build a stronger company that respects and values everyone's unique contributions, views and fundamental desire to do good work," communications manager Ken Stammen said.

"Our commitment to inclusion and diversity is more than just the right thing to do. It drives tangible benefits for our customers, our company and all of our stakeholders."

U.S. Steel, which operates mills in Gary, East Chicago and Portage, got a score of only 10 out of 100. The company declined to comment on the report, but pointed out it has several diversity initiatives, including a diversity and inclusion council and a diversity and inclusion department.

"U. S. Steel is committed to attracting, developing, and retaining a workforce of talented, diverse people  all working together in an environment where employees can excel and contribute to high-performance results for all of our stakeholders," spokeswoman Erin M. DiPietro said.

A human rights campaign spokesperson said ArcelorMittal was not ranked this time because it was not listed as a Fortune 1000 company in 2015 and did not ask to participate.

BP, which operates the BP Whiting Refinery, got 85 out of a possible 100. Like NiSource, it lost 10 points for not offering transgender-inclusive health insurance coverage.

Diversity and inclusion are not only priorities for BP, they are keys to our success. We know that we can accomplish more when people from diverse backgrounds and with different talents and ideas work together toward a common goal," BP U.S. diversity and inclusion manager Tamara Page said.

The company for instance has established business resource groups that aim to promote diversity and inclusion, Page said.

"These groups, which are employee-initiated, represent a wide cross section of our staff, from ethnic minorities, women, LGBT individuals and disabled people to new parents, military veterans, part-time workers, new joiners to BP and long-time employees," Page said.

"They are open to every BP employee and are designed to help build an inclusive culture within the company as well as improve the cultural fluency of BP employees."
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Make your holiday season complete by taking in one of Indiana Ballet Theatres Nutcracker performances at the Star Plaza Theatre on Dec. 14 or 15. The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was given its premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Dec. 18, 1892. Although the original production was not a success, the 20-minute suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was, and the complete ballet, now performed by countless ballet companies during the Christmas season, has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late 1960s. (219) 755-4444 or www.ibtnw.org.

'Allegience' inspired by true story

Straight from its Broadway run and inspired by the true-life experience of its star, George Takei, who was himself an internee as a child, Allegiance follows one familys extraordinary journey of hope, love and forgiveness in this groundbreaking musical. Inspired by true events, Allegiance is the story of the Kimura family, whose lives are upended when 120,000 other Japanese-Americans are forced to leave their homes following the events of Pearl Harbor. See this Live at the Met HD at the Schererville 16 Theater at 7:30 p.m.on Dec. 13, www.fathomevents.com.

A new twist on an old story

Julia Dowling has an unexpected visitor who intends to escort her off to the afterlife. Infusing comedy into the classic Death Takes a Holiday, The Christmas Spirit is set in contemporary Long Island. Julia persuades Death to give her one more day to enjoy Christmas, inviting him to be her guest at a festive party. This Hammond Community Theatre production runs through Dec. 18 at Beatniks on Conkey. (219) 852-0848 or www.hammondcommunitytheatre.org.

Motown in Munster

Hear some of the original musicians featured in the Chicago Blues Museum exhibit, Motown vs. Chi-Town: The Indiana Connection, when Theatre at the Center presents The Signal, featuring Stormy Weather, Jerry Butler, The Chi-Lites and other vocal favorites at 7 p.m. Dec. 29. The Signal tells the story of Vee-Jay Records, founded in Gary in 1953, which introduced the world to legends including The Four Seasons and Beatles. On stage at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts. Tickets are $30 for adults, $15 for students with admission to the South Shore Arts gallery included. (219) 836-3255 or www.theatreatthecenter.com.

Individual Artist Grant Opportunity

The Indiana Arts Commissions Individual Artist Program provides career development support to artists in dance, literary arts, music and theatre for projects to be conducted between July 1, 2017, and June 30, 2018. A maximum of $2,000 may be requested. Applicants must be at least 18 and a legal resident of Indiana. The grant supports projects that have a positive impact on any phase of an artists career. Deadline to apply is Feb. 3. For more information, call Donna Catalano at (219) 836-1839, ext. 104, or http://www.in.gov/arts/individualartistprogram.htm.
DYER  Growing up in the 1950s, Albert Koch didnt have 500 cable channels to choose from. TVs only had four channels, but that was fine whenever American Bandstand with Dick Clark was on.

I grew up in Whiting and hung around with my buddies after school, said Koch, 75, and now living in Dyer. Then a new show came on NBC, and it just hit a chord. We saw kids just like ourselves but who were not relegated to being seen and not heard. We tuned in every day to see how the kids danced and to listen to the music. We realized all the kids were the same.

It opened up a social door for us. We got a glimpse at how other kids spent their time, and it was cool, Koch said. We really identified with those kids. The show was our soap opera. It became a part of our lives, and it was a cool time to be a kid.

In 2014, Koch read a column in The Times of Northwest Indiana describing how Sharon Sultan Cutler was putting together a book of memories from people who were on the show or who, like Koch, just loved watching it. He wrote to Cutler, and his memories are among those included in Bandstand Diaries about the early years of the show from 1957 to 1963 when it originated in Philadelphia.

Cutler, of Chicago, was a fan of the show, like Koch, and wondered whatever happened to the clean-cut, neatly dressed teens who danced on the show. Through social media she found Arlene Sullivan, who, with her boyfriend, Kenny Rossi, was a popular regular on the show. Through word of mouth, Cutler eventually made contact with more than 40 former regulars over the past three years.

They were very willing to share stories about what life was like while they were on the screen, Cutler said. They were the first reality stars. They were seen as movie stars. They got fan mail and stories in fan magazines. For the most part they accepted that it was an interesting part of their lives, but they have moved on.

Sullivan co-wrote the book with Cutler and Ray Smith, another regular on the show, and the book includes more than 700 pictures. As a result of the book, a reunion was held at which 40 or more of the dancers attended and were introduced to the public, which also could attend. Many of the regulars had others from the show sign copies of the book as though it were their yearbook and they were at their high school reunion, Cutler said.

One of the happiest memories I have is of coming home from school to see Bandstand, she said. I identified with the kids and knew all their names. It was an era when we respected the teenagers on the show and we adored them.

Koch said, Rock n roll was part of our way of life. We were quick to adapt the hair, dress and dance styles. One of the things that impressed me was the way the kids could get in front of the cameras and be so natural. They made it look easy. The fact we could watch these kids was good. It was like being invited to a dance party and being able to watch everything.

Koch, like many others who watched the show, danced next to his TV. He said the closest he ever came to getting in to see the show was when Dick Clark brought the show to the Detroit State Fair in 1959. Koch and a couple of his friends drove to Detroit hoping to see the 14 bands on the bill. Unfortunately, the show was sold out at $3 a ticket, so all he got was a program, for 25 cents, and they all listened to the music from outside the arena.

Koch eventually went on to become a teacher for 44 years, 20 years in vocational education and 24 in special education at several schools, retiring from Lake Central in 2010. He said the book is like opening a time capsule and revisiting once-upon-a-time. So many moments; so many memories. He said its like a visit from an old friend, and it doesnt seem like that long ago.

Cutler said the book also has information about the fan clubs and explains why there were never any reruns (the shows were live and not taped.). The show moved to Los Angeles in 1964, but Cutler said it wasnt the same and, just maybe, the kids outgrew it.

Koch also contributed a poem titled Lookin Back that is included. He said he plans to get several copies to give to some of his former Whiting classmates (class of 1958).

Reminiscent of a regular Bandstand feature, Koch said, Treasure the moments, savor the memories. Its got a great beat. Ill give it a 95.
Santa visits

CHESTERTON  Santa Claus will be receiving visitors in his Duneland house on Broadway from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. every Saturday in Thomas Centennial Park leading up to Christmas. Santas last visit is Saturday.

Here comes Santa

CROWN POINT  Santa will be in the Old Lake County Courthouse every Saturday and Sunday through Dec. 18.

Tour of Lights

CROWN POINT  The mayor's office of special events will host a Tour of Lights from Monday through Dec. 17 within the city limits. To be on the route, call the office at (219) 662-3290, no later than Monday.

Purdue Northwest Vocal Company concert

HAMMOND  The Purdue University Northwest Vocal Company will perform a holiday concert at 3 p.m. today in YJean Chambers Hall on the third floor of the Student Union & Library on the Hammond campus. "Thoughts of Christmas" will include readings by guest narrator William Robinson, a retired PNW professor of communication. The Vocal Company is comprised of 15 PNW students. Admission is free.

Barker Mansion Christmas events

MICHIGAN CITY  There will be a Behind the Scenes Tour at Barker Mansion at 6 p.m. Friday. The cost is $15 per adult and $10 per youth. Reservations are required by calling (219) 873-1520. Glowing Lights Night, a self-guided tour at 5 p.m. Saturday, will give visitors a chance to wear glow stick necklaces and wander the mansion at their leisure with the only illumination coming from the glowing Christmas tree lights. The Barker Mansion is at 631 Washington St.

French Christmas Concert

PORTER  A French Christmas Concert is from 2:30 to 4 p.m. today at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center. Join local folk trio Trois Canards, made up of Marti Pizzni, Suzanne Keldsen and Dot Pakin, as they sing traditional French Christmas songs. The songs, sung in both French and English, are accompanied by traditional instruments like the fiddle, hurdy gurdy, dulcimer, accordion, guitar and recorder. The center is at 1215 N. Ind. 49. Call (219) 395-1882.
Well, Portage, Santa has officially arrived in the city. Last weekends great events were well attended by many residents, both young and old. Christmas is coming.

Speaking of Christmas, everyone in this area we call the Region knows that one of the classic movies, "A Christmas Story," was based on Jean Shepherds life growing up in 1940s Hammond. Nine-year-old Ralphie tries to convince his parents, his teacher and even Santa that a Red Ryder B.B. Gun would be the perfect gift for him.

I even overheard our own Police Chief Troy Williams ask Santa for the same exact gun this last week, and of course Santas reply was, Youll shoot your eye out, kid!

My favorite part of this classic movie is when Ralphies dad receives his major award." The line, Fra-gee-leh, it must be Italian always just gets me to giggle.

Speaking of major awards, there are quite a few that the Portage Chamber of Commerce gave out a few weeks back.

The chamber, led by Executive Director Nancy Simpson, promotes business, fosters new relationships among members to improve their business contacts and enables them to learn from one another in networking events and seminars.

Certificates were awarded to Beef Mart, Dairy Dip, Circle R, Ace Hardware, Stone Quarry Lounge, Southshore Marine, Rees Funeral Home, Gore Realty, Forneys, Red Carpet Lounge, Portage Real Estate, Portage Township YMCA, Reeders Auto Service, Samuelson Insurance and Edmonds and Evans Funeral Home.

Several awards were given out for community improvement and new construction and a certificate of appreciation went to the Portage Historical Society.

The award for quality of life went to the South Haven Boys & Girls Club.

The award for outstanding business service went to founding businesses Portage Real Estate and Gore Realty.

Lil Falk, who jump-started the Portage Backpack Program for kids who need food on the weekends, was acclaimed outstanding educator of the year.

Sandy Steele was named volunteer of the year for the chamber.

Judge Julia Jent's Veterans Court project was recognized for "Putting Portage on the Map."

The special event award went to City Point Church for its Bacon Fest and Easter Candy Drop.

Humanitarian of the year went to Antonio Gutierrez, who heads up the Portage Relay for Life and all the work he does to wipe cancer off the face of this Earth.

The greatest honor of the night is the outstanding public citizen award, which is given to someone who goes over and above to bring attention and help our city become greater than it already is. This great honor went to Joe Kasper for his great community service to many organizations over the years.

Congratulations to all the "major award winners!
Do you have what it takes to eat the most mashed potatoes in an allotted time? Find out at the annual Mommys Little Piggy eating contest at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond. Tegister online at www.AChristmasStoryComesHome.com. Afterward enjoy photos with Santa from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and enjoy the exhibit, A Christmas Story Comes Home.

'A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play'

Enjoy an encore presentation of A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond. The Charles Dickens classic will come to life in the 100-seat theater where three ghosts take Ebenezer Scrooge on a journey to teach him the true meaning of Christmas. Seating is limited. This event is free, but the audience is asked to bring a nonperishable food item for donation. Learn more at www.AChristmasStoryComesHome.com.

'The Nutcracker' ballet

Dont miss this years performance of "The Nutcracker" by the Indiana Ballet Theatre on Wednesday and Thursday. Tickets are available for the 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. performances at the Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville. Learn more or purchase tickets online at www.ibtnw.org.

Holiday Farm Frenzy

For one day only, you can enjoy a discounted ticket to the whole Fair Oaks Farms adventure. Holiday Farm Frenzy offers a special $15 ticket on Saturday where you can also experience light displays, an a cappella performance, ice sculptures and more. Visit www.fofarms.com for details or call (877) 536-1194.

Santa Walk and Run

Crown Points Main Street will be flooded with holiday cheer as the Santa Walk and Run is underway at 9 a.m. Saturday. There will be cash prizes for best costumes, a DJ and games. The event starts and ends at St. Marys School at 405 E. Joliet, Crown Point. Register online at www.yourhometownevents.com.

Holiday Traditions Around the World

Bring the kids to Bellaboos to explore holiday traditions around the world. Activities include a build-a-Menorah, chug through a Christmas Village and create a Kinara among others. The holiday festivities will continue through Dec. 18 at Bellaboos Play and Discovery Center in Lake Station. Visit www.mybellaboos.com for details and pricing information.
The East Chicago Housing Authority built the West Calumet Housing Complex in the early 1970s with little fanfare, as the authoritys director quietly took more than $100,000 in kickbacks for helping to steer various contracts related to the project to friends and associates, the director later testified.

One of the alleged bribes was for the demolition of a shuttered lead factory at the site, but its unclear from the many documents The Times reviewed whether former East Chicago Housing Authority Executive Director Benjamin Lesniak Jr. and other officials understood the health risks associated with the project.

What is clear is that city officials needed to build more public housing to keep millions of dollars in federal urban renewal money flowing into East Chicago, and industrial sites were not off limits.

Data released last summer showing lead concentrations of up to 237 times the Environmental Protection Agencys allowable limit for residential use in the soil at the complex have raised serious questions about why the complex was built at all on the former Anaconda factory site at East 151st Street and McCook Avenue. More than 1,000 residents at the complex, including some 680 children, have been ordered to relocate.

The future also remains uncertain for the hundreds of residents who own homes in the middle and eastern parts of the Calumet neighborhood, many of whom face health problems and the possibility of falling property values.

The EPA last summer began a cleanup in those sections of the neighborhood, which were built in the shadow of industries that started operations as long as 100 years ago.

$126,000 in bribes alleged

John B. Nicosia ranked urban renewal among his top priorities during his 1963 campaign for mayor, but by 1969  after criticizing the slow pace of redevelopment  his administration ended a 15-year relationship with a nonprofit foundation established to oversee the program.

The nonprofit Purdue-Calumet Development Foundation continued working on housing plans after the split, but the city charted a new course.

Part of that course, with regard to construction of public housing, was fraught with corruption, Lesniak testified at the 1976 trial of West Calumet Housing Complex builders Lawrence Bursten and Solomon Seidel.

Lesniak first discussed specific payoff amounts for the West Calumet Housing Complex contract with the East Chicago Development Corp. in December 1969. Bursten was a partner in the company at the time, and Seidel became a partner in 1970, records show.

Lesniak testified that Nicosia in December 1969 arranged for a $60,000 kickback from the builders, and asked Lesniak to act as a conduit for the payoff. Nicosia met the builders through a Milwaukee businessman involved in urban renewal.

After discussing the $60,000 payoff with then-City Attorney Jay Given, Lesniak and Given agreed Lesniak should go back to the builders to ask for an additional $40,000, according to a trial transcript. Given urged Lesniak to seek the additional money, because Given feared Nicosia wouldnt give him his fair share of the $60,000 payoff, Lesniak testified.

The builders paid $20,000 of the agreed-on $100,000 payoff in cash in May 1970, a month before the East Chicago Housing Authority, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and East Chicago Development Corp. signed a contract for the West Calumet project, Lesniak alleged. Construction began that fall.

Lesniak testified he divided $8,000 from that first payment between himself and Given, and gave the remaining $12,000  $4,000 each for himself, then-City Controller Robert Pastrick and Given  to an associate to start a travel agency called Travel Associates. Lesniak said Given and Pastrick knew it was bribe money.

Nicosia, Given and Pastrick all took the stand and said they neither discussed soliciting bribes with Lesniak, nor took any money from him. Given admitted he owned 50 percent of Travel Associates, and Pastrick admitted he initially was listed as an officer of the company. Both denied taking any money out of the business.

Lesniak said he received the rest of the $100,000 cash bribe in seven more payments, and went back to Bursten and Seidel two more times in 1971 to secure another $26,000 in kickbacks for himself.

He also testified he took a $5,000 bribe on behalf of himself and Given for steering a contract to demolish the abandoned factory buildings at the West Calumet site.

Jack Slaboski, one of the owners of Industrial Development Corp., told the jury he didnt pay Lesniak bribes for the demolition contract. However, Slaboski did offer a description of the site.

Our contract read we were to demolish everything that was visible, and as fate would have it, we were digging through and we came across, in the dirt, we came across a stone slab that was 6 feet deep, I dont know how big around, 20 feet across, it ran 200 feet in one direction.

It was an old lead plant, somebody said , he continued, before U.S. District Judge Allen Sharp cut him off by saying, Whoa. Whoa. Lets get on with the lawsuit.

Housing plans speed up

The site of the West Calumet Complex had been eyed for public housing perhaps as early as 1963, Nicosias first year in office, according to Purdue-Calumet Development Foundation records.

In addition to Indiana Harbor, the foundation had set its sights on eliminating blight in West Calumet and planned about 50 units of nonprofit or public housing at the site of the old Garfield School, according to the foundations annual reports. A fire in 1959 destroyed Garfield School, and the city anticipated counting the cost of the new Carrie Gosch School, three blocks to the west, toward its required one-third share of urban renewal funding for the neighborhood.

The foundation's 1963 report said, The development of the (Garfield School) site and that of a substantially vacant area in the southwest corner of the project will provide adequate relocation resources in advance of displacement of families in the rest of the neighborhood.

Nicosia appointed Lesniak executive director of the newly formed East Chicago Housing Authority in March 1965. The following month, then-City Controller Pastrick told the Chicago Tribune the city planned to speed up urban renewal in the Harbor and begin construction of public housing.

The citys first relocation site  the Cal-View Apartments  became tied up in court, delaying the Harbor project. Nicosia told the Chicago Tribune in April 1965 that urban renewal in West Calumet would be more organized than the Harbor project, because he didnt want another battlefield.

In 1966, questions arose about a possible conflict of interest as Lesniak sought re-election to a third two-year term in the Indiana House of Representatives, while also acting as housing authority director.

Latin-American and African-American leaders contended Lesniak was violating federal law by holding both posts, and Republicans pushed for an investigation, according to several 1966 Hammond Times stories.

Lesniak told a Times reporter he had legal opinions saying he could hold both posts but would give up his $10,000 salary as housing authority director.

Lesniak was seated in the House that year after the states attorney general issued an opinion concluding the duality was not illegal.

Industrial sites targeted

In October 1966, Lesniak revealed to the Chicago Tribune the citys apparent mindset on public housing.

East Chicago needed to build more public housing because of relocation problems caused by urban renewal in the Harbor, but land was scarce, he told the newspaper. He said the city could either tear down existing structures, leading to the displacement of even more people, or build public housing in vacant areas which are surrounded by industries, and undesirable residential areas.

Many of the public housing occupants probably would be African-American or of Latin-American descent, because the public housing projects are being built in areas which are predominantly Negro and Latin, he told the paper.

During the builders 1976 trial, FBI agent Dean R. Crabbs testified on cross-examination that Lesniak at one point told him the developers of the West Calumet Housing Complex initially decided to take an option on 15 acres of land owned by the Sinclair Refinery on Columbus Drive, just west of Roosevelt High School. That site was zoned single-family residential in late 1969, according to the trial transcript.

Lesniak told Crabbs that Nicosia  a medical doctor  became upset after learning the builders selected the Sinclair site and instead arranged for them to take an option on the West Calumet property, which was owned by Blaw-Knox Co. at the time, Crabbs testified.

The builders option on the West Calumet site was about to run out in early 1970 when HUD pulled the plug on a plan for 600 units, and the East Chicago Housing Authority ended up buying the property to keep the project moving, records show. HUD quickly approved a new plan for 346 units, according to trial testimony.

On the take

Because of the need for more public housing, Lesniak oversaw several of the citys major projects before resigning from the ECHA in 1973.

Lesniak pleaded guilty in 1975 to charges alleging he first conspired in July 1969 to take bribes from John Telander, whose company built the Nicosia Senior Building, 4720 Railroad Ave. The 10-story building sits on the site of one of East Chicago's first industries, the former Famous Manufacturing plant.

In exchange for the plea deal in the 1975 case against him, Lesniak agreed to testify against the builders in the 1976 West Calumet bribery case.

Besides taking kickbacks for the construction and demolition contracts, Lesniak testified he took money from several people permitted by East Chicago Development Corp. to salvage scrap iron and copper from the abandoned factory buildings. Lesniak told federal investigators he received $5,000 from salvagers and took a prefabricated metal building from the site.

He pleaded guilty to a tax fraud charge in the 1975 Telander case alleging, in part, that he failed to report on his 1971 tax return income from the sale of a portable office building in the form of a short-term capital gain in the amount of $1,405, records show.

In addition to the $100,000 cash bribe for the construction contract, Lesniak testified he received the $26,000 he later solicited for himself in checks, which he funneled through several unindicted co-conspirators.

Federal prosecutors presented evidence of the checks at trial, along with two lists  one written by Bursten and another with Seidels fingerprints on it  showing dates and payoff amounts.

Bursten and Seidel testified their signatures appeared on checks because they merely were loaning Lesniak money, but a jury didnt buy their story and convicted them in May 1976. They were released from prison in 1978.

Lack of hard evidence?

The government presented no written evidence, such as the Bursten and Seidel lists, related to the alleged cash payoffs shared with Nicosia, Pastrick and Given.

John Leonardo, who tried the case as an assistant U.S. attorney and now serves as the U.S. attorney for Arizona, said Nov. 28 he couldnt recall details about the 30-year-old case. When asked why Nicosia, Given and Pastrick were never indicted in connection with the West Calumet case, Leonardo said it could have been that the government didnt think it had enough evidence to win convictions.

Lesniak served a short prison sentence in the Telander case, and his whereabouts have remained unknown since he entered the witness protection program after pleading guilty in 1975. Some in political circles said he died several years ago. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service, which oversees the federal program, declined to comment on Lesniak's status.

Though federal prosecutors never charged Given, the controversial attorney at one point faced the loss of his law license in part because of Lesniaks testimony in the West Calumet case, Indiana Supreme Court records show. After Lesniak twice failed to show up for Givens disciplinary hearings in 1980, two of the three counts against Given were dropped.

Given was shot to death in 1981 at a political fundraiser in East Chicago; at the time, he was fighting a recommendation for a public or private reprimand related to advice he gave to a Sanitary District director convicted in 1977 in an illegal political gift-buying scheme, records show.

No charges were ever filed in Given's murder, despite a lengthy investigation.

A federal judge ordered Nicosia to prison after his 1979 conviction on perjury and tax charges related to a different kickback scheme, but he died before serving time.

East Chicago voters first elected Pastrick mayor in 1971. He never faced criminal charges in the West Calumet case, nor any case. His administration in 1999 spent more than $24 million to pour new concrete sidewalks, driveways and patios to curry favor with voters; six city officials later were convicted in the sidewalks-for-votes scandal.
HIGHLAND  A Highland police officer was seriously injured after a head-on collision early Saturday, according to a department spokesman.

Officer John Swisher, who has been with the Highland Police Department for more than 10 years, was northbound responding to a call in the 9100 block of Kennedy Avenue when the crash occurred, Highland Police Cmdr. George Georgeff said Saturday.

The crash occurred at 12:57 a.m. Two witnesses told police they saw a driver head southbound and cross over left of center before striking Swisher's squad car head on, Georgeff said.

Swisher, also formerly with the Lowell Police Department, was airlifted to Loyola University Hospital in Maywood.

Georgeff said Saturday night that Swisher was in stable condition. His family is with him at the hospital, he said.

"I know everyone (at the department) feels real bad. We're just saying our prayers. It was bad, but we're just glad it wasn't worse," Georgeff said.

Highland firefighters had to extricate Swisher from the vehicle, he said, which took "quiet a while." The other driver was also transported to an area hospital with injuries, but other information, including the driver's name and condition, was not immediately available Saturday.

The Lake County Sheriff's Department is investigating the cause, spokesman Mark Back said.

A Facebook post from the Highland Police Department about Swisher had been shared nearly 600 times as of 6 p.m. Saturday.

"We would like to send our thoughts and prayers out to Highland Police Officer John Swisher who was involved in a severe car crash while working," the post read. "Thank you for all the well wishes that have already come in. Please continue to keep John and his family in your thoughts and prayers."

Georgeff confirmed the authenticity of the Facebook post.
HAMMOND Dr. Ralph Mueller, provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs at Purdue University Northwest, told the hundreds of graduates before him Saturday that he hopes the university prepared them for life beyond campus.

You came ready to learn about thinking, about listening, about speaking and about doing. But also you were ready to explore others points of view and others way of life, Mueller said. You prepared well for the day when youre ready to leave your mark.

Mueller told future doctors, teachers, engineers and others that with dedication and innovation, they can make an impact on the world.

One child, one patient, one colleague and one neighbor at a time, Mueller said.

Two ceremonies, one Saturday morning and the other in the afternoon, at the Hammond campus's Fitness & Recreation Center were among three weekend ceremonies honoring 990 fall graduates  including 174 from the Westville campus and 816 from the Hammond campus. Of the 990, more than 600 participated in the ceremonies over the weekend.

Two-term Indiana state Rep. Christina Hale, a Purdue alumna, served as keynote speaker at all three ceremonies.

Minutes into her speech, Hale gave the graduating class a homework assignment for the weekend.

It doesnt have to be a novel. Just write yourself a letter, capture the feelings of this day. Write down your goals. Write down whats in your heart, Hale said.

Then, she said, give the letter to someone trustworthy so they can mail it back to you a year from now.

Youre going to need to remember to reset and restart. And when you read your own words, thats going to help you do just those things. To recharge, Hale said.

Hale reflected on her time as a Purdue college student.

"Here I was, a single mom from Michigan City who went to (Purdue). I hustled. I was a waitress. I did a number of jobs to put myself through, to make that car payment, to pay for my books," she said. "We hustle here, don't we?"

Life isn't just about the successes, she said. It's also about failing, she said.

Hale explained how she ran for Indiana lieutenant governor this past election but was defeated alongside running mate, Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg. She told graduates to expect failure, but to learn from it.

"Sometimes you're going to hit that bump in the road yourself," she said. "The next time you stumble, I want to write a letter of gratitude to someone who has helped you along the way."

It was yet another homework assignment, but one these graduates could handle.

"I am in a room of motivated, amazing people and it feels so good to be here with you. I am so proud of each and every one of you," she said.

This fall semester was the first as Purdue University Northwest, which formed by combining the Purdue campuses near Westville and in Hammond. Between the two campuses, there were 83 master's degree recipients, 894 bachelor's degree recipients, and 14 who received associate degrees.
Two 5-gallon popcorn tins chock full of memories and what Cathi Lloyd, of St. John, calls ancient objects wait to be opened in 2066 during Indianas 250th anniversary by members of the Lloyd family.

Ive been collecting things to put in the tins for awhile. Its been fun, although it was difficult to find the larger popcorn tins, said the owner of St. John-based Decorating Den Interiors about the Indiana Bicentennial time capsule promoted by The Times Media Co., and the South Shore Convention & Visitors Authority.

Special stickers available from The Times seal the contents of the Lloyds time capsules.

Cathi and Rick Lloyds two children each will receive one of the time capsules for Christmas. Chris Lloyd, 31, lives in Crown Point, while the couples 36-year old married daughter, Nicole Beat, resides in Sylvania, Ohio, with her husband and two young sons.

Nathaniel Beat was born this fall joining big brother, Alexander, who turns 4 on Dec. 21.

Imagine. Alexander will be 54 when they open this time capsule! Cathi Lloyd exclaimed.

She also included a bulletin from Crown Point First United Methodist Church that announced Nathaniels birth.

Each time capsule includes photos of the house and the first issue of Shore Magazine published by The Times from the winter of 2005-2006 that featured an article about the Lloyds St. John home. Cathi Lloyd also tucked in tickets from the 20th annual Tri-Kappa House Walk in 2016 that showcased the Lloyds house.

We hope in 50 years our grandchildren will remember coming to Grammys and Granddads house, she said.

Those who open the time capsules also will find family photos including pictures from the 80th birthday party for Cathi Lloyds mother.

Ive included recipes my kids liked when they were growing up, she said.

Rick is into electronics, and hes included a Kindle. We dont know if that will still be used in 50 years, she said. My husband is adding a commemorative space coin from a flight that Jerry Ross was on in December 1998.

Each tin also contains a 2016 paper Decorating Den calendar and the pages from The Times about the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series and the 2016 election.

I just came back from the furniture market in High Point, North Carolina, and am including information about the mid-Century modern furniture thats making a comeback, Cathi Lloyd said.

Its a sleek look from the late 1950s and early 1960s, she said. I wonder if it will be popular in 2066.
CALUMET CITY  The status of a lawsuit filed by 3rd Ward Alderman Thaddeus Jones against five of his fellow aldermen and Mayor Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush was the main topic at Thursday's City Council meeting.

City Attorney Burton Odelson told the council that on Sept. 16 Jones filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois that asked for an emergency hearing regarding violations of his civil rights.

"The federal district court denied the emergency motion," Odelson said.

The motion sought to remove a term limits referendum put on last month's ballot by the City Council.

That referendum, which Odelson said passed with approximately 66 percent of the vote, disqualifies anyone who has served four consecutive terms as mayor or alderman from running for the office of mayor.

That would prevent Jones from challenging Qualkinbush, who was not present at Thursday's meeting, in next year's mayoral election.

Odelson said Jones appealed the denial by the U.S. District Court and the matter then went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Odelson said that court denied the emergency appeal and affirmed the district court's denial of the preliminary injunction.

Odelson said that in total there have been five motions filed by Jones that have been denied in various courts, including three after the Nov. 8 election.

"This case, I can tell you, is costing the city a few dollars to defend the aldermen, the mayor, the clerk and the city itself," Odelson said. "And every attempt at trying to stop the referendum, even after the people passed the referendum, has failed."

Nick Manousopoulos, the 6th Ward alderman, asked how much the case has cost the city so far and what the expected overall amount is in legal fees.

Odelson estimated $30,000 to $35,000 had been spent already and figured the end total would end up at $50,000 or $60,000 after all complaints are answered.

"I think this council ought to strongly consider suing Thaddeus Jones for the monies expended on this case," Manousopoulos said.

Jones said the expenditure of legal fees regarding the matter has not yet been approved by the council and he believes $300,000 in city funds has already been spent "to keep me off the ballot for mayor of Calumet City."

"If you FOIA his bills, I guarantee you they're not $30,000," Jones said.

Odelson spoke of an email sent out by Jones seeking donations to his campaign with a claim that he won and will be on the ballot for mayor.

Jones said the language regarding winning was in regards to his opposition's contention that he couldn't file for the office of mayor.

"The federal judge told them they had to accept my petitions for filing for mayor of Calumet City," Jones said.

Jones said he will continue to challenge what he called "the illegal ordinance" approved by the council.

He said the Seventh Circuit Court did not deny his motion due to lack of a strong argument, but rather because the voters had not decided on the matter yet at that time.

Odelson also brought to the council's attention an email he said he received earlier in the day from attorney Ross Secler.

Odelson said a complaint was filed with the State Board of Elections regarding an allegation that Jones violated the Campaign Disclosure Act.

"I'm sure you wrote it," Jones told Odelson.

Odelson said he had not seen the complaint until he received the email and that a first hearing on the matter would likely be held next week.

In other city news, City Treasurer Gerald Tarka said his office is holding a Socks for Vets collection in conjunction with the Calumet City Cavaliers.

He said the campaign will run through Dec. 20 and will benefit residents at the Hines Veterans Hospital.

New, unused socks can be dropped off at: BMO Harris Bank (530 Torrence Ave.), MB Financial Bank (925 Burnham Ave.), VFW Post No. 8141 (664 Hirsch St.) or at the treasurer's office (204 Pulaski Road).
CEDAR LAKE  State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron, went back to the classroom in celebration of National Education Week as part of the Educator for a Day program at Jane Ball Elementary School.

Aylesworth began his visit to Jane Ball by meeting with teachers and Principal Deborah Snedden before classes began.

Our teachers asked some tough questions, Snedden said. He didnt lie to them. He said he is all about choice (between public and charter schools), noting that Aylesworth did speak to the differences between rural and suburban school districts and inner city districts.

Snedden was adamant that funding for professional development is one of her top priorities and had the opportunity to share that with Aylesworth.

Third-grade teacher Cynthia Zyzanski, who is president of Hanover Organization of Professional Educators was pleased to have the representative in her classroom.

He helped students analyze what they were reading, said Zyzanski. Aylesworth also spent some time observing student instruction by Jane Balls RTI-Title 1 staff.

He was pleased to have the opportunity to get into the classroom and talk to people on the staff face to face, Zyzanski said. He wanted to get into the classroom to see what teachers do, see what kids are like and see the challenges we face."

"I was impressed that he wanted to reach out to us and see what our day is really like, Snedden added. It wasnt just lip service.

As a former teacher, it was a great opportunity to spend the day in the classroom working with students and educators, Aylesworth said. Being able to see firsthand all that goes into preparing the next generation of Hoosier leaders is invaluable. Students in Northwest Indiana continue to be well-served by the dedicated faculty and staffs in our local schools."
HAMMOND  Bishop Noll Thespian Troupe 3873 competed at the Bethel College Regional competition on Nov. 19. The all-senior cast and crew brought the original play A Lupita Brown Thanksgiving to the competition.

Although Troupe 3873 did not move on to state competition, two actors received special recognition for their acting talents. Tianna Orr, of Hammond, was named by the Indiana State Troupe Officers as Bishop Nolls All Star Performer. Amelia Chavez, who played the title role of Lupita, was named Best Supporting Actress in the regional.

Chavez, of Chicagos East Side neighborhood, joins a select group of actors in Indiana, as only six students in the entire state can say they have this award.

There are six regionals in the state. Six schools compete at each regional, and the top two in each regional move on to the state competition in January. Individual awards are also given at each regional. Each school has 40 minutes to set up their set, perform and break down their set.
Hammond Police Department officers decided to start a charity drive last year in an effort to help at-risk kids in the city. It was simple enough: volunteer officers would stand at major intersections in uniform and collect donations from motorists.

The response was overwhelming, in the generosity shown, and the communication between residents and the police during the drive was positive and reminded us that most people do respect us, and warmed our hearts, as we were encouraged with good words as the donations poured in.

The donations went to the East Side Community Council in Hammond. This organization mentors and helps at-risk teens reach personal and professional goals to give them a successful future.

In its second year, Capt. Jeff Long and Assistant Chief Andy Short gathered up another group of volunteers and hit the streets. We were using buckets to collect but coined the phrase, Pass The Hat, comparing it to the firemans boot drive, as police officers wear hats.

This year we well exceeded donations from 2015 and collected more than $38,000 in four days. The donations were presented to several Hammond organizations that have a direct impact on at-risk persons within our community. Benefiting from the donations is the ESCC, Haven House, and the Hammond Fraternal Order of Police.

Haven House gives sanctuary to victims of domestic abuse and has long been a partner of the Hammond Police Department.

The Hammond FOP has a food drive each year and provides meals over the holiday to families who would otherwise do without. The FOP will be providing meals for 85 families.

I want to thank the community for being so generous and making these donations possible. I would also like to thank all the officers who volunteered their time to this noble endeavor. It is this type of cooperation and outreach that bridges the gap between police officers and the communities we serve.

Again, I cannot express enough how the kind words the officers received truly remind us that we are supported and respected by the vast majority of the public we serve. We will continue to work hard in every area to win over more of that small percentage we are not yet connected with.

Thank you,

Chief John Doughty

Hammond Police department
PORTER  As tradition tells it, they saw her across Swedens Lake Vanern, in a white gown, with a crown of candles around her head, as she brought food and drink to the starving in a time of famine.

Santa Lucia, or St. Lucy, was an Italian Christian martyr who was put to death in 304 A.D. for giving aid to the poor. For her bravery and honor, Scandinavian countries adopted her as a patron saint and celebrate St. Lucys day on the day of her death, Dec. 13.

Following tradition, fans of Scandinavian culture celebrated Santa Lucia on Saturday at Holiday Traditions in the Dunes at Chellberg Farm in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Depicting the Chellbergs, who were part of the dunes Swedish community from 1869-1972, volunteers dressed in period Scandinavian garb, while children visited with Jul Tomte  Santa Claus  and admired a Swedish smorgasbord on display in the farmhouse kitchen.

Nearly two dozen Swedish foods, including inglad sill (pickled herring), leverpastej (liver paste) and pepparkakor (Swedish gingersnap cookies), lined the farmhouse table as an example of a Jul bord, or Christmas table, that a family would enjoy on Christmas Eve.

Present-day families gathered in the farmhouse sitting room to listen to Marilyn Arvidson, a park volunteer and event coordinator, tell the story of Lucia, who was to marry a Roman soldier, yet gave her dowry to the poor and hungry. The soldier turned his betrothed over to the authorities, and Lucia became a martyr.

Lucias holiday is still celebrated in Swedish schools, churches, and homes with a procession during which a daughter, dressed as Lucia, carries a tray of food and drink and serves the adults in the household.

Lydia Hutchins, of Chesterton, portrayed Lucia as she walked through the farmhouse and served cookies and coffee to Papa in bed, portrayed by Arthur Studebaker, a Chellberg descendant.

Across the woods at the Bailly Homestead, volunteers explained French-Canadian holiday customs practiced in story and song by early settler Joseph Bailly and his family, including a taste of a Christmas Yule Log cake and hot apple cider.

Cindy and Tom Kozak, of Tinley Park, Illinois, admired the smorgasbord in the Chellberg farmhouse kitchen.

Tom Kozak said the couple, now retired, started coming to programs at the dunes a few months ago, and have been pleasantly surprised by the numerous hikes, presentations and events.

Were trying to figure out where we want to live when we grow up, said Tom Kozak. Weve met some really great people here.

Kozak and his wife had a particular interest in the recreation of the Swedish holiday, as Cindy Kozak is half Swedish.

Thats why we came, Kozak said.

Lucia, said Arvidson, means light.

Her name stands for light and hope for all mankind, Arvidson said.
VALPARAISO  Jaden Robinson, 15 months, sat wide-eyed in the drivers seat of a monster truck Saturday.

Jaden was one of hundreds of kids for whom Christmas came a bit early this year as they burst with excitement at the chance to honk horns and run the sirens on heavy equipment, buses and firetrucks at Central Park Plaza for Touch-A-Truck, a fundraiser for Toys for Tots.

The event, sponsored by Valpo Parks, was the sixth annual opportunity for kids and their families to check out and actually sit in large, noisy big rigs while donating a toy for kids less fortunate.

Kids climbed aboard and explored vehicles from 18 agencies, including a Valparaiso Police Department squad car, a Valparaiso Fire Department engine, a tow truck from Sandberg Towing, a Porter County Sheriffs Department motorcycle, an Army Jeep provided by the American Legion, and Valpo V-Line and Chicago Dash buses.

Kids dropped new toys in boxes set up by the Marine Corps Leagues Dunes Leathernecks group that collects toys for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves Toys for Tots program in Porter County.

If it wasnt for the city and the Valpo parks department, there wouldnt be a Touch-A-Truck, said Joe Baczynski, of the Dunes Leathernecks.

Helene Pierce, coordinator of the event for Valpo Parks, said it is the parks departments way of giving back to the community.

Its a fun thing for people to do, Pierce said. Its good to see the kids interacting positively with the police and other first responders.

Jim Atkinson, another Leatherneck, said the group expected to collect at least 600 toys, part of the nearly 5,000 that the group hopes to distribute Saturday at the Porter County Expo Center. Atkinson said 2,600 children from 800 families across Porter, Jasper, and Stark counties will benefit from toy donations from the community.

Were doing about 15 percent better this year, said Atkinson, of the toy collection effort. Donations are coming in well.

Kids also visited with Santa Claus and warmed up with hot cocoa and cookies at Touch-A-Truck.

Kriti Katakam, 2, was one of many little ones who dropped a new toy in one of the boxes with her father, Kalyan Katakam, of Valparaiso.

"I'm a pediatrician, and I see a lot of kids who are less fortunate," said Katakam. "My wife and I thought this would be a good way to give back."
MICHIGAN CITY  More reported accidents involving South Shore trains have happened here than any other city between Chicago and South Bend for the past three years.

The latest was early Wednesday morning when Crystal Greene, 37, of Michigan City, drove into the path of a commuter train on Pleasant Avenue at Holiday Street. Greene died a short time later at Franciscan Health in Michigan City.

The accident was just one block away from a fatal accident that occurred in 2015 in the residential area east of downtown Michigan City and near the South Shore rail yard.

Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Police Chief Bob Byrd said many of the accidents, however, occur along 10th and 11th streets in the city's downtown area where a single track still runs down the middle of the street.

In 2014, the South Shore recorded three accidents, with two on 11th Street in Michigan City. The third was in Hammond.

In 2015, the commuter rail line had seven accidents, Byrd said. Four accidents, including a fatal accident, were reported in Michigan City. The others were reported at the state line in Hammond, and in Portage and Ogden Dunes.

So far, in 2016, there have been just two accidents  a suicide in The Pines and last week's accident on Pleasant Avenue, Byrd said.

Byrd said the accidents on 10th and 11th Streets often occur when a driver is startled when they realize a train is approaching from ahead or behind.

He said drivers can become complacent when they often drive near railroad tracks.

"They might panic or make an error in judgment in what type of evasive action to take," Byrd said.

He said drivers need to assume a train is coming any time they approach a rail crossing.

"Drivers have a duty to operate their vehicles in a safe manner, but particularly in the area of a rail crossing," he said.

He said education, enforcement and engineering are the keys to reducing the number of accidents.

Operation Lifesaver, a safety program associated with the Federal Railroad Association, has volunteers speak with students in drivers ed classes, Byrd said. It also maintains Web pages and social media regarding railroad safety.

His department can talk to school bus drivers and take part in traffic enforcement blitzes to remind drivers about the laws.

But engineering, finding ways to eliminate accidents, does the greatest good, Byrd said.

Among the biggest efforts is the Double Track NWI project proposed for Michigan City, which will move some rail lines and close off several of the street and alleyway train crossings.

NICTD officials expect to submit the double tracking engineering project to the Federal Transportation Administration by late summer for funding consideration. The goal is to begin construction in 2018 and be done by 2020. The estimated cost of the project is between $265 million to $275 million.

But Michigan City is not alone in terms of train accidents in the Region.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, the entire region ranks high in the number of train accidents compared to the rest of the state.

Since 2014, there have been 52 accidents in Lake County, three in Porter and eight in LaPorte County.

Hendricks County, just west of Indianapolis, reported 49, and Elkhart County had 22 in that same time period, according to the FRA.

Many of those accidents also led to injuries and fatalities.

The FRA reported a high number of casualties, which it defines as injuries and fatalities, in Northwest Indiana with 107 in Lake, 45 in LaPorte and 14 in Porter County since 2014.

Jessica Feder, executive director for Operation Lifesaver Indiana, said the high number of accidents in Lake County is the combination of a high concentration of rail lines and more vehicular traffic than other parts of the state.

She said Lake County accounts for about 40 percent of the rail accidents in the state each year.

She said Operation Lifesaver works with local and state police in the Region several times each year with enforcement blitzes. The latest was in September.

Many of the offenders are hazmat vehicles, she said. Of the 60 vehicles stopped during the September blitz, seven vehicles were carrying hazardous materials and were put out of service by the state police.

Feder said about 67 percent of the train accidents in Indiana occur at crossings with some type of lights or gates.

"They're warning devices, not protective devices," Feder said.

She said drivers often are not paying attention or try to beat the train.

Operation Lifesaver has organizations in all 50 states and is funded by the Federal Railroad Administration and private donations.
A 16-year-old boy from Valparaiso was killed and another was injured Saturday night in a one-vehicle crash on County Road 600 West just north of Division Road in rural Union Township, police said.

Rafael Bonilla was pronounced dead at the scene, said Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris. Bonilla died of blunt force trauma.

Bonilla was a passenger in a 2014 Jeep Wrangler that was heading north on County Road 600 West. The Jeep was traveling at a high speed when the driver, also a 16-year-old boy from Valparaiso, lost control and drove off the road to the east and struck a tree, according to a news release from the Porter County Sheriff's Department.

Police arrived to the scene at 6:08 p.m. and found the driver talking and conscious and complaining of a pain to his head. Bonilla had been killed on impact. Both driver and Bonilla were wearing seat belts, police said.

The driver was taken to Porter Regional Hospital for his injuries. Neither drugs nor alcohol are believed to be a factor in the crash.

Harris said the snowy weather along with the driver's inexperience were factors in the crash.

Indiana State Police, Union Township Fire Department, Porter EMS, Porter County Central Communications, Porter County deputy coroner, the Porter County Highway Department and TABZ Towing assisted.
UNION TOWNSHIP  The Salt Creek Commons community is stepping up to offer help to two families displaced Thursday afternoon by fires.

A fire in the 400 block of Sturgeon Road was called in about 2 p.m. and killed Barbara Conrick, 64. She called 911 to report the fire, but was unable to get out of the house she shared with her son and his fiancee.

The fire destroyed her home and spread to the one next door, badly damaging the home of the Pilla family.

Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris said Barbara Conrick died of smoke inhalation. The manner of death has not been determined.

The cause of the fire has been ruled "undetermined," Union Fire Rescue Chief Tim Beach said.

The state fire marshal and the Porter County Fire Investigation Strike Team, along with the Indiana State Police and the Porter County Sheriff's Department, investigated.

Beach said Conrick apparently had suffered from some type of health condition that limited her mobility, but did not know the details of her health.

The Rev. David Benning of Wheeler United Methodist Church said Conrick was a member of his congregation. He said she had been attending regularly until about six to nine months ago and said he believes she had been ill.

"She was a sweet lady and knew her Bible well," Benning said. "We learned a lot from her."

Benning said Conrick had an artistic flair and often helped with projects around the church.

Neighbors and friends have stepped up to help both families who lost all their belongings.

Gofundme accounts have been established for each family, and the public is invited to donate clothes, household items and gift cards to both.

Heather Aydelotte Szakacs grew up just down the street from the Conrick family and knows them well.

She said Barbara Conrick's son Duane and his fiancee, Brandie, recently moved in with her because she was having health issues.

"She was a sweet lady," Aydelotte Szakacs said.

She said nothing was able to be salvaged from their home and the survivors immediately need clothes and toiletry items, but other donations would be accepted.

For those who do not want to donate online, the Conrick Family Benefit Account has been established at Horizon Bank, Aydelotte Szakacs said. Funds will go directly to the family to help offset funeral expenses and to purchase household items that were destroyed in the fire, she said.

Samantha Bailey is heading up efforts to help the Pilla family, whose home next door was badly damaged and is not livable.

Bailey said the family of four has only the clothes they were wearing, so clothes and Walmart gift cards would be welcome donations.

Anyone wishing to donate items is asked to take the items to Wheeler United Methodist Church, 305 North St., in Wheeler, Benning said. He said clothing, food and gift cards will be collected. No cash will be accepted at the church.

If the church is not open, donors are asked to call Patti Stout at (219) 508-2259, to arrange a time to drop them off.
VALPARAISO  The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana will hold a holiday food distribution to provide additional food assistance to families in need during December. Distributions are sponsored by NIPSCO, and will take place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Christ Lutheran Church in Valparaiso.

In addition to providing nutritious meals to people in need this season, the Hope for the Holidays campaign aims to activate the community around hunger in Northwest Indiana. More than 150 community and corporate volunteers will donate their time to help hand out meals to those receiving assistance. The food distribution was made possible by a $10,000 sponsorship from NIPSCO.

"From employee volunteerism to charitable giving, NIPSCO is proud of the longtime partnership with the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana in support of the fight against hunger," said Violet Sistovaris, executive vice president of NiSource and president of NIPSCO.

Items to be handed out will include proteins, grains, produce and other nonperishable meals. Distribution begins at 9 a.m. and individuals will receive assistance on a first come, first served basis. Residents need to bring proof of residency and are encouraged to bring their own bags and boxes to carry their items. Visit foodbanknwi.org/hope for more information on Hope for the Holidays, including dates, times and exact locations.
Anytime the Region comes together for an initiative, it should be celebrated.

A great example of this has been happening online, as many law enforcement agencies have been participating in the Regional Crime Report, easily accessible at nwi.com/regionalcrimereport.

Crown Point became the latest to participate last week when its crime map went public.

In doing so, Crown Point joined Dyer, East Chicago, Gary, Griffith, Highland, Lake Station, LaPorte County, Michigan City, Munster, Portage, St. John, Schererville, Valparaiso and Whiting.

All of LaPorte County is involved in this award-winning initiative, while most of the agencies in Porter and Lake counties are involved.

The innovative mapping software was developed at Indiana University Northwest by Joseph Ferrandino, associate professor, about five years ago.

Participating agencies share data internally as part of the Northwest Indiana Public Data Consortium. All of the Regions law enforcement agencies are welcome to join at no charge.

Once involved, Ferrandino works with the agencies to bring their data into mapping.

Crown Point and 14 others have chosen to share with residents. The maps can be viewed by individuals or collectively by crime watch groups or city councils. Agencies involved decide how much public data will be on each map.

Most systems that police have had couldnt be shared, Ferrandino said last week. Now were able to share all of this information with the public.

We still have open enrollment, and its free. Its important for every agency to be involved, in a small way.

What are the most popular maps? The Gary, Michigan City, Valparaiso and Whiting maps attract the most visitors online to date, Ferrandino said.

The readers who access the maps, usually updated once a week, seem to appreciate them, and Ferrandino enjoys working on them.

I know a lot of people have mentioned it to me and said, Youre the guy who does the maps.

We invite you to check out the maps. They can be shared on social networks.

There still are a few holdouts, as youll see. If your city or town isnt involved, contact your municipal and police officials. Its their choice. And its free.

Thanks for reading us. Please contact me with any questions about The Times or our many publications.
Lake County Councilman Jamal Washington is operating within Indiana law in his refusal to resign from the political post after pleading guilty Thursday to battering his wife.

What he needs to do is operate within the realm of decency and vacate his post.

Washington's admitted actions are an untenable embarrassment for Lake County government and the constituency it represents.

We restate our call from a previous editorial. Washington should resign immediately.

His fellow council members, party leaders and members of the opposing party also should adopt a much harder line in their rhetoric and press Washington to vacate his post as well.

And the Indiana Legislature should consider drafting new laws  in the upcoming 2017 legislative session  enabling voters to recall elected leaders who've committed or been charged with egregious acts.

Months ago, we implored Washington to resign from his post as one of seven Lake County Council members who preside over county government's fiscal business.

He had just been charged with felony counts of battery and strangulation following a physical altercation with his wife and another woman who was living with the couple and happened to be a subordinate from his private place of business.

Washington, 43, chose to remain in the post, regularly assuring Times reporters he was innocent and that all would be taken care of.

On Thursday, rather than face trial, Washington finalized a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery and invasion of privacy.

He was sentenced to a year of probation, and the felony counts were dropped.

The misdemeanor plea, as opposed to the felony charges he had faced, means Washington can remain in his elected post under Indiana law.

But there's a higher standard here  one to which Washington's political peers, adversaries and taxpayers at large should be clamoring for adherence.

Washington stood in court and admitted to battering a woman.

By the greater code of human decency, he's no longer fit to preside over our government business.

He's no longer worthy to sit as an example to other youth of how an elected leader conducts himself.

Some of Washington's fellow council members  both Democrats and Republicans  have taken far too soft a stand on the matter.

Council members contacted by The Times Thursday essentially said he should be allowed to serve until the voters say otherwise.

"We all face our constituency at election time," Lake County Council President Ted Bilski said of Washington.

The problem is, voters can't really compel Washington to stay or leave office until he's up for re-election in 2018.

The Legislature should explore rectifying this situation by considering bills that would allow voters to recall candidates who lose their confidence.

Such a law could have vast applications in Northwest Indiana, where Lake County Sheriff John Buncich faces federal bribery charges, Portage Mayor James Snyder faces similar bribery charges and so many others have faced criminal charges for crimes against taxpayers. Citizens should have a mechanism for compelling resignations when accused or convicted government leaders refuse to do the right thing.

In the meantime, the phones at the Lake County Council office  (219) 755-3280  should be ringing with the voices of any residents who feel a councilman who's admitted to battering a woman should no longer hold the office.
One of The Times' guest columnists, Richard Berman, recently wrote that 99 percent of organized labor's advocacy funds go to the Democrats even though 43 percent of those in union households vote Republican.

Should any union funds go to the Republicans, the very people who are trying to banish unions? Most corporate political donations go to the Republicans even though about half of the stockholders and customers vote Democratic.
1881  Early Region land investor Jacob Forsythe sells 8,000 acres, including the Indiana Harbor and East Chicago areas, to Charles Beatty Alexander, who forms the East Chicago Improvement Co. and sells bonds to a group of British investors.

1883  East Chicago Improvement Co. defaults; Forsythe forecloses.

1887  "All East Chicago land claims are combined in the Calumet Canal and Improvement Co. and the Standard Steel and Iron Co., both headed by Civil War hero Gen. Joseph Thatcher Torrence."

1888  Graver Tank Works, the citys first industry, is established.

1892  Graselli Chemical Company is established. The site at the northeast corner of the Grand Calumet River and Ship Canal is later purchased by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.

1893  East Chicago becomes a city. The Panic of 1893 sets off the worst economic depression in U.S. history.

1901  Construction begins on a harbor, ship canal, the Inland Steel mill and Twin City, now know as the Indiana Harbor section of East Chicago. The population in the Harbor almost quintupled in the next 10 years.

1903  The East Chicago Co. takes direct control of residential and city planning.

1906  Charles Hotchkiss opens the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. Carl A. Westberg, of the East Chicago Co., begins extending the canals south leg two miles from the fork. The canal was completed in 1910. The developments help to bring in many new industries.

Circa 1906  Delamar Copper Refinery Co. begins construction on majority of buildings that would later come to be known as USS Lead at 5300 Kennedy Ave. The facility operated as a copper smelter until 1920, when it was converted into a lead smelter.

1910  Baldwin Locomotive announces plans to build a plant in East Chicago, setting off a scramble for land. Baldwin buys 375 acres in Calumet-Kennedy Land Co. subdivision, now known as East Calumet. Baldwin later decided not to build.

1910  Manufacture of lead arsenate insecticide begins at the future DuPont East Chicago facility. Production continued until 1949.

1911  East Chicago Co. sells to International Smelting and Refining Co. the 64 acres where the West Calumet Housing Complex and Carrie Gosch Elementary School would later be built. International was a subsidiary of the Anaconda Copper Co. The property was divided into two parts in the 1940s, with lead processing continuing on the southern part.

April 16, 1912  Ground is broken for the International Lead Refining plant. The plant opened six months later. It produced common lead, corroding lead, antimonial lead, and Dore bullion, records show.

Dec. 13, 1912  An ad in the Hammond Times says Anaconda has three subsidiaries in East Chicago, including the International Lead Refining, Anaconda Zinc Oxide and Anaconda White Lead plants.

April 17, 1912  An ad in the Hammond Times says work on the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal is continuing. The outer harbor and canal were constructed by the East Chicago Co. and other property owners.

1914  Anaconda Copper Co. acquires International Smelting and Refining Co. and continues to operate it as a wholly owned subsidiary. The International Lead Refining company was dissolved in 1934, according to Federal Trade Commission records.

1914  African-Americans begin arriving in the Harbor to work at Inland. Mexicans arrived after World War I, creating the densest population of Mexicans in the United States.

1919  A steel strike leads to racial tensions between white European immigrants and blacks and Mexicans who replaced them in the mill.

1920  The Delamar Copper Refinery Co. property was purchased by U.S. Smelting Refinery and Mining and later by USS Lead.

1920s  The city sees a housing boom, which required hauling in and resurfacing the entire area with black dirt and fertilizing trees so they would take root under the sand. Simple industrial housing in the Calumet section included 17 buildings owned by the Harbison-Walker Refractories and International Lead Refinings bunk house for emergencies. Racial tensions continue, and the KKK in 1923 holds several meetings in East Chicago. Blacks live mostly near their jobs, including Grasselli (Calumet), American Steel Foundries and the metal refining plants (New Addition and Calumet), and Inland Steel (Block-Pennsy).

1929  The stock market crash ushers in the Great Depression, leading to a reduction in demand for workers in city industries. American Legion Post 266 leads an effort to pay the way back to Mexico for Mexicans who choose to go. Churches take special collections, and the township eventually pays for their train fare. By the end of 1932, about 1,800 Mexicans had been repatriated to Mexico from East Chicago.

1939  By this year, most of the homes in the West Calumet are completed. About 50 percent of the residences in East Calumet are standing.

January 1946  Steelworkers strike. Blacks begin fighting for civil rights, demanding to be seated anywhere in the local theaters, not just on the right-hand side, and seeking integrated participation in all school events.

Nov. 14, 1946  International Smelting and Refining Co. conveys to the Eagle Picher Co. the southern part of the future West Calumet Housing Complex property.

1947  The Anselm Forum is established to improve relations among cultures, races, nationalities and religions.

Nov. 29, 1947  Chicago Daily Tribune reports Eagle Picher moves white lead unit to East Chicago. It said, The sales and administrative personnel has moved into a modern building on the 37-acre property acquired a year ago. White lead for use in oil, paste, and ready to use paint will be produced at the plant. It also has facilities for manufacture of lead and zinc products for the paint, rubber, storage battery, ceramic, and chemical industries.

1949  The Housing Act of 1949 is passed, laying out a goal to build 810,000 public housing units within six years. It would take about 20 years to accomplish that goal.

1949  DuPont East Chicago facility east of USS Lead and south of East 149th Place stops manufacturing lead arsenate , EPA records show.

March 28, 1949  International Smelting and Refining Co. conveys to Mid-West Tar Products Corp. a parcel of land where the northern part of the West Calumet Housing Complex and Carrie Gosch Elementary School would later be built.

June 27, 1953  The Eagle-Picher Co. conveys to Robinson Brothers & Co. Inc. the southern part of the future West Calumet Housing Complex property.

August 1954  The Housing Act of 1954 expands slum-clearance and redevelopment programs into the Urban Renewal program by including federal assistance for rehabilitation and conservation of blighted and deteriorating areas.

November 1954  The Purdue-Calumet Development Foundation is incorporated and opens its officers the following year. Foundation documents say, "It became evident that some mechanism was needed through which competitive individual industries could cooperate in the use of their resources in solving the community redevelopment problems. Similarly, it was recognized that the same mechanism should permit the contiguous, autonomous cities also to cooperate in order to provide access to land areas needed for the broad solution of the housing, population, and racial problems.

1955  The northern and southern parts of the future West Calumet site are convey separately to Continental Foundry & Machine Co. The same year, Continental conveyed the properties to the Blaw Knox Co.

Jan. 6, 1956 The former James A. Garfield School is destroyed by fire. The Garfield school was at the southeast corner of 148th Street and Melville Avenue. It was replaced in 1959 with Carrie Gosch Elementary School, which was built three blocks to the west.

Nov. 30, 1956  Blaw-Knox sells the site for Carrie Gosch Elementary School to the School City of East Chicago for $75,000.

1959  Most of the homes in East Calumet are standing.

1959  The Purdue-Calumet Development Foundation targets three special problem areas, or residential areas that exhibit concentrations of blight, deterioration and excessive land coverage. They are the Indiana Harbor area, which is under active study as Urban Renewal Project No. 1, along with West Calumet and Michigan Avenue New Addition. Among the redevelopment commissioners listed in the Purdue foundations 1959 annual report was Jack Slaboski, the businessman Benjamin Lesniak Jr. accused of paying him and Jay Given kickbacks for a demolition contract for the shuttered Eagle Picher lead factory buildings.

Nov. 8, 1959  The original Carrie Gosch School was dedicated. The School City of East Chicago later constructed a new school building next to the site of the old building.

Nov. 20, 1959  An urban renewal plan for West Calumet is submitted to the the Urban Renewal Administration of HHFA for review. The agency in 1958 had reserved a capital fund grant of $4.395 million, pending submission and approval of a final project report.

1960  Ground is broken for an overpass over U.S. 20 to start the Cline Avenue expressway.

Feb. 8, 1960  A comprehensive revision of East Chicagos zoning code was adopted by the City Council. The mayor approved the code the following day. Zoning maps show the land where the West Calumet Housing Complex was later built was owned by Robinson & Co. and zoned for heavy industrial use. No change in that zoning designation appeared to be contemplated.

February 1960  The federal government tells East Chicago its plan to redevelop West Calumet is not feasible. Further study is put off until 1961.

August 1960  Execution of the Indiana Harbor Renewal Project begins.

1961  Following a review of the renewal plan for West Calumet, the federal government requests a more detailed study of structures proposed for rehabilitation. A framework for a new plan is approved in the fall.

1962  The Purdue foundations annual report for 1962 reveals the West Calumet project was originally timed so that the expenditures for the building and equipping of Carrie Gosch School could be credited toward the citys  share of the cost. The $4.395 million set aside in 1958 is still in effect pending program development. The federal government approves changes to the West Calumet plan, and the city rechecks 128 properties slated for rehabilitation. Further work is put on hold pending progress on the Harbor redevelopment program.

Jan. 1, 1964  John B. Nicosia takes over as mayor. Jay Given takes over as East Chicago city attorney.

March 1965  The East Chicago Housing Authority is created, and Benjamin Lesniak Jr. is appointed its executive director.

April 1, 1965  City Controller Robert Pastrick tells the Chicago Tribune that East Chicago opes to speed up progress on the Indiana Harbor renewal project and construction of public housing. About 1,450 families in need of relocation because of urban renewal in the Harbor, a Purdue Foundation official says.

April 25, 1965  Mayor John Nicosia tells the Chicago Tribune the next city plan for an urban renewal project in the West Calumet area will be more organized. "I don't want another battlefield like we had this time," he said. "The people were so darn confused they didn't know what was going to happen to their homes." The federal Urban Renewal Administration withdraws $3.6 million for the West Calumet project because planning was too slow, though the city can reapply for the funds.

1966  HUD approves $3.9 million in federal loans to the East Chicago Housing Authority for 212 units and $593,754 to build three neighborhood centers. The city contributed $296,830.

Mid-1966  Part of the 255-unit Cal-View project is ready for occupancy. The remainder of the 15-building, $3.75 million project was completed in 1967.

July 28, 1966  Hammond Times reports ethnic factions, including Latin American Democratic leaders and the Negro community, contend the federal government has said Benjamin Lesniak Jr. cannot serve both as a state representative and director of the East Chicago Housing Authority. Lesniak says he has legal opinions says he can hold both posts but will give up his salary as housing director.

Sept. 18, 1966  Hammond Times reports U.S. Civil Service Commissioners have been asked to investigate federal law violations in the posts held by Ben Lesniak. The request was filed by Donald E. Nelson and Jerome Riskin, both Republican candidates for state representative.

Oct. 4, 1966  Hammond Times reports the Rev. R. Donald Weaver resigned from the East Chicago Housing Authority commission after his motion to order Benjamin Lesniak Jr. to resign as executive director of ECHA was not seconded. Weaver said political influence in the authoritys operation forced him to resign.

Oct. 6, 1966  The Chicago Tribune reports Benjamin Lesniak Jr. said East Chicago was antagonistic toward public housing in the 1940s but has adopted it because of relocation problems caused by the urban renewal project in the Harbor. The city has a shortage of undeveloped land, he said. We can either tear down existing deteriorating structurs and replace them with public housing units or we can construct them in vacant areas which are surrounded by industries, and undesirable residential areas," he said. The majority of the residents in public housing will be African-American or of Latin American descent, he said.

Dec. 29, 1966  Hammond Times reports Otis R. Bowen, speaker of the Indiana State House of Representatives, asked Ben Lesniak to give up one of his posts.

1967  Ground is broken for the first four of 153 medium-priced homes near the new Inland research center. Also, HUD approved another 570 public housing units in the Harbor at an estimated cost of $7 million.

Jan. 5, 1967  Ben Lesniak Jr. is seated in the House after Attorney General John Dillon offers a preliminary opinion that it's not illegal for Lesniak to serve as both director of a city housing authority and as a state representative.

1968  The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 is passed, establishing HUD as a cabinet-level department. President Lyndon Johnson sets ambitious housing goals, and nationwide public housing starts begin to rise.

1968  Changes to East Chicagos urban renewal plan are reviewed and returned, and HUD informs the city approval depends on the city building more relocation housing for low-income families.

January 1968  Ground is broken for a 108-unit 10-story building for the elderly at 136th and Pulaski streets. The building is the James Hunter Senior Building.

April 1968  Construction begins on a moderate-rental project, 120 units sponsored by St. Lukes A.M.E. Church. It is scheduled for completion in mid-1969.

Fall 1968  Former East Chicago Housing Authority Executive Director Benjamin Lesniak Jr. first meets West Calumet Housing Complex builder Lawrence Bursten in former East Chicago Mayor Nicosias office. Lesniak later testified he he showed Bursten and another partner in the East Chicago Development Corp. around the city and discussed their ability to pay kickbacks to city officials.

Dec. 31, 1968  The Purdue-Calumet Development Foundation reports 1,528 families have been displaced since the inception of the citys urban renewal program, and 1,175 have been relocated. More than 64 percent of the relocated families stayed in East Chicago.

March 23, 1969  Hammond Times reports East Chicago officials plan to end the city's contract with the Purdue-Calumet Development Foundation as of April 1. City Attorney Jay Given said part of the problem in the Harbor was the bad stuff was cleared away but marginal buildings were left. He said a new plan must attract private investors as well as federal money.

March 26, 1969  Hammond Times reports Purdue-Calumet Development Foundation Thomas Bunsa says he wont fold his tent despite takeover April 1 by a new renewal plan and developer. Bunsa warned the foundation had been trying to get a new plan approved for years, but the whole problem lies in not having enough housing for relocating the people.

July 25, 1969  Lesniak begins conspiracy with John Telander to take bribes for the contract to build the Nicosia Senior Building on the site of the Famous Manufacturing plant on Railroad Avenue.

December 1969  Lesniak first discusses specific payoffs amounts totaling $100,000 for the contract to build the West Calumet Housing Complex.

March 30, 1970  HUD and the East Chicago Housing Authority enter into an annual contributions contract, reserving money to build a $13 million 608-unit complex on 38 acres off 151st Street, the site of the current-day West Calumet Housing Complex site. This plan was scrapped months later, after HUD decided against approving initial plans. A new $13.3 million plan for 346 units was approved in June.

April 7, 1970  Blaw-Knox Co. conveys to the East Chicago Housing Authority two contiguous parcels of land generally bordered by the ship canal to the west, 151st Street to the south, McCook Street to the east and the Carrie Gosch School site to the north. The parcel on the north end of the site is further divided in January 1974, when the housing authority transfers a tract to the city for use by the Parks and Recreation Department.

Spring to fall 1970  The vacant former Anaconda lead factory buildings are salvaged and demolished.

May 26, 1970  Lesniak receives $20,000 in cash from East Chicago Development Corp. as part of the agreed-upon bribe, he later testified. He gave an associate $12,000 to be deposited into an account for a travel agency. The $12,000 represented $4,000 each for his, City Controller Robert Patricks and City Attorney Jay Givens share of the seed money for the agency. The associate contributed his own $4,000. Both Pastrick and Given later testified they didn't talk to Lesniak about kickbacks or take any money out of the travel agency.

June 26, 1970  Lawrence Bursten, Joseph Futowsky and others signed a construction agreement between the East Chicago Housing Authority and the East Chicago Development Corp. for Housing Project 29-6, the indictment against Bursten and Seidel says. The project would become known as the West Calumet Housing Project.

June 30, 1970  East Chicago Development Co., East Chicago Housing Authority and HUD reach an agreement for construction of the West Calumet Housing Complex.

July 1, 1970  Lesniak executes a purchase agreement with Telander Brothers Construction Inc.

July 8, 1971  HUD sends a letter to Mrs. Rae Goldsmith, chairman of the East Chicago Housing Authority, which says: There apparently have been numerous violations of various provisions of the annual contributions contract by your authority in connection with your administration of the construction of project IND-129-6, East Chicago. This, therefore, is to notify you that the limited waiver relative to your local approval of change orders is hereby rescinded until further notice  .

April 16, 1971  East Chicago Development Corp. partners deliver a $20,000 check payable to an East Chicago businessman, who passes the money on to Lesniak. The businessman was an unindicted co-conspirator in the case against Bursten and Seidel.

Sept. 22, 1971  Bursten and Seidel sign a $6,000 check that also is passed along to Lesniak through another unindicted co-conspirator.

Oct. 20, 1971  John Telander writes a $4,513 check to an unindicted co-conspirator, who passed the money on to Lesniak.

January 1972 -- Robert Pastrick becomes mayor.

1972 and 1973  USS Lead is converted to a secondary smelter; instead of refining lead ore, the facility begins recovering lead from scrap metal and automotive batteries.

July 1972  Conspiracy involving Lesniak, Telander ends.

December 1972  Conspiracy by Benjamin Lesniak and West Calumet builders Lawrence Brunsten and Solomon Seidel ends.

January 1973  Benjamin Lesniak Jr. steps down as director of the East Chicago Housing Authority.

1973  President Richard Nixon terminates the urban renewal program.

1973  US Lead starts an expansion program.

1974  The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 is passed. The legislation permitted demolition, but focused on rehabilitation, not clearance. Section 8 programs began. Urban renewal programs were replaced with the Community Development Block Grant and Urban Development Action Grants.

March 8, 1974  Hammond Times reports Jay Given resigned as assistant city attorney.

Feb. 23, 1975  Hammond Times reports Benjamin Lesniak Jr.s brokers license was revoked because he failed to remit $31,000 in School City of East Chicago insurance premiums to a Chicago insurance company. Lesniak operated Consolidated Agency Inc. and Lesniak Agency Insurance and Real Estate, 4846 Indianapolis Blvd.

July 1975  Lesniak is indicted in the Telander case. A superseding indictment is filed in August.

January 1976  Lesniak pleads guilty in the Telander case, agrees to testify against Bursten and Seidel. His family also entered the federal witness protection program.

May 8, 1976  A jury convicts Bursten and Seidel of racketeering, conspiracy, interstate transport charges.

March 27, 1978  Hammond Times reports a fire damaged the office of attorney Jay Given, 3924 Main St.

Dec. 8, 1978  A three-count verified complaint for disciplinary action against Jay Given is filed in the Indiana Supreme Court. Count I relates to the kickbacks Lesniak claimed he and Given took for demolition of the lead factory on the Blaw-Knox property in 1970. Count II relates to the kickbacks Lesniak claimed he paid Given out of bribes received from ECDC for the contract to build West Calumet. The complaint alleged that in addition to the $4,000 purported to be Givens share in Travel Associates, Lesniak gave Given additional sums of $2,000 on two occasions in 1970.

May 19, 1980  Givens disciplinary hearing begins at the OHare Hilton in Chicago. Ben Lesniak doesnt show up.

May 21, 1980  Givens disciplinary hearing continues at the St. Joseph County Courthouse in South Bend. Again, Lesniak doesnt show.

July 8, 1980  Findings of Hearing Officer filed in Jay Givens disciplinary case. The counts involving Lesniak are dropped. Given faces a private or public reprimand for advice he gave to a Sanitary District official who was later convicted in a political-gift-buying scheme.

Dec. 2, 1980  Hammond Times reports Given, who has been working as a legal consultant to East Chicago's Sanitary District, is being phased from city work because of some council members' objections to his involvement.

May 15, 1981  Given, 51, is fatally shot inside a vestibule at the Elks Club, 4624 Magoun Ave., during political fundraiser for N. Atterson Spann, a Calumet neighborhood resident who was later indicted by federal prosecutors for corruption. The investigation is hampered by evidence tampering, apparently within the East Chicago Police Department. Charges are never filed.

June 9, 1981  The chief justice of the Indiana Supreme Court orders the disciplinary cause against Given be dismissed because of his death.

September 1985  Indiana State Department of Health finds USS Lead in violation of state law because lead particles were found downwind of the plant.
Crossing the line separating Indiana and Illinois sometimes means dealing with different laws and customs. Readers are asked to share ideas for this weekly feature. This week: Highway tolls.

Hoosier lawmakers next month are expected to begin considering the possibility of tolling new highways built in Indiana and adding tolls to existing highways, if approved by the federal government.

Likewise, Illinois officials are examining whether to add a toll lane to the Stevenson Expressway running southwest out of Chicago allowing drivers to pay to avoid traffic congestion.

The idea of imposing tolls on motorists to fund a user-pays highway system is nothing new.

Indeed, both the 156-mile Indiana Toll Road and the 292-mile Illinois Tollway were established along those lines, prior to passage of the 1956 law creating the Interstate Highway System.

Under that statute, instead of relying on tolls, the nation spent general tax revenues to build nearly 50,000 miles of freeways using a 90 percent federal-10 percent state match.

However, the current popularity of low-tax, low-spending policies makes a similar infrastructure investment today all but impossible.
Mourners held a vigil Saturday night for the worker who fell to his death at a Brooklyn construction site.

They laid candles for 59-year-old Wilfredo Enriques at the site of the former Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg.

Enriques fell several stories while he was installing glass there Friday morning.

Sources say his safety harness was not attached to the scaffolding, which prompted union officials to renew calls for stronger safety standards at construction sites.

"We really need the city to step up and move forward on legislation that states specifically that workers need to be trained properly and that workers need to go through an apprenticeship program, this way accidents like this don't happen," said one.

PG Products, the company Enriques worked for, is cooperating with the Building Department's investigation of its safety standards.
(The Met said it had no agreement with the auction house to buy or to show the artwork.)

According to Dr. Bambach, the drawing  which she hopes will be bought by a French museum  represents the first Leonardo, full stop discovery (as she put it) in this medium since 2000, when Sothebys in London offered a slighter sheet from around 1506 to 1508 that had black chalk and pen studies of Hercules and whirlpools. It failed to sell against a low estimate of 400,000 pounds, or what was then about $600,000, but sold later for about $550,000. The drawing (also attributed by Dr. Bambach) is now jointly owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York collector Leon Black and his wife, Debra Ressler.

As for a much-debated mixed-media profile portrait of a young woman, known as La Bella Principessa, which eight years ago was valued by the London dealer Simon Dickinson at as much as $150 million, Dr. Bambach commented, It does not look like a Leonardo.

A painter, sculptor, architect, scientist and inventor of seemingly limitless ambition (if not finished execution), Leonardo (1452-1519) most formidably embodies the notion of universal genius. This reputation has been translated into formidable financial value for the few of his works that have come up for sale. In 1994, Bill Gates paid $30.8 million at Christies for the Codex Hammer notebook, containing 300 drawings and scientific writings. More controversially, in 2013 the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought Leonardos painting Christ as Salvator Mundi, circa 1499, for $127.5 million from the Swiss businessman and dealer Yves Bouvier, who had recently bought it for $80 million from a consortium of dealers. The current high for a Leonardo drawing sold at auction is $11.5 million, at Christies in 2001, for a silverpoint study of a horse and rider.
Nicholas Serota, the soon-to-be departing director of the Tate museums in Britain, is to receive the 2017 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence.

Mr. Serota will receive the award, along with a no-strings-attached $25,000 prize, at a gala on April 3 in New York City. He was chosen by Bard Colleges Center for Curatorial Studies, which polled more than 200 curators, artists, art dealers and former students and made its final decision in a smaller panel.

Nick Serota is a towering figure in the world of art and museums, Tom Eccles, executive director of the center, said. He has tirelessly built one of the great art institutions of our time.

Mr. Serota, 70, will step down from his position at the Tate next year after nearly three decades at the helm. During his tenure the museum group expanded several times, including a large expansion of the Tate Modern this year. He previously ran the Whitechapel Gallery in East London.
Some writers have been thinking about the future for so long that now it is the future. Warren Ellis, the author of a smart, tight, occasionally tiresome new novel called Normal, has been at work on the subject since the early 1990s and may have decided it was time to offer a sly acknowledgment of his own longevity: The book is about a sanitarium full of futurologists in various states of nervous breakdown.

Everyone here gazed into the abyss for a living, he writes, the abyss being the future. Do it long enough, and the abyss would gaze back into you. Or as one man assesses his own condition more directly, Bad case of abyss gaze.

This is also the apparent affliction of Adam Dearden, who arrives at the rest home, deep in an Oregon forest, as Normal begins, after what we understand in hazy outlines to have been a disturbing incident in Namibia. On his first day he spots another patient lurching along the edge of the woods, and the unsettling sight catches in his brain; not much later, that patient vanishes, and a huge mass of bugs is found on the bed in his room. The task the book gives Adam is to investigate the mans disappearance and, more figuratively, his own.

Mr. Ellis made his reputation in graphic novels, and Normal has many of that genres virtues  efficiency of storytelling, a kinship with the peripheral and the strange. His writing is absolutely alive, unflattened by fear of errors, which means that there are errors (his cliches pop up in clusters: the air crackled with nervous energy, his eyes prickled with tears) but also that there are lines of descriptive brilliance on every page.
Sam Sifton emails readers of Cooking five days a week to talk about food and suggest recipes. That email also appears here. To receive it in your inbox, register here.

Good morning. I hope youll read my column in the The New York Times Magazine this week about the pleasures and importance of tourtiere, the French Canadian meat pie. The recipe is long, which means I had to keep the column short (thats analog life). As a result, a great quote from David McMillan of the restaurant Joe Beef in Montreal was left sitting in my notebook. We were talking about the place of tourtiere in Canadian culture. It got him ranting about his fears for modern Quebec.

Im almost a separatist Anglophone, he told me, his voice rising. Im more preservative of French-Canadian culture than most Francophones. I want to tell our people: Dont blow it with your Dockers and Tim Hortons. Dont let Subway into your neighborhoods. Youre going to regret it. Youre going to get homogenized, and all anyone is going to want to do is listen to Drake and have bottle service. Weve got to tell our people its cool to go hunting. Its cool to go fishing. Its cool to make meat pies!

Its definitely cool to make tourtieres. Make some pie dough right now and cook the rest this afternoon, and either bake up a pie this evening for dinner or freeze one for later. Tourtiere is a beautiful Christmas Eve feast, served in my house with this excellent cranberry ketchup. (If you go the freezer route, keep your dinner tonight simple: pasta amatriciana, done in about 30 minutes.)
Samantha Robin Zins, the daughter of Patricia Corren Zins and Dr. Jonathan H. Zins of Westport, Conn., was married Dec. 10 to Logan Stewart Lowe, a son of Lauren Silbert Lowe and Dr. Franklin C. Lowe of Manhattan. Rabbi Robert N. Levine officiated at the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.

Mrs. Lowe, 29, is a director in the business development and investor relations group at Solus Alternative Asset Management, a hedge fund in Manhattan. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis.

The brides father, a retired radiologist, was a partner in Advanced Radiology Consultants of Bridgeport, Conn., and worked in its Fairfield County offices.

Mr. Lowe, 31, is a partner and a portfolio manager, focusing on mortgage-backed securities, at the Manhattan office of Prophet Capital Asset Management, a hedge fund in Austin, Tex. He graduated cum laude from Princeton.
Dr. Whitney Margaret Keefe, a daughter of Hillary R. Mankin-Kufe and Dr. Donald W. Kufe of Wellesley, Mass., was married Dec. 10 to David Andrew Snider, a son of Jody B. Snider and Andrew E. Snider of Boston. Laurie L. Schaffran, a friend of the grooms family who was ordained by American Marriage Ministries for the occasion, officiated at the New York Public Librarys main branch.

The bride, 31, is an associate director of business development at Celgene Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company in Summit, N.J. She graduated with honors from Brown and has a medical degree from Tufts. She also received an M.B.A. with highest distinction from Harvard. Her father is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a distinguished physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where the brides mother is senior counsel.

The groom, also 31, is the chief operating officer and the chief financial officer of Compass, a real estate brokerage firm based in New York. He graduated from Duke and received an M.B.A. from Harvard. His mother is an executive producer at Viewpoint Creative, an advertising agency in Newton, Mass. His father is the president of a management consultancy in Boston that bears his name.

The couple met on a blind date in February 2012 when they were both students in Boston.
Everything you need to know about the Staten Island Motor Lodge is right there on a large sign in the parking lot: Prostitution on This Property is Strictly Prohibited and Will Be Reported to Local Law Enforcement Authorities.

The sign, a new statement of purpose at the motel, was not the idea of anyone there, but rather was mandated in a court settlement. The police shut the motel down in August to some fanfare, but it quietly reopened two weeks later after agreeing to certain conditions: new security cameras, a system to record guest identifications, the elimination of hourly rates, a $10,000 fine, the sign and four more like it.

The return of the motel, alongside Hylan Boulevard near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, coincides with the conclusion of the federal criminal case against one of its frequent customers, a man named Eduardo Cornejo, 34. He was estranged from his wife and living with his parents in 2015 when the police received an anonymous tip that he was running a prostitution ring.

At the time, Mr. Cornejo was a New York City police officer.

So began months of surveillance that, described in court documents and in transcripts of court hearings, illustrate the other side of the glamorous pimp lifestyle that suspects in similar cases  and Mr. Cornejo himself  perpetuate in social media. The reality seems like a joyless, grim succession of never-ending, late-night shuttling between motels and hotels while shuffling through online escort accounts.
Alphonso David, the governors chief counsel, said in an interview the investigation would be done in good faith, pointing to the progress the administration had made reducing the number of black inmates in solitary confinement. The governor will grant the inspector generals office unfettered access, Mr. David said, as well as the necessary resources.

Mr. David, who has worked with Mr. Cuomo on civil rights issues for a decade, said that for him, this was personal. As a black man, he said, Im not going to look the other way if the evidence shows that the corrections department is applying discipline disproportionately to black and Latino men.

The state investigation was prompted by a report in The New York Times last week documenting racial disparities in the prison disciplinary system. An analysis of 60,000 disciplinary cases from 2015 showed that black and Latino inmates were punished at twice the rate of white inmates at some prisons, sent to solitary confinement more often and were held there longer. At Clinton Correctional Facility, near the Canadian border, where only one out of the 998 guards is black, the disparity was particularly striking: Black inmates were nearly four times as likely as whites to be sent to isolation and were held there for an average of 125 days, compared with 90 days for whites.

No details have been released about how the investigation will be conducted. But based on a past federal lawsuit by advocates challenging the use of solitary confinement in New York prisons, it is possible to identify several avenues investigators may well take.

The first step would be to do their own statistical analysis. It took The Times nearly a year and several requests through the Freedom of Information Law to obtain sufficient data for its investigation, and even then, the state rejected some requests.
In the rare instances that Shareen Williams can treat her younger sister to something special, like a nail salon pampering for her birthday, it comes with a twinge of regret.

Sometimes I feel so guilty when I feel like Im not able to give her just little stuff that I feel she deserves, said Ms. Williams, 35, who has cared for Raheida Harry, 21, for more than a decade. In May, Ms. Williams became Ms. Harrys legal guardian.

I put myself on the back burner a lot, just for her, Ms. Williams said.

Ms. Harry has had developmental delays since birth, but the underlying condition went undiagnosed for years. The sisters were raised on St. Vincent, the largest island in the Caribbean nation St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is a place, Ms. Williams said, where her sister was unable to thrive, let alone receive adequate services, because of the limited resources for people with special needs.

Twelve years ago, their mother left St. Vincent to live with a relative in the United States. Ms. Williams had to step in as her sisters caretaker and provider.
The two young brothers seesawed in Riverside Park recently, testing and tormenting each other, absorbed in a playground ritual familiar to generations of children.

What they did not know was that they were in one of the last places in New York City where they could seesaw. Once ubiquitous in the citys hundreds of public playgrounds, as they were around the country, the seesaws adults remember have largely vanished from the city and much of the nation because of safety concerns and changing tastes.

The old wooden seesaws that pivot on a central fulcrum have survived in only one city park, park officials believe  the Classic Playground at Riverside Park at West 74th Street. And just north of there, at River Run Playground at West 83rd Street, are three metal fulcrum seesaws that were installed at the communitys request in the 1990s. They are lower and safer, rising only 32 inches off the rubber play mat at the highest point.

The history of New York City playgrounds is intertwined with the seesaw. Charity associations gave seesaw demonstrations when playgrounds were introduced at the turn of the 20th century. They were standard fixtures in the more than 600 playgrounds constructed between 1934 and 1960 under the direction of Robert Moses, along with monkey bars, sandboxes and slides, according to the city parks department.
ISTANBUL  On Nov. 17, members of Parliament from Turkeys ruling Justice and Development Party, or A.K.P., proposed a bill that seemed bizarre, even in the context of Turkey, where every week seems to bring a new, shocking outrage. The bill called for people who had sexually abused underage girls before Nov. 16 to avoid punishment if the abuser agreed to marry his victim.

At first, the government denied that the bill would absolve rapists and endorse child marriage. Bekir Bozdag, the minister of justice, defended the bill by claiming it addressed only underage couples whose marriages were performed in religious ceremonies not recognized by the state because of age restrictions. The bill included a clause, Mr. Bozdag said, precluding rape, violence or coercion from pardon.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim also defended the draft legislation, saying, The proposal aims to remedy unjust suffering, of around 3,000 families in which the men, now fathers, were placed in jail for consensually marrying underage girls.

The A.K.P. members may have thought that this would be the end of it  another law passed as part of their social conservative agenda, with little pushback in a country where civil society is increasingly repressed. But it didnt work out that way.
In recent days, the scope and intent of Russias suspected involvement in the election has come into sharper focus. New disclosures by American officials now reveal that intelligence agencies concluded with high confidence that a desire to undermine American faith in the electoral system morphed into an effort to hurt Mrs. Clintons chances. One critical piece of evidence for this assessment was that suspected Russian hackers broke into the computer networks of both the Republican and Democratic national committees, but only leaked damaging emails from the latter.

At the urging of Democratic lawmakers, President Obama has asked the director of national intelligence to conduct a full review of Russias hidden hand in the election, the White House announced Friday. The inquiry, which is to be completed before Mr. Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, is an important, if belated, step.

Weeks before the election, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, expressed skepticism about the intelligence reports and warned the White House that publicizing them would amount to a partisan act. The Republicans, however, did not protest when James Comey, the F.B.I. director, disclosed in a letter to Congress that a stash of emails found on Anthony Weiners computer appeared relevant to the investigation into Mrs. Clintons use of a private server. By the time Mr. Comey said there was nothing new, the innuendo bomb against Mrs. Clinton had exploded and the damage was done.

In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Mr. Trump dismissed the intelligence assessment about Russian meddling with contempt, and accused Democrats of putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country.

Some Republican lawmakers recognize the importance of standing up to Russia and taking steps to restore faith in the electoral system and institutions. A bipartisan group, led by Senator John McCain, a Republican, pledged Sunday to get to the bottom of Russias role, noting that the possibility that Moscow shaped the outcome of Americas election ought to alarm every American. This cannot become a partisan issue, said the statement, which was also supported by Senator Charles Schumer, the incoming leader of the Senate Democrats. Among the unanswered questions is whether anyone within Mr. Trumps inner circle coordinated with the Kremlin and whether Moscow spread fake news to hurt Mrs. Clinton.
Many placards at the protest targeted the dictators heirs. Sandro stupid, one read, referring to the 22-year-old grandson who defends the dynasty on social media. Another sign referred to Imee Marcos, the deceased presidents eldest daughter, now currently governor of his home province of Ilocos Norte. The Botox of Imee, it said, is the money of the nation.

Such mockery has prompted criticism from those who defend the foul language of the current president. But these young protesters are doing more than following Mr. Dutertes pugnacious lead. They are using wit and creativity to stand against a powerful enemy, fully aware of the history of violence they are up against.

Marcos is alleged to have been responsible for tens of thousands of human rights abuses  a good majority against students and young activists. Imee was found by an American court to have been complicit in the torture and murder of Archimedes Trajano, a student who in 1977 stood up to question her in a public forum for her appointment as national youth leader. This bloody tradition now extends to the Marcos familys powerful ally, Mr. Duterte  who has said that questionable journalists are not exempted from assassination and recently warned that human rights activists would be killed if they obstructed his violent war on drugs.

In the Philippines, the abuses of the dictatorship loom like trauma in the national psyche, and Mr. Duterte is squandering his political capital by walking in their footsteps. After thousands of extrajudicial killings and some questionable foreign-policy decisions, his complicity in rewriting the Marcos legacy is a step too far for many Filipinos. An increasing number of Mr. Dutertes allies have begun criticizing him, and top members of the National Historical Commission recently resigned over the decision to move Marcoss body.

Yet its not just history that protesters are seeking to defend. It is also the immediate future. The president has lately been considering suspending habeas corpus. Martial law is now spoken of with serious consideration, even though our Constitution allows it only in the event of insurgency or invasion. What was once a slippery slope is becoming a perilous pit.

Across the street from the rally, a counterprotest was staged by a group of roughly 20 people, mostly men. They stood at the foot of the monument to Jose Rizal, our national hero who stood against Spanish colonialism but cautioned against violent revolution. They raised their fists in the salute popular among Duterte supporters and held out a banner that declared: Duterte Youth supports our strongmen of Asia: President Rodrigo Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos.
BATON ROUGE, La.  Bringing a wildly unpredictable election cycle to an unsurprising close, Louisiana voters on Saturday elected John Neely Kennedy, the state treasurer, to the Senate, giving Republicans a final 52-48 advantage over the Democrats.

With roughly two-thirds of the precincts reporting, Mr. Kennedy had secured 64 percent of the vote and the seat vacated by Senator David Vitter, defeating Foster Campbell, a public service commissioner long known for his populism.

Mr. Kennedy, with an anti-establishment, outsider message and a reputation as a fiscal hawk, secured a commanding position early in the race in Louisiana, which has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 2008.

Im humbled and honored by the overwhelming support from all over the state, Mr. Kennedy said on Saturday. Louisiana voters sent a clear message tonight and Im ready to go to Washington, D.C., to fight for our people.
WASHINGTON  President-elect Donald J. Trump, defending his recent phone call with Taiwans president, asserted in an interview broadcast on Sunday that the United States was not bound by the One China policy, the 44-year diplomatic understanding that underpins Americas relationship with its biggest rival.

Mr. Trump, speaking on Fox News, said he understood the principle of a single China that includes Taiwan, but declared, I dont know why we have to be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.

I mean, look, he continued, were being hurt very badly by China with devaluation; with taxing us heavy at the borders when we dont tax them; with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldnt be doing; and, frankly, with not helping us at all with North Korea.

Mr. Trump is not the first incoming Republican president to question the One China policy, but his suggestion that it could be used as a chip to correct Chinese behavior sets him apart, several Asia experts said. While Mr. Trump has been praised by some Republicans for taking a new look at China policy, his stance could risk a backlash by Beijing, the analysts said.
OAKLAND, Calif.  New York Times reporters are investigating the devastating fire that killed 36 people this month at a warehouse called the Ghost Ship in Oakland, Calif. Were also doing something new: providing regular updates on our findings. Do you have information, advice or feedback? Send email to oaklandfire@nytimes.com.

The first update can be found here.

One Property Among Many

Among the targets of our reporting is finding out about the owner of the sprawling warehouse that burst into flames on Dec. 2. Property records show that her name is Chor Nar Siu Ng and that she bought the building in 1988.

Did Ms. Ng know anything about the dangers at the Ghost Ship? And if so, what did she do to fix them?

For the past week, Ive been trying to learn more about Ms. Ng, combing through records at the Alameda County clerk-recorders office, interviewing people all over Oaklands Chinatown  where she owns several properties  and trying to track down her children, who helped her run her businesses. So far, no one has found her.
SEOUL, South Korea  Since October, when the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye of South Korea first erupted, North Korea has been uncharacteristically restrained.

While the North, which had been accelerating the development of its nuclear program, has maintained a steady stream of sarcastic criticism of Ms. Park, it has not conducted ballistic missile or nuclear tests, even as the United Nations has tightened sanctions.

Analysts and officials here say North Korea did not want to give political cover to Ms. Park, who had adopted a hard-line approach to her volatile neighbor. She could have seized on further tests or military provocations to divert attention from her own disaster, they say.

The Norths relative silence underscores the deep uncertainty into which the region has been thrown  not only by South Koreas political crisis, whose denouement could still be months away after the South Korean National Assembly voted to impeach Ms. Park on Friday, but also by questions about how Donald J. Trump will deal with North Korea as president, given his contradictory remarks on the subject during his campaign.
ISTANBUL  The Italians have a saying for it: Fuma come un turco, meaning, He smokes like a Turk.

There are actually plenty of people who smoke more than the Turks, but there are times when a visitor here may find that hard to believe.

The famous Istiklal Avenue, one of the worlds most appealing pedestrian spaces with its cobbled pavement and little red trams clacking down the middle, bells dinging, can be covered over on a crowded weekend night by an inescapably dense, mile-long cloud of secondhand smoke, hovering between the elegant, tall buildings on either side.

Along dusky alleyways in Kadikoy, the trendiest part of Istanbul, on the once less fashionable Asian side of the Bosporus, cafes typically have a few tables inside and many more outside  where smoking is allowed. On even the coldest days, the outside tables are crowded, smokers kept warm by overhead heaters and lap blankets provided at each chair.
My impression is, because I know some of the people and friends around Donald Trump, I believe that it will happen, sooner rather than later, he said.

Mr. Barkats optimism partly reflects a broad confidence expressed by Israels top leaders that they will have a much closer relationship with the Trump administration than they had with its predecessor.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said as much in a 60 Minutes interview recorded for broadcast on Sunday, disclosing plans to talk with Mr. Trump about how to subvert the international agreement reached last year with Iran that limits its nuclear capabilities in exchange for sanctions relief. During the campaign, Mr. Trump said that dismantling the disastrous deal with Iran was a priority, but he has not specified what he would do. Israel considers Iran a prime security threat.

I think what options we have are much more than you think, Mr. Netanyahu said. There are ways, various ways of undoing it. He did not explain them.

The only good thing I can say about the deal with Iran is that it brought the Arab states and Israel closer together, Mr. Netanyahu said.

The relocation of the embassy would undoubtedly cause an Arab backlash. One reason Israeli leaders have generally not pushed the issue is concern that it could harm their relationships with Jordan and Egypt, even threatening longstanding peace treaties with those neighboring countries.

Asked about Mr. Barkats prediction, Palestinian diplomats in the United States were blunt.

I hope that the new administration will carefully measure its policy toward the city and continue to adhere to the declared and official position of the U.S. about Jerusalem, Ambassador Maen Rashid Areikat, the chief Palestine Liberation Organization representative to the United States, said in an email. Taking sides with Israel on such a sensitive and highly emotional issue will further escalate tension in an area that is already volatile.
TEHRAN  Iran and Boeing signed a deal for the sale of 80 airplanes on Sunday, five weeks before the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump, whose Republican supporters in Congress have tried to block any aircraft sales to Iran.

Irans national airline, Iran Air, said that it had signed an agreement with Boeing, an American manufacturer, to purchase the aircraft, at a total cost of $16.6 billion.

In September, the Treasury Department gave approval for Boeing and its European competitor, Airbus, to sell planes to Iran.

Boeing confirmed the deal, saying that the contract was reached within the terms of the government license that the department had issued.
SEAL BEACH  Some families of the victims of convicted killer Scott Dekraai on Saturday called on the California attorney general to accept the killers offer of a lifetime prison sentence without parole in lieu of seeking the death penalty.

Our intent here is the simple acknowledgment that the case is fatally flawed and is currently positioned for a lifetime of appeals, said Hattie Stretz, the lone shooting victim who survived a gunmans rampage at a beauty salon five years ago.

Eight people, including Stretzs daughter, Laura Webb Elody, were murdered that day.

We have no choice but to collectively agree we do not want the death penalty pursued, said Paul Wilson, whose wife, Christy, was killed. We are exhausted from this continuous pain, and this has got to be over with. Life will never be the same for us, but we should have the chance to move on.

Though the four families who gathered for a news conference Saturday agreed they want a conclusion to the long-drawn-out court case that sparked a scandal in Orange County over using jailhouse snitches, they do not appear to agree on what Dekraais punishment should be.

Were not all united on that, said Chelsea Huff during the news conference. Were all in agreement we want this to come to a conclusion.

Huff is the daughter of Michelle Fournier, Dekraais ex-wife and his first victim on Oct. 12, 2011, when he walked into Salon Meritage, where she worked, and began shooting.

Butch Fournier, Michelle Fourniers brother, later said in an interview, We still believe in the death penalty, and no other case deserves it more.

Paul Caouette, the son of victim David Caouette, said he chose to not attend the news conference because he said hes conflicted on the death penalty, as are others.

Theres too many personalities. Too many opinions. Too much sadness. Youll never get eight families to agree on the same thing, Caouette said in a phone interview.

Attending Saturday, in addition to family members of Webb Elody, Wilson and Fournier were those of Michele Daschbach Fast. Sandi Fannin, who formerly owned the salon and whose husband, Randy, was killed, said in a brief phone interview later that she couldnt attend but supports taking the death penalty off the table.

What prompted the families to come together? It was a statement by state Sen. Janet Nguyen last week calling on the state Attorney Generals Office to continue to pursue the death penalty against Dekraai, said Thomas Stretz, whose wife was shot and stepdaughter was killed.

We felt that was presumptuous, Thomas Stretz said of Nguyens statement. We wanted our voices heard.

Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for the District Attorneys Office, declined to comment on the families request, saying the case is now in the hands of the California attorney general. She pointed instead to a Nov. 22 statement from her office that said Dekraai deserves death and that the Orange County district attorney will support the attorney generals decision.

Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, who began as the underdog in the legal brawl, said he hopes the attorney general will honor the wishes to pursue a life sentence.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas vowed from the start to secure the death penalty for Dekraai, a former tugboat crew member.

Yet at the same time, Rackauckas homicide team, Seal Beach police and sheriffs deputies were taking steps that ultimately would damage what appeared to be a slam-dunk case. Dekraai was moved at the jail into Module L  an area that recently released sheriffs records show was used as a snitch tank  a place where known informants are brought together with targeted inmates.

That decision to tape and use an informant against Dekraai, in violation of federal case law, opened the door for Sanders to ignite more than three years of wrangling over Orange Countys use of informants and the withholding of evidence.

In March 2015, Judge Thomas Goethals removed the district attorney from the penalty phase of the Dekraai case, sending it to the California Attorney Generals Office. Last month, an appellate court upheld Goethals decision and, furthermore, declared the abuses by prosecutors and police were real and systemic.

Some of the families of the victims asked on Saturday for the Attorney Generals Office to decline to appeal the recusal ruling.

Meanwhile, six murder and attempted murder cases have unraveled because of concerns over informants. Cases were overturned, sentences were reduced and plea bargains were made in light of the problems. The drama inside Orange Countys justice system played out on a national stage, and legal scholars from one coast to the other signed a letter seeking a federal investigation.

Through it all, families of Dekraais victims waited in frustration for the case to be resolved.

Some of the victims family members during the past three years split with the others and argued for an end to the death penalty. Some also are split on whether they stand behind Rackauckas. Wilson said the D.A. cheated when the last thing they needed to do is cheat. But Bill Webb, father of Laura Webb Elody, defended Rackauckas and his staff.

After Saturdays news conference, as television crews packed away their cameras, one of Webb Elodys sisters and young niece walked to a Seal Beach memorial that honors the victims.

They unwrapped a bouquet of flowers and, very carefully, placed them by the names of all those lost: Victoria Buzzo, 54; David Caouette, 64; Randy Lee Fannin, 62; Michele Daschbach Fast, 47; Michelle Marie Fournier, 48; Lucia Bernice Kondas, 65; Laura Webb Elody, 46; and Christy Lynn Wilson, 47.

Contact the writer: rkopetman@scng.com
CYPRESS  Maybe Bob Baffert should just reserve a spot in the winners circle at Los Alamitos Race Course each December when they run the CashCall Futurity. The Hall of Fame trainer has owned the race the past three years, and he didnt fare too poorly when it was run at now-defunct Hollywood Park.

Bafferts fast 2-year-old colt, Mastery, galloped home first by a stakes-record 71/4 lengths Saturday in the latest edition of the $300,000 Grade I race for 2-year-olds, remaining unbeaten in three starts in his first time around two turns.

Mastery, a son of Candy Ride, sat second much of the way behind pacesetter Bobby Abu Dhabi, who carved out swift fractions of 23,37, 45.65 and 1:09.53 before Mike Smith took the lead aboard the winner turning for home, and then widened his lead in the final eighth of a mile to complete the 11/16 miles over a fast main track in a very good 1:41.56.

Baffert said Mastery will now get a break. Hes uncertain when he will embark on the trail to next springs Kentucky Derby, but he knows hes got a good one on his hands who can go two turns.

Its too far off. I really dont know, he said. Theyre all different, different kind of horses.

What Baffert does know is that hes got another good crop of 2-year-olds as he searches for his fifth Derby victory.

I have a strong group, he said. I have some nice ones coming around. Thing is, you gotta keep em all healthy. We got like five really nice ones that I really like. I have some that havent started yet. But you still need a lot of luck.

Team Baffert didnt need a lot of luck Saturday. Mastery went postward as the 1-5 favorite and ran like it.

Other than losing a little interest when he took the lead turning for home, Smith thought the $425,000 purchase ran well.

He relaxed great today and I think the key was Bob putting the blinkers back on, he said. He started looking around a little when he made the front in the stretch, but after I gave him a reminder, he re-broke and was strong.

Said Baffert: I was worried when I saw the fractions. I was like, Wow, thats pretty fast. But then it looked like he handled it pretty well. He withstood it and kicked on again at the end. I was impressed with the last part there.

Even though hes now won the Futurity a record nine times, Baffert said he was worried before the race.

I knew coming in that he couldnt be doing any better, he said. But thats what happens when you have a good horse like this, youre sort of relieved that he ran like you thought.

Baffert said winning the CashCall Futurity never gets old.

Theyre all different. Theyre all special, he said. Theyre all good horses. I mean, he ran really fast. He did it the right way.

Irap, a 23-1 longshot, finished second, 53/4 lengths ahead of third-place Dangerfield. Both horses are trained by Doug ONeill.

Baffert wasnt as fortunate in the $300,000 Grade I Starlet, run two races after the Futurity. The filly he saddled, American Gal, the 4-5 favorite, was run down in the final sixteenth of a mile by Abel Tasman, who won by 1 length as a 12-1 outsider under jockey Joe Talamo for trainer Simon Callaghan.

Abel Tasman, a daughter of Quality Road, won for the third time in four starts while running the 11/16 miles against eight other 2-year-old fillies in 1:42.25. Mopotism, a 33-1 shot, finished third, 31/4 lengths behind American Gal.

The winners connections paid a $10,000 supplemental fee to get into the race.

We decided to supplement because she was getting good at the right time and I thought she had the stamina for this race, Callaghan said.
If the old man bites dog journalism-school definition of news still applies, it was barely newsworthy when Donald Trump began gnawing on Chinas leg upon becoming president-elect. This is not to compare China to a giant canine or to ignore the fact of life that China-United States is a bilateral rivalry that must managed skillfully.

Its just to say that Trumps decision to speak on the telephone to the newly elected president of Taiwan shouldnt have surprised any sentient American, let alone the ladies and gentlemen of the Fourth Estate.

Ah, but it did. The phone call and subsequent Trump tweets induced widespread alarm in elite newsrooms and in the predictable precincts of social media: Take away that mans Twitter account! What is he trying to do, start World War III?!

Its clear that Donald J. Trump engenders strong emotions and that these feelings havent abated since he was elected president. But youd think his critics might have learned by now that throwing tantrums in response to anything he does or says can make the tantrum-thrower look ridiculous.

The morning Trump tweeted that burning the American flag should be punishable by jail time, for instance, the anchors on CNN and MSNBC went apoplectic. Their outrage lasted about as long as it took Fox News to unearth a similar 2005 flag-burning ban authored by one Hillary Rodham Clinton  when she was in the Senate. Oops.

The knee-jerk reaction to Trumps Taiwan gambit was even odder. The gist was that because Trump had irritated the Chinese government and alarmed the State Department, we, too, should be worried. But that line of argument ignored the entirety of Trumps campaign, and seven decades worth of lessons about relations between the White House and the State Department.

Lets start with the recently concluded presidential election. As a candidate, Trump repeatedly accused the Chinese of manipulating their currency, engaging in massive theft of intellectual property, unfairly taxing U.S. companies, not exerting enough control over North Korea, and nefariously enticing greedy American CEOs to relocate across the Pacific. He criticized Beijings leadership so much and so often for so many things that liberals famously made fun of how he pronounced the word China.

Yet his critics were shocked, shocked, when he took a call from Taiwans democratically elected president. Yes, lets dwell on that point for a second: Taiwan is a democracy, while China is the most populous dictatorship in the world.

At the State Department headquarters in Foggy Bottom, they got the vapors, but isnt this always how the foreign policy establishment reacts to presidents who want to, well, conduct international affairs the way they see fit?

In 1947 and 1948, the State Department did everything in its power to undermine Harry Trumans intention to recognize Israel. Although Truman considered Secretary of State George C. Marshall the greatest living American, he didnt listen to Marshall or the experts on this topic. At a White House meeting, Marshall raised an objection to the presence of White House political adviser Clark Clifford. Trumans answer was short, to the point, and relevant today. Well, general, the president of the United States replied, hes here because I asked him to be here.

In 1963, John F. Kennedy did listen to the State Department  and the CIA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff  on a foreign policy mess he inherited. Out of that deference came the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the popularity of a recently coined word, groupthink.

In 1987, neither Secretary of State George Shultz nor the White House National Security Council wanted President Reagan to go to the Brandenburg Gate and call for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. They considered it too provocative and feared that Kremlin hardliners would use it to undermine Gorbachev. (The State Department speechwriters preferred language? Someday this ugly wall will disappear.) Fortunately, the old Hollywood leading man ignored that edit.

Reagans theatrics did not end the Cold War, but they did set the stage for Reagans successful diplomacy with Gorbachev. Twenty years later, Shultz had no trouble admitting this to Time magazine. People were afraid of the consequences of what Reagan would say, he acknowledged. But it turns out he was right.

In 1993, the State Department opposed President Clintons decision to try to jump-start the peace process in Northern Ireland by granting Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams a visa to come to the United States. Clintons gambit succeeded spectacularly. From 1969 to late summer of 1994, 3,168 men, women and children were slain and another 30,000 maimed in the low-grade civil war simply called The Troubles.

It is not too much of a simplification to say that because Bill Clinton won the election in 1992, probably 150 people in Northern Ireland are walking around today who would have been dead by now, Irish expatriate Niall ODowd told me on the eve of Clintons 1995 to visit Ulster. You do the math: 3,000 people in 25 years. The cease-fire has lasted almost 15 months. Maybe it will last an eternity.

Come to think of it, when Richard Nixon went to China, he also had to circumvent his State Department, which he thought was leaking documents to sabotage his historic overture. It was this trip that led to the entire reset between the United States and China and the gradual abandonment of Taiwan in the first place. Is it time to reconsider?

I dont know about that, but I do know that Donald Trump sounded every day for a year-and-a-half like a presidential candidate uniquely unwedded to the status quo  especially when it came to China. And, by the way, those recent Trump tweets critical of Boeing and its CEO? This isnt a subject that just popped into the president-elects mind recently.

Back in February, Trump began accusing the Chinese of nefariously conspiring with Boeing to lure manufacturing plants out of South Carolina. He talked about this before the South Carolina primary, telling audiences there, It wont happen if Im president, by the way.

Carl M. Cannon is executive editor and Washington Bureau chief of RealClearPolitics.
In a blistering ruling, the 4th District Court of Appeal determined systemic failures and a cozy relationship between the Orange County District Attorneys office and Orange County Sheriffs Department undermined the DAs ability to exercise its vast discretion justly and fairly to ensure every defendant is treated fairly.

The ruling, released Nov. 22, upheld the 2015 decision by Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals to remove the entire DAs office from the penalty phase of Seal Beach salon shooters trial.

The shooters guilt has never been in dispute and in ordinary circumstances a relatively swift resolution to his case seemed almost certain. Instead, the case has inexplicably exposed concerns about the totality of the O.C. criminal justice system.

For years, informants were housed by OCSD deputies near suspects and obtained significant volumes of information for prosecutors. But there were problems with how OCSD and OCDA managed the informants and the evidence provided by them, which was often withheld from defense teams, either intentionally or through what Goethals called benign neglect.

The end result was compromised evidence and the violation of defendants rights. But both the OCDA and OCSD dispute this narrative.

We are not willing to bend the rules in order to achieve a conviction, we do not have any divided loyalty, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told us. People in this office are loyal to justice and fairness and upholding the constitutional rights of the accused as well as the victims.

The Board of Supervisors recently approved $400,000 in legal expenses from the countys grand jury, which has launched an investigation into the alleged misuse of jail informants.

Im gratified about that, Rackauckas said of the investigation. I want to see an objective body or a third party do a serious investigation. I know the determination theyll make is that there wasnt any intentional misconduct.

An independent, thorough investigation has long been needed to clear the air about what exactly went wrong, who was responsible and what needs to be done to prevent future violations. We encourage the grand jury to do all in its power to find the truth and help us hold our criminal justice system accountable.
One-third of Americans who have taken prescription opioids for at least two months say they became addicted to, or physically dependent on, the powerful painkillers, according to a new Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

Virtually all long-term users surveyed said they were introduced to the drugs by a doctors prescription, not by friends or through illicit means. But more than 6 in 10 said doctors offered no advice on how or when to stop taking the drugs. And 1 in 5 said doctors provided insufficient information about the risk of side effects, including addiction.

The survey raises sharp questions about the responsibility of doctors for an epidemic of addiction and overdose that has claimed nearly 180,000 lives since 2000. Opioid deaths surged to more than 30,000 last year, according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with deaths from heroin alone surpassing the toll from gun homicides.

Doctors have been widely blamed for sparking the crisis by overprescribing highly addictive opioids to treat everyday pain. The survey suggests they are still doing too little to stop it.

Why isnt it 100 percent? demanded Gary Mendell, founder of Shatterproof, a grass-roots group dedicated to reducing addiction in the United States, referring to the share who say doctors have counseled them on stopping the medication. Its unbelievable that its not 100 percent.

Patrice Harris, chairwoman of the American Medical Associations Board of Trustees and chair of its task force to reduce opioid abuse, acknowledged that doctors could do more to counsel patients on avoiding addiction.

The doctors that I have talked to are discussing this with their patients, Harris said. But, citing the survey, she added: We could certainly do a better job.

Despite the high rate of dependence, the poll found that a majority of long-term opioid users said the drugs had dramatically improved their lives.

Opioids relieve pain that is otherwise intractable, they said in follow-up interviews, allowing them to walk, work and pursue other activities. Fully two-thirds of users surveyed said relief is well worth the risk of addiction.

People living with opioid users tend to have a darker view of the drugs effects. While one-third of users said they are hooked, more than half of people living with them suspect addiction, the survey found. Family members also are far more likely to say the drugs have damaged the users physical and mental health, finances and personal relationships.

Still, the surveys findings highlight a fundamental conflict: While the drugs are a scourge for many, they are a godsend to others, especially the estimated 100 million Americans who live in chronic pain. Efforts by policymakers to restrict use have been met with outrage.

Were not saying that no one should ever be on these pills, but most people would be healthier and more functional if they were off them, said CDC Director Tom Frieden, who this spring urged doctors to sharply limit the number of pills they prescribe.

The bottom line here is that prescription opiates are as addictive as heroin. Theyre dangerous drugs, Frieden said.

Opioid abuse  both prescription painkillers and their chemical cousins, heroin and fentanyl  is the main cause of rising death rates among middle-aged white Americans, particularly women in rural areas. It also has contributed to the first overall decline in U.S. life expectancy at birth in more than two decades, the government reported Thursday.

In 2014, U.S. doctors wrote 240 million prescriptions for opiates, enough for every adult to have his or her own bottle of pills. The CDC estimated that 2.1 million Americans are addicted to legal narcotics.

In the first-ever guidelines on opioids for physicians, the CDC in March urged doctors to try nonnarcotic methods before offering patients pills containing oxycodone, hydrocodone and other opioids. The guidelines noted that there is little evidence that opioids are effective beyond 12 weeks.

Three days or less will often be sufficient; more than seven days will rarely be needed, the guidelines say.

But many people take the drugs much longer. In the past two years, about 5 percent of American adults have used prescription opioids for at least two months, the poll found; about half of those report taking the drugs for two years or more.

Nancy Horton, 62, of Martinsburg, W.Va., admits that she is addicted to the 190 milligrams of oxycodone she takes daily to dull the pain of rheumatoid arthritis. Without the drugs, I get the shakes. I am very anxious, she said. I just pace constantly. I cant get comfortable.

After 15 years on opioids, she said, I look back now and think, What could I have done differently?
The rise, and then the improbable election, of Donald Trump have reawakened progressive fears of a mounting authoritarian tide. With his hyperbole and jutting chin, he strikes some progressives as a new Benito Mussolini who will threaten free speech and other basic human rights.

Some aspects of Trumpism do exhibit some classic fascist modalities  emphasis on personal charisma, attacks on vulnerable minorities, rage against comfortable and self-satisfied elites. Yet, at the same time, some of the most histrionic attacks on Trump come from people who, rather than rejecting authoritarianism, really fear only his politically incorrect version of it.

During the election, Trump supporters did not generally disrupt Clinton rallies, but disturbances by progressives were somewhat common. After the election, the most hysterical forebodings about free speech came from the very college campuses  along with the left-leaning social media  that have not exactly been friendly to free speech.

At the same time, the powerful green lobby has made a point of trying to marginalize even distinguished scientists who differ in any degree from its climate change orthodoxy. In some cases, these scientists are not only demonized by fellow academics, but have been targeted for prosecution by right-thinking politicians. Sounds pretty fascist to me.

Conservatives also often find themselves booed, if not banned, from college campuses. Harvard political science professor Yascha Mounk recently cited Trump as a nascent fascist, but also admitted that older voters, who tended to back Trump, demonstrate a far greater commitment to democracy and republican institutions than younger people, whose thinking has been most shaped by campus and media progressives.

The illiberal dialectic

Illiberalism clearly is on the rise, not only here but around the world. Nationalist candidates have emerged throughout Europe, the supposed bastion of political goodness. China, Russia and Turkey all have become ever more authoritarian. You clearly can play capitalist all you want without supporting democratic institutions and values.

This new nationalism, Trumpian and otherwise, did not come about on its own. Over the past few decades, the fashionable consensus about global trade and immigration has created one set of winners  largely developing countries and large global corporations  while incomes, and living standards, have stagnated or gotten worse for the majority in high-income countries.

At the same time, progressives, whether here or in Europe, have fostered massive, sometimes illegal movements of people into their countries. California raises taxes on the middle class and erects barriers against upward mobility, but it seems fine with accommodating substantial numbers of largely poor, and often undocumented, immigrants  oftentimes with the aid of public tax dollars. This may make life better for the upper classes, but not so much for the already large mass of working poor.

Long associated with the political right, anti-democratic sentiments are increasingly common among progressives, and are likely to grow under Trumps rule. Some embrace globalist intellectual Parag Khannas notion, as can be seen in the upcoming book Technocracy in America, that we need less democracy and more technocracy. This call for rule by enlightened experts sanctions the shift of power from the populace to a self-selected cadre of professionals who claim to know best how to govern an increasingly complex and diverse world.

Embracing a new, diverse political culture

The political trajectory is ugly from both sides. Today, companies tell supporters of the president-elect that they are not welcome, and fashion designers, those paragons of working-class values, proudly refuse to dress his wife. To much of Hollywood, the mainstream media and academia, Trump and his legions of deplorables are simply unreconstructed racists, sexists and homophobes.

Trumps supporters hit back, labeling the entire mainstream media as hostile to their values, and denigrating, perhaps more than is warranted, their motives. Not a white nationalist himself, Steve Bannon, Trumps key strategic adviser, has been slow to distance his Breitbart site from openly racist and anti-Semitic groups during the campaign.

Like their progressive tormentors, some Trump backers want to give the other side no mercy. Particularly troubling is the possibility that prospective Attorney General Jeff Sessions might carry out mass arrests of the undocumented, including children, or stage a mass shutdown of marijuana clinics that are now legal under state laws in a throwback to the bad old days of Prohibition.

Needed now: A politics of modesty

Only a change of attitude and approach can slow this sad dialectic. Barack Obama doubled down on an imperial presidency, ruling essentially by decree, making it more plausible for Donald Trump to do likewise. What we really need now is not grandiosity and grandstanding, but rather a politics of modesty, one that allows space for different values and different points of view.

This necessitates allowing greater local control over issues  education, zoning, development  historically the purview of states, counties and municipalities. Let Colorado have its pot policies and Alabama have its own; let Dallas fix its freeways while Portland tries to block them. Communities can look at what happens and decide which model to follow.

Modesty. Toleration. Decentralization. We need more of these if the democratic experience is to flourish, rather than lurch toward a sad, and ultimately tragic, end dictated by one political side or the other.

Joel Kotkin is the R.C. Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange and executive director of the Houston-based Center for Opportunity Urbanism (www.opportunityurbanism.org).
I was worried that Id offended Carlos Eire.

The Yale professor of history and religious studies authored the definitive narrative of Fidel Castros destruction of Cuban family life with his 2003 memoir, Waiting for Snow in Havana.

Born into an upper-middle-class family  his father was a judge whose avocation was the collection of antiques  Eire spent his 1950s childhood catching lizards, going to the movies, chasing the pesticide jeep spraying DDT, setting off firecrackers and celebrating friends birthdays. But the music literally stopped on Jan. 1, 1959, when Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista.

In 1962, Eire and his brother Tony were two of 14,000 children who fled the island nation, part of Operation Peter Pan. Their mother would eventually join them in the United States, but they would never see their father again. Not since the day they sat in the Havana airport separated by glass in the fishbowl departure lounge erected by the government.

Eires book was a National Book Club winner. His memoir unfolds against the backdrop of his boyhood neighborhood of Miramar and his family home.

Rumor has it that our house collapsed about two years ago.  I really dont give a damn about that house anymore, he writes. If it did indeed fall down under its own rotten weight, good riddance. If it didnt, the first thing Ill do when I return to Havana is rent a bulldozer and raze it to the ground all by myself. Or better yet, Ill stuff the house full of dynamite and blow it up. My final firecracker surprise for the old neighborhood.

But the book contains no photographs of the residence, leaving it to readers to conjure its structure. And nowhere in the manuscript is the address identified.

The closest Eire comes to pinpointing the actual locale is his revelation that Che Guevara lived three blocks away, in an estate that encompassed an entire city block. And that Batistas kids were Eires classmates at El Colegio la Salle de Miramar, the finest primary school in Havana. Moreover, despite the vast attention this literary masterpiece has received, nowhere is that property easily located online.

In August, our family traveled to Cuba for a series of person-to-person exchanges and while en route, I reread Eires book. The more I read, the greater my desire to see the exterior of his boyhood home to add texture to my minds eye of his youth.

Armed with an internet access card, I sat in a public park and emailed Eire from Cuba. A day or two later I repeated the drill and I checked my account. Nothing. And upon return, still no reply.

Then last week, after Eire published an essay in the Washington Post articulating 13 facts that should be etched on Castros tombstone (among them, He turned Cuba into a colony of the Soviet Union and nearly caused a nuclear holocaust), I interviewed him on SiriusXM radio about Cubas future. Specifically, I wanted to know whether he agreed with Donald Trumps suggestion that the rapprochement begun by the Obama administration should be reversed.

Eire told me he agrees.

I hope he rolls it back all the way to how it was before Obama took office, because there was no deal, he said. It was a complete surrender to the Castro regime, and I hope, I sincerely hope, that President-elect Trump does deliver on his promises.

Eire wants all sanctions restored and an effort to do likewise with the worlds nations.

If Cuba became a pariah nation just like the old South Africa and the entire world cooperated in boycotting Cuba, that regime would collapse very quickly, just like the old South African regime collapsed, Eire said.

I asked why he never responded to my email. Had I offended him?

Oh, no. No, and I never got your email cause I freely give out [the houses] address. Ive given it out to everyone whos asked, he said. The last two people who went took photographs, it looks terrible, the entire neighborhood is, is basically destroyed.

So whats the address? I asked.

Its 2708 Calle, which is Street, 22.

Only Eires not going any time soon, at least not while things remain the same. He said he is regarded as an official enemy of the state. In Cuba you can be arrested for potential dangerousness, like the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report, where people are arrested before they commit crimes.

I cant even look at the pictures [of the house] without crying.  It was so unnecessary. It didnt have to be that way.

Michael Smerconish can be heard from 9 a.m. to noon on SiriusXMs POTUS Channel 124 and seen hosting Smerconish at 9 a.m. Saturdays on CNN.
Amber Helms grandparents built the house at the tip of Crown Point nearly a half-century ago, on a coveted, blufftop spot along the Pacific Ocean.

She heard the seals going, she looked around, she put up her hands and said, This is it,  Amber said of her grandmother, June Helm.

While the setting still makes the house  with private stairs to a cove  a standout property, its 1968 vintage means its ripe for a major revamp. But this is no handymans special. The three-bedroom house is listed at $14.9 million.

Southern California has seen a surge in pricey houses on the market with phrases such as fixer upper, TLC, needs work or good bones, an analysis by real estate website Zillow shows.

Expensive fixer-uppers, or those listed in the top third of their markets, saw the biggest increase in the number of as-is homes for sale around the nation over the last five years, going up 35 percent. By contrast, fixer-uppers in the bottom third of the market rose less than 3 percent.

Rising home prices and tough buyer competition may be giving sellers more flexibility to list their home for sale as-is without needing to fix it up first, the report states.

Cheap fixers had their heyday when the housing market crashed, Skylar Olsen, senior economist at Zillow, said in an interview last week.

The new fixer-upper, she said, is a million-dollar teardown.

In the drivers seat

In the L.A.-Orange County metropolitan area, listings generally were down 21 percent from 2011 to 2015, while fixer-uppers of all price ranges had a dip of 17 percent, the Zillow study showed. But high-end fixers  starting at $780,100 and going up, or way up  climbed by nearly 42 percent.

Nationwide, a greater increase in the number of expensive fixers over low- and mid-tier ones also was seen in places as diverse as Washington, D.C.; Portland, Ore.; Houston; Austin, Texas; and Nashville, Tenn. Definitions of low-, mid- and high-end homes differ by area.

Overall, fixers for sale have gone up 12 percent from five years ago, according to the analysis, which reviewed 452 metropolitan areas covering about 80 percent of the population.

Across the country, homes are selling fast and for high prices, said Svenja Gudell, Zillows chief economist, in a statement. Sellers are in the drivers seat, with the freedom to list their home for sale as-is without worrying about price cuts or the home sitting on the market.

Another way to look at it: You dont have to bet on the fact that that kitchen remodel is going to pay off in the end, Olsen said. You can just sell your home.

Trophy estates

Helm, 42, renovates houses, but said she doesnt have the time or money to invest in an extensive remodel on the Crown Point home. So it landed on the Multiple Listing Service, where, as of last week, it was the 22nd priciest house for sale in Laguna Beach.

Its a jewel, Helm said, giving a visitor a tour of the property recently. You have your private beach, and obviously, you have this amazing view.

The 3,121-square-foot house is a mix of Spanish and midcentury modern influences. It includes a bar that her grandfather, who didnt drink, fashioned into an ice cream parlor.

A set of architects renderings referred to in the listing are meant to help a buyer envision the future.

This property affords the opportunity to create your very own legacy and trophy estate, wrote the agent, Leo Goldschwartz of The McMonigle Team.

As-is properties in Orange County that have seen noteworthy transformations in recent years include a home on Linda Isle in Newport Beach that was featured in Architectural Digest in the 1970s.

In 2013, an investor bought the house for $9.5 million, complete with its dark, heavy beams and a wooden, cantilevered stairway leading to empty spaces with worn carpeting and bulky, dated accents.

After an extreme revamp, the four-bedroom home boasts high ceilings, an open floor plan, formal dining room, island kitchen and an elevator, along with hardwood and travertine floors and fireplaces in the living room and master suite.

Outside, a terrace along the water spans the width of the property, and a dock can accommodate a 60-foot boat.

A heated swimming pool and spa are tucked into a front courtyard.

The home sold in October for $20 million, becoming the second-priciest publicly listed Orange County home to sell so far this year.

Opportunity knocks

The fixer-upper trend also can be seen in various neighborhoods, where construction sites and new listings have been changing the landscape.

Three years ago, for example, investors paid $1 million for a 534-square-foot home built in the 1930s on the Balboa Peninsula about a block from the beach.

The house, appearing in a Register story about what $1 million buys around Southern California, has since been rebuilt.

In its place is a 3,022-square-foot house that recently hit the market at $3.195 million. The four-bedroom, Bali-style house has an open floor plan and a gourmet kitchen with an island that includes barstool seating, an espresso coffee maker and a wine fridge. Accordion sliding doors open to an outdoor patio.

The house is one of several homes on the peninsula that have replaced teardowns in recent years and hit the market at more than $3 million.

Driving around the Westcliff/Dover Shores area in Newport Beach on a November morning, real estate agent Jeff Stokes of HOM Sothebys International Realty pointed out homes in various stages of reconstruction.

Everybody wants to make money in real estate, he said. Real estate flipping shows make it look easy to buy fixer-uppers, fix and sell them quickly for large profits, especially in todays rising market.

In high-demand areas like Westcliff/Dover Shores, three types of buyers compete for as-is homes, Stokes said: Flippers who want to fix them quickly and resell; builders who want to tear them down and replace them with larger, modern homes; and owner-users looking for a place to live.

They are usually families  in it for the long haul, he said. Owner-users will pay generally more than the flippers and builders.

Stokes and agent Timothy Carr of Villa Real Estate have listed a new, five-bedroom, 3,999-square-foot house in the neighborhood. The home has two-story ceilings, a 20-foot fireplace wall, a wine cellar designed to be part of the decor, oak plank flooring and sliding glass doors that create a disappearing wall to the outdoors.

It replaced a modest, three-bedroom, 1,965-square-foot house. Well maintained but dated home situated on large lot on quiet street, the listing read when a builder snatched up the house for $1.325 million a couple of years ago.

The price tag on the new house: $3.695 million.
What can Dr. Ben Carson do for housing?

President-elect Donald Trump nominated the retired neurosurgeon  a former political rival turned Trump supporter  to be the next head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

HUD does everything from overseeing housing discrimination laws to offering housing assistance to low-income households to funding housing construction to being a significant player in the mortgage-making game. Its effect is nationwide but is extra noteworthy in high-cost regions like Southern California.

So being HUD secretary is a large job for anyone, especially Carson, who has no government experience.

Yes, hes got a personal link to HUD from his rags-to-riches story: an upbringing in a struggling family that benefited from some government financial assistance. But hes also a HUD critic and no fan of many welfare programs, in general. Hes been quoted as saying that many government housing initiatives look like social engineering.

As a public service, I offer up some HUD leadership advice for Carson, assuming he wins congressional approval for the post.

I contacted two local experts familiar with HUDs work and the governments role in housing to ask what Carsons focus should be at the department: Lucy Dunn, CEO of the Orange County Business Council and who once served as director of Californias Department of Housing and Community Development; and Richard Green, director of USCs Lusk Center for Real Estate, who spent the past year serving as a HUD senior adviser.

Here are five ideas that emerged for those conversations.

Keep Section 8

One way HUD has a major effect on local housing availability is its Section 8 system, which helps lower-income households get affordable rentals from private-sector landlords.

Both Dunn and Green agree that keeping the program, even expanding it, is critical.

Green says its a very efficient program with a high percentage of its dollars following to the actual participant. Additionally, he thinks the voucher system has a good bang for the buck for both HUD to meet its goals and for those helped by the program.

Its allows kids to school in better neighborhoods, and that has great benefits, Green says.

Maintain fairness

HUD has been the cop on the beat in terms of keeping access to housing and housing credit fair.

Green says the Obama administration has done an adequate job enforcing laws that ban discrimination by lenders, sellers and landlords. Hes worried that the agency will revert to the limited-regulation style of President George W. Bush. Which is no surprise, since Bush and Trump are pro-small-government Republicans.

New challenges may also not be addressed, Green fears. One example he cites is the nations growing immigrant populations, which have different buying and borrowing habits. The housing industry may need a nudge to change its ways to help these groups obtain the housing they need, he said.

We just cant wave a wand on these issues, Green says. But I dont see this as a priority for this administration.

Boost financing

In an era of skittish lenders, government agencies like HUD play a big role in the post-recession mortgage game.

Through its Federal Housing Administration programs, HUD can help cash-strapped households gain better financing terms. How HUD shapes its mortgage making going forward will be carefully watched in the real estate world.

In addition, how HUD interacts with sister agencies overseeing the much larger federal mortgage facilitators, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will be another chore for the new HUD chief.

The future of these two mortgage giants could be up for debate as the federal government tries to rethink its role in mortgage making.

To cobble it all together is a very tough thing to do, Green says.

Cross-pollinate

Housing is not a stand-alone issue, as it affects (and is affected by) numerous economic and societal trends, not to mention various bureaucratic forces.

Calls to reform the governments housing policies require deft juggling of the numerous agencies that touch housing. Could an outsider like Carson find possible nontraditional solutions?

For example, Dunn notes deep links between housing and a households educational success  as well as its health.

The most important impediment to infill (redevelopment) housing is crappy schools. Working with education. As schools improve, housing improves, says Dunn, who adds, Carson can bring his health expertise to the housing discussion. Safe, decent, affordable housing is a vaccine for many health issues.

Streamline

Carson will quickly learn how housing is a perfect example of how convoluted financial regulations can be.

Numerous agencies have a say-so in the real estate business. Carson will be challenged to deftly manage a bureaucratic maze to streamline some of Uncle Sams housing efforts.

Green hopes Carson gets needed funds for HUD to upgrade its ancient technology that helps service nearly $2 trillion of government-backed mortgages.

And Dunn notes that Veterans Affairs runs its own housing finance program for vets that is distinct from whats offered by HUD and other agencies.

Correct inefficiencies in housing programs, she says.

Contact the writer: jlansner@ocregister.com
SACRAMENTO  I took a photograph years ago of downtown Santa Ana for a magazine article I had written about the city. When I raised the camera to my eye, people ran for cover. I was later harangued by a stranger. In retrospect, its not hard to explain the reaction.

Orange County has more than 300,000 unauthorized immigrants, many of them living in the county seat. Its understandable that people living here illegally fear the roving eye of immigration authorities.

This puts into context the Santa Ana City Councils decision to declare itself a sanctuary city. Its good politics, even though the term is imprecise. There are approximately 300 cities and counties across the country that have adopted some type of sanctuary policy, but the specifics vary so much its hard to define exactly what constitutes such a city.

They include San Francisco, where law-enforcement do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities in many situations. San Francisco embraced this term in the 1980s, and increased its sanctuary protections in 2013, adopting the Due Process for All ordinance. Since then, police have been forbidden from retaining immigrants with the express purpose to hand them over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they are eligible for release and have no record of violent felonies.

As the San Jose Mercury News noted, sanctuary policy reached national visibility after a Mexican national who had been deported five times was arrested in the shooting death of Kate Steinle, fueling (Donald) Trumps hard line on immigration just as his campaign for president took off.

These are controversial yet substantive policies. Santa Ana, however, is on the other end of the spectrum. The councils 5-0 vote makes it the first in the county to adopt a sanctuary resolution. But the resolution remains symbolic, more of a rhetorical shot at the incoming Trump administration than an actual policy that will benefit residents of Orange Countys second-largest city.

As the resolution explains, Santa Ana wants to demonstrate its commitment to its residents by unequivocally stating that it will provide a sanctuary to all residents who are fearful by assuring them that the city will not expend any funds, nor use its resources, including staff, to administer federal immigration law which is the exclusive authority of the federal government.

A number of activists complained the ordinance is toothless. But the council also unanimously approved the first step in a plan to reduce the number of jail beds available to federal immigration authorities. This could cost the city $663,000 a year  ballooning to more than $2 million if the council ultimately ends the entire contract.

No matter what one thinks about the nations immigration policies, it would be crazy to end a jail contract that brings in significant revenue and funds myriad public services, including those that help immigrants living here. That would be a costly way to make a political point. The sanctuary resolution doesnt help anyone, either. It wont satisfy community activists.

I have little patience for the politics of symbolism.

Those more substantive sanctuary policies embraced by San Francisco do have real consequences. Im sympathetic to some of the goals. For instance, if unauthorized immigrants fear deportation from any dealings with the police, they are unlikely to report crimes. Thats a true public-safety problem.

But many of these policies create lawlessness. Theres an enormous public safety problem if cities allow dangerous people to roam the streets as a way to thumb their nose at federal policies. I dislike Trumps immigration stances, also, but it is wiser for local officials to deal strategically with the situation as it unfolds.

Venting never makes good policy, yet the silliness is spreading. On the first day of session Monday, the Legislature approved resolutions blasting Trump. Californians do not need healing. We need to fight, said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.

Oh, please.

There will be opportunity for the state to fight the feds, but such bravado isnt going to change the incoming administration and certainly will embolden immigration hard-liners.

Ive been impressed with the approach enunciated by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. We cooperate all the time with federal immigration officials when there are criminals that are in our midst and need to be deported, he said, according to the Los Angeles Times. With that said, were a very welcoming city, where our law enforcement officers and LAPD dont go around asking people for their papers, nor should they.

Indeed, cities shouldnt create unnecessary fear  something I understand better after my Santa Ana picture-taking episode. But instead of expressing anger, Santa Ana officials ought to take a deep breath and foster policies that are welcoming, yet in the best interests of the citys budget and the publics safety.

Steven Greenhut is Western region director of the R Street Institute. He was a Register editorial writer from 1998 to 2009. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org.
BEIRUT  Islamic State militants re-entered the historic city of Palmyra in central Syria on Saturday for the first time since they were expelled by Syrian and Russian forces nine months ago.

The activist-run Palmyra Coordination network said the militants had nearly encircled the city and entered its northern and northwestern neighborhoods. The group, which maintains contacts inside the city, said Islamic State fighters were approaching the citys UNESCO heritage site as well.

Osama al-Khatib said government soldiers were fleeing Palmyra.

The army as an institution has dissolved, he said.

Some soldiers and militiamen remain in the city, along with 120 families who have not been able to leave, Khatib said. He spoke to The Associated Press from Gaziantep, Turkey.

There is strong fighting on all sides, he reported.

There is no exit except through a corridor to the west.

The dramatic reversal in Palmyra comes days after Islamic State militants in the Iraqi city of Mosul launched a major counterattack that surprised Iraqi soldiers, killing at least 20 and halting their advance.

Also Saturday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that an additional 200 U.S. soldiers would be dispatched to Syria to accelerate the push on the self-declared Islamic State capital of Raqqa.

These uniquely skilled operators will join the 300 U.S. special operations forces already in Syria, Carter said.

During the 10 months that Islamic State held Palmyra, from May 2015 to March 2016, the militants dynamited several of the citys famed ancient Roman monuments and executed its archaeological director.

Syrian state media had no comment.
Bill Skeffington, owner of Watsons Soda Fountain & Cafe in Old Towne Orange, is taking donations to support ABC7s Spark of Love toy drive.

Skeffington also owns Bens Asphalt in Santa Ana and Rockwells Bakery in Villa Park. He said donations can be made at any one of his businesses through Thursday, Dec. 15.

Over the past two decades, the Spark of Love Toy Drive has successfully collected more than 9 million toys for underprivileged children and teens.

In its 24th year, it is a joint effort between the local TV station and Southern California firefighters. This year they also partnered with& the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program.

For seven years, Skeffington has been using his Bens Asphalt vehicles (think: dump trucks filled with toys) to deliver gifts to low-income families and their children who gather at Honda Center, one of several drop-off areas in Southern California.

We are very fortunate to have a successful company, and this is a fun way to give back, said Skeffington. Were looking for a bigger and better year.

Those who drop off a toy at Rockwells, 17853 Santiago Blvd, Villa Park, will get a free cookie, he said. Watsons is at 116 E. Chapman Ave. in Orange. Bens Asphalt is at 2200 S. Yale St. in Santa Ana.

On Friday, Dec. 17, Yogurtland will be giving out free cups of frozen yogurt or a 5-ounce free card for people who donate a new unwrapped toy at the Spark of Love Toy Drive at the Honda Center.

The Stuff-A-Bus event is at Honda Center in Anaheim from 4:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

More details:http://abc7.com/family/spark-of-love-toy-drive-2016/1614242/
A person was injured Saturday after a vehicle crashed into a fuel tanker truck on the I-405 freeway in Fountain Valley, backing up traffic for miles while authorities responded, authorities said.

A GMC Yukon traveling northbound on the 405 went across several lanes and struck a tanker truck south of Brookhurst Street shortly before 6:20 p.m., according to dispatcher with the California Highway Patrol.

The tanker truck partially flipped onto its side, pinning the SUV.

Authorities shut down the northbound lanes from Euclid Street to Brookhurst Street while the southbound lanes remained open.

One person was taken to a hospital with unknown injuries. It was not immediately clear if the person injured was in the SUV or the truck.

The freeway was reopened shortly before 10 p.m.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2478 or lcasiano@scng.com
AMNESTY International Tullamores activist group celebrated 15 years in Tullamore, and 50 years of Amnesty globally, with Amnesty International Ireland executive director Colm OGorman, by planting a tree in Lloyd Town Park on Saturday.

AMNESTY International Tullamores activist group celebrated 15 years in Tullamore, and 50 years of Amnesty globally, with Amnesty International Ireland executive director Colm OGorman, by planting a tree in Lloyd Town Park on Saturday.

The Amnesty International Tullamore Activist Group has spent the last fifteen years shining a light on human rights violations around the world, from Zimbabwe to right here in Ireland, said Mr OGorman.

They are everything thats great about Amnesty International, individuals that feel passionate about human rights, and week in week out they support us, taking action and raising money.

In 1998, the group marked the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by planting a weeping beech in the town park, with a stone engraved in memory of all those denied their rights. To celebrate the groups 10th birthday in 2006, 40 daffodils were planted in ten groups around the tree.

You can see their commitment reflected in who they are as people, a commitment to human dignity for everyone, said OGorman.

The group was founded when local resident Deirdre Fox called a meeting and invited two activists from Dublin down to kick-start their activities. One of those activists was former Amnesty International Ireland staff member, the late Frank Jennings. More than two dozen people from the area also attended, but it has been Group Coordinator Maire McKay and members Pauline Meehan and Eamonn OToole who have kept it going, organising public actions every few months.

At one oclock a holly tree was planted in Killurin cemetery, in the Town Park (with permission from the Town Council), said Maire McKay of the Tullamore Amnesty group It is near to the weeping beech we planted in 1998 to celebrate 50 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The tree was blessed by Rev William Hayes and then as Gaeilge by Girvan McKay. As the weather was inclement the ceremony was kept short and we soon proceeded to the Presbyterian Church.

Colm OGorman was welcomed by Maire McKay, local co-ordinator of the group. Mr OGorman acknowledged the work of the local group, mentioning its sterling work on human rights in Zimbabwe and speaking of Amnestys agenda  the hope of attracting more people to work for human rights throughout the world.

An excerpt from Burns poem Man was made to mourn was read by Girvan McKay, said Ms McKay. Jo Elliffe then read out a poem by Ric S Bastaba, after which William Hayes sang Chimes of Freedom by Bob Dylan.

Unfortunately, the work of Amnesty International is still just as necessary as when they were set up. In this year of volunteering, may many people continue to fight for those denied their rights.
More than $880,000 was rasied for Childrens Hospital & Medical Center at the Childrens Gala at CenturyLink Center Omaha.

Proceeds will go to the Changing Lives Together Capital Campaign, which is designed to fund expansion of the hospitals main campus, regional presence, research activity and pediatric critical care.

More than 1,500 attended the sold-out Nov. 5 event, which featured the a cappella group Straight No Chaser. A raffle, dinner and silent and live auctions also were part of the evening.

Honorary chairmen were Carrie and John Jenkins. LoLo, Beth and Ben Rowe were the honorary patient family. Event co-chairwomen were Stephanie Pantano and Addie Hollingsworth.

Christmas Caravan Preview Party Gala

A social hour, silent auction, oral auction and dinner were part of the Nov. 2 Christmas Caravan Preview Party Gala, a benefit for the Assistance League of Omaha.

The gala, a preview of the organizations Christmas Caravan Tour of Homes, drew 272 to Champions Run.

Keynote speaker was David Brown, president and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.

Award recipients included Kevin Kautsch, who was recognized with the Crystal Bell Award, and Derek and Jennifer Jernstedt of the California-based Quest Foundation, who received the Caring Hands Award.

The gala and tour together raised $80,000. Proceeds will support Assistance League philanthropic programs.

Breaking the Cycle Luncheon

Scott Conference Center was the setting for the Breaking the Cycle Luncheon, a benefit for Youth Emergency Services.

Proceeds from the more than $10,000 raised through the Nov. 4 event will assist homeless and near-homeless Omaha-area youths.

The speaker was Sakura Yodogawa-Campbell, who survived abuse, sexual assault and sex trafficking.

Now a crime victims advocate in the Sarpy County Attorneys Office, she spoke about her experiences and how she worked past them. Trauma can leave a permanent impression, but it doesnt define who you are or who you can become, she said.

Recognized during the event was Emily Borgmann, a volunteer writer with the organizations Street Outreach Center who helped youths at the center expand their creativity.

Also recognized was C&A Industries for its in-kind donations, gift drives and longtime sponsorship.

The luncheon drew 200.

Bemis Benefit Art Auction

Artist-centric programs at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts benefited from an Oct. 28 art auction. The center offers public programs, exhibitions and an international artist-in-residence program.

The auction, held at the Bemis Center, generated nearly $325,000 and featured a performance by New York-based artist Sean Fader.

The event attracted more than 700 and generated nearly $325,000.

Omaha Signature Chefs Auction

The Omaha Signature Chefs Auction drew 550 to Embassy Suites La Vista.

Highlights of the Oct. 6 event included tastes of items from 22 chefs, a live auction featuring dining packages from participating chefs and a raffle that included a 1.43-carat diamond.

Along the way, speed painter Michael Israel entertained the crowd by producing five paintings at the event and contributing a total of seven paintings to the nights auction.

The auction, a benefit for the March of Dimes, raised $278,000.

Dr. Rebecca and Jerry Jacobi were event chairmen.

Climb Higher Luncheon

Hilton Omaha was the setting for the Climb Higher Luncheon, a benefit for the Omaha Outward Bound School.

Proceeds from the more than $100,000 raised will provide individuals in greater Omaha with learning activities involving leadership, character development and service.

The keynote speaker was adventurer Eric Larsen, who was part of an expedition to the North Pole. Larsen described his journey and how he overcame a variety of challenges to reach his goal.

Dr. Jason and Kristen Papenfuss were chairmen of the Oct. 26 event.

The luncheon drew 500.

ON THE CALENDAR

JAN. 21

Reflection Ball, Midlands Community Foundation, Embassy Suites La Vista, $125, 402-991-8027 or events@midlandscommunity.org.

FEB. 3

Hopeful Hearts Dinner, Our Lady of Lourdes-St. Adalbert Parish, Livestock Exchange Building, $50, 402-346-0900.

FEB. 4

Cruise Away to the French Riviera, Stephen Center, Champions Run, $150; Debbie Slattery, 402-639-9511.

FEB. 11

Carnival of Love Gala, Heartland Family Service, Embassy Suites La Vista, $150; Nicole Tromler, 402-552-7424 or ntromler@heartlandfamilyservice.org

Rockin Rosie 2017: Rosie Rocks the Rockies, The Rose Theater Guild, Hilton Omaha, $125, www.rosetheater.org.

FEB. 24-25 and MARCH 3-4

Murder Mystery at the Castle, Joslyn Castle, 3902 Davenport St., $75, joslyncastle.com.

FEB. 25

FIESTA 2017: Mercy Gras, Mercy High School, Embassy Suites La Vista, $125, mercyhigh.org.

JDRF Promise Gala, JDRF, CenturyLink Center Omaha, $225, jdrf.org/omaha or Laci Naber at 402-397-2873.

Team Jack Foundation Gala, Team Jack Foundation, Embassy Suites in Lincoln, $150, 855-786-5225.

MARCH 4

Columbs Ceili, St. Columbkille Catholic Parish, Embassy Suites La Vista, $85, 402-203-3454 or columbsceili.org.

MARCH 11

Irish Fest, Catholic Charities, Embassy Suites La Vista, $150; Ginny Czechut, 402-829-9261.

If you have news for Around and About, send it to Howard K. Marcus, aroundandabout@owh.com. Follow him on Twitter @OWHhoward.
For 58-year-old Shakur Abdullah, getting released from prison last year after more than four decades inside came with an irony he hopes to change.

I was 17 when I went in, and so I was too young to vote, he said. Now Im definitely old enough to, but I still cant.

Thats why hes leading the charge to change Nebraska law to allow felons to vote once they complete their sentence or parole. Currently those returning citizens, as Abdullah wants them to be referred to, cant vote until two years after their sentence is complete.

Wearing his I couldnt vote today T-shirt in a room of about 10 community leaders and activists Saturday, Abdullah launched the Justus15Vote Initiative. The initiative includes an online petition on Change.org.

The meeting included a drafted bill that would remove the two-year waiting period for returning citizens wanting to vote.

And attendees discussed which senator should introduce the bill in the upcoming session.

A few attendees, including Melanie Williams-Smotherman, were concerned that the drafted bill didnt go far enough. She said she hoped the initiative would follow the examples of Maine and Vermont, which allow incarcerated felons to vote.

Omaha State Sen.-elect Justin Wayne and Abdullah encouraged the group to first work on getting the two-year wait period lifted.

We have a good shot at getting rid of this two-year requirement this year, so we need to focus on that, Wayne said.

Abdullah agreed. Though he hopes to see more changes in the future, he said this is an important first step.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, he said. We may just have to settle for this first bite being the two-year requirement.

Williams-Smotherman said shell support the initiatives plan, despite her hope for broader legislation.

Taking away the voting rights of returning citizens isnt keeping anyone safer; its not a part of rehabilitation, she said. It shouldnt be this bargaining chip  it should be a right of all citizens to have a voice.
YORK, Neb.  A 53-year-old York man, Timothy Case, died after he was shot by police at York General Hospital early Sunday.

York Police Chief Don Klug said officers were dispatched to the hospital shortly after midnight because a man was reportedly wielding a knife and threatening hospital staff.

When they arrived they issued the command for him to drop his knife, but he continued to threaten staff and was also threatening the police officers, Klug said. They deployed a Taser on the subject two times, both times to no avail.

The subject continued to be threatening and was refusing to drop his weapon, Klug said. At that point they also attempted to deploy chemical means, using pepper spray, but again to no avail. Officers repeated commands for him to stop and drop his weapon, but he refused, and advanced toward officers.

At that point, Klug said, one of the officers shot the man.

Case was taken by helicopter in critical condition to Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln. He later died, Klug said.

Klug said he did not know why Case was at York General.

Case had been outside the hospital, near the emergency entrance, when an altercation began, according to York General Hospital.

Our staff and ER physician saw this situation begin to escalate outside the ER doors and contacted law enforcement immediately, the hospital said in the statement. It is because of this early contact along with the quick response that together we were able to resolve this situation without injury or harm to our patients and staff.

The hospital declined to comment on why Case was there.

This individuals presence outside our ER is under investigation along with the rest of the incident, so no further comments or speculation will be given, the statement said.

The officers involved in the incident were Roger Wolfe, who has been with the York Police Department since 1999, and Christopher Jepsen, who has been with the department since 2013. Information provided by police did not indicate which of the officers fired his weapon.

Both officers have been placed on administrative leave at this time, Klug said. That is standard procedure. ... The officers did all they could to defuse the situation before having to take the action they did.

The Nebraska State Patrol is conducting an investigation of the incident, and a grand jury will be convened. Under state law, a grand jury is convened to investigate any time a person dies in jail, while in custody or while law enforcement is trying to arrest the person.

This was the York Police Departments first officer-involved shooting in about 15 years, Klug said.

World-Herald staff writer Kevin Cole contributed to this report.
COUNCIL BLUFFS  The owner of Colonial Plaza Apartments in Council Bluffs faces fines of $40,000 for failing to register for the citys rental inspection program.

It is the largest fine the city has levied since changes in rental laws last year, but its only one aspect of the problems at the 40-unit building northeast of downtown at 38 Dillman Drive.

The buildings owner is in a mental health prison facility in North Carolina. The brother of the former building manager faces burglary and theft charges after he admitted to police that he used his brothers master key to steal jewelry from the apartments.

Meanwhile, the buildings lack of registration led city inspectors to investigate living conditions at the apartments this summer.

As a result, inspectors identified 183 violations of city health and safety codes. The inspection reports included violations for water leaks, smoke detectors missing or without batteries, missing drywall, exposed wires, broken steps and a handrail so rusty that it had disconnected from the steps.

While many of the problems had been addressed when the city inspectors returned in October, officials still identified 95 code violations during a second round of visits.

Round three of inspections are to start Friday. They could lead to additional fines against the owner and even a shutdown of the building, which would require relocating all of the tenants.

The $40,000 non-registration fine is $1,000 per unit as set out in the ordinance. On Friday, the $40,000 fine remained unpaid.

Steve Carmichael, the citys chief building official, said he is preparing to issue a lien against the property  meaning that the $40,000 and any other fines would have to be paid before the building could be sold.

The Colonials situation is the result of changes to the citys rental inspection program. After years of allowing Council Bluffs landlords to self-report the condition of their dwellings, in January 2015 the city started conducting the inspections following the City Councils approval of a rental inspection ordinance.

Over the last year and a half this is the first big apartment complex that wasnt registered, Carmichael said. Some others have violations, but nothing compared to this.

January 2015 also was just a month after the owner of Colonial Plaza, Graham Garnos, disappeared, according to his mother, Judith Huitink of Sioux City, Iowa. She told city officials in a letter that she became Garnos guardian and conservator on Dec. 14, 2015. She said it was her understanding Garnos had been in federal custody since November or December of 2014.

On June 16, city records show Huitink paid for the registration fees of $1,450 for 2016.

But in her letter she pleaded for the city to waive the $40,000 fine, saying the apartment manager had not notified the family of the registration law.

At a July 25 City Council meeting the members voted unanimously to deny the waiver request. Councilwoman Sharon White said that without a penalty, owners have no incentive to register buildings and comply with the ordinance.

The ordinance we have in place requires that fine. Otherwise there is no reason to follow it, she said.

Huitink declined requests to be interviewed for this story.

Garnos is incarcerated at the Federal Medical Facility in Butner, North Carolina, and is charged in South Dakota with interstate communications with threat to injure. Garnos, in a phone call, allegedly threatened to murder a law enforcement officer and his wife.

Attempts to contact Garnos were unsuccessful. Garnos attorney, Al Arendt in Pierre, South Dakota, declined to comment on his clients case.

Huitink, in her letter to the city, said Garnos hired Mark Hull to oversee maintenance at Colonial Plaza in December 2014. In Garnos absence, she said, Hull was serving as apartment manager.

This April, some residents reported to police that jewelry was missing from their apartments. None of the victims apartments showed signs of forced entry.

On April 16, Jason Hull  Mark Hulls brother  was interviewed at the police station and admitted to seven of the apartment burglaries and to thefts at two other apartments he was working in while Mark Hull was maintenance manager.

According to the police report, Jason Hull told investigators he would wait until a certain tenant was not home and either find the apartment unlocked or use his brothers master key without Mark Hulls knowledge. Jason Hull would go in, steal jewelry and sell the items at various pawnshops to support his meth addiction, he said.

Jason Hull is being held at the Pottawattamie County Jail without bond. Neither Jason Hull nor Mark Hull responded to requests to be interviewed for this story.

Carmichael said Mark Hull is no longer employed at the apartments.
MINDEN, Iowa  For years, hunters in Iowa and Nebraska have been donating deer to local meat processors so those who are hungry can enjoy fresh venison.

Jeffery Hodges, owner and operator of the Minden Meat Market here, estimated he gets about 45 pounds of meat out of each deer that is donated by local hunters.

Counting back to 2005, he figured at least 1,000 deer have been processed at his business to help feed the hungry through local food banks  meaning 22.5 tons of deer meat have come through his operation.

Basically, I know a lot of guys who, if they dont want to pay for the costs of processing, theyd rather donate it, Hodges said. Its a good deal that gets the meat out to people who need it.

The program, Help Us Stop Hunger, is a partnership involving the Food Bank of Iowa, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, meat lockers and, of course, hunters.

The program allows hunters to donate deer to be processed into ground venison, which ends up feeding hungry Iowans.

Six other southwest Iowa meat lockers also participate in the program, in Atlantic, Earling, Essex, Hamburg, Hancock and Irwin.

Similar programs, like Hunters Helping the Hungry, are coordinated with the Food Bank for the Heartland, too, which reaches into both Nebraska and Iowa.

According to the Food Bank of Iowa, the goals of the program are twofold: keep the deer population in check and provide low-fat, high-protein meat for the hungry.

Between 2002 and 2013, Hunters Helping the Hungry provided approximately 2.3 million pounds of venison throughout the state.

Jim Coffey, a forest wildlife research technician with the Department of Natural Resources, said his agency asks hunters to harvest additional deer to not only reduce the herd size but also to donate venison to the program.

We have a lot of lockers who enjoy the program and participate because it supports their local community, he said.

Angie Grote, communications manager for the Food Bank for the Heartland, said the organization has 12 processors in Iowa who contribute. In 2015 the food bank received about 7,700 pounds of meat  the equivalent of 6,400 meals.

We work with 530 network partners, shelters, churches, pantries and so forth to distribute food, Grote said. Protein is always in demand at the food bank.

Dena Matthews, outreach coordinator for West Central Community Action in Harlan, said venison has always been a big hit among those who use the food pantry. Her agency oversees food pantries in six counties: Mills, Fremont, Shelby, Montgomery, Monona and Harrison.

When we first started receiving our venison donations I wasnt sure how the clientele would react, but people really enjoyed it, she said. They ask for more.

Wendy Mueller, outreach director for the agency, said the collaborative effort involving the hunters who donate the deer and the butchers who process the meat makes it all possible.

We couldnt do it without donations, she said. If theyre willing to give to the program, its fantastic.
LINCOLN  Grit, determination and the support of several caring adults allowed Faith Walker to escape what she calls a harmful, toxic childhood.

But Nebraska laws on 18-year-olds made the break more difficult.

The laws offered her no means of seeking emancipation from her parents and were conflicted about whether, as an 18-year-old, she could have gotten protection through the child welfare system.

That left Walker in a state of fear and anxiety until she turned 19.

Now the University of Nebraska at Omaha sophomore is telling her story to state policymakers and advocates in hopes of getting the laws changed.

About a year ago, Walker said, she was living on her own after graduating from Duchesne Academy.

She had a bakery job that paid her expenses and had embarked on a quest to get a college degree, with help from financial aid she applied for on her own. Her majors are international studies and American literature.

At age 18, however, Walker was a minor in the eyes of the law. Nebraska sets 19 as the age of majority.

Her parents, she said, used that fact in attempts to derail her college career and bring her back within their control.

On one occasion they tracked her down at work and enlisted the help of police, who ignored Walkers pleas and forced her into her parents car because she was a minor.

Her parents said I would never go back to school, that I would never get away from them again, she said.

Walker did get away, though, and the second time her parents tried to get her back home, a sympathetic police officer advised her to lay low for the five months until she turned 19.

The World-Heralds attempts to reach her parents were unsuccessful.

Through friends, Walker made contact with Omaha attorney and City Councilwoman Aimee Melton.

Melton said Walker had talked with those friends in the past about her fear of her parents.

Her father had twice served time in prison for assaulting an officer. He also has been convicted of third-offense drunken driving and carrying a concealed weapon. Her mother twice took out protection orders against him, but later dropped the orders.

A protection order for Walker, however, was not an option: She was too young to file for one. The same was true of filing a petition for emancipation on her own behalf.

Walker refused to try child protective services. Even if it could have helped  which was unclear under state law  she did not want to be separated from her two younger siblings.

Eventually, Melton found a creative solution.

She sued Walkers parents for the young womans emancipation and asked for a restraining order while the suit was pending.

The order was granted and lasted until Walker turned 19, in May, after which the case was dismissed.

Last month Walker and others appeared at a legislative interim study hearing to argue that Nebraska should address the legal gaps affecting 18-year-olds.

Juliet Summers, policy coordinator with Voices for Children in Nebraska, proposed a pair of solutions to cover different types of situations.

One proposal was for a law allowing minors to seek emancipation from the court if they meet specific requirements.

Some 21 states already have laws spelling out such a process, but neither Nebraska nor Iowa is among them. The only thing spelled out in Nebraska law is that minors are considered to be legally adults if they marry.

Nebraska case law provides some guidance in determining if a minor should be considered emancipated, but the cases must be brought by an adult. Typically such petitions are brought by parents seeking an end to child support obligations.

Summers said emancipation could benefit young people such as Walker, who have the financial and personal resources to live independently.

The process could be available to youths of a certain age, perhaps 18, perhaps a year or two younger. To be emancipated, young people would have to demonstrate financial independence and the ability to make decisions for themselves.

Summers said the other proposal could help when an 18-year-olds safety is threatened at home but that young person doesnt have the wherewithal to strike out on his or her own.

The proposal would change state law to make clear that authorities can step in to protect those youths from abuse and neglect, including filing petitions in juvenile court.

Anne Hobbs, director of the UNO Juvenile Justice Institute and a foster parent, said the second proposal could have helped a pair of brothers, ages 18 and 16, whom she cared for last year.

The youngsters were left at a youth shelter last year by their parents, who had adopted them from Colombia.

After being contacted by an advocate, Hobbs took the boys in as foster youths. She then spent weeks trying to get them help, particularly through the child welfare system, but ran into a series of brick walls.

It wasnt until five months after the youths had been left by their parents that the county attorney filed a child welfare petition in juvenile court.

The petition opened the door for state services to begin, and the boys were able to move in with an aunt, who is pursuing guardianship of the younger boy. The older one is now 19 and an adult.

The problem, as Hobbs found, is that current state law is contradictory.

One law limits juvenile courts, where child welfare cases are filed, to cases involving juveniles, defined as youths under age 18.

Another law says child welfare workers are to respond to reports of abuse and neglect involving a minor child, but does not define what a minor child is.

Until recently the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services interpreted the laws to mean abuse and neglect reports could be accepted only on children under age 18.

Thats the interpretation spelled out in child welfare rules and regulations.

But Lindy Bryceson, who oversees the child welfare service areas, said the department changed its practice about a year ago. HHS now accepts reports on youths under 19, based upon a separate law that defines anyone under that age as a minor.

Agency statistics show that in 2015, the child abuse hotline got 567 calls involving 18-year-olds. Of those, 171 were investigated and 50 were substantiated.

Neleigh Boyer, an attorney with HHS, said the department can provide services in those cases if the family agrees to work with the department voluntarily.

But HHS runs into problems if a court needs to be involved to order cooperation.

Instead of asking a county attorney to file a petition, as is done with younger children, HHS can only turn over information and let the county attorney decide what to do, she said.

Boyer said some county attorneys have been willing to file cases involving 18-year-olds in juvenile court despite the limits set out in state law.

State Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha, who introduced the interim study resolution, said she hopes to introduce legislation to address both proposals brought forth by Voices for Children.

However, she said the legal issues involving 18-year-olds have turned out to be more complex than she initially expected.

Those complexities have stymied past proposals to set up an emancipation process.

The most recent effort was in 2007, when a bill introduced by then-Sen. Phil Erdman of Bayard made it out of committee but never got debated by the full Legislature.

Walker said she plans to keep advocating for changes, knowing that she is not the only Nebraskan who has had difficulties navigating the legal landscape for 18-year-olds.

Nobody else should go through what I did, she said. My situation is only unique in that it got attention.
Watch the video. Walter Scott, unarmed and slow of foot, tries to run away. Police officer Michael Slager fires five rounds into Scotts back. Later, Slager approaches Scotts body, not to give first aid but apparently to plant evidence of a struggle that never took place.

Now tell me: How cheap is black life in these United States of America?

A jury in North Charleston, South Carolina, could not agree that Slager committed a crime, forcing the judge in the case to declare a mistrial.

Prosecutors quickly announced they will try Slager again. In the optimistic view, last weeks stunning result, or non-result, means justice deferred rather than justice denied. Im trying to be an optimist, but its not easy.

Tell me: What does it take to get a police officer punished for killing an unarmed black man in cold blood?

The whole thing is on video, people.

The fatal encounter took place April 4, 2015, when Slager, who is white, pulled Scott over for having a busted brake light. African-Americans and Hispanics are used to such petty, harassing traffic stops. White Americans, perhaps not so much.

Slager testified that he feared for his life; Scott, he claimed, had wrestled away his Taser and was trying to use it on him.

But a passer-by named Feidin Santana, who saw and taped the whole thing, said there was no struggle  and the video appears to show Slager placing the Taser next to Scotts body. If he did stage the crime scene, the officer demonstrated full awareness of his own culpability. Again, I ask, what does it take?

Even if you want to believe Slagers unsupported account of a struggle, no one can dispute the fact that Scott was running away when Slager gunned him down. A heavyset 50-year-old with no weapons, running as if through molasses, is hardly a clear and present danger to society. Yet Slager shot Scott five times. In the back.

Nearly half the population of North Charleston is black; Slagers jury included 11 whites and just one African-American. Notes from the jury to the judge, who is African-American, suggest there may have been one lone holdout who would not vote to convict Slager of murder or manslaughter.

One miscarriage of justice, caused by one stubborn juror, would be easier to swallow if not for all the rest. Eric Garner, approached by police on Staten Island for selling loose cigarettes, was choked to death  again on video  but none of the officers involved has been charged.

Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy, was playing with a toy gun; a police officer shot him dead within seconds of arriving on scene but faced no charges. Michael Brown was unarmed when a police officer stopped him in Ferguson, Missouri; the officer fired his weapon 12 times, killing Brown, but a grand jury failed to indict him.

No one should wonder why the Black Lives Matter movement is so relevant and necessary. It will remain so until black lives do, in fact, matter.

And conservatives who claim to champion individual liberty against abusive state power should be the movements most avid supporters.

Slager also faces federal charges for allegedly violating Scotts civil rights. That prosecution was delayed pending the completion of the state trial; now that there is to be a second state trial, presumably the federal case will be put off once again.

So it will likely fall to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.  President-elect Donald Trumps pick for attorney general  to decide whether to move forward with a trial in federal court. Sessions was once denied a federal judgeship because of racist remarks he had made; friends and supporters say thats all ancient history. We shall see.
Cyclone Sitrang likely to become severe cyclonic storm; West Bengal on alert

Cyclone Sitrang: Bengal to get moderate rainfall, fishermen advised not to venture into sea

Cyclone Vardah to cross AP, TN coast on Dec 12: Navy

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Chennai, Dec 11: The Indian Navy on Sunday said the cyclonic storm Vardah is likely to cross south Andhra Pradesh coast and nothern Tamil Nadu coast tomorrow (December 12) afternoon.

The cyclone is likely to weaken as it passes these areas, which includes areas between coastline of Chennai and Ongole, said Navy PRO.

Likely to weaken gradually while moving towards South Andhra Pradesh coast and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coast:Navy PRO #cyclonevardah  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

Vardah, has in the past six hours, moved further west-northwestwards during past 6hrs with 20 kmph speed, reported news agency ANI.

The IMD''s earlier prediction was that the storm would to intensify into severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of 90-130 kmph from December 9 onwards.

""CycloneVardah is expected to cross coast btw South Nellore and Chennai by tomorrow evening," news agency ANI quoted Disaster management commissioner MV Seshagiri Babu as saying.

Control rooms opened in Vijayawada;Necessary personnel positioned in coastal mandals;5NDRF teams moved;Monitoring situation closely-MVS Babu pic.twitter.com/aPdZX2dyrG  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

The cyclonic storm, was on Thursday, 340 kms of Car Nicobar and 1,060 kms of Vishakapatnam, which had prompted Navy and the Coast Guard to evacuate tourists from Andaman and Nicobar islands.

A fleet of seven ships and six helicopters evacuated all 2,376 tourists, including several foreign nationals, stranded in two islands of the Andamans due to cyclonic weather.

Located about 40 km from Andaman, Havelock and Neil are the most popular tourist attractions in the Andamans where tourists were stranded since Monday due to torrential rains, choppy seas and heavy winds

Fishermen have been advised to not venture into the sea from the next 24 hours along the Andaman and Nicobar coast and starting December 10 along Andhra Pradesh coast. Fishermen out at sea are advised to return to coast.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Sunday, December 11, 2016, 11:38 [IST]
Cyclone 'Vardah' to make landfall near Chennai today

India

oi-PTI

Chennai/New Delhi, Dec 11: Severe cyclonic storm 'Vardah' over the Bay of Bengal will make landfall near Chennai tomorrow, the weather office said today.

The system is expected to bring heavy rainfall in coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, and southern Andhra Pradesh.

"Vardah lay centred at about 440 km east of Chennai (at 0830 hrs today) and the system is expected to move westwards and cross Chennai by December 12 afternoon," S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said in Chennai.

However, its intensity will get reduced considerably by the time it makes the landfall. The MeT office in Delhi has briefed the PMO and the Cabinet Secretariat on the cyclonic storm.

K J Ramesh, Director General of the IMD said, "I have personally spoken to chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, while the regional MeT offices are in constant touch with the Disaster Management Commissioners of these two states."

Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) at Chennai said the storm is expected to bring heavy rainfall in northern coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, including the capital city. Southern Andhra Pradesh is also expected to receive heavy showers.

Wind speed would be in the order of 40-50 kph, it said. Isolated heavy to very heavy rain is likely to commence this evening in north Coastal Tamil Nadu and Puduchery and Southern Andhra Pradesh, the RMC said in its weather warning put on its website. Squally winds and rough to very rough sea conditions are expected along and off Andhra Pradesh, north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts from tonight, it said.

"Storm surge of about 1 metre above astronomical tide is expected at the time of landfall," the RMC said.

IMD said it may cause damage to thatched huts and power and communication lines. The damage may also be caused to paddy crops, banana, papaya trees and orchards in Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu; Ongole and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, the IMD said in its advisory.

It also urged fishermen in Tamil Nadu, Puduchery and Andhra Pradesh coasts to keep away from the seas for the next 48 hours. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said NDRF teams have been deployed in Tamil Nadu on account of the cyclonic storm. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, each consisting of 38 rescuers, have been deployed in Chennai, Tiruvallore and Kancheepuram, the force said on its official Twitter handle.

The teams have also been deployed at Nellore, Sulurpeta, Parkasham and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, it tweeted. The force has also asked people to get information from TV and radio on the cyclone and advised them to keep a stock of dry fruits and keep their mobile phones charged.

Cyclone Nada, which later weakened, had made a landfall near Chennai in the first week of December, bringing much- needed showers in Tamil Nadu. The state has witnessed a below normal Southwest Monsoon as well as Northeast Monsoon, a phenomenon which brings rains in some parts of southern India, especially Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

PTI
NMMSS Scholarship 2022: Here is the last date to submit application

JNU Admissions 2022: PG First merit list for MCA, MA, MSc admissions released; how to check

Delhi: Policeman, woman found dead in Rohini

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

New Delhi, Dec 11: A policeman and a woman were found dead at a property dealer's office in Delhi's Rohini area this morning. Both were shot dead by unknown assailants, said reports.

The slain cop has been identified as Joginder Lakda, an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) working in Rohini Crime Branch. The identity of the woman is yet to be ascertained.

Preliminary investigations reveal that Joginder was shot five times while three bullets were found in woman's body, reported news agency ANI.

Joginder, who is a resident of Mundka, is said to be the owner of the property dealer's office where the bodies were found, according to sources.

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Story first published: Sunday, December 11, 2016, 12:36 [IST]
New IT rules will make sure no unlawful content is posted online: Minister

Government committed to bring power to all households by 2019: Piyush Goyal

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Dec 11 Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said the Centre is committed to supplying electricity to every household in the country by 2019.

Addressing the 'Laureates and Leaders for Children Summit' at Rashtrapati Bhavan here, the Minister called upon the international community to act in unison for making the world a better place for children.

"Why wait for 2030 for the sustainable development goal of power to reach every house? Fourteen years is too long a time and too significant for our children. If we have to make a difference, we have to make it now.

"The Modi government assured of electricity to every house by 2022. But I have made it a personal mission to see that electricity reaches every home by 2019 so that children get equal opportunity for a better life," said Goyal.

"I think this is small debt that our generation owes to our children," he said.

Hailing the summit that brought together around 25 laureates and leaders, Goyal said it was time for the world to come together and battle child labour, trafficking and slavery.

"Let us shake the world's conscience; let's tell the world that we have to work together to make a difference to the children of our times. If we can't together stand up for children, we will not be standing up for anything much," he said.

Goyal lauded students of Kashmir for taking Class XII board examinations amid continuous unrest and terror threats.

"Schools in the Kashmir valley were burnt but I salute the grit and determination of the students of Kashmir who, despite terror threats, came out in large number for the board exams. Over 95 per cent of the students took the exams despite adversity," he said.

Enumerating the various child rights schemes of the Narendra Modi government, Goyal said education is a potent weapon to battle discriminations and prejudices faced by children.

The second and concluding day of the summit saw the likes of Nobel Peace Prize winners Tawakkol Karman and Leymah Gbowee, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Panama's first lady Lorena Castillo sharing their vision for creating a child-friendly world.

IANS
India to get Rafale fighter jets in 3-yr time: IAF chief

India

oi-PTI

Kolkata, Dec 10: India will get the first tranche of Rafale fighter jets from France in the next three years, Indian Air Force chief Arup Raha said today.

"Rafale contract caters for delivery time between 36 months to about 66 months if I am not wrong. So within three years time we will have the first few aircraft delivered to us and within five and a half years we will have two full squadron of aircraft in operation," Raha said at a function here.

He said the fighter jets, capable of carrying nuclear weapons and equipped with latest missiles, will tremendously increase the force's capability. When asked about the depleting strength of jets, he said besides Rafale, India is going to produce Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas in large numbers.

"The effort is on to increase production lines. The more the number of aircraft we produce, the faster we ramp up the capacity to close the gap created by obsolete and old aircraft," Raha said. IAF has put on display one such obsolete MiG-27 fighter aircraft in front of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here.

The installation was inaugurated by the Air Chief Marshal. He also said the government is also thinking of procuring another fighter aircraft to fill up the gaps faster. On the Indo-Russian fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), Raha said they are already working with Russia on research and development.

"The project is already negotiated. Preliminary design on our part is over and if this R&D negotiations are over and we sign the contract then we should have these aircraft in another 5-6 years," Raha said.

PTI
Day after Ballary poll, why is Janardhan Reddy on the run

KAS officer accused of helping Janardhana Reddy arrested

India

oi-Anusha

Bengaluru, Dec 11: In a joint operation by the Mandya and Kalburgi police KAS officer Bheema Naik accused of abetment to suicide has been arrested. The KAS officer was accused of corruption and money laundering in his driver's suicide note. His official driver Muhammed has been apprehended as well.

The duo will be handed over to CID for further investigations once they have been brought to Bengaluru. The state government had handed over the investigations into the case to CID.

Ramesh, the KAS officer's driver had committed suicide earlier this month and had held Bheema Naik responsible for his death.

Bheema Naik who worked as Special Land Acquisition officer in Bengaluru was removed from his post after the suicide note was discovered. The officer is accused of helping Janardhana Reddy convert old demonetised notes with legal tender for his daughter's wedding.

In his suicide note, Bheema Naik's driver had mentioned specific dates and places where he is said to have met Sriramulu and Janardhana Reddy. The officer was also accused of accepting bribe amassing wealth beyond his known.sources of income

Bheema Naik had been absconding ever since his driver was found dead. He was arrested in Kalburgi on Sunday.

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Story first published: Sunday, December 11, 2016, 13:16 [IST]
PM Narendra Modi slams 'discarded' opposition for stalling Parliament, suppressing truth

India

oi-PTI

Bahraich, Dec 11 As Parliament remained deadlocked over demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today came down heavily on opposition parties describing them as "discarded" by the electorate and accused them of trying to "suppress" the truth. "Parliament is not being allowed to function for 20 days.

We are ready for debate (on demonetisation), but we are not being allowed to present our viewpoint by those very parties that have been discarded by the electorate," he said even as the Winter Session is left with three more working days.

Modi said these parties never wanted to tread the path of honesty "but we will definitely win this fight against corruption".

He was addressing BJP's Parivartan Yatra here through mobile phone from Lucknow after the IAF chopper carrying him failed to land due of poor visibility in Bahraich, which is close to Terai region of Nepal.

"They (opposition) come to the Well of the House... throw paper at the Speaker. We want to put forth government's viewpoint... but they are not allowing us to do so. In a way they are trying to suppress the truth," Modi rued.

On demonetisation, he said, "You must have seen that the government is after people who have stashed black money. The government is committed to empowering the poor. People are also taking pain to ensure that the country moves on the path of development."

The Prime Minister said senior bank officials have been nabbed during the crackdown against black money and added his government is "of the poor and for the poor and whosoever troubles the poor will not be spared."

Attacking rival Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Modi said both the parties are talking in similar refrain.

As Parliament remained bogged in pandemonium with uproar over demonetisation becoming the order of the day, the Prime Minister alleged SP and BSP were facing hardship because of note ban. "People of Uttar Pradesh know this very well, I need not elaborate," he said.

Referring to people standing in queues outside banks and ATMs, Modi sarcastically said their problem was different from the "hardships" faced by the corrupt and the dishonest.

"I am confident that we will emerge victorious in our fight to help the honest," he said.

PTI
Severe cyclonic storm heads towards Andhra-Tamil Nadu coast

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Vijayawada, Dec 11: Authorities on Sunday sounded an alert in Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Tamil Nadu as cyclonic storm 'Vardah' over the Bay of Bengal has turned into a "very severe" one.

The storm is likely to cross north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast by Monday afternoon, said Indian Meteorological Department on Sunday.

According to IMD, 'Vardah' over west central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal moved further westwards and lay centred at 530 hours over west central and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal about 520 km east-southeast of Nellore, 490 km east-southeast of Machilipatnam and 480 km east-northeast of Chennai.

"The storm is very likely to move nearly west-southeastwards and maintain its intensity till Sunday evening. Thereafter it will weaken gradually while moving towards south Andhra Pradesh coast and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coast," the IMD said.

The Met office has forecast light to moderate rains at many places with isolated heavy to very heavy falls over south Andhra coast and north coastal Tamil Nadu from Sunday evening for subsequent 36 hours.

Light to moderate rains are likely to occur over north coastal Andhra. Strong winds with speed of 40-50 kmph are likely along the coast from Sunday.

The speed may increase to 70-80 kmph at the time of landfall. Damage to thatched huts, power and communication lines, roads and crops is expected.

As the sea will be rough, fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea for next 48 hours. Authorities have hoisted third warning signal at all ports on Andhra coast.

District administration in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore have been alerted to take all precautionary measures.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who has cancelled his visit to the UAE and Kuwait, is monitoring the situation from the command and control centre in Vijayawada. Naidu deputed four senior IAS officers to four districts to take necessary steps to minimise the loss of lives and property.

Two teams of National Disaster Response Force have reached Nellore district.

IANS
UN Secretary Gen designate Guterres to be sworn in tomorrow

International

oi-PTI

United Nations, Dec 11 Antonio Guterres, a former Portuguese Prime Minister will be sworn in tomorrow as the next UN Secretary General, succeeding Ban Ki-moon as the ninth chief of the 71-year old world body.

President of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson will administer the Oath of Office to Guterres, 67, at a special plenary meeting of the 193-member General Assembly here. The Secretary-General-designate will then address the General Assembly.

Guterres was unanimously appointed by the General Assembly as the successor to Ban, after the 15-nation Security Council had in October decided by acclamation to send his name to the Assembly for final approval.

Ban's second five-year term as the world's top diplomat ends on December 31 and Guterres will assume his new role for a five-year term beginning January 1, 2017.

The former Portuguese Prime Minister and UN High Commissioner for Refugees had remained the front-runner in the election to choose Ban's successor amid growing calls by civil society and several UN member states to elect a woman Secretary General.

During the special plenary meeting, speakers will pay tribute to Ban and after being administered the Oath of Office the Secretary-General-designate will also address the General Assembly.

Among those paying tributes to Ban will be Thomson and Representatives from Burkina Faso who will speak on behalf of the African States, Lao People's Democratic Republic who will speak on behalf of the Asia-Pacific States, Latvia who will speak on behalf of the Eastern European States, Costa Rica who will speak on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean States, Sweden who will speak on behalf of the Western European and other States and the United States of America who will speak in its capacity as the host country.

Following his election, Guterres had vowed to work as a "convener" and "bridge-builder" to help find solutions to the world's pressing challenges. He had underscored that human dignity, gender equality and fighting the alliance of violent extremists and expressions of xenophobia will be among his priorities as the world's top diplomat.

"I am fully aware of the challenges the UN faces and the limitations surrounding the Secretary-General," Guterres had said in his first address to the General Assembly following his appointment as the 9th Secretary General of the UN.

He had said the dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire a "humble approach - one in which the Secretary-General alone neither has all the answers, nor seeks to impose his views; one in which the Secretary-General makes his good offices available, working as a convener, a mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved."

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Inside an abandoned Belgrade warehouse, its walls blackened with smoke, several dozen youngsters huddle together under blankets in a bid to fend off the freezing temperatures as the Serbian winter sets in.

Most have left home and family in Pakistan and Afghanistan to seek safety or work in Europe, but have found themselves caught in stateless limbo as successive European nations have slammed shut their doors.

"We are waiting for Christmas Day. Maybe they will open the borders," says Waseem Afridi, a 23-year-old Pakistani stuck in this frigid cul-de-sac on the path to the European Union.

About 1,000 migrants are sleeping rough in downtown Belgrade, the UN refugee agency says, many settling in the warehouse squeezed between the central railway station and a luxury apartment construction site on the Sava river bank.

During the night they brave temperatures falling below zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).

"It is getting colder every day," says Afridi who comes from Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

The acrid air inside the warehouse irritates eyes and throat. For heat, the migrants burn whatever they can find.

The lucky ones put carpets on the glacial concrete, while others use cardboard.

Those who get up from their blankets, tired-looking, try to warm up with a hot tea and eat some bread.

Those first up head towards two fuming barrels filled with heated water to wash up.

- 7,000-euro journey -

The young men, some of whom are still teenagers, refuse to go to one of the 13 official reception centres which accommodate some 5,300 people, according to the Serbian refugee agency.

Serbia lies on the so-called Balkan route that has been taken by hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa since 2015.

The route was effectively shut down in March, but migrants have continued to cross the region in smaller numbers, often brought there by traffickers.

Mohamed Darwich, from eastern Afghanistan, said he does not want to go to a reception centre because the authorities "will send us back to Bulgaria where again we will have to pay money" to smugglers.

Story continues

Darwich, who said he is 17, started his journey a year ago. It cost him 7,000 euros ($7,380) obtained from the sale of his family's land.

Others finance their journey by selling livestock or shops.

Some have tried to cross illegally into Croatia or Hungary, which unlike Serbia are EU member states.

"They caught us near the border. They beat us and sent us back," claims Ihsan Ullah, a 15-year-old Afghan.

Ullah says Serbs treat them better. His desired destination is London where he has an uncle who has financed his odyssey.

- 'We are stuck here' -

It is not possible to verify whether their stories that could enable them to obtain refugee status are true.

Afridi says that in Pakistan he took part in polio vaccination campaigns that displeased the Taliban.

Hashim Zia-Ulhaq, travelling with his two younger brothers from eastern Afghanistan, claims that back home he was accused of having worked for a road construction company cooperating with Westerners.

In any event the 25-year-old feels he had no other choice but to leave.

"If I had a solution to my problems, would I have left my wife, my four-year-old son, my mother and my father?"

Unlike Afridi he is not counting on Christmas goodwill.

"Europe is not what it used to be. They were not treating refugees like this," he says.

"The attacks in France and Belgium made things worse.... We are stuck here."

Wrapped in a blanket, Mohamed Khan, a 23-year-old Pakistani student speaking perfect English, is angry.

"Europeans can say that they are for human rights. But, where are human rights when it is minus five, minus seven, minus 10" degrees Celsius? Khan asked.

He refuses to explain why he left Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan.

"Nobody leaves his country without a reason," he simply says.
A hardware store just hired an Air Force vet, Clay Luthy, AND his dog because people can be amazing

Heartwarming story alert! Lowes Hardware store just hired an Air Force vet, Clay Luthy, and his dog and its giving us all kids of warm feelings.

In a time where getting a job is tough enough, Lowes has made it possible for Luthy and his adorable dog, Charlotte, to get a job at their store. Clearly there are still good people in the world.

According to CNN, the Air Force vet had been struggle to find a job, because he needed his service dog to be with him on a daily basis.

Lowes in Abilene, Texas answered his prayers by hiring him part-time, and allowing Charlotte to be in the store as well.

We were interviewing people for his position and he was one of the applicants, Lowes human resource manager, Jay Fellers told CNN affiliate, KRBC. And so he showed up for the interview and he had Charlotte with him.

The publication revealed that Luthy has been with his dog for 10 years and theyve successfully been a part of the Lowes family for two months.

A veteran was struggling to find a job due to his service dog. So we hired them both. via @CNN https://t.co/fpptYnITdO pic.twitter.com/mJcaLdDbCe  Lowe's (@Lowes) December 6, 2016

While some veterans use medication or lean on their family when they return from service, Luthy has Charlotte. So working with her is the best thing for him.

Instead of medications, I have Charlotte, Luthy told the publication.

Whenever Luthy needs help calming down, he looks to Charlotte for support.

Since he began at the hardware store, the veteran has been getting a lot of positive feedback. Shoppers have even taken pictures of him and Charlotte and posted them on social media to show support.

The duo can typically hang in the paint department, since there is a space for Charlotte to sit.

Story continues

She even has her own Lowes vest, which is just adorable.

Well done, Lowes. We salute you and your amazing new tag team, Clay and Charlotte!

The post A hardware store just hired an Air Force vet, Clay Luthy, AND his dog because people can be amazing appeared first on HelloGiggles.
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"President-elect Donald Trump has announced a handful of new cabinet picks with deep ties to Wall Street. On Tuesday, he named Steven Mnuchin to be Treasury Secretary. Mnuchin is a former executive for Goldman Sachs, where his father also worked. Mnuchin's hedge fund also played a role in the housing crisis, after it scooped up the failing California bank IndyMac in 2008. Under Mnuchin's ownership, IndyMac foreclosed on 36,000 families, particularly elderly residents trapped in reverse mortgages. Mnuchin was accused of running a "foreclosure machine." Trump has also picked billionaire private-equity investor Wilbur Ross to be Commerce Secretary. Ross specializes in flipping bankrupt companies for profit, often buying the U.S. companies at low prices and then selling them to overseas investors. He and his companies have sometimes engaged in the very practices Donald Trump rails against: shipping jobs and factories overseas. For more on these picks, we speak with Cornel West, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. During the Democratic primary he endorsed Bernie Sanders. After Hillary Clinton won the nomination West made headlines when he endorsed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein."


Central Intelligence Agency Seal

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A petition asking the Electoral College not to vote on the next president until a full investigation is done of Russian interference in the 2016 US election can be signed here.

Why?

Because according to the New York Times and the Washington Post and other mainstream media sources, the Central Intelligence Agency has confirmed substantial evidence that the government of Russia may have hacked this election.

But at least one top-ranked Republican leader---US Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC)---agrees.

The Agency says it has "high confidence" the Russians meant to help make Donald Trump president.

Trump is now attacking the Agency, The hacking, he told Time Magazine, ""could be Russia, it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey."

As the CIA has reported it, such foreign meddling in an American election is unprecedented---and illegal. If Trump or any of his staff or associates conspired with the Russians to thus win the US Presidency, it would clearly be an impeachable offense. The legal ramifications would ignite a Constitutional crisis even before Trump could take office.

Meanwhile, preliminary citizen-funded attempts to require recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are under continual attack from well-funded Trump interventions. The recounts have been spearheaded by Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Support can be contributed here.

Trump claims three million people illegally voted in 2016. But he's relentlessly sabotaged recounts in three states that could decide the Electoral vote.

In those and many other states, massive disenfranchisement, inconsistencies, irregularities, targeted machine breakdowns and more have already been uncovered.

More than enough 2016 votes were cast on hackable black box electronic voting machines to flip the outcome of the Electoral College vote. As has been widely reported, those machines could have been hacked by computer experts from Russia. Until that possibility is also fully investigated, no Electoral College vote should proceed.

The Clinton campaign and Democratic party have sent legal observers but no tangible support for these recounts, These new revelations about Russian intervention make them more critical than ever. A petition asking Clinton's tangible support for the recounts can be signed here: www.solartopia.org.

The CIA's evidence indicates Russia hacked internal Democratic National Committee Party emails indicating party leaders conspired to deny the nomination to US Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT). The revelations led to the resignation of DNC Chair Deborah Wasserman (no relation) Schultz.

Trump has repeatedly urged the Russians to hack and release Clinton's own emails. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing" from Clinton's email servers, he has said. But he's denied conspiring with the Russians. Clinton was also slammed by FBI Director James Comey's announcement that the Bureau was investigating an aide's emails.

As the Times reports, an October report issued by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, Jr., and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson says the DNC hack "had to have been approved at the highest levels of the Russian government."

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From flickr.com/photos/42438955@N05/13326965434/: Korea_Spring_of_Insadong_08 Owner: KOREA.NET - Official page of the Republic of Korea Attribution-ShareAlike License

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The shift of world economic power to the East and South will bring about the end of the ability of Western monopolized sources of information to criminally mis-inform, dis-inform and instill the fraudulent fears that have built an infantile acceptance of continual neocolonial genocide as necessary. In a multipolar world, the absurdities, illogic and insanity that justifies US NATO UN genocide will no longer be successfully propagated. These outrageous fabrications just wont wash when exposed to the light of day by new major sources of information in Asia, Africa and Latin America that will appear as economic power shifts Eastward and Southward



With the astounding 2016 US presidential election theater threw up a Republican outsider candidate denouncing this long long time fake news generating US media, calling eighty percent of its reporters and commentators liars, we should now look back and understand that to produce fake news successfully it is necessary to block all real news that would cause the fake news to be heard, read and seen as the fake that it is and always has been, causing Americans to believe bombing and invading smaller nations is necessary and good for everyone.

Below, some real US Korean history that is well known by all Koreans, and remember, for Koreans, wherever they may be, there is only one Korea.



1871, June 10 -- Adm. Rodgers, commanding five warships and a landing party of over 1,230 men armed with Remington carbines and Springfield muskets attack Choji Fortress of Kanghwa-do, and proceed to occupy the whole island (116.8 sq mi), killing 350 Korean defenders of the island while losing only three of their own, withdrawing to China when the Korean army sends in reinforcement armed with modern weapons. This war known in Korea as Sinmi-yangyo and as the 1871 US Korea Campaign in America.[2]

1905 -- US President Theodore Roosevelt cuts all relations with Koreans, turns the American legation in Seoul over to the Japanese military, deletes the word "Korea" from the State Department's Record of Foreign Relations and places it under the heading of "Japan," approving of what will be a brutal, too often murderous, forty year occupation, during much of which, Koreans are forbidden even to speak their language; an unconstitutional act of the US president, said to have been in exchange for acceptance of the continuing US occupation of the Philippines by Japan, recognized as a half-brother empire of the European colonial powers.[3]

1918 -- President Woodrow Wilson officially recognizes Korea as territory of the Japanese Empire, refuses to receive delegations from Korea and Vietnam demanding restoration of sovereignty, delegations mistakenly hopeful for Wilson having proclaimed before both houses of Congress, as an addendum to his 'Fourteen Points" of a day earlier, "National aspirations must be respected; people may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent. Self determination is not a mere phrase; it is an imperative principle of action". that peoples and provinces are not to be bartered about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were mere chattels and pawns in a game, even the great game, now forever discredited, of the balance of power; but that all well-defined national aspirations shall be accorded the utmost satisfaction that can be accorded them;" a promise become known in the third world as an infamous, cruel and preposterous lie (the Japanese occupiers were deadly in punishing all those involved in the country-wide March 1st Korean Independence Movement).

1945, September 8 -- US State Department officials, arrive in Korea with the US Army, disband the government of the Korean People's Republic created September 6, in Seoul, by delegates from local peoples' offices from all provinces throughout the peninsula formed when Japan announced intention to surrender (August 10). The US proceeds without any Korean authorization whatsoever to immediately cut Korea into two parts to be occupied by US and Soviet troops, establishing a military government, flying in from Washington DC (in General MacArthur's private plane), Singman Rhee, to head it; eventually installing him as president of a separate South Korea Government that will include collaborators, and will outlaw all strikes, declare the KPR and all its activities illegal and begin a deadly terror of persecution of members of the disallowed Korean Peoples Republic, communists, socialists, unionists and anyone against the the partition and demanding an independent Korea.4

1946-1949 -- The US in effect declares war on the popular movement of Korea south of the 38th Parallel and sets in motion a repressive campaign dismantling the Peoples' Committees and their supporters throughout the south, becoming massively homicidal as Rhee's special forces and secret police take the lives of some 100,000 men, women and children as documented recently by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up by the National Assembly of the Republic of (South) Korea in 2001. On the Island of Cheju alone, within a year, as many as 60,000 of its 300,000 residents are murdered, while another 40,000 fled by sea to nearby Japan some two years before the Koreans from the north invade the South. [UN sources and Wikipedia]

1950, June 28 -- The US attacks by, air, sea and land, aiming at the southward invading army of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North), which nevertheless unifies the peninsula in five short weeks (except for the US defended port city of Pusan); with little resistance from South Korea's ROK military as most of its soldiers either defect or go home; over the next three years US will commit dozens of high death toll documented atrocities (some recently apologized for) as American planes level to the ground almost every city and town of any appreciable size in the entire peninsula, north and south, in the end threatening to drop the atomic bomb, and be charged with germ warfare by some not easily dismissed sources.

1953-2013 -- The US using its control over international financial institutions and its power over the financial policies of most of the nations on Earth, keeps in place economy crippling sanctions and trade blockades (only loosening them slightly from time to time in attempts to halt the Democratic People's Republic of Korea production of nuclear weapons as it faces a US, constantly condemning it in intense belligerency, massively armed with ever new nuclear weapons. (US sanctions obviously violate Principle VI of the Nuremberg Principles of International Law, c. Crimes Against Humanity: "inhuman acts done against any civilian population.")

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"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" is a proverbial expression about turning adversity into advantage. This is a strategy the Kremlin seems ignorant of, based on how the Russian hacker scandal is being handled.



Any Kremlin insider who doesn't have a sour taste in his mouth over the hacking story must have muted taste buds. The story is getting headlines in the United States. Any American who's paid any attention to this mainstream coverage is being deceived. Already-prevalent negative beliefs about Russia and Putin are being reinforced.



And how has the Kremlin responded to this avalanche of negativity? When questioned about the hack attacks Putin simply replied that he had no knowledge of the plot. I heard that he commented at the Valdai Club: "Does anyone seriously imagine that Russia can somehow influence the American people's choice?"



Well, duh. Yes! The news stream is indeed full of that anti-Putin claptrap about Russia's illicit influence. Passive and gullible American media consumers are being taken in by this fake news right now as I write this.





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President Barack Obama has added momentum to the call for an investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. On Friday morning, Lisa Monaco, a top White House aide on homeland security, told a group of reporters that the president has directed the national intelligence community to conduct a "full review" of Russian interference in the campaign.

Obama's decision comes as members of Congress have upped the volume on demands that the Russian hacking of Democratic targets be probed. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House government oversight committee, has urged Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the chairman of that committee, to mount a congressional investigation of Moscow's intervention in the election. But Chaffetz, who prior to the election vowed to fiercely investigate Hillary Clinton should she win, has not responded to Cummings' request, according to a Cummings spokeswoman. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York have seconded Cummings' call for a congressional investigation.

This week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he will mount a probe of Russian cyber penetrations of US weapons systems and noted that he expects this inquiry will also cover hacking related to the election. "The problem with hacking," McCain said, "is that if they're able to disrupt elections, then it's a national security issue, obviously." And the Washington Post reported that Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Richard Burr (R-S.C.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have also expressed interest in examining the Russian hacking.
From Reader Supported News

Republican leaders have gone out of their way over the past two weeks to minimize former CIA director David Petraeus's criminal misuse of classified information as President-elect Donald Trump considers the former general for the role of Secretary of State. Petraeus, who gave top-secret compartmented information to his biographer and lover, Paula Broadwell, also outed the names of 10 covert CIA operatives to her; he later lied about it to the FBI.

There were no felony espionage charges for Petraeus. He wasn't charged under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act like I was. He wasn't charged with the felony of making a false statement to the FBI. He was, and remains, part of the "in" crowd, a friend of the president and the president-elect, and a favorite general of the Republican establishment.

Unlike national security whistleblowers during the Obama administration, Petraeus was not charged with multiple felonies. He instead took a plea to one misdemeanor count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified information, despite the fact that the Justice Department said that Petraeus's leak, if disclosed, would have caused "exceptionally grave damage" to the national security. The leak included notebooks containing codeword information on top-secret intelligence programs, information about war strategy, the identities of covert officers, and notes on Petraeus's private meetings with the president. Nonetheless, he was sentenced to only 18 months of unsupervised probation and fined $100,000. The day after his sentencing, he traveled to Iraq on a classified consulting mission for the White House.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden told Katie Couric recently that the information Petraeus leaked to his girlfriend was "far more sensitive" than the information Snowden had released to the public. And indeed, Snowden's revelations met the legal definition of whistleblowing: "Bringing to light evidence of waste, fraud, abuse, illegality, or threats to the public health or public safety." Petraeus leaked his information to get laid.

Petraeus's criminal behavior hasn't stopped Republicans from lining up behind the possibility that Trump will name him Secretary of State. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said of Petraeus, "I think people make mistakes in life and you move on." Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Petraeus would be, "an extraordinary pick," and described him as "one of the most uniquely qualified" people Trump could choose.

Still, Petraeus is a convicted criminal, just like I am. Sure, he's patriotic, he had a great career, he devoted his life to public service, and he worked hard over the course of years to help ensure the security of Americans. But so did I. So did Tom Drake, Stephen Kim, Jeffrey Sterling, Chelsea Manning, and Ed Snowden. The rest of us are victims of the Obama administration's use of the Espionage Act as a political hammer to silence dissent in national security. We didn't have the president or senators fawning over us. We didn't have the attorney general backing off in our cases because of past heroic acts.

But justice is justice. Right is right.

If Petraeus is going to get the Secretary of State position, or any other senior position in government, he will likely have to be pardoned, either by Obama or by Trump once he takes office. That pardon should extend to the rest of us.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
Exclusive to OpEd News: OpEdNews Op Eds 12/11/2016 at 10:30 AM EST

The questioning ends badly; Trump gets the best of me.

Trump: I won by the greatest margin since Reagan

Ruffocrates: How much did your Trumpness win by?

Trump :Oh, I will be selected by a margin of nearly 60.

Ruffoscrates: Only 60? How many voted?

Trump: : Oh, the people rejected me by over 2.5 million. Corrupt media's fault. I could have won by 10 million!

Ruffocrates: Then how did you win by the largest majority?

Trump : The People aren't allow to vote for the President but rather electors. The electors will select ME.

Ruffoscrates: Don't the electors have to represent the election results?

Trump : Not at all. Small conservative states like Wyoming have 3 1/2 more voting power than California, per voter. That's so that the states that have most of the people don't run over the small states.

Ruffocrates: Why is that? How can a minority of votes result in a victory of the loser? How is equal voting power unfair to small states?

Trump: Happens all the time. Remember Bush....he lost too, but he became one of our greatest Presidents. I am thinking of bringing him back.

Ruffocrates: Not to get distracted, but didn't he invade two countries that had nothing to do with 9/11 based on lies and didn't he cause the financial collapse? I mean....................

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Donald Trump wants to free the energy industry of burdensome regulations. If Exxon Mobil (XOM) CEO Rex Tillerson becomes Trumps Secretary of State, hell know just where to start.

As an oil-and-gas drilling giant, Exxon may face more complex regulations around the world than nearly any other company. But one new idea has rankled the company in particular. The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating whether Exxon and other oil companies appropriately account for climate change as a business risk that could directly affect the value of proven reservesa key metric determining the companys valuealong with profitability. If the SEC were to pass a new rule or require new disclosures, it could wipe billions in dollars off the value of Exxon and other drillers.

Rex Tillerson

All public companies are required to disclose known or anticipated business risks in their SEC filings, usually highlighting things such as unforeseen technological change, new foreign competition or an economic downturn. Exxon has mentioned climate change as a possible risk but without any detail or estimated impacts on its business.

The SEC is reportedly investigating whether to require energy companies to account specifically for climate-change risk. This could be important because new caps on the use of carbon going into effect could put finite limits on the amount of oil produced and consumed. Trump has said hell pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, a breakthrough deal to cap emissions reached last year. But 194 other nations would still remain committed to the deal, and they account for a much larger portion of the worlds economy than the United States does.

If theres a de facto worldwide limit on carbon emissions, then energy companies may never be able to tap some of the oil and gas reserves they hold all around the world. Exxon declared proven oil reserves of 8.1 billion barrels at the end of 2015, but some of that could be moot if theres a limit on the amount of carbon that can be burned. If Exxon were to write down its reserves to exclude oil that couldnt be realistically extracted, the companys value and stock price would surely decline. The same goes for other big oil companies.

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ExxonMobil

Exxon is unique among energy producers in that it doesnt write down the value of reserves when prices drop. The company says its estimates are so conservative it doesnt have to bother with write-downs. But it did indicate recently it might change that practice, given the plunge in oil prices since 2014. It now says it could write down proven reserves by as much as 20% to account for lower oil prices.

Thats different from the SECs examination of climate-change risks, though the effect might be similar if the agency required new risk disclosures. Exxons stock has sharply underperformed as the controversy over climate-change risks has intensified. Its shares are down by more than 6% since mid July, even as oil prices have been recovering. The broader market has risen 5% since then.

The State Department doesnt oversee the SEC, so if Tillerson became the nations top diplomat, he wouldnt have the authority to order the agency to drop its climate-change inquiry. But hed obviously have direct access to the president, who appoints SEC commissioners in line with his viewpoint. And Tillerson is hardly the only energy executive advising Trump on energy. Other influential members of Trumps kitchen cabinet include oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens and fracking pioneer Harold Hamm, who have both long pleaded for relief from government oversight.

Climate change and its effect on oil companies isnt just a political issue, though. Some big shareholder groups and activist investors favor more disclosure on the issue by oil companies, since it could affect their ability to drill and make money no matter what the leanings of the current administration in Washington.

The attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts are suing Exxon for fraud, claiming it deceived investors for years by withholding in-house research showing a link between fossil fuels and climate change; in other words, it knew before most others that a changing climate could impede demand for its product. That suit alone could change practices at oil firms and create an incentive to disclose risks more fully. And if other sources of energy displace carbon, as some experts think is inevitable, it may be plain old economic risk that weakens demand for oil and keeps proven reserves in the ground.

Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.
From Robert Reich Blog



Donald Trump

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On the evening of December 7, minutes after a local Indiana union leader, Chuck Jones, criticized Trump on CNN for falsely promising to keep Carrier jobs in the U.S., Trump tweeted, "Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!"

Since that tweet went out, Chuck Jones says "I'm getting threats and everything else from some of his supporters."

A few days before, Boeing's CEO Dennis Muilenberg was quoted in the Chicago Tribune gently chiding Trump for being against trade. Muilenberg noted that trade is essential to the U.S. economy, as reflected in the "large and growing percentage of our business" coming from international sales, including commercial jet orders from China.

Moments later, Trump tweeted: "Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!"

Boeing shares immediately took a hit. As it turns out, Boeing doesn't even have a $4 billion order to make Air Force One planes.

This has been Trump's pattern. About a year ago, 18-year-old college student Lauren Batchelder stood up at a political forum in New Hampshire and told Donald Trump that she didn't think he was "a friend to women."

The next morning, Trump fired back on Twitter. He called Batchelder an "arrogant young woman" and accused her of being a "plant" from a rival campaign.

Almost immediately, Batchelder's phone began receiving threatening messages. "I didn't really know what anyone was going to do," Batchelder told the Washington Post. "He was only going to tweet about it and that was it, but I didn't really know what his supporters were going to do, and that to me was the scariest part."

This is what happens when Trump targets a private citizen who publicly challenges him.

Trump doesn't take kindly to anyone criticizing him -- not journalists (whom he refers to as "dishonest," "disgusting" and "scum" when they take him on), not corporate executives, not entertainers who satirize him, not local labor leaders, not a college student, no one.

The President-elect's tendency to go after people who criticize him by sending false and provocative statements to his 17 million twitter followers (he had 5 million when he went after Lauren Batchelder) not only imperils these individuals.

It also poses a clear and present danger to our democracy.

Democracy depends on the freedom to criticize those in power without fear of retribution.

No President or President-elect in history has ever before publicly condemned individual citizens for criticizing him. That occurs in two-bit dictatorships intent on stamping out dissent.

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From Counterpunch

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump made it clear that he liked the uneducated and that once he assumed the presidency, he would appoint a range of incompetent people to high-ranking positions that would insure that many people remain poorly educated, illiterate, and impoverished. A few examples make the point. Betsy DeVos, the nominee for Secretary of Education is a multi-millionaire, has no experience in higher education, supports for-profit charter schools, and is a strong advocate for private school vouchers. Without irony, she has described her role in education as one way to "advance God's kingdom."[1] She is anti-union, and her motto for education affirms Trump's own educational philosophy to "defund, devalue, and privatize."[2]

Ben Carson, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, has never run a federal agency and has no experience in government, policy making, or in public housing and has described housing policy pejoratively as a form of social engineering and a socialist experiment. New York City council member and chair of the city's Housing and Buildings Committee described Carson's appointment as "ill-advised, irresponsible and hovers on absurdity."[3] Carson will run a $48 billion agency that oversees public housing and ensures that low-income families have access to housing that is safe and affordable. He believes people can escape from poverty through hard work alone and has argued that government regulations resemble forms of totalitarian rule comparable to what existed in communist countries. [4]

Andrew F. Puzder, Trump's choice for Secretary of Labor, has less experience in government "than any secretary since the early 1980s."[5] He is a critic of worker protections, opposes raising the minimum wage, and appears to share Trump's disparaging views of women. As the New York Times pointed out, the advertisements that Mr. Pusder's companies run to "promote its restaurants frequently feature women wearing next to nothing while gesturing suggestively."[6] When asked about the ads, Mr. Puzder replied "I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it's is very American."[7] I am sure Trump, the unchecked misogynist, agrees.

It is hard to believe that this gaggle of religious fundamentalists, conspiracy theory advocates, billionaires, and retrograde anti-communists, who uniformly lack the experience to take on the jobs for which they were nominated, could possibly be viewed as reasonable candidates for top government positions. As Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) cited in The Hill observed "most of Trump's appointees are "The greatest collection of stooges and cronies and misfits we have ever seen in a presidential administration...Some of these people's only qualifications for the jobs they are being appointed for is that they have attempted to dismantle and undermine and destroy the very agencies they are now hoping to run."[8]

What these appointments suggest is that one element of the new authoritarianism is a deep embrace of ignorance, anti-intellectualism, crony capitalism, and a disdain for the institutions that give legitimacy to the social contract and the welfare state. Most of Trump's appointees to top cabinet positions are a mix of incompetent and mean spirited billionaires and generals. This alliance of powerful representatives of predatory financial capitalists and right-wing supporters of the immense military-industrial-surveillance complex makes clear Trump's support of the worst elements of neoliberalism -- a war on education, support for austerity policies, and an attack on social provisions, the poor, workers, unions, and the most vulnerable.

As Eric Sommer wrote in CounterPunch, "These ministerial level cabinet selections are a warning that far greater attacks on the social and economic rights of American workers, and greater militarism and military aggression abroad are being prepared."[9] Trump's affirmation of an updated version of the Gilded Age and his attempts to accelerate America's slide into authoritarianism is an assault on reason, compassion, morality, and human dignity. Its underside is a political mix of militarism and rule by the financial elite, both of which are central features of a savage neoliberal assault on democracy. Trump's government of billionaires and militarists makes clear that the next few years will be governed by ruthless financial elite who will give new meaning to a war culture that will impose forms of domestic terrorism across a wide swath of American society.

Thus far, Trump has appointed three generals to join his cabinet -- James Mattis and Michael Flynn for Secretary of Defense and National Security Adviser, along with Retired General John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security. Kelly is infamous for defending the force-feeding of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay and wants to expand the prison population there. Retired General Mattis, whose nickname is "Mad Dog," stated in 2003, the year that Iraq was invaded, that "It's fun to shoot some people, you know, it's a hell of a hoot."[10] He once told marines under his command "Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everybody you meet."[11]

As difficult as it is to imagine, it gets worse. Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, Trump's choice for national security adviser considers Islam, with its population of 1.3 billion, a terrorist threat. He has also used the social media to spread fake news stories "linking Mrs. Clinton to underage sex rings and other serious crimes [while pushing] unsubstantiated claims about Islamic laws spreading in the United States."[12] At work here is an emerging political-social formation in which fake news becomes an accepted mode of shaping public discourse, inexperience and incompetence become revered criteria for holding public office, and social responsibility is removed from any vestige of politics. All of these appointments point to the emergence of a new political order in which the dystopian fears of George Orwell and Aldus Huxley are merged with the comic grotesquery of the tyrannical systems lampooned by the Marx brothers.

Under the reign of right-wing governments and social movements spreading throughout the world, thinking has become dangerous. Increasingly, neoliberal regimes across Europe and North America have waged a major assault on critical education and the public spheres in which they take place. For instance, public and higher education are being defunded, turned into accountability factories, and now largely serve as adjuncts of an instrumental logic that mimics the values of a business culture. But, of course, this is not only true for spaces in which formal schooling takes place, it is also the case for those public spheres and cultural apparatuses producing knowledge, values, subjectivities, and identities through a range of media and sites. This applies to a range of creative spaces including art galleries, museums, diverse sites that make up screen culture, and various elements of mainstream media. [13]

Such sites have come under increasing fire since the 1970s and the war against dissident journalism, in particular, will intensify under a Trump presidency. Attacking the media was a central feature of Trump's presidential campaign speaks to a coming age of repression, posing a dire threat to freedom of speech. As, Christopher Hass, observes "But more importantly, he threatened to 'open up' libel laws so that he and others can more easily sue publications that are critical of them. Those kinds of attacks are designed to burn money and hours that independent publications don't have -- and sometimes they can be fatal."[14] What the apostles of neoliberalism have learned is that alternative media outlets along with diverse forms of cultural production can change how people view the world, and that such forms of public pedagogy can be dangerous because they hold the potential for not only creating critically engaged students, intellectuals, and artists but can strengthen and expand the general public's imagination, give them critical tools to enable them to think otherwise in order to act otherwise, and hold power accountable. Such thinking is also a prerequisite for developing social movements willing to rethink the vision and tactics necessary to fight against an authoritarian state.

In the face of Trump's draconian assault on democracy, it is crucial to rethink mechanisms of a repressive politics not only by highlighting its multiple registers of economic power, but also through the ideological pedagogical mechanisms at work in creating modes of agency, identities, and values that both mimic and surrender to authoritarian ideologies and social practices. In this instance, education as it works through diverse institutions, cultural apparatuses, and sites is crucial to both understand and appropriate as part of the development of a radical politics. Reclaiming radical pedagogy as a form of educated and militant hope begins with the crucial recognition that education is not solely about job training and the production of ethically challenged entrepreneurial subjects but is primarily about matters of civic literacy, critical thinking, and the capacity for liberatory change. It is also inextricably connected to the related issues of power, inclusion, and social responsibility. [15] If young people, workers, educators, and others are to develop a keen sense of the common good, as well as an informed notion of community engagement, pedagogy must be viewed as a cultural, political, and moral force, if not formative culture, that provides the knowledge, values, and social relations to make such democratic practices possible.

In this instance, pedagogy as a central element of politics needs to be rigorous, self-reflective, and committed not to the dead zone of instrumental rationality but to the practice of freedom and liberation for the most vulnerable and oppressed. It must also cultivate a critical sensibility capable of advancing the parameters of knowledge, stretching the imagination, addressing crucial social issues, and connecting private troubles into public issues. Any viable notion of critical pedagogy must overcome the image of education as purely instrumental, a dead zone of the imagination, and a normalized space of oppressive discipline and imposed conformity.

A neoliberal and anti-democratic pedagogy of management and conformity not only undermines the critical knowledge and analytical skills necessary for students to learn the practice of freedom and assume the role of critical agents, it also reinforces deeply authoritarian practices while reproducing deep inequities in the educational opportunities that different students acquire. Pedagogies of repression and conformity impose punishing forms of discipline not just on students, but on the general public, deadening their ability to think critically; how else to explain the refusal of large segments of the public to think through and challenge the lies, misrepresentations, and contradictions that Trump used during his campaign. Repressive forms of public pedagogy empty out politics of any substance and further a modern day pandemic of loneliness and alienation. Such pedagogies emphasize aggressive competition, unchecked individualism, and cancel out empathy for an exaggerated notion of self-interest. Solidarity and sharing are the enemy of these pedagogical practices, which are driven by a withdrawal from sustaining public values, trust, and goods and serve largely to cancel out a democratic future for young people. This type of pedagogical tyranny poses a particular challenge for progressives who are willing to acknowledge that the crisis of politics and economics has not been matched by a crisis of ideas, resulting in new age of authoritarianism.

A new age of monstrosities is emerging that necessitates that we rethink the connection between politics and democracy, on the one hand, and education and social change on the other. More specifically, we might begin with the following questions: What institutions, agents, and social movements can be developed capable of challenging the dark times ahead? Moreover, what pedagogical conditions need to be exposed and overcome in order to create the formative culture that would make such a challenge successful? Even thinking such questions becomes difficult in a time of growing pessimism and despair.

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By Bill Lascher

Ten years after becoming the Portland Art Museum's director, Brian Ferriso finally feels comfortable enough to ask deep-pocketed Portlanders to do something they rarely do: Spend millions on the arts.

Last month, the museum announced plans to raise $50 million to renovate the museum and another $25 million for an endowment to help pay for its operations. Though the proposed design didn't elicit gasps among architects and critics, the museum got the art world's attention by also announcing that for at least the next 20 years, Christopher Rothko and Kate Rothko Prizel, the children of 20th-century painter and former Portlander Mark Rothko, will loan the museum paintings by their father from their private collection. The paintings will be displayed in the glass-walled centerpiece of a proposed expansion for the museum, to be called the Mark Rothko Pavilion.

The proposed redesign addresses nearly universal complaints that the museum's mystifying layout prevents visitors from seeing much of its collection. The redesign's central feature is the Rothko Pavilion, which would connect the museum's 1932 Pietro Belluschi-designed main building and the Mark Building, a boxy former Masonic Lodge acquired by the museum in 1992. Aside from enclosing an open-air walkway between the two buildings in glass and providing new gallery space in the Rothko Pavilion, the museum plans to add a glassed-in grand staircase that would make it easier for museum-goers to move from one floor to another and between each of its main building.

"The next investment is the first time since 1932 we've looked to the future with contemporary architecture," Ferriso said.

All of the changes revolve around a central goal: improving how visitors experience art. Many of the proposed changes are subtle. Floors will be aligned, bathrooms will be added, and accessibility will be improved. Ferriso says that half of the museum's current visitors don't visit the Mark Building because it's not clear how to access it. But he takes care to emphasize that the redesign won't take away from the museum's existing buildings.

"In many ways I want the structure to be contemporary, respectful, identifiable, but not overwhelming," said Ferriso, who is the museum's chief curator as well as its director. "I think the Belluschi building is too much of an icon and too precious to compete with it."

The museum also announced last month that Chicago-based Vinci Hamp Architects will design the expansion. Though a local architect of record may be engaged, the museum opted for Vinci Hamp because of its extensive portfolio of renovations in architecturally significant buildings, including several art museums, and because Ferriso was pleased with the firm's work on four exhibits at the Portland Art Museum as well as collaborations in previous positions he held at museums in Chicago and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Vinci Hamp's president, Phil Hamp, said his firm's challenge will be acknowledging the character of the existing buildings while improving their functionality for visitors.

"You want to respect the work of those architects from 80 to 90 years ago, and yet to do something that's in its own way timeless, but of our time, of the 21st century," Hamp said.

Los Angeles Times architectural critic Christopher Hawthorne said it was evident that reorienting how visitors approach and transition through the museum is the institution's focus.

"It does so using an architectural language that is rational, transparent and largely self-effacing: there is zero interest here in the sort of form-making or material palette that calls attention to itself," Hawthorne said, comparing it to other recent art museum projects in Boston and New York. "But the devil in this kind of project is always in the details -- and in the execution."

The concept might be winning support where it counts. In 2012, when the museum hosted an exhibition of Rothko's work, his children were encouraged by an outpouring of positive feedback. That strong support for Rothko's work in the place where he arrived after immigrating from Latvia, and at the museum where he had his first solo show, resonated, and the Rothkos maintained a dialogue with Ferriso. When he described the expansion's concept to Christopher Rothko, the museum director "didn't have to get more than five words in."

"I thought the idea that they were going to have this very open space that welcomes you as a public space and then invites you to go whatever direction you want to go in the museum, I think is a very 21st-century way of building public spaces," Christopher Rothko said.

But he emphasized that the museum will fail at its mission regardless of what's in its collection if it doesn't engage the public.

"I'm hoping that the expansion will attract more and more gifts to the museum and help them build their collection, which for any institution is an ongoing process, but it's something that I think the Pacific Northwest is increasingly doing, and hopefully Portland is going to share in that," Rothko said.

Though the museum hopes to break ground on the expansion in 2018, it has so far raised less than half of its capital goal, $22.7 million, through two $5 million donations, a few around $1 million, and an anonymous $8 million gift that made the Rothko Pavilion possible. The museum has a respected team of fundraisers, including chief advancement officer J.S. May, who won a prestigious fundraising award from the Association for Fundraising Professionals of Oregon and Southwest Washington earlier this month, but to reach its $75 million total goal, it must crack Oregon's historic stinginess about making large contributions to the arts.

According to a database from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Oregon-based arts-oriented nonprofits received only six sizable bequests in the past decade. At the same time, Oregonians didn't give large donations to arts organizations anywhere, even as they've given tens of millions to universities and hospitals.

On the whole, Oregonians are more generous than others in the U.S. According to statistics in the 2016 "Giving in Oregon" report from the Oregon Community Foundation, Oregonians give a higher percentage of their income than others in the U.S. But the same report, which reflects data from 2014, shows that only 6 percent of the $2.1 billion Oregonians gave that year went toward the arts.

"The Portland arts community and the Portland nonprofit community is underfunded compared to a lot of other cities with whom we would like to be comparable," said Kris Anderson, a nonprofit consultant and co-author of "State of Giving: Stories of Oregon Volunteers, Donors, and Nonprofits." "So it's always a challenge to get to donors first and to make the most ardent and visionary case."

Anderson, who is also the executive director of the Portland Clinic Foundation and the interim executive director of Rediscover the Falls, said one of the challenges for fundraising campaigns is helping corporate donors from emerging tech, apparel and design industries, who tend to focus their giving at the national level, become more aware of local arts organizations. Fundraising here still relies heavily on older, wealthy philanthropic families who need extensive courting over time, and Anderson said Ferriso has done that very well since arriving in Oregon.

Still, Anderson said it is atypical for a nonprofit to go public about a fundraising campaign with such a small a share pledged toward its target. But she said it's sensible of the museum to try to simultaneously raise capital and endowment contributions.

"This is an interesting opportunity for the art museum to position itself as forward-thinking and position its collection as accessible and exciting," she said.

Ferriso stressed that his team has estimated the expansion's cost conservatively to make sure unexpected costs don't derail the project, and that work won't start until it's fully funded.

"You'll hear about many museum projects that are over-budget," Ferriso said. "You'll hear about many museum projects built and then they can't afford to run it."

Meanwhile, the new design won't radically alter Portland's architectural fabric, but some nearby residents -- especially occupants of the Eliot Tower immediately across Southwest 10th Avenue from the museum -- worry they'll lose access to a walkway between the two existing buildings. The city currently requires the path to be open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. When the Rothko Pavilion opens, pedestrians will be able to walk through it, but the museum will ask the city if it can keep the pavilion open only during museum hours. Neighbors worry that means they won't be able to use it for commutes or to reach places like the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and the Oregon Historical Society.

Ferriso said he recognizes the neighbors' concerns, but whatever's lost by closing the walkway an additional 25 to 30 hours is outweighed by the community benefits of improved educational and cultural opportunities at the museum.

Wendy Rahm, an Eliot resident who is a museum patron and a member of the board of directors of the Architectural Heritage Center, worries the museum isn't listening to stakeholders in her building.

"I think it's gorgeous," Rahm said after attending a presentation about the proposed expansion. "My problem with this is that plaza is a pedestrian-oriented oasis in our very increasingly dense city. It is an asset to this part of town."
The Pentagon manufactures bullets by the billions and can tell us their cost down to the cent.

The Defense Department can say far less about what firing those bullets does to its troops.

An 18-month investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive found that lead dust at indoor firing ranges has contaminated hundreds of National Guard armories across the country.

Yet the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reported just 174 lead poisoning cases in all branches of the military between 2005 and 2012. The agency, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tracks adult lead poisoning cases and their causes.

By comparison, the workplace safety institute documented thousands of lead poisoning cases in the country's 5,000 to 8,000 private gun ranges.

The number of cases reported from toxic armories may be so scant because the National Guard doesn't report them to the workplace safety institute.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires blood testing for private firing range workers but has no jurisdiction over the National Guard and other military branches.

A Pentagon spokesman said the military does track lead levels in all the troops it's supposed to. But when asked for statistics describing the results, the spokesman said the information was kept at a local level, not gathered centrally.

Likewise, when a group of leading scientists asked to see blood test results for at-risk troops working in firing ranges, two branches of the military couldn't provide any.

Toxic Armories

Every time a soldier pulled the trigger inside a National Guard gun range, a bullet cast off bits of lead. The Guard's neglect allowed the toxic dust to spread outside the range, endangering families who attended weddings, school sleepovers and Cub Scout meetings in America's armories.

Some poisonings in the military were documented by state public health workers.

In California, which has the country's largest military population, state law requires commercial labs to report the results of blood lead tests. The state Department of Public Health has received the lead levels of 1,500 military workers since 2010, including 40 that were elevated. One was from the National Guard.

But federal labs that might monitor troops are exempt from California's reporting requirement. The state received just a single blood lead result from 14 federal laboratories during the period.

A cluster of 44 poisoning cases was discovered in 2010 among active duty Army special forces troops participating in close quarters combat training at Fort Bragg, a major installation in North Carolina.

Sheila Higgins, who tracks adult blood lead poisoning cases for the North Carolina Division of Public Health, said the cluster's reporting may have been a fluke. It was reported by a commercial laboratory - not the military.

"I don't know if I get everything I should from the military," Higgins said. "It does bother me that these young recruits are going to these bases - and who's minding the store? Who's tracking their cumulative exposure?"

Often, no one.

***

The failure to monitor lead poisoning in military firing ranges leaves major health questions unanswered, scientists have warned.

A 2012 National Research Council study on lead dangers in military firing ranges concluded the Defense Department's safety standards weren't protecting troops, allowing them to be exposed to gross levels of contamination. Lead concentrations in the air inside military ranges frequently exceeded workplace safety limits, sometimes by 10 times or more.

Tell them what you think

John Howard

Howard is director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which studies workplace safety: (202) 245-0625.

But the leading scientists said they couldn't determine the health consequences because the military had little data on levels of lead in the blood of firing range workers, the people most frequently exposed.

The Army and Navy had no information to offer on lead in range workers, while the Air Force reported no range personnel had lead levels high enough to require them to stop working in a range.

Lt. Col. James Brindle, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department didn't provide the National Research Council all the information it sought because of a miscommunication. The department does track troops' blood lead levels as required by federal law, he said, and plans to expand the number of workers monitored next year.

When The Oregonian/OregonLive asked how many high blood lead levels the military had detected, Brindle couldn't say. He said blood tests are used locally to advise supervisors about the risks facing employees.

Federal health officials classify adults as having an elevated blood lead levels if they're above 5 micrograms per deciliter. The military doesn't consider its troops to have high lead levels until they reach the level at which they must be removed from their jobs - 60 micrograms per deciliter.

The department expects to publish a new policy by January 2017 to reduce allowable blood lead levels in troops. Another policy planned by the end of next year will reduce the allowable concentrations of airborne lead in firing ranges, Brindle said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs doesn't know how many National Guard soldiers or other military members have been diagnosed with lead poisoning. A spokesman said the agency tracks health problems like anemia and renal disease, which can be caused by lead exposure, but not their underlying causes.

The department has granted benefits to at least one veteran who claimed he got sick because of exposure to lead at indoor ranges. The Board of Veterans Appeals in 2015 agreed with a doctor who blamed the veteran's lung cancer and memory loss on his time shooting in the Vermont National Guard's indoor firing ranges in the 1960s.

Until contacted by The Oregonian/OregonLive, Oregon health officials said they had not considered armories as a potential source in lead poisoning cases they investigate. "You opened a whole new world for me," said David Dreher, a research analyst in the Oregon Health Authority's Lead Poisoning Prevention Program.

The health authority has since added questions about armory visits to the surveys that state and local officials use when investigating blood poisoning cases.

The state has not reopened blood poisoning cases from past years to see if the victims spent time in armories. There have been 10 unexplained cases in children since 2005.

***

In spite of widespread lead contamination and workplace safety requirements, the Oregon National Guard did not consistently monitor blood lead levels of soldiers who cleaned lead out of firing ranges. Documents obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive show state officials lamenting the burdensome cost of medical testing for employees.

Tell them what you think

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter

Carter is the country's top civilian military leader.

"It's killing the budget," one said during a quarterly safety meeting in 2011.

In those meetings, senior Oregon military officials repeatedly acknowledged their failure to test soldiers' blood, records show. Safety inspectors routinely questioned why the testing wasn't given to firing range cleaners, who were supposed to be tested because their jobs exposed them to high lead levels. But Oregon leaders didn't ensure the tests were offered.

An Oregon military nurse told superiors about the lack of medical monitoring in a May 2013 memo, urging the closure of the state's indoor firing ranges until they were cleaned and blood testing had begun. The Oregon National Guard didn't order the state's 12 remaining ranges shut down until March 2014.

At least one Oregon Guard soldier complained to his superiors about health problems related to lead. Emails obtained in response to a public records request show the soldier, who worked at the Milton-Freewater armory, raised concerns about asbestos and lead exposure in 2008.

"A few years ago, the asbestos was removed from the pipes on the drill floor by workmen in full body suits and respirators," wrote the soldier. "The staff and I were not told anything and remain to work for two days before we realized we should not be there."

An inspection three years earlier had found widespread lead contamination in the building, which housed an old firing range that wasn't properly decontaminated before becoming storage space. The drill floor had 73 times more lead than the Oregon Guard's guideline, the inspection report shows.

Tell them what you think

KEN FORSYTHE

Forsythe is chief of industrial hygiene for the National Guard Bureau.

While the email chain refers to "symptoms" related to lead, the Oregon Military Department deleted portions about what they were.

A Guard spokesman, Maj. Stephen Bomar, said the agency couldn't discuss the soldier's health history but takes lead concerns seriously. Bomar said the Guard has spent $3.6 million since 2008 to renovate the Milton-Freewater armory.

After recent revelations about lead contamination in armories, states conducted a series of blood tests on soldiers.

Oregon tested the blood of 173 of its 6,000 soldiers last year. The two highest had blood lead levels of 4 micrograms per deciliter. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers 5 micrograms elevated.) A year before, the Guard tested just six soldiers, and none had detectable lead levels.

Oregon Guard officials did not offer testing for children who frequently visited armories as part of classes, community gatherings or play groups. Children are considered the most vulnerable to lead.

Two other states, Michigan and Washington, have offered voluntary blood lead testing to their soldiers since The Oregonian/OregonLive launched its investigation.

None of the 40 soldiers and civilians tested in Washington showed elevated levels of lead. The highest level detected was above 2 micrograms in two maintenance workers, said Karina Shagren, a Washington Military Department spokeswoman.

The Michigan National Guard tested 182 soldiers. Capt. Corissa Barton, an agency spokeswoman, declined to disclose how many tested with blood lead levels above the 5 microgram standard.

-- Rob Davis

rdavis@oregonian.com

503.294.7657
When the Oregon Military Department closed public access to armories last year to clean up lead dust, state officials allowed workers to continue using most buildings.

The rationale: Tests inside the buildings showed levels of airborne lead within federal workplace safety limits.

But a doctor and a public health official who study lead said those limits are outdated and overly lenient.

Airborne lead dust poses the biggest threat to adults. They are less likely than children to ingest the toxic metal after touching contaminated surfaces - although that, too, is a concern. Because the armories had high lead levels on floors, lockers, file cabinets and shelves, workers were told to wash their hands before eating.

Tell them what you think

OSHA

David Michaels

Michaels is the assistant labor secretary overseeing OSHA, the federal workplace safety agency. (202) 693-2000.

Military leaders repeatedly said the lead dust that contaminated their armories was not airborne at harmful levels, even in buildings coated in the hazardous substance. They cited federal workplace safety rules written in 1978, which set a limit of 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

"I count ourselves lucky that in all the testing we've seen, we're fortunate to not have an airborne component," said Roy Swafford, the Oregon Military Department official responsible for armory maintenance.

But ventilation systems throughout some Oregon National Guard buildings contained high levels of lead, inspection records show.

And studies completed since the current federal lead rules were adopted show the neurotoxin causes harm at far lower levels than scientists previously knew. California health officials have recommended keeping airborne lead in the workplace below .5 micrograms per cubic meter of air to prevent workers from developing elevated blood lead levels.

In other words, the federal government allows workers to breathe 100 times as much lead as California health officials consider safe.

Air sampling in the Pendleton armory's supply room found 4 micrograms of lead - eight times higher. Similar pockets of airborne lead were found in rooms in three other Oregon armories: Northeast Portland's Kliever Memorial Armory, McMinnville and Roseburg.

Toxic Armories

Every time a soldier pulled the trigger inside a National Guard gun range, a bullet cast off bits of lead. The Guard's neglect allowed the toxic dust to spread outside the range, endangering families who attended weddings, school sleepovers and Cub Scout meetings in America's armories.

Far lower lead levels in the air outside a Portland glassmaker earlier this year prompted Gov. Kate Brown to order the company to temporarily stop using the toxic metal.

"The levels are higher than anyone would want them," said David Farrer, an Oregon Health Authority toxicologist, when told the results of air testing at Oregon armories. "If it was my office, I would not want the lead to be that high."

-- Rob Davis

rdavis@oregonian.com

503.294.7657
Wind Farm

Costs have dropped 60 percent for wind and 80 percent for solar over the last ten years, a decline that shows no signs of slowing.

(E.J.Harris/EastOregonian)

President-elect Trump says he'll be keeping "an open mind" on the Paris Climate Accord. He expresses huge affection for clean air and water. These assurances notwithstanding, the climate community has been by turns gloomy and defiant since election day. We are mindful of the expectations of many Donald Trump supporters that he will "use his eraser" on clean energy and climate incentives and regulatory tools (as a Koch Brothers-funded advocate was quoted post-election).

There's no window-washing the fact that replacing Obama with Trump is a body blow to the causes of clean air and a habitable planet. The Obama Clean Power Plan, presently put on hold by a coal country lawsuit, will be briskly tossed aside by the new administration. And while immediate withdrawal from the Paris Accord would be difficult, climate-hostile appointments to the Environmental Protection Agency and elsewhere will quickly torpedo any early Obama compliance steps.

Then there are the many other venues, from income equity to finance regulation, where a Trump administration can be busy wrecking the furniture.

So why not despair?

Because for much of the clean energy and climate agenda, Donald Trump and his gang are too late.

Because coal is already yesterday's fuel, having declined from generating over half of the nation's electricity as recently as 2003 to supplying less than a third today. Coal is not quite in a free fall but very nearly, driven down by low gas prices and steeply declining costs of wind and solar generation. Even in China, coal's contribution is flat or declining.

Because near-zero-carbon wind, solar and energy storage technologies have had the time they needed to rev up, roll down the runway and climb into the air. The primary drivers of these technologies are now, ironically, the GOP's favored "market forces": innovation and competitive cost. Government incentives and regulation are still important but secondary. Installed costs have dropped 60 percent for wind and 80 percent for solar over the last ten years, a decline that shows no signs of slowing.

And if the federal government does step back, states and cities and private companies are already stepping up to amplify and incent the clean energy market. Twenty-nine states have standards requiring a growing share of renewable energy in utility portfolios - and 10 of them voted for Trump. Florida, painted red this year, turned back a devious ballot initiative that would have blunted citizen efforts to solarize their homes and businesses. Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google are all now in the renewable energy business to power their power-hungry server farms here in Oregon and elsewhere.

Oregon's two large electric utilities, Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp, agreed earlier this year to end coal-by-wire service from out-of-state plants to their Oregon customers by 2035 (Oregon and Washington utilities had previously committed to ending, by 2025, all coal burning within state boundaries). Oregon's utilities also agreed to upping their new renewable energy content to 50 percent by 2040 -- add that to existing hydroelectricity and Oregon may approach 80 percent carbon-free power.

The United States' power plant emissions are already meeting the Obama Clean Power Plan 2024 target. Add in the 71 coal plants that have announced retirements and the nation -- if not certain individual states -- will be in full alignment with the Plan's 2030 goal a decade or more ahead of schedule, whatever the courts decide.

There's plenty of heavy lifting still to do in reducing the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, especially in transportation where the Trump administration could gut EPA's auto and truck fuel efficiency standards. Even here The Donald may be too late. Most car companies are now committed to delivering electric vehicles to a growing market demand, helped by the 70 percent-and-counting drop in battery costs since 2008. With existing federal tax credits, a new electric vehicle is already cost-competitive with conventional car sticker prices, and is cheaper to drive and maintain. EV market penetration momentum would be slowed if the credits were cut off, but it wouldn't be stopped.

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Reinforcing this view, the venerable oil company Royal Dutch Shell is projecting world oil demand to peak in 2020 and drop thereafter, displaced by growing use of electricity for transportation.

If Donald Trump had been elected eight years ago, or even four, and had governed as he promised in his campaign, there would truly have been cause for despairing of a clean energy economy and a stabilized climate. Never say never, but it appears he and his wrecking crew arrived a term too late.

Thank you, Barack Obama.

Angus Duncan serves as chairman of the Oregon Global Warming Commission and is president of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation.
Mugshots.JPG

Mugshots of mail- and identity-theft suspects Christina Espinoza and Heather Lamoreaux.

(Washington County Sheriff's Office)

A vigilant Aloha resident spotted two women absconding with a neighbor's mail on Saturday morning, leading to the suspects' arrest.

The witness provided Washington County deputies with a description of the women and the Ford Windstar van they sped off in, along with the vehicle's license plate number.

Deputies soon spotted the van on SW Tualatin Valley Highway and stopped it. They arrested 33-year-old Heather Lamoreaux and 37-year-old Christina Espinoza.

The deputies discovered mail in the van addressed to 14 houses, plus four different Oregon identification cards and credit cards in various names. They also found a loaded .380 caliber handgun in the car. In addition, Espinoza had a knife on her.



The handgun and the van were reported stolen in Beaverton last month.

Both women were taken to the Washington County Jail. Lamoreaux has been charged with two counts of mail theft, one count of theft, unlawful possession of a firearm and identity theft. Espinoza has been charged with two counts of mail theft and being a felon in possession of a restricted weapon.

The investigation is ongoing.

-- Douglas Perry
Lightbar1

Portland police officer Sgt. Timothy Robinson was arrested in Beaverton early Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016 for DUII.

(The Oregonian/OregonLive/file)

An off-duty Portland police sergeant was arrested in Beaverton early Saturday morning for driving a city-owned vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants, officials said.

Sgt. Timothy Robinson, who has worked with police for 18 years, was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, police spokesman Sgt. Greg Stewart said. Robinson was booked into the Washington County Jail.

Robinson was not in custody on Saturday evening.

Robinson, a sergeant for the Drugs and Vice division, has been assigned to the Telephone Reporting Unit pending the resolution of the case in Washington County, Stewart said. This is standard practice, Stewart said.

Once the criminal investigation is complete, an independent review of the case will be presented to Portland Police Review Board, Stewart said.

Police declined to comment further.

-- Samantha Matsumoto
(Adds analyst comment)

By Caren Bohan and David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to stick to its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of "one China," questioning nearly four decades of policy in a move likely to antagonize Beijing.

Trump's comments on Fox News Sunday came after he prompted a diplomatic protest from China over his decision to accept a telephone call on Dec. 2 from Taiwan's president.

"I fully understand the 'one China' policy, but I don't know why we have to be bound by a 'one China' policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade," Trump told Fox News.

Trump's call with President Tsai Ing-wen was the first such contact with Taiwan by a U.S. president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of "one China."

Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province and the subject is a sensitive one for China.

Chinese officials had no immediate reaction to Trump's remarks.

After Trump's phone conversation with Taiwan's president, the Obama administration said senior White House aides had spoken with Chinese officials to insist that Washington's "one China" policy remained intact. The administration also warned that progress made in the U.S. relationship with China could be undermined by a "flaring up" of the Taiwan issue.

Following Trump's latest comments, a White House aide said the Obama administration had no reaction beyond its previously stated policy positions.

In the Fox interview, Trump criticized China over its currency policies, its activities in the South China Sea and its stance toward North Korea. He said it was not up to Beijing to decide whether he should take a call from Taiwan's leader.

"I don't want China dictating to me and this was a call put in to me," Trump said. "It was a very nice call. Short. And why should some other nation be able to say I can't take a call?"

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"I think it actually would've been very disrespectful, to be honest with you, not taking it," Trump added.

Trump plans to nominate a long-standing friend of Beijing, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, as the next U.S. ambassador to China.

However, Trump is considering John Bolton, a former Bush administration official who has urged a tougher line on Beijing, for a senior role at the U.S. State Department, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The source said Bolton was a leading candidate for the No. 2 job at the State Department.

In a Wall Street Journal article last January, Bolton said the next U.S. president should take bolder steps to halt China' military aggressiveness in the South and East China seas.

Bolton said Washington should consider using a "diplomatic ladder of escalation" that could start with receiving Taiwanese diplomats officially at the State Department and lead to restoring full diplomatic recognition.

In the Fox interview, Trump brought up a litany of complaints about China which he had emphasized during his presidential campaign.

"We're being hurt very badly by China with devaluation, with taxing us heavy at the borders when we don't tax them, with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldn't be doing, and frankly with not helping us at all with North Korea," Trump said. "You have North Korea. You have nuclear weapons and China could solve that problem and they're not helping us at all."

Economists, including those at the International Monetary Fund, have widely viewed China's efforts to prop up the yuan's value over the past year as evidence that Beijing is no longer keeping its currency artificially low to make Chinese exports cheap.

Some U.S. analysts warned that Trump could provoke a military confrontation if he presses the Taiwan issue too far.

"China is more likely to let the whole relationship with the United States deteriorate in order to show its resolve on the Taiwan issue," said Jessica Chen Weiss, an associate professor of government at Cornell University and an expert in Chinese nationalism.

"When the decision to end a decades-long practice is made with so little warning and clear communication, it raises the likelihood of misunderstanding and miscalculation and sets the stage for a crisis between the United States and China over Taiwan," Chen Weiss said.

Mike Green, a former top adviser on Asia to former President George W. Bush, said ending the "one China" policy would be a mistake because it would throw the U.S.-China relationship into turmoil and jeopardize Beijing's cooperation on issues such as North Korea.

But Green, who is now with the CSIS think tank, said he does not believe that Trump intends to go that far and there was "logic to serving Beijing notice that he will not be dictated to on issues like Taiwan."

On Sunday, China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi was traveling to U.S. neighbor Mexico, according to the official news agency Xinhua, but Mexican officials could not offer details.

Mexico has been deepening ties with China, which is partly funding a multi-billion dollar wholesale mobile network while China Offshore Oil Corporation took two of the eight blocks of deep water oil fields offered in a historic auction this month.

(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Jeff Mason and Veronica Gomez in Mexico City; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Alan Crosby)
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The Dow Chemical Co. on Friday said it plans to build a new innovation center in Midland, which it says would create 100 new jobs in Michigan and bring another 100 jobs from other global Dow facilities back to Midland.

Thats big news for our community, Mayor Maureen Donker said on Saturday after hearing Dows announcement.

Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris made the announcement at an event on Friday in Grand Rapids with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Scientists and engineers at the new center will focus on research and development to further the companys technologies in home and personal care products; enhance and broaden energy-saving building technologies; advance materials for critical infrastructure; and drive closer partnerships with automakers as they drive further efforts to light-weight automobiles and develop hybrid, electric and autonomous transportation solutions, according to Dow.

Dow has not stated a potential location for the center in the city, the size of the facility and a timeline for which it could be built, investment amounts or whether hiring preference will be given to Great Lakes Bay Region and Michigan residents.

Were in the very early stages of developing specific plans and timelines for the center and will share more information when appropriate, said Jarrod Erpelding, Dows spokesperson.

The center will, however, complement the work of our more than 1,200 researchers and developers already in Midland, Erpelding said.

A number of factors came together to make this announcement possible, including the tremendous growth opportunities stemming from the recently completed ownership restructuring of Dow Corning, as well as our confidence in the U.S. economy and manufacturing sector given the President-elects strong predisposition to create a manufacturing and innovation-friendly jobs and economic agenda, he said.

The news is in line with what city officials have heard from the company, Donker said.

This is about growth, the mayor said. Im excited. What this says to me is that we have a lot to look forward to.

Everyone is waiting to hear what will happen with the pending Dow-DuPont merger, Donker said, adding that Dow is a very important part of our community.

Its going to be exciting to learn more about this from the Dow perspective of what this means for the community. We call ourselves a home of modern explorers; explorers also mean innovators (and) R&D is about innovation that builds on who we are as a community.

Wayne Crosby, office owner at ReMax Real Estate, has an equally positive outlook.

It gives Midland confidence that its going to be OK and that Dow is going to stay here, Crosby said. It couldnt have come at a better time.

Scientists and other professionals coming to Midland will help the upper end of the housing market, new construction and to stabilize the market as a whole, he said, adding there has been a dip in the market lately with more people leaving than coming in.

It will be nice to get more details as to when it will actually take place. It will help everyone to be more positive.

Weve got a new president, weve got a new outlook and theyre moving forward with creating jobs here in this area. These are all educated people and very good jobs. The stock market is going to be up, the housing market is going to be up and the confidence of all the United States is going to be up.

Bill Allen, president and CEO of the Midland Business Alliance, said Dows plan sends a great message to the community in terms of added jobs and investment.

From an economic development perspective, we compete daily with other cities all over the globe for projects like this, Allen said in an email. In addition, adding 200 new jobs will benefit other businesses including builders, restaurants and our retail sector to name just a few.

Also on Friday, Trump named Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris to head the America Manufacturing Council. Both Trump and Liveris spoke fondly of each other on Friday in Grand Rapids.

This decision is because of this man and these policies, Liveris said. I tingle with pride listening to you.

Trump said, Were finding ways to bring industry back to America, and that nobody can do it like Andrew.

Added Liveris: This innovation center will add to Dows world-class R&D engine, and could have been located anywhere in the world. We chose Michigan, our home for more than 119 years because of the highly-skilled workforce in the state and because we believe the incoming Presidential administration understands the importance of R&D investment and its multiplier impact on U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Dows pending $130 billion merger with DuPont would result in a combined company known as DowDuPont, which would then spin off into three separate, independent businesses within 18 to 24 months: Material Sciences, to stay headquartered in Midland, along with Agriculture and Specialty Products, to be based in Wilmington, Delaware, where DuPont is currently headquartered.

The merger is under review by U.S. and global agencies, which have cited a concern about the lack of competition that could result, notably in the agriculture industry. The European Commission has set a Feb. 28, 2017, deadline for decision of its review.

Dows announcement on Friday follows one the company made this summer to cut 4 percent of its global workforce, with 700 job cuts coming from the Great Lakes Bay Region as part of its acquisition of Dow Corning Corp. Restructuring at Dow Corning resulted in nearly 350 layoffs. Dow has about 49,500 employees.


UN Human Rights Day on December 10th prompted a Guardian article by Daniel Barenboim headlined "It will take more than tolerance to protect human rights". Barenboim's invaluable work with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and the Barenboim-Said Akademie is quite rightly held up as a glowing example of the role of the arts in protecting human rights. But that must not stop discussion of how far an artist should compromise in pursuit of their goal. Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra have visited Abu Dhabi twice . Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, a federal nation with a lamentable human rights record, as independent monitoring organisation Human Rights Watch reports

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) often uses its affluence to mask the governments serious human rights problems. The government arbitrarily detains, and in some cases forcibly disappears, individuals who criticized the authorities, and its security forces face allegations of torturing detaineeds. A new anti-discrimination law further jeopardizes free speech and is discriminatory, as it excludes references to gender and sexuality. Authorities denied access to the country to activists who criticized the UAEs mistreatment of migrant workers. Labor abuses persist, as migrant construction workers facing serious exploitation. Female domestic workers are excluded from regulations that apply to workers in other sectors.
ILLINOIS PORK PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION, along with the Illinois Corn Marketing Board and the Illinois Soybean Association checkoff program, presented $12,911 to Midwest Food Bank to provide ground pork.

The groups partnered with Steidinger Foods of Fairbury and Calihan Pork Processors of Peoria in this donation which, in total, will amount to 15,000 pounds of ground pork.

LIVINGSTON COUNTY FARM BUREAU marketing committee, Country Financial representatives Marlon Eilts and Darryl Tinges and Evergreen FS will host the Livingston County Agronomy Day from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Livingston County Extension Office, 1412 S. Locust St., Pontiac.
Rex Tillerson shakes hands with China National Offshore Oil Corp. chairman Fu Chengyu. Credit: REUTERS/Susana Vera

BEIJING, China  ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillersons expected nomination as the next US secretary of state is perplexing some informed business people in Beijing.

The questions take two different tracks. The first relates to Tillersons experience. Is he qualified? asked an executive in the banking industry. It looks like Trump is filing up his Cabinet with people with no government experience.

When I noted that this was not lost on Trump and was in fact part of his strategy, the banking executive responded: Well, who knows if that will work. (Because these individuals had not been authorized to speak by their companies, they requested their names not be used.)

He has experience running and representing Exxon all over the globe, sure, but thats not the same as representing America, the banker said.

The second line of questioning pertains to Tillerson and his and Exxons (XOM) relationship to Russia and Vladimir Putin.

Rex Tillerson meets with Vladmir Putin

Oh yes, he has experience with Putin, a Chinese oil company executive told me. Meaning what? Hes been working with the Russians since the 1990s on their big oil and gas [Sakhalin] field. Everyone knows he is close to Putin.

This executive wondered if this was a message not only to Russia, but also to the Chinese. For sure it means Russia and America will be close. Does this mean China is out? They [the new administration in Washington] may find out these relationships [between China, Russia and U.S.] are more complicated than they think.

It is like strongman to strongman with [Tillerson] and Putin, says another Chinese executive who works for a giant multinational oil company. He [Tillerson] was focused on execution and cost management as CEO. This is different from his new job. So now we have strongman management of international affairs.

These oil execs also point out that ExxonMobil does business in China.

According to the company website: ExxonMobils history in China dates back to the 1890s, when Standard Oil, the predecessor of ExxonMobil, began marketing kerosene in China.

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Today the company has significant operations in China including exploration, gas and fuels marketing, lubricants sales and services, chemicals and power generation, including a $4.5 billion refining and petrochemical complex in Fujian Province. The Wall Street Journal reported the company was planning on opening 750 gas stations in China, even as it was selling company-owned stations in the US.

The company has some 1300 employees in China, 300 of which are in Hong Kong, the rest on the Mainland.

If Tillerson is named and confirmed as secretary of state, the Chinese will be paying attention, particularly when it comes to his relationship with Russia. His then-former companys operations in China will be on their radar, too.

Andy Serwer is editor-in-chief of Yahoo Finance.

See also:

How entrepreneurs are bridging the gap between the worlds two internets

What people in China think of Donald Trump

A letter to President Trump
SPRINGFIELD  The debate over Illinois' new energy policy has focused largely on whether utility customers, from individual families to large industrial companies, should pay billions of dollars to subsidize two unprofitable nuclear plants owned by a highly profitable corporation.

But supporters say the argument about the $235 million in annual subsidies Exelon Corp. is eligible to receive in exchange for keeping open the Clinton and Quad Cities plants for another 10 years has overshadowed the legislations long-term environmental and climate benefits.

At a bill-signing ceremony last week at Clinton High School, Jennifer Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council that represents more than 80 organizations across the state, hailed the new law as the most significant piece of climate and clean energy policy in Illinois history.

By keeping the nuclear plants open and increasing investment in renewable power and energy efficiency, the environmental community says the new law will forestall an increase in demand for electricity generated by burning fossil fuels that contributes to climate change.

The fact that the legislation cleared the General Assembly with bipartisan support and landed on Gov. Bruce Rauners desk was due in large part to an unconventional alliance between a Fortune 100 energy company and a coalition of environmental and consumer groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and the Citizens Utility Board.

This partnership and coming together is an example of how big policy should get done in Springfield, Walling said.

Environmental, labor, religious and business organizations joined forces nearly two years ago to form the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition to fix flaws in the states renewable portfolio standard, which under a previous law set a goal of producing 25 percent of the states power through renewable sources, such as wind and solar, by 2025.

Long at odds with Exelon, the two joined forces this fall to support the new law, which takes effect June 1.

Because of the way the old law was written, development of new wind farms and other renewable energy projects has been stalled in Illinois for several years. Meanwhile, money Illinoisans paid on their power bills was going to out-of-state projects.

The law is expected to spur 3,000 megawatts of new solar projects and 1,300 megawatts of new wind projects in Illinois, enough to power nearly 1 million homes, wrote Nick Magrisso, Midwest legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a blog post summarizing the legislations environmental benefits.

Included are programs to allow people who arent able to install their own rooftop solar panels to subscribe to community projects in their neighborhoods. Another provision, the Illinois Solar for All Program, is designed to encourage development in low-income neighborhoods and to provide job training in those communities.

Spending on energy-efficiency programs, such as home weatherization and rebates for energy-saving appliances, also will increase.

Exelon subsidiary Commonwealth Edison will spend up to $400 million annually in its northern Illinois service territory, and Ameren Illinois will spend an average of $108 million annually downstate.

ComEd will be required to cut its northern Illinois customers energy demand by 21.5 percent by 2030, and Ameren will have to reduce demand among its downstate customers by 16 percent by the same deadline. There are financial incentives if the companies exceed their annual reduction targets, and penalties if they miss them.

David Kolata, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, said residents will benefit from increased spending on energy efficiency regardless of whether they take part in the utilities programs: lower demand for energy will lead to lower prices for everyone, he said.

But opponents of the new law dont think the savings will be as great as supporters are estimating because Illinois already generates a surplus of power.
SPRINGFIELD  The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police is offering its annual tips and reminders to help shoppers remain safe and keep their purchases secure during the holidays.

The holidays are a time for giving, but that doesn't mean you should give criminals a gift by letting them take advantage of you, said Illinois FOP President Chris Southwood. By following a few common-sense tips, shoppers can stay safe and make sure their purchases reach the intended recipients.

The FOP offers the following holiday shopping safety tips and reminders based on information from the National Crime Prevention Council, www.ncpc.org.

Shopping in stores

 Do not buy more than you can carry. Plan ahead by taking a friend with you or ask a store employee to help you carry your packages to the car.

 Save all receipts. Print and save all confirmations from your online purchases. Start a file folder to keep all receipts together and to help you verify credit card or bank statements as they come in.

 Consider alternate options to pay for your merchandise, such as onetime or multi-use disposable credit cards or money orders, at online stores and auction sites.

 Wait until asked before taking out your credit card or checkbook. An enterprising thief would love to shoulder surf to get your account information.

 Tell a security guard or store employee if you see an unattended bag or package. The same applies if you are using mass transit.

Walking to, from your car

 Deter pickpockets. Carry your purse close to your body or your wallet inside a coat or front trouser pocket.

 Have your keys in hand when approaching your vehicle. Check the back seat and around the car before getting in.

 Do not leave packages visible in your car windows. Lock them in the trunk or, if possible, take them directly home.

Shopping with small children

 If you are shopping with children, make a plan in case you are separated from each other.

 Select a central meeting place.

 Teach children to know they can ask mall personnel or store security employees if they need help.

Shopping online

 Before surfing the Internet, secure your personal computers by updating your security software. Everyones computer should have anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-spam software, as well as a good firewall installed. Visit www.bytecrime.org for free software downloads.

 Keep your personal information private and your password secure. Do not respond to requests to verify your password or credit card information unless you initiated the contact. Legitimate businesses will not contact you in this manner.

 Beware of bargains from companies with whom you are unfamiliar  if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

 Use secure websites for purchases. Look for the icon of a locked padlock at the bottom of the screen or https in the URL address.
DALLAS -- Marcia Dykes had never been to the Anger Room before, but she signed up earlier in the week after reading about a place where people could wreck things.

It was just what the 41-year-old Richardson, Texas, resident said she needed after an exhausting day at work and the added annoyance of backed-up traffic on Central Expressway. She picked out her weapons of choice: a crowbar and bat.

"I'm ready to smash some things. I'm frustrated," she said, standing with protective goggles and a helmet.

Donna Alexander, owner of the Anger Room in Deep Ellum, first gives Dykes a rundown of the safety rules and then walks her into a large warehouse-style room where a television, rolling chair, love seat, dresser and dinner plates await Dykes' destruction.

Alexander considers the Anger Room a safe place where visitors can take out their frustrations without judgment.

Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, Alexander saw friends go to jail for slashing tires or destroying property. She thought she could help the next friends avoid jail time by having a place where they could hammer their anger away.

She was 16 at the time. Now, at 34, she's created a trademarked business in Dallas that's also heading to Las Vegas. Just eight years ago, Alexander started the Anger Room in her two-car garage on Ross Avenue. She charged people five bucks a session. Most of her first clients were friends, but as word spread, strangers started to arrive.

Alexander looked for a bigger location and ended up in Richardson in 2011. She moved around a few times since, then got her dream spot on Commerce Street just over three weeks ago.

The beginning was like a "trial run where I saw what worked and didn't work," Alexander said. "It let me establish like how long a person can actually last in there and how I wanted to set up my pricing structures."

The average person tends to last two to three minutes in the Anger Room, according to Alexander. About three minutes into her session, Dykes slowed her momentum, but kept going until her five minutes were up.

"I feel like I just went to the gym," Dykes said afterward.

Anger Room sessions start at $25 for five minutes, $45 for 15 minutes and $75 for 25 minutes.

"We do offer sessions up to 25 minutes, but no one has lasted that long," Alexander said.

Custom room arrangements start at $500. Customers in the past have asked for office, kitchen and living room setups. Special requests have ranged from balloons to pianos. One time, Alexander watched a man re-enact an entire scene from a movie.

"I always wanted to be able to relate to what people are angry about," Alexander said. "Most people have stress from work or home-related issues."

Between the election and the holiday season, the Anger Room has been busy. Alexander had to introduce Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton mannequins out of popular demand.

"People have some serious frustration built up," Alexander said. She jokes she's had access to the Anger Room for eight years but has only had to use it four times.

But some experts feel that allowing angry people to break things might actually increase aggressive tendencies.

Brad Bushman, professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University, researched catharsis theory, which says that releasing angry emotions can help diminish them. But Bushman said the scientific evidence indicates otherwise.

Breaking things "keeps angry feelings and aggressive thoughts active in your memory," Bushman said. "It's like using gasoline on a fire: It just feeds the flame."

Ron Stein, a psychology professor at Mountain View College in west Oak Cliff, said people might enjoy the thrill of breaking items but warns that it shouldn't replace behavioral treatment.

"It's not therapy. It's not anger management. The anger management that I teach my clients takes long-term therapy," Stein said. "We are not doing very well expressing our emotions that help our stress. We always look for ways, and I think [the Anger Room] is like a guilty pleasure."

Alexander acknowledges the criticism but said she doesn't see people leave angrier.

Her business is getting national attention, too. Reality shows have reached out to her about filming, and people have traveled from out-of-state and other countries for a chance to blow off some steam. Alexander expected some success, but not to this extent.
BLOOMINGTON  Ten college students were displaced Saturday after an attic fire broke out in a large house split into multiple apartments in the Franklin Park neighborhood Saturday morning. No one was injured.

Flames were visible from the third-story windows of the house, 302 E. Walnut St., when Bloomington firefighters arrived at 7:48 a.m., said Fire Captain Jeffrey Day. Normal firefighters provided assistance.

The 10 tenants will be relocated to a nearby rental unit until the building is repaired. A cause and damage estimate were not available.

Day said the fire was difficult to extinguish because of the tight spaces in the attic.

Youd think it was out and then it would come back. Once fire gets into insulation it can smolder and start back up quickly, he said.

There was substantial damage to the attic, said Day, and the rest of the house received significant water damage.

The fire was under control by 8:42 a.m.

The building is insured by the owner but it was unclear if the tenants had rental insurance. The tenants declined Red Cross help.
Before the introduction of draft horses and then steam- and gasoline-powered tractors, oxen provided the muscle on pioneer Corn Belt farms. These beasts of burden, which were usually yoked in pairs, were prized for their strength, steadiness and endurance.

It was oxen power that helped early farmers refashion Central Illinois by plowing up the tallgrass prairie for cornfields and pastures, transforming a pristine, natural landscape to one devoted almost exclusively to commercial purposes.

In 1831, William B. Carlocks family settled northwest of Bloomington near the Woodford County-McLean County line. Between their farm and the new county seat of Bloomington there was a 12-mile stretch of unbroken prairie, with nary a fence or house or building of any kind to be seen.

Late in life, Carlock recounted how he had helped break the first prairie along this route. The plow was drawn by four yoke of oxen, he said, and a boy about ten years of age and myself, then about nine, drove the oxen, he walking on one side of the team and myself on the other and each having a very long plaited buckskin whip.

Oxen, contrary to a popular misconception, are not a breed apart from cattle. Rather, they are castrated male cattle, usually 4 years or older, trained for heavy work.

Although slower and more methodical than horses, oxen can pull heavier loads for longer durations. Known for their docility, oxen are also none-too-easily spooked and less excitable than horses  a trait which proved particularly beneficial when breaking a stretch of tallgrass prairie rife with rattlesnakes!

In the early day a great deal of the teaming, breaking prairie and ditching was done by oxen, and I had several teams, recalled Samuel Baldridge, who settled in McLean Countys White Oak Township in 1852.

His prized pair of oxen, Buck and Berry, helped train other pairs. In fact, they were so well schooled that when Baldridge called ho! Buck and come under Berry in their rail corral, the two would mosey on over and stick out their heads, ready for the yoke and a hard days work.

Oxen were needed for more than prairie breaking. The first railroads did not reach Bloomington until 1853, and until then oxen carried heavy loads over land, including the important route from the Pekin wharf on the Illinois River to landlocked Bloomington. Oxen also plied town and city streets pulling heavy wagons loaded with everything from kegs of beer to grand pianos.

Even after railroads arrived and brought wholesale changes to most everything everywhere, oxen were still needed to plow up the prairie, and in McLean County and elsewhere in Central Illinois there was much left to be broken.

We saw fourteen yoke of oxen yesterday on Washington Street, attached to one wagon, reported the May 19, 1857, Pantagraph. Probably they were going out to break prairie.

The fact that there is no taboo regarding the consumption of beef as there is with horsemeat proved to be another advantage in favor of the ox. In other words, many unfortunate oxen, after toiling under the yoke for several years, were then fattened for the farmers table or the slaughterhouse.

In early July 1860, N.C. Bump of McLean County shipped 118 head of fat cattle to the New York market. Included were two 6-year-old oxen, previously used for plowing or drayage, each weighing 4,300 pounds. Once freed of hard labor and beefed up (pun intended) by Bump they were able to gain 1,200 pounds in 10 short months.

In 1863, a pair of oxen owned by John Cheney of Cheneys Grove took first place in the McLean County Fair. Cheney then spent the fall putting flesh on their too-lean frames and by Christmas Eve these blue-ribbon beasts had become part of Bloomington butcher Edwin Hartrys festive epicurean display. This beef, and other meats, pork, mutton, etc., dressed in the finest style, was exhibited until midnight, forming the best show of meat ever seen in this city, if not in the state, remarked The Pantagraph.

Beginning in the latter 1850s, the increasing popularity of French draft horses known as Normans (and today as Percherons) led to a steady reduction in the number of oxen in Central Illinois. The town of Normal became a national center for the importation, breeding and sale of Normans, which were large and muscular enough to handle much of the work previously reserved for oxen.

Although horses remained an integral part of Corn Belt farming well into the 20th century, by that time oxen had all but disappeared from the countryside. Their numbers in McLean County, for instance, plummeted from 684 in 1850 (the first U.S. Census to count these animals) to a mere 25 by 1880.

Another contributing factor in the decline of the ox involved the development of new farm equipment and implements. Cultivators, as well as harvesting and mowing machines, demanded a quicker pace in the field, one suited for the far more nimble and speedy horse than the plodding ox.

A few years ago a vestige of this lost era was itself lost when a White Oak Township barn, said to the oldest in McLean County, succumbed to the elements. Built by Christian Ropp in 1857, the barn included free (or open) stalls, built specifically for oxen. Unfortunately, its not known if any still-standing barns in the area have architectural features that similarly hark back to the age when the ox strode the prairie.

Oxen, with their strength, even temper and steady gait, proved a useful metaphor for poets and politicians alike. At a June 30, 1858, Republican congressional district convention in Joliet, Congressman Owen Lovejoy used the ox to help explain his support for a proposed legislative compromise that rankled his fellow abolitionists.

The congressman defended his action in the case as the best that could be done under the circumstances, noted a Pantagraph correspondent at the convention. Lovejoy added that if he was stuck fast in a slough (a low-lying, wet prairie), he would ride an ox out rather than not get out, and would not consider that he had thereby affirmed the principle that oxen were better animals to ride than horses, or had bound himself always to ride oxen thereafter.
BLOOMINGTON  Still looking for a great Christmas gift?

Consider giving a piece of the past with "McLean County Memories II," The Pantagraph's second volume of photos chronicling the county's history from the 1940s through the 60s.

The first book, published in the fall of 2015, introduced "The Early Years," focusing on the county's history from the 1800s through 1939.

Like that publication, the new, 136-page book is a collaborative effort made possible by photo contributions from the public, the McLean County Museum of History, Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan universities, the Bloomington and Normal public libraries, and The Pantagraph's photographic archives.

The Pantagraph and its partner, Pediment Publishing, have been working for months on the project and the hardcover, collectible book is ready for Christmas gift-giving.

Before the 2015 edition, it had been some years since a countywide pictorial book was published in McLean County. Both volumes are collections of images designed to show what was happening in McLean County during a specific period of time.

The years covered in "Memories II" include the Greatest Generation, those who served during World War II, the Korean conflict and the early years of the Vietnam War, along with tremendous growth in industry, education, transportation and other aspects of American life.

The first chapter includes images from "The Early Years" as a way to set the stage for the latest photographs.

"McLean County Memories II" can be pre-ordered at The Pantagraph front desk, 301 W. Washington St., Bloomington, during weekday business hours, or by mail to the same address. Cost of the book is $44.95.

Orders also can be placed online at McLeanCo2.PictorialBook.com.

Also, there are a limited number of the 2015 McLean County Memories: The Early Years book available at the discounted price of $25.
A recent decision by a federal judge in Texas has put a damper on some holiday cheer and left many companies looking like the Grinch.

The Nov. 22 ruling put on hold the implementation and enforcement of revisions to U.S. Department of Labor regulations that significantly increase the threshold for overtime pay of certain employees.

The department had updated the salary level requirements seven times since 1938, but the last one came in 2004.

Twenty-one states sued to block the rule, arguing it would unduly burden the public and private sectors.

Randy Johnson of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the judge's ruling, noting that if the overtime rule had taken effect, it would have resulted in significant new costs  more than $1 billion according to the Congressional Budget Office  and it would have caused many disruptions in how work gets done. Furthermore, the rule would have reduced workplace flexibility, remote electronic access to work, and opportunities for career advancement.

The Department of Labor, on the other hand strongly disagrees with the decision and has filed an appeal to get the rules reinstated.

The proposed change, which was set to take effect Dec. 1, would have made salaried workers earning less than $47,476 per year eligible for overtime pay, with the threshold adjusted every three years to reflect changes in average wages.

The new threshold was more than double the current rate of $23,660 per year.

That's a huge jump, potentially upping the pay of more than 4 million workers nationwide and more than 194,000 in Illinois.

The new rules were announced in May, meaning businesses immediately went to work identifying employees who would be impacted, deciding if they would remain salaried employees or become hourly, and figuring out if their operating budgets would allow for the spike.

Unfortunately, the timing U.S. District Court Judge Amos Mazzant's ruling came after many businesses had taken the next step of letting the affected employees know if their status or pay would change.

Since then, many businesses have reversed course and rescinded the changes they made  most notably the raises  pending the outcome of the appeal. Hence, the Grinch reference.

While those decisions were not popular and caught many workers by surprise, they were a necessary part of doing business. It's better to step back and let the process play out rather going ahead with changes that could have more far-reaching implications.

That's especially true in Illinois, where the deck is already stacked against employers through higher taxes, wages, regulations and the lack of a state budget.

We agree with the Obama administration that the current threshold is out of date, but think, logical, less drastic, incremental increases are called for, and should be implemented that way if employers are faced with the situation again.
I get upset when I read our founding fathers characterized as evil. More egregious is the fact that this slur was included in a letter extolling the praises of a dictator with the words, Long live Fidel Castro.

Individually, our founding fathers were flawed; but collectively, they rank among the wisest men ever to walk this earth. Our Constitution is living proof of that wisdom.

There is an enclave in Miami called Little Havana. Most of the inhabitants of Little Havana are immigrants and the progeny of refugees who fled Castros tyranny.

I have racked my brain trying to find a Little Washington D.C. outside of the boundaries of the United States. The closest Ive been able to come is Monrovia, Liberia, named in honor of founding father, James Monroe, who attempted to establish a self-sustaining colony in Liberia to ease the lives of emancipated American slaves.

I will believe that Castro left a positive legacy for the Cuban people when Little Havana is renamed as Castrovia.

Larry Humble, Bloomington
Trump Nieto Mexico

Recent months have seen the Mexican government of Enrique Pena Nieto grappling with Donald Trump, who has besmirched Mexican immigrants in the US and promised a variety of retaliatory measures against the US's southern neighbor.

But Trump's attacks are just the international dimension of the problems facing Pena Nieto, his government, and his center-right Institutional Revolutionary Party.

At home, his government and his party have made policy missteps and become embroiled in a number of scandals, involving graft and corruption  messes of their own creation.

Pena Nieto was widely praised upon taking office in December 2012 for a six-year term, called a sexenio.

He got credit for pursuing reform packages addressing Mexico's telecommunications and oil industries. Moreover, the first two years of his term saw steady declines in deadly violence, which had hit shocking peaks during the final years of his predecessor's term.

That decline in homicides has seen a sharp reversal, however, and high-profile incidents like the Ayotzinapa disappearances have undercut the Pena Nieto government's claim to a sound security strategy.

Guerrero homicide death violence killing Mexico Acapulco

Between 2012 and 2013, homicide cases, as measured by the National Public Security System, fell 15.7% and then dipped 14.6% between 2013 and 2014.

But from 2014 to 2015, total homicide cases ticked up 8.8%, and 2016 is on pace to see 20.2% more homicide cases than 2015.

Since official data on violence is shaped by political concerns at the state and federal levels, the figures reported may well understate the number of homicides in Mexico over the last several years.

Story continues

mexico protest

"When violence seems to be going down, authorities love to take the credit. ... That's what we heard for two years" David Shirk, a professor at the University of San Diego, told Business Insider in September.

"Well, when the numbers go up, it's like, what, did you suddenly stop doing those things? Did you suddenly stop running your police forces in the same way?" Shirk said.

"They don't quite know what to say," he added.

Friends in high places

Pena Nieto's personal dealings while in office have also inspired criticism.

The "Casa Blanca" scandal that broke in late 2014 found the president's family buying an upscale home in Mexico City on favorable terms from a government contractor run by Pena Nieto's longtime friend.

With that and other suspect property dealings, Pena Nieto was compelled to appoint someone to investigate his government's alleged conflicts of interest. He chose a man who was reportedly a friend to him and his finance minister, creating another conflict of interest.

That appointee found no wrongdoing, a verdict greeted by Mexicans with dismay but little surprise.

Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto Casa Blanca

Pena Nieto has also drawn heat for his more recent legal maneuvers. In November, Mexico's senate approved Raul Cervantes to be the country's attorney general.

Cervantes, a PRI member, was the party's legal counsel, and "his cousin is a guy by the name of Humberto Castillejos, who is the judicial adviser, if you will, directly to Pena Nieto," Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, told Business Insider in November

"And undoubtedly he had something to do with Cervantes being named the attorney general," Vigil said.

Raul Cervantes Enrique Pena Nieto Mexico government

Cervantes was approved for the position as the office was being remade into an independent prosecutor's position.

In that role, Cervantes would serve for nine years, and he couldn't be fired by the president  Pena Nieto or whoever succeeds him in 2018.

Given those circumstances, the appointment was seen as another effort by the PRI to shield itself from legal recourse.

"Pena Nieto wants somebody to basically protect his interests and not move forward on investigations, particularly PRI governors, PRI corrupt officials," said Vigil, author of of "Metal Coffins: The Blood Alliance Cartel."

"And that is one of the main reasons there's some skepticism and concerns within the rank-and-file of the Mexican attorney general's office," Vigil added.

Pena Nieto backed down at the end of November, proposing a change that would empower the senate to appoint the country's first independent prosecutor.

Pena Nieto's approval ratings have trended downward during his first three years in office, deflated by his missteps at home and abroad. But the PRI's self-inflicted wounds haven't all come from presidential matters.

nieto protest teachers

A number of the PRI's state governors have been implicated in corruption schemes and other misdeeds. Several of them have gone on the run.

Tomas Yarrington, governor of the northeastern state of Tamaulipas from 1999 to 2004, is accused of profiting from the network of the Gulf cartel, which funneled cocaine to the US for much of the 2000s. Yarrington was indicted in the US on a number of charges, and he has been on the run since 2012.

Humberto Moreira Mexico PRI government

Humberto Moreira, the governor of northern Coahuila state from 2005 to 2011 and a former president of the PRI, was arrested in Spain early this year on suspicion of money-laundering and embezzlement.

Moreira, who has never been formally charged, was released by Spanish authorities a week after his arrest.

US authorities seized a property in Texas registered to Moreira's mother in relation to an investigation "into millions of dollars that were reportedly stolen form the coffers" of Coahuila.

This week, Moreira  whose brother, Ruben, is currently governor of Coahuila  announced that he was looking to run for a local deputy position next year; a position that comes with immunity from arrest.

But in the gallery of PRI officeholders accused or convicted of graft and corruption, Javier Duarte, the PRI governor of Veracruz from 2010 until October this year, stands out.

A still unfolding investigation mounted by Mexican news site Animal Politico has uncovered millions of dollars in missing federally allocated funds and found that Duarte's administration funneled $35 million to shell companies, in addition to numerous properties in Mexico and abroad acquired by Duarte himself.

Javier Duarte Mexico

In September, the Mexican attorney general's office said it would begin an investigation of Duarte. That same month, the PRI stripped him of his membership rights  the first time in the party's history that it had done so.

On October 12, Duarte stepped down from his governorship to fight what he called a "campaign" against him.

At the end of that month, the PRI expelled him.

In November, Duarte fled the state, and possibly Mexico and remains on the lam (though new posts appeared on his Facebook page this month).

The Mexican government issued a warrant for his arrest and offered a nearly $750,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

'Who's next?'

Duarte was hailed a member of "the new PRI" and as part of "a new generation of politics" in Mexico in mid-2012 by Pena Nieto, a presidential candidate at the time.

And Duarte  along with Cesar Duarte and Roberto Borge, the former PRI governors of Chihuahua and Quintana Roo, respectively  was cited as Pena Nieto as indications that his party was experiencing a "renewal from within."

Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto president protest

But their fall from grace, and that of many of their party mates, likely contributed to the electoral dubbing the PRI experienced at the polls during gubernatorial elections in June this year, when it lost six of the nine governorships it held, including that of Veracruz, which the PRI in its history has never not held.

"The PRI has been in existence since 1929, and they controlled Mexican politics from 1929 to 2000," Vigil told Business Insider. "And unfortunately the country under the PRI has just been completely muddled in heavy corruption."

The PRI and its officials are not the only Mexican politicians involved in or suspected of involvement in corrupt dealings; such misdeeds have been committed by many across the country's political spectrum.

But with such a cloud hanging over it, the PRI finds itself on uncertain ground.

Mexico Pena Nieto protest

"So the real question I think coming down road ... is who's next? What PRI governor isn't tainted by corruption enough that he's automatically excluded himself?" David Shirk, USD professor and director of the school's Justice in Mexico program, told Business Insider in September.

A November survey found Margarita Zavala of the conservative National Action Party as the leading candidate for Mexico's 2018 presidential elections, with the support of 30% of respondents, leading the 25% of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (who may reap the most benefit from Trump's win) of the leftist Morena party and the 16% of PRI candidate Miguel Angel Osorio Chong.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Mexico presidential election leftist morena party

In head-to-head matchups in the same poll, Zavala led Lopez Obrador, 53% to 37%, and Osorio Chong, 58% to 27%, while Lopez Obrador topped Osorio Chong 48% to 38%.

"The government has aided Lopez Obradors cause by dragging its feet on anticorruption reforms and failing to prosecute theft by its governors," Shannon O'Neil, senior fellow for Latin America at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in September.

"Unless the government changes course in the next two years, Lopez Obrador could become Mexicos next president," she added.

"What I think the PRI is learning in this sexenio is they are not able to function as effectively in controlling the political situation and controlling what happens in terms of policy outcomes as they were when they had a monopoly," Shirk told Business Insider.

"They're learning that as powerful and as strong as the party is, because ... it is the still the dominant party of Mexico, but they are not the hegemonic party, the monopolistic party."

NOW WATCH: Who is paying for the wall? Trump and Mexico's president contradict each other





More From Business Insider


A poor picture of a 7-year-old boy battling rhabdomyosarcoma disease went viral. In the photo, Logan Sellers of Bangor, Wales can be seen lying exhaustedly on a couch after having chemotherapy. The boy's father posted the photo online to show the daily battles his son has to endure.

Logan Sellers, who has cerebral palsy, has been detected with a tumor called rhabdomyosarcoma after he had a lump behind his right eyes. Due to his condition, Sellers frequently awakens in the middle of the night and moans to his dad in frustration of the torment and pain he's going through.

The father said they are fortunate that the lump developed forward and not backward into his brain. Plus they were lucky that they caught it early.

However, several days passed, his tumor battle intensifies. This time, the 7-year-old boy has started refusing food intake. Also, he is no longer engrossed and interested with toys. The worst is he has spent a day throwing up all he has eaten.

"He's been having three-day sessions of chemotherapy every three weeks in Manchester, and it's made him very poorly," Daily Post quoted James Sellers, father of Logan, as saying. The father added that the boy is also having nightmares and night sweats.

The father then decided to travel to the United States where treatment of his son's cancer is only available. In the United States, Sellers was given the pioneering cure to combat his tumor.

The boy was told by his father that he is not very well and that he requires special treatment to make him well which is what made all his hairs to fall out. However, he was not told about the cruelty of his cancer and how it can affect him.

"To be honest, it's uncomfortable and upsetting to talk about but it's only for people like me that people can be educated," the father said according to The Sun. That is why the father posted a picture of his son online. The father said he's the main reason why he posted a poorly picture of his son was to show the harsh reality behind the scenes. The photo showed the boy lying on a sofa after having a cancer treatment went viral on the Internet.

Presently, the boy lives in the United States with his father and sister. Logan receives a proton therapy, a kind of radiation that can more precisely identify and kill cancers - which is available in the United States.


In the lower Islamic state, three children were used as a decoy by a female terrorist. In Libya, a least greater number of women are getting brainwashed, cajoled or forced to kill as Libyan forces are intensified by that for IS terrorists and air strikes of US back them up.

According to The Mirror, they are closer to take complete control of the ex- Islamic country, which was Sirte's stronghold till the campaign which lasted six months ended.But closer to the front of the Mediterranean Sea, there was a difficulty faced by the troops in dislodging the terrorists from land's final patch.

Also, due to the fear of families and children being held captives. On Friday, during the break in the fight. Journalists Reuters saw a woman along with three children going towards the Libyan forces who were waiting. The Herald of Libya reported that they were given a safe passage because the children might have been malnourished and hungry.

The short interval after the ambulance left with the kids there sounded a blast as the explosives were detonated by the women which wounded considerably a dozen of people, Metro UK also stated.

The Herald claimed that two women were involved in the blast incident, masqueraded as the civilian people while surrendering to the forces of Bunyan Marsous.

The incident killed four and injured a dozen of soldiers. There was a lull in Sirte's fight earlier in the week before the massive assault of artillery was resumed by the Libyan troops on the positions of Islamic State on Thursday. There has been a continuity in air strikes by the US but the Islamic has kept ground state at a wide range.

The troops even regained power over the row of buildings which were destroyed in the last fight. In 2015, the state ultimately overtook Sirte and imposed its rule of law in Sirte in the following months.

In May, after the Islamic State advanced to take Misrata's city, the brigades led a force from Misrata started campaigning to take Sirte again.


Ohio's House of Representatives, which is dominated by Republicans, and the Senate recently passed a legislation dubbed to be the most extreme abortion restriction ever suggested in the United States. The legislation bans to perform an abortion at six weeks period when the fetus' heart starts to beat and victims of rape or incest are not exempted.

Once the law is approved, doctors can be imprisoned if they missed on following the protocol of checking the age of the fetus in a woman's womb that is subject to the abortion procedure. However, the legislation did not come without any criticisms.

Ohio's recently passed abortion law was criticized as extreme. The reason? Pro-abortion rights advocates explained that females normally won't know yet if they are pregnant at the point of conception.

Dawn Laguens, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Action Fund, doubted the motives of the legislation. She said that it looks like the ultimate goal is to totally ban abortion.

Ohio lawmakers struggled to pass the "heartbeat bill" since 2011. But some activists are worried that the extremity can be unconstitutional, which can empower courts to be biased on minor abortion restrictions.

It is observed that the Supreme Court refuses to look into Arkansas' 12-week abortion passed earlier that is blocked by lower courts. The high court ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973 says that states do not have the right to favor legislations that prohibit abortions before the fetus can be detected, which is usually around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy, says Huffington Post.

Republicans felt obliged to push the bill because President-elect Donald Trump is noted to appoint anti-abortion conservatives to the Supreme Court. Certainly, when a new leader and Supreme Court officials are in place, major changes can happen.

With that said, they were able to move ahead only when they attained consensus in their caucus, explains Ohio Senate President Keith Faber. Meanwhile, Gov. John Kasich has yet to issue any statement whether he is in favor of the "Heartbeat Bill" bill or not.

Ohio's abortion bill was passed on Tuesday. It should reportedly reach Faber's table anytime soon for his signature, according to CNN.
Family rights advocates and experts have long been urging the government and the justice system to recognize the existence of parental alienation. This growing phenomenon reportedly has "devastating consequences" on both the children and the "alienated" parent.

So, what exactly is parental alienation? According to Gibraltar Chronicle, parental alienation is "the psychological and emotional manipulation of a child" that aims to destroy the "loving relationship they once shared with a parent."

Parental alienation has become such a common trend that arises from custody disputes and family breakdowns. But in the United States, experts believed that the nation known as the "Land of the Free" has boosted its efforts to recognize and identify parental alienation.

Several legal professionals and psychologists believed that parental alienation has existed for decades. But due to some political and personal reasons, The Conversation noted that some are still in denial that such phenomenon exists.

The publication added that there have been misconceptions about parental alienation because of the legal and professional disputes that plagued the issue. But the author of the article, Jennifer Harman, who is also a Colorado State University Applied Social and Health Psychology associate professor, stressed that it's time to delve deeper into the existence of parental alienation and not just dwell on the controversies surrounding it.

As per Harman's explanation, parental alienation is not described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a manual that provides a "common language and standard criteria" that is used by mental health professionals to classify mental health disorders. But Harman revealed that Child Affected by Parental Relationship Distress (CAPRD) has been added in the fifth edition of the manual (DSM-5).

As described under CAPRD, "parental alienating behaviors" are included such as badmouthing a parent to a child or brainwashing them to believe about the "horrible and untrue" things about the other parent. Preventing a child to spend quality time with the other parent and excessive intrusion are also parental alienating behaviors.

Parental alienation, however, is not the same thing as estrangement. According to Harman, an estrangement occurs when a parent is abusive or in situations that a parent has damaged his or her relationship with the child.

Harman also highlighted the need for well-trained experts or professionals who can identify the occurrence of parental alienation. The reason? Parental alienation has adverse effects or impact on a child's life and well-being.

Based on the article published in Psychology Today, parental alienation weakens loving parent-child relationships, making children to choose sides. In spite of their capacity and desire to love and be loved, children are manipulated to hate one of his or her parents.

Due to the denigration that often leads to a child's emotional rejection, parental alienation is now considered child abuse. In fact, the strategies of alienating parents, which include "spurning, terrorizing, isolating, corrupting or exploiting and denying emotional responsiveness," are reportedly extreme measures of psychological maltreatment of children.

Taking into consideration the negative impact of parental alienation to a child, 100Reporters pointed out a sad reality that family courts are putting children in danger. The publication detailed that there are cases wherein the family courts turn over children to abusive parents.

Former White House Advisor on Violence Against Women Lynn Rosenthal even admitted that custody crisis in the United States has been in a "terrible situation." With that said, many family rights advocates have urged legislators to recognized parental alienation and its impact on both the parents and the children.

So, what are your thoughts on the burgeoning cases of parental alienation? Please feel free to leave a comment below.
The Abbot Northwestern Hospital in Minnesota is facing a $50,000 lawsuit after its staff mistakenly delivered a newborn into the hands of a wrong mother for breastfeeding sometime on Dec. 3, 2012. The Allina Health staff realized they committed a mistake only after a patient who also just delivered called their attention and told them something was wrong.

Tammy Van Dyke filed the lawsuit at the Hennepin County District Court after her son Cody was placed by hospital staff in the wrong bassinet. Van Dyke told the court she has suffered emotional pain and mental injury as a result of the incident. Washington Times said the mix-up was apparently caused by technology glitches.

"We began using electronic identification bands [afterward] for the mother and infant that must be matched when returning the infant to the mother," Michelle Smith, Mother Baby Service Line clinical program director said."This helps us to assure us that the identity of the infant and the mother are matched each time."

Having one's child breastfed by another woman is not however that strange since this has been practiced the world over for quite sometime now. Some mothers who do not immediately have breast milk after giving birth allow other women to breastfeed their child. Daily Mail reported an increase in wet-nursing where out of 25 mothers said they have breastfed the child of another woman.

In the case of Van Dyke, the breastfeeding of her child by another mom was a result of a mix-up. Star Tribune said the hospital attributed the mistake to the failure of a staff to follow the prescribed procedure where the codes in the identification bands of the infant and the mother should be matched.

The hospital revised their procedure and has since started using more modern identification bands to prevent the same incident from happening again. With this high-tech bands, the nurse is able to tell that there is a match between the mother and child when a green light is displayed.


A recent survey shows that over 80 percent of mothers in the United States breastfeed but less than one-third of them continue breastfeeding their babies within the recommended one-year period. Doctors have stressed the benefits of breastfeeding for years and while they have successfully convinced mothers to do just that, they have to do more by telling these mothers to breastfeed their babies for a longer period.

Breastfeeding has many benefits and it include lesser cold, ear infections and hospitalization for babies who are breastfed. It has also reduced the chances of Sudden Infant Disease Syndrome (SIDS) by 50 percent. KXAN noted breastfeeding experts in Danville's Hendricks Regional Health have started a campaign to help mothers who need help in breastfeeding their babies every Wednesday.

"We're doing a pretty good job of convincing moms, yes, you should breastfeed, but we're not doing a really good job of making sure that they have the support that they need," Debbie Beck, a registered nurse and lactation consultant and also the chairwoman of the Hendricks County Breastfeeding Coalition said.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention said 80 percent of mothers have tried breastfeeding but only half of them have continued doing this for six months. Dr. Emily Scott, IU Methodist newborn unit medical director, said it is a decision that has to be made by the family so they have to be told about the benefits of breastfeeding early on.

According to ABC News, one of the factors being eyed for the shorter breastfeeding period is the lack of support from society and workplaces, as well as the aggressive marketing of companies manufacturing infant formulas. These companies that are reportedly earning around $1 Billion from the formulas, however, denied the claim and said they are recommending and supporting breastfeeding.

NBC News said the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that only human breast milk should be given to babies until six months although they should continue breastfeeding for up to one year or more. Aside from producing healthier babies, breastfeeding also helps mothers get back to their weight before pregnancy and help reduce ovarian and breast cancer risk.


Medical experts found a link between maternal deaths and heart disease. Unfortunately, doctors are being blamed for this problem saying that there is a huge possibility that they missed out on the symptoms of cardiovascular disease in pregnant women.

In an article published by The Daily Mail, data gathered by the National Audit at Oxford University discovered that doctors often miss out on the symptoms of cardiovascular disease during pregnancy. Having said that, it became the leading cause of maternal death since 1980. The amount of women dying of heart-related issues while and after their pregnancy was even doubled over the past three decades.

The concern about this matter even spikes up when doctors ignore the possible symptoms of heart disease because they don't think it has adverse effects on a pregnant woman. What happens when a pregnant woman arrives at a hospital, doctors are accustomed to omitting the possibility that their heart problem could jeopardize their pregnancy situation. Soon as they ignore it, a pregnant woman would be then sent home. This has always been the procedure, and it is bad because doctors won't even get a chance to find out the root of such symptoms of their weak diagnosis.

sufferingsufferingNot all heart disease manifests as intense chest pain and pain or numbness that radiates up into the jaw or down through the left arm. You may only feel light-headed, dizzy, and short of breath without realizing your heart is at risk.

With the help of the Internet, anyone could now be informed of the symptoms of cardiovascular problems. This comes in handy for pregnant women. According to EmpowHER, some of the symptoms could include feeling light headed and shortness of breath. If you become dizzy simply getting up from your chair, then there is a chance that your heart is at risk. It is best to do your part in maintaining your heart to be in condition.


SEAL BEACH  Some families of the victims of convicted killer Scott Dekraai on Saturday called on the California attorney general to accept the killers offer of a lifetime prison sentence without parole in lieu of seeking the death penalty.

Our intent here is the simple acknowledgment that the case is fatally flawed and is currently positioned for a lifetime of appeals, said Hattie Stretz, the lone shooting victim who survived a gunmans rampage at a beauty salon five years ago.

Eight people, including Stretzs daughter, Laura Webb Elody, were murdered that day.

We have no choice but to collectively agree we do not want the death penalty pursued, said Paul Wilson, whose wife, Christy, was killed. We are exhausted from this continuous pain, and this has got to be over with. Life will never be the same for us, but we should have the chance to move on.

Though the four families who gathered for a news conference Saturday agreed they want a conclusion to the long-drawn-out court case that sparked a scandal in Orange County over using jailhouse snitches, they do not appear to agree on what Dekraais punishment should be.

Were not all united on that, said Chelsea Huff during the news conference. Were all in agreement we want this to come to a conclusion.

Huff is the daughter of Michelle Fournier, Dekraais ex-wife and his first victim on Oct. 12, 2011, when he walked into Salon Meritage, where she worked, and began shooting.

Butch Fournier, Michelle Fourniers brother, later said in an interview, We still believe in the death penalty, and no other case deserves it more.

The salons owner, Randy Fannin, was a Murrieta resident. His widow, Sandi, who formerly owned the salon, said in a brief phone interview after Saturdays event that she couldnt attend, but supports taking the death penalty off the table.

Paul Caouette, the son of victim David Caouette, said he chose to not attend the news conference because he said hes conflicted on the death penalty, as are others.

Theres too many personalities. Too many opinions. Too much sadness. Youll never get eight families to agree on the same thing, Caouette said in a phone interview.

Attending Saturday, in addition to family members of Webb Elody, Wilson and Fournier, were those of Michele Daschbach Fast.

The families were prompted to come together by a statement by state Sen. Janet Nguyen last week calling on the state Attorney Generals Office to continue to pursue the death penalty against Dekraai, said Thomas Stretz, whose wife was shot and stepdaughter was killed.

We felt that was presumptuous, Thomas Stretz said of Nguyens statement. We wanted our voices heard.

Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for the District Attorneys Office, declined to comment on the families request, saying the case is now in the hands of the California attorney general. She pointed instead to a Nov. 22 statement from her office that said Dekraai deserves death and that the Orange County district attorney will support the attorney generals decision.

Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, who began as the underdog in the legal brawl, said he hopes the attorney general will honor the wishes to pursue a life sentence.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas vowed from the start to secure the death penalty for Dekraai, a former tugboat crew member.

Yet at the same time, Rackauckas homicide team, Seal Beach police and sheriffs deputies were taking steps that ultimately would damage what appeared to be a slam-dunk case. Dekraai was moved at the jail into Module L  an area that recently released sheriffs records show was used as a snitch tank  a place where known informants are brought together with targeted inmates.

That decision to tape and use an informant against Dekraai, in violation of federal case law, opened the door for Sanders to ignite more than three years of wrangling over Orange Countys use of informants and the withholding of evidence.

In March 2015, Judge Thomas Goethals removed the district attorney from the penalty phase of the Dekraai case, sending it to the California Attorney Generals Office. Last month, an appellate court upheld Goethals decision and, furthermore, declared the abuses by prosecutors and police were real and systemic.

Some of the families of the victims asked on Saturday for the Attorney Generals Office to decline to appeal the recusal ruling.

Meanwhile, six murder and attempted murder cases have unraveled because of concerns over informants. Cases were overturned, sentences were reduced and plea bargains were made in light of the problems. The drama inside Orange Countys justice system played out on a national stage, and legal scholars from one coast to the other signed a letter seeking a federal investigation.

Through it all, families of Dekraais victims waited in frustration for the case to be resolved.

Some of the victims family members during the past three years split with the others and argued for an end to the death penalty. Some also are split on whether they stand behind Rackauckas. Wilson said the D.A. cheated when the last thing they needed to do is cheat. But Bill Webb, father of Laura Webb Elody, defended Rackauckas and his staff.

After Saturdays news conference, as television crews packed away their cameras, one of Webb Elodys sisters and young niece walked to a Seal Beach memorial that honors the victims.

They unwrapped a bouquet of flowers and, very carefully, placed them by the names of all those lost: Victoria Buzzo, 54; David Caouette, 64; Randy Lee Fannin, 62; Michele Daschbach Fast, 47; Michelle Marie Fournier, 48; Lucia Bernice Kondas, 65; Laura Webb Elody, 46; and Christy Lynn Wilson, 47.

Contact the writer: rkopetman@scng.com
SAN BERNARDINO >> The packed courtroom was tense as Christian Valdez stood, squared his body and delivered his clearly enunciated words just slowly enough that the full force was unavoidable.

Hes alone, Valdez said. Hes afraid. Hes desperate. Lin Stark is trapped.

Valdez picked up the cadence of the closing statement as he began to move around the courtroom, summarizing the facts and the law to Judge Charles Bradley and the attorneys scoring the mock trial.

In the end, the mock trial team consisting of Valdez and 10 other Redlands High School students wasnt able to convince Bradley.

Related: Mock Trials lessons  legal and otherwise  last a lifetime

The judge heard the fictionalized case of People v. Awbrey twice Saturday  first with Cajon High School prosecuting and Redlands defending, then with the roles reversed  and both times he ruled in favor of the defense.

But the team convinced the scoring attorneys to crown the Redlands High Terriers as San Bernardino County mock trial champions.

Its the schools 14th title  extending a record it already held  in the 35-year-old county competition, and the schools third in the past four years.

It would have been the first time Cajon won at the county level.

Previously: Redlands High mock trial team member takes home award at nationals

The results mean Redlands is headed to the state finals in March, and Cajon plans to start preparing immediately for next season.

Each year, the competition revolves around a new case. This year, its the alleged human trafficking and false imprisonment of Lin Stark, an immigrant from the country of Tanterra working in  and forced to live in the moldy apartment above  Cameron Awbreys restaurant, Taste of Tanterra.

Testing another aspect of legal skills, students also argue over a pre-trial motion to suppress a potentially incriminating statement by Awbrey that occurred after he was arrested  following an argument with a police officer who then found a warrant for another person named Cameron Awbrey.

I hear, almost on a daily basis, suppression motions like the one we heard today, Bradley said. Some lawyers dont do as well as both teams did today.  I can see either team winning the state competition.

Many of the participants of both teams said they plan careers in law.

I want to be an employee benefit lawyer, so I can help people with, really, the type of problems this case is about, said Angela Monroy, a junior at Cajon.

Both teams practiced multiple hours every day, but said the rigorous practice wasnt draining.

I think every single one of us loves it, said Tiffany Rekem, a senior at Redlands High School.

Not that there wasnt some pressure.

Last year was crushing, Rekem said, referring to the schools 2015 defeat at the county final at the hands of Redlands East Valley. This year, we all dedicated ourselves to doing everything it takes.

Redlands team adviser Donna St. George attributed the tradition of success to assistance from attorney coaches who graduated from Redlands High and to hard-working students who are always learning.

We picked up some new things from Cajon today that well probably use at state, she said.

Cajon students and coaches, for their part, said they appreciated the battle.

This such a great program for the students. Its not arguing, its analyzing, and they know every role is so important, said adviser Robert Grande. Even though sometimes they have to work like Lin Stark.
75th anniversary

Rex and Irene Finley of Sun City are celebrating 75 years of marriage.

The Finleys were married Dec. 13, 1941 at the court house in Akron, Ohio. They have four children, thirteen grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

They have a son, Dennis Finley, and two daughters, Claudia Pinneo and Sharon Thomas. Another son, Greg Finley, is deceased.

Rex, a military veteran, was a postman for the U.S. Postal Service for 35 years.

Irene worked in real estate.

The two retirees attend Canyon Lake Community Church. Rex played senior softball until he was 93 years old and is a member of the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame.

Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com
Little Bear, right, a Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix, pokes his head out of the backpack of Vincent Lugo, center, while he talks to his father Alfred Lugo, left, before Saturday morning's procession from Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine to Mount Rubidoux in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Riverside, CA Saturday, December 10, 2016.
Before hiring a contractor for your next project, consider these tips from a seasoned expert in the home improvement industry.

For six years , Douglas Finch hosted a Friday afternoon talk radio show in Las Vegas.

He took call-in questions from listeners seeking advice about anything to do with home improvement projects.

Finch, has 44 years of experience as a contractor. He now is General Manager of Energy Specialist Contracting, a whole-house contractor that provides homeowners numerous ways to save water, gas and electricity. For the past three years, Energy Specialist Contracting has been part of a network of home improvement contractors that can offer HERO Program financing to customers. To do so, they have registered with Renovate America, the parent company of HERO, and agreed to meet consumer safeguards.

So Finch, whose company has been in business for 34 years and now services Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Kern Counties, was the ideal expert to ask about best practices in his field, and what homeowners should consider before hiring a contractor for a home -improvement project. Finch is a big fan of HERO, the nations leading provider of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. HERO allows homeowners to make energy- and water-saving improvements to their homes with no money up front and to pay for them over time through voluntary assessments to their property tax bill.

HERO financing payments may have tax benefits, and many homeowners see immediate savings on utility bills. And because the assessment is attached to the property, if the homeowners move, they may be able to transfer responsibility for the remaining balance to the homeowners now enjoying the improvements..

Another benefit, says Finch, is the extra protection consumers get when they choose HERO Program financing, rather than paying in cash or using a credit card. (Renovate America, offers industry-leading consumer safeguards, such as payment to the contractor upon satisfied project completion, verification that installed products meet local, state or federal efficiency standards, and clear disclosures modeled after the Know Before You Owe form homebuyers now see when they purchase a house. This, according to Finch gives homeowners an additional set of checks and balances.

Here are some tips Finch came up with for homeowners preparing for a home improvement project:

LICENSING & INSURANCE

Make sure your contractor is licensed in the scope of work they specialize in  and he or she must have a state license if the project is valued at $500 or more (check cslb.ca.gov for licensing status). If a contractor, say, has an air conditioning contractor license and no other license, they only can work on your air conditioner. If a job requires more than two types of work  say, plumbing and electrical  a licensed general contractor can be hired to oversee the entire project by subcontracting to contractors with licenses in those specialties. HERO checks the CSLB status of contractors every 24 hours.

Finch recommends contractors carry a minimum of $1 million in both liability and workers compensation insurance.

BIDS

If you feel comfortable with one bid, and everything checks out with the contractor, then hire them, Finch says. But if for any reason you dont feel comfortable, its always a good idea to shop around for two or three bids before deciding who to hire. You may not hire on price alone, but its a best practice to check.

REFERRALS

Be sure to ask for them. Dont trust advertisements. Since word-of-mouth referrals are the best form of advertising, talk to homeowners who have used the contractor before. Finch says good contractors always show up clean and wearing neat clothes and on time  and if they are running late, they should call you.

PAYMENT

With HERO, the contractor doesnt get paid until the job is done to the homeowners satisfaction. Check to see if thats possible for your project.

ANY COMPLAINTS?

If youre paying cash or using credit cards or other financing, first ask your contractor to resolve any complaints. If that doesnt work, the Department of Consumer Affairs Contractors State License Board (cslb.ca.gov) tracks complaints. If you use HERO financing, and your contractor doesnt resolve the complaint at first, HERO may be able to help (855-411-HERO). Finch says that Energy Specialist Contracting has never had a complaint filed with the CSLB. Were not perfect  no contractor is, Finch says. But if a problem surfaces, we immediately go out and take care of it. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the customer is right.
The incredibly polarized state of the American electorate is reflected in the Inland Empires party-line votes for president.

While Hillary Clinton carried Riverside and San Bernardino counties, she mainly won cities with more Democratic voters than Republicans while Donald Trump won where GOP voters outnumber Democrats, according to the final certified Nov. 8 election results.

And while most Inland voters agreed with legalizing marijuana, they differed with voters statewide on ballot measures to ban plastic bags and requiring porn actors to use condoms. There also was more support in the Inland Empire for keeping the death penalty and speeding up the appeals process for condemned inmates.

Elections officials in Riverside and San Bernardino counties certified their Nov. 8 general election results last week, ahead of the state deadline. Vote counting in California typically continues long after Election Day due the states size, legal guidelines and other factors.

Clinton, while losing the electoral vote and White House to Trump, beat the reality TV star in the popular vote. Thats due in no small part to California, where she won almost 9 million out of more than 14 million votes cast for president  roughly 62 percent.

Clinton won by smaller margins in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where she beat Trump 50 to 45 percent and 53 to 42 percent, respectively.

She continues the trend started by Barack Obama in 2008 of Democratic presidential nominees carrying both counties in the Inland Empire, a GOP stronghold turned purple in recent years. A plurality of San Bernardino County voters are Democrats and earlier this year, Democrats overtook Republican voters in Riverside County for perhaps the first time ever.

A 2014 Pew Research Center study found Americans are more divided among ideological lines and harbor hostile feelings about the other side more than ever before.

Twenty-seven percent of Democrats and 36 percent of Republicans saw the other party as a threat to the nations well-being, and that was before a presidential campaign that exposed deep rifts among rural and urban America and between voters of different races and with different levels of education.

This election exposed clear divisions among Inland residents. In Riverside County, 11 of the 13 cities won by Clinton  Rancho Mirage and Corona are the exceptions  have a majority or pluarity of registered Democrats.

Of the 15 cities won by Trump, 12 had more Republican voters than Democrats. The exceptions were Lake Elsinore, Banning and Blythe, although theres relatively narrow gaps between Democrats and Republicans in those cities.

Clinton also won Riverside Countys three largest cities  Riverside, Moreno Valley and Corona  while Trump took the solidly conservative southwest corner of Murrieta and Temecula. Hemet went for Trump while Clinton carried neighboring San Jacinto.

In San Bernardino County, Clinton won 16 cities to Trumps six; he also took the towns of Apple Valley and Yucca Valley. Thirteen of Clintons cities have more Democrats than Republicans while GOP voters outnumber Democrats in Apple Valley and five of the cities won by Trump.

As in Riverside County, Clinton won the bigger cities while Trump did better in less-populated communities.

BALLOT MEASURES

Like most of California, a majority of Inland voters said yes to Prop. 64, which legalizes the recreational use of marijuana.

But the Inland Empire wasnt quite as enthuisastic. Prop. 64 passed with 53 percent of the vote in San Bernardino and Riverside counties compared to 57 percent statewide.

Inland voters rejected Prop. 67, the plastic bag ban, which passed with 53 percent of the statewide vote. Just 39 percent of San Bernardino County voters and 41 percent of Riverside County voters were in favor of the ban.

The Inland region also differed on Prop. 60, which would have required condoms in the adult film industry. While majorities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties supported the rule, Prop. 60 failed statewide.

Inland voters also were more willing to reject Prop. 62, a measure banning capital punishment, and support Prop. 66, which shortens legal challenges by death row inmates.

Statewide, Prop. 62 failed 47 to 53 percent with more than 60 percent of Inland voters rejecting the measure. Fifty-eight percent of voters in Riverside and San Bernardino counties voted in favor of Prop. 66, which passed statewide 51 to 49 percent.

ASSEMBLY RACES

The Inland congressional delegation returns to Washington, D.C., unchanged, with incumbents finding easy paths to re-election.

The most heated race was in the 31st Congressional District between Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, and Republican Paul Chabot, of Rancho Cucamonga, with each candidate challenging the others character. While Chabot came close to winning the San Bernardino County seat two years ago, that wasnt the case this time. Aguilar captured 56 percent of the vote.

In 2014, Aguilar prevailed despite losing Redlands, where he was mayor. This year, Aguilar won Redlands and every city in the district except for Rancho Cucamonga and Grand Terrace, both cities with near-even splits between Republicans and Democrats. The candidates tied in Highland.

In San Bernardino Countys 40th Assembly District, incumbent Marc Steinorth, R-Rancho Cucamonga, survived a well-funded challenge from Democrat Abigail Medina by a margin of fewer than 2,000 votes.

Steinorth managed to win Highland, Loma Linda, Redlands and the portion of Rancho Cucamonga in the districts boundaries. Medina won the portion covering the city of San Bernardino, where shes a school board member.

In the 47th Assembly District, Grand Terrace Democrat Eloise Reyes unseated incumbent San Bernardino Democrat Cheryl Brown.

Reyes, the more liberal of the two, won every city in the district  Colton, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Rialto and part of San Bernardino city  in getting 55 percent of the overall vote.

In Riverside County, incumbent Supervisor Chuck Washington and challenger Shellie Milne came from opposite ends of the Third Supervisorial District.

Washington served on the Murrieta and Temecula councils while Milne was a Hemet councilwoman. But Washington took all of the districts cities  Hemet, San Jacinto, Temecula and Murrieta  and the unincorporated communities in winning 59 percent of the vote.

In the 60th Assembly District, incumbent Republican Eric Linder of Corona won that city along with Norco. Democratic challenger Sabrina Cervantes won Jurupa Valley, Eastvale and the districts share of the city of Riverside.

Overall, Cervantes got 55 percent of the vote to unseat Linder and help Democrats regain their two-thirds legislative supermajority.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@scng.com
Syrian refugees who recently arrived in Southern California are afraid of being sent back in the wake of Republican Donald Trumps election.

While running for president, Trump said they were linked to ISIS, and he vowed to deport the thousands of Syrian refugees living here.

They and groups that are helping them adjust to life in Southern California and across the U.S., are uncertain what his presidency will mean for themselves and for refugees hoping to resettle in this country.

The number of Syrian refugees resettling in the U.S. has grown since 2011, when a government crackdown against dissent sparked a civil war in Syria. After five years of conflict, the crisis in Syria has forced 4.8 million people to flee the country.

Syria today is a very different place  almost unrecognizable in parts  that will take generations to rebuild, said officials with the United Nations and World Health Organization in a joint statement.

California leads the way in the number of Syrian refugees accepted by the U.S., when compared with all other states. So far, 1,953 Syrian refugees have resettled in California since 2012.

That alarms SoCal Patriots Founder Jeff Schwilk. He and others recently protested the number of Syrian refugees in Victorville in San Bernardino County. SoCal Patriots describes itself as a group of veterans fighting for border security.

Schwilk, who is based in San Diego County, has long fought for more security along the Mexico and U.S. border. Now, he said, the threat is the increase of refugees from Muslim countries, where the ideology is very anti-American.

He said hes concerned that refugees may not be fully vetted.

We are the main dumping ground for these refugees, he said, referring to San Diego.

Refugee advocates, however, are determined to fight for the rights of Syrian refugees, and are hoping that Southern California communities will continue to support them.

We definitely realize there are tough times ahead for us as a community and for the country at large, said Mahmoud Tarifi, with the Islamic Center of Claremont, who works with Syrian refugees across Southern California, from Glendale to San Diego. We are willing to take that challenge because we will stand for diversity.

Story continues below infographic

NUMBERS GROWING

Each year since the war began in Syria, more refugees have resettled in the U.S., a trend supported by the Obama administration.

In September 2015, Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. would resettle 85,000 global refugees that fiscal year and 100,000 in fiscal 2017.

In 2016 so far, 14,583 Syrians resettled in the U.S., a huge increase from the 41 in 2012. Last year, more than 2,100 resettled across the nation.

Among those who came to Southern California, most have resettled in San Diego, Anaheim, and Los Angeles.

Now, the future of the resettlement program is up in the air.

As president, Trump has the authority to set the number of refugees the country admits. The State Department, the United Nations and other agencies work together to screen refugees abroad. This process can take two years.

On the campaign trail, Trump said any Syrian refugees in the U.S. will go back if he became president.

Im putting the people on notice that are coming here from Syria as part of a mass migration, that if I win, they are going back, he told a cheering crowd in New Hampshire.

Schwilk said his SoCal Patriots group wants to make sure that Muslim refugees are thoroughly vetted before being admitted in the U.S.

We would like all refugees to return to their homeland  when its safer to go back. This is not their homeland, he said.

AWAITING WORD

For now, resettlement agencies  which initially sponsor refugees when entering the U.S.  are awaiting word on how to proceed once Trump takes office.

The International Rescue Committee, Catholic Charities, and the International Institute of Los Angeles are some of the resettlement agencies that sponsor refugee families throughout Southern California. They provide counseling, food, shelter and health services.

Were just waiting, said My-Hanh Luu, refugee and immigration services director for Catholic Charities in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Tarifi and other refugee advocates are working to calm fears among the Syrian refugee community.

We definitely try to educate them (telling them) that this is not a kingdom. This is a democracy, Tarifi said.

He cannot deport you. He cannot put you in jail. Dont worry, you are a legal resident, Tarifi said he tells them.

FEAR OF LOSING FUNDS

Nonprofit and volunteer groups rely on the generosity of donors and the community, and with Trumps election, refugee advocates fear losing donations.

Trump being elected has caused some fear of reduced support for refugee-related projects and the perceptions of refugees, Muslims, middle easterners as negative, said Selin Yildiz Nielsen, co-founder of Glocally Connected, a nonprofit agency that formed in 2015 to teach refugees English.

Nielsen said the organization has been looking for grants and other funding to expand English-language classes for refugees across the Inland area.

Shes also part of an interfaith network hoping to raise $7,000 in anticipation of the arrival of a Syrian refugee family the group is sponsoring. Money is crucial for rental deposits, and other expenses, she said.

As for Tarifi, he is also concerned that donors will be less generous and that employers may not be as motivated to hire refugees.

Before the election, Tarifi noted how one donor, for example, had donated $3,000 for the network to disperse to refugees.

Family separation is another concern.

Some of these families have brothers and sisters who have been accepted as refugees and they may be diverged to a different country, and now you have two separate families living in two different countries, Tarifi said.

ADJUSTING TO AMERICA

Amrah Hamsho and her family of five were in Jordan after fleeing Syria, when the United Nations presented them with the opportunity to seek refuge in France or the United States.

Hamsho, 47, was skeptical of coming to America. She didnt know English, and was scared of the unknown.

But Ishmael Hadi, an engineer from Jordan who has lived in Riverside for four decades, convinced her to come here when he learned of her situation while visiting relatives in Jordan.

Hamsho lived next door to Hadis family in Jordan.

I told her coming to the states is way better than coming to France, said Hadi, who is now her sponsor. You come here. You learn English, and you can use it anywhere in the world.

Plus, I feel like more people are tolerant (here), he added.

Hamsho arrived in Riverside County earlier this year. She sees a future for her children, with good jobs. Her son and daughter, who are twins, enjoy riding their bicycles around their neighborhood. Theyre in school, and they study their English, a lot.

Its a drastic difference from life in their hometown of Homs, a city in western Syria. When Hamsho thinks of Syria, she remembers hunger, destruction, no water or electricity.

Just total destruction, she said in Arabic.

Hadi, her sponsor, interpreted for her.

Here, Hamsho said she is hopeful, but acknowledged challenges.

Not speaking English or knowing how to drive pose obstacles, she said. And she hates relying on others to run errands. Most of all she misses her displaced family. One sister lives in France, another is still in Jordan.

Shes grateful that her neighbors and other Inland residents have treated her well. She hasnt encountered any harassment, she said.

For now, Hadi said he tries to comfort the family.

Its a story of all immigrants  from Mexico, the Middle East, he said.

It takes time to adapt to the culture, the language, said Hadi.

With time. Give it some time, he tells them.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9462, amolina@scng.com, or on Twitter @alemolina
The Ghana Police Service has denounced reports of attacks on members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) by supporters of the NPP.



In a statement issued in Accra on Saturday, the police said its attention has been drawn to widespread attacks on supporters of the NDC after the declaration of the results and reports of excessive jubilation by NPP supporters across the country.



The statement which was signed by Supt. Cephas Arthur, Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) urged supporters of the NPP to desist from engaging in any acts that could breach the peace prevailing in the country.



Below is the full statement



ATTACKS ON NDC SUPPORTERS



It has come to the attention of the Police that some people are attacking supporters of NDC in various parts of the country.



Furthermore, there are reports of excessive jubilation by NPP supporters across the country.



Consequently, the Police are calling on the general public, especially, supporters of the NPP to desist from engaging in any acts that will violate the rights of other people and also breach the peace prevailing in the country after the polls.



The Police are further, entreating party supporters in jubilant mood to go about their celebration in moderation.



The Police Administration wishes to caution those who are engaging in acts of vandalism and rowdism to desist, as Police officers who have been deployed to maintain law and order will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute those who break the laws of the land.



Signed: Supt. Cephas Arthur, Police PRO.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









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Donald Trump has come out swinging in a new Fox News interview, denying reported claims from within the Central Intelligence Agency that the Russians were deliberately aiding and abetting his candidacy and suggesting that nobody really knows if climate change is real.

Trump, whose partially-announced administration already looks like it  to put it lightly  wont be doing much to address climate change, said that hes very open-minded on the issue, but that its not so hard and fast. In the past, Trump has not been quite so open-minded and equivocal.

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

Trumps concern, as in the past, is that environmental regulations are stifling Americas competitiveness  which is no doubt why hes appointed anti-Environmental Protection Agency warrior Scott Pruitt to the head of that very same agency. He too is a noted climate change denier.

Speaking in the interview, Trump continued along those lines:

If you look at what  I could name country after country. You look at whats happening in Mexico, where  plants are being built, and they dont wait 10 years to get an approval to build a plant, OK? They build it like the following day or the following week. We cant let all of these permits that take forever to get stop our jobs.

Trump also denied the claims raised by so-called CIA insiders that the Russian government deliberately intervened in the U.S. election to get Trump elected.

I think its ridiculous. I think its just another excuse. I dont believe it, Mr Trump said. We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College.

Despite the fact that some Republicans  including John McCain and certifiably deranged ultra-right wing former Congressman Joe Walsh  believe Trump ought to make some moves towards endorsing an investigation of Russian involvement, Trump doesnt think the hacking of the Democratic National Convention is quite as clear-cut:

Nobody really knows, and hacking is very interesting Once they hack, if you dont catch them in the act youre not going to catch them. They have no idea if its Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place. I mean, [intelligence agencies] have no idea. Personally, it could be Russia. It  I dont really think it is, but who knows? I dont know either. They dont know and I dont know.

Compelling stuff, Donald. Hacking is indeed very interesting.

Source: Fox.

Photo: Fox.
Its usually members of the Immigration Department or rowdy backbenchers who deliver the bulk of the Coalitions intolerant gaffes, but Senator Mathias Cormann has just notched one as the Minister of Finance.

Speaking to Sky News a lil earlier today, Cormann went ahead and said a proposed nationwide paid domestic violence leave system would amount to another cost on the economy.

The minister said enshrining a provision of ten days of paid leave to survivors of domestic violence will have an impact on our international competitiveness, and that its not something that we are attracted to.

Of course, its callous to weigh up the merits of a scheme that will objectively help survivors of abuse based on its projected cost, but Cormanns stance also misses the likely financial benefits of paid leave.

Immediately allowing survivors the time and space to seek assistance without extra financial pressure may very well reduce the need for government-funded crisis centres and services. Oh, also, it could save bloody lives.

Thats a take which was adopted by Labors family violence minister Terri Butler, who said Cormann is obviously confused: its domestic violence, not domestic violence leave, that costs our economy and harms our international competitiveness.

FWIW, Cormann justified his stance by commending the Turnbull governments current measures on eliminating family violence in Australia. He said its important to pursue policy settings that dont have counter-productive consequences potentially.

Because the only counter-productive consequences at stake here are financial. Obviously.

State leaders are working through the issue rn, but expect the Fair Work Commission to deliver its ruling on a nationwide leave system in the near future.



Source: ABC / Sky News.

Photo: Stefan Postles / Getty.
Missing drug money from a local bust has prompted an FBI investigation into the whereabouts of the cash, according to a report from The Morning Call.

Agents from the attorney general's office stopped a van carrying $1.77 million in June 2014 on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Carlisle. It is believed that $300,000 from that seizure is missing. The Drug Enforcement Agency sent the attorney general's office a letter explaining that a wiretapped conversation revealed more money should have been in the van, according to the report.

Officials with the FBI and the attorney general's office did not confirm the investigation, but the FBI has been inquiring about the missing money since last fall, according to the report. The owner of the van, Frederick Goldberg, of Florida, pleaded guilty to running a nationwide marijuana ring in November 2015.

The attorney general's office waited nearly two years to disclose the seizure, according to a separate report from the Morning Call. Additional questions have swirled around the incident, including whether proper protocol was followed and if the relevant parties were notified of the seizure. Cumberland County Court records showed the attorney general's office is in possession of the $1.77 million.
By Tony May

With the focus this week on the 75th anniversary of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, a strange footnote to history involving an America First rally in Pittsburgh on Dec. 7, 1941, brought political events of 2016 into sharper focus.

Featured speaker at the afternoon rally at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh's Oakland section was U.S. Sen. Gerald Nye of North Dakota, one of the founders of the America First movement that branded President Franklin D. Roosevelt a war-monger and tool of Russian communists.

When the Japanese attacked at dawn in Hawaii, it was already noon in Pittsburgh so few people in the hall were aware of the bombing.

Robert Hagy, a reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sought to tell Nye before the speech about the attack but Nye dismissed early reports as lacking credibility.

He went on stage and began attacking Roosevelt and the war raging in Europe.

After it became apparent that Nye was not going to tell the crowd about Pearl Harbor, the reporter walked on stage and gave the speaker a hand-written note with the news that Japan had declared war on the United States.

Finally, after speaking for an hour, Nye told the audience about what he called "the worst news I have encountered in the last 20 years."

The next morning, he flew to Washington, DC, where he joined other members of Congress in voting for a declaration of war against Japan. All but one member voted for the war resolution.

The "nay" vote was cast by the first woman to hold national office in the United States, U.S. Rep. Jeannette Rankin of Montana. Soon thereafter, America First was disbanded.

Now, 75 years later, we are living in tense times with a civil war underway in Syria and fears of terrorism in virtually every part of the globe. Understandably, we look for how the past might illuminate our future.

We watch with trepidation as President-elect Trump seems to go out of his way to offend China.

The largest nation on Earth pretends that Taiwan is its rogue colony so it was shocked, hurt, dismayed and who knows what else when Trump chose to communicate with Taiwan before mainland China. Understandably, people are asking why.

The Chinese slight comes while Trump has declared a Twitter war on the Boeing Company, announcing that he wants to cancel the contract to build a new Air Force One. Is there a nexus?

Trump also wants to develop real estate in Taiwan (raising renewed concerns about able to separating personal business from government affairs).

Meanwhile, Boeing wants to do assemble 737s in China, the world's largest market for commercial airliners. Boeing and Lockheed Martin also are being wooed by India to move some manufacturing operations there, so it's a complex situation.

One of the messages from 1941 is that actions have consequences. Historians see oil as a root cause of Japan's decision to attack the U.S.

Months before the bombing, the U.S. refused to grant Japan import licenses to purchase and ship American oil to the island nation. Japan had a new prime minister, Hideki Tojo, who wanted to be a "tough guy" and hit back hard to teach Washington a lesson. War was he outcome.

America was smug in its isolation. Japan was half a world away and they were discounted by many because of race -- they weren't the vaunted Aryans of Germany.

We can see now, 75 years later, that we got it wrong.

Today, the United States may be the richest and most powerful nation on the face of the Earth but it is far from the largest (330 million population compared to China's 1.4 billion people and India's 1.3 billion).

India, meanwhile, is not as hawkish as China - except when it comes to dealing with one of its neighbors - Pakistan (the seventh largest nation with 190 million citizens). Trump succeeded in annoying India last month by talking buddy-buddy by phone with Pakistan's prime minister and suggesting that he was going to come to visit soon.

Meanwhile, some of Trump's biggest overseas business projects are in India, raising the question again of balancing personal enterprise with public responsibility.

Looking back at 1941, we can see how one seemingly unconnected action led to another and another and eventually to disaster. Trump may think his confrontational style has served him well in his personal business and is easily transferrable to government.

He's wrong. And the worst thing is that the unintended consequences may not be simply economic but could cost human lives.

Tony May is a partner in Triad Strategies, a Harrisburg public relations and lobbying firm. His column runs on Sundays on PennLive.
Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould was asked by the Prime Minister to review changes to the criminal justice system over the last decade with an eye to ensuring safety of communities, getting value for public money, filling any gaps and reduce the rate of incarceration of indigenous Canadians. Wilson-Raybould stands in the House of Commons during question period on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa in a December 5, 2016, file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand






In photo, Maduro and Rowley in a conga dance line. Venezuela -Trinidad

gas deal is illegal unless is ratify by the Venezuela's National Assembly

and there is no chance of that happening soon-PW.

It seems that TT is counting the chickens before they hatch

Want gas? Wine to Caracas beat

In a week when crime and international energy diplomacy commanded headlines here, T&T should have taken counsel to know its place in the world.

Oil prices pushed upward past US$50. Major producing countries agreed to leave the taps in cutback mode, and encouraged even mini-producers like T&T to do the same. Advice to stay cool and quiet should not really have been needed in this country. An otherwise well-informed Prime Minister Eric Williams once let himself be persuaded that T&T had gained membership in OPEC. Dr Williams called that OPEC endorsement a grand demarche. To learn what that word meant, many of us pulled dictionaries off the shelf.

We soon understood, however, that Dr Williams had got it wrong. OPEC declined to welcome T&T's drop of oil in the world bucket as qualifying this country for big-time energy accreditation.

In the early 1970s, when all of this went down, Keith Rowley likely lacked historical chutzpah to imagine himself as any successor to the late great EE Williams. Last week, however, Prime Minister Rowley strode the red carpet in Caracas. White-trousered Venezuelan women soldiers presented arms in ceremonial salute. Back home he claimed a version of some latter-day energy demarche.

Gas from the Dragon field in northwestern Venezuela will be delivered via pipeline to the nearby Caribbean country. That's how the Latin American Herald Tribune reported the T&T Prime Minister's diplomatic achievement. The paper noted that T&T is itself a significant producer of natural gas. It did not mention that, for too many years now, T&T natural gas tanks have steadily been running lower and lower.

On the Herald Tribune's homepage listings, T&T ranks lower than Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Indeed, this significant gas producer isn't among the clickable country names on that English-language publication covering Latin America and the Caribbean.

To show the world, and relentless Venezuelan skeptics, his government still enjoyed regional prestige, President Nicolas Maduro made a state visit here last May. His shopping list then included food items, toilet paper and sanitary napkinsand payment guarantees for suppliers. He managed a knowing look, and nodded as Port of Spain embassy officials whispered in his ear natural gas. That's what Venezuela abundantly has, and what T&T so badly needs. The Venezuelans, people of a big-oil country, who have little needed to monetise the associated natural gas, signed on as would-be benefactors to T&T. At the Bretton Hall embassy on Victoria Avenue, event planners went to work on staging a suitable Caracas reception for the Rowley roadshow they heard was in the making.

Eventually, the government chartered a Caribbean Airlines jet, and loaded up the flight with T&T free riders, on destination for a big Caracas splash-down. Venezuelans know this place better than we know theirs. At Bretton Hall, they learn the language which, in resiliently unilingual T&T, is not any Queen's English, but really a creole rendition. Diplomats posted from Caracas to Port of Spain absorb the creole culture. They recognise it as officially accredited in terms of calypso, soca, chutney, mas, pan, parang, Best Village and Tobago Heritage.

Last week, if official Caracas was apparently not also red, it was otherwise ready for Rowley. He and President Maduro signed and signed.

But the event at Miraflores Palace was really an exchange of symbolisms. Dr Rowley was keen to show how much official T&T cared. To this end, to advertise the size of the T&T stake in his mission, he had mustered a large team of officials, business people and media.

We want this gas bad: that was the T&T message. On the Maduro side, the responses were meant to resonate with the T&T people as profiled by its embassy: why not? Let's see; let's do this together, in echo of a PNM 2015 campaign theme. Senor Maduro's Presidential Guard played and sang the T&T anthem in English and in Spanish. To such a gesture, unilingually creole T&T has no matching reply. Typically, the T&T delegates, media included, were linguistically and otherwise underprepared. The Venezuelans, knowing their advantage, rubbed it in. Without warning, calypso filled the soundscape. It's yet to be identified as the Sparrow/Byron Lee Dragon Dance. Caracas winer women, irresistible to Dr Rowley, eternally famed for his Carnival 2015 San Fernando leggo, took centre stage.

The costumes did look like Tobago. I felt quite at home, said the T&T Prime Minister, so taken by the Caracas bele dancers that he wined his way into their conga line.

To T&T's need for natural gas, Caracas responded with por supuesto assurances and partygoing goodwill. But last week showed Caracas and Port of Spain both helplessly beset by murders. Just on the weekend before, the Caracas mortuary counted 60 victims. You can't be sure: employees there are forbidden to talk to the media. Meanwhile, T&T was wringing its hands over the Shannon mystery murder.

In T&T last May, President Maduro had agreed to border security collaboration, and easier access into Venezuela for T&T exports.

To such talk, el Presidente has now added song and dance. And el Primer Ministro T&T is plainly content with wining to the beat.

Lennox Grant / Trinidad Express / Dic. 10, 2016
Central World Bangkok Christmas Lights 2016 Preview

Every year in December, Central World Bangkok will be lit up by the beautiful lights of Christmas decorations in front of their building. Last year, the theme was Mickey and Minnie Mouse and this year the decoration is elegant and classy.

We have a few pictures of Central World Bangkok Christmas Lights this year thanks to our friend Boom. Thus, we will take more pictures when we visit Bangkok next week.

Here are the preview of Central World Bangkok Christmas Lights 2016 and we will upload more once after next week.

If you plan to visit Bangkok this month, remember to take more pictures in Central World Bangkok and remember to register their 1 Card for more discounts and offers for tourists only. There are heaps of discounts in Central World Bangkok now and remember there are plenty of good food too. So see you guys in Central World Bangkok soon! Amazing Thailand.

Central World Bangkok Christmas Lights Decorations is located in front of Central World Bangkok. It is an annual event to celebrate Christmas and New Year. More pictures and video soon.

How to go to Central World Bangkok?

The best way to visit Central World Bangkok is by BTS Skytrain. The mall is located in between BTS Siam Station and BTS Chit Lom Station. It takes around 5 minutes of walk using the Skywalk. This is the best way to visit Central World Bangkok.

Central World Bangkok Address:

4 Ratchadamri Rd, Lumphini, Khet Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10330, Thailand

Wilson Ng A Father and traveler who enjoys to eat, shop, travel and taking pictures with Samsung S22 Ultra and Sony ZV-1. Im a full time blogger, youtuber and father for two. I used to travel around 17 International trips per year but now staying at home. Remember to follow us at www.instagram.com/placesandfoods and www.youtube.com/placesandfoods. For advertisements or features, contact me at [email protected] See author's posts
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It is finally being said out loud, in public, on national television. America may need to hold a new presidential election after Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump.

Former CIA Operative Robert Baer brought up the idea of holding a new election during an appearance on CNN:

Baer said, The Russians, it looks like to me did interfere in our elections. Well never be able to decide whether they changed the outcome, but Ill tell you having worked in the CIA if we had been caught interfering in European elections, or Asian elections, or anywhere in the world, those countries would call for new elections. Any democracy would. I mean, I dont see it any other way. The Electoral College before the nineteenth has got to know whether the Russians had an effect, Whether they went to Wikileaks, whether they hacked email, and whether they affected American opinion. They had a good reason to go after Hillary Clinton. Putin hates her for the Ukraine.

Baer added, When a foreign country interferes in your election and the outcome is in doubt and the legitimacy of the government. I dont know how it works constitutionally. Im not a lawyer, constitutional lawyer, but Im deeply disturbed by the fact that the Russians interfered, and I would like to see the evidence, because if the evidence is there, I dont see any other way than to vote again.

Think about how unprecedented Baers comments were. On American national television, a former CIA operative called for a new presidential election because a foreign government interfered in the last election to help one candidate win.

It may not be possible to hold a brand new election, but there is time for the evidence to shown to the Electoral College electors. Whether or not a new election is held, Donald Trump could enter the White House under a cloud of scandal so severe that the accusation against him, if true would be an impeachable offense.

The American electoral process has been compromised, and the only way out this mess is an Electoral College vote that elects Hillary Clinton or a whole new election.
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In a tendentious mess titled Obamas Last Play for Ethnic Identity Politics, The National Reviews Mike Gonzalez claims MENA is the new ethnic group created by the Obama administration to cobble together Americans with origins in the Middle East and North Africa.

Yes, the stupid hurts, so lets take a moment to explain: President Obama did not invent MENA. The people comprising the group known as MENA have been around for a long time; much longer than white people have been on the shores of North America, let alone had a chance to steal it from its Native American inhabitants.

MENA, you see, is an acronym, the result of putting two terms together: the Middle East and North Africa, and it describes very accurately the population of the Middle East and North Africa. Nothing to freak out about, right? Those people live there. We have to call them something.

In fact, if you look at another map, that of the Arab conquests, you see that the area covered by MENA pretty much matches the non-European portions of the Arab conquests. Methinks the NRO caught the scent of Islam in the air:

You can almost hear the panic in his voice as Gonzalez warns,

According to proposals by the Office of Management and Budget, Mena may be on the 2020 census.

Oh dear. Its a math Republicans do thing. Or rather, math Republicans dont do, because it calls for accurate math.

And its kind of a big deal. As the World Bank explains,

With a population of 355 million and the vast majority of people living in middle-income countries, the MENA region came into the Arab Spring with multiple strengths, including a young and educated population, strong resource base, and economic resilience that helped it weather the 2008/9 global financial crisis.

All told thats about 6 percent of the Earths population.

So yeah. More people than live in the United States, about 325 million as I sit down to write this. And as the American Arab Institute points out, its hard to count how many Iraqi people, for example, live in the US when there is no term available to describe them:

The Iraqi American community is one of the fastest growing populations of Americans with origins in the Middle East or North Africa, but its impossible to get an accurate number of how large the population actually is.

And in fact, Iraqi Americans are undercounted. Far from it being a problem that these people arent being properly identified, the American Arab Institute points out that,

The undercount, apart from stemming research on these communities, has severe consequences on access to certain services  from language assistance at polling places to the enforcement of equal employment opportunities  that are based on Census data.

Sure, we could just call these people white or what have you, but wed be hurting them if we did something like that.

Its no wonder the National Review objects to having a term for them. If they are counted, they exist, and if there is one thing conservatives dont like its the existence of people who arent white and Christian.

For Republicans, this is all about what they lament as Identity politics, a term originating in the 1970s that let groups marked, because of their identity, for oppression, to speak out against that oppression.

The irony of all this is that the election of Donald Trump saw the rise of white identity politics, with the important point being that white people only thought they were being oppressed because they mistook a loss of privilege as oppression.

It would be nice if we could just all self-identify as Americans, and when they want to claim racism doesnt exist, thats what conservatives do, except that what is really taking place is the oppression of minority groups, be they ethnic or religious or gender-based.

In a perfect world, one in which groups were not persecuted on account of their beliefs or their skin color or who they are attracted to, there would probably be no need for identity politics. But the real world doesnt work that way and repeated Republican attempts to disenfranchise groups based on their identity (like black voters) is all the proof you really need.

Definitions are by their very nature problematic. We get that. We also need definitions. You know, the same definitions Republicans use to jury-rig voting districts so they can stay in office and permanently exclude liberal and progressives from governance as somehow illegitimate political ideologies. Or exclude Muslims from First Amendment protections as not really being a religion but an ideology.

Naturally, Gonzalez wants to blame all this on Obama, offering the ridiculous argument that, the deep racial division which is so obvious at the end of Obamas term is no accident. It is the legacy of a president who did much to foster it.

Apparently understanding ethnic diversity is an evil somehow, but that is precisely what MENA underscores  the ethnic diversity of the region. All these people want is that identity to be recognized so that they can have the same opportunities as all other Americans.
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Conservative CNN contributor and senior editor at The Atlantic David Frum reminded Trump and his supporters that actually, in spite of their claims to have a mandate, the people didnt speak because Donald Trump won 0.35 points more of the popular vote than Michael Dukakis in 1988.

Recurring reminder that Donald Trump won 0.35 points more of the popular vote than Michael Dukakis in 1988. The people didnt speak.  David Frum (@davidfrum) December 11, 2016

It has become even more clear that the people didnt speak as we learned that the votes in Detroit, where we were told Democrats just didnt turn out in spite of the reports of busy polling places from long time Motor City voters, couldnt be counted due to inaccuracies with the ballot boxes.

The Michigan recount is dead now anyway, courtesy of the Republican hold over the state- the same state where Republican activist Brandon Hall was convicted of 10 counts of election law fraud for forging signatures on a 2012 petition effort. Hall He also worked on President-elect Donald Trumps campaign in Michigan, according to the Grand Haven Tribune.

If there were a real mandate for Donald Trump, youd think he would be pushing for a recount to prove it, and also due to his own repeated claims that the election was rigged.

Its sad commentary on a previously great party that modern Republicans stand against protecting the vote and protecting our elections, with their relentless efforts to make voting more difficult by passing laws requiring photo IDs, killing early voting, making voting hours shorter, and challenging peoples right to vote at the polls. Now they are fighting recounts when their own presidential candidate warned everyone repeatedly that the election was rigged, which begs the question if it only matters if its rigged for the opposition. The voting patterns in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin were bizarre, for example in Pennsylvania there was a larger than normal amount of Democrats splitting their ticket to vote for Trump, possibly the most divisive candidate in history.

Frum wrote a piece published on November 2nd in the Atlantic that made the conservative case for voting for Hillary Clinton, in which he wrote, Why support a candidate who rejects your preferences and offends your opinions? Dont do it for herdo it for the republic, and the Constitution. This piece was no endorsement of Clinton and buys into some of the more dubious unsubstantiated charges made against her, and still Frum came out for Clinton because Trump was so dangerous.

The people did not speak for Trump, he does not have a mandate. The only mandate it appears he has is a Russian-tinged mandate.
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By claiming that he is too smart for presidential daily briefings during an interview with Fox News Sunday, Donald Trump showed that he intends to violate his oath office. Trumps refusal to protect and defend the United States gave the Electoral College more than enough reason to reject his candidacy.

Video:

https://youtu.be/9ND8IMjwxes?t=1m21s

Transcript of Trumps reason for not attending daily presidential briefings:

Article 2 Sec 1 of the Constitution requires that the president-elect take the following oath of office before assuming office, I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Trump is signaling that he intends to violate his oath of office by not protecting and defending the United States. The idea that a man with no national security experience is going to skip the presidential daily briefing and allow the people around him to keep him informed is a dangerous threat to the security of the country. Especially when the president-elect is surrounding himself with individuals who have close ties to a hostile foreign actor towards the United States of America.

The President-elect isnt trying to hide it. He is going to be a disinterested and part-time occupant of the Oval Office. Others are clearly going to be doing the governing. The voters elected Donald Trump, not his staff or whoever he feels like listening to on any given day. Trump himself has a duty to protect and defend the United States of America.

If the president-elect makes it known that he has no interest in fulfilling the responsibilities of the office, the Electoral College can choose a candidate who will take the oath seriously and do the job for the American people.

Trump is giving the Electoral College ample reason to reject him, and if they are paying attention, at minimum Trumps answer should raise serious concerns and cause for pause among the electors.
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Former Obama White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen is warning that Donald Trump will be in violation of the Constitution on day one of his administration if his does not divest himself of his business interests.

Video:

.@NormEisen: Trump "must divest from all business interests, or he will be in violation of the Constitution from day one." #thisweek pic.twitter.com/1PlPoP4Mho  This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 11, 2016

Transcript via ABCs This Week:

EISEN, FORMER OBAMA CHIEF ETHICS LAWYER: Donald Trust  Trump must divest, George, because of his web of domestic and international business relationships that create a conflict of interest for him.

Hes moved to admit that there is a conflict of interest now and he needs to do something.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Even though the law does not  says the president does not come under the conflict of interest laws?

EISEN: George, The Constitution has something called The Emoluments Clause. Thats just a fancy, 18th century word for no foreign government payments. And Donald Trump is collecting foreign government payments and other benefits throughout his business.

It is a direct violation of The Constitution and unless he divests, not just operations, he must divest from all business interests or he will be in violation of The Constitution from day one.

Eisen is not alone in this belief. A bipartisan group of ethics lawyers has urged the president-elect to be as ethical as Bill Clinton was in divesting his business interests when assuming office. The Wall Street Journal editorial page wrote that Trump should liquidate his business interests.

There is also the matter of the Constitution. Article 1 Sec. 9 Clause 8 states, No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

If Trump keeps his fingers in his business interests, his presidency will be in violation of the Constitution the moment that he assumes office. Trumps business conflicts could be grounds for impeachment, but his refusal to follow basic ethical practices is a real and significant threat to the Constitution.

Donald Trump wont only be assuming the presidency, but his choices represent a threat to the worlds shining light of democracy.
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Angie Jackson covers crime and breaking news for The Post and Courier. She previously covered the same beat for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive.com in Michigan. When shes not reporting, Angie enjoys teaching yoga and exploring the outdoors.
South Carolina superintendent candidates Ellen Weaver and Lisa Ellis traded criticisms for an hour-long debate on Nov. 2, and argued over who was best suited to improve education in South Carolina Read moreState superintendent candidates spar over solutions
Paul Bowers is an education reporter and father of three living in North Charleston. He previously worked at the Charleston City Paper, where he was twice named South Carolina Journalist of the Year in the weekly category.
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
Paul Fahri claims that major newspapers, from the Washington Post to the New York Times, have struggled to find and publish pro-Trump columns for months. So too, he says, have regional ones such as the Des Moines and the Arizona Republic, which has a long history of supporting Republican candidates.

I dont believe it. Once Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination, there was no shortage of able pundits who were willing to write pro-Trump pieces. This blog had at least one such commentator, initials JH, who could have supplied the MSM with forceful, well-argued pro-Trump content.

The absence of such content wasnt due to a shortage of writers. The newspapers in question viewed Donald Trump as beyond the pale. Naturally, they also viewed most commentators who strongly backed him as beyond the pale, and thus not worthy of writing for them. I have no doubt, moreover, that left-wing papers like the Post were quite happy to be running two or more anti-Trump pieces daily on the opinion pages and virtually nothing for days on end that favored the tycoon.

Its also no accident that organs like the Washington Post lacked in-house conservatives willing to write pro-Trump content. The center-right people they hire as commentators tend to be the Posts kind of conservative  e.g. Kathleen Parker, Jennifer Rubin, and Michael Gerson. Ditto the New York Times with David Brooks.

I noted the Posts stacked commentary deck in early July when I wrote:

To my knowledge, not a single conservative or right of center columnist in the Posts stable has expressed anything other than contempt for Donald Trump. From Charles Krauthammer to Jennifer Rubin, they all seem to despise the tycoon. Michael Gerson slams Trump at every opportunity. If hes written a negative column about Hillary Clinton recently, I missed it. The most positive thing I recall reading about Trump in the Posts op-ed section is Krauthammers statement that although he cant support Trump, its not unreasonable for Paul Ryan to do so. I cant stand Trump either, but its a sad commentary on the Post that this is best anyone in its stable can say about the (presumptive) Republican nominee for president.

The Post could easily have cured this defect in the following months. The problem is, the paper didnt consider it a defect.

Now that Trump has won, and his transition period is being viewed with pleasant surprise by many conservatives, it will be even easier to find pundits eager to supply pro-Trump commentary. And liberal papers will come under more pressure to engage some, especially if Trump remains popular in the early days of his presidency.

I expect, therefore, to see some token pro-Trump commentary begin to appear in the Washington Post and maybe even the New York Times. But I wouldnt bet much on it.
The David Horowitz Freedom Center held its annual Restoration Weekend at the Breakers Resort in Palm Beach in the immediate aftermath of the election last month. Victor Davis Hanson was one of the featured speakers. The author of many outstanding books, Professor Hanson is a classicist and historian who now hangs out his shingle as the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

The subject of Professor Hansons talk on Davids program in Palm Beach was Mythologies of the 2016 election. The video runs about 45 minutes. The final 20 minutes are questions and answers, but some of his most pointed comments come in the final 20 minutes. I think this is worth your time if you, like me, continue to try to sort things out.

I first met Professor Hanson at a 2006 Claremont Institute summer program in Aspen at which a precocious young congressman named Paul Ryan spoke about Social Security. When Mitt Romney selected Ryan as his running mate in 2012, I wrote to ask then Claremont president Brian Kennedy to remind me what Ryan had talked about. Ryan was representing Wisconsinss First Congressional District, from one of Minnesotas neighboring states. I most vividly recall wondering during Ryans talk how I hadnt heard of this guy before.

I also recall standing in line next to Professor Hanson with my friend and then Claremont chairman Bruce Sanborn to enter the venue where we were to hear Professor Hanson speak. Again, I dont remember the subject, but I recall asking him whether he thought the speeches quoted by Thucydides in his History are historical. There are 39 [or whatever the correct number is] speeches reported by Thucydides, Professor Hanson began as he launched into an astonishing mini-lecture answering my question. He is an extraordinarily learned and decent man, as you may infer from this talk itself.

Quotable quote: I didnt think that Trumps flaws, and they were numerous, were in what we call in philology the indicative mood. They were subjunctive; they were what he might do in office because he hadnt held office, when in Hillarys [case] they were indicative. She had created a crime syndicate. There was no doubt about it. Pay to play bribery. She had lied to the FBI, 27 times said she didnt know what was going on. She couldnt open her mouth about the email servers without lying. And so she was really a criminal. And I thought thats indicative.

One more: Trump had all the right enemies. All the people you dont like, dont like Trump.
The United Nations, UN, Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has expressed dissatisfaction at outgoing Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh, rescinding his earlier decision of December 2, in which he conceded defeat to President-elect Adama Barrow.

Mr. Ki-moon, in a press statement issued by his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, called on Mr. Jammeh to respect the outcome of the December 1 presidential election.

The Secretary-General is dismayed by the December 9 statement by President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia rejecting the outcome of the December1 Presidential election.

The Secretary-General calls on President Jammeh and all political actors and their supporters to fully respect the outcome of the election and to resolve all disputes that may arise from the electoral process through established legal procedures in an expeditious and transparent manner.

The UN chief reiterated his earlier call for a peaceful, timely and orderly transfer of power, in full respect of the will of the Gambian people as expressed in the election.

The secretary-general urged all stakeholders, including defence and security forces, to refrain from any statements or actions that may lead to violence or unrest.

(NAN)
The Chairman, Caretaker Committee, Dambam Local Government Council of Bauchi, Mohammed Jauro, says patients in the community now travel far to seek medical attention due to dilapidated structures in Dambam general hospital.

Mr. Jauro stated this in an interview with journalists on Sunday at Dambam.

He appealed to the state government to address the situation in order to reduce the hardship of the people in the community.

According to him, the structures and environment of the general hospital is forcing most patients to travel about 30 kilometres to Azare to seek for medical attention.

The structure is dilapidated and the environment is so bushy that patients prefer to travel to Azare for medical attention.

The staff no longer discharged their duties as patients are not visiting the hospital because of the dilapidated nature of the facility, he said.

However, Jauro said that the local council was focusing more on the provision of portable water to the rural communities by repairing of boreholes.

He also appealed to the state government to rehabilitate roads that link Dambam to other communities in order to boost economic activities of the people.

The chairman appreciated the District Head of Dambam for his immense contributions and support to the development of the area.

(NAN)
The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, Sani Aliyu, has expressed his concern over the rate of mother to child transmission of HIV in Nigeria.

Mr. Aliyu, who was appointed to the position in July, stated this on Friday in Abuja at the Annual Health Correspondents Dinner.

Recently, a UNICEF HIV specialist, Abiola Davies, had disclosed that Nigeria accounted for one third of new HIV cases among children in the world.

Nigeria is among countries with slow mother-to-child transmission decline. This is responsible for the country accounting for one third of the new HIV infections among children worldwide, Mrs. Davies had said at an event in Abuja.

Speaking in similar vein on Friday, Mr. Aliyu, who until his appointment was a consultant in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Cambridge University, said the agency under his leadership would give priority to curbing mother-to-child transmission of the virus.

One of the things Im really keen to sort out as the Director General is the issue of mother to child transmission. In this era where we have antiretroviral that is effective, its unforgivable for any mother to born a child with HIV, he said at the dinner.

Anyone who is pregnant should have an HIV test.

The Director-General said the agency was collaborating with other health agencies towards solving the HIV problems in Nigeria.

I am pleased to say that for the first time, there is a lot of collaboration between different agencies and government. Primary healthcare agencies are willing for us to engage with primary healthcare facilities.

National Health Insurance Scheme, for the first time, is also showing some interest in terms of solving HIV problems. We will give our best for our country and for the people, he added.

Mr. Aliyu also cited the manner of recent appointments into the agency as a sign that something positive was beginning to happen in Nigeria.

According to the Director-General, none of the persons recently appointed to top positions at the agency lobbied for the the appointments or knew anyone in government.

Some of us were appointed at the end of July. None of us lobbied for the posts, none of us even approached anybody in the government, he said.

So thats something very new for this country and something promising as well, because if you are asked to do a job that you didnt ask for in the first place, it means people are challenging you.

People expect you to deliver and thats why they are giving you the job. And thats why I am taking the job and I intend to deliver, Mr. Aliyu said.

Mr. Aliyu used the opportunity of the dinner to emphasise the the importance of the press in the society.

The media is the conscience of any society, he said. If we dont have a vibrant media, we cannot be held accountable.

He called for the support of the media for the agency and the fight against HIV in Nigeria.

I cannot deliver this job without engaging members of the press. Thats why its really important that NACA continues to engage the media, he stated.

We need the media to put out the message as our objective is to get as many people as possible that has HIV to be put on treatment.
The Buhari administration has vowed to expel students from government-run Unity Schools if their parents use the social media to spread false and negative information against the schools.

The Federal Ministry of Education issued the shocking order and communicated the same via an October 10 memo to all unity schools.

The circular said some parents were in the habit of making false claims on the internet, aimed at tarnishing the image of the Federal Unity Colleges and inciting other parents/general public.

It has been observed that some parents and guardians of students under the guise of concerned parents are in the habit of using social media platforms through which they spread false and negative information aimed at tarnishing the image of the federal unity colleges and inciting other parents and general public, the letter signed for the Education Minister, Adamu Adamu, said.

These unwholesome acts are inimical to the peaceful and harmonious coexistence of the federal unity colleges and will not be tolerated.

The circular said the government recognised the Parents Teachers Association as the only body for parents to collectively address issues relating to their children and wards.

Any other group or body therefore, other than the PTA claiming to be acting on behalf of parents of students of Federal Unity Schools, is doing so unlawfully, it warned.

It concluded: In view of the foregoing. Henceforth, the child/ward of any parent/guarding found to be using the social media to spread false and negative information or incite other parents, will be withdrawn from the college. Parents and guardians are therefore advised to desist from such unwholesome acts.

The circular was distributed seven months after a report about the abuse of schoolgirls at Queens College, Lagos, drew nationwide outrage.

The allegation by a faceless complainant centered on how a teacher, Olaseni Osifala, purportedly sexually molested a 13-year-old girl of the school. The allegation remained unsubstantiated till date.

The government and the school authority responded to the controversy by promising investigations and adjustments. It was not immediately clear if anything had been done about the matter.

The circular, which was issued from the office of director of human resources management at the ministry, angered many Nigerians after it was posted online on Friday.

Chidi Odinkalu, president of Unity Schools Old Students Association, said the directive implied the ministry was moving against free expression.

Nigerias Fed. Min. of Education will throw kids out of school if their parents do free expression on social media, Mr. Odinkalu tweeted with a photograph of the circular.

Free speech is sacrosanct in a constitutional democracy. This is unconstitutional and unacceptable, another Twitter user, Akanimo Ukpe, wrote.
The Akwa Ibom police commissioner, Murtala Mani, said 27 people died when the uncompleted Reigners Bible Church collapsed on Saturday in Uyo.

It was the first official figure to be released about the tragedy and debunked speculations that as many as 60 or 120 died in the incident.

Mr. Mani also said 37 people were injured.

The police chief told the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday that the casualty figures were collated at the end of evacuation exercise late Saturday.

He also said that 37 persons who sustained injuries were receiving treatment in three hospitals.

For now, we can confirm that 27 persons died during the church building collapse on Saturday.

We have concluded rescue operation but we are monitoring the situation to see what happens further, Mani said.

The victims evacuated from the collapsed church along Uyo Village Road near Government House, were receiving treatment at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, St Lukes Hospital, Ibom Specialist Hospital and Lifecare Hospital.

The state Chairman of Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Aniekeme Uwah, said that 22 bodies were deposited at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital.

Mr. Uwah, who could not confirm the total number of deaths in other hospitals, said that he had mobilised all medical practitioners in the state to be part of the rescue operations.

He said that it was not possible to identify the number of government officials and clergymen involved in the casualties because the focus of rescue operation was on saving lives.

Governor Udom Emmanuel had declared a two-day mourning in a broadcast to the people on Sunday following the unfortunate incident.

The two-day mourning began Sunday and would end Monday with flags flown at half-staff in all government establishments across the state.

Mr. Emmanuel also declared a solemn assembly on Tuesday afternoon at the end of the mourning at Government House to pray for the victims of the incident.

The governor on Saturday narrowly escaped unhurt as the church collapsed while he was there.

The governor was the special guest of honour at the bishopric consecration service of the founder of the Reigners Bible church, Apostle Akan Weeks.

A visit to the church on Sunday showed that people were still thronging the scene of the collapsed church to catch a glimpse of what happened on Saturday though the premises were locked.

Security operatives were also seen in large number at the premises to prevent possible riot from the aggrieved persons, who lost their dear ones.

(NAN)
The Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, has commended the Senate for proposing the amendment of the 1999 Constitution to scrap the State Local Government Joint Account.

Leonard Nkah, Ebonyi NULGE President, made the commendation on Sunday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.

He was reacting to the Senates endorsement of the scrapping of the joint account in the proposed constitution review.

The House of Representatives had earlier endorsed the scrapping of the joint account in the proposed constitution amendment.

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who head the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, had said that the joint account was abolished to ensure effective service delivery.

He also said the abolition was to  rescue local governments from strangulation by state governors.

Mr. Ekweremadu also said that Section 7 of the proposed amendment provided for a uniform of three-year tenure.

The section also provides that, Local government without a democratically elected council shall not be entitled to revenue from Federation Account

Mr. Nkah said that the Senates position was commendable, adding that the National Assembly, since 2003, had not disappointed on the issue of local government autonomy.

He noted that the local government system was emasculated after 2003, with governors opposed to granting of autonomy to the local governments.

Mr. Nkah said that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should also be allowed to conduct local government election.

He appealed to state houses of assembly to support the proposed amendment to scrap the joint account, adding that an efficient and functional local government system would boost development at the grassroots.

Mr. Nkah also appealed to Ebonyi Governor, Dave Umahi, to ensure prompt payment of salaries of local government workers.

He regretted that local government workers were now the last to be paid month salaries.

Even primary school teachers whose salaries are paid from local government funds are paid before local government workers, he said.

He also appealed to Mr. Umahi to ensure humaneness in the handling of the salary issue.

Our governor is doing well, but I appeal to him to ensure that local government workers are paid alongside other state workers, Mr. Nkah pleaded.

(NAN)
Two Nigerians, Abideen Adelu and Murtala Sanni, were among 11 winners of the second edition of 2016 African Entrepreneurship Award in Casablanca, Morocco.

The ceremony, held on December 5, was chaired by President Othman Benjelloun of Morocco.

A statement by the organisers of the event noted that the award was to compensate the most significant and sustainable businesses in three categories including education and environment.

According to African Entrepreneurship Award Multimedia, 37 persons reached the final out of which only 11 winners were selected by a presidential jury.

It listed the winners to include Nigerias Abideen Adelu in mobile application for students and Murtala Sanni who bagged his award on online platform for skilled workers.

The BMCE Bank of Africa announced the winners, adding that $1 million was allocated annually for the award.

President Benjelloun, at the ceremony, said the award was to compensate the most significant and sustainable businesses in the categories.

The statement added that the event marked a fundamental turning point for African entrepreneurship.

The African Entrepreneurship Award was announced in November 2014 in Marrakesh at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit to promote entrepreneurship.

The award was also to inspire entrepreneurs to launch and scale up businesses, create jobs and improve lives in Africa.

(NAN)
The General Overseer, Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel), David Oyedepo, said that Nigeria would still experience gross darkness. He called for special prayers to overcome the difficulties.

Mr. Oyedepo, who was quoted in a live streaming broadcast, described the economic downturn in the country as a holocaust.

He noted this at Canaan Land in Ota, Ogun, during the annual Winners Chapel prayer convention, Shiloh 2016, tagged My Case is Different, taken from Genesis Chapter 47 Verses 15 to 27.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the annual programme was a mountain of divine encounter for salvation healing and deliverance.

Anyone who keys into the kingdom investments covenant will overcome the gross darkness that awaits the world.

As Christians, you should understand and have the spirit of giving no matter what it takes to give, Mr. Oyedepo said.

Reacting to the programme, some Abuja residents expressed joy and fulfilment, saying they had a lot to be grateful to God for.

Deborah Peters, a member, said that Shiloh was a refreshing programme that was meant to make every Christian experience divine breakthrough and increase in their lives.

Ms. Peters advised Christians to be open minded with their concerns at this period and all times so that they would encounter Gods visitation.

We have to make sacrifices of giving like Papa (Mr. Oyedepo) pointed out so that we will encounter increase, breakthrough, unending grace, protection and even deliverance.

For us to gain all of these, we have to, with the help of the theme of Shiloh open up to God to have his way in us.

Rose Benjamin, a member that attended the programme from Kaduna, urged Christians not to take their encounter with God for granted for it must be followed with testimonies.

Ms. Benjamin said she encountered God because she believed Him for a divine intervention in the aspect of pregnancy and her prayers were answered.

God took me to a different level I never expected; that is why it is good to pray fervently without season.

My husband and I prayed and believed God for divine intervention; it was our topmost prayer point and we held onto every prophecy declared by Bishop.

On his part, Damola Arogundade, a driver, said he encountered Gods presence in the 2012 Shiloh after he had obeyed all what the Bishop asked the congregation to do during the impartation service.

Prominent clerics from all works of life were represented at the programme as well as nations.

(NAN)
The Nigerian government has described as misleading and inaccurate a report that it agreed to pay $79 million commission as part of conditions for the reparation of $321 million Abacha loot from the Swiss government.

Sani Abacha, a brutal military dictator who died in 1998, stole billions of naira from the government coffers which he stashed in several accounts scattered across the world.

Last July, the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Eric Mayoraz, announced that his country would return $321m out of the Abacha loot to Nigeria.

Quoting the Chairman of the Civil Society Network Against Corruption, CSNAC, Olanrewaju Suraju, who was speaking at a seminar on Friday to commemorate the 2016 International Anti-Corruption Day, a Punch newspapers report said the original loot expected from Switzerland was $400 million.

According to Mr. Suraju, the Nigeria government secretly agreed to let go of $79 million to the in order to facilitate the expedited return of $321 million.

He said it was shameful that the Nigeria government agreed to pay a legal commission for the stolen wealth instead of demanding interest on the fund that has been in its custody for several years.

Unfortunately, the government goes to beg countries to get our money back rather than making demands, we appeal for the money and beg them to return it. We are fed with half information such that we even assume that we actually recover the amount stolen.

I had a very funny experience and it is still ongoing. The $321m that the Swiss Government is meant to return to Nigeria, we discovered three weeks ago that the original money was about $400m. The legal process in Switzerland actually charged the Nigerian Government about $79m and that is why we are receiving $321m.

The $321m is now to be returned to Nigeria with the condition that the World Bank will monitor how the funds will be spent. I cannot imagine anything more insulting.

However, Nigerias minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, in a statement on Saturday evening, said the full amount being expected from Switzerland was $321 million and not N400 million as claimed by Mr Suraju.

The minister said the World Bank was involved in the talks preceding the expected reparation of the fund, which would be used for projects to be verified by the global financial institution. She said no secret commission was being paid to the Swiss government.

The Federal Government is committed to securing the return of all looted funds in their entirety and has never entered into any sharing arrangement as suggested in the report, Ms. Adeosun said.

Intense efforts continue to secure all monies due to Nigeria including an additional $400 million of Abacha loot held up in U.S. Courts on which the Attorney General of the Federation and the Ministry of Finance are engaging with their U.S. counterparts to secure expeditiously, she added.
President Muhammadu Buhari has ended a conversation a while ago with the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, in which he congratulated the Governor and his family on their lucky escape from the tragic collapse of the building of the Reigners Bible Church, Uyo.

The president also conveyed to the Governor and the people of Akwa Ibom State, the deep sorrow of his family, the government and the entire people of Nigeria over the many deaths and injury recorded following the incident.

In praying for the repose of the souls of the deceased and the quick recovery of the injured, President Buhari implored the people of the state, especially those in the catchment area of the incident, to rally round the victims of the tragedy to help ease their sorrow and pains.

He commended the government of the state for the handling of the situation so far.

Garba Shehu,

Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media and Publicity)

10-12-16
The Nigerian Army on Sunday provided details of how it rescued corps members kidnapped during the rerun elections in Rivers.

The 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, also said the allegations made by Governor Nyesom Wike and other politicians, accusing the military of involvement in the Saturday legislative re-run elections in the state are aimed at tarnishing the image of the army.

Kasimu Abdulkarim, the General Officer Commanding of the 6 Division, stated these in a statement made available the Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Sunday.

Mr. Abdulkarim denied accusations that soldiers were involved in mass killing and arrest at Tai and Gokhana Local Government Areas of Rivers.

It is true that soldiers of 6 Division Nigerian Army provided security during the Rivers legislative re-run election.

These people allegedly accused soldiers of ballot box snatching, illegal escorts of some politicians, arrest and detention of voters during the general conduct of the elections.

The weighty nature of these allegations could cause members of the public to view soldiers negatively, hence the need to adequately inform the general public on the true perspective.

The public thus need to consider them as mere farce to garner public sympathy, he said.

According to Mr. Abdulkarim, the 6 Division, Nigerian Army remained apolitical in the conduct of the election. Its soldiers provided perimeter defence to ward off hoodlums and miscreants.

He said that the troops were in no way involved in any form of ballot box snatching, neither were they involved in the escort of politicians as alleged.

They acted swiftly in response to security breaches in order to enforce the law, provide aid to the police and other security agencies especially in areas like Abonema, Etche, Gokhana, Ikwere, Eleme, Tai, Khana and Omoku amongst others.

Susceptibility of mentioned areas warranted providing security for the electoral officials, voters, international and local observers, in conjunction with other security agencies by soldiers for a peaceful election to thrive in the environment, he said.

The GOC said those areas were violated by armed men, who engaged security personnel in shootout.

In Gokhana, armed hoodlums engaged the soldiers providing outer perimeter defence for the electorates.

In Abonema there were three explosions that created bedlam.

Subsequently, 11 NYSC members were abducted along with electoral materials.

However, 10 of them were rescued two hours later by the soldiers while one was rescued about eight hours later.

At Emouh five NYSC members were abducted with election materials in a Siena bus.

The corps members were rescued while the suspect was handed over to the police.

Several shooting were recorded in some communities such as Bodo, the home town of the Secretary to the State Government, and Mogho in Gokhana Local Government Area, including snatching of ballot boxes.

The most brutal incidence occurred at Ujju Community near Omoku in Onelga where police patrol team was ambushed. In the ambush, 10 policemen scampered into the bush.

These attacks are reasonable evidence of violations of breach of law and order which portray the area as a flash point.

In spite these barbarism, soldiers acted with civility and professionalism in guaranteeing peaceful election, he said.

Mr. Abdulkarim said that the army as a respected institution with constitutional responsibility to safeguard lives and property, could not watch miscreants and hoodlums abduct, maim and kill innocent citizens, especially in senseless attacks.

He described the accusations of soldiers partisanship as sham and phoney.

He said that the division would continue to remain apolitical in the discharge of its roles.

Follow PREMIUM TIMES live updates of the elections here.
Nigerias Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, is set to be appointed as UN Deputy Secretary General, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

Ms. Mohammed was appointed minister by President Muhammadu Buhari in November last year.

An official statement is expected to confirm her new UN position.

She is expected to be the deputy to Antonio Guterres, who will assume office as Secretary General of the world body on January 1, 2017.

Ms. Mohammed had formerly served as an adviser to the outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

Details later
Results of senatorial, federal and state constituencies elections held in Ikwerre and Emouha local government areas, LGAs, are yet to be announced, hours after the Independent National Electoral Commission announced results from six other councils in Rivers East senatorial district.

Ikwerre and Emouha are in Rivers East senatorial district, as are Obio-Akpor, Okrika, Ogu-Bolo, Etche, Port Harcourt and Omuma LGAs.

Both LGAs are also paired to form Ikwerre/Emouha federal constituency.

But there have been allegations that the delay in releasing the Ikwerre result is a consequence of the actions taken by the Minister for Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, allegedly aided by security operatives.

The PDP spokesperson in Rivers State, Samuel Nwanosike, alleged that Mr. Amaechi, alongside the Commissioner of Police deployed to Rivers East, soldiers, and police officers, stormed the collation centre on Saturday evening to hijack results.

He alleged that the security operatives, allegedly cooperating with Mr. Amaechi, forcibly sent people, including journalists and opposition agents, out of the venue and locked it up.

Mr. Nwanosike said that before Mr. Amaechi arrived with 200 soldiers, the Commissioner of Police had come to lock the doors and declare nobody goes out; nobody comes.

He said when the police boss was confronted, he said he was acting on instructions from the federal government.

The spokesperson accused the minister of hijacking all the results.

The development led to protest last night by PDP supporters in Ikwerre.

Now, we are mobilising for another protest to INEC office at Isiokpo, Mr. Nwanosike said.

PDP believes results are with Mr, Amaechi, he added.

A corps member and election personnel who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES, asking not to be named for security reasons, lamented the conduct of the exercise in Ikwerre and attested to claims soldiers taking sides with APC to manipulate outcomes.

Mr. Amaechi could not be reached for comments.

His spokesperson, David Iyiofor, did not answer repeated calls placed to his phone; neither did he reply a text seeking response to accusations made against the minister.

He had told PREMIUM TIMES yesterday that the minister could not vote because hoodlums snatched result sheet for his polling unit.

Interestingly, the APC helped circulate an army statement through apcrivers@yahoo.com, denying bias in the polls.

The statement signed by Kasimu Abdulkarim, general officer commanding of the 6 division of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, read:

It is true that soldiers of 6 Division Nigerian Army provided security during the Rivers legislative re-run election.

These people allegedly accused soldiers of ballot box snatching, illegal escorts of some politicians, arrest and detention of voters during the general conduct of the elections.

The weighty nature of these allegations could cause members of the public to view soldiers negatively, hence the need to adequately inform the general public on the true perspective.

The public thus need to consider them as mere farce to garner public sympathy.

Meanwhile, PDP has won in the other six LGAs in the senatorial district whose results have been announced by INEC.

The results so far for the Rivers East senatorial district are:

Etche LGA

APC 1,258, PDP: 6,926

Okrika LGA

APC 1,552 PDP 2,994

Omuna LGA

APC 3,052, PDP 5,606

Port Harcourt LGA

APC: 9,618 PDP: 28,305

Ogu-Bolo LGA

PDP 4,578 APC 1,844

Obio/Akpor LGA

APC 10,630 PDP 29,828
The University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, UMTH, has employed 100 medical doctors to boost manpower and enhance quality healthcare services in the state.

Ibrahim Kuburu, the UMTH President of Association of Resident Doctors, ARD, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Sunday in Maiduguri.

Mr, Kuburu said medical doctors in various fields, including surgeons, ophthalmologists, pathologist, paediatricians and radiologists, were employed to fill the gap of shortages of health providers.

Some of the major challenges that confronted the health sector were the increasing demands of not only health services but social services in general.

In the past, during the heat of Boko Haram insurgency, the hospital was confronted with the challenges of handling mass casualties with various degrees of injuries from bomb blasts.

The care for such patients is a specialised care that posed a great challenge in the state. But despite these challenges, the ARD have remained resilient and committed to providing efficient healthcare services to the people.

We have conducted some outreach in some orphanage where some 200 children were examined and enrolled into immunisation programmes.

There is still much work to do as we are working toward extending our free medical outreach to IDPs. So far our mother body NMA had conducted some outreach in Bakassi camp.

The ARD is working toward reaching out to IDPs especially those in the librated communities.

On the issue of welfare, I will say that the demands were well catered for. The Chief Medical Director of UMTH, Prof. Abdulrahman Tahir, just upgraded ARD complex. This is indeed worthy of commendation.

One of the aims of the ARD is to provide a congenial environment for laying foundation of efficient and effective residency training that would have a legacy for the younger ones to emulate.

In the areas of accommodation, a significant improvement has been made by securing some more houses for our members to occupy.

Over N1 million trapped with MTN Nigeria since 2012 has now been recovered by this EXCO and this has been judiciously utilised to provide internet service for our members in the last eight months, he said.

(NAN)
The ECOWAS Commission on Sunday visited Maiduguri, Borno State, where it presented $1.4 million cheques to the state government as part of its contribution towards assisting the people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.

The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel De Souza, led other top officials of the Western African umbrella body to make the presentation to Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima.

He informed Borno State of ECOWAS concern about happenings in northeast Nigeria, even as he said he was impressed with the manner the state governor was able to carry on with developmental programs despite the huge security challenges facing the state.

This is the first time that I am coming to Maiduguri as ECOWAS leader; and I have seen that despite the challenges your Excellency is making a lot to constructive progress; which is very commendable, Mr. De Souza said.

We have heard reports of how the markets, the schools and public infrastructures were burnt and we are here seeing how you have been tackling the challenges in phases, which is quite commendable and we are congratulating you for that exemplary steps.

The ECOWAS President said he had earlier met with some officials of the United Nations, as well as the officers of the National Emergency Management Agencies who had given him some insights and data of the humanitarian situation in the state.

It was on that note that we have come to contribute our own support and solidarity and we are fully backing you in all your programs going forward. And we may not be able to reach the entire 4 million people of the state, but we will support you in such significant manner to see that you touch the lives of the people positively.

We are aware of the IDPs and refugee challenges facing the country at large and Borno state in particular; and we are ready to partner with you to see that we help those suffering from malnutrition, poor hygiene and healthcare. We are deeply concerned about the plight of the children and the women in this conflict.

We have also come here today to give our modest contribution in terms of food from our reserve, which is worth about $400, 000 and a token of cash of $1 million to support the people for Shelter, healthcare needs.

The Director General of NEMA who was also part of the visiting ECOWAS delegation had announced the donation of more food items and building material for the reconstruction of Bama, Ngala and Hawul local government areas of Borno State.

Governor Shettima expressed his personal appreciation and that of the state government to ECOWAS for the cash and food support presented to the state.

He also thanked NEMAs generosity to the state.

We thank you most sincerely for your kind gesture for assisting our communities that are in distress, the governor said.

The large quantum of food items donated would go a long way in alleviating the food security problems facing the state.

He, however, quickly pointed out that he would rather not handle the cash but wished NEMA took charge of the cheque and uses it to deliver all the needed consumables to the state.

As for the $ 1 million you have contributed, I do not want the money to pass through our hands; I will rather give it to help us buy food stuff; we have the Maiduguri flour mill here which can process maize into flour for proper human consumption. The $1 million would go a long way in feeding our people; especially those living within the host communities.

Though NEMA has not publicly indicated its readiness to help Borno State manage the $ 1 million presented by ECOWAS, PREMIUM TIMES was informed by some of the national relief agencys officials that it could manage such funds.
The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has charged Nigerian soldiers to finish off Boko Haram remnants on time to enable Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, return to their homes.

He gave the charge when he visited troops of the 81 battalion in Damboa Local Government Area in Borno state.

Buratai who reiterated the determination of the army towards enhancing the welfare of troops, said rotation of soldiers would take place after every six months of deployment.

I am sure you have read and heard the message I sent across. If you are aware of it then we must work to get out of this place. We must work to get out of this operation very quickly. We must defeat Boko Haram.

I was in one of the barracks and many of the troops were already there and I have assured your families that many of you will go back next year.

81 battalion is my unit too when I was a lieutenant Colonel This unit has seen it all. You fought along with the Cameroonian troops in this battle which means you are better placed to deal with this criminals.

We must continue with the aggressive actions, patrol and ambush. You must move into all the hideouts of these criminals and fish them out. Some of your colleagues in Sambisa Forest are dealing with them properly.

You are better equipped, better motivated and mobile. The army has provided you with better equipment to fish Boko Haram out and deal with them completely.

I wish to commend your effort and I urge you all to maintain the momentum and keep it high. Nigerians are proud of you. President Muhammadu Buhari the Commander in Chief is also pleased with you, he said.

The COAS also visited Alpha Company of 25 brigade in Damboa where he assessed the newly constructed permanent headquarters of the brigade.
The police in Rivers State said they put up a good outing in Saturdays national and state assembly elections in the state.

The police scored themselves high despite wide reports of malpractices aided by security operatives, including police officers.

The police spokesperson in River State, Omoni Nnamdi, gave the self-appraisal while speaking with PREMIUM TIMES hours after the elections had ended across the constituencies.

So far so good, we have given account of ourselves and put up a good outing, said Mr. Nnamdi.

About 28,000 policemen were deployed for the elections that held in three senatorial districts, eight federal constituencies and 10 state constituencies.

The huge deployment of police officers  aside military personnel deployed by the Army and the Navy  is commensurate to the risk assessment taken, PREMIUM TIMES gathered.

But there were credible reports of cases where police officers, especially men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, and soldiers worked in cahoot with political actors to perpetrate malpractices.

PREMIUM TIMES independently confirmed cases of malpractices aided by police officers and soldiers. For instance, voting coordinated by politicians held inside the compound of All Progressives Congress candidate for Rivers South East senatorial district, Magnus Abe, in the full glare of scores of security and military personnel, while INEC officials looked away.

Observers also said SARS and Civil Defense Corps operatives stormed a unit in Bodo, Gokana LGA, shooting sporadically and carted away election materials. One person was said to have been killed in the wake of the violence.

Apart from cancelling elections in Atoku-Toru LGA, the Independent Election Commission complained of violence in Gokana, Khana, Andoni and Tai.

Against the background of these disturbing reports, police spokesperson, Mr. Nnamdi said for what it is worth the police tried to ensure the exercise was free and secure.

We deployed 28 thousand officers and that was deliberate to give people confidence that they could come out to vote freely.

The deployment was led by DIG Operations, Habila Joshak and we toured Eleme, Khana, Tai and other places. There was no report of security breach. We saw people show readiness to vote.

So, I dont have knowledge of all these cases, said Mr. Nnamdi.

Also, Mr. Joshak said the exercise was generally peaceful despite reports of violence.

But the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Rivers, Aniedi Ikowak, said rumours of skirmishes would be investigated.

Messrs Ikowak and Joshak spoke at Rumuigbo, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.

But some residents hailed police officers and soldiers, expressing conviction the security bodies helped ensure safe exercise in some places.
The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Akwa Ibom State branch, has appealed to Nigerians to donate blood for the victims of the church building collapse in the state.

Aniekeme Uwah, a medical doctor and the chairman of NMA in the state, made the appeal shortly after a building that was under construction in Reighners Bible Church, Uyo, collapsed on Saturday, killing and injuring several people.

Doctors in the state have been mobilised through the NMA to respond to the crisis which is the worst in the history of the state.

In order to aid the response team carry out her duty of responding to the mass casualty and to save the lives of our people, I hereby call on all well meaning citizens to rise up to the occasion of being our brothers keepers by voluntarily donating blood needed for transfusion, Mr. Uwah said in a statement.

Mr. Uwah asked members of the public who wish to donate blood to visit the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Uyo and St. Lukes Hospital, Anua.

He confirmed that 21 victims were bought in dead to the UUTH.

He said two out of 23 persons that were receiving treatment died because of severe bleeding.

I call on all the survivors who had suffered any form of trauma to report to the various health facilities for proper medical examination as blunt injuries could lead to internal bleeding and avoidable deaths, Mr. Uwah said.

I assure all the members of the public, that as a responsible and proactive association, we will not rest on our oars until all the lives of the survivors are saved and they are discharged from the hospitals back to their families.
Some residents of Rivers State have expressed concern over the possible health dangers of black carbon emissions, believed to have resulted from illegal refining and constant burning of oil installations in the state.

Residents of Choba, Eleme, Okrika, Trans-Amadi, Iwofe, Okwujagu and Rumuokoro told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday that the area has been experiencing the carbon emissions for some months now.

They said they have been experiencing fumes and soot of black carbon in their homes and offices as well as on their cars and laundries.

Chijoke Ogundu, a civil servant, said the emission might be connected with illegal oil refining and constant burning of oil installations by vandals in the state.

You can mop the floor three times daily and you will be surprised to see the same floor dotted with soot hours later.

We wake up in the morning to see cars parked outside already stained with the carbon; this has been on for several months now he said.

Oguroye Soseipriala, a trader residing at Owkujagu, said she woke up in the morning these days to find the black substance in her nostrils.

She expressed fears that the situation could have some severe health implications, saying this means that we are endangered.

Nnendah Wachukwu said she usually left her laundries outside and woke up in the morning to find them thoroughly stained.

The implication is that the air we breathe in these parts of the state may have been polluted; something needs to be done quickly to save us.

If nothing is done, the health challenges that may follow in a few months time may be too much to contend with, she said.

A Port Harcourt-based social commentator, Mambiko Aguma, called on the Rivers and Federal Governments to intensify fight against illegal refineries and oil installation vandalism in the Niger Delta.

He further urged the federal government to immediately undertake full investigation of the emission to determine its effects on human life and the environment.

The issue at hand requires the full commitment of government in the interest of the inhabitants of the affected areas.

Government must swing into action to investigate this emission; the lives of the inhabitants are in danger, he said.

According to experts, black carbon emissions are formed through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuel, and biomass, and is emitted in both anthropogenic and naturally occurring soot. Black carbon causes human morbidity and premature mortality. In climatology, black carbon is a climate forcing agent.

China, United States and the EU are responsible for more than half of the worlds black carbon emissions.

In a recent report by the World Health Organisation, black carbon emission was described as dangerous to human health because of its tiny size. Apart from affecting human health, it also affects visibility, harms ecosystems, reduces agricultural productivity and exacerbates global warming.

The WHO in a study of 12.6 million deaths in 2012, found that between 1334 per cent of all deaths, were attributable to the environment.

When accounting for both death and disability, the fraction of the global burden of disease due to the environment is 22 per cent.

The Earth Institute of Columbia University, commenting on the WHO report said 3.7 million premature deaths were recorded in 2012 due to outdoor air pollution, and 4.3 million to household air pollution.

 The breathing in of particulate matter (composed of black carbon, sulfate, nitrates, ammonia, sodium chloride, mineral dust and water) that measures 10 microns or less in diameter (PM10), poses the greatest health risks because the particles can find their way deep into lungs and the bloodstream, and cause cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and premature death. Formed by the incomplete burning of fossil fuels, biofuels and biomass, black carbon, has a diameter of less than 2 microns., the Institute wrote.

(NAN)
Following his appointment as the commissioner representing Delta State in Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, by President Muhammadu Buhari, Ogaga Ifowodo was hosted in a grand reception by the Isoko nation led by Isoko Development Union, IDU (the umbrella body and mouthpiece of the Isoko people) at Oleh, the headquarters of Isoko South council area, Delta State.

The event, which was well attended by several dignitaries including Mike Igini, former INEC Commissioner in Edo State, Felix Ogbaudu, Jones Erue, Delta State APC Chairman, traditional rulers, businessmen, politicians, social media advocates, etc, has its Special Guest of Honour as Otega Emerhor, the governorship aspirant of APC in the 2015 governorship election in Delta State and was chaired by Joe Arausi.

The event began with a warm reception of Ogaga Ifowodo by the Otor-owho kingdom, the maternal ancestral root of the NDDC Commissioner at the town hall of the community in Isoko North council area, Delta State. While expressing his heartfelt gratitude to his maternal people, Mr. Ifowodo re-assured the community of his desire to leave a lasting legacy in NDDC and this sparked off a renewed hope for quality development of Isoko land and Delta State.

I fought for the democracy, he said, during military regime and was opposed to the violations of human rights though my efforts were voluntary services. Therefore, if I have been called to serve and to be paid accordingly, you can be rest assured of quality and better services from me, he added.

It may interest you to know that Ogaga Ifowodo, as the then Secretary General of Students Union at the University of Benin, UNIBEN in 1989, led the students of the institution in a three days solidarity rally following the call for a nation-wide protest by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) against the then Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) introduced by the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida. Benin City was described as the epicenter of the anti-SAP riots due to the fearless manner the then 23years old Ogaga Ifowodo coordinated and led the UNIBEN Students across the city of Benin.

Meanwhile, Oleh community, the paternal ancestral homeland of Mr. Ifowodo had earlier declared a traditional holiday in honour of the NDDC Commissioner. The ceremony took another wonderful turn, when Anthony Ovrawa, the Omogha I of Oleh kingdom confined a chieftaincy title on Mr. Ifowodo as the Ogba (Champion) of Oleh Kingdom, after the entourage of the NDDC Commissioner arrived the palace of the traditional ruler in a grand style.

At the Oleh civic centre, the main venue of the grand reception, the Isoko people turned out in their numbers to rejoice and felicitate with Ogaga Ifowodo, the Ogba of Oleh Kingdom for bringing honour to Isoko land not only through his appointment as commissioner representing Delta State in NDDC but also for his reputable selfless services to restore sanity and dignity to the Nigerian State from the military era till date.

As the reception continued, the atmosphere was saturated with the joy, inspiration and exclamation that come with the success of freedom agitation and human rights activism, as Mike Igini succinctly presented the curriculum vitae of Ogaga Ifowodo to the large gathering of well wishers. Honestly, the aluta spirit in many of the attendees was rekindled and re-awakened for the pursuit of a better society.

Speaking, one of the attendees said, the life of Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo has re-ignited my taste to fight for good governance and credible leadership for the betterment of our society and the common man. It shall be a guiding light and motivation to me henceforth.

However, the peak of the joyous celebration was the ovation that engulfed the arena following the speech of Mr. Ifowodo, where he emphasised that whoever was awarded any contract in NDDC and was mobilized for same but failed to execute the project is an enemy of our development and as such a wizard in our land.

He advised persons and contractors that fell in such category to return to site and execute the abandoned projects for the sake of peace or be prepared to answer queries. He also assured the Isoko people and Delta State of his readiness to bring meaningful development as the Commissioner of NDDC representing Delta State pending the expiration of his tenure in office.

The event, which was a huge success, shall indeed redefine the political terrain in Isoko nation and provoke unprecedented level of development and credible representation across the land, which has been missing in the area for long.

No wonder the leaders of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Isoko land were restless over the hosting of the reception by IDU. Hence, convened a two days emergency meeting at Asaba, the capital city of Delta State on December 6 and 7, 2016 and summoned the IDU President, Iduh Amadhe demanding that he backed out of the hosting. Though, the party leaders were turned down, the move was most mischievous, unnecessary, immature and unexpected.

It can be said that the Party leaders goofed because IDU is apolitical and non-partisan ethnic organisation, which serves as the umbrella body and mouthpiece of the Isoko people. The body can host any son of the Isoko nation, who has brought honour to the Isoko land like Ogaga Ifowodo, irrespective of his political affiliation. The PDP must eschew such divisive tendencies and politics of acrimony for the sake of development and peaceful Isoko nation.
The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Sunday called on Muslims to offer special prayers for greater peace, unity and continuous progress of Nigeria, as they join their counterparts across the world to celebrate Eid El Maulud, which is the birth of Prophet Mohammed.

The Governor, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Habib Aruna, enjoined Muslims to follow the exemplary leadership of the Holy Prophet by promoting peaceful existence.

While imploring Nigerians to shun ethnic, political and religious differences and work towards building a safer and better Nigeria, Governor Ambode said the celebration of the birth of the Prophet should renew the faith and bond of unity as one people and one nation irrespective of diversity.

On the occasion of the commemoration of the birth of the holy Prophet, it is imperative to reflect on his teachings and uphold his legacies of unity, integrity, peaceful coexistence and love for ones neighbour, which are indispensable in our quest for meaningful development and the profitable management of our diversity, he said.

Governor Ambode also urged Muslims to internalise the virtues of honesty, selflessness, charity, tolerance, good neighbourliness, justice, equity and fairness which Mohammed (PBOH) preached, saying such will go a long way to engender national development.

I want to seize this occasion to urge all Nigerians to commit themselves to making a greater effort to imbibe these qualities and values as they celebrate the Prophets birth.

I wish all our Muslim brothers and sisters in Nigeria and Lagos in particular a happy Eid-el-Maulud, he said.

Also, Mudashiru Obasa, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, called for increased love and more understanding among Nigerians irrespective of their religious affiliations for a peaceful co-existence and growth of the country.

In a statement on Sunday to mark this years Eid El Maulud, Mr. Obasa said the country would continue to develop and grow if the citizens display love and understanding not only among themselves but also to the government.

The Prophet was a man of peace and he shared the message of love and peace through the religion of Islam throughout his life time, Mr. Obasa said in the statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Musbau Razak.

He showed understanding for the various faiths and beliefs in Madinah during his lifetime and he never discriminated against any religion, groups or persons during his life.

The Lagos Speaker urged Nigerians to emulate and imbibe the Prophets qualities to enable the countries continued growth.

It is a challenging period for us in Nigeria but this government is equal to the task and desirous of improving the lives of our people. We just need their love, support, prayers and understanding, he said.

He urged Nigerians to therefore shun violence, and desist from any act that can lead to breakdown of law and order.

The only way you can do this is by sharing love and understanding among yourselves which is the major ingredient for a peaceful co-existence, the main message of Prophet Muhammad and Islam.
ATLANTIC CITY  Already facing competition from the ever-expanding out-of-state gambling market, including the recently opened MGM National Harbor in Maryland, the citys four-decade-old state casino monopoly is again under attack.

State lawmakers are now proposing a bill that would allow Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport and Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment in East Rutherford to partner with existing casino operators to create areas inside the racetracks that offer online gambling. The move comes just a month after New Jersey voters overwhelmingly rejected a plan to expand gambling beyond the city.

The internet cafes, as they are being called, would increase revenue for the states struggling horse-racing industry while allowing casinos to show off their internet gambling operations, supporters of the plan said.

But increasing gambling options within the state could lead to a decrease in the number of people heading to the resort, said Anthony Marino, a local market analyst and retired executive with the South Jersey Transportation Authority.

Since 2009, traffic at the Atlantic City Expressways Pleasantville Toll Plaza, traditionally an indicator of people heading into the resort, has declined steadily. In 2009, more than 23.9 million cars used the toll plaza; in 2015 that number had plummeted to 18.5 million.

Allowing any form of casino-like gaming at the Meadowlands, Freehold or Monmouth Park racetracks would most likely have a negative impact on visitation numbers in Atlantic City, although probably not as much as allowing actual full-service casinos as proposed in the recently defeated North Jersey casino referendum, Marino said. The rapid rise of internet gaming in New Jersey has already cut into visitor numbers traveling to Atlantic City; expanding that experience to racetracks close to the dense central and North Jersey population would give additional convenience gamblers reason to avoid the journey south to Atlantic City.

Under the plan, the tracks would lease out space to casino operators for online gambling.

This is a win-win for both the racetracks and the casino industry, said Dennis Drazin, adviser to Monmouth Park. This would be purely at the will of the casinos. I believe this would give casinos a chance to grow their business. It would give them a chance to grow their online business. They dont have to do it if they dont want to.

Drazin said he has been approached by a couple of casinos about the proposal, but he would not say which expressed interest.

The Casino Association of New Jersey declined to comment on the proposal.

We can only hope that within the module there is room for a positive revenue stream for both the racetrack industry and A.C., said Bob Ambrose, instructor of hospitality and gaming at Drexel University. This model certainly cannot hurt the racing industry that is trying so desperately to survive. And in the same thought, A.C. does not need a sucker punch at this time as it continues to diversify its offerings.

The new proposal comes as some lawmakers continue to look at ways to expand gaming beyond Atlantic City without a referendum. Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, D-Essex, has said he is exploring the idea of putting video lottery machines at racetracks as a way to boost revenue at tracks without a public referendum. According to a 1982 ruling by former Attorney General Irwin Kimmelman, the lottery terminals do not require a public referendum, he said.
HAMMONTON  Kellyanne Conway got a warm welcome Saturday night from almost everyone in her high school hometown.

Conway, who was Donald Trumps campaign manager, got all cheers and no boos when she stepped off a firetruck as grand marshal of the towns Christmas parade.

She made very brief remarks to a crowd parade veterans said was bigger than most years. The most political thing she said was to ask for prayers for our outgoing president and vice president ... and for our new president and vice president.(tncms-asset)79af32d6-bf44-11e6-8ae5-00163ec2aa77(/tncms-asset)

To celebrate Christmas, she suggested people in the crowd send a thank-you card to a soldier or buy a winter coat for someone who cant afford one.

Protesters were hard to find, despite the online controversy the invitation to Conway spurred.

Brittany Papale, a Hammonton native who lives in Philadelphia, held a sign asking, Where would Hammonton be without migrant workers?

She stood with two friends also holding signs and chatted with Conway fans in the crowd.

Its a little unwelcoming, but nobody has been outright mean, Papale said. On Facebook, everybody is mean.

Stacey Burger traveled from Tabernacle, Burlington County, to her first Hammonton Christmas parade, mostly because of Conway.

Im excited to see her, she said. I havent seen any protesters.

Conway, a St. Joseph High School graduate and now board member, became nationally famous this year as the manager of Donald Trumps winning presidential campaign.

She was invited to be part of the parade by a high school classmate, Mickey Pullia, who is now a town councilman and an officer in the Hammonton Volunteer Fire Department. He said Saturday the fire department has sponsored a Christmas parade for 19 years, and it doesnt usually generate very strong feelings in the town.

Typically, I dont think youd get 1,000 people, Pullia said before the march started down Bellevue Avenue, Hammontons main street.

After word got out that this years guest star was a top Trump adviser, the Christmas parade seemed to get at least that many people going online or to social media to react, both pro and con.

Many comments broke down basically along the same lines as last months bitterly fought election between Republican Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump supporters defended the choice of the grand marshal and Trump critics called inviting Conway an endorsement of the same rhetoric that divided the country when Trump was a candidate.

But in downtown Hammonton, others emphasized the organizers were honoring Conways local ties, not her national associations. And the occasion was a Christmas celebration, they insisted, not a political rally.

Its about kids, Santa Claus on a firetruck and a cup of hot cocoa, as Pullia put it. Thats what this parade is all about.
Several roads in Atlantic City and Hamilton Township are closed Monday afternoon for the funeral of State Police Trooper Frankie Williams, who died earlier this week in a crash on Route 55 in Millville.

In Atlantic City, the beach blocks of Texas, Florida and Mississippi avenues and Columbia Place will be closed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Mississippi Avenue between Atlantic and Pacific avenues will be closed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Pacific Avenue between Texas and Arkansas avenues, Atlantic Avenue between Georgia and Arkansas avenues, and Arkansas Avenue between Georgia Avenue and the Atlantic City Expressway will be closed from 2 to 4 p.m.

Drivers will not be allowed to cross Arkansas Avenue during these times and should use Routes 322 and 30 and the Atlantic City Connector as alternate routes.

Bicycles will not be allowed on the Boardwalk between Texas and Missouri avenues.

In Hamilton Township, police will close Route 40 from the Black Horse Pike, in front of the Hamilton Mall, to the intersection of River Road and Main Street in Mays Landing, between 1 and 5 p.m.

Police said the procession also will cause periodic road closings at Wrangleboro Road between the Atlantic City Expressway entrance and the pike.

Detours will be posted, and drivers should expect delays.

Gov. Chris Christie has ordered all state buildings to fly flags at half-staff Monday in recognition of Williams.

The Press will have full coverage of Williams funeral beginning at 7 a.m. Monday. Follow at pressofac.com, facebook.com/pressofac and on Twitter @ThePressofAC.
ATLANTIC CITY  Two out-of-state men have been charged in an early morning shooting outside Tropicana Atlantic City that wounded one man Sunday.

Eugene Storm, 23, of Pennsylvania, and George Walker, 30, of New York, were charged with aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, conspiracy and tampering with evidence. Storm also was charged with possession of hollow-point ammunition. They were taken to the Atlantic County jail on $150,000 bail each.

Police said officers responded to the South Tower valet area at the Tropicana at 2:37 a.m. for reports of gunfire.

They found the victim, Xavier Smith, 25, of New York, on Pacific Avenue with a gunshot wound, police said. Smith was taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus, where he was admitted in serious but stable condition.

Tropicana security assisted police with surveillance footage and photographs of Storm and Walker were distributed to officers in the area. Storm was located on Albion Place by K-9 Officer Marinela Pali. A loaded handgun was found in a jacket, which he discarded before the arrest, police said.

Walker was arrested by detectives Leah Giercyk and Juliann Schwenger after he returned to the crime scene, police said.

A spokeswoman for Tropicana was not immediately available for comment Sunday.

Anyone with information about this incident can contact the Atlantic City Police Department Violent Crimes Unit at 609-347-5788.

Information can be texted to TIP411 (847411). Begin the text with ACPD. All texts are anonymous.
Thousands of police officers are expected to join friends and family of Frankie Williams on Monday morning in paying their last respects to the state trooper at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Williams, 31, of Egg Harbor Township, was killed Dec. 5 in a two-car crash on Route 55 in Millville while responding to a report of an erratic driver.

The other driver, Lloyd Rudley, 61, of Elmer, died at the scene. It is not clear what caused Rudley to veer from the southbound lane onto the northbound side of the highway.

Williams funeral will begin with an 8 a.m. viewing for family and friends at Boardwalk Hall. There will be a second viewing from 10 a.m. to noon for law enforcement, followed by a funeral service.

Frankie Williams always dreamed of becoming a New Jersey State Trooper. He achieved that goal and quickly earned the admiration and respect of both his supervisors and peers, State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes said in a statement. Frankie was a kind, caring person who put others before himself. We are devastated and heartbroken by his passing, but he can rest assured that we will embrace his family as they will always remain a part of our State Police family.

After the funeral, there will be a short procession down the Boardwalk before a private burial at Holy Cross Cemetery in Mays Landing.

Williams married his high school sweetheart in September. He was pursuing a masters degree at Rutgers University in Camden. The Atlantic City native had grown up in Lakeland, Florida, before moving back to the area several years ago.

After graduating the State Police academy in January, Williams was stationed at the Woods-town barracks and recently transferred to the Port Norris station.

More than 150 people attended a candlelight vigil Thursday night in memory of Williams at the Leesburg Volunteer Fire Department, which is near the Port Norris station.

Gov. Chris Christie ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff at all state buildings Monday in honor of Williams.

Roads closing in Atlantic City, Hamilton for trooper's funeral Several roads in Atlantic City and Hamilton Township are closed Monday afternoon for the fun

Trooper Williams made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the citizens of this state, Christie said in a statement. It is with profound sadness that we mourn the loss of Trooper Williams, and we extend our deepest sympathy to his family, friends and fellow law-enforcement officers.
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Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) Two recent training missions by Chinese military aircraft near Taiwan can be regarded as strategical declaration by China that it is capable of engaging in military operations not just west of Taiwan, but also on the east side, according to two Taiwanese analysts.
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.




NEW YORK, Dec. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- American students rank 20th in reading, 19th in science and 31st in math compared to students in 35 OECD countries, according to the results from the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) released today by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). PISA is an international survey that evaluates the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds around the world. The assessment has been administered every three years since 2000. The full report is available here.

Jon Schnur, Executive Chairman of America Achieves, will hold a press conference call at 11 a.m. ET followed by a Q&A session to discuss the results and how the country can use them to drive national improvement. To join the conference call, dial 888.632.3385 and provide the conference ID: PISA 2015, or title: PISA Conference  Jon Schnur.

Today's widely-anticipated release will generate much discussion and concern about the state of our schools. The most important question is how to use the PISA findings and other evidence to strengthen and improve education outcomes for all students.

"While trends in average student performance are disappointing," Schnur said, "this study shows bright spots and progress, not just globally, but right here in the United States  especially for our most disadvantaged students. America's students, families, and educators deserve praise and more support than ever so we can continue this progress."

Commentary today will focus on the flat performance in U.S. averages in reading and science  and a decline in math performance  but when you look beyond the international rankings, there are important insights on the progress made by U.S. students, families and educators.

In science, the U.S. leads the world in closing the achievement gap. The weakening of the association between socio-economic status and student performance since 2006 represents the largest improvement in equity among all countries and economies that participated in PISA 2006 and PISA 2015. The study also found that socio-economic status was not the main driver of student performance.

In this study on science achievement, the U.S. was first in the world in increasing the percentage of high-performing, low-income students. In 2006, only 19% of students in the bottom socio-economic quartile performed in the top academic quartile overall. In 2016, that rose to 32%.

Moreover, the study shows an improvement in science achievement for the lowest-achieving students, with an average score increase of 18 points for the bottom decile of students. The U.S. also reduced the percentage of students performing at the lowest level on PISA to 20%, the norm for European and OECD countries. The report says that constitutes a reduction of 4 percentage points in U.S. students achieving at the lowest level and a significant reduction of 6 percentage points when considering demographic changes.

"The results show that where we focus, we win," said Schnur. "But we need to ensure that our education system improves student outcomes across the board  and quickly  so that all students are ready to compete in our global economy."

Meanwhile, an annual PISA-based assessment  the OECD Test for Schools  has identified world-class schools in the U.S. that point the way toward greater improvements. Some of these schools outpace the average performance of nearly every educational system in the world.

An example is Minnetonka High School in Minnesota, which outperformed all participating OECD regions in reading and science, and all OECD regions except Shanghai in math. Another school, Natick High School in Massachusetts, outperformed all OECD regions except Shanghai in all subjects.

"These schools are just two of many that show we don't have to go to Korea or Singapore to find high-performing schools  there are world-class schools right here in the U.S. that we can learn from," added Schnur.

Since 2012, more than 400 schools across 32 states, and many more schools outside of the U.S., have participated in the OECD Test for Schools, which measures individual school performance against other countries. Schools that participate in the OECD Test for Schools receive a detailed report identifying strengths, weaknesses and strategies for improvement as well as the opportunity to join the Global Learning Network (GLN). The GLN is a learning community developed by America Achieves made up of educators and district leaders who have taken the assessment, learned from their results, and shifted practices resulting in improved student outcomes.

For more information about the OECD Test for Schools, visit nwea.org/oecdschooltest.

About America Achieves

America Achieves is a unique non-profit accelerator that brings together exceptional educators and other leaders with game changing ideas, results-oriented funding, and strategic and operational support to drive success for students at scale. One of our key initiatives, the Global Learning Network, is a community of school and district leaders who have taken the OECD Test for Schools, learned from their results and global best practices, and are making practice shifts to ensure that each young person is prepared for success in careers, college, and citizenship. Throughout our work, we uncover, examine, and promote approaches and practices that can drive success across entire educational systems, communities, and states. Learn more at www.americaachieves.org.

The OECD Test for Schools is made possible through a partnership between the OECD, creator of the PISA exam and the OECD Test for Schools; America Achieves, a non-profit accelerator that manages the Global Learning Network; and Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a global not-for-profit educational services organization and the U.S. Test Service Provider for the OECD Test for Schools.

CONTACT:

Elizabeth Baker

[email protected]

713-562-2061

SOURCE America Achieves

Related Links

http://www.americaachieves.org


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Mumbai, Dec 7 : Veteran actor Dilip Kumar was admitted to Leelavati Hospital here on Wednesday morning after he complained of swelling in one of his legs.

"He has been hospitalised today (Wednesday) morning. He complained of swelling in his right leg," Saira Banu's manager Murshid told IANS.

The 94-year-old actor is under observation.

The thespian was born as Mohammad Yusuf Khan but adopted Dilip Kumar as his screen name.

Dilip Kumar was last seen in the film "Qila" in 1998.

The actor was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015.
Mumbai, Dec 7 : Veteran actor Dilip Kumar, who was admitted to Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre here on Wednesday morning after he complained of swelling in one of his legs, says he is feeling much better.

A few hours later, the 94-year-old took to Twitter where he shared a photogaph of himself along with his star wife Saira Banu from the hospital.

"Feeling much better now. Was admitted to Lilavati hospital for routine checkup. Your prayers are with me," Dilip Kumar captioned the image.

The actor shared another photograph of himself sipping tea from a cup.

"Health is wealth said somebody. Mein aap sabhi ka mashkoor hoon ki aapne hamesha apni dua'on mein mujhe yaad rakha. (I am thankful to all of you for always remembering me in your prayers)," he wrote.

The actor was hospitalised and was kept under observation.

"He has been hospitalised today (Wednesday) morning. He complained of swelling in his right leg," Saira Banu's manager Murshid told IANS.

The thespian was born as Mohammad Yusuf Khan, but adopted Dilip Kumar as his screen name.

Dilip Kumar was last seen in the film "Qila" in 1998.

The actor was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015.
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Washington, Dec 11 : The Pentagon said on Saturday the US would deploy about 200 additional troops to Syria in the military campaign against the Islamic State (IS).

According to a Pentagon statement, the additional US troops would include special operations forces, trainers, advisers and explosive ordinance disposal teams, Xinhua news agency reported.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter made the announcement during his speech in the Gulf state of Bahrain, said the statement.

"These uniquely skilled operators will join the 300 US special operations forces already in Syria, to continue organising, training, equipping and otherwise enabling capable, motivated, local forces to take the fight to IS," the statement quoted Carter as saying.
New Delhi, Dec 11 : Kohinoor was not gifted to the British but they took it away by force from India, says historian and author William Dalrymple, who has written a new book with journalist Anita Anand on the "rock star gem" that has a complex history and has been the subject of intrigue and enigma for centuries.

Dalrymple told IANS in an interview that the most famous diamond, now in the Tower of London, "is a symbol of looting of colonial times".

The Scottish historian, who has lived in India on and off since 1989, says they "have successfully cleared facts from the fiction" that fogged the history of the "celebrated imperial trophy".

"There is absolutely no doubt about (how the gem was taken away). It is complete nonsense to say it was gifted by Maharaja Ranjit Singh."

Agrees Anand, a British radio and television journalist and the co-author of the book "Kohinoor: The Story of the World's Most Infamous Diamond", published by Juggernaut.

"What we objected to is this nonsense that people think it was a gift from Ranjit Singh. It was not a gift. When the diamond was taken away, the Maharaja was already dead."

Anand said, in fact, it was Ranjeet Singh's 10-year-old son Maharaja Duleep Singh from whose possession the gem was taken away on March 29, 1849.

"He was a frightened kid. He yielded to the British pressure."

The remarks, which they have established in the book with newly-discovered historical evidence, are significant because the fabled Kohinoor returned to media spotlight earlier this year when India reclaimed it.

However, the government on April 16 told the Supreme Court that the diamond was given freely to the British by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and had been "neither stolen nor forcibly taken by British rulers".

"This is an unhistorical statement, strikingly unhistoric," Dalrymple told IANS at a farmhouse in Mehrauli on the outskirts of Delhi.

The book is likely to re-catalyse a heated debate whether the rock should finally be brought back to India even as Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and even the Taliban have all claimed ownership of the gemstone.

The stone has passed through the hands of Mughals, Iranians, Afghans and Sikhs, and the origin of the diamond surrounded by airily insubstantial fog of mythology is still mysterious.

Anand recalls that the seeds of their work were planted at an event in London's South Bank where Dalrymple invited her and senior Indian diplomat and author Navtej Sarna to speak about the diamond.

"That is when we realised the life story of the diamond and its missing chapters. That is how the journey started. As a journalist and a historian, both of us believe in tracking sources, going back to the scene of crime. We have tried to make it factual rather than fanciful. Our book will be flesh on the bones of the facts."

She says even the British were "uneasy about the way the diamond was taken away from India".

"There was some feeling that it was immoral. They felt guilty. The Queen felt so guilty that she didn't wear it."

And where should the diamond go now as India maintains it will try to get the diamond back despite the British government's adamancy that the stone will stay in London?

"We have not taken a stand and we are not taking a stand. What we are trying is to tell a story -- a multifaceted story like the diamond itself," Dalrymple says.

"You know the Indians want it back, you know the Britons don't want to return it, the Iranians want it back, the Afghans want it back, the Taliban, in fact, want it back, the Sikhs want it back and want it to go to the Golden Temple."

And he has a suggestion.

"Maybe we can bring India and Pakistan together if we create a museum on the Wagah Border (where the diamond can be placed) and finally bring peace between them."

He said there is a suggestion that it be cut up once again and a piece each be given to all those countries that make a credible argument for its return.

"But let's also understand that this Solomonic wisdom would never be entertained by the British. And, yes, it won't satisfy any of the parties."

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at sarwar.k@ians.in)
Kochi, Dec 11 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday blamed "RSS culture" for the protests which prevented him from attending a function in Bhopal.

Arriving from Madhya Pradesh, Vijayan said the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the ideological parent of the BJP, was behind the protests on Saturday.

"Generally when a Chief Minister visits another state, there are protocols. But since the RSS was behind the protests, the police remained silent. It reflects the culture of RSS," he said.

Vijayan was prevented from attending a function in Bhopal by a group of RSS and Bajrang Dal activists.

The Madhya Pradesh Police told Vijayan to return before he could even reach the venue of a meeting organised by a few Kerala-based organisations.

"This has never ever happened in Kerala. Recently when Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited Kannur, a place often referred by all as a party village (CPI-M bastion), there was no issue at all.

"You should not forget that his visit came at a time when there was high tension in Kannur. This is the difference in the mindset and culture."

After hearing about the episode, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan telephoned Vijayan and expressed regrets. The police chief too met and apologized for what happened.
New Delhi, Dec 11 : The Delhi government's Mohalla Clinics have come in for praise from a leading global medical journal, which said it offered "key advantage" to beneficiaries.

The Lancet, one of the oldest medical journals in the world and published in the UK, has praised the community health care initiative in Delhi. The flagship programme was launched in July 2015.

"The initiative is aimed at expanding the reach and range of health services in unserved and underserved areas such as slums," the magazine said.

It noted that some other states in the country were studying the model and were keen to replicate it.

More than 100 Mohalla Clinics have been set up by the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi where patients, "in a unique model", avail of consultation, medicines and diagnostic tests free and under one roof.

The Clinics are open to people from all economic brackets.

But scaling up the programme in Delhi to open 1,000 clinics by the year-end "has been caught up in a political dispute", the magazine noted.

The article referred to alleged roadblocks created by the central government, controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition party in Delhi.

It said the initiative was launched as people were made to visit three different places for the same services.

At times, patients had to make more than one trip to existing state-run dispensaries and hospitals "where doctors and paramedics were also overworked and absenteeism was high.

"To circumvent such problems, compensation for doctors and staff in Mohalla Clinics is linked to the number of patients they see."

Delhi, with a population of some 16 million, has a fragmented health system run by multiple state and central government agencies and municipal corporations as well as private providers, the Lancet said.

The Delhi Government alone has 36 hospitals (10,000 beds), 185 dispensaries and dozens of other facilities, catering for an estimated 33 million outpatient visits every year.

"Although Mohalla Clinics have added another layer to the existing system, they offer key advantage," the magazine said.

The AAP government's plan to use parts of government school buildings had run into trouble.

"Without political consensus on the benefit of the clinics, efforts to improve health coverage in Delhi could well stall."
New Delhi, Dec 11 : Here's the latest on a long-running battle between IAS and non-IAS cadres: Charging big brother with blocking promotions and a cadre review, the 1,700-strong association of the Indian Telecom Service (ITS) has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and ensure that they are posted as Joint Secretaries and above in every ministry.

"These officers can also bridge the gap between the targets and achievements in ongoing projects like BharatNet, Central Monitoring System, e-governance, Digital India Mission, ICT requirements for cashless and digital economy initiatives taken by the government apart from providing leadership to Telecom PSUs," the ITS Association said in letter to Modi on December 9.

"In addition, these officers can be utilised as Technical Advisors in all Central Government Departments and Ministries apart from IT & Communications-related activities of State Governments so as to ensure cohesion between Centre and State while implementing the IT & Communication-related policies across India," the letter added.

According to the association, a large number of officers at the level of Director and above have been denied promotions to the level of Joint Secretary since 2012-13 as the then Additional Secretary (Telecom) S.R. Rao, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, without following the rules, had erroneously declared the ITS cadre strength at only 463 against the then actual 1,853.

The association, which has been fighting for the last couple of years for the rights of its cadre, has also stated that the posts of ITS officers in the Department of Telecom (DoT) have suddenly vanished and they have been compelled to work in the telecom public sector undertakings (PSUs) such as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) in degrading terms and conditions, adding to their existing woes.

The letter stated that there has not been any cadre review for the last 30 years and promotions to the level of Joint Secretary have been stopped from 2012, compelling the ITS officers to opt for legal remedies.

Quoting an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) of Hyderabad, the letter stated it had held that the cadre strength of 463 mentioned by the then Additional Secretary was incorrect and had directed the DoT to conduct meetings of the Departmental Promotion Committee after listing the vacancies in various grades due to death, retirement, resignations and promotions.

The letter said that in spite of the CAT order, the DoT has recommended postings for only 853 officers, leaving the remaining officers without any post.

The letter says that the DoT is trying to coin a new term -- "special diminishing reserve" -- for the officers other than the 853. This means the ITS officers will be posted in the Junior Time Scale grade -- much lower than the one they now hold and wouldn't be considered for promotion.

"If this cadre review is approved in its present form, then it will permanently seal the career prospects of ITS officers and make them bonded slaves of BSNL and MTNL. Further, these ITS officers will work in same grade for about 20-30 years and retire without any promotion even though ITS is a prestigious organised Central Group A service of the Indian government like IAS, IPS, IRS and similar others," Rama Krishna Nelli, an active member of the ITS Association, told IANS.

(Rupesh Dutta can be contacted at Rupesh.d@ians.in)
New Delhi, Dec 11 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday described as "shocking" the Madhya Pradesh government's failure to provide security to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

"This is shocking. Complete breakdown of the Constitution," the Aam Aadmi Party leader tweeted.

Kejriwal's tweet followed Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury's tweet that the Madhya Pradesh government on Saturday refused to provide "security to (Vijayan) from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh goons".

Yechury asked: "So not even a pretence of governance left under BJP now?"

Vijayan was on his way to attend a function on Saturday organised in Bhopal by some Kerala groups when RSS activists obstructed him. The police then told him to return to Kerala.

Both Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the police chief later apologized to Vijayan.
New Delhi, Dec 11 : Joined by a host of Nobel laureates and world leaders at Rashtrapati Bhavan here, President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday launched "100 Million for 100 Million" campaign that strives to change the future of millions of children worldwide.

Conceptualised by Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, the campaign was flagged off by Mukherjee in the presence of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, Nobel laureates Tawakkol Karman and Leymah Gbowee, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and First Lady of Panama Lorena Castillo.

"Despite the progress the world has made in science and technology, economic development and in other fields of human endeavour, there are still over a 100 million children who are out of school and are denied a childhood and facing exploitation in various ways," Mukherjee said in his address.

"Mankind must realise without any further delay that there can be no progress unless our children are safe and secure, unless they are provided freedom and the opportunity to become the agents of change," he said.

Lauding the campaign, Mukherjee hoped it will have a path-breaking impact on millions of children across the globe.

"This global endeavour of mobilising 100 million youth and children is the beginning of change that was long overdue. It is only appropriate that the campaign begins from India which has the largest population of youth in world," added Mukherjee.

The campaign aims to bring together 100 million young people and educate them about their rights and the rights of thousands of other children, similar to them.

"The 5-year campaign strives to inspire 100 million children to speak and act for the numerous other unfortunate children living in terrible conditions and will motivate them to build a child-friendly world, where every child is free and safe to learn and to have an equal chance in life," said Satyarthi.

The campaign also brought curtains to the two-day 'Laureates and Leaders for Children Summit' that brought together the collective leadership of around 25 Nobel laureates and leaders for creating a child-friendly world.

Among the leaders who participated in the summit included Princess Charlene of Monaco, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan and Princess Laurentien of The Netherlands and Nobel laureate and former President of Timor-Leste Jose Ramos-Horta.
Kochi, Dec 11 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday said that the government will launch a massive door-to-door campaign on December 18 to tell people the manner in which vested interests are out to destroy the state's hugely-successful cooperative banking sector.

Vijayan was speaking at a state-level convention here in which top political leaders, barring those of the Bharatiya Janata Party, took part.

Trouble started for the cooperative banking sector in Kerala when the Reserve Bank of India withdrew the permission to cooperative banks to accept the spiked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currencies following their demonetisation announced on November 8.

The cooperative banking sector in Kerala is a three-tier system, with about 1,600 primary cooperative banks attached to 14 district banks, which are further linked to the apex Kerala State Cooperative Bank (KSCB). The total deposits in these cooperative banks is around Rs 1.27 lakh crore.

"We have been time and again saying that there is nothing to hide for the cooperative sector, contrary to what some vested interests have been bad mouthing against this sector. We again say that we are open to any sort of probe by the IT and enforcement department in the way these cooperative banks are functioning," said Vijayan.

The state BJP is solidly behind the Union government's move to rein in these cooperative banks and have gone to the extent of saying that these cooperative banks are where the ill-gotten wealth of politicians from the traditional rival fronts are parked.

State Cooperative Minister Kadakampally Surendran told IANS that on December 18, two lakh employees and members of the cooperative movement along with politicians will reach 64 lakh homes in the state to explain the reason why this situation has happened.

"The rural economy of Kerala is in the hands of the cooperative sector and this is what has been attacked by the Centre," he said.
Cairo, Dec 11 : Several hundred Egyptians, mostly Christians, on Sunday gathered outside Cairo's Coptic Cathedral to protest an explosion in which at least 25 people were killed.

Participants chanted slogans calling for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar to step down, reports Efe.

Michael Yamini, a 29-year-old protester, said that he was at the scene to understand how a bomb could have exploded at the Cathedral's complex.

According to police, an explosive device had been placed at the door of the small church of St. Peter, next to the Coptic Cathedral.

The protest was held amid tight security measures following the attack, for which no group had yet claimed responsibility.

At least 25 people were killed and 49 others wounded in the explosion outside Cairo's Coptic Cathedral in the Abbassia neighbourhood of the Egyptian capital.

The attack came two days after the death of six policemen in a bomb attack near the Pyramids of Giza, west of Cairo.
Mumbai, Dec 11 : Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan on Sunday assured Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray that Mahira Khan, a Pakistani actress in his forthcoming release "Raees" will not come to India for promoting the film, a party official said here.

"Shah Rukh Khan met Thackeray at his residence a short while ago and gave this assurance. He has also committed to not engaging any Pakistani actors in any of his future film ventures," MNS Chitrapat Sena chief Ameya Khopkar told IANS.

The superstar was concerned by rumours floating on social media networks that his co-star in "Raees" Mahira Khan was likely to come to India next month for promoting the film and joining its premiere.

However, Shah Rukh put all rumours to rest and personally called on Thackeray to apprise him of the real situation, Khopkar said.

In view of his clarifications, the MNS will not oppose the January 25 release or screening of "Raees" in cinema halls, he added.

After September 18 Uri attack that left 19 Indian soldiers dead and the September 28 surgical strikes by India on Pakistan terror camps, the MNS had strongly protested against hiring of Pakistani actors by Indian film-makers.

Thackeray had vowed to stop release of a few films in which Pakistani actors are playing roles, including Karan Johar's recent "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan and SRK's "Raees" which has cast Mahira Khan.

MNS had staged dramatic protests prior to the release of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" but finally relented after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis brokered peace with MNS, Johar and the Film & Television Producers Guild of India.

This paved the way for the film's peaceful release and exhibition across Maharashtra on October 28.

In 2013, SRK's "Chennai Express" had run into trouble with the MNS after it allegedly threatened to yank off Marathi films to accommodate its shows in single-screen cinemas.

Prior to that, SRK's blockbuster "My Name Is Khan" had run into trouble with the Shiv Sena but the issue was later amicably sorted out.
Mumbai, Dec 11 : Actor Varun Dhawan has confirmed the completion of shooting of his upcoming romantic film "Badrinath ki Dulhaniya".

"Yes Badrinath ki Dulhaniya has been wrapped up.It was not a party ,we just came to have food," he told media at the film's wrap-up party on Saturday.

Varun would be seen for the third time with actress Alia Bhatt in the film after "Student of the Year" and "Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya". Both will be performing in a remixed version of the old song "Tamma Tamma" in the film.

"Badrinath Ki Dulhania" is irected by Shashank Khaitan and produced by Karan Johar under the Dharma Productions banner.

Starring Varun, Alia and Gauhar Khan, the film marks the second installment of a franchise that began with "Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania" in 2014.

Shooting for the film began in May, and the film is currently slated to release on March 10, 2017.
Kolkata, Dec 11 : Continuing her verbal assaults on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the demonetisation issue, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday alleged that the step was taken only to help him and his associates.

"#DeMonetisation done only to help Modi babu and his close associates," Banerjee said in a post on her Twitter handle.

In another tweet, she countered the Prime Minister's remarks at an Uttar Pradesh rally that the opposition parties never wanted to take the path of honesty.

"The most corrupt people are talking about removing corruption," she said.

Banerjee also alleged that the "arrogant and destructive attitude" of the a Modi government was destroying the economy of the world's largest democracy.

"#DeMonetisation has meant complete demolition of the Indian economy," she said.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress had decided to organise a three-day protest in West Bengal December 14-16 on the demonetisation issue.

"We will hold protest marches and meetings in every block of the state. Our party leaders and workers, supporters, and the common people who have been hit hard by the demonetisation move," said Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee.
Mumbai, Dec 11 : Actress Kangana Ranaut says she doesn't believe in awards and doesn't attend award functions.

"I don't go to youraward functions and I don't believe in awards," said Kangana who walked the ramp for designer Manish Arora at the Blenders Pride fashion show on Saturday night.

Asked to choose between Alia Bhatt and Sonam Kapoor for the most deserving actress to win the best actor award, she said: "I am not an awarding jury. It's not my job to decide who should win. I don't believe in awards, then why should I bother? I don't care who wins."

Kangana however, praised Alia. "Alia is one of those people I reach out to. I have a very beautiful equation with her. It's very sweet that she wants to know my whereabouts. "

The "Queen" actress who was looking stunning in a neon pink lehenga and green crop top worn with an embellished jacket, expressed her happiness as the first actress to walk for the designer.

"As I have no release this year, walking for Manish is a great achievement for me. Manish is my favourite Indian designer and I am the first actress who has walked for him. This is the highest point of 2016," she said.

Kangana will be next seen in Vishal Bharadwaj's "Rangoon" which is slated to release February 24, 2017.
Capital Eurocars is proud to announce that the volunteer opportunity held at the dealership on Saturday, December 3 to benefit Feeding Children Everywhere was a rousing success.

On December 3, the employees and families of Capital Eurocars invited those throughout the Tallahassee community to assist with packaging meals for Feeding Children Everywhere, an organization dedicated to fighting childhood hunger in America.

More than 250 volunteers attended the event, and more than 51,000 meals were packaged. All meals were donated to Americas Second Harvest of the Big Bend in Tallahassee. In total, the Crown Automotive Group, of which Capital Eurocars is a part, has packaged and donated more than 435,000 meals for their local communities.

Many prominent and influential community members attended the event, including Mayor Andrew Gillum, the Florida State University Womens Softball Team, the Omega Lamplighters, and the 100 Black Men Association.

Were incredibly proud of the results of this event, said Crawford Atkins, General Manager of Capital Eurocars. I feel humbled and honored to have been able to provide an opportunity for so many community members to come together for this worthy cause. Childhood hunger is a tragic reality, and were so thankful to those who attended to help us do our part.

In addition to packaging meals for the hungry, Capital Eurocars made a donation to Feeding Children Everywhere on behalf of every customer who purchased a vehicle leading up to December 3, and provided opportunities for customers to make their own donations while in the Capital Eurocars showroom or service center.

To learn more about Capital Eurocars, the Capital group of dealerships or Crown Automotive Group, visit CrownCars.com. To learn more about Feeding Children Everywhere, visit FeedingChildrenEverywhere.com, and to learn more about Americas Second Harvest of the Big Bend, visit FightingHunger.org.

About Crown Automotive Group

Crown Automotive Group has been in business for more than 40 years, and currently operates domestic and international automotive franchises in Florida, Ohio and Tennessee. The group is dedicated to customer and employee satisfaction, and is your source for new and pre-owned vehicles, parts and service, financing and more. No matter what youre looking for, you can be confident that you are getting an incredible deal and outstanding service when you visit one of the many dealerships that make up Crown Automotive Group. To learn more, visit CrownCars.com.
A four- month-old baby awaiting corrective surgery on her cleft lip is cradled in her mother's arms as President Yayi Boni and Minister of Health, Issifou Takpara, greet them. Our ambition is to bring health to everyone here (in Benin). That is why we are so grateful you have come. Everything you are doing enters perfectly into what we would like for Benin Past News Releases RSS Mercy Ships Honors Crew on World...

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During the Mercy Ship's first week of surgeries in their nation, the President of Benin, Dr. Thomas Yayi Boni, and several cabinet ministers visited the Africa Mercy to express hope for increasing access to health care for the poor in his nation.

President Boni emphasized the contribution Mercy Ships is making to his government's effort in providing better access to health care. He spoke briefly about the 'Millennium Challenge,' a government initiative that seeks to provide improved access and infrastructure to the people of Benin.

"Our ambition is to bring health to everyone here (in Benin). That is why we are so grateful you have come. Everything you are doing enters perfectly into what we would like for Benin," explained President Boni in his address to the crew onboard.

In his speech, the President quoted from Psalm 41: 'Blessed is he that considers the poor.' He mentioned his gratitude for the determination Mercy Ships showed in reaching out through additional screenings held in the North of Benin shortly after the ship docked. Screenings last week near the port of Cotonou were attended by more than 5,000 people seeking help.

The volunteer crew is projected to impact more than 53,000 lives by providing free medical care, training, and capacity building programs during its 10-month field service in Benin, according to Mercy Ships CEO Sam Smith.

In February 2006, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed a five-year, approximately $307 million USD grant agreement with the Government of Benin to improve physical and institutional infrastructure by focusing on access to four critical sectors: land, financial services, justice, and markets.

"We would like to create a new and modern Benin. That is why you are partners of Benin. My government and I are here to show you our thanks for your being here," Boni said, stating that Mercy Ships is a true friend, as this is the fourth visit of a Mercy Ship to his country. The last visit was in 2004.

The President's entourage was given a guided tour of the Africa Mercy's hospital, including one of the operating rooms and a visit to patients in one of the wards.

Mercy Ships Founder/President, Don Stephens, formally thanked President Boni for the co-operation and support the people of Benin have shown to Mercy Ships. He spoke of the commitment the ship's crew and offices in 15 nations have to help Benin during this economically stretching time in the world.

Sandwiched between Nigeria and Togo, nearly a third of Benin's population of 8.5 million residents live on less than $2 a day, according to UN figures. For the past decade, Benin has been at the forefront of African democratization. Yet, the country remains beset with numerous problems, as evidenced by its ranking of 163 out of 177 countries on the Human Development Index.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

USA: Pauline Rick, US PR Director

Mercy Ships

tel: (903) 939 7649

rickp(at)mercyships.org

International:

Diane Rickard, Director International Public Relations

Mercy Ships

UK tel: 44 1438 727 800

rickardd(at)mercyships.org

Broadcast video clips, hi-res photos and audio clips of the event, the Africa Mercy arrival into Cotonou and ship's screening are available for media download with a quick registration at http://www.mercyshipsnews.org .

About Mercy Ships

Mercy Ships is the leader in using hospital ships to deliver free, world-class health care services to the poor. Founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens, Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the poor in developing nations. Over the past 30 years, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 70 countries providing services valued at more than $670 million, directly impacting more than 1.9 million people. More than 850 crew worldwide, representing more than 35 nations, are joined each year by hundreds of short-term volunteers. Professionals including surgeons, dentists, nurses, community developers, teachers, cooks, seamen, engineers, and agriculturalists donate their time and skills to the effort. For more information click on http://www.mercyships.org .

http://hdrstats.undp.org/2008/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_BEN.html

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Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) Former President Ma Ying-jeou () said Sunday he hopes that justice can be done soon for Taiwan's "comfort women"-- females who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II -- after Saturday's opening of the first museum in Taiwan dedicated to them.
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If you troll the Internet, youll find this quote by H.L. Mencken frequently cited:

As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

That is being gleefully applied to president-elect Trump by disappointed voters; most ruefully by the many who didnt vote. But it is inappropriate. Wryly funny, but inappropriate.

Trump is not a moron. He knows what hes doing and he goes about it with purpose and cunning. The problem lies with what he wants: universal love and respect and all the money he can get his hands on. Hes spent his life in the restless pursuit of both and he can never stop, because they are unattainable goals.

This is not to say hes intelligent or wise. Smart, maybe, but like the hedgehog, he knows only one thing, and that he knows very well: how to make make a sale, Or, to be more specific, how to run a con.

This is all a successful campaigner needs. He riffs his way through speeches, lighting one emotional fuse after another; telling his audience what they want to hear; justifying their deepest prejudices. He plays Twitter like a virtuoso, serving up a sequence of implausible, incendiary phrases to a captive audience.

At one point during the campaign, I decided to sit through one of his speeches just to see how he functioned. It was impressive: appalling, but impressive. I tried to keep count of the lies, deceptive phrases, phony statistics interspersed with fervent promises to do things voters desperately wanted.

It was a masterful performance, one that convinced me that he could very well win. He has been criticized for such scattershot speeches, but the way he alternated between stoking his listeners fear and anger, then assuring them of strengthening the social services on which they depend, was a basic lesson in how to make a pitch.

There was something for everyone and, one by one, he gave each what he or she wanted to hear. True, there were some dreadful statements for the truly deplorable, but there was also much to please the average citizen who was deeply worried by a darkening future. Like a good battery, his messages has a positive and negative end.

But he cannot deliver the good stuff. Congress is following the Koch Brothers playbook. They are going back some 65 years to Sen. Robert Tafts holy grail of undoing the New Deal. Medicare is to become a voucher system; Social Security is to be handed over to Wall Street.

The Old Deal will also involve gutting the Environmental Protection Agency; undercutting that bulwark of a democratic society, the public school system; further restriction of voting rights; outlawing unions; consolidating the repressive rights grip of the Supreme Court; sacrificing public lands for private profit; and letting the financial sector blow up another bubble.

Thats a full agenda and Im not sure it can be done. However, it has to be now or never. You can only distract the public so long. As people will begin to realize that the promises arent being kept, all but the true deplorables, the racists and nativists, will fall away.

Another mordant theme is showing up in public discourse: Which country has the most gullible electorate, Great Britain or the United States? Its the subject of a spirited debate.

At the moment, Britain is in the lead. Since the Brexit vote to leave the European Union, several steel mills, Ford, Motors, and LG Philips electronic have announced their departures, with a combined loss of 5,200 jobs. An even more serious case is Nissans plan to decamp, costing 7,000 plant positions and 28,000 supplier jobs.

The Brexit advocates cheerfully admitted that they lied to voters immediately after the sunning decision. No extra money for National Health and now mounting job losses. Leaving Europe is turning out to be a costly move.

So, how does the election of Trump stack up against that? Its too early to tell. Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, et al. have an aggressive agenda which contradicts some of Trumps promises. Will he cave to the Koch Congress or keep his word? His past record in that regard isnt too encouraging, but remember: he isnt a moron and he wants to be loved.

Well find out exactly who and what he is after Jan. 20th.
SPRINGFIELD -- On the afternoon that Fidel Castros ashes were buried in Cuba, I picked up the phone and called the Illinoisan who may have known him the best -- former Gov. George Ryan.

Sixteen years ago, Ryan along with his wife, Lura Lynn, led a humanitarian trip to the island nation just 90 miles off Floridas shore. I was one of the reporters who covered the trip.

Fidel Castro was a brutal dictator. He killed a lot of his own people. I knew that before I went to Cuba. And I think that will be his legacy in that country.  I had dinner with him twice while I was down there and I found him to be extremely friendly to me. The only problem was he wouldnt be quiet. He just kept talking and talking and talking. At one point he started lecturing me on how many calories the Cubans consumed each day and how great things were.

Things were far from great.

During the governors trip, I broke away from the official delegation and hiked through ordinary neighborhoods and talked to Cubans of all walks of life.

Ill never forget meeting an orthopedic surgeon who had graduated from Oxford University in the 1950s, before Castros rise to power. Castro froze the compensation for doctors at $60 per month, a rate it remained for more than 40 years.

Castro said laborers should earn more because doctors are compensated by the prestige of their profession.

To support his family, this doctor quit medicine and became a longshoreman. Later, after years of sucking up to the Communist Party, he was allowed to become a taxicab driver, a coveted position in Cuba because of tips from visiting foreigners.

A lasting impression of my visit to Cuba was this Oxford-trained physician reaching into his pocket and proudly pulling out his taxicab medallion. He then asked if I brought any Advil or Tylenol with me because he suffered from arthritis and the shelves of Cuban pharmacies were bare of even the most basic medicines.

I handed him a couple bottles of pills from my suitcase and watched him hobble away.

Several years later, I watched Michael Moores movie Sicko in which he praised the Cuban health care system and condemned our nations.

Was he visiting a different Cuba than the one I was in?

Any Cuban over the age of 6 had to have a doctors prescription to drink milk. And basic medicines were in short supply.

Ryan, a pharmacist by training, has similar recollections.

I visited a hospital and what was supposed to be a medical school. The classroom had microscopes set up that looked like they were from the 1930s. And the windows in the classroom had fallen out. When I walked through the hospital, I saw people smoking, just throwing their butts down on the floor.

Castros boasts of his nations health care system were as hollow as his claims of political freedom.

In fact, most Cubans approached their government with a caution that bordered on fear

Rather than utter Castros name and risk being overheard, many Cubans I interviewed would simply stroke their chins as if forming an imaginary beard. They would whisper that the government (Castro) had little tolerance for dissent.

In fact, Castro killed tens of thousands.

But that hasnt stopped some of our own nations most liberal activists from praising him.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, upon learning of Castros death, called him a "freedom fighter" and a "poor people's hero."

The dozens of ordinary Cubans I interviewed during my two trips to Cuba spoke of political oppression, not freedom. And most spoke of near universal poverty for those without connections to the ruling Communist Party.

I guess the only thing folks like Jesse Jackson, Michael Moore and other leftists who praise Castro have in common is that they didnt have to live under his regime.
G'day! It's Murray here. I've put together a little quiz to test your musical knowledge. Think you can score top marks in Murray's Magic Music Quiz? Give it a go now!
Yes the Muslims are really smart people. That's why they've been killing each other over religion for more than 600 years. That's why so many of their cities are in rubble. That's why they won't stand and fight when they are threatened; they just run away to some country that's foolish enough to support them. That's why the common people have no profitable industry in their home country or global trade deals

The only Muslims that mind their own business and live in peace won't accept or help the refugees but sent them off to let other countries deal with them.

The weren't smart enough to stop breeding like mink and overpopulating their communities until they all live in squalor.
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Erin Andrews has gotten engaged to longtime boyfriend Jarret Stoll, "Dancing with the Stars" dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy has confirmed.

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Us Weekly reported Chmerkovskiy broke the news while referring to the "Dancing with the Stars" co-host in a Fox 5 television interview as one of his favorite, former dance partners and someone who "maybe just got engaged."

He smiled as he said it, explaining that revealing the secret was "payback" for when Andrews accidentally disclosed Chmerkovskiy's fiancee -- and fellow "Dancing with the Stars" professional dancer -- Peta Murgatroyd was pregnant.

Andrews, a popular television sportscaster, initially sparked online speculation of her engagement to the NHL player last week by tweeting an image of a weather report in Wisconsin, with the caption, "This weather at Lambeau is really going to put a damper on my ring game @jarretstoll."

Andrews did not directly answer fans who wanted clarification regarding the ring reference, but she did respond with kissy-face emojis and hearts, Us Weekly noted.
On Jan. 20, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.

Trump will assume what many refer to as the highest office in the land, joining the likes of presidents who have come before him. The inauguration will be another important step in the nations history.
Four people were wounded in shootings from Saturday to Sunday morning, police said.

A 20-year-old man was shot in the left thigh and right buttocks in a drive-by shooting at 1:35 a.m. in the West Pullman neighborhood, Chicago police said. He was walking in an alley in the 600 block of West 129th Place when someone inside a white SUV began shooting at him. The 20-year-old man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized.

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In the Lawndale neighborhood about 1:30 a.m., a 20-year-old man was shot in the abdomen while he was walking in the 4000 block of West Polk Street, police said. Two men approached the victim and began firing shots at him. The victim was in critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital.

About 7:55 p.m., a 25-year-old man was in the hallway of a two-flat in the 1600 block of North Mason Avenue in the Austin neighborhood when someone shot him in the abdomen, police said. He got himself to West Suburban Hospital, where his condition has stabilized. The shooter was not arrested.

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Shortly before 12:30 p.m., a 19-year-old woman was shot in the 900 block of North Homan Avenue, police said. The woman was seated in a vehicle when another car pulled up and someone fired shots in her direction, police said. She suffered a wound to the left shoulder and was taken to Stroger Hospital in fair condition, police said.

Check back for updates.
Petitions are circulating like mad, calling on people to do things to try to stop the election process from going forward as it normally would, with Donald Trump receiving 306 electoral votes on December 19th.The members of the Electoral College don't actually gather in one place. They traditionally assemble in the capitol city of each state to cast their votes. There are mechanics but eventually their ballots make their way to Washington, D.C. where a joint session of the Congress will review and approve the result on January 6, 2017.There are efforts being made both by these petitions and members of the Electoral College themselves who do not want to see Donald Trump become president. So what happens if Mr. Trump does not get the required 270 electoral votes to become president?The joint session of Congress would review the result of that vote on January 6th and then the House of Representatives would immediately go into session for the purpose of holding a contingent election. In that election, only the three people who received the most electoral votes can be elected president. Which means that unless an elector casts a ballot for someone other than Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, only one of them could be elected president.We know that the Republicans hold a majority in the House. But what most people don't realize is that this vote wouldn't involve the 435 members of the House voting as individuals. Instead, the delegation from each state would meet and cast one ballot on behalf of their state. 32 of the 50 state delegations have a majority of Republicans in their membership. 17 of the remaining 18 have a majority of Democrats in their delegation. One state (Maine) has one Democrat and one Republican representing them in the next Congress. So would a majority of Republicans choose Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? Unless another candidate gets at least one electoral vote, that's the only possible outcome.So pardon me if I think these petitions and other efforts are probably going to fail. The mechanism for choosing a president doesn't allow buyers remorse at the last possible moment to avert the disaster of a totally unqualified candidate.
Business Standard reporters have attempted to piece together stories of how new currencies are being printed after demonetisation at the

four presses - Salboni (West Bengal), Dewas (Madhya Pradesh), Nashik (Maharashtra) and Mysuru (Karnataka) - which make the notes.

While Salboni and Mysuru presses operate under RBI, those in Nashik and Dewas are government-owned.

In the first of a four-part series, Avishek Rakshit/Business Standard takes a look at how Salboni is working overtime to print currency notes.





IMAGE: Its a war footing situation inside the printing press. The machines are operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Photograph: PTI Photo



Even as the news of demonetisation broke to the world late evening on November 8, the currency press at Salboni, in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal, had begun preparations to print new notes about two months prior to that.

Sources at the Salboni press, spread across 570 acres of land, told Business Standard that sometime around September, employees were gearing up to print the new series of Rs 2,000 notes. But nobody in that press, which operates under Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran (BRBNMPL), a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) subsidiary, had any inkling at that point that the government was about to ban all the big notes of the day.

The actual printing of Rs 2,000 notes, the most prevalent denomination in banks and automated teller machines (ATMs) after demonetisation, began early October in Salboni.

That was the time when instructions came from the authorities to step up printing of Rs 100 notes as well, people close to the scene of action said.

Soon, it was 24x7 activity, with employees working three shifts of eight hours each. Till then, there were only two shifts.

An employee recalled how he was taken by surprise when he heard Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 announcing demonetisation. He could then piece together the unusual action in the currency press since September. The fear now was that workload would go up, as they would need to supply fast to the cash-starved banks and ATMs.

But, the authorities decided not to stress out the 1,000-odd permanent employees and around 450 casual staff any more, and the roster remained as it was in October.

Workers estimate that on a daily basis, the press is printing at least five to seven million pieces of banknotes. Prior to October, the same press produced between an estimated two million and 4.5 million pieces.

If increasing the number of shifts and instructions to print new denomination were an indicator of things to come, so was the degree of security. Security of the printing press is always high, but it was beefed-up manifolds starting November, turning the Salboni facility into a fortress, said an insider.

While the press is located in a high-security zone, sharing a common wall with the specialised COBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) forces training grounds, the number of Central Industrial Security Force inside the printing-cum-housing complex increased from 600 to some 900 personnel.

In addition, high-definition closed-circuit television cameras with night vision got installed at the entry points, recording all the movements through day and night. Even with the mandatory pink-coloured gate pass, one needs to go through the various checks to be able to enter the premises.

According to an employee, some 120 Indian Air Force servicemen were stationed in the premises last week on direct orders from the central government. They are not directly involved in the printing process but are helping with packaging and logistics to ensure faster currency delivery, he added.

Thats not the only change. The delivery pattern of the currency has altered too.

Previously, the newly printed currency used to be loaded onto train wagons, which entered the high-security cordoned area. Now, the new currency is being loaded into closed metal body and containerised trucks, escorted by armed personnel, and being sent to Kalaikunda Air Force Station in West Bengal. The currency is thereafter being sent to other cities only by air.

While the Salboni printing press has been focusing on printing Rs 2,000 and Rs 100 denomination banknotes for the past few weeks, one account suggested that printing of Rs 500 denomination notes had started as well.

However, the quality control division of the Salboni press is yet to receive the new Rs 500 banknotes. All currency needs to be first checked by the quality control cell before it can be despatched.

Its a war footing situation inside the printing press. The machines are operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, another employee said.

Workers estimate that on a daily basis, the press is printing at least five to seven million pieces of banknotes. Prior to October, the same press produced between an estimated two million and 4.5 million pieces.

The Salboni press is primarily relying on the paper shipped from the Bank Note Paper Mill in Mysuru, a joint collaboration of BRBNMPL and Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India, a government-owned corporation.

But, some of the paper as well as ink required to print the currency is met through imports. The current demand of currency paper is around 4,000 tonne, of which 50 per cent is required to be imported. BRBNMPL, which operates the Salboni and Mysuru press, has a capacity to print 16 billion note pieces every year.

Beyond the printing press, known as Note Mudran Nagar, theres life. The 570-acre premises houses staff quarters and facilities such as banks, post office, school, stores.

We seldom need to go outside the premises as all daily needs are available here. It is only on Sundays and other holidays that we go out with family in the nearby town, a permanent staff said.

But theres some panic that there may not be much outing or socialising left in the days to come, as banks are running out of cash fast. Also, employees at Salboni are listening to tales coming from some other currency presses, which have implemented 12-hour long shifts already.

Part 2: Why notes ban is good news for people of this MP town

Part 3: India reeling under cash crunch, but this mint can't print Rs 2,000 notes
On the occasion of his 81st birthday, political leaders across parties and other eminent personalities greeted President Pranab Mukherjee.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India is proud to have a well read and knowledgeable President, who puts the countrys interest above everything.

Birthday wishes to Rashtrapati Ji. His tremendous experience and wisdom has benefited the nation greatly. I pray for his long & healthy life, he said in a tweet.

Pranab Da always puts Indias interest above everything. We are proud to have such a well read & knowledgeable President, he said.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi hailed him as an inspiration to people in public life whose passion for work and love for country is exemplary.

With prayers for a long and healthy life, Gandhi said, Mukherjee is an inspiration for all who are in public life.

His passion for his work and love for country is exemplary, she added.

Thanking him for the service to the nation in his long political journey and as the nations President, Gandhi wished him long and happy life ahead.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also greeted President Pranab Mukherjee and wished him a healthy life ahead.

Birthday greetings to honourable and most respected Rashtrapatiji, she said in a tweet.

Bhalo thakben Pranab Da (stay well Pranab Da), Banerjee said in the message to Mukherjee, with whom she has had a long political association.

Mananiye Rashtrapati Shri Pranab Mukherjee ji ko janmdivas ki hardik badhai ewam shubhkamnayen @RashtrapatiBhvn (My heartfelt congratulations and greetings to Honorable President Mukherjee on his birthday), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said in a post on Twitter.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi also extended his warm wishes to President Pranab Mukherjee. Warm wishes to Hon President of India on his Bday. We are fortunate to have Pranab Das wise counsel & experience to guide us, he said in a tweet.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also wished the President on the occasion.

Warm greetings to Honble President on his birthday. Wish him a long and healthy life, the Aam Aadmi Party leader tweeted.

Melody queen Lata Mangshkar extended her warm wishes to President Pranab Mukherjee on his 81st birthday.

Namaskar. Today is the birthday of Indias President Pranab Mukherjee. I congratulate him. I wish him health and happiness, Mangeshkar, 87, tweeted.
A 29-year-old woman from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become the first Pakistani female to join the Bomb Disposal Unit in the restive province that frequently witnesses terror attacks.

Rafia Qaseem Baig, who joined the police force as a constable seven years ago, will work in BDU after completing her 15-day training along with 31 other male members at Nowsheras School of Explosive Handling, media reports said.

During her training, she will learn about the types of bombs, their identification and ways to defuse them.

Rafia, who belongs to a highly educated family, said a blast near a sessions court seven years ago motivated her to join the force.

She completed her masters degree in International Relations. She then pursued another masters degree in Economics and worked at International Rescue Committee where she developed a passion for law and enrolled in an LLB programme that is currently under way.

Given her academic qualifications, she was offered jobs in many companies and non-government organisations. However, she chose to join the police force in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when extremists were overtly targeting security forces.

After her appointment, she was asked to undergo training sessions in areas including Adezai, Michni and Salman Khel in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. These were the declared red zones at that time.

She spent 10 days patrolling these localities with a large number of male police personnel.

Rafia was also the only female member of an investigation team that rescued Lady Reading Hospital physician Dr Intikhab Alam 48 hours after his abduction in 2010.

She says the police force is not just a profession. Its a passion and inspiration for those who have a spirit of devotion for the country.

More than 600 women are serving in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police department in different capacities from junior clerk to deputy superintendent.
Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Sunday paid rich tributes to late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, describing her as a kohinoor diamond who had made her way up through difficulties in a male-dominated society.

At a condolence meeting, organised by the South Indian Artistes Association or the Nadigar Sangam for Jayalalithaa and actor-journalist Cho S Ramaswami, Rajinikanth also recalled his strong statements against her during the 1996 assembly polls, which had hurt her.

I had hurt her. I was a key reason for her (partys) defeat, he said, referring to his criticism of the then All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government.

The actor had then famously remarked that even god cant save Tamil Nadu if Jayalalithaas AIADMK was elected to power again. The then Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Tamil Maanila Congress combine had swept the polls amid strong anti-incumbency.

Jayalalithaa, however, later proved to be a golden-hearted leader, Rajinikanth said.

Paying rich tributes to the former chief minister, he said it was with great difficulty that she could take over the reins of the AIADMK following the death of its founder and her political mentor MG Ramachandran and that she had even overtaken him in achievements.

He likened her to a diamond, saying the challenges of life had further polished her.

Having lost her father at the age of two and mother 20 years later, she faced various challenges including having no family but achieved fame by hard work in a male-dominated society, he said.

Today, she is resting like a kohinoor diamond at the MGR memorial site and enjoys the love and affection of so many people, he added.

He also paid rich tributes to Ramaswamy, his long time friend.

Hospitalised on September 22 and having suffered a cardiac arrest on December 4, 68-year-old Jayalalithaa had passed away the next day.

Ramaswamy, a veteran journalist, satirist, playwright and actor died of illness on December 7.
Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan on Sunday met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai.

The meeting, that took place in the evening, assumes significance as Khans upcoming film Raees, which features Pakistani actress Mahira Khan, is scheduled for a release next month, party sources said.

Notably, the MNS has in the past objected to casting of Pakistani actors in Bollywood movies citing the neighbouring countrys involvement in terrorist attacks in India.

Earlier in October, the MNS had staged high-voltage protests against the release of filmmaker Karan Johars Ae Dil Hai Mushkil for featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.

The Bollywood superstar had previously run into trouble for the release of My Name is Khan in 2010, with another right wing party, Shiv Sena, opposing its screening then.
United States President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday rejected as ridiculous the Central Intelligence Agency reported assessment that Russia intervened to help him win the closely-contested US election against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump told Fox News that the claim as another excuse pushed by Democrats to explain his upset victory against Hillary.

Its just another excuse. I dont believe it, Trump said. Every week its another excuse. We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College.

The 70-year-old real estate billionaire-turned-politician spoke at length about his Cabinet selection process, defending his decision to tap several military generals while previewing an announcement soon on his secretary of state choice.

The Republican leader vowed as well to clean up and speed up government agencies, without necessarily dismantling outgoing President Barack Obamas legacy.

But while staying careful not to personally criticise the sitting president over his intelligence agencies analysis on foreign cyber-interference in the election, Trump made clear he rejects their assessment so far.

Nobody really knows, and hacking is very interesting. Once they hack, if you dont catch them in the act youre not going to catch them, he said. They have no idea if its Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place.

Trump was responding to a Washington Post report that the CIA concluded in a secret assessment that Russia interfered in the race to boost Trump.

Intelligence agencies reportedly found individuals connected to the Russian government gave WikiLeaks hacked e-mails from the Democratic National Committee, as well as from Hillary Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta - though did not have specific intelligence showing Kremlin officials directed the activity.

Shortly before the interview with Trump was aired on Sunday, a bipartisan group of senators described the Russia interference reports as serious.

For years, foreign adversaries have directed cyberattacks at Americas physical, economic, and military infrastructure, while stealing our intellectual property. Now our democratic institutions have been targeted. Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American, Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Chuck Schumer and Jack Reed, said in a statement.

Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyberattacks. This cannot become a partisan issue. The stakes are too high for our country, the statement said.

Amid the CIA findings, the White House also said on Friday that President Obama has ordered his intelligence agencies to conduct a full review of hacking during the 2016 election and present their findings before he leaves office.

Trumps transition team responded by saying the election ended a long time ago and its now time to move on.

Image: A young boy holds a cutout of President-elect Donald Trump prior to Trump taking the stage at the DeltaPlex Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
United States President-elect Donald Trump is likely to pick Exxon Mobil Corp CEO Rex Tillerson as his Secretary of State, according to media reports which said his nomination could face intense scrutiny in the Senate due to the oil executives close ties with Russia.

If nominated, the 64-year-old would be quite an unusual selection of Secretary of State.

Tillerson, is currently on top of the list of Trumps Secretary of State because of his contacts with the world leaders, in particular Russian President Vladimir Putin, media reports said.

Transition officials, however cautioned that Trump has not made a final decision yet. However in an interview to Fox News to be aired on Sunday Trump praised the Exxon Mobil CEO.

Hes more than a business executive; hes a world-class player. Hes in charge of I guess the largest company in the world, Trump told Fox News according to the excerpts released on Saturday.

To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company -- not for

himself, for the company, he added.

The Washington Post warned that Tillersons nomination could face intense scrutiny in the Senate, considering his years of work in Russia and the Middle East on behalf of the multinational petroleum company.

Already, two leading Republican hawks, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have voiced concerns about Tillersons serving as the nations top diplomat because of his ties to Putin, the daily said.

NBC News which first reported about it said that Tillerson would be joined by the former US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, as the Deputy Secretary of State, who would be responsible for the day to day management of the State Department.

Tillerson met Trump at Trump Tower in New York City on Saturday. He emerged as Trumps leading candidate for Secretary of State over 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and three other people.

In a statement, the Democratic National Committee communications director Adam Hodge said Trumps outrageous pick of Tillerson to be Secretary of State demonstrates once again that he lied to the country about draining the swamp, and hes turning the government over to the same Wall Street bankers, Washington insiders and special interests he railed against during the campaign.

Its also another victory for Vladimir Putin, who interfered in our election to help elect Trump and now has a close ally with no foreign policy experience serving as Americas top diplomat, he said.

Tillersons Exxon has billions of dollars in business partnerships with Russian-companies, he said, adding that the Exxon CEO opposed the sanctions that were passed under the Obama Administration to keep Putin in check.

And Tillerson has even been awarded a medal by Vladimir Putin. And if that wasnt enough, Putins apparent hack of the RNC means he also has leverage over the President-elect and the incoming Chief of Staff, he said.

Democratic Senator Ed Markey said Trump Administration should expect a major battle if Tillerson is nominated as Secretary of State.

Nominating Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson to be Secretary of State would be handing over the keys to US foreign policy to Big Oil. Donald Trump would be sending a strong signal to OPEC and the entire global fossil fuel industry that oil will be Americas primary foreign policy priority. We cannot allow oil to replace diplomacy as the currency of the US Department of State, Markey said.

I am deeply concerned that Tillersons long and close ties to Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin could unduly influence his decision making at a time when we need to be direct and tough with Russia, given recent credible reports of Russian efforts to interfere in our democracy, and events in Syria and Ukraine, said Senator Chris Coons.

The role of Secretary of State should not be bestowed upon someone whose only notable experience with foreign governments involve multimillion dollar deals with Russia and whose experience with the federal government seems to be limited to campaigns against the effects of climate change, demanded Senator Robert Menendez.

Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
THE WALL OF SHAME

"The only thing [Trump's] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's c--k holster."

--STEPHEN COLBERT

"[Ivanka Trump] Your father is a racist birther. Steve Bannon an anti-Semitic opportunist. You and your husband are enabling hatred. F--- your shoes."

--BRADLEY WHITFORD

"Melania [Trump] is a hooker."

--JACOB BERNSTEIN

"And my job is to shut other white people down when they want to interrupt."

"We have to, at the DNC, provide training. We have to teach them how to communicate, how to be sensitive, and how to shut their mouths if they're white."

--SALLY BOYNTON BROWN

"And to our detractors that insist that this march will never add up to anything: F--- you! F---you!

"Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House."

--MADONNA

"Barron Trump looks like a very handsome date-rapist-to-be."

--STEPHEN SPINOLA

"Barron [Trump] will be this country's first homeschool shooter."

--KATIE RICH

"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick 'em all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."

--MERYL STREEP

"There's a billion to one chance we're living in base reality."

[That means we're almost positively living in a simulation, like a video game.]

--ELON MUSK

"When I would deny that there was a significant racist component in some of the politics on our side, it was because the people I hung out with were certainly not. When suddenly, this rock is turned over, there is this'Oh shit, did I not see that?'"

----------------------------

"In any other scenario, Hillary Clinton's lying about her emails, and her pay-for-play relationship with the Clinton Foundation would be disqualifying issues. The only reason they're not disqualifying is because Donald Trump is a fundamentally more repellent, dishonest figure."

--CHARLIE SYKES

"I made a mistake in recalling the events of twelve years ago... I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."

--BRIAN WILLIAMS

"I'm here to tell you if you elect me governor of this state, I will end the civil war."

--TOM BARRETT

"I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done."

--RUTH BADER GINSBURG

"Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now, do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?"

--ROBERT DE NIRO

"The death of Andrew Breitbart disproves the adage that only the good die young."

--JULIAN BOND

"The National Institute of Health has said that it is a danger to women's health and safety of their families that for 30 years to be exposed to the prospects of pregnancy."

--GWEN MOORE

"[Tea Party Republicans] have acted like terrorists."

--JOE BIDEN

"Why did- Couldn't the President have said at that moment, way back in December of last year, 'no game playing. No hostage-taking. No terrorizing this country with the debt ceiling. I'm not going to negotiate with you guys. You can't play it that way.' Could he have done that?"

--CHRIS MATTHEWS

"[T]he tea-party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor."

--WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL

"I remember distinctly an image of--we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at [Obama's] pant leg and his perfectly creased pant, and I'm thinking, a) he's going to be president and b) he'll be a very good president."

--DAVID BROOKS

"I feel like calling her back and smackin' her around."

--FRED CLARK, DEMOCRAT

"The picture was of me, and I sent it."

--ANTHONY WEINER

"[I]f you go back to the year 2000, when we had an obvious disaster and - and saw that our voting process needed refinement, and we did that in the America Votes Act and made sure that we could iron out those kinks, now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally - and very transparently - block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it's nothing short of that blatant."

--DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

"This is probably one of the worst times we've seen because the numbers of people elected to Congress. I went through this as co-chair of the arts caucus. In '94 people were elected simply to come here to kill the National Endowment for the Arts. Now theyre here to kill women."

--LOUISE SLAUGHTER

"The protesters have proven today that theyre not going away. It was a pretty rough night last night. You can imagine if people said, well, we just cant fight the power. Instead, this morning, they came by tens, by hundreds, by thousands. By midday today, it was easily more than 10,000, perhaps as many as 15,000 people on the square here in Madison. Not organized by anyone, just grassroots citizens who came out just like the Minutemen in 1776."

--JOHN NICHOLS

"They're sitting on the money, they're using it for their own -- they're putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with your life, with that money. We've allowed them to take that. That's not theirs, that's a national resource, that's ours. We all have this -- we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it. I think we need to go back to taxing these people at the proper rates."

--MICHAEL MOORE

"Why don't we just raise the taxes and let these folks have their collective bargaining, have their union representation and go back to their jobs? Raise the taxes on the wealthy."

--DAVID LETTERMAN

"In 1933, [Hitler] abolished unions and that's what our Governor [Scott Walker] is doing today."

--LENA TAYLOR, Democrat State Senator

"So I would urge my Republican colleagues, no matter how strongly they feel -- you know, we have three branches of government. We have a House. We have a Senate. We have a president. And all three of us are going to have to come together and give some, but it is playing with fire to risk the shutting down of the government."

--CHUCK SCHUMER

"Well, when you start off with the Preamble of the Constitution, you talk about the pursuit of happiness."

--JOHN LEWIS

"I'm Rebecca Kleefisch. I performed fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee. And they endorsed me and that's how I became lieutenant governor."

--SLY SYLVESTER

"Do you think this Constitution-loving is getting out of hand? I mean, is it a nod to the Tea Party?"

--JOY BEHAR

"We cant just leave it up to the parents."

"[Military leaders] tell us that childhood obesity isnt just a public health issue; they tell us that it is not just an economic threat -- it is a national security threat as well."

--MICHELLE OBAMA

"Actually, I did not take part in [the assassination of Sarah Palin]. I led it."

--KATHLEEN PARKER

"[The repeal of ObamaCare is] a kind of creeping genocide."

--JESSE JACKSON

"[Obama] has to realize that Mitch McConnell has virtually said so that politically he wants to cut out his heart and throw his liver to the dogs."

--DAN RATHER

"And the instructions are not to improvise a comedy sketch, but to elect a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward to hanging union organizers, or backward to the trusts and the robber barons.

"Result: the Tea Party. Vote backward, vote Tea Party. And if you are somehow indifferent to what is planned for next Tuesday, it is nothing short of an attempted use of democracy to end this democracy."

--KEITH "Reagan's dead and he was a lousy President" OLBERMANN

"I gotta wonder when people are gonna start wearing uniforms. I mean they've got an army out there in Alaska of militia people. You've got these guys going around acting like street thugs. I mean it isn't far from what we saw in the thirties, where all of a sudden, political parties started showing up in uniform."

--CHRIS MATTHEWS

"[Sharron Angle] is a moron on top of being evil... I'd like to see her do this ad in the South Bronx. Come here, bitch. Come to New York and do it. I'm not praying for her. She's going to hell. She's going to hell, this bitch."

--JOY BEHAR

"So people have been hurting and I understand that. And it doesn't give them comfort or solace for me to tell them, you know, but for me, we'd be in a worldwide depression."

--HARRY REID

"And to play Dick Cheney, all I had to do was find my Dick Cheney. And you can find all the villainy in the world in your own heart, and that's what an actor's job is. I always say to kids, inside you is Hitler and Jesus. And you got to find the appropriate person and bring them out."

--RICHARD DREYFUSS

"Because I live in the District of Columbia which is so predominantly Democratic, I am a registered Democrat. But I am an avowed neutral. And to put that into practice, I take my young daughter into the voting booth and she votes for me. She's now 14. We've been doing this since she was about age 4. She's now quite informed."

--BOB WOODWARD

"Sarah Palin's an idiot. Come on. This is a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman."

"The Democrats may have moved into the center, but the Republicans have moved into a mental institution."

--AARON SORKIN

"Perhaps the greatest threat of all is the undermining of our Constitution and the systematic attack against the inalienable rights of the citizens of this nation, rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution. At the vanguard of this insidious attack is the Tea Party. This band of misguided citizens is moving perilously close to achieving villainous ends."

--HARRY BELAFONTE

"[Christine O'Donnell is] a witch who doesn't masturbate."

--JOY BEHAR

"Ah, the Tea Party, the nativist bed-wetters who somehow control our national dialogue. Yes, I call them the Pee Party, Jay, because they're always peeing in their pants about something. They're just, they're afraid of a mosque being built in New York. They're afraid of guns. You know, they think Obama, who like every other pussy Democrat has never said a single word about gun control, but they are very sure that he and his Negro army are coming after their guns. You know what? If you think that he's coming after your guns, you need to get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead. He's not coming after your guns or your Bible or your fishing pole or your chewing tobacco."

--BILL MAHER

"That's a trade-off society is making because of very, very high medical costs, and a lack of willingness to say, you know, is spending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patient, would it be better not to lay off those ten teachers and to make that trade-off in medical costs. But that;s called the 'Death Panel' and you're not supposed to have that discussion."

--BILL GATES

"NOT the 'whiteman's bitch'"

--IESHUH GRIFFIN

"[If Rush Limbaugh suffered a heart attack in my presence, I would] laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out. I never knew I had this much hate in me. But he deserves it."

--SARAH SPITZ

"You want freedom, you going to have to kill some crackers. You going to have to kill some of their babies."

--KING SAMIR SHABAZZ

"If this was Texas, which is the state that, that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this, saying that they had a major issue with, you know, with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would say I would have to look twice at this. "But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border. And, um, it just, it doesn't make sense to me that when you google this subject, if you put in 'Arizona S.B. 1070,' that you see a picture of the governor of Arizona meeting with President Obama in May of 2010. If you have direct linkage to the president, there are already National Guard troops on the border in Arizona."

--PEGGY WEST

"Tell [the Jews] to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not German. It's not Poland. [The Jews] can go home. Poland. Germany."

--HELEN THOMAS

"After the last eight years, it's good to have a president that knows what a library is."

--PAUL McCARTNEY

"By the way, I just want to point out I'm wearing my splash shield because I was told I was going to be in the splash zone (during Harry Smith's colonoscopy on live TV)."

--KATIE COURIC

"And that Word is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word."

----------------------------

"Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolaryou name it, any condition  is job-locking."

--NANCY PELOSI

"Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?"

--TOM HANKS

"The 'White Right' is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated.... Here are Christians praying for God to kill Barack Obama."

--LOUIS FARRAKHAN

"I refuse to accept the notion that the United States of America is not going to lead the world economically throughout the 20th Century."

--JOE BIDEN

"Obama's critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price."

--ROLAND MARTIN

"Martha Coakley is running to fill the rest of Ted Kennedy's term, and her opponent is a far-right tea-bagger Republican."

--CHUCK SCHUMER

"I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts, I'd try to vote ten times. I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right, I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are."

--ED SCHULTZ

"We also see how revved up the tea baggers are at the thought of hijacking health care reform and every chance we have at making progress in Washington."

--JOHN KERRY

"A few years ago, this guy (Obama) would have been getting us coffee."

--BILL CLINTON

"I didn't realize I had written a column defending Roman Polanski and minimized his crime - are you sure it was me? I mean, I? There is, apparently, more to this crime than it would seem, and it may sound like a hollow defense, but in Hollywood I am not sure a 13-year-old is really a 13-year-old."

--TOM SHALES

"Joe Wilson yelled 'You lie!' at a president who didn't. But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!"

--MAUREEN DOWD

"One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game... During the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

--DAVID LETTERMAN

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasnt lived that life."

--SONIA SOTOMAYOR

"We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature."

--REMBERT WEAKLAND, Archbishop of Milwaukee 1977- 2002

"You know, you might want to look into this, [President Obama], because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight."

"Rush Limbaugh -- 'I hope the country fails.' I hope his kidneys fail."

----------------------------

"[Obama] told me I did a great job. The first lady said the same thing. I got a 'well done' from the president, I'm on cloud nine."

--WANDA SYKES

"Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."

--COLIN POWELL

"[Tea Party goers are] just a bunch of wimpy, whiny, weasels who don't love their country."

--PAUL BEGALA

"I wouldn't want [gay marriage] to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court."

--BARNEY FRANK

"Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution -- except one. We should not -- we must not -- and I will not -- raise taxes."

--JIM DOYLE, Liar

"He's a terrorist. Rush Limbaugh is a terrorist."

--JOY BEHAR

"You know, I just want to say to her (Sarah Palin), just very quickly...F--- you."

--JON STEWART

"Should I be worried about being a slave and being returned to slavery?"

--WHOOPI GOLDBERG

"I also believe that America is the greatest sin against God."

--FR. MICHAEL PFLEGER

"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation."

--MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD

"We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."

--TED TURNER

"Look, [Mitt] Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, 'I respect this religion fully.'"

--LAWRENCE O'DONNELL

"Mexico does not end at its borders... Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."

--FELIPE CALDERON

"The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant."

--AL GORE

"Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers."

--ROSIE O'DONNELL

"Is America ready for a black president? Well, I say we just had a retarded one. When did being black become a bigger deterrent than being retarded?"

--CHRIS ROCK

"Shut the f--- up! Shut up if you can't take a joke [about President Bush]!"

--BARBRA STREISAND

"Right, oh, yeah, Happy 9/11! Celebrate the day, right?"

--JAMES BROLIN, Mr. Barbra Streisand

"I think President Bush very well may have signed an authorization for the 9/11 attacks."

--KEVIN BARRETT, UW-MADISON Lecturer

"I said what I said. I am not guilty."

--SADDAM HUSSEIN

"Terri will not be starved to death. Her nutrition and hydration will be taken away."

--MICHAEL SCHIAVO

"On the eve of the election last month my wife Judith and I were driving home late in the afternoon and turned on the radio for the traffic and weather. What we instantly got was a freak show of political pornography: lies, distortions, and half-truths -- half-truths being perhaps the blackest of all lies. "

--BILL MOYERS

"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for."

--HOWARD DEAN

"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win."

--MICHAEL MOORE

"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs."

--JOHN KERRY

"F---ing retarded."

"[Republicans] can go f--- themselves!"

--RAHM EMANUEL

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."

--HILLARY CLINTON

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

--BILL CLINTON

"And let me tell you something -- for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment."

--MICHELLE OBAMA

"If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, uh, as a janitor, makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor."

----------------------------

"If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill."

----------------------------

"[F]or most of my lifetime, the United States was such a dominant economic power, we were such a large market, our industry, our technology, our manufacturing was so significant that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms. And now, because of the incredible rise of India and China and Brazil and other countries, the United States remains the largest economic and the largest market but theres real competition out there. And that's potentially healthy. It makes -- Michelle was saying earlier I like tough questions because it keeps me on my toes. Well, this will keep America on its toes."

----------------------------

"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna PUNISH OUR ENEMIES and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2."

----------------------------

"We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but THEY GOTTA SIT IN BACK."

----------------------------

"We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever... we absorbed it and we are stronger."

----------------------------

"We're buying shrimp, guys."

----------------------------

"We are the ones we've been waiting for."

----------------------------

"We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers so I know whose ass to kick."

----------------------------

"We're not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if youre providing a good product or you're providing good service. We don't want people to stop fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow the economy."

----------------------------

"If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

----------------------------

"It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them. And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure."

----------------------------

"But I -- I think that the most important thing for the public to understand is, we're not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11."

----------------------------

"One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world -- Navy CORPSE-MAN Christian [sic] Brossard. And lying on a gurney aboard the USNS Comfort, a woman asked Christopher: 'Where do you come from? What country? After my operation,' she said, 'I will pray for that country.' And in Creole, CORPSE-MAN Brossard responded, 'Etazini.' The United States of America."

----------------------------

"I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I want to give a shout-out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see you."

----------------------------

"We are God's partners in matters of life and death."

----------------------------

"[T]he Cambridge police acted stupidly."

----------------------------

"I am going to teach [my daughters] first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

----------------------------

"The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings, and INEFFICIENCIES to our health care system."

----------------------------

"Over the last 15 months, weve traveled to every corner of the United States. Ive now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

--BARACK OBAMA
Dan Conway, Don Lipps discuss challenges at MSD of Martinsville

For the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville, there are two open seats for the school board in Tuesday's election.
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The ongoing battle to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul topped the agenda for U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter as he met with Iraq's prime minister and other officials in Baghdad.



The Pentagon said on December 11 that Carter and Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi discussed the next steps in the Mosul operation. They also talked about the need to for close cooperation between the Iraqi government and Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region.



The battle to retake Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, from Islamic State militants is turning into a pivotal moment both for the Abadi government but also for the U.S.-led fight against the militants in Iraq and Syria.



After launching the assault in October, Iraqi security forces, bolstered by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shi'ite militias, have encountered tough resistance within the city.

Islamic State militants have peppered the city with underground tunnels, improvised explosives, trenches, and other defenses.



The army has recaptured about a quarter of the city but has faced counterattacks by the militants.



Carter was also slated to meet with Kurdish leader Masud Barzani and the commander of the U.S.-led coalition supporting Iraqi forces, U.S. Lieutenant General Steve Townsend.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
An amateur video that has emerged on social media appears to show Iranian police officers beating a man, running over him with a motorcycle, and then firing at him.

Police said they will investigate the video posted online on November 1. It is not known when the video was recorded.

Some reports suggested that the footage was recorded in the southern Tehran neighborhood of Naziabad, which has been the scene of anti-regime protests triggered by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained in mid-September by Iran's notorious morality police for "improperly wearing" her hijab.

RFE/RL could not independently verify the video.

"A special order has been immediately issued to investigate the exact time and place of the incident and identify the offenders," the police said in a statement published by Iranian media.

"The police absolutely do not approve of violent and unconventional behavior and will deal with the offenders according to the rules," the statement added.

The video recorded at night in an alley shows about a dozen purported police officers beating a man who is lying on the ground. A person who is recording the scene from a building across the street is heard cursing the aggressors.

Damn you, damn you," a male voice says in the video.

At one point, a man in police uniform riding a motorcycle appears to run over the man. Shortly after, another uniformed man beats the victim with a baton, then another one shoots him at close range.

The man initially tries to cover his head with his hands. Later, his legs appear to be motionless.

The man recording the scene is heard saying, "He died, he died."

The video comes amid a brutal state crackdown on nearly seven weeks of antiestablishment protests that erupted following the September 16 death of Amini.

Women have removed and burned their hijabs, the mandatory Islamic headscarves, while many of the protesters have called for an end to the Islamic republic. "Woman, life, freedom" and "Death to the dictator" have been among the main chants of the protesters.

The authorities have claimed that Iran's enemies are behind the unrest.

More than 250 people have been killed in the crackdown, according to rights groups. Several thousand more have been arrested, including many protesters as well as journalists, lawyers, activists, digital rights defenders, and others.

Without providing any evidence, Iran's police chief, General Hossein Ashtari, claimed last month that "counterrevolutionary groups abroad" wore police uniforms and fired into the crowds. He claimed some of the alleged fake police officers had been arrested.

Amnesty International said on Twitter that that the video was "another horrific reminder that the cruelty of Iran's security forces knows no bounds."

"Amid a crisis of impunity, they're given free rein to brutally beat and shoot protesters," the London-based rights watchdog added while calling on the UN Human Rights Council to "urgently investigate the crimes."

The shocking scenes have caused outrage among Iranians on social media with many condemning the violence.

"These brutal conditions are a sign that the establishment is on the verge of collapse," Abdollah Momeni, a prominent activist and former political prisoner, said on Twitter, adding that the violence reflected the regime's "fear of the people."

Shadi Sadr, a human rights lawyer and the co-founder of the rights group Justice for Iran, told RFE/RL that the international community needed to do more to pressure the Islamic republic to stop its crackdown on protesters.

"The actions taken by the international community so far have not deterred the Islamic republic from stopping the bloodshed," Sadr said.
Election officials reported a strong turnout in Transdniester as voters chose a new leader for the self-governed but unrecognized Moldovan territory.

Polls have shown incumbent leader Yevgeny Shevchuk to be one of the leading candidates along with Vadim Krasnoselsky, who resigned as head of the region's self-styled Supreme Council to run for the post.

Moldova has declared the election illegal in the region that has had wide autonomy since breaking away in the early 1990s.

The election commission reported nearly 60 percent of eligible voters turning out. The Novosti Pridnestrovya news agency said preliminary results wouldn't be released until December 12.

The number of eligible voters wasn't immediately clear, but the territory's population is estimated at 500,000 people, according to Moldovan government figures.

If no candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote, then a runoff will be held between the top two vote-getters on December 25.

A predominantly Russian-speaking region, Transdniester declared its independence from Moldova in 1990.

A brief war was fought between Moldovan forces and Transdniester separatists in 1992-93 that resulted in several hundred people killed on both sides.

Around 2,000 Russian troops are stationed in Transdniester despite the Moldovan government repeatedly asking them to leave.

Diplomatic attempts led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe since the end of the war to find a settlement to the conflict have been unsuccessful.

As Moldova's government has sought closer ties with the European Union in recent years, Moscow has made veiled threats to recognize Transdniester as independent.

The dispute has hobbled Moldovan's economy, making the country one of Europe's poorest.

With reporting by TASS
Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter. To subscribe, click here.

I'm RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here's what Ive been following during the past week and what Im watching for in the days ahead.

The Big Issue

Iran has accused two female journalists who covered the hospitalization and funeral of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini -- whose death in the custody of Tehran's morality police triggered protests across the country -- of being U.S. spies and the "primary sources of news for foreign media."

The accusations came in a joint statement by the feared intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Intelligence Ministry, which identified the two journalists, Nilufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who are being held in Tehran's Evin prison, by their initials. The statement claims the journalists were trained abroad. It also says the protests that have shaken Iran were planned by the CIA along with other foreign intelligence services, including the British and Saudi spy agencies as well as Israel's Mossad.

The statement was met with fear and anger by Iranian journalists and their colleagues, who pushed back against the accusations. Senior editors of Hamedi's Sharq daily and Mohammadi's Hammihan dismissed the charges and said the journalists were only doing their jobs. "Our journalist and our newspaper.....acted within the framework of the journalistic mission," said Mehdi Rahmanian, editor of the reformist Sharq, while Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the editor of Hammihan, said the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency and other news agencies had similar reports that included more details. More than 500 journalists, photographers, and other media workers demanded the release of their colleagues while calling on officials to allow the free flow of information.

Separately, Tehran's Journalist Association said that based on the statement by the Iranian intelligence agencies, journalism should be banned because "the normal activity of journalists has been cited as evidence of a crime." For its part, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists dismissed the charges against the two journalists as "conspiracy theories," adding that it will hold Iranian leaders accountable for any harm done to the journalists.

Why It Matters: The spying accusations against Hamedi and Mohammadi are a major escalation of state pressure on the media, which is already facing a severe crackdown and tough censorship. The spying charges leveled against the two carries the death penalty. According to the CPJ, more than 45 journalists and columnists have been arrested in the current crackdown. The French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Iran has become the world's biggest jailer of female journalists in the course of the current crackdown.

Meanwhile, reports have emerged that France-based Iranian journalist Vahid Shamsoddinnezhad, who had traveled to Saghez to cover the aftermath of Amini's death for the European TV channel Arte, has been in jail since September 28.

What's Next: The judiciary has not officially charged the two journalists with spying. The pushback from the Iranian press and journalists and international pressure could be instrumental in clearing the two journalists of the accusations.

Stories You Might Have Missed

Iranian authorities secretly buried the body of RFE/RL's Radio Farda broadcaster Reza Haghighatnejad at a location near Shiraz after seizing his body upon repatriation to Iran for burial. Haghighatnejad, 45, died of cancer in Berlin on October 17. His body was flown to Iran on October 25. His family was not allowed to see the body or participate in his burial. Radio Farda obtained a video of Haghighatnejad's gravesite , where the anthem of the current mass protests in Iran, Shervin Hajipur's Baraye, was heard in the background. The U.S. State Department has called on Iran to release Haghighatnejad's body and said the episode showed the extent the Iranian government will go to intimidate the press.

at a location near Shiraz after seizing his body upon repatriation to Iran for burial. Haghighatnejad, 45, died of cancer in Berlin on October 17. His body was flown to Iran on October 25. His family was not allowed to see the body or participate in his burial. Radio Farda obtained , where the anthem of the current mass protests in Iran, Shervin Hajipur's Baraye, was heard in the background. The U.S. State Department has called on Iran to release Haghighatnejad's body and said the episode showed the extent the Iranian government will go to intimidate the press. Iran has arrested rapper Toomaj Salehi, who had expressed support for the anti-govenment protests in Iran. Security authorities announced that the rapper was arrested on October 30 while attempting to flee the country. Salehi's uncle denied the claim, saying his nephew was arrested in the southwestern province of Chaharmahal Bakhtiari. Salehi was also detained last year over lyrics he wrote that condemn state repression, the killings of protesters, poverty, and injustice.

What We're Watching

Iran saw a surge in protests last week when thousands of people marked 40 days since the death of Mahsa Amini in state custody. In Amini's hometown of Saghez, a massive crowd gathered at the cemetery where the young woman is buried. Many walked to the cemetery amid reports that authorities had blocked the roads leading to Amini's resting place. Mourners also gathered last week at the grave of 16-year-old Nika Shahkarami near the western city of Khorramabad, 40 days after she was killed in the brutal state crackdown amid reports that security forces had opened fire to disperse mourners while also making arrests.

Why It Matters: The memorial ceremonies for those killed by security forces have energized the protest movement by fueling more anger with state repression. The establishment has responded with force. More protests could erupt as Iranians mourn those killed by security forces.

Thats all from me for now. Dont forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have.



Until next time,



Golnaz Esfandiari



If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Wednesday.
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz election officials said voters have overwhelmingly backed amending the constitution to ban same-sex marriage and shift some presidential powers to the prime minister.

The two questions were among a package of 26 proposed amendments that voters in the mostly Muslim former Soviet republic were being asked to approve with a simple "yes-or-no" vote on December 11.

The Central Election Commission said 80 percent of voters backed the measures and just over 42 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

There were some reports of alleged fraud.

Iskhak Masaliev of the Onuguu-Progress Party told RFE/RL that political parties had resorted to vote buying, saying "reliable people told me that they were offered 500 to 1,000 soms ($7 to $14) per vote.

Speaking at a press conference, Deputy Interior Minister Almaz Orozaliev reported five such cases -- three in the capital, Bishkek, and two in the northern Chui region.

Dinara Oshurahunova, a member of the nongovernmental Committee of Civil Control, told RFE/RL that schoolteachers had been posted at polling stations around the country and they were recording names of people who voted. She said they were also calling to students, and even their parents, to ensure they vote.



That was an indication authorities were illegally using administrative resources to get out the vote, she said.

The amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman -- a change that would effectively ban gay marriages -- had garnered wide attention.



The measure parallels related legislation making its way through parliament that toughens punishments for promoting a homosexual way of life and nontraditional sexual relations. The bill passed a first reading in parliament but has not been given final approval.

While no same-sex marriages have believed to have been recorded by local marriage registries anywhere, some Kyrgyz same-sex couples may have gotten married anyway, through other means. The only restriction that was explicitly stated in the current constitution had been that married couples should be adults.

Neither same-sex marriage, nor homosexuality more broadly, have much support among most Kyrgyz and the issue has been condemned by some Islamic clerics and nationalist groups, who view it as Western values being imported into the country.



Some gay rights and feminist groups are known in the capital, Bishkek, and active on social networks, and there are several gay and lesbian cafes and bars in the city, as well.



The most controversial proposal that Kyrgyz were voting on, however, was a proposal to strengthen the authority of the prime minister while weakening the president.

WATCH: Kyrgyzstan Voting On Constitutional Changes

One proposed amendment would allow the prime minister, with parliament's approval, to appoint and dismiss cabinet ministers -- a power that now rests with the president.

The wording of another indicates that it would also enable the prime minister to appoint and dismiss local administration chiefs without waiting for a proposal from the local council, which is currently required.

And under an amendment to Article 64 of the constitution, the president would no longer chair the Defense Council -- essentially the head of the military and law-enforcement agencies in the country.



Those proposed changes have fueled long-standing suspicion among some in Kyrgyzstan that the referendum is designed to give President Almazbek Atambaev a way to stay in power -- or at least maintain influence -- after his seven-year term ends following an election next fall.



Kyrgyzstan is the only country in Central Asia with a single-term presidency.



Atambaev, 60, has said publicly that he will not seek political office, including the post of the prime minister, after his presidential term ends. But some Kyrgyz political analysts believe that he may intend to continue playing a powerful role behind the scenes.

PHOTO GALLERY: Scenes From Kyrgyzstan's Constitutional Referendum Vote (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Photo Gallery: Scenes From Kyrgyzstan's Constitutional Referendum Vote Polls have opened in Kyrgyzstan for a constitutional referendum that could shift key powers from the president to the prime minister and effectively outlaw same-sex marriage. Voters in the mostly Muslim former Soviet republic will approve or reject the entire package of 26 proposed amendments with a single "yes" or "no" vote. Among other things, passage of the government-backed referendum would remove the statute of limitations on some criminal offenses and hand the authorities the power to revoke citizenship in some cases. Share on Facebook

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Atambaev might wish to "install a puppet prime minister" in order to "extend his own political life," Bishkek-based analyst Edil Baisalov says.



Former lawmaker Bakyt Beshimov says that it would be "suicidal" for a "a president whose term is ending not to think about the future of his political legacy."



Atambaev's Social Democratic Party leads the ruling coalition in parliament, the 120-seat Jogorku Kenesh.



Kyrgyzstan has adopted a new constitution three times since it gained independence in the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.



The first post-Soviet constitution was introduced in 1993 and the second was passed by referendum in 2007.



The current constitution, approved by referendum in June 2010, formally changed the countrys political system, giving more authority to parliament and limiting the power of the president.
Nearly final results from Macedonia's parliamentary elections show the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party with a razor-thin lead over the opposition Social Democrats (SDSM).

The State Electoral Commission website showed that with 98 percent of the votes counted, the VMRO had won 37.96 percent of the vote while the SDSM had garnered 36.65 percent.

Final results are expected around noon on December 12.

With the country's two main parties so close, it appears neither will have a majority in the 126-seat unicameral parliament, putting great importance on the results of the ethnic Albanian parties in the elections, one or more of which could become a coalition partner.

Both the VMRO and the Social Democrats claimed victory late on December 11.

SDSM leader Zoran Zaev told supporters that "we are the winners!" He said the SDSM had "one more seat" than the VMRO.

Though final results were not available, Zaev said "the trend is clearly in our favor."

His comments came shortly after officials from former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE also claimed victory.

"We won once again," Vlatko Gjorcev, a senior VMRO official, told supporters at his party's headquarters in the capital, Skopje. "The 10th [electoral] victory in a row."

Near the end of the voting, State Electoral Commission head Aleksandar Chichakovski said turnout was already at 60.38 percent of the country's 1.8 million eligible voters, more than 7 percentage points more than the last elections.

Earlier in the day, Zaev told reporters in the city of Strumica that "today we are choosing a better life and the unity of our country. Today, we are choosing a progressive, free, and united Macedonia. The first test for this will be citizens' expressions of their free choice. I hope it will indeed be this way."

Gruevski told reporters in Skopje that "considering what has happened in the past 2 1/2 years, this is a day when citizens have to express their own opinion and to come out in large numbers to polling stations to exercise their right to vote and give their opinion on what direction Macedonia should go in."

Officials reported no major problems as Macedonians voted in elections that many hope will end almost two years of instability triggered by a massive wiretapping scandal.

Central to the contest is Gruevskis bid to regain the top post less than a year after he stepped down in the wake of major antigovernment protests over tapes that critics said implicated him and aides in corrupt deals, vote rigging, and trumped-up criminal prosecutions against opponents.

Macedonia was plunged into political crisis in February 2015, when the SDSM began releasing a series of secretly recorded tapes it claims show that parts of the VMRO-DPMNE-led government were responsible for the illegal surveillance of some 20,000 people including journalists, politicians, and religious leaders.

The incendiary recordings, released on a weekly basis by Zaev, sparked antigovernment protests attended by tens of thousands of people. Zaev claims that the recordings were provided by a whistle-blower in the Interior Ministry.

Gruevski has denied the illegal surveillance and corruption accusations and sought to turn the tables by claiming that the opposition cooperated with an unnamed foreign intelligence service to push him from power. He did not provide any evidence for his claims.

He stepped down in January 2016 as part of an EU-brokered deal that put an interim government in place.

The snap poll is the result of the agreement that was signed by the heads of the four main political parties in July 2015.

Gruevski, 46, is hoping to secure a majority for his coalition by promising to create 70,000 new jobs and lower the unemployment rate.

Led by Zaev, 42, the opposition has pledged to fight corruption, improve the countrys democratic standards, and support the work of the EU-backed Special Public Prosecution Office (SJO), which is investigating the allegations that emerged from the wiretapping scandal and has charged Gruevski and 13 other people with enticement and carrying out a criminal act against public order.

Ethnic Albanians make up about one-quarter of the population and in the past have mainly supported the Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), which is VMRO-DPMNEs main coalition partner, and the Democratic Party of Albanians. But the SDSM candidate list includes several prominent ethnic Albanian public figures.

The elections could affect the pace of Macedonias long march toward EU membership and its stated goal of joining NATO.

The country officially became an EU candidate in 2005, but critics have accused Gruevski of damaging the campaign by dragging his feet on reforms and weakening the countrys democratic institutions.

Russia voiced support for Gruevskis conservative government during the height of the massive antigovernment protests dubbed the Colorful Revolution -- a reference to the paintball street protests and a play on the color revolutions that have brought down relatively Moscow-friendly governments in Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan in the past 15 years.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of stirring up a "color revolution" in Macedonia and said it was "dangerous" to undermine Gruevskis government.

Western diplomats say hurdles to EU membership include shortcomings in judicial independence and the rule of law as well as an escalating crackdown on media freedom in recent years. But the main obstacle is Macedonias continuing name dispute with EU-member Greece, which has a region with the same name.

With reporting by AFP and AP
Eleven political parties and blocs are competing in Macedonia's long-delayed parliamentary elections on December 11. Coming after a draining two-year political crisis, the polls are shaping up to be among the most important in the 25 years of Macedonia's independence. The country had previously been part of the former Yugoslavia. Voters in the capital, Skopje, spoke to RFE/RL about their impressions of election day. (RFE/RL's Balkan Service)
In the wake of deadly flash floods in and around the Macedonian capital, criticism over how the disaster was handled and why more was not done to prevent it is flooding in.

Activists, citizens, and online media are expressing outrage at what they view as the government's slow response, failure to issue warnings as torrential rains battered Skopje and its environs on the night of August 5-6, and neglect of a storm-drain system that could have prevented the flooding that killed at least 21 people.

As recovery efforts continued in the hardest-hit villages near Skopje, the government declared August 8 a day of national mourning. A state of emergency is in place for the next 15 days in the country's northwest.

Most of the deaths occurred on the outskirts of the capital, in the villages of Aracinovo, Smilkovci, Stajkovci, and Singelic. The northwestern municipality of Tetovo was also hit by the torrential rains, causing landslides near several mountain villages.

A video shot in Singelic by RFE/RL's Balkan Service on August 8 shows residents struggling to deal with flood damage.

Many civilians and local media said already bad flooding was exacerbated by clogged storm run-off channels, and a slow response by the authorities.

President Gjorge Ivanov, interim Prime Minister Emil Dimitriev, and Skopje Mayor Koce Trajanovski faced some of these accusations when they visited affected villages on August 7.

Trajanovski, who just five months earlier had told locals in Singelic and Stajkovci that storm-sewerage systems had been reconstructed, found himself being booed when he returned to there on the evening of August 7.

Trajanovski, currently in the middle of his second term, said the floods were a natural disaster and could not have been foreseen. "I don't feel responsibility, just grief," he told media.

The intensity of the floods was unprecedented -- according to the country's National Weather Service, in the course of four hours, 93 liters per square meter fell -- approximately equal to the monthly average for August.

Skopje's city council has decided to award the families of those who died in the floods 180,000 dinars ($3,237), each. But it likely won't be enough to quiet government critics.

A Facade In The Capital

The floods have put the controversial Skopje 2014 revitalization project, which has cost the country upward of 600 million euros ($665 million), in the spotlight.

Both the costs and the results of the project have come under criticism, with international media coining the city "Europe's new capital of kitsch" after the facelift.

Skopje Mayor Trajanovski and President Ivanov, members of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party, have been the target of much of the criticism.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, they were asked whether they would recommend that money earmarked for their party's latest big Skopje project -- a gigantic Ferris wheel along the river -- be reallocated to help flood victims or to help create a drainage system that could prevent such floods in the future.

The panoramic Ferris wheel is expected to cost more than 18 million euros ($20 million).

Ivanov deflected the question, saying that he had done all he could in his capacity of commander in chief by sending in 400 soldiers to deal with the floods, and that it should be directed to the government.

Skopje's Public Transportation Enterprise, which is behind the project and falls under the mayor's purview, is directly involved in the Ferris wheel project, however, leading to more criticism after Trajanovski remained silent when asked the question.

Journalist Kristina Ozimec expressed outrage on her Facebook account afterward, and called on the authorities to take responsibility. "Now we see where our billions have gone -- everywhere but where they are most needed -- the sewerage system, infrastructure, emergency services, fire fighters...."

For her part, student Eleni Mickovska shared a photo of water sprinklers going full blast in her neighborhood a day after the floods. Some people are living in a parallel universe, she wrote.

Former Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, now head of the VMRO-DPMNE, has also been subjected to mockery after he was filmed giving instructions to government officials about how to handle the post-flood relief efforts.

The video clip posted online has been dubbed "Gruevski's reality show." In the video he is seen questioning the number of food packages and barking orders -- even though he no longer serves as a public official.
Moldovas unrecognized breakaway Transdniester region holds a presidential election on December 11 and, unexpectedly, the region's de facto leader finds himself fighting for his political life.

Transdniester broke away from the rest of Moldova after a brief war in 1992, and no countries have recognized it. But the de facto government is economically, politically, and militarily supported by Moscow.

Historically, elections in the region have been dull affairs. Here are a few reasons why things are different this time.

Why would an incumbent warn of possible election fraud?

There are six candidates running. But the race really boils down to a contest between incumbent President Yevgeny Shevchuk and a former head of the legislature, Vadim Krasnoselsky.

Shevchuk, 48, startled many people in 2011 when he defeated longtime leader Igor Smirnov, who was seeking a fifth term. The win was a surprise because Russias ruling United Russia party had openly endorsed a third candidate. Shevchuk's power base is largely in the security organs and the executive branch, backed by the regions dominant state-controlled media.

Krasnoselsky, 46, is a former speaker of the regions legislature, the Supreme Soviet. His political leverage derives from the Renewal party, which controls 23 of the 43 mandates in the legislature.

In early December, Shevchuks government publicly warned that the election could be stolen, a move that analysts see as a sign that Krasnoselsky wields considerable influence inside the regions Central Election Commission.

If no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote on December 11, a second-round runoff between the two top finishers will be held two weeks later.

What does Moscow think?

Predictably, all of the candidates are staunchly pro-Russian and favor the regions ultimate unification with Russia. In addition, a Moscow-friendly candidate, Socialist Igor Dodon, won Moldova's presidential election last month, although the results of that election have not been finalized.

Moscow has not signaled a favorite in the Transdniester race. Russian media have been largely silent about the event, and no high-level Russian officials have publicly visited Transdniester during the campaign. Moscow has not been "particularly active" in this election, says Chisinau-based journalist Ernest Vardanian.

However, both leading candidates have ties to Russian officials, according to Transdniester-based political analyst and former lawmaker Anatoly Dirun.

"But both [leading] candidates have their own established contacts in Russia," Dirun told RFE/RLs Moldovan Service. "For Krasnoselsky, these are contacts established through the legislature with the [Russian] State Duma, where United Russia has a majority. The president [Shevchuk] has contacts through his position with executive-branch organs in Russia."

What do the polls say?

The political system in Transdniester is notoriously opaque and the few opinion polls that exist are likely unreliable.

The latest poll by the Russian firm Socium Global Consulting -- it is unclear who ordered the survey -- concluded that nearly 53 percent of voters support Shevchuk, while about 31 percent back Krasnoselsky.

"At present, it is unknown how the voters are thinking, and that will only increase the tensions within both campaigns," says journalist Vardanian.

But with the Russian economy reeling from low global energy prices and Western sanctions, Transdniester has had to do with sharply reduced subsidies. Shevchuk has been forced to cut wages and pensions, and payments have often been irregular.

Public dissatisfaction is running high.

"It was better under Smirnov," one voter in the Transdniester capital, Tiraspol, told RFE/RLs Moldovan Service. "If he were running now, we'd vote for him. We thought and hoped that if we brought in a young person, he'd do things differently, in a new way. But now we see that they only know how to cheat us more, how to take more from people. Now there is nothing left to take from us -- we are down to our bare hands."

Transdniester Inc.

Sherif is a massive holding company that has become the dominant player in Transdniester's economy. Founded by oligarchs Viktor Gushan and Ilya Kazmaly in the early 1990s, Sherif controls dozens of companies from media and telecoms to grocery retailers and gasoline stations. In 2015, its companies accounted for one-third of the regional governments local tax revenues.

According to a June 2016 report by the independent investigative journalists' group RISE, Sherif is a "state within a state." In 2000, Sherif created the Renewal party, which now has a constitutional majority in the regional legislature and backs Krasnoselsky.

In December, RISE issued a follow-up report that found that more than one-third of the 43 deputies in the legislature have financial ties to Sherif companies.

Krasnoselsky was chairman of Interdnestrokom, Sherifs telecommunications and Internet company, from 2012 until he entered the legislature in 2015. Sherifs private television station, TSV, is said to have been campaigning nonstop for Krasnoselsky.

Sherif has been a shrewd political operator since it was formed on the rubble of the collapsed Soviet Union. Local media have reported that ex-President Smirnovs sons, Vladimir and Oleg, were silent partners in the firm, although those reports have never been confirmed.

Before becoming president, Shevchuk headed the Renewal party and is also believed to have had business ties with Sherif. As president, however, he appears to have tried to curb Sherif's power. For instance, he has called for legislation that would block deputies in the Supreme Soviet from holding outside jobs, an initiative that Renewal lawmakers rejected.

Will the election affect Transdniesters relations with the Moldovan government?

In a word, no.

"As regards external policy, Transdniester doesn't have a lot of opportunities -- its positions in negotiations are determined by Moscow," says Polish political analyst Piotr Oleksy. "So, as far as relations with [the rest of] Moldova go, the situation won't change. At present, we do not foresee any concessions on the part of Transdniester in the Chisinau-Tiraspol dialogue."

Journalist Vardanian agrees.

"I don't see any likelihood of changing anything [in Transdniester]," he tells RFE/RL. "The most a new government -- or the government of Shevchuk if it is returned -- can do is to deal with the socialeconomic situation: That is, stop cutting wages and pensions, make payments regularly, stabilize the macroeconomic situation. That is all that Transdniester can do, whoever wins, and, of course, that can only be done with the backing of Moscow."

Written by RFE/RL senior correspondent Robert Coalson on the basis of reporting by RFE/RL Moldova Service correspondent Lina Grau, with reporting by other RFE/RL Moldova Service correspondents
Reports say control of the central Syrian city of Palmyra has been going back and forth between government forces and the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.



The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on December 11 that Russian air strikes had forced the militants to withdraw to the city's outskirts.



But the monitoring group later reported that IS fighters had again fought their way into the city, forcing government forces to retreat.



More than 4,000 militants have regrouped and launched a second attack to try to recapture Palmyra, Russia's monitoring center in Syria said.



IS fighters entered Palmyra on December 10 after launching an offensive earlier in the week.



The IS group held Palmyra, whose ancient ruins are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, from May 2015 until they were forced out in March of this year.

Based on reporting by Reuters, dpa, Interfax, and the BBC
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has criticized the CIA's conclusion that Russia interfered in the presidential election, saying it was being used by Democrats as "just another excuse" for his defeat of Hillary Clinton.



Trumps comments, in an interview broadcast on December 11, put him in the extraordinary position of openly discounting the U.S. intelligence community's consensus even before he takes office next month.



They come amid growing clamor among congressional leaders for a deeper investigation into the extent of Russian cyberattacks, and their intent.



They also come two days after U.S. intelligence officials were quoted as saying they have "high confidence" that Russian hackers not only targeted Democratic Party organizations and leaders, but did so to undermine Clinton.



"I think it's ridiculous. I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it," Trump told Fox News.

Trump has long said the culprit could be China or just a random hacker sitting on a couch.



The Washington Post on December 9 reported that Russia hackers intervened in the election to help Trump win the presidency, not just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system.

"It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russias goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected," The Washington Post quoted an unnamed senior U.S. official who it said had been briefed on an intelligence presentation made to senators. Thats the consensus view."



The New York Times also reported that intelligence officials had concluded Russian hackers accessed Republican Party computers but didnt release potentially damaging e-mails or other materials, like what many believe happened for the Democrats.



That led analysts to conclude that the intent of the Russian hacking was to in fact help propel Trump to the White House, The New York Times said.

But Republican National Committee head Reince Priebus, who will be Trump's chief of staff in the White House, said on ABC television on December 11 that no Republican Party computers or information had been hacked, something the party had confirmed with the FBI.

A group of Democratic senators last week publicly called on President Barack Obama to provide more details about potential Russian hacking.



Obama appeared to accede to that demand on December 9, announcing that he had ordered a major review of campaign-season cyberattacks, but cautioning that it was not just about Russia or the election.



Meanwhile, four top senators, including two leading Republicans, called the reports of Russian hacking alarming and called for a bipartisan investigation.



"For years, foreign adversaries have directed cyberattacks at Americas physical, economic, and military infrastructure, while stealing our intellectual property," said the statement released December 11 by John McCain (Republican-Arizona), Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina), Jack Reed (Democrat-Rhode Island), and Chuck Schumer (Democrat-New York). "Now our democratic institutions have been targeted."



"Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American," they said.



McCain and Graham are strident in their criticism of the Kremlin and its foreign policy under President Vladimir Putin, a position that potentially puts them on a collision course with the Trump administration's policies.



Schumer, meanwhile, is the leading Democrat in the Senate, while Reed is the leading Democrat on the Senate Armed Service Committee, which McCain and Graham also serve on.

With reporting by Fox News
Youve got big plans this holiday season.

If everything comes together, itll be the perfect Christmas with a little travelling, a package or two arriving on time, colorful wrap, big silky bows, and food. Lots of food. And in the new book The Mistletoe Secret by Richard Paul Evans, youre going to work those plans  or else.

Christmas was supposed to be happy and jolly and merry, and whatever.

It had been almost a year since Alex Bartletts wife, Jill, left him for another man  a man who couldnt spell, no less  and Alex was still smarting from it. He knew his job-travels were causing problems in his marriage, but he hadnt known Jill was cheating on him. She left him around the holidays and Merry stupid Christmas.

He was so lonely. If it werent for his work pals, Nate and Dale, Alex was pretty sure he wouldnt have survived. Then again, if it wasnt for his work pals, he wouldnt be filling out a very long online form in search of love that he wasnt sure he wanted.

But there, on his computer screen in the wee small hours of several mornings, was a blog from someone who understood loneliness. Alex was stunned at what the anonymous woman said, and how much her words resonated in his life. Suddenly, a relationship didnt sound so bad, if it could be with her. She gave few clues for her location, but he eventually figured out where she was, and booked a plane to Utah .

LBH. Those were the initials the blogger used to identify herself, which was really no identity at all. Even so, Alex found twenty possibilities in tiny Midway, Utah, where everybody knew everybody else. Was LBH an older woman or a teenager? Would Alex recognize her soul, or would he run up against a heart as cold as the snow that covered Midway?

Or, better question: after meeting a beautiful waitress at a local diner  a woman who seemed to be a perfect match for him, who was gorgeous and funny  did he even want to finish his quest?

As holiday romances go, Id have to say that The Mistletoe Secret is a notch above. I think its better because there really is a secret inside this book.

Really, author Richard Paul Evans could have taken readers in any one of several different directions, but the enjoyment would be the same. Evans Alex is your basic nice guy  one whos still a bit befuddled at his sudden singlehood, but whos willing to try something new to meet women. The characters that surround Alex, both at home in Florida and while searching in Utah, are also very likeable people; even the nasty ex is given the soft glove. Whats not to love?

Be aware that theres a surprising (for this series) but mostly-chaste love scene here, though it shouldnt stop you from sharing this book with Grandma or teen. If either of them needs something merry, The Mistletoe Secret is a book to plan for.
CHARLOTTESVILLE  Ray Sturges has an affinity for postage stamps and, when he saw a recent arrival, he almost swooned.

The president of the Charlottesville Stamp Club locked eyes for the first time on the fresh-off-the-press Nativity Forever stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service. The unveiling took place Nov. 3 at Saint Johns Church in Washington.

I was most impressed when I first saw the stamp at the post office, Sturges said. I bought three sheets of them, and thats what were using this year for our Christmas cards.

Sturges called the colors perfect. Thats quite a compliment from a person who inspects stamps with a magnifying glass.

My impression is that whoever designed this stamp, I would hope that person would design another one, Sturges said. This shows good thinking in coming up with a design thats pleasing and eye-catching.

Sturges sounded surprised when told that the stamps designer is local talent Greg Breeding. He is president of Charlottesville-based Journey Group, which provides clients with visual storytelling that can be applied to print, websites, branding and other kinds of marketing.

Breeding also designed the popular Johnny Cash postage stamp in 2013.

The new stamp is the third in a series that Breeding created with renowned illustrator Nancy Stahl. The first depicted the flight of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus to Egypt and the second was of the Magi.

Nancy Stahl is a brilliant illustrator who has successfully created many U.S. postage stamps, Breeding said. Her versatile approach involves simple and elegant graphic shapes that uniquely bring her subjects to life.

Stahl, who is based in New York City, has provided the artwork for more than a dozen postage stamps, including Snowy Egret, Wisdom and Bighorn Sheep.

This stamp is in a series of Christmas stamps that have a similar design and theme, said Stahl, who in 2012 was inducted into the Illustrators Hall of Fame by the Society of Illustrators. So, mostly, it was: How do I present something thats similar, but different?

Breeding and Stahl worked closely with a number of Postal Service art directors. And theres the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, which carries a lot of weight when it comes to what will become a stamp.

The committee was created so that what, or who, will appear on a stamp is in the hands of citizens, and not the government. Although these arbitrators are recruited, they are all volunteers.

Committee members get together four times a year to approve the stamp subjects and designs. But the postmaster general has the final say.

Reaching that hallelujah moment when the verbal stamp of approval is given is often a long and arduous journey.

I did some with the manger, without the manger, with the star, Stahl said. What I was trying to get at was the dawn of a new existence  a new life. I chose the colors I did so there would be this sense of dawn, but I needed the night sky for the star to stand out.

Although the intense scrutinizing of the smallest details of the stamp can make artists look heavenward for strength, it has its purpose. In the case of the new stamp, at least according to Sturges, it has elevated an often mundane sticker to something worthy of admiration and a closer look.

For something as small as a postage stamp, an immense amount of thought goes into its makeup. Breeding was looking to design Nativity Forever in such a way that it could evoke larger thoughts of what the tiny image actually means.

Although it was necessary for the blue sky to give way to white for the sake of the silhouettes, it was my hope that the lighter night sky might be perceived as the glow from the city of Bethlehem, Breeding said. Seen this way, the sense of isolation that is so central to the story is accentuated.

They look, to me, to be utterly alone, reinforcing that the Christ Child was born into abject poverty.

While Stahl created the artwork, Breeding in a way created the framework that helps make it pop visually.
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SIOUX CITY | Iowa economic development director Debi Durham said Friday she has no interest in serving as lieutenant governor if offered the position by Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, her roommate in Des Moines.

"That's not an option for me," said Durham, and a former president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce.

Reynolds, who has been at Gov. Branstad's side since he won a fifth term in 2010, will automatically ascend to governor after Gov. Terry Branstad resigns to becomes U.S. ambassador to China early next year.

Speculation has abounded over whom Reynolds will pick as lieutenant governor. Durham's name has come up as a possible pick primarily because of her close relationship with Reynolds, and Durham having served as Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Gross' running mate in 2002, when voters re-elected Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack.

Durham took herself out of the running for the soon-to-be open lieutenant governor post during an interview with the Sioux City Journal, another Lee Enterprises newspaper.

"I can guarantee you she will have many great resumes to choose from for that position, but I will not be among them," Durham said. "That political career, for me, is not what I would look for as an opportunity."

Durham, has maintained her home in Sioux City with her husband, Joe, commuting to Des Moines on a weekly basis. In the state capital city, she has shared an apartment with Reynolds, who hails from southwest Iowa.

"It appears like I might have to find a new roommate. That may be my biggest challenge," Durham said with a laugh.

Since Branstad accepted President-elect Donald Trump's offer to serve as ambassador to China on Tuesday, Durham said she has not spoken with Reynolds about whether she will continue to lead the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Durham did not commit to staying on in that role.

"I would be willing to have a conversation about it," she said.

Durham spoke in a phone call from New York City, where she got a flavor of the hullabaloo surrounding multiple reports that Branstad would step down after 22 years as governor, a record tenure for any U.S. governor. She was with Branstad on Tuesday and Wednesday working business prospects in New York.

Branstad, 70, met with President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday in Trump Tower in New York. Durham said she and Branstad were too busy to talk about the possible ambassadorship until Wednesday, when he shared details with her over breakfast.

"I have seen it kind of first-hand, the unfolding of this," Durham said.

It's not clear what date Reynolds, 57, will become governor. Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, and Branstad's appointment to ambassador of China must still be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Durham said it's bittersweet to see Branstad, who tapped her to lead the Iowa Economic Development Authority in 2011, end his long tenure as governor. But she is ecstatic over the new leadership opportunity for her close friend Reynolds.

"There's never has been anyone more ready to be governor from day one and take off...I have the highest respect for her," Durham said.

Durham said it's notable that Iowa, which was granted statehouse in 1846, will finally have its first female governor.

"It is not only historic, but about time. That's a great day," Durham said.

Branstad first met Chinese President Xi Jinping in 1985, who was a governmental official at the time, during a visit to Iowa when Branstad was in his first term as governor. China is Iowa's largest export market.

Durham said she has traveled to China as part of business development roughly a half dozen times, and Branstad was along on all but one of those trips. She said Branstad is poised to do well, given his knowledge of the East Asia nation, which she has observed first-hand.

"Governor Branstad is a very skilled diplomat," Durham said.

"Because of his relationship with President Xi, he is highly regarded in China," she added. "When you look at the number of trade missions he has led to China, an individual said, 'When you are friends with President Xi, you are friends with all of China'...I don't think there is actually anyone who could do it better than Governor Branstad."

Bret Hayworth is a reporter for the Sioux City Journal, another Lee Enterprises newspaper.
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DALEVILLE  New jobs are coming to Botetourt County, as many as 1,200 over the next five years. So where will all those workers live?

Thats a crucial question for the county, and one that was raised Saturday during a strategic planning session held by the board of supervisors.

A shortage of affordable workforce housing has long been a concern in Botetourt. But the issue grew more pressing this year after Eldor Corp. announced it would build an automotive parts factory in the countys Greenfield industrial park and Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits followed with plans for an East Coast brewery and distribution center.

Those and other new employers, and the spinoff jobs they will generate, are expected to exacerbate the housing crunch.

The issue before you is that your employment growth is evolving, and evolving faster than what you might be able to do in terms of putting sites on the market, housing consultant Stuart Patz of Patz & Associates told the board.

The county has commissioned Patz to study its housing needs and how they might be met.

Although a final report is several weeks away, this much seemed clear Saturday: A county where many residents live in mid- to upper-priced houses surrounded by ample lots must now shift its focus to encouraging more affordable apartments and townhouses in higher-density settings.

I think you have to understand that the real estate market today is vastly different than it was just two years ago, Patz said, noting that many of the new jobs in Botetourt will pay wages more suited for renting than buying a home.

The urgency of the situation was underscored recently when contractors started work on renovating a former industrial building at Greenfield, which Ballast Point will use for its new brewery.

Unable to find a place to live in Botetourt, the workers located in Roanoke.

Now is our chance, supervisors Chairman Jack Leffel said of the limited time the county has to act before more newcomers start looking for homes.

County officials are planning a housing summit in February, which will allow real estate agents, builders, developers and other players in the industry to discuss the new opportunities.

On one hand, commuters to Botetourt are nothing new, especially those driving in to the more populated southern end of the county where most of the job growth is occurring. But officials want the employees of Eldor, Ballast Point and other new companies to be county residents, adding to the tax base and helping to reverse a slide in school enrollment.

Botetourt needs to take advantage of those people not getting on Interstate 81 in the afternoon, or coming in on Interstate 81 in the morning, County Administrator Gary Larrowe said.

One relatively quick-fix solution would be to convert vacant warehouses and other large buildings, some of them in the towns of Buchanan and Troutville, into apartment or condominium complexes.

While that has worked well in Roanoke, weve not seen anybody take that out of a downtown setting, board member John Williamson said.

But Patz said he has already identified several vacant buildings with lots of space, available water and sewer, convenient highway access, potential for historic tax credits and other features that would be attractive to developers and tenants alike.

Everything you want in terms of getting the site on market is there, Patz said.

However, some of the sites would have to be rezoned. One of the few places in the county ready for immediate development is the Daleville Town Center, where the apartments have an occupancy rate of about 98 percent and rents too high for many potential tenants.

We really need to find a developer who is readily available to make that market more competitive with new apartments, supervisor Mac Scothorn said.

Other housing projects are already in the works.

Earlier this year, the board approved a rezoning request for an apartment complex with up to 74 units on Bonnie View Lane, in the southern part of the county off U.S. 220 Alternate. The supervisors expect to consider a proposed subdivision next to Ashley Plantation at their January meeting.

On Monday, the planning commission will hear plans for a complex of up to 36 patio-style homes off Sanderson Drive in Cloverdale. Also on the agenda is a proposal to allow apartments on the upper floors of commercial buildings, something the countys zoning ordinance does not currently contemplate.

Yet more is clearly needed.

Eldor has promised 350 jobs within the next five years, and Ballast Point expects to hire about 175 people. A new administrative services center for the Virginia Community College System has already opened in Daleville and is expected to produce nearly 200 jobs.

With expansions of existing industries and spinoff jobs from all the growth, Botetourt is expected to see about 1,200 new jobs by 2021.

Two years ago, none of us could have imagined what were dealing with now, Leffel said.

Planning for such growth was part of a strategic plan that the board of supervisors formed two years ago and revisited at Saturdays meeting.

Many of the boards 40 priorities have been reached or are nearing completion, among them: joining the Western Virginia Water Authority and the Roanoke Valley Greenway Commission; developing a plan for growth along the Exit 150 interchange, creating an ordinance to cover an industrial wind farm planned for North Mountain, and making way for an industrial shell building at Greenfield.

Other initiatives are aimed at making the county more cool with an emphasis on outdoor recreation and other amenities favored by a younger population and finding a way to balance growth with preserving natural resources and an agriculture industry still viable in northern Botetourt.

When we developed the vision and strategic priorities, we knew we wanted to reach for the stars, board Vice Chairman Todd Dodson said. This is only the next step in achieving our long-term goals, but it is a very good step.
MASON CITY  Hospitals across the country are facing a provider shortage, but physician recruitment is even more challenging in rural areas like North Iowa.

Ninety percent of those who are completing their medical training prefer to work in a community with a population of 50,000 or more, said Mitch Morrison, director of provider services and recruitment at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa.

Mercy is affiliated with eight other hospitals in a 14-county area. These hospitals as well as Mercy clinics in the area make up Mercy Health Network-North Iowa.

Trying to attract providers to communities in the network that are smaller than Mason City is even tougher, according to Morrison.

"It's very competitive out there," he said.

Whenever doctors post on a nationwide database that they are looking for a job, they get 30 to 50 emails in reply, according to Cindy Weber, physician recruitment leader at Mercy.

"They can go almost anywhere they want," she said.

There's also a nationwide shortage of nurses.

Tenisha Benson, employment specialist at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa, said that shortage is comparable in this area to other places around the United States.

The reasons for the physician shortage and the nursing shortage are similar. The country's aging population means a lot of them are retiring at the same time that more and more people need medical care.

The total number of current job openings at Mercy is 175. Of those openings, 30 are for registered nurses.

North Iowa Area Community College has a great nursing program that graduates nurses twice a year but "it's obviously not filling all of our holes," Benson said.

Health care is a stressful career, according to Benson.

Mercy is looking at what it can do "so we aren't burning out our staff," she said.

"We want to take care of our employees just as they are taking care of our patients," Benson said.

A Mercy Nurses Rock scholarship program began two years ago to pay for employees to further their education so they can move up to the next level, such as a licensed practical nurse who wants to become an RN or an RN who wants to pursue a bachelor's degree in nursing.

Mercy is also flexible in allowing those who do wish to go back to school to work part time rather than full time while doing so, according to Benson.

Nationwide there's a shortage of 87,000 physicians, which includes both specialists and primary care providers, according to Weber.

"Projections for the next 15 years are even worse," said Mitch Morrison, director of provider services and recruitment at Mercy.

The physician shortage is particularly bad when it comes to primary care, according to Weber.

"That's the scary part," she said.

Part of the reason the need is greater for primary care physicians is there's now more emphasis on this area.

"It's more holistic in nature," Morrison said.

The family medicine residency program at Mercy began four years ago and the hospital has hired several of those residents. However, the residents come from all over the country, so some have back to practice medicine back home, according to Morrison.

Mercy started an internal medicine residency program in July.

Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa also is a referral hospital, so if a provider is at one of the smaller hospitals in the network, "there's a whole team of sub-specialists" he or she can work with, Morrison said.

Physicians don't like to practice independently the way these used to, but want a team behind them, according to Morrison.

However, there are other referral hospitals in larger cities in Iowa, such as Des Moines, Waterloo and Iowa City, and Mercy is competing with them for providers, he said.

Sometimes Mercy will hire a physician who has received money for medical school on the condition that he or she work in an under-served area after graduation.

"I'd like to say that number is huge, but it's not," Morrison said.

Mercy pays a bonus to anyone on staff who refers a physician to the network.

If someone from North Iowa is in medical school, Mercy send them emails to see if they are interested in doing a rotation there, Morrison said.

Weber and Morrison said North Iowa has a lot to offer to health care providers.

"Midwestern people are just nice people," Morrison said.

North Iowa also can offer a good "work-life balance," Weber said, noting the lifestyle is more relaxed than in other parts of the country.

The Mercy staff wants the medical students who do a rotation there to "feel like they are treated with respect," Morrison said.

Even if they are not interested in working at Mercy when they become doctors, they might tell their peers about Mason City, he said.

"For a community this size, the medical services provided are unbelievable," Morrison said. "We have a little gem here."

Mason City also has affordable housing, good schools and an airport, Morrison said.

"All those things come into play," he said.

Mercy has physicians who are thinking about practicing in its network stay a few days and get a good look at the community, which includes talking to school principals and others, according to Morrison.

Mercy relies more on physician assistants and nurse practitioners due to the physician shortage, Weber said.

Telemedicine  the use of telecommunication and information technology to provide clinical health care from a distance  is really taking off in some areas of the country, especially when it comes to behavioral health, according to Morrison.

"We are a little more conservative about it here in the Midwest," he said.

One disadvantage is "you can't really touch the patient," so it isn't as effective for some specialties, Morrison said.

Another concern is protecting patient privacy, he added.

Morrison thinks there will be some growth in telemedicine in North Iowa, noting some sub-specialists in Mercy's network have to travel from Mason City to outlying areas such as Emmetsburg to see patients. Telemedicine could eliminate their driving time, he said.

It could even be used in the ER to consult with specialists at other hospitals, according to Morrison.

Mercy is not an early adopter when it comes to telemedicine, "but it's going to come," Morrison said.
MASON CITY | City officials are working with a Des Moines-based foundation to buy five miles of abandoned railroad line to make into a bike trail through the heart of Mason City.

The trail, called the High Line Bike Trail, would stretch from north and south through the city. It would connect to the south with trails leading to Clear Lake, and would take users north to the Lime Creek Nature Center.

City officials are currently negotiating with two of the landowners, Union Pacific Railroad and Backtrack, Inc. for sale of the land to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.

The foundation will buy the land, which is currently being appraised, and sell it back to the city over time, said Mason City Administrator Brent Trout.

"This is considered to be one of the rare opportunities you get to be able to put a trail through the middle of town through some of the most scenic property that exists," he said.

Mason City residents check out cyclist, pedestrian infrastructure plans MASON CITY | Mason City residents got a first look Monday night at proposed plans to increas

One of several rail tracks in the city, the future bike trail is a no-longer-active line that runs parallel and just east of South Carolina Avenue from 19th Street Southeast up to East State Street. It crosses over East State on the trestle, then bends west across Willow Creek.

The line stops on the north side of the city near Calmus Creek, not far from the Winnebago River Trail.

Union Pacific owns from 19th Street Southeast up to 13th Street Northeast. Another company, Backtrack, Inc., owns the line north of 13th.

The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation is participating in the purchase through its Rails for Trails program.

Since its inception 35 years ago, the foundation has helped buy more than 2,000 miles for conversion to bike trails, said Foundation Communication Director Joe Jayjack.

"They're really some of the last natural and greenway corridors left in what is really a highly developed state," said Jayjack said.

Completed projects include the High Trestle Trail from Ankeny to Woodward, the 63-mile Wabash Trace Nature Trail near Council Bluffs and the Cedar Valley Nature Trail near Cedar Rapids.

If negotiations proceed as expected, the future High Line Bike Trail in Mason City could be cleared and graded for at least some use within five years, Trout said.

Additional improvements such as removing overgrowth and paving would be made over time.

Although city officials were interested in the line for years, they have been in formal negotiations with landowners in a memorandum of understanding approved by city council members in September, 2015.

That same memo include the Quiet Zone agreement with Union Pacific, which calls for the closure of two crossings on another one of the company's lines, an active rail line parallel to Monroe Avenue.

The proposal to close the crossings, Ninth Street Northwest and Fourth Street Southwest, is called a Quiet Zone project because it would result in the train engineer not having to blast the locomotive's whistle as many times as normally required by federal law.

Last week, the city council approved a contract with Mid-Continent Contracting to remove sidewalks and street at the two crossings.
The American bridal jewelry industry is worth around $12.5 billion, and the engagement ring industry on its own is valued at about $7.7 billion. These two parts of the market are by far the most important and are very much the bedrock of retail jewelry sales. The average cost of engagement rings is estimated at anywhere from $3,000-$6,000.

Given the ever-increasing popularity of ethically produced goods, it comes as no surprise that the bridal market should also be one where consumers are searching for a ring with a difference. Many businesses out there are trying to do the right thing and be ethical, said an American diamantaire.

An engagement or wedding ring marks the beginning of a lifetime of commitment so many couples also want to mark that with a ring made honestly and without any exploitation  either of workers or the environment, she added.

Above all else, ethically made jewelry fulfills consumers requirements for complete transparency. And, looking to achieve business success with social impact, Brilliant Earth co-founders Eric Grossberg and Beth Gerstein became involved in the diamond business just after graduate school. And Gersteins long search for a conflict-free engagement ring persuaded her that ethical was the way to go.

The business colleagues say they were surprised at how often they encountered people in the jewelry industry wishing the ethical issues around sourcing would just go away, rather than addressing them head-on. They saw blood diamonds as a PR risk to be managed rather than a real problem to be solved.

Doing their research thoroughly, they launched the San Francisco-based company in 2005, hoping to bring about social change in developing countries, as well as promoting transparency in the jewelry industry through responsibly-sourced jewelry.

Grossberg and Gerstein were touched by a conversation with an activist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, with whom theyre currently working through their non-profit arm. He talked about how these gemstones, which are symbols of love and joy in affluent countries, too often dont benefit the people in mining communities, who live in extreme poverty, they said.

So far, they have financed two community centers in Congo in partnership with a local a non-profit body which is dedicated to sustainable development and environmental protection in the region.

Although the company started out as a partnership between the two entrepreneurs, it has expanded into a community who love fine jewelry but also are committed to change. Brilliant Earth is made up of jewelry designers, sales associates, gemologists, and others  all working to create and sell beautiful jewelry that customers can feel good about wearing. Our customers, too, are part of our community, the companys website states. It is with our customers' help that we are cultivating a more humane jewelry industry, one stunning piece of jewelry at a time.

The firm says it is committed to four main concepts: ethical sourcing, quality, service and community. At Brilliant Earth, we are dedicated to socially and environmentally responsible sourcing. Our carefully selected suppliers adhere to strict labor and environmental standards and can demonstrate a complete chain of custody for their gemstones. To reduce the demand for additional dirty gold mining, we only use recycled gold and platinum. These precious metals come from secondary sources and are re-refined to ensure that they are identical in quality to newly mined metals.

As part of its mission to transform the jewelry industry, we work in partnership with advocacy groups to promote awareness about conflict diamonds, dirty gold, labor and mining issues, and environmental concerns. We also donate 5 percent of our profits to directly benefit communities harmed by the jewelry industry.

Brilliant Earth believes that high-quality, fine jewelry need not come at a great human or environmental cost. Brilliant Earth provides the highest quality jewelry originating from pure sources and harvested using socially responsible practices. Brilliant Earth provides education about the social and environmental issues affecting the jewelry industry and identifies ways to help. Brilliant Earth supports underdeveloped communities ravaged by the jewelry industry by donating a share of our profits, they say.

Aware consumers make informed choices. We work with nonprofit agencies to provide comprehensive and objective information about our industry. We believe that through their purchases, our customers will drive the future of the jewelry industry. We believe in promoting socially responsible business practices that respect human beings and the environment. We endeavor to treat all individuals with respect, both inside and outside the company.

The firm has also donated money to the Diamond Development Initiatives (DDI) Tukudimuna Child Labor program, an initiative that aims to bring child mining to an end. The program is making headway in its effort to end child mining in the DRC and to create a model for other organizations to build upon in the future.

All over the world, there are hundreds of thousands of poorly paid children laboring in dangerous diamond mines. With regular exposure to chemicals, disease, and hazardous mining structures, the health and well being of child miners are at serious risk. Without education or access to other opportunities, they are likely to remain in these mines for the rest of their lives. The Tukudimuna pilot program aims to remove Congolese children from diamond mines and provide an attuned infrastructure that will help foster them into higher education and better economic situations."

Another company that promises ethical, conflict-free diamonds is Houston-based Do Amore. With the purchase of every ring, the online-based startup helps provide access to clean water for somebody in need in partnership with actor Matt Damons Water.org by co-funding a water well.

Do Amore founder and CEO Krish Himmatramka said the inspiration for the business came when he proposed to his girlfriend. Himmatramka was surprised by how a symbol so significant in US culture made such little positive impact on the people and place it originated.

When couples get married, its the happiest day of their lives, he explains. By giving back to the community from which these diamonds came through Do Amores water initiative, the ring becomes more than a symbol; its a positive action for others  changing the lives of others forever, as well.

The company, which was established just three years, and whose name in Latin means I give with love, has helped hundreds of people access clean water, and says 51 percent of their net profits have gone into giving water (the remaining 49 percent has been reinvested into Do Amore). Its about how many people were helping, thats always the goal were oriented towards.

Do Amore is committed to the environment and as part of this commitment, we are proud to use recycled precious metals, Himmatramka said. In fact, at all times, at least 80 percent of our rings are made from 100 percent recycled precious metals that come from suppliers who do not deal with the international mining community. Mining of precious metals can be environmentally destructive, and many mines operate with a disregard for the indigenous peoples and humane practices.

One of the bright spots regarding the precious metal mining industry is NoDirtyGold.org, a campaign that supports the efforts of groups working to end dirty gold mining practices, and has a set of golden rules for retailers to abide by. We are proud to have joined the No Dirty Gold campaign since the day we were founded.

The diamonds the firm uses are also conflict-free. In addition, we impose strict contract requirements on our suppliers that go beyond the Kimberley Process.

All Do Amore rings arrive in an environmentally friendly box. The boxes are handmade from Jarrah wood by a small family-owned business. The wood is sourced from a sustainable forest in Australia that integrates the perpetual growing and harvesting of trees, with the preservation of biodiversity, soil, water, and air quality for generations to come.

Every Do Amore ring is made in the United States. This ensures a high product-quality. Furthermore, the United States has strict labor and manufacturing laws that means safer working conditions, and more environmentally-friendly processes, Himmatramka added.

By our Israel correspondent Abraham Dayan


The global diamond industry, while discussing the situation on the market within its own circle, sometimes does not pay enough attention to the dialogue with its main counterparty - the end buyer of its goods, natural diamonds, which are embodying not so much the value attached, but most of all genuine feelings of people towards each other. Learning to communicate information about the industry and its products to consumers is now becoming an urgent task. This and many other issues were touched upon by Andrey Polyakov, President of the World Diamond Council (WDC) in his interview to Rough&Polished.

WDC faces many ambitious tasks built in its Strategic Plan till 2020. The main goals relate to strengthening industry positions in the KP. But there is another task, which you constantly mention  education and informing of stakeholders and public. Could you tell us more about this goal? What does it mean and why did it become relevant?

This is a complex task, subdivided into two areas. One area is directly related to the WDC activities within the Kimberley Process. The efficiency of the KP depends on how well the participants of the diamond trade and its stakeholders, primarily State representatives, understand the principles of this market, and the KPCS mechanism. Today the WDC continues to convey this information to stakeholders, it might be guidebooks, seminars or any other various forms of education. The central focus of these materials is to explain what the KPCS is, why is it necessary, and which requirements should be met to participate.

The second area of this education effort is more global. The WDC must educate those outside of the diamond industry as they typically do not have a large understanding of mining and polishing technologies, the life of a miner or cutter, the vigilant regulation of the industry as well as its contribution to the global economy.

Of course, I understand that the situation in many other industries is the same. Many people all over the world drive cars without any idea about how it works. Additionally, people use computers, but are hardly interested in where and how it was assembled. Conversely, our product is one of the kind and requires a special and unique production approach. The diamond has a symbolic meaning; it expresses a persons emotions. Global polished diamond sales depend on the consumers perception of our product. As a result, one of our major focuses is to educate consumers about all of the good that the diamond industry does throughout the globe. It is very unique business and the branched structure currently employs more than 10 million people and supports the economy of several countries across the globe.

As I understand, this is the main goal of the Diamond Producers Association, created a couple of years ago.

This is only somewhat true, the main task of DPA is to implement generic marketing programs in an effort to reinstate the symbolic meaning of a diamond among the younger generation. This is a huge challenge in itself. However, the symbolic meaning is not the only information the consumer needs.

Today's consumer is not similar to its predecessors. It is less concerned about wealth and status, and thinks more about proactive behavior, social responsibility, the contribution to making the world a better place to live. The modern consumer wants to be sure that he or she buys the goods produced in accordance with ethical and environmental standards, and, of course, a product that is not associated with any conflict or violence.

The diamond market is a role model in this field. It is one of the most science-driven, socially responsible and transparent sectors. As a result, we must continue to educate the world about these efforts. Individual diamond mining companies or big retailers often interact with the media, but talk primarily about their performance or advertise their own brands. Industry organizations are primarily occupied with the issues of regulation within the industry, so they are more concentrated on B2B activities. Thus, it is the WDCs role to tell the broader story of diamond production, in an effort to educate the growing groups of socially responsible consumers.

For example, the industry world is educated about what the Kimberley Process is and what the KP Certificate is. But if you ask the same question to a man on the street, you will see the opposite result. People have a superficial knowledge about the existence of conflict stones from the Hollywood movies and scandalous publications, but have no idea that this problem has been eliminated and in fact more than 99% of all diamonds in the current supply chain have a confirmed conflict-free origin as a result of the industrys continued efforts.

In theory, there is the possibility for interaction between the DPA and the WDC. DPA unites diamond miners to conduct generic marketing programs through modern communication technologies. The WDC brings together the entire industry from mining to retail in the framework of the Kimberley Process. We have not yet discussed any specific events, but I think there is an opportunity for potential synergy between us.

You did not discuss specific events, but maybe you have some ideas?

Our major focus is on transparency. One way in which we can achieve this goal is to arrange a global press tour for journalists of the world media to all areas of the diamond business. We can show them diamond mining in Russia and in Africa, trading in major diamond hubs, cutting in Surat, retail in the US. People need to understand the stories behind the people involved in this process and to see firsthand the true beauty of the diamond industry. The diamond industry is a high-tech business, which provides millions of people with jobs, gives them social security, and allows them to get an education. We can talk about it, but it is better to let people see it with their own eyes.

Overall, education is not a quick process, but it is vital for the future of our industry. Today the consumer does not typically see this information in the media and cannot get it in the jewelry store. As the industry voice within the KP it is our job to supply them with this information.

Ill say, synthetics manufacturers overtake you in the field of informing. Recently we prepared an analytical review on synthetic stones sales and found that in their advertising they often compare their product with natural diamonds, openly calling natural stones bloody and polluting.

I understand the logic of synthetics manufacturers. They need to bring a new product to the market, which has existed for hundreds of years and has been a major economic producer for many nations across the globe. The market is already extremely saturated, actually, there are other products aside from synthetics that are seen as a substitute for natural stones  like cubic zirconia. Once I stumbled upon an interesting discussion on one of the popular US forums. The user asked whether they should buy a synthetic stone. There was a lot of replies like What is synthetic diamond? Is it real? You'd better take zirconia, at least it is well-known product, not a pig in a poke! 

It is clear that synthetics producers need to come up with something that would attract everyone's attention. In such cases, young companies on any market often use scandalous techniques, including comparisons with competitors and their discredit.

The most obvious way for them to achieve their goal of entering the market is to say that natural diamonds are bad. For example, there have been claims that buying the natural stone brings with it a bad energy. Despite the fact that it's not true, reading such a statement or seeing it on a picture, one might have a negative impression or begin to doubt. And then he/she is offered an alternative to buy a lab-grown stone, which cannot be conflict because it has not even been mined.

Besides, the main part of such an aggressive Ad is published in social networks and streaming videos where young people can see it. Millennials have mosaic thinking, they perceive the world in short and vivid images. Therefore, the imagery of a blood diamond will be more convincing for them than a long article about the fact that conflict diamonds are no longer a problem. In this regard, I can say that synthetic producers professionally use modern methods of communication.

It seems that no one deals to protect the reputation of natural stones injured by these Ads.

No one really does at the moment. But it certainly needs to be done. As I understand from conversations with colleagues in the sector, soon we'll see some concrete steps in this direction. In particular, the intention is to appeal to the judicial protection, because in some cases this advertising contains deliberately false information, discrediting the natural stones and their manufacturers. There are industry organizations, which could be the claimants. We don't have an aim to forbid synthetics or to adjudge some astronomical amount of compensation. The point is to maintain the current civilized marketplace that has been established with the help of the KP and all of its stakeholders.

Does it mean that you perceive synthetics as a full-fledged competitor to natural stones?

It looks like synthetics producers perceive themselves this way. I believe that synthetic stones are a separate niche product, and worth someones attention. There are many other products with "alternative" options. There is a market of natural fur and leather, and its artificial counterparts. There are precious metals jewelry and fashion jewelry. As well, there are natural diamonds, and there are Swarovski crystals, which have their own followers. Synthetic diamonds can also find the consumer.

I just insist on the synthetic producers providing full information about their products. At the moment, synthetics is often connected with some concealment or misrepresentation of information. Previously weve seen unfair practice of mixing synthetics with natural diamonds in parcels. This practice is a direct fraud against buyers of diamonds  those jewelers who purchased the parcel to create a jewelry and those retail customers who decided to buy a ring. Imagine how you'll feel if you were sold synthetic fur coat under the guise of natural. Now we see another issue dishonesty and unfair advertising of synthetics, which does not describe the advantages of their product, but just denigrates natural stones.

However, I don't think that this aggressive rhetoric against natural stones is the principled position of synthetics producers. Id rather say this is carelessness of their marketing specialists. But in the end, it can backfire all over the diamond market, not only natural stones. The modern consumer is surrounded by huge amounts of information. What he or she could learn from this informational flow? There are natural stones, which are either good or not, there are some artificial stones, which cannot be called diamonds. At some point the consumer may simply turn away and say, "Id better avoid diamonds at all, it's a too murky subject."

Dont you think that any documentary confirmation would reassure the consumer much better than words and Ads? Today the consumer has little to learn about the stone in the retail store. In the best case, he will be offered a certificate with 4-Cs.

This is another complicated moment, which is associated primarily with the complex structure of our business. For example, you can confirm the non-conflict origin of the stone by the KP certificate. But the KPCS applies to rough diamonds only. Everything that happens on the next stages of jewelry production is not subject to regulation and remains on the conscience of diamantaires. Of course, today many cutters and retailers voluntarily declare that they support responsible business and are committed to use only conflict-free stones. But again, let's think about the consumer: could he or she believe on sellers bare word, especially if he makes a purchase not in a large branded shop but in one of the one door stores? The modern consumer needs more guarantees than just loud statements, which surround us on TV a hundred times a day.

Within the WDC, we have created the System of Warranties, which aims to extend the proof of non-conflict origin of stones through the diamond pipeline down to retail consumers. Now it's just a voluntary system of disclosure of information, when each member of the chain guarantees the usage of non-conflict stones only. Now we are thinking about how we can extend this scheme to obtain a document, available for retail consumer. This could be either a single cross-cutting document that goes with the stone from the production to the counter, or a common mark, which would be put on invoices. In any case, the consumer in the store would obtain documentary assurance that the stone that he is going to buy is not associated with any conflict.

Many retailers and industry organizations today also offer their own guarantee systems. Wont it confuse consumers?

In general, I believe that there couldnt be too many guarantees. If a retailer was confirmed by the WDC SoW and by several other systems, it should only strengthen consumer confidence in the product. Moreover, the SoW could simply be harmonized with other guarantees. The SoW advantage is its official status. The WDC is a Kimberley Process Observer, participating in review missions and developing of the KPSC mechanism. The unique structure and expertise of the WDC is the best guarantee for the consumer.

As for another system, I would specially mention RJC because they are doing unique work. RJC conducts a special independent audit to confirm both origin of stones, and also responsible business practices. The auditor checks not only the standard issues of financial transparency and regulatory compliance, but ethical business principles  anti-corruption, human rights, decent labor conditions, social responsibility programs, the protection of the environment.

I think the best way to make the consumer confident in diamond is to somehow combine both of these systems, use them together. In particular, I would be happy if RJC became a WDC member. I think their invaluable experience would be useful for the entire diamond market.

Elena Levina for Rough&Polished


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OSAGE | Lost loved ones were remembered at a special Tree of Life Program held at the Alliance Family Center, Osage, on Monday, Nov. 28. The ceremony was open to anyone in Mitchell County who had lost a loved one.

The annual event, sponsored by Hospice of North Iowa, was presented to help family members and friends remember and honor those who had passed away in recent years.

The annual presentation helps to provide support for those who are grieving throughout the holidays, and it helps to bring remembrance of their loved ones, said Hospice Bereavement Coordinator Kathryn Mills. Its very powerful when the names of those who are gone are seen in print or read aloud. Its nice we are able to support those who are grieving.

Mills opened the hour-long program with special music being presented throughout the hour by sisters, Jess (Bleeker) Clayton and Dawn (Bleeker) Krebsbach. Chaplin Ed Bard gave an encouraging message to those in attendance.

We look to God for His presence to face each moment of everyday, because He heals the heart, said Bard. He also encouraged those who were grieving to celebrate and remember those who had passed away.

Barb Godfrey, Community Liaison for Hospice, then lit the Christmas tree and read off the names of 60-plus deceased loved ones who were being remembered.

Suggested ways to deal with holiday grief Hospices Seasons of Grieving pamphlet suggests some of the following ways to remember your 

At the end of the program, family members and friends were invited to step forward and were presented with a heart-shaped ornament to hang on their own Christmas trees as a remembrance of their loved ones.

Presenters and attendees were deeply moved by the program.

Belle Spitz, who lost her husband, Bernard in 2007, a daughter Janet in 2010 and who recently lost her sister, Evelyn, said, This helps everyone to be on the same page this time of the year.

This program has given tranquility and contentment on a day when I needed it, said Ramona Morse, whose husband, Galen, passed away in July, 2015.

The Bleeker sisters stirring music was inspired by the loss of several loved ones in their own family. An older brother was killed in an auto accident in 1988 and their dad died, at age 53, of cancer, in 1994, when Jess was 16 and Dawn was only 9 years old. Recently, their maternal grandmother passed away as well.

This season of the year, Dawn fondly recalled how she was born on May 29, one day after her dads birthday and was often called her dads late birthday present.

Jess added, This time of the year is hard, because Christmas was always dads favorite time of year. The biggest thing he wanted was to keep our family together and for us to be there for mom.

Bard said, Christmas brings back memories of loved ones and missing them. This program kind of helps people get through the grieving process throughout the holidays.

Steven Thompson is a correspondent for the Mitchell County Press-News, another Lee Enterprises newspaper.
Bob Dylan is set to tour the United Kingdom in 2017. The tour will consist of six arena shows.

The tour begins on May 3 at Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff and wraps up May 9 at SSE Arena Wembley in London. The four other dates will take place in Bournemouth, Nottingham, Glasgow, and Liverpool. Tickets go on sale December 13 at 10am.

Dylan recently released his 37th studio album, Fallen Angles. However, this is not an indication that fans will hear a lot of new songs in the upcoming liver performances. As Nottingham Post reports, "Dylan tends to play effectively 'what he feels like' during shows." For an example of this, one can visit Dylan's official website, where he has setlists posted from every show since 1988.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Entertainment News
Japan will on Monday release October numbers for core machine orders, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

Machine orders are expected to rise 1.1 percent on month and fall 4.9 percent on year after shedding 3.3 percent on month and rising 4.3 percent on year in September.

Japan also will see November figures for producer prices and machine tool orders, plus October results for the tertiary industry index.

Producer prices are expected to increase 0.3 percent on month and decline of 2.3 percent on year following the 0.1 percent monthly decline and the 2.7 percent yearly fall in October.

Tool orders fell 8.9 percent on year in October, while the tertiary industry index is expected to add 0.3 percent on month after slipping 0.1 percent in September.

Australia will see October figures for credit card purchases and balances; in September, they were at A$25.3 billion and A$51.4 billion, respectively.

Finally, the in Malaysia and Indonesia are closed on Monday in observance of the birth of the prophet Muhammad. Thailand's markets also are shuttered for Constitution Day.

All three will resume trade on Tuesday.

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.
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OSAGE  Members of the Osage Community School Board of Education had their first opportunity to hear specific plans for a proposed Osage Community Daycare during the Nov. 21 board meeting.

At the end of last year, Mitchell County Economic Development and Mitchell County Regional Health Center began the discussion of possible hospital expansion plans. With those discussions came options of enhancing hospital parking and future expansion plans, while relocating the Osage Community Daycare by building a larger, more energy efficient facility to accommodate the growing need for quality daycare in Osage.

During the meeting, Osage Daycare Director Shelly Parks presented information regarding the project including the estimated cost of the project as well as the proposed design of the building.

Parks said the day care board was proposing to build the daycare on the northwest corner of the lot at the corner of Fifth and Mechanic streets, all of which is owned by the Osage School District.

Our board would like to own the property, but would be willing to lease the property, said Parks.

The estimated cost of the 8,634 square-foot building is $1.7 million. The building would include five separate rooms with two kitchens and sufficient restroom space for up to 120 children.

Since the school board meeting, the day care board has discussed lowering the cost to $1.4 million, with the addition of a safe room.

Currently, the day care is licensed for 115 children, averaging 70-85 per day.

The Osage School District has not committed any funds to the project, said Osage Superintendent Barb Schwamman.

The only involvement, by the district, could come by the district leasing the land for the daycare to located on, nothing else, she said. This was not and is not part of our expansion plans related to the recently defeated school bond referendum.

We are honored the day care wants to partner with us. It is a good fit with pros and cons the school board needs to consider.

Schwamman said this was the boards first chance to see the proposed plans.

The board has to discuss how it affects them and the students of the Osage Schools, first and foremost, she said. There is definitely a need for a new daycare in the community. Its a great thing for those families needing day care services.

In April, Osage Mayor Steve Cooper pitched the idea to the Osage School Board during its meeting.

At that time, Cooper asked if the board would be willing to explore the possibilities of locating the day care on school property.

Since that meeting, plans have moved forward with the day care board and city hiring Planscape Partners, to assist with the daycares Community Development Block Grant application and administrative services, and Waggoner and Wineinger Architects to assist with the design of the new facility.

The day care and city are only able to apply for 50 percent of the project costs. If the application is successful, the remaining funds will have to be raised through monetary donations and other sources of funding. Parks said a fundraising committee had been formed to help with this task.

In regards to the location of the day care to the elementary school, Parks said It will allow for synergy with before and after school programs, options for educational programs, easy access to preschool and a shared playground space.

The grant application process is very competitive and if the project does not receive grant funding, the daycare project will not be able to move forward, said Parks.

The day care board will be notified sometime in May if they receiving the requested funding.

The Osage School Board will need to make a decision at its December board meeting as to how it wishes to proceed in its involvement with the day care project.

Schwamman reiterated, Absolutely no money will be coming from the school district for the day care project.

Jim Cross is the editor of the Mitchell County Press-News, another Lee Enterprises newspaper.
By SA Commercial Prop News

The retail property investment market in Europe totaled 4.6 billion in Q1 2012



Investment turnover in the European retail property market slowed in the first quarter of 2012 (Q1 2012) with few large transactions taking place.

However, investor sentiment remains buoyant and activity is expected increase from Q2 2012 onwards, according to the latest report from global real estate adviser CBRE.

The retail property investment market in Europe totaled 4.6 billion in Q1 2012, which represents a 64% fall in activity compared with the last quarter of 2011 and less than a half of the quarterly average from the last two years of 9.4 billion.

Activity slowed across all geographies, bringing the retail share of overall European commercial property investment to under 20%. While investor sentiment remains particularly buoyant in Germany, activity in Q1 2012 still fell to 1.35 billion, well below the last two year quarterly average of 2.4 billion.

Notably, there was very little (just under 200 million) retail investment in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)  with lack of finance and suitable product thought to contribute to the subdued transaction level.

Banks and other lenders are potential source of new product. In the light of further deterioration in lending sentiment and new banking regulations, lenders are becoming more active in their deleveraging strategies. There is more product coming onto the market  in most cases through encouraged by the bank sales, carried out by the original borrower. This offers significant opportunity to access product, especially with respect to value-add and more secondary assets that offer higher return potential.

John Welham, Head of European Retail Investment, CBRE, commented: First quarter figures show lower levels of investment activity across Europe, with retail falling below 5 billion. However, with pressure to sell increasing for a number of investor groups, we expect European retail investment activity to pick up again from Q2 2012 onwards.

The fall in retail investment took place despite the strong growth in investor demand for the sector over the last couple of years and similar projections going forward. According to the latest CBRE and INREV investor intentions surveys retail features as a leading investor choice for 2012 and we expect this to be reflected in investment activity levels from Q2 2012 onwards.

Iryna Pylypchuk, Associate Director, EMEA Research, CBRE, commented: Unlike in 2011, we have seen a more cautious start to the year, with few large deals so far in 2012.

The lack of core product, a tight lending market, and the persistent gap in buyer and seller expectations when pricing secondary assets were fundamental reasons behind weak first quarter results. Nevertheless, investor sentiment towards direct real estate investment and the retail sector in particular remains buoyant.

Konstantin Lysenko, Director, Capital Markets, CBRE, Russia said: After considerable growth of retail real estate investment deals in Russia in 2010 - 2011 main intrigue is the possibility of the active expansion of institutional investment deals into the regional markets.

We already see that such high quality retail assets as Karnaval located in Chekhov and Victory Plaza located in Ryazan are coming to the investment market. Deals with these high quality assets at fair price levels will demonstrate to the Russian and international players that liquidity and yield compression are back to the agenda of regional retail investment.

Besides this new dynamics we expect will motivate the kick-off of new development cycle for construction of modern quality retail schemes in the cities with populations of 300,000 to 700,000 people. In three to five years time this trend will ensure both the expansion of retail chains and considerable growth of the volume of retail real estate investment in Russia.
The Gujarat Assembly polls will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5, the Election Commission announced on Thursday here. ...


President-elect Donald Trumps decision to name Terry Branstad as the U.S. ambassador to China makes sense on many levels, and should be a plus for Iowa, the nation and hopefully international relations, as well as a terrific honor for the man.

We havent always agreed with Iowas long-serving governor. Through the years we have at various times endorsed him and at other times endorsed his opponents, depending on who he was running against and what the issues were at the moment. We havent always agreed with his policies and proposals while hes been in office, either. One of our strongest disagreements recently has been in his support for Trump for president.

But we have never doubted Branstads sincerity, or his belief that he was acting in what he believed was the best interests of Iowans. Nor have we ever doubted his skills as a politician.

And we have always considered him one of our own. Branstad was born and raised in Leland and graduated from Forest City High School. After completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa, serving a stint in the Army then receiving his law degree from Drake, he returned to North Iowa to start a law practice in Lake Mills before beginning his political career.

Branstad is an Iowa boy through and through, and has excelled at every level of state politics. Now we will see if he can transfer the talents and skills he has developed leading a small, rural agricultural state, to the world stage where his new home will be in Beijing, one of the worlds largest cities, situated in the planets most populous nation. Talk about culture shock.

Although he has had some experience with national politics, including a term as chairman of the National Governors Association and service on various national boards, its hard to imagine the change in responsibilities and focus that the job of ambassador to China will require.

Everything we know about our governor leads us to hope he will be up to the task. He is a pragmatist and a problem-solver, and is at his best one-on-one or with small groups. Hes smart and hes focused.

Trumps decision to appoint Branstad may surprise some, but its logical to those who see the bigger picture. Many of the reasons have been widely reported already, starting with Branstads long and real friendship with the man who is now president of China, Xi Jinping.

Xi and Branstad first met in 1985 when Branstad was in his first term as governor and Xi was a rising star in Chinese politics, at that time involved in agriculture and looking for ways to increase production in his region.

He met Branstad while visiting Iowa on a sister-state friendship visit and ag tour. The two shared a love of agriculture and hit it off. When Xi returned to the U.S. in 2012 as Chinas vice president and presumptive presidential successor, he made it a point to return to Iowa between visits to the east and west coasts. He was effusive in his praise of Iowa hospitality and his warm memories of his first visit here, and Branstad hosted and toasted Xi in an elaborate state dinner.

In addition to Xis visits here, Branstad has made several trade mission trips to China, including a visit later in 2012 at Xis invitation.

Beyond that personal friendship, Iowa has very real financial ties to China, selling more than $2 billion in goods and $273 million in services to that country in 2015, including $1.4 billion in crops, principally soybeans and corn.

Trump has shown himself to value loyalty above all other traits, and Branstad jumped on the Trump bandwagon early and whole-heartedly. His son Eric led the Trump campaign effort in Iowa, helping turn a state that had supported Barack Obama twice into the largest Republican majority since Ronald Reagan.

So the appointment isnt such a surprise after all.

In addition to being a nice exclamation point to an already impressive career for Branstad, the appointment also performs the not insignificant task of giving Iowa its first female chief executive.

While widely expected to try to follow in Branstads footsteps when he decided to quit running for re-election, this appointment will give Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds a direct path to the governors office, and likely a boost if she decides to run for the office on her own.

(Reynolds will become the third women recently to break new ground in the state, following the election of Joni Ernst as Iowas first female U.S. senator and North Iowas own Rep. Linda Upmeyer as the states first female speaker of the House  a trend that should cause Democrats who would like to claim the gender high ground no small amount of soul-searching.)

The relationship between the United States and the worlds second most powerful country is immensely important  politically, economically and militarily, as well as in the crucial areas of human rights and climate change. Managing that relationship will need steadiness and thoughtfulness, especially now with a new president who appears eager to re-examine its boundaries.

As Branstad put it, Chinese bilateral relationship is at a critical point. Ensuring the countries with the two largest economies and two largest militaries in the world maintain a collaborative and cooperative relationship is needed more now than ever.

He said the "respect and admiration built over a decades-old friendship" between President Xi and him would give him "an opportunity to help the President-elect and serve Iowa, the United States and the world for the better.

Were proud that the governor of Iowa has been tabbed for such an important role. Were confident he has the potential to perform admirably, and we sincerely wish him success and happiness in this new chapter of his life.
A National Public Inquiry on Family Violence led by the Office of the Ombudsman, which is also the National Human Rights Institution of Samoa, has been launched. The Inquiry will be carried out by three Commissioners including former Cabinet Minister, Tolofuaivalelei Falemoe Leiataua, Auckland University of Technologys Tagaloatele Dr. Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop and the National University of Samoas Leasiolagi Dr. Malama Meleisea. It will be Chaired by the Ombudsman, Maiava Iulai Toma. At the launch of the Inquiry on Thursday, this is what Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said:

Welcome to each and every one and thank you all, particularly to the survivors of family violence for being here today. I am happy to be here to celebrate the international Human Rights Day 2016 and to officially launch the National Public Inquiry into Family Violence in Samoa.

Celebrating Human

Rights Day 2016

Today we celebrate Human Rights Day, which is observed by the international community every year on the 10th of December. Since the 10th falls on a Saturday this year  which is a day of worship and rest for some of us, we will have an early celebration.

Human Rights Day commemorates the day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Many human rights have been recorded internationally in human rights documents by the United Nations. The Declaration forms the basis of these documents. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights that belong to all of us because we are human.

We celebrate this day to remember and to reaffirm the realisation, the protection, and promotion of each and everyones human rights.

The theme for this years Human Rights Day is a call on everyone to Stand up for Someones Rights today! It starts with each one of us to protect, to respect and to help one other. We all are encouraged, today and every day to step up, step forward and be a protector to defend the rights of a person that has been violated whether it be your partner, your parents, your siblings, your children and even your neighbour.

In exercising our individual rights, we must remember that every person, equally to us, has rights - a parent, a partner or spouse, a sibling, a child and even a neighbour. In enjoying our own rights therefore, it behoves us to be mindful of another persons rights and to stand up for their rights if they are being violated or not respected.

Launch of National Inquiry

It is fitting that on this day we launch the first ever National Human Rights Public Inquiry in this country and indeed in any Pacific Island nation. It is to be on Family Violence.

The Government of Samoa has acted on recommendations from the various UN treaty bodies, including the Human Right Council, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child to reduce the prevalence of violence within Samoa and has implemented several laws and policies to that effect.

Examples include the establishment of the Domestic Violence Unit, the Family Court, the Family Safety Act 2013, and amendments to the Crimes Ordinance 1961. The Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development have carried out various community awareness and educational programmes with the aim of reducing of domestic violence in Samoa. With the help of the United Nations Population Fund, the Men Against Violence Advocacy Group was established to lead advocacy on this issue that target men.

Despite these initiatives, violence within the family continues to be a serious problem in Samoa.

The Government is committed to the protection of human rights in Samoa. This is reflected in the enactment of the Ombudsman (Komesina o Sulufaiga) Act 2013 giving the Office of the Ombudsman the mandate to function as Samoas National Human Rights Institution.

National Human Rights Institutions are independent bodies that monitor, protect and promote human rights in their respective countries.

One function of Samoas National Human Rights Institution is to report on the state of human rights in Samoa to the Parliament by the end of June each year. Parliament has already received two State of Human Right reports since the National Human Rights Institutions inception.

I am proud to say the Office of the Ombudsman was graded as an A status NHRI by the international accrediting body, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions earlier this year. This accreditation at the highest level reflects international recognition of the independence of the Office and its work.

I welcome the decision of the Ombudsman to use the power under the Ombudsmans Act to examine violence within the family unit as its first National inquiry. Domestic violence is an ugly violation of fundamental human rights faced by many people around the world, including in Samoa, with serious repercussions for children, women, families and communities.

A national inquiry will allow survivors of family violence and anyone who is affected or interested to come forward and give evidence to the Ombudsman and his fellow Commissioners. Studies have shown that when a survivor is presented an opportunity to come forward and tell his or her story of human rights abuse to someone of authority, it helps in the long road to recovery and reconciliation.

The Inquiry will assist the government, as well as relevant non-government organisations, villages and the churches to better understand the overall situation, to see what is working well, what the gaps are in the current systems that need to be addressed, and most importantly to identify new counter measures and new participants to join the fight against violence in the Samoan home.

The Inquiry will provide a report with recommendations to the Parliament at the end of its work. I look forward to receiving that report and to using it to enable the Government and Samoan society as a whole to better protect people and to strike a telling blow to family violence.

The Inquiry will be carried out over 12 months starting January 2017. It will be steered by proficient and renowned Commissioners who are knowledgeable on the issues to help the Ombudsman. The Inquiry Commission will comprise of:

1. The Ombudsman, Maiava Iulai Toma, who is also the Chairman;

2. Hon Tolofuaivalelei Falemoe Leiataua, former Parliamentarian, Speaker of Parliament and Cabinet Minister;

3. Professor Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop, Professor of Pacific Studies, Auckland University of Technology; and

4. Leasiolagi Professor Malama Meleisea, Director, Centre for Samoan Studies, National University of Samoa.

On behalf of the Government, I wish everyone listening a peaceful and reflective Human Rights Day. I offer the Office of the Ombudsman full support and wish the Ombudsman and his fellow Commissioners well in their arduous work ahead.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has downplayed a dividend payment of $5.7million to be made by Virgin Samoa to the government, saying it wasnt enough.

Speaking to the media, Tuilaepa also confirmed that the joint venture between government, Virgin Australia and the Grey Investment Group has been extended for another six months.

Tuilaepa said the time is to allow negotiations to continue about the future of the joint venture.

Asked about the Airlines dividend, Tuilaepa was not impressed.

The money they gave is not enough (dividend), he said.

Its been two years and its been a while since the last dividend. The dividend, to be presented this week, was revealed in a letter obtained by the Samoa Observer.

Written by the Chief Financial Officer of Virgin Australia, Geoff Smith, and dated 30th November 2016, it reads: The Board resolved on 27 October 2016 to pay AUD3,000,000 dividend on 30 November 2016, a copy of the letter reads.

In accordance with Section 64 of the Samoan Companies Act, after consideration of the financial position of the Company, it can be concluded that at the date of payment;

 the Companys assets exceeds its liabilities and the excess is sufficient for the payment of the dividend

 the payment of the dividend is fair and reasonable to the Companys Shareholders as a whole, and

 the payment of the dividend does not materially prejudice the Companys ability to pay its debts as they become due in the normal course of business

The letter was addressed to the Chairman and Board members of Virgin Samoa Limited.Among them are Jane Mckeon, Phil Squires of Virgin Australia, TupaimatunaIulaiLavea, C.E.O Ministry of Finance,former Attorney General, Aumua Ming Leung Wai and Lupesina Frederick Grey of the Grey Investment Group (G.I.G).

Virgin Samoa, formerly Polynesian Blue, flies between Samoa, Australia and New Zealand. It is owned by Virgin Australia Holdings (49%) and the Government of Samoa (49%) with the remaining percentage owned by G.I.G.

In 2005 Virgin Blue Holdings signed an agreement with the government of Samoa to operate the joint venture airline. Its first flight was on 31 October 2005, between Apia, Auckland and Sydney.

Polynesian Blue was rebranded Virgin Samoa in 2011 and a new livery was unveiled for one of the Boeing 737-800s operated by Virgin Australia.

At the beginning of the year, a Cabinet press statement said Samoas deliberations and preparations for a new agreement is on-going and is also eyeing new agreements with other airlines.

The Samoan government has been openly unhappy with the joint venture after Virgin Airlines went into partnership with Air New Zealand.

When the Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure (M.W.T.I) was asked for a comment recently, Papaliitele was coy about the state of the review.

There are some problems with the joint venture that we have now with Virgin Australia, he said.

Weve noticed that a lot of benefits are not coming straight to us.

So thats why our government is now looking at finding our own airline.

We now have a committee working on finding us a new airline to carry our flag.

There is a great need to have our own airline. The main problem we now have with our joint venture is the money coming in. Thats why we are now looking at getting our own airline.

Polynesian Airlines has recently announced plans to revive its international flights operations.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday called a recent CIA assessment of Russian hacking "ridiculous" and says he's not interested in getting daily intelligence briefings  an unprecedented rejection of the nation's massive and sophisticated intelligence apparatus.

Trump's remarks come as key congressional Republicans joined Democrats in demanding a bipartisan investigation into the Kremlin's activities and questioned consideration of Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson  who has close business ties with Moscow  as head of the State Department.

Asked whether he's rejecting valuable intelligence on "Fox News Sunday," Trump was defiant.

"I get it when I need it," he said of the top-secret briefings sessions, adding that he's leaving it up to the briefers to decide when a development represents a "change" big enough to notify him. "I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years."

The CIA has concluded with "high confidence" that Russia sought to influence the U.S. election on behalf of Trump. The finding alarmed lawmakers, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain who said Sunday he planned to put Sen. Lindsay Graham, a staunch Trump critic, in charge of investigating the claim.

McCain has vowed to scrutinize Tillerson's business relationship with Russia President Vladimir Putin, if Tillerson is nominated. Exxon steadily expanded its Russian business on his watch even as its rivals faced expropriation and regulatory obstacles. In 2013, Putin bestowed the Order of Friendship on Tillerson.

"Maybe those ties are strictly commercial and got to do with his business in the oil business. Fine," McCain told CBS "Face the Nation." And "we'll give him a fair hearing. But is it a matter of concern? Certainly it should be a matter of concern."

McCain wasn't alone, raising questions about whether there would be enough blowback to sink a Tillerson nomination.

"Being a 'friend of Vladimir' is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState," tweeted Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump's former campaign rival and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey said the developments "raise serious questions about whether the incoming administration will adequately stand up to Russia's aggression."

Trump said Tillerson's relationship with Moscow was a selling point.

"A great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company," Trump told "Fox News" in an interview broadcast Sunday. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker is impressive, and former bitter rival Mitt Romney is still in the mix, Trump added.

"These are all very different types of people," he said. "But when you ask me about Rex, I mean, he's a world-class player. There's no question about it."

Trump also rejected the CIA's conclusion that Russia tried to interfere with the presidential election and blamed "very embarrassed" Democrats for the public release of the assessment. The Washington Post first reported the CIA finding on Friday.

"It's ridiculous," Trump said of the CIA's assessment. He added, however, that he doesn't necessarily oppose President Barack Obama's order for a review of campaign-season hacking. "If you're gonna to do that, I think you should not just say 'Russia.' You should say other countries also, and maybe other individuals." The White House has said the probe would focus on any breaches by other countries, and past elections.

Trump's incoming chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said Tillerson's nomination is not a done deal but shrugged off allegations that Russia helped Trump win.

He said: "The Russians didn't tell Clinton to ignore Wisconsin and Michigan," two states she was expected to win that went instead for Trump.

"She lost the election because her ideas were bad. She didn't fit the electorate. She ignored states that she shouldn't have and Donald Trump was the change agent," Priebus said on ABC's "This Week." Trump's win, he added, "had nothing to do with the Russians."

On other matters, Trump said he is leaving his worldwide business empire to his executives and children, vowing, that he will "have nothing to do with management." He's expected to discuss the arrangement at a news conference on Thursday.

He also said he is "studying" the Paris climate agreement to reduce carbon emissions. But he doesn't want the agreement to put the U.S. "at a competitive disadvantage with other countries."
BEIRUT (AP)  Islamic State militants recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from Syrian troops Sunday, according to both sides in the battle, scoring a major advance after a year of setbacks in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

In winning back Palmyra, the extremist group appeared to be taking advantage of the Syrian and Russian preoccupation with Aleppo, timing its attack to coincide with a major government offensive to capture the last remaining opposition-held neighborhoods in the northern city.

Palmyra, with its towering 2,000-year-old ruins, holds mostly symbolic meaning in the wider civil war, although its location in central Syria also gives it some strategic significance.

Islamic State militants re-entered the city Saturday for the first time since they were expelled by Syrian and Russian forces amid much fanfare nine months ago. The government's first important win against the Islamic State group in the historic city gave Damascus the chance to try to position itself as part of the global anti-terrorism campaign.

The militants had spent 10 months in Palmyra, during which they blew up a number of temples and caused other destruction  severing the heads of statues and partially damaging two temples and famous arch.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria's official for antiquities and museums, said his department had transferred the contents of Palmyra's museum to Damascus, but that he still worries about the safety of the ruins from the IS militants.

"I fear they will be more vengeful," Abdulkarim told The Associated Press.

Palmyra was a major tourist attraction before Syria's civil war began in 2011.

Sunday's takeover came hours after government troops and Russian air raids pushed the group out the city's perimeter. IS militants later regrouped and attacked from multiple sides, forcing government troops to retreat.

The militants went door to door, looking for any remaining forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, opposition activists in the city said.

Homs provincial Gov. Talal Barazi told the pan-Arab Mayadeen news channel that the IS attack on Palmyra is a "desperate" reaction to the Syrian government's recent military "victories."

Scores of Syrian troops reportedly have been killed in fighting around Palmyra in recent days. While a distraction from the battle for Aleppo, it is unlikely to affect the government's final push on the last rebel-held neighborhoods in the northern city. By Sunday evening, there was no sign the army was shifting significant resources from Aleppo.

The government and its allies reportedly have mobilized some 40,000 fighters for Aleppo.

"I don't think the regime would withdraw forces from Aleppo to Palmyra and risk losing Aleppo," said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group. "I think the regime's priority now is to finish the battle for Aleppo before the end of the month for sure. As for Palmyra, the whole international community would stand by it against IS."

In the last year, IS has suffered defeats in both Syria and Iraq, losing several towns and cities it had captured in 2014.

It is now under attack in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the last major urban center it controls in the country. Since the Mosul offensive began nearly two months ago, Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces have killed or gravely wounded more than 2,000 IS fighters, said Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. He made his remarks at a news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter at Qayara air base in Iraq.

On Saturday, Carter announced he is sending another 200 troops to Syria to train and advise local fighters combatting IS. There are already 300 U.S. troops authorized for the Syria effort, and some 5,000 in Iraq.

A Kurdish-led Syrian force, backed by the U.S., is also pushing toward Raqqa, the group's de-facto capital in Syria, from the north. Meanwhile, Turkey is backing Syrian opposition fighters who have reached the outskirts of al-Bab, the IS stronghold in northern Syria.

In going for Palmyra, IS picked a soft target to demonstrate that it retains the ability to carry out large attacks despite its battlefield losses.

Mohammed Hassan al-Homsi, who runs the Palmyra News Network, said IS was steering away from northern Syria, where Turkey and the anti-IS international coalition have focused their fight. The militants are eyeing new territory, and they chose Palmyra for its desert terrain linked to Iraq and its surrounding oil and gas fields, al-Homsi said.

The state news agency SANA, quoting an unidentified military official, reported that the militant group received reinforcements from Raqqa.

Russia's Defense Ministry put some of the blame on the coalition, saying it had scaled down its operation against Raqqa and allowed thousands of IS fighters to escape Mosul. The ministry said more than 4,000 militants have been deployed for the Palmyra takeover, implying those attacking the city recently had left Mosul.

The Observatory and the Palmyra Coordination group said IS militants used a multipronged assault, forcing government forces to retreat south. A map distributed by the Observatory shows the IS-controlled areas extend east, south and north of Palmyra. They encompass a number of strategic hills around the city and expand the group's presence in rural parts of Homs province, Syria's largest, which is mostly under government control.

Osama al-Khatib of the activist-run Palmyra Coordination group, which keeps in touch with residents, said remaining government and allied troops were escaping from the southwestern edge of the city, where the ancient ruins are. The few remaining families also are trying to leave, he said.

Al-Homsi's Palmyra News Network said intense airstrikes followed the IS takeover. The group said IS fired on fleeing civilian.

In a video by the IS-linked Aamaq news agency, IS fighters were shown roaming a main square that appeared deserted below the citadel that overlooks the ruins and the Palmyra Museum.

Russia had earlier said it repelled an IS attack, launching 64 airstrikes overnight that killed 300 militants. But hours later, the activists said IS had seized a castle just outside the town that overlooks its famed Roman-era ruins.

Expelling the IS militants last year was seen as a major triumph for Assad's forces, which previously had little success against the extremists.

The government and its Russian allies have since focused on the opposition in Damascus and Aleppo. After tightening the siege on eastern Aleppo, government and allied troops have been steadily carving into the rebel-held enclave since late November.

Of the original 45 square kilometers (17 square miles) of rebel-held area, only 7 square kilometers (4 square miles) remain in opposition hands, Syrian media said.
San Diego Countys Roman Catholic bishop and Tijuanas archbishop were among the hundreds who prayed at the U.S.-Mexico border Saturday for relief from wars around the world and safety for millions of people fleeing persecution.

With the fence of Border Field State Park separating them, Bishop Robert McElroy, the recently installed Archbishop Francisco Moreno Barron, participants from other faiths and members of human-rights groups gathered to urge peace and friendship. They sang and prayed for help for refugees and immigrants  whether theyre present legally or illegally.

This call is rooted in the origins of Christianity, McElroy said shortly before the start of the 23rd annual Posada Without Borders, or La Posada Sin Fronteras. In Mexico, posada is a traditional re-enactment of Joseph and Marys search for shelter before Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ.

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The Gospel tells us that shortly after his birth, Jesus, Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt, McElroy said. Thus, they became refugees immediately. And they became illegal emigrants; it was illegal for them to leave the land, because they were being hunted down. We are all called to solidarity with those who are undocumented, those who are immigrants, those who are refugees.

1 / 10 Bishop Robert McElroy and a crowd of people sing to people on the Tijuana side of the U.S./Mexican border fence. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 10 A woman on the Tijuana side of the U.S./Mexican border fence sings. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 10 Bishop of the San Diego Diocese Robert McElroy, left, and Bill Jenkins, Executive Director of Christ Unity Methodist Ministry Center, enter through the first fence of the U.S./Mexican border. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 10 Bishop of the San Diego Diocese Robert McElroy looks through the U.S./Mexican border fence. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 10 Annye Love sings during Posada Without Borders event at Friendship Park. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 10 Bishop of the San Diego Diocese Robert McElroy bows his head while next to the U.S./Mexican border fence. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 10 With Bishop of the San Diego Diocese Robert McElroy in the foreground, people on the Tijuana side look through the U.S./Mexican border fence. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 10 A child looks through the U.S./Mexican border fence from the Tijuana side. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 10 Bishop of the San Diego Diocese Robert McElroy speaks to people on the Tijuana side of the U.S./Mexican border fence. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 10 Bishop of the San Diego Diocese Robert McElroy looks through the U.S./Mexican border fence. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

McElroy said the event has a special poignancy on the border and a special poignancy this year, with the election of Republican Donald Trump as the next president of the United States.

During his campaign, Trump pledged to deport all unauthorized immigrants and increase border security. He frequently mentioned the killing of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco by an unauthorized immigrant as an example of the dangers posed by illegal immigration.

More recently, Trump has said his priority will be to first deport unauthorized immigrants with a criminal record.

McElroy said he hoped Trump will adhere to his revised policy and refrain from deporting young unauthorized immigrants who have been allowed to stay in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, as well as their families.

On a global scale, the tensions are even worse, McElroy said.

This is a horrendous time in the world for refugees because of the tremendous dislocations in our world because of regional conflicts, the bishop said. Millions of people have been dispossessed from their homes all across the world and are fleeing, and have nowhere to go.

Pope Francis has said were not in the middle of a world war, but in a sense were in the middle of a piecemeal world war because theres so many conflicts going on simultaneously.

Melissa Tucker, an organizer of Saturdays event, said the yearly gathering has become personally meaningful to her.

Tucker, associate pastor of San Diego First Church of the Nazarene, has been coming to the posada for about 20 years, ever since college. A couple of years ago, Tucker asked to help coordinate the event.

In my previous role as campus minister at (Point Loma Nazarene University), I did Mexico and border relations work, Tucker said. Tijuana has really become a second home for me and increased my awareness of this truly being a bicultural and bilingual region. So this event is symbolic to me of the binational friendships that are part of my life.

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020
Anyone walking past the music room Wednesday afternoon at Las Villas de Carlsbad may have heard a French opera aria or perhaps a few notes from the Dance Macabre. But what they were more likely to pick up was the sound of laughter.

Every week year-round, dozens of devoted students turn up at the Carlsbad assisted living center for David Lewis music appreciation class. For 23 years, the 66-year-old Vista resident has been teaching the class there and at two other Carlsbad retirement homes, through MiraCosta Colleges Learning is for Everyone (LIFE) program for older adults.

The longtime choir director and organist talks about symphonic structure, instrumentation, musical epochs and composition. But his mostly retired students say that while they like learning about composers like Felix Mendelssohn, they most enjoy coming because the class is fun.

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David is so enthusiastic. He has such a great sense of humor and he can explain the music in such an interesting way, said Lee Reich, a Carlsbad resident who has been attending for seven years.

Oceanside resident Marika Coler is a 10-year veteran of Lewis class and said she looks forward to signing up again in the spring. When I leave the class Im so much more uplifted. Hes got such great knowledge and a wonderful way of putting that knowledge over in a light, entertaining way.

MiraCosta College instructor David Lewis talks about French composer Camille Saint-Saens to students at Las Villas de Carlsbad on Wednesday afternoon. (Bill Wechter / San Diego Union-Tribune )

Lewis said teaching students to love and understand classical music is his lifes passion, but for many years it was an unfulfilled dream. After he earned a degree in choral conducting at San Diego State University and was preparing for a teaching career in his 20s, Lewis had what he calls a terrible epiphany when he started working with teenage students.

I realized I couldnt stand high school kids, he said, with a laugh. Id been like an only child growing up and could only relate to adults. So I thought to myself what am I doing?

Abandoning teaching, he did graduate work with British choral director David Willcocks, spent nine years as the stage manager for organist Virgil Fox, founded the San Luis Rey Chorale 38 years ago and later became director of music at Trinity Episcopal Church in Escondido. In 1992, a friend recommended him for MiraCostas LIFE program and it proved to be the perfect match.

I discovered it was wonderful to teach older adults, he said of his now more than 100 students. They want to be there. Theyre making friendships. Theyre fun. They go to concerts. Once I fell into that, I realized its what I wanted to do all along.

Wednesdays class, the final meeting for the fall semester, was dedicated to the works of French composer Camille Saint-Saens. Before getting to the music, Lewis had to pass out the wonderfully mediocre results for last weeks quiz.

Tests are required under state education codes, but clearly these students dont take their scores too seriously. Lewis read out some of his favorite wrong answers to rounds of laughter. Q: What is a cantata? A: A certain move a horse makes. Another students response?: Im 97 years old, what do you expect from me?

While classical music may seem antiquated to high schoolers, its still part of the living memory of older students, including one last year who turned 103. One student boasted of going to school with composer Leonard Bernstein. Another heard Sergei Rachmaninoff perform in Chicago when he was 13. One man met Samuel Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti in a bar in Havana, and another attended a party in Montreal with Francis Poulenc.

I love hearing their stories of musical experiences past, he said. Those fabulous connections really bring the music to life.

After discussing the quiz, Lewis launched into the story of Saint-Saens, an 18th-century Romantic-era composer who was perhaps the greatest musical prodigy in history, even more than Mozart. But he failed to live up to his early potential and died a bitter man at 86.

Longtime student Phyllis Ziring said its precisely stories like this about the lives of composers that make Lewis class both fascinating and lively. Two-year student Dave Wolf of Encinitas describes Lewis humor and energy as infectious.

Classical music wasnt high on my list before I came, but I know now Ill be coming here for a very long time, Wolf said.

David Lewis visits eight different retirement homes and seniors centers around North County each week to teach music appreciation classes. (Bill Wechter / San Diego Union-Tribune )

Midway through the two-hour class, Lewis played the meltingly beautiful aria Mon cur souvre a ta voix (my heart opens to your voice) from Saint-Saens opera Samson and Delilah. As the music played, he kept his eyes closed, tapped his fingers on his knee and then wiped away a tear. Lewis says hes a dyed-in-the-wool Romantic music lover, so he admits getting rather dramatic about some of these melodies.

Lewis was born and raised in Minneapolis, where his father sang in an Episcopal church choir. In 1961, the family moved to California and settled into a Vista home that Lewis still shares with his partner of 28 years.

He was 11 when he joined the childrens choir at Vistas All Saints Episcopal Church and he said that almost from that first day in choir he knew he wanted a life in music.

His parents didnt own a radio, even in their car, so Lewis got his musical education from the records his grandparents and parents played on an old wind-up Victrola. Their collection included Rachmaninoffs piano concertos (one of Lewis personal favorites), George Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue and folk songs by Peruvian soprano Yma Sumac. Today he still owns the old Victrola, as well as a CD collection that now numbers in excess of 1,000 discs.

Over the years, hes discovered that his students arent huge fans of choir, opera or modern music. His goal is to help them expand their appreciation to these lesser-known composers, like recent subject, Soviet modernist Dmitri Shostakovich.

I tell everyone you dont have to like this but we can learn to listen in new ways, he said. No matter what it is youre listening to, you can find things of interest, like a wonderful orchestration or beautiful voices.

Oceanside resident David Barker said he only listened to country-Western music before he started attending Lewis classes 13 years ago: He completely turned me around. Now I only listen to operas. This class is the highlight of my week.

The next semester begins on Jan. 24 and includes afternoon classes on Tuesday afternoons at Carlsbad By the Sea retirement home, Wednesday classes at Las Villas de Carlsbad and Thursday classes at Sunrise Senior Living in La Costa. Lewis also teaches classes at five other retirement centers around North County on his own. To request a paper catalog from Miracosta, which will be mailed free to your home, call (760) 795-6615 or email pio@miracosta.edu.

Lewis longest-attending student is Leslie Mitte, a close friend who has been coming for all 23 years. Because so many students like Mitte turn out year after year, Lewis said hes had to get creative with his lessons to keep them fresh.

For the past year, he has taught by spending a month on each composer. The year before that, he taught music geographically, going from country to country to highlight its composers. Three years ago, he went through musical terminology alphabetically, from A to Z.

He said hes always looking for new ways to teach, and new recordings to fill in the gaps in his collection. But one thing hes not looking for is retirement.

I would love to do this the rest of my life, he said. Its been my passion since I was a teenager and who wants to quit doing a job that you love? Its something I can sit there and listen to and have all this wonderful social interaction. Its like having a music party every week.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
A proposal to tear down a church in Vistas Shadowridge neighborhood and replace it with 47 condominiums is moving forward, the latest in a flood of multi-family housing projects that have cropped up in the North County city.

The citys Planning Commission recommended 4-3 last week that the City Council allow developer Warmington Residential Inc. to build nine three-story buildings on the South Melrose Drive site.

Commissioner Gary Garretson, who voted against the plan, said hes concerned the development is too big, too tall and out of character for the surrounding area. He noted it will be the only three-story building for at least a mile.

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The site is tucked behind a Burger King restaurant near Buena Vista Drive and not far from Rancho Buena Vista High School. The developer will demolish a 6,665-square-foot Christian Science church built less than 20 years ago. Each unit would be three stories, and would have from three- to four-bedrooms and a garage.

For the project to go through, the City Council will have to agree to change the land zoning and designation to allow for mixed-use development  which traditionally means a mix of commercial and residential uses. In Vista, the commercial component is optional; this project doesnt have any.

Garretson said he is concerned that changing the zoning at the church will be a slippery slope that could encourage other landowners in the area to pursue similar dense, multi-story projects.

At least one other developer has approached the city to test another potential zoning change at the nearby West Coast Baptist Church along Buena Vista Drive, roughly a half-mile off Melrose. That plan would see the church replaced with 45 detached two-story condos.

The separate proposals come as the county continues to grapple with a housing shortage. The region has also seen skyrocketing apartment rents; since spring, the average cost for two-bedroom units jumped from $1,637 to $1,789, according to a San Diego County Apartment Association released Wednesday.

There are a growing number of multifamily developments in Vista, and many of them are three-story complexes. But, according to the apartment association, some of the newer complexes in Vista  many of them upscale and priced higher than average remain flush with vacancies.

The plan for condos on the Christian Science church grounds won the early backing of South Vista Communities, a civic group that lobbies for south Vista residents. The group was against another three-story project that would replace a shopping center along Breeze Hill Road with an 88-unit apartment complex.

The Christian Science church congregation, which runs a downtown reading room, is still looking for a place to move. The land sale will only happen if the city approves the condo project. The City Council is slated to consider the proposal in January.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
San Diego Civic Organist Carol Williams is stepping down after a 15 year-run.

Her farewell performance will be at 2 p.m. on Sept. 25 at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park, Williams musical home here since 2001. She is moving with her husband, local videography company head Kerry Bell, to Virginia, where Bell has accepted a new job in video production.

Williams, 53, and Bell, 63, were married in Spreckels Organ Pavilion in 2007. In 2011, the English-born organist and composer signed her second consecutive 10-year contract with the city. The contract renewal followed a widely publicized debate over the Williams annual salary of $56,000, which is jointly funded by the city and the Spreckels Organ Society, which pays her $27,000 each year as its artistic director.

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Williams, who earned her doctorate at the Manhattan School of Music in 2001, was the first woman to hold the position of San Diego Civic Organist  and the first female civic organist anywhere in the world. She is currently in Seoul, Korea, where she will perform a concert Friday. In a 2011 Union-Tribune interview, she said of her job here: This position fulfills my lifes ambition: bringing the concert organ to a greater audience. I often refer to the Spreckels Organ as the voice of San Diego, and like any great voice, it must be heard.

Despite her pending move to Virginia, Williams will continue in her position as Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society until her replacement has been hired. What is being described as a worldwide search is now underway to find her successor.

During her decade-and-a-half tenure here, Williams gained national attention, including a profile in the New York Times. While her weekly Sunday afternoon performances at Spreckels Organ Pavilion often showcased classical repertoire, she sought to broaden the venues concert audiences by diversifying the programing.

On May 29, she and a band featuring her husband on drums performed a tribute to rock icon David Bowie, who died in January. In 2014, pioneering San Diego alt-rock band Drive Like Jehu reunited for the first time in 19 years to perform with Williams at Spreckels Organ Pavilion. Both concerts drew overflow crowds estimated at in excess of 5,000 each.

george.varga@sduniontribune.com

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Santa Clara County has agreed to pay $3.6 million to settle civil claims in the death of a mentally ill man who authorities say was beaten to death last year by jail deputies.

The family of Michael Tyree reached the deal as the deputies await criminal trails, said Paula Canny, an attorney representing the Tyrees sisters.

The deputies  Matthew Farris, Jereh Lubrin and Rafael Rodriguez  all face first-degree murder charges and are currently free on $1.5 million bail each, Canny said.

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No amount of money can ever bring Michael back, Canny said, so its bittersweet.

Officials said Tyree, 31, died Aug. 27, 2015, of internal bleeding due to trauma. When the deputies were arrested a week later, Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith described the alleged beating as heinous and cowardly.

At the time, Tyree was being held on misdemeanor drug and theft charges and was being housed in a wing of the main jail for those in protective custody or who have special needs. While in sheriffs custody, Tyree was waiting for a bed to open at a residential treatment program.

Lubrin, Farris and Rodriguez were the last three people to have contact with Tyree before Lubrin radioed that they had found Tyree unresponsive in his sixth-floor cell of the jail in San Jose.

The deputies criminal trials are scheduled to begin early next year, Canny said.

matt.stevens@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByMattStevens

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Dr. Ted Mazer knew for some time that he would likely become president-elect of the California Medical Association this fall and then president a year later.

What he couldnt foresee was the high potential for major changes in federal health-care policy that would affect California and other states. That possibility is indeed high as President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress look to reshape the Affordable Care Act.

Across the nation, insurance companies, doctors groups and other medical organizations are already working to influence the direction of new health-care decisions. The California Medical Association, with 43,000 member doctors, is a major voice both in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

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Mazer plans to travel to both cities next year to support Dr. Ruth Haskins of Dorado Hills, the associations current president, and prepare for his own turn at the helm starting next October.

Mazer is no novice in the realm of political advocacy. He was part of a coalition of California doctors who worked for more than a decade to fix Medicare rules that left some physicians in the Golden State, especially those in San Diego County, getting paid less than others in similar urban areas with similar costs of living and health services.

All that work, he said, has helped to ready him for what is likely to be a raucous period of legislative activity in 2017 and 2018.

Mazer  an ear, nose and throat specialist  talked last week with The San Diego Union-Tribune about health policy and his expanded role in representing Californias doctors. The following is an edited version of that conversation.

Question: How have friends and colleagues reacted to you recently being chosen as president-elect of the California Medical Association?

Answer: Some people are saying congratulations and some are saying condolences. I guess its a little bit of each, but its very energizing to think at this point time, when weve had some false steps in medical care and payment reform, that Im in a position to influence that for the better. Ive been doing some of this for so long, at the state level particularly, Im kind of looking forward to the fact that its going to be an active, busy year or so to try to effect policy change.

Question: Trump has nominated Congressman and orthopedic surgeon Tom Price to head up the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Do you see Prices medical background as an opportunity?

Answer: I think the word opportunity is perfect. Ive been using it repeatedly with people who have been writing me, complaining about Tom Price. Ive known Tom for about 25 years, and I think he is someone who understands the system. I do think that Tom Price is one of those advisers who also has said a lot of rhetorical things in his own health plan that he put out previously. Now we actually have to sit down and say, What did you really mean? We have to have a conversation about what works and what should we be doing to reform health-care reform. Having a physician like Tom Price, who has been involved with this larger debate for years, sitting at the head of HHS can hopefully start educating the administration on how these things interplay, how medicine actually gets practiced.

Question: What do you think should be a priority in any reform effort?

Answer: There are some huge opportunities there. This time, instead of working in the political arena with the goal of getting something done quickly, I hope they can work to salvage what worked in the Affordable Care Act, fix what didnt work, plug in things that werent ever addressed and actually come up with a workable plan that lowers costs, maintains peoples rights to access care and provides patients with more choice than they have now. Weve got to find a way to open up choice for patients, which has been hindered by these very narrow networks of physicians and hospitals that have occurred under the Affordable Care Act. Weve also got to take a look at the cost ratios in the law that say you cant charge an older person more than three times as much as a young adult, because that has made plans more expensive for the young people that we need to participate in the system. There is also work that could be done on the basic benefits packages that all plans have to provide. We can change these basic benefits packages to deal with medical problems that are true needs and not just wants, and doing that can help lower premiums or at least stop them from rising so fast.

Question: What changes do doctors want most?

Answer: Weve gone way too far in using computers instead of patient care as the model for how we see our patients. They realize that the doctor is no longer talking with them. The doctor is talking at them and taking notes on the computer for a third party to look at. I think the feeling among many physicians is that we need to back away from that model, back toward that patient-physician relationship, using electronics when theyre beneficial, not just because they exist. Im not saying that theres no good data or that properly formed, properly used and properly mined electronic medical records arent beneficial, but thats not where we are today. I think a new head of HHS and of (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) have an opportunity in 2017 to really go back over this and ask themselves whether were using technology in a way that benefits patients, or are we just collecting data for the sake of collecting data?

Question: Will you be able to continue your medical practice around the demands of what looks like a very busy two years in the health policy world?

Answer: If it is as I suspect and the main work of the so-called repeal and replace effort happens toward the end of 2017 and into 2018, then yes, Im going to be out of my office quite a bit. Ive got backup already arranged for my practice. For years, my patients have understood that they may get a phone call notification that Dr. Mazer has been called to Sacramento or Washington and we need to reschedule your appointment. Fortunately, my patients have been very accepting of that, and Im hoping for that continued understanding.

Question: You have been very active on a range of issues in California in recent years. What priorities, in addition to the ongoing health reform issues we already discussed, would you like to see the association target?

Answer: We have tremendous problems of access right here in San Diego and throughout the state in managed care Medi-Cal programs. I feel that the health plans have become very heavy-handed in terms of denials and authorizations for specialty services. As an example, my staff and I spent the holiday weekend trying to get authorization for a surgery at a local surgery center. It took us all weekend to get approval even though we knew we had it right from the beginning. That kind of thing has got to stop. Weve got to find a simpler way to make authorizations and payments work.

The workers compensation system in California is also awful. The carriers who administer it for the workers compensation insurers are abusive to physicians and to patients. Every time I try to file a complaint with the workers compensation appeals board, there is a rigmarole that takes more time than its worth. That has also got to stop, because the people getting hurt are the patients. Fewer and fewer doctors are willing to do workers compensation work because the process is so difficult.

paul.sisson@sduniountribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson
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Louisiana voters Saturday chose to send Republican state Treasurer John Kennedy to the U.S. Senate, filling the chambers last seat and giving the GOP a 52-48 edge when the new term begins in January.

Kennedy had always been the runoff elections front-runner in a state that overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump. He defeated Democrat Foster Campbell, a state utility regulator whose chances were seen as such a long shot that national Democratic organizations offered little assistance to Campbells campaign.

Voters also filled two open U.S. House seats Saturday, for the 3rd District representing southwest and south central Louisiana and the 4th District covering northwest Louisiana.

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Louisiana has an open primary system in which all candidates run against each other. In the contests for the open congressional seats, the November primary ballots were packed with contenders, so the top two vote-getters advanced to Saturdays runoff.

The Senate runoff drew national attention, with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence each traveling to Louisiana to rally for Kennedy. The national GOP provided resources and staff assisting Kennedys campaign, while national Democratic organizations largely abandoned Campbell, assuming an easy win for Republicans.

Though Campbells chance appeared slim, donations for his campaign had poured in from around the country, and several Hollywood celebrities championed his candidacy as a way to bolster resistance to the Trump presidency.

Political upstart Clay Higgins won the race for the 3rd District seat, defeating a fellow Republican once considered a lock on the job.

Higgins, a former sheriffs captain dubbed the Cajun John Wayne for his attention-grabbing Crime Stoppers segments, trounced Scott Angelle, a state utility regulator.

Republican state lawmaker Mike Johnson won in the 4th District, defeating Democrat Marshall Jones.

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7:25 p.m.: This article was updated to report the results of Saturdays election in Louisiana.

This article was originally published at 3:10 p.m.
The political lineage of the San Diego City Councils 3rd District is so familiar to the local political world that its easy to overlook how remarkable it is.

There was the citys own first openly LGBT council member, Christine Kehoe, who went on to the Legislature where she eventually rose to the Assemblys second highest-ranking position  speaker pro tem  before moving on to the state Senate.

The central city district was then represented by Toni Atkins, who temporarily became mayor after controversy and legal problems felled the mayor and the deputy mayor. She, too, went on to the Assembly and rose to speaker, widely considered the second most powerful post in the state Capitol behind the governor. She was the first lesbian member of the house to gain the position. Atkins was just elected to the state Senate and sworn in on Monday.

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She was followed by Todd Gloria, who stepped in as interim mayor after the sexual-harassment scandal forced Bob Filner from that office. He was just elected to the Assembly seat vacated by Atkins, keeping the LGBT/3rd District political pipeline flowing.

The three Democrats championed an array of progressive policies, including clean cars, affordable housing and increasing the minimum wage.

Granted, Atkins and Gloria were elevated to mayor by happenstance during scandalous and chaotic times. But they were widely credited with handling the job with aplomb.

The District 3 alums have been talked up in the past as candidates for mayor  and not the interim kind  and at least Gloria and Atkins are part of the speculative mix whenever potential successors to the current incumbent, Kevin Faulconer, are discussed.

One of San Diegos newest rising LGBT political stars, Chris Ward, will take over the storied council seat Monday.

No pressure.

Emergency system no longer in crisis

The city of San Diegos 9-1-1 emergency dispatch system continues its turnaround.

The once-troubled system answered 93 percent of its calls in 10 seconds or less in November  beating the nationwide goal of 90 percent.

Thats a dramatic leap from April, when only 67.41 percent of the calls were answered within 10 seconds.

Mayor Kevin Faulconers administration made numerous changes in the dispatch system, including new leadership. Those changes quickly produced measurable results, as the city hit the 10-second standard 81.9 percent of the time in July.

The improving results followed two 9-1-1 calls in April that went unanswered while a dog fatally attacked an infant in Mira Mesa. The incident exposed several problems in the system, including a shortage of dispatchers.

Faulconer, Atkins on NYT new leaders list

The New York Times says the Democratic Party should look to California for the next class of leadership. The Times made reference to the partys aging leaders and the recent electoral disaster in suggesting the time might have come for a shift. A generational change is due soon in any event, as the Joe Bidens, Bernie Sanders (yes, an independent) and Dianne Feinsteins head toward the exit.

The Times made these observations to lead off a list of happening politicians in the blue, blue Golden State. Some of the usual suspects are there: Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen.-elect Kamala Harris and Mayor Faulconer, who seems to be the only California Republican to regularly make these kinds of lists.

Joining them this time was new-minted state Sen. Atkins. Not making the cut was Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who has gained considerable national attention over the past year for legislation and taking up hot-button issues and has been named to such lists before.

The (San Diego) Latino Legislative Caucus

The Times snub aside, it seems like Gonzalez still has her mojo going in Sacramento. She was just named vice chair of the California Latino Latino Caucus (and had became chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee in March).

San Diego colleague Sen. Ben Hueso was named to the top spot in the Latino caucus.

Tweet of the Week

Goes to Christopher Cadelago (@ccadelago) of the Sacramento Bee.

NEW: The Field Poll, which over 70 years became the gold standard for public opinion research in California, will cease operations on Friday
HAMILTON, Bermuda, Dec. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new Oxfam report that targets Bermuda as a corporate tax haven ignores the substantial global economic contribution of this British Overseas Territory, according to the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA).



Unfortunately, many of the Oxfam assertions are based on flawed economics and lack of understanding, said Ross Webber, Chief Executive Officer of the BDA. We consider it an inaccurate, ill-informed and disturbingly prejudiced attack on a small north-Atlantic archipelago that exerts an enormously positive impact globallyincluding on the very regions and populations Oxfam wrongly accuses us of threatening.

Bermudas economic model is different to any other international financial centre, Webber said. We support close to a half-million jobs globally, creating employment not only on the island itself, but also in onshore trading partners. That amounts to an estimated 300,000 jobs in the US and more than 70,000 in the UK through trade, foreign direct investment, and portfolio investment capacity. In this way, our 21-square-mile country facilitates critical economic globalisation.

In particular, Bermuda helps preserve and grow the pensions of millions of onshore workers, including those in the UK. The island is a destination for financial investment by onshore pensions and governments amounting to more than $20 billion, he said.

The islands global reinsurance market is also vital to other countries economic health and survival. Bermuda is home to companies that provide 35 percent of capacity for Lloyds of London, and through payment of insurance claims, they are responsible for the rebuilding of cities, coastlines and communities around the world after the worst disasters. These include:

20% of December 2015 UK flood losses

62% of claims for the UKs Buncefield oil-terminal fires of 2005

9% of the World Trade Centre 9/11 claims

25% of US medical-liability re/insurance

$22 billion to rebuild the US Gulf coast after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma

Over half of reported liabilities from the 2010 New Zealand earthquake

A notable example of Bermudas value, especially to those most vulnerable, is the African Risk Capacity (ARC), Webber noted. The ground-breaking initiative leverages Bermudas financial infrastructure and expertise to help African states become more resilient and recover faster from crippling drought and other weather-related disastersallowing relief for the worlds least developed nations.

Another project, Blue Marble Microinsurance, involves a consortium of eight insurance companies, with operations in Bermuda, that have joint ventures designed to close the protection gap in the developing world. The first venture, in Zimbabwe, was announced last month; its aims are to provide food security, financial inclusion, and the advancement of microentrepreneurs.

Oxfams labelling of Bermuda as a tax haven contradicts the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Webber said. In its 2009 report, Countering Offshore Tax Evasion, the OECD identified four factors that must all be met to qualify as a tax haven: lack of transparency; lack of information exchange; no substantial activity; no or nominal tax on income. By contrast, Bermuda has real business conducted by physical companies in its jurisdiction; is transparent and compliant; and exchanges information via Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) and the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. Bermuda also levies a 15.5-percent income tax on payroll.

Our unique tax system was designed to support our islands infrastructure, explained Webber. For over a century, weve used a consumption-based, duty-tax system to provide revenue for our government. Our fiscal sovereignty is an international right that should not be ignored.

We have long been at the forefront of transparency, cooperation and compliance with the highest international standards. That is more than evident in Bermudas numerous treaty partnerships with nations around the world and our leadership on guiding the evolution of regulatory best practices, he said.

Oxfams assertions may make great headlines, but they just dont reflect economic reality, Webber concluded. Cross-border trade via multi-national enterprises is the fuel that keeps global financial systems running smoothly. And Bermuda, as a genuine example of a quality financial centre, helps pave the way for growth in both developed and emerging markets, providing for vital economic development around the world.

CONNECTING BUSINESS

The BDA encourages direct investment and helps companies start up, re-locate or expand their operations in our premier jurisdiction. An independent, public-private partnership, we connect you to industry professionals, regulatory officials, and key contacts in the Bermuda government to assist domicile decisions. Our goal? To make doing business in Bermuda smooth and beneficial.
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ESAs ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has sent back its first color image of Phobos, the larger and inner of the two natural satellites of Mars.

Phobos was discovered along with its smaller companion, Deimos, by the American astronomer Asaph Hall at the Naval Observatory in 1877.

The moon measures 16.2 x 13.7 x 11.2 miles (26 x 22 x 18 km) and has a very lumpy appearance. It also has craters and grooves on its surface.

It orbits Mars at a distance of 3,721 miles (5,989 km) every 7 hours and 39 minutes.

TGOs Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) instrument imaged the moon on November 26, 2016, from a distance of 4,785 miles (7,700 km).

The spacecrafts elliptical orbit currently takes it to within 143-193 miles (230-310 km) of the Martian surface at its closest point and 60,895 miles (98,000 km) at its furthest every 4.2 days.

CaSSISs filters are optimized to reveal differences in mineralogical composition, seen as bluer or redder colors in the processed image.

Although higher-resolution images of Phobos have been returned by other missions, such as ESAs Mars Express and NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, this provided a good test of what can be done with our data in a very short time, said CaSSIS principal investigator Dr. Nick Thomas, from the University of Bern in Switzerland.

Two other instruments on board the orbiter also made calibration measurements of Phobos, and the teams are analyzing their data.

Were very happy with the results of both test science orbits and will be using these calibration data to improve our measurements once we begin the main science mission later next year, said Dr. Hakan Svedhem, ESAs TGO project scientist.

The focus of the mission now returns to preparations for aerobraking required to bring the spacecraft towards its near-circular science orbit by the end of 2017. More details on the upcoming operations will be provided soon.
FLORENCE, S.C.  More than two months after Hurricane Matthew ravaged the Pee Dee and much of the South Carolina Lowcountry, debris cleanup remains a daunting task for the city of Florence.

City crews have been clearing debris since the storm  about 500 loads, but estimates indicated the amount of debris inside the city at 150,000 cubic yards. That equates to about four years worth of normal waste cleanup for Florence.

City officials said two separate contractors are in full-swing cleanup mode, while another was hired to monitor the process. This method was necessary to ensure the reimbursement up to 75 percent from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Otherwise the city would have to front the $2 million cost with no help from the federal government.

We want to ensure we meet full compliance because we wouldnt want to put a future liability on the city, said City Manager Drew Griffin. We think to be cautious now and follow the rules exactly is the best way to go.

Tetra Tech LLC from Maitland, Florida, is conducting the debris monitoring required by FEMA. The two contractors working on storm debris removal are R.H. Baker Inc. from Phil Campbell, Alabama, and Santee Modular Homes from Santee, South Carolina.

If reimbursed by FEMA, the cost to the city would be more than half a million dollars. Griffin said the city will use in-kind labor and equipment provision to offset that cost.

Financially it makes sense for us to use contractors and in-kind work since FEMA only pays up to 75 percent, he said. Theyre doing the work at a considerably lower price than we saw during the pre-bid contract phase  almost 30 percent less.

Officials anticipate debris removal to take another 30 to 45 days, but added that crews are moving expeditiously and could be finished sooner.

If city residents have concerns regarding contractor debris removal, contact the City Administration Office at 843-665-3113. Residents with concerns or questions should email the city at NextPhaseFlorence@CityofFlorence.com.

Florence County

While debris cleanup for the city has a while to go, Florence County is bringing its efforts to a close within the week.

According to county officials, contractors will begin to make their final passes for debris collection next Sunday.

Specific questions for the county can be addressed at 843-665-7255.
Press Release

December 11, 2016 MORE MEDICAL EXPERTS, NOT NOYNOY, INVITED TO NEXT BLUE RIBBON HEARING ON DENGUE VACCINE PROBE Senator Richard J. Gordon has clarified that there is no need as yet to invite former President Benigno Aquino III to the investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the alleged anomalous procurement of P3.5-billion worth of dengue vaccines. Gordon, chair of the Committee on Accountability of Public Officers & Investigations or Blue Ribbon, said that invited to the next hearing are medical experts and officials from the Department of Health (DOH) and its attached agencies, the Department of Budget and Management and the Commission on Audit to further clarify on the Dengvaxia vaccine attributes and testing methods/results to date in the Philippines and how the procurement by the DOH was processed. "Certain issues have been brought to the attention of the Committee and the Senate concerning a vaccine called Dengvaxia and there are certain issues that have been presented, issues concerning the capability of the product, the manner of testing whether there were sufficient testing that had happened. It behooves us in the government to see to it that when we get this kind of medication, we get the best and we must see to it that we examine the test protocol and results and that we come out with all the due diligence required of a good father to a child," the senator pointed out. "At this point in the investigation, we have not invited President Aquino. We are not trying to judge anybody here. We are just saying, pumapasok ang gamot na bago, dapat tama ba na ganoon ang patakaran natin. Dapat ba baguhin natin? Remember, we are here in aid of legislation. We cannot prosecute anybody here, we can only recommend but we are not even on that aspect yet," he added. On December 6, 2016, the Blue Ribbon conducted its first hearing on the issue following the deaths of two children, who received the first dose of the vaccine in April. The purchase of some P3.5 billion worth of dengue vaccines by the DOH was done during the past administration. While no appropriation was made for the purchase, funds were immediately made available toward the end of year. "That was a huge amount of money, which was taken from the savings, no appropriation from Congress... It's just like DAP [Disbursement Acceleration Program]... We really need to investigate this," Gordon said. Gordon said he was also baffled why the dengue vaccine was given priority when only 250 people per year died from the disease with over 200,000 persons afflicted - this only accounts for 0.01% of the population and dengue not being among the Top 10 health afflictions suffered by the people. He also pointed out that testing for the new vaccine had not been completed yet when the government procured it. He also questioned why the DOH started a new immunization program for dengue when the country has not yet satisfied the immunization requirement for the Millennium Development Goal for other more deadly diseases. However, while questioning the apparent haste with which the anti-dengue vaccine was procured, Gordon said that the legislature will not stand in the way of the government's anti-dengue vaccination program that is already underway.
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With tragedy comes an inevitable question. Why?

Not just why a fire started on Dec. 2 and consumed a ramshackle artist collective in Oakland called Ghost Ship, or why 36 people attending an electronic music performance there lost their lives.

But why they were there, together, in that place and at that time. And why others lived.

Organizers announced the clandestine event at least a week in advance, but gave no more than a few days notice about where it would be held. Yet dozens of young artists and intellectuals found the place, drawn by the transformative thrum of electronic music, of dancing as one, and the chance to experience a world on the edge.

Alex Ghassan, a filmmaker, came with his fiancee, who had just moved to Oakland, to show her an offbeat slice of the city. Laura Hobbs met up there with a roommate who was thinking of joining the group of artists who worked in the warehouse. Musician Ben Runnels, a.k.a. Charlie Prowler, headed over with his bandmate to see friends perform. Like Runnels, Jonathan Bernbaum showed up because that was his life: the people, music, and electronics happening at Ghost Ship that Friday night.

Different paths, all converging in a catastrophe that would unfold in the hour before midnight.

Jonathan Bernbaum texted his friend Jay Fields at 8:45 p.m. urging him to attend the show at the warehouse in Oaklands Fruitvale neighborhood. Golden Donna 100% Silk, an act from Madison, Wis., was headlining. But the real draw, Bernbaum said, was their friend Barrett Clark, who was doing sound.

The three men  Fields, an electronic musician; Clark, a sound man; and Bernbaum, 34, who traveled the world doing lighting and computer visuals for the Australian electronic dance music duo Knife Party  were part of a nearby artist collective called Katabatik.

Clark had the best, biggest, loudest sound around the bay  and he was the nicest dude. The most generous, Fields said.

Clark handled sound for some of San Franciscos biggest dance clubs. But he also took small, esoteric jobs because he loved making smaller artists sound big. That was his generosity, Fields said, and artists thanked him for his gift of loud.

As for Bernbaum, his genius  his wizardry  lay in his ability to create light shows that interacted perfectly with artists vibrating music. Hed been doing it only five or six years, but his passion and a masters degree in film editing had propelled him quickly from novice to internationally recognized expert in the growing field of electro-dance visuals.

Yet it was the underground arts culture celebrated at places like Ghost Ship, not the commercial music business that handsomely paid his bills, that kept Bernbaum grounded and happy. He rarely missed an event if he was in town.

Still, Fields was reluctant to go. Like a lot of people, he said, we thought (Ghost Ship) was not a responsible space. It was unsafe.

Despite his misgivings, Fields promised Bernbaum hed be there. This is our family. These are our people, he said.

As he and Bernbaum negotiated by text in Fruitvale, over in West Oakland, Jennifer Kiyomi Tanouye, 31, posted on Instagram: Doing nails in a rave cave tonight at the Ghost Ship! Tanouye, a manager at the music-recognition app Shazam, loved taking her pop-up Underground Nail Bar to events and parties around the Bay Area.

In Berkeley, Laura Hobbs was working late at a think tank for clean energy. Electronic music was not her metier, but she was heading to Ghost Ship that night to connect with her roommate, Claire Rosenfield, who was thinking of joining the artist collective there known as Satya Yuga. Its members built structures of reclaimed wood for Burning Man and other festivals and kept workspaces on the first floor of the warehouse.

As a way to support her and the community, I went, said Hobbs, 24, who was interested in seeing the storied space for the first time. She would also meet a second roommate, her cousin Alastair Boone, at the warehouse, as well as Rosenfields boyfriend, Conner Smith.

Still dressed in her work clothes  a maroon turtleneck, black pants and a large, flowing scarf with a mushroom design  Hobbs; her boyfriend, Michael Rosen; and another friend, Seung Lee, tried to get to the show before 11 p.m., when admission would flip from $10 to $15.

They were nine minutes late. Slipping past five or six people smoking around the entrance, they approached a guy in a slapdash ticket booth. Could they still get in for $10?

No problem. Another guy in the booth marked their hands with a black Sharpie, and they went inside to find their friends.

Alex Ghassan initially wasnt sure about his plans for the night. A 35-year-old filmmaker who often worked in hip-hop  producing videos for rapper Skyzoo and other notables  electronic dance music wasnt really his thing. Earlier that evening, at Oaklands First Friday festival downtown, a friend had texted to see if he wanted to go to another party in the hills.

But Ghassans fiancee, Hanna Ruax, 32, had just moved from Helsinki to be with him, and he was eager for her to explore Oaklands cultural offerings. Ghassan was comfortable anywhere, with anyone.

The independent film producer, who had arrived from the New York City area two years before, was known for his work portraying the lives and struggles of those on the fringe. He was shooting video for the public television station KQED, and recently had finished three films about artists and minority communities for the Oakland Museum of California.

His current project was a documentary on Bay Area homelessness.

Ever the filmmaker, Ghassan posted a shadowy video of the scene at Ghost Ship on Instagram before most people arrived.

Driving his old blue Honda with band memorabilia strewn across the dashboard, Ben Runnels picked up his musical partner Nicole Siegrist, who went by the name Denalda Nicole Renae. The two architects of technopop were inseparable.

Runnels, 32, and Siegrist, 29, had recently released their first recording together under the band name Introflirt. They were hoping to play their own shows soon and had already booked two gigs for the coming year.

The duos music blended 1980s New Wave sounds  similar to Depeche Mode or the Cure  with classic jazz standards. It was unique, and theyd coined a new term for it: croonwave. Much of the music was made using a synthesizer that Runnels parents bought him when he was just 4 years old.

Carving out a new musical genre was an unexpected trajectory for a man whod been valedictorian at Southern Vermont College and had graduated with a degree in communications.

There was no way the two were going to miss that nights show. Runnels roommate, Johnny Igaz, a.k.a. Nackt, was DJing, and a collaborator, Chelsea Faith Dolan, known as Cherushii, was on the bill with Golden Donna. Siegrists roomate, Donna Kellogg, would also be there. So would another colleague and musician, Travis Hough  a.k.a. Travis Blizten of Ghost of Lightning.

Siegrist had shared a post about the clandestine event a week earlier  and now the plan had come together.

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If the vibe for the show was meant to be earsplitting or otherwordly, it hadnt happened by 11 p.m. No smell of tobacco or marijuana thickened the air. No synthesizer forced anyone to shout to be heard.

Instead, a slow-tempo digital mix with a loud bass drum wafted down from the second-floor performance space and permeated the artists nooks on the ground floor below, where people may or may not have been working or hanging out. It was impossible to tell just by looking out across the mazelike room.

Those arriving for the show found an environment that was part museum tour and part tea party. While members of the Satya Yuga collective showed off their large art pieces just outside the first floor, a few dozen people settled into chairs and sofas on the second floor and bobbed to the music.

After locating her roommates, Hobbs went with Rosen and Lee to hunt for the makeshift staircase leading to the second floor, a narrow set of steps tucked against one wall. They felt unsteady as they climbed single file up four or five wooden steps to a landing, took a right turn up a ramp to another landing, then stepped up a final set of planks.

Purple and blue lights greeted them, intensified across the large living-room-like area by a pair of room-divider screens beside the booth where Nackt was DJing. Clark was on sound. In another corner, fingernail artist Tanouye sat painting designs on a womans nails.

Bernbaum was there, too, and feeling relaxed. He was thinking of a friend in Kentucky, a production assistant who loved touring with bands so much that she often felt down after returning home. Since she hadnt replied to his where are you? text a few hours before, he figured she needed cheering up. At 11:13, he sent her a cute video of a sugar glider, a tiny marsupial, flying across a room.

Hobbs and her friends took in the scene but lingered only a few minutes before heading back downstairs and outside to find a convenience store.

They returned a few minutes later with three beers.

Hobbs was about to go back inside when she noticed smoke pluming from the second floor and a crowd gathering across the street. The building didnt appear to be on fire, but the black cloud was surreal enough to stop her.

She pulled out her phone and called 911  but hung up when she heard sirens. The time was 11:25.

A woman stumbled out of the warehouse, dropped to her knees and began to wail. Suddenly, a firestorm appeared to be collapsing the building. As firefighters arrived, they heard screams from inside.

Jay Fields had just reached the scene. His friends, Bernbaum and Clark, were still inside.

So were Ghassan and Ruax, Runnels and Siegrist. And so many others.

In her final moments, Siegrist texted her mother. Im going to die now.

Hobbs, still with Rosen and Lee, couldnt imagine her cousin and their other friends trapped inside. Just as she punched in Boones number, a call from her cousin appeared on her phone.

Are you with everyone? Hobbs demanded. She was. Boone, Rosenfield and Smith had wriggled out of a gate on one side of the warehouse, frantic in their belief that the others were still trapped inside.

Reunited, the six collapsed into each other. In silence, they watched the building go up in smoke and flames.

Nanette Asimov and Kurtis Alexander are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com, kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov, @KurtisAlexander
South Bay authorities are concluding a sweeping four-month criminal investigation at several area high schools involving underage students sharing naked photos of other teens online, The Chronicle has learned.

Mountain View police were notified of the situation Aug. 28 by officials at the citys main public high school. Capt. Chris Hsiung said the case is not a boyfriend-girlfriend scenario and involves male and female suspects sharing sexually inappropriate photos of female students through the online file-hosting service Dropbox. Police said all suspects and victims are younger than 18.

Access to the shared photo folder has been frozen, police said. They would not provide other details, such as the names of the other high schools involved or the number of suspects and victims. One source who has talked to police said as many as five local high schools could be part of the investigation.

Seven Mountain View officers and detectives from the departments child crimes, cybersecurity and cyber forensics units have worked on the investigation, police said.

No one has been arrested or cited, but many students have been interviewed and police are readying a case for review by the juvenile division of the Santa Clara County district attorneys office.

Police would not detail what charges are being considered, but department spokeswoman Katie Nelson said: We have charges we are looking at that are highly likely to result in arrests.

Christopher Arriola, a Santa Clara County deputy district attorney who supervises the juvenile and community prosecution units, said minors sharing illicit photos online  sometimes against the victims wills  has become increasingly common in the area. Arriola declined to comment or discuss the specific case, citing office policy.

While the inquiry has been the source of conversation and rumors among some students and parents for months, Mountain View High School administrators have not formally notified teachers, counselors or parents about the incident. Some find the silence troubling, including one teacher who recently learned of the ongoing investigation from a student.

Im concerned not to have known for almost an entire semester about what allegedly happened to some girls on our campus, said Mountain View High School English teacher Steven Kahl. Teachers and counselors could have been sensitive to the fact that girls integrity may have been compromised online  girls who may have been sitting in the same class or a cooperative learning environment with those being investigated.

When first approached by The Chronicle, Capt. Hsiung said police had given the school no instructions to withhold information from the public. School and district administrators said they chose not to notify the wider school community because they did not want to jeopardize the investigation or spark rumors and speculation about which students may have been involved.

In my mind, this was an easy decision, said Jeff Harding, superintendent of the Mountain View Los Altos High School District. The potential cost to the students involved outweighed the benefit of sending out obscure innuendo of what happened.

When pressed late Friday on why more wasnt done to notify teachers, counselors and parents, Harding said he had heard indirectly that police may have told them not to disclose information. He then contacted the Police Department and police revised their earlier comment.

During the initial phase of our investigation, we did request discretion on the school's part so that no evidence in the case could be destroyed, spokeswoman Nelson wrote in an email.

Mountain View High is still reeling from the fallout over another recent campus event, the suspension of history teacher Frank Navarro,  a Holocaust scholar who drew parallels between President-elect Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler. The school was widely criticized and Navarro was reinstated, but he has since announced his resignation.

The investigation also follows the 2013 case of Audrie Pott, a Saratoga High School sophomore who took her own life after three teenage boys sexually assaulted her, then texted photos of the incident to classmates.

The Pott case traumatized many Silicon Valley youths and school officials who had to confront how quickly such actions on social media can turn tragic. The incident looms large among investigators and local officials anxious that exposure of the current investigation could intensify existing anguish.

Mountain View police said this is its first case involving minors using Dropbox to share sexually explicit photos. But cases of teens using such online platforms and services to post explicit photos have been reported across the country. Dropbox representatives did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Attorney Lindsay Lieberman, whose New York firm focuses on Internet privacy, said teens are particularly vulnerable to the nonconsensual distribution of illicit photos, and that schools and police still have a lot to learn about handling such cases.

Having naked pictures of anyone being passed around or published without their consent is traumatizing, but its particularly horrific for children in the most vulnerable time of their lives, Lieberman said. When youre in high school things can feel like theyre going to go on forever, so these children often dont know this can be handled and managed.

When dealing with both victims and suspects, Capt. Hsiung said, Mountain View officers have referred them to programs providing education and emotional support. We are cognizant that this is all taking place in a school setting, he said. We know we are dealing with minors, and we want to connect them with social services and counseling  its more of a holistic approach.

It remains unclear how long the Dropbox account was active online before being reported, but as soon as we found out, we froze it and restricted access, Hsiung said.

Some Mountain View High School students said they have been aware of the case for months, wrestling quietly with their concerns and sharing what little they know among themselves, absent widespread knowledge among faculty and counseling staff about the ongoing investigation.

Superintendent Harding said the district makes mental health services available to its students, including therapists specifically trained to help students with issues related to social media. District parents and students are required to sign an Internet use agreement each year focusing on the appropriate use of technology.

Mountain View High School Principal Dave Grissom declined to discuss the specifics of the case, but said he organized an informational event he titled Internet Safety Presentation for Parents. About 200 parents from throughout the school district attended and heard presentations by the Santa Clara County district attorneys office and local police that included general information on how to help students navigate their behavior online.

The Dropbox incident, Grissom said, was only vaguely alluded to.

Ive been concerned in general about the way our students behave online and with social media, Grissom said. This is not a Mountain View High School issue. This is something were seeing at all high schools.

Grissom said he chose not to alert staff and parents about the investigation because the issue is a law enforcement, not a school, matter. Harding said it would have been irresponsible for the district to notify the wider community before knowing all the facts.

If I send out 4,000 emails with implications about what might have happened, and the story is not something that is so shocking and surprising  this stuff is in the news all the time  if I send that out, I am going to have speculation about who those students were, Harding said. Once I send out a notice and I say, I cant tell you who these students are, but it might be a surprise to you that there were underage boys looking at naked pictures of underage girls, all I do is fan the flames. I create a situation where speculation occurs.

Brendesha Tynes, an associate professor of education and psychology at the University of Southern California, called the decision by law enforcement and the high school not to share basic information with the school community unfortunate.

Tynes, an expert in social media, cyber bullying and adolescent development online, praised the school for holding the informational session, but said officials ideally should have let teachers, parents and counselors know in general what was going on, without disclosing the identities of anyone involved. The message should have offered them tips for conversation, and advised them on how to recognize signs of depression in students.

If you care about the mental health of your students, if you care about their academic performance, Tynes said, then you would follow these types of steps to make sure students are OK and that this doesnt happen again.

Kahl said that, as a result, he and other teachers and counselors have not been able to properly support students who may be anxious and afraid, as well as guide those in need.

We havent yet been given the opportunity based on what has happened to educate our students about the legality, the ethics, and the emotional impact over sharing nude pictures of people they know, and people they dont know, with other people, he said. I understand how important it is to let the police investigation continue and to be completed. However, I worry that we might have lost a semester of educational opportunity, when other similar incidents that we dont know yet might well be happening.

Kahl said its too easy to consider this a problem of parents, family and society.

But schools have an important role to play in bringing students together and in teaching students to socialize in ethical ways, Kahl said. And we havent been able to play that role in this case.

Karen de Sa, Joaquin Palomino and Cynthia Dizikes are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: kdesa@sfchronicle.com, jpalomino@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoaquinPalomino, @cdizikes
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Santa was more slippery than ever this year as rain soaked the suits of revelers at San Franciscos annual Christmastime pub crawl on Saturday.

This years SantaCon  a nationwide celebration of St. Nick and spirits (not the Dickens kind)  seemed to draw a smaller crowd as rain pounded on participants.

Nonetheless thousands dressed as the jolly guy, as well as in similar holiday-themed variations, for the promise of drinks priced specially low for the occasion at bars around the city. At noon, dozens had already hit Union Square to listen to the Burlesque Band play in slinky Santa suits.

One faux Santa, 39-year-old Michael Dobrowski, couldnt wait to hit the bars.

The fun parts gonna come a little bit after this when we start getting inside of the pubs, said Dobrowski as an elf held an umbrella over his head. Its great this many people showed up in the rain.

The elf, 35-year-old Marc Ulrich, was also holding a brown Trader Joes bag with a remote control car inside  a donation for the San Francisco Fire Department Toys Drive, which was collecting gifts during the event.

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Its a little bit wet, but itll be fine, Ulrich said.

Not far away, Daniel Scannell of Union City danced to the bands tunes with his friends.

Happy holidays! shouted Scannell, 24. Were just here to have fun.

Nothing can stop Christmas! added another Santa.

Santas came in all shapes and sizes, with ponchos, umbrellas, or Santa-styled hoodies.

There was a Grinch Santa in a bright green mask, a sultry Santa with fishnet stockings and black short shorts, a Jack Skellington Santa from the movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and even a pimp Santa with a bright red gangster hat, a robe to match and a gold chain that said, Ho, Ho, Ho.

The pub crawl would continue until 2 a.m., so most Santas decided theyd spend the bulk of their time at the bars, passing on milk and cookies for beer and tequila shots as they stayed dry inside.

Just about everyone inside Golden Gate Tap Room, just down the street from Union Square, had on some Santa-themed attire. Which made sense, because to get the SantaCon booze price you had to be dressed like the bearded elf.

Daniel Charles, 24, wore a Santa hat while he hovered by the pool table with his friends for his second SantaCon.

Nothing beats the excitement at Union, but this is a great place to hang out with friends, said Charles, beer in hand.

For some, the event was still a hoot rain or shine, sober or tipsy. Julie Kerr, wearing a clear poncho over her Santa suit, said she got the most fun out of dressing up.

On my way over here from Oakland, children were waving at me like I was Santa and people were honking, she said. Im with my friends who dont drink a lot, which is totally fun too. Its fun just to dress as Santa Claus.
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The Bay Area got soaked with another round of showers Saturday morning, and more rain is expected this week throughout the region, forecasters said.

The rain continued Saturday with periods of heavy showers and should turn dry Sunday and Monday, said Bob Benjamin, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

Traffic from one end of the region to the other was snarled and slow as periodic downpours turned the roads into skidding platforms. A tree fell across State Route 13 in Oakland on Saturday afternoon, damaging one car and blocking traffic in both directions for several hours until it could be cleared.

Since Thursday, 2.08 inches of rain has fallen in San Francisco, 2.12 inches in Oakland and 1.79 inches in San Rafael, Benjamin said.

Meanwhile, more than 3 inches has cascaded down in parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains and Petaluma, and more than 2 inches in Kentfield since Thursday  welcome news for a region hit by five years of drought.

While Monday is expected to remain dry, the rest of the week appears to be unsettled with precipitation predicted to move in Tuesday and hang around through Thursday, according to Benjamin.

The rainfall will be joined by noticeably cooler conditions. By midweek, lows should be in the upper 40s.

Its going to be a cool week, and by midweek itll be cool and wet, he said.

Meanwhile, in the Sierra Nevada, up to 5 inches or more of snow was predicted to fall Saturday night on the higher peaks, according to the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Overall, the Sierra has received impressive rainfall totals. In the 12 hours before Saturday morning, 4 to 5 inches of rain fell in the foothill and mountain locations, according to the weather service. It issued a flood advisory Saturday for the northern Sierra and surrounding foothills.

The rainy weather, coupled with track maintenance, caused periodic 20-minute delays Saturday on the Pittsburg/Bay Point BART line in the Pittsburg and San Francisco directions, according to BART.

Chronicle staff writer Jonathan Kauffman contributed to this report.

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
November 2013 brought a fresh start for the 1300 block of 31st Avenue in Oaklands Fruitvale neighborhood.

On the first of the month, Laura Talon and Ben Acevedo moved into 1302, a cute 1918 red-and-white arts-and-crafts bungalow with a fenced-in yard they had bought for $250,000  a bargain even then in the Bay Area real estate market.

Across the street, Derick Ion Almena and Micah Allison, a couple with three children, had signed a five-year lease to take over the two-story warehouse at the corner of 31st Avenue and International Boulevard. Their rent was $4,500, which they planned to cover by subletting to artists and renting space for parties. Couples would pay $750 a month, individuals $565. They called the space Satya Yuga, an era in Hinduism often referred to as the Golden Age.

Before she had even fully unpacked, Talon, a sound technician who was six months pregnant, was standing outside talking to her doula. Across the street Allison was lugging stuff into the warehouse. Between trips in and out, the three women found themselves chatting amiably on a patch of sidewalk in the hardscrabble flatlands a block from the Fruitvale BART Station.

After a round of introductions, Allison invited Talon to check out the warehouse. Talon was thrilled. Both she and Acevedo had played in rock bands, and underground arts spaces like Satya Yuga were part of what attracted them to Oakland in the first place.

It was like an unexpected bonus, Talon said. We thought, how awesome to have this artist warehouse across the street from us.

That assessment would change  fast.

Before the Dec. 2 fire that killed 36 people, the most extraordinary thing about the warehouse on 31st Avenue is how ordinary it was. Built in 1930, there was nothing to distinguish it from any of the other concrete industrial structures that have dotted the streets of East Oakland since it emerged as a shipping and industry center after World War I. The lot is 4,032 square feet, and, in 2015, the parcel and building had an assessed value of $43,249. It is owned by a family trust controlled by Chor Ng, who also owns adjacent property at 3071-3073 International Blvd. Her daughter and son, Eva and Kai, manage the properties.

Al Garcia, the longtime owner of Reed Supply Co., a nearby appliance store, remembers playing in the warehouse as a child when it was owned by Dairy Rich as a milk processing and storage facility. The building housed the milk trucks, which would go out on their delivery runs during the day. The empty milk cans would be sent by conveyor belt to the second-story loft.

When the milk trucks pulled out, me and my brothers would all go ride our bikes in that very warehouse, Garcia said.

After Dairy Rich came American Emperor, which distributed copper and cast iron pipes out of the building until 1998. But by the 1990s demand for such warehouses in Oakland had waned. The building stood empty for years, and Ng had a hard time leasing it out. The lot next door, which Ng also owned, became a dumping destination, full of stained mattresses, busted couches and broken appliances. Squatters moved in and out. There were a few short-term tenants. Artists and musicians came and went, and parties started popping up there in the 2000s.

Dr. Eugene Schoenfeld, a psychiatrist who specializes in drug addiction and sexuality and who wrote a column in the Chronicle in the 1960s and 70s under the name Dr. Hip Pocrates, recalled attending packed raves at the warehouse between 2003 and 2006. There was the usual mix of sweat, pulsing beats, ecstasy, methamphetamine and LSD  he described it as a makeshift hippie house.

It was an interesting place, but it seems to me it was pretty rickety there, he said last week. Upstairs there were propane tanks, handmade wooden beds, wild art, things like that. Everything looked like it was hand-built.

That was before Almena and Allison came to the warehouse, which would become known as Ghost Ship. By the time they moved in, in 2013, it was empty again. Any artists, musicians or squatters who had been there over the years in formal or informal arrangements were gone.

The buildings new curators were well-known artists on the Oakland scene  Almena as a photographer and tattoo artist, Allison as a dancer. They had been living in the Oakland hills, where they had been selling marijuana and were known for hosting late-night drum circles.

Almena amassed a small fleet of recreational vehicles  eventually seven, in a variety of sizes and conditions  and parked them on the ground floor of the building. The RVs provided kitchens, secure storage and other comforts, while tenants built out adjacent loft spaces for making art. It felt like a cozy collection of funky little living quarters, residents said. There were narrow lanes weaving through them and talk of naming them, like streets in a village.

Upstairs, Almena and Allison built out residential quarters for their family in the front of the building. The open space in the rear was used for dance and musical performances, parties and other collaborations.

In a Facebook post seeking tenants, Almena wrote: Seeking all shamanic rattlesnake sexy jungle jazz hobo gunslingers looking for a space to house gear, use studio, develop next level Shaolin discipline after driving your taxi cab late at night, build fusion earth home bomb bunker spelunker shelters, and plant herbaceous colonies in the sun & air.

Slowly, the spaces filled with filmmakers, musicians, a photographer, several jewelers, a metal sculptor and a man who made tiny houses. It could be delightfully unpredictable, said one former resident who did not want to be identified because she is friends with Almena and Allisons allies. Residents might come home to an impromptu drum circle, or piano and organ jam sessions. Friendships blossomed among the jewelry makers, mural artists, musicians and poets who gathered for barbecues and holiday meals.

People would borrow from each other and help each other out. In that sense, it was amazing, said the former resident. I had some of the best times in my life in that warehouse, among friends.

It was November when Talon and Acevedo took their tour of the warehouse. Talon, who was still pregnant, could hardly fit through the narrow passageways leading through the building, which was already stuffed with possessions weeks after Almena and Allison moved in.

Navigating the back stairway required ducking under power cords. There were rusty nails sticking out of bits of reclaimed wood. Power strips were daisy-chained across the warehouse floor.

It was power strip to power strip to another power strip to an outlet, Acevedo said.

They were led upstairs into the space the family was building out as living quarters. There was a large hole in the floor  where Almena and Allison planned to build the now infamous pallet staircase that people attending an electronic music show at Ghost Ship a little more than a week ago were unable to descend to escape the deadly fire. Talon said she remembered feeling nervous that the youngest of Allisons children was playing near the opening in the floor.

She didnt seem concerned at all, Talon said of Allison.

Acevedo and Talon left the warehouse feeling a lot more apprehensive about their new neighbors than they had been before the visit.

There was lots of talk of grandiose, non-achievable goals, Acevedo said. I remember thinking These people dont have the means to pull this off.

Sure enough, within weeks the activity at the warehouse started to get on their nerves. The place was noisy. Electronic music pounded into the wee hours. People came and went around the clock, smoking and yelling in front of the building. Debris and lumber piled up out front. Late at night, Almena and other residents would go out scavenging in his truck and filled the warehouse with their finds.

Things went downhill pretty quickly, Talon said. We had a baby and jobs and couldnt sleep. I didnt see a whole lot of art happening. There were a lot of parties with a lot of wasted people wandering around.

Acevedo estimates that he and his wife  the couple have since divorced  called police 50 times over 2 years. There were regular small fires and fights in the building. The police and fire departments were there on a weekly basis, they said.

Terry Chea/Associated Press

Garbage and debris piled up. A piano appeared in the front yard. A skeleton was painted on the building. It was not uncommon, said Garcia, the appliance store owner, to see people partying on the roof. The potential impact on his business of 42 years seemed clear.

Im looking at this skeleton, and Im looking at this junk on the sidewalk, Garcia said. Does it look good? It doesnt look good. It is not going to bring me business. Do my customers want to see that? I dont think so.

By the fall of 2014, the veneer of a creative utopia that some residents saw upon moving in was showing cracks. The propane tanks used to heat the water for showers ran out frequently. The warehouse was chilly, and residents huddled around electric heaters to keep warm. The power went out often.

Shelley Mack was looking for affordable housing in October 2014 when she stumbled upon a Facebook ad for a collaborative live-work space in Oakland. For Mack, a jewelry maker who works in tech sales, the idea of living with artists and being able to hone her craft among them appealed to her. And the price was right: $565 plus a $700 security deposit and whatever it cost to build out her space.

It seemed like it was perfect, she said. But I found out quickly it was not.

Mack wrote a letter to Almena cataloging her complaints. Mack detailed worries about possessions that went missing, the inconvenience of so many people using one bathroom, an infestation of fleas probably caused by mice and cats roaming the building  even a resident dripping blood in the sitting room.

Mack, who stayed at Ghost Ship until February 2015, said she had woken multiple times to find the power and heating had gone out. I cant stay outside the trailer in the evenings or at night its just too cold, she wrote. I know you said you had propane torchieres, but are they safe indoors?

The collective  which was renamed Ghost Ship in 2015  held two intervention meetings during her time there to try to get the place back on track. She said Almena and Allison would listen and seem receptive, but nothing was ever done afterward. Mack said she eventually stopped paying rent and was kicked out.

It was a beautiful yet terrifying place, said a former resident who wished to remain anonymous. The woman, now 33, lived in Ghost Ship from August 2014 through June 2015. She said she loved the creative spirit of the place, but that numerous concerns were raised and nothing was ever done about it.

We all knew what we were getting ourselves into, said the woman. You wouldnt believe how many close calls we had for fires, how many times we were without electricity or hot water. But where else are artists supposed to go?

She recalled one night, in particular, when the police were called because someone had a gun inside the warehouse.

I kept a fire extinguisher, flashlight and a self-defense weapon close at all times, she said. It was a nightmare.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Some problems werent kept within the walls of Ghost Ship.

Around Christmas of 2014, Acevedo and Talon had family visiting from out of town. Acevedos father looked outside and saw a man standing in their yard screaming at the house. Talon went outside and saw that it was Almena.

He was just yelling at the house about my cat peeing in the warehouse, she said. He threatened to murder my cat with a crossbow. He said, Id be doing you a favor. That animal is a problem. I was shocked. I didnt know what to say.

Stray cats werent uncommon in the neighborhood. The idea that their cat had somehow gained entrance to the warehouse and peed on the floor didnt make sense, recalled Acevedo.

It was tweaker logic  it didnt add up, said Acevedo, referring to the erratic behavior often displayed by methamphetamine users.

And beyond the buildings shortcomings, personal problems were piling up for Almena and Allison.

Neighbors and fellow parents from their kids school became increasingly worried that the warehouse wasnt a safe environment for children. One parent who had been friends with the family called the Fire Department, Police Department and Child Protective Services, warning them of the illegal and dangerous conditions in the warehouse, which was never designed or permitted for people to live in. In February 2015, Child Protective Services took the children, and it took Almena and Allison until June to get them back.

Several residents said that the couple were heavy drug users  regularly smoking meth. Almena, who wrote on Facebook about quitting drugs, could be abusive toward his subtenants when high, they said.

I believe he is clean now, but he would constantly yell at people, go off on poetic tangents meant to confuse and belittle, and he was incredibly manipulative, said a former tenant who left in June 2015. Derick would do things like turn off the power until people did his familys dishes for him.

Zachary Zeke Schultz, a former Ghost Ship resident who eventually opened a gallery around the corner at 3071 International Blvd., a property that is also owned by Ng and that abuts the warehouse, said that he spoke and texted with Kai Ng recently about the dangerous conditions there. He said the landlord knew that upward of 20 people were living there illegally and promised to terminate Almenas tenancy when his lease expired in 2018.

He said he was aware of all the problems, but that it had been incredibly hard to lease the space and it wasnt something he wanted to deal with, Schultz said.

There is some evidence that the warehouse was on the upswing in the months before the fire. Almena and Allison have their children back. He said on Facebook that he had been drug free for eight months  and had even quit smoking cigarettes. The former resident, who returned recently to visit, said the space was a lot cleaner than I had ever seen it.

Derick, Micah and the kids all seemed like they were doing well and well on the path to recovery, she said.

Carmen Brita, who moved into Ghost Ship in January 2016 and escaped last weeks fire, said there were three working bathrooms, a shower and hot water. She spent evenings writing or sketching and slept in a lofted area up a staircase fashioned from cross-sections of a tree trunk. She had a kitchen space where she kept a small refrigerator, a futon and a toaster oven.

From the moment I walked in the door, it was magical, she said. It kind of felt like being on a treasure hunt adventure, but also like being in a temple at the same time.

Almena could be a generous and kind group leader, Brita said, recalling that he encouraged people to take pieces of art from the common area to decorate their own spaces and once tracked down a pottery wheel because he knew she had an interest in ceramics.

Derick is a complex person, Brita said. People want to paint individuals as all good or all bad, and that is not how individuals are.

Acevedo and Talon sold their house in April of this year  in large part because of Ghost Ship.

We couldnt be around that situation any more. I couldnt have my daughter play in front of the house, Talon said.

Out of all the problems in the Fruitvale  drug dealing, murders, break-ins, muggings  the warehouse was the biggest for them.

We tried to stop this, and nobody listened to us, Talon said. This is exactly what we were afraid of. People didnt have to die.

Chronicle staff writer Kevin Fagan contributed to this report.

J.K. Dineen and Cynthia Dizikes are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen, @cdizikes
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The disastrous Ghost Ship fire has intensified long-simmering tensions between Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed and the citys firefighters union, which for years has been lobbying behind the scenes to get her fired.

At the same time, however, African American community leaders are coming to the chiefs defense, complaining that Mayor Libby Schaafs administration may be setting her up to take the blame for the deadly fire.

Deloach Reed, a former assistant chief in San Jose, was tapped as chief in 2012 by then-Mayor Jean Quan, making her the first black woman to head a major fire department in the U.S.

However, within a year tensions began to develop between Deloach Reed and the firefighters union on the overall management of the department.

Since the Ghost Ship fire, union officials have been the go-to sources for quotes about problems with the departments inspection bureau. An Alameda County civil grand jury found in 2014 that the bureau was failing to conduct thousands of required annual inspections, and union bosses were happy to point out to reporters that Deloach Reed hadnt gotten around to naming a fire marshal to run the bureau until 2015  instead, trying to do the job herself.

There were plenty of other vacancies in the department under the chief, union officials maintained.

We have been pushing (Deloach Reed) every month to make the hires and do the inspections, said union Vice President Zac Unger. I dont know where the money that the City Council budgeted for those positions ended up.

It creates dangerous situations for our firefighters and for our citizens, Unger said.

It didnt help last week when reporters figured out that the Ghost Ship converted warehouse had never been inspected by the Fire Department before the Dec. 2 blaze that killed 36 people.

I cant answer how that warehouse slipped through the cracks and that it bypassed our system  or how it bypassed the citys system, Deloach Reed told CNN. But everybody is at the table right now trying to figure out what happened.

Having thrown the chief under the fire truck, union leaders are declining to say anything further, telling us they want to give Schaaf time to consider the situation.

From the sound of things, however, the mayor doesnt think theres much to ponder.

The union may think this is the right track, but we dont, said Schaafs spokeswoman, Erica Terry Derryck. This is not the time for divisiveness.

Oakland isnt the only place where firefighters have gone to war with their chief. In San Francisco, the firefighters union has long campaigned to get Chief Joanne Hayes-White fired, but Mayor Ed Lee has stood by her.

Some have attributed that fight to a predominately male unions resentment of a female chief. In Oakland, the battle is taking on more racial overtones  with a largely white union taking on a black chief in a city where the African American community is worried about losing clout as its numbers diminish.

The Oakland Post, long seen as the voice of Oaklands African American political establishment under publisher Paul Cobb, is sounding the alarm that Deloach Reed is being hung out to dry.

There are indications that Mayor Libby Schaaf and the city administration may be trying to set up the Fire Department and the fire chief to take the blame for the Ghost Ship disaster, the Post said in its Dec. 8 edition.

Some observers have noticed that Reed, who is black, is being pushed to the side, the Post said. City staff has tapped her subordinates and other city officials to speak at press conferences, bypassing her leadership, and blaming her for understaffing of fire inspectors, excessive overtime for the few inspectors on staff and insufficient funding for crucial functions.

Derryck called the assertions baseless, noting that Deloach Reed was one of myriad city officials who went before the microphones at the scene in the days after the fire.

For her part, Schaaf has said she will not scapegoat city employees in the wake of this disaster.

What we will do is give them the clarity and support that they deserve, Schaaf said.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com.
In the 18 years since Google was born in a garage, Mountain View has ridden a wave of unprecedented job growth. But alongside the boom has come a slew of other issues familiar across the Bay Area: soaring rents, snarled traffic and people living in vehicles because they cant afford apartments.

Google is starting to address the crisis head-on. Its parent company, Alphabet, which employs more than 20,000 people in a city of 80,000, has proposed building 330 units of housing not far from its headquarters.

Its the first time Google has filed paperwork with the city to build housing  and a sign of just how acute the problem has become for technology companies, which are generating jobs much faster than their communities are building homes.

Its kind of a new thing in our area, Mountain View Mayor Pat Showalter said of Googles project, which includes office space as well as housing. The Bay Area, she added, has under-built for decades.

Googles plan, which the Mountain View City Council is likely to take up in 2017 or 2018, is part of a renewed push across Silicon Valley to address a problem that become one of the most serious threats to the tech industrys growth. Facebook has also announced plans to develop 1,500 units of housing on its property in Menlo Park, and it is donating $20 million to a community partnership that would support affordable housing and providing tenants rights services to the community.

The new units address only fractions of the need.

The fact that companies that design software and build algorithms for a living are having to build housing is really an indicator of the failure of our traditional housing supply model, said Matt Regan, senior vice president of government relations for the Bay Area Council.

After years of foot-dragging, cities are also showing a change in attitude, as they take modest steps that will make it easier for developers to build more housing. In Palo Alto, city officials recently discussed whether to change a rule that limits the height of buildings to 50 feet. Last month, Menlo Park changed its zoning rules to allow for more dense housing in an area of the city. In Mountain View, which added 17,921 jobs between 2012 and 2015 while adding just 779 new housing units, the City Council voted last week to clear two projects to go through the citys planning process: a few dozen condominiums and a 470-unit luxury apartment complex.

Governments are starting to realize that they have to stand up and start approving more housing, Regan said. But even with the new push, cities and companies are only building a small portion of whats necessary, he said.

Googles proposal would build 330 housing units on its property, in an area that once housed semiconductor companies using hazardous materials. It would prioritize housing for people working in the city and would not be limited to Google employees.

Partly because of zoning considerations, which need to be reconciled with the citys growth plans, Mountain Views City Council did not advance Googles project even as it moved the condos and luxury apartments forward in the planning process. But the mayor and several council members seem supportive, and assuming Google remains keen, the project is likely to come before them again.

If our goal is to reduce (traffic), it would make sense to prioritize housing for folks that are working in the area, Ryan Trinidade, a project executive with Google, told the council Tuesday. Googles proposal would fit well with the citys goals, he said.

Facebooks project, which is still in the early planning stages, would add 1,500 housing units on its Menlo Park property, even as the company expands its headquarters to accommodate more workers. Fifteen percent of the units would be designated as affordable housing  an issue that Facebooks $20 million donation is also intended to address.

If were able to develop housing to increase the supply in the market, I think it makes a substantive difference, said Juan Salazar, Facebooks public policy manager. Its small in terms of the size of the problem, (but) it helps to contribute to some of the solutions.

Both Facebook and Google have also made contributions in the past to apartment projects in their communities.

Aaron Terrazas, senior economist for Zillow, likened the recent moves by Facebook and Google to when Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Co., built houses for workers in Dearborn, Mich., in the 1900s. At the time, the city did not have enough housing and workers were traveling an hour to get to work, according to the Detroit News. In the Bay Area, some tech workers are cramming into small apartments with multiple roommates to shave off commuting time; others are living in their cars or choosing to leave the area entirely.

Alexander Brown, a 26-year-old Google software engineer from Arizona, said he was surprised to see how expensive apartments were in Mountain View when he looked for a place to live near work in 2013. So he ended up buying a mobile home.

It seemed like a good investment, had a really short commute, and gave me control of my housing, said Brown, who walks 15 minutes to get to the office. Brown declined to say how much he pays to rent space but said rents in general have climbed to $2,000 a month for new people coming into Santiago Villa, a mobile home community in Mountain View.

I feel bad for people who arent in tech who live here, who were raised here and want to stay here but are being forced out or made to live in suboptimal conditions, Brown said of the Bay Areas housing crisis.

Bay Area cities have generally favored building new office space rather than residential units because they gain more tax revenue through commercial properties. Building homes also requires the cities to spend more money on services like fire, police and schools.

I think that a lot of people enjoyed the suburban lifestyle that many of our communities have and they wanted to preserve that, said Showalter, Mountain Views mayor, who favors condo construction among other solutions. They were fearful that densifying and providing more dense housing would really create problems for their communities. Whats important is that those communities are designed properly and we have the infrastructure that supports that dense design.

If you have all the parts to the puzzle, it works well, she said. If you get things out of balance, which really they are now, you have problems.

A few cities are toying with a different philosophy: slowing demand for housing by trying to limit business growth. Earlier this year, Cupertinos mayor mulled a controversial head-count tax on businesses with more than 100 employees. Last year, Palo Altos City Council passed a limit on the development of office space in certain parts of its city to no more than 50,000 square feet a year.

Palo Alto Mayor Patrick Burt said he believes the solution will come from increasing housing located near transit or walkable areas, investing in public transportation, and perhaps moderating the areas job growth.

Silicon Valley just doesnt need to capture every tech job available, Burt said. The most healthy economy for the region long term is to moderate our rate of growth, not to have absolute boom and bust periods.

Showalter said there are limits on what a city such as Mountain View can do in regard to housing. For example, it can approve projects, but it cant specify the rents  though it can push for some affordable units.

We can control whether they are designed well and built well. We really can bend over backwards to do that, she said. What they charge is a market question and government doesnt control that. I can keep my fingers crossed that some of it the middle class could afford, but its not something that I have control over as a City Council person.

Wendy Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thewendylee
Thanks to a program that started Saturday, some homeowners wont have to pay or wait for an appraisal on certain refinance loans backed by Fannie Mae.

Instead of requiring an inspection by a human appraiser, Fannie will use its automated valuation model on qualifying loans. Fannie Mae already waives property inspections on about 3 percent of all loan applications that come through its automated underwriting system. Under its new enhanced property inspection waiver program, that could rise to 10 percent, Fannie says.

In the Bay Area, physical appraisals start around $450 for a typical home and take about two weeks, said Aaron LaRue of Clara Lending, an online mortgage bank.

Fannies no-appraisal offer applies only to refinance loans on single-family homes and condos worth up to $1 million. The loan amount must be less than Fannie Maes limits, which vary by region. In most Bay Area counties, the limit is going up to $636,150 next year from $625,500 this year.

Also, the loan-to-value ratio cannot exceed certain limits.

On limited cash-out refis, where the owner takes out no cash or just enough to cover closing costs, we will go up to 90 percent loan-to-value, said Zach Dawson, Fannie Maes director of credit risk. He estimated that 25 percent of limited-cash-out refis could qualify for the appraisal waiver.

On cash-out transactions, we will go up to 70 percent loan-to-value if the home is owner-occupied, or up to 60 percent if it is a second home or investment property, Dawson added.

In addition, Fannie Mae must have a physical appraisal for the same property, with the same borrower, in its Uniform Collateral Data Portal. This is a database into which lenders enter appraisals for mortgages submitted to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Its a treasure trove of electronic data gathered by human appraisers that Fannie and Freddie can use to develop automated appraisals, but its only been around for about 4 years. So homeowners who want to refinance a loan that is older than 4 years, or never submitted to Fannie or Freddie, wont qualify for the waiver.

They have collected all this data from appraisers. Now they are able to use it for their own advantage. Some appraisers arent too happy about that. Its almost like digging your own grave, said Ryan Lundquist, a Sacramento appraiser. Lundquist says he is concerned about the trend, but not actively freaked out.

According to the Appraisal Institute, a trade organization, the number of active U.S. appraisers has fallen by 9 percent since 2012 and is expected to continue falling, because of retirements, fewer new people entering the appraisal profession, economic factors, government regulation, and greater use of data analysis technologies.

As a result, appraisers in some cities, especially hot housing markets such as Seattle and Portland, cant keep up with demand.

Some markets have a very acute appraiser shortage. It could take a month or two months to get an appraisal, said Matt Jones, a regulatory assistant for residential policy with the Mortgage Bankers Association. The association has been lobbying the Appraiser Qualifications Board, which sets the requirements for appraisers to obtain a state license or certification, to reduce some of its college-level education requirements.

Fannies new program will have a very limited impact on appraisers, Dawson said. Given how busy appraisers are right now ... this is a very effective and a very responsible alternative.

The Appraisal Institute is less concerned about Fannie Maes no-appraisal offer and more concerned about one that Freddie Mac will introduce in the spring.

Freddie announced in October that it will add features, including a no-cost automated appraisal alternative, to a tool used by lenders.

In a letter to Freddies regulator, the institute said that unlike Fannie Maes new appraisal-waiver policies, which are limited to lower risk refinance transactions, the policy change by Freddie Mac appears to be oriented to purchase-mortgage transactions. It said Freddies decision appears to harken back to the loan production-driven days in the years leading up to the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

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Freddie Mac spokeswoman Lisa Tibbits declined to confirm whether Freddies new program will apply to purchase mortgages. We will say next year, she said.

Fannies new appraisal-waiver program, unlike its old one, will be open to all lenders. It will also waive the $75 fee it had been charging lenders on no-appraisal refis beginning Jan. 1.

Fannies timing could have been better. Applications for refinance loans have dropped about 28 percent over the past month, as mortgage rates have risen by about one-half of a percentage point.

We dont know how many people will be able to take advantage (of Fannies new program). We know there will be a significant advantage to those who can, said John Haring, a compliance director with Ellie Mae, a Pleasanton company that sells software to mortgage originators.

Borrowers can avoid the appraisal cost, which they bear, and in some cases, close sooner. In a rising-rate environment, closing sooner probably means getting a better deal, said Piper Beveridge, a vice president with Ellie Mae.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender
Its not every day  or every century  that you see the most powerful man in the city behind bars.

The Chronicles front page from Dec. 11, 1908, covers the conviction of political boss Abe Ruef.

Ruef, who once held the government of San Francisco in the hollow of his greedy palm, is now a condemned felon, the story read. A jury has pronounced legally the verdict which the people long ago arrived at, and the man who at his first trial said that he was guilty has now heard the word echoed by twelve men sworn to mete out to him nothing but even-handed justice.

Kudos to the editors and reporters of The Chronicle circa 1908 for knowing how to write with conviction. The subject, for his part, lended himself to impressive storytelling.

Ruef, a UC Berkeley and Hastings Law School graduate, fell quickly into corruption and in 1902 maneuvered behind the scenes to get Eugene Schmitz elected the mayor of San Francisco. Schmitz had about as much business running the city as the head of a musicians union  which he was before Ruef brought him into the fold.

Ruef and Schmitz sent the city into a tailspin of corruption until April 18, 1906, the day the Great Earthquake devastated the city. In the aftermath of the quake and fire, Ruef was indicted on graft charges. Following his conviction, the most powerful man in San Francisco spent time behind bars at San Quentin State Prison.

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 highlighting one classic Chronicle newspaper page from our archive every day for 366 days. Library director Bill Van Niekerken and producers Kimberly Chua, Alexandra Irving and Jillian Sullivan contributed to the project. Tim ORourke is the executive producer and editor of SFChronicle.com. Email: torourke@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TimothyORourke

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San Francisco just doesnt feel like home anymore. This lament by those who were born here or have lived here for many years grows louder by the day. At home, my wife, Camille Peri  whose Italian-Irish-Greek family goes back three generations in San Francisco  and I take turns on the wailing and moaning. It freaks out our dog, Brando, when we both lose it at the same time, cursing the city that drives us crazy but that we cant bring ourselves to leave. Oh my God, it took over an hour and a half to drive across town today! Does Ed Lee allow construction on every street at the same time now?

But home begins on your block. And for the lucky among us, we can retreat to that friendly enclave at the end of another frantic day, when all the city seems to care about is money, market share and restaurant reservations.

Camille and I have resided on our street in Bernal Heights for nearly a quarter of a century. We raised our sons here. All three are in their 20s and making their way up in the film world, a path nearly as rocky as the writing careers Camille and I decided upon in the same reckless spirit. This perilous family commitment to the creative life means, of course, that were stuck together, here in unaffordable San Francisco, in this crowded commune we call home.

Yet, theres a certain, odd, bohemian stability to our family life here in Bernal. And the remarkable thing is that our street has remained miraculously resilient, a bastion of racially diverse, middle- and working-class families in a neighborhood where houses now soar past the $3 million mark.

Im proud to say our street is also home to more than its share of civic heroes, activists and do-gooders. The San Francisco values that incited a national culture war and changed America, as I wrote about in my book Season of the Witch, remain strong among my neighbors.

In the dark days after Donald Trumps Electoral College victory, I found some solace going door to door on my street, and talking with my neighbors.

Now, it must be said that the Studio City neighborhood where I grew up, on the outskirts of Hollywood, had its unique charms. My father, actor Lyle Talbot, who broke into movies during their golden era  along with Bogie, Bette Davis and other Warner Bros. stars  liked our proximity to nearby studios, as did a number of other showbiz types. Across the street resided Thurl Ravenscroft, the basso profundo voice behind Youre a Mean One, Mr. Grinch and Frosted Flakes Tony the Tiger  the same roar he used to call his kids in for dinner. Next door to us lived a hard-drinking ex-showgirl named Ruth, a bottle redhead (in more ways than one) who whiled away her days with her scary Doberman pinscher and any neighborhood kids she could lure into her kitchen to keep her company over multiple rounds of gin and tonic.

But all in all, I find my Bernal Heights neighborhood more interesting. We have a seismologist who has spent his life monitoring our precarious existence on the shaky Pacific Rim. And theres a retired principal dancer for the San Francisco Ballet. Farther up the block is the mordant film genius behind Bad Santa (the original), Ghost World and Crumb.

Yes, the new tech money is invading our oasis. But the street still feels anchored around the committed San Franciscans who grew up here or came here following a dream that did not simply involve getting rich.

We tend to look out for each other on our street, babysit each others kids, accompany a stricken neighbor to the emergency room, loudly commiserate with each other about the 49ers as we leave for work on Monday mornings. One neighbor, Bayard Fong, sometimes drops by with tickets to a Giants game. Bayard works for the citys Human Rights Commission and his wife, Rosa, is the principal of Alamo Elementary School.

Up the street live Marianne Bachers and Rafael Trujillo, activist lawyers who met in the 1970s at the now-defunct hotbed of social change, the New College School of Law. Marianne is a death penalty defense lawyer. Rafael, a former president of the La Raza Lawyers Association, worked for the San Francisco public defenders office for 25 years. His mother marched in the 1934 San Francisco General Strike, and his father was a longshoreman. We mourn the loss of what made San Francisco unique, said Marianne. We hate that the city is so unaffordable now for regular people, and so homogenous. I came here when I was young to be with people different than me.

Norma Garcia, another activist lawyer, lives across the street with her husband, Bert Feuss, and their two sons. Norma, who grew up in the Mission, said she doesnt know any friends from her childhood who still live in San Francisco. Everyone got priced out, she said. But I dont want to go anywhere else. My roots are here.

Bert, the senior vice president of investments for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, thinks Mayor Ed Lee was right to offer tax breaks to tech companies after the 2008 crash as a way to create jobs. But now he needs to play hardball with the industry and tell them, You were part of the solution, now youre part of the problem, because of the growing economic inequalities and social problems.

A couple houses up from us live Jeff and Aileen Kositsky and their two girls. Jeff holds down one of the toughest jobs in the city, as the mayors point man on the homeless crisis. Why did Jeff take the thankless job? Excellent question, he said. But despite everything, were making progress. Jeff is one of those fundamentally decent people who makes you believe again in public service.

With Trump headed for the White House, Jeff knows that his job will get even tougher, as the new administration targets the programs that help immigrants who end up on the streets. Those fears have literally come home for Kositksy. The morning after the election, he found his 11-year-old daughter Hannah, who was born in China, crying on the couch. She was afraid that she  and the kids from undocumented families with whom she goes to school  could now be deported. I told her that San Francisco is safe  its people in other cities we have to worry about.

But Cristina Gutierrez is not so certain about Lees resolve to protect San Francisco as a sanctuary city under a full Trump onslaught, which will likely include slashing federal subsidies for municipal programs. Cristina lives a couple doors up from the Kositskys, and she and her family have tangled with Jeffs boss. Her son, the rapper Equipto (Ilyich Sato), confronted Lee at Maxs Opera Cafe last year. Youre a disgrace to Asians, the rapper, who is half Japanese American, said to Lees face. Youre kicking the people who built this city out of here. You should be ashamed of yourself.

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Last spring, Cristina, 66, and her 42-year-old son led the Frisco Five hunger strike against police violence, fasting for 17 days outside the Mission Police Station, and sparking a movement that led to the resignation of Police Chief Greg Suhr.

I wasnt looking for death, but I was prepared for it, said Cristina, who emigrated from Colombia to go to San Francisco State. She now runs the Companeros Del Barrio preschool in the Mission.

Now Mama Cristina, as she was known during the strike, is preparing for an even bigger battle, against the Trump-led federal government. The kids at my school are just 3 and 4 years old, but they bring to school with them the fears of their families, who come from Mexico and Central America. The parents are always asking me, What do we do, Cristina? I tell them, Organize and fight.

This is the spirit that animates much of my neighborhood, and that makes me feel San Francisco will always be home. We need this spirit more than ever now.

With Trump certain to come after the most defenseless among us, we must remind ourselves that an attack on the weakest is an attack on all of us  and on the values that make us a unique community.

San Francisco, you are the embracing city that opens your Golden Gate, and lets nobody wait outside your door. That old tune made famous by Judy Garland, our beloved lady of sorrows, cuts to my heart every time the organist merrily pumps it out before the curtain rises at the Castro Theatre.

We are the city of Saint Francis. We take care of our own.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist David Talbot appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Email dtalbot@sfchronicle.com
A state appeals court says the University of California Board of Regents acted legally in allowing unauthorized immigrants living in the state to pay the same tuition levels as other residents and to get financial aid.

State lawmakers had voted in 2001 to grant in-state tuition to all students, regardless of immigration status, at all of Californias public colleges and universities. But because of UCs independent status under the state Constitution, the legislation applied only to fees at California State University and community college campuses.

The regents, UCs governing body, then voted to take the same step for students at their campuses who had attended high school in California and had applied to legalize their immigration status.

Fewer than 1 percent of the students at all three institutions were unauthorized immigrants eligible for those lower costs, according to a legislative staff report. At UC, students from California currently pay $12,294 in tuition and fees, while out-of-state students pay $38,976.

The regents took the same steps after lawmakers approved measures in 2011 and 2014 to make unauthorized immigrants eligible for state financial aid and loan programs.

The actions were challenged by a taxpayer represented by the conservative nonprofit Judicial Watch. The suit relied on a 1996 federal law that made unauthorized immigrants ineligible for state and local benefits unless they were expressly authorized by a future state law. The regents are not legislators and have no power to enact state laws, Judicial Watch argued.

But the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles ruled Friday that the legislation in 2001, 2011 and 2014 had explicitly made UC students eligible for in-state tuition and benefits, allowing the regents to take the final step.

The 1996 law requires only that state laws make undocumented immigrants eligible for public benefits, Justice John Segal said in the 3-0 ruling, which upheld a Superior Court judges decision. Segal said the Legislature removed the federal barrier to making undocumented immigrants eligible for the exemption from nonresident tuition, and the regents conferred that benefit on qualified UC students.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

UC spokesman Ricardo Vazquez said the ruling recognizes that the Legislature and the regents have done everything necessary to extend these benefits.

Attorneys with Judicial Watch could not be reached for comment.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
WASHINGTON  President-elect Donald Trump moved closer to nominating Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state Saturday, meeting privately with the business leader for the second time in a week. Trumps transition team cautioned that no announcement was expected over the weekend.

Trump has privately signaled that he plans to tap Tillerson for the powerful Cabinet post, but had not formally offered him the job as of Saturday afternoon, according to people who have spoken with Trump and his transition team. Some advisers worry that Tillersons ties to Russia would lead to a contentious Senate confirmation hearing and keep alive questions about Trumps own relationship with Moscow.
Over the course of his illustrious career, Bob Dylan has appeared at the Grammys, the Golden Globes, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the MusiCares Person of the Year awards, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Critics' Choice Awards.

But when it came time for him to accept perhaps the highest honor of all - the Nobel Prize - Dylan was a no-show.

He had "pre-existing commitments."

The illusive songwriter had for weeks dodged calls from the Swedish Academy informing him of the award, to the point that the Nobel committee's chairman called him "impolite and arrogant." When it finally reached him, Dylan still wouldn't commit to attending the formal acceptance ceremony. Finally, a few weeks before the event, the Swedish Acadmey informed the public that Dylan wouldn't be in attendance. He was busy.

Some wondered whether the unpredictable performer would make a surprise appearance. But come Saturday, there was no Dylan. Only a note.

"I'm sorry I can't be with you in person, but please know that I am most definitely with you in spirit and honored to be receiving such a prestigious prize," it said.

Azita Raji, the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, read the heartfelt message from Dylan aloud.

"If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I'd have about the same odds as standing on the moon," Dylan said.

His note alluded to the question many asked when it was announced that he would receive the prize: Are Dylan's songs literature? This was the first time a musician was awarded this prize. It was a bit of a risk for the committee - and probably why its members were all the more miffed that Dylan didn't seem to care. But the musician explained in his letter that he needed "more than a few minutes to properly process it." He has spent so much of his life pursuing his work "and dealing with all aspects of life's mundane matters," he said, he never stopped to consider whether his songs are literature.

"So, I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider that very question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer," the letter concluded.

As the academy pointed out before the ceremony, Dylan is not the first to refuse to accept his award in person. Novelist Doris Lessing and playwright Elfriede Jelinek are among those who declined to attend the ceremony honoring their work.

But there is one requirement that the academy's members expect Dylan to fulfill. As it reminded him publicly with a news release, the clock is ticking.

"We look forward to Bob Dylan's Nobel Lecture, which he must give - it is the only requirement - within six months counting from December 10, 2016," the release said.

Dylan has yet to announce whether he'll comply.
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This article originally appeared on KCRA.com.

Officials said Sunday, Dec. 11 crews believe they have found the body of the skier who was reportedly lost in an avalanche near the Mount Rose Ski Resort.

The Washoe County Sheriff's Office tweeted the body was found before 1 p.m.

The Washoe County Sheriff's Office received a call about the lost skier about 10:15 a.m. Saturday and launched a search shortly after, KRNV reported.

The missing skier, a man about 60 years old, got caught in an avalanche in a closed area of the resort, KRNV reported.

Searchers were called back as a safety precaution around 2 p.m. Saturday, so Mount Rose personnel could perform some additional avalanche mitigation.

The search was called off for the night Saturday at about 5 p.m.

Crews started day two of the search operation at 9:15 a.m. Sunday. Crews from Placer and Nevada counties rescue crews were assisting Washoe County with the operation.

After several hours of searching, crews found the man's body.

This article originally appeared on KCRA.com.
Bill Hutchinson / The Chronicle

Santa Clara city police arrested an off-duty officer Friday for allegedly assaulting a woman he was dating.

Around midnight, officers responded to a domestic-violence call and found Santa Clara City Police Officer Daniel Burde, 34, with his girlfriend, officials said. The woman apparently showed signs of physical harm, and Burde was booked into the Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of felony domestic violence.
Following his Friday visit to the 72nd Street station of the future Second Avenue Subway, Governor Andrew Cuomo checked out the progress at the 86th Street station today. In an interview with billionaire and former mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis, Cuomo was upbeat about the long-awaited line opening on time, "We have a few weeks, and if I had to bet, John, and it was even money, I would bet that we make it. We still have a lot of work to do. Its a complex project. It's a $4 billion project but we're going to give it, we're going to work every day between now and December 31, I can tell you that, to make sure we hit the deadline."

The subway line was initially started in the 1970s but was shelved due to funding issues. Ground was broken again in 2007, and the MTA has hoped that Phase 1 of the project would be complete by the end of the year.

During the interview, Cuomo crowed about how he's trying to improve infrastructure, "[W]ere sitting on the infrastructure of the 50s. So I have made a pointed effort, something Im really proud of is, bringing New York State to the best development infrastructure to compete economically around the globe. You need an airport that is an internationally renowned airport. You cant be flying into LaGuardia, which is a disgrace, frankly. You try to move people into Manhattan through mass transit. You bring them through Penn Station, which is like going through the catacombs, right? I mean, you couldnt have a more miserable experience on the way to work and its been that way for decades and no one has even tried to rattle the cage, but we have the most aggressive building program now, probably since Robert Moses."

The Governor proudly said that he's taken a "personal, hands-on approach" to the Second Avenue Subway to make sure it gets done. Here are Cuomo's full remarks about the subway:

Second Avenue Subway, they started talking about it in the 1920s. It started in the 70s and then was aborted. Started again in 2007 and it seemed like it was a project that would never end. Sort of in the past year and a half, Id say, Ive taken a personal hands on approach, and thats the only way you get things built, you know as well as I do in the private sector. I used to build apartments, community developments. You have to show up every day. When I was building something, Id be there seven days a week, and thats what were doing with the Second Avenue Subway. You have to show up. Ill be there again today. Let the contractors know that you will. The Second Avenue Subway was supposed to be done by the end of this year and there was a move early on. People thought we should probably move the deadline. And I said, No, were going to stick to the deadline and were going to work like hell to make it, and thats exactly what were doing. We have a few weeks, and if I had to bet, John, and it was even money, I would bet that we make it. We still have a lot of work to do. Its a complex project. Its a $4 billion project but were going to give it, were going to work every day between now and December 31, I can tell you that, to make sure we hit the deadline.

Which is all well and good, but Cuomo's promises for MTA funding in the past have been either disappointing, confusing or possibly problematic.
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WASHINGTON - With his choice of restaurant executive Andrew Puzder to serve as his Labor secretary, President-elect Donald Trump has now tapped six big donors and fundraisers to serve in his administration, lining up an unprecedented concentration of wealthy backers for top posts.

Together with their families, Trump's nominees gave $11.6 million to support his presidential bid, his allied super PACs and the Republican National Committee, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal campaign filings.

One single appointee - WWE co-founder Linda McMahon - contributed $7.5 million to back his White House run before Trump selected her to run the Small Business Administration this week. She and her husband Vince were also the top outside donors to Trump's private foundation.

It's not unusual for top presidential donors and bundlers to land plum assignments after an election. Ambassadorships to sought-after locales, such as London and Paris, are usually reserved for big money players. In recent administrations, senior campaign fundraisers have been chosen for Commerce secretary: Penny Pritzker under President Barack Obama, Don Evans under President George W. Bush, Ronald Brown under President Bill Clinton, and Robert Mosbacher under President George H.W. Bush.

But longtime watchers of money in politics cannot recall any president in recent history who has filled a Cabinet with so many major donors.

"In the past, they were a little hidden - they were sent overseas to be ambassadors," said David Donnelly, president of Every Voice, an advocacy group that seeks to reduce the influence of wealthy donors on politics. "In this administration, they are going to be front and center making policy."

Fred Wertheimer, president of the watchdog group Democracy 21, said Trump's choices raise questions about his pledge to "drain the swamp."

"This is bound to result in all kinds of conflict and appearances of conflicts in terms of the financial interests of the people being appointed to high positions," he said.

The president-elect's decision to put his major political backers in senior Cabinet positions is a jarring contrast with Trump's rhetoric through this year's campaign. He repeatedly declared himself independent of wealthy donors and predicted Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's benefactors would "have total control over everything she does."

"Donald Trump gave his Foundation's largest donor a CABINET spot yesterday," Clinton adviser Ronald Klain tweeted Thursday. "Did you see blaring headlines? Imagine if HRC had done that??"

Trump transition officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The president-elect has defended the backgrounds of his Cabinet picks, saying he is choosing "killers" who know how to win. "I want people that made a fortune," he told supporters at a rally in Des Moines Thursday night. "Because now they are negotiating with you, okay?"

Here's a breakdown of the donors Trump has tapped for his Cabinet and how much they gave:

Small Business administrator: Linda McMahon, $7.5 million

McMahon, co-founder of the professional wrestling franchise WWE and a former Republican Senate candidate from Connecticut, was the third biggest financial backer of Trump's presidential bid, giving $7.5 million to pro-Trump super PACs, the RNC and his campaign. Between 2007 and 2009, she and her husband Vince gave $5 million to Trump's charitable foundation.

Education secretary: Betsy Devos, $1.8 million (contributed by the Devos family)

The Michigan billionaire philanthropist and her husband, Richard, whose father was the co-founder of Amway, are major conservative donors and GOP contributors. The couple gave nearly $317,000 to the Republican National Committee this cycle. Altogether, the Devos family contributed a total of $1.8 million this cycle to the party and Trump's campaign.

Deputy Commerce secretary: Todd Ricketts, $1.3 million (contributed by his parents)

TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts - the father of Todd, a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs - helped finance Future45, a super PAC that spent lavishly for Trump in the final weeks of the campaign. Joe Ricketts gave the group $1 million. He and his wife, Marlene, also contributed nearly $343,000 to support Trump's campaign and the Republican Party.

Treasury secretary: Steven Mnuchin, $425,000

Mnuchin served as Trump's national finance chairman, helping organize dozens of high-dollar campaign fundraisers across the country. The former Goldman Sachs executive and hedge fund manager also personally contributed $425,000 to the campaign and party.

Labor secretary: Andrew Puzder, $332,000

Puzder, who runs CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Hardee's and Carl's Jr., served on the Trump Victory committee as one of his top fundraisers in California. He and his wife together contributed $332,200.

Commerce secretary: Wilbur Ross, $200,000

The billionaire investor was an early financial supporter of Trump's campaign. Ross opened his Southampton, N.Y., estate for one of the campaign's first fundraisers, which cost $25,000 a head. Ross personally contributed $200,000.

It remains to be seen whether Trump will draw any other major contributors into his administration. New federal filings show his billionaire supporters poured millions more into pro-Trump super PACs in the final stretch of the race. His biggest supporters: casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, who gave a total of $21.2 million to support his run. They were followed by Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus ($7.6 million), McMahon ($7.5 million), Dallas banker Andy Beal ($4.4 million) and hedge fund executive Robert Mercer ($3.4 million).

One of Mercer's daughters, Rebekah Mercer, is close to three of Trump's top advisers: Stephen Bannon, Kellyanne Conway and David Bossie. She and her father are expected to be major boosters of a new group Conway is likely to lead that will serve as an outside political operation to support his agenda.
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About a year ago, 18-year-old college student Lauren Batchelder stood up at a political forum in New Hampshire and told Donald Trump that she didn't think he was "a friend to women."

The next morning, Trump fired back on Twitter - calling Batchelder an "arrogant young woman" and accusing her of being a "plant" from a rival campaign. Her phone began ringing with callers leaving threatening messages that were often sexual in nature. Her Facebook and email in-boxes filled with similar messages. As her addresses circulated on social media and her photo flashed on the news, she fled home to hide.

"I didn't really know what anyone was going to do," said Batchelder, now 19, who has never discussed her experience with a reporter until now. "He was only going to tweet about it and that was it, but I didn't really know what his supporters were going to do, and that to me was the scariest part."

This is what happens when Trump targets a private citizen who publicly challenges him.

When Trump tweeted about Batchelder in October 2015, he had fewer than 5 million followers; he now has more than 17 million and has bragged that having a Twitter account is "like owning the New York Times without the losses." Twitter has become Trump's cyber-magic wand, allowing him to quickly act on a fleeting idea, a fit of anger or something he sees on television. Now that he is the president-elect, the power of Trump's tweets has only increased.

With one tweet, Trump can change headlines on cable news, move financial markets or cause world leaders to worry. With one tweet last week, Trump inflamed a conflict with China. With another tweet on Tuesday, Trump caused Boeing stock to plummet. With a third on Wednesday night, Trump prompted a series of threatening calls to the home of a union leader who had called him a liar.

Although Trump said months ago that he was likely to give up Twitter if elected, he has shown little sign of doing so. He will soon inherit the @POTUS account, which has 12.5 million followers.

"I think I am very restrained, and I talk about important things," Trump said during an interview with the "Today" show this week. "Frankly, it's a modern-day form of communication. . . . I get it out much faster than a press release. I get it out much more honestly than dealing with . . . dishonest reporters. So many reporters are dishonest."

For Batchelder, who studies history and gender studies at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, the abuse continues more than a year later. Five days before the election, she received a Facebook message that read: "Wishing I could f---ing punch you in the face. id then proceed to stomp your head on the curb and urinate in your bloodied mouth and i know where you live, so watch your f---ing back punk."

During her first semester at Saint Anselm in fall 2015, Batchelder decided to volunteer for former Florida governor Jeb Bush's campaign, even though her views were much more liberal than his. To her, it was just an enjoyable opportunity to learn more about the Republican Party. She listed the volunteer position on her online resume but later realized that she truly is a Democrat.

On Oct. 12, 2015, Batchelder attended a bipartisan forum in Manchester and said to Trump: "So, maybe I'm wrong, maybe you can prove me wrong, but I don't think you're a friend to women."

Trump defended himself, saying he gave women positions of power at his construction sites, has influential women in his life and will fund women's health initiatives.

"I love women, I respect women, I cherish women," Trump said at one point.

Batchelder asked for the microphone again.

"I want to get paid the same as a man, and I think you understand that, so if you become president, will a woman make the same as a man, and do I get to choose what I do with my body?" she said, then throwing her arms up in a questioning gesture.

Trump answered curtly: "You're going to make the same if you do as good of a job, and I happen to be pro-life, OK?"

CNN and other media outlets covered the striking exchange, which generated conversation online. But Batchelder went to bed that night thinking her moment in the spotlight was over.

After midnight, Trump's director of social media tweeted out screen grabs of Batchelder's social-media accounts. Trump's supporters launched investigations of their own. At 7:39 a.m., Trump tweeted: "The arrogant young woman who questioned me in such a nasty fashion at No Labels yesterday was a Jeb staffer! HOW CAN HE BEAT RUSSIA & CHINA?"

Later that morning, Trump tweeted again: "How can Jeb Bush expect to deal with China, Russia + Iran if he gets caught doing a 'plant' during my speech yesterday in NH?"

Tim Miller, Bush's former spokesman, said the campaign had nothing to do with Batchelder's asking the question. While the staff was accustomed to Trump's attacking Bush, they were stunned that he went after a college student.

"If I was going to plant a question, I would have planted a better question," Miller said Thursday.

Batchelder agreed: "Why would they ever send me out to do a pro-choice question? Guys, [Bush] is pro-life, which was one of my biggest problems with the Republican Party. And so I was like: 'Why would they ever send me to do that?' "

Logic doesn't matter to online trolls, who rated Batchelder's physical appearance, threatened to rape or otherwise hurt her and called her vulgar names. A Photoshopped picture popped up online depicting her face covered in semen.

"I love social media, but I also saw the terrible side of social media," she said. "I definitely tried to focus on something else because when you're seeing your life being played out in front of you and people are judging it and people are making assumptions about you, you kind of just want to stay away."

Batchelder turned down interview requests, ignored the nasty messages and threw herself into playing rugby. She became even more interested in women's issues and wants to be a human rights lawyer. She voted for Hillary Clinton for president.

Trump's Twitter account says it was created in March 2009, but Trump really started to use the account as a key communication tool in 2012 when he seriously considered running for president, said longtime friend Roger Stone.

"He loves it," Stone said Thursday. "This is what got him elected - being outspoken."

Trump dictates many of his tweets to "one of the young ladies" who work in his office.

"So they'll type it out for me, real fast, bring it in - I'll be in a meeting. 'Blah, blah, blah, boom!' Put an exclamation point here, and they'll send it out," Trump said in a May interview on Fox News.

But on weekends, evenings and during early-morning hours - such as when the first tweet about Batchelder was posted - Trump says he writes and sends his own tweets. The messages will often come seconds or minutes after the topic is covered on a major news network. Melania Trump said during an April town hall with CNN's Anderson Cooper that she has repeatedly told her husband to get off Twitter, especially after midnight.

"Anderson, if he would only listen," she said. "I did many times. And I just say: 'OK, do whatever you want.' He's an adult. He knows the consequences."

Batchelder hopes that Trump stops targeting people on Twitter, especially people such as she who are not public figures, and uses Twitter as President Obama has. She realizes that speaking out is likely to spark another wave of abuse, but she thinks it's important for people to realize the harm that a single tweet can cause.

"Twitter is such a powerful platform. He can make a difference. He can change the world," she said. "And, using Twitter, I think he should use it for good. I think he should use it to uplift others."

Jenna Johnson is a political reporter who is covering the 2016 presidential campaign.




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Los Cabos recovery from the ravages of Hurricane Odile in September 2014 has a familiar ring: a history-making storm, abject hardship, obstinate resilience and a lightning-quick rebound.

Like Cancun in the wake of Hurricane Wilma in 2005, Los Cabos has seized the opportunity to temper its renowned party-hearty madness by up-scaling. Not only has it undertaken renovations, it is adding such icons of luxury as Vievage Los Cabos from Auberge resorts, the stylish JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton Reserve and Starwoods Solaz.

But travelers worried that Los Cabos is becoming even more like Cancun and less like Mexico actually have ample opportunity to experience the countrys true spirit, nature and culture. A break from the manufactured fun is easiest in quieter, more traditional San Jose del Cabo, but also possible in Cabo San Lucas.

 Christine Delsol, travel@sfchronicle.com

Morning

Early in the morning, start on the west side of San Jose at the Mercado Municipal, a classic market where locals snag well-priced fresh meats and produce, clothing and sundries. Fortify yourself for the day at the bank of inexpensive loncherias.

Follow up with a walk along Estero San Jose, where the freshwater Rio San Jose meets the Pacific. The Paseo del Estero footpath will take you south to a peaceful, palm-fringed lagoon at the mouth of the river that hosts hundreds of species of birds.

When you return, linger for a while in Plaza Mijares, a plaza shaded by ancient trees that exude colonial atmosphere and relaxed attitude. Behind the church on the square, most of the galleries in the burgeoning arts district, largely responsible for the towns reputation as the cultural heart of Los Cabos, should be open.

Midday

Its time to get out on the water, and December through March is prime time for spotting Cabos cavorting humpback whales. Cabo Adventures offers two-hour photo safari tours. If you can clear most of the day, theyll also take you on a whale shark excursion during the same seasons, allowing passengers to snorkel with the oceans largest fish.

At any time of year, various types of vessels take passengers to one of the Wests genuinely iconic landmarks, El Arco. The most popular conveyance to the arch carved into stone currently is glass-bottom boats, which depart on one-hour tours from Cabo San Lucas marina throughout the day. The sight is grand enough to transcend the touristy nature of the flotilla of tourist-laden boats.

Afternoon

Among Los Cabos famous beaches, Zippers, at mile 17 in the Cabo Corridor between San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, is the one most favored by surfers, and therefore by spectators. But for sheer romance, the aptly named Playa Amor, or Lovers Beach, cant be beat.

Except at very low tide, its accessible only by water taxi. The wide, immaculate sands spread across the cape behind El Arco and become Divorce Beach on the Pacific side. Despite its depressing name, it presents some of the best sunsets youll ever see.

Just keep your wits about you to be sure you meet your boatman at the right time and place for the return trip.

Evening

Depending on your mood, dinner might be in one of the temples to Cabos growing culinary prowess or just a simple little place that serves delicious, authentic Mexican fare. Afterward, in lieu of mixing it up with the determined drinkers at Cabo Wabo or joining a conga line at Squid Roe, there are more sedate and, well, adult nightlife options, even in Cabo San Lucas.

J&J La Casa del Habano is Cabos best, if not only, purveyor of authentic Cuban cigars, and it also sells a dizzying array of artisan Tequilas. Sip a specialty mojito with (or without) your cigar, or ask for a tasting  seven half-ounce shots. Baja Brewing, the peninsulas first microbrewery, has two cantinas in Cabo San Lucas, as well as its brewery and restaurant in San Jose del Cabos arts district. Either one will send you to bed happy.

If you go

Where to stay

Casa Natalia: San Jose del Cabo; www.casanatalia.com

Where to eat

Las Guacamayas: Paseo de Los Marinos s/n, Mauricio Castro, San Jose del Cabo. Original in San Jose del Cabo, but there are two more in Cabo San Lucas.

What to do

San Jose del Cabo Gallery District: www.artcabo.com

Cabo Adventures: www.cabo-adventures.com

J&J La Casa de Habano: Cabo San Lucas; www.jnjcabo.com

Baja Brewery: www.bajabrewingcompany.com
SOFIA, Bulgaria  A derailed tanker train exploded Saturday and decimated a village in northeastern Bulgaria, killing seven people and leaving at least 29 injured, many with severe burns, the Interior Ministry said.

Authorities said about 50 buildings in the village of Hitrino were destroyed when containers of gas exploded at 5:40 a.m.

Video footage showed many houses in the village of 800 on fire and ambulances taking the injured to hospitals. Hitrino Mayor Nuridin Ismail said children had been buried under the rubble of a house that collapsed.

Two tanker cars carrying propane-butane and propylene derailed at the station in Hitrino, hit nearby electric lines and exploded, police officials said. The engine driver survived and has been questioned, police said.

Officials earlier had described the cargo as liquefied natural gas.

The entire village was evacuated later Saturday as a precaution because of the risk of possible new explosions. Emergency teams started a high-risk operation to reload the hazardous substances.

Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, who arrived at the site of the blast, urged citizens to donate blood to address shortages at nearby hospitals.

There will be more casualties, Borisov told reporters.

He said several people suffered more than 90 percent burns and that damage from the explosion was extensive.

The train had been traveling from the Black Sea port city of Burgas to the Danube city of Ruse.
Ivanka Trump's longtime stalker has reportedly been arrested once again, this time by Secret Service agents who caught him less than two blocks from Trump Tower.

New York Magazine reports that Justin Massler was nabbed a block away from Donald Trump's transition team headquarters on November 29th.

Massler, who is 34, was previously charged with stalking and harassment in 2010 for stalking the then-27-year-old Ivanka. He once purchased an $800 pair of earrings from Ivanka's jewelry store for her and "became furious" when employees didn't deliver them to her. Massler had also posted on Twitter that his "dream in life" was to marry and start a family with Ivanka, and once threatened to kill himself at Ivanka's jewelry shop.

In 2012, Massler pleaded guilty to violating an order of protection that Ivanka had taken out against him a year prior. Jezebel described him as a "notorious celebrity stalker" last year, and pointed out that in addition to the eldest Trump daughter, Messler has also stalked several Kardashians.

Massler was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia and left a Nevada mental health facility late last month. TMZ said that Massler's brother, who reportedly lives in the city, booked him a hotel room in Manhattan just a block away from Trump Tower.

The Secret Service told Gothamist that they cannot comment about ongoing investigations.
SEOUL  The previous time South Koreas parliament voted to impeach a president, ruling party lawmakers bawled and hurled ballot boxes, a man set himself on fire in front of the National Assembly, and thousands glumly held candlelight vigils night after night to save late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun.

Twelve years later, the mood couldnt have been more different, with huge crowds returning to Seouls streets Saturday, a day after lawmakers voted in favor of removing disgraced President Park Geun-hye. The vote for impeachment left protesters basking in pride, believing they had repaired a damaged democracy with their weekly demonstrations.

Thousands of people marched near streets close to the presidential palace, where the notoriously aloof Park will remain mostly alone for up to six months until the Constitutional Court rules whether she must step down permanently.

Carrying signs, flags and yellow balloons, they gleefully shouted for her to quit immediately rather than weather the court process.

The demonstrators waved their arms to the beat of gongs and drums and followed an effigy of Park dressed in prison clothes and tied with rope into a narrow alley near the presidential offices and residence, known as the Blue House.

Throngs of demonstrators packed a large nearby boulevard that was the center of massive protests in recent weeks.

We got off to a good first step (on Friday). It was a day when we all realized how strong we can collectively be, said Kim Hye-in, 51, who spent her sixth consecutive Saturday in Seoul protesting against Park. But we arent there just yet. We need to keep gathering strength and protest until the court officially removes her from office.

Protest organizers said about 600,000 people turned out on Saturday.

On Friday, the parliament passed an impeachment motion against Park, stripping her of her presidential duties and pushing Prime Minster Hwang Kyo-ahn into the role as government caretaker until the court rules on Parks fate.
SANAA, Yemen  A suicide bomber blew himself up inside an army base Saturday in the southern city of Aden, killing 45 soldiers and wounding an additional 50, security officials said.

They said the bomber detonated a belt of explosives he was wearing amid hundreds of soldiers lining up to collect their salaries in the citys Solban army base.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Waleed Rashed, a soldier in the base, arrived at the scene shortly after the attack to find the area littered with bodies and blood.

I could hear the wounded soldiers screaming for help, he said.

Private cars were used to ferry the wounded to hospitals before ambulances arrived, he added.

The Islamic State groups Yemeni affiliate claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on social media sites known to be sympathetic with the extremist group. It was impossible to immediately verify the claim.

Aden is controlled by a loose coalition of troops loyal to the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, local militias and jihadist groups.

The troops and jihadist groups are fighting Shiite rebels, who in 2014 seized Yemens capital, Sanaa, and later swept much of northern Yemen. Their advances forced Hadi to flee the country and seek shelter in neighboring Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition, mostly consisting of Gulf Arab states, subsequently intervened in Yemen, launching a punishing air campaign against the rebels and their allies.
BEIRUT  Islamic State fighters appeared close to retaking Palmyra, Syria, on Saturday, just nine months after Syrian government forces drove them from the desert city, where they had terrorized residents and blown up irreplaceable ancient monuments.

Residents said Islamic State militants were battling soldiers in the citys center, after retaking outlying oil fields and nearly encircling the city over the past week as the government and its allies were focused on a pivotal battle in Aleppo, farther north.

Losing Palmyra for a second time would be a major symbolic and military blow for the Syrian government, which touted its reconquest of the city in March, after 10 months of Islamic State rule.

Russia, the governments main ally, which had helped with air support and advisers, flew an orchestra to play a victory concert in Palmyras ancient amphitheater that month.

The Russians also established a small base in the city, but residents said all Russian troops had pulled out in recent days as the militants approached.

The setback in Palmyra comes as the government has been scoring its most important victories in years in Aleppo, once Syrias largest city.

The army and allied militias there have retaken most of the eastern half of the city. East Aleppo has been held for four years by rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad.

Another battle, also unfolding Saturday, may further complicate the governments war strategy. A rebel coalition backed by Turkey made advances against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in the city of Al Bab in northern Aleppo province, an area that the Syrian government hoped to conquer from the group.

Residents were in a state of fear and anxiety, according to activists from the Local Coordination Committee of Palmyra, a group that opposes both Assads government and the Islamic States self-described caliphate.

The activist group said that residents were being abandoned by government forces, which had withdrawn from several areas. The events echoed those of spring 2015, when most government forces left the area, leaving residents and a few junior soldiers at the hands of the Islamic State.

Many of those who remained were executed.

On Saturday, pro-government social media accounts reported that Russian advisers and other allies  possibly including militiamen from Iraq and the Lebanese group Hezbollah  had abandoned Palmyra as the Islamic State approached, leaving Syrian government troops to fend for themselves.

Hezbollah played a major role in the battle to take back Palmyra nine months ago, a victory it sought to publicize in order to show that it, too, was battling terrorism and saving the ancient ruins from further destruction.
MANAMA, Bahrain  The United States is sending 200 additional U.S. troops to Syria, nearly doubling the Pentagons presence there, to help thousands of Kurdish and Arab fighters massing for an assault on the Islamic States stronghold of Raqqa, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday.

Carter said the reinforcements would include U.S. commandos and bomb-squad specialists. They will join the 300 Special Operations forces working in eastern Syria to recruit, train and advise local Syrian militias to combat the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS.
Heartland Bank wants to raise up to $30 million through a placement and share purchase plan to maintain its capital ratio after strong lending growth, as well as support its digital strategy.

The placement will be conducted today through a bookbuild for institutional and other select investors in New Zealand and Australia, run by First NZ Capital, the bank said in a statement. Heartland will raise up to $20 million through the placement.

The share purchase plan, which will raise as much as $10 million, will offer New Zealand-resident shareholders up to $15,000 worth of shares. Heartland said the final terms will be announced early next year, after its first-half earnings are published in February, but noted that the shares will be offered at a discount. Following this, the bank may issue Tier 2 capital "with a view towards optimising its capital position", it said.

"Heartland expects receivables growth to continue for the rest of FY17  in particular, during our traditionally high-volume month of December," it said in a statement. "In order to further invest in our digital strategy, and to ensure Heartland continues to have sufficient capital to support that growth, Heartland intends to raise up to $30 million of new capital."

Heartland said it had been investing in data analysis to "more precisely" target its customers, and has put resources into supporting digital origination. Net finance receivables rose to $3.25 billion as of Sept. 30, from $3.11 billion in June 2016 and $2.86 billion the previous June.

Heartland has to hold capital equal to 10.5 percent of its risk-weighted assets, and a $30 million equity raise will strengthen its capital ratio as of Nov. 30 by about 0.9 percent, according to its investor presentation. The bank's capital ratio declined to 12.42 percent in November from 13.78 percent in June and 12.71 percent in November.

The bank affirmed its annual guidance for net profit of between $57 million and $60 million. It boosted annual profit 12 percent to $54.2 million in the year to June 2016.

The shares last traded at $1.53 and have risen 16 percent this year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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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.
NWS Hatchimal

Staten Islanders gathered outside the New Springville Target last night as early as 10 p.m. hoping to get in on Sunday morning's Hatchimals delivery.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- With news swirling Saturday that a delivery of Hatchimals would be arriving at the Target in New Springville on Sunday morning, Staten Islanders flocked to the store hoping to come away with this year's hottest holiday toy.

Customers began gathering around 10 p.m. Saturday and camped out overnight to secure a spot at the front of the line.

"I got here at 10 p.m. and stayed out all night," said Dina Limandri of New Springville. "But you know what? I was with good people. We all took care of each other, made sure everyone was warm, and we had drinks for everybody."

Unfortunately for many, Target only received a shipment of 18 Hatchimals and allowed customers to purchase a maximum of two.

"I would say by 10:30 the nine people who were going to get the 18 Hatchimals were all here already," continued Limandri.

According to a Target employee, the line outside reached over 100 people at one point and the store turned away over 200 people throughout the night.

Target employees began handing out tickets around 7:30 a.m. to the first people in line to make the buying process smoother once they opened their doors at 8 a.m. Sunday.

Despite being told multiple times about the limited shipment, approximately 50 people still waited in line until 8 a.m. in hopes that they could come away with an extra Hatchimal.

"Right now every Hatchimal from Staten Island to New Jersey is sold out at Target stores," said a Target employee. "We are expecting replenishment throughout the week. We just don't have visibility as to what days."

Customers and Target employees agreed that they haven't seen a holiday toy craze this intense since Tickle Me Elmo in 1996.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Santa Claus is spreading holiday cheer at Applebee's restaurants on Staten Island for the 20th annual Breakfast with Santa Claus event to raise money for local charities.

Apple-Metro, Inc., owners and operators of Staten Island's Applebee's Grill & Bar, hosted the annual breakfast to benefit seven Staten Island-based agencies. The agencies help children with a myriad of services, including autism, substance abuse, recreational and educational issues and more.

Breakfast was offered on Saturday at the Applebee's in the Staten Island Mall, New Springville. Santa will be welcomed again on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 8 a.m. at Applebee's in the Mall and in New Dorp, Graniteville and Charleston locations.

A $15 donation per person offered breakfast, a gift for each child and a visit and photos with Santa Claus. The breakfast included French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, juice and hot beverages donated and served by Apple-Metro, Inc. staff.

Last year, more than $10,000 was raised and distributed among agencies serving children.

The agencies receiving proceeds from the events are: Camelot Counseling, Community Resources, GRACE Foundation, Have a Heart Foundation, Staten Island Children's Museum, Staten Island YMCA and United Acitivities Unlimited.

About Apple-Metro Inc.

Operating restaurants in all five boroughs of New York City, Westchester and Rockland Counties, Apple-Metro, Inc. is the exclusive NY Metro Area franchisee for Applebee's Grill & Bar.
Trump supporters rally against hate crime accusations

Trump supporters, including Bobby Zahn (left) and Sam Pirozzolo (second from left), rallied against claims made that hate crimes have increased ever since Donald Trump won the presidential election. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A small group of members from the Staten Island Conservative Party Freedom Caucus spoke out against hate crimes and "fake news" on Sunday afternoon.

The group gathered in front of Borough Hall to rally against Mayor Bill de Blasio and Whoopi Goldberg of ABC's talk show The View. Members of the group said both have been making claims that hate crimes have been increasing ever since Donald Trump won the presidential election.

Sam Pirozzolo, a member of the group, explained that their statements leave the audience with the impression that those committing the hate crimes are Donald Trump supporters.

"The Staten Island Conservative Party Freedom Caucus is against crimes of any sort, especially hate crimes," Pirozzolo said. "These things shouldn't happen."

The group does not believe that Trump is the reason behind any of the hate crimes and Pirozzolo said that the amount of hate crimes have actually decreased in Staten Island.

According to the NYPD, hate crimes on Staten Island are on the decline. While 28 hate crimes were reported in 2014, police responded to 14 in 2015 and 14 so far in 2016, according to a spokesperson for the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Pirozzolo said that of the eight million people who live in New York City, there are many other people aside from Trump supporters that could be committing hate crimes.

"Stop making it look like Donald Trump and Trump supporters," he said, regarding the statements made by de Blasio and Goldberg.

Pirozzolo mentioned that there have been several reports about Trump and his family members being harassed in New York City once Trump was elected.

"I invite Trump and his family to Staten Island," Pirozzolo said, referring to the reports. "They are more than welcome to come to Staten Island."

Member and organizer of Sunday's event Bobby Zahn said that Mayor de Blasio is "placing a target on Trump supporters and Staten Island in general."

"I wouldn't be surprised that supporters would be targeted," he said. "Trump supporters don't get treated with respect."

Although their turnout wasn't as large as the group hoped, Zahn said that speaking their minds is more important than the amount of people who came out.
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Riverside Galleria -- a retail complex that will include a large waterfront promenade, a multiplex cinema and eateries with outdoor dining -- is about to undergo the city's mandated Uniformed Land Use Review Process (ULURP), while the project's leasing agents are actively soliciting tenants.

"In racing terms, we are coming around a final pole to go into the home stretch in order to be able to get certified," said Steven Barshov, partner of the Manhattan-based Sive, Paget and Riesel, and the attorney for the project.

"We are expecting to get certified in the next three to four months of 2017, and then ULURP goes through its regular time period, and if all goes as it should, we'll be approved. And we should be approved within calendar year 2017," he added.

Construction on the project -- bounded by the Outerbridge Crossing to the north, Arthur Kill Road to the east, Richmond Valley Road and Mill Creek to the south and the Arthur Kill Waterway to the west -- is expected to take 18 months to complete, said Barchov.

The retail complex -- that is being developed by New York City developer Melohn Properties Inc., which has offices in St. George -- will be 457,000 square feet on 21 acres of waterfront property on the shores of the Arthur Kill, almost directly underneath the Outerbridge Crossing.

LEASING

James Prendamano, managing director of Casandra Properties, leasing agents for the project, recently attended the International Council of Shopping Centers trade show in Manhattan.

"I had a who's who (of meetings) set up for the show, as there is a lot of interest in Riverside Galleria," he said.

Last year, Riverside Galleria developers announced that they signed a lease with Gregg and Jesse Scarola, managing partners of The Atrium, to build a 55,000-square-foot dine-in movie theater with 12 to 16 screens and rooftop bar.

In addition to the theater, the site will include about 300,000 square feet of retail and a 40,000-square-foot supermarket, said Prendamano.

"We are moving toward signing other deals, but we are not there yet," said Prendamano, noting they are actively seeking a "higher-end supermarket" as one of the Riverside Galleria retailers.

TRAFFIC PLANS

Barshov said a traffic analysis was completed by the developer's environmental consulting firm. Project representatives will be meeting with Borough Transportation Commissioner Thomas Cocola and Borough President James Oddo next week to discuss plans for mitigating traffic, he said.

"We have met with the neighbors on a couple of occasions to make sure what we are doing, particularly in terms of site egress and ingress, on Arthur Kill and Richmond Valley roads is not going to cause problems for people," said Barshov.

"We want to have the least possible impact on Arthur Kill Road. But certainly when you put in a shopping center there will be more traffic than there is now," he added.

The plan calls for widening a section of Arthur Kill Road, adding traffic signals and creating multiple ways to get in and out of the project, said Barshov.

"There is a whole variety of things being done on an intersection to intersection basis," he said.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

The developer also has submitted a preliminary draft of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to the city.

"City Planning is gaining comments on the preliminary draft of the EIS from various agencies," said Barshov. "For example, we recently met with the Department of Transportation about traffic impact. ...We have been getting feedback and we expect to continue to get feedback from the city. We will revise our preliminary draft EIS, submit it and hopefully that will be the one to be certified."

MORE PROJECT DETAILS



As part of the project, developers will create a three-level parking garage for more than 1,700 cars.

The project's design includes preserving 10 acres of wetlands on the site, creating natural buffers and incorporating sustainable components, such as green roofs on buildings.

In addition, there will be a natural area with walkways that will rise above an interactive area where visitors can overlook the wetlands. There also is a proposal for an outdoor amphitheater overlooking the water.

COLE HOUSE PRESERVATION



The developers will preserve and renovate the 19th-century Cole House as part of the project.

The architects for the project have reached out to local community groups, and have floated the idea of using the house as a meeting place, welcome center or restaurant, among other uses.

The home -- on Arthur Kill Road at Richmond Valley Road that was built in the 1800s and is also known as the Dissosway House -- isn't landmarked. But the developer has decided to preserve the home, rather than demolish it.

The developers will be preserving many of the the home's historic elements.





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Note: Click on the accompanying image for a gallery of 24 photos from Graniteville in years past.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- During the early 1800s the community of Graniteville was referred to as Bennett's Corners and Fayetteville, but when quarries to trap rock were operated in the neighborhood from 1841 to 1896, the name was changed first to Granite Village and then to Graniteville.

Interestingly stone from the quarry was used to build the old Christ United (Episcopal) Methodist Church, what is now the Korean Methodist Church.

However, most weren't aware that the Graniteville quarry didn't contain granite, but rather a crystallized stone called trap rock.

One of Graniteville's notable landmarks is Baron Hirsch Cemetery, an 80 acre Jewish cemetery founded in the late 19th century and still active.

FYI: Graniteville was the scene of a notable fire in March 1942, when an explosion at the Consolidated Fireworks Company on Richmond Avenue took the lives of five employees.

And like so many other communities on Staten Island, after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was completed in 1964, residential development in the area increased rapidly.

Have any vintage Staten Island photos to share? You can email them to benanti@siadvance.com or attach them to the comments section below.
romo.JPG

The Yankees have interest in San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Sergio Romo.

(Associated Press)

The New York Yankees are apparently interested in signing a player with last name of Romo.

No, silly, not Tony Romo from the Dallas Cowboys, but rather reliever Sergio Romo from the San Francisco Giants.

The 33-year-old Romo has pitched all nine seasons for the Giants.

Romo posted a 2.64 ERA with 14 holds and four saves last season, recording 33 strikeouts over 30 2/3 innings.

However, he spent nearly three months on the disabled list with a flexor strain in his right elbow.
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"I don't think the regime would withdraw forces from Aleppo to Palmyra and risk losing Aleppo," said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group. "I think the regime's priority now is to finish the battle for Aleppo before the end of the month for sure. As for Palmyra, the whole international community would stand by it against IS."
Ex-Fremantle Docker Colin Sylvia is in hospital with serious head and neck injuries after apparently falling from a balcony in Melbourne.

The midfielder, who had a rocky and short lived spell at Fremantle after 10 seasons at Melbourne, posted pictures of his injuries online from his hospital bed.

Colin Sylvia played only six AFL games in 2014 for Fremantle. Credit:Getty Images

"Not an ideal start to the weekend," he wrote on his Instagram account from the Alfred Hospital as he posted shots of himself both bleeding from the head after the fall, and later wearing a neck brace in bed.

"Very lucky, your [sic] not supposed to fall off balconys apparently!!
Law firm Maurice Blackburn has appointed Jacob Varghese as its new chief executive after Greg Tucker stepped aside after 12 years at the helm.

Ahead of his appointment Mr Varghese was the firm's social justice and class actions principal.

Maurice Blackburn principal Jacob Varghese at a press conference.

Mr Tucker will remain at the firm but will take up a senior management role from April 21 when Mr Varghese takes over as CEO.

Maurice Blackburn chairman Steve Walsh thanked Mr Tucker for his service and commitment to the firm.
Howards Storage World has been tipped into administration weeks before Christmas, with a restructuring team from Deloitte appointed to the specialist retailer on Friday.

Voluntary administrators Vaughan Strawbridge and David Lombe were appointed to companies that run 29 of the retailer's stores in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria.

Howards Storage World went into voluntary administration last week. Credit:Sean Davey

The troubled business is also the franchisor of a further 30 Howards Storage World outlets.

The immediate focus of the administrators will be an "urgent" assessment of the business, and the Australian Financial Review reported they are eyeing a sale of the retail chain.
The grocery industry is wary of the consequences of a Federal Court ruling that Woolworths did not behave unconscionably by demanding as much as $60 million in cash from suppliers to plug a profit shortfall.

The decision has left suppliers on watch, particularly as the big chains cull product lines, said Gary Dawson, chief executive of the Australian Food and Grocery Council. The council represents packaged food, drink and grocery manufacturers.

Chairman Gordon Cairns and CEO Brad Banducci, of Woolworths. Credit:Jessica Hromas

"We will obviously keep a close eye on how the retailers respond to this judgment," Mr Dawson said. "We think it would be pretty appalling if it were seen as a green light to do the same thing again."

And he said the behaviour detailed in the court case would arguably fall foul of the new Food and Grocery Code of Conduct, which sets minimum standards for how retailers and wholesalers deal with each other.
Professor Fitzgerald's research (Canberra Times, December 9) has revealed the great majority of Australians  of all political stripes  are in favour of voluntary euthanasia, accompanied by appropriate checks and balances. Much of the good work in generating public discussion on the topic was initiated by Fiona Patten, leader of the Australian Sex Party, who made the issue an important part of her platform in the last election. The Victorian ALP's decision to allow Labor members a conscience vote on the topic in 2017 is a step in the right direction. Let's hope this step turns into a march that allows Australians who wish to do so the right to die with dignity. Richard Whitaker, Terrigal

Mr Fitzgerald's piece is full of poignancy and consideration, but we cannot condone the deliberate killing of another human being, either by themselves or an agent on their request. Lest it be thought I have no personal contact with the issues, my family experienced the excruciating death of my father and we all felt it was truly horrible. I spent a lengthy period employed in the coroner's court, which led me to believe death, families and money can be a combination that causes utterly disgusting human behaviour. Sometimes I wonder if the excruciating pain is actually experienced by loved ones' witnessing the seemingly destructive end of their relationship with a loved one. It's absolutely true many do suffer very painful deaths, but that is surely a call for better palliative care than an explicit decision to support the end of someone's life. No amount of safeguards can overcome the tendency of some to seek a benefit from someone's death.

J. Dalton, O'Connor Worrying mindset The Canberra Times (December 6) reported Emma Alberici supported moves to cut the ABC Science program Catalyst, the Fact Check Unit and the online Drum. She is reported to have said these programs only appeal to older demographics and that the ABC has to appeal to younger people who embrace the digital media. There has been a dramatic in increase in fake news in online sites. The same issue of The Canberra Times reports support for the Geneva Convention has declined and [almost] a quarter of Australians support the use of torture in war.

These trends suggest a worrying mindset developing among younger people. Rod Holesgrove, O'Connor Light rail disruption I almost choked on my morning coffee reading the suggestion re light rail, from Gerdina Bryant (Letters, December 6). She must be joking; the light rail trundling along the long rambling route she suggests.

Suffice to say most of the streets would not cope with the space needed for the infrastructure. I am sure the residents of Mugga Way would not welcome this disruption to their life styles, and property values (definitely no apartment blocks)! A ramble via a scenic route, culminating, as she suggests, with the trip down Hindmarsh Drive, checking out the view. . Instead of a 15-minute express bus serving Woden/Civic, an hour-long sightseeing tour! I think not. And let's not mention cost, even if it does follow the direct route. Heather McMillan, Greenway

Feeling of emptiness While I have some sympathy for Ross Gittins's rallying cry for optimism ("Why I'm still an optimist", December 7, p12) I can't accept his belief in the therapeutic power of the glass half full myth. The glass should be seen for what it is. If it's being filled then it's half full, and if being emptied then it's half empty. Pretending it's one and not the other is self-deluding.

In any case, being half full isn't necessarily good. OK if it's beer, but if it's something like echidna urine I'll take half empty every time. Philip Telford, Tarago Libs' wrong slant David Pope's cartoon (December 8, p19) points to one of the very few things I share with the Turnbull government.

Treasurer Scott Morrison and Minister for Being Almost as Important as Marise Payne, Christopher Pyne, criticise the Labor Party's policies and actions in almost every statement to the media as if Labor is still in government. That contagion has now spread to PM Malcolm Turnbull. Clearly they would be more comfortable in opposition where they can critique the government rather than take responsibility. I would also be more comfortable if Turnbull, Morrison and Pyne were back in opposition. Tony Judge, Woolgoolga, NSW

Trump's trumpeting Perhaps Donald Trump's speeches may be described as the trumpeting of the GOP elephant? Colin Roberts, Griffith Decriminalise illicit drugs Testing illicit drugs at music festivals, as advocated by Warwick Davis  Drugs a medical problem  (CT Letters, December 4) raises some interesting questions.

What liability would it have if, despite testing, drugs caused death or serious injury? If testing of drugs were permitted at music festivals, why not generally? Australia's official policy puts users at risk while supporting the drug trade. A trial of supplying addicts with diamorphine (medical heroin) in Canberra was supported by the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy in 1997 but vetoed by John Howard. A proposal for a medically supervised injecting room in Canberra was effectively defeated by the Labor opposition in June 2000 by rejecting its budget. Though in office throughout the construction and operation of Canberra's prison, Labor, cowed by union opposition, has refused to allow a needle exchange program.

Drugs and needles enter the prison, exposing inmates and staff to potential serious harm. More than 70per cent of prisoners are illicit drug users. Australia should attack the criminal drug trade by decriminalising the use of illicit drugs and providing registered addicts with controlled and safe drugs. The risks of using all drugs must also be widely promoted. Graham Downie, O'Connor War laws do matter

After the 1990 World Summit for Children, I had thought international standards of care and protection did mean something to the world's governments, especially concerning refugees and their children ("More back torture in war" CT December 6, p4). At the WSC, world leaders promised to put children first for resources. From Section 38(4) of that 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child, one law of war reads: "In accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population in armed conflicts, States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure protection and care of children who are affected by an armed conflict." This suggested the UN's Blue Helmets could be used actively to protect civilians affected by war (CT, Jan 22, 1993, p9). After the first Gulf War, a very appropriate use of Australia's military medical and engineering skills occurred in 1991, when the ADF cared for Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq . Yet still children and their parents are dying in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The laws of war do matter  if only compassionate governments were to apply them. Peter Graves, Curtin Loan plan misdirected Your editorial "Caution needed on any loans to Adani" (December 6, p14) is far too mild. I do not want my tax to be used on a $1billion loan to build rail infrastructure for the Carmichael coal mine.

Recently Turnbull said that "no public money" would be provided for the project. Untrue. Why are the federal government and Queensland Labor supporting the development of the world's largest coal mine that will contribute to increased CO2 emissions and have a detrimental impact on the Great Barrier Reef? Who believes Adani's claim on the number of jobs that will eventuate? Why not provide jobs through renewable energy enterprises? Or in conservation of the land and marine environment? Or in scientific marine research? Tourists don't want to see bulk carriers, polluted waters, and dying coral.

Why are we encouraging and supporting Adani when the Queensland Treasury noted "it 'was not particularly transparent' about company equity and debt"? Will the electricity produced from Carmichael coal really go to "electricity-deprived Indians"? Judy Kelly, Aranda Offensive tall fences I am appalled with the decision to erect tall security fences to prevent public access to the grassed slopes over the Parliament House.

The slopes influenced the selection of the Mitchell Giurgola and Thorp scheme and reflected a sensitive appreciation by the designer of the significant role of landscape in Canberra as originally envisaged by Walter Burley Griffin. The issue of security about the slopes has been around since the Parliament House design competition. I remember appearing before a committee chaired jointly by the Hon Gareth Evans and Sir John Overall to provide design comment. When it became clear most attending were backing the Mitchell Giurgola and Thorp scheme, a security expert raised security issues about the slopes. The scheme was still selected as the winning design.

I am surprised that in the 30-odd years since then the security experts haven't been able to find an appropriate way of dealing with the issues. Surely they can do better than this? Dr John Gray, landscape architect, Mawson M. P. Canavan demands pro-refugee protesters should "pay the price" for their actions at Parliament House. (CT December 1). Perhaps their actions were dishonourable, disrespectful, and disruptive of our parliamentarians and guests. And perhaps their actions were even illegal.

Certainly, their actions were born out of frustration over the increasing intransigence of our many governments and the resulting damage done to those deserving of our duty-of-care. Still, the protesters' actions were entirely non-violent and non-harmful, which is significantly more than I can say about our governments' policies dealing with asylum seekers. Judy Bamberger, O'Connor TO THE POINT BUSINESS BENEFITS

The Turnbull government claims it is concerned about rising costs for energy, while, at the same time, it supports the export of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) at cheap prices for its corporate mates. This drives up the cost of domestic gas to households and industry for the benefit of big business! Gerry Gillespie, Queanbeyan NOT TO BE CONFUSED Seeing The Canberra Times has called it  it is official (Wet September and Dry October, ACT a 'tinder Box', December 8).

I am wondering whether your reporter, or in fact many of your readers, know what a "tinder box" is. Hopefully they wouldn't confuse it with a "thunderbox". Terry Walls, Canberra EXCELLENT CARE Hats off to the staff at Canberra Hospital. During my two recent emergency admissions I received fabulously high-quality, kindly and respectful care.

I am grateful too for the hospital's excellent facilities. My extra special thanks go to the team in emergency department and in the stroke unit. Jo Bothroyd, Duffy MOST DESERVING Thank you for your story ("Canberra's 'real Santa Claus"', CT December 9) on Beryl and John Fillery of Kambah. John was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in June 2010 "For service to the community of the Canberra region as a volunteer with a range of social welfare organisations".

Ed Highley, Kambah PURE FICTION Please stop perpetuating the Productivity Commission's myth books sold in Australia are more expensive due to parallel import restrictions. Most books are cheaper in Australia. As in New Zealand, abolishing PIR would make books more expensive, not less. Jackie French, Araluen Valley, NSW ROAD TO NOWHERE

Who seriously takes responsibility for the shambles of Horse Park Drive. A shambolic goat track that joins a mega suburb to Majura Parkway. A road with a shoddy widening to nowhere it appears. Linus Cole, Palmerston SESELJA SILENCE
Australia is in a wretched fix if the best available solution to the political malaise is Bill Shorten. After months of willing Malcolm Turnbull to succeed, to prevail over the lunar right holding his potential to ransom, to prove it is possible for a federal government to be both conservative and reasonable, recent events indicate that hope is lost.

Not all hope, but most of it. It is possible that Turnbull could hang on for the next two years, recover in the polls sufficiently to thwart a challenge, win a thumping mandate at the next election, use that victory to thwart his hostage-takers, and go on to be the transformational Liberal leader, who deals with Australia's approach to climate change, reinvigorates the economy, reforms the tax system, closes the Pacific gulags, allows all couples to wed, and is so stunningly successful at all he does that he can set up a second referendum on the republic, and win it, bumping the Queen off the $5 note and installing himself instead, as the first Australian president.

Near the end of the year, again we should ask: what point Malcolm Turnbull, pictured with Bill Shorten, if he is but a less irritating version of Tony Abbott? Credit:Andrew Meares

It's possible, but then so is Donald Trump emerging as an effective president, sane and rational, a leader of the free world who contains Vladimir Putin rather than is beholden to him for helping him into the White House.

In reality, the likelihood is that Turnbull will not be the prime minister after the next election, or before it if the astronauts of his party room decline to heed the lesson, given several times over, that political coups achieve little more than a temporary sugar hit in the polls, and create far more problems than they fix. (Their only positives were saving Australia from having to endure Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott as prime minister for longer.)
Erich Bloch, a computing pioneer who helped develop the IBM mainframe that more than any other machine propelled the world into the digital age, has died in Washington aged 91.

Bloch became a computer processing pioneer after arriving in the United States in 1948 as a Jewish refugee orphaned by the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. He went to work for IBM four years later.

In 1964, he made his signal achievement at the company when he transformed computing by introducing the System/360, the foundation for the modern concept of an operating system that hosts a variety of computer programs.

The system enabled IBM to dominate the computer market for a quarter-century and provided the technology that now lets consumers bypass bank tellers with ATMs and make travel reservations from home.

After 32 years at IBM, Bloch was appointed director of the National Science Foundation by President Ronald Reagan. In his six-year term, from 1984 to 1990, he oversaw the transition of the foundation's early generation digital network into a wider system that became today's internet.
Sadly, the NSW government hasn't paid much attention to the lessons of history, if last week's response to the Callinan Review is anything to go by.

About time, too. The outcome of intense pressure by the temperance movement in America following the Great War, prohibition had been a disaster: people continued to enjoy a glass or two of bourbon or "moonshine" but now, they had to purchase them in underground, illegal drinking dens, or speakeasies, that had created a boon for organised crime.

The US government took a momentous decision 83 years ago this month: it repealed Prohibition, rolling back laws that had banned the production and sale of alcohol across the country between 1920 and 1933.

Sydney's night life is not going to be reignited by this haphazard and piecemeal response.

Like many venue operators in the CBD, the lock-out laws have had a major impact on small bars like ours; the very venues that have been improving the city's drinking culture before that all came to a halt with the introduction of lockouts in 2014.

So while we certainly welcome some measures, such as the increase of the small bar licence from 60 to 100 patrons and the automatic extension of small bar licences to 2am, the fact remains that Sydney's night life is not going to be reignited by this haphazard and piecemeal response.

It's not just the lockouts and closing times that are the issue  there are other bizarre restrictions hampering the growth of Sydney's small bar scene and which have unfortunately not been considered in last week's announcement.

It's probably not widely known among those of you who don't frequent bars post-midnight, but it is no longer possible to get a Baileys on ice in Sydney when the clock strikes 12. Baileys, you see, is a spirits-based beverage and is therefore not permitted to be served "straight" after the witching hour.
After the stupefying Brexit-Trump sequence, and the Italian referendum result, could far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen win next year's presidential elections in France?

Donald Trump's win and the Brexit vote have been widely interpreted as the revenge of a silent majority  mostly white, living outside the major cities and voting as a bloc. In France, with an exceptionally volatile electorate, 'the invisibles'  les taiseux or "those who have shut up" as they're sometimes known  might also seek revenge on a much unloved elite widely perceived as out of touch with the rest of society.

The whole Trump phenomenon wouldn't be replicated in France because the French attitude to wealth is so different to the American. Trump the self-made man, the sometimes rough-talking billionaire blithely claiming a country can be run like a corporation, seems rather, well, gauche to the French.

Yet France like the US, Britain and Italy, is grappling with questions of globalisation, identity and deindustrialisation, and has been shaken by the 2015 terrorist attacks. The French economy is not faring well: with growth sluggish, public spending enormous yet inefficient, and unemployment stuck at around 10 per cent, France alone among the big industrialised economies (the US, Germany, Britain and Japan) is without full employment.
Sydney and most of the country's south-east are in for a sweaty few days as a hot air mass sweeps across southern Australia.

The Bureau of Meteorology hiked its forecast for Tuesday to 35 degrees for the city with 34 degrees predicted for Wednesday, while Penrith and Sydney's western suburbs will cop 37-38 degrees over those days.

Monday looks to be more comfortable, with 28 degrees tipped for the city and 33 out west, the bureau said.

Craig McIntosh, a meteorologist at Weatherzone, said the cooling sea breezes that keep the mercury lower along the coast may turn out to be weaker than the bureau expects, with 37 degrees possible for the central business district on Wednesday.
Losing the prime ministership has yielded at least one benefit for Tony Abbott: he has more time to read and is rediscovering a love of thrillers.

The former Liberal leader regards reading as "the best way to cultivate the mind". He recently finished Kevin Donnelly's monograph on Western civilisation, The Culture of Freedom, and is halfway through Anne Henderson's Menzies at War. But he does regret one effort, E.L. James' erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey.

This is according to the former prime minister himself, who has revealed a lot about his reading and viewing tastes in a wide-ranging interview with ABC radio's Sunday Afternoon program.

"Something I haven't done for years I've been able to do a bit of over the last 12 months and that is to read thrillers. I've started reading some of the Daniel Silva books," he said, praising the American novels as fascinating and "high-pressure yarns".
It's the second-most common cancer among women, but too many people wrongly believe bowel cancer is just a man's disease, a NSW survey suggests.

Only 37 per cent of people surveyed by the Cancer Institute NSW knew that bowel cancer was one of the most prevalent forms of cancer among females.

The findings were a worry, the institute warned, considering bowel cancer prevalence was second only to breast cancer among Australian women.

Respondents considered bowel cancer more of a male disease, with 69 per cent recognising the disease as one of the most common cancers to affect men, found the phone survey of 787 people in NSW.
Lawyers acting for six young Australians wanted over the death of a man in Peru are expected to appeal a decision that would force them to return to South America.

A Peruvian judge rejected the groups bid to provide statements to police from Australia, according to spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

Six young Australians at the centre of an ongoing diplomatic row with Peru. Credit:Dallas Kilponen

A DFAT spokesperson said lawyers acting for the group will appeal the decision.

The group, dubbed the 'Peru Six', used their Facebook page Completely Wrongly Accused to call for public support following the decision on Wednesday.
The long wait is over for those VCE students who didn't receive their results early.

After an embarrassing technical glitch led to more than 2000 students seeing their results five days ahead of schedule, the majority of school leavers will find out their fate on Monday morning.

At 7am, mobile phones will beep across the state and computers will be fired up as 44,628 students receive their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, or ATAR.

The end-of-year rank is the main criteria for entry into most undergraduate university courses and symbolises 13 years of schooling coming to an end.
We study history largely so we dont repeat the worst it has to offer. Unfortunately, it doesnt always work out that way.

Ive been thinking about this a lot in recent weeks as white nationalist bloviating and hate incidents have increased in the wake of the presidential election. The highest-profile incident remains the recent gathering of so-called alt-right leaders in Washington, D.C., which ended in multiple Nazi salutes. Leading the charge was Whitefish resident Richard Spencer, a young light in the current suit-and-tie white supremacy movement.

Reports of hate crimes are also on the rise, in schoolyards and on public streets. Dorms at Southern Methodist University were papered with fliers explaining why white women shouldnt date black men. Residents of the Dallas suburb of McKinney found fliers on their doorsteps. First sentence: Our new president Donald Trump is Gods gift to the white nation.

Its shocking in 2016, as it should be. But its not new. White supremacist thought predates the formation of the country, and its never really gone away, not through the abolition of slavery, not through the decline of Jim Crow, certainly not through the election of the first black president in U.S. history.

Remember when that occasion was met with self-congratulatory statements about the end of racism? It was a transparent fiction from the start.

This is where knowing the countrys history comes into play. Im not talking about dusty, musty tomes pulled from the back of the stacks. A pair of books published just this year provide ever-relevant context for the current white supremacist moment.

One of them just won the National Book Award. Ibram X. Kendis Stamped From the Beginning (Nation Books, $32.99) sets out its ambitious project in its subtitle: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.

Kendi, a history professor at the University of Florida, bases his exhaustive study in one central thought: Racist ideas, which Kendi defines as any concept that regards one racial group as inferior or superior to another racial group in any way, have historically sprung from racist policies, and self-preservation of the ruling class. The policy leads to the ideology, not vice versa.

For instance, slavery was the economic engine of the Southern economy. No slavery, no riches. These circumstances naturally led the slaver class to defend its system at all cost, which in turn led to the justification that slaves deserved to be slaves, because black people were inferior to whites.

This wasnt just a convenient prejudice; it was the malformed, blood-soaked bedrock upon which an entire socioeconomic system lay.

And when people of color advance, economically or socially, racists see red. Theyre taking our jobs! Its not their country! (America for Americans! as the old Ku Klux Klan slogan thundered).

This is the phenomenon Carol Anderson explores in White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide (Bloomsbury, $26).

Anderson, the chairwoman of the African-American Studies department at Emory University in Atlanta, meticulously tracks the backlash against black advancement from Reconstruction to the present. As she argues, white supremacists have no problem with black people per se. The rage sets in when black people are allowed to do well.

The trigger for white rage, inevitably, is black advancement, she writes. It is not the mere presence of black people that is the problem; rather, it is blackness with ambition, with drive, with purpose, with aspirations, and with demands for full and equal citizenship. It is blackness that refuses to accept subjugation, to give up.

Such ambition and purpose was once labeled uppity, back when such language was permissible in polite conversation. Today, when the reality of a black president is too much for you to take, you rarely just come out and put it that plainly. Instead you say hes a Muslim. Or a socialist. Or you suggest that he wasnt born in the U.S. Kind of like how you dont announce that youre a white supremacist. Instead, you pledge allegiance to the so-called alt-right (an offshoot of conservatism mixing racism, white nationalism and populism).

Its no accident that Andersons book ends with a chapter titled How to Unelect a Black President. Like Ari Bermans 2015 book Give Us the Ballot, White Rage examines efforts to suppress black voting, from onerous voter ID laws to the widespread but unfounded cries of voter fraud in urban areas.

As Anderson writes, Barack Obama was a catalyst for a level of voter suppression activities that had not been seen so clearly or disturbingly in decades.

In other words, when we talk about the history of white supremacist thought, we arent always talking about ancient history. What were seeing now is part of a continuum. It ebbs and it flows. Recognizing the roots makes it easier to identify  and to stand on the right side of history.
A cancer patient whose last wish was to meet her hero Beau Ryan has died in hospital days after a 'priceless' visit from the star.

Sydney girl Kia Lettice got to meet the retired Australian rugby league player after her friend posted an appeal on Facebook.

The 22-year-old, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2015, died "peacefully in her sleep".

"It saddens me to announce that Kia Louise Lettice, my beautiful angel has passed, she passed peacefully in her sleep and with loved ones around," her mother Patti wrote on Facebook.
Despite having no formal qualifications and a conviction for fraud, for years a former bankrupt who bought his PhD on the internet has been able to pass himself off as a psychologist in both Sydney and Melbourne.

Titling himself Dr David Kaye, the 54-year-old currently runs the Sydney Trauma Clinic which offers services in the treatment and management of psychological trauma and related disorders.

Ali Davut Sarikaya, aka David Kaye, pictured in 1993. Credit:Sebastian Constanzo

In 2012 "Dr Kaye" was appointed to the NSW Bar Association's Professional Conduct Committee to assist in disciplinary matters against barristers.

Two years later he was asked to resign after issues relating to his identity and his past caught up with him.
"I thought I was protecting my family and I have taken somebody away from theirs."

That is what Mitchell Barbieri told a psychiatrist after he murdered Inspector Bryson Anderson during a violent stand-off in 2012.

Barbieri, 21, was sentenced to a maximum of 35 years behind bars, with a non-parole period of 26 years, for murdering the decorated officer in Sydney's north-west.

His mother, Fiona Barbieri, was jailed for manslaughter.
What's in a name? In the case of one little boy, it's four court hearings and an $8000 legal bill.

The boy was conceived during a month-long relationship that ended soon after the mother fell pregnant. The first the father heard about the birth was when the Child Support Agency contacted him. Now aged three, the boy lives with his mother and sees his father several times a week.

court Credit:AFR

The parents  given the court-ordered pseudonyms Ms Reynolds and Mr Sherman  have shared responsibility for the boy, but could not agree on his surname. The mother wanted him to share her last name, while the father pushed for a hyphenated version of both their surnames.

The long-running case has twice been before the Federal Circuit Court and twice been appealed to the Family Court, raising issues about identity, family connections and the challenges of a double-barrelled name.
After a half-century of abortive studies, plans and statements of intent, the federal government will on Monday sign off on what it says is the final piece of paper clearing the way for construction to begin on Sydney's second airport at Badgerys Creek.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher will sign off on the final version of the airport plan and declare construction ready to begin.

"All the approvals are now in place," the Prime Minister said in a statement. "This is the most significant step taken by any government on this project.

"We can now get on with building the airport".
Good morning.

It will be a pleasant 28 degrees today in the city with temperatures reaching up to 33 degrees in Penrith.

Heatwave coming

Enjoy the mild conditions while they last. The Bureau of Meteorology warns of a coming heat wave.

The Bureau has hiked its forecast for Tuesday to 35 degrees for the CBD. Temperatures in the city could reach as high as 37 degrees on Wednesday.
A toddler has drowned and another young child was critically injured after they were both pulled unconscious from backyard swimming pools in separate incidents in Sydney over the weekend.

The latest accident occurred about 4.15pm on Sunday, when a one-year-old girl was found floating in the pool of a house in Raby in Sydney's south-west.

Toddler drowns, another child critically injured in Sydney swimming pool accidents Credit:Rohan Thompson

Police and paramedics arrived at the house on Thunderbolt Drive to find an adult performing CPR on the child.

She was taken to Campbelltown Hospital, but police said she was pronounced dead a short time later.
The Gold Coast's trams have resumed after two full days of down time, as the network operator blames lightning for the outage.

On Monday morning, G:Link customers were advised services had resumed, with no delays expected, after being down since about 3.30am Saturday morning.

Light rail operator GoldlinQ's chief executive, Phil Mumford, said lightning-packed thunderstorms that hit the Gold Coast on Wednesday morning melted several sections of cabling responsible for network communications.

"I think the Bureau of Meteorology said there were over 20,000 lightning strikes," he said.
Many Australians risk losing their phone and internet access in 2017, with their home services cut off if they fail to switch to the National Broadband Network service available in their area.

After getting off to a slow start, the NBN rollout has reached 3.5 million premises across the country. While the network initially planned to run fibre to the premises at 93 per cent of homes and businesses, the new-look multi-technology mix will see the lion's share of premises rely on potentially slower fibre to the node connections. Telstra's metro-centric HFC cable broadband network will also be retained as part of the NBN, but not the Optus cable network.

While 3.5 million Australian homes and businesses can now activate an NBN-based broadband service, to date only 44 per cent have made the switch  the rest sticking with older copper and cable-based phone and internet services even though the clock is ticking.

Homes and business have 18 months to migrate to the NBN once it is available to them, after which traditional copper and cable services in the area are severed  cutting off fixed-line phone and internet access.
An Islamic community centre in Melbourne's north has been fire-bombed after the words "Islamic State" were scrawled on the building, which had already been the subject of several recent arson attacks.

The Imam Ali Islamic Centre in Fawkner was gutted by the massive blaze on Sunday morning, which is being investigated by Victoria Police's arson and explosives squad and the Melbourne Fire Brigade.

Iman Ali Islamic Centre in Fawkner was destroyed by fire Credit:Justin McManus

Photographs reveal the words "Islamic State" in English and Arabic on the building, but it remains unclear what motivated the arson attack, which is believed to be the third incident in the past six months.

A member of the local Shia community who attends the Lawson Street prayer centre said the fire would have a devastating impact.
Tuesday night the Helena Public Schools Board of Trustees could take a vote on the future fate of Central Elementary School.

Central School recommendation is listed as an action item on the agenda for the 5:30 p.m. meeting at Ray Bjork Learning Center, 1600 8th Ave.

The current Central School building has stood empty since it was evacuated March 15, 2013, because of seismic safety concerns.

The students were relocated to Lincoln School on Poplar Street, which displaced the PAL alternative high school from its home there.

Centrals move was meant to be temporary, but has dragged on indefinitely, since the districts $70 million facility bond failed in June 2015.

Options before the board

Option one: Status quo. The school remains closed and boarded up.

Option two: Work with the city to be allowed to deconstruct the school and reconstruct a state-of-the-art school on the downtown campus, preserving the historical look of the original school and possibly even parts of the facade.

Option three: Spend approximately $8-$9 million to stabilize the building, bring it up to seismic and other codes and open it again for students.

The building would not have any additions. According to school board chair Aidan Myhre, this leaves the district with a very old building. Interim school district superintendent Jack Copps is concerned that a renovated Central School would not be adequate to handle the projected enrollment for that school.

Option four: Stabilize and restore Central School as well as add additions to it. This option will be presented by Montana Preservation Alliance executive director Chere Jiusto on Tuesday night.

Background

Central School was designed by well-known Montana architect George Carsley and opened its doors in 1915, with two new wings added in 1921.

Among those who walked its hallways were the young Myrna Loy and Gary Cooper, who were both students there long before they became famous Hollywood actors.

Central Schools prominent location overlooking the downtown was a careful decision made by the city fathers back at the time Helena was a gold camp. Its where they built the original Helena Graded School in 1876, a forerunner of Central School.

The delay in resolving Central Schools fate since 2013 is trying for Central parents and staff, who have told the board it has fractured their school community.

Many of Centrals students have transferred to schools around the district.

The boarded-up school is also a concern to downtown businesses and neighborhood residents. What was once an architectural gem has been the target of several acts of vandalism and is becoming an eyesore.

Dating back to 2005, a number of engineering and architectural studies and reports have focused on Central, but the school board and community have failed to reach consensus on what to do.

A new building

Both Copps and Myhre said in a Nov. 27 IR article that the board needs to decide on Central School before it can move forward with a facilities bond in May.

Both spoke in favor of option two, to seek permission to dismantle the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and build a new one with a similar historic look.

When I think of a real investment for 50 years, the investment ought to be a new school at Central, said Copps in November. There is no assurance that after a retrofit Central would withstand a significant earthquake.

Structural engineers and architects could argue they can restore the building to withstand an earthquake and that it would complement current educational practices, he said. You virtually build a building inside of a building.

All the engineering reports indicate the structure is in poor condition, he said, not only seismically. The building would also have to be made ADA compliant and meet all building codes.

If the demolition application is stalled, he said, it is probable a new school cannot be built at that site.

However, the greater downtown area clearly needs to have a downtown school.

There are ways to preserve the historic look of the building and even parts of it, such as stonework and parts of the facade, he said.

Copps is recommending the school district run a $63 million bond in May and build three new elementary schools, one of them on the downtown Central site.

He questions whether a renovated Central could meet standards for modern classroom sizes of 1,000 square feet, which is needed to meet the space requirements for 30 students per classroom.

We do a lot more multitasking and groupings in classrooms, he said, which requires more room than older classrooms provided.

He also raises questions of unforeseen problems the district could run into during a renovation and potentially higher maintenance costs with a historic building.

I dont want Central to go away, he said. I think the downtown area is deserving of an elementary school, and there is sufficient enrollment to have a school there.

I do know if the board cannot come together on an agreement about what they want to do and make it clear to the general population, they should not proceed, he said. Its just essential that they come together.

Seismic safety, codes and lifespan

Alan Stanbery, an engineer with Morrison Maierle, wrote in a Structural Seismic Review Report on Central School in 2005 and 2007 that a seismic retrofit can bring Central School up to seismic code.

In it he estimated the cost of a structural retrofit at $1.2 million, which could cost twice that amount today, he said.

He didnt address other codes the building would need to comply with, he said, such as ADA codes requiring adding an elevator and staircase changes. There would also need to be upgrades to roofing, heating and ventilating systems, as well as electrical and some architectural work.

However, a March 11, 2013, Seismic and General Structural Condition Report by Beaudette Consulting Engineers, Inc., of Bozeman, estimated a seismic retrofit of Central at roughly the same price, $1,040,000 and $269,806 for the 7th Avenue Gym.

In Stanberys report he said: The current building ... has many advantages in favor for surviving seismic events and listed them: A current foundation system bearing on rock, good floor plan-wall layout symmetry, and reinforced concrete floors and roof slabs ... give the current structure a better rating for seismic resistance.

However, in an interview this week, Stanbery had some caveats.

New buildings use more lightweight building materials that have greater ductility or flexibility to move and stretch during an earthquake, he said.

Older buildings such as Central used much heavier masonry and steel than what is used now.

Central Schools masonry walls weigh between 80 to 120 pounds per square foot, he said, compared to 8 to 40 pounds in a new building.

Hes also learned that the soil Central School stands on is different than initially believed.

Instead of resting on rock, it sits on old fill material, he said. This came to light during a geotechnical study in recent years.

Im not backing off of the 2005 report, he said. However, the fill material Central sits on will intensify seismic activity.

Our goal in a retrofit is that the building is standing ... after a serious earthquake ... and that people can get out, he said. We cant guarantee the building wont be damaged. Any amount of retrofitting does not guarantee no damage.

Different seismic perspective

However, Jami Lorenz, an engineer, from Beaudette Consulting Engineers, Inc., of Bozeman, wrote in an email, that the weight of the building is not the issue with the existing structure. Lighter building materials would not necessarily provide a more ductile structure. ... Building structures that weigh the same as Central School designed to current codes could also provide for a more ductile structure.

Lorenz also writes that damage to a retrofitted Central or to a new building would completely depend on the severity of the event.

The intent with the seismic retrofit to the existing building is that it could be reoccupied with repairs after an earthquake. A new building would sustain different damage, but not necessarily less damage than the existing building with the seismic retrofit.

Costs of renovation vs. new?

The cost of some of the options were spelled out in studies dating back to 2005-2007 through 2013. Based on these estimates, renovating the existing buildings and bringing them up to code is less expensive than building a new building.

It would cost $10.3 million to renovate the school and gymnasium, compared to $13.8 million to build a new school and gym, based on a presentation by SMA Architects of Helena that used costs listed in CTA Architects Central Elementary School Seismic Retrofit Overview, 2013 and Helena School Districts Educational Planning Operational/Implementation Plan 2013.

Historical significance and neighborhood integrity

Central Elementary is a great building with a great history and a great location, wrote the authors of a CTA April 2013 report Central Elementary School Seismic Retrofit Overview.

There exists a unique opportunity to restore the building to create a learning environment that fully reflects the history of the structure but doesnt compromise in its commitment to providing the best learning environment for students.

Anthony Houtz, a CTA associate who helped write the CTA 2013 report, said there is no number one option, when looking at Central.

Its dependent on funding and its based on community and school priorities.

The district could have a functioning building for $8.5 million, which includes not only a seismic retrofit, but also addressing life safety systems such as fire codes and making the school ADA compliant.

If the board decides to renovate, they need to make a commitment to make it a 50-year building, he said.

He recommended a slightly higher investment to make it the full deal -- so the building meets codes, is suitable for new technology and classroom space and is returns some of its original architectural beauty, which has been compromised over the decades by some previous repairs.

Architects will recommend at times that if a renovation is 60 to 70 percent of the cost of a new building, it can make more sense to do a new building, said Houtz.

But for Central that doesnt factor in the historical value of the existing building, he said. Nor are modern buildings necessarily built to the quality and standards of what our ancestors built.

In 2013, Houtz urged the school board, You need to get together with your community and find out how important this is and whats the long-term responsible thing to do for your community.

Its a large investment, to make a quality renovation, Houtz said.

Central is kind of an interesting piece of the community. It definitely has a rich history. Its architecture is interesting and contributes to the community, which cant be said about a lot of schools architecture.

If you were to look at historically preserving it and renovating it, you could get it back more to the original design. You can definitely bring back what was great about that building. ...Those pieces remind us of the amazing things that our ancestors built, and the attention to detail that is in that building is something to be respected.

The discussion needs to happen -- this isnt just cosmetics. This is invasive surgery. It rebuilds the building from the inside out.

Successful renovations -- long-term investments

Lesley Gilmore, a preservation architect with CTA, worked on two recent school renovation projects for Billings Public Schools. Both Broadwater and McKinley schools were built in about the same era as Central.

Both were renovated with new additions. The total cost for McKinley was $13 million, while Broadwater was $12.3 million.

It absolutely can be a sound investment, Gilmore said of renovating Central School.

It can have a lifetime of 75 to 100 years, if not more.

These buildings were built to last hundreds of years. The buildings in Billings had great bones -- just as Central School does. The structure of these buildings...and the detail -- we couldnt build those buildings today at anywhere near that cost -- or anywhere near the cost of renovating them, Gilmore said.

Central can be brought up to seismic codes for schools or even higher standards, she said. The code is the minimal requirement, but you can always exceed the code requirement.

Not only has Gilmore worked on successful school renovations, but also renovations of historic buildings in Yellowstone National Park, which is a very seismically active location. The most recent renovation was Albright Visitor Center in Mammoth Hot Springs.

You still have the original embodied energy of the building. You dont want to waste that, she said, by demolishing a historic building. Youre doing more than removing the building, youre removing all the labor, all the materials ... youre losing all that energy that went into it, she said. You dont get the character of the building back. Once its gone, its gone forever.

Getting something done

If Central is renovated, said Copps, it will need an addition. If the district decides to invest in either a preservation or a new school, we need to do it right ... so people 20 years from now say they made the right decision here. They provided a good, solid elementary school here with all the facilities they deserve to have.

I think it would be a sad day if we dont  wind up with an elementary school at Central.

The parents and staff at Central-Linc need to be given some hope here, he said. No matter which way this turns.

I can see that emotions are building, and it doesnt surprise me, he said. Other communities -- like Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell, Bozeman -- with difficult decisions to make about schools they found their way. Now we need to find ours.

Whats more important than a new school, whats more important than a preserved school -- is getting something done.
The grieving mother of a Frankston North mother-of-four whose remains are believed to have been found beside a freeway has described her as a compassionate woman who never stopped caring for others.

Hours after a man was charged with the murder of Karen Rae, her mother, Christina Boyle, said she knew her daughter was in trouble because she would never have left her four boys without saying goodbye.

Karen Rae's remains were found beside the Frankston Freeway .

"We knew something awful must have happened, as she would never, ever leave her children like that," said Ms Boyle, who was devastated to learn at the weekend that her only child was dead.

Ms Rae, 48, went missing in April last year. On Sunday, a 49-year-old Langwarrin man was charged with murdering the single mother, after investigators found human remains in scrub alongside the Frankston Freeway in Frankston North on Saturday.
A motorcyclist has died after colliding with a four-wheel-drive north-east of Melbourne on Sunday evening.

Police believe the motorcycle was travelling east on the Murray Valley Highway, near Rutherglen, about 7pm when the collision occurred.

The male motorcyclist died at the scene.

The driver of the 4WD stopped at the scene of the crash and was not injured.

The Murray Valley Highway is closed between Police Paddocks Road and Gooramadda Road.
Only a day after a double road fatality near Wave Rock, police were on Saturday summoned to two more fatal crashes on West Australian roads.

A 35-year-old man from Scarborough died in hospital on Saturday night. His red 2012 Mercedes sedan had left Malaga Drive northbound and hit a tree near the Mulgul Road intersection.

Two people were killed in a car crash in Wave Rock on Friday, and three others injured Credit:WA Police

The incident about 7.30pm followed another man's death in the state's northwest in a crash near the resort town of Exmouth less than four hours before.

The crash occurred about 25 kilometres south of Exmouth on Exmouth-Manilya Road.
Washington: Senior Democratic legislators are calling for a full investigation of the CIA's claims that Russia tilted the election to Donald Trump, demanding that the intelligence community turn over all of its evidence to Congress.

Incoming Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer released a strongly worded statement, saying CIA conclusions that Russia's hacking and other election interference had the goal of electing Mr Trump - first reported on Friday night US time in The Washington Post - are "stunning and not surprising".

"That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core," Senator Schumer stated. "Senate Democrats will join with our Republican colleagues next year to demand a congressional investigation and hearings to get to the bottom of this."

Senator Schumer's demands were echoed by outgoing Senate minority leader Harry Reid, who charged that FBI director James Comey was aware of the intelligence before the election and deliberately kept it private. Senator Reid called on Mr Comey to resign.
Wellington: Bill English and Paula Bennett have emerged victorious from caucus, having been voted New Zealand's new Prime Minister and Deputy on Monday morning.

More than a decade after he tried and failed to become the country's leader, Mr English from the ruling National Party becomes the country's 39th Prime Minister. The position became vacant after John Key's formal resignation last week.

Paula Bennett succeeds Mr English as deputy.

Mr English said he was "excited and humbled" to have been elected.
Phnom Penh: Cambodia has told dozens of Australians they must declare they are the biological parents of babies being carried by surrogate mothers or risk being treated as suspects in human trafficking.

The warning came after a Cambodian surrogate mother gave birth to a baby who no intending parents turned up to collect, following a police crackdown on about 50 surrogacy brokers and clinics in the country's capital.

Chou Bun Eng, Cambodia's Secretary of State at the Interior Ministry, told Fairfax Media that if Australian parents fail to come forward, Cambodia will not facilitate them bringing their babies home to Australia and "will look at the case as one of human trafficking or smuggling".

"I want to send a clear message; come forward now and you will not be treated as perpetrators  that is my promise," Ms Bun Eng, who is also permanent vice-chair of Cambodia's National Committee for Counter-trafficking, said.
Beirut: Islamic State has fought its way back into the UNESCO world heritage city of Palmyra, in a surprise attack on the beleaguered Syrian army.

The retaking of the site comes as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, supported by Russia and Iranian-backed militias, are on the verge of a major victory against rebels in Aleppo, one of the country's largest cities.

Residents of Palmyra were reported to be fleeing after IS stormed the north-west of the city in a lightning assault.

More than 50 troops have been killed since the advance started on Thursday, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Rome: Italian President Sergio Mattarella asked Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Sunday to try to form a new government, giving him a mandate to lead Italy out of a political crisis caused by the resignation of Matteo Renzi.

Gentiloni, a former journalist and Renzi loyalist, is set to be Italy's fifth prime minister in as many years and the fourth in a row to take office without winning a national election.

The soft-spoken 62-year-old immediately began consultations to form a government that will have to write a new electoral law and manage Italy's fragile banks.

Chief among his duties will be dealing quickly with Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the country's third-largest lender, which may need state intervention to avoid collapse.
Bangkok: Thailand's military government has thrown a lifeline to Australian gold miner Kingsgate Consolidated just three weeks before the scheduled closure of its part-owned Chatree mine in central Thailand.

Parliament has passed a mineral bill allowing gold mines to operate legally in the country, despite an announcement in May that all mines must cease operation by New Year's Eve.

Chatree, operated by Kingsgate subsidiary Akara Resources, had already started sacking 1000 workers and announced plans to put Thailand's biggest gold mine under a care and maintenance program next year.

The new law awaiting the signature of Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun no longer requires mining companies to have metallurgy licences, Bangkok's The Nation newspaper reported.
A winter storm's unrelenting march across the United States' northern tier brought snow to a handful of states on Sunday and promised plunging temperatures that could drive frost as far south as Atlanta by week's end.

"It may not set records, but it will be really, really cold," Bruce Sullivan, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Centre said. "The thing is, it's not even winter yet."

Parts of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin were among states blasted Sunday by a band dumping up to 20 centimetres of snow more than a week before winter officially begins. A few areas, such as Granite Falls, Minnesota are reaching double-digit accumulations.

On Monday the snow was forecast to roll into Upstate New York and parts of New England. A wide swath of the region could see up to 15 centimetres, with more in the mountains. New York City was bracing for snow Sunday night that was expected to turn to rain by Monday, the National Weather Service said.
MISSOULA -- College courses are pouring into more Montana high schools than ever before, though there's concern that even the reduced tuition is too expensive for some students.

Last spring, 2,035 high schoolers were enrolled in at least one college course. That's nearly double the headcount in spring 2012, two years after the dual enrollment conversation "started to get some momentum" in Montana, said John Cech, Montana's deputy commissioner for academic and student affairs.

"Dual enrollment is not a new concept but I think as other states around us really started ramping up their programs, our state started looking outward and inward at what we were doing," said Amy Williams, dual enrollment and Big Sky Pathways program manager with the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.

It's an effort Gov. Steve Bullock pointed to often in his bid for re-election this fall, saying he wants to expand dual enrollment opportunities.

But in some cases, the head count doesn't paint the full picture. In Missoula County Public Schools this fall, of the 478 students taking at least one dual credit course, only 290 paid the fees  and that's with tuition at $49.70 per credit, a fraction of the cost at Missoula College or University of Montana.

If a course isn't paid for, the student doesn't get the college credits.

Since most courses are three credits, that adds up to $149.10 a semester. The same course at Missoula College would cost $424.11; at UM, it would cost $764.62. These costs don't include textbooks, which the majority, but not all, of high schools cover.

"The fact that only 300 paid the fee after they finished the application process says to me there's a financial hurdle," Superintendent Mark Thane said at his school board's Nov. 17 meeting. "If they're taking the courses but won't get credit, that's a travesty."

***

Missoula College Dean Shannon O'Brien agrees that $150 is cost-prohibitive for many students.

"Quite frankly, we hope that something can be done for those students that need scholarships or some type of assistance to overcome that last barrier to earning college credit," she said.

She wants more students to have the opportunity to take dual credit courses  and actually earn the college credits. The dual enrollment pass rate statewide is 85 percent, meaning students who earned an A, B or C. The other 15 percent includes Ds and Fs, as well as students who had to drop or withdraw.

"Not only does it give them the leg up in completing their degree sooner, but it also is so much more affordable for them even as it is now," she said. "The cost of attendance for college is a great challenge for many students, and it's a problem in our society, no doubt about it."

There are efforts underway across Montana.

City College MSUB waived tuition this year for Billings Public Schools, Billings Central Catholic High, Columbus Public Schools and Hardin Public Schools  a program called High School Connections that received performance-based funding from the state. A three-year pilot at Miles Community College lets Custer County high schoolers take dual enrollment courses at their high school tuition-free.

Flathead Valley Community College has identified students in its district service area who can take their first six dual credit courses for free. Dawson Community College offers the first three credits free. The Greater Ravalli Foundation provides needs-based scholarships to dual enrollment students.

The state's Dual Credit Incentive Program gives dual enrollment teachers a "coupon." For every credit hour taught, the MUS covers the tuition for that same number of credits for the teacher to further his or her education.

The state wants to expand online course availability.

Cech said the state is a finalist for a J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation grant that if funded would provide $2 million to help Montana grow Big Sky Pathways and dual credit opportunities, particularly in Career and Technical Education.

"Specifically regarding tuition, we're always looking for opportunities," Williams said. "We're always looking at other states. Education budgets are always lean; we're all basically in the same boat. It's who is innovating best and fastest, and what's working."

Thane said MCPS, Missoula College and UM "need to identify if there are opportunities for assistance for students who have a financial challenge."

"The real value is high school students learn they can successfully participate in courses that have college-level rigor," he said. "If they're wondering about post-secondary plans, this can give them confidence."

***

Montana was one of seven states to receive a Lumina Foundation grant in 2009, $1.8 million that formed the College!NOW initiative, in part dealing with dual enrollment.

"We were able to bring in people to the state and hold meetings and summits," Cech said. "Through a lot of this work early on, the importance of growing dual enrollment really emerged rather quickly."

The work caught the attention of the Commissioner of Higher Education, then the Board of Regents. It led to the creation of Williams' position.

The Every Student Succeeds Act, which replaces No Child Left Behind, has specific language addressing dual and concurrent enrollment, and more funding opportunities.

"That's a new shift, a federal policy level recognition of these programs and their value," Williams said.

Officials tout dual enrollment as a way to prepare for college rigor, explore majors, narrow their focus and lessen student loan debt, which tops $1 trillion nationally.

While there has been concern nationally about credits from these courses not transferring to some colleges, in Montana at least, they transfer statewide through the MUS Common Course Numbering System. Writing 101 at one MUS college should be the same as Writing 101 at another.

According to the Office of Public Instruction, dual enrollment students pay anywhere from 20 percent to 50 percent the cost of tuition, with no fees.

That's still too expensive for many families.

"Not all students, even though it's incredibly cheap, can afford to access those classes," OCHE Deputy Commissioner for Planning and Analysis Tyler Trevor said during an Education and Local Government Interim Committee meeting in April.

MCPS has 15 dual credit options this school year.

"They complete the work; there's no reason they shouldn't get the credits," Thane said.

Affordability is one of OCHE's priorities for dual enrollment, according to the April report, as well as professional development for teachers, public awareness, enrollment process and rural access.

"It sounds potentially steep for some students to pay $150 for a class," Williams said. "But if you're taking it in high school, there's a decent opportunity you might not have to pick up the tab for the textbook.

Dual enrollment is optional, but O'Brien said "the numbers do the talking" when it comes to value.

"It's certainly a step in the right direction to have a tuition discount, but until we really address the issue of getting tuition covered for those students that need it, we haven't solved the problem completely."
Ankara: Turkey's ruling AK Party has submitted to parliament a package of constitutional reform proposals that would expand the president's powers, party officials said, in a move that could see President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rule until 2029.

Mr Erdogan and his supporters have long argued that the country needs the strong leadership of an executive presidency to avoid the fragile coalition governments that hampered its development in the past.

Opponents see the proposed change as a vehicle for Mr Erdogan's ambition, and fear it will bring increased authoritarianism to a country already under fire from Western allies over its record on rights and freedoms, especially after widespread purges in the wake of a failed military coup in July.

"There will only be strong leaderships now," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters on Saturday.
A guide to voter rights in Indiana. What you need to know before you cast a ballot
MISSOULA -- The status quo will not serve the University of Montana well, and the flagship must "embrace relevancy" as it moves forward, said Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian.

And as UM makes decisions about its future, faculty members must be heard, Christian said.

"I think that that voice hasn't been heard enough," he said. "And that's my plan. I want to see that we engage this group more concretely."

Christian spoke and took questions Thursday at the UM Faculty Senate meeting, the first since last week's announcement that the Commissioner's Office had asked President Royce Engstrom to depart at the end of December.

Former Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns will serve as interim president, and Christian said she will be "fantastic."

"It's not all bad," Christian said of UM in general. "There's a lot of things moving in the right direction."

At the meeting, the commissioner and other campus leaders talked about the searches for provost and president, the work of setting priorities, the role of the humanities on campus, shared governance, and the 2017 legislative session.

UM has seen enrollment drop some 24 percent over six years, and it's had ensuing budget trouble. Thursday, Christian said the Montana Board of Regents is making the university priority No. 1.

"The board has certainly sent a message that there is no higher priority from their level than making certain the University of Montana is on sound footing, and we need to help with that," Christian said.

To lead the hire of a new president, the Commissioner's Office selected AGB Search, which has worked with the Montana University System in the past.

"I think they're an incredibly good firm," Christian said.

Ideally, he would like to be able to make an offer to a new president in April and have the person start July 1. However, Christian said he was not convinced that timeline would be possible, and that a new president may start in January 2018 instead, with a hire taking place in August rather than April.

UM was in the middle of a search for provost, second-in-command, when the Commissioner's Office announced the president would step down. The search for a provost was postponed, and faculty members Thursday wanted to know the status of that process.

Both the Associated Students of the University of Montana and the executive committee of the Faculty Senate have urged the search for a provost to continue, said Jule Banville, a faculty senator. She wanted to know if the commissioner would give weight to their voices.

In response, Christian said the decision depends partly on whether provost candidates want to remain in the running given the leadership change on campus.

"I don't want to move forward if it's not a strong pool of candidates," he said.

This school year, an interim provost is serving in the post while the search for a permanent provost takes place. Christian said one piece of the puzzle is the availability of interim provost Beverly Edmond.

Brady Harrison, a faculty member in literature, wanted reassurance that decisions about where resources go weren't already a done deal. He said humanities have been targeted in cuts, and he wants to know if faculty will truly be heard as UM looks at programs and spending in the future.

Christian, though, disagreed the humanities have been fingered: "It's unfortunate that your perception is that there's a target out there."

He also said setting priorities for where resources go isn't as simple as tracing enrollment dollars. It also means considering societal needs, and he doesn't want to see the humanities damaged.

"To the contrary, I think it's an integral piece of education and of our society," Christian said.

At least a couple of times, he also said he did not believe UM had been making decisions with adequate input from faculty, and he would like to see that change.

The commissioner also wasn't sure it made sense to wait on evaluating priorities. The campus must make decisions every day, he said, and as such, he prefers to see it move forward strategically and with feedback from faculty.

Roughly a year ago, President Engstrom opened his cabinet to faculty, staff and student leaders. Thursday, the ASUM president and faculty members talked about the importance of that "shared governance."

"Shared governance means that the various stakeholders are meaningfully involved in the decision-making process," said Paul Haber, president of the University Faculty Association.

Faculty are willing to make a contribution if given a seat at the table where the real decisions are being made, Haber said. He said collective leadership is especially important in times of big change.

"This issue is always important, but more so when the going gets rough," Haber said.

ASUM President Sam Forstag also wanted the different campus constituencies to keep their seats at the table and said they have a bigger voice than groups at other schools.

"The greatest gift that we've gotten over the past few years is a strong, stronger than ever, shared governance system," Forstag said.

Before faculty members asked questions, Christian offered a brief preview of the coming legislative session. He said higher education is faring better in the governor's proposed budget than most other state agencies.

At the same time, he said he doesn't have any illusions that the session will be easy.

"We'll do our best to hold onto what resources we can," Christian said.
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Steve Cook, left, and Aerojet Rocketyne's Julie Van Kleeck brief reporters on the AR-1 engine at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs in April.

Updated at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

WASHINGTON  The transition team for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump added six more people to the NASA landing team Friday, representing a range of viewpoints on topics such as commercial spaceflight and development of heavy-lift launch vehicles.

Among the new landing team members is Steve Cook, who was in charge of the Ares 1 and Ares 5 rocket programs at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, until leaving the agency in 2009 for Huntsville-based Dynetics. The Ares program was canceled under President Barack Obama, but elements of both rockets were folded into NASA's design for the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket the agency is building to launch the Orion crew vehicle on deep space missions.

As a Dynetics corporate vice president, Cook has been closely involved in Aerojet Rocketdyne's development of the AR-1 engine  a candidate to replace the Russian RD-180 on United Launch Alliance's next-generation rocket. [Related: What a Trump Administration Means for NASA]

Offering a different perspective on those issues is Greg Autry, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California. Autry has written extensively in support of commercial spaceflight despite setbacks like the Falcon 9 pad explosion in September.

Autry, in an October op-ed that outlines space policy recommendations for the next administration, took a harder line on the SLS. "We will discontinue spending on Space Launch System (SLS), a giant government rocket, lacking both innovation and a mission," he wrote. "While SLS has consumed the largest single piece of NASA's budget for years, private sector operators like SpaceX and Blue Origin have leapfrogged it with more efficient, reusable boosters."

A third new landing team member, Jack Burns, is a professor at the University of Colorado and senior vice president of the American Astronomical Society. He has been an advocate for lunar exploration, serving as director of the Lunar University Network for Astrophysics Research (LUNAR), a network of universities and NASA centers that studied the use of the moon to support space science research. He was also the chair of the NASA Advisory Council's science committee in 2009 and 2010.

The other members announced Friday are:

Rodney Liesveld, a former senior policy adviser at NASA

Sandy Magnus, a former NASA astronaut who flew on three missions, including a 4.5-month stay on the International Space Station, and has been executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics since 2012

Jeff Waksman, a former research fellow at the U.S. House of Representatives

The NASA landing team is led by Chris Shank, who worked for House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) until last week. Shank worked for NASA from 2005 to 2009, during the tenure of administrator Mike Griffin.

Shank, formally named to the landing team Nov. 29, has already been meeting with NASA officials about transition issues. "We've had a great couple of days with Chris," said NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot at a Dec. 9 Space Transportation Association luncheon here. "He's just starting the meetings with us, mostly at this point catching up on where we are on items. He's asking a lot of questions and we're working with him pretty well."

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
Pardon me for being skeptical about the existence of a Yeti. Or Sasquatch. Or Bigfoot. Or any other incarnation of Abominable Snowman conjured up by the curious.

As the world population grows and moves into heretofore remote areas, the chances of encountering such an otherworldly being diminish. And the acessibility of photography would seem to make verification of the an apelike hominid inevitable.

"What a stick in the mud; what a curmudgeon," you must think. "Where's his sense of wonder?"

I wonder, all right: I wonder why we haven't proven this beyond a shadow of a doubt. The Sasquatch Watch continues.

Your "Abominable Snowman" name dates back several decades. In 1921, journalist Henry Newman interviewed adventurers returning from a Mount Everest expedition. Large footprints in the area were imagined to be from a "man-bear." At least that's what the guides tried to tell him. Newman somehow mistranslated the "man-bear" part of their phrase into "filthy," which he later amended to be "abominable."

The Yeti is another one of those man-bears. Some early indigenous people of the Himalayas would worship what they called the Glacier Being. Believers believe the yeti is a big boy, muscular, covered with dark grayish or reddish-brown hair. He (and presumably a she or two) tip the scales between 200 and 400 pounds. However, the yeti can't see eye to eye with a Bigfoot, being only about 6 feet tall. Your proud, North American Bigfoot is supposed to be the 7-to-10-foot range.

Despite multiple expeditions into the remote mountain regions of Russia, China and Nepal, the existence of the Yeti remains unproven. At least, to me.

"Sasquatch" comes from an American Indian language that I understand translates to "wild man." Those stories most commonly came from the Pacific Northwest, including Vancouver Island in Canada's British Columbia, beginning in the 1920s.

Bigfoot fascination can be traced to 1958, when a California man discovered a trail of large tracks near his bulldozer. The local newspaper editor decided to refer to the maker of the large footprints as "Big Foot." Understandable enough, I guess.

As you might imagine, I harbor the same point of view about the Loch Ness Monster. But I don't begrudge the Scottish people for wanting to enjoy the tourist trade Nessie must bring. Some estimates say that benefit is north of $25 million a year.

No such tourist bonanza apparently exists for our various ape-men and bear-men. There was a Web notation of an enterprising fellow in western New York who was crowdfunding a National Bigfoot Center & International Tourism Information Gateway. The promoter boosted his sales pitch by citing more than 100 sightings of Bigfoot in New York state. He further claimed that the public has been told to ignore the existence of the creature because belief would ruin the logging business.

The National Bigfoot Center entrepreneur offered to name a wing of the building after anyone offering $1 million. According to his website, funds were about as hard to come by as a once-and-for-all definite film of Bigfoot.
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Shaheed El-Hafed, Dec 11, 2016 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, affirmed that the independence of the Sahrawi state is the only way to put an end to the violations of human rights in occupied Western Sahara by Morocco for more than 41 years.

"The independence of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is the only way to end the violations of human rights perpetrated by the Moroccan colonizer in the occupied territories of Western Sahara," said the President of the Republic during the celebration of the International Day of Human Rights at headquarters of CONASADH.

The President of the Republic called on freedom-loving people in the world to support the just struggle of the Sahrawi people for self-determination and independence, affirming that the persistence of the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara means "the pursuit of the violation of human rights of the Sahrawi people".

He denounced the expansionist policy of the Moroccan state and its crimes against humanity and violations of human rights against the Saharawi people in the occupied territories to silence their voices calling for freedom and independence. (SPS)

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Madrid (Spain), Dec 11, 2016 (SPS) - Spanish trade union confederation condemned Saturday the systematic human rights violations committed by Moroccan occupation authorities in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, calling the United Nations to set a date for a referendum on Western Sahara people's self-determination.

In an address marking the International Human Rights Day, Jaime A. Tonda, A confederation's member, "strongly condemned the unfair trials against Saharawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik group."

Tonda demanded from Morocco to set free Gdeim Izik group and all Saharawi political prisoners in Moroccan jail."

He asked the United Nations to set a date for the holding of a referendum on Western Sahara people's self-determination.

Earlier on Saturday, Paloma Lopez, a member of the European Parliament, said the "Saharawi people have the right to live in their territory freely and under a democratic system."

"The Saharawi cause is fair and just as recognized by the international law," Lopez stressed, urging Western Sahara people "to resist and not to lost hope in a better future." (SPS)

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Wrestle with this for a few minutes: Is Linda McMahon the mastermind behind the WWEs growth into a media giant that broadcasts in 650 million households in 25 languages? Is she the reason her husband Vinces worth is estimated at $1.16 billion by Forbes?

To put it another way, Im intrigued by what McMahon can do as head of the Small Business Administration.

Thats not to say Im ready to embrace a business model that has served misogyny and violence to the masses, but it took vision, hard work and a knack for negotiation to transform the carnival sideshow that was professional wrestling in the 1970s into the $3.4-billion business WWE is today.

My take on the McMahons has been shaped by rare, but memorable encounters.

I wasnt even present for the first one. In 1999, my wife Lisa was interviewing Linda McMahon for a magazine story about WWFs (the E came later) progressive policies regarding corporate day care (Titan Tots opened in 1991). Linda explained that she made the investment based on her experiences shouldering the companys human resources responsibilities while raising two children. She was familiar with research on how such programs improved employee productivity and school readiness, and spoke with authority about the Reggio Emilia approach to primary education.

As Linda became comfortable with Lisa, she invited her to check out Vinces more  umm  theatrically designed office. It was exactly as you might imagine Vince McMahons office would look.

We let him decorate it himself, she jested.

Unexpectedly, Vince returned to his digs. Lisa pointed out the window and said, Thats our house, we live right there.

Then she shared that the rooftop Stone Cold Steve Austin party the WWF hosted four years earlier happened to be on the eve of our wedding. Lisa finally got to unleash the long-simmering wrath of a wronged bride about the two choppers that buzzed overhead.

Nine years later, I had my own smackdown with Vince. After The Advocate led with an article headlined Wrestlers slam WWE about a lawsuit filed by freelance grapplers with no insurance (now those guys would embrace Obamacare with an Iron Claw), I picked up a phone on the city desk at the same time as an editor next to me picked up his. I quickly realized we were both talking to WWE flacks who sounded as though Vince and Triple H had them in headlocks.

Let me guess, you guys just got out of a meeting, I wisely cracked.

A third phone rang and an editorial assistant flashed a note that it was Vince.

You want me to grab that, I told me caller. Its your boss.

I was too slow for Vince, who hung up and called my bosss office. The editor waved me in and we listened to McMahon rant.

I finally slipped in a counter-move, my version of the Brainbuster: Is there anything factually wrong with the story?

No, thats not it.

Is it the placement at the top of the page?

Naah, I get that were news.

That only leaves the headline. Do you have a problem with the headline?

My editor could tell I smelled blood. He flailed his arms, signaling me to get out of the ring.

Its only three words. Is it the verb? Is the problem that we used the word slam? 

Yeah, thats it.

But you practically trademarked that word, I concluded (these days WWE Slam is an app.)

That seemed to leave him on the mat, though he finally explained that his biggest gripe was that the story ran not in a tabloid, but in the WWEs hometown paper. I felt pretty good about our match since it occurred on my wedding anniversary. I was still a little bitter about the choppers too.

It may not have been wise to pick a fight with McMahon. After all, hes the reason we hired security guards when The Advocates offices were in downtown Stamford. Upset with a news story in the 1980s, he charged into the building with a tag team partner and made it to the third floor, where he went toe-to-toe with an executive editor who was outsized by several weight classes.

I chalk up most of Vince McMahons shtick to the image he must maintain. It was harder for Linda to reinvent herself as she sought a political career.

I was dubious about McMahons ambitions when she launched her political career with a brief stint on the state Board of Education in 2009. But she deserves credit for rebounding from two public setbacks by co-founding Womens Leadership Live to guide women to become entrepreneurs.

An easy target for columnists and headline writers, she resisted editorial endorsement sessions when she ran for U.S. Senate. Days before her race against Richard Blumenthal, she conceded to a meeting and explained her platform with the poise of a seasoned corporate CEO. The consensus of the editorial board was that she had only damaged her campaign by dodging such meetings.

Now shell have a seat at ringside in Washington. Again, its not hard to be skeptical given the $4 million the McMahons donated to Donald Trumps foundation or the $6 million they gave to his campaign (the McMahons are longtime residents of Greenwich, where WWE Hall of Famer Trump once resided). But that didnt stop her from accurately declaring the Trumps comments about women deplorable.

Even my ever-cynical bride has forgiven her for the WWEs sonic assault over the Stamford skies.

She should have been named education secretary, Lisa told me.

Fran Pastore, president of the Womens Business Development Council, said she believes McMahon is a great fit for the job because she is smart, a good listener and knows what it means to steer a struggling company to success.

She knows people, Pastore said.

And  lets face it  people know her. Most of those millions of Americans reaching for their own gold ring will welcome the chance to get in this ring with McMahon.

Ultimately, I dont think its the businesswoman or politician who will seize this opportunity, but the grandmother who can recast her legacy for her grandchildren.

John Breunig is editorial page editor of The Advocate and Greenwich Time. He can be reached at John.breunig@scni.com; 203-964-2281; twitter.com/johnbreunig.
DECATUR  If a house experienced emotions, there would be little doubt that the taupe stucco residence commissioned for Adolph Mueller feels right at home serving as Millikin University's White House once again.

Fifteenth President Patrick White and his wife, Chris, certainly seem to feel that way, having hosted their most recent open house Friday and opening their home at No. 4 Millikin Place twice this year to tours originating in Chicago.

Clarence Red Johnson, former president and CEO of Borg-Warner Corp. and a 1950 graduate of Millikin, gave the house and a wooden table he had Amish craftsmen create for the dining room, to his alma mater in 1993. The university sold the home a decade later in a cost-cutting move but bought it back in December 2014, with the Whites moving in the following June.

Millikin is the 10th and 15th owner of this house, Chris White proudly told her guests during an Oct. 20 tour led by the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust. It's a pleasure and a privilege to live here.

She credits Millikin alumni Robert and Sabrina Hund, who owned the home from 2004 to 2013, for making much-needed renovations, with help from her father, Lucien Kapp, that helped restore the house to its former glory.

The biggest thing we've done is put a new steam boiler in the basement, she said.

Built in 1911 for the former Mueller Co. president, the classic prairie-style home was completed by protege Marion Mahony Griffin after Wright left for Europe in 1909 and adheres most closely to her sensibilities of the three houses the famous architect was hired to design in Millikin Place.

We think she did a great job, Chris White said. It's totally comfortable for a family to live in.

White's husband said he likes to tell students how Mahony Griffin deflected an attempt by supervising architect Hermann Von Holst to take credit for her work.

I get a kick out of that, the president said. She was a real pioneer.

The Whites also delighted their guests by displaying the W for the Chicago Cubs on their east porch.

No. 4 Millikin Place features 100 stained glass or art glass windows and several bronze chandeliers. The upper level has two sleeping porches, two bathrooms, four bedrooms and myriad closet space, a practical touch Wright would not have included.

The home first appeared on the Near Westside Restoration and Preservation Society's Heritage & Holly Historic Home Tour in 1996, when it was occupied by Millikin's 11th President Curtis McCray and his family, and again in 2013, seven months after it was sold by the Hunds.

Over the past 18 months, university trustees have met at the home three times a year, the Whites have resumed hosting an open house for faculty and staff before the holidays, and Millikin's Presidential Scholars are invited to dine there twice a year. This fall we had the 10 freshmen in for a special dinner of their own, Chris White said.

She added that she and her husband also hosted a dinner for the 23 new people who joined Millikin's faculty this fall.

It's also not uncommon for other groups of people come in and be entertained.

The university owns the home, but it's really part of the community's legacy, Chris White said. It's important to us to share it and for it to be enjoyed.
A man arrested at Stansted airport on suspicion of committing a terror offence has been bailed.

The 41-year-old was detained on Friday on suspicion of the preparation of terrorist attacks.

The Met Police said the suspect is alleged to have travelled to Syria.

He was taken to a south London police station and released on bail to a future date.

It was the second terror-related arrest at the airport this week.

On Monday a 49-year-old man was arrested at Stansted on suspicion of preparing for a terrorist act.

The suspect, from south Essex, had been travelling back from Istanbul, Turkey.
A young man was left fighting for life in hospital after he was hit by a bus on one of Londons busiest shopping streets.

The 27-year-old man suffered a severe head injury after he was hit by a bus on Regent Street on Saturday evening.

Police and paramedics raced to the scene of the crash at the junction with Conduit Street shortly after 9pm.

The pedestrian was rushed to a central London hospital where he remained in a life threatening condition on Sunday morning, police said.

Traffic on Regent Street after the collision / David Vidicette

David Videcette, who witnessed the aftermath of the crash, wrote on Twitter: Serious road traffic accident  bus vs a pedestrian  very sad. Regent Street is completely blocked northbound and gridlocked southbound.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: The bus driver stopped at the scene.

"He was not arrested and is assisting detectives with their enquires.

Detectives from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit are investigating the collision and appealing for witnesses.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the police unit at Merton Traffic Garage on 0208 5435157.
B oris Johnson has spoken of the "candour" that exists in Britain's relations with Saudi Arabia following talks in the kingdom just days after it emerged he had criticised the key ally.

The Foreign Secretary suffered a humiliating slapdown from Number 10 when he claimed the kingdom was behind "proxy wars" in the Middle East.

Riyadh is supporting the internationally-recognised government of Yemen against Iran-backed Houthi rebels but thousands have been killed in bombardments.

At a press conference following meetings with King Salman and Saudi ministers, Mr Johnson said he had a "deep concern" about the suffering of Yemenis but backed the Saudi Arabia-led military intervention in the country.

"It's not just a relationship based on trade or security, it's a relationship between peoples," he said.

Mr Johnson added: "I should just stress as far a Yemen is concerned, Britain supports the Saudi-led campaign to restore the legitimate government and we have continued our dialogue on the conduct of this operation, a detailed dialogue.

"Of course, we continue, like everybody in this room and around the world to have a deep concern for the suffering of the people of Yemen."

Johnson was rebuked by Downing Street for his criticism of Saudi Arabia / EPA

Mr Johnson said the friendship between the two nations was "developing and expanding".

"I'm here to emphasise the friendship that exists between the UK and Saudi Arabia and, of course, that is something that is developing and expanding," he said.

"And, it's also fair to say that we believe in a candour in our relationship. And now, if you don't mind, is the time for us to talk about the positive things we are doing together."

Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said: "There are no mixed messages that we are getting from Britain. Britain is an ally of Saudi Arabia's."

He added: "We don't have any doubt in where Britain stands and Britain has no doubt where we stand."

The Defence Secretary, meanwhile, claimed Mr Johnson's criticism had been misreported and "taken out of context".
A former Cabinet minister was banned from Number 10 after criticising Theresa May for wearing a 1,000 pair of trousers, explosive text messages have revealed.

Sacked education secretary Nicky Morgan was referred to as that woman in the messages from Fiona Hill, the Prime Ministers joint chief of staff.

Ms Hill had previously met with Ms Morgan and fellow Tory Alistair Burt and invited them to a meeting with Mrs May about their views on Brexit next week.

But text messages obtained by the Mail on Sunday show that Ms Hill texted Mr Burt to tell him "Don't bring that woman to No 10 again" after she spoke out about the premier's decision to pose in Amanda Wakeley-designed "bitter chocolate" trousers.

Criticism: Former minister Nicky Morgan (Picture: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images) / BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

Ms Morgan, however, found out about the message and sent the aide a stinging riposte.

The message seen by the Mail on Sunday said: "If you don't like something I have said or done, please tell me directly. No man brings me to any meeting. Your team invites me. If you don't want my views in future meetings you need to tell them."

Ms Hill, believed to be referring to the pair attending the previous meeting together, replied: "Well, he just did. So there!"

Earlier this week Mrs May insisted she was not out of touch with ordinary people because she opted to wear costly clothing. She wore the 1,000 trousers during a photo shoot for a newspaper.

Speaking during trip to Bahrain, the PM said: "Look, I stood on the steps of Downing Street and said what I did about the importance of a country that works for everyone because that is what I have heard from people as I have gone around the country, as I have met people in a whole variety of circumstances.

"I believe it is important for politicians to get out and about and that's exactly what I continue to do. It is important that we have a country that works for everyone."

Ms Morgan had expressed doubts about the fashion choice, insisting: "My barometer is always: 'How am I going to explain this in Loughborough market?"'

The MP said the trousers had been "noticed and discussed" in Tory circles. Mrs Morgan said: "I don't have leather trousers. I don't think I've ever spent that much on anything apart from my wedding dress."
Dear Dr. Roach: About three years ago, I experienced pain in my knee. The doctor told me I needed an MRI. I have claustrophobia and was given a pill to take an hour before the procedure. I think that was Xanax, but I'm not sure. I took it and walked into the facility like a drunken sailor, with help from my husband. When I was put in the machine, I went to sleep and then woke when the MRI was over. In another year or so, the knee hurt more and another MRI was prescribed. I was given a tranquilizer for my claustrophobia but refused anything to put me to sleep. As a result, before the procedure was finished, I was screaming in pain because my knee refuses to be immobile for more than a couple of minutes. No one heard me or responded to my screams, and I felt like I was being tortured. I had a titanium knee replacement done two years ago but have been having different kinds of pain off and on. I am seeing a new doctor and am sure an MRI will be prescribed. What do I do? I cannot tolerate that torture again. Please help.

 C.C.

A: Claustrophobia during an MRI scan is a common problem. If an MRI really must be done, then one approach to the problem is sedation. Alprazolam (Xanax) is a very short-acting sedative that it sounds like worked pretty well for you. Unfortunately, getting the dose exactly right isn't always easy, and if the dose isn't strong enough, it isn't helpful, while too much can (rarely) affect breathing. Another approach is an open MRI, which most people with claustrophobia can tolerate.

You have a second issue, which is pain with prolonged immobility. Sedatives aren't painkillers, but if you are asleep, as it sounds like you were the first time, the test may be over before you get into trouble. A short-acting painkiller for the procedure might help this, but I would see if you could get the same dose of Xanax you got the first time.

Shingles vaccine

Dear Dr. Roach: My son is healthy and 51 years of age. He had chickenpox as a young child. My concern is if he should get the shingles vaccination now or wait until he is older. I have heard that the vaccine wears off as you get older, and I wonder if he should wait until he is older and hope he does not get the shingles in the meantime.

 L.C.P.

A: The current recommendation is to get the shingles vaccine at age 60, being the best compromise between reducing risk of shingles as quickly as possible and making sure it lasts long enough to provide benefit when it's most necessary: as we get older. People with or without a history of chickenpox or shingles should get the vaccine unless there is a reason not to give it.

A new subunit vaccine has completed a phase 3 trial, and the results are very encouraging. It seems to be more effective and longer-lasting than the current vaccine. Hopefully additional data will confirm this and it can be approved for use.

* * *

Questions about the common problem of uterine fibroids are answered in the booklet of that name. To obtain a copy, write: Dr. Roach, Book No. 1106, 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803. Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 with the recipient's printed name and address. Please allow four weeks for delivery.
F ormer JLS popstar Oritse Williams has denied allegations that he raped a fan in a hotel room after a gig.

The 30-year-old, who enjoyed chart success after shooting to fame on the X Factor in 2008, was arrested by police following the concert in Wolverhampton last week.

In a statement, 10 Worlds Music UK, which looks after Mr Williams, said: "All we wish to say at this time is that Oritse denies the allegations against him.

"The matter is in the hands of the police and it would be totally wrong for us to comment any further."

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "West Midlands Police were called to a Wolverhampton hotel at 7.45am on Friday December 2 after an allegation of rape and sexual assault was made by a 20-year-old woman.

"A 30-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of rape and a 29-year-old man arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. Both men have been bailed until February, pending further inquiries."

Mr Williams has not been charged and was released on bail.

He has pursued a solo career since JLS disbanded in 2013.
T he roof of a church packed with worshipers collapsed in Nigeria killing 160 people.

Worshipers were left trapped under the rubble after the corrugated iron roof caved in at the Reigners Bible Church in the city if Uyo.

Workers had been rushing to finish the church in time for the ceremony to ordain founder Akan Weeks as a bishop, congregants said.

It was still under construction when it was crowded with worshipers to ordain the bishop on Saturday.

Hundreds of people, including Akwa Ibom state governor Udom Emmanuel, were inside when metal girders crashed on to worshipers and the corrugated iron roof caved in, they said.

People stand near to the scene of where the church collapsed / AP

Emmanuel and Weeks both survived.

Etete Peters, a hospital director, said mortuaries were overflowing and the final death toll was likely to be much higher.

Youth leader Edikan Peters said many other victims were in private mortuaries scattered all over the city.

The state government said it will investigate to see if building standards were compromised.

He said some people are secretly taking the bodies of relatives to their homes because mortuaries are overcrowded and some do not have refrigeration.

A crane is being used to lift debris believed to be hiding the bodies of more victims, he said.

Journalists at the scene claim church officials are trying to prevent them from documenting the tragedy, trying to seize cameras and forcing some to leave the area.

Buildings collapse often in Nigeria because of endemic corruption with contractors using sub-standard materials and bribing inspectors to ignore shoddy work or a lack of building permits.

It comes as 17 people were injured in Nigerias north-east city of Maiduguri after two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a crowded market.

A male and female suicide bomber detonated themselves minutes apart. The attack was blamed on the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group.
T wenty two people have been killed in a bombing at Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral.

Another 35 people were wounded in the second deadly attack to hit Cairo in two days, according to Egyptian state television.

Egypt's official Mena news agency said an assailant lobbed a bomb into a chapel close to the outer wall of St Mark's Cathedral, seat of Egypt's Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.

On Friday, six policemen were killed in a bomb attack in Cairo claimed by a group suspected by authorities of links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants fighting the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.

As defence minister, he led the July 2013 ousting of Mohamed Morsi, an elected Islamist president who hails from the Brotherhood.

Islamic militants launched a wave of attacks on security forces and Christians in response, as the government waged a sweeping crackdown on Morsi's supporters and other activists.
T wo seven-year-old girls blew themselves up in a suicide bomb attack at a busy market in Nigeria.

One other person was killed while at least 17 were injured in the explosions in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.

Officials blamed the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group that has staged numerous attacks in Maiduguri, the birthplace of the insurgency.

Boko Haram has used scores of women and girls in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions that some are among the many thousands that they have kidnapped over the years.

Emergency services and soldiers gather at the scene / AFP/Getty Images

In a particularly horrific instance, a woman suicide bomber carrying a baby on her back was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint on November 28. The shot detonated her explosives, killing the woman and the baby.

Sunday's blasts occurred near Maiduguri's Monday Market, just weeks after the state government reopened the roads leading to the market. They had been closed for nearly two years over security concerns following previous bombings at the market that killed dozens of people.

On Friday, two women suicide bombers exploded in a market at Madagali, 150 kilometres (95 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, killing 57 people and wounding 177 including 120 children.

President Muhammadu Buhari declared the Boko Haram uprising "technically defeated" a year ago. On Friday, he vowed Nigeria's military is working "at slamming the final nail in the coffin of Boko Haram."

The seven-year insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and created a massive humanitarian crisis.

Boko Haram, which has one branch allied to the Islamic State group, wants to install an Islamic state in Nigeria, West Africa's oil giant of 170 million people divided almost equally between a mainly Christian south and predominantly Muslim north.
A North American Standardbred trainer has been handed a series of stiff financial penalties and industry bans which total $35,000 in fines and a suspension that will run until 2032. The fines and suspensions have come after horses from their stable produced multiple positives tests for Sidenafil, which is sold under the trademarks Viagra and Cialis, among others, and is used to combat erectile dysfunction in humans.

According to entries on the United States Trotting Associations fines and suspensions list, trainer Virgil Addison, 57, has been handed the fines and suspensions after horses racing from his operation produced a total of four positive tests at Harrahs Philadelphia for Sidenafil, which is has been categorized as a Class 3 drug in terms of the harness racing realm.

The first of the positives was produced by Pinot Grigio, who raced on Aug. 19. Addisons fine and suspension for that instance was $5,000 and one year, respectively. The other three positives were produced by Justify (Sept. 15, $10,000 fine, three-year suspension), Pinot Grigio, again (Sept. 29, $10,000 fine, five-year suspension) and Gold Shooter (Oct. 23, $10,000 fine, seven-year suspension).

The suspensions will be served consecutively, hence the total suspension running until 2032.

Addison had appealed the rulings and had requested a stay for each of the instances. The state racing commission overseeing the matter has allowed the request for the appeals, but has denied stays in each instance.
WASHINGTON -- Fake news leads eventually to real tragedy. It almost got there last Sunday when an idiot brought a loaded assault rifle into a Washington pizzeria, firing at least one shot, in an attempt to "self-investigate" a preposterous made-up conspiracy theory.

No one was hurt -- this time. But the same kind of thing will happen again, thanks to the poison being dispensed by "alt-right" and white-supremacist propagandists. They concocted "news" stories out of whole cloth during the campaign in an attempt to destroy Hillary Clinton and those closest to her. Is anyone surprised that some people take these paranoid fantasies as gospel truth? I'm not.

President-elect Donald Trump makes matters worse by trumpeting "facts" that are non-factual. To the extent that he shapes the "post-truth" media landscape, he shares responsibility for the consequences.

The made-up story that inspired Sunday's incident grew out of the hack of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails. There were a number of exchanges between Podesta and the owner of Comet Ping Pong, a pizza parlor. Suspicious? Not in the least. Comet is located in the affluent neighborhood that is home to much of the political establishment. And anyone involved in politics knows that campaigns basically run on pizza.

Also, quite a few of Podesta's hacked emails had to do with food. Apparently, he likes to eat well. How sinister.

In any event, cynics writing on sites such as Facebook, Reddit, Infowars and Inquisitr spun these innocent facts into a dark, hydra-headed conspiracy involving the alleged trafficking and sexual exploitation of young children. Hidden rooms and secret tunnels were supposedly involved, and no, I am not making this up. Other people made it up, and some gullible readers swallowed it.

Among the believers, apparently, was Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury, N.C., who allegedly walked into Comet Ping Pong waving around a loaded AR-15-style assault rifle. Fortunately, employees and customers were able to flee. Welch allegedly fired at least one shot before surrendering to police, who said he had a second firearm with him in the restaurant and a third in his car. He is charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

Police said Welch told them he came to the nation's capital to look into the ridiculous child trafficking story. He reportedly barged into the pizzeria's kitchen to search for the entrance to the nonexistent secret tunnels.

Yes, this is all as crazy as it sounds. But the lives of those who happened to drop by Comet Ping Pong or any of the neighboring businesses on a chilly Sunday afternoon were put in real danger by the purveyors of fake news. Morally, those propagandists should be in the dock along with Welch.

Legally, of course, those who make up such stories are protected by the First Amendment. The only way we can shield ourselves from toxic conspiracy theories is to denounce them and disown those individuals and media outlets who spread them. In other words, we can use shame as a disinfectant. Yet next month we will inaugurate as president a man who -- in this regard, at least -- is without shame.

Trump is the Old Faithful of fake news. He started his late-blooming career in politics by claiming, falsely, that President Obama was not born in the United States. He said that "thousands and thousands" of Muslims in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks, which was not true. He charged, absurdly, that Obama and Clinton were the "founders" of the Islamic State. He touted a ridiculous National Enquirer story alleging that Sen. Ted Cruz's father had something to do with the JFK assassination. He repeatedly said, falsely and without evidence, that there was something seriously wrong with Clinton's health. Apparently stung at having lost the popular vote to Clinton, he claimed that he would have won it if not for widespread "voter fraud" -- which simply did not take place, according to officials in the states he cited.

Trump has not, to my knowledge, spoken or tweeted about the pizza "scandal," although his chosen national security adviser, Gen. Michael Flynn, did send a tweet about purported "Sex Crimes w Children." But the president-elect seems not to realize that it is now in his self-interest to renounce fake news and its creators. Soon, after all, he will be the source of "the official story" about basically everything.

In a post-truth world, how will we know he's not cooking the economic books? Or that every foreign policy move isn't designed to further his business interests? Or that his Cabinet doesn't practice witchcraft?

Real news and "true truth" still matter. As Trump will discover.
A decision last month by a federal judge in Texas has put a damper on some holiday cheer and left many companies looking like the Grinch.

The Nov. 22 ruling put on hold the implementation and enforcement of revisions to U.S. Department of Labor regulations that significantly increases the threshold for the overtime pay of certain employees. The Department of Labor has updated the salary level requirements seven times since 1938, the last one coming in 2004.

Twenty-one states sued to block the rule, arguing it would unduly burden the public and private sectors.

Randy Johnson of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the ruling, noting that if the overtime rule had taken effect, it would have resulted in significant new costs  more than $1 billion according to the Congressional Budget Office  and it would have caused many disruptions in how work gets done. Furthermore, the rule would have reduced workplace flexibility, remote electronic access to work, and opportunities for career advancement.

The Department of Labor strongly disagrees with the decision and has filed an appeal to get the rules reinstated.

The proposed change, which had been set to take effect Dec. 1, would have made salaried workers earning less than $47,476 per year eligible for overtime pay, with the threshold adjusted every three years to reflect changes in average wages. The new threshold was more than double the current rate of $23,660 per year.

That's a big jump, potentially upping the pay of more than 4 million workers nationwide and more than 194,000 in Illinois.

The new rules were announced in May, meaning businesses immediately went to work identifying employees who would be impacted, deciding if they would remain salary employees or become hourly, and figuring out if their operating budgets would allow for the spike.

Unfortunately, the timing U.S. District Court Judge Amos Mazzant's ruling came after many businesses had taken the next step of letting the affected employees know if their status or pay would change.

Since then, many businesses have reversed course and rescinded the changes they made  most notably the raises  pending the outcome of the appeal. Hence, the Grinch reference.

While these decisions weren't popular, they were a necessary part of doing business. It's better to step back and let the process play out rather going ahead with changes that could have more far-reaching implications. That's especially true in Illinois, where the deck is already stacked against employers through higher taxes, wages, regulations and the lack of a state budget.

We agree with the Obama administration that the current threshold is out of date, but believe less drastic, incremental increases are called for.
Brett Robergs first bighorn sheep hunt could have been over in minutes.

But he had no interest in a point and shoot.

Instead of taking a shot at the big ram after wildlife biologist Todd Nordeen pointed it out to him and cousin Josh Johnson when they arrived at Fort Robinson State Park, he opted to wait until the next day.

I actually had to work for him pretty hard, Roberg said. Hiking up the buttes and just trying to track him.

On Monday, he finally killed the Rocky Mountain bighorn ram, which was 10 years old. It unofficially scored at 166.

Quite a difference from the upland game and waterfowl that Roberg is usually chasing.

This is my first big game animal Ive been able to harvest, he said.

Roberg, from Holdrege, is a fisheries biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission who works on cold water streams. He helps out at the check stations during deer season, so he doesnt get much chance to harvest anything other than birds.

Hes been applying for $25 bighorn sheep and elk tags for several years. He thought it would be a cool opportunity.

But when he actually got the call, saying that his name had been drawn from 2,593 entries for the only permit in 2016, he couldnt believe it.

I thought someone was playing a prank on me for a while, he said.

But it was true, and he has the new equipment to prove it. He couldnt resist a stop at Cabelas in Sidney as long as he was out west.

Nordeen, who oversees the sheep herds, kept Roberg up to date on the animals before the hunt. He and his technicians try each week to visually monitor every one of the 320 sheep that reside in areas of the Pine Ridge, between Harrison and Chadron, and the Wildcat Hills, south of Gering and east to McGrew.

Only one permit was issued, and no auction was held for a second tag because there werent enough rams.

He thought the ram that Roberg eventually shot would be a good candidate. It was older, and had surprisingly just shown back up in the herd after an absence of a few years. Nordeen and his staff had thought it had been killed by disease or a mountain lion.

After passing up the shot on Sunday when he arrived, Nordeen assured Roberg theyd see the ram the next day, and they did.

But he kept slipping away. After a frustrating and exhausting morning, Roberg had decided to shift his attention to another ram when it appeared, chasing a couple of ewes up a draw.

I took a shot from 250 yards and dropped him, Roberg said. I think it worked out about as perfect as I ever envisioned.

He used a 7-millimeter STW rifle he borrowed from a friend.

Roberg is heading out west again. His wife, Karissa, has drawn a cow elk tag, and theyre hoping to get that filled.

It will be hard to top his sheep hunt, as demanding as it proved to be for Roberg. He said it was everything he hoped for and more.

Id do it all over again if I could, Roberg said. Its a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
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State and county leaders, school administrators, principals and interested citizens gathered at the Unity Center in Statesville this week to discuss the school boards goals for quality education, and the challenges Iredell-Statesville Schools face in financing and managing a good school system.

Here are some of the topics discussed during and after the meeting:

Priorities critical to system success

Superintendent Brady Johnson recognized the difficulty of balancing student and teacher needs with tighter state budgets before identifying the top five topics critical to the success of public education in the county: Investing adequate resources in public schools, increasing compensation, school calendar flexibility, school performance grades and accountability and accountability in school choice options.

Johnson said the I-SS priorities are similar to the priorities of many other school districts across the state.

Education goals for state lawmakers

State Sen. David Curtis said he expects the Senate to take up two or three of the goals this year: a flexible school calendar and increasing principal pay.

He also said the state needs to change the formula for designating schools A  F. Its not fair, he said, and I hear the frustration of the principals. But he cautioned that 58 percent of the budget is earmarked for education and there are other critical needs to be funded.

Rep. John Fraley agrees that the formula for designating a school A  F is wrong and expects the House to continue working to change it.

Both Curtis and Fraley foresee problems in changing the school calendar and trying to accommodate education needs with those of business and tourism.

Fraley said he expects the House to focus on new funding models for education that include technology and training as well as funding for charter schools. He also said that funding for teacher assistants is already set and will likely not change.

He said discussions are ongoing between the House and Senate on the timing and funding of what is described by school officials as an unfunded mandate to reduce class size.

Investing adequate resources in public schools

The General Assembly passed class-size reduction legislation, effective July 1, 2017. The new kindergarten through third grade teacher-to-student ratio will likely require more classrooms and teachers. The state did not include funding for either.

Calling the law an unfunded mandate, Boen Nutting, principal of Mt. Mourne IB School said, We may have to cut positions like art positions (and) drama teachers in order to meet these requirements.

Teresa Waugh, Principal of Shepherd Elementary, described how stress led one of her teacher assistants to resign Wednesday. She questioned the wisdom of forcing teacher assistants to drive buses at 6 a.m., work with children all day, then drive an afternoon bus until 4:30 p.m. How safe is that? she asked.

Compensation for educators and school personnel

Principal pay in North Carolina ranks last out of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, according to reports published by associations of school principals and administrators.

Teacher pay ranks 41st in the country, said Gordon Palmer, principal of West Iredell High School, citing his frustration with trying to hire one math teacher. Teachers are leaving, he said and there is no one in the pipeline to fill those positions.

Charlotte alone lists 241 open positions, he added.

School calendar flexibility

Teri Hutchens, principal of the Collaborative College for Technology and Leadership, an early college program, cited problems with the statewide school calendar including additional transportation costs due to early college programs beginning three weeks earlier than traditional schools.

She encouraged legislators to trust local school boards and provide the same calendar flexibility as allowed for charter schools. You do not need to allocate more money to make it happen, so just go ahead and do it for us, she said.

School performance grades and accountability

Our robotics team won the district-wide robotics competition, said Linda Dearman, a teacher at N.B. Mills Elementary School. Then she asked how that school could be labeled an F by the State. She questioned the disparity between the states F rating and the A or B rating given by surveyed parents, and suggested the method used to measure schools be switched from 80 percent proficiency/20 percent student growth to 20/80.

Realtor Mary Palmes in part blamed the A  F report card for clients lack of interest in relocating to Statesville. Parents are educated, she said, Theyve done their research and have already made up their minds... they want to live in the Mooresville Graded School District.

Accountability in school choice options

Barbara Culbreath, a counselor at CCTL Early College, questioned why charter schools were not held to the same standards as public schools since they receive public funding. She questioned why public schools were required to hire only licensed teachers, while charter schools were allowed to have half of their teaching staff be unlicensed. In addition, unlike public schools, charter schools are not required to provide transportation or special education, she said.

Former school board member Skip McCall expressed concern about re-segregation due to vouchers and the ability of charter schools to pick and choose student population.

We cannot allow our schools to continue to follow the trend of re-segregation, he said. It is really unfair for the state to take public tax dollars and channel them into private schools. We must do better than that. Every child deserves and should have the opportunity for a quality education.

North Carolina has the most liberal charter school law in the country, Johnson said after the meeting. The state is being called a green field of money, he said, and theres been a rush to build charter schools because of it.
The $92.77 million budget Statesville City Council approved in June came with a 5-cent property tax increase, a 3 percent increase in water and sewer rates and a $120 yearly sanitation fee for city residents.

Although council hammered the budget details out six months ago, some residents say they werent aware of the hikes -- particularly the sanitation fee -- until it was time to pay.

BALANCING THE BUDGET

Per North Carolina statutes, municipalities must deliver a balanced budget every fiscal year. Statesvilles budget included $275,000 worth of incentives for police personnel, a 3.5 percent salary increase for city employees and $315,955 for an automated garbage truck. The budget couldnt sustain the expected expenditures with the 2015-16 tax rates, so to balance the budget and comply with state law, council passed the increases.

ABOUT THE FEE

The sanitation fee is estimated to generate more than $1 million for the city. While the fee is based on a $10 a month charge, property owners must pay the fee in full along with their tax bill.

The fee was placed on the property tax bill instead of a monthly utility bill because it was the most effective method  many property owners do not receive a utility bill, said Nancy Davis, public affairs director for the city.

City Manager Larry Pressley estimates between 500 and 600 residences in city limits do not receive utility bills, according to an email sent to city resident Mike Johnson. (Johnson is not associated with city councilman Michael Johnson.)

Johnson owns several residential, multi-family and commercial properties within the city. The new fee cost him an additional $22,000 on his tax bill, he said.

That is $22,000 not in our budget, he said. The city tells me just pass the cost on to someone else (but) thats a lot easier said than done. If Im in a lease with someone, I cant say Oh by the way, your rent is going up. I cant just raise rent so I have to absorb that tax unless someone is out of contract.

Residents cannot opt out of the fee by choosing a different trash provider, because its a service availability fee.

The fee is a fixed or basic charge for sanitation services, Davis said. The fee is charged per parcel whether the service is used or not.

WHERE THE MONEY GOES

Prior to the fees implementation, residents paid for sanitation through property taxes which went into the general fund.

Police and fire get the most money from the general fund so occasionally you have to do a specific user fee to help supplement the tax, Davis said.

The money collected from the sanitation fee does not go to a specific fund to cover sanitation costs or the public works department, Davis said. It goes back into the general fund, which could cover anything from public safety to public works.

THE LONE COUNCIL DISSENTER

Councilman C.O. (Jap) Johnson cast the lone dissenting vote to the budget and vocally opposed the sanitation fee.

The reason I voted against the sanitation fee is because I think its the most unfair tax weve ever done, he said. We raised taxes, and then we added a $120 tax. They say its a fee, but its on our tax bill. Someone that lives in a $100,000 home now has another 12 percent increase in their taxes. Its a penalty on the poorest people in this town.

Johnson also said hes concerned about future increases to the fee.

Whats worse about it is in my opinion, each year we have a line item in the budget for it," he said. "We can increase it in the future.

A CONTINUING BATTLE

Because the fee has been implemented and most likely paid for already, Jap Johnson said not much can be done to change it.

Thats not stopping Mike Johnson from rallying residents to protest the fee. He's registered an email account -- saynotostatesvilletrashfee@yahoo.com -- for correspondence with others struggling with the fee.

I just want people to be educated and know about this, he said. If you own a house in the city you probably have a mortgage and its probably escrowed. The bank factors into your payment what your taxes are and what your insurance is. People who have it escrowed arent going to realize it until next year when the bank says something changed in your taxes so your payment is going up.
The nationwide voter turnout in the parliamentary elections on Sunday until 14:00 hours stood at 20.23 percent, according to the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) official website. According to the BEC, in the Capital 21.06 percent of the electors have cast their vote.

The highest percentages were registered in the following counties: Teleorman - 24.65 percent, Olt - 24.50 percent, Dolj - 22.81 percent, Botosani - 22.75 percent, Constanta - 22.59 percent, Dambovita - 22.45 percent, Hunedoara - 22.43 percent, Mehedinti - 22.32 percent, Vrancea - 22.01 percent, Harghita - 22.01 percent.

The lowest voter turnout was registered in the counties: Maramures - 15.15 percent, Timis - 16.16 percent, Satu Mare - 16.55 percent. Until 14:00, in Capital's district 1 a share of 24.23 percent of the total number of electors registered on the rolls have cast their ballot, in district 2 - 21.71 percent, in district 3 - 19.09 percent, in district 4 - 21.17 percent, in district 5 - 18.43 percent and in district 6 - 22.74 percent.

A share of 57.99 percent of the Romanians who went to vote until 14:00 cast their vote in the urban area, and in the rural area - 42.01 percent. The nationwide voter turnout in the 2012 parliamentary elections at 14:00 hrs was 20.56 percent, according to the data supplied by the BEC. In the 9 December 2012 ballot, a share of 20.48 percent of the electors cast their vote in the Capital until the aforementioned hour.

Agerpres
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and NKR President Bako Sahakian visited defense positions near the towns Mataghis and Talish in the north of Artsakh on December 10, this according to a press release issued by Sargsyans office.

The commander of the unit organized a demonstration for the presidents of the recent engineering works and new technologies designed to fortify the position.

The President of Armenia issued commendations to several servicemen for excellent service in their assigned tasks.

At another NKR defense location the opening ceremony for a barrack and service buildings took place. The presidents then attended a concert for the military staff which took place on the drill grounds.

In the evening, at the Culture and Youth Palace in Stepanakert, the Presidents of Armenia and NKR attended an event named Strong Faith, Powerful Army, Secure Homeland.
Allison Mitchell

Age  31

Home  Central West End

Family  Ryan, husband of two years

What she makes  Oversized exotic leather bags crafted from python, crocodile, South African springbok hide and pirarucu, a giant carnivorous fish, priced at $900 to $3,000.

How to buy  allisonmitchell.com; and soon shell be among the featured designers at the St. Louis Fashion Incubator showroom and headquarters, 1533 Washington Avenue.

Squiggly line  Allison Mitchell graduated from Lake Forest College, near Chicago, with a philosophy degree. I loved every second of it, but  yeah  its a completely unemployable degree. So she ended up in marketing for a corporation in Chicago before moving back to her Dallas hometown. Thats also where she met her husband and decided to go to culinary school. After finishing that program, she worked assisting a few Dallas chefs. Ive had a squiggly line of a career path from marketing and catering to sales and having my own marketing agency. Her marketing career accidentally led to next venture in handbag design.

Clutch groove  As she hit the social circuit to drum up business for her marketing agency, Mitchell was a regular at cocktail parties. Finding a bag that was the right size and style to fit in for business affairs was a challenge. So on a Sunday when I was really bored, I wanted to make a long, oversized clutch to take to meetings and events that was more chic. At the time, I used what I could easily find, and that was an ostrich-embossed vinyl. I made this thing from a picture in my mind, she said. And then off she went. An avalanche of compliments and inquiries followed. She said that she was flattered but not confident that this was a new career until the compliments and requests led a boutique to say, Ill take 10 and another said, Ill take 15 of them.

Always crafty  Mitchell said that shes always been creative and crafty. She used to make her own clothes and jewelry as an adolescent. She would often sell what she made then as well. So for her, she said, the handbag business was just another project. She was still surprised when it became a business. It got crazy really quickly, so I developed a brand, which was easy because of my background in marketing and branding.

St. Louis Fashion Incubator  Mitchell is among the first six designers in the two-year residency. And shes approaching the entrepreneurial start-up with her usual zeal and efficiency. Instead of waiting to relocate, she found a residence and relocated in November. Her husband, a financial analyst, left his job in Dallas to support her. Hes one of my biggest fans, Mitchell said. I was the one saying things like, I cant have an agency and a bag business ... I dont trust entrepreneurs that have more than one business. And he was like, obviously this has legs. She found a manufacturer to work with and a steady supply of exotic animal skins with little effort, meaning the right connections and some luck. There just werent a whole lot of obstacles in my way, so it was obvious that this is something I should be doing. She moved to St. Louis early to settle in before the holidays. Theyll be traveling to visit family, so she said it just made sense to acclimate early so that shell continue sprinting ahead in the new year.

Why St. Louis  Honestly, when I first got the email about being introduced to the (St. Louis Fashion Incubator), I was like Im not interested, she said. Then almost by happenstance, she agreed to a meeting with Tania Beasley-Jolly, who is on the board of directors for the St. Louis Fashion Fund supporting the incubator, and Eric Johnson, executive director of the incubator, during a recruiting trip in Dallas. As soon as I started talking to them, I was really glad I took the meeting, Mitchell said. She was impressed with the program and the connection to the art community, art patrons and a national design community. I knew Id be a fool not to do it. Im so glad I was accepted.

Two for the road  When Mitchell got the offer, she had a decision to make and so did her husband. But her biggest fan made the decision a lot easier when he agreed to follow her dream. In a way, its their first baby. She launched her first collection the weekend that they got married.
UPDATED at 10:45 p.m. Saturday with boil order.

Missouri American Water issued a precautionary boil order for Maryland Heights residents whose water was shut off Saturday after a main break.

The utility had previously said that no boil order would be issued. Missouri American Water changed its plans late Saturday night and decided to issue the precautionary order.

The break happened at a central plant and shut off water for some residents in northern Maryland Heights near Bridgeton from about 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the utility. The utility doesn't expect any health problems, but issued the order "out of an abundance of caution."

The utility is asking that residents whose water was shut off boil water for three minutes before consumption. Boil orders such as this usually last 24 hours.
Media researcher Louise Lief was in Armenia from December 6-8 at the invitation of the American University of Armenias School of Communications to attend the Digital Investigation conference organized by the Media Initiatives Center. During a discussion at the session entitled We are the Media, Lief talked about cooperative models to include citizens in the process, noting that the American media came up short when it came to covering the U.S. presidential primaries because they were cut off from the public and did not grasp the mood of the electorate. After the conference, Hetq talked to Lief regarding the role of the media and social websites in the primaries and the future of the media.

Your conclusion is that Trump's primary win was the failure of media coverage in the United States.

Yes, in essence the media failed to see how powerful his message was in certain places and with certain people... They didn't think it would resonate as much as it did. So, the interesting question is why?

What was the base of that position of media? Did they rely on sociological surveys?

Polling surveys all showed that Clinton had a big advantage. No one was predicting that Trump would win. Trump himself didn't think he would win. So, it really shows that again, as someone who's interested in the information landscape and where we use journalists to fit in, it shows how much that landscape has changed and how unpredictable it is, and how it's harder to get information about the entire society. All the predictions were wrong.

Does it mean that traditional methods of surveying public opinion aren't useful now? Do we need to find new models of surveying?

I think the polling organizations that were not correct are going to look at the data and see what happened. And there's a whole issue now with people having cell phones and some people not having landlines. The question is how polling is being done. Do they really get an accurate picture or are people self-selecting? So, I think there's a whole reassessment of what happened. And then, based on what they find or what they think happened, then they must rethink and redo it. Americans love polling surveys, and theyre considered to be the absolute predictor that are very reliable as they have their margins of error.

I have just read an article published by a Swiss newspaper Das Magazin describing how big data helped Trump to win. It is about Cambridge Analytica, which analyzes data collected from social media to measure the behaviors of people. Trump was their client, so he created his speeches based on the demands of the public.

Well, I don't know if that was the case, but I know it's a new era and a lot of Facebook is a new phenomenon. People really started to use it in 2006 so it's something very new and people are trying to figure out how it works and one thing the investigative organization called Pro Publica which is one of the most prominent in the US and they have a very interesting project looking at how Facebook works, their algorithms, how they decide what to show to which person. So, this is a whole new field of study. Trump's election, and I think Brexit, are two examples of the societal consequences and a big complicated messy question about how do you address this. There are no answers yet.

It's obvious that the informational revolution brought many positive opportunities for journalism but it has also had some negative impact. What do you think about this?

What I think and what I'm very preoccupied with is where the public sees the media in this new landscape, where do we fit in; what is the value that we're bringing to people. I think we must ask the question why should people trust us? They don't know you, so why should they trust you and your information? How can you build a relationship of trust with the public so when you do have an investigation, not just on national politics but on anything, they trust your information and they feel they have some way to act on that. This is a very big open question. When you only had, at least in the United States, one or two newspapers in your community and your local television, you didn't really have any other options and that became the news the community worked on to understand what was going on in the community. That model is gone. The community can find information in lots of different places. Doing an investigation, you need to think about the whole picture and find ways to build that foundation, to establish that trust. So, for example when you do an investigation people should say ah, I trust Hetq because I know they've done this, I know they care about people like me.

Is investigative journalism in demand in the US? For example, in Armenia, although we have a good reputation, we cannot compete with news websites in terms of visits' ranking.

It's my impression that investigative reporters are a smaller community in the media because the work is challenging. I think a lot of people don't understand how journalists weigh the information, the ethical issues that come into play. Some news organizations are not responsible. There have been a couple of court cases that have gone against journalists with very big financial penalties and the public was angry about what they were doing. There are good news organizations in every country and some that aren't responsible that have a political agenda, and they will not write about anything that doesn't fit in their agenda, and people are confused. I think it's a lot to expect the public to be able to understand this universe.

Is there work to do regarding media literacy in the United States?

In every country I've written about, something that's even more basic than media literacy, is the information literacy that you receive from any kind of information from anywhere. What are the questions that you should ask? This is something that's now being taught at universities. In American universities, they have a whole course on it. The librarians who deal with information teach information literacy. Back to the media. It's a larger question than the media can do on their own, they need allies in society that care about good information. For me, if you can establish that trust then you can do lots of investigations, you can have a big impact, you can contribute to reform efforts for better government. But if you don't have that trust, this is what I worry about in the United States.

What are the trends of media development in your opinion? Whats going to happen in the future?

The model I've talked about yesterday, the Texas Tribune, is very small, and they are in a very heavily Republican state, and they have chosen a very careful course of keeping the door open to everyone and being a neutral place where citizens and politicians can talk about policy issues. And they do look at money, they do look at politics, they do investigations. What I like about it is the new model, they invite the public in. What do you think? What are you interested in? That's something new, that's not the way traditional newsrooms were, with the editors usually sitting around a table and saying, well what story should we do, what do we think the public needs to know or wants to know". And one of the founders of that new model said that there's a better question than asking what they need to know, what they want. Ask them.

In the presidential debates, I always found the questions from the audience, in the town hall meetings, to be much more interesting than those of the professional moderators. Why? Because they're asking ordinary questions of things that they care about.

Photo by Narek Aleksanyan
So my question is, if the department is defunded, and low pay continues, what will happen the next time the police are desperately needed and only a handful of them are available?
Napa Valley wineries, hikes through a majestic redwood forest, Alcatraz Island and walking across the Golden Gate bridge all seemed like a daunting itinerary for a three-day trip to San Francisco, but apps came to the rescue.

Planning a weekend getaway for two adults, I didnt want to miss out on a single attraction of a city Id never visited. With time constraints top of mind and a tight budget, smartphone apps helped make the most of the quick trip, allowing us to take in the best the city had to offer.

Lodging

An online search revealed San Francisco hotel prices rivaling that of New York and Boston, with costs above $300 a night at many hotels. So I turned to Airbnb to find an option about half the cost. Short-term rental platform Airbnb allows users to select a price range, location and other options to find matches with property owners.

We originally selected the option to search for homes to rent on Airbnb that were unoccupied but ultimately decided to take a leap of faith to rent a room in someones home while they were there. This option, at about $160 a night, meant wed share common areas of the home with the homeowner, such as a kitchen, living room and bathroom, and wed have our private bedroom.

A first-time Airbnb user, it felt like a gamble to share living quarters with a stranger but the roll of the dice worked out. Our host Cory greeted us at his beautiful, three-story Victorian home in the Castro district with a loaf of fresh baked banana bread. He offered us advice on which streets nearby were the steepest  San Francisco is notoriously hilly  so we could avoid those as we set out on our sightseeing on foot. A fear that wed be constantly bumping into our host in the hallways didnt materialize. We saw him only at check-in and on our last day there. An extra bonus was having a fresh brewed pot of coffee greeting us each morning, which we enjoyed looking out at the panoramic views of the skyline.

Getting Around

We used the Uber app on our phones nearly a dozen times in the city where the ride-sharing company was born and saved several dollars on each ride by choosing the UberPOOL option. UberPOOL connects those who hail a ride through the app with other riders who want to go to a nearby location.

Our Uber ride from San Francisco International Airport to the heart of the city was $15, since we picked up another airport passenger. That was about $10 less than if we rode alone. The extra passenger added about five minutes to our trip while we rode to another terminal for her pickup, and her trip took about 10 minutes longer than planned since our driver dropped us off first.

On the days we set out for longer treks, we used Enterprise CarShare, a service that allows users to rent cars by the hour instead of by the day. Clayton-based Enterprise, which has expanded this service to more cities in recent years, sends users a membership card in the mail that unlocks specially marked cars. The cars were easy to locate using a map on the services app, which also is the way to lock in your reservation. Once the membership card opens the door, the keys are located in the glove box.

Driving the Toyota Prius to Muir Woods National Monument, a primeval forest 12 miles north of the Golden Gate bridge, was an adventure. Hairpin curves gave the ride a racetrack feel but we were rewarded when we arrived at the forest for a steep hike that took us past dozens of centuries-old giant redwoods. The serenity in the park was a nice respite from the bustle of the city, all only a quick 30-minute drive away.

On our second day in San Fran, we used the citys bikeshare program to rent bikes to ride on the Embarcadero, a pedestrian pathway that hugs the shoreline with small shops and restaurants and sweeping views of the Bay Bridge. The path was wide enough to accommodate bikes and walkers and even a dog managing to hop on a skateboard. (His owner was seated nearby while the dog performed the impressive trick.)

Food and drinks

Asking locals to suggest restaurants to try consistently evoked the same answer: This is San Francisco, all the restaurants are good. Their assertions lived up to the hype. From giant shrimp and succulent oysters at the Pier Market near Fishermans Wharf to heavenly coconut rice at Burma Superstar in San Franciscos trendy Inner Richmond district, the food and drink options did not disappoint, including a local craft beer, Anchor Steam, that traces its roots to 1896.

Our eclectic dining choices included an In-N-Out Burger wolfed down after walking 10 miles past the citys grand city hall and meandering through Chinatown, Japantown and other neighborhoods. We capped off the evening with drinks entranced by a 360-degree panorama view of the city, courtesy of the Top of the Mark, a restaurant on the 19th floor of the InterContinental Mark Hopkins historic hotel.

A trip to San Francisco would not be complete without a visit to Napa Valley, only a 90-minute drive from the city. After two days of rain, the sun emerged for a picturesque drive through a landscape dotted with names of some of the countrys most well-known wineries. We chose to take a $10 tour at a winery that produces one of my favorite chardonnays, Cakebread Cellars, and had a well-informed tour-guide dazzle us with the intricacies of barrel aging and growing quality wine grapes.

The only disappointment during the trip came from forgetting to pack my mobile cellphone battery charger that recharges phones without plugging into a wall. Constantly using my iPhones map, photo and video functions quickly drained my cellphone after only a few hours of use. When I asked the host at Pier Market if we could be seated by a wall outlet so I could charge my drained phone, she said she had a better option and brought two Doblets to our table, at no charge. The small, cordless devices charged our phones while we ate. An app showed us what other bars and restaurants in San Francisco had the devices so we could pop in to those when our power levels were low.

Attractions

By using apps to plot out our lodging, transit and dining, we were able to fit in much more sightseeing than we thought was possible in 72 hours, including buying fudge sundaes at Ghirardelli Square on the site of the famed chocolate factory and watching vendors set up produce stands at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

Walking across the Golden Gate bridge, one of the seven wonders of the modern world, was worth the effort for the stunning views of the bay and city skyline. The span from San Francisco to the Marin headlands is 1.7 miles long. We parked at a lot on the north side of the bridge and headed to a vista point to take in the landmark that opened to traffic in 1937 before walking across a pedestrian path.

We also spent about two hours on Alcatraz Island, the former maximum high-security federal prison thats now part of the U.S. National Park Service. The $35.50 fee covers the cost of a ferry ride from the citys Pier 33 and an informative self-guided audio tour. Visitors can see where Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly did their time and hear about escape attempts from the storied facility that closed in 1963.

The visit to San Francisco afforded many other opportunities to see history memorialized, including a metal plaque honoring slain activist Harvey Milk in the Castro district and the Palace of the Fine Arts, a reconstruction of a structure built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition to showcase art.

Finally, I couldnt get halfway across the country to San Francisco without riding a cable car. We hopped on the California Street line that runs West-East through the Financial District, saving us from trekking several blocks on steep hills by foot. The driver, a good sport, let me clang the bell as I disembarked, cementing my love for the city by the bay.

More info:

Alcatraz Island  alcatrazcruises.com

Bay Area Bike Share  bayareabikeshare.com

Enterprise CarShare  enterprisecarshare.com

Muir Woods National Monument  nps.gov/muwo/index.htm
The Okura Prestige Saigon will be the Okura Prestige brands first property in Vietnam

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hotel Okura Co., Ltd. announced today that it has agreed with the Saigon Trading Group (SATRA) to develop and manage The Okura Prestige Saigon, the Okura Prestige brands first property in Vietnam, which will open in Ho Chi Minh City in 2020.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161211005066/en/

Rendition of The Okura Prestige Saigon (Photo: Business Wire)

The move is part of an ambitious undertaking by Hotel Okura, whose subsidiary Okura Nikko Hotel Management Co., Ltd. operates Okura Hotels & Resorts, Nikko Hotels International and Hotel JAL City, to expand its global portfolio to 100 properties, primarily in Asia, by 2020.

Hotel Okuras President Toshihiro Ogita said: We are focusing on hotel development in Vietnam because of its stable and highly promising GDP growth rate, which is averaging 6.5 percent annually, and its affluent and youthful population up to age 30, which accounts for half the nations population. Vietnam suits our business strategy of expanding the scope of our loyal customers travel destinations, growing our brand awareness, and further strengthening our customer base and thus competitive advantages in promising markets.

The Okura Prestige Saigon will be the third hotel in Vietnam managed by Okura Nikko Hotel Management following Hotel Nikko Hanoi and Hotel Nikko Saigon operated under the Nikko brand.

The hotel will be part of SATRA TAX PLAZA, a 40-story, multipurpose commercial complex under construction on the site of the former Saigon Tax Trade Center. The complex, situated in District 1, one of the citys prime locations, will offer direct connection to the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line currently under development. It is about six kilometers (3.7 miles) north of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the nations major gateway.

Facilities will include 250 spacious guest rooms, Japanese restaurants, all-day dining, rooftop bar, multipurpose banquet/meeting rooms, gymnasium and outdoor pool.

The Okura Prestige Saigon will combine meticulous Japanese hospitality with state-of-the-art facilities to deliver our signature Okura Prestiges quality and ambience. We hope that The Okura Prestige Saigon will be well received by people in its host community, said Ogita.

Hotel Okuras partner, SATRA, is a public enterprise owned by Ho Chi Minh City. Incorporated in 1995, SATRA employs more than 16,000 people and owns more than 70 subsidiaries, affiliates and joint ventures in a wide range of businesses spanning trading, distribution and food manufacturing.

Okura Hotels & Resorts will also add Okura Spa & Resort Cappadocia in Turkey in 2017 and The Hotel Okura Manila Bayshore and The Okura Prestige Phnom Penh in 2019. The next Nikko Hotels International property scheduled to open will be Hotel Nikko Bangkok in 2018.

About Hotel Okura

Hotel Okura Co., Ltd. was founded in 1958 and opened its flagship hotel, Hotel Okura Tokyo, in 1962. The company has extensive expertise in hospitality-related industries, including asset ownership and consulting on hotel development and operations. The Hotel Okura subsidiary Okura Nikko Hotel Management Co., Ltd. operates three hotel groups: Okura Hotels & Resorts with 25 member hotels, Nikko Hotels International with 37 member hotels and Hotel JAL City with 12 member hotels. Please visit www.okura.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161211005066/en/

Hotel Okura Co., Ltd.

Ms. Shoko Amano or Mr. Ryutaro Suzuki, +81-3-6864-2729

Public Relations

[email protected]

Source: Hotel Okura Co., Ltd.
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with a Portuguese television channel in this handout picture provided by SANA on November 15, 2016. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

By Angus McDowall

BEIRUT (Reuters) - When President Bashar al-Assad turns from the wreckage of Aleppo to assert his authority across a fractured Syria, it will be as a figure who is virtually unassailable by rebels, but still faces great challenges in restoring the power of his state.

The expected fall of Aleppo would mean rebels have almost no chance of ousting Assad, but their revolt has left him in hock to foreign allies, resigned to the loss of swathes of his country for the time being and with tough pockets of resistance still to crush.

"Certainly it is not the end of the war ... But when you take Aleppo, you control 90 percent of the fertile areas of Syria, the regions that hold the cities and markets, the populated regions," said a senior pro-Damascus official in the region.

However, the battlefield victories that seem - for now - to have secured Assad's rule have been won in large part not by his own depleted military, but by Russian warplanes and a shock force of foreign Shi'ite militias backed by Iran.

Assad will rely on Moscow and Tehran to take back more territory, and to hold and secure it, meaning he will have to balance his own ambitions with theirs.

At the same time, as the insurgents lose ground and as the jihadists among them grow more dominant, conventional warfare may give way to an era of guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings within areas held by the government.

Aggravating this, the war has taken on sectarian dimensions that will resonate for generations; the uprising identifies itself with the Sunni Muslim majority, and the state led by a minority Alawite draws on the backing of Shi'ite Islamists.

Worst of all, nearly six years of war have killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians, displaced around 11 million, of whom nearly half have fled the country, and laid waste to much of the infrastructure needed to resurrect a shattered economy.

In rebuilding, Assad will also have to contend with Western sanctions on much of his government and with isolation from some of his main previous trading partners - the European Union, Turkey, Gulf monarchies and Jordan. The Gulf states in particular may also continue to fund insurgents.

"Syria has suffered such wounds that there will always be, in my expectation, a day of reckoning," said Nikolaos Van Dam, a former Dutch diplomat and author of a book about Syrian history and politics, speaking about the future of Assad's state.

INDISPENSABLE

To his supporters, Assad is the one, indispensable figure standing between his country and absolute chaos, the resolute leader of a war against foreign-backed jihadists who wish to slaughter minorities and launch attacks on other states.

Without him, they say, what remains of the Syrian armed forces and security services will crumble, rendering the country a failed state and a danger to the world for decades to come.

Convincing enough allies - including Moscow and Tehran - to see him in that light has been Assad's "political masterpiece", said Rolf Holmboe, research fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and a former Danish ambassador to Syria.

But to his detractors, Assad is the man who burned Syria rather than allowing power to slip from his grasp, a dictator whose prisons are wallowing in the blood of his opponents and whose cities lie ruined by the bombs of his military.

In Assad's swift use of force against protesters in 2011 and his deployment of artillery and air power against Syrian towns and cities, critics see his reliance on the example of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who ruled from 1970-2000.

Hafez's crushing of an Islamist insurgency that began in 1976, culminating with the massacre of thousands in the city of Hama in 1982, set the template for his son's response to the Arab Spring protests in 2011 and the subsequent war.

"They have no other solutions and that's it. They implemented the same manual. They took it from the drawer and implemented it," said Ayman Abdel Nour, a former friend and pro-reform political appointee of Assad who left Syria in 2007.

For Abdel Nour, Assad at war was a far cry from the man he first knew at Damascus University in the early 1980s, long before the death of an elder brother put him in line to succeed his father as president.

"He was like any other person: very humble, very nice, very modest because he was not supposed to be president," he said.

Assad's early years as president after succeeding his father in 2000 raised hopes of political and economic reforms, but they mostly faltered, something that was blamed at the time on an old guard of security chiefs.

RAQQA WRITTEN OFF FOR NOW

The president and his allies have focused their campaign on the populous, fertile, west of his country and few people expect him to lavish limited military resources on quickly retaking the eastern deserts or Euphrates valley area from Islamic State.

The senior pro-Damascus official said that Assad had for now written off Raqqa, which has become the de facto Syrian capital of Islamic State, often referred to by the Arabic term Daesh, regarding the jihadist group as Washington's problem to fix.

"The regime forgot about Raqqa a long time ago and made it the responsibility of the Americans. Let those alarmed by Daesh go and remove it," the official said.

Still, Assad himself signaled in a December television interview that in the end he intended to restore Damascus' sway across the country. Asked about a "federalist" system that Kurds have implemented in parts of north Syria from which the central state has retreated, he dismissed their local councils as "temporary structures".

In making further military gains after Aleppo, Assad will continue to rely on both Moscow's air power and the ground force supplied by Iran and the Shi'ite militias it sponsors, foremost among them the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Several thousand foreign militiamen have already died fighting for Assad, often in the fiercest fronts of the war, and Assad's regional enemies believe that will make him little more than a vassal for stronger allies who have their own agendas.

Abdulaziz al-Sager, Saudi head of the Jeddah-based Gulf Research Centre and the man asked by Riyadh to mediate talks between Syrian opposition groups last year, believes this has left Assad too weak to rule effectively in the long term.

"My opinion from day one is that Bashar al-Assad is in a losing battle. Even if he gains some position, who is really today ruling Syria? It's the Russians and the Iranians. He has very little role to play there," he said by phone.

Assad himself said in the television interview that he consulted with Russia daily, adding that "no decision is issued without discussions between the two countries".

In Moscow, Vladimir Dzhabarov, a retired Russian special services general and a deputy chairman of the international affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, said his country had no ulterior motives in Syria. "Our leadership has always been saying that we don't support Assad but the rule of law in this country," he said.

Still, Assad is not without power in his dealings with his allies; both Moscow and Tehran are relying on his presence to keep the government and security forces intact and justify their massive outlay on the war, given few people believe there is a plausible alternative to him among the senior ranks of his administration or military.

"Iran and Russia and Hezbollah, they also need him. Russia and Iran are quite limited in their possibilities of influencing him," said Van Dam.

SECULARISM

One consequence of the fall of Aleppo could be that nationalist rebel groups - the ones that Western countries feel able to support - will be weakened while militant jihadist ones come to dominate the insurgency even more.

"Assad is one step closer to his aim of making sure the rebel landscape is more terrorist, in his language, which in his strategic view will be a way to reach out to the West to fight terrorists together," said Holmboe, the former ambassador.

In making that argument, Assad has always emphasized the secular nature of his ruling Baath party, a socialist, pan-Arab movement embraced by his father, who seized power in a coup and first built Syria's alliances with Moscow and Tehran.

But critics say that while Assad has contrasted the secular nature of his party's ideology with the Islamist beliefs shared by his own domestic opponents and militants who threaten other countries, his actual policies have been highly sectarian.

The Assads are members of the Alawite sect, a minority Shi'ite offshoot that hardline Sunni Islamists regard as heretical and whose members have been given many of the top posts in the bureaucracy, military and internal security forces.

"In a certain way, still the regime is secular but the composition is not secular," said Van Dam, who added that any hopes for future reconciliation between Syria's sects would be hard to achieve "for many, many, many years".

Some of his foes used to hope for an internal coup that might allow a more compromising figure to emerge but as his government secures more victories, it is hard to see why or how other figures within the state would remove him.

"He always put rumors against each one of them. Everybody hates each other. Every officer of the intelligence, his deputy is totally against him. So that's it. No one can move. No one can do anything," said Abdel Nour.

Aleppo: A city under siege http://tmsnrt.rs/2gei21e

Battle for control in Syria http://tmsnrt.rs/2hhVlHE

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry and Laila Bassam in Beirut and Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow; Editing by Pravin Char)
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Ratko Mladic's lawyers told judges on Friday that Bosnia's "fanatical" Muslim leaders had been preparing "jihad" long before the Bosnian Serb general, on trial in The Hague for genocide, ever set foot in the country in uniform.

Mladic, 74, once an officer in the federal Yugoslav army, led Bosnian Serb forces in a three-year campaign to carve an ethnically pure Serb state out of Bosnia. The campaign reached its nadir with the slaughter of thousands of Muslims in Srebrenica.

Summing up at the end of Mladic's four-year trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, defense lawyer Branko Lukic said Mladic had been defending his country and its people from "ethnic and religious fanaticism."

"The Bosnian Muslim Party of Democratic Action (SDA) was preparing for war," Lukic said.

He quoted from an "Islamic declaration" by Bosnia's wartime leader, Alija Izetbegovic, which stated that "there can be no peace between the Islamic faith and non-Islamic social and political institutions".

Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded life imprisonment for Mladic for leading Bosnian Serb forces as they encircled the U.N.-designated safe haven of Srebrenica and then murdered some 8,000 of its male Muslim inhabitants, burying them in mass graves.

But Lukic told the court that all parties, not only the Bosnian Serbs, were responsible for the violence in Bosnia -- not least Arab "mujahideen" fighters who had come to fight alongside their Bosnian co-religionists.

"To believe the prosecution's vision of the case, one has to ignore the presence and activities of an opposing armed opponent," he said, as Mladic, described by another defense lawyer as a popular "soldier's soldier", listened from the dock.

"Mladic is here today because he is a Serb and dared to stand up against Alija Izetbegovic's jihad," or Islamic holy war, asserting the Bosnian Muslim leader had enjoyed the covert backing of NATO and Western powers.

The Srebrenica massacre, Europe's worst since World War Two, triggered NATO air strikes that ultimately ended the three-year Bosnian war, part of the break-up of Yugoslavia in a series of wars that killed 130,000 people and lasted for most of the 1990s [nL5N1E2450].

Mladic is charged with two counts of genocide in connection with the war. His old ally, the Bosnian Serbs' political leader Radovan Karadzic, was convicted of a single count of genocide this year and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

A verdict and, in the event of a conviction, a sentence are expected next year.

(Reporting By Thomas Escritt; Editing by Larry King)
By Laila Bassam and John Davison

ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian's military and Russian warplanes bombarded rebel-held districts of Aleppo on Saturday as Damascus's allies said victory was near, but insurgents fought back and army advances halted after rapid gains during the week.

The United States said it was meeting a Russian team in Geneva to find a way to save lives, but an agreement looked elusive as the two countries, which back opposing sides, have repeatedly failed to strike a deal to allow evacuations and help aid deliveries.

Russia, whose military intervention helped turn the war in President Bashar al-Assad's favor, said the Syrian government now controls 93 percent of second city Aleppo, a figure Reuters could not independently verify. Its recapture would deal a major blow to rebels who have fought to unseat Assad in the nearly six-year war.

The insurgents are holed out in a handful of areas mostly south of the historic Old City, having lost nearly three-quarters of territory they controlled for years in the space of around two weeks.

Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, a key military ally of Damascus alongside Russia and Iran, said late on Friday that a "promised victory" in Aleppo was imminent and would change the course of the war.

The advances mean the government appears closer to victory than at any point since 2011 protests against Assad evolved into armed rebellion. The war has killed more than 300,000 people and made more than 11 million homeless.

A win for Assad in Aleppo looks close, but fighting still raged on Saturday.

Russian warplanes and Syrian artillery bombarded rebel-held districts, and rebels responded with shelling of government-controlled areas as gunfire rang out, a Reuters correspondent in Aleppo said.

Russia and Syria said on Friday they had reduced military operations to allow civilians to leave.

But rebels say their counter attacks are what have halted government advances.

"There's no advance by the regime. They (rebels) have stopped them several times," Zakaria Malahifji, a Turkey-based official in the Fastaqim rebel group told Reuters.

Government forces launched an attack in the Izaa area near the Old City early on Saturday which insurgents repelled, destroying an army tank, he said.

VAST DESTRUCTION

Fighting has killed hundreds of people in recent weeks, monitors say, and devastated large areas of Aleppo.

Parts of the UNESCO World Heritage Old City recaptured by the government were completely destroyed by fighting, a Reuters correspondent said. Old markets and bathhouses had been flattened.

"I found my home destroyed," said one returning resident, who gave only his family name, Sheikho.

"I didn't even recognize where it was because of the destruction," he said.

Mohammed Shaaban, standing outside a destroyed church, was also astounded by the destruction.

"A year and a half ago when I last visited there was not this level of damage. I'm shocked and saddened. They destroyed civilization and humanity," he said, referring to rebels.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said several people were killed in rebel shelling on Saturday. Hundreds have been killed in recent weeks, mostly in government bombardments, it says.

Thousands of people have left rebel districts. Some fled to government-held areas but others went to areas under rebel control fearing arrest and reprisals by government forces.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Russia to show "a little grace" when American and Russian officials meet in Geneva later on Saturday to try to reach a deal enabling civilians and fighters to leave the besieged city of Aleppo.

"Fighters ... don't trust that if they agreed to leave to try to save Aleppo that it will save Aleppo and they will be unharmed," Kerry told reporters in Paris after a meeting of countries opposed to Assad.

Germany said Syrian opposition backers were seeking a political solution, but there was no agreement in Paris on reaching a truce.

IS ASSAULT STRETCHES ARMY

Russia's defense ministry said more than 20,000 civilians left eastern Aleppo on Saturday and over 1,200 rebels laid down their arms. The British-based Observatory said hundreds of civilians had left but no fighters surrendered.

Rebel officials have sworn they will never leave.

The army said it reduced operations to allow residents to leave, and that this would enable the military to carry out "wider maneuvers" against insurgents in due course.

Russia's defense ministry said that after civilians left, government forces would continue to "liberate" eastern Aleppo.

Even once Aleppo is retaken, the multi-sided Syrian war will continue.

The Syrian army said it had sent reinforcements to Palmyra more than 200 kms (130 miles) away to stave off a fierce attack by Islamic State militants, who advanced to the city's outskirts.

A rebel commander in the Aleppo-based Jaish al-Mujahideen group said the IS offensive had forced the government to divert troops from Aleppo - a possible explanation for the slowed advance there and heavy aerial and artillery bombardment.

The United States, which is leading a separate fight against Islamic State in northern and eastern Syria, said it will send 200 additional military personnel, including special forces to create a pressure against the group's Raqqa hub.

The fight against Islamic State, being waged separately by the group's many enemies in Syria - Moscow and Damascus; the U.S. coalition; and some of the same Turkish-backed rebels that are fighting Assad in Aleppo - is just one sign that Syria's complex conflict will not end with a defeat for insurgents in Aleppo.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam in Aleppo, John Davison in Beirut, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Alexander Winning in Moscow, William Maclean in Manama, Mostafa Hashem in Cairo; Writing by John Davison; Editing by Louise Heavens)
A client counts Vietnamese dong banknotes at a bank in Vinh Yen city, Vietnam, August 19, 2015. Vietnam devalued the dong on Wednesday for the third time this year as authorities moved to bolster a languid export sector facing fresh challenges from a surp

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's police have arrested the chief executive officer and four other staff of a troubled partly private bank which has been under central bank surveillance since August last year, the bank said on Saturday.

Former CEO Tran Phuong Binh and four staff of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Dong A Bank, who have been suspended since August 2015, were taken into custody as the police were investigating the lender over its banking and monetary operations, the unlisted bank said in a statement.

The State Bank of Vietnam, the country's central bank, placed Dong A Bank, under special supervision on Aug. 13, 2015 "for violations in financial management and credit grants" by some executives, the statement said.

Vietnam's fragmented banking sector has undergone major reform in the past few years, with stricter lending and debt classification, forced takeovers, numerous fraud investigations and the formation of a state-run asset management company to support commercial lenders.

Bad debts have been cut to 2.62 percent of the sector's total outstanding loans in September, from 2.93 percent in September 2015, based on central bank data.

Dong A Bank, 6.87 percent owned by the Communist Party chapter in Ho Chi Minh City as of late 2013, said it recorded positive lending growth since this August, while the ratios of its reserves for ensuring liquidity and repayments have now been above the central bank's requirements.

The bank statement reaffirmed "all its business activities have been normal, clients' benefits are ensured."

On Friday Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the government was seeking to step up dealing with banks' bad debts and that the Asian Development Bank and a Vietnamese private partner were planning to buy one of the country's weak banks.

He did not name the bank in question.

Earlier this month, Moody's said its "outlook for Vietnam's banking system over the next 12-18 months was stable, as it has been since December 2014."

Vietnam's macroeconomic stability and resilient economic growth will continue to support the banks' weak credit profiles, "while capital buffers will continue to deteriorate because of high loan growth," Moody's said.

The central bank estimated loans to grow 18 percent this year from 2015, accelerating from an annual expansion of 17.26 percent last year.

(Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by David Evans)
India and Bangladesh have the highest volume of internet searches for rape and incest sex, while the US tops in child rape in 2016.

According to Google Trends, India and Bangladesh, by volume are the world leaders for Google searches of the terms Gang rape, Bhabi sex, and forced sex. While the search related to child rape came from the US.

Contrary to the false and distorted facts surfacing on the internet suggesting Pakistan topped the sex search, the most searches for terms related to pornography came from India and Bangladesh.

The google trends showed the city of Guwahati, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Raipur rather than major cosmopolitans like Mumbai and Delhi.

India also tops the world in shocking search terms such as baby rape, in an exact apparent conformity to its massive reports of rape cases and rampancy of gang rape of minors.

The Google trends further showed that the US and India top the world in underage rape and child rape searches.

Its also pertinent to note that the cities and countries shown by the Google trends are also the ones suffering from rampancy in heinous cases of rapes. Guwahati, as named in Google trends for rape searches, is an Indian city in the state of Assam and is notorious for the high rate of rapes.

In 2013, an American news site published a controversial story about Assams Rape festival, however, the site deleted it later after facing public obloquy, particularly from Indian netizens. The

The story, which was later called a satire quoted an organiser of the festival who said this was an ancient tradition of Assam where the man who raped the most women would get a trophy.

India has witnessed a dramatic increase in sexual violence and has caused an outrage across the country and overseas. In 2012, a 23-year-old Delhi student was gang-raped on a moving bus and later died in hospital.
Irans flag carrier 'Iran Air' says it has signed a much-awaited agreement with US aviation giant Boeing to purchase 80 planes.

The agreement envisages the purchase of 50 twinjet narrow-body Boeing 737 planes and 30 long-range wide-body 777 aircraft at a total cost of $16.6 billion.

Iran Air Managing Director Farhad Parvaresh was quoted by local media as saying that the planes would to be handed over to Iran within 10 years, adding that the first deliveries are expected in 2018.

Fletcher Barkdull, Boeings regional sales director, told IRNA that the company was happy to return to Iran after a hiatus of multiple decades.

Barkdull emphasized that the finalization of the plane purchase agreement with Iran Air had been carried out by virtue of the direct approval from the administration of US President Barack Obama.

Iran signed a basic plane purchase agreement with Boeing earlier this year. However, the agreement hit a bumpy road last month after US lawmakers approved a bill that banned the export, or re-export, of commercial aircraft to Iran by American financial institutions.

The country has signed another agreement with Frances aviation giant Airbus to purchase scores of planes.

The deal is yet to be finalized but it has already received the go-ahead from the US Treasury Department.

The Department's seal for Iran-Airbus agreement was necessary given that at least 10 percent of Airbus' components are made in the US which has imposed a series of economic sanctions against Iran for years now.

The US Treasury Department has also given the green light to Boeing to sell planes to Iran.
Students at Sugar Creek Elementary School in Verona participated in the "Hour of Code" in Espanol on Friday, an event where teachers from acro
A MyLotto player in Bay of Plenty is among six players to win $166,667 in Lottos First Division last night.

The winning Lotto tickets were sold at Patels Foodmarket in Whangarei (x2), MyLotto to a player in Canterbury and Paper Plus Dunedin in Dunedin.

A player from Auckland won $10 million with Powerball First Division in the live Lotto draw.

The winning ticket was sold on MyLotto to a player in Auckland and is made up of $10 million from Powerball First Division and $166,667 from Lotto First Division.

This is the third Powerball win in recent weeks, following on from wins in November by a player from Whangarei, who won $5.5 million, and a young couple from the Hibiscus Coast in Auckland, who won $44 million  the largest prize ever won in New Zealand.

Strike Four was also won by a player in Invercargill who takes home $122,434. The winning Strike ticket was sold at Elles Rd New World in Invercargill.

Every ticket bought for tonights Lotto draw will help support the people of Kaikoura/Hurunui and the Marlborough regions, with all profits from the draw going towards helping those affected by the recent earthquake.

Lotto New Zealands Christmas promotion begins today. All Lotto Triple Dip tickets bought between Sunday December 11, and 7.30pm Saturday December 31 are in the draw to win 200 extra prizes, including $1 million cash, nine BMW X1 sDrive vehicles and 190 prizes of $10,000 cash for travel.

Anyone who bought their ticket from any of the above winning stores should write their name on the back of the ticket and check it immediately at any Lotto outlet, online at MyLotto.co.nz or through the Lotto NZ ticket-checker app.

Players can phone Lotto on 0800 695 6886 if they want to enquire about the best way to claim a prize.
City councillors first working meeting of the triennium started with them receiving a good telling off over the council decision in September to order the felling of two London Plane Trees in Second Ave west.

Mary Dillon, a former city councillor, and current Envirohub BOP chair, took councillors to task in the public forum in a scathing dressing down over the decision and its implications for the city.

Starting from the fact the staff reports were clear the application to fell the trees should be declined, because they are healthy trees and do not meet any of the criteria for felling in the city councils own tree policy, Mary went on to ask what the councillors were thinking.

The documentation and reports from the council staff were pretty clear that the application to fell the two trees should be declined. It did not meet any of the criteria for removal of a tree in the current tree policy.

Given that, I would have thought that you need some really persuasive reasons to move outside the policy requirement. And I have not been able to find a record of those anywhere, says Mary.

Its obvious to me no reasons were advanced or discussed other than the reasons put forward by the petitioners and addressed in the council officers report with the recommendation to decline.

If that is so, the council decision seems to be to be really perverse, and I underline that word perverse.

She wants the decision reconsidered, and for the council to discuss the implications of the decision, which Mary says has opened to door for any citizen who finds a tree a minor inconvenience to call for its removal.

The community expectation is that council will treat all its citizens with an even hand in similar circumstances. To me thats called being fair or for the council it is being consistent.

There was no serious reason for this tree to be removed. If you do it for one, you need to be able to do it for all of them. There was no serious reason for this tree to be removed and yet we have decided.

So I dont think that potential precedent was raised at all in discussion and it should have been a major consideration.

The city centre is about to lose a number of trees through planned reconstruction from the university in Durham Street, and the councils own rebuild.

Those trees that you can see right outside the window there, every single one of theme will disappear, says Mary.

All the trees on their own council property will also be removed because they will be right in the way of excavations and new buildings.

It leaves the council with just the two trees outside Baycourt. The trees on the courthouse site are on a designated site and can be removed at any time, says Mary.

You walk the other way all the important trees are on council land, and you have set a precedent for that - and the next lot are the trees on the primary school site, which are not under council control.

She advises councillors to think about the broader picture before making a decision where the removal of trees are sought over minor matters.

Clearly none of that conversation took place at all, says Mary.

A dangerous precedent set by tree decision, says Mary Dillon. Photo: Andrew Campbell.

The result of carrying on will be a city with more hard surfaces, taller buildings, less shelter, shade and loss of bird roosts, and nothing to mitigate the carbon effects of human activity.

The staff report sets the cost of felling the two London Plane trees at $10,000. The council has charged the petitioners $5000.

Are you going to do that for everybody else who asks you? And wheres the permission from the ratepayers to push that additional costs onto them?

Mary says while $5000 is a small amount for the council, it wont be if it is repeated 20 or 30 times.

If the businesses in Second Avenue are complaining about leaves from the trees, they can take responsibility as citizens and sweep them up, says Mary.

She called for the council to take no action at this time, and to use clause 23 of standing orders to bring the trees decision back before council, and to rescind it.

In reply to a question from councillor Bill Grainger about health issues being more important than trees, Mary says there is no evidence of ill health.

The council tree policy updated with significantly more liberal conditions in 2013, sets out the processes and the criteria to be considered in tree questions.

You didnt meet one single criteria, says Mary. It wasnt a majority of people who wanted the tree removed. There was no evidence about ill health. The trees were in perfect health. There are no storm water issues. They are known and are on the LIM report before the person who has got that business even purchased it.

There is nothing in the policy that indicates to me that you are entitled as responsible citizens and the leaders in the community to move outside it.

Terry Molloy says he will move the notice of revocation on the decision. He will have to find the numbers to get the matter reconsidered at a following council meeting. Once the notice of motion is received, no irreversible action may be taken until the notice of motion has been dealt with.
More than half the samples of supermarket chicken in a Consumer test were contaminated with campylobacter, the leading cause of gastro intestinal infections in New Zealand.

Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin says campylobacter was detected in 26 of the 40 products, all purchased from supermarkets.

Campylobacter is the leading cause of notified gastrointestinal infections in New Zealand with rates peaking over summer. Last year, 6218 cases were notified.

Fresh chicken is considered responsible for half of all campylobacter cases, says Sue.

The bugs presence in the products we tested doesnt mean youll get sick from the chicken but it increases the chances.

Campylobacter can survive if raw chicken isnt cooked properly. It can also be spread to other foods and contaminate surfaces where food is prepared.

Campylobacter rates dropped significantly after control measures were put in place in the poultry industry a decade ago. Theres general agreement rates are still too high and need to come down, says Sue.

Consumers research supports the case for regular testing by regulators of chicken sold in retail stores.

Experience in the UK, where retail testing is carried out, indicates it raises public awareness of the problem and can also prompt retailers and manufacturers to reduce contamination in the supply chain.

In 2014, campylobacter rates in the UK were 103.9 per 100,000. Last year, rates in New Zealand were 135.3 per 100,000, down from 150.4 in 2014.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has set a target of reducing campylobacter cases by 10 percent by 2020.

Current rules require poultry manufacturers to carry out testing of chicken carcasses at their processing facilities. However, not all manufacturers have been meeting MPI targets for reducing contamination.

Data show between January 2013 and October 2014 there were 130 occasions where processing plants exceeded contamination limits.

More information is available at consumer.org.nz and in the December/January issue of Consumer magazine.

Campylobacter FAQs

 Campylobacter is found in the gut of chickens and other animals. Contaminated poultry products are one of the main routes for the bacteria to be transferred to humans.

 Contact with farm animals, and swimming at polluted beaches and rivers are other risk factors associated with getting the illness. Drinking contaminated water is also a major risk as shown by this years campylobacter outbreak in Havelock North.

 Campylobacteriosis, the infection caused by the campylobacter bug, continues to be the most commonly notified disease in New Zealand, comprising 44 percent of all infectious disease notifications in 2015.

 If youre cooking chicken at home:

o Wash and dry your hands every time chicken is handled

o Store it on the bottom shelf of the fridge to prevent contact with other food

o Use a separate chopping board and utensils for cutting raw chicken

o Cook chicken meat thoroughly

o Dont wash raw chicken as this helps spread campylobacter to other items such as hands, clothes, other food and contact surfaces.

 Buying frozen chicken reduces the risk of infection as freezing cuts the number of campylobacter.
Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
Justin Barkley.jpg

Justin Barkley

(Ithaca Police Department)

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Moments before his death, William E. Schumacher stood inside an Ithaca Wal-Mart laughing with a stranger.

Schumacher, a UPS driver, was in line behind another customer early Thursday morning during a break, the customer told the Ithaca Police Department in a witness statement filed in court. The witness said he and Schumacher made "small talk" about oversized lighters for sale near the register.

Schumacher appeared to be in a good mood -- laughing and exchanging jokes as he waited in line, the witness said.

Minutes later, Schumacher was shot and run over outside Wal-Mart by a man he had never met, said the Ithaca Police Department.

Schumacher, 52, of Candor, died early Thursday morning in the parking lot of the Fairgrounds Memorial Parkway store. Justin Barkley, 38, of 1279 Dryden Road, Dryden, was arrested after an hourslong standoff and charged with murdering Schumacher.

The two men did not know each other and had never interacted before the fatal shooting, police said. When asked if Barkley told officers what motivated the shooting, Officer Jamie William declined to comment.

Schumacher was a seasonal tractor-trailer driver for UPS, said Susan Rosenberg, a UPS spokesperson. This season marked Schumacher's second year as a seasonal driver, she said.

One person was sitting in Wal-Mart's Fairgrounds Memorial Parkway playing games on a cellphone around 12:20 a.m. when a UPS truck pulled into the store's parking lot, the witness told police. The witness saw Schumacher enter Wal-Mart and walk out about 15 minutes later carrying what looked like a drink in a shopping bag.

The witness saw Schumacher walk toward his UPS truck. A few minutes later, the witness heard what sounded like an "explosion" and the screech of tires.

"I could feel the vibration from the explosion sound," the witness said.

The customer who had stood in front of Schumacher in line was scratching off a phone card in the parking lot when a "loud crack" sounded, the witness said. The witness told police it sounded like a firecracker.

The witness looked up and saw a man fall forward, the witness said.

"It took me a couple minutes to realize the male who fell outside was the male who was behind me in line," the witness said.

After seeing Schumacher collapse, the witness noticed a man sitting in the driver's seat of a nearby truck, the witness told police. The man leaned his head outside of his truck's window and looked back at the place where Schumacher had fallen, the witness said.

The man eventually pulled his head back into his truck, rolled up his window and backed out of his parking space, the witness said. He then drove forward and ran over Schumacher, the witness said.

"The white male in the truck did not appear to be in a hurry until after he ran over the guy on the ground," the witness told police. "He rolled up his window and backed out of his parking spot like a normal customer."

The witness called 911 as the truck sped out of the Wal-Mart parking lot onto Route 13. When the Ithaca Police Department arrived on scene soon after, Schumacher was dead and the shooter was gone.

After the shooting, law enforcement officers across Tompkins County kept watch for the truck that had sped away from the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Officers eventually spotted a truck matching suspect descriptions traveling on Route 13, police have said. They tried to pull the truck over, but Barkley -- the driver of the truck -- refused to stop, police said.

Officers followed Barkley as he turned into his driveway and his stopped his truck, police said.

Barkley stepped out of his truck and fired a "sound shot" from a rifle at officers before fleeing into his home, police said in court documents. He later told investigators he fired the shot to stop the officers who were pursuing him from getting out of their vehicles, police said.

Police evacuated Barkley's neighborhood and set up a perimeter around his home. After hours of negotiations, Barkley walked out of his home and surrendered, police said.

In an interview with investigators, Barkley admitted shooting Schumacher in the torso with a rifle, police said in court documents. He told investigators he then intentionally ran over Schumacher's body and spun his tires before fleeing from Wal-Mart, police said.

Barkley has been charged with second-degree murder. He is being held in the Tompkins County Jail.
Smoke billows from World Trade Center Tower 1 and flames explode from Tower 2 as it is struck by American Airlines Flight 175, in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.
Blog_Gifford House Fire 2.JPG

Firefighters responded shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday to a reported structure fire at 635 Gifford St., between Ontario and South Geddes streets.

(Ken Sturtz | ksturtz@syracuse.com)

Firefighters said two families would not be able to return to their apartments. The American Red Cross of Central New York was assisting them with lodging.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A fire that sparked Saturday forced two families from their homes in an apartment building on the city's West Side.

Firefighters responded shortly after 4 p.m. to a reported structure fire at 635 Gifford St., between Ontario and South Geddes streets.

Crews found fire in the second floor apartment in the rear of the building and began working to put the fire out, said District Chief John Kane. All the residents of the four-unit apartment building had escaped when firefighters arrived.

No one was injured, though two families will not be able to return to their home.

Kane said one apartment was damaged by fire and another suffered water damage from the firefighting efforts. The American Red Cross of Central New York is helping the families with a place to stay, he said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Children and spouses of fallen military members gathered for a send off reception at Syracuse Hancock International Airport before boarding American Airlines flight to Dallas, Texas for the 11th annual Snowball Expresscelebration. American Airlines donated chatered aircraft to transport the families. Among the many events scheduled for the five day gathering will be a private concert by Academy Award nominated actor Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band.
This week, editorial cartoonists continued to focus on President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump made news by saving jobs at a Carrier Corp. plant in Indiana; taking a phone call from the president of Taiwan, angering China; canceling an order for a new Air Force One from Boeing; and stocking his cabinet with controversial picks.

Cartoonists also noted the death last week of of John Glenn, the Mercury astronaut who became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, and later served with distinction in the U.S. Senate. As the Chicago Tribune's Scott Stantis said, "Godspeed, John Glenn."
Update: New York State Police are investigating the accident, which involved best friends who went to Saranac Lake Middle School.

A girl, 12, died Saturday after a snowmobile crashed into a parked truck in a driveway in Lake Clear, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise reported.

A second girl was airlifted to the University of Vermont Medical Center, the outlet reported.

The girls were riding on a snowmobile around a house when they crashed into the parked truck, a Franklin County coroner told the Enterprise.

The Press-Republican reported New York State Police are investigating the accident.
Crytek employees say they're not being paid, again Crytek is once again facing complaints that it isn't paying its workers, with some alleging they have not seen a paycheck in more than a month. The complaints have appeared on social media and have spread through Reddit, all alleging delays and irregularities in meeting payroll over the past six months. In some cases, workers say they currently have not been paid in more than a month. Polygon

The 3D printing revolution that wasn't It was October 2009 when Bre Pettis -- his unmistakable sideburns and dark-rimmed rectangular glasses framing his face -- took the stage at Ignite NYC, threw his hand in the air, and shouted "Hooray!" two times. A PowerPoint slide lit up behind him, revealing a photo of a hollow wood box crisscrossed with wiring. Bouncing up and down, his profuse mop of graying hair flopping about, Pettis began: "I'm going to talk about MakerBot and the future and an industrial revolution that we're beginning -- that's begun." Backchannel

Bitcoin hits highest levels in almost three years Web-based digital currency bitcoin hit its highest levels in almost three years on Friday, extending gains since India sparked a cash shortage by removing high-denomination bank notes from circulation a month ago. Bitcoin was trading as high as $774 on the New York-based itBit exchange, up almost 1 percent on the day and the highest since February 2014, having climbed almost 9 percent in the past month. Reuters

Michigan lets autonomous cars on roads without human driver Companies can now test self-driving cars on Michigan public roads without a driver or steering wheel under new laws that could push the state to the forefront of autonomous vehicle development. The package of bills signed into law Friday comes with few specific state regulations and leaves many decisions up to automakers and companies like Google and Uber. It also allows automakers and tech companies to run autonomous taxi services and permits test parades of self-driving tractor-trailers as long as humans are in each truck. ABC

PowerShell security threats greater than ever, researchers warn Microsoft's Windows PowerShell configuration management framework continues to be abused by cyber attackers, according to researchers, who have seen a surge in associated threats. In March 2016, security experts warned that PowerShell had been fully weaponised. In the following month, a report confirmed that PowerShell was used to launch 38% of cyber attacks seen by security firm Carbon Black and its partners in 2015. ComputerWeekly

Internet-connected toys are spying on kids, threatening their privacy and security The growing popularity of "smart" Internet-connected toys poses significant privacy, security, and other risks to children, according to a complaint filed today(link is external) by leading child advocacy, consumer, and privacy groups at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). My Friend Cayla and I-Que Intelligent Robot, dolls marketed to both young girls and boys, collect and use personal information from children in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and FTC rules prohibiting unfair and deceptive practices. CDD

Printable electronics The next time you place your coffee order, imagine slapping onto your to-go cup a sticker that acts as an electronic decal, letting you know the precise temperature of your triple-venti no-foam latte. Someday, the high-tech stamping that produces such a sticker might also bring us food packaging that displays a digital countdown to warn of spoiling produce, or even a window pane that shows the day's forecast, based on measurements of the weather conditions outside. MIT

Extending home networks - A Comparison of G.hn, HomePlug AV2 and Wi-Fi Mesh Over the last decade or so, we have seen a rapid increase in the number of devices connecting to the home network. The popularity of IoT has meant that even devices that are not mobile require communication over the Internet, but, their placement might be far away from the primary router in the house. Given this situation, it is essential to find a reliable way to extend the reach of the home network. AnandTech

Building the hard drive morse key What's the difference between a flower and a weed? Well, even if philosophy is not your strong suit, you've surely heard that one man's trash is another man's treasure. Ultimately it's all about perspective -- seeing value in things that others do not. If you're the holder of an amateur radio license, you already know that there are few fraternities more adept at implementing this idea than the ham radio community. H. P. Friedrichs

Swiss unveil stratospheric solar plane Just months after two Swiss pilots completed a historic round-the-world trip in a Sun-powered plane, another Swiss adventurer on Wednesday unveiled a solar plane aimed at reaching the stratosphere. The SolarStratos, a sleek, white two-seater aircraft with long wings covered with 22 square metres (237 square feet) of solar panels, is set to become the first manned solar plane to make a stratospheric flight... Phys.org

Backdoor accounts found in 80 Sony IP security camera models Many network security cameras made by Sony could be taken over by hackers and infected with botnet malware if their firmware is not updated to the latest version. Researchers from SEC Consult have found two backdoor accounts that exist in 80 models of professional Sony security cameras, mainly used by companies and government agencies given their high price. PCWorld

Nintendo bug bounty programme rewards hackers for 3DS vulnerabilities Nintendo has launched a bug bounty programme on the vulnerability coordination website HackerOne, focused on the Nintendo 3DS handheld console. The company is looking to prevent activities such as piracy, cheating and the circulation of inappropriate content to children, through both system and hardware bugs. Silicon.co.uk

One-upping the NES Classic Edition with the Raspberry Pi 3 and RetroPie Against my better judgment, I've tried a couple of times to snag one of those adorable little $60 mini NES Classic Editions -- once when Amazon put some of its limited stock online and crashed its own site, and once when Walmart was shipping out small quantities every day a couple of weeks ago. In both cases, I failed. But the dumb itch of nostalgia can't always be scratched by logical thoughts like "do you really need to pay money for Super Mario Bros. 3 again,"... Ars Technica

Court: 'Falsely' accused 'movie pirate' deserves $17k compensation For more than half a decade so-called "copyright trolling" cases have been keeping the U.S. judicial system busy. While new lawsuits are still being filed on a weekly basis, there are signs that some judges are growing tired of the practice and becoming increasingly skeptical of the claims made by copyright holders. TorrentFreak

Microsoft wants to enable cellular PCs, but will carriers bite? Trying to find Wi-Fi when traveling can be a frustrating exercise. So much work often requires an internet connection, and while it's possible to tether smartphones to PCs to help bridge the connectivity gap, it can be a clunky solution. Computerworld
In an effort to conserve Arctic biodiversity, President Barack Obama on Friday issued a new executive order that protects Alaska's Bering Sea against the dangers of oil exploration.

The new protection, which gives tribes in Alaska more say in management of Bering Sea resources, also establishes an expansive resilience area that could soon limit fishing in the region.

Federal Management And Oil Exploration

President Obama has made the Arctic a cornerstone of his climate and environmental policy in the last few years.

But coastal village residents that depend on marine resources from the Bering Sea have long clamored that their views be heard because of the effects of climate change, offshore petroleum drilling, and expanding ship traffic on the Arctic.

Now, the new executive order boosts the federal government's consultation with native villages and the 39 communities that reside in Alaska's west coast.

In fact, the action creates a task force that will consult villages on management activities and work to safeguard subsistence and cultural activities. Comments from Alaska Natives on projects such as a port access route study conducted by the Coast Guard, which is nearing completion, will be considered.

The order directs the agency to consider community recommendations on which sensitive areas should be avoided because of the value for hunting and other subsistence activities.

Furthermore, oil exploration is permanently banned in 40,300 square miles (some 104,376 square kilometers) of St. Matthew Island and Norton Basin. Both areas have already been recognized as vital hunting areas beforehand.

Creating A Resilience Area

Meanwhile, the new resilience area created under the executive order covers 112,300 square miles (290,855 square kilometers) of land and sea, the White House said.

Known as the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, the region witnesses the migration of marine mammals such as the beluga and bowhead whales, ice seals, migratory birds, and the Pacific walrus every year.

Eric Schultz, who acts as the deputy press secretary at the White House, said President Obama's action is solely based on the merits of protecting the Arctic.

"This was the right decision to make," Schultz told USA Today. "The idea that this is a preview of additional actions to come -- I wouldn't read that into it."

A Yupik elder who acts as the chair of Bering Sea Elders Group offered his thanks to Obama in a statement.

Harry Lincoln, who is an elder from Tununak, said it is the Alaska Native elders' vision that the Bering Sea be protected because it is the foundation of their people's way of life and culture.

"[It] is our responsibility to pass our rich heritage on to future generations," said Lincoln.

In 2015, Obama became the first president to visit north of the Arctic Circle. The incumbent president had said he heard about the need to work with native communities regarding the hunting and fishing rights.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
But can the craft survive the cosmic radiation and make the 20-year voyage to Alpha Centauri?

NASA researchers and Stephen Hawking are coming together to develop a nano-starship that can travel one-fifth or 20 percent of the speed of light.

If successful, the ship, called StarChip could reach Earths nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, in 20 years.

In April, a team of scientists from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) including Stephen Hawking announced the Breakthrough Starshot project to explore interstellar space. But whether the electronics on such a tiny, vulnerable spacecraft survive for 20 years in the hostility of space was the question?

Thats where NASA researchers can help. High-energy radiation in space could cause the ship to conclude functionality well before the 20-year trip was over, said their researchers, according to Science Alert.

Several options were proposed by NASA to pursue in the development stages of the project. They presented their findings at the International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco this week.

The first option according to the team would be to get around the radiation problem by adjusting the route of the flight through space that minimises exposure to cosmic radiation, which in turn could add years to the trip but not necessarily protect the ship from degradation.

Another option, they proposed was to add shielding to the electronics to reduce damage caused by cosmic rays. However, by adding shielding to the ship, you would slow down the remarkable speed of the craft due to the additional size and weight.

Lastly, NASA researchers proposed a silicon chip that would automatically repair its radiation damage en route to Alpha Centauri.

On-chip healing has been around for many, many years, NASA team member Jin-Woo Han said in the presentation.

The research is still only in theory and researchers have major work to do to address other major problems in interstellar travel.

The limit that confronts us now is the great void between us and the stars, Mr Hawking said in April. But now we can transcend it. With light beams, light sails, and the lightest spacecraft ever built, we can launch a mission to Alpha Centauri within a generation.

Today, we commit to this next great leap into the cosmos because we are human, and our nature is to fly.

Source: Science Alert
What for years has been vacant manufacturing space on Madisons Near East Side is on track to become the latest addition to Wisconsins growing craft distilling industry.

John Mleziva, a recent graduate of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, one of the premier distilling programs in the world, is building a $1.2 million distillery and tasting room at 1413 Northern Court. Construction of what he is calling State Line Distillery is scheduled to be completed by spring with production starting this summer.

The 6,500-square-foot facility will include 5,000 square feet of production space and room for a 1,000-liter (262 gallon), 28-foot-tall Kothe still from Germany. While much of the production will be focused on clear spirits like gin and vodka, Mleziva also wants to distill whiskey and age the products in white oak barrels. The remainder of the space will be used for a tasting room designed to hold 50 people with an outdoor patio overlooking the 174,000-square-foot, $25 million State Archives Preservation Facility under construction across the railroad tracks at 201 S. Dickinson St.

Its a classic industrial building and its ideal for a distillery in terms of ceiling heights, which was tough to find, said Mleziva, a Minnesota native. I think refurbishing a building like this is pretty cool in terms of bringing it back to its glory. Its pretty rough, but everyday its going to get a little better.

Plans call for distilling two to three times a week, initially making 1,000 cases of spirits in the first year and ultimately producing 7,000 cases a year. By comparison, Deaths Door Spirits in Middleton has a capacity to make 100,000 cases a year, said Mleziva, who worked at Deaths Door for six moths to learn more about the industry. Mleziva is also getting assistance from Mark Anunson, who will serve as production manager and previously worked at Few Spirits in Evanston, Illinois.

We connected several years ago and when he and his wife moved to town, we decided to work together in this endeavor, Mleziva said. And while he isnt a financial partner, I absolutely see him as a partner in this project. Mark has been extremely helpful in helping me to get this dream started.

Mleziva began looking for investors in the project over a year ago. He currently has 22 investors in the project with each buying a minimum of 100 shares at $125 each. Mleziva also has a small business loan through First National Bank of Waunakee. He spent months looking for a location before hiring Cresa Madison, a corporate real estate firm, to help find a suitable spot.

What they found is part of a 13,000-square-foot cinder block building that in a previous life was home to a nickel plating company. Troy Sedlak and Eric Welch purchased the building in May. Creative Energy Design occupies the front of the building with another 2,400 square feet available for another business. The remainder, a series of faded walls, broken interior windows and crumbling cement flooring, will be used by State Line.

Improvements will include large glass windows on the buildings west side and glass overhead garage doors to help open up the tasting room to the patio.

It can be hard to envision, but theres a lot of time and money going into this, said Sedlak, who thought it would remain storage. Its going to be a big change. We didnt know there would be so much demand, but its going to be great for the community.

The distillery is another addition to the booming corridor and is located just a block off East Washington Avenue, a few blocks from Williamson Street and just south of the Yahara River near the Capital City Trail.

Its also just blocks from Breese Stevens Field; Bos Meadery, 849 E. Washington Ave.; One Barrel Brewing Co., 2001 Atwood Ave.; and Old Sugar Distillery, 931 E. Main St. Mleziva doesnt consider Old Sugar, known for its whiskey, rum and brandy, as a competitor.

What Old Sugar and what were doing are pretty different in terms of spirit production. I will be laying down whiskey but out of the gate its going to be vodka, gin ... the clear spirits, Mleziva said. Theyre really kind of complimentary businesses. What Im really excited about is creating kind of a distilling district.

State Line also joins other distillery businesses in the area such as Yahara Bay Distillery, which has just moved into a new $1.5 million facility on Nesbitt Road in Fitchburg; Wollersheim Winery & Distillery near Prairie du Sac that in 2015 opened a new $4 million distillery; and Minhas Micro Distillery in Monroe. Wisconsin is now home to 19 distillery operations, according to Guy Rehorst, president of the Wisconsin Distillers Guild and founder of Great Lakes Distillery, the states first distillery that opened in 2006.

Mleziva grew up in Golden Valley, Minnesota, and graduated from UW-Eau Claire, where he was a biology major. He has a masters degree in higher education from the University of Minnesota and spent four years at Edgewood College where he was associate director of student activities.

In 2012, he left Edgewood to study for a year in Scotland and returned in late 2013 to work at Deaths Door as an assistant distiller. Since September 2014, Mleziva has been at UW-Madison where he is an internship coordinator.

The distillery is expected to employ three to five people and use locally sourced ingredients from area farms. Mleziva also wants to create partnerships with area restaurants and food carts to make food available when the tasting room is open, according to a plan filed with the city.

Sergenians chief lauded

Jim Garner, CEO of Sergenians Floor Coverings, is being recognized for his contributions to small business.

On Wednesday, the Greater Madison Area Chamber of Commerce will present Garner its inaugural Ground Floor Award for small business leadership. The event will be held at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Throughout his career, Jim has been a mentor, an advocate and a major contributor in Greater Madisons small business community, said Zach Brandon, president of the Chamber. His hard work, innovation and leadership have made the Chamber, our businesses and our economy stronger.

Garner joined Sergenians in 1963 and helped Sergenians win numerous awards and become one of the top 50 floor-covering retailers in the country. Garner also helped start Wisconsins first comprehensive carpet reclamation program that has kept more than 11 million pounds of carpet and padding out of landfills.

Garner serves on the Chambers Executive Committee, has been a Chamber Board member for more than 20 years and is the founding chairperson of the Chambers Small Business Advisory Council. He also has led several initiatives to support small businesses, including development of the Madison Small Business Conference and the creation of a nationally adopted road construction survival guide for small businesses.

Garner has held leadership roles with the Metropolitan Neighborhood Business Council and South Metropolitan Business Association and was inducted into the InBusiness Hall of Fame in 2012.

Energy improvements aid Monticello cheesemaker

Swiss Heritage Cheese in Monticello is planning to hire more people and grow its cheese company with the help of improvements designed to save the company $3,000 a month in energy costs.

The company worked with Focus on Energy to apply for grants to help cover the costs of $72,000 in upgrades. New to the plant are systems to recover heat off the outgoing hot whey to incoming milk; an economizer on the 100-horsepower boiler to heat process water and a cooling tower to take advantage of free cooling.

We have been able to move forward quicker with the incentive to make more cheese because our costs are now down, said Joel Zimmerman, owner of the company. We are a family-owned and operated cheese plant and we produce 10 varieties of quality cheese. Were looking forward to hiring more people, provide better paying jobs here in Green County and expand into new markets.

Founded in 2001, Focus on Energy is a statewide energy efficiency and renewable resource program funded by the states investor-owned energy utilities and participating municipal and electric cooperative utilities. The program works with eligible Wisconsin residents and businesses to install cost-effective energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that otherwise would not be completed.
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro Moros, received with honors his peer from Guinea Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, on... | Read More
A tall, tousled computer scientist, a university archivist and a curious New York retiree converged upon a warehouse off Cottage Grove Road on Madisons East Side one day last August.

Scott Mindock, David Null and Doris Cross had never met, but they were about to share a Howard Carter moment, thanks to the hoarding instincts of the late Leon Varjian, the jokester who tapped Madisons funny bone in the late 1970s and 80s.

Carter was the Egyptologist who opened the Tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. When he got the first peek inside, he was asked, Can you see anything? Struggling for words, all he could say was Yes, wonderful things.

There were no gold funeral ornaments, but there were plenty of wonderful things awaiting the three in Madison.

Mindock, Null and Cross had mustered to inspect the contents of three mysterious, large wooden storage lockers. Varjian filled the lockers during his reign as the clown prince of his adopted city and university, and then he left. For 31 years, through three storage company incarnations and until his death at age 64 from a heart attack in 2015, Varjian had been paying monthly storage fees on the boxes.

He never mentioned the storage lockers to his half-sister, Doris Cross, a retired New York book editor and public television administrator. Now she, along with his college chum and sometime co-conspirator, and the curious archivist, would find out just what treasures Leon the jokester had squirreled away.

What they found left them, if not speechless, certainly gasping for context. Varjian kept everything, and duplicates when he could. What will happen to the cache, once it is sifted, remains officially up in the air, but at least some of it is destined to end up in UW-Madisons new humor archives.

It turns out Varjian, even from the grave, can still leave them laughing and scratching heads. His clown estate may be turned into some graphically and historically interesting T-shirts, and may even benefit Indiana University, where Varjian polished his pranks before coming to Madison.

Storage mystery cleared up

Mindock was buddies with Varjian  and a co-host with him for the The Vern and Evelyn Show on cable television, which featured two mice  beginning during the campus years. It is Mindock who can provide context to most of the belongings.

After his friend died in September 2015, Mindock made note of the lockers in a condolence letter to Varjians cousin.

I mentioned that, by the way, Leon had a storage locker here and if you see some bills come in from Madison and you need any help here, let me know, he said.

Cross, who is in charge of the estate, started getting the bills for storage. Months later, she contacted Min- dock and said she was coming to Madison to open the locker. Could he help?

Three large wooden storage containers were being kept in a large warehouse, filled mostly with packaged food, just off of Cottage Grove Road.

Our goal was to see what was there, not even do anything with it. I expected one small container, but these were jammed full of boxes, he said.

Except for obvious trash and old clothes, everything in the cardboard boxes  and, separately, a bicycle, a wagon, a large Fender amplifier and a big black-and-white television set  was hauled to Mindocks home.

I am making an inventory and trying to figure out what we are going to do with the stuff. Some will go to the UW archive, but not all of it, he said. The UW isnt equipped to handle some of this stuff.

The obvious historical valuables, said Mindock, and the bulk of the cache are materials regarding the Pail and Shovel Party, Varjians student political party that took over the Wisconsin Student Association.

Varjian and the WSA were responsible for shenanigans on campus and in the city over those years. Best known are the Statue of Liberty on Lake Mendota, the flamingo flock on Bascom Hill and the boom box marching band, but there were many others.

He clearly kept the print shop and graphic artists busy. There are posters, buttons, props, scripts and correspondence, including from Madison mayors.

Varjian kept multiple copies of many items: There are hundreds of Pail and Shovel Party membership cards, for example, and bags and jars full of advertising and political buttons.

There is a (used, real) canvas strait jacket, many hats (propeller beanies were popular) and masks and toys of all sorts and conditions. A pile of diplomas recognizes graduation from the nonexistent University of New Jersey.

There are also records of his contact with local Armenian groups. Varjians father emigrated from Armenia.

Mindock is going through the storage locker items as he has time. There are thousands of similar things, and a few unique items, such as books signed by Beat Generation writers Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and William Burroughs at a 1982 presentation at the Memorial Union. Varjian also kept an invitation to Mindocks wedding, which he didnt attend.

Surprising, perhaps, is that the large cache of mementos includes not one pink plastic flamingo, no boom boxes (which were all on loan from American TV, it turns out) and no band uniforms.

Null, the UW-Madison archivist, knows that taking stock of the cache will be a daunting task.

(Varjian) just kept everything, he said, adding, He wanted his stuff kept here.

We already have a small amount of things from the Pail and Shovel Party now, but because it was a student organization, we didnt get a lot (for the archives), he said.

Anything that can document the history is useful, he added, because as time goes by, the connections need explaining.

Null wants items that can fill the university archives new campus humor section that will focus on our funny university.

Current plans include a Leons Legacy Celebration at a date yet to be determined this spring at the Memorial Union, focusing on Varjian, the Pail and Shovel Party and his main co-conspirators. The university hopes to include items from the hoard for exhibits at that event.

Mindock predicts the university will tap some of the items for fundraising, such as selling T-shirts or posters using their graphics.

Carrie Schwier, an archivist and librarian at the Indiana University Archives and Records Management, said her employer would definitely be interested in documents related to Varjians time at that university.

Not all worth saving

Before Varjians death in September 2015, he and the university were just at the point of drafting a gift agreement, Null said. As the executor of his estate, now that will be up to Cross.

There are expenses.

Usually we just absorb the cost of processing, storing, etc., said Null. Sometimes people will give us donations for that, and Doris has actually indicated that she may give us some funding to process the collection.

Varjians hoard did not stay in one place over the past 31 years of storage in Madison, according to Mike Atkinson, the last caretaker of the crates.

The first two storage companies went out of business or were sold, and Atkinsons company, FAK, informally inherited the batch of crates that included Varjians, he said.

When the crates were opened  they were not locked, just kept closed with wire, he said  I was just as excited as they were to see what was in there, he said.

Everything was in good shape. Leon was obviously a very frugal man, and a lot of the stuff he bought at St. Vinnys for his (cable TV) show. There was a beautiful double-reverb Fender amp in there, too, he added.

Cross spoke fondly of her half-brother, who was 12 years younger than she, saying they didnt meet until 1973 because the two families did not interact. But once they did, they were fast friends and he would regularly visit her in Manhattan. He never mentioned his belongings in storage in Madison, she said, but she was aware of his tendency to save everything. When she cleaned his home in New Jersey, there were lots of paper items he had stored, but not in a way that they could be saved.

We were amazed at what he had (in Madison), she said, but it was not all worth saving. They hauled away three loads of trash from the warehouse.

We would be sorting, and it was ho-hum, ho-hum and then, Oh my God, so it was kind of a blur.

After his time at UW-Madison, Varjian moved back to New Jersey and became an award-winning mathematics teacher, and Cross said his Wisconsin reputation followed him.

It was not uncommon for him to be recognized even walking in Central Park, she said.

It is clear, just from her short view of his saved belongings, that Leon was a guy with so many ideas, he was always thinking and creating. He believed in fun. He could be extremely serious about teaching mathematics, and hilarious about it, too.

I loved him, I always knew there was more going on with him. He was a complex guy.
The South Side has Holiday Fantasy in Lights at Olin Park and the Far West Side has Patrick Delaneys house, which attracts dozens of Christmas-light tourists each night in December.

UW-Madison students Katharine Craney and Melissa Dunlap, both 20, needed a study break one recent weeknight and headed to Olin Park to see the citys expansive annual light display, now in its 28th year.

But they were craving more and wanted to take in some home-based light displays, so they Googled a list and started driving around town, until they ended up at 7006 Colony Drive, near the corner of South Gammon Road.

Delaneys house has been a neighborhood beacon for six years. Its elaborate, $10,000 light display changes colors and is choreographed to Christmas music Delaney has programmed to his own FM station.

This is the best one we found, Craney marveled. Its awesome that its set up to the music and everything. Weve been to seven or eight (homes) tonight and this is the only one that had music and moving lights. Added Dunlap: This one is more inviting than all the other ones.

Another woman sat in her car alone, blasting the heat and listening to the music with tears streaming down her face. She was remembering a close friend who died a year ago from pancreatic cancer.

The woman, who didnt want her name used, said she had taken her friend to the Colony Drive home last year to see the Christmas lights just before he died.

Delaney, 54, puts up the lights each year for the reactions he gets, and remembers each comment, card and handwritten note.

He begins two weeks before Halloween, when he starts to set up for that holiday. The Christmas lights take about two weeks to put up, and this year he took the week of Thanksgiving off from his job at WPS Health Solutions in Monona, where he is an IT quality assurance engineer.

First, he takes down anything thats purely Halloween-related. Some items cross over, like the LED lights along the window frames and gutters. He has two 18-foot trees, along with arches in front lit by programmable LEDs, and a big Bethlehem star on the roof made up of 196 incandescent light bulbs.

The lights are timed to go on by themselves. They are programmed to start each day at 5 p.m., then turn off at 9 during the week and 10 on Fridays and Saturdays.

An LED sign in the window instructs visitors to tune their radios to 92.7 FM, where Delaney has choreographed 12 Christmas songs to the lights. He usually reuses sequences from the year before but always adds new elements.

He said his neighbors enjoy the light display and havent complained about the extra traffic it brings to the residential street.

Delaney, who is from Buffalo, New York, and has no family in town, started the endeavor one night six years ago when he was bored and found a YouTube video of somebodys display.

He wondered how they did it, and after a little research, he found the Light-O-Rama website and realized the controllers were affordable.

The self-described gadget freak started by buying two. That was it. That was the beginning of the end. Thats what got me hooked, he said.

Now, hes a Christmas light hobbyist who participates in forums with people around the world. Hes involved with the developers of the software and the hardware, and in the past year has been to conventions in Las Vegas and Chicago, events which he calls the Comic-Cons of Christmas lights. He was even responsible for a demonstration at the Chicago Christmas Expo.

And when the lights stop their dance on Colony Drive for the night, the lighted sign in the window displays the regular hours and reads: Happy holidays. Thanks for watching.
Ignorance does not lead to bliss, as the content of unhappy communiques raining down on Louisianas presidential electors proves.

Since Nov. 8, Louisianas Republican electors collectively have received more than 100,000 messages variously suggesting, imploring or demanding that each of the eight pledged to Republican President-elect Donald Trump not vote for him when the Electoral College meets on Dec. 19. On that date, in state capitals and the District of Columbia, electors will congregate to cast their ballots; in winner-take-all Louisiana, the Republican ticket received 58 percent of the vote.

Despite that victory margin, the states members have had phones tied up and email boxes choked with this plea. These protestations often convey very similar messages indicative of a process lacking in spontaneity, revealing that leftist special interests drive these missives. The authors stress common talking points that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton will have the popular vote even as Trump handily won the most electoral votes, that Trump as president would produce disastrous results, that electors are free to vote their consciences and that electors should vote for Clinton or someone else.

Almost all of the messages come from out of state, and Louisiana electors bear disproportionate attention because our state has no law that attempts to bind them to the popular-vote result in the state.

Some of the pleas make reference to a movement started by a pair of disaffected Democratic electors out west, summoning the argument of the Federalist Papers No. 68, widely thought to be composed by Alexander Hamilton. The Federalist appeared in newspapers during the ratification period of the Constitution and this one discusses the role of electors.

Drawing upon it, the Hamilton Electors declare Trump unqualified, demagogic and under foreign influence  basing this judgment, obviously, on lack of his adherence to their political ideology. Using their standards of partisan innuendo, the Barack Obama of 2008 would appear far guiltier on these accounts.

Yet the content of the letters making reference to Hamilton demonstrate that the writers, if they had heard of him at all before venting their spleens, know him only as the guy that musical is about. If any of them have read Federalist 68, they certainly understood none of it.

Hamilton specifically warned against putting in office those who have talent for the little arts of popularity and not other greater ones, hence absolving electors from disqualifying candidates who do not win the popular vote. (He also promoted the Electoral College as a device to deny office to those without characters pre-eminent for  virtue and with (t)alents for low intrigue, which would argue against selection of the mendacious and influence-peddling Clinton).

Most importantly, Hamilton felt electors needed insulation from forces outside of their states. (T)o afford as little opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder, Hamilton deemed wise that electors, chosen in each State, are to assemble and vote in the State in which they are chosen, so this detached and divided situation will expose them much less to heats and ferment. Individuals from one state writing to electors of another violates this admonishment.

Regrettably, Louisianas electors  all ordinary citizens not holding any political office  will have had to endure this descent of locusts on behalf of the Republic. Perhaps they can console themselves by considering they serve as therapeutic outlets for the American lefts temper tantrum thrown at the election of Trump. The left fears Trump, assisted by a Republican Congress, will use presidential powers inflated by Obama, that sought to steer America away from its founding values, to reverse that transformation.

Ironically, this approach utilizes a broad exercise of presidential power with which Hamilton generally agreed.
...and 'flexibility' before determination Who can forget the time when Billy McMahon raised himself up and said, with a quaver in his voice: "I am determined to be flexible"? It seems this is the kind of flexibility that passes for leadership these days. And here was I foolishly thinking that determination was a virtue. How do they spell courage and conviction in Canberra? John Hoerner, South Yarra Our leaders' default option: kowtowing Kowtow is such an expressive word. A good dictionary gives a range of meanings, all of which can be applied to our political leaders. Readers could complete the following: Malcolm Turnbull kowtows to . Suggestions include climate change deniers, big business, hardline immigration advocates or any member of the morally bankrupt right wing of the Liberal Party. I am sure anti-Labor Party readers could complete the following with suitable endings: Bill Shorten kowtows to .

Ron Noonan, Lake Wendouree Turnbull must stand up and take control Malcolm Turnbull's best option is clear. Take control and begin doing the things he knows are right. If, as a result, the Liberal Party replaces him as Prime Minister, he can simply resign from it and sit on the crossbenches. Now that would be interesting. Chris Langshaw, Newport Let Turnbull pursue what he believes in

Everybody is entitled to their opinions. But it is not healthy when those with extremist views hold power. The Prime Minister is not an extremist but he has no power. He is running the country with a knife over his head. We need a system whereby, at the end of the day, the Prime Minister, having listened to all viewpoints, is responsible for making the final decision. Sounds a bit like a benevolent dictator? What is wrong with that? It worked for Singapore. If Malcolm Turnbull were allowed to pursue what he believes in, the Liberal Party would romp it in at the next election. John Cummings, Anglesea Voters will treat cowards with contempt Memo to Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenburg: he who cowers before bullies is destined to be forever known as a coward and will be treated with contempt by the voters. Ian Hetherington, Moama

THE FORUM Our exploited workers The "Great student swindle" (Insight, 10/12) comes on top of the 7-Eleven and Caltex scandals, the shameful deals between the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees' Association and Australia's biggest employers, and the horrific details of migrant and tourist worker exploitation in the primary sector. This alongside the rort of corporate under and non-payment of taxes. Prime minister, initiate a royal commission into the exploitation of workers. Also, increase the resources and powers of the industrial inspectorate which is supposed to police our labour laws. We expect young people and others to trust our economic, political and social institutions, yet we turn a blind eye when those institutions exploit and abuse them. Do we seriously wonder why they become angry and frustrated and seek alternatives at the ballot box and elsewhere? Brendan Byrne, Mitcham

Hope, not despair It was frustrating to read comments denigrating young people for seeking professional help (Letters, 10/12). Generations have suffered needlessly from such attitudes, with severe mental health consequences. Receiving ATAR results early might seem a trivial worry to those far beyond its reach. However, young people face enormous pressures at this time. Their anxiety can be alleviated by a session with their schools' careers counsellors The complexities of the tertiary application process, and the many pathways available to them, can be untangled and hope restored. Just ask us. It is always more sensible to seek help than to blunder on or give way to despair. Amanda Ellwood, Mount Waverley Reaching full potential I agree with Ruth Barson that the community is ultimately safer when children are in classrooms rather than locked in concrete boxes ("We can't turn a blind eye to the fate of jailed children", 7/12). I do not have an answer as to how best to support children and young people who commit crimes. I do know that at-risk students have a better chance of engaging in school if they are in small classes and have a helpful number of teacher aides and welfare support staff. Locking children up in adult prisons will not help them to reach their full potential.

Robert Van Zetten, Highton No need for Adlers State and territory leaders have agreed to slap the seven-shot Adler shotgun with a tough category D classification, the most restricted category (Saturday Age, 10/12). The Nationals say they have been thrown under a bus over it. Think of the saving on the ammo, boys. Peter Taylor, Midway Point, Tas An imperfect solution

Adele Ferguson says the national financial planning register, which was launched in May 2015, is "worse than useless" (Businessday, 10/8). She is correct. It can make clients complacent, trusting that the government is determined to clean up the financial planning industry and put the interests of clients before those of planners. This may cause them to be less wary of planners' activities than they otherwise would be. Poorly implemented regulation is often worse than none at all. Rod Wise, Glen Iris Dying with dignity Brother Matt Ryan says "pain and suffering are part of the human condition" (Letters, 10/12). Thankfully this view is not often expressed. It is clear his opinion, being a Christian Brother, reflects the philosophy of his education, although some would say indoctrination. However, for those who do not share his religious beliefs, having the "right to die" legislation rejected and allowing people to die without dignity (which despite our excellent palliative care services is still an outcome for many) is small minded. Surely this opinion adds to the growing disenchantment of our religious institutions.

Dr Bill Walker, Brighton East Preciousness of her life I lost my wife to pancreatic cancer this year. Her excellent oncologist and the palliative care people ensured she was medicated to the extent necessary to avoid extremes of physical pain and she died at home surrounded by those who loved her. There was no need for any legal provision that might have allowed for her death to be hastened. Indeed, the presence of any such measure would have seemed like an intolerable moral burden on those of us who watched and waited with her through her final days. Terminally ill patient Julie Morgan (The Age, 9/12) expressed it beautifully; she wanted to hear that she was loved, have her back gently patted, and know we would never cease from seeing the preciousness of her every breath. Chris Marshall, Ascot Vale

Begging for death My brother, a 70-year-old, lay dying on a mattress on the floor (he was placed there for safety reason), wearing a nappy around his withered frame and with dried blood around his mouth and nose. He was in no pain but had begged for dignity and death. Palliative care was not enough to ease his emotional suffering. Rosita Vila, North Fitzroy The forgotten sufferers Even the best love and care offers no relief for dementia sufferers. Nor will Victoria's assisted dying legislation for terminally ill people of sound mind, with weeks or months left to live. Those who are facing dementia will continue to take their lives early. Can we not do something to ease and save those lives?

Ann Birrell, St Kilda West Act on climate change Climate science is just that  science. It is not a belief system to opt in to if one wants to. Malcolm Turnbull, I had such hope for you to be able to truly understand and act on this truth. Maybe you do understand, but serving those in your party trumps serving those who elected you to lead. Either way, you have let us and our future generations down. Kim Abrahams, Richmond Stop playing politics

The Prime Minister says electricity prices will rise under a carbon trading scheme, while the Chief Scientist says they will rise if a trading scheme is not introduced. As the latter has based his argument on all the evidence at his disposal, a fair question to Malcolm Turnbull would be: What evidence do you have that prices will increase? It is time the government stopped playing politics on this national issue. The public are heartily sick of it. Bruce MacKenzie, Kingsville South Million dollar question Can someone ask former premier Jeff Kennett to remind us how privatisation and the free enterprise system was going to keep our electricity prices under control? Ian Millar, Mordialloc

One-China is best Malcolm Turnbull's decision not to follow Donald Trump's policy on Taiwan is sound (Saturday Age, 10/12). The United States may be our most important strategic ally but this does not mean we have to abandon our self-interest to curry favour with a megalomaniac like Trump. The one-China policy has kept the Western Pacific peaceful over the last 35 years and provided significant economic prosperity to Australia. Also, the US' influence is waning due its hubris and exceptionalism. Very few countries respect and trust it. Australia's strong views against Trump's stance on Taiwan may encourage him and his advisors to rethink its policy. Bill Mathew, Parkville Wear your mask

I was interested to read Barrie Pittock's proposal for people to wear surgical masks (Letters, 10/12). Recently I emailed Premier Daniel Andrews and Health Minister Jill Hennessy suggesting the same thing. Unusual weather is associated with increase of inhaled allergens. Especially in Japan, as a courtesy to prevent transmission of their own respiratory infection, people often wear surgical masks. Conversely, wearing a surgical mask outdoors by those prone to respiratory allergy and asthma alleviates the high pollen and other inhaled allergen load. This measure would be cheaper, quicker and more effective than high demand for ambulances and hospital phone lines, facilities and admissions that occurred with the asthma thunderstorm. What price a life  or nine? Dr John Roberts, Ripponlea Cruelty to animals "We've done just about every animal. We're now ready to go into humans", says University of Melbourne Laureate Professor Eric Reynolds ("World-first vaccine for gum disease brings a welcome smile to researchers" 9/12). One shudders at the violation these sentient creatures suffered in the laboratory only to earn this uncaring, throwaway line. If animals are just like us, then ethically we should not experiment on them. If animals are not like us, what is the point of experimenting on them?

Jan Kendall, Hawthorn Dangerously high Why hasn't the grass along the Calder Highway from Melbourne to Mount Macedon been cut? It is one to two metres high in parts and drying rapidly. It would only take a broken bottle or a cigarette butt to be thrown into it to ignite a fire. Who is responsibility for this? Steve Smith, Lalor AND ANOTHER THING

Turnbull Cory enjoys playing with his agile, little puppet. He jumps every time Cory speaks. Robin Lawson, Cloverlea Malcolm Turnbull  fizzer. Colin Suggett, Venus Bay

The Prime Minister you have when you don't have a Prime Minister. Michael Butler, Balwyn North Malcolm Turnbull always does the Right thing. Geoff Charles, Mount Waverley Never in Australian history was so much expected of one man who delivered so little. Vale, Malcolm.

Geoff Hilton, Moorooduc Malcolm, stand up or stand down while you still have some credibility. John Breen, Beaumaris Economy Whatever you do, don't mention recession. What would Basil Fawlty suggest?

Wendy Brennan, Bendigo Jobson Growth has left the building. Colin Jones, South Melbourne No, he has left the country. Nicholas Melaluka, Fairfield

Our new three Rs: recession, reshuffle and Rinehart. Annie Wilson, Inverloch Furthermore The famous last words of a pro-euthanasia advocate: "I've changed my mi..." Peter Rooke, Hawthorn

Brother Matt Ryan (10/12), a spot of morphine might be just the ticket as you head towards the pearly gates. Denise Deerson, Bulleen What do atheists wear (5/12)? Maybe a placard that says: "Atheism is not just another belief system". Layla Godfrey, Mount Eliza No, atheists don't wear anything. That is the point.
Ever since the Labor government announced three weeks ago it would send children from the troubled Parkville youth justice centre to Barwon, secrecy and doublespeak have been the order of the day.

It was a line striking in its obscurantism. Locking up children in solitary confinement for 20 hours a day at the Barwon maximum security adult prison could never be a "standard" way to manage them. But, according to multiple reports, they most certainly are locked up for 20 hours a day or more.

Minister Jenny Mikakos has acknowledged that children had been subjected to lockdowns and isolation at Barwon prison. Credit:Paul Jeffers

For weeks, she and her department had been parroting the line  to anyone who listened  that "standard management of young people at the Grevillea unit does not involve 20 hours of lockdown per day".

The government re-named the Grevillea secure unit within Barwon a youth justice centre. It was, we were told, to house young offenders from Parkville, which had been damaged in riots, while fortification and repairs could be done.

Eventually, it emerged that children from Malmsbury and the Mill Park police station (also re-gazetted as a "youth justice centre") were being sent there, too.

The Department of Health and Human Services repeatedly said that young people held at the Grevillea unit within Barwon would "have access" to a "similar range" of education programs and services to those available at Parkville and Malmsbury.

Their lawyers report that while those services may be available sometime in the future, none of the children held at Barwon has yet had any classes or services in custody.

Instead, as human rights lawyer Ruth Barson described in an evocative Fairfax column last week, children have been held in solitary confinement. She described kneeling on the floor to speak to her client through a steel opening in the front of his cell. This is how lawyers must now advise their clients in Victoria?
Toni Jordan has written a screwball bedroom farce with wit and humour. Credit:Rodger Cummins Commonwealth, Ann Patchett: Set over five decades, this sprawling novel begins in the 1960s, and charts the eventful lives of two families, brought together by an adulterous affair. Relationships  romantic, parental and siblingsare all accounted for, with Ann Patchett moving effortlessly from one character to another as she includes in her scope the lives of the blended children as they grow into adulthood. Also recommended: The Sellout, Paul Beatty; Swing Time, Zadie Smith; Vinegar Girl, Anne Tyler; The Windy Season, Sam Carmody; The Toy Maker, Liam Pieper; Zero K, Don DeLillo; The Wonder, Emma Donoghue; Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood, Elena Ferrante (Neapolitan series). Leigh Hobbs' Mr Chicken Arriva a Roma is silly and fun. Credit:Simon Schluter FOR LOVERS OF POPULAR FICTION AND ROMANCE

Bridget Jones's Baby, Helen Fielding: Everyone's favourite ditzy, boozy, calorie-counting singleton has a new dilemma: who's the father of her unborn baby? Is it stitched-up but fundamentally decent Darcy or charismatic but rakish Cleaver? Bridget's arch-rivals are still snipping at each other, only this time it's during childbirth classes. Bridget's foray into the world of smug motherhood is bubbly and frothy. Magda Szubanski's Reckoning is moving and compassionate. Credit:Tim Bauer Our Tiny, Useless Hearts, Toni Jordan: Toni Jordan's novel showcases not a bizarre triangle but a confused love heptagon. With wit and humour, this screwball bedroom farce bends the lines of communication and fidelity out of shape and reconfigures them into new (though not necessarily improved) forms. Jonathan Unleashed, Meg Rosoff: Dog lovers in particular, will lap up this novel in which canines offer uncomplicated companionship in the face of tedium and change. Though hapless protagonist Jonathan manages to obtain both a job and a girlfriend, "real adult life seemed to exist over there, somewhere as distant and unreachable as Uranus". A wry, sweetly drawn portrait of a man in arrested adolescence. Also recommended: The Fence, Meredith Jaffe; Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld; Small Great Things, Jodi Picoult; Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty.

FOR ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES



The Dry, Jane Harper: Set in a tiny town rural Australia during the worse drought in decades, The Dry tells the story of a federal policeman returning home and his reluctant involvement in teasing out the details behind the violent deaths of a young family. There's another crime, committed 20 years ago that's interwoven in the narrative. Strong characterisation and plotting, plenty of red herrings and a denouement that's genuinely unexpected make this debut whodunit a riveting read. Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil, Melina Marchetta: Best known for her YA book, Looking for Alibrandi, Melina Marchetta's latest novel ventures into new territory; a detective thriller set mainly in London and Calais about the aftermath of a bomb attack on a busload of students. Marchetta ably exploits the very topical themes of terrorism in Europe, immigration and racial prejudice to bring together a book that explores her typical preoccupations with identity and belonging. Cambodia Noir, Nicholas Seeley: Set in steamy Phnom Penh where a crumpled photographer is in pursuit of a missing woman, this debut thriller weaves through seedy Cambodian hotspots and the surrounding jungle. Drug busts and political and police corruption are at play in a plot that's wily, suspenseful and as noir as night. Also recommended: Signal Loss, Garry Disher; The Serpent's Sting, Robert Gott; Black Teeth, Zane Lovitt; Rather be the Devil, Ian Rankin; The Good Liar, Nicholas Searle; Black Widow, Chris Brookmyre; Nightblind, Ragnar Jonasson; Under the Harrow, Flynn Berry; Dead in the Water, Tania Chandler; Gunshine State, Andrew Nette. FOR SOCIAL, HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL AFICIONADOS

True Girt, David Hunt: Erudition leavened with wit, this is a sequel to David Hunt's well-received first book. True Girt continues the romp into unexplored pockets of Australian history. Hunt presents his knowledge in a bitingly satirical fashion; his book is sprinkled with funny asides and footnotes, anachronistic editorialising and all sorts of eyebrow-raising information not found in your average dusty textbook. Don't be fooled by his irreverence though, there is some serious research within these pages. Wardrobe Crisis, Clare Press: Part social commentary, part cultural history of fashion, Wardrobe Crisis also explores the ethics  or lack thereof  of the garment industry. Investigative trails into the chemical treatment and the environmental diaster of the manufacture of jeans, the unregulated exotic skins trade and the impact of cotton production will make you consider the actual cost of your cheap clothes. The Story of Australia's People (The Rise and Rise of a New Generation), Geoffrey Blainey: The second and final instalment of Geoffrey Blainey's Australian history series; this volume continues on from the gold rush of the 1850s to the present day, marking out significant events including Federation, the world wars, the mining boom and immigration. At once comprehensive and concise; the books are an excellent primer to national events. Also recommended: Dig, David Nichols, (Australian rock and pop music 1960-85); Not Quite Australian, Peter Mares; How to be a Writer, John Birmingham; Bring Back the King (the New Science of De-extinction), Helen Pilcher. FOR DIPPERS INTO ANTHOLOGIES

Everywhere I Look, Helen Garner: Spanning 15 years, this varied collection of short non-fiction pieces presents some of Helen Garner's best work. Whether it's a dig into her own life or a broader look into societal whims and ills, Helen Garner is one of our most skilled essayists. Signed, Sealed, Delivered, curated by Michaela McGuire and Marieke Hardy: The latest anthology offers more personal responses from a range of correspondents on a number of topics: To my rude awakening, To my other half, To my fork in the road  Gathered from the live salons and transferred into written form, these letters are short but heart-felt missives. The Near and the Far, edited by David Carlin and Francesca Rendle-Short: All new pieces from both homegrown writers as well as those from the Asia-Pacific, this anthology was borne of reciprocal residencies and cultural events. Poems, vignettes, memoir and non-fiction encompass a wide ambit  from traffic chaos and post-war reflections in Vietnam to gender politics in Bangkok. Also recommended: A Single Tree, compiled by Don Watson; Rebellious Daughters, edited by Lee Kofman and Maria Katsonis; The Griffith Review: Earthly Delights, the Novella Project IV; The Best Australian stories 2016 edited by Charlotte Wood; The Best Australian Essays 2016 edited by Geordie Williamson. FOR FANS OF JUNIOR AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION

Words in Deep Blue, Cath Crowley: Perfect for bibliophiles, particularly those who love fossicking in secondhand bookshops. This YA crossover novel alternates viewpoints between 18-year-old Henry and Rachel, once best friends, now not so close. It explores the confusion and piquancy of infatuation and unrequited love. Crowley's Letter Library, a selection of books not for sale but set aside for annotation and random messages, is a charming and integral addition to the narrative. The Bone Sparrow, Zana Fraillon: Written from the perspective of two children on either side of a detention centre in Australia, The Bone Sparrow is harrowing at times (so parental supervision advised) but its narrative is buoyed by a poetic sensitivity and strong voices from both young protagonists. Slivers of hope do penetrate the darkness of the tale. Iris and the Tiger, Leanne Hall: Inspired by surrealist art, Leanne Hall's book is full of wondrous details: a reclusive aunt who presides over a menagerie of strange creatures; and paintings and ghosts that come alive. This is magic realism translated for a middle primary audience. Also recommended: Dog Zombies Rule, Tom Gates, Liz Pichon; The 78th Storey Treehouse, Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton; Another Night in Mullet Town, Steven Herrick; One Step, Andrew Daddo, Odd and the Frost Giants, Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell; One Would Think the Deep, Claire Zorn; Becoming Kirrali Lewis, Jane Harrison; The Book that Made Me, edited by Judith Ridge FOR PICTURE BOOK ENTHUSIASTS
Serious sanctions in Dane County

Of the 29 assisted living facilities that had their licenses revoked by the state since 2014, none was in Dane County. But 11 facilities in the county have received another serious sanction from the state: an order to admit no more residents until problems identified during inspections are corrected. The facilities and a summary of the problems found:

2016:

American Way of Madison: Twenty-two citations, including not reporting residents leaving facility, staff not giving medications as ordered, resident with choking problems drinking with a straw, controlled medications not double-locked and food improperly stored.

Comfort Care 4 U3, Fitchburg: Seven citations, including admitting two residents who use wheelchairs despite doors not being wide enough for wheelchairs, inadequate staff to care for the residents and trip hazards.

Pine View of Sun Prairie (now Oak Ridge Living): Six citations, including not telling the state about new ownership, not updating a residents care plan and not keeping a complete record of another resident.

2015:

Heritage of Monona: Seven citations, including not investigating or reporting sexual misconduct between two residents, improperly monitoring residents who fell many times and having an unclean environment.

2014:

Brookdale Madison North: Eleven citations, including a resident repeatedly not getting prednisone as prescribed, another resident found in a urine-soaked bed, a third residents call light not being responded to for 51 minutes and two caregivers not washing their hands properly.

Evergreen Home Care, Verona: Nine citations, including a resident not getting a calcium chew and waiting more than five hours for an anti-diarrhea drug, no evidence of resident satisfaction evaluations and improper disposal of medications.

Haacks Tendercare, Sun Prairie (now Hyland Crossings): Twelve citations, including administering injectables without a registered nurse, inadequate resident records, not preventing falls by a resident whose multiple falls required emergency care, frequent use of pain medication in a resident and not having a daily activity program.

Hartland House, Madison: Two citations, including not complying with previous order to remove clutter and not having a proper fire inspection.

Pleasant Meadows, Deerfield: Thirteen citations, including two residents taking the operators car without permission and driving to Iowa, didnt document a resident falling and hitting head on sidewalk, ramps not up to grade, fire extinguishers not inspected and smoke detectors not checked.

Trinity Senior Community 5565, Madison (now Madison Heights Senior Community): Five citations, including not preventing choking by a resident who previously choked, inadequate staffing during meals, not preventing falls by a resident who fell many times and eight out of 15 residents not receiving care needed.

Unified Adult Family Home, Madison: Nine citations, including locking out young male resident with schizophrenia, not having two exits as required and no written authorization to managed residents money.
A truck driver, car driver, motorcyclist and three pedestrians lost their lives on Queensland roads on the weekend, signalling a tragic start to the school holidays as police launched their Christmas road safety campaign.

Three other motorbike riders were also fighting for life in hospital on Sunday after separate crashes.

A 70-year-old man was placed on life support in hospital after being airlifted from a motorbike crash at Coulson near Boonah. Credit:RACQ LifeFlight Rescue

The latest incident happened on Sunday afternoon about 1.15pm on Ipswich Boonah Road at Peak Crossing, 20 kilometres south of Ipswich.

Police said a motorbike left the road and crashed into a tree, leaving the male rider critically injured.
An accused drug dealer allegedly found with 3D printed guns has pleaded to stay out of jail because he will miss his mum's last Christmas.

Francesco Molinaro was arrested in dawn raids on his Noble Park home on Sunday after a five-month police operation.

Police allegedly found 3D printed guns in dawn raids. Credit:Paul Jeffers

"Can't you just give me bail, please?" pleaded Molinaro at an out-of-sessions court hearing on Sunday night.

"It's going to be my mum's last Christmas, please."
Toyota Launches NEXT Program







Toyota City, Japan, Dec, 07 2016; Toyota Motor Corporation will launch the TOYOTA NEXT open innovation program on December 7. Toyota will accept and review proposals for new services which are submitted by various companies and R&D organizations regarding their proposed topics, and will develop new services with the selected companies.

Japan is currently undergoing a variety of changes, such as low birth rates and a growing aging population, as well as an increased concentration of the population in urban areas with a corresponding depopulation of rural areas. The country is also advancing in terms of IT and technology. Against this backdrop, Toyota believes that as a business entity, it must respond in a broad manner in a timely fashion to the diversifying consumer needs.

The TOYOTA NEXT program is intended to promote joint development of new services by utilizing new ideas, technologies, and solutions held by various companies and R&D organizations regardless of scale, as well as by businesses that have already launched services, which departs from our usual practices of trying to be self-sufficient in terms of development.

Starting in 2017, Toyota plans to jointly develop and release in stages, a variety of services that focus on people and is able to provide a heightened element of Waku-Doki (excitement and anticipation) to the lives of customers in Japan in the future.

Overview of Partner Company

Inamoto & Co.

Inamoto & Co. is a business innovation studio that seeks to develop new business fields which is centered on design, data, and technology. Inamoto proposed the Toyota Next Program, and is currently developing next-generation business models with Toyota. Rei Inamoto, named one of the world's 50 most influential people by Creativity magazine, and one of the 25 most creative people in advertising by Forbes magazine, had previously worked as chief creative officer for R/GA and AKQA, which is among the most influential agencies in Europe and America. Rei Inamoto had co-founded Inamoto & Co. with Rem Reynolds in the spring of 2016. Based in New York, the company conducts innovation consulting for global brands, and develops its own products and services.

Digital Garage, Inc. & DG Incubation, Inc.

Since its establishment in 1995, Digital Garage has conducted business in three core areas: investment and development support for internet services, marketing, and global online settlement. Digital Garage has consistently anticipated future developments and conducted business in tandem with the growth of the Internet. The company was listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in May 2016.

The company is currently active in next-generation business fields, including artificial intelligence, block-chain databases, and virtual reality.

DG Incubation uses the extensive domestic and overseas networks of the DG Group to invest in and provide growth support for a wide range of businesses, and has provided support for business development in Japan to companies such as Twitter and LinkedIn. It launched the Open Network Lab in April 2010 with the aim of fostering startup companies that are globally active. The Open Network Lab develops and supports startups through incubation, which includes the Seed Incubation Program-a business proposal and screening program, events such as meet ups with startups that are active in Silicon Valley and other overseas regions and lectures conducted by invited specialists as well as setting up a community based on these activities.

Digital Garage company website: http://www.garage.co.jp/ DG Incubation company website: https://www.dgincubation.co.jp/ Open Network Lab website: https://onlab.jp/
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Simon Herrmann, wise-owl.com

BUY RECOMMENDATIONS

Beach Energy (BPT)



An Australian oil and gas company focusing on the Cooper/Eromanga Basins. Beach Energy is highly leveraged to any recovery in the oil price, generating an additional $50 million in net profit after tax if oil prices increase by $US10 a barrel. The company successfully identified operational cost savings, reducing the cash flow break even point to $26 a barrel. Beach has a strong balance sheet with $243 million in cash and undrawn debt facilities of $350 million.

MNF Group (MNF)



An Australian technology company providing internet based telecommunication services. MNF Group has increased revenue in every year since listing in 2006. In the past five years, revenue has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 64 per cent. Growth is achieved through a mix of organic expansion and acquisitions. Continuing this trend is the major value driver. MNF Group has consistently paid dividends and increasing earnings could allow for higher distributions in the future.

HOLD RECOMMENDATIONS

Cradle Resources (CXX)



We retain our hold advice for this Niobium explorer in Tanzania. The mining company experienced a sharp sell off in October, but managed to recover in November, which is a sign of confidence by the market. Board restructuring during 2016 has positioned Cradle to secure the necessary technical and financial resources required to bring its Panda Hill project into production. The company trades at a substantial discount to its net present value. Delivery of the offtake partnerships and project financing represent major catalysts.

Dicker Data (DDR)



Dicker Data distributes leading technology brands to more than 3000 resellers across Australia. Were attracted to its revenue growth trajectory, relationships with vendors and resellers and its history of dividend distributions. Primary risks include earnings volatility, corporate structure and balance sheet gearing. The stock is travelling in a long term uptrend and appears stable even in volatile market conditions.

SELL RECOMMENDATIONS

Paladin Energy (PDN)



The uranium miners share price has plunged more than 70 per cent since the start of the year, with the companys market capitalisation recently shrinking to just $111 million. The company announced likely delays for the potential sale of a 24 per cent interest in its Langer Heinrich Mine for $US175 million, which may challenge Paladins ability to repay its $US212 million convertible bond obligations due in April 2017.

Bellamys Australia (BAL)



Wise-owl has flagged numerous times that Bellamys valuation was inflated and the latest share price slump confirmed our view for this infant formula company. It may take years for the stock to recover and we believe there are better opportunities elsewhere. Due to limited investment opportunities in this space and mismanagement of expectations, the entire sector experienced a hard landing.



Janine Cox, Wealth Within

BUY RECOMMENDATIONS Platinum Asset Management (PTM)



SUL has been trading sideways since 2015. A rise above $10 would be a very positive sign and increase the stocks probability of breaking the sideways trend and rising. Considering the downside risk, a fall below $8.71 would shine a bearish light on the shares. The shares were trading at $9.40 on December 8. SELL RECOMMENDATIONS Qantas Airways (QAN)



Nuheara has developed wireless earbuds, known as IQbuds, which have been gaining traction with global consumers and retailers. The company recently completed a capital raising and is fully financed for initial commercial production. We expect further milestones and re-ratings to be achieved in 2017.

Pioneer Resources (PIO)



A lithium, gold and base metals explorer thats fully financed for its current campaign through successive capital raisings managed by Sanlam. The company has just started drilling at Canadian lithium projects, which look the most promising and have strong historical drill results. Pioneers valuation is attractive compared to earlier this year.

HOLD RECOMMENDATIONS

Pilbara Minerals (PLS)



A lithium developer. Its Pilgangoora project is a world class deposit with run of ore mining expected to start in next years second quarter, allowing it to capitalise on currently high lithium prices.

Metals X (MLX)



Were bullish on base metals, as tin and copper have been rising on Donald Trumps plan to invest in US infrastructure. After spinning off Westgold, Metals X is a pure base metals play with much exposure to tin and copper prices.

SELL RECOMMENDATIONS

Paladin Energy (PDN)



The uranium miner is in a precarious position with the uranium spot price at a 10 year low. The company is due to pay back a $US212 million convertible bond in April 2017. A potential part asset sale to finance the debt repayment appears unlikely  at least in 2016. From an investment perspective, the stock is best avoided.

Gateway Lifestyle Group (GTY)



Provides homes in a community environment mostly for senior citizens. We reiterate our sell recommendation published in late January when the share price was $2.79. It closed at $2.23 on December 7. The stock still exhibits downside risk, as we believe it relies too much on Federal Government funding for rent assistance and acquisition costs.

>> BACK TO THE NEWSLETTER: Click here to read other articles from this weeks newsletter

Please note that TheBull.com.au simply publishes broker recommendations on this page. The publication of these recommendations does not in any way constitute a recommendation on the part of TheBull.com.au. You should seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.
A couple of weeks ago, Angela Richardson ran wild through the Madison Municipal Building, raiding supply closets, pillaging storage rooms and rifling through desk drawers.

It was all on the up and up. Saturday, the art installation she and co-collaborator Paul Andrews created from all of those found objects was part of Municipal, a one-day pop-up event celebrating creativity in all its varied forms.

It was a free, family-friendly event patterned after Bookless, the successful 2012 gathering that turned the Central Library into a temporary art museum and community party right before it was gutted and overhauled. The municipal building, 215 Martin Luther King Blvd., is now set for its own extensive renovation.

Emptied of all workers, the entire 75,000-square-foot city building became an anything-goes, fun-house canvas for the inventiveness of more than 100 artists. Almost every corner, hallway and stairwell sprouted something to amaze and ponder, with performance artists, weavers, dancers, musicians, stilt walkers and filmmakers among the mix.

An opportunity like this only comes around every few years, so when you get the chance, you really jump on it, said organizer Trent Miller, who works for the Madison Public Library as director of The Bubbler, its maker space program.

The seven-hour event proved popular, with 2,600 people taking it in, Miller said.

I loved poking around and coming upon all these things, said Alison Jones Chaim of Madison, a taxi driver who brought her 12-year-old twin sons. Its a happening. People are here, and thats a good thing in a community, to bring people together.

The event was mounted on a budget of only about $1,000, Miller said. The artists, selected by a jury, received no money.

Im getting paid with good vibes, said Michael Velliquette, a mixed media artist. He used more than 5,000 pieces of paper to create a giant, complex mural near the buildings entrance. It took him nine hours to assemble  longer than people were able to view it.

I have no problem making temporary works, he said. Im invested in the process, not the outcome.

Performance artist Marina Kelly said it was invigorating to create something fast and site-specific and to have the freedom to make a mess. Artist Rebecca Lessem, who works in information technology in her day job, said she appreciates events that bring out vast cross-sections of a community, not just the standard art crowd.

For someone like me who makes giant, weird sculptures, its a chance to be seen by a lot of people, she said. Her large inflatable piece depicted a ghostly house and what she called tree-like things.

One of the most popular attractions was Katrin Talbot, who sat behind a manual typewriter and offered municipal poetry to order. People handed her any three words from a bowl, or wrote their own words, and she produced an instant tiny poem. (Sample: Land use in an urban jungle is really an appetizer to feasting.)

Those wanting a different kind of participatory experience could get out their rage by throwing tomatoes at a wall. The scraps were scooped up and cooked.

Richardson considered her installation a nod to all of the city workers who passed through the building over the decades and to all of the materials they used to do their jobs.

Its giving file cabinets their due in all their majesty, she said.

The piece also incorporated staplers, garbage cans, file folders and miscellaneous remnants from desk drawers, like paper clip chains and Post-it notes with important things to remember. (Vendor suffix must be  if blank.)

Nancy Jarvis, of Middleton, a retired molecular biologist, enjoyed the pieces minutiae, noting a pizza coupon that expired in 2006.

I just love this, she said of the installation. It represents so many peoples lives and all of their years of work.

Among those in the crowd were city workers and elected officials, even Mayor Paul Soglin, who stopped in about 1 p.m. and seemed to approve.

Maybe we should just leave the building this way, he said.

The event was organized by The Bubbler at Madison Public Library in collaboration with Arts + Literature Laboratory, The Apartment Project and Madison Community Discourse, with support from The Madison Arts Commission, Dane Arts and Wisconsin Public Radio.

Chaim, the taxi driver, was among many hoping the concept becomes a trend.

They should gut some more buildings, she said.
PARIS  History sneaks up on you. Stories of love and courage, cruelty and atrocity, of survivors and those who do not survivethey reach out to you from a plaque, a monument, or maybe bullet scars on the face of a building: shadows of the past that are half remembered or, more often, were forgotten entirely.

In Europe, where two enormous wars were fought within the last 100 yearswhere a generation was wiped out in the hellish mud pits and gas-filled trenches of the first great war, and the Aryan savagery of the Nazis in the second not only led to tens of millions of deaths on the battlefield, but to the systematic extermination of more than six million people whose religion and race supposedly set them apart: all that will come back to haunt you if you let it, if you know anything about it, if you look around you for half a minute.

And yet, even here in France one walks by that history every day without letting it register, as I had done perhaps a thousand times over the years on a street called Rue de Courcelles among Belle Epoque buildings in a quiet Right Bank neighborhood a few hundred yards down the hill from the Arc de Triomphe.

It was only last summer that I noticed at 93 rue de Courcelles one of the many historical plaques on Paris buildings that tell you a writer lived here, a composer died there, a hero of the Resistance was killed fightingbut this plaque, above a perfume store, was smaller than many.

Translated, it said:

Here lived and was arrested

in March 1944

Elizabeth BUFFET

Heroine of the Resistance

who died at the camp of Ravensbruck

I took a closer look at the building, and around the windows above the plaque saw what appeared to be dozens of bullet scars in the stone facade, including many that were heavy caliber.

And so I began what was at first a casual, and eventually a passionate investigation into what happened there. In the months since, it has brought me into contact with some extraordinary researchers, most importantly Bruce Bolinger in far away Nevada County, California, who has spent decades studying the events that took place in this Paris neighborhood and beyond.

Among other things I learned that in December 1943, Christmas in this corner of la ville lumiere witnessed amazing love and courageand a determined struggle against those who would make of race and religion an ideology of hate and destruction.

***

Who was Elizabeth Buffet? That Christmas of 1943 she was 51 years old, the divorced mother of four children, the youngest of whom was in his teens. Her former husband, a Monsieur de Cizancourt, was from the French aristocracy. Her mothers family was from the distinguished line of De Boisguilbert. In official records her occupation is listed simply as nurse, but she had studied music, and it is said she had a beautiful singing voice. She was widely known as Tante Zabi, Aunt Zabi.

The one photograph I have of her, probably taken a few years earlier, is of a woman in a simple print dress who appears to be somewhere out in the countryside. She has dark hair, a kind face, an easy if slightly enigmatic smile, and strong, elegant hands.

Precisely when Tante Zabi began to work with the French resistance against the Nazi occupation is not clear. In one of the post-war debriefing papers collected by Bolinger, a concierge of Buffets acquaintance on a street near her apartment said that by the summer of 1943 people in her neighborhood already knew that Buffet was involved with the Resistance, helping to forge documents.

In this neighborhood, in fact, there appear to have been many people, from the concierges to the shopkeepers to the aristocrats, who could not stomach the German presence. Occupiers always are hated, but the Nazi occupiers were a special and especially loathsome breed.

Among the multiple sources of French resentment, despite the widespread and sometimes almost casual anti-Semitism of those times, many could not stand to see their Jewish neighbors driven out of their businesses, forced to wear yellow stars in the street and, later, rounded up and held in hellish conditions before being deported to the final, fatal infernos to the east. At first the Nazis and their collaborators deported mainly foreign-born Jews. Then French Jews. And eventually many non-Jews learned that such a fate could be reserved for them and those they loved as well.

People here felt they had to act. And a great many of those people who did act were women.

By the fall of 1943, Elizabeth Buffet had joined one of the most famous and extensive underground operations of the war, a network rescuing and smuggling to safety Allied aviators who were shot down as they took the fight to the German heartland.

***

The Comet Line, as the network was called, was the brainchild of Andree Dedee de Jongh, the 23-year-old daughter of a schoolmaster in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of Brussels. She was petite, hugely energetic (her father called her the little cyclone) and looked years younger, even, than she was.

Dedee had grown up hearing stories of the nurse Edith Cavell, who was put before a firing squad in World War I for helping British soldiers escape the Germans, and in the summer of 1940 her father had briefly hidden some of the British survivors of Dunkirk. By then, the Wehrmacht had overrun Belgium, and Paris had fallen to the Nazis.

In the months that followed, the rumble of bombers from Britains Royal Air Force became familiar background noise in the Low Countries as squadrons began flying over Belgium and the Netherlands to attack targets inside Germany. But up against the Luftwaffes fighters and walls of exploding flak, many were shot down. The surviving pilots and their crews were quickly captured by the Nazisor, if they were lucky, they found themselves protected by the brave charity of farmers and townspeople.

Dedee quit her job as a commercial artist, moved in with her father, and started working as a nurse tending wounded British soldiers in hiding. But she knew that the good people protecting them could not shelter them for long, and if caught by the Nazis, they could pay with their lives. So she began studying the Nazi regulations, and how to get around them, and looking at escape routes. She decided the safest would be one of the longest.

Allied soldiers and flyers would be moved secretly across the border into France, taken to hiding places in Paris to rest and recover, then, accompanied by discreet guides, moved as passengers on trains to the far southwest of France and taken along rugged smugglers trails through the Pyrenees to neutral Spain. From there, they could be moved to British Gibraltar, and, finally, home.

In August 1941, Dedee turned up at the British consulate in Bilbao, in the Spanish Basque country, with a young Scottish soldier, and announced that she had brought him down from Brussels through occupied France and over the Pyrenees.

The men of British Military Intelligence, MI6, instantly decided she must be a German plant or provocatrice. But, then, there was something about her  something so improbable about this very young woman with intense eyes and extraordinary persistence  that they decided to see what kind of parcels such a Postman, as they called her, might deliver.

If she could truly start to evacuate downed flyers, that would boost the morale of those forced to crash land or bail out of their planes. It would also encourage them to try to escape rather than risk spending the war in a POW camp. And if they succeeded in getting back to Britain, highly trained aviators could be sent back into action.

A special subdivision of British intelligence, MI9, was set up to work with Comet and other developing escape lines. (The late British author and politician Airey Neave was part of that organization, and wrote an enthusiastic, even hagiographic accounting of Dedees exploits, The Little Cyclone, after the war. It was one of the first sources of public information about the network.)

Soon, crossing the Pyrenees herself again and again with smuggler-guides, Dedee was bringing not only soldiers and airmen, but valuable intelligence from deep in occupied Belgium and France. After the United States finally joined the fight in December 1941, Americans started flying missions  and falling from the sky as well.

Over the following year, the Comet Line continued to grow, embracing hundreds of volunteers, smuggling scores and eventually hundreds of flyers through France and Spain to freedom. But as it grew it became more vulnerable to penetration by the Gestapo.

In November 1942, after falling prey to a couple of fake American airmen, most of the Brussels operation was rolled up. Dedee and her father, whom she enlisted in the cause, were able to rebuild it from a distance, working out of France. But in January 1943, Dedee herself was captured near the Spanish border. Because she was so young  and a woman  the Germans would not believe her when she told them she was the founder and leader of the Comet Line.

Still the network survived under the guidance of Dedees father, Frederic de Jongh, now hiding in Paris, and Franco, a young Belgian army captain whose real name was Jean-Francois Nothomb. But in May 1943, Jacques Desoubrie, a Belgian collaborator with the Nazis, joined the Comet Line as a volunteer guide from Brussels to Paris. He used the pseudonym Jean Masson. Dedees father met with him and approved of him. In June, Masson set up the arrest of dozens of members of the Comet Line who were picked up in both Brussels and Paris. Among them was Frederic de Jongh, tortured and, some months later, executed by firing squad.

But Franco, by good luck, had gotten away. Once again the Comet Line was reconstituted. This time Elizabeth Buffet was part of it, and her Right Bank Paris neighborhood became a focal point of its activity.

***

Rue de Courcelles, No. 93, is about a ten-minute walk from the Arc de Triomphe and five minutes from the lovely little Parc Monceau, where strollers can contemplate a faux Greek temple, a miniature pyramid and statues of various composers and authors with women swooning at their feet.

In the 1800s the neighborhood was the site of the smoke-belching Paris gas works and industrial workshops, including one where the Statue of Liberty was first bolted together before it was shipped to New York in the 1880s. But at the end of the century, at the height of the Belle Epoque, the gas works were torn down and a huge construction boom ensued.

Above the streets and boulevards rose one apartment building after another made of elegantly carved, cream-colored stone. Typically they had six floors and spacious courtyards, with back entrances and separate stairwells that led to the kitchens and, at the tops of the buildings, tiny rooms for servants among the square eaves of the Mansard roofs. If you knew your way around, you could move between buildings, and even over rooftops without spending much time on the street. They were perfect for hiding guests of the Comet Line.

By late summer 1943, new guides had been recruited to bring flyers from Belgium into France, sometimes passing through the fields and forests of the Ardennes and the Somme, landscapes still scarred by the fury of the First World War.

One of those guides was an 18-year-old girl named Amanda Stassart, who was pretty and passionate and looking for adventure. Earlier she had helped the Resistance move guns around the city.

Stassart lived on Rue Marguerite, the street directly behind Buffets apartment. She had easy access to Rue de Courcelles by walking around the corner, and she may well have learned several shortcuts through the courtyards when she was seeing Buffets oldest son before the war.

Amandas mother had agreed to take in flyers, as well, and soon a steady flow of airmen began transiting Paris again, staying in the Stassart apartment, the Buffet apartment, and the servants quarters in their buildings, as well as elsewhere around the city.

Some of the British and American airmen were stunned at their ability to move around Paris in the disguises they were given, as long as they had guides to accompany them and speak for them. Often they were taken to restaurants and movies on the Champs Elysees by Buffets niece and nephew. Years later one British soldier who stayed with Buffet for 10 days in November 1943 told author Keith Morley, To put it bluntly, we had quite a ball in Paris.

But by then the Germans were closing in once again.

***

Tom Applewhite, a stocky 22-year-old from Memphis, Tennessee, had flown 10 missions as a bombardier in a B-17 christened The Wild Hare (up Hitlers ass, as the crew liked to say). Then, on the way back from a mission on November 11, 1943, the plane was shot down near Den Bosch in the Netherlands.

Long afterward, Applewhite told Bruce Bolinger that his experiences that day were like watching a movie. He remembered that in training he was told to wait until the last minute before opening his parachute, so he held off until he broke out beneath the clouds, but by then it was almost too late.

Fortunately for Applewhite, farmers found him, carried him off the field and hid his parachute. In a matter of days, Belgian and Dutch escape lines moved him to Brussels.

There he was under the control of the Service EVA, a Belgian evasion group that interrogated airmen as they were brought in, to make sure they were not German agents like the ones who had such a devastating impact on the Comet Line a year before. They prepared a false ID (Applewhite became Ludwig Oskar Ronquet, clerc de notaire), supplied appropriate civilian clothing, and passed along to the Comet Line those who had vetted clean.

But soon after Applewhite arrived, another crewmember from the Wild Hare and his guide were picked up by the police. More arrests followed, and Applewhite was forced to hole up for over a month in Brussels. Part of the time he stayed with Arthur Schrynemakers (Bruce Bolingers great uncle, and the original source of his interest). According to Bolingers research, a tenant of Schrynemakers who threatened to rat him out to the Germans for harboring Applewhite died mysteriously, falling down some stairs a few days later.

The Service EVA began to suspect Applewhite himself was a German agent, and not until his dental records could be checked with London was he allowed to proceed.

On the night of December 22, or thereabouts, he was taken to a town near the French border along with T. R. Jockey Wiggins from Georgia, shot down in October. They met up with 18-year-old Amanda Stassart, the girl from Rue Marguerite, whom they knew only as Diane. She took them, along with two others, through the dark until they reached a dairy barn where she knew they could spend the night. The next day very early they made their way to the city of Lille, then by train to Paris.

In Stassarts months as a guide, she had learned any number of ways to protect her charges. Often, she would put them in a train compartment and keep her distance on the three-hour trip. But at least once, when one of her Americans was without his fake ID, she spent virtually the entire time making out with him while uniformed German soldiers walked up and down the aisle.

As Peter Eisner records the scene in his book The Freedom Line, Stassart was covering the pilot with kisses: Those lips, licking his ear red, wet on his mouth, pretending to whisper and caressing him for real. He had to keep reminding himself it was an act. She looked at him again with that sly look in her eye. The German guards peered through the glass and passed them by without opening the compartment door.

When Stassart was guiding Applewhite through Lille, a young woman on a tram asked him for a light, and, uncomprehending, he just stared back at her. Stassart began shouting at the woman, calling her a whore trying to pick up her fiance.

Such stratagems worked.

On December 23, Applewhite and Wiggins arrived safely at Tante Zabis apartment, with its luxurious furnishings, some of which they would remember long afterward. Most striking of all was the sofa in the living room, covered in zebra hide. And there was also the piano that Zabi loved to play.

Soon the boys were settling in, thumbing through a book of cartoons about the occupation, and getting to know Michel and Marie-Rose Buffet, Zabis nephew and niece, who would be their escorts in Paris. In a city where detention and death lurked on every street, Madame Buffet did everything she could to make these American strangers feel at home.

Only a few blocks away, however, on the far side of the Arc de Triomphe, others seeking refuge from the Nazis were not so lucky.

***

By the winter of 1943-44, after three and a half years of occupation and increasing privation, the lines between the escape networks and black marketeers were blurred or nonexistent. At times the Resistance was deeply in bed with organized criminal gangs. But, then again, the French Gestapo actually was led and staffed by convicted felons who had escaped from prison in 1940. The French Gestapo boss, the murderous Henri Lafont (real name Henri Chamberlin) was a famous and infamous man about town.

Into the shadows of this tangled underworld moved an outwardly respectable physician named Marcel Petiot. He lived in Montmartre. But he had another house near the Arc de Triomphe, on rue Le Sueur (not an uncommon French name, but it means, literally, and ironically in this case, the sweat).

Petiot told people  Jews, deserters, even members of the French Gestapo/mafia who wanted to get out of town fast  that they should meet him at 21 rue Le Sueur and he would arrange for their escape. Many brought all the valuables they could carry. But they did not escape. Most were never seen again.

***

Tante Zabi and the American airmen staying with her knew nothing of Petiot. But on Christmas Eve, Tom Applewhite got a taste of the underworld that swirled around them, when he was taken to meet Le Boss, as he called him  who may have been the head of the Comet Line operations in Paris at that point. The Boss ordered up a lunch of horsemeat for Tom while he asked him about his service and his experiences on the escape route thus far. But Tom mistrusted him deeply, and tried to answer with his own questions. The boss cut him off. Only he would ask questions, and he wanted answers. Applewhite remembered him years later as pasty-faced, oily, and evil-looking, like Peter Lorre, only bigger.

***

On Christmas Day, Tante Zabi invited friends and family to dinner along with the American aviators. A fire glowed in the hearth as they were seated. One of the guests was a man educated at Oxford, apparently an Englishman or a dual national. Another was a tall, gaunt man who had lost 10 of his sons to the Gestapos killers.

Zabis two sons Tristan (an actor) and Joel (still in high school) were there. Her lesbian daughter made a brief appearance. And Zabis nephew Michel Buffet and niece Marie-Rose Buffet also joined in.

After dinner, Tante Zabi sat down at the piano and began to play and, with the man who had lost his sons, they began to sing duets. Applewhite did not know what they were, but afterward Joel could not hear Madame Butterfly without breaking down.

 Oh, lovely night! What a lot of stars!

Never have I seen them so beautiful!Every spark twinkles and shineswith the brilliance of an eye.Oh! What a lot of eyes fixed and staring,looking at us from all sides!In the sky, along the shore,out to sea...the sky is smiling!Oh, lovely night!In an ecstasy of lovethe sky is smiling! 

Marie-Rose took Applewhite and Wiggins to a movie house nearby, where the audience roared with laughter at a Nazi propaganda film showing Wehrmacht soldiers making hobbyhorses for French children. Then they watched a feature about a fairy-tale princess, once upon a time.

When Applewhite and Wiggins left, the day after Christmas, for their long journey to the Pyrenees, Tante Zabi kissed them on both cheeks.

***

Because so many of the volunteers working for the Comet Line were new, they did not know that one among them named Pierre Poulin was in fact Jean Masson a.k.a. Jacques Desoubrie, under a new alias. And once again he went to work.

The arrests began in January. The Gestapo grabbed the head of the Paris network, code-named Jerome. Then they got Franco, the man who had picked up the relay after Dedee was arrested. They must have held out as long as they could, but the Gestapo interrogators and torturers were relentless.

On February 15, the Nazis arrested Amanda Stassart and her mother, and on or about that date, the police pounded on the door of Tante Zabis apartment. Michel Buffet answered, but made an excuse about a window being open and cold air pouring in so he could warn two flyers in the back. They got away down the back stairs. The police left.

Then, on March 3, 1944, the Gestapo and its agents returned, and this time they took with them Elizabeth Buffet.

***

The Comet Line was finished. But the whole world knew that the Allies  the liberators  were planning to land somewhere on the French coast sometime soon, and the Nazi propagandists and the French collaborators who worked with them grew increasingly frantic, increasingly shrill.

Then, on March 11, as David Drake writes in his excellent new book Paris at War, the police were called to investigate thick clouds of black, foul-smelling smoke pouring out of the chimney at 21, rue Le Sueur. When the police officers entered the cellar of the boarded-up house, they were shocked and disgusted at what they found: body parts were scattered across the floor and piled up on the stairs. The charred remains of a human hand poked out of the door of a roaring stove."

The sensational details of the case made headlines all over Europe, even in the United States. But it was such a convenient tale for the Nazis that many suspected their propagandists fabricated the whole story.

In fact, the gory details were true. But the propagandists had their own objectives. Four days after the first grizzly discoveries, as Drake writes, the German secret police gave French investigators a file claiming to show that Petiot had run an escape line out of Paris for Jews, Allied pilots who had been shot down, deserters from the German army, and anyone else who wanted to leave the city.

The Comet Line was gone; and now the reputations of those involved were sullied by the acts of a madman.

***

The women of the Comet Line were held in various prisons at first, but over time most of them were taken to the concentration camp called Ravensbruck, by a lake in a forest north of Berlin  a hell on earth that American readers have only recently begun to learn about.

Ravensbruck is often described as a slave labor camp, a term that lessens the horror of what happened, writes Sarah Helm in her book, published just last year, Ravensbruck: Life and Death in Hitlers Concentration Camp for Women: It was certainly an important place of slave laborSiemens, the electrical giant, had a factory therebut slave labor was only a stage on the way to death. Prisoners at the time called Ravensbruck a death camp. One French survivor called it a place of slow extermination.

Over the six years of its existence, writes Helm, around 130,000 women passed through its gates, to be beaten, starved, worked to death, poisoned, executed and gassed. Estimates of the final death toll have ranged from about 30,000 to 90,000; the real figure probably lies somewhere in between, but so few SS documents on the camp survive nobody will ever know for sure. The wholesale destruction of evidence at Ravensbruck is another reason the camps story has remained obscured. In the final days, every prisoners file was burned in the crematorium or on bonfires, along with the bodies. The ashes were thrown in the lake.

German doctors experimented on the women there. Many who had been taken from a village in Poland as part of collective punishment were mutilated to induce gangrene and test new drugs, most of which failed, leaving them crippled and dying in horrible pain. Other prisoners were injected with various substances to sterilize them. Amanda Stassart was one of those. Her mother died, but still, somehow, she survived. Dedee de Jongh lived on as well, to the age of 90. But many, many other women of the Comet Line did not.

***

In June  barely three months after Elizabeth Zabi Buffet was arrested  the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy. In August, as they approached Paris, the streets erupted in running battles as resistance fighters emerged with a vengeance. Most of the action was toward the center of the city, and it is not clear what happened at 93 rue de Courcelles, or who was involved. But something happened. The bullet-pocked walls are testimony to that.

By the fall, American intelligence officers based in the luxury apartments of Avenue Foch had begun collecting files about who was in the resistance, who worked with the escape lines, who helpedand who might have betrayed them.

Tante Zabi, it appears, was still alive in Ravensbruck at that time.

The last that is known of her is that survivors from the camp reported seeing her in February 1945, only three months before the end of the war in Europe, when she was taken to the camp nearby where the gas chamber and the ovens were, and from which nobody ever returned.

The last words we have from Elizabeth Buffet were scrawled months earlier on two scraps of paper thrown to a French railway worker from the cattle car packed with women being taken to the camps.

On the back of the first she has written, We are going to Ravensbruck. And on the other side:

My dear friend,

After some unforgettable hours, I am in the train, deported, and waiting for this nightmare to end. I am focused on that and hope it will not be long. My morale is good though I am worried for the children whose location I am unaware of. I am also concerned about the interior of my home, which I am not sure I will recover intact or even furnished. Feeling of incredible powerlessness!

Warn Alain [her brother]. I am with some admirable women. Think of us always.

Zabi

The second reads:

Destination Germany. Train machine-gunned. Three companions killed, slight scratches, morale is solid but the past two months have required a lot of endurance. Hope to send word soon, pass on to family, have faith.

Zabi

After the war, Elizabeth Buffets niece Marie-Rose Buffet, who had once escorted the flyers to the Champs Elysees and taken them to the movies, told Bruce Bolinger she had learned from survivors that Tante Zabi had started to sing to comfort the other captives on that train, and a German officer, when he heard her, told her he wanted to hear some particular aria. She told him he had to open the hatch on top of the car so she and the other women could breathe. He did. And so, she sang.

Like her companions, Elizabeth Buffet was an admirable woman, and as the plaque on rue de Courcelles describes her, a heroine of the Resistance.
Donald J. Trumps preemptive war on the Central Intelligence Agency continued apace on Sunday morning.

On Saturday, The Washington Post broke the news of a secret CIA assessment that pointed to Russian forces behind cyberattacks and hacking aimed at trying to help Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. Senators Chuck Schumer, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Jack Reed released a bipartisan joint statement calling on Congress to investigate, stating that the "stakes are too high for our country." President Barack Obama has already ordered a full review of election-related hacking.

Unsurprisingly, Trump and his whole team have been dismissive of the assessment, and seem to hope the CIA allegations will simply disappear. In the meantime, theyve been throwing shade at the U.S. intelligence community and blaming everyone but the Russian government, Russian hackers, and President Trumps natural ally Vladimir Putin.

On Fox News Sunday this weekend, the Republican president-elect swatted away the serious questions raised by The Washington Post and the Central Intelligence Agency.

I think its ridiculous...just another excuse, Trump told host Chris Wallace. I dont believe it. I dont know why. They talk about all sorts of thingsWe had a massive landslide victoryin the Electoral CollegeSo, no, I dont believe it at all.

As the interview carried on, Trump kept dodging the issue, weirdly claiming that once they hack, if you dont catch them in the act, youre not gonna catch them. Regarding who they could be, Trump was not interested in even entertaining the notion of Russian involvement put forth by intelligence officials, and preferred to blame somebody in a bed someplace.

Most of all, he slammed a bitter, defeated, and humiliated Democratic Party for all this inconvenient news.

I think the Democrats are putting [this] out because they suffered one of the greatest election defeats in history, Trump alleged.

His refusal to acknowledge the CIAs intel aside, Trump told Wallace that he has great respect for the people working in the intelligence community. This statement is at odds with Trump and his transition teams earlier responses to this story. As recently as Saturday, Team Trump was blasting out a brief, unsigned statement to reporters slamming the level of competence of the very intelligence establishment the president-elect will inherit in the new year.

These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, the statement read. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It's now time to move on

[The CIA people] dont know and I dont know, Trump said on Sunday about who was behind the 2016-related hacking. It's a talking point that his team, including incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus , has adopted as partisan mantra for this week and beyond. Trumps senior adviser and former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway backed up her boss on Sunday, stating on CBSs Face the Nation that the election was weeks ago, and that the hacking news is, at best, a pointless relitigation of the results.

Trump and his administration-in-waiting are setting a tone towards the U.S. intelligence community that is almost certain to poison relations with his White House before he even sets foot in office. (This is a community that was already actively concerned that presidential candidate Trump would spill their secrets on the campaign trail, and also rolled its eyes at his routine calls for bringing back torture as intelligence-gathering policy.)

Theres a real revolt going on, one former intelligence officer told The Daily Beast on Saturday regarding the CIA leaks, citing discussions with former colleagues. They dont like [National Security Adviser nominee Michael] Flynn and they hate Trumps guts. This is their whole lifes work being thrown out the door. They feel like the whole intelligence committee is on probation.

On Fox News Sunday, Trump further indicated how business will not be conducted as usual once hes leader of the free world. Regarding criticism of his refusal of more regular intel briefings, Trump assured viewers that he will get it when I need it, and, you know, Im, like, a smart person.

Trump has, of course, repeatedly scolded President Obama for skipping intelligence briefings.

When asked by Wallace about potential conflicts of interest presented by his family businessand how this is would be any different from how he painted the Clinton Foundation the president-elect issued another vague word-salad on how this is different and that he is currently turning down billions of dollars in potential deals.

He also insisted that his loyal staff and children running the organization will miraculously present zero conflict because its totally different, theyre not president.

Im not going to be doing deals at all, he stressed. Under the law, I have the right to do it, but I dont want to do it. (That he has the right to do so is, bizarrely, accurate .)

As he prepares to take the oath of office in Washington, DC, next month, Trump just wants everyone to know that conflicts of interests wont be a problem during his presidency (even though he already has these kinds of business conflicts baked in all over the world ), and that he doesnt want anyone hacking, Russia or otherwise, according to his Fox News interview aired Sunday.

This would be news to presidential nominee Trump, who in July publicly urged Russian hackers to attack his political enemy.

Russia, if you're listening, I hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing [from emails that Hillary Clinton turned over to the State Department], Trump said in a press conference in Doral, Florida. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Lets see if that happens. That will be next. Yes, sir.

So in roughly a month, Trump will become the boss of all the people who are tasked with preventing exactly the sort of thing that he loudly called for over the summer.
A lot of coastal liberals have been shaking their heads at evangelicals these days.

How, they ask, could over 80 percent of white evangelical Christians have voted for a vulgar, boastful, sexual-abuse-bragging serial adulterer married to a former nude model? Let alone the race-baiting, the biblical ignorance (Two Corinthians), the fraud, the tax-dodging, the cheating of business partners, and the promise to bring back torture.

The usual answerwhich I provided here a couple of weeks agois the Supreme Court, which several well-known evangelical leaders say trumps any other concerns Christians might have with the now president-elect. Between the court and Mike Pences leadership on social issues , white evangelicals are focused on their core issues. And besides, maybe Franklin Graham was right that Trump found God during the election season.

But Ken Blackwell, one of the leaders of Trumps domestic policy transition team, epitomizes the most important factor at all: the recent marriage between extreme laissez-faire capitalism and extreme social conservatism.

A lot of media coverage has focused on Blackwells anti-LGBT record, which indeed is impressive , together with his extreme pro-life views and anti-Black-Lives-Matter editorials . But whats interesting about Blackwell is how those hard-right social views dovetail with the extreme economic conservatism of some of his teams picks, like Goldman Sachss Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, or Steven Pruitt, the anti-EPA crusader set to head the EPA . How can the same person advocate for a Christian nation and a hypercapitalist paradise?

Blackwell is a former secretary of state of Ohio, and a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, which sits toward the extreme edge of the Christian right. But his main areas of focus are tax reform, supply-side economics, and small government. His book, Rebuilding America: A Prescription for Creating Strong Families, Building the Wealth of Working People, and Ending Welfare , argues that the social safety netwelfare, Medicareundermines the rugged individualism that makes families and communities strong.

This is not a novel argument, of coursebut it is new to see it made by a conservative Christian. For over a century, evangelicals listened closely to what Jesus had to say about moneyand none of it was good.

Examples? Jesus preaching that It is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, for example. (The eye of a needle isnt literally the eye of a needle, but a gate of Jerusalem so narrow that camels packs would have to be unloaded in order for them to get through.) Or throwing money lenders out of the temple. Or telling his followers to get rid of their possessions, leave their families, and join his radical, messianic, mostly celibate sect. Not settle down, not have kids, not make a living, and definitely not get rich.

During the Great Awakening, preachers taught exactly what Jesus taught: Turn on (to Christ), tune in (to the Gospel), and drop out of capitalist society. This was a rejection of the Protestant ethic, which, as sociologist Max Weber famously theorized, justified worldly pursuits. But it dovetailed nicely with 19th- and early 20th-century populist mistrust of bankers, cities, capitalism, and coastal (i.e. New York and Boston) elites. Sound familiar?

A very weird thing happened after World War II, however. As described in Kate Bowlers Blessed: A History of American Prosperity Gospel , as evangelicals enjoyed postwar prosperity, preachers changed their tune. Maybe its not so bad to make money after all, some said. In fact, argued early prosperity gospel like E.W. Kenyon and new thought preachers like Norman Vincent Peale, maybe wealth is actually a sign that God loves you. After all, doesnt the Old Testament say that if youre faithful, God will ensure your crops grow?

Thus was created a new religious doctrine that, in Bowlers words, God grants health and wealth to those with the right kind of faith. In the 1950s, it was mostly on the fringes. But by the 1980s, it had become the predominant view among conservative Christians in America.

Not coincidentally, these changes were accompanied by a profound political realignment. Until the civil-rights era, Democrats were the party of Southerners, progressives, farmers, poor folks, and most Christians. Republicans, meanwhile, were (generally) the party of Eastern elites, bankers, big business, and old money. The Republican Herbert Hoover advocated rugged individualism, but the Democratic FDR put forward the New Deal to help the poor.

That changed with the civil-rights movement. As the Democratic Party promoted equality for black Americans, their coalition fell apart. Beginning with Richard Nixons Southern strategy, which co-opted the racist rhetoric of ex-Democrat George Wallace, less-affluent whites migrated from the Democratic party to the Republican one: First Southerners (under Nixon), then Reagan Democrats (Reagan), and finally Rust Belt and Italian/Irish whites who just put Trump over the top.

But the Republican leadership never changed its economic tune. Its still preaching rugged individualism (dismantle Obamacare and Medicare, cut welfare, etc.) and still favoring the richest Americans (47 percent of Trumps tax cuts go to the wealthiest 1 percent of the population). How did they pull this off? Magic?

No, the perfect combination of race and religionin particular, the shift among conservative Christians regarding wealth. Suddenly, and not by coincidence, the Republican Partys emphasis on wealth being a good thing fit perfectly with what evangelical preachers were preaching. No one could have imagined wealth is good being a Christian value in 2016.

Blackwell reflects this marriage of social conservatism and fiscal conservatism. There was no one like him a century ago. But now, hes as American as apple pie baked with genetically modified apples because environmental regulations are unpatriotic.

During the election and since, liberals have railed against Trumps wealth: his ultra-tacky, cheap looking gold-plating; his outrageous conflicts of interest; his non-payment of taxes. This has fallen on deaf ears, because today, most Christians want to be wealthy. They hear Joel Osteen preach a Christian version of the law of attraction, that you can create your own reality through the power of positive thinking. They go to huge megachurches which flaunt their wealth. They see no contradiction between Jesus criticizing the rich and their own attempts to get rich. Religion is a malleable thing. And theirs is consummately American blend of capitalism and conservatism.
Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson are three women whose names everyone should know. The three African-American NASA mathematicians were instrumental in sending John Glenn into space. But, as is the case with women and people of color, the trios integral role in the pioneering mission was all but erased from history.

Fifty years later, at a time when those demographics still are unseen and undervalued, that Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson are finally having their stories told and contributions celebrated isnt just lovely, it is crucial. And that its happening in a film as crowd-pleasing as Hidden Figures is even more important.

Hidden Figures is the kind of movie you see with your family. In three or four years, it will be on TBS on a Sunday afternoon and youll not seek it out, per se, but youll keep it on first as background noise and ultimately get sucked into itLike I always do, youll sayand be crying by the end.

Its the kind of movie that some asshole friend of yours whose cultural opinions are always a bit much will groan when you mention it, calling it cloying or reductive and launch into some nonsense about its lack of nuance and civil rights tourism. Like The Blind Side, theyll say, reminding you that you should watch The Blind Side again because you love that film, and then re-watch Hidden Figures, too.

Hidden Figures is sappy and simple, but inspirational and actually quite towering in its mission: to give three women credit where its long been due, to dramatize the struggle they doggedly fought to create opportunity for themselves and for those who came after them, and, through the power of a movie that leaves you beaming at the end, to encourage all of us to continue that fight.

The film will last, the way movies this feel-good and emotional do (Remember the Titans is a comparison that comes to mind). But it will be impossible to divorce your first viewing from the time and cultural climate youre watching it in, which in this case is after an election plagued by discourse that left women in the mold of Johnson, Vaughn, and Jackson feeling violated, limited, unwanted, and silenced.

Watching these three mathematicians stand up for respect and validity, refusing to be stifled by their gender, the color of their skin, or institutionalized racial bias will leave tears in your eyes.

Its the movie that Trumps Americaour Americaneeds. Its a historical roadmap to the values required to make America great again.

Its fitting that Hidden Figures, a film about the work of mathematicians, embraces formula so well.

Directed by Theodore Melfi from a script he co-wrote with Allison Schroeder, its paint-by-numbers filmmaking, from the decades-spanning story structure to the music cues (a fantastic Motown soundtrack) to its tried-and-true emotional crescendo. But its paint-by-numbers filmmaking so well-executed that Hidden Figures, hardly an arthouse groundbreaker, is generating serious Oscar buzz.

The success of the movie is a reminder that when a film doesnt try to color outside the lines, it can still be a vibrant, polished masterpiece.

The film opens on a young Katherine (Lidya Jewett), the kind of girl whose level of precociousness only exists in these kinds of movies, whose mind is so gifted the entire community rallies to pay for her to go to the only Negro school that goes past the eighth grade. In a film so heartwarming that it essentially sets a hotplate under your aorta, it starts off close to a boiling point.

We then flash forward to what is one of 2016s greatest joys: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae in a car together. Well technically the actresses, who play Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary, respectively, are on the side of the road, their car broken down on the way to work at NASA.

They tease each other and announce their personalities so clearly so instantlyKatherines the stressed-out rule-follower, Dorothys the mother figure with an edge, Marys the gregarious spitfirethat you are certain right away that you are going to enjoy every second spent with these women over the course of the next two hours.

When a suspicious cop pulls over to investigate what the women are up to, they inform him, to his wonder, that theyre on the way to NASA. I had no idea they hired the cop begins before Dorothy interrupts: There are quite a few women working in the space program, she says, in one exchange illustrating the racial bias these brilliant minds are up against.

Women began working for NASA in the 1930s to do the tedious and time-consuming calculating and plotting of test data because, according to CNN, they were considered more patient and detail-oriented than men (and they could be paid less). With the women doing the computingthey were literally called computersthe men were free to be engineers and researchers.

NASA began recruiting black women for the computing pool in the 1940s, following an executive order from President Roosevelt that prohibited discrimination in the defense industry. In the 1960s, when most of Hidden Figures takes place, the black women were sequestered onto Langleys West Area Computing wing and, of course, used segregated bathrooms.

For all of the films broadness, it does an excellent job early on shading Katherine, Dorothy, and Marys ambition.

Theyre all undeniably talented, but on various levels are resigned to how far the system will allow them to go. Dorothy requests to be a supervisor, but is told black women arent allowed to be. Marys co-workers encourage her to apply to be an engineer, but no black woman has ever been one and she doesnt know if its worth the trouble. And Katherine, at least in the beginning, prefers to let her mind speak for itself.

Eventually, Katherine is recruited by Kevin Costners Al Harrison to do the computing for John Glenns landmark mission.

When she walks into the room, shes confused for a janitor and told immediately that she should expect to be fired. A superior played by Jim Parsons refuses to give her the information she needs to do her work effectively, essentially setting her up to fail. When she needs to use the restroom, she must literally run a mile across the Langley campus to use the colored bathroom in the West Area Computing building, taking her work with her to do on the toilet because thats how fast the numbers need to be crunched.

But she is so smart that she overcomes all of these hurdles, eventually earning the respect of her co-workers and proving herself invaluable. So invaluable, in fact, that before John Glenn will agree to be launched on his three-circuit trip around the Earth he personally requests that Katherine confirm an actual computers calculations.

Both Dorothy and Mary have similar arcs. Dorothy trains herself on how to use a computer when the first IBM is rolled into the building, an asset that finally earns her the respect of a perfectly prickly Kirsten Dunst. (A bathroom exchange in which Dunsts character tells Dorothy she doesnt have a problem with black people, to which Dorothy responds, I know you really believe that, is among the films best.)

Mary must petition a judge to allow her to take the advanced classes she needs to apply to be an engineer at an all-white school, gifting Monae with the scripts most rousing monologue, which she delivers so powerfully you want to stand up and applaud.

In a refreshing reversal of industry norms, its the films white characters that are superficially drawn, with Costners, especially, crafted as the well-meaning good guy who didnt know how prejudiced he was until Katherine opens his eyes. His rapid transformation into a sort-of noble white savior is likely historically inaccurate, and the biggest casualty of the storys formulaic Hollywood treatment.

At one point, after he takes a stand against the segregated bathroom policy that has Katherine running all over campus, he bellows, Here at NASA, we all pee the same color, which is laughably obtuse as far as the white guy solves racism Hollywood trope goes.

But its the dignity that Henson and her two talented co-stars give their performances that counterbalances moments like those. And while we still have conversation about gender equality, racial equality, pay, and opportunity in the workplace, that dignity is what makes the film so powerful and resonant.

After Katherine makes the significant calculation for Glenn, literally saving the NASA space program, her co-workers run into the control room to radio it and the door literally shuts in her face before she gets into the room. Its hard not to read into the symbolism of that.

Katherine is the most intelligent, invaluable asset NASA has. She does the work. In fact, she works twice as hard as everyone, and runs even farther, thanks to the ridiculous bathroom rule, only to have the door literally shut in her face.

Sure, Hidden Figures is scripted in Hallmark cliches about living the impossible and shooting for the stars, with enough similar dialogue to fill the entire greeting card section at CVS. But if you hang out in that aisle long enough, youre going to reliably get a good laugh and even better cry eventually.

Thats exactly what Hidden Figures does, but it also accomplishes something more. It gives glory to three women who, though theyve won awards and had successful careers, had otherwise been relegated to footnotes and parentheticals in the recounting of history. Its a reminder to see the people whose contributions are too often left in the shadows, but also to never stop doing the work that demands to be seen.
1. Paper ballots and audits should be routine

Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for president, has done a public service in demanding that the votes be audited in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Even where paper trails exist, most states do not audit elections. It is important to know that the vote each of us casts is counted fairly.

In Wisconsin, Donald Trumps narrow margin over Hillary Clinton was 0.7 percent, in Pennsylvania 1.2 percent, and in Michigan 0.2 percent. In Michigan, for example, Trump won by 10,708 votes out of 4,799,284. Further, 80,000 submitted ballots with no mark for president, which, at minimum, should be checked by the human eye.

Computer experts like Professor J. Alex Halderman at Michigan urged Clinton to join Steins challenge. Computerized voting machinestouch screens or DREs (Direct Recording Electronics)which leave no paper trail, are notoriously unsafe. Both Halderman and Professor Andrew Appel of Princeton have altered their programs quicklyAppel in seven minutes with a screwdriverand inserted malware. Such machines are used widely in Pennsylvania.

Further, for 2016, Halderman underlines that Russian or other interference has already broken into the Democratic National Committees and Clinton campaign chief John Podestas emails, as well as into voter registration systems in Illinois and Arizona. Others point to a 7 percent statistical deviation toward Trump in Wisconsin counties that use DREs with no paper trail. Clinton has now joined Steins effort.

Note that in swing states with narrow margins, one would not have to falsify a wide part of the election. Altering the vote in one or two main counties would, very likely, do. The reassurance offered by President Obama that America has a decentralized voting system, hard to tamper with as a whole, is, unfortunately, undercut by these facts.

Moreover, Trump was defeated in the actual voting by a startlingand still growing2,676,670 votes. As of Dec. 6, Clinton had won 65,534,951 votes nationwide, Trump 62,858,281 (see the nonpartisan Cook Political Report). Clintons popular vote victory margin is now 2 percent, thus handing Trump the largest defeat suffered by a candidate elevated to the presidency by the Electoral College in modern history. Clinton will soon catch up to Barack Obama's 2012 total, the second highest popular vote ever in favor of a president. Further, given 7.9 million votes cast for third party candidates, Trumps current percentage46.2 percent and shrinkingis the lowest for any popular vote-defeated president. Even Rutherford Hayes, who gained Electoral College victory in 1876 by promising a Jim Crow South, had 47.9 percent.

Moreover, Clintons margin dwarfs President John F. Kennedys popular vote victory in 1960 (more than 15 times) and Richard Nixons in 1968 (more than four times).

Now, at its founding, the United States had a Bill of Rights for white men, but not for non-whites, the poor, and women. The regime initially protected the power of slave-masters. The Constitution counted those in bondage as three-fifths of a human to multiply the votes of Southern man-owners. This beginning has long skewed American politics away from the basic democratic principle: one person, one vote.

From the standpoint of modern democracies (regimes that respect individual rights, including the right to vote of each person), Donald Trump did not win. Even in this regime, he limped, barely, across the finish line to august power, by narrow margins. Were the audits to reverse the outcomes in three states, Trump would lose the Electoral College.

2. Initial exit polls are used by the U.S. State Department to test electoral fairness in other countries

There is, however, a far more damning point about Trumps victory by U.S. State Department and international standards, which has been suppressed by the corporate media in the National Election Pool (CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, AP, and CNN). The initial exit polls show Clinton to have won the swing states of Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, and to be closewithin one-tenth of a pointin Ohio. Initial exit polls are taken with random votersusually 1 in 10 is askedat randomly selected polling stations. Only responses from actual voters are used. When the last vote is cast, polling ends.

In Germany, Canada, and many other countries, an initial exit poll is released. And then paper ballots are counted. Where this procedure is used, there is no controversy. If the election is very close, the ballots can easily be recounted.

Further, since 2000, the U.S. State Department has used initial exit polling to test the fairness of elections in 14 transitional democracies, and challenged what happened in five of them. That is more than 33 percent.

As Eric Bjornlund and Glenn Cowans Vote Count Verification: A Users Guide for Funders, Implementers, and Stakeholders, prepared for U.S. AID in 2011, underlines:

In recent years, domestic and international organizations have increasingly turned to exit polls to verify the officially reported results in the transitional elections of emerging democracies. Outside observers have credited exit polls with playing a key role, for example, in exposing fraud in Serbia and Mexico in 2000, Georgia in 2003, and the Dominican Republic and Ukraine in 2004. U.S.-funded organizations have sponsored exit polls as part of democracy assistance programs in Macedonia (2002), Afghanistan (2004), Ukraine (2004), Azerbaijan (2005), the West Bank and Gaza Strip (2005), Lebanon (2005), Kazakhstan (2005), Kenya (2005, 2007), and Bangladesh (2009), among others.

For example, according to Volodymyr Paniotto, director of the Kiev Institute of Sociology, in Ukrainian elections Nov. 23, 2004, exit polls by the Social Monitoring Center showed that Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition candidate, won by 3.5 percent: Yushchenko 49.4 percent, Viktor Yanukovych 45.9 percent. When the government declared Yanukovych the winner, 300,000 peoplethe Orange Revolutionprotested in Kievs main square. Now exit polls for the first round of voting Oct. 31 found discrepancies of only 1.5-2 percent with the final results, within the margin of error. Exit polling was funded by the U.S embassy.

In Ohio in 2004, the initial exit poll showed a Kerry victory by 4.4 percent, with a large swing6.7 percentin the machine-recorded vote to Bush. The similarity in these casesthough not in the State Departments verdicts abroad and at homeis striking.

In fact, the contradiction between U.S. AIDs use of initial election polls in other countriesoften advised by the Edison Corporationand the silence about initial exit polls by the NEP relying on the Edison Corporation inside the United States, is startling.

3. Clintons initial exit poll margins

In contrast, this Nov. 9, The New York Times and the NEP published only tedious demographies of characteristics of voters, e.g., how Latinos with incomes less than $60,000 voted. Aside from the threat of Russian hacking, they pretended that American elections must be fair.

Way down its list of characteristics, however, CNN did reveal the central informationwho won and who lostfor 28 states. Clintons initial exit poll leads were as follows:

North Carolina: 48.6 to Trumps 46.5, 2.1 percent

Pennsylvania, 50.5 to 46.1, 4.4 percent

Wisconsin, 48.2 to 44.3, 3.9 percent

Florida, 47.7 to 46.4, 1.3 percent

On machine-recorded results, however, Trumps victory margin in North Carolina was 3.8 percent, 50.54 to 46.7, a shift of a very large 5.9 percent. An exit poll usually has a 2.5 percent margin of error in either direction. This result is a suspicious 2.3 percent beyond the exit polls margin of error.

In Pennsylvania, Trumps margin was 1.1 percent, 48.79 to 47.65, a shift of 5.5 percent. That is 1.6 percent beyond the exit polls margin of error.

In Wisconsin, Trumps margin was 0.9 percent, 47.87 to 46.94, a shift of 4.8 percent. This is 1.4 percent beyond the exit polls margin of error.

In Florida, Trumps margin was 1.27 percent, 49.06 to 49.79, a shift of 2.6 percent. This result, though particularly doubtful in the context of the other deviations, is within the exit polls margin of error.

Note, however, that Clintons reported victory margin, particularly in Florida, may have been diminished on initial exit polls by the Edison Company immediately mixing in uncheckable precinct results from computerized machines (polls close at different times in two parts of that state).

The U.S. State Department would challenge these suspicious results in any other country.

Additionally, on the Edison exit poll for Ohio, Clinton was behind by one-tenth of a point, 47.0 to 47.1. To protect against a repeat of the 2004 fiasco, in 2008, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner had purchased optical scan machines. But for the 2016 election, Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted turned off their securitytheir independent photographic record of how each person voted, the point of having an optical scan. Unsurprisingly, the machine-recorded results are for Trump 52.05 to 43.51, a very large swing of 8.4 percent. This result is outside the exit polls margin of error by 5 percent, one-tenth of a point higher even than North Carolina.

For Michigan, which is being audited, the exit poll showed a tie at 46.8 percent, the recorded result47.59 to 47.25a three-tenths of a point Trump victory. That is within the exit polls margin of error.

Despite the reporting of Clintons popular vote margin of 2.7 million as well as an audit of three close states, this startling set of exit poll deviations is, until this article in The Daily Beast, highlighted nowhere in the corporate media.

In a 2015 Harvard/University of Sydney study of fairness in elections conducted under the leadership of Pippa Norris, the U.S. ranks 60th, below all of Europe, Canada, and even Rwanda, Argentina, Tunisia, and Brazil in terms of transparent democratic practices.

Professor Halderman notes that counting optical scan machines, nearly 70 percent of American voters leave some paper trail. That is still 30 percentan enormous one-thirdwho leave none. Underlining the public significance of Jill Steins call for an audit, Halderman stresses the possibility of computer hacks: Theres just one problem, and it might come as a surprise even to many security experts: No state is planning to check the paper in a way that would reliably detect that the computer-based outcome was wrong. About half the states have no laws that require manual examination of paper ballots, and most other states perform only superficial spot checks. If nobody looks at the paper, it might as well not be there. A clever attacker would exploit this.

4. The Edison Companys reliability on initial exit polling and doctoring of American results

One company, initially called Edison Mitosky, now Edison, has run 11,000 exit polls in 38 countries since Warren Mitofsky developed them in 1967. There are some complexities in choosing polling sites as well as getting some voters to assess elections. For instance, 40-50 percent of randomly selected voters decline to be interviewed. But Edison representatives have perfected weighting and reweighting types of voters so they often get the recorded vote right to within 1 percent.

Edison is today led by a single expert, Joseph Lenski, its executive vice president and sole public spokesman. He worked closely with Mitofsky. On election days, Lenski employs 3,000 people to compile poll results. The exit poll, Lenski says, is the one survey out there where you get evaluated immediately. Well process over 100,000 interviews, and within two hours we know how well we did.

As early and absentee voting have become more important, Lenski reports, Edison has learned how those alternatives differ from each other and to correct for them. Historically, by which I mean before 2000, early voting was almost entirely absentee by mail, and it tended to be older voters, he says. Since the 2000 election, the Democratic Party has put emphasis on early in-person voting. The in-person voting tends to be encouraged by voter outreach and to be more Democratic, and the absentee tends to be older voters or people traveling out of state, and to be more Republican.

Nonetheless, Edison also makes profits under contract from the National Election Pool. It thus does what six huge media corporationsits employersrequest. Further, as a corporate executive, Lenski is cautious in what he says. To ensure Edisons business, he cannot challenge the loud and unjustified assertions of fairness of American elections, despite what exit polling may show, by NEP reporters.

In other countries, Edison conducts only initial exit polls. Solely in the United States, however, Edison immediately doctors these results to match machine-recorded results. But touchscreen machines leave no paper trail at all, and though better, optical scan machines, which take separate photos of how individuals voted, can have the security turned offas in Ohio in 2016or be hacked.

Edisons procedure in the U.S. thus inverts the purpose of initial exit polling from testing fairness within a range of reasonable resultssomething initial exit polls are adept atto adjusting in the blink of an eye to whatever numbers appear on an often unverifiable computer screen. Edisons Mitofsky adopted this odd copy of exit polling only after the 2004 election in Ohio. He recrafted Edisons initial poll for Kerry at 4 p.m. Tuesday by 6.7 percent to undergird Wednesday mornings machine-recorded results.

But such doctored results are not exit polls. They are no check for fairness. Instead, they smoothly ornament already existing error or fraud. In contrast, initial exit polls are what the State Department uses to challenge such results abroad.

Today, according to Lenski, the NEP is interested in these adjusted results solely to get a demography of how different categories of people vote. But what Edison misnames exit polls for the corporate media inside the United States is the opposite of initial exit polls here and abroad.

Now NEP reporters maintain a fiction that American elections are always fair. With widespread Republican suppression of nonwhite, poor, and elderly voters in many states, this fiction is, on the face of it, bizarre. On behalf of the American people, the news media could have demanded fairness. Instead, in the 2016 presidential election, NEP corporationsexcepting CNNceased to report Edisons initial exit polls at all, even though Edison conducted such polls in 28 states (Theodore de Macedo Soares, co-author of the Election Justice report on the Democratic primaries, recorded these numbers).

In spring 2016, a furor arose concerning conflicts of initial exit polls with machine-recorded results in 10 out of 22 Democratic primaries. But the same exit pollers in the same places talking to the same voters got the Republican race right in 20 out of those same 22 primaries, and the order of finish of the top three candidates in all of them.

As a result of the highly controversial New York Democratic primary, Lenski gave interviews to The Washington Post and Raw Story, saying that exit polls in the United States differ from those in transitional democracies. In new democracies, exit pollers ask a higher percentage of votersLenski did not specify a numbera simple question: Who did you vote for?

In contrast, Lenski suggests, the NEP is, once again, only interested in a demography of voter characteristics. And Edison uses longer questionnaires. Voters, Lenski claimed, are just concerned about, say, how college educated women over 60 vote. No one cares who won or lost.

5. Talk about a tall story

At Raw Story, Joshua Holland writes, As for using [Lenskis] results to suss out fraud [as in other countries], he says that American exit polls are just not designed for that type of precision. Theyre surveys, and like any other survey, they have a margin of error [as do exit polls used abroadAG]. The precision that a lot of these people are talking about just doesnt exist with our polls.

But then, perhaps as a matter of prideafter all, the NEP invests a lot of money in exit polling and Lenski is a genuine expertLenski told The Washington Post that against the pre-primary polls, which predicted as much as a 15 point Clinton victory, Edisons initial exit polls got Sanderss unexpected triumph in Michigan right.

In Michigan, Lenski said, we actually had exit polling all day showing Bernie Sanders up by two points, though every pre-election poll had Clinton up by 10 points or more In that case, the exit poll was right.

Lenski also invokes evidence about Trump: While everyone is talking about the Democratic side, we went out at 9 oclock saying that Trump was going to get 58 percent of the vote. He got just about 60 percent. Everything we did on the Republican side hit the mark.

But these points rule out Lenskis implausible claim that American exit polls only seek to measure voter characteristics.

If exit polls got Trumps margins of victory right in the Republican primaries, how come these same polls conducted by the same methods by the same Edison Corporation got Trumps margin decidedly wrong in five states that decided the presidential election?

6. How Trump out-foxed the Democrats

I should also underline two telling political points about the significance of initial exit polls. First, Trump tweets late at night bigly that the elections were rigged against me because of alleged voter fraud: people voting more than once. But this is almost non-existent in American elections: 31 possible cases out of over a billion votes cast since 2000, according to a study by Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor.

Yet Republicans have long used this false claim to disenfranchise large numbers of poor and nonwhite voters, particularly in swing states. Further, in contrast to Europe, which has elections on weekends and where nearly everyone votes, only 50 percent of those eligible vote on Tuesday, a working day, in American presidential elections.

Because of the anti-democratic electoral college, presidential campaigns are waged in a dozen or so battleground states. Now in those states for 2016, the turnout rises, despite obstacles to voting, to 58.7 percent, according to NPR.

Still, the years-long Republican campaign of legal and quasi-legal disenfranchisment of ordinary voters clearly benefited Trump.

In addition, if the results went the wrong way, Trump riled up his supporters to attack people at the polls and afterward.

In response, President Obama suggested that the election must be fair because American elections are so decentralized. But once again, elections are decided in a few states, and often a few counties. For the 2016 election, initial exit polls showed that these results are very doubtful. The brilliance of Trumps political maneuver deserves to be taken in by those who mock him as well as by those of us who value fair elections. For the Democrats and the corporate media denounce any claim of fraud or error. They hear no evil, see no evil

Second, Hillary Clinton benefited from corporate media suppression of initial exit polls in the Democratic primaries. Pro-Clinton reporters for the NEP routinely mocked those who rightly took initial exit polls seriously and protested. So Clinton is in a very weak position to raise this issue about the presidential election in which she has, so far, been out-Trumped.

Now, Clintons campaign and even Haldermans challenge was based on an unproven, probably false claim of interference by the big, bad Russians. At a minimum, however, the trouble instead arises from several sources: the dishonesty of the Supreme Court decision to disable section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, the anti-democratic legal maneuvers of the Republicans, and given initial exit polling, intervention by computer experts very likely nearer to home.

As Halderman points out more aptly, It doesnt matter whether the voting machines are connected to the internet. Shortly before each election, poll workers copy the ballot design from a regular desktop computer in a government office, and use removable media (like the memory card from a digital camera) to load the ballot onto each machine. That initial computer is almost certainly not well secured, and if an attacker infects it, vote-stealing malware can hitch a ride to every voting machine in the area. Theres no question that this is possible for technically sophisticated attackers. If anyone reasonably skilled is sufficiently motivated and willing to face the risk of getting caught, its happened already.

The fundamental issue is not only whether American election results have been reversed to declare the wrong winner. The issue is whether, aside from initial exit polls, citizens have any way of judging whether our elections are fair. For unlike Europe or Canada, there is no adequate paper trail. The answer is, sadly, no, not a chance.
Our future Russian allies, with all their international legitimacy, are too busy elsewhere in Syria to help much against ISIS.

So witheringly tweeted former U.S. ambassador Robert Ford on the day that the CIA went public with disclosures about Russian government hacks designed to get Donald Trump elected president; a report emerged that Trumps imminent appointment for Secretary of State is ExxonMobil CEO Rex W. Tillerson, a personal friend of Vladimir Putin who awarded him Russias Order of Friendship in 2012; and news broke that ISIS has recaptured much of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, its most successful territorial revanche in two years.

Moscow, as Ford implied, was evidently too busy bombing the rebel-held parts of Eastern Aleppo to prevent one of its major symbolic prizes in the war in Syria from slipping its grasp.

The crossroads of several antique civilizations, Palmyra was sacked by the head-chopping fanatics of the so-called Islamic State in May 2015, just days after they seized the Iraqi provincial capital of Ramadi. After promising not to powder the standing Roman, Persian and Assyrian ruins which have made the city a UNESCO World Heritage Site, ISIS did indeed blow up millennia-old monuments, horrifying historians and archaeologists.

Palmyras recapture last March by Syrian government loyalists, backed by heavy Russian airstrikes and Russian-seconded ground mercenaries  including veterans of the 1990s Balkans wars  was met with cheers from some Western officials, such as then-British MP and now British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, as a triumph of culture over barbarism.

Which was exactly the intended propaganda point being made by the Kremlin.

To certify its role as a preeminent counterterrorist, Russia hosted an international concert and press junket in the craggy Roman amphitheater in May. Renditions of Bach and Prokofiev were performed by the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev, a staunch defender of Putin, and cellist Sergei Roldugin, a man who had been named in the Panama Papers disclosures as the Russian presidents personal bagman for maintaining hundreds of millions of dollars in offshore investments.

Putin initially maintained, in a speech at the United National General Assembly in September 2015, that his direct military intervention in Syrias conflict was being waged to stop ISIS. Both U.S. government and independent analyses have shown that this was a falsehood; the majority of Russian aerial sorties have been waged against non-ISIS targets, including and especially CIA-backed Free Syrian Army units.

However, in last year, the Russian Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministry have steadily and moved the goal posts of their casus belli, characterizing any and all armed opponents of the Assad regime as terrorists worthy of killing, or trying to steal them away from being proxies of the Untied States.

So far, over the course of a 72-hour blitzkrieg, ISIS has retaken the strategic mountain perches of Jabal al Tar and Jabal Antara, overlooking Palmyra, as well as the northeastern and western neighborhoods, all of the oil and gas fields northwest of the city, a military warehouse and another military installation. The terror army entered the city center on Saturday, where it continues to clash with those remaining regime forces. It may have also downed a Syrian MiG-23 fighter jet, according to their Amaq News Agency, although this information has yet to be confirmed.

Khaled al-Homsi, an archaeologist from Palmyra who now lives in Turkey but keeps in contact with both opposition and regime sources, estimates that about 50 percent of the city has fallen to ISIS. The Assadists still control Tadmor airport, a military intelligence headquarters and Tadmor Palace.

It was exactly the same strategy as Daesh used last time, al-Homsi told The Daily Beast, using the pejorative Arabic acronym for ISIS.

He said that a mere 50 to 60 jihadists were currently besieging Palmyra, which now contains as many civilians but around 1,000 Syrian army personnel and between 1,500 and 2,000 pro-Assad militiamen.

Russian officers stationed at Palmyra, he said, withdrew four days ago; they were then followed by leadership of Assads regular army and his militias a day later. All quit the scene because they saw how quickly the few dozen ISIS militants were advancing in their direction, according to al-Homsi.

A pro-regime source told The Daily Beast that the oil and gas fields were defended by the National Defense Force, a pro-Assad militia built and trained by Iran. "The NDF had over 800 men posted around the straetgic Shaar gas field and the other areas, in addition to around 250 regular soldiers, the source said. "They had maintained defensive positions for the last 6 months. In August, operations had been stopped. When ISIS attacked days ago they retreated and left most of the heavy weapons without a fight. In the panic, over 100 were killed or are still missing. Word is that a senior NDF commander who was stationed around Shaar was bribed by ISIS. It is not the first time this has happened. A decision was made to prevent the city falling at all costs."

The Daily Beast could not independently verify these claims. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) puts the number of jihadist attackers at 200.

But al-Homsi maintained that such a disparity in an order of battle was nothing new for Syria, or for Palmyra. Its exactly the same as what happened last time [in May 2015] when there were even more than three thousand pro-regime forces. Most of them just deserted, then as now.

Having been caught off guard, the Assad coalition has been scrambling to counterattack. The SOHR reported today that warplanes and helicopters continue the intensified bombardment on areas now held by ISIS. The regime is also firing missiles on these locations and sending reinforcements.

But it remains unclear how soldiers the regime can field the attack given its more concerted effort to seize and hold all of Eastern Aleppo, where ISIS is nonexistent but a consortium of anti-Assad rebels, including those in the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, are retreating in rapid fashion.

Analysts such as Middle East Institute fellow Charles Lister and researchers at the Washington, D.C.-based Syrian Institute estimate that Assads only got about 20,000 reliable regular army soldiers nationwide. Over two-thirds of his hodgepodge coalition consists of sectarian militias of various nationalities led by warlords and trained up by Irans Revolutionary Guards Corps, if not advised by Russian commandos. Lebanese, Iraqi, Pakistan and Afghan Shiite jihadists are known to do the heavy lifting on behalf of Damascus.

ISIS appears set on marching on the T4 airbase, Syrias largest, where the regime keeps two fixed-wing attack squadrons, of Su-24 and of Su-22 fighter jets, as well as a fleet of helicopter gunships.

Following its intervention, in late September 2015, Russia has also kept a contingent of warplanes and helicopters there. In May 2016, three months after ISIS was driven from Palmyra, the group waged an opportunistic attack on the base, damaging or destroying at least one MiG-25 Foxbat attack jet and four Mi-24 Hind helicopters, according to satellite footage obtained by the intelligence firm Stratfor.

--With additional reporting by Hassan Hassan
This Saturday's Washington Post A1, above-the-fold story blares "CIA: Russians Favored Trump: Secret Assessment of Hacking Report." It landed with a splash across DC.

The Intelligence Community had already gone on the record in early October with an assessment that Moscow was interfering with our election.

Now, it has come to light that senior Members of Congress had been briefed in September on the pervasive Russian threat to the core functioning of our democracy. Obama dispatched FBI director James Comey, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnston, and White House counterterrorism and homeland security advisor Lisa Monaco to brief the so-called Gang of 12 lawmakers: House & Senate leaders, as well as the chairmen and ranking members on the Homeland Security and Intelligence Committee.

They knew. And yet it appears little was done to stop Vladimir Putins efforts to put Donald Trump in the White House.

Upon reflection, this has the most galling aspect of this whole affair: not that Russia deployed a successful covert influence campaign against America, but that our lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle failed to take more aggressive efforts to halt this metastasizing threat to our democracy. More specifically, that President Obama was unwilling to forcefully counteract and confront Moscows mischief, and that GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was nakedly partisan in his decision to stifle the intelligence.

It shouldnt be surprising that Russia collected (and continues to collect) intelligence on American policymakersafter all, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn tweeted that Russian hacking "happens all the time," (which, as an aside, might suggest Moscow tried to compromise previous American elections?). Collecting actionable information on ones adversaries is considered fair game.

Unsurprisingly, Russia had penetrated Republican networks as well as Democratic onesbut didn't do anything to disclose the GOPs inner workings. In October, NBC News reported the Russians were collecting intelligence across the political spectrum. On December 9, The New York Times quoted a senior administration official saying, We now have high confidence [Russia] hacked the DNC and the RNC, and conspicuously released no documents on the Republicans.

That doesnt mean America should grin and bear it. But thats what seems to have happened over the last several months. Beyond the note from DHS and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, there wasnt much effort to counteract the Russians.

Ultimately it is the President, invested with the powers as Commander-in-Chief, who could have chosen to act aggressively against Moscow. But he wanted to present a unified front across the American political spectrum. He wanted bipartisan supportand when McConnell rebuffed this effort (more on that in a bit), the White House decided to take the cautious route to name and shame the Russians.

This was, to put it mildly, an ineffective strategy.

The White House should have pulled out all the stops to halt this obvious threat to the electoral process, and let the political chips fall where they may. Obama is well aware of the GOPs massive resistance strategy against his policiesjust ask Merrick Garlandbut this serious challenge to our civilization should have stiffened this Presidents resolve. But it didnt.

Obama could have retaliated brutally, clandestinely, mercilessly, creatively, painfully, unilaterallybut he didnt.

Ultimately, a mild reaction was Obamas decision; a poor decision. But it was his decision.

Senator McConnell deserves a great deal of blame as well. According to several officials, the Senate Majority Leader, once briefed on Moscows threat, said he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.

He was presented with classified evidence and apolitical analysis from senior intelligence officials. A hostile nation-state was threatening American democracy. Yet it seemed to have mattered little to the GOP Senate standard bearer. McConnells instincts were, as they have often been over the last eight years, to stymie Obamas political efforts. He had kneecapped his political nemesis at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue numerous times before; why not this time too?

In other words, as far back as September, McConnell knew the score. Paul Ryan knew. Other GOP Congressmen in the meetingDevin Nunes and Michael McCaul, and Senators Richard Burr and Ron Johnsonknew.

And yet they chose to say nothing and to do nothing.

Of course, the intelligence community and its analyses are not perfect. Policymakers should question evidence and remain skeptical of its bottom line. But in this case, intelligence professionals tried to fulfill their obligations to provide policymakers the clearest picture of what was happening in the world.

In our system of government, our elected decision-makers must actually do something with that intelligence. And theythe President and Congresschose to do almost nothing for their own particular reasons. Partisans will be partisan, even when national security and core democratic values are at stake. Now, following the oddest of elections, our national security state will be run by the man and the party who decided that it wasnt worth listening to.

All of this suggests rough waters ahead for the intelligence community. Trump's transition team has already waved away these now-public findings, dismissing them with the most facile of public statements: These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Trump himself recently told Time Magazine he doesnt know if Russia did anything at all in the election, despite his intelligence briefings.

This whole affair makes it crystal clear to many intelligence professionals that their work will likely be ignored and minimized if it doesnt fit with the new Presidents prior assumptions. If the past indicates future behavior, intelligence officials should gird themselves to be personally humiliated by the next President. Maybe even in public, on Twitter, or in front of a roaring crowd.

Former Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms once mused in 1967 about CIAs relationship to its critics: I find it painfulwhen public debate lessens our usefulness to the nation by casting doubt on our integrity and objectivity. If we are not believed, we have no purpose.

Were about to find out, in the upcoming era of unified Republican rule, if Helms words will ring true. Senator Lindsey Grahams declaration that hell hold hearings into Russian interventions into our electoral process is a hopeful sign.

But if our elected lawmakers cant see beyond the trees of political gains or losses for the forest of defending our core democratic values, we are going to be in for a very challenging future indeed
Steam seems to have killed all gratitude in the hearts of sailors.Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

A few months ago, the former CEO of a multi-billion-dollar tech company in Silicon Valley told a private gathering that it didnt matter who was elected President of the United States. The President doesnt have much power, he said, according to someone who was there.

This was a curious thing to say about the man (or woman) controlling Americas nuclear codes. Yet the notion that the U.S. Presidents oomph is trifling doesnt surprise me coming out of this part of the world. People here tend to consider government as a far less potent force in the world than technology.

This sentiment was underscored last year in an Arc Fusion survey that asked hundreds of tech leaders in northern California: What will be more important in the next 100 years: politics or technology? The result: 58 percent favored technology, versus 42 percent for politics. (Take the informal poll here).

This indicates more than just a faith in technology. Its part of a potent ethos of optimism in locales like Silicon Valley, where people are super-charged to build things that will disrupt the worldand in many ways they have, whether its the impact of steam and electricity in an earlier era, or smart phones and the internet today.

As futurist and investor Juan Enriquez said: Only societies that build the new have a chance. The rest will debate but will not have the power to decide and guide. Enriquez told me he votes for technology over politics.

In places like San Francisco and Boston, the faith in technology and change has been coupled with a powerful sense that history is also on the side of social change like LGBTQ and gender rights, renewable energy, and protecting immigrants.

Yet one wonders how people in West Virginiawhere Donald Trump garnered almost 70 percent of the 2016 presidential tallywould vote in the politics versus technology survey. Or in my home state of Kansas, where a mere 36 percent voted for Hillary Clinton. More interesting is how people in these states are feeling about optimism and the disruption thing.

Most polls and a slew of what happened storiesincluding the brilliant Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vanceare suggesting that people living outside the bubbles of places like Northern California are not jazzed about the future. In that other bubble, those inside heard candidate Trumps message that the country is going to hell and it resonated, even if many didnt much like or trust The Donald.

Its hard to disentangle the layers of their discontent. It ranges from anger about immigrants and flagrant racism to a dislike of EPA regulations and a distrust of politicians and other elites. Many feel like they have been ignored, or lost somethinggood jobs, predictable social norms, influence over their own destiny.

Trump supporters do not seem to be overtly against technology they like their gadgets, too. But many are having trouble with the upheavals brought on by the culture of relentless technological and social change being driven mostly by the coasts. Some also realize that the reason they now get paid less for selling knick-knacks at the mall than they did in a factory has as much to do with robots as illegal Guatemalans.

Now they have voted their discontent in numbers that have shocked the coastals (including me)almost 63 million is the final tally (2.5 million less than Hilary, but still, 63 million!) This is an astonishing reprimand to Silicon Valleystyle thinking, that a vast army of people voted for change that would reverse the historic tide that many of us assume is inevitable.

The question is whether this protest voteand Brexit in the United Kingdom, and the repudiation of constitutional changes in Italyis a temporary venting, the last gasp of a worldview whose time is passing, or a real uprising of the discontented.

Whatever it is, techno progressives should pay attention on the off chance that this is not an aberration, or that darker visions of the future run deeper than we thought, and will more difficult to overcome. This has happened before in history.

Consider Galileo, who was threatened with torture for not towing the Catholic line that the earth was at the center of the universe. Or Albert Einstein, who discovered how certain political leaders supported by mobs of unhappy people who had lost jobs and a sense of purpose can subvert technology for evil.

More recently, George W. Bush all but cancelled federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, setting back this promising research for years and forcing much of it offshore. He also unleashed a techno-war in Iraq in a political decision that destabilized an entire region.

On the positive side, government provided the initial funding and horsepower in the mid-20th century for the early stages of solid-state electronics and IT. Under Barack Obama the feds have supported and fostered tech development in renewable energy, electronic medical records, and artificial intelligence.

Other than a pronounced Twitter habit, we know very little about Trumps vision for science and technology. But his rhetoric about restoring a mystical past before machines displaced humans in factories, and his zeal in promoting oil and coal does not suggest a techno-optimist-oriented administration.

Nor do his picks for interior secretary and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Both jobs went to traditionalists who back oil and coal, and are either climate-change skeptics or deniers.

The election did not go unheeded out here in the Valley. Trumps election shocked most people. People dont quite know what to say when his name comes up in tech meet-ups and tony SF coffee shops. Social activists glower, while tech folk look confused, in part because no one really knows what Trump will actually do for or against what Juan Enriquez calls the new.

The conversation, however, is already swinging back to familiar territory. After all, these are optimists, with some of them gulping and saying they will give Trump the benefit of the doubt. Maybe hell be okay, they say.

Well see, although Im hoping that tech-futurists pay attention to bubbles beyond their own, and do something they have seldom done which is to be vigilant in protecting their vision of the future. Even better would be an effort to reach out to the Make America Great Again crowd and take them and their underlying concerns seriously. Part of this is self-interest, since history is replete with examples where a failure to do so can lead to politicsor the body politic interfering with or subverting technology and science, at least for a while.

Whatever happens, its likely that were about to experience a concrete test over the next four years to see if politics out-Trumps technologyor vice-versa.

David Ewing Duncan is an award-winning, best-selling author of eight books published in 21 languages. He is the Founder and Curator of Arc Programs.

Updated 12/12/16 to clarify that Galileo was threatened with torture.
This week, the news broke that President-elect Donald Trump will remain an executive producer and profit participant on the NBC reality series The Apprentice while serving in office. Trump is reported to have regularly harassed contestants on the show, referring to the deaf Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin as retarded and calling rapper Lil Jon an Uncle Tom. He was also caught on video by the network bragging about grabbing women by the pussyan offense they deemed appalling enough to fire his hot mic accomplice, Billy Bush, but apparently not enough to cut professional ties with the actual sexual assault braggart. So, in an unprecedented move, NBC will keep the president-elect on its payroll while contracting companies to run ads on his program and tasking its news division with providing unbiased coverage of their business partner.

Its enough to raise a few eyebrows. NBC is, after all, the network that went to great pains to normalize candidate Trump, from granting him Saturday Night Live hosting duties to having Jimmy Fallon ruffle his hair on The Tonight Show to letting Matt Lauer lob him softballs during their Commander-in-Chief Forum. And its enough to question exactly what the network is doing when they attempt to parody President-elect Trump on Saturday Night Live. Yes, Alec Baldwin is a long-time Democrat and outspoken critic of Trumps, but are these lampooning efforts ultimately in vain, portraying Trump as the lovable buffoon a la Will Ferrell with George W. Bush?

Nevertheless, Saturday Night Live returned this week to poke fun at its network-mate. The program opened with a sketch depicting CNNs The Lead with Jake Tapper, as the host interviewed Trump Senior Advisor Kellyanne Conwayplayed by the inimitable Kate McKinnonabout the president-elects head-scratching cabinet picks. These include Trump nominating Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA, even though hes a fossil fuel advocate that doesnt believe in climate change, and Carls Jr. CEO Andy Puzder as Secretary of Labor, despite the fact that he opposes a federal minimum wage.

Kellyanne, its almost like Mr. Trump appoints these people specifically to undermine the very agencies they head. Are these bad picks? asks SNLs Tapper. No, Jake, they are not bad, replies Conway. They are alt-good.

Then comes a bit of breaking news: that President-elect Trump has nominated as head of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) a high school science teacher from New Mexico by the name of Walter White. Cue actor Bryan Cranston as Whitebeige jacket, green shirt, spectacles, pork pie hat and all.

Conway mentions to Tapper how White was highly recommended by Steve Bannon, the president-elects chief strategistas well as an alleged white nationalist and former CEO of the alt-right publication Breitbart. You see, White says he met Bannon under the comments section at Breibart, and that he was pretty surprised he tracked me down because Ive been off the grid for a while. I know the DEA better than anyoneinside and out, he adds.

The TV meth kingpin also claims hes a fan of Trumps. I like his style. He acts first, and then asks questions later. I also like that wall he wants to build. Nothing comes in from Mexico, which means a lot less competition for the rest of us, he says.

Plus, as Conway mentions, White is a supporter of small businesses. Oh, absolutely. Donald Trump and I agree: Its time to make America cook again, says White. We want to fill this nation with red, white, and a whole lot of blue.

God help us all.
MILWAUKEE  Communities throughout the country are faced with the stark reality and repercussions of an opioid crisis turned epidemic.

Just last month, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services issued a public health advisory about the rampant opioid crisis, with more than 600 opioid-related deaths in the state last year. Non-violent drug offenders are being sentenced to prison at alarming rates, and families are being torn apart by this vicious addiction.

Thats the bad news.

The good news is its not too late to turn things around.

Ive spent decades helping young, at-risk men and women create opportunities for themselves. Ive helped many foster healthy and fulfilling lives while rejecting the expectation they will statistically wind up in jail someday. Ive also helped offenders released from prison get back on their feet.

Im encouraged by the leadership Wisconsin has shown in addressing this dependency issue: Gov. Scott Walker formed a bipartisan Task Force on Opioid Abuse last month, and last session the state Legislature passed a series of bills aimed at this public health crisis.

But much more must be done to help our most vulnerable citizens win their battles with addiction.

We need to provide strategic recovery counseling and treatment options to addicts. One way to do this is to reexamine our states use of medication assisted treatment. Addiction treatment providers are increasingly utilizing naloxone to counter overdoses. They use buprenorphine to help addicts stave off cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Pharmacological treatments have become standard practice for addiction therapy.

While addicts need greater access to medication assisted treatment, its important for our state not to perpetuate the problem.

Suboxone is the most commonly prescribed brand of buprenorphine. Because it is administered in film strip form, its increasingly being diverted and illegally resold.

Patients who are prescribed these strips can cut them up and sell them to non-intended users, who use them to bridge between highs. This diversion is creating a dangerous black market and providing addicts who arent ready for sobriety a way to continue funding their addiction.

These strips also have been confiscated from inmates after being sneaked into local correctional facilities, sometimes inside Bibles. So rather than kicking habits, the strips are nurturing them.

One possible solution is to replicate Marylands recent formulary change. Earlier this year, Maryland removed the strip form of buprenorphine from the states preferred Medicaid formulary. Instead, enrollees can now be prescribed a tablet treatment, which is much more difficult to divert, smuggle or misuse.

Our citizens deserve the best and most innovative treatment options. Wisconsin officials should consider Maryland as an example as they continue to fight this growing epidemic. Making a similar change is an important step forward in helping drug addicts help themselves.

Im optimistic we can reduce opioid-related deaths in Wisconsin, and that addicts will receive the treatment they deserve and desperately need.
ROCKLAND COUNTY, New York  Mendel Taub grew up in a village where residents obey every utterance of their grand rabbi. The rebbe commands all aspects of his followers lives and rails against the secular world, banning its modern channelssmart phones, computers, television. Yiddish street signs direct men and women to walk on opposite sides of the street. Women are forbidden to drive. Wives must shave their heads, cover their wigs with scarves and wear skirts that extend at least five inches below the knee. Modesty squads report wrongdoers to the rebbe.

But this isnt in a foreign country: its Rockland County, New York, just 30 miles north of the city.

New Square is one of the most insular communities in the country. Nearly all of its 7,700 residents are part of the Skverer sect of Hasidism, which originated in 19th century Ukraine. Post-war immigrants founded the Rockland village in 1954 to continue their Hasidic ideal of living a sanctified life, uncorrupted by the secularized Brooklyn, where they originally settled.

New Square has one large, multi-building school for all its children. Yeshiva education for boys focuses on religious texts, with little study of English and math, and no study of science or social studies. Around the age of 13, boys begin to focus almost exclusively on Judaisms holy books, the Torah and Talmud.

Seven year ago, Taub was a good yeshiva student and very inquisitive. But after teachers punished the 15-year-old for questioning the fundamentals of Skver beliefs, he dropped out.

I realized that Talmudic law wasnt really going to help me get a job. Taub said.

Taub didnt know English and was determined to emerge beyond his native Yiddish. So he convinced an itinerant salesman, who mostly peddled watches and calculators in the village, to sell him a pocket radio. He had saved $20 of his Bar Mitzvah money to buy the contraband.

It went down like a drug deal, at night, under a dark roof, he said. We didnt talk much. I slipped him the money. He passed me the radio. And we both walked away knowing exactly what we did.

If religious authorities were to catch wind of his actions, Taub would destroy his chances of getting a desirable match in his sect's customary arranged marriages or risk becoming an outcast in the only community he had ever known.

Taub used the device to turn Rush Limbaugh into a surrogate English teacher.

He tuned into Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and other conservative radio show hosts during 12-hour days packing hard candies into cardboard boxes in a New Square warehouse. Low wage manual labor was his only employment option. He would set the volume just loud enough to hear Limbaugh rant.

Taub chose to learn from the right-wing radio preachers because, at the time, he identified with their ethnocentric attitude.

I came from a community of chosen people and here were people basically saying the same thing, he said. Other beliefs resonated for him as well. For instance, Taub had been taught homosexuality was a sin against God, an idea he now rejects.

Plus, the teenager figured, their vocabulary was good, despite words that heavily skewed toward the political.

"I knew what unilateral agreement and hegemonic power meant but didnt know understand the world stove, he said. It was funny.

With the help of a dictionary, Taub drew up a complex word map to help him understand sentence structure and spelling.

He bypassed FM stations altogether.

"I couldnt relate to any of the news about sports, he said. And music hurt my ears. I still felt guilty when I heard voice of a woman because it would elicit 'impure' thoughts."

At 16, Taub summoned the nerve to call the local school system on a public pay phone, asking in broken English how he might register for classes.

My dream was to get a high school diploma, he said. With that, I would be able to hold a job and have a family. For me, it was the measure of an educated man.

He was directed to a state-backed education program called the Board of Cooperative Educational Service.

The next day, he called Albert Moschetti, BOCES adult education director at the time. When the two met in person, Moschetti offered his hand to greet the teenager.

He didnt know what to do with it, Moschetti said. Hand-shaking wasnt natural for him.

On his 17th birthday, Taub began to study English as a Second Language in a classroom filled with students born in other countries.

My classmates couldnt believe I grew up in America. Who in America doesnt speak English at 17 or 18?

New Square is an extreme case but Hasidic yeshivas around the world have similar educational practices for boys relegating many to lives of poverty and public assistance. (Girls do not study the Talmud and thus have more time for nonreligious coursework.) Deficient general studies have been an ongoing problem in Israel, London, and Quebec, said Naftuli Moster, a former Hasidic yeshiva student and founder of Young Advocates for a Fair Education or Yaffed. The high rates of poverty in the Hasidic community have been well-documented, he said.

The issue is beginning to draw attention in New York, where Yaffed has partnered with famed civil rights attorney Norman Siegel and law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to pressure the city and state to provide better general studies in the private religious schools.

On the eve of beginning at school, Taub confided in his older brother, Abraham, that he was about to break their communitys taboo against secular studies. Sitting in a gray Honda minivan outside the familys home, Taub was shocked by Abrahams response:

He told me, You think Im uneducated. You think Im illiterate. Well, Ill tell you something you dont know. I have a New York State GED and Im going to college, Taub recalled. His brother was studying at Rockland Community College, a State University of New York school.

"I was flabbergasted. I was shocked. I felt like I was living in a fictional novel, Taub recalled. I viewed my brother as a nice Hasidic man who didnt even speak English. I even looked down on him a bit because I thought I knew more than he did.

Abraham Taub, who was married with children at the time, was risking his young familys reputation and even his childrens enrollment in only school in town. New School authorities use expulsion as a means of mandating conformity, as evidenced by a long list of social rules parents must sign in order to register their children each year.

The brothers soon spent a semester together at Rockland Community College and both would eventually win a State University of New York Chancellors Award for academic excellence. Attending college with his brother was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was a strange man in a strange land. He taught me about GPAs, college credits, how the system works.

His brother didnt prepare him for one thing, howeverfemale classmates.

On the first day, I thought, Holy crap. Girls! Front, left, right, back. Girls! Do you say hello to them? I cant believe theyre part of this class or that I am.

Taub hadnt so much as walked on the same side of the street as a girl and had been forbidden from looking directly at them.

Abraham, who is studying to become an emergency-room doctor, still lives in New Square with a wife, three children, his own home and a business selling booths for security guards and parking attendants. He is graduating from the NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine on Long Island this spring and will then begin his residency. Mendel said the community now reluctantly tolerates his brother's pursuits because he has continued to respect most communal norms doesnt try to influence anyone to break with tradition.

Mendel, however began to slowly shed his regulation white shirt, black suit, and black brimmed wool hat soon after he started studying outside of his village. At first, he carried his books in a shopping bag because no one in his village uses backpacks. The day he finally slipped on one and walked through the village, he felt stares of disapproval and knew gossip about him had begun in earnest.

At that point, by walking around like that, and without all the garb, I finished any future I had in the community, he said. His chances to find a marriage match were through. I was ostracized from that point on.

He lost lifelong friends. My worst fears had come true, he said.

But outside New Square, Taub excelled. After graduating Rockland Community College with honors, he was asked to become a trustee. In May, he earned a bachelors degree in political science and criminal justice at Pace University, which he attended on full scholarship. He earned his Emergency Medical Technician certification and has worked for two ambulance corps. Now a certified Yiddish court translator, he is studying for the LSATS, with hopes of attending law school in the fall.

Taub no longer identifies with conservatives. His multi-ethnic classmates helped him appreciate the value of racial and cultural diversity, he said. He attended the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia July and credits Democratic policiesthose that support school loans and grantswith allowing him to fulfill his dreams.

Though there were tearful times with his parents and plenty of disagreements, they allowed him to live with them for several years while he earned his degrees. His friends abandoned him but when he began to show success in the outside world, a few softened and began speaking with him again. He now has a beautiful relationship with his parents and siblings and lives in an apartment close to New Square. He respects the Skverers communal values but insists that Community leaders have a responsibility to provide people with a basic secular education, he said. Depriving students is blatant injustice.

Mendel is an amazing young man. He is courageous, tenacious, poised, and really smart, said Thomas Della Torre, RCCs associate vice president for academic and community partnerships. Perhaps more importantly, Della Torre said he carries no overt bitterness.

His attitude is: This is whats best for me and I want others to know its available to them.

Taub has helped Orthodox Jewish organizations design curricula to improve vocational training for Hasidic men. And people from his hometown secretly reach out to him for advice all the time, often through the banned WhatsApp messaging platform.

In the last year, he said as many as 80 people have contacted him. I talk with them. I give them information about BOCES and RCC. It is such a crisis for them when they realize they have options. There are so many decisions to make. Being socially isolated comes with a certain peace of mind.
Ive rarely come across a book as entertaining as this one, or as hugely sad. In The Feud, Alex Beam walks us with good sense through one of the great literary quarrels of the 20th century. Its subtitle says it all: Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the End of a Beautiful Friendship.

Its hard to imagine two bigger egos in such dubious battle on the plains of heaven, to quote Milton. They met in 1940, not long after Nabokovalready a master-novelist, although not in Englisharrived in flight from Europes nightmare. A Russian cousin introduced him to Wilson, rightly thinking the two men would have much in common. Both were polymaths who took their literary endeavors seriously. Its hard to imagine anyone with a higher status as a man of letters at the time than Wilson, who was in a position to commission reviews and introduce this Russian genius to the English-speaking world. He showed immense generosity, opening doors at the leading periodicals, making it possible for Nabokov to hope that he might actually earn a living as a writer in his newly adopted country.

As Beam notes, Wilson was a bon vivant: He liked to socialize, and enjoyed dining, drinking, discussing anything and everything with the Nabokovs and with his wife of the momentthe already famous, and young, and beautiful novelist Mary McCarthy. The families got together over Thanksgiving in 1941 at Wilsons home on Cape Cod. McCarthy later recalled that Wilson and Nabokov had a ball together. It was a joyous new friendship for both men, who met less often than they wrote letters.

And did they write letters! Their correspondence is enviably witty. They discussed everything that mattered to them, and they had great fun, deeply aware that in the other they had found a ripe audience for their particular kinds of exhaustive learning. Indeed, Beam quotes a bilingual limerick that Wilson wrote for his new friend, making allusions to his fascination with butterflies. Of course, Nabokov responded with his own dazzling and pun-filled verse. Back and forth, they luxuriated in their shared knowledge, a sense of intellectual fizz. Opening a letter was for them like popping a cork on a fine bottle of champagne.

Had Nabokov remained an unsung hero of high art, a refined if at times pedantic scholar and specialist in butterflies, I suspect the friendship would have remained quite beautiful to the end. But these terribly sensitive and bright men seemed on opposite trajectories. Wilsons best days were behind him, and he would never quite match his early ferocity and freshness. Alcohol played a part in this decline, which is obvious to anyone who has read the work carefully. By contrast, Nabokov blossomed in English, his fourth language (after Russian, German, and French). With Lolita, completed in 1954, he rose to amazing heights of fame (and notoriety).

Nabokov hoped for enthusiasm about his book when he sent a manuscript to Wilson, but his American friend and benefactor disliked the book. It isnt merely that the characters and the situation are repulsive in themselves, but that, presented on this scale, they seem quite unreal, he wrote, including a note from his wife, Mary, who said the book was terribly sloppy throughout. The critics, of course, largely disagreed, and Lolita rose and still keeps rising. Its a masterpiece of world literature, despite its creepy subject. It made Nabokov very rich, and he never again worried about a publisher for his work. Hurricane Lolita, says Beam, swept across Europe, America, and the world, changing the Nabokovs lives forever. It also changed the nature of this literary friendship, although the catastrophe lay ahead.

The public feud began with a review of Nabokovs translation of Pushkins Eugene Onegin in The New York Review of Books in the midsummer of 1965. Anyone who knows Pushkins book-length poem will know two things at the least: it is a landmark in Russian literature, the equivalent of, say, Paradise Lost in English. And its famously beyond translation. (My old Dartmouth colleague and good friend Walter Arndt published what remains the best English version in 1963, although it still doesnt come to life as poetry.) Needless to say, Wilson lunged vengefully at Nabokov, publishing a review that must be read in its entirety. As Beam says, It remains a classic of its genre, the genre being overlong, spiteful, stochastically accurate, generally useless but unfailingly amusing hatchet job.

This was the first explosion, followed by many small blasts from either side, as they conducted a public feud in the letters columns of the New York Review, with a good deal of kibitzing by a variety of other scholars. Wilson had had the temerity to question Nabokovs command of Russian, despite his own less-than-perfect grasp of Russian, as Nabokov would gleefully point out. The fact remains, of course, that few people now read the Nabokov translation, which is painfully stilted and doesnt pass the only test that matters with a work of verse translation: Is it poetry in English? Its not, and Wilson knew it wasnt. But he delighted in digging into fine linguistic details, engaging the Russian author on his home turf.

The feud more or less concluded in print with Nabokovs massive Reply to my Critics, which appeared in Encounter in February 1966. Stephen Spender, the editor, understood that he had an opportunity, and he gave Nabokov his head. The article of 4,500 words got personal, as Nabokov recalls listening to Wilson as he read aloud from Pushkin. Wilson did this with great gusto, garbling every second word and turning Pushkins iambic line into a kind of spastic anapest with a lot of jaw-twisting haws and rather endearing little barks that utterly jumbled the rhythm. He then cut through Wilsons faulty grasp of Russian, delighting in this demolition job.

Wilson replied a couple of times, in thousand-word letters to The New York Review, but it was over now, except for private bickering and a disguised allusion to Wilson in Nabokovs Ada. The beautiful friendship ended, and it was sad, as Nabokov notes after Wilsons death, when he reread some of their letters and reflected on the early radiant era of their friendship, as revealed in that correspondence.

The Feud comes to us at a particularly good time. As we enter into the era of Trumped-down literacy, when the life of the mind seems almost like a quaint idea, its somehow thrilling to imagine a world where great intellects clashed, taking language seriously, meaning what they said, and being able to back their assertions with genuine knowledge.
Bay Pines staff moved the dead veterans body to a hall, then to a shower. They left him there for over nine hours. Then the employees allegedly fudged the incident report.

The Bay Pines VA Healthcare System in Seminole, Florida is a veterans hospital where former service members can obtain a range of services from mental health treatment to end-of-life care. But when one unnamed veteran died in hospice care last February, staff allegedly left the body in a shower unit, according to an internal report obtained by the Tampa Bay Times . The dead veteran allegedly went forgotten while employees passed the blame and filled out inaccurate paperwork to cover their tracks.

The hospital demonstrated a lack of concern, attention and respect for the deceased veteran, the internal report reads.

After the veteran passed away, employees made some initial efforts to remove his body in a dignified way, according to the Times. Hospice-care workers reportedly asked a coworker to take the body to the morgue, where it could be properly cared for. But theyd asked the wrong person. The coworker told them to follow official procedure and contact morgue dispatchers.

But apparently the call never went out, and the dispatchers never came. Eventually, someone moved the veterans body from the room and placed it in a hallway. After staff ruled the hallway an inappropriate place for a body, it was moved it again, this time to a shower unit, where it sat for over nine hours.

Left exposed after death, the human body is more susceptible to deterioration, which begins within hours. The veterans prolonged neglect in a shower room put the body at increased risk of decomposition, the internal report notes.

Meanwhile, the hospitals safety procedures were apparently exhibiting their own kind of decay. Multiple protocols had to be ignored in order to abandon the veteran in the shower.

From the beginning of the incident, it was unclear who was in charge. According to the report, hospital staff failed to update a chart showing employees hours and roles, sowing confusion in the unit. After the veterans death, employees allegedly "falsely documented" paperwork, blaming the lack of morgue dispatchers on a miscommunication. But the communication had never taken place, as employees allegedly neglected to call the dispatchers to remove the body.

These errors might have become immediately apparent at the end of the day, when employees were required to fill out a report of the past 24 hours. But they skipped the paperwork, making it unclear how or when they had responded to the veterans death. Later, during the internal investigation, the employees reportedly characterized the reports as a clerical error, pinning the blame on shortage of office staff. They later walked back the excuse.

The hospital has described the neglect as a one-time incident.

"We feel that we have taken strong, appropriate and expeditious steps to strengthen and improve our existing systems and processes within the unit," Bay Pines spokesperson Jason Dangel told the Tampa Bay Times. "It is our expectation that each veteran is transported to their final resting place in the timely, respectful and honorable manner. America's heroes deserve nothing less."

The hospital has since required new training, particularly on post-mortem care he said. But he did not disclose whether any employees had been disciplined.

Local Republican legislators have cited the incident as a case of neglect in Veterans Affairs-run facilities .

I am deeply disturbed by the incident that occurred at the Bay Pines VA hospital, and even more distressed to learn that staff attempted to cover it up, GOP Rep. Gus Bilirakis said in a statement. Bilirakis has supported legislation to make it easier to fire VA employees. The report details a total failure on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs and an urgent need for greater accountability.

Unsurprisingly, not a single VA employee has been fired following this incident, despite a clear lack of concern and respect for the Veteran. The men and women who sacrificed on behalf of our nation deserve better.
Its the Christmas season, and this means that religious people will be inundated with images of baby Jesus nestled in the lap of his mother, the Virgin Mary. For pregnant women, Mary can be an intimidating role model. Not only did she get pregnant without even trying and remain a virgin for the rest of her life, according to tradition she did not experience any pain during childbirth. And, despite delivering a child without a midwife, anesthetic, or even a bed, she is consistently shown serenely embracing her child without a hair out of place. Kate Middletons postpartum photographs look positively disheveled by comparison.

Many of the images of the Virgin depict her suckling her newborn infant. Its an image that can also obscure the emotionally and physically painful difficulties that many new mothers have when nursing children. And apparently it isnt a model for all Catholic women. A new study published in the BMJ Global Health journal reveals that in Ireland, breast-feeding rates are higher in areas where there are fewer Roman Catholics. Ireland has notoriously low breast-feeding rates in general: Recent statistics show that only 56 percent of Irish women breast-feed, and that that number drops to 50 percent by the time an infant is six months old. Compare this to the almost 90 percent rate of women nursing their children in Canada.

Dr. Jonathan Bernard, a lead author on the study, in part attributed the causes of the discrepancy to religious culture. He told the Irish Times, According to our findings, the large cultural influence of Roman Catholicism in Ireland may act as an underlying cause that can explain, at least partly, why Ireland reached such a low rate in the 1970s and why since, despite health policies, the rate increase hasnt been faster relative to other Western countries. Cultural forces, he explained, can affect whether and why women breast-feed.
Inside Sources Say Twitter Changes Coming Next Week: Report

AS SOON AS MONDAY

Elon Musk, keen to make changes after his purchase of the platform, is set to change up the way verification works as soon as possible.
No Russian hack yet? I asked state Elections Commission spokesman Reid Magney Thursday afternoon of the presidential vote recount in Wisconsin.

There is no Russian hack, he said.

We never expected significant changes, he added, matter of factly. There is no evidence the machines were attacked. There is no evidence of significant problems.

Weve been down this road in the recent past. In 2011, the state Supreme Court race between then-Justice David Prosser and challenger Joanne Kloppenburg generated 1, 498,880 votes election night. After the statewide recount it was 1,500,113. Prosser picked up 371 votes, and Kloppenburg gained 683. Prosser still won by 7,004 votes.

Magney says the 14,000 votes not counted on election night in Brookfield in that judicial race was a separate issue. In the end, the net difference was small.

In last months presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, 82 percent of the votes had been recounted by Wednesday night. Clinton had picked up a net gain of 62 votes at that point.

In Dane County, 12 absentee ballots in Monona and 23 absentee ballots in Fitchburg were left in their envelopes unopened on election night. Whoops. In Adams County, nine absentee ballot envelopes were disqualified because they were missing witness addresses resulting in Trump losing five votes and Clinton losing four. In Manitowoc County, 24 additional votes for Clinton hadnt been counted in the town of Centerville, and 25 votes for Trump in the town of Kossuth had been counted twice.

There were other minor issues, but nothing to change the race. And nothing is expected to alter Trumps victory by the time the recount must conclude by 8 p.m. Monday.

The broader national question is about the Electoral College. Should Clinton be president based on her 2.5 million-vote win in the popular vote nationwide? The founders didnt want it that way. Thats why doesnt win. They wanted a republic, not a democracy. During the Pledge of Allegiance, we say and to the republic for which it stands. We dont say and to the democracy for which it stands.

Clinton won in California by 3.4 million votes, and she won in New York by 1.5 million votes. Getting rid of The Electoral College would give those two states more clout than Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Michigan combined. The way it is now, all 55 of Californias electoral votes are expected to go to Hillary because she did win the popular vote there.

The founders set up a check against mob rule by giving us the Electoral College. Whats more, the electors still could break from Trump when the Electoral College votes Dec. 19. It is the final check on the check. So far a handful have said they will break away, but 37 would have to flee before Trump would fall below the necessary 270 electoral votes to be certified the winner.

If that happened, the House of Representatives would pick the President. Who are they going to choose, House Speaker Paul Ryan? Chances are the Trumpster would still get the nod, and the Senate would likely still choose his running mate Mike Pence for vice president.

Out of more than 3,000 counties nationwide, Trump won more than 2,600. If the founders wanted the most populated states to have unchecked power against the less populated states, why does Rhode Island get the same number of U.S. senators as California?

Oh, Mitch, thats different, some will say. But isnt the principle the same? The way the presidential selection is laid out, the candidates dont travel to Rhode Island or Wyoming now, but they do go to Iowa. At least Trump came to Wisconsin. If the polls had been different, maybe Clinton would have come here, too. A straight popular vote contest would mean the candidates would spend a lot of time in New York, California and Texas  all states that were ignored in the race for 270 electoral votes.

In the end, the Founding Fathers were smart guys. But Mitch, what about counting slaves as 3/5ths of a person? some readers will respond.

Thats why the Founding Fathers created the Bill of Rights. That 3/5ths of a person provision was to give Southern states more representation in the Congress. It was null and void after Section 2 of the 14th Amendment. Bye bye, 3/5ths of a person.

Do we really want to amend the Constitution to give California and New York more power to pick our president? They already have Hollywood and Broadway. Thats enough.
Being part of a community means helping to care for our neighbors when they cannot take care of themselves. Health For All is proud to serve our neighbors by providing health care when other options are not available.

In 1987, our free clinic was started in a local motel. For almost 30 years, Health for All has continued because the need has continued. Today, thanks to donations from caring residents and charitable foundations, Health for All still is hard at work to meet the needs of our community.

Our clinic has been a place that provides compassionate care to the low-income, uninsured patients who do not qualify for health assistance programs -- a resource for those who have no other option. Although the Affordable Care Act -- Obamacare -- has decreased the number of uninsured in this country, it still allows many adults to remain uninsured.

In fact, the uninsured rate in Texas is the highest in our country. The estimated proportion for our own community is about 1 out of 4 according to the Brazos Valley Regional Health Assessment.

The National Institute of Medicine reports that people without health insurance rarely receive preventative care. They are more likely to die from treatable illnesses. And, they are less likely to receive care for symptoms that if untreated, have serious consequences

We assist patients such as Lauren. Lauren is a widow who works at Goodwill. She works hard even though she frequently suffers from pain in her back, neck, and eyes. Lauren's support system is primarily her sister, who is also her source of transportation to and from the clinic. Health For All is working with Lauren to help her cope with present stressors including losing her husband.

With your support and that of Health For All, Lauren has access to counseling, medication, and education. Lauren has been given the opportunity to gain control of her life.

Last year Health for All helped 1,618 people such as Lauren.

Volunteer medical providers helped patients a total of 5,883 times.

Unfortunately, we sometimes have to turn patients away due to the clinic's limited resources and lack of funding.

How can we turn our backs on those who need our help so desperately?

With your help, we won't have to. We can change the lives of patients such as Ben. Ben's life used to be full of bad decisions and extensive drug use. Ben realized he didn't like what he'd become. He cleaned up his life and worked hard to make a contribution to society. Unfortunately, his past would come back to haunt him. Health For All diagnosed Ben with Hepatitis C -- a liver disease caused by infection that lives in your liver cells.

For most low-income uninsured patients, Hep C would feel like a death sentence. While there are some treatments, there are only a handful of medications that each cost $1,000 or more.

Supporting Health For All means Ben can get help paying for his medications and the clinic can follow his disease closely.

Because of our volunteers and donors, we were able to help Ben.

Today, he is doing well and helps mentor at risk youth.

Your support can change the world -- one patient at a time. It can impact individuals such as Ben and all of the kids he helps.

Studies repeatedly have demonstrated that uninsured adults have fewer doctor visits, receive less preventive care and have worse health outcomes. When people receive care from Health for All instead of the emergency room, everyone benefits. The patient gets the necessary care before his or her health reaches emergency status and the cost of an emergency room visit (averaging more than $1,000 a visit) is saved by the community.

Consider Walter. He works at a farm and his hobbies are fishing and working with his hands. Walter was diagnosed with diabetes at 18 years old, and since then has been fighting to manage his condition. He first came to Health for All six months ago. He couldn't afford his medication because he did not have insurance; his neighbor recommended Health For All.

At first, he just wanted a refill of his medicines, but according to him, the attention and care he received at the clinic exceeded his expectations. His blood glucose now is controlled consistently for the first time in 34 years.

"The doctors and staff have been such a blessing to me and I am so grateful!"

Health care remains beyond the reach of thousands of low-income people in the Brazos Valley. Issues of access, deductibles, co-pays and prescription costs that frequently run to thousands of dollars a year equates to neighbors in need -- right here and right now.

Here is how you can help. Donate to Health for All. Ask your doctors if they volunteer at Health For All. If so, say thank you. If not, encourage them to join the team.

Want more information? Call 979-774-4176 or email me at ed@hlth4all.org to set up a tour. Together we can help thousands of our neighbors and save millions of dollars.

 Liz Dickey is executive director of Health for All, located at 3030 E. 29th St., Suite 111, in Bryan.
Making a return to our two favourite summer locations, Mount Maunganui and Nelson in early January 2023, we've got whiff of the first release lineup and me oh my, yes boy
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
Enjoy music, art and more this weekend in Southeast Iowa

Your guide to getting off the couch and out the door this weekend in Southeast Iowa.
NORWALK  The Connecticut Department of Transportation plans to place an underwater electric cable along the north side of the Walk Bridge before replacing the bridge itself.

The submerged temporary cable is all part of their upgrade of the track-switching system, overall, that theyre performing east of the Norwalk River, said Michael Griffin, state of Connecticut harbormaster for Norwalk. Theyre putting in some new track-switching program. This power cable is all part of the upgrade to the lighting system and the track-switching system.

The track-switching project, also known as the CP243 Interlocking Project, will build a new four-track interlocking system to allow for two-track Metro-North Railroad operations during reconstruction of the Walk Bridge. The project is set to begin in 2017. The bridge replacement is scheduled to start in mid-2018.

Permits for this new submarine cable are being developed by CT DEEP and will be submitted to CT DEEP, the United States Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies, DOT spokesman Judd Everhart said Friday. The Norwalk Harbor Management Commission held a pre-application meeting with CT DOT to discuss the design, installation and regulatory attributes of the proposed work.

John D. Hanifin, DOT project manager, and Chris Brown, senior project manager with HNTB, the consultant firm engaged by the DOT for the bridge replacement, explained the proposed cable placement to the Norwalk Harbor Management Commission at City Hall on Thursday evening.

The cable placement would be done during a three- to four-week window in December 2017 and entail the excavation of an underwater trench, according to the DOT.

The conduit-enclosed cable would run above water along the bridge, from the east bank of the Norwalk River to the eastern pier of the Walk Bridge, and below water, from the eastern pier to the west bank, Griffin said.

The movement of sedimentation, which would be disturbed by the excavation, is one concern of local officials.

Griffin asked if the contractor would employ silt curtains to trap disturbed sediment and thus protect shellfish beds.

Said Brown, Were advancing it without turbidity curtains but with the provision that it could be accommodated if necessary.

rkoch@hearstmediact.com
WESTPORT  Despite growing concerns about the increasing school budget, the RTM unanimously approved a contract that included salary increases for 43 of the highest-paid school district employees: principals and other administrators.

The increase gives the school leaders a 2.25 percent salary increase each year from 2017 through 2020 and avoided arbitration. The RTMs approval comes just a week after Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer, who makes $285,000 annually and was not included in the salary increases, told the Westport Rotary Club the coming school budget sits at a 4.1 percent increase over fiscal year 2015-16.

We cannot continue to go down the road of taxing our seniors, taxing people with non-students in the school system. I know its important, but at some point and time the well is going to run dry, said Jimmy Izzo, RTM 3.

I dont see 4 percent as being something I can live with right now, and thats what were looking at, Izzo later added.

Under the approved agreement, educators who hold a doctorate will see their stipends increase from $1,000 to $1,500, an impact to the budget of $6,000 over the length of the contract.

This years school budget came in at $113 million, a 1.31 percent increase over the previous year. Palmer said last week that labor accounts for 80 percent of the education budget and said she was cognizant of the pressure to consider staffing cuts.

More Information Contract facts Administrators who benefit from the increase are the preschool coordinator, elementary assistant principal, coordinator, athletic director, secondary assistant principal, high school special education department chairman, elementary principal, middle school principal, high school principal, director of pupil services, director of elementary education and the director of secondary education.* The lowest salary on the list is the elementary assistant principal, with an income of $136,233. The highest salaries on the list are the high school principal, director of pupil services, director of elementary education and the director of secondary education, each of whom gets $182,752. See More Collapse

The only way you would really reduce your budget is you start reducing your headcount. So theres this pressure, theres a real pressure, and Im so mindful of this, Palmer said at the Rotary Club meeting.

Citing the RTM Employee Compensation, Finance and Education Committee report, Thomas Bloch, RTM 5, took issue with statements made by the Board of Educations attorney, Tom Mooney. The report states that despite vast educational challenges facing the state, Mooney said Westports ability to pay is still good.

That statement alone, I dont agree that this person has represented us as well as some may think. Its just a set-up to not arbitrate, Bloch said.

According to the committees report, the budget strain over the three-year period is an additional $554,222.

Despite Blochs and Izzos comments, both voted in favor of the contract.

@chrismmarquette; cmarquette @bcnnew.com
NORWALK  An intoxicated man arrested Saturday morning for disturbing his neighbors was further charged after getting into a fight with a hospital security guard, police said.

According to Sgt. Peter White, officers were called to The Waypointe building on West Avenue on a report of loud noises coming from an apartment. The officers reported they could hear noise emanating from the apartment while approaching it in the hallway, White said.
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WILTON  She walked through the war-torn streets of Syria with a baby in her arms, another child clinging to her back and three more children following closely behind as civil war erupted around her. She was a young, widowed mother and the streets were filled with chaos and countless dangers, but in her mind, she had no other options. And so she walked.

For 13 days, Manal  whose last name has been withheld to protect her remaining family in Syria  marched through the rain and freezing cold to the Syrian-Jordanian border, where safety and salvation awaited her family.

There was no guarantee that Manal and her family would be permitted to cross the border  in fact, it was likely that they, like many other Syrians seeking refuge from the war, would be turned away  but even the slimmest chance of escaping was better than the alternative.

Atop her head, she carried a bag filled with the all possessions she could fit. The family was without jackets, so when the weather grew unbearable, she pressed her youngest against her chest to shield the baby from the cold.

There were times I didnt think we would ever make it out of there. It was hard, but we had to leave, Manal said.

Though doubt crept into Manals heart, her familys tribulations were ultimately rewarded. Upon arriving at the border, Manal and her children were relocated to a refugee camp in Jordan, and from there, began an arduous two-year vetting process required for entry into the U.S.

During this process, the U.S. State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies interviewed Manal and her children to ensure the validity of each family members story. Government officials pored over these accounts, checking for inconsistencies and re-interviewing the family.

The United States has the most rigorous screening process in the world, said Chris George, the executive director of the New Haven-based Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), which oversaw Manals resettlement in Wilton. We are not admitting any security threats into the U.S.

Under Georges leadership, IRIS welcomes about 230 new refugees to Connecticut each year. Though Connecticut has been lauded for its efforts to resettle refugees, George believes the state can do more to aid those like Manal.

Weve been shouting to anyone who can hear us over the past few months, especially to Washington, to bring more refugees to the United States. We have a vast network in place that can handle much more refugees than we are getting, George said.

Like many of these refugees, when Manal arrived in the U.S., she spoke no English and next to nothing about her new country. Yet there was something intrinsically American about the determination Manal had displayed in finally getting here.

Manal had risked everything to get her family to safety, to provide her children with a future that held endless possibilities. She may not have known it at the time, but Manal was chasing the American Dream.

However, getting to the U.S. was only half of the battle.

As a refugee, Manal received a one-time payment of $5,550, or $925 per family member, from the federal government to cover the initial cost of living. Of that, almost $3,000 went to paying for the first three months of transitional housing, which was provided by the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND). While the SSND never sought money for the housing, IRIS insisted that on paying for the use of utilities.

Of the remaining $2500, most has been set aside to repaying the government for the airline tickets that brought them to New York.

Fortunately, Manals family had the benefit of a support system awaiting her when she arrived in the U.S. in March 2016.

It takes a village

Wilton resident Steve Hudspeth remembers the moment he first laid eyes on Manal and her five children.

I remember I was shocked because between all of them, they had only three bags, Hudspeth recalled.

As chairman of the Wilton Interfaith Action Committee (Wi-ACT), which spent months preparing for the Manals arrival, Hudspeth worked alongside Wi-ACTs 36-person steering committee and other volunteers to make Manals transition to America as seamless as possible.

When she first stepped off the plane at JFK International Airport, Manal said she was unsure what to expect.

All of her money had been sunk into housing and airfare. She and her family would be starting off in the U.S. with nothing but their luggage and whatever was waiting for them when they arrived in Wilton.

However, when Manal saw a half dozen excited Wiltonians waiting to welcome her to the community, any apprehensions she had harbored quickly melted away.

With that first glimpse of the welcoming committee, Manal says she knew that she had finally arrived at the place she had been seeking when she started that fateful walk nearly two years earlier. She had finally found her family a home.

The people of Wilton have helped me so much, Manal said. When I came here, I remember seeing them waiting for us. When I saw them, I knew that I had a family here, that my children had family here.

For Hudspeth, that reaction was precisely what he and his fellow Wi-ACT members were trying to convey. Prior to Manals arrival, Wi-ACT organized a team of nearly a dozen members who would help Manal in her transition to the U.S.

Overall, Hudspeth estimates that nearly a hundred different people around Wilton contributed to Manals assimilation.

With the help of donations and volunteered time, Wi-ACT left no stone unturned in aiding Manal  they secured transitional housing, helped with family budgeting, aided government communication, found her a job and, perhaps most importantly, they taught her and her children to speak English.

One thing IRIS really nailed into us was the concept of English, English, English. IRIS key point is that if we could teach her English, then everything else would fall into place, Hudspeth said.

For almost five hours a day, Manal and her children actively work at learning the language. Additionally, Manal attends a continuing education class at Brien McMahon High School for English once a week.

My two youngest [children] are learning English fast; for me and my two oldest it has been a bit slower, but the young ones help, Manal said.

As ESL classes and homework assignments take up most of her nights, Manal spends the majority of her days working and supporting her children.

Most mornings start around 6 a.m. when she has to get her oldest ready for school. Afterward, Manal completes her daily ESL course before heading to her job at Dampits International, Inc., where she hand crafts instrument humidifiers.

Its hard, but I do it for my family, Manal said of her daily schedule.

While in Syria and Jordan, Manal struggled to provide for her family. She picked up any work that she could, but even in the best of times, she was always worried for her familys well-being.

Now, in America, she can worry less about her family and more about providing them with the future she always dreamed of. Not only has Manal impressed her case workers at the Department of Social Services, but her industriousness both within and outside of her job at Dampits has impressed, too.

In the little time she has between her many functions, Manal has also learned how to sew, under the tutelage of Wilton resident Jan Hapke. Since then, she has begun a side business, called Manals Dream, which Hudspeth noted has been getting increasingly more business via word-of-mouth.

Manal is going to make a huge contribution to this country, herself and her kids, Hudspeth said. We all can see how bright she is, and how bright her children are. This is what this country needs, it needs the strength of really exceptional immigrants, after all thats what all of us come from. I think it takes really strong people to do what she has done to make it to America.

When asked how it feels to be in America, Manal beamed a bright smile and could only say it is very good, very good. Me and my children couldnt be happier.

ptomlinson@hearstmediact.com; 203-354-1046; @Tomlinson_PE
CAIRO  Just a few goats have inspired some fourth-graders to spread kindness.

Two classes at Centura Public Schools gave money to buy goats for families in African countries through Heifer International. The goats aim to provide sustainability through their milk and cheese. Once the goats reproduce, the babies will be given to other families in the community so they can benefit.

Heifer Internationals mission is to work with communities to end world hunger and poverty and to care for the earth, according to its website. The organization was founded nearly 70 years ago and aims to link communities and help bring sustainable agriculture and commerce to poverty-stricken areas.

Jennifer Trumler and Thomas Yoachim are the teachers behind this project to teach their students kindness. The two classes had a goal of raising a total of $240, which is the cost of buying two goats through Heifer International. The money wasnt earned through organized fundraisers, Trumler said, but was given from the students and families pockets.

On Friday, the class passed their goal and raised $300, which will allow the class to purchase three goats and three flocks of chicks. Due to a matching special the organization had, the classes were able to purchase two goats at the price of one. So their kindness and donations will go even further.

Trumler said she and Yoachim teach kindness throughout the year. But they wanted to put together a Christmas project for the kids to learn more about kindness.

I had wanted to do it with Heifer International for a number of years, Trumler said.

She has been familiar with the organization for a while and admires its work. With the project, her students read Beatrices Goat. The book is based on a true story about a girl whose family received a goat through the organization. The family ended up being able to support the girls education, which they couldnt afford before.

The project just felt right for Trumler with Heifer International.

To me, it was just a perfect fit, she said about the book and the project.

The classes started the project the week before Thanksgiving and ended it on Friday. Trumler said she can see a change in her students since learning about the project.

We had no idea how much the kids would get so excited, she said. Its just reached deeper than we thought.

Trumler said theyve been generous in giving and their eyes have been opened to how fortunate they are.

One student brought in $3.17 in change, she said. I know, for her, that meant everything.

She said her students have been talking nonstop about the project and about giving. She has heard them talk about how much theyve taken for granted that others dont have, such as education.

The project has impacted the kids, Trumler said. Teachers work hard to get all the academics in, but the most important thing is to help them learn to be kind and caring individuals.

She said its nice that the project helped the kids learn about peoples needs outside their local community.

I just think its helped them realize that they have a lot to be thankful for, Trumler said.

She said shes so proud of the students kindness and giving spirits.

The classes will celebrate giving and their project on Tuesday with a program for their families. They will perform, in sign language, along with Do They Know Its Christmas? by Band Aid.

You feel like youre actually teaching their heart and not just their brain, Trumler said of her feelings about the project and how it has impacted her students. I think theyre pretty proud.
Recently on the Senate floor, I recognized the extraordinary service of Admiral Cecil D. Haney, whose tenure as Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, or STRATCOM, at Offutt Air Force Base has come to a close. With it, Admiral Haney will end his 38-year career as an exemplary officer and outstanding leader in the U.S. Navy.

This nation owes him its deepest gratitude.

I first met Admiral Haney in 2013 when he was nominated to serve as commander of STRATCOM. Over the past three years, it has been my great pleasure to work with him, and I am grateful for his wise counsel and firm resolve to do what is best for America and for the men and women he leads.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter called STRATCOM the bedrock of Americas national security; Admiral Haney ensured that foundation remained firm. He was a strong advocate for modernization of aging nuclear infrastructure, no small task in a time of tight budgets. He worked closely with Congress. He gave clear-eyed assessments, such as the statement he delivered to the Senate Armed Services Committee last year that there is no margin to absorb risk in plans to modernize our nuclear enterprise.

Admiral Haney helped maintain congressional consensus on following through with our modernization commitments. All Americans should be grateful for this. Every day, our country relies on its nuclear forces to deter strategic attack on the United States and our allies.

Throughout his 38 years in the Navy, both Admiral Haney and his family made many sacrifices. These sacrifices are common to all who wear the uniform: dangerous missions, long deployments, time away from loved ones. Such burdens are a fact of life for our dedicated service members around the world.

This year, I was honored to spend Thanksgiving with some of those service members. At Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, I visited with Nebraskans from North Platte, Beatrice, Bellevue, McCook, and Omaha. These men and women had given up turkey dinners with family, and so much more, to protect our freedom.

Once again this year, I am teaming up with the American Red Cross to help Nebraskans show their appreciation to veterans, members of the military, and their families during the holiday season. Cards collected at my Omaha office through the Holiday Mail For Heroes Campaign will be delivered to current and former service members in local Nebraska communities: from those serving at Offutt Air Force Base to veterans at VFW posts across the state.




Bethany Lutheran Videos at Each Live Worship Service

Such is the contrast between the Bible of the old and the Bible of the new theologies. That there are compromise systems between the twoor at any rate attempts at a compromise  is certainly true; but it is impossible to effect a compromise between systems fundamentally and essentially at variance. This is a case of either  or, Delitzsch was right when he maintained that a deep chasm existed between the old and the new theology, and this chasm exists because there is a chasm between the Bible of the old and the Bible of the new theologies. In one word, the Scriptures of the one is the Bible without God; the Scriptures of the other is the Bible of and with God.

The Bible Of The Old And The Bible Of The New Theology. By Rev. Professor George H. Schodde, Ph. D., Columbus, O. in Loy, ed. The Columbus Theological Magazine. Vol. 18, 1898. LutheranLibrary.org
WASHINGTON  The most amusing part of the Trump transition has been watching its effortless confounding of the media, often in fewer than 140 characters. One morning, after a Fox News report on lefty nuttiness at some obscure New England college  a flag burning that led a more-contemptible-than-usual campus administration to take down the schools own American flag  Donald Trump tweets that flag burners should go to jail or lose their citizenship.

An epidemic of constitutional chin tugging and civil libertarian hair pulling immediately breaks out. By the time the media have exhausted their outrage over the looming abolition of free speech, judicial supremacy and affordable kale, Trump has moved on. The tempest had a shorter half-life than the one provoked in August 2015 by a Trump foray into birthright citizenship.

Trump so thoroughly owns the political stage today that the word Clinton seems positively quaint and Barack Obama, who happens to be president of the United States, is totally irrelevant. Obama gave a major national security address on Tuesday. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynns son got more attention.

Trump has mesmerized the national media not just with his elaborate Cabinet-selection production, by now Broadway-ready. But with a cluster of equally theatrical personal interventions that by traditional standards seem distinctly unpresidential.

Its a matter of size. They seem small for a president. Preventing the shutdown of a Carrier factory in Indiana. Announcing, in a contextless 45-second surprise statement, a major Japanese investment in the U.S. Calling for cancellation of the new Air Force One to be built by Boeing.

Pretty small stuff. It has the feel of a Cabinet undersecretary haggling with a contractor or a state governor drumming up business on a Central Asian trade mission. Or of candidate Trump selling Trump steaks and Trump wine in that bizarre victory speech after the Michigan primary.

Presidents dont normally do such things. It shrinks them. But then again, Trump is not yet president. And the point here is less the substance than the symbolism.

The Carrier coup was meant to demonstrate the kind of concern for the working man that gave Trump the Rust Belt victories that carried him to the presidency. The Japanese SoftBank announcement was a down payment on his promise to be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. (A slightly dubious claim: After all, how instrumental was Trump to that investment? Surely a financial commitment of that magnitude would have been planned long before Election Day.) And Boeing was an ostentatious declaration that he would be the zealous guardian of government spending that you would expect from a crusading outsider.

What appears as random Trumpian impulsiveness has a logic to it. Its a continuation of the campaign. Trump is acutely sensitive to his legitimacy problem, as he showed in his tweet claiming to have actually won the popular vote, despite trailing significantly in the official count. His best counter is approval ratings. In August, the Bloomberg poll had him at 33 percent. Hes now up to 50 percent. Still nowhere near Obamas stratospheric 79 percent at this point in 2008, but a substantial improvement nonetheless.

The mini-interventions are working but theres a risk for Trump in so personalizing his coming presidency. Its a technique borrowed from Third World strongmen who specialize in demonstrating their personal connection to the ordinary citizen. In a genuine democracy, however, the endurance of any political support depends on the larger success of the country. And that doesnt come from Carrier-size fixes. It comes from policy  policy that fundamentally changes the structures and alters the trajectory of the nation.

I alone can fix it, Trump ringingly declared in his convention speech. Indeed, alone he can do Carrier and SoftBank and Boeing. But ultimately he must deliver on tax reform, health care, economic growth and nationwide job creation. That requires Congress.

The 115th is Republican and ready to push through the legislation that gives life to the promises. On his part, Trump needs to avoid needless conflict. The Republican leadership has already signaled strong opposition on some issues, such as tariffs for job exporters. Nonetheless, there is enough common ground between Trump and his congressional majority to have an enormously productive 2017. The challenge will be to stay within the bounds of the GOP consensus.
Nebraskas traditional brick and mortar retailers recently announced that they are planning a counteroffensive against their internet competitors in 2017.

Their goal is to obtain basic fairness in consumer retail sales. They want a change in the laws regarding the collection of sales taxes on online purchases.

In the 45 states that have a sales tax, including Nebraska, collection of the sales tax is mandatory for brick and mortar merchants. However, in Nebraska consumers can and do largely ignore the sales tax requirement on online sales. Our states 4,600 brick and mortar retail businesses are seeking to get Nebraska to follow South Dakotas lead and pass a law that requires online retailers such as Amazon to collect local sales taxes just as they are required to do. They argue that the current system gives online merchants an unfair advantage.

We agree and support this effort. Mandatory collection of Nebraska sales taxes by online merchants will provide a more level playing field for retail businesses located in Nebraska. This change would bring basic fairness to main street and/or mall-based business.

We also support the idea that any increase in sales tax revenues from online sales should be offset by reductions in other tax collections. Surely those advocating less reliance on the property tax should find this tradeoff of revenue sources desirable. This prevents the increase in online sales tax collections from becoming an increase in tax revenue in Nebraska. The National Retail Federation estimates that nationally $25 billion in sales tax goes uncollected each year.

Collection of online sales tax is a case where legislation has not kept pace with changing technology. A Supreme Court ruling in 1992 stated that only companies that had a physical presence in a state must be required to collect local sales taxes because calculating the hundreds of different sales tax rates across the country would be too much of a burden for merchants. With modern technology, that is no longer an issue. However, the Supreme Court has not ruled on the topic since that time.

The Marketplace Fairness Act introduced in 2013 appears to offer a remedy to this issue on a federal level. Despite significant support from multiple lobby groups, many members of Congress and President Obama, the Marketplace Fairness Act has not become law. Laws on the federal level have been particularly difficult to pass in recent years. How this bill will be treated by the next administration is yet to be determined.

Economist Arthur Laffer, famous for promoting supply side economics during the Reagan administration, has stated that the Marketplace Fairness Act would add $563 billion to our gross national product and help create 1.5 million jobs.

Brick and mortar stores hire local people, pay local property taxes, and create income on which Nebraska income tax is paid. Their economic activity is essential to the existence of all our towns and cities as well as to the support of public schools. They support local communities in a multitude of ways. In many smaller communities, they are both an economic entity and an important social entity.

They need basic fairness. Online merchants and brick and mortar merchants should have equal responsibility for sales tax collections.
On Oct. 27 the YWCA celebrated this years Woman of Distinction in Grand Island. The goal was to celebrate past and present Women of Distinction. The event was a great success and enjoyed by all.

This year, the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award was presented to Ellen Hornady for her commitment to empowering women, eliminating racism and serving our community. The Hornady family has a long history with Marval Hornady being the first recipient 30 years ago and Margaret Hornady the 1998 Woman of Distinction, as well as this years featured speaker.

The Woman of Distinction honor was created by YWCA more than 30 years ago to honor women for their work and leadership in our community. Attendees enjoyed a social hour with live music by harpist Heidi Beran.

We wish to thank all of our sponsors: Hank and Pam Price for the music, Hornady Manufacturing provided a wonderful dinner, our bar sponsors were Brian and Carey Hamilton and Bruce and Judy Smith, our dessert sponsor was Tom Dinsdale Automotive, and the print sponsor was Copy Cat Printing & Signs.

We thank the Grand Island Independent as our media sponsor and Kim West Dinsdale for sponsoring the event room and decor at Riverside Country Club. The YWCA would also like to thank our table sponsors: All Faiths Funeral Home, JobXSite, Bosselman Enterprises, Five Points Bank, AOK Ladies, Ryan Bartels Construction, Steve and Karla Schneider, Don and Margaret (Hornady) David.

None of this would be possible without the members of our planning committee who contributed financially and through their preparation for the event. We thank our past Women of Distinction honorees that set the standard for this award. We now begin the planning for the 2017 Women of Distinction event and hope everyone will join us again.

Shari Kearney

YWCA Board member

1811 W. Second
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Linkedin Jessicha Valentina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, December 11, 2016

Research conducted by luxury marketplace Maxuri has revealed Louis Vuitton and Hublot as the two most favorite luxury brands among Indonesians, especially in big cities like Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Medan and Makassar.

Announced during a Maxuri event in Central Jakarta, on Wednesday, the research also named Fendi, Prada and Omega as the other brands in the top-five list.

Maxuri director and co-founder Sophie Gorecki said Indonesia was the third-most luxury consuming country in Asia Pacific.

(Read also: Indonesia home to Asia's largest online luxury goods sales: Report)

The company's CEO Andy Roberts added that Asia currently had the largest population of private wealth worldwide, bigger than the United States and Europe, leading to the expansion of luxury good market. "In the year 2020, 12 percent of luxury goods will be bought online."

Launched in February, Maxuri aims to cater to the demand for luxury products, such as handbags, watches, yachts, property and more.

In addition to the aforementioned items, the website also offers a concierge service, which is designed to cater to personal needs and preferences, and content, which allows users to get the latest updates related to luxury goods. (kes)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, December 10 2016

The medias role in protecting multiculturalism and pluralism in the country is at a crossroads, as some publications are believed to be endorsing religious fundamentalism, activists have claimed.

Human rights advocates say the media has encouraged anti-democratic moves by publishing reports on religion-motivated incidents without covering different perspectives.

The media lacks a sense of responsibility, human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis told a discussion in Jakarta on Friday. Todung explained that such irresponsibility could be seen in the absence of the endorsement of law enforcement in stories about religion-motivated violence, which is rampant in the country.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Sat, December 10 2016

BTPN, Go Tik Swan batik work hand in hand

De Driekleur building, Bandung



Go Tik Swan batik, a type of collectible heritage fabric, is no longer Surakarta batik, or even Javanese batik. It is Indonesian batik, as its founder called it.



However, it was not Go Tik Swan Hardjonagoros own idea to produce Indonesian batik; it was that of his friend, first president Sukarno, who asked him to create Batik Indonesia, instead of Batik Solo from the city of Surakarta, which was Go Tik Swan batiks first identity.



They met for the first time at an event at the University of Indonesia, where Go Tik Swan performed a Javanese dance. From there, they became friends, Nugroho, Go Tik Swans youngest brother, said at a recent discussion on batik, organized by Bank BTPN and The Jakarta Post.



After learning that Go Tik Swan came from a batik family, president Sukarno asked him to create and produce Batik Indonesia, Nugroho added. From there, Go Tik Swan created Indonesian batik by combining elements of Surakarta and Yogyakarta with the bright colors of the northern coast of Java.



Go Tik Swan was not only a batik maestro. He was also a kris (dagger) master, a fine Javanese dancer, a gamelan master and a Javanese cultural expert as he studied old Javanese literature at the University of Indonesia. Because of this, the Surakarta kingdom knighted him with its highest title, as Panembahan Hardjonagoro.



Since Go Tik Swan passed away a few years ago, Batik Indonesia has been overseen by his beneficiary, Siti Supiyah Aggriyani, with about 200 motifs. Go Tik Swan, however, did not allow Supiyah to create new motifs. Supiyah develops Go Tik Swan batik using advanced coloring that appeals to new customers.



During the discussion, Nugroho displayed some of his colorful Go Tik Swan items at the De Driekleur heritage building, which also houses the BTPN office. Also on display were new batik clothes, produced by batik makers invited by BTPN.



BTPN deputy president director Ongki Wanadjati Dana said most, if not all, of the banks credit went to micro, small and medium enterprises like batik makers. However, funding for the businesses comes from the upper segments of society through Sinaya products.



BTPNs focus is on the mass market. They need not only funding but also empowerment, said Ongki. So the money we raise from Sinaya not only gains significant interest but also begins a journey of empowering others to improve their lives.



Ongki added that BTPN offered Sinaya depositors a chance to interact directly with mass-market clients through the Sahabat Daya program, so that they could see firsthand how their money helped small businesses. JP/Riyadi Suparno





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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, December 11, 2016

A number of human rights activists under the Civil Society Alliance for the Constitution (Amsik) have said Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama is a victim of a crime he did not commit.

Law professor and activist from the University of Indonesia, Sulistyowati Irianto, claimed on Saturday that certain parties had fabricated Ahoks case to affect the Jakarta governors popularity and impact his chances of reelection.

Politicians and the authorities can forge articles to rule the case in their favor. Therefore, we want the judges to maintain independence in the trial, Sulistyowati said. Ahoks trial is scheduled for Dec. 13, with the National Police looking for a safe venue for the proceedings.

Ahok, named a blasphemy suspect on Nov. 16 because of controversial remarks about a Quranic verse, allegedly violated articles 156 and 156a of the Criminal Code (KUHP).

The chairman of human rights watchdog the Setara Institute, Hendardi, said the Attorney General's Office (AGO) had bowed to public pressure as Ahoks dossier was hastily submitted to court in less than a week.

The dossier consists of 826 pages; how can it be examined so fast? The AGO is like a postman that delivers a message from the police to the court, he said. (adt/evi)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, December 11, 2016

Stakeholders in Indonesias energy sector have to spend too much time dealing with administrative problems, preventing them from allocating enough resources to create innovations that could improve the industry, an official has said.

Deputy energy and mineral resources minister Arcandra Tahar said that for players in all energy sectors, including electricity, mining, renewable energy and oil and gas, administrative issues were the root causes that reduced their productivity.

In the electricity field, for instance, we are still discussing about the [business] relationship between independent power producers [IPPs] and PLN, he said, referring to the governments ambitious 35,000 megawatt electricity-procurement program, in which the IPPs will handle the construction of power plants with a total generating capacity of 25,000 MW and PLN handling the remaining 10,000 MW.

Similarly, in the mining sector, the country has spent a lot of time on the revision of the 2001 Oil and Gas Law; while in the renewable energy field, a prolonged discussion was being held to settle the feed-in tariff mechanism, Arcandra said.

We still havent talked about what kind of technology is suitable to solve our problems [in the energy and mineral sector], he added.

Arcandra said that Indonesia should learn from Peru, a small country in South America, which successfully introduced a new technological development in oil offshore drilling, called buoyant tower, in less than 20 months.

The technology in Peru could also be installed in Indonesia, but it would take about five years because of administrative problems, he said. (win/hwa)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, December 11, 2016

ASEAN member states are aiming to enhance their collective relations with China by reaching out at the grassroots level.



The deputy secretary-general of ASEAN for community and corporate affairs, AKP Mochtan, said that the government-to-government cooperation between ASEAN members and China, which has been running for 25 years, had been well established. However, on the grassroots levels the ties needs to be strengthened, he said.



Basically, a strong multilateral relationship is determined by the connectivity of its people. We have to ensure that this relationship reaches the people-to-people levels, he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of the ASEAN-China International Touring Assembly and the ASEAN-China Journalist Rally 2016 (CAITA).



CAITA is one of the activities being undertaken to commemorate the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue. The event gathered 100 racers and journalists from ASEAN state members and China.



This rally is a very good example of people-to-people exchange between ASEAN and China. I believe the racers can appreciate and better understand each others cultures, Mochtan said.



The racers and journalists had departed from Nanning in China on Nov. 23 and travelled a route across major cities in Southeast Asia before finally arriving in Jakarta, covering a distance of about 10,000 kilometers.



I believe that CAITA will achieve new heights of success, become a new brand of ASEAN-China cultural and people-to-people exchanges and make greater contributions to Chinese-ASEAN relations, said Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Xu Bu. (fac/hwa)
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Linkedin Hasyim Widhiarto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, December 11, 2016

Former finance minister Marie Muhammad passed away early on Sunday in Jakarta after receiving hospital treatment for the past several weeks for pneumonia.

He was 77.

Marie, who was born in Surabaya, East Java, on April 3, 1939, served as long-time civil servant with the Finance Ministry before being appointed finance minister under former president Soeharto from 1993 to 1998.

During his leadership, Marie endorsed a tight fiscal policy and numerous programs to promote budget efficiency to curb rampant corruption. His efforts earned him the title Mr. Clean.

Marie, who passed away at 1:40 a.m. on Sunday in the National Brain Center Hospital, East Jakarta, will be buried at Tanah Kusir Cemetery in South Jakarta later in the day.

In his official Twitter account, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker and National Mandate Party chairman Zulkifli Hasan expressed his condolences on the passing of Marie.

The nation has lost a clean and humble anticorruption figure. Goodbye Mr. Clean, he said.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, December 11, 2016

The National Police announced on Sunday that they had now arrested four suspects linked to a plot to bomb a major target, believed to be the State palace, in Jakarta.

Speaking in a press briefing, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said the National Polices Densus 88 counterterrorism squad had arrested a man in Karanganyar, Central Java, on Saturday evening, in addition to two separate arrest operations in Bekasi, West Java, several hours earlier.

The four suspects received instructions from BN to create a small terrorist cell, Awi said, referring to the initials of Muhammad Bahrun Naim Anggih Tamtomo, aka Bahrun Naim, a leader of the Katibah Nusantara militant group, a regional affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) movement.

(Read also: Suspects in plot to bomb State Palace part of IS-affiliated network)

Densus 88 arrested on Saturday two men and a woman in Bekasi, West Java, for allegedly plotting a bomb attack at the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

The first two suspects, identified only as MNS (previously identified as NS) and AS, were arrested at around 3:40 p.m. on Saturday on the Kalimalang overpass, while another suspect, a 27-year-old woman identified only as DYN, was arrested 10 minutes later in a rented house in Bintara Jaya subdistrict.

In the house, the police found a high-explosive bomb weighing around 3 kilograms packed into a pressure cooker.

The fourth suspect, a man identified as S, was arrested in Karanganyar at around 6:30 p.m.

Awi said the police were also hunting another suspect other than Bahrun Naim in the case.

Awi said the bomb had been made by MNS and S in Karanganyar and delivered to Jakarta on Saturday in a rented car by MNS and AS.

AS, meanwhile, was initially set to drop DYN in Jakarta on Sunday morning where she would carry out a suicide attack, Awi said.

In January, a terrorist attack on Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, left four terrorists and four civilians dead, and more than 25 injured. It was allegedly masterminded by Bahrun Naim. (hwa)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, December 11, 2016

The police say the bomb prepared in a plot to attack the State Palace in Central Jakarta contained high explosives, designed to create mass destruction and a large number of casualties.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said the bomb, found on Saturday at a rented house in the neighboring region of Bekasi, West Java, weighed around 3 kilograms and was made of triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a highly explosive substance used in many terrorist attacks.

If detonated, the bomb could have destroyed everything within a radius of 300 meters, Argo said on Saturday evening.

(Read also: Densus 88 foils plot to bomb State Palace)

On Saturday, the National Polices Densus 88 counterterrorism squad arrested two men and a woman in Bekasi, for allegedly plotting a bomb attack at the State Palace.

The first two suspects, identified only as NS and AS, were arrested at around 3:40 p.m. on Saturday on the Kalimalang overpass, while the other suspect, a 27-year-old woman identified only as DYN, was arrested 10 minutes later at a rented house in Bintara Jaya subdistrict, in which the police found the bomb packed into a pressure cooker.

The polices initial investigation has found that the bomb was to have been detonated by DYN on Sunday morning during the Presidential Security Details (Paspampres) handover ceremony at the palace

TATP, also known as the Mother of Satan, was the primary explosive material used in the bombs and suicide vests in the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. The unstable chemical was also used in the 2005 London bombings.

In January, a terrorist attack in Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, left four of terrorists and four civilians dead, and more than 25 injured. (hwa)
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Linkedin Panca Nugraha (The Jakarta Post) East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara  Sun, December 11, 2016

More than 500 people from various institutions are picking up trash littered on Mount Rinjani and are planting trees along the mountain's paths over the weekend.

Rinjani is famous for its beauty, but also notorious for its trash.

The 500 are from the Indonesian Military, the National Police, the Mt. Rinjani National Park Body (TNGR), the West Nusa Tenggara Culture and Tourism Agency, the West Nusa Tenggara Forestry Agency, the mountaineering community and West Nusa Tenggaras National Search and Rescue Team,

We call the cleaning up and planting trees a 'Love for Rinjani Action'. This is our first event and it is to raise awareness among trekkers not to litter here, West Nusa Tenggara Governor Muhammad Amin said Saturday.

The head of the Culture and Tourism Agency, Lalu Muhammad Faozal, said the event was an answer to criticism about the woeful condition of Rinjani. He said the event would be held regularly. Tourists are welcome to participate, he said.

The national park body expected each person would carry down 10 kilograms of trash, thus the total amount of litter would be about 5 metric tons. The institution plans to analyze the types of litter afterwards for their own database. (evi)
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Linkedin Hasyim Widhiarto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, December 11, 2016

The successful thwarting by law enforcement authorities of a plot by a radical cell to bomb a major target in Jakarta over the weekend does not guarantee that the capital remains safe from another terrorist threat, the police have warned.

On Saturday, the National Polices Densus 88 counterterrorism squad arrested four people in two cities  Bekasi in West Java and Karanganyar in Central Java  for allegedly planning a bomb attack at a major target, believed to be the State Palace, in Jakarta.

In a rented house in Bekasi where one of the suspects was arrested, the police found a high-explosive bomb that was capable of destroying everything within a radius of 300 meters.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono, however, said there was a possibility that other terrorist cells under the leadership of Muhammad Bahrun Naim Anggih Tamtomo, a leader of the Katibah Nusantara militant group, a regional affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) movement, remain active and preparing for other attacks.

We have learned that BN has recruited other terrorist cells to carry out suicide attacks, Awi said on Sunday in a press briefing, referring to the initials of Bahrun Naim.

(Read also: High explosive bomb prepared to attack State Palace)

In January, a terrorist attack on Jl. M. H. Thamrin, Central Jakarta, left four terrorists and four civilians dead, and more than 25 injured. It was allegedly masterminded by Bahrun Naim, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

In November 2010, Densus 88 arrested Bahrun Naim and seized hundreds of rounds of ammunition from his house in Surakarta, Central Java. The Surakarta District Court sentenced him in June 2011 to two-and-a-half years in prison for violating Emergency Law No. 12/1951 on illegal firearms possession. (hwa)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, December 11, 2016

The National Polices Densus 88 counterterrorism squad has arrested two men and a woman in Bekasi, West Java, for allegedly plotting a bomb attack at the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

The first two suspects, identified only as NS and AS, were arrested at around 3:40 p.m. on Saturday on the Kalimalang overpass, while the other suspect, a 27-year-old woman identified only as DYN, was arrested 10 minutes later at a rented house in Bintara Jaya subdistrict.

From the house, the police found a high-explosive bomb weighing around 3 kilograms packed into a pressure cooker.

The bomb was to be detonated at the State Palace during the Presidential Security Details [Paspampres] handover ceremony tomorrow [Sunday], Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said on Saturday evening.

(Read also: High explosive bomb prepared to attack State Palace)

Since July, the palace has opened the ceremony, which marks the changing of the guards at the palace, to the public every second Sunday of the month.

The event, starting at 8 a.m., is held on Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara, directly in front of the Merdeka Palace, a part of the State Palace complex that serves as the Presidents office. It usually attracts a crowd of people, some of them visitors to the iconic National Monument square, located in front of the palace.

In January, a terrorist attack on Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, left four terrorists and four civilians dead, and injured more than 25. (hwa)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, December 11, 2016

The police say that a group of people arrested in Bekasi, West Java, for allegedly plotting a bomb attack on the State Palace is part of a terrorist network controlled by a terrorist convict who allegedly masterminded a deadly terrorist attack in Central Jakarta earlier this year.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said the police had uncovered links between the three people who were arrested on Saturday and Muhammad Bahrun Naim Anggih Tamtomo, aka Bahrun Naim, a leader of the Katibah Nusantara militant group, a regional affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) movement.

Those arrested [in Bekasi] are part of Bahrun Naims IS-affiliated network, Awi said on Saturday, adding that the police had conducted a surveillance operation before finally arresting them on Saturday.

(Read also: High explosive bomb prepared to attack State Palace)

The National Polices Densus 88 counterterrorism squad arrested on Saturday two men and a woman in Bekasi, West Java, for allegedly plotting a bomb attack at the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

The first two suspects, identified only as NS and AS, were arrested at around 3:40 p.m. on Saturday on the Kalimalang overpass, while the other suspect, a 27-year-old woman identified only as DYN, was arrested 10 minutes later in a rented house in Bintara Jaya subdistrict.

In the house, the police found a high-explosive bomb weighing around 3 kilograms packed into a pressure cooker.

(Read also: Terrorist attacks blamed on IS recruit Bahrun Naim)

Bahrun Naim himself is well known to the police. In November 2010, Densus 88 arrested him and seized hundreds of rounds of ammunition from his house in Surakarta, Central Java. The Surakarta District Court sentenced him in June 2011 to two-and-a-half years in prison for violating Emergency Law No. 12/1951 on illegal firearms possession.

Although his whereabouts remain unknown, Bahruns crucial role in leading Indonesian terrorist cells became public after the police identified him as the mastermind behind a terrorist attack on Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, on Jan. 14, which led to the deaths of four terrorists and four civilians.

As of Sunday morning, police personnel were still combing the house where the bomb was found searching for more evidence. (hwa)
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Linkedin Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post) Surakarta, Central Java  Sun, December 11, 2016

The National Polices Densus 88 counterterrorism squad has taken into custody the wife of a terrorist suspect linked to a plot to bomb a major target in Jakarta for questioning after searching the suspects house in Surakarta, Central Java, for more evidence.

The police spent about two hours on Sunday afternoon searching the house of one of two men arrested on Saturday in Jakarta.

The wife was seen carrying her 6-month-old baby into a police car. There was no official statement from on-duty police officers after they concluded the search.

Densus 88 on Saturday arrested two men and a woman in Bekasi, West Java, for allegedly plotting a bomb attack at a major target, believed to be the State Palace, in Jakarta.

The two men were arrested at about 3:40 p.m. on the Kalimalang overpass, while a 27-year-old woman was arrested 10 minutes later in a rented house in the Bintara Jaya subdistrict.

In the Bintara Jaya house, the police found high explosives weighing about 3 kilograms packed into a pressure cooker.

The fourth suspect, another man, was arrested in Karanganyar, Central Java, at about 6:30 p.m.

Neighbors of the first suspect and his wife in Surakarta said they had got married in 2015 and had since lived in their current house, which belongs to the woman's parents.

They seemed fine. The wife joins regular residents meeting, while the husband is a bit of an introvert, said Muhammad Amin, one of the couples neighbors. (hwa)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, December 11, 2016

Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo reiterated on Saturday that the country must close ranks to maintain unity because there were indications that external parties were attempting to divide the nation.

We have to be aware of invincible hands that are designing efforts to weaken our nation, he said at the Indonesianisme Summit discussion held in Jakarta.

Providing an example, Gatot said there were some people who currently wanted to exploit Muslim groups anger against Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, who was named a blasphemy suspect last month, to overthrow President Joko Jokowi Widodo.

On Nov. 20, fake news spread on the internet claiming that Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab had been hospitalized after being beaten by a member of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad). The FPI jointly organized two massive rallies in Jakarta on Nov. 4 and Dec. 2 to push for the prosecution of Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descent, who allegedly made a blasphemous comment about a Quranic verse during a visit to Thousand Islands regency in late September.

Investigations by law-enforcement agencies, however, found that the sources of the fake news were internet portals in Australia and the United States, Gatot said.

Cases like this, he said, had to be dealt with in the spirit of unity, by upholding the national philosophy of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika  Unity in Diversity.

If there is no Islam, it is not Indonesia; if there is no Christianity, it is not Indonesia; if there is no Hinduism, it is not Indonesia; if there is no Buddhism; it is not Indonesia, he said. (win/hwa)
I am writing this in the wake of the election of Donald Trump, and that has changed my reflections as I look back on what I read this year. Ive found myself thinking a lot about a book that I read early in January and which I reviewed on this site, Dan Foxs Pretentiousness: Why It Matters. There was a political aspect to Foxs book that I did not discuss in my review, but which now seems most important. For those who read my review, you will know that I focused mainly on the imprecise use of the word pretentious, especially in literary criticism and in social situations. Fox argued that the word is too often used as a vague, dismissive, insult: Pretension gets sticky with a mess of unpleasant traits; narcissism, lying, ostentation, presumption, snobbery, selfish individualism. These are not synonyms for each other. The pretentious are those who brave being different.

Foxs argument was well received, though I noticed that some critics pushed back against Foxs whole-hearted embrace of pretentiousness as a kind of open-minded ambition, and felt compelled to point out the ways in which pretentious behavior can be obnoxious, smug, and self-congratulatory. But I think those reviewers missed Foxs larger point, which is that pretentious and its supposed opposite, authentic, have become so politicized that they have lost any nuance of meaning. Rereading Foxs book, I was struck by the prescience of this paragraph, which was written before Brexit and before Donald Trump was the Republican Party nominee:

Politics is a game in which actors assert their authenticity in the face of other actors whom they accuse of bad faith. Think of the embattled conservative candidate who, faced with hard questions about policy or public gaffes, plays the biased liberal media card. Appeals are made to a silent majority sitting in the stalls, drowned out by the hecklers positioned up in the Gods; socialists, liberals, gays, women, Muslims, Jews, immigrants, the BBC, the political correctness brigade. A phantom cultural elite is conjured onstage, working against what real, ordinary people wish. (As if real, ordinary people could not possibly be left-wing, or gay, or interested in equality, or hold different religious beliefs.) Its nothing more than smoke and mirrors, a game of pretense, but the idea of the ordinary person is a powerful rhetorical image.

That pretty much sums up Trumps political strategy, though Fox, a British writer, was likely thinking of his home country. In the wake of Brexit, I read Zadie Smiths excellent Fences: A Brexit Diary, and then I read it again, after our election. I saw some of my New Yorker blindness in her description of her own Londoncentric solipsism:

The first instinct of many Remain voters on the left was that this was only about immigration. When the numbers came in and the class and age breakdown became known, a working-class populist revolution came more clearly into view, although of the kind that always perplexes middle-class liberals who tend to be both politically naive and sentimental about working classes.

One can accuse President-elect Trump of many things, but certainly not political naivete or sentimentality. His vocabulary was always simple, direct, and emotional. He had no qualms riding ugly currents of thought: bigotry, envy, resentment, self-pity, bitterness, nihilism, and hatred. From his stint as a reality television host, he knew they would provoke action.

I write these words in anger, and thats the emotion Ill probably always associate with this election cycle. Beneath my anger is a sadness that I am reluctant to excavate. The one book that forced me to do that this year was Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward. I read it in February and it has stayed with me all year. Its a memoir about the authors grief over the deaths of five young, black men that she knew in childhood. One of these young men was her brother. Ward grew up in a rural community in southern Mississippi. Her literary talent led her out of state to college and later, to graduate school in creative writing. But her departure was fraught with guilt and longing:

I wanted to apply, to leave Mississippi, to escape the narrative I encountered in my family, my community, and my school that I was worthless, a sense that was as ever present as the wet, cloying heat. You cant leave, my mother said to me. You have to help me with your siblings. When she said that, I felt all the weight of the South pressing down on me, and it was then that I resolved to leave the region for college, but to do it in a way that respected the sacrifices my mother made for me. I studied harder. I read more. How could I know then that this would be my life: yearning to leave the South and doing so again and again, but perpetually called back to home by a love so thick it choked me?

Men We Reaped details Wards visits home, the summers and holiday breaks destroyed by death. But this is not a gloomy book. Instead, its as full of joy, youth, and love, as it is of grief, mourning, and heartbreak. The amount of life in this book makes the amount of loss all the more tragic.

Finally, regular readers of this site will know that Ive spent the year reading Marcel Prousts In Search of Lost Time and occasionally writing about it here. Rereading one of my favorite books has not only been a pleasure, its also forced me to set aside more time for reading, and that has brought a certain amount of calm and perspective into my life. The day after the election, in an attempt to find some equilibrium, I returned to In Search of Lost Time. The scene I read happened to be one in which Baron de Charlus misreads a social situation and as a result, loses the person he loves most dearly. His error is a familiar one: he doesnt observe or even suspect the simmering resentment of someone else. I found myself underlining many sentences, including this one: We picture the future as a reflection of the present projected into an empty space, whereas it is the result, often almost immediate, of causes which for the most part escape our notice.

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A man who lost most of his penis to a flesh-eating superbug after routine surgery is taking legal action against the hospital.

Cancer patient Andrew Lane, 61, contracted the potentially fatal infection necrotising fasciitis following an operation to remove his prostate gland at Southend Hospital in Essex.

He was left fighting for his life and, although he survived, his genitals were so badly damaged that he lost most of his penis and is no longer able to have sex.

The bug started in his stomach (Slater and Gordon solicitors/PA)

So much diseased tissue had to be removed that it also left him with a protruding stomach, where the outer tissue had been eaten away.

He was forced to use a catheter and colostomy bag for two years and has had to have a special device fitted to help him urinate.

Andrew, from Thurrock, Essex, spent eight weeks in hospital following the incident in March 2013 and said he has only recently started to come to terms with his injuries.

He is now taking legal action against Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust over claims that his bowel was punctured during the original operation, but this was not detected for days afterwards, which led to the infection.

He said: It has just been a horrendous experience. I thought I was going to die. That night I was taken to theatre three times while the surgeons took more and more tissue away.

I lost from my belly button to just above the groin and Ive not got much left of a penis. I was super-fit before all this. I had a good body, but now I look like Im nine months pregnant. I cant ever bear to look at myself naked.

The most difficult bit is not being able to have sex with my wife any more. Were a normal couple who enjoyed it as part of a healthy relationship and I do miss that.

Andrew, who married his long-term partner Sue after being discharged from hospital, said he felt unable to return to his job as an architectural draftsman and now works as a carer.

While the damage is irreversible, he hopes that sharing his story will help raise awareness and stop it happening to anyone else.

Andrew hopes to raise awareness of the rare flesh eating bug (Slater and Gordon)

Id never even heard of the bug before and had no idea of the damage it could do, but if speaking out can raise awareness and stop one more person having to go through what Ive been through then it will have been worth it, he said.

Nick Greaves, a clinical negligence specialist at law firm Slater and Gordon, is representing Lane in a civil action.

Mr Lane believed he was going into hospital for a routine operation and would be home within days, he said. Instead, he has been left with permanent and life-changing injuries that have turned his world upside down.

Although nothing can change that, he wants to know what happened and ensure it is fully investigated and everything possible done to prevent anyone else having to go through the same ordeal.

A spokesman for Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust confirmed it was aware of the legal case but could not comment as it was an ongoing matter.
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Film: Return to the magical world of Harry Potter

The latest film from the blockbusting Harry Potter franchise returns us to the magical world which engrossed an entire generation of children and no small amount of adults as well.



By Tanyaluk Sakoot

Sunday 11 December 2016, 02:00PM

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them offers a new story and new characters, and it looks at the wizard community from a different angle  and a different time period. Set in the jazz and prohibition era of New York City in 1926, the movie takes magical action across the Atlantic and away from the Potter-verses trademark English setting.

The script was written by JK Rowling herself, and although she has exerted strong control over the screenplays adapting her novels, this is the first time she has personally written a movie script. It is directed by old-hand David Yates, who has long experience in the Potter franchise, having directed the last four Potter movies.

The main character Newt Scamander (played by Eddie Redmayne) is magic-zoologist who is passionate about finding and categorising magical creatures from all over the world. He could be considered a kind of grown-up version of Harry Potter, which is an understandable direction to take the franchise in, given that many Potter fans are now themselves all grown up.

As predecessor to Potter, Newt also studied at Hogwarts School, in Hufflepuff House, but he leaves his education behind to pursue his love of magical beasts and passion to protect them from humans that might wish to cause them harm. As we already know from the previous movies, Newt will eventually pen the book from which the movie takes its name, which of course, was later studied by Potter during his time at Hogwarts.

Newt, a tweedy somewhat bumbling Englishman, travels to New York City with only his magical leather suitcase, which is filled with the magical beasts he has collected, including, among others, a furry black platypus-like Niffler with a knack for sniffing out treasure, and a giant Thunderbird that can sense danger and create storms as it flies, which Newt planned to release back to its native Arizona.

His mission in America is to search out other scholars of the beastly world to confer with, and also to find and protect the beasts that inhabit the New World. But, before long, an unforeseen and unfortunate occurrence befalls Newt when he accidentally swaps his suitcase with Jacob, a nomaj (an American word for muggle a non-magic person) who before long allows many of the fantastic beasts to escape and begin to wreak havoc on the city.

This chaos couldnt come at a worse time as tensions are rising between the no-majs and wizards and witches in New York. Anti-wizard no-maj group The New Salem Philanthropic Society is led by the puritanical, hate-spewing Mary Lou Barebone (played to a tee by Samantha Morton) and are protesting in the streets against the wizards and the dangers they pose to ordinary people.

Meanwhile, Newt is tracked down and arrested by wizard official Porpentina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), who works for the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA), and is looking to get back in her employers good graces. Porpentina tells Newt that all wizards must register their wands at the Wand Permit Office, lest they pose a threat to magical safety.

MACUSAs policy is to hide themselves from no-majs, but lately a dark force is threatening this anonymity by destroying buildings causing mayhem in New York.

Newt is sent off on a merry chase to re-capture all the magical creatures before they cause more trouble, joined by his new no-maj friend Jacob, who provides some comic relief in the otherwise quite stern movie, and Porpentinas flirtatious sister Queenie.

This sets up the action scenes for much of the film, as they rush around New York trying to recapture the elusive and unusual creatures.

With its adult characters, the movie also brings with it the adult themes of bigotry and intolerance. It certainly veers to the dark side of wizardry. Somewhat like the darker turn the later Harry Potter movies took, but much more explicit. It plays on the current Zeitgeist of racial intolerance and xenophobia in American culture and does its best to critique it, although the allegory does not quite hold water.

We also catch our first glimpse of the new villain Gellert Grindelwald who, given that the franchise is signed up for another four movies, we will no doubt see more of soon.

Overall, it is a fast-paced movie, which despite the need to begin the world-building plot and characters inevitably needed in the first movie of a franchise, it manages to keep the viewer interested. The fantastic beasts are realised very well on screen by deft use of CGI.

People who are unfamiliar with the Harry Potter franchise movies may struggle to keep up with the magic jargon, so make sure you go with a Potter fan if you want to be brought up to date.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler and Colin Farrell. Directed by David Yates. Now showing at the cinemas at Jungceylon and Central Festival Phuket.
Kajonkiet International School matures with new Sixth Form on offer next year

Kajonkiet International School (KIS) has announced it will open its new Sixth Form in August 2017. The curriculum will provide students with a structured and challenging individualised learning program following A-Level syllabuses and prepare them to study for their degrees at universities in Thailand and around the world.



By Mark Knowles

Sunday 11 December 2016, 10:00AM



KIS Head of Secondary Mr Gareth Eynon said he is extremely excited about this next phase in the schools development and was looking forward to welcoming his first cohort of Sixth Form students in 2017. The internationally recognised A-Level qualification will be offered in a wide range of subject choices to prospective students and will be tailored to their needs.

Mr Eynon said, The A-Level is considered a gold-standard qualification, recognised by universities and employers globally. At KIS I anticipate students will typically study four A-level subjects over the two year course in line with the future degree paths they are considering.

Whilst emphasising that academic rigour will be central to the Sixth Form experience, Mr Eynon also stressed that the new program would not solely concentrate on academic study. There will also be a strong focus on preparing students for university life.

Through a varied Sixth Form study component, students will receive support and guidance in a range of areas, including: developing successful study skills and habits; careers advice; their search for the right university; preparing personal statements and applications and more.

The overall vision for the Sixth Form reflects that promoted through the rest of the school  of building a culture with individual and community excellence at the core, said Mr Eynon, adding, We aim to create learning environments that are creative, rigorous and challenging, but also safe, supportive and nurturing, with students given plentiful opportunity to express their ideas and opinions; to develop their individual identities and voices.

A strong focus on English skills will also be embedded in the Sixth Form experience, to ensure students continue to develop their English in preparation for the transition to university. Mr Eynon said, Over the years, Ive noticed that unless students continue their study of English when they reach Sixth Form, their level of fluency can plateau, even decline.

"It is important therefore that we build this provision into the course framework. I envisage a varied program of study involving debating, presentation skills and techniques, writing styles  whether formal or creative, and using language for the sheer enjoyment of it."

Providing guidance to students in finding and applying for their preferred university will also be a key part of the program. Especially so, given international students will be applying to a wide range of international universities.

We want to ensure we are opening the most appropriate pathways for our students, whether that be in Thailand, Australia, the UK or wherever. One of the ways in which we will be measured in the future is by how successful we are in placing our students in their first choice university, or at the leading universities around the world, Mr Eynon said.

The new program will also be a chance for teaching staff to spread their wings and teach at a more advanced level. Mr Eynon said that as the Sixth Form phase of the school grows more staff will be recruited to further strengthen the teaching provision currently benefiting the students.

Many of our existing teachers have experience of A-level teaching and they are excited by the prospect of teaching at that level again next year. We have the capability and capacity within our existing staff to move comfortably into Sixth Form offering a broad range of subjects.

We are fortunate too that our student/teacher ratios are very favourable. This said, we anticipate additional staffing appointments will further supplement the specialist teaching knowledge within the team, he said.

Mr Eynon also announced that scholarship awards will be available to students entering the Sixth Form program, whether existing students or those new to KIS, saying: The scholarship program exists to support the school philosophy in recognising and celebrating students of exceptional talent, gifts and commitment.

"We are keen to attract the best students we possibly can; those that can demonstrate a history of high achievement with a genuine potential for improvement and further development. Someone who is going to make a significant contribution to the fabric of the school is the type of student we are looking for.

Identifying the value that the senior students will bring to the school in promoting the ethos of responsibility and leadership, Mr Eynon said, Our Sixth Formers will become beacons for the rest of the school to look up to. Our younger students will aspire to be like them, to emulate them. As the schools student leaders they will carry real influence. I look to them to demonstrate all of the shared values of our school vision, including aspiration and ambition.

If, when our students arrive on their first day at university, they are among those students at the forefront in the seminar rooms and lecture halls; leading discussions, with courteous voice; able to rationally present their opinions and to lead responsibly; then, we can claim to have been successful, he said.
Take a number: Phuket Airport immigration still overloaded

PHUKET: Tourists arriving at Phuket International Airport continue to have to wait hours to clear immigration, despite immigration officials saying they have more officers on duty during peak times.

tourismimmigrationtransportChineseRussian

By Supatra Sutham

Sunday 11 December 2016, 09:00AM

The queue to clear immigration at Phuket International Airport snakes out of teh Arrivals Hall and winds out of sight.

The Arrivals Hall at Phuket International Airport is crammed as tourists wait hours to clear immigration.

Capt Watchawuth Kitiatsawong, a senior-ranking officer at Phuket Airport Immigration, told The Phuket News this week that enough officers have been moved to Phuket Airport to cope with the heavy peak periods, but that the key problem was that there are not enough computer terminals available to process tourist arrivals.

If all counters were open, it would help shorten the queues, but some counters still have no computer terminals installed, he explained.

We have enough officials to fill all the processing stations once they do open, but at this time we can only do our best to get the lines moving, he added.

The inbound immigration desks are overloaded when more than one flight lands at the same time, Capt Watchawuth said.

The queues to clear immigration are normal (sic) most of the time. The queues only get longer than normal if we get large numbers of passengers arriving at the same time from double flights, he said.

During this time we have more staff at the available counters to help out to get the line moving as quickly as possible, he added.

Normally we get about 300 passengers per flight, and this takes us only half an hour to clear them. The heavy load periods though are from midnight to 4am, when flights come from China and Russia, so we add more staff during this hours, Capt Watchawuth reiterated.

The current wait to clear immigration during peak periods is about 2 hours, travellers have consistently reported to The Phuket News.

First time back in a year. What a ridiculous situation! reported one visitor from the UK who landed at the airport early last Saturday (Dec 3) to rest in Phuket in recovery after surgery.

The flight landed at 6:50am. It took 2.5 hours to show a passport and then 32 minutes to get out the airport after baggage check, he wrote.

Ive travelled the world and this has to be the worst airport in the entire world. My partner landed a week before at 21. 55  it took her 2 hrs 15 mins to clear Immigration, he added.

The pandemonium leads to frayed patience and irate travellers in the Arrivals Hall.

There was no cueing system. Everyone was allowed to push in. A nationality from an eastern bloc area wouldnt wait I came here for R&R to stand watching as they wouldnt queue and walked up the officials lane and were served  in my total amazement - by the immigration officer.

The officer allowed over 30 people through right next to me. Shocking was understatement. I wont be rushing back here!

The ongoing bumbling of the Immigration Bureau, which is a division of the Royal Thai Police, being unable to sort out the immigration delays dates back to Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha declaring the new International Terminal officially open on Sept 16.

In open acknowledgement of the howling delays tourists must suffer before they can begin their holiday in Phuket, Transport Minister Lt Gen Arkhom Termpittayapaisith in less than a week after the official opening confirmed more officers had been posted and that new immigration-processing computer terminals were on their way in a public declaration that the problem had been solved. (See story here.)

As recently as Dec 1, Immigration Bureau Chief Pol Maj Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn was in Phuket in person to warn immigration officials to be prepared for a busy influx of tourists this tourism high season.

However, Gen Nathathorn made no mention of any measures taken to reduce the delays at the airport. (See story here.)
Imperial Valley News Center

Prison Sentences for Azerbaijani Activists

Washington, DC - The United States is concerned by the decisions of Azerbaijani courts to sentence N!DA activists Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov to ten years in prison on charges of drug possession that are widely considered to be politically motivated. We are also concerned by allegations of ill-treatment during their detention.

We urge the Azerbaijani government to release Mr. Mammadov and Mr. Ibrahimov as well as other individuals who have been incarcerated for exercising their fundamental freedoms. We also urge the government of Azerbaijan to remove the travel ban on journalist Khadija Ismailova, which the supreme court upheld yesterday, and drop the remaining charges against her.
President Barack Obama watches the musical performances at the 2016 National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
One person was killed and three others were injured as a private helicopter crashed at Goregaon in the suburb of Mumbai on Sunday.

The Robinson R44 chopper belonging to Aman Aviation Pvt Ltd was on a joyride when it crashed around 12.15 pm inside the forested Aarey Milk Colony and caught fire. The deceased was identified as Prafulkumar Mishra, the pilot of the copter.

Those who suffered burn injuries a co-pilot and two passengers including a womanwere rushed to nearby Sevens Hill hospital in Andheri East where their condition is said to be critical.

Officials said three fire engines were at the spot and the fire had been extinguished. According to eyewitnesses, the aircraft has been completely burnt.
Authorities on Sunday sounded an alert in Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Tamil Nadu as cyclonic storm 'Vardah' over the Bay of Bengal has turned into a "very severe" one.



The storm is likely to cross north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast by Monday afternoon, Indian Meteorological Department said on Sunday.

"The storm is very likely to maintain its intensity till Sunday evening. Thereafter it will weaken gradually while moving towards south Andhra Pradesh coast and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coast," the IMD said.

The Met office has forecast light to moderate rains at many places, with isolated heavy to very heavy falls over south Andhra coast and north coastal Tamil Nadu from Sunday evening for subsequent 36 hours.



Light to moderate rains are likely to occur over north coastal Andhra.



Strong winds with speed of 40-50 kmph are likely along the coast from Sunday.



The speed may increase to 70-80 kmph at the time of landfall. Damage to thatched huts, power and communication lines, roads and crops is expected.



As the sea will be rough, fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea for next 48 hours.



Authorities have hoisted third warning signal at all ports on Andhra coast.



District administration in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore have been alerted to take all precautionary measures.



Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who has cancelled his visit to the UAE and Kuwait, is monitoring the situation from the command and control centre in Vijayawada.



Naidu deputed four senior IAS officers to four districts to take necessary steps to minimise the loss of lives and property.



Two teams of National Disaster Response Force have reached Nellore district.
The twitter accounts of senior journalists Barkha Dutt and Ravish Kumar were hacked by a group going by the name 'legion'. The same group had claimed responsibility for the hacks on liquor baron Vijay Mallya's account.

Apart from tweeting offensive messages, the group threatened to leak 1 TB of confidential data.

"Coming up next. Lalit Modi leaks. Stay tuned," the group posted. The tweets were soon taken down.

Earlier, the same group had targeted Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. Some messages with profanities were put out on Rahul Gandhi's account on November 30.

The hackers also removed the Congress leader's profile picture and changed the title of the account from @OfficeOfRG to an abusive one.

A day later, the official twitter account of the Congress party also came under fire of the hacker group. One of the tweets posted on the account said that a "full dump" of Congress emails will be posted. "Stay tuned for Christmas special. We have enough info to drop your party down to shreds," it had said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday blamed "RSS culture" for the protests which prevented him from attending a function in Bhopal.



He said that the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the ideological parent of the BJP, was behind the protests on Saturday.



"Generally when a chief minister visits another state, there are protocols. But since the RSS was behind the protests, the police remained silent. It reflects the culture of RSS," he said.



Vijayan was prevented from attending a function in Bhopal by a group of RSS and Bajrang Dal activists.



The Madhya Pradesh Police told Vijayan to return before he could even reach the venue of a meeting organised by a few Kerala-based organisations.



"This has never ever happened in Kerala. Recently when home hinister Rajnath Singh visited Kannur, a place often referred to as a party village (CPM bastion), there were no issues at all."



"You should not forget that his visit came at a time when there was high tension in Kannur. This is the difference in the mindset and culture."



After hearing about the episode, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan telephoned Vijayan and expressed regrets. The police chief too met and apologized for what happened.


Pakistan prime minister's top foreign policy aide Tariq Fatemi, who has been in the US for a week for 'familiarisation meetings' with President-elect Donald Trump's transition team, is yet to meet anyone from the incoming administration, a media report said on Sunday.

Fatemi, special assistant on foreign affairs to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, however, has held meetings with senior officials of the outgoing Obama administration and US lawmakers and is hoping to meet some members of the incoming Trump administration early this week, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Such meetings are highlighted in press releases issued by the Pakistan embassy, which claims that these talks have helped create a better understanding of Pakistans position on various issues, it said.

So far the only comment from the US side came from the State Department's deputy spokesman Mark Toner who said that US officials did discuss "a range of bilateral and regional" issues with Fatemi and these included "regional stability and counter-terrorism cooperation".

But he did not say if the meetings helped resolve the differences that have strained Pakistan's relations with the United States, the report said.

Neither the Pakistan embassy nor the Trump team have said anything about Fatemi's meetings/probable meetings with the officials of the incoming administration, it said.

Earlier this week, Fatemi visited New York, from where US President-elect Trump is conducting his business, but Pakistani diplomats said he was only there to meet senior UN officials and returned to Washington the same day.

A senior Pakistani diplomat, when asked why Fatemi had not yet met members of the Trump team, was quoted by the paper as saying that "protocol did not allow him to meet them in his official capacity" but he and the embassy were trying to arrange some informal meetings.

One such meeting, with Stephen Hadley, the former Bush administration's national security adviser, may happen this week, the report said.

The embassy official claimed that Fatemi has also been "very active on telephone," speaking to the Trump team. "We are reaching out to the 'influentials' not 'probables,' the paper quoted the official as saying while explaining why Fatemi had not yet met Trump officials although he has been in the US for almost a week now.

"We are trying to meet the people who have influence and are feeding into the transition process," the official said.

While the Pakistan embassy insists that it would not be appropriate for Fatemi to hold formal meetings with officials who are not in the government yet, officials from other countries are doing exactly that, the paper noted.

Senior officials and leaders from across the globe are visiting New York for meeting Trump officials, it said.

The embassy's informal, and formal, contacts with the Trump team did help them in arranging Prime Minister Sharif's telephone call with Trump last week. But that call too became controversial when Sharif's office released readout of that call, the report said.

Fatemi, however, told a news briefing in Washington last Monday that Trump's office had approved the readout and had also allowed them to release it to the media.

"That is the language that the president-elect used. And it was a very honest and truthful narrative, which we put out with the approval of his office," the paper quoted him as saying.

"And if that has created interests and excitement, we are in no way disappointed with it," he had said.

The surprisingly candid readout of the telephone call created a major controversy in Washington where even the White House joined the call for Trump to be more careful while talking to foreign leaders. The US media also criticised Pakistan for releasing details of personal greetings.

Fatemi also insisted that the new administration in Washington would provide Pakistan a "fresh opportunity to burnish its credentials", the report said.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani formally withdrew from consideration for a post in President-elect Donald Trumps administration Friday, putting an end to his ill-fated bid to lead the State Department. Trump is now seriously considering Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson for the post.

Giulianis prospects to serve as secretary of state had already dimmed, in part because of questions about his overseas business ties.

Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential candidate, is still in the mix.

The deliberations have divided Trumps senior advisers, with some bluntly warning in public that tapping Romney would anger the president-elects loyal supporters. Trump himself has sent mixed messages about Romney in recent days, according to people who have spoken with him, suggesting in some conversations that Romney isnt getting the job and saying in others that he is still in contention.

The president-elect is said to be intrigued by the prospect of filling the diplomatic post with an international businessman and has told those close to him that he likes the idea of an impressive-looking Cabinet stocked with generals, the business elite and the extremely successful. And while he is said to be enamored with how Romney looks the part of a statesman, he also likes how Tillerson projects success and gravitas from running a massive global corporation, according to a person not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions.

Tillerson has led Exxon since 2006, a period when record high oil prices and record corporate profits helped make it the most valuable public company in the world. He rose to prominence through the companys Russian energy business and was awarded Russias Order of Friendship last year.

Giuliani, a loyal Trump supporter throughout the presidential race, quickly emerged as a top contender for secretary of state. But his financial ties, as well as his frequent public campaigning for the job, are said to have given Trump pause. Those close to the president-elect said he had concerns that the 72-year-old Giuliani may lack the stamina and charisma for the high-profile, globe-trotting position.

The former mayor said he removed himself from consideration on Nov. 29.

The whole thing was becoming kind of very confusing and very difficult for the president-elect, Giuliani said on Fox News. My desire to be in the Cabinet was great, but not that great.

After leaving the government, Giuliani advised foreign political figures and worked for lobbying and security firms whose clients have had complicated relationships with the U.S. government. While not personally involved in lobbying, Giuliani spent years at firms that represented governments and multinational companies. He also made speeches demanding the State Department remove an Iranian opposition group from a U.S. terror blacklist.

In a statement Friday, Trump said Giuliani would have been an outstanding member of the Cabinet in several roles. Incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, who is seen inside the transition team as favoring Romney, said the former mayor was vetted for possible conflicts and passed with flying colors.

Kellyanne Conway, Trumps senior adviser, said Giulianis decision to remove himself from consideration was a mutual decision with the president-elect. Conway has been an outspoken critic of Romney, publicly warning Trump that his supporters would feel betrayed if he tapped the 2012 Republican nominee for the prominent and powerful Cabinet post.

Romney had blasted Trump as a fraud who was playing the American public for suckers. But he emerged from a private dinner with Trump last week  their second meeting since the election  full of praise for the president-elect.

Still, Trump moved to expand his pool of contenders following that meeting. He met this week with Tillerson in New York this week and has also had discussions with Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Some Trump advisers had hoped Giuliani would be interested in being nominated for Homeland Security secretary, where they believed his financial ties would not be as much of a concern. But Giuliani made clear he was only interested in the diplomatic post.

Fridays announcement means several of Trumps most ardent campaign supporters will not be joining his administration. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has said he doesnt plan to have a formal role. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was initially seen as a contender for a few posts, but is expected to be left empty-handed.

(AP)
Donald Trumps presidential transition team on Saturday challenged the veracity of U.S. intelligence assessments that Russia was trying to tip the November election to the Republican. A top Senate Democrat demanded a full congressional investigation.

The CIA has now concluded with high confidence that Moscow was not only interfering with the election, but that its actions were intended to help Trump, according to a senior U.S. official. The assessment is based in part on evidence that Russian actors had hacked Republicans as well as Democrats but were only releasing information harmful to Trumps rival, Hillary Clinton.

The official was not authorized to discuss the private intelligence assessment publicly and insisted on anonymity.

Trumps public dismissal of the CIA assessment raises questions about how he will treat information from intelligence agencies as president. His view also puts Republicans in the uncomfortable position of choosing between the incoming president and the intelligence community.

In a statement late Friday, Trumps transition team said the finger-pointing at Russia was coming from the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. On Saturday, spokesman Sean Spicer told CNN there were people within these agencies who are upset with the outcome of the election.

Spicer denied a New York Times report that Russia had broken into the Republican National Committees computer networks. The U.S. official who disclosed the CIA assessment to The Associated Press said only that Republican entities had been targeted during the election.

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would press for a congressional investigation in the new year. That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core, he said. Its imperative that our intelligence community turns over any relevant information so that Congress can conduct a full investigation.

Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have also said they plan to pursue investigations into Russian election interference. Other Republicans have played down the reports. Texas Sen. John Cornyn wrote on Twitter Saturday that Russian hacking had been going on for years. He said the matter was serious, but hardly news.

There was no immediate official response from Moscow. But Oleg Morozov, a member of the foreign relations committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, dismissed the claim of Russian interference as silliness and paranoia, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. Morozov described the allegations as an attempt to force the next administration to stick to Obamas anti-Russian course.

President Barack Obama has ordered a full-scale review of campaign-season cyberattacks to be completed before he leaves office in January.

The investigation ordered by Obama will be a deep dive into a possible pattern of increased malicious cyber activity timed to the campaign season, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Friday, including the email hacks that rattled the presidential campaign. It will look at the tactics, targets, key actors and the U.S. governments response to the recent email hacks, as well as incidents reported in past elections, he said.

The president ordered up the report earlier in the week asked that it be completed before he leaves office next month, Schultz said.

The president wanted this done under his watch because he takes it very seriously, he said. We are committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections.

The Kremlin has rejected the hacking accusations.

In the months leading up to the election, email accounts of Democratic Party officials and a top Hillary Clinton campaign aide were breached, emails leaked and embarrassing and private emails posted online. Many Democrats believe the hackings benefited Trumps bid.

Schultz said the president sought the probe as a way of improving U.S. defense against cyberattacks and was not intending to question the legitimacy of Trumps victory.

This is not an effort to challenge the outcome of the election, Schultz said.

Obamas move comes as Democratic lawmakers have been pushing Obama to declassify more information about Russias role, fearing that Trump, who has promised a warmer relationship with Moscow, may not prioritize the issue.

Given Trumps statements, there is an added urgency to the need for a thorough review before President Obama leaves office next month, said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee. If the administration doesnt respond forcefully to such actions, we can expect to see a lot more of this in the near future, he said.

The White House said it would make portions of the report public and would brief lawmakers and relevant state officials on the findings.

It emphasized the report would not focus solely on Russian operations or hacks involving Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and Democratic National Committee accounts. Schultz stressed officials would be reviewing incidents going back to the 2008 presidential campaign, when the campaigns of Sen. John McCain and Obama were breached by hackers.

Intelligence officials have said Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney were targets of Chinese cyberattacks four years later.

(AP)
New York City officials are blaming a crane collapse that killed a man in lower Manhattan in February on operator error.

The city Department of Buildings said Friday the crane operator failed to secure the 565-foot crane the night before it collapsed in the Tribeca neighborhood on Feb. 5.

The department says the operator also lowered the cranes main boom at an improper angle, causing the crane to become unstable and topple over.

The department has suspended the crane operators license. Officials have not identified him.

The city investigators agreed with the conclusions of a separate investigation by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA also found that the collapse was caused by operator error.

Wall Street worker David Wichs was killed in the collapse.

(AP)
According to a reports by LoHud.com, Donald Trump polled well in traditional GOP strongholds in Rockland County, official results for the Nov. 8 election show.

Trump scored his biggest percentage victory  90.2 percent  in Monsey.

Clintons support in New Square was no surprise. She won 96 percent of the vote in one New Square district, her biggest percentage in the county. She forged ties with Skver in a visit during her 2000 U.S Senate campaign. That campaign stop came under scrutiny several months later when President Bill Clinton granted clemency to four Skverer Chassidim after their tiny New York state community voted almost unanimously for Hillary Clinton in the 2000 senatorial race.

The New Square case involved four men convicted in 1999 of bilking the federal government of more than $30 million in federal housing subsidies, small business loans and student grants. The four were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 2 1/2 to 6 1/2 years.

During her Senate campaign, Hillary Clinton, then the first lady, campaigned in New Square. On Election Day, she received 1,400 votes in New Square to 12 for Republican Rick Lazio.

Six weeks after the election, the Skver Rebbe was granted a 45-minute meeting with Bill Clinton at the White House, with the senator-elect sitting in. The Rebbe asked for clemency for the four men, saying they had not used the money for themselves, but for programs in their low-income community.

Clinton reduced the prison sentences to 2 to 2 1/2 years, but did not free the men as community leaders had asked.

The U.S. attorneys office in Manhattan was reported to be furious about the reduction in the sentences. It opened an inquiry into the New Square case.

Hillary Clinton said she played no role in her husbands New Square decision.

The Clintons defenders contended that the New Square case could not be construed as a bribery or criminal case because nothing of monetary value was exchanged. They have said the former president did nothing against the law, citing the broad presidential power to grant pardons.

Eventually, the Justice Department declined to file charges.

(Charles Gross  YWN)
In a secure meeting room under the Capitol last week, lawmakers held in their hands a classified letter written by colleagues in the Senate summing up a secret, new CIA assessment of Russias role in the 2016 presidential election.

Sitting before the House Intelligence Committee was a senior FBI counterintelligence official. The question the Republicans and Democrats in attendance wanted answered was whether the bureau concurred with the conclusions the CIA had just shared with senators that Russia quite clearly intended to help Republican Donald Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton and clinch the White House.

For the Democrats in the room, the FBIs response was frustrating  even shocking.

During a similar Senate Intelligence Committee briefing held the previous week, the CIAs statements, as reflected in the letter the lawmakers now held in their hands, were direct and bald and unqualified about Russias intentions to help Trump, according to one of the officials who attended the House briefing.

The FBI officials remarks to the lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee were, in comparison, fuzzy and ambiguous, suggesting to those in the room that the bureau and the agency werent on the same page, the official said.

The divergent messages from the CIA and the FBI put a spotlight on the difficulty faced by intelligence and law enforcement officials as they try to draw conclusions about the Kremlins motives for hacking Democratic Party emails during the 2016 race. Officials are frequently looking at information that is fragmentary. They also face issues assessing the intentions of a country expert at conducting sophisticated influence operations that made it hard  if not impossible  to conclusively detect the Kremlins elusive fingerprints.

The competing messages, according to officials in attendance, also reflect cultural differences between the FBI and the CIA. The bureau, true to its law enforcement roots, wants facts and tangible evidence to prove something beyond all reasonable doubt. The CIA is more comfortable drawing inferences from behavior.

The FBI briefers think in terms of criminal standards  can we prove this in court, one of the officials said. The CIA briefers weigh the preponderance of intelligence and then make judgment calls to help policymakers make informed decisions. High confidence for them means were pretty damn sure. It doesnt mean they can prove it in court.

The FBI is not sold on the idea that Russia had a particular aim in its meddling. Theres no question that [the Russians] efforts went one way, but its not clear that they have a specific goal or mix of goals, said one U.S. official.

The murky nature of the assessments is maddening many lawmakers who are demanding answers about the Kremlins role in the presidential race. The FBI, under Director James Comey, is already under fire for dropping a bombshell letter days before the election on the discovery of new emails potentially related to the Clinton private server investigation. The emails proved irrelevant to the case. On Saturday, outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called on Comey to resign, saying the FBI director deliberately kept quiet evidence about Russias motives before the election.

With so much of the evidence about Russias alleged role in the election shrouded in secrecy because of strict classification rules, Democrats and Republicans in Washington who have access to the underlying intelligence say they have struggled to make their respective cases, leaving an already deeply divided public convinced that both sides are shading their conclusions to help the candidate they backed on Election Day.

The clamor from Democrats and some Republicans for a more fulsome accounting prompted the White House on Friday to announce that President Barack Obama had ordered a full review of Russian cyber actions during the 2016 campaign. The president wants the report to be completed before he leaves office next month. Officials said Obama intends to declassify as much of the report as possible. Lawmakers, in turn, want the review to be accompanied by a joint congressional investigation.

Only in this way can the American people know the extent of Russian interference and we can attempt to inoculate ourselves against continued meddling in our elections, said Rep. Adam Schiff (California), the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence panel, who has been briefed but did not comment on the information he has learned.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the intelligence communitys information needs to be made public not to revisit this election, but to see that this doesnt happen again. Russia regularly tries to influence European politics and elections, and I dont want this to be the case here, he said.

King said he does not believe Moscows efforts end with Trumps election. It could happen in the midterms. It could be in the next presidential election. They have shown us that they are capable and willing to do it here. For us not to react with the highest level of investigation and preparing responsive measures would be negligent, he said.

Meanwhile, top Republicans on the committee have pointed to the possible ambiguity of the evidence to question the soundness of the claim that Russia acted to help Trump. There is no clear evidence  even now, said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the panels chairman. Theres a lot of innuendo, lots of circumstantial evidence, thats it.

At the start of the House Intelligence Committee briefing, the senior FBI official walked lawmakers through the evidence that the bureau thought was credible about Russias role in the election, according to officials in attendance.

It didnt take long for the conversation to turn to the statements that the CIA briefer had made to the Senate panel, making the case for the first time that Russia intended to help Trump win the election.

Previous CIA assessments said Moscows goal were more cautious, limited to undermining faith in the U.S. electoral system. In earlier statements to the intelligence committees in Congress, the agency stopped short of saying the intrusions were meant to benefit one candidate over another.

During the nearly two-hour briefing, the Democratic lawmakers in the room, again and again, tried to pin the FBI official down on whether the bureau believed that Russia had a preference in who won the election.

It was shocking to hold these [CIA] statements made about Russian intentions and activities, and to hear this guy basically saying nothing with certainty and allowing that all was possible, said an official who attended the briefing. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.

Many of the Republican lawmakers welcomed the FBIs caution. They didnt think the CIA had a basis for coming to the conclusions presented to the Senate panel. Some of the Republicans on the House side thought it would have been more logical for the CIA to conclude that Russia preferred Clinton because she was a known commodity and because Trump talked during the campaign of expanding the U.S. military, something Russia might interpret as a threat, according to officials.

At one point during the discussion in the secure room, a Republican lawmaker turned to his Democratic colleagues and said the back-and-forth suggested that Republicans are from Mars, Democrats are from Venus, according to an aide who was present, adding: Were looking at the same evidence and drawing very different conclusions.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Ellen Nakashima, Adam Entous
So far, President-elect Donald Trumps Cabinet picks have mostly been either multimillionaire and billionaire executives or retired generals. In that context, its probably less of a surprise that Trump may be close to selecting ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, elevating a dark-horse prospect who may surge past seasoned political actors like Mitt Romney and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., in the stretch.

Tillersons hardly an unknown character on the world stage, but hes probably not too familiar to Americans. As such, weve put together a brief profile of the man who may soon be in charge of the United States international diplomacy.

Tillerson has no experience in the public sector, a first in modern history for a potential secretary of state. Tillerson, 64, joined ExxonMobil in 1975, after receiving a civil engineering degree from the University of Texas. He worked his way up through the ranks, beginning as a production engineer and becoming chairman and chief executive in 2006.

Over his decades at the company, Tillersons work took him all over the world, including to Yemen and Russia. That, along with his experience as CEO, apparently provides the basis of his familiarity with international diplomacy.

On Twitter, a former ExxonMobil employee who is now at Brookings Institution defended Tillersons experience. Oil folks know stuff: anyone who manages multibillion dollar, multi-decade projects needs deep, nuanced understanding of political context, Suzanne Maloney wrote on Twitter. . . . Tillerson rose to top of a company that prizes technical excellence, rock-solid financials, hard work and integrity. State could do a lot worse.

Tillerson received the Order of Friendship from Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013. Tillersons work with ExxonMobil included a stretch working for Exxon Neftegas Ltd., putting him in charge of the subsidiarys fields in Russia and the Caspian Sea.

Two years before receiving the award, ExxonMobil won a contract to explore for oil in a Russia-controlled portion of the Arctic Ocean, which was made more economically viable for drilling in part thanks to the sea ice decline thats followed global warming. Putin himself announced the deal at a meeting in Sochi (where the Winter Olympics would be held the next year).

Tillersons stake in ExxonMobil will certainly raise questions at a confirmation hearing. Once Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the United States instituted sanctions against Russia that froze ExxonMobils Arctic agreement. Were those sanctions to be lifted, the deal would probably move forward  making Tillersons shares of ExxonMobil stock much more valuable. (The Wall Street Journal noted that hed probably have to divest from that stock if appointed to run the State Department.)

Tillersons position on climate change may be to the left of Trumps. ExxonMobil understood the connection between greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use and the warming climate as early as 1977, according to recent reporting. It then proceeded to combat the idea, recognizing the risk posed to its industry by curtailing fossil fuel use. Only fairly recently did it acknowledge that link publicly, and the company is now on record in support of accepting the established science and identifying solutions to the problem of climate change.

That shift happened under Tillersons leadership. The issue of climate change will be a potent one for whoever takes over the State Department, given the long-standing international diplomacy efforts to address the issue. Shortly before this years election, ExxonMobil issued a statement in support of the sweeping agreement reached in Paris at the end of last year aimed at cutting down on carbon dioxide emissions internationally.

Trump said repeatedly on the campaign trail that he opposed the Paris agreement and has regularly expressed his opposition to taking action to address climate change. Tillerson, as CEO, promoted positions contrary to that. His most recent personal comments echoed the sentiment of his company, calling the threat of climate change real and serious  though the extent to which he was speaking as a representative of ExxonMobil vs. his own views is worth asking.

Tillerson is a lifelong Boy Scout. Tillerson was an Eagle Scout in his youth and eventually became president of the national organization. It was under his leadership  and through his advocacy  that the organization embraced the membership of young men who identified as gay.

Tillersons positions on a variety of other political issues are largely unknown. Climate change is central to what we know about Tillerson, thanks to the industry of his long-term employer. The Wall Street Journal noted that Tillerson supports free trade  which, as a CEO of a major international corporation, is probably a natural position. Beyond that, its not clear where Tillersons politics align with or differ from his possible bosss.

His political giving suggests an alignment with establishment Republican politics, having given to the Republican Party of Texas repeatedly, to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) and to other national Republican priorities. So it probably isnt a surprise that Tillerson originally supported Jeb Bush for president. He gave Bush the maximum allowable contribution in September 2015.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Philip Bump / Bloomberg photo by F. Carter Smith.
Carly Fiorina praised Donald Trumps brilliant moves as president-elect on Saturday as she formally endorsed Republican Ed Gillespie for Virginia governor and looked ahead to her Monday visit to Trump Tower in New York.

Her remarks, made at a retreat for Virginia Republicans, could help patch up her rocky relationship with Trump as she is considered for an administration job  and give Gillespie a boost with Trump supporters as he seeks his partys nomination in a June primary.

Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive and one of many runners-up to Trump in the GOP primary, has had a bitter relationship with the Manhattan real estate mogul, who disparaged her appearance during the primary. She called on Trump to drop out of the race in October, after he was heard bragging about groping women on an 11-year-old recording.

Donald Trump does not represent me or my party, she said on Twitter at the time.

But Fiorina, a Northern Virginia resident often mentioned as a potential U.S. Senate candidate in 2018, heaped praise on Trump on Saturday, when she spoke to hundreds of state party leaders, elected officials and activists at an annual gathering known as the Republican Advance.

One thing President-elect Trump clearly understands is this: that actually changing an ingrained, embedded status quo requires a major shock to the system, she said. It cant be such a violent shock that you put the patient in cardiac arrest, but you have to have a signal strong enough that people understand change is actually coming. So I think the Carrier deal was brilliant.

Fiorina was referring to Indiana-based Carrier, a manufacturing firm that scaled back plans to move some jobs to Mexico after Trump blasted the planned move during the campaign. Critics have said the number of jobs saved was inflated; its 730, not 1,100 as Trump has said. Others have noted that company, which still plans to ship 700 factory jobs to Mexico, exacted $7 million in state tax credits for scaling down the move.

Fiorina acknowledged those complaints but said the symbolism is more important than the details.

But nevertheless, it was brilliant because it was a signal, she said. It was a signal to working men and women across this nation that, I have your back. I have not forgotten you. 

The crowd at Richmonds Omni hotel responded with hearty applause. It did so again as Fiorina praised Trumps decision to take a protocol-busting phone call from Taiwans leader. She called that similarly brilliant move  precisely because it irked China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province.

With that phone call, President-elect Trump said [to China], We are not playing by your rules,  she said.

Fiorina opened by formally endorsing Gillespie, a former counselor to George W. Bush who nearly upset Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., in 2014.

Like Fiorina, Gillespie has not always had a cozy relationship with Trump. He kept his distance during the race, stumping with Vice President-elect Mike Pence but avoiding any appearances with the top of the ticket.

Gillespies two GOP rivals were closer to Trump, whose highly energized supporters could be key to winning the nomination in a June primary.

Corey A. Stewart, chairman of Prince Williams board of county supervisors, chaired Trumps Virginia campaign until the final weeks of the race. He was eventually fired for taking part in a protest outside Republican National Committee headquarters that accused the party establishment of trying to undermine Trump.

State Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, initially supported Ohio Gov. John Kasich but got fully on board with Trump once he locked up the nomination.

A fourth Republican  Denver Riggleman, who owns a craft distillery west of Charlottesville  signaled interest in jumping into the race by holding a reception during the retreat. Statewide office-seekers use the retreat to woo activists and demonstrate financial strength by hosting receptions during the Advance.

Riggleman, owner of Silverback Distillery in Afton, has fought to ease regulations on distilled spirits. He said he also has battled with Dominion Virginia Power over a proposed pipeline that would cross his property. He had not made a decision about whether to run but had formed a political action committee with the slogan: Blowing the whistle on government cronyism.

In this climate, non-politicians have a chance to do something good, he said.

Many of those attending were elated by Trumps win, despite his failure to carry Virginia, and hoped it would energize Republicans for the 2017 governors race. The GOP has not won a statewide race in the state since 2009.

But it was not immediately clear how the Trump effect, as former Congressman Eric Cantor called it, will play out in Virginia next year. Mike Rubino, who was Trumps senior Virginia adviser during the campaign, handed out stickers playing up Stewarts firing.

Mr. Trump said: Corey, youre fired!  they read. Rubino said that he handed the stickers out on his own volition and that he was not affiliated with any rival gubernatorial campaigns.

Stewart nevertheless claimed the Trump mantle as his most outspoken Virginia supporter. He billed his reception as a Deplorables thank you party.

But Gillespie also touted his support from people across the party, rolling out a string of endorsements last week that included Trump backers, establishment figures and Christian conservatives such as state Sen. Richard Black, R-Loudoun.

I feel like were bringing the party together, he said. People are hungry to win here in Virginia.

Wagner also claimed broad support, from urban commuters who appreciated his leadership on a highway legislation to blue-collar workers hes known as a shipyard owner.

I dont know if the Trump effect is here to stay, said Eric Cantor, the former Republican House majority leader, who lost a GOP primary to tea party-backed Dave Brat in 2014. Cantor spoke at a reception honoring Gov. Robert McDonnell (R), who recently emerged from a long gifts scandal a free but tainted man. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), also scarred by scandal, also appeared at the event, which was closed to the media.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Laura Vozzella
Senior Democratic lawmakers are calling for a full investigation of the CIAs claims that Russia tilted the election to Donald Trump, demanding that the intelligence community turn over all of its evidence to Congress.

Incoming Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer (New York) released a strongly worded statement on Saturday morning, saying CIA conclusions that Russias hacking and other election interference had the goal of electing Trump  first reported Friday night in The Washington Post  are stunning and not surprising.

That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core, Schumer stated. Senate Democrats will join with our Republican colleagues next year to demand a congressional investigation and hearings to get to the bottom of this.

Schumers demands were echoed by outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who charged that FBI Director James Comey was aware of the intelligence about Russias aims before the election and deliberately kept it private. Reid called on Comey to resign.

Of course. Yes, he said when asked whether the FBI director should go. He wont. He has his term there. And Im sure the new administration, they should like him, he helped them get elected, Reid said to Joy Reid on MSNBC.

Democrats immediately embraced the conclusions of the secret CIA report, which asserted that the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails  and their release to WikiLeaks  was the work of Russian operatives with ties to the government of President Vladimir Putin, all intended to help elect Trump.

Key Republicans did not automatically accept that conclusion, despite many of them believing that Russia was behind the DNC hacks and other election interference. For Republicans, giving credence to the CIA assessment would likely cause them to anger Trump even before the president-elect has been inaugurated.

Party leaders began deflecting that sort of intelligence well before the election. According to officials present during a September CIA briefing for congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed doubts about the intelligence tying the Russian hacks to Trump.

McConnell himself did not comment after the news report surfaced, but his spokesman, David Popp, called the allegations disturbing.

I do not have any readout of what did or didnt happen in a classified briefing, Popp said. But obviously any foreign breach of our cybersecurity measures is disturbing, and the White House has just announced an investigation to see if that has occurred and will formulate a response.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said he could not be certain of the CIAs claims given its track record, echoing Trumps reaction to the report in which he said: These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Id have to have a briefing before I could judge it and whos doing it, McCain said in an interview late Friday night, once the Posts report was published. But the CIA has not always been exactly right to say the least.

The CIAs conclusions that Russia hacked the election to aid Trump has put Republicans in a political bind. On the one hand, the charges of election hacking are a perfect, galvanizing platform from which to go after Russia for what they see as global pattern of dangerous meddling, not just in the American elections, but also in the wars in Ukraine and Syria. But on the other hand, they now risk unearthing more evidence giving credence to the charges that Trumps campaign benefited from the hacks. Such evidence could seriously undermine the president-elect before he takes office and beyond.

Other Republican senators also expressed doubts about the CIAs charge.

Id be very concerned if a foreign government were doing that  we dont have any evidence of that yet, and I havent seen the CIA report, so Ill reserve judgment, Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said late Friday night.

And still others are questioning why anyone is talking about Russian hacking at all. All this news of Russian hacking: it has been going on for years, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, tweeted Saturday morning. Serious, but hardly news.

Nonetheless, even before the latest report, McCain and other senior Republican senators were planning to launch a wide-ranging, coordinated probe into alleged Russian interference in the elections in the next Congress. Such an effort could run directly counter to Trumps foreign policy plans, including a repeatedly stated desire to warm relations with Putins Russia.

McCains Senate Armed Services Committee intends to establish a dedicated subcommittee to probe cyberthreats that will hold hearings on the how the United States would respond to an attack, as well as investigate allegations of election hacking.

Everybody that I know, unclassified, has said that the Russians interfered in this election. They hacked into my campaign in 2008, is it a surprise to anyone? McCain said. Every expert I respect said the Russians engaged in that campaign.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has said, Im going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia. . . . I think they did interfere with our elections, and I want Putin personally to pay the price.

He intends to spearhead legislation and hold a series of investigative hearings next year into Russias misadventures throughout the world, including its intervention in the elections.

Clearly a lot of the information was selectively leaked,Graham said. Rather than try to tank the election in terms of an outcome, I want to go after the country that dared to interfere.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who had been a candidate for Trumps secretary of state before the transition reportedly moved toward ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, said early Saturday that were going to do the work that we need to do to understand whats happened.

He noted that other senators, particularly those on the Senates Select Committee on Intelligence, had approached him on the Senate floor during the last roll call votes of the session to share their concerns about the issue of Russian hacking.

They can tell its warranted and that I should, like other committees are doing, pay a lot of attention to the issue, Corker said.

But the Tennessee Republican declined to comment directly about hacks potentially favoring Trump.

Trump is relying on Republican doubts to avoid speculation that his win was directly aided by Moscow as he continues to assemble his Cabinet.

In a recent interview for Time, Trump said he doesnt believe Russia interfered in the election, reasoning: It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey. He called the steady stream of allegations tying Russian hacking to his campaign not a talking point, a laughing point.

Why not get along with Russia? And they can help us fight ISIS . . . and theyre effective and smart, Trump also said during that interview.

Such statements could cause Senate Republicans to take a second look at Trumps nominees. Senate Democrats cannot filibuster Trumps Cabinet picks, but they are now likely to face more questioning about any ties to Russia.

Tillerson, who has been decorated with Russias Order of Friendship, is causing special concern.

Lets put it this way: If you received an award from the Kremlin, order of friendship, then were gonna have some talkin. Well have some questions, Graham said. I dont want to prejudge the guy but thats a bit unnerving.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Karoun Demirjian
Deputy Defense Minister Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan on Sunday morning 11 Kislev spoke of the upcoming eviction of Amona with Galei Yisrael Radio. He explained To the best of my knowledge there will not be horses in Amona. There will not be horses or policemen with batons. We will not see this again.

That which we saw will not be seen again, referring to the bloody expulsion that took place in 2006 when horses stomped on unarmed youths and adults while mounted police swung their batons at will.

Even when you come with empty hands this is a very sad sight in Eretz Yisrael  to remove a yishuv in Eretz Yisrael but the violence that we saw  I am certain it will not be present again he added.

Ben-Dahan explained the lessons were learned by both sides from the 2006 eviction and no one wants a repeat. He added this is not a government that wishes to evict Jews from home but one with its hands tied that is compelled to adhere to a ruling of the Supreme Court.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

The current administration remains committed to strengthening Sderot and Gaza border communities in the form of financial aid packages, infrastructure, tax incentives and more.

During the media portion of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday 11 Kislev, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the southern communities and his administrations commitment to those areas.

Today the Cabinet will approve a plan to strengthen civilian resilience in Sderot and the communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip. We are investing over NIS 500 million to benefit the residents. We are doing this with tax breaks, daycare benefits, investments in infrastructures, easements, and assistance to local authorities.

I must say that the entire area is in perpetual growth. When I go there I am impressed by the construction, by the momentum of the construction, by the demand, there are several buyers for every apartment, and all of this has occurred since Operation Protective Edge.

Therefore, with the approval of the plan today, we are telling the residents: We will continue to strengthen you. We will continue to strengthen the area around the Gaza Strip. We will continue to strengthen the Negev and the western Negev. We are doing this for you, for the Negev and for the security and future of the State of Israel.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Representatives of Chareidi parties on Sunday morning 11 Kislev met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the hope of locking down a plan for the future of the Kosel and the egalitarian prayer area.

The meeting was compelled by the High Court of Justice which is involved in cases pertaining to the Kosel and egalitarian prayer options. Shas leader Aryeh Deri attended the meeting with Health Minister Yaakov Litzman.

The chareidim are continuing to pressure PM Netanyahu to cancel the cabinet decision permitting an egalitarian prayer area, now exhibiting tenacious opposition to such a plan. Chareidi representatives are now explaining that they will not permit Reform Jewry and official foothold at the Kosel or near it.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister is under enormous pressure from major contributors to Israel who are affiliated with the Reform and Conservative Movements and he continues efforts to walk between the raindrops. In his recent comments to the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of Norrth America regarding egalitarian prayer at the Kosel, assuring Reform and Conservative leaders the Kosel will remain open for all types of Jews to pray there.

He added I passed a resolution in the government. We couldnt pass it. We had to work further to achieve compromise, to achieve other arrangements between the various parties involved, and finally we passed it. In a way, that is what is happening here as well. We have passed a resolution, were working with the parties, we stand ready to work a little more. Its not so simple. In fact, its complicated.

Richard, you said your mother told you to count to 10? My mother told me to count to 15. Take your time. Think about it. Talk to the parties. See if you can come to an equitable solution. And heres my recommendation for me to succeed in this, we can build ramparts, we can build barricades. That aint going to solve it. I found, and I know whereof I speak, that sometimes you need quiet diplomacy, a lot of times you need quiet diplomacy between Jews and Arabs. This is one instance where I think we need quiet diplomacy between Jews and Jews. Thats a lot more likely to get the result we all seek.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Irans flag carrier finalized a major deal with U.S. plane maker Boeing Co. to buy $16.6 billion worth of passenger planes Sunday in one of the most tangible benefits yet for the Islamic Republic from last years landmark nuclear agreement.

Iran Airs deal for 80 jetliners is the biggest agreement Iran has struck with an American company since the 1979 revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover. It has the potential to transform Irans creaking and accident-prone aviation industry, which has been hobbled by years of sanctions.

Those curbs have prevented the country from buying new planes from Chicago-based Boeing and European rival Airbus, and in many cases made it difficult for Iranian airlines to secure much-needed spare parts.

The deal covers 50 single-aisle 737 Max 8s, a soon-to-be-introduced version of Boeings existing narrow-body 737 line.

It also includes 30 777s, a wide-body, twin-engine plane typically used on long-haul routes that is popular with other Persian Gulf carriers such as Dubai-based Emirates. Half of the order will cover the 777-300ER version, while the rest will be of the 777-9 model still under development.

Irans state-run IRNA news agency said the planes would be delivered over the next decade. The first will start to arrive in 2018, Boeing said.

In September, Washington granted permission to Boeing and Toulouse, France-based Airbus to sell billions of dollars worth of aircraft to Iran. Airbus needed U.S. approval because at least 10 percent of its planes components are of American origin.

The U.S. and other world powers agreed last year to lift crippling sanctions on Iran in exchange for it curbing its nuclear activities. The U.S. still maintains extensive sanctions on Iran for activities unrelated to its nuclear program.

President-elect Donald Trump and several Republican lawmakers have criticized the nuclear deal, but its unclear whether they would scrap the agreement, which was reached with Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.

Iranian Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi, who attended the signing ceremony, said it was a historic day for Iranian aviation and that the deal would create 8,000 jobs for Iranians.

The deal has a clear message for the world: we support peace and security as well as the growth of Iran based on a win-win policy, he was quoted as saying. We hope that despite changes in the U.S. administration, the country will remain loyal to its commitments.

The Republican-led House of Representatives last month voted to bar commercial aircraft sales to Iran in a move that could block the Boeing deal. That legislation must still pass the Senate, where it will likely face opposition from Democrats. U.S. President Barack Obama has said he will veto the bill if it reaches his desk before he leaves office on Jan. 20.

Boeing made a point of saying it worked closely with the U.S. government throughout the deal-making process and will continue to follow all license requirements. The Iran Air deal will support tens of thousands of U.S. jobs linked to the 777s alone, it said.

The plane maker said the deal value was based on list prices, though in practice customers typically negotiate discounts for bulk orders.

Most of Irans aging fleet of 250 commercial planes was purchased before 1979, and as of June only 162 were operational, with the rest grounded because of a lack of spare parts. Iran Air, whose website lists a fleet of 43 planes, offers direct flights to over 30 international destinations, including London.

(AP)
Jennifer Lovell continues to suffer at the hands of Vodafone

Just over a month ago, mobile phone giant Vodafone was hit with a record 4.6million fine by Ofcom for serial customer service failings following a sustained campaign by The Mail on Sunday.

The fine prompted the company to concede that it had let customers down.

It said it was determined to put everything right and shortly afterwards, Vittorio Colao, group chief executive, confirmed the company was working on fixing its customer service issues which had culminated in inaccurate bills being sent out and complaints being handled poorly.

Yet it appears the companys fixing is still very much a work in progress. Many customers continue to struggle to get Vodafone to resolve longstanding problems.

Astonishingly, they include Jennifer Lovell, whose problems with her Vodafone account began in October last year  and whose plight was highlighted by The Mail on Sunday in the aftermath of the record fine.

Due to give birth soon, Jennifers battle has lasted longer than her entire pregnancy, which she says has been blighted by her experience with the mobile giant.

An extra contract she did not want  or ask for  was opened under her name without permission, which she was charged for.

Her own phone was later disconnected on numerous occasions. Fed up and having lost all confidence in the company, Jennifer arranged to pay an exit fee in stages so she could leave her contract early.

But with no prior warning her phone was disconnected a fortnight after paying the first instalment.

Then she was told her details had been passed to a debt collection agency and she was unable to continue with her payment plan.

She says she tried to make a further payment but was passed back and forth. Vodafone said she had to deal with the debt collection agency. But the agency denied having an account under her name.

She now also has adverse marks on her credit file for defaulting on payments, despite trying to hand over money. Jennifer has referred her complaint to the Ombudsman and awaits its decision.

She says: I cant tell you how much physical and mental stress this issue with Vodafone has caused me over the last year. I have had to deal with numerous calls in an attempt to have my account reinstated as well as having the additional stress and worry about the impact on my credit score  all as a result of an error made by Vodafone.

Many customers continue to struggle to get Vodafone to resolve longstanding problems

I feel Vodafone has done everything to show it is the bigger power and to back me into a corner.

In another case of Vodafone incompetence, Michelle and Gary Tester say they feel totally violated and helpless with problems which date back to spring last year.

The couple, who live in Middleton- on-Sea in West Sussex with their two children, say the fiasco started when their phones were upgraded in May 2015 and their three accounts with Vodafone were tidied into one.

In June last year 250 was taken from their bank account  far higher than what they would pay each month. Vodafone said it was an error but it could not credit their account. Rather, it would be deducted from future bills.

The overcharge put the Testers into an overdraft with their bank account. The same thing happened the following month.

PROBLEMS WITH YOUR PHONE NETWORK? HERE'S HOW TO GO ABOUT RESOLVING IT - Expect delays. Issues with your account may take time to fix. - Make an official complaint to the company along with copies of supporting evidence that back up your case. Do so in writing so you have evidence of when the complaint was made. - Go to the Communications Ombudsman if your complaint is not resolved by a mobile network within eight weeks. It will weigh up both sides and decide how both parties should move forward. Any decision that favours you is binding on the network provider. Visit ombudsman-services.org/communications. - Consider legal action as a last resort. It is worth doing if you feel your case is serious enough; the company owes you money; and the Ombudsman sided with your provider but you strongly disagree with its decision. Financial claims worth less than 10,000 can be contested in the small claims court, with no need for a lawyer unless you want one. Court fees depend on the size of a financial claim and whether you apply by post or online. Fees start at 25 for an online claim of up to 300, rising to 455 for a postal claim worth 10,000. To find out how it works visit gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money. - Seek free counsel from Citizens Advice. Call its consumer helpline on 03454 040506 or visit citizensadvice.org.uk.

Michelle, 48, who runs her own human resources consultancy business, says: This left us in a serious financial predicament.

'We decided to contact our bank and cancel the direct debit to prevent Vodafone taking further funds.

'The situation escalated and each month we would receive messages claiming we owed money and our phones were frequently disconnected.

Every time this happened the couple had to make multiple lengthy phone calls to Vodafone. Invoices were inaccurate  showing an accumulating debt for previous unpaid bills, despite the couple being up to date with payments.

Michelle says: We wrote to Ofcom, the Ombudsman and Vodafones chief executive who never responded. Finally, we went to our local store and begged them to listen to us.

Vodafone's boss Vittorio Colao said Vodafone was working on fixing customer service issues

In February, the couple paid to unlock their phones and move to a different network. But they still received messages about outstanding bills and their credit file was impacted, preventing them from changing their mortgage.

Michelle adds: Vodafone destroyed us. I could not believe I was treated like this.

The couples misery only ended this month after The Mail on Sunday intervened. A Vodafone spokeswoman says: Weve been in touch to apologise that we didnt sort the issue out sooner and reassure them there is nothing owing on the account and the credit file has been corrected.

Last week, Vodafone said it was unable to take any action on Jennifers complaint until the Ombudsmans review has taken place.




Energy companies have criticised regulator Ofgem over its actions in the wake of the collapse of GB Energy last month after its 160,000 customers were acquired by Co-op Energy.

Ofgem came under fire after it emerged that Co-op had been in talks to buy the ailing group until just hours before it went bust.

Co-op Energy had been granted access to GBs books and was fully aware of its financial position. Rival energy firms said this knowledge gave Co-op Energy an advantage when Ofgem asked energy suppliers to submit bids for GBs customers after the collapse.

It has emerged that Co-op Energy was fully aware of GB Energy's financial situation

A senior energy executive said: It meant that Co-op had a different playing field from the rest of us because they knew what the full risks were when it came to bidding for GBs customers.

The addition of GBs customers takes Co-op Energy to a customer base of nearly 400,000 far sooner than planned.

Ben Reid, chief executive of the Midcounties Co-operative, which owns Co-op Energy, said he could not remember whether he had notified Ofgem of the talks before submitting a bid for GBs customers.

He said: We looked at it, saw that GB was not solvent. It was clear it was not a going concern so we withdrew. We told them that we were not going to proceed.

As we had done all of the due diligence previously, wed done our homework and we used that information to inform our bid to Ofgem.

Ofgem declined to say if it knew of the takeover talks. A spokesman for the regulator said: This was not a sale of a business but the allocation of customers to a new supplier.
We have long campaigned for bank branches to remain a key component of this countrys high streets.

It is a campaign we launched in the wake of Barclays extraordinary decision in April 2000 to shut 172 branches in a single day  a story, incidentally, that we revealed exclusively to the world.

And it is an issue we remain as passionate about now as we have ever done, as evidenced by our exclusive details of the carnage that HSBC has reaped on its branch network this year.

Mass closures: In 2000, Barclays opted to close 172 bank branches in a single day

Some 272 branches boarded up or put on notice of closure. We reveal these details not because it gives us joy (quite the opposite).

We do so because otherwise they would never register on most peoples radar  and it is crucial we highlight the community detriment they trigger.

Although current account banking has changed beyond recognition since 2000 with the advance of online and mobile phone banking, there is still a big role for the high street bank branch to play. Both business and community wise.

While the big banks  HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland especially  defend their rampant branch closures on the grounds that usage is in terminal decline, Im not so sure they are being totally truthful.

Whenever I visit a bank branch, in London or anywhere else in the country, it is usually rammed with customers queuing to use the counter services (and speak to a human, rather than interact with a machine).

Those readers faced with the closure of their local branch say the same thing  that queues are more the norm than tellers twiddling their fingers waiting for the next customer to pitch up.

Jam packed: 'Whenever I visit a bank branch, in London or anywhere else in the country, it is usually rammed with customers', Jeff Prestridge says

It is more likely that these branches are far busier than ever but are not generating the same profits as before  because the staff can no longer flog the range of dodgy products they once did (for example, hair- raising precipice bonds and risky investment funds). Hence they are shutting.

Yet branches can work for both the benefit of the provider and the customer.

Metro Bank has built its business model around them while Nationwide Building Society is passionate in its belief that branches play a fundamental role in providing support and advice to the millions of consumers who actively choose to use them every day (words spoken by Nationwide boss Joe Garner in an interview I had with him in August this year).

Interestingly, Nationwide disputes the fact that it is just the elderly, online-averse and cash businesses that use branches. Far from it.

When it launched its FlexOne current account for teenagers, 80 per cent of accounts were opened in the branch despite the fact that anyone over the age of 14 could apply online.

Nationwide is committed to investing 500 million in its 700-strong branch network over the next five years (a network which will be the same size as HSBCs once the latter has completed its lobotomy programme in the New Year).

If this building society can make its branches pay their way  while simultaneously investing in new digital banking initiatives  why cant HSBC? Or, for that matter, Barclays, Lloyds and RBS?

I steadfastly believe that every town in the country should have at least one bank on its high street. A bank gives a community much needed cohesion.

So, if your community has just one bank left standing (or for that matter one building society), may I suggest that you go and support it. Open a current account there and make it impossible for the bank or building society to then close it.

Like our libraries and our chemists, we need our banks. More so than yet another frothy coffee shop.




Spam: Nuisance text messages are a common problem

P.D. writes: I recently received a mobile phone text, saying: FreeMsg, you are subscribed to 4 Your Eyes Only for 3 per week until you send STOP to 80008.

There was also a helpline number and email address for a company called Syncronized Limited.

I texted STOP, for which I was charged, and followed this up with an email and phone call.

I asked on what authority I had been signed up and what gave the company the right to charge for something I had no knowledge of.

A young lady said I would be contacted within three days, but this did not happen. I called again with the same result. I wonder how they were able to set up a charge without the phone users permission.

TONY HETHERINGTON REPLIES: Syncronized Limited, based in Coventry, has operated various services providing sexual content to mobile phone users.

The titles of some are unprintable. Others include Glam Pleasures, Sex Dose and Lesbiancourse offering explicit videos.

None of this is illegal, but it does not allow Syncronized to charge for services people did not request  and the company has form for this.

In 2013, the watchdog PhonepayPlus revealed that it had investigated 58 complaints against Syncronized, many of them from people who said they were charged for a service they knew nothing about and did not want.

It is technically simple for a company to send messages that land the mobile phone user with a bill, but rules say the sender must have robust evidence that the consumer agreed in advance.

Syncronized failed to come up with the evidence and was fined 90,000.

WHY DID POWER FIRM KEEP BILLING AFTER MY FATHER-IN-LAW'S DEATH? Why did a power firm keep billing after my father-in-law's death?, J.F. asks J.F. writes: My father- in-law died in 2014. He had a dual fuel account with ScottishPower, paid by direct debit. I told the company of his death and submitted final meter readings. A few months later, my wife, who is the executrix, received a bill for 45, followed by one for 50, and later an estimated bill, and a year later a debt collection demand for 55, all for electricity. To date, ScottishPower has not mentioned a gas bill. TONY HETHERINGTON REPLIES: Forgive me for summarising your letter, which goes on to explain how ScottishPower put the deceaseds account into your wifes name and then wrote to her at her late fathers address, rather than to your own home. The company also managed to open a new account in 2015 and then issued an estimated bill for electricity used in 2014, despite being given final readings. At one point, ScottishPower refunded 15, showing the number of the account on which it was actually demanding 55. Then there was a fresh bill showing a credit of 40, but no refund. Not surprisingly, you and your wife wound up the estate and distributed bequests without waiting for ScottishPower to sort itself out. The company has told me: We sincerely apologise for the lack of service received from us at what must have been a distressing time for the family. A spokesman explained that your father-in-laws gas account was 99 in credit, though you were not informed. This was transferred to the electricity account, which was not in credit, but there was still 65 left owing to the estate. The bottom line is that ScottishPower has now sent you 140, including a goodwill gesture. The debt collectors have been called off too and you have told me you are donating the 140 to Alzheimers Research.

The company promised it would not bill people again without proof they had consented  but in December 2014 it was back before the Phone-payPlus Tribunal for exactly the same offence.

This time there was even evidence from the anti-virus company Kaspersky Labs that a concealed download had landed on mobile phones that made it look as if owners had clicked to subscribe when in fact they had not.

Syncronized was fined 120,000 and ordered to hire an approved outside firm to check its procedures. Yet none of this seems to have worked.

NO STARS FOR ENERGY SUPPLIER'S DEBT LETTER Mrs D.L.W writes: In August 2015, I received a phone call suggesting we could save on gas and electricity costs with Green Star Energy. I agreed, but then discovered I could not talk to anyone on the phone or make contact by email and I returned to our original supplier. Green Star supplied electricity for one month, costing about 36, but collected a direct debit for 124. I also paid 153 when the company assured me it had supplied gas too. I now have a letter saying I owe a further 249 and threatening debt collectors. I do not think I can deal with this much longer. I am 82 and my husband is 92. TONY HETHERINGTON REPLIES: Green Star Energy confirmed to me that it took over as your supplier on August 27, 2015. It ceased supplying electricity on September 29 and gas on October 2 when you returned to your original utility company. Green Star says it never received electricity meter readings from your original supplier when it took you back. It was unable to calculate a final bill and continued to produce estimated demands, though it accepts the letter threatening debt collection proceedings should not have been sent. Green Star says it has now produced a final bill. It has waived its early termination charges and your account is in credit, so a refund should have reached you by the time you read this.

You are far from being the only person to have complained in the past few months and the Phone-paid Services Authority  the new name for PhonepayPlus  told me: We have received complaints about Syncronized and we are looking into the matter. Anyone receiving dubious services charged to their phone bill can trace the provider by using the watchdogs online number checker at psauthority.org.uk.

According to company records, Syncronized is owned and run by a 33-year-old Polish woman named Alina Turek. She did not respond to repeated invitations to comment and a woman at the companys Coventry offices told me she was not there.

She explained: We dont really have much to do with the management of the company. We are a support centre.

Her job was to take messages from people who wanted their mobile number removed from Syncronizeds systems. She sounded as though this kept her busy.

When Phone-paid Services completes its investigation and reaches a verdict, I will report it. Meanwhile, anyone whose complaint is not settled by Syncronized should contact the authority on 0300 30 300 20 and add to the evidence.

IT'S WORTH THE WAIT TO MAKE A PROPER WILL Stay tuned: The next Free Wills Month campaign, sponsored by major charities such as Oxfam and Mencap, is in March Ms M.E. writes: Recently we heard about the Free Wills Month scheme. There were no participating solicitors anywhere near us. Would you recommend buying instead a will drafting kit from a stationery shop? TONY HETHERINGTON REPLIES: Having a will prepared by a solicitor is much better and safer than doing it yourself. It can be easy to make a mistake without realising it. For example, a beneficiary should not also be a witness to the will, or married to one. The will would still be valid, but they would lose their bequest. There have been cases where witnesses have signed after the event, without seeing the actual signing of the will. This can make the will invalid As for beneficiaries, you need to be precise and avoid possible confusion. In the 1930s, a will left a bequest to my nephew Arthur, but since the deceased turned out to have two nephews named Arthur, it took a court case to settle who got what. The next Free Wills Month campaign, sponsored by major charities such as Oxfam and Mencap, is in March, so it is not long to wait. Anyone aged 55 or over can have a simple will professionally written or updated and you can register now at freewillsmonth.org.uk. I hope this time there will be a solicitor near you.




Pensions shouldnt be this exciting. The tedious but essential task of ensuring an income for retirement has become an explosive subject thanks to cases such as BHS and Tata Steel.

Different in many ways, the two cases highlight how something that should be boring and staid has become at times a corporate scandal, and at others a major problem for British industry.

In the case of BHS, a failed company has left behind a scheme that cannot now meet the pensions expected by its workers.

The tedious but essential task of ensuring an income for retirement has become an explosive subject thanks to cases such as Tata Steel

In the case of Tata Steel, the huge scale of the existing pension fund has been one of the critical hurdles to whether the company can continue to operate in the UK.

Exactly how that is being resolved remains unclear  not least whether Tata will itself remain as the sponsor of the pension scheme or whether it will be set adrift to fend for itself.

But in both cases the cost of the pension issue is set to be borne by the employees. Many BHS workers are facing reduced pensions  and no job.

Steel workers may be willing to accept reduced benefits if that secures the future of their industry.

We should be under no illusions about what this means. A pension is part of an employees pay package.

Reducing pension benefits is, in effect, reducing their pay. Doing so to ensure the survival of a company amounts to one thing  the employees bailing out the business.

Lack of security: Falling pensions benefits and fears over retirement security are just as much part of the squeeze on working families as rising prices and stagnating wages

The widespread concern over company pensions and the security of retirement income is now an incendiary issue in many parts of industry, but it is also a national and political issue.

Falling pensions benefits and fears over retirement security are just as much part of the squeeze on working families as rising prices and stagnating wages.

This must be tackled more bravely than is currently the case. For existing pension schemes, consolidation is part of the answer.

One of the best performing pension funds in the UK is the Pension Protection Fund itself  formed to rescue schemes left high and dry by company failures.

The PPF is outperforming most company schemes in its investment strategy. Its sheer scale allows it to hedge its investments.

Disaster: In the case of BHS, a failed company has left behind a scheme that cannot now meet the pensions expected by its workers

The blunt truth is that companies sponsoring pension schemes must make resolving deficits a priority. Not doing so while continuing to pay sizeable dividends to investors is short-termist.

The Government must also stop eroding the tax benefits of pension saving, allowing people to invest more of their income tax free.

I am not confident that enough will be done to avoid pension crisis stories continuing to flare up for years.
With just a fortnight until Christmas, thoughts are inevitably turning to food, drink, treats and gifts. Hotel Chocolat covers all four categories.

The company specialises in premium chocolate, made at its manufacturing facility in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

It also sells alcoholic drinks, such as cocoa-infused gin and vodka, specialist teas and coffees and a range of chocolate-centred gifts and treats, including personalised chocolate boxes, hampers and Yule logs.

Innovation: Co-founder Angus Thirlwell is determined to keep creating new products to keep customers interested

The group listed on AIM in May, the shares are 264p and they should increase in price as the business expands both in the UK and overseas.

Hotel Chocolat traces its roots back to the late 1980s, when Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris started delivering chocolate to businesses, designed as gifts for customers and staff.

Their company, Choc Express, did well but they soon realised the name did not suit the image they wanted to convey, so they came up with Hotel Chocolat  to give an impression of escapism and sophistication.

Today, the company has 91 stores and a thriving online division. It continues to provide gift products to businesses, it sells through John Lewis and supplies chocolate nibbles to BA.

Throughout, the emphasis has been on premium chocolate, made with more cocoa and less sugar than conventional brands.

Thirlwell and Harris are also determined to keep creating new products so that customers remain interested and even excited by what they see.

To make sure the quality remains high and the stock continues to evolve, the firm's manufacturing facility is responsible for all the chocolate it produces.

Thirlwell and Harris have another way of testing quality, too. Back in 1997, when the group was an internet only business, they began a chocolate tasting club, where members pay a subscription and receive a different box of goods every month.

Each box includes new flavours and club members vote with their taste buds.

Working hard: The chocolate company's plantation in St Lucia

Approved recipes are sold across the group and poor performers are ditched. As the club now has 70,000 members, they are a reliable gauge of public opinion.

The club is just one of Hotel Chocolat's distinctive features. Most retail chains start out by opening physical stores and develop an online business afterwards. Thirlwell and Harris took the opposite approach.

First, they sold chocolate to businesses, then they sold to consumers online and only once they were established did they begin to open physical stores, launching the first one in 2004.

Inspiration: Hotel Chocolat's Yule log is based on a 3D scan of a real log

The manufacturing site followed a few years later and the group also bought a 250-year-old cocoa plantation in St Lucia, which now produces the raw material for Hotel Chocolat's finest goods, described as its rare and vintage range.

Recently, the group has started to open cafes, where customers can sip drinks designed to go with chocolate, as well as buy the firm's other products. This steady, long-term approach has enabled Thirlwell and Harris to create a successful business, built to last.

The duo are passionate about producing top chocolate  this year's Yule log, for example, was created by scouring woodlands for the perfect log, producing a 3D scan of it and using that as the basis for the chocolate log.

But they are also commercially astute. In the year to June, sales rose 12 per cent to 91million and underlying pre-tax profits soared by 181 per cent to 8.2million.

This year, analysts predict further strong growth with sales expected to rise to 112 million and profits to 11.1million.

Responsible: To make sure the quality remains high and the stock continues to evolve, the firm's manufacturing facility is responsible for all the chocolate it produces

The group is investing most of its cash in growth but it is likely to pay a dividend from 2018.

Thirlwell and Harris still own a third of the business each, so they are more aware than most bosses of the need to keep investors happy.

Britain used to boast several leading chocolate brands, most of which have now been sold to foreign owners.

Hotel Chocolat is proud of its heritage and is determined to learn from others' mistakes, focusing resolutely on quality and customer taste.

The group is concentrating on the UK for now, but it has opened a store in Copenhagen and a boutique hotel on its St Lucia estate.

Over time, there are plans to expand further overseas, but this will be done gradually, testing demand online first.

Hotel Chocolat is relatively resistant to economic uncertainty, as its products range in price from 1 to 165.

The group also benefits from making its chocolate in-house, which is more cost-efficient than outsourcing and enables it to respond more nimbly to peaks and troughs in demand.

Midas verdict: Hotel Chocolat has performed well since flotation at 148p. It is a well-run company, whose founders are committed to success.

At 264p, the shares are a long-term buy.




Lawyers acting for small firms that say they were driven out of business by Royal Bank of Scotland, have warned the City watchdog that it must act to ensure the bank compensates them fairly.

The Global Restructuring Group, RBSs business recovery arm, has long stood accused of mistreating small firms in difficulty, and even driving some firms into insolvency.

The bank has denied the allegations, but announced last month it had set aside 400million to compensate small firms for failings in the way it handled them.

Accusations: The Global Restructuring Group, RBSs business recovery arm, has long stood accused of mistreating small firms in difficulty

City law firm Berg said that the Financial Conduct Authority must examine the detail of the scheme, which has yet to be announced.

It said: It would be wise to reserve judgment on the 400million fund until the detail has been clarified.
Furious campaigners have accused Royal Bank of Scotland of trying to silence small business owners who claim it destroyed their livelihoods during the financial crisis.

The lender has sent out hundreds of letters telling firms which fell into the hands of its notorious Global Restructuring Group that they would not automatically get compensation from the 400million pot that has been set aside.

The bank has pledged to refund certain complex fees in full  but has told businesses that did not pay them that they are not entitled to any pay-out.

Compensation: It is the second time in a week that RBS has been accused of denying compensation to those who many believe should be entitled to make a claim

It is the second time in a week that RBS has been accused of denying compensation to those who many believe should be entitled to make a claim.

Earlier in the week the Mail revealed how RBS was set to deny compensation to 30,000 shareholders who hadnt signed up to a court action over its 2008 fundraising drive. These shareholders will miss out on sharing in a pot worth 800million.

The latest revelation follows years of wrangling and reports into the GRG, which was set up as a crack turnaround unit to keep struggling firms afloat as they sought to pay off loans from RBS.

But a stream of entrepreneurs have since claimed they were instead deliberately pushed into administration.

They allege the bank then seized their assets to bolster its own ailing balance sheet.

RBS denies these claims but has admitted that it fell short of acceptable standards.

SNP MP George Kerevan, who is chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking and a member of the Treasury Select Committee, said: The letter sent by RBS to its customers who were forced into GRG is disingenuous and misleading.

Cat MacLean of law firm MBM Commercial, which represents former GRG customers, said: The amount of cash available under the compensation scheme doesnt come anywhere close to actually being adequate for the number of clients affected. The bank is looking to exclude people wherever possible.

It came as Treasury Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie issued a series of questions to RBS asking for more detail on the compensation scheme.

He also urged the Financial Conduct Authority watchdog to release a full report it commissioned into the GRG, as only a summary has so far been made public.
With eight scam calls per second and millions of consumers randomly contacted by strangers about their pension every year, protecting savers from the clutches of fraudsters is a high priority.

Those with pension pots have become prime targets for a variety of scams since new rules were introduced in April 2015, giving savers easier access to their retirement funds.

Research suggests fraudsters sit behind one in ten requests to transfer money out of a pension pot.

Scams: Those with pension pots have become prime targets for a variety of scams

So called pension liberation fraud is when criminals convince victims they can access their funds before age 55 by moving their money into a separate arrangement, usually offshore.

In reality the money is often lost and the account holder left facing a tax penalty worth more than half the size of the original pension pot. Since April 2015 this fraud has doubled.

As with most types of pension and investment fraud, it starts with a phone call, text or email from a person who appears genuine.

Criminals may even pose as a legitimate organisation  such as the Governments official Pension Wise service.

A video from The Pensions Regulator  based on a true story  shows how one man agreed to a free pension review, got carried away and later found he could not contact the company because its phone number had been disconnected.

Crooks may pose as legitimate organisations such as the Governments Pension Wise service

He lost more than 100,000  his entire retirement fund.

Mark Steward, director of enforcement at regulator the Financial Conduct Authority, says: Fraudsters are targeting our growing elderly population because they are more likely to have money to invest.

They may pressure you to make a quick decision or try to make you feel stupid for not taking up their bogus offers. No investment decision should be rushed.

BE PROACTIVE  NOT REACTIVE

The best way for people to stifle scams is to take action and seek advice.

When the time to access a pension is drawing closer, research your options and seek advice from an independent financial adviser with experience in dealing with pensions.

Take action: The best way for people to stifle scams is to take action and seek advice

Find out about your options from Pension Wise and search for a regulated, qualified adviser using websites such as unbiased, VouchedFor and The Personal Finance Society.

Talking to friends can help but if they make a suggestion, research it thoroughly.

To check if a firm or person is authorised by the regulator search its online register at register.fca.org.uk.

NEW SAFEGUARDS

Given the scale of pension fraud, the Government is now looking to better protect savers.

Last week, the Treasury, together with the Department for Work and Pensions, launched a consultation on pension scams.

A key proposal is to ban all pension cold-calling.

This alone will not deter crooks but sends a clear message to the British public that any call out of the blue on pensions is fraudulent.

Even now, the safest course of action for people receiving unsolicited calls about pensions and investments is to hang up.

The consultation is open for ten weeks and asks for input from organisations and individuals.

RETIREMENT CASH - FACT OR FICTION Can anyone unlock their pension before age 55? Fraud. You might be able to do it technically, but in practice there really is no point as there is likely to be nothing left  but regret  after tax has been paid. Can you access your pension early? Fact. In most cases you can access your pension before you retire, but usually only from age 55. An exception to this rule is if you have a terminal illness  but even then you should take advice. Is a free pension review always a scam? Fiction. But it can be a fraud. Free pension checks are offered by regulated advisers via website unbiased.co.uk. But if you are contacted out of the blue about a free review, it is best to dismiss it.

Other items on the agenda include restrictions on transfers between workplace pension schemes where the recipient scheme is thought to be run by fraudsters, and the ease at which criminals are able to set up their own small pension structures.

To read more about the pension scams consultation visit gov.uk/government/consultations/pension-scams.
Advertisement

For years, HSBC branded itself as the worlds local bank, perpetuating the belief among customers that it cared passionately about having a presence on the high street.

Not any more. The boastful advertising has disappeared  and so has its commitment to local communities.

The Mail on Sunday has obtained exclusive details of the cuts the bank has made to its branch network this year. They make for grim reading.

Debits: HSBC once boasted of blanket coverage, but axed branches now cover the map. The bank closed 218 local branches this year (marked with red arrows) and 57 will shut in the New Year (marked by black arrows, with numbers referring to the branches in the table on the right)

According to details confirmed by the bank, HSBC has shut 218 branches so far this year, with another 57 poised to shut by early in the New Year.

It will shrink HSBCs branch network down to little more than 700. No other bank has shut so many this year. Between them, the Big Four  HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds  have shut more than 500 branches this year.

The HSBC cuts are countrywide, in both rural and urban locations. Even branches in city centres such as Sheffield have been axed. In many cases, a closure has left a town bankless.

Swathes of suburban London branches have also been culled. The rash of closures is on an unprecedented scale. HSBC shut 47 branches in 2013. In 2014, 95 were axed and last year 109.

The current closure rate is equivalent to four branches being shut every week.

If the bank continues closing branches on a scale similar to this year, it would be branchless by the end of 2019, effectively turning its retail banking operations into a clone of its online bank, First Direct. At best, it would only have branches in major cities and towns.

Closures: A table shows the places across the UK where HSBC has shut branches so far this year. The bank's branch network will shrink down to little more than 700 following further closures in the new year

HSBC is not alone in its cuts. Last year, Royal Bank of Scotland closed 234 and it has just confirmed that another 86 have been put on notice of closure across both the NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland brands. This is on top of 51 shut this year.

Lloyds, embracing the Bank of Scotland and Halifax brands, has also aggressively shut branches. It will have closed 212 this year and put as further 49 on notice of closure. Barclays has shut 50.

The scaling back of high street banks is, in part, in response to changing banking habits as more customers go online.

HSBC says use of branches is down more than 40 per cent over the past five years  with 93 per cent of contact with the bank now made via the telephone, internet or smartphone.

Some 97 per cent of cash withdrawals, it says, are via a cash machine. Royal Bank of Scotland says branch transactions have fallen 45 per cent over five years.

Indeed, in recent letters (see below) to customers of branches doomed for the axe, it implies that it is they  and their failure to use the branch enough  who are to blame for the closures.

Trends: HSBC says use of branches is down more than 40 per cent over the past five years, with 93 per cent of contact with the bank now made via the telephone, internet or smartphone

Though phone banking has cut the need for many people to use branches, there are still customers who depend on them. These include the elderly and local businesses.

Caroline Abrahams, director of charity Age UK, is disappointed by the marked increase in closures. She says: Older people are often the worst affected when a bank pulls out of a town.

Many are not online or live in areas with poor internet and mobile phone service. They also have mobility and transport challenges.

For customers keen to maintain a face-to-face relationship with their bank, there are alternatives.

Metro Bank is committed to opening new branches, though they will be primarily located in the south of England. It now has 48 branches extending as far north as Cambridge, with another in Basingstoke, Hampshire, in the pipeline.

Nationwide, a building society, has 700 branches but is keen to open more, especially in towns where all the banks have pulled out.

Other building societies, including Coventry and Cumberland, provide current accounts, though their branches are not countrywide.

BRANCH CLOSING? NATWEST RECKONS IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT Six years ago, RBS, which owns NatWest, launched a customer charter  to portray itself as the cuddly side of banking. Yet the charter did not last long, especially a commitment to keep a branch where it was the last in town. Its latest ruse is to absolve itself of blame for closing branches. In letters to customers of doomed branches, it refuses to apologise. Instead, it points the finger at them  for not using branches enough. It says because customers are using digital services the bank must take some difficult decisions to make sure our branch network reflects what our customers want. In other words, were closing your branch  and its your fault.

The Post Office also offers banking facilities and current accounts through Bank of Ireland, although its services are basic and inadequate for most small businesses.

On Friday, HSBC insisted it was keen to maintain a sustainable network for the future.

It said that customers who might have difficulty accessing an alternative branch when theirs closed would be offered one-to-one appointments to discuss their future banking needs.
Plea: Virgin StartUps Mei Shui

Virgin StartUp has called on the Government to commit more money to the Start Up Loans Company.

It aims to keep the scheme running and cut the number of start-ups that fail in their early years.

Virgins not-for-profit initiative, which provides business funding and support, wants the Government to pledge to funding the scheme beyond its current commitment to 2020.

It also wants follow-up funding to help companies in their early years after launch. Despite huge numbers of companies starting up, more than a third still do not survive past their third year.

The proposal for follow-on funding and support has been presented to the British Business Bank, the Government-owned business development bank.

Mei Shui, managing director of Virgin StartUp, said funders were busy chasing for the next big thing while companies that have potential but need an additional helping hand are constantly blighted by the market.

She said: The failure of start-ups is still very high, despite the fact that we have never seen start-up support be so buoyant and varied. We have not really moved at all in terms of the failure rate.

The funding is secured until 2020. It would be good if the Government could confirm its commitment beyond 2020, and we believe it is critical follow-on funding is introduced  thats where the gap exists in the market.

Because if you look at crowdfunding, and all the different schemes, both private sector and public sector, everything is for growth businesses.




Apostle Jeremiah Dlamini having a moment with his second wife Nolwazi.

MBABANE  More than four years after he deserted her, renowned Apostle Jeremiah Dlamini has decided to ask his first wife and the entire Swazi nation to forgive him.



Dlamini is the founder of the once popular Faith Christian Faith Fellowship in Ngwane Park, Manzini.

He now regrets rushing into marrying another woman after his first marriage experienced challenges.



Through his actions, he feels a lot of people have died of sin, some have lost faith and others feel there is no God.

In January 2012, the apostle declared that he was to marry Nolwazi Kunene as his second wife through the Swazi Law and Custom.

It had been reported that for four years before 2012, his first marriage was already on the rocks.



The declaration by the apostle to marry another woman, the younger Nokwazi Kunene, earned him a cow from Robert Zwane who was Senator at the time.

During the interview, he made it clear that his apology did not mean he was going back to his wife, Sibongile Shongwe.

Dlamini made the confession at the Times SUNDAY offices in Mbabane on Thursday afternoon.



Before the confession, Dlamini publicly invited the nation to his church, promising to deliver a special message, which turned out to be the confession.

He had said, On Sunday, people will get to know what I have for them. I therefore invite everyone in the country, whether it is someone who was once a member of the Faith Christian Fellowship but for some reason left the church, was a visitor or even those who have never set foot in the church but admired the ministry, to a special Sunday at the church in Ngwane Park, Manzini.



After the said Sunday service, the apostle then decided to approach this newspaper. This was because there were no journalists at the prayer service.

In his explanation, Apostle Jeremiah said the recent visit by Nigerian Prophet Philip Osung was like a lit matchstick thrown into fuel, as far as the special message was concerned.

When the Nigerian prophet was here, after the revivals, he made it clear that God wanted me to continue with His ministry. That is why I decided to confess to the people who have sinned because of my actions. God insisted that the latter glory will be better than the former glory and I shall smile again, he said.
EZULWINI  Zakhele Lukhele, Managing Director (MD) of the Swaziland Development and Savings Bank (SwaziBank), is not satisfied with the profit the institution made in the previous financial year.



The SwaziBank which employs 320 people, generated a total profit of E27.6 million.

This was a marginal decrease from the E29.02 million made in the 2013/2014 financial year. During the previous financial year, it can be said that the bank generated total revenue of E279.9 million.



Addressing the banks workers at their Christmas party held at Royal Swazi Spa Convention Centre in Ezulwini yesterday, the Managing Director said the bank was confident that profitability would improve in the current financial year ending March 2017.



He was hopeful the institution would recover its financial footing and perform better. Lukhele revealed that the bank incurred high costs which had a negative effect on profits.

We need to reduce costs in order to realise good profits, he said.

The party began at 2pm and was expected to end around 9pm.



In attendance were among others, Sibongile Mdluli, Chairperson of the SwaziBank Board, members of the bank and Sizakele Dlamini, Director Corporate Services in the Ministry of Finance.

Nozizwe Mulela, Executive Manager Business Banking, was the Master of Ceremonies. Mulela is also the Chairperson of the Swaziland Television Authority (STVA).

Gospel musician, Nduduzo Matse entertained them with music.



Meanwhile, the MD continued to say he was hopeful negotiations with workers representatives over salary increment would be fruitful.

He received a loud round of applause when he said it was a matter of weeks before the bank reached consensus with the workers representatives.

In order to improve bank performance, Lukhele mentioned that his financial organisation would introduce new products to compete in the banking sector.

He said he would not reveal them yet as they were still to unveil them officially. He disclosed that SwaziBank had devised a strategy to, among other things, improve productivity and manage risks.

He said his speech would not be long because a Christmas party was not an occasion of speeches but an event where they should celebrate and have fun.
MBABANE  Mangomeni Ndzimandze, former Army Commander, has come out to say government spent US$45 million on purchasing the cargo ship that disappeared mysteriously in the early 1990s.

In todays current exchange rate, this would be E630 million.



The army legend was part of the delegation sent by King Sobhuza II to Holland to buy the then brand new ship.

Presently, suspicion is rife that the ship possibly sailing at sea, off the coast of Liberia in West Africa could be the one belonging to the Swaziland Government.

It was recently filmed by a German photographer sailing off the coast of Liberia.



It still bears the naeme of the country Swaziland.

Meanwhile, the delgation commissioned by King Sobhuza II to buy the ship in Holland was reportedly led by Princess Phumelele, now a Senator.

Holland, a country in north Western Europe, is famously known as the Netherlands.

It is a ruled by King Willem-Alexander, the oldest child of Queen Beatrix.



Queen Beatrix is the child of Queen Juliana who is reported to have helped Swaziland buy the brand new ship at the reasonable price of US$45 million, the equivalent of E630 million at the current exchange rate.

Queen Juliana had ascended to the Throne on September 4, 1948. She ruled until 1980.

She died in 2004 at the age of 94.



In fact, the former army commander was ordered by the King to be Princess Phumeleles bodyguard because she was expected to pay a courtesy call Queen Jualina.

In an interview, Ndzimandze confirmed that he indeed formed part of the delegation commissioned by the King, in March 1978, to go to Holland to buy the vessel.

He does not know how the ship got lost and disputed a statement by Percy Simelane, Government Press Secretary, to the effect that the Swazi Government had never owned a ship.

The country bought a brand new ship, I dont know how it got lost, said Ndzimandze.



We were at Embo State House when the King commissioned us to Holland to buy the ship.

He revealed that he was present when the delegation reported to King Sobhuza II about eventual acquisition of the vessel.

He said a Swazi delegation even went to Maputo, Mozambique to view the ship on delivery.
MBABANE  In response to an undisclosed emergency, the Ministry of Defence spent E320 000 on hiring two helicopters from a company in Maputo, Mozambique.



However, the ministry does not want to reveal to the public regarding why the two aircraft were hired.

They have cited security reasons.

Andreas Mathabela, Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Defence, could not disclose the nature of the emergency or urgency when this newspaper asked him about the issue.

According to Government Tenders for 2014/2015, the helicopters were hired from Makond Air Link and Tourism, a company dedicated to aero medical, VIP (Very Important People) and tourism.

The Times SUNDAY could not establish what type of aircraft was hired.



However, investigations revealed that Makond Air Link has a series of helicopters such as JetRanger, LongRanger and a Bell 212, which can be used in flood rescue efforts.

Sources close to the issue claimed the hiring of the helicopters was necessitated by the fact that the countrys army helicopters had developed mechanical faults at that time.



Due to the urgency attached to the hiring of the aircraft, there is no tender number for this deal as reflected in Government Tender Documents for 2014/2015. It could not be ascertained how long the helicopters were in the country and for what reasons they were hired. PS Mathabela confirmed the acquisition of the helicopters but declined to elaborate on the matter because of security reasons.



Asked how many aircraft the country had, Mathabela said the army would not divulge this information as it was kept confidential by the Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force (USDF). He did mention, however, that something very urgent warranted the hiring of the helicopters from Mozambique. Your question on how many helicopters we have will not be answered. If we answer you, you will ask another one, enquiring about the number of guns we have. We cant disclose that kind of information, he said. Lieutenant Colonel Madoda Mkhatshwa, USDF Public Relations Officer, said the Ministry of Defence could not be in a position to shed light on the issue because it involved finances. However, he said, they generally made recommendations to the ministry on what they needed but everything pertaining to the procurement of equipment was done by the Defence Ministry.

The Minister of Defence is Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, who is responsible for its affairs in Parliament. Gamedze is the substantive Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Bheki Mamba, the President of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), has said there was no security threat to the country that could warrant the hiring of the helicopters, especially on an urgent basis.
MBABANE  Angered by the executive managements delay in paying bonuses this year, employees of the Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC) have banned the executive from delivering Christmas party speeches.



In other depots around the country, the SEC workers decided to cancel Christmas parties, in protest against the executive managements style of leadership.

For instance, one of the executive managers was embarrassed on Saturday when she was stopped from delivering a speech on behalf of acting Managing Director (MD), Meshack Kunene, at a Christmas party for staff of the SEC Manzini Depot.

Workers, including senior managers, are unhappy with management for alleged failure to pay their performance-based bonuses which were due in September 2016.



The Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC) is a public company owned by the Government of Swaziland.

It was established in 1963 as a parastatal and recently started operating in a liberalised market through the Electricity Company Act (2007), The Energy Regulatory Authority Act (2007), as well as The Public Enterprises (Control and Monitoring) Act of 1989.



SEC has 10 depots  Stonehenge (Mbabane), Piggs Peak, Manzini, Malkerns, Matsapha, Nhlangano, Siteki, Big Bend, Hluti and Mhlume.

As their relationship with the acting MD seems to be sour, the workers have threatened to pass a vote of no confidence on Kunene.



Their union, the Swaziland Electricity Supply Maintenance and Allied Workers Union (SESMAWU) has even written a letter of complaint against the office of Kunene.

The letter was dated November 14, 2016. All our issues raised with the office are ignored, they are taken for granted, ie they are not given the attention they deserve and our issues take time to be resolved, reads the letter.

The executive of SESMAWU raised seven complaints against the office of the MD, mainly accusing him of refusing to work with the union. The office of the MD always condones Management even on issues that seem to be in breach of our agreements, further reads the letter.



They threatened to petition the MDs office anytime after they had delivered the letter.

Mluleki Sibandze, the Secretary General of SESMAWU, confirmed that workers cancelled some parties around the country because they were not happy with the executive management.

He said workers told him management delivered one and the same speech every year, which focused on how the company experienced financial problems.



Sibandze said it was for this reason, therefore, that workers felt they would not allow management to tell them about the financial problems.

He did not give details on the matter as he said management had barred them from speaking to the media about company issues.
Martin Dlamini (C), the Minister of Finance, was photographed by officials from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development signing a E212 million Loan Agreement for the construction of a 250-bed National Referral Hospital in Manzini, while Prince Hlang

MANZINI  Finance Minister Martin Gobizandla Dlamini is alleged to have illegally committed the taxpayer to a loan of E212 million for the construction of a 250-bed National Referral Hospital in Manzini.



This, he allegedly did without the involvement of parliament, as required by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland.

Though the minister denies ever signing for the loan with Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, he was photographed endorsing his signature at a signing ceremony held in Mbabane early this year.

Questioned on this act, the minister insisted that he had not signed the loan agreement.



However, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development issued a public statement and posted it on its official website, confirming the signing of the loan agreement.

Reads the statement from the Kuwait Fund: A loan agreement was signed today (February 19, 2016) in Mbabane between the Kingdom of Swaziland and Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, where the Fund will extend a loan of Kuwait Dinars 4 500 000 - (i.e. equivalent to US$15.3 million) to help finance the National Referral Hospital Project in the Kingdom of Swaziland.



The financiers stated the minister committed government to a 25-year loan repayment period.

According to Kuwait Fund, the loan was signed on behalf of the Kingdom of Swaziland by Dlamini, the Minister of Finance while Hamad S Al-Omar, the Deputy Director-General of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development signed on behalf of the fund.



The financiers flew to Swaziland for the signing ceremony, in which Prince Hlangusemphi, the Minister of Economic Planning and Development, was in attendance as well.

The Kuwait Fund further revealed that Hassan Bader Al-Oqab, the Ambassador of Kuwait to South Africa and Abdul Rahman Al-Hashim, the Regional Manager for Central, East and Southern African countries for the Fund witnessed the signing ceremony.



They mentioned that they would advance the loan to Swaziland for the country to undertake the hospital project on a site in Manzini.

The financiers went on to explain that the loan would be for a period of 25 years, including a five-year grace period and will be amortised in 40 semi-annual instalments.


A bomb blast tore through a church near Cairo\s Coptic cathedral during a service Sunday, killing 23 people in the deadliest attack in recent memory on Egypt\s Christian minority.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt\s population, have been previously targeted by jihadists.

At least 49 people were wounded in the explosion, the health ministry said, as the attack drew condemnation from political and religious leaders and led President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare three days of national mourning.

The bombing hit around 10:00 am at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, which is adjacent to Saint Mark\s Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic pope Tawadros II.

The blast shattered the church\s windows and scattered pews through the interior of the church, scorching its marble pillars.

Ball-bearing-sized shrapnel peppered the walls covered in icons of saints and destroyed a box that contained a saint\s relics. Pools of blood congealed on the floor.

Security officials said they believed a bomb containing 12 kilos of TNT appeared to have been the cause of the explosion.

"I was leaving the church and then I heard a loud explosion and there was a lot of smoke and people started running and screaming," Jackline Abdel Shahid, one of the survivors, told AFP at the scene.

"The ambulances started coming, and they kept bringing out body parts," she said.

"Where were the security forces? They\re filling the streets now, but it\s too late," said Gebrail Ebeid, who had been headed to services when the bomb went off.

Several dozen people gathered outside to protest after the attack, chanting for the resignation of Egypt\s interior minister.

They scuffled briefly with police as they tried to push through the cordon.

It was the worst attack on the Coptic Christian community since a 2011 suicide bombing killed more than 20 worshippers outside a church in the coastal city of Alexandria.

"The nation\s Muslim and Christian citizens stand together against this black terrorism," Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said in a statement.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi condemned what he described as "the abhorrent terrorist attack", saying in a statement: "Egypt will only emerge stronger and more unified from these events."

The president also called the Coptic pope to offer his condolences.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of Egypt\s top Sunni Muslim authority Al-Azhar, said the "vile terrorist explosion" was "a great crime against all Egyptians".

The bombing took place on a national holiday to mark the Muslim prophet Mohammed\s birthday.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini in a statement offered her condolences and solidarity "with Egypt in its efforts to defeat terrorism".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Cairo to "unite forces and fight terrorism together".

The church that was targeted "is deeply loved by many Coptic faithful in Cairo and it has a regular parish presence," said Bishop Angaelos, the General Bishop for the Coptic Church in Britain.

He said services had been held in the church on Sunday morning, while Saint Mark\s Cathedral was being renovated.

"It\s an easier target because its entrance is outside the precincts" of the cathedral.

Copts have faced persecution and discrimination dating back to the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.

Dozens have been killed in recent years in sectarian attacks and clashes throughout Egypt.

In April 2013, two people died in clashes with local residents outside Saint Mark\s Cathedral, the spiritual heart of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

Islamists in August 2013 attacked churches and homes of Copts in retaliation for the dispersal by security forces of Cairo protest camps set up by supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the Islamist president deposed by then-army chief Sisi.

Enraged by the crackdown which killed hundreds, mobs lashed out at Copts in the Upper Egypt province of Minya, accusing them of backing the military.

More than 40 churches were attacked nationwide, with most attacks in Minya and Assiut, Human Rights Watch said at the time.

Security forces have been the main target of attacks following Morsi\s ouster.

Most of the attacks are conducted in the Sinai Peninsula by a branch of the Islamic State group, although militants have also targeted security forces and government officials in Cairo.

On Friday, six people died in a bombing next to a police checkpoint in the Talibiya area of Cairo shortly before Muslim weekly prayers when the streets are mostly empty.

SOURCE: AFP
Macedonians voted Sunday in the hope of electing a government capable of returning stability to the small Balkan country that has been shaken by a deep political crisis.

Polling stations closed at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) and the counting of votes begun, an electoral commission spokeswoman told AFP.

"What do I expect? I expect this agony to end," 55-year-old Zoran Milevski told AFP after he cast his ballot at a school-turned-polling station in central Skopje.

The vote was called as part of a European Union-brokered deal between Macedonia\s four main political parties after a mass wiretapping scandal erupted in February 2015 and sparked rival street protests.

No major incidents were reported during the day, electoral officials said, although observers warned of irregularities including unauthorised voter registration at several polling stations.

Some voters reportedly faced pressure over who to vote for and local media said there were also attempts to bribe voters, but this was not confirmed.

Voters\ photos appear next to their names on lists to limit fraud, a State Electoral Commission member told AFP.

Two hours before the end of voting the turnout was around 60 percent  seven percent more than at the same time in the last parliamentary elections two years ago.

Wiretapping allegations led Nikola Gruevski of the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party to step down in January after nearly 10 years in power  paving the way for Sunday\s snap election.

The vote, which was twice delayed owing to international concerns over fraud, pitches the ex-PM against his nemesis, Social Democrat Zoran Zaev.

It was Zaev who released tapes last year that appeared to show the government had wiretapped thousands, including journalists and religious officials, as well as alleging high-level corruption.

Gruevski denied the claims and accused Zaev of planning a coup with foreign support.

"This is the day when people should tell their opinion to exercise their right to vote and give their opinion on how and in what direction in the future Macedonia should move," Gruevski said after casting his ballot in Skopje.

Zaev, 42, has pitched the vote as a choice between "doom or life" and pledged to stop an exodus of young people from the former Yugoslav republic, which remains one of Europe\s poorest countries.

"This day, today is a day on which we choose a progressive, free and united Macedonia," Zaev told reporters after he voted in his native town of Strumica, where he is also mayor.

Although critics describe 46-year-old Gruevski as a corrupt authoritarian who has clamped down on democracy and media freedom, his party topped opinion polls ahead of the election.

There also remained a substantial number of undecided voters, who could swing the result in the country of two million people.

"This election is one of the most unpredictable to take place in Macedonia," Zaneta Trajkoska, director at the Institute of Communication Studies, told AFP.

"Whoever wins the election will have huge challenges and issues to solve."

A handful of ethnic Albanian political groups are vying to become the junior partner in the new ruling coalition, in a country where a quarter of the population is Albanian.

Albanian insurgents fought Macedonian forces in an uprising 15 years ago, leading to an agreement giving the minority group more rights.

Macedonia aspires to join both the EU and NATO but accession has been blocked by Athens owing to a dispute over the country\s name  Greece has a northern region also called Macedonia.

The latest EU progress report on Macedonia said democracy and rule of law had been "constantly challenged" in particular by "state capture", referring to the considerable influence of private interests on state decisions.

Analysts however suggest Europe has brushed aside concerns because of Gruevski\s role as a "gatekeeper" in the refugee crisis, in which hundreds of thousands of migrants have entered landlocked Macedonia from Greece on their way to western Europe.

The refugee wave has put added pressure on the public purse in Macedonia, where the average net wage is around 360 euros ($380) a month and unemployment stands at nearly 24 percent.

SOURCE: AFP
Beaver County preparing for robust Election Day

As the Nov. 8 midterm election approaches, nearly 114,000 people are registered to vote in Beaver County.
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Waterford

Living at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers produces a mix of awe at the waterfront's beauty and fear when the rivers rampage.

Since 2003, Jeanann Fennessy lived uneasily with that recipe, but after Tropical Storm Irene sent four feet of river water through her 160-year-old home at 16 Front St., she was through living that way.

"I had PTSD," Fennessey said.

The adverse impact of Tropical Storms Irene and Lee in 2011 then Superstorm Sandy in 2013 have raised awareness among New Yorkers about the costs for being unprepared. The impact of polar ice caps melting in the rising sea levels and the Hudson River has led the state to encourage preparation for future flooding and storms.

"Sea level rise will impact the Hudson all the way to the Troy Dam," said Kristin Marcell, special projects coordinator for the state Department of Environmental Conservation Hudson River Estuary Program.

The Hudson's water level at its mouth has risen 15 inches since 1900 and is expected to continue. It's felt all the way north to the Capital Region.

That means flooding involves more than too much water racing to the sea at once. Now, it's also about rising water levels pushing upstream and increasingly intense rainfalls.

"The Community Risk and Resiliency Act, passed by the legislature in 2014, called for state agencies to prepare guidance to consider sea level rise, storm surge and flooding in permitting and funding decisions, guidance on natural resilience measures and on model local laws," Marcell said.

That has led the state, local municipalities, residents and community organizations to work together to prepare and adapt.

"The biggest challenge is there are so many things that we could do to improve our situation," said Tom King, managing director of the Community Recovery Program for the state Governor's Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR).

These changes include raising buildings to avoid major flooding damage, assisting small businesses, buying properties and making infrastructure improvements from culverts to flood control to protecting fire stations and key command posts.

The Capital Region's flood prone areas in Waterford, Schenectady and Rotterdam, and Schoharie County, Greene County and up the Mohawk River are receiving state assistance to prepare for the fierce storms to come.

Fennessey escaped the stress of worrying about the next flood when her home was elevated under a New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program to protect homeowners from flooding. With state assistance of $300,000, Fennessey completely rebuilt her home which had become a patchwork of increasingly stressed repairs. Now, her three-story home towers more than 30 tall, high above the rest of the two-story Front Street residences that are a scant 10 yards from the Mohawk River.

"I'm concerned for my neighbors, but not for myself anymore," Fennessey said.

Fennessey's home was like many in the Capital Region's flood prone areas  older and growing more susceptible to increasingly dangerous flooding fed by climate change.

This is an evolving problem for the Capital Region and the entire Northeast, according to Kristen Corbosiero, an assistant professor in the University at Albany Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Science.

"The last 30 to 50 years, the precipitation events in the Northeast have been more severe. Every time we have heavy precipitation, it has to go somewhere," Corbosiero said.

The National Climate Assessment, a U.S. government interagency project on climate change, reports that the Northeast has seen a greater increase in extreme precipitation since 1958 than the rest of the country.

"This increase, combined with coastal and riverine flooding due to sea level rise and storm surge, creates increased risks," the report says.

In heavy rains, people along the region's rivers and small creeks will see them rise rapidly and flow strongly. Corbosiero is the principal investigator of a study to improve forecasting to better prepare for severe weather events.

GOSR is dealing with preparation for the future superstorms and the sudden torrential rainstorms that flood small areas.

The Capital Region doesn't have the same worries as New York City and Long Island where rising sea levels threaten coastal communities and harm property values.

Still, "a change in sea level at New York Harbor results in nearly the same change in water level at Albany," said Cynthia Rosenzweig of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Columbia University. "For example, a 3-foot increase in water level (at Manhattan's southern tip) would coincide with a roughly 3-foot increase in water levels at Albany." She was an author of the 2014 study "Responding to Climate Change in New York State," prepared for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Around the state, the New York Rising program "empowers our local partners to build back better than before," King said. "Through an in-depth nine-month planning process, disaster impacted communities such as the village of Waterford created recovery plans that prioritized resiliency projects and programs for implementation."

Waterford Mayor J. Bert Mahoney has lived with flooding in the village his entire life. When the rivers rise at The Battery, where Fennessey lives, it's a question of how far the water's coming up.

"I can't stop the flooding," Mahoney said. "It's an opportunity to help the residents," he said about the program.

The village has $6 million from the state to reduce flooding at the north end; build a consolidated firehouse outside the flood plain to serve as an emergency center; and is encouraging residents to elevate their homes as Fennessey has done. So far, three homes have been raised and two others are to go up.

"The more homes we take out of harm's way, the better off the community will be," Mahoney said.

The village sees preparation as a way to lower homeowners' flood insurance costs, which have quashed some sales, Mahoney said.

But essentially putting homes on stilts isn't a plausible solution for some properties.

"Home elevations can be quite difficult in some cases, such as the city of Schenectady, where the historic Stockade District is located at a low elevation, and the housing stock consists of many conjoined row houses," King said.

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Raising homes in the Stockade is a touchy subject because the area is designated as a historic district. King said alternatives are being explored to protect residents.

The state is providing $3 million to Schenectady to improve the city's sewer system with repairs of the North Ferry Street Pump Station.

In Rotterdam, effort is focused on the $1.5 million project for a command center.

"The biggest project is the expansion and creation of a safe place or haven at the Rotterdam Junction Fire House," said Supervisor Steven Tommasone.

The town also is working on its wells to provide enough drinking water in emergencies and being prepared to supply Schenectady and Glenville.

"We have to be prepared if we have a 100-year storm again in Rotterdam," the supervisor said.

Not all preparation is obvious. Rensselaer County is building larger stream culverts; contouring stream banks; and ensuring its bridges can withstand 100-year storms.

"We're not getting the three-day soaker, we're getting three to four inches in a small area in an hour," Rensselaer County Engineer Wayne Bonesteel said.

Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said the key is preparation.

That means keeping a couple thousand sandbags on hand, ready to deploy. It means working out agreements among communities and providing information for the public.

"Nobody can predict the future, but we can prepare," Apple said.

That's how Fennessey felt about elevating her home.

"I'm glad to see that she finally has a safe place to live and she no longer has to dream and worry about being flooded at any given time," said Frederick J. Ring III, Fenessey's pro bono engineer and project manager.

Fennessey spent six months out of her home after Irene. It took another 18 months to build the elevated home to replace her house of patchwork repairs.

"I call it the bird's nest," Fennessey said looking down from her third-story deck to the rivers' confluence. "The purpose of grant was to build better than before."

kcrowe@timesunion.com  518-454-5084  @KennethCrowe
Albany

A state law that was enacted to prevent attorneys from getting copies of the personnel files of police officers  for use as fodder in cross-examinations  was never intended to block the public disclosure of records on police misconduct, including documented criminal behavior, according to the former state senator who sponsored the legislation.

Through the years, there have been multiple court decisions in New York broadly expanding the 1976 law's original intent. In turn, police and prison agencies have used the statute to conceal internal records that may confirm instances of civil rights violations, excessive force and criminal conduct by officers. The law's reach has become so expansive that some police agencies are suggesting that video footage from dashboard and body cameras worn by officers could fall into a category of "personnel" records that would prevent public release if the footage is used to evaluate an officer's performance.

However, a review of the statute's legislative memoranda and other supporting materials on file in the state library, backed up by interviews with people familiar with the origin of the legislation, indicate lawmakers who voted in favor of the now-controversial statute never considered that it would be misinterpreted by courts or used to conceal misconduct by police or correction officers and firefighters, whose personnel records were later added to the law.

Frank V. Padavan, a former state senator from Queens who was the chief sponsor of the legislation 40 years ago, confirmed that the sole intention of the statute, which is part of the state Civil Rights Law, was to stop private attorneys from using subpoenas to gain unfettered access to the personnel records of police officers.

"That was the intent," said Padavan, 82, who was a Republican member of the Senate from 1973 to 2010. "If the law is being misused, then obviously an amendment might be in order."

More Information Upcoming This is the fifth story in an ongoing series. Coming Monday: At the state Capitol, what are the political impediments to reforming the law? See More Collapse

A legislative memorandum that outlined the reasoning for the amendment did not address public access to police misconduct records or any mention of how the statute might affect the state's Freedom of Information Law. Indeed, the memo was narrow in focus, stating "police officers are bearing the brunt of fishing expeditions by some attorneys who are subpoenaing personnel records in an attempt to attack the officer's credibility, a tactic that has led to abuse and in some cases to the disclosure of unverified and unsubstantiated information that the records contain. It also has resulted in the disclosure of confidential information and privileged medical records."

However, those concerns about the disclosure of personal information were addressed in subsequent adjustments to other state laws, including an amendment to the Freedom of Information Law in 1978 that prohibited the release of home addresses of police officers. Other state and federal laws, meanwhile, prohibit disclosure of information such as private telephone numbers, dates of birth or Social Security numbers.

The documents filed with the amendment in 1976 show that while the measure passed overwhelmingly in the Legislature, there were some lawmakers who opposed it.

"This bill would introduce a procedural safeguard not enjoyed by other citizens or groups of citizens, in effect, establishing a separate judicial process to preview the introduction of evidence on the character of police officers and no others," states a legislative memorandum that listed "possible objections" to the amendment.

Initial versions of the statute were rejected twice after passing in the Legislature  first by Gov. Malcolm Wilson in 1974, then by Gov. Hugh L. Carey in 1975. An amended version was signed into law by Carey in the summer of 1976. The earlier drafts of the legislation were rejected because they would have prevented district attorneys, grand juries and the state Attorney General's office from accessing police disciplinary records. That version was opposed by prosecutors across the state.

The legislation received widespread support from law enforcement agencies at the time, including the State Police, which pushed for the amendment. State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II declined requests to be interviewed for this story and would not answer written questions about his handling of discipline involving troopers who engage in criminal behavior. The State Police also declined to provide any information about their internal affairs unit, including its annual caseload.

Louis J. Lefkowitz, who was state attorney general in 1976 and died in 1996, wrote a short letter to Gov. Carey that summer that did not strongly endorse the measure, but said Lefkowitz had "no legal objection to it."

Joseph P. Hoey, a former U.S. Attorney who was then the state's special deputy attorney general, wrote a letter to the governor's office urging Carey to veto the amendment. Hoey characterized the measure as a "step in the opposite direction" of accountability for police agencies.

"Presently, the need for public accountability of public servants is becoming painfully clear," Hoey wrote. "On the federal level, the movement towards increasing the public availability of secret law enforcement files has greatly accelerated in the past few years. ... All the participants in the criminal justice system should constantly be reminded that their employment in this system is a privilege and that the greatest part of this privilege is being charged with the public trust of maintaining the public's right to justice."

Hoey, who has since died, also argued in his two-page letter that judges control what information is used by or turned over to defense attorneys, and that other state laws regulated the release of police disciplinary records so that personal information such as home addresses would not be disclosed.

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Legal observers, including Robert J. Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, said the meaning of "personnel" has become so clouded that virtually any record that includes information about a police officer's actions can be categorized as off-limits to the public.

"The fact is that the phrase 'personnel records' has been stretched not only beyond its intent but in so many instances beyond the meaning of the phrase as understood by the average person," Freeman said. "We could have a police officer who is engaged in any number of instances of misconduct and the public has no capacity to know that."

In 2011, State Police refused to disclose any of its records on a traffic stop involving state Sen. Neil Breslin. The agency cited the statute, Section 50-a of the state Civil Rights Law, as a reason for withholding the records, but never provided an explanation as to how the records from the traffic stop were being used to "evaluate the performance" of any troopers. Breslin said he had a couple glasses of wine before the stop, which resulted in the senator driving away without a citation.

In 2006, the Albany Police Department cited 50-a when the agency withheld a list of more than 40 police officers who allegedly illicitly purchased and possessed machine guns they bought in the late 1990s without paying any federal taxes by falsely claiming they were for "law enforcement purposes." The Times Union challenged the denial in state Supreme Court and in 2010, after two lower court losses by the newspaper, the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled in the newspaper's favor, saying the list of names of the current and former officers were not "personnel" records, in part, because no officers were ever disciplined.

Still, successes in New York courts by newspapers and civil rights groups are rare in cases challenging the statute's seemingly impenetrable protections against disclosure of documents on police misconduct investigations.

Michael J. Grygiel, an Albany attorney who specializes in First Amendment cases, said judges in New York, including with the Court of Appeals, have seriously misunderstood the parameters and original intent of the statute. In 1999, Grygiel argued unsuccessfully on behalf of the Times Union and Daily Gazette in a case that sought disclosure of Schenectady police records documenting an investigation into the conduct of 18 off-duty officers who faced discipline for throwing eggs at cars as they rode on a private bus to a bachelor party. The Court of Appeals ruled against the newspapers and said 50-a applied because the information could be used to "harass" the officers.

"50-a has been broadened beyond recognition by improper judicial interpretation," Grygiel said. "In fact, there's even clear indications in the legislative history that 50-a does not apply outside of a litigation context, and in no way was intended to prevent responses to disclosure requests under FOIL from news organizations, particularly where it's a matter of public interest."

blyons@timesunion.com  518-454-5547  @brendan_lyonstu
Now begins the four-year winter of our discontent. It's like slipping into a political ice age over night. They don't distill enough Scotch to get us through this.

If the promise of a Donald Trump presidency wasn't bad enough, the reality is even more dreadful  and we're still more than a month away from his inauguration.

Trump's picks for Cabinet posts range from bad to worse, featuring crackpot generals, climate change disbelievers, Wall Street hucksters and a gaggle of inexperienced big political donors who now will be rewarded for those checks by running our government.

I'm sure there's plenty of competition for worst of the lot  especially since he isn't finished fleshing out his administration yet.

As of the moment, though, mine is Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, self-acknowledged close friend and ally of the fossil fuels industry and climate change denier as Trump's choice to run the Environmental Protection Agency.

Pruitt is about as well-defined an enemy of the EPA as there is, reminiscent of James Watt, Reagan's secretary of the interior back in the early 1980s. So what Trump is telling us unambiguously is that he wants to dismantle the EPA, an agency that has proved a great defender of public and environmental health.

It won't be all that hard to cripple the EPA in a hurry with Pruitt at the EPA helm and a complicit attorney general.

By the end of next month, the U.S. government could choose to no longer defend, or at least defend effectively, the various clean air, clean water and related provisions we've come to rely on.

Within a year, with the next budget cycle, funding for the EPA could and probably will be drastically cut, a classic starvation strategy for politicians looking to get rid of what they don't want. With no staff and no lawyers, the toughest standards and regulations would be neutralized.

The consequences for the country, for New York, are staggering.

All the superfund and brownfield cleanups in the pipeline, the regulations and ongoing enforcement actions that keep major polluters in line, kiss them all goodbye. Hello bad old days.

Here in New York, we can be thankful that at least the PCB dredging of the Hudson is largely done. We got lucky. Although going forward, while natural resources recovery is built in to the existing Superfund statute, who knows how quickly the Trump administration and a Republican Congress can take all the sting out for big business.

That's going to pose a problem for New York. It's obvious the Cuomo administration has been heading into a legal showdown with General Electric over dredging the Champlain Canal, for example. That was going to be tough enough with a friendly EPA. But now, with a hostile one, who knows.

Clean air is particularly vulnerable for us, because air does not recognize state borders. I've spent the last 30 years and more watching this state slowly claw its way forward in combating the effects of pollution from Midwestern coal-fired generation plants. All of the downwind states like New York suffer from the bad air produced elsewhere. True, a coalition of states can and have sued the producing states, but it's the EPA's involvement that has largely made the difference for success  even during a hostile administration like George W. Bush's.

Which brings us to the only credible answer for New York's environmental protection during at least the first two years of Trump's administration, until the mid-term election.

New York has to protect New York and can count on no one else.

Gone will be a Judith Enck coming up from New York City, where she is the EPA's regional administrator until Jan. 20, to give hope and clarity to the victimized residents of Hoosick Falls over polluted drinking water, or bring news of an enforcement action against crude oil storage facilities and air monitoring to the residents of the Ezra Prentice homes alongside the Port of Albany.

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Is the Cuomo administration up to the challenge suddenly thrust on it as our alpha and omega of environmental protection? The jury is very much out on that.

There is evidence both ways.

In Cuomo's favor is his embracing one of the most ambitious and progressive energy plans in the nation, one scheduled to reduce greenhouse gases by 80 percent by 2050, and that will ultimately mandate a complete break from fossil fuels. That is astoundingly good, at least so far and on paper.

Also, after getting a prod from Enck and the EPA, GlobalFoundries at the port is being put through a full environmental impact assessment, including a "climate test." The proposed Pilgrim pipeline that would travel down the Thruway median is similarly and belatedly getting the scrutiny it should have in the first place, and there is some doubt the pipeline can meet the conditions of the state's energy plan. But is Cuomo really ready for the next chapter of Oilbany? Because it's coming.

By contrast, look how the governor and his administration failed the people of Hoosick Falls. Not being able to admit error, the ego thing, is a major failing. Where would Hoosick Falls be without Enck?

Along the same lines, last August in a showcase meeting with concerned Ezra Prentice residents, DEC commissioner Basil Seggos promised air monitors and $500,000 for air quality efforts. Residents are saying, so where are those monitors, those promises?

So cross fingers that by the time the Alberta sands come rolling in, we've got it right. Because with Trump's EPA, nobody will have our back.

flebrun@timesunion.com
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"Heroin pisses me off."

Ashley Radliff says this from her apartment overlooking Albany's Lark Street, where she's on her own and clean for the first time in her adult life. From her perch, as dusk descends, she sees what appear to be glimpses of the drug-infused life she has left.

These days, she expresses outrage over the hold she sees the highly addictive, deadly opiate taking on others. But she's learned to keep her distance from dope.

Radliff, 29, was one of three women undergoing treatment for heroin addiction at The Next Step in Albany, a residential program for women, profiled by the Times Union in October 2015. Amid a heroin epidemic that has affected all segments of society  rich, poor, white, black, urban, suburban  use of the drug among women doubled between 2002 and 2014, according to federal data.

Each of the three women had come to their shared experience by different routes and was working to forge her own path out. Radliff was the only one to complete the program and graduate. Monika Spearman, 27, was kicked out after 10 months for repeated infractions not related to drugs, but is on her feet and credits The Next Step for teaching her the structure and mental skills she needs to live clean.

Alison, then a 30-year-old nurse and mother from Binghamton whose last name was withheld at her request, failed the program. After months at the residence, she earned the right to periodically leave the Holland Avenue residence. Out on the street, she used drugs, then was sent to jail, per the rules of her court-mandated treatment, said Marsha Penrose, The Next Step's executive director.

Penrose, a surrogate mother to the residents who has witnessed many failures and overdose deaths as well as successes, sounded satisfied with the results of the Times Union's unscientific sample.

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"Two out of three ain't bad," she said.

Radliff and Spearman, the two who stayed clean, have a few things in common. They have divorced parents and trouble establishing healthy relationships. They started using drugs young and spent years doing almost anything to get high. They were as addicted to the adrenaline rush that comes with living on the edge as to the drugs.

They've got grit, as well as disarming honesty about their pasts, to the extent that they are able to look back with clarity. Each has been on her own about three months, grounding herself with the structure they learned at The Next Step. They go to counseling and group therapy, as well as 12-step meetings. Their long-term goals involve helping others overcome substance use disorders.

But otherwise, their journeys are unique.

Spearman lives in an unlikely setting for a young woman who was once a prostitute and a stripper and conned others out of money: an apartment in a quiet Orange County village  across the street from the police station.

Spearman gets the irony. "Look where I am," she laughed, as a Times Union reporter approached her front door in October. She left the door unlocked as she took the reporter for a stroll around the neighborhood, with a church, a music school, a few eateries and shops.

Weekdays, Spearman walks to her 8-to-5 job handling accounts receivable for a petroleum company. She spends time with a new boyfriend, an old acquaintance who has been clean for a decade. She is pregnant with his child.

She works the 12 steps that many people in recovery use to overcome addictions, reading and writing in a journal. She takes pride in small accomplishments, like paying her rent on time, and delights in little luxuries, like having the heat on.

And she is ecstatic over getting to see her son, Jayden, who turns 3 on Sunday. She was married to the boy's father, her onetime drug dealer. He'll be out of jail himself soon. She worries about working out co-parenting, admitting that she never stopped loving him, just realized he was bad for her.

Until October, Spearman was not allowed to be alone with Jayden. Before that, Spearman's father, who has raised the boy, stayed around, as mandated by Child Protective Services.

She concedes that her present is "boring" compared to her past, but says that's it's well worth it to be off the sickening merry-go-round of getting high, coming down, scrounging for drugs, scraping by.

Her former life was marked by perpetual chaos. She'd used all manner of drugs, served time in jail, been stabbed by a boyfriend, danced in a strip club, made a ton of money, spent the money on dope, worked as a prostitute, lost more than a dozen friends to heroin overdoses.

She thought she was at the end of her drug-using days when a john she was trying to con stabbed Spearman and beat her, breaking 14 bones in her face. But without any tools or support for quitting, Spearman used again. Eventually, she sold dope to an undercover cop, went to jail and landed at The Next Step.

When she was kicked out in April, she had to return to jail. She met up there with other inmates she knew, from her time on the street. They told her they were proud of her, encouraged her to stay straight. She continues to get letters from them now.

"Who would have ever thought that going to jail would be such an inspiration?" she said.

Spearman knows she owes her father a terrific debt. He has raised Jayden, used connections to get her a job, found her the apartment in a quiet town away from the downtown Newburgh neighborhood where she used to get in trouble and co-signed on the lease.

Spearman's eyes lower, the only time during a 90-minute interview when she looks ashamed, when she relates her father's ultimatum: "He says, you mess up, I'm washing my hands." She pauses. "It's fair."

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Radliff's new neighborhood is the hip, funky center of Albany, surrounded by restaurants and shops and clubs. But Radliff mostly doesn't go out.

"A drink will lead to crack or coke, and coke will lead to either Xanax or heroin," Radliff said.

Before heroin, Radliff got hooked on prescription narcotics. Doctors prescribed oxycodone after a skateboarding accident when she was 17. She sold as well as used the drugs. She made thousands a day and spent a bunch on her girlfriends, paying the rent and buying them expensive clothes and jewelry.

She turned to heroin in her 20s as a cheaper, easier way to get high. As she said a year ago, it "grabbed" her "by the soul."

Radliff no longer cared about anything but dope. She lost her job and stopped taking classes. She started stealing, including from her parents. She got picked up for drug-related crimes, didn't show for court appearances and began collecting warrants for her arrest. She totaled five cars, driving while high or "dope sick."

She finally got arrested after 2 1/2 years of dodging police. It took her nearly a month in jail to withdraw from drugs, vomiting, sweating, defecating. "Jail saved my life," she said.

After completing the yearlong program at The Next Step, she moved into supportive housing, and then the Lark Street apartment. She got a part-time retail job, answering an interview question about her greatest accomplishment by revealing that it was getting clean.

Life hasn't been easy, though. Her mother was recently in intensive care without a definitive diagnosis, and is now in rehab. Radliff, who had hoped to mend their relationship, is distraught over it, and has never before coped with such emotional pain drug-free. She claims she's been too busy caring for others to think about getting high, focused on supporting the rest of her family.

Penrose is impressed with her strength.

"With the stresses that she's got, she's doing really well," Penrose said. "No matter what was important to her before, she still found time to do what was not good for her."

Radliff can't afford a car and finds it humbling to get the bus to work. But she won't accept money from her family.

"When you work hard for something, you don't piss it away," Radliff said. "The one thing I worked so (expletive) hard for was my recovery. I won't piss that away, no way."

chughes@timesunion.com  518-454-5417  @hughesclaire
Having lived in Oswego some years ago, the aging Fitzpatrick nuclear power plant there and the dangers it poses alarm me ("Advocacy groups differ on nuke aid," Dec. 3). I don't agree with billion-dollar payouts to keep ancient plants running. It is throwing good money after bad, and all it takes is one accident to have repercussions for more lifetimes than I can imagine.

Some feel that in a world threatened by accelerating climate change, nuclear energy is cleaner than fossil fuels. However, is Gov. Andrew Cuomo's choice to subsidize the plants the only climate friendly solution? Can't we use the billions of dollars to develop renewable energy?
Five candidates in race for NLCS District 3 board seat

Five candidates are seeking election to the district three NLCS board seat: Tony (Rock) Fleetwood, Tye Hooten, Scott King, Rob Payne and Autumn Ray.
Because all things Internets eventually return to. . . Here's mainstream media news "reporting" of a local family celebrating the arrival of a cat that looks a lot like the one they lost many years ago.Also, news coverage of this is why Kansas City is at a historic homicide high that nobody seems to know or care about . . . A KC family was reunited with their cat seven years after she went missing
It is about a two and a half hour drive from Pakistans capital, Islamabad. The closest town is called Jalalpur Sharif, in the Jhelum district. It is remote and isolated, yet it is an Alexander the Great monument.

There are no signs that lead there and it cannot be seen from the road because trees block the view. Most locals do not know about it. The monument is about 60 square meters and there is one guard there.

It is a big building with a blend of Greek architecture. It has several rooms and the roof is used as a big platform on which there are four-sided Greek style arches. It is made of marble and its white building attracts the eye from a distance.

The gables and columns are characteristically Greek, and on the gables there are battle depictions and the star of Macedonia. In the center of the monument there is a cylindrical base having a marble plate with a colored map of the entire campaign of Alexander the Great.

Alexander founded a town in the area and named it Bucephala, after his horse Bucephalus. The town later acquired the name of Girjakh and finally named Jalapur by its ruler Malik Darwesh Khan Janjua in honor of Moghul emperor Jalaluddin Akbar, who visited this town.

Alexander had buried his horse near the modern day town of Jalalpur Sharif, just before or after his famous battle of Raja Porus on the other side of the river Jhelum in May, 326 BC. He probably built a monument as well. But no traces of that are to be found.

However, in 1997 due to the interest taken by Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the monument was built.

Read more here.

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Main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis lashed out at Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at his speech during the debate on 2017 budget in Parliament on Saturday

Main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis lashed out at Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at his speech during the debate on 2017 budget in Parliament on Saturday.

"The decline of the country in the last two years is unprecedented; no other government has caused so much damage to the country. The two parties, SYRIZA and ANEL, have boosted extreme demagogy, undermined every attempt of reviving the country, and turned growth into recession," he underlined.

"The cost of your governance is huge," Mitsotakis said to the prime minister and added: "You have no plan. They only thing you are doing is imposing 2.6 billion euro new taxes which you believe they do not undermine the competitiveness of the Greek companies and most of them are indirect taxes that you used to call unfair."

The leader of the main opposition also accused the prime minister of having failed in the two main targets he had set: abolishing austerity and reducing the debt. As he said, the measures on the debt are equivalent to a memorandum after the third memorandum.

Regarding the debt relief, he said that it is necessary but not the solution to get the country out of the crisis.

Read more here.

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Greek Communist party KKE secretary general Dimitris Koutsoumbas accused the government of following a disgraceful policy and trying to turn black into white.

Greek Communist party KKE secretary general Dimitris Koutsoumbas accused the government of following a disgraceful policy and trying to turn black into white.

Koutsoumbas was speaking in Parliament during the debate on 2017 budget to be voted at midnight.

No words can describe the disgrace of your policy, he said adding that the recent relief measures for low pensioners and the Aegean islands constitute a drop in the ocean.

The five-day debate on the 2017 budget resumed on Saturday at the parliaments plenum. It will be concluded with a roll call vote at midnight.

Read more here.

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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday stressed the need to resume viable and credible talks on the Middle East issue

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday stressed the need to resume viable and credible talks on the Middle East issue in order to ensure the right of the citizens of the State of Israel to live in security and the right of Palestinians to have their own viable state.

Moreover, he said that it is imperative to find a fair and viable solution to the Cyprus problem and expressed once again his support to the efforts of Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades for such a solution.

He also referred to the situation in Syria saying that recent developments are tragic. "The security climate in the region continues to deteriorate and the last we need is aggressive voices that undermine regional stability or prevent building confidence on the basis of mutual respect in our region."

Regarding terrorism, he said: "The attacks in Europe, the Middle East and Africa reaffirm that terrorism is a major global threat. Addressing this threat requires concerted efforts and enhanced cooperation on the part of the international community."

In his statement, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, expressed his position for a fair and viable solution to the Cyprus problem based on the UN resolutions and the principles and values of the European Union (EU). The solution, he said, should not include occupation troops or security or invasive guarantees.

Anastasiades also stressed that a solution must be found to the Middle East that guarantees the rights of Israelis and the State of Palestine.

Read more here.

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nergy and Environment Minister Giorgos Stathakis is visiting New York to present investment opportunities in the energy sector during the "Capital Link Invest in Greece Forum." Stathakis was in a 10-day tour in Rome, Brussels and Jerusalem and now is in New York. The aim of these international contacts is to create the conditions so that Greece can become an energy hub in the region, while attracting investments in environmental and energy infrastructure.

"Greece is at the crossroads of two energy corridors," Stathakis explained to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA). "One runs in the East Mediterranean and the second one runs through Southeast Europe. Greece is at the centre of both of them and so there are the conditions to become an energy hub, which will help the security of supply to Europe through the diversification of energy supply routes. This is what we are working on." During the contacts of the previous days there was strong interest in the construction of a gas pipeline running through the Eastern Mediterranean, providing a direct export path from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe (EastMed).

We are already making use of community financial tool Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), and studies confirm that this project is technically feasible and commercially viable. Greece, Italy, Israel and Cyprus agreed to set up a working group to monitor the progress of the project and to identify common means of support. n addition to the infrastructure projects aiming at rendering Greece an energy hub, significant investment opportunities exist in the deregulation of the electricity market. "As we come closer to the year 2020, the process of the deregulation of the energy market is concluded, with PPC maintaining the main role while creating opportunities for the operation of new companies," Stathakis said. "Moreover, there are significant investment opportunities on innovative ideas and technologies that save energy and put emphasis on renewable sources," he added.

Read more here.

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The Republic of Cyprus will take part at the conference in Geneva on January 12

As a relevant party, the Republic of Cyprus will take part at the conference in Geneva on January 12, the government has stressed, pointing out that the January meeting will deal with amendments to international conventions which concern the Republic.

Any other interpretations do not correspond to what has been agreed on December 1st by Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said in a written statement the Deputy Government Spokesman, Victoras Papadopoulos on Saturday following claims about the conference by the Turkish Cypriot side.

On December 1st, both Cyprus leaders agreed - in the presence of the Special Advisor of the UN Secretary General - to meet in Geneva on 9th January, on the 11th they will present their respective maps on the property issue. On the 12th of January, a Conference on Cyprus will be convened with the added participation of the guarantor powers. Other relevant parties shall be invited as needed, Papadopoulos said.

Consequently, the Deputy Government Spokesman stressed that, it goes without saying that the Republic of Cyprus, as a relevant party, shall be present, since we are talking about a conference which aims, among other goals, to amend international treaties which concern the Republic.

It is equally important, to ensure the presence of the EU, to which Cyprus belongs, as well as the presence of the UN and the Security Council said Papadopoulos.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. he leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, namely President Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci have been engaged in UN-backed talks since May last year, with a view to reunite the island under a federal roof

Source: CNA

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European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos on Thursday said the situation in Greece was sufficiently improved as to allow migrant transfers under the Dublin Treaty to partially resume after March 2017

European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos on Thursday said the situation in Greece was sufficiently improved as to allow migrant transfers under the Dublin Treaty to partially resume after March 2017 - but only if a series of conditions are met. He made it clear that these transfers will not be retroactive and would only apply to "certain categories of migrants" that enter the EU irregularly after March 15.

"Vulnerable applicants and unaccompanied minors will not be returned to Greece," Avramopoulos said, noting that Greek authorities must provide individual assurances in each case. In practice, he added, "only a very small number of people will fall in this category in the near future."

"Every time a Member State wants to execute a Dublin transfer, they should only do so after they have received assurances from the Greek authorities that that particular applicant will be received in the conditions mandated by European law. This also means that in each individual transfer case, Greece will be able to specify whether the conditions are still such that Greece is in a position to receive additional applicants," he said.

Avramopoulos noted that the Commission's recommendation will be reviewed if current conditions change again, for example if arrivals go up again, and will only work if Greek authorities continue efforts to improve the situation between now and March and the other member-states "do their part in picking up the pace of relocation and deploying national experts."

The Commissioner made it clear that the burden should not fall exclusively on Greece: "Neither Greece nor Italy nor any other country in the future should be left alone to bear an unsustainable burden," he said. That would be irresponsible, Avramopoulos pointed out, given the high migration and asylum pressures on Greece.

He predicted that there will only be a very small number of such Dublin transfers, since there was now much tighter control of Greece's land border with Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) so there were no "secondary transfers". Greece had also asked for the deployment of a European border guard, which was now underway, so that migrants will be prevented from travelling irregularly long before March 15, he said.

Significant progress

Greece had made significant progress under very difficult conditions to put in place a fully functioning asylum system over the last months, Avramopoulos said, announcing that the European Commission on Thursday closed the infringement procedures against Greece and Italy in relation to Eurodac after both countries achieved a near 100 pct fingerprinting rate for all irregular arrivals.

The Commissioner also reported a record number of relocations in November, which increased to 1,406 and brought the overall total to 8,162, of which 6,212 were relocated from Greece and 1,950 from Italy.

"For Greece we have reached a stable relocation trend at 1,000 per month, and for Italy, last month, the relocations basically doubled," Avramopoulos said.

In light of these improvements, the European Commission now considers that all eligible applicants in Greece and Italy can be relocated to other member-states by September 2017 but this requires that member-states carry out at least 2,000 relocations from Greece and 1,000 from Italy each month from here on. As of April 2017, the relocation rate must increase to 3,000 a month from Greece and 1,500 from Italy.

With regard to resettlement, the Commission said that EU member-states have so far given safe and legal passage to 13,887 persons, as opposed to the agreed number of 22,504 persons under the July 2015 programme. Since the last report, a record number of 2,035 individuals from Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon were resettled each month. An additional 544 Syrian refugees have been resettled from Turkey, bringing the total resettlements from Turkey under the EU-Turkey Statement to 2,761, the Commission reported.

Read more here.

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At least 160 people are feared dead and scores more injured after metal girders and the roof of a crowded church collapsed onto worshippers in southern Nigeria, said a report.



Mortuaries in the city of Uyo are overflowing from Saturday's tragedy, said medical director Etete Peters of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, according to an AP report, citing the hospital director of the area.



The Reigners Bible Church International was still under construction and workers had been rushing to finish it in time for Saturday's ceremony to ordain founder Akan Weeks as a bishop.



Screaming survivors were streaming out and there were cries from injured victims when computer program analyst Ukeme Eyibio rushed to the scene.



"There were trapped bodies, parts of bodies, blood all over the place and people's handbags and shoes scattered," Eyibio said.



He had parked his car outside the complex to make a phone call, heard a deafening explosion he thought was a bomb only to see that the church had disappeared, he said.



Eyibio and three others managed to drag 10 wounded people from an overflow area for worshippers just outside the collapsed church but they did not enter the main structure because a construction worker among them warned of the danger of a further collapse.



Journalists at the scene claim that church officials were trying to prevent them from documenting the tragedy, trying to seize cameras and forcing some to leave the area.



The governor's spokesman, Ekerete Udoh, said the state government will hold an inquiry to investigate if anyone compromised building standards.



Buildings collapse often in Nigeria because of endemic corruption with contractors using sub-standard materials and bribing inspectors to ignore shoddy work or a lack of building permits.
BP Oman has received the delivery of casing pipes for Khazzan project from TMK Gulf International Pipe Industry, a top pipe manufacturer in Oman, a report said.



The plain end pipes were produced by TMK Gipis Oman facility and delivered to the US where the casing pipes were threaded by TMK Ipsco and delivered to BP Oman on time, reported Oman Observer.



TMK is a global leader in producing steel pipe and supplies oil and gas majors with best-in-class tubular products all over the world. BP is our respectful client and our TMK Gipi subsidiary was keen to successfully execute an important urgent order for BP in tight schedule conditions, Andrey Parkhomchuk, international business vice president at TMK, was quoted as saying in the report.
Marriott International, a leading hospitality company, has appointed Yasmine Shaker as the new director of human resources at its Qatar property Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel.



In her new role, Shaker will be overlooking a total of 632 associates and managers working on the 577-room hotel from 52 different nationalities including the direct management of 16 members as part of the human resources department.



An industry veteran, Shaker joins the hotel with over 24 years of hospitality experience.



Originally from Cairo, Egypt, she was raised in Paris, France for seven years before moving back to her home country.



She started her hospitality career as public relations manager at Le Meridien Heliopolis Hotel in Cairo and has moved her way until she joined Marriott International as the Public Relations Manager in 1998 at the Cairo Marriott Hotel & Omar Khayyam Casino, one of the biggest Marriott hotels worldwide with 1087 rooms.



At the Cairo Marriott Hotel, Yasmine created the the Palace identity, positioning the hotel as the historic palace that was initially built for Empress Eugenie for the celebrations of the 1869 Suez Canal inauguration, said a statement from Marriott.



Shaker took the human resources role in 2004 taking care of Core Trainings for the 12 Marriott properties in the Middle East and Africa, at the time.



She has been with the company for 18 years prior to joining the Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel in November 2016.



She has a certificate in the International Management Trainer Network and is currently finalising her diploma for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in intermediate level.



On her new role, Shaker said: "Wherever I go, I aim to always help and support people to discover their true potential. Marriott is a company that helps to inspire associates by offering various strategic trainings tailored to individual needs within its international workforce."



"Marriott International prides itself in providing an inclusive environment with equal support allowing associates to ultimately grow and flourish," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Maldives is one of the best vacation destination travelers could go to. Maldives is known for its beaches with beautiful waters, sands and marine creatures. As the country is visited by tons of travelers all over the world, there are many luxury resorts and hotels available in Maldives.

According to Travel Daily Media and Business Traveler, Four Seasons, a Canadian company revealed another private dominion in Maldives. The Four Seasons company is known for their luxury hotels in many different parts of the world. The company received awards and recognition for being one of the best in its industry.

The new property of the Four Seasons company in Maldives is said to be located in Voavah, Baa Atoll. The company also has other resort properties in Maldives such as the Four Seasons Resort Kuda Huraa. The new property announced by the company is a private island that offers tons of luxury services for its guests. The land's wonderful nature is known to be a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. Being a very large property of over two hectares of land, the place is said to have a two-storey beach house and seven rooms available for use.

This new property offers great services such as a gym, library, kitchen, dining room, a loft lounge and many other services guests will truly enjoy. As a company known for providing great luxury hotels, Four Seasons' new property in Maldives also includes a luxurious yacht of about 62 feet that could accommodate 22 people for a voyage around the enclave. Along with all these, guests in this private island could experience the natural wonders of Maldives such as their wonderful beaches and marine biodiversity. The location of the property is also not that far from other tourist attractions in Maldives. For about 20 to 30 minutes, guests could go to places like the Hanifaru Bay and many more.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
The Christmas season is considered one of the happiest and most upbeat times of the year, but for most people in the West it also means having to endure the very chilly weather. This is why Southeast Asia has become one of the top holiday destinations for people who want to experience a bit of warmth and sunshine during the holidays. Sandy beaches, underground rivers, World Heritage sites, ancient ruins, and great food can all be found in Southeast Asia. Here are the top 5 South East Asian holiday destinations.

First up is Cambodia, home of the world famous Angkor Wat temple ruins. Some of the other fascinating sites of this country include the floating villages of Tonle Sap Lake, the white sandy beaches of Sihanoukville and Kep. Both beaches have been described by the Telegraph as "Asia's hippest new beach retreats." The artsy city of Battambang is brimming with Thai, Khmer, and French architecture. Travelers can also explore the capital city of Phnom Penh to learn more about the nation's troubled past and explore its museums.

For our next destination, we head northeast of Cambodia to the nation of Vietnam. This country is a holiday traveler's dream come true because it has beautiful tropical beaches and awesome spots for people who enjoy the nightlife. Ho Chi Minh City is packed with street side foods and exciting nightlife hotspots, while the seaside haven of Nha Trang provides you with a tropical getaway from the busy city life.

Next up is the Philippines, home to the world famous white sand beaches of Boracay and the underground river of Puerto Princesa, Palawan. There are also other great tourist destinations in this nation consisting of more than 7,100 islands. Take a tour of Intramuros and admire Spanish colonial architecture. Marvel at the Chocolate Hills in Bohol and swim with whale sharks in Oslob, Cebu.

From the Philippines, we head southwest to the island of Indonesia. Enjoy a relaxing getaway in the beautiful beaches of Bali or go see the breathtaking wildlife in Rinca Island, home to hundreds of Komodo dragons. You can also spend your night under the stars at the Pink Beach of Komodo.

Last on the list is Thailand. If you are looking for a destination that can give you spectacular beaches and well-preserved ancient ruins, then this is one destination that should be on everyone's bucket list. Spend a couple of nights exploring the city of Bangkok where you can indulge yourself in the country's food, walk around in sacred temples, and enjoy an authentic Thai massage. After that, it's all about enjoying the country's awesome beaches which include Phuket, Koh Yao Noi, and Ao Nang. Anyone who has ever traveled to Thailand knows why it has been dubbed as "the ultimate nomadic destination" by the Huffington Post.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Cleanliness is one of the things travelers notice once they travel into a foreign land. There are countries that value the cleanliness of the country and there are countries that do not. Cleanliness may be connected with a country's religion and laws. It is quite important to be able to maintain cleanliness in our planet as pollution greatly increases and harms our world.

For tourists, seeing and discovering clean countries is impressive. It shows how the country values its natural resources and environment. It also shows the discipline of the country's citizens. According to The Mesh News and CNN iReport, here are some of the cleanest countries in the world.

1. Iceland- Iceland is a country with a temperate climate as described in its name. The population in this country is low and it is considered one of the richest countries in the world. Having an EPI score of 93.5, Iceland is quite focused on maintaining the country's environment and cleanliness.

2. Sweden- Sweden is a harmonious and a well refined country with a few population. It also focuses on maintaining green and environmental cleanliness. With an EPI score of 89.1, it is considered to be one of the cleanest countries in the world.

3. Switzerland- Switzerland is famous among tourists. Because of its wonderful natural riches, people love to visit Switzerland. With mountains, lakes, great wildlife and other natural wonders, despite being a developed country, it still maintains its cleanliness. The EPI score of Switzerland is 89.1.

4. Norway- Norway is indeed a rich country from its natural resources to its economic standing. The country is known to have great petroleum and gas supply. However, despite this, the country is known to be peaceful and clean.

5. Germany- With an EPI score of 80.47, Germany makes it to the cleanest countries list. Just like Norway, Germany is also blessed with great natural resources and it is also a well-developed country. Even though Germany is known for its nuclear power, the health of the country's citizens is good and the country maintained its cleanliness.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 11

A constable of the Chandigarh Police died after being hit by a Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) bus while crossing the road near the Tribune Chowk this afternoon. The victim was rushed to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, here where doctors declared him brought dead.

According to the police, the victim, identified as Jagtar Singh, was crossing the road when the CTU bus heading towards Ambala hit him. The victim was posted in the accounts branch at the Police Lines in Sector 26.

Eyewitnesses who were standing alongside the road informed the police following which a PCR vehicle rushed the injured to the hospital where he was declared brought dead.

The police said the CTU bus was being driven by Satya Narayan when the accident took place.

A case has been registered against the accused under Sections 279 (rash driving) and 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC at the Sector 31 police station. The accused was arrested and later released on bail. The CTU bus has been impounded by the police.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 11

While the two key posts in the UT police are already lying vacant, the Punjab cadre IPS officer, Sukhchain Singh Gill, is also set to relinquish charge as the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP). The posts of DIG and SSP (Traffic) are already lying vacant.

While the SP Headquarters is holding the additional charge of SSP (Traffic), the charge of DIG is with the IGP.

Gill had joined the UT police as the SSP on December 11, 2013, on a three-year tenure. Gill had also sought an extension of one year, which has been denied by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The post of SSP (Traffic) has been lying vacant since the term of Maneesh Chaudhary, a 2005-batch IPS officer of the Haryana cadre, ended on May 7, this year.

Eigh Singhal, SP (Headquarters), is at present officiating as the SSP (Traffic).

The post of DIG is lying vacant since November 2, after AS Cheema was relieved. IGP TS Luthra is at present holding the charge of DIG.

Alok Kumar, a 2010 batch IPS officer, will be the next DIG, but he is yet to take charge.

Since the key posts are lying vacant, it is bound to affect the functioning of the Police Department.

Unsolved cases

Sippy murder case: The murder case of a 34-year-old lawyer, Sukhmanpreet Singh, aka Sippy, who was shot dead at a park by some unidentified person in Sector 27, on September 20, 2015, is still be solved by the Chandigarh Police.

Daylight robbery at Sector 22 jewellery store: The sensational robbery at Karan Jewellers took place on August 4, 2014, when a youth looted 18 gold chains worth over Rs 6 lakh from the jewellery store. The youngster shot a salesman of the shop in his head, leaving him critically injured.
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 11

The 11th edition of the annual flagship event of PHD Chamber PITEX saw shoppers indulging in favourite Pakistani stalls despite their diminished presence this year.

Unlike every year, the most popular attraction of the expo, has still managed to pull crowd with shoppers picking up Pakistani suits, fabrics and onyx stone items as the total footfall surpassed one lakh on Sunday evening. Amongst the 100 odd international stalls, Pakistani stalls remained popular despite the cold political vibes between the two countries. Every year, Pakistani items and fabrics get popular response. Although the variety is less this time, but the stuff is good, said Rupaali bajaj, a customer.

The other highlights included traditional, pure herbs and spices stall from Egypt and dry fruits from Afghanistan dry fruits. Apart from clothes and apparel arcade, the kitchen expo, home expo and health expo too had rising footfall due to Indian brands.

Coming from similar cultural backgrounds and enjoying a good rapport and client base in the city, Pakistani items always find buyers. Despite the recent situation, shoppers have no constraints, said Manveer Singh, one of the visitors at PITEX.

Registrations cross 1.5 lakh: High footfall was recorded on the weekend as traders and consumers had a gala time on the penultimate day of the five-day Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX). PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry claimed that registrations crossed 1.5 lakh so far in the expo.

Cashing on the health sector, many companies brought their products under herbal and organic tags. Sandeep Singh of Ludhiana-based Naam Dhari Enterprises brought herbal pickle, chutneys, ghee, tea along with denta, a medicine for the teeth management.

State-run SOHNA has introduced organic atta counting on requisite amount of nutrients to the body. Various stalls under the aegis of NABARD and KVIC (Khadi and Village Industries Corporation) provided platform to cooperatives and entrepreneurs who are pioneer in bringing organic and herbal revolution. Many edible products made by self-help groups like Himmati Aurta Da Swayam Sahayat and F-Pure, under the Krishi Vikas Kendra, Amritsar, were also in demand during the fair. According to Praveen Rathee, Regional Director, PHDCCI, Chandigarh, We expect more crowd for tomorrow which is the last day of expo and figures could break the 2-lakh visitor mark. The expo has proved demonetisation had barely affected the spirits of consumers.

The fair drew maximum footfall at consumer and food stalls. Various PSUs and government organisations like MARKFED, MILKFED, Punjab Khadi and Village Industries Board, Eastern Handicrafts and Handlooms Development Corporation Ltd, under the Department of North East Region (DoNER), Himachal Pradesh, Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation Ltd (HPMC); Directorate of Handicrafts, Jammu and Kashmir; HP State Handicrafts and Handlooms Corporation Ltd, FMCG companies, Ministry of Textiles, NABARD, National Small Industries Corporation, Punjab Khadi and Village Industries Board, LIC and various other departments has allured visitors for shopping delights.

Women were found keen in stalls featuring beauty products, items of home decoration and apparels while men made their queries in machineries, property and home appliances.

Every visitor took advantage of the free health check up camp organised by Fortis Escort Hospital. Many food stalls from Pakistan, Afganistan, Delhi, South India and Rajasthan made everyone tempted. A stage show was also organised in which artists regaled the audiences.

Meanwhile, a seminar on GST was also organised with the objective to make the trading class aware about the advantages of the GST. Dr Navjot Sharma, Central and Excise Department, Amritsar and Taxation Officer Sandeep Gupta briefed the delegates on the provision of the GST.
Rup Narayan Das

The first-ever visit of Joko Widodo, the President of Indonesia, to India begins today. The two countries attach a great deal of strategic significance to the visit of President, popularly called Jokowi. Vice-President Hamid Ansari had undertaken a fruitful visit to Indonesia in November last year. Ancient Kalinga, the modern-day Odisha, had maritime trade with the Indonesian islands of Java, Sumatra and Bali. Much before Indias look-east policy and the subsequent act-east policy was formulated, Biju Patnaik, the legendary Parliamentarian and politician from Odisha, reached out to Indonesia during the incipient years of India's Independence and decolonisation. Indonesia was then still under Dutch rule.

Indonesia is beholden to the dare-devil Biju Patnaik who flew in the Indonesian Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir from Indonesia to New Delhi to enable him to participate in the Inter-Asia Conference in March, 1947 to canvass support for the cause of Indonesia's independence. The sustained fight of the two countries against colonialism and imperialism reached its pinnacle in the Bandung conference of 1955. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President Sukorno were the two leading icons of Afro-Asian resurgence. Over the years, Indonesia has not only retained the spirit and ideals of Afro-Asian resurgence, but has also tweaked them to suit contemporary reality. It has adopted principled pragmatism and multilateral engagement.

While Prime Minister Modi came to power in May 2014, President Jokowi too assumed power in Indonesia in October, 2014. Both development-oriented leaders share a convergence of outlook towards development and want to restore the rightful place of their respective countries in the comity of nations. Like Modi, Jokowi seeks to develop Indonesia's maritime resources and pursue other infrastructural development, including substantially increasing its electrical power-generation capacity. The two leaders have also emphasised maritime development. In his election manifesto in May 2014, Jokowi focused on strengthening Indonesia's maritime security, expanding the scope of maritime diplomacy to encompass the Indo-Pacific region. He further articulated in June that Indonesia aims to transform the country into a global maritime axis, which he called poros maritim dunia. He reiterated his call after assuming office in October 2014 and coined the slogan Jalesveva Jayamah, meaning in the ocean we triumph. This has a familiar ring with Narendra Modi's idea of Sagarmala. India is also a maritime nation and views that the 21st century will be the century of seas. More than 90 per cent of India's trade by volume and 70 per cent by value is transported across the sea. For rapidly growing economies like India and Indonesia, ocean and the seas will continue to resonate in their national resolve for security and prosperity. This entails need for comprehensive strategic cooperation. The signing of a defence agreement between India and Indonesia in 2001 resulted in considerable enhancement of interaction and cooperation between the navy of the two countries.

Shared democratic values and secularism are areas of convergence in the relationship between the two countries and their people. While many countries in the world, particularly the emerging democracies, are grappling with as how best to cope with the democratic yearning of the people, Indonesia's experience can be emulated. It has harmonised tradition and milieu of a multicultural, multi-religious society with technology and democratic aspirations of the people. There is also a commitment to retain its normative democratic values by shedding the vestiges of its authoritarian past. Indonesia has seamlessly transformed itself into a modern democratic state, not necessarily of western variant or Westminster model. It is an Asian variation of democracy. In this context, Indonesia's efforts at the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) merits attention. The Forum was set up by the democratic Indonesia in 2008 as an "annual, inclusive and inter-governmental forum on the development of democracy in the Asia-Pacific region". The BDF aims to establish and maintain a forum among Asian countries that promotes political development through dialogue and cooperation in strengthening adherence to democratic values and development of democratic institutions. A democratic Indonesia has sought to play the role of a bridge-builder between the West and the Muslim world. Both countries can be ideal natural partners, beyond the present strategic partnership. India and Indonesia can learn from each other best practices in successfully running a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society and polity.

The visit of President Jokowi will take the relationship between the two countries to greater heights, particularly in the domain of defence cooperation, bilateral trade and commerce. A slew of agreements are likely to be signed like cooperation in civil aviation. Indonesia's national airline Garuda Indonesia is likely to start a direct flight between Jakarta and New Delhi, via Mumbai, thrice a week very soon.

The writer is a Director in the Research and Information Division of the Lok Sabha Secretariat. The views expressed are personal.
Vandana Shukla

ROHITH Vemula attempted to stir the conscience of a society, deeply divided on the caste lines. It failed to make a dent on social apathy despite the young man's suicide in Hyderabad University. The house of two Dalit brothers, Raju and Brijesh Saroj, sons of a daily wage worker, was pelted in Lalganj, a small village of UP. Drainage to their home was stopped and the family's access to the public toilet was blocked. Their crime? The boys had managed to be among the top 500 scorers in the highly prestigious entrance examination for IIT. The incident went unnoticed because of the location of the village. Dalits are used to atrocities, to giving in. Violence rises in equal proportion to their efforts to come out of the oppressive caste-web.

Indifference to caste issues also rests on a deliberate attempt to block their narrative from the mass media that is dominated by upper castes. Films, in our world, are meant to entertain by portraying larger-than-life narratives. Dark, spindly men, undernourished women fail to evoke romance fit for celluloid; their stories fail to enter 'nice' people's homes and minds.

When Indian cinema does deal with the life of a Dalit, it is usually to show the accommodating magnanimity of the upper castes. The post-Independence idealist Brahmin hero would marry an untouchable girl; as in Achhut Kanya (1936), or a family would adopt an orphaned untouchable girl, in Sujata (1959), who would marry an upper-caste idealist man later, setting an example before society. The ascetic old man in Satyakam (1969) accepts the illegitimate child of his widowed daughter-in-law, a rape victim, when the child mouths the uncomfortable truth of his lineage to open the old man's eyes to truthfulness and equality. Lagaan, made in 2001, based on the theme of colonial oppression, had caste politics run through the story line. Kachra, the Dalit was taken by the team, despite his low-caste; a sign of need-based nobility of the upper castes. These films missed the indented lines that run through the two societies.

Dalit angst was portrayed in as stereotypical a manner as was the unrealistic idealist upper-caste man. A favourite subject with the new wave cinema directors was the Dalit foreboding. Shyam Benegal's Ankur, Nishant and Manthan introduced multiple points of conflict referring to rural migration, hypocrisy of the educated middle class, emerging cooperatives and the changing rural economy. Govind Nihalani's Aakrosh, Prakash Jha's Damul, or Gautam Ghose's Paar showed the Dalit paying back the violence inflicted upon them, in the same coin. These films earned applause mostly in international festivals but the Dalit narrative couldn't find audience in upper-caste Indian homes.

A proliferation of films based on caste -consciousness since the beginning of this decade  which also happen to be popular  has changed the way audiences perceive the caste theme. New-age film-makers are daring to open a world before the urban, middle class; highlighting the unfamiliarity of their own backyards. The sights and sounds and the experiences of the Dalits, the middle classes encounter everyday; among sewer cleaners, dhaba workers, people working at morgues, crematoriums, meat shops, in schools, colleges and dhabas, but never empathise with.

Dalit narratives carry gripping ingenuity in the brilliantly crafted scripts of these films. Masaan (2015), Chauranga (2016) Fandry (Marathi), Court (2014), Sairat (Marathi) do underline violation of Dalit rights, the appeal of the story lines lie in the attentive portrayal of their day-to-day lives; their dreams and aspirations; the highs and lows, and a somewhat blurred inconsequentiality of the loss of their dreams and lives. Their raw life experiences endear, drafting success of the films.

Chauranga, directed by Bikas Ranjan Mishra, based on a true story, is about the Dalit-Brahmin conflict; layered with subtexts. A 14-year-old Dalit boy in a village, dreams of going to a town school, like his older brother. His only escape from reality is a tree, he sits atop to watch the girl he is infatuated with-- the village head's daughter-ride pass on a scooty on her way to school. When his older brother comes to the village on vacation, he suggests, the boy must express his love for the girl. On his brother's behalf, he writes a love letter which falls into the hands of the village head. The events that follow script the death of the two brothers by the upper-caste boys of the village.

That Dalits alone are not subjected to oppression, women and children from both worlds have no free will, strikes a chord. Court is about the absurdity of our justice-delivery system, it subtly interweaves the tragedy of the life of a sewer cleaner, who dies while cleaning sewer lines. His death raises several questions  exposing class and caste biases. He must be drunk, is countered by liberals  was he given the mask  did he choke on poisonous gases? The underlying truth is that neither his life nor his death matter. Masaan is an aesthetic exploration of the life of doms (chandals, who stoke the fire on the funeral pyre) caught in the time-warped ancient city's stubborn refusal to change. Based in Varanasi, the characters' attempt to escape from ancient traditions to redefine themselves in a new democratic world; their dreams, struggles and failures, offer no answers.

The humiliation of a school boy in Fandry, whose family insists he must help his old father catch a pig, while his schoolmates watch and laugh. He could only throw a stone at them; at the sham of equality and his broken dreams. These films have carried thus far unheard voices into our homes, through television. One may choose to flip the channel. If one stops to see, the films place a mirror. Few of these reflect our distorted image.

In Chauranga, the Dalit boy would wonder what lies inside the temple to make Brahmins so powerful; he risks his life to get a peep. Things taken for granted by the privileged, could be a matter of life and death for the deprived.

vandanashukla10@gmail.com
Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 10

Haryanas BJP governments move to appoint experts from a non-governmental organisation  formed three months after Manohar Lal Khattar took over as Chief Minister in October 2014  as directors in the state-owned boards and corporations has raised eyebrows.

Subscribing to right-wing politics, the NGO Global Village Foundation (GVF) claims to be engaged in social and economic research.

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Balram Nandwani, Trustee and Chairman of GVF, is working as an Independent Director of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (UHBVN) and is also Chairman of the Audit Committee. After the Chairman-Cum-Managing Director, he is the second-most important person in the UHBVN hierarchy.

Another former GVF member, Sunil Sharma, has been made the nodal authority to manage mining operations of the Haryana State Industry and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), Chief Coordinator in the Industries Department and also the head, estate division of HSIIDC.

GVF Governing Council member Tilak Chandnana has been appointed as Director, HSIIDC. The founder trustee and mentor of GVF, Anirudh Rajput, claims on the NGOs website that he has been involved in advising the government on a wide range of economic and social issues. Raj Nehru, also from GVF, has been cleared for appointment as Vice-Chancellor of the newly formed Vishwakarma Skill Development University.

Inquiries reveal that Nandwani, who has been given a key post in UHBVN, is also a director in power generation company Ranital Hydro Ventures Private Limited. This company has three other directors, each of whom is also a director in Dera Hydro Power Project and have clear links with a power trading company  Mittals Group. Mittals Group, which also supplies power to Haryana, is involved in power trading, solar power generation, commodities trading and renewable energy.

Alleging a conflict of interest, Congress leader Ran Singh Mann claims the GVF is backed by a senior RSS leader. In fact, Sunil Sharma, the nodal authority to manage mining operations, is believed to be the link between the Chief Minister and a senior RSS leader who was moved from Delhi to Bhopal, with instructions not to interfere in Haryana, he alleges.

Mann questions the rationale of making GVF a nodal agency that signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on behalf of the government with the states Technical Education Department and NASSCOM with the purpose of providing jobs. BJP state president Subhash Barala, however, sees nothing amiss. The Chief Minister has brought in experts from outside for better functioning of key departments.

He has a long experience of working across the country and has picked up people he considers can deliver. As captain of the ship, he has the right to choose his team, he says.

The GVF organised a GST Summit for the Excise and Taxation Department at Panchkula this September, a workshop on Skill Development at Gurgaon last May and many seminars and workshops on women empowerment, etc, for the Haryana Government.

Interestingly, the Government of Indias guidelines for NGOs clearly specify that to get any financial grants from the government, an NGO should have been in existence for a minimum of three years as evidenced by audited accounts and annual reports. GVF was incorporated in January 2015.

When asked about GVFs role in Haryana Government affairs, Nandwani said, The NGO is a think-tank to research on public policy. GVF has helped the government on GST and other issues; we are a group of professionals like economists, lawyers, chartered accountants. We are working with the government on various issues. We are people with a social background and all GVF Governing Council members work on a voluntary basis. I charge only sitting fee when I go for meetings.

Nandwani said the Company Law requires appointment of an Independent Director and he was selected from among a number of names based on his background and experience. He confirmed that he was the first chartered accountant ever to be appointed as director in UHBVN.

The Board of Directors of DHBVN has a Chairman, three regular (technocrats) and two independent directors. The UHBVN has a Chairman-cum-Managing Director, two directors, two technical directors and two independent directors. All decisions are mandated to be taken by majority vote, but each member of the board can exercise considerable influence.

CMs Media Adviser Amit Arya, when contacted, said: GVF comprises a group of selfless professionals who are helping various state governments in formulating policy. They have also helped the Central government on certain matters. Similarly, they are working with the Haryana Government in their respective areas of specialisation.

(To be continued)
Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 11

The order of the state government to its officials asking them to give proof of having done at least one cashless transaction has drawn flak from the employees associations.

The associations have announced that they were not going to obey such diktats and termed the directions as Tughlaqi farman.

The government has launched the cashless drive. For this purpose, officials are advised to fill their details in the portal for conducting cashless transactions. It has been decided that the officials should submit proof of having done a cashless transaction and apply on www.cashlessharyana.nic.in for record. Details of bank accounts, digital wallet and proof of cashless transaction ID have to be submitted on the website, said a letter issued by the accounts branch of the Chief Secretary, Haryana.

The letter further said the officials should treat the communication as urgent.

The website www.cashlesstransaction.nic.in shows 1,320 cashless transactions registered till December 11.

Dharambir Phogat, general secretary, Sarv Karamchari Sangh, rubbished the orders and said the employees would not obey them.

Has the state government first provided smart phones and internet connections to its employees that it is asking us to give proof of cashless transactions? asked Phogat.

He said the Sarv Karamchari Sangh would not go into the political aspect, but employees should not be made scapegoats if demonetisation was a failure.

He said a large majority of class III and IV government employees did not find their salaries enough to make ends meet and the government expected them to buy smart phones, laptops and internet connections for the sake of cashless transactions.

Gurdeep Singh Saini, spokesperson, Haryana Rajkiye Adhyapak Sangh, said cashless dream of the government was a farce.

How can we expect a cashless economy in a country like India where 30 per cent people are illiterate and 25 per cent live below poverty line? he asked. He said cashless transactions could be done voluntarily, not thrust upon employees.
Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 11

The election commission of the Congress has entrusted the inquiry into the alleged irregularities during the election of the Haryana Youth Congress president to the Foundation for Advanced Management of Elections (FAME).

Sources in the party said all complaints pertaining to the Youth Congress (YC) elections have been referred to FAME, an NGO formed by four former chief election commissioners, namely JM Lygndoh, TS Krishnamurthy, N Gopalaswami and Dr SY Quraishi, that helps monitor election procedure within and outside the country.

We referred the irregularities reported from Panchkula during the YC elections to the NGO which recommended a re-poll. Following this, a re-poll was held in Panchkula today. Similarly, we have referred the complaint from former president of Haryana YC Chiranjeev Rao to the organisation for its recommendations, Pradesh Returning Officer Satish Rathore said when contacted about the fate of the presidents election.

Though no time-frame has been set for a report, FAME is learnt to have begun its work. While Rao himself had refused to divulge details of the complaint, his father and former minister Capt Ajay Yadav had alleged that money and muscle power was used extensively in the YC poll. Adding that booths were captured in Rohtak, Sonepat, Jhajjar, Kosli and Mahendergarh Assembly seats and firing reported from Nuh, he had claimed that a polling official was beaten up in Panchkula and ballot boxes shifted from the local office to a dharamshala.

The re-election held in Panchkula today was the consequence of a complaint of irregularities received from Congress workers of the district immediately after the polling concluded on December 1.

Seven candidates had contested the post of president of the Haryana YC. While Sachin Kundu of Panipat bagged the highest number of votes (25,086), former state YC president Chiranjeev Rao, who is former Haryana minister Capt Ajay Yadavs son and RJD chief Lalu Yadavs son-in-law, bagged 15,010 votes to come second. Rao challenged the result.

The divide between former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hoodas camp and that led by state unit Chief Ashok Tanwar became more pronounced in the YC elections. While Hoodas MP son Deepender worked on the entire election strategy, Rao was supported by Tanwar and the anti-Hooda camp unitedly. Kundu, the candidate of the Hooda camp, led with a convincing margin in the total tally while Rao had to settle for second position.
Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service



Solan, December 11



BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday said the party is eyeing a 20-year stint in the hill state.

He was addressing a Tridev Samellan here, where local leaders from Shimla and Rampur had gathered.

Shah urged the party workers to aggressively gear up for the Assembly elections, expected to be held in December next year.

Shah said they should break the jinx of giving merely one term to a government and should work aggressively to ensure that the BJP comes to power with a thumping majority for at least 20 years.

He said as a step towards their Congress mukt bharat mission, the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab were crucial.

He said they would endeavour to come back to power in Himachal after gaining victory in these two states.

He urged the booth-level workers to highlight the issues of corruption in the state and ensure that the government collapsed under its own weight.

He said the Virbhadra Singh-led government was the most corrupt government in the history of the state where the ill-gotten cash had been deposited in his bank accounts.

Shah said they had given the nation a vocal Prime Minister in Narendra Modi, who not only emphasised with the poor but could also comprehend the pulse of the common man.

He said no case of corruption had emerged against the NDA government in its two and a half year stint so far.

Responding to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhis repeated charge of what they had given to the nation in their two and a half year rule, he said as against their silent PM in Manmohan Singh, Modi connected directly with the masses.

He said the Congress had emerged as an epitome of corruption where scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore had come to fore in the 10-year rule of the UPA government at the centre and the situation was no better in Himachal where the corruption index had surpassed all previous records.

Lauding the PMs demonetisation scheme, he said the opposition parties, including the Congress, which had been questioning the PM until November 8, were left speechless.

He said all opposition parties were now asking why demonetisation had been announced and they were taking the garb of the poor people to vent their ire.

He said the government was not averse to the problems being faced by the common people and PM had asked for 50 days to normalise the situation.




Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 11

Terming the Tridev Sammelan of the BJP at Solan as a flop show, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said that the claims of the BJP national president Amit Shah for forming a BJP government in Himachal Pradesh was like a dream which will never come true. Talking to media persons at Annadale here he said that it was unfortunate on the part of the BJP president to level charges of corruption against the state government without any evidence. The BJP leaders should prove it before misleading the people, he remarked.

Referring to the speech made by Amit Shah that Himachal mein aise Sarkar banao jo bees saal tak satta mein rahe (Form such a government in Himachal which will remain in power for next 20 years), the Chief Minister said that the people of the state were better judge to differentiate between the functioning of both the the BJP and the Congress. They have full faith in Congress leadership and its policies and in the coming Vidhan Sabha election the people will make them bite the dust, he said.

The BJP is eager to form the government in the state for which they were issuing sensational statements to misguide the people. They are involved in malicious propaganda, he said.

He said the Congress Government was synonymous with development and the people of the state realize that. Moreover, the state has been adjudged as the Best Big State in the field of education and the Improved Big State in the category of inclusive development, adding, Education was the top priority of the government and we dont mind whatever was said in the rally.

The Chief Minister said that the Congress was also not afraid of the charge-sheet BJP was preparing. If any unfounded charges are leveled against the government or any individual in the charge Sheet, the government would take appropriate action. Taking strong exception of the tall claims being made by the BJP president Amit Shah in a rally at Solan, Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma said that the Congress Government would not only complete its present term but would again form government in 2017.

In a joint statement issued here the ministers said that the claim by the BJP president that the state had been given 62 new National Highways was a mere political announcement as not even a penny had been received from the Centre till now.

They said that the Centre has not even approved the estimates of Rs 240 crore for preparing DPRs for these roads.
Republic Day of Tanzania celebrated

International students from Tanzania celebrated 55th Republic Day of Tanzania at CT Group of Institutions on Shahpur campus. The students sung their national song in the presence of High Commissioner Mohammed Hija Mohammed after hosting their national flag.

It was followed by a cultural event in which more than 100 students participated. They performed traditional dance and also the displayed traditional outfits during the fashion show held as part of the celebrations.

The highlight of the event remained the dance performance by the talent show winner Rajabu Mohammad Saidi.

He mesmerised everyone with his effortless dance moves. Mohammed Hija Mohammed congratulated the management, faculty, international department and students for organizing the event.

S Charanjit Singh Channi, chairman, CT Group of Institutions, and Dr PS Bedi, director campus, congratulated the people of Tanzania on the occasion.

Workshop on effective teaching

Innocent Hearts Group of Institutions, Loharan campus, organised a workshop on effective teaching. Colonel PS Bajaj delivered a lecture on the theme. Colonel Bajaj is working as a Prof at IMT, Ghaziabad, and director of distance learning. Faculty from different departments attended the session.

Colonel Bajaj threw light on various teaching aspects such as role of understanding psychology of students before delivering the lecture in class and need to understand the level of children. It is important to complete the syllabus but more important is improvement in the overall personality of the students, he said.

Instead of spoon-feeding, teachers should focus on case base teaching, he added. He suggested the teachers to work on overall grooming of students and increase their class participation. He said in this competitive world, it was important to know English but it was more important to respect their mother tongue.

Dr Anup Bowry, secretary, Bowry Memorial Educational and Medical Trust, emphasised on the brighter side of such activities for students and proposed a vote of thanks to Colonel Bajaj. TNS
Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 11

Amid opposition of the BJP to the constitution of the Kashmir Police Services (KPS), the police officials of the state are getting support from almost all political parties, saying their grievances were justified.

The other political parties are terming the demand of the police officials selected as Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs) through Combined Services Examination (CSE) as genuine and wanted the government to go ahead with the constitution of the KPS without further delay.

After completing all formalities, the constitution of the KPS during our government got stuck due to a major flood in 2014 and subsequent elections. Omar Abdullah had given green signal to it, former Minister of State for Home and National Conference leader Nasir Aslam Wani said.

He added that the police officials deserved same benefits as given to the Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) and account officers, who also get selected through the CSE and for whom the government had kept many seats reserved to get the rank of IAS officers.

Democratic Party Nationalist leader Ghulam Hassan Mir said the service grievances of the police officials were justified and some promotional aspect should be kept for them. The government should keep some posts reserved for our police officials. It is inhuman to stop their promotion at the Superintendent of Police (SP) level when they get selected through CSE like KAS officials, Mir said while citing the example of the paramilitary CRPF, which get officials up to the rank of the IGP from their own cadre.

Failing to get through her proposal of reservation of two IPS posts of IGP and four IPS posts of the DIG for J&K police officers, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday left the cabinet meeting in a huff as ministers from her coalition partner BJP resisted any conversion of IPS cadre posts for the promotion of KPS officers. Subsequently, the state government on Saturday constituted a Cabinet Sub Committee (CSC) comprising six Cabinet Ministers--three each from PDP and BJP--to deliberate on the issue and report back to the cabinet before next meeting.

At least 50 posts of IPS are lying vacant since 2008 as the government has not inducted J&K police officials selected through CSE into the IPS. Officials say at least 75 police officers selected through CSE are working as Superintendents of Police (SPs) for the last 11 years without any further promotion. Officials attribute the delay in fixation of seniority of the state police officials to the absence of police services cadre in the state.

A senior police official, who has got selected as DSP through the CSE in 1999 said the KPS is a misnomer as it doesnt exist in J&K.

We demand constitution of police services on par with the KAS. We are not seeking ranks but at least government should be kind enough to allot us the grade of four DIGs and two IGPs, he said.

He said the constitution of the KPS is pending before the government since 1984. He said the then J&K Governor Jagmohan had put the constitution of the KPS in abeyance.

Police officials fear that if the situation continues the DSPs appointed by the government would retire as SPs only.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJP said national interest came first and they were not against the police officials. We are not against their demand of grades, but against the ranks of three DIGs and two IGPs. The BJP as a party sees the national interest first and will do whatever is in the interest of the people of J&K, BJP spokesman Khalid Jahangir said.

We are not against the promotion of police officials. Their service and seniority should be respected. But, the government is putting curtains on some vital issues. It is raking up the issue of the promotion of police officials to divert attention from differences growing between two coalition partners (PDP and BJP), J&K Congress president GA Mir said. Why will RSS take decision on the issues relating to the police officials of J&K? he asked.

Also, Independent legislator Engineer Rasheed said denying promotion to police officials was injustice. But the police officials, who have always secured the interests of New Delhi in J&K, should now know how New Delhi rewards, he said.

Independent legislator Hakim Yasin, however, was sceptical of the governments intention about the welfare of the police officials. This government has failed on all fronts and we should not expect it to do anything for the good of our police officials, he added.

CPI (Marxist) leader Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami said the legitimacy of the demand of the police officials of J&K cant be questioned. The Cabinet must address the demand of our police officials instead of politicising the issue. The government has to promote the services of these officials to a level where they dont feel discriminated against, he said.
Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Kathua, December 11

Union Home Minister Rajnath today accused Pakistan of conspiring to divide India on religious lines even as he made it clear that the neighbouring country would not succeed in its designs.

In a strong message to Islamabad, the Union Home Minister said Pakistan would split into 10 parts if it did not mend its ways while referring to the neighbouring countrys persistent support to cross-border terrorism and ceasefire violations along the International Border and the Line of Control.

Rajnath, who was speaking at a programme to mark Shaheed Diwas in Kathua town of the Jammu region, also offered Indias cooperation to Pakistan to weed out the menace of terrorism from its soil if it was serious but incapable of doing so itself.

The function was organised by state Forest Minister Lal Singh, who is the MLA from Basholi Assembly constituency of Kathua district, to pay tributes to soldiers, para-military and policemen personnel of the district who attained martyrdom while performing their professional duties. According to Lal Singh, 110 security personnel of Kathua district that shares International border with Pakistan had attained martyrdom while fighting terrorism since 1999.

Pakistan is conspiring to divide India on religious and communal lines but it will not succeed (in its nefarious designs). We were divided in 1947 on religious basis but it wont happen now. We have not forgotten that. We Indians  be it a Hindu or a Muslim  are brothers. Except India, nowhere in the world, 72 sects of Islam live together in harmony, Rajnath said in his address to a large gathering.

The Home Minister said India was the only country where the ISIS had so far failed to spread its roots and gave the credit for it to Muslims living in the country.

He said Pakistan had got divided into two parts (referring to the creation of Bangladesh) but it refused to mend its ways and it could break into 10 parts. I dont who will be responsible for that but India will certainly have no hand in that, he said, adding that India is the only country that has never wanted to take over any other country.

Launching a scathing attack on Pakistan for waging a proxy war through terrorism, Rajnath said Pakistan had tasted four defeats. Pakistan has not been able to understand that terrorism is not a weapon of the brave people but of cowards.

Quoting former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Union Home Minister said, We can change friends but not neighbours and reiterated the NDA governments resolve to have better and peaceful relations with all neighbouring countries.

As the Home Minister of the country, I want to make it clear that we are committed to having good relations with neighbouring countries. We want to move ahead on the path of development and also see our neighbours grow, he said while adding that there would no compromise on terrorism.

He also said they had directed the forces not to fire the first bullet (towards Pakistan side) but they shouldnt count their bullets if the first bullet came from the other side of the border.

Over the surgical strike by Army following the Uri attack that had witnessed the killing of 20 soldiers, Rajnath said: They (terrorists sponsored by Pakistan) cowardly attacked our jawans but after that our jawans did a commendable job. Our government will never let India bow her head before anyone.

He said India had always favoured better relations with Pakistan but the latter gave us the Gurdaspur attack, Pathankot airbase attack and the Uri attack. Reiterating that India was incomplete without Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, the Home Minister said no force in the world can separate J&K from India which is the crown of the country.

Union Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh, who is the local Member of Parliament, also addressed the gathering.
Aarti Kapur

The new Chief Justice of India, Jagdish Singh Khehar as a young lawyer had set big goals for himself, he had to make a tough choice when he started his practice. Unlike the other students in his class who opted for district court, Khehar picked up Punjab and Haryana high court as his pratice ground!

The news of Khehars appointment as the new Chief Justice of India was indeed a proud moment for not only the man, but also his ex colleagues, who recall the days he spent on the campus with them, the gup shup in the staffroom and jokes that he cracked at the drop of his hat. Chairman of Law department, professor Vijay Nagpal is the first one to take a tour down the memory lane, which is apparently pretty interesting.

Khehar who is known for his punctuality and hard work among his old colleagues in the department, is also remembered for his jokes and a pretty natural sense of humour. Nagpal said that even though Khehar was a part time teacher for the procedural law from 1982 to 1986, and was so popular among the students that students of other sections would also come to attend his lectures.

Recalling a visit to Justice T S Thakur to invite him for Laws department convocation, Nagpal said that they also asked J S Khehar to accompany him and he said that ek shadi main ek hi dulha ata hai (In marriage, there is only one bridegroom!). Nagpal recalls yet another incident, When Khehar start practising his father gifted him chair for his office, Nagpal added. Khehars teacher, Dr Virendra Kumar remembers him as the most dedicated student, who would not hesitate to visit him if he had any doubt, irrespective of the time of the day!

For Khehar, his morals and principals are a lesson for others, Dr Kumar clearly recollects Khehars answer when he called him four years to invite him to chair a lecture at ICSSR, which he use to organise. But, he denied saying that his son is practising in Chandigarh, and he wouldnt come the city till he completed his degree! For his faculty, Khehar is just a call away, even today, Dr Kumar added.

PU Vice Chancellor professor Arun Kumar Grover said that Khehar is going to get Honoris causa degree in a special convocation for which the Prime Minister of India is invited by the university authorities.

Recalling his recent visit to PU

For the six long years that I taught in the campus my salary was Rs 600, which I used to spend on movies and restaurants, Justice Khehar recounted his days at the University, both as a student and teacher, during his address at the third law convocation at PU. He said that he cannot explain in words how much he enjoyed when he received Rs 600, which was his first salary for teaching in the campus.

He joined the university as a student in 1974, by 1979 he had completed his studies. When I joined as a student I did not know how to present myself, this university taught me how to speak and how to think right he had.

Special lecture

PU Department of Laws is planning to call him to deliver a lecture in the campus in the month of February as per his convenience, said Nagpal.

Big wings aluminus

Dr Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister, Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs, Government of India, Kapil Sibal, Former Minister of Human Resource Development, Government, Kirron Kher, MP Chandigarh, Sukhbir Singh Badal, President SAD, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Former Minister for State and Satpal jain is the Additional Solicitor General of India & Member of the Law Commission of India.
Shubhadeep Choudhury

On December 11, President Pranab Mukherjees birthday, tributes kept pouring throughout the day from his home state West Bengal. Birthday greetings to honorable and most respected @RashtrapatiBhvn ji. Bhalo thakben Pranab Da, read a tweet by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

A popular radio channel got senior journalist Suman Chattopadhyay to narrate interesting incidents from the Presidents life. One of these pertained to Pranab Babus phenomenal memory. Then Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, he disagreed with the then Agriculture Minister (Balram Jakhar) on the proposed minimum support price for sugarcane, quoting facts and figures mentioned in an old file. After the meeting ended, Narasimha Rao, who was then PM, called him aside and remarked, You have great memory. But does it bring you any good?

The President is acutely aware that his English pronunciation is not good. The late PM Indira Gandhi once offered to send someone to work on his English diction. He politely declined the offer, saying he was too old to turn a student again.

In 1980 when Indira Gandhi made a triumphant return to power (after having lost elections in 1977), Pranab Babu lost from Bolpur. He had jumped into the fray despite Indira Gandhi asking him not to. After the poll results were announced, while at his Birbhum residence, he received a call from Indira Gandhis office, asking him to reach Delhi immediately. At the airport, he was received by Sanjay Gandhi. Indira Gandhi, after chiding him for having contested against her advice, decided to reward him.

Pranab, had five stints in the Rajya Sabha. It was in 2004 that he first won a seat in the Lok Sabha from Jangipur.

Manas Bhuiyan let off

Manas Bhuiyan, the MLA from Sabang in West Medinipur district, quit the Congress to join the ruling Trinamool Congress in September. He was one of the accused in the murder of one Joydeb Jana. No surprise that his name has been dropped from the chargesheet. Ironically, Jana was a TMC activist. Bhuiyan, chairman of the Assemblys public accounts committee, his brother Bikash Bhuiyan and the familys close associate Amal Panda were among 23 persons booked for the murder. Predictably, their names too do not figure in the chargesheet.

Days before the polling for the Saban seat earlier this year, Jana, TMCs booth committee president, was beaten to death. Bhuiyan joined the TMC on September 19, months after an arrest warrant was issued against him.

The Che look

A former JNUSU president has meticulously worked on his appearance to look like his model Che Guevara. Some of his sidekicks also sport the Che look. This type of adulation is absent in Kolkata. But many middle-aged Communist sympathisers have chosen to display pictures of Guevara as well as those of Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro in their facebook profile pictures. Had the facebook existed in the sixties, it would have been Ho Chi Minh who would have been smiling from the facebook profiles of these comrades. Wonder why the Communist leaders back home are not idolised likewise. Shankar Guha Niyogi and Kishenji deserve our adulation as much.

Art thieves

Art thieves stuck at the house of the late Dhirendranath Brahma and decamped with at least 50 of his paintings valued at Rs 2 crore. The 90-year-old painter, who passed away in August this year, followed the style of Abanindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose.Two of his murals, titled Pushyamitra Sunga and Patanjali and Heliodorus with his pillar in the background in a court scene, adorn the corridors of Parliament. Brahmas paintings are also displayed at the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Collision averted

Train passengers had a miraculous escape on the evening of December 19 when the driver of a Howrah-Burdwan local managed to bring the train to a halt, avoiding a collision with another local train on the same platform at the Serampore station. The Railway authorities have ordered a probe.
Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 11

NGO Global Village Foundations Trustee and Chairman Balram Nandwanis appointment as an Independent Director in the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (UHBVN) raises several questions as he is also a Director at Ranital Hydro Ventures Private Limited.

Two of Nandwanis co-directors at Ranital  Kulbhushan Mittal and Inderjit Verma  are directors at Smartech Energy Management Services, Dera Hydro Power Private Limited and Mittal Hydro Ventures Private Limited.

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All these ventures have a direct linkage to Mittals Group  that provided 1509.64 MUs (million units) to the two Haryana power utilities during 2015-16 at a cost of Rs 658.71 crore, according to the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) figures.

It is pertinent to mention that the states Power Department is headed by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and no appointment can be made without his consent.

Power trader Kulbhushan Mittal, a co-director with Nandwani at Ranital Hydro, is also a Director at Mittal Processors Private Limited, one of the main suppliers to the states two power utilities.

Incidentally, both Mittal and Nandwani have a Panipat connection, but more importantly Nandwani, a chartered accountant, is also the auditor of Mittal Processors Private Limited.

Haryanas former Power Minister Capt Ajay Yadav sees an apparent clash of interest in this appointment.

Nandwani, he says, can directly influence power purchase and has direct control over all accounts and audits. Furthermore, he is not a government employee, so there can be no action against any wrongdoing. Tenders for purchase are known to the directors and this information can be used to benefit power traders and sellers.

Capt Yadav says the directors hold autonomous positions and can even disregard the MD if they so wish.

Another co-director of Nandwani at Ranital, Inderjit Verma, is also a Director at Dera Hydro Power Private Limited. Similarly, Tirlok Chand Gupta is also a Director at Dera Hydro and Mittal Clean Energy Private Limited.

Nandwani, when contacted, denied links with any company in the power sector, saying, Im a practising chartered accountant with an independent practice. Later on, he admitted that his CA firm Balram and Associates was the auditor of Mittal Processors Private Limited. But these are two independent things and there is no clash of interest. My mandate at UHBVN is to bring accountancy reform as the power utility is reeling under heavy losses, he claimed.

All the hydro companies mentioned above are linked to the Mittals Group and despite having different registration addresses are either subsidiaries or owned by the same group of people.

Congress spokesperson Ran Singh Mann, meanwhile, has also questioned the appointment of Debashish Majumdar as an HERC member with Cabinet rank. He is the father of Dhruv Majumdar, the CMs IT Adviser. The BJP has always been critical of the Congress for violating one family, one post, but it has failed to apply the same principle here, he said.

HERC is a three-member statutory body, including the chairperson, and is considered to be a watchdog that regulates generation, transmission, distribution, trading and use of electricity, and protecting the interest of consumers while ensuring fair practices. It has the final word on the tariff and other consumer-related disputes.

The CMs Office, meanwhile, said too much was being read into the appointment as GVF comprises a group of selfless persons helping the state on various issues. (Concluded)
New Delhi/Kolkata, December 11

As Parliament remained deadlocked over demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused opposition parties "discarded" by people of trying to "suppress" the truth, drawing angry retorts from BSP supremo Mayawati and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

"Parliament has not been allowed to function for 20 days.

We are ready for a debate (on demonetisation) but we are not being allowed to present our view point by those very parties that have been discarded by the electorate," Modi said.

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Modi was addressing BJP's Parivartan Yatra through mobile phone from Lucknow after the IAF chopper carrying him failed to land in Bahraich due to poor visibility.

"They (opposition) come to the Well of the House...throw paper at the Speaker. We want to put forth the government's view point...but they are not allowing us to do so," he said.

On demonetisation, he said, "You must have seen that the government is after people who have stashed black money. The government is committed to empowering the poor. The people are also taking pain to ensure the country moves on the path of development."

Attacking Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, Modi said both the parties are talking in the "same tone". He said both the parties are facing "hardship" due to note ban.

Who said what

They (opposition) come to the Well of the House...throw paper at the Speaker. We want to put forth the government's viewpoint...but they are not allowing us to do so.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi

"By blaming opposition parties, the PM is running away from government's responsibility...But his remarks are totally wrong. Yeh ulta chor kotwal to dantey jaisa hai. BSP supremo Mayawati

"The most-corrupt people are talking about removing corruption. Demonetisation (has been) done only to help Modi babu and his close associates.  West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee



Pot calling kettle black: Mayawati

Within hours of Modi slamming the opposition, BSP supremo Mayawati hit back at the Prime Minister, saying it was a classic case of pot calling kettle black.

"By blaming opposition parties, the Prime Minister is running away from government's responsibility and answerability...But his remarks are totally wrong. 'yeh ulta chor kotwal to dantey jaisa hai' (it is like pot calling kettle black)," she said in a press release in Lucknow.

The former Uttar Pradesh CM said Modi is running away from accountability and responsibility.

"He is not ready to listen to the problems of people inside and outside Parliament. Therefore, things are getting complex," she said.

Mayawati said the "emotional blackmail" the Prime Minister was indulging in would not help the BJP and the government.

"Note ban has become a problem for 90 per cent of honest people," she said.

Mayawati said Modi was harping on the same tune and his speech at BJP's Parivartan Yatra in Bahraich was no different.

Targeting the Modi government, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee said demonetisation has meant complete demolition of Indian economy due to arrogant and destructive attitude of the Centre.

"Demonetisation (has been) done only to help Modi babu and his close associates," Banerjee said in retaliation for the Prime Minister's attack on opposition parties over corruption and disruption of Parliament due to protests against demonetisation.

"The most corrupt people are talking about removing corruption," she said, joining issue with Modi over his attack on the opposition parties earlier in the day.

"Demonetisation has meant complete demolition of the Indian economy," Banerjee said in a series of tweets, continuing her unrelenting attack against the Modi government over invalidation of Rs 1,000 and old Rs 500 notes.

Earlier, Modi said only BJP could fulfil aspirations of the people of Uttar Pradesh and appealed to the electorate in the Awadh region to vote for the party in the coming Assembly polls in the state.

"For Uttar Pradesh to progress, poverty and goonda raj need to be removed," he said.

"Police are also helping those who are indulging in hooliganism. We have to crush those patronising 'goondagardi' (hooliganism). BJP will fulfil aspirations of the people of the state," he said.

Asking people to learn to use mobile banking, Modi said, "I am addressing you through mobile. You can turn your mobile into your bank. You have to learn it slowly."

Modi was national general secretary of BJP when he visited Bahraich in 2001 for the first time, and later in November 2013 for the second time.

This was BJP's 5th Parivartan Yatra to be addressed by the Prime Minister in the state.

Modi has earlier addressed four parivartan rallies at Ghazipur, Agra, Kushinagar and Moradabad. His next rally is scheduled to be held in Kanpur on December 19.

State BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "The Prime Minister Narendra will try to come again to Bahraich when his schedule and weather allow."  PTI
Kathua/New Delhi, December 11

Home Minister Rajnath Singh accused Pakistan on Sunday of trying to divide the country along communal lines.

Pakistan is conspiring to divide India along religious lines, but it won't succeed, Singh said at a function held to mark Martyrs' Day in Jammu and Kashmirs Kathua.

Taking a jibe at Rajnath Singh, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said while he agrees that Pakistan is trying to divide India along religious lines, the Home Minister and his "boss" Prime Minister Narendra Modi have also been doing the same.

Responding to the remarks of Singh that Pakistan has been "conspiring" to divide India on religious lines, Rahul tweeted: "Yes Rajnath Singhji Pakistan is trying to divide India along religious lines; has it struck you that you & your boss have been doing the same?"

Rajnath accused Pakistan of using terrorism to separate J&K from the rest of India.

Do they (Pakistan) think they can use terrorism to tear away J&K from India? Terrorism is a coward's weapon, the home minister said, claiming the neighbour needed to mend its ways.

He also said India was willing to help its neighbour tackle terrorism.

If Pakistan fails to control terrorism and wants India's cooperation, we are ready to help in eradicating the menace from the country, he said.

Referring Indian Armys military attacks on terrorist launch pads in Pakistan after Septembers militant attack in north Kashmirs Uri, he said: I want to assure that this government will never let India to bow its head before anyone and will always give befitting reply to Pakistan's attack.

The home minister is also likely to review the security situation of the state, particularly along the Line of Control and International Border.

Ties between India and Pakistan, already tense, has cooled further in the past few months, first due to an unrest in Kashmir that killed more than 80 and left thousands wounded, then due to militant attacks on military installations and later due to heavy cross-border shelling.  Agencies
New Delhi, December 11

President Pranab Mukherjee today marked his 81st birthday at Rashtrapati Bhavan by launching a campaign to end child labour, child slavery and violence against children.

Mukherjee launched the 100 Million for 100 Million Campaign organised by Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthis Satyarthi Childrens Foundation in which about 5,000 children participated.

The President said he was delighted to launch the campaign led by Satyarthi from Rashtrapati Bhavan, an institution which symbolises our Republics commitment to democracy, pluralism and secularism.

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He said despite the progress the world has made in science and technology, economic development and in other fields of human endeavour, there are still over a 100 million children who are out of school.

The world must realise without further delay that there can be no progress unless our children are safe, secure and unless they are provided the freedom and opportunity to become agents of change for the larger good of humanity. To ensure for them a bright, carefree and secure future, devoid of poverty, violence and want is our bounden duty, Mukherjee said.

The President said this global effort to mobilise 100 million youth for shaping a better future of 100 million children who are less privileged is the beginning of a change which was long overdue.  PTI
Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 11

With Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Dineshwar Sharma set to retire on December 31, having turned down the governments offer for an extension, the race for the top post has begun with three senior IPS officers  Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar (Maharashtra cadre) and IB Special Directors Rajiv Jain (Jharkhand cadre) and SK Sinha (Bihar cadre)  emerging as the frontrunners.

Sharma, a 1979-batch Kerala-cadre IPS officer, was known for keeping a low profile. He worked under National Security Adviser Ajit Doval as Director Intelligence Bureau (DIB) and was picked by the Modi government two years ago, superseding two officers.

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The buzz in the corridors of power is that history could repeat itself. Sinha, a 1983-batch Bihar-cadre officer may pip his two seniors  Padsalgikar, a 1982-batch officer, and Jain, a 1980-batch officer.

Though all three are being considered for the post, Sinha stands a better chance to make it. He is known to be an expert on Kashmir and counter-terrorism, the two issues that have drawn the Prime Minister's attention, an official said.

Jain, the seniormost officer in the IB, has long been considered a favourite. But now the dynamics have changed with the entry of Padsalgikar, the official said.

Sources indicated it had been almost decided that Anil Kumar Dhasmana, a 1981-batch officer, would head RAW. He is now Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat. While the selection of IB and RAW (external Intelligence wing) chiefs is purely the prerogative of the Union Government, its a high-powered committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition or largest party in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India that picks the CBI Director.

After the retirement of Anil Sinha, a 1984 batch Gujarat-cadre officer, Rakesh Asthana was elevated as Additional Director and given interim charge of the CBI, superseding Special Director RK Dutta, who was shifted to the Home Affairs Ministry as Special Secretary. The matter has been challenged in the SC.
Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, December 11

Two persons, including a pilot and a woman passenger, were killed and two others injured when a helicopter they were travelling in crashed in a forest area in Mumbai this afternoon, police and fire officials said.

The deceased were identified as pilot Prafulkumar Mishra and passenger Vrinda Modi (32). Ritesh Modi, another passenger who suffered burns, was in a critical condition. Helicopter technician Sanjay Shankar, the fourth person on board, suffered severe fractures.

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The helicopter suddenly came down in the Filterpada forested area of Aarey Colony bordering the Sanjay Gandhi National Park around 11.30 am. Residents of the tribal hamlet tried to put out the fire even as they informed the police and the fire brigade. Six fire tenders struggled for over an hour to douse the flames.

All occupants of the helicopter were taken to Seven Hills hospital where the pilot was declared brought dead, while Vrinda died at the hospital.

The helicopter (Robinson R44), belonging to private operator Aman Aviation, was used to take passengers for sightseeing over Mumbai on weekends and holidays. It was purchased from Pawan Hans Limited and refurbished. The cause of the crash could not be ascertained so far.
Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 11

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has slammed the Opposition for disrupting Parliament on demonetisation, saying he was not being allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha due to which he decided to speak in jan sabhas (public events).

The Congress and its vice-president Rahul Gandhi have also been making the same charge against the BJP-led government. If they allow me to speak in Parliament, you will see an earthquake occur, Rahul said on Friday, but outside the Lok Sabha of which he is a member.

There are only three days left before the winter session of Parliament ends on December 16. The question, therefore, is whether any of the warring sides will consider it worthwhile to make its political point inside Parliament. Especially when they can make a bigger and better impact by speaking outside?

The government says it is ready for debate on demonetisation, but not under preconditions like the PMs mandatory presence during the debate in the Rajya Sabha. The Opposition also says it is ready for discussion, but with certain provisos.

The fate of many key legislative Bills hangs fire due to the continuing logjam in Parliament. Every minute of running a session costs over than Rs 2.5 lakh.

Meanwhile, leaders are indicating a breakthrough in the impasse next week when some important Bills of public interest like the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014, are expected to be pushed through, hopefully.

As the 50-day period sought by the PM draws closer, voices can be heard within the party over the demonetization move, fearing that the BJP could fall prey to overconfidence.

There are reports of banks being stoned, ATMs looted and the PM booed at some rallies in UP. Demonetisation is a bold decision. But whether it is politically smart or foolish is something that remains to be seen, they say.
Gurdeep Singh Mann

Tribune News Service

Virk Kalan (Bathinda), Dec 11

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated the civil air terminal as well as the Delhi-Bathinda-Delhi flight here today in the presence of Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.

Sukhbir said with the establishment of a new airport and commencement of flights, the industrial sector of the Malwa region would get a huge boost. This will create more employment avenues and lead to all-round prosperity, he said.

Badal said the SAD- BJP government was working with the vision of linking Punjab to the world with a network of international and domestic airports.

He said besides the current airports, an additional airport had been approved at Adampur. He also disclosed that the Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham flight had also been accorded sanction by the Union Government which would improve the states connectivity with the United Kingdom. He also thanked Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Harsimrat Badal for making efforts to turn this dream into reality.

The Deputy Chief Minister further said Bathinda had witnessed a revolutionary transformation during the past 10 years in each sector, particularly the development of roads.

He said the aviation sector in the state had been on the upswing under the leadership of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal with a string of airports having been established or in the process of being established.

Making an announcement, the Deputy Chief Minister said the foundation stone of a factory to make oil from the residue of crops would be laid soon. He said the factory would come up at a cost of Rs 500 crore and would put a stop to the trend of setting crop residue afire. He also divulged that this would lead to a decrease in pollution and benefit every farmer by Rs 5,000 per acre.

Others present on the occasion were Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla and state Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Sikander Singh Maluka.

Adampur airport stone laying on Dec 16

Chandigarh: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would lay the foundation stone of a civil airport at Adampur in Jalandhar on December 16, a party press release said here on Sunday. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal and state BJP president Vijay Sampla will be present on the occasion. The airport project here, re-initiated by the BJP president Vijay Sampla, was on the verge of being abandoned at one point because of a deadlock over land allocation between the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the state government. TNS
Gurdeep Singh Mann

Tribune News Service

Virk Kalan (Bathinda), Dec 10

Head Constable Malkit Singh was mercilessly beaten up and paraded naked late last evening, by the sons of Virk Kalan sarpanch (who is aligned with the SAD). Thereafter, he was forced to lick boots, claimed local residents.

An eyewitness said two policemen, who were on duty a day before the inauguration of the Bathinda airport, had parked their car on the narrow Virk Kalan-Kotbhai road. As a tractor-trailer passed by, it brushed against the parked vehicle, causing scratches.

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Four persons, including the sarpanchs two sons, alighted from the tractor-trailer and confronted the policemen. An argument ensued and the four took out sticks. Terrified, one of the cops fled. But the assailants nabbed Head Constable Malkit Singh. Beaten up mercilessly, his uniform torn, he was made to sit naked on a cot and driven around the village.

One of the sarpanchs sons then asked him to lick his boot, another eyewitness, who did not wish to be named, said. It did not end there. The policeman was dragged inside a house. By that time, a police team arrived there, forced open the door of the house and rescued the Head Constable, who was admitted to the Bathinda Civil Hospital with multiple fractures and injuries on his chest, arms, thighs, shoulders and the abdomen.

I cant exactly recall what they did to me, but it was much more than humiliation, said a shattered Malkit Singh.

Swapan Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police, said the key accused, Lakhwinder Lakha, one of the sons of the village sarpanch, and his family members had absconded.

Lakha, he said, booked in murder, attempt to murder, abduction and assault cases, was arrested two months ago (September 23) for threatening a doctor for submitting a medico-legal report, confirming injuries to an assault victim. He denied the head constable was paraded naked or was coerced into licking Lakhas boot.

The head constables shirt was torn as the accused persons were drunk, the Senior Superintendent of Police maintained.
Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 10

After a gap of eight long years, national carrier Air India has announced to resume the Amritsar-Birmngham direct flight from April 1, 2017, meeting the demand of the diaspora in the United Kingdom.

Conveying the decision of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Rajya Sabha MP Shwet Malik, who is also Aviation Consultative Committee member, said: I conveyed the demand to the Union government, which rectified the mistake committed during the reign of the previous UPA government.

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Malik accused the UPA of diverting this extremely profitable flight from Amritsar to IGI in New Delhi to provide financial benefits to its private operator.

After Jet Airways discontinued its Amritsar-London flight on August 6, 2006, Air India filled the void with a Amritsar-Birmingham flight the same year. However, it lasted till October 24, 2009.

In between, Air India launched its Amritsar-New Delhi-Birmingham flight on the hub and spoke model from Amritsar airport on August 1, 2013, with limited success.

Subsequently, the growth of the Amritsar airport was hit as one after another flight was pulled out by different airlines. However, several lines have launched international flights this financial year.
Bogor, December 11

A Jalandhar man facing death sentence in Indonesia on drug smuggling charges may not be pardoned, President Joko Widodo has indicated, saying the capital penalty is handed down only to individuals who have carried out serious crimes and is not based on nationality.

Ahead of his state visit to India, Widodo said: "My duty as President is to uphold the law and Indonesia's sovereignty. This will be applied in all cases, including those involving capital punishment".

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Asked if he would pardon Indian national Gurdeep Singh, who is facing death sentence in Indonesia on drug charges since 2004, the president said "The death penalty is imposed only on individuals who have carried out serious crimes, and is not based on nationality".

Indonesia has 1.2 million people addicted to drugs, 40 to 50 of them die daily due to drug abuse and 4.5 million are undergoing rehabilitation, he said.

Singh, 48, was arrested at the Soekarno Hatta airport in 2004 for smuggling 300 gms of heroin. His execution by firing squad was deferred on July 29 this year.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at that time had said that India was exploring all legal options to prevent his execution.

Appealing to the Indonesian government for mercy to Singh, his wife Kulwinder Kaur had said he has spent 14 years in jail, which she said was enough penance for his crime if he was guilty and he should be sent back.

Widodo, however, said: "Drugs are a serious threat to Indonesia, and in particular for the country's younger generation. Indonesia is now facing an emergency situation due to illicit drug trafficking and abuse".

Indonesia continues to act decisively to address drug problems through law enforcement and international cooperation, he said.

"We also run a variety of programmes to increase public awareness of the dangers of drugs," the president said adding that death penalty remains a part of Indonesian law. 

Gurdip Singh, who was convicted for drug charges and sentenced to die, was supposed to be executed in July, but his execution was dropped.  PTI
Mohit Khanna & Jaswant Shetra

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana/Jagraon, Dec 11

Breaking his silence over the SYL row, Delhi CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal today said Punjab was already facing a water crisis and it was not in position to share water.

Kejriwal said this on the sidelines of his rally at Jagraon. He said only AAP could safeguard the interests of Punjab on the matter. Kejriwal said the SAD and the Congress were playing with this issue for political gains.

He said: Everybody knows that it was the Akali government led by Parkash Singh Badal in 1978 when the notification on SYL was issued and the land of farmers was acquired. Later, it was Capt Amarinder Singh who wished to get the foundation stone of the canal laid by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

He later addressed a rally at Dana Mandi near Gill Road along with the Lok Insaaf Party led by Simarjit Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains. Kejriwal said their alliance with the Lok Insaaf Party was meant to irradiate corruption and drug menace from the state. He alleged that the SAD and the Congress played musical chairs and robbed the state to fill their own coffers for years. While Amarinder saved Bikram Singh Majithia from probe into drug racket, Akalis provided relief to Amarinder in a corruption case, he alleged.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, Kejriwal demanded loan waiver and compensation for micro, small and medium enterprises. Besides, he demanded a special package for hosiery traders and farmers, who have been ruined by demonetisation. While cash is easily available to those dear to the BJP, it is the poor and the middleclass who are standing in long queues and dying every day, he said.
Jagraon, December 11

Aam Aadmi Party convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday accused the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Congress of befooling the people of Punjab on the issue of Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.

Both the Congress and the SAD are responsible for constructing SYL and are now shedding crocodile tears to misguide the people of state, he said.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Parkash Singh Badal being CM of Punjab in 1978 acquired land for SYL and now in 2016 is trying to act as the savior of Punjab waters by passing resolution regarding it. He must clarify if he was wrong in 1978 or now in 2016, he said.

Kejriwal said that then Prime Minister Indra Gandhi signed agreement regarding SYL and initiated construction work along with Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh.

Even Punjab Congress welcomed the move at that time, he added.

The AAP leader accused Badal and Amarinder of allegedly being hand in glove to get power and misguiding the Punjab people by submitting resignations.

Badal and Amarinder are trying to get political mileage on SYL issue. SAD-BJP are alliance partners in Punjab and the same alliance is in power at Centre and in Haryana but their leaders give different statements on SYL issue while in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, he said.

He said that if SAD-BJP wanted to solve the issue they could have done it long ago but their motive is to politicise the issue as Punjab elections are near.

Kejriwal said only AAP can protect the waters of Punjab.

He assured the people that nobody will be allowed to snatch the rights of state.

The AAP leader said that Punjab does not have extra water and question of giving it to any other state does not arise.  PTI
Gurdeep Singh Mann

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 11

A day after a head constable was allegedly assaulted and paraded naked by two sons of Virk Kalan sarpanch, the police today arrested the sarpanch.

Bathinda SSP Swapan Sharma said the main accused, Lakhwinder Lakha, who was already facing more than seven criminal cases, was hiding in Rajasthan and teams were sent to nab him. Two more accused, Bohar Singh and one unidentified, were on the run.

Lakhas father and village sarpanch Jagdev Jagga has been arrested. Three more villagers involved in the case have been detained, the SSP said. He claimed that the sarpanch had also thrashed the head constable, Malkit Singh, and broke his cellphone.

Meanwhile, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, during the inauguration of the Bathinda airport, claimed that all accused involved in the incident had been arrested.

PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh termed the incident as a complete collapse of the law and order in Punjab. In a statement issued today, Amarinder said the SAD government had plunged Punjab into the pre-Independence anarchic days by treating government servants as slaves.

He pointed out that this was not the first incidence of Akali leaders unleashing violence and terror against policemen as in September, a former Akali sarpanch thrashed a head constable in Batala. A woman was beaten up at the PM's rally a couple of weeks ago in Bathinda, he added.

Chandigarh: AAP state convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich said: Akali leaders are harassing common people every day. They are not even afraid of insulting and beating up public servants on duty. The Akali rule is even worst than the British rule.

After coming to power, the AAP government will reinvestigate all such cases and the culprits will be put behind the bars, he added.
SAIGON, December 11 (AFP) A total of 4,639 Americans were killed in Viet Nam between January 1 and December 3 this year, official figures showed yesterday. The wounded totalled 37,024 and another 304 were reported missing or taken prisoner. Among the South Korean and Australian casualties, 569 were killed. South Viet Nam Government losses were put at 11,227 killed and 2,896 missing. Figures for the wounded were not given. In the absence of official statistics, Viet Cong losses were estimated at 53, 444 including 7,000 from North Viet Nam, killed, and 8,846, of whom only 100 from North Viet Nam, taken prisoner. South Vietnamese Government services said from the beginning of this year to November 17,750 Viet Cong had rallied to their side.
By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 11 (PTI) Despite a huge surge in total deposits in Jan Dhan accounts following demonetisation, about one-fifth of these still continue to have no balance.

Net addition in the 25.8 crore Jan Dhan accounts was just Rs 288 crore during the week ended December 7, taking total deposits to about Rs 74,610 crore.

The percentage of zero balance account however remained flat at about 22.9 per cent despite the addition of Rs 29,000 crore in total deposits in about 30 days after demonetisation of high value notes took effect on November 9.

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After the initial surge, total deposits in Jan Dhan accounts have seen a decline week after week. As much as Rs 1,487 crore was parked in these accounts during 7 days ended November 30, as against Rs 8,283 crore in the previous week.

The accretion was Rs 18,615.54 crore a week after demonetisation which moderated to less than half to Rs 8,582.57 crore during the 7-day period November 17-23.

Deposits in the 25.8 crore such accounts totalled Rs 74,609.50 crore at the end of December 7, as per the Finance Ministry data.

The upper limit for deposits in Jan Dhan account is Rs 50,000.

The overall amount was Rs 72,834.72 crore in 25.68 crore accounts at the end of November 23.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised entire nation with demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, deposits in Jan Dhan accounts have increased by 28,973 crore. As of November 9, the balance in about 25.5 crore such accounts was Rs 45,636.61 crore.

The aggregate deposits increased to Rs 64,252.15 crore in a week ended November 16.

Last week, the government said that inflows into Jan Dhan accounts have come down significantly after it warned people not to allow their accounts to be misused for converting black money into white.

After setting a cash deposit limit of Rs 50,000 in Jan Dhan accounts, the government had on November 18 cautioned account holders that they will be prosecuted under the I-T Act for allowing misuse of their bank accounts through deposit of black money in Rs 500/1,000 notes during the 50-day window till December 30.

The directive came against the backdrop of reports that some people were misusing other persons bank accounts to convert their black money into new denomination notes. PTI DP SA ABI

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Tribune News Service

Haridwar, December 11

Seventeen Congress leaders, who have staked claim on the party ticket from the Ranipur-BHEL Assembly segment, today demanded that the party high command should allot ticket only to one of them for being loyal party workers and associated with the Congress for decades.

The demand of ticket by these party leaders has exposed the factionalism prevalent in the district unit. These leaders have been opposing candidature of former Samajwadi Party legislator Ambrish Kumar, who is in the race for party ticket from Ranipur-BHEL segment.

Ambrish Kumar had joined the Congress a few years ago as he was expelled from the SP for contesting as an independent against Congress official candidate Balwant Singh Chauhan in the 2012 Assembly elections.

Led by Zila Panchayat vice-president Rao Affaq Ali, senior leader BS Tejiyan and former city unit president OP Chauhan, these anti-Ambrish Kumar faction leaders said if the ticket was allotted to anyone of them, they would wholeheartedly work for that candidate only.

Rao Affaq said they would feel dejected if ticket was allotted to any other leader, who had been in any other party or contested againstthe partys officials candidate in any election, referring to Ambrish Kumar.

Vowing to defeat the BJP in the Assembly elections, OP Chauhan cautioned the party high command and state leaders to ensure that preference is given to senior, dedicated and non-controversial party leaders, otherwise a fear of unrest and even defection within the party rank and file cannot be ruled out.

Former legislator Ram Yash said Chief Minister Harish Rawat and Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay should ensure that outsiders who had joined Congress party in hope of getting ticket should be sidelined otherwise party may face defeat in such Assembly segments.

Other contenders of this group, senior leaders Manoj Jain, Poonam Bhagat, city women unit president Vimla Pandey, Rajbeer Singh, Ashish Chaudhari, Sanjay Pal, Santosh Kashyap, Telu Ram Pradhan, Arun Chauhan and Mahanagar unit president Anshul Shrikunj were also present.
Ajay Ramola

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, December 11

For Varinder Arora, a tourist from Delhi who arrived in Mussoorie to enjoy a relaxed holidays, the visit turned into a nightmare when he found most ATM booths empty causing immense inconvenience

The weekend offs accompanied with Eid holiday saw some tourist rush in the town but with most ATM booths not functioning, the tourists had to run from one booth to another in search of the currency to spend at various shopping outlets in Mussoorie.

The town is yet to gear up to cashless economy as most shopkeepers are either not aware or do not have that acumen to follow the procedures. This inadequacy has led to several tourists going hungry and running around for cash in despair even to feed themselves at various outlets which are yet to change their system into cashless unit.

Traders are unhappy at the unavailability of cash at ATMs and said being a tourist town, some sort of arrangements should be made so that tourists did not have to suffer.

Ajay Yadav, a tourist who arrived by bus, said the conductors did not have swipe cards which was creating a problem.

I wanted to board a Volvo bus but did not have enough cash in the pocket and with no money in ATM booths, I had no option but to take ordinary bus to Mussoorie which turned out to another nightmare.

With Monday being a holiday, the tourists will end up as major sufferers if the ATM booths are not stuffed with cash, he said.

Sumit Sehgal, another tourist form Delhi, said they were with PM Narendra Modi on the issue of curbing black money but the exercise had gone on very long, causing immense inconvenience to the common man. He said instead of harassing common man, the Modi government should now target the political funding which was the main source of black money.

The silence of political parties on the political funding issues raised severe doubts whether the government was serious in curbing black money, added Sumit.

Residents feel that with this situation the number of tourists could be far less as compared to last year during the winter carnival scheduled from December 25 to 30 if the cash crunch continues in Mussoorie.

Aryan Singh, a tourist and chartered accountant from Hisar, said the e-wallet companies instead of spending several crores on advertisement in the television should consider educating the masses towards cashless economy. Until a small shopkeeper did not consent to using e-wallet system, the dream of cashless economy would die a premature death which would not augur well for the economy that was witnessing a sea change in its working, added Aryan.

The DM, Dehradun, has appealed to take to cashless transactions using e-wallet etc and asked the banks to increase the currency chest so that the tourist do not have to suffer.
Sandeep Rawat

Tribune News Service

Haridwar, December 11

Union Minister for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan will launch the gas pipeline project on December 13.

Once completed, it will do away with the cumbersome process of booking and delivery of LPG cylinders as Haridwar residents will get the LPG directly in their kitchen. Seventy per cent of the work is said to have been completed in Haridwar.

Officials say several areas on the city periphery and BHEL township will get the service soon. The Union Ministry for Petroleum has set a target of two years to cover a major portion of the city, including Jwalapur and the industrial estate of SIDCUL.

City legislator Madan Kaushik, while speaking to media here today, said, Like metro cities, Haridwar residents too will get hassle-free round the clock access to gas. Union Minister for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan has given consent to launch this project, which is being laid by Haridwar Natural Gas Pvt Limited and Bkt Tradecon Pvt Limited (contractor), on December 13.

Kaushik, former Urban Development Minister, said various environmental aspects were taken into account and maximum weightage was given to route selection and safety features in the pipeline design.The pipeline is being hydro-tested as per the international standard.

Sanjana Sharma,a Kankhal-based homemaker, said she was elated over the development. I had heard about it in metro cities, but now Haridwar residents too will avail it. This will ease the burden of booking and procuring cylinders. There have been instances when families exhaust their cylinders late in the evening and go through a harrowing time until the gas agency men arrive for a refill, she added.
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 11

Governor KK Paul inaugurated a brainstorming session Ideate on innovative sustainable development of Uttarakhand, organised by Uttarakhand Industrial Association and Doon University on the university campus here on Saturday.

Paul, while addressing the event as the chief guest, said the interface and coordination between industries and universities would prove significant for the states development.

He said universities had a significant role to play in the progress of the state. All subjects chosen for discussion in the forum, including health, zero hunger, quality education, potable water and economic development were relevant, he said.

Farmers in the state should be provided with markets on a priority basis. This would check migration from the hill areas. Economic security would prove effective in checking migration, he stated.

The Governor said for the development of Uttarakhand, it was important that advanced technological equipment was made available to farmers and they were encouraged to use them. They should be told about the economic benefits this would bring them.

He said safe and convenient roads were required so that farmers could make their products reach the markets.

For the sustainable development of the state, universities must play an active role in this as they were the bridge between the past and the future. Students of science and technology must think out of the box and innovations should be encouraged. New ideas, curiosity and courage in students should be directed towards creating new ways of thinking and research, Paul said.

Students in universities must be inspired on the lines of Digital India, Make in India and Start up India. Research done at universities would go a long way in making sustainable development of the state possible, the Governor added.

R Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretary (urban development); Indu Kumar Pandey, Financial Advisor to the Chief Minister, and VCs of several universities were present on the occasion.
Cairo, December 11

At least 25 worshippers, mostly women and children, were killed and nearly 50 injured after a powerful blast ripped through a church adjacent to Egypts main Coptic Christian cathedral here during a Sunday mass, the deadliest attack against the minority community in recent times.

The explosion took place inside St Peters Church attached to St Marks Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic pope who heads Egypts Christian minority, in Abbassyia district of central Cairo at around 10:00 am when the Sunday mass was on, Health Minister Ahmed Emad said.

In the attack, 25 people, mostly women and children, were killed while 49 others injured, the Minister said. The explosive device containing about 12 kg of TNT exploded on the womens side of the cathedral, security officials said.

A state-run news agency reported that the bomb was lobbed inside the church, though some reports cited witnesses saying it was planted inside the church itself by a woman during the prayer time.

The reason of the large number of victims was because the blast took during Christian pray time and there were a large number of people inside the cathedral, a statement by the Health Ministry said.

Services were being held in St Peters church on Sunday morning, while St Marks Cathedral was being renovated. St Marks Cathedral is the seat of Egypts Orthodox Christian church and is home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II. The head of Al-Azhar, Egypts top Sunni authority, condemned the blast as a great crime against all Egyptians.  PTI
Beirut, December 11

The Islamic State jihadist group recaptured Palmyra on Sunday after Syrian armed forces pulled out of the desert city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

The jihadists made a lightning-fast advance across the city after overrunning a northern neighbourhood and capturing the famed citadel to Palmyra's west.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that IS regained "full control" of the city today after taking the citadel, which overlooks Palmyra from a strategic hilltop.

IS launched an offensive last week near Palmyra, a renowned UNESCO World Heritage site.

It seized oil and gas fields before making a major push into the desert city yesterday, sparking new worries for Palmyra's remaining ancient treasures.

But a fierce Russian bombing campaign killed scores of IS fighters and forced others to withdraw at dawn today.

"Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on jihadist positions around the city," he told AFP.

In a statement issued in Moscow, the defence ministry said Russian warplanes conducted 64 air strikes against "positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants" in Palmyra.

"Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra," it said in a statement.

"The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery," it said, adding that the strikes killed more than 300 militants and destroyed 11 tanks and 31 vehicles.

Russia has carried out a bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

IS fighters have used hit-and-run tactics to cut their losses of personnel and equipment, withdrawing under intense bombardment but quickly relaunching an attack when skies are clear.

The jihadists have killed around 100 members of Syrian government forces since launching simultaneous attacks on several regime positions near Palmyra on Thursday, the Britain-based Observatory said.

They targeted areas, including near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and seized government checkpoints, silos and the village of Jazal, northwest of Palmyra.

In May last year, the Sunni Muslim extremist group seized several towns in Homs province, including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites.  AFP
By PTI: From Youssra El-Sharkawy

Cairo, Dec 11 (PTI) At least 25 people, mostly women and children, were killed and over 30 injured today after a blast ripped through Egypts main Coptic Christian cathedral here during a mass, the deadliest attack carried out by Islamist militants on the minority community in recent times.

The explosion took place at St Marks Cathedral, main Coptic Christian cathedral, in Abbassyia district of central Cairo at around 10:00 am when the prayers were on, according to a statement by the Ministry of Health.

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A bomb was lobbed into a chapel near the cathedrals outer wall, killing at least 25 people and injuring 31, Minister of Health Ahmed Emad said.

The bomb, made of TNT, was remotely exploded, state television cited a security official as saying.

The reason of the large number of victims was because the blast took during Christian pray time and there were a large number of people inside the cathedral, a statement said.

Most of the victims are women and children, officials said.

St Marks Cathedral is the seat of Egypts Orthodox Christian church and is home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.

The number of casualties may rise, the officials said, adding that the injured have been transferred to Dar El-Shefaa and Ain Shams University Hospital.

Security forces are screening the area and have blocked the main roads surrounding the cathedral.

This is the third explosion in the country this week. On Friday, a blast killed six policemen and injured three others in Gizas Haram district and another occurred in Kafr El-Sheikh international road, killing one civilian and injuring three policemen.

Jihadists in Sinai often target Christians as well as Muslims they accuse of working with the government.

Copts, who make up about 10 per cent of Egypts population of 90 million, have faced persecution and discrimination that increased during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.

Islamist extremists have regularly incited violence against the minority community, especially since the countrys first Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military in 2013.

Dozens have been killed in recent years in sectarian attacks and clashes across Egypt.

In 2011, a suicide bomber killed 21 worshippers outside a church in the coastal city of Alexandria. PTI YES PMS AKJ PMS

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Three of Oklahomas five largest earthquakes have spawned multiple class-action lawsuits, with a national environmental firm saying its considering filing at least one more.

The states unprecedented ground trembling in recent years has prompted a broad spectrum of lawsuits, from individual litigation against insurance or energy companies to the class-action proceedings and claims of violations of land leases or drilling permits.

The magnitude-5.8 Pawnee quake in September, the 5.0 Cushing quake in November and the 5.7 Prague quake in 2011 all have spurred class-action filings. A 5.1 quake popped off near Fairview in February, but there doesnt appear to be class-action litigation specific to that temblor.

The filings to request class-action status seek relief in numerous ways: damages to personal and real property, nuisance, personal injury, loss of peace of mind, emotional distress, market loss to real estate, economic loss from business, and punitive damages.

Notably, one lawsuit by an individual produced an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision declaring state district courts hold jurisdiction over tort claims involving oil and natural gas operations, not the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which is the states regulator of oil and gas.

Class-action petitions

The class-action filings came weeks after the Pawnee and Cushing quakes. The Prague suit was filed in February 2015, more than three years after that unprecedented quake sequence.

In the Prague litigation, Jennifer Cooper, who lives near that small town, claims her home sustained more than $100,000 in damages on a residence she bought in 2010 for $117,000.

The Prague earthquake sequence included a 4.8 foreshock and 4.8 aftershock that sandwiched the main 5.7 quake. One temblor sounded as if a helicopter was landing on their roof, joined with the cacophony of glass breaking as the home shook.

One quake even trapped Ms. Cooper and her son inside their home, and Ms. Coopers father had to rescue them by ripping a door from the home, according to the suit. Ms. Cooper and her son were terrified. Her son could not sleep in his own room, and Ms. Cooper suffered severe anxiety.

An attorney for New York-based Weitz & Luxenberg told the Tulsa World recently the firm is considering filing at least one more class-action petition but declined to elaborate. The firm filed the recent class-action petitions for the Pawnee and Cushing quakes.

Personal injury claim

Prague resident Sandra Ladra filed a suit in August 2014 in Lincoln County District Court seeking personal injury and punitive damages related to the 2011 Prague sequence.

Ms. Ladra was at home watching television in her living room with her family. Suddenly, her home began to shake causing rock facing on the fireplace and chimney to fall down and into the living room, the lawsuit states. Some of the falling rocks struck Ms. Ladra in her lap and onto her legs, and caused her significant injury. She was rushed to an emergency room and was immediately treated for her injuries.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court in June 2015 ruled on a motion from disposal well operators to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction. The high court held in a 7-0 decision that state district court, rather than the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, has jurisdiction over private wrongful action claims involving oil and gas operations.

Allowing district courts jurisdiction in these types of cases isnt inappropriate oversight and control over the OCC, according to the Supreme Courts ruling.

Insurance dispute

Sand Springs residents Judith and Larry Thomas in 2015 filed suit against Farmers Insurance in Tulsa County District Court, alleging a magnitude-3.6 quake in November 2014 damaged their home and personal property.

The Thomases complaint argues earthquakes were covered by their property insurance policy and that Farmers improperly denied payment or underpaid on damage.

Defendants unreasonable and bad faith refusal to repair and or rebuild the Plaintiffs home has resulted in the plaintiffs being unable to inhabit their home of 30 plus years, the complaint states.

In October the Thomases won a procedural challenge.

A U.S. District Court judge denied Farmers motion to dismiss, writing that although the Thomases could have provided more factual support the two did provide sufficient factual support to state a plausible bad faith claim.

In a subsequent court filing, attorneys for Farmers contend the insurance agency didnt breach its duty of good faith and fair dealing, nor did it violate its policy with the plaintiffs.

Tribal land, drilling rights

A Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma lawsuit filed in November against the federal government asks a judge to void recently approved drilling permits on tribal land and halt the issuance of new ones.

The suit claims numerous drilling permits and leases on tribal-owned lands held in trust have been improperly approved by the Interior Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs and U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

In doing so, BIA and BLM also have run roughshod over Pawnee natural resource protection laws, disregarded a tribal moratorium on new oil and gas approvals, and violated the agencies trust responsibilities to the Pawnee, the lawsuit alleges in its complaint.

Sierra Club enters fray

The Sierra Club in April filed an amended complaint in federal district court alleging violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act that is putting residents and the environment at risk.

The Sierra Club seeks a court order to immediately reduce the volume of wastewater disposed into wells to levels that seismologists believe will not cause or contribute to increased earthquake frequency or severity.

The nonprofit also requests energy companies reinforce vulnerable structures because reduction in disposal volumes likely will take a substantial time to abate the quakes. Additionally, the Sierra Club wants the establishment of an independent earthquake monitoring and prediction center.

One of the defendants, Devon Energy, filed a dismissal motion later in April. The motion contends the Oklahoma Corporation Commission has taken the lead in response to the states increased seismicity that accompanies a renaissance in development of unconventional oil and gas to make Oklahoma the nations third-largest producer of natural gas and fifth-largest producer of crude oil.

The defendants point out that the Corporation Commission has required disposal well operators to reduce injection volumes by 40 percent in the areas of interest, as well as for many wells to cease disposal altogether.

The dismissal motion argues that the Sierra Clubs complaint boils down to an allegation that the Commission is not doing enough to address seismicity concerns.

Plaintiff Sierra Clubs lawsuit attempts to use an inapplicable federal statute to usurp the comprehensive regulatory authority vested by federal and state law in the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the motion states.

Oklahomas largest earthquakes

5.8 Pawnee Pawnee County Sept. 3, 2016 5.7 Prague Lincoln County Nov. 5, 2011 5.5 El Reno Canadian County April 9. 1952 5.1 Fairview Major County Feb. 13, 2016 5.0 Cushing Payne County Nov. 6, 2016 4.9 Bennington Bryan County Oct. 22, 1882 4.8 Prague Lincoln County Nov. 7, 2011 4.8 Prague Lincoln County Nov. 5, 2011 4.7 Fairview Major County Jan. 6, 2016 4.7 Carmen Alfalfa County Nov. 19, 2015 4.7 Nash Grant County Nov. 30, 2015

Source: U.S. Geological Survey
SAND SPRINGS  It was just before 3 p.m. on a mid-November Tuesday. Officer James Holforty had scaled a cliff earlier in the day to retrieve a handgun disposed of during a domestic dispute. Outside that, the day had been quiet.

Then, near Charles Page High School, Holforty heard the tell-tale squelching on his radar, followed by a blue pickup truck passing by. The speed limit was 25 mph. The truck was driving 37 mph.

Holforty stopped the truck. He talked to the driver for about 10 minutes. During that conversation, the man said hed been speeding, saying he forgot the speed limit dropped 10 mph in the school zone.

For me, that shows that he understands he was in the wrong and that he made a mistake, Holforty said.

He gave the man a verbal warning. The remainder of Holfortys patrol stayed sleepy.

Though traffic citations are a routine  and rarely exciting  occurrence for most police departments, Sand Springs has shifted its officers away from writing as many tickets, as Holforty demonstrated on Nov. 15.

Its one of many changes the department instated to improve its relationship with the community it is policing, based in-part on suggestions included in the U.S. Department of Justice report on police activity in Ferguson, Missouri, after the death of Michael Brown in 2014.

Police Chief Mike Carter outlined the new traffic citations policies in the departments 2016 Policing Plan.

Other mandates include required anti-bias training, a recently signed formal agreement with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to investigate all fatal police-involved shootings in the city, and a program called Food for Fines, which allows those with outstanding warrants to exchange canned food for credit toward their fines, among other changes.

The policing plan

While much of the Department of Justice report on Ferguson focused on inordinate policing and punishment for people of color, especially black citizens, Carter said his new policies deal less with race and more with economic disparity, because thats what hes identified as a major contributing factor to crime and disproportionate punishment in the city.

While race has not played a significant factor in policing/judicial problems in the City of Sand Springs; unintentionally, economic disparity may play a significant role in unequal consequences of violations of the law by people in Sand Springs, Carter wrote in the policing plans introduction.

Sand Springs has 19,783 residents, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimate. In 2010, 81 percent of the citys population identified as white. The median household income between 2010 and 2014 was $50,920. Just over 11 percent of the population lives in poverty.

For comparison, the similarly sized Jenks median income in the same time period was $84,758, with 4.3 percent of the population in poverty, according to Census data. Sapulpa, with about the same population, has a median $39,969 household income, with 17.2 percent of the population in poverty.

In order to rid the department of the perception officers write traffic citations to collect revenue for the city, Carter instructed officers to write fewer tickets and instead  when appropriate  give written and verbal warnings.

In 2012, Sand Springs officers wrote 5,184 citations and issued 846 warnings. By 2016, citations decreased by nearly 40 percent to 3,141. Written warnings increased by 65 percent to 1,395, according to data from the department.

Those numbers dont include verbal warnings, like the one Holforty gave the pickup truck driver who was speeding in the school zone.

In some cases, Holforty said, writing a citation is necessary to correct dangerous illegal behavior. For instance, if the driver had been traveling 50 mph in the school zone, a citation might have been in order, but if a warning will suffice, Holforty doesnt see the good in ticketing someone.

No ones happy getting a ticket, he said. Ive gotten tickets before when I was younger. Its never a good feeling, but as long as its fixing the violations: If it works, it works. If we can do it without taking money out of peoples pocketbooks, Im all for that.

The policing plan also requires officers who plan to write a motorist more than three citations during a single traffic stop to get supervisor approval. The change is among Holfortys favorite in the entire plan because it addresses whatever issues the motorist might have, such as equipment violations on their vehicle, without stacking fines on them that they may not be able to afford.

Other items in the policing plan to reduce disproportionate punishment for the citys low-income population includes a 72-hour limit in jail for those who cant afford to make bail for municipal offenses. Previously those people would sit in jail for 10 days.

As well, the city held its first Food for Fines event on Nov. 10 in conjunction with the plan.

As part of the program, those with outstanding warrants could bring a canned food item to donate to Sand Springs Community Service to receive $10 credit toward those fines, for a maximum of $200, Deputy Court Clerk Kenny Penrod said.

An estimated 5,000 cans of food were donated during the event by 288 people. Of those, 113 had warrants that were able to be recalled, combining for a total of 335 warrants. About 25 people were able to pay off fines completely, and the rest set up payment plans to pay off the rest, Penrod said.

A lot of people were happy about that, Penrod said, noting that during the event a line stretched from inside the municipal building down the outside sidewalk.

Police shootings

The DOJ investigation into the Ferguson Police Department was prompted by the police shooting of Brown, an unarmed black man.

Since Browns 2014 death, Tulsa County prosecutors have brought charges against two area law enforcement officers in the deaths of unarmed black men: Eric Harris in 2015 and Terence Crutcher in 2016.

Those shootings are part of what prompted local activist group We the People to call for an outside agency to investigate and prosecute office-involved shootings.

That request was denied, with Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler telling the Tulsa World he didnt see a conflict of interest in his role as a prosecutor and his working relationship with local law enforcement agencies.

Sand Springs first and only police shooting since 2007 occurred in 2015, when Officer Brian Barnett killed Donald W. Allen, a white man suffering from a mental illness, after Allen reportedly threatened him and approached him while holding a loaded .22-caliber pistol.

As part of the policing plan, Sand Springs Police Department became the first in the state to sign a formal agreement with the OSBI to investigate all fatal police shootings.

This is whats good for Sand Springs. This is not meant to say that other agencies should be mandated to do what were doing. This is just what works for our community, Carter said.

Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan declined to comment on the specifics of the Sand Springs policing plan, though he noted his department is working with the University of Cincinnati to make changes to the organizations operational and community policing plan.

Part of why the agreement with OSBI works in Sand Springs is because of the size of the department, which includes 33 sworn officers.

Having the OSBI investigate, in addition to ridding the department of the appearance of impropriety, lessens the emotional toll and workload for officers during a traumatic time, Carter said.

Holforty agreed.

We are a small department. We all know each other. We all know each others families, and even though I dont have any doubt that our detective division would do a thorough and proper investigation, it just takes away any possibility of any implicit bias, Holforty said.

Whats next

Other aspects of the policing plan include mandatory fair and impartial policing training, teaching officers how to acknowledge, confront and bypass their implicit biases while on the job. They also learned verbal skills for dealing with those who are mentally ill.

We think those are all going to help us when were relating to people. The better trained you are in those areas, the less chance you have for things to go wrong and for that to be the basis for why theyve gone wrong, Carter said.

Carter has also chosen four community members for a citizen review panel. The four will attend monthly use of force review meetings and will tell Carter and others when they feel an incident was glossed over or not taken as seriously as they  as outside reviewers  think it should be.

Going into 2017, Carter said he will draw up a new Policing Plan, this time based on officer and resident suggestions.

The hope is that with new changes, his department can combat stereotypes about police officers, especially during a time when officers nationwide are under increased scrutiny.

The best way to change perceptions of police is to act to make changes, especially when met with valid criticism, Carter said.

Heres where I ultimately think we have to get as a society: We have to get past everybody pointing out problems, and somebody needs to start stepping forward and saying heres what we are going to do for solutions.
Its the second-last documentary in the Opening Shot series this week on ABC2.

End of the Line looks at the Ice scourge in the NSW Sapphire coast town of Nowra.

This is Directed by Tom Abood and Produced by Kat Cooke.

Nowra, a beautiful intersection of some of Australias most alluring beaches, rain-forests, mountains, and farmland, has fallen hard to the hand of Ice. Tom Abood, a young local that left his hometown to follow his dream of becoming a filmmaker, returns to find out if a handful of locals have what it takes to beat the ever-spreading scourge of Ice. Follow Tom as he meets up with familiar faces of his past to see if Nowra can be more than just the end of the line.

9:30pm Wednesday on ABC2
Screen Producers Australia want the government to force foreign streaming services, such as Netflix, to contribute more to domestic film and television production.

Calls for Netflix to contribute to Australian production have been on-going, while Free to Air broadcasters are required to meet minimum quotas.

This contribution is important given their role in our community and access to public spectrum, audience and a continuing privileged competitive environment. Broadcasters are asked to pay their fair share. SVOD services, who are increasingly relying on other forms of public infrastructure such as the NBN, must contribute too, CEO Matthew Deaner said.

His comments follow recent criticism by networks bosses that Netflix a co-production with ABC on Glitch enabled the global giant to be subsidised by public funds.

Last week, the Turnbull government partnered with Netflix to create a tool to allow for fast self-classification of its content.

SVOD services dont get to have their cake and eat it too. You cant ask to be treated like a broadcaster in one area  content classification  but then turn a blind eye to the other elements of the regulatory environment, such as contributions to the production and distribution of Australian content, he said.

Source: Australian Financial Review
By PTI: Chennai, Dec 10 (PTI) Actor Rajinikanth today called on DMK chief Karunanidhi who was recently hospitalised for a week for nutritional and hydration support and enquired about the 93-year-old leaders health.

Clad in a white kurta, Rajinikanth arrived at the Gopalapuram residence of Karunanidhi and spent sometime with the leader and enquired about his health, DMK sources said.

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Noted Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu too visited Karunanidhi and enquired about his health at the same time.

The former Tamil Nadu chief minister was admitted to the Kauvery Hospital here on December 1 after being treated at home for a drug-induced allergy.

"After medical treatment, he has improved substantially and was discharged from the hospital," Kauvery Hospital Executive Director Dr S Aravindan had said on December 7.

On December 8, the party had asked its workers and well- wishers to avoid visiting the leader as he had been advised rest and warned against contracting any infection. PTI VGN BN SUA

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By PTI: Bhopal, Dec 11 (PTI) Retired employees have been roped in by the Bank Note Press (BNP) at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh to meet the demand for new currency following the cash recall exercise which has triggered a huge liquidity crunch.

The facility, managed by Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL), is working round-the-clock to help tide over the cash crisis.

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"The unit is working to its full capacity with the help of retired and experienced employees. The first consignment of new notes was sent to Bhopal on December 1," a senior BNP officer told PTI on condition of anonymity.

Several consignments were sent to Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Guwahati, Kanpur, Bengaluru, Indore and Bhopal since then, he said.

The BNP has been regularly sending two to three consignments of currency notes to the Indore airport for transporting them to different locations of the country.

"The consignments are airlifted to different cities, where RBI chests are located. The unit was printing Rs 20, 50, 100 and 500 bills prior to the demonetisation announcement. Now, the unit is only printing the new currency notes of Rs 500 denomination", BNP officer added.

The employees are also working during lunch break and have their meal as and when they get time to ensure the printing work does not suffer, he said.

In addition to engaging the retired employees, the unit has also cancelled the leave and weekly holidays of all its staffers, he said.

Another officer lamented the shortage of staff at Dewas BNP, located about 150km from the state capital Bhopal.

"Over the years, the strength of employees had been reduced to half at 1,500 following modernisation of printing process. We are under pressure now following demonetisation," he added.

The employees, however, are in high spirit over the renewed targets. "I skipped the marriage of my own brother after the unit started working round-the-clock," said Anil Gupta, an employee of BNP.

Another staffer Suraj Sharma said he could not attend the marriage ceremony of his sister-in-law.

"We are working round-the-clock in interest of the country. This is not disturbing us. Instead, we are feeling proud," said Kamal Chouhan, a retired employee.

Another facility in Madhya Pradesh contributing in dealing with the November 8 note invalidation fallout is Security Paper Mill (SPM), situated in Hoshangabad, about 75km from Bhopal. This mill produces the paper for currency notes.

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"We have increased the production of security paper used for currency notes. As many as 1,200 employees of this unit are also working round-the-clock to meet the requirements of paper for currency notes," a senior official of SPM said. PTI ADU MAS RSY DV

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By PTI: Colombo, Dec 9 (PTI) Sri Lanka must act decisively to stop torture and investigate complaints and hold perpetrators accountable, Amnesty International said today after a UN watchdog expressed alarm over the countrys failure to prevent ill-treatment of people by security forces.

"If the Sri Lankan authorities are serious about breaking with the harrowing legacy of the countrys decades-long conflict, it must end impunity for torture and other acts of ill-treatment," Champa Patel, Amnesty Internationals (AI) South Asia Director said in a statement.

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Sri Lanka has taken important and positive steps. However, we also share the UN Committee against Tortures (UN CAT) alarm over Sri Lankas failure to prevent these crimes by the security forces and their concern that torture and other ill-treatment continue to take place.

Impunity persists for perpetrators, as well as for those who have committed enforced disappearances, and deaths in custody and the use of coerced confessions continue to be reported.

The UN CAT said that the 26-year-long internal armed conflict continues to cast a long shadow over the country.

Despite promises, the authorities have failed to investigate serious human rights violations committed during the armed conflict.

The Amnesty said it shared CAT assertion that torture by police remains a common practice, with the absence of crucial safeguards in detention facilitating such abuse.

Commenting on several specified cases of rights violations, the AI said that the Sri Lankan government has previously made a commitment to address the widespread human rights violations that occurred during Sri Lankas armed conflict and in its immediate aftermath.

But it has yet to lend those words substance by establishing the promised institutions, such as a judicial mechanism with a Special Counsel, a commission for truth, justice, reconciliation and non-Recurrence, and an office for reparations, it said.

The Sri Lankan authorities need to match their words with actions, it added.

The Committee against Torture has made a series of recommendations that should be acted on immediately.

Safeguards should be put in place. Security forces have to know that torture and other ill-treatment will not be tolerated and that any survivors must obtain redress, the statement said. PTI CORR AJR AKJ AJR

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Legendary queen of R&B Mary J. Blige hosted the official after party at LAX Nightclub Friday, Dec. 9. The nine time GRAMMY winner celebrated with an entourage of friends following her co-headlining concert at T-Mobile Arena (Photo credit: Powers Imagery).

Blige jumped on the mic alongside DJ Eric Forbes keeping the energy alive and thanking audience members for their love and support. Blige ended the night by engaging with the crowd and taking photos with fans.

Living legend and Queen of Hip Hop Soul Mary J. Blige has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide since the 1992 release of her debut Whats the 411? and its gold-certified single Real Love. In addition to receiving more than 30 GRAMMY nominations over the course of her celebrated career, she is one of the few recording artists in history to have had eight albums go multi-platinum. In 2016, Blige released her 13th studio album, Strength of A Woman.

Upcoming LAX Nightclub headliners include Ginuwine, Ying Yang Twins, and Warren G for an ultimate New Years Eve performance on Dec. 31.
By PTI: Amaravati, Dec 11 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh government today formally issued an order removing tainted Chennai-based businessman J Sekhar as member of Board of Trustees of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.

The Income Tax Department and the Central Bureau of Investigation seized over Rs 131 crore in cash and 127 kg of gold from Sekhar during raids on his properties in the last three days.

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Yesterday, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had directed officials to remove Sekhar from the TTD Board.

The Chief Minister told reporters last night that Sekhar was appointed to the TTD on the recommendation of the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu.

"Though J Sekhar has not been involved in any irregularity concerning TTD matters, his actions have nevertheless attracted adverse public attention which has brought disrepute to the holiest Hindu shrine in the world. Hence his actions have attracted section 19(1)(f) of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable & Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987," Principal Secretary (Revenue, Endowments) J S V Prasad said in an order today.

"In exercise of the powers conferred under section 19(1)(f) of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable & Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act-1987, Government hereby orders that J Sekhar shall cease to hold office as Member of the Board of Trustees of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Tirupati, with immediate effect, since he acted adverse to the TTD," the Principal Secretary added.

Reddy was appointed as TTD member in May 2015. PTI DBV GK DV

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Sweet Mesquite: Quietly Invasive yet Incredibly Useful

While many of us are familiar with mesquite as a distinct barbeque flavor, or the charcoal that lends such a flavor, the mesquite tree has much more to offer. Called everything from the tree of life to the devil with roots, mesquite has played an important role in the life
Filmmaker Hassan Fazili fled Afghanistan last year in search of a home where he could speak freely after the Taliban threatened him with death over one of his movies.

But Fazili, who moved to Serbia, will nevertheless be voiceless at a German film festival next week, when his work will be screened but he cannot attend because of his refugee status.

The Censored Womens Film Festival, opening Monday in Berlin, plans to show his short fiction film, Mr. Fazilis Wife, a 10-minute drama about a single mother who fights expectations that she will become a prostitute.

It is a rarely expressed critique by an Afghan man on patriarchy in Afghanistan.

Womens issues

Fazili, 37, said he began making movies about womens rights a decade ago after marrying his wife, Fatima, who in Afghanistans conservative society had been prevented from going to school.

I must do something to raise up this issue to the world, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation Friday from Belgrade, speaking Farsi through an interpreter.

He took up filmmaking and also taught his wife, who has become a filmmaker in her own right, he said. He opened Kabuls Art Cafe and Restaurant, hoping to provide space for men and women to meet and discuss art and politics openly.

But in 2014, police and religious authorities began a crackdown that forced him to close the cafe. At the same time, the Taliban criticized his latest film, Peace in Afghanistan, and the death threats started.

I received phone calls saying that they will kill me making movies like this, he said.

From Afghanistan to Serbia

While living in Afghanistan, Fazili said he was forced to turn down invitations to show his films in the United States and Britain because of visa restrictions.

He had hoped this time would be different.

It was really important for me to be there, to know what people get from this movie, he said.

Fazili is one of about 6,400 migrants from Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan in Serbia, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

They have been stranded in the Balkan country since border closings prevent them from moving further into Europe. Film festival organizers said they have petitioned UNHCR to allow Fazili to make the trip.

We are desperate for Hassan to come to Berlin and share his story, said Paula Kewskin, a festival spokeswoman.

Serbian authorities could not be reached for comment.

Not part of the conversation

But Fazili said he is resigned to missing the opportunity to present his work to an international audience. His regret is that now, freed from persecution and bent on making womens rights heard, he still is not part of the conversation, he said.

They might have questions about the movie and, as a director, Im supposed to answer the questions, he said. But we cant do much from here.
An explosion at Cairo's Coptic Orthodox cathedral complex Sunday has killed at least 25 people and wounded nearly 50 others.



MENA, Egypt's official news agency, reports an assailant threw a bomb into a chapel at St. Mark's, in Cairo's Abbassia district.



There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.



A VOA reporter at the scene said the attack happened during the 10 a.m. service Sunday in an area with mostly women.

In Pictures:



Video posted to social media showed pools of blood beneath debris inside the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, known in Arabic as El-Botroseya.



Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi declared a three-day state of mourning after the blast.



"The pain felt by Egyptians now will not go to waste, but will result in an uncompromising decisiveness to hunt down and bring to trial whoever helped through inciting, facilitating, participating or executing this heinous crime,'' a presidential statement quoted the Egyptian leader as saying.

WATCH: Cathedral attack reaction



More than 500 Coptic protesters gathered at the scene of the explosion, deriding the government and calling for the president to step down. The demonstration prompted small skirmishes with police until a priest called for calm. Dozens of Muslim supporters joined the Christian protesters.

The attack came two days after a bomb elsewhere in Cairo killed six policemen, an assault claimed by a group authorities link to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.



St. Marks is the seat of Egypt's Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II, who is currently visiting Greece.
"They requested her to withdraw the complaint as it would spoil his career of over 30 years in the army," said one of the officers related to the proceedings, on the condition of anonymity.

By Ajit Kumar Dubey: An Army major general, who was due for promotion to the rank of lieutenant general after his role in Myanmar surgical operations June last year, is one step away from facing court martial for allegedly molesting a young lady captain by "forcibly kissing her" while discussing official work at home late in the evening.

The case comes as a rude reality check for the current establishment pushing for a wider role to women officers in the armed forces and opening more avenues for 'stree shakti' (women power).

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According to the military court proceedings, the accused was posted as the inspector general of Assam Rifles' Northern Zone in Kohima when on October 19 he called the complainant to his house to discuss the general court martial of another officer.

The lady officer was handling duties of the judge advocate general (JAG) branch which looks after the legal matters of the three services and was posted in northeast region at the time of the alleged incident.

"After the major general was done with the official work, he allegedly asked the captain to give him a parting kiss and forced himself on her to kiss her on cheeks and lips," reads the proceeding notes. Mail Today has a copy of the proceedings.

According to the complaint, even after the lady officer left his house in a huff, the officer tried to harass her by frequently calling and messaging through his personal staff to meet him before he left the station for another posting.

READ | Army brigadier, in charge of bombarding Pak in case of war, accused of corruption, harassment

"WITHDRAW COMPLAIN, DON'T SPOIL HIS CAREER"

The major general, whose identity is not being disclosed by Mail Today, could not be contacted for his comments but the army spokesperson acknowledged the case and said an investigation is under way.

"No comments can be offered on investigations which are still in progress, as it may prejudice the investigation process and may undeservedly undermine reputation of individual concerned," the spokesman said. Senior officers in Ranchi told Mail Today that after the complaint was lodged, the major general and his wife reached out to the lady officer to apologise.

"They requested her to withdraw the complaint as it would spoil his career of over 30 years in the army," said one of the officers related to the proceedings, on the condition of anonymity. Some senior officers of the region also wanted to keep the matter under wraps.

However, the lady officer, who belongs to a family of lawyers, stood her grounds and went ahead with legal proceedings. Army sources said keeping in view of the seriousness of the complaint, the accused was attached with the 17 Mountain Strike Corps at Ranchi for' hearing of charges' by the higher authorities had complained about the offense.

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"No court of inquiry, which is a fact-finding exercise, was ordered into the matter as the complaint was serious and straightaway 'hearing of charge' was ordered," the sources said.

READ | Mumbai: Man who claimed harassment by gau rakshaks cooked up story, booked by police

After completing the initial procedures, the officer is now going through 'summary of evidence', one step before an army personnel faces a 'general court martial', if indicted in the proceedings. The sources said certain senior officers posted in that region also wanted the case to be hushed up but the lady officer stood her ground.

"The young captain was helped immensely by another lady officer, chief legal officer of Assam Rifles, Colonel Leena Gaurav who was in support of filing a case against the erring officer," army sources said. The summary of evidence is taking place under major general ST Upasani, the chief of staff of the 17 Corps, and both the lady officer and the accused have made their representations before the military court. Several witnesses will soon be summoned there.

There are four officers of the rank of major general posted with the Assam Rifles, a 66,400-strong central armed police force under the Ministry of Home Affairs that is responsible for peacetime management of the Indo-Myanmar border and undertaking internal security duties in the northeast.

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The accused officer is from the infantry and belongs to the Rajputana Rifles regiment.

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A massive truck bomb exploded outside Mogadishu's new seaport Sunday morning, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens others.

The militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the blast, which occurred in a parking lot near the entrance to Mogadishu's port, causing massive damage to the surrounding areas.



Mogadishu residents said the blast could be heard across the city, and pictures of black smoke from the scene were circulated on social media.



Abdifitah Omar Halane, Mogadishus regional administration spokesman told VOA's Somali Service that most of the victims were civilians.

The blast occurred in a civilian place where poor mothers have tea shops, where the port workers buy breakfast and get ready to enter the port for the day-shift work. Halane Said.

Mogadishu's seaport is run by Al-Bayrak, a Turkish company that has a 20-year agreement with the Somali government to upgrade and manage the operations of the port.

It is unclear if any of the Turkish nationals were hurt.

Somalias President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud has condemned the blast and called on security forces and Somalis to cooperate to eliminate terrorist groups who are targeting civilians.



Also Sunday, residents reported that al-Shabab militants have taken over a Somali town on the Somali-Kenya border. Unconfirmed reports say Somali troops fled the town of El Wak and crossed into the border with Kenya.

El Wak is a strategic town near the border and is a supply route used by Kenyan troops fighting militants in Somalia under an African Union mandate.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has arrived in Baghdad to meet with American commanders and Iraqi leaders and to assess progress in the fight to retake the northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State group.

The unannounced visit Sunday came as Iraqi security forces have been slowed in their nearly two-month-old offensive against IS, which has occupied Mosul for more than two years.



Carter flew into Baghdad aboard a military cargo plane. He was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as well as top U.S. and coalition commanders.



In Bahrain Saturday, Carter announced he is sending another 200 troops to Syria to train and advise local fighters battling IS. There were already 300 U.S. troops authorized for the Syria effort, and some 5,000 in Iraq.



The recapture of Mosul, the countrys second largest city, is crucial to the Iraqis hopes of restoring their sovereignty, although political stability will likely remain a challenge afterward.



Carter told an international security conference in Bahrain that the battle for Mosul and for the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremists self-described caliphate, would be crucial to defeating the group, which has claimed attacks worldwide.



The seizure of these two cities is necessary to ensure the destruction of ISILs parent tumor in Iraq and Syria  the primary objective of our military campaign  and put ISIL on an irreversible path to a lasting defeat, he said, using another acronym for IS.



He did not predict how long it might take for Iraqi forces to prevail in Mosul, but he sounded a note of optimism.



This is a complex mission that will take time to accomplish, but I am confident that ISILs days in Mosul are numbered, he said in Bahrain.



On Saturday, an Iraqi commander said reinforcements have been sent to eastern Mosul after a major IS counterattack drove troops back earlier in the week. Iraqi forces have only captured a handful of eastern Mosul neighborhoods since launching the offensive in mid-October.



Carter, whose tenure as defense secretary will end in January if his designated successor  retired Marine Gen. James Mattis  is confirmed by the Senate as expected, also made the case for keeping U.S. forces in Iraq even after IS is dislodged from Mosul.



Beyond security, there will still be towns to rebuild, services to re-establish, and communities to restore, he said in Bahrain. The extremists, he predicted, will attempt to survive by reinventing themselves in some other shape or form after they lose their grip on Iraq and Syria.



Left unsaid was a possible change in course under Donald Trump when he takes office next month.
A Syrian monitor says Islamic State jihadists have recaptured the Syrian city of Palmrya, during what has become a back-and-forth battle for control of the famed desert city.

Rami Abdel Rahman of the British-based monitor group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday, "Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city."

Earlier Sunday, the Observatory and the Russian Defense Ministry said more than 60 Russian airstrikes had forced Islamic State fighters to pull out of the ancient central Syrian city, not long after the extremists fought their way into the city.

The Observatory said fighting continued outside the city.

A Russian Defense Ministry statement said Russian warplanes conducted 64 air strikes against "positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants" on the famed desert city that is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.

Russia said it killed 300 militants who "actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armored vehicles and rocket artillery." The ministry said 11 tanks and 31 vehicles were destroyed.

Islamic State extremists fought their way into Palmyra Saturday after two days of intense fighting against government forces.

The extremist push in Homs province comes nine months after militants were driven from the city by Syrian government forces and their Russian allies in a counter-offensive touted at the time by Syrian military officials as a "fatal blow" to the jihadist organization.

The government of President Bashar al-Assad had not commented on the Palmyra fighting by late Saturday, and no updated casualty figures were immediately available.

To the north, monitors reported heavy fighting in southeastern districts of the city of Aleppo, after a two-week offensive by the Russia-backed Syrian army and its Shi'ite allies that has split the city's rebel-held east and left rebel forces in disarray. Witnesses to Saturday's fighting said rebels were holding their ground in the devastated eastern sector.

The Observatory reported 24 civilians killed by government ordnance since Friday, and said at least nine others were killed by retaliatory rebel artillery fire into government-controlled sectors of the city during the same period.

In other developments, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the deployment of 200 more military personnel to northern Syria, to help the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the push capture the IS stronghold of Raqqa

Carter said the 200 troops will include special forces trainers, advisers and explosive ordnance disposal teams. The new force will join some 300 U.S. military already deployed in the north to assist in the ongoing push to defeat Islamic State at Raqqa.

The U.S. Central Command tweeted Saturday the U.S. force will stand ready to "directly assist NATO ally Turkey" in the regional fight against extremist forces.

In Paris, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with other top diplomats Saturday in an attempt to revive stalled talks with Russia on easing the Aleppo crisis, which has left tens of thousands of civilians in the city's east without food or other humanitarian supplies.

U.S. and Russian diplomats were holding separate closed-door talks in Geneva at the same time, in an effort to find agreement between Moscow and Washington on the situation in Aleppo.

The Paris talks included foreign ministers from France, Germany, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and a representative of the European Union. France's Jean-Marc Ayrault said they agreed on sweeping aid provisions and a ban on torture and retaliatory killings once the fighting stops.

The French diplomat said the ministers' plan would only take hold if the Syrian government and Russia both agree to terms of the emerging post-battle plan for Aleppo.


Nearly two months into the assault on the Islamic States last major stronghold in Iraq, the unbridled optimism that accompanied the initial, rapid advance is gone.

Iraqi security forces, which had cut through IS defenses in the outer suburbs of the northern city of Mosul, have met with stiffer than expected resistance in the citys east. Their losses have been significant and, to both Iraqi and U.S. officials, surprising.

They front-loaded the fight, a U.S. official told VOA, speaking on the condition of anonymity. They threw a lot of their best fighters at east Mosul."

U.S. and Iraqi officials had expected the opposite, that IS would wait to make its strongest defense in the older, Western part of the city, making use of the narrower streets and counting, perhaps, on the support of Sunni-dominated neighborhoods.

Intelligence gathered prior to the assault on Mosul only served to reinforce that thinking, showing IS fighters concentrating their defenses to the West of the Tigris River, which cuts through the city. IS was ready, having made the most of the two years its fighters had occupied the city.

Theyre pretty well defended throughout, said a second official, also requesting anonymity due to the subjects sensitivity.

The official said making the fight more difficult is that IS commanders have been adapting all along, changing tactics to keep Iraqi forces off-balance as they push further into Mosul.

IS tactics

In defense, IS has used everything it can to slow advance, from mounting ambushes after appearing to be retreating, enticing Iraqi units forward, to launching an unexpected large number of suicide bombers in vehicles packed with huge amounts of explosives, to changing the design of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and where they plant them.

It is a cat-and-mouse game for bomb disposal teams, IS bomb-makers are quick to alert other IS members about changes that make it harder to defuse devices, says Kurdish Gen. Mahmood Kakaye.

Iraqi security forces battling their way into Mosul, and Shiite militias in the countryside west of the city, are suffering heavy losses from the IEDs, much as the Kurds did in their battles close to Mosul, culminating in the seizing from IS of the town of Bashiqa last month.

The difficulty in taking territory from IS and then holding it was on clear display in Bashiqa.

Massively outnumbered by Kurdish forces, the up to 200 IS fighters, Kurdish military officials still cant agree on how many jihadists defended the town in the final assault, proved to be a cunning enemy. After the center of the town had been seized by the Kurds there was almost another day of riotous gunfire and what the peshmerga termed chase-the-jihadist.

IS fighters kept popping up from a labyrinthine of tunnels dug under houses, launching attacks from 360 degrees. In one attack a key Kurdish bomb-disposal expert died when a suicide bomber suddenly appeared before him and embraced him in a death-hug as he detonated an explosive vest.

ISIS has been very creative in the way that they are fighting, Kurdistan Regional Security Council Chancellor Masrour Barzani said Thursday in Washington, using another acronym for the Islamic State group.

When you go to the western bank of the Tigris River, we expect that the fighting is going to be even harder, he said.

But Iraqi forces ran into a prime example of IS deadly creativity earlier this past Tuesday when they tried to take the citys al-Salam hospital.

After initially meeting little resistance, the Iraqis were met with a fierce counterattack. More than a dozen suicide car bombs later, the soldiers were forced to beat a retreat with the help of a U.S. airstrike and Iraqs elite Counter Terrorism Service.

Iraqi PM optimistic

Despite such setbacks, some optimism persists, with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi continuing to insist Mosul can be taken by years end.

Other Iraqi officials, such as the governor of Kirkuk province, think while that timeline may be a bit ambitious, it is not necessarily far off.

The Mosul operation is actually going as well as it was expected. Nobody thought it is going to be something very quick, Najmaldin Karim said during a visit to Washington late last month. Maybe President [Barack] Obama will still be president [when it happens].

Last week U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter agreed it was certainly possible Mosul could be taken before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.

But this is a war, so I'm not going to predict that, Carter added. It's going to be a tough fight.

Western diplomats based in Turkey are skeptical that the fight will be over before Trump is sworn-in.

I think this could take another four months, said a European attache who asked not to be named in this article. I am suspicious of the numbers being bandied about in terms of IS casualties and people also forget about the casualties on our side, the Iraqis, as the Kurds, wont give out the statistics about their own loses but I can tell you they are high."

He and other Western diplomats fear that by the time the Iraqi security forces have reached west Mosul, they will be exhausted, having fought for months, and will then have to call for help on the irregular Shi'ite militias around Tal Afar for assistance. The Iraqi government has promised not to use those militias, which have been accused of war crimes against Sunnis, in Mosul.

Help from Kurdish forces, at that point, is almost out of the question, Barzani indicated. We are hoping the rest of the Iraqi security forces are able to finish the job.

The fight ahead

Yet there is reason to think the fight will get somewhat easier. Military officials say the IS strategy of front loading the fight in the eastern part of Mosul could backfire.

Many of the terror groups best fighters are dead. And U.S. officials insist the number of fighters has been whittled down considerably from an estimated 5,000 at the start of the Mosul operation in mid-October.

U.S. and coalition airstrikes have also destroyed four of the five Mosul bridges that span the Tigris River.

Other supply routes have also been cut off, either with the help of airstrikes or due to the advance of Iraqi militias, the so-called Popular Mobilization Forces or PMF, which have moved to cut-off Mosul from Tal Afar, a smaller IS stronghold to the west.

Mosul is completely surrounded on all sides and Daesh have no ability to resupply or reinforce their fighters, said Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman, Col. John Dorrian, using the Arabic acronym for the terror group.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, who once led the Pentagon efforts against IEDs in Iraq, remains cautious and says holding on to the city after taking it "is a different ballgame."

Many current U.S. officials believe IS intends to use any and all tactics at its disposal to turn Iraq's second largest city into "hell on earth. They also point to what IS fighters were able to do in its former stronghold in Libya, as a model for what can be expected in Mosul.

Libyan forces, aided by hundreds of U.S. airstrikes, confined IS to just a few blocks in coastal city of Sirte. But it took hundreds of additional airstrikes and another month to finally rout IS from the city.

And there are worries about the preparations IS has made which cannot easily be seen. Some weapon experts fear IS will use mustard gas or other toxic material.

They have totally dug into the sewer system, said one of the U.S. officials, referring to the challenges that still await in the western part of Mosul. A lot of this is going to be underground.

And the Iraqis will face a lot more bombs.

According to a report to be published Wednesday by Conflict Armament Research, a Britain-based organization funded by the European Union that monitors the movement and use of conventional weapons, the jihadists IEDs are anything but improvised. The group will highlight in the report the high and rapid output of IEDs in ISs Mosul workshops, all part of a centrally managed weapon production system that can churn out bombs to high military standards.
Voters in Kyrgyzstan are casting ballots in a constitutional referendum that includes amendments that boost the power of the prime minister  something opposition groups have criticized in the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation.

Sundays vote was initiated by President Almazbek Atambayev. His critics have claimed the move could allow him to shift into the prime ministers seat after his current term as president ends next year, but Atambayev denies such intentions.

Political infighting ahead of the referendum has fueled fears of a new round of instability in the impoverished nation of 6 million on Chinas mountainous western frontier. Kyrgyzstan has seen the violent overthrow of two presidents since gaining independence in 1991.

If approved, the amendments would allow the prime minister to appoint and dismiss Cabinet ministers and regional governors without consulting the president. The prime minister would also have a decisive say in shaping the government budget.

Atambayevs supporters cast the amendments as part of efforts to increase the power of parliament and strengthen checks and balances between branches of government.

The amendments also envisage a ban on same-sex marriages.

Kyrgyzstan used to host a U.S. air base that supported military operations in Afghanistan, but it evicted the U.S. in 2014. It still hosts a Russian air base and is part of a Moscow-dominated economic and security alliance of ex-Soviet nations.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided a special operations drill targeting the South, the Norths media reported Sunday, as rival South Korea remained on alert for any attempt by the North to take advantage of political turmoil in the South.

The Norths KCNA state news agency report did not say when North Korean forces conducted the combat exercise, nor did it mention the South Korean parliaments vote Friday to impeach its president, Park Geun-hye.

Pictures in a Sunday report on the exercise in the Norths Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed what appeared to be a mockup of South Koreas presidential Blue House as a target. Park will remain in the Blue House, though her powers have been suspended and assumed by the Souths prime minister while the Constitutional Court weighs parliaments impeachment vote.

South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn has urged a high state of military alert in case of any provocation by North Korea, including possible cyber attacks.

We are ready to retaliate if North Korea makes any provocations and we condemn its malicious threat, a South Korean military official told Reuters.



Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has been high this year after two North Korean nuclear tests and an unprecedented number of ballistic missile tests.

The Norths tests have brought tighter U.N. Security Council sanctions but no indication North Korea and its young leader are willing to compromise on its nuclear and missile programs.

The Rodong Sinmun pictures included one of Kim observing the exercise through binoculars.


Bullets whizzed into the sand outside the Iraqi Army base, an abandoned home on the edge of the village, as two wounded men are carried into pick-up trucks, just back from a nearby battle. The vehicles race into the desert, leaving plumes of dust in their wake.



Dozens of miles from Mosul, on the Iraqi Armys southern front, soldiers battling Islamic State here are moving forward, slowly capturing farms, towns and villages against fierce resistance.



Coalition support is more of a vague idea than an every day reality here, soldiers tell us, as the barrage of coalition airstrikes mainly focus on the city of Mosul. All agree more air support would be useful, but otherwise opinions vary on the United States president elect Donald Trump, and what it will mean for their fight.



Some say he seems tough on terrorism, a stance they support. Many soldiers here have lost family and friends either fighting the militants, or murdered as civilians. Other soldiers say Trump seems to dislike Muslims, a stance abhorrent to them.



Still others hold both opinions.



I hope things will change in a good way, says Col. Khayun Manati Jabor. We have heard that he is a racist, but still if he helps us, it will be good.



The chief complaint about the U.S.-led coalition is not its current actions, but the fact that it took two and a half years to get here. Conspiracy theories about the current U.S. administration also run deep here, so change could be good, soldiers say.



On thing that is clear, is that it is not clear what President elect Donald Trumps Iraq policy will look like. He has been highly critical of the Mosul offensive, even suggesting it was a campaign tool for Hilary Clinton during an October debate. He has also railed against leaders for being soft on terrorism and told Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that Iraq will find strong and deep support under his presidency about 10 days after he was elected.



Less than a kilometer away from the base in Iraq, dust and smoke spray into the air as IS mortar fire comes crashing to the ground, aiming at, but missing, Iraqi Army positions. The noise of bullets and mortar fire coming from the base and aimed at IS-occupied buildings is constant.





We dont have any help and we dont want any, says a soldier named Kareem. We are liberating Iraq.



Treacherous battles



U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said last week the Iraqi Army could, in theory, control Mosul before Trump takes office, but only if the pace of what appears to be an imminent victory speeds up.



But nearly three months into the Mosul offensive, fighting is only getting tougher, soldiers say.



Forces must move slowly, they tell us, as militants force civilians into large groups of human shields into increasingly smaller territories. IS-occupied villages where civilians have all fled are laced with IEDs and held by sniper fire, car bombs and suicide bombers, adds Lt. Colonel Juma Annat above the hammering sound of outgoing fire.



There are snipers everywhere and we dont want to risk our mens lives more than we have to, he explains.



ISs vast network of tunnels has also been found everywhere the militants have fled. As militants move back, the network is expected to pose a considerable new challenge, adds Annat, with worries they could be used not just to flee, but to launch attacks.



One soldier quietly notes that he hopes the coalition will provide technology to allow them to see into the tunnels.



We may have to fight in the tunnels, Annat continues. The most important aim we have is to liberate the village 100 percent.
A top Pakistan Foreign Ministry official has said that some members of the terrorist Haqqani network are present in the country, but Islamabad is not allowing any group to conduct terrorist activities in Afghanistan.

Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry has made the rare admission in an interview to the state-run Pakistani television PTV broadcast Sunday.

The United States has designated the Haqqani network and its leadership as global terrorists for carrying out high-profile deadly attacks against American and allied forces in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and U.S. officials allege Haqqanis operate out of sanctuaries in Pakistan, a charge Islamabad rejects.

The Haqqani Network is actually part of the Taliban. Most of their people are in Afghanistan, most of them, and some of them are present here (in Pakistan), said Chaudhry.

Chaudhry asserted the Pakistani leadership is sticking to its pledges of not allowing any individual or group to use Pakistans soil for terrorist activities.

We have also explicitly given the same message to the Taliban and Haqqanis that you must not indulge in any terrorist activity or violence in Afghanistan, he said. And if you cant mend your ways and live peacefully like millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, then you better leave the country because Pakistani soil cannot welcome you and the space would be squeezed on you.

Incremental pressure

Consequently, most of the insurgents went back to Afghanistan where 10 percent of the territory is now controlled by the Taliban, Chaudhry said citing U.S. military estimates.

The U.S. Congress last week passed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes $900 million for reimbursement to Pakistan for conducting counterterrorism operations to secure its long border with Afghanistan.

But the legislation is linked to the release of $400 million of the allocated amount to Pakistans demonstrable steps against the Haqqani Network.

Foreign Secretary Chaudhry said Pakistan is putting incremental pressure on Taliban and Haqqanis to persuade them to reengage in peace talks with Afghan authorities.

But Islamabad has made it clear to the Afghan leadership that it would not use military force against the insurgents because they would then turn their guns on Pakistanis, bringing Afghanistans war to Pakistan, he said, and reemphasized the need for finding a political solution to the Afghan conflict.

The Pakistani official reiterated Islamabad is ready to facilitate peace talks between Afghan warring sides provided Kabul accepts the offer.

Speaking earlier this month in Washington, U.S. commander of international forces in Afghanistan General John Nicholson warned the Haqqanis still pose the greatest threat to Americans and to their coalition partners and to the Afghans.

And they remain a principal concern of ours. And they, and they do enjoy sanctuary inside Pakistan, the general added.

Chaudhry urged President Ghani to prevent anti-Pakistan militants from roaming freely on his side of the border and carry out attacks in Pakistan on mere assumptions that Islamabad harbors anti-Kabul militants.

If the Afghan side believes mere allegations against Pakistan would help solve Afghanistans problems then let them believe so. It would not get them anywhere, he added.

Afghan officials deny they have anything to do with the militants linked to anti-state Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, though Pakistani officials point to killings of a number of leaders of the group in Afghanistan this year by U.S. drone attacks.

Islamabad hosted a preliminary round of peace talks between Kabul and Taliban officials in July 2015, the first direct contact between Afghan warring sides in 15 years. Chaudhry along with U.S. and Chinese officials attended the negotiations as monitors.

But since then the war has intensified, fueling tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan over Islamabads alleged backing of the insurgency.
Romanians are voting in a parliamentary election Sunday, a year after a massive anti-corruption campaign forced the last Socialist prime minister from power.

The country of about 19 million is one of the poorest in the European Union and perceived as one of the most corrupt.

Regardless of the scandal, the corruption-tainted leftist Social Democratic Party (PSD), which advocates loose fiscal policy, is likely to form a majority with smaller parties.

Polls put the PSD in first place with around 40 percent, followed by the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Save Romania Union (USR) with combined 35 to 40 percent.

Former Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned after a nightclub fire in October last year that killed 64 people.

The country is currently run by a caretaker government under technocrat Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, a former European commissioner.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has refused to appoint anyone with legal problems as prime minister.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. local time Sunday (0500 UTC) and will close at 9 p.m. (1900 UTC), followed by exit polls.


Rescue workers continue to look for survivors in the debris following the collapse of a church roof in southern Nigeria, killing at least 100 people. Some reports put the death toll as high as 160.

Hundreds of people were in the Reigners Bible Church, which was still under construction when the roof collapsed Saturday in the city of Uyo.

Local officials played down the number of victims. State police spokeswoman Cordelia Nwawe said 27 had been killed and 30 injured.

Several local officials were in attendance when the roof fell, including Udom Emmanuel, the governor of Akwa Ibom state, who escaped without injury.

One survivor told local media from his hospital bed that the roof fell about 30 minutes into the program. "Suddenly, the roof from the middle fell on worshipers. The governor was quickly rescued. But others were not that lucky."

Governor Emmanuel tweeted that he personally supervised rescue operations at the scene and has declared December 11 and 12 as days of mourning.

The church's founder, who was to be made a bishop during the service, was also not injured.

A spokesman for the governor said the state would conduct an investigation into the collapse.
For a moment, it appeared that Priyanka Jagga Muise's second stint in the house has come to an end.

By India Today Web Desk: Priyanka Jagga Muise packed her bags tonight to exit the BB 10 house for the second time. So is it all over for the original troublemaker of the house? The answer is a vehement NO. She has only vanished from the sight of housemates, and will be keeping an eye on all of them from a secret room. She has become the second guest to grace the special room, after Om Swami in this season.

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Also read: Om deserved it! Tweeple thank Salman Khan for taking baba's class

Tonight's episode was entertaining to the core with the lethal mix of comedy, magic and Salman Khan. Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza team joined Salman on stage to lighten the tense mood of the show and dressed up as Bigg Boss contestants to entertain one and all. So Krushna transformed into Om Swami, Aditi Bhatia became Bani and Pooja Bose was seen as Lopa's doppelganger. Adding to the fun, Salman played the 'thappad' game with the contestants where Swamiji emerging victorious with the most number of slaps.

Tonight's episode was quite entertaining

Also read: #BB10: Sahil Anand gets ousted from the Bigg Boss house

The highlight of the episode was however Israeli mentalist Amir Lustig, who apart from leaving the audiences and contestants in awe with his magic tricks, also played an important part in the elimination process. His last trick resulted in Priyanka Jagga's 'eviction'. At least that's what the housemates are thinking right now. The reality is far different than perception. And the fact is, Priyanka Jagga will be back soon, guys. Sorry to disappoint you!

Bigg Boss airs Mon-Fri at 10:20pm and Sat-Sun at 9pm on Colors TV

--- ENDS ---
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says the Central Intelligence Agencys conclusion that Russia interfered in last month's presidential election to boost his chances of winning was "ridiculous," calling it "just another excuse" by Democrats for his upset of former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

"I don't believe it. If you take a look at what (the CIA) said, there's great confusion," Trump said Sunday. "Nobody really knows. They have no idea if it's Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed someplace."

Trump told Fox News that he does not oppose President Barack Obama's order to review cyberattacks the CIA concluded came from Russia during the lengthy presidential campaign, but said "you should not just say 'Russia.' You should say other countries also, and maybe other individuals." The CIA said it had "high confidence" that Russia sought to help Trump win.

WATCH: Related video by VOA's Michael Bowman

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the final stretch of the presidential campaign to help Trump win the presidency, and not simply meddle in the U.S. electoral process as previously believed, according to senior Obama administration officials. The conclusion is based to some extent on a finding that Russians hacked the Republican National Committee's computer systems, in addition to those of Democratic organizations, but disclosed only embarrassing emails from the Democrats, via WikiLeaks.

Reince Priebus, the head of the Republican National Committee and Trump's pick for White House chief of staff, told ABC News the party was not hacked.

"The entire report is based on unnamed sources who are perhaps doing something they shouldn't be doing by speaking to reporters or someone talking out of line about something that is absolutely not true," Priebus said Sunday.

Bipartisan call for bipartisan probe

The Republican Trump's rejection of the CIA conclusion came as the party's losing 2008 presidential nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain, and three other senators called for an investigation into Moscow's interference in the election, saying that it "should alarm every American." McCain, along with Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrats Jack Reed and Chuck Schumer, said the United States needs to stop "the grave threats that cyberattacks conducted by foreign governments pose to our national security."

Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, tweeted that he agreed with his colleagues that an investigation into possible Russian interference in the election should not be partisan.



But Lankford, who sits on Senate homeland security and intelligence committees, also said in interviews on CNN and Fox News that there is no evidence Russian hackers influenced election results or vote counting.

Even before Trump mocked the CIA conclusion in the Fox interview, his transition team condemned the spy agency, saying, "These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction." It said the election was over and "now it's time to move on and 'Make America Great Again."

Reservations about top diplomat pick

In the interview, Trump praised ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, his likely pick as the country's secretary of state, because of the contacts he has across the world and the oil deals he's made with Russia. But McCain and Graham also voiced concern about the selection of the 64-year-old Tillerson and his connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump aides say the president-elect has settled on Tillerson as the top U.S. diplomat after a month-long search although no announcement has been made. Trump, while not confirming the appointment, said Tillerson has the "great advantage" that he knows many world leaders across the globe and "knows them well."

But his longstanding support for free trade and an expansive presence in the Middle East are at odds with positions Trump took during the long U.S. presidential campain.

"He's much more than a business executive," Trump said. "He's a world class player. He's in charge of an oil company that pretty much doubled the size of his next nearest competitor. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company, not for himself, for the company."

McCain said the choice of Tillerson was "a matter of concern to me."

You want to give the president of the United States the benefit of the doubt because the people have spoken, McCain said of the election. But Vladimir Putin is a thug, a bully and a murderer, and anybody else who describes him as anything else is lying.

After Tillerson's oil agreements with Russia, the Kremlin in 2013 awarded him the Order of Friendship, an honor reserved for foreigners. Tillerson's appointment would have to be confirmed by the Senate, and Graham said that with his award from Russia, "We'll have some questions. I don't want to prejudge the guy, but that's a bit unnerving."

Tillerson, chief executive of the world's largest publicly traded company, oversees operations in more than 50 countries, including Russia. ExxonMobil reached an oil exploration and production agreement in 2011 with Rosneft, Russia's largest state-owned oil company. Since 2011, the two companies have formed 10 joint operations in Russia.

Tillerson met privately with the president-elect Tuesday and again Saturday after recommendations from former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and former defense secretary Robert Gates. A transition official said Trump is impressed with Tillerson's style and experience.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump questioned Sunday whether the United States should continue its "one China" policy that includes its Taiwan province, unless Beijing offers concessions on trade and other issues.

"I don't want China dictating to me," Trump said in a wide-ranging interview on Fox News. He defended his recent phone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, the first contact between a Taiwan leader and a U.S. president or president-elect since 1979, when the United States acknowledged that Taiwan was part of a unified China.

"I don't know why we have to be bound by a one China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade," Trump said.

South China Sea



The president-elect criticized China over its currency policies, its military build-up in the South China Sea and its failure to block neighboring North Korea from conducting nuclear arms tests.

"We're being hurt very badly by China with devaluation, with taxing us heavy at the borders when we don't tax them, with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldn't be doing, and frankly with not helping us at all with North Korea," Trump said. "You have North Korea. You have nuclear weapons and China could solve that problem and they're not helping us at all."

Trump's statement miscast Chinese and U.S. tariffs on exported products entering each country. China imposes levies ranging from five to 9.7 percent on U.S. goods, while the United States collects 2.5 to 2.9 percent tariffs.

Call to Taiwan leader



Trump said it would have been disrespectful to not take the call from the Taiwan leader congratulating him on his election, saying he had a couple hours notice that the call was coming, not weeks or longer as some U.S. media reports have indicated.

"It was a very nice call, short," Trump said. "And why should some other nation be able to say I can't take a call?"

China criticized Trump's acceptance of the call, but had no immediate reaction to his comments in the interview. After Trump's phone conversation with the Taiwan leader, senior White House officials assured Chinese officials that the United States' "one China" policy remained intact.

Intelligence briefings

During the interview, Trump also said he does not need to receive a presidential intelligence briefing every day because he said they are repetitive from day to day.

You know, I'm, like, a smart person," Trump said. "I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years. Could be eight years, but eight years I don't need that. But I do say, If something should change, let us know.

He said that when he becomes president on January 20, his eldest children and his Trump company executives would run his global business empire and he would have nothing to do with its management. But he stopped short of saying he would divest his holdings, as ethics critics have said he needs to do in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest with the decisions he makes as the U.S. leader.

Trump is planning to make a statement Thursday on the details of how he will separate himself from the Trump Organization when he assumes power.

He said he is "open-minded" on environmental issues and whether the United States should remain supportive of the worldwide agreement reached in Paris for controlling greenhouse gas emissions that scientists have concluded are leading to dangerous global climate changes.




Remembering Our Fallen, a 200-foot long photographic memorial featuring the names and images of Texans who have died since Sept. 11, 2001, in the War on Terror, will be on display this week only, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, at Connally-Compton Funeral Directors, 4400 W. Waco Drive.

The exhibit, on a statewide tour sponsored by the Texas Funeral Directors Association, is free and open to the public.

Bubbles zoo benefit

Cameron Park Zoo, 1701 N. Fourth St., will have a Bubbles fundraiser for the zoos aquatics program from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the zoos Saltwater Aquarium.

Attendees can enjoy champagne, beer, sodas and a signature Tidal Wave cocktail, as well as hors douvres, and meet the Mermaids of Cameron Park Zoo.

Cost is $65 per person or $55 for zoo members.

For tickets, visit www.cameronparkzoo.com/specialevents/upcoming-events.

Waco NAACP meeting

The Waco NAACP will have its annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Knox Hall at the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and Museum, 100 Texas Ranger Trail.

The annual report will be presented, new officers will be installed, and plans for 2017 will be presented.

For more information, call 733-5261.

Rotary Club of Waco

The Rotary Club of Waco will meet at noon Monday at the Lions Den, 1716 N. 42nd St.

The meeting will feature a performance from the Waco High School Show Choir.

Cost is $10 for a catered lunch from Georges Restaurant.

For more information, call 776-2115.

Pro-Life lunch meeting

Pro-Life Waco will meet from 1 to 2 p.m. Sunday in the Parish Hall at St. Marys Church, 1424 Columbus Ave.

The program will feature a retrospective on pro-life achievements in 2016 and action plans for 2017

An Italian buffet luncheon will precede the meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Cost for the meal is $3 for adults.

For more information, email prolifewaco@gmail.com or call John Pisciotta at 644-0407.

Girl Scouts 5K

The Girl Scouts Thin Mint Sprint 5K and 1-mile Daisy Dash will begin at 8 a.m. Feb. 11 at Woodway Park, 924 Estates Drive.

Cost is $25 for the 5K, and $10 for the Daisy Dash through Thursday. Price increases $5 thereafter.
Gourmet Gallery, a tradition with those who love to cook and shop for cookware, bakeware and specialty foods, has relocated from Ridgewood Village to 502 Austin Ave., joining the re-development of downtown, said owner Karyn Miller, who added with a laugh she drank the Kool-Aid being consumed by those sold on the inner citys future.

Miller said she is leasing about 700 square feet, which is considerably less than she had available at North Valley Mills and Cobbs drives.

But our foot traffic had dwindled, and I thought it would be a good idea to re-invent Gourmet Gallery downtown, said Miller.

She tossed open the doors to her new location last week, and said business has been steady if not spectacular.

I have quite a loyal following after eight wonderful years in Ridgewood Village, said Miller. But were not yet where we want to be or need to be.

Miller said she tries to carry specialty foods that reflect the culture of Central Texas, but also offers items with ties to French and German cuisines.

Gourmet Gallery traditionally has offered cooking classes, but those will not take place at the cozy new home, which has no kitchen facilities.

Miller said she may make arrangements to continue providing cooking instruction at a different location to those who crave it.

Steel City Pops opens

Steel City Pops, a regional chain with locations in Alabama, Kentucky and Texas to sell gourmet, all-natural popsicles, has opened a store in Waco. It does business in a new strip center between South Fourth and South Fifth streets near the new In-N-Out Burger and CVS Pharmacy, where Dallas-based DuWest Realty leveled the Clarion Hotel.

The Steel City Pops menu includes fruity, creamy and dripping/drizzle categories, as well as cookie pops and gourmet coffees, according to its website.

Prices range from $1.50 to $4.50 per selection, with flavors that include cranberry orange, cinnamon apple, wassail and strawberry lemon. Creamy selections include butter pecan, chocolate mint, peppermint, rum raisin, sweet potato pecan and buttermilk, among several others.

Other eating establishments going in around Steel City Pops include Chipotle Mexican Grill, Jersey Mikes Subs and Smoothie King.

Womens earnings

Texas women still receive wages and salaries less than those of their male counterparts, according to a new report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Southwest Information Office of the BLS released a study titled Womens Earnings in Texas, 2015, and it contained the following results:

Texas women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median weekly earnings of $683, which is 79 percent of the $864 median weekly earnings of men.

Although fluctuating from 1997 to 2010, the Texas ratio of womens to mens earnings generally trended upward, reaching a high of 85.6 percent in 2010. But since then, the general trend has been downward, falling in four of the previous five years. The 2015 ratio was the third lowest since the series began in 1997.

Nationally, women earned $726 per week or 81 percent of the $895 median income for men in 2015, according to the report.

Among all states, full-time median income for women ranged from $907 in Massachusetts to $591 in Mississippi.

The 2015 ratio of female-to-male median weekly earnings ranged from a high of 88 percent in Hawaii to a low of 69 percent in Wyoming.

These findings were made public in a news release prepared by Stanley W. Suchman, the BLS assistant commissioner for regional operations.

Sleep before travel

Getting enough sleep sometimes is challenging during the holidays, when Americans are busy shopping, planning trips and decorating for guests.

But AAA Texas, the auto club, warns that missing just one to two hours of a recommended seven hours of sleep nightly can double the risk of having a car crash.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 35 percent of U.S. drivers sleep less than the recommended seven hours daily, according to a AAA release. And with drowsy driving involved in more than one in five fatal crashes on U.S. roadways each year, AAA warns that getting less than seven hours of sleep may have deadly consequences.

A chart prepared by AAA shows getting six to seven hours of sleep produces 1.3 times the crash risk; five to six hours produces 1.9 times the crash risk; four to five hours means 4.3 times the crash risk and less than four hours of sleep causes the risk of having a crash to skyrocket to 11.5 times the normal risk.

While 97 percent of drivers told the AAA Foundation they view drowsy driving as a completely unacceptable behavior that is a serious threat to their safety, nearly one in three admitted that at least once in the past month they drove when they were so tired they had a hard time keeping their eyes open.

To prevent drowsiness behind the wheel, AAA recommends drivers travel at times when they are normally awake; schedule a break every two hours or every 100 miles; avoid heavy foods; travel with an alert passenger who can take turns driving; and avoid medications that cause drowsiness or other impairment.

Farm, ranch show

The Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce is hosting the 46th annual Mid-Tex Farm & Ranch Show, scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday in the Extraco Events Center on Bosque Boulevard.

More than 3,000 Central Texas farmers and ranchers are expected to attend the two-day show that includes displays of products and services. They and the public, who can attend free of charge, learn about the latest farm and ranch equipment, seed, chemicals and agriculture-related technologies, the chamber said in a news release.

Show hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the chamber.

The 55th annual Blackland Income Growth Conference will be held in conjunction with the Mid-Tex show. It will offer commodity sessions, special meetings and forums. Topics of discussion will include beef, horticulture and grain; health and fitness with a busy schedule; cotton, forage and wildlife; and other training and recertification classes.

Sponsors include Equipment Depot, Dealers Electrical Supply, Educators Credit Union, Buzbee Feed & Seed, Bar None Country Store, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, National Banks of Central Texas, Clark Auction Company, Holt Cat and Walter Moss Seed Company, the Waco chamber said in its release.

Selected McLennan County high school students will be awarded scholarships for outstanding FFA, FHA and 4-H membership during the Allen Samuels Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram Scholarship Luncheon. Scholarships are sponsored by Associated Concrete Contractors and Brazos Valley Equipment.
Active-duty military personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder benefit from therapy based in examining recurrent thoughts and controlling quick judgments, new research conducted at Fort Hood found.

Funded by the Department of Defense, the study administered Cognitive Processing Therapy to 268 active service members at the post diagnosed with combat-related PTSD.

Principal investigator Patricia Resick said CPT encourages participants to find how thoughts affect feelings. From an early age, most are taught the just-world belief, which means people get what they deserve, said Resick, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University.

It gives you a greater sense of control than saying, This was absolutely unforeseeable. Theres nothing I could have done, which is often actually what the situation is, Resick said. If you cant see a buried mine, and no one that was with you can see the buried mine, it wasnt to be seen. And yet you dont want to let go of the idea that there should have been something you could have done.

Many participants in the study have seen people  including children  being killed, Resick said, or were almost killed themselves.

We dont make them re-experience the trauma, she said. We dont take them through the gory details of it, but we talk about the trauma. In other words, how did you come to that idea that it was your sergeants fault? How did you come to the idea that you let it happen, or that you should have done something differently?

Almost half of the participants receiving individual CPT sessions over six weeks recovered from PTSD, the research found. Nearly 40 percent of those in group therapy also recovered.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Sean Brack, who served three tours in Iraq and one tour in Afghanistan, has retired since he participated in the study.

Are you ever totally cured? I dont think thats ever truly the case, Brack said. But youre not spiraling down. You learn to manage all the stuff thats going on with your life. Certainly, yes, it definitely helped avoid me getting caught into those traps.

Brack, 47, now lives in Lampasas and attends nursing school. In the Army, soldiers are expected to tough it out, he said.

Once you get labeled as broken that can be damaging, but you got to get over that because youre not going to get help unless you actually seek out that help, he said. The first step is finding out if this really is what Im going through. Theres a lot of things that might be going on. It might be PTSD, it might be traumatic brain injury, you could just be missing sleep. There are all these problems going on that once you sit down, you can start separating different things and start working on them bit by bit.

Fort Hood, about 60 miles southwest of Waco, was the ideal place for the research because more soldiers have been deployed from there, injured and killed than at any other location in the country, said Alan Peterson, director of the STRONG STAR Consortium, which is funded by the DOD.

Developing treatments

Peterson, professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, said the best way to overcome PTSD stigma is for researchers to develop the most effective treatment.

If people have more confidence, if they come in and if indeed they have post-traumatic stress disorder to start with, theres a good chance we can help treat them to the point where they no longer have it, Peterson said. They can stay on active duty if they would like to stay on active duty . . . to deploy again, thats the final exam, if you will, for the military. We dont have many examples like that in the civilian sector.

Brack participated in group CPT, which Resick said forms camaraderie and perspective.

Sometimes they have more credibility when theyre challenging one of the other service members in the group because theyll say, You couldnt have possibly done such and such,  she said.

Within group therapy, participants complete daily, written assignments, as if learning to drive a tank or assemble a rifle, Resick said. In the short worksheets, the soldiers practice asking Socratic questions like, Whats the evidence for that idea?

So we start doing that with them and help them start to look at what theyve been saying to themselves, about the trauma and how its affected their thoughts about things like safety and trust and power and esteem and intimacy, any of those things that can be affected by trauma, she said.

Additional CPT studies involving number of sessions and sleep symptoms are also underway, she said.

Active-duty military participating in group and individual CPT, which is used in some residential Veterans Affairs programs, would be a strong way to move forward for PTSD treatments, Resick said.

Brack said the connections formed in CPT proved to him that he is not alone.

The big thing that youve learned is, in talking to someone else, you find people who have these sort of shared experiences, Brack said. In talking to those people, you realize they have them a lot as well and youre not some weird alien out in the wilderness, the only person thinking these things. Youre not unique in that sense. Theres plenty of other people who know exactly what youre going through.
Rejecting the request made by Bihar CM to provide flood relief assistance to the state to deal with the post-flood situation the Centre has directed Bihar government to first spend the state funds before seeking any kind of central assistance.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: The Narendra Modi administration and Bihar Government are at loggerheads, yet again. This time the bone of contention is the flood relief assistance which Bihar government has sought from the Centre to deal with aftermath of massive floods that hit the state this year.

The Centre rejecting the request made by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to provide flood relief assistance to the state to deal with the post-flood situation has directed the Bihar government to first spend the funds it has under State Disaster Fund before seeking any kind of central assistance.

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It may be noted that the Bihar government at present has Rs 1,859 crore in the State Disaster Fund and the Centre has directed it to spend this amount first as relief and rehabilitation for flood victims and compensation to farmers for crop losses. Making its intent clear, Union Minister for Home, Kiren Rijiju has also sought details from the state government on how funds available in the State Disaster Funds have been used for victims of flood.

BIHAR CM WRITES TO RAJNATH

It may be mentioned that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in first week of November had written a strongly worded letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh requesting for a special flood relief assistance of Rs 4,112 crore to the state to provide relief and rehabilitation to the flood affected victims.

In fact the Bihar Chief Minister was also miffed at the fact that despite him meeting PM Narendra Modi and assurance given by the Centre in August that a central team would be sent to Bihar soon to assess the flood losses did not turn up till early November.

Also read: More than 33 lakh people affected in Bihar floods, toll reaches 95

It is only after this strongly worded letter was shot to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that a central team had come to Bihar on 11-12 November to take stock and assess damage caused to the state because of floods.

DAMAGES IN EXCESS OF RS 4,000

In fact Bihar government in its own report submitted to the Centre pertaining to losses caused due to floods had made and assessment that the damage caused to the state was in excess of Rs 4,000 crore rupees. In fact in the letter, Nitish Kumar had question the intent of the Central government in providing any kind of financial assistance to Bihar to deal with the huge losses the state has suffered due to recent floods which has affected several districts.

Also read: Bihar floods: Situation worsens, Lalu Prasad seeks Modi's attention after Nitish Kumar meets PM

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"The approach of the Central government towards Bihar is biased, negative and insensitive. It is only after 9 letters were written to the Centre that a central team came for flood assessment in November. The state government was capable of providing relief and rehabilitation with its on state disaster fund", said Chandrasekhar, Minister for Disaster Management Department, Bihar government.

Also read: Bihar floods: 23 districts, 65 lakh people affected, says Tejaswi Yadav

--- ENDS ---
With 20 years of U.S. Army active duty and National Guard service, Corpus Christi native Dr. Fernando Garza Sr. completed his education after leaving the service in 1975. He earned a doctorate in counseling and was a professor at Texas Tech. He also taught as a graduate professor at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa. He later became a readjustment counselor in Midland, aiding veterans.

It took the Gholson resident some time to realize his own life might need some readjustment.

When Garza returned home, for a time he was a mess. I couldnt fill the void I was experiencing, he said. I avoided parades  any kind of exposure to society.

There were other symptoms. Garza had nightmares in which he saw the eyes of those killed. His senses were always in a heightened state, and once, when hearing blanks fired, the sound took him straight to Vietnam.

Maybe that sound is what kept me alive, he said.

Suffering long after the trauma

Garza wasnt crazy. He was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, a mental health condition that can occur after a traumatic event like war, assault, or disaster, as defined by the National Center for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. People who have been exposed to trauma or injured are more likely to develop PTSD.

Factors in a combat situation can add stress, including which duties veterans perform during combat, politics around the war, where it was fought, and the type of

enemy faced. Among Vietnam veterans, its estimated that 30 percent have experienced PTSD.

It took my life, Garza said. Im getting it back.

In his case, not only did he witness and participate in combat, but he was wounded and faced a hostile public outcry when he returned home.

If anyone tells you they didnt have troubles theyre lying, Garza said. Its a tough re-adjustment.

Garza said he finally began to open up and deal with PTSD after he completed his education and started counseling veterans. The anger he once carried around with him is now gone. Im over it for the most part, he added. He still has restless nights at time, but the nightmares have stopped.

His experience and recovery led him to work as a consultant for a 1996 film, The War at Home, starring Emilio Estevez, Kathy Bates and Martin Sheen. A story about a Vietnam veteran returning home and having trouble adjusting to civilian life, the plot mirrored Garzas situation  before his recovery. Working on the movie was enjoyable for him, and probably cathartic.

In the latter part of the 90s, Garza went to work in civil service as a counselor at the VA in Waco. Hes been there ever since, although medical issues led to his semi-retirement. He still spends a great deal of time helping other veterans like himself.

Helping others in same straits

Garza volunteers with the Heart of Texas Veterans One Stop Center in Waco (hotveteransonestop.org). The center offers a variety of services for veterans and their families in one convenient location. Services include access to the veterans service officers, benefit and claim assistance, veteran employment services, Peer2Peer support groups, family support groups, individual counseling, substance abuse screening, recreational activities, financial counseling and individual system advocacy.

Theres also a conference room, group meeting areas, a computer lab, a volunteer lounge and recreational facilities, including a state-of-the-art media room.

As a volunteer, Garza offers a weekly peer-to-peer PTSD support group and one-on-one counseling for

veterans and family members. The peer-to-peer groups assist active duty, reservists, National Guard, veterans and family members dealing with the symptoms of PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and similar situations.

Garzas recovery recently came full circle when he attended his grandson Gabriels graduation as a scout with the 5/16th of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Benning. Garza was saluted, acknowledging his service.

It felt so good, Garza said. Seeing others respect what I had become was amazing. It took a long time to accept where I had been and now I can welcome people with open arms.

Garza doesnt avoid social situations anymore, either. He was a participant in the recent Veterans Day parade in Waco. It was his third year to be involved.

Married to Colleen Hanley, Garza has eight children  four boys, four girls  and about 20 grandchildren.

Today, one of Garzas goals is to assist other veterans to ensure they dont have to suffer as long as he did.

I enjoy working with veterans, he said. I encourage them to break the cycle.

Voices of Valor, featuring stories about Central Texas veterans, publishes every Sunday in the Waco Trib. To suggest a story about a Central Texas veteran, email voicesofvalor@wacotrib.com. Voices of Valor is proudly sponsored by Johnson Roofing.
Psst! Hey! Waco ISD eighth-graders! Did you know that you can earn an associates degree, at no charge to you, before you graduate from high school?

Take a minute to absorb that statement. A college degree. No cost to you. Before you graduate from high school.

Granted, it may seem a little intimidating to start thinking about college classes when youre in eighth grade (or ninth, 10th or 11th grade), but there are plenty of people at Waco Independent School District who want to answer your questions and help you succeed. Why not check it out? Dual-credit courses, which allow students to earn both high school graduation and college credit simultaneously, could set you on a path where you can save a pile of college-tuition money and open up all kinds of opportunities.

If you were worried about how you might pay for a two-year college degree, you can do it while youre in high school at the districts expense. Waco ISD pays for your tuition and even books and fees. Yes, you have to plan ahead and work hard. But, yes, its very possible. If you were planning on earning a four-year degree (or beyond), then you can basically get the first two years for free. Who wouldnt want to do that?

What? What? you say. Why didnt I know about this? Well, its pretty new.

Up till June 2015, dual-credit options were much more limited: You had to be in 11th or 12th grade and you could only take a maximum of two classes per semester. But Texas House Bill 505, which was signed into law in 2015, removed restrictions on dual-credit courses and opened the door to allow school districts and colleges to use state funds to help pay for dual-credit classes.

Then, in November 2015, Waco ISD voters ratified an additional tax to support WISD. Part of that money is earmarked to help pay for dual-credit. Lucky for you, Waco ISD has taken full advantage of these changes to offer you a treasure trove of dual-credit opportunities. Your options include everything from taking a few classes here and there to completing an entire associates degree while still in high school.

Here are some possibilities:

n Accelerate Early Degree program: This is a big deal! If you enter this program in ninth grade, you can graduate with both a high school diploma and any of several associates degrees from McLennan Community College including: Allied Health, General Business, Information Systems and Applications, Criminal Justice, General Science (designed to transfer to a four-year degree) and Liberal Arts (again, designed to transfer to a four-year degree).

n MCC+1 Program: Through this program you can complete 18-23 dual-credit hours during high school. This allows you to complete an associates degree within one calendar year at MCC. You dont have to start this one till youre a junior.

The Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy /Advanced Health Care Academy will allow you to earn dual-credit toward a degree or technical certificate from MCC or Texas State Technical College.

n Just take a few classes: Not sure you want to plunge into a whole degree or certificate program while in high school? You dont have to. But you might want to take just one or two dual-credit classes.

Want to learn more? Check out online videos and handouts from the Waco ISDs Nov. 29 college-readiness session at wacoisd.org/gt. Or get in touch with Scott McClanahan at Waco ISD. Call 254-755-9473 or email scott.mcclanahan@wacoisd.org.

Psst! Hey! Waco community! Im sure I dont have to tell you that people who earn workforce certificates or college degrees almost always end up making more money than people with high school diplomas or less. The question is not whether our young people need that higher level of education, but how we can make sure they get it. Its a complicated question. Dual-credit can certainly be part of the answer, and Waco ISD is one of the leaders in Central Texas when it comes to making dual-credit available to students. Its an innovation we should all celebrate.

Some of our Waco ISD students face many barriers to obtaining a degree or certificate, but for some its a matter of knowing the options and someone encouraging them to take advantage of those options. Thanks to the vision of Assistant Superintendent Robin McDurham (inspired in turn by a conversation with MCC President Johnette McKown), the district is doing its part to make dual-credit options available to more students than ever. Lets do our part to make sure students in Waco know about the possibilities and have someone cheering them on and encouraging them to take advantage of all WISD has to offer!

Ashley Bean Thornton is a Baylor University administrator who also facilitates the Waco Foundational Employment Network, which is a part of Prosper Wacos battle against poverty. She also oversees Act Locally Waco. She likes to walk and doesnt mind at all if you honk and wave when you see her.
As the men gathered at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in May 1787, there were two things they knew beyond all else.

The first was that the Articles of Confederation were not the long-term answer for the successful experiment that was the United States of America. Over the past six years, it had been apparent that the Articles had so weakened the federal government as to make it incapable of governing a nation. Thats why they were meeting in Philadelphia in the first place. They had to fix the problem, and a stronger federal government was needed.

The other thing the men knew was that they didnt trust a strong federal government. The last thing they wanted was to make a government akin to that in England or France. They didnt want a strong head of government who could rule over them in a lordly or autocratic fashion.

As the men gathered, they knew what they had to do and they knew what they wanted to do. All they had to figure out was how to do it in such a way that a room full of strong-willed men could agree to it. And that was the rub.

The result, produced in September 1787, is what we now know as the United Stated Constitution, a singular document of how a people could govern themselves under the rule of law without sacrificing their individual rights and the integrity of the states. With this new document, the Constitutional Convention created an intricate system of checks and balances, ensuring that no one arm of government could overpower either of the other two.

During the first 100-plus years of the Constitution, it was pretty much accepted doctrine that Congress was first among equals of the three branches of government. With the exceptions of Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, most presidents worked closely with Congress and Congress dictated to a large degree the direction of the nation.

All that began to change as the nation changed. As we began to transform from a rural to urban nation, from agricultural to industrial, the thinking of the role of the president and Congress began to change. Considering the rise of the robber barons and industrial monopolies, a new idea began to percolate throughout the American heartland that something needed to change. The rise of Theodore Roosevelt ushered in a new age of the presidency and progressive thought.

Roosevelt saw the presidency as a dynamic force in the land. He understood the role of president was to be the voice of the people, previously a job assigned to Congress. But Congress was now under the thumb of the moneyed men and industries that determined what laws were to be passed and how they would be enforced. Roosevelt turned the old model on its head, using his bully pulpit to go around Congress directly to the people. The result was passage of trust-busting legislation and the beginnings of expansion of the executive branch that continued through the days of Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal programs and later Lyndon Johnson and creation of the Great Society.

With the Obama administration, we have seen the struggle between Congress and the president reach extreme levels. Faced with a Congress that refused to enact any legislation that might be helpful to the White House, President Obama turned to the executive order to get things done. He had some success and hes had some failures. The federal courts have allowed most of the orders to stand but has recently ruled two of the orders unconstitutional.

Now we await the incoming Trump administration. There are those who look forward to the time President Trump takes the reins of office, while there are those who are terrified of what a Trump presidency will bring to our nation. To those who spend sleepless nights worrying about Trump and the impending end of our nation as we know it, I offer a few words of encouragement and even reassurance.

First, even our strongest presidents still are limited in the power they can wield.

I hesitate to refer to Trump as the second coming of Hitler, but I believe looking at the rise of Hitler can give us a sense of peace when we think of the possible dangers of Trump. Adolf Hitler was the leader of a party in a parliamentarian system of government. The way a parliamentary system works is that the people vote for a party, and the party getting the most seats assumes leadership of the government. The partys head becomes head of state as prime minister. This is what happened with Hitler. When ones party has absolute control of the government, it is not difficult for that party to expand its powers. Hitlers party was able to pass legislation that outlawed certain other parties, then ultimately eliminated all other parties, creating a dictatorship for the Nazis.

With no other branch of government to check the Nazi rise, Germany became a dictatorship under the Fuhrer.

Our Constitution creates the necessary checks and balances that will prevent the rise of an American Hitler. Even with the Republican Party controlling all three branches of our government, we have a history and tradition that celebrates these checks and balances. In the case of Trump, there are a number of things that he will be able to get Congress to go along with. The idea of cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations has always appealed to the GOP. The curtailing of regulations on business is always popular with the Republicans. Restricting individual rights is also a popular thing with the GOP. Think abortion and same-sex marriage.

Yet a look at the recent dustup about flag-burning is a good example of how the checks and balances will limit any Trump grab for greater power. Recently, Trump tweeted about how a person who burns the American flag should be imprisoned and lose his or her citizenship. While most Americans do not agree with the idea of desecrating our flag, most of us also recognize that such an act is a form of speech that is protected by the First Amendment. The Republican leadership of Congress was quick to respond to Trumps tweet and dowse his plans. Shortly thereafter, Trump was also saying more reasonable things regarding flag-burning.

My point is to say that no one person can be elected to the presidency and readily assume dictatorial powers. There are those in Congress who will stand up to such a person and there are Supreme Court justices who are deeply committed to the Constitution and its principles. The checks and balances of our Constitution, created by those men of the Enlightenment in 1787, still stand as strong protection from an American dictator. The American people will never stand for such a power grab. The only danger we will have as a nation is if We the People stop believing in the rule of law as defined by our Constitution. I dont believe that time has come and I do not fear a Trump presidency. Neither should you.

A Baylor Law School graduate, Glynn Beaty has practiced bankruptcy law in the Greater Waco area more than a dozen years. He has been a Baptist minister since 1985. He is the pastor of Mosheim Baptist Church outside Valley Mills.
Tragedies involving law enforcement and private citizens are escalating racial strife, compelling us to unite to improve police and community relations. Conflict and violence imperil our society and, in this moment, we are being tested in new ways. How we respond to this crisis reflects on who we are, individually and as a nation.

The virtues and values that define the American spirit often blossom in times of sorrow, perhaps because adversity spurs us to embrace the possibilities that lie beyond our trials. Today, as we struggle to make sense of the senseless, we must not lose sight of the opportunity to grow from this crisis. In this moment of truth, Texas judges, as guardians of our justice system, are taking action to strengthen the relationship between communities and the courts.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Texas and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will welcome law-enforcement officials, public servants and community leaders for a day of discourse with the judiciary. The agenda includes important topics addressing community engagement, disproportionality and disparities and data integrity. The immediate objective of the Law, Justice and Communities Summit is to foster collaboration. The ultimate goal is to find solutions for enhancing the publics trust in our justice system.

A creditable justice system is fundamental to the promise of justice for all. But a recent survey from the National Center for State Courts reflects a strong public perception that some people do not receive fair treatment in our courts. A troubling survey statistic reveals that only 32 percent of black Americans believe state courts provide equal justice to all.

The upcoming summit provides a forum for sharing perspectives on the role unconscious bias plays in our courts. Though the topic is uncomfortable, confronting unconscious bias is essential to ensuring justice is administered evenly. Fairness in the judicial system is not just an ideal, its an imperative. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently admonished, Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

The Law, Justice and Communities Summit brings together state and local leaders, law enforcement and community representatives to listen and learn about building trust, respect and understanding within Texas communities and the judicial system. By creating a forum for connecting with others and cultivating an environment of respectful dialogue, the summit seeks to expand perspectives, find meaningful solutions and build stronger relationships.

Disparate views about the rising tensions between law enforcement and communities of color are shaped by the unique experiences of a diverse citizenry. My perspective is borne of my own uncommon life experiences as the child of impoverished immigrants, the wife of a police officer and a judge for more than 16 years.

In the many roles I have fulfilled, I have learned that vulnerability and powerlessness adversely impact families and communities. As the spouse of a 37-year veteran of the Houston Police Department, I have also witnessed the commitment and sacrifice of those who risk their lives to protect others, and I know all too well the anxiety law-enforcement families experience when their loved ones serve on the front lines.

My viewpoint derives from a life lived at these disparate angles, and my experiences have taught me that communication is the genesis of understanding and the bedfellow of change. Sharing our stories and experiences  and truly listening to one another  allows us to step out of our insular communities and into broader relationships.

While our life experiences necessarily inform perceptions of our justice system, they do not limit our potential to transform it. To move forward in these turbulent times, we must start by rejecting the idea that supporting law enforcement and supporting communities of color are mutually exclusive endeavors. We must bring fresh eyes and fresh ears to old problems, and we must approach the task with humility, openness and a shared resolve to make listening everyones chief objective.

Problems cannot be solved, Albert Einstein once said, with the same mindset that created them. In this pressing crisis, the Texas judiciary is hosting the Law, Justice and Communities Summit to leverage the formidable power of human connection to inspire a new day of understanding.

Eva Guzman has served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Texas since 2009. She is the first Latina to be elected to the high court and to statewide office in Texas.
Its been a constant refrain of Texas Democrats, wandering in the electoral wilderness for 20 years: When the Hispanic electorate finally arrives at the polls in the numbers they make up in the states population, everything will change. Its the dream of waking the sleeping giant of Texas politics and turning the state blue.

In our short film about Texas, part of the Postcards from the Great Divide series, former U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego remembers a big poster that said the 80s were the decade of the Hispanic, and then the 90s were the decade of the Hispanic, and then the 2000s. In an election year that many expected to see an anti-Trump surge of Latinos, the surge never came. In a South Texas district that is more than 70 percent Hispanic, Democrat Gallego lost his bid to recapture his seat. For now, the sleeping giant still sleeps.

Latinos will become the largest ethnic group in Texas by 2017, with more than 40 percent of the population, yet they make up less than 20 percent of the voters. The reasons given for this disconnect are familiar to political observers. The Latinos are disproportionately young, and young adults dont vote. In small towns and rural areas, there are social and sometimes economic pressures not to publicly participate. The challenge in Texas, though, is deeper than all that. If potential voters dont see the importance of voting, how it impacts their day-to-day lives, almost nothing can get them to register and vote.

Pasadena, just outside of Houston  once a white, working-class town  is now nearly 65 percent Latino. In our film, we profile a successful small-business owner who had emigrated from Monterrey, Mexico, and run unsuccessfully for a City Council seat in a redrawn district that would never have been approved under the old Voting Rights Act supervision. Undeterred, he worked tirelessly to motivate potential voters, but many didnt feel any connection to politics. Others said that nobody had ever come to their door and asked them to vote. For some, Texas voter ID laws created a fear of political participation.

Consider Nevada as an example of what could happen if, and when, the Latino electorate flexes its political muscle in Texas. In our Nevada film, its clear that the state GOP was well aware that they had to make inroads with Latino votes. Their problem was that the Culinary Workers Union, allies of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, was already organized and working on the ground. In an election result that was the reverse of what happened nationally, Democrats took back both houses of the state Legislature, captured two new congressional seats and held Reids Senate seat by electing the first Latina to the U.S. Senate. Democrats did it with a wave of Latino votes.

Unlike Texas, Nevadas smaller population is mostly in one city, Las Vegas. Union and party organizers can literally go door to door and make the kind of personal appeals that are so much harder to logistically organize in our huge state. Texas has no comparably allied organization, even in the large cities. Until Democrats can reach and motivate Latinos, by whatever means, things will progress slowly.

Political change is not always a linear progression. Pete Gallego more than doubled his vote from a previous 2014 loss, but his opponent, U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, increased his margin of victory. But in the Pasadena state house district, the Democrat who lost her seat by 152 votes two years ago won it back over the Hispanic Republican incumbent in more than a 60 percent landslide.

American politics is candidate-centric, and the best candidates have the ability to rebrand their party and to reshape and transform the electoral landscape. Without that knight on a white horse, though, if Democrats pin all their hopes on an expanded Latino vote without organizationally reaching them, itll be a long time before Democrats turn Texas purple, let alone blue.

Paul Stekler is chair of the Radio-Television-Film Department in the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the executive producer, along with Louis Alvarez and Andy Kolker, of the Postcards from the Great Divide series. Visit: www.politicalpostcards.org.
My prayer now is that people will sit back and pray for our new president. And go out and do something nice for someone else!

Beth Hassell

Election catharsis: 2 views

In response to Janet Smiths Nov. 11 letter, I voted for Donald Trump, and I am not a KKK member, an old person afraid of change, a woman-hater, a person who hates immigrants and wants them removed or so forth. I am a Christian, pro-life woman who has taught and loved many races, genders and ages of people. I have taught people to speak English and some of my proudest moments have been helping men and women become U.S. citizens.

My husband and I have spent time buying and serving breakfast to disenfranchised people, helped provide meals for the folks at Church Under the Bridge, presented Bibles at the homeless shelter and supported helping women in crisis pregnancies. I was not happy with the outcome of the election eight years ago because I disagreed with many of Mr. Obamas policies and governing ideologies, but I did not go on a tirade in the streets and smash cars and business windows and write scathing letters to the editor about all the people who voted for Obama. I sat back and prayed for him and said that I hoped he would succeed.

I did not vote for Donald Trump in the GOP primaries. I voted for Ben Carson and even sent a few dollars to his campaign. When Trump won the Republican nomination, I began to scrutinize both campaigns closely. I heard Hillary Clinton defend a womans right to murder her unborn even up to the time of birth  partial-birth abortion. I am deeply disturbed to hear so many women who have been out protesting since the election say they are worried for themselves and their daughters because Trump believes the government has the right to tell us what we can do with our bodies. If they are referring to Donald Trumps being pro-life, Im not sure what that has to do with their bodies. An unborn child is not their body. The fetus is another human being.

My prayer now is that people will sit back and pray for our new president. And go out and do something nice for someone else!

Beth Hassell, Waco

n n n

I wonder how many other people think there was any chicanery in the election?

The crowds were mesmerized by chants of build the wall, lock her up and promises to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, but apparently our president-elect has decided these issues werent really relevant at all. Got him elected, though. Oh, well.

He has chosen the most anti-Hillary generals for his team who also encouraged audiences to lock her up. Other considerations for his team include previously failed politicians both immoral and guilty of professionally unethical behavior. But who cares or even remembers?

It would be nice to have a Republican candidate elected president without any subterfuge surrounding the election. Remember the hanging chads the first time George W. Bush was elected? When he was re-elected, there were questions about voting in Ohio. However, he was elected both times despite these questionable events. And look at how the world has changed as a result of his presidential decisions bordering on dishonesty. (Weapons of mass destruction, anyone?).

Ive always thought honesty was one of the most important factors for us all, but too many times I feel as if I am in the minority. No more does the phrase Your word is your bond apply.

Others may think I am abdicating my responsibility to keep the faith or make a difference, but I realize I am an older lady with little power or influence in the world anymore. I am truly glad I wont be living in this world the way we are changing, especially with increasing acceptance of lies and disrespect.

Nancy Marquis, Waco

When we cross that bridge

Ive lived in Waco since 1951. Ive been an avid mountain biker for more than 20 years. Ive hiked and biked nearly every square inch of Cameron Park. Thats why the bridge article in the Oct. 17 Trib was of particular interest to me.

The creek bottom in question divides the park north and south. These sections are connected by the main river trail. Every year this creek bottom gets flooded, sometimes for months, by discharge from upstream lakes. The river trail becomes impassable and has to be closed. Trying to get around this creek is not only difficult but dangerous. You lose access to half the park. It can ruin ones outing.

Rusty Hansgens bridge was designed not just to cross the creek but to elevate the crossing during high water and to keep the trail open. Thats the whole point  to keep the main trail open.

Hundreds of people use the river trail daily. They hike. They bike. They walk their dogs and their kids. They need a creek crossing thats safe and passable.

The problem is not the creek. The problem is the high water from the river that floods the trail. Mr. Hansgens bridge addresses this issue. If the city doesnt think its appropriate, I hope they can find another way to provide a consistent, year-round crossing. Putting in a culvert that floods every year is not the answer.

Waco has been blessed with a world-class park with world-class trails. We hold world-class events. We need to keep the park connected. We need a river trail that works.

Scott Littrell, AKA Mad Dog, Waco

Oldtimers ignored!

I read where the city of Waco approved the building of new parks or improvement of existing parks. Why doesnt the city do something for the seniors of Sul Ross Senior Center?

This center is used every day. They have bingo Monday, Wednesday and Friday, they have dancing Tuesday and Thursday nights and they play bridge upstairs. They have dancing, ceramics, exercise and sewing classes as well as Bible study and Meals on Wheels.

Yet with all this activity going on, we have bad tables on the dance floor side, we have hard foldup chairs and filthy, filthy theater seats along the walls that are breaking down.

Seniors need a place where they can enjoy these activities, yet it appears nothing gets done to improve the seating, tables and floor. Why doesnt the city do something to improve this situation? It spent millions on the city skateboard park next door and it is not used as much as the Sul Ross Senior Center.

We are only asking a few thousand dollars to replace chairs and tables. After all, seniors age 50 and up enjoy things just as much as younger people do, plus we pay tax dollars to the city. We keep getting promises that something will be done, but these are only promises, not action.

Colleen Hawkins, Waco.

Delaying critical care

The federal Medicare agency recently began imposing rules requiring third-party contractors to approve physician-prescribed home health-care for beneficiaries before Medicare will pay for services. Home-health leaders, physicians and patients have expressed concern that this policy could result in dangerous delays and denials for clinically necessary care, particularly for patients recently discharged from the hospital who are particularly vulnerable.

Since the program was implemented, home-health agencies have reported problems navigating the so-called pre-claim review process, including care denials for patients following major joint replacements who need home health to safely transition from hospital to home.

While Medicare launched the program with hopes of reducing fraudulent claims, there is little evidence that pre-claim review will be effective in rooting out bad actors from the Medicare program. Instead, compliant and quality home-health agencies are subject to increased administrative requirements that mean more time with paperwork and less time with patients. More targeted solutions are needed to achieve Medicares goal, which I support.

Fortunately, bipartisan lawmakers in Congress have introduced the Pre-Claim Undermines Seniors Health (PUSH) Act of 2016. This much-needed legislation delays pre-claim review of home-health services for one year to allow Congress, Medicare and home-health stakeholders to work together to strengthen the program and improve education to ensure patient care is not delayed or unjustly denied.

I urge our states lawmakers in the U.S. House to cosponsor the PUSH Act to protect the timely delivery of care in the home setting that patients prefer and physicians trust.

Carolyn Lofton, Marlin

Fix it or lose it!

For capitalism to work, ethical politicians and business leaders are required. For democracy to work, an educated populace is required. We are in a race to the bottom on both counts.

Are we all aware that in the 1950s the CIA overthrew a popularly elected president in Iran and installed a vicious dictator because thats what American oil companies wanted? Does it surprise you that Iran doesnt care much for the good old USA? We invaded Iraq and destabilized the Mideast because the Bush administration thought they might mean us harm. I cant help mention the Vietnam War and all the times weve interfered in the affairs of South American countries.

In her letter Thursday, Bess Tucker is all bent out of shape because some protesters burned an American flag. Her letter ends with: God bless America, love it or leave it! I cant help replying: America, fix it or lose it.

Lee Van Wagner, Lorena
"My dear citizens, today I want to make a special request to all of you?"

On November 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on tele-vision that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes would no longer be legal tender "from midnight tonight", to "break the grip of corruption and black money", the nation staggered. About 86.6 per cent of cash in circulation instantly became worthless paper. With just 3 per cent of Indians paying income tax, the entire shadow economy of the nation, pegged at 20 per cent of India's $2.3 trillion or Rs 156 lakh crore GDP (Ambit Capital Research, 2016), went into overdrive.

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Even before people queued up in front of banks and ATMs, intelligence agencies detected an abrupt spike in hawala, or illegal foreign exchange transactions. And "How to convert black money into white?" started trending on Google, with most searches coming from the PM's own state Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. Meanwhile, there were serpentine queues at banks as the public lined up to deposit high-value currencies in their stock, or to exchange them for new. There was euphoria when banks, especially government-owned, became flush with funds that would improve their health and reduce lending rates.

However, the mood turned sombre with, first, the Reserve Bank of India announcing that Rs 8.44 lakh crore had been deposited in banks by November 27 and, now, revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia saying that the government expected the entire money in circulation in the form of demonetised notes to come back into the banking system. With over a month to go before the window to deposit high-value currencies with the banks closed, the prospects of large stashes of black money-Rs 4-5 lakh crore, as per original estimates-getting extinguished dimmed. And an even bigger fear emerged-thousands of crores of black money could have found its way back into the banking system, defeating the very point of demonetisation, as tricksters devised innovative ways to cheat the system. The prime minister had said his drive would give wealthy black money hoarders sleepless nights, but that didn't seem to be the case. In the eyes of the public, it was the commoner who was suffering while those with unaccounted-for money were sleeping peacefully, having laundered their illegitimate wealth.

THE DUMMIES GUIDE

"Go to a jeweller. Give him the amount you want to convert into white as cash," read the Google link that got the most hits post-demonetisation. Like a hands-on primer, it offered step-by-step guidance on how to hide one's dirty money through the supply chain of precious metals: "He will give you a cheque back for the same amount, less 4 per cent. He will give you a purchase bill to show you have sold silver utensils to him. On the amount of the cheque when you file your return, you will have to pay no capital gains tax as silver utensils are personal effects, and capital gains do not arise on sale of personal effects. There you go, the money is white now."

That has become the mantra as hidden transactions have suddenly exploded in the country's underbelly. Sensing that black money was flowing back into the system, the government warned of dire consequences for the guilty and announced changes to income tax norms to encourage more to use the legitimate route to declare their unaccounted-for money, by paying half of it as penalty. But this has come too late. Right from the word go, money-laundering networks have been spreading quickly and defiantly, in response to the new demand and the new market-to help turn unaccounted-for cash stashes into legal tender. The Indian tendency to improvise (jugaad) is up and running, turning black money white in myriad ways. Here are some new illicit networks, big and small, sophisticated and simple.

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CLEANSING DIRTY MONEY

The World Bank uses the word 'money laundering' to describe a diverse array of practices designed to hide illegal and unaccounted profits: from donations and charities to illegal arms sales, drug trafficking, prostitution, fraud, insider trading, theft or tax evasion. "This 'dirty' money goes through a series of transfers and deals until its illegal source gets hazy and it takes on a 'clean' appearance," says economist Amiya Bagchi, a specialist in the history of Indian banking and finance, who acted as the 'official historian' of the State Bank of India.

In India, this activity is regulated by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. There have been several amendments to the Act in the recent past, in tandem with the standards set by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body developing and promoting policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. But black money hoarders continue to flout the norms and dupe the authorities. Demonetisation was just another opportunity to put innovation to use. "Money laundering has a clear link with terrorist financing as well as with destructive operations, such as illegal sales of arms and ammunition," says Vikram Babbar, executive director, fraud investigation and dispute services, EY (formerly Ernst & Young).

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Among the most popular and established channels of laundering, says Somesh Arora, former commissioner of customs and excise, are 'smurfing' (structuring deposits in small amounts to escape the scrutiny of the banking system); under- or over-invoicing imports/exports; using front companies in cash-generating businesses like casinos, event management, bars and night clubs etc.; circular trading (import and export of the same goods) in precious stones such as diamonds, gold etc.; chit fund companies showing deposits-and then defaults-by fictitious individuals; and fictitious sales of art/antiques while retaining the original works.

Bagchi says the money laundering process usually follows three stages. First, the launderer introduces illegal profits into the financial system, by splitting up big sums of cash into smaller amounts and depositing those directly into bank accounts in various locations-as cash, cheques or money orders. "This stage is called placement," he explains. It's followed by 'layering', when the funds are channelled-through purchase, investments, wire or hawala-into scattered accounts. Distanced from their illegal source, the funds now re-enter the legitimate economy-a stage called 'integration'-through real estate, business ventures or high-value precious metals, gems, jewellery, cars or antiques.

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IN MODI'S BACKYARD

On November 14, when the PM visited his constituency Varanasi, it was business as usual there: temple bells tolled, yuva pandas shouted "Har har Mahadev", calls of "Ka ho, guru (what's up, boss)?" blended with "Naav pe jayenge (want a boat ride)?", mendicants sat in rows for free food, while cars with blinking beacons waited in no-parking zones for temple-hopping VIPs. In the city's 5,000 years of reverent irreverence, the PM's black money crusade appeared to be just a blip in time.

Photograph by Bandeep Singh

Or was it? A new buzz is taking shape in Modi's favourite backyard. "I wanted to offer Rs 101 to Ma Annapurna," says a young man, sipping tea on the ancient riverfront, "but the panditji took me aside and asked for Rs 501 in old notes." Others talked about "gupt daan", secret donations from undisclosed sources pouring in-apartments to sheets of silver, gold jewellery, and "old notes" in temple hundis. Some distance away, an ash-smeared, saffron-clad man blessed the PM profusely: "A lot of important people are now coming to Banaras." Good time to be 'holy'.

That's because the government has announced that no questions will be asked on hundi cash deposited by temples from the offerings of devotees in donation boxes. "If the money is from donation boxes, it will be exempt from taxation," says Adhia. With no limit on such anonymous deposits, temple donations have surged: at Tirupati, hundi deposits have come to Rs 30.36 crore within 10 days (after November 8), about Rs 8 crore more than the same period last year; Mumbai's Siddhivinayak has received twice the usual amount in anonymous donations; at Kerala's Sabarimala temple, donations have crossed Rs 13 crore, around Rs 2 crore more than normal; even in the little-known Sri Jalakandeswarar temple in Vellore, which normally receives donations of Rs 10,000, bundles of cash to the tune of Rs 44 lakh in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 appeared.

How will the hundi black money turn white? Reports reveal how temple managements show this as anonymous donation, exchange it for new currency notes, keep a commission for the service and return most of it to the owner. India today's special investigation team found rampant money laundering against hefty commissions at several temples in and around Delhi. At the Vaishno temple in Ghaziabad, the head priestess Radha Mata offered to exchange banned notes for new from banks, at half the original value and a 50 per cent commission for the bank official. Her shady network appeared to be transnational as she also suggested dollar payments through hawala channels anywhere at a premium price. Secret remittances of corrupt wealth by spiritual gurus like Radha Mata were just one side of the story. Sensational news of money hoarders coming out of the shadows is adding more sizzle to the black money hunt, but not without embarrassing politicians. For instance, Mahesh Shah, an Ahmedabad-based businessman who had gone missing in November after declaring black money worth Rs 13,860 crore in September, later told income tax officials that he was just a front for illegal money belonging to many people, including politicians, bureaucrats and builders. This claim is being investigated by tax officials.

GO FOR GOLD

What a reputed Hyderabad jeweller imagined to be a closed-door operation, done discreetly after downing the shutters of his store, has brought to light a seemingly seamless mechanism to convert Rs 100 crore in cash into gold. His modus operandi was to show that he had received advances of around Rs 2 lakh, in old high-denomination notes, from about 5,000 customers buying gold worth Rs 5 lakh each. To avoid easy detection, he had deposited the money in a staggered manner, between November 10 and 17. He may have got away with it had the income tax authorities not been tipped off. When they quizzed him, the jeweller tried to reason that the transactions were carried out in four to five hours on a single day. There were other giveaways, especially the CCTV footage revealing transactions after he had downed the shutters at 8 pm on November 8.

The jewellery and bullion routes are being used extensively to launder money, say officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Jewellers have shown these sales as after November 8; however, according to an IT department investigation, a majority of these sales happened in the three hours after Modi's announcement. As a jewellery store owner in Delhi, whose family has been in the business for five decades, explains: "We just don't show transactions above Rs 2 lakh in our books." The government has made it mandatory to disclose PAN on purchase of jewellery worth over Rs 2 lakh. "People found ways around it with bills being broken down into smaller amounts and made in names that buyers claimed were theirs, but with no way of checking whether they were true or not." The CBDT has conducted over 75 nationwide searches, with CCTV footage providing vital clues.

Immediately after the PM addressed the nation, many in Rajasthan rushed to jewellers with loads of cash. Famed jewellers on Tonk Road, M.I. Road and Johri Bazaar in Jaipur just asked them to leave the cash, without any receipt, and come back after three days to take the gold. "No receipt. We have seen your face," so said the manager of one shop. And many just believed their jeweller and returned to take their jewellery or bullion on a later date, after the jewellers adjusted the stock and sale in their books. But the rush for gold saw many fake gold bars being sold as real. The sellers, mostly touts linked to gangs that deal in fake gold in and around Bharatpur, flooded the market with these. Some of the bars were plated with a fine layer of gold to dodge the 'rub test' for purity. "Such bars were sold on the premise that whosoever was buying it was buying for hoarding and would cut it or sell it after years," says a senior Rajasthan police officer. So few would realise they have bought fake gold.

The second kind of bars were made to look like ancient gold, found buried as lost treasure with the stamp of some erstwhile royalty. In such bars, holes were made and filled with pure gold. This pure gold was then used for testing. Sellers would also cut a small piece of gold from a real gold bar to let a suspicious buyer test it, if he so insisted, and smartly hand over another fake bar later on. Depending upon the amount of gold used, such fake bars are available for Rs 15,000 each for touts and are sold to unsuspecting buyers for a few lakhs. The police seized 19 fake gold bars, weighing between 500 to 800 grams, and on December 1 arrested eight touts who were looking for buyers in Bharatpur.

THE POOR AS MONEY MULES

Up until exchange of old currency was being permitted after the demonetisation announcement, using poor people-factory workers, farm labourers-as money mules was possibly the most commonly employed means to launder black money. On December 3, income tax officials recovered Rs 1.2 crore, including Rs 72 lakh in new Rs 2,000 banknotes, from the factories and residential premises of Bajaj & Sons, a Ludhiana-based automobile parts manufacturer. The owner of the enterprise, S. Bajaj, reportedly told the taxmen that he had collected the money by sending out his workers to exchange demonetised currency at bank counters across the industrial city. Bajaj & Sons is said to employ nearly 2,000 workers at multiple manufacturing units in Ludhiana. Refusing to buy the story, tax officials are reportedly looking into a possible collusion with local bankers.

Industrial hubs like Ludhiana have, in fact, become big time 'black money laundries'. Besides sending out workers to exchange old banknotes for new ones, factory owners sitting on large volumes of unaccounted cash have simply used the money to pay workers' salaries. "Thousands of factory workers, including those who had been receiving salaries via cheque or direct credit into their bank accounts, have been disbursed early pay for November and December in demonetised 500 and 1,000 rupee notes," says an established Ludhiana-based chartered accountant. Those who profess to be in the know insist that an even bigger laundering operation is underway in connivance with private bankers. Many industrialists have admitted in private that managers of certain banks approached them with "offers to exchange demonetised banknotes for a commission" that ranged between 10 and 30 per cent. Much of this was managed by using scores of individual PAN and Aadhaar details already available with these banks, to swap large tranches of cash.

Across the country, there could have been several cases where new accounts were opened with banks using inappropriate KYC (know your customer) documents, say experts. Since demonetisation, banks have been going through a lot of stress, since they had to cater to large-scale deposits of demonetised currency and exchange of old notes for new. "This operational stress could have caused slip-ups and fake documents could have passed off as genuine," says EY's Babbar. Unless banks scrutinise all accounts opened after November 8 and report any suspect accounts, the money in such accounts would have turned legitimate.

BUSINESS AS USUAL

Bhopal has a large number of companies dealing in construction. Because of the nature of the business, they keep a large amount of money with them accounted as 'cash in hand'. This cash is meant to make payments to labour, vendors, etc., and this amount also gets augmented when at times people make payments to the company in cash. Say for example, an automobile dealer receives cash as part or whole payment for sale of a vehicle. Since November 8, there are reports that companies that have the potential to show large amounts in their accounts as 'cash in hand' are taking money from people in old currency notes and showing it in their books as 'cash in hand'. The last quarterly financial closing was done on September 30, so such companies have time till December 31 to 'manipulate' their accounts to accommodate such cash. The companies are aware that their move is being watched by tax authorities and hence will not show a massive jump in 'cash in hand' in accounts. They will keep them at manageable levels. All this is being done for a consideration, said to be 20-40 per cent of the amount to be converted.

Professional colleges offering engineering, medical and MBA courses have also emerged as sinks for black money. Colleges are said to have manipulated their books by making back-dated entries of having received fees in cash from students. The catch is that the student has not really paid the fee and is unaware that the fee has been credited to his or her name. This cash, shown as fees paid by students, has been deposited in banks. The amount that has been deposited against students' names could be the unaccounted-for cash of the college owner or the unaccounted-for cash of others that is being converted for a different sort of 'fee'. That many colleges are run/controlled by politicians ensured that they were used by their owners to park their cash in its accounts. Professional colleges charge a substantial amount as fees, making it that much easier for them to convert the old black money to new currency.

Businesses where old currency is allowed have also been used to convert old notes: petrol pumps, medical stores and LPG agencies. Suppose a petrol pump has a sale of Rs 5 lakh a day. Assuming that, say, 60 per cent of the sale is made in old currency, the remaining part is made in notes of Rs 100, 50, 20 and 10, besides the new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes as well. Petrol pumps have the option of replacing the amount collected from denominations that were not banned and new currency notes with old unaccounted currency notes. Again, all this can be done for a consideration.

CONSUMER IS KING

Illustration by Nilanjan Das

In Kolkata, people are going overboard to park their black money by paying huge advances as rent for flats in posh localities such as Alipore or Ballygunge. They have paid monthly rent of Rs 50,000 for a flat, which is usually let out for Rs 10,000. "People have paid rent for three years, thus turning Rs 18-20 lakh of black money white," says a chartered accountant, who had advised many. The sale of second-hand cars through brokers has gone up. Some have booked five to six second-hand cars, and for each they have paid advance as high as Rs 2 lakh. The brokers are arranging for backdated bills and claiming 10 per cent brokerage for each deal.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) mopped up Rs 73 crore over a period of 21 days since demonetisation. KMC has given an opportunity to defaulters to make payment of dues as well as advanced property tax in old currency notes of 500 and 1,000. It was an instant hit, even though KMC flouted the RBI guidelines and its own rules in accepting the banned notes. According to KMC rules, payment of any amount above Rs 25,000 has to be through a demand draft. However, such rules were ignored and the KMC also refrained from asking the property owners to submit their PAN. Such was the surge in tax deposits that the corporation had to buy currency counting machines to manage the huge tax inflow. "Demonetisation proved far more effective than the tax-waiver scheme, which gave relief on the interest on the outstanding tax," says a KMC officer. A Rs 20 crore rise in tax collection compared to the corresponding period last year has drawn the attention of the PMO, IT department and CAG.

UNBANKABLE BANKS

Nationalised as well as cooperative banks have become a source of turning black money into white. Four employees of the Bank of Maharashtra at Udgir in Maharashtra's Latur district were suspended on November 22 for exchanging old currency notes to the tune of Rs 15-20 lakh. The employees allegedly provided new currency notes to a trader without recording the transaction, against a commission of 30 per cent. They made entries in other customers' accounts benefitting the trader. The matter came to light when another bank employee alerted a customer in whose account the transaction was made. The customer raised the issue with the branch manager, who alerted the police.

Opaque and politically controlled, cooperative banks showed a steep jump in deposits, many of them with unverified KYC protocols. Money to the tune of Rs 49,000 is being deposited in zero balance accounts, which do not require submission of PAN, in cooperative banks across West Bengal, especially in the districts of East Midnapore, Malda, Murshidabad and South and North Dinajpur. Huge deposits have been witnessed since November 8. An obscure bank in Raiganj in North Dinajpur has recorded deposits totalling Rs 42 crore over 10 days after demonetisation. In Maharashtra, the Nashik District Central Cooperative Bank is under the scanner for exchanging Rs 47 crore without maintaining a record. The police suspect that bank officials may have laundered black money using reserved funds. A branch of the Thane District Central Cooperative Bank at Saralgaon accumulated deposits of Rs 4 crore in the first four days after demonetisation till the RBI banned the district banks from accepting old notes. According to tax officials, the problem of monitoring and investigating the cooperative banks stems from the fact that the sector is hand-in-glove with political parties. "It's not possible to track every transaction. We are also engaging the Enforcement Directorate, income tax department in the investigations because the culprits will have to face criminal action as well," says a tax official.

THE ELECTION GAME

In Dhule and Nandurbar districts of Maharashtra, on November 26, the eve of elections to five municipal councils, political workers were busy 'reaching out' to their voters. According to a resident of Shahada in Nandurbar district, each party offered Rs 2,000-2,500 per vote in old currency notes. "The candidates circulated their black money in this way. The voters, in turn, got a lump sum too. Of course, we could not use them for daily transactions, but deposited the money in the bank, which was legally allowed," says the resident whose family of 10 'earned' Rs 22,000-a big bonus for a family whose monthly income is Rs 20,000.

The elections to 147 municipal councils in the state became a major conduit carrying black money in the market. According to an insider, the candidates used old currency notes to influence the voters. "This way, they got rid of their unaccounted money and tried to secure several votes. The voters too got some money to deposit in the bank," says Umesh Choudhary, a wrestling trainer. In some cases, the candidates also paid voters' property and water taxes in old notes. No wonder, municipal bodies across Maharashtra collected Rs 1,200 crore as pending taxes in a week.

Experts are unable to put a figure to the money laundered since demonetisation, but say all of this reflects the loopholes in the system. They also call for more friendly taxes and duties (slashing stamp duty on real estate deals, for instance, can help reduce black money in the sector), a better tax framework that encourages more compliance, stubbing out corruption in government offices, more transparency in land deals and greater banking penetration in the rural areas as ways to discourage hoarding of black money. Satya Poddar, senior tax advisor with EY India, says people try to avoid high taxes by converting the taxable income into capital gains through tax-friendly jurisdictions, such as Singapore, Cyprus and Mauritius. "Capital gains is the source of all arbitrage opportunities-this is the main laundry machine," he says. Unless the tax burden becomes lighter, and effective checks and balances are put in place, black money generation will continue, and so will the attempt to turn it into white. That would put a question mark on the efficacy of Modi's black money purge through demonetisation.

With M.G. Arun, Asit Jolly, Kiran D. Tare, Rahul Noronha, Shweta Punj, Rohit Parihar and Amitabh Srivastava

--- ENDS ---
Political correctness is  it's now universally accepted in this country, or by anyone with a brain at least  out of control.

It's getting so you can't say anything to anyone, in case you "trigger" them or offend them. Even if what you're saying is true! That's the worst part. It's almost like there are some words and concepts that just drive some people into a blind fit of rage or offence, and render them completely incapable of engaging in a calm and rational discussion.

It's kind of sad, because the conversations that are most richly strewn with potential points of offence are actually usually the most important ones to have. But they're also by definition the most likely to get somebody or other's undies in a bunch, so as soon as they're raised, even when it's in a well-meaning way  SLAM! Suddenly you can't hear yourself for the shrieking.

What happened to freedom of speech in this country? In shutting down genuine inquiry and debate on this matter, or that one, just because its premise (or even, sometimes, merely a sliver of its premise) offends someone, don't we risk missing out, as a population, on the sorts of answers we might more reliably have obtained were we allowed freely to have the conversation?
He has never been among the shy and retiring elements of the Turnbull government backbench.

But Cory Bernardi has sounded an ominous warning to his Liberal Party colleagues for 2017 - he's going "all in" to bring about the type of political change that American voters were thirsting for when they put Donald Trump in the White House.

Fresh from a three-month stint on secondment to the United Nations in New York, the outspoken senator said it was not by design that he landed straight back at the centre of Australia's political debate this week, howling down talk of a revived emissions trading scheme.

He described the ETS debacle as the government "chasing policies that ingratiate it with the Greens" and just plain "economic suicide".
One nurse with 20 years' experience said it would take students longer to find jobs without a graduate program. They were educated to expect it and would find things "difficult". "I don't know why the schools of nursing at all the universities have taken on so many students, other than it's cash for them," she said. I don't think anyone goes into four years of studying nursing without the expectation that they're not going to be a fully registered nurse. Opposition health spokesman Roger Cook Yet enrolments have steadily risen in recent years.

The University of Notre Dame has had a 50 per cent increase since 2014 and Edith Cowan University a 25 per cent increase. Murdoch University increased enrolments this year as it extended the course to the South Street campus and the only exception was Curtin, which had a slight decrease in the past two years. Professor Phillip Della, Head of Nursing, Midwifery & ParaMedicine at Curtin, said the number of university nursing positions was determined by WA Health Department workforce modelling. ECU's acting Dean of Nursing Sara Bayes, said judging the number of students to take on each year was difficult. "Given the changing needs of employers in the public and private health care sector, it has always been challenging to forecast the demand for nurses in WA," associate Professor Bayes said.

Opposition health spokesman Roger Cook said it worried him that universities and the government were still promoting nursing as a "job for life". "The fact of the matter is that unless you actually do your graduate placement you're not going to get the full recognition for the hard work," he said. Mr Cook said in the past the government's defence had been to tell students they did not have to be a registered nurse and that they could go into other areas of nursing. "I don't think anyone goes into four years of studying nursing without the expectation that they're not going to be a fully registered nurse," he said. Mr Cook said there needed to be a cross-sector agreement about a workforce strategy and universities should take part.

"We can't have the universities attracting students to their courses if there's no realistic prospect," he said. A spokesperson for the Department of Health said it encouraged students to go through the usual process, which was a graduate program, but that there were alternative options. "Graduates are also encouraged to apply directly for nursing positions in a range of areas including primary care, aged care and in rural and remote areas," a spokesperson said. One nursing graduate said applying as a casual was their only option but they would not get the support they needed as graduates. "You don't get a proper orientation, help or support so you're just thrown in the deep end and it's really easy to make a mistake or not know what you're doing," she said.

The Australian Future Health Workforce Report in 2014 has predicted a shortfall of about 85,000 nurses by 2025 but she said this had not been dealt with appropriately. "There's going to be a nursing shortage because a lot of people are going to retire but they haven't thought about how they're going to get the younger nurses in to take those places and how they keep them," she said. The Department of Health said there was actually an oversupply of nursing staff in hospitals at the moment, with older nurses staying longer than expected. St John of God Health Care in Subiaco will not take on any nursing graduates at all next year. Rita Maguire, Group Director of Workforce, said this was mostly as the state's economy was resulting in low workforce turnover. "The number of nursing graduates in the health care industry is reflective of the economy of the state, nurses in employment are opting to stay in work and are filling the available shifts," she said.
A nation-first deal between Perth Airport and Qantas for non-stop flights to London will bring tourism dollars flooding into WA according to the state government.

The national carrier confirmed on Sunday it would operate non-stop flights from Perth to London using the 787-9 Dreamliner from March 2018.

The route of almost 14,500 kilometres will be the first regular passenger service to directly link Australia with Europe, the third-longest passenger flight in the world and the longest on Qantas.

"When Qantas created the Kangaroo Route to London in 1947, it took four days and nine stops. Now it will take just 17 hours from Perth non-stop," Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement.
Cairo: An explosion in a church adjoining Cairo's Coptic cathedral on Sunday killed at least 25 people  most of them women  and injured almost 50 others.

Security sources said that at least six children were among the dead inside the church of St Peter and St Paul, which is being used for services while St Mark's Cathedral - the seat of the Coptic Orthodox papacy - is undergoing renovations.

David Effat, 30, was making coffee when he rushed down upon hearing the blast.

"I live right across the street from the cathedral. This is my home church. I was baptised and grew up there," he told Fairfax Media. "I saw body parts and limbs all over. It was a complete demolition job. I couldn't believe all the blood splattered everywhere."
By PTI: Chennai, Dec 10 (PTI) CBI has conducted raids at 19 places including residential premises of four officials of the regional office of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation here and at various firms in connection with a cheating case.

Six cases were registered by CBIs Anti-corruption wing against these officials for misuse of their official position and Managing Directors of private companies, a CBI release said today.

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"The allegation is that EPFO Section Supervisor M Thangavel and EPFO Enforcement Officers D Vijay Kumar, R Vimala and Ramanan entered into criminal conspiracy with managing directors of various private firms to cheat EPFO by avoiding payment of contribution to provident fund by receiving illegal gratification," the release said.

"Searches were conducted at 19 places including the residential premises of the said persons and also at various firms including Efficient Management Consultants, Chennai, Kalanithi Constructions Pvt Ltd, Viswakarma Constructions, Sukra Constructions, Stepstone Promoters, Adyar Ananda Bhavan, Chennai, CP Aqua Culture India Pvt Ltd, MSS Management Consultants and SY Consultants," the release said.

During the course of searches, 535 documents and three hard disks were seized, it said, adding, further investigation was on. PTI VIJ BN DIP

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Yiwu, China: There are no elves, no snowpiles and it is thousands of kilometres from the North Pole: but what is really missing from the real-life Santa's Workshop - a grimy Chinese town that produces 60 per cent of the world's festive paraphernalia - is any interest in Christmas.

"I have absolutely no idea what this is," a migrant worker named Wang says, holding aloft a bauble emblazoned with a smiling red-nosed reindeer that she had just crafted at a factory in Yiwu.

The wholesale market in Yiwu, Zhejiang province. The city supplies cheap consumer goods to the chain stores and malls of the world.

In a couple of weeks, the decoration will be hung from a Christmas tree in a Western household among dozens of sparkling, glittering decorations that were probably produced in this city in eastern China.

Ms Wang works at Dongyang Nuoya Art & Crafts Co, one of 800 Yiwu businesses that produce decorations worth more than 1 billion yuan ($194 million) each year.
By PTI: Raipur, Dec 10 (PTI) The Chhattisgarh government has directed all hospitals across the state to ensure cashless payment facility.

"The state government has ordered the health department to ensure the facility of cashless payment at all medical colleges, government district hospitals, civil hospitals, Ayush hospitals and private hospital operational across the state," a public relations official of the government said here today.

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The directive in this regard has been issued by Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education department.

According to the circular, as per the new policy-related decision of the Centre, cashless mode of transaction will be opted through modern techniques like Point of Sale (POS) machine, card swipe machine, Rupay card, Paytm, debit as well as credit card, said the official.

The officials concerned have been instructed to ensure installation of such equipmentin cash counters of hospitals within a week so that patients and their relatives could take advantage of modern technique of payments, he said.

Eligible persons should be deputed at cash counter of hospitals so that patients and their relatives could be provided assistance regarding payment through cashless mode, he said quoting the circular.

Moreover, officials have been asked to submit a report in this connection by December 24, the official added. PTI TKP NRB BSA BAS

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China, believed to be the only country buying North Korean coal, would slash its imports by some $700 million compared with 2015 sales under the new sanctions, according to diplomats.

An employee walks between front-end loaders which are used to move coal imported from North Korea at Dandong port in the Chinese border city of Dandong. Photo: Reuters

By Reuters: China's Commerce Ministry said it will put a temporary ban on imports of North Korean coal as part of a UN Security Council resolution meant to deter Pyongyang from pursuing its nuclear weapons programme.

The 15-member Security Council late last month put new sanctions on North Korea aimed at cutting its annual export revenue by a quarter after it carried out its fifth and largest nuclear test so far in September.

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"To implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 2321, according to the People's Republic of China's Foreign Trade Law, imports of coal produced in North Korea temporarily will be stopped," the ministry said in a short statement on its website on Saturday.

China, believed to be the only country buying North Korean coal, would slash its imports by some $700 million compared with 2015 sales under the new sanctions, according to diplomats.

Despite its recent anger at Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests, Beijing remains North Korea's most important economic and diplomatic backer and it frequently comes under suspicion for not properly enforcing sanctions.

It said the ban will be in effect until the end of the year, though coal shipped before December 11 that was yet to arrive at Chinese customs would be exempted.

ONLY SOURCE OF HARD CURRENCY

Over the first 10 months of this year, China imported 18.6 million tonnes of coal from North Korea, up almost 13 per cent from a year ago.

Coal is one of North Korea's only source of hard currency and its largest single export item.

North Korea has said any sanctions against its missile or nuclear programmes are a violation of its sovereignty and right to self-defence.

It is technically still at war with democratic South Korea because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and the South's main ally, the United States.

Pyongyang has been under UN sanctions since 2006 over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests. It conducted its latest nuclear test on September 9.

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Post Holdings, Inc. operates as a consumer packaged goods holding company in the United States and internationally. It operates through five segments: Post Consumer Brands, Weetabix, Foodservice, Refrigerated Retail, and BellRing Brands. The Post Consumer Brands segment manufactures, markets, and sells branded and private label ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal and hot cereal products. It serves grocery stores, mass merchandise customers, supercenters, club stores, natural/specialty stores, and drug store customers, as well as sells its products in the military, ecommerce, and foodservice channels. The Weetabix segment primarily markets and distributes branded and private label RTE cereal, hot cereals and other cereal-based food products, breakfast drinks, and muesli. This segment sells its products to grocery stores, discounters, wholesalers, and convenience stores, as well as through ecommerce. The Foodservice segment produces and distributes egg and potato products in the foodservice and food ingredient channels. It serves foodservice distributors and national restaurant chains. The Refrigerated Retail segment produces and distributes side dishes, eggs and egg products, sausages, cheese, and other dairy and refrigerated products for grocery stores and mass merchandise customers. The BellRing Brands segment markets and distributes ready-to-drink (RTD) protein shakes, other RTD beverages, powders, nutrition bars, and supplements. It serves club stores, food, drug and mass customers, and online retailers, as well as specialty retailers, convenience stores, and distributors. Post Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Telecom Argentina S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services in Argentina and internationally. The company offers telephone services, including local, domestic, and international long-distance telephone services, as well as public telephone services; and other related supplementary services, such as call waiting, call forwarding, conference calls, caller ID, voice mail, itemized billing, and maintenance services. It also provides interconnection services, such as traffic and interconnection resource, dedicated Internet access, video signals transportation in standard and high definitions, audio and video streaming, dedicated links, backhaul links for mobile operators, data center hosting/housing services, dedicated links, layer 2 and layer 3 transport networks, video links, value-added services, and other services. In addition, the company offers mobile telecommunications services, including voice communications, high-speed mobile Internet content and applications download, online streaming, and other services; and sells mobile communication devices, such as handsets, Modems MiFi and wingles, and smart watches under the Personal brand. Further, it provides internet connectivity products, including virtual private network services, traditional Internet protocol links, and other products; data services; and programming and other cable television services. The company was formerly known as Cablevision S.A. and changed its name to Telecom Argentina S.A. in January 2018. Telecom Argentina S.A. was founded in 1979 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Robert Half International Inc. provides staffing and risk consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through three segments: Temporary and Consultant Staffing, Permanent Placement Staffing, and Risk Consulting and Internal Audit Services. It places temporary services for accounting, finance, and bookkeeping; temporary and full-time office and administrative personnel consisting of executive and administrative assistants, receptionists, and customer service representatives; full-time accounting, financial, tax, and accounting operations personnel; and information technology contract professionals and full-time employees in the areas of platform systems integration to end-user technical and desktop support, including specialists in application development, networking and cloud, systems integration and deployment, database design and administration, and security and business continuity. The company also offers temporary and full-time employees in attorney, paralegal, legal administrative, and legal secretarial positions; and senior-level project professionals in the accounting and finance fields for financial systems conversions, expansion into new markets, business process re-engineering, business systems performance improvement, and post-merger financial consolidation. It is involved in serving professionals in the areas of creative, design, marketing, advertising, and public relations; and placing various positions, such as creative directors, graphics designers, web designers, media buyers, front end developers, copywriters, digital marketing managers, marketing analytics specialists, brand managers, and public relations specialists. The company provides internal audit, technology consulting, risk and compliance consulting, and business performance services. It serves clients and employment candidates. Robert Half International Inc. was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.
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Lai Changxing could well be described as China's Vijay Mallya. For years, he topped the list of runaway tycoons pursued by the Chinese government. Lai, who presided over a business empire that spanned cars, cigarettes and real estate, was accused of illegal dealings worth billions of dollars. In 1999, he fled to Canada. Beijing created a special department of more than one thousand investigators just to pursue him and recover his assets. When China finally secured his extradition 12 years later, after assuring Canada he wouldn't be executed, the Communist Party broadcast his return to Chinese soil live on state television, showing the stout, bespectacled businessman being escorted off an Air Canada aircraft by two towering policemen.

Like India, China has been waging a war on black money, one that intensified after President Xi Jinping took over in 2012. Yet it has been a different battle-focusing on repatriating economic fugitives and recovering their assets rather than on illegal cash holdings at home. It was later expanded into a domestic campaign to target select high-profile officials.

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Two Black Money Battles

During the campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised that every citizen would receive Rs 15 lakh if India brought back all the black money transferred overseas, suggesting that at least Rs 2 lakh crore was stashed in foreign accounts. That astronomical figure still pales in comparison to what a 2011 internal report of China's central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), estimated as ill-gotten Chinese wealth overseas-800 billion yuan, or Rs 8 lakh crore. The scale of corruption in China, given its five-times-larger economy, almost certainly dwarfs that in India, even if the Party has been more successful in stamping out graft of the grassroots kind. It is far less common in China to pay cash bribes for licences or to secure services, corruption that the one-party state knows could be fatal to its legitimacy. Large-scale corruption at the top was seen as less of a threat, remaining in the shadows thanks to the opacity of China's one-party system and state censorship. With blurry lines separating politics and business in China, large-scale corruption proliferated.

A Different Beast

Contrasting China's graft battle with India's, Huang Jing, director of the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the Lee Kuan Yew School for Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, says a comparative advantage for China is a banking system that is less open, making it harder to transfer wealth overseas. Despite this, billions of dollars have still flown the coop. "[In India,] probably to avoid taxes, there is still a lot of cash; which is why Modi is looking to stop the cash flow," he suggests. Ill-gotten Chinese wealth is usually converted to assets or taken out of the country, says Bo Zhiyue, an expert on elite Chinese politics who heads the Contemporary China Research Centre at the Victoria University of Wellington. This has necessitated a different approach, prioritising the repatriation of economic fugitives, as well as targeting elite officials to serve as an example.

China has been far more aggressive than India in going after economic fugitives, pressuring foreign governments and entering into numerous repatriation agreements. The effort is being led by the Fugitive Repatriation and Asset Recovery Office of the secretive Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), a Party investigative agency. Under Xi, the CCDI launched what it calls 'Operation Foxhunt' to bring back officials and businessmen who fled overseas. It has so far repatriated more than 2,000 people, of whom around 350 are government officials.

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Liu Jianchao, a former diplomat who was deputed to head the CCDI's international department, says that this year, for the first time, the number of officials repatriated exceeded those fleeing the country. One reason is that Xi ordered all officials to surrender their passports, which would be released only for approved travel. The other is a concerted effort by the CCDI to lobby foreign governments. China has around 30 extradition treaties, and is in the process of negotiating more. In September, Chen Wenhua, an official accused of illegally laundering $3 million, became the first fugitive returned to China from France under a new treaty. Talks are on-going with Canada, which has signed an asset recovery agreement.

The CCDI revealed last year how it manages to bring back fugitives from countries where there are no legal agreements. First, it secretly dispatches agents to meet with the fugitives, who often have family in China, offering enticements or threats. It then liaises with foreign governments to build cases against the fugitives so they can be deported for violating either local laws or UN agreements. China has also lobbied Interpol, which in November appointed as its head the Chinese vice minister for public security, Meng Hongwei.

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How they launder money

Liu believes the government has plugged many of the holes through which the 'foxes' used to escape. The PBOC report listed six different ways money was being funnelled out of the country, including offshore banks, underground agents, fake trading contracts, and fraudulent overseas investments. In one case, a Chinese businessman claimed to be investing 27 billion yuan, or Rs 27,000 crore, in an infrastructure project in Australia. It turned out the recipient was a shell company founded by a relative who had taken Australian citizenship. Through Foxhunt, the government says it has has recovered billions of yuan in assets.

Tigers and Flies

Besides the overseas crackdown, Xi has also launched a sweeping campaign at home that focused on high-profile corruption. The approach has been described by some as "killing the chicken to scare the monkeys"-in other words, targeting elite officials or 'tigers' to serve as an example to the lower-level 'flies' in the party. "The crackdown is unprecedented, and Xi has done something nobody has been able to do since Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution," says Huang. "Thousands of corrupted cadres have been indicted. But it has also exposed that the ruling party is more corrupt than we thought, which means corruption is a deeply systemic problem." Astronomical sums have been involved. There are few reliable estimates on the scale of corruption, but it is often pegged at costing China between one and two per cent of its $11 trillion economy. A tally of the top 20 corruption cases since November 2012, when Xi took over, pegs the total amount of involved assets at 1.5 billion yuan, or Rs 1,500 crore, probably a conservative estimate (officials admit that publicised figures are often a fraction of the actual amounts).

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What makes the crackdown at home easier to enforce is that there is only one party to discipline, though it has more than 90 million members. The crackdown is being run by the Party-controlled CCDI-and not by a government agency-which has come out with new rules to rein in official extravagance. The biggest change under Xi has been the empowering of the CCDI's once-toothless investigators, who by many accounts now have carte blanche to dig into officials' finances. What helps the agency is that it is being headed by Xi's close associate Wang Qishan, who also sits on the all-powerful seven-member Politburo Standing Committee.

"There is no doubt that corruption after the crackdown is probably at a low level," says Bo. "Of course in terms of politics, Xi is using it to consolidate power. He has achieved that goal. But in terms of anti-corruption itself, there has been a consistent and clear message." The problem, he says, is that this is "a temporary fix". Xi is relying on the ongoing crackdown to strike fear, rather than carry out systemic reforms such as publicising officials' assets. Politics is also involved in deciding whether the CCDI proceeds with certain cases, often involving rivals. "In India, you rely too much on the system to fight the problem rather than go after individuals, but China is the other extreme," says Bo. "Without public supervision or transparency, there could be a selection bias." So if both countries "borrowed each other's strengths and addressed our weaknesses", Bo says, they might finally end up with the perfect system.

Impressed but sceptical: China's media on demonetisation

India's war on black money has triggered reflections in China of its own demonetisation experiment, which didn't end very well. In 1948, the Nationalist government, under the then-ruling Kuomintang (KMT), issued a new 'gold yuan certificate' to replace its fast depreciating currency as it struggled with a deficit. Men and women queued for days to trade in old notes for new. "It ended in disaster," wrote Hui Yang, an analyst of the Netease Research Institute, in a commentary on December 1. "It wiped out $200-400 million. Historically, every government that has done this has caused economic disorder, with varying results."

'Brave but dicey' is the gist of the Chinese reaction. That Modi's government was bold enough to attempt demonetisation surprised Chinese scholars, who thought it was impossible in India's "Western-style democractic system", which "allows little room for such bold moves".

Merits aside, it has hammered home to them that India has a strong government at the Centre, one that Chinese observers often remarked was absent during the past decade. The move was "risky" but at the same time "bold and decisive", said commentator Ai Jun on November 11, who added a cautionary note that it was "too early to tell" whether it would succeed or fail. Others reflected on the chaos that a similar move would likely inflict on China, all but ruling out the one-party state trying a similar experiment. "Modi's move is very bold. We cannot imagine what would happen in China if the country bans its 50- and 100-yuan notes (around Rs 500 and Rs 1,000)," said the Global Times, a widely-read tabloid published by the People's Daily, in a November 26 editorial. It said China would "draw lessons" from the move, which had "bet on both the execution ability of the government" and Indian society's "tolerance level", suggesting China's may be less so.

Reflecting on the similarities of China in 1948 and India in 2016, Hui Yang concluded that the basic lesson was the preparation needed for such large-scale reforms. "Demonetisation without any hint or preparation erodes the credibility of a government," he said. "Every administration with a history of demonetisation was finally replaced by another, or ended in failure."

Follow the writer on Twitter @ananthkrishnan

--- ENDS ---
By WestKyStar & LBL Staff Dec. 07, 2016 | 03:51 PM | GOLDEN POND, KY

Daily Planetarium Shows

Sunday-Saturday 10, 11 am, 12 pm, 1, 2, 3 and 4 pm



Daily Holiday Shows November 27-December 31

Admission: 13 years and older $5, 5 through 12 years $3, 4 and under free



Open All Year

Enjoy LBL's 360 degree, surround-sound, 40-foot domed theater with controlled temperature  cool in summer, warm in winter  and very comfortable high back seats.



Golden Pond Visitor Center Planetarium & Observatory

Call 270-924-2243 for more information.

Open daily through December 23

Open daily December 27-31

Re-opens January 2



Open all Year

Basic Camping Areas and Campgrounds, Biking and Hiking Trails, Elk & Bison Prairie and South Bison Range, Golden Pond Visitor Center & Planetarium Scenic Drives, Turkey Bay Off-Highway Vehicle Area Trails, Wranglers Campground and Trails Wildlife Watching

February

Saturday, February 4

Ft. Henry Anniversary Program & Walk

In partnership with Ft. Donelson National Battlefield

Meet at Homeplace 1850s Farm

Must Reserve

1-2:30 pm



Ft. Henry Program

3-4 pm

Walk $3/$5

Invited historian, Susan Ski Witzofsky, will explain Fort Henrys impact on the Civil War in the Homeplace theater. Later, gather at Fort Henry Trail Parking for a guided walk to relive the siege. Walk is weather permitting.



Eagle Viewing Van Tours

Saturday, February 4

9 am-12 pm

$10 per person

Meet at North Welcome Station 



1:30-5 pm

$10 per person

Meet at North Welcome Station Sunday, February 5  2-5pm | $10 per person | Meet at Nature Station



Tuesday, February 14

Valentines Day Lunch with the Eagles Kentucky Lake Cruise

11 am-2 pm

$65 per person

Meet at Kenlake State Resort Park Marina





Spring Opening! March 1, 2017

Energy Lake Campground, Hillman Ferry Campground, Homeplace 1850s Working Farm North and South Welcome Stations, Piney Campground, Woodlands Nature Station.



Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area has organized many winter events for December, January and February.Saturday, December 3, 10, & 17Evening Holiday Planetarium Shows5:30 pm & 7 pmPlanetariumAges 13 and up $5, Ages 5-12 $3, Age 4 and under freeSaturday, December 10Civil War Comes to the Homeplace10 am-3 pmHomeplace$5/$3Learn how the family farms, especially women, faced many challenges keeping the family fed, clothed, and farm operations going, without the help of the men folk. Ideal for home educatorsSaturday, December 17Audubon Christmas Bird Count6 am1:30 pm (optional extension until 4:30 pm)Meet at Nature Station Birders nationwide participate in this annual Audubon Society bird count and you can be part of it here. We are looking for birders of all experience levels to help. Registration requested. Call 270-924-2299 to sign up or for more information. Bring binoculars, field guides, and lunch. Dress for the weather.Kentucky Lake Eagle Viewing CruisesJanuary 14-16$65 per personMeet at Kenlake State Resort Park MarinaSaturday, January 14 8:30-11:30 amBrunch with the Eagles1-4 pmLunch with the EaglesSunday, January 15 11 am-2 pmLunch with the EaglesMonday, January 16 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) 11 am-2 pmLunch with the EaglesEagle Viewing Van ToursSaturday, January 7 1-4:30 pm$10 per personMeet at Golden Pond Visitor CenterSaturday, January 14 8:30 am-12 pm10 per personMeet at Golden Pond Visitor Center 1-4:30 pm$10 per personMeet at Golden Pond Visitor CenterSunday, January 15 3-5 pm$7 per personMeet at Golden Pond Visitor CenterSaturday, January 21 1:30-4:30 pm$10 per personMeet at Nature StationSunday, January 22 1:30-5 pm$10 per personMeet at Golden Pond Visitor CenterSunday, January 29 2-5 pm$10 per personMeet at Nature StationFamily-friendly tourReservations required for all tours. Call 270-924-2020
By Jim Waters, Bluegrass Institute Dec. 11, 2016 | 12:24 AM | LEXINGTON, KY

School-choice opponents in my Twitter domain are having 140-character conniption fits over President-elect Donald Trumps stellar decision to choose Michigan philanthropist Betsy DeVos as the nations next education secretary.

They claim their opposition is because DeVos doesnt have classroom teacher on her resume.

Yet whats really at the heart of the pushback from DeVos detractors is her stout support for charter schools, which are public schools that promise a higher level of student achievement in exchange for the freedom from many of burdensome regulations that often stymie innovation and hinder great teachers and administrators in traditional public schools.

These critics want Kentuckians to believe that any effort to give parents the option of sending their children to a high-performing public charter school is somehow a slap in the face to teachers or public education.

Yet the fact that Trump has been handed the presidency and his party the super majority-sized keys to the Kentucky House of Representatives indicates that voters saw through these arguments as being little more than emotional riffraff unworthy of standing in the way of making the commonwealth the 44th state to include charter schools in their public-education universe.

Opponents now have decided that if they cant keep a law from being passed, they will attempt to intimidate policymakers into passing a weak policy limiting the number of charter school creations and the opportunities for charters that do open to succeed.

Leftover appointees from the previous Beshear administration not only kept the Kentucky Board of Education from endorsing charter schools, but those lame duck board members also succeeded in getting the body to recommend that only local school boards receive authorization to create charters.

Legislators who back a policy restricting charter school applications to a single path through local school-district bureaucracies where staunch opposition to any type of parental choice often lurks will unwittingly support an approach that limits the number  and likely success  of future Kentucky charter schools.

Per the Center for Education Reform (CER):

Around 75 percent of Americas charter schools are in states offering more than one path to authorization for credible entities applying to open a charter, including universities and local governments.

States with multiple authorizers are also home to the highest quality charter schools, as evidenced by state test scores, numerous credible research studies and ongoing observation.

CER observes that states limiting authorization of charter schools to local school boards create hostile environments for charters because school boards often view charter schools as competition and reject applications not based on merit, but on politics.

Without more than one authorizer, applicants who want to open a charter school have no alternative or appeals process outside the same system that fails many of the students who would find a better education in a charter.

Flashes of the kind of hostility we could expect from Kentucky edu-crats toward charter schools have been on full display in communities that previously had inter-district student-transfer agreements, which allowed parents to choose the best public school for their children to attend  even if the school was in a neighboring district outside the one in which they reside.

For years, hundreds of parents in communities from Jackson in the mountains to Murray in the West  and Corbin and Bowling Green in between  took advantage of these agreements between school districts.

However, because state law requires such agreements be signed by the both districts school boards in order for state funding to follow students to a neighboring district, bureaucrats and local school boards in failing districts  who were losing students to higher-performing ones  quit signing these agreements, thus denying hundreds of Kentucky children a better education.

What are the chances these same bureaucrats would approve high-performing charter schools in their districts?

Probably about the same as they gave Trump of winning the presidency.





Jim Waters is president of the Bluegrass Institute; Kentuckys free-market think tank. Reach him at jwaters@freedomkentucky.com. Read previously published columns at www.bipps.org.
Coast Guards have been kept on standby to undertake rescue operations. All necessary rescue materials have been kept on standby at all Coast Guard stations along the coast across states.

By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: As many as 16 NDRF teams have been deployed to Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as cyclonic storm Vardah moves further and is expected to make a landfall in coastal districts of both the states.

"Vardah lay centred at about 440 km east of Chennai (at 0830 hrs today) and the system is expected to move westwards and cross Chennai by December 12 afternoon," S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said in Chennai. However, its intensity will get reduced considerably by the time it makes the landfall.

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Tamil Nadu government has issued an advisory to private institutions to declare holiday. And Coast Guards have been kept on standby to undertake rescue operations. All necessary rescue materials have been kept on standby at all Coast Guard stations along the coast across these states.

DG NDRF R K Pachnanda said, "Special teams in force have been deployed in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Personnel with specialised equipment are deployed in both states to deal with cyclone. We are also coordinating with IMD, INCOIS, disaster management and state authorities for the additional deployment. Meanwhile standby teams have been kept ready for both states."

NDRF teams have been positioned in Andhra Pradesh -- Nellore, Tada, Sullurupeta, Ongole, Chittore, Sullurupeta and in Tamil Nadu --Chennai, Tiruvallur, Mahabalipuram.

LIST OF CONTROL ROOMS IN NELLORE CIRCLE:

Division Ph No.

Circle office 9440817468

Nellore town 0861-2327660

Nellore rural 0861-2347272

Kavali 9490615338, 08626-243578

Gudur 08624-223783

Naidupeta 08623-248166

Atmakur 08627-220331

BRIEF TO PM MODI'S OFFICE

The MeT office in Delhi has briefed the PMO and the Cabinet Secretariat on the cyclonic storm.

KJ Ramesh, Director General of the IMD said, "I have personally spoken to chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, while the regional MeT offices are in constant touch with the Disaster Management Commissioners of these two states."

DAMAGE VARDAH CAN CAUSE

IMD said it may cause damage to thatched huts and power and communication lines.

The damage may also be caused to paddy crops, banana, papaya trees and orchards in Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu; Ongole and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, the IMD said in its advisory.

It also urged fishermen in Tamil Nadu, Puduchery and Andhra Pradesh coasts to keep away from the seas for the next 48 hours.

--- ENDS ---

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"People are with us. We only need to tell them that there are hardships on the way as a revolution takes place," said Naidu.

By Maneesh Pandey: The Narendra Modi government is planning a nation-wide information blitzkrieg to drive home the long-term benefits of the demonetisation move and to counter the growing negative perception, especially in rural areas, amid the cash crisis.

Realising that just speaking from the Capital will not work, BJP lawmakers have been instructed to reach out to people all across the country and clear confusion among the largely "under-informed rural India" to negate any feelings of anger kicked off by the Opposition's "politics over paisa movement."

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Speaking to Mail Today, union minister for urban development, and information and broadcasting, M Venkaiah Naidu, said that once the winter session of the Parliament gets over on December 16, party leaders, members and volunteers will go out in their respective constituencies to make the people informed about the benefits of demonetisation. "People are with us. We only need to tell them that there are hardships on the way as a revolution takes place," said Naidu.

"CASUAL LABOUR WORST HIT, SHOULD'VE BEEN INFORMED"

Elaborating on the need for the information sharing exercise, Naidu said that the government has received a lot of feedback that those involved in the agriculture sector and unorganised industries that employ casual labour have been worst hit by the note ban as they do most of their transactions by cash. Party insiders say that senior leaders now think that such people should have been informed of immediate remedial measures.READ | Demonetisation: People tired of monologues, face questions in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi to PM Modi

Instead, a lot of information remained limited to press meets and leaders in TV studios in the New Delhi circuit. The information drive attempts to correct this, they said.

"There is other side to the Opposition charge that marriage season was hard hit as we got reports that people in some marriages were happy with modest spending. Those really hit were from the casual labour sector, but they too devised internal payment modes," said Naidu HE said that cashless transaction is the next step his ministry is pursuing in urban local bodies to cut corruption and to ensure "ease of doing business.'' "Similar benefits coming directly from demonetisation for rural population need to be informed to them, hence the partymen will be out soon to be with the people," he added.

Also read | Paytm means Pay To Modi, says Rahul Gandhi as Opposition holds Black Day against demonetisation

"NOTE BAN IS ANTI-POOR, PRO-CORPORATE CLAIM RUBBISH"

Talking about the constant disruptions in both the houses of Parliament, which has stalled the passage of several key reforms, Naidu said that the Prime Minister has struck at the roots of those with vested interests, so tremors are natural.

"The Opposition is just trying to divert from the larger gains of the entire drive, which is strictly against corruption, ensures accountability and transparency. A revolution like this against a system that has penetrated our minds and lives for 70-odd years cannot deliver instant results," the union minister said. He also rubbished the charges against Prime Minister Modi made by the Opposition, particularly the Left, that the note ban was "anti-poor and pro-corporate". Naidu said: "Left has been left out and Left can never be right."

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Also read | PM Modi on demonetisation: Waste no time in queues, your bank is in your wallet

--- ENDS ---
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 09/12/2016 (2155 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If there was one group of people for whom 2016 didnt totally suck, it was Manitoba beer lovers.

Theres not been a year that has offered such monumental change on the provinces beer scene as this one.

Peg Beer Co. opened its doors in April, making it the first brewpub to open in the city since River City Brewing (at Osborne Street and Stradbrook Avenue) back in the 1990s. However, technical and regulatory setbacks kept Peg from initially offering their own beers  their brews didnt begin to flow until October. Theyve recently added an on-site growler bar to the mix.

The years beer buzz took off at the Flatlanders Beer Festival, where a wide cross-section of budding breweries  none of which were open to the public at the time  first poured their lagers and ales thanks to the co-operation of established local breweries Half Pints and Fort Garry (more on them later), who allowed the upstarts use their equipment to make inaugural batches for the event.

In July, Barn Hammer became the first of the new wave of local breweries to open its doors with its own brews. The capacity of the Wall Street brewerys taproom recently expanded to accommodate 50 people  20 more than the initial occupancy limit of the facility.

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Owner Dave Rudge fills a growler at the new tap room at Half Pints Brewing Co., which has a 50-person capacity.

Torque Brewing began peddling its beers earlier this fall, albeit with a focus on packaged product that hit Liquor Mart and beer-vendor shelves. Torque has four separate beers for sale, as well as a mixed 12-pack of cans.

Its King Edward Street taproom  also with a 50-person capacity  opened to the public just last week. There are at least five brews coming that will be taproom-only.

Little Brown Jugs focus is on the one beer its producing  the 1919 Belgian Pale, which is available at the taproom at 336 William Ave., in 750-millilitre, 948-ml and 1.89-litre formats, as well as on tap in various watering holes, eateries and growler-filling stations in the city. The facility (including a 30-person taproom) opened at the beginning of December.

The already-existing breweries, meanwhile, all underwent changes of one form or another as well. Farmery Estate Brewery opened their Neepawa-area brewery this summer, bringing all their brewing in-house and adding a new product, the Prairie Berry Ale. Half Pints launched their taproom at their Roseberry Street location on Dec. 3, bringing a completely revamped retail experience (complete with retro pinball machines, a beer library and more). And Fort Garry, formerly owned by Russell Brewery in B.C., was sold to a group of Prairie investors; they also added a growler-filling station at their location on Lowson Crescent.

BEN MACPHEE SIGURDSON / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Kevin Selch, Little Brown Jug brewery.

Then there was the opening of The Common, a craft beer and wine kiosk at The Forks Markets food hall. There was the expansion of growler bars in Liquor Marts and private beer vendors. (Tip: If you want to try some new local beer from the comfort of your own home, hit the beer vendor at the Quality Inn on Grant Avenue at Pembina  their 10-beer growler station is typically all local breweries.)

In a nutshell, nothing to do with Manitobas beer scene looks much like it did at this time last year.

By all accounts, 2017 is looking to be just as big a year for beer lovers, with more breweries set to open over the next 12 months. They include Brazen Hall (in the former Round Table location on Pembina Highway), One Great City (in Madison Square), Trans Canada (on Kenaston Boulevard near Fort Garry), Oxus (1180 Sanford St.), Nonsuch (at a location to be determined), Stone Angel (same), and potentially others.

Stay thirsty, my friends.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ]Customers Michael Ferris, and Alastair Gillestie at Torque Brewery at 330-830 King Edward St.

Want to check out multiple tasting rooms of existing breweries but dont want to worry about driving? Winnipeg Tasting Tours offers just that option via its Brews Cruise. Guests start the four-hour tour at The Common at The Forks with a flight of local beer before heading to Peg Beer Co., as well as a couple of other stops depending on availability.

Tickets are $80 plus taxes. Check out their website at winnipegtastingtours.ca for more.

uncorked@mts.net

Twitter: @bensigurdson
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/12/2016 (2153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HEADINGLEY  A new wellness centre has opened in Headingley with the goal of helping veterans, first responders and civilians access medical marijuana and different support systems.

Winnipegs Marijuana for Trauma branch is the 13th veteran-run centre to open across the county. The centre, located at 4820 Portage Ave., is not a dispensary. It connects veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic pain and other conditions to legally prescribed, medical-grade cannabis, physicians and emotional supports, things Jean-Guy Bourguignon, Marijuana for Traumas national director of operations, said are much-needed.

Imagine your sons and daughters, your brothers and sisters, your neighbours: young, bright, beautiful souls going off to serve for our country, but some of them, when they return, they are different, Bourguignon told a crowd of about 40 people. They rarely speak to you, nor to their own children. Their families break up while they live in their own darkness.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Photo of Francois Halle, the national medical-science liaison for MFT (right) and Riley McGee the national medical-science liaison for MFTA cannabinoid therapy support service focused on helping veterans with PTSD and chronic pain. They plan to open its Winnipeg, Manitoba location on at 4280 Portage Ave., Headingley.

Its a struggle Riley McGee, a former combat engineer and diver with the Canadian Forces and Marijuana for Traumas director of operations for Western Canada, knows well. He said he tried marijunana early in his life and has used medical cannabis for the past 10 years. He credits cannabis with saving his life.

When I got back from Afghanistan in 2006 and I was suffering from severe PTSD symptoms, instead of going to a doctor and getting a PTSD diagnosis and tons of pharmaceuticals, I went to my cannabis, he said, noting he retired from the Forces in 2007 and initially self-medicated with black-market marijuana to relieve his PTSD symptoms.

When I came back, I knew I was angry, stressed, irritable, had trouble sleeping, and I knew the cannabis would help me relax, help me move on (with) my day and help me sleep.

McGee said he later started using medical marijuana, which he said he felt safer taking because it was regulated and available when he needed it.

McGee said while cannabis cant sure PTSD, it can help manage a range of symptoms that would likely otherwise be treated with multiple pharmaceuticals. One of the focuses and slogans of Marijuana for Trauma , as emblazoned across T-shirts seen throughtout the centre, is plants not pills. He stressed the importance of educating patients, providing peer-support meetings and spousal support services to help decrease the stigmas that surround prescription marijuana.

We use our medical cannabis to feel normal  not to feel stoned, he said. Thats the thing A lot of our veterans have never used cannabis. They were actually quite against it throughout their careers. Now that theyve gone down the pharmaceutical road, and theyre frustrated and at their wits end, theyre really looking for alternatives.

Bourguignon said cannabinoid therapy can help people with PTSD manage their illness so they can leave the house and reintegrate with society, and McGee said its a healthier alternative to pills and alcohol abuse, which some people turn to in order to cope. This is especially true when combined with holistic treatments that include support groups and emotional therapy, as provided by Marijuana for Trauma, he said.

Were talking about people that are damaged, people that have high suicidal rates, Francois Halle, Marijuana for Traumas medical liasion, said. This is why its so important to check in, have that peer support. Cannabinoid therapy is just one aspect of wellness or their health.

Veterans Affairs covers the cost of up to 10 grams of medical marijuana each day for qualifying patients, but that allowance is set to decrease.

danielle.doiron@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @dmdoiron
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/12/2016 (2153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some like it free

Today, the Winnipeg Public Library is screening Love, Marilyn as part of its Top Docs series. The documentary is based on the writing of Marilyn Munroe, including her diaries, poems and letters. The free film will be playing in the Carol Shields Auditorium at the Millennium Library at 2 p.m.

Music and a movie

Find out how well aliens and instrumental ensembles go together when the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra plays the music score during a screening of Steven Spielbergs E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. There will be two shows today, one at 2 p.m., and another at 7 p.m. Tickets are between $20 and $105 dollars, depending on your seat.

Butter and shutters

The Winnipeg Film Group is hosting a bake sale and camera purge  including video cameras, lenses and cases  Wednesday. The sales are to raise funds for the production centre, which provides workshops and equipment, among other services, to local artists and filmmakers. Both sales will be taking place in the Artspace lobby from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Galactic

gallery

The Manitoba Museum has a real moon rock, collected during the Apollo 17 mission, coming to its Science Gallery. There will also be an accompanying exhibit, with a globe used to train Apollo astronauts and a Lego robotic rover. NASA Moon Rock: a Piece of Outer Space opens Thursday at 10 a.m. and will be at the museum into the summer. The Science Gallery is $11 for adults and $7.50 for kids ages three to 11.

Comedy

for a cause

On Thursday, the Black History Month Celebration Committee and the Congress of Black Women of Manitoba are hosting a combined comedy night fundraiser at Rumors Comedy Club. Local comedian Maronzio Vance will be featured at the 18-plus event. Tickets are $12 and must be bought in advance by contacting bhmwinnipeg@gmail.com or cobw1@mymts.net.

Simply

the best

The Winnipeg Premiere of Cannes Lions 2016 starts Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. The multi-day event, which runs until Dec. 28, will feature the winners of the 2016 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, also known as the worlds best commercials. Tickets are $15 or $13 for WAG members and can be bought in advance at wag.ca.

Holiday haul

The Winnipeg Etsy Street Team is having a last-minute shopping event before Christmas. The West Etsy Market will be at the St. James Civic Centre from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday. Its $2 to get in, and there will be more than 30 vendors selling a mix of stuff, from hand-crafted jewelry to home decor.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/12/2016 (2153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hillary Clintons decision to join Green party candidate Jill Steins recount efforts in key states may have been welcome news to Democrats, but it is unlikely to change the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. Nor will complaining about the unfairness of the Electoral College or begging Republican electors to vote for Clinton.

The best chance for Democrats to prevent Donald Trump from assuming the presidency is instead to do the unthinkable: throw their support behind another Republican such as Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP presidential nominee.

To become president, a candidate must get a bare majority of 270 votes when the Electoral College meets Dec. 19.

CLIFF OWEN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Recount efforts in battleground states are unlikely to result in Hillary Clinton winning the presidency.

As one of Americas founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, wrote, the Electoral College provides a backstop in the event voters select a dangerously unfit candidate.

The process of election, Hamilton wrote, affords a moral certainty that the office of president will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. Electors would use their judgment to prevent the tumult and disorder that would result from this mischief of presidential candidates exploiting talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity. One might call it the cooler-heads college.

Election day produced 306 electors pledged to Trump and 232 pledged to Clinton. A petition at Change.org asks Republican electors to vote for Clinton.

A group calling itself Hamilton Electors seeks to persuade at least 37 GOP electors to vote for a Republican other than Trump, leaving him with only 269 votes.

If no candidate secures 270 votes, the House of Representatives selects the next president from the top three vote-getters in the Electoral College.

Either strategy is a fools errand. Whatever reservations Republican electors may have about Trump, empty entreaties from Democrats are unlikely to sway them.

Even if 37 Republican electors voted for another Republican, the GOP-controlled House would likely select Trump anyway.

The only way Democrats stand any chance of persuading Republican electors to abandon Trump is with a dramatic gesture of true bipartisanship.

If all 232 Democratic electors pledge to reach across the aisle and vote for a Republican alternative to Trump, it would take just 38 GOP electors to make that person the next president of the U.S.

If Clinton announced she is releasing her electors and asked them to vote for a credible Republican alternative, she could plausibly deliver all 232 Democratic electors. She might even secure similar pledges from House Democrats in the event the election went to the House.

Finding 38 Republican electors might then be easier than Democrats think. In 2012, Romney won a larger share of the popular vote (47.2 per cent) than Mr. Trump did this year (46.2 per cent). There are 35 Republican electors from states where Romney got more votes than Trump (Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Utah, Wisconsin) and at least 120 others from states where Romney won a larger share of the vote. Thats more than half of Republican electors. Texas has 38 electors all by itself.

Naturally, most rank-and-file Democrats would consider the idea of backing a Republican for president abhorrent. Even so, the electoral college presents a most interesting test for Clinton and her party.

If Democrats believe Trump poses a unique threat to the republic and signal this is not OK by reaching across the aisle to marginalize and stop him, then win or lose, Democrats could legitimately claim they put partisanship aside for the good of the country.

If Democrats believe Trump poses a unique threat yet dont support another Republican in the Electoral College, it will indicate Democrats see Trump as no different from any other Republican. And if Democrats treat Trump as normal, they will be complicit in normalizing his behaviours.

The only people who will be responsible for a Trump presidency are those who voted for him  plus Clinton and her campaign, who helped to raise Trumps profile during the primaries. But if Democrats truly believe what they say about Trump, they should prefer another Republican who does not threaten to normalize what a Trump presidency would.

Michael F. Cannon is a resident scholar at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank based in Washington, D.C.

 Washington Post
Leadership, personal growth, career success.

For 75 years, those initiatives and more have guided Winonas FFA chapter, perennially recognized as one of the top chapters in the country, while creating an ever-growing community that supports, mentors and raises ethical, responsible youth  both on and off the farm.

Last Sunday, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Winona chapter, the concourse at Winona Senior High School had long tables filled with memorabilia  trophies, photos, documents, scrapbooks. More than 100 members, along with alumni, browsed through the memorabilia and exchanged memories that crossed multiple generations and too many interests to count.

The Winona FFA formed in 1941 and has been a staple in the Winona community ever since, teaching students about the expansive field of agriculture through programs, events, volunteer and fundraiser opportunities. Winona-area residents have discovered their passions and careers through FFA, met future spouses and formed lifelong friendships.

The chapter has grown and diversified over its long history. The organization used to only allow males in the group, but that changed in 1969 when women were allowed to join  today, the chapter has more women than men.

The Winona FFAs diversification goes well beyond demographics. Their role in the community has also expanded, to the degree that FFA for nearly 20 years has no longer stood for Future Farmers of America  city kids have long been just as welcome to explore the chapter's offerings.

The grassroots are in farming, said Winona chapter adviser Brian Sather, but now we do more with the community, too.

Joe Ramstad, a state sentinel for Minnesotas FFA chapter, spoke at Sunday's event and talked about how he ended up joining the FFA and the impact it had on his life, despite not coming from a farm family.

Alumni president Roger Aldinger followed, and he talked about the importance of the chapters role in its members' lives and the community.

Its about being a part of a team, forming bonds that last many years, and working together to improve the community, he said.

The Winona FFA is in a good place right now, and much of that is owed to Sather, who has furthered the growth and success of the chapter during his tenure.

We have a strong foundation, good students, strong alumni, and strong community support, he said. This is a wonderful program for youth to develop leadership skills.

Glen Groth, an alumnus of the Winona FFA and current Winona County Farm Bureau president, said his involvement in the organization opened his eyes to the agriculture field.

They set you up with good situations and opportunities, he said. It really helped develop me as a leader.

Moving forward, the Winona FFA chapter hopes to continue its role and growth in the community, encouraging students to get involved not just in the field of agriculture, but in other career and hobby opportunities, all while learning valuable skills such as leadership and collaboration.

The chapter has helped set up hundreds and hundreds of former students for future success, Sather said, and he wants the chapter to continue that legacy, of leadership, personal growth and career success.
There are nights when Nikolai Herrera, soon to be 3, does not get a traditional bedtime story.

Hannah Herrera, his mother, sometimes feels the weight of an approaching deadline and realizes she has no choice but to do two things at once.

I read my assignments to him, said Herrera, a junior at Winona State University and one of the schools unknown number of student parents  a group accustomed to waking up to babies instead of alarm clocks, and to spending Friday nights rocking their young ones right back to sleep.

Many of the student parents at Winona State work two or three jobs and take a full credit load when theyre not taking care of their children.

If nothing else, they say, being a student parent has taught them to hold a child while turning the page of a textbook, to always make the most efficient use of their time.

Winona States Student Parent Support Initiative tries to help student parents when it can, giving them baby clothes or cans of food or a place to nap between classes.

The initiative, started at the university in 2010 with money from the Minnesota Department of Health, also holds weekly group lunches where student parents talk with one another about their hopes and frustrations  and in some cases, savor the only warm meal theyll eat that day.

But it might not last.

The money Winona State was awarded to start the initiative will run out at the end of July 2017, perhaps signaling the end of something student parents say they would rather not live without.

A lot of student parents need emotional and social support, and we can help give it to them, said Debra Hammel, the initiatives assistance director. They share stories with each other, they baby-sit for each other, theyve gotten to be more like a family.

Im trying not to think about next year.

Hammels office is in Lourdes Hall on Winona States west campus, right beside a spare room where student parents go to pick up clothes for their children or food for their families, and to stretch out on a couch for a few blinks of sleep.

The centerpiece of the initiative might be its group lunches. Hammel pulls together three group lunches every week  one for student mothers, one for student fathers and one for all student parents and their children.

You have to find a balance, said Aaron Fair, a junior and the incoming president of the Student Parent Warriors, a campus group for students with children. Fair herself has a 2-year-old daughter named Sophia, whom she calls a little diva.

Its important for us to meet with other student parents so they dont feel afraid, she said. Its important for them to know they have a place to go.

Hammel arranges for experts in various aspects of child care to attend these lunches and to inform student parents about the resources available to them.

But more than anything else, student parents say, these lunches are a chance to break free and to make friends.

You need to have an outlet, said Alison Bettin, 37, who has a 5-year-old son named Henry. Bettin said she has been shy for most of her life, slow to open up to others.

But when I went to lunch for the first time, I couldnt believe I had been living that way, she said. I feel like I have friends now.

Katie Tibbs, who has three children  all under 5  said getting together with other student parents helped teach her how to manage her own life.

Being a student parent is our identity, and as a person, you kind of get lost in that, Tibbs said. Its nice to do something like this.

Student parents agree it would be a blow to lose the thing that binds them, if the initiative were to go away and not come back.

It might also be an academic blow to the university.

According to Hammel, Winona State retained 50 percent of its student parents in 2002, long before these students had an initiative or a club supporting them on campus.

In the past few years, she said, the retention rate for student parents has climbed to 97 percent and far above the rate for the campus as a whole.

That progress would likely be threatened if the initiative were to be rolled back.

But Hammel said she is holding out hope the money will come in, possibly in the form of grants that she could piece together to create a working budget.

In the meantime, she said, the framework is in place for student parents to help serve themselves.

This little community has become tight-knit, baby-sitting for one another and scheduling play dates so their children can become friends too.

The initiative holds a cookie-decorating party every December, but this year, Bettin decided to hold another such party at her house  a chance for student parents and their children to perhaps start their own traditions.

The people in your circle become your family, she said. I feel lucky to be a part of this.
The excited Delhi's comic lovers know that NSIC Grounds in south Delhi's Okhla is currently the place to visit. Here is why you should not miss attending this event.

By India Today Web Desk: Deemed as the "biggest pop culture event", the 6th Annual Alto Delhi Comic Con began on December 9 and ends today.

The excited Delhi's comic lovers know that NSIC Grounds in south Delhi's Okhla is currently the place to visit. With its sixth edition, Comic Con Delhi welcomed Nicolas Wild, Tom Richmond, Joe Harris and other eminent comic artists from across the world.

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Walt Disney World's official DJ, DJ Elliot, and actor and stand-up comedian Gaurav Gera too were a part of this festival. But the Cosplay costume contest remained one of the major attractions.

Also read: The sixth edition of Delhi Comic Con promises to be a pop culture explosion

Over 30,000 people attended the festival last year and dressed as their favourite comic characters, gaming characters and superheroes. This year the event is all set to be bigger and better. According to Jatin Varma, Comic Con India founder, "everything other than the venue is new at this year's edition".

"This is the biggest convention we have ever organised, with tons of new exhibitors, activities and exclusives," said Varma.

Here's why you should not miss attending this event:

Baahubali zone

The movie that won hearts of millions not only earned around Rs 50 million, the highest opening for any film dubbed into Hindi, but also made it to the festival this year.

Baahubali's stall will have an "experience zone" where through VR one can witness the fictional world of the movie.

In photos: 10 cosplays that won this year's edition of Comic Con Mumbai

Gaming zone

This gaming zone gives you the opportunity to win over Rs 19 lakh and experience gaming zones such as ESL India Premiership, AXN Experience Zone, Alto K10 Gaming and Art Zone and WWE zone.

Cosplay Costume Contest

Like last year, Cosplay costumes this year too are grabbing all the attention at the Delhi Comic Con 2016. This year too people in great costumes will be competing for various prizes under five categories- comic book or graphic novel, animated series or movie, Manga or Anime, sci-fi or fantasy, and gaming.

Also read: Cosplay costumes are grabbing all the attention at the Delhi Comic Con 2016

One winner will be chosen from each category, each day. In fact, on all the three days, one lucky winner out the chosen five will get a chance to win a ticket to the Beijing Comic Con.

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10 new book titles to be launched

The festival is not only a delight for gamers but for bibliophiles as well.

Over 10 new titles will be launched this weekend including The Legend of Azad, the story of an Indian samurai superhero, The Age of Immortals, a tale of Aghoris, and Shivaay featuring a Yeti from Bhutan, as reported by the Indian Express .

Also watch: Walt Disney DJ Elliot Hansen at 6th edition of Delhi Comic Con

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Light Up Winonas Lighting Ceremony on Tuesday was fantastic! A big kudos and thank you to the Winona Area Chamber of Commerces Young Professionals for such a family-friendly and festive event.

Light Up Winona is a community initiative to bring holiday spirit to our city. A small group (yes, me included!) has been working on this project for seven years, but this years lighting ceremony was especially exciting, because the Winona Area Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals coordinated activities and refreshments aimed at creating a family-friendly holiday atmosphere. The Young Professionals lineup included festive music, refreshments and photos with Santa Claus. Plus, The Playground provided a craft and game for children. My 2-year old daughter didnt want to leave.

The Light Up Winona display has been relatively small for many years, but we are hoping to grow the display significantly over the next five years (or earlier!). We need the communitys support to grow our lighting display from Lake Lodge to LeVee Park! We created a video that depicts our vision, which will cost $50,000. You can learn more at lightupwinona.com. Donations are tax deductible, so please consider giving, and look for this event again next December.

I am amazed at all the activities being offering in our community the first part of December for families! Please be sure to check out the events below.

Family-friendly activities this week

Dec. 11

25 p.m.: Photos with Santa as part of 10 Days of Giving, Santa House, 25038 County Road 9, Winona, $3/photo

6 p.m.: Winona Brass Band Christmas concert, Saint Cecilia Theatre on the Cotter Schools Campus, free-will offering

Dec. 13

9 a.m.noon: Open Preschool at East Recreation Center, free, activities provided for preschool-aged children, must be accompanied by adult

10:30-11:30 a.m.: Grace Place Morning Music Program, located downtown Winona, preschool-aged children, donation of $2/family

10:30-11 a.m.: Story time at the Winona Public Library, ages 2-5

10:30-noon: Toddler Tuesdays at Minnesota Marine Art Museum, $2/toddler, offers art projects, play and snacks

Dec. 15

9 a.m.noon: Open Preschool at East Recreation Center, free, activities provided for preschool aged children, must be accompanied by adult

45 p.m.: After School Club Activity (Legos) at the Winona Public Library, school-aged children, but 8 and younger must be accompanied by an adult

57 p.m.: Holiday Window Walk Family Fun Night in downtown Winona, free, for more information winonachamber.com

Dec. 17

10:3011:30 a.m.: Kids Cooking Class at Bluff Country Co-op, 12 years and under, free

12:30 p.m.: Art Venture at Minnesota Marine Art Museum, art project for ages 6+, call 507-474-6626 to reserve a space

12:30 p.m.: Beavers in Winter event at Whitewater State Park, call 507-932-3007 for details

5  8 p.m.: City of Winona Re-Kindling Event, free but register by Dec. 16 with the city of Winona, ages 3-12 years

68 p.m.: Moonlight Owl Prowl at Whitewater State Park, for all ages, call 507-932-3007 for details
Lindsey M. Burke:

DeVos will be breath

of fresh air

Teachers unions and the education establishment reacted with predictable scorn when President-elect Donald Trump last month named Betsy DeVos as his nominee for secretary of education.

But parents have one simple reason to be optimistic: DeVos has been a champion for educational choice across the country.

Her support for school choice goes beyond mere lip service. She has worked to advance viable options for students and families, including charter schools, vouchers, tuition tax credit scholarships and education savings accounts.

That support for education choice will be a welcome change of pace, particularly for poor children living in the nations capital.

For the past eight years, the Obama administration has tried, almost annually, to wipe out funding for the wildly successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, commonly called OSP.

The administration has done so despite the fact that a random evaluation conducted by the U.S. Department of Education revealed that use of an OSP scholarship increased graduation rates for participants by 21 percent.

Those findings would be notable in and of themselves  increasing graduation rates is a long-held education policy goal  but theyre particularly spectacular given that the voucher provided through the program awards, on a per-pupil basis, just a fraction of what is spent on the District of Columbias public schools.

Annual revenue per pupil in the public district tops $29,400. The Opportunity program, on the other hand, awards scholarships of up to $8,452 to children in kindergarten through eighth grade, while giving students in grades 9-12 up to $12,679.

Even at the upper end of the scholarship amount, the vouchers cost less than half the public districts per-pupil revenue and are spurring graduation rates that outpace the national average and far outpace the average in the district.

Although the federal government is limited in what it can do to advance education choice, supporting the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program and encouraging its expansion is one option.

Secretary-designate DeVos should also consider education savings accounts for military-connected children and should work to create education savings accounts for children attending Bureau of Indian Education schools, which have been identified as the worst-performing schools in the country.

That said, education choice will not be the only education policy issue facing the secretary and the incoming administration.

The federal college student loan albatross also must be tackled, and policies that have enabled the accumulation of $1.3 trillion in outstanding student loan debt  up from $240 billion since just 2003  will no doubt feature prominently in the pending reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

Long-term defaults stand at around $125 billion. Add to that the Government Accountability Offices recent finding that public sector loan forgiveness will cost taxpayers more than $100 billion, and theres no doubt left that reform is desperately needed.

In order to decrease loan burdens and place pressure on colleges to rein in college costs, the PLUS loan program should be eliminated in order to make way for more flexible private funding alternatives.

The incoming administration has a major opportunity to advance education choice as appropriate, move toward policies that can lower college costs and dramatically downsize the federal Department of Education.

Pursuing a package of reforms that begins the important work of making federal education funding limited, targeted, and  most importantly  student-centered and portable can help restore state and local control of education and will better serve students and taxpayers nationwide.

Barry W. Lynn:

DeVos has been hostile to public schools

In the United States, 90 percent of children attend public schools.

These young people and their families rely on this system, which is funded by tax dollars and is answerable to democratically elected school boards. In many communities, the public school system is the glue that holds a diverse population together.

We therefore expect the men and women who set federal education policy to support public education.

Yet President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Betsy DeVos to be secretary of education in his administration. Thats a problem. DeVos isnt just indifferent to public education; shes hostile to it.

DeVos simply has no credentials to do this important job. Our countrys education secretary should focus on promoting and improving public education. Instead, DeVos wants to dismantle it.

She has spent most of her adult life promoting private school vouchers. A lobbying group she heads, the American Federation for Children, seeks to transfer tax funds from public schools to private ones.

DeVos has poured money into campaigns to create voucher plans in states all over the country. She managed to get the question on the ballot in her home state of Michigan in 2000.

Michigan voters werent fooled, however. They rejected DeVos voucher scheme 68 percent to 32 percent.

Vouchers have been on the ballot in numerous states over the years. Voters have rejected them every time  and often by large margins.

The people are sending a clear message: Americans want an adequately funded, high-functioning public school system that welcomes all children, not a network of taxpayer-funded private schools, many of which are religious.

DeVos and Trump are tone-deaf to this message. They continue to promote voucher plans that Americans dont want.

Indeed, Trump has called for creating a nationwide school voucher program at a staggering price tag of $20 billion. His plan would divert money from existing federal programs to new choice block grants for states, which will, in part, fund private schools.

Americans should be wary. Private school vouchers are poor education policy.

Despite what DeVos and others claim about the virtues of the free market and competition, numerous studies have shown that voucher plans dont boost student performance.

Furthermore, private schools lack accountability to taxpayers and deprive students of rights provided to public school students. They also divert desperately needed resources away from public schools, which serve all children, to fund the education of a few, select voucher students. Fly-by-night schools of questionable quality have also been a problem.

Most private schools are religious, meaning that voucher plans inevitably end up subsidizing sectarian education with tax dollars. This is nothing more than a modern-day church tax, requiring Americans to support someone elses religion.

In addition, voucher plans often lack basic curriculum requirements, which means that religious schools can use taxpayer-funded vouchers to teach creationism rather than evolution.

Private schools that accept vouchers also dont provide the same fundamental civil rights protections that our public schools do, including those prohibiting discrimination based on gender and gender identity, national origin, and disability.

In many programs, voucher schools can refuse to admit students for belonging to the wrong religion or expel them for committing moral offenses, such as being gay or having parents who are gay.

These private institutions have every right to exist. But they should not be funded by tax money, as DeVos advocates. They should be funded by the church members who believe in their religious mission.

The U.S. Department of Educations job is to ensure that our nation has a strong public school system and that all our children have access to meaningful educational opportunities. Because DeVos doesnt support this goal, she is not qualified to be Americas secretary of education.
The board has planned two events to raise funds and more importantly to say thank you to their hometown supporters. On Saturday, Dec. 17 from noon until 2 p.m. at 128 W. James St. there will be a popcorn sale. Gourmet popcorn popped in coconut oil will be on sale at a cost of $1 a bag or $1.50 for two bags. Multiple bags will continue that pattern. The board realizes that there are many people who are not as able to come downtown now as they were when the Hasey Wagon was parked beside Sharrows. Beginning at 1 p.m. the groups two Santas helpers will make visits to shut-ins at their homes bringing bags of popcorn and holiday greetings. Two bags of popcorn and a visit will cost $3. For information on how to arrange for a visit, call Alice at 623-2753. Each of Santas helpers can make a maximum of eight visits the afternoon of Dec. 17, so early reservations are suggested.
A Wonewoc man faces charges of intent to use paraphernalia to prepare methamphetamine after being arrested on Nov. 9.

Robert M. Nachtigal, 34, was also arrested for possession of THC (second and subsequent offense), after an investigation by the Juneau County Sheriffs Office. Nachtigal, who was under probation through the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, had his probation placed on hold as the investigation unfolded.

On Nov. 9, Juneau County officers went to Nachtigals residence in the town of Summit. While knocking on his door, officers could hear a toilet flush inside the home before Nachtigal came to answer. Two other adults were present in the house.

Upon contact, a detective told Nachtigal he suspected him of making meth and could conduct a search of his home under the authority of Act 79. Nachtigal was cooperative with police, stating there was a bag of marijuana in his bedroom, along with a number of hypodermic needles in a garbage can.

As officers investigated, they also found multiple glass pipes that carried the smell of marijuana. Nachtigal admitted that all the paraphernalia belonged to him.

After conducting a criminal history check, the detective discovered Nachtigal had multiple drug related offenses. In 2002, a 20-year-old Nachtigal was found guilty of manufacturing meth in Missouri.

In 2011, he was convicted of possession of drug paraphernalia in Sauk County. Hes also allegedly been arrested for stealing anhydrous ammonium which is used to make meth.

Nachtigal is scheduled to have a pre-trial conference at the Juneau County district attorneys office on Dec. 15.
After Oakwood Village examined why some assisted living residents had fallen and hurt themselves, the Madison provider of elderly care took two surprising steps: It got rid of fall mats and fall alarms.

The mats, intended to soften a resident's landing in case of a fall, were found to be a trip hazard. Alarms that sounded when residents at risk for falls moved in bed meant they should stay still, but most people are conditioned to jump to action in response to alarms.

"The alarm could be startling and actually trigger a fall," said Michelle Godfrey, Oakwood's vice president of operational support.

Oakwood took the actions to reduce falls as part of its participation in the Wisconsin Coalition for Collaborative Excellence in Assisted Living. The coalition, formed in 2009 by the state, UW-Madison and Wisconsin's four assisted living associations, is designed to help facilities in good standing with the state improve their quality of care, while state inspectors focus more on troubled facilities.

Assisted living operators proposed the coalition amid debate over whether the federal government should regulate assisted living, as it does nursing homes, and whether state oversight in Wisconsin should be increased, said David Zimmerman, former director of UW-Madison's Center for Health Systems Research and Analysis.

"The skeptics, the cynics, say that was because (the operators) always wanted to do something to avoid regulation  probably true, to some extent," said Zimmerman, who was a key figure in establishing the coalition.

But Zimmerman said the effort makes sense because assisted living is mostly paid for out of pocket, not through government programs, so government budgets to oversee the care fall short.

"You can't ensure quality through just regulation; there's not enough money in the regulatory pot," he said. "In this environment, there's not going to be."

Jim Murphy, executive director of the Wisconsin Assisted Living Association, said that by requiring facilities to submit quarterly reports on measures such as staff retention and flu cases, the coalition helps separate good providers from bad providers.

"Some people won't make it and need to go out of business; they should," Murphy said. "But a lot of people just need someone to look over their shoulder and give that support."

Otis Woods, administrator for the state Department of Health Services' Division of Quality Assurance, said the state is enforcing regulations while also working with industry through the coalition to improve care.

The coalition "is an opportunity for providers to adopt standards in excess of the minimum licensing standards," Woods said.

As of mid-November, 436 assisted living facilities in Wisconsin were participating in the coalition, 11 percent of facilities in the state.

Since many large centers are involved, participants represent more than a quarter of assisted living beds.

The coalition received a $1 million grant last year from the Wisconsin Partnership Program, at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, to expand the project to more facilities.

The effort has also received national attention. The coalition won awards this year from the Association of Health Facility Survey Agencies and last year from the Harvard Innovations in American Government program.

Facilities take steps to improve care

At Capitol Lakes in Downtown Madison, assisted living residents surveyed through the coalition said they wanted to eat in a place other than their regular cafeteria once in a while, said Patrick Senzig, assisted living director.

Administrators responded by giving them credits to dine at a cafe or formal dining room in the complex.

"It's variety," Kelly Clifton, 89, a retired UW-Madison oncology professor living at Capitol Lakes, said last month while enjoying a Reuben sandwich at the cafe.

Katie Drea, resident care director at Sylvan Crossings at Westshire Village in Waunakee, said the coalition helped her facility reduce medication errors and come up with new ways of trying to retain workers, such as handing out gift cards for gas or movies to employees of the month.

Jill Jung, assisted living memory care coordinator at Lutheran Homes of Oconomowoc, said the program helped her identify several steps to prevent falls, such as asking staff to make sure residents' walkers are stored near their beds.

"Residents were parking their walkers too far away," Jung said. "When it was time to get up, it was not within reach for them."

Godfrey said the coalition helped Oakwood address medication errors in addition to falls.

One step was to use both brand names and generic names of drugs so resident assistants, who hand out most medications in assisted living, can better recognize which drugs they are handling.

"For a lot of these folks, this is their first job," Godfrey said. "Passing medications is a huge learning curve."
The leopard was tranquilised and preliminary examination of paws and canine was done in the field itself to check for any external injuries.

While many ecologists and wildlife enthusiasts had protested the move, forest officials said, they had to keep the safety of the animal and the surrounding village inhabitants in mind.

By Mail Today Bureau: The national Capital's first resident leopard, which had made Wazirabad's Yamuna Biodiversity Park (YBP) home, was finally captured on Saturday morning. It was temporarily kept at the National Zoological Park (NZP) on Mathura Road but is eventually to be released in Haryana's Kalesar National Park, where it strayed from, following the course of river Yamuna.

After complaints from fearful locals, the Delhi Government forest officials had placed not just one, but two big cages with live lambs as bait. And the feline fell for it after a hide-and-seek game which ran for almost 30 days. It was first reportedly sighted on November 21.

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While many ecologists and wildlife enthusiasts had protested the move, forest officials said, they had to keep the safety of the animal and the surrounding village inhabitants in mind.

The DDA park is nestled around Jagatpur floodwaters Bund with five-six villages around. These include Sangam Vihar, Baba Colony, etc. with a population of at least 5000.

READ | Leopard, cubs spotted in Gurgaon village within a fortnight

NO POLICY ON MAN-ANIMAL CONFLICT A RECIPE FOR DISASTER?

Recently, locals in Haryana's Sohna district had mercilessly beaten a leopard to death, scaring authorities about the presence of the big cat in the crowded heart of the city. Chief wildlife warden of Delhi, AK Shukla said, "The leopard finally ventured inside one of the cages about 8-8:30 this morning, and was caught. A huge crowd gathered to see it and help had to be sought of DCP North and local SHO to keep the mob under control from harming the leopard." It is a young sub-adult male of about 3 years, he further added.

Also read: Gurgaon villagers beat leopard to death: How the forest department failed to save the animal's life

"The leopard was tranquilised and preliminary examination of paws and canine was done in the field itself to check for any external injuries. Thereafter, he was shifted to NZP in an ambulance, and blood samples collected to check for any diseases," another officer said.

YBP scientists, however, were unhappy. CR Babu, Professor Emeritus at Delhi University's 'Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems,' who was also instrumental in setting up the park, said, "As there is a ready habitat in YBP, big cats will keep coming. How will they stop them? This action was arbitrary. There is still no policy in place." Scientist-in-charge, Faiyaz Khudsar, said, "This prevented an ecological climax succession which comes with the arrival of a top carnivore. However, it is the decision of the government."

Also Read: After two weeks of hide and seek, Yamuna Biodiversity Park scientists capture stray leopard on camera

--- ENDS ---
General Mills, Inc. manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates in five segments: North America Retail; Convenience Stores & Foodservice; Europe & Australia; Asia & Latin America; and Pet. It offers ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and salty snacks, ice cream, nutrition bars, wellness beverages, and savory and grain snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables. It also supplies branded and unbranded food products to the North American foodservice and commercial baking industries; and manufactures and markets pet food products, including dog and cat food. The company markets its products under the Annie's, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Blue Buffalo, Blue Basics, Blue Freedom, Bugles, Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, EPIC, Fiber One, Food Should Taste Good, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups, Gardetto's, Go-Gurt, Gold Medal, Golden Grahams, Haagen-Dazs, Helpers, Jus-Rol, Kitano, Kix, Larabar, Latina, Liberte, Lucky Charms, Muir Glen, Nature Valley, Oatmeal Crisp, Old El Paso, Oui, Pillsbury, Progresso, Raisin Nut Bran, Total, Totino's, Trix, Wanchai Ferry, Wheaties, Wilderness, Yoki, and Yoplait trademarks. It sells its products directly, as well as through broker and distribution arrangements to grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, e-commerce retailers, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants, convenience stores, and pet specialty stores, as well as drug, dollar, and discount chains. The company operates 466 leased and 392 franchise ice cream parlors. General Mills, Inc. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Carnival Corporation & plc is a leisure travel company operating a fleet of cruise ships, hotels, and resorts with international destinations. Brands under the Carnival Corporation umbrella include Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America, P&O Cruises, Seaborn, Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, and Cunard. The companys goal is to provide extraordinary vacations at an exceptional value. As of 2022, the company laid claim to nearly half of the global cruising market share with several new ships in the works.

Carnival Cruise Line was launched in 1972 with one second-hand ship and a tank of fuel. The first port of call was San Juan, Puerto Rico, but soon more were added. The original growth strategy included a festive atmosphere, features and amenities unlike any other cruise line at the time. Slow to start, the growth strategy shifted into overdrive in 1980 when Carnival shocked the world by building its own ship. The Tropicale became an iconic name in the cruising industry and sparked a wave of shipbuilding that is still underway.

The companys growth hit a new stride in 1987 following the IPO which floated 20% of the company on the open market. The proceeds from the IPO allowed the company to embark on a voyage of acquisition and now Carnival is the worlds largest travel and leisure business.

Today, Carnival Corporations 87 ships visit approximately 700 ports worldwide and employ more than 120,000 people while serving more than 13 million guests annually for a total of 85 million passenger cruise days per year. Net revenue, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, peaked out at over $6.5 billion annually.

Carnival Cruise Line is the companys largest brand serving guests on all coasts of North America. The brand's 22 ships make 1500 voyages per year with trips ranging from 2 days to 3 weeks and ports of call from the Caribbean to Alaska. The company's largest ship is named Panorama and can accommodate more than 4,000 passengers.

Carnivals 9 brands provide access to a wide range of cruising styles and destinations including the Caribbean, Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, England, and ports in Asia. The company is headquartered in Miami, Florida and has offices around the world. The company also has the distinction of being the only company included in both the S&P 500 and FTSE 250 indices.
Delhi Police raided the office of T&T law firm on Saturday and recovered cash over Rs 10 crore, out of which Rs 2.5 crore were in new currency.

By India Today Web Desk: Delhi Police raided the office of a law firm in south Delhi's Greater Kailash-1 and recovered cash over Rs 10 crore.

Out of those 10 crores, Rs 2.5 crore was in new currency.

According to the police, a team of crime branch raided the office of T&T law firm around 10:30pm on Saturday and found the cash safely stored in cupboards and suitcases.

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Also read: Karnataka: Rs 5.7 crore in new currency seized from hawala dealer's secret bathroom chamber

"Rs 10 crore was recovered. Out of which, Rs 2.5 crore was in new currency notes and the rest in old notes. The I-T department has been informed," said a senior police officer.

Rohit Tandon

The rooms of the office were locked and a caretaker was present when the raid took place. Police has said that more such raids will be conducted in this connection.

Also read: Chaiwala's account gets credited with Rs 4.8 crore, income tax department probe on

A similar incident took place in Karnataka when Income Tax officers raided a hawala operator's house and found around 28 kg of bullion, 4 kg of gold and jewellery, 5.7 crore of new currency in Rs 2,000 notes, and Rs 90 lakhs in Rs 100 and Rs 20 notes, stashed in a secret vault inside the bathroom.

Also watch: Black money hoarders amass crores in new currency as public still left reeling

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The Buckle, Inc. operates as a retailer of casual apparel, footwear, and accessories for young men and women in the United States. It markets a selection of brand name casual apparel, including denims, other casual bottoms, tops, sportswear, outerwear, accessories, and footwear, as well as private label merchandise primarily comprising BKE, Buckle Black, Salvage, Red by BKE, Daytrip, Gimmicks, Gilded Intent, FITZ + EDDI, Willow & Root, Outpost Makers, Departwest, Reclaim, BKE Vintage, Nova Industries, J.B. Holt, and Veece. The company also provides services, such as hemming, gift-packaging, layaways, guest loyalty program, the Buckle private label credit card, and personalized stylist services, as well as special order system that allows stores to obtain requested merchandise from other company stores or its online order fulfillment center. As of March 11, 2022, it operated 440 retail stores in 42 states under the Buckle and The Buckle names. The Buckle, Inc. also sells its products through its website, buckle.com. The company was formerly known as Mills Clothing, Inc. and changed its name to The Buckle, Inc. in April 1991. The Buckle, Inc. was incorporated in 1948 and is headquartered in Kearney, Nebraska.
Global Partners LP engages in the purchasing, selling, gathering, blending, storing, and logistics of transporting gasoline and gasoline blendstocks, distillates, residual oil, renewable fuels, crude oil, and propane to wholesalers, retailers, and commercial customers in the New England states, Mid-Atlantic region, and New York. The company is also involved in the transportation of petroleum products and renewable fuels through rail from the mid-continent region of the United States and Canada. Its Wholesale segment sells home heating oil, branded and unbranded gasoline and gasoline blendstocks, diesel, kerosene, residual oil, and propane to home heating oil retailers and wholesale distributors. It also aggregates crude oil through truck or pipeline in the mid-continent region of the United States and Canada, as well as transports it through rail and ships it through barge to refiners. The company's Gasoline Distribution and Station Operations segment sells branded and unbranded gasoline to gasoline station operators and sub-jobbers; operates gasoline stations and convenience stores; and provides car wash, lottery, and ATM services, as well as leases gasoline stations. Its Commercial segment sells and delivers unbranded gasoline, home heating oil, diesel, kerosene, residual oil, and bunker fuel to customers in the public sector, as well as to commercial and industrial end-users; and sells custom blended fuels. As of December 31, 2021, the company had a portfolio of 1,595 owned, leased, and supplied gasoline stations, which included 295 directly operated convenience stores; and owned, leased, or maintained storage facilities at 26 bulk terminals with a collective storage capacity of 11.9 million barrels. Global GP LLC serves as the general partner of the company. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.
The following companies are subsidiares of InterContinental Hotels Group: 2250 Blake Street Hotel LLC, 24th Street Operator Sub LLC, 36th Street IHG Sub LLC, 426 Main Ave LLC, 46 Nevins Street Associates LLC, Allegro Management LLC, Alpha Kimball Hotel LLC, American Commonwealth Assurance Co. Ltd., Asia Pacific Holdings Limited, BHMC Canada Inc., BHR Holdings B.V., BHR Luxembourg SARL, BHR Pacific Holdings Inc., BHTC Canada Inc., BOC Barclay Sub LLC, Barclay Operating Corp., Bristol Oakbrook Tenant Company, Cafe Biarritz, Cambridge Lodging LLC, Capital Lodging LLC, Compania Inter-Continental De Hoteles El Salvador SA, Crowne Plaza Amsterdam (Management) B.V., Crowne Plaza LLC, Cumberland Akers Hotel LLC, Dunwoody Operations Inc., EVEN Real Estate Holding LLC, Edinburgh IC Limited, General Innkeeping Acceptance Corporation, Guangzhou SC Hotels Services Ltd., H.I. (Ireland) Limited, H.I. Soaltee Management Company Ltd, HC International Holdings Inc., HH France Holdings SAS, HH Hotels (EMEA) B.V., HH Hotels (Romania) SRL, HI Sugarloaf LLC, HIM (Aruba) NV, Hale International Ltd., Hoft Properties LLC, Holiday Hospitality Franchising LLC, Holiday Inn Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Holiday Inns (China) Ltd, Holiday Inns (Chongqing) Inc., Holiday Inns (Courtalin) Holdings SAS, Holiday Inns (Courtalin) SAS, Holiday Inns (England) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Germany) LLC, Holiday Inns (Guangzhou) Inc., Holiday Inns (Jamaica) Inc., Holiday Inns (Malaysia) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Middle East) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Philippines) Inc., Holiday Inns (Saudi Arabia) Inc., Holiday Inns (South East Asia) Inc., Holiday Inns (Thailand) Ltd., Holiday Inns (UK) Inc., Holiday Inns Crowne Plaza (Hong Kong) Inc., Holiday Inns Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Holiday Inns Inc., Holiday Inns Investment (Nepal) Ltd., Holiday Inns of America (UK) Ltd., Holiday Inns of Belgium N.V., Holiday Pacific Equity Corporation, Holiday Pacific LLC, Holiday Pacific Partners LP, Hotel Inter-Continental London Limited, Hotel InterContinental London (Holdings) Limited, Hoteles Y Turismo HIH SRL, IC Hotelbetriebsfuhrungs GmbH, IC Hotels Management (Portugal) Unipessoal Lda, IC International Hotels Limited Liability Company, IHC (Thailand) Limited, IHC Buckhead LLC, IHC Edinburgh (Holdings), IHC Hopkins (Holdings) Corp., IHC Hotel Limited, IHC Inter-Continental (Holdings) Corp., IHC London (Holdings), IHC M-H (Holdings) Corp., IHC May Fair (Holdings) Limited, IHC May Fair Hotel Limited, IHC Overseas (U.K.) Limited, IHC UK (Holdings) Limited, IHC United States (Holdings) Corp., IHC Willard (Holdings) Corp., IHG (Australasia) Limited, IHG (Marseille) SAS, IHG (Thailand) Limited, IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan LLC, IHG ANA Hotels Holdings Co. Ltd., IHG Bangkok Ltd, IHG Brasil Administracao de Hoteis e Servicos Ltda, IHG Commission Services SRL, IHG Community Development LLC, IHG Cyprus Limited, IHG ECS (Barbados) SRL, IHG Franchising Brasil Ltda, IHG Franchising DR Corporation, IHG Franchising LLC, IHG Hotels (New Zealand) Limited, IHG Hotels Limited, IHG Hotels Management (Australia) Pty Limited, IHG Hotels Nigeria Limited, IHG Hotels South Africa (Pty) Ltd, IHG International Partnership, IHG Istanbul Otel Yonetim Limited Sirketi, IHG Japan (Management) LLC, IHG Japan (Osaka) LLC, IHG Management (Maryland) LLC, IHG Management (Netherlands) B.V., IHG Management MD Barclay Sub LLC, IHG Management SL d.o.o, IHG Management d.o.o. Beograd, IHG Orchard Street Member LLC, IHG PS Nominees Limited, IHG Systems Pty Ltd, IHG Szalloda Budapest Szolgaltato Kft., IHG de Argentina SA, IND East Village SD Holdings LLC, Inter-Continental D.C. Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Investment Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Partner Corp., Inter-Continental Hospitality Corporation, Inter-Continental Hoteleira Limitada, Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Owning Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation, Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation de Venezuela C.A., Inter-Continental Hotels of San Francisco Inc., Inter-Continental IOHC (Mauritius) Limited, Inter-Continental Management (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental (Branston) 1 Limited, InterContinental (PB) 1, InterContinental (PB) 2, InterContinental (PB) 3 Limited, InterContinental Berlin Service Company GmbH, InterContinental Brasil Administracao de Hoteis Ltda, InterContinental Gestion Hotelera S.L., InterContinental Hotel Berlin GmbH, InterContinental Hotel Dusseldorf GmbH (Germany), InterContinental Hotels (Puerto Rico) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Canada) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Espana) SA, InterContinental Hotels Group (Greater China) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (India) Pvt. Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Japan) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (New Zealand) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Shanghai) Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Customer Services Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Healthcare Trustee Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group Operating Corp., InterContinental Hotels Group Resources Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group Services Company, InterContinental Hotels Group do Brasil Limitada, InterContinental Hotels Italia S.r.L., InterContinental Hotels Limited, InterContinental Hotels Management GmbH, InterContinental Hotels Nevada Corporation, InterContinental Management AM LLC, InterContinental Management Bulgaria EOOD, InterContinental Management France SAS, InterContinental Management Poland sp. z.o.o, InterContinental Overseas Holding Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Corporation Limited, KG Benefits LLC, KG Gift Card Inc., KG Liability LLC, KG Technology LLC, KHP Washington Operator LLC, KHRG 11th Avenue Hotel LLC, KHRG 851 LLC, KHRG Aertson LLC, KHRG Alexandria LLC, KHRG Alexis LLC, KHRG Allegro LLC, KHRG Argyle LLC, KHRG Austin Beverage Company LLC, KHRG Baltimore LLC, KHRG Born LLC, KHRG Boston Hotel LLC, KHRG Canary LLC, KHRG Cayman Employer Ltd., KHRG Cayman LLC, KHRG DC 1731 LLC, KHRG DC 2505 LLC, KHRG Donovan LLC, KHRG Employer LLC, KHRG Goleta LLC, KHRG Gray LLC, KHRG Gray U2 LLC, KHRG Hillcrest LLC, KHRG Huntington Beach LLC, KHRG King Street LLC, KHRG La Peer LLC, KHRG Miami Beach LLC, KHRG Muse LLC, KHRG NPC LLC, KHRG Onyx LLC, KHRG Palladian LLC, KHRG Palomar Phoenix LLC, KHRG Philly Monaco LLC, KHRG Pittsburgh LLC, KHRG Reynolds LLC, KHRG Riverplace LLC, KHRG SFD LLC, KHRG Sacramento LLC, KHRG Savannah LLC, KHRG Schofield LLC, KHRG Sedona LLC, KHRG State Street LLC, KHRG Sutter LLC, KHRG Sutter Union LLC, KHRG Taconic LLC, KHRG Tariff LLC, KHRG Texas Hospitality LLC, KHRG Texas Operations LLC, KHRG Tryon LLC, KHRG VZ Austin LLC, KHRG Vero Beach LLC, KHRG Vintage Park LLC, KHRG WPB LLC, KHRG Wabash LLC, KHRG Westwood LLC, KHRG Wilshire LLC, KHRG Zamora LLC, Kimpton Hollywood Licenses LLC, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group LLC, Kimpton Phoenix Licenses Holdings LLC, Kimpton Sedona Licenses LLC, Louisiana Acquisitions Corp., MH Lodging LLC, Mercer Fairview Holdings LLC, PML Services LLC, PT SC Hotels & Resorts Indonesia, Pollstrong Limited, Powell Pine Inc., Priscilla Holiday of Texas Inc., RM Lodging LLC, Regent Hotels and Resorts, Resort Services International (Cayo Largo) L.P., SBS Maryland Beverage Company LLC, SC Cellars Limited, SC Hotels International Services Inc., SC Leisure Group Limited, SC NAS 2 Limited, SC Quest Limited, SC Reservations (Philippines) Inc., SCH Insurance Company, SCIH Branston 3, SF MH Acquisition LLC, SPHC Group Pty Ltd., SPHC Management Ltd., Semiramis for training of Hotel Personnel and Hotel Management SAE, Six Continents Corporate Services, Six Continents Holdings Limited, Six Continents Hotels Inc., Six Continents Hotels International Limited, Six Continents Hotels de Colombia SA, Six Continents International Holdings B.V., Six Continents Investments Limited, Six Continents Limited, Six Continents Overseas Holdings Limited, Six Continents Restaurants Limited, SixCo North America Inc., Solamar Lodging LLC, Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (BVI) Ltd., Southern Pacific Hotels Properties Limited, Universal de Hoteles SA, White Shield Insurance Company Limited, and World Trade Centre Montreal Hotel Corporation.

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A. O. Smith Corporation manufactures and markets residential and commercial gas, heat pump and electric water heaters, boilers, tanks, and water treatment products in North America, China, Europe, and India. It operates through two segments, North America and Rest of World. The company offers water heaters for residences, restaurants, hotels and motels, office buildings, laundries, car washes, and small businesses; commercial boilers for hospitals, schools, hotels, and other large commercial buildings, as well as residential boilers for homes, apartments, and condominiums; and water treatment products comprising point-of-entry water softeners, well water solutions, and whole-home water filtration products, on-the-go filtration bottles, point-of-use carbon, and reverse osmosis products for residences, restaurants, hotels, and offices. It also provides food and beverage filtration products; expansion tanks, commercial solar water heating systems, swimming pool and spa heaters, and related products and parts; and heat pumps, electric wall-hung, gas tankless, combi-boiler, heat pump and solar water heaters. The company offers its products primarily under the A. O. Smith, State, Lochinvar, and water softener brands. It distributes its products through independent wholesale plumbing distributors, as well as through retail channels consisting of hardware and home center chains, and manufacturer representative firms; and offers Aquasana branded products directly to consumers through e-commerce, as well as other online retailers. A. O. Smith Corporation was founded in 1874 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Find out why this speck of an island in the Philippines is one of Asia's hottest tourist spots.

By Kalpana Sunder: Boracay, one of the 7,107 islands of the Philippines, is among Asia's hottest tourist destinations. The tropical island, just seven kilometres long and about one hour away by air from Manila, is home to some of the world's best white sand beaches fringing the clear, warm waters of the Sulu Sea. The island is divided into boat stations used as reference points: Station I known for its high end resorts, Station II the liveliest part with bars and restaurants and Station III where budget accommodation is found. Be a sybarite and chill out with our pick of 10 ways to enjoy the island.

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BE A WATER BABY

There are dozens of beautiful sites to explore Boracay's clear turquoise waters and biodiversity that have exceptional visibility at up to 40 metres. From viewing shipwrecks, vertical walls swathed in sponges and soft coralsto catching a glimpse of turtles, rays, sea snakes and snappers. Sign up for diving lessons where the price starts at PHP (Pilipino pesos) 1,600 (around Rs.2,100) with lessons and gear. Vroom your way on a jet ski where you can have 15 minutes of fun for PHP 2,000 (around Rs.2,700)per jet ski. My favourite was a ride on the Yellow Submarine where 20 metres deep, surrounded by different hues of aqua, divers come outside your window and point out the undersea wonders! (Rs.2,700 per head)

Enjoy a walk on the ocean floor with a regulator in your mouth. Photo: Mail Today

WALK ON SEA BED

If you prefer an easier, alternative to scuba diving, try reef-walking, also called helmet-diving which allows you to walk on the ocean floor without an air tank on your back or a regulator in your mouth. I was thrilled to walk on the seabed and pose for photographs, wearing a 30kg helmet to keep me down on the floor. This package - customarily priced at Rs.800 - comes with free compilations of your underwater photos plus videos as well as few pieces of bread that you can feed the fishes while underwater.

You can go for paragliding to get a panoramic view of the island. Photo: Mail Today

UP IN THE SKY

One of the best ways to get a bird's eye view of the island is to parasail. There are several operators who set you afloat from a boat in the ocean. As you ascend you get a panoramic view of the entire island while several metres up in the air. Price starts at Rs.1,350 per person for 15 minutes. If you are more adventurous, sign up for kite boarding and windsurfing lessons at Bulabog Beach.

Also read:Coming soon: A new way to explore India as Centre plans to develop tourism facilities in 26 islands

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ISLAND HOP

Boating is one of the easiest, enjoyable and affordable ways to discover Boracay. You can rent a glass-bottom dinghy, or try the paraw - a local boat with bamboo outriggers. Visit secluded beaches like Diniwid, Puka Shell, Bulabog and Crystal Cove with its subterranean cave. Have a picnic lunch of fresh fish on the grill then go snorkelling at Crocodile Island. (Usually costs around Rs.2,700 per boat of 10 pax)

A view of the sunset. Photo: Mail Today

CATCH THE SUNSET

The most surreal scene on the island is at around 5 pm, when people slowly come out of their hotel rooms and congregate on the White Beach to catch the sunset, when the skies are painted in pink and purple hues and scream Instagrammable. You can float lazily on your paraw, sipping wine or dig your feet in the sand and enjoy the moment.

SAVOUR FLAVOURS

All the flavours and cuisines of the world are represented in Boracay's many restaurants - from Spanish and Mexican to Thai and Indian. Come evening, the island transforms into a giant outdoor club - vibrant and intoxicating. Most of the cafes, bars and resorts that line White Beach, offer buffet dinners with eat-all-you-can seafood: crabs, lobsters, giant prawns and all kinds of fish. Vegetarians don't despair: head to the True Food Indian restaurant or the Ole Spanish and Mexican restaurant for good vegetarian fare or catch a pizza at Yellow Cab. Don't forget to load up on tropical fruits - try the avocado and mango milk shakes.

Sea food at a restaurant. Photo: Mail Today

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BE A BEACH COMBER

Other than walking on the iconic talcum powder sand White Beach, lined with thick groves of swaying palms, and hawkers selling hats and shades, the Puka Beach named after 'Puka' shells (shells of snails) is the less crowded favourite in Boracay. Aside from a golden bronze tan, you can get braids on your hair or a henna tattoo on your skin. Don't miss the elaborate sand castles that are built on the beachfront almost daily and lit at night; just the right background for a selfie to show off to friends.

BUST YOUR STRESS

One of the best and cheapest ways to unwind is to get a beach-side massage. Laze on powder-fine sand, listen to gently lapping waves and enjoy the balmy breeze as manangs (lady masseuses) give you a long and soothing rubdown. Choose between Thai, Swedish, Shiatsu or reflexology. If you want to splurge, head to the Spa at the Lind and have a traditional hilot massage.

Guests at a restaurant. Photo: Mail Today

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LOCAL TREASURES

The island is a retail paradise. A great place to shop is D' Mall in Station II lanes flanked by shops in a compact area. Just one gentle reminder: Shopaholics remember that one Phillipino peso equals Rs.1.35 Indian rupee!

DELVE DEEPER

If you like immersive travel and want more than just the sun lounger and cocktails, visit the Bihasin Ati Living Heritage village, home to the marginalised indigenous people of the island called the Ati. They are a small community of dark skinned people with curly hair, restricted to this land managed by Christian missionaries. They showcase their culture in a small sand bottomed museum with drums, baskets and tribal artifacts.

FACT CHECK:

GETTING THERE

Fly to Manila by Singapore Airlines and connect to Caticlan Airport on local carriers like Air Philippines and Cebu Pacific. After landing, you just need to reach the Caticlan Jetty Port that is a three-minute tricycle ride away. From this port, you just need to board another boat that will take you to Boracay in just 15 minutes.

STAYING THERE

Splurge out at Boracay's newest resort The Lind, located in Station I which has beautiful Mykonos-style rooms with minimalistic decor, an infinity pool and cabanasshaped traditional shrimp traps. Doubles start at around $300 (Rs.21,000) per night. http://www.thelindhotels. com

GOING AROUND

The local tricycle taxis are the best to get around, charging around Rs.30 per person from one station to the next.

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Energizer Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes household batteries, specialty batteries, and lighting products worldwide. It offers lithium, alkaline, carbon zinc, nickel metal hydride, zinc air, and silver oxide batteries under the Energizer and Eveready brands, as well as primary, rechargeable, specialty, and hearing aid batteries. The company also provides headlights, lanterns, and children's and area lights, as well as flash lights under the Energizer, Eveready, Rayovac, Hard Case, Dolphin, Varta, and WeatherReady brands. In addition, it licenses the Energizer and Eveready brands to companies developing consumer solutions in gaming, automotive batteries, portable power for critical devices, LED light bulbs, generators, power tools, household light bulbs, and other lighting products. Further, the company designs and markets automotive fragrance and appearance products, including protectants, wipes, tire and wheel care products, glass cleaners, leather care products, air fresheners, and washes to clean, shine, refresh, and protect interior and exterior automobile surfaces under the brand names of Armor All, Nu Finish, Refresh Your Car!, LEXOL, Eagle One, California Scents, Driven, and Bahama & Co; STP branded fuel and oil additives, functional fluids, and other performance chemical products; and do-it-yourself automotive air conditioning recharge products under the A/C PRO brand name, as well as other refrigerant and recharge kits, sealants, and accessories. It sells its products through direct sales force, distributors, and wholesalers; and through various retail and business-to-business channels, including mass merchandisers, club, electronics, food, home improvement, dollar store, auto, drug, hardware, e-commerce, convenience, sporting goods, hobby/craft, office, industrial, medical, and catalog. Energizer Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.
GameStop Corp. is a specialty retailer founded in 1999 and headquartered in Grapevine, Texas. The company was originally known as GSC Holdings Corp. but later changed its name following its IPO. Originally a brand of then dominant Babbages, Gamestop altered the way video games were distributed and it is now the world's largest retailer of video games and video game accessories. The company went public in 2004 and operated 4,573 stores at the start of 2022. Brands under the company umbrella include Gamestop, EB Games, and Micromania as well as 50 pop-culture-themed Zing Pop locations.

Gamestop Corp. provides video games and entertainment products through its global network of e-commerce properties and stores. The company sells new and pre-owned gaming platforms and accessories like controllers, headsets, memory cards, and gaming software as well as in-game products like digital currency, downloadable content, and games. The company also sells new and used memorabilia and collectibles. Genres include TV, movie, comic book, and game characters as well as many other items from pop culture. GameStop Corp. also operates Game Informer, a magazine and website dedicated to the gaming industry including reviews, updates, and new developments in technologies.

Game enthusiasts enjoy two primary benefits of using Gamestop. The first is access to the full range of games and gaming accessories. The second is the ability to sell or trade their old equipment and games for fair prices. All old equipment is refurbished to a like-new state before resale.

In 2021 Gamestop announced it was entering the world of cryptocurrency. The company revealed plans to build an NFT (non-fungible token) platform for listing, selling, and holding digital or digitized artwork and collectibles. The beta version launched in 2022 and has so far seen great success with an average daily volume exceeding $1 million. The NFT marketplace also featured Web3.0 games in which characters and in-game items are held forever on the blockchain. As of September 2022, the most successful retailer on the NFT marketplace was Gamestop Presents, a collaboration of cover art from Game Informer Magazine. Sales at the time were just under 168 ETH or about $221,500.00.

GameStop began a slide in 2016 following a series of bad investments that included a foray into the world of mobile phones. The slide came to an end in late 2021 when shareholders using the Reddit thread Wallstreet Bets orchestrated a short-squeeze and brought on the age of meme stocks.
By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 11 (PTI) Using newspapers to pack or serve food - a common practice among street vendors - is a safety hazard, according to the countrys food regulatory body which has warned that consumers are slowly being poisoned by cancer-causing agents and microbes.

"Wrapping food in newspapers is an unhealthy practice and the consumption of such food is injurious to health, even if the food has been cooked hygienically," The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said in an advisory.

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This comes after Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda had directed FSSAI to issue an advisory restricting the use of newspapers as food packaging material.

Foods contaminated by newspaper ink raise serious health concerns since the ink contains multiple bioactive materials with known negative health effects, the advisory said.

Printing inks may also contain harmful colours, pigments, binders, additives and preservatives.

Beside chemical contaminants, presence of pathogenic microorganisms in used newspapers also pose potential risk to human health, according to the advisory.

Newspapers and paper or cardboard boxes made of recycled paper may be contaminated with metallic contaminants, mineral oils and harmful chemicals like the phthalates which can cause digestive problems and also lead to severe toxicity.

Older people, teenagers, children and people with compromised vital organs and immune systems are at a greater risk of acquiring cancer-related health complications, if they are exposed to food packed in such material.

Newspapers should not be used to wrap, cover and serve food or to absorb excess oil from fried food.

There is an urgent need to discourage the use of newspaper as food packaging material by creating awareness among businesses, especially unorganised food business operators and consumers on its harmful effects.

Suitable steps need to be taken to restrict control and use of newspapers for packing food material.

The FSSAI has directed Commissioners of Food Safety of all States/Union Territories to initiate systematic campaigns for generating awareness among all the stakeholders to discourage the use of newspapers for packing, serving and storing food items. PTI MHN SAR AKJ SAR

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Ashley Wetzel and Henry Niblack

By: Mahesh Sarin

People called police after seeing a couple having sex on a sidewalk close to a park.

The couple of Florida, has been charged with indecent exposure after police said they were caught having sex in public.

The pair was identified as 26-year-old Ashley Wetzel and 50-year-old Henry Niblack.

Police were called just after 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, to the area of 3 Avenue North and Mirror Lake Drive North, which is close to a St. Petersburg park.

Niblack and Wetzel were seen having a sex on the sidewalk, while people were passing by.

According to the arrest report, both of the them had their pants down at their ankles as they were engaged in sexual intercourse.

Niblack, a construction worker, was held on $150 bond, while bond for Wetzel was set at $650 as she has a case pending against her over theft charges.
Tiffany Dawn Evans

By: Wayne Morin

Police have arrested many people in their effort to stop women from working as prostitutes in the streets of South Carolina.

However, one woman is making headlines after she managed to entice men to have sex with her despite her bizarre looks.

The mugshot of 30-year-old Tiffany Dawn Evans, went viral after she was one of 11 people arrested in Myrtle Beach, during a prostitution bust.

Evans seems to be very comfortable with her looks as she did not have any makeup on her face despite having many marks and her hair was a mess.

She also became known as the one eyed prostitute because in her mugshot, her right eye was so cloudy, it seemed as though it was non-existent.

Evans was charged with prostitution and drugs offenses.

Police arrested six men and five women, all of whom are between the ages of 24 and 58.
Daniel and Claire Randall

By: Feng Qian

(Scroll down for video) A pastor shot and killed his daughter to hurt his wife after she filed for divorce.

56-year-old Daniel Randall and his wife Anita, who lived with their three children in Rhode Island, has accomplished a lot of great things in his life.

However, everything changed when he became depressed and turned to alcohol.

His wife left him and she moved with their children to Maine.

Randall went into a 90-day rehab program to work on his issues. Last week, he was reportedly served with divorce papers.

When Randall left rehab the rehab center, he bought a gun and a can of spray paint, and went to his wifeas new home at 2:00 p.m.

There he found his 27-year-old daughter Claire. He shot her multiple times until she was dead. He then spray painted messages on the walls of the 5 rooms of the home.

He wrote messages such as: aVow breakera and aAnita, its all your fault.a Randall then went outside and shot himself on the porch.

Police found the bodies of Randall and his daughter, who were both pronounced dead at the scene.

Randall was a pastor for 12 years at the First Congregational Church in Bristol, Rhode Island.

He had also been a chaplain in the Air Force, and later at the Roger Williams University.
By PTI: Hyderabad, Dec 10 (PTI) Eleven people were killed while two others were rescued after an under-construction building collapsed at Nanakramguda in Cyberabad zone, a Telangana minister said here today.

State Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao, who supervised the rescue operations at the site of the incident, said only two persons - a mother and her child from Chhattisgarh -could be saved.

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"We could save two of the 13 people who were trapped in debris in the six-storey building collapse. Unfortunately, the remaining 11 lost their lives. It is a painful incident.We extend our sympathies to the families of the deceased on behalf of state government," he told reporters.

The building, in whose construction violations of rules have allegedly been found, came crashing down around 9 PM on Thursday. Rescue workers, including personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), struggled hard till all the bodies were recovered and the operation is over now.

Most of the the deceased persons were workers hailing from north coastal region of Andhra Pradesh, who lived in the cellar of the under-construction building.

Rama Rao said five ambulances have been arranged to transport the bodies to their native places. An ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh would be given to the next of kin of the deceased by the Telangana government.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Deputy Mayor Baba Fasiuddin said post mortem has been completed on the 11 bodies.

Rama Rao said the builder has been arrested and that tough action would be taken against the guilty in the incident. The state government has already suspended two GHMC officials over the incident.

An inquiry committee has been set up under Municipal Administration Secretary Navin Mittal and the report would be obtained in 15 days, he said.

"Nobody, either builder or GHMC officials, would be spared. We will show this as an example how tough action would be taken for violation of rules," the minister said.

The Andhra Pradesh government has also announced compensation to the victims in the tragedy, an MLA from the state, who visited the site, said.

AP Housing Minister K Mrinalini visited the spot yesterday. PTI SJR DK DV

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Think Safe Drink Safe Alcohol Quiz Aims to Promote Safe & Responsible Drinking

This article is old - Published: Sunday, Dec 11th, 2016

Members of the public are being encouraged to take part in a quiz which will help them understand how alcohol can affect them and make them aware if they are drinking too much.

The online quiz forms part of the work being undertaken by North Wales Police and their partners in relation to the Think Safe Drink Safe campaign which launched three weeks ago.

The campaign is aimed at promoting safe and responsible drinking and prevent and reduce levels of alcohol fuelled violent crime and anti-social behaviour across North Wales at this time of year. It also aims to ensure that visitors to towns across the region can enjoy a safe and relaxed night out during the festive period.

The Think about your drink quiz was originally developed by Public Health Wales and Alcohol Concern on scratch cards with the electronic version now being hosted on the North Wales Police website.

Thousands of scratch cards are being distributed by officers and staff from across all partner agencies as part of the initiative. North Wales Police will distribute them as part of the All Wales Anti Drink and Drug Drive Campaign.

The scratch cards will see users scratch-off a score based on how often and how much they drink. Their total score will tell them whether they are drinking at a level that is putting their health at risk.

The reverse side of the cards contains useful information about the benefits of cutting down, and directs people to services that can help them if they have a high score.

The cards have now been developed as an online quiz.

Superintendent Jane Banham said: Alcohol is a powerful drug which can put people at risk of being killed or seriously injured, arrested, or becoming a victim of crime.

We want people to enjoy the festive season, but we know from experience that at this time of year some people will come to harm due to alcohol excess and its the emergency services and local councils who are left picking up the pieces.

The quiz will just act as a guide and offer a new way for people to look at their own drinking and maybe get some help to cut back.

Siobhan Adams, Interim Deputy Director of Public Health in North Wales said: A survey recently showed 4 in 10 adults in Wales report drinking above the guidelines on at least one day in the week. Although there is no safe limit for drinking alcohol, the guidelines advise that you can keep your health risk low by drinking less than 14 units a week and spreading your consumption out over three or more days.

The new online quiz can help people to know how much theyve drunk in a day a week or a month and can help make informed decisions when the next social situation presents itself. A day on the mocktails can be equally enjoyable and can help you hit your five a day!

All agencies will be using social media to help raise awareness of the campaign and social media users are encouraged to follow the hashtag #ThinkSafeDrinkSafe
By PTI: Houston, Dec 11 (PTI) Three Indian-origin teenagers, including identical twin sisters, in the US have bagged a scholarship worth USD 100,000 in a science competition for their innovative research that will help doctors diagnose health problems like schizophrenia.

Shriya and Adhya Beesam, 16, who are 11th grade students in Plano, Texas won the competition in the 17th annual Siemens Math, Science and Technology Competition on Tuesday for their project entitled, Linked Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System: A Novel Approach to Schizophrenia Diagnosis.

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Vineet Edupuganti, a senior at Oregon Episcopal School, won the top individual award for developing an ingestible battery that could transform the way doctors diagnose and monitor health problems deep in the body.

Edupugantis invention, which he calls a "high-performance biodegradable battery for transient electronics," was appreciated by the judges at the contest.

His work could simplify how medical practitioners diagnose conditions that affect internal organs, such as gastrointestinal disorders, that currently require complex imaging or invasive procedures to diagnose.

"These scholars are poised to transform the lives of millions around the globe...I cannot wait to see where their dedication and innovative thinking will lead them and the rest of us as well," David Etzwiler, CEO of the Siemens Foundation said.

In their research, the twins, developed a new approach to diagnose schizophrenia earlier in patients using both brain scans and psychiatric evaluations, the WFAA reported.

The Beesams lost their uncle to schizophrenia years ago. Their uncle was misdiagnosed for several years before eventually being diagnosed as schizophrenic. The twins say the late diagnosis and delay of care contributed to his suicide.

"People diagnosed with schizophrenia are fifty per cent more likely to commit or attempt suicide," Shriya said.

The Beesams say the loss of the uncle served as motivation during their research and work.

"It was amazing after we won when a mother came up to me and thanked us for our work because her son has schizophrenia and shes happy to see people talking about the disease," Adhya said.

The Beesams created a new system for diagnosing the disease by combining qualitative and quantitative approaches to assessing patients. (MORE) PTI KJ AKJ KJ

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While interacting with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said that people in the Valley respect Vajpayee.

By Ashraf Wani: The delegation led by former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha visited Shopian Town of South Kashmir on Sunday. After meeting some separatist leaders in Srinagar, Yaswant Sinha also met civil societies in different parts of Kashmir.

He said on the occasion that people of Kashmir respect Vajpayee and a solution in the lines drawn by Vajpayee should be put forth. Sinha also added that he was not on any political agenda but was in fact a concerned citizen of India.

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The delegation headed by former Sinha arrived in Srinagar on Saturday to continue its efforts to "empathise with the people of Kashmir".

This is the second visit of Sinha-led delegation to Kashmir since late October.

The delegation had previously visited Kashmir on October 28 and met the separatist leaders, but made it clear that their purpose is to empathise with the people of Kashmir and that they carried no official brief to discuss the prevailing situation in the Valley.

Also read:

Jammu and Kashmir police approaches state govt to seize property, freeze bank accounts of LeT supporter

CRPF personnel in Jammu-Kashmir to get more bullet proof armour

Rift in BJP-PDP: CM Mehbooba Mufti leaves cabinet meeting midway

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As firefighters and first responders rushed to her aid, a woman who had just been pulled out of a second-floor Yakima apartment window sat on 
In the past year, the Yakima Herald-Republic has written about homelessness more than 65 times  and thats direct coverage, not counting inci
Rep. Gina McCabe, R-Goldendale, will host a community meeting in Yakima on Jan. 4 to hear residents' concerns before the 2017 legislative sess
CPM has alleged that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was stopped from attending a function at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh after police cited protest by RSS elements.

By India Today Web Desk: The CPM polit bureau has lashed at the BJP government of Madhya Pradesh after Bhopal police did not allow Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan from attending a meet in the city on Saturday.

In a statement, the CPM termed the police action as ant-democratic action.

"Pinarayi Vijayan had been invited to a reception hosted by various Malayali organisations in Bhopal on December 10. However, as he was leaving for the meeting, he was advised by police officials not to proceed as some RSS elements were expected to demonstrate outside," the CPM said.

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READ| Kerala's Marxist CM Pinarayi Vijayan now a fan of PM Narendra Modi

The party said that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government was being commanded by the RSS.

"This incident shows how the Madhya Pradesh government acts at the diktat of the RSS. It is also a telling commentary on the state of the law and order machinery which cannot protect a Chief Minister of another state in its own state capital," the CPM statement read.

WATCH:

CM SHIVRAJ APOLIGISES TO CM VIJAYAN

However, the BJP government later apologised to the visiting chief minister. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan spoke to his Kerala counterpart after the incident was brought to his notice.

The state DGP visited Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan in person to apologise to him.

READ| Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's right-hand man quits as minister after nepotism charges

Madhya Pradesh Police on their part said that CM Vijayan was not prevented from attending the function. Vijayan was advised not to go there in the view of impending protest by some right groups. The final decision was left to the Kerala CM, the police said.

CM Vijayan decided not to attend the function going against the security advisory.

ALSO READ:

No more red lines

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BAGHDAD -- US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has arrived in Baghdad to meet with American commanders and Iraqi leaders and to assess progress in the fight to retake the northern city of Mosul from ISIS.

The unannounced visit on Sunday came as Iraqi security forces have been slowed in their nearly two-month-old offensive against IS, which has occupied Mosul for more than two years.

Carter flew into Baghdad aboard a military cargo plane. He was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as well as top US and coalition commanders.

In Bahrain on Saturday, Carter announced he is sending another 200 troops to Syria to train and advise local fighters combatting IS. There were already 300 US troops authorized for the Syria effort, and some 5,000 in Iraq.
Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef determined during his weekly Torah lesson on Saturday night that women must not serve in the IDF or in national serviceand certainly not in combat roles.

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The chief rabbi mentioned a ruling made by Sephardic Torah scholar the Rambam who said that "to wars commanded by the Torah all go out, even a bridegroom from his chamber and a bride from her canopy." Yosef said that one must not draw from this ruling the conclusion that women are allowed to join the military.

"It's obvious that women who went there went to do the laundry," he explained. "They didn't wear uniforms and pants and the likes, of course not. They went in modesty, in purity."

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef (Photo: Yair Sagi)

"They (women) go to cook and do laundry, but, heavens forbid, to the army? To go and fight? Of course not!" Yosef added. "It is the ruling of all the great rabbis of the generations, including Israel's chief rabbis, the position of the Chief Rabbinateit has always been their position that girls must not enlist in the army... (Today) there are female pilots, all sorts of stuff. Is that the way of the Torah?! That's not the way of the Torah."

According to the chief rabbi, in the Jewish armies of the past "all were righteous and pious, there was the army of God, a holy army," and that is why the Jewish army received "divine providence."

"They would fight and fight and had no deadonly the enemy did," Yosef claimed. "There were miracles and wonders. Believe me, if we had followed the Torah on everything, we'd be spared all sorts of disasters that we unfortunately face."

He then went on to stress that it wasn't just military service for women that he opposed, "but also national service. Unfortunately, on this matter there is some weakness. There's a distortion of perception on this matter. Yes, they (women) are forbidden of going both to the military and national service!"

Yosef spoke of Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, one of the leaders of the ultra-Orthodox community in the early days of the State of Israel, who was known by his magnum opus Chazon Ish. Chazon Ish, Yosef said, fought against the enlistment of women to the military "and who knows if he did not die of the sorrow this war, this struggle, this holy war, had caused him."

He noted his own father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, "died of the sorrow he felt over the drafting of yeshiva students, over the law passed by these villainsthat Lapid and his friendsand the rabbi felt sorrow that they wanted to take the yeshiva guys like that. From all of this sorrow, who knows, just like Chazon Ish died from the enlistment of women, the rabbi took it to heart, who knowsmaybe that's why he died."

Dozens of rabbis, including many in the national-religious sector, have recently signed a petition against Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi), criticizing his ministry's plans to allocate funds to organizations that encourage the enlistment of religious girls in the IDF.

The petition signatories claimed that because the Chief Rabbinate forbids the enlistment of religious girls, the state must encourage them to serve only in national service.
US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name the chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp as the country's top diplomat, a source familiar with the situation said on Saturday, an appointment that would put in place an official with close ties to the Russian government.

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News of Rex Tillerson's possible appointment comes as US intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump win the White House.

Tillerson and Putin (Photo: Gettyimages)

The choice of Tillerson further stocks Trump's Cabinet and inner circle with people who favor a soft line toward Moscow.

Tillerson, 64, has driven Exxon's expansion in Russia for decades and opposed US sanctions imposed on Russia for its seizure of Crimea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Tillerson Russia's Order of Friendship, one of the country's highest civilian honors.

Exxon's Tillerson emerged on Friday as Trump's leading candidate for US secretary of state over 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and three other people.

Tillerson met with Trump for more than two hours at Trump Tower on Saturday morning. It was their second meeting about the position this week.

Photo: MCT

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tillerson was the expected pick but cautioned no formal offer had yet been made.

A senior official on the Trump transition team said the president-elect was close to picking Tillerson.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller said no announcement on the high-profile job was forthcoming in the immediate future.

As Exxon's CEO, Tillerson oversees operations in more than 50 countries, including Russia.

In 2011, Exxon signed a deal with Rosneft, Russia's largest state-owned oil company, for joint oil exploration and production. Since then, the companies have formed 10 joint ventures for projects in Russia.

Tillerson and Rosneft chief Igor Sechin announced plans to begin drilling in the Russian Arctic for oil as part of their joint venture, in spite of US sanctions.

In July, Tillerson was one of the highest-profile US representatives at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, one of Putin's main investment forums, even as Washington had been taking a harder line than Europe on maintaining sanctions.

Rex Tillerson (Photo: EPA)

Trump has pledged to work for stronger US ties with Russia, which have been strained by Putin's incursion into Crimea and his support for Syrian President Bashir al-Assad.

In a preview from an interview to be aired on "Fox News Sunday," Trump said Tillerson is "much more than a business executive."

"I mean, he's a world class player," Trump said. "He's in charge of an oil company that's pretty much double the size of his next nearest competitor. It's been a company that has been unbelievably managed."

"And to me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia," Trump said.

Tillerson's Russian ties figure to be a factor in any Senate confirmation hearing.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, a long-time Putin critic, told Fox News that he does not know what Tillerson's relationship with Putin has been, "but I'll tell you, it is a matter of concern to me."

Photo: EPA

Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee raised concerns in a memo on Saturday citing Trump's "cavalier dismissal" of US intelligence reports that Russia interfered in US elections and the appointment of Tillerson, who has "business ties to Russia and Vladimir Putin, and whose company worked to bury and deny climate science for years."

Should Tillerson be nominated, climate change could be another controversial issue for him. The company is under investigation by the New York Attorney General's Office for allegedly misleading investors, regulators and the public on what it knew about global warming.

Tillerson is, however, one of the few people selected for roles in the Trump administration to believe that human activity causes climate change.

After Trump's election, Exxon came out in support of the Paris Climate Agreement and said it favors a carbon tax as an emissions-cutting strategy.
After five years in prison, former president Moshe Katsav, a convicted rapist, faced the parole board for the third time on Sunday, once again asking for early release. The board decided to postpone the decision until December 18.

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Katsav, 72, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for rape and indecent acts. However, he has continually refused to admit to his crimes and has never expressed regret to his victims.

The disgraced former president's lawyer Shani Illouz claimed that "Since the last hearing, the former president successfully underwent treatment in prison, as the members of the parole board recommended to him. I think all of the conditions for early release have been met."

Katsav going on furlough (Photo: Avi Mualem)

Family members claimed that "He was tarred and feathered. This is persecution and revenge. It's time to let him go home."

Meanwhile, close associates of Katsav said that unlike the previous hearing in June, the former president has been in a good mood over the past week. They defined his state of mind as being "cautiously optimistic."

The Central District Attorney's Office is expected to oppose to the request , but will consider changing its position in six months if Katsav continues his treatments.

So far, both the District Attorney's Office and the parole board have opposed the early release request, claiming Katsav has yet to accept responsibility for his criminal actions and was not going through the common rehabilitation process. Instead, he is participating in a workshop the Israel Prison Service created for "prisoners who deny guilt."

In such a treatment, the treating professionals try to help the prisoner internalize the meaning of his conviction, even though he still denies his crimes and claims to be innocent. This is done in an effort to create awareness and recognition for the prisoners actions.

After a recent meeting on the case, State Attorney Shai Nitzan has determined there was no new data to justify a change in previous decisions and that the treatment that Katsav underwent was insufficient to render him suitable for early release.

In addition, sources in his office said, serious weight must be given to the damage done to Katsav's victims due, inter alia, to his public denials of guilt.

Daniel Sarur, who represents one of Katsav's victims, A. from the Tourism Ministry, said in response that "My client continues to object to Katsav's release. Nothing has changed since the last hearing. Until he asks for forgiveness from his victims, in his own voice, there must be no considerations of early release."

Katsav did say in the past, "I ask for forgiveness and apologize to anyone who was hurt," but failed to admit his actions.

To Katsav's credit is the opinion of the prison's commanders, who say he is a model prisoner with no disciplinary issues and claim the treatment he underwent with social workers in the prison was successful.

The Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority maintains its recommendation to grant Katsav early release . The authority prepared a detailed rehabilitation plan for Katsav to follow upon his release, which includes daily Torah lessons as well as regular meetings with a social worker and a psychologist who will help him reenter society. As part of his rehabilitation, Katsav will have to refrain from defaming his victims.

As Katsav has already served more than two thirds of his seven-year sentence, if his application for parole is granted, he will be immediately released from prison.
The new Turkish ambassador to Israel, Kemal Okem, arrived Saturday night at Ben Gurion Airport, where he was greeted by Meron Reuben, head of the Foreign Ministry's protocol department.

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Okem came to Israel with his wife and two sons to fill the position that has been vacant for the last six years as a result of fallout from the Mavi Marmara incident, following which former Ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol was recalled.

Meron Reuben (left) and Kemal Okem (right)

Israel and Turkey have since signed a reconciliation agreement, wherein Israel agreed to pay compensation to the victims and their families, while Turkey agreed to reduce Hamas activity in its territory and drop all legal proceedings against Israel and the IDF.

On Sunday, Okem is due to arrive at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem and present a copy of his credentials, which will also be presented to President Reuvlin Rivlin on Monday.

Okem's last position was a political advisor for Prime Minister Binali Yldrm. He is a career diplomat who previously served as the deputy director general for the Middle East at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was in charge of the Israel desk.

Okem is described as having an excellent rapport with Israeli diplomats and is reportedly very excited to assume the position as ambassador. He has so far refused to be interviewed.

Israeli ambassador to Turkey Eitan Na'eh (right) with Turkish ambassador to Israel Kemal Okem (left)

Before arriving in Israel, Okem met with his Israeli counterpart, Eitan Na'eh, who arrived in Ankara. The two exchanged pleasantries and promised to keep in touch with one another.
Former Minister Shalom Simhon celebrated his 60th birthday last Tuesday. The guests included a number of friends from the Labor Party. Simhon shared a table with former Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak and MK Shelly Yachimovich, while Opposition Chairman Isaac Herzog and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon sat around another table.

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When Barak was about to leave, Kahlon turned to him with his famous cattish smile, a combination of naivety and slyness, and said: "Ehud, whats up? When will Bibi be toppled?"

Barak, who has been criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from every possible stage recently, smiled.

"For now, weve toppled the statue," he said.

Bennett and Netanyahu at the Knesset (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

But who had the last laugh, or smile? The No. 1 threat on the governments existence was removed by the coalition last week in a first reading . There were quite a few politicians who said that Amona would dissolve the government. That will likely not happen. There will be unpleasant sights, as we already started seeing at the Ofra settlements secretariat when Amona residents confronted Yesha Council officials

But Amonas fate has been sealed. The ball is now in Amonas court. Or as a right-wing political source said last week: With all due respect to 40 families, they wont drive the country crazy. Whether they want to climb the hill, build a new community in Shvut Rachel, or move one kilometer to Ofra  its up to them. But its over. Amona will be evacuated. It will be moved somewhere between 50 meters to one kilometer away. Its not good, but its not the end of the world.

Indeed, settler leaders celebrated last week. First of all, for passing the first reading of the Regulation Bill. But they had another reason to rejoice. On Wednesday, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit issued a legal opinion promising that even if the High Court invalidates the Regulation Bill, this opinion, which is based on the market ouvert, could serve as a strategic solution for the Judea and Samaria settlers.

The market ouvert says that if someone built their home in good faith on land owned by someone else, their house will not be demolished but they will be required to pay pecuniary compensation. Education Minister Naftali Bennett says thats what happened to his father, who was the sole owner of a plot near the Technion in Haifa. A neighbor accidently built on part of his fathers property and compensated the father, but his home was not demolished.

Bennett during the vote on the Regulation Bill (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

Bennett sees this opinion, which he calls the regulation basket, as a victory as big as the first reading of the Regulation Bill. While this regulation basket is implemented not through legislation, he explains to his interlocutors, it is as important as the bill and maybe even more. It is slightly narrower than the bill, because it does not cover all cases. Its less comprehensive, but much more certain.

This is the solution he wanted, he tells his interlocutors, because he understands that the Regulation Bill is not unbreakable, as it can be invalidated by the High Court. The attorney generals opinion, he says, is already changing the residents lives as we speak. They can already add to their homes.

There is no wonder, therefore, that Bennett was in a state of euphoria last week. As far as he is concerned, these two things  passing the bill in first reading and Mandelblits opinion  are the first steps towards applying Israeli sovereignty to Maale Adumim, the Jordan Valley, Ofra  the entire Jewish settlement in Area C.

High Court petitions are no more, Bennett told his friends last week. What's left is the Amona evacuation, nine homes in Ofra, and Netiv Haavot  and there is nothing that can be done about them. Those are peremptory rulings. But thats it. Those are the death throes of the previous era. We have now entered a new era. And it happened at 4pm Wednesday, when he applied to Judea and Samaria something that exists in Israeli laws. And thats what he has been trying to do for an entire year. The Regulation Bill, as leverage, made it possible. Suddenly, like a domino effect, everything happened. Row after row of dominoes fell down.

But Bennett sees this not just as an ideological victory, but also as a great political victory. Its perfectly clear to him that the law  and, to the same extent, the regulation basket  will be named after him. After all, Netanyahu did everything in his power to avoid reaching this moment. He left no stone unturned. On Wednesday, he had the flu again. Ministers say he looked worn out. He practically fell asleep during meetings. One things for sure: This law is affecting his health. Its not easy for him to see Bennett navigating this entire thing.

Prime Minister Netanyahu (Photo: AFP)

To know what Netanyahu really thinks about this law, look no further than 2012, when the Regulation Bill was rejected by a majority of 69 lawmakers versus 20. Its the same law. At the time, Netanyahu voted against it and explained why the law was bad.

So what has changed since then? The answer is Bennett.

In the past two weeks, the Bayit Yehudi leader spent 30 hours in face-to-face meetings with the prime minister. It began with complete distrust and eventually turned into a united front . Thats why Bennett is supporting Netanyahu rather than attacking him. On Wednesday, for the first time since the elections and certainly the first time in a very long time, Netanyahu sat down next to Bennett at the Knesset plenum and shook his hand.

My advice to Bennett is not be too impressed by these gestures. He should wait another day or two for the prime ministers next Facebook post, when he tells the people of Israel how he made history. How he, Netanyahu, passed the Regulation Bill. How he kept his promise to annex Judea and Samaria.

In the meantime, he has the Muezzin Bill . The bill that, apart from the prime minister, not a single government minister sees as necessary. Its a law that already exists, and it was only born following the progress made on the Regulation Bill. And it really doesnt matter who came up with this unnecessary and damaging law, Netanyahu the father or Netanyahu the son. Netanyahu clearly realized that Bennett was gaining strength in the right-wing camp and decided that he must respond.

What's happening now happens often  the dynamic of a foolish law. A version of bill was supposed to be discussed at the Knesset on Wednesday. This version, which received the ultra-Orthodox's blessing, determines that the ban on loudspeaker systems in mosques would only be applied at night. But at the last moment, although he had been okay with it, Netanyahu announced that he was backtracking on the agreements and demanding more significant restrictions on the loudspeaker systems. In other words, that the law would apply to daytime hours too.

What happened between the compromise and his decision to backtrack from it?

Well, we already know the answer: Bennett.
Following information concerning a suspect intending to carry out a stabbing attack in the Cave of Patriarchs in Hebron, Border Police forces managed to locate the suspect. A body search found no weapons. The suspect, a 22-year-old Palestinian resident of Hebron was arrested and taken for questioning by security officials.
Demonetisation Despair

The repercussions of demonetisation are being felt most acutely by the poor and the lower-middle class due to the slowdown in economic activities (Down and Ouch). Despite this, people invariably seem to be in favour of the decision. However, the favourable public opinion may not last long if the paucity of liquid money continues.

Vipul Pande, Nainital

Demonetisation is undoubtedly tricky business- making open preparations for new currency notes might have compromised the confidentiality of the move, while this secrecy goes against the principle of taking public affirmation before initiating such a drastic policy. Demonetisation might prove to be an effective weapon against the shadow economy, but it is useless against the deeper socio-political issues that are at the core of corruption. It is a big gamble, and the Indian economy is at stake. The benefits of this reform must outweigh the negative impacts.

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Hena Prasun, Mumbai

In India, cash is king because most transactions are in cash, more so in the rural and semi-urban areas. To expect this to change in a short time is unrealistic given the limitations- patchy access to banks and a lack of confidence in plastic money.

H.N. Ramakrishna, Bengaluru

Econo-Speak

If these 10 questions (The Verdict) had been asked of people on the street, the answers wouldn't have been very different. On the plus side, the respondents might have then answered all the questions. When asked if demonetisation would curb black money funding elections and if that would help the BJP, two economists did not answer, and the other three gave guarded, cryptic replies. By not answering, the respondents suggest that it certainly is an advantage for the BJP, but wanted to be spared the cost of taking an anti-BJP

stand. In her response, Ashima Goyal said that the "BJP may benefit to the extent that it was better prepared". I wonder if she was suggesting that the ruling party had prior knowledge of what the government was doing, or if this was just a faux pas?

Rakesh Duda, Gurgaon

Demonetisation was much needed, but the execution lacked proper planning and implementation, leading to large-scale fraud. If the now-proposed immunity scheme of taxes, penalties and a lockin period of four years for unaccounted money deposited in banks had been announced earlier, there might have been more revenue earning rather than large-scale misuse of Jan Dhan bank accounts. A good aspect is the shift toward online transactions. The withdrawal limit of Rs 24,000 per week should be made permanent for savings accounts. Those requiring extra cash may open current accounts subject to extra income tax scrutiny. The relaxation in norms for marriage-related expenses should have been avoided, to change the culture of using cash.

Madhu Agrawal, Delhi

Your in-depth narrative on demonetisation did not highlight a flaw in the planning for this move- the glaring mismatch between the demand and supply of the new currency. The persistent scarcity of cash shows a failure to factor in the limitations of production capacity. This is surprising because the extent of the likely demand was foreseeable given the volume of currency being withdrawn. The least that can be done is to make a realistic estimate of the currency replenishment capacity and to extend the deadline for exchanging/use of old notes.

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Bishan Sahai, via e-mail

Officer's Choice

Leave the task of reforming a law in the hands of the bureaucracy and it comes back deformed. The Union government recently got its officers to draft the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) ordinance and burnt its fingers as it came to be challenged in the Supreme Court. And now bureaucrats of the finance ministry are at work, smuggling their personal agendas into two crucial bills presented before Parliament: the Foreign Exchange Management (FEM) Bill and the Prevention of Money Laundering (PML) Bill. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, to which the bills have been submitted for review, is picking holes in them. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sent a secret note to the finance ministry, saying that the bills, particularly the PML Bill, if enacted, would "derail" the reform process. The Confederation of Indian Industry has begun a campaign against the bills, including circulating proposals for drastic amendments and holding public debates. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry has demanded review of the FEM Bill in particular. The drafts of the CVC ordinance and of the two bills reveal a common pattern of bureaucratic subversion. The ordinance defeated its very purpose of insulating anti-sleaze investigation from executive interference by keeping executives immune from investigation. The PML and FEM bills also run against the grain of their raison d'tre-that of replacing the draconian FERA with a more reasonable law.

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by Sumit Mitra

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Commander of the Air Force, Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, is set to begin the process for qualification on the IAF's new F-35 fighter jet, which is set to arrive in Israel on Monday.

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Eshel is expected to retire in several months from the IDF and complete a five-year term as commander of Israel's strategic arm, but before then, he is set to record a few missions on the F-35 and receive accreditation in the US.

Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel being briefed on the F-35 (Photo: Mor Tzidon)

The IAF commander is certified to fly any IAF aircraft and as with any senior officer in the air force, flies one training mission a week to remain combat ready. During Operation Protective Edge, Eshel took part in offensive sorties in the Gaza Strip and even bombed a tunnel that penetrated into Israel at the Kerem Shalom area at the beginning of the operation.

IAF training and simulator officers explained that over the course of four instructional courses, Eshel learned to fly the new aircraft and studied its systems and various components.

Photo: Mor Tzidon

Sgt. Metar, one of the simulator instructors who taught Eshel, said, "We taught Maj. Gen. Eshel all the required material, from the most basic components to the most complex. We gave him time to study the cockpit, learn emergency procedures and all flight procedures. Maj. Gen. Eshel is an outstanding student, invests a lot of time and energy, and writes every detail. He is very driven and did not want to take breaks."

Photo: EPA

Two of the first F-35s are expected to arrive in Israel on Monday, flown by American pilots. The planes are expected to land at the Nevatim Airbase in the Negev after a stopover in Italy. A ceremony will be held on Tuesday, which is expected to include US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter as a guest of Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman.
TIKRIT -- An Iraqi military commander was wounded and one of his bodyguards killed when ISIS militants fired mortar shells at his convoy south of Mosul on Sunday, officers from the local military command told Reuters.

They said a convoy carrying Lieutenant-General Jumaa Inad, head of operations in Salahuddin province, came under attack near the town of Shirqat where Iraqi forces are fighting to retake an Islamic State-held enclave.

He had wounds to his head and arm and was flown to a hospital in Erbil, they said.

Inad was visiting troops in the village of Ganous, on the eastern bank of the Tigris river about 90 km south of Mosul.
QAYARA AIR BASE - US Defense Secretary Ash Carter made an unannounced visit Sunday to an Iraqi air base where several hundred U. troops are helping Iraqi forces stage for their offensive to recapture the nearby city of Mosul from the Islamic State group.

Carter and a small entourage flew to Qayara air base from Baghdad after meeting with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and sharing lunch with American troops. It was Carter's first visit to Qayara since it began operating as an Iraqi staging base in October.

Sunday's visit came as Iraqi security forces have been slowed in their nearly two-month-old offensive against ISIS, which has occupied Mosul for more than two years.
US President-elect Donald Trump said he didn't believe reports that intelligence agencies concluded Russia intervened in the presidential election on his behalf, according to an interview broadcast on "Fox News Sunday."

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"I think it's ridiculous. I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it," Trump said in the interview, taped on Saturday. He blamed Democrats for putting out the media reports and said he did not believe they came from the Central Intelligence Agency.

A senior US intelligence official told Reuters intelligence agencies have concluded with "high confidence" that not only did their Russian counterparts direct the hacking of Democratic Party organizations and leaders, but they did so to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin (Photo: AP)

The Republican president-elect questioned whether the CIA was behind the reports that indicated Moscow wanted him in the White House. "I think the Democrats are putting it out," he said in the interview.

Two leading Republican voices on foreign policy in the US Senate, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, joined two Democratic senators on Sunday in expressing concern over the reports on Russian interference and saying that cannot become a partisan issue.

"For years, foreign adversaries have directed cyber attacks at America's physical, economic, and military infrastructure, while stealing our intellectual property. Now our democratic institutions have been targeted," the senators, including Democrats Chuck Schumer and Jack Reed, said in a statement.

"Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American."

US intelligence agencies have told Congress and the administration of President Barack Obama that Russia has grown increasingly aggressive in Syria and Ukraine and has stepped up activities in cyberspace including meddling, sometimes covertly, in European and US elections.

"This cannot become a partisan issue. The stakes are too high for our country," the senators said in a statement.
Israels new Ambassador to Turkey Eitan Na'eh will be living next door to Switzerland's ambassador to Turkey, Walter Haffner, who is married to the Israeli Tamar Almagor Haffner, he was surprised to find upon entering his new residence in Ankara last week

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Tamar met her husband in 2010 in Israel while he was serving as the Swiss ambassador here. Two years later when Haffner completed his term and was appointed ambassador to Riga, Tamar accompanied him, and the two tied the knot in Zurich and in Israel this year in August, marking a second marriage for both of them.

Walter Haffner and Tamar Almagor Haffner

Prior to being married, the Swiss Foreign Ministry announced its intention to appoint Walter to the same position in Iran, a nomination he refused on the grounds of his wifes nationality. Indeed, the ambassador feared that the Iranians would not approve the nomination, or would make life difficult, all the more so since the two were not yet married at the time.

Tamar said that during her sojourn in Turkey, at times she herself felt like she was serving as a de facto Israeli ambassador to her host country.

Haffner refused to serve as ambassador to Iran, fearing the imposition of difficult conditions given nationality of his wife-to-be

I host the wives of ambassadors and hosted the ambassador of Saudi Arabia. I also invited the Iranian ambassadors wife, but when I informed her that I was Israeli she got cold feet and didnt come. I find myself arguing for Israel with foreign diplomats here, she said.

Even Walter himself said that sometimes he feels like an Israeli ambassador, particularly given his command of a Hebrew vocabulary, albeit a limited one.

Tamar Almagor Haffner in Turkey: 'I find myself arguing for Israel.'

The two said they both find themselves defending Israel at many events, particularly during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 when they clashed with the wives of the Danish and Canadian ambassadors. They were speaking against Israel and the settlements, but I defended the state strongly.

Tamar and her husband have already done what they can to make Naeh feel that he has a friendly couple on which to rely. Come round if you need a bit of sugar, they told him.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Sunday morning the arduous process of appointing various governmental officials, citing the seeming ease with which US President-elect Donald-Trump has managed to appoint thousands within just a few weeks.

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Donald Trump is appointing 4,000 people to positions without the committees and bureaucracy, Netanyahu said during a stormy discussion over the appointment of the deputy attorney general. In Israel it is not possible to nominate even a few hundred. The system needs to be changed, he added.

President-Elect Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu (Photo: EPA, AFP)

The subject was already raised in an earlier governmental discussion during which the prime minister was equally unequivocal on the matter. However, when Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) entered the fray to approve his appointments for two deputy attorneys general, resentment among the ministers sparked protests from a number of officials.

The disagreement ensued over the fact that appointments were arbitrarily determined in advance for a period of eight years. Ministers Yoav Galant (Kulanu) and Yariv Levin (Likud) protested and inquired as to why such a prolonged period of time and who was the official who decided on this.

During the discussion, further protests were voiced over the constrained nature of making new appointments and about the fact that the search committees scare away higher quality candidates.

As the discussion was brought to an end, it was decided that a committeeheaded by Ministers Levin, Galant, Shaked, Minister of Energy Yuval Steinitz (Likud), and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas)be formed to look into altering the current system. This committee will submit its recommendations in the near future.

Little time elapsed before Netanyahus opponents eschewed his apparent desire to emulate Trump.

Unfortunately, we knew a long time ago that for Netanyahu, Trump became a man to be emulated, said Zionist Union MK Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin. Netanyahu is blatantly copying Trump ... his hatred of foreigners, his hostility toward journalists and now he wants to imitate his nomination of politicians. Trump has to be given credit, but from what we have seen until now, it is not a sure thing that Trump is an ideal model to emulate for the prime minister of Israel.
A leading Israeli opposition lawmaker has launched a campaign calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be investigated for corruption.

Erel Margalit of the Zionist Union party said Sunday he aims to get the Supreme Court to have Netanyahu interrogated.

At issue is a scandal over reports that Netanyahu's personal attorney represented a German company involved in a $1.5 billion sale of submarines to Israel, raising questions about the prime minister's possible involvement. Reports later emerged that Iran, Israel's arch enemy, has a stake in that company.

Police say they are looking into it but not investigating.

Margalit said "This is corruption at its worst."

The campaign clip shows images portraying Netanyahu as living lavishly and newspaper headlines about scandals.
A spokeswoman for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra says the famed ensemble plans to return a valuable French Neo-Impressionist painting looted by the Nazis to relatives of its original Jewish owner.

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Claudia Kapsamer said Friday that the oil painting by Paul Signa will be handed over to Marcel Koch's relatives in about three weeks.

Archive photo: Seversl works were sold by Goebbels, Nazi propaganda minister (Photo: EPA)

A Nazi police official gave the orchestra Signa's "Port-en-Bessin" in 1940 for its performances in occupied France.

The painting's estimated value is around $500,000, or more than 470,000 euros.

The orchestra purged Jewish members and closely cooperated with Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and other top Hitler associates after Germany's 1938 annexation of Austria.

It has worked in recent years to research and reveal its Nazi past and to make amends.
In 2010, the Knesset passed the Civil Union Law for Citizens with no Religious Affiliation 2010, and it was hailed as the harbinger of civil marriages for all Israelis; six years later, it can be declared a failure.

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During 2016, only one couple chose to enter into a union under the auspices of the law. In the interim, hundreds of thousands of Israelis remain without a legal option to marry in their own country.

According to the Ministry of Justice's records, from 2011 until now, only 121 couples have taken advantage of the 2010 lawroughly 20 couples a year. The peak year was 2012 with 46 couples, and the rate has significantly decreased every since. A further 12 couples were rejected for failing to meet criteria. The data were presented by the NGO Hiddush for Religious Freedom and Equality for the UN's Human Rights Day on December 10.

Ever since the wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, there have been multitudes of descendants of Jews who attained citizenship under the Law of Return but are not considered Jewish by the rabbinate, and by extension, the state. Demographists estimate that their number is on the rise with the second and third generations, reaching some 300,000. They are defined by the state as having "no religious affiliation" and cannot legally marry inside the country, be it in traditional Jewish weddings or in any other ceremony.

In recent years, many different attempts have been made to attain civil marriages for all Israelis, but the staunch opposition of the religious and Haredi parties caused all of them to fail, with the exception of the limited Union Law for Citizens with no Religious Affiliation, sponsored by Yisrael Beytenu. It permits couples of two partners both without religious affiliation to register their unions at the Ministry of Justice, and it refrains from calling their joining "marriage."

The principal claim that stood behind the bill and brought about limited change was that Israel was depriving the basic rates of 300,000 of its citizens by not offering them any avenue to have their relationships recognized. Contrary to those recognized as Jewish, who are permitted to wed under the auspices of the state rabbinate (whether they want to or not, as no other domestic legal option exists for them) and for those of other recognized faiths, who can marry within the legally recognized framework of their religion, those without religious affiliation had no real option.

The ultra-Orthodox had to compromise, which was authorized by then-Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shomo Amar: A new institution would be created within the Ministry of Justice, called the Couples' Registry. It would provide services to couples, but only after a rabbinical court issued an authorization that there was no fear that one of the two might be Jewish to ensure that no state-sponsored "mistakes" might take place. Regardless, the registered couple is not considered as married, and it is unclear what their status in other countries.

With the ultra-Orthodox parties able to veto any legislation by threatening to topple the government if it violates the status quo in the relationship between the state and religion, the situation is unlikely to change. The situation was the same in the previous government, even when Yesh Atid and the Bayit Yehudi put forward multiple proposals regarding these issues, the coalition had no hopes of promoting civil marriages.

Rabbi Uri Regev, Hiddush's president and CEO, commented on the data, "In light of the wide public support for civil marriages, it's time to erase artificial 'solutions' like (the Civil Union Law for Citizens with no Religious Affiliation) from the books and introduce in their place freedom of choice in marriage. We can only hope that Minister Lieberman, the leader of Yisrael Beytenu, who has expressed his support for civil marriage, will remember and bring up the vital need for it, even at cabinet meetings."
A total of 3,232 capital city auctions are currently being tracked by CoreLogic this week compared to 3,207 auctions last week.

Auction volumes are set to rise this week in Melbourne, with 1,561 auctions scheduled in Melbourne. Slightly fewer auctions are scheduled across Sydney this week, with 1,126 homes set to be taken to auction.

Outside of Sydney and Melbourne, each of the remaining capital cities is set to see a lower number of auctions this week compared to last week. Brisbane has 190 auctions scheduled for this week, Adelaide has 150, Perth has 72, and Canberra has 110.

Glen Waverley in Melbourne is the busiest individual suburb for auctions across the nation this week, with 24 residential homes set to go under the hammer. Followed by Reservoir (23), St Kilda (21), Richmond (20) and Hawthorn (19), all of which are in Victoria, notes the CoreLogic report.

Summary of last weeks results

Capital city auction clearance rates remained strong last week, with final results indicating that 72.3% of auctions were successful. However, the number of properties taken to auction last week declined across the capital cities, with 3,207 auctions held, down from 3,398 the previous week.

Last week saw Melbournes final clearance rate increase to 77.3 per cent, from 76.1 per cent the previous week, while for Sydney, final results show that the clearance rate for the city fell from 77.1 per cent the previous week to 75.2 per cent last week. Auction numbers decreased over the week in both Melbourne and Sydney, down to 1,416 and 1,182 from the previous weeks 1,616 and 1,262 respectively.

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Two Thirds Of Aussies Want To Buy Investment Properties In Capital Cities

Capital City Dwelling Values Rose Slightly In November
By PTI: Hyderabad, Dec 11 (PTI) Manmohan Singh should give his silent support to demonetisation rather than being critical of the move as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is merely doing what the former premier could not achieve in 10 years, Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said here today.

It is most unfortunate that Singh, who was an economic adviser (to the Centre), Finance Minister and Prime Minister, was critical of the demonetisation move "as if for the appreciation from Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi", Dattatreya said.

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He added that Singh should support demonetisation and promotion of cashless transactions in the country as there is no politics in the NDA governments move.

"Prime Minister clearly stated we are not for party interest, we are for national interest. No personal agenda or no party agenda. Now it is national agenda. This JAM (Jandhan, Aadhar, Mobile).

"These three great men -- A B Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and Modi -- they are visionaries. I personally respect Manmohan Singh. Modi is doing what he (Singh) could not achieve in 10 years. When Modi is doing, he should give silent support," he told reporters.

"The JAM will bring a revolution," he said.

Modi gave legal status to Aadhar though it was brought in by Singh as Prime Minister, Dattatreya said. "He (Modi) did not set it (Aadhar) aside. Because, it (Aadhar) was in national interest," he said.

The Union Minister said Nandan Nilekani, who was close to Singh, is supporting demonetisation and promotion of digital economy.

Hailing demonetisation as an "economic revolution", he alleged that the opposition Trinamool Congress, Congress and the Left are indulging in mindless and inappropriate criticism on the issue.

Observing that demonetisation would check terrorism, corruption and black money, Dattatreya said the people are supporting the governments move though they faced inconvenience.

He said demonetisation was not a sudden decision and that the Prime Minister is taking steps with a long-term perspective which would benefit the poor.

The Modi government appreciates the common people for their support, he said, adding "all over the country, Rs 3.50 lakh crore was distributed. SBI said this is equal to what was distributed in the last three years". PTI SJR NRB SAI

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Latest News

Washington, DC - Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Ambassador Tina Kaidanow will travel to Ankara, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem, from December 11 to17 for discussions on a variety of international security issues.

Ambassador Kaidanow will meet with Turkish officials in Ankara to discuss bilateral defense trade and security cooperation. She will meet with representatives from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense to share U.S. perspectives on bilateral and regional security issues.

In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Ambassador Kaidanow will confer with Israeli officials about recent developments in the bilateral defense relationship, including the ten-year security assistance Memorandum of Understanding, and ongoing defense-industrial collaboration.
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - The City of Yuma will host a welcoming and meet-and-greet event at City Hall on Saturday, December 17, for the community to welcome the USNS Yuma's future Capt. David Gommo and his crew leaders. Capt. Gommo and two of his crew leaders will be visiting Yuma, after which the U.S. Navy's new Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) is named. The City invites media partners and community members.

Welcoming and meet-and-greet for Captain Gommo and crew leaders of the USNS Yuma, who will be visiting Yuma to get to know the namesake city.

2:30 p.m., Saturday, December 17 at City Hall, One City Plaza, Yuma, AZ.

Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls, members of the City Council, City Administrator Greg Wilkinson, as well as the USNS Yuma's Captain Gommo, the First Mate and Chief Engineer will be in attendance.
By PTI: 79-85

Guwahati, Dec 10 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today said a memorial will be constructed in memory of those agitators killed in Assam movement. "In the memory of the martyrs of Assam agitation, a memorial will be constructed. Led by the students of the state, Assam Agitation reflected strong resolve of the people of Assam to the world," Sonowal said. He also informed that all the martyrs column located at several places of the state will be preserved. On this occasion, Sonowal disbursed Rs 5 lakh to each of the 855 bereaved families through ECS mode and distributed mementos.

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Earlier, the Chief Minister paid rich floral tributes at the 34 feet Martyrs Column built at the venue. The Assam Agitation, which took place from 1979 to 1985, was against infiltration into the state and remained partly non-violent, except the infamous Nellie massacre of 1983 where over 2,100 people were butchered in a single night. PTI TR SUS SUS

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Mogadishu: A suicide car bomber has killed at least sixteen people and injured five others at a police station in the Somalia capital on Saturday, a Somali police officer said.

Capt. Mohamed Hussein said the attack on Sunday, targeted a police station near the Mogadishu port and largely destroyed the building and others nearby.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the second blast in the seaside capital in two days.

A suspected suicide car bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a security checkpoint near Mogadishu on Saturday when soldiers stopped him for security checks.

Despite being ousted from most of its key strongholds in Somalia, the Islamic extremist group, al-Shabab, still launches deadly attacks across large parts of south and central Somalia.
Washington: US president-elect Donald Trump has said that one of his first executive orders after assuming office would be to order investigation into all visas abuses, indicating that foreigner workers, including Indians, may face tough scrutiny under his administration.

While Trump did not identify or name any particular visa abuse, lawmakers for the past few years have expressed concern over abuse of H-1B visas by companies

During his presidential campaign, Trump had emphasised tightening immigration and criticised companies that ship jobs overseas to countries like India and China.

"One of my first executive orders will ask the Department of Labour to investigate all visa abuses that undermine jobs and wages for the American worker," Trump said at a rally in Michigan on Friday.

"We will fight to protect every American life. During the campaign, I also spent time with American workers laid off and forced to train the foreign workers that were brought in to replace them. That's not going to happen anymore," Trump said.

He was apparently refering to cases like that of Disney World and other American companies wherein people hired on H-1B visas, including Indians, displaced US workers.

"The company that's out there right now, they say you're going to train the people that are going to replace you, and if you don't do it, you're not getting your severance pay, OK, not going to happen to our people anymore," Trump said.

He also vowed to end illegal immigration.

"To protect our country from terrorism and extremism, I will suspend immigration and refugee admissions from regions where they cannot be safely processed or vetted," he said.

"On immigration, we will build a great wall and we will put an end to illegal immigration and stop the drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth and many other people. Got to stop the drugs," he said.

"And we're going to have people come into our country, hundreds of thousands of people. We want them to come in because we're going to have big, beautiful doors in that wall, but they're going to come in legally through a process legally," he said.

Trump said he believes in peace through strength.

"We will, however, get rid of ISIS, I'm sorry. We will get rid of ISIS. ISIS has to go. At the same time, we will ensure our veterans have the best medical care in the world. It's about time," he said.

"And on healthcare, we will repeal and replace Obamacare. We're going to have healthcare that's much less expensive. They will be much better, much stronger. The murder rate our country has experienced is the largest increase in 45 years. You don't hear that. We are going to support the incredible men and women of law enforcement and we are going to bring this crime wave to an end," he said.
Aleppo: The Syrian army tightened its grip on rebels besieged in Aleppo with thousands of civilians, Islamic State group fighters withdrew from Syria's Palmyra only hours after they had re-entered the famed ancient city of Palmyra on Sunday following heavy Russian air strikes, a monitor said.

Air strikes pummelled the shrinking rebel enclave in east Aleppo as US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Syrian regime`s "indiscriminate bombing" amounted to crimes against humanity.

Western powers meeting in Paris called for peace talks to resume and for civilians to be allowed to leave Aleppo, where tens of thousands have already fled the offensive.

The diplomatic flurry came as a US-backed alliance announced it would launch the second phase of its battle for the Islamic State group`s de facto Syrian capital of Raqa further east.

Washington announced it was sending an additional 200 troops to support that offensive against IS.

The three-week-old assault by the Russian-backed regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad aimed at retaking all of Aleppo has triggered mounting international outrage.

Speaking in Paris, Kerry said the regime`s "indiscriminate bombing" of Aleppo amounted to "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" and he called for Russia and Assad`s other backers Iran to show "a little grace" and help end it.

American and Russian officials were due to gather in Geneva for what Kerry called a bid to stop Aleppo "being absolutely, completely, destroyed".

Aleppo has witnessed some of the most brutal violence of Syria`s nearly six-year war.

In less than a month, forces loyal to Assad have overrun around 85 percent of east Aleppo, a rebel stronghold since 2012.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said the world is watching "the last steps" in the Aleppo battle and evacuating civilians must be a priority.

Air strikes and regime rocket fire battered the last remaining rebel districts on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The strikes were so intense that windows in the west rattled.

"The bombing is unreal," said Ibrahim Abu al-Leith, spokesman for the White Helmets rescue force inside Aleppo, speaking from one of the last rebel-controlled zones in the southeast.

"The streets are full of people under the rubble. They are dying because we can`t get them out," he told AFP.

The Observatory said 19 civilians were killed Saturday by rebel rocket fire into government-controlled districts, taking to 139 people the number killed there by rebel fire since November 15.

Another 413 civilians have been killed in east Aleppo in the same period.

Moreover, the NGO Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, condemned a possible chlorine gas attack on Friday in the Kallash neighbourhood of Aleppo.

"Victims at the medical facility reported symptoms consistent with the choking agent, chlorine gas. 25 victims are reported to have experienced suffocation and difficulty breathing," they said.

The opposition has repeatedly accused the regime of using chlorine gas on rebel zones, which Damascus denies.

A joint investigation by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found that several units of the Syrian army had used toxic weapons against three villages in northern Syria in 2014 and 2015.

With the fighting intensifying Saturday after a brief respite, a UN General Assembly resolution demanded an immediate ceasefire and urgent aid deliveries.

But both Moscow and Damascus have rejected talk of a ceasefire without a rebel withdrawal -- a demand that opposition groups have refused.

After meeting opposition representatives on Saturday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the opposition was willing to resume peace talks "without pre-conditions".

However, a diplomatic source told AFP the opposition required a political transition in Syria before it would agree to take part.

"There can be no military solution in Syria," British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in Paris, urging "a return to a political process with the credibility necessary for all parties to commit to an end to all the fighting."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: "We demand that the regime, but also Iran and Russia, let people leave the conflict zone."

The Observatory said another 2,000 civilians fled Aleppo`s remaining rebel-held districts Saturday.

State news agency SANA gave a number of 3,000, and said they had been taken to the temporary shelter in Jibrin, about 10 kilometres (six miles) east of the city.

The UN Friday expressed concern about reports of hundreds of men going missing after fleeing to government-held territory.

The fall of east Aleppo would be the biggest blow for the rebels since the war began in 2011.

It began as a widespread protest movement against Assad`s regime but has since evolved into an all-out war that has seen jihadists such as IS rise to prominence.

At least 100 members of pro-government force members have been killed by IS in and around Palmyra since Thursday, the Observatory said.

In May last year, IS seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, which is on UNESCO`s world heritage list.

They caused extensive damage to many ancient sites in Palmyra before being ousted in March by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia.

"After a quick advance, intense Russian raids since Saturday night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

The raids killed a large number of the jihadists in the desert city in central Syria, Abdel Rahman said, without being able to give a precise number.
Chennai/Hyderabad: Cyclone Vardah, packing a wind speed of 90 kmph, will make a landfall between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh on Monday, the MeT officials said, warning people not to venture too close to the shoreline.

Both the state governments are on high alert as the severe cyclonic storm is expected to make landfall on Monday afternoon.

The Tamil Nadu government has announced a holiday for all educational institutions in four coastal districts of the state.

The Regional Meteorological Centre said Cyclone Vardah lay centred at 330 km east of Chennai at 1430 hours on Sunday.

And it will move westwards before making landfall between north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts on Monday afternoon.

The Met officials said rains will start on Sunday night and gradually increase tomorrow in the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram.

Heavy to very heavy rains likely lash these districts on Monday, PTI quoted weather official S Balachandran as saying.

Strong winds could gust upto 80-90 kmph, he added.

Fishermen has been asked not to venture into the sea for the next 48 hours.

Chief Minister O Panneerselvam chaired a review meeting of Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority and asked the armed forces to be on standby.

All educational institutions in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur and coastal taluks of Villupuram will remain closed on Monday.

"They should take necessary steps for ensuring the safety of their students especially hostel inmates and their water and food requirements," the report quoted an official release as saying.

In Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the state's preparedness through a teleconference with top officials.

He directed them to be alert and undertake necessary rescue and relief efforts in view of the cyclone threat.

Food and other essential commodities should be kept ready in adequate quantities, he said.

"Take all steps to prevent loss of lives and to minimise damages to crops and properties," Naidu told the officials.

The Tamil Nadu government has also asked private establishments in these districts to allow their staff avail holiday or work from home.

The chief minister has instructed to assign senior IAS officers to monitor cyclone related works in coordination with district collectors, the release said.

"Arrangements to be made for evacuating people in low lying and vulnerable areas.

Relief centres to be kept in readiness along with necessary food, water and other arrangements.

Army, Navy, Air-force and Coast Guard have been alerted to be on standby for deployment as and when necessary," it said.

The government has also asked people to stay indoors during the heavy rains, stock adequate food, medicines and drinking water and use them judiciously.

NDRF, SDRF, Fire and Rescue services department personnel have already been pre-positioned and shall be immediately utilised wherever necessary for rescue and relief operations, the official release said.

Teams will be deployed with adequate equipment like power saws and transportation for removing fallen trees and restoring traffic, it said.

Health department has been asked to take measures to organise special camps and to pre-position generators, emergency supplies, medicines and oxygen cylinders in Government hospitals.

All emergency measures have been put in place in Andhra Pradesh, officials said.

Three teams of NDRF personnel have been kept ready in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh as heavy to very heavy rain ranging up to 17 cm is expected tomorrow.

Chittoor and Kadapa districts are also expected to receive very heavy rainfall while Anantapuramu and Prakasam districts too will receive moderate rain.

Four senior IAS officials have been deputed to Nellore, Chittoor, Kadapa and Prakasam districts to oversee rescue and relief operations.

Meanwhile, Puducherry government has declared tomorrow a holiday for all educational institutions in Puducherry and Karaikal regions due to heavy rains and squally weather forecast under the impact of cyclone.

Announcing this, Chief Minister V.Narayanasamy said in a release that heavy rains have been forecast coupled with cyclonic storm in the Union Territory tomorrow.

He appealed to the people of Puducherry to stay safe and procure their requirements in advance.

The entire administration has been geared to rise to any exigency and toll free phones 1070 and 1079 can be contacted for any help and emergency, he said.

(With PTI inputs)
Bucharest: Romanians began voting on Sunday in a Parliamentary election a year after a massive anti-corruption drive forced the last Socialist prime minister from power.

The country of about 19 million is one of the poorest in the European Union and perceived as one of the most corrupt.

Romania's biggest party, the Social Democratic Party, is expected to come first and will likely try to form a majority with smaller parties.

In all, 504 seats are up for re-election in Romania's bicameral Parliament.

President Klaus Iohannis, who by law is not allowed to belong to any party, urged Romanians to vote.

"I voted for a prosperous and strong Romania," Iohannis said after casting his ballot in the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

Former Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned after mass protests following a nightclub fire in October 2015 that killed 64 people.

The country is currently run by a government of technocrats headed by Premier Dacian Ciolos, a former EU agriculture commissioner.

The leader of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, got a two-year suspended prison sentence for voter fraud in April for inflating voter numbers at a July 2012 referendum to impeach former President Traian Basescu.

Dragnea this time has promised an ambitious populist agenda to raise salaries and pensions, slash taxes, build more hospitals, offer faster trains and give every village its own ambulance.

In recent days, Iohannis has reiterated his commitment to the anti-corruption fight.

"Corruption is stagnation, contempt for citizens and the law. As I've said before, corruption kills," he said.

Polls close at 9 pm.
Solan: Defending Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has been drawing flak post the demonetisation drive, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Sunday said, the nation has finally got a Prime Minister who puts forth his views before the nation.

Shah, who was addressing the `Tridev Sammelan` here, also used the occasion to corner former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

"Rahul Gandhi asks what has been achieved in last two-and-a-half years. The first in that list is giving India a Prime Minister, who speaks," Shah said.

"The country (earlier) got a Prime Minister whose voice could only reach the ears of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi," he added while alleging that Dr Singh was only a mouth-piece of the Congress.

The BJP president highlighted the scams, which took place in the last ten years during the Congress-led UPA regime.

"The people have not forgotten that how many scams and cases of corruption surfaced during the 10-year regime of Sonia (Gandhi) and Manmohan Singh," he said.

Shah also reached out to the voters ahead of next year`s assembly polls and urged them to vote for the right party and choose the right government in Himachal Pradesh.

"If `Congress-mukt Bharat` has to be achieved then the Congress will have to be defeated in Himachal as well," he said.

The BJP president`s assertion comes a day after Prime Minister Modi countered the opposition`s charges of running away from a debate on the government`s move to ban high-value currency notes.

"We are ready to debate on demonetisation but I am not being allowed to speak in Lok Sabha so I am speaking in a jan sabha (public meeting)," said Prime Minister Modi.

"Parliament is not being allowed to function. What is happening in Parliament has even anguished our President, who has tremendous political experience," he added.

The ongoing Winter Session of Parliament has witnessed repeated disruptions with a united opposition demanding a debate on the demonetisation move.
Jaunpur: In an extremely unfortunate incident, at least seven persons have been killed and six others injured after a jeep carrying them collided with a state-run bus near a railway crossing in UP's Jaunpur.

What led to accident?

The victims were returning from a relative's cremation last night when their vehicle hit the government bus.

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem.

The injured have been admitted to a hospital.

District Magistrate Bhanuchandra Goswami has ordered a probe into the incident.
Bogor: India and Indonesia must cooperate closely in areas like defence, security and counter-terrorism, President Joko Widodo has said ahead of his state visit as the key Southeast Asian nation sought to enhance bilateral strategic partnership and trade ties.

Widodo said Indonesia is also willing to consider a bilateral trade pact with India.

"I am very much looking forward to have discussions Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi," Widodo, 55, told PTI ahead of his two-day visit to India beginning tomorrow, the first by an Indonesian President after former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's trip in 2011.

Widodo said he sees closer cooperation between Indonesia and India in defence, security and anti-terrorism fields.

"This is something that we are currently discussing...Both our countries have large maritime regions, so cooperation in this sphere is welcome," said Widodo, the President of the country that has the world's largest Muslim population.

It is also appropriate that Indonesia and India work together to fight terrorism, he asserted, adding that, "no country is immune from a terrorist attack".

Indonesia will always cooperate with all countries to fight terrorism through the exchange of information as well as intelligence exchanges and cooperation, he said.

"I hope to increase ties in all sectors, especially economic. We have cultural and religious ties going back centuries. Ramayana and Mahabharata are very famous in Indonesia," Widodo said.

He said the discussions with Modi will cover economic, trade and investment collaboration.

Indonesia is also willing to consider a bilateral trade pact with India, the president said.

"This is something that we are willing to consider. The important thing is that such trade deals must benefit both parties," he said.

Indonesia has emerged to become the second largest trading partner of India in the ASEAN region. Bilateral trade has increased from USD 6.9 billion in 2007-08 to USD 19.03 billion in 2014-15. In 2015-16 the bilateral trade fell to USD.9 billion due to global economic situation, fall in commodity prices and less overall imports by Indonesia.

"Strong leadership is important at this time," said Widodo on Prime Minister Modi's tough decisions for accelerating the Indian economy and development.

Widodo said he has had held several discussions with Modi on Indian companies' investment in Indonesia. He stressed that he would like to see Indian investment in the pharmaceutical sector as a priority and also in the infrastructure.

The President listed investment opportunities in his country, saying, "We have huge infrastructure needs, including toll roads, power plants, ports and airports. This is especially the case for the areas outside Java."

"We feel that investments in this (infrastructure) sector will prove just as lucrative," he said.

Responding to a question on Indian companies' participation in the Indonesia's coal mining sector, Widodo said Indonesia-India have a Joint Working Group on Coal to discuss the cooperation regarding coal.
New Delhi: Acting on a tip-off, Delhi Police's crime branch raided a law firm in Greater Kailash 1 area and unearthed a huge haul of cash.

In total, Rs 13.65 crore were recovered from T&T law firm.

Out of Rs 13.65 crore, Rs 2.60 cr is in new currency notes.

The recovered money has been handed over to Income tax department.

Earlier, on Satrurday, in a major haul of cash and gold, the Income Tax Department had unearthed Rs 5.7 crore in new Rs 2,000 currency notes, Rs 90 lakh in old notes and a whopping 32 kg gold and jewellery from a secret chamber inside a bathroom in Karnataka.

The development came hours after Rs 24 crore, also in new notes, were recovered from a government contractor`s car in Tamil Nadu.

After demonetisation move by PM Narendra Modi on Nov 8, several raids have been conducted to unearth black money.
Tata Sons has accused ousted group chairman Cyrus Mistry of deliberately weakening the management structures of the conglomerate.

By Virendrasingh Ghunawat: In a scathing counter-attack on Cyrus Mistry, the Tata Sons has said that the former chairman acted arbitrarily putting conglomerate's interests at risk.

The Tata Sons said that Mistry took advantage of free hand given to him to weaken the management structures of the group.

"Cyrus Mistry misled the Selection Committee set up in 2011 for selecting a Chairman of Tata Sons to succeed Ratan Tata, by making lofty statements about his plans for the Tata Group and more importantly indicated an elaborate management structure for managing the Tata Group," Tata Sons said in a statement.

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READ| Ratan Tata does not speak the truth: Cyrus Mistry

"After waiting for a period of four years, almost none of these management structures and plans have been given effect to. Clearly, in our opinion, the Selection Committee was misled in its choice of Mistry," it said.

In an appeal to all its stakeholders, the group said that Mistry took undue powers and authority, in his hand.

READ| Tata Steel dismisses Cyrus Mistry's allegations on Corus

"Mistry has gradually over the past three/four years concentrated all power and authority only in his own hands as Chairman in all the major Tata operating companies and gone about systematically diluting the representation of Tata Sons on the Boards of various Tata Companies," Tata Sons stated.

The company said that dividend income (other than from TCS) declined continuously and staff costs more than doubled during Mistry's tenure as Tata Sons chairman.

ALSO WATCH:

--- ENDS ---
Bahraich: Addressing a 'Parivartan Rally' (transformation rally) here through mobile phone, PM Narendra Modi on Sunday said that he would end the `gundaraj` (lawlessness) in Uttar Pradesh if the BJP is voted to power in the state in the coming assembly elections.

"Today there is gundaraj in the state. Everyone is fed up of this lawlessness. Even the police is unable to stop the `gundas` (goons)," PM Narendra Modi said during his address (over phone) to public in Bahraich.

Targeting Samajwadi Party, PM Modi said,"If you have to take your state forward, you will have to throw out those backing these gundas. And the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will do that."

"I can't understand the discomfort of the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) at the central government`s fight against black money," the PM added in connection with his demonetisation move.

"They (SP and BSP) are seldom on the same page on an issue. But nowadays, they are speaking in one voice. I can`t understand the reason for their discomfort at the fight against black money," he added.

"My fight against black money and graft would go on and all those hoarding unaccounted money would be caught in the coming days." "My government is all for the poor," he stressed.

PM Modi addressed the rally through mobile phone as his chopper could not land here due to low visibility owing to dense fog.

The Prime Minister was scheduled to address the rally at 1.00 p.m, but he could finally address it around 3.00 p.m. through his cell phone.

(With agency inputs)
Lucknow: Lucknow: PM Narendra Modi on Sunday addressed Parivartan Rally through mobile as his helicopter failed to land in UP's Bahraich due to dense fog. Here are key developments that took place before and during the e-rally:-

- For Uttar Pradesh to progress, poverty and 'goonda raj' needs to be removed, says PM Narendra Modi in his address to public at Parivartan Rally in UP's Baharaich

- PM Narendra Modi addresses Parivartan Rally in UP's Baharaich via phone call as his helicopter fails to land due to dense fog

- PM will try to come again when schedule and weather allows. He will address you on the phone: Keshav Prasad Maurya

- PM Narendra Modi's helicopter unable to land in Bahraich due to foggy weather, confirms Keshav Prasad Maurya

PM Modi's helicopter unable to land in Bahraich due to foggy weather: Keshav Prasad Maurya pic.twitter.com/od7xwQJWod  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 11, 2016

- Due to poor/low visibility owing to dense fog, PM Narendra Modi's chopper was forced to return to Lucknow

- PM Narendra Modi's helicopter fails to land due to poor visibility due to dense fog

- Dense fog has hit the PM Narendra Modi's 'Parivartan Rally' in UP's Bahraich. Reports say that PM chopper failed to land due to heavy fog.

- This is PM Narendra Modi's first visit to Bahraich after he assumed charge as Prime Minister.

- He is scheduled to address the rally around 1 PM

- A huge rally ground has been prepared for the purpose which is adjacent to the district headquarters of Bahraich.

- The PM will be visiting Bahraich for the third time since 2001. He was national general secretary of the BJP when he visited Bahraich in 2001 for the first time and later in November 2013 for the second time.

- Huge public participation is expected in the rally.

- BJP state president Keshav Prasad Maurya will receive Prime Minister Modi at the Amausi airport and then accompany him from Lucknow to Bahraich.

- It is the fifth Parivartan Rally of PM in Uttar Pradesh, as earlier the Prime Minister has addressed mammoth rallies at Ghazipur, Agra, Kushinagar, Moradabad.

-After Bahraich, Prime Minister Modi`s next rally is scheduled in Kanpur on 19th December.
Jammu: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday participated in 'Shahidi Diwas' programme in Kathua.

While addressing the gathering, Rajnath Singh slammed Pakistan for indulging into terrorism and infiltration.

"Terrorism is weapon of cowards not brave people," Rajnath Singh said in his address during 'Shahidi Diwas' programme in Kathua.

He was accompanied by Minister of State in PMO Dr. Jitendra Singh to participate in the Martyrs' Day and pay homage to martyrs.

"Leaving for Kathua in J&K. Shall attend 'Shahidi Diwas' programme and pay tributes to those who sacrificed their lives defending the country," Rajnath said prior to his departure.

Rajnath is also likely to review the security situation of the state, particularly that along the Line of Control and International Border.
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday flagged off a fortnightly special train for children which has been named as 'Vaadi ki sair' (Tour of the Valley).

Mehbooba flagged-off the fortnightly train ride for children from Banihal to Baramulla this morning, an official spokesman said.

He said that school children boarded the special train at different stations and the Chief Minister welcomed them at each stop and interacted with them during the journey.

"The Chief Minister sat with students across all districts and asked them to devote equal time to studies and extra curricular activities," he said.

Mehbooba wished children all the very best and hoped that they would excel in their fields and contribute positively to the society.

Several Ministers, Members of Parliament, MLAs and educationists accompanied Mehbooba and the children during the maiden 'Vaadi Ki Sair' train, he added. PTI MIJ IKA

12111618


Lucknow: The list of candidates released by SP state president Shivpal Yadav has once again brought to the fore the tug-of-war within the ruling party clan as names of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's brother and another mafia don Ateeq Ahmad might not be palatable to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The list of 23 candidates clearly bears the stamp of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal as Ansari's brother and sitting Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED) MLA Sigbatullah Ansari has been nominated from Mohammadabad in Ghazipur - a seat he presently holds.

QED's merger with Samajwadi Party had been openly opposed by the chief minister and the issue clearly became a flashpoint in the feud in the Yadav clan ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.

Another controversial name in the list released yesterday is that of mafia don Ateeq Ahmad who has been fielded from Kanpur Cantt seat.

Ateeq, an accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal, is on Akhilesh Yadav's 'blacklist'.

A former MP from Phoolpur, Ateeq was also president of the Apna Dal from 1999 to 2003.

Though Shivpal said winnability and loyalty to the party have been the main criteria in selecting candidates, analysts pointed out that in the process objections raised by Akhilesh over some of the candidates appeared to have been overruled.

Though the SP has changed a few candidates, the name of Aman Mani Tripathi, who was recently arrested by the CBI for the murder of his wife Sara Singh, remains on the list.

The chief minister reportedly "did not approve" of his candidature and it was expected that the party might replace him.

The latest ticket distribution might cause fresh ripples in the Yadav family as recently SP National General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav said he would have the "final say" in ticket distribution by virtue of the posts he held in the party and SP Parliamentary Board.
Lagos: A total of 56 people lost their lives and 177 others were injured in Friday`s twin blasts that hit a crowded market in northeast Nigeria, a local official said Saturday.

Yusuf Muhammed, chairman of the local government of Madagali, a district in the northeastern Nigerian state of Adamawa, told reporters in the state capital of Yola that 57 of the injured were in critical conditions, Xinhua reported.

He appealed to the federal and state governments, relevant donors and humanitarian agencies to come to the aid of the injured.

Madagali is located 276 km from Yola. In August 2014, the district was one of several towns seized by terror group Boko Haram, but it was recaptured by the military in March 2015.

Boko Haram has been blamed for some 20,000 deaths and the displacement of more than 2.6 million people since 2009.

After the twin blasts Friday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari urged Nigerians to be more vigilant and immediately report any suspicious activity to the nearest security and law enforcement agency.

"The battle against terrorism is a joint effort involving all citizens......Nigerians can and will defeat the evil that is Boko Haram," he said in a message of condolence.
The European Union on Sunday signed an agreement with the Malian government aimed at enabling the return of migrants who have reached Europe`s shores, and whose asylum requests have been refused.

"It is the first time the EU establishes such a precise mechanism with an African country with regards to returning failed asylum seekers," said a statement from the Dutch foreign ministry, which signed the agreement on the EU`s behalf.

The accord seeks to fight "the root causes of illegal migration" and to "enable the return from Europe of Malian migrants", the statement said.

The agreement came after a summit in the Maltese capital Valletta in November 2015, when EU leaders agreed with their African counterparts to set up a 1.8-billion-euro ($1.9-billion) fund to help address the root causes of migration.

In return, African countries would step up border controls and accept the repatriation of those who make it to Europe but are judged to have no right to remain.

The EU-Mali deal lays the foundations for schemes to help young people find work, and seeks to strengthen the country`s security forces.

In addition, Mali and neighbouring states are expected to step up the fight against people-smugglers while improving their border security.

A total of nine projects, with a budget of 145.1 million euros, were adopted.

Under the deal, "Malian civil servants will travel to EU member states to help determine the identity of migrants, in order to accelerate their return", the statement said.

The number of migrants from African nations -- including Mali, Nigeria and The Gambia -- who risk their lives at sea in a desperate bid to reach Europe has increased considerably in recent years, official figures show.

The EU-Mali deal, which will be presented in Brussels on Monday, is "necessary", according to Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, whose country will hold the EU`s rotating presidency from the New Year.

"Young Malians have so much to give to their country. We must help stop Malians travelling to North Africa or Europe from losing their lives or falling into the hands of people smugglers," he added.
Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on Egypt to "fight terrorism together" after a bombing killed 23 people in a Coptic Christian church in Cairo.

"Israel condemns the reprehensible terrorist attack at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo," a statement from the premier`s office said.

"Israel shares in the grief of the families of the victims and of the Egyptian people. We must unite forces and fight terrorism together."

Sunday`s was the deadliest attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt since 2011, when more than 20 were killed outside a church in the northern coastal city of Alexandria.

Media in Israel say the Jewish state and Cairo cooperate in the struggle against jihadists fighting Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

Israel gave its green light for the Egyptian army to use tanks, aircraft and infantry against jihadists in the Sinai, which was demilitarised under the peace treaty the two countries signed in 1979
Rome: Following reformist leader Matteo Renzi`s resignation in the wake of a crushing referendum defeat, Paolo Gentiloni was named Sunday as Italy`s new PM.

Gentiloni was asked by President Sergio Mattarella to form a new centre-left government that will guide Italy to elections due by February 2018.

A close ally of the outgoing premier, Gentiloni now has to put together his own government team ahead of a parliamentary approval vote expected on Wednesday.

In a brief statement, Gentiloni said there was an "urgent need for a fully functioning government" to address a series of pressing international, economic and social issues.

Chief among those is a looming crisis in the troubled banking sector and ongoing relief efforts after a series of deadly earthquakes between August and October.

Mattarella turned to Gentiloni after Opposition parties rebuffed overtures about a possible national unity government.

The President rejected opposition demands for an immediate election.

"Not by choice but out of a sense of responsibility I will be forming a government based on the outgoing majority," Gentiloni said, as per AFP.

Renzi, who had been in power for two years and 10 months, resigned last week after voters overwhelmingly rejected a package of constitutional reforms on which he had staked his future.

The populist Five Star Movement, which has led calls for immediate elections, said it would boycott Wednesday`s vote because the new government would have no legitimacy.

In Oct. 2014, with virtually no international experience, Gentiloni was unexpectedly handed the foreign affairs portfolio by Renzi, whom he had supported in a 2012 battle to grab the leadership of the Democratic Party.

Fast forward two years, and Renzi has once again pushed Gentiloni forward after resigning from the premiership following a clear defeat in a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reform.

As leader of the largest party in parliament, Renzi had a decisive say in who should replace him, and will have to keep the new administration alive. Critics say he chose the low-key Gentiloni to keep control from behind the scenes.

"A cast-iron Renzi supporter with little charisma... and above all expendable," Alessandro Di Battista, a leading light in the main opposition party, the 5-Star Movement, wrote on Facebook in reference to Gentiloni.

"He could be prime minister for a few months without endangering Renzi, who could prepare himself for a comeback," they said, as per Reuters.

(With Agency inputs)
Rome: Six people died and a total of 1,164 people were rescued during operations to save stricken migrant boats in the Mediterranean today, Italy's coastguard said.

Vessels operated by the coastguard, the EU's naval operation EU NAVFOR MED and the Italian navy were deployed along with the Aquarius, operated by the Doctors without Borders (MSF) charity, to help migrants on six rubber dinghies and one larger wooden boat that had got into trouble off Libya.

This year has already set a new record for the number of migrants arriving at Italy's southern ports with more than 173,000 registered by the interior ministry up until the start of last week.

According to the UN, at least 4,700 people have died attempting the often perilous crossing on boats chartered by people smugglers.
A chopper has crashed in Goregaon's Aarey Colony area on Sunday morning. Two including a pilot have been declared dead and two others are critical.

By Mayuresh Ganapatye: A chopper belonging to Aman Aviation Company crashed in Filter Pada area of Aarey Colony in Goregaon today morning.

Two including a pilot have been declared dead and 2 others are critical.

Police said that there were about four persons on board the Robinson R44 Astro helicopter including the pilots.

This is the 4-seat light helicopter that crashed at Aarey Colony. Robinson R44 Astro. VT-PHB regd to Aman Aviation & Aerospace Solns Pvt L. pic.twitter.com/sXzmioUOvl Sandeep (@SandeepUnnithan) December 11, 2016

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According to witnesses, hundreds of people from nearby tribal hamlets inside the Aarey Milk Colony and some other settlements rushed to help the victims even as fire tenders rushed to the spot.

People and police personnel extricated the victims from the burning chopper and rushed them to the Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri East.

While pilot PK Mishra was declared dead, a co-pilot and two passengers including a woman are reported to be in critical condition, a hospital official said.

Captain PK Mishra (Centre) Captain PK Mishra (Centre)

Captain PK Mishra was retired Army Aviation officer and had also served during Kargil war.

Another passenger, Ritesh Kumar, is critical and is currently undergoing treatment.

Chopper tail at the crash site. (Photo - ANI)

The incident took place near Royal Palm Hotel. Source said out of the four persons in the chopper two are women.

Following the incident the fire brigade has rushed to the spot.

Photo: ANI

The 1992-made Robinson R44 was originally with Pawan Hans and was later sold to Aman Aviation Company which used it for joy rides.

According to sources, Aman Aviation Company operates Joy Ride Mumbai and this chopper was a part of the service.

Watch the video here:

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Washington: US President-elect Donald Trump said he does not believe the allegations by the US intelligence agencies that the Russian government helped him win the White House via election-related cyberattacks.

"I think it is just another excuse. I do not believe it ... Every week it`s another excuse," Xinhua cited Trump as talking to Fox News in an interview.

Democrats are using the so-called Russian involvement to explain their heavy election loss, Trump said in the interview.

"Once they hack if you do not catch them in the act you are not going to catch them," Trump said, adding, "They have no idea if it is Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place."

Trump`s remarks came following a series of US mainstream media reports saying that the CIA had determined in a secret assessment with "strong confidence" that the Russian government had interfered in the 2016 US election in a special bid to help Trump.

Also on Sunday, bipartisan leaders of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, including Republican Senator John McCain and incoming Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, issued a joint statement calling for bipartisan efforts to explore the allegations and defend the US against cyber attacks.

The Obama administration accused in October that Moscow, in attempts to disrupt the US election, was behind hackers infiltrating the Democratic National Committee and the then Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton`s campaign. Russia immediately denied these allegations.

In the Fox interview, Trump also said he does not need daily intelligence briefings because they are so repetitive, but the vice president-elect is receiving them.

"I do not have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years," Trump said, "If something should change from this point, immediately call me. I am available on one-minute`s notice."

"I get it when I need it," he said.

As for setting up a blind trust to manage his assets so as to avoid conflicts of interests during his presidency, Trump only said that his "executives" and his children would run his companies in his absence.

"My executives will run it with my children. It is a big company, it is a great company. But I am going to have nothing to do with management," he said, rejecting suggestions that foreign governments and others would try to buy influence by buying into Trump products.

In the interview, Trump also indicated after taking office next month, he would re-start the Keystone and the Dakota Access pipelines which have been blocked by the Obama administration.
Mogadishu: The UN top envoy in Somalia on Sunday condemned a suicide car bombing at the Mogadishu seaport, which left at least 16 people dead and several others injured.

Michael Keating, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, expressed shock at the numerous civilian deaths caused by the bombing, of which the Al-Shabaab terror group has claimed responsibility, Xinhua reported.

"This latest atrocity by Al-Shabaab terrorists, taking place on a religious holiday, provides fresh evidence of their disregard for the lives and hopes of Somali citizens," Keating said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.

"The bombing may be intended to signal Al-Shabaab`s rejection of the 2016 electoral process," he said, pledging not to let terrorism stop the momentum.

A spokesman for the terrorist group told media that Al-Shabaab had targeted security personnel assigned to the seaport facility as they "had been trained to provide security for so-called elections."

The group said the attack, carried out by a bomber in a minibus packed with explosives, killed 30 Somali police officers.

Most of the victims, however, turned out to be truck drivers and port workers who were having tea in tea kiosks when the bomb went off on Sunday morning.

Keating praised the essential role Somali and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) security forces have played in protecting electoral sites around the country while recognising that security in Mogadishu remains the greatest challenge.

Most of the voting for the House of the People has now been completed, with 226 of the 275 seats occupied and nearly all remaining seats expected to be filled in the coming week.

Somalia`s National Leadership Forum has decided to hold the presidential election by the end of December.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party for opposing demonetisation as he addressed the Parivartan Rally via phone.

By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fifth Parivartan Rally in Uttar Pradesh could not go as per the BJP's script. Dense fog played the spoiler. PM Modi's helicopter could not land at Bahraich, the venue for his public rally.

Forced to address the election rally via phone, PM Modi slammed the SP and BSP for opposing demonetisation.

Modi said that demonetisation was carried out to punish the corrupt. PM Modi further said that the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party were facing hardships due to demonetisation.

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READ| Demonetisation is PM Modi's biggest blunder and a burden on common people: Prakash Karat

PM Modi said that the BJP would bring progress in Uttar Pradesh after the assembly elections slated for early next year.

"For Uttar Pradesh to progress, poverty and 'goonda raj' needs to be removed," PM Modi said.

READ| Why PM Modi spoke about Isabgol at Gujarat rally

Hard-selling his demonetisation move, Modi said that the decision was aimed at punishing those indulging in wrong practices. He said that it was decision taken to empower the poor people.

WATCH:

"You must have seen that the government is behind people, who have stashed black money. The government is committed to empower poor people," PM Modi said.

Earlier, thousands of people waited for PM Modi at the venue of rally in Bahraich. Foggy weather condition prevented landing of his helicopter.

PM Modi's helicopter unable to land in Bahraich due to foggy weather: Keshav Prasad Maurya pic.twitter.com/od7xwQJWod ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 11, 2016

ALSO READ

Demonetisation: Opposition hits back at PM Modi after his Gujarat speech

--- ENDS ---
Malcolm Turnbull says the Australian economy is facing big headwinds from a sluggish global economy.

Mr Turnbull was speaking ahead of the national accounts which economists expect will show the economy contracted in the September quarter, the first decline since March 2011, which was as the result of adverse weather events domestically and earthquakes in neighbouring New Zealand and Japan, Australia's second-largest trading partner.

Also read: Why we shouldn't pencil in RBA rate hikes until 2018

"We have sluggish growth across the world at the moment and that is one of the reasons why everything we do, every element of our policy has to promote economic growth," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.

At this stage, economists doubt the economy will remain so weak in the December quarter as to fall into recession - two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

For example, retail spending has picked up in recent months.

The Reserve Bank left the cash rate unchanged at a record low 1.5 per cent at its final board meeting of the year on Tuesday.

Also read: Top industries poised for a strong 2017

Central bank governor Philip Lowe anticipated some slowing in economic growth by year-end "before it picks up again", pointing to a future pick-up in exports as completed resource projects come on line.

Treasury will use the national accounts to form its forecasts for the mid-year budget review, which Treasurer Scott Morrison will hand down on December 19.

Source: AAP
By PTI: Kathmandu, Dec 11 (PTI) Nepal government will not withdraw the Constitution amendment legislation at any cost and would soon start the process of holding local elections to implement the statute, a top Maoist leader has said.

"Regardless of the passage or non-passage of the bill, our party will not quit the government. Instead, the government will start the process of holding local elections to implement the Constitution," CPN Maoist-Centre standing committee member Agni Prasad Sapkota said yesterday at a press meet in Bharatpur.

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The Constitution implementation requires the local, provincial and federal polls to be held by January 2018.

Referring to protests being staged over the amendment bill which proposes to split Province 5, Sapkota added, "The bill proposes to separate hill districts from Province 5 keeping in view the overall state of the country".

When asked whether the amendment bill was tabled at the behest of foreign powers, Sapkota claimed that it was presented to settle the problems faced by Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin.

"We cannot backtrack on the issue of federalism. We will work to put new system in place in such a way that it would meet the peoples demands," Sapkota stated.

Sapakota stated that the amendment bill would not be withdrawn at any cost as it was tabled to address the demands of Madhesi, Tharu and indigenous communities.

Madhesis launched a six-month-long agitation from September last year to February this year in which more than 50 people were killed.

The agitation had also crippled the landlocked countrys economy as supplies from India were blocked. PTI SBP NSA

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An Iran Air Boeing 747 passenger plane sits on the tarmac of the domestic Mehrabad airport in Tehran on January 15, 2013

Iran Air finalised a contract to buy 80 planes from Boeing, the US aerospace firm confirmed on Sunday, as it seeks to renew its ageing fleet despite sanctions.

Boeing said the contract -- Iran's first deal with a US aviation firm since the 1979 Islamic revolution -- was worth $16.6 billion (15.7 billion euros).

"Fifty of the planes are 737 and the other 30 are the long haul 777 that will be delivered to Iran Air in a period of 10 years," said Farhad Parvaresh, chief executive of the national carrier, who signed the contract with Boeing officials in Tehran.

With the incoming administration of US president-elect Donald Trump expected to take a tough line on Iran and American lawmakers recently voting for renewed sanctions, Boeing emphasised the employment opportunities of the deal.

"Today's agreement will support tens of thousands of US jobs directly associated with production and delivery of the 777-300ERs and nearly 100,000 US jobs in the US aerospace value stream for the full course of deliveries," the company said in a statement.

Many US lawmakers have opposed the deal, accusing Iran Air of helping to transport troops and weapons to conflict zones around the region.

The lack of new planes and parts has taken a severe toll on Iran's carriers over the years, earning it one of the worst safety records in the world with close to 1,700 people dying in a string of civilian and military air disasters since 1979, according to the Flight Safety Foundation.

"With the signing of this contract, the first important step has been taken for the modernisation of the country's aviation fleet," Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi was quoted as saying.

The first Boeings are due to arrive in 2018 and Iran Air is also due to finalise the purchase of 100 planes from European firm Airbus.

"Our goal is to increase our ability to compete in the aviation industry to be able to get back our share in the transport industry in the region and the world," said Akhoundi, referring to the fact that Iran was a regional hub for air transport before the revolution.

Story continues

- Sanctions pressure -

Following initial agreements earlier in the year, the Boeing and Airbus deals were given final approval by the US government in September.

Washington lifted some of its sanctions on Iran under a nuclear deal that came into force in January, but many restrictions have remained in place that mean companies trading with Tehran must receive explicit approval from the US Treasury.

That includes European firms like Airbus who manufacture some of their parts in the United States.

Pressure has been mounting on those in Iran and the United States who want to see increased trade between the two countries in order to cement the nuclear deal.

Iranian leaders have reacted angrily to news that Washington will renew its existing sanctions in the coming days, saying it is a breach of the deal, while Trump has vowed to rip up the accord entirely.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has faced a barrage of criticism at home after the deal failed to attract the level of foreign investment he promised -- mostly because global banks remain wary of doing business with the country.

The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has questioned the focus on purchasing billion-dollar fleets of aircraft.

"Suppose we modernise our air fleet. Okay, it's a very important and necessary move. But is it the priority?" Khamenei said in June.
The Trump administration will put a fox in every henhouse, from the Goldman Sachs execs who'll run the treasury to the working conditions repeat offender who'll run the Department of Labor to the public school abolitionist who'll run the Department of Education, but when it comes to climate and energy, the Trump administration is pulling out all the stops.



The EPA will be run by an unabashed climate change denier, while the Department of Energy transition team is being led by Thomas Pyle, a Koch coal lobbyist.





Pyle and his gang have sent the Department of Energy a memo demanding the names of government contractors and employees involved in climate negotiations, clean energy initiatives, portending a political purge of DoE employees who favor an evidence-based approach to climate, rather than a hydrocarbonist ideological approach.

This played out for more than a decade in Canada, under Stephen Harper's Petro-Tory regime, and it was fucking ugly. Canada has the world's dirtiest oil, but its carbon crimes are only a fraction of America's, and the damage that hydrocarbonism could do in America over the next four years is frankly terrifying.



"This feels like the first draft of an eventual political enemies list," said a Department of Energy employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal by the Trump transition team, told Reuters. "When Donald Trump said he wanted to drain the swamp it apparently was just to make room for witch hunts and it's starting here at the DOE and our 17 national labs." But what is different this time, Yale University environmental historian Paul Sabin told the Washington Post, is Trump's request for so many specific names in an era when people are easily tracked down in "a systematic way."

Trump team's 'intrusive' memo alarms DOE climate scientists

[Rowena Lindsay/Christian Science Monitor]





(Image: Gage Skidmore, CC-BY-SA)
No less than three of the casualties are currently in critical condition in doctors facilities and the number is probably going to rise, said health authorities. Bulgarias legislature said it is planning to declare Monday a day of national grieving after the fatal occurrence.

There will be more losses without a doubt, Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said in the wake of touching base at the town, somewhere in the range of 380 km upper east of the capital Sofia and home to around 1,000 individuals, as per a police official. Twelve of the private tanks, conveying propylene, extremely unpredictable and profoundly combustible gas, crashed at the rail station of the town. One of the tanks struck a powerful line and detonated on fire at an opportune time Saturday, police said. The intense impact leveled many houses and open structures, leaving individuals under the remains. Authorities requested a full departure of the town so that the propylene can be securely expelled.

Two impacts have created a genuine fire and demolished no less than 20 structures. There are many individuals harmed  numerous with smolders, Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov said. An 18-year-old man has kicked the bucket of his injuries in the healing center in the northern town of Shumen, a doctors facility official said. Somewhere in the range of 200 fire fighters are putting out the flames and are cooling the wrecked tanks to keep away from further impacts. Safeguard groups are looking for survivors in houses close to the prepare lines.

I took out six individuals under the remains. Three were dead, three alive. There are no houses left remaining close to the episode  inside 300 meters from the railroads, said Stefan Stefanov, who lives in Hitrino. Prosecutors said they are exploring the episode. Conceivable speeding or failing of the prepare tanks are among the in all likelihood purposes behind the occurrence, the leader of the parliamentary commission Nastimir Ananiev said.
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
Nitish in his letter to Swaraj said Chancellor George Yeo felt that the intervention by the Central government was affecting the autonomy of the university.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: A visibly miffed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has written a terse letter to Minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj expressing his disappointment over the resignation of Nalanda University Chancellor, George Yeo who according to Nitish tendered his resignation after repeated interventions from the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. Nitish in his letter to Swaraj said Chancellor George Yeo felt that the intervention by the Central government was affecting the autonomy of the university.

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"Chancellor George Yeo had complained that he was not taken into confidence on the decision to dissolve the previous governing board or constitute a new one. The fact that an important decision was taken without consulting the Chancellor of the Nalanda University was disturbing and raised questions about the autonomous nature of the University", Nitish quoted the Chancellor's concern in the letter.

In the letter, the Bihar Chief Minister has aired his concerns on how the stakeholders in Nalanda University were not being consulted before taking any major decision.

"All the stakeholders are worried about the direction in which the University is headed. Nalanda University is still in its infancy and therefore guidance and patronage of people who have been associated with the University is required for academic continuity and progress of the institution", wrote Nitish Kumar.

Also read:

There is a conspiracy to eliminate my political career, says Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Nitish said the manner in which business was being conducted at the prestigious Nalanda University was tampering with the "idea of Nalanda". It may be noted that the Bihar government had decided to revive the ancient glory of Nalanda University and conceptualized the establishment of Nalanda University in Bihar.

"It is important that dignity be kept in perspective while furthering the activities of the university. Consultations with all the stakeholders will help in re-establishing the glory of the ancient university. The university will flourish only if academic autonomy is allowed and maintained", wrote the Bihar CM.

It may be highlighted that Chancellor George Yeo had tendered his resignation on November 25 after the Central government constituted a new Governing Board and also denied extension of Gopa Sasharwal's tenure as Vice-Chancellor of the university.

Also read:

Demonetisation alone cannot curb black money menace, Nitish warns PM Modi

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By PTI: The embassys informal, and formal, contacts with the

The embassys informal, and formal, contacts with the Trump team did help them in arranging Prime Minister Sharifs telephone call with Trump last week. But that call too became controversial when Sharifs office released readout of that call, the report said.

Fatemi, however, told a news briefing in Washington last Monday that Trumps office had approved the readout and had also allowed them to release it to the media.

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"That is the language that the president-elect used. And it was a very honest and truthful narrative, which we put out with the approval of his office," the paper quoted him as saying.

"And if that has created interests and excitement, we are in no way disappointed with it," he had said.

The surprisingly candid readout of the telephone call created a major controversy in Washington where even the White House joined the call for Trump to be more careful while talking to foreign leaders. The US media also criticised Pakistan for releasing details of personal greetings.

Fatemi also insisted that the new administration in Washington would provide Pakistan a "fresh opportunity to burnish its credentials", the report said. PTI AKJ AKJ

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Speaking at function at Jammu, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh lashed out at Pakistan for supporting terrorism while warning it of retalliation by the Indian forces.

By India Today Web Desk: Lashing out at Pakistan for its vacillating approach in fight against terrorism, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that the Narendra Modi government did everything possible to normalise relationship with the western neighbour, but Islamabad chose not to listen.

Rajanath Singh said, "We did not invite (Pakistani PM) Nawaz Sharif to shake hands with him on the oath taking ceremony in 2014. We wanted to work together in cordial manner."

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"Despite our best efforts, Pakistan remained non-committal in fight against terrorism. It rather responded with cowardly terror attacks at Pathankot, Uri and other places," Rajnath said.

READ: Human Rights Day: Baloch activists take to streets around the world

Rajnath Singh also accused Pakistan of making a U-turn after promising cooperation in investigation into Pathankot terror attack.

"When our security officials were seeing off the Pakistani investigation team at the airport, they said that the Indian team will soon be invited to their country for further probe. But, once reaching Pakistan they retracted and did not fulfill their promise," Rajnath lamented.

READ: Pakistan dossier on Kulbhushan Jadhav is so dodgy even Sartaj Aziz has rejected it

The Home Minister warned Pakistan about the dangers of patronising terrorism. Rajnath Singh said, "Pakistan should understand the fact that terrorism is not a weapon of brave people. This is a tool of cowardice."

Pakistan ko iss haqiqat ko samjhna chahiye k atankwad bahadur logo ka hathiyar nahi hua karta hai,ye kayaron ka hathiyar hota hai:HM Rajnath pic.twitter.com/mxohbIuth3 ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

WATCH:

With huge surge in the number of ceasefire violations from Pakistan along the LoC and the international border, the Union Home Minister said that the forces "have been asked not to count their bullets while retalliating any attack."

Bhale hi Pakistan ne 4-4 baar Hindustan ke upar attack kiye hon, par yahan ke jawano nei unke daant khatte kar diye hain: HM Rajnath Singh pic.twitter.com/PC1QZcJu2y ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

In a stern warning to Nawaz Sharif government, Rajnath Singh said that Pakistan is in danger of another dismemberment should it not detest from supporting terrorism.

Rajnath Singh

Rajnath Singh was speaking at the Shahidi Diwas programme at Kathua, Jammu.

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By PTI: London, Dec 11 (PTI) Having a pet can help people manage their long-term mental health conditions by providing them an immediate source of calm and therapeutic benefit, a new study suggests.

In the study, the consistent presence and close physical proximity of the pets was described as providing an immediate source of calm and therapeutic benefit for the pets owners.

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"The people we spoke to through the course of this study felt their pet played a range of positive roles such as helping them to manage stigma associated with their mental health by providing acceptance without judgement," said lead author Helen Brooks from University of Manchester in the UK.

"Pets were also considered particularly useful during times of crisis. In this way, pets provided a unique form of validation through unconditional support, which they were often not receiving from other family or social relationships," said Brooks.

Researchers interviewed 54 participants, aged 18 and above, who were under the care of community-based mental health services and had been diagnosed with a severe mental illness.

Participants were asked to rate the importance of members of their personal network including friends, family, health professionals, pets, hobbies, places, activities and objects, by placing them in a diagram of three concentric circles.

Anything placed in the central circle was considered most important; the middle circle was of secondary importance and the outer circle was for those considered of lesser importance.

Pets played an important role in the social networks of people managing a long-term mental health problem, as 60 per cent placed their pet in the central most important circle and 20 per cent placed their pet in the second circle.

The participants stated that one reason for this was that their pet helped by distracting them from symptoms and upsetting experiences such as hearing voices or suicidal thoughts.

The interviews supported existing evidence that some participants feel distanced from health-care and uninvolved in discussions about services.

Taking more creative approaches to care planning, such as incorporating discussions about pets, may be one way of helping to better involve participants because of the value, meaning and engagement that individuals have with their companion animals.

"Despite the identified benefits of pet ownership, pets were neither considered nor incorporated into the individual care plans for any of the people in our study," said Brooks.

"These insights provide the mental health community with possible areas to target intervention and potential ways in which to better involve people in their own mental health service provision through open discussion of what works best for them," Brooks added.

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The study was published in the journal BMC Psychiatry. PTI NKS SAR SAR

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Important stuff you won't get from the liberal media! We do the surfing so you can be informed AND have a life!
President Jacob Zumas close friend Atul Gupta is the seventh-richest South African, according to the Business Times Rich List.

Gupta is also South Africas richest black businessman, overtaking Patrice Motsepe, according to the report.

The 47-year-old Gupta has personal wealth valued at R10 billion.

This is based on the value of disclosed directors holdings in JSE-listed companies covering the period between December 2015 and November 30 this year.

The Gupta family have been accused on multiple occasions of using their influence over Zuma and the ANC government to enrich themselves  including scoring lucrative state contracts.

Atul Gupta came to South Africa in 1993 and started the company which became Sahara computers.

His meteoric rise up the business ladder has largely coincided with Zumas presidency, said the Sunday Times.

Zuma failing South Africa

ANC stalwart and Anglo chairman Sipho Pityana said the news of Guptas wealth was disturbing  considering that the number of black businessmen in the top 100 list has declined.

It is clear that under Zumas watch, black ownership of the economy is shrinking and the entire BEE project has regressed, Pityana told the Sunday Times.

The full report is in the Sunday Times of 11 December 2016.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding his fifth Parivartan Rally in Uttar Pradesh, which is going to polls early next year.

By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narednra Modi is holding a public rally in the election-bound Uttar Pradesh at Bahraich on Sunday.

This is the fifth Parivartan Rally that the PM Modi will address in Uttar Pradesh. Modi has already addressed election rallies at Ghazipur, Agra, Kushinagar and Moradabad.

The Bahraich rally is expected to attract huge crowd as the BJP has made elaborate preparations for the event, where PM Modi is expected to further elaborate the purpose of demonetisation that has led to disruptions and obstructions in Parliament.

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READ| PM Modi on demonetisation: Don't waste time standing in queues, your bank is in your wallet

PM Modi is expected to arrive Bahraich around 1 pm. He will be received by the BJP state president Keshav Prasad Maurya in Lucknow at Amausi airport. Maurya will accompany the prime minister to Bahraich.

WATCH:

This is the third time that PM Modi will be addressing a public rally in Bahraich since 2001, when he first visited the district as BJP general secretary.

In November 2013, Modi addressed a public rally in Baraich as BJP's prime ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha polls.

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During 2016, the Electrical Contractors Association of South Africa, the ECA(SA), told MyBroadband South Africas new plug standard would become semi-mandatory.

A proposed amendment to the wiring code requires that from March 2018, all outlets in new installations must include at least one socket that complies with SANS 1642.

SANS 1642 (or ZA Plug) has the same hexagonal profile as the Europlug seen on cellphone chargers  but allows for an earth pin.

Cecil Lancaster, regional director of the ECA(SA), said the new draft of the code was circulated for public comment and there was no comment on making ZA Plug semi-mandatory.

However, comments received on other items resulted in changes forcing the consultation process to be repeated.

This may result in a delay in the publication of the amendments, which means they may also reconsider the implementation date of March 2018.

ZA Plug is the new conventional

Gianfranco Campetti, the chairman of the working group that looks after the standard, said we can expect subtle changes in 2017.

South Africas old triangular three-prong standard, SANS 1641, will no longer be referred to as the conventional system.

The conventional title will be transferred to ZA Plug and SANS 1641 will likely be renamed the alternative South African plug and socket system.

Manufacturers will increasingly develop products for SANS 1642.

This includes the new dedicated SANS 16421 and SANS 16422 for special installations that require degrees of dedicated circuits such as UPS, emergency supplies, and non-earth-leakage-protected outlets such as lighting and computer power supplies.

Internally to these standards will be some work on the test gauges and general clause amendments which are not visible to the end user in any way, said Campetti.

He emphasised that the old standard will not be withdrawn.

[It] will continue to be installed as an alternative for the foreseeable future.

Now read: This is why South Africa has a new plug standard
South Africas communications regulator ICASA is biased in favour of Vodacom and MTN and seems to want to further entrench their domination, said Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Maseko said ICASAs attempt to auction high-demand mobile spectrum for R12 billion was against its own rules, anti-competitive, and detrimental to consumer interests.

The spectrum auction was blocked when Telecommunications Minister Siyabonga Cwele took legal action against ICASA.

Vodacom and MTN SA easily beat Telkom and Cell C when it comes to subscriber numbers in the country, but Maseko wants to challenge this dominance.

The companys recent financial results show that Telkom mobile subscriber numbers are growing and the division is starting to make money.

Telkom needs more spectrum for this to continue, said Maseko.

Spectrum allocation needs to be done within a policy framework that ensures we build an industry that is competitive, enables broadband access, and generates the right returns, says Maseko.

He said ICASA was vulnerable to pressure from giant operators.

The notion of auctioning spectrum because of pressure is not right. Those who have should not get more of what they have.

Maseko said that whoever gets the spectrum must have the capacity to add maximum value.

A recent analysis by MyBroadband showed that Telkom makes the least-efficient use of its spectrum compared to Vodacom, MTN, and Cell C.

Despite this, Maseko said auctioning spectrum would result in a continuation of a duopoly in the market and prices would not come down.

Maseko added that he does not support the view of nationalising privately-owned spectrum  as put forward in the recent ICT Policy White Paper.

The full report is in the Sunday Times of 11 December 2016.
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Editors' pick: Originally published Dec. 5.

For two hours, Tamar Lowell stood amid the crowd of thousands gathered at Revolution Square in Havana, listening to world leaders eulogize Fidel Castro.

Dignitaries from Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Zimbabwe and more were in attendance to offer their condolences and express their thoughts about the passing of a man they described as the hero for the downtrodden.

Then, after all that time, the Cuban woman who had been standing silently beside Lowell turned and in broken English, politely ventured to ask a question.

Which U.S. presidential candidate had Lowell voted for, the woman wanted to know. Had she voted for Donald Trump? The woman wore a worried expression on her face.

"It seemed like more than curiosity, but rather a desire to better understand what's going on in the U.S.," says Lowell, owner of Access Trips, which offers culinary tours in Cuba. "I asked her what she thought about Trump and she said she was scared - that she didn't know what his election meant for Cuba."

The scene perfectly illustrates the crossroads at which Cuba and the United States now stand thanks to the death of Fidel Castro and the election in the United States of Donald Trump.

Lowell spoke with a variety of Cubans during her recent visit to the island and many were well aware of President-elect Trump's fiery rhetoric, which has included threats of potentially rolling back the detente achieved with the island nation under President Obama.

"They're aware of President-elect Trump's threat to terminate 'the deal' with Cuba," Lowell said. "They are worried primarily about the economic implications, as many people, in Havana especially, have seen personal benefit from the relaxed restrictions."

Cubans are not the only ones watching and wondering what the future now holds given the convergence of recent events. Many in the travel industry are also concerned. Between Fidel Castro's death and Trump's election, ongoing travel to the island for Americans, as well as the continued warming of relations between the two countries, seems threatened.



Granted, these same people say, Castro has not been in power for a decade, but his passing still marks the end of an era and could impact U.S.-Cuban relations. There are some who believe that the passing of the man often referred to as "El Comandante" might accelerate the normalization of ties between the two countries. While others see the death as an opportunity to halt such progress.

"The passing of Fidel for some people who are anti-engagement kind of represents a milestone...because Fidel was the person who was responsible for what happened to Cuba," insightCuba President Tom Popper said during a conference call last week scheduled to discuss the impact of Trump's election and Castro's death. "Our hope is that there will be a softening of those (anti-engagement) feelings due to the passing of Fidel."

Trump's election meanwhile, adds its own uncertainty to the future of such engagement. His top advisers have said he may reverse the historic diplomatic opening created by Obama, unless some sort of concessions are made, in the form of lifting repression, freeing political prisoners and opening markets.



Under Obama, many U.S. businesses made significant progress with regard to Cuba and travel to the country - among them airlines, tour operators and tour companies.

Earlier this year, several U.S. airlines began offering commercial flights to the country including JetBlue, Delta, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit and United.

In addition, cruise lines such as Carnival's Fathom brand are now regularly sailing to Cuba, and U.S. hotel companies such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts are operating properties on the island.

All of this progress and financial investment stands to be impacted by any reversal of course on Trump's part. Some in the travel industry, however, remain cautiously optimistic about Trump's position.

"It's important to reflect on the fact that we will have the first president of the United States whose family has made a career in the hospitality industry," says Popper. "It's important to make note of that. Historically President-elect Trump has had great interest in developing golf courses and hotels in Cuba."

Popper also noted that while on the campaign trail, Trump had initially described the U.S. embargo against Cuba as outdated. However, as the campaign wore on, that position hardened.

"The question is which President Trump we will see when he takes office," Popper says. "Our belief at this point...based on information we've received, is that it is probably not the first thing he will do - roll back travel in Cuba."

Travis Katz, Co-founder and CEO of Trip.com echoed Popper's sentiments, pointing out that it's hard to know exactly what the president-elect will do once in office.

"I think his rhetoric has created an air of uncertainty," says Katz. "If anything I think what people have learned with President-elect Trump is that we don't really know what he's going to do. He has said a lot of things and taken different stances over time, so it's hard to know what his final policy will be."

However, as Popper stated during the conference call, the changes Obama made with regard to Cuban-American diplomatic relations and travel, were primarily done through executive order - which means Trump could reverse all progress with without the approval of Congress.

All of which leaves many with cause for concern.

"For the first time since we started operating in Cuba, people are afraid of booking a tour to Cuba or of making their final payments on travel for 2017 tours they have already booked because they don't know if their trip will suddenly become illegal and they will be unable to go," says Lowell.

With every previous change in U.S. policy toward Cuba, Lowell's company saw a subsequent surge in bookings, even when the Obama administration put forth new policies that made it easier for people to travel on their own - without a tour operator.

Access Trips bookings for the first quarter of 2017 are 135% higher then the first quarter of 2016, she says.

To address the current wave of concern, Lowell's company will roll out a new refund policy.

"The policy will address the new perception of risk," says Lowell, adding that she personally believes the risk of many changes in Cuba policy are quite low. "For my business what matters is not as much what the Trump administration does or does not do, but rather the change in behavior that creates a fear of the unknown."

Popper meanwhile notes that if Trump does follow through with his rhetoric and significantly reverses course in Cuba, it could have a devastating effect.

"Considerable amount of damage will be done," says Popper. "There's been significant investments from airlines, tour operators, travel agencies ...It would represent a loss of jobs. Cuba is the hottest destination and will continue to be for years to come, there is so much pent up demand."

While companies in the U.S. try to read the tea leaves and develop plans to address potential changes in policy, the Cubans wait and watch, uncertain of what the future now holds for them.

For the time being, they are disappointed and worried, says Lowell.



The Cuban people are disappointed, because they understand that continued progress in the relationship between the two countries (with the end goal being fully normalized relations and a lifting of the embargo) is now unlikely to happen any time soon.

And they are worried because they fear some, or all, of the progress made under the Obama administration, might actually be undone.

"I have seen so much heady optimism over the past two years," Lowell says. "People getting ready, investing in their homes to make rooms to rent to foreigners, opening new restaurants, eagerly talking about when the embargo might be lifted, closely watching and analyzing every new move by the Obama administration. It felt completely different during this recent visit - somber, concerned, and resigned."
China's battle for recognition as a market economy that would help it avoid penalties from key trade partners has been thwarted, as a key clause in Beijing's deal to join the WTO expires Sunday. As China marks the 15th anniversary of its accession to the WTO, the United States, European Union and Japan are maintaining tough rules that protect them from cheap Chinese products flooding their markets. An outraged Beijing said the failure of its major trade partners to grant China market economy status on December 11 as promised was an example of "covert protectionism" and "double standard" by the West. Beijing highly covets market economy status, which would make it more difficult for other countries to launch anti-dumping cases against it. Dumping is when a country prices its exports below what it would charge for the same product in its home market. When China joined the WTO on December 11, 2001 it was written into the terms of the deal that member states could treat it as a non-market economy, allowing them to impose heavy anti-dumping duties on the basis that its low prices did not reflect market reality. China was told all that would change by the end of 2016 when it would be upgraded to market economy status. But rather than enjoying this trade advantage, Beijing continues to face a climate of mistrust towards its exports, with critics arguing the country has not done enough to qualify for the designation. "China will take steps to defend its rights if (WTO) members continue this old practice of anti-dumping regulation against Chinese products after the expiration date" of the accession agreement clause, China's commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang was quoted as saying by state media on Friday. International trade experts say China will have to start a lengthy legal battle at the WTO against its trade partners in order to get recognition of its new status. - Protectionism in disguise - In a vitriolic commentary, the official Xinhua news agency said that "China would automatically move to market economy status" on December 11. "The refusal is nothing short of covert protectionism, which runs against the trend of globalization and poisons the recovery of the global economy," it said Friday, denouncing "another double-standard applied by the West against China". But for Washington, the granting of market economy status is not automatic and other anti-dumping clauses of the accession agreement "remain intact". "The United States remains concerned about serious imbalances in China's State-directed economy, such as widespread production overcapacity, including in the steel and aluminum industries, and significant State ownership in many industries and sectors," according to a statement by the Department of Commerce. "China has not made the reforms necessary to operate on market principles." Washington will therefore continue to apply "alternative" methods for calculating dumping margins, added the DoC. That is unlikely to change under a Donald Trump administration after the president-elect threatened to impose 45 percent punitive tariffs to protect American jobs. The position is also supported by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), who say China's trade surplus has cost 3.2 million jobs in the US since Beijing joined the WTO. "It is no coincidence that economic pain played such a central role this election season. For 15 years our workers and makers have asked China to play by the rules, and for fifteen years Beijing hasn't budged," according to Scott Paul, president of the AAM, in a statement that says over 1,000 anti-dumping cases have been initiated against China globally since 1995. Meanwhile, Brussels is taking a somewhat different approach after the European Commission announced last month a new method to combat price dumping which doesn't specifically target China but could apply to any country suspected of selling at a loss. "This avoids possible retaliation from China since everyone will be treated the same way," said Franck Proust, a member of the European Parliament. But any decision on China must have the agreement of the EU's 28 member states as well as the European Parliament, something which the bloc was unable to achieve before the December 11 deadline. "We have lost a lot of time. This date, we have known it was coming since 2001 but unfortunately this proposal won't be enacted before the summer of 2017 at best," Proust added, leaving plenty of time for China to appeal to the WTO's dispute settlement body. Japan also said it would not recognise its neighbour as a market economy. For as long as the global trade watchdog does not deliver a final verdict on the disputed clause, "the EU and other WTO members can continue to treat China as the non-market economy it is", said Milan Nitzschke, spokesman for Aegis Europe, an industry alliance which represents some 30 European industries.
Romania's left staged an emphatic comeback in elections Sunday, a year after anger over a deadly nightclub fire forced them from office. Mass protests in the EU's second-poorest country after the blaze on October 30, 2015 that claimed 64 lives drove premier Victor Ponta and his Social Democrats (PSD) to resign. But exit polls on Sunday, 13 months later, put the PSD well ahead its rivals with around 45 percent of the vote, even better than expected. The rival centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL) trailed on around 21 percent, while their allies the Save Romania Union (USR) was on nine percent. The PSD's likely coalition partner, the ALDE party, looked to have won around 6.5 percent, meaning that between them they will have a majority in parliament. However, it remains to be seen whether the PSD's leader Liviu Dragnea, 54, who is serving a suspended sentence for electoral fraud, can become premier. In theory this bars him from office under Romanian law and centre-right President Klaus Iohannis, 57, has refused to appoint anyone with legal problems. This would also exclude a comeback by Ponta, 44, currently on trial for alleged tax evasion and money laundering, charges he denies. Comments from Dragnea on Sunday evening suggested he wants the job. "Romania is an island of stability. I want this stable democracy to remain in place," he said. "This means that all politicians and institutions have to respect today's vote. We should all understand that Romania needs a competent, stable and responsible government." Romania has been run since Ponta's departure by a caretaker government under technocrat Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, 47, a former European commissioner. The PNL and the USR have said they would support Ciolos staying on but the PSD wants him gone. - Corrupt officials - The inferno inside the Colectiv club was blamed on corrupt officials turning a blind eye to a lack of fire precautions. Poor medical care exacerbated the death toll. For many, it was the final straw, and the tragedy prompted a push to clean Romania up. The National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) has been highly active and visible, bringing ministers, senators, lawmakers and other public officials to justice. A recent survey suggested that 95 percent of Romanians want tackling corruption to be a priority for the next government. But before the election there were worries this will not happen if the PSD returns to power. The clean-up has "disproportionately hit the Romanian left," said Tsveta Petrova from risk consultancy Eurasia Group. "As a result, should a left-led coalition come to power, it will try to slow down this campaign." - Promises, promises - But the PSD enjoys strong support among older Romanians and in rural areas of the southeastern European nation of 20 million people. However, 27 years after the summary execution of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and the end of Communism, voter apathy is rife, with turnout just 39.5 percent on Sunday. Both sides, while trading insults and generally avoiding serious political discussion during the campaign, have pledged spectacular hikes in wages and pensions as well as tax cuts. Such promises go down well in the EU's second-poorest nation where more than half of rural households have no running water and one in four people lives in poverty. Three million people have emigrated. At the same time, however, the nationalist and anti-EU rhetoric seen in other countries in the region like Hungary and Poland has been largely, if not entirely, absent. "Our Romania is completely destroyed. We can't live here any more. There are no jobs, people are going abroad," Marin Oana, a voter in the poor southern village of Singureni, told AFP. "I hope that (the politicians) grasp what the problems are in our society and invest in health care and education," said Denisa Grajdan, another voter in the same village. Official results were expected on Monday morning.
By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Dec 10 (PTI) Charging the Odisha government of creating confusion among the public over demonetisation scheme, Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today said more currency notes of Rs 500 will reach market here tomorrow.

"I wonder how the state government is creating confusion among the people over the demonetisation issue. There are about 20,000 outlets of SBI alone in the state where money can be available or transacted. The state government should instead cooperate and not create confusion," Pradhan told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

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Pradhans statement comes a day after Odishas Finance Minister Pradip Kumar Amat informed the state assembly that the state is facing acute shortage of small denomination currency notes of Rs 100 and Rs 500.

Replying to the states allegation that Rs 100 and Rs 500 currency notes are not available, Pradhan said: "Rs 500 notes will be available in the state from tomorrow. Therefore, people should not hoard more money."

The Odisha minister had also said that demonetisation had its adverse effect on the states economy as farmers, small traders and others face difficulties due to non-availability of currency notes in small denomination.

Countering states charges, Pradhan said apart from SBIs facilities, there are 6,000 common Service centres (CSC) in all the gram panchayats where the banking correspondents are making people aware on the cashless transactions. The Bank Mitras in unbanked areas also make people aware about use of mobile phones for cashless transaction. PTI AAM SUS MR

--- ENDS ---
Tackling rugged spots across London and Brighton alike, todays Sunday Service slot goes to the one and only Dan Emmerson and his Ed Hubert produced VX section, which was released back in the February of 2015.

Keep a keen eye out for cameos from Leon Karakahsian, Matt Ransom, and Ollie Smith and his ever present pink short-shorts.

Also, check 3:15 for one of the greatest kickflips to ever go down in West Sussex
Dear Mr President-elect: a message from across the Pond

Posted on 29 November 2016 by John Mason, BaerbelW

Dear Mr President-elect,

On 6 Nov 2012, at 11:15 am, you tweeted:

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

We'd like to take you on a quick tour back through the ages, because the early understanding of Earth's climate - and the role that carbon has to play in it - came from the West, not the East. Let's run through it quickly.

In 1800, British astronomer William Herschel first measured the heat that occurs in the warm  now known as infra-red (IR)  part of the spectrum. In 1824, French engineer Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier calculated that Earth should be colder than it is, at its orbital distance from the Sun. Today, it is common knowledge that outgoing IR radiation is emitted by the Earth's surface in response to heating by the Sun. But Fourier was the first to figure out that the IR was being slowed down during its journey back out to space. The air, he said, must act as a form of insulating blanket, keeping the planet warm. Smart guy.

This was just two years before Samuel Morey patented the first internal combustion engine.

In 1861, Anglo-Irish physicist John Tyndall observed that some atmospheric gases were transparent to IR radiation. But he found that others, like water vapor and carbon dioxide, were powerful IR absorbers. He was the first to propose that changes in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could influence the Earth's climate. In 1896, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius took it further. He made the first detailed calculations to see what a doubling of carbon dioxide levels might do to temperatures. His answer was a 5-6C increase in the average global temperature. His hot-house theory was set out for the first time in 1908 in his popular book Worlds in the Making.

In 1909, American astronomer Andrew Douglass developed the techniques of studying tree-rings and was the first to find the connection between tree ring widths and climate. In 1931, American physicist E.O Hulburt ran calculations to determine the effect of doubling carbon dioxide with the added burden of water vapor. His figure? 4C of warming. In 1938, English engineer Guy Callendar discovered evidence of a warming temperature trend in the early twentieth century. He also found that CO 2 levels were increasing and he warned that over the coming centuries there could be a climate shift to a permanently warmer state.

Mr President-elect, you were born in June 1946, in the early years of the Cold War. It was a time that saw a surge in atmospheric research. The properties and behaviour of IR radiation came under even more scrutiny in the quest to develop heat-seeking missiles. By the 1950s, the advantage of computer-power, something we take for granted today, made it possible to dissect the atmosphere in ever-greater detail. 1956 - when you were just ten years of age - saw the publication of the landmark paper, 'The Carbon Dioxide Theory of Climatic Change', by Canadian-American physicist Gilbert Plass. The paper confirmed that more carbon dioxide would have a warming effect and that doubling levels of that gas would result in a warming of 3-4C. The very title of the paper tells you that "climate change" is not a term made up in recent years for political reasons, as some try to claim.

Mr President-elect, we've known about this stuff for decades. None of the above is "politicized science". Even the youngest milestones along the climate science timeline above are now more than half a century old. Most of them are older than you. They were all attained through the hard work and dedication of our best American and European scientists. These guys and others laid the solid and vital foundations for the modern understanding of how Earth's climate works. They got all the basics right: it is organisations like NASA that are still filling in the important details. The more we end up knowing about how this planet works the better, especially if the USA plans to continue its exploration missions to other planetary bodies.

Atmospheric CO 2 levels have now gone past 400 parts per million. That's up 40% from the pre-industrial level of 280ppm - thanks in great part to the burning of the fossil fuels. Now, as a businessman, you can understand numbers. Some folk like to downplay the importance of gases occurring at, they say, small concentrations. But we think that if we knocked on your office door with details of a whole mountain containing an average of 400ppm gold, you'd sit down and listen.

We cannot look anywhere within the geologically recent series of alternating ice-ages and interglacials to see an Earth with more than 400ppm carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. We have to go back a lot further. To see a 400ppm-plus planet, we need to time-travel to the mid-Pliocene, 3.5 million years ago. Back then, Arctic Siberia, today a barren tundra, was shrouded in boreal forest. That might sound OK, but such warmth has its price. Due to less ice at the poles, it was also a time when sea-levels were around twenty metres higher than those of today. That's not good if you have beach-front real estate. Such changes can take many years to bring about, but Earth's physical systems always move towards balance. Earth systems obey the laws of physics, not economics. They take no notice at all of electoral cycles or partisan politics. They don't care which guy you voted for.



Mr President-elect, we have to work with the Earth, not against it.



For a full account of the history of climate science, please follow the link below.



The History of Climate Science




Justin Trudeau approves two big oil sands pipeline expansions

Posted on 1 December 2016 by Andy Skuce

In an announcement on November 29, 2016, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved two new major pipeline expansions for Canadian bitumen. Altogether, the two projects will add over a million barrels per day to Canada's export capacity.

At the same press conference, Trudeau rejected the application for the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would have provided 525,000 barrels per day of transportation from Alberta to the Pacific Ocean through the northern British Columbia coast, near Kitimat.

Northern Gateway (map by Enbridge)

The proposed export route would have involved tanker transport through fjords and treacherous seas in an area of protected wilderness known as the Great Bear Rainforest. Trudeau promised a legislated ban on all oil tankers on the BC Coast north of Vancouver Island. The Northern Gateway project was fiercely resisted by First Nations.

Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX)

The Trans Mountain Expansion project involves the twinning and expansion of an existing pipeline that runs from Edmonton, through Jasper National Park, to the Pacific coast at Vancouver.

The project currently has a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day and will be expanded to have a total capacity of 890,000 barrels per day. Around 400 Aframax tankers per year will transport diluted bitumen from the Westridge Marine Terminal, through Vancouver's Burrard Inlet, then down narrow passages, with strong tidal currents, between the Gulf Islands, and finally through the busy shipping lane of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the open ocean and markets around the Pacific. The project should be completed in 2019.

Chart by Doug Bostrom. Green line shows outbound tanker course, red overlay shows areas with strong tidal currents, in knots. High resolution PDF (big file)

The risk of a catastrophic diluted bitumen spill is a major factor driving opposition to this project. Climate-scientist-turned-politician Andrew Weaver articulated his concerns in a recent open letter to Justin Trudeau.

Line 3

This project will replace a 50-year old pipeline with a new, larger capacity one. The new pipeline will carry 760,000 barrels per day with potential to expand to 915,000 bopd. The old pipeline was restricted to 390,000 bopd for safety reasons.

The Canadian section of this line runs from Edmonton, across Saskatchewan to Gretna, Manitoba, on the US border. The operator, Enbridge will also replace the US portion of the pipe, which runs from Neche, North Dakota to Superior, Wisconsin. Because this pipeline is an existing one, no presidential approval is required, unlike for Keystone XL. The project is expected to be operational in 2019.

Altogether, these two projects will add 1.06 to 1.20 million barrels per day of export capacity. Additional export pipeline proposals include Energy East, a 1.1 million per day pipeline that will reach the Atlantic coast of Canada and the possibly soon-to-be-resurrected Keystone XL pipeline that will add about 800,000 barrels per day capacity to the US Gulf Coast. All in all, nearly 3 million barrels per day of additional bitumen capacity from the Athabasca oil sands, enough to more than double the current production of around 2.5 million barrels per day.

This is a big win for Alberta's oil sands business. And it has been delivered by Canada's Liberal government, which is committed to ambitious greenhouse gas reductions. This takes some explaining.

The politics

The political background is complicated. For the benefit of those who don't follow Canadian politics (and who could blame you for that), here is an outline. The shorter version, should you choose to skip this section, is that the pipeline approvals are part of trading concessions between Canadian jurisdictions and are designed to give political cover for new climate mitigation policies.

The oil price crash in 2014 provoked a severe recession in Alberta. Job vacancies have halved and unemployment has doubled. People are hurting badly after years of boom times.

In a political earthquake in May 2015, Alberta's voters elected a centre-left government under Rachel Notley. Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister of Canada later that year.

Alberta's government is dependent on revenues from resource royalties for a large part of its budget. Currently, the province faces a budget deficit in excess of C$10 billion. Royalty increases are not feasible during a downturn and large tax increases and/or spending cuts are deemed politically impossible. Global commodity prices are obviously beyond the control of any government. This means that the only way to achieve a balanced budget is to increase oil production.

However, it is widely assumed that increases in production are impossible without increased transportation capacity and access to markets other than the USA.

It is not just the Notley government that wants to expand production. So too does the Trudeau government and all politicians in Alberta, including the progressive mayors of Calgary and Edmonton.

The Notley government, to its credit, introduced a Climate Leadership Plan, which among other things, imposed a carbon tax of C$30/tonne CO2e effective in 2018 ($20 in 2017) along with an all-time cap on upstream emissions from the oil sands of 100 million tonnes of CO2e per year (they currently stand at 72 Mt). This policy has proved unpopular in Alberta and, even though no tax has yet been imposed, opposition politicians are blaming Premier Notley's climate policy for the downturn. Notley has justified the emissions policy on the grounds that it is essential for earning social license for oil sands expansion.

The Trudeau government announced that the Federal government would be introducing a carbon tax, rising to C$50/tonne by 2022. If provinces have their own pricing, that would be deducted from the federal levy. Any money collected would be returned to the provinces to spend as they wish. The federal policy was rejected by Saskatchewan and accepted by Alberta on the condition that export pipelines be approved.

After the pipeline announcement, Notley immediately endorsed Trudeau's federal carbon tax proposal.

Trudeau claims that the pipeline approvals are determined by science, not politics. This, of course, is bunk, as Andrew Weaver testily explains in a radio interview. It's politics all the way down. The entire policy is designed to find a middle path between conservatives who are oblivious to climate change and environmentalists who, some allege, are indifferent to the economic fate of Albertans. Trudeau says that the economic growth of the oil sands is required to pay for climate policies. He does not explain how this money will be transferred from fossil fuel companies to environmental good works, nor is there any account of why the past oil boom did so little for climate progress.

The opposition to the TMX project in BC is very strong and has probably been underestimated by Trudeau. At hearings in BC for the pipeline, some observers estimated that 90% of the submissions were opposed. All of the coastal mayors along the pipeline route are fiercely against it. Well-funded environmental activist groups are already planning massive civil disobedience. Some predict that the protests in BC may be bigger than the so-called "war in the woods" in which activists successfully disrupted logging operations on Vancouver Island, in 1993.

It would be a mistake, however, to think that BC's opposition is limited to environmental activists. Opponents of the TMX project come from a wide cross-section of society who resent the imposed threat to BC's splendid coast.

BC Premier Christie Clark has stipulated five conditions for her to be able to endorse the TMX project. These include successful environmental reviews and consultations with First Nations. Another stipulation was having a world-class response for dealing with oil spills at land and sea. Trudeau has delivered on a $1.5 billion marine spill response plan. (Added later for clarity, following a reader's comment on Facebook: Trudeau's plan may satisfy Clark's condition to her satisfaction, but it will still be insufficient to deal with a spill of diluted bitumen that sinks, see Andrew Weaver's letter, quoted earlier.) The remaining condition is for BC to get more economic benefit. As things stand, BC takes most of the risk of a pipeline and earns few of the rewards. Only 90 long-term jobs are expected to be created in BC by the project.

Premier Clark has staked her political future on developing a Liquefied Natural Gas industry in BC. Recently, the Trudeau government approved a major project, the Pacific NW LNG project, which, if built, will be one of the largest single greenhouse gas emitters in the country. The project also has unresolved issues with First Nations. Cynical observers might well conclude that this approval was granted to earn a quid pro quo from Clark. We'll see if she endorses the pipeline soon or if she continues to sit on the fence.

Trudeau may well have made an expedient political calculation on TMX, trading votes in BC against votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan, but the decision was nonetheless a bold one, a choice that will likely define his premiership.

Of course, the physical world of climate change is indifferent to politics.

Emissions arithmetic

If the export pipelines work as intended and boost growth in oil sands production (there are doubts about this, see below) then, even with Alberta's new policies, the province's emissions will equal around 250 Mt CO2e in 2030. Canada's Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) pledge is to reduce the nation's emissions to about 500 Mt at that time. This means that Alberta, with about 12% of the country's population will be producing half of the emissions. The 200 Mt of reductions needed to meet Canada's 2030 goal will be borne entirely by the rest of the country.

Alberta's emissions, from Alberta's Climate Leadership Report.

From Canada's INDC pledge. Note that the y-axis origin is not zero.

If the country meets its 2030 INDC commitments, the approximate average per capita emissions for Canadians outside of Alberta will be (assuming, for now, constant population) about 8 tonnes of CO2e. Alberta's will be about 60 tonnes, a factor of seven higher. Many Canadians might well feel that these burdens are not being shared fairly.

If Trudeau's $50/tonne carbon tax is applied, EnviroEconomics estimates that the policy will reduce national emissions by 18 Mt per year. Assuming that the pipelines are filled with new production, the upstream emissions of the TMX project (i.e., the emissions associated with the production, not the consumption of the bitumen) are estimated by Environment and Climate Change Canada at 14-17 Mt per year. Similar upstream emissions will be attributable to the Line 3 bitumen. Claims that approving pipelines is Realpolitik needed to get public acceptance of new climate policies is undermined by this consideration. Trudeau has replaced the important step forward of his carbon tax with two steps backwards from additional upstream emissions that result from his pipeline approvals.

Barry Saxifrage at the National Observer has a useful article showing the effects of other policies and infrastructure additions. He shows that all of the new fossil-fuel infrastructure swamps any benefits introduced by new mitigation policies.

Economics

The main cause of Alberta's recession is the post-2014 crash in oil prices. Existing oil sands projects can still make a small operating profit on a go-forward basis at current prices of $50 per barrel, but new investments require a much higher price. If as many believe, global prices stay low for longer, there is little prospect of an investment boom in Alberta, regardless of any new transportation options. However, many commentators imply that recovery is being significantly hampered by lack of access to tidewater and world markets.

Bitumen is a low-quality oil that suffers a discount of somewhere around $20 per barrel relative to premium light oils like Brent. At present, nearly all of Canada's oil exports go to the USA. There is a perception that that Americans are unfairly discriminating against Canadian bitumen and enforcing low prices. This is not realistic, because the US refining industry does not, cannot by law, behave like a cartel by fixing prices. Some Canadian bitumen producers, like Cenovus, are equity owners of US refineries.

With the TMX project, Canadian bitumen exporters are hoping to open new markets in Asia. The case for this is speculative and, even if Asian importers decide to build refineries capable of refining bitumen, there would be no guarantee that market discounts relative to light oil would be less than in the US. In a world that is currently awash with oil that is cheaper to produce and of better quality than Canadian bitumen, oil sands producers are fooling themselves if they they assume that Asian importers are going to strike favourable deals.

If global climate action is successful, then global demand for oil will be expected to fall. According to the IEA:

Source: The Economist

Part of this decrease will be due to improved vehicle fuel efficiency. As The Economist wrote recently:

The IEA says that such measures [US CAFE standards] cut oil consumption in 2015 by a whopping 2.3m b/d. This is particularly impressive because interest in fuel efficiency usually wanes when prices are low. If best practice were applied to all the worlds vehicles, the savings would be 4.3m b/d, roughly equivalent to the crude output of Canada. This helps explain why some forecasters think demand for petrol may peak within the next 10-15 years even if the worlds vehicle fleet keeps growing.

World oil reserves are at an all-time high. The USGS has just announced a huge, multi-billion barrel discovery of light oil in Texas in the Wolfcamp Shale. It won't be easy for Canada to find new markets for its expensive, low quality oil in a world of shrinking demand and oversupply of cheap, light crude.

Of course, emissions policies may fail and the global oil market may be upset by geopolitical turmoil. Nobody can predict what future prices and demand will look like. There are just too many unknowns.

Independent economist Robyn Allen has harshly criticized the National Energy Board's economic analysis of the TMX project. You can watch a presentation of her argument here. The original TMX project was conceived when oil prices were higher. The project was underwritten by 13 producers who committed to "take or pay" agreements (they are obliged to pay for transportation, even if they do not have oil available). The operator, Kinder Morgan, is poised under such an agreement to make money even if there is no oil to transport or markets to ship it to.

Repercussions

The completion of the TMX project is far from certain. Lawsuits are planned by First Nations groups who say that they have not been adequately consulted. An OK from the BC government has not yet been granted. Although approval from Premier Clark is not absolutely required for this project to go ahead, a provincial government firmly opposed to a major project like this could cause delays in granting permits, if they wanted to.

The biggest obstacle to the pipeline proceeding is likely to be public protest on the BC south coast. Much will depend on how the protests unfold and how much sympathy the activists earn from the public in Canada and abroad. However, there is little room for the federal government to maneuver or compromise. The pipeline will either happen or it won't: Trudeau can't order a scaled-back version of the project. In his announcement on November 29, he made it clear that his decision was final and that he considered the risks to the marine environment to be acceptable. It is hard to see how the decision could be walked back without a massive loss to his reputation and authority.

Some argue that patriots should simply accept national infrastructure projects, as people did for the construction of the Canadian Pacific railroad. However, those living near to the railroad received direct benefits by being close to a unique transportation system. For oil pipelines, the risks and rewards are disproportionate: Alberta gets to reap nearly all of the profits of oil sands expansion, while BC gets to assume all of the risk of marine oil spills.

In Canada, resource royalty revenues accrue directly to provincial treasuries. Although the oil and gas industries are an important part of the national economy, they account for less than 10% of GDP, less than most people imagine. The often-claimed necessity to keep growing oil production as the only way to grow the national economy is exaggerated.

If TMX does get pushed through in the face of west-coast public revolt, Trudeau will pay a stiff political price, losing parliamentary seats in BC, while probably gaining very few, if any, in Alberta as compensation. The grossly unfair distribution of per-capita emissions in the country, should the climate pledges be honoured, will rankle. The result could be a bitterly divided country, which is unlikely to be the legacy that Justin Trudeau wants to leave.
"A little fill here and there may seem to be nothing to become excited about. But one fill, though comparatively inconsequential, may lead to another, and another, and before long a great body may be eaten away until it may no longer exist.

Our navigable waters are a precious natural heritage, once gone, they disappear forever," wrote the Wisconsin Supreme Court in its 1960 opinion resolving Hixon v. PSC and buttressing The Public Trust Doctrine, Article IX of the Wisconsin State Constitution.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

It was around 6 p.m. on a Tuesday and Vance Shirley was sitting at a bar, several cans of malt liquor in, when the news that a 4-year-old girl had been shot on Interstate 40 splashed across the TV screen.

Like many residents on that day  Oct. 20, 2015  Shirley, 27, wanted to help any way he could.

So he picked up the phone, thinking he would call police to get more information about the suspects vehicle.

Instead, he told them he did it.

Im calling for the 4-year-old that I shot on I-40, he said.

It was just hours after the shooting, and homicide detectives were frantically chasing every lead they could find. A taped confession rose to the top of the list.

Police reports and interviews tell the story of how officers searched for Shirley throughout the city that night.

First, they descended on the northwest Albuquerque home Shirley shared with roommates. No luck.

Then they visited his mother at her apartment near Montgomery and San Mateo NE. He wasnt there either.

Meanwhile, his phone was blowing up with calls telling him police were looking for him.

Shortly after midnight, detectives finally tracked him down at a friends apartment on Eubank.

As Shirley in a police cruiser with two homicide detectives  the heater blasting and top-40 songs playing on the radio  it was clear he had no idea why they were there.

At first police wouldnt tell him.

But Shirley answered their questions, telling them about himself, about where he went to high school, where he works and what he had done that day.

He told them about cashing a check and going to buy a four pack of alcohol, and about walking home in the rain and hail.

It was the same storm that had scared 4-year-old Lilly Garcia on her way home from elementary school with her father that day.

The father and daughter had waited out the worst of it before picking up Lillys older brother and heading west on the interstate toward home.

Thats when Lilly was shot in the head in a road rage incident as she in the backseat of her fathers truck. Traffic on the highway came to a standstill, good Samaritans rushed to help, and residents were in shock as detectives, officers and investigators started their work

Drunken confession to road rage homicide perplexing

At some point, a friend told Shirley about the shooting. And at 6:16 p.m., while watching the news at a bar, he picked up the phone and dialed 911.

By the time homicide detectives found him, Shirley didnt remember making the call.

Im like holy mackerel, Shirley told the detectives. Its like, what did I do, I didnt do anything. I just hung out.

Detectives seemed to believe it he wasnt him from the start. For one thing, they said he didnt look anything like the man Lillys father said shot at them.

The first question a detective asked Shirley was how much he had to drink.

After copping to three 16-ounce cans of Hurricane malt liquor  or was it Steel Reserve?  and four shots of Jim Beam, it became clear Shirley was not on the interstate at the time of the shooting and did not know anyone who was involved in it.

The 22-minute interview ended with detectives taking his phone to execute a warrant on it. And then they all got out of the warm car and back into the cold.

The next day, police announced a tipster had alerted them that Tony Torrez, now 33, was the man who shot Lilly, and detectives arrested him that afternoon. Torrez took a plea deal a week and a half ago and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Ten days after the shooting, homicide detectives made another visit to Shirley to question him again about why he would have called and said he shot Lilly when he didnt.

In the end, Shirley, his mother, and the two detectives agreed. The whole thing could be chalked up to a drunken mishap.

And a detective left Shirley with some words of wisdom.

Be careful about calling if youre intoxicated, she said. But, you know, I appreciate the fact that you called and wanted to help.

Journal attempts to reach Shirley were unsuccessful.
Loans guaranteed by the Veterans Administration (VA) make it easier for those who have served our country in uniform to own their own homes. While many people are aware of this program, there are many more avenues of assistance for veterans struggling to afford this crucial part of the American dream. Funds are available to help with many costs of homeownership, including property taxes, lending fees and adapting homes to accommodate veterans with disabilities.

Property tax exemptions

Most states offer property tax exemptions for veterans, meaning one of the biggest components of a monthly mortgage payment, outside of principal and interest, could be reduced or eliminated. Some states offer benefits only for elderly or disabled veterans, while others offer benefits to all who have served.

Certain states consider a veterans income level in awarding property tax exemptions. Some states, such as Illinois, base the amount of the tax exemption on the level of disability; while others, such as Massachusetts, also consider military service awards in their calculations. Veterans United Network provides a list of benefits by state at http://bit.ly/2eeGQT3.

Funding fee waivers

VA loans offer several key benefits for veterans, such as zero down payment and no mortgage insurance. Disabled veterans and surviving spouses get even more help with a waiver of the loan funding fee. According to VA.gov, this applies to the following people: veterans receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability, veterans who would be entitled to receive compensation for a service-connected disability if they did not receive retirement or active duty pay, and surviving spouses of veterans who died in service or from a service-connected disability. If you are a disabled veteran who paid a VA funding fee while your disability case was pending, you may be entitled to a refund.

Adapting homes

Several VA programs assist disabled veterans who need help modifying their homes to accommodate their disability. Severely-disabled veterans can get approximately $73,000 to make their home wheelchair accessible or to make other changes that help them live more comfortably. This program, called Specially Adapted Housing, also can be used to help with accessibility-related costs when constructing a new home.

Another program, the Special Housing Adaptation Grant, helps veterans with mobility issues afford mobility-related improvements to their homes with grants of about $14,000. The VA also offers funds when a disabled veteran will be living temporarily in a friend or family members home, as well as funds to modify their homes facilities so that they can receive treatment at home.

More information

The best place to start looking for information about these programs is the VA. To get information about applying for a VA loan, visit www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans. You can apply for grants for specially-adapted housing benefits through your local VA Regional Loan Center, or apply online via the veterans portal at www.ebenefits.va.gov. If you live in an area with a large military presence, ask your real estate agent or lender about connecting you with local programs for service members and veterans.
Science may not always be thought of as sexy, but when it comes to the deep reaches of outer space, it certainly sells.

At least thats the case at the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array radio astronomy observatory (public.nrao.edu/tours/visitvla), about 50 miles west of Socorro. The VLA is a part of the National Science Foundations National Radio Astronomy Observatory, with several locations scattered around North and South America.

A fixture on the Plains of San Augustin since its construction in the 1970s and dedication in 1980, the VLA underwent a decadelong refurbishment that was finished in 2012.

Mounted on rails, the 27 individual, 82-foot-diameter radio telescopes are laid out in an extensive Y formation, with each axis stretching more than 13 miles long.

The massive scope of the project  made famous for its prominent appearance in the Jodie Foster film Contact  rises above the plains in a jaw-dropping testament to the power of science.

The array has been used to peer at black holes, to measure the rotating discs of dense gases surrounding newly formed stars and to spy on complex gas motions in the Milky Ways heart.

And just recently, scientists announced that images captured in 2014 and 2015 appear to show planet-like bodies barreling through dust along their orbits around a relatively nearby star.

Whats particularly neat about all this cool stuff being done in New Mexico is its also a place the public is welcome to visit, said Dave Finley, VLA public information officer.

What really draws people is the iconic nature of the site, he said. Twenty-seven dishes, each 82 feet wide, and its been in a lot of movies. Its in probably every astronomy textbook in the world. Its been in many newspapers and magazines.

Its the science fiction melding into science fact.

People have heard of it, Finley said. Its probably the most famous radio telescope. We get people from all over the world come and see it. Its one of the places on the forefront of science.

Although there are guided tours on the first Saturday of every month, a self-guided walking tour is open year-round except for Christmas Eve, Christmas and New Years Day, he said.

The best place to start, Finley said, is at the visitor center, with a new 24-minute video narrated by Foster that explains the role the VLA plays in pushing the boundaries of research.

Were making new discoveries every day in advancing the frontiers of human knowledge, Finley said.

The center also showcases and explains the technology behind the VLA and describes in detail the accomplishments of the site.

The walking tour is an easy stroll that includes a close-up view of one of the antennas, with new signs describing in depth not only the VLA but also the surrounding landscape.

You can also go up on the control buildings highest point and look out at the center of the array, where it comes together, and take photos, Finley said. You can also see where one of the scenes for Contact was shot. Thats a great photo op.

The nearby village of Magdalena also is becoming an astronomy beacon of sorts, with a growing stargazing community and the informal but entertaining Astronomical Lyceum, which pays homage to the history of astronomy, said astronomer John Briggs.

The Lyceum is home to numerous historical telescopes, like the one used by famed astronomer Lewis Rutherfurd in the 1870s.

In the 1870s, he was regarded as one of the greatest lunar and solar photographers in the world, Briggs said. The large Rutherfurd telescope is like what you would imagine Jules Verne would have looked at to look at the moon.

In addition, he said, there are many other instruments in the collection by famous and artistic American telescope makers. Its surprising to many people how artistic these scientific instruments are.

Housed in an old school gymnasium, Its all very informal, Briggs said, adding that the Lyceum is opened by appointment and that interested parties should email beforehand to arrange entry. But its well-worth the effort.

We get a lot of donations. Sometimes it may only be a lens, but it was by somebody famous, an early lens maker. It can be a very cool thing to talk about and share. We have astronomical spectrascopes and cameras and all kinds of things related to the history of astronomy.

The array of equipment related to the science is quite amazing, he said.

Most astronomers, and especially amateur astronomers, love the hardware aspects of the science, Briggs said. The telescopes and related equipment are very interesting. So to folks with this interest, the Lyceum collection seems to blow peoples minds.
Phil Beltran is really looking forward to spending the holidays with his wife and family members this year.

As executive chef at the downtown Albuquerque Hyatt Regency, Beltran has missed many Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers, many family weddings and funerals. He was the man in charge of the 20- to 30-strong kitchen crew that produced the memorable meals others enjoyed.

Its not an easy business. It takes up a lot of your time, Beltran said. When people are having a great time on weekends and nights, youre working. Thats the kind of business this is.

Beltran retired in October after 27 years with Hyatt hotels, mostly in and around his native Los Angeles. But he recalls the last eight years in Albuquerque as some of the best.

Of all the hotels Ive worked at, probably this hotel was the most rewarding because of all the people, said Beltran.

His route to the top-ranked kitchen job started humbly, as a delivery driver for Coca-Cola. A five-year stint in the Navy, where he served on the USS Cowell and USS Hollister destroyers and spent time as a personal driver for a vice admiral, didnt persuade him to follow a military career. He wanted to return to L.A. and Coca-Cola.

Thats when his brother-in-law suggested a partnership in a food truck business. In the six years he spent serving burgers and burritos to folks like workers building the Beverly Center shopping mall, he learned all about the punishing hours of the food industry.

Its a lotta, lotta work, seven days a week. If the truck doesnt roll, it doesnt make money. Its a really, really tough business, Beltran said.

Eventually his health suffered and the partners sold the truck and the business. At a loss for what to do, Beltran took his wife, Dolores Beltrans, suggestion to use his Veterans Administration benefits to enroll in culinary school at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. Once on that road, he never looked back.

Its a great career. I think it was a wonderful thing for me. Ive had a lot of fulfillment, said Beltran.

While still a student, he began working at a busy Marriott hotel at Los Angeles International Airport. In 1989, armed with a degree in culinary arts, Beltran landed a job as a prep cook at a Hyatt hotel in downtown L.A.

At the lower levels, youre the guy that does all the chopping and cleanup. The stuff that sous chefs dont want to do. You get good experience, he said.

Over the years, Beltran worked his way up through Hyatts culinary hierarchy to become an executive chef. Hes planned and coordinated events for up to 1,200 guests. The toughest challenge was a banquet for 400 executive chefs from throughout the U.S. who attended the American Culinary Federationss Western Region Conference in Albuquerque in 2010.

That was probably the feather in my cap, said Beltran.

Those who have worked with him say Beltrans love for his profession has been reflected in the generosity he has shown to young people embarking on their culinary careers.

He has been such an incredible mentor to anyone who has grown up in the chef community in Albuquerque. Hes just one of those guys who knows so much and is willing to share it, said Kim Snitker, marketing director with Ben E. Keith Foods, a major food supplier to hotels and restaurants.

When Beltran was involved in food shows held by Ben E. Keith, Snitker said, he would always ensure that culinary students from Central New Mexico Community College took part so they could gain experience.

Hes just a great guy with a total love of his art and educating other cooks, said Linda Durand, catering manager at Slate Street Cafe. She previously worked with Beltran at the Hyatt.

She said Beltran was passionate about mariachi music and when elementary school groups from Los Angeles came to Albuquerque for mariachi competitions, he would invite them to his home for dinner.

Beltran attributes his own interest in cooking to the influence of his paternal grandparents who lived in the front part of the home where he grew up. His grandmother frequently invited him to dinner and he preferred her cooking to his mothers.

My mom was a really bad cook. I know she loved us all, but she wasnt the best cook, he said, laughing.

Meals with his grandparents were simple. He remembers his grandfather sitting down to a plate of beans, tortillas, a glass of wine and really hot chile. Beltrans own tastes are similar, beans, tortillas and salsa made by his wife.

Its simple but its wonderful. It makes me very happy, Beltran said.

Although born and raised in Los Angeles, Beltran had ties to New Mexico. His father was born in the former mining town of Gamerco, near Gallup. Beltran said his family regularly held matanza-style get-togethers where they would prepare meat and cook it in a pit dug in the backyard.

I never realized then that it was a New Mexico tradition, he said.

A knowledge of regional cuisine is a necessity for a chef because hotels respond to demand from tourists who often want to sample local dishes, he said. An executive chefs duties include developing recipes and menus. The entree menu at the Albuquerque Hyatt Regencys Forque restaurant carries New Mexican influenced dishes such as Red chile and agave glazed New York strip and Green chile pinon apple cobbler.

Beltran credits the blessings he feels he has enjoyed in his work and marriage to his faith and the lessons he learned at a Catholic high school. Now that he has officially hung up his chefs uniform, Beltran says he might do some teaching at CNM. Mostly, hes looking forward to spending time with family, especially his wife of 37 years.

She was the one who was the culinary widow all these years, he said, She is the one I have to thank the most for my career.
PM Narendra Modi wished President Pranab Mukherjee on Twitter. He tweeted, 'Birthday wishes to Rashtrapati Ji. His tremendous experience and wisdom has benefited the nation greatly. I pray for his long and healthy life'.

By Indo-Asian News Service, Press Trust of India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today wished President Pranab Mukherjee on his 81st birthday saying the country is "proud to have a well-read and knowledgeable president who puts the country's interest above everything".

"Birthday wishes to Rashtrapati Ji. His tremendous experience and wisdom has benefited the nation greatly. I pray for his long and healthy life," Modi tweeted.

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"Pranab Da always puts India's interest above everything. We are proud to have such a well read and knowledgeable President," he said.

Born at Mirati in West Bengal on December 11, 1935, Mukherjee assumed office as the 13th President of India on July 25, 2012, crowning a political career of over five decades of exemplary service to the nation in government as well as Parliament.

READ| Call me sir, says President Mukherjee

Mukherjee will launch '100 Million for 100 Million Campaign' organised by the Satyarthi Children's Foundation in which about 5,000 children will participate.

The Campaign aims to mobilise 100 million youth and children for 100 million underprivileged children across the world, to end child labour, child slavery, violence against children and promote the right of every child to be safe, free, and educated, over the next 5 years.

The President will release three books 'Rashtrapati Bhavan: From Raj to Swaraj'; 'Life at Rashtrapati Bhavan' and 'Indradhanush Volume II'.

Three books will be released by the Vice President of India and Prime Minister of India in the presence of the President, an official release said.

Mukherjee will inaugurate a museum of vintage tapestries and carpets of Rashtrapati Bhavan in the Marble Hall of the premises.

It will display Zardozi canopies and spreads belonging to the early 1900s. It will include a section of the red embroidered canopy prepared for the 1911 Delhi Durbar of King George VI.

The lower basement of the museum will display a collection of Buddhist art, paintings, carvings and assorted gifts presented to different Presidents.

The President will inaugurate a hall -- Navachara-II -- for permanent exhibition of grassroots innovations and innovative ideas set up with the assistance of National Innovation Foundation (A science and innovation museum called Navachara was inaugurated by the President on August 4, 2015).

Navachara-II will be open to visitors on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday as part of the Rashtrapati Bhavan tour.

Mukherjee will also inaugurate a housing complex near Dr.

READ| Professor Pranab, Modi sir take classes in New Delhi on Teachers Day

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RML Hospital comprising Type II/III houses for staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the release said.

This complex comprises 2 ten storey residential towers of Type II/III houses. The towers will have features like CCTV, Intercom System, Solar Water Heating System, Energy Efficient LED Fittings, Garbage Management system, and an Earthquake Resistant structure.

During his long and distinguished career, Mukherjee served at different times as Foreign, Defence, Commerce and Finance Minister.

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha five times from 1969 and twice to the Lok Sabha from 2004. He was a member of the Congress Working Committee, the highest policy making body of the Party for a period of 23 years.

--- ENDS ---
Although the state Legislatures 60-day session doesnt begin for another seven weeks, some legislators are already talking about trying to amend the state Constitution  not because of some glaring deficiency in the venerable document, but to circumvent the legislative process, as well as Gov. Susana Martinezs ability to veto their pet pieces of proposed legislation.

Thats not only an abuse of the process, it can help to exacerbate the bitter partisanship that fuels legislative gridlock.

There are proper times and reasons to amend the state Constitution, such as the amendment to revamp the jail bond system that voters just overwhelmingly approved. Eighty-seven percent of the voters who cast a ballot on the amendment apparently agreed that the justice system was allowing too many violent criminals to bail out of jail and create more mayhem, and sought to put a stop to it.

But now theres already talk about submitting constitutional amendments to voters on issues ranging from raising the states minimum wage to legalizing recreational marijuana use to creating an ethics commission  all measures that bogged down in the previous legislative sessions without ever reaching the governors desk.

Albuquerque Republican Rep. Jim Dines limited bill to amend the state Constitution to create a nine-member ethics commission that would oversee the legislative and executive branches, contractors and lobbyists is a legitimate proposal and an example of the type of issue that would make sense as part of the states document of fundamental principles of government.

But regardless of their popularity, neither the ever-changing minimum amount of pay a business is required to provide nor a decision to ignore federal law so that people in the state can get high with less worry about being arrested rise to the level of constitutional concern. They are issues of the day that can be addressed through legislation, if the support is there for passage.

But that isnt easy. While polls have shown both the wage and drug measures to be popular among New Mexicans, legislators have been unable, or unwilling, to get either into law. And while that may show a disconnect between the legislators and the people who put them in office, its not an excuse to tinker with the state Constitution. Besides, this session, with both the Senate and House back under Democratic Party control, more bills of this type have a better chance of making it to the governors desk.

But fear that a bill, even a bipartisan one that has deep public support, will fall victim to a governors veto pen is no reason to stop seeking compromise legislation.

There have been 171 amendments to the state Constitution since it was adopted in 1911, but the bulk of them deal with fixes in taxation and revenue, education, government operations and the expansion of civil rights. The U.S. Constitution has been amended only 27 times since its inception in 1789.

The clear message here is that amending the Constitution should not be considered a go-to option to bypass the administrative branch of government, which has veto power over the legislative branch, on routine issues. And that especially would apply to those issues that can be categorized as the populist flavors of the day.

Passing bills is a difficult process, but it has been designed that way to help maintain consistency in law and encourage best practices. The Constitution was never intended to be a document subject to whims and it should not be made into one by impatient legislators.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

She was a fixture in town, a resident of a boarding home down the road from where Las Vegas, N.M., resident Lee Einer lives.

But the woman, who had struggled with mental issues, hasnt been seen in months.

I heard from someone in law enforcement here that she actually had opted to be reinstitutionalized for her own safety because of conditions at the boarding home, said Einer, who is public information officer for the city of Las Vegas.

As home to the states only public mental hospital, the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute, Las Vegas is often the first stop for residents who are discharged by the institute and end up at local boarding homes.

Such homes are unregulated in New Mexico, despite several years of efforts of disability rights advocates and some legislators to compel oversight by the state Department of Health.

Now, the mayor of Las Vegas and a former state cabinet secretary, who is a legislator, have joined the effort.

This hands-off, theyre not our responsibility (position by DOH) is driving me crazy, said state Rep. Deborah Armstrong, a former secretary for the state Department of Aging and Long-Term Services.

No one has an exact count, but one recent legislative analysis suggests there may be hundreds of boarding homes operating in New Mexico, including in Albuquerques South Valley  all under the radar of state health authorities.

The DOH used to oversee such homes up until 2010, but agency officials say the regulations were amended so they now lack jurisdiction to license or inspect them. Aside from providing housing, numerous boarding home operators safeguard residents medications and provide supervision of residents who self-administer their drugs.

Under state law, the DOH licenses assisted living homes in New Mexico because they are considered health facilities that provide assistance with daily living activities  such as bathing, dressing or eating  to two or more people. There are about 264 licensed assisted living facilities.

But the DOH contends helping residents with their medications does not qualify as an activity of daily living.

On the heels of a Journal investigation in October that revealed poor living conditions in some Las Vegas boarding homes, Armstrong, D-Albuquerque, said last week she plans to introduce legislation during the upcoming 60-day legislative session to clearly bring boarding homes under their (DOH) jurisdiction and try and move toward some basic safety and quality care standards.

With a looming $69 million state budget deficit this fiscal year, Armstrong said she realizes the DOH wont have the money to hire inspectors for annual checks of boarding homes. But she said her proposal would at least compel health department staff to notify boarding home operators of basic safety precautions and health standards required of them.

That gives the Department of Health jurisdiction that, if they have reports of a bad actor, they can intervene and they can shut them down or make them respond.

Conditions vary

Lorraine Mendiola, the mother of a 34-year-old mentally ill son, told a legislative committee in a July 12 letter that her son has been placed in five different boarding homes in New Mexico since 2011.

All 5 boarding homes provided 3 meals per day, laundered bedding and clothing, cleaned the room, provided transportation to doctor appointments and dispensed medication to individuals, her letter stated.

But at one home in Las Vegas, he lived in a bedbug infestation with 15 or more residents under limited supervision. At his most recent home in Albuquerque, her son lived in an incomplete converted garage with exposed wiring in the ceiling, portable heaters and one window blocked by an air conditioner, leaving no way to escape in the event of a fire. There was no fire extinguisher, she wrote. She learned the owner had no building permit.

Essentially, these homes are a lucrative business charging $700 a month or more per resident , Mendiola told the interim Legislative Health and Human Services Committee in her letter. The rent comes from a residents Social Security disability check.

The DOH contends boarding homes arent health facilities but are landlord-tenant relationships and dont involve health-related activities of daily living.

Mendiola asked legislators in the 2017 session to come up with a new set of daily living definitions to include boarding homes.

These individuals deserve to be placed in a safe and healthy environment with oversight and accountability guaranteed by the state, Mendiola wrote.

In an Oct. 14 letter to Gov. Susana Martinez, Las Vegas Mayor Tonita Gurule-Giron cited the Journal investigative series, which described residents being housed in unsafe and crowded conditions, being inadequately fed and clothed and being abused and financially exploited by board home operators.

  I am appealing to your compassion and calling on you to re-establish the regulation, licensing and inspection of mental health boarding homes in the state of New Mexico, the mayor wrote, adding that her community is disproportionately impacted by this problem.

The governors office referred the matter to the DOH for a response.

DOH officials told the Journal that they have prioritized a review of regulations related to boarding homes and assisted living facilities. A spokesman for the health department said his agency is open to looking into improving current regulations and what that would require.

More recently, DOH officials have been meeting with Las Vegas city officials to explore solutions to the problem of boarding homes which may be operating as unlicensed assisted living facilities, said Einer.

Dispensing meds

Einer told the Journal last week that roughly a dozen boarding homes have business licenses with the city of Las Vegas, but there is no way to know how many are operating in the city without a business license.

A legislative analysis last summer found state Board of Pharmacy officials have issued hundreds of active custodial drug permits to what they describe as boarding homes. The current count is 950.

Such permits are required by state law for any facility or business that provides care and services on a continuing basis, for two or more in-house residents, not related to the operator, and which maintains custody of the residents drugs, said spokesman Joseph Cueto in an email to the Journal.

Another 109 custodial drug permits have been issued to nursing homes, Cueto added. Under pharmacy board definitions, nursing homes include assisted living facilities.

Las Vegas Mayor Gurule-Giron contended in a Nov. 4 letter to the DOH that the dispensing of medication is both a health service and assistance with an activity of daily living. So even as a stand-alone issue, this raises the question of how and why such facilities have been allowed to continue operation without licensure and oversight?

But DOH spokesman Raul Rhien told the Journal in an email last week, Medication administration is not considered an activity of daily living.

The advocacy group, Disability Rights New Mexico, told the Journal in a recent letter that the voices of adults with serious mental illness who languish in miserable living conditions have been ignored for too long.

We have visited various boarding homes in Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Las Cruces and have seen these problems first hand. Our experience is that residents with mental illness are often afraid to speak with us for fear of retaliation, including eviction, said Nancy Koenigsberg, senior attorney with Disability Rights New Mexico. These individuals have no visibility and no political power.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

PJ Sedillo got to scratch off another item from his bucket list  decorate the White House for Christmas.

He even got a hug from Michelle Obama while he was there.

Every year a team of volunteers descends on the home of the first family and spends two days dressing the trees, hanging wreaths and assembling all the items that will grace the public rooms of the White House. This years holiday theme was The Gift of the Holidays and focused on not just physical gifts, but the gifts of life, friends, family, education and health.

This has always been on my bucket list, Sedillo said. Ive visited many times and I always thought what do I need to do to be a Christmas volunteer.

Sedillo is a professor at the New Mexico Highlands campus in Rio Rancho, training students in how to teach special education and gifted courses.

He was one of 92 volunteers chosen from across the country. In order to be considered, he had to submit an application that included an essay detailing how he spends the holidays, pictures of his decorations and the reasons he wanted to volunteer. He submitted the application in April but didnt learn he was chosen until a week before Thanksgiving, which also happened to be a week before he had to depart.

Sedillo said hes always had a flair for decorating and loves Christmas. He loves it so much he has 18 full-size and tabletop trees at home. Each tree has a different theme, including the Nutcracker, drag queens, Disney and this year he added a tree honoring the 49 victims of the June shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

He mentioned the new tree in his essay as well as the large Christmas party he and his husband throw every year the Saturday following Thanksgiving. They ask each of their 250 to 300 guests to bring canned goods.

Because we are part of the LGBTQ community, some of our friends may have lost their families when they came out, he said. We open our home for those who may have no family at this time of year.

Off to the White House

Sedillos trip fell on the couples annual party but he knew he couldnt turn down the opportunity. He flew to Washington, D.C., the day before Thanksgiving. The volunteers met the evening of Thanksgiving to receive their instructions and loaded onto a bus that took them to a giant warehouse Friday and Saturday.

Its like a huge Lowes, he said. All the White House decorations are there.

Organizers assigned Sedillo to decorate the Red and Green rooms, which flank the Blue Room where the official White House Christmas tree is erected. Sedillo said the two rooms are coveted among the decorators because they are small and intimate, providing volunteers a real opportunity to show off their skills.

I thought that was special, too, because Im from New Mexico and the official state question is Red or green?' he said. And when you choose both, its called Christmas.

Sedillo spent two days sorting and gluing ornaments together at the warehouse. He said all the ornaments need a stick or heavy duty wire to make sure they stay attached to the trees with all the heavy traffic that comes through to see the decorations.

The next two days were spent decorating the White House.

It was amazing, he said. We all had on aprons and Christmas music was playing in the background. There was a lot of excitement.

Volunteer elves

The first day, the volunteers had to unload the boxes of decorations from the truck and place them in the appropriate room. Next came the actual decorating. Sedillo said he started in the Red Room assembling presents made of fake cranberries. Next, he headed to the green room where one of his ultimate wishes came true when he was asked to decorate one of the trees and a wreath. He said all the trees and wreaths in the White house are real. The greatest honor, he said, was being asked to assemble the cranberry topiary that is a staple of the White House holiday decorations.

I cried a couple times while I was there in the White House, he said. It was unbelievable. I was there. There decorating the White House.

Sedillo said he caught sight of the president once while he was there.

I did get to see his head while we were decorating, he said. When he was going to be walking through, they would make us all clear the room and wait for him to walk through. Thats when I got a glimpse.

He said volunteers were not allowed to take pictures or post anything about their assignment to social media. They were warned a violation of the instructions would result in being asked to leave.

Night to remember

Sedillos husband Tony Ross flew out to Washington, D.C., to attend the volunteer reception held Nov. 29, which was also for military families and other White House volunteers. The president was called away and did not attend the reception.

The New Mexico couple dressed to the nines and arrived at the reception two hours early to be one of the first people through the door to improve their chances of meeting first lady Michelle Obama.

Their early arrival to the reception paid off. They rushed through the tour and then immediately lined up in the greeting line inside the East Room to wait for the first lady. They didnt even stop to eat. Then it was time to wait again. Michelle Obama finally arrived, gave a speech thanking the volunteers, and began making her way through the greeting line. Sedillo was the third in line. He thanked her for the opportunity and sent her greetings from New Mexico.

She said Thank you, babe, and gave me a hug, he said. I thought Oh my gosh. Michelle Obama called me babe.'

Yuletide peek

Home and Garden TV (HGTV) White House Christmas 2016, 4 p.m. today

The show will feature the volunteers and staff decorating the White House this year.
The 2018 general election is nearly two years away, but it appears weve already hit the starting line.

At least a half-dozen New Mexico Democrats have expressed interest in running for governor in two years, a list that includes Attorney General Hector Balderas, U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., and state Sen. Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces.

Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales added his name to the mix in recent days, saying hes reflecting on a possible gubernatorial bid, partly because of concerns that the state is not properly funding education.

Other potential candidates have also emerged, including media executive Jeff Apodaca, the son of former Gov. Jerry Apodaca, and Santa Fe businessman Alan Webber, who sought the Democratic Party nomination for governor in 2014.

Webber told the Journal he would not have weighed a 2018 run if U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., had decided to pursue the race, but Udall said last week that he would remain in the Senate and bypass the gubernatorial race.

I think Tom Udall would have made a great governor, Webber said. But if hes not going to run, I think I should take a hard look at it.

Apodaca, who has never run for elected office, said he would have considered entering the race regardless of Udalls decision, describing himself as frustrated by the states low rankings in numerous national studies.

I think there needs to be some new ideas, new direction and new blood, Apodaca said.

The 2018 governors race could be attractive for Democrats and Republicans alike, because two-term GOP Gov. Susana Martinez is barred from seeking re-election.

However, winning election as the states chief executive requires lots of time on the campaign trail and serious fundraising chops  Martinez took in more than $6.7 million in contributions during her 2010 gubernatorial bid.

Although no candidates have formally announced for the 2018 race yet, dont be surprised if they start coming soon, as the field will likely be solidified by the end of next year.

One high-profile Democrat who has ruled out a run is state Auditor Tim Keller, who told the Journal last week, Im not looking at governor.

Keller has acknowledged his interest in running next year for mayor of Albuquerque.

Meanwhile, Republicans who are considered possible 2018 gubernatorial candidates include Lt. Gov. John Sanchez, U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce and Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry, who will not seek re-election next year to his current job.

Dan Boyd: dboyd@abqjournal.com
There were tears of joy in the audience when Taskeen Naz walked across the stage to receive her diploma on Saturday afternoon.

The 24-year-old earned her associates degree in paralegal studies from Central New Mexico Community College. But 10 years ago, Naz quit school amid fears for her safety.

Naz and her family are from Rawalpindi, Pakistan. They are Christians, who are a minority group in the Muslim country and often a target of discrimination by citizens and the government alike.

The decision to end her formal education was a tough one to make, she said. The then-14-year-old student loved school and always overachieved in her studies, but she became confined to her home.

We were troubled. You could feel it in the atmosphere, she said in an interview. It was better to stay at home and stay safe.

She said it was painful to watch her friends continue on with their learning.

It was really sad because I saw my other friends go through high school, she said. They were more knowledgeable because I wasnt going to school and I was missing out on a lot.

In recent years, several members of the Naz family  Taskeen is the youngest of six children and the only daughter  have immigrated to the United States. Naz, her parents and two of her brothers live in Albuquerque, while two brothers live in Pakistan and one in Thailand.

Naz moved here with her father in 2010. She was 18, hadnt been to school in years, and spoke Urdu and Punjabi. But she started working toward a GED while learning English, and then started taking college courses at CNM.

She said she was scared to go back to school, but found a welcoming community there.

I really liked the atmosphere, she said. I can fit in.

On Saturday, Naz was the student speaker at the graduation ceremony at Tingley Coliseum. She spoke of some of the struggles she faced when she returned to school and encouraged the more than 600 graduates to continue to learn.

She graduated with a 3.6 GPA and has completed an internship at the District Attorneys Office. She plans to earn a bachelors degree from the University of New Mexico and will hopefully go to law school  she wants to practice immigration or international law.

What Ive noticed is that she has grown a lot of confidence. Shes very independent, Khalid Naz, Taskeens brother, said of his sisters accomplishments.

Nazs parents, brothers, friends and members of her church attended Saturdays ceremony; a proud moment that will be remembered as a significant step for the entire family.

It was an emotional time for us. We were minorities, things were not fair, Khalid said. Going through what we went through, what she went through, and seeing her today, was a milestone. It was emotional.
ST. GEORGE, Utah  An Arizona man has pleaded guilty to doing $10,000 in damage to Hildale property that once belonged to polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs.

The Spectrum reports (http://bit.ly/2gOUFc8) that 23-year-old Oliver William Darger of Colorado City acknowledged he illegally entered and vandalized the 6-acre property near the Utah-Arizona border.

Darger and an accomplice are accused of defacing walls with markers, strewing toilet paper around the floors, discharging and damaging fire extinguishers, breaking windows and damaging doors and ceiling fans in several buildings within the Hildale city block.

In exchange for his plea to felony criminal mischief and two misdemeanor counts of trespassing, Darger was granted 36 months of probation with credit for 60 days already served in jail.

Authorities say Darger also must pay $10,000 in restitution through the court.

___

Information from: The Spectrum, http://www.thespectrum.com
Farah Khan shared a photo from her sangeet twelve years ago on her Instagram account.

By India Today Web Desk: Priyanka Chopra is the name on everyone's lips right now. Fans are going gaga over her hot Baywatch look; Pee Cee has wowed, even if she appeared only for a split second.

WATCH Baywatch teaser-trailer: Priyanka Chopra looks HOT as hell, but spot her if you can

SEE PIC: Meet Adira, Rani Mukerji-Aditya Chopra's baby daughter on her first birthday

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Recently, Farah Khan shared a throwback photo of the actor dancing with Rani Mukerji at the Happy New Year director's sangeet. Farah, who recently celebrated her 12th wedding anniversary with Shirish Kunder, shared the 2004 photo on her Instagram.

Sangeet #12yrsago .. with Rani n @priyankachopra .. i do remember this outfit by @manishmalhotra05 had a dupatta.. ??? A photo posted by @farahkhankunder on Dec 9, 2016 at 11:52pm PST

Farah also shared photos with Hrithik Roshan and Sussanne Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan.

#12yrsago completely tipsy by the time @iamsrk n Gauri arrived.. thts my 3 rd std. friend Sharmila Ribeiro with us.. A photo posted by @farahkhankunder on Dec 10, 2016 at 7:34pm PST

#12yrsago rare wedding pic! reception in my building lawns..???shirish n i in @manishmalhotra05 A photo posted by @farahkhankunder on Dec 9, 2016 at 7:55pm PST

Mothering @bachchan even #12yrsago at the sangeet.. mid way between normal n tipsy??? A photo posted by @farahkhankunder on Dec 9, 2016 at 9:44pm PST

These photos are taking us down memory lane already!

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The Bank of Nova Scotia provides various banking products and services in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, the Caribbean and Central America, and internationally. It operates in four segments: Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Wealth Management, and Global Banking and Markets. The company offers financial advice and solutions, and day-to-day banking products, including debit and credit cards, chequing and saving accounts, investments, mortgages, loans, and insurance to individuals; and business banking solutions comprising lending, deposit, cash management, and trade finance solutions to small, medium, and large businesses, including automotive financing solutions to dealers and their customers. It also provides wealth management advice and solutions, including online brokerage, mobile investment, full-service brokerage, trust, private banking, and private investment counsel services; and retail mutual funds, exchange traded funds, liquid alternative funds, and institutional funds. In addition, the company offers international banking services for retail, corporate, and commercial customers; and lending and transaction, investment banking advisory, and capital markets access services to corporate customers. Further, it provides online, mobile, and telephone banking services. The company operates a network of 954 branches and approximately 3,766 automated banking machines in Canada; and approximately 1,300 branches and a network of contact and support center internationally. The Bank of Nova Scotia was founded in 1832 and is headquartered in Halifax, Canada.
Lakhanpal told India Today that "AAP was once a principle-based party but had compromised on those and had started bringing in people with not so clean background as candidates."

By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received a jolt today when four of its members including Colonel CM Lakhanpal, the founder member and state vice-president of AAP Punjab, quit party to join the Congress.

Lakhanpal who has been responsible for holding all major functions of the party in Punjab, quit just ahead of big ticket assembly polls.

Lakhanpal joined Captain Amarinder Singh in bringing in 50,000 people from states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for campaigning. "AAP has dwindling fortunes, people are leaving their party as they lack principle," Amarinder Singh said while speaking to the media.

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Amarinder Singh also claimed that while new entrants were joining the Congress party, people were leaving rival AAP. The newbies would be put up as candidates only where the Congress did not have a good candidates.

Also read:

AAP MP Bhagwant Mann, found guilty, suspended from remaining Winter Session of Parliament

AAP's loss is Congress' gain. Besides Colonel CM Lakhanpal, PK Sharma, Colonel Iqbal Pannu and Barpur, leaders who have played an significant role in the organisational matters of AAP have also quit the party to join the Congress.

"AAP WAS ONCE A PRINCIPLE-BASED PARTY"

Lakhanpal told India Today that "AAP was once a principle-based party but had compromised on those and had started bringing in people with not so clean background as candidates." Citing example of the Bains brothers, saying it was no longer possible to continue with AAP, given its current state. The party that once had corruption as its main plank now had more than 60 of the party candidates with not so clean background.

OTHERS WHO HAVE JOINED CONGRESS

Group coordinator, PK Sharma (grandson of Pt Ramgopal Sharma), District Congress President, Sangrur. He left Canada to join AAP during the Anna Hazare movement but soon got disillusioned with the deep-rooted malaise in the party and decided to join the Congress.

Also read:

AAP has lost moral rights to contest Punjab polls: Amarinder

Another important new person to join Congress is founder member Colonel Iqbal Pannu, senior vice-president of trade and transport, as well as the industrial wing of AAP.

Barpur Singh was the sector coordinator for AAP, handling three assembly constituencies of Punjab and also the leader of the Ramgarhia SC wing. He had been associated with AAP for two and a half years.

Also read:

Blow to Arvind Kejriwal: AAP workers protest against CM's decision to allot ticket to outsider

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Haiti - Agriculture : Passing of Francois Severin, a great loss for the country





The Ministry of Agriculture of Natural Resources and Rural Development announces with deep sorrow the sad news of the passing away Thursday of the former Minister of Agriculture, the Agronomist Francois Severin, at the age of 70 years (11 December 1946), in his residence, following a long illness which he courageously endured.



Pierre Guito Laurore, the Minister of Agriculture, would like to inform the bereaved family, the Corporation of Agronomists and other professionals in the agricultural sector of the emotion that he feels following the sad departure for the beyond of this intellectual to whom the Nation expresses its greatest gratitude.



The Agronomist Francois Severin, Minister of Agriculture on five occasions, is a heavy loss, the Ministry of Agriculture knows how deeply the role of this high level executive was in the vast extension campaign, the installation of collective tanks in the rural environment, in the promotion of agricultural development and in research in Haiti. The Ministry of Agriculture will retain the memory of this man so warn and the agricultural sector will never forget its famous research and its wonderful publications in Creole like "Rat Se Zenglendo" published in 1995, "Plant Ak Pyebwa Te d'Ayiti" published in 2002, "Cheche Grenn Banbou" published in 2005 and "Ti zwazo kote w a prale" published in 2007.



The Ministry of Agriculture expresses his condolences and sympathy to his children, to his family, in particular to his brother the Agronomist Arnoux Sevron, the Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture and other relatives and friends affected by this mourning. Peace to his soul, Sit tibi terra levis.



The Ministry of Agriculture, together with the Severin family, will provide the date of the funeral at the appropriate time.



The de facto President Jocelerme Privert "presents his sincere condolences to the family, relatives and friends of the agronomist Francois Severin who has served his country worthily. The Republic loses one of its executives experienced and competent by this death. President Privert salutes the memory and the journey of this rare value among the great servants of the Haitian State."



Prime Minister Enex Jean-Charles learned with dismay the news of the death of the former Minister of Agriculture Francois Severin "In this painful circumstance, the Prime Minister, on behalf of the Government salutes the departure of Mr. Severin and sends his sympathies to the relatives and friends of the deceased."



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Demands to refuse the proposal of Islamic banking, not to display pictures glorifying cruel Akabar on railway stations

Ponda  Hindu organisations under the banner of National Hindu Movement held demonstration at old bus terminus, Ponda on 11th December as a part of the National Hindu Movement. Demands of refuse the proposal based on Shariyat law, given by the Reserve Bank of India to the Central Government; cancelling the decision to display pictures glorifying cruel Akabar on railway stations who was known for persecuting Hindus and giving attention to the severe harassment of Hindus in minority, destruction of temples and idols in Bangladesh to protect their human rights and to take severe action, were the demands made during this demonstration.

Demonstration started after blowing the conch shell. Dr. Manoj Solanki of Hindu Jajanagruti Samiti (HJS) while making introduction of the movement, explained the topic to the gathering on behalf of the National Hindu Movement. Thereafter devout Hindus addressed the gathering. All present there unanimously agreed upon the following aspects. Many foreign attackers including Akbar looted our places, depraved our temples, raped Hindu women. Kings like Maharana Pratap, Chhatrapati Shivaj Maharaj, Dharmaveer Sambhaji Maharaj, Bajirao Peshwa who laid their lives for protecting the honour of God, nation and Dharma. When Hindus have such a glorious history why does the railway ministry glorifying Islamic attacker like Akbar ? In democracy we cannot restrict anyone from having a personal role model; but to call Akbar valorous and put a pressure on the people to take him as their ideal, is against the interest of the nation. The issue pertaining to the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh should be raised in the United Nations; they should try for Hindus in Bangladesh to get an assurance of an independent Home land and security and those who have taken refuge in Bharat fearing danger to their life should be recognized as refugees immediately. They must be provided with all the facilities and comfort immediately. Present banking system is secular in its true sense. Secularism will get disturbed if Islamic banking is introduced in that system. Mr. Satyavijay Naik placed the resolutions before the gathering. Compering was done by Mr. Amol Wankhede. Yours faithfully,

Organisations participating in the Movement  Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, Sanatan Sanstha, Ranaragini Sect, Shivsena. Gomantak Mandir & Dhaarmik Sanstha Mahasangh etc.

Speakers addressing the gathering in the movement  Mahesh Parkar, Rama Usapkar, Ravindra Talaulikar, Achyut Prabhu, Santosh Kapadi, Ramesh Naik, Jayesh Thali and Anandi Wankhade.
It follows reports from the US earlier this week that Norwegians Irish subsidiary, Norwegian Air International (NAI), which finally secured regulatory approval last week to fly from Ireland to the US, is no longer considering Bostons main airport, Logan International, for its direct Cork to Boston service using a Boeing 737.

Norwegian already operates a Boeing 787 Dreamliner out of Logan on its London route.

But the airline said the cost of operating a single-aisle 737, which carries 150 fewer passengers than the Dreamliner, from a main US city airport on the proposed Irish routes would be much more expensive given that the smaller aircraft type limits passenger numbers.

Aviation industry sources reported earlier this week that NAIs parent company, Norwegian, is set to choose between New Hampshires Portsmouth International Airport and TF Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island for NAIs Cork to Boston flights.

Portsmouth International Airport, also known as Pease International, is about 60 miles (nearly 100km), or an hours drive north of Boston.

It served as a hub for Pan Am from 1998 until 2005, and it was once one of seven launch abort sites, and one of 18 emergency landing sites, for Nasas space shuttle.

Green Airport in Rhode Island is about a 60-mile, 70-minute drive south of Boston.

It has also been reported that Norwegian has opted to establish NAIs New York base at Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, New York  60 miles north of Manhattan  rather than at the larger New York City airports.

A spokesperson for the airline said it was too early to comment on which US airports it will use on the direct Cork-US routes.

But he confirmed that secondary airports are being looked at.

A number of airports are being looked at while we finalise our plans but secondary airports in the US present us with an opportunity to offer some truly ground-breaking fares to passengers in Ireland and the US.

The airline hopes to offer introductory price offers of around 69 one-way, with normal fares expected to be in the region of around 160 one-way, and around 300 return.
Jonathan Kome (a.k.a The Arrow of the Lord) is back with another song. This time he puts out a very enjoyable high praise medley titled Magnify (Praise Medley) produced by music aficionado, Wole Oni.

Download. Praise. Share.

DOWNLOAD

Direct download link: http://bit.ly/MagnifyPraiseMedleyByJonathanKome

LYRICS

MAGNIFY (Praise Medley) by Jonathan Kome

Intro:

Magnify the Lord with me, With one Voice, with one Heart.

Let's give Him the Praise He alone deserves

I will Magnify the Lord

Cos He's the lover of my soul

Will you Magnify the Lord

Cos He's the giver of life

Chorus:

I will Magnify the Lord

Cos He's the lover of my soul

Will you Magnify the Lord

He's the giver of life

Verse:

A Father with a big heart you are

How amazing is your love

Your love is deeper than the ocean

Farther than sky

What an awesome life we have in you

Lion and the lamb

With a Hearts of gratitude

Our Hearts and lips will sing

Chorus:

I will Magnify the Lord

Cos He's the lover of my soul

Will you Magnify the Lord

He's the giver of life

Chant:

Eyeh eyeh eyeh uwo oowu e ya e

Eyeh eyeh eyeh uwo oowu e ya e(2)

Bridge:

Indeed there's no end to your love

Cos in your love i find myself

There's nowhere else I'll rather be but in you

All i want and desire is that you alone be magnified

Let your Light alone in me be seen in be

Seen

Chorus:

I will Magnify the Lord

Cos He's the lover of my soul

Will you Magnify the Lord

He's the giver of life

Chant:

Iyeh iyeh iyeh uh o o o uh eh ya eh

Iyeh iyeh iyeh uh o o o uh eh ya eh(2)

EKELE

Ekele di nor nu mo

Chimo emela

Ekele di nor nu no

Sovereign Father e di ebube

Verse:

Great I am is who You are

An Awesome God is who you are

Mighty Mighty is the God we serve

Cos you're a GOD whose word

Never falls to the void in our lives(2)

Chorus:

Ekele di nor nu mo

Chimo emela

Ekele di nor nu no

Sovereign Father e di ebube

THANKSGIVING

We've come with thanksgiving

On our lips and in our hearts

To the one true God who reigns

Forever

Chant:

Oh oh oh oh o oh o oh

Oh oh oh o

Forever forever forever.

ABOUT JONATHAN KOME

JONATHAN CHIDIEBERE UGORJI also known as Jonathan Kome (The Arrow Of The Lord) a name given to him by the LORD which simply means "GOD's Gift", is one who is passionate and completely sold out to GOD not minding the cost as long as it's all to reveal the one true GOD, FATHER and KING to the world that HE is REAL.

Jonathan Kome formerly based in the UK now back in Nigeria is one who is out with the message of TRUTH that is "WORSHIP" more of a lifestyle than the music and words" that the LORD be GLORIFIED and Worshiped in SPIRIT and in TRUTH.

The sole aim of his GOD given songs is to exalt the name of the LORD OF HOST and to make the world understand, that the best way to walk with GOD is to be LED BY HIS SPIRIT and not by the systems of this world or religion.

Jonathan Kome is presently out with his Debut Album titled "God in me" and from the Album, he presents "Magnify." A song celebrating the magnificent LIFE and LOVE our Father, Friend and King has given unto us.

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN KOME

Facebook: Jonathan Kome

Twitter: @jonathankome

Instagram: @Jonathankome

YouTube channel: Jonathan Kome
Media personality/model Vimbai Mutinhiri looked super hot as she hosted the Abryanz Style and Fashion Awards in Uganda on Friday.



Styled by Rhoda Ebun, the dark-skinned

And of course that face beat was on fleek honey! Makeup artist Anita Brows did her thing:
By PTI: firm

New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) Delhi Police today raided the office of a law firm in southeast Delhis Greater Kailash-I area and recovered Rs 10 crore in cash, of which Rs 2.5 crore was in new banknotes released after demonetisation.

The raid was carried out by the Crime Branch at the office of T&T Law Firm, said a senior police officer.

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"Rs 10 crore was recovered. Out of which, Rs 2.5 crore was in new currency notes and the rest in old notes. The I-T department has been informed," said the officer.

When the police team raided the office, its rooms were locked and a caretaker was present.

Police are searching for the firm promoter Rohit Tandon.

Police said more raids would be conducted in this connection. PTI SLB DIP SMN

--- ENDS ---
Lagos (AFP) - A church roof collapsed in southeastern Nigeria causing "many deaths and injury" the country's president said Saturday, with state media reporting that up to 200 people could have been killed.

The evangelical Reigners Bible Ministry in Akwa Ibom state was packed with worshippers when the roof -- which was still under construction -- collapsed, local media said, with the state-run Nigerian News Agency saying "between 50 and 200" people were believed killed.
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Lagos (AFP) - Rescue workers in Nigeria hunted for survivors Sunday inside an evangelical church where the roof caved in on worshippers, killing at least 60.

Emergency services in the remote southeastern city of Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom state, raised the toll to 60 "confirmed" dead.

Hospital sources said 200 others had been treated for injuries.

The Reigners Bible Ministry was packed on late Saturday morning when the roof -- which was still under construction -- collapsed on the congregation.

The state-run Nigerian News Agency said "between 50 and 200" people could have died, but state police said it was too early for casualty tolls as rescue operations were still under way.

The incident took place at around 11:00 am, 30 minutes into the service, a survivor told local media from his Ibom Specialist Hospital bed.

"Suddenly, the roof from the middle fell on worshippers. The governor was quickly rescued. But others were not that lucky," he said.

'Shocking incident'

Akwa Ibom state governor Emmanuel Udom, who survived the disaster, declared two days of official mourning and said a ceremony honouring the victims would be held on Monday.

"We have never had such a shocking incident in the history of our dear state," he wrote on his Facebook page.

Police, soldiers, firefighters and volunteers joined with construction workers to dig through the rubble inside the building.

"Rescue team members are doing their best to rescue all the victims trapped at the collapsed building," police spokeswoman Cordelia Nwawe said.

Uyo's university hospital said all its doctors had been called in to manage the emergency, and the head of the regional branch of the Nigerian Medical Association called for a blood drive to help the victims.

"We still need more blood. You must not underestimate the number of lives that your blood donation will save," Aniekeme Aniefiok Uwah said in a statement.

Growing number of evangelicals

Police spokeswoman Nwawe officers were being "particularly attentive to keeping the situation under control and keeping looters from accessing the accident site."

President Muhammadu Buhari expressed "the deep sorrow of his family, the government and the entire people of Nigeria over the many deaths and injury recorded following the incident," his spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement.

According to Gallup International, Nigeria is the world's second most religious country, with a notable rise in the number of evangelical churches.

In September 2014, 116 people including 84 South Africans, were killed in Lagos in the collapse of a church belonging to the famous televangelist TB Joshua.

The inquest verdict attributed the collapse of the six-storey guesthouse to structural failures and said it did not have planning permission.

The preacher is due to face charges of criminal negligence but the trial has yet to start.

The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry, one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Nigeria, has one of the largest church auditoriums in the world with a seating capacity of 500,000.
Egyptian security forces gather at the site of an explosion at the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo on December 11, 2016. By Khaled Desouki (AFP)

11.12.2016 LISTEN

Cairo (AFP) - A bombing in a Cairo church on Sunday near the headquarters of the Coptic pope killed at least 25 people, state media reported.

It was the deadliest suspected attack on the country's beleaguered Christian minority in recent memory.

The explosion ripped through the church around 10:00 am (0800 GMT), Egyptian security officials said, shattering its windows.

State television cited a security official as saying a bomb made of TNT appeared to have been the cause of the explosion.

Ambulances lined up outside the church in the capital's Abbasiya district to evacuate the dead and wounded.

A crowd gathered outside the church chanting: "Tell the sheikh, tell the priest, Egyptians' blood is not cheap".

The church is close to the St Mark's Cathedral, the seat of Coptic Pope Tawadros II.

Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 90 million, have faced persecution and discrimination that spiked during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.

Dozens have been killed in recent years in sectarian attacks and clashes throughout Egypt.

Dozens of people have been killed in recent years in sectarian attacks and clashes throughout Egypt

In 2011, a suicide bomber killed 21 worshippers outside a church in the coastal city of Alexandria.

Islamist extremists have regularly incited violence against Copts, especially since the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

They accused the Christians of supporting his ouster, which came after millions of protesters took to the streets demanding his resignation.

On August 14, 2013, mobs attacks dozens of churches across the country after police killed hundreds of pro-Morsi protesters in Cairo.
Washington (AFP) - The White House on Saturday sharply criticized longtime Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh's declaration that he would not accept the results of the country's December 1 vote.

"The United States strongly condemns the decision by President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia to ignore the will of the Gambian people in calling for the December 1 election to be nullified," National Security Council Spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

"The United States appeals to all Gambians to reject violence and seek a peaceful resolution that upholds the will of the Gambian people and advances the promise of a freer, more democratic, and more prosperous Gambia."

A week after conceding defeat, Jammeh on Friday declared that he no longer accepted the results of the election, upending hopes for a peaceful political transition after his 22 years in power.

The NSC specifically called on the country's security services "to uphold their sacred duty to protect all Gambians and reject any instruction to suppress peaceful expressions of dissent."

Jammeh, a devout Muslim who seized power in 1994 in the former British colony, warned Gambians not to take to the streets to protest his decision.

Signs of a massive security ramp-up multiplied across the capital Banjul on Saturday, while the United Nations Security Council led calls for Jammeh, 51, to stand down and eschew violence.

Latest official figures gave Adama Barrow, a consensus candidate backed by a coalition of opposition groups, 43.29 percent of the vote in the presidential election, while Jammeh took 39.64 percent. The turnout was 59 percent.

Those figures reflect a correction issued Monday by election authorities, showing a slimmer-than-thought victory for Barrow, of just over 19,000 votes.
Dr. Raphael Nyarkotey Obu, a renowned researcher and the managing editor of Dangme news, a monthly newspaper circulating in the Dangme community prediction was accurate for the general elections. For the first time in the history of Ghanas election, the New Patriotic Party has won a seat in the Dangme community.

In his research titled: A look at the Dangme community parliamentary elections and what is likely to happen in 2016, Dr. Nyarkotey provided analysis from the seven constituencies in the community and areas where the NPP could wrestle the seat from the NDC.

The NPP won the Upper Manya Krobo constituency in the eastern region and also improved on their numbers in other areas. He further said that, a seat won for the NPP is a political suicidal for the NDC in the general elections which did happened.

Dr. Nyarkotey known for his love for the Dangme people believes the Dangme community deserves better. Dr. Nyarkotey has established himself as a strong force in political research in the Dangme community. He is a research Professor of Prostate Cancer and alternative medicine at Da Vinci College of Holistic Medicine, Larnaca City, Cyprus.
Hello Dr. Nyarkotey

I have been following you on social media for some time and I must say you have made me proud. Ever since, I heard your name, I have decided to follow you. I am also a Krobo and I am impressed of your write ups and research in the Dangme community bringing the community into the political, national and international limelight and may God bless you in all your endeavors.

You are a shining star in the Dangme community and I advised you do not give up. You promoted the Dangme community and your influence with the Dangme newspaper made the NPP won the Upper Manya constituency seat for the first time in the political history of the republic of Ghana.

I likened you The New Bawumia in Dangme Land because of your scholarly professorial works, analysis, intellect and attitude. I was also happy to read a nice comment by someone on your Facebook page which says Dr. Ralph, sometimes it is difficult to be accepted by your people when your ideology seems nonconforming to the tradition. I wish to encourage you to pursue this dream. Who knows our future minister of health, is coming from Gadangme land, just like Seth Tekper, Minister of Finance. I am proud of you. Your language is very honorable and devoid of insults. A mark of true Gadangme

I am very happy to read all the necessary nice posts by people concerning you and I hope the political parties to quickly grab you to bring your knowledge to help develop mother Ghana. God bless you.
The Teshie Tradidtional council led by Gbetsoolo Nii Ashitey Akomfra III, has congratulated President elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo on his election as Head of State of the Republic of Ghana.

The House also extended its best wishes to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as a party for the electoral victory in the 7TH December, 2016 general elections.

In a statement signed by the President of the House, Nii Ashitey Akomfra III, Teshie Mantse and copied to all media houses on Friday, Nana Addo and Dr Okoe Boye victory as President- Elect and Member of Parliament for Teshie to replace the former Miss Ghana lady is a victory for democracy; a victory for Ghanaians and a victory for the advancement of Creating Prosperity and equal Opportunity for all.

It said the victory was an endorsement by Ghanaians of the good policies promised by the NPP-led government for 2017.

The statement commended all Ghanaians for the peaceful atmosphere in which the elections were conducted and described the situation as a leap in the bid of Ghanaians to strengthen democracy in the country.

It extended the House's heartfelt congratulations to all Parliamentarians, political parties, international observers, Security Agencies, Electoral Commission, Civil Society Organizations and the media for their respective roles played in ensuring free, fair and transparent elections.

The statement encouraged the President to remain focused and bring all the hopes and aspirations of Ghanaians to fruition as promised during the electioneering campaigns.

As a result of divisive posture of Hon. Sena Okity Dua, the statement said they want a native of Teshie to represent them in the countrys parliament in 2017 no matter the political party the person belong to and thank ancestors for responding to their request.
The meeting assumes significance as Khan's upcoming film "Raees", which features Pakistani actress Mahira Khan, is scheduled for a release next month, party sources said.

By Mayuresh Ganapatye: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan today met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray at his residence.

The meeting, that took place in the evening, assumes significance as Khan's upcoming film "Raees", which features Pakistani actress Mahira Khan, is scheduled for a release next month, party sources said.

The meeting lasted for 30-35 minutes.

"Shah Rukh has promised that till the time tension between the two nations get settled, he will not be casting any Pakistan artist in his any project. Pakistan actress who had worked in Raees - Mahira Khan will not be coming to India for her the film release," said Raj Thackeray.

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Notably, the MNS has in the past objected to casting of Pakistani actors in Bollywood movies citing the neighbouring country's involvement in terrorist attacks in India.

Also read:

New Raees poster: Shah Rukh Khan looks like a boss as gangster Raees Alam

Earlier in October, the MNS had staged high-voltage protests against the release of filmmaker Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" for featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.

The Bollywood superstar had previously run into trouble for the release of "My Name is Khan" in 2010, with another right wing party, Shiv Sena, opposing its screening then.

Also read:

Mahira Khan's role in Raees reduced?

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I have always been one to reserve judgement about the Legacy of Yaya Jammeh of The Gambia. But no more! He is the megalomaniac and erstwhile President of the smallest country in Mainland Africa, until December 2 of 2016 when he was soundly and clearly defeated by a little known Real Estate Developer name Adama Barrow (candidate of a Coalition of Opposition Parties). I wrote articles years before detailing how I think he was able to consolidate power over the years while adeptly sidelining and/or neutralizing his co-conspirators in the overthrow of his predecessor Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, thereby, averting any serious challenge to his 22yr reign of quiet terror over the smiling coast of Africa (The Gambia).

I wrote these in a series of articles namely: President Jammeh; The Strongman of West Africa in Focus (parts I, II and III) and The Gambias Political Dilemma ( my take on the state of the opposition political parties post 2011 presidential election)some of which were published by www.freedomnewspaper.com, www.modernghana.com , www.jollofnews.com and www.dailynews.gm.

His rule was characterized by most observers as a mixture of over-zealous authoritarianism clothed in self mysticism and a decent level of development compare to an almost total neglect of the socio-economic development needs of The Gambia by the previous government of his predecessor. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and ECOWAS were his most fervent critics, especially regarding his blatant abuse of human rights and the suppression of dissent. For so long, most Gambians living in Gambia were terrorized and could not express in any meaningful way, their opposition to his abuses of executive authority; including the Opposition. Some political parties were banned, the right to free speech and assembly severely restricted. The state media was used primarily to showcase Jammehs grandeur and so-called benevolence. Much of the free media was decimated and journalists seen to be critical either arrested, disappeared or killed. The only serious challenge came from the diaspora media and activists who never relented in informing their countrymen of Yaya Jammehs follies.

So, one could forgive why it was greeted with totally shocked and I must argue skepticism when he willingly and almost cheerfully conceded defeat to President Elect Adama Barrow on national television. There were varying reactions from Gambians at home and abroad to his public concession. Some claimed he was pressured by his most trusted Generals in the Armed Forces and others said he did not have a choice in the matter since the results were so clear. Jammeh himself touted that the Gambian electoral system and process is rigged proof and the most transparent in the world. Whatever the reasons for his concession and eventual revocation of that concession has very little significance to most Gambians.

The indisputable fact remains, he lost the just concluded elections on points of law and he does not have the constitutional or moral authority to declare it null and void. Only the Electoral Commission (I.E.C) has that authority with the direction of the Supreme Court of The Gambia. This only occurs if and only the Supreme Court declares a ruling in favor of an injured party to election, in this case Yaya Jammeh.

I must make it very clear here that I respect Yaya Jammehs right to change his mind and dispute the outcome of the very election he largely oversaw as chief patron and financier through the proper constitutional channels (i.e. The Courts), but he DOES NOT have the right to stage a disgraceful constitutional coup. His attempt to subvert the WILL of the Gambian people and bring unwarranted political uncertainty is treasonous and gravely jeopardized the National Security of The Gambia and the Senegambia region. This attempted action is seriously putting to doubt his own prospect of quietly settling in his home village of Kanilai as a retired statesman and farmer.

I called upon the Gambian people to remain calm and steadfast in their opposition to this unprovoked, unconstitutional declaration by the now disgraced and illegitimate Ruler of our peaceful country. I also call upon the international community including our brotherly neighbor Senegal to firmly stand behind the duly elected leader of our republic, H.E Adama Barrow, his government in the making and the Gambian people during this sensitive and difficult transition.

My hope is that his conscience or love of Country and/or those trusted Generals who might have prevailed on him to concede defeat initially will eventually get him to see reason and not burn down to the ground any hopes of a peaceful transfer of Power which will undoubtedly usher in a new era of political peace and prosperity for the Gambia. Lest he and his accomplishes will be the biggest losers in this charade.
Dear Nana Addo, Dr Bawumia and the Entire NPP Members

The results of the Ghana 2016 elections have shown that the NPP message of hope, competence, delivery and substance has prevailed over the NDC message of division, ethnocentrism, bigotry, character assassination, lies, intimidation, machonism, insults, and propaganda. With a net gain of around 49 seats, clearly, NPP won the parliamentary elections by landslide as well as the presidential convincinglywith more than one million votes separating Nana Addo (the winner) and President Mahama (the loser). Today, Ghanaians have allowed substance to triumph over form; competence and issues based campaign to overcome politics of ethnocentrism and propaganda.

Surely, the NPP win is good for Ghana, as it presents the President and Vice President Elects, Nana Addo and Dr Bawumia the opportunity to assemble a competent team to rescue Ghana from the economic mess and serious corruption scandals that have characterised the President Mahama Government. However, as the win presents opportunity to NPP, so does it presents challenges and threats in the future. For example, NDC have signalled that they will reorganise and fight back strongly in 2020 (see: http://www.ghanaguardian.com/will-back-stronger-2020-johnson-asiedu-nketiah/). And surely, while NDC lost partly due to its propaganda message, I strongly believe they will continue to attack Nana Addo, his person and Government relentlessly, and whether NDCs attacks and strategies will succeed will depend on how Nana and his team will govern the country.

Therefore, as we are celebrating this significant victory, it is also important to realise that Ghana did not reject President Mahama and his Government only because of their poor economic performance but also because NPPs message of change and hope resonated better with the people. Accordingly, in all my humbleness, I will like to make the following suggestions to Nana Addo and NPP, which will ensure a better long term electoral performance for NPP as it is easier to retain power than to fight from opposition.

Forming a competent government and fighting corruption

There is no doubt that the John Mahama led Government lost the elections mainly because of their poor handling of the economy which has brought significant hardship on the people. The John Mahama Government has been the most corrupt government in Ghanas political history as demonstrated by their over-involvement in dubious judgement debt payment, inflated contracts through sole-sourcing, several corruption scandals including GYEEDA, SADA, bus rebranding, Ford gift saga and etc. It is important therefore that, Nana, as you have promised, you put together a competent team selected based mainly on skills and competence rather than on acquaintances and etc. It is also necessary that your Government will pay serious attention to fighting corruption and should not fall into the same prey that have fallen NDC. Furthermore, because many NDC members have loud mouth and sharp teeth, they are able to attack NPP successively more than what NPP can do. Accordingly, it is important for NPP to do the right thing so that NDC does not win the favour of the people over their attacks. Therefore, Nana, please ensure that you assemble the most possible competent team.

Furthermore, with the fight against corruption being one of your main policies and indeed, one of your strong tenets, as you yourself is perceived not to be corrupt, it is important that you check your appointees against corruption. And allow the laws to deal with any of your appointees who will engage in corruption without fear or favour, no matter the relationship that you have with the person. In my view, one can only fight corruption if the same rules for persecution are applied to both party members and opposition members. Applying the same principle will provide you the moral right to pursue all the NDC corrupt activities. Accordingly, we will use the fight against corruption as one the factors to assess your success as a President because you promised numerous times that people whose aim is to enrich themselves should not join your government. Many people state that a president may not be the problem in terms of corruption but people that are surrounding him. Therefore it does not matter how clean you are if you do not get honest and incorruptible people to work with they will let you down. So please ensure that you appoint good people and also make them rigorously accountable to their actions.

The implementation of one district, one factory/one village one dam

Dear Nana, I also humbly entreat you to review your one district, one factory and one village, one dam policies before they are implemented. Although, in theory, the policies sound brilliant, there appear some implementation issues that you must consider before they can achieve the desire results. Firstly, because the $1m you have promised to provide for each district is very large amount, you will have to ensure that you put a credible and incorruptible people and system in place to overseas the appropriate implementation of the policies. Since the districts are somehow remote from the central government, the implementation of the one district, one factory/one village one dam policies can easily be turned into a vehicle for others at the district/village levels to enrich themselves to the detriment of your good intentions and the ordinary people the policies are meant to better their lives. It is therefore important that you establish an overseeing agency staffed with honest people at both regional and central levels to ensure that people do not misuse the money allocated for the projects just as it happened to the NDC SADA project. This must include all the processes for approving and implementing the projects.

Furthermore, it appears that the needs of the districts may be different and therefore, providing equal amount to each district may not necessarily be the efficient and equitable way of improving the lives of people at all districts. For example, a place like Tema already has a lot of factories and it may be appropriate that the money meant for there is used to improve some of the existing factories rather than establishing a new one. Similarly, some districts are richer than others, while others are smaller in population than others. Therefore, allocating an equal amount to each district based on ne size fit all, may not be an equitable way to achieve efficiency.

In addition, in terms of one village one dam, some have discussed that some villages may be too small and that providing a dam in such villages may not provide any significant benefit to the national economy and/or have significant effect on many people. Accordingly, in some cases, it may be necessarily to provide one dam to a cluster of villages close to each other in order to achieve an efficient use of resources. Accordingly, the size of the villages and the potential of the efficient use of the dams and economy activities that the dam may generate should all influence where the dams should be sited. The same should also apply to the one district one factory policy.

Spreading government appointments and appointing Mr Amidu as Attorney General

Unfortunately, the appointments of ministers and other government officials are usually based on winner take all, which is likely not to change substantially with your incoming government. However, there are many people who you can use effectively outside NPP or NPP stronghold to help promote strong governance. I am happy that Nana, you have already expressed that you may allow the minor opposition leaders to play a role in your Government. Obviously, Dr Nduom has a lot of experience from his business and as a minister in the former NPP Government. However, others like Dr Edward Mahama also have rich experience to contribute effectively to the advancement of the country.

More important, while I appreciate that naturally the party members from your strongholds will benefit most from your appointments, it is important that for the sake of regional balance and overcoming the NDC propaganda of accusing NPP as Akan based party, you select some of your minsters and other appointees from other regions as practically as you can to enable you neutralise one of the ammunitions of NDC. While NDC itself is guilt of that since most of its appointees are from the North and Volta, and Ashantis have particularly been marginalised, it is important that you do not follow the same route.

In fact, some have suggested that you should consider appointing Mr Martin Amidu as your Attorney General. For example, one Prof Lungu in his recent article (entitled: Serious Akufo-Addo will appoint Martin Amidu as Attorney-General of Ghana! on Ghanaweb (see: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Serious-Akufo-Addo-will-appoint-Martin-Amidu-as-Attorney-General-of-Ghana-493492) stated as follows:

"... We will say that when the record of history is written, it will show that Mr. John Dramani Mahama was more interested in grand-opening half-completed edifices than building institutions Ghanaians could count on to properly order their lives, the Ghanaian economy,...Mr. Akufo-Addo Dankwa, appoint Mr. Martin A. B. K. Amidu as Attorney-General of Ghana to begin cementing your legacy even before you complete estimating precisely what the election is worth to you and the NPP in the form of capital and a mandate, post-2016 NPP electoral victory...",

Nana Akufo-Addo Dankwa, do not squander your social and political capital before you really hit in time the venerable "Public Square" at the corner of Justice and Accountability.

Deeds must matter more than talk!

I do not need to elaborate the rational for Prof Lungus suggestion since we all know how Mr Amidu has shown interest in the fight against corruption to the extent of campaigning against his own party perceived to be corrupt. Of course, appointing Mr Amidu may receive resistance from some NPP members for one or two reasons including their fear that he may also pursue them if they engage in corruption but that is the only way corruption can be fought effectively. And in deed it will serve as deterrence to those who may intend to engage in corruption as he will pursue both NDC and NPP members.

Recognising the rising star Dr Bawumia as the natural success to Nana Addo

Unfortunately, the NDC has always argued that NPP is an Akan (dominated) party or even Asante/Akyem party. One of the main reasons NDC uses to support their argument is that since the inception of NPP in 1992 or so, all the presidential candidates of NPP has been either an Ashanti or an Akyem (Professor Adu-Boahene, President Kuffour and Nana Akuffo Addo), and that is why NPP did not support the former Vice President Aliu Mahama to become the presidential candidate of the party.

Of course this accusation is a mere propaganda by NDC, a party that has no good track record of economic management and as such cannot fight elections based on economic and other important issues that matter most to the people.

However, there is no doubt that the propaganda has hurt NPP and this is while even in this election that NPP has won convincingly, it still struggled in Volta Region. Accordingly, in order to defuse the NDC propaganda, it is important that NPP recognises that after Nana Akuffo Addo, it cannot fail to provide the NPP leadership to Dr Bawumia. The reason for this is simple. A failure to do that will give NDC the ammunition to successfully propagate that NPP is ethnocentric party.

Further, quite recently, Dr Kwasi Prempeh based in the US argued that because Dr Bawumia has raised his profile through his presentation as the star witness at the 2012 election petition, his economic lectures including his good grasp of economic issues, his youthfulness and as well as the prominent role he has played in the NPP campaign, he is in the forefront to succeed Nana Akuffo Addo. Dr Prempeh argues further that the profile that Dr Bawumia has built is considerably higher than what the former Vice President Aliu Mahama had.

Accordingly, while Dr Bawumia has not be an active politician for long, he has quickly raised his profile and though, there may be equally competent people such as Mr Allan Kyeremanteng, but as it stands, it is important for both the party and Ghana that Dr Bawumia will succeed Nana Akuffo Addo and that will cripple one of the main pillars of NDC campaign messages (that NPP is an Akan based party). Of course, Allan Kyeremanteng and others have been in the party longer but the reality is, even in corporate world some young people may quickly rise through the ranks due to their skills and other factors.

What will therefore be the use of giving the flag bearer to another person who cannot win instead of Dr Bawumia who is likely to win for NPP? Thus, as Dr Bawumia continues to grow as the shining star in NPP, his brilliancy on the economic front has given him the edge over all those contemplating of succeeding Nana Akuffo Addo. Although, he is relatively new to the Ghanaian politics he has grown significantly due to his ability to analyse issue, and former President Kuffour even says that the market women understands how he presents economic issues.

Thus, he has become a big asset to NPP and it is not strange that NDC attacked him and his wife during the campaign despite that the Vice President Amissah-Arthur could not respond to the economic issues that Dr Bawumia raised. It seems therefore that as it stands now, Dr Bawumia is likely to become the first non-Akan to lead NPP after Nana Akuffo Addo. And unfortunately for others, that is how sometimes things go. And failure by NPP to promote Dr Bawumia as their presidential candidate after Nana Addo will harm the electoral fortunes of NPP for long time.

However, if NPP appoints him to lead them and particularly if by then NPP has done well in Government, it will present an opportunity to threaten NDC in the three northern regions and that can change the electoral map in favour of NPP for a long time. In fact, NPP performed very well in the North in the 2016 elections, and the only thing left now is to appoint the competent Dr Bawumia as the presidential candidate in order to wrestle from NDC their dominance in the area.

Conclusion

As stated earlier on, the NPP significant win in the elections present both opportunity and threat to the party in 2020 and beyond. Therefore, the way Nana and his team, as well as the party tackle the issues discussed in this paper and others will either promote NPP and cement it as the dominant party in Ghana or it may go back to opposition even as soon as 4 years time. Personally, I believe Nana has the skills and competencies to achieve that with the support of Dr Bawumia.

However, it requires them to make tough decisions including fighting corruption vigorously in order to have sufficient revenue to undertake the projects promised during the campaign period. More importantly, promoting Dr Bawumia as the success of Nana Addo will definitely improve the fortunes of NPP in the North, and in deed such a choice will not be based merely because he is from the North but predominantly because he is very intelligent and competent, and thus hitting two birds with one stone.

By Joseph Annor (Master of Business in Accounting and CPA)
Indeed, since 1992, the Ghanaian Media has played an integral role in the nations general presidential and parliamentary elections. Even more powerful than ever, the various media groups in Ghana during our just ended 7th polls proved to us that surely the Media is the fourth estate of the realm, in other words, the fourth arm of government after the executive, judiciary and legislature.

After the election, most of us have now channelled our focus on the post-election issues and have forgotten about the major stake holder in the whole pink sheet drama; THE MEDIA.

In this article, ENTAMOTY will analyse and rank the various media houses per their performances in this general election with best and worst outlets.

BEST MEDIA GROUPS

1st. MULTIMEDIA GROUP

The multimedia group which consist of Adom fm, Joyfm, Hitz fm, AsempafmAdomTV, JoyprimeTV and Myjoyonline.com is undoubtedly topping the lists of media groups who really toiled by the sweat of their brow to update listeners and viewers with every bit of information surrounding the election. They streamed live on their television stations, fm stations and online as well. We loved the blending of both radio and TV presenters on the same platform and we couldnt help but applaud their calculations. In fact, Multimedia was the first media house to project the president elect Nana Akuffo Addo which reflected the results released by the electoral commission.

2ND EIB GROUP

The EIB group has been updating us on the 2016 election since the beginning of this year. They started with their mobile application that helped people to participate in pre-election activities like polls and what have you. Calling their centre, the EIB Election Hub, was certainly a level of professionalisms that fits the choice of name.We loved the jackets worn by their reporters, and one could tell the high level of professionalism exhibited by them while on the field. In the studios, Nana Aba, Kemini Amanor, Kafui Dei and the likes were absolutely nothing but articulate, commanding and analytic. Their graphics and pictures were also very crystal; there is nothing we can say but a huge congratulation to the team that have done this excellent work for the first time.

3RD DESPITE GROUP OF COMPANIES

Just like the others, UTV, Peace fm, Okay fm and the others were also actively on their toes during the election. Their correspondents were spread all over the 275 constituencies that we have in Ghana and they delivered accurately. Their numerological gymnastics were mathematically precise as they kept comparing this years figures to the previous election years. The only lapses they had was with their television set designs, it wasnt really appealing and their graphics was not really colourful, so viewers could easily switch to different channels. Some of their television presenters also kept making mistakes on the big screen as if they were not really conversant with the advancements.

4TH TV3 NETWORK LIMITED

Many of you will be wondering why Tv3 didnt make it in the first 3. It is true that the hash tag #EllectionCommand was really trending on social media with updates on the election, however they did not actually to expectation on the day of election. Despite the adept reporters they had across the 10 regions of Ghana, they really lagged behind in their updates from both polling stations and coalition

centres. At point in time, one panellist whom they invited even stated live that their team is really slow with their projections because their competitors have outwitted them. Eventually their projections did not match with what the EC brought. Nevertheless, their studio presenters were very confident and professional.

5TH ATINKA GROUP

Atinka has joined this list because they came to the scene not long ago, meanwhile they were able to take charge of the election. They also had their correspondents everywhere and were persistent with their delivery. They gave us live and clear transmissions from various centres with updates. Their challenge was that they couldnt maintain the pace; the moral that they commenced their delivery with was not maintained throughout, it dwindled especially during the awaiting period of the results.

WORST MEDIA HOUSES

There are always two sides of a coin, just as we had media houses who were exceptionally amazing, there were others too who received very low ratings.

1. VIASAT 1 GHANA

Viasat 1 did not even have a single reporter on the field. We couldnt tell whether the Electoral Commission of Ghana denied them of accreditation cards or they refused to pay the GH10 fee. Their viewers were completely disappointed in their lack of contribution towards the history that was made. I doubt they will ever forgive them. ENTAMOTY therefore rank Viasat 1 Ghana as the worst Performed Media house as far as the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections is concerned.

2. ETV GHANA

ETV Ghana kept whetting our appetite for the election through their series of commercials about the polls, however they couldnt deliver to expectations. No one was even talking about them, and I doubt if others were watching.

3. METRO TV

Metro TV used to be one of the best in the country but now we can confidently say no more with the likes of other competitors. There wasnt much enthusiasm in their delivery and it was boring watching them amidst the keen election.

By Barimah Amoaning Samuel

Amoaningsamuel6
Cairo (AFP) - A bomb blast tore through a church near Cairo's Coptic cathedral during a service Sunday, killing at least 25 people in the deadliest attack in recent memory on Egypt's Christian minority.

There was no immediate claim of responsiblity for the bombing but Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population, have been previously targeted in jihadist attacks.

At least 31 people were also wounded in the blast, the health ministry said, as the attack drew condemnation from political and religious leaders and led President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare three days of national mourning.

Deadly blast at Coptic church

The bombing hit around 10:00 am at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, which is adjacent to Saint Mark's Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic pope Tawadros II.

A bomb made of 12 kilos of TNT appeared to have been behind the explosion, security officials said.

The blast shattered the church's glass windows and scattered pews through the main prayer hall. Blood stains could be seen on the floors, where shoes and other belongings lay scattered.

A nun is pictured after a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

"I was leaving the church and then I heard a loud explosion and there was a lot of smoke and people started running and screaming," Jackline Abdel Shahid, one of the survivors of the blast, told AFP at the scene.

"The ambulances started coming, and they kept bringing out body parts. The floor was covered in blood, and the whole church was stained with blood, broken glass everywhere, everyone screaming, torn clothes," she said.

'Where were security forces?'

Gebrail Ebeid, who has been headed to services when the bombing took place, accused Egypt's government of not doing enough to protect the Christian community.

Damage following a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

"This is the government's responsibility. The explosion happened inside the church," said Ebeid.

"How can this happen? What did I do to have this happen as I am going into the church?" he asked. "Where were the security forces? They're filling the streets now, but it's too late."

An angry group of about 25 people had gathered near the area to protest after the bombing, chanting for the resignation of Egypt's interior minister.

It was the worst attack on the Coptic Christian community since a 2011 suicide bombing killed more than 20 worshippers outside a church in the coastal city of Alexandria.

Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar rushed to the area after the blast and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail called on security services to quickly find those responsible.

Egyptian security forces inspect the scene of a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

"The nation's Muslim and Christian citizens stand together against this black terrorism," Ismail said in the statement.

Sisi also condemned the attack, saying in a statement: "Egypt will only emerge stronger and more unified from these events."

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of Egypt's top Sunni Muslim authority Al-Azhar, said the "vile terrorist explosion" was "a great crime against all Egyptians".

Egyptian media reported that Tawadros was returning early from a visit to Switzerland following the attack.

The church that was targeted "is deeply loved by many Coptic faithful in Cairo and it has a regular parish presence," said Bishop Angaelos, the General Bishop for the Coptic Church in Britain.

'An easier target'

He said services had been held in the church on Sunday morning, while Saint Mark's Cathedral was being renovated.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo, pictured after a bomb blast on December 11, 2016

"It's an easier target because its entrance is outside the precincts" of the cathedral.

Copts have faced persecution and discrimination dating back to the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.

Dozens have been killed in recent years in sectarian attacks and clashes throughout Egypt.

In April 2013, two people died in clashes with local residents outside Saint Mark's Cathedral, the spiritual heart of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

Islamists in August 2013 attacked churches and homes of Copts in retaliation for the dispersal by security forces of Cairo protest camps of supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the Islamist president deposed by then-army chief Sisi.

Enraged by the crackdown in which hundreds died, mobs lashed out at Copts in the Upper Egypt province of Minya, accusing them of backing the military.

More than 40 churches were attacked nationwide, with most attacks in Minya and Assiut, Human Rights Watch said at the time.

Security forces have been the main target of attacks following Morsi's ouster.

Most of the attacks are conducted in the Sinai Peninsula by a branch of the Islamic State group, although militants have also targeted security forces and government officials in Cairo.

On Friday, six people died in a bombing next to a police checkpoint in the Talibiya area of Cairo shortly before Muslim weekly prayers when the streets are mostly empty.
The President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo has called for prayers and Gods guidance to help him lead the country to prosperity.

I hope and pray that in everything that I am going to do, I will be guided by the almighty God. I believe sincerely, that it is only with his guidance and support that I can do anything positive for the people of Ghana. I will be on my knees every day, praying for guidance and support from the almighty so that we can, working together bring prosperity and progress to our nation, he said.

Speaking at the Ridge Church in Accra on Sunday, Akufo-Addo said he was grateful for the support he has received from Ghanaians in winning the Presidential elections.

The president-elect said he was aware of the great task ahead of him and will continue to pray for diving guidance to enable him effectively lead the country.

Akufo-Addo was on Friday, November 9 declared winner of the countrys 2016 presidential elections.

He won about 53% of the total valid votes cast, against his main contender and incumbent President, John Mahamas 44%.

Speaking at the Church he commended Ghanaians for maintaining peace in the country even after the declaration of the election results.

It been an extraordinary week for us but we have come out of it, especially because they saw the Ghanaian people especially in the aftermath behave in a very beautiful manner to be able to enhance the image of the country and show the world that there are countries in Africa like Ghana that can do the right thing and behave properly.

He further called for support from the congregation to help him carry out his mandate as president for the years ahead.

I am counting on all of you here to continue to give me the solidarity, the support and keep me in your prayers every single day for the years ahead.



By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Ghana Association of Biomedical Laboratory Scientists (GABMLS) has called on government to as a matter of urgency grant clearance for the recruitment of licenced medical laboratory science graduates before the year elapses.

In a statement signed by the president, Ignatius N.A. Awinibuno and General Secretary, Michael Amo Omari, the GABMLS also called on Ministry of Health (MoH), the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and Fair wages and Salaries Commission to immediately ensure that these outstanding issues on the Single Spine Salary Structure(SSSS) are ratified.

The association is very much concerned about the unfair placement of the Medical Laboratory Assistant Cadre, Medical Laboratory Technicians Cadre and the Chief Biomedical Scientist Grades of our members on the SSSS by Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) as compared to their analogous grades nursing groups.

It said the amendment of the salary placement had taken the FWSC far too long and the excuses given were intolerable.

The statement noted that the GABMLS had followed keenly recent development concerning selective implementation of condition of services in the health sector and therefore called on government to pay al allowances agreed to by the collective agreement in same manner that other health professionals were being paid.

It said these would ensure fairness and industrial disharmony.

The statement also asked the MoH, the GHS, Teaching Hospitals, Christian Health Association of Ghana(CHAG), Health Service Directorate of the universities and security services including the private health facilities to safeguard only licenced medical practitioners were employed.

The Association expressed delight about the heightened level of interest shown by graduates towards the practice of medical laboratory science.


The African Center for Energy Policy(ACEP) has urged government to review existing Power Purchase Agreement with companies holding Power Purchase contracts with the Electricity Company of Ghana.

According ACEP, it is imperative for government to pull out of some of the agreements since most of the companies have not yet secured funds for the projects even though they have expressed interest.

All emergency power contracts that have failed to deliver on time will have to be canceled or renegotiated into a regular IPP to save on cost. The high tariffs associated with the emergency plants are not appropriate for long term economic planning and protection of industries, it said.

The conversion of the Early Power Project from an emergency to a regular IPP project is a clear example of how government can reduce high cost of procurement of new capacity, it added.

The statement was contained in a report titled Beyond the Election 2016.

Even though the statement was released before the elections, ACEP was of the firm stance that any government that governs in 2017 must cancel such contracts.

Already, the outgoing Mahama government had announced that it has halt new licenses to companies that have expressed interest to set up Independent Power Plants.

Citi Business News checks is yet to confirm if the directive is being adhered to.

Meanwhile checks from the website of the Energy Commission revealed that the last license for an IPP to operate was granted on 16th August 2016.



By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
Emergency services and soldiers gather at the scene of a suicide bomb attack on a market in Maiduguri, after two girls approximately seven or eight years old blew themselves, killing themselves and wounding at least 17 others. By STR (AFP)

11.12.2016 LISTEN

Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Two girls, thought to be only seven or eight years old, conducted a double suicide attack in a northeastern Nigerian market Sunday, killing one person and wounding 18, officials said.

The attack in Maiduguri was not immediately claimed by Boko Haram but bore the hallmarks of the jihadist group which often uses women or girls in such operations -- especially in Borno state -- the epicentre of their insurgency.

Borno state governor Kashim Shettima confirmed the toll to journalists while visiting victims in hospital.

The girls were "seven or eight", a militia member in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, Abdulkarim Jabo, told AFP, recalling that he saw the attackers immediately before the first explosion.

"They got out of a rickshaw and walked right in front of me without showing the slightest sign of emotion," he said.

"I tried to speak with one of them, in Hausa and in English, but she didn't answer. I thought they were looking for their mother.

"She headed toward the poultry sellers, and then detonated her explosives belt."

Governor Shettima said he would meet security agents, market officials and civilian vigilantes -- who are assisting the military -- to try and strengthen security at market places.

The second explosion was apparently triggered slightly later as bystanders were helping the wounded.

"We removed 17 people with different degrees of injuries," said Bello Dambatta of the local emergency management agency.

'Mutilated bodies'

"The mutilated bodies of the two suicide bombers were also evacuated."

Boko Haram jihadists have laid waste to northeast Nigeria since they took up arms against the government in 2009.

They are seeking to impose a hardline Islamic legal system on the country's mainly-Muslim north.

Boko Haram jihadists have laid waste to northeast Nigeria since they took up arms against the government in 2009

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than two-and-a-half million more displaced by the unrest.

But the Nigerian military's campaign against the jihadists is increasingly bogged down as it confronts suicide attacks, looting and indiscriminate slaughter.

Rights groups say thousands of women and girls have been abducted by the group. In the most infamous incident more than 200 schoolgirls were taken from the remote town of Chibok in 2014.

The jihadists have used abducted females as sex slaves and human bombs, while boys are enlisted to fight.

Northeast Nigeria has been buffeted in recent weeks by a string of devastating attacks.

On Friday at least 45 people died and 33 others were wounded in another double suicide attack carried out by female bombers, at a marketplace in the town of Madagali.

In October another set of female suicide bombers killed 17 people at a station near a camp for internally displaced persons.

In February 2015, Boko Haram used an eight-year-old to carry out a suicide attack in Potiskum, in Yobe state, and a 10- and 18-year-old pair were involved in a failed July 2014 attack in Funtua, in northwestern Katsina state.
The police in Dunkwa-On-Offin in the Upper Denkyira East Municipality of the Central Regional are currently investigating circumstances that led to the death of a supporter of the National Democratic Congress who was allegedly killed by a member of the New Patriotic Party.

According to the Police, the deceased, Ayuba Akakpo a head porter, was allegedly hit in the head with a stick by one Alhssan Agamati aka Atta, a herbal medicine seller, during a heated verbal exchange after the official declaration of Nana Akufo-Addo as the winner of last Wednesday's polls.

The deceased was however pronounced dead when he was rushed to the Dunkwa government hospital.

Confirming the incident to Citi News, the Municipal Police Commander for Dunkwa-On-Offin, Superintendent Dela Dzensi said the NPP supporter, Alhssan Agamati who is at the centre of the incident is currently at the Police custody awaiting trial after he turned himself in to the Police.

A man by name Agamati Alhassan alias Atta came to the Police and reported that he had a feud with another young man who is an NDC supporter in the Dunkwa central market and in the event he hit him with a stick and the guy feel unconscious so he is reporting himself to the Police. The police took custody of him and proceeded to the area where the incident happened and they were told that victim has been sent to the Dunkwa government hospital. Upon arrival at the hospital he was pronounced dead. So when Police got to the hospital they were only shown the mortal remain of Ayuba Akakpo.

Superintendent Dzensi although said they are currently investigating the matter to its logical conclusion, he said our preliminary investigations conducted show that there was this confusion over the NPP win which ensued in a scuffle between the two of them and the other guy hit him with a stick. He is currently in Police custody, we had wanted to hold him on provisional charge of murder, submit the docket to the AG's office and seek for direction as to what to do next. Whether to prosecute him for murder or otherwise. But he will be remanded into custody while this detail is obtained, he added.

Arrest those attacking NDC members  Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama had earlier directed the security agencies to arrest supporters of the NPP who are reportedly attacking members of the NDC across the country.

The President in a statement further expressed disappointment at the leadership of the NPP for watching on while their supporters perpetrate such acts.

President John Dramani Mahama has expressed disappointment at the inability or unwillingness of the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to call its rampaging supporters to order, following series of attacks on innocent citizens and supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). President Mahama has accordingly directed the security agencies to deploy across the country and arrest any person(s) caught vandalizing Government property or attacking innocent Ghanaians the statement added.



By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra's little son surely knows how to deal with the media attention.

By India Today Web Desk: Shilpa Shetty and Viaan Raj Kundra's son Viaan Raj Kundra is already a celebrity. The li'l cutie not only has his own Twitter handle at the age of four, but he also made his debut on a television show last month. Viaan won hearts with his Ranveer Singh act, as he danced to Tattad Tattad.

PHOTOS | Riaan Deshmukh to Viaan Raj Kundra: Star kids attend Sanjay Dutt's twins' birthday bash

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Viaan was seen walking hand-in-hand with his Shilpa and Raj at the Mumbai airport yesterday. It was not his actor mommy who got all the attention, but little Viaan. The four-year-old was cool as a cucumber and walked with his parents like a boss, unfazed by the paparazzi.

Can this kid get any cooler?

(All photos: Yogen Shah)

--- ENDS ---
I had a blazing row with my senior sister, Amy, around 1am today about my spiritual orientation which seems outlandish to her. She asked me, "Why don't you go to church now...?" I replied, "Christianity is 10% churchism and 90% purity. I have shunned mere churchism; I am learning the true art of purity." Well, I am biblically wrong for not attending church meetings now. Yet my conscience in Christ compels me to address the matter in hand. My Bible-based assertions will actually sound repulsive to the religious folks who uphold churchism. They are pure revelations from God's Word which many people in Christendom shy away from, mainly because they attack their spiritual folly. Remember, I present this divine message as a bad follower of Christ who has simply failed to live pure, and not as a holy prophet of God. But I pray for God's Spirit to empower me in this new direction in Christ since my spirit is willing but my flesh is weak.

Moreover, "There are many people who do not want to hear the truth, because it will shake up the false hope that they have that they're going to Heaven, when, indeed, they're not," Paul Washer preached in his historic "Shocking Message" usually dubbed "Examine Yourself." For the vast majority of so-called Christians in today's world are really lost, and they will definitely end up in Hell when they die. I am no exception at all! Oh really? Yes, we practically live in sin every day without a lifelong commitment to a constant life of purity. God does not actually forgive that sinful lifestyle because it will always be the same. We also do not understand the depths of our divine calling to purity. So we go to church, read the Bible, and pray, all as a religious duty, yet we are not truly pure in our hearts, and most importantly, our deeds. How hypocritical we are as the body of Christ!

Now let me explain what churchism is, and why it is makes up a tenth of Christianity, and what purity is, and why it makes up a ninth of Christianity. Churchism is a crude philosophy premised on the strong adherence to church practices largely as a religious duty. In the world of churchism, going to church, reading the Bible, and praying have overriding importance in the Christian faith. Of course, those religious activities are important, but they are not as important and not more important than a life of purity in the Lord. All dead people who professed to be Christians and are now in Hell probably practised churchism, but none of them continually lived in purity. Sadly, churches place a premium on churchism and neglect the all-important issue of purity. Have we forgotten that Jesus Christ taught that the pure in heart, and not the churchist in character, would see God?

Purity, therefore, is complete in nature  it includes purity of heart, mind, soul, spirit and body. So a Christian who lives pure all the time has a pure heart, mind, soul, spirit and body; everything about him is just pure. Come on, it is not an illusion, for it is possible and it happens  there are some Christians who actually epitomise that. However, the source of purity is the Holy Spirit who helps the genuinely committed ones to consistently live in purity through the right application of God's Word and a true dedication to prayer. That differs from mere churchism which is founded on religious duty. Lastly, a Christian who always lives pure does not recurrently commit sin like fornication, greed, envy, strife, alcoholism, murder, theft, lying, gossip, occult, and the like.

Source: sirarticle.blogspot.com
11.12.2016 LISTEN

With the successful election of Nana Akufo Addo as the President-elect of Ghana, the overt bragging by the Ghanaian swindler of the 21st Century, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, has come to an abrupt end. Smile did instantly disappear from his face as soon as Nana Akufo Addo, the biblical Joseph, David or Moses of the modern times was declared the winner of Ghanas presidential Election 2016.

Woyomes strongest conviction of never-to-get prosecuted for the money he craftily obtained from the government has escaped him similarly as the fowl has naturally been denied of urination. Could he now go ahead to sue many Ghanaians as he had recently avowed and threatened to?

When a currently, but probably dubiously formed company by this shameful swindler, once a self-styled major financier of the NDC, but now the Chief Executive of the said company was announced to have been awarded a government contract of about GHC535 million, he went public, bragging that he would soon cause the arrest of many Ghanaians. He said this in the belief that he would soon get money to pay off the GHC51.2 million he colluded with some NDC gurus and Government Ministers to steal from the Ghanaian taxpayers.

A criminal of that nature should normally not be awarded more government contracts. However, as he was working for the NDC and had collected that money purposely for the NDC according to the information made available to me at the time, the outgoing President Mahama still felt obliged not only to shield him from prosecution but also, to award him more contracts.

Woyome and his less intelligent lawyer David Annan once sued me for publishing my views on the criminal role played by that other shameful accomplice, Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, the then Attorney General who personally profited from the illegal, but disguised judgment debt payment of GHC51.2 million to Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

Interested public readers can refer to a publication on Peace FM online on 15 March 2012 under politics column and under the heading, Woyome Sues 5 NPP Officials, Joy FM's Kwesi Twum, Despite, Peace FM online Editor & Others using the underlying web link to confirm my assertion.

http://www.peacefmonline.com/pages/politics/politics/201203/101261.php

The more they threatened me with stupid legal suits, the more I stood my ground in defence of the Ghanaian taxpayers by holding on to my guns; insisting through numerous publications that Woyome pays the money he has fraudulently obtained, back to Ghana.

I was happy that at a point, Brother Martin Amidu, now popularly called the Citizen Vigilante, chipped in and has since been playing a leading role to ensure that swindler Alfred Agbesi Woyome refunds to the Ghanaian taxpayers the money he so collusively and fraudulently obtained.

Now that our INCORRUPTIBLE Nana Akufo Addo is the President-elect of Ghana, is Woyome still doting on any idea of not paying the money back to Ghana? Is he still hopeful of causing the arrest of all those Ghanaians asking him to pay the money back to Ghana?

Is he still counting on his Ede bii keke President and the NDC bastards and babies with sharp teeth, courtesy of former President Rawlings, to set him free from fair criminal prosecution?

Would he ever dream again of asking his defence lawyers to sue Rockson Adofo, that audacious and no- nonsense son of Kumawu/Asiampa?

Like Brother Martin Amidu, who I pray Nana Akufo Addo appoints as his Attorney General for his publicly known selfless service to mother Ghana and Ghanaians, I shall continue to publish my views about Woyome and his gargantuan corruption until justice is seen to be done. I believe in justice before peace.

Now that Nana Akufo Addo and NPP have resoundingly won the election, I shall slow down on my political publications but switch on to chieftaincy and the unpalatable role the Chief Justice, Mrs. Theodora Georgina Wood, has played as regards the ongoing Kumawu chieftaincy dispute.

Mark my words, as long as God Almighty lives, and He continues to grant me life, safety and security, I shall ensure justice is done to the people of Kumawuman, the land of my birth.

Many a time, have I wet my pillow with tears at night when I realise the problems I have brought upon my family owing to my boldly expressed views and concerns about Ghana, especially on the ongoing Kumawu chieftaincy case.

Very much concerned about my safety and security, they would rather wish I stopped or scaled back a bit but I cant hence you can just fathom what is going on in my home. They think, and strongly do believe that I am risking my life. However, with success coming our way with Nana Akufo Addo and NPPs election, the pressure on them and me will start to abate.

My next focus is as promised, on the Kumawu chieftaincy case. All that I require is to see justice prevail. Until now, a supposed Ashanti Overlord has been interfering to stop justice from prevailing, and seeing how corrupt most of the Ghanaian judges are, thanks to Anas Aremeyaw Anass investigative judicial revelations, I can conclude on anyones head that justice has not been done as far as the Kumawu chieftaincy goes.

Rockson Adofo
11.12.2016 LISTEN

CASFORD and ATL are not political parties in Ghana. They are two great halls at the University of Cape Coast that have nurtured huge Ghanaian brains to bless the country and the world. At the University of Cape Coast, they are the liveliest and famous halls on campus. I am a proud CASFORDIAN and will never cease to be a CAFORDIAN

NDC and NPP are two political parties that have been managing the purse of Ghana since 1992. In fact, one striking thing they always brag about is that their status as parties in power or opposition is just temporary  there will always be a change that will change their status.

In spite of their academic and traditional prowess, CASFORD and ATL continue to give the University of Cape Coast headaches with their acts. The unimaginable thing is that they can maim, beat and cause substantial damages to themselves and property belonging to the University.

So, one wonders, why will a student engage in a physical battle with his colleague he sits in the same lecture theatre with? What will account for that? Is it foolishness or stupidity? About a fortnight ago, there was a similar clash that got many students injured. A students hand was almost chopped off. The two halls were at it again. They pelted each other with stones and anything that could destroy one another. Arent they all students?

A similar drama is being premiered in the country at the moment. Ghanaians needed change. They have been served with the needed change. There is a change in the administration of the country. The National Democratic Congress is exiting office while the New Patriotic Party is assuming office. Does it call for attacks and insults? What is there to gain in attacking and insulting someone who has a different political ideology from yours?

Like CASFORD and ATL, superiority over one another should not be measured in physical and verbal attacks but should be exemplified in our collective efforts to develop and conquer the odds to build our country. These attacks are very needless and pointless, to say the least.

This is not the first time these things are happening after a regime change. We need to kill this kind of attitude lest we become a backward people. Seizures of public toilet facilities and other offices occupied by people in power after an election should not be done in a Rambolic and BruceLeeic style they should be done according to due process.

I know people might be saying that they did this to us and we must also do likewise. There is always a starting point. Lets show a sense of maturity and to build our country.

It is good to jubilate after a hard-won victory but attacking personalities to the point of destroying public property, beating and maiming ourselves should not mentioned amongst us as a people.

Like the CASFORD and ATL experience, sometimes, the leaders of the Halls might not know anything about the actions. Such acts erupt spontaneously. It is the same thing that is playing out in the current state of affairs in the country. I doubt the leaders will order their supporters to insult and attack their opponents.

Lets condemn these acts so they dont develop into a culture, a culture we might spend millions to combat in the near future.

Richard Kwadwo Nyarko (Oguaa Fisherman) is a Broadcast Journalist with Multimedia. His mail is [email protected] . Tweet: @quajo2009. Like my Facebook page : Richard Kwadwo Nyarko.
11.12.2016 LISTEN

Nananom, Distinguished Guests, the National Coordinator, Fellow PAPers.

I doff of my hat for you for your presence at this memorable function. As you are all aware, a lot was said about me when my name was mentioned to take the chair. I wish I could have the time to probably modify some of what was said about me. The only one that I cannot disagree with is that I am the first granddaughter of the late S.D. Dombo.

It is with great humility that I accept the chair for tonights fundraising event being organised by Patriotic Ambassadors for Peace (PAP), a Volunteer Group in the New Patriotic Party (NPP). This noble group is the brainchild of Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang, an Electoral Area Coordinator in the Bekwai Constituency.

For the benefit of those who have not heard much about PAP, the group's main objective is to promote peace in the party, bridge the class gap and to canvass for votes for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to win the December polls. The group, apart from embarking on outreaches, is also supporting adopted constituencies by way of logistics and funds.

Distinguished Guests, Fellow PAPers, permit me to send this message to Nana Akufo-Addo: You will be addressed as 'His Excellency', Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana after the December elections. As the Chair and also a proud member of PAP, I would like to assure all participants that, the proceeds of this fundraising will be used exclusively to provide food and refreshments to the our Polling Agents on the election day. This is because we want their eyes to be glued to the ballot boxes. For, we do not anticipate bad history repeating itself in 2016.

Before I take the seat as Chairperson, I wish to remind PAPers in particular and Ghanaians in general of the inaugural speech of the late John F. Kennedy in 1961. "Americans, do not expect what America can do for you, but what you can do for America.

In the same vain I shout, Ghanaians, do not expect what Ghana can do for you but what you can do for Ghana. All of us are aware and are witnesses to the ills and the challenges in the country  the high cost of living, high unemployment, massive corruption, mediocrity etc. Change of government is necessary and the NPP led by its incorruptible leader, Nana Akufo-Addo and assisted by Alhaji Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia could put the country on the right path.

Nananom, Ladies and Gentlemen, by the courtesy given to me, I have resolved to steer the affairs of this function to a successful end. However, I cannot do this without your cooperation and financial support. PAP, as a Volunteer Group cannot achieve its goals unless you dip your hands deep into your pockets, wallets, purses and handbags. Kindly support PAP's cause because it is a good one. It is a cause for a positive change in the lives of many Ghanaians.

Please give generously.

Once again with humility, I accept chair tonight's function and promise to do my best.

Thank you and God bless you!
11.12.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Dec. 11, GNA - Madam Vicky T. Okine, Executive Director, Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights has called on government to prioritise primary health issues for all especially women and girls in the country.

She said a strong primary health care, and an effective foundation of health systems, could help the country to fully achieve the vision put forward in the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978, a vision of health for everyone and everywhere.

Madam Okine made the call in statement copied to the Ghana News Agency on Universal Health Coverage Day, which falls on December 12.

She said when a young woman or girl in the country needed medical help on family planning she faced a number of obstacles, including access to nearby clinic, because work and household duties left her strapped for time.

She noted that, these basic preconditions were not met despite significant progress as far as the Millennium Development Goals was concerned.

'Strong primary health care can manage 90 per cent of people's health needs and provide a range of services including vaccinations, cancer screening and treatment for childhood diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria', she added.

Madam Okine said strong primary health care systems built trust between patients and providers and her outfit as lifelong advocated women's reproductive rights and had seen how often women and girls forewent health care because of social stigma and pressure.

'The country's Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) initiative was first created 20 years ago with the aim of reducing geographic barriers to health care, since then, community health workers have delivered essential health services to millions of Ghanaians in distant pockets of the country - a testament to the power of primary health care' she added.

She said even though government had worked hard to scale CHPS and increase access to health care throughout Ghana, there was still a lot of work to be done before all Ghanaians could access essential services.

'Ghana is doing better on health system financing than most other low- and middle-income countries and there is the need to maintain our fortunate position and commit resources to improve the health sector.'

She urged government to prioritise investment in primary health care so that everyone would have the potential to live a healthy life, since out-of-pocket costs were a key barrier to women and girls accessing quality health services.

The Executive Director observed that while global efforts to improve primary health care had been slow due to a lack of data on primary health care systems, the country was one of the few countries that already collected good data.

'Women and girls are neglected every day due to non-comprehensive primary health care. By investing in a strong system to deliver essential health services, we can improve health outcomes, reduce stigma and empower women to make decisions about their own lives.'

Madam Okine said investing in quality primary health care was the most cost-effective way to improve the health of women and girls 'and we need to work together to ensure that women and girls are no longer left behind'.

GNA
Cairo (AFP) - Coptic Christians were in mid-prayer Sunday when the ear-splitting blast tore through their church in Egypt's capital, spraying shrapnel into icon-covered walls and blowing out the tiled roof.

Witnesses said the smoke then cleared to reveal a tangle of splintered pews and body parts.

"It was terrifying. Things were falling down on us. I couldn't get down from behind the altar because of the smoke," said church volunteer Tadros Zaki, 63.

Damage following a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

"There were too many people. Destroyed, in pieces... people on top of people," said Romany, who rushed to the church to help after the bombing.

The health ministry said at least 25 people were killed.

The focal point of the explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church appeared to have been just inside the entrance, on the side where the women sat.

A woman's scarf, drenched in congealing blood, lay in the wreckage.

Egyptian security forces inspect the scene of a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

The stone recess above the door was peppered with shrapnel which also left holes in the marble floor. A pew that remained upright was soaked in blood.

Two nearby boxes, one that had been filled with written prayers left by worshippers and another that held a saint's relics, were destroyed.

Dazed priests paced the arcaded courtyard, pieces of stained glass from the church's windows crunching underfoot, as guards at the doors blocked a crush of journalists and concerned faithful.

One nun in a grey habit stared pensively at the wreckage.

"God will have a say in this," she decided.

Bishop Angaelos, the General Bishop for the Coptic Orthodox Church in Britain, told AFP by telephone that Saint Peter's church was especially popular with parishioners.

'Beyond comprehension'

Damage following a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

It is "is deeply loved by many Coptic faithful in Cairo and it has a regular parish presence," he said.

"The fact that they were targeted this way when they were going to pray is beyond comprehension."

Copts have been attacked before in Egypt, most notably in a suicide bombing that killed more than 20 congregants at an Alexandria church in 2011.

Egyptian security forces inspect the scene of a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

But Saturday's attack hit close to the heart of the beleaguered minority's faith.

The church is adjacent to Saint Mark's Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic Christian papacy.

"What are we to do? God will dispense our affairs," said Magdy, a church administrator whose office is at the other end of the courtyard from the blast site.

The explosion shattered his office windows, leaving his desk strewn with shards of glass.

Outside, a growing crowd of Copts began chanting against the government, and there were brief scuffles with riot police who cordoned off the scene.

"The people want the downfall of the regime!" they chanted. "Hey, interior ministry! Where were you when they bombed the cathedral?"

Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people, have suffered repeated attacks for decades.

They also attracted the wrath of Islamist extremists after the church, along with Muslim religious leaders, supported the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Mobs attacked scores of churches and Christian properties in August 2013 after police in Cairo killed hundreds of Islamists protesting against Morsi's overthrow.
Cairo (AFP) - A bomb blast tore through a church near Cairo's Coptic cathedral during a service Sunday, killing at least 25 people in the deadliest attack in recent memory on Egypt's Christian minority.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population, have been previously targeted in jihadist attacks.

At least 31 people were wounded in the explosion, the health ministry said, as the attack drew condemnation from political and religious leaders and led President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare three days of national mourning.

Deadly blast at Coptic church

The bombing hit around 10:00 am at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, which is adjacent to Saint Mark's Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic pope Tawadros II.

The blast shattered the church's windows and scattered pews through the interior of the church, scorching its marble pillars.

Ball-bearing-sized shrapnel peppered the walls covered in icons of saints and destroyed a box that contained a saint's relics. Pools of blood congealed on the floor.

Security officials said they believed a bomb containing 12 kilos of TNT appeared to have been behind the explosion.

"I was leaving the church and then I heard a loud explosion and there was a lot of smoke and people started running and screaming," Jackline Abdel Shahid, one of the survivors, told AFP at the scene.

A nun is pictured after a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

"The ambulances started coming, and they kept bringing out body parts," she said.

'Where were security forces?'

"Where were the security forces? They're filling the streets now, but it's too late," said Gebrail Ebeid, who had been headed to services when the bomb went off.

Damage following a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

Several dozen people gathered outside to protest after the bombing, chanting for the resignation of Egypt's interior minister.

They scuffled briefly with police as they tried to push through the cordon.

It was the worst attack on the Coptic Christian community since a 2011 suicide bombing killed more than 20 worshippers outside a church in the coastal city of Alexandria.

"The nation's Muslim and Christian citizens stand together against this black terrorism," Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said in a statement.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi condemned what he described as "the abhorrent terrorist attack", saying in a statement: "Egypt will only emerge stronger and more unified from these events."

The president also called the Coptic pope to offer his condolences.

Egyptian security forces inspect the scene of a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of Egypt's top Sunni Muslim authority Al-Azhar, said the "vile terrorist explosion" was "a great crime against all Egyptians".

The bombing took place on a national holiday to mark the Muslim prophet Mohammed's birthday.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini in a statement offered her condolences and solidarity "with Egypt in its efforts to defeat terrorism".

The church that was targeted "is deeply loved by many Coptic faithful in Cairo and it has a regular parish presence," said Bishop Angaelos, the General Bishop for the Coptic Church in Britain.

'An easier target'

He said services had been held in the church on Sunday morning, while Saint Mark's Cathedral was being renovated.

"It's an easier target because its entrance is outside the precincts" of the cathedral.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo, pictured after a bomb blast on December 11, 2016

Copts have faced persecution and discrimination dating back to the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.

Dozens have been killed in recent years in sectarian attacks and clashes throughout Egypt.

In April 2013, two people died in clashes with local residents outside Saint Mark's Cathedral, the spiritual heart of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

Islamists in August 2013 attacked churches and homes of Copts in retaliation for the dispersal by security forces of Cairo protest camps set up by supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the Islamist president deposed by then-army chief Sisi.

Enraged by the crackdown which killed hundreds, mobs lashed out at Copts in the Upper Egypt province of Minya, accusing them of backing the military.

More than 40 churches were attacked nationwide, with most attacks in Minya and Assiut, Human Rights Watch said at the time.

Security forces have been the main target of attacks following Morsi's ouster.

Most of the attacks are conducted in the Sinai Peninsula by a branch of the Islamic State group, although militants have also targeted security forces and government officials in Cairo.

On Friday, six people died in a bombing next to a police checkpoint in the Talibiya area of Cairo shortly before Muslim weekly prayers when the streets are mostly empty.
We have come to the end of what is possibly the noisiest election of my lifetime. With the climax being the announcement by the Electoral Commission chairperson Charlotte Osei that the New Patriotic Party (NPPs) candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo won the polls with 53 percent of votes cast while the National Democratic Congress (NDCs) John Mahama who is incumbent president came second after bagging 44 percent of votes cast.

This is an election I think the NDC should have won hands down. They had everything going on well for them, compared to the NPP which for a long time was clutching onto a walking aid to stay up right throughout the campaign.

First, the NPP went into the 2016 elections, a very divided entity. We will all recall how the internal rift between the pro and anti Akufo-Addo camps hit a crescendo sometime last year with the suspension of elected chairman Paul Afoko, Vice chairman Sammy Crabbe and General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong. And the subsequent bad press, numerous incidents of death-resulting violence and court battles that appeared to have created too much distraction for a party that should be focused on winning the election.

The NPP was dissipating energy and fighting among themselves, with several efforts to keep the party bonded proving fruitless. You dont do that with months to a crucial election. And no one would expect a divided house to stand. Comparatively, the NDC looked like a more united force, with the body, soul and spirit of the party working together for one common goal  retaining power.

Secondly, by any measure, the NDC did run a better campaign than the NPP did. The NDC obviously had more financial resources for its campaign than the NPP. The NDC had more bill boards out there and more radio and television commercials projecting the achievements of the Mahama administration than the NPP. The NDC had more branded vehicles, T-shirts and party paraphernalia out there for distribution than the NPP. Major streets were awash with more NDC flags than NPP flags.

Also, the NDC had at least three main campaign teams on the ground. One led by the president, his vice and then his chief of staff. Then, there were the government ministers who left their jobs in Accra to campaign. The NPP on the otherhand had two main campaign teams; the flagbearer and his running mate. An outnumbering by one. The NDC distributed more cash, rice, oil and canned fish in poor neighbourhoods as part of efforts to induce people to vote for them than the NPP did. Even on voting day, the NDC bused a lot more of its activists to their strongholds to go vote than the NPP.

Thirdly, incumbency was on the side of President Mahama. Incumbency that the NDC government really abused. With the president flying across the country using state resources to campaign under the guise of commissioning national projects. With road infrastructure, school projects and boreholes springing up in communities overnight with days to the elections, all to entice voters. With huge donations to traditional councils from government ahead of the elections, just to buy their goodwill.

And finally, history was on the side of the NDCs John Mahama. Since Ghana returned to democratic rule in 1992, every incumbent president that came before the good people of this country seeking re-election got it. Thanks mainly to what we spoke about earlier  incumbency. And if you are a superstitious person, Ghanaians have elected only Johns as president since our return to democratic rule. But Nana Addo is not a John, unlike Mahama.

So, all other things being equal, the NDC looked better set for victory than the NPP. The major elements that anyone would look out for in a successful campaign were all working for the NDC ahead of the d-day. A united front, a good campaign, precedence and public goodwill.

So what went wrong?

Clearly, the electorates were fed up with the NDC after eight years of the Mills  Mahama Administration. That was obviously what did the trick for the NPP. After more than four years of power blackout (dumsor), that had crippled thousands of small businesses across the country and caused a lot more people their jobs, majority of the populace were in the mood to try something new.

The corruption tag around the neck of officials of the incumbent government thanks to misappropriation at the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) and Ghanas Brazil 2014 campaign had stuck. And no one wanted another of that.

Economic mismanagement characterized by record falls in the value of the cedis against major international currencies, imposition of more taxes which no one saw the benefit of except government officials themselves, and the return to the International Monetary Fund for credibility to manage our economy, cannot guarantee a mandate for another term.

Secondly, the NPP had a better message than the NDC. The later was mainly telling the electorate: keep us in power to continue our good works. Good works which the people were not convinced looked as good as the government claimed.

The NPP being a party in opposition had bold and ambitious ideas like one factory, one district which the ordinary person could easily relate to and associate with. And the electorates had a lot more trust for the NPP and its ability to fulfill the manifesto pledges than the NDC which had repeatedly gone back on its words over the last eight years.

The lesson from the just ended contest is clear. Democracy is about the people. They decide who governs. It matters less how much money you have. It doesnt count much how fantastic the campaign you run is. And it matters very little the terrible state of affairs within a competing political party. As long as the people have an option, once they are dissatisfied with how you govern them, they will change you.

By Joseph Opoku Gakpo / http://www.josephopokugakpo.wordpress.com
The transitional team to facilitate the change of government in the country has officially been inaugurated.

The team was inaugurated at a short ceremony held at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), today, Sunday.

This follows the Electoral Commission's declaration of the New Patriotic Party's Nana Akufo-Addo as president-elect after a keenly contested general election on Wednesday, December 7.

Akufo-Addo beat incumbent, President John Mahama 53% of the total valid votes cast while John Mahama polled 44%.

President Mahama on Saturday announced the 16-member team comprising seven members of the National Democratic Congress government and nine from the NPP.

A statement signed by the Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Omane Boamah said the team would also include the Head of the Civil Service, Head of the Local Government Service, Secretary to the Cabinet and the National Security Coordinator in accordance with the provisions of the Presidential Transition Act 2012 (Act 845).

The team is expected to commence with expediency ahead of the of the official swearing-in of the President-elect, Nana Akufo Addo as President of the Republic on January 7, 2017.

Among the things the team is to consider are accounting for government resources, agreement on the deadline for the vacation of official residences by government officers and payment of benefits.

Members of the team area:

Julius Debrah- Chief of Staff Marietta Brew Appiah Opong- Attorney General & Minister for Justice Seth E. Terkper- Minister for Finance Prosper Bani- Minister for the Interior Dr. Benjamin Kunbour- Minister for Defence Hanna S. Tetteh- Minister for Foreign Affairs & Regional Integration Alhaji Collins Dauda- Minister for Local Government & Rural Development

Representing the President-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo are:

Yaw Osafo Maafo- Representative of the President-elect Frema Osei Opare- Head of the Staff of Office of the President-elect Gloria Akuffo- Member responsible for Legal Affairs Ken Ofori- Atta- Member responsible for Finance Ambrose Dery- Member responsible for the Interior Dominic Nitiwul- Member responsible for Defence Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey- Member responsible for Foreign Affairs Hajia Alima Mahama- Member responsible for Local Government Albert Kan Dapaah- Member responsible for National Security

In accordance with the provisions of the Presidential Transition Act 2012 (Act 845), the following are statutory members of the Transition Team:

Head of the Civil Service Head of the Local Government Service Secretary to the Cabinet National Security Coordinator

'Mahama assures of smooth transition of government'

President John Mahama had earlier assured of ensuring the peaceful transfer of power to the President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo.

In his concession speech after the declaration of Akufo-Addo as President-elect, he said, I will like to assure the people of Ghana of my commitment to the sustenance of our country's democracy and we will work to ensure a smooth transition of our incoming administration. I remain committed to the unity and stability of our great nation.

Parliament passes Presidential transition bill

Ghanas parliament in October 2016 passed the Presidential transition bill which among other amendments, stipulates that the outgoing President and his Vice vacate official bungalows one month before swearing-in of the new President on January 7.

The Bill, also grants the Office Administrator General, legal powers to forcefully evict an outgoing President and his or her Vice when they exceed the grace period.



By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @jnyabor
Cairo (AFP) - A bomb blast tore through a church near Cairo's Coptic cathedral during a service Sunday, killing 23 people in the deadliest attack in recent memory on Egypt's Christian minority.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population, have been previously targeted by jihadists.

Deadly blast at Coptic church

At least 49 people were wounded in the explosion, the health ministry said, as the attack drew condemnation from political and religious leaders and led President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare three days of national mourning.

The bombing hit around 10:00 am at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, which is adjacent to Saint Mark's Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic pope Tawadros II.

The blast shattered the church's windows and scattered pews through the interior of the church, scorching its marble pillars.

Ball-bearing-sized shrapnel peppered the walls covered in icons of saints and destroyed a box that contained a saint's relics. Pools of blood congealed on the floor.

A nun is pictured after a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

Security officials said they believed a bomb containing 12 kilos of TNT appeared to have been the cause of the explosion.

"I was leaving the church and then I heard a loud explosion and there was a lot of smoke and people started running and screaming," Jackline Abdel Shahid, one of the survivors, told AFP at the scene.

"The ambulances started coming, and they kept bringing out body parts," she said.

'Where were security forces?'

"Where were the security forces? They're filling the streets now, but it's too late," said Gebrail Ebeid, who had been headed to services when the bomb went off.

Damage following a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

Several dozen people gathered outside to protest after the attack, chanting for the resignation of Egypt's interior minister.

They scuffled briefly with police as they tried to push through the cordon.

It was the worst attack on the Coptic Christian community since a 2011 suicide bombing killed more than 20 worshippers outside a church in the coastal city of Alexandria.

"The nation's Muslim and Christian citizens stand together against this black terrorism," Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said in a statement.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi condemned what he described as "the abhorrent terrorist attack", saying in a statement: "Egypt will only emerge stronger and more unified from these events."

The president also called the Coptic pope to offer his condolences.

Egyptian security forces inspect the scene of a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on December 11, 2016

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of Egypt's top Sunni Muslim authority Al-Azhar, said the "vile terrorist explosion" was "a great crime against all Egyptians".

The bombing took place on a national holiday to mark the Muslim prophet Mohammed's birthday.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini in a statement offered her condolences and solidarity "with Egypt in its efforts to defeat terrorism".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Cairo to "unite forces and fight terrorism together".

The church that was targeted "is deeply loved by many Coptic faithful in Cairo and it has a regular parish presence," said Bishop Angaelos, the General Bishop for the Coptic Church in Britain.

'An easier target'

He said services had been held in the church on Sunday morning, while Saint Mark's Cathedral was being renovated.

"It's an easier target because its entrance is outside the precincts" of the cathedral.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo, pictured after a bomb blast on December 11, 2016

Copts have faced persecution and discrimination dating back to the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.

Dozens have been killed in recent years in sectarian attacks and clashes throughout Egypt.

In April 2013, two people died in clashes with local residents outside Saint Mark's Cathedral, the spiritual heart of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

Islamists in August 2013 attacked churches and homes of Copts in retaliation for the dispersal by security forces of Cairo protest camps set up by supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the Islamist president deposed by then-army chief Sisi.

Enraged by the crackdown which killed hundreds, mobs lashed out at Copts in the Upper Egypt province of Minya, accusing them of backing the military.

More than 40 churches were attacked nationwide, with most attacks in Minya and Assiut, Human Rights Watch said at the time.

Security forces have been the main target of attacks following Morsi's ouster.

Most of the attacks are conducted in the Sinai Peninsula by a branch of the Islamic State group, although militants have also targeted security forces and government officials in Cairo.

On Friday, six people died in a bombing next to a police checkpoint in the Talibiya area of Cairo shortly before Muslim weekly prayers when the streets are mostly empty.
Two fishing boats carrying 8 Tamil fishermen came under attack by Sri Lankan Navy around 2:30 pm on December 10.

By Pramod Madhav: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the rising unprovoked attacks on fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.

Two fishing boats carrying 8 Tamil fishermen came under attack by Sri Lankan Navy around 2:30 pm on December 10.

Reminding the prime minister that 15 fishermen arrested on November 19 are still languishing in Sri Lankan jails, the chief minister urged PM Modi to take up the issue personally.

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The chief minister in his letter explained that the Sri Lankan strategy of not releasing the fishing boats has caused major distress to the livelihood of fishermen. Panneerselvam in his letter sought the prime minister's intervention in the issue.

In his letter, he wrote, "It is very important that the Government of India acts decisively to ensure that our fishermen can pursue their livelihood with freedom and peace of mind in their traditional waters of Palk Bay. I also request the Government of India to secure the release of 15 fishermen and 107 fishing boats without any delay."

Also read: Cyclone Vardah expected to weaken, likely to cross Chennai by December 12

--- ENDS ---
11.12.2016 LISTEN



The Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh, has reportedly backtracked over his resolve to hand over power to his successor, Adama Barrow, after ruling the West African nation for 22 solid years. In a speech broadcast on the state-owned television, the coup maker, turned constitutionally elected leader, claimed investigations since the December 1 election have revealed to him, a number of voting irregularities, which is unacceptable.

I hereby reject the results in totality. Let me repeat: I will not accept the results based on what has happened, he said. The constitutional dictator's rejection of the results comes barely a week after he had called Adama Barrow to concede defeat and promised to hand over power peacefully. You are the elected president of The Gambia, and I wish you all the best, Jammeh told Barrow at the time, adding, I have no ill will.

After seizing power in 1994, at the age of just 29, and forcing prominent citizens into exile, the despot ruled The Gambia with an iron fist until he decided to drop the army garb for that of a civilian leader. Since then, he has won several disputed elections, but, in the name of sovereignty, nobody said anything about him. Now after losing the December election and accepting defeat, this tyrant has decided to eat back his words, and is now saying he would no more accept the election results.

The Chronicle finds the conduct of Yahya Jammeh unacceptable and a complete disgrace to the already battered image of Africa when it comes to democracy. The Gambia is not the personal property of Jammah and his family, but a state whose sovereignty resides in the people, and the latter have decided that they no more need him as their leader. He cannot, therefore, arrogate to himself the powers to annul election results, without recourse to Gambian laws.

The Chronicle is, therefore, calling on the African Union, United Nations, European Union, and United States of America (USA) to start diplomatic talks with this dictator calling himself president, and prevail upon him to hand over power peacefully to Adama Barrow, the president-elect.

Should the diplomatic talks fail, these states and institutions, we have mentioned above, especially Britain, the former colonial ruler, should move in and use military force to remove Jammeh from power.

The Chronicle is surprised at the British foreign policy towards its former colonies. The Queen's people appear not to care about what goes on in their former colonies, though we admit that these former colonies are now independent states.

The Chronicle is not knocking the heads of both Britain and France together, but if this nonsense going in The Gambia had happened in any French speaking country, France would have moved in quickly to stop it.

In 1997, it had to take the intervention of ECOWAS, led by Nigeria, to restore former Sierra Leonean leader Ahmad Kabbah back to power, after he was overthrown by a junta group led by Johnny Koroma.

Britain, which boasts of having colonised countries in Africa including Sierra Leone, did not see the need to intervene and stop the bloodshed going on in its former colony.

In recent years, France has made interventions in Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso among others, which saved these countries from sliding into civil war, but when it comes to English-speaking countries, Britain has always failed to act decisively. Yahya Jammeh, a man who even claimed at a point in time that he could cure AIDS, is gradually sending The Gambia into civil war, and should these world leaders sit aloof and allow him to plunge the country into chaos before living up to their responsibilities?

As the adage goes, when persuasion fails, force must be applied. Yahya Jammeh, we insist, must be removed from power through military intervention if negotiations for him to hand over fail. Africa is tired of this Stone Age conduct of some of its leaders, and the time to act is now!
The December 7, 2016, general elections have ended successfully and the good people of Ghana have accepted the outcome of the polls. It is worth mentioning that Ghana has maintained its enviable reputation as the beacon of democracy in Africa and beyond.

The 2016 polls is the seventh presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana, since the promulgation of the 1992 Constitution. The just ended elections cannot be said to be flawless. But I daresay that the overall voting process was very peaceful and transparent.

The keen contest between President John Dramani Mahama of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), demonstrates a true reflection of multiparty democracy.

Barely two hours before the election results were declared, President Mahama took a bold decision by congratulating the President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo. In fact, His Excellency did the honourable thing, as the final presidential candidate to concede defeat. That is the beauty of democracy!

This doesnt happen in other African countries. In Gambia for example, President Yahya Jammeh is reported to have rejected the outcome of the recent elections which he lost to opposition leader Adama Barrow.

After conceding defeat following his 22-year reign, the Gambian President annulled the results of the general election and called for another election.

As a country, we have made headway in our democratic dispensation. And we cannot afford to gamble with the future of our motherland, Ghana. Since we have chosen the path of multiparty democracy, lets forge ahead in unity.

Of course, only one of the seven presidential candidates can be elected to steer the affairs of the country for the next four years. The people of Ghana have expressed their will through the ballot, so it behooves every citizen to respect that decision.

The Accra Declaration

As part of the pre-election activities, the seven aspirants of the various political parties contesting the 2016 Presidential Election signed a peace declaration in Accra to pledge their commitment to a peaceful elections.

The Accra Declaration was an initiative of the National Peace Council (NPC) and the National House of Chiefs (NHC) with support from international organisations, including the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) aimed at promoting peace in the 2016 Election.

The declaration sent positive signals to the rest of the world that Ghana was keen on sustaining its credentials as a bastion of peace and democracy on the African continent.

After pledging his vow to peace, President John Mahama described himself as a peace-loving politician whose commitment to peace was unquestionable. And of course, the President has demonstrated to the world that he is a man of peace, as we await a smooth transition on January 7, 2017.

It is gratifying that the Accra Declaration which attracted some dignitaries such as the President of Liberia and the Chair of ECOWAS, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; and former South African President and leader of the AU Observer Mission, Mr. Thabo Mbeki; was not an exercise in futility.

Report of Election Observer Missions

The report of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and other observer missions including the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) lauded the people of Ghana for the largely peaceful conduct of the elections.

The leader of the AU delegation spoke highly of Ghanas 2016 Election and its processes. The AU observers also praised the professional conduct of the Electoral Commission (EC) in ensuring transparency, accountability and credibility of the electoral procedures.

Furthermore, the observer missions commended the countrys vibrant press, particularly the role of private media and the state-owned broadcaster in promoting a transparent and peaceful elections.

Admittedly, the success story of Ghanas outstanding democracy is incomplete without commending the tireless effort and sacrifice of the media.

Finally, the preliminary report of the foreign observer mission praised the cooperation of Ghanaians, including the electorate, party agents, candidates, the security agencies and civic activists.

Bravo, Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission (EC) deserves commendation for conducting one of the most credible elections, since the last 24 years of our democratic journey in the history of Ghana.

Initially, most Ghanaians doubted the capacity of the EC in organising a successful elections because of the few challenges that characterised the early (special) voting exercise.

Since the last two decades of Ghanas democracy, opposition parties have constantly doubted the integrity of the EC. For some strange reason, there have always been the fear that the EC will favour the ruling governments.

In spite of the mounting pressure on the EC to announce the election results, the Chairperson of the Commission, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, stood her grounds as a leader. The duty we owe Ghanaians is not to declare results quickly, but to declare results accurately, she emphasised.

So far, so good, Ghana has been able to stand the test of time after another successful general elections. The victory of the 2016 Election is not the reserve of the NPP, but for the entire country.

According to a former US President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1965), the ballot is stronger than the bullet, so lets uphold our commitment to multiparty democracy in high esteem.

Meanwhile, lets appreciate the stewardship of President John Dramani Mahama for contributing his quota towards the development Ghana in diverse ways and, especially, the peace that the country is enjoying.

As we usher in another government under the presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, I implore fellow compatriots to stand in unity and accord the new administration the needed support to build a more prosperous nation.

ASP James Annan

Cantonments, Accra

[email protected]

4. President Mahama Exchanging Pleasantries With Nana Akufo-addo

3. Chairperson Of The Electoral Commission, Mrs. Charlotte Osei

5. The 2016 Election Is The Most Credible Exercise In The History Of Ghana

6. An Ec Official Taking A Voter Through The Electoral Process

7. A Line-up Of The Seven Presidential Candidates Pledging Their Commitment To Peace At The 'accra Declaration'
The Hague (AFP) - The European Union on Sunday signed an agreement with the Malian government aimed at enabling the return of migrants who have reached Europe's shores, and whose asylum requests have been refused.

"It is the first time the EU establishes such a precise mechanism with an African country with regards to returning failed asylum seekers," said a statement from the Dutch foreign ministry, which signed the agreement on the EU's behalf.

The accord seeks to fight "the root causes of illegal migration" and to "enable the return from Europe of Malian migrants", the statement said.

The agreement came after a summit in the Maltese capital Valletta in November 2015, when EU leaders agreed with their African counterparts to set up a 1.8-billion-euro ($1.9-billion) fund to help address the root causes of migration.

In return, African countries would step up border controls and accept the repatriation of those who make it to Europe but are judged to have no right to remain.

The EU-Mali deal lays the foundations for schemes to help young people find work, and seeks to strengthen the country's security forces.

In addition, Mali and neighbouring states are expected to step up the fight against people-smugglers while improving their border security.

A total of nine projects, with a budget of 145.1 million euros, were adopted.

Under the deal, "Malian civil servants will travel to EU member states to help determine the identity of migrants, in order to accelerate their return", the statement said.

The number of migrants from African nations -- including Mali, Nigeria and The Gambia -- who risk their lives at sea in a desperate bid to reach Europe has increased considerably in recent years, official figures show.

The EU-Mali deal, which will be presented in Brussels on Monday, is "necessary", according to Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, whose country will hold the EU's rotating presidency from the New Year.

"Young Malians have so much to give to their country. We must help stop Malians travelling to North Africa or Europe from losing their lives or falling into the hands of people smugglers," he added.
Dear President-elect Nana Addo Danqua Akuffo Addo,

The National Council of Ghanaian Unions UK (NCGU) extends our congratulations to you, your team and the National Patriotic Party for your electoral victory. Indeed Ghana has displayed a level of political maturity that is no doubt admirable. The people have spoken and chosen you as their next President with a mandate to lead our country forward in the agenda for development.

We commend you and your team for taking every step possible to ensure that the elections were held in an environment of peace. We also thank you for putting yourself forward to take the responsibility of leadership of our dear nation; a daunting task.

The National Council of Ghanaian Unions UK (NCGU), is ready as part of its mission, to work with your administration in order that Ghanaians in the UK can feel the benefits of your governance both in the UK and at home.

We look forward at the earliest possible opportunity, to meet with your team to discuss how we may help you achieve a more effective collaboration with the Ghanaian community here in the UK.

About the NCGU:

The National Council of Ghanaian Unions, UK (NCGU) is the main national Umbrella body in the UK that was set up with an aim to bring together all the Regional Unions to foster a more cohesive platform for community engagement and joint action underpinned by our values of accountability. We are a non political, non partisan, non religious vital bridge between local groups and national government, taking the lead on issues that matter most in terms of local support and development. We provide our members with networking opportunities, specialist advice, support, policy information and training. We influence national and local government policy to strengthen local voluntary and community action.

The NCGU is also a platform for participating in decision making as part of a stronger national voice in relation to issues that may potentially affect Ghanaians resident in the UK.

For more information, visit www.ncgu.org.uk

We wish you the very best of luck for the future.

Dr Quaye Botchway

NCGU President

On behalf of the NCGU Board of Trustees
The Norway Branch of the New Patriotic Party wishes to congratulate the President-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the Vice-President-elect, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, on their election to the highest offices of the Republic of Ghana.

NPP Norway also wishes to congratulate the Executives, from the national to the local level, groups and ordinary members of the New Patriotic Party, on their hard work, sacrifice and above all vigilance, which ensured this historic victory.

NPP Norway also thanks Ghanaians for reposing their confidence in the NPP by massively voting for us and ensuring that only their votes counted.

NPP Norway is optimistic that an NPP Government, under the able and competent leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo and supported by Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, will be able to lift the country from its current economic quagmire. The NPP has done it before.

NPP Norway appeals to all our supporters to celebrate this great electoral victory in magnanimity and moderation. NPP Norway also appeals to all Ghanaians to support the incoming Government and exercise patience, while it puts its policies in place in order to put the economy back on the right footing.

God bless Nana Akufo-Addo and Alhaji Dr. Bawumia, God bless the New Patriotic Party and God bless our homeland Ghana.

Michael Baiden

Communications Director, NPP Norway Branch
Dear Fellow Ghanaians, I just receive this alarming post from my Safari Radio contact as an item being circulated around. I am sure it might have got to you as well but if not, then it is about a very trumatising video of a family desperately trying to escape from danger poss by hightened angry mob.

My judgement on the mob's language of communication, the looks of those making up the crowd and the surroundings, indicate no any other place on earth than my beloved Republic of Ghana. I could not convince myself that this has nothing to do with the just concluded general election, as the sender wanted me to believe.

I could not stop myself from conceeding that the electorate in the just concluded electeion voted massively in favour of the main opposition political party, at the expense of the party in government, because of the insensitivity of the dismissed administration. It was indeed a bloody knock on the lose by the Ghanaian electorate to the incumbent, in protest to a dishonest administratuon.

Of course, I could not make out the exact location in Ghana where the mob chase took place but the questions that continuously cross my mind is who could these individuals might be and why are they being attack? How many of these attacks are currently going on that might not have been brought to our attention? Could the victims be EC (Electoral Commissiin) officials being chase by the locals out after the announcement of the result? Could this be EC official under siege because of the built up of suspicions and tension that characterise the delay in the EC announcement of the result, while the figures are already been made public by the media? Could most of these possible attack on EC officials from.such unnecessary delay been avoided and everyone knowing exactly what they should know, if the mandated EC officials (Constituency Chief representative) at the Constituency collation centre annouce the result publicly on a live TV converge, before the party representatives/media officials are than merely handed over the signed copies of the Pink Sheets? Well, the EC or the police have not yet made these concerns public to the best of our knowledge and I am choosing to believe that this has nothing to do with non partisan public officials of the state. It is however fair to note that the endless silence and the contentions amidst counter claims that started, nearly did not only out everyone on the edge but might have led to a very bad end. It will.be hard to deny that any sad experience stil beingl suffered, even long afterward, has something to do with the brief build up.

The next possible explanation is whether what was captured in the video is an experience of a politician who might have just lost an election, escaping from an angry mob, in company of his/her extremely frightened family member. Clearly these individuals are being prevented from leaving alive by the locals who wanted nothing short of death to an assume enemy. And if this family manage to edcape alive, the scare of fear associated with such incident will be with them forever. One can alao say the these victims are party supporters attacking a party candidate who they believe let them down by his or her performance in the election.

The big questiion still remain, why shouls local youths take the law into tbeir own hands in physically attacking anyone? How did it come to this? Why must this be accepted to any Ghanaian or happen in any part of Ghana? How many more of this is happening? Is this the purpose of the election? Is this an acceptable part of democracy? If this is a form of protest and demonstration of the will of the majority, how best is this done than by voting those who think of themselves as being above the law to be size into shape? Is that not exactly what the electorate have done? Could this be a case of electorate who do not trust those they elect into office to live up to their words?

It is indeed true that Ghanaians were told that their money were being stolen by the politicians as the reason to why the majority of the people are condemn to the life of perpetual poverty. Cases like; Wayome Judgement Debt, Ford Car Gift to the President, Over inflated Bus Branding to party cronies, etc were use as confirmation to the accusations. The ill-manner of our rredeemable corrupt political public officials, were use to explain why the Kaya yo with baby strap on her back and the haggard looking truck pusher claded in rag, abound our cities. Ghanaians were then ask in this election to vote out those they believe are stealing their money, for the corruption to stop. Ghanaians have done exactly that. Ghanaians have now voted out those who are believed to be enriching themselves at the expense of the population, using the power entrusted upon them as mandated by the people.

Now, the same mandate the Ghanaians gave those who become empowered enough to misuse the authority of the state to enrich themselves, is now the same one that has been given to the new team. Why then must anyone physically attack any other Ghanaian when those who were allerge to enrich themselves by the state authority did not do so violently but by the lawful means of the state?

If anyone has use the state authority to enrich themselves at the expense of the voters/tax payer, the same means has to be use to retrieve the mandate and the ill-gotten wealth. So no one deserve to be physically attack as that will never bring the stolen wealth back. Remember the Revolution and the accusatin that our money were stolen and hidden in Swiss Banks. Yes, we physically terminated the lives of those we suspected but retrieving the money never happened. All we want is our money back and not the lives of the innocent Ghanaians who merely err.

Ghanaians want their money back into the coffers of the state and that is what the electorate voted for. Ghanaians want the due process of the law to be fully explore and fairly engaged, in establishing that any wrong is fairly address. Where the court establish that the resources of the state were use for personal gains, such privileges must be retrieve but only by the court. And where the court believe the state wealth were use to facilitate the acquisition of personal assets, the beneficiary must be denie the benefits associated with such assets, to the advantage of the state. The exercise must be very transparent and free from.any form of personalization and vindictiveness. All steps must be taken in ensuring that justice is separated from witch hunting, with fairness helping to serve as a form of detriment to others who might intentionally make similar mistakes in future. We all.have a duty of making our laws and justice to mean something.

This is the only way the new government can earn the practical phase of the faith Ghanaians have invested into them. So bearing in mind that the out going administration made these same allegations to win the 2008 election and they got away with it in the 2012 election, without addressing the issue of public office abuse, the new administration may not be that lucky if the choose to try the tricks of the previous administration.

The fact that Ghanaians couldn't be fooled in 2016 despite the desperate effort of employing the threats of tribalism to divert the attention of the electorate from failed promises, it is advisable for the new administration to know better. 2020 is just around the corner and those who have just been mandated by Ghanaians to address these concerns have the responsibility of winning the trust Ghanaians have invested in them.

We are fully aware of some strange voices calling for a truce as basis for peace, instead of fairness in to all. But why should anyone be scare of being investigated fairly if he or she has nothing to hide? Why should respected persons who have champion the War Against Corruption and public office abuse become a "Prace Ambassador" all of a sudden? Are these not the same people who talk sweet about "Better Ghana for All" claiming that corrupt public official is why the Ghanaian Socialists Dream is not yet realise? Was it all acting and never meant what they tell us on radio and tv?

We are keenly watching the new watchmen and hope they live up to the expectations of the Ghanaians. They can also choose to focus on other important national matters, like massive road construction, with their party members fronting as contractors. We are aware of the recent reminder that Ghanaians are easily forgetful by the veru people who wete pretending to be engaging in more important national ventures. The new administration can choose to pretend that they did not tell Ghanaians that thieves are enriching themselves in our public offices and only start to witch hunt when election is just around the corner.

You can choose to get bolder with each passing day, recruiting shameless half minded professionals to be defending questionable political behaviours of politicians on our media stations. You can even choose to pretend to be telling us that our hospitals, schools, offices, courts, police services etc, are all free, while consumers are charge at the point of demand. You can choose to buy all our radio and TV stations to sing your holy praises, while we suffer the evil in silence.

Four years is just around the corner when the day of reconing shall be hear again. Ghanaians are now in charge of the votes and all politicians must beware!!!!

Kofi Ali Abdul-Yekin

Founder (GPPP) & (ECRA)

+44 (07737224787), [email protected]
A member of the NDC has reportedly been killed at Dunkwa in the Central region following a heated political argument with a member of the victorious NPP.

The two were caught in an argument Friday evening after the defeat of the ruling NDC in the Wednesday presidential and parliamentary elections.

The deceased, Ayoma, a head porter, was allegedly struck in the head several times with a club in the heat of the verbal exchanges with the suspect Atta, a herbal medicine seller.

According to an eye witness at the Dunkwa central market, where the incident occurred, the exchanges began in a friendly manner before it degenerated into a brawl.

The victim was rushed to the Dunkwa government hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Meanwhile, the suspect has turned himself to the Police and will face court Monday, according to the Dunkwa Police commander Dela Dzinsi.
11.12.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Dec. 11, GNA - Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the President elect, has been asked to call to order the supporters and members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who are allegedly attacking followers of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

'The spirit of the December 7 general election was the call for peace before, during and after. Therefore, it is in the interest of national cohesion and stability that the NPP stops the attacks to soil the Party's electoral victory with blood,' Alhaji Mohammed Kassim Gedel, a leading member of the Klottey Korle Zongo Caucus of the NDC said in statement issued in Accra on Sunday and copied to the Ghana News Agency.

The statement said the order by President John Dramani Mahama for the security services to arrest the culprits who were also vandalising State property was the right thing to do.

It said the overwhelming victory of the NPP in the national polls was an indication that Ghanaians wanted change but this should not be translated into attacks on opponents and destruction of party paraphernalia.

'The bill board of Zanetor Rawlings, the newly elected NDC Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle and Party paraphernalia at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange have been destroyed. It doesn't speak well of us and the earlier those behind it are arrested and prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others the better, the statement added.

It asked the members and supporters of the NDC to exercise restraint when provoked and rather report the perpetrators to the law enforcement agencies for the due process to take its course in order not to exacerbate the already messy security situation in the country.

The statement however commended Ghanaians for the peaceful manner that characterised the elections and the Electoral Commission (EC) for displaying fairness and transparency.

'President Mahama should also be commended for showing maturity by conceding defeat before the EC announced the results.'

GNA
11.12.2016 LISTEN

Kumasi, Dec. 11, GNA - Mr George Ayisi Boateng, a founder member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has appealed to the supporters of the Party to desist from acts that could mar the beautiful celebration of their victory.

'They should refrain from attacking their opponents and destroying state or opponent's properties in the course of their celebrations,' he said in a statement issued in Kumasi, on behalf of founding members of the Party in the Ashanti Region.

He urged party supporters to be very decent in their celebrations.

The statement was in reaction to alleged attacks on opponents by some Party members in some parts of the country.

He said the overwhelming victory for the Party in the elections should not be overjoyed to create a bad name for the Party.

Mr Ayisi Boateng said the NPP's victory was for all Ghanaians and should not be marred by alleged attacks on opponents.

He charged Party supporters to reflect deeply on the victory and think about contributions they could make to ensure successful implementation of the Party's policies and programmes.

Mr. Ayisi Boateng thanked the numerous supporters and sympathisers for their hard work, and tenacity, which ensured victory for the Party.

He also called on the Party supporters to be prepared to sacrifice themselves for the task of building a better and prosperous nation for all.

GNA
By Ajay Kumar: Two little tattoos helped Delhi Police piece together a double murder after hacked-up bodies of two masseuses from a Munirka spa were found days apart last month.

Cops arrested two of the accused on Saturday after investigations indicated that the crimes were prompted by greed and sexual jealousy as the women were likely also involved in sex trade.

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According to authorities, four people murdered Assam native Sushma Rai, alias Sonam, carved up her body into pieces using khukuris and choppers, then wrapped the remains in a polythene bag and dumped it outside Baba Gang Nath Marg in south Delhi. The killers were afraid that the victim's roommate Nayesha, who's from Nepal, could talk to the police about Sushma. So they killed and mutilated the other woman in a similar manner and dumped the pieces of her beheaded body at separate locations in Munirka.

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED

The victims apparently deposited some money with one of the alleged perpetrators who was refusing to return it. Of the four accused, one is the husband of one of the women. He is still absconding, police said. "A tattoo near the lower portion of Sushma's torso and another of three stars engraved on the right wrist were preserved by investigators and her friend identified them," said RP Upadhyay, joint commissioner of police (southeast range), Delhi.

Cops went through her call records to zero in on the people she was most frequently in contact with over the days preceding her death. A witness led the police to the deceased's place of stay. They found that the two bodies were discovered only about 500 metres apart.

READ | Bathinda dancer's murder: Owner of gun used by accused arrested

"During a search of the deceased's rented room, police had not unearthed any clues like blood stains there," Upadhyay said. "We noticed that another lady had also been missing for the past 10-11 days. This appeared to be connected with the first body found in the Munirka drain. The second one was identified by the deceased's friend as Nayesha."

Further probe revealed that both victims were spa workers with roots in Nepal and were linked to a group of people that knew them from their country of nativity and was engaged in providing logistical and financial support to similarly placed Nepalese nationals who come to India for better economic prospects.

This syndicate comprise three men identified as Jeevan, Govind and Arjun. It was also learnt that the group had rented several accommodations in south Delhi. The examination of several landlords of these dwellings revealed that the trio had left Munirka village in the evening of November 25.

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"We have corroborated these sequences of events on technical parameters and it became imperative to carry out a profiling of the suspects," Upadhyay said. "Thorough search of rented accommodations used by the suspects was undertaken along with forensic experts. In this exercise, in one of the accommodations, bloodstained clothes were found. The place where the second body was discovered was found to be less than 50 metres away."

Delhi: American woman allegedly gang raped by 5, including tourist guide, in a hotel

Investigations and searches for the absconding suspects also brought into focus a woman identified as Mini Sangam, alias Neha, who's a native of Shillong. She was reportedly in a close relationship with Arjun and was apparently a foster mother to his kids. Officials made the first breakthrough on December 9, when they arrested Jeevan from the Anand Vihar interstate bus terminal. He was about to escape to Nepal.

Jeevan told cops that he, Govind and Arjun killed the two victims while Mini Sangam was the instigator and a co-conspirator. The deceased were in contact with Govind, Arjun and Jeevan for the past six to eight months and deposited large sums of money with Arjun that the women had been earned at the spa. Both Sushma and Nayesha were demanding their money back repeatedly but Arjun was refusing to comply. He had married Sushma a day after Karva Chauth to avoid paying up.

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The marriage made Mini jealous and she decided to eliminate Sushma at any cost. Several conspiracies were hatched over the following days and finally late on November 16 Sushma was brutally murdered, beheaded and dumped in a sewer.

Delhi: Woman's body found in drain with legs chopped off

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Accra, Dec. 11, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed dissatisfaction about the alleged unprovoked attacks on members of the Party, following the Electoral Commission's declaration of the results of the 2016 Presidential Elections.

'We have received several reports of unprovoked physical attacks on supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), across the country,' a statement issued by the NDC National Organiser in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency said.

'We wish to request the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and President-elect Nana Akufo Addo to call on their supporters to desist from the attacks and contribute to building a more stable democracy.

These attacks are nothing more than situations that can only create chaos should the attacked also decide to defend themselves.

'While urging the Security Agencies to move in and protect life and property, we believe that our political parties must be interested in promoting political tolerance among our members,' the statement said.

It said the NPP and its supporters must play their part to help deepen national peace and security.

GNA
The issue of political instability in Africa has negatively affected both the political and socio-economic development of the various African countries experiencing this problem. The emerging and promoting of e-democracy is imperative to strengthen the political systems to ensure freedom and self-governance in the various African countries. The integration of advanced technology into African`s political systems might promote free and fair elections, accountability for the political leaders, and the participation of the democratic process by all citizens both in the country in question and around the globe.

The 21st century is considered as the Information Age for the fact that Advanced Technology in the form of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has increasingly enabled the dissemination of information of a given country`s political issues and concerns globally. The essence of e-democracy is the integration of advanced technology into the political structure, systems, and processes to help serve the citizens effectively and efficiently. The concept of e-democracy exhibits numerous connotations including e-government, virtual democracy, e-participation, teledemocracy, digital democracy, and cyber democracy. The e-democracy presents numerous benefits including greater transparency and accountability in democratic institutions and processes. Most importantly, it fosters the national pride for citizenship and loyalty.

The internet has created numerous online global forums for both local and global democratic participation by citizens all the world. This new global political platform encourages engagement and interactions across a broad spectrum with diverse interested parties and stakeholders. A typical example is the Ghana`s 2016 political elections which started with all the online FM radio stations a unique platform where people will vent their anger and frustration for the political events in Ghana. With time, the Ghanaians also used the same venues to get their grievances to the world. These two demands created a new global forum to foster greater public participation around the world with the various subjects including corruption, political parties affiliations, the critique of the government development policies, and other national issues.

The e-democracy explores the capabilities of the social media in the form of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to engage the citizens around the world. The pronouncement by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) John Kudalor of Ghana Police Service for the consideration of blocking social media across the country on election day could be disastrous with the clouds of darkness and uncertainty that would be created over the county. Agreeably, the social media played a crucial role in the 2016 election by providing real time information about events of the elections for the local authorities to take corrective actions and kept the Ghanaian citizens current about the election processes with new real-time updates and live data streaming. The various news outlets used the social media to disseminate important news items to the global world. The most important news feed of President John Dramani Mahama historic phone call to congratulate the president elect Nana Akuffo Addo brought great peace to the heart of all Ghanaians and dissipated the cloud of anxiety and fear due to the delay of the Electoral Commission final pronouncement of the winner for the elections.

Scholars and researchers including West (2004) in the area of e-government have identified four distinct types of the Internet online interface for governments to providing services to the general public. The first stage is the billboard stage, which provide an interface for government to deliver basic information to the public. The next stage allows public access to information from government websites with selected online services, and the third stage, additionally assured the public with fully integrated online services. West (2004) further argued that the final stage of the e-government websites explores extensive advanced Internet technologies including data streaming, web analytics, content analysis, social media data integration, and finally interactive websites with self-services for the public. As at now the Ghana Elections Commission`s website is at the first stage and it is recommended that it must be upgraded to the fourth level to serve as the hub for political information processing and data sharing for the citizens to have primary elections data and insights.

The e-democracy initiative involved the integration of Election Intelligence(EI) and for the past decades, advanced countries including the United States has used Election Intelligence(EI) to provide reliable credible elections results and to predict the probability for a candidate to win a given election. Although, they have the big data and the analytic tools for the 2016 US presidential election they were off with their predictions and it now the new task for social science researchers to come up with new constructs that can accurately measure the emotions of the electorates. The situations in Ghana 2016 election and Nigeria 2015 elections were different as both countries deployed Election Monitoring Intelligence Systems (EMIS) a cloud based application that provided real-time provisional unconfirmed elections results data from exist polls and results from the polling stations. This EMIS was integrated with online analytic platform (OLAP), Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Google Maps, and with cloud computing interface to create a unique platform to analyze the elections results.

Few hours after the Ghana 2016 election was over, the opposing party the New Patriotic Party(NPP) with the use of the EMIS came up with the projection of Nana Akuffo Addo as the winner of the election based on the data from the pink slips of the polling stations form all the constituents. Certain observers were concerned that this might create confusion in the country underestimating the importance of advanced technology and evidence-based decisions. The major media outlets in Ghana including Adom FM and Joy FM were able use the EMIS to make their projections as Nana Akuffo Addo the winner of the elections. It is important to note that efficacy of the EMIS as the variations from the results officially declared by the Ghana Election Commission and the projections was not statistically significant. This restore confidence, peace, and calmness to the citizens to wait patiently till the end.

To this effect, a conclusion of the use of e-democracy is an indispensable tool not only for peaceful transitioning of governments but to create a new opportunity to integrate advanced technology into the existing political systems to make them viable. Going forward as a country, the use of advanced technology including the smartphones and global engagement online platforms will help fight corruptions, create value for the global market, and to contribute to a robust government that accounts for all the citizens. It is recommended that Ghana should have a national data mart to account for all the citizens including electronic verifiable ID, Social Security number for all, individual credit score, and the social citizenship score as in China for everyone`s social contributions to the nation. This process will create more high paying technology jobs for the youth and to make everyone accountable for the economic advancement of Ghana. Long live all the presidents of Ghana including the newly elected Nana Akuffo Addo, Long live Ghana, and long live Africa.

Reference

West, D. M. (2004). E-government and the transformation of service delivery and citizen attitudes. Public Administration Review, 64(1), 15.

Kennedy K. Amofa PhD.

Business Adjunct Professor

Grand Canyon University

Phoenix, AZ, USA

www.kennedyamofa.com

[email protected]
The governor of Akwa Ibom state Emmanuel Udom on Friday, December 9, escaped death as a church building in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state collapsed.

The whole building of the church, Reigners Bible Church, located along Uyo Village road, collapsed, witness told Premium Times.

Here are some pictures of the ill-fated church after the collapse.

Akwa Ibom Governor Emmanuel Udom escaped death after a church building collapsed in Uyo

The church was said to be filled to its capacity following the consecration of its pastor as a Bishop when the incident happened.

The death toll from the collapse has hit 100, and is likely to rise to 200, reports said.

Punch also reports that scores of worshipers are trapped in the rubble.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng gathered that the death toll is likely to increase following the effect of the collapse.

Pastor Akan Week was being consecrated today so the programme was holding inside the Church when suddenly, the whole building collapsed, a witness said.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Court arraigns Syangogue trustees, engineers over death of 116 persons

He said the church was being renovated due to the expectation of its growing worshipers.

The witness also said many people were buried under the debris of the collapse.

It was gathered that the state governor was supposed to grace the occasion but was not at the church when the building caved in.

The governor has gone to the scene and is presently there helping with the rescue, a witness said.

READ ALSO: TB Joshua's Church Collapse Was A Ritual, Expect More Disaster - Ex-Church Worker

Also, sources have said that many victims of the collapse were taken to nearby hospitals and mortuaries in Uyo.

Another witness said many of the injured persons were already receiving medical attention.

Meanwhile, the emotional spokesperson of the police in the state said: You need to be here to witness it, there is so much confusion.

It would be noticed that a similar large-scale collapse happened in Lagos at the SCOAN in September 2014. 115 worshipers lost their lives.

The state governor has also promised an investigation into the collapse.

The governor said, the investigation would help ascertain when safety standards were comprised during construction of the building.

Also, mortuaries in the city is said to be currently over flooded due to the number of casualty from the incident.

According to Daily Trust, Sani Datti, NEMA's head of media and public relations, while spesking in Abuja said that 115 persons were injured as a result of the incident.

Datti also explained that the emergency response team conducted a 360 degree search at the scene, both in and outside the church, adding that no casualty was left behind.

He also noted that all the patients with head injuries have been evacuated from private clinics to specialist hospitals.

Source: Legit.ng
- The Ohaneze Ndigbo has blamed President Buhari for the rise in Biafra agitation

- The apex Igbo group said his administration marginalised Igbos

- Joe Nworgu said the Igbos faced prosecution since the end of the civil war

The Ohaneze Ndigbo has declared its support for the ongoing agitation for an independent Biafra state championed by south east youths and groups.

Since President Muhammadu Buhari took over power, the call for an independent Biafra state has increased coupled with the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu, the director of Radio Biafra.

President Buhari has been blamed for the rise in Biafra agitation

Daily Post reports that Dr Joe Nworgu who is the outgoing secretary-general of the Ohaneze Ndigbo said the marginalisation of the Igbo has stopped it from condemning the Biafra agitation.

READ ALSO: Nkire says APC will produce Igbo presidency

Why should we condemn what is true?

The difference is that while the parent body is preaching patience, the youths dont have time for such; youths must be youths, so they are responding in their own ways.

But the problem is the same injustice, insensitivity, exclusionism. All these factors are creating the agitation, but the conclusions are different. The elders or elderly people are advising, thinking that maybe there will be a change of mind, but the youths have no time.

He noted that the miarginalisation of the Igbo increased after the civil war but that the Buhari administration made it worse.

It has been very bad since 1970, but under Buhari, it has been exacerbated and his attitude and utterances are not helping matters. In fact, Buhari is even acting to provoke us into taking a wrong step and to have a reason for a clampdown.

So, we are advising our youths to calm down based on the mindset of our president. When he was appointed I said Ndigbo will desire a president who will be president to all Nigerians because nepotism is corruption.

READ ALSO: Nigeria envies growth of Igbo people

He said the first 32 appointments made by President Buhari did not contain any Igbo person.

There are many sectors of governance but when you have taken all the plum things, put them under your towns people, what do you expect the other people to do, they will feel excluded. That is why Ndigbo are not happy with his administration.

Meanwhile, President Buhari put an end to the issue of Biafra insisting that the country will not break-up.

In a statement by Garba Shehu who is the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, Buhari was quoted as saying focus should be on development.

He said: The question of having another country out of Nigeria is going to be very difficult. From 1914, we have more than 200 cultures living with one another. God had endowed this country with natural resources and talented people. We should concentrate on these and be very productive.

Source: Legit.ng
By PTI: election

New York, Dec 11 (PTI) President-elect Donald Trump today rejected as "ridiculous" the CIAs reported assessment that Russia intervened to help him win the closely-contested US election against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump told Fox News that the claim as another "excuse" pushed by Democrats to explain his upset victory against Hillary.

"Its just another excuse. I dont believe it," Trump said. "...Every week its another excuse. We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College."

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The 70-year-old real estate billionaire-turned-politician spoke at length about his Cabinet selection process, defending his decision to tap several military generals while previewing an announcement soon on his secretary of state choice.

The Republican leader vowed as well to "clean" up and "speed" up government agencies, without necessarily dismantling outgoing President Barack Obamas legacy.

But while staying careful not to personally criticize the sitting president over his intelligence agencies analysis on foreign cyber-interference in the election, Trump made clear he rejects their assessment so far.

"Nobody really knows, and hacking is very interesting. Once they hack, if you dont catch them in the act youre not going to catch them," he said. "They have no idea if its Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place."

Trump was responding to a Washington Post report that the CIA concluded in a secret assessment that Russia interfered in the race to boost Trump.

Intelligence agencies reportedly found individuals connected to the Russian government gave WikiLeaks hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, as well as from Hillary Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta - though did not have "specific intelligence" showing Kremlin officials directed the activity.

Shortly before the interview with Trump was aired today, a bipartisan group of senators described the Russia interference reports as serious.

"For years, foreign adversaries have directed cyberattacks at America?s physical, economic, and military infrastructure, while stealing our intellectual property. Now our democratic institutions have been targeted. Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American, Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Chuck Schumer and Jack Reed, said in a statement.

"Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyberattacks. This cannot become a partisan issue. The stakes are too high for our country," the statement said.

Amid the CIA findings, the White House also said on Friday that President Obama has ordered his intelligence agencies to conduct a full review of hacking during the 2016 election and present their findings before he leaves office.

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Trumps transition team responded by saying the election "ended a long time ago" and "its now time to move on." PTI AKJ AKJ

--- ENDS ---
- The Nigerian army has revealed how they went about saving the abducted NYSC members

- The army also revealed that a police officer and his orderly were killed in the violence

- The army refuted claims that they were partisan in the Rivers elections

Army involvement in Rivers re-run election

The Nigerian army has revealed the details of their involvement in the current Rivers rerun elections.

First, the army made it clear on their official Facebook page that accusations of the soldiers been partisan were false, saying:

"The alleged killing and mass arrest by soldiers in Tai, Ogoni, Gokhna-Ogoni LGA of Rivers state were false.

"It is true that soldiers of 6 Division Nigerian army provided security during the Rivers state legislative re-run election that was conducted today.

"In addition, the allegations made by some respected politicians regarding deep involvement of soldiers during the elections were aimed at tarnishing the positive image of the army."

Speaking on why the army was forced to make a statement, the army said the accusations had to be properly addressed, stating:

"These people allegedly accused soldiers of ballot box snatching, illegal escorts of some politicians, arrest and detention of voters during the general conduct of the elections.

"The weighty nature of these allegations could cause members of the public to view soldiers negatively, hence the need to adequately inform the general public on the true perspective.

"The public thus need to consider them as mere farce to garner public sympathy."

The rescue of the abducted National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members featured prominently in the statement.

READ ALSO: PDP wins first house of reps seat in Rivers re-run election

"At Emouha, Mr Oblewaremu abducted 5 NYSC members with election materials in a Siena bus. The corps members were rescued while the suspect was handed over to the police.

"Several shooting were recorded in some communities such as Bodo, the home town of the secretary to the state government, B-dere and Mogho in Gokhana LGA, including snatching of ballot boxes.

"The most brutal incidence occurred at Ujju Community near Omoku in Onelga where police patrol team was ambushed. In the ambush, 10 policemen scampered into the bush," they said.

On a sad note, the army revealed the death of DSP Alkali Mohammed during a rescue mission by the mobile policemen, saying:

"The mobile police organized a rescue mission. Regrettably, the team discovered that DSP Alkali Mohammed of mobile police unit 48 was beheaded along with his orderly.

"The patrol vehicle was taken away with weapons, 3 policemen escaped while 5 were missing in action.

"This is the same area where soldiers of 34 Brigade were ambushed on November 20, 2016, where a soldier was killed. Also on November 21, 2016, 4 personnel of NSCDC were killed and their weapons carted away.

"These attacks are reasonable evidence of violations of breach of law and order which portray the area as a flash point.

"Despite these barbarism, soldiers acted with civility and professionally guaranteeing peaceful election."

READ ALSO: Rivers rerun poll: 3 die as Amaechi misses out on voting exercise

The Nigerian army concluded by stating the following:

"Nigerian army as a respected institution with constitutional responsibility to safeguard lives and property, could not watch miscreants and hoodlums abducting, maiming and killing innocent citizens especially in senseless attacks on uniform personnel.

"The Rivers state re-run election was adjudged credible, free, fair and peaceful in many parts of the state.

"Accusations of soldiers partisanship therefore was sham and phony. The division would continue to maintain apolitical posture in discharge of its roles to ensure provision of adequate security in Rivers state."

Below is a video of the army speaking on the Rivers re-run elections:

Source: Legit.ng
- Akwa Ibom state is deep in mourning as more deaths are recorded from the church collapse

- The state governor has declared a two day mourning period

- NEMA maintains that only six persons have died in the incident so far

There is mourning across Uyo, the capital city of Akwa Ibom state as casualties are still being recorded following the collapse of Reigners Bible Church building in the city on Saturday, December 10.

The Governor of the state, Emmanuel Udom, has declared a two day mourning for the dead. He was among those who narrowly escaped death by the whiskers.

According to reports, one of his protocol officers, pushed him out but could not escape before the building fell on them.

The church that collapsed in Uyo on Saturday

According to residents in Uyo, casualty figure is high as dead bodies are still being evacuated from the collapsed church on Sunday morning.

A resident of Uyo, who spoke with Legit.ng on phone said the figure of casualties given by the management of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was wrong saying the figure was given was part official information management by the agency.

NEMA had said that only six persons died in the incident that threw the entire city into mourning.

The church in Uyo

Tony Udoh, who spoke to our reporter from Uyo, said that so many persons as at the time of filing this report were at the emergency units of most of the hospitals in the city, noting that some died in the hospital, some are still receiving treatment not knowing what their fate would be.

According to him, most of the government hospitals are filled and private hospitals are also filled, saying it is a very pitiable situation.

According to Udoh: We that are on ground can tell you that what NEMA said was information management, the casualty figure is more than 80 but speculation has it that it is between 100 and 200 persons that died.

The ambulance is still evacuating people. It is very serious. The governor, Emmanuel Udom was there. All the government officials in the state were there. The governor arrived about 30 minutes before the incident happened.

READ ALSO: Uyo church collapse: 8 photos of the church after the collapse

The church in Uyo

When they noticed the cracks in the building, some decided to escape, one of the governors protocol pushed the governor out but the protocol officer could not make it, the building collapsed on him and he died. But it had little effects on the governor.

The secretary to the state government, Etekanba Umoren, is currently hospitalized due to the impact of the collapsed on him. The deputy governor was also there but I can tell his state right now. Some people are still given up. As at this morning, they are still getting more people out of the place.

The dead bodies are so many that to the extent that they loaded them like sardine to the hospitals. When they were removing some dead bodies this morning, one person was shouting, they took him to the emergency unit and he die there.

Akwa Ibom police commissioner, Murtala Mani, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Uyo that only 27 people died when the building collapsed on Saturday, December 10. He denied that the number of persons that died was more than a 100 persons.

The church

He also said only 37 persons sustained injuries and they were receiving treatment in three hospitals.

The hospitals were treatment is been given are University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, St. Lukes Hospital, Ibom Specialist Hospital and lifecare Hospital.

But the state chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Anieke Uwah, said that 22 bodies were deposited at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital in Uyo.

READ ALSO: UPDATED: Up to 200 reportedly die as Gov Udom escapes death as church building collapses

Evacuation work in progress

The incident happened when Governor Emmanuel Udom was invited as special guest of honour at the bishopric consecration service of the founder of the Reigners Bible church, Apostle Akan Weeks.

Here are some photos from the scene of the collapse.

Below is a video from the scene of the sad incident:

Source: Legit.ng
To all those who said laptops would quickly be replaced by tablets: shame on you. The laptop form factor is one that isnt go anywhere anytime soonnor is the productivity that comes from a desktop OS that can actually get things done.

Laptops in 2016 have brought us more interesting form factor experiments, new technology like OLED screens, and fresh ideas about touch interfaces. Its all proof that laptops are where a lot of the best future consumer technology is being implemented.

For all that and more, check out these 10 productsthe best laptops of 2016.

While the screen portion of the laptop is just like any other tablet, its the keyboard portion that sets the book apart from other products. In essence, the Yoga Book is the closest consumer product that weve seen to Microsofts concept Courier tablet, a digital note-taking device that was never produced.

The best part is that no special paper is needed. Just place your paper or notepad inside the guidelines on the Halo Keyboard surface and youre good to go. You can use the ballpoint tip to write on paper and simultaneously have your analog notes captured digitally using software. This gives you the feel of writing on paper and the convenience of having a digital backup without having to scan in your notes. With its flat surface for typing it might not be the most well-rounded laptop out there, but the note-taking aspect of the device is pure magic.Chuong Nguyen

Yesits made out of plastic, has a poor trackpad, and is a Chromebook. However, the R11 has enough positives to overshadow those downsides. Its definitely the best convertible Chromebook weve seen yetand one of Acers best attempts at nailing the Chromebook formula. Its got a great display, a nice touchscreen, and impressive battery life, but most importantly, it comes ready to run Android apps right in Chrome OS. With its $299 pricetag, its one of the cheapest Chromebooks you can buyand just happens to be one of the very best.Luke Larsen

Photo by Flickr user Marijan Kelava@N03/22454347059/.

Making a clear distinction from what Apple is doing with its MacBook Pro line, the Surface Book is now a serious pro product worthy of the name. The new model is identical to the breakout hit that was the 2015 Surface Book in almost every way, except for the huge spec update that doubles the graphics power and increases battery life. It sets apart this laptop as something made distinctively for creative professionals and gamers, which might just be what a lot of Apple defectors are looking for. At $3000, its definitely for a niche market, but it gives that demographic exactly what they want.LL

The mass appeal for this new $2000 ThinkPad laptop might be more limited than Lenovos other Yoga products, but that doesnt make the X1 Yoga any less spectacular of an achievement. On the surface, it doesnt look all that different from all of Lenovos other ThinkPad laptopsits stark, black, and even has that familiar eraserhead cursor control.

However, the real star of the X1 Yoga is the OLED screen, which one youll find on the laptops on this list. The incredible resolution of the 14-inch 25601440 OLED display has to be seen in person to be fully understood. Its the future of laptop displays and I cant wait until more products start integrated them. For now, the X1 Yoga is it.LL

Although the most noticeable external upgrade to the 2016 MacBook is the Rose Gold color variant, the improvements under the hood are where it counts. The original MacBook pushed the envelope in terms of design, but lacked the juice to really make the $1299 pricetag anywhere near worth it.

This year, Apple did the right thing and updated the chipset to Intels Core M processor in the SkyLake generation, resulting in a significant increase in performance. Pushing the power up a notch really makes the MacBook not only the most stunningly designed laptop ever made, but finally something now actually worth buying.LL

On the exterior, it doesnt look like a lot has changed between last years and this years Yoga modelsboth generations feature a thin and light design, aluminum unibody construction, and that recognizable watchband hinge. However, once you open the lid of the Yoga 910, youll immediately be struck with the bezel-less design. Theres a lot to love with the Yoga 910s bright, bezel-less screen. Lenovo is, for the first time in the line offering a 4K IPS screen option along with a FHD configuration, all in an attractive package thats thinner and significantly cheaper than the new MacBook Pro. Chuong Nguyen

With a build quality that rivals the $1,299 MacBook, the HP Chromebook 13 manages to beat Apples laptop in many ways while coming in at a $499 starting price. Compared to the MacBook, youll find more ports, a higher resolution display, and a more usable keyboard on the HP Chromebook 13 in a package with a similar all-metal build quality. For Chromebooks on the higher end of the price scale, the HP Chromebook 13 just might be the new standard. Did we mention that this thing is even thinner than the MacBook?CN

While the Surface Book retains its place as an aspirational convertible notebook in Microsofts Windows ecosystem, delivering enticing features to creative professionals, HPs Spectre x360 is a notebook built for everyday consumers. Sure, the device lacks some of the glitzier features of its more expensive rivallike a detachable display and pen support for note-takingbut the Spectre more than makes up for it with an affordable price tag, compact footprint, long battery life and fast performance.

The refinements on this years model shows HPs maturity as a company. The Spectre ships with the companys new logo on the lid, and HP clearly listened to its customers to include only features that are relevant to a majority of its user base, stripping away unneeded extras that would have otherwise contributed to a higher price tag. If you choose the Spectre x360, you wont get the highest resolution display, but HPs no-frills approach produced one of the best and beautifully designed all-around convertibles at an affordable starting price.CN

Some will no doubt scoff at seeing the new MacBook Pro this high up on the list. How dare Apple increase the price on a pro product without giving the proper performance upgrade? Dont even get started on the port offerings here. All legitimate complaints. However, Id be lying if I didnt thoroughly express what an excellent product experience youre getting with the new MacBook Pro. The design marries the hardware/software duality in a way that only a company like Apple has ever really been able to do. Do I wish it still had MagSafe power and a significant performance boost? Do I wish this thing was a little cheaper? You bet. Is the Touch Bar undoubtedly one of the coolest things Apple has made in years. Yup.LL

For the last couple of years now, the Dell XPS 13 has consistently taken our number one spot on this list. The design alone is breathtaking with its near-zero bezels, small footprint, and sleek profile. Instead of redesigning the XPS 13 from scratch this year, Dell took a page from Apples playbook: a performance boost along with a rose gold color option. The overall product might not be quite as cutting edge in terms of design and new tech as something like the new MacBook Pro, but as for a beautiful Ultrabook that has not a single ounce of compromise, the new Dell XPS 13 is the laptop you want.
The new generation KTM Duke 390 made its global debut at the 2016 EICMA show last year. A few weeks back, it was launched in India at a starting price of INR 2.25 lakh, ex-showroom.

At the time of launch, KTM India had stated that the Duke 390 will only be offered in Orange colour option, and the white colour KTM Duke 390 will not be sold in India. This was probably done so as to give the flagship some Orange advantage in the eyes of their buyers.

But, within a few days, a dealer in Mumbai was selling white colour variant of KTM Duke 390. How was this happening as white colour was not supposed to be on sale in India? When we contacted KTM India for clarification, they told Rushlane that this was because the company had decided to launch the white colour option as a limited edition.

Some readers had questioned this decision of the company. Why would you abruptly decide to launch a variant which you had clearly stated was not meant for India. Well, the readers are right. The company had not decided to launch the white colour variant, but it happened by mistake.

Our sources tell us that the white colour Duke 390 was launched in India because of a goof-up in dispatch from the manufacturing plant. By mistake, export-spec white coloured new Duke 390s were loaded in a trailer which was meant to be distributed among dealers in India. And thus, some lucky customers in India own export-spec variants of the new Duke 390.

Sharper and more responsive than before, the new KTM Duke 390s engine delivers more torque than before (37 Nm). In addition to that, it also gets a completely new exhaust system to meet BSIV norms in India and EUROIV norms in Europe.

[table id=1 /]

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Apart from a new exhaust system, other changes include, a revised headlamp cluster with LED lights, LED side indicators, LED tail light, larger fuel tank, extensions on the tank, new digital instrument cluster, new exhaust system, and more efficient brakes. What will be carried forward from current Dukes  upside down forks in the front, monoshock at the rear.

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Below are the highlights of the new generation Duke 390.

 New trellis frame that features a bolt-on rear subframe

 Larger fuel tank of 13.4 litres (old had 11 liters)

 Side-mounted exhaust system

 Wheelbase reduced by 10 mm to 1,357 mm

 Ground clearance increased by 15 mm to 185 mm

 Seat height increased by 30 mm to 830 mm

 Dry weight increased by 10 kg to 149 kg

 Power 44 hp (same as before)

 Torque 37 Nm (2 Nm increased)

 Ride-by-wire, LED DRL, LED headlight, LED taillight

 Colour TFT instrument panel

 KTM MY RIDE for smartphone tethering

KTM Duke 390  White Colour
Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found that higher Body Mass Index (BMI), if it begins in adolescence, can affect cognitive function in midlife. However, the effect appears to be restricted to adults who had lower socioeconomic position as children.

Overweight and obesity in adolescents have increased substantially in recent decades, and today affect a third of the adolescent population in some developed countries. While the dangers posed by high adult BMI on cognitive function in later life have been documented, the association of adolescent BMI with cognitive function in midlife has not yet been reported. (BMI, or Body Mass Index, is a calculation of a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters.)

To shed light on this issue, scientists at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine set out to determine the association between cumulative life course burden of high-ranked body mass index (BMI), and cognitive function in midlife. The research, which will appear in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 55(3), was led by Prof. Jeremy Kark from the Braun School, in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Medicine, working with colleagues in Israel and the United States.

The researchers used weight and height data from 507 individuals tracked from over 33 years starting at age 17. The participants completed a computerized cognitive assessment at ages 48-52, and their socioeconomic position was assessed by multiple methods. Using mixed models the researchers calculated the life-course burden of BMI from age 17 to midlife, and used multiple regression to assess associations of BMI and height with global cognition and its ve component domains.

"In this population-based study of a Jerusalem cohort, followed longitudinally from adolescence for over 33 years, we found that higher BMI in late adolescence and the long-term cumulative burden of BMI predicted poorer cognitive function later in life. Importantly, this study shows that an impact of obesity on cognitive function in midlife may already begin in adolescence, independently of changes in BMI over the adult life course," said the paper's senior author, Prof. Jeremy Kark of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

"Our results also show that taller stature was associated with better global cognitive function, independent of childhood and adult socioeconomic position, and that height increase in late adolescence, reecting late growth, conferred a protective effect, but among women only," added Irit Cohen-Manheim, doctoral candidate at the Braun School and lead author.

The researchers point out that while socioeconomic position may have a particularly important role in the trajectory of a person's lifetime cognitive function, it has rarely been adequately taken into account: "To the best of our knowledge, the association between BMI and cognition as a function of childhood and adult socioeconomic position has not been previously reported. Childhood household socioeconomic position appears to strongly modify the association between adolescent BMI and poorer cognition in midlife, the inverse association being restricted to low childhood socioeconomic position," said Prof. Kark.

"Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that childhood living conditions, as reected also by height, inuence cognitive function later in life; however, our study is unique in showing that an adverse association of higher BMI with cognitive function appears to begin in adolescence and that it appears to be restricted to adults with lower childhood socioeconomic position," said Prof. Kark.

"Evidence for the association between impaired cognitive function in midlife and subsequent dementia supports the clinical relevance of our results. Findings of the relation of BMI in adolescence with poorer midlife cognitive status, particularly in light of the ongoing epidemic of childhood obesity, require conrmation," said Irit Cohen-Manheim.
Twinkle Khanna's latest blog post is a hilarious look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation scheme and the Supreme Court ruling with regard to playing our national anthem at theatres.

By India Today Web Desk: Twinkle Khanna, as revealed in the latest season of Koffee With Karan, is one heck of a humourist. The voracius reader and writer, over the years since her retirement from acting, has evolved into a veritable wordsmith...

...and a politically incorrect jokester who will say anything and everything and send anyone around her, including hubby Akshay Kumar scurrying for cover.

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Well, in her latest blog in Times of India, Twinkle had some choices words for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation scheme and the Supreme Court ruling according to which one needs to stand while our national anthem is played in a film theatre right before each screening.

ALSO READ: Feminism is about gender equality, not men-hating women with moustache, says Twinkle Khanna

ALSO READ: 5 things we bet you didn't know about Akshay and Twinkle's relationship

Speaking on her confusion as to why someone would want to sing the national anthem when one only intends to catch a film, Twinkle wrote, "I still can't wrap my head around how and why I am obliged to feel patriotic when I have merely booked tickets for Befikre, and am about to see Ranveer Singh in his tight red underwear."

Twinkle went on to write about a friend whose husband stands up whenever our national anthem plays on the television. In response, Twinkle apparently said, "You should count yourself lucky. Now, you won't have to dress up as a nurse or a skanky French maid, just get into your bedroom, and play Jana Gana Mana on your iPhone."

However, the best part of the blog came where Twinkle wrote about suggesting her friend to go cashless and how.

"Swallow the bitter pill called demonetisation, forget about cash on delivery to conceal evidence of your purchase and just buy a vibrator with your credit card," Twinkle solemnly advised her friend in her blog.

Meanwhile, Twinkle Khanna's second book - a collection of short stories titled The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, is doing rather well in the Indian bestsellers' list.

WATCH: Twinkle Khanna's debut book launch was a laugh riot

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Rockwall PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas - Round Rock PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas - San Antonio II PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas - San Antonio III PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas - San Antonio IV PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas - San Antonio PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas - San Antonio V PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas - San Antonio VI PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas - San Antonio VII PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas - San Marcos PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas - Texarkana PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas - Tyler PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas  TCG PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Texas  TCS PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Utah  TCG LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Utah  TCS LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Vermont  TCG LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Vermont  TCS LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Virginia - Alexandria LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Virginia - Front Royal II LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Virginia - Front Royal LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Virginia - Mechanicsville LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Virginia - Midlothian LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Virginia - Richmond II LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Virginia - Richmond LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Virginia - Winchester LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Virginia LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Virginia  TCG LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Virginia  TCS LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Arlington PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Auburn PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Bellingham PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Bremerton PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Burien PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Coupeville PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Enumclaw PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Federal Way PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Gig Harbor PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Lakewood PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Mount Vernon PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Puyallup PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Tacoma II PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Tacoma III PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Tacoma PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington - Vancouver PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington County LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington  TCG PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Washington  TCS PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of West Virginia PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of West Virginia  Martinsburg PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of West Virginia  South Charleston PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of West Virginia  TCG PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of West Virginia  TCS PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of West Virginia  Wheeling PLLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Wisconsin Ltd., Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Wyoming - Casper LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Wyoming  TCG LLC, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Wyoming  TCS LLC, Hospitalists Management Group LLC, Humedica, Humedica Inc., Hygeia Corporation, Hygeia Corporation Ontario, IEC Holdings LLC, IHD Holdings LLC, INOV8 Surgical at Memorial City LLC, INSPIRIS of Texas Physician Group, Illinois Independent Care Network LLC, Imagen Technologies Inc., Impel Consulting Experts L.L.C., Impel Management Services L.L.C., InTouch Pharmacy LLC, Indiana Care Organization LLC, Indiana Endoscopy Centers LLC, Inland Surgery Center L.P., Inmobiliaria Apoquindo 3001 S.A., Inmobiliaria Apoquindo 3600 Ltda., Inmobiliaria Apoquindo S.A., Inmobiliaria Clinica Santa Maria S.A., Inmobiliaria Vinamed Ltda., Inmobiliaria e Inversiones Alameda S.A., Inpatient Services P.C., Inpatient Specialists of California P.C., Inspiris, Inspiris Inc., Instituto Radium de Cammpinas Ltda, Inter-Hospital Physicians Association Inc., International Healthcare Services Inc., Inversiones Clinicas Santa Maria SpA, Ironman Holdco Inc., Ironman Intermediate Holdco LLC, Isapre Banmedica S.A., JPM Healthcare LLC, Johnston Surgicare L.P., Joliet Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Jordan Ridge Family Medicine LLC, Joyable Inc., Kansal Inc. A Professional Corporation, Knox Diagnostic Imaging Center LLC, Kokomo Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, LDI Holding Company LLC, LDI Management Services LLC, LGH-A/Golf ASTC L.L.C., LHC Group, La Esperanza del Peru S.A., Laboratorio ROE S.A., Laboratorios Medicos Amed Quilpue S.A., Landmark Group Holdings LLC, Landmark Health Holdings LLC, Landmark Health LLC, Landmark Health NY IPA LLC, Landmark Health NY PO LLC, Landmark Health Technologies Private Limited, Landmark Health of California LLC, Landmark Health of Massachusetts LLC, Landmark Health of North Carolina LLC, Landmark Health of Oregon LLC, Landmark Health of Pennsylvania LLC, Landmark Health of Washington LLC, Landmark India LLC, Landmark Intermediate Holdings LLC, Landmark MSO LLC, Landmark Medical of Idaho PC, Landmark Medical of Massachusetts PLLC, Landmark Medical of Tennessee PC, Landmark Primary Care LLC, Laser Acquisition Holdings III LLC, Leehar Distributors LLC, Lemhi Ventures Fund I LP, Lemhi Ventures Fund II LP, Level2 Medical Services P.C. Alaska, Lexington Surgery Center Ltd., Liberty Anesthesia Services LLC, LifePrint Health Inc., LifeWell. Ltd. Co., Lifeprint Accountable Care Organization LLC, Limestone Medical Center LLC, Litomedica S.A., Logan Surgical Suites LLC, Lotten-Eyes Oftalmologia Clinica e Cirurgica Ltda., Louisville S.C. Ltd., Louisville-SC Properties Inc., Loyola Ambulatory Surgery Center at Oakbrook Inc., Loyola Ambulatory Surgery Center at Oakbrook L.P., Lusiadas - Parcerias Cascais S.A., Lusiadas A.C.E., Lusiadas Algarve S.A., Lusiadas S.A., Lusiadas SGPS S.A., Lutheran Campus ASC LLC, MAMSI Life and Health Insurance Company, MCNA Health Care Holdings LLC, MCNA Insurance Company, MCNA Systems Corp., MD Ops Inc., MD-Individual Practice Association Inc., ME AHS UC LLC, MGH/SCA LLC, MHC Real Estate Holdings LLC, MIAMI SURGERY CENTER LLC, MSLA Management LLC, Main Line Spine Surgery Center LLC, Managed Care of North America Inc., Managed Physical Network Inc., Mansfield Endoscopy Center LLC, March Holdings Inc., March Vision Care IPA Inc., March Vision Care Inc., March Vision Care of Texas Inc., Marin Health Ventures LLC, Marin Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Marin Surgery Holdings Inc., Marlin Holding Company LLC, Maryland Ambulatory Centers LLC, Maryland-SCA Centers LLC, Massachusetts Assurance Company Ltd. PIC, Massachusetts Avenue Surgery Center LLC, McKenzie Surgery Center L.P., MedExpress Primary Care West Virginia Inc., MedExpress Urgent Care Alabama LLC, MedExpress Urgent Care Inc. - Ohio, MedExpress Urgent Care Maine Inc., MedExpress Urgent Care New Hampshire Inc., MedExpress Urgent Care of Boynton Beach LLC, MedSynergies, MedSynergies LLC, Medical Clinic of North Texas PLLC, Medical Hilfe S.A., Medical Support Los Angeles Inc., Medical Surgical Centers of America Inc., Medical Transportation Services LLC, Melbourne Surgery Center LLC, Memorial City Holdings LLC, Memorial City Partners LLC, Memorial Houston Surgery Center LLC, MemorialCare Surgical Center at Orange Coast LLC, MemorialCare Surgical Center at Saddleback LLC, Mesquite Liberty LLC, Metro I Stone Management Ltd., Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, Midlands Orthopaedics Surgery Center LLC, Midwest Center for Day Surgery LLC, Mile High SurgiCenter LLC, Mississippi Medical Plaza L.C., Mobile Medical Services of New Jersey PC, Mobile-SC LTD., Modality Accountable Care Organisation Limited, Moen M.D. P.C., Mohawk Surgery Center LLC, Monarch Management Services Inc., Montgomery Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Monument Health LLC, Moore Orthopaedic Clinic Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Morris County Surgical Center LLC, Mt. Pleasant Surgery Center L.P., Multiangio Ltda., Murrells Inlet ASC LLC, Muskogee Surgical Investors LLC, Mustang Razorback Holdings Inc., My Wellness Solutions LLC, NAMM Holdings Inc., NPN IPA Washington PLLC, NSC Channel Islands LLC, NSC Greensboro LLC, NSC Greensboro West LLC, NSC Lancaster LLC, NSC Seattle Inc., NSC Upland LLC, Naperville Surgical Centre LLC, National Foundation Life Insurance Company, National Pacific Dental Inc., National Surgery Centers LLC, Navigator Health Inc., Nebraska Spine Hospital LLC, Neighborhood Health Partnership Inc., Netwerkes LLC, Nevada Pacific Dental, New Orleans Regional Physician Hospital Organization L.L.C., New West Physicians Inc., New York Proton Management LLC, Newton Holdings LLC, Niagara Hospitalist P.C., Nomad Buyer Inc., North American Medical Management California Inc., North Coast Surgery Center Ltd. a California Limited Partnership, North Dallas Surgical Center LLC, North Kitsap Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, North Puget Sound Oncology Equipment Leasing Company LLC, Northern Nevada Health Network Inc., Northern Rockies Surgery Center L.P., Northern Rockies Surgicenter Inc., Northern Utah Surgery Center LLC, Northwest Hills JV Partners LLC, Northwest Medical Group Alliance LLC, Northwest Spine and Laser Surgery Center LLC, Northwest Surgicare LLC, Northwest Surgicare Ltd. an Illinois Limited Partnership, OC Cardiology Practice Partners LLC, OCC MSO LLC, OSB  Tecnologia e Servicos de Suporte Lda., Omesa SpA, OmniClaim LLC, Oncocare S.A.C., One World Surgery, Ophthalmology Surgery Center of Dallas LLC, Optimum Choice Inc., Optum Bank Inc., Optum Biometrics Inc., Optum Care Inc., Optum Care Networks Inc., Optum Care Services Company, Optum Care of New York Management Inc., Optum Clinics Holdings Inc., Optum Clinics Intermediate Holdings Inc., Optum Compounding Services LLC, Optum Digital Health Holdings LLC, Optum Direct To Consumer Inc., Optum Financial Inc., Optum Frontier Therapies Holdings LLC, Optum Frontier Therapies II LLC, Optum Frontier Therapies LLC, Optum Genomics Inc., Optum Global Solutions Colombia S.A.S., Optum Global Solutions India Private Limited, Optum Global Solutions International B.V., Optum Global Solutions Philippines Inc., Optum Government Solutions Inc., Optum Growth Partners Holdings Inc., Optum Growth Partners LLC, Optum Health & Technology Holdings US Inc., Optum Health & Technology Hong Kong Limited, Optum Health & Technology India Private Limited, Optum Health & Technology Servicos do Brasil Ltda., Optum Health & Technology Singapore Pte. Ltd., Optum Health & Technology US LLC, Optum Health Plan of California, Optum Health Services Canada Ltd., Optum Health Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Optum Health Solutions UK Limited, Optum Health and Technology FZ-LLC, Optum Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Optum Hospice Pharmacy Services LLC, Optum Inc., Optum Infusion Services 100 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 101 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 103 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 200 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 201 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 202 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 203 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 204 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 205 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 206 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 207 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 208 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 209 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 301 LP, Optum Infusion Services 302 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 305 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 308 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 401 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 402 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 403 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 404 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 500 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 501 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 550 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 551 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 553 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 554 Inc., Optum Insurance of Ohio Inc., Optum Labs Inc., Optum Labs LLC, Optum Life Sciences Canada Inc., Optum Management Consulting Shanghai Co. Ltd., Optum Networks of New Jersey Inc., Optum Operations Ireland Unlimited Company, Optum Oregon MSO LLC, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Pennsylvania Inc., Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Texas Inc., Optum Perks LLC, Optum Pharma Services Holdings Inc., Optum Pharmacy 601 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 700 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 701 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 702 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 704 Inc., Optum Pharmacy 705 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 706 Inc., Optum Pharmacy 707 Inc., Optum Pharmacy 800 Inc., Optum Pharmacy 803 Inc., Optum Pharmacy 805 Inc., Optum Pharmacy 806 Inc., Optum Public Sector Solutions Inc., Optum Rocket LLC, Optum SCA CS JV Holdings LLC, Optum Senior Services LLC, Optum Services Inc., Optum Services Ireland Limited, Optum Services Puerto Rico LLC, Optum Solutions UK Holdings Limited, Optum Technology LLC, Optum UK Solutions Group Limited, Optum Venture Global Partners II LP, Optum Venture Global Partners LP, Optum Venture Partners II LP, Optum Venture Partners III LP, Optum Venture Partners LP, Optum Washington Network LLC, Optum Women's and Children's Health LLC, Optum of New York Inc., Optum360 LLC, Optum360 Services Inc., Optum360 Solutions LLC, OptumCare ACO New Mexico LLC, OptumCare ACO West LLC, OptumCare Clinical Trials LLC, OptumCare Colorado ASC LLC, OptumCare Colorado LLC, OptumCare Colorado Springs LLC, OptumCare Endoscopy Center New Mexico LLC, OptumCare Florida CI LLC, OptumCare Florida LLC, OptumCare Holdings Colorado LLC, OptumCare Holdings LLC, OptumCare Management LLC, OptumCare New Mexico LLC, OptumCare New York IPA Inc., OptumCare Portland LLC, OptumCare South Florida LLC, OptumCare Specialty Practices LLC, OptumHealth Care Solutions LLC, OptumHealth Holdings LLC, OptumHealth International B.V., OptumInsight Holdings LLC, OptumInsight Inc., OptumInsight India Private Limited, OptumInsight Life Sciences Inc., OptumRx Administrative Services LLC, OptumRx Discount Card Services LLC, OptumRx Group Holdings Inc., OptumRx Health Solutions LLC, OptumRx Holdings I LLC, OptumRx Holdings LLC, OptumRx Home Delivery of Ohio LLC, OptumRx IPA III Inc., OptumRx Inc., OptumRx NY IPA Inc., OptumRx PBM of Illinois Inc., OptumRx PBM of Maryland LLC, OptumRx PBM of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumRx PBM of Wisconsin LLC, OptumRx PD of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumRx Pharmacy Inc., OptumRx Pharmacy of Nevada Inc., OptumRx of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumServe Technology Services Inc., Oregon Healthcare Resources LLC, Oregon Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Orlando Center for Outpatient Surgery L.P., OrthoNet Holdings Inc., OrthoNet LLC, OrthoNet New York IPA Inc., OrthoNet West Inc., OrthoNet of the South Inc., OrthoWest MSO LLC, Orthology Inc., Orthopedic Center of Palm Beach County LLC, Orthopedic Surgery Center of Palm Beach County LLC, Orthopro Management LLC, Ovations Inc., Owensboro Ambulatory Surgical Facility Ltd., Oxford Benefit Management Inc., Oxford Health Insurance Inc., Oxford Health Plans CT Inc., Oxford Health Plans LLC, Oxford Health Plans NJ Inc., Oxford Health Plans NY Inc., P2P Link LLC, PCCCV Inc., PHC Subsidiary Holdings LLC, PHYSICIANS DAY SURGERY CENTER LLC, PMI Acquisition LLC, PMSI Holdings LLC, PMSI Settlement Solutions LLC, POMCO Inc., POMCO Network Inc., PPH Holdings LLC, PPH Management Company L.L.C., PPH-Columbia Inc., PPH-Gardendale Inc., PS Center LLC, PacifiCare Health Systems, PacifiCare Life Assurance Company, PacifiCare Life and Health Insurance Company, PacifiCare of Arizona Inc., PacifiCare of Colorado Inc., Pacific Cardiovascular Associates Medical Group Inc., Pacific Casualty Company Inc., Pacifico S.A. Entidad Prestadora de Salud, Panama City Surgery Center LLC, Park Hill Surgery Center LLC, Parkway Surgery Center LLC, Patient Care Associates L.L.C., PatientsLikeMe, Patrimonio Autonomo Nueva Clinica, Payment Resolution Services LLC, Peninsula Eye Surgery Center LLC, Penzo Enterprises LLC, Peoples Health, Peoples Health Inc., Perham Physical Therapy LTD, Perimeter Center for Outpatient Surgery L.P., Pharmaceutical Technologies LLC, Physician Alliance of the Rockies LLC, Physicians Health Choice of Texas LLC, Physicians Health Plan of Maryland Inc., Physicians' Surgery Center of Downey LLC, Pinnacle III LLC, Plano de Saude Ana Costa Ltda., Plus One Health Management Puerto Rico Inc., Plus One Holdings Inc., Pocono Ambulatory Surgery Center Limited, Polar II Fundo de Investimento em Participacoes Multiestrategia, Polo Holdco LLC, Pomerado Outpatient Surgical Center Inc., Pomerado Outpatient Surgical Center L.P., Post-Acute Care Center for Research LLC, Practice Partners in Healthcare LLC, Preferred Care Network Inc., Preferred Care Network of Florida Inc., Preferred Care Partners Holding Corp., Preferred Care Partners Inc., Preferred Care Partners Medical Group Inc., PreferredOne, PreferredOne Administrative Services Inc., PreferredOne Insurance Company, Premier Choice ACO Inc., Premier Surgery Center of Louisville L.P., Premiere Medical Resources LLC, Presidio Surgery Center LLC, Prime Health Inc., PrimeCare Medical Network Inc., PrimeCare of Citrus Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Corona Inc., PrimeCare of Hemet Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Inland Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Moreno Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Redlands Inc., PrimeCare of Riverside Inc., PrimeCare of San Bernardino Inc., PrimeCare of Sun City Inc., PrimeCare of Temecula Inc., PrimeDoc St. Francis P.C., PrimeDoc of Richmond P.C., ProHEALTH Care Associates L.L.P., ProHEALTH Care Associates of New Jersey LLP, ProHEALTH Medical Management LLC, ProHealth Physicians ACO LLC, ProHealth Physicians Inc., ProHealth Proton Center Management LLC, ProHealth/CareMount Dental Management LLC, Procura Management Inc., Professional Coverage Services PLLC, Progressive Enterprises Holdings Inc., Progressive Medical LLC, Promotora Country S.A., Pronounced Health Solutions Inc., Prosemedic S.A.C., Prospero Benefits Management LLC, Prospero Care Management LLC, Prospero Management Services LLC, Providence & SCA Development LLC, Providence & SCA Off-Campus Holdings LLC, Providence & SCA On-Campus Holdings LLC, Providence & SCA Outreach Markets Holdings LLC, Pulse Platform LLC, QoL Acquisition Holdings Corp., R Cubed Inc., RABessler M.D. P.C., ROC Surgery LLC, ROCS Holdings LLC, RX Ricardo Campos Ltda., Rally Health Inc., ReMedics LLC, Real Appeal Inc., Redding Surgery Center LLC, Redlands Ambulatory Surgery Center, Redlands-SCA Surgery Centers Inc., Reliant MSO LLC, Reliant Medical Group Inc., Reliant Medical Group The Endoscopy Center LLC, Research Surgical Center LLC, Resonancia Magnetica de Colombia Ltda., Resonancia Magnetica del Country S.A., RightCare Solutions Inc., River Valley ASC LLC, Riverside Corporate Wellness LLC, Riverside Electronic Healthcare Resources Inc., Riverside Medical Management LLC, Riverside Surgical Center of Meadowlands LLC, Riverside Surgical Center of Newark LLC, Robert A. Bessler MD PLLC, Rockville Eye Surgery Center LLC, Rocky Mountain Health Maintenance Organization Incorporated, Rush Oak Brook Surgery Center LLC, SC Affiliates LLC, SCA AHN JV Holdings LLC, SCA Alaska Surgery Center inc., SCA Athens LLC, SCA Austin Holdings LLC, SCA Austin Medical Center Holdings LLC, SCA Aventura Holdings LLC, SCA BOSC Holdings LLC, SCA Bloomfield Holdings LLC, SCA Cedar Park Holdings LLC, SCA Clifton LLC, SCA Colorado Springs Holdings LLC, SCA Community Service Foundation, SCA Cottonwood Holdings LLC, SCA Danbury Surgical Center LLC, SCA Denver Holdings LLC, SCA Development LLC, SCA Duluth Holdings LLC, SCA Duncanville Holdings LLC, SCA Duncanville MSO LLC, SCA ESSC Holdings LLC, SCA Englewood Holdings LLC, SCA Global One Holdings LLC, SCA Greenway Holdings LLC, SCA Grove Creek Holdings LLC, SCA Guilford Holdings LLC, SCA Hays Holdings LLC, SCA Health Value Enterprise LLC, SCA Heartland Holdings LLC, SCA High Point Holdings LLC, SCA HoldCo Inc., SCA Holding Company Inc., SCA Holdings Inc., SCA IEC Holdings LLC, SCA Indiana Holdings LLC, SCA Lutheran Holdings LLC, SCA Maple Grove Holdings LLC, SCA Mohawk Holdings LLC, SCA Murrells Inlet LLC, SCA Northern Utah Holdings LLC, SCA Northwest Holdings LLC, SCA Outside New Jersey LLC, SCA Pacific Holdings Inc., SCA Pacific Surgery Holdings LLC, SCA Palisades Holdings LLC, SCA Pennsylvania Holdings LLC, SCA Pinnacle Holdings LLC, SCA Premier Surgery Center of Louisville LLC, SCA Providence Holdings LLC, SCA ROCS Holdings LLC, SCA Rockledge JV LLC, SCA Rush Oak Brook Holdings LLC, SCA SSSC Holdings LLC, SCA Sage Medical LLC, SCA Sage Medical MSO LLC, SCA San Diego Holdings LLC, SCA Skyway Holdings LLC, SCA South Ogden Holdings LLC, SCA Southwestern PA LLC, SCA Specialists of Florida LLC, SCA Specialty Holdings of Connecticut LLC, SCA Stonegate Holdings LLC, SCA Surgery Holdings LLC, SCA Surgicare of Laguna Hills LLC, SCA Teammate Support Network, SCA West Health Holdings LLC, SCA Westgreen Holdings LLC, SCA Woodbury Holdings LLC, SCA eCode Solutions Private Limited, SCA of Clarksville Inc., SCA-Albuquerque Surgery Properties Inc., SCA-Alliance LLC, SCA-Anne Arundel LLC, SCA-Applecare Partners LLC, SCA-Bethesda LLC, SCA-Blue Ridge LLC, SCA-Bonita Springs LLC, SCA-Brandon LLC, SCA-Castle Rock LLC, SCA-Central Florida LLC, SCA-Charleston LLC, SCA-Chatham LLC, SCA-Chevy Chase LLC, SCA-Citrus Inc., SCA-Colonial Partners LLC, SCA-Colorado Springs LLC, SCA-Connecticut Partners LLC, SCA-DRY CREEK LLC, SCA-Davenport LLC, SCA-Denver LLC, SCA-Denver Physicians Holdings LLC, SCA-Derry LLC, SCA-Doral LLC, SCA-Downey LLC, SCA-Dublin LLC, SCA-Encinitas Inc., SCA-Eugene Inc., SCA-First Coast LLC, SCA-Florence LLC, SCA-Fort Collins Inc., SCA-Fort Walton Inc., SCA-Franklin LLC, SCA-Frederick LLC, SCA-Freeway Holdings LLC, SCA-Ft. Myers LLC, SCA-GRANTS PASS LLC, SCA-Gainesville LLC, SCA-Gladiolus LLC, SCA-Glenwood Holdings LLC, SCA-Grove Place LLC, SCA-Hagerstown LLC, SCA-Hamden LLC, SCA-Hilton Head LLC, SCA-Honolulu LLC, SCA-Houston Executive LLC, SCA-IT Holdings LLC, SCA-Illinois LLC, SCA-JPM Holdings LLC, SCA-Kissing Camels Holdings LLC, SCA-MC VBP Inc., SCA-Main Street LLC, SCA-Marina del Rey LLC, SCA-Mecklenburg Development Corp., SCA-Memorial City LLC, SCA-Memorial LLC, SCA-Merritt LLC, SCA-Midlands LLC, SCA-Midway Management LLC, SCA-Mobile LLC, SCA-Mokena LLC, SCA-Morris Avenue LLC, SCA-Morris County LLC, SCA-Mt. Pleasant LLC, SCA-Naperville LLC, SCA-Naples LLC, SCA-New Jersey LLC, SCA-Newport Beach LLC, SCA-Northeast Georgia Health LLC, SCA-PORTLAND LLC, SCA-Palm Beach LLC, SCA-Palm Beach MSO Holdings LLC, SCA-Panama City Holdings LLC, SCA-Paoli LLC, SCA-Phoenix LLC, SCA-Pocono LLC, SCA-Practice Partners Holdings LLC, SCA-River Valley LLC, SCA-Riverside LLC, SCA-Riverside Partners LLC, SCA-Rockville LLC, SCA-Sacred Heart Holdings LLC, SCA-San Diego Inc., SCA-San Luis Obispo LLC, SCA-Sand Lake LLC, SCA-Santa Rosa Inc., SCA-Somerset LLC, SCA-South Jersey LLC, SCA-Sparta LLC, SCA-Spartanburg Holdings LLC, SCA-St. Louis Holdings LLC, SCA-St. Louis LLC, SCA-St. Lucie LLC, SCA-SurgiCare LLC, SCA-Swiftpath LLC, SCA-VERTA LLC, SCA-VLR Holdings Company LLC, SCA-Wake Forest LLC, SCA-Western Connecticut LLC, SCA-Westover Hills LLC, SCA-Winchester LLC, SCA-Winter Park Inc., SCA-Woodlands Holdings LLC, SCAI Holdings LLC, SCLHS-SCA Holdings LLC, SCP Specialty Infusion LLC, SHC Atlanta LLC, SHC Austin Inc., SHC Hawthorn Inc., SHC Melbourne Inc., SJ East Campus ASC LLC, SRPS LLC, SSSC Holdings LLC, SVHS-SCA Florida JV LLC, Sacred Heart ASC LLC, Saden S.A., Sage Medical Prof. LLC, Salem JV Holdings LLC, Salem Surgery Center LLC, Salveo Specialty Pharmacy Inc., San Diego Endoscopy Center, San Diego Sports and Minimally Invasive Surgery Center LLC, San Francisco Endoscopy Center LLC, San Luis Obispo Surgery Center a California Limited Partnership, Sand Lake SurgiCenter LLC, Santa Barbara Endoscopy Center LLC, Santa Cruz Endoscopy Center LLC, Santa Helena Assistencia Medica S.A., Santa Rosa Surgery Center L.P., Santos Administracao e Participacoes S.A., Sanvello Health Holdings LLC, Sanvello Health Inc., Sanvello Health Limited, Scanner Centromed S.A., Seashore Surgical Institute L.L.C., Seisa Servicos Integrados de Saude Ltda., Senate Street Surgery Center LLC, Senior Benefits L.L.C., Serquinox Holdings LLC, Servicios Integrados de Salud Ltda., Servicios Medicos Amed Quilpue S.A., Servicios Medicos Bio Bio Ltda., Servicios Medicos Ciudad del Mar Ltda., Servicios Medicos Santa Maria Ltda., Servicios Medicos Vespucio Ltda., Servicios de Entrenamiento en Competencias Clinicas Ltda., Serviclinica Inmobiliaria S.A., Serviclinica S.A. Ex Los Leones La Calera, Servisalud Inmobiliaria S.A., Servisalud S.A. Ex Los Carrera Quilpue, Shark Holdings P.C., Sierra Dental Plan Inc., Sierra Health Services Inc, Sierra Health Services Inc., Sierra Health and Life Insurance Company Inc., Sierra Health-Care Options Inc., Sierra Home Medical Products Inc., Sierra Nevada Administrators Inc., Sistema de Administracion Hospitalaria S.A.C., Small Business Insurance Advisors Inc., Sobam  Centro Medico Hospitalar S.A., Sociedad de Inversiones Santa Maria SpA, Solstice Administration Services Inc., Solstice Administrators Inc., Solstice Administrators of Alabama Inc., Solstice Administrators of Arizona Inc., Solstice Administrators of Missouri Inc., Solstice Administrators of North Carolina Inc., Solstice Administrators of Texas Inc., Solstice Benefit Services Inc., Solstice Benefits Inc., Solstice Health Insurance Company, Solstice Healthplans Inc., Solstice Healthplans of Arizona Inc., Solstice Healthplans of Colorado Inc., Solstice Healthplans of New Jersey Inc., Solstice Healthplans of Ohio Inc., Solstice Healthplans of Tennessee Inc., Solstice Healthplans of Texas Inc., Solstice of Illinois Inc., Solstice of Minnesota Inc., Solstice of New York Inc., Solutran LLC, Somerset Outpatient Surgery L.L.C., Sound Inpatient Physicians Inc., Sound Inpatient Physicians Medical Group Inc., Sound Inpatient Physicians of Ohio LLC, Sound Inpatient Physicians of Texas I Inc., Sound Inpatient Physicians  Michigan PLLC, Sound Intensivists of Nevada RBessler M.D. PLLC, Sound Kenwood Hospitalists of Cincinnati Inc., Sound Kenwood Hospitalists of Cincinnati LLC, Sound Physicians Advisory Services Inc., Sound Physicians Alaska Hospitalist Group LLC, Sound Physicians Anesthesiology of Texas PLLC, Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Arizona Inc., Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Georgia P.C., Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Illinois LLC, Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Kansas LLC, Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Kentucky PLLC, Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Louisiana Inc., Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Michigan PLLC, Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Nevada Bessler PLLC, Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of South Carolina LLC, Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Southern California P.C., Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Texas PLLC, Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Washington PLLC, Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of West Virginia PLLC, Sound Physicians Holdings LLC, Sound Physicians Intensivists of Arizona Inc., Sound Physicians Intensivists of Georgia PC, Sound Physicians Intensivists of South Carolina LLC, Sound Physicians Intensivists of Virginia LLC, Sound Physicians Intensivists of Washington PLLC, Sound Physicians Palliative Care of Maryland P.C., Sound Physicians Telemedicine Inc., Sound Physicians of Florida IV LLC, Sound Physicians of Georgia III P.C., Sound Physicians of Hawaii Inc., Sound Physicians of Idaho PLLC, Sound Physicians of Illinois LLC, Sound Physicians of Indiana LLC, Sound Physicians of Iowa PLLC, Sound Physicians of Kankakee Illinois LLC, Sound Physicians of Massachusetts II P.C., Sound Physicians of Massachusetts Inc., Sound Physicians of New Jersey LLC, Sound Physicians of New York PLLC, Sound Physicians of North Carolina PLLC, Sound Physicians of South Carolina LLC, Sound Physicians of Wyoming LLC, South Arlington Surgical Providers LLC, South County Surgical Center LLC, South Sound Inpatient Physicians PLLC, Southern California Medical Practice Concepts LLC, Southland Hospitalists P.C., Southwest Medical Associates Inc., Southwest Michigan Health Network Inc., Southwest Surgery Center LLC, Southwest Surgical Center LLC, Space Coast Surgical Center Ltd., Spartanburg Surgery Center LLC, Specialists in Urology Surgery Center LLC, Specialized Pharmaceuticals Inc., Specialty Benefits LLC, Specialty Billing Solutions LLC, Specialty Surgical Center LLC, Spectera Inc., Spectera of New York IPA Inc., Sports and Spinal Physical Therapy Inc., St. Cloud Outpatient Surgery Ltd. a Minnesota Limited Partnership, St. Cloud Surgical Center LLC, St. Louis Cardiovascular Institute LLC, St. Louis Specialty Surgical Center LLC, Stonegate JV Partners LLC, Stonegate Surgery Center L.P., Summer Street ASC LLC, SunSurgery LLC, Surgery Center Holding LLC, Surgery Center at Cherry Creek LLC, Surgery Center at Cottonwood LLC, Surgery Center at Grove Creek LLC, Surgery Center at Kissing Camels LLC, Surgery Center at South Ogden LLC, Surgery Center at St. Vincent LLC, Surgery Center of Boca Raton Inc., Surgery Center of Colorado Springs LLC, Surgery Center of Des Moines LLC, Surgery Center of Easton LLC, Surgery Center of Ellicott City Inc., Surgery Center of Fairfield County LLC, Surgery Center of Fort Collins LLC, Surgery Center of Lexington LLC, Surgery Center of Louisville LLC, Surgery Center of Maui LLC, Surgery Center of Mt. Scott LLC, Surgery Center of Muskogee LLC, Surgery Center of Rockville L.L.C., Surgery Center of Southern Pines LLC, Surgery Center of The Woodlands LLC, Surgery Centers of Des Moines Ltd. an Iowa Limited Partnership, Surgery Centers-West Holdings LLC, Surgical Care Affiliates, Surgical Care Affiliates LLC, Surgical Care Affiliates Political Action Committee, Surgical Care Partners of Melbourne LLC, Surgical Caregivers of Fort Worth LLC, Surgical Center of Greensboro LLC, Surgical Center of San Diego LLC, Surgical Center of South Jersey Limited Partnership, Surgical Center of Tuscaloosa Holdings LLC, Surgical Eye Experts LLC, Surgical Health LLC, Surgical Health of Orlando LLC, Surgical Hospital Holdings of Oklahoma LLC, Surgical Management Solutions LLC, Surgicare LLC, Surgicare of Central Jersey LLC, Surgicare of Jackson LLC, Surgicare of Jackson Ltd. a Mississippi Limited Partnership, Surgicare of Joliet Inc., Surgicare of La Veta Inc., Surgicare of La Veta Ltd. a California Limited Partnership, Surgicare of Minneapolis LLC, Surgicare of Minneapolis Ltd. a Minnesota Limited Partnership, Surgicare of Mobile LLC, Surgicare of Mobile Ltd., Surgicare of Oceanside Inc., Surgicare of Owensboro LLC, Surgicare of Salem LLC, Surgicenters of Southern California Inc., Symphonix Health Holdings LLC, T.M. 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One day, a robot will probably write this column. After all, the formula isnt very hard to follow. Heres a primer. Step 1: personal anecdote. Step 2: thesis. Step 3: a supporting example or two. Step 4: an insight  sometimes profound, often times pulled straight out of the writers you-know-what.

In fact, one day, not so far away (here comes Step 2), robots will do a lot of jobs formerly done by humans. And by a lot, I mean millions. According to a report released earlier this year by the World Economic Forum, by the year 2020, more than five million jobs will be lost to technology or as a direct result of technology. And its easy enough to determine which of those occupations will face extinction sooner rather than later.

This month, Amazon, the massive online retailer and arguably the worlds biggest bookstore, made headlines with the launch of Amazon Go, a pilot project that could, and very well might, lead to the elimination of grocery store checkout lines, and with them, the time-honoured job of grocery store cashier.

This is because Amazon Go is a physical grocery store without a checkout counter.

Heres how it works: Shoppers download an Uber-like app attached to their credit card, they walk into a Go store, swipe their smartphone over a screen, pick up their items as they would in any other conventional supermarket, and simply walk out, sans lineup and terse exchange with a cashier.

The technology is supposedly advanced enough to determine the difference between browsing (when a customer picks something up and puts it back on the shelf) and taking (when he puts it into his cart and walks away with it). There is already a Go store in operation in Seattle, but its only available to Amazon employees. However, the company has plans to roll out stores for the general public in other cities in the near future.

As a consumer, the idea is admittedly appealing. Sometimes the sheer thought of a grocery store checkout line on a Sunday afternoon is enough to keep me at home. But the implications for the people who work in those lines might be dire, as are, quite possibly, the implications for items sold near the checkout line itself. What will become of tabloids, chocolate bars and gum? These products are obviously available and popular elsewhere, but they are also purchased in great quantity by people who would never reach for them were they not forced to lay eyes on them while waiting in line. I have never in my life written US Weekly on a grocery shopping list, but if Im stuck in a shopping cart jam by the cash, I am powerless before any rag that promises to reveal an unsavoury truth about the ever-expanding Duggar clan. (Some people go crazy for the Kardashians or the Housewives of. . . ; my weakness is the Duggars. I know, Im sick).

Needless to say, the extinction of traditionally human held jobs and the rise of a robot workforce is more important and far reaching than gum and tabloids. If the only consequence of technological upheaval is that fewer people will be tempted to read about the Duggars and buy Halls, I think we can learn to live with that. But this paradigm shift isnt relegated to the grocery store industry and it isnt going away. Uber, Tesla and Google are working on driverless cars: the possible death knell of delivery jobs. And who will need human reporters in a post-truth world, where nobody pays for news anyway. Computer algorithms are more than capable of spinning the kind of whacko yarns popular today, about Hillary Clinton operating a pedophile ring in the basement of her local pizzeria or Stephen Harper building a Death Star. (That last one, I hear, might actually be true).

Whats scariest about this future, however, beyond the possible skyrocketing unemployment rate, is how ill prepared we are to deal with it in the present. According the World Economic Forums Future of Jobs report referenced above, our only hope of succeeding amid technological upheaval is accepting that such upheaval is taking place and investing in the kind of education that renders people employable in a modern economy.

The report reads: Without urgent and targeted action today to manage the near-term transition and build a workforce with future-proof skills, governments will have to cope with ever-growing unemployment and inequality.

Unfortunately, so will millions of Americans who voted for Donald J. Trump in hopes that the candidate would make good on his promise to bring back to the United States, manufacturing and sales jobs outsourced to countries overseas. This promise was always a hollow one, not only because Trump and politicians of the same opportunistic bent rarely make good on their oaths, but because the truth is that a great majority of those manufacturing and sales jobs arent long for this world  whether the people working them are in China, Mexico or Michigan.

Everyone, no matter where they live and what they do, must reckon with the likelihood that they will one day be deemed replaceable.

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Pick your battles. You hear it all the time, if you are a person at all inclined to try to change things in your world or the world around you  at work, during family and friendship conflicts, in politics. Pick your battles. I mean, think about it, is this the hill you want to die on? Is this the place you want to set up the barricades  this, this small thing were talking about?

Its advice Ive given, and taken, at times. Weighing the decision about whether whatever small injustice or offence youre faced with is worth raising a fuss about, or whether this is one of those times to go along to get along (keeping your eyes on the prize, not sweating the small stuff, and so on through the list of self-help cliches).

But its been on my mind, this idea of picking your battles, since the announcement Dec. 8 that Viola Desmond would appear on the $10 bill. Ive been wondering how much she must have heard some variation of it during the events that brought her into the public eye, the ones that have now made her worthy of commemoration.

When it was announced that Desmond would be the first non-Royal woman to have her face on the front of a bill  and would be the first black Canadian on the money, too  one of the great things about the announcement was that many of us got to learn about the story of her life for the first time and marvel at her courage and determination.

As the Stars Tim Harper wrote this spring in supporting her for the honour, she was born into a segregated Nova Scotia during the First World War and had to train as a beautician in Montreal and the United States because no local beauty school would take a black student. Still, she returned home and ran a beauty school, building a successful business training black women from across Eastern Canada and founding her own line of hair and makeup products. Then in 1946 she ran into car trouble during a business trip to New Glasgow, N.S., and went to a movie theatre to kill time.

The Roseland was a segregated theatre. Desmond may or may not have known that. Historians arent sure, Harper wrote. She merely wanted to sit downstairs because she had vision problems and would see the movie better from that vantage point. When the manager and the ticket agent told her blacks had to sit in the balcony, Desmond refused to move from her downstairs seat.

Police arrived and physically dragged her from the theatre, injuring her in the process. She was thrown in jail overnight, given the choice of paying a $20 fine or spending 30 days in jail. Ultimately, she was convicted of defrauding the province of one penny of its amusement tax, the difference in price between sitting downstairs and upstairs.

She fought the case all the way to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, where her appeal was denied even as the judge wondered aloud if the theatre manager was actually in a surreptitious endeavour to enforce a Jim Crow rule by misuse of a public state. She died in 1965 at age 50, her courage and unjust persecution publicly unacknowledged. Yet her case is cited as having galvanized public opinion in outrage against racial segregation in Nova Scotia, helping lead eventually to legislative changes. She was pardoned posthumously in 2010, and a public holiday in Nova Scotia was named in her honour. And now, she will appear on currency notes across Canada.

On hearing the details of her life, I thought about this constant advice, pick your battles. I wondered how often she must have heard it during her legal struggle  and indeed, Historica Canada records that her husband had counselled her to give up the fight and Take it to the Lord with a prayer. Here was a black woman whod lived her life in a racist society, so segregated that she needed to travel abroad to be educated and took that as an opportunity to create the local school shed been unable to find.

After a life of dignified success in the face of contempt from her society, who would have advised her to pick this particular battle, over a movie ticket, a downstairs seat instead of one in the balcony? One can only guess, but like Rosa Parks a decade later in the United States, it seems likely she was tired. Tired of giving in, as Parks put it, to a society that constantly asked her to retreat and concede and accept less.

Desmonds sister told the Globe and Mail recently that Viola had said, Im not the person to go around and be an activist for something, that she only wanted to run her business and teach black women to run theirs in the same way. She didnt want to pick this battle, or any battle, in other words.

But in the course of trying to live her life in dignity, the world constantly picked battles for her, forcing on her the constant necessity to surrender or retreat. Or, in this case, at last, to resist.

It is for that act of resistance, a simple, defiant insistence on fairness and dignity in the face of pervasive, inescapable racism that we celebrate her now.

But its also worth remembering the whole of her story  that she was made to suffer for her courage and died not honoured as a hero who stood up to injustice, but branded as a convicted criminal.

Wed prefer to pick our battles, but sometimes they follow us everywhere, and our only choice is when to say enoughs enough. Sometimes what will later be recognized as courage is branded petulance and fraudulence. Sometimes vindication and victory dont come in time for us to feel their relief.

These are lessons for us. Let us be reminded of them whenever we see Viola Desmonds portrait on the money, and let us be grateful to have learned them because she picked this battle, after all.

Edward Keenan writes on city issues ekeenan@thestar.ca . Follow: @thekeenanwire

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PELHAM, N.C.  In todays racially charged environment, theres a label that even the KKK disavows: white supremacy.

Standing on a muddy dirt road in the dead of night near the North Carolina-Virginia border, masked Ku Klux Klan members claimed Donald Trumps election as president proves whites are taking back America from blacks, immigrants, Jews and other groups they describe as criminals and freeloaders. America was founded by and for whites, they say, and only whites can run a peaceful, productive society.

But still, the KKK members insisted in an interview with The Associated Press, theyre not white supremacists, a label that is gaining traction in the country since Trump won with the public backing of the Klan, neo-Nazis and other white racists.

Were not white supremacists. We believe in our race, said a man with a Midwestern accent and glasses just hours before a pro-Trump Klan parade in a nearby town. He, like three Klan compatriots, wore a robe and pointed hood and wouldnt give his full name, in accordance with Klan rules.

Claiming the Klan isnt white supremacist flies in the face of its very nature. The Klans official rule book, the Kloran  published in 1915 and still followed by many groups  says the organization shall ever be true in the faithful maintenance of White Supremacy, even capitalizing the term for emphasis. Watchdog groups also consider the Klan a white supremacist organization, and experts say the groups denials are probably linked to efforts to make their racism more palatable.

Still, KKK groups today typically renounce the term. The same goes for extremists including members of the self-proclaimed alt-right, an extreme branch of conservatism mixing racism, white nationalism and populism.

We are white separatists, just as Yahweh in the Bible told us to be. Separate yourself from other nations. Do not intermix and mongrelize your seed, said one of the Klansmen who spoke along the muddy lane.

Whatever you call them, the muddy-road Klansmen said their beliefs have gained a foothold. The popularity of Trumps proposal to build a wall on the Mexican border  an idea long espoused by the Klan  is part of the proof, they said.

White Americans are finally, most of them, opening their eyes and coming around and seeing what is happening, said a man in a satiny green Klan robe.

The Associated Press interview with the men, who claimed membership in the Loyal White Knights of the KKK, in a nighttime session was set up with help of Chris Barker, a KKK leader who confirmed details of the groups Trump victory celebration in advance of the event. As many as 30 cars paraded through the town of Roxboro, North Carolina, some bearing Confederate and KKK flags.

Barker didnt participate, though: He and a Klan leader from California were arrested hours earlier on charges linked to the stabbing of a third KKK member during a fight, sheriffs officials said. Both men were jailed; the injured man was recovering.

Like the KKK members, Don Black said he doesnt care to be called a white supremacist, either. Black  who operates stormfront.org, a white extremist favourite website, from his Florida home  prefers white nationalist.

White supremacy is a legitimate term, though not usually applicable as used by the media. I think its popular as a term of derision because of the implied unfairness, and, like racism, its got that hiss (and, like hate and racism, frequently spewed in headlines), Black said in an email interview.

The Klan formed 150 years ago, just months after the end of the Civil War, and quickly began terrorizing freed blacks. Hundreds of people were assaulted or killed as whites tried to regain control of the defeated Confederacy. During the civil rights movement, Klan members were convicted of using murder as a weapon against equality.

Leaders from several different Klan groups have told The Associated Press they have rules against violence, aside from self-defence, and opponents agree the KKK has toned itself down after a string of members went to prison years after the fact for deadly arson attacks, beatings, bombings and shootings.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, which monitor white extremist organizations and are tracking an increase in reports of racist incidents since the election, often use the white supremacist label when describing groups like the Klan; white nationalism and white separatism are parts of the ideology. But what exactly is involved?

The ADL issued a report last year describing white supremacists as ideologically motivated by a series of racist beliefs, including the notion that whites should be dominant over people of other backgrounds, that whites should live by themselves in a whites-only society, and that white people have their own culture and are genetically superior to other cultures.

That sounds a lot like some of the ideas espoused by todays white radicals, yet they reject the label. Thats likely because they learned the lessons of one-time Klan leader David Duke, who unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana this year, said Penn State University associate professor Josh Inwood.

(There was) this peddling of kinder, softer white supremacy. He tried to pioneer a more respectable vision of the Klan, Inwood said.

Extremist expert Sophie Bjork-James, a scholar at Vanderbilt University, prefers the term racist right to describe todays white supremacists.

They are not simply conservative or alt-right, but actually espousing racist ideas and racist goals, she said. They wont agree with this label, but I think it is important to be clear about what they represent and what their goals are.

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BEIRUTDaesh militants recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from Syrian troops Sunday, according to both sides in the battle, scoring a major advance after a year of setbacks in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

In winning back Palmyra, Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, appeared to be taking advantage of the Syrian and Russian preoccupation with Aleppo, timing its attack to coincide with a major government offensive to capture the last remaining opposition-held neighbourhoods in the northern city.

Palmyra, with its towering 2,000-year-old ruins, holds mostly symbolic meaning in the wider civil war, although its location in central Syria also gives it some strategic significance.

Daesh militants re-entered the city Saturday for the first time since they were expelled by Syrian and Russian forces amid much fanfare nine months ago. The governments first important win against Daesh in the historic city gave Damascus the chance to try to position itself as part of the global anti-terrorism campaign.

The militants had spent 10 months in Palmyra, during which they blew up a number of temples and caused other destruction  severing the heads of statues and partially damaging two temples and famous arch.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syrias official for antiquities and museums, said his department had transferred the contents of Palmyras museum to Damascus, but that he still worries about the safety of the ruins from Daesh militants.

I fear they will be more vengeful, Abdulkarim told The Associated Press.

Palmyra was a major tourist attraction before Syrias civil war began in 2011.

Sundays takeover came hours after government troops and Russian air raids pushed the group out the citys perimeter. Daesh militants later regrouped and attacked from multiple sides, forcing government troops to retreat.

The militants went door to door, looking for any remaining forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, opposition activists in the city said.

Homs provincial Gov. Talal Barazi told the Pan-Arab Mayadeen news channel that the Daesh attack on Palmyra is a desperate reaction to the Syrian governments recent military victories.

Scores of Syrian troops reportedly have been killed in fighting around Palmyra in recent days. While a distraction from the battle for Aleppo, it is unlikely to affect the governments final push on the last rebel-held neighbourhoods in the northern city. By Sunday evening, there was no sign the army was shifting significant resources from Aleppo.

The government and its allies reportedly have mobilized some 40,000 fighters for Aleppo.

I dont think the regime would withdraw forces from Aleppo to Palmyra and risk losing Aleppo, said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group. I think the regimes priority now is to finish the battle for Aleppo before the end of the month for sure. As for Palmyra, the whole international community would stand by it against IS.

In the last year, Daesh has suffered defeats in both Syria and Iraq, losing several towns and cities it had captured in 2014.

It is now under attack in Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city and the last major urban centre it controls in the country. Since the Mosul offensive began nearly two months ago, Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces have killed or gravely wounded more than 2,000 Daesh fighters, said Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. He made his remarks at a news conference with U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter at Qayara airbase in Iraq.

On Saturday, Carter announced he is sending another 200 troops to Syria to train and advise local fighters combating Daesh. There are already 300 U.S. troops authorized for the Syria effort, and some 5,000 in Iraq.

A Kurdish-led Syrian force, backed by the U.S., is also pushing toward Raqqa, the groups de-facto capital in Syria, from the north. Meanwhile, Turkey is backing Syrian opposition fighters who have reached the outskirts of al-Bab, the Daesh stronghold in northern Syria.

In going for Palmyra, Daesh picked a soft target to demonstrate that it retains the ability to carry out large attacks despite its battlefield losses.

Mohammed Hassan al-Homsi, who runs the Palmyra News Network, said Daesh was steering away from northern Syria, where Turkey and the anti-Daesh international coalition have focused their fight. The militants are eyeing new territory, and they chose Palmyra for its desert terrain linked to Iraq and its surrounding oil and gas fields, al-Homsi said.

The state news agency SANA, quoting an unidentified military official, reported that the militant group received reinforcements from Raqqa.

Russias Defence Ministry put some of the blame on the coalition, saying it had scaled down its operation against Raqqa and allowed thousands of Daesh fighters to escape Mosul. The ministry said more than 4,000 militants have been deployed for the Palmyra takeover, implying those attacking the city recently had left Mosul.

The Observatory and the Palmyra Coordination group said Daesh militants used a multipronged assault, forcing government forces to retreat south. A map distributed by the Observatory shows the Daesh-controlled areas extend east, south and north of Palmyra. They encompass a number of strategic hills around the city and expand the groups presence in rural parts of Homs province, Syrias largest, which is mostly under government control.

Osama al-Khatib of the activist-run Palmyra Coordination group, which keeps in touch with residents, said remaining government and allied troops were escaping from the southwestern edge of the city, where the ancient ruins are. The few remaining families also are trying to leave, he said.

Al-Homsis Palmyra News Network said intense airstrikes followed the Daesh takeover. The group said Daesh fired on fleeing civilian.

In a video by the Daesh-linked Aamaq news agency, Daesh fighters were shown roaming a main square that appeared deserted below the citadel that overlooks the ruins and the Palmyra Museum.

Russia had earlier said it repelled a Daesh attack, launching 64 airstrikes overnight that killed 300 militants. But hours later, the activists said Daesh had seized a castle just outside the town that overlooks its famed Roman-era ruins.

Expelling the Daesh militants last year was seen as a major triumph for Assads forces, which previously had little success against the extremists.

The government and its Russian allies have since focused on the opposition in Damascus and Aleppo. After tightening the siege on eastern Aleppo, government and allied troops have been steadily carving into the rebel-held enclave since late November.

Of the original 45 square kilometres of rebel-held area, only 7 square kms remain in opposition hands, Syrian media said.

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HAGERSTOWN, MD.If president-elect Donald Trump keeps his promise, surplus military grenade launchers, bayonets, tracked armoured vehicles and high-powered firearms and ammunition will once again be available to state and local U.S. police departments.

National police organizations say theyll hold Trump to that promise.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order restricting that access in 2015 amid an outcry over police use of armoured vehicles and other war-fighting gear to confront protesters in Ferguson, Mo., after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. Since then, federal officials have recalled more than 1,800 items, which have been destroyed through target practice or otherwise disposed of, officials say.

But state and local police organizations have protested, insisting that military-style vehicles and gear help protect officers lives and public safety  for example, a privately manufactured, tracked armoured vehicle played a key role in the police response to the mass shooting at a county government building in San Bernardino, Calif., in December 2015.

During his campaign, Trump sided with the police. In September, he promised to rescind the executive order in a written response to a Fraternal Order of Police questionnaire that helped him win an endorsement from the organization of rank-and-file officers.

The 1033 program is an excellent program that enhances community safety. I will rescind the current executive order, reads the response posted on the groups website.

We take him at his word, Executive Director James Pasco said in a recent telephone interview.

The Trump transition team did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about the executive order.

National Sheriffs Association Executive Director Jonathan F. Thompson said his group has pressed the topic in discussions with Trumps transition team. William J. Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, said he was encouraged by his conversations with Trump representatives before the Nov. 8 election.

The feeling that we got is they absolutely hear us and they share our concerns, he said.

Obamas order was triggered partly by police use of military-style gear and vehicles in response to the 2014 unrest in Ferguson. The order prohibited the federal government from providing grenade launchers, bayonets, tracked armoured vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles, and firearms and ammunition of .50-calibre or greater to state and local police agencies.

Since then, the Defence Logistics Agency has recalled 138 grenade launchers, more than 1,600 bayonets and 126 tracked vehicles  those that run on continuous, tanklike tracks instead of wheels  that were provided through the militarys 1033 program, agency spokeswoman Michelle McCaskill said.

Peter Kraska, a professor at Eastern Kentucky Universitys School of Justice Studies who has studied the militarization of police, said Obamas executive order has had little effect because there was relatively little demand for the prohibited items to begin with.

It was more symbolic politics than anything substantive, he said.

The order also added requirements for record-keeping, local oversight and training for the acquisition or use of other surplus military equipment such as wheeled armoured vehicles, but those hurdles apparently have not deterred agencies from obtaining the gear. McCaskill said 183 law enforcement agencies have received mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles or MRAPs, through the 1033 program so far this year. Thats more than the 165 MRAPs that were distributed in 2013.

Nevertheless, Kraska said, theres nothing to justify most police departments having such equipment.

It just ramps up the probability that this kind of kind of high-end military hardware is going to be misapplied, he said.

But Cass County, North Dakota, Sheriff Paul Laney said the executive order is aimed at urban areas and ignores the usefulness of tracked vehicles in rugged terrain.

They fail to realize the dilemma it puts sheriffs in who live in the rural areas, the desert areas, the mountain areas, he said.

Oakland County, Mich., Sheriff Michael Bouchard, whose tracked vehicle was recalled, said rescinding the order would restore police access to equipment theyve been denied for what he called purely optic reasons.

Groups on both ends of the political spectrum have expressed concern about police militarization, from civil-rights organizations such as the NAACP and ACLU to the libertarian Cato Institute.

Raed Jarrar, government relations manager for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group committed to peace and social justice, said the executive order wasnt effective but rescinding it would send a message that rather than attempting to curb militarism, the president-elect is planning to continue on that path.

The Charles Koch Institute, founded by its conservative billionaire namesake, considers the restrictions under Obamas executive order a decent start, said William Ruger, vice-president of policy and research.

We dont want local police departments to be incentivized to get the types of equipment that in most cases are a better fit for the war zone, he said.

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Vienna, the picturesque capital of Austria, has seen a 30 per cent rise in Indian tourists this year.

Vienna has seen a rise in the number of Indian tourists this year. Picture for representational purpose. Picture courtesy: Twitter/AdventurePlaces

By Indo-Asian News Service: The city with fabulous castles, lakes and palaces--Vienna is turning into a favourite city among Indians with 30.4 per cent increase in visitors, according to Vienna Tourist Board (VTB).

As many as 47,465 visitors in the first 10 months of 2016 went to the Austrian capital and 102,701 overnight stays between January and October 2016.

Located in the heart of Europe, Vienna has the right mix of culture, diversity and modernity. The city represents North European lifestyle and South European efficiency.

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Also read: 10 ways to explore Copenhagen, the happiest city in the world

"Vienna got an overwhelming response from travellers from India exceeding the target of 100,000 overnight stays for 2016 by Indian tourists in just 10 months," said Isabella Rauter, Public Relations Manager of Vienna Tourist Board, in a statement.

Air India, currently offering a thrice-a-week direct flight from Delhi to Vienna and back, also contributed to more Indians flocking to the Austrian capital.

"Indians love to stroll around the fabulously green city, with half its metro area dotted with 2,000 green spaces, 850 parks and 400 species of rose, perhaps unmatched by any other city in the world," added Rauter.

--- ENDS ---
Another Trump lesson: theres a direct line between the false promises of politicians in the post-Cold War era and the recent election of so many false prophets. Donald Trump is only a more vulgar false promiser than those earlier disrespectful leaders who have helped elevate him.

The Liberals electoral reform fiasco is a sad Canadian example of making promises you should know that you cant keep. Anyone who had paid any attention to the molasses pace of constitutional change in Canada cannot have really believed they would deliver massive electoral reform in the life of one Parliament.

The incompetence of their management of this promise has debased the entire cause of reform. The multi-million-dollar push poll and postcard campaign they launched last week is just the latest tomfoolery.

Pierre Trudeau began his reform battle with the failed Victoria Charter in 1971. It took another 11 years to win the Charter of Rights. Changing how we choose our governments is no less consequential than changing the way they share their powers. As the Charlottetown Accord amply demonstrated, a referendum is no answer unless you have built a consensus supporting the proposed changes. A parliamentary committee is, perhaps, a first preliminary step. Expect that they will be the authors of a final package of a reform agenda? Dont be silly.

Canada does need a reformed system of choosing governments. We are one of the few federal states still using a system invented by the English aristocracy to ensure their continuing control of Parliament. But the choice of which reform is neither obvious nor easy. None of the many options can be simply exported from one political culture to another without careful bullet-proofing about unintended consequences, and probably some tweaking.

Otherwise you risk ending up on the constitutional roller-coaster that has so destabilized Italy for decades now. They have suffered changing voting systems almost as frequently as their enthusiasm to dump governments. Last weeks debacle, an effort to make even more sweeping changes, illustrates the consequences of rushing the constitutional fences. It may also have set up Europes next Brexit.

So now, on our reform efforts, we should probably call Time! Stop the insults flying across the aisle in the Commons. Take a breath and develop a less risky path forward.

First, the prime minister needs to admit that his promise that 2015 would be the last election we would hold under our existing creaky system was imprudent. Others could be forgiven for using stronger characterizations. To preserve any credibility on reform, however, he cannot simply now give up.

As frustrating as it will be for the patient advocates of reform, any successful outcome must mean moving more slowly and carefully. A rushed set of parliamentary committee hearings is not a substitute for a professionally led national inquiry. Whenever we have successfully made big policy changes in our diverse and often disputatious democracy it has been preceded by an inquiry or a Royal Commission. Thats how we got bilingualism, free trade and our last big electoral reform, the first election expenses act.

The official status and structure matter less than the mandate, resources and deadline. A serious inquiry named next spring, might make an interim report before the end of this parliament, then less than 30 months away. A final report might only be received by a new parliament. Its work should include expert modelling of a variety of systems on specific ridings, cities and groups of voters. It will need to study the impact of changes in other advanced democracies, like New Zealand and the U.K. It should involve an intensive consultation, education, and discussion with Canadians.

The commissioners should be empowered to propose first steps for 2019. Changes like tests of multi member ridings, preferential and online voting, and other real-world election pilot projects. Confidence-building may require proofs that Canadians can watch unfold. The reform process may involve sunset clauses to permit tweaking. It is unlikely to be delivered all at once.

The brilliant report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was also the product of a false start and reset, followed by years of study, and consultation with tens of thousands of Canadians. Why would dramatically altering  for the first time in 150 years  how we choose who governs be less challenging?

The political risks for Justin Trudeau in being seen as either duplicitous or simply dumb, in his promise to instantly change how we vote, are now getting higher. It will be a thread in the campaign narrative against him in the 2019 election.

The damage that dropping the reform ball completely will do to the confidence of Canadians in their politicians, and the promises they should know they cant keep, will be much higher.

Robin V. Sears, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and a Broadbent Institute leadership fellow, was an NDP strategist for 20 years.

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There is no escape from protests or protesters when you work in the Prime Ministers Office. The noise and chants of demonstrations drift up to the windows of both the Centre Block office and the Langevin Building, which houses most of the staff. At times only a few people carry signs; other times, busloads of well-organized crowds literally take over the front lawn of Parliament Hill with their microphones and banners. The protests are as much a part of the scene as is the Peace Tower.

Whether the protests are individual or orchestrated, government officials are wise to heed dissenting voices. Not only do those voices reflect clear and present political danger, they may also act as warning signs of trouble ahead.

The Occupy movement was prescient in its battle for social and economic inequality while Black Lives Matter has grown into a powerful voice against violence and systemic racism. Yet, counterintuitively, the demonstrations themselves can create political and policy opportunities for a government, if handled wisely.

Two recent but different kinds of protests should be cause for political reflection.

The Standing Rock Sioux protestors in North Dakota, having battled for seven months, won a tremendous and unexpected victory over a corporate plan to extend a pipeline under the Missouri River. The construction would have threatened land sacred to the tribe and could have threatened precious water supplies. Other battle-hardened groups joined in solidarity. Black Lives Matter said they stood with the water protectors at Standing Rock.

Their success and well-earned victory celebration may very well have ramifications for Canadians. Environmentalists, some First Nations and political activists (including the mayor of Vancouver) are gearing up to oppose the federal governments decision to approve the construction (albeit with 157 conditions) of the $6.8-billion Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

A second David-and-Goliath moment took place this week in Gatineau, Que., as the Assembly of First Nations hosted a special chiefs meeting. A 12-year-old girl, Autumn Peltier, broke into tears as she presented gifts to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. According to reports, she felt let down by his decision to allow two pipelines. The PM responded with understanding and empathy: I will protect the water.

The first incident has reminded protesters that it is possible to win. The second clearly reminded the prime minister of his wish to protect Canadas water. To that end, a $1.5-billion national ocean protection plan has been announced, as well as $2 billion which will be invested to address boil water advisories and sewage problems in indigenous communities.

In addition, the government is just concluding consultations on three pieces of water related legislation the Navigable Waters Act, the Fisheries Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, all of which the Harper government had gutted in two budget omnibus bills.

But even if those laws are renewed and updated, is a Band-Aid approach to water protection sustainable without stronger federal action?

Maude Barlows new book Boiling Point reminds Canadians that while we have 20 per cent of the worlds water, some of it is not accessible, not usable and not necessarily renewable. Furthermore, unlike the EU and the U.S., Canada has only voluntary guidelines for drinking water quality.

The litany of water worries is endless: climate change concerns including drought and floods; decline in glacial coverage; endangered drinking water from the dumping of raw sewage or toxic waste from industrial pollution; development of our watersheds; contamination of our groundwater and infrastructure fragility.

Water management has always been a dangerous intersection of competing federal, provincial and municipal rules and regulations resulting in uneven water standards. Despite Pierre Trudeaus 1970 Canada Water Act, which accorded the federal government the authority to invoke its full constitutional powers to protect and manage our water resources, and Brian Mulroneys 1987 Federal Water Policy, implementation of these policies failed time and again, either because provinces were not in agreement or through a lack of political will.

Barlow zeroes in on that lack of a federal umbrella. Have we failed to notice that the right to clean and safe water is a national issue, not one to be fractured into different pieces?

For years, leading environmentalists have called for a national water strategy. In the debate over climate change targets, greenhouse gas emissions and carbon taxes, we must also safeguard our water.

Perhaps this is the moment and the opportunity? We dont want our voices of dissent to boil over into a Standing Rock.

Penny Collenette is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa and was a senior director of the Prime Ministers Office for Jean Chretien.

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Re: Ken Danby: Good, bad and ugly, Dec. 3

Ken Danby: Good, bad and ugly, Dec. 3

Murray Whytes review of Ken Danbys At The Crease retrospective at the AGH sickened me. The retrospective, largely put together through the efforts of his family, stands not just as a testament to a great Canadian artist, but as a celebration of life to a dedicated artist who worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the arts in Canada. Whytes scathing criticism of Danbys work is a tasteless and disgusting review not worthy of consideration.

If history proves correct, Ken Danbys legacy will live on long past the pernicious rants of Murray Whyte. In the 1920s, the Group of Sevens work was described as, hideous, freakish and unnatural paintings by artistic perverts. Vindication of the Groups efforts is evident in the value of their paintings today.

I suspect Ken Danbys contributions to Canadian art will be equally loved and valued in the years ahead.

Michael OKeefe, Grand Bend

The article on Ken Danby left me wondering whether the writer would be more suited to reporting on council meetings or amateur sporting events. To criticize both the work of a talented main-stream artist and the Hamilton Art Gallery for displaying it smacks of a distorted sense of the whole purpose of art. The misguided search for "originality" has warped a great deal of artistic creativity during the past hundred or so years and produced a serious amount of garbage.

Let us look for talent, viewpoint, technique, visual content, meaningful comment and interesting creative representation.

David Willis, Guelph

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Re: Accessible-housing meeting derailed by inaccessible venue, Dec. 8

Accessible-housing meeting derailed by inaccessible venue, Dec. 8

How could anyone with any semblance of intelligence schedule a public meeting without first inspecting the venue? Not only was the first choice inaccessible from the outside, the second option had inaccessible washrooms in the basement. Why were residents the first to notice these shortcomings?

The explanation by Kyle Knoeck, a manager of community planning (?), that there was an oversight, is a poor excuse for people not doing their job properly. Our tax dollars at work? If Mayor John Tory is looking for savings to balance the budget, he should begin by investigating situations such as these before he asks the TTC to make cuts, necessitating a fare increase, and by imposing unwanted road tolls.

Some may call this situation ironic. I call it moronic.

Warren Dalton, Scarborough

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The following companies are subsidiares of SAP: Abakus, Abakus Europe Limited, Abakus Ukraine Limited Liability Company, Adatfeldolgozasban Informatikai Kft., Altiscale, Ambin Properties Proprietary Limited, AppGyver, Ariba, Ariba Czech s.r.o., Ariba Inc. Palo Alto, Ariba India Private Limited, Ariba International, Ariba International Holdings, Ariba International Singapore Pte Ltd, Ariba Slovak Republic s.r.o., Ariba Software Technology Services (Shanghai) Co., Ariba Technologies India Private Limited, Ariba Technologies Netherlands B.V., Beijing Zhang Zhong Hu Dong Information Technology, Business Objects, Business Objects Holding B.V., Business Objects Option LLC, Business Objects Software Limited, CNQR Operations Mexico S. de. R.L. de. C.V., Callidus Software, CallidusCloud, Christie Partners Holding C.V., Clear Standards, ClearTrip Inc., ClearTrip Inc. (Mauritius), Cleartrip MEA FZ LLC, Cleartrip Private Limited, Coghead, ConTgo Consulting Limited, ConTgo Pty. Ltd., Concur (Austria) GmbH, Concur (Canada), Concur (France) SAS, Concur (Germany) GmbH, Concur (Japan) Ltd., Concur (New Zealand) Limited, Concur (Philippines) Inc., Concur (Switzerland) GmbH, Concur Czech (s.r.o.), Concur Holdings (France) SAS, Concur Holdings (Netherlands) B.V., Concur Technologies (Australia) Pty. Limited, Concur Technologies (Hong Kong) Limited, Concur Technologies (India) Private Limited, Concur Technologies (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Concur Technologies (UK) Limited, Concur Technologies Inc. Bellevue, Contextor, Coresystems, Crystal Decisions (Ireland) Limited, Crystal Decisions Holdings Limited, Crystal Decisions UK Limited, Emarsys, EssCubed Procurement Pty. Ltd., Extended Systems, Factory Logic, Fedem Technology AS, Fieldglass Europe Limited, Financial Fusion, FreeMarkets Ltda., Frictionless Commerce, Gigya, Gigya Australia Pty Ltd, Gigya Ltd., Gigya UK Ltd, GlobalExpense Limited, Highdeal, Hipmunk, Hybris (US) Corp., Hybris GmbH, Inxight Federal Systems Group, KXEN, Khimetrics, LLC "SAP Labs", LLC "SAP Ukraine", LLC SAP CIS, MaXware, Merlin Systems Oy, Multiposting Sp.z o.o., Nihon Ariba K.K., OpTier, OutlookSoft, OutlookSoft Deutschland GmbH, PLAT.ONE, PT SAP Indonesia, PT Sybase 365 Indonesia, Pilot Software Inc., Plat.One Inc., Plat.One Lab Srl, Plateau Systems LLC, Quadrem Africa Pty. Ltd., Quadrem Brazil Ltda., Quadrem Chile Ltda., Quadrem Colombia SAS, Quadrem International Ltd., Quadrem Netherlands B.V., Quadrem Overseas Cooperatief U.A., Quadrem Peru S.A.C., Qualtrics, Recast.AI, Right Hemisphere, Roambi, Ruan Lian Technologies (Beijing) Co., SAF, SAP (Beijing) Software System Co., SAP (Schweiz) AG, SAP (Schweiz) AG Biel, SAP (UK) Limited, SAP (UK) Limited Feltham, SAP AZ LLC, SAP America, SAP America Inc. Newtown Square, SAP Andina y del Caribe, SAP Argentina S.A., SAP Asia (Vietnam) Co., SAP Asia Pte Ltd, SAP Australia Pty Ltd, SAP Australia Pty Ltd. Sydney, SAP Belgium NV/SA, SAP Beteiligungs GmbH, SAP Brasil Ltda, SAP Brasil Ltda Sao Paulo, SAP Bulgaria EOOD, SAP Business Compliance Services GmbH, SAP Business Services Center Nederland B.V., SAP CR, SAP Canada, SAP Chile Limitada, SAP China Co., SAP China Co. Ltd. Shanghai, SAP China Holding Co., SAP Colombia S.A.S., SAP Commercial Services Ltd., SAP Concur, SAP Costa Rica, SAP Customer Experience, SAP Cyprus Limited, SAP Danmark A/S, SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG, SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG Walldorf, SAP Dritte Beteiligungs- und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH, SAP EMEA Inside Sales S.L., SAP East Africa Limited, SAP Egypt LLC, SAP Erste Beteiligungs- und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH, SAP Espana - Sistemas Informatica, SAP Estonia OU, SAP Fieldglass, SAP Financial, SAP Finland Oy, SAP Foreign Holdings GmbH, SAP France, SAP France Holding, SAP France Levallois Perret, SAP Global Marketing, SAP Hellas S.A., SAP Holdings (UK) Limited, SAP Hong Kong Co., SAP Hosting Beteiligungs GmbH, SAP Hungary Rendszerek, SAP India (Holding) Pte Ltd, SAP India Private Limited, SAP India Private Limited Bangalore, SAP Industries, SAP Industries Inc. Newtown Square, SAP International, SAP International Panama, SAP Investments, SAP Ireland Limited, SAP Ireland US - Financial Services Designated Activity Company, SAP Israel Ltd., SAP Italia Sistemi Applicazioni Prodotti in Data Processing S.p.A., SAP Italia Sistemi Applicazioni Prodotti in Data Processing S.p.A. Vimercate, SAP Japan Co., SAP Japan Co. Ltd. Tokyo, SAP Kazakhstan LLP, SAP Korea Ltd., SAP Labs, SAP Labs Bulgaria EOOD, SAP Labs Finland Oy, SAP Labs France SAS, SAP Labs India Private Limited, SAP Labs Israel Ltd., SAP Labs Korea, SAP Latvia SIA, SAP MENA FZ L.L.C., SAP Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., SAP Malta Investments Ltd., SAP Mxico S.A. de C.V., SAP National Security Services PA, SAP Nederland B.V., SAP Nederland B.V. s-Hertogenbosch, SAP Service and Support Centre (Ireland) Limited, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP d.o.o., SeeWhy, Signavio, SuccessFactors, SuccessFactors Inc. South San Francisco, SwoopTalent, Sybase, Syclo, TopTier Software, Triversity, Vimercate, Virsa Systems, Visiprise, Wicom Communications, and conTgo limited.

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SUPERVALU INC., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a grocery wholesaler and retailer in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Wholesale and Retail. The Wholesale segment engages in the wholesale distribution of various food and non-food products to independent retail customers, such as single and multiple grocery store operators, regional chains, and the military. It also provides professional services, such as pass-through programs; and various services comprising retail store support, advertising, couponing, e-commerce, network and data hosting, training and certifications classes, and administrative back-office solutions. The Retail segment operates retail stores that provide groceries and various additional products that include general merchandise, home, health and beauty care, and pharmacy products. It provides its products under the Cub Foods, Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, and Hornbacher's names, as well as 1 Rainbow stores. The company's stores offer a range of branded and private-label products comprising perishable and nonperishable grocery products. As of February 24, 2018, it operated a network of 3,437 stores, including 3,323 wholesale primary stores; and 114 retail grocery stores. The company was founded in 1871 and is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
The following companies are subsidiares of Pentair: ACP Pleatco Blocker Corp., APEL International LLC, Air Capital Filtration LLC, Aplex Industries Inc., Aquion, Aquion (Xi'an) Water Treatment Equipment Co. Ltd., Aquion Hong Kong Limited, Aquion Inc., Be the Change Labs Inc., Bylin Engineered Systems Inc, Century Mfg. Co., Clean Process Technologies, ClearWater Tech L.L.C., ETE Coliban Pty Limited, Enviro Water Solutions LLC, Erico Global, Everpure Japan Kabushiki Kaisha, Filter-Medic LLC, FilterDeal LLC, FilterSoft LLC, Fleck Controls Inc., Goyen Controls Co. Pty. Limited, Goyen Valve LLC, Greenspan Environmental Technology Pty Ltd, Guardian Filtration Products LLC, Haffmans B.V., Haffmans North America Inc., Hawley Group Canada Limited, Hypro EU Limited, Jung Pumpen GmbH, Ken's Beverage, Lincoln Automotive Company, MECAIR S.r.L., Manitowoc Ice, McNeil (Ohio) Corporation, Milperra Developments Pty Limited, Milton Acquisition ULC, Mobile Pool Builder Inc., Moraine Properties LLC, Nijhuis Pompen B.V., Nuheat, PES Pty Ltd, PFAM Inc., PTG Accessories Corp., Panthro Acquisition Co., Pelican Holding Corporation, Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems Inc., Pentair Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Pentair Canada Inc., Pentair Clean Process Technologies India Private Limited, Pentair Commercial Services LLC, Pentair Denmark Holding ApS, Pentair Federal Pump LLC, Pentair Filtration Sales & Service Company LLC, Pentair Filtration Solutions LLC, Pentair Finance Group GmbH, Pentair Finance S.a.r.l., Pentair Finance Switzerland GmbH, Pentair Flow Control International Pty Limited, Pentair Flow Services AG, Pentair Flow Technologies LLC, Pentair Flow Technologies Pacific Pty Ltd, Pentair Flow Technologies de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Pentair France SARL, Pentair Germany GmbH, Pentair Global Holdings B.V., Pentair Global S.a.r.l., Pentair Group (Thailand) Limited, Pentair Holdings Inc., Pentair Holdings S.a.r.l., Pentair Housing Inc., Pentair Housing LP, Pentair Inc., Pentair International (UK) Ltd, Pentair International Holding S.a.r.l., Pentair International Sarl, Pentair Investments Switzerland GmbH, Pentair Ireland Limited, Pentair Janus Holding LLC, Pentair Janus Holdings, Pentair Kenya Limited, Pentair Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Pentair Management Company, Pentair Manufacturing Belgium BV, Pentair Manufacturing Italy S.r.L., Pentair Middle East FZE, Pentair Nanosoft US Holdings LLC, Pentair Netherlands Euro Finance B.V., Pentair Netherlands Finance B.V., Pentair Netherlands Holding B.V., Pentair Pacific Rim (Water) Limited, Pentair Pacific Rim Limited, Pentair Philippines Inc., Pentair Pleatco Acquisition LLC, Pentair Residential Filtration LLC, Pentair Sales LLC, Pentair Sudmo GmbH, Pentair Tamimi LLC, Pentair Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Pentair Transport Inc., Pentair UK Holdings Limited, Pentair US LLC 1, Pentair US LLC 2, Pentair US LP, Pentair Valves & Controls del Uruguay S.A., Pentair Water (Suzhou) Company Ltd., Pentair Water Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Pentair Water Australia Pty Ltd, Pentair Water Belgium BV, Pentair Water Brazil LLC, Pentair Water France SAS, Pentair Water Group Inc., Pentair Water Holdings LLC, Pentair Water India Private Limited, Pentair Water Italy S.r.l., Pentair Water LLC, Pentair Water Latinamerica S.A., Pentair Water Operations Australia Pty Ltd, Pentair Water Polska Sp.zoo, Pentair Water Pool and Spa Inc., Pentair Water Proces Technologie Holding B.V., Pentair Water Process Technology B.V., Pentair Water Purification Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Pentair Water Spain S.L., Pentair Water Treatment (OH) Company, Pentair Water Treatment Company, Pentair Water Treatment Private Limited, Pentair Water do Brasil Ltda., Pentair Water-Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Penwald Insurance Company, Pigeon Point Systems Inc., Pleatco, Pleatco Holdings LLC, Pleatco Intermediate Holdings LLC, Pleatco LLC, Pleatco Mexican Holding Company LLC, Pleatco Mexicana S. De R.L. De C.V., Plymouth Products Inc., Porous Media Corp., Procam Controls Inc., Rocean, Seneca Enterprises Co., Shupeco LLC, Sta-Rite Industries LLC, Sta-Rite de Mexico S.A. de C.V., TVS Filters Acquisition LLC, Tupelo Real Estate LLC, Tyco Flow Control, U.S. Milton Holdings Inc., Union Engineering (NingBo) Co. Ltd., Union Engineering A/S, Union Engineering Holding LLC, Union Engineering Latam Ltda, Union Engineering North America LLC, Urban Organics Pentair Group LLC, Urban Organics Schmidt Real Estate Group LLC, Urban Organics St. Paul LLC, Water Ingenuity Holdings Corp., Webster Electric Company LLC, X-Flow B.V., and delMAC Filters LLC.

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Bulk seizures of new currency continued on Saturday with some more incidents being reported, including one in which the IT department recovered Rs 5.7 crore cash in new notes secretly stashed inside the bathroom tiles of a hawala dealer in Chitradurga district in Karnataka.

A fresh seizure of Rs 24 crore cash in new notes was also made by the Income Tax department, adding to the biggest haul of cash and gold post-demonetisation, in which over Rs 142 crore unaccounted assets have been recovered in tax operations so far in Chennai.

In one incident, CBI recovered Rs 65 lakh of new currency in 2000 denomination from the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Hyderabad in connection with its probe in the note exchange racket.

In another recovery, an amount of Rs 82 lakh, including Rs 71 lakh in new Rs 2,000 currency, was seized at Kothur near Hyderabad, police said. Two persons, allegedly involved in exchange of money on commission basis, were nabbed by police.

Karanataka

Officials while giving details of the incident in Karnataka said the IT department seized the alleged undisclosed assets, as part of its raids against black money

hoarders post-demonetisation, from the residence of the said hawala operator who is yet to be identified.

The Challakere town, about 40 km from district headquarters of Chitradurga, is popularly known as the 'oil city' due to number of edible oil mills being present there.

Officials said the taxman raided the premises based on intelligence inputs about the presence of huge cash and the sleuths were startled to find a cleverly-hidden stainless steel safe, above the wash basin, inside the tiled walls of the bathroom.

The cash stash of Rs 5.7 crore, all in new Rs 2,000 notes, 28 kg of bullion (gold biscuits), 4 kg of other gold and jewellery was stuffed inside this bathroom safe, which was kept sanitised against termites using hundreds of mothballs.

The assets were recovered after the department's investigation wing in Panaji on Friday began searches against casino and bullion traders in Hubballi and Chitradurga districts.

A good number of documents and another Rs 90 lakh cash (Rs 100/20 notes) have been seized after the searches on the said hawala dealer, they said.

"The searches in this case are still going on at various places and the valuation of the bullion and jewellery is being conducted," they said.

Chennai

Regarding the incident in Tamil Nadu, Officials said the fresh seizure of new currency, in Rs 2000 notes, was made by the sleuths from a car in Vellore on the insistence of the accused presently being interrogated in the case.

With this amount, the total seizure in the case has now gone upto Rs 166 crore in a single case.

The department had seized Rs 142 crore undisclosed assets -- that includes about Rs 10 crore in new notes and gold bars weighing 127 kg -- during searches at multiple locations in Chennai, for the last two days, to check tax evasion.

This largest seizure of new currency notes after the old Rs 500/1,000 notes were scrapped on November 8, took place after raids were launched on Thursday on eight premises of a group engaged in sand mining in Tamil Nadu.

In a statement, the CBI said K Sudheer Babu, the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, had kept the amount of Rs 65 lakh as his commission for allegedly exchanging over Rs 3.75 crore of old currency with the new one.

"The money seized was the commission of K Sudheer Babu, as he kept it aside as his share, out of Rs 3.75 crore, which he misappropriated by fraudulently exchanging old currencies for new currencies from the post offices falling under his division. So far CBI had seized Rs 92.68 lakh of new currency in Rs 2000 denomination, in these cases," it said.

Gujarat

Rs 39.8 lakh in cash was seized from two different cities in Gujarat today, of which Rs 24 lakh was in Rs 2,000 currency notes.

Acting on a tip-off, sleuths of Special Operations Group in Ahmedabad seized Rs 21,77,650 in cash and detained four persons who were allegedly carrying those to exchange old notes for a commission, SOG police inspector V H Jadeja said.

"The seized cash includes new currency notes of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 worth over Rs 10 lakh, while remaining notes are of Rs 100, Rs 50, Rs 20 and Rs 10 denominations. Those detained will be handed over to the Income Tax department for further investigation," Jadeja said.

In a related incident, police in Bharuch town in south Gujarat seized Rs 18 lakh cash, some of which was in new currency notes, from a residential apartment and detained three persons for questioning.

Bharuch A division police searched the house of one R L Modi and seized the money from him. The cash included Rs 14 lakh in Rs 2,000 notes, four notes of Rs 500 denomination, as well as notes of Rs 100 and Rs 50 denominations.

Hyderabad

An amount of Rs 82 lakh, including Rs 71 lakh in new Rs 2,000 currency, was seized at Kothur near Hyderabad.

The cash, including Rs 71 lakh in new Rs 2,000 notes and Rs 11 lakhs in hundred rupee notes, was seized during vehicle checking at Kothur, police said.

Two persons, allegedly involved in exchange of money on a commission basis, were also nabbed by the police.

In another incident, the CBI recovered Rs 65 lakh of new currency in Rs 2,000 denomination from the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Hyderabad in connection with its probe in the note exchange racket.

K Sudheer Babu, the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, had kept this amount as his commission for allegedly exchanging over Rs 3.75 crore of old currency with the new one, CBI said in a statement.

"The money seized was the commission of K Sudheer Babu, as he kept it aside as his share, out of Rs 3.75 crore, which he misappropriated by fraudulently exchanging old currencies for new currencies from the post offices falling under his division. So far, CBI has seized Rs 92.68 lakh of new currency in Rs 2,000 denomination, in these cases," it said.
NextEra Energy, Inc. is the largest electric utility holding company in the US. It operates a network of power generation and distribution facilities that include fossil-fuel-generated and green energy. As of mid-2022, the company was capable of generating 58 GW of electricity with nearly 60% of the load produced by green sources including wind and solar. In their view, going green isnt an option, its the solution. NextEra Energy has been recognized multiple times as a leader in clean energy and ESG practices and was ranked the #1 electric and gas utility on the Forbes list of Most Admired Companies.

The company is the result of several mergers that begin with FPL Group. FPL Group is now a subsidiary of NextEra Energy and the third-largest provider of electricity in the US servicing nearly half of Florida. FPL and its affiliates are the single largest provider of renewable energy generated from wind and sun. The group changed its name in 2010 following a decision to shift focus onto renewable energy sources.

Today, NextEra Energy, Inc through its subsidiary FPL serves about 12 million people in eastern and southwestern Florida. The company employs nearly 14,900 people who service 5.8 million accounts. The company is in business to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity to retail and wholesale clients. Electricity is generated through wind, solar, nuclear, natural gas, and coal-fired facilities.

The company is also engaged in the construction and operation of new facilities, specifically renewable power generation, storage, and delivery facilities, and can offer custom solutions tailored to any need. Offerings include tailored services to assist businesses with their transition to clean energy.

NextEra Energy also owns and operates 7 nuclear power stations in Florida, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin generating power for the wholesale market.

Unlike other companies that are targeting net-zero emissions, NextEra Energy has a plan to reach real zero and is investing heavily to reach that goal by 2045. The company had invested nearly $50 billion in green energy infrastructure and initiatives by mid-2022. The plan is to first work on reducing its own emissions and then take its knowledge and expertise to the world.
Phillips 66 operates as an energy manufacturing and logistics company. It operates through four segments: Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties (M&S). The Midstream segment transports crude oil and other feedstocks; delivers refined petroleum products to market; provides terminaling and storage services for crude oil and refined petroleum products; transports, stores, fractionates, exports, and markets natural gas liquids; provides other fee-based processing services; and gathers, processes, transports, and markets natural gas. The Chemicals segment produces and markets ethylene and other olefin products; aromatics and styrenics products, such as benzene, cyclohexane, styrene, and polystyrene; and various specialty chemical products, including organosulfur chemicals, solvents, catalysts, and chemicals used in drilling and mining. The Refining segment refines crude oil and other feedstocks into petroleum products, such as gasolines, distillates, aviation, and renewable fuels at 12 refineries in the United States and Europe. The M&S segment purchases for resale and markets refined petroleum products, including gasolines, distillates, and aviation fuels primarily in the United States and Europe. This segment also manufactures and markets specialty products, such as base oils and lubricants. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The following companies are subsidiares of WPP: 24/7 Real Media UK Ltd., 41?29! Media Internet, AD Venture Worldwide Inc, AKQA, AKQA Denmark A/S, AKQA GmbH, AKQA Inc., AKQA Limited, AQuest, Acceleration, Acceleration eMarketing Inc, All Global, Always (Shanghai) Marketing Services Co Ltd, Arctouch LLC, BCW LLC, BWR PR, Beijing Benpao Century Technology Development Co. Ltd., Benenson Strategy Group LLC, Black and Deen, Blast Radius, Blast Radius Inc., Bomtempo Anahory e Ralha, Bottle Rocket, Bottle Rocket LLC, Brindfors Design AB, CB Associes S.A., CMI Media, CMI Media LLC, CONEXANCE MD, CT Finances SA, Catalyst Online LLC, Cavendish Square Holding BV, Center Partners, Cerebra, Cockpit Holdings Limited, Cognifide, Commarco, Commarco GmbH 120274, Cordiant Communications Group Limited, Dawson Integrated Marketing Communications, DeepLocal Inc., Design Bridge, Design Bridge Limited, Dewey Square Group, Ecommera, EffectiveUI, Enduring Organisation, Entreprise de Communications Tank Inc., Essence, Essence Global Group Limited, Essence Global LLC, Eurosem Belgium SA/NV, F.biz, FAST - Financial Administration Solutions & Technologies Srl, Finecast Limited, Finsbury LLC, Forward Limited, GREY Dusseldorf GmbH, GTB Agency LLC, GTB Shanghai Advertising Co. Ltd, GTB Stat LLC, GWE LLC, Geometry Global Japan GK, Geometry Global LLC, Geometry Global Limited, Glendinning Management Consultants, Go Direct Marketing Inc., Gorilla LLC, Grey, Grey Advertising Limited, Grey Global Group LLC, Group M France SAS, Group M Worldwide LLC, Group SJR LLC, GroupM (Shanghai) Advertising Co. Ltd, GroupM Argentina Trading S.A., GroupM B.V., GroupM Chile SAC, GroupM Competence Center GmbH, GroupM Denmark A/S, GroupM Japan KK, GroupM Limited, GroupM Market Advertising Co. Ltd., GroupM Media India Pvt Ltd, GroupM Pakistan (Private) Ltd, GroupM Singapore Pte Ltd, GroupM Srl, GroupM UK Digital Limited, Guangzhou Dawson Marketing Communication Co. Ltd, H-ART, HERING SCHUPPENER Consulting Strategieberatung fur Kommunikation GmbH, HeathWallace, Hill & Knowlton Limited, Hill and Knowlton Strategies LLC, Hirschen Group GmbH, Hogarth California LLC, Hogarth Worldwide Inc., Hogarth Worldwide Limited, Icon Brand Navigation Group, IntelliQuest Information Group Inc, International Meetings & Science LLC, J Walter Thompson Middle East and North Africa E.C., J Walter Thompson Publicidade Ltda, J.Walter Thompson Bridge Advertising Co. Ltd., John Street Inc., KBM Group LLC, KR Media UK Limited, KR Wavemaker SAS, Kantar TNS, Kinetic Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Kinetic Worldwide Limited, LLC GroupM, LLC Wavemaker, Landor LLC, M Media Group Pty Ltd, M2 Digital Inc., Marketeers Vietnam, Marketing Direct LLC, Marketing Perspectives Limited, Mather Direct GmbH, Maxus Communications (UK) Limited, Media Club SpA, Media Insight SNC, MediaCom - Warszawa Sp.z.o.o., MediaCom AS (Norway), MediaCom Agentur fur Media-Beratung GmbH, MediaCom Communications Pvt Ltd, MediaCom Danmark A/S, MediaCom Group Limited, MediaCom Istanbul Medya Hizmetleri A.S., MediaCom TWENTYFIVE GmbH, Mediacom AG, Mediacom Australia Pty Limited, Mediacom Canada, Mediacom Iberia SA, Mediacom Italia Srl, Mediacom LLC, Mediacom Middle East & North Africa Holding W.L.L., Mediacom North Limited, Mediacom Paris SA, Mediacom Worldwide LLC, Mediaedge:CIA Worldwide Limited, Mediaedge:cia India Pvt Ltd, Medialets, Memac Ogilvy & Mather Holding Inc, Mind Share Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., MindShare Canada, MindShare GmbH, MindShare Hong Kong Limited, MindShare Polska Sp. z.o.o., Mindshare Media UK Limited, Mindshare SA, Mindshare South Africa (Gauteng) (Proprietary) Limited, Mindshare SpA, Mindshare Spain SA, Mindshare USA LLC, Mirum LLC, Mirum S.A. de C.V., Motion Content Group Limited, OPR AGENCY PTY LIMITED, Ogilvy & Mather Brasil Comunicacao Ltda, Ogilvy & Mather Group (Holdings) Limited, Ogilvy & Mather Pvt Ltd, Ogilvy & Mather S.A.S, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide LLC, Ogilvy Australia Pty Ltd, Ogilvy Commonhealth Worldwide LLC, Ogilvy Public Relations GmbH, Ogilvy Singapore Pte. Ltd., Ootworld, OpenMindWorld LLC, P Four Consultancy, PTR Comunicacoes Ltda, Penn Schoen & Berland Associates LLC, Penn Schoen Berland, Pep LLC, Plano.Trio Comunicacao, Potato London Ltd, Premiere Group Holdings Limited, Prism Sport + Entertainment, Promotion Execution Partners LLC, Public Strategies Inc., Quasar Media Private, Quinn Gillespie & Associates, Quirk, RLM Finsbury, Rasor Holdings LLC, Ray + Keshavan Design Associates, Real Media, Red Fuse New York LLC, Regional Management Group SAS, Russell Square Holding BV, Salmon Limited, Salmon Ltd, Sandtable, Scangroup, Set Management LLC, Shanghai Easycom Advertising Co. Ltd., Shanghai Linjie Marketing Services Co. Ltd., Shanghai Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Ltd, Shire Hall Group, Spafax Airline Network Limited, Spafax Networks LLC, Stickleback Limited, Sudler & Hennessey LLC, Superunion Limited, Swift + POSSIBLE LLC, Syzygy AG, TMARC, Taxi, Taxi Inc., Team Garage LLC, The Brand Union, The Cocktail Global S.L., The Finsbury Group Limited, The Glover Park Group, The Glover Park Group LLC, The GroupM ESP Clever Company S.R.L. de C.V., The Lacek Group LLC, The Marketing & Communication Agency, The Ogilvy Group LLC, The Performers Group, The Young & Rubicam Group of Companies ULC, Triad Digital Media LLC, Twist Image, Two Circles, VML LLC, VMLY&R, WPP (Thailand) Ltd, WPP 2005 Limited, WPP AMC Holdings, WPP AUNZ, WPP Beans Limited, WPP Brands (UK) Limited, WPP Brands Development Holdings (UK) Limited, WPP Brands Holdings (UK) Limited, WPP Deutschland Holding GmbH & Co. KG, WPP Finance 2013, WPP Finance 2015 Limited, WPP Finance Co. Limited, WPP Finance SA, WPP Group (UK) Ltd, WPP Group Canada Finance Inc., WPP Group U.S. Finance LLC, WPP Group USA Inc., WPP Health Limited, WPP Holdings Spain S.L., WPP Jubilee Limited, WPP Luxembourg Gamma Three Sarl, WPP Luxembourg Sarl, WPP Luxembourg Turris S.a r.l., WPP Marketing Communications (Hong Kong) Limited, WPP Marketing Communications Germany GmbH, WPP Media Ltd, WPP Montagu Square LLC, WPP Mexico S.R.L. de C.V., WPP Ottawa Ltd, WPP Samson Limited, WPP Sigma Limited, WPP Sphinx Limited, WPP Square one B.V, WPP UK Germany Holdings, WPP Unicorn Limited, WPPIH 2001 Inc., Warwicks, Wavemaker A/S, Wavemaker Australia Pty Ltd, Wavemaker BV, Wavemaker Canada ULC, Wavemaker Czech s.r.o., Wavemaker Global LLC, Wavemaker Global Limited, Wavemaker GmbH, Wavemaker Hong Kong Limited, Wavemaker Hungary Kft, Wavemaker Italia S.r.l., Wavemaker Limited, Wavemaker MENA FZ LLC, Wavemaker Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Wavemaker Publicidad Spain S.L., Wavemaker Sp.z.o.o, Wavemaker Taiwan Ltd, Wavemaker  Servicos Publicitarios Ltda, Who Digital, Witgoud Investments B.V., Worldwide Mediacom Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., Wunderman A/S, Wunderman Thompson (UK) Limited, Wunderman Thompson LLC, XMKT Group, Xaxis LLC, Xaxis US LLC, Y&R Propaganda Ltda, Young & Rubicam, Young & Rubicam LLC, clarus digital, dBOD, groupm Germany GmbH & Co. KG, mPlatform LLC, plista GmbH, thjnk, and thjnk AG.

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First Horizon Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Horizon Bank that provides various financial services. The company operates through three segments: Regional Banking, Specialty Banking, and Corporate. It offers general banking services for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments. The company also underwrites bank-eligible securities and other fixed-income securities eligible for underwriting by financial subsidiaries; sells loans and derivatives; and offers advisory services. In addition, it offers various services, such as mortgage banking; title insurance and loan-closing; brokerage; correspondent banking; nationwide check clearing and remittance processing; trust, fiduciary, and agency; equipment finance; and investment and financial advisory services. Further, the company sells mutual fund and retail insurance products; and credit cards. It operates approximately 500 banking offices in 22 states under the First Horizon Bank brand; and 400 banking centers in 12 states under the FHN Financial brand in the United States. The company was formerly known as First Horizon National Corporation and changed its name to First Horizon Corporation in November 2020. First Horizon Corporation was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.
Agence-France Presse quoted May as saying that she is clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and to the wider Middle East. It also reported that Britain and the GCC had issued a joint statement after the meeting, promising the development of a strategic partnership spanning politics, defense, and trade. The statement declared that Britain would maintain a presence throughout the region, with some defense staff being stationed in Dubai, on the Persian Gulf coast opposite to Iran.

In this sense, the joint statement may be seen to function as a partial or initial step toward reestablishing Arab confidence in Western support or leadership. Various reports have indicated that that confidence has wavered in the wake of recent Western policy changes surrounding the June 2015 Iran nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. That agreement has been widely regarded as signifying a change in the stance of the US and its close allies toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although close encounters between the US Navy and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have actually increased since the conclusion of the negotiations, the Obama administration has tended to downplay these incidents and the associated Iranian rhetoric.

The relative absence of US-led pressure on Iran has contributed to a situation in which the Gulf Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, have engaged in rising levels of self-directed action against the Iranians and their foreign proxies. This includes direct action by a Saudi-led coalition against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen  action that was initially taken over the objections of Obama administration officials.

The American approach to Iran is expected to change once again once presidential power transitions from Barack Obama to his Republican successor Donald Trump. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly decried Obamas nuclear agreement as one of the worst agreements in US history, as well as harshly criticizing other supposedly weak aspects of Obamas foreign policy.

But more than a month remains before Trump takes office, and as the GCC waits for the promised shift, Prime Minister Mays promises could serve as an early boost to their hopes for more assertive Western backing. But this is not to say that Mays contribution to the GCC meeting was entirely one-sided. In fact, on the crucial topic of the nuclear agreement, she effectively broke with President-elect Trump by insisting that the deal must be preserved. As the Telegraph noted, May upheld the talking point that the deal could serve as an important tool for the international community to engage with the Islamic Republic over its aggressions.

Whereas Trump initially promised to tear up the JCPOA, he has more recently appeared to accept the notion that this would be difficult to do with such a multilateral agreement. Subsequent to the election, his commentary on the nuclear deal has focused on the notion of renegotiation, while some analysts have simply urged him to enforce the existing terms more strictly than the Obama administration had done.

It remains to be seen where May and other world leaders will stand when it comes to these possible measures. At the same time that some such leaders view the JCPOA as grounds for constructive interaction with the Islamic Republic, it is certain that many also see potential benefits for their own countries in the oil investments and trade agreements that it enables. Such leaders may push back against efforts to undermine the deal, but may also be willing to work together with the Trump administration to make sure that Iran is fully held accountable.

As a matter of fact, the Telegraph points out that May has indicated that she considers the US President-elect to be very easy to talk to and keenly interested in preserving the special relationship between Britain and the US. On the other hand, some commentaries on Trumps prospective Middle East policy have suggested that he may not value the same sort of special relationship with the Gulf Arab kingdoms, which he has suggested should be made to pay for continued American support.

Nevertheless, if the Trump and May administrations cooperate closely over Middle East policy, they may still jointly reassure the Saudis and their allies over the prospects for long-term Western support against Iran. In other words, Mays assurance of support for the GCC goes hand-in-hand with Trumps comparatively hardline approach to Iran policy, even if these two trends are backed up by slightly different motives.

Still, there are lingering dangers that Trump will clash with May and other European leaders, considering that he is regarded as a threat to investments that those countries hope to make in Iran. This threat was highlighted on Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal, in a report on an agreement between the Islamic Republic and the British-Dutch energy giant, Shell.

It has been suggested that Trump may intensify sanctions on Iran. But even if this is not the case, stringent enforcement of sanctions that are currently in place would continue to make it difficult for Western companies to do business with Iran, or for Iran to obtain Western financing for collaborative projects. Despite this, and despite Iranian contracts that still strive to constrain foreign influence, Shell is gambling on the prospect of Iranian trade relations expanding rather than contracting after Trump takes office.

Notwithstanding the threats of more hardline Western policies being led by President Trump, the British Prime Ministers comments to the GCC seem to be a source of encouragement for Shell and other actual and prospective investors. Indeed, Shell is far from the only company that has shown an apparently eager response to the vigorous international defense of the JCPOA.

On Wednesday, a report by UPI pointed out that a delegation from the Austrian energy company OMV was on its way to visit Tehran, where it would discuss strengthening energy ties. The report claims that Iranian openings to Europe had made OMV the latest in a string of companies knocking on Irans door.

It remains to be seen whether this pattern will continue into the Trump era. But if it does, Mays visit to the GCC underscores the next challenge: to balance this pursuit of trade ties with the commitment to limiting Irans destabilizing influence over the Middle East. Meanwhile, the Gulf Arab states can be expected to continue vying with the Islamic Republic over their respective shares of the struggling global oil market. Lately, Iran has seemed to acquire the upper hand in this economic struggle, but if Irans growth can be constrained by other means, the GCC may be much more willing to accept some of the geopolitical consequences of the Iran nuclear deal.
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. provides government-sponsored managed care services. The company operates in three segments: Medicaid Health Plans, Medicare Health Plans, and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs). The Medicaid Health Plans segment offers plans for beneficiaries of temporary assistance for needy families, supplemental security income, and aged blind and disabled residents; and other state-based programs, such as children's health insurance programs and long-term services and supports programs for qualifying families who are not eligible for Medicaid. The Medicare Health Plans segment provides Medicare, a federal program that provides eligible persons aged 65 and over, as well as some disabled persons with a range of hospital, medical, and prescription drug benefits; Medicare Advantage, a Medicare's managed care alternative to the original Medicare program, which offers individuals standard Medicare benefits directly through Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; and coordinated care plans that are administered through health maintenance organizations and require members to seek health care services and select a primary care physician from a network of health care providers. The Medicare PDPs segment provides Medicare part D PDP plans to Medicare-eligible beneficiaries. Its PDP plans offer national in-network prescription drug coverage, including a preferred pharmacy network. As of December 31, 2018, the company served approximately 5.5 million members in the United States. WellCare Health Plans, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.
Consolidated Edison, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated electric, gas, and steam delivery businesses in the United States. It offers electric services to approximately 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County; gas to approximately 1.1 million customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens, and Westchester County; and steam to approximately 1,555 customers in parts of Manhattan. The company also supplies electricity to approximately 0.3 million customers in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey; and gas to approximately 0.1 million customers in southeastern New York. In addition, it operates 533 circuit miles of transmission lines; 15 transmission substations; 64 distribution substations; 87,564 in-service line transformers; 3,924 pole miles of overhead distribution lines; and 2,291 miles of underground distribution lines, as well as 4,350 miles of mains and 377,971 service lines for natural gas distribution. Further, the company owns, operates, and develops renewable and energy infrastructure projects; and provides energy-related products and services to wholesale and retail customers, as well as invests in electric and gas transmission projects. It primarily sells electricity to industrial, commercial, residential, and government customers. The company was founded in 1823 and is based in New York, New York.
The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc..

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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.
The following companies are subsidiares of International Flavors & Fragrances: 1456111 Ontario Limited, A. Boake Roberts And Company (Holding) Limited, ASA Ventures Inc., Agtech Products Inc., Alpris Ltd., Amco SP Z.O.O, ApS Syntetic, Aroma S.A., Aromatics Holdings Limited, Aromco Ltd., Aromor, Arvin Company, Asian Investments Inc., Atelier du Parfumeur IFF Grasse SAS, BKF Vision Ltd, BSA India Food Ingr. P. Ltd., Belden Company, Branch office of DuPont Protein Technologies International Sales LLC, Bremil Industria e Comercio de Ingredientes Alimenticos Ltda. , Bremil S/A Industria De Produtos Alimenticos , Bush Boake Allen (New Zealand) Limited, Bush Boake Allen (Pension Trustees) Limited, Bush Boake Allen Australia Pty Ltd, Bush Boake Allen Benelux B.V., Bush Boake Allen Chile S.A., Bush Boake Allen Controladora S.A. de C.V., Bush Boake Allen Enterprises Limited, Bush Boake Allen Holdings (U.K.) Limited, Bush Boake Allen Inc., Bush Boake Allen Inc., Bush Boake Allen Limited, Bush Boake Allen Zimbabwe (Private) Limited, Bush Boake Allen do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, Chemical Process Materials and Equipment S.A., CitraSource Holdings L.L.C., Columbia PhytoTechnology LLC, Columbia Phytotechnology LLC, Cometra ApS, Crestmont Investment Co., Cultor Oy, DDP Specialty Products Germany GmbH & Co. KG, DDP Specialty Products Poland Sp. z.o.o., DSP Germany N&B Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Daivd Michael Netherlands B.V., Dandy Lions Limited, Danisco (China) Co. Ltd., Danisco (China) Holding Co. Ltd., Danisco (India) Private Limited, Danisco (Zhangjiagang) Textural Ingredients Co. Ltd., Danisco Argentina S.A., Danisco Australia Pty Limited, Danisco Austria GmbH, Danisco B.V., Danisco Biosciences (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Danisco Brasil Ltda., Danisco Canada Inc., Danisco Chile S.A., Danisco Colombia Ltda., Danisco Cultor (Switzerland) AG, Danisco Cultor Sweden AB, Danisco Cultor Trading Ltda., Danisco Czech Republic a.s., Danisco Deutschland GmbH, Danisco Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Danisco Egypt Trading LLC, Danisco Flexible Brasil Ltda, Danisco France SAS, Danisco Guatemala S.A., Danisco Holding USA Inc., Danisco Holdings (UK) Ltd., Danisco Holland B.V., Danisco Ingredients Belgium N.V., Danisco Italia S.p.A., Danisco Japan Limited, Danisco Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Danisco Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Danisco Mexico S.A. de C.V., Danisco New Zealand Limited, Danisco Nutrition & Bioscience Greece Ltd., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Korea Ltd., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Malaysia SDN. BHD., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Taiwan Limited, Danisco Nutrition and Biosciences India Private Ltd, Danisco Peru S.A.C., Danisco Poland Sp. z.o.o, Danisco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Danisco South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Danisco Sweeteners Oy, Danisco Switzerland AG, Danisco UK Ltd., Danisco US Inc., Danisco USA Inc., Danisco Ukraine LLC, Danisco Zaandam BV, David Michael & Company (Canada) 1986 Ltd., David Michael Europe S.A.S., Du Pont de Nemours Nigeria Limited, DuPont (Shanghai) Enterprise Co. Ltd., DuPont Acquisition LLC, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, DuPont Denmark Holding ApS, DuPont Electronics Holding LLC, DuPont LA Holding 1 BV, DuPont Lanka (Private) Limited, DuPont Nutrition (Thailand) Ltd, DuPont Nutrition Biosciences ApS, DuPont Nutrition Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, DuPont Nutrition Food Ingredients (Beijing) Co. Ltd., DuPont Nutrition Ingredientes BRASIL LTDA, DuPont Nutrition International, DuPont Nutrition Ireland, DuPont Nutrition Italy SRL (f/k/a FMC Chemical Italy SrL), DuPont Nutrition Manufacturing UK Limited, DuPont Nutrition Mexicana S.A de C.V., DuPont Nutrition Mexico S.A de C.V., DuPont Nutrition Norge AS, DuPont Nutrition Philippines Inc., DuPont Nutrition USA Inc, DuPont Nutrition and Biosciences Iberica S.L., DuPont Protein Technologies International Sales LLC, DuPont S&C Holding LLC, DuPont Shineway Luohe Food Company Limited , DuPont Shineway Luohe Protein Company Limited , DuPont US Holding LLC, DuPont de Nemours Kenya Limited, ERELEM, ETOL SK s.r.o., ETOL-RUS Ltd., Eden Essentials Inc., Envoltec Industria de Embalagens Ltda. , Enzymotec Australia PTY LTD, Enzymotec Singapore Pte. Ltd., Enzymotec USA Inc., Etol Aroma Ve Baharat Gida Urunleri San.Ve Tic.a.s., Etol JVE d.o.o., Etol Proizvodnja Arom D.O.O, Etol Skopje DRUSTVO ZA TRGOVIJA ETOL UVOZ-IZVOZ DOOEL, FYMSA Real Estate LLC (23), FYMSA del Caribe S.R.L , Fangchen International Trading Ltd. (6), Finnfeeds Finland Oy, Finnfeeds Oy, Finnsugar Bioproducts Inc., Flavor Systems International Inc., Flavors and Essences UK Limited, FoodBlenders Limited, Foreign Trade Representative of Danisco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Fragrance Resources, Fragrance Resources (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fragrance Resources Asia Pacific Ltd., Frutarom (Asia Pacific) Limited, Frutarom (Marketing) S.R.L., Frutarom (UK) Holdings Limited, Frutarom (UK) Ltd., Frutarom - Etol (UK) Limited, Frutarom Belgium N.V., Frutarom Chile S.A., Frutarom Czech Republic S.r.o, Frutarom Do Brazil Industria E Comercio Ltda., Frutarom Etol RO SRL, Frutarom Etol Ukraine LLC., Frutarom F&F Trading (Shanghai) Co., Frutarom Finance EUR AG, Frutarom Flavors (Kushan) Co Ltd., Frutarom Flavors Mexico S.A. de C.V., Frutarom Flavours (India) Private Limited (14), Frutarom France S.A.R.L, Frutarom Germany GmbH, Frutarom Gida Urunleri Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Frutarom Global Ltd., Frutarom GmbH, Frutarom Industries Ld, Frutarom Industries Ltd., Frutarom Italy S.r.l, Frutarom Kenya Limited, Frutarom Ltd., Frutarom Netherlands B.V., Frutarom Nigeria Limited, Frutarom Nordic A/S Flachsmann Scandinavia A/S Aksel Holm-Essensfabrik A / S, Frutarom Norway A.S, Frutarom Peru S.A. (Montana Food activity), Frutarom Production GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Austria GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Germany GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Switzerland AG, Frutarom Savory Solutions Ukraine, Frutarom Switzerland Finance CHF AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance GBP AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance MXN AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance USD AG, Frutarom Switzerland Ltd., Frutarom Trade & Marketing (1990) Ltd., Frutarom UK Investments Limited, Frutarom USA Holding Inc., Frutarom USA Inc., Frutarom do Brasil GRU Industria e Comercio Ltda., Genencor (China) Bio-Products Co. Ltd., Genencor International B.V., Genencor International BVBA, Genencor International Holding BV, Genencor International Indiana Inc., Genencor International Oy, Genencor International Wisconsin Inc., Genencor Mauritius Ltd., Genentech Ventures Inc., Grow Company Inc., Hagelin Flv (UK) Ltd., Hexachem Sociedad Anonima, IB EMEA Holding 2 B.V., IFF (BVI) Limited, IFF (Korea) Inc., IFF Aroma Esans Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, IFF Augusta Holdings LLC, IFF Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, IFF Benicarlo S.L., IFF Bio-Technology (Nanjing) Co. Ltd., IFF Capital Services, IFF Chemical Holdings Inc., IFF Delaware Holdings LLC, IFF Essencias e Fragrancias Ltda., IFF Flavors & Fragrances (Hangzhou) Trading Co. Ltd., IFF Fragrance GmbH, IFF Hungary Global Kft, IFF International Inc., IFF Latin American Holdings (Espana) S.L., IFF Mexico Manufactura S.A. de C.V., IFF Murcia Natural Ingredients S.L., IFF Sabores y Fragancias de Chile Ltda., IFF Turkey Aroma Ve Esans Urunleri Satis Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, IFF West Africa Limited, IFF Worldwide LLC, Ingrediants dooel Skopje, Institut Europeen de Biologie Cellulaire, International Aroma Group, International Flavors & Fragrances (Canada) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Caribe) Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances (China) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Greater Asia) Pte. Ltd, International Flavors & Fragrances (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Hong Kong) Limited, International Flavors & Fragrances (Japan) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., International Flavors & Fragrances (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Mexico) S. de R.L. de C.V., International Flavors & Fragrances (Middle East) FZ-LLC, International Flavors & Fragrances (Myanmar) Limited, International Flavors & Fragrances (Nederland) Holding B.V., International Flavors & Fragrances (Philippines) Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances (Poland) Sp. z o.o., International Flavors & Fragrances (Vietnam) Limited Liability Company, International Flavors & Fragrances (ZhangJiagang) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Zimbabwe) (Private) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances Ardenne S.a r.l., International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding I SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding II SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding III SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances Holdings LLC, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Chile) Limitada, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Espana) S.A., International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Hungary) Kft, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Nederland) B.V., International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Norden) AB, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Rus), International Flavors & Fragrances IFF (Deutschland) GmbH, International Flavors & Fragrances IFF (France) SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances Irish Acquisition Company Limited, International Flavors and Fragrances Colombia S.A.S., International Flavors and Fragrances I.F.F. (Israel) Ltd., International Flavors and Fragrances IFF (South Africa), International Flavors and Fragrances Ingredients Ltd, International Flavors e Fragrances IFF (Italia) S.r.l., International Flavours & Fragrances (Australia) Pty Ltd, International Flavours & Fragrances (CIL) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (GB) Holdings Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Mauritius) Ltd, International Flavours & Fragrances (NZ) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Pension Trustees) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Thailand) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances I.F.F. (Great Britain) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances India Private Limited (13), International Frutarom Corporation, Inventive Food Technology (ZQ) Ltd., Inventive Technology Ltd., Irish Flavours and Fragrances Limited, K-Vision Consulting and Investments Ltd, Kelp Industries Pty. Ltd, Leagel GmbH (11), Leagel S.r.l. (19), Les Ingredients Alimentaires BSA Inc., Les Laboratories Bio ForeXtra Inc., Lucas Meyer Cosmetics, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics Australia Pty Ltd, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics Canada Inc., Lucas Meyer Cosmetics S.A.S., M.P. Equity Holdings Ltd, MISR Company for Aromatic products, Manseg S.A., Mark Services Holdings Inc., N&B Chemicals Germany GmbH, N&B EMEA Holding B.V., N&B Germany Verwaltungs-GmbH, N&B International Holding B.V., N&B NL BV - Saudi Branch, N&B Real Estate Verwaltungs-GmbH, N&B Services BV, N&B Switzerland  UAE Branch, N&H EMEA Holding 1 BV, N&H EMEA Holding 2 BV, N&H EMEA Holding B.V., N&H International Holding 1 B.V., N&H International Holding 3 BV, N&H Switzerland Holding Sarl, Nardi Armoas Ltda., Neptune Merger Sub I Inc., Neptune Merger Sub II LLC, New Asia Holdco B.V., Nutra-Lease Ltd. (16), Nutrition & Bioscience (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Nutrition & Bioscience (Switzerland) GmbH, Nutrition & Bioscience (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nutrition & Bioscience Pakistan (Private) Ltd, Nutrition & Biosciences (Finland) Oy, Nutrition & Biosciences (France) SAS, Nutrition & Biosciences (Sweden) AB, Nutrition & Biosciences (UK) Ltd, Nutrition & Biosciences Argentina S.A.U., Nutrition & Biosciences Australia Pty Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences Brasil Ingredientes Ltda., Nutrition & Biosciences Canada Company, Nutrition & Biosciences Chile SpA, Nutrition & Biosciences Colombia S.A.S, Nutrition & Biosciences Hong Kong Limited, Nutrition & Biosciences Hungary Limited Liability Company, Nutrition & Biosciences Inc., Nutrition & Biosciences Italy S.r.l., Nutrition & Biosciences Japan K.K., Nutrition & Biosciences Korea Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Nutrition & Biosciences Netherlands B.V., Nutrition & Biosciences New Zealand Limited, Nutrition & Biosciences Singapore Pte. Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences USA 1 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences USA 2 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences USA 3 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences Vietnam Company Limited, Nutrition Biosciences USA 4 Inc, Nutrition and Biosciences South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Nutrition and Biosciences Spain S.L., OOO WIBERG Rus, P.T. Essence Indonesia, PARMA FA, PIASA USA (24), PM Taiwan Inc., PT Blue Cube Indonesia, PTI Astana LLC, PTI CA LLC, PTI Center LLC, PTI Group of Companies LLC (GK PTI), PTI-BEL TUE, PTI-MOL LLC, PTI-NN LLC, PTI-Ukraine LLC, Platinum Absolut LLC, Pointer Specialty Chemicals LLC, Protein Technologies Do Brasil Ltda., Protein Technologies International Asia Pacific LLC, Protein Technologies International Development LLC, Protein Technologies International Europe LLC, Proveedores de Ingenieria Alimentaria S.A. de C.V. ("PIASA") (17), Prowin International Ltd., Pucheng Yongfang Fragrance Technology Co. Ltd. , Redbrook (UK) Limited, Redbrook Blentech Limited, Redbrook Ingredient Services Limited, Rene Laurent SAS, Representaciones FYMSA S.A. de C.V (FYMSA) (18), Rohm and Haas Wood Treatment LLC, SP EMEA Holding 8 BV, SP Holding IB Inc., SP Nutrition and Health (Singapore) Inc., Sabormax Industria de Alimentos e Representacao Ltda., Savoury Flavours (Holding) Limited, Savoury Flavours Ltd., Solae (UK) Limited, Solae Argentina S.A., Solae Australia Pty Limited, Solae Belgium N.V., Solae Company India Private Limited, Solae Denmark ApS, Solae Deutschland GmbH (f/k/a CSY Agri-Processing (Deutschland) GmbH), Solae Do Brasil Industria E Comercio De Alimentos Ltda., Solae Europe S.A., Solae Holdings LLC, Solae Investimentos LTDA, Solae LLC (SMLLC of Solae Holdings), Solae Overseas B.V., Solae Trading (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Solae de Mexico S.A. de C.V. (formerly PTI Mexico), Solae do Brasil Holdings Ltda., Sonarome Private Limited (15), Southern Cross Botanicals Pty Ltd, Specialty Products Balkans d.o.o., Specialty Products FZE, Specialty Products N&H Inc, Specialty Products US LLC, Speximo AB, TNI Investments NV, Tastepoint Flavors (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Tastepoint Inc., Tastepoint OOO, Tastepoint Polska Sp.z o.o, Tastepoint SA (Pty) Ltd., Tastepoint Tovarna arom in etericnih olj d.o.o., Taura Natural Ingredients (Australia) Pty Limited, Taura Natural Ingredients (North America) Inc., Taura Natural Ingredients Holdings Pty Limited, Taura Natural Ingredients Ltd., Taura Natural Ingredients NV, Tekhnomol Soya Products LLC, The Additive Advantage LLC, The Additive Advantage LLC, The Foote & Jenks Corporation, The Mighty Company Limited (21), Thorungaverksmidjan HF (12), UFC America Inc., Unique Flavors Proprietary Limited, Unique Food Solutions Proprietary Limited, Unique Ingredients Limited, VAYA PHARMA HONKG LTD, VITIVA proizvodnja in storitve d.d., Vantodio Holdings Limited, Vaya Pharma Inc., Vaya Pharma Pte Ltd. (20), Venezuela Protein Technologies Internationla -PTI C.A., W.W. Holdings Inc., WIBERG Italia S.r.l., Wiberg Baharat San.Tic.A.S, Wiberg Canada Inc., Wiberg Corporation of California, Wiberg Corporation., Yderns 1 ApS, ZAO Danisco, extrakt chemie Dr. Bruno Stellmach GmbH, iDrug Delivery Inc.(Delaware) (22), nternational Flavors & Fragrances S.R.L., van Ameringen-Haebler Inc., and world wide WIBERG GmbH.

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The members of this spy network were from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. They were sentenced according to their own confessions and testimonies of the witnesses and available documents and proofs. The documents proved that the network has been formed with the aim of inflicting military, security and political strikes on Saudi Arabia and in favor of the Iranian regime.

Members of the spy network had connections with high officials of Iranian regimes Intelligence Ministry and leaders of the regime including Ali Khamenei, the regimes Supreme leader, in order to receive funding and material and mental support. After surveillance and registration of documents, members of the network would send encoded reports to the Iranian regimes Ministry of Intelligence through electronic accounts by using encoded software. They were also trying to create chaos and anarchy similar to the events in the city of Qatif.

TH Saudi Arabia Interior Ministry announced in March 2013 that they have arrested members of an Iranian regimes spy network in several areas including Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and eastern part of the country.

Saudi authorities investigation of this networks elements showed that these individuals were affiliated to Hezbollah militants. Posters and documents obtained from these people indicated that they praised the Hezbollah militia. The GCC countries have previously listed Hezbollah militants as a terrorist group.
UniFirst Corporation provides workplace uniforms and protective work wear clothing in the United States, Europe, and Canada. The company operates through U.S. and Canadian Rental and Cleaning, Manufacturing, Specialty Garments Rental and Cleaning, and First Aid segments. It designs, manufactures, personalizes, rents, cleans, delivers, and sells a range of uniforms and protective clothing, including shirts, pants, jackets, coveralls, lab coats, smocks, and aprons; and specialized protective wear, such as flame resistant and high visibility garments. The company also rents and sells industrial wiping products, floor mats, facility service products, and dry and wet mops; restroom and cleaning supplies comprising air fresheners, paper products, gloves, masks, sanitizers, and hand soaps; and other textile products. In addition, it provides first aid cabinet services and other safety supplies; decontaminates and cleans work clothes, and other items that is exposed to radioactive materials; and services special cleanroom protective wear and facilities. Further, it offers a range of garment service options, including full-service rental programs in which garments are cleaned and serviced; lease programs in which garments are cleaned and maintained by individual employees; and purchase programs to buy garments and related items directly. The company serves automobile service centers and dealers, delivery services, food and general merchandise retailers, food processors and service operations, light manufacturers, maintenance facilities, restaurants, service companies, soft and durable goods wholesalers, transportation companies, healthcare providers, government agencies, research and development laboratories, high technology companies, and utilities operating nuclear reactors, as well as others who require employee clothing for image, identification, protection, or utility purposes. UniFirst Corporation was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts.
UNICEF/UN040089/Romenzi

AMMAN, 11 December 2016  Nearly one in five children across the Middle East and North Africa is in need of immediate humanitarian assistance, according to UNICEF.



Over the past 70 years, countries across the region have made major strides in protecting childrens rights and wellbeing. But, today, as UNICEF marks its 70th anniversary, violent conflict, poverty and displacement have created dire conditions for children, pushing almost 29 million boys and girls to the brink, and reversing decades of steady progress.



Looking back on 70 years of UNICEFs work for children is a source of great pride. Every country in the region has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, less children die before the age of five, and school enrolment rates have improved, said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. But conflict risks reversing these gains for 157 million children across the region, making our mandate to protect them more crucial than ever.



After years of conflict across the Middle East and North Africa children have increasingly come under attack and suffer the brunt of war in half of the countries in the region.

An estimated 8.4 million Syrian children are in need of immediate assistance for shelter, food and water, compared to 500,000 in 2012. Nearly half a million children are living in besieged areas in Syria and have received little to no aid in almost two years.

Almost 10 million children in Yemen are affected by conflict and living in critical conditions, with nearly 400,000 at risk of severe acute malnutrition.

Extreme brutality against children is rife in Iraq. According to reports, nearly 400 child rights violations were recorded since January 2016. The ongoing military operation in Mosul has displaced nearly 74,000 people, almost half of them children.

In Sudan, Libya and the State of Palestine, conflict has pushed millions of children out of their homes and schools and denied them access to basic services.

The Middle East and North Africa is home to half the worlds refugees and internally displaced people, but accounts for only five per cent of global population.

These grim figures on our 70th anniversary should be an urgent wake up call to the world to work harder so that each and every child across the Middle East and North Africa can survive, thrive and be reach their full potential, said Cappelaere. This is not a lost generation. History will judge us: we must invest more in the regions children today.



UNICEF is responding to the immediate and long-term needs of vulnerable children across the region through clean water and sanitation, basic health services, learning opportunities and psycho-social support.

In Syria and neighbouring refugee-host countries, UNICEF has helped vaccinate over 21 million children against polio in 2016.

This year, over 82,000 children in Sudan have received psycho-social support through child-friendly spaces and home visits by social workers.

Since January, 4 million children in Yemen have received nutritional services with support from UNICEF, including micronutrient supplements, nutrition screening and treatment for severe acute malnutrition.

Through the No Lost Generation initiative, UNICEF has helped provide formal and informal learning opportunities for Syrian refugees in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

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There are no significant changes, but it seems that the volcano has been a bit calmer during the past 24 hours. Small to moderate vulcanian explosions continue to occur, but their average frequency and strength seems to have diminished a bit.The lava flow on the southern slope is still active, although there is very little advance and less rockfalls than before, suggesting that it might be more or less cut off from its source at the dome or that the effusion rate has dropped for the moment.

Background:

Colima volcano is one of the most active in North America and one of the potentially most dangerous ones. It has had more than 30 periods of eruptions since 1585, including several significant eruptions in the late 1990s. Scientific monitoring of the volcano began 20 years ago.The Colima volcanic complex is the most prominent volcanic center of the western Mexican Volcanic Belt. It consists of two southward-younging volcanoes, Nevado de Colima (the 4320 m high point of the complex) on the north and the 3850-m-high historically active Volcan de Colima at the south.A group of cinder cones of probable late-Pleistocene age is located on the floor of the Colima graben west and east of the Colima complex. Volcan de Colima (also known as Volcan Fuego) is a youthful stratovolcano constructed within a 5-km-wide caldera, breached to the south, that has been the source of large debris avalanches. Major slope failures have occurred repeatedly from both the Nevado and Colima cones, and have produced a thick apron of debris-avalanche deposits on three sides of the complex. Frequent historical eruptions date back to the 16th century. Occasional major explosive eruptions (most recently in 1913) have destroyed the summit and left a deep, steep-sided crater that was slowly refilled and then overtopped by lava dome growth.---
The trophy for the first Hill Staff Homebrew Competition was inspired by Schoolhouse Rock's "I'm Just a Bill" cartoon. (American Homebrewers Association)

The latest battle in Congress was fought between the offices of a Republican senator from Louisiana and a Democratic representative from Northern California. But it wasnt over free trade, or military budgets, or a bridge to nowhere: It was the finals of the first-ever Hill Staff Homebrew Contest, a challenge launched by the Brewers Association, a trade group for craft brewers, and the American Homebrewers Association.

As Katie Marisic, Brewers Association federal affairs manager, walked the halls of Capitol Hill, attending meetings and visiting congressional offices to discuss legislative priorities for breweries, she says staffers would regularly tell her, Oh, I home-brew. Some even shared their creations with her. She talked with American Homebrewers Association Director Gary Glass, Marisic says, and they decided to turn that previously untapped love of political home-brew into an interoffice contest, complete with a trophy.

As you know, Marisic adds, Washington is a very competitive town. (Still, she also pointed out that home-brewing is, for many, a collaborative project, even with differing experience levels. Its something they could do on teams: Get together and brew a beer.)

And its a good time for home-brewing in Washington, with the opening of the Arlington Brew Shop in Rosslyn this year and the continued growth of the D.C. Homebrew Shop at 3 Stars Brewery in upper Northwest.

Twenty-five Hill staffers signed up for the contest, though only 14 ready-to-drink beers were delivered last week to the 3 Stars taproom, where a team of eight certified national and local beer judges waited to evaluate them. The contenders levels of experience were all over the map, says John Moorhead, who took a break from directing the National Homebrew Competition, the largest beer competition in the world, to organize this contest. One guy has been brewing for 20 years. Another told us this was his first competition, which is really cool to hear.

The quality of the beer also varied widely: For every delicate lavender saison, there was a wheat beer that just didnt taste right. Thats not unusual at home-brew competitions, but Moorhead says he was surprised by the submissions themselves: More Belgian-style beers than IPAs, which is not the way the National Homebrew Competition entries have been trending.

In the end, the judges narrowed the field to two beers: a malty biere de garde created by Noah Oppenheim, a Sea Grant Knauss Fellow working in the office of Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.); and a double IPA brewed by Chris Anderson, a legislative assistant for Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and his frequent brewing collaborator Matt Buckham, who now works for the Heritage Foundation after leaving the Hill. By a consensus vote, a trio of judges picked Tapdancing Fezziwig, the big, pleasantly bitter double IPA dry-hopped with Apollo and Columbus hops.



Hill Staff Homebrew Competition winner Chris Anderson, right, accepts his award from American Homebrewers Association Director Gary Glass, left, and National Homebrew Competition Director John Moorhead during a ceremony in the Rayburn House Office Building. (American Homebrewers Association)

Anderson and Buckham picked up the award  shaped like the star of Schoolhouse Rocks Im Just a Bill cartoon but labeled Beer instead of Bill  at a ceremony in the Rayburn House Office Building on Thursday night. Anderson took the statue back to Cassidys office, where it will serve as bragging rights until the 2017 competition, which Glass hopes will be bigger. At the reception after the announcement of winners, I interacted with a lot of home-brewers who werent aware of the competition, Glass says. The goal is to build that awareness among the staff, that there are other home-brewers here, and maybe begin more collaborations.

It may inspire some other staffers to take up the hobby. After all, Glass says, the contest is a great opportunity to highlight what home-brewing is all about to some very influential people.

Anderson and Buckham, who brew in Buckhams Merrifield home, are now considering entering the National Homebrew Competition. Your friends lie to you about how good a home-brewed beer is, Buckham says, and Anderson adds that We decided that, if we win, that adds legitimacy.

Meanwhile, they look forward to defending their title  and reaching across the aisle. We brew beers to take a break from where were work, says Buckham. Politics is divisive. Beer is not.
In this Jan. 28, 2013, file photo, Barbara J. Mattson, with the Connecticut State Polices firearms training unit, holds up a Bushmaster rifle, the same make and model of gun used by Adam Lanza in the Sandy Hook School shooting, for a demonstration during a gun-law hearing. (Jessica Hill/AP)

Corey Stewart has enjoyed many titles during his political career: longtime Republican chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, Virginia state chairman of Donald Trumps presidential campaign (until he was fired), current Republican candidate for Virginia governor.

The latest bullet point in his resume? Semiautomatic weapon donor.

On Saturday, he announced that hes giving away an AR-15 rifle, the style of weapon used in several of the nations mass shootings and most notorious crimes, including the 2002 Washington-area sniper attacks, one of which was a homicide at a gas station in Stewarts county.

In a news release Saturday, Stewart announced the AR-15 giveaway knowing full well that it would probably attract controversy  and news coverage.

If elected to be your next Governor, you can be 100% CERTAIN I will never compromise on your God-given right to keep and bear arms, Stewart wrote. In fact, even though Im sure its certain to send the liberal media into a frenzy, to show my dedication to the Second Amendment my campaign is GIVING AWAY an AR-15 to one lucky supporter.

Corey Stewart, a Republican candidate for governor of Virginia, speaks at the Virginia Chamber of Commerce Economic Summit in Williamsburg on Dec. 2, 2016. (Steve Helber/AP)

Shifting into third person, Stewart then wrote: Thats right. Corey Stewart for Governor is giving away an AR-15.

[A lawmaker plans to give away assault rifles as fundraiser prizes days after Orlando]

AR-15-style weapons and other assault-style rifles have been the subject of fierce debate because of their use in mass shootings across the United States. They were used in the Orlando club massacre this summer that killed 49 people; the December 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., that left 14 people dead; the December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults; and the mass shooting in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater in July 2012 that killed a dozen. Dean Harold Meyers, 53, was killed as he pumped gas on Oct. 9, 2002, in Prince William County with a similar weapon  a Bushmaster XM-15  part of the Washington-area sniper attacks that killed 10 and wounded three.

[The gun the Orlando shooter used was a Sig Sauer MCX, not an AR-15. That doesnt change much.]

In an interview with The Washington Post on Saturday, Stewart dismissed the debate surrounding the weapons. Look, this is a rifle that people are permitted to own in the United States. Theres nothing wrong with that, Stewart said. Its a semiautomatic rifle. It is not an assault rifle. This is a great hunting rifle, and its also great for recreation use.

[Assault rifles are becoming mass shooters weapon of choice]

Stewart said that winners will have to undergo a background check and that hes giving away the weapon through a dealer to adhere to state and federal regulations. Even though the contest rules say the drawing for a winner will be Dec. 21, Stewart said he hopes to give the gun away in January to highlight his hopes for overturning a Virginia law that requires gun owners to obtain a permit if they want to carry concealed weapons.

Stewarts news release has a link to the contests website, which encourages people to fill out a credit-card form and donate to Stewarts campaign. Readers also can click on small print to read the contest rules, which say you dont need to give Stewart money to win.

One key rule: You must be a U.S. citizen, age 18 and above.
School cafeterias often draw on less-than-pleasing stereotypes, with many thinking back to the days of servers in hairnets peddling unappetizing slop to lines of disappointed schoolchildren.

Rodney Taylor, Fairfax County Public Schools food services director, sees something entirely different. In his ideal school cafeteria, children would have options much like they would in a mall food court. They would find meals similar to those in their favorite fast-casual eateries, with salad bars, fresh wraps and made-to-order burritos. Produce would come from local farmers.

Taylor, a veteran of the school-food-service industry who helped bring the concept of salad bars and farm-to-table to school lunchrooms in Southern California, came to Fairfax County a year ago with the goal of turning it into a national model for school lunches.

He is a long way from achieving his ideal lunchroom, but Taylor already has made major strides, turning the money-losing food services program in one of the largest school systems in the nation into a revenue generator. He has installed more salad bars and has introduced Fresh Express, a line of entree salads and wraps similar to what is served in restaurants like Panera. He said he has saved the district nearly $1 million in food costs and is in talks to buy directly from local farmers.

I found my passion in providing nutritious meals to kids, and so I wanted to go about changing that and by being creative and innovative and mimicking what happens in the marketplace, said Taylor, who served in the same role at Californias Riverside Unified School District and Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.

An array of healthy food choices await students in the cafeteria at Lake Braddock Secondary. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

For Taylor, the mission to transform school lunches is personal. He grew up poor in Southern California and relied on friends and their families to feed him. While school lunches might be the butt of jokes for some, they are a lifeline for children who dont get enough to eat at home. Even in relatively affluent Fairfax County, 28 percent of schoolchildren  or roughly 52,000 students  qualify for free- or reduced-price meals.

I see it as my mission to ensure that no child feels the indignity of being hungry, Taylor said. Not on my watch.

School lunches have undergone massive changes since 2010, when Congress passed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. The act, championed by first lady Michelle Obama, required schools to offer more fruits and vegetables and to cut the amount of salt, sugar and fat in food served at school. But some cafeteria managers panned the changes because they operate on shoestring budgets and complain that their picky consumers toss fruits, vegetables and healthier entrees into the trash.

[Why the healthy school lunch program is in trouble. Before/after photos of what students ate.]

The Pew Charitable Trusts surveyed 489 school nutrition managers nationwide and found that 6 in 10 still face obstacles related to the updated federal requirements. But more than half of those surveyed saw a rise in revenue. Other studies have shown that children are eating more fruits and vegetables under the new guidelines.

Taylor, who advised researchers at Pew on strategies to get children to eat healthier, thinks the challenge is surmountable with some creativity. Schoolchildren seem to like salad bars, he said, because they give them a choice of which vegetables end up on their plates. Younger children prefer sliced apples to whole ones, which can be difficult to tackle when they are losing their baby teeth.

At Lake Braddock Secondary, a combination middle school and high school that educates 4,200 students, Taylor is starting to see his vision come to life. Cafeteria manager Pamela Laing said about 3,000 children purchase full lunch or lunch items every day.

Individual side salads tempt students in the lunch line at Lake Braddock Secondary. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

The cafeteria features a number of lines where students can get a wide array of foods. An Italian-themed line serves tiny calzones, personal pan pizzas and small meatball sandwiches. An Asian-themed line features orange chicken and teriyaki beef patties with brown rice. Laing said students are most excited about the burger line, where they can pick up small cheeseburgers and hamburgers. Another line features fresh-made entree salads and wraps.

Before students reach the cashier, they pass by a station with oranges and tiny trays of salad, a mix of iceberg lettuce and dark greens topped with tomatoes and radishes.

Laing said students seem to be taking to the new options. Before, her cafeteria served one main entree and pizza.

We sold a lot of pizza, Laing said, because many students did not like the entree options. Now we dont sell as much pizza.

The food still gets mixed reviews from students: On a recent school day, one complained that the sauce pooled too much in the middle of his personal pan pizza. Others responded with a shrug.

It tastes good, but Im not sure whether its healthy or not, said one ninth-grader, who had picked up a cheeseburger.

Taylor last week scanned the lunchroom and sat down with students to talk to them about his ideas for school lunches. At the back of the cafeteria, he scooted into a booth where two girls were working on entree salads.

Theyre really good! said Hannah Stone, a 17-year-old senior. I used to pack my lunch, but now that theres salads Ill probably eat here every day.

Her friend, Katie Curran, had picked all of the steamed chicken from her salad, leaving just a bed of lettuce and some dressing. Taylor asked why.

I just dont really trust school meat, she said with a nervous laugh.

Oh, cmon! Taylor replied.

The girl popped a piece in her mouth.

It was good! she said. It wasnt as bad as I thought it would be.
Actor Edward James Olmos, left, compares notes with high school teacher Jaime Escalante in 1988 during the filming of Stand And Deliver. Escalante inspired a national movement to help more students become high achievers. (Warner Bros, via AP)

While working for The Washington Post in Los Angeles in 1982, I stumbled upon a math teacher named Jaime Escalante. He was helping large numbers of low-income Hispanic students master calculus and pass the Advanced Placement exam.

Such high achievement in urban schools was unusual then. It still is. Our national education policy has mostly ignored highfliers and has focused instead on getting low-performing students up to grade level. But just as the new Escalante postage stamps are shining a light on his achievements, the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is finally giving states an opportunity to encourage their most-accomplished students.

[From the archives: Jaime Escalante didnt just stand and deliver. He changed U.S. schools forever]

A report by the Fordham Institute, High Stakes for High Achievers: State Accountability in the Age of ESSA, describes in detail how states could make this happen. Then the report laments how badly almost all of them are doing at it, particularly in the Washington area:

 Just four states  Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho and Oregon  base at least half of a schools rating on how much all students, including those at the top, have improved. Most have stuck with the old way of measuring just the percentage of students reaching a proficiency mark. That ignores increased achievement at the upper end of the scale.

 Just five states  Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and Wyoming  separately report the progress of high-achieving students. Just 14 states give extra credit for students who reach an advanced level on state tests.

 Maryland and Virginia, the report says, do little to rate the progress of high-achieving students, though Maryland State Education Department spokesman William Reinhard said his state is making changes and said the Fordham report might be premature.

 The District is using a model that gives schools extra credit for students who reach an advanced level, but it does not report their progress separately and does not report how much all students have improved.

Sadly, federal regulators are making it even more difficult to do the right thing. The Fordham scholars  Michael J. Petrilli, David Griffith, Brandon Wright and Audrey Kim  say that the District and the 14 states that give extra credit for students at the advanced level would be violating U.S. Education Department draft rules if they continue to do so.

The report praises the previous federal No Child Left Behind law for making schools accountable in some way. But that law fixed on the percentage reaching the proficiency mark and little else.

There was absolutely no incentive to worry about the achievement of those who had already reached, or were likely to reach, that bar, the report says. To put it bluntly, NCLB did some good for Americas struggling pupils, but for high achievers, it mostly hit the education pause button. . . . Those most victimized by this regime were high-achieving poor and minority students  kids who were dependent on the school system to cultivate their potential and accelerate their achievement.

[Americas Most Challenging High Schools]

I produce for The Post an annual list, Americas Most Challenging High Schools, that ranks high schools based on participation rates in college-level AP, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge exams. Escalante, made famous by the film Stand and Deliver, inspired a national movement to help more students reach that level.

But in elementary schools and middle schools, the subject of the Fordham report, the best students dont get as much of a challenge, usually no more than an occasional gifted class. The countrys future economic competitiveness, scientific leadership, and national security depend on how successfully we maximize the learning of our ablest children, the report says.

In the past, many states proved themselves incapable of raising standards beyond what federal rules forced on them. The District  plus Maryland, Virginia and the rest of the states  should not make this same mistake again. They have an opportunity under the new law to make it more likely that their best students will reach their full potential. They should seize it.


A crowd gathers for an Emerge Maryland fundraiser Thursday at Open Works in Baltimore. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

Martha McKenna expected about 75 people to attend her groups annual fundraiser. Then Hillary Clinton lost.

And the RSVP list for last weeks gathering for Emerge Maryland, part of a national network that identifies potential female Democratic candidates for office and encourages them to run, swelled to nearly 250 people.

Business executives, mothers, lawyers, community activists, elected officials and would-be politicians were among those who filled the arts space in Northeast Baltimore on Thursday night. They were shocked by the defeat of the former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady in the presidential election and were troubled by the looming departure of the only two women in Marylands congressional delegation.

Most of all, they were eager to join the effort to get more Maryland women elected.

Its women saying were not done, said Del. Brooke E. Lierman (D-Baltimore City), who participated in Emerges inaugural training program in 2013 and was elected to the House of Delegates a year later. We may be devastated, but were fired up.

The 23 women selected for this round of training will spend the next six months learning the nuts and bolts of running for office. Many are gearing up for the 2018 elections.

There are a lot of delegates in this room; they just havent been elected yet, McKenna, the chair of Emerge Maryland, told the crowd to enthusiastic applause.



A speaker addresses the crowd at the fundraiser for Emerge Maryland, part of a national network that identifies potential female Democratic candidates for office and encourages them to run. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

Women make up 31.9 percent of the Maryland General Assembly, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. A decade ago, it was 35.6 percent.

Only two women  Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh (D) and Frederick County Executive Jan H. Gardner (D)  hold the top elected post in the states 24 main jurisdictions, and no woman hold any of the four statewide elected executive positions  governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller.

And with the retirement of Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D), Rep. Donna F. Edwardss loss to Rep. Chris Van Hollen in the Democratic primary race for Mikulskis seat, and the defeat of women in several other congressional races, Maryland will send an all-male delegation to the Capitol next month for the first time since 1941.

In terms of the pipeline, it has been leaking, said Connie Morella, a Republican who represented Marylands 8th Congressional District for 16 years.

In 1987, while Morella was in Congress, there were five women in the 10-member Maryland delegation. Im very sad about the decreasing numbers, Morella said, noting a drop in female representation in Maryland and also for Republican congresswomen nationwide.

Kathleen Matthews, a former news anchor and Marriott executive who ran for Morellas old seat this year but lost in the Democratic primary, said her concern about the lack of women officeholders led her to join the board of directors of Emerge Maryland a short time later.

Del. Joseline A. Pena-Melnyk (D-Prince Georges), who was defeated in the 4th Congressional District primary, made the same move.

Both Pena-Melnyk and Del. Maggie L. McIntosh (D-Baltimore City) say they are weighing statewide runs in 2018. They were among the current officeholders cheering on the recruits at last weeks event.

[After Clintons loss, two female lawmakers in Md. consider statewide run]

Twice as many women applied to participate in the program than last year, said Diane Penkova Fink, executive director of Emerge Maryland. The group decided to expand from 15 to 23 because of the increased interest.

Over nine sessions and 75 hours of training, the program tries to demystify the process of running for elected office, Matthews said, offering Democratic women advice and support about fundraising, mounting a media campaign, and engaging labor and community and business leaders.

Youll get more women [in office] when you get more women to run, said Matthews, who plans another political campaign but has not made a decision on which office she will pursue.



Denise Mitchell of College Park, Md., is part of a new training class at Emerge Maryland. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

This years class is the most diverse group in Emerge Marylands five years. Ten are African American, nine are white, two are Hispanic, one is Asian and one is multiracial. Their ages range from 29 to 60, and they represent Baltimore City and seven counties: Howard, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Calvert, Anne Arundel, Frederick and Baltimore.

Marisol Johnson, an appointee to the Baltimore County Board of Education and the countys Democratic Central Committee, said she looks forward to learning and building a sisterhood with others in the group.

She said she is driven by her belief that the state needs more Latinas in elected office, although she, too, hasnt decided what office she might pursue.

Our country is changing, Johnson said. And we need people [in office] to make decisions who represent the change.



Marisal Johnson is a member of Baltimore Countys Democratic Central Committee. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

Lily Qi, who grew up in China and says she never imagined a life in politics, applied to Emerge to learn about the process.

Im in the class to explore, said Qi, who works in public policy in Montgomery County on economic development and workforce development issues. She said more immigrants should become engaged.



Lily Qi, who was grew up in China, wants more immigrants to be engaged in U.S. politics. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

Denise Mitchell, who lost her bid for College Park mayor in 2015, said there is a sense of urgency to turn the numbers around in Maryland, especially now Barbara Mikulski is gone.

Who do we have now? Mitchell said. We have to grow our next set of leaders.

Fink said she is feeling inspired by what she calls the Hillary factor.

As depressing as this election was, I am encouraged that women have not shirked away, are not hiding in the corners, she said. They are saying, We are the ones who are going to make a difference. 
Chris Denkers opens a tank recently installed in his Coyote Hole Ciderworks in Mineral, Va. Hard cider will eventually be bottled from this tank. With him is business partner Jason Shupp. Coyote Hole Ciderworks, which is under construction and slated to open in April 2017, will produce premium, all natural hard cider made from 100% Virginia apples and fruit in the heart of Lake Anna, Virginia. (Photo by Gregory S. Schneider/TWP) (Gregory S. Schneider/TWP)

In the scruffy pine woods near Lake Anna, workers are spraying insulation into the walls of Chris Denkerss big gamble.

Denkers, 33, prowls the construction site in jeans, Marmot fleece and ball cap. He built most of this himself, a barn-like structure with red siding and a stone-clad foundation. In April, he plans to open it up as the Coyote Hole Ciderworks  a huge investment for his family and friends in an industry thats suddenly on the rise in Virginia.

Ten years ago, there was only a single cidery in the state, and it had just opened. Denkerss will be the 19th.

Or 18th  state officials disagree on the exact number. The industry is just now getting big enough to track. The states Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control didnt collect production and tax data on cidermakers until July.

Its a baby industry, said Denkers, who moved here seven years ago from Upstate New York. A lot of wineries are now starting to do cider.

Jason Shupp, left, and Chris Denkers, right, outside their Coyote Hole Ciderworks in Mineral, Va., which is under construction and slated to open in April 2017. Coyote Hole Ciderworks will produce premium, all natural hard cider made from 100% Virginia apples and fruit and is located in the heart of Lake Anna, Virginia. (Photo by Gregory S. Schneider/TWP) (Gregory S. Schneider/TWP)

The rise was predictable. There seems to be a winery at every highway exit, and craft beer breweries are popping up like coffee shops. Cider was ripe for a resurgence. But Virginia is catching up to a national cider-drinking trend that may have eased in the past year or two.

Retail sales of hard cider (at stores, not restaurants) grew by about 11 percent in 2015, a fraction of the 71 percent growth the year before, according to Nielsen. Draft magazine, which covers the beer and cider industry, reported over the summer that cider sales slowed toward the end of last year.

Washington state and New York have far more mature cider markets than Virginia. But Virginia has apples, and picturesque countryside, and the new businesses feed other industries important to the state.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is a big booster of cider, as well as craft beer and wine. His office regularly cranks out news releases announcing jobs that involve fermentation. Brewpubs and wineries are among his favorite spots to hang out.

Sometimes I get some grief from people for the announcements, McAuliffe said. But this whole space drives our agriculture business and at the same time helps boom our tourism. He can spout the precise numbers off the top of his head: Last year we sold 416,750 cases of cider, and that was up 52 percent from the year before.

And to be clear, the governors talking about hard cider. Technically, its a wine, fermented from the juice of a fruit. Most hard ciders have a little more alcohol than the typical beer, and maybe a little less than the average grape wine. The same is roughly true for its sweetness.

Cider is another of those forsaken products that was huge in Colonial times  like hemp or leeches. Thomas Jefferson cultivated cider apples at Monticello, and John Adams drank it every day. After all, water was often unsafe back then, so cider was a healthier option. (A reporter at Vice recently spent a week living in Colonial mode and found himself constantly drunk from all the cider).

Cider apples are different varietals from the ones people eat  gnarlier to look at and less tasty. Many of the old trees were ripped up in Virginia during Prohibition, so growers have had to re-establish them. They come with poetic, old, lip-smacking names such as Albemarle Pippin, Roxbury Russet, Burfords Redflesh and Winesap.

Jeffersons favorite cider apple was the Taliaferro, nearer to the silky Champagne than any other, he wrote, according to the Monticello website. But that variety has disappeared.

Virginia still has a sizable apple industry, ranked sixth in the nation, producing nearly 200 million pounds worth roughly $35 million per year. Cider orchards are a minuscule portion of that, but theyre increasing. Denkers, for instance, committed to buying more than a million pounds of Virginia-grown apples and other fruits during the next three years.

Cidermakers tend to fall into three categories: the mass market (Angry Orchard, owned by the maker of Samuel Adams beer), the mid-range (often made from dessert apples and served in kegs or beer-type bottles) and the fussy artisanal (wine bottles all the way).

This particular business is based on the farm winery model, said Geoff Robinson, director of sales and marketing at Castle Hill Cider outside Charlottesville. By that he means that Castle Hill, set in the patrician foothills of the Keswick hunt country, is very much a small-batch operation with a cozy tasting room and facilities for private events such as weddings.

Castle Hill was the states third cidery when it opened in 2010, Robinson said. Hes not worried about the recent flurry of competitors. Its still a rising-tide-lifts-all-ships kind of thing, he said. The big national brands may have saturated the market, but he believes the local-source movement leaves lots of room for craft ciders to grow.

And really, cider is only part of the equation for a place like Castle Hill, with its temple-like white barn and painterly vistas. Wedding photo books are more prominent than menus around the tasting room. Weve seen this wedding industry boom and blow up in the last few years, Robinson said.

Denkers scouted Castle Hill, among other places, when gathering ideas for Coyote Hole. But hes aiming at a slightly different crowd  fewer cheese plates and millennials, more barbecue and families with kids.

He and his wife, Laura, moved from New York to his sister-in-laws basement in Ashburn seven years ago when he got hired to do Web design for a government contractor. After his boss told him he could work from home, Denkers moved to Lake Anna, a rambling, unpretentious getaway spot between Fredericksburg and Richmond.

There, he and his wife are raising twin 7-year-old boys. Its a relaxed lifestyle of panning for gold in local creeks and watching for coyotes on trailcams stationed around their property.

Denkers is a guy who likes to build stuff. He built a house for his in-laws. And with another friend, he started a nonprofit that hosts party events to raise money to fight cystic fibrosis, which both of his sons have. He has home-brewed beer and cider for years.

The cidery grew out of all those interests. Armed with a 60-page business plan and about $750,000 in investment from his family and several friends, Denkers has spent the past year methodically lining up permits, ordering equipment and designing everything from the logos to the main building.

I just thought, why not take what I love doing and make it a business? he said. In my opinion I think the industry has got a long way to go. More and more people are really starting to drink cider. . . . I think it will definitely support us and support the other cideries as well.
Ken Hechler, an urbane historian who carpetbagged his way into West Virginias gritty politics, where he battled destructive coal-industry practices, unsafe mining conditions and felonious county officials, died Dec. 10 at his home in Romney, W.Va. He was 102.

The cause was a stroke, his wife, Carol Kitzmiller, said.

During 18 years as a Democratic congressman, 16 more as West Virginia secretary of state and a final act as a do-gooder without portfolio, Dr. Hechler never tired of crusades.

I used to be an agitator, then an activist, he wrote at age 94, in 2009. Now I am a hellraiser. This was soon after he was arrested while protesting mountaintop removal, the mining method environmentalists hate most.

It seemed an unlikely destiny for the lanky highbrow who in 1957 came to Huntington, W.Va., to teach government at Marshall College. He had taught at Columbia and Princeton, edited President Franklin D. Roosevelts papers, written speeches in Harry Trumans White House and for Adlai Stevensons 1956 presidential campaign, and authored scholarly works.

As coal trucks lumber past, Ken Hechler, 96, with friend Larry Gibson, shows a visitor a mountaintop that has been prepared to be leveled near Kayford, W.Va. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

Given to professional swerves all his life, Dr. Hechler ran for Congress in the coal-rich, cash-poor 4th District after only one year in the state. Lacking name recognition, he wrote a jingle to the tune of Sugartime, with the chorus: Hechler in the morning, Hechler in the evening, Hechler at election time.

He was helped by the 1957 publication of The Bridge at Remagen, his acclaimed history of the Armys momentous Rhine River crossing during World War II; just over a decade later, it would become a Hollywood movie starring George Segal. At factory gates and mine entrances, Hechler gave away thousands of copies of the book. Running as a liberal, he narrowly beat the incumbent Republican in 1958.

Charles Peters, active in West Virginia politics at the time and later the founding editor of Washington Monthly, recalled the circumstances that enabled Dr. Hechlers early success.

The state was liberal then. FDR was still a god to many people, Peters said. There was no EPA to threaten jobs, no Rush Limbaugh to appeal to voters worst instincts. Besides, folks liked Ken. They were proud of his book and admired his tireless campaigning.

Dr. Hechler emphasized mine safety and workers rights from his first days in office, but the 1968 Farmington underground explosion, which killed 78 coal miners, caused an epiphany. Nothing in my life, he said later, ever moved me as deeply.

He became the principal author of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, overcoming strong opposition to its passage in 1969. It made willful violation of safety rules a federal offense, put a ceiling on the amount of respirable coal dust permissible in a mine and compelled compensation for workers disabled by black lung disease.

Farmington also steeled his opposition to Tony Boyle, head of the United Mine Workers of America. Boyle was cozy with mine companies and a defender of Consolidation Coal, owner of the Farmington mine. Dr. Hechler openly campaigned for Joseph Yablonski, Boyles challenger for the union presidency.

Violence infested the contest. When thugs killed Yablonski, his wife and daughter in 1969 and menaced Dr. Hechler at rallies, the congressman came out for another reformer, Arnold Miller. Ultimately, Boyle went to prison for ordering the triple murder, and Miller became the unions president.

Risk, political or physical, speckled Dr. Hechlers career. He angered many constituents  nearly all of them white  when he joined the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the final phase of the 1965 voting rights march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery. He was the only member of Congress in Kings entourage.

Dr. Hechler later recalled that he was on a congressional junket to Cape Canaveral, Fla., when he heard about the brutal harassment of King and others by the Alabama authorities. He immediately left for Selma, he said, moved by stories about the tear gas, cattle prods and hard times being given to civil rights supporters.

A half-century later, he told an interviewer: It was one of the proudest things I did in my checkered life.

From PhD to Army service

Kenneth William Hechler was born in Roslyn, N.Y., on Sept. 20, 1914, to parents who were staunch Republicans. While attending Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, Class of 1935, Ken Hechler became a passionate New Dealer, in large part because of the Depression.

He received a doctorate in political science from Columbia University in 1940 and met Samuel I. Rosenman, a Roosevelt adviser and justice on the New York Supreme Court, who enlisted Dr. Hechler to help annotate the presidents growing trove of public papers.

In 1942 he joined the Army, training at Fort Knox as a tank officer. He wrote the classs satirical show. Its coda, Praise the Lord and Pass Me My Commission, caught his commanders attention. He looked into then-Lt. Hechlers background and recommended that the Army give him a more cerebral assignment.

Eventually he became a combat historian in Europe, gathering material on the ground and interviewing generals and sergeants. He came home in 1946 as a major with the Bronze Star and material for three books  on the Remagen attack; a biography of the Remagen commander, Hero of the Rhine: The Karl Timmermann Story; and an account of one battalions role at the Battle of the Bulge, Holding the Line.

In the late 1940s, Dr. Hechler resumed teaching, now at Princeton, but soon enlisted an aide to Truman to help him find a job in Washington. Dr. Hechler became a researcher for the White House and mostly wrote what he described as minor whistle-stop speeches that were given at the smaller communities.

The Democratic defeats in 1952 and 1956 meant no prospects in the executive branch for at least four years. His job as associate director of the American Political Science Association palled. So he transformed himself into a West Virginian and began a love affair with 4th District voters.

Though more liberal than they on some issues, his independence and close attention to constituent services won increasing support. By 1974, he ran for his ninth term unopposed.

Most legislators yearn for that situation. Dr. Hechler professed frustration. I love campaigning and wanted to debate, he reminisced later. But no one would argue with me.

Battle against strip mining

What he most wanted to argue about was strip mining. He was the first West Virginia official to demand total abolition and was increasingly angry when his proposals got nowhere on Capitol Hill. Twice, Congress passed bills intended to regulate the practice and ameliorate its effects. President Gerald R. Ford vetoed them. Dr. Hechler refused to vote to override the vetoes because he thought the bills were ineffective.

In 1976, he ran for the West Virginia gubernatorial nomination in a crowded field that included John D. Rockefeller IV, whose well-financed effort easily prevailed. Dr. Hechler launched a write-in campaign in a futile effort to keep his House seat.

In 1984, Dr. Hechler ran for secretary of state and promised on the hustings to clean up abuses in places like Mingo County, where, he said, vote fraud is as old as the memory of man. The secretary of state had no police authority but could initiate investigations.

In his first term, Dr. Hechler launched a probe of voting in one Mingo community. The effort had a domino effect as a state special prosecutor and the U.S. attorneys office became involved.

By 1988, a platoon of county officials, along with a drug-dealing family that worked from a trailer adjacent to the courthouse, had been successfully prosecuted. Dr. Hechler, after winning his second term, said voters had just witnessed the cleanest election in Mingo County history.

Instead of seeking a fifth term as secretary of state in 2000, he ran unsuccessfully for a House seat. He then taught at what had become Marshall University and remained a piquant force within the environmentalist movement.

As a symbolic gesture, he entered the 2010 special election to fill the vacancy caused by U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrds death, but he lost to Gov. Joe Manchin III (D). I may be 97 years old, Dr. Hechler said at the time, but I still have a lot of fight left in me.

A bachelor whose personal life had remained private, he was 98 when he married Kitzmiller, who reportedly had been his companion for years. Other survivors include a stepson, Joshua Kitzmiller of Romney.
THE STRONGEST indication that the Obama administration has not adequately disclosed or responded to Russian interference in the presidential election may be that President-elect Donald Trump still denies that it happened. I dont believe they interfered, Mr. Trump told Time magazine last week, adding that computer hacking of state election authorities and the theft and release of emails from the Democratic National Committee could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.

Mr. Trump has surely been briefed by U.S. intelligence agencies on the evidence that caused them to publicly accuse Russia of interference, and that prompted President Obama to use the nuclear hotline to warn the regime of Vladimir Putin against further malicious cyberactivity. But Mr. Trump probably calculates he can get away with flouting the facts  and continue his bromance with Mr. Putin  because the White House has neither made public what it knows about the Russian hacking nor adopted any punitive measures.

That must change before Mr. Obama leaves office. On Friday, under pressure from both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, the presidents homeland security adviser disclosed that a full review of Russian actions during the election campaign had been ordered. White House aide Lisa Monaco said the interference may have crossed into a new threshold, and it is incumbent upon us to take stock of that . . . to understand what has happened and to impart some lessons learned.

A full review is appropriate. The intelligence agencies and those they have briefed in Congress appear to have a high degree of confidence about Russias responsibility. As Ms. Monaco indicated, what occurred was not merely espionage, which the United States as well as Russia routinely engage in, but a deliberate attempt to sabotage the U.S. election: The Post reported the CIA had concluded that Moscows aim was to help Mr. Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. Moreover, the operation was part of a broader Russian assault on Western democracies: Moscows hackers went on to target Italys government in a constitutional referendum, and, according to the German intelligence service, are already seeking to disrupt Germanys incipient election campaign.

Consequently, it is crucial that the lessons learned in the administrations review be imparted not just in classified briefings but also to the world  and that the Kremlin suffer some consequences for its actions. Those in Russia who conducted the election hacks should be named, banned from travel and targeted for asset freezes. If possible, they should be prosecuted. A public disclosure of U.S. intelligence about Mr. Putins regime  evidence of corruption, for example  would be appropriate.

Its encouraging that congressional leaders from both parties are seeking to hold Russia accountable. Seven Democratic senators on the intelligence committee sent Mr. Obama a letter last month calling for the declassification and release of additional information concerning the Russian Government and the U.S. election and noting that a more detailed request had been conveyed through classified channels. Republican Sens. Lindsay O. Graham (S.C.), Bob Corker (Tenn.) and John McCain (Ariz.) say they are planning hearings on various aspects of Russian cyber-activity, including attempted incursions into U.S. weapons systems.

It is Mr. Obama, however, who has the means and the obligation to act before he leaves office. If Mr. Trump is inaugurated without disclosure of the role Moscow played in his election, the meddling is likely to remain undisclosed and unpunished. Mr. Obama should ensure that it is, at least, undeniable.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) released a strongly worded statement Saturday morning, saying CIA conclusions that Russias hacking and other election interference had the goal of electing Donald Trump are stunning and not surprising. (James Lawler Duggan/Reuters)

Senior Democratic lawmakers are calling for a full investigation of the CIAs claims that Russia attempted to tilt the election to Donald Trump, demanding that the intelligence community turn over all its evidence to Congress.

Incoming Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) released a strongly worded statement Saturday morning, saying CIA conclusions that Russias hacking and other election interference had the goal of electing Trump  first reported Friday night in The Washington Post  are stunning and not surprising.

That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core, Schumer stated. Senate Democrats will join with our Republican colleagues next year to demand a congressional investigation and hearings to get to the bottom of this.

Schumers demands were echoed by outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who charged that FBI Director James B. Comey was aware of the intelligence about Russias aims before the election and deliberately kept it private. Reid called on Comey to resign.

Of course. Yes, he said when asked whether the FBI director should go. He wont. He has his term there. And Im sure the new administration, they should like him, he helped them get elected, Reid said on MSNBC.

CIA briefers told senators in a closed-door briefing it was now quite clear that electing Trump was Russias goal, according to officials. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

Democrats immediately embraced the conclusions of the secret CIA report, which asserted that the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails  and their release to WikiLeaks  was the work of Russian operatives with ties to the government of President Vladimir Putin, all intended to help elect Trump.

Key Republicans did not automatically accept that conclusion, despite many of them believing that Russia was behind the DNC hacks and other election interference. For Republicans, giving credence to the CIA assessment probably would cause them to anger Trump even before the president-elect has been inaugurated.

[Trump, CIA on collision course over Russias role in U.S. election]

Party leaders began deflecting that sort of intelligence well before the election. According to officials present during a September CIA briefing for congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) expressed doubts about the intelligence tying the Russian hacks to Trump.

McConnell did not comment after the news report surfaced, but his spokesman, David Popp, called the allegations disturbing.

I do not have any readout of what did or didnt happen in a classified briefing, Popp said. But obviously any foreign breach of our cybersecurity measures is disturbing, and the White House has just announced an investigation to see if that has occurred and will formulate a response.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he could not be certain of the CIAs claims given its track record, echoing Trumps reaction to the report in which he said: These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Id have to have a briefing before I could judge it and whos doing it, McCain said in an interview late Friday night, once The Posts report was published. But the CIA has not always been exactly right, to say the least.

The CIAs conclusions that Russia hacked the election to aid Trump has put Republicans in a political bind. On the one hand, the charges of election hacking are a perfect, galvanizing platform from which to go after Russia for what they see as a global pattern of dangerous meddling, not just in the American elections, but also in the wars in Ukraine and Syria. But on the other hand, they now risk unearthing more evidence giving credence to the charges that Trumps campaign benefited from the hacks. Such evidence could seriously undermine the president-elect before he takes office and beyond.

Other Republican senators also expressed doubts about the CIAs charge.

Id be very concerned if a foreign government were doing that  we dont have any evidence of that yet, and I havent seen the CIA report, so Ill reserve judgment, Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) said late Friday night.

And still others are questioning why anyone is talking about Russian hacking at all. All this news of Russian hacking: it has been going on for years, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.) tweeted Saturday morning. Serious, but hardly news.

Nonetheless, even before the latest report, McCain and other senior Republican senators were planning to launch a wide-ranging, coordinated probe into alleged Russian interference in the elections in the next Congress. Such an effort could run directly counter to Trumps foreign policy plans, including a repeatedly stated desire to warm relations with Putins Russia.

McCains Senate Armed Services Committee intends to establish a dedicated subcommittee to probe cyberthreats that will hold hearings on the how the United States would respond to an attack as well as investigate allegations of election hacking.

Everybody that I know, unclassified, has said that the Russians interfered in this election. They hacked into my campaign in 2008; is it a surprise to anyone? McCain said. Every expert I respect said the Russians engaged in that campaign.

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) has said: Im going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia. . . . I think they did interfere with our elections, and I want Putin personally to pay the price.

He intends to spearhead legislation and hold a series of investigative hearings next year into Russias misadventures throughout the world, including its intervention in the elections.

Clearly a lot of the information was selectively leaked, Graham said. Rather than try to tank the election in terms of an outcome, I want to go after the country that dared to interfere.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who had been a candidate for Trumps secretary of state before the transition team reportedly moved toward ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, said early Saturday that were going to do the work that we need to do to understand whats happened.

[Trump expected to pick ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state]

He noted that other senators, particularly those on the Senates Select Committee on Intelligence, had approached him on the Senate floor during the last roll call votes of the session to share their concerns about the issue of Russian hacking.

They can tell its warranted and that I should, like other committees are doing, pay a lot of attention to the issue, Corker said.

But the Tennessee Republican declined to comment directly about hacks potentially favoring Trump.

Trump is relying on Republican doubts to avoid speculation that his win was directly aided by Moscow as he continues to assemble his Cabinet.

In a recent interview for Time, Trump said he doesnt believe Russia interfered in the election, reasoning: It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey. He called the steady stream of allegations tying Russian hacking to his campaign not a talking point, a laughing point.

Why not get along with Russia? And they can help us fight ISIS . . . and theyre effective and smart, Trump also said during that interview.

Such statements could cause Senate Republicans to take a second look at Trumps nominees. Senate Democrats cannot filibuster Trumps Cabinet picks, but they are now likely to face more questioning about any ties to Russia.

Tillerson, who has been decorated with Russias Order of Friendship, is causing special concern.

Lets put it this way: If you received an award from the Kremlin, order of friendship, then were gonna have some talkin. Well have some questions, Graham said. I dont want to prejudge the guy, but thats a bit unnerving.

Read more:

Bolton suggests Russian election hacks were false flag by Obama administration

FBI and CIA give differing accounts to lawmakers on Russias motives in 2016 hacks

Kremlin defers to Trump on the CIA assessment that Moscow helped him win
Reality television star and transition adviser Omarosa Manigault, right, looks on as Donald Trump speaks in September. (Evan Vucci/AP)

One of Donald Trumps most loyal backers, reality TV star Omarosa Manigault, is playing a significant role in Trumps transition, potentially setting her up for a post in the White House.

Manigault has emerged as Trumps emissary to a broad array of interest groups inside and outside Washington on issues of diversity, political outreach and hiring for his nascent administration.

Manigault recently met with veterans groups in Washington. Last weekend, she flew to Atlanta to address an annual meeting of presidents of the countrys historically black colleges. At the events, she signaled her growing role in Trumps transition as a senior adviser leading the Office of Nationwide Engagement.

She is said to have an open line of communication with the president-elect, with whom she developed a close relationship after becoming the breakout star of the first season of The Apprentice.

In a brief interview, Manigault said that she speaks with Trump regularly and that her mandate is to prioritize diversity in the transition.

I come to the table with a different perspective than a lot of folks, said Manigault, who was Trumps director of African American outreach in the campaign. In the sense that I know him from The Apprentice, in the sense of what we did to make that franchise a success.

Manigault declined to discuss whether she would serve in the White House.

My only interest is in serving at the pleasure of the president, so any role that he sees necessary for me, Ill answer that call, she said.

As word spreads about her role in the transition, chatter has intensified that she is poised to fill a role similar to that held by one of President Obamas most powerful aides, Valerie Jarrett, who heads up the Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs in the White House.

Manigaults presence in transition meetings has also raised some eyebrows among Washington veterans puzzled by the presence of a television personality in meetings typically characterized by policy wonks and political hands.

Asked about the potential for Manigault to play a role in the Trump White House, one Trump ally who is in regular contact with his senior aides remarked, Oh, please. I am speechless.

Some advocates who attended a recent meeting with veterans groups said privately that they were surprised to see her there, given that she does not have expertise in veterans health care, benefits or the complexities of the sprawling Veterans Affairs agency.

She told the group of 30 advocacy organizations that the Trump administration will do right by veterans and intends to make their issues a priority, several participants said. Then she gave out her email address and urged those interested in a job in the administration, or with leads on potential job candidates, to contact her.

She was gracious and articulate, and while she wasnt saying things of a policy nature, it was clear that this is a person who knows how to talk to groups, said Jeffrey Phillips, executive director of the Reserve Officers Association, who served in the Department of Veterans Affairs in the George W. Bush administration.

Another person familiar with a recent meeting Omarosa attended with criminal-justice advocates also said she was well-received in the listening session with the groups. During the campaign, Trump had struck a tough-on-crime tone, denouncing Black Lives Matter and blaming activists for violence against police officers.

Manigault is aware of the perception that her reality TV fame and lack of high-level experience in Washington make her an odd fit for a top White House post.

She emphasized that before The Apprentice, she had come out of Washington. She studied at Howard University and later taught at Howards business school. In the 1990s, Manigault worked in a series of jobs in the Clinton administration in the White House and briefly in the Commerce Department.

Shortly after her appearance on The Apprentice, Manigaults former administration co-workers began speaking out.

She was asked to leave as quickly as possible, she was so disruptive, Cheryl Shavers, the former undersecretary for technology at the Commerce Department, said of Manigault in a 2004 People magazine story. One woman wanted to slug her.

Just as Trump used controversy to dominate media coverage in his presidential race, Manigault skillfully used her reputation as the villain on The Apprentice as a catapult to fame.

But for Trump, Manigault has taken on the role of bridge builder, representing the president-elect in unexpected places, including at the meeting with the presidents of historically black colleges and universities.

Black colleges are fighting for more federal support and investment, said Lezli Baskerville, president and chief executive of the Washington-based National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, which hosted last Sundays brunch, and Manigault has a long and deep connection with them.

She was thoughtful and eager to engage, Baskerville said.
The Washington Post's Greg Miller explains what President-elect Donald Trump's clash with the CIA over Russia's suspected election interference means and how it started. (The Washington Post)

The Washington Post's Greg Miller explains what President-elect Donald Trump's clash with the CIA over Russia's suspected election interference means and how it started. (The Washington Post)

The simmering distrust between Donald Trump and U.S. intelligence agencies escalated into open antagonism Saturday after the president-elect mocked a CIA report that Russian operatives had intervened in the U.S. presidential election to help him win.

The growing tensions set up a potential showdown between Trump and the nations top intelligence officials during what some of those officials describe as the most complex threat environment in decades.

The Washington Post reported Friday that the Central Intelligence Agency had determined that Russia had intervened in the presidential election not just to make mischief but to boost Trumps chances.

Trumps reaction will probably deepen an existing rift between Trump and the agencies and raised questions about how the governments 16 spying agencies will function in his administration on matters such as counterterrorism and cyberwarfare. On Friday, members of Trumps transition team dismissed the CIAs assessments about Iraqs stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.

[Trump turning away intelligence briefers since election win]

CIA briefers told senators in a closed-door briefing it was now quite clear that electing Trump was Russias goal, according to officials. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

Given his proclivity for revenge combined with his notorious thin skin, this threatens to result in a lasting relationship of distrust and ill will between the president and the intelligence community, said Paul Pillar, former deputy director of the CIAs Counterterrorism Center.

U.S. intelligence officials described mounting concern and confusion about how to proceed in an administration so openly hostile to their function and role. I dont know what the end game is here, a senior U.S. intelligence official said. After Jan. 20, the official said, referring to Inauguration Day, were in uncharted territory.

Pillar added: Everything Trump has indicated with regard to his character and tendencies for vindictiveness might be worse than former president Richard Nixon, who also had a dysfunctional relationship with the intelligence community.

The tensions between Trump and spy agencies could escalate even further as dozens of analysts begin work on a project, ordered by President Obama, to deliver a comprehensive report on Russian intervention in the election before Trumps inauguration in January.

Led by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., the investigation is aimed at reaching a definitive judgment about the Russian role in the election. Obama aides have pledged to make as much of the report public as possible once it is completed.

We want to make sure we brief Congress and relevant stakeholders, like possibly state administrators who actually operationalize the elections, White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters Friday.

But such a report could also pose a more complicated challenge for Trump, potentially pitting the entire U.S. intelligence community against a newly sworn-in president who has repeatedly denigrated their work.

At a news conference, Dec. 12, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) slammed Republican lawmakers who "are reluctant to either review Russian tactics or ignore them." "The Russians are not our friends," McConnell told reporters. (The Washington Post)

The Post reported late Friday that the CIA had concluded that individuals with close ties to the Russian government delivered thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, including from Hillary Clintons campaign chairman, to WikiLeaks a few weeks before the election. Intelligence officials have determined that Russias goal was to help Trump win, rather than simply undermine confidence in the election.

[Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House]

In a statement, Trump suggested that the CIA had discredited itself over faulty intelligence assessments about Iraqs weapons stockpile more than a dozen years ago.

These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, he said.

The belittling response alarmed people in the intelligence community, which already had questioned Trumps temperament and lack of national security experience. Despite mounting evidence over Moscows involvement in a hack of the Democratic National Committee, Trump has consistently refused to entertain any doubts about the Russians role or about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The president-elect has spoken admiringly of Putin in the past, calling him a stronger leader than Obama, and one of Trumps former campaign managers had business associations with Russian companies.

I dont believe it. I dont believe they interfered, Trump told Time magazine of the Russians in a recent interview during which he suggested the accusations from the United States were politically driven.

Instead, Trump took direct aim at the professional spies charged with assessing what Clapper in September called the most complex and diverse array of global threats in his 53 years of service.

Intelligence agencies are tracking Russias military interventions in Syria and Ukraine, Irans compliance with the nuclear deal, North Koreas nuclear weapons testing and Chinas maritime challenges in Asia and theft of trade secrets. The CIA is operating a covert program to arm and train moderate rebels in Syria to overcome the brutal rule of President Bashar al-Assad, even as Trump has praised Russias approach to backing Assad.

Since his electoral triumph last month, Trump has attended only a limited number of intelligence briefings, and he appointed as his national security adviser retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, who was forced out of his job as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency by Obama administration officials.

[Trumps pick for national security adviser brings experience and controversy]

Trump also has created a climate of uncertainty over how his administration would approach counterterrorism and intelligence gathering after speaking approvingly of torture methods, including waterboarding terrorism suspects, which was banned by Obama. Trump has since appeared to moderate his position after meeting with retired Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, whom he intends to nominate as defense secretary and who has said such techniques dont work.

Trumps transition aides have explained his unwillingness to make time for more intelligence briefings as a consequence of his busy schedule building an administration and selecting Cabinet members. Vice President-elect Mike Pence has reportedly attended such briefings most days.

But Trumps approach has contrasted with that of his predecessors, including Obama and George W. Bush, who attended multiple briefings each week leading up to their inaugurations.

In his statement, Trump emphasized that the election was over and vowed to move on, and he did not, as is his habit, react to the CIA story on social media in the hours after it was published.

Congressional Democrats have called for investigations into Russias interference, but reaction among Republican leaders was divided. Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) vowed to pursue the matter, but Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.) said Russia has been involved in cyberattacks for years and said the new allegations were serious, but hardly news.

Trumps handling of questions regarding Russian intervention will put enormous strain on his nominee to lead the CIA, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), who may find himself caught in the crossfire between the agency and his president. Pillar said he already has concerns about Pompeos ability to deliver impartial views to the White House.

Pompeo, along with Flynn and Mattis, has been a strident critic of the Iran nuclear deal, and Pillar wondered whether Pompeo would be a dispassionate actor if intelligence agencies conclude that Iran is abiding by the deal.

I see the danger of a lasting dysfunctional relationship based on the president-elects perception that he is being wronged by the intelligence community, Pillar said.

Read more:

FBI and CIA give differing accounts to lawmakers on Russias motives in 2016 hacks

As Democrats demand probe over CIA election claim, GOP senators express doubt

The long history of the U.S. interfering with elections elsewhere
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A Pakistani vender carries pigeons to sell in a weekly pet market in Peshawar, in this 2015 photo. Pakistanis are big pigeon-fanciers; now India has seized some birds it suspects were sent across the border on a mission. (Mohammad Sajjad/AP)

If any further proof were needed that geopolitical intrigue can stalk the humblest of Pakistans inhabitants, consider the recent cases of two Pakistani birds.

The first is a pigeon, a species that people all over the country raise on their rooftops as a simple, inexpensive pleasure and a brief escape from their daily struggles with poverty, corruption and clogged streets below.

Some weeks ago, tensions were running especially high between Pakistan and its perennial rival India. The source was Kashmir, the disputed border region where Muslim protesters were blinded by pellet guns and Indian soldiers were burned to death in a late-night attack by insurgents.

Into the fog of belligerent rhetoric between the nuclear powers wandered a white pigeon, which was caught and caged by Indian security forces in a border district adjoining Kashmir.

According to Indian news agencies, the bird was suspected of having Pakistani links and was carrying a warning message for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The arresting officer posed with his feathered prisoner, and the image soon circulated on social media.

About the same time, Indian authorities in Kashmir said that they had also discovered 150 dehydrated pigeons stuffed into a car and that they suspected that the birds were smuggled for purposes of espionage. An official was quoted as saying that the pigeons had suspicious multicolored rings attached to their feet. All were turned over to an animal welfare agency while police investigated the case.

Irfan Husain, a columnist for Pakistans Dawn newspaper, suggested that the avian seizures were a sign that India remains a deeply insecure country despite its large size, rapidly growing economy and military might.

I realize I am sticking my neck out, he wrote, but would the Indian authorities please set the poor captive pigeon free?

No such outcry has been raised about the potential plight of another bird in Pakistan, the houbara bustard (chlamydotis undulata), a gray-speckled, pheasantlike creature mostly found in North Africa. In Pakistan, this rare variety of bustard is considered an endangered species, and hunting it is banned in some regions.

This past week, the bustard, too, ran afoul of international politics, this time at the hands of Pakistans friends. Parties of Middle Eastern royals often bring trained falcons to hunt smaller birds in Pakistans northern mountains and southern deserts. For years, among their favorite targets have been bustards.

Last year, wildlife groups petitioned Pakistani courts to ban bustard-hunting, and the Supreme Court granted their request. But the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appealed, arguing that the ban had adversely affected the countrys diplomatic ties with the Middle Eastern countries and noting that hunts by foreign dignitaries also bring in considerable funds.

One of the Sharif governments closest allies is Qatar, and last month, a Qatari prince came to the prime ministers rescue in a corruption case before the Supreme Court, where political opponents have accused him of hiding assets abroad, including a group of luxury apartments in London.

Sharif, who has vowed to resign if found guilty, said he had broken no laws but was struggling to explain how his family acquired the apartments without a money trail or tax bill. Suddenly, the prince provided a letter stating that his family gave them to the Sharifs as part of an old business settlement.

This past week, a Qatari prince from the same family was issued a special permit to hunt 100 bustards in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. According to Dawn, the provinces wildlife conservator objected, saying the bird was a protected species. The matter has not been resolved, but the paper reported that another Qatari royal had recently faced some resistance while attempting to hunt bustards in Balochistan province.

He immediately called the prime minister on the phone, Dawn reported Sunday, and things were sorted out.

Read more

Deadly attack in Indian Kashmir renews war of words with rival Pakistan

Pakistan arrests monkey for crossing India border

In Pakistan, a hunt for the million-dollar falcons

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
An April image provided by the Russian Defense Ministry press service shows ancient ruins in Palmyra, Syria. (Associated Press)

Syrian troops pulled out of the ancient city of Palmyra on Sunday as Islamic State militants claimed they had regained full control of the area less than a year after being driven out.

Victory in the symbolically significant city would mark a startling reversal of the militant groups fortunes after months of setbacks and suggests that the Islamic State remains a resilient force.

The Amaq news agency, which is linked to the Islamic State, claimed Sunday that the group had regained full control of Palmyra, while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said President Bashar al-Assads troops had withdrawn to the south.

The local governor, Talal al-Barazi, said that the decision had been made to prepare for a counterattack in the coming days.

Long considered one of the worlds greatest archaeological treasures, Palmyras ancient Roman complex was partly destroyed by the Islamic State during its earlier 10-month occupation of the nearby modern city.

The group ruled with an iron fist, repurposing an iconic amphitheater as a stage for executions and enacting brutal punishments against residents who broke laws it imposed.

Russian airstrikes facilitated the Syrian governments recapture of Palmyra in March. This weekend, Moscows bombing raids pushed the militants back only briefly, forcing a dawn retreat from the city before they swept back in hours later.

A Syrian activist from Palmyra who uses the pseudonym Khaled al-Homsi said residents remaining inside the city as the militants swept in Sunday were among the areas poorest. Barazi, the governor, said that no more than 15 percent of the local population had returned since the Islamic States previous occupation.

[The splendors of Palmyra, the ancient Syrian city ravaged by the Islamic State]

Palmyra was built as a tribute to the visiting Roman emperor Septimius Severus more than 2,000 years ago. Like many of the countrys ancient treasures, Palmyras ruins have been looted by government forces, damaged in fighting and airstrikes and shattered with dynamite during the Islamic States previous spell in power.

The group had been advancing steadily since Thursday while the government waged a major offensive against rebels in the northern city of Aleppo.

Under pressure across its self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State appeared to be using the Palmyra attack in part as an opportunity to resupply its arsenal. Video footage by the group and news reports from pro-government reporters suggested that the groups fighters had looted military weapons stocks.

The attack was also a reminder that the groups defeat may be a long way off. The offensive coincides with a major U.S.-backed operation by the Iraqi government for the city of Mosul, where hopes for a swift victory against the Islamic State are fading as the militants put up a stiff fight.

The group still controls large portions of Syria, including much of the vast eastern desert where Palmyra is located.

The U.S. military announced Saturday that it was sending an additional 200 Special Operations troops to northern Syria to help the mostly Kurdish force that is battling the militants there.

The assault on Palmyra also serves as a reminder that the Syrian army, despite substantial gains against rebel forces in recent weeks, is thinly spread, suffering from shortages of manpower and weary after more than five years of war.

The rebel-held eastern portion of Aleppo seems poised to be recaptured soon by government troops, who are being aided by Iranian advisers; Shiite militias from Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon; and Russian airstrikes. The government has also been making less-publicized advances against rebels around the capital, Damascus.

But in a pattern that has emerged throughout Syrias war, gains on one front have meant drawing down troops on another, leaving government positions exposed. In Palmyra, a limited troop presence was all that remained when the Islamic State launched its assault, according to activists.

In a video published by Amaq on Saturday, Islamic State militants were seen routing army sniper positions, kicking soldiers corpses and waving military identification cards for the camera.

In an apparent attempt to save face, the Russian military blamed the militants advance on its pilots unwillingness to cause civilian casualties. Since launching bombing raids on Assads behalf in September 2015, the Russian air force has been accused by human rights groups of targeting civilian areas in most provinces across Syria.

Zakaria Zakaria in Istanbul and David Filipov in Moscow contributed to this report.

Read more:

Islamic State is driven from ancient Nimrud, where destruction is worse than we thought

ISIS destroyed almost half of an ancient city in Syria

How ancient ruins are perfect propaganda in the Middle East

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Hundreds were inside Reigners Bible Church International for the episcopal ordination of its founder Saturday when the metal girders fell and the corrugated iron roof caved in. (Tife Owolabi/European Pressphoto Agency)

Mortuaries on Sunday overflowed with the bodies of the at least 160 people killed in the collapse of a southern Nigeria church building whose construction, worshipers said, had been rushed.

Hundreds were inside Reigners Bible Church International in the city of Uyo on Saturday for the episcopal ordination of founder Akan Weeks when the metal girders fell and the corrugated iron roof caved in.

Screaming survivors streamed out amid cries from the injured inside.

There were trapped bodies, parts of bodies, blood all over the place, and peoples handbags and shoes scattered, said computer analyst Ukeme Eyibio.

Among the survivors were Weeks and Udom Emmanuel, the governor of Akwa Ibom state, which contains Uyo.

Eyibio had parked his car outside the complex to make a phone call when he heard a deafening crash and saw the church had disappeared.

He and three others dragged 10 injured people from an overflow area for worshipers just outside the collapsed church. They did not enter the main structure because a construction worker warned that it was not safe.

The worker called his boss at a nearby construction company, which sent a crane to lift debris off bodies.

While waiting for the crane, Eyibio helped a man whose legs were trapped under a girder.

I rushed to my car, got out the tire jack and used that to get the beam off his legs, the 27-year-old said.

Many of the dead were taken to private mortuaries scattered across the city, youth leader Edikan Peters said. Some people took the bodies of relatives to their homes because of the overcrowding.

Peters said he counted 90 bodies removed from the church before he was told to stop his tally Saturday night. Journalists also said church officials sought to prevent them from documenting the tragedy, trying to seize cameras and forcing some to leave the area.

The church was still under construction and workers had been rushing to finish it in time for Saturdays ceremony, congregants said. The governors spokesman, Ekerete Udoh, said the state government will investigate whether any building standards were compromised.

Buildings collapse often in Nigeria because of endemic corruption that allows contractors to use substandard materials and bribe inspectors to ignore shoddy work or a lack of permits.

In 2014, 116 people died when a multistory guesthouse of the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed in Lagos, Nigerias largest city. Most victims were visiting South African followers of the megachurchs influential founder, T.B. Joshua.
Police special forces stand guard to secure the area around the St. Marks Coptic Orthodox Cathedral complex after an explosion there Sunday in Cairo.

Dec. 11, 2016 Police special forces stand guard to secure the area around the St. Marks Coptic Orthodox Cathedral complex after an explosion there Sunday in Cairo. Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

An explosion ripped through Cairos Coptic cathedral complex, killing at least 25 people and injuring 49, Egypts health ministry said. Activists and mourners gathered outside the church in protest.

An explosion ripped through Cairos Coptic cathedral complex, killing at least 25 people and injuring 49, Egypts health ministry said. Activists and mourners gathered outside the church in protest.

An explosion ripped through Cairos Coptic cathedral complex, killing at least 25 people and injuring 49, Egypts health ministry said. Activists and mourners gathered outside the church in protest.

A bomb ripped through Cairos Coptic cathedral complex during Sunday Mass, killing at least 25 people and injuring 49, and delivering the bloodiest attack on Egypts Christian minority in recent years, according to Egyptian officials and Christian community leaders.

The explosion unfolded inside St. Marks Coptic Orthodox Cathedral at the 100-year-old Botrosiya Church, also known as the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, shortly after the 200 or so worshipers had stopped reading Bible verses and the priest was getting to ready to start his sermon, witnesses said.

About 9:45 a.m., everything turned black suddenly, Qelliny Farag said.

As of Sunday evening, there had been no claims of responsibility. But suspicion immediately fell on Islamist extremists, including Egypts Islamic State branch, who have staged numerous attacks across the country this year targeting soldiers, police and government officials. Sundays carnage came less than 48 hours after a bomb killed six police officers and injured an additional three on a road leading to Egypts famed Great Pyramids complex.

The bombing came on a public holiday here, commemorating the birthday of the prophet Muhammad.

Voicing anger toward the police and Egyptian government, Coptic Christians demonstrate outside the Coptic cathedral complex in Cairo where an explosion killed at least 25 and injured 49 on Dec. 11. (Heba Mahfouz / The Washington Post)

Although that is a Muslim celebration, the church was filled with more than the usual number of congregants taking advantage of the day off.

When the bomb detonated, Farag, 80, was seated on the left side of the church. His wife, Samiha Tawfik, was on the right side, along with the other female congregants.

I could not see anything, Farag said. We were all in shock, covered in dust, running through corpses that got thrown by the intensity of the blast.

Unable to breathe from the dust, his head pounding, he stumbled around the pews. Soon, he began to see, and understand, what had happened.

A minute passed by and I started to see flesh scattered everywhere around us, he said. Even the ceiling had collapsed.

He couldnt find his wife.

Pattern of violence

Egypts Orthodox Coptic Christian community, which makes up 10 percent of the population, has long felt discrimination at the hands of the countrys Muslims, as well as successive secular but authoritarian regimes. Attacks on Christians have intensified since the 2011 populist revolt that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. At least 26 sectarian assaults have targeted the community this year alone, according to human rights activists.





Sundays bombing was the gravest sectarian attack on Christians in recent years. The cathedral complex houses the headquarters of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, as well as the home of its leader, Pope Tawadros II.

Over the past six years, numerous attacks on Christians have left scores dead. On Jan. 1, 2011, the Church of Saints Mark and Peter in the northern city of Alexandria was bombed, killing 23 people as they left the New Years Day service. Ten months later, Egypts security forces killed 28 Christians protesting the demolition of a church, claiming the protesters first attacked them.

In 2013, Christians were targeted in a spate of attacks after Egypts elected Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, was ousted in a military coup.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former general who led the coup, condemned Sundays attack and declared three days of mourning.

Vicious terrorism is being waged against the countrys Copts and Muslims, he was quoted as saying on local television networks. Egypt will emerge stronger and more united from this situation.

In Washington, the State Department said that the United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attack today on Christian worshipers outside St. Marks Cathedral. In New York, the U.N. Security Council likewise condemned the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack.

Analysts focusing on Egypts religious divides said the government has made previous promises to apprehend the perpetrators of hate crimes. But it has shown few results.

Sectarian tensions in Egypt is ongoing and this attack, although shocking in its scope, is not an aberration, said Amira Mikhail, a fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. Despite the shift in public rhetoric by President Sisi in which he has called for religious reform and has visited the cathedral on several occasions, little has been done to actually change the institutionalized sectarianism in the government and the continued violence perpetrated by nonstate actors.

Some reports on local television networks suggested that a bomb was concealed inside a handbag in a section of the church designated for female worshipers. A large proportion of the victims were women, according to local reports.

Senior Egyptian officials, including the prime minister and interior minister, arrived at the church shortly after the attack. They were greeted by a small group of angry protesters who railed against the continual attacks on Christians, as well as security forces failure to stop the attacks.

The police are thugs, some in the crowd chanted.

The people demand the removal of the regime, others shouted.

Farag and other witnesses said they noticed no police or guards at the entrance to the church, although there is typically a heavy security presence at the cathedral to provide protection for the pope.

A frantic search

At El-Demerdash Hospital, where most of the victims were taken, doctors said the bulk of the casualties were women and children, most suffering from lacerations.

Farag, too, was there. He was searching for his wife.

I asked everywhere, there is no trace of her, he said, his face masked with anguish. I think she was blown away to pieces and they cannot even find her corpse.

Eyes filling with tears, he recalled how he had told his wife that he was tired and asked her if they could skip the service.

But she told me not to give in to my weakness, and insisted we go to the mass today, he said Farag, as he sat with other family members.

Nearby, Muslims and Christians gathered, some to donate blood, others to comfort their loved ones and check on the injured.

In a wheelchair near the hospital entrance, 65-year-old Tahany Gobraiel was one of the fortunate ones. She had attended the Mass with her daughter and a cousin, Suad Atta.

Only two benches separated me from my cousin Suad, Gobraiel said. She was in the front bench near the altar, and I was seated two benches behind her. She died, while my daughter and I were only injured.

Atta, also 65, had insisted on attending the Mass to commemorate her late husband. Sunday marked one year since his death.

As darkness enveloped the city, nearly eight hours after the bombing, Farag finally found his wife. She was in the intensive care unit of the hospital, battling for her life.

Carol Morello in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more

In post-Arab Spring Egypt, Muslim attacks on Christians are rising

Ramadan edict against eating in public infuriates some Muslims in Egypt

Video shows purported beheading of Egyptian Christians in Libya

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
A woman inspects what remains of a factory after an airstrike in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. As war erases jobs and countless men go to fight, more women are providing income for their families. (MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images)

The women in this village never earned money, never left home without the permission of their husbands. It had been that way for as long as anyone could remember.

Then the war arrived.

Now before dawn each day, mothers and daughters walk to the mountainous scrub to gather wood, which they turn into charcoal and sell. The men stay home and care for the children, and sometimes do the cooking and the cleaning.

I feel the war has changed my personality, said Ayde Ahmed Shabon, 33, her voice soft but clear. I feel equal to the man now.

Yemen has consistently ranked among the worst countries for women and girls, and the war has only made life harder. But in pockets of the Middle Easts poorest country, an unexpected social recalibration appears to be underway, aid workers say.

Ayde Ahmed Shabon, 33, and her husband, Hassan Abdo Ibrahim, 45. For most of her life, Shabon wasnt allowed to participate in community life or to get a job. But the war has changed that. (Sudarsan Raghavan/The Washington Post)

As the war destroys jobs and countless men join the fight, a growing number of women are providing income for their families. Often, they are working in areas that had been considered the purview of men or culturally unacceptable for women in Yemens ultraconservative tribal society. Some are now butchers, barbers and chicken sellers, interacting socially in ways their mothers and grandmothers could never have imagined.

In a region where women historically have had much less power than men, the changes have given many Yemeni women new influence in their families and community. But they have also had a negative effect.

Women are becoming more empowered to make decisions for the household, said Wael Ibrahim, Yemen country director for the aid agency CARE. But many women have also reported that conflicts in their homes have risen.

[In Yemens war, trapped families ask: Which child should we save?]

Five years ago, there was great optimism for Yemeni women.

Thousands took part in the revolt  part of the Arab Spring  that upended the nations political order and ended the three-decade rule of autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh. Women even took leadership roles in organizing protests across the country; the most well known was Tawakkol Karman, who shared the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

By 2014, women were making headway in seeking greater representation in government and asserting their rights. Child marriages, for example, started to decline. The advances, though, barely reached remote areas such as Gubaiya, where culture and traditions rule and modern laws enshrining womens rights are not enforced.

The following year, northern rebels known as Houthis overran the capital, Sanaa, and drove out President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his government. The rebels now control Yemens northwest, and Hadis forces rule swaths of the south and east. A regional coalition led by Saudi Arabia, and supported by Washington, has intervened on Hadis side.

U.N. humanitarian officials say the conflict has killed at least 10,000 Yemenis, including civilians. About 3 million people have fled their homes. Two-thirds of the countrys 27 million people are in need of humanitarian aid.

Since September 2015, violence against women and girls, including rapes and domestic assaults, has risen 70 percent, according to aid officials, and child marriages have spiked. The conflict has deprived more girls and women of access to education and health care, and their involvement in civic activities has all but ended.

Perhaps the most concerning social consequence of the war has been its impact on the rights and situation of women, said Scott Paul, senior humanitarian policy adviser for the aid agency Oxfam America. The assault on Yemens economy has helped break down barriers to womens participation in the workforce. Unfortunately, women have effectively been shut out of the political process.

[The story of a girl married at 11 tracks the horrors of Yemens war]

And yet, the conflict has reshaped their role within the family.

With Saudi-led coalition airstrikes and clashes eviscerating the economy, many families are trying to make money any way they can. Thousands of men have been killed or seriously injured in the war, leaving women with greater authority in their households.

In Gubaiya, a sedate hamlet in northwestern Yemen, many men worked in neighboring Saudi Arabia on construction sites, at restaurants and in menial jobs. With the border closed, job opportunities vanished. Some men left to fight; others went south to find work in Sanaa and never returned. Those who remained tried to care for their families.

First, they used up their savings. Then, they were forced to sell their cattle.

Running out of options, Mohammed Kuweit, 41, finally turned to someone he never expected to ask for help: his wife. They made a plan. She would collect wood every day to turn into charcoal to sell, and he would seek work as a day laborer. On days when he found no work, he would help her.

Im not happy, but I am forced to do this, Kuweit said. No one can accept seeing his wife go out and suffer.

Now, Kuweit is charting new territory again. He helps clean the house and gets water from the well. If his wife arrives home late from work, he helps prepare dinner. Kuweit insists that he is still the one in control but concedes that their relationship has changed.

In the past, my wife would have a say in the running of the house, Kuweit said. Now, I consult with her on more matters, especially anything related to income. The workload is more divided now.

A recent survey conducted by CARE, Oxfam and others involved in humanitarian work in four of Yemens 22 provinces found that the labor reversals had caused increased conflict between husbands and wives in some areas. But in other areas, the survey said there was greater appreciation of womens and mens roles and an improved sense of how gender roles are mutually reliant. In particular, there was an increased openness to women working in jobs considered shameful including as butchers, barbers or chicken sellers.

For most of her life, Shabon wasnt allowed to participate in the community or seek employment. She was forced to drop out of school to marry and have children.

I used to just stay at home and take care of my children, said the mother of eight, who, like every woman here, wore a black abaya and veil that covered her body and face save for her eyes.

But these days, she heads to the scrub to gather wood after she makes breakfast. Her husband, Hassan Abdo Ibrahim, feeds their children, gathers water and washes the clothes while she is out.

At home, we are equal. There is no difference, he said a bit grudgingly. I have no choice.

When she returns home, he helps her with the wood to make charcoal, and together they go to the market. Each bag, which takes a week to prepare, sells for $3.50.

Shabon said she even attends workshops run by local aid agencies in nearby areas. I just tell my husband I am traveling, and he doesnt mind, she said, adding that he goes with her if a neighbor can look after the children.

The question now: What will happen to their relationship, and her role, after the war ends?

Hopefully, Ill be side by side with him for better or for worse, she said, before turning her attention to a half-filled bag of charcoal in front of their mud-brick house, where her husband was waiting to assist.

Read more:

A cluster bomb made in America shattered lives in Yemens capital

In Yemeni capital, signs of hatred toward Americans are everywhere

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
CIA briefers told senators in a closed-door briefing it was now quite clear that electing Trump was Russias goal, according to officials. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

CIA briefers told senators in a closed-door briefing it was now quite clear that electing Trump was Russias goal, according to officials. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

In a secure meeting room under the Capitol last week, lawmakers held in their hands a classified letter written by colleagues in the Senate summing up a secret, new CIA assessment of Russias role in the 2016 presidential election.

Sitting before the House Intelligence Committee was a senior FBI counterintelligence official. The question the Republicans and Democrats in attendance wanted answered was whether the bureau concurred with the conclusions the CIA had just shared with senators that Russia quite clearly intended to help Republican Donald Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton and clinch the White House.

[Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House]

For the Democrats in the room, the FBIs response was frustrating  even shocking.

During a similar Senate Intelligence Committee briefing held the previous week, the CIAs statements, as reflected in the letter the lawmakers now held in their hands, were direct and bald and unqualified about Russias intentions to help Trump, according to one of the officials who attended the House briefing.

The Washington Post's Greg Miller explains what President-elect Donald Trump's clash with the CIA over Russia's suspected election interference means and how it started. (The Washington Post)

The FBI officials remarks to the lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee were, in comparison, fuzzy and ambiguous, suggesting to those in the room that the bureau and the agency werent on the same page, the official said.

The divergent messages from the CIA and the FBI put a spotlight on the difficulty faced by intelligence and law enforcement officials as they try to draw conclusions about the Kremlins motives for hacking Democratic Party emails during the 2016 race. Officials are frequently looking at information that is fragmentary. They also face issues assessing the intentions of a country expert at conducting sophisticated influence operations that made it hard  if not impossible  to conclusively detect the Kremlins elusive fingerprints.

The competing messages, according to officials in attendance, also reflect cultural differences between the FBI and the CIA. The bureau, true to its law enforcement roots, wants facts and tangible evidence to prove something beyond all reasonable doubt. The CIA is more comfortable drawing inferences from behavior.

[Trump, CIA on collision course over Russias role in U.S. election]

The FBI briefers think in terms of criminal standards  can we prove this in court, one of the officials said. The CIA briefers weigh the preponderance of intelligence and then make judgment calls to help policymakers make informed decisions. High confidence for them means were pretty damn sure. It doesnt mean they can prove it in court.

The FBI is not sold on the idea that Russia had a particular aim in its meddling. Theres no question that [the Russians] efforts went one way, but its not clear that they have a specific goal or mix of related goals, said one U.S. official.

The murky nature of the assessments is maddening many lawmakers who are demanding answers about the Kremlins role in the presidential race. The FBI, under Director James B. Comey, is already under fire for dropping a bombshell letter days before the election on the discovery of new emails potentially related to the Clinton private server investigation. The emails proved irrelevant to the case. On Saturday, outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) called on Comey to resign, saying the FBI director deliberately kept quiet evidence about Russias motives before the election.

President-elect Donald Trump as well as Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Dec. 11 reacted to the CIAs assessment that Russia intervened to help Trump win the election. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

With so much of the evidence about Russias alleged role in the election shrouded in secrecy because of strict classification rules, Democrats and Republicans in Washington who have access to the underlying intelligence say they have struggled to make their respective cases, leaving an already deeply divided public convinced that both sides are shading their conclusions to help the candidate they backed on Election Day.

[As Democrats demand probe over CIA election claim, GOP senators express doubt]

The clamor from Democrats and some Republicans for a more fulsome accounting prompted the White House on Friday to announce that President Obama had ordered a full review of Russian cyber actions during the 2016 campaign. The president wants the report to be completed before he leaves office next month. Officials said Obama intends to declassify as much of the report as possible. Lawmakers, in turn, want the review to be accompanied by a joint congressional investigation.

Only in this way can the American people know the extent of Russian interference and we can attempt to inoculate ourselves against continued meddling in our elections, said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence panel, who has been briefed but did not comment on the information he has learned.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the intelligence communitys information needs to be made public not to revisit this election, but to see that this doesnt happen again. Russia regularly tries to influence European politics and elections, and I dont want this to be the case here, he said.

King said he does not believe Moscows efforts end with Trumps election. It could happen in the midterms. It could be in the next presidential election. They have shown us that they are capable and willing to do it here. For us not to react with the highest level of investigation and preparing responsive measures would be negligent, he said.

[The long history of the U.S. interfering with elections elsewhere]

Meanwhile, top Republicans on the committee have pointed to the possible ambiguity of the evidence to question the soundness of the claim that Russia acted to help Trump. There is no clear evidence  even now, said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the panels chairman. Theres a lot of innuendo, lots of circumstantial evidence, thats it.

At the start of the House Intelligence Committee briefing, the senior FBI official walked lawmakers through the evidence that the bureau thought was credible about Russias role in the election, according to officials in attendance.

It didnt take long for the conversation to turn to the statements that the CIA briefer had made to the Senate panel, making the case for the first time that Russia intended to help Trump win the election.

Previous CIA assessments of Moscows goals were more cautious, saying they were limited to undermining faith in the U.S. electoral system. In earlier statements to the intelligence committees in Congress, the agency stopped short of saying the intrusions were meant to benefit one candidate over another.

During the nearly two-hour briefing, the Democratic lawmakers in the room, again and again, tried to pin the FBI official down on whether the bureau believed that Russia had a preference in who won the election.

It was shocking to hold these [CIA] statements made about Russian intentions and activities, and to hear this guy basically saying nothing with certainty and allowing that all was possible, said an official who attended the briefing. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.

Many of the Republican lawmakers welcomed the FBIs caution. They didnt think the CIA had a basis for coming to the conclusions presented to the Senate panel. Some of the Republicans on the House side thought it would have been more logical for the CIA to conclude that Russia preferred Clinton because she was a known commodity and because Trump talked during the campaign of expanding the U.S. military, something Russia might interpret as a threat, according to officials.

At one point during the discussion in the secure room, a Republican lawmaker turned to his Democratic colleagues and said the back-and-forth suggested that Republicans are from Mars, Democrats are from Venus, according to an aide who was present, adding: Were looking at the same evidence and drawing very different conclusions.

Julie Tate contributed to this report.

Read more:

Bolton suggests Russian election hacks were false flag by Obama administration

Kremlin defers to Trump on the CIA assessment that Moscow helped him win

The CIA concluded that Russia worked to elect Trump. Republicans now face an impossible choice.


Credit: Marcelo Krasilcic

Hilaria Baldwin is doing a downward-facing dog.

New York's most public yogi isn't doing such things on rooftops anymore. Or on railroad tracks, bulldozers, or helipads. She's on a mat next to me, inviting me to join her.

I'm trying to get some zen from the author of The Living Clearly Method ($18; amazon.com), which distills her wellness practices into a five-pronged program for a fitter, happier life.

I dread all yoga, but in particular the wrist-wrenching, shoulder-straining maneuver Baldwin moves through with the ease of a shrug. "Saying you're too inflexible for yoga is like saying you're too dirty to take a bath," she tells me. "That's my favorite quote."

Her credentials here are impeccable: Not only has she run the popular Yoga Vida studio for seven years, but she can also type on a computer with her knees behind her shoulders, as her 200,000-plus Instagram followers know well.

RELATED: Hilaria Baldwin's Best Yoga Poses for When Moms-to-Be Just Don't Feel Like Getting Out of Bed



Credit: hilariabaldwin/instagram

Baldwin sun-saluted her way into the limelight in 2014, when she was posting a yearlong series of daily yoga poses, many of them shot around her home turf of New York City, often with her baby daughter, Carmen, in tow.

That she was Alec Baldwin's newish wife only added to the intrigue. How could a beaming exhibitionist and a notoriously press-averse cynic get along, let alone marry?

Two more years and two more children later--17-month-old Rafael and Leonardo, born in September--she has transformed her Instagram feed into a cozy jumble of perfectly imperfect family moments, rife with smoochy babies, sleepy eyes, and stolen moments for leg lifts. Noteworthy too are the glimpses of an Alec Baldwin you don't see elsewhere: joyful, unburdened, and seemingly in love with it all.



Credit: hilariabaldwin/instagram

Baldwin, 32, says her dogged social media upkeep is born of a desire to define herself rather than letting the paparazzi do it for her: "I think everybody wants to be seen. I want to be seen. I want people to know who I am."

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When she arrives at the studio she co-owns, she's makeup-free and absurdly pretty, her coloring a soft wash of peach and ambers. She's wearing Lululemon yoga pants--"I have, like, 500 pairs," she says--along with a gray V-neck T-shirt and Prada zipper booties.



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She hasn't slept. "You're my boss today," she tells me wearily, and I'm tempted to order her back home to her month-old baby because I remember too well the milky, sleepless haze that swallows you up for weeks after giving birth.

RELATED: See Hilaria Baldwin's Bare Baby Bump #Fitspo Selfie

Chief on her mind today is balance, one of her book's core principles. With a trio of children under 3, she's never needed it more. "I co-sleep with my kids until they learn to sleep in their beds. Because I'm breast-feeding, it's a lot easier," she says. "So I'm up with the baby all night and then all day long I'm running in between the other two. I'm trying to figure out how I can be the best mom to each one."

Not to mention a spouse with needs of his own. "My husband is really someone who likes to have, as he calls it, 'his girlfriend.' He says, 'You're my wife, but you're my girlfriend first, and I don't want to lose my girlfriend,' " she says. "He just wants to have private time with me--but hopefully not have another baby right now!"



Credit: hilariabaldwin/instagram

She describes Alec as her "polar opposite" but adds that anyone who perceives her as the lightweight here is dead wrong. "We're both strong personalities," she says. "People look at him like, 'Oh, he married this girl who's 26 years younger than him. Oh, she's so tiny!' But we both needed strong partners, and there are different forms of strength. Together, we have a loud strength. We talk a lot. We spend the majority of our time together. Have I helped him with his stress? Absolutely. Has he helped me with mine? Absolutely. I'm somebody who wants human touch. I want a hug."

Alec must have doled out a lot of them while she was pulling together the book, a dense 250-page volume whose writing spanned two pregnancies. Living Clearly isn't a rigid script for weight loss or fitness so much as a series of practices designed to make life calmer and more manageable, focusing on balance, perspective, breathing, grounding, and letting go. There are dozens of yoga poses and 17 recipes, several involving quinoa. The book, says Baldwin, took years to marinate. "There's a difference in what goes on when I'm teaching 70 people in my classroom and when I'm teaching one-on-one," she says. "I feel like I found a way to explain what happens in my classroom to a big group of people."



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In person, Baldwin comes across primarily as generous, which is refreshing for a selfie star. While other influencers in the exercise space traffic in narcissism and call it #fitspo, she seems genuinely concerned with the welfare of her fellow humans.

"We have people come in and maybe they can't touch their toes, but it doesn't make the person less special than you," she tells instructors she trains. "They could be writers, doctors, incredible parents--they could've had the hardest day. You have all of these bodies in front of you that you're in charge of for 65 minutes, and it's your opportunity to take care of them, not to judge them."



Credit: Marcelo Krasilcic

The harder part is not judging yourself in her presence. On a flexibility scale of zero to Hilaria, I'm somewhere between Mitch McConnell and a cinder block, which becomes painfully apparent as she leads me through three yoga poses that we film for training purposes. Baldwin, a dancer since age 2, moves fluidly, inhabiting her skin fully and easily. Trying to jerk my own form through the poses alongside her is like being on a bad double date with the world's happiest couple.

Later, watching the video, I detect the unmistakable protrusion of a baby belly--and it's not hers. The stark proof that I still have a rampant case of "mommy body" nearly six years after my last delivery is made no less devastating by Baldwin's flat abs a mere four weeks after hers. But who am I kidding? Mine isn't just mommy body anymore. It's desk-job body. Bad-posture body. Not-enough-sleep body. Eating-my-kids'-leftovers body. "The important thing to realize is that your body is brilliant," she tells me. "Your body works just as well as mine."



Credit: hilariabaldwin/instagram

If that were actually the case, there's someone at home (hi, honey!) who would be as happy as Alec, so I keep Hilaria in mind the next week while trying to Live Clearly. I eat quinoa for lunch, skip the nightly wine (a few times), and do yoga semi-diligently. At work, when it's time for the hourly round of calisthenics her book prescribes, I get coffee instead. I'm too constrained for a standing desk, let alone in-office squats.

On the emo front, I do manage to pause for a grounding moment when complications arise on a work project. I defuse a potential road-rage blowup and make it into a polite exchange, a first not only for me but possibly for all of N.Y.C. I maintain perspective after yet another zinger from someone who ladles out critiques like matzo balls. And when one of my kids starts haranguing me while I'm deep into a concerning email, I reach into my toolbox and ... snap at him, just like before.

My downward dog is pretty killer, though.
The Daily Beast

GettyRussia announced Wednesday that it views Norways work with other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as provocative, warning that Norways efforts to bolster its military in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine this year will likely be the death knell for Oslo-Moscow relations moving forward.Oslo is now among the most active supporters of NATO's involvement in the Arctic, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Wednesday, according to TASS. We cons
Photo Credit: ajehals || Pensions are promises. Sadly, promises are often broken. Choose your promiser with care

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If you want a full view of what I am writing about today, look at this article from The Post and Courier, South Carolinas looming pension crisis. I want to give you some perspective on this, so that you can understand better what went wrong, and what is likely to go wrong in the future.

Before I start, remember that the rich get richer, and the poor poorer even among states. Unlike what many will tell you though, it is not any conspiracy. It happens for very natural reasons that are endemic in human behavior. The so-called experts in this story are not truly experts, but sourcerers apprentices who know a few tricks, but dont truly understand pensions and investing. And from what little I can tell from here, they still havent learned. I would fire them all, and replace all of the boards in question, and turn the politicians who are responsible out of office . Let the people of South Carolina figure out what they must do here  Im a foreigner to them, but they might want to hear my opinion.

Lets start here with:

Central Error 1: Chasing the Markets

Credit: The Courier and Post

Much as inexperienced individuals did, the South Carolina Retirement System Investment Commission [SCRSIC] chased the markets in an effort to earn returns when they seemed easy to get in hindsight. As the article said:

It used to be different, before the high-octane investment strategies began. South Carolinas pension plans were considered 99 percent funded in 1999, and on track to pay all promised benefits for decades to come. That was the year the pension funds started investing in stocks, in hopes of pulling in even more income. A change to the state constitution and action by the General Assembly allowed those investments. In the previous five years, U.S. stock prices had nearly tripled.

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Prior to that time, the pension funds were largely invested in bonds and cash, which actually yielded something back then. If the pension funds were invested in bonds that were long, the returns might not have been so bad versus stocks. But in the late 90s the market went up aggressively, and the money looked easy, and it was easy, partly due to loose monetary policy, and a mania in technology and internet stocks.

Heres the real problem. Its okay to invest in only bonds. Its okay to invest in bonds and stocks in a fixed proportion. Its okay even to invest only in stocks. Whatever you do, keep the same policy over the long haul, and dont adjust it. Also, the more nonguaranteed your investments become (anything but high quality bonds), the larger your provision against bear markets must become.

And, when you start a new policy, do what is not greedy. 1999-2000 was the right time to buy long bonds and sell stocks, and I did that for a small trust that I managed at the time. It looked dumb on current performance, but if you look at investing as a business asking what level of surplus cash flows the underlying investments will throw off, it was an easy choice, because bonds were offering a much higher future yield than stocks. But the natural tendency is to chase returns, because most people dont think, they imitate. And that was true for the SCRSIC, bigtime.

Central Error 2: Bad Data

The above quote said that South Carolinas pension plans were considered 99 percent funded in 1999. That was during an era when government accounting standards were weak. The standards are still weak, but they are stronger than they were. South Carolina was NOT 99% funded in 1999  I dont know what the right answer would have been, but it would have been considerably lower, like 80% or so.

Central Error 3: Unintelligent Diversification into Alternatives

In 2009, I had the fun of writing a small report for CALPERS. One of my main points was that they allocated money to alternative investments too late. With all new classes of investments the best deals get done early, and as more money flows into the new class returns surge because the flood of buyers drives prices up. Pricing is relatively undifferentiated, because experience is early, and there have been few failures. After significant failures happen, differentiation occurs, and players realize that there are sponsors with genuine skill, and also rans. Those with genuine skill also limit the amount of money they manage, because they know that good-returning ideas are hard to come by.

The second aspect of this foolishness comes from the consultants who use historical statistics and put them into brain-dead mean-variance models which spit out an asset allocation. Good asset allocation work comes from analyzing what economic return the underlying business activities will throw off, and adjusting for risk qualitatively. Then allocate funds assuming they will never be able to trade something once bought. Maybe you will be able to trade, but never assume there will be future liquidity.

The article kvetches about the expenses, which are bad, but the strategy is worse. The returns from all of the non-standard investments were poor, and so was their timing  why invest in something not geared much to stock returns when the market is at low valuations? This is the same as the timing problem in point one.

Alternatives might make sense at market peaks, or providing liquidity in distressed situations, but for the most part they are as saturated now as public market investments, but with more expenses and less liquidity.

Central Error 4: Caring about 7.5% rather than doing your best

Part of the justification for buying the alternatives rather than stocks and bonds is that you have more of a chance of beating the target return of the plan, which in this case was 7.5%/yr. Far better to go for the best risk-adjusted return, and tell the State of South Carolina to pony up to meet the promises that their forbears made. That brings us to:

Central Error 5: Foolish politicians who would not allocate more money to pensions, and who gave pension increases rather than wage hikes

The biggest error belongs to the politicians and bureaucrats who voted for and negotiated higher pension promises instead of higher wages. The cowards wanted to hand over an economic benefit without raising taxes, because the rise in pension benefits does not have any immediate cash outlay if one can bend the will of the actuary to assume that there will be even higher investment earnings in the future to make up the additional benefits.

[Which brings me to a related pet peeve. The original framers of the pension accounting rules assumed that everyone would be angels, and so they left a lot of flexibility in the accounting rules to encourage the creation of defined benefit plans, expecting that men of good will would go out of their way to fund them fully and soon.

The last 30 years have taught us that plan sponsors are nothing like angels, playing for their own advantage, with the IRS doing its bit to keep corporate plans from being fully funded so that taxes will be higher. It would have been far better to not let defined benefit plans assume any rate of return greater than the rate on Treasuries that would mimic their liability profile, and require immediate relatively quick funding of deficits. Then if plans outperform Treasuries, they can reduce their contributions by that much.]

Error 5 is likely the biggest error, and will lead to most of the tax increases of the future in many states and municipalities.

Central Error 6: Insufficient Investment Expertise

Those in charge of making the investment decisions proved themselves to be as bad as amateurs, and worse. As one of my brighter friends at RealMoney, Howard Simons, used to say (something like), On Wall Street, to those that are expert, we give them super-advanced tools that they can use to destroy themselves. The trustees of SCRSIC received those tools and allowed themselves to be swayed by those who said these magic strategies will work, possibly without doing any analysis to challenge the strategies that would enrich many third parties. Always distrust those receiving commissions.

Central Error 7: Intergenerational Equity of Employee Contributions

The last problem is that the wrong people will bear the brunt of the problems created. Those that received the benefit of services from those expecting pensions will not be the prime taxpayers to pay those pensions. Rather, it will be their children paying for the sins of the parents who voted foolish people into office who voted for the good of current taxpayers, and against the good of future taxpayers. Thank you, Silent Generation and Baby Boomers, you really sank things for Generation X, the Millennials, and those who will follow.

Conclusion

Could this have been done worse? Well, there is Illinois and Kentucky. Puerto Rico also. Many cities are in similar straits  Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, and more.

Take note of the situation in your state and city, and if the problem is big enough, you might consider moving sooner rather than later. Those that move soonest will do best selling at higher real estate prices, and not suffer the soaring taxes and likely diminution of city services. Dont kid yourself by thinking that everyone will stay there, that there will be a bailout, etc. Maybe clever ways will be found to default on pensions (often constitutionally guaranteed, but politicians dont always honor Constitutions) and municipal obligations.

Forewarned is forearmed. South Carolina is a harbinger of future problems, in their case made worse by opportunists who sold the idea of high-yielding investments to trustees that proved to be a bunch of rubes. But the high returns were only needed because of the overly high promises made to state employees, and the unwillingness to levy taxes sufficient to fund them.

Seven central errors committed by the South Carolina Retirement System and politicians Click To Tweet

A Cautionary Tale on Municipal Pensions was originally published on The Aleph Blog
By Laila Bassam and Tom Perry ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels have received a U.S.-backed proposal to leave Aleppo along with civilians under safe passage guaranteed by Russia, rebel officials said as government forces closed in on Sunday, but Moscow denied a deal had been reached. If the proposal were to be taken up by all sides, it would end four years of fighting in the city, and months of siege and intense bombardment that have created a humanitarian crisis - particularly in rebel territory that has now shrunk to a small pocket crammed with civilians. Three officials with insurgent groups in Aleppo told Reuters that a letter outlining the proposal had been received, offering an "honorable" departure for the rebels to a place of their choice. Rebel groups have yet to respond. But if fully accepted, the proposal would give Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his military coalition of Russia, Iran and Shi'ite militias their greatest triumph in the civil war against the rebels who have fought for nearly six years to unseat him. However, the sudden recapture by the Islamic State of the ancient desert city of Palmyra on Sunday after a much-trumpeted army victory there in March has shown how difficult Assad may find it even after Aleppo to restore his rule across Syria. Asked whether they had been contacted by the United States and Russia over talks between the two powers in Geneva to find a way out of the crisis, one of the officials with rebel groups that are present in Aleppo said: "They sent us a letter, they are saying to safeguard the civilians ... you can leave in an honorable way to any place you choose and the Russians will pledge publicly that nobody will be harmed or stopped," said one of the officials. "We have yet to give a response." A second official said a document "is being proposed to the factions, the fundamental thing in it is the departure of the all the fighters in an honorable way". However, Russia swiftly said it had not reached any agreement with the United States on a proposal to withdraw fighters from Aleppo and added that the Geneva talks were continuing. Moscow was working to create the necessary conditions for the safe extraction of people from Aleppo, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. "The issue of withdrawing militants is the subject of separate agreements. This agreement has not yet been reached, largely because the United States insists on unacceptable terms," he said in comments reported by RIA news agency. United Nations special Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura had no comment on the report, but some were skeptical that the proposal could succeed. "With all previous commitments reneged on by (the Syrian) regime/Russia it is difficult to see how rebels are to trust this offer of safe exit," one former Western envoy in Syria told Reuters in Geneva. As the army swept through east Aleppo in the past two weeks, taking three quarters of rebel ground, tens of thousands fled the fighting, some to government-held areas and others deeper into the insurgent pocket. New army gains on Sunday south of Aleppo's historic citadel appeared to bring victory closer for Assad, with a rebel official saying world powers seemed to be presenting his side with a choice of "death or surrender". PALMYRA The Islamic State attack on Palmyra, 200 km (120 miles) to the southeast, threatens to inflict a serious blow on both Damascus and Moscow. Syrian state radio reported the army had evacuated its positions inside Palmyra, whose Roman-era ruins have become an emblem of the conflict. They were redeploying around the city. Analysts have warned that even if Assad defeats the main rebellion, he may still face years of guerrilla insurgency and bombing attacks as he tries to reassert his authority. Islamic State seized Palmyra in May 2015, one of its last major conquests after nearly a year of advances in Syria and neighboring Iraq that took advantage of the region's chaos. Its destruction of some of the best-known ruins and killing of the leading archaeologist in the city provoked global outrage and the army's recapture of Palmyra was presented by Damascus and Moscow as vindicating Russia's entry into the war. Islamic State has suffered a string of setbacks since late last year, losing its once long stretch of territory on the border with Turkey, an important source of supplies and recruits, as well as the city of Manbij. The group is fighting an assault on its most important possession in Iraq, the city of Mosul. It is also under attack north of Raqqa, its Syrian capital, following a series of air strikes that have killed some of its most important leaders. Russian news agencies reported that air strikes had killed 300 militants overnight near Palmyra but that more than 4,000 fighters had still managed to launch the attack on the city. PROPOSAL Under the terms of the proposed deal, rebels could leave Aleppo with light weapons. It would be implemented over a 48-hour period and oversight would be sought from the U.N.. Fighters from the hardline jihadist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front until it broke allegiance to al Qaeda in July, would have to go to Idlib. Other fighters could choose separate destinations, including near the Turkish border northeast of Aleppo. There was no immediate comment from Damascus on the proposal. Heavy shelling and air raids pounded Aleppo's rebel enclave from midnight on Saturday and throughout Sunday morning, a Reuters reporter in the city said, with explosions at a rate of more than one a minute. Gunfire was also heard. Thousands of refugees are still pouring from Aleppo's areas of fighting. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, said more than 120,000 civilians had left the eastern part of the city as the government advance closed in, but that tens of thousands remained. The mostly Sunni rebels include groups supported by the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies, but also some jihadist factions that receive no assistance from the West. The army seized the al-Maadi district on Sunday morning before rebels were able to return and continue fighting there, said the Jabha Shamiya official. A Syrian military source said the army and its allies had captured the al-Asila and Aaajam districts, southeast of Aleppo's ancient citadel, as well as the southern portion of the Karam al-Daadaa neighborhood. The Observatory also said the army had advanced in those areas. Reuters reporters on a tour of Old City districts captured by the army saw how its historic covered market had been pounded, with ancient quarters reduced to a warren of defensive positions daubed with rebel slogans. "Embrace death for Aleppo" was one. State television showed footage of the east Aleppo fighting: a tank moving slowly along a street as soldiers ran alongside it, smoke and dust billowing around them. (Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Jack Stubbs in Moscow and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, writing by Angus McDowall; editing by David Stamp)
Barcelona (AFP) - Animal rights defenders stripped down Sunday in the Spanish tourist hub of Barcelona to draw attention to the alleged cruelty of the fur industry.

Dozens of activists, naked, doused in fake blood and piled together in imitation of a heap of animal carcasses, staged a lie-in in the centre of town.

"How many lives just for a coat?" read a sign in English held up by Luisa Escribano, 53, and her daughter Barbara, 21, in the middle of the protesters.

"It is very important to draw attention to what happens to the animals, and which goes largely unnoticed. They suffer and die on farms, but their lives matter for me and my family," said Luisa.

Each year more than 60 million animals -- including over 32 million in the European Union -- are killed around the world to make coats and other items from their skin, according to international animal rights group AnimaNaturalis, which staged the demonstration

Europe produces 70 percent of the world's mink fur and 63 percent of its fox fur, according to the group.

Denmark and Finland are the world's largest producers and exporters of mink and fox fur. Other major producers are Russia, Canada, Sweden and the Netherlands.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  The Arab film industry is starting up its first unified motion picture association and launching the Arab Film Awards, its version of the Oscars.

The potentially game changing initiative, still in early stages, was announced on Sunday by a group of prominent Arab producers and industry execs (pictured) during the 13th edition of the Dubai Film Festival, which is among its supporters. The Dubai fest is the worlds leading Arab cinema platform.

Plans are underway for the first edition of the Arab Film Awards to take place in Dubai in March 2018, with statuettes to be handed out in 19 categories.

The nascent entity behind the initiative is a non-profit called the Arab Film Institute which will be headquartered in Dubai. The goal is to have at least 500 members next year, said Lebanese producer Paul Baboudjian, a former executive director of funding org. Screen Institute Beirut, who conceived and got the ball rolling on what is intended to become the Arab rough equivalent of the European Film Academy, or the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the U.S.

Being a witness and active member of the bright and rich Arab film scene, I felt we needed to bring together all this energy and exchange experiences and ideas as well as offer wider opportunities in a fast-changing world to our film community, Baboudjian said at a packed presser.

The initial nucleus on the board of the institute behind the first pan-Arab film prizes includes prominent Egyptian indie producer and screenwriter Mohamed Hefzy (Clash); Tunisias top arthouse producer Dora Bouchoucha (Hedi); the head of Jordans Royal Film Commission George David; Moroccan filmmaker and producer Nabil Ayouch (Much Loved); Al Zain Al Sabah, who is Undersecretary of Kuwaits Ministry of State for Youth Affairs and also a film producer; and Jawaheer Abdulla Al Qassimi, who is director of  Director of the UAEs Funn, Media Arts for Youth org. and the Sharjah Children International Film Festival.

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Aside from launching the first Arab film nods, the Arab Film Institute will seek to become a forum for the regions film industry to try and collectively tackle stumbling blocks such as distribution impediments caused by different varieties of Arabic in different countries, and collectively address the lack of a real pan-Arab star system.

We currently work in silos, said Hefzy. More interaction is necessary, he noted.

We are a single market; we need to build this market and this has not been happening, said Algerian director and producer Salem Brahimi (Let Them Come).

Asked about potential rifts that could arise within the org. Brahimi said: we are going to be messy! We are going to quarrel, we are going to learn as we go, we know that.

But even if we make mistakes, we will achieve more than we are achieving right now, which is nothing.

Related stories

Dubai Film Festival Director Masoud Amralla Al Ali on Helping Arab Cinema

Egyptian Director Sherif El Bendary on his 'Ali, The Goat And Ibrahim'

Dubai Film Connection Announces Arab Projects Prizewinners
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(Adds details on deal)

SYDNEY, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Australian travel insurance provider Cover-More Group on Monday said it had agreed to a A$741 million ($551.16 million) takeover offer from Switzerland's Zurich Insurance Group.

Under the deal, Zurich will acquire Cover-More for A$1.95 cash a share, a 48 percent premium to the target's last closing price of A$1.32 on Friday.

It marks Zurich's second acquisition in the Australian insurance market this year. Zurich in March purchased Macquarie Group's life insurance division for an undisclosed sum.

Cover-More Chairman Louis Carroll said the board had concluded unanimously that the sale at a significant premium to the market price was an attractive outcome for shareholders. He said Zurich had proposed to operate Cover-More as a discrete business and retain the existing management team.

The deal will be executed via a scheme of arrangement requiring the approval of 75 percent of Cover-More shareholders at a meeting the insurer said was expected to be held in late March or early April 2017.

Cover-More said it expected to deliver earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the range of A$54-57 million for the financial year ended June 30, in line with the A$54.5 million forecast by six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

($1 = 1.3444 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Bernard Orr)
New Zealand's socially conservative finance chief Bill English was sworn in as the country's new prime minister on Monday following last week's shock resignation of his popular predecessor John Key.

The centre-right National Party caucus unanimously backed English at a meeting on Monday morning and he travelled to Government House in Wellington a few hours later to officially take over.

State Services Minister Paula Bennett was named as deputy leader.

English, 54, said he was "excited and humbled" to take the top job after eight years as Key's deputy and finance minister.

"This will be a government supporting economic growth and ensuring that the benefits of growth are widely shared," he told reporters.

National Party president Peter Goodfellow said English and Bennett offered "a good mixture of experience and fresh thinking".

"Under their leadership, New Zealanders will continue to benefit from the stable government they expect, along with a dedicated focus on delivering results for families and businesses," he said.

A former farmer with degrees in commerce and literature, English has been in parliament since 1990 and was previously leader of the National Party in 2002 when it suffered its worst election defeat.

"You learn more from losing than you do from winning," said English, who will seek National's fourth straight election win in late 2017.

He was Key's preferred successor after returning New Zealand's budget to surplus and keeping the economy ticking over at about three percent.

- Social conservative -

English said New Zealand's prosperity meant the country did not have the pool of disaffected voters responsible for Brexit and US President-elect Donald Trump's victory.

He said a priority for his government was ensuring the most needy were given opportunities.

"We have a strong economy, almost unique in the developed world, and most New Zealanders would expect to be able to share in that," he said.

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A committed Catholic with six children, English is regarded as far more socially conservative than Key, opposing the 2013 legalisation of same-sex marriage and speaking out against abortion and voluntary euthanasia.

"It doesn't define me but it is an important influence," he said when asked about his faith Monday, adding that he now supported gay marriage after seeing its positive impact.

Key, who resigned for family reasons after eight years and prime minister and 10 as party leader, said he was looking forward to becoming an anonymous backbencher.

He congratulated English and Bennett, saying he did not expect the government's direction to change under the new team.

"I don't think it will be a radically different agenda under Bill English," he told reporters.

"It gives a sense of newness (to the government) that the public probably do want."

Opposition Labour Party leader Andrew Little said English's leadership meant more of the same for voters.

"New Zealand has moved on, but Bill English hasn't," he said. "The right-wing rump of National under English is now reasserting itself."

Bennett, 47, revealed she had struggled as a teenage single mother and said the fact that she was given a second chance and had become deputy prime minister was "a credit to New Zealand".

"There was a moment when I was a 17-year-old Maori solo mum in Taupo, I'd left school with no qualifications, I didn't have a job and it looked pretty bleak," she said.
CAIRO (AP)  Sunday morning Mass was drawing to a close at the chapel next to St. Mark's Cathedral, the seat of Egypt's ancient Coptic Orthodox Church, when Magdy Ramzy said there suddenly was a "shattering explosion like nothing I had ever heard before."

A bomb ripped through the chapel in the cathedral complex in central Cairo, killing 25 people and wounding another 49, mostly women and children, one of the deadliest attacks on the country's Christian minority in recent memory.

"It felt like the world has turned upside-down," said the 59-year-old Ramzy, who was wounded behind the ear by shrapnel. He frantically searched the wrecked chapel, and then outside, for his wife, Sabah Wadie, Only later did he learn that she was killed, and his daughter-in-law and three of his grandchildren were wounded.

Ramzy sobbed uncontrollably at the hospital as he leaned on relatives for support.

"This is one of the acts of terror that we used to watch on television. Now, we saw it with our own eyes," he told The Associated Press.

The bombing of the Boutrossyia chapel  and another one Friday that killed six police  were grim reminders of Egypt's struggle to restore security and stability after nearly six years of turmoil.

Egypt has seen a wave of attacks by Islamic militants since 2013, when the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi, a freely elected leader and a senior Muslim Brotherhood official. Many of his supporters blamed Christians for supporting his ouster, and scores of churches and other Christian-owned properties in southern Egypt were ransacked that year.

Since 2013, authorities have waged a sweeping crackdown, outlawing the Muslim Brotherhood, jailing thousands of mostly Islamist dissidents and killing hundreds in street clashes.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attack.

One of the worst previous attacks against Christians by Islamic militants was a 2011 bombing at a church in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria that killed 21.

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The Islamic State group also has targeted Christians in the Sinai Peninsula, where it primarily goes after security forces. Most IS attacks in Egypt have been confined to security personnel and judicial officials.

Friday's police bombing was claimed by a group that authorities say is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. That group  called "Hasm," or "Decisiveness"  distanced itself from Sunday's attack in a statement that said it does not as a principle kill women, children, the elderly or worshippers. The Brotherhood, in a separate statement, condemned the attack.

The bombings are almost certain to undermine the modest recovery in recent months by the vital tourism sector after years of slumping that followed the 2011 popular uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

They also could bolster the argument used by the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi that stability and security are top priorities if Egypt is to prosper economically and avoid sliding into the kind of chaos and violence now seen in countries like Libya, Syria and Yemen.

Sunday's bombing was condemned by government and religious leaders, and drew calls for unity between Egypt's Muslim majority and Christians, who account for about 10 percent of the country's 92 million people.

Witnesses said the blast probably was caused by a bomb planted in the chapel. Bishop Moussa, a senior cleric, said there were unconfirmed reports of a woman posing as a worshipper leaving a bag in the women's section before slipping out.

AP reporters who went in the chapel noted that the side where women are routinely seated suffered the worst damage. Pews were smeared with blood and stained glass windows and wooden cabinets were blown out. A broken pair of glasses lay next to a girl's boots with leopard spots and a pink ribbon. A chandelier dangled precariously and a wall clock was stopped at 9:57 a.m.

"I found bodies, many of them women, lying on the pews. It was a horrible scene," said church worker Attiya Mahrous, who rushed to the chapel after the blast. His clothes and hands were stained with blood and his hair was matted with dust.

Men and women wailed and cried outside.

"I saw a headless woman being carried away," Mariam Shenouda said as she pounded her chest in grief. "Everyone was in a state of shock."

"There were children," she added. "What have they done to deserve this? I wish I had died with them instead of seeing these scenes."

Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt's Orthodox Christians, cut short a visit to Greece to return home.

State TV broadcast appeals by hospitals for blood donations, and el-Sissi declared three days of mourning.

"The pain felt by Egyptians now will not go to waste, but will instead result in an uncompromising decisiveness to hunt down and bring to trial whoever helped  through inciting, facilitating, participating or executing  in this heinous crime," a presidential statement quoted him as saying.

Several hundred angry people gathered outside the cathedral, chanting anti-government slogans and calling for the firing of the interior minister, who is in charge of security.

"We sacrifice our soul and blood for the cross," some chanted. Others sang hymns and, raising their hands, shouted, "Lord, have mercy."

Scuffles broke out when protesters tried to push police lines to move closer to the cathedral, but there were no immediate reports of arrests. Police in full riot gear arrived later.

Egypt's Christians have long complained of discrimination, saying they are denied top jobs in many fields, including academia and security forces.

The church and many Christians have rallied behind el-Sissi, although there have been growing voices of dissent in the community. They say little has changed under his rule, with authorities failing to halt attacks on their churches and property.

"This government must resign, and if the president insists on keeping it, then he'd better resign as well," said Gerges Wadie, the brother of Ramzy's wife. He said he initially supported el-Sissi but now sees him as a "failure."
Cairo (AFP) - The Coptic Christians were in mid-prayer Sunday when the ear-splitting blast tore through their church in Egypt's capital, spraying shrapnel into icon-covered walls and blowing out the tiled roof.

Witnesses said the smoke then cleared to reveal a tangle of splintered pews and body parts.

"It was terrifying. Things were falling down on us. I couldn't get down from behind the altar because of the smoke," said church volunteer Tadros Zaki, 63.

"There were too many people. Destroyed, in pieces... people on top of people," said Romany, who rushed to the church to help after the bombing.

The health ministry said 23 people were killed and 49 wounded.

The focal point of the explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church appeared to have been just inside the entrance, on the side where the women sat.

A woman's scarf, drenched in congealing blood, lay in the wreckage.

The stone recess above the door was peppered with shrapnel which also left holes in the marble floor. A pew that remained upright was soaked in blood.

Two nearby boxes, one that had been filled with written prayers left by worshippers and another that held a saint's relics, were destroyed.

Dazed priests paced the arcaded courtyard, pieces of stained glass from the church's windows crunching underfoot, as guards at the doors blocked a crush of journalists and concerned faithful.

One nun in a grey habit stared pensively at the wreckage.

"God will have a say in this," she decided.

Bishop Angaelos, the General Bishop for the Coptic Orthodox Church in Britain, told AFP by telephone that Saint Peter's church was especially popular with parishioners.

- 'Beyond comprehension' -

It is "deeply loved by many Coptic faithful in Cairo and it has a regular parish presence", he said.

"The fact that they were targeted this way when they were going to pray is beyond comprehension."

Copts have been attacked before in Egypt, most notably in a suicide bombing that killed more than 20 congregants at an Alexandria church in 2011.

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But Saturday's attack hit close to the heart of the beleaguered minority's faith.

The church is adjacent to Saint Mark's Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic Christian papacy.

"What are we to do? God will dispense our affairs," said Magdy, a church administrator whose office is at the other end of the courtyard from the blast site.

The explosion shattered his office windows, leaving his desk strewn with shards of glass.

Outside, a growing crowd of Copts began chanting against the government, and there were brief scuffles with riot police who cordoned off the scene.

"The people want the downfall of the regime!" they chanted. "Hey, interior ministry! Where were you when they bombed the cathedral?"

Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people, have suffered repeated attacks for decades.

They also attracted the wrath of Islamist extremists after the church, along with Muslim religious leaders, supported the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Mobs attacked scores of churches and Christian properties in August 2013 after police in Cairo killed hundreds of Islamists protesting against Morsi's overthrow.
- Anthony Joshua paved the way for a mega-fight against Wladimir Klitschko next year by making quick work of Eric Molina in a third round win on Saturday. The Briton successfully defended his IBF world heavyweight title with his 18th stoppage from as many professional bouts at the Manchester Arena. With Klitschko watching from ringside, Joshua is being lined up to meet the former champion from Ukraine on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London. "I was patient and we move on. This is not the end of the story, said Joshua. "You will realise what Im all about now. Klitschko wants his belts back and may the best man win. I will worry about myself and training."

AFP
Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Anthony Joshua paved the way for a fight against Wladimir Klitschko next year by making quick work of Eric Molina in a third round win on Saturday.

The Briton successfully defended his IBF world heavyweight title for a second time with another brutal demonstration of his power-punching to claim an 18th stoppage win from as many professional bouts at the Manchester Arena.

Joshua forced the stoppage in two minutes, two seconds of the third round after first flooring American Molina with a right.

Klitschko, the former world No 1 who lost three titles on points to Joshuas fellow Briton Tyson Fury last year, was ringside to check on Joshua and could not have failed to have been impressed.

Klitschko -- 41 in March -- and Joshua are being lined up to meet on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, and the Ukrainian will be a big step up in class to Molina.

"I was patient and we move on. This is not the end of the story, said Joshua in the ring.

"You will realise what Im all about now. Klitschko wants his belts back and may the best man win. I will worry about myself and training."

Klitschko then got into the ring and promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed Joshuas next fight would be against the Ukrainian.

"You want a big fight and you've got it," said Klitschko to the crowd.

Joshua, the 2012 Olympic gold medallist, made a measured start against Molina and was content to take his time behind his jab in the first two rounds, before unleashing his power punches early in the third.

Molina, 34, looked comfortable for most of the first round, except for a ramrod jab that rocked him back on to his heels.

Joshua, 27, boxed cautiously in the second round as well, catching Molina at close range with a left uppercut but he did give the challenger anything to be concerned about until the third round.

Joshua unloaded with more venom in the third and then caught Molina flush with a right to the jaw in the Americans corner.

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Molina only just beat the count and when the action resumed Joshua landed a quick flurry of punches which was enough for referee Steve Gray to call the fight off.

Molina lasted nine rounds with Deontay Wilder, who holds the WBC version of the world title, before his fellow American knocked him out last year.

But Joshua got the job done quicker and only two boxers have managed to take the north Londoner beyond three rounds.

Molina, who had only been drafted in as an opponent at less than six weeks notice after Klitschko decided not to box Joshua, suffered his fourth career defeat in his 29th fight.

British heavyweights Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora settled their domestic dispute, which came close to being scrapped earlier in the week, with Whyte winning a controversial split points decision.

Whyte won by 115-114, 115-114 to 115-113 in an the eliminator for the WBC world heavyweight title, held by Wilder.

Briton Khalid Yafai lifted the vacant WBA world super-flyweight title unanimously on points after flooring Panamas Luis Concepcion in the tenth round with a left hook.

Concepcion lost his WBA world super-flyweight title on the scales when he failed to make weight on Friday for a first defence against Yafai who earned scores of 120-108, 119-108 and 117-110.
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Construction projects in at least six Latin American countries have been impacted by a major Brazilian corruption scandal that saw companies pay bribes for contracts, a regional investigation showed Sunday.

Progress in "Operation Car Wash" -- a massive probe into embezzlement and bribery at the Brazilian state oil firm Petrobras -- led the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) to suspend the disbursement of $3.6 billion for 16 projects in Argentina, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Honduras and Guatemala, according to a report by the Latin American press consortium Diarios America (GDA) published in Brazil's O Globo newspaper.

Grants were awarded between 2003 and 2015 under the governments of left-wing presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff.

In Venezuela, which received $3.1 billion for six construction projects, the expansion of the Caracas metro is now compromised.

In the Dominican Republic, which received $2.5 billion, the completion of road works and the construction of a thermoelectric plant are at stake.

Projects in the African countries of Angola, Ghana and Mozambique are also under review.

The GDA report said the projects were all under the charge of Brazil's largest construction companies now embroiled in Operation Car Wash: Odebrecht, Andrade Gutierrez Camargo Correa, Queiroz Galvao and OAS.

The investigation indicated that seven countries -- Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Peru and Uruguay -- requested information from Brazilian prosecutors in order to investigate contracts under suspension.

Petrobras is accused of giving inflated contracts to big construction firms in exchange for hefty bribes, with high-ranking politicians taking a cut of the proceeds.

Dozens of politicians and some of Brazil's richest businessmen have been charged or convicted.

Brazilian President Michel Temer on Saturday "vehemently" denied asking Odebrecht for nearly $3 million in campaign funds for a party candidate, a new twist in the scandal.

GDA is a consortium of 11 Latin American newspapers, including O Globo, Argentina's La Nacion and Chile's El Mercurio.
Bryan Cranston made a surprise and fresh replacement for Alec Baldwin in tonights Saturday Night Live cold open, reprising his Breaking Bad Walter White character as Donald Trumps choice to head the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Donald Trump and I know its time to make America cook again, said Cranston as TVs greatest meth-maker. We want to fill this nation with red, white and a whole lot of blue.

SNL started off unsurprisingly: Beck Bennett as CNNs Jake Tapper welcoming Kate McKinnons Kellyanne Conway. They ran through real-Donalds recent cabinet picks  a global-warming skeptic for the EPA, a hamburger tycoon for labor secretary. No, Jake, said Kellyanne. They arent bad, theyre alt-good.

Then came the choice for DEA head, introduced by Tapper as a high school teacher who comes highly recommended by Steve Bannon.

Enter Cranston, in bald wig, goatee and that famous beige windbreaker, making his case for the job: I like that wall he wants to build. Nothing comes in from Mexico, meaning a lot less competition for the rest of us.

Jobs?, asked Tapper.

Ha, sure, replied White.

When Conway said the DEAs been knocking on Whites doors for years, Cranston responded with the comment Breaking Bad fans knew was coming: I am the one who knocks.

The bit was remarkably short  maybe three minutes  and couldnt go much beyond the set-up, but it cant be easy concocting Trump-themed openings these days that top real-life absurdities. Or that dont for that matter. The Trump openings lately have been running a bit on fumes, and Cranston knows how to deliver those better than anyone.

Cranstons raunchy comedy Why Him?, costarring James Franco, hits theaters December 23.

Breaking Bads Walter White For DEA, Says Baldwin-Free SNL Cold Open

Story continues

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Riyadh (AFP) - The press took out of context comments by Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson about "proxy wars" waged by longtime ally Saudi Arabia, the Saudi foreign minister said Sunday, deeming the matter closed.

In a video reported last week, Johnson at a conference in Rome, accused Saudi Arabia and its regional rival Iran of "puppeteering" and "playing proxy wars".

A video of his comments was posted on the Guardian website.

"I have no doubt that his comments as reported in the press were misconstrued," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters at a joint news conference with Johnson in Riyadh.

"If you look at the actual video of what was said, it was not as implied in the press," Jubeir said.

The British minister was on an official visit to the kingdom, during which he met King Salman.

The Guardian report came on Thursday, a day after British Prime Minister Theresa May attended a summit with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states in Bahrain.

Downing Street had to pull Johnson back into line, saying the comments reflected his "personal position".

"There are no mixed messages that we are getting from Britain," Jubeir said, noting that Saudi-British ties go back more than a century.

"We don't have any doubt in where Britain stands, and Britain has no doubt in where we stand," he said as Johnson sounded agreement.

"I believe that the matter is closed," the Saudi minister said.

Johnson thanked Jubeir for his comments.

A former mayor of London less than six months into his ministerial job, Johnson is a colourful and captivating speaker who has made a series of diplomatic blunders.

- 'Positive things' -

Asked at the press conference if he would apologise, Johnson said he was "here to emphasise the friendship" between the two countries.

But he added: "We believe in a candour in our relationship", emphasising the word "candour".

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"And now, if you don't mind, is the time for us to talk about the positive things that we're doing together," Johnson continued.

May and the Gulf leaders agreed at their Bahrain summit to form a "strategic partnership" to foster defence and other ties.

Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite-dominated Iran support opposite sides of the war in Syria and also in Yemen, where Riyadh has since March last year led a coalition bombing campaign against Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

On Saturday, Tehran summoned the British ambassador to protest against "interference" by May, over comments she made at the GCC summit.

She said her country would help "push back against Iran's aggressive regional actions".

In a joint statement, GCC states and Britain said that they "oppose and will work together to counter Iran's destabilising activities".

Iran and Britain reopened their respective embassies in 2015 following an international agreement to curb Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

Johnson on Sunday echoed May's comments supporting the agreement with Iran, while also cautioning that the world needs to be "clear-eyed" and vigilant about Iran's role in the region.
London (AFP) - British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said on Sunday that Syrian government forces would likely recapture the battleground city of Aleppo from rebels.

"It looks now as if sadly Aleppo will fall," Fallon told BBC television, as the Syrian army tightened its grip and air strikes pummelled the shrinking rebel enclave in the east of the besieged city.

But he refused to accept that the Russian-backed regime of President Bashar al-Assad was heading for overall victory in Syria's long-running civil war.

"How can you be winning by bombing hospitals, by blocking humanitarian aid convoys?" Fallon asked.

"And you end up with a country that the regime only controls 40 percent of, and is still opposed by most of his people. That's not a victory for anybody."

He said Britain would keep appealing to Russia "to use its influence to get this civil war stopped, to help us rebuild Syria with a genuinely plural government that can appeal to all the people of Syria".

"Then we can get on with the task of dealing with Daesh," or Islamic State, he added.

On the issue of Russia, he warned that while "there are things we have to talk to Russia about, of course to deescalate tension" -- including on NATO deployments in eastern border -- "it can't be business as usual".

"That can't be treating Russia as an equal -- Russia is a strategic competitor to us in the West and we have to understand that," he said.
Saturday Night Live took aim at Donald Trump yet again this week with a cold open discussing the president-elect's dubious cabinet selections. While Alec Baldwin didn't turn up to play the divisive politician this time around, the show got help from another big surprise guest: Bryan Cranston.

In Saturday's cold open, CNN's Jake Tapper (played by Beck Bennett) sat down with Trump's top aide, Kellyanne Conway (played by Kate McKinnon) to discuss the 70-year-old business mogul's controversial picks for the head of the EPA and the department of labor.

WATCH: Alec Baldwin Explains Donald Trump's Tweeting Habit on 'Saturday Night Live': 'My Brain is Bad'

Recently, Trump chose Scott Pruitt, a climate change denier and fossil fuel advocate, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Trump later tapped Carl's Jr. CEO Andy Puzder to head the Department of Labor, despite Pudzer's outspoken opposition to the minimum wage and government workplace regulation.

But according to Tapper, Trump's most surprising pick thus far was for the head of the Drug Enforcement Agency: None other than everyone's favorite meth dealer, Walter White.

To the surprised delight of the SNL audience, Cranston -- donning his iconic scruffy beard, black porkpie hat and khaki jacket -- reprised his Emmy-winning Breaking Bad role, describing himself as an elementary school teacher.

White explained that while he might not have ever met Trump before and has no real political experience, he is intimately familiar with the DEA "inside and out."

WATCH: 'Breaking Bad' Star Bryan Cranston on Not Wanting to Play Walter White Again: 'It Feels Done'

He also said he's also got a lot of respect for Trump and shares a lot of his same views, such as the need for a wall across the southern border.

"Nothing comes in from Mexico, meaning less competition for the rest of us," White explained.

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"You mean jobs?" Tapper asked.

"Sure" White said coyly.

WATCH: Alec Baldwin Opens Up About Playing Donald Trump on 'SNL': 'He's Not Somebody I Admire'

In terms of congress balking at White's nomination to the position given his limited experience, the wildly popular drug lord admitted, "They might get hung up on the fact that I faked my death."

"I'm only the third person in the Trump cabinet to do that," he added.

SNL targeted Trump frequently during the campaign cycle and after he was elected in November, with Baldwin turning in several acclaimed performances as the president-elect. Check out the video below for a look at the Oscar-nominated star's turn as Trump.

Related Articles
Bryan Cranston brought back Walter White from Breaking Bad on SNL and it was pure magic

It doesnt look like Saturday Night Live plans on going easy on Donald Trump any time soon (and with the material hes providing, who can blame them?) This weeks opening sketch was all about Trumps increasingly problematic picks for cabinet positions. But who was the person picked to head the all-important Drug Enforcement Agency? Why, Walter White of Breaking Bad fame, of course.

Bryan Cranston reprised his iconic role to explain why Walter White would be the ideal choice for the position, despite the fact that hes a major-league meth dealer. Cranston played the part to perfection, insisting that he and Trump believe it is time to make America cook again. Wearing a black hat and his trademark glasses, Cranston cheerfully told viewers he was ready to handle the DEA. Ya know, given his extensive experience with the agency already.

Other highlights from the sketch: Kate McKinnon brought back her role as Kellyanne Conway, Trumps campaign manager who has been tasked with defending these increasingly baffling cabinet nominations. The skit went so far as to address Trumps choice of Environmental Protection Agency chief, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. Pruitt has been a vocal supporter of fossil fuels, in direct opposition to the traditional stance of the agency. Clearly, SNL is gearing up for the long haul when it comes to Trump, just like they do every other president.

But the real star of the skit was Cranston, who provided that perfect mix of menace and charm that made Walter White such an iconic character. Showing wholehearted support for Trumps style, Cranston professed to like the president-elects attitude: He acts first, and asks questions later. Trumps ideas towards building a wall between America and Mexico also appealed to the character of White, who commented on less competition for the rest of us.

It was a virtuoso cold opening for Saturday Night Live, and a sharp reminder of the rare talents possessed by Bryan Cranston. Even this short bit shows why Breaking Bad was such a tremendous critical and commercial success. And when it comes to the often dangerous game of politics, you can always rely on a man like Walter White.

The post Bryan Cranston brought back Walter White from Breaking Bad on SNL and it was pure magic appeared first on HelloGiggles.
breaking bad bryan cranston snl donald trump

"Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston brought his famous drug-dealing character, Walter White, back to mock President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks on NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

On "SNL's" opening sketch this weekend, cast member Beck Bennett plays Jake Tapper of CNN's "The Lead." The topic is Trump's cabinet choices and his former campaign manager and senior adviser Kellyanne Conway (played by Kate McKinnon) is the guest star.

"Tapper" questions "Conway" about a couple of Trump's "unconventional picks" for his cabinet, such as climate change skeptic Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, and fast food businessman Andrew Puzder, who doesn't support minimum wage increases, for secretary of labor.

"It's almost like Mr. Trump appoints these people specifically to undermine the very agencies they head," "Tapper" asked "Conway." "Are these bad picks?"

"No, Jake, they are not bad. They are alt-good," "Conway" responded with a nod to the alt-right movement, the nationalist group Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon appealed to while running conservative news site, Breitbart News.

"Tapper" then announces there's breaking news that Trump has chosen high school science teacher Walter White to head the Drug Enforcement Agency as Cranston joins the show. Fans of "Breaking Bad" would know that the character was a promising chemist-turned-teacher who began dealing meth.

"Trust me I know the DEA better than anyone, inside and out," he said.

White also agrees with Trump on several key issues.

"I like his style. He acts first then asks questions later," he said. "I also like that wall he wants to build. Nothing comes in from Mexico, meaning a lot less competition for the rest of us."

He later added, "Trump and I agree: It's time to make America cook again. We want to fill this nation with red white and a whole lot of blue."

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Watch the "SNL" sketch below:

NOW WATCH: 'They haven't played by the rules': Trump accuses China of 'massive theft of intellectual property' and unfairly taxing US companies





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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Eight people were killed in two car bombings in the Iraqi city of Falluja west of Baghdad on Sunday, police and hospital sources said, and a news agency close to Islamic State said its militants carried out the attacks. The bombings took place as Iraqi forces wage an eight-week military campaign to crush Islamic State in its north Iraq stronghold of Mosul, the largest city in its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria. The fact that the jihadist group was able to carry out the attack in Falluja, which the Iraqi army recaptured in June, suggests it will continue to pose a threat in Iraq even if it is finally crushed in Mosul. The sources said a suicide bomber detonated a car at a security checkpoint in the west of the city, and a second bomb in a parked car struck the center, near a security checkpoint and a busy cafe. Sources at the hospital where casualties from both incidents were brought said eight bodies were delivered to the hospital. The Amaq news agency, which is close to Islamic State, said both attacks were carried out by suicide car bombers. The attacks in Falluja occurred on the day that U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited Iraq for talks with political leaders and the U.S. commander of the international coalition force supporting them in the grueling Mosul campaign. Elite Iraqi counter terrorism forces have taken about a quarter of the city of Mosul from Islamic State fighters, but they have faced fierce counter attacks from snipers, mortar barrages and hundreds of suicide car bombs. Insurgents in Falluja, the first Iraqi city to fall to Islamic State in January 2014, put up only limited resistance in June, military officials said at the time, in contrast to the fierce defense the jihadists have put up in Mosul. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Mostafa Hashem in Cairo; editing by David Clarke)
MANILA (Reuters) - Roman Catholic churches in Manila on Sunday read a prayer against Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's plans to re-impose the death penalty on heinous crimes, including drug-related offences. Last week, the justice panel in the lower house of Congress approved a legislative measure to bring back state-sanctioned executions on at least 20 crimes, including rape with murder and kidnapping-for-ransom. The bill may be passed before Christmas. A prayer issued by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Manila's archbishop, was read in churches across the city on Sunday and called for help to work against the death penalty. "There is in our land a cry for vengeance and a move to fill up death rows and kill offenders but disguised as a call for justice," the prayer read. "Let true and lasting justice spring forth." In 2006, then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo abolished the death penalty for crimes involving drugs, rape and arson. Duterte and his supporters have sought to reinstate the punishment as a deterrent to rising crime and drug use. Catholic bishops also oppose a separate plan in Congress to reduce the minimum age for criminal liability to nine from 12 currently. They fear both the reduction in the liability age and expanded use of capital punishment could escalate violence related to the current anti-drugs campaign. The Catholic church has long opposed the death penalty in the Philippines. About 80 percent of the country's more than 100 million inhabitants is Catholic. Archbishop Socrates Villegas, head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, had issued a statement strongly criticizing the rising death toll in the war of drugs, saying government must respect the dignity of life and human rights. More than 2,000 people have died in police operations against illicit drugs since July 1 when Duterte assumed the presidency. Those killed were mostly street level peddlers and users, who police said had resisted arrest. More than 3,000 others were killed by motorcycle-riding masked men and vigilantes during the same period, but Duterte has denied the police are conducting extrajudicial killings. Last week, senators, including the president's close allies, criticized the way Duterte has carried out his anti-narcotics campaign, saying it should be done within the limits of the law and that he must also punish erring police officers. Senators said in a report that while they had found no clear proof that the rising number of extrajudicial killings was related to state-sponsored actions, they have told Duterte to observe due process and give the accused their day in court. (Reporting By Manuel Mogato; Editing by Sam Holmes)
London (AFP) - Goal-shy Southampton will have to cope without their most prolific striker Charlie Austin for up to four months, says manager Claude Puel.

Austin, who has scored almost half of the Saints' paltry 14 goals in the Premier League this season, faces surgery on the shoulder he dislocated in last Thursday's Europa League draw with Israeli outfit Hapoel Be'er Sheva.

"Normally he needs surgery and will be perhaps between three months and four months (out)," said Puel after his side's 1-0 win over Middlesbrough on Sunday.

"It's a good estimation for the time after the surgery. Is it dislocated? Yes I think. Will it need surgery? Yes, normally yes."

Austin's absence will place the burden on experienced Irish international Shane Long and their record signing Sofiane Boufal, who opened his Premier League account with a superb strike against Middlesbrough.
Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - All children in Syria's battered Aleppo are suffering from trauma after enduring some of the worst violence in their country's war, the UN children's agency said on Sunday.

"All children in Aleppo are suffering. All are traumatised," Radoslaw Rzehak, UNICEF's field office head in Aleppo, told AFP inside the devastated city.

"I have never seen in my life such a dramatic situation (as) what is happening to children in Aleppo," said Rzehak, who has been working for UNICEF for the past 15 years.

Tens of thousands of children in Syria's northern city have borne witness to one of the bloodiest phases of the country's nearly six-year war.

UNICEF estimates that there are between 200,000 and 230,000 children in Aleppo.

The city's east had been a rebel stronghold since mid-2012, but government forces in recent weeks have overrun more than 85 percent of that area.

An estimated 120,000 people have fled the city's east, many heading towards displacement centres in government-controlled areas to the west.

Rzehak said preliminary psycho-social assessments at these centres showed children from east Aleppo were "losing their basic instinct of defence."

"Some of the children who are five, six years old, they were born during a time when war was already happening. All they know is war and bombing," he said.

"For them, it's normal that they are being bombed, that they have to escape, it's normal that they are hungry, that they have to hide in the bunkers. This trauma is going to last for a very, very long time."

He said this was putting children at risk, as they have not been conditioned to take cover or hide during bombardment.

"For them, this is not danger. This is every day life."

West Aleppo's children, meanwhile, had been severely impacted by seeing classmates or teachers killed in rocket attacks on their schools.

"The place that was the most secure for children became the place where they die," Rzehak said.

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The war has even undermined the ability of parents to care for their children as they struggled with their own trauma.

"It's very difficult to blame them. They also went through the nightmare," Rzehak said.

More than 300,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011, and millions more have been forced to flee their homes.
China has slammed Tokyo for targeting its military aircraft with "decoy flares" over a waterway near Japan, calling the actions "dangerous and unprofessional".

Two Japanese F-15s fired the projectiles as the Chinese planes passed through the Miyako Strait between Japan's Miyako and Okinawa Islands, the defence ministry said in a statement on its website Saturday.

The incident took place Saturday morning as the Chinese planes carried out "routine far seas training", the statement said, adding the aircraft were in international airspace when the encounter occurred.

"The actions of the Japanese fighters was dangerous and unprofessional and smashed the freedoms of navigation and overflight provided by international law," it said.

The statement gave no details about the Chinese aircraft.

Contacted by AFP, neither the Japanese defence ministry nor the prime minister's office could confirm the incident.

In September, China sent more than 40 military planes -- including fighters and bombers -- through the air space.

At the time, Japan's defence ministry said it was the first time Chinese fighters had passed over the waterway.

It followed China's first military flight, carried out by spy planes, over the Miyako Strait last year.

Japan and China are at loggerheads over a longstanding territorial row in the East China Sea.

That dispute relates to uninhabited islets controlled by Japan known as the Senkakus in Japanese and the Diaoyus in Chinese.
Bogota (AFP) - Colombia's government suggested Sunday to a leftist rebel group that it declare a Christmas and New Year's truce as a way to free up stalled peace talks.

The National Liberation Army (ELN), smaller than the FARC guerrilla group with whom the government already signed a peace accord, wants until January 10 to consider their next move, government chief negotiator Juan Camilo Restrepo said.

"It would be so good if the ELN used this pause to decree a unilateral ceasefire," Restrepo said in a series of tweets.

The two sides were to have started formal peace talks in late October, but they broke down last month before they could start after the rebels failed to release a hostage, a former congressman named Odin Sanchez.

The ELN is demanding that two imprisoned guerrilla fighters be pardoned.

Restrepo said the two sides would decide January 10 how to move forward.

The ELN declared a unilateral truce in October while Colombians voted in a referendum on a peace accord with the FARC.

The deal was shot down -- critics said it went too easy on the guerrillas -- but was then amended by the government and the FARC, and approved, this second time by Congress.

The FARC and the ELN are the last two leftist guerrilla groups involved in a messy, multi-sided conflict that has killed more than 260,000 people, left seven million displaced and 45,000 more people missing.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  An appeal before the Connecticut Supreme Court is adding to the divided legal landscape nationwide surrounding the validity of cellphone tower evidence used in criminal trials.

Eugene Edwards Jr. is serving a 20-year prison sentence for robbing an 82-year-old woman in her Wethersfield, Connecticut, home in 2012. Part of his appeal says the trial court judge should not have admitted evidence that his cellphone "pinged," or connected with, a cell tower near the crime scene around the same time as the robbery.

The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear his appeal on Monday.

Courts around the country have issued conflicting rulings about whether cellphone tower evidence is reliable. Some experts say the evidence is often misinterpreted, because a cellphone can be more than 20 miles away from a tower it pings.

"It's junk science," said Michael Cherry, chief executive of Cherry Biometrics, in Falls Church, Virginia, who has testified in successful cases to free people who were imprisoned based in part on cell tower evidence.

"People tend to confuse the location of the cellphone with the location of the cell tower," he said. "People like to say that the phone goes to the nearest tower. It goes to the clearest (signal) tower within range, not always the closest tower. You could be sitting on your living room couch and you could make four phone calls and each call would use a different tower."

Edwards' lawyer, University of Connecticut School of Law Professor Timothy Everett, said in court documents that the trial court judge wrongly admitted the cell tower evidence without any highly qualified experts testifying about its reliability and relevance. Judge Frank D'Addabbo Jr. allowed the evidence based only on the testimony of a police officer with limited expertise, Everett wrote in court documents.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sousa countered the officer was qualified to interpret and explain the cellphone records to the jury. He also wrote in court documents that several courts around the country have recognized cellphone location data and mapping as reliable evidence.

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In the trial last year of former New England Patriots star tight end Aaron Hernandez, the victim's phone pinging cell towers was among the evidence prosecutors used to build a case in which lacked a murder weapon and a witness to the shooting. Hernandez was convicted of first-degree murder.

The evidence has come under scrutiny in recent years in several states.

In June a judge in Maryland granted a new trial for Adnan Syed, whose story was the centerpiece for the first season of the "Serial" podcast, because his attorney failed to cross-examine an expert witness about cell tower data linking Syed to the strangling of his high school girlfriend.

In Portland, Oregon, Lisa Marie Roberts served about 12 years of a 15-year prison sentence in the killing of her girlfriend before being freed in 2014. A judge ruled her trial lawyer didn't evaluate cellphone tower evidence prosecutors used to show she was near the crime scene when the murder happened. Cherry testified in the case.

In Chicago, Antonio Evans was acquitted of kidnapping and conspiracy charges in 2012. Before the jury verdict, a federal judge ruled that an FBI agent could not testify about cellphone tower evidence because it hadn't been generally accepted by the scientific community.

Sousa noted that several courts, including the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta have upheld the use of police testimony about cellphone tower evidence.

Edwards was charged with home invasion, assault and other crimes in connection with the Wethersfield robbery and a similar robbery three weeks earlier in June 2012 of an 89-year-old woman in her Berlin, Connecticut, home. Police said Edwards targeted both women at grocery stores and followed them to their homes, and Edwards' cellphone pinged towers near both crime scenes.

Edwards was convicted of the Wethersfield robbery, but acquitted of the Berlin crimes. He denied playing any role in either robbery.

Edward's appeal also said there wasn't enough evidence to convict him, which prosecutors deny.
Madrid (AFP) - Cristiano Ronaldo declared income of over 225 million euros in 2015, including 20 million euros held in 22 Swiss bank accounts, a Spanish newspaper reported Sunday as the Real Madrid star battles accusations of tax evasion.

The Portuguese international earned 203.7 million euros outside of Spain and 23.5 million inside the country, according to a copy of his 2015 tax return obtained by daily newspaper El Mundo.

The figures match the details of the player's income published Thursday by the player's management company Gestifute, which argued they show Ronaldo was in compliance with Spain's tax authority.

But El Mundo provided a more detailed breakdown of his finances.

It said he had 20 million euros in Swiss banks -- the vast majority, more than 17 million euros, in three accounts at Swiss private bank Mirabaud. The rest of his money in the country was held in 19 accounts in regional Swiss bank St. Galler Kantonalbank.

The player had just 33,452 euros in five bank accounts in his native Portugal, the newspaper added.

Ronaldo had 14 million euros invested in 19 SICAVs -- an investment fund similar to mutual funds -- in Luxembourg, the newspaper added.

The rest of his foreign holdings was made up of shares, bonds and real estate.

Ronaldo's finances have been in the spotlight after an international consortium of media organisations claimed earlier this month that a huge data leak involving 18 million documents showed the player hid 150 million euros from image rights in the British Virgin Islands.

Spanish tax authorities are investigating the allegations.

Ronaldo, 31, denies wrongdoing and said after Wednesday's 2-2 draw with Borussia Dortmund that "he who owes nothing isn't afraid".

The financial details released by his management company last week relate only to 2015 and Spanish tax authorities are reportedly focusing on possible irregularities in his tax declarations as a non-resident between 2011 and 2014.
(Corrects spelling of company name in first paragraph, Exxon Mobil instead of Exxon Mobile)

By Valerie Volcovici and Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The central question facing Exxon Mobil Corp. chief executive Rex Tillerson if he becomes U.S. secretary of state is whether a life-long oil man with close ties to Russia can pivot from advancing corporate interests to serving the national interest.

Tillerson, 64, got his start as a production engineer at Exxon in 1975 and has worked there ever since, running business units in Yemen, Thailand and Russia before being named chief executive in 2006. He was expected to retire next year.

Critics suggested that if President-elect Donald Trump were to choose Tillerson - as a source familiar with the situation said he was expected to do - it would continue a trend of selecting some aides who may favor a softer line toward Moscow.

Among these is Trump's pick for national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who raised eyebrows when he sat beside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow banquet last year and who has argued that the United States and Russia should collaborate to end Syria's civil war and to defeat Islamic State militants.

Some former officials said it was an open question whether Tillerson could make the transition from running Exxon, a vast company that explores for oil and gas on six continents, to the even greater complexity of being secretary of state.

"Negotiating a real estate deal or an oil contract with Saudi Arabia is not the same thing," said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department Middle East specialist now at the Wilson Center think-tank in Washington.

"It's not a complicated summit where you are trying to reconcile historical woundings, religious identities, sectarian tensions."

"I'm not arguing that he can't make this conversion. I just don't think we know."

'A STRAIGHT ARROW'?

Many U.S. officials are worried by Russia's increasingly aggressive behavior. It annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war and is accused of interfering in U.S. domestic politics.

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U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, and not just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, a senior U.S. official said.

In his role at Exxon Tillerson maintained close ties with Putin and opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea.

Daniel Yergin, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power," said Russia represented a relatively small portion of Exxon's overall operations and played down its significance.

"It was a business relationship," Yergin said.

"The whole Russian thing is so much front and center now so it's inevitable that those questions be asked but, obviously, if you are a major oil company, you want to go to where your resources (are). You have to replace your reserves," he added.

"If he becomes secretary of state, the interests he will pursue will be U.S. interests. This is an Eagle Scout kind of guy. He was president of the Boy Scouts," he said. "He is a straight arrow. If that's his mission, that's what he'll do."

In an interview to be aired on "Fox News Sunday," Trump praised Tillerson as "much more than a business executive."

"He's a world class player," Trump said. "To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well."

However, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, a senior Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would weigh Tillerson's nomination, was unsparing in his criticism of the possible appointment.

"Reports that Rex Tillerson could be nominated to be our nation's top diplomat (are) alarming and absurd," he said. "With Rex Tillerson as our secretary of state the Trump administration would be guaranteeing Russia has a willing accomplice in the president's cabinet guiding our nation's foreign policy."

CLIMATE CHANGE

Should Tillerson be nominated, climate change could be another controversial issue.

Exxon is under investigation by the New York Attorney General's Office for allegedly misleading investors, regulators and the public on what it knew about global warming.

However, if chosen, Tillerson would be one of the few people selected for major roles in the Trump administration to believe that human activity causes climate change.

After Trump's election, Exxon came out in support of the Paris Climate Agreement. It has also advocated for a carbon tax and internally factors in a theoretical price on carbon as it weights manufacturing and exploration costs of projects.

Some environmental groups are alarmed at the prospect of Exxon's CEO as the country's top diplomat.

"Donald Trump appears intent to undo a century of environmental and social progress and return America to the age of robber barons and corporate trusts," said Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law.

"Who better to turn to than Exxon, the granddaddy of them all?" (Additional reporting by Steve Holland, John Walcott; and Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Robert Birsel)
By Valerie Volcovici and Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The central question facing Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Rex Tillerson if he becomes U.S. secretary of state is whether a lifelong oil man with close ties to Russia can pivot from advancing corporate interests to serving the national interest. Tillerson, 64, got his start as a production engineer at Exxon in 1975 and has worked there ever since, running business units in Yemen, Thailand and Russia before being named chief executive in 2006. He was expected to retire next year. Critics suggested that if President-elect Donald Trump were to choose Tillerson - as a source familiar with the situation said he was expected to do - it would continue a trend of selecting some aides who may favor a softer line toward Moscow. Among these is Trump's pick for national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who raised eyebrows when he sat beside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow banquet last year and who has argued that the United States and Russia should collaborate to end Syria's civil war and to defeat Islamic State militants. Tillerson's emergence as the front-runner for the post has raised concern among Republican and Democratic senators over his ties to Russia. "Its a matter of concern to me that he has such a close personal relationship with Vladimir Putin and obviously theyve done enormous deals together. That would color his approach to Vladimir Putin and the Russian threat," Republican Senator John McCain told CBS. McCain added that Tillerson would, nonetheless, get a fair confirmation hearing. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a former Republican presidential rival to Trump, was even more forthright. "Being a "friend of Vladimir" is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState," Rubio said on his Twitter account. 'A STRAIGHT ARROW'? Many U.S. officials are worried by Russia's increasingly aggressive behavior. It annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war and is accused of interfering in U.S. domestic politics. U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, and not just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, a senior U.S. official said. In his role at Exxon Tillerson maintained close ties with Putin and opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea. Daniel Yergin, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power," said Russia represented a relatively small portion of Exxon's overall operations and played down its significance. "It was a business relationship," Yergin said. "The whole Russian thing is so much front and center now so it's inevitable that those questions be asked but, obviously, if you are a major oil company, you want to go to where your resources (are). You have to replace your reserves," he added. "If he becomes secretary of state, the interests he will pursue will be U.S. interests. This is an Eagle Scout kind of guy. He was president of the Boy Scouts," he said. "He is a straight arrow. If that's his mission, that's what he'll do." Trump praised Tillerson, saying on his Twitter account on Saturday: "Whether I choose him or not for "State"- Rex Tillerson, the Chairman & CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!" Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman who has been tapped to serve as White House chief of Staff, praised Tillerson's relationship with Putin. "... the fact that he actually has a relationship with people like Vladimir Putin and others across the globe is something that ... we shouldnt be embarrassed by it. Its something that I think could be a huge advantage to the United States," Priebus said on ABC This Week. However, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, a senior Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would weigh Tillerson's nomination, was unsparing in his criticism of the possible appointment. "Reports that Rex Tillerson could be nominated to be our nation's top diplomat (are) alarming and absurd," he said. "With Rex Tillerson as our secretary of state the Trump administration would be guaranteeing Russia has a willing accomplice in the president's cabinet guiding our nation's foreign policy." CLIMATE CHANGE Tillerson would be one of the few people selected for major roles in the Trump administration to believe that human activity causes climate change. After Trump's election, Exxon came out in support of the Paris Climate Agreement. It has also advocated for a carbon tax and internally factors in a theoretical price on carbon as it weighs manufacturing and exploration costs of projects. But some environmental groups are alarmed at the prospect of Exxon's CEO as the country's top diplomat. Exxon is under investigation by the New York Attorney General's Office for allegedly misleading investors, regulators and the public on what it knew about global warming. "Donald Trump appears intent to undo a century of environmental and social progress and return America to the age of robber barons and corporate trusts," said Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law. "Who better to turn to than Exxon, the granddaddy of them all?" (Additional reporting by Steve Holland, John Walcott, Lindsey Dunsmuir, Howard Schneider and Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Robert Birsel and Phil Berlowitz)
Cub Swanson and Doo Ho Choi put on an exhilarating display in their main card fight at UFC 206, but it was Swanson who pulled out the victory with a decision over his opponent Saturday in Toronto.

Swanson landed a bevy of significant strikes in what Dana White called Fight of the Year on Twitter, earning the unanimous decision with scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.

RELATED > UFC 206: Holloway vs. Pettis Live Results and Fight Stats

Choi looked strong early, securing a front headlock and then landing knees in the clinch. Swanson, however, separated and the two traded blows for much of the round. After separating from another long clinch, Swanson landed a solid one-two combination in the last minute of the opening round.

Swanson unloaded in the second round, hitting Choi with haymakers in an effort to get the finish. Choi persevered and landed a few shots of his own, wobbling Swanson and hitting the marks as his opponent's back was to the cage. Swanson again picked up the pace in the last 60 seconds of the frame, hitting a spinning back fist, followed by a couple more significant shots. The fight's tone was scrappy heading into the final round.

Swanson was relentless in the final round, hitting Choi with lefts and rights at every opportunity he got. Choi took punches to the head, but none seemed to phase him, and he snapped back with flurries of his own. The fight went the distance, but not before Swanson landed a spinning elbow that dropped Choi, pursing the ground and pound thereafter.

With the win at UFC 206, Swanson picks up his 24th career victory.

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UFC 206 landed in Toronto on Saturday night, and it was a card full of bonus-worthy performances. But only a few took home extra cash for their showings at the pay-per-view event.

The Fight of the Night bonus went to Cub Swanson and Doo Ho Choi for their incredible showcase of heart, will, toughness and determination on the main card. Swanson and Choi duked it out for three full rounds in what Dana White referred to as Fight of the Year on social media. Each fighter pocketed an extra $50,000 for their efforts that will surely be remembered.

RELATED > UFC 206: Holloway vs. Pettis Live Results and Fight Stats

The Performance of the Night bonuses went to Lando Vannata and newly crowned UFC interim featherweight champion Max Holloway.

Vannata picked up the first win of his UFC career with a spectacular finish of John Makdessi to finish out the Fight Pass portion of the card. With a spinning heel kick, Vannata flattened out his opponent with a walk-off finish.

Holloway picked up what should be the biggest win of his career with his finish of former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. The Hawaiian mixed martial artist blasted away at Pettis to earn the TKO and an extra $50,000.

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Diego Luna shared an incredible message about why diversity is so important to Star Wars

The Star Wars series is making serious efforts to add more diversity to its cast, and its paying off.

Diego Luna, star of upcoming Rogue One, said its making all the difference.

The cast of Rogue One is not just stacked with impressive talent, including British actress Felicity Jones, British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed, Chinese actors Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen, and American actor Forest Whitaker, but also a diverse crew of people of color. In a red carpet interview with Variety at the premiere, Luna emphasized the importance of diversity in film.

Leaving differences aside, we can be stronger, by celebrating our differences and understanding those differences make us richer, stronger and more powerful, he said. We can do whatever we want. There is no limits. Its a beautiful film about unity and celebration.

#RogueOne star @DiegoLuna on the film's diverse cast and themes: "By celebrating our differences...we can do whatever we want." pic.twitter.com/YYI3fe1WuP  Variety (@Variety) December 11, 2016

Hollywood is facing criticism for a lack of diversity, but there is hope.

Last years Academy Awards became synonymous with #OscarsSoWhite when all nominated actors were white, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts finally got serious.

In June, it announced 683 new members, of which 46 percent are female, and 41 percent are people of color. As a result, the pool of Oscar voters is much more diverse.

Luna, who is of Mexican descent, tells People the change is good, because the industry is depicting a more realistic representation of society.

The films are changing because the audience is changing, and the audience wants to feel represented, Luna said. Today you go to the cinema, and if youre not looking at the screen, and you turn, you see that diversity there, you know? And that has to be portrayed in the frame.

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In last years The Force Awakens, John Boyega was hailed by critics for his work as Finn. Boyega was awarded a Screen Nation award this spring for best male performance. Boyega has also been a vocal advocate of diversity in Hollywood.

Cant wait to see this diverse crew take on the galaxy.

The post Diego Luna shared an incredible message about why diversity is so important to Star Wars appeared first on HelloGiggles.
President-elect Donald Trump thinks allegations that Russia intervened to help him win the election are ridiculous, he told Chris Wallace in an interview on Fox News Sunday.

I think its ridiculous. I think its just another excuse. I dont believe it, Trump said. Every week its another excuse.

He also doubted that the CIA, which concluded that there was evidence that Russia took action during the campaign to harm Clintons candidacy, could even find the hackers.

Hacking is very interesting, he said. Once they hack, if you dont catch them in the act, youre not going to catch them. They have no idea if its Russia, or China, or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed someplace.

When asked by Wallace why the CIA would put out the story, Trump went on to accuse the Democrats of pushing the reports.

I think the Democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country, he continued. Its ridiculous. Weve got to get back to making America great again.

On Sunday, Sen. John McCain and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement calling for a bipartisan effort to examine the allegations. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Jack Reed also signed the statement.

Wallace also pressed Trump on the fact that hes been skipping intelligence briefings. Trump replied that I get it when I need it, and noted that Vice President-elect Mike Pence was attending the meetings.

I dont have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years, he said.

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President-elect Donald Trump is considering Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his nominee for Secretary of State, capping a month-long audition process ripped from his former days as a reality television show host.

While Trump has not formally announced the pick, two sources close to the transition team said Trump has made a decision, while also cautioning that until it is public there is always a chance that the President-elect could change his mind.

If chosen, Tillerson would be the most dramatic example of Trumps preference for wealthy outsiders like himself among his Cabinet. The one-time production engineer has earned hundreds of millions worth of Exxon stock over the years, according to a Washington Post report from earlier this year.

A 40-year employee of the energy giant, Tillerson would be the first person in at least a century to be elevated to the post without prior government experience. His close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who awarded Tillerson the Order of Friendship in 2013, and his extensive business dealings with governments around the world are already drawing scrutiny, setting up a potentially messy confirmation battle in the Senate.

Trump and his aides agonized for weeks over whom to select to the role of the nations top diplomat, meeting with an ideologically diverse group that revealed lingering questions over how the President-elect will present his Administration to the world.

Trump initially considered former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the post, but broadened the short-list to more than a half-dozen names amid infighting in his transition team. The consideration of Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, was viewed as an overture to the Republican Establishment which shunned Trump even once he became the GOP nominee this summer. Romney, who never endorsed his partys standard-bearer and accused him of engaging in bigotry and misogyny, was effusive in his praise of Trump when they met for dinner in New York City last month as part of the interview process.

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Read More: Rex Tillerson, The 2008 Time 100 Finalists

While the rest of the Cabinet took shape, Trump continued to take meetings with an ever-longer list of hopefuls for the Secretary of State post, reflecting divergent visions for the job. Trump and Tillerson met for the second time in as many weeks Saturday at Trump Tower, according to a transition official.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday this week, Trump praised Tillerson and defended him from charges that he is unqualified for the post. Hes much more than a business executive. I mean, hes a world-class player, Trump said.

To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well, Trump added. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company, not for himself, for the company.

Tillerson appears to share Trumps desire to dramatically reshape the U.S.s relationship with Russia, which has grown increasingly antagonistic amid crises in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The Exxon Mobil boss has been an opponent of U.S. sanctions on the Russian regime after its annexation of Crimea and involvement in Eastern Ukraine.

We always encourage the people who are making those decisions to consider the very broad collateral damage of who are they really harming with sanctions, he said at his companys annual meeting in 2014. The sanctions blocked a 12-figure partnership between Exxon and the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft.

The selection of Tillerson comes just a day after the White House announced it is launching a review into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. The U.S. intelligence community has said publicly it has high confidence of Russian involvement in hacks of the Democratic National Committee and a top aide to Hillary Clinton. Trump, who has been repeatedly briefed on those conclusions, rejected them in an interview with TIME on Nov. 28. I dont believe it. I dont believe they interfered, he said. When pressed whether he thought the intelligence assessment blaming Russia was politically driven, he replied, I think so.

In an unsigned statement released Friday night, Trumps transition team attacked the intelligence communitys assessment, saying These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Tillerson is the latest Trump Cabinet selection to differ with the President-elect on free trade, one of the central issues of Trumps campaign. He has spoken positively of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade agreement Trump has pledged to pull the U.S. out of at the start of his Administration.

Environmental groups were quick to condemn Tillersons selection because of his role at a leading fossil fuel supplier.

Tillerson marks the latest high-net-worth individual to be selected to fill Trumps Cabinet, including billionaires Wilbur Ross and Betsy Devos, and former hedge fund manager Steve Mnuchin. Like the other intended Cabinet nominees, Tillerson stands to gain by deferring paying taxes on his stock holdings once they are placed in a government-approved blind trust.
Saturday Night Live mocked Donald Trumps controversial Cabinet choices by introducing Breaking Bads Walter White as the President-elects pick to head the Drug Enforcement Administration.

According to the cold-open sketch, the teacher-turned-drug dealer has been hiding out in the comments section of Breitbart News since Breaking Bads series finale, where Stephen Bannon found White and offered him the job in Trumps Administration.

Im kinda surprised he tracked me down because Ive been off the grid for a while, White told Jake Tapper, played by SNLs Beck Bennett.

White said he hadnt met Trump yet, but that he likes his style.

I also like that wall he wants to build, he said. Nothing comes in from Mexico, meaning a lot less competition for the rest of us.

White added that he and Trump agree on the importance of small business. Donald Trump and I agree. Its time to make America cook again. We want to fill this nation with red, white and a whole lot of blue.
Donald Trump said he doesnt need daily intelligence briefings because hes a smart person.

Trump, who currently receives the presidential daily brief just once a week, said in an interview with Fox News Sunday that he only requires the information if something has changed.

I say, If something should change from this point, immediately call me. Im available on one-minutes notice,' he said. I dont have to be toldyou know, Im, like, a smart person. I dont have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.

During the interview with host Chris Wallace, Trump also addressed the CIA report of Russian interference in the election, which he called ridiculous.

Its just another excuse. I dont believe it, he said. Every week its another excuse.

His comments follow a statement from a bipartisan group of senators, who said on Sunday that the report should alarm every American.

While protecting classified material, we have an obligation to inform the public about recent cyberattacks that have cut to the heart of our free society, the senators said.

In response to a question about his conflicts of interest, the president-elect said he would not be involved with his business while serving as president. When Wallace pointed out that Trump repeatedly criticized Hillary Clintons ties with the Clinton Foundation during the election and that now, foreign leaders may try to curry favor with the President of the United States by making deals with his business, Trump dismissed the concern. He said he is turning down billions of dollars in deals, including seven deals last week from one big player.

Im not going to be doing deals at all, he said.
President-Elect Donald Trump named this week retired Marine General John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security. Before retiring, Kelly oversaw security operations in the Caribbean, Central America and South America as the head of U.S. Southern Command, oftentimes using his expertise to tackle issues regarding the flow of illicit drugs like cocaine, heroin and weapons from foreign countries to the U.S.

Although Kelly has been a force in the crackdown on drug trafficking from the Southern Hemisphere and he has insinuated that the legalizing marijuana could skew foreign drug dealers perception on where the U.S. stands on the war on drugs, his personal sentiments on legalizing cannabis, particularly medical cannabis, arent nearly as brutal as some of Trumps other cabinet picks. The newly elected president has already chosen a good handful of cabinet members, some of whom have some pretty harsh views on marijuana legalization.

John Kelly, Department of Homeland Security: Kelly opposes widespread legalization of marijuana because it undermines U.S. efforts to crack down on the distribution of harder substances like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, he told Military Times in November. While he does believe cannabis is a gateway drug, Kelly seems to be okay with the idea of ailing people having access to legal medical marijuana. During the interview with Military Times, Kelly said, If it has a medical use  Im not a doctor but Im told it has a medical use  whether its veterans or anyone else, if it helps people, then fine. Medicine is medicine.

Tom Price, Department of Human and Health Services: The Georgia Congressman has a long history of opposing and voting against several marijuana proposals in the House in past, including the six votes he cast against amendments aimed at blocking the Justice Department from interfering with recreational marijuana laws in individual states, according to Washington Post. Price, who hasnt been very vocal about his opposition to marijuana, also voted three times against an amendment that would allow Veteran Affairs doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to ailing veterans.

Dr. Ben Carson, Department of Housing and Urban Development: The retired neurosurgeon has been a steady advocate for the war on drugs and has openly opposed recreational marijuana laws. However, Carson has recognized the benefits of medical marijuana, telling FOX News Greta Van Susteren that the medical use of marijuana in compassionate cases certainly has been proven to be useful, but recognize that marijuana is whats known as a gateway drug. It tends to be a starter drug for people who move on to heavier duty drugs, sometimes legal, sometimes illegal. I dont think that this is something that we really want for our society. Were gradually just removing all the barriers leading to hedonistic activity.

Renice Priebus, Chief of Staff: The Republican National Committee chairman hasnt been particularly vocal about his views on marijuana legalization overall. However, shortly after Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2014, Priebus told Denver Post that he was not a big fan of the law.

Jeff Sessions, Attorney General: Sessions has strongly opposed marijuana use of any kind. Not only has Sessions publically stated that good people dont smoke marijuana during a Senate hearing back in April, but the Alabama Senator once reportedly joked that he had no issues with the Ku Klux Klan until he found out they smoked pot. Hes also stated that marijuana is a "very real danger" and is "not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized."

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Warning: real feelings to follow. Dwayne The Rock Johnson is involved in several efforts on behalf of veterans and on last nights The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Moana star provided a little Christmas cheers for one vet in particular. The twist  the vet was a The Tonight Show producer named Karina, an Army vet whose Air Force husband is currently deployed overseas. The moment came at the end of the interview between Johnson and Fallon, when Johnson asked for permission to help out a member of the audience. For a couple of minutes the pair pretended to search the crowd, until they went into the production room, where they surprised Karina, as you can see in the video above.

I wont lie  even I started tearing up when even Fallon lost it near the end. And my heart is at least three sizes too small. Turns out Fallon and Johnson had taken pains to pull the reunion off without Karina  who would normally be involved  finding out. Its genuinely touching and, after an extremely rough year, really comforting to see.

Naturally, the moral of the story is: call your parents and family more often. Maybe even now, in fact.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn58zvm-D0U&w=605&h=340]

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The Event Will Also Include the Donation of Jackets for Each Student

DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / December 11, 2016 / The personal injury law firm of Eberstein Witherite, LLP is proud to announce its participation in IM Terrell Elementary School in Fort Worth's annual shoe-giving event on December 21, 2016. This is the third consecutive year that Eberstein Witherite is participating in the event, which will include donating enough shoes for three classrooms and jackets for every student in the school.

"I'm so proud that we are able to continue our support to IM Terrell Elementary," stated Amy Witherite, founding partner of Eberstein Witherite. "Our firm really wants to have a presence in our community, and being able to provide shoes and jackets for these students is a true privilege."

During the firm's participation in the 2014 shoe-giving event, Witherite noticed that many of the students did not have jackets to keep them warm. She then decided to add jackets to the firm's contribution to the event in 2015 and 2016.

"It's humbling for us to see how much this means to the students," added Lucy Tiseo, Marketing Director of the law firm. "You can't take it for granted the difference that a new pair of shoes and a warm jacket can make to a child's life. I'm so excited that we are supporting IM Terrell Elementary once again in this event, and I hope that we will remain a sponsor for years to come."

The event will also include a holiday assembly party with special guest Lady Jade from K104 radio station.

IM Terrell Elementary School opened in 1882 as a high school, and shut down in 1973. In 1998, the school district reopened the building as an elementary school serving kindergarten through fifth grade.

Media Contact

Lucy Tiseo

Eberstein & Witherite, LLP

Phone: 800-779-6665

Email: lucy.tiseo@ewlawyers.com

Connect with Eberstein & Witherite on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+

Source: http://www.dallastexaspersonalinjurylawyers.com/news/eberstein-witherite-announces-annual-shoe-giving-event-im-terrell-elementary-school

SOURCE: Eberstein Witherite, LLP via Submit Press Release 123
Busy director Sherif El Bendary took a break from shooting and editing Brotherhood (Al-Gamaa), the controversial, multi-part drama series he is helming about the Muslim Brotherhood for Egyptian television, which is slated to air during the next Ramadan, to talk about Ali, The Goat And Ibrahim, his first feature, which world premiers in competition at this years Dubai Film Festival.

The two projects couldnt be more different; Ali is a whimsical, comic road movie featuring three unusual title characters, which claims the ground between independent and commercial cinema. El Bendary, an engineer turned filmmaker, notes, For me there are many things I dont like about independent cinema. Its low budget, not well-made technically, too intellectual, too dark, about ideas, not storytelling. But commercial is something else I dont want to do.

Certainly, his characters are not commercial cinema types. Voluble Ali lives at home with his mother and loves a goat called Nada that goes with him almost everywhere. Ibrahim is a depressed sound engineer, driven to distraction by a familial curse: strange sounds that only he can hear. Together they travel to Alexandria and the Sinai. Their trip becomes a voyage of self-acceptance that seals their growing bond of friendship.

But as a story of two outsiders that dont fit in and one without big name stars, Ali required considerable time to finance. It ultimately came together as a co-production between Egypt, UAE, France and Qatar and benefited from multiple funds and works-in-progress pitch programs. El Bendary says that having the project seen and awarded by juries of different nationalities gave him confidence that he was going in the right direction and that he had something universal.

The film took five years from start to finish, during a time in which the Egyptian economy was unstable. Pre-production extended over three years, while the 30 days of shooting stretched over 11 months, from May 2015 to April 2016. Post also required a year.

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Professional actors mix with non-pros in the cast. Ali is played by Ali Sobhy, who founded the street theater company the Red Tomato, which performs in schools and poor districts. In addition to studying acting, he also trained in mime, contemporary dance, acrobatics and improvisation. El Bendary says, I was looking for someone who looks like a goat. With his narrow face and goatee, Sobhy fits the bill. In contrast, Ahmed Magdy (also in the DIFF competition title The Preacher) as the tortured musical genius Ibrahim boasts matinee idol good looks and a more conventional background.

Surprisingly, the part of goat was the most difficult to cast. I saw more than 2000 goats to find Nada, reveals El Bendary. He wanted a ruminant that looked friendly and lovable, had a unique look sans horns, was young enough to be carried around and that could be replaced by another similar-looking animal (indeed, three identical looking goats appear in the film). Finally, El Bendary fell in love with a petite, white member of the French mountain goat breed, but their relationship was fraught. During rehearsals, his red, tearing eyes and non-stop sneezing confirmed an allergy to goats.

Egyptian distributor Mad Solutions plans a first quarter of 2017 release in the home market. Mad co-founder Alaa Karkouti says, Our target is to release it on 20 to 30 screens across Egypt. Most of the screens will be in Cairo and Alexandria, but we also will release on one screen in each other key cities such as Ismailia, Banha, Tanta, etc.

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Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's Copts, targeted in a church bombing that killed 23 people in Cairo on Sunday, are the Middle East's largest Christian minority community, and also one of the oldest.

Making up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 90 million, the Coptic Orthodox are the largest Christian denomination in the Muslim-majority country.

Here is a recap of their history, their status today and past attacks against the minority.

- 'Dawn of Christianity' -

The Copts go back to the dawn of Christianity, at a time when Egypt was integrated into the Roman, then Byzantine empires, following the end of the dynasty of the Pharaoh Ptolemy, who was of Greek origin.

The word "Copt" has the same roots as the term "Egyptian" in ancient Greek.

Their decline started with the Arab invasions of the 7th century and the progressive Islamisation of the country, which today is largely Sunni Muslim.

The Bible says Joseph, Mary and Jesus sought refuge in Egypt after Christ's birth to escape a massacre of newborns ordered by King Harod.

Several churches and monasteries in Egypt are believed to be built on sites visited by the Holy Family during its flight.

- Copts today -

Copts are present across the whole country, with the strongest concentration in middle and southern Egypt, and are represented in all social classes.

Most adhere to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, headed since 2012 by Pope Tawadros II, while a minority is divided between the Coptic Catholic and various Coptic Protestant churches.

Tawadros, who succeeded pope Shenuda III, was chosen after a blindfolded altar boy picked his name from a chalice, according to custom.

The Catholic Copts, who form part of the Church's eastern rites, are headed by patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak since 2013.

Vatican records show some 165,000 Catholic Copts lived in Egypt in 2010.

Weakly represented in government, Copts complain that they are sidelined from many posts in the justice system, universities and the police.

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Authorities often refuse to issue building permits for churches, arguing it would disturb the peace with their Muslim neighbours.

- Deadly violence -

Egypt's Copts have also been the target of deadly violence after the 2011 uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak and the 2013 ouster of his elected Islamist successor after just one year of rule.

Islamist supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi accused the Christian community of supporting his overthrow.

They pointed to the appearance of Tawadros alongside President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in July 2013, when the then army chief, also surrounded by Muslim and opposition figures, announced on television Morsi's removal.

More than 40 churches were attacked nationwide in the two weeks after the deadly dispersal by security forces of two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo on August 14, 2013, Human Rights Watch said.

Amnesty International said in October 2013 that more than 200 Christian-owned properties had been attacked and 43 churches seriously damaged, adding that at least four people were killed.

In October 2011, almost 30 people -- mostly Coptic Christians -- were killed after the army charged at a protest outside the state television building in Cairo to denounce the torching of a church in southern Egypt.

In May 2011, clashes between Muslims and Copts left 15 dead in the popular Cairo neighbourhood of Imbaba where two churches were attacked.

In March the same year, 13 people were killed in clashes between Muslims and Copts in Cairo's working class neighbourhood of Moqattam, where around 1,000 Christians had gathered to protest over the torching of a church.

On January 1, 2011, the unclaimed bombing of a Coptic church killed more than 20 people in Egypt's second city of Alexandria.
By Kanupriya Kapoor and Agustinus Beo Da Costa JAKARTA (Reuters) - As the ranks of protesters thickened in central Jakarta on Dec. 2, turning into Indonesia's biggest mass demonstration since the end of authoritarian rule in 1998, President Joko Widodo grappled with a dilemma: should he join the rally or stay away? Recounting what happened behind the scenes that day, two senior officials told Reuters Widodo chose to ignore warnings from security chiefs and went into the crowd, appearing alongside the firebrand leader of a hardline Islamic group. His move was widely applauded for cooling tensions that had been building for weeks over remarks by Jakarta's ethnic-Chinese Christian governor that were deemed to be insulting to the Koran. But critics worry Widodo's decision may have conferred some legitimacy on a hardline strain of political Islam emerging in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country, where politics is secular and the majority of believers are moderate, putting social stability at risk. "Jokowi may have had some tactical gains in the short run," said Tobias Basuki, an analyst at the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, referring to the president by his popular name. "But, for the longer term, Jokowi, his government and the police have been playing a dangerous game. As a result, political Islam has been co-opted by hardliners and progressive Muslims have been sidelined." The resurgence of political Islam has been accompanied this year by the reappearance of militant Islamic cells who swear allegiance to Islamic State and have been involved in a series of attacks and foiled plots. Many of the jihadis were first indoctrinated at mosques that spawned various Islamic vigilante groups similar to the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), which was at the forefront of the Dec. 2 mass protest in Jakarta, according to counter-terrorism police. The FPI insists it is neither political nor militant but just wants to uphold Islamic principles. MOTLEY GROUP OF PLOTTERS A senior government official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the president had voiced some reservations before joining FPI leader Habib Rizieq on the stage. Before dawn that day, police rounded up a motley group of figures allegedly plotting to use the rally to launch a popular revolt against Widodo by leading protesters to parliament. Among those detained was a daughter of independent Indonesia's first president, Sukarno; a rock star who once appeared in a video wearing a Nazi-style uniform, and a former army general who backed one of Widodo's rivals for the presidency in 2014. The official, briefed on discussions between the police chief and one of the president's most trusted ministers, Luhut Pandjaitan, said Rizieq was on an original list of 20 people suspected of sedition. Police could not confirm such a list. Rizieq was not detained, however. Instead, he was allowed to lead the protest later that morning. Minister Pandjaitan told police to arrest the least powerful people on the list of 20 to send a message that the government would not tolerate anybody trying to exploit the tensions, the official said. Widodo's office did not respond to requests for comment. SHARIA LAW The FPI, which claims around five million members and advocates sharia law across Indonesia's multi-cultural archipelago, has a history of harassing minorities. It has forced churches and mosques run by non-Sunni Muslims to close and raids nightclubs and bars it believes foster immorality. It grabbed the political spotlight by seizing on Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama's indelicate remark on the Koran during his re-election campaign, where he is standing against two Muslim candidates. Purnama goes on trial for blasphemy starting on Tuesday in a Jakarta court. As an ally of the governor, Widodo was the target of some of the outrage from Muslims - at an initial rally on Nov. 4 and then the larger one that brought over 200,000 protesters into the heart of Jakarta a month later. Ahead of the Nov. 4 rally, Widodo's security staff persuaded him to leave the presidential palace, said the senior government official. He went to the capital's airport where, according to his office, he inspected a rail project. Violence broke out as the demonstration wound up that day. Another official, at the presidential palace, denied a report that Widodo had gone to the airport as a precaution to flee the country. Underlining his alarm over the situation, however, the president did abruptly call off a visit to Australia the next day. Widodo was given the same security advice ahead of the Dec. 2 protest, the two officials said. But Pandjaitan urged him to appear at the rally to puncture the mood of animosity. "He [Widodo] said he did not want to be seen standing ... on the same stage as Habib Rizieq, but Luhut said it was a chance to show real leadership and calm the tensions," the palace official said. FALL OF SUHARTO Rizieq, 51, was not available for comment. The chief of FPI's Jakarta chapter, Novel Bamukmin, responding to rumors FPI will form a political party and nominate Rizieq for president in 2019, told Reuters Rizieq had no political ambitions. "Habib Rizieq's role has clearly been that of a figure who is pushing togetherness and unity. It is a movement of tolerant Islam," Bamukmin said. The movement toward a more conservative and hardline Islam has been developing in Indonesia since the fall in 1998 of strongman Suharto, who had brutally repressed politicized Islam during his three decades in power. Tim Lindsey, an expert on Indonesian law at the University of Melbourne, said Widodo - perhaps aware of the country's grim history of popular unrest - had put quelling the masses ahead of squelching the resurgence of political Islam. "It's now about 'mass' - the easily manipulated masses that are on the streets, a nightmare for any political leader in Indonesia given the events of 1998, when Suharto was toppled," Lindsey said. "Jokowi now has to crack down because he has let the situation get out of control." (Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Bill Tarrant.)
By Sudipto Ganguly MUMBAI (Reuters) - India captain Virat Kohli struck a sublime double century before his bowlers picked up six England wickets to put the hosts on course for a series-clinching victory in the fourth and penultimate test at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Trailing 2-0 in the series, England needed a win in Mumbai to keep alive the series but the tourists now require something extraordinary to even save the match following Kohli's batting masterclass. India piled on 631 in their first innings on the fourth day, a lead of 231 runs over England, after Kohli's third double century of the year. The touring side were 182 for six in their second innings at stumps, still trailing by 49. Jonny Bairstow was unbeaten on 50 with nightwatchman Jake Ball falling for two in the last over before the close. Paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed first-innings centurion Keaton Jennings for a golden duck and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja sent back England captain Alastair Cook for 18 and Moeen Ali for nought to leave England tottering at 49-3 at tea. Joe Root and Bairstow hit brisk fifties during their stand of 92 for the fourth wicket before the former fell leg before to off-spinner Jayant Yadav for 77. The wickets of Ben Stokes, who made 18, and Ball to off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin towards the end further dampened England's hopes of saving the match. Bairstow was given out by umpire Bruce Oxenford first on 32 and then on 37 but the England wicketkeeper managed to overturn the decisions both times on review. KOHLI DOUBLE Earlier, the 28-year-old Kohli was out for a career-best 235 and added 241 for the eighth wicket, the highest for India, with Yadav, who scored 104, his maiden test hundred. Kohli, who was on 147 overnight, and Yadav continued to torment the England bowlers who went wicketless in the first session after India resumed on 451 for seven. The right-handed batsman has now scored a double hundred in all three series India have played in 2016 -- in West Indies, against New Zealand and now against England. Kohli, who has already scored 640 runs in the series at an average of 128, drove Ball for a straight four on the fifth delivery of the day to get past 150, signalling another harrowing session for the England bowlers. Kohli, who hit 25 fours and a six in his knock, got past his 200 with a single to mid-wicket off leg-spinner Adil Rashid but his celebration was quite muted compared to when he completed his hundred on Saturday. He raised both his hands while completing the run and took off his helmet before acknowledging the applause from the sizeable Sunday crowd at the ground, overlooking the Arabian Sea. Kohli accelerated after the fall of Yadav and was out caught at the cover boundary off Chris Woakes. Yadav, whose previous highest score was 55, hit 15 boundaries in his knock and looked in discomfort only against a couple of short deliveries from the England fast bowlers. Rashid finished with four wickets. (Editing by Amlan Chakraborty and Clare Fallon)
The Hague (AFP) - The European Union on Sunday reached an agreement with the Malian government aimed at enabling the return of migrants who have reached Europe's shores, and whose asylum requests have been refused.

"It is the first time the EU establishes such a precise mechanism with an African country with regards to returning failed asylum seekers," said a statement from the Dutch foreign ministry, which signed a joint declaration on the EU's behalf.

The declaration seeks to fight "the root causes of illegal migration" and to "enable the return from Europe of Malian migrants", the statement said.

The agreement came after a summit in the Maltese capital Valletta in November 2015, when EU leaders agreed with their African counterparts to set up a 1.8-billion-euro ($1.9-billion) fund to help address the root causes of migration.

In return, African countries would step up border controls and accept the repatriation of those who make it to Europe but are judged to have no right to remain.

The EU-Mali declaration lays the foundations for schemes to help young people find work, and seeks to strengthen the country's security forces.

In addition, Mali and neighbouring states are expected to step up the fight against people-smugglers while improving their border security.

A total of nine projects, with a budget of 145.1 million euros, were adopted.

Under the declaration, "Malian civil servants will travel to EU member states to help determine the identity of migrants, in order to accelerate their return," the statement said.

The number of migrants from African nations -- including Mali, Nigeria and The Gambia -- who risk their lives at sea in a desperate bid to reach Europe has increased considerably in recent years, official figures show.

The EU-Mali agreement, which will be presented in Brussels on Monday, is "necessary", according to Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, whose country held the EU's rotating presidency earlier this year.

"Young Malians have so much to give to their country. We must help stop Malians travelling to North Africa or Europe from losing their lives or falling into the hands of people smugglers," he added.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States and Russia on Sunday tabled a proposal to rebels in Aleppo that would offer safe passage from the city for fighters, their families and other civilians, three opposition officials with Aleppo rebel groups told Reuters. However, Russia denied that any deal had been reached, saying that reports of the proposal do not "necessarily correspond with reality". The rebel groups in Aleppo have yet to respond to the proposal, the opposition officials said. The proposal promised rebel fighters a "secure" and "honorable" withdrawal from the city, they said. If rebels accept the proposal, it would restore Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's full control over rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo, his biggest victory yet in the civil war that has shattered his country. The Russian-backed Syrian military and its allies have captured swathes of rebel-held eastern Aleppo in a ferocious military campaign, squeezing rebel fighters and tens of thousands of civilians into an ever shrinking enclave. Russia and the U.S. have been meeting in Geneva to seek a solution to the fighting and the humanitarian crisis it has caused. Moscow's RIA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying that Russia was working to create the necessary conditions for the safe extraction of people from Aleppo and that the Geneva talks would continue. "The issue of withdrawing militants is the subject of separate agreements. This agreement has not yet been reached, largely because the United States insists on unacceptable terms," RIA quoted him as saying. Under the proposal, the Syrian government and its allies would guarantee safe passage for fighters, their family members, and other civilians from the city. The rebel groups in the city have previously said they would not leave eastern Aleppo, while demanding safe passage for civilians who wish to leave to areas to the north of Aleppo near the border with Turkey. A draft of the proposal sent to Reuters from two of the rebel officials said the Syrian government and its allies would give a public guarantee that fighters and civilians leaving the city would not be detained or harmed, and guarantee the safety of civilians who wish to remain in the city. It would require fighters from the jihadist group formerly known as Nusra Front to head to the northwestern province of Idlib. But it would allow fighters from other groups to go to other destinations including areas near the Turkish border to the northeast of Aleppo, which are held by groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army. Implementation would be carried out over a 48-hour period, and U.N. oversight would be sought. Fighters would be allowed to take their light weapons with them, but must leave heavy weapons behind, the proposal said. The office of the U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said it had no comment for now on the report. (Reporting by Tom Perry and Suleiman al-Khalidi; editing by David Clarke and Ros Russell)
If ExxonMobils top executive is appointed to run the State Department, he will be running an agency his company has repeatedly lobbied in recent years.

Under Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, who is expected to be nominated Donald Trumps secretary of state, the oil colossus has directly lobbied the State Department on everything from sanctions against Russia and Iran to climate policy to the Trans-Pacific partnership and other controversial trade deals. An IBT review of federal records shows Exxon has been listed as lobbying the State Department on 20 separate government disclosure forms since the beginning of the Obama administration in 2009. The forms list a combined $43 million worth of total Exxon spending on lobbying, though not all of that was spent specifically lobbying the department that Tillerson would run.

Tillerson has mocked investments in renewable energy and has downplayed the effects of climate change. As secretary of state, he would be in a position that has been deeply involved in matters that affect Exxon and other oil and gas corporations. In the last few years, the State Department has forged an international drilling pact, promoted hydraulic fracking across the globe and negotiated climate and trade pacts that shape the fossil fuel economy

In the early years of the Obama administration, lobbying records show that under Tillerson, Exxon lobbied the State Department on legislative proposals dealing with sanctions against Iran. One disclosure from 2010 specified the companys lobbying on sanctions legislation was about provisions related to energy investments and sanctions. The State Department notes that sanctions legislation passed that year expands significantly the energy-related activities that are sanctionable and adds new types of sanctions that can be imposed. In 2015, Exxon denied it was lobbying on Iran-related legislation.

In 2011, records detailing Exxons State Department lobbying say the company engaged in discussions related to the Columbia, Panama and Korea Free Trade agreements, and Russia ascension into World Trade Organization. Exxon boasts of its operations in Russia, which joined the WTO in 2012. In 2014, Exxon also lobbied on proposed U.S. sanctions against Russias energy sector. In SEC filings that year, the company said it faced up to $1 billion in potential losses from such sanctions.

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Also in 2014, Exxon lobbied the State Department on proposed treaties. One was the U.S. Mexico Transboundary Agreement. According to the agency, the final agreement will unlock areas for exploration and exploitation of fossil fuels and make nearly 1.5 million acres of the Outer Continental Shelf more attractive to energy companies. Exxon also had "discussions related to Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) energy and climate issues."

The company also hired former Sens. Trent Lott and John Breaux to lobby the State Department on proposed ratification of a United Nations pact governing ocean-based oil and gas exploration. The push came as Exxon faced a high-profile international dispute over its drilling off the coast of South America. The Truman National Security Project notes the pact would guarantee exclusive economic rights to the United States over huge swaths of ocean in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as the Arctic Sea. The think tank says roughly 1.5 million square miles [about the size of the Alaska and Louisiana Purchases combined] would become open for hydrocarbon and mineral exploration by U.S. firms alone.

The Senate did not ratify the pact, but a renewed push by a Secretary of State Tillerson could reopen the matter.

In the last two years, federal records show Exxon has lobbied the State Department on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership  which Trump has said he opposes, but which Tillerson has promoted. In one filing, Exxon said it lobbied specifically on Investor State Dispute Settlement issues  a catch-all term for trade provisions that critics say allow corporations to sue governments to overturn environmental, labor and other public interest laws. In the last few years, Exxon has used such provisions to successfully sue Venezuela and Canada.

Though various news organizations have said Trump is about to name Tillerson as his designated secretary of state, the president-elect has not yet announced his official decision. Trump tweeted Sunday no matter his decision, Tillerson "is a world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!

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Beirut (AFP) - The fall of Aleppo will be a pivotal moment in Syria's war, boosting regime hopes of regaining control over the entire country and dealing a probable knock-out blow to rebels.

Analysts say the virtually inevitable regime victory in Syria's second city will give the government of President Bashar al-Assad a comfortable upper hand.

"Aleppo is the real turning point of the war. It's the equivalent of Stalingrad," Syria expert Fabrice Balanche said, referring to the Soviet Union's bloody victory in the Russian city that changed the course of World War II.

"Without Aleppo, (Assad) was a half-president," said Balanche, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

But "with this victory, he can present himself as the president of the whole of Syria".

Rebels seized eastern Aleppo in mid-2012, just over a year after anti-government protests broke out nationwide.

East Aleppo became a powerful symbol of resistance for Syria's opposition, with a local administration that endured years of fierce bombardment and a suffocating government siege that began in July this year.

But when the government launched an all-out assault in mid-November, backed by intense artillery fire, the war-weary eastern districts all but collapsed.

Regime troops and allied militia now control at least 85 percent of the one-time rebel stronghold.

"The myth of a moderate rebellion in Aleppo capable of representing a political and military alternative to the regime -- it's over," Balanche said.

- 'Break opposition's back' -

Yezid Sayigh, a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, told AFP a regime victory in Aleppo would "tip the balance" in its favour.

"We're now past the point where the opposition has any hope of pulling things back," he said.

Recapturing Aleppo holds tremendous political importance for the government, which saw the rival opposition-run authorities in the city's east as a major challenge to its legitimacy.

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It would also ring the death knell for the armed uprising.

Assad "will have in effect broken the back of the armed opposition... and the idea that the regime can be overcome militarily will be finally put to rest", Sayigh said.

After losing Aleppo, rebels will be largely confined to northwest Idlib and scattered pockets in Damascus and Daraa provinces, with little hope for support from their Turkish, Western or Gulf backers.

Kurdish forces will hold parts of northern and northeast Syria, and the Islamic State jihadist group will have to defend territory in the north and east.

In turn, Assad's regime will fully control Syria's three main cities -- Aleppo, Damascus and Homs.

It will hold almost all of the country's main population centres, many of its airports and the border with Lebanon.

But analysts say the government will not stop there.

"The end of the rebellion in Aleppo will free up around 30,000 troops to launch new offensives," Balanche said.

- 'Snowball effect' -

One likely target is Eastern Ghouta, a key rebel enclave east of Damascus.

Douma, the largest town there, "does not want to meet the same fate as east Aleppo", Balanche said.

The regime may also move to seize Al-Bab, an IS-held town on a key route between Aleppo and the border with Turkey.

Turkish forces and their rebel allies have advanced towards the town, but Damascus cannot afford to lose that race.

"It's too close to Aleppo and it would open the way for rebels to head towards Raqa," Balanche said.

Sayigh said the regime may now work on securing the entire western length of the country from the northern border with Turkey to Jordan in the south.

Beyond that there are two possibilities, he said.

"One is (that) the regime turns east and starts pushing towards Raqa to demonstrate its usefulness to the West and Russia as a key partner against IS."

Otherwise it could focus on securing Aleppo, "bottling the opposition up in Idlib province and then chipping away at the edges", Sayigh said.

Joshua Landis, director of the Center of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said a victory in Aleppo would "likely have a snowball effect and build regime capabilities and morale".

"Once Syrian militias believe that the rebellion's days are counted, they will likely be more inclined to negotiate ways to surrender that provide protection to their fighters and dependants."
The female mathematician behind John Glenns space adventures paid the late astronaut a sweet tribute

John Glenn, the first American astronaut to successfully orbit Earth back in 1962, sadly passed away on Thursday at the age of 95. The woman whose math sent Glenn to orbit beautifully paid tribute to the NASA astronaut.

Katherine Johnson was known as the human computer. And, without her, Glenns mission would not have happened.

Johnson made history as not only one of NASAs first black female employees, but she was also one of the mathematicians who invented and verified the computer calculations that sent Glenn into orbit. And, of course, brought him home safely.

In a statement released on Friday, Johnson remembered her friend.

A good man has left Earth for the last time, Johnson said. John Glenns life will long be remembered for his time in space, his courage and his service to all Americans.

Statement from Katherine Johnson, the "human computer" who verified the trajectory for John Glenn's 1962 Friendship 7... Posted by Bob Jacobs on Friday, December 9, 2016

In the 60s, Johnson and her two African American female colleagues, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, were called the colored computers. Their truly inspiring story will be told in the upcoming film Hidden Figures, which hits theaters on Christmas day.

Check out the trailer, and prepare to feel some feelings:

Actress Taraji Henson plays Johnson in the film. She discussed her initial thoughts while reading the script for the first time with NBC News.

I read the script and I just remember initially being angry. Here we have these women who changed the course of America, the history of this nation and we dont know about them.

The incredibly important film also stars Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae. And were looking forward to seeing the true story of these remarkable women brought to light.

The post The female mathematician behind John Glenns space adventures paid the late astronaut a sweet tribute appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Before IBM mainframes took over NASAs number-crunching duties, the organizations computers wore skirts. While an all-male team of engineers performed the calculations for potential space travel, women mathematicians checked their work, playing a vital role at a moment when the United States was neck-and-neck with (and for a time, running behind) the Soviets in the space race. As brash, bright, and broad as Hollywood studio movies come, Hidden Figures tells the story of three of these unsung heroes, all of them African-American, who fought a doubly steep uphill battle  as crusaders for both feminism and civil rights in segregated Virginia  to help put an American into orbit.

Today, there is nothing surprising about the fact that black women could handle such a task, and clearly NASA was realistic enough to recognize this at the time. What wasnt necessarily evident in 1962 was that these colored computers, as they were called by NASA, deserved to be afforded the same rights and treated with the same respect as their white male colleagues  and what director Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent) illustrates via his simplistic, yet thoroughly satisfying retelling is just how thoroughly the deck was stacked against these women. Hidden Figures is empowerment cinema at its most populist, and one only wishes that the film had existed at the time it depicts  though ongoing racial tensions and gender double-standards suggest that perhaps we havent come such a long way, baby. Now 98, Taraji P. Hensons character, Katherine Johnson (after whom NASA later named a computational research facility), lived long enough to see a black president, but not a female commander-in-chief.

Like American Graffiti or The Help, Hidden Figures takes place in a colorful, borderline-kitsch version of the American past. (Practically brandishing its vintage details and stunning costumes, the film takes place at roughly the same time and place as Jeff Nichols Loving, which offers a less splashy notion of the era in question.) An early scene shows Katherine and colleagues Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) repairing the Chevy Impala in which they carpool, when a white police officer pulls over in a scene whose tension hasnt dissipated one iota in half a century. Once the cop realizes who they are, he volunteers to give the women a police escort. Three negro women are chasing a white police officer down the highway in Hampton, Virginia, 1961, quips Mary. Ladies, that there is a God-ordained miracle!

If only everyones mind could so easily be changed. At work, Katherine is promoted to a job with the Space Task Group, where manager Al Harrison (Kevin Costner, whose gum-chewing, crew-cut look nails the era) is too distracted to notice tension between his employees, especially bosss pet Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons, playing the sort of reductive stereotype that talented minorities have been forced to settle for over the past century  not ideal, as characterizations go, though such payback seems only fair).

Meanwhile, Dorothy takes orders from a curt, condescending white lady (Kirsten Dunst), who addresses Dorothy by her first name, and offers little help with her request for a promotion to supervisor, despite the fact Dorothy is already doing the job. As a woman, Vivian can empathize with the challenges of a discriminatory workplace; and yet, as a white woman, she doesnt get it at all, oblivious to her subconscious role in keeping her black colleagues down (Yall should be thankful you have jobs at all, she says), for which Dorothy quite rightly puts her in her place.

As in Mad Men, so much of the gender and race dynamics are conveyed via body language, subtext, and the telling way characters look at one another. But unlike the wonderfully subtle writing for that relatively sophisticated series, the Hidden Figures screenplay  which Melfi and Allison Schroeder adapted from Margot Lee Shetterlys newly published nonfiction book  has a tendency to deliver its message via direct, on-the-nose dialogue (e.g. after defusing the segregated-bathroom problem, Kevin Costner decrees, Here at NASA, we all pee the same color!).

The bathroom scene is by far the movies most satisfying, in that it follows a series of cartoonish vignettes in which Katherine must dash half a mile in high heels, clear to the West Computing Building, in order to relieve herself  a daily humiliation amplified by the sound of a new Pharrell track called Runnin. (Also a producer on the film, Pharrell puts a playful, upbeat spin on the patent unfairness these women faced, culminating in his terrifically empowering, gospel-infused Victory.) As vital as these scenes are, its practically groan-inducing to watch Henson  a talented actress whose exaggerated portrayal of a math whiz suggests Michelle Pfeiffers smart, yet haggard pre-Catwoman secretary in Batman Returns  awkwardly pantomiming someone with a bladder about to burst, but thats the broad acting style Melfi encourages, and its the kind that inspires spontaneous ovations at the end of implausible monologues. (As crowd-pleasing ingredients go, Hidden Figures has nearly everything except a scene of a cat being rescued from a tree.)

Hensons co-stars manage to play their own recurring challenges in more convincing ways  best exemplified as the beautiful, self-confident Mary (Monae, launching a formidable acting career, between this and Moonlight) petitions the judge to let her take the necessary night courses that will allow her to apply for an open engineering position at NASA. Spencers Dorothy also faces obstacles at every turn, but cleverly anticipates how the IBM (which amusingly cant even fit through the door of the empty room that awaits its arrival) will render her division obsolete, and plans accordingly, making herself indispensable.

Among the male roles, Mahershala Ali is every bit as strong as Costner at playing a skeptical man quick to recognize Katherines talents  supplying the films only romantic subplot in the process  while all-American astronaut John Glenn (Glen Powell) doesnt so much as hesitate to accept the computers contributions. Before the launch of his Friendship 7 vessel, Glenn says, Lets get the girl to check the numbers. When Harrison asks, Which one? Glenn doesnt miss a beat: The smart one.

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By Swati Pandey and Charlotte Greenfield WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English was confirmed as the country's new prime minister on Monday, as expected, a week after John Key announced his surprise resignation after eight years in the role. English, who was the sole contender for the job, announced Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett as the deputy leader, following a special caucus meeting of the ruling center-right National Party. English, who will be sworn in later in the day, has already lined up senior cabinet minister Steven Joyce, the minister for economic development, to replace him in the finance ministry. He is expected to announce further cabinet changes in the coming weeks and has also signaled a "stocktake" on policy. "I am both excited and humbled by this opportunity," English, who comes from a conservative, Catholic family in New Zealand's south, told reporters after the meeting. English, who 13 years ago oversaw a disastrous election loss for the National Party to the center-left Labour Party, takes the reins of a country in good economic shape compared to much of the developed world. On Monday, Moody's said it expects New Zealand to remain among the fastest growing of triple-A rated economies. English has held several ministerial posts across education, health and finance since he joined parliament in 1990. As finance minister, his key policies included moves to partly privatize several state-owned energy firms and Air New Zealand, cutting personal tax and corporate tax rates and increasing the goods and services tax. (Reporting by Swati Pandey and Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Richard Pullin)
HARBOR SPRINGS, Mich. (AP)  A fire at the main lodge at Boyne Highlands, a popular ski resort in northern Michigan, injured 12 people and forced the evacuation of dozens more early Sunday.

The resort said the injuries didn't appear to be life-threatening, although one person was taken to a hospital about 180 miles away in Grand Rapids.

Boyne said 40 percent of the lodge has some fire damage, and much of the rest of the building was affected by smoke and water. There were 113 guests in 64 rooms.

The fire was reported around 1:30 a.m. Sunday at the lodge in Harbor Springs, 75 miles northeast of Traverse City. The cause was under investigation and the resort was closed.

"There was smoke billowing all over the place," said local photographer Alex Childress, who drove to Boyne around 3 a.m. when he heard about the fire.

General Manager Mike Chumbler said staff went door to door to ensure that guests had been alerted. They were moved to lodging elsewhere at the resort.

"We, as a resort, in the last year have gone through a mock fire scenario. ... I'm proud of our response and that the team stepped up. It was good that we practiced like we did," Chumbler said.

It was Boyne's third weekend of the winter season  and a snowy one.

"The weather was just turning for us," Chumbler told the Petoskey News-Review.
HARBOR SPRINGS, Mich. (AP)  Twelve people are injured after fire struck the main lodge at Boyne Highlands, a popular ski resort in northern Michigan.

The resort says the injuries don't appear to be life-threatening, although one person was taken to a hospital about 180 miles away in Grand Rapids.

Boyne says 40 percent of the lodge has some fire damage. Much of the rest of the building was affected by smoke and water. There were 113 guests in 64 rooms.

The fire was reported around 1:30 a.m. Sunday the lodge in Harbor Springs, 75 miles northeast of Traverse City.

A local photographer, Alex Childress, says he drove to Boyne around 3 a.m. when he heard about the fire. He says he saw smoke "billowing all over the place."

The cause was not immediately known.
(Reuters) - A blaze in the middle of the night at a northern Michigan ski lodge on Sunday injured 12 people, the Boyne Highlands Resort said, calling it a "significant structure fire."

At the time of the fire, the lodge in the town of Harbor Springs housed 113 guests in 64 rooms. One of the injured had to be evacuated to a hospital outside of the area, the resort said in a statement.

The cause of the fire at the resort's Main Lodge hotel was under investigation by the Harbor Springs Fire Department and the state fire marshal, the resort said.

The fire brought first responders from several fire, emergency medical and law enforcement agencies, and firefighters were still on the scene extinguishing hot spots nearly 12 hours later as of 1 p.m. EST.

An estimated 40 percent of the building sustained fire damage, and much of the rest of the lodge was impacted by fire, smoke and water, the resort said.

The resort, in the northwestern part of the state, was closed on Sunday and no reopening date had been set.

A spokesman at Emmet County Sheriff's Office declined to comment, and Harbor Springs fire officials were unavailable to comment.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Mary Milliken)
PARIS (AP)  A delegation of three members of the French Parliament will head to the Syrian border near Aleppo on Monday to call for an immediate cease-fire and a humanitarian aid for civilians.

Cecile Duflot, Herve Mariton and Patrick Menucci said Sunday in a statement they are asking for the evacuation of civilians from Aleppo, which has been under fire for months.

The delegation is visiting the region as rank-and-file lawmakers, not as representatives of the whole French Parliament.

They insist Europe must stand strong against the massacres committed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia, according to the statement.

More than 70,000 of eastern Aleppo's 275,000 residents have fled in recent days  mostly to government-held western Aleppo districts, Syrian state media reports.
Starbucks phone

Starbucks will go down in history books as the brand that made it OK to charge more than $2 for a cup of coffee. But its reputation as a higher-end coffee shop has faded and the company is now focusing its efforts on winning it back.

Howard Schultz announced last week that he would step down as CEO in April to focus on building the company's ultra-premium Roastery and Reserve brand.

Since he joined Starbucks in the 1980s, Schultz has modeled locations after Italian espresso bars. Starbucks sought to become the "third place" in your life where you would go to simply hang out and socialize.

"Starbucks is a destination. Starbucks is a sense of community," Schultz said at the company's Investor Day on Wednesday. "We have become the third place between home and work, all over the world."

But since it opened its first shop in Seattle in 1971, Starbucks has become ubiquitous, with more than 24,000 stores around the world. And that ubiquity has started to threaten its upscale brand. In a sense, Starbucks has gotten too basic.

"Basic," according to Urban Dictionary is "an adjective used to describe any person, place, activity involving obscenely obvious behavior, dress, action. Unsophisticated. Transparent motives." Describing someone as basic "has come to mean liking the things everyone else likes," Fashionista writes. And that's not necessarily a good thing.

Fashionista describes Starbucks as a core basic brand that joins the likes of the North Face, Lululemon, and Michael Kors. Sweet Starbucks beverages, like its signature Pumpkin Spice Latte, are most closely associated with the pejorative term.

This is just one of countless Starbucks posts on social media sporting the hashtag "basic":

Widespread popularity is the "kiss of death for trendy ... brands, particularly those positioned in the up-market younger consumer sectors," industry expert Robin Lewis wrote in his blog in 2014.

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Lewis was discussing fashion, but the same idea applies to Starbucks.

When Schultz last stepped down as CEO in 2000, one of the company's biggest struggles was that the Starbucks brand had become diluted by its own ubiquity.

To continue to grow and maintain its coffee-snob approved status, the chain needs to make an active effort to retain its premium reputation  which seeme to be what Schultz is trying to do as he shifts his focus to Starbucks' higher-end Roastery and Reserve lines.

Starbucks Roastery Seattle

Starbucks said it is planning to open 20 to 30 Roasteries, which are the company's tourist-friendly locations that serve expensive drinks like the $10 Nitro Cold Brew Float and roast coffee in-house. One currently exists in Seattle and five more are in the works around the world.

Roasteries are, in Schultz's words, the "Willy Wonka of coffee." Roasteries in New York City and Shanghai are planned to be twice the size of Seattle's 15,000-square-foot location. Shanghai's location will feature a "world of tea," while New York's will have a 45-foot long spirit and mixology bar.

starbucksinvestorconference

The company also plans to open roughly 1,000 Reserve stores, which will be just like Roasteries minus the actual roasting facilities. Reserve stores will serve up small-batch coffee and a menu of food made in-house.

Starbucks also wants 20% of all its stores to have a Reserve Bar, which will serve more exotic, small-batch blends made in a wider variety of preparation methods.

Schultz and Starbucks' goal with the Roasteries, as well as the Reserve line, is to create a "halo effect," elevating the entire Starbucks brand.

So, while Starbucks will continue to serve is popular Pumpkin Spice Latte each fall, the company is making a lot of changes in the form of $10 cocktails and fresh-baked food in an attempt to shed its basic image.

NOW WATCH: The best way to cook scrambled eggs  according to Anthony Bourdain





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Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - Veteran Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh announced a legal challenge to an election in which he had already conceded defeat, in a weekend of dramatic twists that sparked international furore and fear of a crackdown in the west African state.

A week after conceding defeat to upstart rival Adama Barrow in the December 1 vote, Jammeh rejected the polls on Friday, citing "unacceptable errors" by election authorities.

His ruling party on Saturday qualified Jammeh's declaration as being "a prelude to a petition that the APRC party is in the process of filing before the Supreme Court".

An avalanche of international criticism rained down on immediately Jammeh, who has led the tiny sliver of a nation of two million for 22 years since taking over in a coup.

The UN Security Council unanimously demanded he hand over power, and "strongly condemned" the about-face.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is also the chairwoman of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said Jammeh's reversal "threatened peace".

She issued a plea in a statement late Saturday for Jammeh to "do the right thing and take actions to facilitate a smooth and peaceful transition in The Gambia."

Sirleaf's plane was apparently refused the right to enter The Gambia as a mediator over the weekend.

Security forces on Sunday continued to pile into the capital Banjul where locals weighed the possibility of protest against fear of a crackdown.

Jammeh's swift concession of defeat had initially stunned observers and led to celebrations across the country.

A readjustment of the votes counted in the December 1 presidential election was made on Monday, reducing vote numbers for all three candidates but ultimately assuring Barrow's victory.

In his speech on Friday, Jammeh said he would now "reject the results in totality," and called for new elections.

One senior member of the Gambian legal community told AFP: "the president doesn't have the power to nullify the election."

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- Swift reversal -

By Sunday afternoon on the edges of the strategic highway that leads to Banjul, sandbags were being piled high as soldiers dug trenches out behind them.

Troops armed with assault rifles were stationed at some of these makeshift positions, eyeing the road leading to Jammeh's Banjul stronghold.

On the city's outskirts, joy had given way to nervousness as more troops watched citizens prepare for a Muslim religious holiday.

"We don't feel good; we don't feel happy. We have a new president," said Ibrahim Sisay, a businessman visiting the market in the populous Serekunda district.

Sisay said an international intervention would be welcomed by many Gambians.

"We want anyone to come. Senegal are the closest people to us but anyone, even the Japanese!" he told AFP.

Some were discussing protests while others said the cost could be heavy.

"People are afraid. If we go out on the streets he could kill us," said Assan Njie, a delivery man.

- Legal wrangle -

Latest official figures gave Barrow 43.29 percent of the votes in the presidential election, while Jammeh took 39.64 percent. The turnout was 59 percent.

Those figures reflect the correction issued Monday by election authorities, showing a slimmer-than-thought victory for Barrow, of just over 19,000 votes.

Constitutionally Jammeh has 10 days after the election result is declared to file a complaint, but that deadline -- December 12 -- is a bank holiday, meaning he may have an extra day in lieu.

His lawyers might also argue he has 10 days after the recount declaration, according to legal experts.

The Supreme Court has not sat in more than a year, so judges will have to be appointed before they can consider the president's legal complaint, potentially delaying Barrow's inauguration.

Jammeh, a devout Muslim who seized power in 1994 in the former British colony, warned Gambians not to take to the streets to protest his decision, raising concerns from rights groups.

Barrow on Saturday called on Jammeh to drop his challenge, while the UN, US and other foreign authorities lambasted the leader and urged Gambians to keep the peace.
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Two girls, thought to be only seven or eight years old, conducted a double suicide attack in a northeastern Nigerian market Sunday, killing one person and wounding 18, officials said.

The attack in Maiduguri was not immediately claimed by Boko Haram but bore the hallmarks of the jihadist group which often uses women or girls in such operations -- especially in Borno state -- the epicentre of their insurgency.

Borno state governor Kashim Shettima confirmed the toll to journalists while visiting victims in hospital.

The girls were "seven or eight", a militia member in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, Abdulkarim Jabo, told AFP, recalling that he saw the attackers immediately before the first explosion.

"They got out of a rickshaw and walked right in front of me without showing the slightest sign of emotion," he said.

"I tried to speak with one of them, in Hausa and in English, but she didn't answer. I thought they were looking for their mother.

"She headed toward the poultry sellers, and then detonated her explosives belt."

Governor Shettima said he would meet security agents, market officials and civilian vigilantes -- who are assisting the military -- to try and strengthen security at market places.

The second explosion was apparently triggered slightly later as bystanders were helping the wounded.

"We removed 17 people with different degrees of injuries," said Bello Dambatta of the local emergency management agency.

- 'Mutilated bodies' -

"The mutilated bodies of the two suicide bombers were also evacuated."

Boko Haram jihadists have laid waste to northeast Nigeria since they took up arms against the government in 2009.

They are seeking to impose a hardline Islamic legal system on the country's mainly-Muslim north.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than two-and-a-half million more displaced by the unrest.

But the Nigerian military's campaign against the jihadists is increasingly bogged down as it confronts suicide attacks, looting and indiscriminate slaughter.

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Rights groups say thousands of women and girls have been abducted by the group. In the most infamous incident more than 200 schoolgirls were taken from the remote town of Chibok in 2014.

The jihadists have used abducted females as sex slaves and human bombs, while boys are enlisted to fight.

Northeast Nigeria has been buffeted in recent weeks by a string of devastating attacks.

On Friday at least 45 people died and 33 others were wounded in another double suicide attack carried out by female bombers, at a marketplace in the town of Madagali.

In October another set of female suicide bombers killed 17 people at a station near a camp for internally displaced persons.

In February 2015, Boko Haram used an eight-year-old to carry out a suicide attack in Potiskum, in Yobe state, and a 10- and 18-year-old pair were involved in a failed July 2014 attack in Funtua, in northwestern Katsina state.
AMMAN (Reuters) - The governor of the Homs province said on state television on Sunday that Islamic State had captured the ancient city of Palmyra on Sunday and the army was fighting to regain control. In the government's first official admission that Palmyra had fallen once again to the militants, Talal Barazi was quoted on Ikhbariyah TV as saying the army had pulled out of the city. "The army is using all means to prevent the terrorists from staying in Palmyra," he was quoted as saying, hours after the militant group and a Britain-based monitoring group said the militants had full control of the city in eastern Syria's Homs. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Louise Ireland)
New York (AFP) - A compilation inspired by the Broadway smash hit "Hamilton" opened at number one Sunday on the US album sales chart, easily outpacing the first Rolling Stones album in a decade.

"The Hamilton Mixtape" features interpretations of songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical by top acts including Sia, John Legend and Wiz Khalifa.

The compilation album sold 187,000 copies or their equivalent in downloads or streaming in the week through Thursday, monitoring service Nielsen Music said.

"Hamilton," a hip-hop reimagining of the US founding fathers, has been one of Broadway's hottest tickets in years.

"Hamilton" recently returned to the news when Vice President-elect Mike Pence attended and the crew voiced concern to him over how the next administration would treat minorities, prompting an angry rebuke by President-elect Donald Trump.

The Rolling Stones opened at number four on the Billboard chart with "Blue and Lonesome," a cover album of Chicago blues standards that is the rock legends' first studio release since 2005.

"Blue and Lonesome" had opened at number one in Britain, the first for the Stones in their native country in more than 20 years.

The Stones have not had a number one in the United States since 1981's "Tattoo You"

Nonetheless the Stones extended a US record with "Blue and Lonesome" as the band now has entered the top 10 with 37 albums. Second is Barbra Streisand with 34.

R&B sensation The Weeknd slipped to number two on the latest Billboard chart with "Starboy," which earlier broke a streaming record on Spotify.

A cappella group Pentatonix was at number three with the holiday-themed "A Pentatonix Christmas."
(Photo: Facebook)

Ron Ozer and Elmira Naymark first met in 2013, according to court documents, and as reported by the New York Post. In what amounted to a whirlwind romance, the couple traveled together, wined, and dined, met each others families, and spent two and a half years growing closer. All that apparently ended when Naymark discovered she was pregnant in January of this year.

Photo: Facebook

That was when Ozer reportedly offered her tens of thousands of dollars to terminate her pregnancy, amid other messages, calling her white trash and telling her I f***ing hate you.

He reportedly made the cash payment offer through a colleague. The Post reports that the colleague told Naymark, Hed be willing to offer a lump sum of money to you . . . Im sure he would have no problem with 50k-75,000+.

Naymark has filed court papers and is suing Ozer for child support, a paternity test, and full legal custody of the baby girl she gave birth to in September, among other claims. Court documents also state that Naymark has had to resort to Medicaid and food stamps to help her get by while she waits for Ozer to accept his responsibility.
Were three black women chasing a white cop down the freeway in 1961. That there is a goddamn miracle. From that early line, Theodore Melfis well-intentioned Hidden Figures establishes itself as a blunt, feel-good adaptation of Margot Lee Shetterlys book, which chronicled three African-American women who played key roles in NASAs early space efforts. However, this is storytelling on autopilot, and it deserves more.

In that opening scene, Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) and her co-workers Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) are pulled over by a police officer; hes shocked to find out theyre rushing to the space agency. Their retort: There are quite a few of us women working on the space program.

Soon, we see that the women in Hidden Figures are just that. Their work at NASA sticks them in a back room digging through mounds of equations, while white male engineers argue over the best way to beat the Soviets into space. Although its a fairly obvious window into the blatant gender and racial disparities that plagued southern life in the 1960s, these brilliant and individualistic women of color got no credit and its hard to fault the production for pulling every heartstring.

Even when Katherine is upgraded to the main calculations room and takes charge of efforts to send John Glenn (Glenn Powell) into space, shes lorded over by stern project director Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) and must run across campus in high heels to use the segregated washroom. Her challenge becomes a key motif, as she dashes about the workspace helping hordes of white men figure out how to launch a rocket into space, and she outsmarts them all.

Once Hidden Figures drops hints that its heading toward Katherines triumph, it follows one predictable beat after another, pausing for the occasional showdown between black and white characters. Some of these face-offs are particularly meaty, such as when Spencers Dorothy hears from her icy supervisor (Kirsten Dunst) that she has nothing against yall. Dorothy replies, Im sure you believe that; both characters wait a beat, as if theyre priming the audience to chortle.

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Hidden Figures is anchored by Taraji P. Hensons powerful portrayal of Katherine, a brilliantly conceived mixture of geekiness and repressed feminism. Her performance is only thrown off once, when she has to deliver a preachy monologue that sets her situation right.

At its worst, Hidden Figures trivializes history; as a hagiographic tribute to its brilliant protagonists, it doesnt dig into the essence of their struggles. Theres slick cinematography by Mandy Walker, an uplifting score by Hans Zimmer, and a handful of lively original songs from Pharrell Williams, but the movies polished surfaces dont disguise that were left with an old-fashioned narrative devoid of creative risks.

Fortunately, the film avoids the rut of other movies in that camp  most prominently, The Help  that insert white saviors to fuse the dramatic arc. Costners administrator comes close, but ultimately Hidden Figures keeps its focus on the real stars of the show.

Melfi smartly underplays some moments, but much of Hidden Figures has the flimsy quality of a treatment in search of a movie. Viewed on its own terms, that may be just enough. At a time when calls for diverse media dominate the industry, Hidden Figures hedges its bets with a family-friendly commercial solution: warm and fuzzy storytelling thats both progressive and safe.

Grade: C+

Hidden Figures opens nationwide December 25.

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Fox

Its kind of sad to write about Hidden Figures so shortly after the death of John Glenn. Now, make no mistake, Hidden Figures isnt about John Glenn (played here by Glen Powell who, after Everybody Wants Some!! seems to have a real knack for showing up in every movie and being cool) as much as John Glenn is the MacGuffin everyone else is trying to send in orbit around the Earth. Its the people who put him there safely that we focus on in Hidden Figures. And, boy, is it a crowd pleaser. (Its rare we get a moving story about social justice that also involves spaceships, but, yes, Hidden Figures has both.)

Hidden Figures, based on a true story, begins with a pretty interesting scene. Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) are stranded on a Virginia highway after their car breaks down. (Well, not really stranded, because they know how to fix the car. Its just not done yet.) A highway patrolman stops alongside them and starts to give them trouble. We think we know where this scene is headed until the officer realizes they all work at NASA, and all of a sudden the officers deep hatred for the Russians and Sputnik overshadows his racism. Before we know it, the officer is giving the women a police escort to work, flying down the highway. (This scene reminded me a bit of when Samuel L. Jacksons Major Warren gained acceptance from Kurt Russells John Ruth in The Hateful Eight after showing Ruth a letter from the president. In the same way the officer only showed these three African American women some respect when he found out they worked for NASA.)

The film follows Katherine (who is a mathematical savant), Dorothy (a very capable middle manager deserving of a promotion and serious recognition) and Mary (a mathematician who wants to be an engineer) who all find a way to excel, despite the whole system trying to do its best to hold them all back. Its weird, we kind of think of NASA as this shining jewel of good, yet it was just as segregated as anywhere else in Virginia in the early 1960s.

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The easiest way to describe Katherine would be as a real Will Hunting. (Or, better, Will Hunting was a fictional Katherine Johnson.) She sees things in mathematics that other people cant. When we first meet Katherine, shes toiling away in a department where her talents are being wasted on a job thats well beneath her skill set. Her work grabs the attention of Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), the director of the Space Task Group, who requests her to be assigned to his group  a group that is almost all male and most definitely white. (So white, they had to add a segregated coffee pot, which is awful and depressing.)



Jim Parsons plays Paul Stafford, a new colleague of Katherines who is, well, kind of a dick. And what I do appreciate about Parsons performance here is that theres no epiphany. He realizes Katherine is better than he is and still tries to hold on to the glory. Hes a dick from the beginning until the end. I think a lesser film might have made him into a nice guy by the end, but that doesnt happen here.

Costner is kind of perfect in the role of Harrison. Whats interesting is hes certainly not a jerk, or any kind of a racist  hes just looking for results that will safely send people into space and he doesnt care where they come from. But whats interesting is hes also clueless about what Katherine has to go through compared to the rest of his staff. He doesnt realize she is forced to drink coffee from a different pot. He doesnt realize that Katherine has to use a bathroom on the other side of the campus, as opposed to the one just down the hall. Harrison represents the white guy in power who thinks that everyone who reports to him is all starting out on equal footing.

But the stars here are obviously Henson, Spencer, and Monae. Its mostly Hensons film, but everyone here is outstanding and has a moment that will make audiences applaud. Oh, yes, there will be a lot of applauding during this film.

Anyway, regardless, I want to make it clear this is an uplifting movie. After watching, I felt uplifted. It made me happy. It will probably make you happy. Its the kind of movie that knows there will be moments in the film when people start applauding. That can be annoying, but not here. I welcomed it. Its nice to be able to cheer for something right now.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.
SEOUL (Reuters) - Heavily indebted South Korean shipper Hyundai Merchant Marine Co Ltd (HMM) said on Sunday it has agreed with the 2M shipping alliance to form a cooperative relationship that falls short of full-fledged membership.

Joining an alliance with major shipping firms was one of the conditions of a debt restructuring deal between Hyundai Merchant Marine and its creditors in May, and the company said on Sunday that the tie-up with 2M met that criteria.

Its main creditor, the state-backed Korea Development Bank, said it had not yet decided its position on the agreement but it was looking at it "in a positive light".

HMM had previously been in talks to join the 2M vessel-sharing alliance made up of Denmark's Maersk Line, part of A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO), and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), the world's two largest shipping lines.

Maersk said in a statement on Sunday that the cooperation includes Maersk and MSC "taking over a number of charters and operations of vessels currently chartered to HMM," but it did not give specifics.

The new three-year tie-up, called "2M+H Strategic Cooperation", is a "slot exchange and purchase agreement", under which surplus capacity can be shared or traded, HMM said.

The agreement needs regulatory approval and will begin in April 2017.

"For Maersk Line the cooperation will provide new opportunities, not least in the Transpacific trade where 2M gets access to strong HMM products," Maersk said.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Yun Hwan Chae; Additional reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Copenhagen; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Sam Holmes and Ros Russell)
Khomein (Iran) (AFP) - An Iranian archaeologist has spent years in an almost single-handed quest across the country's hills and desert plains to uncover ancient rock art that could be among the oldest in the world.

Now he hopes that renewed ties with the West after years of international isolation could help decipher its mysteries.

Despite its rough beauty, it is hard to imagine that the desolate, rock-strewn landscape outside the town of Khomein in central Iran conceals any treasures.

But Dr Mohammed Naserifard scrambles up a hillside, and waits eagerly at the top, his walking stick pointing out the long curled horns of a 4,000-year-old ibex deer scratched into a flat stone.

Over the next few hours, he leads AFP on a journey through valleys and up steep slopes, revealing dozens more images of ancient hunters, tribal dances, deities and beasts.

Despite their potential world-historical importance, they have been seen by just a handful of people.

All are thousands of years old, but some of the markings -- such as a line of cup-marks that may have been used in religious ceremonies -- could be much older.

Dutch enthusiasts who visited the area with Naserifard in 2008 dated the cup marks to more than 40,000 years ago, putting them among the oldest rock art on the planet.

But getting definitive data has been all but impossible for Iranian archaeologists.

"Sanctions have deprived us of the technology," Naserifard told AFP.

"We hope with the situation improving now, we can soon bring this technology to Iran and gain more accurate and scientific information on these engravings."

- 'Finding a treasure' -

The sanctions imposed by world powers prior to last year's nuclear deal meant Iranian scientists were cut off from their global colleagues, deprived of modern lab equipment and the latest research, and faced severe funding shortages.

Added to that was the fact that rock art has never been a priority in Iran, where pre-Islamic history can be a controversial subject.

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It has been left instead to Naserifard's personal determination.

Having read about the subject in a German magazine, he hunted everywhere for examples.

Then one day in 2002, in the hills outside Khomein, he got lucky.

"We were on a picnic and all my friends were taking an afternoon nap. I went wandering and observing the rocks in the valley and I found a rock full of shapes," he recalled.

"I was so excited! Finding these works was like finding a treasure."

He estimates he has since travelled more than 700,000 kilometres (450,000 miles) across two dozen Iranian provinces, unearthing some 50,000 ancient paintings and engravings.

Naserifard now teaches at a local university, and his discoveries have been catalogued by the Bradshaw Foundation, a Swiss NGO specialising in rock art, bringing them international attention.

"His work is really important -- there have been these blank spots on the map that we are finally starting to fill in," said Genevieve von Petzinger, a Canadian cave art expert and author of "The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World's Oldest Symbols".

The engravings could even date back to when humans made their first forays out of Africa, she said.

- 'Eerie similarities' -

Naserifard's discoveries support the growing evidence that humans may have started to develop a common art tradition before leaving Africa, which might explain why the same themes and shapes have turned up in sites as far-flung as California, Spain and South Africa.

"Iran could be a really important part of the puzzle. It is a very strategic location -- humans migrated through there heading both east and west," said von Petzinger.

New methods such as uranium dating -- which enables scientists to date samples even older than is possible with carbon dating -- are now needed in Iran, along with broader archaeological work to put the findings in context.

"These new methods are very expensive," said von Petzinger. "Dr Naserifard has done all this diligent work, but he needs access to the big labs. Hopefully, people can now come to help him."

The Khomein hills are typical of rock art locations around the world -- a once-fertile riverside spot that supported sizeable settlements.

As in other places around the world, the artists were fixated by a single image: in Iran, pictures of the ibex deer account for more than 90 percent of the ancient engravings catalogued by Naserifard.

The Kozo hunters of South Africa obsessively drew and redrew a big-horned sheep that looks surprisingly similar.

"We don't know why they picked a favourite motif and ran with it, but we see the same pattern in very different places," said Peter Robinson of the Bradshaw Foundation.

He said the ibex may have been part of an origin myth, or perhaps the engravings were an attempt to summon magical hunting powers or encourage the deer to multiply.

"The similarities across time and space can be eerie. We see examples in which Ice Age art didn't vary across 30,000 years," said Robinson.

"But one thing that seems clear is this innate human characteristic to want to mark a wall, to graffiti."
PARIS (AP)  Christine Lagarde is taking time off her day job solving the world's financial crises to face trial Monday, accused of negligence after the French state handed $425 million to a tycoon close to the president in 2008.

The well-respected, silver-haired head of the International Monetary Fund denies wrongdoing in the case, which dates to her time in the French government when she was economy and finance minister.

The trial is due to last until Dec. 20. Lagarde, 60, faces up to a year in prison and a 15,000-euro ($16,000) fine if convicted of negligence. The judges are expected to return a verdict in the wake of the last hearing but they can also announce a ruling at a later date.

Lagarde's upcoming trial and possible conviction may raise concern about her ability to remain IMF boss. The Washington-based institution's credibility was already shaken when her predecessor, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, also a French citizen, was forced to resign amid sexual assault allegations in 2011.

The IMF's board has so far supported Lagarde at all stages of the French legal proceedings, which began the month after her appointment in July 2011.

Lagarde, the first woman to become finance minister of a Group of Eight country and to be appointed IMF chief, is being tried for her role in a 2008 arbitration ruling that handed 403 million euros ($425 million) to a French business magnate, Bernard Tapie, an ally of then-President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Tapie, a flamboyant tycoon and former TV star, had sued French bank Credit Lyonnais for its handling of the sale of his majority stake in sportswear company Adidas in the mid-1990s.

When Lagarde became finance minister in 2007, the lengthy legal battle between Tapie and the public bank was still unresolved, and she ordered to settle it through an unusual private arbitration panel, instead of regular courts, against the advice of her own services.

The choice of arbitration proved disastrous for the state by leading to the massive payout to Tapie from public funds. The amount of the award prompted indignation in France.

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Investigating judges say Lagarde committed a series of serious errors when she made the arbitration choice and also, later on, when she refused to challenge the deal, suggesting she may have been influenced by the political connections between Tapie and Sarkozy, according to court documents.

"Ms. Lagarde's behavior proceeds not only from a questionable carelessness and precipitation, but also from a conjunction of faults which, by their nature, number and seriousness, exceed the level of mere negligence," the judges wrote at the end of their investigation.

Soon after the arbitration deal was notified, investigators suspected that the whole process was rigged in favor of the magnate.

In 2013, Tapie, his lawyer, one of the arbitrators and Lagarde's chief of staff at the ministry, Stephane Richard, now the CEO of the telecom company Orange, were charged with gang-related fraud, and Lagarde's Paris home was searched by police. Tapie later got another charge of misappropriation of funds. In 2015, a court quashed the arbitration deal, and then ordered Tapie to pay the money back. Last June, the top French court ruled the arbitration was fraudulent.

On Monday, Lagarde is due to appear in the Court of Justice of the Republic, a special body that tries government ministers for alleged wrongdoing while in office. The court is made up of three professional magistrates from the highest French court, including its president, and 12 members of Parliament, from opposition and majority parties.

One of Lagarde's lawyers, Patrick Maisonneuve, has argued his client can't be tried until criminal courts have ruled in the cases of Tapie and other suspects. He reportedly said he will ask the court on Monday to postpone the trial on those grounds.

Christopher Mesnooh, legal analyst and lawyer with the Paris, New York and Washington bars, said the whole Tapie case is "highly political" and that French citizens have a "strong feeling about it" because "there is a question of public money involved."

"(Lagarde) had a high government position when the decision was made to pursue the arbitration and then not to appeal the award," he told The Associated Press.

___

Alex Turnbull contributed to this report.
PARIS (Reuters) - International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Sunday she was confident she had done nothing wrong as she faced a court hearing about a state payout in 2008 to a French businessman.

Lagarde was set to stand trial on Monday over her role in a 400 million euro ($428 million) payment to Bernard Tapie when she was France's finance minister in the government of former conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Lagarde is accused of negligence leading to misuse of public funds by improperly approving a decision to allow an out-of-court arbitration in the dispute with Sarkozy supporter Tapie.

She could face up to a year in jail and a fine of 15,000 euros if convicted. A guilty verdict would also risk plunging the IMF, which she took over in 2011 after her predecessor Dominique Strauss-Kahn quit amid a sex scandal, into a new leadership crisis.

"Negligence is a non-intentional offense. I think we are all a bit negligent sometimes in our life. I have done my job as well as I could, within the limits of what I knew," she said on France 2 television.

Lagarde said she was confident and determined, and denied that she had favored Tapie or had acted on Sarkozy's orders.

The case goes back to when Tapie sued the state for compensation after selling his stake in sports company Adidas to Credit Lyonnais in 1993. He claimed the bank, owned by the French state at the time, had defrauded him after it later resold his stake for a much higher sum.

Lagarde, who was French finance minister from 2007 to 2011, signed off on the decision to seek an extremely rare out-of-court settlement in the dispute between the state and Tapie that ended up costing taxpayers dearly.

The arbitration judges ruled in Tapie's favor and ordered the state payout to him, but appeals courts have since thrown out that settlement decision.

A Paris appeals court has ordered Tapie to reimburse the state, but he has lodged an appeal that is still pending.

Story continues

The trial will be only be the fifth in the history of the Cour de Justice de la Republique, a special court that tries ministers for crimes in office. It is made up of three judges and six lawmakers from both the lower and upper houses of parliament.

The IMF said on Thursday that its executive board continues to be briefed on the court case and retains confidence in Lagarde's ability to lead the organization.

(Reporting by Geert De Clercq and Sophie Louet; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
SAINT BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (AP) -- Denzel Ingram scored on a step-back jumper at the buzzer and North Carolina-Wilmington defeated St. Bonaventure 81-80 on Saturday night.

The Bonnies had taken an 80-79 lead when Jaylen Adams converted an acrobatic shot into a 3-point play with 14.2 seconds left.

Ingram hit five 3-pointers and scored 19 points for the Seahawks (8-1), who won their fifth straight. C.J. Bryce added 17 points and Chris Flemmings 15, hitting three 3s as Wilmington went 13 of 29 behind the arc.

Adams had 18 points and Matt Mobley 17, nine points behind their combined average that makes the two Bonnies the highest scoring duo in the country. David Andoh had 16 points off the bench for St. Bonaventure (6-3), which had its five-game winning streak snapped.

Ingram hit a buzzer-beating 3 at the half as Wilmington took a 40-35 lead, hitting 8 of 16 from long distance.

It was the first-ever meeting between the schools.
Pantone has officially declared 'Greenery' as the color of 2017, and cosmetics brand Butter London has wasted no time in releasing the official nail polish hue to match. But how else can you work the shade into your beauty look?

Butter London

You can wear the exact, Pantone-approved shade of 'Greenery' on your nails, thanks to Butter London, which has teamed up with the global color authority to create a series of six nail polishes and lip glosses honoring 2017's star hue. In addition to Greenery, the line features lilac, cream and brown shades designed to complement the olive shade. $10 from butterlondon.com



Sephora

When it comes to beauty, green isn't just a color -- it can also be an ingredient. Sephora's Green Tea Face Mask is infused with green tea that aims to mattify the complexion, reduce shine and reduce the appearance of outbreaks. The zesty green packaging is also right on trend. $6 from sephora.com



Origins

Go one step further with Origins' Ritualitea Matcha Madness Revitilizing Powder Face Mask, which just needs to be mixed with water to create a vivid green paste. When applied to the skin, the mask aims to revitalize and relax the complexion. $36 from origins.com



Make Up For Ever

Show your true colors with the 'Iridescent Lime Green' version of Make Up For Ever's Aqua Matic waterproof eyeshadow. Sold in pencil format, the shadow is blendable yet smudge proof, and comes in 10 colors in total. $22 from makeupforever.com



Youth To The People

Greens form the basis of this cleanser by Youth To The People, which includes kale, spinach and green tea on its ingredients list, to rid the skin of dirt and protect it from free radicals. $36 from youthtothepeople.com
PARIS (Reuters) - Iran is close to finalizing a deal to buy dozens of passenger jets from Europe's Airbus, having signed a $16.6 billion deal with Boeing earlier on Sunday, an Iranian official told Reuters.

The Airbus deal, seen likely to involve a first batch of about half the 118 jets provisionally ordered in January, should be completed in "the next couple of days," the official said.

The two deals follow an intense final flurry of negotiations between Iran and Western planemakers in an effort to formalize provisional contracts announced earlier this year, which face mounting political criticism in both Washington and Tehran.

Boeing said earlier it had reached an agreement to sell 80 aircraft to IranAir under last year's agreement by world powers to lift nuclear-related sanctions on Iran.

The first aircraft to reach Iran will be European, however. Airbus jets and turboprops from ATR, half-owned by Airbus, will start arriving in 2017.

Boeing deliveries are due to start in 2018, the Iranian official said, adding that part of the overall deal signed on Sunday was subject to further agreements on financing.

"Airbus is at a more advanced stage when it comes to deliveries," the official said.

He said ATR had received U.S. Treasury permits needed due to its reliance on U.S. parts. A spokeswoman for ATR confirmed it had licenses and said it was "working to finalize the deal".

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Geert Victor De Clercq)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Iran has proposed the formation of a bloc of Muslim countries to fight terrorism and boost economic cooperation that would include its regional rival Saudi Arabia.

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told a security conference on Sunday that the two countries, along with Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan, should join together to promote "regional peace based on Islam, defending the Palestinian people, fighting terrorism and economic interests."

Shiite-majority Iran and mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia are bitterly divided, and support opposite sides in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in January after Iranian demonstrators stormed Saudi diplomatic facilities to protest the execution of a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric.

Larijani said Saudi Arabia and other nations should know that Iran is not "their enemy." He said Iran is opposed to "warmongering in Syria and Yemen" and wants to resolve regional conflicts through "national solidarity governments resorting to democratic methods."

"Iran is not after creating an empire and hegemony in the region," he said. "Our viewpoint is aimed at improving unity."

Iran is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and sponsors the Hezbollah armed group in Lebanon as well as state-sanctioned Iraqi Shiite militias. At a two-day security summit in Bahrain last week, the leaders of Western-allied Arab Gulf countries agreed on the need to counter Iran's "destabilizing activities" in the region.

Saudi Arabia announced the formation of a 34-member "Islamic military alliance" against terrorism nearly a year ago, which excluded Iran.
(Adds details, background)

DUBAI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - IranAir said it signed a deal on Sunday to buy 80 passenger planes from U.S. aircraft maker Boeing, state news agency IRNA reported, in the biggest U.S.-Iran deal since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The agency quoted Farhad Parvaresh, the chairman of Iran's flag carrier, as saying that the 10-year deal included 50 Boeing 737 aircraft and 30 777 planes.

Boeing said in June it had signed a tentative agreement to sell 100 jets to IranAir after Iranian statements about the deal.

IRNA said that Fletcher Barkdull, a Boeing regional director, was in Tehran for the signing ceremony. The agency quoted Barkdull as saying that the deal was worth $16.6 billion and had been approved by the U.S. government.

In November, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill intending to block the sale of commercial aircraft to Iran, that would bar the U.S. Treasury from issuing licences that U.S. banks would need to finance sales of commercial aircraft.

Congressional Republicans are making efforts to counter last year's nuclear accord between Iran, the United States and other world powers, that eased sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The Boeing deal would help modernise and expand the Iran's ageing fleet, kept going by smuggled or improvised parts after decades of sanctions.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Louise Ireland)
TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - An Iraqi military commander was wounded and one of his bodyguards killed when Islamic State militants fired mortar shells at his convoy south of Mosul on Sunday, officers from the local military command told Reuters. They said a convoy carrying Lieutenant-General Jumaa Inad, head of operations in Salahuddin province, came under attack near the town of Shirqat where Iraqi forces are fighting to retake an Islamic State-held enclave. He had wounds to his head and arm and was flown to a hospital in Erbil, they said. The fighting around Shirqat, in Salahuddin province, is part of a wider military campaign against Islamic State in the north of the country. U.S.-backed Iraqi force has been battling for eight weeks to crush the militants in Mosul, the largest city under Islamic State control in Iraq and Syria. Inad was visiting troops in the village of Ganous, on the eastern bank of the Tigris river about 90 km (60 miles) south of Mosul. (Reporting by Ghazwan Hassan)
UPDATE: 7:11 a.m. EST  Islamic State group fighters retook Palmyra on Sunday after Russian-backed Syrian armed forces pulled out from the ancient city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the monitor group, reportedly said.

The ISIS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that the militant group regained "full control" of the city Sunday, according to Agence France-Presse.

Original story:

Russian airstrikes forced the fighters of the Islamic State group to retreat to the outskirts of Palmyra on Sunday, a day after the extremist group re-entered the ancient city in eastern Syria. ISIS held the Unesco World Heritage site of Palmyra from May 2015 until March this year when it was forced out of the city.

According to the Russian ministry, Russian jets carried out 64 strikes during the operation, killing more than 300 ISIS fighters.

Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra. The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery, the ministry reportedly said in a statement.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that ISIS had gained control of some oil and gas fields around the city after starting its advancement toward Palmyra on Thursday.

During its previous occupation of Palmyra, ISIS fighters beheaded the archeological director and destroyed a number of monuments including two 2,000-year-old temples, an arch and funerary towers.

The attack on Palmyra came as the Russian-backed government forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad closed in on the remaining rebel-held areas of Aleppo. The Syrian government resumed fighting in certain areas of besieged Aleppo after a brief humanitarian pause, rebel groups said Friday.

Story continues

Russia imposed a humanitarian ceasefire on Aleppo to allow civilians to flee the city. The Russian military said that as of Friday morning, nearly 8,000 civilians, including 3,000 children, fled the city, which was once a large financial and industrial center.

Related Articles
JERUSALEM (AP)  A leading Israeli opposition lawmaker has launched a campaign calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be investigated for corruption.

Erel Margalit of the Zionist Union party said Sunday he aims to get the Supreme Court to have Netanyahu interrogated.

At issue is a scandal over reports that Netanyahu's personal attorney represented a German company involved in a $1.5 billion sale of submarines to Israel, raising questions about the prime minister's possible involvement. Reports later emerged that Iran, Israel's arch enemy, has a stake in that company.

Police say they are looking into it but not investigating.

Margalit said "This is corruption at its worst."

The campaign clip shows images portraying Netanyahu as living lavishly and newspaper headlines about scandals.

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http://bbwanted.co.il/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V24Er5vmEpo&feature=youtu.be
* Gentiloni would be fifth prime minister in five years

* Former foreign minister must now rally support

* Electoral law and troubled banks will top new PM's agenda (Recasts with Gentiloni accepting mandate to form government)

By Isla Binnie and Antonella Cinelli

ROME, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Italian President Sergio Mattarella asked Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Sunday to try to form a new government, giving him a mandate to lead Italy out of a political crisis caused by the resignation of Matteo Renzi.

Gentiloni, a 62-year-old former journalist and Renzi loyalist, is set to be Italy's fifth prime minister in as many years and the fourth in a row to take office without winning a national election.

He immediately began consultations with politicians to form a government which will have the pressing tasks of writing a new electoral law and propping up Italy's fragile banks.

"I am aware of the urgent need to give Italy a government with full powers, to reassure our fellow citizens, to confront our international, economic and social priorities with the maximum commitment and determination," he said minutes after Mattarella conferred the mandate.

Italy's social and political divisions were laid bare during campaigning for a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reform which was roundly rejected, prompting Renzi to resign because he had staked his job on it.

All major parties have called for elections as soon as possible. But before any vote can take place, Mattarella has said Italy needs a new electoral law to replace one that applies only to the lower house and could be declared illegitimate in January by the Constitutional Court.

Elections are not due until 2018 but could be called as soon as parliament finishes rewriting the electoral law. Gentiloni said he would "facilitate, if possible, the parliamentary forces' task of quickly defining new electoral rules".

Commentators said that if his consultations go well, he could return to the presidential palace as early as Sunday night or Monday morning to present his list of proposed cabinet members to the head of state.

Story continues

"It doesn't matter if it's resolved tonight or tomorrow. The important thing is that the markets already know that with Gentiloni there will be no radical change," said Maurizio Caprara, a commentator for Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Gentiloni said his government would move "within the same framework" as the outgoing government but Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) is itself severely divided between backers of the former prime minister, such as Gentiloni, and opponents.

Once his cabinet is sworn in by the president, the government will then face votes of confidence in both houses of parliament. The ruling coalition, headed by the PD, has a majority in both so Gentiloni could win the votes in time to attend a European Union meeting on Thursday as prime minister.

The next prime minister will have to deal quickly with the country's third-largest lender, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which may need state intervention to avoid collapse.

Opposition parties such as the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right group refused to take part in national unity government.

"Enough of governments that descend from above, enough of Renzi's avatars ... the Italian people can't stand this any more!" Alessandro Di Battista, a 5-Star leader, wrote on Twitter.

(Editing by Philip Pullella and David Clarke)
ROME (AP)  Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni was chosen Sunday to be the countrys next premier and pledged to get straight to work on forming a new coalition with the same Democrat Party-led majority.

Im aware of the urgency to give Italy a government in the fullness of its powers, to reassure the citizens and to face with utmost commitment and determination international, economic and social priorities, starting with the reconstruction of the quake-hit areas, the 62-year-old Gentiloni said.

Fellow Democrat Matteo Renzi has been staying on as premier in a caretaker role since he offered his resignation on Dec. 7 after his nearly three-year-old government suffered a stinging defeat in a referendum on reforms.

The populist 5-Star Movement and other opposition forces have been clamoring for an early election, but Italian President Sergio Mattarella noticed that Renzis outgoing government still commands a majority in Parliament.

On Saturday, the day before he gave Gentiloni the mandate at the Quirinal presidential palace, Mattarella said Italys next government must deal with several urgent priorities, including bad loans that are burdening several Italian banks, an economy that has resisted growing for years and an ambitious construction program for several towns destroyed by earthquakes.

The president also noted there was wide political consensus for a rapid overhaul of Italys electoral law before Italians vote in a new election.

Gentiloni said hed make the presidents priorities his top concerns too, as he puts together his proposed Cabinet. He told reporters he considered Mattarellas entrusting him with the task of forming a new government a high honor, and Ill try to carry out the task with dignity and responsibility.

Gentiloni had emerged as a likely pick after the president held three days of consultations with political and parliamentary leaders.

Story continues

While serving as foreign minister in Renzis nearly three-year-old center-left coalition, Gentiloni had lobbied for an international support to help end years of violence and fighting in Libya. The North Africa nations lawless coast has turned into a vast launching pad for smugglers, who collect millions in profits as they send hundreds of thousands of migrants out in unseaworthy boats toward Italian shores.

Gentiloni also spearheaded Italys demands that the Egyptian government work to learn who tortured and killed a young Italian researcher in Cairo this year.

The 5-Star populists, who back letting Italians decide if they want to stay in the 19-nation shared euro currency, want elections soon, to capitalize on the angry mood of voters who have punished ruling parties in much of Europe.

It is up to the Italian president to decide if or when to dissolve Parliament and call for a new election ahead of a spring 2018 due date.
By Isla Binnie and Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Sergio Mattarella asked Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Sunday to try to form a new government, giving him a mandate to lead Italy out of a political crisis caused by the resignation of Matteo Renzi. Gentiloni, a former journalist and Renzi loyalist, is set to be Italy's fifth prime minister in as many years and the fourth in a row to take office without winning a national election. The soft-spoken 62-year-old immediately began consultations to form a government that will have to write a new electoral law and manage Italy's fragile banks. Chief among his duties will be dealing quickly with Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the country's third-largest lender, which may need state intervention to avoid collapse. "I am aware of the urgent need to give Italy a government with full powers, to reassure our fellow citizens, to confront our international, economic and social priorities," he said. Italy's social and political divisions were laid bare in campaigning for a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reform that was roundly rejected, prompting Renzi to resign. All major parties have called for elections as soon as possible, but replacing the current electoral law, which applies only to the lower house and could be declared invalid in January by the Constitutional Court, is also likely to dictate the timetable. Elections could be called as soon as parliament finishes rewriting the electoral law. Gentiloni said he would "facilitate, if possible, the parliamentary forces' task of quickly defining new electoral rules". "There are just two windows of opportunity for elections, either it's a snap election in Q2 2017 or it's the natural end of the legislature in 2018," said Francesco Galietti of risk consultancy Policy Sonar. He said several factors could influence the election date, including dealing with the banking crisis, the summit of the G7 nations scheduled in Sicily in May, and the need to name chiefs for a raft of state-owned companies as tenures run out. Commentators said Gentiloni could present his list of proposed cabinet members to the head of state as early as Monday, even waiting until after European markets opened. "The important thing is that the markets already know that with Gentiloni there will be no radical change," said Maurizio Caprara, commentator for Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper. Gentiloni said his government would move "within the same framework" as the outgoing government but Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) is itself severely divided between backers of the former prime minister, such as Gentiloni, and opponents. Once his cabinet is sworn in by the president, the government will then face votes of confidence in both houses of parliament. The ruling coalition, headed by the PD, has a majority in both so Gentiloni could win the votes in time to attend a European Union meeting on Thursday as prime minister. Opposition parties such as the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right group refused to take part in a national unity government. Alessandro Di Battista, a prominent 5-Star deputy, hit out against Gentiloni's appointment on Twitter: "Enough of governments that descend from above, enough of Renzi's avatars ... the Italian people can't stand this any more!" (Additional reporting by Antonella Cinelli; Editing by Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan)
By Isla Binnie and Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Sergio Mattarella asked Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Sunday to try to form a new government, giving him a mandate to lead Italy out of a political crisis caused by the resignation of Matteo Renzi. Gentiloni, a former journalist and Renzi loyalist, is set to be Italy's fifth prime minister in as many years and the fourth in a row to take office without winning a national election. The soft-spoken 62-year-old immediately began consultations to form a government that will have to write a new electoral law and manage Italy's fragile banks. Chief among his duties will be dealing quickly with Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the country's third-largest lender, which may need state intervention to avoid collapse. "I am aware of the urgent need to give Italy a government with full powers, to reassure our fellow citizens, to confront our international, economic and social priorities," he said. Italy's social and political divisions were laid bare in campaigning for a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reform that was roundly rejected, prompting Renzi to resign. All major parties have called for elections as soon as possible, but replacing the current electoral law, which applies only to the lower house and could be declared invalid in January by the Constitutional Court, is also likely to dictate the timetable. Elections could be called as soon as parliament finishes rewriting the electoral law. Gentiloni said he would "facilitate, if possible, the parliamentary forces' task of quickly defining new electoral rules". "There are just two windows of opportunity for elections, either it's a snap election in Q2 2017 or it's the natural end of the legislature in 2018," said Francesco Galietti of risk consultancy Policy Sonar. He said several factors could influence the election date, including dealing with the banking crisis, the summit of the G7 nations scheduled in Sicily in May, and the need to name chiefs for a raft of state-owned companies as tenures run out. Commentators said Gentiloni could present his list of proposed cabinet members to the head of state as early as Monday, even waiting until after European markets opened. "The important thing is that the markets already know that with Gentiloni there will be no radical change," said Maurizio Caprara, commentator for Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper. Gentiloni said his government would move "within the same framework" as the outgoing government but Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) is itself severely divided between backers of the former prime minister, such as Gentiloni, and opponents. Once his cabinet is sworn in by the president, the government will then face votes of confidence in both houses of parliament. The ruling coalition, headed by the PD, has a majority in both so Gentiloni could win the votes in time to attend a European Union meeting on Thursday as prime minister. Opposition parties such as the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right group refused to take part in a national unity government. Alessandro Di Battista, a prominent 5-Star deputy, hit out against Gentiloni's appointment on Twitter: "Enough of governments that descend from above, enough of Renzi's avatars ... the Italian people can't stand this any more!" (Additional reporting by Antonella Cinelli; Editing by Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan)
Rome (AFP) - Italian President Sergio Mattarella summoned Paolo Gentiloni to see him on Sunday in what was seen as a signal the current foreign minister will become the country's new prime minister.

Gentiloni is the favourite to replace outgoing premier Matteo Renzi, who resigned last week after suffering a crushing defeat in a referendum on constitutional reform.

"The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, has summoned the honourable Paolo Gentiloni to the Quirinale Palace at 12.30 today," a statement from the presidency said.

Mattarella vowed on Saturday evening to move swiftly to appoint a new premier, saying the country urgently needed a "fully functioning government" to handle a string of pressing problems.

Chief among those is a looming crisis in the troubled banking sector and ongoing relief efforts for citizens affected by a series of deadly earthquakes between August and October.

Gentiloni, 62, is a close ally of Renzi and will be seen by the opposition as a puppet premier keeping the seat warm for his Democratic Party (PD) colleague, who is planning a comeback at the next election.

An election is due by February 2018 but could take place up to a year early.

Mattarella, who enjoys extensive executive powers during government crises such as this one, said Saturday that there could not be an election until the rules for it were revised.

Theoretically that could happen quickly but could also drag on for months.
NEW YORK (AP)  John Glenn, depicted in "Hidden Figures" as a space trailblazer who also gave critical support to pioneering black women at NASA who helped him orbit the earth, was fondly remembered by the cast at the movie's premiere.

"He's a hero. John Glenn was always on the right side of history. During a time when these women, because of their gender and the color of their skin, were often times treated like second-class citizens, he extended his hand out, and he trusted women, and women of color, with his life," said Janelle Monae, one of the film's stars.

Glenn, a former Democratic U.S. Senator, died last week at the age of 95. Also a former U.S. military pilot in World War II and the Korean War, he became a national hero in 1962 when he succeeded in circling Earth.

"Hidden Figures" tells the story of a trio of African-American mathematicians, also called "computers," at NASA in the early 1960s who helped get him there.

"Empire" star Taraji P. Henson portrays Katherine Johnson, the woman responsible for the calculations that led to Glenn's orbit. The other mathematicians are played by Monae and Oscar winner Octavia Spencer.

Glenn was instrumental in breaking down color and gender barriers at a time when it was unpopular. For Henson, Glenn signified what America is supposed to represent.

"When he decided to shake the colored computers' hands, he told them their lives matter. And in turn, Katherine told him his life mattered as she made it a point to get those numbers right, so he could come back home and see his family. So that's what it's all about. It's about pushing, putting our differences aside, and getting to a common goal. And that's moving humanity forward," Henson said.

Jim Parsons, who plays astronaut Tom Stafford in the film, also hailed Glenn.

"What's so interesting and sad and touching about him passing away right as this movie is coming out is that we are introducing three other major faces of that exact same movement," Parsons said. "As the film shows, John Glenn was one of the people who let one of these women into the room at a time when that wasn't being allowed."

Story continues

Glen Powell portrays the legendary astronaut in film. He wished he had the chance to meet him.

"We were attempting to try to set that meeting up. He was very ill for like the past year. So he was in Ohio, and we never got a chance to meet him," Powell said. "But I will say that I've done enough research on John Glenn to truly understand the man and come to love him even more. So it's a tragic loss, but at the same time he lived 95 amazing years. I don't think there's a human being on the planet that inspired more lives and more generations."

Based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, "Hidden Figures" opens in limited release on Christmas Day, before going wide on Jan. 6.

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Follow John Carucci at http://www.twitter.com/jacarucci.
Kate McKinnon & Aidy Bryant save Santa in this hilarious SNL sketch

What happens when someone kidnaps Santa? Saturday Night Lives Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon crime-fighting duo Dyke and Fats save the day and seriously, the sketch it is the holiday gift we need right now. Officers Les Dykawitz and Chubbina Fatzarelli, respectively played by McKinnon and Bryant, team up to save Christmas by rescuing Santa, who has been kidnapped by gangsters. Armed with handy weapons like holiday wreath-lassos and a gun that only shoots mustard (perfect for the hot dog Fats keeps with her at all times), the two make easy work of the criminals and make it back to their boss, this time played by host and professional wrestler John Cena.

As the bit usually goes, their boss struggles not to call them Dyke and Fats (only they can call each other that). So in this episode, they praise him for his restraint, but then he turns around and says theyre pretty good cops  for broads. Dyke and Fats lose it, screaming were back to the woman thing? and were past it!

The point is, of course, that we arent past it, even though we should have left such blatant sexism behind a long time ago. Keep fighting the good fight, Dyke and Fats.

The post Kate McKinnon & Aidy Bryant save Santa in this hilarious SNL sketch appeared first on HelloGiggles.
By Thomas Mukoya KIMANA, Kenya (Reuters) - Under the shadow of a snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, hundreds of Maasai boys brave the morning chill to take part in a ritual that marks their coming of age. But those vying to become a 'moran', or warrior, in the biennial 'Maasai Olympics' were not there to hurl their spears at lions as their ancestors did. Instead, the would-be morans, their cheeks smeared with ochre, hurled their javelins deep into the veldt in the Sidai Oleng Wildlife Sanctuary in Kenya's southern Rift Valley. With a throw of 55.7 meters, the competition was won by 20-year-old Tipape Lekatoo from Mbirikani Manyatta village. "The prize money won't pay for my tourism management education, but I am grateful that (efforts to raise awareness) of negative vices within the community are bearing fruit," said Lekatoo. For Maasai boys on the cusp of manhood, killing lions was a rite of passage that turned them into warriors. Launched in 2012, the event is held to encourage communities to stop the killing, as hunting has brought lions to the brink of extinction in this territory at the foot of Kilimanjaro. Across Africa, the lion population has shrunk from 100,000 a few decades ago to less than 25,000 today, conservation groups say. David Rudisha, a two-time 800 meters Olympic gold medalist and arguably the most famous Maasai, said the tournament was an important step in the battle to save Kenya's dwindling lion population. "We have already seen a lot of responses. Every year, big numbers of lions were being killed but because of this event the numbers have dropped and that is a great achievement," he said. "We are looking forward to continuing until there is zero killing of wildlife." (Writing by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Ros Russell)
KUWAIT CITY (AP)  Kuwait's emir has inaugurated his country's new government, urging the oil-rich nation to remain unified in the face of heightened regional sectarianism.

The inauguration Sunday follows opposition gains in parliamentary elections last month. The legislature is the most empowered among the Gulf states, though power ultimately resides with the hereditary emir.

Inaugurated alongside the 50 lawmakers were 15 Cabinet members, many of them holdovers from the previous government.

The Cabinet includes six ruling family members, including remaining Prime Minister Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah, as well as the heads of key ministries  defense, interior, Cabinet affairs, foreign affairs and information.

New appointees include Essam al-Marzouq, who oversees the OPEC nation's Ministry of Oil, Water and Electricity. The only female Cabinet member, Social Affairs Minister Hind al-Sabeeh, was reappointed.
Kylie Jenner is living the Dream!

On Saturday, the youngest Jenner shared a sweet picture with her newborn niece Dream Renee Kardashian. Proud parents Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian welcomed their first child together last month, and now Dream is spending more time getting to know her famous family members.

Hey! Hey, Dream, Jenner, 19, said in a Snapchat video showing herself holding Dream on Saturday. In the video, Jenner wore a plunging white crop top and baby Dream sported a white onesie and matching headband as she gave a little smile to Jenners selfie camera.

RELATED VIDEO: Kylie Jenner Throws Tyga a Surprise Birthday Party with the Help of King Cairo

One day earlier, Jenner hung out with Dreams half-brother and her boyfriend Tygas son with Chyna, King Cairo, when she took the 4-year-old to her new store in Los Angeles on Friday.

Hours after hanging out with Dream, Jenner took on a new role, as she donned a Christina Aguilera-inspired get-up for the pop stars birthday bash. Six weeks earlier, Jenner impersonated Aguilera for Halloween. And after rocking a near-identical look from Aguileras Dirty music video, it appears the pop princess wanted even more.

When XTINA wants u to dress as XTINA for her bday you do it !!! Jenner captioned a Snapchat photo of the duo at the celebration.

Jenners sweet moments with Chynas children come just days after it was revealed that the Kardashian familys lawyers had filed papers to block Chyna from trademarking the name Angela Renee Kardashian, her presumed new legal name if she marries fiance Rob.

According to the documents previously obtained by PEOPLE, the sisters companies claim theyll suffer damage including irreparable injury to their reputation and goodwill if Chyna takes the Kardashian name. The documents also say that Robs fiancee is deliberately seeking to profit from the goodwill and popularity by changing her name.

Chynas lawyer told PEOPLE that the news of the Kardashians filing was a shock and hes hoping it was all just a misunderstanding from their lawyers.

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The Kardashians, like Angela and my other clients are very protective of our marks, I think for us this is going to be a clear case win, because its actually her name, its not a poaching, Chynas lawyer Walter Mosley said. I would hope that this is just a junior lawyers error, whos just responding to everything and not really looking at who its from or why it was filed. Theres a softer side of this where Angela has to have a conversation with her family.

Considering that Jenner is hanging out with Chynas children, its probably safe to say that its not all bad blood between the soon-to-be-Kardashian and her famous future in-laws.




Nominations are now being accepted for the 39th annual Mayors Arts Awards. The awards will be presented by the Lincoln Arts Council in June 2017.

The Mayors Arts Awards program formally recognizes artistic contributions and achievements in the Lincoln area.

Nomination forms are available by calling the LAC at 402-434-2787 or printing a form from the LAC website, artsscene.org. The nomination deadline in Jan. 6.

A panel of community members will select the winners.

Nominators are asked to select a category or categories they feel would be most appropriate for their nominees, but the judges may consider the nominee for other categories as well. Nomination forms from the previous year are automatically resubmitted, and updates are accepted.

The public is encouraged to submit names of members of the arts community who have died since the last awards ceremony in June 2016 for memorial recognition
Kylie Jenners pop up shop looked totally epic and we have major FOMO

Kylie Jenner has been making our virtual makeup wishes come true for a while, but now Kylie has a pop-up shop in Topanga Canyon at Westfield Mall. The shop features a full range of cosmetics and exclusive Limited Edition holiday gift sets. Youll also have access to the best sellers, including the Kylie Lip Kits that everyone is dying for. Hold while I book my plane ticket.

Kylies pop-up shop is chic, sexy, and modern, just like the creator herself.

In fact, the store was designed by Kylie and resembles her real life bedroom. The Kylie Cosmetics website says the pop-up shop is:

a perfect way for fans to experience the glamour and luxury loved by the youngest member of the famed Kardashian/Jenner family.

tomorrows the day my pop up shop opens at the Topanga Westfield mall in LA  can't wait 10am A photo posted by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Dec 8, 2016 at 9:22pm PST

Kylie posted this video to her Instagram this week and from the looks of it, we missed something super fun. These behind-the-scenes moments prove Kylie really knows how to throw a launch party. And Kylie is killing it in that terra cotta body con dress, btw.

Watch the behind the scenes from opening day on the Kylie Jenner Official app right now!! A video posted by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Dec 10, 2016 at 7:23pm PST

Kylie had her mom Kris Jenner in tow as she entered to lots of screaming fans and flashing cameras. Kylies boyfriend Tyga also joined the pair. Kylie made the rounds at what looks an amazing day for makeup sales.

POP UP @ Topanga Westfield LA .. Will I see you there thanks @shopify for making my vision come to life !! #poweredbyshopify A photo posted by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Dec 10, 2016 at 1:59pm PST

Come see my lip kit wall TODAY at the Topanga Westfield Mall  #KYLIEPOPUP A photo posted by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Dec 10, 2016 at 11:26am PST

The empire it's all for you  See you soon x #TheKylieShop A photo posted by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Dec 9, 2016 at 8:54am PST

Kylie Lip Kits are the hot item for the holiday, and at $29 for the lipstick and the liner, you can afford to get them for your whole squad.

You better hustle down there, though, because the shop will only exist for as long as supplies last. So, hurry, girl.

If you cant make to Southern California, you can still head over to her website where the full line is available  whats already not sold out, that is!

We are sold out of almost everything on @thekylieshop online !!! Wow! Thank you guys for making this launch so special. Check out KylieJennerShop.com to see what's left. Xoxo A photo posted by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Dec 10, 2016 at 4:32pm PST

You can also check out exclusive footage from the opening on Kylies app.

The post Kylie Jenners pop up shop looked totally epic and we have major FOMO appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) (AFP) - Citizens in ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan went to the polls on Sunday to vote on a raft of amendments to the constitution promoted by the country's leader, several of which have been slammed by rights groups.

The Central Election Commission said that polls had opened across the Central Asian country at 0200 GMT for a vote analysts say is likely to see the changes passed.

Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous majority-Muslim republic of six million, is the most democratic of the so-called "stans" but also the most politically volatile.

In just 25 years of independence the country has experienced two revolutions unseating presidents in 2005 and 2010 and ethnic violence.

This is the seventh time the country is putting constitutional changes to a vote.

"Past changes to the basic law have shown that our politicians and their lawyers do not know how to make reforms," Zainidin Kurmanov, a political analyst and former parliamentary speaker told AFP.

"There is no certainty that anything worthwhile will emerge from these amendments," he said.

In October, two parties exited the coalition government headed by Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev's Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan in opposition to the proposed changes.

If passed, the country's prime minister will gain new powers over budget-related legislation and will not need parliamentary or presidential approval to appoint and dismiss ministers.

Atambayev has repeatedly denied accusations he will drop down into the strengthened premier's role when his single six-year term ends next year.

A by-law created when the constitution was last amended in 2010 said the existing constitution should remain until 2020 but parliament and the judiciary endorsed the vote.

Other amendments that appear to threaten individual rights have drawn criticism at home and abroad.

One highlighted by the Council of Europe's Venice Commission defines marriage as "between a man and a woman" rather than "two persons" as previously.

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Kyrgyzstan has come under fire from the West since 2014 for considering an LGBT propaganda bill echoing one passed in key ally Russia, but the law has not progressed beyond the draft stage.

Another amendment rights groups have railed against removes the government's obligation to consider the opinions of international rights bodies regarding citizens' complaints of rights violations.

Critics have argued the government has not explained the changes to the public, but backing from pro-government media and the absence of an effective 'no' campaign means they are likely to pass.

Bolot Osmonov, 58, who works as an engineer in the capital Bishkek said he would vote in favour of the amendments Sunday.

"I support the amendments and I support Atambayev. In five years he has shown he doesn't steal. His family aren't in government positions. These changes will bring more stability," Osmonov told AFP.

A 47-year-old taxi driver Zhomart Bolotbekov told AFP he would not be voting, however. "It seems elections is all we do, but they don't change anything. Why should I go?"

Kyrgyzstan is one of the two poorest countries to emerge from the former Soviet Union with a strong dependence on cash transfers sent home by hundreds of thousands of Kyrgyz working in Russia.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):

2 p.m.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling President-elect Donald Trump a strong supporter of Israel, and says he wants to work with Trump to undo the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration and other world powers.

"I know Donald Trump," Netanyahu told CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview that will air Sunday night. "He feels very warmly about the Jewish state, about the Jewish people...there's no question about that."

Netanyahu said there are "various ways of undoing" the 2015 deal, in which Iran agreed to limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions on its oil industry and finances.

"I have about five things in my mind," Netanyahu said, declining to go into further detail.

Trump has been harshly critical of the nuclear deal, and Netanyahu tried to block it.

___

12:30 p.m.

Donald Trump says he may  or may not  choose Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state.

The president-elect tweeted Sunday: "Whether I choose him or not for 'State'- Rex Tillerson, the Chairman & CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!"

Republicans and Democrats have national security concerns about Tillerson's ties to Russia. Exxon steadily expanded its Russian business on his watch even as its rivals faced expropriation and regulatory obstacles. In 2013, Putin bestowed a medal on Tillerson.

Concerns about Tillerson generated enough blowback Sunday to raise the prospect that his Senate confirmation could be tricky.

Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted: "Being a 'friend of Vladimir' is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState."

___

12:05 p.m.

Sen. John McCain says the Senate Armed Services Committee will go to work "immediately" to investigate allegations that hackers directed by Russia tried to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.

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The Arizona Republican told CBS' "Face The Nation" Sunday that the effort will be led by GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and a Democratic co-chair.

McCain also said ultimately he'd like the Senate to create a special committee to investigate the allegations. Such "select" committees take time to set up.

President-elect Donald Trump has dismissed the CIA's conclusion that Russia tried to drive his victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

McCain called Russian leader Vladimir Putin "a thug, and a murderer, and a killer, and a KGB agent."

___

9:52 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump's incoming chief of staff says it's "insane" to suggest that Russian hacking influenced the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

Reince Priebus said Sunday the Russians "didn't tell Hillary Clinton to ignore Wisconsin and Michigan."

Priebus, who will step down as chair of the Republican National Committee, told ABC's "This Week" that Clinton "ignored states that she shouldn't have, and Donald Trump was the change agent... Donald Trump won in an electoral landslide that had nothing to do with the Russians."

The CIA has concluded with "high confidence" that Russia sought to influence the U.S. election on behalf of the Republican.

Priebus said he supports further investigations. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers of both parties are calling for the issue to be examined.

___

9:50 a.m.

Vice President Joe Biden says Democrats didn't show enough respect to working class voters in last month's presidential election.

He says in an interview on CNN airing Sunday that some people have been left behind in the current economy and "we never got a chance to speak to it in this election and I think we paid a price for it."

Biden also is warning Democrats not to question the motives of many of those who voted for Trump: "These are good people man. These aren't racists. These aren't sexists."

Biden says Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's plans to help voters, citing free college education as an example, got drowned out because the bulk of the debate was about "females and/or his boorish behavior."

___

9:25 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump says he is "studying" the Paris climate agreement to reduce carbon emissions. But he doesn't want the agreement to put the U.S. "at a competitive disadvantage with other countries."

Trump says in an interview with "Fox News Sunday" that he's not trying to take a wrecking ball to President Barack Obama's legacy. He says, "I don't want to do that at all. I just want what's right."

Trump is pointing to lengthy wait times for permit approvals from the Environmental Protection Agency as something hurting job creation.

___

9:25 a.m.

Sen. Ben Cardin, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says it's important for a Trump administration to work closely with the intelligence community and "stop being naive" on Russia.

Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," the Democratic Maryland senator says Russia has attacked European institutions. Now, he says, it's trying to undermine America.

He said whether Russia was purposely trying to get Donald Trump elected is something that lawmakers need to investigate. Cardin says Russia is a bully and is controlled by a "corrupt regime."

Other senators, from the Senate Armed Services Committee, including GOP Sen. John McCain, said Sunday they too think the allegation should be examined.

___

9:12 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump is pushing back against charges that his businesses create a conflict of interest when he takes control of the White House, saying his "executives will run it with my children."

Trump tells "Fox News Sunday" that he will "have nothing to do with management."

Trump has said he will leave his businesses and is planning a news conference on Thursday to outline how he will separate himself. But his transition team has not yet said what the structure would look like.

Trump says in the interview that he turned down "seven deals with one big player" last week because he thought it could be "perceived as a conflict of interest."

___

9:01 a.m.

Donald Trump says the CIA's conclusion that Russia interfered in the presidential election is "ridiculous" and being used by Democrats as "just another excuse" for his defeat of Hillary Clinton.

The President-elect tells "Fox News Sunday" that he doesn't necessarily oppose President Barack Obama's order for a review of campaign-season cyberattacks. But he adds that in any such effort "you should not just say 'Russia.' You should say other countries also, and maybe other individuals."

The Obama administration has said the review is not just about Russia or the election. The White House says the report will look at other election-year incidents, including 2008 and 2012 cyberattacks linked to Chinese hackers.

Trump has long said the culprit could be China or just a random hacker sitting on a couch. The CIA has concluded with "high confidence" that Russia sought to influence the U.S. election on behalf of the Republican.

___

8:30 a.m.

The Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee are joining with Democrats in calling for an examination of reports that Russia interfered in the presidential election.

Chairman John McCain, incoming Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and others said in a joint statement Sunday that the CIA's report of Russia's efforts in the election "should alarm every American."

The leaders said they will push "to unify our colleagues around the goal of investigating and stopping the grave threats that cyberattacks conducted by foreign governments pose to our national security." Russia was the only country mentioned in the statement.

President Barack Obama ordered a full review of campaign-season cyberattacks to be completed before he leaves office. President-elect Donald Trump has dismissed the CIA's assessment that Russia powered his defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton.
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP)  A lawyer says an Algerian journalist on a hunger strike to protest a two-year sentence for offending President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has died in a hospital in the capital.

Journalist Mohamed Tamalt died Sunday after falling into a coma following months of a hunger strike, his lawyer Amine Sidhoum told The Associated Press.

Amnesty International, which had called for the release of the 41-year-old Tamalt, asked Algerian authorities in a statement to "launch an independent, in-depth and transparent inquiry" into his death.

Tamalt was arrested in his Algiers home in June. He was convicted of "harming the institutions of the republic" and "offending" Bouteflika following critical pieces posted on his Facebook page. He was transferred to an Algiers hospital in August after going on a hunger strike.
Libreville (AFP) - A lawyer for the Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping, who is still disputing the re-election of President Ali Bongo, has been missing for three days, according to Ping's team.

Eric Iga Iga, one of two lawyers who represented Ping in Constitutional Court in September when he sought to challenge Bongo's victory, vanished without explanation on Thursday, Iga Iga's associates said.

"He told me on the phone that a suspicious car was waiting at his house and he was trying to find out more," John Nambo, Ping's chief of staff, told AFP.

Iga Iga's wife reported that men had searched the family home in the presence of the couple's children, Nambo added.

Jean-Remy Bantsantsa, the other lawyer who represented Ping, said of the disappearance: "We have been round to all the police stations and the gendarmerie posts."

The Constitutional Court in September upheld Bongo's victory, but Ping nevertheless declared himself "president-elect" when he returned to Gabon after spending time in Paris, Brussels and Washington in the aftermath of the election.

International powers have largely recognised the result while calling for political dialogue in Gabon.

On Monday, a European Union election observer mission is due to present its report on the August 27 presidential election.

At least three people were killed in post-electoral violence, according to the government, while the opposition says at least 26 died and several others are still missing.

Ping, a former top official at the African Union, has said the final report of the EU's observer mission would "reveal the truth of the deception".

An initial report by the EU observers noted "evident anomalies" in the results, notably in Bongo's stronghold of Haut-Ogooue.
Ulrich Kohlers In My Room, Alexey German Jrs Dovlatov, Johannes Nyholms Swedish comedy Koko-di Koko-da and Guerin Van Der Vorsts The Wildness were among the 16 feature films presented at the Work-in Progress session at the French-Alps set Les Arcs European Film Festival.

Produced by Belgiums Wrong Men and Frances ChevalDeuxTrois, The Wildness is a contemporary drama starring rising French actor Vincent Rottiers as a young man who gets indocrinated by radical Islamists.

Nyholms Swedish comedy Koko-di Koko-da marks the helmers follow up to The Giant which played at San Sebastian and Toronto. Dovlatov, whose director German Jr previously directed Under Electric Clouds which won Berlins Silver Bear for outstanding contribution. Meanwhile, In My Room is directed by Kohler whose 2011 drama Sleeping Sickness won Berlins Silver Bear for best director.

Frederic Boyer, who is in charge of the Work-in-Progress session and serves as artistic director of Les Arcs as well as Tribeca festival, said The Wildness had already triggered early interest from festivals. Three clips of the film were shown at Les Arcs.

Gathering top-level sales agents, distributors and festival programmers, the session got more competitive this year with a full-blown jury who will hand out two prizes: The inaugural Eurimages Lab Project Award, an initiative launched by the Council of Europes fund, and the Hiventy award, which consists in a 10.000 euros grant for post-production services.

Les Arcs is one of the four festivals  along with Haugesund, Karlovy Vary, Thessaloniki  to roll out the Eurimages Lab Project Award, which consists in a 50,000 euros cash prize.

Boyer said none of the films presented at Les Arcss work-in-progress have been shown before. We know there are so many co-production and co-financing forums throughout Europe, so at Les Arcs we strive to stand out by presenting images from films in post which have not been shown elsewhere and which dont have a sales agent, explained Boyer, who also noted the sessions mandate was to choose arthouse films that are artistically ambitious, yet have a crossover appeal.

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On top of hosting its traditional oysters and cheese reception following the presentations, Boyer pointed out the session will be completed for the first time by one-one-one meetings between producers/directors and sales agents and/or distributors and sales agents. The idea behind these meetings is to fast-track collaborations and give the event a more professional frame, while maintaining a casual, informal atmosphere encouraging everyone to mingle, added the artistic director, who helmed Cannes Directors Fortnight before joining Tribeca.

Other promising films include The Real Estate from Swedish helmers Mans Mansson, whose latest film Yard played at Berlin and Axel Petersen, who previously directed Avalon which won Torontos Fipresci award; Rungano Nyonis I Am Not A Witch, a U.K./French co-production between Soda Pictures and Clandestine Films.

The work-in-progress session presented several innovating, unconventional films that are not purely narrative, notably Ben Russells Good Luck and Konstantin Bojanovs The Elephant In A Dark Room.

One of the rare genre films to be pitched at Les Arcs was The Hidden City directed by Spanish helmer Victor Moreno, whose 2012 documentary The Building was nominated for a Goya and played at San Sebastian and Buenos Aires.

The two prizes will be unveiled on Monday and will be followed by a party in an igloo co-organized by Variety.

Related stories

Variety, Les Arcs Film Festival Host Closing Night Party 6,500 Feet in Air

'No One's Child' Wins Les Arcs' Work-In-Progress Nod
Bryan Cranston returned to Saturday Night Live this weekend to help the show mock President-elect Donald Trumps cabinet picks  and he brought along an old friend.

In the shows cold open, Cranston returned with his iconic Breaking Bad character Walter White, who has apparently been picked by Trump to head up the DEA on the advice of Trumps real-life chief strategist Steve Bannon.

When CNN host Jake Tapper (played by Beck Bennett) asked White how he knew Bannon, the meth kingpin  sorry, science teacher  laughed and said theyve had some times. (He also revealed that they met in the comments section of Breitbart, Bannons conservative news site.)

White admitted that he didnt personally know Trump but was a big fan.

I like his style, he said. He acts first and then asks questions later. I also like that wall he wants to build. Nothing comes in from Mexico meaning, a lot less competition for the rest of us.

Tapper asked, You mean jobs?

Sure, White replied with a smirk.

White also unveiled a new slogan for Trumps administration.

Donald Trump and I agree, its time to make America cook again. We want to fill this nation with red, white and a whole lot of blue.

Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays (11:30 p.m. ET) on NBC




Donald H. Shriner, 91, widower of Evelyn Kinney Shriner, passed away Dec. 9, 2016. Born March 22, 1925, in Hastings, to Harold and Goldie (Tudor) Shriner. Graduate of Sioux City Central 1943. U.S. Army veteran in Patton's Third Army with five major battle stars earned in Northern Ireland, England, France, Germany, and Austria.

Former employment: Sioux City Chamber of Commerce and Jaycees; U.S. Jaycees (Tulsa, Okla.) executive secretary; U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Washington, D.C.) office and personnel director; executive director of Nebraska Centennial Commission (1963-1968); general sales manager Lincoln Journal Star, retired in 1988.

Former civic positions and recognitions: lifetime member Sioux City Jaycees; four terms Board of Directors, two terms as president of Nebraska Native Sons and Daughters receiving their annual award of Distinguished Service to the State of Nebraska (1967); executive committee member of National American Legion 50th anniversary; chairman of Parade Committee for Rose, Orange and Cotton Bowl Nebraska floats; state chairman of Nebraska amendment 300; board member State Cancer Society serving as chairman of special events; board member of Madonna Care Center; state board member of Nebraska Cerebral Palsey; co-founder of Agriculture Ag-careers; board member of Nebraska Arts Council, Lincoln Center Association, board member, Nebraskaland Association; board member, secretary-treasurer, vice chairman, chairman of Cornhusker Better Business Bureau; board member Lincoln Food Bank; Innovator of National Park Service Award winner for Lincoln V.I.P. (Volunteers in Parks) Lincoln Parks Department, adjutant and vice commander of American Legion Post No. 3, Lincoln.

Don tried to live by something his father told him as a young man, "Be sure when your time is up that you have put back in more than you took out."

Advertising man of the Year 1966 Lincoln Advertising Club; Distinguished Service Award Nebraska State Fair Board of Directors; Nebraska Optometric Assoc. Eyes on Nebraska award; Radio Good Citizen award; Commendation of service to the state by the Nebraska Legislature; special recognition of Governor Tiemann and designation of Admiral of Nebraska only ship, USS Centennial.

Survived by daughters, Patricia Root, Lynn Kosman, Carol Carroll, Jody Klute and sons, Andrew and Michael; 14 grandchildren; many great grandchildren. Preceded in death by wife, Evelyn; sister, Betty J. O'Meara; brothers Harlan C. Shriner and H.H. "Herb" Shriner.

At Don's request, no services. Entombment will be private in Lincoln Memorial Park Mausoleum. Memorials suggested to the family for later designation. Arrangements entrusted to Butherus, Maser & Love Funeral Home, 4040 A Street, Lincoln 68510.
Skopje (AFP) - Macedonians voted Sunday in the hope of electing a government capable of returning stability to the small Balkan country that has been shaken by a deep political crisis.

Polling stations closed at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) and the counting of votes begun, an electoral commission spokeswoman told AFP.

"What do I expect? I expect this agony to end," 55-year-old Zoran Milevski told AFP after he cast his ballot at a school-turned-polling station in central Skopje.

The vote was called as part of a European Union-brokered deal between Macedonia's four main political parties after a mass wiretapping scandal erupted in February 2015 and sparked rival street protests.

No major incidents were reported during the day, electoral officials said, although observers warned of irregularities including unauthorised voter registration at several polling stations.

Some voters reportedly faced pressure over who to vote for and local media said there were also attempts to bribe voters, but this was not confirmed.

Voters' photos appear next to their names on lists to limit fraud, a State Electoral Commission member told AFP.

Two hours before the end of voting the turnout was around 60 percent -- seven percent more than at the same time in the last parliamentary elections two years ago.

- 'Most unpredictable' -

Wiretapping allegations led Nikola Gruevski of the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party to step down in January after nearly 10 years in power -- paving the way for Sunday's snap election.

The vote, which was twice delayed owing to international concerns over fraud, pitches the ex-PM against his nemesis, Social Democrat Zoran Zaev.

It was Zaev who released tapes last year that appeared to show the government had wiretapped thousands, including journalists and religious officials, as well as alleging high-level corruption.

Gruevski denied the claims and accused Zaev of planning a coup with foreign support.

"This is the day when people should tell their opinion... to exercise their right to vote and give their opinion on how and in what direction in the future Macedonia should move," Gruevski said after casting his ballot in Skopje.

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Zaev, 42, has pitched the vote as a choice between "doom or life" and pledged to stop an exodus of young people from the former Yugoslav republic, which remains one of Europe's poorest countries.

"This day, today is a day on which we choose a progressive, free and united Macedonia," Zaev told reporters after he voted in his native town of Strumica, where he is also mayor.

Although critics describe 46-year-old Gruevski as a corrupt authoritarian who has clamped down on democracy and media freedom, his party topped opinion polls ahead of the election.

There also remained a substantial number of undecided voters, who could swing the result in the country of two million people.

"This election is one of the most unpredictable to take place in Macedonia," Zaneta Trajkoska, director at the Institute of Communication Studies, told AFP.

"Whoever wins the election will have huge challenges and issues to solve."

A handful of ethnic Albanian political groups are vying to become the junior partner in the new ruling coalition, in a country where a quarter of the population is Albanian.

Albanian insurgents fought Macedonian forces in an uprising 15 years ago, leading to an agreement giving the minority group more rights.

- 'Under pressure' -

Macedonia aspires to join both the EU and NATO but accession has been blocked by Athens owing to a dispute over the country's name -- Greece has a northern region also called Macedonia.

The latest EU progress report on Macedonia said democracy and rule of law had been "constantly challenged" in particular by "state capture", referring to the considerable influence of private interests on state decisions.

Analysts however suggest Europe has brushed aside concerns because of Gruevski's role as a "gatekeeper" in the refugee crisis, in which hundreds of thousands of migrants have entered landlocked Macedonia from Greece on their way to western Europe.

The refugee wave has put added pressure on the public purse in Macedonia, where the average net wage is around 360 euros ($380) a month and unemployment stands at nearly 24 percent.
President-elect Donald Trump's selection of Senator Jeff Sessions to be the next Attorney General is widely believed to be more than just an irritant to the legal marijuana industry. Sessions has been outspoken in his opposition to legal weed. In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this year, Sessions said that "good people don't smoke marijuana."

But will Sessions be able to stuff the genie back into the bottle? Time magazine last week cited marijuana law expert Mike Vitiello of the University of the Pacific: "It's kind of like illegal immigration: You can't build a wall high enough."

ALSO READ: The Best and Worst Run States in America: A Survey of All 50

The Time article includes a list of seven reasons that turning the clock back will be difficult. These really boil down to a few categories: public opinion is moving toward legalization not away from; Trump more or less supports legalization; and money.

Revenues and profits for legal marijuana sales are forecast to explode over the next several years and the federal government -- particularly the business-friendly Republican variety -- is unlikely to shut down new opportunities for revenues and profits. Whether pot smokers are "good people" or not, the taxes they pay are more than welcome.

Marijuana to Be Legal Thursday in Massachusetts

Tokers of the Commonwealth, rejoice.

Secretary of State William F. Galvin warned last week that the measure legalizing marijuana might have to be delayed, but now says that wont be necessary.

Galvin's office said Friday he will submit official results of the voter-passed legalization measure to the Governor's Council Wednesday for certification. Barring any unforeseen snafu  or dramatic intervention by the Legislature to undo the will of the voters  possessing, using, and growing marijuana at home will become legal on Thursday.

ALSO READ: The Worst States for Black Americans

Advocates, who were rankled by Galvin floating the possibility of a delay, exulted.

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"This closes the door on an era that was marked by hysteria, by injustices, and by ineffective public policy," said Jim Borghesani, who helped lead the legalization effort. "This opens up an era that may take a bit of getting used to, but as in many other social transformations, people will look back and say: What were we so worried about?"

Read more at the Boston Globe.

Secondhand Marijuana Metabolite in Children's Urine

Children exposed to secondhand marijuana smoke have measurable amounts of a metabolite of 9-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana], according to results of an investigation published online December 2 in "Pediatric Research."

With medical marijuana now legal in 28 states plus the District of Columbia, and recreational use decriminalized in 20 states plus the District of Columbia, childhood exposure could become a public health concern. The effect of secondhand marijuana smoke on children has not been studied, although it contains particulates, toxins, and carcinogens.

ALSO READ: The Worst Companies to Work For



The study demonstrates exposure to secondhand THC among the children, but does not examine health consequences. However, the well-known dangers of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke (cognitive effects and respiratory illness) suggest that increased exposure to marijuana smoke could pose problems. "In the interim, parents should be cautioned not to smoke marijuana in the presence of their children," the researchers conclude.

Read more at medscape.com.

Industrial Real Estate Market Gets Boost with Marijuana Legalization

As marijuana legalization spreads across the country, the financial impact has extended throughout some areas of the economy. One sector seeing a big benefit is industrial warehouses.

Because large facilities are needed to grow and store marijuana -- and because local laws often limit where such businesses can be located -- industrial warehouse owners have seen rental rates spike in areas where medical and recreational marijuana is legal.

ALSO READ: The Most Expensive City in Each State

The burgeoning marijuana real estate market already has sent ripples through public policy in California, where voters approved legalization of recreational marijuana just last month. In early December, the Lynwood City Council voted to license up to five cannabis companies to operate in the towns large cluster of warehouses. Lynwood is in southeast Los Angeles County.

Read more at Entrepreneur.

Startup Launches Automated System It Claims Makes It Easy to Grow Marijuana at Home

With last month's election, the U.S. reached a tipping point in the long fight to decriminalize cannabis. More than half of states have now declared pot legal, either for medical or recreational use. Seven states plus the District of Columbia have now legalized recreational pot, and 21 others allow it to be taken as medicine.

It's perfect timing for the appearance of a high-tech game-changer for regular marijuana users: LEAF, a smart, self-contained, single-purpose grow-chamber that enables anyone to grow cannabis (or food and herbs) in their own home.

ALSO READ: America's Best States to Live In

The sleek machine the size of a smallish fridge launches today with an asking price of close to $3,000 (pre-orders being accepted with a $300 deposit). The price tag fits the sophisticated nature of this "plug-n-plant" system: LEAF has smart-phone-operated humidity and temperature controls, automatic nutrient dosing, and a smell-dampening carbon filter. It also offers a drying mode to turn fresh leaves into something  a little more useful.

Read more at Forbes.

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Meghan Markle is getting back to her regular routine after a two-day visit from boyfriend Prince Harry.

The 35-year-old actress was spotted braving the cold to head to a yoga class in Toronto on Saturday, carrying a black mat and looking sporty chic in white sneakers and a green jacket. She also donned aviator-style sunglasses and a scarf while toting a black Mulberry bag.

While the Suits actress had a relaxed day, her onscreen love interest Patrick J. Adams married Pretty Little Liars star Troian Bellisario in a bohemian outdoor ceremony in front of 200 guests in southern California. Many of Adams and Bellisarios costars attended the wedding, including Suits actress Sarah Rafferty.

During the wedding, Markle took to Instagram to share a photo of a girl sitting on a train next to a sign that reads, In a society that profits from your self doubt, liking yourself is a rebellious act. She captioned the image, In that case  be a rebel, friends.

After spending two weeks in the Caribbean on an official royal tour, Harry journeyed to Toronto to visit with his girlfriend instead of jetting back to England. The couple spent two days together holed up in her home.

A friend of the actress recently told PEOPLE that she is head over heels for Harry. And as he was on his way to see her, Markle cheekily displayed her colors when she shared a photo of her dog wearing a sweater decorated with the British flag.




Sierra Madre Occidental (Mexico) (AFP) - The soldiers ripped the opium poppies with their hands and tossed them in four bonfires, clearing a hill in Mexico's lush northwestern mountains in less than two hours.

But their work in the heart of the country's "Golden Triangle," a tri-state region of heroin and marijuana production, was far from over.

After the troops destroyed the 0.5-hectare (1.2-acre) field on Thursday, Lieutenant Juan Pablo Hernandez Zempoaltecatl pointed to another one on a steep hill past a row of pine trees, and more down the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range.

His 18-man unit has destroyed 39 fields amounting to 15 hectares since they set up camp two weeks ago following a day-and-a-half trek up hills infested with snakes and venomous spiders.

Hernandez estimates that his unit faces 20 more days of grueling work to clear the remote area while spending chilly nights in small tents in the wild.

But once they've destroyed all the bulbs, Hernandez expects farmers to quickly plant new seeds to replace what they just lost. It takes only three months for poppies to grow.

"It's tiresome to see so many poppies every day," the fresh-faced, 24-year-old commander said as he trekked back toward the unit's tent camp.

As Mexico marks 10 years since the government deployed troops to crack down on drug cartels, the army faces an uphill battle in its four-decade-old struggle to eradicate a growing opium poppy production.

The poppies are grown by local farmers, who extract opium gum from bulbs and sell it to gangs such as the Sinaloa drug cartel, which transforms the raw material into heroin.

"Every time we destroy a field ... the locals come back to plant after our personnel has left the area," said Colonel Cipriano Cruz Quiroz, chief of staff of a special narcotics eradication unit based in Badiraguato, Sinaloa state.

"They don't see us in a good light but they tolerate us. They have their work and we have ours. They plant and we destroy," said Cruz, whose base is in the hometown of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Story continues

- 'Market day' -

Opium poppies are mostly grown in the southern state of Guerrero and the Golden Triangle -- which straddles the states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua.

Farmers in the Golden Triangle started to grow more poppies than marijuana since several US states began to legalize pot consumption in 2012, Cruz said.

Cartels used to pay the farmers around $60 per kilo of marijuana, but the price has now dropped by half, he said.

The price of a kilo of opium gum has jumped from around $980-$1200 to $1,765.

The half-hectare field destroyed by Hernandez's unit could have produced half a kilo of brownish gum, enough to make three kilos of heroin.

The farmers slice the bulbs with a razor blade, allowing the sticky gum to trickle out overnight to be collected the next day. The raw material is then sold in a sort of "market day," Cruz said.

In June, Mexico's government and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released the first estimate of opium poppy cultivation, with aerial and satellite images finding 24,800 hectares across Mexico between 2014-2015.

A second analysis is underway to make a year-on-year comparison.

But army figures show poppy eradication nationwide increased from 14,613 hectares in 2013 to 26,249 in 2015. It stood at 19,848 hectares in the first 11 months of this year. In the Golden Triangle, 9,078 hectares were destroyed in 2015 and 6,145 this year, far more than marijuana.

A US Drug Enforcement Administration report says heroin seizures more than doubled to 2,524 kilos at the US-Mexico border between 2010-2015.

The government has stepped up eradication efforts, increasing fumigation flights in the Golden Triangle to four missions in 2016, each lasting 20 to 25 days, compared to three operations last year.

The region's special unit was created in July 2014 to focus solely on plant eradication. Reconnaissance flights or satellite images spot the fields. When fumigation flights are not available, soldiers do the work by hand.

Small teams like the one led by Lieutenant Hernandez spend three months in the mountains looking for marijuana or opium poppies. They set up 10 tents between trees, braving chilly nights and spending the day destroying plants.

But they never arrest growers, who either flee or deny owning the fields.

The farmers or cartels report troop movements by radio, using solar panel-powered antennas that they installed all over the mountains.

As Hernandez's unit got close to the latest poppy fields, they heard the roaring engines of all-terrain vehicles. The farmers had already sliced several bulbs before fleeing.

A month ago, the soldiers got the order to burn all the plants they find after the army realized that farmers were returning to the fields to extract the sticky gum from the bulbs that were cut down.

"It's a bit tedious," Hernandez said. But "it's worth it" because his work "helps young people take conscience that this not the right path."

- Legalize it? -

The government has launched programs to convince farmers to plant legal crops, but they keep planting drugs "because it's more profitable," Cruz said.

"It's a subculture. They are brought to the fields when they are little. There are places where children and women are brought to slice (the bulbs)," he said.

In the impoverished and violent state of Guerrero, the governor suggested earlier this year that opium poppies should be legalized for pharmaceutical uses.

"It's not a viable solution because it doesn't solve the region's structural problem," said Antonio Mazzitelli, the UNODC's Mexico representative, noting that Guerrero's remote regions lack good roads and public services."

And, he said, the legal industry doesn't want to compete with the criminal industry."
An American Original. Thats the title of a 2015 book on Charles Ore, the master organist, composer, bird watcher and orchid grower.

It also best defines Charles Ore the man.

Anyone who has ever attended a worship service at Lincolns First-Plymouth Congregational or First Presbyterian churches, Omahas Pacific Hills or concert at Concordia University, Nebraska, has relished in the music virtuosos complicated and spiritually stirring compositions.

His is not necessarily a household name, but it is a name often recognized in music circles.

Ore will turn 80 on Dec. 18, and he has no plans to retire his fingers or his sharp mind. That said, he acknowledges the milestone of 80 is a tripwire for people -- another monumental step in the progression of those blessed with longevity and health.

My father lived to age 94. His dad lived to the age of 89, Ore says enjoying an afternoon treat of Haagen-Dazs vanilla bean ice cream topped with a splash of Grand Marnier and French-pressed coffee.

I dont feel my age," Ore said. "I know that Im not 21. I know that Im not 50. But 80? I dont know what it is supposed to feel like 

On a gray December day, he relaxes in his rural Seward home custom-designed by Nebraska architect Deon Bahr.

He sits in the great room of the three-story house that overlooks a vast wild wetland where brilliant splashes of red break up the dreariness as cardinals flit back and forth from barren tree to well-stocked thistle feeder. A telescope and two sets of binoculars sit ready to focus on the deer, fox and other wildlife that frequent the yard.

Much of Ore's story is rooted in a rich history of earlier generations, a history that inspires, fascinates and defines him.

In her book, Charles W. Ore: An American Original, editor Irene Beethe defined her former teachers compositions as on the progressive edge of contemporary classical church music.

The beginning

Ore was born Dec. 18, 1936, on a farm 15 miles east of Winfield, Kansas.

His father, a Baptist, completed his education in eighth grade.

His mother, the daughter of a Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor, was a college graduate, teacher and musician.

Charles plays with a Lutheran brain and a Baptist heart, the late Barrett Spach, former University of Nebraska organ department chair, once wrote.

Ore started playing piano before he was old enough to attend the Old Salem one-room school.

His grandfather wrote the letters of the musical notes in the hymnal, and then taped the corresponding letters to the piano keys.

My mother knew that if I was going to be a successful student I would need to learn to read. I was just reading a different set of symbols, Ore said.

He was between 5 and 6 years old when he began taking formal piano lessons with Blanche Brooks, who taught him to play and fostered a talent for improvisation -- a skill for which he is widely known and respected today.

At the end of every lesson, regardless of how late she was running, Brooks would tell Ore to play the piece of improvisation he had that day.

That would prove essential in his ability as a composer, although Ore will say the two skills are quite different.

Composing is more organized and deliberate, he said in the The Diapason magazines December issue.

When you are improvising you can never be sure how things are going to turn out, you dont necessarily finish every sentence, and you never go back to correct yourself, he said. When you improvise you never make a mistake: you may bleed internally, but its rarely fatal. A composition is much more like an essay, in that you have an opening paragraph, a body of material, and a conclusion or recap of whats been going on. Its a much more formal concept.

And when the two come together, the result is extremely satisfying.

Today, Ore has more than 200 published compositions to his credit, and an untold number more than have never made it to paper or printer.

Some creative people are totally absorbed in themselves and their work; and then theres Charles Ore, who is creative beyond belief, yet magnanimous with encouragement for others and care and concern for all. Thats the Charles Ore I have experienced, John Behnke wrote in the forward of Beethes book.

From piano to organ

Ores shift from piano to organ started when he was 17 and filled in for the church organist one Sunday at his grandfathers Trinity Lutheran Church in Winfield.

The church's organist, Pauline Wente, guarded her position jealously, but had an opportunity to accompany her choir director husband on a weekend choir tour and asked Ore to fill in.

He hesitated because he had not played the organ publicly, but, he admits, he had watched Wente play over the years with fascination -- much like watching a parent drive a car.

Sensing Ores trepidation, Wente called him to her side and showed him how to pull the stops and play the bass with his feet.

Then she asked if I had any questions, Ore said. I dont remember having one. I didnt know enough to even ask.

Plus when youre 17 you dont ask questions -- because you know what all the answers are, Ore quipped.

His organ debut was a success, and after that Ore was included in the rotation for playing at worship.

He discovered early that basic hymn playing was essential to being a successful organist.

Many members of the congregation arent always attuned to what you play as incidental music, but if you cant play the hymns and liturgy, you may as well just fold up and go home, Ore said in his interview with The Diapason.

The sentiment is echoed by Brian Pfoltner, music director at Lincolns First Presbyterian Church.

He and Ore met during their teaching days at Concordia, and later at First-Plymouth, where they were part of the music ministry. When Pfoltner moved to First Presbyterian, he invited Ore to join him.

There is more to being a fine church musician than playing the standard liturgy very well," Pfoltner said. "You need to be able to lead the congregation in hymn singing. There are may great organists, but not many who are great at leading hymns and liturgy. That is one of the things Charles is very good at.

He makes it fun to sing hymns -- very exciting and fun. Its a gift for church musician."

His music is unconventional for traditional church fare -- often imbued with touches of jazz, ragtime and unanticipated improvisation.

His What a Friend We Have in Jesus is well known and much loved. Pfoltner said it has a more ragtime feel.

It is exciting, different from what people expect, Pfoltner said. It makes people smile.

Ore sees his music in the oral tradition of storytelling -- using notes instead of words.

I play music across all the centuries, Ore said. Some pieces started for a particular era and others fall away. Why? You can't carry everything.

For a teenage Ore, the organ opened doors and opportunities. Though he always knew he would go to college, he wavered between professions: music or medicine.

He was quite content being undecided and doing both, until his college adviser demanded he choose.

I made the decision that I would rather visit my doctor than be my own physician, and that I could get well on music in my own way, Ore said.

The choice between piano and organ was far easier. The organ offered more opportunities, he said.

I imagined myself in a salaried position, he said.

Piano was limited. He could play in clubs or try his hand at being a concert pianist.

The latter didnt interest him, and the former -- well, he tried that for a bit, playing at a Lincoln nightclub for a time in the early 1950s.

It was a gig that furrowed many a Lutheran brow. Such behavior was unacceptable. He quit the nightclub gig.

This was not the first -- and far from the last -- time Ore would push the religious envelope.

Lutherans held themselves to a higher standard, he said. They didnt drink, dance -- or play for dances.

He recalls a quote from a Jesuit priest: When you have urges and desires, God is speaking to you. That is the way in which he leads you to do what you are created to to do.

I believe this is what God wanted me to do, Ore said of playing the organ. So I did it.

A life of learning

In 1956, Ore enrolled at Concordia College-Seward (now Concordia University, Nebraska) and met the love of his life during a college music lesson.

He and Constance Schau were doing scales on two pianos.

She said to me that it was a courtesy when one person faltered, the other would falter at the same time, Ore said. She said I was cruel, because if she faltered I kept going.

He smiled at the memory.

She was a great person, he said. Our lives really folded together very nicely.

He recalls a time when they were courting and were caught holding hands as they walked down the street.

There was a strict code of social behavior at Concordia, and this was forbidden.

The dean of women called Connie into the office, and told her in no uncertain terms that if she would allow me to hold her hand I would assume that we might get involved further, Ore said.

It was all part of that German Lutheran mentality: We do not do that. Others may do that.

So did they stop holding hands?

No, we just didnt walk in the street anymore, he said with a twinkle in his eye.

They married in August 1960 and moved to Evanston, Illinois, where Ore pursued his masters degree in organ. Pursuing a doctorate after that was a natural and expected progression, he said.

Many changes were happening very rapidly for me, Ore told The Diapason. Just three years earlier I had graduated from Concordia-Nebraska where I had my own stein at the local pub called Heumanns. Now I was living in Evanston, the home of the Womens Christian Temperance Union where you could not buy liquor within the city limits, married to the woman with whom I could not hold hands in Seward, and playing at Fourth Presbyterian Church on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

While working on his doctorate, he was invited to teach organ at Concordia-River Forest. Ore was not interested. But no was not a word in the university president's vocabulary, even when Ore rattled off a list of desires that he figured would shoot him straight out of the running.

That evening the phone rang," Ore said. "It was the president.

He summarized all of Ores demands and said "Its all in your contract.  I expect you here at 9 a.m. to sign it."

It was the classic too-good-to-refuse offer, and it was also a turning point.

I was 24 years old, he said.

He remembers walking into the teaching hall on the first day -- no older than most of his students. I was so arrogant, he said.

He taught at Northwestern for five years, leaving in 1966 to teach for Seward.

Half a century and 900 students later, Ore still keeps in touch with many of his former pupils who live all over the world and have pursued many musical professions.

Ore placed his pursuit of a doctoral degree on hold for 17 years, while he taught, composed, performed and started a family. He and his wife are parents to Heidi, Janna and John-Paul.

Then, in 1983, he enrolled in the University of Nebraska-Lincolns new doctoral of musical arts program, graduating in 1986 at age 50 the university's first Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ.

Music was central to the family's life.

While Charles Ore focused on the organ, his wife served 22 years as director of music and organist at St. John Lutheran Church in Seward. She also was a junior high music teacher at St. John Lutheran School.

They asked Lincoln architect Deon Bahr to design their rural Seward house with the goal of growing old in it. Equipped with an elevator, a first-floor greenhouse, a koi fish pool and wondrous giant windows, the home is a bit of paradise off the beaten path.

In January 2006, Connie Ore was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome and leukemia. That same month she started a blog My New Life. While it touched on her four-year journey of failing health, its focus was on Gods grace and the power of hymns.

The Ores celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in August 2010. A month later, Connie died.

In the last year of our life (together), I said we had 50 wonderful years together," Ore said. "She said, 'Maybe it was 50 for you, but it was not 50 for me. It was more like 46 or 47 years.'

There were some tough years -- and that is 100 percent of what marriage is.

She centered him, he said.

I would come home inflated about something I had done  and she was not negative -- but when she thought I needed it, she would stick a pin in my ego.

Reflections

As he closes in on 80, people tend to ask the same question: What do you think your legacy will be?

I have no idea, Ore said, but he hopes whatever influence he has had on the lives of his children, his grandchildren and hundreds of students will carry through to those of whom they influence.

He hopes his music -- at least some of it, will make it into collections defining the era.

But he has no preconceived notions or expectations.

Art is very fickle, Ore said. Will it withstand the test of time? We dont know. And thats not why we do it. We do it because of a compulsion to make things more personal.

He recites a Lutheran prayer:

Lord God,

you have called your servants

to ventures of which we cannot see the ending,

by paths as yet untrodden,

through perils unknown.

Give us faith to go out with good courage,

not knowing where we go,

but only that your hand is leading us

and your love supporting us ...

Whats my legacy going to be?" he asked. "I dont know what the future holds in that area, and I dont try to know. The important thing is to experience things -- like ice cream and Grand Marnier.
Flynn Trump image

When Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for national security adviser, was working at the highest levels of the military-intelligence field, he had a reputation as a brilliant tactician.

But then, in 2014, he got fired as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. US officials cited clashes over his leadership style, but he claims it was because he took a stand about "radical Islam."

Eventually, he wrote a book about how to "win the global war against radical Islam," and he became one of Trump's most ardent supporters, leading The Washington Post to ask, "What the heck has happened to Michael Flynn?"

Some in the military and intelligence communities were shocked to see Flynn encouraging chants of "Lock her up!" at the Republican National Convention, referring to Trump's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. And later in the campaign season, reports surfaced of Flynn clashing with officials who conducted a national-security briefing for Trump.

Flynn's most recent controversy involved his son, who promoted a conspiracy theory on Twitter developed through fake news stories that made the baseless claim that a pedophilia ring involving high-level Democratic Party officials was operating out of a Washington pizzeria. Flynn himself has promoted fake news stories on his Twitter feed.

Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey told MSNBC recently that some of Flynn's tweets "border on demented."

Daniel W. Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, concluded in his column for The Post that Flynn "should be kept as far away from power as humanly possible."

Donald Trump with Mike Flynn and Keith Kellogg

Some of Flynn's former coworkers painted a picture of the lieutenant general that seems to support that concern.

Sarah Chayes, who is now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was a special adviser to Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who worked very closely with Flynn, in Afghanistan in 2009. She told Business Insider she shared an office with Flynn for more than a year during this time.

Story continues

She described a "14-year-old disruptive kid" who often contradicted himself.

"I would put this like  imagine if the kid, the sort of transgressive, fun, energetic, arrogant boy in the back of the class, that that's like who you're working with," Chayes said. "It was very high-energy, it is fun, he's fun to be around, but unbelievably arrogant."

Chayes said that when McChrystal's team, including Flynn, who was a military-intelligence officer at the time, arrived at a NATO headquarters in Afghanistan, they "blasted in basically saying everything was all screwed up."

They said "they were going to, not only they could fix it, they would fix it, but it was like  the implication was very insulting to the entire command and that obviously felt like something that was problematic," she said.

"It was not only the individual officers being insulted, but countries we're in an alliance with ... They had put lots of people and efforts and energy and materiel into this fight," Chayes continued.

Chayes described a person who spoke in constant contradictions.

"You listen to him closely for six or seven minutes and he will have contradicted himself two or three times," she said.

She also described him as a rule-breaker, which fits with what he wrote in his book about being a "maverick."

"There was a sense in that headquarters and with him ... kind of like the rules didn't apply to him," Chayes said.

Then Defense Intelligence Agency director U.S. Army Lt. General Michael Flynn testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on

But she also described him as a good communicator who encouraged open dialogue.

One colleague noted to The New Yorker in November that Flynn would encourage junior officers to challenge him in briefings, despite his high rank. The unnamed colleague said junior officers "just loved him."

Another source told The New Yorker that Flynn often wrote "This is bullshit!" in the margins of classified papers he passed up the chain.

Someone who worked with both McChrystal and Flynn said McChrystal encouraged Flynn to control his outbursts and listen to colleagues who challenged the unsubstantiated theories he promoted.

Many former colleagues who have talked to the press (often anonymously) since Flynn was named Trump's national security adviser have called him tactically brilliant he said he struggles with broad strategy.

"He made a lot of changes," one source told The New Yorker of Flynn's time at the DIA. "Not in a strategic way  A to Z  but back and forth."

Retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, who is currently the dean of the Fletcher School, made a similar assessment.

In an email to Business Insider, he described Flynn as "a superb tactical commander both in Afghanistan and Iraq, with a very hard-edged view of Islam and a direct, straight-ahead style of leadership."

"As national security adviser, he will easily do the 'adviser' part of the role, which is in his wheelhouse," Stavridis said. "But he will have to develop the ability bring opposing views from each of the cabinet officials into synthesis for the president. It is a very tough job."

Rep. Devin Nunes, who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of Trump's transition team, said Flynn was up for the job.

Nunes said he had known Flynn for a long time and had been briefed by him dozens of times. He praised Flynn as "one of the best and most knowledgeable generals" he had seen during his career in Congress.

"He's perfect because the president-elect trusts him and many of us in Congress trust him," Nunes told Business Insider.

He pushed back on the unflattering portraits of Flynn that have appeared in the press.

"You don't have a 30-year career, develop one of the most successful military operations in the history of warfare and all of the organizations he's run, all the promotions he's received  and then have a problem running an agency," he said. "You know, it didn't add up at the time."

Nunes pointed to Flynn's experience fighting Al Qaeda in the Middle East.

"He was the intelligence officer in charge of the machine led by Stan McChrystal that tracked down and killed Al Qaeda, so we know he knows how to do it," he said. "And he's one of the few who would know how to do it who has the experience."

NOW WATCH: Donald Trump's 'strange' morning habit tells you everything you need to know about him





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By Elisa Anzolin and Silvia Aloisi MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's third biggest lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena said on Sunday it would press ahead with a last-ditch plan to raise 5 billion euros on the market by year-end after the European Central Bank refused to give it more time to recapitalize. The decision by the ECB's supervisory board piles pressure on the Italian government to inject money into the bank but the Tuscan lender on Friday said it would carry on with its own private sector scheme, despite signs of scant investor interest. Rome is ready to intervene with an emergency decree to rescue the bank if needed, a government source said on Friday. The crisis at the world's oldest bank is playing out against a backdrop of political instability in Italy after Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's resignation last week following a heavy defeat in a referendum on constitutional reform. Italy's president on Sunday asked Renzi's foreign minister, Paolo Gentiloni, to form a government and he could be ready as early as Monday to present his list of proposed cabinet members to the head of state. Monte dei Paschi, which fared the worst in European stress tests this summer, had asked the ECB for a three-week extension to Jan. 20 to raise the money it needs to avert collapse because of the political turmoil unleashed by Renzi's resignation. But the ECB on Friday rejected the request on the grounds that a delay would be of little use and that it was time for Rome to step in, a source close to the matter said. The bank says it has not received a formal communication from Frankfurt. The eleventh-hour private solution being drawn up by the bank, advised by JPMorgan and Mediobanca, involves reopening a debt-to-equity swap offer to 40,000 retail investors holding 2.1 billion euros of the bank's subordinated bonds, Monte dei Paschi said in a statement after a board meeting on Sunday. But this needs the approval of market watchdog Consob. The initial offer, which raised 1 billion euros from institutional investors, had been deemed too risky for the vast majority of ordinary investors. CONFIDENCE Under the plan, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund could put in another 1 billion euros, while a consortium of banks would try to sell shares for the remainder in the market but without underwriting the issue, a senior banker said. As Monte dei Paschi di Siena's board met on Sunday, a source close to the board said the fact that Gentiloni had been asked to form a government gave the bank confidence it could still pull off the privately funded capital raise. "There's still time. Qatar is in the game and available to put in the amount that is being talked about," the source said. However, another source close to the matter acknowledged the bank's bid for cash on the market was a desperate move. "The ECB has not responded yet. There's no government yet. The bank has got nothing to lose," the source said. The bank had been in contact with Consob since Friday to discuss the reopening of the debt swap, a politically sensitive move that could expose the lender and the market watchdog to accusations of bending the rules. Consob's preliminary reaction to the plan was positive, two sources said. However, another source said no decision would be taken before the ECB formally communicates its rejection of the bank's request for an extension, which should happen early this week. According to the senior banker, the lender would argue that under European rules, retail investors risked losing all their money if the state had to intervene, so they would be better off converting their bonds. The bank's fate is a political hot potato in Italy. Luigi Di Maio, a leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement that is ahead in opinion polls, said on Sunday the bank should be nationalized while accusing Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) of using the crisis to rebuff calls for snap polls and justify the need for a quick, unelected government. PD Chairman Matteo Orfini said: "The market solution is the best. Should it not succeed, the bank must be stabilized while respecting EU rules." (additional reporting by Stefano Bernabei, writing by Silvia Aloisi; editing by Ros Russell, Bernard Orr)
Moonlight was named this year's best picture by the Toronto Film Critics Association. The German comedy Toni Erdmann and Manchester by the Sea were runners-up in the best film category.

The Canadian critics voted on their annual film competition on Sunday and live-tweeted their winners. Barry Jenkins' drama Moonlight, about a gay black man coming of age in a rough Miami neighborhood also earned Mahershala Ali the best supporting actor prize.

The group last year named the lesbian drama Carol as best film. Ali beat out Ralph Fiennes in A Bigger Splash and Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals as runners-up in the best supporting actor competition.

Leaving the Oscar front-runner La La Land by Damien Chazelle and starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone without any prizes in this year's competition, the TFCA on Sunday tapped Toni Erdmann's Maren Ade as best director and the pic's lead Sandra Huller as best actress, while also naming the German comedy the best foreign-language film of the year.

Huller beat out Rebecca Hall in Christine, Isabelle Huppert in Elle and Natalie Portman in Jackie as runners-up in the best actress category. And the best director tally ended with La La Land's Chazelle and Moonlight's Jenkins as runners-up to Maren Ade.

In the remaining acting categories, Adam Driver was chosen as best actor for playing a poetic bus driver in Paterson, with runner-ups in the category being Casey Affleck for Manchester and Peter Simonischek for Toni Erdmann.

Elsewhere, Manchester's Michelle Williams was named the best supporting actress prize. Viola Davis for Fences and Naomie Harris for Moonlight were runners-up in the best supporting actress competition.

Manchester also earned best screenplay honors for writer/director Kenneth Lonergan. And Toronto critics tapped Zootopia best animated feature, and Robert Eggers' The Witch as best first feature.

The TFCA also named three indie movies to challenge for the best Canadian movie of 2016: Kazik Radwanski's How Heavy This Hammer, Matt Johnson's Operation Avalanche and The Stairs, directed by Hugh Gibson.

The awards will be formally handed out in January in Toronto.

Read more: 'Carol' Named Best Picture by Toronto Film Critics Association
At least 20 people were killed when a truck bomb exploded near the entrance to Mogadishus new port on Sunday morning, December 11. Local media reported that militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.

Video captured by a resident driving by shows the chaotic scene after the blast. According to news media, the area that was struck houses stalls which port workers pass through and where they buy their breakfast before work. Credit: Sagal Sheikh-Ali via Storyful
South Korea warned Sunday of "fatal" consequences for Pyongyang's leadership if provoked into conflict, after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw a military drill simulating an attack on Seoul's presidential Blue House.

Kim watched with binoculars as North Korea's special operation forces conducted an exercise aimed at "destroying specified targets of the enemy", including the Blue House, the North's KCNA news agency said.

The ruling Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun also carried a two-page report on the drill, showing pictures of a building resembling the Blue House being overrun by North Korean troops and set ablaze.

One photo showed Kim roaring with laughter as he watched the simulated attack.

"Well done, the enemy troops will have no space to hide themselves, far from taking any counteraction," state-run KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

No date was given for the military exercise in Sunday's report.

The South Korean military "strongly condemned" the drill, warning there would be fatal consequences if confronted by the North.

"If the enemy conducts a provocation based on its rash judgement, we will strongly and firmly retaliate with a fatal blow against the North Korean leadership," the defence ministry's joint chiefs of staff said in a statement.

There are growing concerns of fresh provocations by Pyongyang following Friday's impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye which has left the country without a recognised leader.

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn, who has temporarily taken on the role and authority of acting president, held an emergency cabinet meeting and ordered the military to be extra vigilant against the North.

North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests already this year and multiple missile launches in its push for a weapon capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.

The UN Security Council slapped its toughest sanctions yet on the North last month over its fifth nuclear test in September, capping the North's annual coal exports -- its top external revenue source.
Washington (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to discuss with US President-elect Donald Trump ways to get rid of the Iran nuclear deal, he said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday.

"I think what options we have are much more than you think. Many more," Netanyahu said in the interview with CBS's "60 minutes."

Netanyahu gave no details on what he will be proposing when he meets with Trump, but minimized the downside of Washington backing out of an accord that includes other world powers, including its European allies.

"There are ways, various ways of undoing it," he said. "I have about five things in my mind."

Netanyahu has been an ardent opponent of the 2015 agreement, which places curbs on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from US and other international sanctions.

He alienated the administration of outgoing President Barack Obama by denouncing it in an address to a joint meeting of the US Congress.

Trump has criticized the nuclear agreement as a "disastrous deal," but has stopped short of saying he would rip it up, instead suggesting he would renegotiate or dismantle it.

His pick for defense secretary, retired general James Mattis, considered a hawk on Iran, has advocated working closely with allies to enforce its terms.
Firefighters work inside the burned warehouse following the fatal fire in Oakland on Dec. 4. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

The massive fire that tore through a converted warehouse in Oakland, killing 36 people in the deadliest blaze in the United States in more than a decade, has officials examining similar illegal spaces  and the artists who create, perform and, in many cases, live in them bracing for a crackdown.

Authorities are still trying to determine what caused the Dec. 2 fire, which broke out during a concert inside what was known as the Ghost Ship, a 4,000-square-foot building that former tenants described as a death trap with few exits, a rickety makeshift staircase, piles of driftwood and a labyrinth of electrical cords.

In Baltimore, dozens of artists living in a building known as the Bell Foundry were evicted last week after the city said it received a complaint about individuals living there in deplorable conditions.

The main electrical source had illegal, dangerous connections; there were extension cords used to feed multiple fixtures, said Katy Byrne, a spokeswoman for Baltimores Department of Housing and Community Development. None of the electrical systems was grounded.

In Denver, fire officials shut down Rhinoceropolis, a landmark DIY performance space, and evicted five people who had been living in illegal lofts on Thursday after it was deemed unsafe.

While the Denver Fire Department did not immediately specify what those safety violations were, a 2015 profile of the venue by Denvers Westword gives a hint:



The space is divided into two main areas  one for living and one for performing. But that line is constantly blurred: Music and art performances have taken place in the bathroom and the kitchen, bedrooms have become art installations, and the building itself has been transformed into a haunted house. Drum kits have been set on fire, sod has been rolled out and performed on top of, fireworks have been set off inside, and car parts, glitter and food have been hurled at audiences. Anything can happen at a Rhino show.

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In Philadelphia, Mayor Jim Kenney announced a citywide crackdown on spaces like the Ghost Ship.

As Philadelphia mourns with the people of Oakland, its also important to examine how we can prevent similar tragedies form occurring here, Kenney said in a statement three days after the Oakland fire. In our city there are unlawfully converted buildings and underground clubs, and while [the Department of Licenses and Inspections] works hard to track down these hazardous locations and enforce the fire code, they cant do it alone.

Kenney called on residents to report illegal holiday parties in unsafe and misused spaces.

Especially where there are crowds, low lighting, loud music, late hours and alcohol, he added, the right licenses, permits and inspections save lives.

In New York City, the Loft Law  first enacted in the early 1980s during the booming Soho art scene  and subsequent city task forces have forced many operators of illegal living spaces to bring them up to code, and cracked down on those who fail to comply.

Those measures, coupled with industrial neighborhoods becoming more and more gentrified, mean that fewer and fewer illegal spaces like the Ghost Ship exist within the five boroughs.

But make no mistake, they do still exist.

The New York Times reported investigations prompted by the Oakland warehouse blaze in other cities, including Nashville, Dallas, Austin, Indianapolis, New Haven, Conn., and Dubuque, Iowa.

Related: Artists, musicians, teachers among the 36 victims

In Oakland, some residents are wondering if the city missed repeated warnings about the Ghost Ship.

Officials fielded years of complaints about dangerous conditions, drugs, neglected children, trash, thefts and squabbles at the illegally converted warehouse, the Associated Press reported, with inspectors knocking on the door as recently as two weeks before the blaze.

At a press conference late last week, officials said that it appeared the warehouse was not equipped with smoke detectors and had no exits on the second floor. And Oakland Alameda County District Attorney Nancy OMalley said a criminal investigation is underway.

Derick Almena in an appearance on NBCs Today show. (NBC)

Derick Almena, the de facto landlord and self-described father of the Ghost Ship, who lived in the warehouse with his wife and children, defended the conditions inside.

I laid my body down there every night, a distraught Almena, who was staying at a nearby hotel with his family the night of the fire, said in an interview with NBCs Today. We laid our bodies down there. We put our children to bed there every night. We made music. We created art. We opened our home.

Almena said that he and a group of tenants covered the monthly $5,000 rent and that he made repairs to the electrical system without permits after the real landlord refused.

Also read: Almena sparks outrage for mourning loss of venue  not victims

The warehouse, he said, was a safe place for like-minded artists who couldnt afford space elsewhere and who cant pay your rent because your dream is bigger than your pocketbook.

Everything that I did was to make this a stronger and more beautiful community and to bring people together, Almena said. People didnt walk through those doors because it was a horrible place. People didnt seek us out to perform and express themselves because it was a horrible place.

The lives of the artists, musicians, teachers, and other victims of the Oakland warehouse fire https://t.co/VySeprL9rJ pic.twitter.com/FQ8rUQddFu  Yahoo News (@YahooNews) December 11, 2016

As has been the case in other cities, rising home prices and skyrocketing rents in the Bay Area have forced artists to seek refuge in places like the Ghost Ship.

Its always been true, Lori Fogarty, director of the Oakland Museum of California, told Yahoo News. Artists have always found places to live and work that are in this situation.

Oakland has historically grappled with socioeconomic and demographic changes while supporting the artists who have helped make it a popular place to live, Fogarty said.

The fire, Fogarty said, has certainly led to a lot of soul searching.

This past summer, the museum presented Oakland, I want you to know, an exhibit about gentrification in the Bay Area that featured three video installations by filmmaker Alex Frantz Ghassan.

Ghassan, 35, was one of those who perished in the Ghost Ship.

Watch one of Ghassans videos from the exhibit below.
Each year, fewer people alive know firsthand who was behind the explosion in a vacant house in North Omaha that killed a young cop before dawn on Aug. 17, 1970.

Did Ed Poindexter and David Rice send a teenager to deliver a suitcase bomb and make the 911 call that sent patrolman Larry Minard and seven other officers into a trap?

Did someone plant 14 sticks of dynamite found in Rice's basement, and did investigators turn the screws on 15-year-old Duane Peak to get him to connect the two men to the crime?

Tracked down years later living in another state under a new name, Peak told Sen. Ernie Chambers that he feared dying in the electric chair, but he stuck to his claim that no one forced him to say what he did. He said he told the truth at the trial.

This spring, Rice, who had taken the name Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa, died in the infirmary at the Nebraska State Penitentiary, denying until the end that he had anything to do with Minard's death.

Poindexter, now more than 45 years into a life sentence, continues to claim his innocence as well, despite knowing that a show of remorse might help his chances at being set free.

Barring new evidence, which seems a long shot, the 72-year-old is not likely to go anywhere.

Many people, including the global human rights organization Amnesty International, believe the two were political prisoners, easy targets for police because of their ties to the Black Panther Party during a turbulent time.

Poindexter grew frustrated at the racism he saw when he served in the Vietnam War and when he got home. He turned to the party and wrote of taking up arms against police.

"I have some regrets about it. But it can't be undone now," Poindexter said in a visiting-room interview at the penitentiary late this summer.

The crime

But first things first. Rewind to 1970.

The headline on the front page of The Lincoln Star on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1970: "OMAHA OFFICER KILLED  Anger, Despair Grip Policemen." The above-the-fold photo showed investigators sifting through debris for clues.

The booby-trapped suitcase exploded in Minard's face while he checked the vacant house for a woman said to be screaming for help, according to an anonymous 911 call. The married father of five would have turned 30 three days later.

The blast knocked another officer out of the room, crumpled the one-story frame house and knocked down officers standing outside.

Omaha had become the latest blip on the radar during a time in which police and protesters clashed over the civil rights movement and Vietnam War. Alabama state troopers unleashed billy clubs and tear gas on black voting activists. Deadly riots broke out after Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down in Memphis and Ohio National Guardsmen killed four Kent State students during an anti-war protest.

In 1969, a white police officer called to a robbery in North Omaha shot Vivian Strong, a 14-year-old black girl, in the back of the head. Her crime: dancing at a party in a vacant apartment in the projects and running when the cops came. Her death sparked riots.

The Black Panthers had taken up arms to protect black neighborhoods from police brutality and got into shootouts across the country while the FBI worked quietly behind the scenes to dismantle it.

When the bomb killed Minard, Rice and Poindexter, then leaders of the National Committee to Combat Fascism, made perfect suspects. In the months before the explosion, they'd had bylines in newsletters expressing hatred for police and advocating violent, even lethal force, against them.

"They were Black Panthers, and a police officer died," said Mary Dickinson of Lincoln, who was in high school in South Omaha then.

Even then, she said, she knew "this isn't right."

But the group's headquarters was just two blocks away, and a month earlier the ATF had gotten a warrant to search it for dynamite and machine guns on the word of 12-year-old Marialice Clark, who later vanished. The search never happened.

Omaha police began rounding up people who knew Rice and Poindexter and, before long, had warrants to arrest them and the young Duane Peak. What exactly the judge signed off on isn't clear because the documents no longer exist, according to a later court opinion.

With little more to go on than Rice's reputation as a black militant, police searched his house.

"We have been told in the past that Rice keeps explosives, at his residence, and also illegal weapons, which he has said should be used against police officers," an officer wrote in the affidavit to get the warrant.

It wouldn't be enough to get a search warrant today, but on Aug. 22, 1970, police went into 2816 Parker St. and left with 14 sticks of DuPont Red Cross brand dynamite, blasting caps, wiring, a battery and a pair of long-nosed pliers.

Soon after, they arrested Poindexter at his mom's house at 3415 N. 25th St.

He remembers being upstairs washing up for a dinner of his mom's beef stew when she called up and told him to look out the window. Cop cars were cruising up the block. Before he got downstairs, they were at the door. Holding his niece, his mom told them if they hurt him they were going to have to shoot her and a baby first.

"The rest is history, as they say," Poindexter said.

Rice turned himself in to police on Aug. 27, 1970.

The case

From the beginning, both men said they'd been framed, that Peak was lying and the dynamite was planted.

Their trial started on April Fool's Day 1971.

A chemist who analyzed their clothes found traces of dynamite in Poindexter's jacket pocket and on Rice's pants. Defense attorneys later would say the same particles could have come from matches. Another expert testified the pliers from Rice's basement had been used to cut copper wire like that used in the bomb.

But the key witness for the state was Peak, by then 16.

At a pretrial hearing, he refused to say either was involved, then returned to the stand later with puffy eyes and said they were.

Chambers, not yet a state senator, was in the courtroom that day and felt sure Peak had been roughed up in between. Years later, Peak denied that he was.

He had given lots of stories about the bomb and how he got it. But at trial, over the course of two days, Peak said that a week before the bomb went off Poindexter told him "he had a beautiful plan to blow up a pig." That same night, Peak said, he got a suitcase from someone else in the group and took it to Rice's house. There were sticks of dynamite already inside.

Peak said he watched Poindexter make the bomb, then went with him the next night to see the vacant house on Ohio Street.

On the night of Aug. 16, 1970, Peak told the jury, he went back to Rice's house to get the suitcase and the tacks he needed to arm it, then took a meandering path to 2867 Ohio St. and called 911.

The jury deliberated for 25 hours before finding Poindexter, 26, and Rice, 23, guilty on April 17, 1971. The nine women and three men gave them life sentences, not the death penalty the county attorney sought.

In the 45 years since, state courts affirmed their convictions, federal courts granted we Langa a new trial right up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed it. In the '90s, the Nebraska Board of Parole recommended their sentences be commuted to a definite term of years, which would have made them eligible for parole at some point, but the state Pardons Board refused to give them hearings.

Lincoln attorney Bob Bartle, who represented Poindexter for years, found a raft of issues to challenge. Among the biggest:

* The 911 recording, which surfaced in the 1980s. Prosecutors hadn't given it to trial attorneys, who could've played it for the jury. They tracked down Peak to record his voice and a voice identification expert compared it to the call and testified he was almost certain it wasn't Peak's voice.

* Secret memos, later made public, about the Omaha FBI being part of a national campaign called COINTELPRO that targeted the Black Panther Party. In one, an Omaha officer warned that any use of the 911 recording "could be prejudicial to the police."

* Inconsistent testimony from the officer who said he found the dynamite in Rice's basement and the prosecutor's failure to disclose that the same officer had arrested three men with 40 sticks of the same kind of dynamite in their car three weeks earlier. Prosecutors dropped charges against them four days after Rice and Poindexter were found guilty.

None of the issues was enough to get Poindexter a new trial.

Daughter: Appeals are hell

Minard's daughter, Carol Booher, who was 11 when he was killed, notes that supporters of Rice and Poindexter have picked apart evidence for years, checked every angle and found nothing.

In 2006, she went to Poindexter's post-conviction hearing. She never wanted to have to look him in the face, she said, but she did that day  and it was hard.

"I'm almost 60 years old and it still breaks my heart," Booher said in a call from Florida.

Continued appeals put the family through hell, she said.

"I'm sure the cops didn't do everything exactly by the book," she said, adding that cops sometimes make mistakes and her dad had a lot of friends on the force. "But I don't think it was anything that would've changed the outcome of the trial."

Rice and Poindexter and their families have suffered, but they chose their path, she said.

"This changed all of our lives," she said.

She said she thought Rice's death would bring her some peace or closure. It didn't.

"He died in prison where he needed to die," Booher said.

Her sister Charlotte Hyland still lives in Nebraska and said she has forgiven them.

"But do I believe they are both guilty? Without a doubt," she said.

"Now, all I can do is pray that he (Poindexter) stays where he is, and trust in my Lord," she said.

At this point, Bartle said, it would take compelling new evidence that someone else is responsible for Minard's death.

"There's not a whole lot of legal options left."

Or, he said, the Nebraska Pardons Board could commute his sentence, something rarely done and only when an inmate has expressed remorse for his crime.

"Their position all along has been, 'We are political prisoners,'" said Bartle.

Because a police officer was killed, it's tough to convince people the two were framed, said Tariq Al-Amin, a 25-year Omaha cop who retired 10 years ago.

He wasn't living in Omaha when the bomb exploded but has studied the case for years and talked to other black officers who were with the department at the time and felt Poindexter and Rice were just two guys investigators thought needed to be taken off the street.

"This was coming from a lot of officers I respected," Al-Amin said.

It would've been an easy set-up, he said, and he has seen from the inside what police were willing to do to protect their own.

"I believe some of those retired cops who worked the case know, but it's something they'll take to their grave," Al-Amin said. "I would like to make an appeal to anyone who knows anything to please come forward."

Asked why Peak would continue to lie all these years later if he'd sent two innocent men to prison, he said he thinks Peak always was protecting his family.

Even if Peak came forward now and changed his story, Al-Amin said he doesn't know how much weight the court would give it.

To Poindexter, it comes down to this: "There's still another murderer out there."

Life in prison

Poindexter went before the Parole Board in 1972 and again in 2013. The last time, he tried to make the case that his sentence should have expired in 1988. Lifers of his generation historically served 18 to 20 years, he argued. The argument went nowhere.

He'll be 79 when he comes up for parole again in 2024.

"What they do is they just keep you in forever," Poindexter said.

He recalls being outraged when he heard a lifer say back in 1974 that he wished he'd asked for a death sentence.

"Had I known then that I was gonna be down this long I woulda asked for it," Poindexter said.

Today, fewer people may recognize his and we Langa's names. But for years they were known in certain circles around the world, with big-name supporters behind them, like Angela Davis, Amnesty International and actor Danny Glover.

Many have come and gone, but one group, Nebraskans for Justice, still works for Poindexter's release.

"A lot of people get frustrated and give up, and their voices are no longer heard. They don't know what else they can do," he said.

"I know I'm going to be out of here one of these days."

Friends said we Langa wasn't interested in compassionate release even though he suffered from a chronic lung disease. He wanted to be exonerated.

"I feel the same way," Poindexter said. "But out is out."

One day this fall, he blacked out while eating breakfast. It wasn't anything serious, he said, just anemia.

"Yeah, man. I'm getting old," said Poindexter, who turned 72 on Nov. 1.

On March 11, the day his old friend died, Poindexter got permission to see him in the prison hospital. We Langa, usually busy behind a typewriter, was unconscious but breathing. Poindexter remembers his palms were dry and warm.

"When I got there the room was full of people," he said.

Just two weeks earlier, we Langa had mailed out a poem he'd written, "When it Gets to This Point," about recent deaths of unarmed black men around the country that sparked protests.

Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice.

"And after a while the pictures, the names, the circumstances run together like so much colored laundry in the wash that bleeds on whites," he wrote.

"My memory is too encumbered with the names of so many before and since."

This summer, East African artist Emma Maasai carried out we Langa's wishes and scattered his ashes at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.

"We know that he was in prison for many, many years. And he died in prison. So we honor him and symbolically give him the freedom he deserved," Maasai said before he sent ashes into the wind.

What's next?

In a letter to the Journal Star, Poindexter said he misses we Langa but that his comrade's passing hasn't dampened his spirit.

"In fact, it has energized me to play a more active role in my own defense," he said. "When Mondo was with us, I was known as the quiet one.  From here on out, I'll do my best to be heard loud and clear."

Poindexter recalled how they met in December 1969. He was walking on Lake Street, just off 24th past a fire house converted into a dance hall, and heard blues spilling out into the streets.

Poindexter introduced himself during a break, and they chatted. He told Rice about a Black Panther meeting he'd gone to the day before.

They hit it off right away.

"I'll never have another friend like him," Poindexter said.

He served about half of his time in Minnesota, taking classes toward a master's degree and developing a motivational program, but returned to Nebraska in 2006. For the past few years, he was in Cell 9 in a part of the prison reserved for older inmates, right around the corner from we Langa in 14.

Poindexter talks now about what he'll do when he gets out, not if he gets out.

"I just keep focused on the future. Eye on the prize," he said.

A born-again Christian since 2010, he said that's what keeps him going. Even if, in the next breath, he talks about how his appeals are about done.

Poindexter said he's made it official: He wants his ashes spread in his old North 24th Street neighborhood in Omaha, the projects of his youth.

"I wish I could go back there," he said.

Asked if he would say he is guilty if it meant he could get out, he said he would just be making a fool of himself.

"It's all about the truth with me. Regardless of the consequences."
By Anthony Githonga NAIVASHA, Kenya (Reuters) - A fireball from an oil lorry engulfed vehicles on one of Kenya's main highways, killing at least 42 people late on Saturday, a rescue worker at the scene said. The tanker lorry rammed into vehicles north of the central town of Naivasha then exploded, an official with the National Disaster Management Authority said. "More bodies are still trapped inside the burned vehicles," Red Cross volunteer Moha Maris told Reuters. The government gave a lower death toll. "The information that we have is that 13 vehicles were involved and so far we have retrieved 33 bodies," Irungu Nyakera, Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, told a news conference. An official in Naivasha said 50 people were being treated in several hospitals for burns, eight of them in a serious condition. In 2009, more than 100 people burned to death near the central town of Molo after a lorry carrying petrol caught fire. (Additional reporting by Noor Ali and Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Aaron Maasho and Andrew Heavens)
By Farah Master

SAIPAN (Reuters) - For evidence of the odds stacked against China's battle to stop the flight of cash battering its currency and draining its reserves, look no further than the tiny Pacific island of Saipan, which has hit the jackpot with a flood of Chinese money at its new casino.

Thousands of miles from the Chinese mainland, the U.S.-administered island of 50,000 people is festooned with signs written in Chinese and stuffed with Chinese supermarkets, restaurants and karaoke parlours serving the 200,000 Chinese visitors that arrived this year.

Private jets bring big spenders so free with their cash - and $100 million credit lines - that the modest Best Sunshine casino, owned by Hong-Kong listed Imperial Pacific , wildly outperforms the top casinos in Macau, the world's biggest gambling hub.

Best Sunshine's 16 VIP tables can turn over $3.9 billion a month, while the world's biggest, the Venetian Macao, manages about $2.5 billion per month on 102 VIP tables, and the MGM around $2.9 billion on 161.

"Never have I dealt with so much money in 36 years in casinos, said one executive working in the casino, who could not be named due to company policy.

Back in Beijing, policymakers are trying to keep that money on the mainland.

Capital outflows, both legal and illegal, have dragged the yuan to eight-year lows this year, prompting China to eat through more than a fifth of its foreign currency reserves since mid-2014 and impose a series of measures to stem the outflows.

Such measures, plus an anti-corruption crackdown that began in early 2014, has dealt a blow to Macau, the self-governing Chinese territory linked by a thread to the mainland province of Guangdong.

Macaus gaming revenues have more than halved since then, as high rollers from the mainland gave it a wide berth.

But whacking the mole in Macau has made it pop up elsewhere, where China's writ doesn't run; in Saipan, the Philippines, Cambodia and Australia.

Manila's Solaire casino registered a 61 percent increase in VIP turnover in the third quarter, while the number of junket operators bringing in foreign high rollers has more than doubled. Half of its VIP gamblers come from China.

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NagaCorp (3918.HK) in Phnom Penh has seen a 13 percent increase in Chinese visitors in the first half of 2016, with VIP turnover up 11 percent for the first nine months.

HOUSE WINS

China has fought to suppress the demand, detaining marketing employees from Australias Crown Resorts (CWN.AX) in October for "gambling offences", and arresting South Korean casino managers last year for "enticing" Chinese to gamble overseas.

"We have always asked that Chinese citizens leaving the borders respect the laws and rules of relevant countries, and not get involved in gambling or gamble themselves, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing in Beijing.

But the casinos are getting ready for more.

NagaCorp is building additional facilities and a luxury retail complex, while Solaire, where VIPs play in opulent ocean-front rooms, is also unrolling new amenities to lure VIPs.

Imperial is spending $3 billion to build a 14-storey resort in Saipan after winning a 40-year exclusive monopoly licence.

Its towering bamboo scaffolding already dwarfs the low-rise local buildings.

The man behind Imperial's push into Saipan, Ji Xiaobo, a one-time middleman whose company brought players to Macau, is also in discussions with nearby Pacific island Palau to set up a small resort, according to a source familiar with the deal.

Ji, who casino executives said brings VIP players to Saipan on his private jet and accommodates them on his yacht or in opulent villas, declined to comment.

Saipans government, desperate for revenues after the collapse of its garment industry and a decline in tourism, approved the casino in 2014, overturning longstanding opposition.

It makes it very attractive for the operator, with just 5 percent gaming tax compared with Macau's 39 percent, said Mark Brown, Imperial's chief executive, who formerly worked for U.S. casino tycoons including president-elect Donald Trump, Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson.

Not everyone on the island thinks Saipan gets much benefit.

Casino revenues have surged, but the government budget remains less than a sixth of what the casino produces annually, said local resident Glen Hunter, who has fought against the development.

You have created an entity out here with so much resources and power that I think we will no longer even have a proper functioning democracy," Hunter said.

The influx of money is already changing the nature of the place.

Chinese investment in Saipan has skyrocketed since the casino opened last year, with almost every available property bought in the last six months, say local residents.

"Ive also had Chinese investors just knock on my door and offer to buy my house, in cash, said Harry Blalock, who runs dive company Axe Murderer Tours.

(Reporting by Farah Master; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Prak Chan Thul in Phnom Penh; Editing by Will Waterman)
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has named a new head of its powerful military Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), two weeks after replacing the chief of army staff in a significant shift for the military that wields huge influence. Lt. Gen Naveed Mukhtar was appointed as director-general of the ISI, replacing Lt. Gen Rizwan Akhtar, who is being moved to the post of president of the National Defence University, according to a statement by the military's press wing late on Sunday. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday picked Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa to replace outgoing army chief Raheel Sharif, the popular military leader credited with improving security and driving back Islamist militant groups. The army is arguably the most influential institution in Pakistan, with the military having ruled the country for about half of its 69-year history since independence from Britain and enjoying extensive powers even under civilian administrations. By turn, the head of the ISI occupies one of the most important posts in Pakistan. The agency has long been accused of supporting Islamist militants targeting neighbor and arch-foe India as well as sheltering the Afghan Taliban and other militants. Pakistan's government and military deny any links to militants. Mukhtar had most recently been assigned as corps commander of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, and had previously headed the counterterrorism wing of the ISI in the capital, Islamabad, according to Dawn newspaper. (Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Kim Coghill)
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was among the first major Republicans to support Donald Trumps candidacy, reportedly turned down several proposed positions in the incoming administration after he was demoted as chair of the transition team, passed over for attorney general and nixed as head of the Republican National Committee.

Christie joins former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on the sidelines despite their efforts in getting Trump elected president.

NJ Advance Media reportedChristie was offered Cabinet-level positions in Homeland Security or Veterans Affairs. He also was offered positions as White House adviser and ambassador to Italy, the report said.

The only administration job Christie wanted, however, was attorney general, the report said. Trump, however, has designated Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., another early Trump supporter, as his choice to head the Justice Department.

Earlier this week, sources told NJ Advance Media Christie would not get the chairmanship of the RNC either. Reince Priebus, who was selected by Trump as chief of staff, reportedly wants to choose his own successor to head the GOP and rejected Christie, who had been lobbying for the job.

Christies reputation suffered from the so-called bridgegate scandal that involved Christie aides causing a traffic nightmare at the entrance to the George Washington Bridge in political payback to the mayor of Fort Lee, who had declined to endorse Christie in his last campaign for governor.

The scandal was also thought to be a factor in Trumps decision to pass over his longtime friend and choose Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate.

Giuliani took his name out of consideration for secretary of state Friday. He reportedly also declined offers of other Cabinet positions, including attorney general. Gingrich said in mid-November he had no plans to join a Trump Cabinet, preferring instead to be involved in strategic planning.

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Christie said two weeks ago he planned to complete his term as governor but if something extraordinary happens  where my service is needed, I will consider any requests that are made.

Christies approval ratings have fallen to 19 percent, a Quinnipiac University poll taken Nov. 28-Dec. 4 among 1,318 New Jersey voters, indicated, the lowest the poll has found for any governor in two decades of polling in nearly a dozen states. His approval rating had been as high as 72 percent in 2012.

Christie last month met with state lawmakers to talk about overturning a law that prohibits a sitting governor from profiting from the publication of a book, the North Jersey Record reported.

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Cavan McIntyre-Brewer is a soldiers child who delivers warmth and comfort to veterans and wounded warriors.

The 15-year-old runs Socks for Vets, an organization that gives socks, blankets, rain ponchos, and other comfort items to veterans in nursing homes or who live on the streets.

We serve about 15,000 people a year, Cavan, of Duncannon, Pennsylvania, tells PEOPLE. I really like helping them.

The youngster got the idea for his project in 2009, while his dad, Army Captain Steven Brewer, was deployed.

I was feeling lonely. I missed him a lot, Cavan says.

To help fill the void, then-eight-year-old Cavan went to a veterans home with his Cub Scout troop to sing Christmas carols.

There, Cavan learned that he wasnt the only one who felt lonely. A Korean War veteran at the home wanted a checkers partner, so Cavan agreed to come back. During subsequent visits, Cavan noticed that many of the veterans lacked basic comfort items.

A lot of them didnt have socks and stuff, Cavan says. So we went back with socks and blankets and things they needed.

Soon, Cavan enlisted churches and civic groups, such as 4-H and the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, to pitch in with supplies and a network of volunteers.

We kept doing it, he says.

The project expanded to include veterans around the country, including those who dont live anywhere.

We find homeless veterans, says Cavan. Sometimes they are at special events just for them, and sometimes they are under bridges. Wherever they are, we go to them directly.

Anywhere Cavan might find a veteran, he comes prepared.

Three years ago, during a visit to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., Cavan encountered fellow tourist Barney Leone, a former Navy machinist mate who watched the American flag go up during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Cavan came right up to me, and he had these folded socks in his hand, says Leone, now 92. He explained what he was doing. He wanted to give me these socks, which I thought was very nice.

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The act of giving is the core of Cavans efforts.

He has a servants heart, says mom Chelle McIntyre-Brewer, 37, a volunteer health advocate and stay-at-home mom. He does this because its what he enjoys doing.

He has a feeling for service people, says Leone, who has remained friends with the McIntyre-Brewer family. He wanted to know all about me, and what I did in the Navy. Hes a really nice boy.

In 2015, Operation Homefront recognized Cavan for his work, honoring him as the Army Military Child of the Year.

The children in our military families demonstrate the best in our society and our Military Child of the Year Award recipients are extraordinary representatives of this spirit of selfless service, Laura Yzaguirre, chief financial & administrative officer for Operation Homefront, tells PEOPLE. Cavans tireless volunteerism, academic achievements, and adaptability to the challenges of military family life made him a great candidate for this recognition.

His father, a medic, couldnt be prouder of his sons work  with or without an award.

Kids need to know that what they do is important, Steven, 40, tells PEOPLE, even when it isnt recognized with awards, but there is definitely a swell of pride to see Cavan be honored in this way.

Service clearly runs in the McIntyre-Brewer family. Cavans 10-year-old sister Lorelei, who was born with half a heart, was the 2016 honoree, for her work making compression heart pillows in order to help pediatric heart patients recover after surgery.

For his own project, Cavan is ramping up his efforts for Christmas. He plans to deliver greeting cards and comfort items to veterans. Socks for Vets has posted a wish list for people who want to contribute. A main item on this years list is pocket tissues.

In the new year, Cavan will continue to work on a relatively new branch of work, training pack goats to carry supplies for wounded warriors who want to go hiking.

Says Cavan: I just like helping our vets. I want to do more.

Know a hero? Send suggestions to heroesamongus@peoplemag.com. For more inspiring stories, read the latest issue of PEOPLE magazine.




MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday rejected a demand by Maoist-led rebels to free more prisoners as part of a ceasefire deal, saying he had made enough concessions and was willing to let peace talks collapse if necessary. For decades the government and the communists' political arm, National Democratic Front, have held intermittent peace negotiations but without success. The release of political prisoners has proved a major stumbling block. Before the resumption of peace negotiations in Oslo in August, four years after the collapse of the last attempt, Duterte let 22 rebel leaders out on bail, including two senior guerrilla commanders. Last month, he also freed four elderly and sick prisoners on humanitarian grounds. But rebel leaders immediately demanded the release of 130 more rebels, a call Duterte has ignored until now. Since the rebellion erupted nearly five decades ago, it has killed about 40,000 people and stunted growth in resource-rich rural areas of the Philippines. The rebels' armed wing, New People's Army, is active in almost all but the Muslim majority provinces, and are particularly strong in the mining areas in the southern island of Mindanao. "I wanted them to start the talks but they want me to free 130 more, so I told them, no, I cannot," Duterte told soldiers at an army base north of Manila, close to where NPA first emerged. "As a matter of fact, I conceded too much too soon. Now, it's up to them if they will terminate the peace talks. Let them terminate it. I have freed their leaders, what more do you ask of us? I am running out of cards." Duterte said violence between the two sides has declined in the last six months. The two sides have held two rounds of talks since August and plan to meet again early next year with the aim of agreeing on a set of political, economic and social reforms to address the rebellion within 12 months. The rebels want farmlands to be distributed to landless farmers, the nationalization of industries and to share political power with the government. Duterte, former mayor of Davao, a city that was once seen as a breeding ground for rebels, told soldiers at the base that he knew they were hurting from his decision to re-start peace talks and free top communist rebels, but that he was determined to end the conflict. About 500 people suspected to be rebels are in jail, which include two men who were convicted of killing the U.S. military adviser, Colonel James Rowe, in 1989. (Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
Natalie Portman has been keeping plenty busy these days. With lots of awards-season buzz circling her eponymous role in Jackie, being a mother to 5- year-old son Aleph and another baby on the way, how do she and her husband, Benjamin Millepied, make the time to do it all?

We are two careers and we find ways to organize ourselves and be happy, Millepied told reporters before he hosted L.A. Dance Projects annual gala at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday night. There is nothing to complain about, he continued. Millepied, 39, co-founded the artist collective and is excited about continuing this venture. Its just beginning, but it seems clear that we are drawing the young audience that I know lives here and is interested in arts and culture.

While the couple posed together for photos on the red carpet, Millepied was quick to point out that attending the event is not like the couples typical date nights. Its sort of a date night with hundreds of people, he quipped.

Their son, Aleph will soon be a big brother, but its unclear whether the tyke has any desire to follow in the footsteps of his Oscar-winning mom or his dancer-choreographer father. Hes very young, so who knows, Millepied explained.

RELATED VIDEO: Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied Expecting Second Child

While Portman, 35, and Millepieds most recent collaboration is a new sibling for their Aleph, Millepied  who worked with Portman on the 2010 film that would win her an Oscar, Black Swan  is less sure about a creative collaboration with his wife in the future.

Not in the near future, but maybe one day, he says.




New York (AFP) - Squeezed out of Twitter and other social media websites cracking down on hate speech, far-right activists are finding a home on a new platform that promises never to censor content.

Launched in August, Gab has become known as a safe haven for the "alt-right" movement dominated by the white supremacists who are helping fuel America's deepening polarization.

The social network currently has 100,000 members and another 200,000 on its waiting list, according to the company.

"All are welcome to speak freely," spokesman Utsav Sanduja says.

Gab is unable to accommodate all those who want to join, he adds, because it is still in its test phase.

The social network's rise comes amid Twitter's suspension of political activists for purportedly promoting racist and harassing comments.

One of the new "Gabbers," Richard Spencer, heads the white supremacist National Policy Institute, whose account Twitter has suspended.

Spencer, whose "Hail Trump" comments were seen as evocative of the Nazi era, joined the Twitter exile along with Milo Yiannopoulos, accused of fomenting a social media campaign against the African-American actress Leslie Jones.

- Rising acrimony -

Gab's appearance follows the launch two years ago of another free-speech labeled platform, Voat, which has had limited success.

But the new site comes amid escalating tensions and acrimony over politics in social media.

Some say the new guidelines for major platforms represent an effort to curb harassment and hate, others call it censorship.

Reddit, an online news and messaging board, announced last month that it would crack down on "toxic users" in an effort to curb some incendiary comments from supporters of President-elect Donald Trump.

"We have identified hundreds of the most toxic users and are taking action against them, ranging from warnings to timeouts to permanent bans," Reddit chief Steve Huffman wrote.

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Gab meanwhile pledges no censoring or filtering, allowing users to post messages of 300 characters, compared to Twitter's 140-character limit.

Headquartered in the Caribbean island Anguilla, Gab is "bootstrapped," or self-financed, with some donations from the "Gab community."

Despite its user base, Gab denies having a political agenda.

"Gab is for everyone and our mission is to challenge censorship on a global scale," Sanduja says.

"Whether it is from authoritarian governments persecuting their own people, politically incorrect citizens engaging in peaceful and civil discourse or whistleblowers in establishment institutions seeking a safe refuge, Gab will always be there for them and the people."

- Overtly racist -

Although the platform's terms prohibit calls for violence or "terrorism," many messages on the site are overtly racist or anti-Semitic.

That reflects the belief of Gab's founders "that free speech is a fundamental right, one that is absolute and cannot be vitiated in any way," Sanduja says.

That means "a free exchange of ideas" on the site "without proscription."

Instead of censoring content, Gab enables its users to filter their news feeds by blocking messages with certain keywords or from specific users.

Sanduja points to the startup founders' backgrounds as a reflection of diversity.

He is a Canadian Hindu with roots in India. The other co-founders include Ekrem Buyukkaya, a Muslim of Kurdish origin, and Andrew Torba, the chief executive who calls himself a "Christian conservative."

However, that kind of symbolism does little to mollify the concerns of those worried that services such as Gab keep users inside "filter bubbles" that reinforce their own ideas and block out other viewpoints.

"The service that they have created is an echo chamber for extremely conservative opinions," says Lauren Copeland, associate director of the Community Research Institute at Baldwin Wallace University.

"It may be open to everybody, but it certainly doesn't appeal to everybody."
Jean-aime Mbiya Bondo came to America from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2006 with nothing but a dream of making his life better after being selected for a diversity visa.

But what he experienced at first was shocking -- almost dream-crushing for him. Almost.

As someone who had been working in the government finance ministry after earning a degree in economics from the University of Kinshasa, all of his hard work seemed to go to waste when he was told his degree wasnt valuable in the United States. His best job option: cleaning hotels at the Holiday Inn in Ohio.

Mbiya Bondo wouldnt settle. He packed his bags and moved to Lincoln. He pushed forward, learned English and went back to school for three years to get a degree in public administration at Doane College.

At first, I wondered, Why was it a good decision for me to come here again? Mbiya Bondo said. There is stress you cannot imagine as an immigrant or refugee. You come here and you dont know anything about the language. I have many friends in Africa who were doctors. They come here and they are told they cant do anything here.

Mbiya Bondo said he never wants other immigrants and refugees to go through his same heartache. So hes working to not let it happen.

His dream transitioned from making a better life for himself, to making a better life for the world.

He found the International American Relief Society -- a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting all refugees and immigrants in Nebraska by getting them access to services and providers. It also works to alleviate poverty in the world.

I can understand their situation better because I know how theyre feeling, Mbiya Bondo said. Our door is open every day. The big thing in life is having access to information. Some people dont know anything about any organizations here that can help them.

To discuss the challenges and the stress that comes with leaving everything behind in one life and beginning another in the United States, refugees and immigrants were invited to an empowerment training at the Midwestern African Museum of Art, Culture and Resource Center.

Different laws, different education, different health systems, different languages and different cultural expectations. Whats so difficult? President of International American Relief Society Christa Yoakum answered, Their whole world.

The session is on how to deal with stress, how to recognize stress in your life and how to deal with it, Yoakum said.

Yoakum said many newcomers, or even those who have been in the U.S. for years, need support now more than ever with President-elect Donald Trumps policy ideas on immigration reform.

We have people who have gone through extreme trauma and extreme stress, Yoakum said. They fled their country because they couldnt survive where they were -- war, persecution, famine, crime.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is one thing. Not feeling welcomed adds to the burden, she continued.

To come to the United States where the expectation is they will be safe and in a stable situation, to have this uncertainty about whats going to happen next from our leadership and to have local community members say things that are very discouraging, like, Go home, we dont want you here or Why do you wear the hijab? Its challenging.

Professor Paul Ajuoga, born in Kenya, with expertise in psychology and mental illness, was the first among immigrants to offer advice.

Ajuoga said it's up to the everyday citizens of America and professionals in mental health to get proper training if they want to make a real difference.

"We need mental health people who understand trauma, who understand people from another culture," Ajuoga said. "They need to be culturally competent. Anxiety, rage, anger, depression all often come from trauma. If a therapist isn't educated in trauma, a refugee just hops from one therapist to another."

He said a first step is to immerse oneself in other cultures to better understand their emotions.

Ajuoga reminded refugees and immigrants they don't have to lose their activities, fashion or music.

"Americans are not trying to change your culture -- you can keep your culture," he said.

And even when times are difficult for their community -- if their kids are adapting faster, creating a cultural gap within a family, or they simply can't navigate their way around a grocery store -- Ajuoga told the group to not give up.

"Whether you come here for a good life or you're running from something, you got to have a job, you got to learn how to get along with people," he said. "You got to contribute to this world in some way."
By Peter Gosnell

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's national carrier Qantas Airways Ltd will launch the first regular passenger flight directly linking Australia and Europe when it begins flights from Perth to London with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, the airline said on Sunday.

"When Qantas created the Kangaroo Route to London in 1947, it took four days and nine stops," Qantas chief executive officer Alan Joyce told a news conference in Perth.

"Now it will take just 17 hours from Perth non-stop."

Flights on the 14,498 km (9,000 mile) route will begin in March 2018.

Federal Tourism Minister Steven Ciobo said Qantas would use Perth as a hub for passengers from eastern Australia going to Britain, and the service would boost employment and tourism.

Britain is Australia's third-largest source of international visitors with more than 660,000 people coming from there to Australia last year, and spending $3.7 billion (2.9 billion pounds), Ciobo said in a statement.

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners used on the route will carry 236 passengers, Qantas said.

(Reporting by Peter Gosnell)
Yesterday was the 2016 Nobel Prize Award Ceremony, where Bob Dylan was awarded his Nobel Prize in Literature. Dylan was unfortunately unable to attend the event in person, but to commemorate the honor, he prepared an acceptance speech which was delivered by Azita Raji, the United States Ambassador to Sweden.

"From an early age, I've been familiar with and reading and absorbing the works of those who were deemed worthy of such a distinction: Kipling, Shaw, Thomas Mann, Pearl Buck, Albert Camus, Hemingway," he writes. "These giants of literature whose works are taught in the schoolroom, housed in libraries around the world and spoken of in reverent tones have always made a deep impression. That I now join the names on such a list is truly beyond words."

Dylan goes on to discuss how important the stories in his songs are to him and to his listeners. "Well, I've been doing what I set out to do for a long time, now. I've made dozens of records and played thousands of concerts all around the world. But it's my songs that are at the vital center of almost everything I do. They seemed to have found a place in the lives of many people throughout many different cultures and I'm grateful for that."

In his place, Patti Smith performed at the ceremony. You can watch the whole thing here, and read his letter in full here.

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Beirut (AFP) - The Islamic State jihadist group recaptured Palmyra on Sunday after Syrian armed forces pulled out of the desert city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

The jihadists made a lightning-fast advance across the city after overrunning a northern neighbourhood and capturing the famed citadel to Palmyra's west.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that IS regained "full control" of the city on Sunday after taking the citadel, which overlooks Palmyra from a strategic hilltop.

IS launched an offensive last week near Palmyra, a renowned UNESCO World Heritage site.

It seized oil and gas fields before making a major push into the desert city on Saturday, sparking new worries for Palmyra's remaining ancient treasures.

But a fierce Russian bombing campaign killed scores of IS fighters and forced others to withdraw at dawn on Sunday.

"Intense Russian raids since last night forced IS out of Palmyra, hours after the jihadists retook control of the city," said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The army brought reinforcements into Palmyra last night, and the raids are continuing on jihadist positions around the city," he told AFP.

In a statement issued in Moscow, the defence ministry said Russian warplanes conducted 64 air strikes against "positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants" in Palmyra.

"Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra," it said in a statement.

"The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery," it said, adding that the strikes killed more than 300 militants and destroyed 11 tanks and 31 vehicles.

Russia has carried out a bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

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- Hit-and-run -

IS fighters have used hit-and-run tactics to cut their losses of personnel and equipment, withdrawing under intense bombardment but quickly relaunching an attack when skies are clear.

The jihadists have killed around 100 members of Syrian government forces since launching simultaneous attacks on several regime positions near Palmyra on Thursday, the Britain-based Observatory said.

They targeted areas including near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and seized government checkpoints, silos and the village of Jazal, northwest of Palmyra.

In May last year, the Sunni Muslim extremist group seized several towns in Homs province including Palmyra, where they caused extensive damage to many of its ancient sites.

They were ousted from Palmyra in March by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia.

That was hailed as a major victory, with Russian celebrities travelling there since March staging concerts and making public appearances.

Moscow has been under severe criticism for its air strikes on Aleppo -- which it says it stopped on October 18 -- where the anti-Assad opposition is currently holed up in just a fraction of the territory it once controlled.

The city's eastern districts are still being bombed by the Syrian regime which Washington has labelled "war crimes" and a UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire to stop the carnage.
ROME (Reuters) - Rescuers plucked 1,164 people from rubber and wooden boats in the Mediterranean under heavy thunderstorms on Sunday and recovered six dead bodies during the operations, relief services said. Italian coastguard and naval ships, a vessel from the European Union's anti-smuggling mission and private aid groups rescued the people from seven boats in the central Mediterranean. The coastguard gave no details about the six dead it found. Doctors Without Borders (MSF), one of the humanitarian groups that took part in Sunday's rescues, wrote about the stormy weather on Twitter: "It bucketed down during today's rescues. Winter on the Mediterranean is next-level grim." Most of the 4,715 deaths in the Mediterranean counted by the International Organization for Migration so far this year were reported en route to Italy from Libya, where traffickers have taken advantage of lawlessness to set up profitable businesses. One migrant told the crew of the Aquarius, a rescue ship run by the humanitarian group SOS Mediterranee, that he wanted to go to Tripoli airport to take a flight home to Bangladesh but trying to reach the Libyan capital "was much more dangerous than taking this wooden boat and trying to cross to Europe". But amid the distress, a Nigerian woman rescued on Saturday evening gave birth on Sunday to a baby boy on the ship, which was "good news that cheered up the whole crew," the aid group said on its website. (Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
Guests at a branch of a budget hotel chain probably did a bit of a double take as they were queuing up at the breakfast buffet the other week.

Rod Stewart/Rex Photos

Faces rocker Rod Stewart has hinted that hes just spent a night at the Holiday Inn to celebrate the chains 40-year ban finally being lifted last year.

These days youre more likely to find 71-year-old Rod sitting comfortably in front of the telly with his pipe and slippers, but back in his 70s heyday he was well known for being a bit of a hellraiser  and the hotel chain promptly slapped a ban on him staying after a series of raucous parties.

In fact, Rod recently told James Corden that the band regularly checked into hotels as Fleetwood Mac during the 1970s to get around the ban, presumably because Stevie Nicks and co were well known for being tucked up in bed by 10 with a cup of cocoa, right?

Rod Stewart/Rex Photos

It seems foolish nowadays, but the reason we did it is because, yknow, especially in Holiday Inns, wed get no respect. Yknow, they didnt want to serve us, Rod once admitted. So we just took our revenge. Televisions, wed empty the rooms out of furniture and put it in the elevator and send all the furniture down to the lobby. In fact, we were still doing that in the 80s. I actually did it in Perth and got a huge bill of $11,000 in the 80s.

Hey @rodstewart, we saw you on @latelateshow with @jkcorden and we really wanted to let you know something pic.twitter.com/yxQPRmBjNC  Holiday Inn (@HolidayInn) July 16, 2015

A Holiday Inn spokesperson said that the chain is not one to hold a grudge and that Rod would be welcome back anytime. They originally made the offer to return last year, and since the newly-knighted rocker is currently touring the UK, hes apparently snapped up their offer.

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Despite having millions in the bank, he seems happy to save pennies by going budget, said a source. The most expensive suite is 120 so it is definitely no frills. The other guests were very surprised to see him there. Rod is apparently worth somewhere in the region of 160million.

Rumours that Rod attempted to relive his wild youth by trashing the hotels hairdryer and taking home a few packets of those complimentary shortbread biscuits are so far unconfirmed.
Next to last years three-block Star Wars: The Force Awakens world premiere which boasted over 5,400 attendees across three theaters, last nights premiere of Disneys franchise spinoff Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was indeed smaller, relegated to the Pantages Theatre Hollywood & Vine block.

That said, opulence was not spared on this spinoff prequel which is set to take the world by storm with an opening north of $280M this week.

HOLLYWOOD, CA - DECEMBER 10: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been shot in black and white. Color version not available.) Actor Diego Luna attends The World Premiere of Lucasfilm's highly anticipated, first-ever, standalone Star Wars adventure, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" at the Pantages Theatre on December 10, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Disney) *** Local Caption *** Diego Luna

Cmon  how often does a full-size X-Wing fighter takeover Hollywood Boulevard? And that wasnt all: There was a full size TIE Fighter hanging out in the blow-up tent in the parking lot adjacent to the Avalon Theater. Getting these spaceships out of town is resulting in road closures until Tuesday at 6AM. It gives you an idea how were witnessing the fully armed and operational power of Rogue Ones premiere battle station.

Last years Force Awakens premiere marked a 10-year revitalization, a Disney celebration of their $4B acquisition of Lucasfilm. It was literally akin to the Academy Awards with everyone but President Obama showing up.

Rogue was certainly big by Hollywood standards, but there was a difference between this year and last year, with more grandeur arguably heaped on an Episode movie, versus this stand-alone spinoff. Last night there werent any big speeches before the film by any of the pics producers or the films director Gareth Edwards. The celeb quotient was also pared down: The only legacy Star Wars actors in attendance were Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and none of The Force Awakens castmembers were there. But last night wasnt about the Episode VII guys, it was about this new cast who showed up in full force: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Ben Mendelsohn, Mads Mikkelsen, and Riz Ahmed.

And in case you were wondering what the reception was to this ambitious standalone Star Wars movie: The Pantages erupted in deafening cheers as the end credits hit, with rolling screams as each actors name came up. Without giving any specific details about the prequel away, This is a fan movie made with all the toys at our disposal, said Rogue One co-scribe Chris Weitz succinctly describing the movie, We saw Star Wars when we were children and thats where were coming from. For anyone who played with Star Wars action figures as a kid, the movie truly is bliss.

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Rogue One takes place moments before the onset of the 1977 movie and focuses on the ragtag group of rebels who steal the Death Star plans which are ultimately uploaded onto R2-D2 by Princess Leia. VFX guru John Knoll, whose credits include the 1997 releases and the prequels, initially pitched the idea for Rogue One ten years ago, and pitched it again following Disneys acquisition of Lucasfilm. Knoll serves as EP on Rogue One. Gary Whitta began cracking the script followed by Chris Weitz who took the screenplay up to production, then handed it off to Tony Gilroy (Christopher McQuarries fingerprints are apparently on the script too, though he is not credited). Gilroy worked on dialogue and reshoots over the summer.

Why go prequel and not character spinoff? Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn says that Rogue One just came together. Sure they could have put the Han Solo standalone first, but we liked the space between Force Awakens when Han Solo dies, and the origins story. This felt like a good thing to slip in; filling the gap between the third and fourth chapters.

Coming away from last night, its clear Disney has another hit on their hands after Episode VII last year made over $2B worldwide, the third highest movie ever at that level and the best stateside with $923M. Not to mention, with their brands, Disney continually churns out smart franchise movies that appeal both to fans and critics. Furthermore, when youre dealing with such in-demand movies, you cant test them around the nation if theres a need to fix any quirks. Not in this social era when youre trying to keep a lid on any surprises.

kathleen kennedy

Horn credits Disneys B.O. streak with its brands to great filmmakers and in the case of Star Wars, Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy. Rumors surfaced over the summer that there were reshoots on Rogue One. Explains Horn, We did four or five cuts of this movie. We look for heart and humor and we look for consistent storylines and characters you can relate to. Its also important to have diversity. We know we need to have size and scope or else the audience wont say I have to see it now and I have to see it a good theater.' In regards to any significant additions to Rogue One since the summer, Horn said We added humor where it didnt exist as much before with the studio chief giving full props to Alan Tudyks sarcastic Imperial droid K-2SO, a hunk of metal who gives Han Solo a run for his money when it comes to gab.

Stats have proved that tentpoles with diverse casts have delivered at the B.O., read Force Awakens ($2B), Furious 7 ($1.5B), Suicide Squad ($745.6M); the list goes on.

Next Christmas at this time, well get Star Wars: Episode VIII and 2017 will mark the 40th anniversary of Star Wars. The Han Solo move goes into production next year for release during Memorial Day weekend 2018. 20th Century Foxs Avatar sequel is slotted for Dec. 21, 2018, with sequels following in 2020, 2022, and 2023. Currently, Episode IX hasnt RSVPed a date on the release calendar.

The writers m.o. per Weitz was to figure Rogue One out as a fairy tale, which is what Star Wars really is; find the emotional logic behind that and the plot will follow. A standard motif in Star Wars is the abandonment of children, or the separation of parents from their children: We see that with Luke and Leia post Revenge of the Sith, with Rey in Force Awakens, and from the Rogue One trailers its indicated that Jones Jyn Erso is separated from her Imperial engineer dad Galen Erso.

Thats a classic fairy tale motif, explained Weitz, the dead or missing parents. The dual storyline in the movie with Jyn Ero was strong enough to hang space off of.

The World Premiere Of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"

In addition to Jones fierce Erso, Ben Mendelsohn joins James Earl Jones and Adam Driver (in Force Awakens) as one of those who can sublimely play a Star Wars baddie to complex levels. Mendelsohns Imperial commander  Death Star champion Orson Krennic  cant get any respect. Mendelsohn said he largely left the humor out his performance, and to Tudyks K-2SO. When you take on this type of perdition (in the character), youre talking about a guy who is true believer (in the cause). The Empire is a tough office, says the actor about Krennic. In the movie Mendelsohns Krennic gets to work opposite an old Star Wars character we havent seen in a while (cant spoil who that is), and as far as the actor who plays him, Mendelsohn says about his peer, He had the same body posture as the character, studied him and played him very well.

Of the few notables outside the Star Wars universe who beamed in last night were Michael Douglas, Christian Bale, Joss Whedon, Kevin Smith, Chris Hardwick, Nathan Fillion, Terry Crews, Constance Zimmer, and Rainn Wilson. Star Wars creator George Lucas, unlike last year, was a no-show as well as Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams (who was actually listed to attend). Similar to last years after-party, attendees got the chance to take photos with Darth Vader and the new types of Rogue One stormtroopers, assemble Star Wars ships out of origami and play a round of the Star Wars Battlefront video game. Also attending were Walt Disney chairman/CEO Bob Iger, Disney domestic distribution chief Dave Hollis, Rogue One director Gareth Edwards, Lucasfilm chief and Rogue One producer Kathleen Kennedy, producers Allison Shearmur, Simon Emanuel, EPs Kiri Hart, John Knoll, Jason McGatlin and Rogue One composer Michael Giacchino.

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By Radu-Sorin Marinas and Luiza Ilie BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's leftist Social Democrats (PSD) won Sunday's parliamentary election by a wide margin, exit polls showed, putting them in a strong position to form a coalition government with a junior ally. Seeking re-election a year after the coalition it led stepped down amid street protests over its failure to address corruption, the PSD appears to have won the support of many Romanians with promises of increased social spending. Exit polls conducted by CURS-Avangarde and IRES showed the PSD winning close to 46 percent of the vote, followed by the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL) with about 22 percent. The Save Romania Union party, a newcomer to Romanian politics, was seen winning around 9.2 percent. The Central Electoral Bureau is expected to release first official partial results on Monday morning. Observers said a PSD-led government would likely bloat public spending, raising the risk that Romanian fiscal deficits could exceed the European Union's 3 percent of GDP limits. With its leader, Liviu Dragnea, convicted of vote-rigging in April, the PSD is also seen as a threat to Romania's recent efforts to step up anti-corruption reforms. "I am ... overwhelmed by the result," Dragnea said after the exit poll results were announced. "Romania is an island of stability in the region. All political factors must understand and respect today's vote." Dragnea also said his party will start talks to form a parliamentary majority with long-time ally ALDE, expected to take about 6 percent of the vote. A calculation by private television Antena 3 based on raw official ballot data showed PSD winning 47 percent and ALDE 5 percent. "In the coming days, PSD and ALDE will begin discussions in order to form a new majority in parliament ... Today's vote clearly indicates Romanians' choice for a future government," Dragnea said in a statement. POLICY TURNAROUND The election follows a year of a technocrat government in Romania - the EU's fastest-growing economy but also one of its poorest - put in place after massive street protests brought down the previous PSD-led government. Triggered by a deadly fire in the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest that lacked emergency exits and other safety measures, the protests called for sweeping change in Romania to address chronically inept public administration and graft. But many of the younger voters who took to the streets then failed to vote on Sunday, underscoring a lack of trust that reforms can take root. The PSD's electorate traditionally stems from older, poorer Romanians, eager to hear the party's message that centers around public sector wage hikes, tax cuts and higher pensions. "The exit polls results mean that we will have a leftist government," said political commentator Mircea Marian. "The main problem is that, step by step, very slowly, they will likely change legislation in the anti-corruption field."Both PSD and ALDE politicians have accused anti-corruption prosecutors, who have won EU praise for their efforts, of being politically motivated in their investigations. Dragnea told reporters in June that Romanians must choose between "better bread or handcuffs." During its previous years in government, between 2012-2015, the PSD reversed austerity policies put in place after a 2008 real estate crash by cutting taxes and raising the minimum wage and public-sector pay. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, now expects Romania's deficit to quadruple from 0.8 percent of economic output in 2015 to 3.2 percent in 2017 under European accounting terms. (Editing by Justyna Pawlak, David Goodman and Alan Crosby)
Bucharest (AFP) - Romania's left staged an emphatic comeback in elections Sunday, a year after anger over a deadly nightclub fire forced them from office.

Mass protests in the EU's second-poorest country after the blaze on October 30, 2015 that claimed 64 lives drove premier Victor Ponta and his Social Democrats (PSD) to resign.

But exit polls on Sunday, 13 months later, put the PSD well ahead its rivals with around 45 percent of the vote, even better than expected.

The rival centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL) trailed on around 21 percent, while their allies the Save Romania Union (USR) was on nine percent.

The PSD's likely coalition partner, the ALDE party, looked to have won around 6.5 percent, meaning that between them they will have a majority in parliament.

However, it remains to be seen whether the PSD's leader Liviu Dragnea, 54, who is serving a suspended sentence for electoral fraud, can become premier.

In theory this bars him from office under Romanian law and centre-right President Klaus Iohannis, 57, has refused to appoint anyone with legal problems.

This would also exclude a comeback by Ponta, 44, currently on trial for alleged tax evasion and money laundering, charges he denies.

Comments from Dragnea on Sunday evening suggested he wants the job.

"Romania is an island of stability. I want this stable democracy to remain in place," he said.

"This means that all politicians and institutions have to respect today's vote. We should all understand that Romania needs a competent, stable and responsible government."

Romania has been run since Ponta's departure by a caretaker government under technocrat Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, 47, a former European commissioner.

The PNL and the USR have said they would support Ciolos staying on but the PSD wants him gone.

- Corrupt officials -

The inferno inside the Colectiv club was blamed on corrupt officials turning a blind eye to a lack of fire precautions. Poor medical care exacerbated the death toll.

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For many, it was the final straw, and the tragedy prompted a push to clean Romania up.

The National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) has been highly active and visible, bringing ministers, senators, lawmakers and other public officials to justice.

A recent survey suggested that 95 percent of Romanians want tackling corruption to be a priority for the next government.

But before the election there were worries this will not happen if the PSD returns to power.

The clean-up has "disproportionately hit the Romanian left," said Tsveta Petrova from risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

"As a result, should a left-led coalition come to power, it will try to slow down this campaign."

- Promises, promises -

But the PSD enjoys strong support among older Romanians and in rural areas of the southeastern European nation of 20 million people.

However, 27 years after the summary execution of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and the end of Communism, voter apathy is rife, with turnout just 39.5 percent on Sunday.

Both sides, while trading insults and generally avoiding serious political discussion during the campaign, have pledged spectacular hikes in wages and pensions as well as tax cuts.

Such promises go down well in the EU's second-poorest nation where more than half of rural households have no running water and one in four people lives in poverty.

Three million people have emigrated.

At the same time, however, the nationalist and anti-EU rhetoric seen in other countries in the region like Hungary and Poland has been largely, if not entirely, absent.

"Our Romania is completely destroyed. We can't live here any more. There are no jobs, people are going abroad," Marin Oana, a voter in the poor southern village of Singureni, told AFP.

"I hope that (the politicians) grasp what the problems are in our society and invest in health care and education," said Denisa Grajdan, another voter in the same village.

Official results were expected on Monday morning.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has named Megan Elliott the founding director of the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts.

Elliott, manager of leadership and community connections at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia and former director and CEO of digital media think-tank X Media Lab, will start in January.

"The center will be an important hub of interdisciplinary learning, creativity and research in emerging media, and Megan's hire immediately elevates it to the world stage," Chancellor Ronnie Green said in a news release. "We are pleased to have her expertise to guide the development of the center."

The center was made possible by a $20 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation from the Johnny Carson Foundation in 2015. It will focus on virtual production, film, design, technology and commerce and will explore the boundaries of where cinematic storytelling intersects with artificial intelligence, science, the humanities, computer science, engineering, music, fine arts and other disciplines.

Courses and curriculum are being developed, and students are expected to begin enrolling in fall 2018. The center will be at 1300 Q St. and is scheduled to be completed by fall 2019.

"What I'm most excited about is co-creating a truly interdisciplinary program that celebrates the dynamic relationship between storytelling and emerging media arts and building an internationally unique, forward-looking center that honors the name and innovative spirit of Johnny Carson," Elliott said.

Elliott has worked at the University of Technology Sydney since 2015. There she has led an international program for students to develop leadership and entrepreneurial skills while instilling a commitment to innovation, social justice, community building and sustainability.

Elliott has deep ties to emerging media industries across Asia, Europe and the world. She was co-founder and director of China Creative Industries Exchange in Beijing and Shanghai from 2007 to 2015.

From 2005 to 2015, she led X Media Lab, a digital media think-tank and creative workshop that she co-founded. X Media Lab assists clients with getting their creative ideas to market. Some of the company's partners include the Sydney Film Festival, Beijing Film Academy, American Film Institute, Digital Hollywood, 5D Global Studio and the British Council.

"My experience in building the X Media Lab network of events and institutions across 14 countries and 22 cities all over the world, for more than a decade, is a great foundation to bring to the Carson Center," Elliott said.

Elliott also was executive director of the Australian Writers' Guild from 2002 to 2006.

Originally from Australia, she received her bachelor's degree from the University of Canberra.

She began her career with the Splinters Theatre of Spectacle and was a performer, artist in residence and assistant project manager for The Performance Space in Australia.
Marco Rubio

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio chided President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday for citing Rex Tillersons close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin as one of the reasons he thought he would be a good secretary of state.

"Being a 'friend of Vladimir' is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState," Rubio tweeted.

Rubios comment came after Trump told Fox News that Tillerson possesses foreign-policy experience that makes him an attractive candidate for the nations top diplomatic post.

"Hes much more than a business executive," Trump said. "I mean, he's a world-class player."

Trump added: "And to me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company  not for himself  for the company."

It was reported on Saturday by NBC News and The New York Times that Trump is likely to tap the Exxon Mobile CEO for secretary of state. An official announcement is expected in the coming days.

If selected, Tillerson could face a difficult hurdle being confirmed.

A number of senators have expressed worry over his relationship with Putin and whether he has sufficient experience to represent the US as chief diplomat.

NOW WATCH: Trump goes on a tweetstorm less than 48 hours after promising to be more 'restrained' on Twitter





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Skopje (AFP) - Macedonia's ruling conservatives and the opposition Social Democrats both claimed victory in snap elections held in the hope of solving a two-year long deep political crisis.

"VMRO-DPMNE is the winner of this election," Nikola Gruevski, party leader and prime minister since 2006, told supporters at the party's headquarters.

However, shortly afterwards the opposition Social Democrats (SDSM) also claimed to have won.

"We are the winners!" Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev told a cheering crowd of supporters in front of the government building in central Skopje.

"We have one more seat, we are waiting for the final results ... but the trend is clearly in our favour."

With votes counted at 96 percent of polling stations the VMRO-DPMNE had a narrow lead of less than 1.5 percent of votes.

According to analysts, with the results too close to call it was not possible to provide a reliable projection on the number of seats each side will have in parliament until the last votes are counted.

For voters, the most important outcome will be to get a government capable of regaining stability after the long political crisis.

"What do I expect? I expect this agony to end," 55-year-old Zoran Milevski told AFP after he cast his ballot at a school-turned-polling station in central Skopje.

The vote was called as part of a European Union-brokered deal between Macedonia's four main political parties after a mass wiretapping scandal erupted in February 2015 and sparked rival street protests.

No major incidents were reported during the day, electoral officials said, although observers warned of some irregularities. However, none of the parties has complained about the process or results so far.

The turnout was higher than at previous elections, around 66 percent.

- Albanian kingmakers -

Wiretapping allegations led Gruevski of the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party to step down in January after nearly 10 years in power -- paving the way for Sunday's snap election.

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The vote, which was twice delayed owing to international concerns over fraud, pitched the ex-PM against his nemesis Zaev.

It was Zaev who released tapes last year that appeared to show the government had wiretapped thousands, including journalists and religious officials, as well as alleging high-level corruption.

Gruevski denied the claims and accused Zaev of planning a coup with foreign support.

Zaev, 42, has pitched the vote as a choice between "doom or life" and pledged to stop an exodus of young people from the former Yugoslav republic, which remains one of Europe's poorest countries.

"Whoever wins the election will have huge challenges and issues to solve," Zaneta Trajkoska, director at the Institute of Communication Studies, told AFP.

Following the neck-and-neck results for the VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM, ethnic Albanian parties will likely emerge as the kingmaker, in a country where a quarter of the population is Albanian.

Albanian insurgents fought Macedonian forces in an uprising 15 years ago, leading to an agreement giving the minority group more rights.

- 'Under pressure' -

Macedonia aspires to join both the EU and NATO but accession has been blocked by Athens owing to a dispute over the country's name -- Greece has a northern region also called Macedonia.

The latest EU progress report on Macedonia said democracy and rule of law had been "constantly challenged" in particular by "state capture", referring to the considerable influence of private interests on state decisions.

Analysts however suggest Europe has brushed aside concerns because of Gruevski's role as a "gatekeeper" in the refugee crisis, in which hundreds of thousands of migrants have entered landlocked Macedonia from Greece on their way to western Europe.

The refugee wave has put added pressure on the public purse in Macedonia, where the average net wage is around 360 euros ($380) a month and unemployment stands at nearly 24 percent.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - More than 4,000 Islamic State militants have regrouped and launched a second attack to try to recapture the ancient city of Palmyra, Russian news agencies cited Russia's monitoring centre in Syria as saying on Sunday. "Despite heavy losses in manpower and equipment, the terrorists are trying as hard as possible to secure a foothold inside the city," Interfax quoted a statement from the centre as saying. "Syrian troops are fighting to defend Palmyra." The centre said Islamic State was drawing on "significant forces" from its strongholds in Raqqa and Deir al Zor. Earlier on Sunday, a news agency affiliated with the militants and a Britain-based monitoring group said Islamic State recaptured Palmyra after briefly retreating in the face of heavy Russian air strikes. (Reporting by Jack Stubbs; Editing by Louise Ireland)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Sunday that Moscow had not reached an agreement with the United States for rebel fighters in Syria's Aleppo to have safe passage out of the city, RIA news agency reported. Rebel officials told Reuters earlier on Sunday that a proposal had been tabled by the two countries for fighters to leave the city with their families and other civilians. "What western agencies are reporting does not necessarily correspond with reality," Ryabkov said, adding that Russia was working to create the necessary conditions for the safe extraction of people from Aleppo. "The issue of withdrawing militants is the subject of separate agreements. This agreement has not yet been reached, largely because the United States insists on unacceptable terms," RIA quoted him as saying. Ryabkov said there was no discussion about a joint agreement with the United States on Syria which would then be considered by the opposition. The rebel groups in Aleppo said they had yet to respond to the proposal. Talks between Russian and U.S. experts will continue in Geneva, he said, adding: "There is some progress, but no agreement." (Reporting by Jack Stubbs; editing by David Clarke)
By Katya Golubkova

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian state holding company Rosneftegaz on Saturday signed a deal with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and commodities trader Glencore (GLEN.L) to sell a 19.5 percent stake in state-owned oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM), Rosneft said.

The privatisation deal, which Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin called the largest in Russia's history, was announced by Rosneft in a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

Its success suggests the lure of taking a share in one of the world's biggest oil companies outweighs the risks associated with Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

Rosneft had been under pressure to secure a sale of the 19.5 percent stake to help replenish state coffers, hit by an economic slowdown driven by weak oil prices and exacerbated by sanctions.

Rosneft said in a statement the budget would receive 710.8 billion roubles ($11.37 billion) from the sale, including 18.4 billion roubles in additional dividends from Rosneftegaz.

It said the additional dividends were due to a change in its dividend policy, according to which it will pay at least 35 percent of net profit according to international accounting standards in payouts twice a year.

Rosneft confirmed that Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) was a major creditor for the deal and said it would be closed by the middle of December.

A Rosneft source said Intesa and a syndicate of four or five key banks would provide 7 billion euros of financing.

The Italian lender will provide "significantly over 50 percent" of the financing, while Glencore will hedge the bulk of its stake in Rosneft, the source added.

Sechin called QIA and Glencore "strategic investors" and said he was confident their work together would lead to synergies for Rosneft.

($1 = 62.5227 Russian roubles)

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Writing by Alexander Winning and Jack Stubbs; Editing by David Evans and Dale Hudson)
Russia has turned down Tokyo's latest attempt at dog diplomacy ahead of a summit between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later this month, an aide said, as the two leaders look to end a decades-old territorial row.

Japan had planned to give the Russian president -- who is known for being a canine lover -- a male Akita when he visits Japan on December 15 and 16, which will include a trip to Abe's home state of western Yamaguchi.

It was hoped the dog could accompany a female of the same breed named "Yume" -- which means "dream" in Japanese -- that Tokyo had presented to Putin four years ago as a thank you gift for Russia's help after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

"Unfortunately, we received a reply yesterday that they will not take him as the bridegroom," Koichi Hagiuda, one of Abe's close aides, said in a blog Friday.

At the much-anticipated summit -- and Putin's first such visit since 2005 -- Japan is hoping to make progress on a territorial dispute over the status of four Pacific islands near its north coast, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

Relations between Moscow and Tokyo have been strained for decades over the territorial row dating back to World War II. Soviet troops seized the southernmost islands in an archipelago off the northeast coast of Hokkaido just after Japan surrendered.

The seven-decade dispute over the islands' ownership has kept Moscow and Tokyo from signing a post-war peace treaty and hindered trade and investment.
Russian airstrikes forced the fighters of the Islamic State group to retreat to the outskirts of Palmyra on Sunday, a day after the extremist group re-entered the ancient city in eastern Syria. ISIS held the Unesco World Heritage site of Palmyra from May 2015 until March this year when it was forced out of the city.

According to the Russian ministry, Russian jets carried out 64 strikes during the operation, killing more than 300 ISIS fighters.

Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra. The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery, the ministry reportedly said in a statement.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that ISIS had gained control of some oil and gas fields around the city after starting its advancement toward Palmyra on Thursday.

During its previous occupation of Palmyra, ISIS fighters beheaded the archeological director and destroyed a number of monuments including two 2,000-year-old temples, an arch and funerary towers.

The attack on Palmyra came as the Russian-backed government forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad closed in on the remaining rebel-held areas of Aleppo. The Syrian government resumed fighting in certain areas of besieged Aleppo after a brief humanitarian pause, rebel groups said Friday.

Russia imposed a humanitarian ceasefire on Aleppo to allow civilians to flee the city. The Russian military said that as of Friday morning, nearly 8,000 civilians, including 3,000 children, fled the city, which was once a large financial and industrial center.

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Washington (AFP) - Three years ago, the new chief of the main US financial markets regulator warned Wall Street the kid gloves were coming off.

Fabled former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White, who took charge of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2013, said the worst offenders would have to confess to wrongdoing in order to reach settlements with her agency.

But as White, one of the longest-serving SEC chairs, prepares to step down next month, her efforts to tighten the screws on Wall Street and force firms to admit misdeeds have resulted in only a small number of arguably qualified successes.

Big multinational firms linked to the subprime mortgage debacle, and other notorious offenders escaped having to admit guilt despite her warnings.

For four decades, banks, investment funds, major corporations and financiers who cheated investors, paid bribes or destabilized markets through illegal practices knew they could resolve matters with the SEC while almost never having to admit wrongdoing.

Companies prefer to settle without admitting fault since that protects them from potentially devastating lawsuits. The practice also made defendants more cooperative, allowing the SEC to get quicker and more numerous results without having to go through lengthy trials.

But to a public hungry for accountability, and punishment for those seen as responsible for the 2008 global financial crisis, this easy out was unsatisfying.

And the agency already had faced stiff criticism for its failure to foresee the crisis or to detect egregious crimes like Bernard Madoff's gigantic Ponzi scheme.

- Only a few confess -

White vowed to send a strong message by seeking admissions in the worst cases -- those with many victims, that created the biggest risk to markets, or in which firms or individuals obstructed SEC investigations.

But the potential for high financial costs to those forced to admit wrongdoing made White's campaign tough to achieve in practice.

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Still, SEC Enforcement director Andrew Ceresney defended her record and called the policy a success, saying it had resulted in admissions from almost 80 people and companies.

"Admissions result in additional accountability by the defendant that have enhanced deterrence in appropriate cases, while we still use 'no admit, no deny' settlements to eliminate litigation risk and obtain relief more expeditiously in most matters," he said in a statement to AFP.

But Urska Velikonja, a visiting law professor at Georgetown who has studied SEC enforcement, said the results have been a mixed bag.

Out of a sample of about 2,000 individuals or firms who settled with the SEC since the policy change, in cases filed between the 2012 and 2015 fiscal years, Velikonja found just 17 who admitted to offenses involving fraud, the kind of admission that can have the most serious legal ramifications.

And she did not find a single instance in which a publicly-traded company admitted to fraud.

The cases in which the SEC was able to win admissions were often more minor, Velikonja told the AFP. "They're probably also not the ones with the biggest numbers of victims."

"The most charitable reading" of White's goal, she said, "is this is an ideal. This is what we hope will happen. But getting there is hard."

- Making an effort? -

The SEC touts the high-profile admissions it was able to win from the financial sector: Merrill Lynch in June paid $415 million, admitting it misused customer cash to help generate profits. And a year ago, two units of JP Morgan Chase together settled for $267 million, after admitting they failed to inform clients of conflicts of interest.

But some very big fish avoided confessing: Steven Cohen, the hedge fund manager at the center of a sprawling, multi-agency insider trading investigation, settled in January without an admission.

And Morgan Stanley paid $275 million in 2014 but skated on whether it misled investors in subprime mortgage-backed securities at the heart of the financial crisis.

Velikonja gave the SEC credit for improving, and gradually winning more admissions. "They're making an effort and it seem to be getting easier."

As White and other SEC officials like Ceresney head for the exits, Velikonja said, while early signs suggested the incoming Trump administration was preparing to dismantle much of the Obama-era financial regulations, the policy on admissions could be popular enough to survive the transition. "This is one that might last," she said.

John Coffee, director of Columbia Law School's center on corporate governance, told AFP the SEC's results had not lived up to White's rhetoric, and many admissions lacked teeth.

"It is hard to change settled practices in Washington and the 'good old boys' in the private bar and the SEC have persisted in their ways," he said in an email.
A group of Democratic and Republican senators called for an investigation into reports of Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying they should alarm every American.

Republican senators John McCain, from Arizona, and Lindsey Graham, from South Carolina, joined Democrats Charles Schumer, from New York, and Jack Reed, from Rhode Island, to release a statement on Sunday calling for a probe into the reports that Russia interfered to help Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.

Congresss national security committees have worked diligently to address the complex challenge of cybersecurity, but recent events show that more must be done, the senators said in the statement. While protecting classified material, we have an obligation to inform the public about recent cyberattacks that have cut to the heart of our free society.

The statement came after Trump slammed the CIAs report on Russian interference. These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, his transition team said in a statement. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. Its now time to move on and Make America Great Again.'

The senators said Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyberattacks.

This cannot become a partisan issue, they said. The stakes are too high for our country.
IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / December 11, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit against Sanderson Farms, Inc. ("Sanderson Farms" or the "Company") (SAFM). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between December 17, 2013 and October 6, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm in advance of the December 27, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline.

If you purchased shares of Sanderson Farms during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang LLP, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

There has been no class certification in this case yet. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. You may choose to take no action and remain a passive class member.

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Sanderson Farms made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose material information. On September 2, 2016, some media outlets reported the filing of an antitrust class action lawsuit against Sanderson Farms and some of its peers for conspiring to manipulate the price of broiler-chickens. Allegedly, in 2008, Sanderson Farms, along with Tyson Foods and several other companies, conspired by sharing proprietary data and reducing production to support prices. On October 4, 2016, a group of consumers filed an antitrust class action complaint against Sanderson Farms and several of its industry peers for violations of the Sherman Act. On October 7, 2016, Pivotal Research downgraded peer company Tyson Foods from "buy" to "sell," due to fears over the class action against the Company and its peers, which it called "powerfully convincing." When this information was disclosed to the public, the stock price of Sanderson Farms declined, causing investors harm.

If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit, at no charge, or if you have any questions regarding this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or via e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

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This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in certain jurisdictions.

Contact:

Joon M. Khang, Esq.

Telephone: 949-419-3834

Facsimile: 949-225-4474

joon@khanglaw.com

SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP
By Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

For many decades, the struggle, and sometimes the glory, of religious belief was a continuing preoccupation for numerous major film directors, from John Ford, Leo McCarey, Frank Borzage and Cecil B. DeMille in Hollywood to Carl Dreyer, Ingmar Bergman, Robert Bresson and, in his own perverse way, Luis Bunuel internationally. In recent times, however, apart from faith-based filmmaking for a target audience, from which no known auteurs have yet emerged, religion as a recurring and serious topic has virtually disappeared from the American screen, except in certain works by Mel Gibson and Martin Scorsese.

In the long-gestating Silence, the latter has arguably made his most focused and searching exploration of the subject that has been both an explicit and implicit driving force behind many of his films. Not all dream projects turn out well, but this one comes within shouting distance.

The film is shot in a restrained, classical style, with very few of the directors virtuoso camera and editing moves. Its also resolutely, even single-mindedly focused on its central theme, creating an unvarying dramatic temperature and tone that is only relieved somewhat in the second half. Scorseses reputation and some strong critical support will assure interest among discerning big city audiences for this Paramount release, but the works grim nature and imposing length will likely keep the masses away.

Based on Shusaku Endos acclaimed and enduring 1966 novel, which was made into a well-received Japanese film by Masahiro Shinoda five years later, Scorseses version is, to a bit of a fault, almost exclusively concerned with the issue reflected by the books title  that is, Gods deafening, soul-churning, doubt-and-madness producing silence in the face of both endless human suffering and the devouts unceasing efforts to receive some form of divine guidance as regards to their earthly endeavors.

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Related: Martin Scorseses Journey From Near-Death Drug Addict to Silence

To explore this weighty, endlessly ponderable conundrum, Endo, a Japanese Catholic, used the real history of Japans Edict of Expulsion of 1614, designed to ban and eradicate Christianity from its islands, a policy pursued mercilessly. Into the perilous fray, in 1643, sneak two young Portuguese Jesuit priests who, while trying to aid the renegade faithful along the way, are mainly aiming to track down the eminent Father Cristavao Ferreira, a revered pioneering priest in Japan who has reportedly renounced his faith and of late has gone silent.

The brave and foolhardy army of two consists of Father Sebastiao Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Father Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver), who embark from a positively poisonous-looking Macao to be dumped off the perilous Japaneses coast. They get an appetizer of misfortunes to come as they suffer from cold, hunger and general miserableness. But they do happen upon a forlorn Christian cult that takes them in, and among them is a bedraggled English-speaking interpreter (Tadanobu Asano) able to brief them on the dire circumstances now facing those who continue to follow a foreign deity in Nippon.

Soaked as it is in squalor and the seeming hopelessness of the priests journey, the film has some trouble achieving lift-off; the two priests are characterized only by their tenacious belief and dogged endurance, traits strenuously and somewhat monotonously underlined by Garfield and Driver to the virtual exclusion of all other human qualities. Through this first stretch, at least, the films narrow focus, along with the priests aggravated earnestness, invite a certain tedium, just as their cause seems all but hopeless.

Capture for Christians under these circumstances means one thing, the demand to apostatize, a renunciation of faith made easy by the authorities; all you have to do is step on a small plate bearing Jesus likeness. But you never know; some apologists get off the hook but others are executed anyway and in ingenious ways designed expressly to prolong the agony, including crucifixion on crosses placed in a harbor where the tide will eventually rise to head-level, and being suspended in a coffin-sized hole with your neck pierced in a manner that the blood will drip, drop by drop, for ages until you die. Scorsese makes these scenes plenty visceral but fortunately knows where to draw the line. When Sebastaio is offered 300 pieces of silver to renounce Christ, he ruefully notes that this is a hundred times more than Judas was paid to betray Jesus.

Working on very rugged locations in Taiwan, Scorsese and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto strongly evoke a physical setting as forbidding and inhospitable as the authorities who rule it; the visuals incorporate beauty where it is to be found, but mainly inject it with a sense of natures sublime indifference and potential for terror. Working in league with this is a subdued, minimalist score by Kathryn and Kim Allen Kluge which, incidentally, is nothing like the jangly, propulsively modern music featured in the films trailer, which fortunately is nowhere to be heard in the finished work itself.

At length, Sebastaio and Francisco come to a parting of the ways, leaving the former to forge ahead alone. The solo explorer comes upon another Christian enclave in a remote fishing village, but is soon betrayed, arrested and jailed while awaiting trial, an experience that convinces his feverish mind that he is now following in Jesus footsteps. I will not abandon you, he avows.

Related: Andrew Garfield on Acting: I Know Im Never Going to Be Able to Quit | Actor Oscar Roundtable

Except perhaps in a musical by Gilbert and Sullivan, one would not expect a character called The Inquisitor to figure as comic relief, but so it is with the one played here with exquisite high humor by Issey Ogata. Inquisitor Inoue exercises the gravest powers, the ability to decide anyones life or death, but Ogata, a veteran actor working in Japanese and English, makes him a man keen to enjoy his work, especially when it offers the prospect of a lively debate in which he holds the upper hand.

Blithely telling his prisoner that Christianity is of no use in Japan and confident that he can get even this intense young man to apostatize, the Inquisitor wants to keep Sebastaio around for a while, during which time some believers hung upside down to be bled dry provide a constant motivation to repent and be done with it. The way this grisly test of Sebastiaos belief is crossed with the Inquisitors blithe humor proves terrifically effective. It all leads, finally, to a grimly riveting encounter between the young priest and none other than the long-lost Father Cristovao (Liam Neeson), who lays it all on the table about how he dealt with the same mighty challenge facing Sebastiao now and the prospects for their religion in Japan (where not long before there had been between 200-300,000 Christians).

Ultimately, then, despite the bumpiness of the initial stretch and the intense but narrow conception of the leading roles, Silence gets to where it wants to go, which is to stand as Scorseses own reckoning with the religion he was raised in and takes seriously, and which has arguably fueled so much of the inner turmoil and angst that has marked much of his work; this can rightly be regarded as a considerable feat. Germinating  one might even say festering  inside him for 26 years (Jay Cocks and Scorsese wrote their first draft of the script eons ago), Silence, more successfully than not, artfully addresses the core issue of its makers lifelong religious struggle. He has flirted with and danced around the subject in many of his other films, most often those featuring transgressive and violent characters, but of his explicitly religious dramas, specifically including Kundun and The Last Temptation of Christ, this is, by a considerable distance, the most eloquent and coherent.

Opens: December 23 (Paramount)

Production: EFO Fims, YLK, G&G, Sikelia, Fabrica de Cine

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano, Ciaran Hinds, Issey Ogata, Shinya Tsukamoto, Yoshi Oida, Yosuke Kubozuka

Director: Martin Scorsese

Screenwriters: Jay Cocks, Martin Scorsese, based on the novel by Shusaku Endo

Producers: Martin Scorsese, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Randall Emmett, Barbara De Fina, Gaston Pavlovich, Irwin Winkler, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, David Lee

Executive producers: Dale A. Brown, Matthew Maleck, Manu Gargi, Tyler Zacharia, Ken Kao, Dan Kao, Niels Juul, Chad A. Verdi, Len Blavatnik, Aviv Giladi, Lawrence Bender, Stuart Ford

Director of photography: Rodrigo Prieto

Production designer: Dante Ferreti

Costume designer: Dante Ferreti

Editor: Thelma Schoonmaker

Music: Kim Allen Kluge, Kathryn Kluge

Visual effects supervisor: Pablo Helman

Casting: Ellen Lewis

R rating, 162 minutes
In the wake of Donald Trump being named the 2016 Person of the Year by Time Magazine, SNL brought on Kate McKinnon to play the woman who received that honor last year: German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

As it turns out, Merkel isnt very happy about Times decision. It kind of undermines the honor for me, she said. Its like winning the Nobel Prize for Physics and the next year they give it to Hoobastank. Watch the full bit above.

Merkel said that 2016 has been a real Volkswagen for her, but shes coping with the help of David Cameron, who came up with a plan to prank call Trump by pretending theyre the President of Taiwan. Then SNL finally got into the inevitable Nazi jokes, with Merkel asking what could possibly go wrong with nationalism in Europe and noting that in Germany the alt-right movement is known as why Grandpapa lives in Argentina now.

Also Read: 'SNL': John Cena Shows Us How the World Looks Through Donald Trump's Eyes

But what really gets Merkel sad is the fact that she wont get to be world leader besties with Hillary Clinton. We were going to stay up late eating junk food, playing Eff, Marry, Kill with the leaders of Asia, she moaned. Wed do each others makeupjust Chapstick and sunblock.

McKinnon also returned to her parody of Kellyanne Conway in this weeks cold open, where she introduced Walter White as the new head of the DEA. You can check out that sketch here.

When you realize #CenaOnSNL is almost over. pic.twitter.com/9w6w0blX8F  Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) December 11, 2016

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On this weeks Saturday Night Live cold open, Beck Bennetts Jake Tapper came on to interview president-elect Donald Trumps latest and most interesting cabinet pick: new DEA boss Walter White, played by none other than Bryan Cranston.

According to the Breaking Bad antihero and chemistry teacher-turned-meth dealer, White was strongly vetted by Steve Bannon, who found him in a Breitbart comment section.

Though White has never met Trump, he says hes a big fan of Trumps policies, particularly his plan to build a wall that will keep the Mexicans out, which means less competition for the rest of us.

Also Read: 'SNL': John Cena Shows Us How the World Looks Through Donald Trump's Eyes

When asked by Tapper if hes concerned that the Senate might not approve him for the job, White admitted that they might be concerned he faked his own death. Im only the third person in the Trump cabinet to do that, he said.

But he assured the American people that he and Trump were going to Make America Cook Again and fill America with red, white and a whole lot of blue.

Of course, Trump critics might see Walter White as a satirical extension of cabinet choices that have already raised eyebrows, like a climate change denier appointed to head the Environmental Protection Agency and an opponent of minimum wage raises to lead the Department of Labor.

Also Read: 'SNL': Watch Angela Merkel Express Her Displeasure with Trump Being Named TIME's Person Of The Year (Video)

Kellyannes spin will make you dizzy. #CenaOnSNL pic.twitter.com/bjF4wzO0Wn

 Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) December 11, 2016

Cranston and Bennett were joined in the sketch by Kate McKinnon, who played Trumps spokesperson Kellyanne Conway. You can watch Tapper and Conway in the SNL sketch Kellyannes Day Off from earlier this season here.

SNL was hosted this week by John Cena with Maren Morris as musical guest. Manchester By The Sea star Casey Affleck will host next week with Chance The Rapper performing.

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Also Read: 'SNL': Watch Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant Save Christmas, Fight Misogyny as 'Dyke and Fats' (Video)

Welcome to the Trump administration, Walter White. #CenaOnSNL pic.twitter.com/aPaceUQcO0

 Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) December 11, 2016

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MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish builder ACS has sold the bulk of its 50 percent stake in Canada's South Fraser Perimeter Road, a company which manages part of a highway in Vancouver, to two Canadian funds, it said in a statement on Sunday. ACS, which runs other toll roads in Canada, said it would retain a minority stake in the project. Its holding now stands at 12.5 percent. It said it had signed a service contract to manage the highway and maintain it. The Spanish firm did not detail how much it had raised from the sale. It sold its stake to Ontario-based infrastructure firm Connor, Clark & Lunn and Quebec-based pension fund Desjardins. Canadian mining group Ledcor is also an equity partner in the road project. (Reporting by Sarah White; Editing by Ros Russell)
Spider-Man star Tom Holland snuck into a high school and had some hilarious new experiences

Lets be real. After the trailers for Spider-Man: Homecoming premiered earlier this week, who didnt watch them on repeat? The newest Spider-Man, 20-year old Brit Tom Holland, is just so darn adorable! Well, in a surprisingly fun twist, we learned that Tom Holland went undercover at a high school to research for his role!

Thats right, if any of you were attending school in the Bronx a year ago, you might have shared three magical days in his presence without realizing it!

Talk about a Never Been Kissed experience! And we thought Tom Holland had met his adorable quota when he dressed up as Spider-Man and visited sick children in hospitals. What a sweetheart!

So why, exactly, did Spider-Man decide to visit a NYC Public High School?

Tom Holland explained on the Spider-Man: Homecoming Facebook page that he enrolled in high school in the Bronx to have an authentic experience. His own experience at a school in London was vastly different.

We're LIVE with Tom Holland for our #SpiderManHomecoming Q&A! #AskSpiderMan Posted by Spider-Man on Friday, December 9, 2016

He said, The coolest thing I think I did for the movie was I was enrolled in a high school in New York, in the Bronx, as a secret. It was really interesting because New York high schools are so different to schools that I went to in London. Where I went to a school where you have to wear a suit and tie and its all boys, and for me it was the first time that I was in a classroom with girls. It was a really strange experience, it was really fun.

Did anyone guess Tom Hollands secret identity?

I told one kid at the school. I was like Hey man, listen, Im actually Spider-Man. He did not believe me At the time I hadnt made the movie, so I didnt have any pictures to show him to prove that I was Spider-Man. No one believed me. Which is actually a good thing, because it makes me think that if Peter Parker went up in his school and was like Im Spider-Man, everyone would be like Nah dude, no youre not,' Holland added.

I bet that kid feels differently now! Talk about method acting. Spider-Man: Homecoming comes out this summer, and we can hardly wait. Hopefully there will be more adorable interviews for us to watch!

The post Spider-Man star Tom Holland snuck into a high school and had some hilarious new experiences appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan is planning a film on late Taiwanese author Sanmao, with production intended to take place in 2018.

Kwan revealed the plan to Variety while serving jury duty at the inaugural International Film Festival & Awards Macao, which runs until December 13. The director is one of the five-member international jury to assess the 12 films competing for nine awards in the former Portuguese colony.

When I was in Taiwan for the Golden Horse Film Awards in 1989, some investors asked me if I wanted to meet Sanmao because they wanted to make a film about her. But I felt that it wasnt the right time, and I wasnt ready to do the project back then, said Kwan. His previous credits include Center Stage and Rouge.

It was not possible to do this 10 or even 20 years ago. But now the timing is right. The market is one reason. The China market is one of the worlds biggest film markets and nowadays Sanmaos writing is becoming very popular among young people in China. Her work has a great influence over a few generations of Chinese people.

Born in 1943 in Chongqing as Chen Mao Ping, who went by with English name Echo Chan, Sanmao was an acclaimed author and novelist. She moved to Taiwan at the age of six and published her first essay when she was 19. She was fluent in English, Spanish and German and wrote 20 books. Her last work was the script for movie Red Dust. She died in 1991 in Taiwan at the age of 47.

One of Sanmaos most acclaimed titles The Stories of Sahara, published in 1976, will serve as the blueprint for Kwans project. The book is an autobiography of the late author and her Spanish husband Jose Maria Quero y Ruiz on their lives in Sahara Desert.

Kwan said Sanmao was a literary legend who had a huge influence on him. He said the project was still at a very preliminary stage and production will not take place until 2018. No details of budget, production company or cast attachments are yet available, though Kwan described it as a major undertaking.

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It is big not because it will involve a great deal of computer generated special effects, but because the story will involve location shooting in Madrid, West Africa, the Canary Islands and Taipei, he said.

The casting will be very challenging for the lead roles. We need an actress who not only embodies the character of Sanmao, who lived a life true to her nature. She also has to be very talented in languages as she will need to speak Spanish in the film.

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Beirut (AFP) - Here are the latest developments on the main battle fronts in Iraq and Syria, as of 1700 GMT Sunday:

SYRIA

- Battle for Aleppo -

Syrian forces pushed forward in Syria's second city of Aleppo as thousands fled rebel-held areas.

Since mid-November, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been focused on Aleppo, where they have retaken more than 85 percent of the one-time rebel bastion in the city's east.

An estimated 120,000 people have poured out of east Aleppo since late November, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

State news agency SANA said that on Sunday alone, at least 8,000 people had fled rebel districts through several government-run crossings.

At least 413 civilians have been killed in east Aleppo since the offensive began on November 15, according to the Observatory, with 139 killed in rebel rocket fire on the city's west.

- Raqa -

A US-backed alliance announced on Saturday it would launch the second phase of its battle for the Islamic State group's de facto Syrian capital of Raqa, which is east of Aleppo.

Backed by air strikes from the US-led coalition, members of the Syrian Democratic Forces have pushed south from areas near the Turkish border, advancing to within 25 kilometres (15 miles) of the city.

Washington has announced it is sending an additional 200 troops to join the 300 it has already deployed to support the campaign for Raqa.

- Palmyra -

In central Syria, IS made a lightning-fast advance across the desert city of Palmyra on Sunday, sparking new worries for its remaining ancient treasures.

The jihadists recaptured all of Palmyra -- which is on UNESCO's world heritage list -- after Syrian forces pulled out, the Observatory said.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that IS regained "full control" of the city after taking the citadel overlooking Palmyra.

The Syrian army backed by air strikes from regime ally Russia had expelled the jihadists from Palmyra in March, after IS first seized the city in May 2015.

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IRAQ

- Battle for Mosul -

In Iraq, Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitaries retook four villages southwest of Mosul as they continued to battle IS on a western front aimed at cutting the jihadists' supply lines to Syria.

Pro-government forces launched an assault on October 17 to eject IS from its last Iraqi stronghold, and they have taken almost half of eastern Mosul.

The elite Counter-Terrorism Service now controls several eastern neighbourhoods and is closing in on the river Tigris which divides the city.

Federal police and interior ministry forces have mostly been fighting on a southern front, which has stalled within striking distance of Mosul airport south of the city.

The United Nations says a total of 90,000 people have been displaced as a result of the Mosul operation.
Tech executives from some of the top tech companies in the world will meet with president-elect Donald Trump in New York on Wednesday, according to reports from Recode and The Wall Street Journal.

The list of attendees includes Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was invited to the meeting, but it is unclear if he will attend, according to the reports. Bezos has been openly critical of Trump, and Trump has had several public battles with the Bezos-owned Washington Post during the course of his presidential campaign. Trump has also aimed his Twitter account at Amazon.

Most of the attendees have not publicly said they will attend the meeting with Trump, except for Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins and Oracle CEO Safra Catz, although it'll be hard to miss the invitees as they stroll through the lobby of Trump Tower this week.

It's also unclear what the meeting will cover, but it's probably safe to assume there will be discussion around Trump's calls to bring manufacturing of items like smartphones to the US and changes to the tax code.

NOW WATCH: Apple revealed why some iPhones are randomly shutting down despite having battery life left





More From Business Insider
Nebraska recently became the third state in the nation to establish a program thats hailed as the greatest advancement for disability rights in a generation.

The program, Nebraskas Enable Savings Plan, helps the families of approximately 25,000 young Nebraskans with disabilities save for their childrens future health and living expenses in tax-free investment accounts.

Elected officials in Lincoln have done a great service to these families. Now its time for the states delegation in Washington to do its part by ensuring Nebraskanswith disabilities retain access to the best medicines through Medicare.

The Enable Savings Plans were made possible by the Stephen Beck Jr. Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act. The federal law allows people whose disabilities began before they turned 26 to save up to $14,000 a year, and up to $100,000 overall, in tax-exempt accounts. Parents can contribute on behalf of their children, just as they do with 529 college savings plans.

Enable Savings Plan participants can use their savings to pay for future health expenses. Thats crucially important, since people with disabilities often have high medical bills. A Harvard study shows that parents of children with Down syndrome pay an additional $84 per month in out-of-pocket medical expenses, on average.

Previously, the tax code penalized people with disabilitiesand their parentsfor planning ahead. People with disabilities could only save up to $2,000, or else theyd lose their benefits under programs like Medicaid or Social Security.

Empowering Nebraskans with disabilities to set aside their own funds for future medical expenses will increase their independence. However, to ensure the savings lead to better health, Nebraska lawmakers in Congress must protect Medicare.

Medicare is best known as the national health insurance program for older Americans, but it also covers people under 65 who have disabilities. More than 185,000 Nebraskans, tens of thousands of whom have disabilities, currently rely on Medicare for prescription drug coverage.

Private insurers administer Medicares drug benefit program, and the government largely stays out of the picture, aside from helping beneficiaries pay their premiums.

This non-interference is by design. When Congress created the drug benefit over a decade ago, lawmakers figured they could keep premiums low and quality high by forcing insurers to compete with one another for market share.

Their strategy has worked. Nebraska beneficiaries can choose from 22 different plans for 2017 and select one with the premium, deductible, copay and drug formulary that best meets their needs. The lowest premium is just $17 per month. The drug benefit as a whole has come in 45 percent under budget  proof that competition holds down costs.

This range of plan choices is particularly important for people with disabilities, who need coverage tailored to their specific conditions. For instance, parents of a child with Down syndrome who suffers from seizures may want to choose a plan that covers multiple anticonvulsant drugs.

Beneficiaries might not enjoy such flexibility much longer. To save money, some in Washington want federal officials to negotiate for lower Medicare drug prices.

That might sound good in theory. But private insurers already negotiate big discounts. To cut costs, the government would simply refuse to cover certain drugs. Nebraska beneficiaries, no matter which of the 22 plans they chose, would lose access to those medicines. The potential interference from government negotiators would endanger thousands of Nebraskans who need those prescriptions to treat ailments resulting from their disabilities.

Nebraska residents with disabilities can now take charge of their financial futures, thanks to the Enable Savings Plan. Its now up to their representatives in Washington to protect Nebraskans and ensure that they will still be able to buy high-quality prescription drug plans with those savings.
Exxon Mobil (XOM) is simultaneously one of the biggest, most profitable, and most controversial companies in the world.

So, its no wonder that its a big deal thatPresident-elect Donald Trump wants CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state. Tillerson is an archetype of oilmen, earning a civil engineering degree at University of Texas at Austin in 1975, and then heading to Exxon where he has climbed the ladder to the top.

Rex Tillerson meets with Vladmir Putin

Much is being made about the fact that Tillerson has zero experience in the public sector. But this doesnt mean Tillerson isnt a master of international relations. Exxon has a massive global footprint, and its relationships with foreign governments are much more complicated than those of a retailer looking to open a store. Exxon goes in to produce and distribute oil and oil products.

Its not crazy to compare Exxon to a small country and say that Tillerson is its secretary of state.

At its most recent annual meeting with shareholders, Exxon management shared some maps showing just how vast Exxons empire really is. Below is a map showing where the company is currently pumping oil and gas.

ExxonMobil is pumping oil around the world.

This next map shows where the company has been exploring for oil and gas. As you can see, many of these locations include geopolitical hotspots. Its no wonder Trump characterizes Tillerson as more than a business executive.

ExxonMobil is looking for energy everywhere, including the worlds geopolitical hotspots.

As you can see, Exxon has a presence in Ukraine through the Black Sea where political uncertainty remains very high. US sanctions were imposed against Russia after the country annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.

How close is Tillerson to all of that? The last line of his bio on Exxons website reads: In 2013, he was awarded the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin, president of the Russian Federation.

Government and political factors have a huge impact on Exxons business. In fact, Exxons annual report includes a huge section of risk factors titled Government and Political Factors. From that section: ExxonMobil is subject to laws and sanctions imposed by the U.S. or by other jurisdictions where we do business that may prohibit ExxonMobil or certain of its affiliates from doing business in certain countries, or restricting the kind of business that may be conducted. Such restrictions may provide a competitive advantage to competitors who may not be subject to comparable restrictions.

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Imagine being able to influence laws and sanctions from inside.

And so the conflicts of interest are unprecedented in their scale, which could get in the way of his confirmation.



Sam Ro is managing editor at Yahoo Finance.

Read more:
Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - Syrian forces pushed forward in Aleppo Sunday as thousands fled rebel-held areas, but they lost ground to the south where the Islamic State group recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra.

After a sudden regime withdrawal, IS jihadists made a lightning-fast advance across Palmyra, sparking new concerns for its remaining ancient treasures.

Since mid-November, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been focused on second city Aleppo, where they have retaken more than 85 percent of the one-time rebel bastion in the city's east.

On Sunday, they pounded the shrinking rebel enclave in southeast Aleppo with artillery and air strikes, seizing the Maadi district and several other neighbourhoods, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 10,000 people had fled remaining rebel-held districts since midnight, heading for government-run west Aleppo and newly retaken areas in the city's north and centre.

An estimated 120,000 people have poured out of east Aleppo since late November, the monitor said.

State news agency SANA said that on Sunday alone, at least 8,000 people had fled rebel districts through several government-run crossings.

It said approximately half were transferred to temporary shelters, while the rest were staying with relatives in west Aleppo.

An AFP correspondent in the west said air strikes on the east were less intense as night fell, but artillery fire could still be heard.

- Army withdraws from Palmyra -

US and Russian officials were expected to continue talks in Geneva Sunday on trying to reach a ceasefire in Aleppo, but intense diplomatic efforts over the past week have failed to stem the fighting.

Backing from Moscow, which began an air war in support of Assad last year, has been crucial in the Syrian army's ability to make gains nationwide.

Russian raids overnight bolstered Syrian soldiers fighting off an IS offensive on Palmyra, the renowned UNESCO World Heritage site in central Syria.

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But the jihadists launched a fresh attack Sunday, the Observatory said, recapturing all of Palmyra after government forces pulled out.

"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

He said IS was "combing the city" for any remaining Syrian soldiers.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency said the group regained "full control" of the city after taking the citadel overlooking Palmyra from a strategic hilltop.

Capturing Palmyra from IS in May was a major symbolic victory for Assad's forces -- and for its Russian ally.

Moscow has come under severe criticism in the West for its continued political and military support for Damascus as the regime pursues its assault in Aleppo.

Russia says it is consulting with the United States on the terms of an Aleppo ceasefire after a full rebel withdrawal, without any sign of an agreement so far.

- 'Yes to peace' -

Pope Francis called Sunday for an end to violence in Aleppo and across Syria.

"I appeal to all to choose civilisation: no to destruction, yes to peace, yes to the people of Aleppo and Syria," he said.

At least 413 civilians have been killed in east Aleppo since the offensive began on November 15, the Observatory said, and 139 killed in rebel rocket fire on the city's west.

The UN children's agency said all children in Aleppo were suffering from trauma.

"I have never seen in my life such a dramatic situation (as) what is happening to children in Aleppo," said Radoslaw Rzehak, UNICEF's field office head inside the devastated city.

Assad's forces retaking Aleppo appears to be only a matter of time.

The loss of east Aleppo will deal the biggest blow to Syria's opposition since the civil war began in 2011.

"We're now past the point where the opposition has any hope of pulling things back," said Yezid Sayigh of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

Assad "will have in effect broken the back of the armed opposition... and the idea that the regime can be overcome militarily will be finally put to rest".

After meetings in Paris on Saturday, Western and Arab powers called for talks to end the war.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who called the regime's bombings of Aleppo "war crimes", said the time was ripe for a return to negotiations.

Rebels "can still win a political settlement that honours the fight and all they've invested," Kerry said.

In a rare public appearance on Sunday, Assad attended a celebration at a Damascus mosque to mark the Prophet Mohammed's birthday, SANA reported.
(Adds comment from McCain, Rubio and Priebus)

By Valerie Volcovici and Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The central question facing Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Rex Tillerson if he becomes U.S. secretary of state is whether a lifelong oil man with close ties to Russia can pivot from advancing corporate interests to serving the national interest.

Tillerson, 64, got his start as a production engineer at Exxon in 1975 and has worked there ever since, running business units in Yemen, Thailand and Russia before being named chief executive in 2006. He was expected to retire next year.

Critics suggested that if President-elect Donald Trump were to choose Tillerson - as a source familiar with the situation said he was expected to do - it would continue a trend of selecting some aides who may favor a softer line toward Moscow.

Among these is Trump's pick for national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who raised eyebrows when he sat beside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow banquet last year and who has argued that the United States and Russia should collaborate to end Syria's civil war and to defeat Islamic State militants.

Tillerson's emergence as the front-runner for the post has raised concern among Republican and Democratic senators over his ties to Russia.

"It's a matter of concern to me that he has such a close personal relationship with Vladimir Putin and obviously they've done enormous deals together. That would color his approach to Vladimir Putin and the Russian threat," Republican Senator John McCain told CBS.

McCain added that Tillerson would, nonetheless, get a fair confirmation hearing.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a former Republican presidential rival to Trump, was even more forthright.

"Being a "friend of Vladimir" is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState," Rubio said on his Twitter account.

'A STRAIGHT ARROW'?

Many U.S. officials are worried by Russia's increasingly aggressive behavior. It annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war and is accused of interfering in U.S. domestic politics.

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U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, and not just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, a senior U.S. official said.

In his role at Exxon Tillerson maintained close ties with Putin and opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea.

Daniel Yergin, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power," said Russia represented a relatively small portion of Exxon's overall operations and played down its significance.

"It was a business relationship," Yergin said.

"The whole Russian thing is so much front and center now so it's inevitable that those questions be asked but, obviously, if you are a major oil company, you want to go to where your resources (are). You have to replace your reserves," he added.

"If he becomes secretary of state, the interests he will pursue will be U.S. interests. This is an Eagle Scout kind of guy. He was president of the Boy Scouts," he said. "He is a straight arrow. If that's his mission, that's what he'll do."

Trump praised Tillerson, saying on his Twitter account on Saturday: "Whether I choose him or not for "State"- Rex Tillerson, the Chairman & CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!"

Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman who has been tapped to serve as White House chief of Staff, praised Tillerson's relationship with Putin.

"... the fact that he actually has a relationship with people like Vladimir Putin and others across the globe is something that ... we shouldn't be embarrassed by it. It's something that I think could be a huge advantage to the United States," Priebus said on ABC This Week.

However, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, a senior Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would weigh Tillerson's nomination, was unsparing in his criticism of the possible appointment.

"Reports that Rex Tillerson could be nominated to be our nation's top diplomat (are) alarming and absurd," he said. "With Rex Tillerson as our secretary of state the Trump administration would be guaranteeing Russia has a willing accomplice in the president's cabinet guiding our nation's foreign policy."

CLIMATE CHANGE

Tillerson would be one of the few people selected for major roles in the Trump administration to believe that human activity causes climate change.

After Trump's election, Exxon came out in support of the Paris Climate Agreement. It has also advocated for a carbon tax and internally factors in a theoretical price on carbon as it weighs manufacturing and exploration costs of projects.

But some environmental groups are alarmed at the prospect of Exxon's CEO as the country's top diplomat.

Exxon is under investigation by the New York Attorney General's Office for allegedly misleading investors, regulators and the public on what it knew about global warming.

"Donald Trump appears intent to undo a century of environmental and social progress and return America to the age of robber barons and corporate trusts," said Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law.

"Who better to turn to than Exxon, the granddaddy of them all?"

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, John Walcott, Lindsey Dunsmuir, Howard Schneider and Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Robert Birsel and Phil Berlowitz)
HBO

On Friday, Silicon Valley star T.J. Miller was arrested for battery in Los Angeles after a Trump-related fight with his Uber driver. He was reportedly on his home from the GQ Man of the Year awards when he and his driver got into a tiff that apparently turned into a slap fight in which the driver was hit, called the police, and demanded a citizens arrest which resulted in Miller being taken in and charged.

The actor posted bail and has promised to appear in court so he is free to continue working at this time, but that doesnt mean returning to certain projects wont be a bit awkward while he sorts his legal issues out. Case in point, his job as host of this years Critics Choice Awards which are taking place in Santa Monica on Sunday night. Miller teased that he would use his hosting obligations to address the elephant in the room on Twitter, although how he might go about that is still unknown.

Tonight I will address the elephant in the room at @CriticsChoice on A&E. Tune in and find out.  t.j. miller (@nottjmiller) December 11, 2016

The Critics Choice Awards event is one of the more casual and fun awards that Hollywood holds each winter, so its not as if Miller will be bringing up his Donald Trump-related assault on an Emmys telecast or anything like that. Still, its unorthodox for an actor to promise a direct acknowledgement of legal issues while on stage.

Knowing Miller, he will most likely do so with a wink and a smile  if not some self-deprecating and inappropriate humor. It certainly gives people a reason to tune in, which if nothing else is a win for Miller and his job as host.

UPDATE: Miller didnt directly address his arrest but turned the elephant into a Trump joke. In other words, he managed to avoid a direct reference: We have to cover the elephant in the room  The Russians hacked the election.
Tokyo (AFP) - Construction of the main stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics officially started Sunday, more than a year after the original blueprints were torn up following public outcry over skyrocketing costs.

The stadium is due to be completed by the end of November 2019, five months behind schedule.

"I believe, after four years, many athletes will challenge their physical limits at this stadium and empower spectators and the society," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a ceremony to mark the start of building work.

Japan approved the new stadium plans in September after Abe scrapped the initial design by the late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid as costs soared beyond $2 billion.

The 149 billion yen ($1.29 billion) price tag for architect Kengo Kuma's proposal comes in just under the cap for the contractors, led by construction giant Taisei Corp.

The new venue is being built on the site of the former national stadium which was used for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Concerns that ballooning costs could hit a staggering $30 billion -- four times the initial estimate and almost triple that of the 2012 London Olympics -- have forced organisers to rethink plans for several venues.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike announced recently that the host city would build a new aquatic centre with 15,000 seats, costing less than the original design for a 20,000-seat arena.

Koike has dropped a proposal for a cheaper alternative of moving the canoeing venue outside Tokyo but promised to cut construction costs on that and another facility.

A decision on whether to build a new volleyball venue in Tokyo or use an existing one in Yokohama, south of the capital, was postponed until later this month.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  There's nothing flashy about Bill English. Critics say the former finance minister and farmer who became New Zealand's prime minister on Monday is downright boring. But English hopes his steadiness and experience in handling the economy will prove reassuring when New Zealanders go to the polls next year. For the past eight years, the 54-year-old has played the role of dependable deputy to the more charismatic John Key. And it seemed it would stay that way heading into the 2017 election, until Key shocked the nation last week by resigning. English was chosen as the new leader by the conservative National Party caucus after two other candidates for the job withdrew last week.

KATHA, Myanmar (AP)  In the 1990s, Nyo Ko Naing noticed that the handful of foreign tourists who made it to his remote hometown were carrying their own maps and looked like they were searching for something. Someone, it turns out, by the name of George Orwell. Katha was Eric Blair's last posting in the Imperial Police before he sailed back to England in 1927, adopted the nom de plume Orwell and launched a writing career that would produce powerful novels and commentary. Seven years after leaving the sleepy town on the Irrawaddy River, he immortalized it as the setting of his first novel, the vehemently anti-colonial "Burmese Days," though he called it not Katha but "Kyauktada."

BEIJING (AP)  China's state media have published another blistering attack of Donald Trump after the president-elect suggested again that he was reconsidering how America deals with Taiwan. Trump told Fox News in an interview aired Sunday that he didn't feel "bound by a one-China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade." Trump's Dec. 2 call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen had already angered Beijing, which considers the self-governing island Chinese territory and any suggestion otherwise to be a grave insult. In a commentary published hours after Trump's remarks to Fox, China's Global Times called him "naive." It suggested Trump read books on U.S.-China relations and stop resorting to "bullying."

Story continues

MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday that he has decided to accept an arms deal being offered by China under concessional terms, in the latest sign of cozying relations between the once-hostile neighbors. Duterte said in a speech before troops that he'll ask his defense secretary to send military officials to China to receive the firearms, which will be payable over 25 years. He did not provide further details. "China is pressing me on the firearms, which are already there. I'll accept them. They're rushing it," Duterte said. "We don't need to ask from others because they're willing to give it," he said.

BANGKOK (AP)  A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves: ___ EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest key developments in the South China Sea, home to several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region. ___ PHILIPPINES DOESN'T WANT TO BE USED FOR U.S. FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION MISSIONS The Philippines has again thumbed its nose at the U.S., its longtime defense ally, saying it won't be used as a springboard for U.S.

BEIJING (AP)  China patrolled the waters of a series of hotly contested islands Sunday, a day after staging a flyover of two strategically important waterways near Taiwan and Japan. Chinese government statements said both weekend exercises were routine. The exercises come shortly after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen spoke to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, in a call strongly denounced by China, which considers Taiwan to be Chinese territory. At least 10 Chinese planes on Saturday flew over the Miyako Strait between two Japanese islands, Taiwan's defense ministry said in a statement. Four planes also flew over the nearby Bashi Channel adjacent to Taiwan, according to the statement.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korean prosecutors said Sunday that they have indicted a former senior aide to impeached President Park Geun-hye in their investigation into the massive political scandal that led to Park's downfall, local media reported. Prosecutors in Seoul indicted Cho Won-dong, a former senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, for allegedly working with Park in an unsuccessful attempt to force the vice chairman of a Seoul-based conglomerate to quit, Yonhap news agency reported. The opposition-controlled parliament passed an impeachment motion against Park on Friday, stripping her of her presidential duties and pushing Prime Minster Hwang Kyo-ahn into the role as government caretaker until the Constitutional Court rules whether she must step down permanently.

MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Three Filipino soldiers were killed and 17 others wounded in nearly two hours of fighting with about 150 Muslim militants in the south, the military said Sunday. The Abu Sayyaf gunmen withdrew after the fierce clash on Saturday in the mountains of Patikul town in Sulu province, and are being pursued by government forces, said regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan. An unspecified number of militants were either wounded or killed in the latest flare-up in a monthslong offensive ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte. Tan said the troops were backed by assault aircraft and artillery fire. The militants were led by Radulan Sahiron, a one-armed commander long wanted by the U.S.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP)  Kyrgyzstan has held a referendum on implementing changes to its constitution, including amendments to strengthen the office of prime minister. With almost 100 percent of ballots counted, 79.6 percent of voters supported the changes and about 15 percent voted against, Kyrgyzstan's Central Election Commission said Sunday. Turnout in the Central Asia nation was 42 percent, according to election officials. A 30 percent turnout was required for the vote to stand. Political infighting before the referendum, which required one simple "yes" or "no" answer to a packet of 26 constitutional alterations, had fueled fears of a new round of instability in the impoverished ex-Soviet state of 6 million on China's mountainous western frontier.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesian police said they safely detonated a bomb on the outskirts of the capital after arresting a female would-be suicide bomber and other suspected Islamic militants who were allegedly planning to attack the presidential palace this weekend. The thwarted plot is likely to cause particular concern in Indonesia because of the possibility that women with militant network associations are now being recruited into more active roles, including plotting and carrying out attacks. "This marks a new chapter of terrorism in Indonesia, where the suicide bombing was to be carried out by a woman," terrorism analyst Ridwan Habib said in an interview with Indonesian TV.
BEIJING (AP)  Six workers are dead in China after being hit by an express cargo train on the railway line connecting Beijing and the southern city of Guangzhou.

A local government statement about the Saturday accident said authorities are still investigating why the workers were on a live track.

State media reported in July that the number of train-related accidents and deaths had declined during the first half of 2016. China's national safety regulator, the State Administration of Work Safety, reported 1,037 train-related deaths in 2015 and blamed most of them on pedestrians and drivers improperly crossing tracks, as well as typhoons and other natural disasters.

The agency reports one other major fatal train accident this year on its online database, a crash in May that killed three people, though the database may not include all crashes.

China has surpassed 20,000 kilometers (12,400 miles) of high-speed rail, with a target of adding another 10,000 kilometers (6,214 miles) by 2020. The World Bank estimates China has spent $360 billion on high-speed rail, building by far the largest network in the world.

A July 2011 crash near the city of Wenzhou killed 40 people and injured 191. No other accidents of that scale are known to have occurred since then. The State Administration of Work Safety reported in July that far more accidents occur in China's coal mining industry, known to be one of the deadliest in the world, or on Chinese roads and highways.
President-elect Donald Trump has questioned in an interview whether the United States should continue its "one China policy" unless Beijing makes concessions on trade and other issues, threatening to upend decades of Sino-American diplomacy.

"I don't want China dictating to me," Trump said as he made a vehement defense of his recent phone conversation with the president of Taiwan.

"I don't know why we have to be bound by a one China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade," he added in the interview with Fox News Sunday.

He was responding to a question about taking a call earlier this month from Tsai Ing-wen, the leader of Taiwan, a self-ruling island that Beijing considers a rogue province awaiting unification.

It was a break from decades of US diplomatic tradition that recognizes Beijing as the sole representative of China, an understanding that has been a cornerstone of the relationship between the countries since Richard Nixon went to China in 1972.

- From trade to Taiwan -

Trump also repeated earlier accusations that China is manipulating its currency, saying "we're being hurt very badly by China with devaluation."

He piled on the criticism in other hot-button areas: "With taxing us at the borders when we don't tax them -- with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea -- which they shouldn't be doing."

Concerning nuclear weapons, Trump argued that China as North Korea's main patron "could solve that problem."

"Frankly, they're not helping us at all with North Korea," he said.

Trump said it would have been disrespectful not to take the call from Tsai, who he said wanted to congratulate him on his election win.

The real estate magnate said he had had just a couple hours' notice that the call from Taiwan was coming, not weeks or longer as has been reported.

Story continues

"It was a very nice call. Short. And why should some other nation be able to say I can't take a call?" Trump asked.

Official reaction from Beijing has been muted so far, but state-controlled media have savaged the president-elect.

"Provoking friction and messing up China-US relations won't help 'make America great again,'" read a front-page opinion piece last week in the overseas edition of Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.

- Heartland diplomacy -

But Trump has also made moves to assuage Chinese ire by tapping Iowa Governor Terry Branstad -- who has links to Chinese President Xi Jinping dating back to the mid-1980s -- as ambassador to Beijing.

Xi visited Branstad's state in 1985 as the leader of an agricultural research delegation, and the two men have stayed in touch as Xi ascended to the Chinese presidency.

Branstad has overseen the growth of Iowa's farm exports to China, notably soybeans, soar into the billions.

China called the governor "an old friend" after hearing reports of the nomination.

Branstad will likely have to walk a fine line in his new role, experts said.

It is difficult to imagine the United States not taking some sort of trade action against China in 2017, "on currency or subsidies or cyber-theft of intellectual property," said Derek Scissors, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and an expert on US-China relations.

Even if such action is limited, "Branstad would then need to smooth ruffled feathers, where his relationship with Xi should help," Scissors told AFP.
President-elect Donald Trump, after rejecting an intelligence assessment that concluded Russia worked to try to get him elected, says he gets intelligence briefings when I need it and defended his apparent choice of an oil executive with ties to Russia as his secretary of state.

In his first Sunday morning talk show interview since the election, Trump told Fox News Sunday that even though he doesnt get an intelligence briefing every day, hes available on one-minutes notice if theres something he needs to know.

I get it when I need it, he said.

Published reports this week said Trump gets a briefing a week, far fewer than his immediate two predecessors received and fewer than those being consumed by Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

"I'm, like, a smart person," Trump said.

"I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years. Could be eight years  but eight years. I don't need that."

Trump called reports the Russian government worked to help get him elected ridiculous, chalking them up to just another excuse from the Democrats on why they lost the election.

I think it's ridiculous. I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it. I don't know why, and I think it's just  you know, they talked about all sorts of things, Trump said. Every week it's another excuse. We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College, referring to his 306-232 electoral margin. Trump actually lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.7 million ballots.

Trump said the hack could have been done by anyone, including someone sitting in a bed someplace.

President Barack Obama ordered an investigation and a group of senators Sunday called for a bipartisan inquiry.

Trump said he supports an investigation as well.

I want it, too. I think it's great. I think  well, I don't want anyone hacking us, and I'm not only talking about countries. I'm talking about anyone, period, Trump said. But if youre going to do that, I think you should not just say Russia. You should say other countries also, and maybe other individuals.

Story continues

During the campaign, Trump spoke admiringly of Russian President Vladimir Putin and promised to improve relations.

His reputed pick for secretary of state, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, has ties to Russia and Putin, having received Russias Order of Friendship, one of the countrys highest honors.

"He's much more than a business executive. I mean, he's a world-class player," Trump said. "And to me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company, not for himself, for the company."

Trump also defended his intervention in Carriers decision to shutter an Indianapolis plant, which resulted in the company reversing plans and agreeing to retain 730 members of its current workforce of its nearly 1,300 employees. The president-elect said hes big on free trade, but it has to be fair.

So what's happened is we have lost over a period of years, short years, 70,000 factories in this country,  70,000. I always say to people I think it's a typo. How could it be so many? Seventy-thousand factories. We're being stripped of our workers. We're being  I mean, we're being stripped of our jobs. Our good jobs are really going down, and we've got to stop it, he said.

Trump said he plans to reduce taxes substantially to keep companies from moving operations overseas and will push for a 35 percent tax on companies that do leave and try to sell goods back to the U.S.

Nobody's going to move. They're not going to move. They're not going to leave. They're going to stay here, he said.

He also took a swipe at the Wall Street Journal, saying the newspaper doesnt get his plans.

"Honestly, their editorial board doesn't get it. I don't think they understand business," Trump said. "I dont think the Wall Street Journal editorial board, and I know some of them, they're really nice. I dont think they understand business.

"They don't understand what I'm saying. There's a 35 percent tax, but there is no tax if you don't move. But if you move your plant or factory and you want to sell back into our country, you fire all your people, there are going to be consequences for that. There are going to be consequences."

Trump, himself, has no plans to divest his business interests but will turn over day-to-day operations to his executives and his children. He said everybody knew he was a real estate magnate when he was running. Government ethics attorneys have been trying to pressure him to sell his assets and put the money into a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest.

He said theres no law that requires him to give up his business interests, despite the emoluments clause in the constitution, which prohibits the president from accepting anything from foreign countries for personal gain.

"You know, under the law, I have the right to do it [continue to make deals]. I just don't want to do it. I don't want to do deals, because I want to focus on this," he said.

On other issues:

China: Trump said the One China policy has not served the U.S. well. Trump stirred up a diplomatic kerfuffle when he talked by phone with Taiwans president  the first such conversation between a leader of Taiwan and a U.S. president or president-elect since 1979.

I fully understand the One China policy, but I don't know why we have to be bound by a One China policy, Trump said. I don't want China dictating to me.

"Why should some other nation be able to say I can't take a call? I think it actually would've been very disrespectful, to be honest with you, not taking it.

Trump said China has failed to help the U.S. contain North Korea, saying Beijing could solve that problem, and theyre not helping us at all.

The environment: Trump said hes open-minded on environmental issues, saying he could see moving forward on pipeline projects rejected by the current administration and still remain a part of the international climate-change agreement, even though he called global warming a hoax during the campaign and has selected Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who has repeatedly sued the Environmental Protection Agency, as his choice to head the EPA.

I'm very open-minded [on climage change]. I'm still open-minded. Nobody really knows. Look, I'm somebody that gets it, and nobody really knows. It's not something that's so hard and fast, Trump said. I do know this: Other countries are eating our lunch.

Obamas legacy: Trump said he has no plans to take a wrecking ball to everything President Barack Obama has done in the past eight years. Rather he just wants whats right.

Related Articles
George Shultz, Secretary of State under Reagan, has offered President-elect Trump advice including an admonition to take climate change seriously.

"People who say the climate isn't changing are in the process of getting mugged by reality," said Shultz, referring to Trump's campaign claim that global warming is a hoax, promoted by the Chinese. Shultz supports a revenue neutral carbon tax.

Trump appears to have softened his campaign position on climate change, most recently promising to have an "open mind" about it.

In 2009, Trump signed a public letter calling for cuts in America's greenhouse gas emissions, although most of his statements and tweets have not favored carbon mitigation.

Military leaders are not waiting to get mugged by reality. Chuck Hagel and others now refer to climate change as a threat multiplier, and are incorporating plans for the increased extreme weather events, floods, droughts, and rising sea level.

Other conservatives are increasingly open to climate measures.

Carlos Curbelo, a Republican congressman from the tip of Florida, formed the Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus last March. Curbello acted in response to the presence of sea water in the streets of his Miami. The caucus now has 20 members, 10 of whom are Republicans.

The Gibson Resolution, introduced by Republican Chris Gibson, which acknowledged the need to address the human causes of climate change, was signed by 15 Republican members of Congress.

Nonetheless, as reports from the climate conferences indicate, the U.S. is behind most of the rest of the world in reducing carbon emissions.

Jerry Taylor, founder of the Libertarian Niskanen Center, believes that opposition of many to taking action on climate change is based on the belief that any action to reduce emissions will usher in a kind or regulatory nightmare that would be worse than any threat posed by climate change. Taylor supports a revenue neutral carbon tax to reduce carbon emissions.

My organization, Citizens Climate Lobby, has as its main goal, the passage of such legislation.We call it Carbon Fee and Dividend. Citizens Climate Lobby has identified enough bipartisan support for this measure that they have set their goal to get the bill introduced and passed in 2017.

No one imagines that it will be easy. Nonetheless, since the election, interest and support for the organization has spiked, with traffic to our website increasing eight fold, and participation in local events more than doubling.

Here is how the measure works.

A small but steadily increasing fee is placed on fossil fuels, i.e., coal, gas, and oil. All of the money collected is returned to American households.

The result of a carbon fee will be a slow rise in the price of carbon based fuels. As a cigarette tax has reduced smoking, a price on carbon based fuels will reduce their use.

Investors, utilities, and energy producers will have a predictable market signal that will allow them to make changes and increase profits. Some large companies, inclulding Exxon Mobil, have even begun to incorporate carbon pricing in their long-term plans.

This solution bypasses regulations, subsidies, and big government.

The winners and losers will be picked only by market forces.

Economic modeling shows that It will stimulate the economy and create 2.8 million jobs in 20 years.

It will incentivize needed technological progress, such as battery development, improved photovoltaics, and biofuels to power aviation.

Most households will bring in more income from the dividend than they have to pay out in additional direct and indirect costs of fuel.

The air will be cleaner and health expenditures will drop. Our energy sources will be within our borders, and we will not risk going to war to protect them. Those who dream of getting off the grid, will be able to do it. We will move into a future independent of all the risks of mining, transporting, and storing fossil fuels.

George Shultz regards cutting carbon emissions as a wise insurance policy. Even for those who question whether human activitiy is causing climate change, Carbon Fee and Dividend, with all its benefits, is, as Trump himself might say, a really good deal.
By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's parliament on Saturday approved a 32.7 billion dinar ($14.1 billion) budget for next year, including deficit cutting measures that had been watered down under pressure from unions. From a total of 217 lawmakers in parliament, 122 voted in favour of the finance bill. Earlier this week parliament struck out two key revenue raising measures and the government partially reversed plans to freeze public sector pay. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed told parliament after Saturday's vote that the budget had been agreed on by "consensus", adding that it still included "several important fiscal decisions that will help public finances in 2017". Tunisia's powerful UGTT union had called off a public sector general strike after reaching a compromise deal with the government on wages, and lawyers halted a campaign of industrial action when parliament rejected taxes on legal cases presented to court. Proposed taxes on pharmacists were also dropped after the threat of a strike. "This budget overturned the expectations of those who thought there would be clashes with the UGTT and the lawyers," Chahed said. Among the key measures, he said, was the first revision of employee tax rates since 1989, which he said would "allow for more fiscal equality among employees". The budget also includes a 7.5 percent increase in company taxes, a freeze on public sector recruitment outside the security forces, and fiscal rules to try to reduce tax evasion amongst liberal professions. The budget forecast growth at 2.5 percent and the budget deficit narrowing slightly to 5.4 percent. Tunisia has been widely praised for its democratic transition since its 2011 uprising, but the North African country's economy has struggled because of labour unrest, militant threats and a lack of reform. Unemployment is high, especially among the young, and some inland regions remain impoverished. International lenders have demanded reforms to cut the deficit and reduce spending on a bloated public sector. In front of parliament on Saturday, hundreds of young Tunisians from the country's marginalised interior held a protest, chanting slogans to demand jobs and development. ($1 = 2.3155 Tunisian dinars) (Writing by Aidan Lewis, editing by David Evans)
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP)  Two girl suicide bombers died when they exploded Sunday in a crowded area near a market in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri, injuring 17 people, rescue officials said.

Survivor Abubakar Musa said he also saw among the victims the bodies of soldiers, who were guarding a nearby electric power installation.

Officials blamed the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group that has staged numerous attacks in Maiduguri, the birthplace of the insurgency.

One bomber appeared no older than 7 and the second about 8 years old, said Abdulkadir Jabo, a civilian self-defense fighter who stopped them from going into the market. "I asked the older girl where she was going but she could not speak Hausa or Kanuri ... and appeared very unsettled, so I turned her back," he told The Associated Press.

Seconds later, she detonated, followed by the younger girl, Jabo said.

Police Commissioner Damian Chukwu identified the bombers as teen-aged girls. Earlier, officials said they were a man and a woman. There was no way to resolve the discrepancies.

Boko Haram has used scores of women and girls in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions that some are among the many thousands that they have kidnapped over the years.

In a particularly horrific instance, a woman suicide bomber carrying a baby on her back was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint on Nov. 28. The shot detonated her explosives, killing the woman and the baby.

Sunday's blasts occurred near Maiduguri's Monday Market, just weeks after the state government reopened the roads leading to the market. They had been closed for nearly two years over security concerns following previous bombings at the market that killed dozens of people.

On Friday, two women suicide bombers exploded in a market at Madagali, 150 kilometers (95 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, killing 57 people and wounding 177 including 120 children.

Since Nigeria's military has dislodged insurgents from towns and villages this year, Boko Haram has been attacking soft targets.

Story continues

Suicide bombings and attacks on military camps continue, though Nigeria's government claims it has the insurgents on the run. President Muhammadu Buhari declared the Islamic uprising "technically defeated" a year ago. On Friday, he vowed Nigeria's military is working "at slamming the final nail in the coffin of Boko Haram."

The seven-year insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and created a massive humanitarian crisis.

Boko Haram, which has one branch allied to the Islamic State group, wants to install an Islamic state in Nigeria, West Africa's oil giant of 170 million people divided almost equally between a mainly Christian south and predominantly Muslim north.

___

Faul contributed from Lagos, Nigeria.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Two girl suicide bombers killed at least three people and wounded 17 at a market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Sunday, a spokesman for state emergency agency NEMA, Sani Datti, said. Residents said about nine people had been killed. Boko Haram Islamists have been waging an insurgency for seven years in the region to try to establish an Islamic state. The jihadists have frequently targeted crowded areas - such as markets, places of worship and refugee camps - in suicide bomb attacks across northeast Nigeria and in neighbouring Cameroon and Niger. They have killed some 15,000 people and forced more than two million people to flee their homes. Nigeria's army has pushed the militant group back to its stronghold in the vast Sambisa forest in the past few months but the group still stages suicide bombings. (Reporting by Lanre Ola and Reuters Television; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Louise Ireland)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in Baghdad on Sunday for talks with Iraqi leaders on the U.S.-backed military campaign against Islamic State militants in Mosul, the Pentagon said. Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, have been battling Islamic State in Mosul for eight weeks. The army has recaptured about a quarter of the city, but has faced major counter attacks by the retreating jihadists. Carter said last week the battle for Mosul, while hard, could be complete before President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month. That, however would require a significant acceleration in the Iraqi army's progress. The Pentagon said Carter would meet Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the president of the Kurdish region Massoud Barzani and the commander of the U.S.-led coalition supporting Iraqi forces, U.S. Lieutenant-General Steve Townsend. He will "thank U.S., coalition, and Iraqi troops engaged in the counter-ISIL campaign, survey key locations directly supporting the battle for Mosul, and discuss the next steps in the fight" against Islamic State, it said in a statement. (Reporting by Dominic Evans; Editing by Louise Ireland)
The Air Canada Centre in Toronto hosted the UFC 206: Holloway vs. Pettis pay-per-view event on Saturday and was filled to capacity.

18,057 spectators filled the arena, generating gate receipts totally $2,429,300 CAD/ $1,843,101 (USD), to witness a Fight of the Year candidate and Max Holloway win the interim featherweight title.

Holloway became the first fighter to finish former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in the fight card's main event. Holloway hurt Pettis to the body and put him away seconds later with a series of unanswered strikes. Following the fight, the Hawaiian called out champion Jose Aldo.

RELATED > UFC 206: Holloway vs. Pettis Live Results and Fight Stats

Donald Cowboy Cerrone remained unbeaten in the welterweight division in the co-main event by knocking out Matt Brown. Cerrone was knocked down twice in the fight and Brown had taken four head kicks, being knocked down twice himself. Cerrone's fifth head kick was too much for Brown to absorb. The kick landed flush on the jaw of Brown and left him unconscious on the canvas.

Featherweights Cub Swanson and Doo Ho Choi stole the show with their main card war. Choi hurt Swanson in the early going, but Swanson recovered and went on the attack. Swanson had his South Korean opponent hurt on several occasions. The amount of damage Choi was able to endure was worth the price of the ticket. After fifteen minutes of absolute war, Swanson was declared the winner by unanimous decision.

The 12-bout fight card featured 4 knockout finishes, two submission wins, and six fights went to decisions.

(photo courtesy of SecondaryWaltz)

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LONDON (Reuters) - Opponents to Britain leaving the European Union will launch a fresh legal action this week, which could further hamper Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plans, The Sunday Times reported. The newspaper said campaigners will write to the UK government on Monday saying they are taking it to the High Court in an effort to keep Britain in the single market. It said the claimants will seek a judicial review in an attempt to give lawmakers a new power of veto over the terms on which Britain leaves the EU. They argue the government has no mandate to withdraw from the single market because it was not on the referendum ballot paper on June 23 and was not part of the ruling Conservative Party's manifesto for the 2015 general election. May has said she wants to invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty by the end of March, kicking off up to two years of exit negotiations. However the High Court ruled last month that Article 50 cannot be triggered without parliament's assent. That ruling is being challenged by the government in Britain's Supreme Court. The Sunday Times said the new court case hinges on whether the government would also have to trigger another legal measure  Article 127 of the European Economic Area agreement  in order to quit the single market. It said ministers argue Britain automatically exits the single market when it quits the EU. But, it said if the claimants win the new case, the government would have to gain the approval of lawmakers. The Department for Exiting the European Union could not be immediately reached for comment. A group of British and Irish lawyers are also seeking to challenge Britain's decision to leave the EU in the Irish High Court to try to establish if Brexit can be reversed once divorce talks have been triggered. Pro-Brexit critics have cast the legal battles as an attempt by a pro-EU establishment to thwart the result of the referendum, when Britons voted by 52-48 percent to leave the EU. (Reporting by James Davey)
Formation of a Community Stakeholder Task Force is a smart move by Lincoln Fire and Rescue.

Firefighters consistently rank as one of the most trusted professions in the United States and elsewhere in the world, according to surveys done by market research companies like GfK Verein, based in Germany.

But, as the International Association of Fire Chiefs says on its website, its easy for a division to grow between a department and the public.

A thin veil between us and the public had always provided a sense of mystery and awe, but once lifted, it demonstrates to an already weary public the economic, professional and sometimes even ethical divide between 'us' and 'them,'" the association said.

And later, in a report titled Taking Responsibility for a Positive Public Perception," the association notes: Frequently, these issues play out in the areas of compensation, benefits, retirement packages and work schedules  sore points to a public that has all but lost any expectations surrounding job security, work hours and a comfortable retirement.

Lincoln Fire and Rescue plans to choose 15 to 20 people with diverse backgrounds for its first stakeholder task force. Applications are being accepted through Thursday at the citys website. Sessions for the task force will run from Jan. 19 to March 2. Some of its members will be asked to stay on for a smaller, long-term task force.

Similar task forces have been successful at other departments where he has served, according to Lincoln Fire Chief Micheal Despain, who was hired earlier this year by Mayor Chris Beutler. Despain came to Lincoln from Clovis, California.

Toward the end of the sessions, task force members will be asked about the types and quality of services they want. Despain said that after they give their feedback, the department will develop a strategic plan.

The Journal Star editorial board hopes the task force and leaders in Lincoln Fire and Rescue will take a cue from a few lines in the report from the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

Both elected officials and the public want to know that department funding is being put to good use. Demonstrating that the department is using money wisely, isnt wasting resources and is actively seeking new ways to be more efficient is critical.

If task force members keep that goal in mind as they go through their sessions, they will maximize the value of the feedback they give to Lincoln Fire and Rescue.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Incoming UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will take the oath of office on Monday, hoping to show he is primed for action despite anxiety over the US role in the world under unpredictable Donald Trump.

During a formal ceremony at the General Assembly, Guterres will be sworn in before outlining in an address to all 193 UN member-states his plans to confront global crises and reform the 71-year-old United Nations.

The first former head of government at the UN helm, Guterres will take over from Ban Ki-moon on January 1, just weeks before President-elect Trump moves into the White House.

The choice of the former refugee chief as the ninth secretary-general energized many diplomats who see Guterres as a skilled politician, able to overcome divisions that have crippled the United Nations, notably over Syria.

The 67-year-old former prime minister of Portugal has put ending the five-year carnage in Syria at the top of his to-do list and is keen to put forward a new plan to achieve a settlement, diplomats say.

Trump's election however is complicating that strategy.

"This is tough for Guterres," said Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. "He enjoyed a wave of diplomatic goodwill at the UN and looked set for a straightforward transition."

"Now he will find it hard to propose big institutional reforms or float new political initiatives until the Trump team is settled in and made its intentions clear."

Trump's victory has put a question mark over the Paris climate deal championed by Ban during his 10 years at the UN helm and stirred unease over the prospect of a new-style diplomatic dealmaking from the White House that could sideline the United Nations.

- Getting the US on board -

Trump has not made any statements about his view of the United Nations or multilateralism since his election, but his choice of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador was seen in some circles as a positive signal.

Story continues

While Haley has no foreign policy experience, she has been a player in negotiating trade deals for her state and earned respect in foreign circles for taking a stand against racism by pulling the Confederate flag from the state capitol.

The key to getting the new Trump administration on board may lie in Guterres' plans for reforming the world body to "turn it into something the US can support," said a Security Council diplomat.

He will have to show that "he is shaking up the system enough in order to really make it effective, slimming it down in some places, realigning it in others, in a very pro-active way," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.

The United States is by far the biggest financial contributor, providing 22 percent of the UN's operating budget and funding 28 percent of peacekeeping missions which currently cost $8 billion annually.

- Key appointments -

Over the past months, Guterres has toured the capitals of the powerful five permanent Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - for talks on his new tenure.

"He will be a political secretary-general," said a Security Council diplomat, who was briefed on Guterres' plans. "He plans to put saving lives - peace and security issues - definitely at the center."

Guterres may on Monday announce the appointment of the deputy secretary-general and of his chief of staff - two powerful posts in the new leadership team.

Nigeria's Environment Minister Amina Mohammed is tipped to be the UN's new number two while the chief of staff post is also expected to be filled by a woman, in line with Guterres' pledge to push gender equality at the United Nations.

Over the coming months, he will make a series of appointments to head the departments of peacekeeping, political affairs and management among others, with the five council powers pushing candidacies from their countries for the plum insider jobs.
By Paola Arosio

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest bank by assets UniCredit (CRDI.MI) has reached a deal to sell its asset manager Pioneer to France's Amundi for more than 4 billion euros ($4.2 billion), a source with knowledge of the matter said on Sunday.

The deal, which the source said involves a special dividend of about 500 million euros to be paid to UniCredit, is one of various disposals being pursued by newly-appointed Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Mustier to boost capital levels at the Italian lender, slim it down and make it easier to manage.

The Pioneer sale comes as UniCredit is set to announce on Tuesday a share issue worth up to 13 billion euros in what would be a major test of confidence in Italy's wider banking system.

A statement confirming the Pioneer deal is expected on Monday, sources said.

Amundi in Italy and UniCredit declined to comment.

UniCredit, which operates in 17 countries and is the only Italian bank whose health is deemed important to the stability of the global financial system, needs to strengthen its balance sheet to meet tough new regulations designed for such lenders.

Only on Thursday, UniCredit announced deals to sell a 33 percent stake in Polish lender Pekao, raising more than 2.5 billion euros, while in October it sold 20 percent of its online broker FinecoBank for about 550 million euros.

Amundi, which was advised by Mediobanca on the Pioneer deal, has been in exclusive talks with UniCredit after beating rival bids presented by a consortium led by Italy's Poste Italiane (PST.MI) and another one by Ameriprise Financial (AMP.N).

Sources have said Amundi's bid was the highest and the French asset manager offered the best contract to distribute Pioneer's financial products.

Pioneer is Europe's sixth-largest asset manager with assets under management of around 225 billion euros. As investors around the world search for higher returns, asset managers have grown rapidly in recent years, making them an appealing target for banks and financial institutions.

To finance the Pioneer acquisition, Amundi plans to sell new shares for up to 2 billion euros, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources.

(Writing by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Silvia Aloisi and David Clarke)
Baghdad (AFP) - US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter held talks in Baghdad on Sunday to discuss the coming stages of the offensive to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group.

Carter flew to the Iraqi capital on an announced visit to "survey key locations directly supporting the battle for Mosul," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The United States leads an international coalition providing assistance in the form of air strikes, equipment, training and advice on the ground to Iraqi forces battling the jihadists.

US forces are stationed in Qayyarah, the main staging base for the southern front of the Mosul offensive that was launched on October 17, as well as in the autonomous Kurdish region.

About 5,000 US troops are deployed in Iraq as part of an "advise and assist" mission to support Iraqi federal and Kurdish peshmerga forces battling jihadists.

US special forces are also active on the ground in Iraq, as well as in neighbouring Syria, where another offensive is under way to retake the other major remaining IS bastion of Raqa.

On Saturday, Carter told a security forum in Bahrain that Washington was sending 200 extra troops to join the 300 it has already deployed to support the Raqa campaign.

Carter met US troops, senior coalition commanders and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad, a coalition spokesman said.

He was also expected to hold meetings with Kurdish leader Massud Barzani during his visit to Iraq, possibly his last as US defence secretary.

Abadi had promised Mosul would be retaken by the end of 2016 but the going has been tough for Iraqi forces inside the densely populated city and commanders have warned the battle could go on for months.

- 90,000 displaced -

Most of the fighting inside Mosul, where hundreds of civilians still live, has been carried out by Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service in the east of the city.

The army's 9th and 11th divisions have also moved in, while a myriad of forces are deployed on other fronts south, north and west but have not entered the city.

Story continues

Top commanders told AFP on Saturday that federal police and elite interior ministry forces would soon join the army in southeast Mosul.

The Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary forces have been fighting on a western front, in a campaign aimed at retaking the town of Tal Afar and cutting IS supply lines between Mosul and Syria.

Hashed forces said on Sunday they had retaken four more villages near Tal Afar and southwest of Mosul, continuing an advance which has seen fierce desert battles in recent days.

The US-led coalition has launched hundreds of air strikes on Mosul and its surroundings in recent months but its action has been hampered by the continued presence of a large civilian population.

According to the United Nations, about 90,000 people have fled their homes since the start of the offensive.

"With the military operation moving deeper into the city, fighting in the densely populated parts of Mosul may trigger larger scale displacement," it said.

The latest humanitarian emergency compounds a years-old crisis which has seen more than 620,000 people forced to flee their homes in Iraq this year alone, bringing to 3.1 million the number of Iraqis currently displaced.

Displaced people in camps around Mosul have had to cope with subzero temperatures over the past week while conditions for those in Mosul were also dire, many without water or electricity.
Vietnam has arrested five former bank employees for alleged mismanagement, including an ex-managing director and his deputy, the latest executives to be punished in the scandal-hit sector.

Tran Phuong Binh, his deputy Nguyen Thi Ngoc Van and three others were arrested for "violating laws on financial and banking activities", according to a statement from the partially state-owned Dong A Bank on Saturday.

The statement did not elaborate on what crimes the five are accused of, but state-run Thanh Nien newspaper said Binh is suspected of causing major financial losses as a result of poorly managed loans.

All five were originally dismissed in August 2015, Dong A Banks statement added, when the bank was put under special supervision for suspected illegal activities, according to reports.

Dong A Bank, one of the countrys smaller banks and based in Vietnams financial hub Ho Chi Minh City, was established in 1992 and lists the city's communist party office as one of its major shareholders.

Vietnam has shown strong economic performance in recent years, with GDP growth hitting 6.4 in the third quarter of this year.

But soaring debts have contributed to slowing growth.

The communist government has vowed to clean up the country's troubled banking sector, hampered by a series of scandals in recent years, including dodgy lending and embezzlement, which have led to several high-profile arrests.

In September this year, 36 former bank employees from Vietnam Construction Bank, including the chairman, were convicted for stealing more than $400 million, reportedly the largest sum ever pilfered from a bank in Vietnam.
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Firefighters recently saved a dog in Romania using one of the most basic first aid techniques: CPR.

The dog had collapsed from smoke inhalation after a fire broke out Dec. 9 in a ground-floor apartment in Pitesti, a city just west of Bucharest.

SEE ALSO: Google's new app will help loved ones find you in an emergency

The dog's owner, a 51-year-old man, was seriously injured and quickly taken to the hospital, Romanian media reported. But the dog stayed behind, lying motionless on the curb.

That's when Costache Mugurel stepped in. The local firefighter gave the dog multiple chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation before slipping an oxygen mask over the dog's snout.

Photojournalist Costi Tudor captured the rescue in a Facebook video:

"Nobody gets left behind," Mugurel wrote in Romanian on his personal Facebook page.

His feed in recent days has filled with words of thanks, kissy face emojis and illustrations of overjoyed dogs from his grateful following.

The dog eventually began breathing again and was taken to a veterinary clinic. Tudor later shared Facebook a video of the dog lounging in a cage.

Reviving animals via CPR is extremely rare, according to veterinary experts.

Less than 6 percent of dogs and cats that suffer cardiac arrests in clinical settings survive to go home to their families, compared with more than 20 percent of human patients, the American Heart Associated estimated.

Image: Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care

The city of Pitesti has garnered other dog-related headlines in recent years, although past coverage wasn't exactly heart-warming.

Animal rights groups in 2013 accused city dwellers of abusing dogs in response to a Romanian law that called for capturing and euthanizing stray animals.

BONUS: Watch dogs try cat toys for the first time
With yoga more popular than ever and with mindfulness a focus for many, it makes sense that yoga nidra, a practice in which yogis use the savasana relaxation stage to practice a guided meditation, would be enjoying a boost in popularity. Here, a look at this traditional yoga style and how and why you should incorporate it into your practice.

Sometimes called yogic sleep, yoga nidra is defined by yoga master Anandmurti Gurumaa as "a kind of deep sleep in which you don't lose consciousness." Devotees of the practice believe that during yoga nidra the body is allowed to go into a more restorative and healing state as brain waves switch from beta to alpha, and the mind is able to reach a new level of tranquility as it switches from activity to meditation.

As well as creating a more restorative state of relaxation, Gurumaa also explains that yoga nidra can relieve stress, frustration and insomnia as well as muscular, emotional and mental tensions. In short, in can help us all deal better with the stress of modern life.

The best way to do yoga nidra is lying down in savasana, also known as corpse pose, to allow for a moment, or longer, of pause and relaxation. During yoga nidra a blanket can also be used for warmth, as well as a bolster under your knees and a pillow propping your head.

Yoga nidra teachers will use specific instructions to guide students through relaxation and help to induce this state in the body, and some asanas (poses), pranayama (breathing), chanting and meditation may also be included.

For those wanting to try the practice, class offerings are currently growing across the United States, Europe and Asia thanks to the newfound demand for this more peaceful style of yoga.

In the States yogis can head to Love Yoga Space in Venice and Montauk, which describes yoga nidra as "the practice and art of Yogic Sleep" and offers classes for all levels which "allow your mind and body to slip into a deep state of relaxation."

New Yorkers can try the Dharma Yoga Center, while Pure Yoga offers classes in New York as well as Hong Kong and Taipei.

Gurumaa also offers a variety of products on her website for those who would like to try the meditative practice at home. Online yoga site YogaGlo also offers classes to help you set up a home practice to take you through next year.
Now that a law-and-order president will be in charge, I hope he gets down to business to show Americas farmers and ranchers whats what.

I call on the president-elect to make it his business, on his first day in office, to put an end to the criminal behavior of U.S. ag producers, and to make it illegal for them to sell below their cost of production.

This shabby and reckless business practice has gone on way too long, over the past four decades and no end in sight. Government subsidies dont fill the gap, and the damage to the rural economy has been staggering -- forcing two thirds of the rural population off the land since the 1950s. If farmers and ranchers are allowed to continue down this self-destructive road, where can it end?

You have to feel sorry for the processors like ADM, Tyson, Cargill, ConAgra and the like, being made to look like gangsters. You dont suppose a zealous new law-and-order president might try to charge these syndicates with the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act?

Sally J. Herrin, Lincoln
Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's central bank keeps trying to shut them down but they keep surviving: 'zombie banks' are roiling the impoverished country's financial system through the help of allegedly crooked courts.

The former Soviet republic -- labelled the continent's most corrupt state by the European Court of Auditors on Wednesday -- needs financial aid from the International Monetary Fund to help stabilise its path out of a dire two-year recession.

But one of the IMF's main demands for more lending under its $17.5-billion (16.2-billion-euro) programme is for Ukraine to shutter troubled banks whose assets are smaller than their bad loans and therefore need government help to stay open.

That is what the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has been trying to do -- with varying success.

- 'Nothing but garbage' -

A somewhat exacerbated director of the NBU's legal department said that owners targeted by Ukraine's main financial institution keep finding ways to stay afloat.

Oleg Zamorsky said nine banks ordered to cease operations by the NBU were resurrected by the courts by early December.

An earlier central bank stress test found that 28 of 39 lenders checked lacked the required cash on hand to survive another potential economic crisis.

"The justice system is being used by bank owners that have been removed from the financial system for their own personal gain," the NBU's Zamorsky said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

"This, in turn, scuttles our efforts to make the Ukrainian banking system healthy and to clean up the sector from zombie banks and banks that are nothing but garbage."

He added that the disputed court rulings created a threat to Ukraine's entire financial sector and were a danger to people who put their life savings in such banks.

There was no immediate response from the nine lenders mentioned by Zamorsky or the courts involved.

But the IMF concluded its latest mission to Kiev last month without agreeing the terms or the timeframe for a new loan.

Story continues

"While good progress has been made, the authorities need some more time to implement policies to ensure medium-term fiscal sustainability... safeguard financial stability, and tackle corruption," the IMF team said on November 11.

Ukraine's economy is on course to grow by about one percent this year after having contracted by about 17 percent in 2014-15.

Much of that nosedive was attributed to a collapse in production and a flight for safety by foreign investors frightened by the 31-month pro-Russian separatist conflict in the east that has claimed nearly 10,000 lives.

- Biggest bank's bad loans -

Yet there could be an even larger threat looming: the country's biggest lender might just be headed under.

PrivatBank accounts for one in three bank accounts in Ukraine and even has branches in the Baltic states.

The bank is owned by Igor Kolomoyskiy -- a politically powerful billionaire who became an early target of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's uphill fight against corruption.

The problem for the tycoon is that his bank has been rumoured to be the target for a state takeover because of Ukraine's need to fill its coffers. It has also been the subject of local media reports that it issued loans to select insiders that may never be repaid.

That talk alone saw the value of PrivatBank's bonds fall by nearly 50 percent in late November.

The NBU wants Kolomoyskiy to refinance his bank with billions of dollars if he wants to keep it.

Kiev's International Institute of Business chief Oleksandr Savchenko told the Kyiv Post English-language weekly that Ukraine's banking system would be left in tatters were PrivatBank to close.

"Other banks would not be getting their loans back from PrivatBank, a series of bankruptcies would begin, and there would be panic," Savchenko was quoted as saying.

"Re-launching the system would take around one or two months; the loss to GDP would be around two to three percent."
Don Walton Political reporter/columnist Don Walton covers politics and the Legislature along with writing a weekly column. Follow Don Walton Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Everything's in play.

Iran, Syria, North Korea, China, Russia, NATO, free trade, climate change, tax policy, the U.S. Supreme Court, domestic spending on infrastructure and how do you fund it, and much more.

It's a moment that shouts pay attention, be informed, sort out the truth from a flood of misinformation, focus on our role -- and responsibility -- as citizens.

In America, governance was not designed to be a spectator sport.

And the founders did not intend us to be governed by political parties.

All issues should not be divided into partisan battles.

Global warming is one of those challenges, but special interests and political parties make sure it becomes a largely partisan fight because both have so much to gain.

It is, in part, the present versus the future, today's costs versus tomorrow's costs, grandparents determining quality of life for their grandchildren -- and beyond.

And it's going to be in the spotlight this coming year along with all of the above, much of which shouldn't simply be R versus D.

***

J. B. Milliken is at ground zero in terms of DACA youth concerns expressed by hundreds of university and college leaders.

In an open letter, they have urged protection of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive action taken by President Obama to allow those undocumented young immigrants to have legal presence in the United States.

Milliken, former University of Nebraska president and now chancellor of the City University of New York, detailed how vital that is to CUNY and its students in a message to the campus community addressing student "concerns and anxieties" following last month's presidential election.

CUNY is "the clear leader among universities in this country in the support and services provided to immigrants," he wrote.

"Forty percent of CUNY's undergraduates are immigrants, which is one of the primary reasons this university is so full of energy and ambition, and is such a vital contributor to New York's success," Milliken stated.

"We educate thousands of undocumented students and we lead the nation in the number of students supported with private Dreamer scholarships."

Milliken said he and other university leaders are urging President-elect Donald Trump to retain "the important, humane and beneficial DACA program initiated by President Obama."

***

Sen. Deb Fischer is planning to introduce a transportation funding bill, "which she's already floated to (Donald) Trump's transition team," Politico reported.

Fischer wouldn't say what's in her proposal.

When she was a member of the Legislature, Fischer championed new ways to finance roads in Nebraska, including her signature bill that allocates the revenue derived from one-quarter of one cent of the state's sales tax to highway construction.

Fischer, chair of the Senate surface transportation subcommittee, is well-positioned to play a role in President-elect Trump's featured plan to launch a massive program to build and modernize the nation's infrastructure.

Last week, Fischer met with Elaine Chao, Trump's nominee to be secretary of transportation, for "an exchange of ideas for addressing our country's transportation and infrastructure challenges."

***

Finishing up:

* Donald Trump likes to collect generals and Nebraska is sending one of its own, Congressman-elect Don Bacon, to Washington in January for good measure.

* If the president-elect does not believe, trust or respect the intelligence community, where will he get the national security information he needs?

* Big crowd for Huskers-Creighton, but couldn't the tickets to those empty prime seats on the lower level be passed along to friends?

* It's always a good thing when the Yankees step into the winter players market to help the economy.
BEATRICE -- After several years of meeting in rented spaces, Cornerstone Lutheran Church will soon have its own home.

Construction on the new church is projected to start in the spring. The church broke ground in November on its four acres of property located across the street from Hannibal Park near 26th and Hoyt streets.

In the last two years, the modest congregation has raised more than $200,000 toward the project.

"I've never served a church that blessed. It's amazing that they raised that much money in addition to their $100,000 budget," said Cornerstone Lutheran Church Pastor Doyle Karst, who previously was the pastor at a church in Sterling for 13 years. "It's a tremendous gift. It's all them (the congregation).

"I think when a project is happening, congregations think, 'Something's finally happening. I want to support that, instead of just the budget.'"

Karst said Cornerstone averages 65 people each week with an additional 15 or 20 spots filled by visitors. The congregation meets in what was previously Trinity Lutheran Church at Ninth and Elk streets, which they have used rent-free since Sept. 2014.

Karst estimated that $30,000 to $40,000 was donated by other churches also part of the regional Lutheran Congregations in Mission Christ.

Cornerstone has raised $260,000 of its total goal of $300,000. The church is discussing loans with local banks for additional funding.

"It's taken us so long to get to this point," Karst said. "But we've done it right. We've done it slow."

The new church will be about 3,800 square-feet, including a sanctuary, a pastor's office, two classrooms, a nursery and a kitchen. Plans also include a fellowship hall of about 2,900 square-feet to be added sometime in the future, which is Phase 2 of the project.

"We tried to keep it simple and basic and stick to our funding requests," Karst said. "We'll ask the congregation to do things like paint, put in insulation -- simple things we can do without a license to help save a little bit and get some people involved if they want to."

The sanctuary will seat 172 comfortably but will be able to hold more than 200 guests.

The four acres "gives us a chance at any future," Karst said. "It gives a chance at a parsonage. It gives plenty of room for parking. We'll never have to come back and buy more."

Karst said membership recruitment is ongoing and that a new church with a parking lot (their current site uses residential street parking) should help gain support, excitement and new members and visitors. Karst said the other problem with the current site is the absence of classroom space.

Cornerstone started in 2010 and first held space for two years next to Asera Care on 24th Street. For the following nearly two years, Cornerstone met in the gymnasium of St. Paul's Lutheran School paying $2,000 a month for rent. The congregation moved to what was previously Trinity Lutheran Church in Sept. 2014 and have been there rent-free and contract-free ever since.

Cornerstone purchased the new land in 2013.

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The project is largely led by the church's Building Committee -- Don Keller, Darryl Baker, Tracy Zimmerman, Larry Bores and Paul Ostermann.

"They've done a great job," Karst said. "They've seen this project from 'Do you want to do something?' to final plans. They visited other churches, including one in Ashland, for ideas. They've done a really good job of shepherding this."

Mike Fakler of Fakler Architects in Beatrice is the architect for the new church.

"We're going to open it up to local contractors and local subcontractors," Karst said. "We want people in the community to benefit from this."

Cornerstone will send local contractors bid letters for the job. Responses are due by Feb. 1. Questions about this can be directed to Pastor Doyle Karst at 402-613-7419.

Karst said he hopes the dirt work will be done next week and that construction will start in April, depending on the weather.

When Cornerstone moves, the property at Ninth and Elk will be for sale. Trinity Lutheran dissolved a few years ago.

"So out of one church that's done, hopefully another rises," Karst said.
1876: University of Nebraska regents voted to buy a stove for the ladies' recognition room in University Hall.

Lincoln was threatened by a prairie fire from the north, but a south wind ended the danger.

1886: The holiday season was a wet one in Lincoln. Streets were in extremely poor condition for lack of paving.

A coal deposit 16 inches thick was found in Cass County.

1896: There were complaints about the quality of Lincoln city water. Some residents believed they stemmed from a plan to discredit municipal operation so the plant would be sold to a private concern.

1906: Holiday trade was active in Nebraska, but there were shortages of both labor and money.

The coal shortage continued to cause problems in northern Nebraska communities.

1916: The Union Stockyards Hotel in Grand Island was destroyed by an early morning fire. Guests were forced to escape clad in pajamas.

A "Twins Club" was formed at the University of Nebraska. Ten sets comprised the first organization.

1926: The Optimist Club Pathfinder Medal was presented to University of Nebraska Professor E.H. Barbour, organizer of the university museum, for "conspicuous service to the state."

The new Sheridan School opened for elementary students.

1936: Lincoln orphanages were swamped by applications by couples wanting to adopt babies before Christmas.

1946: A blinding flash followed by an explosion over Lincoln was described as a geminid meteor by Professor O. C. Collins, University of Nebraska astronomer.

County employees were granted a $5 pay raise.

1956: Two Lincoln firemen were injured when two fire trucks collided while rushing to a fire at 1711 A St.

Unemployment reached a post-World War II high in Nebraska, with 5,249 job seekers registered with the State Employment Division.

"Walk" lights were installed on O Street intersections between Ninth and 13th streets.

1966: Ground was broken in a formal ceremony and construction equipment began excavation for the $5 million-plus County-City Building in the blocks bounded by Ninth, 10th, H and K streets.

Thirty-six days after Lincolnites voted for liquor by the drink, the first drink was served. It had been 47 years since such a drink was legal.

1976: More than 40 people were injured when several Amtrak cars derailed in southwest Omaha and plunged down a 20-foot embankment. One man died later of injuries. The train was traveling from Oakland, Calif., to Chicago.

1986: Nebraska was ranked 47th in federal research and development money received ($34.6 million)from the National Science Foundation.

1996: Lincoln Public Schools announced plans to open a science-focused high school program at Folsom Children's Zoo.

A 14-year-old boy pulled a knife and hijacked a school bus from Culler Middle School. He surrendered to authorities after driving the bus to a county road near 185th and Adams streets.

A food-tampering threat cleared the shelves of the Russ's B&R IGA at 17th and Washington streets after four syringes containing traces of liquid cocaine were found in the store. One syringe was found imbedded in a pear in the produce department.

2006: The Golden Spike Tower, which will allow visitors to observe the worlds largest railyard, will be located in North Platte. It had faced two years of delays because of a lawsuit. The 90-foot tower will promote the citys railroad heritage and provide a panoramic, 360-degree view of the railyard.

Three Lincoln Regional Center employees who broke up a fight in the unit housing violent criminals were treated for minor injuries. It is not unusual for patients in this unit to be disruptive because they come from the criminal justice system. But it is unusual to have employees injured.
Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part report at Shorelight Memory Care at Siena. Part two will publish Monday.

CALEDONIA  Tucked back in the Racine Dominican sisters beautiful Siena on the Lake campus is a home for people with dementia, Shorelight Memory Care at Siena. Depending on whom one asks, its either a wonderful community for those afflicted with this sad condition, or a beautiful but mismanaged home for these seniors.

Siena on the Lake, 5641 Erie St., began as a partnership between two nonprofit, faith-based organizations: the Dominicans and the former Lincoln Lutheran of Racine. It was to have been a continuum-of-life campus built in three phases totaling more than $60 million.

In late 2014, Lincoln Lutheran went insolvent and the Dominicans lost their health care partner. But the Shorelight building was 70 percent constructed, and even without Lincoln Lutheran, the Dominicans opened it April 1.

Two very experienced memory care professionals and two family members of a former resident contend Shorelight has experienced problems including escaping residents, overuse of heavy sedatives to control disruptive residents, inexpert staff and staffers who dont show up for work.

Shorelight Director Jamie Repa denies the vast majority of those criticisms  except a few concerns that are industrywide. For example, regarding employees not showing up for work, she said: Thats an epidemic across skilled care, assisted-living care. But we are also overstaffed in (certified nursing assistant) numbers. We are fully staffed for 36 residents, only having 22 at this time.

Repa paints a picture of a place providing person-centered care tailored to each residents needs at any given moment.

Dementia care is a difficult, difficult task, she said. Theres no cookie-cutter fit to how to care for dementia. Each day is a new day.

"Every day you have to go in and reapproach the same person; what they liked one day, two hours later they might not even remember that they liked it  they absolutely hate it, so you have to join them and transition and change, you are always on your toes  to try to give quality of life to these people.

Alleged problems

Two experienced memory care professionals who have resigned from Shorelight are harshly critical of Shorelights administration and the way they say some residents  especially the more difficult ones  were treated.

Well before Shorelight opened on April 1, one of its original employees was Sherrie Szombathelyi. She was memory care adviser and director of sales and marketing from Dec. 1, 2015, through Shorelights opening and until Sept. 24, when she resigned in frustration that her concerns were being ignored.

At Shorelight, Szombathelyi said, there were so many issues its easier to say what they were doing right than what they were doing wrong. In 20 years in the industry I have seen variations of success  never perfection  but always the goal was to do the best for the residents. Except for the nuns, Szombathelyi said she doesnt think Shorelight as a whole had that either as a goal or accomplishment.

I feel very protective of the sisters, because I know their intentions are really good, she said. But what theyre not seeing is that they dont have people in place who have the skills and the experience or even the desire to help.

Racine Dominicans President Sr. Maryann McMahon said Shorelight has indeed been listening to Szombathelyis concerns  which she continually put into writing  and is acting upon them.

We are taking them seriously, and we have all along, McMahon said. Maybe we didnt address them in the way she wanted.

Dominicans looking for health care partner CALEDONIA  The Racine Dominicans, who once had a partner in creating Siena on the Lake, are

Another former Shorelight employee to say Shorelight had serious problems is former second-shift CNA Kelly Armstrong, who resigned Oct. 21 for reasons similar to Szombathelyis.

Armstrong, a 20-year veteran of the senior housing and memory care industry, said employee absence call-ins were rampant at Shorelight because employees could get away with it.

Alleged escapes

Armstrong and Szombathelyi both said in memory care, eloping by residents, or trying to escape, is a common issue  thus the industry standard of having alarmed doors.

Repa, asked how often residents escaped from the building, replied: Rarely. Our residents are safe and supervised. We have never had a resident that was unaccounted for."

Not according to Armstrong or Szombathelyi. One resident got out about five times within about two weeks, Armstrong said.

Szombathelyi backs up that account. (Residents) were eloping, or exit-seeking, all the time, and she said residents got out onto the grounds dozens of times.

There were three who would routinely leave, she said, several times a week at least. The most common exit was through the unalarmed pantry door in the kitchen, which was supposed to be kept locked and which led out to the lobby and the elevator.

I am not going to say that hasnt happened, Repa responded. As research shows, one of the signs that someone has dementia is for them to leave where they are supposed to be. We do have policies on this and a book at the front desk of all the residents for the receptionist to be able to identify our residents.

We do have policies in place, and doors are to be locked. I often check the pantry doors and have always found them to be locked.

"We also have residents assigned to each staff, and they are making sure that they know where they are throughout their shift and assist with those persons needs.

One woman who frequently escaped also was taking the screens off her second-floor windows, Szombathelyi said  and she said the staff wasnt reacting quickly.

Thats inaccurate, Repa responded. Maintenance instantly took care of that window, and she said the screens were off for not even an hour.

Szombathelyi and Armstrong said that for months, Shorelights rear-door alarm was not loud enough to be easily heard in the front, which allowed residents another potential escape route. But the alarm has been amplified and can now be plainly heard from the front, as Repa demonstrated during a tour of Shorelight by The Journal Times.

The state conducted an inspection at Shorelight in early October, found one violation but issued a regular license to replace the probationary one granted at the outset.

Weve had some growing pains, Repa said, but were (heading) in the right direction.

There is not a facility in the area that is as good as this community, Repa maintained. The sense of care and compassion that my staff provide on a daily basis to meet peoples needs is amazing.
MOUNT PLEASANT  It may not have been quietest of memorials.

But it was certainly one of the most sincere.

On Saturday morning around two dozen officers  about half of them K-9 units from across the region  gathered in the parking lot of the Wisconsin Veterinary Referral Center, 4333 Old Green Bay Road, to honor the life of fallen Kenosha County Sheriffs K-9 Klaus.

A member of the sheriffs office K-9 Patrol Team for more than five years, Klaus was still on active duty when veterinarians discovered the 6-year-old German shepherd had internal bleeding and multiple masses on his spleen and liver.

He was put to rest on Nov. 28.

It is easy for us to calculate how many arrests Klaus was involved in, how many drugs he helped confiscate  but it is harder to measure what did not happen when Klaus was on duty, said Kenosha County Sheriffs Department Chaplain Timothy Blackburn Saturday as German shepherds and other police dogs mewled softly next to their handlers, or yelped or barked from nearby squad cars.

How many families still have a paycheck because Klaus sniffed out the heroin before their dad met his supplier? Or how many officers or civilians are alive today because a criminal with intent to injure or kill heard Klaus bark and decided not to attack? Only God knows those statistics. But we believe that because of Klaus many lives today are better today that they would have been had he not been a Kenosha County K-9.

Show of support

Deputy John Lanctot and Klaus were the second-shift K-9 patrol team for the department, working primarily along Interstate 94 where the partners made hundreds of drug and criminal arrests. The team conducted public demonstrations and school searches, and appeared at public relations events.

The first of its kind for the KCSD, the memorial ceremony was organized because Klaus died while still on active duty, explained Sgt. Eric Klinkhammer.

Klinkhammer estimated that around a dozen K-9 units showed up for the ceremony, including those from the Kenosha Police Department, Racine Police Department, Racine County Sheriffs Office, Sturtevant Police Department, Mount Pleasant Police Department, the Wisconsin State Patrol, and the Wheeling Police Department.

The K-9 community is pretty close-knit, said Klinkhammer, once K-9 handler himself. They know how it feels.

Hard worker

The ceremony itself was brief, but emotional, as honor guards, KCSD Deputies Justin McCoy and Joshua Jacobs, carried Klaus casket  draped in a Kensoha County Sheriffs Department flag  to a waiting car.

KCSD Chief Deputy Marc Levin spoke briefly as did Lanctot, who planned to take his fallen partners body up north that day to be buried at the lake house where Lanctot and his wife plan to retire.

He liked going up there on vacation with us, Lanctot, said of Klaus, who was both work dog and family dog.

While on vacation, Klaus liked to lie on the patio and swim, Lanctot said, said but he was always eager to get back to work when duty called. When I would put on my uniform and work boots, he would just go nuts. He wanted to work. He liked being in that squad.
RACINE  The fire Saturday night at an apartment building on Anthony Lane displaced several residents and resulted in $40,000 damage, the Racine Fire Department reported.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation Sunday, said Capt. Mark Villalpando of the Fire Department.

Crews were called at 5:10 p.m. Saturday to 2409 Anthony Lane after a tenant in the building heard smoke alarms going off in another apartment, according to Villalpando. The tenant checked for the source of the alarms and saw smoke in the hallway. The tenant called 911 and started knocking on doors to alert the other tenants. Everyone in the building was able to evacuate and no injuries were reported.

Some tenants were allowed back into the building after the fire. Villalpando said the Red Cross was responding to the scene to aid displaced residents, but it was not known as of 9 p.m. Saturday how many were affected.

The building is owned by Kinzie Racine Limited Partnership of Evanston, Ill., according to the Fire Department.

Due to the weather, members of the Racine Fire Bells club were called in to aid with rehab for the fire crews, and the Department of Public Works was called in to ensure the streets were safe due to the water from fire equipment freezing on the streets.
The following is a list of people named in criminal complaints that The Journal Times received Monday Dec. 5 through Friday, Dec. 9.

Municipalities are listed as they appear on the criminal complaint. To see jail photos of suspects visit www.journaltimes.com/gallery. Throughout the week, The Journal Times includes information from criminal complaints. Read them at: journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/

David Ascencio-Rivas, 1400 block of LaSalle St., Racine, personal identification theft for financial gain.

Adam C. Berg, 1000 block of Grove Ave., Racine, disorderly conduct, domestic abuse assessments, criminal damage to property, and bail jumping.

Scott T. Blada, 6700 block of Novak Road, Caledonia, physical abuse of a child, intentionally cause bodily harm.

Koven Blakey, 1300 block of 60th St., Kenosha, armed burglary, operating a motor vehicle without owners consent, possession of drug paraphernalia, and theft.

Kathleen M. Block, 4600 block of S. Loomis Road, Waterford, disorderly conduct, domestic abuse assessments.

Steven A. Bunch, 2500 block of LaSalle St., Racine, obstructing an officer.

Roosevelt L. Busby, 4300 block of Sixth Ave., Kenosha, armed burglary, operating a motor vehicle without owners consent, and theft.

Janice M. Cadeau, 2300 block of Meachem St., Racine, battery, domestic abuse assessments, and disorderly conduct.

Clayton V. Campbell, 3800 block of Roberts St., Milwaukee, possession of marijuana, and obstructing an officer.

Joe L. Campbell, 200 block of Washington Ave., Racine, disorderly conduct.

Keith A. Carter, 1800 block of Woodland Ave., Racine, retail theft.

Barbara L. Clemons, 1600 block of State St., Racine, criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct, and possession of narcotic drugs.

Gilbert I. Cotton, 1900 block of Blake Ave., Racine, bail jumping, and obstructing an officer.

Javier L. Cruz, 4600 block of 36th Ave., Kenosha, possession with intent to deliver or manufacture marijuana, and attempting to flee or elude a traffic officer.

Ira O. Davis, 6900 block of 14th Ave., Kenosha, bail jumping.

Edwin Delgado, address unknown, third degree sexual assault.

Daniel P. Dinnocenzo, 3600 block of S. Wood St., Chicago, Ill., attempt to obtain a controlled substance by fraud, obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, and uttering a forgery.

William C. Dow, 7300 block of Pheasant Trail, Racine, armed robbery, obstructing an officer, and bail jumping.

Andrew P. Drasen, 3100 Wander Lane, Racine, possession of marijuana, possession of narcotic drugs, and obstructing an officer.

Marcus T. Edwards, 2000 block of Washington Ave., Racine, resisting an officer.

Jeffrey R. Flock, 800 block of 53rd Drive, Union Grove, battery, and disorderly conduct.

Daniel J. Foxcroft, 1100 block of Blake Ave., Racine, possession of narcotic drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, and bail jumping.

Camila M. Gomez, 1600 block of Lakewood Ave., Racine, theft.

Saul T. Goodloe, 2000 block of Mount Pleasant St., Racine, criminal trespass, criminal damage to property, obstructing an officer, and disorderly conduct.

Jarrel Gordon, 5400 block of 16th Ave., Kenosha, armed burglary, operating a motor vehicle without owners consent, and theft.

Patrick D. Gordon, 800 block of Ninth St., Racine, strangulation and suffocation, and disorderly conduct.

Dale R. Hadlock, 1500 block of 11th Ave., Union Grove, operating while intoxicated, and bail jumping.

Ericka J. Hansen, 1500 block of Park Ave., Racine, retail theft, and bail jumping.

Demetrie D. Harris, 1700 block of Linden Ave., Racine, possession of marijuana.

Javoeni D. Henry, 200 block of N. Memorial Drive, Racine, recklessly endangering safety.

Corey E. Jones, 1500 block of Taylor Ave., Racine, manufacture/deliver cocaine; possession of drug paraphernalia, and theft.

Julius R. Juniel, address unknown, third degree sexual assault.

Wendy F. Juarez Guerra, 700 block of Hamilton St., Racine, operate a motor vehicle while revoked.

Tavon L. Kent, 2400 block of Anthony Lane, Racine, bail jumping, and theft.

Dennis E. Kirt, 3200 block of Kearney Ave., Racine, second degree sexual assault of a child, child enticement, and repeated sexual assault of a child.

Rachel E. Lang, 2100 block of Carmel Ave., Racine, second degree sexual assault of a child.

Alexandra L. Luckett, 1400 block of Douglas Ave. and/or 2400 block of Anthony Lane, Racine, robbery, battery and child neglect.

Nicole MacLean, 1600 block of Chatham St., Racine, disorderly conduct.

Kyle J. Mikulecky, 1400 block of Ramona Drive, Racine, attempting to flee or elude a traffic officer, recklessly endangering safety, and criminal damage to property.

Ricardo S. Mora, 2600 block of Gideon St., Zion, Ill., retail theft.

Alexis B. Nelson, 1600 block of Franklin St., Racine, disorderly conduct.

Crystal Osborne, 1900 block of N. Wisconsin St., Racine, possession of marijuana.

James A. Palacios, 700 block of Meadow Lane, Burlington, battery, domestic abuse assessments, and disorderly conduct.

Lonezo T. Parker, 500 block of Shelbourne Court, Racine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine.

Richard L. Phillips, 800 block of Forest St., Racine, disorderly conduct.

David L. Rhodes, 2400 block of 11th St., Milwaukee, possession of narcotic drugs.

Aquavion D. Robertson, 200 block of Howland Ave., Racine, robbery with use of force, and battery.

Kyle W. Sanders, 4700 block of N. Green Bay Road, Racine, battery, domestic abuse assessments, and disorderly conduct.

Justin G. Schultz, 3300 block of Daisy Lane, Racine, disorderly conduct, criminal trespass, and criminal damage to property.

Andrew M. Sherrod, 2400 block of Anthony Lane, Racine, battery.

Terry G. Smith, 2100 block of Sutton Drive, Mount Pleasant, attempting to flee or elude a traffic officer.

Billy R. Summers Jr., 500 block of S. Green Bay Road, Racine, assault by prisoner, and disorderly conduct.

Tiffany R. Taborn, 2200 block of Harriet St., Racine, operate a motor vehicle while revoked, disorderly conduct, and bail jumping.

Scott M. Tamer, 5900 block of 50th Ave., Kenosha, operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

Jose A. Vazquez Jr., 1200 block of N. Memorial Drive, Racine, obstructing an officer.

Marquise D. Walker, 1600 block of State St., Racine, bail jumping, and obstructing an officer.

Kevin B. Walter, 400 block of 3 Mile Road, Racine, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of cocaine, and possession of narcotic drugs.

Derrick D. Wilson, 900 block of Valerie Court, Racine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, possession of marijuana, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Thomas A. Zies, 2400 block of Jean Ave., Racine, battery, domestic abuse assessments, disorderly conduct, and negligent handling of a weapon.
RACINE  No one was hurt Saturday evening in a fire that started in an apartment building at 2409 Anthony Lane.

The fire gutted a vacant second-floor unit, but most tenants in the complex evacuated to nearby apartment buildings soon after fire alarms sounded, Racine Police Sgt. Walter Powell said.

The fire was called in at 5:09 p.m., Powell said, after residents in the building heard the alarms sound and found smoke in the upstairs hallway.

Police and the Racine Fire Department arrived on scene two minutes later at 5:11 p.m.

Flames were showing when crews arrived on scene, Powell said, but were quickly extinguished.

By 5:45 p.m. only small amounts of gray smoke could be seen spilling from the apartment windows as firefighters used crowbars and other tools to locate and extinguish hot spots.

About five Racine Fire Department trucks were on scene, including at least one ladder truck.

The Racine Fire Bells also responded. Within minutes, the volunteers had hot coffee and snacks available for the cold and weary firefighters.

Speaking at about 6 p.m. Powell said it was too soon to know whether residents might be let back into the building later on Saturday night, noting that We Energies had responded in case power to the building needed to be shut off.

The Red Cross was later called out to the scene to assist some tenants, dispatch reports indicated.
Hidden among its farm fields and wooded glades, Wisconsin is home to a battery of high-tech military amenities that state leaders hope will persuade the Air Force to choose Truax Field in Madison to be the home base for 18 F-35 fighter jets.

Amid four military bases and more than 12,000 square nautical miles of airspace that is cleared for military operations, Wisconsin offers millions of dollars of high-tech equipment to simulate 21st-century combat conditions for pilots training with the F-35s array of new-generation sensors and software.

That was the argument made by members of the states congressional delegation in letters released last week after Truaxs Air National Guard Base was named a finalist for the latest expansion of the F-35 fleet.

Elected officials and business leaders want the new jets as a means of securing the economic benefits the base generates.

It would make great sense that the next generation of fighter jet be based at a base that has the support of the next generation of technology, said Zach Brandon, president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce.

The Air Force plans to deploy 18 jets apiece to two of the five bases it announced as finalists Wednesday. The decision is to be made next year after the next phase of a competitive process that examines how each site stacks up against Air Force criteria aimed at getting the most out of each roughly $100 million aircraft while minimizing costs.

The criteria cover everything from prevailing weather conditions to the local cost of living to available storage for fuel, bombs and missiles, said Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman in Washington, D.C.

While it might seem that icy Wisconsin weather could put Truax at a disadvantage over rivals farther south, the F-35s are designed to operate in extremes of heat and cold.

The same checklist of factors that was used to pick the five finalists will be used for the final decision, but analysts will examine everything in greater depth and rely on the judgment of senior commanders to weigh alternatives instead of a numeric scoring system, Stefanek said.

If one base meets most but not all of the criteria at a high level, the Air Force can still pick it and choose to make improvements, such as building another hangar, Stefanek said.

Detailed environmental impact assessments will be completed and public hearings will be conducted to gauge community support and opposition before a final decision is made, she said.

The environmental studies cover many areas, including existing problems with air pollution that jets could exacerbate, or the extent to which noise from jet engines will affect people and wildlife, Stefanek said.

Truax, which is next to the Dane County Regional Airport on Madisons North Side, currently meets federal noise and safety standards for its F-16 fighter jets and other aircraft in use there.

Community response noted

The F-35 air frame is manufactured by Lockheed Martin and the engine by Pratt & Whitney. The aircraft has been criticized for a series of cost overruns and delays in development of the highly complex software for its navigation and weapons systems.

Roughly 200 of the 2,443 the Pentagon wants to buy in the next 20 years have already been deployed or are in the pipeline.

Communities often mount efforts to attract military hardware like the new jets. After the Air Force announced in April it would seek more bases, the Madison chamber sent a team to Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix to learn about how it landed its F-35s, Brandon said.

He said the chamber has also taken note of vocal opposition and a pending lawsuit filed in an attempt to reverse the Air Forces 2013 decision to deploy the jets with the Vermont Air National Guards 158th Fighter Wing at Burlington International Airport.

We looked at places with successful efforts and places with struggles, Brandon said, adding that people spreading misinformation has been a problem elsewhere. We are going to be very aggressive in tamping down on false news.

Madison residents already unhappy about F-16 noise are now discussing the prospect of the F-35, said Marsha Rummel, a Madison City Council member who represents a district on the Isthmus that is flown over regularly.

Some residents will likely speak out against the F-35, said Paul Rusk, a county board member who represents a North Side district and serves on the Airport Commission committee that responds to hundreds of complaints annually about noise from commercial and military jets.

The chamber has cited a study indicating the F-35 created noise levels comparable to the F-16.

Training capabilities are key

Wisconsin is competing against Dannelly Field, Montgomery, Alabama; Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho; Jacksonville Air National Guard Base in Florida; and Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Detroit, Michigan.

In a recently released letter sent to the secretary of the Air Force in June, five members of Wisconsins Congressional delegation said Truax was the only site with all the elements needed to fully meet the F-35 programs goals for the full range of scenario based training.

This brings significant cost and operational effectiveness benefits, they said.

The Air National Guard mission includes both training and combat-related operations. Stefanek said she couldnt comment on how Wisconsins training capabilities compared to those in the other states.

But the letter signed by U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, and Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, and Reps. Mark Pocan, D-Black Earth; Ron Kind, D-La Crosse; and Sean Duffy, R-Wausau, lists features at Volk Field and Fort McCoy, about 60 miles by air northwest of Truax, and Mitchell Field in Milwaukee:

Truaxs aging F-16s and aircraft from other areas  including F-35s  have taken part in drills with military air traffic controllers, field artillery units and medical teams at the other Wisconsin sites.

Fort McCoy operates a bombing range where aircraft can drop live bombs and artillery personnel can fire live shells while practicing joint operations.

Volk Field has a bombing range that electronically simulates combat conditions, including targets and enemy attacks, for F-35 pilots training to use the aircrafts system of cameras and sensors, and its bombs, missiles and gun.

At Volk there have been recent upgrades of battle training technology including simulated surface-to-air missiles, laser- and GPS-guided weapons, enemy electronic jamming of aircraft instruments and mobile targets on a scoreable range, providing a realistic 5th Generation Fighter combat training environment.

Eight KC-135R aircraft with the 128th Refueling Wing in Milwaukee can provide cost savings by replenishing the tanks of F-35s at Volk.

Considering Volk an auxilliary to Truax mirrors arrangements where the military has already deployed F-35s, the letter states.

Truax covers nearly 130 acres with 44 buildings totaling about 400,000 square feet, according to an Air National Guard release.
171 boundary stones missing along Nepal-India border in Bardiya

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China provides nearly Rs 16 billion grants for reconstruction

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Dhalkebar substation set for January completion

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Dr KC urges govt to take ownership of all deals

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Four dead, three injured in road crash

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Nepal Gazette in website from today

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Nepals 43 districts home to pangolins

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Peruvian Er awarded Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy medal

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PM says hopeful of agreement very soon

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Prez attends reception

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Pushpa Basnet nominated for CNN Super Hero

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The black sweater

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TIA authority working on plan to declare airport capacity

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Tiwari signs 4-point deal with govt, ends fast

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Vegetable market in Baneshwor demolished

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Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High around 80F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 71F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
An opportunity for Kiwi-ET (Errol Thompson) to express his thinking and reflections. If you want, you can comment upon them.
Acting president, Assembly need to work together



After the National Assembly's vote to impeach President Park Geun-hye last week, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn became acting president. Hwang faces many pressing tasks because the nation faces grave economic and security challenges. Hwang's primary task is to restart government affairs, which have been on hold since the Choi Soon-sil scandal erupted in October.



Some people are doubtful if Hwang has the competence and character to fill the leadership vacuum resulting from Park's impeachment vote. The former hard-line prosecutor was not a popular choice for prime minister to begin with and he has lost the people's trust with the way he has responded to the scandal.



While in Peru for the APEC summit in Park's place last month, he made a serious lapse in judgment. During a meeting with the Korean press, he said the scandal engulfing Korea did not cause anyone at the APEC summit to worry because such a scandal was "routine in politics."



It is true that political scandals involving presidents is nothing new, but the Choi affair is distinctive in that the President neglected her duties and handed much of her power to a friend who had no official role in government.



Anyone who thinks rationally would agree there is nothing "routine" about the Park-Choi ties that have led to the nation's first sitting President to face the probe of an independent counsel.



It is highly worrisome that someone who has such a distorted view of a scandal that has brought the nation unbearable shame will lead the nation until the Constitutional Court delivers a final verdict on the impeachment vote.



Adding to the people's anxiety is that Hwang has never held elected office, so it is uncertain if he has the necessary leadership and communication skills.



It is also questionable how sincere Hwang is about getting the nation back on track and focusing solely on issues that matter to the people. The first thing he did as acting president was instruct the military to be extra vigilant for possible attempts by Pyongyang to exploit the situation. Given North Korea's two nuclear tests and multiple missile launches, the nation faces a grave security situation. But Hwang should refrain from making remarks that fuel public anxiety about national security because it can be seen as an attempt to divert attention from the Choi scandal and gather conservatives' support for the disgraced President.



It is not national security, but the economy that is at the center of many people's minds. The first thing Hwang needs to do is to set economic policy directions for next year to deal with difficulties at home and abroad.



To make his tenure as acting president as effective as possible, Hwang should not repeat Park's mistakes, such as her notorious disregard for the National Assembly and ignoring public opinion. Anything Hwang plans to do should be carried out in close cooperation with the Assembly.



Despite all Hwang's faults and shortcomings, he has been designated by law to govern in the President's absence. The Assembly should extend full cooperation to Hwang, with whom it should discuss bipartisan strategies to normalize state affairs and improve the economy and people's livelihoods.




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State Sen. Jennifer Shilling declared victory in her first race for re-election Friday, retaining a narrow vote margin after a recount this week of more than 89,000 ballots.

The La Crosse Democrat, who is her partys leader in the Senate, edged Republican challenger Dan Kapanke, who sought the recount after the initial tally had Shilling ahead by 56 votes.

La Crosse County completed its recount at midday Friday, and while County Clerk Ginny Dankmeyer didnt have the official results ready for release, she said lawyers for the

Shilling and Kapanke campaigns had been keeping on top of the tally and had Shilling ahead in the end by 55 votes, one less than the original election results.

Numbers provided by the Government Accountability Board Friday evening had Shillings margin of victory at 61 votes, with 43,585 votes for Shilling, 43524 for Kapanke and 2,093 for Chip DeNure.

Both Shilling and Kapanke issued statements indicating that the matter was settled.

With the result of the race once again confirmed, I hope we can put this election behind us and continue moving forward on the issues that working families are concerned about, Shilling said in her statement. Its time to get to work strengthening our schools, investing in infrastructure and expanding economic opportunities in our state.

In his statement, Kapanke congratulated Shilling on her victory. I wish her the best, and know that when she returns to Madison she will represent all of the voters in the 32nd District. What a great responsibility and privilege for her to do so, he said, adding that the recount ensured that each and every vote that was cast was recorded correctly and fairly.

Any changes in the votes came not because a defective process or machinery, but because of voter error.

In some cases, Dankmeyer said, voters put a check instead of filling in the box or they might have neglected to properly fill out their absentee ballots. Other vote changes came because voters partially filled in the box for one candidate and then completely filled in the box for the other candidate, resulting in an overvote so neither candidate got the vote when the ballot was scanned.

And, she added, there were no signs of Russian elves. That was the joke throughout the recount.

Although it was a lot of work, especially considering the clerks office is scheduled to move out of the existing administrative center into the new building on Dec. 13, for Dankmeyer elections and recounts are a core part of what her office does.

This is our Super Bowl. This is our way of proving what were doing is right, Dankmeyer said.

Clerks offices across the state have a presidential recount to undertake. Dankmeyer said work on that will begin Monday and should be done within three days as part of the work of that recount already was done as part of the Senate recount.

Shilling expressed appreciation for all the people involved in the recount.

I want to thank all of the local election officials, poll workers, volunteers and observers who put in many long hours to protect the integrity of our electoral process and make sure every vote was counted, Shilling said. Once again, their efforts have resulted in another clean, open and transparent election in western Wisconsin.
FLORENCE, Italy  Its a sure-fire way to dampen the holiday cheers: Spend a week on a dream vacation abroad, then come back to find an additional several hundred dollars on your cellphone bill.

Although some U.S. phone plans cover international travel, especially to Canada and Mexico, many dont. Leaving your phone off isnt practical these days . But you dont have to pay a fortune if you follow these tips. You might find some of these steps annoying, but theyre surely less painful than an unexpected data bill. Start planning well before you leave.

Get a plan abroad

This is the most economical choice, but also the least practical for many people. With the exception of Verizon, carriers typically block your phone from other carriers plans until youve paid off the hardware, typically after two years. They might make a temporary exception if youre traveling, but its on you to get that set up. You might have an old phone to use instead, or you can rent or buy a cheap one for your trip.

This route gives you a lot of data at competitive prices. Upon arrival in Bangkok, for instance, I got 2.5 gigabytes of data for just less than $13. Two more gigabytes would have cost just $3 more.

Just visit a kiosk at the airport when you arrive, or stop by a cellphone or convenience store in town. Youll be assigned a phone number for that country, though, so friends and family will need that to call or text. But Facebook, email accounts and messaging services such as Apples Facetime should work just as they do in the U.S.

If youre visiting multiple countries, youll need a separate local plan for each.

Step up your U.S. plan

Check with your carrier on an international package. For instance, Verizon offers 100 megabytes of data for $25. Ten minutes of streaming video can wipe that out. But itll get you email and basic messaging, and its much cheaper than the $205 Verizon would charge for 100 megabytes without an international plan. You keep your U.S. number.

You might find this adequate for emergencies, such as when you need directions back to the hotel. Use your hotels Wi-Fi as much as possible; your Instagram pictures can wait, especially if your friends are asleep anyway. For a two-week trip to Italy, I had plenty of data left after taking additional data-saving measures. Verizon even refunded me nearly $16. But I got socked with another $25 because I wasnt careful on a separate trip to Barcelona, Spain.

This option is good for multi-country trips. You can still get a local plan for the country where youll spend the most time.

Leave cellular data off most of the time

Turn off Cellular Data under the Cellular settings on iPhones, or Mobile data on Android (the location in the settings varies by device). In Italy, I turned cellular back on for the brief times I needed it. You can go further by enabling airplane mode, but that also blocks incoming calls and texts, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Limit data use

Even if you have cellular on just briefly, tons of data-hungry messages could still flood in while the gate is open. To prevent that, you can prevent apps from using cellular data at all.

On iPhones, go to Cellular in the settings, then turn off as many items as possible in the list of apps. Also turn off Wi-Fi Assist. In Italy, I turned off all apps. When I needed to check or send Gmail, I just turned that app back on temporarily. Otherwise, the phone waited until I got back to the hotels Wi-Fi. Notifications still came through, but they dont use much data.

On most version of Android, turn on Restrict background data to blocks apps from using cellular data while running in the background. To let certain apps override that, you need Data saver on the latest version of Android, Nougat, which isnt yet available on most phones.

While youre at it, disable automatic video play on Facebooks app. Tap the three horizontal bars. On iPhones, choose Settings, then Account Settings, then Videos and Photos. For Autoplay, choose Wi-Fi only or never. On Android, check under App settings.

And be sure to disable automatic app updates over cellular. It might already be set to Wi-Fi only, but double check in the iTunes & App Stores settings on iPhones and the Play Store settings on Android.

Download before you go

Get and set up apps for museums and other places youre visiting before you leave home or the hotel. Using the apps will consume data, but not as much as starting from scratch.

Likewise, download map data for Google Maps ahead of time. You can get driving directions and basic information on businesses without a data connection. The offline mode isnt meant for walking directions, though what I got for driving was often close enough (The exception was Venice, where cars are banned). Also, theres no offline transit support, but I got transit directions by enabling cellular briefly and used offline mode to get to my stops. Otherwise, Google Maps alone would have eaten up my 100 megabytes with Verizon.

You can also download any video youve bought or rented through iTunes, Amazon or Google Play. Amazons Prime members can also download up to 25 of the videos available for free streaming. Netflix recently updated its app to offer similar downloads for offline viewing. Youll want to do this before leaving home, even if you plan to use Wi-Fi, as streaming rights for many titles dont extend outside the U.S. A service called PlayOn Cloud also lets you download video from various services for 99 cents each (iPhones only).

Track your usage

Check the settings regularly to see how much data youre using and adjust accordingly. On iPhones, check Current Period Roaming in the Cellular settings. Hit Reset Statistics at the start of your trip. On Android, check Data usage. Android also keeps track of which apps use how much data, so you can identify culprits more easily. These are estimates, though, and your phone company might measure differently.
It used to worry me that my children cant tell time from a clock with hands. But now Im more concerned about ensuring they acquire a more important skill  telling fake news from real.

Every generation throws up its hands over once-critical skills going by the wayside, I suppose. My grandparents probably thought it was strange I wasnt taught how to milk a cow or use a slide rule. With the world going digital, teachers arent going to spend a semester showing kids how to read a clock. They might as well teach a unit on using the librarys card catalog. If it still has one.

But today, discerning legitimate news from satire  not to mention complete fabrication  is crucial. According to a new study from Stanford researchers, its a skill many American students have yet to master. Just like me with cow-milking.

Researchers spent more than a year studying how middle school, high school and college students in 12 states evaluated information online. Researchers were shocked by students failure to determine the credibility of tweets, Facebook posts and websites. They fear a generation of easily duped people will bring down our society. But in fairness to todays youths, they werent the ones who bought all those pet rocks in the 1970s.

And lets face it, vetting information has never been more difficult. There are more news sources than ever before, and todays headlines wouldve seemed unthinkable only a few years ago. Cubs win World Series. Trump elected president. Dylan wins Nobel Prize. At this point we might read a headline like Narwhals breed with musk oxen, take over Greenland and accept it as fact.

You might assume youngsters are Internet-savvy because they were born holding iPhones, but the study found they tend to accept information as presented, without supporting evidence. This may come as great news to parents looking to convince their kids not to repeat the misdeeds of their youth  Why shouldnt you follow your favorite band on a European tour? Its a bad idea, because I said so  but it should prove troubling when you consider were going to hand some of these kids the nuclear launch codes in 30 years.

The trouble for todays youths is that fake news sources are proliferating. When I was growing up, all we had was The Onion and Saturday Night Live. Today, Comedy Central pays the bills with satiric news shows, and the Internet teems with sites offering spoofs, spin and straight-out lies. Even your local newspaper publishes a column by some goofball who foresees narwhals mating with musk oxen. How are kids to tell fact from fiction?

The study found students failed to differentiate between news articles and sponsored content ads masquerading as news. Somehow, children born in the post-Photoshop world also accepted photographs as legitimate, without verified sources. And they couldnt tell real and fake news apart on Facebook.

The kids might deserve a pass here, too. After all, half the things your friends post on Facebook are lies. Oh yeah sure, their kids are awesome at everything, their marriages are a constant source of elation, and their mothers-in-law are cherished treasures. If you believe all that hooey, I have some photos of narwhal-musk oxen babies for sale.

Because Facebook is a mine field of misinformation, it should come as no surprise that only a quarter of students could tell a Fox News parody article from the real thing, or that more than 30 percent argued the parody was more trustworthy.

No respectable journalist  especially not a wisecracking humor columnist  would encourage kids to believe everything they read. In an age when anyone with Internet access can become a reporter, every consumer must become an editor. With so many outlets and so few gatekeepers, we all must become fact checkers and critical thinkers.

These are skills that, unlike reading a slide rule or using the Dewey Decimal System, likely will become even more important in the years to come. Thats why the findings of the Stanford study are a call to action for every parent.

My kids may never be able to tell you what it means when the big hand is on four and the little hand is on six. But when it comes to evaluating what they read online, Im going to make sure they know what time it is.
ONALASKA  Luther High School hopes to have students participating in the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program starting in 2018.

The school has been discussing for more than a year whether to join the program, which provides approximately $7,900 in voucher funding for qualified students to attend an accredited private school in Wisconsin. The Rev. Robert Wassermann, vice chairman of Luthers Board of Control and pastor of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, said the goal is to register for the program in the 2018-19 school year and see how the first year goes.

We want to do the trial to see how it works, he said. We are open to staying in, but, if the challenges outweigh the benefits, we might get out.

Luther currently enrolls 230 students in grades nine through 12 and is operated by 29 Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod congregations in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Wassermann said a survey of families in the congregations with students in grades five, six or seven showed interest in participating in the program.

Families in Wisconsin who meet income guidelines and other requirements can apply for a voucher to attend a private school participating in the program, with maximum enrollment at a participating school determined by enrollment numbers in the public school district in which it is located. Participating schools must meet certain requirements spelled out in state law, such as being accredited by a recognized authority, and meet annual deadlines.

Wassermann said the decision to wait until 2018 will allow the school to finish a building addition that is adding a chapel/auditorium and replacing some old classrooms, as well as some more time to work out logistics. The school reached out to a number of choice program schools while weighing the decision, and he said the responses they had received were almost universally positive.

The board believes the program will make a Christian education more affordable and accessible to more people, Wassermann said. Tuition at Luther is $6,400 for a student who is a member of one of those 29 congregations. Wassermann the school and congregations provide tuition assistance so all can attend regardless of financial ability, but voucher funding would help eliminate that as a barrier to families.

Some members of the board raised concerns about government control of Luther if the school does participate and accept the funds. Others feared becoming dependent on the government for funding after participating in the program for a while.

Opponents of vouchers have raised concerns about taxpayer money being diverted from public schools to private institutions. As part of expansion efforts for the program, the state no longer directly funds new voucher students but provides funding through the local public school district.

Luther is different from a public school in that religion is woven into every aspect of student life, Wassermann said. Students attend daily chapel services, and every class and extra-curricular activity is faithful to WELS doctrine and has religious components.

This offers them an opportunity for a Christian education they otherwise may struggle to afford, he said. Hopefully this is one less obstacle for a family who chooses the school.

We want to do the trial to see how it works. We are open to staying in, but, if the challenges outweigh the benefits, we might get out. The Rev. Robert Wassermann, vice chairman of

Luthers Board of Control
Shaohua Wei, 27, Nanning China

Wei has enjoyed her time studying at UW-L so much she decided to continue her graduate work in the universitys MBA program.

Even though she has been a student at UW-L for five years, she originally came to the university by chance. But she said she has enjoyed the small town feel of La Crosse, which is much different from the city she grew up in, with is nearly 7 million people.

Many Chinese students study abroad to help them compete for high-paying jobs, she said, and she had always been fascinated by the relationship between her country and the U.S. So she decided to come to America to check out what the country was like.

Its quite different compared to my own culture, she said. Studying here has helped me to learn other cultures and respect other cultures more.

Katelyn Nadeau, 21, Shakopee, Minn.

Nadeau studied abroad in Granada, Spain, in the spring of 2016.

The UW-La Crosse student said she wanted to study abroad to become more independent and get out of her comfort zone after being a bit of a homebody in high school.

As a student studying biology and Spanish, her study abroad program involved taking her coursework in Spanish at the University of Granada. Study abroad let her be fully immersed in the culture she was studying and challenged her to look at the world through new eyes.

This has been the experience that has most shaped me as a person today, she said. It has made me more open-minded and independent.

Zarif Rahman, 18, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Rahman said he has always been interested in studying physics. He came to UW-L after participating in a high school exchange program in Caledonia, Minn. He was exposed to the university during that visit to the U.S., and UW-Ls cost and the reputation of the physics program were big factors in his decision to attend.

I didnt want to spend my whole life in my home country, he said. I wanted to travel the world.

Megan Buchberger, 21, Marathon, Wis.

Buchberger also studied abroad at the University of Granada. But as she didnt know as much Spanish, her experience was different from Nadeaus and one of the reasons she decided to major in Spanish with a focus on teaching English as a second language.

Studying abroad was challenging, as she was placed in an intensive language program at the university.

I had to find a way to communicate without knowing the language, she said.
MADISON  The simmering budget fight over Wisconsins state parks looks ready to boil over after the Department of Natural Resources recommended lawmakers raise admission fees again, build more electrified camping sites and sell naming rights.

Democrats on the Legislatures finance committee are dusting off their old arguments, warning that the moves could make parks too expensive for families and that naming rights wont generate enough money to make the parks self-sustaining.

How many times can you raise fees before it becomes unaffordable for Wisconsin families? the Democrats said in a Dec. 5 letter to DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp

Republicans removed all state support for Wisconsins parks in the 2015 budget, leaving the parks to survive on fees alone. They raised admission and camping fees, increasing them by $3 to $11 depending on the park, but the DNR still projects the lack of state support will leave a $1.4 million annual deficit in the agencys parks account.

The budget also directed the DNR to develop recommendations for generating more revenue. With the 2017 session ahead, the DNR has suggested lawmakers:

Charge $5 to $10 more for admission according to park popularity.

Raise camping fees from $2 to $5 per night based on park popularity or increasing camping fees for high-demand parks by $10.

Add electricity at more camping sites to attract recreational vehicles. Currently 23 percent of Wisconsins sites are electrified. If the state repeals a cap on electrified sites, about 1,750 more could be added.

Change state law to allow more rental lodging at state parks at a price ranging from $49 to $120 per night.

Sell naming rights and establish trademark rights to park facilities or features, allowing the DNR to collect sponsorship, royalty and trademark-use money.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker will introduce the 2017-19 budget in February. The finance committee will revise his plan and forward it to the Legislature for full approval. Walker spokesman Tom Evenson was noncommittal when asked which recommendations the governor might incorporate into the budget.

DNR spokesman James Dick said the agency isnt advocating for any of the recommendations specifically.

Democrats on the budget committee fought bitterly against the fee increases in the current state budget, ripping Walker for not finding money to support the parks. They also tried unsuccessfully to pass a motion to bar the DNR from selling state park land or naming rights. Theyre already re-forming old battle lines.

We are concerned that this approach to continually increase fees for Wisconsin families and sell out our parks to private companies is short-sighted and will not be sustainable, the four committee Democrats  Sens. Jon Erpenbach and Lena Taylor and Reps. Chris Taylor and Gordon Hintz  wrote in their letter to Stepp. Do any of the revenue projections provided consider lower attendance?

Bill Zager, president of the Friends of Wisconsin State Parks, which works to protect and promote state parks, said hes not worried. The recommendations dont call for selling naming rights to parks, only their facilities, he said. Creating rental cabins and expanding the number of electrical sites are both good changes, he added, saying recreational vehicle users wont pay admission and camping fees if theres nowhere to plug in.

Demand-based admission fees could help push people to lesser-known parks, he said, adding that $35 for a carload of people to gain access to a state park for a year is still a bargain.

Republicans removed all state support for Wisconsins parks in the 2015 budget, leaving the parks to survive on fees alone. They raised admission and camping fees, but the DNR still projects the lack of state support will leave a $1.4 million annual deficit in the agencys parks account.
This will be a rebuilding year for international education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

In the wake of lawsuits and personnel issues that dogged the International Education and Engagement office starting in 2014, international student enrollment has fallen from a high of 383 students in 2010 to fewer than 180 this year. The university has hired a new director, Emelee Volden, and added two international recruiter positions to the Admissions Office to turn these trends around.

Volden has been on the job for more than a month now. She came to UW-L from Northwest College in Wyoming, where she worked to grow study abroad programs. So far, she said, she has spent much of her time listening to faculty, students and staff on campus to learn more about the International Education and Engagement office and its needs.

One of her first priorities is to build the team in the office which numbers nine, including two graduate assistants. Morale in the unit suffered after a series of personnel conflicts, with three staff members and two directors leaving the unit for a variety of reasons since 2014.

A previous director of the office, Jay Lokken, was moved to another department, which contributed to a series of discrimination lawsuits against the university that were settled in 2015. Lokkens supervisor, Fred Pierce, took over the office until he was fired in May.

Volden described her hope of the office creating a wide array of international learning opportunities to students, staff and the La Crosse community.

One goal UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow cited for the office when Volden was hired was to promote study abroad programs. Volden said she wants to create more opportunities for UW-L faculty to teach their programs abroad, as well as diversify the locations where students can take courses.

If students have the opportunity to take one of these classes, she said, they will be able to spread the word of the value of study abroad.

As part of the shakeup in international education, international recruitment was moved from IEE to admissions.

Diane Jette and Kristin Lettner are UW-Ls new international recruiters. The university recruits students from 25 countries, and the two divide these territories between them. Jette said she and Lettner and spend most of their time visiting prospective schools and students, and making the case for attending UW-L.

It is a lot of traveling, networking and making connections, Jette said. We are at a point where we are trying to rebuild.

A lot of the work of a recruiter is understanding the culture and the desires of students looking to study abroad. For example, Jette said, Chinese students tend to look more at college rankings and the strength of programs such as science and business.

Other families might be looking for the best value to send their kids to if money is tight. She also pitches UW-L as a place where class sizes are small as well as La Crosse being a smaller city for students and parents who prioritize safety.

There is no secret sauce to increasing international student enrollment, Jette said, other than networking and building the reputation of UW-L. Making those connections with educators and schools helps increase the numbers of student who hear about the university and thus choose to attend.

We have to make sure we are building these connections, she said. These are the people helping shape students decisions.

Volden and her staff work closely with the admissions office during recruitment and play a valuable role once students reach UW-L. IEE is the primary support system for international students, helping them navigate the university and ensuring their experience at UW-L is a positive one.

The most successful recruitment method is word of mouth, Volden said. If students are not supported and have a bad experience, they will share that with their family and friends.

Volden said her long-term vision is to grow the office and its programs but she said she is realistic about her expectations and the pace of change.

It has been wonderful but also a lot of work, Volden said. I remind myself I have to be patient and remember not everything can happen immediately. With some time, we will have a very dynamic team.
WASHINGTON  President Barack Obama has ordered intelligence officials to conduct a broad review of election-season cyberattacks, including the email hacks that rattled the presidential campaign and raised fresh concerns about Russias meddling in U.S. elections, the White House said Friday.

The review, led by intelligence agencies, will be a deep dive into a possible pattern of increased malicious cyber activity timed to the campaign season, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. The review will look at the tactics, targets, key actors and the U.S. governments response to the recent email hacks, as well as incidents reported in past elections, he said.

The president ordered up the report earlier this week and asked that it be completed before he leaves office next month, Schultz said.

The president wanted this done under his watch because he takes it very seriously, he said. We are committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections.

U.S. intelligence officials have accused Russia of hacking into Democratic officials email accounts in an attempt to interfere with the presidential campaign. The Washington Post reported Friday that the CIA has concluded that Russia aimed specifically to help Donald Trump win the presidency.

The Post said the CIA presented its assessment to senators last week. The newspapers report cited anonymous U.S. officials who were briefed on that closed-door meeting.

Trumps transition team was dismissive of the hacking claims Friday night, releasing a statement referring to intelligence agents as the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

The Kremlin has rejected the hacking accusations.

In the months leading up to the election, email accounts of Democratic Party officials and a top Hillary Clinton campaign aide were breached, emails leaked and embarrassing and private emails posted online. Many Democrats believe the hackings benefited Trumps bid. Trump has downplayed the possibility that Russia was involved.

Schultz said the president sought the probe as a way of improving U.S. defense against cyberattacks and was not intending to question the legitimacy of Trumps victory.

This is not an effort to challenge the outcome of the election, Schultz said.

Obamas move comes as Democratic lawmakers have been pushing Obama to declassify more information about Russias role, fearing that Trump, who has promised a warmer relationship with Moscow, may not prioritize the issue.

Given Trumps statements, there is an added urgency to the need for a thorough review before President Obama leaves office next month, said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee. If the administration doesnt respond forcefully to such actions, we can expect to see a lot more of this in the near future, he said.

The White House said it would make portions of the report public and would brief lawmakers and relevant state officials on the findings.

It emphasized the report would not focus solely on Russian operations or hacks involving Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and Democratic National Committee accounts. Schultz stressed officials would be reviewing incidents going back to the 2008 presidential campaign, when the campaigns of Sen. John McCain and Obama were breached by hackers.

Intelligence officials have said Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney were targets of Chinese cyberattacks four years later.

In the months leading up to the election, email accounts of Democratic Party officials and a top Hillary Clinton campaign aide were breached, emails leaked and embarrassing and private emails posted online. Many Democrats believe the hackings benefited Trumps bid.
WASHINGTON (TNS)  The Pentagon plans to send 200 more troops into northern Syria to support rebel militias now holding positions about 15 miles from Islamic States self-declared capital of Raqqa, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Saturday.

Carter told a security conference in Manama, Bahrain, that the new troops will help train and assist the Syrian militias but will not engage in direct combat.

The increase, which was approved by President Barack Obama, adds to 300 acknowledged U.S troops in Syria and comes as Syrian government forces backed by Russia have pounded rebels holding parts of Aleppo in the countrys multi-sided civil war.

The additional U.S. troops will include special operations forces, explosive ordnance disposal teams and trainers.

This latest commitment of additional forces within Syria is another important step in enabling our partners to deal (Islamic State) a lasting defeat, Carter said.

The planned rebel offensive on Raqqa comes as Iraqi forces backed by the U.S.-led coalition are weeks into an assault on Mosul, the militants declared capital in Iraq and the largest city under its control anywhere.

Victory in either country would deal a considerable blow to Islamic States declared caliphate and eliminate a vital propaganda tool used to lure foreign fighters.

Obama would like to see the militants ejected from Mosul or Raqqa before he leaves office on Jan. 20, but its unclear whether either is likely. In any case, the militants still hold considerable territory in both countries outside those cities.

In recent weeks, advancing U.S.-backed rebel ground forces have retaken towns and cities around Raqqa and have cut off some supply routes to the city.

The Pentagon has backed the Syrian Democratic Forces, a loose alliance of fighters dominated by Syrian Kurds. They are now within 15 miles of Raqqa, Carter said.

Wary of sectarian conflict, the U.S. wants more Syrian Arab fighters in the Kurdish-run militias as they work toward predominantly Arab territories.

Col. John Dorrian, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the coalition against Islamic State, said Thursday that more Arab fighters have wanted to join the fight, including the Syrian Elite Forces, which include people forced from their homes in Raqqa by Islamic State.

The U.S. reliance on Kurdish forces has strained relations with Turkey, which views Syrian Kurdish forces as terrorists seeking their own territory along the border.

The Pentagon now has more than 6,000 troops in Iraq. U.S.-led coalition warplanes based outside Iraq and Syria have carried out thousands of airstrikes since mid-2014.

Although U.S. forces work mostly as advisers and trainers, five have died fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Friday, Dec. 9:

Donald Trump ran on a promise to bring back manufacturing jobs that have been shipped overseas, partly by using import tariffs to punish U.S. companies that move their operations abroad. He took the first step toward keeping that promise when Indiana manufacturer Carrier Corp., offered a package of state tax incentives (and possibly fearful of its corporate parent losing Pentagon contracts), agreed to retain 800 workers it had planned to lay off.

Some 600 jobs it had planned to move to Mexico will still be going there. But the incoming president claimed credit for those that will be staying here.

Theres nothing wrong with a president exhorting American corporations to fly the American flag, support the arts or find ways to preserve well-paying domestic jobs. Where such efforts become troublesome is when theyre accompanied by threats. The president-elect used his Twitter account to lambaste Milwaukee-based Rexnord for rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers, referring to a decision to shut a bearings factory in Indianapolis and move production to Mexico. He warned that companies outsourcing abroad were making a very expensive mistake, referring to the 35 percent tariff he wants to slap on their goods shipped here.

But the managers and shareholders running such companies generally have a better idea than anyone else of what they have to do to survive in a competitive market. A U.S. company that goes out of business may not ship any jobs abroad, but the domestic jobs it provides will be gone regardless.

Though Trumps jawboning makes for good headlines, its not really a plausible method for meeting his goals. Its the equivalent of trying to fill a swimming pool with an eye dropper. The 800 Carrier jobs he saved are dwarfed by the 5 million manufacturing jobs the country has lost since the start of this century. The type of deal he made with Carrier could backfire, by giving CEOs the idea that they can extract special favors by floating plans to leave. Trump may find himself putting out fires he inadvertently started.

To make a real difference in the job market and the fortunes of blue-collar workers, a president cant rely on case-by-case persuasion. Something much bigger is needed. The key to keeping  and creating  jobs here is to make America a more inviting place to do business.

Trump could start with pushing to cut the corporate tax rate to a more competitive level. Even President Barack Obama proposed lowering the rate from 35 percent, one of the highest in the world, to 28 percent. Obama was never willing to spend any political capital getting his party behind the idea, though, and he saw corporate tax reform chiefly as a way to milk American companies for more revenue. With a Republican Congress, Trump should be able to achieve what his predecessor didnt.

Another way to improve the job climate is by curtailing costly regulation. Trump has made a promise to formulate a rule which says that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated. Done with care and resolve, that is a path to freeing up business to do what it does best.

U.S. regulation is arbitrary, slow, discretionary and politicized, Hoover Institution economist John Cochrane wrote last month in The Wall Street Journal. He offers some ideas for improvement: Congress must review and approve major regulations. People and businesses have a right to see evidence and appeal. Regulators face a shot clock  no more years and years of delays on decisions. In sum: Companies dont expect zero regulation, but they are entitled to smart, timely, cost-effective regulation.

If Trump were to bring about reforms such as these, he would make producing in the United States more attractive not only to companies that are planning to move abroad but to companies that are already producing abroad, companies that see room for expansion and companies that havent even been created yet. Broadly improving the U.S. climate for job retention and creation is the real prize, and Trump should keep his eyes on it.
DeVos will be breath

of fresh air

Teachers unions and the education establishment reacted with predictable scorn when President-elect Donald Trump last month named Betsy DeVos as his nominee for secretary of education.

But parents have one simple reason to be optimistic: DeVos has been a champion for educational choice across the country.

Her support for school choice goes beyond mere lip service. She has worked to advance viable options for students and families, including charter schools, vouchers, tuition tax credit scholarships and education savings accounts.

That support for education choice will be a welcome change of pace, particularly for poor children living in the nations capital.

For the past eight years, the Obama administration has tried, almost annually, to wipe out funding for the wildly successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, commonly called OSP.

The administration has done so despite the fact that a random evaluation conducted by the U.S. Department of Education revealed that use of an OSP scholarship increased graduation rates for participants by 21 percent.

Those findings would be notable in and of themselves  increasing graduation rates is a long-held education policy goal  but theyre particularly spectacular given that the voucher provided through the program awards, on a per-pupil basis, just a fraction of what is spent on the District of Columbias public schools.

Annual revenue per pupil in the public district tops $29,400. The Opportunity program, on the other hand, awards scholarships of up to $8,452 to children in kindergarten through eighth grade, while giving students in grades 9-12 up to $12,679.

Even at the upper end of the scholarship amount, the vouchers cost less than half the public districts per-pupil revenue and are spurring graduation rates that outpace the national average and far outpace the average in the district.

Although the federal government is limited in what it can do to advance education choice, supporting the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program and encouraging its expansion is one option.

Secretary-designate DeVos should also consider education savings accounts for military-connected children and should work to create education savings accounts for children attending Bureau of Indian Education schools, which have been identified as the worst-performing schools in the country.

That said, education choice will not be the only education policy issue facing the secretary and the incoming administration.

The federal college student loan albatross also must be tackled, and policies that have enabled the accumulation of $1.3 trillion in outstanding student loan debt  up from $240 billion since just 2003  will no doubt feature prominently in the pending reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

Long-term defaults stand at around $125 billion. Add to that the Government Accountability Offices recent finding that public sector loan forgiveness will cost taxpayers more than $100 billion, and theres no doubt left that reform is desperately needed.

In order to decrease loan burdens and place pressure on colleges to rein in college costs, the PLUS loan program should be eliminated in order to make way for more flexible private funding alternatives.

The incoming administration has a major opportunity to advance education choice as appropriate, move toward policies that can lower college costs and dramatically downsize the federal Department of Education.

Pursuing a package of reforms that begins the important work of making federal education funding limited, targeted, and  most importantly  student-centered and portable can help restore state and local control of education and will better serve students and taxpayers nationwide.

DeVos has been

hostile to public schools

In the United States, 90 percent of children attend public schools.

These young people and their families rely on this system, which is funded by tax dollars and is answerable to democratically elected school boards. In many communities, the public school system is the glue that holds a diverse population together.

We therefore expect the men and women who set federal education policy to support public education.

Yet President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Betsy DeVos to be secretary of education in his administration. Thats a problem. DeVos isnt just indifferent to public education; shes hostile to it.

DeVos simply has no credentials to do this important job. Our countrys education secretary should focus on promoting and improving public education. Instead, DeVos wants to dismantle it. She has spent most of her adult life promoting private school vouchers. A lobbying group she heads, the American Federation for Children, seeks to transfer tax funds from public schools to private ones.

DeVos has poured money into campaigns to create voucher plans in states all over the country. She managed to get the question on the ballot in her home state of Michigan in 2000.

Michigan voters werent fooled, however. They rejected DeVos voucher scheme 68 percent to 32 percent.

Vouchers have been on the ballot in numerous states over the years. Voters have rejected them every time  and often by large margins.

The people are sending a clear message: Americans want an adequately funded, high-functioning public school system that welcomes all children, not a network of taxpayer-funded private schools, many of which are religious.

DeVos and Trump are tone-deaf to this message. They continue to promote voucher plans that Americans dont want.

Indeed, Trump has called for creating a nationwide school voucher program at a staggering price tag of $20 billion. His plan would divert money from existing federal programs to new choice block grants for states, which will, in part, fund private schools.

Americans should be wary. Private school vouchers are poor education policy.

Despite what DeVos and others claim about the virtues of the free market and competition, numerous studies have shown that voucher plans dont boost student performance.

Furthermore, private schools lack accountability to taxpayers and deprive students of rights provided to public school students.

They also divert desperately needed resources away from public schools, which serve all children, to fund the education of a few, select voucher students. Fly-by-night schools of questionable quality have also been a problem.

Most private schools are religious, meaning that voucher plans inevitably end up subsidizing sectarian education with tax dollars. This is nothing more than a modern-day church tax, requiring Americans to support someone elses religion.

In addition, voucher plans often lack basic curriculum requirements, which means that religious schools can use taxpayer-funded vouchers to teach creationism rather than evolution.

Private schools that accept vouchers also dont provide the same fundamental civil rights protections that our public schools do, including those prohibiting discrimination based on gender and gender identity, national origin, and disability.

In many programs, voucher schools can refuse to admit students for belonging to the wrong religion or expel them for committing moral offenses, such as being gay or having parents who are gay. These private institutions have every right to exist.

But they should not be funded by tax money, as DeVos advocates. They should be funded by the church members who believe in their religious mission.

The U.S. Department of Educations job is to ensure that our nation has a strong public school system and that all our children have access to meaningful educational opportunities.

Because DeVos doesnt support this goal, she is not qualified to be Americas secretary of education.
STOCKHOLM (AP)  Bob Dylan has expressed awe at receiving the Nobel Prize in literature and thanked the Swedish Academy for including him among the giants of writing.

Dylan was absent from Saturdays award ceremony and banquet in Stockholm. But in remarks read by the U.S. ambassador, he alluded to the debate about whether the award should go to a songwriter.

Dylan said when Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, he probably was thinking about which actors to pick and where to find a skull.

In his words: Im sure the farthest thing from Shakespeares mind was: Is this literature?

Dylan said he too focuses on mundane matters such as recording in the right key, not on whether his songs are literature.

He thanked the Academy for considering the question and providing such a wonderful answer.

In a separate ceremony Saturday, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, saying it helped his country achieve the impossible dream of ending a half-century-long civil war.

A smiling Santos received his Nobel diploma and gold medal at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, for his efforts to end a conflict that has killed 220,000 people and displaced 8 million.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is one less war in the world, and it is the war in Colombia, the 65-year-old head of state said, referring to the historic peace deal this year with leftist rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Santos used his acceptance speech to celebrate the end of the longest-running conflict in the Americas, pay tribute to its victims and call for a strategy shift in another, related war  on drug trafficking worldwide.

Just a few years ago, imagining the end of the bloodshed in Colombia seemed an impossible dream, and for good reason, Santos said, noting that very few Colombians could even remember their country at peace.

The initial peace deal was narrowly rejected by Colombian voters in a shock referendum result just days before the Nobel Peace Prize announcement in October.

Many believed that ruled out Santos from winning this years prize, but the Norwegian Nobel Committee saw things differently, deputy chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said.

The peace process was in danger of collapsing and needed all the international support it could get, she said in her presentation speech.

A revised deal was approved by Colombias Congress last week.

Several victims of the conflict attended the prize ceremony, including Ingrid Betancourt, who was held hostage by FARC for six years, and Leyner Palacios, who lost 32 relatives including his parents and three brothers in a FARC mortar attack.

The FARC has asked for forgiveness for this atrocity, and Leyner, who is now a community leader, has forgiven them, the president said. Palacios stood up to applause from the crowd.

FARC leaders, who cannot travel because they face international arrest warrants by the U.S., were not in Oslo. A Spanish lawyer who served as a chief negotiator for FARC represented the rebel group at the ceremony.

Colombians have reacted to Santos prize with muted emotion amid deep divisions over the peace deal. The vast majority didnt bother to vote in Octobers referendum. For many Colombians in big cities, Santos overriding focus on ending a conflict that had been winding down for years has diverted attention from pressing economic concerns.

The president also used the Nobel podium to reiterate his call to rethink the war on drugs, where Colombia has been the country that has paid the highest cost in deaths and sacrifices.

Santos has argued that the decades-old U.S.-promoted war on drugs has produced enormous violence and environmental damage in nations that supply cocaine, and needs to be supplanted by a global focus on easing laws prohibiting consumption of illegal narcotics.
Serious sanctions in Dane County

Of the 29 assisted living facilities that had their licenses revoked by the state since 2014, none was in Dane County. But 11 facilities in the county have received another serious sanction from the state: an order to admit no more residents until problems identified during inspections are corrected. The facilities and a summary of the problems found:

2016:

American Way of Madison: Twenty-two citations, including not reporting residents leaving facility, staff not giving medications as ordered, resident with choking problems drinking with a straw, controlled medications not double-locked and food improperly stored.

Comfort Care 4 U3, Fitchburg: Seven citations, including admitting two residents who use wheelchairs despite doors not being wide enough for wheelchairs, inadequate staff to care for the residents and trip hazards.

Pine View of Sun Prairie (now Oak Ridge Living): Six citations, including not telling the state about new ownership, not updating a residents care plan and not keeping a complete record of another resident.

2015:

Heritage of Monona: Seven citations, including not investigating or reporting sexual misconduct between two residents, improperly monitoring residents who fell many times and having an unclean environment.

2014:

Brookdale Madison North: Eleven citations, including a resident repeatedly not getting prednisone as prescribed, another resident found in a urine-soaked bed, a third residents call light not being responded to for 51 minutes and two caregivers not washing their hands properly.

Evergreen Home Care, Verona: Nine citations, including a resident not getting a calcium chew and waiting more than five hours for an anti-diarrhea drug, no evidence of resident satisfaction evaluations and improper disposal of medications.

Haacks Tendercare, Sun Prairie (now Hyland Crossings): Twelve citations, including administering injectables without a registered nurse, inadequate resident records, not preventing falls by a resident whose multiple falls required emergency care, frequent use of pain medication in a resident and not having a daily activity program.

Hartland House, Madison: Two citations, including not complying with previous order to remove clutter and not having a proper fire inspection.

Pleasant Meadows, Deerfield: Thirteen citations, including two residents taking the operators car without permission and driving to Iowa, didnt document a resident falling and hitting head on sidewalk, ramps not up to grade, fire extinguishers not inspected and smoke detectors not checked.

Trinity Senior Community 5565, Madison (now Madison Heights Senior Community): Five citations, including not preventing choking by a resident who previously choked, inadequate staffing during meals, not preventing falls by a resident who fell many times and eight out of 15 residents not receiving care needed.

Unified Adult Family Home, Madison: Nine citations, including locking out young male resident with schizophrenia, not having two exits as required and no written authorization to managed residents money.

 David Wahlberg
Wei has enjoyed her time studying at UW-L so much she decided to continue her graduate work in the universitys MBA program.

Even though she has been a student at UW-L for five years, she originally came to the university by chance. But she said she has enjoyed the small town feel of La Crosse, which is much different from the city she grew up in, with is nearly 7 million people.

Many Chinese students study abroad to help them compete for high-paying jobs, she said, and she had always been fascinated by the relationship between her country and the U.S. So she decided to come to America to check out what the country was like.

Its quite different compared to my own culture, she said. Studying here has helped me to learn other cultures and respect other cultures more.
Edward A. Boydston, 35, La Crosse, was referred to the district attorney on drug charges after police observed a vehicle that had been sitting for an usually long amount of time next to the gas pumps at a convenience store Nov. 26.

Dispatch reported that the owner of the vehicle had a suspended driving status, and police followed the vehicle as it left the parking lot. Police initiated a traffic stop on Superior Avenue, and the driver, later identified as Boydston, had discolored teeth that police linked to possible drug use.

The departments K-9 unit sniffed the vehicle and gave a positive indication of drugs present. Police found two used syringes with traces of blood in the fuse box cover, according to the report. A search of Boydston reportedly found a syringe with a trace amount of clear liquid.

Boydston was referred for possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. He also has a bond condition which prohibits him from possessing controlled substances, which triggered a bail jumping referral.

Alexander Allen Kleisner, 22, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for bail jumping. Kleisner was detained by police shortly before 1 a.m. Nov. 25 in downtown Tomah for allegedly violating a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.

Seth Vinson Boncouri, 21, Sparta, was referred to the district attorney for obstructing an officer.

Police were in The Bank bar for an unrelated matter shortly after midnight Nov. 25 when an officer observed a man give a set of vehicle keys to a visibly intoxicated Boncouri.

Boncouri was followed to a parking lot, where he allegedly ignored police several commands to stop. The report said he made a short attempt to flee police before turning to face the officer and giving passive resistance as police handcuffed him.

Boncouri was also issued a municipal citation for first-offense drunk driving.

Layne D. Sasse, 37, and Starr M. Sasse, 30, both of Tomah, were referred to the district attorney after a Nov. 27 incident at a Birch Lane residence.

Police responded to the residence after a neighbor reported hearing screaming, yelling, moaning and a thumping noise coming from a nearby trailer. When police arrived, there was an overturned bookshelf and the sound of a woman, later identified as a Starr Sasse, crying and distraught.

Layne Sasse told police he and the woman were having an argument over a card game. He said Starr Stasse had been destroying the trailer over the dispute.

Starr Sasse told police that Layne Sasse slammed a car door on her leg multiple times, and the report says police observed abrasions on both her knees.

Layne Sasse was referred for battery, and both were referred for disorderly conduct.

Ashley Ann Woods, 30, Elroy, was referred to the district for possession of a Schedule II drug and possession of a drug without a prescription.

Police observed a parked car in a private parking lot shortly after 2:30 p.m. Nov. 27 with several people inside and the vehicle running. Police approached the vehicle and identified the driver as Woods, who showed evidence of intoxication, according to the report. Police conducted a field sobriety test, and a preliminary breath test registered a blood-alcohol count of .177, more than twice the legal limit of .08.

Dispatch informed police that Woods had an outstanding warrant, and the K-9 unit sniffed the vehicle and indicated the presence of drugs. A search of the vehicle reportedly found several capsules in Woods possession.

Woods was issued a municipal citation for first-offense drunk driving.

Jamie E. Holtet, 31, and Caleb Christopher Potaracke, 29, both of La Crosse, were referred to the district for retail theft. The two are accused of attempting to fraudulently return items at the Tomah Walmart store Nov. 4 using receipts from La Crosse and Onalaska.

Robert John Austin Jr., 24, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for disorderly conduct after a Nov. 29 incident in downtown Tomah. He is accused a shattering a window during an argument with another person.

Dalton Donald Hintz, 22, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney on multiple charges after police pursued an arrest warrant against him Nov. 30.

Police pulled over a vehicle with Dalton as a passenger on East Clifton Street. The report says Dalton refused an order to exit the vehicle. He reportedly told police that he was suicidal, didnt want to live anymore and had recently been diagnosed with a stage-two brain tumor. He allegedly said he was going to take a gun and shoot both himself and the arresting officer but later acknowledged he didnt have a gun.

The report says police recovered a pipe that tested positive for methamphetamine and a box with a substance that tested positive for marijuana. Hintz was referred for possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and threatening battery to a police officer.

Dawn Marie Abbott, 48, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for bail jumping. She is accused of violating a no-contact order.

Gary Richard Anderson, 58, Necedah, was referred to the district attorney for carrying a loaded weapon while intoxicated.

Anderson was pulled over Dec. 3 after police observed his vehicle swerving on North Superior Avenue. After a field sobriety test, Anderson took a preliminary breath test and registered a blood alcohol count of .156, nearly twice the legal limit. Anderson told police I am concealed carry and that there was a gun under his front seat. Police recovered a Springfield XD 40 firearm and determined that Andersons concealed carry permit had expired.

Anderson was also issued a municipal citation for first-offense drunk driving.

Duane A. Chapman, 63, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for second-offense drunk driving.

Police pulled over Chapmans vehicle Dec. 4 after it was reportedly moving erratically shortly after 2:30 a.m. on Superior Avenue. After a field sobriety test, Chapman took a preliminary breath test, which recorded a blood-alcohol count of .14.

Calvin A Broas, 25, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for theft by fraud, fraudulent writing, false utterance and bail jumping. He is accused is passing a fraudulent check for $1,250 at Walmart Oct. 3.

Deanna G. Syverson, 31, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for bail jumping. She is accused of violating a bond condition that prohibits her from consuming alcohol.
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Five years ago, American James Faison could not imagine what he is doing today.

Faison worked in the state of Florida as a lawyer for large companies until 2012, when he moved to Virginia to start a farm business. But now, instead of raising crops, he is raising the earnings of local farmers.

Faison seems at ease with life on a farm. Members of his family have been farming for many years. When his grandparents died, he and his brothers and sisters inherited their farm. He says that began the process of trying to decide what they were going to do with it.

Four years ago, Faison left his job as a lawyer in Miami and returned to the family farm in Virginia. Slowly, he began to learn about the economic issues farmers face.

A lot of small farmers are struggling. And theyre working very hard, but theyre not able to drive the income from farming to sort of make it economically viable. The issue with agriculture in America is we only spend 6.8 percent of our income on food, which is the lowest in any industrialized nation. And so, since we spend so little on food, we expect food to be inexpensive, which means in order to make a living doing it, you have to have really, really big volumes. And so having big volumes of, of, of anything can be very expensive in terms of having enough cattle, having enough hogs or having enough infrastructure to support having those animals.

Faison said he met with several farmers who raise animals naturally -- in other words, they do not give them hormones, antibiotics or steroids.

After the meetings, Faison created a company called Miltons Local, named for his grandfather. Today, his work day is very different from his work as an attorney.

Miltons Local markets and transports all-natural meat from local farms to stores and restaurants. Faison says the company helps farmers increase their earnings, supports the local economy and satisfies the buyers of these meat products.

When youre eating locally, youre able to sort of support that farmer who raised it, you support that store who sold them the feed -- where youre keeping more dollars in your community. The other part I, I think is people are really concerned about whats being put in, into animals. So I think about 73 percent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are used on animals. So thats a really big problem -- especially in terms of antibiotic resistance. So I think that both movements will, will continue to, to grow and hopefully well be able to grow with em.

Miltons Local products are sold at MOMs Organic Market in Arlington, Virginia. Chris Wolfe is the head of the store. He says it and other stores like it seek to sell all natural, organic products.

Miltons Local products have been sold at the Arlington store for more than a year. People like the products, not just because they are natural but because they come from local farms.

The farm is growing because we are demanding more because our customers are demanding more.

That is good news for James Faison. He now works with more than 30 small farms in Virginia and North Carolina. He hopes Miltons Local will expand, become more profitable and help more small farmers.

Im Jill Robbins.

VOAs Faiza Elmasry reported this story. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

viable  adj. capable of succeeding

volume  n. an amount of something

infrastructure  n. the basic equipment and structures (such as roads and bridges) that are needed for a country, region, or organization to function properly

hormones  n. a natural substance that is produced in the body and that influences the way the body grows or develops

antibiotics  n. a drug that is used to kill harmful bacteria and to cure infections

steroids  n. a drug that is sometimes used illegally by athletes to help them become stronger and more muscular and by farmers to help their animals grow larger more quickly
When astronauts go to the planet Mars years from now, they will need the right food to stay strong and healthy.

At NASA, the American space agency, scientists are working to create food products that provide nutrition without weighing down the spacecraft.

For the first step to Mars, NASA plans to send astronauts past the moon on what are called deep space missions. They will travel in the Orion spacecraft, which has limited space for food and other supplies.

This is different from the International Space Station (ISS). Its crew members can choose from about 200 food products.

Another difference is that Orions flights into deep space will not involve other vehicles carrying supplies, or taking away trash. The Orion crew will have to take everything they need with them, and then bring everything back home.

Limit to what can fly on Orion

Going past the moon means NASA must limit the mass on Orion. That is because a heavier spacecraft needs more fuel and energy to get to where it needs to go.

But astronauts need to eat, so for now, NASA is developing breakfast food bars. Food adds weight to the spacecraft, explains NASA engineer Jessica Vos.

When you have 700 to 900 calories of something, its going to have some mass regardless of what shape its in, she said. So weve taken a look at how to get some mass savings by reducing how were packaging and stowing what the crew would eat for breakfast for early Orion flights with crew.

When you think about multi-week missions in Orion, having just one package for breakfast items for crew will help us limit the space we need to store them.

Sometimes Americans eat a protein bar instead of a meal. NASA says the bars available now are not good enough.

Theres no commercially-available bar right now that meets our needs. So weve had to go design something that will work for the crew, while trying to achieve a multi-year shelf life, said Takiyah Sirmons, a food scientist. She works with the Advanced Food Technology team at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Her team is working on developing different flavors, like orange cranberry and barbecue nut.

Different choices for other meals

For other meals, Orions crew will be able to choose from meals similar to what the ISS crew members eat. On the ISS, astronauts have a choice of foods. Some are thermostabilized, which means they are heat processed to destroy harmful microorganisms and enzymes.

Other foods are rehydratable -- the water in the food is removed before a space flight. It saves on weight. Then, when the astronaut wants to eat, water is added back into the food.

The Orion crews will have a food warmer to heat up their meals.

Also important for the food scientists is to know how the food bars will affect the mental and emotional health of the astronauts. Food choice and taste are important in making sure the crew eats enough.

This will become more important as the length of the trip increases. That includes the expected 6 to 8 months it will take to travel to the Red Planet.

Spacecraft to Mars in design

NASA officials do not plan to use the Orion spacecraft to get there, but a larger spacecraft in which astronauts can live and work. Six companies are now designing such a vehicle for the space agency.

Astronauts have been testing the food bars at the Johnson Space Center. They are providing comments about their taste, how they feel and how long they would want to eat these foods. This helps the scientists decide the right foods for the long space missions in the future.

But bars will not be enough for trips to Mars. NASA is also working on developing ways to feed the crew on the long missions.

Astronauts on the ISS are growing vegetables in space for the third time. Their experiments will help scientists decide the best way to grow food in space in the future.

The year 2021 is when Orion will launch its first mission with a crew. They will leave the Earth on a Space Launch System rocket now being developed. NASA plans to get people to Mars by the 2030s.

Im Anne Ball.

And I'm Phil Dierking.

This story was reported by VOANews.com. Anne Ball adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and visit us on our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

trash  n. items already used, to be thrown away

stow  v. to pack or store carefully and neatly

commercially-available  adj. something that can be bought in a store or market

shelf life  n. the length of time food may be stored and still be good to eat

mission  n. a task or flight that someone is given to do
You might think the only place to set up a technology company in the United States is California.

After all, Northern California has Silicon Valley, which is home to companies like Apple and Google.

One expert on new business agrees Silicon Valley is a great place to launch a tech company. But he wonders if someone with a great idea cannot move there, does that person have a chance to be successful?

Scott Shane is a professor of economics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He teaches classes on starting up a tech company and makes small investments in new businesses.

Shane says a place like Palo Alto, California has many desirable qualities compared to a city in another area.

First, a high-tech company in Palo Alto will have an easier time finding people experienced in writing complex computer programs. He adds that the company also will have an easy time finding investors. The most difficult decision will be deciding which investors to work with.

The biggest pro for entrepreneurship in a place like Silicon Valley or San Francisco is the density of the activity. So if you are looking for a seed-stage investment, literally you would trip over tens of seed-stage venture capitalists on your way to get a coffee in San Francisco...

Shane says the San Francisco area may have as many as 1,000 venture capitalists. They take money from investors and use it to help finance new businesses.

He says there may be only three or four venture capitalists in some major cities, such as Cleveland; Detroit, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska; and Madison, Wisconsin.

But, Shane says, new companies in a place like Omaha are better at some things than businesses in California. For example, companies in Omaha spend less money for office space and on paying workers. That means a new company does not have to worry about running out of money before it perfects its product.

In California, office space can be costly, with workers demanding high pay. People interested in opening a technology business do not have a lot of time to perfect their product. Investors who want to earn a profit on their money sometimes push new companies into bringing out a product before it is ready.

In Detroit, businesses can take a little more time getting started before looking for outside investment. Shane says such companies can be good targets for investors because they have already faced some of the difficulties common to new businesses.

VOA spoke with officials at two start-up companies: CityInsight, based in Detroit; and Quo, a Cleveland business. The officials explained why they chose to launch their businesses in those cities instead of California.

Twenty-three year old Abess Makki is the founder of CityInsight. His business receives support from an organization called TechTown, which is connected with a local university.

Amit Patel and Naman Desai set up Quo with the help of LaunchHouse, an incubator that helps people turn ideas into businesses.

LaunchHouse makes money by renting office space and investing in the companies it helps to start.

Both TechTown and LaunchHouse help people who have ideas, but are not business experts, get started. For example, TechTown helps people write up business plans, decide how to offer shares of their company to investors and prepare sales talks for new clients.

"And thats I think is the biggest thing that TechTown did for me. Is actually take everything I did and help me put it together. Sort of like, I had the paint, the brush, the canvas. But, you know, they helped me make the painting, and thats a huge part."

Makki said his connection with TechTown kept him from making mistakes that caused problems for other businesses.

Ned Staebler is the chief executive officer of TechTown. He said his company goes beyond other organizations that are known as incubators.

A lot of places that will teach you the nuts-and-bolts of opening up a retail business. We have an eight-week retail bootcamp. But after that, well actually help you go through the permitting process. Well help you get your architect in and your financing done. Its not just a come and take a class and then see you later. We really act as consultants all the way through the process.

Abess Makki said TechTown helped him meet business experts who could help solve problems. That was important when he was signing an agreement to work with the city of Detroit.

CityInsight is trying to make it easier for governments and local utility companies to connect with their citizens and customers.

CityInsight has an app, or software program, which gives customers real-time information about their water usage. That way, when people are asked to pay for their water usage every three or four months, they are not surprised by the amount they owe.

In Detroit, theres a high illiteracy rate. So we want to make sure people understand their water bill. Not just through words, but through graphics and through images. And once they understand that, well feel more comfortable giving the people their bills. And feeling safe that they understand where it came about.

Water is an important subject in Michigan. The city of Flint was in the news this year after studies showed its water supply contained lead.

Patel grew up near Cleveland. So he felt at ease starting his business there. His company, Quo, helps people find housing to rent. Quo works with people who are neighborhood experts. Then it connects those experts with people who are trying to find a place to live. If the expert helps someone find a home, then Quo gets paid.

Patel says Cleveland was a good place for his start-up because the city offers different kinds of housing. There are apartments in large buildings in the city, and smaller apartment buildings nearby.

But in addition to housing, Cleveland is a good place for tech businesses because many college-educated people live there.

Cleveland, if you look at some of the universities here in the area, Case Western provides the top-notch engineers, computer science folks in the country for the Midwest region. Youll see a lot of resources, folks come out of that university along with Cleveland State, John Carroll, Akron and Kent. Youll see a lot of strong engineers that come out of there where theyre craving the excitement of joining a start-up. And so finding resources in Cleveland is not an issue at all. In fact, you find smarter resources here at a lower cost given the cost of living is significantly less than Silicon Valley. Youre able to find sharp people here.

People who are good at writing computer code or designing websites are moving to cities in states like Michigan, Ohio or Nebraska. They can still work remotely for Silicon Valley companies, but they are able to live more relaxed lives.

At the same time, in places like Cleveland, people are starting businesses in hopes of having more control over their careers.

Makki looked for his first job as a teenager, and did not have much luck. That period of time taught him that he should create a business instead of just finding a job, and that is what he is doing.

When I was coming up, it was more of the recession period. And most of us around, all the guys my age, we couldnt find jobs anywhere. When I mean anywhere, anywhere. We were willing to do anything, but that was a really bad time. I cannot afford to depend on something thats not always going to be there...

Im Dan Friedell.

And I'm Caty Weaver.

Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

What do you think about starting a tech business outside of Silicon Valley? We want to know. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

boast  v. to take pride in something

entrepreneur  n. a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money

eager  adj. very excited and interested

seed-stage  n. at the start of something

venture  n. a new activity, project, business, etc., that typically involves risk

incubator  n. an organization or place that helps in the development of new businesses

nuts-and-bolts  n. the main parts of a project

utility  n. a service (such as a supply of electricity or water) that is provided to the public  usually plural

pro  n. an argument for something : a reason to do something  usually plural

density  n. the amount of something in a particular space or area

rent  adv. money that you pay in return for being able to use property and especially to live in an apartment, house, etc., that belongs to someone else

consultant  n. a person who gives professional advice or services to companies for a fee

remotely  adv. from a distance

relaxed  adj. calm and free from stress, worry, or anxiety : not worried or tense

customer  n. someone who buys goods or services from a business
Can't download the mp3s or zip files? Baffled by the point of this blog? Please go to the FAQ first of all. Your answer should be there.

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"Left and to the Back" is a blog exploring the dark and dusty world of flop singles and albums, the kind you may find lingering near the stock room of your local second hand record store (if you still have one), or perhaps going for extortionate sums on ebay.







The music uploaded to this site is for evaluation only, and where it is otherwise available at a reasonable price I would persuade you to support your local second hand record store by buying it. Many of the posts on here are about digging around in these shops and being thrilled by ridiculous and obscure finds, and I hope I'm persuading a few more readers to get out there and dig around. So please do dig. Man. No blog or download site can ever be an effective substitute.

For a better idea about the kind of music featured, both sublime and ridiculous, please go to our Spotify playlist here . Please note that L&TTB is not primarily a sixties blog, even though a lot of good "lost" material was released around this era and will be featured. In short, if I like it and it's interesting, I'll upload it. And sometimes if I don't like it but it's interesting, it will also feature.
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After wild card entrant Sahil Anand's exit from the Bigg Boss 10 house, the contestants arent aware of the twist that will take place with yet another eviction on 11 December's episode of Weekend Ka Vaar. Salman Khan gives an electrifying start to Sundays episode, shaking a leg to the beats of Desi Beat.

Soon things take a hilarious turn as Salman is surprised by stand-up comedians Krushna Abhishek and Bharti Singh. The duo walk onstage to join Salman, dressed like kids and grooving to the song, Mujhe Maaf Karna. Salman asks Bharti about her favourite contestant in the house, to which she innocently replies that she likes only the one who shows up on the weekend wearing a suit, and grills the other contestants. She calls him Salman uncle while answering all his questions. Adding to the fun, Salman plays the 'thappad game with Swami Om, Lopa and Bani and Swami emerges victorious with the most number of slaps. Taking the show further with more funny moments, Salman asks Mona, Bani and Swami if they have any twins or lookalikes. Salman then clears the air and reveals the trio of Krushna Abhishek (Swami), Sudhesh (Mona Lisa) and Aditi Bhatia (Bani) of Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza. The three comedians then mimic the contestants and recreate their infamous antics, much to the delight of Salman while embarrassing Mona and Bani. Everybody is left in splits when Krushna announces that the Bigg Boss house is famous for just two things: Priyanka Jagga and Swamis Mugga.

The comedians take some fun-filled swings at the housemates, starting with Krushna who's dressed up as Swami. Bharti takes over soon after, as she takes on the role of the ever watching Bigg Boss eye and mocks Swami for his boisterous behaviour pointing out his weird antics in the house. Following his comic partners cue, Karan Wahi teases Bani on her Walkout Queen persona while Pooja Bose, as Lopas doppelganger, pokes fun at the beauty queens ostentatious demeanour.

Moving on from the fun and festivities, Salman hosts his Salman Ki Sabha with actor Hina Khan (Rohans friend and co-star from Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai), and Banis friends Nitin and Sheetal. When Salman asks Hina about Rohan's performance, she replies that she is really proud of him because he has carved a space for himself in the Bigg Boss house and is not afraid of making his opinions clear despite being an introvert. While Hina reveals the shock she felt on seeing Rohans volatile temperament, Nitin defends Banis evasive nature, citing her craving for emotional support. Salman tells Nitin that Banis unpredictable behaviour is harming her image in the people's eyes. Further, while grilling Banis friends by asking them whether they find her antics immature, Sheetal says that Bani was a self-made woman who started her career very early. Salman snubs her saying that everybody these days is self-made. The sabha ends with Hina advising Rohan to clean up his act inside the house and points out Priyankas crude behaviour of spitting on his face.

The night takes a magical twist with Israeli mentalist Amir Lustig joining Salman on stage, with the aim to aid the superstar in this weeks second elimination. After leaving Salman and the audiences in awe with his mind-games and spellbinding tricks, Amir enters the house to mesmerise the housemates. Some of the contestants feel that he was a wild card entrant, but soon he reveals his identity and gradually shows his tricks one after the other. Right from bending cutlery to using his mind to manipulating their thoughts and hypnotizing, Amir enthralls the contestants.

But it's Amirs last trick which dictates the fate of one contestant, which is Priyanka Jagga. The final trick by Amir is that he makes contestants, unknown to them, spell out Priyankas name. They pick cards with random letters on them, and when theyre combined, it spells PRIYANKA. Bigg Boss then announces that Priyanka Jagga is evicted from the house, leaving every body shocked. However, there is a twist in the tale: while the contestants feel that she has been evicted, Priyanka heads towards the secret room just like Swami, who also spent few days there while watching the contestants from the house. Priyanka settles down in the secret room with headphones and watches the contestants on a television set. Most of them are found complaining about her.

Lopa says that she was not feeling bad about Priyanka's eviction and that she was a split personality, while Manveer says that she was overacting all these days. Nitibha is heard telling Manveer that even Salman disliked Priyanka. Obviously, Swami is deeply upset and has a major breakdown. He tells Bigg Boss to send Priyanka back into the house. He tells all the contestants who are celebrating that Priyanka will come back and show them their place". And in an interesting turn of events tomorrow, the contestants start romantically linking Manveer and Nitibha, with the latter getting a bit upset while wondering how her parents would react. Bani tells Gaurav that the attraction between Manveer and Nitibha seemed mutual. Also, during a task tomorrow, Rahul and Manveer will have a big showdown.
By Laila Bassam and Suleiman Al-Khalidi

| ALEPPO, Syria/AMMAN

ALEPPO, Syria/AMMAN The Syrian army and its allies made new gains in Aleppo on Sunday, forcing rebels back into an ever shrinking pocket crammed with civilians, but lost control of the desert city of Palmyra to a swift Islamic State attack.Final victory in Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the civil war, would constitute the biggest triumph yet for President Bashar al-Assad and his coalition of Russian air power, Iran and Shi'ite militias. New army gains on Sunday south of Aleppo's historic citadel in the besieged insurgent pocket appeared to bring that end closer, with a rebel official saying world powers seemed to be presenting rebels with a choice of "death or surrender".But the Islamic State attack on Palmyra, 200 km (120 miles) to the southeast, threatens to inflict a serious blow on both Damascus and Moscow, which had trumpeted their capture of the ancient city from the jihadist group in March. Syrian state radio reported on Sunday that the army had evacuated its positions inside Palmyra, whose Roman-era ruins have become an emblem of the nearly six-year conflict. They were redeploying around the city in the face of large jihadist reinforcements after Moscow said its jets had killed hundreds of militants. Islamic State's advance around Palmyra on Thursday and seizure of the city centre on Sunday despite its months of losses elsewhere showed how far Assad is from regaining control of Syria, even as he stands on the cusp of victory in Aleppo.Analysts have warned that even if Assad defeats the main rebellion, he may still face years of guerrilla insurgency and bombing attacks as he tries to reassert his authority.Heavy shelling and air raids pounded Aleppo's rebel enclave from midnight on Saturday and throughout Sunday morning, a Reuters reporter in the city said, with explosions at a rate of more than one a minute. Gunfire was also heard. Russian and U.S. officials are meeting in Geneva on Sunday for more talks on an elusive deal for civilians and fighters to leave the city, diplomats said, but the rebel official said the Aleppo insurgents had had no word yet on their progress. FIERCE BOMBARDMENT

Thousands of refugees are still pouring from Aleppo's areas of fighting. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, said more than 120,000 civilians had left the eastern part of the city as the government advance closed in, but that tens of thousands remained.The Turkey-based official from the Jabha Shamiya rebel group, which is present in Aleppo, said that the insurgents' enclave was reduced to a narrow strip that was full of civilians and under very fierce bombardment. Without external intervention, the struggle would end badly, the official said: "The result will certainly be a complete end of the district, in a tragic way." The mostly Sunni rebels include groups supported by the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies, but also some jihadist factions that receive no assistance from the West. The army seized the al-Maadi district on Sunday morning before rebels were able to return and continue fighting there, said the Jabha Shamiya official. A Syrian military source said the army and its allies had captured the al-Asila and Aaajam districts, southeast of Aleppo's ancient citadel, as well as the southern portion of the Karam al-Daadaa neighbourhood.

The Observatory also said the army had advanced in those areas. Reuters reporters on a tour of Old City districts captured by the army saw how its historic covered market had been pounded, with ancient quarters reduced to a warren of defensive positions daubed with rebel slogans. "Embrace death for Aleppo" was one. State television showed footage of the east Aleppo fighting: a tank moving slowly along a street as soldiers ran alongside it, smoke and dust billowing around them.

PALMYRA

The civil war has pitted Assad and his allies against rebel groups but also involves a secondary conflict setting all of them against Islamic State.The jihadist group seized Palmyra in May 2015, one of its last major conquests after nearly a year of advances in Syria and neighbouring Iraq that took advantage of the region's chaos following the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. Its destruction of some of the best-known ruins and killing of the leading archaeologist in the city provoked global outrage and the army's recapture of Palmyra was presented by Damascus and Moscow as vindicating Russia's entry into the war. A video released online by the militant group showed images of the city and its ruins taken from near the medieval castle overlooking the area. The governor of Homs Province, where Palmyra is located, said on Sunday that the government would do all it could to retake the city. Islamic State has suffered a string of setbacks since late last year, losing its once long stretch of territory on the border with Turkey, an important source of supplies and recruits, as well as the city of Manbij. The group is fighting an assault on its most important possession in Iraq, the city of Mosul. It is also under attack north of Raqqa, its Syrian capital, following a series of air strikes that have killed some of its most important leaders.Russian news agencies reported that air strikes had killed 300 militants overnight near Palmyra but that more than 4,000 fighters had still managed to launch the attack on the city. (Reporting by Laila Bassam in Aleppo, Tom Perry in Beirut and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, writing by Angus McDowall; editing by David Stamp)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Doina Chiacu and Howard Schneider

| WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON U.S. President-elect Donald Trump rejected as "ridiculous" reported U.S. intelligence findings that Russia intervened in the presidential election on his behalf through targeted hacking, saying he did not believe it, according to an interview on "Fox News Sunday."The Republican president-elect's comments casting doubt on reported U.S. intelligence findings pits him against some leading foreign policy voices in the U.S. Senate from his own party who on Sunday expressed alarm about election meddling by Moscow."I think it's ridiculous. I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it," Trump said in the interview, which was taped on Saturday.He blamed Democrats for putting out the media reports and said he did not believe they came from the Central Intelligence Agency.Trump's dismissal was perhaps aimed at squashing doubts about whether he won the Nov. 8 election fairly. However, his comments could also portend conflicts between the new president and the intelligence agencies he will command and feed criticism that his administration will be soft on Russia.The Republican real estate magnate was expected to appoint as secretary of state Exxon Mobile Corp Chief Executive Rex Tillerson, who has close ties with Moscow and has spoken out against U.S. sanctions on Russia.

U.S. intelligence agencies have told Congress and the administration of President Barack Obama that Russia has grown increasingly aggressive in Syria and Ukraine and has stepped up activities in cyberspace including meddling, sometimes covertly, in European and U.S. elections.A senior U.S. intelligence official told Reuters intelligence agencies have concluded with "high confidence" that not only did their Russian counterparts direct the hacking of Democratic Party organizations and leaders, but they did so to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The Republican president-elect questioned whether the Central Intelligence Agency was behind the reports that indicated Moscow wanted him in the White House. "I think the Democrats are putting it out," he said in the interview.

Two leading Republican voices on foreign policy in the U.S. Senate, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, joined two Democratic senators on Sunday in expressing concern over possible Russian interference in a U.S. presidential election."For years, foreign adversaries have directed cyber attacks at America's physical, economic, and military infrastructure, while stealing our intellectual property. Now our democratic institutions have been targeted," the senators, including Democrats Chuck Schumer and Jack Reed, said in a statement."Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American."

"This cannot become a partisan issue. The stakes are too high for our country," the senators said in a statement. Reince Priebus, the Republican Party leader Trump picked to be his chief of staff in the White House, attacked the news reports for relying on unidentified sources and denied a New York Times report that the Republican National Committee was hacked. He was speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press."Russian officials have denied all accusations of interference in the U.S. election. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Howard Schneider; Editing by Mary Milliken and Phil Berlowitz)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: Apex aircraft investigation body, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will probe the helicopter crash in Goregaon suburb of Mumbai on Sunday in which one person was killed and three others were injured.

Aviation regulator DGCA has already started collecting evidence from the crash site which would help the AAIB in its probe, a senior official said.

"The DGCA officials are already on the crash site to collect evidence for probe. Since, ab initio its an accident, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will be conducting a probe into it. We are sending a team of investigators to Mumbai tomorrow to start the probe," a senior AAIB official told PTI.

The official said that the AAIB is expected complete its preliminary investigation in one weeks time.

One person was killed and three others were injured when a helicopter crashed in the Goregaon suburb of the western metropolis.

The helicopter crashed in an open ground in Aarey colony, a green belt in suburban Goregaon, and caught fire, according to the city fire department officials.

Local residents alerted police and Fire Brigade after they spotted smoke billowing from the crash site.

Four persons, all occupants of the chopper, suffered burns and were rushed to a hospital where one of them succumbed to injuries, said DCP (Zone 12) Kirankumar Chavan.
Follow live updates of Cyclone Vardah here

Vijayawada: Authorities on Sunday sounded an alert in Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Tamil Nadu as cyclonic storm 'Vardah' over the Bay of Bengal has turned into a "very severe" one.

The storm is likely to cross north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast by Monday afternoon, said Indian Meteorological Department on Sunday.

Were expecting rainfall in Prakasam,Nellore,Chittoor,Kadapa distts & parts of Anantapur distt;Have made all necessary arrangements-MVS Babu pic.twitter.com/lsvOe3ahXJ  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

According to IMD, 'Vardah' over west central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal moved further westwards and lay centred at 530 hours over west central and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal about 520 km east-southeast of Nellore, 490 km east-southeast of Machilipatnam and 480 km east-northeast of Chennai.

Control rooms opened in Vijayawada;Necessary personnel positioned in coastal mandals;5NDRF teams moved;Monitoring situation closely-MVS Babu pic.twitter.com/aPdZX2dyrG  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

"The storm is very likely to move nearly west-southeastwards and maintain its intensity till Sunday evening. Thereafter it will weaken gradually while moving towards south Andhra Pradesh coast and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coast," the IMD said.

Cyclonic storm Vardah over west central & adjoining south Bay of Bengal moved further west-northwestwards during past 6hrs with 20kmph speed  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

The Met office has forecast light to moderate rains at many places with isolated heavy to very heavy falls over south Andhra coast and north coastal Tamil Nadu from Sunday evening for subsequent 36 hours. Light to moderate rains are likely to occur over north coastal Andhra.

Sea condition will be rough over South Andhra & TN coast;Fishermen advised not to venture into sea in region during next 2days-SBalachandran pic.twitter.com/Kt8mvzAU9K  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

Strong winds with speed of 40-50 kmph are likely along the coast from Sunday. The speed may increase to 70-80 kmph at the time of landfall. Damage to thatched huts, power and communication lines, roads and crops is expected.

As the sea will be rough, fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea for next 48 hours. Authorities have hoisted third warning signal at all ports on Andhra coast.

Light moderate rain is expected at many places; Rainfall and strong winds expected to start from today evening: S Balachandran pic.twitter.com/f3vq9u2sqh  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

District administration in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore have been alerted to take all precautionary measures. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who has cancelled his visit to the UAE and Kuwait, is monitoring the situation from the command and control centre in Vijayawada.

#CycloneVardah is expected to cross South Andhra, North TN, coastal region close to Chennai by Dec 12 afternoon: Regional Met dept director pic.twitter.com/Kbpy1PrTpf  ANI (@ANI_news) December 11, 2016

Naidu deputed four senior IAS officers to four districts to take necessary steps to minimise the loss of lives and property. Two teams of National Disaster Response Force have reached Nellore district.
As'ad's Bio

As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.
Kochi: A day after he was advised by Madhya Pradesh Police not to attend an event in Bhopal in view of Sangh Parivar protest, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today hit out at the BJP-ruled state saying police did not take action against the protesters as it was organised by RSS.

Vijayan, who is a senior member of the CPI(M) politburo, said the experience he underwent in Bhopal is a reflection of the culture of the Sangh Parivar and the government supported by them.

"It (protest) was organised by the RSS. When a chief minister of a state is going to attend a programme, a protest is organised without any reasons. And police is not taking any action as the protest is being organised by the RSS, then asking the chief minister not to attend the function.

"We should see a cultural issue in it," Vijayan told reporters here.

CPI(M) had alleged the chief minister was supposed to attend a felicitation programme organised by Kerala Samaj in Bhopal yesterday but when he was about to leave for attending it, Madhya Pradesh Police told him not to go there as RSS and other organisations were protesting against it.

Following the protest, the programme was cancelled and the Kerala Chief Minister went back.

Leaders of some Hindu outfits had organised a protest before the BSSS college gate, where Pinarayi was supposed to be felicitated in the evening. Police later took nearly 20 protesters into custody from the spot.

Bhopal Malyali Community Association Programme Convenor O D Joseph had said the programme was organised without the presence of Vijayan, whose scheduled visit to the venue was "cancelled due to security reasons".

DIG of Bhopal Raman Singh Sikarwar had clarified that in view of the protest by Hindu outfits, police requested the Kerala Chief Minister to delay his visit to the venue for security reasons.

"We have never said that we won't provide security to him. We were ready to take him to the venue but in order to avoid unpleasant situation, we had just asked him to delay the visit," he had said on Saturday.

"However, Vijayan decided not to visit the venue and therefore it was cancelled," he had claimed.
New Delhi: Delhi police have seized nearly Rs 13.5 crore in a raid at a law firm in southeast Delhi's GK-I

area, of which Rs 2.6 crore is in new currency released after demonetisation, a senior police official said on Sunday.

The raid was carried out by Crime Branch at the office of T&T law firm last night, the officer said. "The recovered amount is close to Rs 13.5 crore. The amount of Rs 2.62 crore was found in newly introduced Rs 2,000 notes. Besides these, Rs 7.7 crore were in the form of Rs 1,000 notes and Rs 3.06 crore were in the form of Rs 100 notes along with Rs 11 lakh in Rs 50 denomination. Two note counting machines were also found there," said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (crime).

According to I-T department sources, the lawyer had recently declared unaccounted income worth over Rs 125 crore after searches were carried out against him.

The officer said that police had been keeping a watch on the advocate who owned the law firm for a long time. "A secret information surfaced that a renowned advocate who had declared Rs 125 crore before the I-T department officials a few days ago, was hoarding huge amount of cash illegally and indulging in transaction of the old and new currency notes. A round the clock watch was kept on his activities by the crime branch, especially at the premises in GK-I," said the officer.

The Inter State Cell (ISC) of Crime Branch received a secret input late last evening that huge amount of currency notes had arrived at the advocate's office in Greater Kailash.

"A team led by ACP ISC Sanjay Sehrawat was constituted under the supervision of DCP (Crime) Bhisham Singh and the information was shared with the Income Tax officials. They were also roped in for the operation," said the officer.

After due procedure and sanction, a search warrant was procured and a raid conducted on the premises following which huge new and old currency notes to the tune of several crores were recovered.

When the police team raided the office, the rooms were locked and a caretaker was present. "It's probably one of the several office premises which was mainly used as cash godown guarded by just one guard," said the officer.

Police said that more cash was likely to be recovered in the follow-up raids.
Chennai: The DMK's top decision-making body, General Council, will meet here on 20 December, the first time after the party's electoral loss at the hands of arch-rival AIADMK in the May 2016 Assembly polls to discuss "constructive activities" of the party.

Party President M Karunanidhi will chair the meeting, slated at DMK headquarters Anna Arivalayam, DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan said in a statement on Saturday.

The GC members will take up "constructive activities" of the party, he added.

The meeting also comes in the wake of demands from a section of the party calling for elevation of DMK Treasurer MK Stalin to a higher post.

Political situation in the state, especially after J Jayalalithaa's demise and her staunch loyalist O Panneerselvam taking over as the new chief minister, will be looked into.

The party will also take stock of the political situation in the state after its defeat in the May 2016 Assembly polls and ahead of the civic bodies polls.
Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress on Sunday condemned BJP state president Dilip Ghosh for using "abusive and goonda-like" language against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while announcing a three-day protest against the Centre's demonetisation of high-value notes.

"We have seen the abusive and goonda-like comments of Dilip Ghosh against our party supremo. We are not taking it lightly. We strongly condemn the language used by him," said TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee.

Asserting that the chief minister would continue to hold protest in different parts of the country over people's miseries owing to demonetisation, Chatterjee said, "No one can stop Mamata Banerjee from going around the country on the issue till the Centre rolls back its decision."

"The words used by Ghosh goes on to show that he is mentally imbalanced. He has even threatened to kill our party people," he alleged.

"He is trying to be in the news by making such dangerous comments. He should not try to blacken the culture of Bengal by using such filthy language," Chatterjee said.

Chatterjee, who is also the state's Parliamentary Affairs and Education Minister, announced a state-wide protest from 14 to 16 December against demonetisation.

"TMC workers, supporters and the suffering public will join protest-march and meetings to be held in every block of the state on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday," Chatterjee said.

Speaking at a meeting of the party's youth wing held at West Midnapore district's Jhargram on Saturday, Ghosh said Banerjee has "lost her mind" after the demonetisation drive and that was why she recently visited Delhi and Patna.

"That's why she (Banerjee) is visiting Delhi and Patna. And failing to achieve anything, she is sitting in Nabanna (state secretariat). We had thought that she would ultimately jump in the Ganga... this person (Banerjee) has lost her mind. The state's people have realised their mistake of bringing in change in West Bengal," Ghosh alleged.

In a statement earlier in the day, TMC said that after failing to fight Banerjee on her stand on demonetisation, the BJP has started issuing "dangerous personal threats to the Bengal CM."

"The BJP cannot fight Mamata Banerjee on policy, good governance and her principled stand on demonetisation on behalf of millions who are affected," TMC said in a statement.

"BJP is desperate to silence the voice of the opposition. The Bengal BJP president spews deeply dangerous, threatening, abusive and completely false personal statements against her. A new low in politics," it said.
Washington: US president-elect Donald Trump has said that one of his first executive orders after assuming office would be to order investigation into all visas abuses that undermine jobs for the American worker, indicating that foreigner workers, including Indians, may face tough scrutiny under his administration.

While Trump did not identify or name any particular visa abuse, lawmakers for the past few years have expressed concern over abuse of H-1B visas by companies.

During his presidential campaign, Trump had emphasised tightening immigration and criticised companies that ship jobs overseas to countries like India and China.

"One of my first executive orders will ask the Department of Labour to investigate all visa abuses that undermine jobs and wages for the American worker," Trump said at a rally in Michigan on Friday.

"We will fight to protect every American life. During the campaign, I also spent time with American workers laid off and forced to train the foreign workers that were brought in to replace them. That's not going to happen anymore," Trump said.

He was apparently referring to cases like that of Disney World and other American companies wherein people hired on H-1B visas, including Indians, displaced US workers.

"The company that's out there right now, they say you're going to train the people that are going to replace you, and if you don't do it, you're not getting your severance pay, OK, not going to happen to our people anymore," Trump said.

He also vowed to end illegal immigration.

"To protect our country from terrorism and extremism, I will suspend immigration and refugee admissions from regions where they cannot be safely processed or vetted," he said.

"On immigration, we will build a great wall and we will put an end to illegal immigration and stop the drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth and many other people. Got to stop the drugs," he said.

"And we're going to have people come into our country, hundreds of thousands of people. We want them to come in because we're going to have big, beautiful doors in that wall, but they're going to come in legally through a process legally," he said.

Trump said he believes in peace through strength.

"We will, however, get rid of ISIS, I'm sorry. We will get rid of ISIS. ISIS has to go. At the same time, we will ensure our veterans have the best medical care in the world. It's about time," he said.

"And on healthcare, we will repeal and replace Obamacare. We're going to have healthcare that's much less expensive. They will be much better, much stronger. The murder rate our country has experienced is the largest increase in 45 years. You don't hear that. We are going to support the incredible men and women of law enforcement and we are going to bring this crime wave to an end," he said.
BEIRUT The United States and Russia on Sunday tabled a proposal to rebels in Aleppo that would offer safe passage from the city for fighters, their families and other civilians, three opposition officials with Aleppo rebel groups told Reuters.The rebel groups in Aleppo have yet to respond to the proposal, the officials said. The proposal promised rebel fighters a "secure" and "honourable" withdrawal from the city, they said. If rebels accept the proposal, it would restore Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's full control over rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo, his biggest victory yet in the civil war that has shattered his country.The Russian-backed Syrian military and its allies have captured swathes of rebel-held eastern Aleppo in a ferocious military campaign, squeezing rebel fighters and tens of thousands of civilians into an ever shrinking enclave.

Under the proposal, the Syrian government and its allies would guarantee safe passage for fighters, their family members, and other civilians from the city. The rebel groups in the city have previously said they would not leave eastern Aleppo, while demanding safe passage for civilians who wish to leave to areas to the north of Aleppo near the border with Turkey.

A draft of the proposal sent to Reuters from two of the rebel officials said the Syrian government and its allies would give a public guarantee that fighters and civilians leaving the city would not be detained or harmed, and guarantee the safety of civilians who wish to remain in the city. It would require fighters from the jihadist group formerly known as Nusra Front to head to the northwestern province of Idlib. But it would allow fighters from other groups to go to other destinations including areas near the Turkish border to the northeast of Aleppo, which are held by groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army.

Implementation would be carried out over a 48-hour period, and U.N. oversight would be sought. Fighters would be allowed to take their light weapons with them, but must leave heavy weapons behind, the proposal said. (Reporting by Tom Perry and Suleiman al-Khalidi; editing by David Clarke and Ros Russell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
DUBAI Donald Trump's election has led to unease over threats to peace in the region, Iran's defence minister said on Sunday, warning that a war would destroy Israel and the small Gulf Arab states.Trump's election victory has raised the prospect the United States will pull out of a nuclear pact it signed last year with Iran, which Barack Obama's administration has touted as a way to suspend Tehran's suspected drive to develop atomic weapons.During his campaign, Trump called the nuclear pact a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated" and has signalled he will take a harder line on Iran.This has led to unease among U.S. allies in the Gulf, Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency."Even though a businessman, the assistants that ... (Trump) has chosen may map a different path for him, and this has led to unease, particularly among Persian Gulf countries," Dehghan told a security conference in Tehran, according to Mehr.

"Considering Trump's character and that he measures the cost of everything in dollars, it does not seem likely that he would take strong action against our country," he said."Enemies may want to impose a war on us based on false calculations and only taking into consideration their material capabilities...

"Such a war would mean the destruction of the Zionist regime (Israel) ... and will engulf the whole region and could lead to a world war," Mehr quoted Dehghan as saying."Among other consequences of the war, would be the destruction of the city-states on the southern shore of the Persian Gulf, because they lack popular support," Dehghan said, referring to small Western-allied Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.

Iran is an arch-enemy of Israel. Tehran and most Gulf states are on opposite sides in Middle East conflicts, with the Islamic republic an ally of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war and of the armed Houthi movement fighting a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen. (Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Ros Russell)

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By Thomas Mukoya

| KIMANA, Kenya

KIMANA, Kenya Under the shadow of a snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, hundreds of Maasai boys brave the morning chill to take part in a ritual that marks their coming of age.But those vying to become a 'moran', or warrior, in the biennial 'Maasai Olympics' were not there to hurl their spears at lions as their ancestors did. Instead, the would-be morans, their cheeks smeared with ochre, hurled their javelins deep into the veldt in the Sidai Oleng Wildlife Sanctuary in Kenya's southern Rift Valley.With a throw of 55.7 meters, the competition was won by 20-year-old Tipape Lekatoo from Mbirikani Manyatta village.

"The prize money won't pay for my tourism management education, but I am grateful that (efforts to raise awareness) of negative vices within the community are bearing fruit," said Lekatoo.For Maasai boys on the cusp of manhood, killing lions was a rite of passage that turned them into warriors.Launched in 2012, the event is held to encourage communities to stop the killing, as hunting has brought lions to the brink of extinction in this territory at the foot of Kilimanjaro.

Across Africa, the lion population has shrunk from 100,000 a few decades ago to less than 25,000 today, conservation groups say.David Rudisha, a two-time 800 metres Olympic gold medalist and arguably the most famous Maasai, said the tournament was an important step in the battle to save Kenya's dwindling lion population.

"We have already seen a lot of responses. Every year, big numbers of lions were being killed but because of this event the numbers have dropped and that is a great achievement," he said."We are looking forward to continuing until there is zero killing of wildlife." (Writing by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Ros Russell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
BEIRUT  Russia says its air force has helped Syrian troops repulse an Islamic State attack on the historic town of Palmyra.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that it carried out 64 airstrikes overnight that killed 300 IS militants and destroyed the extremists' vehicles and artillery.

Palmyra is home to towering 2,000-year-old ruins and was a major tourist attraction before the civil war broke out in 2011. IS seized the town last year and held it for 10 months before being driven out by Russian-backed Syrian forces in March.

The militants have advanced on Palmyra in recent days, with reports of heavy fighting within the town itself. Syria's army has been largely focused on the northern city of Aleppo, where it is waging a major offensive against Syrian rebels.
United Nations: Antonio Guterres, a former Portuguese Prime Minister will be sworn in on Monday as the

next UN Secretary General, succeeding Ban Ki-moon as the ninth chief of the 71-year old world body.

President of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson will administer the Oath of Office to Guterres, 67, at a special plenary meeting of the 193-member General Assembly here. The Secretary-General-designate will then address the General Assembly.

Guterres was unanimously appointed by the General Assembly as the successor to Ban, after the 15-nation Security Council had in October decided by acclamation to send his name to the Assembly for final approval.

Ban's second five-year term as the world's top diplomat ends on 31 December and Guterres will assume his new role for a five-year term beginning 1 January, 2017. The former Portuguese prime minister and UN High Commissioner for Refugees had remained the front-runner in the election to choose Ban's successor amid growing calls by civil society and several UN member states to elect a woman Secretary General.

During the special plenary meeting, speakers will pay tribute to Ban and after being administered the Oath of Office the Secretary-General-designate will also address the General Assembly. Among those paying tributes to Ban will be Thomson and representatives from Burkina Faso who will speak on behalf of the African States, Lao People's Democratic Republic who will speak on behalf of the Asia-Pacific states, Latvia who will speak on behalf of the eastern European states, Costa Rica who will speak on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean states, Sweden who will speak on behalf of the western European and other states and the United States who will speak in its capacity as the host country.

Following his election, Guterres had vowed to work as a "convener" and "bridge-builder" to help find solutions to the world's pressing challenges. He had underscored that human dignity, gender equality

and fighting the alliance of violent extremists and expressions of xenophobia will be among his priorities as the world's top diplomat.

"I am fully aware of the challenges the UN faces and the limitations surrounding the Secretary-General," Guterres had said in his first address to the General Assembly following his appointment as the 9th Secretary General of the UN.

He had said the dramatic problems of today's complex world can only inspire a "humble approach - one in which the Secretary-General alone neither has all the answers, nor seeks to impose his views; one in which the Secretary-General makes his good offices available, working as a convener, a mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved."
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The Parliamentary Inquiry Commission rejected Chang's arguments. Article 179 of the constitution is explicit that "parliament establishes the upper limit for guarantees that may be given by the State." In 2013 the upper limit was only $5 million. The Commission report says that the loans "constitute a violation of the constitution and of budget laws" which put limits on what a finance minister can do. It went on to say that in signing a guarantee, the government "renounced its sovereignty, submitting itself to the sovereignty of the British court system" and relinquished its sovereign immunity.Chang admitted that "for us, the funding applications were very urgent. Unfortunately, we did not have any notion that we might be abdicating our sovereignty."Chang also argued that it was for the lenders (Credit Suisse and VTB) to tell the IMF about the loans, not the government. In any case "the IMF representation in Maputo is an office only. It is not an institution that discusses policies with the Government. Those who discuss policies with governments are the IMF's missions" to Mozambique (which are led by a more senior official). Again, the Commission rejected Chang's comments. The government has a "duty" toinform that IMF and, even if it had not done so early, it should have told the mission to Mozambique in 2015. Failing to do so "compromised all the agreements reached" in 2015, including a $283 mn loan.Antonio do Rosario said that the entire package was intended to besecret, "Of course we could not go and tell either the banks or anyoneelse that fishing was not the main part; that it was not for us theinitial objective, but only complementary." Indeed, it was against theinstructions of the Mozambicans that the financier of the Ematumoperation, Credit Suisse, decided to launch a public bond issue. "Thenthe soup was spilled, and after that we had to manage things."Activities were moved to the other two companies and the loans to themwere kept secret.Guebuza justified the secrecy on the grounds that the whole issue was"strategic-military" and that purchases were being made using"classified information" from SISE.Antonio do Rosario argued that that once an agreement had beenreached with the Lebanese company Privinvest, he did not want any morepublic discussion, which would have led to an "open war" with othercompanies making offers.The Commission was not impressed. It said the relations between thethree companies, the contractor and the creditors (the banks) were fartoo close and were not transparent. The report said the governmentought to have brought in an independent inspecting body to checkwhether the assets ordered by Ematum, Proindicus and MAM had beendelivered.All of the money from the loans was apparently directly transferred tothe contractor Abu Dhabi Mar, owned by the Lebanese companyPrivinvest. Nothing was held back, "which broke the golden rule of theworld of business," and ignored totally the need to cover local costsfor management, staff, training, bureaucratic procedures and initialdebt repayments.And the Commission was highly critical of the financial projections[which] were made on the basis of unsustainable and hypotheticalassumptions. In the viability studies there was apparently no effortto take into account the risks inherent to the countrys situation,such as its vulnerability to international commodity prices.Antonio do Rosario refused to give the CPI information on how thefunds had been transferred and used. The Commission complains thatparliament did not give it enough money to fund its own investigations- it received $70,000, only one-third of what it asked for. Thus itrecommends further investigations of exactly what the three loans wereused for. And it calls for investigation into any signs of illicituse of public funds by private individuals or companies during thecontracting of the debts and issuing of guarantees.Nevertheless, despite the Commission saying the loan guarantees areillegal and unconstitutional, it advises parliament not to renouncethe debt, in order to protect those responsible from legal action.Renouncing the debt would be saying that those who offered the stateguarantees acted in bad faith, and article 227 of the civil code saysthat anyone who signs a contract in bad faith is responsible for thedamages caused to the other party.Guebuza on 28 November told the Commission that the whole process wascorrect and he would do it again: "Under these conditions, I believeany responsible government would act as we did. And if we were in thesame conditions and had to make the same decisions, considering thecircumstances at that moment, we would do exactly the same thingtoday, in defence of the beloved homeland and the wonderful Mozambicanpeople." Guebuza also lectured the Commission on his role in the armedstruggle, "abandoning" his family and being jailed on his way tofight, eventually reaching Frelimo in Tanzania. He then stressed how"proud" he was of what he had done as president. The implication wasthat mere members of parliament had no right to question him.Antonio do Rosario also claimed success. "First is to do, and onlylater explain how we did it. Then at least there's no way around it.And it looks like it worked. Perhaps we will be blamed for doing whatwe did. But we did it deliberately, with the objective of serving thestate. And we succeeded."The Commission took evidence in secret, its report is secret, and thereport was debated by parliament in secret on Friday, 9 December. Butdetails have been widely published in the independent press and by thestate news agency AIM, although not by the state-owned daily Noticias.This Bulletin is compiled from AIM English & Savana 9 Dec, Zitamar 8 &9 Dec, O Pais and MediaFax 7 Dec, Magazine Independente 6 Dec, andCanal de Mocambique 30 Nov.Should Mozambique refuse to pay the $2 bn secret debt? Theparliamentary Commission report takes a middle position. It says thedebt should be paid by the three companies and not the government,that the government guarantees are invalid, and that the debt could bedeclared null and void by parliament. But it says parliament shouldnot do that, on three grounds. First, it would be an admission thatthe government acted in bad faith, which could bring legal actionagainst the government and individuals under the civil code. Second,that the Mozambican "state would lose confidence at the internationallevel". Third, any decision on the debt will be taken by a Britishcourt. The guarantees given as part of the loan include that Britishcourts have "exclusive jurisdiction to resolve any disputes arisingout of or in connection with this warranty" and that the Mozambicanstate renounces "any immunity which it or its property or income mayenjoy in any jurisdiction".I was policy officer Jubilee 2000, the campaign to cancel developingcountry debt, 18 years ago (and which campaigned for Mozambique'seventual HIPC debt cancellation). Based on that experience, I wouldmake totally the opposite case. Precisely because the issue will beresolved by a British court, the Mozambican parliament should refuseto authorise the guarantees - at least on the MAM and ProIndicus debt.(Ematum has been rescheduled as Mozambique government bonds, so theposition there is different.)For MAM and ProIndicus, the loan was provided in secret by CreditSuisse and the Russian state-owned bank VTB, who then broke the loaninto pieces which it sold to investors saying it was state guaranteeddebt for a profitable fishing project. Due diligence would have shownall three claims to be false - the constitution did not allow thestate guarantee, the two companies could never be profitable, and itwas for arms. Therefore the loans were improper and should never havebeen made in the first place, and were sold on to investors underfalse premises. Thus a British court could decide that the liabilityis with Credit Suisse and VTB, and not Mozambique.If Mozambique does not pay, or pays only small amounts, it isaccepting liability for the debt and simply defaulting. But if it saysthe debt is improper and it renounces the debt and says the governmenthas no liability, then it is for a British court to decided if CreditSuisse and VTB, or Mozambique, are liable.As I noted in the newsletter last week, donors and lenders sayprivately they would support Mozambique if it renounced the loan. Andit appears that the creditors - those who bought pieces of the loan -are taking the same line by refusing to negotiate with Mozambique.They may feel that they are more likely to get money from CreditSuisse and VTB than from Mozambique.The Commission's report makes a strong case for saying the loan isillegitimate and improper, and not the liability of the government.The Commission's main reason for saying parliament should not declarethe debt illegitimate is to protect the guilty parties in Mozambique.There should be more debate in Mozambique about whether it is sensibleto accept $2bn in debt in order to protect the guilty. jhThe Commission proved to be unexpectedly powerful. A former president,five current ministers including the Prime Minister and FinanceMinister, two former ministers and the former Bank of Mozambiquegovernor gave evidence. And I consider the report to be devastating -it confirmed that the loans were illegal and unconstitutional, badlywritten and probably corrupt, for mainly military purposes and notfishing as claimed, and had been intentionally kept secret in the hopethat no one would notice.Response to the report has been mixed. Magazine Independente said the"Guebuza government has won the first battle in parliament". Renamohas boycotted the whole process. The third party, the MDM, had oneperson on the Commission and he refused to sign the report. So thiswas a Frelimo dominated Commission, named by a parliament dominated byFrelimo members allied to former president Armando Guebuza. And it istrue that the Commission wants the guilty to be protected fromprosecution.The Commission was chaired by Eneas Comiche, the respected formerMinister of Finance and former governor of the Bank of Mozambique.From 2003 to 2008 he was a highly effective mayor of Maputo and notedfor his integrity, but Frelimo (by then headed by Guebuza) did not lethim stand again and replaced him with David Simango, who was moreresponsive to party demands. Comiche then became an MP. So Comiche isnot likely to by sympathetic to Guebuza, and has the experience toinvestigate the secret debt. And his report is devastating because itis factual.Precisely because it comes from inside Frelimo, the report couldchange the mood inside the party.Frelimo has always been a loose coalition, with divisions according toregion, gender, age, business and personal relations, which means thatfactions are not rigid. For more than 40 years, the guiding rule hasbeen unity - however bitter the fights and divisions inside, no one isexpelled or leaves and the party stays together at all costs. Unityhelps it win elections, but the desire to stay together means thatoften hard choices are not made. Peace talks with Renamo are stalledbecause the party is divided on how to move forward. Similarly, thereis a growing awareness that the economic crisis caused by the secretdebt plus the on-going war is increasingly blamed on Frelimo, and thata Trump-like backlash could lead to the election of Renamo head AfonsoDhlakama as president in 2019. For many in the Frelimo leadership,this is too terrible to contemplate, so they are not thinking aboutit.There appear to be three groups in the Frelimo leadership now. One isaligned to Guebuza. During his decade as head of the party andPresident, he put his people into key posts such as provincial (andlower level) party secretaries, parliament, the Central Committee, andthe security services SISE. And in the patronage culture, his peoplehave benefitted from the secret loans and various contracts. TheGuebuza group tends to take a hard line, refusing concessions toRenamo and on the secret debt, and discouraging discussion and debate.That position was underlined in Guebuza's evidence to theparliamentary commission in which he claimed his position as liberatorof Mozambique made him unchallengeable. But the arrogance of Guebuzaand Antonio do Rosario before the Commission will play badly withsome in the party.The second group is around President Filipe Nyusi and liberation warfighter Alberto Chipande, who is the wealthiest and most powerfulperson in Cabo Delgado and a major backer of Nyusi. Nyusi's recentanti-corruption speeches have attracted a certain cynicism, because asDefence Minister his area gained from military purchases.Nevertheless, this may be a way to distance himself from Guebuza, bytrying to crack down on corruption at middle and lower levels. Nyusihas been quietly replacing Guebuza appointees in key positions. It issaid that Nyusi wants to push harder for a deal with Dhlakama, butGuebuza is resisting.The third is a loose group, partly of younger people but also of someof the elder statesmen, who are worried about the corruption and lackof direction in Frelimo, and they talk more about the danger of losingthe next election. Comiche's report will support this group. Andformer President Joaquim Chissano is playing a more active role in theparty, and would at least be anti-Guebuza.Until recently, the intractability of the divisions and problems, aswell as a slowly growing climate of fear, has led to stasis, and alack of strategizing and debate. One friend commented that the partywas hibernating.Eneas Comiche has rocked the boat. Any response will be, as always,cautious, considered, and consensual. But perhaps the mood ischanging. jhTwo Carlos do Rosarios are involved in the debt scandal and both gaveevidence to the CPI:Antonio Carlos do Rosario is a senior official of the intelligenceand security service (Servico de Informacao e Seguranca do Estado,SISE) and head of the three companies, Ematum, Proindicus, and MAM.Carlos Agostinho do Rosario is Prime MinisterTwo Simangos are mayors.Daviz Simango is MDM Mayor of Beira and head of the MDM nationally.David Simango is Frelimo Mayor of Maputo.

11.12.2016

http://bit.ly/mozamb
TWIN FALLS  Good news for new employers: Idahos standard unemployment insurance tax rate will drop 6.3 percent next year.

The tax rate of about 1.4 percent will take effect for all employers that have been paying the tax for fewer than six quarters. Rates for experienced employers will be calculated using the standard unemployment insurance tax rate as a base, the Idaho Department of Labor explained in a release.

Idaho employers fall into one of 13 rate classes, paying between about 0.4 percent and 5.4 percent of their annual payroll. The rate classes are based on how much an employer has put into the system and how many unemployment insurance claims it has filed. All employers except those in the 5.4 percent class will see rate reductions.

Like the auto insurance industry, a business owner can take actions that will help keep their rates down, unemployment division administrator Michael Johnson said in a statement. If an Idaho business has multiple claims filed against their company in a year, their rates will go up. Thats why, while the overall rate dropped this year, some employers might not feel those savings.

Nearly five years ago, the state sold about $202 million in bonds in order to pay its debt to the federal government from the Great Recession  when it covered more than $600 million in unemployment benefits.

In 2016, Idahos combined unemployment insurance trust fund has approximately $674 million. Labor Director Ken Edmunds said Idahos unemployment insurance system remains solvent, being well-positioned to withstand most economic uncertainties.

If Idaho fell into recession today  one roughly the same size as it did during the Great Recession  the state should not need to borrow any money, Edmunds said. When it comes to unemployment insurance tax rates, businesses want consistency, so they know what the future holds.

The drop in the states standard unemployment insurance rate can be attributed to a strong trust fund and a robust economy, the department reported.

New ratings for 2017 have been mailed to businesses. Employers can find out their new rates by visiting labor.idaho.gov/eServices/EmployerPortal/Links/UITaxRates and looking for their class.

To help control rates positively, employers should:

Report all new hires within 20 days at labor.idaho.gov/newhire.

Report and pay employment insurance taxes on time at labor.idaho.gov/employerportal.

Report fraud at labor.idaho.gov/reportfraud.
Q: I was riding in a car with my nephew, who was driving, got pulled over for speeding. My nephew only had a learners permit and ended up getting a ticket for violation of the permit because I did not have a drivers license. The officer said that my nephew could only drive with a licensed adult passenger in the car. Can we fight the ticket or would it just be a waste of my nephews time? Laurence

A: You could always fight the ticket. I have said before that I would never suggest to a person to just go pay a fine. I usually hint it but I would never want somebody to feel that they were guilty just because I said they were in violation of the law. For one reason, Im not a judge or an attorney (I like having friends, just kidding, please dont hold me in contempt or sue me).

The officer was correct about telling your nephew that with a drivers permit he does have to be with a licensed adult driver. Adult drivers are 18 and older in case anybody was wondering.

I assume your nephew was cited under Idaho Code 49-317 or 49-317(2) which reads: The department, upon issuing a drivers license, shall have authority whenever good cause appears to impose restrictions suitable to the licensees driving ability with respect to:  Other restrictions applicable to the licensee as the department may determine to be appropriate to assure the safe operation of a motor vehicle by the licensee. (2) The department may either issue a special restricted drivers license or may set forth restrictions upon the usual drivers license form.

The department could suspend your nephews privileges for 30 days or he could end up having to start drivers education all over again if he is under 18.

The court might also dismiss the charge if he took the ticket to court and won. Sometimes certain circumstances might give the judge a reason to give your nephew a break and only slap his wrist.

I would also suggest that you go get a drivers license so your nephew could drive with you being a license adult driver.

Officer down:

Please put these officers, killed in the line of duty, and their families in your prayers. They fought the good fight, now may they rest in peace. God bless these heroes.

Police Officer Jake Gutierrez, Tacoma Police, Washington

K9 Payne, Pembroke Police, North Carolina

Have a question for Policemandan? Email your question(s) to policemandan@yahoo.com or look for Ask Policemandan on Facebook and click the like button. Mail to: Box 147, Heyburn, Idaho 83336
TWIN FALLS  Police say miscommunication between dispatchers changing shifts and fear of a possible ambush caused a lengthy response time to a reported shooting incident at a Twin Falls impound lot earlier this week.

Police are investigating the reported shooting Tuesday morning at the impound lot of A-1 Towing in Twin Falls where Charles Legg said he was shot at twice by someone trying to steal a pickup truck impounded Monday night in Buhl. On Tuesday morning when Legg arrived at the lot on Osterloh Avenue, he found the lock on his gate was cut.

Im backing up my service truck, and bang! The Dodge truck backs into me, Legg said. I called 911 and told them there was a (theft) in progress.

The Dodge pickup blew a tire, Legg said, and his tow truck was blocking in the would-be thief. Legg said while he was on the phone with an emergency dispatcher, the person trying to take the Dodge fired at him.

He popped off two rounds, Legg said. The suspect fled on foot as Legg relayed to the dispatcher that he was scared to death but unharmed.

Legg called 911 at 5:59 a.m. Tuesday, police confirmed, but officers didnt arrive on scene until 6:27, almost a half hour after the initial 911 call.

Youd think theyd send two or three officers right away, Legg said. He ran into my service truck, he fired two shots at me  this is a serious deal.

Twin Falls Police Chief Craig Kingsbury admitted it took too long to respond. He explained that Leggs initial 911 call was taken right before the 6 a.m. shift change, and as one dispatcher replaced another, there was a breakdown in communication.

The biggest miscommunication was that the shooter was no longer on scene, Kingsbury said. On a second call, that information was corrected, but because of the initial miscommunications  a name was also mixed up, causing confusion when dispatchers tried calling back  a patrol supervisor also began suspecting the call could be a set-up for an ambush.

There was some concern with the shots fired, Kingsbury said. We wanted to make sure we werent running into an ambush.

Police departments across the country have been taking extra precautions recently with several high-profile cases of gunmen ambushing or attacking police officers responding to service calls. Kingsbury said it wouldnt be fair to characterize the exact reasons the patrol supervisor on Tuesday was wary of an ambush, but said his officers have been on high alert lately because of attacks around the country.

The closest such attack to the Magic Valley, and the most recent, on Dec. 1, killed an officer in Tacoma, Wash., who was responding to a home for the report of a domestic disturbance. It was just the latest in a number of recent high-profile police killings that began in July when a gunmen opened fire on officers in Dallas, killing five and injuring nine more.

Days later in Baton Rouge, La., a gunmen killed three officers and wounded three others in an apparently unprovoked attack. And police killings ticked up again in November when a man killed two Des Moines, Iowa, officers in separate ambushes. In the month that followed the Iowa shooting on Nov. 2, at least three officers were killed, including the Tacoma officer, and three others wounded in apparently unprovoked attacks or ambushes.

Legg told the Times-News he didnt buy the excuse that there was confusion on the shift change, calling police straight-up liars who were dancing around the whole thing. He believes it took so long to respond because police knew there was a warrant out for his arrest and they were waiting to confirm the warrant.

After taking his report, officers arrested Legg on a misdemeanor warrant in a trespassing case. He posted bond the same day and said he didnt have a problem with the arrest  Im not saying I shouldnt have got arrested, they had a warrant, and I addressed that, went to jail and made bail  but he still believes police should have responded quicker.

Kingsbury denied the claim that the delay was because officers were confirming Leggs warrant.

Im confident that didnt play into the response time, because that was part of the confusion  officers didnt realize he was the one who called, Kingsbury said.

Despite the confusion and delayed response time in Leggs case, Kingsbury wanted to ensure Twin Falls residents that police are not taking extra time to respond to calls because theyre afraid.

When somebody calls 911 for help, its never as quick as you want  you want an officer there right then, Kingsbury said. I can ensure the public we are going to try to do that every time. We know our job is dangerous, the men and women of the Twin Falls Police Department understand that. With that said, we want respond as safely as possible, and if we crash trying to get somewhere too fast, or walk into an ambush, that doesnt do anybody any good.

As for Legg, he said he wishes the police would have been held to the same standard hes held to when called to crashes and other situations when police need vehicles towed.

I tow for a living, and we have 15 minutes from the time the police call us to a city call, Legg said. I should get the same respect on a shots-fired call.
KETCHUM  A College of Southern Idaho professor's photography exhibit will open Wednesday in Ketchum.

Ken Bingham, a performing and liberal arts professor at CSI, will be open through Jan. 7 at The Community Library's Sun Valley Museum of History. Bingham's exhibit "Refugee Portrait Project" will be joined by a quilt exhibit called "This Is My Home Now: Narrative Textiles from Idaho Newcomers," made by refugees in Boise through Artisans for Hope.

A reception will be from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Bingham will speak about his work along with Steven Hatcher, the folk and traditional arts director of the Idaho Commission on the Arts, and Joan Cloonan, of Artisans for Hope, will talk about the quilt project and introduce some of the quilters. Light refreshments will be served.

Refugee Portrait Project" features portraits of refugees that are meant to make human-to-human connection through familiarity of features, expression and gaze. This Is My Home Now: Narrative Textiles from Idaho Newcomers features quilts along with text about the composition and the artists journey.

The bold power in Kens black and white photography speaks to the soft, stitched, layered color fabric art in surprising ways, said Mary Tyson, director of regional history, in a statement.

The Sun Valley Museum of History is the regional history exhibit space of The Community Library. It is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
TWIN FALLS  Magic Valley school leaders say theyre disheartened and concerned about a report that 99 percent of Idaho teacher evaluations werent filled out correctly  and that some even violated state law.

Idaho Education News reported Monday about results of an independent audit of 225 randomly-sampled evaluations from 53 school districts and charter schools from the 2014-15 school year. Of those, only three were completed correctly.

Some education and state officials say theres a major problem with teacher evaluations that needs to be fixed. Others say theyre confident in the evaluation system and have concerns about the audit.

I think the results of this audit are a clarion wake-up call to all the education stakeholders, said Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley.

Bedke talked about the audit results Wednesday with south-central Idaho superintendents.

The Idaho Department of Education received a 31-page report in July, but it wasn't distributed publicly. Idaho Education News filed a public records request to obtain the document.

The whole career ladder effort was based on the fact there would be a teacher evaluation component and accountability, Bedke said.

The career ladder  implemented in 2015  is aimed at boosting teacher pay over five years to help better attract and retain educators in Idaho. But the audit is based on data before that.

Bedke said hes glad hes aware of the problem with teacher evaluations, even though the report has sat around someplace since July.

But he said hes disappointed problems arose. If the audit showed evaluations were improperly done for whatever reason, theres a breakdown in the process here.

Legislators must get to the bottom of the problem, he said, and work with stakeholders to come up with a solution.

Eight teacher evaluations from the Twin Falls School District were included in the audit.

Superintendent Wiley Dobbs said he plans to send a couple of evaluations  with employee consent  to Magic Valleys state legislators so they can see what the form looks like.

We want our legislature to have confidence in what were doing, he said.

Consulting group McREL International looked at a random sample of teacher evaluations across Idaho.

Here in south-central Idaho, that included two evaluations from Buhl, four from Filer, two from Hagerman, four from Jerome, two from Minidoka County, two from Shoshone and eight from Twin Falls School District.

The audit report states 64 percent of evaluations included just one classroom observation and 39 percent didnt include a second observation.

About 55 percent didnt include teacher goals, the report states, and two-thirds of evaluations were turned in late.

It is clear from the findings that the Idaho teacher evaluation system was implemented inconsistently, according to the report. "Inconsistent application can lead to several obstacles that hinder teacher development and improved instructional quality.

Some educators, though, say school districts were judged on measures that weren't in state law during the 2014-15 school year.

For example, individual professional learning plans  which outline goals for teachers  are required under Idaho administrative rules, as of earlier this year. But that requirement wasnt in place when the audit was conducted.

In Kimberly, Superintendent Luke Schroeder said classroom observations aren't typically in a teachers summative evaluation. And professional growth plans for teachers are also in separate document, he said.

In Shoshone, Superintendent Rob Waite called news of the audit results misleading.

He said his biggest concern is an assertion that having no teachers labeled unsatisfactory on 2014-15 evaluations is a problem.

I think thats a big example of how the headline maybe doesnt correspond with whats going on in schools," he said.

Waite said he has used the Charlotte Danielson model  which many Idaho public schools use for teacher evaluations  for 17 years as a superintendent in Oregon and now in Idaho.

School districts come up with their own evaluation form and process.

All my training says an unsatisfactory is that teachers are actually doing harm to students, he said. As a superintendent and manager, if a teacher is doing harm, they would never make it to the end of the year to have an evaluation. We would take care of it immediately.

Waite said evaluations Shoshone  including classroom observations and goals for teachers  are compliant with Idaho rules.

Teachers undergo four observations, he said, but those arent included on a summative evaluation form.

The Idaho Board of Education needs to help the public understand how the teacher evaluation process works, Waite said.

During the 2016 legislative session  following reports of issues with the teacher evaluation system  state legislators gave oversight of the process to the Idaho Board of Education instead of the Idaho Department of Education.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra sent an email Thursday to school district superintendents and charter school administrators.

She encouraged them to stand tall, stand proud, and stand together in response to the report findings. She also attached a copy of the audit report.

News coverage from one outlet didnt include a sound and thorough presentation or a chance for state education officials to provide clarity, Ybarra wrote in the email, adding its solely political and should not be tolerated.

The audit was conducted using evaluations from before the career ladder law was implemented, she wrote. Also, the original auditor died and it caused a delay in releasing the report.

The report proves that you are not only working hard, but we all need further clarification as the expectations keep changing, Ybarra wrote to school officials. She also wrote this audit was never intended to be an I gotcha.

Bedke said he strongly suggests everyone  from Ybarra on down  acknowledge the problems with teacher evaluations.

In Kimberly, Schroeder said the report is heartbreaking for him as an educator.

He has been in school administrative roles for nearly 20 years and said the teacher evaluation framework is more comprehensive and objective than ever. Its night and day.

Schroeder said he has talked with superintendents whose school districts were included in the audit. They felt like they had their bases covered on this.

School officials want to keep their credibility with the legislature  which is funding the career ladder  and with their communities, he said.

And they want to comply with Idaho laws and rules, he added.

My concern is, does this (report) discredit administrators and school districts? Does it look like were being dishonest or incompetent? I dont think were doing either, he said.

But if a teacher had 99 percent of students who failed a test or a class, wed start asking questions, Schroeder said.

Theres a big question about the expectations and goals of the audit, he said. If theyre going to do a study, we need to know what theyre evaluating us on.

And school districts havent received feedback on evaluations included in the audit, he said. Superintendents have no idea if theyre one of the three that passed or not."

In Wendell, Superintendent Greg Lowe said news of the audit results piqued his interest. He talked with his school principals about the topic.

It appeared there were enough randomly-pulled evaluations that we should look at this seriously, he said.

But Lowe said there are specifics about the audit hed like to know more about.

He said hes confident, though, school principals are conducting classroom observations and teachers have professional learning plan goals.

In Twin Falls and Kimberly, each school district has a committee that reviews the teacher evaluation process.

Its a constant improvement effort for us, Dobbs said.

The Twin Falls School Districts teacher evaluation form has been approved by the state, he said, and other school districts have asked to use it. Our evaluation system is very rigorous, effective and helpful.

Dobbs said hed like feedback on his districts eight teacher evaluations used in the audit. We would like to get those eight back with red marker on them.
BURLEY  Unpaid caregivers of dementia and Alzheimers disease patients often feel overwhelmed and burnt out, the Idaho Alzheimers Planning Group found, and the state lacks sufficient information and resources for patients and their families  especially in rural areas.

In 2012, the Idaho Legislature acknowledged that Alzheimers disease could become a big problem in the state and, in a resolution, endorsed the efforts of the Idaho Alzheimers Planning Group.

The group  18 professionals and others throughout the state  assessed needs, formulated a state plan, released in March 2013, and developed initiatives to fulfill the recommendations. But today most of the plan remains unfunded, said MacKenzie Rodgers, executive director of the Greater Idaho Chapter of the Alzheimers Association.

The planning groups five recommendations:

Increase public awareness of the disease.

Provide practical, timely information to patients and caregivers and training for health care providers and institutional and family caregivers.

Coordinate support services for family members, patients and caregivers throughout the state.

Create a positive regulatory and financial environment for addressing dementia-related issues.

Develop an ongoing source of data collection regarding the needs of patients, their families and caregivers.

Rodgers said the organization next will evaluate whether more legislation is needed to implement the plan or whether to look toward the private sector and existing public agencies.

The state funded an initiative for improved data collection for the past three years, and private funding from AARP helped direct people toward Alzheimers resources, Rodgers said.

Other major parts of the plan would require increased state funding to Idaho Department of Health and Welfare or Office on Aging budgets. There is no plan to seek funding from the Legislature in 2017, she said.

Alzheimers is already a big problem in the state and across the nation, said Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley, a physician and chairman of the House Health and Welfare Committee. A very large percentage of Medicaid dollars goes for the care of the elderly.

Nearly one in every five Medicaid dollars is spent on a person with Alzheimers, according to the Alzheimers Association.

The issue of rising Alzheimers costs in Idaho comes up every year in committee, Wood said.

The question with every program is where the revenues will come from, he said. And every new program that comes before us is scrutinized.

Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, chairman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, said he does not recall the issue being discussed in committee. But it should be, he said.

The number of aging baby boomers with Alzheimers disease could create a big draw on Medicaid, he said.

The National Alzheimers Planning Act, a federal law, went into effect in 2011. The law requires an annually updated national plan submitted to Congress; recommendations to improve health outcomes and lower costs to families and government programs; evaluation of federally funded efforts in the diseases research, care and services; and creation of an advisory council.

The Alzheimers Association also supports pending federal legislation including a Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act and a Health Outcomes Planning and Education for Alzheimers Act.

Little change has been felt in Idaho, especially for the families struggling to care for an Alzheimers patient in rural areas, said Shawna Wasko, spokeswoman for the College of Southern Idahos Office on Aging.

Wasko leads support groups for caregivers in the Magic Valley and is collaborating on an informational book that will be distributed to doctors to give to Alzheimers patients and families.

Families need increased services like respite care, in-home meals and help with housework, which will keep some of these patients in their homes longer and save the state money, Rodgers said.

A long-term care facility in Idaho costs $6,000 to $10,000 a month, with memory care being the most expensive. Assisted living runs $1,500 to $2,000 a month. Keeping a person in his or her home a year longer represents up to $120,000 in Medicaid savings, Wasko said.

If it had funding of about $500 a month, the Office on Aging could provide respite care, home-delivered meals and transportation for an Alzheimers patient.

At what point do we get smart enough, Wasko said, to elect officials who will spend $500 a month to keep that person in their home for as long as they can?
Nancy A. Porter, 85, of Blackfoot, Idaho passed away Friday December 9, 2016, at Bingham Memorial Hospital. Cremation services will take place under the direction of Hawker Funeral Home.

Jesus R. Perez Martinez, 59, of Burley, died Friday December 9, 2016, at St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center. Arrangements are pending Serenity Funeral Chapel Life Celebration Center & Cremation Services of Idaho, Twin Falls.

Bobby Joe Williams, 77, of Twin Falls, passed away Wednesday December 7, 2016, at his home. Services will be held at a later date. Arrangements are under the direction of Rosenau Funeral Home.
Golden Frederick Gardiner

February 18, 1923 - December 4, 2016

MALTA  Golden Frederick Gardiner, 93, of Malta, passed away peacefully at his home on Sunday, December 4, 2016.

He was born February 18, 1923 in Peterson, Utah, the son of Hope Hulet and Frederick Gardiner. He graduated from Raft River High School in 1940 and attended Utah State Agricultural College before being inducted into military service where he served in the U.S. Navy. He was stationed on Treasure Island when the war ended in 1945. In 1949, he graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from Utah State Agricultural College. After graduating he worked for the U.S. Geological Survey Surface Water Division in Salt Lake City, Utah for a few months until he was called to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Eastern States Mission. The highlight of his missionary service was helping with the Hill Cumorah Pageant in New York. It was there that he headed up the work crew and where he first met his future wife Barbara J. Ehlers. They were married October 31, 1952, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple and would later serve three full-time missions together for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After marriage Golden taught school in Malta and Declo before attending graduate school at the University of Utah where he received a Master's Degree in Science Education in 1961. He later taught in the Engineering Department at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California. After a year at Long Beach he moved back to Malta where he started farming and working for the Raft River Rural Electric Co-op, where he retired in 1991.

Golden was a kind and gentle husband and father. He was compassionate towards those in need. He lived a life of honesty and hard work and would often point out those same qualities in others. He had a serenity about him and always knew what mattered most to his Heavenly Father. He always put his wife and children first. He seemed to always be too busy for hobbies but when he did have a spare minute he loved to work with horses.

Golden was preceded in his death by his parents; brothers, Robert and J.H. Gardiner; sisters, Mary Gardiner, Margaret Ottley, and Dawn James; his wife Barbara; daughter, Cathy Goff; and son-in-law, Brent Goff.

He is survived by seven of his eight children, Brad (Susan) Gardiner of Pocatello, Ginger (Malin) Moench of Falls Church, Virginia, Nathan (Shanna) Gardiner of Meridian, Corby (Missy) Gardiner of Mesa, Arizona, Matthew (Marie Jeanne) Gardiner of St. George, Utah, Anne (Jed) Francis of Logan, Utah, and Spence (Dara) Gardiner of Malta; 44 grandchildren; and 37 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Gloria (Dean) Ottley, of Quincy, Wash., and his brother, Frank (Lillian) Gardiner of Provo, Utah.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, December 17, at the Malta LDS Church, 280 N. 1st St. W., in Malta, with Bishop Richard Hall officiating, military honors will be provided by the Mini-Cassia Veterans Organization. Friends may call from 9:30 until 10:45 a.m. preceding the service at the church. Burial will follow at the Valley Vu Cemetery.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of the Rasmussen Funeral Home of Burley.
The Greater Idaho Chapter of the Alzheimers Association offers patients and their caregivers a 24-hour-a-day helpline to guide them to resources in their communities, and it offers free counseling.

The helpline, 1-800-272-3900, can help people find respite care, adult day care, support groups and more, said Mackenzie Rodgers, the chapters executive director.

The association also offers educational workshops online at www.alz.org/idaho and offers messageboards and chat rooms. It has a virtual library where people can learn about the disease. The association can provide information for families on housing options; care at home; community and medical services; elder law attorneys; transportation; financial and legal planning; and other programs in their communities.

Support groups led by people trained by the Alzheimers Association are 10:30-11:30 a.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at Twin Falls Senior Center, 530 Shoshone St., and 5:30-6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at Bridgeview Estates, 1828 Bridgeview Blvd., both in Twin Falls.

Idaho Department of Health and Welfare offers free referral services for resources; call the Idaho Careline at 211.

The College of Southern Idahos Office on Aging offers a Caregiver Support Group at 1-2:30 p.m. the first Monday of each month on the Twin Falls campus. Information: Shawna Wasko, 1-800-574-8656.

Wasko said the agency can help Magic Valley families find resources in their communities such as respite care, meals, transportation and homemaker services such as light housekeeping and chores. The Office on Aging offers case management, and its Ombudsman Program assists residents in long-term care facilities to protect their health, safety, rights and welfare.

Rosetta Assisted Living offers dementia and Alzheimers disease support groups that are open to the public in Twin Falls, and day care and respite services in Twin Falls and Burley, manager Lisa Junod said. Information: 208-677-5451 or 1-884-508-5536.

The Alzheimers Association has a listing of adult day care programs. They include:

Hiland Estates, Burley, 208-678-4411.

Chardonnay Assisted Living, Twin Falls, 208-736-4808.

Willowbrook Assisted Living, Twin Falls, 208-736-3727.

Bridgeview Estates, Twin Falls, 208-736-3933.

Positive Connections, Twin Falls, 208-737-9999.

Alpine Manor, Twin Falls, 208-734-1794.

Woodstone Assisted Living-Heritage Assisted Living, Twin Falls, 208-734-6062.

Heritage Retirement Center, Twin Falls, 208-733-9064.

Cedar Draw Living Center, Filer, 208-326-3342.

Desano Place Suites, Gooding, 208-934-4623.

Applegate Retirement Estate, Buhl, 208-543-4020.

Alpine Manor II, Kimberly, 208-423-5417.

In Blaine County, Cassia County, Jerome, Gooding and Twin Falls, those looking for adult day care can also call:

MDC, 208-934-0919.

Best of Both Worlds Enrichment Center, 208-308-9062.

Community Partnerships of Idaho, 208-376-4999.

Magic Valley Rehabilitation Services, 208-734-4112.

Center for Independent Living, 208-734-2322.

Laurie Welch
A big part of the homework the political center needs to do after Brexit, Donald Trump's triumph and the rise in nationalist populism across Europe is to define the sources of growing popular resentment against the "elite." That distrust is behind recent election surprises and what disoriented media professionals have dubbed a "post-truth" attitude toward the news. Fixing it could be the key to future stability.

Three strains of anti-elite resentment are apparent. One is economic, related to income inequality. Populist politicians, however, would fail if they channeled only economic anger. Bernie Sanders failed in the U.S., Jeremy Corbyn isn't doing too well in the U.K. and leftist firebrands aren't big achievers anywhere except, with some caveats, Greece.

The second strain has to do with the perception of the elite as a closed network, based on background and connections rather than education and achievement. You can't break into the elite even if you're smart and have gone to the best schools, unless you're already part of it by origin. A third strain is the view that elites stand in opposition to national identity. This criticism of elites is interconnected with the economic roots of populism and the invisible barriers to social mobility.

Recent work by Zsolt Darvas and his colleagues at the Brussels think tank Bruegel shows there were more "leave" votes in areas of the U.K. where income inequality was greater, even after controlling for socio-economic and geographic factors. Darvas found a similar pattern in the U.S. Republican swing on Nov. 8. It's interesting that the absolute size of household incomes or, say, the prevalence of immigrants and people of color wasn't important for the vote results, but inequality was. Intuitively, it's easy to see how it's not poverty as such but the proximity of unattainable wealth that makes poor people angry.

This, Darvas and his Bruegel colleagues argue, makes a case for more inclusive growth as a means of thwarting populists  and for reform that would boost social mobility. That's not just a matter of making sure people from the lower social classes can get access to quality education or passing anti-discrimination laws. The University of Chicago's Seth Zimmerman published a paper this week showing that, in Chile, attending an elite college increases a person's chances of rising to top management roles in major companies  but only if he's also attended an exclusive private secondary school prior to university. It's easy to see the principle at work in Europe or the U.S. In other words, an elite education only serves to amplify an elite background. People from disadvantaged backgrounds, of course, benefit from a great education  but they don't, as a rule, rise as high as their privileged peers.

Those who vote for the populists realize the ceiling that separates them from upper social strata is not purely economic or meritocratic, but rather insiders vs. outsiders. Thus the "drain the swamp" chants and the "who needs experts" sneers. Those in the intellectual, academic, policy and media parts of the "elite" are mixed in with the wealthy and the corporate leaders. Their exclusive circles are perceived as airtight and self-perpetuating, and that likely angers the populist candidates and their teams more than it does their voters, who don't know much about these strata or care about getting into them.

That leads directly to the national identity part of the "people vs. the elite" divide. Jimmie Akesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats  a populist party that leads in some recent Swedish polls  recently told Bloomberg News that the populist movements' success was "not mainly about money." "It's mainly about values," he said. "It's about how we manage to keep society together."

Akesson's values are about the nation state and national identity. His party and similar movements elsewhere doubt the "elite's" patriotism. There are lots of variations on this theme, from anti-Semitic tropes about Jews being disloyal citizens to anti-globalist concerns about trade. In the U.S., many commentators were surprised Hillary Clinton's emails became such an important campaign issue  but to many Americans, her use of a private server was a threat to national security. I heard that many times while covering the presidential campaign  as often as I heard people wax indignant about the Clinton's ability to get away with anything because they were well-connected.

To beat back the populist revolt, centrists need to focus on all three sources of discontent. Merely talking about reducing economic inequality sounds condescending. Besides, in most of Europe it's not as acute a problem as in the U.S. and the U.K.

It's much more difficult to address the other two components of anti-elite resentment. Though Trump is being criticized for appointing people with "elite" credentials, such as major investment bank alumni, to his team, he is also handing top government jobs to people with little experience running big bureaucracies and with little support from the policy establishment. His unconventional way of dealing with foreign leaders is also a signal that he's not going to comply with "elite" notions of how things should be done. Trump would seem to tick all the boxes as an "elite," but the man from Queens, whatever his inherited wealth, always felt a little the outsider in Manhattan circles. These signals are heartening to his voters more than his choice of wealthy individuals is disappointing.

In the European context, the equivalent would be to invite populists to participate in government. Prime Minister Theresa May invited Brexiters into government; it may do governing centrist parties good to bring in populist representatives in Scandinavia, France, Italy, even Germany. The political elite must not be seen as closed to forces that have support in society  and that might no longer have it after a turn trying to manage something.

The national values part is perhaps the most difficult one for centrists. Stronger border protection and crackdowns on ethnic crime go against their liberal instincts. Yet the center-right can play on this pitch, as Francois Fillon is proving in France. Angela Merkel's fourth run for German chancellor will also be accompanied by proof of her conservative credentials. Merkel has already announced that she expects 100,000 migrants to leave Germany soon, many of them through voluntary return programs but a sizable number through deportations, of which there has been a record number this year. In a speech to her party on Tuesday, Merkel backed a ban on Muslim full-face coverings for women.

Specific immigrant integration plans, similar to the ones legislated in Germany this year, are also helpful: Voters must know what the rules are for newcomers, and they shouldn't feel immigrants are favored over them.

Ignoring the populist wave would only convince angry voters of the contempt of elites. Populists cannot be eliminated, but they can be co-opted. An effort to engage these voters and those who represent them is the political center's best chance of widening their voter base.
Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney told a reporter last week that he hopes to overhaul parts of the states Sunshine Laws  those that promise transparency in government  when the Legislature reconvenes next month.

Its a long time coming.

Among Denneys plans are adding serious penalties to those who violate the laws, boosting fines 10-fold from $250 to $2,500. He wants to require candidates and political-action committees to report contributions of more than $1,000 within 24 hours. And he wants all campaign-finance reports posted online, a move that would greatly increase transparency when it comes to determining how money influences state politics.

The proposed changes were first reported by IPTVs Melissa Davlin, a former Times-News reporter.

Perhaps the best suggestion by Denney is more transparency to help identify those in PACS who spend the political contributions, and crackdowns on so-called gray money  cash that moves from PAC to PAC, making it difficult to determine where the cash originated.

Another great proposal: a requirement for any candidate or cause to report contributions of $500 or more, greatly expanding requirements for who would have to disclose political contributions, such as school board candidates.

Denney also hopes to speed up the reporting for political expenditures. Under current law, a campaign doesnt have to report an expenditure over $1,000 until it is billed, which sometimes occurs after an election. Denney wants those bills reported as soon as the money is committed.

As Davlin pointed out in her report, many of the ideas come from Democratic Secretary of State candidate Holli Woodings. Were not too troubled. A good idea is a good idea, and Denney, a Republican, should be commended for recognizing one when he sees it, even if it did come from a Democrat.

Denney is shopping his ideas to lawmakers before the session, and so far he said hes received mostly positive feedback.

The secretarys proposals havent received much press yet, but get ready to hear plenty more when lawmakers gather in Boise next month. In the meantime, contact your lawmaker and tell him residents deserve a more transparent government. Denneys plans are a good start.

Its in lawmakers best interest to listen to you. Voters are much more likely to trust their elected leaders when they can easily understand who is backing them.

Simply put, its good for democracy.
A Haskett point from the Snake River is one of the historical items from Idaho on display in the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. The museum dates the points creation to a remarkable 10,000-6,000 BC. The Native American tribes of Idaho  the Coeur dAlene, Kootenai, Nez Perce, Shoshone-Bannock and Shoshone-Paiute  are undoubtedly a deep and central part of Idahos history and development. Learning more about and celebrating this profound history can broaden our understanding of the role the tribes have in forming Idahos heritage.

There are many opportunities to learn more about the history of the Native American tribes of Idaho by visiting tribal museums and the tribes websites (www.cdatribe-nsn.gov, www.kootenai.org, www.nezperce.org, www.shoshonebannocktribes.com, and http://shopaitribes.org) that include information about the history of the tribes. For example, historic photos and artifacts of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes can be viewed at the Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Museum of Fort Hall. In addition to seeing historic objects there are many places to visit in Idaho with significant cultural importance. The Nez Perce Tribal website contains information about historic locations in the Nez Perce National Historical Park. These are just a few examples of the many locations and events across Idaho honoring tribal heritage. Additionally, pictures of some of the artifacts from Idaho at the National Museum of the American Indian can be viewed through the museums website.

On Nov. 17, the Senate passed by Unanimous Consent S.Res.619 to celebrate the heritages and cultures of Native Americans and the contributions of Native Americans to the United States. As a longtime supporter of this effort and member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, I again co-sponsored this bipartisan resolution also co-sponsored by 31 fellow senators. The resolution includes the following recognitions:

Native Americans maintain vibrant cultures and traditions and hold a deeply rooted sense of community;

Native Americans have moving stories of tragedy, triumph and perseverance that need to be shared with future generations;

Native Americans have made distinct and important contributions to the United States and the rest of the world in many fields, including the fields of agriculture, medicine, music language, and art;

Native Americans have distinguished themselves as inventors, entrepreneurs, spiritual leaders and scholars;

Native Americans have served with honor and distinction in the Armed Forces of the United States, and continue to serve in the Armed Forces in greater numbers per capita than any other group in the United States.

In addition to honoring the remarkable achievements of Native Americans and their ancestors, the resolution emphasizes Congress reaffirmation of tribal self-governance and its commitment to strengthening the government-to-government relationship that the United States has maintained with the various Indian tribes.

The Native American tribes of Idaho have helped shape our state and national history and their perspective helps guide advancements. Joining in celebrating the heritages and cultures of Native Americans and the contributions of Native Americans to the United States is an honor as we look to the future of our great state and nation.
All of us must care about unpaid family caregivers. Caregivers represent an invisible workforce of more than 300,000 Idahoans who make it possible for aging parents, or other family members with physical or emotional disabilities or chronic illnesses to enjoy life in their own homes. Family caregivers not only serve as a lifeline for individuals who need assistance, they save Idaho tax payers  you and me  money and add value to our community.

In 2014, Idaho spent $271,522,099, 48 percent of its Medicaid budget, on care in nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities, and inpatient psychiatric hospitals. Family caregivers are instrumental in delaying the need for placement in these expensive, institutional settings. Providing caregivers with supports that extend their capacity to provide care makes fiscal sense.

To minimize that expense, public and private health care plans and long-term care programs should include family caregivers, providing supports and allowing them, upon consent of the person, to be part of the care planning process. TennCare in Tennessee is an example of how involving caregivers can help ensure better quality of care.

Family caregiving responsibilities impact employers. Businesses in the U.S. lose up to $33 billion annually in lost productivity due to the absenteeism of caregivers. In Idaho, nearly 70 percent of family caregivers are employed and based on national findings, are at risk of losing over $660,000 in wage wealth because of work sacrifices. Helping caregivers stay employed reduces the chance of them losing health care benefits for themselves and other family members, and having to rely on other social services.

Demographic shifts also highlight the importance of caring about caregivers. Ten years ago, the ratio of working age adults to older adults was 6 to 1. By 2020, this ratio will be 3 to 1. There will be fewer and fewer caregivers for a rapidly increasing number of people needing care.

So whats involved in caring for a family caregiver? The Idaho Family Caregiver Action Plan, released by the Idaho Caregiver Alliance in November, offers an evidence-based set of recommendations to put Idaho on a course that is economically viable for caregivers, employers, and service systems. Recommendations include:

Giving caregivers respite care or time away from caregiving to prevent or delay burnout.

Investing in training and information for caregivers, who are increasingly expected to manage complex medical and/or psychological conditions.

Increasing public awareness about unpaid caregivers, and recognizing employers who accommodate the needs of family caregivers.

Working to embed the voice of caregivers in policy decisions and systems.

Working together we can provide a network of support for caregivers  one that minimizes the impact of caregiving on the economic and social wellbeing of families, businesses, and communities across Idaho. The Idaho Caregiver Alliance asks you to reach out to caregivers, talk to local and state policy makers about the importance of supports for caregivers, and use the Idaho Family Caregiver Action Plan to inform your conversations and actions. Plan available at: https://hs.boisestate.edu/csa/files/2016/09/Idaho-Family-Caregiver-Action-Plan-9-30-2016.pdf .
HELENA  A judge on Wednesday cleared the way for Montanas medical marijuana dispensaries to reopen after a three-month hiatus by ruling that a drafting error in a voter-approved ballot initiative should not delay the measures implementation.

District Judge James Reynolds of Helena ruled the error that pushed back the effective date of a key portion of the initiative until July 1 should not keep very ill patients from accessing the drug immediately.

The folks that are maybe the most in need are the least able to provide, to grow their own, Reynolds said in making his ruling. I think speed is more important than niceties.

The initiative approved by voters last month struck down a law passed by the Montana Legislature in 2011 that limited medical marijuana providers to three patients each. The three-patient limit took effect Aug. 31 after a five-year court battle, forcing the closure of medical marijuana dispensaries across the state and leaving thousands of registered users without providers.

It punished the patients and the sickest people in the state, said Bobby Long, owner of the Flower dispensary in Missoula. It helped the black market and hurts people who were trying to do the right thing.

The authors of the ballot measure, the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, had intended for the three-patient limit to be struck down immediately upon passage of the initiative.

But a last-minute flurry of activity between initiative sponsors and state officials resulted in two new sections being added to the measure, changing the numbering of the sections in the initiative, according to the groups lobbyist, Kate Cholewa. The part of the initiative that laid out the effective dates of the various sections of the measure was not updated to reflect the final changes, she said.

The advocacy group took their case to Reynolds, who had twice ruled to block the three-patient limit while the challenge to the 2011 state law was making its way through the courts. Reynolds said the effective date issue was clearly an error, that the advocacy group had meant for the measure to take effect immediately and that the group had publicly campaigned that it would upon passage.

The judge, in an aside, noted that federal and state laws regarding marijuana remain in conflict while the number of states legalizing recreational pot is growing.

Were in a morass here, he said of the disparity between federal and state laws. Folks are speaking with their votes.

Cholewa said it was not clear how much time providers would need to get their operations up and running. She acknowledged that shortages in marijuana supplies, a rush to physicians who refer patients, and how the state Department of Public Health and Human Services administers the changes could cause delays.

The people who work providing marijuana in Montana were, lets face it, they were jerked around quite a bit, Cholewa said. They are somewhat used to it and very good at coming back. 

After more than two years of operating out of a basement shop in downtown Missoula, Long moved Flower to a street-level spot on Higgins Avenue this summer, despite knowing at the time that 30 days later the three-patient limit would be enforced. Long decided to turn the dispensary business into a gallery  hosting First Friday events including portrait photos hes taken of medical marijuana patients  and using it to provide education about the issue and the people effected by the changes in the laws and rulings by the court.

After hearing the news about the judges ruling on Wednesday, Long said he sent out a newsletter to his former clients and spent the rest of the day getting ready to file paperwork with the state that hes been holding for some former clients since shortly after their medical marijuana cards were revoked.

I was also trying to have a moment to enjoy the victory, he said. But I want to work to get access back to people as quickly as possible.

Flower will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Thursday for walk-ins, and Long said hell help people connect with clinics and talk to them about what paperwork they will need to fill out and file. Then hes looking forward to ramping up production as patients are re-certified by the state.

One dispensary, The Marijuana Company, posted on Facebook WE ARE OPEN!!! We are accepting new patients!!! Its owner, J.J. Thomas, said his company served about 100 patients in Butte and Helena before it shut down in August.

Its been brutal, Thomas said. We were forced out of business, and we were trying to hang on until we could re-open. If we had to wait until June, we probably would have had to throw in the towel.

The Marijuana Company will accept the paperwork of any patient who wants to list the dispensary as his designated provider, but it will have to offer marijuana on a first-come, first-served basis until its supplies are replenished, he said.

The state health department did not oppose the advocacy groups effort to change the effective date through the courts, attorney Nicholas Domitrovich said.

We have the program in place. We have the staff in place, Domitrovich said before the ruling. We are prepared to act, but we feel we dont have the proper legal cover right now.

The health department immediately saw an increase in applications after the judges ruling. The department received 70 medical marijuana cardholder and provider applications on Wednesday, spokesman Jon Ebelt said.

Another provision of the initiative, allowing people diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder to use medical marijuana, has already gone into effect and was not affected by Wednesdays ruling.

There were 7,558 enrolled medical marijuana patients in Montana in November, and 6,557 without a designated provider, according to health department statistics. There were more than 30,000 people enrolled before state lawmakers in 2011 passed the restrictive law, citing the need to close loopholes that allowed the medical marijuana law approved by voters in 2004 to be abused.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the NKR Defense Army, Colonel Senor Hasratyan says the Azerbaijani reports over the current situation in the frontline do not correspond to the reality, reports Armenpress.

Following the regular reports by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry over the existing situation in the frontline, we are convinced that the information field of that country, as usual, is working in the imagination field, rather than in a reality field.

Another proof is the disinformation spread today by this same field which says that the Armenian side violated the ceasefire regime 43 times within a day by firing 60 mm mortars. It is at least incomprehensible from where the use of 60mm mortars comes to the mind of the Azerbaijani propagandists

But one thing is definite: the falsification of reality is already an accepted measure and acting as an innocent lamb is a goal for the propagandists of the neighbor country, the NKR Defense Army spokesman writes on Facebook.
@PatriciaMazzei

In a move to make way for a major donor to run for Florida Democratic Party chairman, a top Miami-Dade County Democratic Party official resigned Saturday, just four days after winning reelection.

Miami-Dade Committeeman Bret Berlin emailed Democratic Executive Committee members his resignation Saturday afternoon. The local party will now call a new election, which will allow several candidates to seek the position -- and later the state party chairmanship.

Among those candidates is expected to be Coconut Grove developer and party fundraiser Stephen Bittel, who wants to head the state party but was ineligible to run for a county party seat earlier this week. He's now eligible to vie for the vacancy left by Berlin. Candidates for state party chair must hold a position with a county party.

In his resignation, Berlin did not endorse Bittel or any other candidate. Three other Miami-Dade Democrats -- former local party chairs Annette Taddeo Goldstein and Dwight Bullard, and former state Sen. Dan Gelber -- had also expressed interest in the job. Bullard, an outgoing state senator, and Taddeo Goldstein lost their bids for Miami-Dade committeeman and vice-chair, respectively, on Tuesday.

Taddeo Goldstein will be ineligible to try to fill Berlin's post because party rules require a male Democrat to serve as committeeman. (There's also a committeewoman.) And Gelber may be uninterested in challenging Bittel, who seems to have the quiet backing of Florida's only Democrat elected statewide, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

"My service to the Party has never been about me," wrote Berlin, who's been committeeman for 12 years. "We have four capable candidates in Miami-Dade who could each do an amazing job as FDP Chair, and I will gladly work beside any one of them as they run for State Chair."

Berlin began his letter by invoking the Nov. 8 presidential election of Donald Trump. "These are frightening times," Berlin said, adding that Miami-Dade Democrats "haven't built the support network" to help their newly elected state legislators to succeed in office.

"That takes leadership. That takes vision. And how do we as Democrats respond to the call? We shoot our own," Berlin wrote.

"Two weeks ago, there were six people who indicated they were running for State Chair. FOUR of them are from Miami-Dade County. Today each of the six candidates has been rendered ineligible, blocked by their own party!!! It is time to step up."

The other two candidates Berlin referred to, activists Alan Clendenin of Tampa and Susannah Randolph of Orlando, were unable to secure party positions in their own counties.

The new Miami-Dade committeeman election will take place Dec. 20, according to Chairman Juan Cuba.

Miami Herald staff writer Amy Sherman contributed to this report.
By Nancy Dahlberg / ndahlberg@miamiherald.com

Endeavor, a nonprofit that supports and accelerates selected high-impact entrepreneurs, has chosen a young Miami food company to join its global network.

Powerful Yogurt, led by Carlos Ramirez, is now the 16th Endeavor Miami company, after being selected Friday at Endeavor Globals 68th International Selection Panel in Palo Alto, Calif., this week. Endeavor Entrepreneurs receive services that include mentorship and access to capital, global markets and talent.

Ramirez raised seed funding and launched Powerful Yogurt in March 2013 after years as a marketing and strategy consultant for global companies. He helped launch or expand other food products around the world, including Greek yogurt. He wondered why no one was branding the product for athletes.

Although it has since expanded its focus, Powerful Yogurt was the first company to market dairy products to the needs of active men. But then women were saying Im powerful too, wheres my Powerful Yogurt? We evolved the brand to be genderless. Its more about if you work out and you need to refuel, heres a Powerful Yogurt, said Ramirez, a Venezuelan native who received his MBA from University of California Berkeley.

Today, 60 percent of Powerful Yogurts customers are female and Powerful Yogurt is positioning itself to take a bigger bite of the $8 billion yogurt market with a full lineup of accessible high protein, gluten-free, all-natural products made with Greek yogurt, including bars, drinks, shots and even an oatmeal launched in Walmart this year, Ramirez said. The company is selling products in 5,000 locations, including grocery and specialty stores mainly such as Whole Foods, Walmart and Kroger mainly in the northeastern U.S., as well as in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Middle East.

Powerful Yogurt, based at WeWork, is trying to raise $3 million to $5 million to scale the company, he said. A team of 9, it is looking to hire in marketing, sales and operations.

From day one working with Endeavor Miami, I got a lot of help with connections and investors and its been a nice surprise.  They added value to my business immediately, said Ramirez, who is looking forward to working with the global network.

Powerful Yogurt is also the fifth food and beverage entrepreneur in the Endeavor Miami family. Others are My Ceviche, DeliverLean, ginnybakes and most recently Pincho Factory. In an Endeavor Miami study last year, Endeavor found that food and beverage is one of five areas that could sizzle for entrepreneurial activity in South Florida because the ingredients are already here: a foodie culture, expertise, a talent base and educational opportunities, as well as a strong healthy and green trend to ride upon.

Endeavors ISP is the culmination of a rigorous three-day selection process where panels composed of top global business leaders, entrepreneurs and investors interview candidates about their business model, leadership potential and timing.

I'm excited to welcome another Endeavor company into our F&B portfolio. Carlos received great advice and contacts throughout the selection process and we're looking forward to continue to support his scaling phase, said Laura Maydon, managing director of Endeavor Miami..
On 11 December Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan together with President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan partook in the Stepanakert's Renaissance square at a solemn ceremony of handing over keys from cars to a group of Defense Army servicemen and freedom-fighters.

December 11, 2016, 17:15 A group of Defense Army servicemen and freedom-fighters received cars

STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 11, ARTSAKHPRESS: Central Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh Republic President stated the above-mentioned.
SEATTLE  As the first 110-footlong wing skin panel for Boeings new 777X jet moved slowly across a mammoth new factory building one recent morning, a small crew walked alongside, watching for any possibility of an expensive collision.

The spotters escorted the panels bright-orange transport platform as it followed invisible tracks embedded in the concrete floor and slid with a tight fit into the big cylindrical autoclave where the part would bake to hardness.

Until the automated system for moving these big wing parts is proved, we do have four people watching it, said Darrell Chic, acting director of 777X wing fabrication. But the intent is to work our way to autonomous and allow the navigation system to do its thing.

Autonomous. Not needing any humans to guide it.

The 777X Composite Wing Center in the Seattle-area city of Everett, Boeings latest venture in advanced manufacturing, marks a significant step toward a future in which much of an aircraft factorys work is done by automated machines and robots.

Once the wing skin was inside the giant pressurized oven, the lone operator at a computer station pushed a button. Lights flashed, a klaxon sounded.

Slowly, a 55-ton, 28-foot-wide circular door slid into place and locked to form an airtight seal for the seven-hour baking cycle.

Eric Lindblad, the newly appointed head of the 777X program, said having machines load the wing parts autonomously is safer and more precise. There isnt room for error inside the oven: When the long stiffening rods called stringers are baked in the autoclave, theyll go in six at a time with just 3 inches of clearance between them.

The only necessary human will be the person at the computer.

Therell be one guy that essentially runs this station, Lindblad said.

The trend toward automated manufacturing was evident already at Boeings older area plants.

In Frederickson, robots drill 80 percent of the holes in the 787 and 777 tails fabricated there.

In Auburn, robots drill the engine heat shields for the 787 and 777 jets, and will do the same for the 737 MAX. Another robot uses lasers to clean the dies used to shape the heat shields.

In its most productive factory, the 737 final-assembly plant in Renton, Boeing has replaced the traditional multistory fixtures used to hold wings in place during assembly with smaller, flexible, increasingly automated equipment as it ramps up toward an unprecedented output of 52 planes per month by 2018.

Introducing new automation is a challenge: In another new building in Everett, Boeing is struggling to smooth out the kinks in a robotic system for assembling the 777s metal fuselage.

Still, a new generation of airplanes like the 787 and 777X built with carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic composite structures have triggered a transformative shift taking automation to a new level.

Fabricating complete fuselage barrels or huge wings out of this material is simply not possible by hand. Only robots can lay up the strips of carbon fiber with enough speed and precision.

Mark Summers, head of technology at the U.K. governments Aerospace Technology Institute, said increasing automation will allow Boeing and Airbus to ratchet up production rates without adding employees.

Jobs will not be lost, but there will not be so many new jobs created, Summers said during a panel discussion at the Farnborough Air Show in England in July. I dont see it as an impact on the current aerospace workforce. Theres just fewer jobs in aerospace in the future.

He foresees blue-collar machinist jobs increasingly supplanted by more technologically focused positions operating the machines.

However wary machinists may be of what the new technology means for the future, Pete Goldsmith, who led automation-technology projects at Seattle-area companies Electroimpact and Nova-Tech, and now works for a third, MTorres America, said he got a universally positive reaction from mechanics at both Airbus and Boeing when he installed equipment to do repetitive riveting.

Thats a job that beats you up all day every day, Goldsmith said. We were replacing an operation that was physically very debilitating for the mechanics.

Gary Laws, a Boeing mechanic for more than two decades who operates computer-controlled machines assembling wings in Renton, said automation makes his job much easier.

And if this region wants new work in aerospace, he sees no choice but to embrace the shift.

Its the way it has to be, said Laws. Technology is obviously going to be the future.

Today, the current 777s metal wing parts are made largely by machinists in Auburn and Frederickson, then assembled into a wing by machinists in Everett.

Though Boeing doesnt provide a detailed breakdown of employment figures, this work certainly provides hundreds of jobs.

With the new 777X, that work changes dramatically. But it does stay in the area.

Boeing is spending $1 billion to make the giant 777X carbon fiber wing in-house, rather than outsourcing the wing to Mitsubishi, as it did on the 787.

Lindblad said that after a production ramp-up that will take a few years, the new wing center will, at peak, employ somewhere between 600 and 900 people.

The first production 777X parts that will fly on an airplane wont be made before April. Until then, workers in the wing center are making test parts, used to certify and fine-tune the new manufacturing process.

With wing skin No. 1 in the autoclave over on the fabrication side of the wing center, Jerry Schultz operated an Electroimpact machine making wing skin No. 2.

White lab coats are required in this clean room environment, where an overhead robot like a giant tape dispenser zips back and forth along a 110-footlong mold, building up the skin panel layer by layer.

As the robottraverses the part at various angles, it lays down plies of epoxy resin-infused carbon fiber in about 300 separately programmed runs.

Between setup, inspections and the robot work, completing a wing skin this way takes six shifts over three days.

The goal is to have just two people operating the cell, Boeing said, with possibly another worker floating between it and an adjacent cell also making wing skins.

Nearby, similar big Electroimpact machines are making the first 777X spars  the long, U-shaped, single-piece beams to which the leading and trailing edges of each wing attach.

Again, just three people will operate a pair of these spar manufacturing cells, says Boeing. The spars will then be inspected by robots that use an ultrasonic probe to check for invisible flaws in the material.

An exception to the full automation is the way Boeing is producing four of the 43 stringers, the rods that stiffen each 777X wing. These four are partly made by hand because of their more complex shape.

A half-dozen workers  five of them women, who are often preferred by manufacturers for jobs that require meticulous handwork  stood on each side of a long, thin stringer tool, positioning 4-foot-long ribbons of uncured, textilelike carbon fiber.

When theyd lain out each piece of fabric by hand, an overhead machine swung over and pressed down to secure it for curing.

For this particular shape  it turns out to be more cost-effective to do it this way, Lindblad said.

Its a mistake to think robots can do it all, said Ben Hempstead, chief of staff and lead mechanical engineer at aerospace-tooling designer Electroimpact.

After these 777X skin panels, spars and stringers are fabricated in the wing center, Boeing will deliver them to the main Everett factory building where mechanics will first assemble the pieces into a basic wing box, then add the folding wingtip and the leading- and trailing-edge control surfaces.

That assembly process is inherently more labor-intensive.

With wing-box assembly, if in the future its half-automated, thatll blow my mind, said Hempstead, whose company supplies Boeing and also provided much of the equipment Airbus to build the composite wing of the A350.

Many of the steps require skill and judgment and are very hard to automate, he said.

Hempstead said Boeing asked Electroimpact to look at automating one specific 737 wing process in Renton thats done today by about a dozen mechanics.

We couldnt figure out how to do it faster with machines, Hempstead said.

And dont even think about robots doing intricate jobs like installing hydraulic tubes and electrical wiring in the crowded space of an airplane wheel well.

Oh, man, nobody has even talked about automating that, Hempstead said. I cant even envision how youd do it.

After World War II, Boeing gave Washington state a thriving middle class, allowing blue-collar workers  some with only a high-school education  to live the American dream.

As robots revolutionize the industry, the region has become a hotbed of leading aerospace-automation firms  including Electroimpact, Nova-Tech and MTorres America as well as Janicki Industries  that are hiring young engineers as fast as they can.

But is a golden age of manual labor ending with Boeings automation drive?

In 2005, almost 3,500 machinists in Renton produced 21 single-aisle 737s per month, according to employment data filed with the state.

In 2014, just over 6,000 machinists there produced exactly twice as many.

While production rose 100 percent, employment of machinists rose 75 percent.

As robotic systems and the automated processing of carbon fiber proliferates, that gap is certain to widen.

While Boeing employed more than 100,000 in Washington state in the late 1990s, it seems unlikely those days are ever coming back. Its payroll here is down to about 73,000 today.

Yet thats still a big workforce, crucially important to the economy. And well-paid manual jobs remain a vital thread in the social fabric of the state.

We cant all be baristas and software engineers, said Electroimpacts Hempstead.

At the industry discussion of automation in Farnborough, Craig Turnbull, director of engineering at Electroimpact U.K. who oversees the companys work at the Airbus wing plant in Broughton, Wales, emphasized that there is a point where man and machine have to meet.

Even in a highly robotized auto plant, he said, the car radio is installed by a mechanic. Its too difficult for a robot.

And when it comes to hiring an operator for this new equipment, he suggested looking to machinists.

The best person to operate a machine that drills holes is someone who has done it for 20 years by hand, Turnbull said. They know what they are looking for. They are then becoming more of a quality-control person than actually pushing the drill through a hole.

To prepare the next generation of factory workers for such jobs, the state is pushing STEM education (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and providing community-college-level training for hands-on careers.

Becoming a machine operator will probably require a two-year associate degree with course work on the basics of electromechanics.

These are some of the highest skilled and best compensated jobs in the factory, Hempstead said.

John Janicki, president of Janicki Industries, sees the drive toward more automation speeding up, driven by the need to get the price down.

Though expensive to install, he said, robotic systems should allow plane makers to sell more jets over a production run that can last more than 20 years.

If you amortize all the equipment over the life of the program, its not that big a deal, Janicki said.

His firm  currently employing about 750 people in the state and expanding  still regularly hires local people straight out of high school and trains them to operate its sophisticated machines.

And he points to a big upside for the Pacific Northwest in having the 777X wing center: After investing so heavily, Boeing needs to use it to the fullest.

Its absolute state of the art. Its not going anywhere, said Janicki. You have all that equipment and the personnel trained to use it. Itll build 777s, yes. But 50 years from now, theyll still be building something in that plant.
When the unemployment rate in Missoula County fell to just 3.4 percent last April, the management team of a fast-growing company in town realized that they were going to have to come up with an innovative recruitment strategy to fill jobs.

The low jobless numbers meant that a small pool of potential job-seekers could be extremely choosy, so old ways of luring workers wouldnt fill empty seats.

Allegiance Benefit Plan Management in Missoula is a company that has around 300 employees in four different office buildings near the Missoula County Fairgrounds. The firm is a third-party administrator for self-funded health insurance benefits, including the health insurance plans for both the city of Missoula and the state of Montana as well as other companies and government agencies.

Overall, it administers plans for more than 100,000 workers plus their spouses and children. They are constantly hiring in their customer service and claims examiner departments, but those jobs require a fairly advanced level of skill and knowledge. Company CEO Dirk Visser and his team decided to look at an apprenticeship program, creating their own labor force with exactly the skills they are looking for and providing local students with a direct pipeline to a job.

Now, through a partnership with the Missoula College, the Missoula Job Service and the Montana Department of Labor and Industry's Health Care Apprenticeship program, a new college course and an apprenticeship  with paid study hours  is available for anyone looking for a new career with an almost guaranteed good-paying job.

Essentially, a student can take a 21-credit course at Missoula College to become a medical claims service specialist that includes paid on-the-job training in the Allegiance call center, which includes the actual job duties for the employer. When they're finished, graduates qualify for a higher wage.

Apprentices are eligible for benefits like regular employees, including medical, dental, vision, short-term disability, long-term disability, employer-funded life insurance, 401(k) retirement plans with an employer match, and profit sharing. Apprentices also can get paid for study time related to their coursework.

Its a one-year program that will yield better-trained staff and hopefully increase labor availability for the company, explained Wolf Ametsbichler, the manager of the Missoula Job Service. In general, apprenticeships are being increasingly used in the market place due to current and ever increasing skilled labor shortages.

The Missoula College and the Department of Labor and Industry were already working together on an initiative called HealthCARE Montana, which builds training programs to meet the current and future needs of health care organizations, one of the strongest drivers of both the Missoula and statewide economy. Officials at Missoula College reworked existing curriculum into a course that would culminate into a nationally recognized medical claims service specialist certificate.

Students learn anatomy, medical terminology, medical billing fundamentals, medical software, health data content and customer service management. Students also can opt in to the voluntary Allegiance component, which is an earn and learn approach. Allegiance has agreed to hire the students and allow them two paid hours of study time on site per day. All the classes except anatomy can be taken online.

Were very excited about it, said Margaret McManus, vice president and chief administrative officer of Allegiance. Were trying to get the word out. These are entry-level positions. Its a good way to get a foot in the door and a way to learn. And if you advance here, we put you up into a higher level of pay. We are hoping it will attract people who want to apply to Allegiance.

McManus said that shes been at the company for 30 years and there have only been two years where they didnt grow significantly and hire people.

And those years were based on us taking a step back and making adjustments so we could handle growth, she said.

Workers at the company take calls and help customers with questions. Customers often need to know things such as whether a certain treatment is covered or whether a claim has been received.

Employees "need to have pretty extensive training for both the medical claims examiner position or the medical customer service position, McManus explained. Those are the two different tracks. You need to understand plan documents, how to interpret them, what types of questions need to be answered or whether the call needs to be sent up to a senior examiner.

McManus declined to say exactly how much the entry-level jobs pay, only saying that they are very competitive in the Missoula market.

Ametsbichler said the jobs pay well above minimum wage.

Combined, the course requires 21 credits. If a student were able to complete the whole thing in a semester  which would be difficult while working full-time  tuition and fees would cost about $1,805. In a more realistic timeline, if a student took a full year for the classroom component, tuition and fees would cost about $3,588. Some students may qualify for education funding through the Missoula Job Service.

For more information, call Wolf Ametsbichler at the Missoula Job Service at 406-728-7060; Michelle Boller, Missoula College Medical Information Technology Program director at 406-243-7877; or Margaret McManus at 406-721-2222, extension 3128.
CHICAGO  There are charms and revelations to each of Chicagos neighborhoods and many of them stay hidden in the past, barely a whisper. The West Loop with its buildings (small and tall) and its stories (touching and terrifying) and the thousands of people (good and evil) who have lived and loved and prowled there do more than whisper to Connie Fairbanks. They shout. There is just so much to ...
The latest novel featuring Jack Ryan, Tom Clancy's iconic hero and now president of the United States, delivers all the elements that fans expect from the franchise.

In Mark Greaney's "True Faith and Allegiance," part of the Tom Clancy franchise, someone with inside knowledge and access to personal details of key military and government personnel has been selling that information to enemies of the United States.

In a crowded New Jersey restaurant, U.S. Navy Commander Scott Hagen is on leave with his family when a man shows up and tries to kill him. The gunman is a Russian whose brother was onboard a submarine that Hagen destroyed when he was serving on the USS James Greer. Meanwhile, in Tehran's airport, a Canadian businessman who has previously made a dozen visits is flagged as a CIA spy.

These are only two examples of a growing problem with a data breach of such extreme magnitude. How does this informant have such top-secret details? Is everyone who works for the government or military now a target?

While President Ryan contemplates what to do, his son Jack Ryan Jr. is undergoing training to join an elite special-ops group known as The Campus. The organization is recruiting a few others as well, and their expertise will be needed when a terrorist begins striking at individuals inside the United States. Has this enemy been given classified materials to strike at the heart of America? President Ryan will need to put his personal feelings aside to save the nation from a ruthless adversary.

Tom Clancy died in 2013. His novels were blockbusters that focused primarily on technology while the people involved were secondary. Action-thriller author Greaney, who has continued the series, handles the tech side with grace and has fleshed out the cast and given them depth.

Clancy fans will enjoy "True Faith and Allegiance."
The Missoula Public Library is excited to announce that it was selected by the American Library Association Public Programs Office to host Thinking Money, a national exhibition that explores financial literacy topics in an engaging manner for intergenerational audiences.

Thinking Money was developed by the American Library Association Public Programs Office in collaboration with the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, whose support made this exhibition possible. In conjunction with the Thinking Money exhibit, the library is hosting a number of programs in December and January aimed to inform and entertain adults, teens, and children.

Thinking Money events this week

Documentary Screening: Behavioral Economics: 3 p.m. Tuesday.

In this free onscreen presentation, you will learn about the ways behavioral biases affect your financial decisions. Youll learn why too many choices can be paralyzing, how a good nudge can help you achieve your financial goals, and how technology can be embraced to help you save money.

Thinking Money Open House: 2-3 p.m. Wednesday.

Tour the Thinking Money exhibit while visiting with MPLs information specialists and enjoying punch and cookies.

Middle School Writers Group: 3:30-5 p.m. Wednesday.

Middle School Writers Group works on writing exercises related to money.

Young Adult Writers Group: 3:30-5:30 p.m. Friday.

Young Adult Writers Group works on writing exercises related to money.

Cheap Date Night movie screening: 7 p.m. Friday.

Four denizens in the world of high-finance predict the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s and decide to take on the big banks for their greed and lack of foresight during this Thinking Money edition of Cheap Date Night. Call 721-2665 for the title of this movie.

Kids Saturday Matinee: noon-1:30 p.m. Saturday.

By accident, 12-year-old Preston is given a blank check and when he fills in the amount of $1,000,000.00, he is able to get it. Hes having fun spending the money, but the gangsters want it back! Call 721-BOOK (2665) for the title of this movie.

We Have It: Staff Reviews

The Nightmare Stacks by Charles Stross (Ace Books, 2016) Call Number: STROSS LAUNDRY 7

If youre already familiar with Charles Strosss uncanny and hilarious Laundry Files series, then youll be thrilled to hear that his latest addition, The Nightmare Stacks, expands his eldritch world of unspeakable monstrosities, sorcery via computers, and the banal evil of government bureaucracy. It tells the tale of Alex the reluctant vampire and his efforts to thwart an interdimensional invasion of Earth by blood-thirsty elves. Sent on assignment by Laundry HQ, the ultra-covert agency defending Britain and the world from occult apocalypses and Lovecraftian horrors made manifest, Alex meets goth-girl Cassie who isnt at all what she appears to be. But then neither is Alex.

For those who havent read Strosss series, get reading! You could pick up this latest without knowing the Laundry universe, but why deprive yourself of Strosss previous works? The Laundry Files are part spy thrillers, part horror novels, with clever, funny storylines. Strosss protagonists are as likely to be terrorized by human resource managers demanding acquisition forms in triplicate as they are by brain-eating parasites from another dimension. Start with the first in the series, The Atrocity Files, and work your way up to Strosss latest successful addition to his series.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Jonkel

Hot Happenings

MakerSpace offerings

Computer Electronics: 3-6 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays.

Community Creative Writing Workshop: 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Open Hours: 3-6 p.m. Tuesday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday.

Open Hours allows visitors to explore the resources of the MakerSpace, learn how to use its equipment, or to work on a project of their choice.

Watercolor Painting Class: noon-2 p.m. Friday.

Drop-in watercolor painting class for any level, featuring an individual approach for skill, and a group focus for subject and compositional techniques. Open to those ages 18 and up.

Computer Classes

Beginning Word: 6-7 p.m. Monday.

This class is an introduction to word processing and covers how to create a document, manipulate text and fonts, and use templates.

Excel: 12:30-1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

This class is an introduction to the basic features of Microsoft Excel. Topics include entering data and formulas. The class assumes the student has some experience with Windows and using a mouse.

Registration is required to attend MPLs computer classes. Call 721-2665 to secure your spot.
The Montana World Affairs Council will host a program featuring retired U.S. Ambassador John Limbert presenting "U.S. and Iran: Endless Enemies," Tuesday at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel, 100 Madison St.

Limbert most recently served as the U.S. deputy assistant Secretary of State for Iran, the highest-ranking official at the State Department dealing solely with Iranian issues.

In 1979 he was held hostage for 444 days in the Iranian Embassy hostage crisis.

He holds the Department of State's highest award, the Distinguished Service Award as well as the Award for Valor.

Limbert is the author of three books about Iran, including his most recent "Negotiating with Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of History."

A welcome reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. followed by a community discussion at 7 p.m.

Admission is $10 for MWAC members, $15 general and free for students with ID.

For more information, call 728-3328, or email info@montanaworldaffairs.org.
Nicole Walksalong was at her sons school in Billings last December when she took a break and saw on Facebook that police had found a body at the Super 8 motel in Missoula. Her heart skipped a beat. Her mother had worked there for the past 21 years, and barely ever missed a day. Unable to reach her mom, she texted other family members, but they hadnt heard anything. So she went on with her day.

The sinking feeling in her gut became more acute when her husband called to tell her a police officer had stopped by their house to do a welfare check. When she got home, the officer circled the block and then came to the door, asking for Walksalong by name. He started to talk, explaining his role and that there had been an incident in Missoula. Before he finished, Walksalong collapsed on the floor, screaming.

***

Most people in Missoula really only learned two things about Lonette Keehner after she died: that she was brutally stabbed to death by a meth-fueled killer and that she worked as a housekeeper at the Super 8 motel.

For Walksalong, the injustice of her mothers murder is aggravated by the fact that the details of her rich, full life  her unwavering devotion to her children, her Native American heritage, and her contagious laugh  were all buried beneath a pile of sensational headlines. Lonette Keehner became simply the name of a victim. In the minds of many, she was a murdered housekeeper. For Walksalong, that exacerbated the tragedy.

In the days and weeks after the attack on Dec. 21 of last year, the local media understandably focused on the vicious details of the crime and the backgrounds of the two people arrested for her murder.

Scott Austin Price, a Great Falls man with white supremacist ties, has pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide and other crimes. His accomplice, Sara Rae McKnight, also pleaded guilty in May to deliberate homicide.

Prosecutors say both admitted they were on meth when they went to the motel looking for a car to steal and found Keehner cleaning a room. The details are horrific and inhuman, and Keehners last moments  forced into a bathtub by a drug-addled stranger wielding a knife - surely were spent in unimaginable terror. She died even after volunteering her car keys.

The bloody knife tied Price and McKnight to the murder, and the two were tracked down in Idaho. Last week, Price was sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing a 78-year-old Miles City man, Ed Martin, a week before he came to Missoula.

On Monday, Price and McKnight are scheduled to be sentenced in a Missoula courtroom for murdering Keehner.

***

As much as the crime shocked the Missoula community, where murders are extremely rare, it was unimaginable for Walksalong.

After the police broke the news to her, she and her husband piled their four children into the car and raced to Missoula, making it by 2 a.m.

My 6-year-old daughter took it the hardest, Walksalong said. I just had to tell her that Grandmas an angel now.

Walksalong wants people to know how much her mother meant to the family and that she was more than just a victim of a random, inexplicable crime.

Lonette Marie (Sangsland) Keehner was 56 when she died. She was born a triplet, actually the first set of triplets born to the Blackfeet Nation. She and one of her sisters were adopted together and spent as many birthdays as possible with each other. Lonette and her husband Dave Keehner settled in Missoula, where they raised Walksalong and her siblings. Walksalong graduated from Big Sky High School in 2005 before attending Rocky Mountain College.

Mom was really involved, she said. We would get home from school and right away have to sit down and do our homework. Mom would have us do work out of workbooks, and we would go to the library all the time. She would check out books and read to us.

Keehner had an associates degree, and she pushed her kids to work hard and get a college education.

She worked as a housekeeper at Super 8 for 21 years, Walksalong said. I think she was maybe sick once in the 21 years she worked there. But she mentioned that specifically. She told us, Get an education because you dont want to do the work that I do.

Walksalong said her mother never complained about work, and even won a regional award - and was featured in local newspapers - for her bed-making speed and precision.

She did the work that nobody wanted to do, and it was for her family, Walksalong recalled. I hated that job. I wanted her to quit. I would tell her, Just take time off and Ill pay your salary. But she didnt want to. She thought of the other girls. She didnt want to leave the other girls with more work. She always put others before her. She was a great person. She was so much more than just a housekeeper. She was smart and she was full of life.

Walksalong paints a portrait of a kind woman who liked to go fishing or four-wheeling and who barbecued with her husband almost every day.

My mom wanted  despite living in Missoula and being raised in a non-Native home  she suggested we go back and get in touch with our culture, Walksalong recalled. She introduced me to powwow dancing. My mom made my first dress. So I continue that tradition with my children, having them dance.

Walksalong admits she was far from perfect during her rebellious teenage years.

I definitely put my parents through a lot of stuff growing up, she said. I would sneak out and party. But my parents always pushed the education. So when I got a full ride scholarship to Rocky (Mountain College) and earned my college degree, it was a big deal for me to do all this despite what mistakes I had made. They were both really proud.

***

Walksalong wasnt surprised that her mothers life was boiled down to the bare minimum by the media coverage.

Thats the style of journalism and how our media is today, she said. But we know who our mother was. We know how great she was. We know how caring she was, and how she would help anybody. It didnt matter who. Anything, she was willing to help. She loved her children and loved her grandchildren.

Before she agreed to an interview, she wanted to make sure it was focused on who her mother was.

I grew up in Missoula and she had a lot of friends, they know who my mom was, she said. But its good to do pieces like this that let people know who crime victims were. Yes, a crime was committed, but it puts that in perspective. They had a family. They had this many kids, they did really well. Instead of that person that was stabbed or killed.

For her mothers killers though, Walksalong has no sympathy.

I am still angry because I work in a field where I am around addicts and people with mental health issues, she said. There are a lot of people struggling at the bottom or feeling like they are at the bottom. But this was pure evil. They are pure evil. It cant be the excuse of drugs or meth, when their lifestyle echoes that white supremacy lifestyle. They both have tattoos that signify they are a part of that. So, I have not forgiven them.

Walksalong said she felt little relief when the suspects both decided to plead guilty.

I felt some relief, but they are just a sorry excuse, she said. Thats all they are. They are not human. Its just a sorry excuse for taxpayers to fund them to keep them happy in prison for the rest of their lives.

***

As time has gone on, Walksalong has focused on the healing process and making sure her children have fond memories of their grandmother.

She found some closure when she and about 30 other family members spread her mothers ashes at Chief Mountain, a sacred Blackfeet site on the eastern border of Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
Missoula Civic Television Advisory Commission

When: 2 p.m. Monday.

Where: Mayor's Conference Room, 435 Ryman St.

***

Missoula Conservation District

When: 7 p.m. Monday.

Where: USDA Service Center Conference Room, 3550 Mullan Road Suite 106.

***

East Missoula Community Council

When: 7 p.m. Monday.

Where: Library of former Mount Jumbo School, 735 Michigan St.

Agenda: discussion of ramifications of MDT budget shortfall on Highway 200 projects; updating on Growth Policy.

***

Missoula City Council

When: 7 p.m. Monday.

Where: City Council Chambers, 140 W. Pine St.

Agenda: Johnson Street Park and Bitterroot Trail Connection.

***

Bonner Milltown Community Council

When: 7 p.m. Monday.

Where: Bonner School Library.

Agenda: review of bylaws and written policies, the intersection of Tremper Drive, West Riverside Drive and Highway 200 and any available updates for community projects including the pedestrian trail extension from Tamarack Road westward and the wastewater treatment feasibility study.

***

Hellgate Elementary Board of Trustees

When: 7 p.m. Monday.

Where: School District 4 Board Room, 2385 Flynn Lane.

Agenda: NWEA testing results; collective bargaining agreement - personal leave and leave procedure; Costco expansion and traffic consideration; MUST and third party administrator discussion.

***

Target Range Sewer and Water District Board

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Where: Target Range School Library.

***

Missoula County Public Schools' Board of Trustees

When: 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Where: Business Building Boardroom, 915 South Ave. W.

Agenda: available at mcpsmt.org.

***

Parks and Recreation Board

When: Noon Tuesday.

Where: Headwaters at Currents, 600 Cregg Lane.

***

Missoula County Open Lands Citizen's Advisory Committee

When: 6 p.m. Thursday.

Where: CAPS office Conference Room, 323 W. Alder.

Agenda: updates to OLC bylaws; member terms; process for City-County OSB projects; Open Space Bond.

***

Urban Transportation District Board

When: 12:15 p.m. Thursday.

Where: Mountain Line Office, 1221 Shakespeare.

***

Missoula City-County Health Board

When: 12:15 p.m. Thursday.

Where: Health Board Conference Room, 301 W. Alder St.

***

Missoula Development Authority

When: 3 pm. Thursday.

Where: Room B14, County Administration Building, 199 West Pine Street

Agenda: Butler Creek Plaza zoning amendment and land swap; Double Haul request for reimbursement of City development impact fees; recommendation for Lot A, Phase 3D for development; Greg Robertson  Butler Creek Road; price lists; Bonner Mill Brownfield funds; long range planning.

***

Community Forum

When: 7 p.m. Thursday.

Where: City Council Chambers, 140 W. Pine St.

***

Specialized Transportation Advisory Committee

When: 10:30 a.m. Friday.

Where: Summit Independent Living Conference Room, 700 S.W. Higgins Ave.
It looks like replacement of the Russell Street Bridge will move forward as planned next year.

In a bow to safety concerns on Missoulas last two-lane traffic span over the Clark Fork River, Gov. Steve Bullocks revised list of delayed 2017 road projects doesnt include the $20.7 million bridge job.

Mike Tooley, director of the Montana Department of Transportation, said this week the state was putting on hold 30 road projects totaling $144.5 million because the Highway Special Revenue Fund was projected to run out of money by the end of the fiscal year in July.

As the Department of Transportation was doing a review on which projects to delay or continue moving forward in the next construction season, the No. 1 ranking criteria was for safety issues, Dan Villa, Bullocks budget director, told the Missoulian on Friday. The bridge itself is ranked as a public safety issue, so the bridge project is going to move forward but the street upgrades would not move forward unless the Legislature took action.

Bridge replacement is the key component of the long-awaited Russell Street project, for which an environmental impact study was launched in 2001. It wasnt finalized until 2011.

The design contract was awarded to WGM Group and HDR with other sub-consultants in 2012.

At $20.7 million it was the most expensive on the state's "delay" list. Second was a $15.8 million Sidney-to-Fairview project.

Both the bridge stretch of Russell Street from West Broadway to Idaho Street and the three-block, $6.2 million section from Idaho to Dakota Street were scheduled to be bid out on April 13. Now only the second of the two will be postponed, and that if the Legislature doesnt find a way to beef up the pool that provides matching funds to federal highway programs.

Montanas share of the Russell Street Bridge project is minor  around 13.5 percent, or $1.78 million. Thats typical. Of all the original 30 projects on the postponed list that added up to $144.5 million, Federal Highway Administration will provide roughly $130 million.

Its the state pool of money that is almost drained. Most of it comes from the state gas tax, which has stood at 27 cents a gallon since 1994. The new Montana Infrastructure Coalition has proposed a 10-cent increase in the gas tax.

The coalition is a bipartisan group that was formed earlier this year and includes the city of Missoula, the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce and the Missoula Economic Partnership as associate members.

***

Delayed or not, preliminary work goes on behind the scenes on the Russell Street corridor.

Its not like the project has died and gone away and will never return, said Jessica Morriss, Missoulas transportation manager. And its not like all the work has stopped. My understanding from MDT is that they will continue to work on the preconstruction aspects of the project.

The final design is almost ready, but there are still some outstanding right-of-way acquisitions along Russell Street that will affect it.

Transportation officials were referring questions Friday to the governors office.

Ed Toavs, MDTs director of the Missoula District, is expected to share what he knows at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the citys Transportation Policy and Coordinating Committee meeting in city council chambers.

Three other projects in the Missoula District remain on the delay list.

Nearly 17 miles of a $5.75 million mill and fill job on Highway 83 north of Seeley Lake were supposed to be bid out Jan. 19.

Ten miles of Interstate 90 on either side of Frenchtown are due for major rehabilitation costing $251,000, with an original bid-letting date of March 18.
Information Department of the ICRC mission in Nagorno-Karabakh in response to "Artsakhpress" question denies the Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsperson) of Azerbaijan Elmira Suleymanova's statement that, allegedly according to ICRC , judicial sanctions against Azerbaijani saboteurs Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliev are not in accordance with the principles of international law.

December 11, 2016, 18:53 Red Cross denies the statement of Azerbaijan's Ombudsman

STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 11, ARTSAKHPRESS: In all cases, the ICRC does not pronounce itself on the reasons for arrest and legal aspects of detention and conviction, nor does it advocate for the release of the detained persons. What we focus on, is to be able to secure humane treatment and conditions of detention for all detainees. We also seek to alleviate the suffering of their families, particularly by restoring communication between detainees and their relatives.

The Geneva Conventions are the most widely accepted international treaties in force that define the responsibilities of the parties during armed conflict and set forth the mandate of the ICRC. They do not exempt persons protected by Conventions from judicial process. The treaties require that judicial guarantees are respected. The treaties require that judicial guarantees be respected, Communication officer of the ICRC Mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, Eteri Musayelyan informed.

Remind, APA reports that Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsperson) of Azerbaijan Elmira Suleymanova said: "I met and carried out discussions with the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in connection with Dilgam Askerov and Shakhbaz Guliyev and was told that judicial samnctions against Askerov and Guliev do not meet rules of international law.
ROLLINS  At the age of 71, Lucy Carlson has cut back to working half-days at the business she and her husband Sonny have owned for almost 20 years along the west shore of Flathead Lake.

Of course, using Lucys math, half of a 24-hour day equals 12 hours of labor.

I love my job, she says from behind the counter at M&S Meats and Sausage, the Rollins butcher shop that has overlooked the lake since 1945. My body hates it, but I love it. Im still going fine mentally and, by midday, physically.

These days M&S is best known for its hand-cut, hand-hung, hand-pulled buffalo and elk jerky and sausage. Technically, of course, its bison, not buffalo  there are no buffalo in North America, and outside of zoos, never have been  but Lucy wont quibble over the distinction.

Tomatoes, tow-mah-tows, she says with a shrug. Buffalo is the name early American settlers gave to bison when 60 million of the animals roamed the continent, and it stuck well enough that many people still use the names interchangeably.

So everything made with bison at M&S is labeled buffalo, and theres plenty to choose from: Seven different kinds of buffalo jerky, four kinds of buffalo chubs, three types of buffalo snack sticks, not to mention buffalo burgers, buffalo steaks, buffalo roasts and buffalo link sausages.

Which makes this as good a time as any to tell you what the M&S in M&S Meats and Sausage stands for.

It stands for Meats and Sausage. They seem to get a kick out of telling that to the customers who ask.

***

Twenty years ago Sonny Carlson, who worked in the insurance business in Colorado, was facing a transfer to the Midwest. Lucy put together structured settlements and wrote annuities in a two-person office that was about to eliminate one position.

The other person in the office was my boss, so you can guess how that was going to shake out, she says.

It was, they decided, a good time to consider early retirement, and they knew where they wanted to do it. Theyre both from Montana  Lucy from Billings; Sonny from Belt  and Montana is where they wanted to return.

The move worked out. The retirement, not so much. The Flathead Valley was their first and apparently only choice, but they couldnt find the right home at the right price. Thats when the Realtor they were working with, Bruce Young, asked if theyd be interested in a home overlooking Flathead Lake that came with a business attached to it.

Wed never been in the meat processing business, Lucy says, but you didnt know how to walk till somebody taught you.

The Carlsons bought M&S Meats and Sausage and moved to Rollins in 1997. They havent regretted it.

A bad day here, says Sonny, who is 74, is better than a good day in the insurance business.

***

Yvonne Leineke is 25 now, but has worked for the Carlsons since she was 12 years old.

I started out at $5 an hour cleaning the luggers after school, she says. The school bus would drop me off here, and Lucy would drive me home when I was done with work.

Luggers, by the way, are the plastic storage bins M&S uses to lug the meat products around the shop.

Theyd be piled to the ceiling when I got here, Leineke says, and that was my sole job.

Two months into her career, she got her first raise, of 50 cents an hour.

We reward our producers, Lucy Carlson says, adding  with a wink  A couple of them are probably overpaid, but I have the most amazing staff. Over the years weve seen the good, the bad and the ugly, but the teenagers who are here now shine, and Yvonne is one of two who have been here since they were 12 years old.

Whether shes been a student at Dayton Elementary School, Polson Middle and High School, or the University of Montana, where she earned a bachelors degree in accounting, Leineke has remained employed at M&S Meats and Sausage.

It feels like home, says Leineke, whose mother, sister and brother have also all worked at M&S at some point. Its not a chore. I love the people  and I have a degree in accounting thanks to Sonny and Lucy.

She says it will be difficult to part ways when she leaves early next year to pursue her education in Canada, and its easy to see why this job isnt like most.

The Carlsons make their staff lunch every day, using ingredients often grabbed off the eclectic stores shelves. They are flexible in their scheduling  no one apparently has to pretend to be sick to take a day off to do something else  and the months college students are often home conveniently coincide with the months M&S has to hire extra help to keep up with demand.

They can often fill the jobs with employees who already worked for M&S when they were younger, and are home from college.

***

I travel western Montana and all of Idaho for my job, says Brad Lane of Kalispell, who swung into M&S recently along with Tammie Moore, and this is the best beef jerky Ive found anywhere. I've been coming here for years.

The west shore is an out-of-the-way trip for another customer, Debbie Casalegno, who lives in Bigfork, but she travels Highway 93 instead of Highway 35 on the east shore when the jerky is running low in her household.

Sometimes we go this way just to come here, Casalegno says while purchasing $42 worth of jerky.

The jerky is super. I dont think Ive ever bought it anyplace else.

Buffalo products were already on the menu when the Carlsons took over, but have taken off in the last 10 years, Lucy says.

Now, people want buffalo over anything else, she says. Decades-old recipes for jerky (including buffalo teriyaki, pepper, jalapeno and honey) and sausage were a non-negotiable part of the sales agreement.

Its all about the buffalo, agrees employee Stef Simonson, who actually connects M&S to its history. Her family owns the Rollins Restaurant and RV Park next door to M&S (where Simonson also works in the summers), and all were opened by the original owner, Kim Quackenbush.

***

The shop does more than 50 percent of its annual business during July, August and December.

In the summer months on the lake, the customers can stack up seven deep waiting to make purchases in the store, Lucy says, and in December, the phone rings off the hook with people wanting to purchase custom-made holiday gift boxes.

You tell us what you want in it, and well do it, Lucy says.

Theres more to choose from than meats and sausage. There are several types of cheeses, and cheese curds that are smoked at M&S (such as organic roasted garlic, bacon and onion, and Cajun). Theres the usual array of huckleberry products (jam, syrup, taffy, licorice, pie filling, cordials, barbecue sauce, coffee).

There are pet treats made with whats left over from after meat is processed: bones (including the $10 monster bone, a big bison femur), jerky made of buffalo heart and tongue, and treats concocted from meat left in the head of meat grinders (There can be three to five pounds left in there you might normally trash, Lucy says, but we save it until we have 100 pounds, and then make pet treats out of it).

Shelves in the crowded little store are otherwise packed with items that make it part convenience store, part exotic market.

Theres ketchup and mustard on one shelf, and raw shelled hemp seeds, organic coconut milk and kelp noodles on another.

Its just a hodge-podge of cant-live-without products, Lucy says.

***

Theyll still slice you off beef or buffalo steaks to order from sides of meat, but M&S is no longer a traditional butcher shop. They dont hang carcasses any more, and dont employ a master butcher any longer.

Its a sad story, and one thats tough for Lucy to get through even now.

The first year we took over, we started on Oct. 1, and in December we lost our master butcher, she says. Six months later, we lost our youngest son.

About seven years later, the Carlsons other son, Kyle, and M&S longtime employee and master butcher Patrick Tucker were killed in a single-vehicle accident near Lakeside.

The Carlsons have never hired another butcher.

They have three daughters, and four grandchildren, in Colorado and Oregon. The business  which is closed just four days a year, on Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day  doesnt keep Sonny and Lucy from seeing them, but they do have to travel at separate times, so that one of them is always in Rollins.

Otherwise, when theyre both in Rollins, the couple divide their duties.

Which, Sonny says with a grin, means I do everything she doesnt want to  bookkeeping, bill-paying, slicing and maintenance.

It takes something extra to keep a butcher shop in a town with less than 200 people a going concern. In the case of M&S Meats and Sausage, you can put a name to it, and its bison.

But theyll put their own name to it, and call it buffalo.
Dear Fidel, I do not want to talk about you but rather talk to you, because you are still here among us and will be forever.

I apologize for addressing you informally, but I feel so close to you that I need to do so.

You know that Cuba is my second homeland, a country that embraced me and thousands of my compatriots with open arms when we were being persecuted in Chile for trying to build a humanist society of solidarity inspired by your teachings. And you know that I was able to build a happy home in your country with one of your most faithful comrades.

Fidel, you have served as a source of encouragement and inspiration for the people of Latin America and the world.

Politics as the Art of Making the Impossible Possible

You always understood that politics was not the art of the possiblea conservative vision of politicsbut rather the art of making the impossible possible, not through voluntarist actions but by understanding that politics is the art of building a social, political, and military correlation of forces that allows us to transform the existing conditions of struggle and make possible in the future what seems impossible in the present.

Against the fatalism that reigned within the left of that epoch, you demonstrated it was possible to defeat a regular army despite the sophistication of its weapons. Using the guerrilla tactic of attacking the enemy by surprise at its weakest points, you carried out victorious operations that weakened its military force and, above all, sapped its morale.

But armed struggle, for you, was a means and not the objective. Like Marti, you believed that it is criminal to foment an avoidable war in a country but it is also criminal to fail to foment an inevitable one.

Your great historic merit is having being able to clearly define the decisive link that would make it possible to grasp the entire chain and, by doing so, give victory to the revolution; and the decisive link was none other than the struggle against the dictator Batista and the regime he personified. You saw clearly the need to unite the broadest range of social forces to overthrow this tyranny. It was not enough to only consider working with revolutionary sectorsit was necessary to bring together reformist sectors and even those reactionary sectors that had minimal differences with the dictator.

What you admired in Marti was not so much the feats he accomplished on the battlefield as the gigantic feat of uniting Cubans for the struggle. You were convinced that without this Cuba would still be a Spanish colony or a satellite of the United States.

And to achieve this broad unity you had to give ground on programmatic questions.

In the Moncada program (October 16, 1953) you only proposed bourgeois democratic measures, and even though you put forward proposals that affected US interests, you never made a formal anti-imperialist declaration. Later, in the Sierra Pact (July 12, 1957), the result of an agreement between the representatives of the bourgeoisie and the rebels in the Sierra, neither the workers sharing in the profits of enterprises nor the peasants sharing in the sugarcane yield was mentioned. There was also no talk of confiscation of ill-gotten properties and nationalization of electricity and telephone trusts that together with the consistent application of an agrarian reform would become de facto anti-imperialist measuresthe measures that were part of the Moncada program. Finally, in the Caracas Pact (July 20, 1958), the minimum program was reduced to its most essential elements: punishment for the guilty, defense of workers rights, order, peace, liberty, compliance with international commitments, and the pursuit of the economic, social, and institutional progress of the Cuban people.

However, you never gave ground on the fundamental questions, those that you thought could halt the development of the revolutionary process: you always repelled foreign intervention in the national struggle as well as a domestic military coup; and you always refused to build a front that excluded any of the forces that represented a section of the people.

Unity of Revolutionary Forces

No one struggled like you for the unity of revolutionary forces and the people.

You taught us that revolution is a war and that to confront it in better conditions it was best to have a united leadership capable of directing the battles, clearly defining the strategic enemy and the immediate enemy, the form that the struggle must adopt, the existing situation in which the struggle takes place, and the policies to follow to win over more and more supporters to the struggle against the immediate enemy.

But you also pointed out that the ideal is one thing and the reality another and that we have to start working with what we have at hand.

You taught us that we have to first seek the unity of revolutionary forces, and only after making an effort to do so did you propose pursuing broader unity. Nevertheless, you were not rigid in this regard: the failure to achieve that goal immediately did not stop you from advancing toward broader unity.

You insisted that we must begin by setting ourselves minimum goals, not maximum ones.

You pointed out that attempting to prematurely build unity among revolutionary forces, when the conditions for it did not exist, would only lead to a formal unity that could fall apart in the face of any adversary.

Understanding the ideological-political reality of Cuba, you preferred to avoid theoretical discussions, convinced that the application of a correct strategy would be more convincing than many words.

Another important point was that you were capable of correctly valuing the contribution of all revolutionary forces without establishing quotas of power based on the level of participation in the triumph of the revolution or the number of activists in the organization. You always fought against any superiority complex.

You insisted that the revolution had to come before anything that each of the organizations had done in the past, that what mattered was for all forces to work together for the future, and that is why you did not attempt to claim all the credit for yourself. Despite the fact that the 26th of July Movement was recognized by the immense majority of the people as the architect of the victory, you put aside the flag of your organization in order to raise the flag of the revolution.

How different would Latin America be today if we had taken your advice on board!

Against the fatalism of the international analysts of that epoch, you demonstrated that it was possible to begin building socialism despite being so close to the coasts of the biggest imperialist power in the world, and that it was possible to resist constant external aggressions despite their negative effects on the everyday lives of the people, because above all that was the dignity of a people that had conquered its right to make its own history.

An Appropriate Language

Dear Fidel, we also learned from you how to speak to the people. It was not only necessary to speak with complete honesty but also use words that ordinary people could comprehend.

That is why you thought, in the midst of the McCarthyist and anti-Communist atmosphere that reigned in your country and the world, that it was absurd to make declarations of Marxist-Leninst faith. It was not declarations that were needed; what was needed was to act and demonstrate in practice the correctness of revolutionary positions.

That is also why you believed that the unifying factor of the 26th of July Movement could not be the Marxist-Leninist ideology, which had only been assimilated by the most advanced cadres of the movement; rather it had to be the struggle against Batista via a new, armed road, and this struggle had to lead to radical social transformations in the social as well as political sphere and the conquest of genuine national sovereignty.

Truncated Revolutionary Dreams

Finally, we learned from you and the Cuban revolution that many of the dreams of revolutionaries cannot become reality, not because they are not good or noble ideas, not because of a lack of willingness in the ranks, but because the enemyalerted to the goals pursuedforces us to take a different path. A good example of this was the initial desire of the Cuban revolutiononce the war against Batista had endedto transform army barracks into schools. You did not betray this beautiful ideal. It was the constant aggression of the US government that forced your country to postpone its realization and led you to build up the most powerful military force in Latin America relative to the number of inhabitants. The leadership of the revolution understood that preparing for war was the best way to avoid it.

I saw firsthandwhen I first visited Cuba in mid-1960how an army barrack in the Sierra Maestra had been transformed into a school. This was not the only ideal that had become a tangible reality at the time, as even in those early days another great characteristic of your revolutionary leadership was also evident: solidarity with all the peoples of the world. When the children at the school, who were 10 to 12 years old, found out that I was visiting them from Chile and that an earthquake had recently happened in my country, they told me that they were awaiting the arrival of a group of Chilean children to welcome them in Cuba while their houses, damaged by the quake, were being rebuilt. I will never forget that experience: it was so surprising to see how informed these young children were of what was happening in our countries and how a sentiment of solidarity toward the suffering of other peoples had awoken within them.

I also witnessedyears laterhow in each building constructed by a micro-brigade in Havana the workers handed over one apartment to a Chilean family who was being persecuted by the Pinochet dictatorship.

These are just small anecdotes of international solidarity; there were also epics such as those about South Africa and Angola, where thousands of Cubans fought side-by-side with their African brothers and sisters to overcome the oppression suffered by their peoples.

To conclude, I want to say with all honesty that I did not always agree with all the measures you took or the ideas you proposed, but so many more are the ones that I shared that I do not think it is necessary for me to dwell on those now.

Fidel, I hope that you agree with me when I say that the best way to pay homage to you is to commit ourselves to make your battles ours, to walk in the same direction as you did. Then there will not be just one Fidel, there will be thousands, millions, and, sooner rather than later, great avenues will open on which free men and women will walk, building the humanist world of solidarity you dreamed of.

Marta Harnecker is a Chilean sociologist and activist. Her voluminous publications include A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-First Century Socialism (Monthly Review Press, 2015). The original article Fidel, hoy y siempre was published by Rebelion (7 December 2016) among other Web sites. Translated by Federico Fuentes and edited by Yoshie Furuhashi (contact: yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com) for MRZine.
Butte Christmas Stroll grand marshals Jon and Cassie Wick are taking Jons graphic-design and branding business 5518 Designs to the next level by opening a retail store on Main Street in Uptown Butte.

Wick said he sees the store  which opened Nov. 8, on Election Day  as a way to contribute to economic development Uptown.

What it really boils down to is that we are in a position to do something about the things that people (care) about, said Wick, who noted that Butte residents are passionate about repopulating vacant Uptown buildings.

The store consists of apparel, mugs, woodcuts and other memorabilia that feature designs created by Wick, including from a line of prints Wick calls Simple Places.

Simple Places depicts mostly outdoor themes, as Wick told The Montana Standard in July, and the designs are inspired by his survival from cancer.

(Its) trying to celebrate where we are, Wick told the Standard in July. The places where we gather with our friends and the places that mean something to people.

But 5518 doesnt just showcase Wicks memorabilia  the store also boasts goods from third-party vendors, including greeting cards by fellow cancer survivor Emily McDowell.

Wick described McDowells work as real cards for real people with real emotions. The cards carry quirky, witty messages such as if this is Gods plan, God is a terrible planner and when life gives you lemons I wont tell you a story about my cousins friend who died of lemons.

The store also shelves goods from Butte-based Keira Shine Jewelry and body products from Montana Home Sprout of Ramsay, among other local vendors.

To make the store come to life, Wick invested in several upgrades at the 27 N. Main St. location, including new floors, rough-cut wood work on a pallet wall in the back of the store and an industrial-looking front kiosk. Wick has also installed a sky-lift chair inside the store.

All-in-all, Wick said, he wanted to give the store a rustic feel.

We wanted to keep the industrial character of this town, said Wick. And natural, we wanted to keep it natural feeling, because most of our stuff is outdoorsy-themed. We want to celebrate recreation as much as we can, too.

And in keeping with the outdoorsy theme, the store also sells recreational backpacks and water bottles and offers a library where customers can read trail maps and travel guides.

Similarly, Wick is creating a giant map marked with points of interest in and around Butte to compliment the library.

This is just another strategy to celebrate what we have here (in Butte). said Wick.
The members of Butte Magic, a 10-year-old performance troupe based in the Mining City, say they are finally going commercial by turning their act into a business.

On Wednesday four members told The Montana Standard theyve been getting enough bookings and large gigs to justify the move.

They also gave a quick demonstration at The Standard, replete with sword swallowing and fire eating.

Today core members of the group include husband and wife duo Jim and Mary Alice Jones, along with their son James Jones and family friend Travis Hughes.

The group offers both theater-size shows and small, private performances, including everything from fire eating and sword swallowing, to illusions, escape acts and parlor magic (think card tricks).

The group even has a tent theyve dubbed the xenobiological bestiary where they show curiosities such as mythological animals.

But perhaps one of their more interesting acts involves a kind of magic known as mentalism.

Mary Alice described mentalism as using the natural abilities of one human mind to interact with another mind, as she correctly guessed the identity of a card chosen by the Standard.

She said examples include memorizing numbers and making predictions.

She said she also does life readings, where she looks at behavioral patterns that people exhibit and gives them tools for improving the future.

One of the definitions of magic has always been magic is what happens in life that science cannot explain, said Mary Alice, describing the concept behind mentalism.

But its also the connection between one mind and another, one heart and another because what magic does is bring somebody out of the everyday dimension and brings them into an area where there can be hope, there can be wonder, there can be mystery. It can give them the power to go beyond the everyday into an entirely different, bright and exciting world.

Although Butte Magic came together 10 years ago, its seeds were sown much earlier than that.

One of its founding members was a man called Jackson the Illusionist (the group wouldnt give his real name.)

They described Jackson as a master calligrapher, fencer and magician.

Jackson was also an instructor at the Order of St. Michaels  a fencing club that later become the Butte Fencing Club  of which the Joneses were long-time members.

Mary Alice and Jim have been married for over 30 years, and they say whats kept them going all these years is battling arguments out in the fencing arena.

While we were courting many, many years ago, we were also fencing  which cut down on a lot of arguments, said Mary Alice, who said shes been fencing since the 1960s.

However, the roots of Butte Magic really started to grow after Hughes joined the fencing club.

I got to fencing, got to be decent at it, attended meetings fairly religiously and one day Jackson came in with horrible burns all down the side of his face, said Hughes. He told me it was a fire eating accident, and of course I didnt believe him.

Eventually Jackson offered to teach Hughes how to eat fire.

About a year later Jackson was scheduled to do a magic performance but had to back out at the last moment. So Jackson asked Hughes and James Jones to fill in for him.

I got this itch to start performing, said Hughes.

From there Butte Magic began to organically form. As the years went by they consistently landed gigs at places like the Montana Renaissance Festival in Billings, MisCon science-fiction fair in Missoula, and Buttes own sci-fi festival GobCon.

When asked what they like about magic, James Jones said its all about getting a response.

I like the reaction ultimately, said James. You get to see even the oldest curmudgeon if you do magic correctly turn back into a child.

As for Hughes, he said his favorite part is helping people regain a zest for life.

Were kind of jaded as a culture, said Hughes. We can see whatever we want on the internet, go to the movies and see a (million dollar) film but with magic you get that little spark, just for a second.
It was shocking when a man was arrested in broad daylight in busy Uptown Butte this time last year by a swarm of armed police.

Also shocking was the mans admission to police that he had trafficked over 40 pounds of meth in the community in the last six months. More shocking still was that the man had fired a gun at associates in Anaconda and Butte at least five times for offenses as slight as dropping the bong.

But most shocking is that Lester Oxendine had managed to get away with so much for so long. Oxendines criminal record shows a history of light sentencing, second chances, and the failure by separate court jurisdictions to take into account his probationary status in other states, even as the danger he posed to those around him escalated.

The federal charges Oxendine now faces for his crimes in Montana may put him behind bars permanently, but if he manages to avoid a harsh sentence for his felony convictions, it certainly wouldnt be the first time.

Oxendine is 33 years old and a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, a mixed-race tribe best known for being the largest federally unrecognized Native group in America and for routing the Ku Klux Klan in the 1958 Battle of Hayes Pond.

Oxendines criminal history is extensive, spanning at least four states on both sides of the country and dozens of criminal charges over a decade and a half. The scope of Oxendines activity means there are gaps in information concerning his criminal convictions and sentencings, but from available documents, it appears Oxendine has spent little time behind bars, serving about one year in jail for 14 convicted felonies in North Carolina alone.

His first known appearance in the criminal justice system was at age 19 for bootlegging in Richmond County, North Carolina, in 2001, a misdemeanor. Over the next decade, he bounced back and forth between courts in both Carolinas on various charges.

Oxendine was arrested in South Carolina for the first time in August 2003 and charged with assault, felony malicious injury to an animal, resisting arrest, and failing to pull over for police, all from the same incident. The assault charges were dropped by the prosecutor, and Oxendine pleaded guilty to all other charges.

In September 2004, Oxendine was arrested again in South Carolina and pleaded guilty to a variety of charges, including two misdemeanor assaults, four felonies for breaking into fuel tanks, and two more bootlegging misdemeanors.

The South Carolina Department of Corrections only keeps a database of current, not former, inmates and did not respond to requests for clarification of Oxendines criminal sentencing history.

While the specifics of Oxendines sentencing in South Carolina are unclear, in 2009, he served 27 days in a North Carolina jail for two counts of misdemeanor larceny and 149 days for burning down a dwelling for fraudulent purposes.

2011 saw Oxendine sentenced on five felony forgery charges in Robeson County, North Carolina, from seven years prior, for which his probation was revoked, and he served eight months in jail.

Released in 2012, Oxendine was again convicted of multiple felonies in 2013 but would avoid jail time. Found guilty of identity theft, financial fraud, credit card theft, and motor vehicle theft, Oxendine was given a suspended sentence and placed back on probation.

Although its unknown when Oxendine first graduated from bootlegging to the drug trade, his first drug charges were filed by courts in the Bakken oil fields after he fled North Carolina, absconding from his probation.

With a low population density (and therefore smaller drug appetite) and great distance from the Southern border, ocean ports, and major cities, Montana and the Northern Plains are a relative backwater in the Americas drug war with Mexican cartels.

According to the National Drug Intelligence Center of the U.S. Department of Justice, Southwest Montana serves as a tertiary overland meth trafficking crossroads, sitting between the Pacific Northwest ports and the major Chicago distribution center as well as at the northern terminus of the Interstate 15 and 25 routes that bring drugs up through Salt Lake City and Denver from the narcotics epicenters of Tijuana and Juarez.

While the DOJ says most of that drug traffic is diverted to major cities before it gets close to Montana, emerging markets like the Bakken oilfield boomtowns bring occasional spikes in demand for drugs that attract out-of-state dealers.

The man camps that followed the fracking of Bakken shale oil led to a sharp increase in western North Dakotas drug crime, with out-of-state gangs sending members to run local trafficking rings, particularly for meth.

Oxendine was first arrested in Williams County, North Dakota, in September 2014 for driving without a seat belt or a license and later in early 2015 for carrying a concealed weapon, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, tampering with evidence, and continuing to drive without a license or a seat belt.

The North Dakota courts sentenced Oxendine to a years probation for some of the charges, but he absconded again, this time to Butte, before all his charges progressed fully through the legal system. The light sentences Oxendine received in North Dakota suggest the courts there were unaware of his sizable criminal history in the Carolinas or his status as a probationary absconder.

Oxendines last criminal charge in North Dakota was in April 2015 for driving without a license. His continued failure to secure a drivers license would be the cause of his initial arrest by Butte police in December of last year.

Silver Bow County Sheriff Ed Lester said although police had circumstantial evidence that Oxendine had been dealing meth and shooting at people for several months before his arrest, they were still waiting on a search warrant for his Centerville home when they arrested him in Uptown Butte on a traffic stop.

Lester said they didnt want to arrest Oxendine outside his home, which they knew contained multiple firearms, and also didnt want to provoke a hostage situation by attempting an arrest when someone else was tagging along. When the surveillance team tailing Oxendine reported he drove away from his house alone, police pulled him over Uptown, confiscating a 9mm pistol and drugs with a search warrant acquired after the K9 unit got a hit on his car.

More drugs and firearms were found in Oxendines home, and the man later told police in an interview that he had trafficked over 40 pounds of meth in the Butte area from Las Vegas after moving to town in July.

With his cases in Silver Bow and Deer Lodge counties transferred to federal court, Oxendine pleaded guilty in November to charges he distributed meth and used a gun to make it happen. Because Oxendine fired his weapon in furtherance of selling meth, hes facing a potential life sentence and millions of dollars in fines. Sentencing is currently scheduled for March 2017.
ROLLINS  At the age of 71, Lucy Carlson has cut back to working half-days at the business she and her husband Sonny have owned for almost 20 years along the west shore of Flathead Lake.

Of course, using Lucys math, half of a 24-hour day equals 12 hours of labor.

I love my job, she says from behind the counter at M&S Meats and Sausage, the Rollins butcher shop that has overlooked the lake since 1945. My body hates it, but I love it. Im still going fine mentally and, by midday, physically.

These days M&S is best known for its hand-cut, hand-hung, hand-pulled buffalo and elk jerky and sausage. Technically, of course, its bison, not buffalo  there are no buffalo in North America, and outside of zoos, never have been  but Lucy wont quibble over the distinction.

Tomatoes, tow-mah-tows, she says with a shrug. Buffalo is the name early American settlers gave to bison when 60 million of the animals roamed the continent, and it stuck well enough that many people still use the names interchangeably.

So everything made with bison at M&S is labeled buffalo, and theres plenty to choose from: Seven different kinds of buffalo jerky, four kinds of buffalo chubs, three types of buffalo snack sticks, not to mention buffalo burgers, buffalo steaks, buffalo roasts and buffalo link sausages.

Which makes this as good a time as any to tell you what the M&S in M&S Meats and Sausage stands for.

It stands for Meats and Sausage. They seem to get a kick out of telling that to the customers who ask.

Twenty years ago Sonny Carlson, who worked in the insurance business in Colorado, was facing a transfer to the Midwest. Lucy put together structured settlements and wrote annuities in a two-person office that was about to eliminate one position.

The other person in the office was my boss, so you can guess how that was going to shake out, she says.

It was, they decided, a good time to consider early retirement, and they knew where they wanted to do it. Theyre both from Montana  Lucy from Billings; Sonny from Belt  and Montana is where they wanted to return.

The move worked out. The retirement, not so much. The Flathead Valley was their first and apparently only choice, but they couldnt find the right home at the right price. Thats when the Realtor they were working with, Bruce Young, asked if theyd be interested in a home overlooking Flathead Lake that came with a business attached to it.

Wed never been in the meat processing business, Lucy says, but you didnt know how to walk till somebody taught you.

The Carlsons bought M&S Meats and Sausage and moved to Rollins in 1997. They havent regretted it.

A bad day here, says Sonny, who is 74, is better than a good day in the insurance business.

Yvonne Leineke is 25 now, but has worked for the Carlsons since she was 12 years old.

I started out at $5 an hour cleaning the luggers after school, she says. The school bus would drop me off here, and Lucy would drive me home when I was done with work.

Luggers, by the way, are the plastic storage bins M&S uses to lug the meat products around the shop.

Theyd be piled to the ceiling when I got here, Leineke says, and that was my sole job.

Two months into her career, she got her first raise of 50 cents an hour.

We reward our producers, Lucy Carlson says, adding  with a wink  A couple of them are probably overpaid, but I have the most amazing staff. Over the years weve seen the good, the bad and the ugly, but the teenagers who are here now shine, and Yvonne is one of two who have been here since they were 12 years old.

Whether shes been a student at Dayton Elementary School, Polson Middle and High School, or the University of Montana, where she earned a bachelors degree in accounting, Leineke has remained employed at M&S Meats and Sausage.

It feels like home, says Leineke, whose mother, sister and brother have also all worked at M&S at some point. Its not a chore. I love the people  and I have a degree in accounting thanks to Sonny and Lucy.

She says it will be difficult to part ways when she leaves early next year to pursue her education in Canada, and its easy to see why this job isnt like most.

The Carlsons make their staff lunch every day, using ingredients often grabbed off the eclectic stores shelves. They are flexible in their scheduling  no one apparently has to pretend to be sick to take a day off to do something else  and the months college students are often home conveniently coincide with the months M&S has to hire extra help to keep up with demand.

They can often fill the jobs with employees who already worked for M&S when they were younger, and are home from college.

I travel western Montana and all of Idaho for my job, says Brad Lane of Kalispell, who swung into M&S recently along with Tammie Moore, and this is the best beef jerky Ive found anywhere. I've been coming here for years.

The west shore is an out-of-the-way trip for another customer, Debbie Casalegno, who lives in Bigfork, but she travels Highway 93 instead of Highway 35 on the east shore when the jerky is running low in her household.

Sometimes we go this way just to come here, Casalegno says while purchasing $42 worth of jerky.

The jerky is super. I dont think Ive ever bought it anyplace else.

Buffalo products were already on the menu when the Carlsons took over, but have taken off in the last 10 years, Lucy says.

Now, people want buffalo over anything else, she says. Decades-old recipes for jerky (including buffalo teriyaki, pepper, jalapeno and honey) and sausage were a non-negotiable part of the sales agreement.

Its all about the buffalo, agrees employee Stef Simonson, who actually connects M&S to its history. Her family owns the Rollins Restaurant and RV Park next door to M&S (where Simonson also works in the summers), and all were opened by the original owner, Kim Quackenbush.

The shop does more than 50 percent of its annual business during July, August and December.

In the summer months on the lake, the customers can stack up seven deep waiting to make purchases in the store, Lucy says, and in December, the phone rings off the hook with people wanting to purchase custom-made holiday gift boxes.

You tell us what you want in it, and well do it, Lucy says.

Theres more to choose from than meats and sausage. There are several types of cheeses, and cheese curds that are smoked at M&S (such as organic roasted garlic, bacon and onion, and Cajun). Theres the usual array of huckleberry products (jam, syrup, taffy, licorice, pie filling, cordials, barbecue sauce, coffee).

There are pet treats made with whats left over from after meat is processed: bones (including the $10 monster bone, a big bison femur), jerky made of buffalo heart and tongue, and treats concocted from meat left in the head of meat grinders (There can be three to five pounds left in there you might normally trash, Lucy says, but we save it until we have 100 pounds, and then make pet treats out of it).

Shelves in the crowded little store are otherwise packed with items that make it part convenience store, part exotic market.

Theres ketchup and mustard on one shelf, and raw shelled hemp seeds, organic coconut milk and kelp noodles on another.

Its just a hodge-podge of cant-live-without products, Lucy says.

Theyll still slice you off beef or buffalo steaks to order from sides of meat, but M&S is no longer a traditional butcher shop. They dont hang carcasses any more, and dont employ a master butcher any longer.

Its a sad story, and one thats tough for Lucy to get through even now.

The first year we took over, we started on Oct. 1, and in December we lost our master butcher, she says. Six months later, we lost our youngest son.

About seven years later, the Carlsons other son, Kyle, and M&S longtime employee and master butcher Patrick Tucker were killed in a single-vehicle accident near Lakeside.

The Carlsons have never hired another butcher.

They have three daughters, and four grandchildren, in Colorado and Oregon. The business  which is closed just four days a year, on Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day  doesnt keep Sonny and Lucy from seeing them, but they do have to travel at separate times, so that one of them is always in Rollins.

Otherwise, when theyre both in Rollins, the couple divide their duties.

Which, Sonny says with a grin, means I do everything she doesnt want to  bookkeeping, bill-paying, slicing and maintenance.

It takes something extra to keep a butcher shop in a town with less than 200 people a going concern. In the case of M&S Meats and Sausage, you can put a name to it, and its bison.

But theyll put their own name to it, and call it buffalo.
Montana's methamphetamine problem, once thought to be on the wane, has bounced back with a vengeance as Mexican cartels flood the state with the highly addictive, destructive drug. And at least one top drug cop says Southwest Montana is the hottest meth trouble spot in the state.

Super labs can produce more than 500 pounds of high-quality methamphetamine at a time and operate in Southern California and northern Mexico, where the majority of production takes place, said Mark Long, chief of the state Department of Criminal Investigation Narcotics Bureau.

One-pot meth labs peaked in Montana in the 90s through early 2000, with law enforcement seeing 100 to 150 a year. The labs took a hit as federal and state laws placed restrictions on the sale of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine  ingredients used to manufacture meth.

The labs slowly ticked back up a couple of years ago, but the purity and low cost of Mexican meth will likely thwart their resurgence in the state, said Long.

The Sinaloa Cartel is the dominant Mexican cartel basically doing business in our back yard, said Bryan Lockerby, administrator of Montanas Department of Justices Division of Criminal Investigation, adding that the footholds cartels have in the U.S. are evidence of the scope of what law enforcement is up against. The intricate smuggling methods include placing drugs in the cavities of puppies and humans, concealing crystal meth in candy, and hiding marijuana inside individual onions stored in bags on a pallet.

The drug pipeline north to Montana utilizes the Interstate 15 corridor from Los Angeles through Las Vegas and up to Salt Lake City and into the Treasure State. Meth also travels Interstate 5 to Yakima, the Tri-Cities, Seattle, and Spokane, where it meets Interstate 90, said Long.

In southwest Montana, Long said, the outlook is dismal. Thats the hottest problem spot for meth in the state, he said, though he added that narcotics agents in Billings would argue that, because of its larger population and being a jumping-off point to two Indian reservations and the Bakken, where drug cases increased by 55 percent in 2014-15.

Butte-Silver Bow Detective Kevin Maloughney said meth has grown immensely since he served eight years with the Powell County Sheriffs Office in Deer Lodge, two of those with the Southwest Montana Drug Task Force. He recalled the drug scene in 2003 was similar to what were seeing today.

Whats changed is the enormous growth of meth and now the purity is ridiculous  95, 99 percent, the Butte native said.

Maloughney said the business has also become violent, with dealers and users often either packing or having access to multiple weapons. Law enforcement is also seeing a ridiculous amount of money that dealers are making.

With the influx of potent meth comes an insatiable hunger for the next fix, which drives thefts, burglaries, and assaults, the detective said. As a young boy, he recalled residents leaving doors unlocked and having a rifle in a gun rack in their pickup. Now, he said, people have to secure their homes and their vehicles to prevent themselves from being victims.

Despite meths top rank in the state's list of abused drugs, followed by prescription pills and marijuana, state law enforcement officials say a tsunami of heroin is coming.

We have to prepare for it, because its on its way, said Lockerby. What we have is a bunch of rookie heroin users, and thats what makes it dangerous.

For an agency thats stretched pretty thin, the reality of too little resources for a burgeoning drug problem means casting a wider net beyond what the upcoming Legislature could approve.

Were just going to have to practice triage like an emergency room and take whatever happens to be the biggest problem at the time and deal with it.  Were just adding more and more issues here and no more resources at any level  treatment, prevention, or law enforcement, said Long.

The agency has 112 full-time employees with 41 sworn agents, 21 of which work in narcotics and average about 500 cases a year.

Lockerby said his team manages two of seven drug task forces across Montana, focusing on local impact cases and upper level drug traffickers in an attempt to cut the head off the snake of whats coming into the state. Agents are also involved in federal task forces such as the FBI and may assist in cases on tribal lands.

Butte-Silver Bow health officer Karen Sullivan said its difficult to quantify the health impact from methamphetamine on the city of about 34,000 without data. Some officials say it is a statewide epidemic; others believe thats too dramatic a label to assign.

But Sullivan is calling for a multi-agency collaboration to batten down the hatches and find answers to a scourge that threatens the resilient and close-knit community.
Basil said the Bulolo District Development Authority - whose activities covers the Hidden Valley gold mine, the emerging Wafi Golpu gold and copper mine and hundreds of second and third generation of gold miners  couldnt afford the K200,000 it would have cost to send a delegation to the conference.

And he's even more livid that the country's premier mining conference is held in Sydney and not in PNG, where he believes it should be hosted.

PAPUA New Guineas deputy opposition leader Sam Basil is angry that his Bulolo district missed out on participating at PNGs recent mining and petroleum conference, held in the big city comfort and retail opportunities of Sydney, Australia.

He said the miners benefit PNGs national revenue by K60-70 million annually.

The name Bulolo is synonymous with mining, so wherever there are talks about mining, Bulolo must be invited and assisted by government to be part of such high level conferences, Basil said.

He questioned the logic of landowners spending huge amounts of funds to travel offshore to go and talk about resources that are under our feet.

Investors who are genuine and want to invest in and develop our resources must come to the shores of PNG to discuss how they propose to develop these resources, he told One PNG.

Millions of kina in limited development funds are wasted every year by PNG government departments and landowners to attend these meetings when funds could have been spent onshore.

Also more participants and stakeholders from PNG could attend if it was hosted onshore.

Basil called on Chamber of Mines president Greg Anderson to reconsider having future mining conferences in PNG.

If PNG is vying to host such high level events like the APEC meeting, there is really no reason why we cannot host future mining and petroleum conferences, he said.

On the one hand the government is preaching about tightening the belt and cutting down on unnecessary expenditure but on the other hand they continue to spend lavishly on such expensive overseas trips.

The government is simply not being truthful but continues to lie to the people while putting up a show for the rest of the world when PNG can least afford to.
After reading concerns from a handful of lower Smith River landowners in a recent letter to the editor about our underground mining proposal, I feel the need to offer another perspective.

First, I share the environmental values expressed by the authors. As the son of Smith River ranchers, I was raised just below its convergence with Sheep Creek. Its always been an important part of my life, strongly molding my world view. As a kid, I enjoyed its great fishing before the advent of heavy recreational use in the late 1960s, which has had a tangible impact on the river. As an adult, the Smith is so personal to me that my wife and I were married on its banks.

My family and I were well acquainted with the rivers residents from long ago; people who remembered the river as a pre-1930s grayling stream, before alteration of the indigenous fishery through introduction of brown and rainbow trout. These old timers also remembered the river from before construction of Sutherlin Reservoir (east of White Sulphur Springs) after which the river didnt go dry many summers as it once had. As for Scotty Allen, specifically mentioned in the letter, my family and I knew him very well. He was part of the community, and stopped in at the ranch during his wanderings, often spending days resting up and telling stories.

Growing up, I spent considerable time learning about our Native American culture and how to identify pictograph sites, camp sites, travois trails, and bison kill sites. I continued this through my studies at the University of Montana by contributing my local information to their archives. In addition, years later, we happily hosted archaeologists studying the pictograph sites during their field investigations at our ranch. We must do everything we can to preserve these artifacts for future generations, and Tintina Resources would be pleased to take an active role in protecting these irreplaceable treasures from vandalism or other threats posed by the high volume of visitors to the Smith River.

The authors state that Tintina should be held to the highest standard in their efforts to build a mine. I agree and Tintina welcomes this challenge. Since its discovery, our goal has been to ensure development of the copper resource with no environmental impact and maximum positive impact to our community. It has been my good fortune to have professional relationships with mining experts who share my vision of optimal environmental protection and community enhancement through mining projects. This ethic manifests itself through the company we call Tintina. This is the kind of healthy synergistic investment mentality Montana needs.

Finally, last summer, we personally invited 131 Smith River landowners from below the mouth of Sheep Creek for a private project tour. Only 14 attended, with a few others since. Most of the people signing the letter have not yet paid us a visit. We encourage them and the rest of the public to please do so. You all may find that the Black Butte project is far different than how it has been portrayed.

-- Jerry Zieg is vice president of exploration for Tintina Resources Inc., White Sulphur Springs.
So here it is, a month after Greg Gianforte lost his election bid for governor, and Evan Barrett is still denigrating him (Dec. 7 opinion). Maybe we should call him Evan kick-them-while-theyre down Barrett. This time Evan is alarmed about Greg using his own money to fund some of his campaign. I would think Evan would find that honorable. According to what I heard recently on Voices of Montana, Evan has it wrong. Greg spent $1 million of his own money while Bullock spent $5 million from out-of-state donors. Shouldnt Evan be more concerned about where Bullock got his money? But, Evan is a Democrat, and Democrats dont question their own.

Yes, Greg lost by nearly 20,000 votes. But consider this, thats the number of votes he lost by in Missoula County alone. He also lost by 8,000 votes in Bozeman and 8,000 votes in Helena. These are college towns and our Capitol, all three havens of wilderness, wildlife, and political correctness. Greg was promoting commodity development, the antithesis of everything revered in these towns. Greg was also promoting smaller government and less regulation, knowing he would probably lose Helena. Greg had the courage of his convictions, and was willing to put his money where his mouth was. What can we say about Bullock?

Another interesting statistic that came out of this election is that Bullock won the urban centers of academia and government, but Greg won the majority of mainstream Montana, the producers. Greg won 43 of our counties, whereas Bullock won only 13. Thats 77 percent vs. 23 percent. So did the election results really indicate the Intent of Montana? Maybe we should reconsider how we elect our governors. Until then, we are stuck with four more years of dismal economic fog under Governor Bullock.

-- EA Johnson, Butte
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 []
One surprise election result wasn't enough for 2016.

Dean Norton, who served as New York Farm Bureau president for eight years, lost his re-election bid last week. David Fisher, a dairy farmer from Madrid, St. Lawrence County, pulled off the upset and will now lead the state's top agriculture interest group.

Norton had established himself as a leading voice for New York's farmers during his eight-year tenure. He was critical of the push to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and efforts to allow farmworkers to unionize.

Most recently, Norton criticized Gov. Andrew Cuomo for vetoing a bill that would give tax credits to farmers for food bank donations.

Now, Norton is out and Fisher is in.

Fisher's family operates Mapleview Dairy in Madrid. He was elected to the farm bureau's board of directors in 2011. Last year, he became a member of the organization's executive committee.

This year, he entered the race for president against Norton. When the New York Farm Bureau met for its annual meeting this week, the vote went in Fisher's favor.

"It's overwhelming at this point," Fisher said in a phone interview Thursday. "My head is spinning."

Fisher decided to run after serving on the New York Farm Bureau's board of directors for the last five years. His main goal is to make the farm bureau a better organization, especially for his two sons  both of whom decided to work at the family's dairy farm.

As president, he hopes to establish better ties with farm bureau members at the grassroots level.

"Pulling all of agriculture together to make New York agriculture stronger and more viable," Fisher said. "Teamwork of all organizations working together throughout the food system, from farmer members to processing distribution and making sure that we stay well connected with our consumers."

At the start of his term as president, Fisher said he has a lot to learn. While he has a background in agriculture as a dairy farmer, he has a limited understanding of issues affecting crop farmers, namely the state's apple and cabbage growers.

To help educate himself on these issues, he's planning to visit farms throughout the state to learn more about the "diverse agriculture across New York."

"I have a lot to learn in a short time about the details and inner working sof the government, public policy department and how things work in Albany so I can help them and work together and work on policy issues," he said.

Fisher will serve a two-year term as president of the New York Farm Bureau.

Coming soon: Eye on CNY Live

The Facebook Live interviews I conducted with Cayuga County Republican Chairman Jeff Herrick and Cayuga County Democratic Chairman Ian Phillips inspired me to continue these conversations. Consider it a New Year's resolution of sorts.

Beginning in January, I will launch "Eye on CNY Live." For now, I'll host monthly or biweekly Facebook Live interviews with a central New York newsmaker. It could be a party chair. It could be an elected official. It could be a business leader. The idea is to not only show readers (or viewers) a different side of our business, but also to give them an opportunity to communicate with these figures directly.

I'm working on a guest list as we speak and I'll provide updates on the Eye on CNY Live schedule. Look for more information in future editions of this column. And if you have any guest ideas, email me at robert.harding@lee.net.
Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency has had the privilege of serving residents of Cayuga and Seneca counties for over 50 years. Looking back on 2016, many of the agencys new initiatives focus on strengthening families and supporting children in our community.

CSCAAs Kinship Care Program provides trauma-informed case management, crisis intervention and supportive services to kinship families in Cayuga County regardless of income. The program was developed to address an emergent family dynamic within the community of children in the care of relatives or close family friends. Substance abuse, mental illness, incarceration, job loss and homelessness are common underlying causes of kinship arrangements. We are grateful to the Allyn Foundation for helping to fund the first year of this program. Since launching early November, staff has worked with 10 families, including 17 children.

Our Rapid Re-Housing Program provides case management services to homeless families in Cayuga County. The program is funded by the county and all referrals come from the Department of Social Services. Homeless families lacking support networks often end up in hotels, sometimes for prolonged periods of time. Since August, the agency has assisted 44 homeless households including 49 children to transition from emergency housing in local hotels into stable housing within the community.

This past year, we were fortunate to receive one-time funding through state Department of State to operate a Back to School Initiative in both Cayuga and Seneca counties. Staff identified and provided income-eligible pre-K through college students with school readiness support including supplies, clothing, textbooks, medical expenses and more. Funds were also used to support the Head Start Backpack Program.

In partnership with the Auburn Enlarged City School District and several other providers, CSCAA participated in the recently awarded 3PK grant that will fund full-day programming for 3-year-olds within the district. The grant will allow CSCAA to convert 32 half-day slots for 3-year-olds within its Head Start program to full-day slots. Full-day programming will start in January and provide a structured multidisciplinary learning environment in which many of the physical, emotional and academic needs of children in poverty can be addressed.

Funds through Zonta Club of Auburn and Cayuga Community Fund allowed the agency to revamp its Breastfeeding Support Group. The Lactation Connection is a joint initiative of our Head Start and Healthy Families programs, and provides networking opportunities, information and supplies to new and expecting parents in Cayuga County.

In partnership with Seneca Towns Engaging People for Solutions, Seneca County and the Greater Rochester Health Foundation, we launched the South County Transportation Corp. It uses volunteers to provide residents of the towns of Covert, Lodi, Ovid and Romulus with rides to medical and dental appointments and other health-related destinations. The program helps address health care access issues among impoverished rural residents of southern Seneca County and has been reauthorized by the county after a successful pilot period.

While many programs are expanding or launching, our Employment Pathways Program is winding down at the end of December. Supported with discretionary funding through state Department of State, the program provided case management and financial assistance to unemployed and underemployed individuals in Cayuga County. In 15 months of operation, the program served 99 people and achieved incredible outcomes, including placement of 20 people into permanent employment and off cash assistance. Due to reallocation of funding, the state is no longer offering this workforce development grant.

Because grants come and go, it is important for the sustainability of our agency to develop alternative revenue streams. We continue to strengthen local partnerships and are truly grateful to the countless individuals, businesses and organizations that support our work throughout the year. Our Domestic Violence Services Department received a generous gift of $10,000 this year from the Katie M. Socci Memorial Fund; these dollars will help sustain operation of our Supervised Visitation/Safe Exchange Center serving families impacted by domestic violence. The center recently relocated to agency headquarters at 89 York St. in Auburn.

To further sustain agency operations, we are excited to announce a new partnership with Medicaid Answering Service to provide Medicaid transportation in both Cayuga and Seneca counties. This program will help address transportation barriers to health care access among people in poverty. Volunteer drivers will be recruited to transport Medicaid recipients to medical appointments and will be reimbursed the IRS mileage rate. CSCAAs Medicaid Transportation Program will roll out in the first quarter of 2017; stay tuned for more information.
LATHAM  New York Army National Guard 1st Lt. Derrick Rocker, of Auburn, has been recognized for his service in Kuwait by Gen. Joseph Lengyel, the top ranking officer in the National Guard.

Rocker is one of 250 members of the 369th Sustainment Brigade, which is currently deployed in Kuwait in support of logistics operations in the U.S. Central Command area.

Rocker, received a recognition coin from Lengyel during his Nov. 25 visit to the unit's base in Camp Arifjan. Military leaders present personal coins to troops to recognize them for outstanding performance.

Lengyel is chief of the National Guard Bureau and sits on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

LATHAM  Maj. Gen. Anthony P. German, the adjutant general for the state of New York, announces the promotion of members of the New York Army National Guard in recognition of their capability for additional responsibility and leadership.

 Tyler Jirinec, from Cayuga, and serving with the 222nd Military Police Company, is promoted to the rank of specialist.

 Maria White, from Auburn, and serving with the 222nd Military Police Company, is promoted to the rank of private.

Army National Guard promotions are based on overall performance, attitude, leadership ability and development potential.

For more information about the New York Army National Guard, visit dmna.ny.gov or 1800goguard.com.
Dec. 11, 1936

King Edward of England abdicated his ancient, mighty throne today. He will marry Wallis Warfield Simpson as man, not monarch. Albert Frederick Arthur George, the tall 40-year-old Duke of York, will rule over the 495,000,000 subjects of the greatest empire on the earth. He will reign as George VI.

Edward intends to leave the country, probably tomorrow night. There was no indication where he would meet Mrs. Simpson or when they will marry.

Dec. 11, 1961

(Pictured)

CURTAIN GOING UP  Moravia Central School Dramatic Club will present "Curtain Going Up," at 8:15 p.m. Saturday at the school auditorium. Members of the cast are Mary Ann Atwood, Thomas Coon, Jan Wessell, Chester Adessa and Linda Defendorf. David Bishop and John Wood, members of the faculty, are directing the three-act comedy.

Dec. 11, 2006

Dec. 11, 2011

One by one, seven uniform-clad veterans marched down the long aisle at The Episcopal Church of SS. Peter and John with verdant wreaths in hand. In turn, each of the seven reverently placed their circular boughs on stands displayed near the churchs lectern. With a salute, each of the seven marched back down the aisle.
IRA  Friends and members of a local church came together Sunday to spread some holiday cheer  in the form of homemade cookies  about their community.

The Ira United Methodist Church hosted its annual cookie exchange Sunday afternoon. More than 200 cookies and baked goods were divided into nearly 20 festive tins, with most delivered to senior centers, elderly parishioners and others confined to their homes, according to Trudy Erickson.

Erickson, a longtime parishioner, said the people who receive the gifts do not usually expect them. She joined 10 other women Sunday to help pack sugar cookies, snickerdoodles and other treats for this year's batch of donations.

"It's just giving back to the community and reaching out to people," Erickson said. "We like to do outreach to people in need."

This year's exchange occurred on the third Sunday of Advent, a tradition that spans the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. The volunteers gathered following a commemorative Sunday service at the Ferris Road church.

The cookie exchange has continued for the last five years, with the group typically gathering for a luncheon after Mass at the home of Teresa Blais  though most know her as "Toffie."

Blais, who has been a member of the Ira United Methodist Church for roughly a decade, said she enjoys getting her home ready for the occasion with the help of her daughters, Jodie Auyer and Tammy Cady.

"It's bringing the community together for the holiday season," Auyer said.
Of all the people Academy Award-winning actor Julia Roberts might be connected to, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would not be one youd expect....
Napans with disabilities will soon be able to take advantage of teledentistry technology in their own residential facilities, enabling them to receive much needed dental care without leaving home.

The Pacific Center for Special Care at University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry has received a $400,000 grant from the North Bay Regional Center (NBRC).

The funding will support the use of the Pacific Centers Virtual Dental Home system throughout Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties to provide diagnostic services, and prevention and early intervention care for people with complex developmental, medical and physical conditions, said a news release.

Our hope is to significantly reduce the number of people with developmental disabilities in the North Bay who need to have dental procedures performed using sedation and general anesthesia, said Dr. Paul Glassman, director of the Pacific Center for Special Care.

Emphasizing preventive procedures in residential and community settings will improve the health of the individuals served in this system, lower financial and other costs, and support people living in community settings.

According to the American Dental Association, teledentistry is similar to visiting a bricks and mortar dental office, only the dentist may be on a computer screen instead of in person.

Or the treating dentist could have emailed their patient care instructions to a specialist or dental hygienist at a community dental care event.

Dentists could also virtually supervise the oral health care of nursing home patients, residents in rural areas or others who dont have access to a dentist in their area.

A new model for delivering dental care using teledentistry technology, the Virtual Dental Home system connects a dentist in the dental office with licensed allied dental professionals working with underserved populations.

People receive preventative and simple therapeutic services in home or community settings. The system brings much-needed services to individuals who might otherwise receive no care.

Individuals served by the Regional Center have conditions such as intellectual disabilities, epilepsy, cerebral palsy and autism.

In Napa, those individuals are living in groups homes scattered throughout the county. These homes typically provide residential facilities for four to six people.

In a six-year pilot program, the Pacific Center has implemented the Virtual Dental Home system in 50 California Head Start preschools, elementary schools, community centers, residential care facilities for people with disabilities, senior centers and nursing homes.

The NBRC is one of 21 regional centers for people with developmental disabilities in California.

Regional centers are nonprofit private corporations that contract with the California Department of Developmental Services to provide or coordinate services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Law enforcement agencies from across the state could be seen in one room on Saturday as they congratulated the Napa Valley College Police Academys 100th graduating class. Many of those agencies, including the Napa County Sheriffs Office, Napa Police Department, and Solano County Sheriffs Office, were not just congratulating students, they were also congratulating their new hires.

Four of the 26 graduating cadets have already secured jobs with the Napa Police and another three have been hired on at the Napa County Sheriffs Office.

Kevin Walsh, 27, said that hes wanted to be in law enforcement for pretty much his whole life. Hes finally accomplished that dream by graduating the academy and being hired as a sheriffs deputy.

I will miss some things about this academy, but I am very happy to be done and to actually start my career, he said.

Napa native Marcus Solis, 26, said that the cadets time in the academy has really set them up for success. After serving in the Marine Corps, Solis said he is looking forward to working at the sheriffs office and serving the community. We need community focus, he said. (I want) to be a positive influence on other people.

Solis said that he thought getting into law enforcement seemed like the right fit since he had a military background.

It was hard, but like in the military, you create a bond with everybody you go through with, said Nathan Kistner, 24, who also served in the Marine Corps. Its like a sense of family.

The academy was more difficult than he thought it would be, he said. They really pushed us to our limits, he said. Its all worth it.

Kistners brother-in-law, and now fellow officer, Kevin Skillings pinned Kistners Napa Police badge on him in front of a crowd of hundreds including Kistners mother who flew out for the ceremony from Pennsylvania.

Most family members had a shorter commute  Laura Ballamys family drove in from Fairfield. Her daughter Hannah, 4, held up a sign that read My mommy is a rock star each time her mothers name was called.

We wanted her mommy to know we were proud of her, said Bellamys mother-in-law Holly Bellamy.

The graduation lasted nearly two hours as Criminal Justice Training Center Director Damien Sandoval shared something personal about each cadet.

This is probably the most diverse class ever to attend this program, he said. The class included members from immigrant communities as well as the LGBT community, he said. Ten of the graduating cadets were women  several of them mothers. A few had even served in the military.

You have endured achieved and overcome this part of your journey, Recruit Training Officer Tony Morris told the graduates. Your training development and career are in your hands now.

Although the academy training could be stressful and even painful at times, it was also fun, Morris said. Each cadet is different but they all exemplify the academys values of leadership, dedication and integrity.

Congratulations class 100.
More than five tons of merchandise valued at nearly $60,000 is on its way to military members serving all around the world this holiday season thanks to Operation: With Love From Home.

The local organization gathers volunteers and donations year-round in an effort to get as many care packages as possible out to troops who are away from home for the holidays, many for the first time.

This year at least 400 volunteers gathered at the Crosswalk Community Church gymnasium in Napa on Saturday to prepare the 1,200 packages being sent just in time for Christmas.

Becky Bergers son will be just one soldier receiving the box of socks, batteries, Ramen noodles, beef jerky and homemade Christmas cards.

His whole platoon is gonna get a care package, Berger said.

This year will be 20-year-old Cody Bergers first Christmas away from home. Although he has been on deployment in Afghanistan for more than a year, he was able to come back to Napa for a week last year.

This is the first Christmas without him, his mother said. Its very hard. When we started to decorate the tree  it was difficult.

Berger said that she has been donating to Operation: With Love From Home for years, but never helped stuff the boxes until this year.

It touches my heart more and I understand it more now  how thankful they are for all the love, prayers and packages, she said. Some people dont get anything if they dont get these.

When Operation: With Love From Home started in 2007, there were only eight volunteers and 134 care packages sent. Since then they have delivered 13,347 care packages to service members serving in combat zones and in remote regions, said Liz Alessio, the groups community outreach coordinator.

Its a volunteer operation made possible by community donations, she said.

It really honors the families who live here and the Veterans who served.
Napa Police reported the arrests of two men on suspicion of felony domestic violence in separate weekend incidents.

At 8:28 p.m. Saturday, officers were called to a reported disturbance at the home of 37-year-old Jaquan Ramell McClough in the 1500 block of Mosswood Drive, according to Sgt. Nick Dalessi. McClough and his former girlfriend had been arguing when he struck her in the face and injured her upper lip, Dalessi said.

Afterward, McClough drove out of the city, but later returned and was interviewed by officers at the Napa Police station, according to Dalessi. He was then arrested and booked into the Napa County jail on suspicion of inflicting corporal injury on a cohabitant.

Later, at 2:41 a.m. Sunday, police responded to reports of a fight at the Marriott Napa Valley Hotel & Spa at 3425 Solano Ave., Dalessi said. A night clerk directed officers to a room where a man and woman were staying, and the woman told police that her boyfriend had grabbed her, pushed her onto the bed and blocked her from leaving the room, according to Dalessi, who said the victim also had a visible injury on her arm.

Police arrested Ruben Eduardo Espinoza, 30, of San Francisco and booked him into the Napa jail on suspicion of felony domestic violence and misdemeanor false imprisonment.
The Albany businessman indicted on fraud charges after pitching the idea of manufacturing kosher cheese in Cayuga County was additionally charged Friday with trying to collect life insurance money following his son's suicide.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Friday announced the arraignment of Lawrence D. Rosenbaum, 65, and his wife, Thomasine Henderson, 65, both of Albany, on a 10-count indictment charging them with stealing over $12,000 in life insurance payments and attempting to wrongfully obtain nearly $50,000 in life insurance payments by submitting false claims with respect to the death of their son. If convicted, each defendant faces up to 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison.

To exploit the death of ones child to commit insurance fraud is truly reprehensible, Attorney General Schneiderman said in a news release. My office will continue fighting to root out insurance fraud and fully prosecute those responsible for it.

According to court documents and statements made by prosecutors, Rosenbaum is an insurance broker who owned and operated Rosenbaum Financial Services in Albany for decades. His wife, Thomasine, has been a long-time employee of the business. Their son, Andrew Rosenbaum, died after he intentionally stepped in front of a truck on I-87 in Colonie on May 8, 2016.

According to prosecutors, just two days after Andrews death, Lawrence Rosenbaum allegedly called Transamerica Insurance Corporation, where he had learned Andrew had insurance policies, and impersonated his deceased son to inquire whether being hit by a truck would be covered if it were deemed to be an accident. Upon learning that Andrew Rosenbaum had insurance policies with Transamerica that would pay as much as $85,000 under such circumstances, Rosenbaum and his wife allegedly acted together to submit false claims aimed at concealing the fact that their sons death was a suicide.

As a result of their fraud, the Attorney Generals Office alleges that the couple wrongfully obtained a partial payment on their sons life insurance policy in the amount of approximately $12,500. In addition, they are charged with attempting to wrongfully obtain additional payments totaling nearly $50,000, which were stopped by Transamerica when it uncovered potential falsities in their claims.

In the midst of the couples alleged insurance fraud scam, Rosenbaum was arrested by the Attorney Generals Office on charges that he allegedly stole nearly $1 million from investors related to companies he had created to purportedly manufacture kosher and halal cheese and bio fuels.

Rosenbaum had founded the Saratoga Cheese Company around 2001 with the intention of developing a halal and kosher cheese plant in the Capital Region using local dairy products, according to the attorney general's office.

That company was reformatted in 2006 into the Saratoga Cheese Corporation, and it was targeted for the Cayuga County Industrial Park in Aurelius.

In June 2016, Rosenbaum was arraigned on a 27-count indictment charging him with grand larceny, securities fraud, scheme to defraud and criminal tax fraud. Those charges are currently pending in Albany County Court.

The Attorney Generals Office said in a statement that the current indictment charges Rosenbaum and Henderson with one count of grand larceny, one count of attempted grand larceny, two counts of insurance fraud and other crimes.

Rosenbaum and Henderson were arraigned Friday in Albany County Court.
21:35

Russia has turned down Tokyo's latest attempt at dog diplomacy ahead of a summit between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later this month, an aide said, as the two leaders look to end a decades-old territorial row.





Japan had planned to give the Russian president -- who is known for being a canine lover -- a male Akita when he visits Japan on December 15 and 16, which will include a trip to Abe's home state of western Yamaguchi.





It was hoped the dog could accompany a female of the same breed named "Yume" -- which means "dream" in Japanese -- that Tokyo had presented to Putin four years ago as a thank you gift for Russia's help after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.





"Unfortunately, we received a reply yesterday that they will not take him as the bridegroom," Koichi Hagiuda, one of Abe's close aides, said in a blog.
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Vikram, who has been a part of the fashion industry for 25 years, is all set to step into the world of Marathi cinema with his debut film 'Hrudayantar'.

Speaking on the occasion King Khan said, "I wish the whole team good luck and I wish they make a beautiful film. The first film is very important as it's remembered the whole life. It is like a first child."

The 'Raees' actor even lauded the designer's decision of making his first film in Marathi.

"I have known Vikram for a long time now and everyone knows he is very hard-working and very sorted. I'm very happy that everyone, including Vikram, is taking Marathi cinema forward," he added.

Apart from the 51-year-old, filmmakers Abbas Mustan, and actors Arjun Kapoor and Malaika Arora Khan were also present at the event. (ANI)
The Delhi government's Mohalla Clinics have come in for praise from a leading global medical journal, which said it offered "key advantage" to beneficiaries. The Lancet, one of the oldest medical journals in the world and published in the UK, has praised the community health care initiative in Delhi. The flagship programme was launched in July 2015. "The initiative is aimed at expanding the reach and range of health services in unserved and underserved areas such as slums," the magazine said. It noted that some other states in the country were studying the model and were keen to replicate it. More than 100 Mohalla Clinics have been set up by the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi where patients, "in a unique model", avail of consultation, medicines and diagnostic tests free and under one roof. The Clinics are open to people from all economic brackets. But scaling up the programme in Delhi to open 1,000 clinics by the year-end "has been caught up in a political dispute", the magazine noted. The article referred to alleged roadblocks created by the central government, controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition party in Delhi. It said the initiative was launched as people were made to visit three different places for the same services. At times, patients had to make more than one trip to existing state-run dispensaries and hospitals "where doctors and paramedics were also overworked and absenteeism was high. "To circumvent such problems, compensation for doctors and staff in Mohalla Clinics is linked to the number of patients they see." Delhi, with a population of some 16 million, has a fragmented health system run by multiple state and central government agencies and municipal corporations as well as private providers, the Lancet said. The Delhi Government alone has 36 hospitals (10,000 beds), 185 dispensaries and dozens of other facilities, catering for an estimated 33 million outpatient visits every year. "Although Mohalla Clinics have added another layer to the existing system, they offer key advantage," the magazine said. The AAP government's plan to use parts of government school buildings had run into trouble. "Without political consensus on the benefit of the clinics, efforts to improve health coverage in Delhi could well stall." --IANS sar/mr/py ( 385 Words) 2016-12-11-14:02:19 (IANS)
Irrespective of foggy and shivery mornings, the students from colleges and higher educational institutions across the country, especially from northern hilly areas, have come forward to initiate the awareness campaign about cashless transaction among people. ''Amidst the shivering and foggy mornings, some students from Gharwal University in hilly area came out of their homes and initiated the campaign. ''Seeing the students, some senior citizens also joined in and started spreading awareness among the people about cashless transaction,'' said an official from the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Similar reports came from Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh and Amritsar, he said.In this concern, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar recently held a meeting through video conferencing with more than 670 Vice Chancellors and senior officials, dealing with higher education in states and asked them to spread awareness about digital transactions. This campaign would remain from December 12 to January 12. ''The college students are doing very well. We are getting latest update from every corner of the country. These students are going door to door to campaign about the benefits of cashless transactions,'' the official said. He said on the first day, when Mr Javadekar announced to initiate the campaign, more than 2000 students from different Universities across the country voluntarily came forward to join it. By the evening, the number of students had exceeded 10,000 and now, it was much more than that, he added.''The number of volunteers is increasing every day. In some cases, local residents have also joined the students in their campaign for cashless transactions. Every student has been asked to approach and educate at least 10 families in his neighbourhood. But, they are approaching more families,'' he added. UNI MKS RJ 1934 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-1059974.Xml
A huge rally ground has been prepared for the purpose which is adjacent to the district Head quarter of Bahraich where the Prime Minister will be visiting for the third time since 2001.

He was national general secretary of the BJP when he visited Bahraich in 2001 for the first time and later in November 2013 for the second time.

Huge public participation is expected in the rally, which the Prime Minister is scheduled to address the rally around 1 pm.

BJP state president Keshav Prasad Maurya will receive Prime Minister Modi at the Amausi airport and then accompany him from Lucknow to Bahraich.

It is the fifth Parivartan Rally of PM in Uttar Pradesh, as earlier the Prime Minister has addressed mammoth rallies at Ghazipur, Agra, Kushinagar, Moradabad.

After Bahraich, Prime Minister Modi's next rally is scheduled in Kanpur on 19th December. (ANI)
Criminals strangulated a youth to death due to land dispute at Mehjor village under Deepnagar police station area in Nalanda district.Police said here that outlaws gagged Ajit Kumar alias Ankit to death when he was fast asleep at his house late last night. The youth had a long running land dispute with some people from the village. Family relatives of the deceased had lodged an FIR at the police station concerned against the uncle of the youth Umesh Prasad and cousin Dhananjay.A massive manhunt is on to nab the culprits, police added.UNI DH RN 1335 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0311-1060641.Xml
The Chief Minister wished Mr Mukherjee a happy, fruitful and long life and prayed to the Almighty for giving strength to the President for serving the nation and its people.

The Chief Minister also sent the special message to the President along with a bouquet of flowers.UNI VV CJ 1245

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1060535.Xml
Defence and Security Cooperation, besides economic partnership are likely to be the major focus of the two-day bilateral visit of President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, the country with largest Muslim population, beginning from tomorrow. In fact, President Widodo himself gave an indication to the agenda just ahead of his visit when he yesterday said in an interview that India and Indonesia must closely cooperate in the key areas of defence, security and counter-terrorism. He stressed that both the countries must work together to combat terror which was posing a major challenge to all the countries of the world. He said his country was ever ready to cooperate with all countries to fight terrorism by exchanging information and intelligence. Mr Widodo said the issue was very much under discussion with India . The Ministry of External Affairs said here the Indonesian President's visit to Delhi will provide an opportunity to both the countries to reaffirm and strengthen their bilateral relations. ''It will also strengthen our pursuit of a closer and enduring partnership with a close maritime neighbor, a pluralistic democratic nation with which we have much in common civilisationally in the present global context and most certainly in the future. A strong multi-dimensional relationship with Indonesia is a very vital element of our Act East policy,'' the MEA Spokesperson said here while announcing the visit. Leaders of both countries had earlier mandated the setting up of an Eminent Persons Group to draw up a vision document 2025 to serve as a blueprint of their bilateral relations. After three sittings of this Group which included five members from both sides, the report is now ready, it covers five areas of strategic engagement i.e. Defence and Security Cooperation, Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Cultural and People-to-people links and Cooperation in Responding to Common Challenges. More UNI NAZ SV 1229 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1060566.Xml
The seventh edition of 'Admirals Cup' Sailing Regatta concluded on last night at a glittering Closing Ceremony at the Indian Naval Academy (INA), Ezhimala. The Singapore team won the Admiral's Cup with their consistent performance across all races. United States of America(USA) was the Runners-Up and United Kingdom(UK) team came third. Cpt Yeo Kee Chao Lionel of Singapore stood first in the individual position in the open category (both men and women including) followed by SLt Shubham Kumar of India (INA) and Midshipman Patrick Snow of United States of America at second and third positions respectively. Midshipman Molly Robertson of United States of America stood first in the individual position in women's category. Vice Admiral AR Karve, AVSM, Flag Officer CommandinginChief, Southern Naval Command was the chief guest for the closing ceremony. The winning teams will be carrying home the replicas of the Admiral's Cup and the Runners-Up trophyThe azure blue waters of the Ettikulam Bay, at Ezhimala witnessed 16 races, conducted from December 07 to 10 . 50 participants including ten women participants displayed their sailing skills in the Laser Radials whilst in perfect wind and weather conditions as they squeezed every knot out of their boats over the past four days. The event has become very popular since its inception in 2010. This five day event has seen a record participation of twenty three foreign navies including Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, United States of America and Venezuela, two Indian academy teams from INA and NDA Khadakvasla and one observing team from Indonesia. 23 teams participated in all 16 races, with each team comprising of two boats.Vice Admiral AR Karve, AVSM, presented the "Admiral's Cup", individual prizes and participatory plaques to the winners and each participant. In his closing address at the closing ceremony, he emphasized the contribution of sporting events in building bridges of friendship and as a forum for interaction between future naval leaders of the participating naval academies from around the world. He further added that the Indian Naval Academy looked forward to even larger participation by maritime nations and Naval Academies in the eighth edition of the 'Admirals Cup' Sailing Regatta. Students from local schools, colleges and NCC cadets were also invited to witness the event.During the last five days, the visiting foreign teams and accompanying officials were involved in various activities apart from competitive racing which included visit to training and sporting facilities located at Indian Naval Academy, trek to Mount Dilli and cultural package showcasing India's rich traditions, languages, cultures and art forms. A presentation by Captain Dilip Donde (Retd.) on his experiences of circumnavigating the world sailing solo and the challenges he overcame in achieving the historic feat was also shared with the visiting participants during the event. The event culminated in a grand finale with the closing ceremony held in the evening at the Ettikulum Bay. The teams will be departing INA on 11 December 2016having competed fiercely on the waters and experienced the delights of India hoping to be back for the eighth edition of the 'Admirals Cup' Sailing Regatta 2017, a INA release said today.UNI AK CJ GC1325 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1060606.Xml
Police seized huge consignment of liquor being smuggled in a car from Haryana near Madudabad railway gate under Mohiuddingar police station area in the district. Police said here today that bootleggers smuggling about 200 bottles of foreign liquor neatly stacked in two cartons made good their escape after abandoning the car on the spot late last night.The liquor bottles bore the labels of 'Made in Haryana', sources added. A massive manhunt is on to nab liquor peddlers.UNI XC DH RN 1411 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0311-1060682.Xml
Lackadaisical attitude of Madhya Pradesh police towards serving non-bailable arrest warrants (NBWs) issued by the High Court is evident through the fact that less than 25 per cent of such warrants were actually served in the course of past one year. The High Court, with its main bench in Jabalpur and its benches in Indore and Gwalior, had served a total of 1,246 NBWs until November 24. Of them, only 301 warrants could be served. So far, dates of hearing of 437 warrants have passed, while hearing is pending in 117 other cases. Meanwhile, 391 warrants are pending with the Police Department for action. Significantly, the High Court has developed a special software in which all non-bailable warrants are uploaded and provided passwords to all Superintendents of Police to enable them view against whom NBWs have been issued and its status.UNI XC-PS CJ SV 1408 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-1060626.Xml
A man was killed and three other members of his family were injured after being attacked by unidentified men in Madhya Pradesh's Seoni district headquarters last night, police said. "Shailendra Patel (26) died on the spot. Pramila Thakre, Sarojini Bai and Dali Thakre were injured and admitted to the District Hospital from where they were referred to Nagpur for treatment," said Superintendent of Police AK Pandey.UNI XC-PS CJ SV 1405 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-1060637.Xml
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Parivartan Rally at Bahraich has been cancelled due to bad weather. His chopper could not land near the rally spot. Official sources here said that the IAF chopper took off on schedule from Lucknow but could not land on Bahraich's Nanpara area near the Parivartan Rally spot due to low visibility. A senior Government official here said that the PM's chopper has returned back to Lucknow. Now PM will address the rally by mobile phone. MORE UNI MB SNU 1516 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0431-1060775.Xml
Bharatiya Janata Party National Secretary H Raja today said that the issue of appointing General Secretary by AIADMK was their internal matter. Talking to the newspersons here today, Raja, however, said that it would not be proper if two power centres existed. He said the two power centres in the last UPA Government, led by Dr Manmohan Singh, had proved to be anti-progress. Mr Raja refused to comment on the letter written by actress Gouwthami to Prime Minister pertaining to the death of Jayalalitha. On the Income Tax raids at several places in the country, he said that the culprits would be punished by the Government.UNI PAB SNU 1544 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0431-1060789.Xml
A man was fired at and injured by suspected militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district on Sunday, the state police said. The 27-year-old Muhammad Iqbal Wani, a driver by profession, was shot at and injured in Hajin area of Bandipora during the night, said a police official. The injured driver was taken to hospital where doctors said he is stable and out of danger. --IANS sq/vd/vt ( 76 Words) 2016-12-11-16:18:12 (IANS)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that the country would win the fight against corruption in the end and that the guilty would not go unpunished. Addressing the Parivartan Rally in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, on his mobile phone from Lucknow as his chopper could not reach there due to bad weather, the Prime Minister said those opposing his demonetisation move were promoting corruption only. Mr Modi said that the BJP was committed to end Goonda Raj in Uttar Pradesh. "For Uttar Pradesh to progress, poverty and 'Goonda Raj' need to be removed. You must have seen that my Government is chasing those people who have stashed black money. My Government is committed to empower the poor," he said to the people his 10-minute speech. "The Congress, SP and BSP are speaking in the same tone against the demonetisation move even as we are fighting against corruption," he said. PM said, "I want discussion on denonetisation in Parliament but Opposition is running away. Country will win in the fight against corruption." He said the demonetisation drive will not cause any problem to the honest but the corrupt are not going to be spared. "There is time to mend yourself as law is not going to spare you," PM warned the corrupt. "The Government is of the poor and for the poor and those who had looted the poor would not go unpunished," he stated. Modi made it clear that BJP would fulfill the dreams of the people against corruption and not allow anyone to promote corruption. "Greetings to you all who have reached the rally spot braving the chilly weather. Unfortunately my chopper could not land there and I could not meet you all ," he said. Telling the people that he was using his mobile phone to address them, PM asked that people to use their mobile phones as a bank to meet their cash requirements to end corruption. During the 'mobile speech' of the PM all the BJP leaders on the dais kept standing. Earlier, UP BJP President Keshav Prasad Maurya had announced the cancellation of the PM's programme due to bad weather but assured that Mr Modi would very soon visit the place. Later, Mr Modi departed for New Delhi on his special aircraft.UNI MB SNU 1654 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0431-1060897.Xml
A local court today sent Ruia Group Chairman and owner of Jessop and Company Ltd Pawan Kumar Ruia to 14-day CID custody. Pawan Ruia was produced in Barrackpore court today. He has been sent to custody for further interrogation. The CID arrested Ruia in New Delhi yesterday for not cooperating with the probe agency in its ongoing investigation into Jessop factory fire and theft, the officials said. Mr Ruia has been accused of fraud and cheating after as his sick engineering firm Jessop and Co in Dum Dum lost valuable machineries, several fire incidents and failed to supply orders of the Indian Railways. Besides he did not cooperate with the CID's investigation as he allegedly ignored three summons between October-November 2016. The CID after his arrest got a transit remand from a New Delhi court and brought him here last last night and lodged him into Bhawani Bhawan, the headquarters of West Bengal police. Ruia was brought to the city under heavy police escort around 2230 hours and languishing workers of the Jessop factory shouted slogan against the industrialist demanding exemplary punishment. Official sources said around mid-night last night the CID took him to the government hospital SSKM for routine check-up. Mr Ruia was detained from his New Delhi residence Sundarbans following a complaint of theft filed by the Indian Railways. He was celebrating his birth day yesterday and had tried to flee from a balcony before the CID broke open door, which was locked from outside. Mr Ruia has been accused of various sections 420, 406, 409 of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to cheating, dishonestly inducing delivery of property and criminal breach of trust with regard to missing railway property in the Jessop factory. Meanwhile, the district administration has tightened the security apprehending demonstration by the Jessop company workers, who have not been paid their salary for months. Earlier, Indian Railways lodged an FIR against Pawan Ruia in the same case and CID had called him several times for interrogation. Ruia did not appear before the probe agency.UNI BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-1061045.Xml
With Cyclone 'Vardah' all set to make a landfall near Chennai tomorrow, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today reviewed the precautionary measures put in place to handle thesituation in coastal districts like Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts. Mr Panneerselvam held discussions with senior officials of the Stategovernment including Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana Rao and theHome Secretary at the State Secretariat here. Officials briefed the Chief Minister about the precautionary measuresput in place and said the district administrations were put on high alert as rains up to 20 cms were expected at the time of cyclone crossing thecoast. Meanwhile official sources said, the Collectors of three district were put on high alert and were in a state of preparedness. All precautionary measures were taken and necessary instructionswere issued to them to evacuate people living in low lying areas and shift them to relief camps. Meanwhile, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams from Arakkonam were deputed to the three districts and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams were also stationed. Multi-purpose reaction teams were also kept in a state of readiness. Official sources said four NDRF Teams were stationed in Chennai to undertake relief and rescue works, while two teams were despatched to Tiruvallur and one team to Kancheepuram. Monitoring officers were inspecting the arrangements made in the districts, where relief centres were opened with adequate stock of food and drinking water. The state government also opened helpline numbers to enable the public to alert the officials and control rooms were opened and they would function round the clock. In Chennai, which was hit by the worst ever deluge in Decemberlast year, the Corporation authorities have put in place necessaryarrangements. A total of 176 relief centres were opened, and 108 boats werekept ready to be deployed in relief and rescue operations. With the met office predicting gusty winds up to 100 kmph and tree branches were expected to fall, tree cutting machines were also kept in readiness.UNI GV 1740 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1061047.Xml
Hundreds of members of the LGBT community participated in the Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk 2016, demanding revocation of Section 377, implementation of the NALSA judgement and withdrawal of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016. The participants, accompanied by their family members and friends, flaunted vivid costumes. While many dressed up as iconic comic book characters such as Batman and Superman, many turned up in rainbow-coloured costumes to mark this year's theme: Law and Rights. Listing out their demands through slogans and songs, the participants said the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016, should be withdrawn and a new bill incorporating the community's inputs should be introduced. "The bill has not included any of the feedback from the community and is in complete violation of a Supreme Court order. It also does not talk of any reservation for transgender people in education and jobs, or spell out what constitutes discrimination and violence against transgender people," the participants said. Winding their way through Esplanade in central Kolkata to Park Circus Maidan towards the city's south, with many aboard a slew of mini-trucks adorned in rainbow hued balloons, they shouted: "It is my body and my wish... be gone demons." They also asked for honouring the NALSA verdict and a "read down" of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to exclude consensual same-sex activity from its purview. Extending their support to other minorities, one of their other demands was institution of a judicial probe into Tara's (a transwoman) death. In November 2016, the burnt body of Tara was found outside a police station in Chennai. --IANS sgh/lok/dg ( 282 Words) 2016-12-11-19:08:13 (IANS)
"Our survey says the fight is between the Congress and the AAP. The (ruling) SAD-BJP alliance is nowhere. The AAP will be number 2 (in the elections)," Amarinder Singh said.

"AAP's graph in Punjab is declining every day. They have absolutely no standing in the state and have brought 50,000 people from states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for campaigning," he added.

Welcoming AAP leaders -- C.M. Lakhanpal, P.K. Sharma, Iqbal Pannu and Barpur Singh -- who joined the Congress, Amarinder Singh accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of fooling the people and called him a "liar".

He dismissed as humbug Kejriwal's charges of a nexus between the Congress and the Akalis.

"Kejriwal and his team are spreading misinformation, and circulating pictures to mislead the people. I met Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal only once, to offer condolences on his wife's death," the Congress leader said.

About Kejriwal's promise to appoint a Dalit as Deputy Chief Minister if his party came to power in Punjab, Amarinder Singh dismissed it as "fraudulent".

"Kejriwal has no Sikh or Dalit minister in Delhi and is merely trying to befool the people of Punjab through such misleading statements," he said.

--IANS sid/tsb/vt

( 244 Words)

2016-12-11-19:10:13 (IANS)
Stating that the state media was fast in spreading the newsfaster in line with other media, he said while speaking at theinaugural speech of Golden Jubilee Celebration of All India RadioKalaburagi centre here that AIR was a good example as a medium ofcommunication had played a significant role, providing tirelessservice to millions of Indians.

The social media provided news during natural disasters, weatherforecasting and Agriculture concern news, even Balance politicalnews, and all media houses following the reach ethics and culturalof All India Radio, he said.

Addressing a Inaugural speech in the Golden Jubilee Celebrationof All India Radio Kalaburagi centre here today Mr Naidu said eventoday also the AIR news was relevant and largely believable media. He said AIR played a larger global role commensurate with India'sgrowing international stature and active participation in differentinternational forums like BRICS and other media .

Mr Naidu felt that News channels should not mix news with views

He said that the media should not mix news and views, "but mayneed practice self regulation for the sake of national interest andensure credibility.

Mr Naidu said social media "defies traditional modes ofregulation and censorship."

Opposition party leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge andBidar Member of Parliament Bhagwanth Khuba and others were alsopresent on the occasion.UNI SD RS RSS1835

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A joint team of Central Reserve Police Force and district police today arrested a dreaded Maoist and seized huge quantity of explosives and other incriminating objects from Jharo jungle under Charka police station area in this naxal dominated district. Police Superintendent (Operation) D N Pandey said here the extremist of outlawed CPI (Maoist) Puran Murmu was nabbed from his hideout near Mudwala in Jharo jungle following a tip off. He said three detonators, three gelatin sticks, 20 meter long electricity wire, naxal literature, two cylinders and other incriminating objects were recovered from his possession. The nabbed outlaw is an active member of dreaded Siddhu Koda squad and is involved in several naxal activities, Mr Pandey added. UNI XC DH BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-1061392.Xml
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today told Pakistan in stern terms that terrorism is a weapon of cowards. ''Pakistan is spreading terrorism in Kashmir and frequently breaches truce along the Line of Control(LoC) and International Border,'' Mr Singh said, while addressing the gathering during the 'Shahidi Diwas' programme in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. The Union Home Minister said, ''Our neighbour wants to separate Kashmir from India by using terror tactics but it will never happen and they should understand that terrorism is not the weapon of braves, but of cowards.'' He asked Pakistan to mend its ways. 'Shahidi Diwas' is organised every year at Shahidi Chowk in Kathua to pay the homage to the 110 martyrs of district Kathua who laid down their lives to safeguard the boundaries of the nation. The Home Minister also reviewed the security situation of the state, particularly along the Line of Control and International Border during his brief visit to Kathua. Referring to the surgical strikes by the Indian Army post Uri terror attack, he said, ''I want to assure that this government will never let India to bow its head before anyone and will always give befitting reply to Pakistan's attack.'' ''India would give a befitting reply to the unprovoked ceasefire violations,'' he added and said Pakistan was already been divided into two pieces (Bangladesh) and if Pakistan will not stop its terror related activities, it will be split into ten parts. ''The then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also extended hand of friendship towards Pakistan when Kargil took place but they chose to violate ceasefire. Our forces will not fire first, but they will not keep quite and respond effectively when ever be provoked,'' he added. On youth joining IS, he said the terrorist organisation never got foothold in India because India doesn't support terrorism. Union Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh also accompanied the Home Minister.UNI VBH SHS RP 2014 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1061367.Xml
While inaugurating the delegates meeting of All India Peace and Solidarity Organization (AIPSO), a Kerala chapter of World Peace Council (WPC) here, CPI National secretary D Raja said, "The Sangh Parivar organizations had blocked the elected Chief minister's right."

He alleged that BJP and Sang Parivar organizations cannot respect the 'Indian Democracy' and this should be treat as a threat to the nation in coming days.

AIPSO State president member Binoy VIswom presided over the function and National General secretary Nilotpal Basu deliver the key note address.

Around 250 selected delegates from all districts would attend the meeting. The National Conference of AIPSO will be hold at Thiruvanthapuram from January 19 to 21.UNI AK SHS RJ RAI2226

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Former Aam Adami Party (AAP) leader Dr Prithvi Amonkar today joined Goa Forward along with his supporters in the city here today. Dr Amonkar was fielded by AAP from Shiolim constituency but later his candidature was withdrawn. Addressing a press conference in the office of Goa Forward Party in the city, Dr Amonkar claimed that he was removed as AAP candidate without giving his reason. ''Volunteers had selected me party candidate for the assembly elections but without giving any reason removed,'' he said.Dr Amonkar said it was only Goa Forward Party which could protect interests of the people of the state and not those who had come from outside.Independent MLA from Fatorda and mentor of Goa Forward Party Vijay Sardessai, who was present in the press conference along with party president Prabhakar Timble, said,'' AAP has been asking people to join the revolution. What is the revolution. I think there is need to nail the lies of the AAP. The party, for all accounts, is a dictatorial party run by Delhi people not by Goans. ... Choice of candidates of AAP is suspicious. It appears that somebody is choosing the candidates or tickets are sold. Or it has become a platform for Congress' family raj. AAP has become a platform to accommodate family raj of Congress.'' Dr Amonkar pledged unconditional support to Goa Forward Siolim Candidate Vinod Palyekar. UNI AKM SM SDR RJ RAI2219 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0171-1061284.Xml
Foster Campbell, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in a runoff election in Louisiana, conceded the race in a speech to his supporters in Baton Rouge, with his Republican opponent leading.Campbell said he called Republican John Neely Kennedy to congratulate him. Kennedy is poised to give the Republicans a 52-seat majority in the US Senate.REUTERS CJ PM0911 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1060430.Xml
The central question facing Exxon Mobile Corp. chief executive Rex Tillerson if he becomes US secretary of state is whether a life-long oil man with close ties to Russia can pivot from advancing corporate interests to serving the national interest.Tillerson, 64, got his start as a production engineer at Exxon in 1975 and has worked there ever since, running business units in Yemen, Thailand and Russia before being named chief executive in 2006. He was expected to retire next year.Critics suggested that if President-elect Donald Trump were to choose Tillerson - as a source familiar with the situation said he was expected to do - it would continue a trend of selecting some aides who may favor a softer line toward Moscow.Among these is Trump's pick for national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who raised eyebrows when he sat beside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow banquet last year and who has argued that the United States and Russia should collaborate to end Syria's civil war and to defeat Islamic State militants.Some former officials said it was an open question whether Tillerson could make the transition from running Exxon, a vast company that explores for oil and gas on six continents, to the even greater complexity of being secretary of state."Negotiating a real estate deal or an oil contract with Saudi Arabia is not the same thing," said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department Middle East specialist now at the Wilson Center think-tank in Washington."It's not a complicated summit where you are trying to reconcile historical woundings, religious identities, sectarian tensions.""I'm not arguing that he can't make this conversion. I just don't think we know."'A STRAIGHT ARROW'?Many U.S. officials are worried by Russia's increasingly aggressive behavior. It annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war and is accused of interfering in U.S. domestic politics.U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, and not just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, a senior U.S. official said.In his role at Exxon Tillerson maintained close ties with Putin and opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea.Daniel Yergin, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power," said Russia represented a relatively small portion of Exxon's overall operations and played down its significance."It was a business relationship," Yergin said."The whole Russian thing is so much front and center now so it's inevitable that those questions be asked but, obviously, if you are a major oil company, you want to go to where your resources (are). You have to replace your reserves," he added."If he becomes secretary of state, the interests he will pursue will be U.S. interests. This is an Eagle Scout kind of guy. He was president of the Boy Scouts," he said. "He is a straight arrow. If that's his mission, that's what he'll do."In an interview to be aired on "Fox News Sunday," Trump praised Tillerson as "much more than a business executive.""He's a world class player," Trump said. "To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well."However, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, a senior Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would weigh Tillerson's nomination, was unsparing in his criticism of the possible appointment."Reports that Rex Tillerson could be nominated to be our nation's top diplomat (are) alarming and absurd," he said. "With Rex Tillerson as our secretary of state the Trump administration would be guaranteeing Russia has a willing accomplice in the president's cabinet guiding our nation's foreign policy."CLIMATE CHANGEShould Tillerson be nominated, climate change could be another controversial issue.Exxon is under investigation by the New York Attorney General's Office for allegedly misleading investors, regulators and the public on what it knew about global warming.However, if chosen, Tillerson would be one of the few people selected for major roles in the Trump administration to believe that human activity causes climate change.After Trump's election, Exxon came out in support of the Paris Climate Agreement. It has also advocated for a carbon tax and internally factors in a theoretical price on carbon as it weights manufacturing and exploration costs of projects.Some environmental groups are alarmed at the prospect of Exxon's CEO as the country's top diplomat."Donald Trump appears intent to undo a century of environmental and social progress and return America to the age of robber barons and corporate trusts," said Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law."Who better to turn to than Exxon, the granddaddy of them all?" REUTERS CJ PM1032 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1060457.Xml
Italian President Sergio Mattarella summoned Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni to the presidential palace today in a strong indication that the head of state has chosen him to try to form a new government.Caretaker Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned last week after losing a referendum on constitutional reform on which he has staked his job.If, as expected, Gentiloni is formally given the mandate, he will begin consultations with political forces to form the next government.Reuters CJ GC1421 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1060660.Xml
Syrian pro-government forces walks past rubble in old Aleppo's Jdeideh neighbourhood on December 9, 2016. (AFP/Xinhua)

ALEPPO, Syria, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- "We were living in hell, and nothing could be worse than our lives back under the rebel control," a fleeing resident of rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo city said Friday, after arriving in government-controlled areas.

Omar Qulleh, a father of four, had lived under the rebel control for four years. He said his life had gotten worse in the last six months, when the rebel-held areas were put under a siege by the Syrian army.

He said the situation before the siege was bad, and it got worse.

"We have endured unimaginable injustice and starvation but we were patients," he told Xinhua, after arriving at a temporary displacement center in the town of Jibreen, south of Aleppo.

Qulleh is one of thousands of people who have fled eastern Aleppo over the past two weeks, when the army mounted a major offensive to drive out the rebels from the city.

The army forces backed by Shiite fighters and Russian airstrikes have become in control of over 85 percent of eastern Aleppo, after placing a months-old siege on that part of the city.

The military offensive came after the rebels refused several calls to leave the city peacefully.

HUNGER FOR BREAD

Qulleh spoke of the tough situation in eastern Aleppo ahead of his departure.

Before the siege, every thing was so expensive in eastern Aleppo, as the rebels would bring in the goods from the Castello road in the northern countryside of Aleppo, mainly from Turkey.

But following the Syrian army's capture of Castello, eastern Aleppo has gone under siege.

The 50-year-old man said the rebels started depriving people from basic food items, like bread, while keeping it for themselves.

"The rebels would give us a few loafs of bread every two days. My little son used to wake up everyday crying of hunger. He would tell me 'I want bread, I am hungry.'"

His wife, Amira, was sitting next to him on a thin mat just outside a dorm-like venue where hundreds of families sleep during the night.

Pale and sick, the women stuttered while remembering how their lives were just two days ago.

Being a mother of four, two of whom are sick, Amira bitterly recalled the helplessness and the agony she had lived for months while her children were crying of hunger and paling into sickness due to the lack of food and medicine.

"Only God knows how we managed to survive with all the sickness, and weariness as well as lack of everything. The rebels used to torture us. They would refuse to give us bread, even though they have had it in their storages."

FEAR TACTICS

When the rebels took over eastern Aleppo in 2012, few had left to government-controlled areas, mainly those who have had enough money to live in dignity, but for poor people like Qulleh, it wasn't the case, as him staying at his home was the only dignified option.

But as the situation got worse and the siege tightened on their areas, he said he wanted to leave but the rebels wouldn't let them, particularly after the government made several appeals for allowing the civilians out of eastern Aleppo.

"They would scare us from fleeing to the government side, they would tell us that the Syrian soldiers would slaughter us and we were actually scared of that because we have been living under the rebel control for four years and we have had no idea how the government would deal with us."

His wife also spoke of the scaring tactics the rebels would follow to keep the civilians from leaving eastern Aleppo.

"When we tell them we wanted to leave, they would accuse us of wanting to go and living under the rule of a tyrant... they said the army will kill you."

But she and her husband said such fears have faded away when the rebels retreated from their neighborhood of Salihin, that's when they decided to leave, at least for the time being.

LIFE IN SHELTERS

All of those who have fled eastern Aleppo were brought to temporary shelters in the countryside of Aleppo.

The one in Jibreen, which was previously a large government facility for storing cotton, is the main one.

Several civil society charities set up booths inside the camp to help those who are in need for medical help.

The Russians also established a field hospital in that camp, offering treatment for the evacuees.

In the middle of a big yard inside the camp, there is a military tank playing music hailing President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian army.

All of the civilians who fled eastern Aleppo have been brought into the camp by government busses from crossings between western and eastern Aleppo.

The authorities at the camp gave them Syrian flag-colored hats, as the rebels uses another flag.

The situation in the camp is miserable, but for those coming from the "other world," it was like heaven.

"Here, we have been received properly and given food and mattress, and we are so happy now. It turns out the rebels were lying and the army forces didn't slaughter us after all," Amira said.

Officials in the camp said the civilians will return to their homes after the areas that had been under the rebel control are completely clean of explosives and after the infrastructure is slightly repaired.

Alaa Addien Qasab, an official with the Aleppo Relief Committee, told Xinhua at the Jibreen shelter that nearly 5,000 civilians arrived to the shelter in batches on Friday.

He said that nearly 15,000 people have arrived in the shelter since last week, adding that the civilians who are arriving are being later transported into more adequate shelters or to their relative in the government-controlled areas in the western part of Aleppo.

Qasab said that the Syrian government treats all of the Aleppo people equally whether they are from western or eastern Aleppo, adding that government is working to secure the needs of the civilians.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Monkeys have the vocal tracts to produce human speech sounds, but what they lack is a speech-ready brain, a new study has found.

The study, conducted by researchers from the U.S. and Europe and published this week in the U.S. journal Science Advances, used X-ray video to see within the mouth and throat of macaque monkeys induced to vocalize, eat food, or make facial expressions.

The scientists then used these data to build a computer model of a monkey vocal tract, allowing them to answer the question "what would monkey speech sound like, if a human brain were in control?"

The results showed that monkeys could easily produce many different sounds, enough to produce thousands of distinct words.

For example, monkeys could produce comprehensible vowel sounds -- and even full sentences -- with their vocal tracts if they had the neural ability to speak.

The researchers noted, however, that while monkeys would be understandable to the human ear, they would not sound precisely like humans.

Therefore, the researchers concluded that previous research -- largely based on plaster casts made from the vocal tracts of a monkey cadaver -- underestimates primate vocal abilities and that evolution of human speech capabilities required neural changes rather than an adaptation of vocal anatomy.

"Now nobody can say that it's something about the vocal anatomy that keeps monkeys from being able to speak -- it has to be something in the brain," said Asif Ghazanfar, a professor of psychology at the Princeton University and one of the study leaders.

"Even if this finding only applies to macaque monkeys, it would still debunk the idea that it's the anatomy that limits speech in nonhumans."

Thore Jon Bergman, an assistant professor of psychology and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan, who is familiar with the research but was not involved in it, said that the research could help narrow down the origin of human speech.

"It looks like mainly neuro-cognitive -- as opposed to anatomical -- differences contribute to the broader range of sounds we produce relative to other primates," Bergman said in a statement released by the Princeton University.

"An important part of understanding human uniqueness is to know what our relatives do," he said. "This study shows that the anatomical capability to make a variety of sounds, as we do with speech, was present long ago. This is useful for understanding the starting point for the evolution of language."
A boy is on his way to fetch water in Mosul, northern Iraq, on Dec. 10, 2016. Iraqi security forces took control of four more districts in the city of Mosul on Saturday, as part of their slow and fierce fighting to drive out Islamic State (IS) militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq, the Iraqi army said. The elite of the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) started their push into the four districts early on Saturday, bringing the total number of districts liberated from IS militants in eastern Mosul to 31, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) statement said. (Xinhua/Yaser Jawad)

MOSUL, Iraq, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces took control of four more districts in the city of Mosul on Saturday, as part of their slow and fierce fighting to drive out Islamic State (IS) militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq, the Iraqi army said.

The commandos of the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) freed four districts of al-Qadsiyah al-Uola, al-Murour, al-Shekhakyah and al-Mishraq and raised the Iraqi flag on its buildings, a statement by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said.

The elite CTS started their push into the four districts early on Friday, bringing the total number of districts liberated from IS militants in eastern Mosul to 31, the JOC statement said.

The troops are facing grueling fighting inside Mosul from the extremist militants, who are carrying out brutal counter attacks in small groups moving quickly throughout the districts, and using suicide car bombs, as well as mortars and snipers, in addition to using the population of the city as human shields.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a recent report that the military operations in Mosul have pushed some 82,000 civilians to flee their homes in the city and its adjacent districts and the number went up every day.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Oct. 17 announced a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

Since then, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul and made progress on other routes around the city.

Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under the IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani (from R to L) attend a joint press conference after talks on the situation in Syrian city of Aleppo, in Paris, capital of France, on Dec. 10, 2016. France on Saturday convened a new round of talks on the situation in Syrian city of Aleppo, during which participants stressed the vital necessity to stop bombing and facilitate humanitarian aid before a genuine political transition. (Xinhua/Chen Yichen)

PARIS, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- France on Saturday convened a new round of talks on the situation in Syrian city of Aleppo, during which participants stressed the vital necessity to stop bombing and facilitate humanitarian aid before a genuine political transition.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and his counterparts of the U.S., Germany, Britain, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, discussed steps to be taken to end the civilian war.

However, the Paris meeting ended without a breakthrough.

"We need to tie down the conditions for a genuine political transition, and negotiations must resume on a clear basis within the framework of the UN resolution 2254," Ayrault said.

At a joint press conference, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to "to show a little grace" to save lives and to "do their utmost to bring it to a close".

Kerry will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov later in the day in Geneva to try to reach a ceasefire deal to allow civilians and fighters to leave to safer areas.

As fighting escalated in rebel-held districts of Aleppo and left hundreds of victims, Syrian opposition backers who met in Paris urged an immediate end of bombing and to facilitate access to humanitarian aid.

Since 2012, Aleppo, Syria's second largest city and commercial hub, has been torn in two parts with western area remaining under Syrian government control and eastern districts held by rebels.

In September, Syrian military backed by Russian air force, intensified its airstrikes on rebel positions in Aleppo and captured main districts, an offensive seen as a turning point in the six-year civil war.
Whether twirling scarves or balancing true-life scimitars on their heads, the visual presentation Al Rakasaat Turkish-Egyptian Dance Group brings to events around town stuns audiences.

And for 13 years, the Raqstars have added another layer of authenticity to Canyon Movement Companys holiday staple, The Nutcracker Suite, with the added twist of dancing in Modern Bare Feet.

The Nutcracker Suite in Modern Bare Feet takes place at Coconino High School Dec. 16 and 17 at 7:30 p.m. with a Saturday matinee at 11 a.m. Tickets are $12-$16 and are available at the door. For more, visit CanyonMovementCompany.org.

There are no belly dancers in The Nutcracker, noted Al Rakasaat members Nicky Sanders and Meredith Cook. The group is widely lauded, however, for its interpretations of Turkish-Egyptian dance. They lend their talents to the Arabian Dance segment of the show with updated choreography, props and costumes that keep the crowd and dancers alike engaged.

For CMC founder and Nutcracker producer Gina Darlington, when she sees point shoes in the ballet version, she said she thinks its a lovely touch, but its not Arabian.

Knowing Al Rakasaat director Karen Custer Thurston, Darlington called on the group to add an authentic flare to the Arabian Dance, which is traditionally coupled with veils and, at times, fans. For CMC audiences, the prop that will be at the center of the authentic act is always a surprise.

Sanders has danced in every single showing of The Nutcracker since its inception. She acknowledged the most recognizable piece of music from Tchaikovskys suite accompanies the Russian Dance  a piece Al Rakasaat members would lament following with their softer, more graceful number if that years program saw the two in sequence.

However, while the Arabian Dance is lesser known, the skill and grace Al Rakasaat members have on stage adds a level of intricacy missing from many similar productions. In keeping with the freshness of Modern Bare Feet, they changed up their own music to something with a slightly sharper edge  to match their swords. The fusion piece gives the dancers a percussive backbone along with choreographers Cook and Cintamani Ellsworth something to work with.

For years, the Al Rakasaat dancers choreographed with props, but it was when they drew their swords  their very real scimitars  when audiences perked up at the feat. For a time, they combined swords and Isis wings, said Cook who has danced in the show since the beginning, though first with Canyon Movement Company and later with Al Rakasaat.

I wasnt a lead then, but I was exhausted, Cook shared of her start with CMC. I was sick most of December, and my schedule went up to 10 hours a week of dancing, which to me sounds like a lot. But for Velocity, for the leads, thats nothing.

In this 13th year, they are down to only wings. While one prop is more manageable, they said, the exquisitely pleated fabric adds depth to their movements.

What the dancers have found is a groove established with CMCs long leash of creativity. Theyve come to follow the formula that their moves and props have a two-year shelf life. While this is the third year with wings, it is the first in some time with only a single prop that makes use of movement and color.

One reason, said Cook and Sanders, for dropping the swords this year was the colorful effect the Isis wings had on last years audience  not to mention real swords are extremely heavy and hinder the choreography, compounding the physical demands of The Nutcracker.

Beyond the physicality of learning so many parts, learning multiple roles becomes a dizzying display of mental aerobics. Sanders added that though she is experienced, people ask her how she remembers so many dances not only for The Nutcracker, but for Al Rakasaats other performances.

I dont know, she replied with a laugh. I hear the music, and my body goes into those motions.

Darlington added the young dancers retain every move while some cast members have a tougher time learning the choreography. Yet, she noted, rehearsals are always full of those willing to learn and throw their all into The Nutcracker  even parents.

I think this is another example of this inclusion, Darlington said of casting parents and dancers from other companies in the area. This show also includes collaboration with NAU Theater and Flagstaff Aerial Arts, augmenting the dance community as a whole.

Sanders, too, added, By being a part of The Nutcracker, we have become a more cohesive part of the dance community, which is really important to us.
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The movement of finger swipes may soon be able to charge our cellphones.

Researchers at Michigan State University has created a new way to harvest energy from human motion, using a flexible, thin and non-toxic device that actually can be folded to create more power.

The research, funded by the National Science Foundation, suggests "we're on the path toward wearable devices powered by human motion," said Nelson Sepulveda, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and lead investigator of the project.

The completed device is called a biocompatible ferroelectret nanogenerator, or FENG, in the journal Nano Energy.

Demonstration videos show that with the low-cost device, the scientists successfully operated an LCD touch screen, a bank of 20 LED lights and a flexible keyboard, all with a simple touching or pressing motion and without the aid of a battery.

The device can be adapted to many applications and sizes. The nanogenerator used to power the LED lights was palm-sized, while the device used to power the touch screen was as small as a finger.

According to the study, the film-like substrate consists of a silicone wafer, which is fabricated with several layers, or thin sheets, of environmentally friendly substances including silver, polyimide and polypropylene ferroelectret. The layers are infused with ions.

When the device is compressed by human motion, or mechanical energy, electrical energy is created. Impressively, the device also becomes more powerful when folded.

"What I foresee, relatively soon, is the capability of not having to charge your cell phone for an entire week, for example, because that energy will be produced by your movement," said Sepulveda in a statement.

Researchers believe FENG is "a promising and alternative method in the field of mechanical-energy harvesting," which is aided by its advantages, such as light weight, flexible, biocompatible, scalable, low-cost and robust.
MEXICO CITY, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- One of Mexico City's most venerable museums on Friday invited the public to a game of Jianzi, a traditional Chinese national sport known in English as Chinese hacky sack.

"Come this weekend," the San Ildefonso Museum said to its Twitter followers. "We challenge you to participate in the oriental game Jianzi, every Saturday at 1 p.m."

Kicking a colorful and feathered shuttlecock into the air without using your hands is a popular pastime in China, but in Mexico it's a rare sight, or at least used to be one before the 2016 Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange.

Over the past year, Latin Americans have had the chance to appreciate Chinese art, music, dance, operas and even recreational games like Jianzi.

The San Ildefonso, which is hosting one of the year's landmark exhibitions, "Masterpieces from the National Art Museum of China," is also offering a series of talks on various aspects of the Chinese culture.

In October, Mexican archaeologists uncovered thousands of fragments of a 400-year-old shipment of Chinese "export-quality porcelain" long buried in the Pacific coast port city of Acapulco, revealing the rich history of ties between China and Latin America.

The Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange introduced a new and modern China to younger Latin American audience.

"As you wander through the first rooms, you realize that Chinese contemporary art is not really how you had pictured it," Mexico's monthly lifestyle magazine Gatopardo wrote of "Masterpieces."

Wu Weishan, sculptor and director of the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), said the exhibits showcased "the most representative works by the best artists of contemporary China."

Like artists around the world, they are experimenting with new art forms as well as using traditional techniques to create artwork that is unexpected and multilayered.

"China's fine arts draw experience from western arts in the search for transformation, but they also inherit tradition," said Wu.

"What Chinese and Mexican cultures have in common is that both are pursuing innovation while trying to preserve tradition. That practice creates a virtuous artistic environment," added Wu.

The exhibition, which runs through Feb. 19, also features the highlights of NAMOC's collection, which includes such traditional folk arts as intricate shadow puppets and paper cutouts.

"Masterpieces," the magazine Gatopardo said, offers "a unique opportunity to see a collection of artwork that helps to stop stereotyping a culture and an era... as well as an opportunity to strengthen the union between two cultures, as Wu said."

As part of this year's activities, art and artists traveled in both directions, taking Latin American art to the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and the provinces of Jiangsu and Guangdong, and bringing Chinese art to countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Costa Rica,Peru and Mexico.

Tannia Luna, an expert in international relations at Mexico's National Autonomous University, said the Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange has strengthened the friendship and cooperation between the two regions and ushered in a new and more fruitful phase of bilateral ties.

"These exchanges have met all expectations and even surpassed them," said Luna, and as a result "this new China-Latin America relationship goes beyond political and economic negotiations," said Luna.

This dynamic exchange is poised to continue.

To celebrate 45 years of diplomatic ties, 2017 has been declared as the Year of Chinese Culture in Mexico, featuring a packed calendar of events and cross-cultural exchanges.
MANILA, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- At least three soldiers have been killed and 17 wounded during heavy fighting between Philippine government troops with Abu Sayyaf militants in southern Philippines, an army spokesman has said.

Maj. Filemon Tan of the Philippine military's western command said in a statement the fighting broke out around 10 a.m. Saturday local time in a remote village of Patikul, Sulu province as troops tracked the militants.

Tan said the the gun battle raged for an hour and 45 minutes.

"The (troops) continue to conduct pursuit operations and intensify the conduct of focused military operations to neutralize the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu," Tan said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the military to hunt down Abu Sayyaf members, who are believed to be behind kidnappings for ransom in the area. The Philippine leader said he does not plan to forge a peace deal with the groups.

Duterte has met with his counterparts from Indonesia and Malaysia to discuss a coordinated security plan to curb the activities of Abu Sayyaf in Sulu sea that borders the two Southeast Asian countries.

"My order to army: destroy them, kill them," Duterte has said, adding that under his watch Abu Sayyaf members will never be granted amnesty.

"The Abu Sayyaf were decapitating people like they would juts fowls and pigs and goats. And there will be no talks. The Armed Forces is right, rejecting amnesty for them. I will not, I will never. There will never be an amnesty for so much killing," he said in September.

On Saturday, Tan said that Malaysian security forces killed three Abu Sayyaf members who attempted to carry yet another kidnapping-for-ransom attack off Lahad Datu in Sabah in Malaysia. Two other militants were arrested as a result.

Abu Sayyaf is considered the smallest but the most radical of the extremist groups operating in the impoverished southern Philippine provinces of Basilan and Sulu.

The group has carried a spate of attacks and robberies on the southern Philippines and Sulu sea, including kidnap for ransom, bombings, extortions, raids of villages in Basilan and Sulu since the early 1990s.

The military said that there are now about 350 active members of the Abu Sayyaf group. The group is active in the impoverished region, where minority Muslims have been fighting for self-rule since the 1970s.
ZHENGZHOU, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Six workers were killed Saturday morning at a railway station in central China's Henan Province, local railway authorities have said.

A freight train crashed into six people working on the rails at 9:42 a.m. at Anyang Railway Station on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, according to Zhengzhou Railway Bureau.

Two of the victims were employees of the railway bureau while the other four were migrant workers.

An investigation is underway.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday called on outgoing Gambian President Yahya Jammeh and all political actors and their supporters to "fully respect the outcome of the election and to resolve all disputes" through established legal procedures.

In a statement issued here by his spokesman, the secretary-general said that he "is dismayed" by Jammeh's statement on Friday which said he rejected the results of the Dec. 1 election and called for his country to vote again, a week after initially accepting his defeat.

"The secretary-general calls on President Jammeh and all political actors and their supporters to fully respect the outcome of the election and to resolve all disputes that may arise from the electoral process through established legal procedures in an expeditious and transparent manner," the statement said.

The outgoing president, who has ruled Gambia since the 1994 military coup, suffered a shocking loss in running for his fifth term.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday condemned deadly terrorist attacks in Istanbul, Turkey, voicing his hope that the perpetrators "will be swiftly identified and brought to justice."
NANNING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Police in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region had arrested four suspects for selling counterfeit cigarettes online, they announced Saturday.

Laibin City police launched an investigation in March after receiving information about counterfeit cigarettes being sold online.

According to the investigation, a man surnamed Gan and two other men in neighboring Hunan Province acted as agents selling cigarettes via online payment platforms or messaging apps such QQ, Alipay and WeChat.

They bought the cigarettes from a man surnamed Zhang in eastern China's Fujian Province.

The three agents were arrested in late September, with Zhang captured in Yunxiao County of Fujian in late October.

The police seized 77,000 cigarettes worth 133,500 yuan (19,348 U.S. dollars).
BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Renowned Chinese economist Li Yining has reiterated the key role of property rights protection in motivating investors and invigorating the economy.

"We should provide equal legal protection to all kinds of property rights, be they public or non-public, tangible or intangible," Li said at a forum in Beijing Saturday.

He stressed that the country should seek new dividends from new systematic reforms, and that property rights protection reform is a key in the process.

Although China has been gradually improving property rights protection, incidences of infringement on private assets and illegal seizure of non-public assets still occur.

Recognizing this flawed system has undermined the confidence of private investors, China's central authorities last month issued property rights guidelines seeking to ensure uniform legal protection for all kinds of property rights for all individuals and entities.

Li said a slew of reforms will inject new momentum into China's development.

China's GDP grew 6.7 percent in the third quarter of this year, steady with the first half of the year and within the government's target range between 6.5 and 7 percent for 2016.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday urged outgoing Gambian President Yahya Jammeh and all political actors and their supporters to "fully respect the outcome of the election and to resolve all disputes" through established legal procedures.

In a statement issued here by his spokesman, the secretary-general said that he "is dismayed" by Jammeh's statement on Friday in which he rejected the results of the Dec. 1 election and called for his country to vote again, a week after initially accepting his defeat.

"The secretary-general calls on president Jammeh and all political actors and their supporters to fully respect the outcome of the election and to resolve all disputes that may arise from the electoral process through established legal procedures in an expeditious and transparent manner," the statement said.

The outgoing president, who has ruled Gambia since the 1994 military coup, suffered a shocking loss in running for his fifth term.

Jammeh, in his Dec. 2 address on Gambian state television, accepted his defeat and congratulated opponent Barrow on his victory.

Ban "reiterates his earlier call for a peaceful, timely and orderly transfer of power, in full respect of the will of the Gambian people as expressed in the election," the statement said.

"The secretary-general urges all stakeholders, including defence and security forces, to refrain from any statements or actions that may lead to violence or unrest."

Earlier on Saturday, the UN Security Council strongly condemned Jammeh for rejecting official election results, urging him to "respect the choice of the sovereign people" of the West African country.

In a press statement, the 15-nation UN council also called on the outgoing president to "transfer, without condition and undue delay, power to the president-elect, Mr. Adama Barrow."

The Security Council urged the outgoing president to carry out a peaceful and orderly transition process and requested that the security of Barrow and that of all Gambian citizen "be fully ensured," the statement said.
BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Trade between the world's two largest economies has shown signs of improvement as the U.S. trade deficit with China, a long-term U.S. concern, narrowed significantly in October.

In October, U.S. exports to China reached a three-year high of 13 billion U.S. dollars, contributing to the month's 4.2 percent decrease in the trade deficit with China, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

The U.S. overall trade gap for the month grew 17.8 percent, the biggest increase since March 2015, to 42.6 billion dollars from the surprisingly low September deficit, data from the department showed.

China's measures to promote steady economic growth have contributed to the growing consumer appetite for U.S. imported goods, said Bai Ming, researcher with an institution affiliated with the Ministry of Commerce.

Chinese figures show that the nation's trade surplus with the U.S. has been growing since 2000, reaching 42.1 billion dollars in 2002 and surpassing 200 billion dollars in the January-November period of this year.

The growth has slowed in recent years, with just a 0.9 percent year-on-year increase in the first eleven months of this year, largely due to improvement of the trade balance between the two countries, experts have said.

With the transfer of processing trade, the main source of trade surplus between China and the United States, to other regions such as Southeast Asia, the trade gap between the two countries has narrowed in recent years, said Zhang Yansheng, head researcher with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

Customs data show that China has been the world's second largest importer for seven consecutive years, with its imports standing at 1.68 trillion dollars in 2015.

The nation's total imports are expected to reach 8 trillion U.S. dollars in the next five years.

In the first eleven months, China's overall trade surplus narrowed to 3.11 trillion yuan (about 457 billion U.S. dollars), down 5.8 percent from the previous year, latest customs data show.

China is pursuing an overall trade balance rather than addressing its trade imbalance with any particular country, experts have said.

During U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's campaign trail, he promised to bring back lost manufacturing jobs by renegotiating free trade deals and levying hefty tariffs on trade partners.

Though the remarks were aimed at appealing to voters, they show the growing tendency of protectionism in the United States, which will hurt itself as well as its trade partners, Bai said.

Trade between China and the United States reached 558.4 billion dollars in 2015, hundreds of times greater than in 1979 when China-U.S. diplomatic relations were established. The United States has become China's second largest trade partner while China is the U.S.' largest trade partner.

China-U.S. trade rose at an average annual growth rate of over 7 percent in recent years in defiance of the global downturn after the 2008 financial crisis.

U.S. goods and services, including 22 percent of its cotton, 26 percent of Boeing airplanes and 56 percent of its soybean, were sold to China, creating nearly a million jobs for the exporter.

For a long time, U.S. exports to China were mostly primary goods and agricultural products, but not products where the United States had a comparative advantage such as high-tech products, Zhang said.

To narrow the U.S. trade deficit with China, the United States should relax its restrictions on the export of high-tech goods to China, and combine its technology and experience with China's competitive equipment and industries, Bai said.

The two sides can also jointly develop the third-party markets and continue to promote trade in services, which will help balance bilateral trade, Bai added.
Flagstaff Police Department has not accepted any new equipment through the U.S. Department of Defenses military procurement program for law enforcement since Chief Kevin Treadway took over as acting police chief in late 2011, but it does maintain military equipment acquired during previous administrations.

That was the information Treadway gave the Flagstaff City Council earlier this month in a report regarding FPDs participation in the federal military procurement program known as the Law Enforcement Support Office, which is administered by the Defense Departments Defense Logistics Agency.

I obviously know the public concern about the militarization of the police, Treadway said in an interview. I have always stood firm that the police should not be militarized.

In his report to council, Treadway said the department had accepted equipment from the military procurement program for many years prior to his administration. Much of that equipment is still in FPD inventory. The department conducts routine audits as required by the military procurement program but has not received any new items in about five years.

The truth of the matter is, there hasnt been anything that the procurement program has offered that I have seen as a need in this community, Treadway said. Im not one that just grabs onto stuff because its shiny.

Among the military equipment transferred to FPD before Treadways tenure as chief is one high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle, also known as a Humvee, which is four-wheel-drive military light truck. FPD received the Humvee in August 2011 under the late FPD Chief Brent F. Cooper and uses it primarily for Woods Watch wildfire patrols in the forest terrain around Flagstaff.

The Law Enforcement Support Office also gave FPD a total of 37 M-16/M-16A1 military assault rifles in 2005, 2007 and 2011. Adopted by the U.S. military in 1964, the M-16 is the military version of the Colt/Armalite AR-15. Of the 37 assault rifles FPD received, 31 have been converted to be capable of only semiautomatic fire for use in the patrol rifle program. Ten had been issued to officers for use on patrol as of Nov. 30. The other 21 were ready for use but were being stored in the police departments inventory.

I believe in municipal policing our greatest objective is establishing and maintaining the trust of our community, Treadway said. If our officers look like soldiers on a battlefield, we compromise this objective. In order to be approachable to our citizens we must look approachable.

But he said FPD also has to be ready for the worst-case scenario.

We live in a society where occasionally there are real dangers to our officers and community, Treadway added. We must balance our daily mission and service to our citizens with preparedness for crisis situations that require our officers to protect our community from deadly threats. I think we have effectively achieved that balance on the Flagstaff Police Department.

One of the original 37 M-16/M-16A1 assault rifles was damaged beyond repair but remains in FPDs inventory. Another two of the rifles have been converted to short-barreled rifles and are still fully automatic. They are used by FPDs Tactical Operations Team. FPD now owns the remaining three M-16 rifles outright  the military no longer has any authority over them.

FPD accepted the M-16s because it had initiated a patrol rifle program in 2005 that required officers to become certified to carry a patrol rifle in their car for use in certain situations, such as where the officer "reasonably anticipates an armed encounter" or needs to "deliver fire on a barricaded person or a person with a hostage."

The officers do not carry the patrol rifle as part of their normal duties, Treadway said.

Certified officers are allowed to purchase their own rifles for the program after the armorer inspects them as long as they meet certain criteria listed in FPDs policy manual. The rifles FPD received from the military procurement program are made available to those officers who have been certified but have not purchased their own rifles.

Like a lot of police departments in the United States, FPD was part of a national movement in law enforcement that began almost 15 years ago in response to what is now known as the North Hollywood Shootout.

On Feb. 28, 1997, Los Angeles Police Department officers found themselves outgunned by a pair of heavily equipped bank robbers who had, among other things, body armor and multiple automatic and semiautomatic assault rifles. Eight civilians and 12 police officers were shot in the shootout. The two gunmen were also shot and killed.

Now, Treadway said, every police deportment he is aware of in Arizona has a patrol rifle program. Treadway said mass killings like the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif. illustrate why police departments, including FPD, still need them.

In addition to the M-16s, FPD has four M-14 rifles that it received through the military procurement program in 2006. The Flagstaff Police Department Honor Guard uses them for ceremonial purposes.

FPD received non-durable items, including cold-weather boots and winter jackets, which were distributed to command staff members, members of the Tactical Operations Team and other specialty assignments for use in the field.

The police department received 111 Kevlar ballistic helmets, which were issued to officers in the patrol division to be utilized in crisis situations. FPD used some of its general fund budget to replace the helmet liners, which were in need of repair.

Additionally, an unspecified number of large flak vests were received for additional ballistic protection during crisis calls.

These vests have been rarely utilized, but remain in our inventory in storage with no anticipated future use due to advancements in ballistic armor, Treadway said in his report. We attempted on one occasion to return these vests, but were told the military would not accept them in return.

Many years ago, Treadway said in his report, the police department received a cache of military style M-51 gas masks and bags, which were to be used by the Tactical Operations Team and Mobile Field Force operations. The department replaced all those masks with more advanced gas masks and bags using a Department of Homeland Security grant program. All officers are now equipped with the more advanced masks.

FPD has accepted a couple of field packs for use by the Tactical Operations Team in maneuvers in the field, as well as several metal detectors for use by the criminal investigations division in crime scene processing and two rifle racks that are used for storage at the police station.

FPD is required to keep non-durable items in its inventory one year from date of delivery.

The Law Enforcement Support Office originated from the 1997 National Defense Authorization Act, which allows the Department of Defense to give law enforcement agencies in the United States excess military equipment that might otherwise be destroyed. According to the Defense Logistics Agency website, the Law Enforcement Support Office has transferred more than $6 billion in military property to more than 8,000 U.S. law enforcement agencies since the procurement programs inception. Weapons account for about 5 percent of the equipment transferred.

In order to participate in the military procurement program, FPD must be a recognized law enforcement agency, maintain a State Plan of Operations, pay $250 per year and sign an annual agreement to maintain the equipment.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected from its original version to reflect that eight civilians and 12 police officers were shot in the North Hollywood shootout. The two gunmen were also shot and killed.
DAMASCUS, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian government forces have taken 93 percent of the rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo, bringing prospect for settlement of the lingering Syrian issue, the country's national TV said Saturday evening.

The falling of the rebels in the key battleground marks a crucial juncture in the course of Syrian war, with expectations that the recapture would help to change the whole prospect of the prolonged crisis in the Middle East's war-torn country.

KEEP POUNDING

The majority of the rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo have recently fallen to government forces, which are fighting to wrest control over the few remaining neighborhoods.

Syrian government forces have liberated 52 neighborhoods from militants, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

In the last four days, the Syrian territory controlled by rebels has decreased by one third, Sergei Rudskoi, chief of the main operational directorate of the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff said Friday.

In the last 24 hours, he added, 1,096 militants have left Aleppo voluntarily, and 953 of them were pardoned under the amnesty declared by the Syrian government.

The Syrian rebel fighters captured eastern Aleppo in 2012. The government troops and allied forces have recently launched a major offensive to retake the city.

Meanwhile, at least 3,000 civilians fled the rebel-held areas of Sukari, Fardos and Salahuddien in eastern Aleppo toward government-controlled areas west of the city on Saturday, a military source told Xinhua.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has noted that his army will take Aleppo from the rebels' hands, adding the recapture will change the course of the battles in Syria.

Analysts believed that the expected retake which earns the government forces advantages in the war will have a profound impact on the direction of Syrian situation.

They said that with this major triumph, the government can either follow up the offensive and broaden the lead, or take an upper hand if the rebels agree to come back to the table.

CALLS FOR TALKS

Syria's Foreign Ministry said Friday that the government is ready to resume the inter-Syrian talks "without preconditions or foreign intervention," in response to the latest comments of U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura, who told reporters recently that it's about time to look seriously into the possibility of reviving political talks on Syria.

Still, the ministry said the U.N. envoy didn't specify a date for the resumption of the talks, which have been suspended since last May.

A Chinese envoy to the United Nations Friday called on the international community including the U.N. to maintain the overarching direction of seeking a political solution to the Syria issue.

"All efforts made should aim at facilitating the work of four tracks, namely a resumption of ceasefire, political negotiations, joint fight against terrorism and humanitarian assistance," said Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the U.N., adding that the efforts should be Syrian-owned and Syrian-led.

The appeal made at a U.N. General Assembly meeting on Syria at which a resolution demanding unhindered and unconditional humanitarian access throughout Syria was adopted.

"Any unilateral attempt to exert pressure or to politicize humanitarian issues will only cause further turbulence in the situation rather than bringing the situation around," he added.

Moscow and Washington have resumed consultations recently on the Syrian settlement after the U.S. suspended dialogue with Russia early October.

On the other hand, the U.S. said it will send 200 additional troops including special operations forces to Syria in the military campaign against the Islamic State (IS).

"These uniquely skilled operators will join the 300 U.S. special operations forces already in Syria, to continue organizing, training, equipping and otherwise enabling capable, motivated, local forces to take the fight to ISIL," a Pentagon statement quoted U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter as saying, referring to another acronym of the extremist group.

Related:

Syria, Russian airstrikes push IS back from Palmyra

DAMASCUS, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic State (IS) group has retreated from points it reached in the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria as a result of intense airstrikes by Russia and Syria on Saturday, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported.

The airstrikes targeted several areas near Palmyra in a bid to push back IS, which attempted to attack the city and has reportedly re-entered it after losing it to the Syrian government forces in nine months ago. Full story

U.S. to send 200 more troops to Syria to fight IS

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon said on Saturday the United States would deploy about 200 additional U.S. troops to Syria in the military campaign against the Islamic State (IS).

According to a Pentagon statement, the additional U.S. troops would include special operations forces, trainers, advisers and explosive ordinance disposal teams. Full story

Spotlight: Int'l intervention in Syria has become more direct

DAMASCUS, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The international intervention in Syria was until last year under the hood, with what analysts called a proxy war.
People carry a dead body from the site of car bomb explosion in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, Dec. 11, 2016. At least 11 people were killed and an unknown number of others were injured in a massive car bomb explosion targeting a police station near the seaport in Mogadishu early Sunday. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse)

MOGADISHU, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 people were killed and an unknown number of others were injured in a massive car bomb explosion targeting a police station near the seaport in Mogadishu early Sunday.

A police officer at the scene told Xinhua that the explosion hit the entrance to a compound used by the tax department near Mogadishu's seaport, prompting spontaneous gunfire which could be heard immediately after the attack.

"There was a car bomb explosion just outside of the building belonging to the Department of Tax near Mogadishu's new seaport. The death toll could rise," police officer Abdifitah Muse told Xinhua by phone.

Witnesses reported that they heard a huge blast at the port.

"I saw black smoke rising from the place," Liiban Ahmed, an eye witness, told Xinhua.

Witnesses said the police station outside the Mogadishu port was completely destroyed by the massive blast. No one has claimed responsibility for the latest attack.
BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- A total of 64 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were added to China's New Third Board from Dec. 5 to 9.

The number of companies listed on the board was 9,845 as of Friday, representing China's efforts to encourage the development of SMEs amid downward economic pressure.

Turnover on the board reached 5.15 billion yuan (around 747.5 million U.S. dollars) in the past week, according to RoyalFlush Information, a financial information service provider.

The New Third Board, or National Equities Exchange and Quotation (NEEQ) system, is a national system for SMEs to transfer shares and raise funds.

It began life in 2006 as an experimental platform for non-listed small high-tech enterprises in Beijing's Zhongguancun Science Park. The present system was officially established on Jan. 16, 2013 after trials in cities including Shanghai, Tianjin and Wuhan.

It complements the existing stock exchanges, the SME board and the ChiNext board. The board is seen as an easy financing channel with low costs and simple listing procedures.
ISLAMABAD, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people were killed and several others injured in separate fog-related accidents in Pakistan's eastern Punjab Province on Sunday, local media reported.

The Dunya TV said that six people of a family were killed when their car fall into a canal in central Multan district of the province.

In a separate accident in the neighboring Vehari district, two people were killed when a truck hit their bike due to low visibility.

In Sargodha district, two brothers were killed when their bike was ran over by a car. The car driver could not judge the bike coming from opposite direction due to poor visibility due to the dense fog.

Four people were killed and several others injured in a van-bus collision in Narowal district for poor visibility.

The injured people were shifted to a nearby hospital.

Motorway was closed for traffic due to dense fog.

Traffic police officers asked public to use fog lights and avoid unnecessary travel during early morning and night to avoid accidents.

The local weather office said that foggy weather is likely to persist in the plains of Punjab during the next 24 hours.
SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Samsung decided at the weekend to render a software update to stop the remaining Galaxy Note 7 phones from working for safety concerns.

The update will start on Dec. 19 to prevent batteries of Note 7 from charging and actually turn the electronic products into bricks.

According to Samsung, 93 percent of Note 7 owners have returned their devices in the United States because of fire catching and exploding accidents.

As the phone was banned globally by many airlines, Samsung even opened stalls at airports for Note 7 owners to return their phones and get refunds before boarding their flights.

However, the software upgrade will not be compulsory for each device. The phone users can choose not to update.

"We will not push a software upgrade that will eliminate the ability for the Note 7 to work as a mobile device," said the company in a statement.
TEHRAN, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- In an explosion of a roadside booby trap in Saravan county in Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province on Sunday, two members of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) were injured, semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Following the incident, the wounded people who belonged to IRGC's engineering unit were taken to the hospital.

One of them is in critical condition due to the seriousness of injuries, the report said.
CAIRO, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 people were killed and 16 others injured on Sunday in an explosion near the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, according to State TV.
ANKARA, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Turkey announced on Sunday a day of national mourning after attacks in Istanbul, Dogan News Agency reported.

Late on Saturday, two explosions rocked central Istanbul near Besiktas's Vodafone Arena Stadium, leaving 38 people killed and 155 others wounded.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said seven civilians are among the dead, while 30 others are police officers and one of the victims hasn't yet to be identified.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan postponed a visit to Kazakhstan, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday, due to the terror attack.

On his twitter account, Erdogan vowed to "continue our struggle" despite more blood to be shed.

Istanbul, the Turkey's largest city, and Ankara, the country's national capital, have come under a spate of deadly attacks over the past year amid a worsening security situation.

Istanbul was last attacked in late June, when three suicide bombers assaulted the city's major international airport and killed 45 people.
DUBAI, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday condemned the two terrorist bombings that killed and wounded dozens of innocent people in Istanbul, Turkey, UAE state news agency WAM reported.

In a statement, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation restated the principled position of the UAE rejecting "all forms and manifestations of terrorism."

The UAE, a major oil supplier, called for enhancing coordination between states and combining the efforts of the international community to ensure that this dangerous plight that poses threats to global peace and security is eliminated and that its sources of finance are shut down.

Late on Saturday, two explosions rocked central Istanbul near Besiktas's Vodafone Arena Stadium, leaving 38 people killed and 155 others wounded.

The ministry expressed the UAE's solidarity with the Turkish government against such "terrorist crimes" that target Turkey's stability and security as well as its citizens.

The ministry further extended condolences to the Turkish government and the families of the victims and wished for speedy recovery of all the wounded.
TAIYUAN, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Mount Wutai, one of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains, has signed an agreement with Shanxi Cable and Broadcasting Information Network to launch a smart tourism service around Mount Wutai, the management committee of the scenic area said Sunday.

With a planned investment of 4.5 million yuan (650,000 U.S. dollars), the program named "smart Mount Wutai" will offer free wi-fi service, a network system providing services, including an intelligent voice guide, ticket booking, as well as hotel and restaurant information to tourists.

As part of the province's plan to build smart tourism, the program will provide more convenience to Mount Wutai tourists.

Added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2009, Mount Wutai is home to about 50 Buddhist temples built between the 1st century and early 20th century.

The site is in Wutai County, Xinzhou City in Shanxi Province, 230 km from the provincial capital, Taiyuan.
Editor's note: First of a multi-day series

Cameron Wesley Gaskin hopes to continue his education and the work he started as a student at Northern Arizona University: uplifting the Black community and the community as a whole.

I want to get my Ph.D. and work as a professor eventually, Gaskin said. I want to study sociology or anthropology. Its not so much the subject, but I want to study Black history and culture, and Im interested in studying hip hop.

Gaskin said a class at NAU opened his eyes to the cultural significance of hip hop, and said one of his memorable moments at NAU was meeting hip hop artist Chuck D from Public Enemy.

Gaskin, who is a member of the Gold N Brown Jacks, a club for Black men at NAU, and has served as an executive board member in the Black Student Union, was named one of 21 students receiving Gold Axe Awards, a recognition for outstanding graduating seniors.

He got involved in the Black Student Union after no charges were filed in the police shooting of Ferguson, Mo., 18-year-old Michael Brown. Gaskin said at the time he was looking for a place where he would feel comfortable and be able to let loose and vent, but said as time went on the group became a place where he learned to express himself.

As a member of Gold N Brown Jacks, he traveled to South Africa on a study abroad trip. He said seeing post-Apartheid racism opened his eyes to issues that he might have ignored back home in the United States.

Gaskin said the recognition was a shared achievement for him and the other members of Gold N Brown Jacks.

It wasnt just me winning it, he said. I feel like this is a group achievement, something to share with the brothers in Gold N Brown. Its more of a we did it, than I did it.

Gaskin said he hopes the award serves as an inspiration to the younger members of the group, and becomes something they aspire to receive during their time at the university.

Gaskin was born in Tucson and raised in Phoenix. He decided to come to NAU because it was close to home but away from the Phoenix heat. After graduation, he would like to go to the east coast or possibly the Pacific Northwest.

Gaskin is also a member of the Korean Language and Culture Club, the Association for Computing Machinery. He also led diversity workshops and helped during NAUs Hip Hop week.

He originally majored in psychology, but said his mother encouraged him to pursue a STEM field, so he changed his major to computer science, along with a minor in math.

I really enjoy problem-solving, and thats really all it is, Gaskin said. I related a lot to the people in the classes. Its fun, the whole world runs on computers, so its cool to know how to manipulate them.

Gaskin said his mom is relieved that college is coming to an end, but said she was very excited when he was recognized as a Gold Axe recipient.

She was really excited I was recognized for all the work Ive done, he said. She of course knows what I was doing, but she was glad other people saw it too.

Gaskin said he is looking forward to making a positive impact in the community, wherever he may end up.

I want to be an agent of change wherever I go, he said. Its sad leaving all the people that Ive met, but really, really exciting to go out in the world and see how it plays out.

Gaskin said he is grateful for those who helped him achieve the award, and supported him through college.

I want to say thanks to my mentors, and my family, and all the friends Ive met along the way, he said. And a big thanks to God.
MOSCOW, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Russia will create a monitoring group to ensure oil output reduction following the newly-clinched output cut pact between Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Sunday.

"We will create a monitoring group inside the country at a meeting with our oil companies. The most important thing is to maintain a certain decrease in oil production output in the country in general," Novak, who was in Vienna for the long-awaited negotiation, was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

Novak added that he will meet with operators of oil companies next week to discuss details of the oil output reduction.

On Saturday, 11 non-OPEC oil producers, including Russia, agreed to reduce oil output by around 558,000 barrels per day in the wake of November's OPEC agreement to slash production by 1.2 million barrels per day, which represents the strongest effort made in last 15 years by these oil-rich countries to re-energize the global oil market.

Based on the agreements, Russia would cut its oil output by 200,000-300,000 barrels per day in early 2017, and gradually to 10.947 million barrels a day.

Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said on Saturday that Russia and Kuwait would head a committee monitoring implementation of the oil output cut agreements.

Novak expected that the rebalancing of the oil market could begin in the third quarter of 2017, on condition that the OPEC members and non-members of the organization implement the agreements.
TEHRAN, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Iran Air announced here on Sunday that it has finalized an agreement with the U.S. Boeing to purchase 80 commercial planes, state TV reported.

The agreement, signed in capital Tehran, envisages the purchase of 50 twinjet narrow-body Boeing 737 planes and 30 long-range wide-body 777 aircraft with a total value of 16.6 billion U.S. dollars, according to Press TV.

The planes would be delivered to Iran within 10 years, Iran Air managing director Farhad Parvaresh said, adding that the first deliveries are expected in 2018.

Boeing is happy to return to Iran after a hiatus of multiple decades, Fletcher Barkdull, the Boeing's regional sales director, told official IRNA news agency.

The finalization of the agreement with Iran Air had been carried out by direct approval of the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, Barkdull said.

Iran has signed another preliminary agreement with France's Airbus to to purchase 106 commercial planes.
SKOPJE, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 1.8 million Macedonian citizens with a right to vote are heading to polling stations on Sunday morning to elect lawmakers of the single-chambered Macedonian Parliament.

The voting polls are open from 7:00 am (0600 GMT) on Sunday morning and are due to close 12 hours later.

Six political parties and five coalition blocks have entered the race in an attempt to win the votes and secure a majority of the 123 seats in the Parliament.

"We have taken all necessary measures. The election material is distributed to all the polls throughout the country and everything is ready to have an efficient voting day," Ljupka Guguchevska, spokesperson for the State Election Commission, said.

About 8,000 domestic and 700 foreign observers will monitor the election process in Macedonia.

The snap election was part of an EU-brokered deal between Macedonia's four major parties to end the country's nearly two years of political crisis initiated by a mass surveillance scandal which erupted in February 2015.

The opposition accused the government of illegally wiretapping 20,000 people, including politicians, judges, journalists and religious leaders.

The scandal has led then conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski to step down in January after nearly 10 years in power and agree to hold new elections. He is now seeking a return to office with his VMRO-DPMNE party which leads a 25-party coalition called "For a Better Macedonia."

Gruevski's major opponent, Social Democratic Union (SDSM) head Zoran Zaev, leads a left-leaning coalition called "For Life in Macedonia."

The outcome of the elections is difficult to predict. Pre-election public opinion polls gave Gruevski's VMRO an edge to Zaev's SDSM, but the number of the so-called "indecisive voters" is high on all opinion polls.

"I expect a massive turnout at the elections and hopefully a peaceful election day. These are important elections for the country. The turnout will probably be higher than previous elections, because the citizens want an end to the crisis. They want a stable country ready to move forward," university professor Aleksandar Dashtevski told Xinhua.
Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak (L) and Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih shake hands after a news conference following a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna, Austria, December 10, 2016. (Reuters Photo)

MOSCOW, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Russia will create a monitoring group to ensure oil output reduction following the newly-clinched output cut pact between Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Sunday.

"We will create a monitoring group inside the country at a meeting with our oil companies. The most important thing is to maintain a certain decrease in oil production output in the country in general," Novak, who was in Vienna for the long-awaited negotiation, was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

Novak added that he will meet with operators of oil companies next week to discuss details of the oil output reduction.

On Saturday, 11 non-OPEC oil producers, including Russia, agreed to reduce oil output by around 558,000 barrels per day in the wake of November's OPEC agreement to slash production by 1.2 million barrels per day, which represents the strongest effort made in last 15 years by these oil-rich countries to re-energize the global oil market.

Based on the agreements, Russia would cut its oil output by 200,000-300,000 barrels per day in early 2017, and gradually to 10.947 million barrels a day.

Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said on Saturday that Russia and Kuwait would head a committee monitoring implementation of the oil output cut agreements.

Novak expected that the rebalancing of the oil market could begin in the third quarter of 2017, on condition that the OPEC members and non-members of the organization implement the agreements.
GENEVA, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- As China marks on Sunday 15 years since becoming a World Trade Organization (WTO) member, a WTO official applauded not only the progress made since 2001 but also Beijing's active role within the global trade body and increasing leadership and vision on multilateral platforms.

"China has shown the world what being open, being part of an open economy can do in terms of development, poverty elimination and prosperity," WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told Xinhua recently in an exclusive interview.

"China has a basic pragmatism where it doesn't believe in pushing people beyond their red lines or the space that they cannot go outside of in order to get a deal. I think that kind of pragmatic approach is something that is very much appreciated," he added.

While lauding China's remarkable strides in eliminating poverty, Rockwell also noted that China's economy has benefited from enhanced trading relations, the fruit of many years of preparation before becoming gaining WTO membership in December 2001.

By showing "very serious commitment" from the get-go, Beijing's implementation of a range of complex reforms paved the way towards its successful role within WTO today, the spokesman said.

Since 2001, both the world and China have indeed greatly benefited from enhanced trading partnerships which are supported by rules and guidelines underpinning WTO's global mandate.

Combined with Beijing's "broad and deep" WTO participation, China's economic strength has made the country steadfast in the face of economic adversity while also bringing much needed respite to countries going through financial crises, Rockwell continued.

"When the great recession hit in 2008-2009, the fact that China was one of the few countries not affected and continued to buy goods and services from other parts of the world, this helped countries stabilize their economies and get back on their feet," he said.

Earlier this year, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo told Xinhua that China's role within the organisation has gone from strength to strength.

As well as underscoring Beijing's ability to defend its interests while showing awareness of the systemic implications of its position, the Brazilian official praised China's role in helping members ink important trade covenants such as the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).

Known as the Bali package, the TFA lays out directives to expedite the movement, release and clearance of goods so as to reduce the overall cost of trading.

It is the first multilateral agreement to be reached since the organization came into being over 20 years ago.

In the same vein, Azevedo praised China's stance at the 2015 tenth WTO ministerial conference in Nairobi, where ministers played a pivotal part in attempting to push negotiations in the right direction.

Though China's stance within the trade body didn't happen overnight, Rockwell noted that Beijing began to actively participate in a range of activities once it had gained an in-depth understanding of WTO proceedings.

Leading by example on a range of trade issues, including highly complex discussions relating to electronic commerce, Rockwell said that China's role now transcends the realms of WTO meetings and agreements.

"You are seeing Chinese leadership in evidence in many other forums internationally," whether it's the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or the Belt and Road initiative, he said.

"All of these things show the China is keen to create international tools to help with development, to help with economic growth and help stabilize relations between countries," he added.

While acknowledging that China doesn't always see eye-to-eye with other trading partners, the official reminded that this is perfectly normal for countries processing thousands of trade-related agreements, policies and ventures.

"The countries most involved in disputes are the big countries, because they trade the most, the most products with the most countries," Rockwell explained.

"I think as China becomes more comfortable with the way the system works, I would say at the moment they are one of the biggest defenders of the WTO," he concluded.

Taking over from the now defunct General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the WTO came into being in 1995. To date, the global trade body has 164 members.
BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- China's State Grid will build more charging facilities and expand public fast-charge networks for electric vehicles in future years, the company's chairman said here Sunday.

The company plans to build 10,000 charging stations and 120,000 charging poles by 2020, Shu Yinbiao, chairman of the State Grid, told a forum.

The company will expand its public fast-charge networks for electric cars in major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, where a charging facility will be found within a radius of less than 1 km, according to Shu.

By 2015, the State Grid had built fast-charge networks covering 11,000 kilometers of highways between major cities, and it would further expand the networks to cover another 36,000 kilometers of inter-city highways by 2020, he said.

The company has also built an online system that helps electric vehicle drivers locate charging facilities nearby and pay charging fees, which has so far connected more than 80,000 charging poles, said Shu.

Data from the National Energy Administration showed that China had 107,000 charging poles for electric vehicles by the end of October this year, up 118 percent from a year ago. Besides, there are also more than 170,000 private ones.

According to China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), the country will build a nationwide charging-station network that will fulfill the power demands of five million electric vehicles by 2020.
TEHRAN, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that the United States has never been seeking to root out terrorism in the Middle East region, Press TV reported.

The United States is making efforts to preserve some terror groups in the Middle East to advance with its goals, Khamenei was quoted as saying.

Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with the visiting Head of the National Iraqi Alliance, Ammar Hakim, and his accompanying delegation in Tehran on Sunday.

"In (Iraq's) Mosul and also in Syria, the United States is not in favor of the total defeat of Takfiri terrorists," Khamenei added.

Khamenei advised the National Iraqi Alliance not to trust the United States, warning that Washington has always been against powerful Muslim countries such as Iraq.
Kyrgyz citizens prepare to vote at a polling station in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Dec. 11, 2016. Kyrgyz citizens voted in a referendum Sunday on constitutional change sponsored by this central Asian country's top leader, according to Central Election Commission of Kyrgyzstan. (Xinhua/Roman Gainanov)

BISHKEK, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyz citizens voted in a referendum Sunday on constitutional change sponsored by this central Asian country's top leader, according to Central Election Commission of Kyrgyzstan.

Voters would approve or reject the entire package of 26 proposed amendments with a single "yes" or "no" vote.

The referendum will be declared valid if more than 30 percent out of 2.851 million citizens included in the electoral lists cast vote.

President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev expressed the hope that at least 30 percent of voters would cast their votes.

"I hope that people will support the referendum. Today's referendum is a step that leads us to democracy," the president told journalists after casting his vote.

The voting took place from 08:00 a.m. local time (0200GMT) to 20:00 p.m.throughout the country and abroad in the diplomatic missions of Kyrgyzstan.

After the initiative of the president-backed referendum, the Kyrgyz public opinion had divided into two parts and lots of discussions were held on whether it is necessary and legal.

A change of the constitution through the referendum, which would be the 11th time for the country to amend its supreme charter since its independence in 1991, would boost the Central Asian country's prime minister's power while weakening the president.

The current Constitution was adopted in a referendum in June 2010, which changed the form of government in Kyrgyzstan from presidential to parliamentary.
TOKYO, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Russia has turned down Japan's dog diplomacy by declining a gift of a dog for President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan next week, according to a Japanese legislator.

The Japanese government had planned to present Putin, who is known as a dog lover, with a male Akita as a companion to Yume, a female of the same breed that Japan gave him in 2012.

"Unfortunately, we heard from our counterparts, and our hope to present a bridegroom was dashed," Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said in a blog post on Friday.

Putin will visit Japan on Dec. 15-16. The two leaders are expected to work toward reviving security talks and joint naval rescue training halted after Russia's takeover of Crimea in 2014.

Russia and Japan have not signed a peace treaty formalizing the end of World War II due to a territorial row over four small Pacific islands, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

Japan is hoping to make progress on the territorial dispute during Putin's visit.

There should be no high expectations for any immediate progress on the signing of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan, as they still have difficulties in ironing out their differences, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday in Moscow.

"We have touched upon in detail the peace treaty issue ... It is not easy to bring together our stances, and the issue is difficult," Lavrov told reporters.
LAGOS, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Death toll in the collapsed Church building in Uyo, capital of southeast Nigeria's Akwa Ibom State on Saturday has risen beyond 100, as casualty figures are being collated from various health facilities, health officials told Xinhua here on Sunday.

The health officials, who wished to be anonymous, disclosed the figure and said many victims are in private hospitals and mortuaries scattered all over Uyo metropolis.

A Xinhua reporter in the oil rich state said sympathizers besieged the scene of the collapsed Church building on Sunday, adding there was heavy security presence at the Church gate under lock.

The official number of the casualties of the Saturday incident is yet to be announced by the police and security agencies.

A police source told Xinhua that although Governor Udom Emmanuel had escaped unhurt, many people lost their lives while several others sustained various degrees of injuries.

The Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Etete Peters, said scores of persons were brought to the hospital dead, adding that the hospital had never prepared for such an emergency.

"Many victims are in private hospitals and mortuaries scattered all over Uyo metropolis. We can't really tell how many people have died so far. We do not have space as people are still being brought in," he added.

Meanwhile, the state government has declared Sunday, December 11 and Monday, December 12, as days of mourning for the victims of the collapse of the Reigners Bible Church building in Uyo.

All flags are to be flown half mast within the state during the days of mourning.

The governor has ordered the immediate arrest of the contractor that handled the construction of the collapsed church building.
Devyn Gray started her education at Northern Arizona University with a major in mechanical engineering, but after two years knew she needed to try something new.

I pulled up the list of majors and looked through every page, she said. I found communication, and I thought This is completely me, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Gray said during her time at NAU she studied abroad in Sydney, Australia, where she earned her scuba diving certification and dove in the Great Barrier Reef.

I recommend it to anyone, she said of studying abroad.

Gray also served as treasurer, historian and president of the Blue Key Honor Society, a community service organization on campus that organizes the universitys homecoming parade and other volunteer projects.

Its such a fun group, and its capped at 25 (members) so its a really close-knit group, Gray said.

Being accepted into Blue Key was a defining moment in Grays time at NAU, she said, recalling when she was notified that she had been accepted.

From that moment my life has changed for the greater, she said. Thats what made the difference.

Gray is originally from southern California, but said she decided to consider NAU after a friend who attended the university told her she would love it.

I knew it before I even got on campus, she said. Just driving in, seeing all the trees, I knew exactly that this was going to be my home.

In the spring 2016 semester Gray joined the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority.

After changing her major to strategic communication, Gray interned at the City of Flagstaffs Public Information department.

I was able to apply everything Ive learned and learn so much more, she said. Both the former public information officer and the interim public information officer are my role models.

Gray also interned at the Flagstaff Convention and Visitors Bureau, which she said helped her apply marketing principles along with the strategic communication she was doing at the city.

Gray was one of 21 graduating seniors to receive the Gold Axe Award, which is given to outstanding seniors before each graduation.

Im absolutely honored, she said. I was just honored to be in the presence of all the other winners and hear their stories, how they overcome obstacles every single day.

After graduation, she plans to take the month of January and travel, but said she does not know where she exactly wants to go. She plans to apply for public relations jobs after taking the time to travel.

Gray said her family, along with aunts, uncles and cousins will make the trip to NAU to watch her walk across the stage on Friday.

Its a relief, Gray said of graduating. Weve been going to school since pre-K, it will be nice to get into the real world and start making money.

Her advice to incoming college students? Do not be afraid to change your major.

If you have the slightest inkling that you would like to change your major, change it, she said. Change it five times if you need to. If you dont see yourself doing that for the rest of your life, then you need to change it.
by Jamal Hashim

BAGHDAD, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- After almost two months of fierce battles, the Iraqi army has retaken about 50 percent of Mosul city, the second largest city in the country which was seized by the Islamic State militants in June 2014.

The government vowed to announce the victory by the end of this year, however, the bloody street battles in the densely-populated city forced the military operations to slow down, as the troops cannot use airstrikes and heavy artillery in order to avoid heavy casualties among civilians.

Observers said the military operations could take weeks, if not months. The IS would remain in the country's border areas even after the government takes back Mosul, and is capable of threatening the country and beyond.

BATTLES UNDERWAY

More than 100,000 soldiers, including the Iraqi army, federal police, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and paramilitary Shiite and Sunni Hashd Shaabi units, are currently engaged in the offensive to retake Mosul that started on Oct. 17.

Intelligence reports estimated that about 5,000 IS militants are holed up inside Mosul, half of them highly trained.

Like the previous anti-IS offensives that freed the Iraqi cities of Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah from IS militants, the troops moved gradually to encircle Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, after clearing IS militants from hundreds of towns and villages around it, before entering the city's populated districts.

On Oct. 31, the counter-terrorism forces took foothold in the city, sparking first street battles inside Mosul after it was seized by IS more than two years ago.

After more than six weeks of fierce battles, the troops extended their foothold in the eastern side of the city, and managed to free some 31 districts out of Mosul's 60 districts as of mid December.

The Shiite militia imposed a siege on the IS-held town of Tal Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, and cut off the IS supply routes from Syria.

However, the advance of the Shiite militia in the ethnically mixed region, where Sunni Muslims form a majority, raised fears that may spark sectarian tension.

The authentic challenge facing the Iraqi military commanders is the heavily populated city of Mosul, as more than one million civilians remain living in the country's second largest city.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in the latest report published on Dec. 4 that the military operations in Mosul have pushed some 82,068 civilians to flee their homes in the city and its adjacent districts and the number went up every day.

A previous OCHA report said that the worst-case scenario is that the number of civilians who might flee the city could reach 700,000. Up to 1.5 million people in the city could be in need of aid.

Mosul is the IS last major stronghold in Iraq, so the group more likely is unwilling to surrender without a fight. Recapturing the city would break the back of IS terrorist group, demolishing its self-declared state of Islamic "caliphate."

Early in November, the IS top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi urged his fighters not to retreat from Mosul.

Military experts and observers believed that the battles to liberate Mosul would be long and bloody, based on the facts that the IS militants over the past two and a half years have dug an extensive network of tunnels to transport equipment and fighters.

The militants rigged roads and bridges with bombs and took over one million civilians as human shields.

Moreover, fierce battles are expected when the army cross the Tigris River and enter the western city. The western city features densely-populated buildings and narrow alleys that would make it more difficult for the army to retake districts.

POLITICAL AND SECTARIAN DIVISION

After the army surrounded Mosul, the experts said, it is a matter of time for the government to retake the city.

"Daesh will not fight in Mosul forever, as the Iraqi security forces backed by the international coalition will have no choice but to continue military operations until they liberate the city," Abdulllah al-Obeidi, a political expert, told Xinhua.

However, will the defeat of IS militants in Mosul would end the extremist group in Iraq?

"Daesh threat will not disappear in Iraq, because there are still smaller strongholds in Hawijah area near the northern city of Kirkuk and in the towns of Aana, Rawa and al-Qaim in Anbar province, in addition to the vast desert in western and northwestern of the country," Obeidi said.

The group will adapt their tactics and remain a threat to Iraq, the region and the world by pursuing guerrilla warfare, depending on their sleeping cells in the urban areas and their bases in the isolated rugged deserts, he added, as political division among the Iraqi factions still exist, which is the main factor for sectarian and ethnic polarization in the Iraqi society.

"Naturally, the sectarian and ethnic polarization are a breeding ground for violence and terrorism," Obeidi said. "Any party in and outside Iraq can use terrorists against its rivals, making the country rather fragile, instable and vulnerable in front of foreign interventions."

Moreover, the disputes among major powers on how to deal with extremist ideologies and terrorism, including the IS, is also an instrumental factor in creating such terrorist group.

"Last century, the United States supported rebels in Afghanistan during the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan and resulted in the emergence of al-Qaida group, and in 2003 it turned Iraq into a hornet's nest of terrorists and insurgents, where Daesh was born and it is much worse than al-Qaida," Obeidi said.

"The lack of universal agreement on the definition of terrorism enabled the U.S. to pursue its own set of rules to define the act of terrorism that would serve its own interests, and then use its criteria in dealing the world's crises," Obeidi said.

RECONSILIATION NEEDED

After the army retakes Mosul, a unified Iraq has become a crucial need for all factions in the country restore peace and stability.

"The toughest part of the struggle is bringing peace in the post-IS stage, as many possible conflicts could erupt in Nineveh province among the Iraqi factions in northern Iraq and with regional countries as well," Abdullah al-Jubouri, a political expert, told Xinhua.

Moreover, restoring stability to Mosul needs efforts to heal the wounds of the society, which is more important than the necessary military action. The pre-dominantly Sunni Arab city once was home to a complex mosaic of tribes and ethnic groups, but more than two and a half years under IS group planted the seeds of hatred and division.

"IS militants have created profound divisions across Mosul's society and within the families. The situation in post-IS Mosul won't be easy, as people in the liberated city will quickly go into recrimination, revenge and sectarian strife," Jubouri said.

As a result, the Iraqi government, the international coalition and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) should take the duty to pursue long-term engagement strategy with a greater focus on national reconciliation that could consolidate the peace and co-existence among Iraqi factions in Mosul as well as in other parts of Iraq, according to Jubouri.

"It is crucial to understand that such strategy is of great importance, because the Iraqi factions, regional countries and the international community have the interest to bring peace in Iraq and to dry up the resources of terrorism," Jubouri concluded.
BAGHDAD, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met with U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter on Sunday in Baghdad to discuss Iraqi forces' efforts in driving out Islamic State (IS) militants from their stronghold in Iraq's northern city of Mosul.

A statement issued by Abadi's office said that Abadi met with Carter in his office in Baghdad's Green Zone. The two discussed the battle in Mosul, and reviewed the training and arming of Iraqi forces.

Abadi also confirmed that "the military operations in Mosul are going on as planned, and victory over Daesh gangs (IS group) is coming soon," the statement said.

Carter reaffirmed his country's support along with that of the international community's to Iraq in its fight against terrorism, according to the statement.

The Pentagon chief is scheduled to fly to northern Iraq to meet with Masoud Barzani, President of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.

Carter arrived in Baghdad for an unannounced visit to meet with top Iraqi officials and military commanders to discuss the Iraqi offensive against IS militants in Mosul.

Hundreds of U.S. troops are already in Iraq serving as trainers and advisers, in an effort to help Iraq win the battle against IS militants in the country's northern city of Mosul.

In addition, the U.S.-led international coalition has been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria.

Carter's visit comes as Iraqi security forces backed by the anti-IS coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out IS militants from their last major stronghold in and around Mosul in northern Iraq.

On Oct. 17, Abadi, also Commander-in-Chief of Iraqi forces, announced the major offensive to reclaim Mosul, the country's second largest city.

Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their posts and weapons and fled, hence enabling IS militants to gain control over parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
KUNMING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- China will further improve quality and opening-up of its educational sector and raise cultural and personnel exchange to a national strategic level, said China's Deputy Education Minister Hao Ping on Sunday.

Efforts will be exerted to serve both overseas students in China and domestic students going abroad, and to support schools jointly-run by China and foreign countries, Hao said, adding that China planned to send 29,000 government-sponsored students this year as part of an initiative to train talent with global vision.

About 523,700 Chinese studied abroad in 2015, making China world's top source of overseas students. China is also the world's third largest study destination following United States and Britain, which saw nearly 400,000 students from across the world last year.

Sino-foreign cooperative education has progressed well in recent years. China has established more than 2,400 cooperative programs with 700 strong overseas universities and, has signed agreements on mutual recognition of academic degrees and diplomas with 44 countries and regions.

"Education is the priority among priorities in cultural and personnel exchange. China has begun national-level educational cooperation with countries include the United States, Russia, Britain and France, and will raise such exchange to a national strategic level in the future," noted Hao.
DAMASCUS, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic State (IS) recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria on Sunday, just nine months after losing the city to the Syrian army, a monitor group reported.

Following four days of a wide-scale offensive, IS successfully captured the millennia-old oasis city of Palmyra in the eastern countryside of the central province of Homs, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The city as well as its airbase, ancient part and citadel fell to IS, said the Observatory.

It added that over 120 Syrian soldiers were killed during the offensive as well as tens of the IS militants.

The Syrian soldiers withdrew to the desert in southern Palmyra, amid intense Russian and Syrian airstrikes on IS positions there.

Meanwhile, the governor of Homs, Talal Barazi, told local Ekhbariyeh TV that the army has withdrawn from the city.

The IS started its offensive on Palmyra on Thursday, after bringing in hundreds of fighters for taking the city, according to the Observatory.

The Syrian army captured Palmyra on March 27, 2016, a year after losing the city to the IS.

Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world.

The city has an importance to IS as it connects areas under the terror group's control in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour with areas under its control in the eastern countryside of the central province of Homs.

The recapture of Palmyra is also important as the group's fighters in Iraq have started entering Syria recently after suffering great losses in battles against the Iraqi army and the U.S.-anti-terror coalition.
BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- China will appoint local government heads as river chiefs across the nation to clean up and protect its water resources, said guidelines published by Chinese central authorities Sunday.

Much as mayors and county heads are responsible for their beats, river chiefs will be responsible for the management and protection of the watercourses, according to a document forwarded by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council.

The central government expects to turn such practice into a nationwide mechanism by the end of 2018, said the document.

China firstly appointed local government officials as river chiefs in 2007 to address pollution woes of a blue algae outbreak in Taihu Lake, Jiangsu Province.

The practice was later adopted in several regions rich in water resources to ensure strong enforcement of environmental policies and enhance coordination.

Government officials will be hired as river chiefs at provincial, city, county and township levels, and heads of provincial regions will be general chiefs that are responsible for all rivers and lakes in the region, according to the document.

For large rivers and lakes that span across regions, river chiefs will be responsible for different parts of the water bodies and cooperate on management.

Responsibilities of the river chiefs include water resource protection, pollution prevention and control, and ecological restoration. Their job performance will be assessed and they will be held accountable if environmental damage occurs in the water bodies they take charge of, said the document.

Information including names and responsibilities of the river chiefs will be made public to ensure public supervision, it said.

The Chinese government has released a national plan on environmental improvements for the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) earlier this month, which set detailed tasks to cleanse polluted air, water and soil so as to promote ecological civilization and improve its ecological situation.

The country's environmental protection still lags behind its economic status, and decades of fast growth have left the country saddled with problems such as smog and contaminated waterways and soil.
Artists perform during a performance showcasing traditional Chinese operas at a theater in Lima, Peru, Nov. 20, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Ming)

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- One of Mexico City's most venerable museums on Friday invited the public to a game of Jianzi, a traditional Chinese national sport known in English as Chinese hacky sack.

"Come this weekend," the San Ildefonso Museum said to its Twitter followers. "We challenge you to participate in the oriental game Jianzi, every Saturday at 1 p.m."

Kicking a colorful and feathered shuttlecock into the air without using your hands is a popular pastime in China, but in Mexico it's a rare sight, or at least used to be one before the 2016 Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange.

Over the past year, Latin Americans have had the chance to appreciate Chinese art, music, dance, operas and even recreational games like Jianzi.

The San Ildefonso, which is hosting one of the year's landmark exhibitions, "Masterpieces from the National Art Museum of China," is also offering a series of talks on various aspects of the Chinese culture.

Artists perform during a performance showcasing traditional Chinese operas at a theater in Lima, Peru, Nov. 20, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Ming)

In October, Mexican archaeologists uncovered thousands of fragments of a 400-year-old shipment of Chinese "export-quality porcelain" long buried in the Pacific coast port city of Acapulco, revealing the rich history of ties between China and Latin America.

The Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange introduced a new and modern China to younger Latin American audience.

"As you wander through the first rooms, you realize that Chinese contemporary art is not really how you had pictured it," Mexico's monthly lifestyle magazine Gatopardo wrote of "Masterpieces."

Wu Weishan, sculptor and director of the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), said the exhibits showcased "the most representative works by the best artists of contemporary China."

Like artists around the world, they are experimenting with new art forms as well as using traditional techniques to create artwork that is unexpected and multilayered.

"China's fine arts draw experience from western arts in the search for transformation, but they also inherit tradition," said Wu.

"What Chinese and Mexican cultures have in common is that both are pursuing innovation while trying to preserve tradition. That practice creates a virtuous artistic environment," added Wu.

The exhibition, which runs through Feb. 19, also features the highlights of NAMOC's collection, which includes such traditional folk arts as intricate shadow puppets and paper cutouts.

"Masterpieces," the magazine Gatopardo said, offers "a unique opportunity to see a collection of artwork that helps to stop stereotyping a culture and an era... as well as an opportunity to strengthen the union between two cultures, as Wu said."

An actor (L) interacts with a spectator during a performance showcasing traditional Chinese operas at a theater in Lima, Peru, Nov. 20, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Ming)

As part of this year's activities, art and artists traveled in both directions, taking Latin American art to the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and the provinces of Jiangsu and Guangdong, and bringing Chinese art to countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Costa Rica,Peru and Mexico.

Tannia Luna, an expert in international relations at Mexico's National Autonomous University, said the Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange has strengthened the friendship and cooperation between the two regions and ushered in a new and more fruitful phase of bilateral ties.

"These exchanges have met all expectations and even surpassed them," said Luna, and as a result "this new China-Latin America relationship goes beyond political and economic negotiations," said Luna.

This dynamic exchange is poised to continue.

To celebrate 45 years of diplomatic ties, 2017 has been declared as the Year of Chinese Culture in Mexico, featuring a packed calendar of events and cross-cultural exchanges.
A member of China National Traditional Orchestra performs during the presentation of the musical work "Rediscovering the Chinese Music" in Bogota, capital of Colombia, on Nov. 17, 2016. (Xinhua/Jhon Paz)

SANTIAGO, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Musicians from China's Southwest University for Nationalities paid homage to Chilean musician, Violeta Parra, in Santiago on Saturday to mark the centenary of her birth.

As part of a year-long celebration of the life and works of Parra, a folklorist and songwriter who is known as "The Mother of Latin American Folk", the performance was organized by the Chile-China Cultural Institute and the Chinese People's Friendship Association with Foreign Countries.

Held at the Violeta Parra Museum, the Chinese musicians sang Parra's songs, including "Gracias a la Vida" in Chinese, and performed her pieces, being met with strong applause by the crowd.

The musicians from the Southwest University for Nationalities also performed in the city of Valparaiso on Friday, as well as meeting with music students and professors at Andres Bello National University, and establishing a musical exchange program between the two institutions.

Tan Yong, a music professor and leader of the group, told Xinhua that "through this visit, we have been able to get to know Chilean culture more deeply."

His group of musicians have performed numerous concerts of Latin American music in China and have visited Cuba in the past.
Mrs. Claus is hoping for a Christmas miracle, and she needs your help to do it.

Last October a Belgian tourist, Lindsay Claus and her friend Eva Staes, from Los Angeles, were traveling through the southwestern U.S. and stopped in Page for a few days to take in the sights. While visiting Horseshoe Bend overlook, they came upon a homeless dog, that Claus described as a wolf-looking dog of indeterminate lineage.

He was totally dehydrated and needed some rest and food, Claus said. The dog was so severely dehydrated he could no longer walk. Claus and Staes carried him back to their car.

They took the dog with them and drove around Page looking for an animal shelter. During the drive they named him Cliff.

Because we found him close to the cliffs, Claus explained.

After asking around, Claus and Staes were directed to the Page Animal Adoption Agency where they met Doris Yanke, who was volunteering there that day.

Yanke called Sharon Nelson, who has a long history of taking in needy pets and getting them back on their feet.

Nelson gave Cliff fluids through a subcutaneous IV.

As soon as he was rehydrated he was able to eat and drink on his own, Nelson said. The next day he was running around in our back yard.

Claus wanted to adopt Cliff and take him with her back to Belgium, but taking Cliff with her to Belgium wasnt going to be easy. For starters, Cliff needed vaccinations and a travel passport. The main set back was that Cliff had to wait in the United States for 21 days during the rabies vaccine incubation period, and Claus was returning to Belgium in 10 days. So sadly she had to return to Belgium without him.

But she still wants to adopt him.

But to make that happen Mrs. Claus needs some Christmas magic from someone in Page. Shes looking for someone whos willing to travel with Cliff and safely escort him to Brussels, Belgium or Amsterdam, Holland or Paris, France.

When Cliff and his escort arrive in one of those cities, Claus will meet them there.

Claus will pay for Cliffs transportation costs but whoever escorts him will have to buy their own plane ticket.

We really want to get Cliff to Lindsay, said Nelson. Hes a great, great dog. Hes healthy, hes good natured. Hes great on his own and hes great on a leash.

Since this story first appeared in the Lake Powell Chronicle earlier this week a Go Fund Me account has been set up by a man in Page, Ariz. who will escort Cliff to Mrs. Claus in Belgium if he can raise enough money for the airfare.

Its actually cheaper for Cliff to fly with an escort than it is for him to fly alone.

If you wish to donate to the Go Fund Me account you can do so at this link: https://www.gofundme.com/deliver-mrs-claus-dog-by-christmas

In the meantime, Cliff has been well taken care of here in Page. Hes been vaccinated, micro-chipped and given a health certification by Dr. Roundtree. Cliff has been staying with Shelley Johnstone since October while he awaits his trip to Belgium.

Hes in good health, and hes happy and healthy, said Johnstone. He mostly spends the day playing with Annie and Winny, two other dogs Im caring for.
Mans legs, arm chopped off

The 33-year-old man, an outpatient of St Anns Psychiatric Hospital, has been described by police as armed and dangerous.

He remained at large up to last evening.

According to reports, Siew Seetahal, a former taxi driver was at his home at 6 pm, when he was attacked by the male relative who allegedly chopped off his feet and one of his arms.

The crazed killer then stacked the limbs in a row resulting in Seetahal bleeding to death.

According to reports, the killer then telephoned a male relative and said he wanted assistance to move a body.

The relative became suspicious and alerted the Barataria police who went to the scene and found Seetahals body clad only in his underwear with his severed limbs stacked in a row in the bathroom.

The district medical officer was alerted and the body was removed to the Forensic Sciences Centre, St James for an autopsy.

North Eastern Division police have launched a manhunt for the suspect but he could not be found on Friday night. Police have received information that the suspect was seen heading towards the Morvant area where a female relative lives.

That relative also suffers from a mental disorder.

Relatives of the dead man expressed horror and outrage over the murder claiming the suspect became violent when he did not receive his medication on time. Relatives added that doctors at the St Anns hospital who treated the suspect should have known about his aggression and kept him at the institution.

Officers of the North Eastern Division are continuing enquires.
Jamaican shot dead

According to reports, Robert McInnis was at Blues Bar at McCarthy Street, Curepe attending birthday celebrations when a gunman entered and started shooting indiscriminately.

McInnis was shot and died at the scene.

No motive has been established for the latest killing thus far. Officers of the Homicide Bureau are continuing investigations
Tewarie hails slain cousin a gentle soul

Maharaj was stabbed to death in his home at Arena Road, near Tewarie Trace North Extension, Freeport, on Monday afternoon.

A relative who went to drop off food for Maharaj, a grandfather of six, made the gruesome discovery. Relatives had reported that Maharaj suffered a stroke about three years ago followed by a heart attack and was a frail man.

It is believed the killer broke into the house and stabbed the old man to death.

Addressing mourners who, for the most part listened in shocked silence as the funeral service at the family home progressed, Tewarie recalled he had spoken about health issues, as well as how to control diabetes, with Maharaj almost two weeks ago.

He was a gentle soul, not someone who was engaged in evil acts and was not known for mischief in the community but he was stabbed to death and I dont know how people can live with themselves after this, he said.

Tewarie then asked for prayers for the family as they dealt with Maharajs violent death.

He also noted the community had to be vigilant and look out for each other as Maharajs killer had not yet been arrested by the police.

I ask the community to be vigilant and be there for each other, we have to learn to care again and ensure that things like this do not happen again, he said.

Maharaj was cremated at the Waterloo Cremation Site at Waterloo under Hindu rites
Coconino County Supervisors changed how they manage dollars meant for community grants after a series of Daily Sun articles in the summer of 2013. Those articles showed supervisors were drawing on that grant funding for travel and "outreach" expenses when they had exhausted their budgets for travel and operations.

After months of discussions, supervisors approved a new policy in late 2013 that combines all money for travel, operations and community grants into a single pot that each supervisor can distribute as they see fit. An outreach category that came with limited oversight was eliminated.

All travel-related expenditures must comply with various reimbursement limits for things like mileage, meals and hotels that dont allow a supervisor to, for example, pick up the dinner bill of a large group, which was happening previously.

Any budget overruns must be approved by the entire board.

In an effort to increase transparency, supervisors now share their district expenditures with each other quarterly during public meetings and continue to require that community grants be spent only after approval by the entire board. They also created a more formal application and review process for community grants that includes evaluation of whether the nonprofit or group is funded by other sources and requires grant recipients to report on how grant money was spent.

COUNTY VS. CITY

Flagstaff city councilmembers, on the other hand, have no similar carte blanche to issue grants as they wish, said Rick Tadder, management services director for the city.

Instead, the city awards general fund dollars to nonprofits through service contracts. Those go through a formal bidding process where nonprofits are selected for their ability to best provide a certain service the city may not have the resources to do or believes the nonprofit can accomplish more efficiently, Tadder said.

According to county spokesperson Matt Rudig, the county does things differently because supervisors are elected by district, not at large, and each district has unique characteristics and needs.

Supervisors said they believe that three years in, the new district spending policy is working well and doing a better job of vetting how taxpayer dollars are used by the countys elected leaders.

I think it is a significantly improved system, Supervisor Art Babbott said. There is greater communication in public meetings on these expenditures that allow us to keep abreast of what the board as a whole is doing, where initiatives are focusing and to make sure we have good gut checks on what we are doing.
Andil Gosine tells his story through art Nowhere boy

I did not want to go, he says today, seated in a caf? on a cool November afternoon in Belfast. I made a huge scene in Piarco. The security guard saw me seven years later and he said: O you come back! I was crying and begging my parents not to go.

I definitely did not want to leave. It was very traumatic for me. Gosine, 43, has lived all over the world (in one chat he breezes through Paris, New York, Toronto).

You know that expression in Trinidad nowarian? he says, alluding to his wanderlust state.

Gosine is one of the artists featured in Caribbean Queer Visualities, the ground-breaking exhibition staged at Belfast in early November as part of Outburst, the citys queer arts festival.

His piece, Coolie Colors, alludes to two shifts: moving away from Trinidad, and embracing his sexuality.

The artist juxtaposes two things: a small photo album showing that seven-year old who bawled down the place at Piarco posing in dainty guises; and an empty plant pot filled with three stunted jhandisthe flags used by Hindus for protection.

I could have been fabulous but then I moved to Canada, Gosine says at the shows opening night at Belfasts Golden Thread Galley, taking the audience through the work. I wanted to challenge the dominant narrative of the Caribbean as an oppressive space for people who dont conform to hetereonormativity. Though the Caribbean lags behind many countries in terms of LGBTI equality, Gosine, the oldest of three boys, remembers his childhood in Trinidad as one in which he was never made to feel oppressed.

None of that was ever policed for me, he says.

Later, he states of the photo album, Those pictures demonstrate to me the feeling of being a loved child who was not policed around identity. I was never told boys dont do that. I was a confident child. I was lucky to have been brought up in Trinidad.

I wasnt known as a boy who didnt do sport. I was just Andil. I really did feel cared for by my parents. He adds, I left Trinidad a very confident child and Canada destroyed me. It was obliterating. There was nothing freeing about being in Canada. It was punitive those four years in high school.

Later, in Gosines experience, race complicated his engagement with Canadas gay community.

You wont see me claim gay pride because my experience of gay culture has been really race-inflected, he says.

The racism in some pockets of the gay community just makes me feel sad. Coolie Colors, therefore, merges the story of migration with a gay mans personal experience of the world amid the forces of history.

I think it reflects my anxieties and I just tried to be honest and confident about sharing them, Gosine says. At a roundtable discussion he adds, For me, being home is where I get looked at as a full and complex human being.

I get to be a full complex human being in a way that proves evasive in Toronto or New York. Gosines story is just one of many within Caribbean Queer Visualities which was curated and coordinated by David Scott, Erica James, and Nijah Cunningham, with assistance from Colette Norwood of the British Council Northern Ireland and Annalee Davis of British Council Caribbean. The show was supported by Ruth McCarthy, director of the Outburst festival in Belfast. It was the culmination of a series of roundtable discussions convened by Small Axe, the forum for ideas.

The exhibition emerged out of two events that centred on the aesthetic practices and decisions of the practitioners, Cunningham says. The vision was, to my mind, to think the question of queer through contemporary visual art. Other artists involved include: Ewan Atkinson, Ebony G Patterson, Jean-Ulrick D?sert, Jorge Pineda, Charl Landvreugd, Leasho Johnson, Nadia Huggins, Richard Fung and Kareem Mortimer.

I think of Caribbean history as a kind of queer history, says David Scott, founder/ editor of Small Axe. We tend to think of these colonial stories through a kind of normative lens overriding social and individual dimensions But we all have stories of people who stand out in our family settings as LG BTI. If you tell the story through those lenses, what emerges? Gosine, a former Commonwealth Scholar and World Bank gender consultant, is also an associate professor of cultural studies at York University, Toronto. He was born on November 26, 1973. He grew up in Tableland before his family joined the throngs of people who migrated.

I worked hard to get into Presentation College, he says of his time at Robert Village Hindu School. I remember I finished first. I worked so hard and then you want me to leave all this to go to some industrial town, some vocational institute in Oshawa? After school, Gosines plan was to make his escape to Trinidad. But the plan changed.

It changed because I met my first boyfriend, he says. Everything changed. Later, they changed again. The relationship ended, posing a new dilemma for the nowarian.

What to do? That relationship ended and my art career started, Gosine says, as if channelling Adele or her good pal Jessie Ware.

Gosines work has already been shown at Queens Museum, OBorn Contemporary, Gallery 511, and the Art Gallery Ontario. His forthcoming solo exhibition, Coolie, Coolie, Viens Pour Curry. Le Curry Est Tout Fini! will open across three gallery spaces in Toronto in March 2017.

His work balances the historical with the personal, showing their common thread of power.

My mom and dad are clearly affectionate, Gosine says. In my first relationship, I was in a way copying my parents. Then, for many years, the dominant mode of existence was heartbreak. He recalls being inspired by the conceptual artist Lorraine OGrady, who once said, Arts first goal is to remind us that we are human, whatever that is.we are all human. I once wanted to be a writer, Gosine says.

He also alludes to a time when he was drawn to politics. He adds, smiling, But art provides a more complex way of conveying the world.
LYNCHPiN breaks new ground

The four-man band, consisting of vocalist Sievan Siewsarran; drummer, Aaron Maharaj; bassist, Jiggy Khatri; and guitarist, Gerard Ferreir, shared the stage with over 100 rock bands from around the world at the Wacken Open Air Music Festival in Germany in August and met many of their Metal heroes as well.

Speaking to Sunday Newsday, Siewsarran described the experience as insane, mind-blowing. Not only did they play in front of over 10,000 cheering Metal fans, but they had fun and learned a lot.

For example, Siewsarran said they gained an understanding of what equipment they should have, what to use when travelling, planning their finances, and more.

They just shared a wealth of information.

I think they were just so happy to know that another part of the earth loves this kind of music, he said.

He added that one band could not make it to the show and, although it was technically against the rules, LYNCHPiN was given more time on stage because, according to the stage manager, How many times is the Caribbean going to be here? Siewsarran noted that some bands and some fans actually knew of them, and said they never heard LYNCHPiNs kind of metal before. That was when he realised just how much their Caribbean roots influenced their Metal.

He said the bands proudest moment was when they walked off stage and the other bands congratulated them, saying how insane their performance was.

We just felt so proud to be the first Caribbean band to play on the Wacken stage. We never thought our music could get that far. There is a world out there that Caribbean bands could reach. We are such a heavy band, so extreme that its harder for us. If we can get through, there is hope for other mainstream bands. Anybody can do it with dedication to their craft, he said.

On their return to Trinidad and Tobago, the band started talks with Los Angeles-based Dead Sea Records label owner, Michael Black, and signed with his new label, Dead Sea Records Caribbean in November.

The band first met Black when he performed with Taipan for the Wacken Caribbean Metal Battle competition in Paramaribo, Suriname in April, which LYNCHPiN won. Impressed with their professional attitude, Black kept in contact with the band and helped them get sponsors.

However, after witnessing the band overcome various financial and technical obstacles to go to Wacken, when they returned from Germany, Black informed the band he was establishing a new label for Metal and Rock music in the Caribbean, and he wanted them to be the first band signed to the label.

For Ann Barbara Applewhite  director/ teacher  SSBDTS is the realisation of a lifelong dream. As a retired registered nurse, she has been involved in Ballroom Dance for over 25 years and her qualifications include DVIDA Certified  Associate of Dance Degree (American Style Smooth). And IDTA  Ballroom and Latin  Double Bronze (International Style).

Nicole Applewhite is Grand Master Teacher  co-director/teacher, whose love for dance began in Secondary School and continued as a member of the Belvedere under musical director, Richard Tang Yuk, where she performed in South Quay Story and An Evening with Cole Porter to name a few.

Additionally she is also a training and management consultant.

Her list of dancing certifications is impressive and includes two levels completed at the Ballroom Dance Teachers College in San Francisco, USA: DVIDA Certified  Associate of Dance Degree (International Style Standard) and DVIDA Certified  Associate of Dance (International Style Latin  Rumba & Cha Cha) However, says Nicole, My biggest accomplishment for 2016 is being recently appointed a ProDVIDA Regional Examiner.

I am now able to examine medal students up to gold level and the Associate Degree Bronze Level. Guest instructor, Anthony John  Grand Master Teacher, also brings his list of DVIDA Certificates to Sophisticats.

The organisation has been conducting Student Medal tests since 2011.

Says Nicole, Additionally over the last two years we have trained five teachers in their Associate Degree  American Rhythm Dances (Rumba, Cha Cha, Mambo, East Coast Swing, American Bolero).

Three of the teachers are also certified in Merengue, West Coast Swing and Samba.

All teachers also attained Honours and all examinations have been conducted by a ProDVIDA US National Examiner who visits Trinidad once a year.
Investigators: 20-year-old may have put up a fight

Sunday Newsday understands one of the two suspects detained following the discovery of Banfields body, on Thursday, had unexplained scratches about his body indicating to investigators Banfield may have tried to defend herself before she died.

Sources also said pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes also found broken skin under her fingernails in his first autopsy on Friday, but had deemed his findings inconclusive.

A second autopsy is expected to be done, as well as DNA tests of the broken skin and on other swabs taken from her body and the crime scene.

The clothing of the suspects, who are in their 20s and 30s, may also prove useful to the investigation, sources said.

The Director of Public of Prosecutions is expected to be approached today for further directions in the case.

Banfield was reported missing by her family last Monday, after her last call to her mother indicated she was on her way to their Santa Cruz home having done some shopping at Pennywise and the IAM store.

It is believed Banfield asked to use the bathroom of the store where he body was found hidden under cardboard boxes three days later.
Islamic State re-enters Syria's Palmyra

Syrian Arab Republic,Terrorism, Sun, 11 Dec 2016 IANS

Damascus, Dec 11 (IANS) The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group entered the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria on Saturday, nine months after the Syrian army captured it, a monitor group reported.

"The IS is in the city of Palmyra for the first time after losing it to the Syrian army, whose forces are collapsing in the city," Xinhua quoted the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying.

The Britain-based watchdog group said IS succeeded to advance and reach the vicinity of the Palmyra hospital in the northwestern outskirts of the city, after capturing the Amiriyeh suburb in the northern part.

The IS terrorists also captured the Tar mountain, close to the Palmyra Citadel, west of the city, in tandem with shelling the citadel with mortar shells and heavy artillery.

The Observatory said intense battles are still raging between the IS terrorists and the Syrian government forces in the city.

The IS started its offensive on Palmyra on Thursday, after bringing in hundreds of fighters for taking the city, according to the Observatory.

The Syrian army are fighting to restore the positions it had lost in Palmyra as a result of the IS attack.

The Syrian army captured Palmyra on March 27, 2016, a year after losing the city to the IS.

--IANS

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